Matt. xii. 30. He that is not zvith me, is against me ; and he that gathereth not with me, scattereth abroad.
TO inculcate a devotedness of heart to God, and to insist upon it as indispensably necessary to salva- tion, is generally deemed harsh and uncharitable : and certainly, if it were not required in Scripture, we should be exceedingly blame-worthy in so alarm- ing and terrifying the minds of men : but we must speak what God has spoken, and deliver faithfully what he has commissioned us to declare. To what purpose would it be for us to deceive our fellow- creatures ? We might speak of candour, and pro- phesy smooth things, and lull men asleep in sin ; but we could not invalidate the word of God, or reverse the sentence that he shall utter : the declaration of our Lord would still condemn both our hearers and ourselves : '' If we are not with him, we must be against him," and he will account us his enemies in the last day.
In considering this declaration, it will be proper,
I. To explain it —
Taken by itself, it has no material difficulty in it —
[The Lord Jesus Christ is a Sovereign, who is at war with all the powers of darkness: and we, as his subjects, are bound
to fight his battles Among the subjects of earthly
monarchs no neutrality is admitted : if their kingdom be in- vaded, all must unite to repel the enemy : neutrality in such a case would be treason. Now thus, whosoever joins not himself to the standard of our Lord, to fight under his banners, and to oppose his enemies, is a traitor to his cause ; "he is really against our Lord, if he be not for him." As a labourer who has neglected to gather up his corn, has in fact wasted and scattered the property of his employer, so he, whose duty it is to exert himself in gathering a harvest of souls for the Lord Jesus, if he neglect his duty, is really the means of alienating them the more, and of driving them farther from him.]
But, when compared with a passage of an opposite aspect, a considerable difficulty arises from it —
[Our Lord on another occasion used an expression appa- rently the very reverse of this : " He that is not against us, is on our part^" Now which of these assertions is true? for, in zvords, they plainly contradict each other : or, if both be true, how are we to reconcile them with each other ? The true way
a Mark ix. 40. VOL. XI. B B