[That there are those who profess religion and yet griev- ously dishonour it by their conduct, is a melancholy truth ; and that the prejudices of many against religion are hereby greatly strengthened, is also true : but religion is no more accountable for the inconsistencies of those who profess it, than reason is for the follies of those who pervert it. What is the true tendency of love to Christ, has already appeared : and every one must try his professions by that test.
I would solemnly call upon all those who are habitually violating any one commandment, to remember, that all their pretended love to Christ is mere hypocrisy and delusion : and the more confident they are of their own acceptance with him, the more they deceive their own souls h.
And all who are in a measure shewing forth their faith by their works, I would exhort to abound more and more ; that, " making their light to shine more bright, they may constrain all around them to glorify their heavenly Father."]
2. A happy thing —
[As there are unholy, so are there also unhappy professors of religion. But shall we therefore conclude, that Christ will not fulfil his promises to his loving and obedient people ; or that there are any circumstances under which his presence with the soul cannot make it happy?]
h 1 John ii. 3, 4. Who would have thought that such persons as are here described, exist ? Yet they do exist. Compare the con- cluding words of this passage with the words immediately preceding the text. See also Jam. i. 26. and Matt. vii. 16 — 23.