Part 8

II. 1. These things considered, it will be easy to shew, as I proposed to do in the second place, the folly of trusting in the _righteousness which is of the law_, and the wisdom of _submitting to the righteousness which is of faith_.

The folly of those who still trust, in the _righteousness which is of the law_, the terms of which are, Do this and live, may abundantly appear from thence. They set out wrong. Their very first step is a fundamental mistake. For before they can ever think of claiming any blessing on the terms of this covenant, they must suppose themselves to be in his state, with whom this covenant was made. But how vain a supposition is this? Since it was made with _Adam_ in a state of innocence. How weak therefore must that whole building be, which stands on such a foundation? And how foolish are they who thus build on the sand? Who seem never to have considered, that the covenant of works was not given to man, when he was dead in trespasses and sins, but when he was alive to God, when he knew no sin, but was holy as God is holy: who forget, that it was never design’d for the _recovery_ of the favour and life of God once lost, but only for the _continuance_ and increase thereof, till it should be compleat in life everlasting.

2. Neither do they consider, who are thus _seeking to establish their own righteousness which is of the law_, what manner of obedience or righteousness that is, which the law indispensably requires. It must be perfect and entire, in every point, or it answers not the demand of the law. But which of you is able to perform such obedience? Or, consequently, to live thereby? Who among you fulfils every jot and tittle even of the outward commandments of God? Doing nothing, great or small, which God forbids? Leaving nothing undone which he enjoins? Speaking no _idle word_? Having your conversation always _meet to minster grace to the hearers_? And _whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do_, doing _all to the glory of God_? And how much less are you able to fulfil all the inward commandments of God? Those which require, that every temper and motion of your soul should be holiness unto the Lord? Are you able, To _love God with all your heart_? To love all mankind as your own soul? To _pray without ceasing? In every thing to give thanks?_ To have God always before you? And to keep every affection, desire and thought, in obedience to his law?

3. You should farther consider, that the righteousness of the law requires, not only the obeying every command of God, negative and positive, internal and external, but likewise in the perfect degree. In every instance whatever, the voice of the law is, Thou shalt serve the Lord thy God with all thy strength. It allows no abatement of any kind. It excuses no defect. It condemns every coming short of the full measure of obedience, and immediately pronounces a curse on the offender. It regards only the invariable rules of justice, and faith, “I know not to shew mercy.”

4. Who then can appear before such a judge, who is _extreme to mark what is done amiss_? How weak are they who desire to be tried at the bar, where _no flesh living can be justified_? None of the offspring of _Adam_. For suppose we did now keep every commandment with all our strength: yet one single breach which ever was, utterly destroys our whole claim to life. If we have ever offended, in any one point, this righteousness is at an end. For the law condemns all who do not perform uninterrupted as well as perfect obedience. So that according to the sentence of this, for him who hath once sinned, in any degree, _there remaineth only a fearful looking for of fiery indignation, which shall devour the adversaries_ of God.

5. Is it not then the very foolishness of folly, for fallen man to seek life by this righteousness? For man, who was _shapen in wickedness_, and _in sin did his mother conceive him_: man, who is by nature all _earthly, sensual, devilish_, altogether _corrupt and abominable_: in whom till he find grace, _dwelleth no good thing_; nay, who cannot of himself think one good thought? Who is indeed all sin, a mere lump of ungodliness, and who commits sin in every breath he draws; whose actual transgressions, in word and deed, are more in number than the hairs of his head! What stupidity, what senselesness must it be for such an unclean, guilty, helpless worm as this, to dream of seeking acceptance by _his own righteousness_, of living by _the righteousness which is of the law_?

6. Now whatsoever considerations prove the folly of trusting in the _righteousness which is of the law_, prove equally the wisdom of submitting to _the righteousness which is of God by faith_. This were easy to be shewn with regard to each of the preceding considerations. But to wave this, the wisdom of the first step hereto, the disclaiming our own righteousness, plainly appears from hence, that it is acting according to truth, to the real nature of things. For what is it more, than to acknowledge with our heart as well as lips, the true state wherein we are? To acknowledge, that we bring with us into the world, a corrupt, sinful nature; more corrupt indeed than we can easily conceive, or find words to express? That hereby we are prone to all that is evil, and averse from all that is good; that we are full of pride, self-will, unruly passions, foolish desires; vile and inordinate affections; lovers of the world, lovers of pleasure more than lovers of God? That our lives have been no better than our hearts, but many ways ungodly and unholy; insomuch that our actual sins, both in word and deed, have been as the stars of heaven for multitude: that on all these accounts, we are displeasing to him, who is of purer eyes than to behold iniquity; and deserve nothing from him, but indignation and wrath and death, the due wages of sin? That we cannot by any of our righteousness, (for indeed, we have none at all) nor by any of our works (for they are as the tree from which they grow) appease the wrath of God, or avert the punishment we have justly deserved? Yea, that, if left to ourselves, we shall only wax worse and worse, sink deeper and deeper into sin, offend God more and more, both with our evil works and with the evil tempers of our carnal mind, till we fill up the measure of our iniquities, and bring upon ourselves swift destruction? And is not this the very state wherein by nature we are? To acknowledge this then, both with our heart and lips, that is, to disclaim our own righteousness, _the righteousness which is of the law_, is to act according to the real nature of things, and consequently is an instance of true wisdom.

7. The wisdom of submitting to _the righteousness of faith_, appears farther from this consideration, that it is the righteousness of God: I mean here, it is that method of reconciliation with God, which hath been chose and established by God himself, not only as he is the God of wisdom, but as he is the sovereign Lord of heaven and earth, and of every creature which he hath made. Now, as it is not meet for man to say unto God, What dost thou? As none who is not utterly void of understanding, will contend with one that is mightier than he, with him whose kingdom ruleth over all; so it is true wisdom, it is a mark of sound understanding, to acquiesce in whatever he hath chosen, to say in this, as in all things, “It is the Lord; let him do what seemeth him good.”

8. It may be farther considered, that it was of mere grace, of free love, of undeserved mercy, that God hath vouchsafed to sinful man, any way of reconciliation with himself, that we were not cut away from his hand, and utterly blotted out of his remembrance. Therefore whatever method he is pleased to appoint, of his tender mercy, of his unmerited goodness, whereby his enemies, who have so deeply revolted from him, so long and obstinately rebelled against him, may still find favour in his sight, it is doubtless our wisdom to accept with all thankfulness.

9. To mention but one consideration more. It is wisdom to aim at the best end by the best means. Now the best end which any creature can pursue, is happiness in God. And the best end a fallen creature can pursue is, the recovery of the favour and image of God. But the best, indeed the only means under heaven given to man, whereby he may regain the favour of God, which is better than life itself, or the image of God, which is the true life of the soul, is the submitting to the _righteousness which is of faith_, the believing in the only-begotten Son of God.

III. 1. Whosoever therefore thou art who desirest to be forgiven and reconciled to the favour of God; do not say in thy heart, “I must _first do this_; I must _first_ conquer every sin; break off every evil word and work, and do all good to all men: or, I must _first_ go to church, receive the Lord’s supper, hear more sermons, and say more prayers.” Alas, my brother, thou art clean gone out of the way, thou art still _ignorant of the righteousness of God_, and art _seeking to establish thy own righteousness_, as the ground of thy reconciliation. Knowest thou not, that thou canst do nothing but sin, ’till thou art reconciled to God? Wherefore then dost thou say, I _must do this_ and this _first_, and then I shall believe. Nay, but _first believe_. Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, the propitiation for thy sins. Let this good foundation _first_ be laid, and then thou shall do all things well.

Neither say in thy heart, “I can’t be accepted yet, because I am not _good enough_.” Who is _good enough_? Who ever was? To merit acceptance at God’s hand’s? Was ever any child of _Adam good enough_ for this? Or will any, till the consummation of all things? And as for thee, thou art not good at all: there dwelleth in thee no good thing. And thou never wilt be, till thou believe in Jesus. Rather thou wilt find thyself worse and worse. But is there any need of being worse, in order to be accepted? Art thou not _bad enough_ already? Indeed thou art, and that God knoweth. And thou thyself canst not deny it. Then delay not. All things are now ready. _Arise and wash away thy sins._ The fountain is open. Now is the time, to wash thee white in the blood of the Lamb. Now he shall _purge_ thee as with _hyssop, and_ thou _shalt be clean; he_ shall _wash_ thee, and thou _shalt be whiter than snow_.

3. Do not say, “But I am not _contrite enough_: I am not _sensible enough_ of my sins.” I know it. I would to God, thou wert more _sensible_ of them, more _contrite_ a thousand fold than thou art. But do not stay for this. It may be God will make thee so, not before thou believest, but by believing. It may be, thou wilt not weep much, till thou lovest much, because thou hast had much forgiven. In the mean time, look unto Jesus. Behold how he loveth thee! What could he have done more for thee which he hath not done?

“O Lamb of God, was ever pain, Was ever love like thine!”

Look steddily upon him, till he looks on thee, and breaks thy hard heart. Then shall thy _head_ ♦be _waters, and_ thy _eyes fountains of tears_.

4. Nor yet do thou say, “I must _do_ something more, _before_ I come to Christ.” I grant, supposing thy Lord should delay his coming, it were meet and right to wait for his appearing, in doing, so far as thou hast power, whatsoever he hath commanded thee. But there is no necessity for making such a supposition. How knowest thou that he will delay? Perhaps he will appear, as the day-spring from on high, before the morning-light. O do not set him a time. Expect him every hour. Now, he is nigh! Even at the door!

5. And to what end wouldst thou wait for _more sincerity, before_ thy sins are blotted out? To make thee more worthy of the grace of God? Alas, thou art still _establishing thy own righteousness_. He will have mercy, not because thou art worthy of it, but because his compassions fail not: not because thou art righteous; but because Jesus Christ hath atoned for thy sins.

Again, if there be any thing good in _sincerity_, why dost thou expect it, _before_ thou hast faith? Seeing faith itself is the only root of whatever is really good and holy.

Above all, how long wilt thou forget, that whatsoever thou dost, or whatsoever thou hast, before thy sins are forgiven thee, it avails nothing with God, toward the procuring of thy forgiveness? Yea, and that it must all be cast behind thy back, trampled under foot, made no account of, or thou wilt never find favour in God’s sight: because until then thou canst not ask it, as a mere sinner, guilty, lost, undone, having nothing to plead, nothing to offer to God, but only the merits of his well-beloved Son, _who loved_ thee, _and gave himself for_ thee.

6. * To conclude. Whosoever thou art, O man, who hast the sentence of death in thyself, who feelest thyself a condemned sinner, and hast the wrath of God abiding on thee: unto thee saith the Lord, Not, do this; perfectly obey all my commands and live: but, _Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved. The word of faith is nigh unto thee_; now, at this instant, in the present moment, and in thy present state, sinner as thou art, just as thou art, believe the gospel: and _I will be merciful unto |thy| unrighteousness and |thy| iniquities will I remember no more_.

SERMON VII.

MARK i. 15.

_The Kingdom of God is at hand: repent ye, and believe the gospel._

THESE words naturally lead us to consider, first, The nature of true religion, here termed by our Lord, _The kingdom of God_, which, saith he, _is at hand_: and secondly, The way thereto, which he points out in those words, _Repent ye, and believe the gospel_.

I. 1. We are, first, to consider, The nature of true religion, here term’d by our Lord, _The kingdom of God_. The same expression the great apostle uses in his epistle to the _Romans_, where he likewise explains his Lord’s words, saying, _The kingdom of God is not meat and drink; but righteousness, and peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost_. Chap. xiv. 17.

2. _The kingdom of God_, or true religion, _is not meat and drink_. It is well known, that not only the unconverted Jews, but great numbers of those who had received the faith of Christ, were notwithstanding _zealous of the law_, (_Acts_ xxi. 20.) even the ceremonial law of _Moses_. Whatsoever therefore they found written therein, either concerning meat and drink-offerings, or the distinction between clean and unclean meats, they not only observed themselves, but vehemently pressed the same, even on those _among the Gentiles_ (or Heathens) _who were turned to God_. Yea, to such a degree, that some of them taught, wheresoever they came among them, _Except ye be circumcised, and keep the law_, (the whole ritual law) _ye cannot be saved_, Acts xv. 1, 24.

3. In opposition to these, the apostle declares, both here and in many other places, that true religion does not consist in _meat_ and _drink_, or in any ritual observances: nor indeed in any outward thing whatever, in any thing exterior to the heart; the whole substance thereof lying in _righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost_.

4. Not in any _outward thing_; such as _forms_ or _ceremonies_, even of the most excellent kind. Supposing these to be ever so decent and significant, ever so expressive of inward things: supposing them ever so helpful, not only to the vulgar, whose thought reaches little farther than their sight; but even to men of understanding, men of stronger capacities, as doubtless they may sometimes be: yea, supposing them, as in the case of the Jews, to be appointed by God himself; yet even during the period of time wherein that appointment remains in force, true religion does not principally consist therein; nay, strictly speaking, not at all. How much more must this hold concerning such rites and forms, as are only of human appointment? The religion of Christ rises infinitely higher, and lies immensely deeper than all these. These are good in their place; just so far as they are in fact subservient to true religion. And it were superstition to object against them, while they are applied only as occasional helps to human weakness. But let no man carry them farther. Let no man dream, that they have any intrinsick worth: or that religion cannot subsist without them. This were to make them an abomination to the Lord.

5. The nature of religion is so far from consisting in these, in _forms_ of worship, or _rites_ and _ceremonies_, that it does not properly consist in any _outward actions_, of what kind soever. It is true, a man cannot have any religion, who is guilty of vicious, immoral actions; or who does to others, what he would not they should do to him, if he were in the same circumstance. And it is also true, that he can have no real religion, who _knows to do good, and doth it not_. Yet may a man both abstain from outward evil, and do good, and still have no religion. Yea, two persons may do the same outward work, suppose, feeding the hungry, or cloathing the naked: and, mean time, one of these may be truly religious, and the other have no religion at all: for the one may act from the love of God, and the other from the love of praise. So manifest it is; that altho’ true religion naturally leads to every good word and work, yet the real nature thereof lies deeper still, even in _the hidden man of the heart_.

6. I say, of _the heart_. For neither does religion consist in _orthodoxy_ or _right opinions_; which altho’ they are not properly outward things, are not in the heart, but the understanding. A man may be orthodox in every point; he may not only espouse right opinions, but zealously defend them against all opposers: he may think justly concerning the incarnation of our Lord, concerning the ever blessed Trinity, and every other doctrine, contained in the oracles of God: He may assent to all the three creeds: that called the apostles’, the _Nicene_, and the _Athanasian_: and yet ’tis possible, he may have no religion at all, no more than a _Jew_, _Turk_, or _Pagan_. He may be almost as orthodox as――――the devil; (tho’ indeed, not altogether. For every man errs in something; whereas we can’t well conceive him to hold any erroneous opinion) and may all the while be as great a stranger as he, to the religion of the heart.

7. This alone is religion, truly so call’d: this alone is in the sight of God of great price. The apostle sums it all up in three particulars, _righteousness, and peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost_. And first, _righteousness_. We cannot be at a loss concerning this, if we remember the words of our Lord describing the two grand branches thereof, on which _hang all the law and the prophets. Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy mind, and with all thy soul, and with all thy strength.[22] This is the first and great commandment_, the first and great branch of Christian righteousness. Thou shalt delight thyself in the Lord thy God; thou shalt seek and find all happiness in him. He shall be _thy shield, and thy exceeding great reward_, in time and in eternity. All thy bones shall say, _Whom have I in heaven but thee? And there is none upon earth that I desire beside thee!_ Thou shalt hear, and fulfil his word who saith, _My son, give me thy heart_. And having given him thy heart, thy inmost soul, to reign there without a rival, thou mayest well cry out, in the fulness of thy heart, _I will love thee, O Lord, my strength. The Lord is my strong rock and my defence: my Saviour, my God, and my might, in whom I will trust; my buckler, the horn also of my salvation, and my refuge._

8. And the second commandment is like unto this; the second great branch of Christian righteousness is closely and inseparably connected therewith, even _Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. Thou shalt love_――Thou shalt embrace with the most tender good-will, the most earnest and cordial affection, the most inflamed desires of preventing or removing all evil, and of procuring for him every possible good. _Thy neighbour_――that is, not only thy friend, thy kinsman, or thy acquaintance; not only the virtuous, the friendly, him that loves thee, that prevents or returns thy kindness; but every child of man, every human creature, every soul which God hath made: not excepting him whom thou never hast seen in the flesh, whom thou knowest not either by face or name: not excepting him whom thou knowest to be evil and unthankful, him that still despightfully uses and persecutes thee. Him thou shalt _love as thyself_; with the same invariable thirst after his happiness in every kind: the same unwearied care to skreen him from whatever might grieve or hurt either his soul or body.

9. Now is not this love _the fulfilling of the law_? The sum of all Christian righteousness? Of all inward righteousness; for it necessarily implies _bowels of mercies, humbleness of mind_ (seeing _love is not puffed up_) _gentleness, meekness, long-suffering_, (for love _is not provoked_ but _believeth, hopeth, endureth all things_) and of all outward righteousness; for _love worketh no evil to his neighbour_, either by word or deed. It cannot willingly either hurt or grieve any one. And it is zealous of good works. Every lover of mankind, as he hath opportunity, _doth good unto all men_; being (_without partiality and without hypocrisy_) _full of mercy and good fruits_.

10. But true religion, or a heart right toward God and man, implies happiness as well as holiness. For it is not only _righteousness_, but also _peace and joy in the Holy Ghost_. What peace? _The peace of God_, which God only can give and the world cannot take away: the peace which _passeth all understanding_, all (barely) rational conception; being a supernatural sensation, a divine taste of _the powers of the world to come_: such as the natural man knoweth not, how wise soever in the things of this world: nor indeed can he know it, in his present state, _because it is spiritually discerned_. It is a peace that banishes all doubt, all painful uncertainty; the Spirit of God _bearing witness with the spirit_ of a Christian, that he is _a child of God_. And it banishes fear, all such fear as hath torment; the fear of the wrath of God, the fear of hell, the fear of the devil, and in particular, the fear of death: he that hath the peace of God, _desiring_ (if it were the will of God) _to depart and to be with Christ_.

11. With this peace of God, wherever it is fix’d in the soul, there is also _joy in the Holy Ghost_: joy wrought in the heart by the Holy Ghost, by the ever blessed Spirit of God. He it is that worketh in us that calm, humble rejoicing in God, through Christ Jesus, _by whom we have now received the atonement_, καταλλαγὴν, the reconciliation with God; and that enables us boldly to confirm the truth of the royal Psalmist’s declaration, _Blessed is the man_ (or rather _happy_) _whose unrighteousness is forgiven, and whose sin is covered_. He it is that inspires the Christian soul, with that even, solid joy, which arises from the testimony of the Spirit, that he is a child of God; and that gives him to _rejoice with joy unspeakable, in hope of the glory of God_: Hope, both of the glorious image of God, which is in part and shall be fully _revealed in him_; and of that crown of glory, which fadeth not away, reserved in heaven for him.