THE IMPORTANCE OF BEING CONFORMED TO GOD's IMAGE.
1 John i. 5 — 7. This then is the message which we have heard of him, and declare unto you, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all. If we say that we have fellowship with him, and walk in darkness, we lie, and do not the truth: but if we ivalk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fel- lowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin.
IN fulfilling the ministerial office, it is not suffi- cient that we set before our people the evidences of Christianity, or inculcate the performance of some moral duties : we are messengers from God to men ; and we must " declare to them the message which we have received from him." We must not alter or conceal any part of that which we have been com- manded to deliver ; but must make known the whole counsel of God; and, having declared it with all
plainness and fidelity, must urge the acceptance of it with all the energy we possess.
^ e have a message then from God to you : we arc commanded to open to you the Divine character, and to call you by the most impressive arguments to become conformed to his image. In discharging this duty we proceed to set before you,
I. The character of God —
The term " light," in Scripture, has various ac- ceptations ; but there are two things which we shall notice as more particularly comprehended in it in the words before us. It is the property of light to dis- cover all things ; and it is perfectly pure and inca- pable of pollution : when therefore it is said, that " God is light," we must understand it as designating,
1. His infinite knowledge —
[God is " a God of knowledge5*." " There is no creature which is not manifest in his sight." The transactions of dark- ness are not hid from him : he sees the adulterer, that avails himself of the darkness of the night to visit his guilty para- mour. His eye is upon the thief, that lays his hand upon his neighbour's property. He notices the fraudulent dealer, who sells by false weights and measures, or takes advantage of the purchaser's ignorance to get rid of a bad commodity, and to exact of him a higher price than it is worth. Nor is it the actions only that God inspects ; his eyes are not only on our ways, but on our very hearts. We are apt to think that " the thick clouds are a covering to him, so that he cannot seeb;" but "the darkness and light to him are both alike0:" "He searcheth the heart, and trieth the reins'1:" "He knows the things that come into our minds, every one of theme :" " He weigheth our spirits f," and discerns the precise quantity of >d or evil that there is in all our thoughts and desires : yea, " He knows the imaginations that we go about, even now, years before" the thoughts are distinctly formed in our hearts^. Our inmost souls are as much open to his view, as the sacrifices were to the priest, when he had flayed them for the purpose of examining the flesh, and cut them open to inspect their inward parts'1. In short, " with him is no darkness at all:" " hell
a 1 Sam. ii. 3. b Job xxii. 13, 14. c Ps. exxxix. 11, 12.
d Jer. xvii. 10. e Ezek. xi. 5. f Prov. xvi. 2.
* Deut. xxxi. 21. h This is the idea suggested, Heb. iv. 13.
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and destruction are before him ; much more the hearts of the children of men1."]
2. His unspotted holiness —
[" Light" is perhaps the only thing which is incapable of being polluted ; and therefore is peculiarly fit to represent the immaculate purity of God.