It is also,
II. An awful character —
^ Rom. ii. 17 — 20. <= Isai. xlviii. 2.
•^ Ezek. xxxiii. 31. <^ Isai. xxix. 1.'3.
In two respects do these persons fearfully betray their extreme folly and wickedness :
1. They grievously dishonour God —
[In proportion as they profess a zeal for God, is God implicated, if I may so say, in the evils which they commit. Not that God has indeed any responsibility on their account : but an ungodly world, who hate religion, will take occasion to condemn religion itself for the faults of those who profess it, yea, and to " blaspheme the very name of God himself on their account." Unreasonable as it is that *' the way of truth should be evil spoken of" on account of those who walk not according to its dictates, still this is what men will do, in vin- dication of themselves, and for the purpose of decrying all serious godliness*^. But this greatly aggravates the guilt of those who thus expose religion to contempt, and cast a stumbling-block in the way of a perishing world. Truly it were " better that a millstone were hanged about the neck of such persons, and that they should be cast into the sea," than that they should continue to involve themselves in such tre- mendous guilt.]
2. They fatally deceive their own souls —
[No persons are less disposed to suspect themselves than these. Their profession stands with them in the place of practice. They think only of what they do ; but never reflect on what they leave undone. If they " say. Lord, Lord," it never comes into their minds to inquire how far they " do the things which he requires of them." The godly themselves express not a greater confidence of their state before God, than these. Hence it is that they are so frequently warned against self-deceit ; " If a man think himself to be something when he is nothing, he deceiveth himself^." And again ; " If any man seem to be religious, and bridleth not his tongue, but deceiveth his own heart, that man's religion is vain''." Of such persons there is little, if any, hope : because they imagine themselves already possessed of all that the Gospel offers, and therefore are deaf to the invitations and entreaties which they deem applicable only to persons less favoured than themselves.]
Such an one is truly, III. A pitiable character —
In the midst of light '' they walk on still in dark- ness " —
f 2 Pet. ii. 2. Rom. ii. 23, 24. 1 Tim. vi. 1. ;; Gal. vi. 3. '' Jam. i. 26.