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{The Application
Application for the Godly
Directions for Carrying On a Constant Holy Course of Life
Carry Yourselves Well toward Others
Carry Yourselves Well toward All People}
Let your conduct be as all things to all people as is fitting for the Gospel (1 Corinthians 9:22, 10:33). I must condense this topic and give you only some short hints:
Be truthful.
Be just.
Be a cheerful, charitable giver.
Be peaceable.
Be courteous.
{The Application
Application for the Godly
Directions for Carrying On a Constant Holy Course of Life
Carry Yourselves Well toward Others
Carry Yourselves Well toward All People
Be Truthful}
Take heed of the way of lying. Let sinners know that a lie is of their father, the father of lies, the devil, and not of your Heavenly Father. Let the word of a Christian be sacred. Make sinners say the same thing about saints that God says of them: “They are children who will not lie” (Isaiah 63:8). Let their experience force them to acknowledge that the blemish of lying is not characteristic of God’s children. Be truthful.
A lie is contrary to God who is a God of truth and cannot lie (Titus 1:2).344
A lie conforms to the devil, the father of lies.
A lie is destructive to society. There can be no trust where there is no truth and no commerce with those who cannot be trusted.
Temptations to lying are many, and people are especially tempted to it in two particular cases.345 First, people lie when they are at fault. What cannot be excused must be concealed. For lack of a better covering they hide it under a lie.
Second, people lie in their dealings in the world. In their buying, selling, and trading, the trade of lying gets into every trade as if there were no living except by lying. The seller must have his livelihood, and there must be a lie to set apart his wares: “It is especially good, the best of its kind,” when it is starkly not so. There are lies to jack up the price: “It cost me so much. I cannot lower my price.” There are lies to manipulate the buyer: “I will not lower my price,” when perhaps the next word is a lower price. The buyer must have his lie to bring down the price: “It is worthless, worthless” (Proverbs 20:14). He lies to bring down the seller: “I will not give you your price,” and yet pays it. Oh, how common an evil this is and how little regarded it is. How few are there who have great dealings in the world and can entirely acquit themselves of it. How many there are who live off lies. They feed and clothe themselves with their lies and the unlawful gains that their trade of lying has brought to them.
Christians, especially those of you who are most ordinarily under such temptations, be sensitive to this evil and avoid it.346 Be resolved and watchful. Resolve to be truthful. Be true even though it is to your loss. Be losers rather than liars. Do not sell your conscience with your commodities for a penny or two of extra profit. Resolve to be truthful and be watchful. Consider what you say before you speak that you do not become guilty of falsehood, either purposely or unwarily.
{The Application
Application for the Godly
Directions for Carrying On a Constant Holy Course of Life
Carry Yourselves Well toward Others
Carry Yourselves Well toward All People
Observe that rule of righteousness, “So whatever you wish that others would do to you, do also to them, for this is the Law and the Prophets” (Matthew 7:12 ESV). Let this rule be observed in all your words and actions—and also in your thoughts. If you do not like being wronged, do no wrong. If you do not like being oppressed, do not oppress. If you do not like being defrauded, do not defraud. If you do not like being defamed or reviled, do not defame or revile. If you do not like being thought of as evil on the basis of every rumor or groundless surmise, do not think of others as evil in the absence of good evidence. You who profess Christianity, are you altogether faultless in this? Would you like all to come upon you that you have done to others? Would you want everybody in the world to be to you what you have been to anybody in the world? If you have not been knowingly unjust in your dealings, have you been injurious in your words? Would you like for your faults or infirmities to be the ordinary discourse, dinner table conversation, and merriment of others? But have you not so treated others? If you do not wish to be causelessly suspected, condemned, or despised in the thoughts of others, have you done it to others?
Is this not an all-too-common, yet seldom considered situation: When you are together, every bad report that is circulating, either for lack of other topics of conversation, or from a worse cause, must be brought in to fill up the time. And then evil reports quickly beget evil thoughts and surmises. Do to others as you want them to do to you. If you do not want to be ill spoken of by others in this manner, then do not do it to others.
Be a Cheerful, Charitable Giver
{The Application
Application for the Godly
Directions for Carrying On a Constant Holy Course of Life
Carry Yourselves Well toward Others
Carry Yourselves Well toward All People
Be a Cheerful, Charitable Giver}
“Therefore be merciful,347 just as your Father also is merciful” (Luke 6:36 NKJV). You have a merciful Father and you have a merciful High Priest. Therefore, you be merciful also. As you have received mercy and look for mercy, take care to show mercy. Give to those who ask, and lend to those who wish to borrow. Visit, relieve, and refresh the heart of those in misery. Be cheerful in showing mercy; let your hearts give as well as your hands. Give freely and be bountiful. He who sows sparingly will reap sparingly. He who is without charity to the bodies of people is thus cruel to their souls. Hardness and stinginess in professors of Christianity will disgrace their profession and harden the hearts of sinners from considering the Gospel. Can you persuade me that stinginess is the way of God or true Christianity? What a merciless religion and merciless profession. God keep me from such a religion. Your feeding hungry bellies and clothing naked backs may be a means to save many a soul from death. Not only will the Lord return your gifts very many times over in Heaven, your gifts may gain many a soul to the Lord.
{The Application
Application for the Godly
Directions for Carrying On a Constant Holy Course of Life
Carry Yourselves Well toward Others
Carry Yourselves Well toward All People
Be Peaceable}
“Salt is good, but if the salt loses its flavor, how will you season it? Have salt in yourselves, and have peace with one another” (Mark 9:50 NKJV).348 “Pursue peace with all people, and holiness, without which no one will see the Lord” (Hebrews 12:14 NKJV). The Lord is a God of peace. Christians are sons of peace. “But the wisdom from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, open to reason, full of mercy and good fruits, impartial and sincere” (James 3:17 ESV). Peaceableness consists of these things:
First, peaceableness is an unwillingness to provoke or offend. A peaceable person will not break the peace, is not quarrelsome, and is not contentious. A peaceable person will not stir up strife, forbears all provoking behavior, and does not provoke with his tongue. A peaceable person has peace in his heart, and that brings out peaceable language and behavior.
Second, a peaceable person is not easily provoked. A peaceable spirit is a patient spirit.
Third, peaceableness has a readiness to be reconciled. It is a readiness to be entreated and an openness to reason (James 3:17). A peaceable spirit is difficult to provoke and is easily pacified.
Fourth, peaceableness produces a willingness to reconcile those who are at variance. A peaceable spirit is a peace-making spirit, and such a one is both blessed and a blessing among those with whom he lives. “Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God” (Matthew 5:9 NASB). One angry, quarrelsome spirit may be a plague and one peaceable and healing spirit may be a blessing to a whole society.
{The Application
Application for the Godly
Directions for Carrying On a Constant Holy Course of Life
Carry Yourselves Well toward Others
Carry Yourselves Well toward All People
Be Courteous}
To be a peaceable person, be courteous, sweet, and amiable in your conduct toward all. “To sum up, all of you be harmonious, sympathetic, brotherly, kindhearted, and humble in spirit; not returning evil for evil or insult for insult, but giving a blessing instead; for you were called for the very purpose that you might inherit a blessing” (1 Peter 3:8–9). This will greatly win the hearts of those with whom you interact and incline them to like the righteousness they see in you. It will both soften their spirits toward you and make them more willing to listen to you. Moroseness and sourness will scare them out of your company and harden them against your counsel. Your fairness and kindliness will be the sugar that will help make palatable any pill of admonition or reproof you give them. Without this sugar, their stomachs would rebel and spit the pill out in your face. Behave toward all so as to convince them that you are their friend and a friend to their souls, even while you are an enemy to their sins. Convince them that your counsels are the counsels of a friend and that your reproofs are the wounds of a friend, which wounds are better than the kisses of an enemy (Proverbs 27:6).
But take care that your courtesy to sinners does not lead you to participate in their sin. Beware that what you intend as a net to take their souls does not become a trap to yours. As you become a friend to their persons, beware that you are not drawn aside to fellowship with them in their wickedness. It is better to be uncivil than ungodly. Be as courteous as possible, yet only so far that your courtesy is neither a snare to you nor an encouragement to their sins. Be wise as well as kind.
Christians, do not pass over these duties of the second table of the Ten Commandments. For the sake of brevity, I have condensed them narrowly. But these are not somehow lower things of Christianity. You are not excused from these duties and you may not exempt yourselves from them. A little praying or confessing will not make them up so that you may just go on without them. Truth, peacefulness, justice, mercy, and so on are to be counted among the weightier matters of the law. There is so much Christianity in them that there can be no Christianity without them. Although there may be morality where there is no true Christianity, there can be no Christianity where there is no morality. “Shall I acquit the man with wicked scales and with a bag of deceitful weights? Your rich men are full of violence; your inhabitants speak lies, and their tongue is deceitful in their mouth” (Micah 6:11–12 ESV). Are these pure? Are these God’s people: holy and not honest, and religious and not righteous? Can there be sincerity without truth? Can there be a single heart but a double tongue? Can there be grace where there is no peace, mercy, or temperance? Can people be scoffers, revilers, and quarrelers and still be Christians? “If anyone thinks himself to be religious, and yet does not bridle his tongue but deceives his own heart, this man’s religion is worthless” (James 1:26 NASB). This is a fearsome word! There are many professing Christians with an unbridled tongue. How many light and vain words do we hear? How many false and deceitful words do we hear? Especially how many bitter and angry words do we ordinarily hear out of such mouths? What biting, devouring, cutting, provoking, reproaching, and reviling language often breaks forth out of the same mouths from which at other times we hear prayers and blessings. But can such people consider this Scripture (James 1:26) without a trembling heart? “This man’s religion is worthless.” Worthless349 denotes two things.
First, whatever religion such people seem to have, it is empty and there is nothing in it.
Second, such religion is ineffectual. It falls short of and does not reach its goal or fulfill its purpose, and it does not bring about the intended results. The goal of our Christianity is salvation. Whatever religion such people have, it will not do them any good or meet their needs; it will never save their souls. However much of this kind of religion they have, they will die, be damned, and be in Hell forever. If, on the basis of such religion, people conclude that they are in a state of grace and salvation, and so on, their conclusions are false and deceitful. The kind of faith, hope, and prayers that will coexist with reigning evils of the tongue will never be any good evidence of a good state. That which cannot drive the devil out of the tongue will never prove that Christ is in the heart. All of their expectations of future blessedness will undoubtedly deceive them. That religion that will not tame the tongue will never save the soul.
Some of the evils mentioned here, such as injustice, lack of mercy, intemperance, and so on, may be as common as an untamed tongue, and some of them are as pernicious. When they prevail, they certainly reveal people to be in an evil state. Because the evils of the tongue are mere words, they are more apt to be lightly passed over. They tend to be less regarded despite all of the evil consequences of them. It is for this reason that I insist on this matter strongly.
But can you make a light matter of that which proves you to be damnable hypocrites?350 Have you spit out your Christianity in your furious fits and yet make nothing of it? By a biting and devouring tongue you consume one another (Galatians 5:15). But more than that, you each consume yourselves. You consume your own peace, comfort, hopes, Christianity, and salvation. Do you see by experience how it devours all the exercises of Christianity and our suitableness for duties when our tongues are on fire? Prayer must be laid aside. Scripture reading, communing with God, and examination of souls are thrown out the door. While those noises and tumults last, God Himself cannot be heard, conscience cannot be heard, and souls cannot be tended. And that which destroys the exercises of grace must destroy their evidences and bring us to at least question our state of grace, if not conclude we are outside of grace. I confess that some evils of the tongue may coexist with grace in the heart. Grace cannot hold this unruly member under perfect government; it will too often break loose. But some people do not bring their tongue under any government at all and their hearts put spurs to the tongue, but no bridle. Some people look at all this as inconsequential, allow themselves sins of the tongue, and let loose the reins of their tongues. They routinely surrender up their tongues to their lusts and passions, use them at their pleasure, and vent themselves freely. But if the Scripture is true: “If anyone thinks himself to be religious, and yet does not bridle his tongue but deceives his own heart, this man’s religion is worthless” (James 1:26 NASB), then such people must disprove the Scripture before they can prove they are true Christians.
Christians, you who have been sick of this disease of an evil mouth, bless the Lord if the cure has begun, but do not rest until it is perfected. This disease will defile where it does not destroy. It will defile your names. Your evil words will ricochet; he who spits against the wind will get his spittle back in his own face. It will defile your consciences. Your hearts never send out an evil word without something of it sticking behind. This sin will defile your duties. The foulness of your mouth and evil words will leave behind them a filth that will stain your prayers. It will defile your profession of Christianity; your profession can hardly be spoken of well when it is mixed with evil speech. It will disturb where it does not devour. It will disturb you in your holy course if it does not outright divert you off it. Never look to prosper in holiness or be fruitful in good works while you spew forth evil words. The lean cattle and thin ears (Genesis 41:17–24) of envy and contention will eat up all your good fruit. I rather wonder to see any green in those gardens where such locusts dwell; and then there is no green left. Oh brethren, let us no longer excuse but judge ourselves for this. Let our bitterness become bitter to us. Let us weep over it, watch against it, and quench those fires inside us so that there will be no more such flame and smoke coming out of us. Let us be sensitive to those inward heats, unquiet, and lack of peace in our spirits from which all our outward fits arise. They are our foul stomachs that fur our tongues.351
We lay the blame for all of our faults on temptations and provocations, but the fault is in our lusts that war in our members (James 4:1). Let us be more sensible of these. Let us be humbled and ashamed that we who profess ourselves to be sons of peace should harbor such sons of contention in our hearts. We already have sustained losses, contracted guilt, and have wounded our brethren, our own souls, and the Gospel of our Lord. Let these experiences set us to purging out this sour leaven. Let salt be cast into the spring (2 Kings 2:21) that the streams may become sweeter. And when the spring is healed, let us clean the streambed. Henceforth, let there be neither war in our hearts nor a sword in our mouths. Let us beat our swords into plowshares and our spears into pruning hooks (Isaiah 2:4). Let our words plow up352 the hearts and not break the heads. Let them pare off and reprove their sins and not reproach the faces of our brethren. Let us counsel, admonish, and comfort one another. Let us provoke to love and good works. But let there be no bitterness, strife, envying, or quarreling found among us. Let us leave these evil fruits to grow only on evil trees from which we can expect nothing else. While we cannot expect to gather grapes from brambles or olives from thistles, let not the fruit of the bramble or thistle be found sprouting out of the root of the olive (Luke 6:43–45). Let the saints still be found what they were of old: doves, lambs, and lilies among thorns. Let there be nothing that hurts or offends in all the mountain of the Lord (Isaiah 11:9; 65:25). Let the pricking briar and grieving thorn be in our sides rather than in our mouths. Let blessing, praising, praying, and supplication take up all the room so that there is no place left for wrath and contention.
And while we take this care about our words, let us take as great a care about our works. Let there be no virulence in our tongues nor violence in our hands. Let there be no deceit from our lips nor falseness in our dealings. Let us speak words of truth and soberness, and let us keep the way of righteousness and peace. Let us walk humbly with God, do justly, love mercy (Micah 6:8), and live peaceably with people. Let good words and good works meet together. Let Christianity and righteousness kiss one another. Let peace spring up out of the earth since grace has looked down from Heaven. “But also for this very reason, giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue, to virtue knowledge, to knowledge self-control, to self-control perseverance, to perseverance godliness, to godliness brotherly kindness, and to brotherly kindness love” (2 Peter 1:5–7 NKJV). “Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things” (Philippians 4:8 ESV). Brethren, speak, walk, and do according to these Scriptures. Live in peace and love, and the God of peace will be with you.
344It is perhaps worthy of note that, in the list of the kinds of sinners who will be cast into the Lake of Fire, Revelation 21:8 ends the list with “all liars.” None of the other kinds of sinners are preceded with “all.”
345There is a third case that is particularly prevalent in contemporary America: the so-called “little white lie,” especially the kind that is so commonly used to supposedly smooth interpersonal relationships. Unlike the two cases Alleine mentions, this lie is supposedly used to “help” another person. This sin deserves a book in itself, but two things might be mentioned. First, such lies deprive others of useful information or encourage them to take detrimental courses of action. For example, the false statement that “It has been a pleasure to be with you,” when one is glad to be rid of someone, deprives that person of information with which he might correct his behavior. The lie “That is a great idea” could cause the person to waste time, energy, and resources. But most importantly, God tells us very simply, plainly, and without admitting any exceptions, “Do not lie to one another, since you laid aside the old self with its evil practices” (Colossians 3:9).
346As a help to avoiding this temptation, be aware that there is actually a biblical case for honest free-market economics. “Do not merely look out for your own personal interests, but also for the interests of others” (Philippians 2:4 NASB). “In everything, therefore, treat people the same way you want them to treat you, for this is the Law and the Prophets” (Matthew 7:12 NASB). In light of these Scriptures, consider a purchase from a retail store. In an honest transaction, the store owner would rather have your money than his merchandise. You would rather have his merchandise than your money. You both get what you want and are better off after the transaction than before. The two parties thus actually do good to one another in addition to themselves. Christians must never take advantage of a known desperate buyer or seller, and must never manipulate a market to gain unfair advantage. Questions such as, “Would I do this transaction with my aged mother?” or “Will my customer be disappointed when he or she opens the box?” may be helpful. Those involved in advertising need to take special care.
347The Greek word translated here as “merciful” is οἰκτίρμονες [oiktirmones], which can mean both mercy in the sense of remitting due punishment or mercy in the sense of charitable alms giving. The latter sense of mercy has mostly fallen out of use, although it is still a currently accepted meaning. It is highly significant that this verse falls between Luke 6:26–35, which speaks of loving one’s enemies and charitable giving, and Luke 6:37, which teaches us to not judge others. Then Luke 6:38 again speaks of giving. Significantly, Luke 6:35 gives a reason for the entire teaching: God is kind to the unthankful and evil. We do not deserve anything that God gives us, only hellfire. Hence, God is always merciful, remitting punishment, when He provides for us and gives to us. Hence, while the secular world makes a distinction between charity and remission of due punishment or giving to the undeserving, we may see that the two concepts are linked, whether mercy comes from God or from His bondslaves doing His work on earth.
348The ancients mined salt mixtures that contained not only sodium chloride (table salt), which is highly water-soluble, but insoluble minerals as well. Thus, the desirable sodium chloride could be washed away.
349The Greek here is μάταιος [mataios]: vain, worthless, useless, futile.
350Let the reader have care. A fever indicates illness, but one can be deathly ill without a fever. Many politicians, con artists, and salespeople control their tongues with great skill—for evil ends. Only true repentance and faith in Christ will result in eternal life. Taming the tongue or any other works without faith will save no one.
351We now know that “furry tongue” or “hairy tongue” is due to causes other than the condition of the stomach.
352In the sense of cultivating the soil for fertility and fruitfulness.
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