John Brown, Hebrews Quote 14

Hebrews  by John Brown   p. 218

    It can never be too strongly stated—it can scarcely be too frequently repeated—that the religion of Christ is pre-eminently a spiritual religion; that to have the mind and heart, the thoughts and the affections, subjected to the divine authority, conformed to the divine will, forms its essence; and when these are wanting, it does not exist, however ingeniously the man may speculate, however fluently he may talk, however plausible may be his profession, and however regular his performance of the external offices of Christian devotion.  “Keep thy heart with all diligence,” is an injunction which ought to be constantly before the mind of all who are called by the name of Christ.  “As a man thinketh in his heart, so he is.”  The word of God, whether of promise or of threatening, refers to principles as well as to actions, and to actions only so far as they are the result and expression of principles.  If our minds and hearts are not in accordance with God’s word, we sin; and we may rest assured that “our sin,” though not manifesting itself strongly in outward acts, “will,” as Moses says, “find us out.”  However orthodox, then, may be our professed creed, however regular our external conduct, if our views of truth are not conformed to the mind of Christ, if our tempers and dispositions are not regulated by the statements of His word and subjected to the influence of His Spirit, though we may be called by His name, though we may be students and preachers of His word, we “are none of His.”  We are in reality unbelievers; and the threatening of God, that the unbeliever shall not enter into His rest, is as really pointed against us as against the professed infidel or the open apostate, and will as certainly be executed in reference to us as in reference to them.