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The Tender Anxieties of
Ministers for Their People
From Timeless Grace Gems
by Samuel Davies, January 8, 1758
Ministers for Their People
From Timeless Grace Gems
by Samuel Davies, January 8, 1758
"My little children, of whom I travail in birth again until Christ is formed in you, I desire to be present with you now, and to change my voice: for I stand in doubt of you." Galatians 4:19-20
Nothing could be more agreeable to a sincere Christian who loves God and mankind, than to be fully satisfied of the real holiness and happiness of his fellow-creatures: and nothing is more painful than an anxious concern and fear in a matter he has so much at heart. Some profess themselves very easy in this respect, and they glory in this easiness as a high pitch of charity and benevolence. They hope well of all people - except, perhaps, their personal enemies, who, for that very reason, must be very worthless and execrable creatures. Though Scripture and reason do jointly declare, that men of bad lives who habitually indulge themselves in sin, and neglect the known duties of piety and morality, are not true Christians - but must be judged destitute of true piety by all who would judge according to evidence; "Yet, God forbid," say they, "that they should judge any man. They are not of a censorious spirit - but sincere and benevolent in their hopes of all." Thus they can venture to hope that the tree is good, even when the fruit is corrupt: that is, that a Christian may lead a wicked life.
But this temper ought not to be honored with the noble name of Charity. Let it be called ignorance, gross ignorance of the nature of true religion; or infidelity and avowed disbelief of what the Scripture determines concerning the character of a good man; or let it be called indifference, an indifference whether men are now good or bad, and whether they shall be happy or miserable hereafter. Where there is no true love or affectionate concern, there will be no uneasy jealousy. Or let it be called a mere artifice for self-defense. Men are often cautious for condemning others, not from benevolence to them - but out of mercy to themselves, not being willing to involve themselves in the same condemnation! Since they are conscious they are as bad as others - they must be sparing to others, in order to spare themselves! These are the true names of what passes current under the name of Charity in the world.
Paul, whose heart was capable of the kindest sentiments to mankind, could not enjoy the pleasure of this promiscuous charity. He could not thus conclude well of all - not even of all under the Christian name; not of all whom he once hoped were his spiritual children; no, not of all the members of the once flourishing churches of Galatia, where he met with so friendly a reception, and had so much promising appearance of success. "I stand in doubt of you!" says he.
The state and character of these churches, we may partly learn from this epistle. A considerable number of Galatians had been converted from heathenism to Christianity by Paul's ministry; and in the transports of their first zeal they made a very promising appearance: hence he puts them in mind that they had begun in the Spirit, (ch. 3:3.) that when they first started in the Christian race, they had run well, (ch. 5:7.) that they suffered many things in the cause of the gospel; (ch. 3:4.) and as to their affection to him, it was very extraordinary. "You received me," says he, "as an angel of God, even as Christ Jesus. I bear you record, that if it had been possible, you would have plucked out your own eyes, and have given them to me!" (ch. 4:14, 15.)
But alas! how naturally do the most flourishing churches tend to decay! How frail and fickle is man! How inconstant is popular applause! These promising churches of Galatia soon began to decline, and their favorite, Paul - their apostle and spiritual father, appeared in quite another light, appeared as their enemy, because he told them the truth. There was a spurious set of preachers in that age, who corrupted the pure gospel of Christ with Jewish mixture. The ceremonies of the law of Moses, and the traditions of their elders, they held as of perpetual and universal obligation; and as such they imposed them even upon the Christian converts from among the Gentiles, who never had anything to do with them. Had they been recommended to their observance as indifferences or prudentials, it would not have had such bad influence upon Christianity. But they continued to impose them as absolutely necessary to salvation, and represented the righteousness revealed in the gospel as insufficient without these additions. Thus they labored to corrupt the great doctrine of a sinner's justification by faith alone, through the righteousness of Jesus Christ - that grand article upon which the church stands or falls. These judaizing teachers had artfully insinuated themselves into the Galatian churches, and spread the poison of their legal doctrines. This sunk Paul in the esteem of his converts, and they exchanged his pure gospel for another, more adapted to their taste. In consequence of this, religion was declining fast among them; and Paul is alarmed lest he should have bestowed labor in vain upon them.
This epistle is an affectionate attempt to recover them. It is for the most part argumentative; for its author was not fond of moving their passions without enlightening their understandings. But sometimes he melts into the most pathetic strains, and gives the most affecting touches to the heart. Such a tender, passionate address is this in my text. "My little children, of whom I travail in birth again, until Christ is formed in you, I desire to be present with you now, and to change my voice; for I stand in doubt of you!" What a tender, moving, parental address is this!
"My little children." This is a fond, affectionate appellation; the language of a tender father. It strongly expresses his paternal love and solicitude for the Galatians. The same style he uses to the Thessalonians, "You know how we exhorted and comforted, and charged every one of you, as a father does his children." 1 Thessalonians 2:11. He may also call them his children, to intimate that he had begotten them by the gospel as spiritual children to God: or rather as the following words suggest, he alludes to the sickness and anxiety of a mother in conception, and the pangs and agonies of child-bearing; and by these he illustrates the pangs and agonies of zeal, and the affectionate solicitude he had felt for them while Christ was forming in them under his ministry, and they were in the critical hour of the new birth. He might well call them his children, because he had suffered all the pains of a mother for them! He adds the epithet little - my little children, because the fond language of a parent affects such diminutives, or perhaps to intimate their small progress in Christianity. They were but little children in grace still.
"My little children, of whom I travail in birth again." I have just observed this is an allusion to the painful disorders and pangs of conception and birth; by which the apostle strongly represents the agonies of affectionate zeal, and tender concerns he felt for the Galatians. But what rendered them doubly painful to him, was, that he was obliged to feel them more than once - I travail of you in birth again. He had cheerful hopes that Christ was indeed formed in them, and that they were born from above, and consequently that he should have no more occasion to feel those agonies and throes he had suffered for them. But alas! he had now reason to fear the contrary, and, therefore, he must again feel the same pangs and agonies - he must travail in birth again.
"Until Christ is formed in you;" that is, until they are made new creatures after the image of Christ; until the sacred fetus is formed in their hearts; until the heavenly embryo grows and ripens for birth, or until they are conformed to Jesus Christ in heart and practice - until then he can never be easy. Though they should retain the Christian name, though they should make great proficiency in other attainments, though they should become as much attached to him as ever - yet he must still feel the pangs of birth for them, until Christ is really formed in them.
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