no more practise iniquity, so as to continue in it, than the bad can bring forth habitually the fruits of righteousness. St. John assigns the same reason as is suggested in the text, " He can- not sin, because the seed of God remaineth in himd," and, as an operative principle, regulates his life.]
This truth being established, the other follows as a necessary consequence, vizf
II. It is by the life that we must judge of the heart —
Though we are not to scrutinize too nicely the motives by which others are actuated, so as to form an uncharitable judgment respecting them, yet we may, and must in some cases, judge of men by their actions. Our Lord uttered the very parable before us on one occasion, expressly with a view to guard us against the influence of false teachers and false brethren6. But it is of our own hearts that we are principally called to judge ; and assuredly,
The man whose life is good may know his heart
also to be good —
[If " every tree is known by its own fruit," (and no man hesitates to call a vine, or a bramble, by its proper name when he sees the fruit) we need be in no fear of concluding that our hearts are good, when our dispositions and actions accord with the word of God. No man indeed is perfectly good, because we still carry about with us "a body of sin and death:" but he, who discovers the renovation of his heart by the holiness of his life, is certainly possessed of a " good treasure," and may justly be called " a good man."]
The man also whose life is evil may conclude with equal certainty that his heart is evil —
[Many, when they cannot deny the sinfulness of their conduct, will yet affirm that their hearts are good. But what is this but to affirm, in spite of the most indubitable evidence to the contrary, that a bramble is a vine or fig-tree ? Let any man put the question to his own conscience, Can a man, who lives in a neglect of God and his own soul, have a good heart ? Can the proud, the passionate, the revengeful, the lewd, the intemperate, the covetous, have good hearts? Then may a bramble be a fig-tree, notwithstanding it never bears any thing but thorns and briers.]
Address —
i 1 John iii. 9. e Matt. vii. 15. 16.