And John Bunyan, with all
his genius, could never have given us such speaking likenesses as that of
Pliable and Temporary and Talkative, unless he had had scores of them in
his own congregation.
Our Lord's short preliminary description of Pliable goes, like all His
descriptions, to the very bottom of the whole matter. Our Lord in this
passage is like one of those masterly artists who begin their portrait-
painting with the study of anatomy. All the great artists in this walk
build up their best portraits from the inside of their subjects. He hath
not root in himself, says our Lord, and we need no more than that to be
told us to foresee how all his outside religion will end. 'Without self-
knowledge,' says one of the greatest students of the human heart that
ever lived, 'you have no real root in yourselves. Real self-knowledge is
the root of all real religious knowledge. It is a deceit and a mischief
to think that the Christian doctrines can either be understood or aright
accepted by any outward means. It is just in proportion as we search our
own hearts and understand our own nature that we shall ever feel what a
blessing the removal of sin will be; redemption, pardon, sanctification,
are all otherwise mere words without meaning or power to us.
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