The Principles of Moral and Christian Philosophy: In Two Volumes

Introduction

505 introduction An Explication of the Text. Gal. vi. 7. Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth thatshall he also reap. For he that soweth to his flesh,shallof thefleshreapcorruption: but he that soweth to the spirit, shall of the spirit reap life everlasting.5 In these words, we may observe, 1. A rule in the divine moral government , which is indeed the foundation of true religion, asserted in the strongest terms. Be not deceived, let no false teacher deceive you; and take careyou donot deceiveyourselves,becausesin,ortheloveof vicious pleasure, is deceitful above all things; for whatever you may vainly imagine , whatever you may be inclined or seduced to believe, this is an immutable law in the divine government, “That as one soweth so shall he also reap.” This is the law in all moral systems; and the law with regard tomanas heisarationalagent,whichGodhath,injustice,righteousness and benevolence, established; God, whose counsels cannot be mocked, frustrated or eluded: the law with regard to this our present state, as far as the ends of it require or permit; and the law according to which our fate will be determined in the life to come, to which this is but a prelude; to which this bears the same relation and proportion in the moral world, as seed-time does to harvest in the natural. When God’s scheme of government is so far advanced with respect to every man in particular, and to mankind in general, then shall this most equitable rule be more plainly perceived to have been the measure of the divine 5. Gal. 6.7–8. 506 original introduction conduct with regard to all men, than it can be at present, while we see but so small a part of the system which providence is carrying on to perfection. Be not deceived, (God is not mocked.) The word mock, (as the learned and worthy Dr. Samuel Clark observes in his excellent sermon on this text)6 which in the new Testament is in the original expressed by two or three synonimous terms, in its literal and most proper sense, signi fies deceiving any person, deluding him, or disappointing his expectation . Thus,a when Herod had ordered the wise men to bring him word where Jesus was; and by their returning privately into their owncountry another way, found himself disappointed of his expectation; the text expresses it, that he saw he was mocked of the wise men. At other times, it signifies affronting or abusing any person by open violence; b and they shall deliver him to the Gentiles to mock, and to scourge, and to crucify him. And sometimes it signifies pretending obedience and respect by way of derision, in a scornful insulting and despiteful manner. Thus,c when they had platted a crown of thorns, they put it upon his head, and a reed in his right hand for a sceptre, and they bowed the knee before him, and mocked him. In the literal and proper sense (continueth this admirable interpreter) of the phrase, it is impossible in the nature of things, that God should in any of these ways be mocked. But figuratively,consequentially, and in true reality of guilt and folly, all wicked men, who set themselves to oppose God’s kingdom of righteousness; who, without repentance, amendment and obedience to God’s commands, expect to escape, and teach others that they may escape his righteous judgment, are, in the Apostle’s estimation, mockers of God. For,d 1. They, as far as in them lies, confound the necessary reasons and proportions of things, and endeavour to take away the eternal and unchangeable difference of good and a. Matth. ii. 16. b. Matth. xx. 19. c. Matth. xxvii. 29. d. I abridge Dr. Clark’s Commentary a little. [Samuel Clarke (1675–1729): “God is not mocked,” Sermon 119, in Works, vol. 2.] 6. Clarke, Sermon 119, in Works, 2:29–31. original introduction 507 evil, which are the general order and rule of God’s creation, and thevery foundation of his government over the universe. For what is government , but the preserving of the order and reason of things, and suiting them to the capacities and qualificationsof persons?Toendeavourtherefore , either in doctrine or in practice, to set aside, or to elude this great and essential distinction of things, without which the government, and even the...