Part 23

2. He turns from sin unto God; he first hates sin, and then flies from it, as seeing it to be the spring of all his grief and fears, that which separates between him and his God. Thus Ephraim, when brought to repentance, is represented as saying, _What have I to do any more with idols_, Hos. xiv. 8. reflecting on his past conduct, when addicted to them, with a kind of indignation; so the true penitent, who has hitherto been walking in those paths that lead to death and destruction, now enquires after the way of holiness, and the paths of peace; as he has hitherto walked contrary to God, now he desires to walk with him; and having wearied himself in the greatness of his way, and seeing no fruit in those things whereof he is now ashamed; and being brought into the utmost straits, he determines to return to his God and Father. And in doing this he purposes and endeavours to walk with him in all the ways of new obedience, as the apostle exhorts those who had received good by his ministry, that _with purpose of heart they would cleave unto the Lord_, Acts xi. 23. This purpose is not like those hasty resolutions which unconverted sinners make when God is hedging up their way with thorns, and they are under the most distressing apprehensions of his wrath. Then they say as the people did to Joshua, _We will serve the Lord_, Josh. xxiv. 22. though they are not sensible how difficult it is to fulfil the engagements which they lay themselves under, nor of the deceitfulness of their own hearts, and the need they stand in of grace from God, to enable them so to do. This purpose to walk with God, does not so much respect what a person will do hereafter; but it contains a resolution which is immediately put in execution, and so is opposed to his former obstinacy, when determining to go on in the way of his own heart. Thus the prodigal son, in the parable, no sooner resolved that he would _arise and go to his Father_, Luke xv. 18, compared with 20. but he arose and went. True repentance is always attended with endeavours after new obedience, so that a person lays aside that sloth and indolence which was inconsistent with his setting a due value on, or improving the means of grace; and, as the result hereof, he now exerts himself, with all his might, in pursuing after those things, whereby he may approve himself God’s faithful servant; and hereby he discovers the sincerity of his repentance; which he does, or rather is enabled to do, by that grace, which at first began, and then carries on this work in the soul, whereby he _has his fruit unto holiness, and the end_ thereof _everlasting life_, Rom. vi. 22.

From what has been said concerning repentance, we may infer,

(1.) That since it is a grace that accompanies salvation, and consequently is absolutely necessary thereunto, it is an instance of unwarrantable and bold presumption, for impenitent sinners to expect, that they shall be made partakers of the benefits which Christ has purchased, while they continue in a state of enmity, opposition, and rebellion against him; or that they shall be saved by him in their sins, without being saved from them; for _he that covereth his sins shall not prosper; but whoso confesseth and forsaketh them, shall have mercy_, Prov. xxviii. 13.

(2.) Since repentance is the work of the Spirit, and his gift, we infer, that whatever endeavours we are obliged to use, or whatever motives or inducements are given to lead us hereunto, we must not conclude, that it is in our own power to repent when we please; and therefore it should be the matter of our earnest and constant prayer to God, that he would turn our hearts, give us a true sight and sense of sin, accompanied with faith in Christ, as Ephraim is represented, saying, _Turn thou me, and I shall be turned_, Jer. xxxi. 18.

(3.) Let not those that have a distressing sense of their former sins, how great soever they have been, give way to despairing thoughts; but lay hold on the mercy of God in Christ, extended to the chief of sinners, and improve it to encourage them to hate sin, and forsake it from evangelical motives, which will have a tendency to remove their fears while they look on God, not as a sin-revenging Judge, but a reconciled Father, ready and willing to receive those who return to him with unfeigned repentance.

(4.) Since we daily commit sin, it follows from hence, that we stand in need of daily repentance: and this being a branch of sanctification, as sanctification is a progressive work, so is repentance. We are not to expect that sin should be wholly extirpated, while we are in this imperfect state; and therefore it is constantly to be bewailed, and, by the grace of God working effectually in us, avoided; that, as the result hereof, we may have a comfortable hope that that promise shall be fulfilled, _They that sow in tears shall reap in joy_, Psal. cxxvi. 5.

Footnote 222:

It has been, perhaps correctly, asserted that repentance is neither a duty discoverable by the law of nature, nor the written law of God; because it is unfit, that a law, appointing death for the violation of its precept, should also discover to the culprit a way of escape from its own penalty incurred.

But there existed purposes of mercy before the law was made; these have been revealed by a gracious Sovereign; the condition of men, as prisoners of hope possessing competent evidence of the compassion of the Lawgiver, points to repentance. Sacrifices in former ages discover not only a consciousness of guilt, but a glimmering hope at least, of pardon. It is possible that these were the offspring of tradition among the Gentiles, rather than the deductions of the light of nature. But in either way, sorrow for sin is a duty founded on the will of God.

It is therefore a duty, perfectly reasonable, and expressly revealed on the sacred page. The strength to perform it is from the King of Providence and Grace.

There is necessary in its production a discovery of guilt, liability to misery, and entire helplessness. The general belief, or profession of these truths, does not prove in event to be a cause adequate to produce a total change in a man’s views, pursuits, desires, aversions, labours, joys, and sorrows. There is necessary some deep sense, or strong conviction of guilt. This, with respect to its proximate cause, may originate in various ways; by reflecting on the Divine Sovereignty and Majesty; by a solemn contemplation of the excellency and loveliness of the moral perfection of Deity; by an affecting sight of his goodness and mercy to the individual in particular; by attending to the awful subject of Divine Justice, seen in the sufferings of Christ, or anticipated in the future judgment, and final sufferings of the damned. Such convictions are produced in great mercy to the individual, how dearly soever they cost him, whether the prostrated idols, on which the sensual affections were fastened, were companions, friends, relations, honour or wealth. Disease, approaching death, or any thing which shall dissolve the unhallowed attachment to earth, may by the Divine blessing produce this change, the glory of which will always really belong to Divine grace, which works unseen.

The bitterness of such sorrows is sometimes extreme, when he who wounded alone can cure. The effects of it are subsequently salutary, both to deter from sin and to strengthen the party’s faith.

The degrees of penitential sorrow are extremely various in different converts. He who has been convinced of gospel truths step by step, and has been in the same manner brought to the love and fear of God, and to a universal conscientiousness, may have grounds of peace and comfort equally safe, as he whose convictions have been the most sensible; for not their height but their fruits prove them to be genuine.

Footnote 77:

Grace here is put for repentance, and not the immediate influence on the soul.

Quest. LXXVII.

QUEST. LXXVII. _Wherein do justification and sanctification differ?_

ANSW. Although sanctification be inseparably joined with justification; yet they differ, in that God in justification, imputeth the righteousness of Christ, in sanctification his Spirit infuseth grace, and enableth to the exercise thereof; in the former sin is pardoned, in the other it is subdued; the one doth equally free all believers from the revenging wrath of God, and that perfectly in this life, that they never fall into condemnation, the other is neither equal in all, nor in this life perfect in any, but growing up to perfection.

This answer being principally a recapitulation of what is contained in those that have been already insisted on, wherein the doctrine of justification and sanctification are particularly explained, we shall not much enlarge on it; but since there are some who suppose that one of these graces may be attained without the other; and others confound them, as though to be justified and to be sanctified implied the same thing; we shall briefly consider,

I. That which is supposed in this answer, namely, that sanctification and justification are inseparably joined together; and accordingly, no one has a warrant to claim one without the other: This appears in that they are graces that accompany salvation. When the apostle connects justification and effectual calling together, in the golden chain of our salvation, Rom. viii. 30. he includes sanctification in this calling. And elsewhere, when Christ is said to be _made righteousness and redemption_ to us for our justification, he is, at the same time, said to be made _wisdom and sanctification_, 1 Cor. i. 31. and we are said to be _saved by the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Ghost_, Tit. iii. 5. which is the beginning of the work of sanctification; _that being justified by his grace, we should be made heirs according to the hope of eternal life_; and speaking of some who were once great sinners, and afterwards made true believers, he says, concerning them, that they were _washed, sanctified, and justified in the name of the Lord Jesus, and by the Spirit of our God_, 1 Cor. vi. 11. And when God promises to pardon and _pass by the transgression of the remnant of his heritage_, Micah vii. 18, 19. he also gives them ground to expect that he would _subdue their iniquities_; the former is done in justification, the latter in sanctification.

From the connexion that there is between justification and sanctification, we infer: that no one has ground to conclude that his sins are pardoned, and that he shall be saved while he is in an unsanctified state; for as this tends to turn the grace of God into wantonness, so it separates what he has joined together, and it is a certain evidence that they who thus divide them, are neither justified nor sanctified. Let us therefore give diligence to evince the truth of our justification, by our sanctification, or that we have a right and title to Christ’s righteousness, by the life of faith, and the exercise of all those other graces that accompany or flow from it.

II. We have, in this answer, an account of some things in which justification and sanctification differ, as,

1. In justification God imputes the righteousness of Christ to us; whereas, in sanctification the Spirit infuseth grace, and enableth to the exercise thereof. What it is for God to impute Christ’s righteousness hath been before considered; the only thing that we shall now observe is, that the righteousness whereby we are justified, is, without us, wrought out by Christ, for us; so that it is _by his obedience_, as the apostle expresses it, that _we are made righteous_, Rom. v. 19. and that which Christ did as our Surety, is placed to our account, and accepted by the justice of God, as though it had been done by us, as has been before observed: Whereas, in sanctification, the graces of the Spirit are wrought and excited in us, we are denominated holy, and our right to eternal life is evinced, though not procured.

2. In justification sin is pardoned, in sanctification it is subdued; the former takes away the guilt thereof, the latter its reigning power. Where sin is pardoned, it shall not be our ruin; but yet it gives us daily disturbance and uneasiness, makes work for repentance, and is to be opposed by our dying to it, and living to righteousness. This is therefore sufficiently distinguished from justification, which is also to be considered as a motive or inducement leading to it.

3. They differ, in that justification equally frees all believers from the avenging wrath of God, in which respect it is perfect in this life, so that a justified person shall never fall into condemnation; whereas, the work of sanctification is not equal in all, nor perfect in this life, but growing up to perfection. For the understanding of which, let us consider, that when we speak of justification as perfect in this life, or say, that all are equally justified, we mean, that where God forgives one sin, he forgives all; so that _there is no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus_, as the apostle says, chap. viii. 1. and he adds, _Who shall lay any thing to the charge of God’s elect? it is God that justifieth; who is he that condemneth? it is Christ that died_, ver. 33, 34. Were it not so, a person might be said to be justified, and not have a right to eternal life, which implies a contradiction; for though he might be acquitted, as to the guilt charged upon him by one indictment, he would be condemned by that which is contained in another.

We may from hence infer, that all justified persons have an equal right to conclude themselves discharged from guilt, and the condemning sentence of the law of God; though all cannot see their right to claim this privilege by reason of the weakness of their faith. As for sanctification, that, on the other hand, is far from being equal in all; since the best of believers have reason to complain of the weakness of their faith, and the imperfection of all other graces which are wrought in them by the Spirit. If it be enquired from whence this imperfection of sanctification arises, that is the subject of the following answer.

Quest. LXXVIII.

QUEST. LXXVIII. _Whence ariseth the imperfection of sanctification in believers?_

ANSW. The imperfection of sanctification in believers, ariseth from the remains of sin abiding in every part of them, and the perpetual lustings of the flesh against the spirit, whereby they are often foiled with temptations, and fall into many sins, are hindered in all their spiritual services, and their best works are imperfect and defiled in the sight of God.

In this answer we may consider,

I. That there is something supposed, namely, that the work of sanctification is imperfect in this life, or that there are the remnants of sin still abiding in the best of men.

II. In what the imperfection of sanctification more especially discovers itself; and in particular, what we are to understand by the lusting of the flesh against the Spirit. And,

III. The consequences hereof, to wit, their being foiled with temptations, falling into many sins, and being hindered in their spiritual services.

1. As to the thing supposed in this answer, that the work of sanctification is imperfect in this life: This must be allowed by all who are not strangers to themselves, as it is said, _There is not a just man upon the earth that doth good and sinneth not_, Eccl. vii. 20. fine gold is not without a mixture of some baser metal, or alloy; even so our best frames of spirit, when we think ourselves nearest heaven, or when we have most communion with God, are not without a tincture of indwelling sin, that is easy to be discerned in us. Whatever grace we exercise, there are some defects attending it, either with respect to the manner of its exerting itself, or the degree thereof; therefore perfection, how desirable soever it be, is a blessing which we cannot, at present, attain to: And if it be thus with us, when at the best, we shall find, that at other times, corrupt nature not only discovers itself, but gives us great interruption and disturbance, so that the work of sanctification seems to be, as it were, at a stand, and we are hereby induced to question the truth and sincerity of our graces; and if, notwithstanding this, we have sufficient ground to conclude, that our hearts are right with God; yet we are obliged to say with the apostle, that we are _carnal, sold under sin_; and that, _when we would do good, evil is present with us_, Rom. vii. 14. compared with 21. which is an undeniable argument of the imperfection of the work of sanctification.

The contrary opinion to this is maintained by many who pretend that perfection is attainable in this life; and to give countenance hereunto, they refer to some scriptures, in which persons are characterized as _perfect_ men; and others wherein perfection is represented as a duty incumbent on us; as our Saviour says, _Be ye perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect_, Matt. v. 48. and the apostle, in his valedictory exhortation to the church, advises them to _be perfect_, as well as _of one mind_; as they expected that the God of love and peace should be with them, 2 Cor. xiii. 11.

But to this it may be replied, that these scriptures do not speak of a sinless perfection, but of such a perfection as is opposed to hypocrisy; as Hezekiah says concerning himself, that he had _walked before the Lord in truth, and with a perfect heart_, Isa. xxxviii. 3. Accordingly, the perfection of those who are thus described in scripture, is explained as denoting their uprightness. Thus Job is described, as _a perfect and upright man, one that feared God and eschewed evil_, Job i. 1. compared with 8. though he elsewhere disclaims any pretensions to a sinless perfection; as he expresses himself, _If I say I am perfect, mine own mouth shall prove me perverse_, chap. ix. 20. And when Noah is said to be _perfect in his generation_, this is explained as denoting that he was a _just_ or an _holy man_, and one that _walked with God_, Gen. vi. 9.

As for other scriptures, which speak of perfection as a duty incumbent on us, they are to be understood concerning the perfection of grace, as to those essential parts thereof, without which it could not be denominated true and genuine, and not as respecting a perfection of degrees. True grace is perfect indeed, as it contains in it those necessary ingredients, whereby an action is denominated good in all its circumstances, in opposition to that which is so, only in some respects; and therefore it must proceed from a good principle, an heart renewed by regenerating grace; it must be agreeable to the rule which God has prescribed in the gospel, and be performed in a right manner, and for right ends: Thus a person may be said to be a perfect man, in like manner as a new-born infant is denominated a man, as having all the essential perfections of the human nature; though not arrived to that perfection, in other respects, which it shall afterwards attain to: Accordingly grace, when described, in scripture, as perfect, is sometimes explained as alluding to a metaphor, taken from a state of perfect manhood, in opposition to that of children: Thus the apostle speaks of some, whom he represents, _as being of full age_; where the same word is used[223], which is elsewhere rendered _perfect_; and these are opposed to others whom he had before been speaking of, as weak believers, or _babes_ in Christ; Heb., v. 13, 14. And elsewhere he speaks of the church, which he styles the _body of Christ_, as arrived to a state of manhood, and so calls it a perfect man; having attained _the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ_; still alluding to that stature which persons arrive to when they are adult; and these he opposes in the following words, to children, who, through the weakness of their faith, were liable to be _tossed to and fro, and carried about with every wind of doctrine_, Eph. iv. 13, 14. And in other places, where Christians are described as perfect, there is a word used, which signifies their having that internal furniture whereby they are prepared or disposed to do what is good: Thus the apostle speaks of _the man of God_ being _perfect_[78], that is, _throughly furnished unto all good works_, 2 Tim. iii. 17. And elsewhere he prays, for those to whom he writes, that God would _make them perfect in_, or for _every good work_, to the end _that they may do his will_[79], which is such a perfection as is necessary to our putting forth any act of grace; and therefore it does not in the least infer that perfection which they plead for, whom we are now opposing.

And, indeed, it is not barely the sense they give of those scriptures that speak of persons being perfect, which they cannot but suppose may be otherwise understood, that gives them occasion to defend this doctrine; but the main thing on which it is founded, is, that God does not require sinless perfection of fallen man, inasmuch as that is impossible; and therefore he calls that perfection, which includes in it our using those endeavours to lead a good life, which are in our own power. This is agreeable to the Pelagian scheme, and to that which the Papists maintain, who make farther advances on the Pelagian hypothesis; and assert, not only that men may attain perfection in this life, but that they may arrive to such a degree thereof, as exceeds the demands of the law, and perform works of supererogation; which doctrine is calculated to establish that of justification by works.

But that which may be alleged in opposition hereunto, is, that it is disagreeable to the divine perfections, and a notorious making void the law of God, to assert that our obligation to yield perfect obedience, ceases, because we have lost our power to perform it; as though a person’s being insolvent, were a sufficient excuse for his not paying a just debt. We must distinguish between God’s demanding perfect obedience, as an out-standing debt, which is consistent with the glory of his holiness and sovereignty, as a law-giver; and his determining that we shall not be saved, unless we perform it in our own persons: and we also distinguish between his connecting a right to eternal life with our performing perfect obedience, as what he might justly insist on according to the tenor of the first covenant, as our Saviour tells the young man in the gospel, _If thou wilt enter into life keep the commandments_, Matt. xix. 16. and his resolving that we shall not be saved, unless we are able to perform it. The gospel purposes another expedient, namely, that they who were obliged to yield perfect obedience, and ought to be humbled for their inability to perform it, should depend on Christ’s righteousness, which is the foundation of their right to eternal life, in which respect they are said to be perfect, or _compleat in him_, Col. ii. 10. which is the only just notion of perfection, as attainable in this life: and, to conclude this head, it is very unreasonable for a person to suppose that God will abate some part of the debt of perfect obedience, and so to call our performing those works, which have many imperfections adhering to them, a state of perfection, which is to make it an easier matter to be a Christian than God has made it. Thus concerning the thing supposed in this answer, _viz._ that the work of sanctification is imperfect in this life.