which righteousness is enjoined, and even with which every act should be;
for shortness here, even every shortness in these duties, is sin and
sinful weakness; wherefore the curse taketh hold of the man for coming
short; but that it could not justly do, if his coming short was not his
sin: Cursed is every one that doth not, and that continueth not to do all
things written in the law; Deut. xxvii. 26; Gal. iii. 10.
2. It is sinful; because it is wrought by sinful flesh; for all legal
righteousness is a work of the flesh; Rom. iv. 1, &c.; Phil. iii. 3–8.
A work, I say, of the flesh; even of that flesh, who, or which also
committeth the greatest enormities; for the flesh is but one, though its
workings are divers: sometimes in a way most notoriously sensual and
devilish, causing the soul to wallow in the mire.
But these are not all the works of the flesh; the flesh sometimes will
attempt to be righteous, and set upon doing actions that in their
perfection would be very glorious and beautiful to behold. But because
the law is only commanding words, and yieldeth no help to the man that
attempts to perform it; and because the flesh is weak, and cannot do of
itself that, therefore this most glorious work of the flesh faileth.
But, I say, as it is a work of the flesh it cannot be good, forasmuch as
the hand that worketh it is defiled with sin; for in a good man, one
spiritually good, that is “in his flesh, there dwells no good thing,” but
consequently that which is bad; how then can the flesh of a carnal,
graceless man (and such a one is every Pharisee and self-righteous man in
the world), produce, though it joineth itself to the law, to the
righteous law of God, that which is good in his sight.
If any shall think that I pinch too hard, because I call man’s
righteousness which is of the law, of the righteous law of God, flesh,
let them consider that which follows: to wit, That though man by sin is
said “to be dead in sin and trespasses,” yet not so dead but that he can
act still in his own sphere; that is, to do, and choose to do, either
that which by all men is counted base, or that which by some is counted
good, though he is not, nor can all the world make him, capable of doing
any thing that may please his God.
Man, by nature, as dead as he is, can, and that with the will of his
flesh, will his own salvation. Man, by nature, can, and that by the
power of the flesh, pursue and follow after his own salvation; but then
he wills it, and pursues or follows after it, not in God’s way, but his
own; not by faith in Christ, but by the law of Moses. See Rom. ix. 16,
31; x. 3, 7.
Wherefore it is no error to say, that a man naturally has will, and a
power to pursue his will, and that as to his own salvation. But it is a
damnable error to say, that he hath will and power to pursue it, and that
in God’s way: for then we must hold that the mysteries of the gospel are
natural; for that natural men, or men by nature, may apprehend and know
them, yea, and know them to be the only means by which they must obtain
eternal life; for the understanding must act before the will; yea, a man
must approve of the way to life by Jesus Christ, before his mind will
budge, or stir, or move, that way: “But the natural man receiveth not the
things of the Spirit of God (of the gospel); for they are foolishness to
him; neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned.”
He receiveth not these things; that is, his mind and will lie cross unto
them, for he counts them foolishness; nor can all the natural wisdom in
the world cause that his will should fall in with them, because it cannot
discern them.
Nature discerneth the law, and the righteousness thereof; yea, it
discerneth it, and approveth thereof; that is, that the righteousness of
it is the best and only way to life, and therefore the natural will and
power of the flesh, as here you see in the Pharisee, do steer their
course by that to eternal life; 1 Cor. ii. 14.
The righteousness of the law, therefore, is a work of the flesh, a work
of sinful flesh, and therefore must needs be as filth, and dung, and
abominable as to that for which this man hath produced it and presented
it in the temple before God.
Nor is the Pharisee alone entangled in this mischief; many souls are by
these works of the flesh flattered, as also the Pharisee was, into an
opinion, that their state is good, when there is nothing in it. The most
that their conversion amounteth to is, the Publican is become a Pharisee;
the open sinner is become a self-righteous man. Of the black side of the
flesh he hath had enough, now therefore with the white side of the flesh
he will recreate himself. And now, most wicked must he needs be that
questioneth the goodness of the state of such a man. He, of a drunkard,
a swearer, an unclean person, a Sabbath-breaker, a liar, and the like, is
become reformed, a lover of righteousness, a strict observer, doer, and
trader in the formalities of the law, and a herder with men of his
complexion. And now he is become a great exclaimer against sin and
sinners, denying to be acquaint with those that once were his companions,
saying, “I am not even as this Publican.”
To turn therefore from sin to man’s righteousness, yea, to rejoice in
confidence, that thy state is better than is that of the Publican (I
mean, better in the eyes of divine justice, and in the judgment of the
law); and yet to be found by the law, not in the spirit, but in the
flesh; not in Christ, but under the law; not in a state of salvation, but
of damnation, is common among men: for they, and they only, are the right
men, “who worship God in the spirit, and rejoice in Christ Jesus, and
have no confidence in the flesh.” Where, by “flesh,” must not be meant
the horrible transgressions against the law (though they are also called
“the works of the flesh,” Gal. iv. 29); for they minister no occasion
unto men to have confidence in them towards God: but that is that which
is insinuated by Paul, where he saith, he had no “confidence in the
flesh,” though he might have had it; as he said, “though I might also
have confidence in the flesh.” “If any other man,” saith he, “thinketh
that he hath whereof he might trust in the flesh, I more,” Phil. iii. 3,
4; and then he repeats a twofold privilege that he had by the flesh.
1. That he was one of the seed of Abraham, and of the tribe of Benjamin,
an Hebrew of the Hebrews, &c.
2. That he had fallen in with the strictest men of that religion, which
was such after the flesh, to wit, to be a Pharisee, and was the son of a
Pharisee, had much fleshly zeal for God, and “touching the righteousness
which is of the law, blameless,” Phil. iii. 3, 5, 6.
But I say still, there is nothing but flesh; fleshly privileges and
fleshly righteousness, and so, consequently, a fleshly confidence, and
trust for heaven. This is manifest; when the man had his eyes
enlightened, he counted all loss and dung that he might be found in
Christ, not having his own righteousness, which is of the law, but that
which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God
by faith.
And this leads me to another thing, and that is, to tell thee, O thou
blind Pharisee, that thou canst not be in a safe condition, because thou
hast thy confidence in the flesh, that is, in the righteousness of the
flesh. “For all flesh is grass, and all the glory of it as the flower of
the field;” and the flesh, and the glory of that being as weak as the
grass, which to-day is, and to-morrow is cast into the oven, is but a
weak business for a man to venture his eternal salvation upon.
Wherefore, as I also hinted before, the godly-wise have been afraid to be
found in their righteousness, I mean their own personal righteousness,
though that is far better than can be the righteousness of any carnal
man: for the godly man’s righteousness is wrought by the Spirit and faith
of Christ, but the ungodly man’s righteousness is of the flesh, and of
the law. Yet I say, this godly man is afraid to stand by his
righteousness before the tribunal of God, as is manifest in these
following particulars.
1. He sees sin in his righteousness; for so the prophet intimates, when
he saith, “All our righteousnesses are as filthy rags” (Isa. lxiv.); but
there is nothing can make one’s righteousness filthy but sin. It is not
the poor, the low, the mean, the sickly, the beggarly state of man, nor
yet his being hated of devils, persecuted of men, broken under
necessities, reproaches, distresses, or any kind of troubles of this
nature that can make the godly man’s righteousness filthy; nothing but
sin can do it, and that can, doth, hath, and will do it. Nor can any
man, be he who he will, and though he watches, prays, strives, denies
himself, and puts his body under what chastisement or hardships he can;
yea, though he also get his spirit and soul hoisted up to the highest peg
or pin of sanctity and holy contemplation, and so his lusts to the
greatest degree of mortification; but sin will be with him in the best of
his performances: with him, I say, to pollute and defile his duties, and
to make his righteousness speckled and spotted, filthy and menstruous.
I will give you two or three instances for this.
(1.) Nehemiah was a man (in his day), one that was zealous, very
zealous, for God, for his house, for his people, and for his ways; and so
continued, and that from first to last, as they may see that please to
read the relation of his actions; yet when he comes seriously to be
concerned with God about his duties, he relinquisheth a standing by them.
True, he mentioneth them to God, but confesseth that there are
imperfections in them, and prayeth that God will not wipe them away.
“Wipe not out my good deeds, O my God, that I have done for the house of
my God, and for the offices thereof.” And again, “Remember me, O my God,
concerning this also (another good deed), and spare me according to the
greatness of thy mercy; and remember me, O my God, for good;” Neh. xiii.
I do not think that by these prayers he pleadeth for an acceptance of his
person, as touching justification from the curse of the law (as the poor
blind Pharisee doth), but that God would accept of his service, as he was
a son, and not deny to give him a reward of grace for what he had done,
since he was pleased to declare in his testament, that he would reward
the labour of love of his saints with an exceeding weight of glory; and
therefore prayeth, that God would not wipe away his good deeds, but
remember him for good, according to the greatness of his mercy.
(2.) A second instance is that of David, where he saith, “Enter not into
judgment with thy servant, O Lord; for in thy sight shall no man living
be justified;” Psalm clxiii. 2. David, as I have hinted before, is said
to be a man “after God’s own heart,” Acts xiii.; and as here by the
Spirit he acknowledges him for his servant; yet behold how he shrinketh,
how he draweth back, how he prayeth, and petitioneth, that God would
vouchsafe so much as not to enter into judgment with him. Lord, saith
he, if thou enterest into judgment with me, I die, because I shall be
condemned; for in thy sight I cannot be justified; to wit, by my own good
deeds. Lord, at the beginning of thy dealing with me, by the law and my
works, I die: therefore do not so much as enter into judgment with me, O
Lord. Nor is this my case only, but it is the condition of all the
world: “For in thy sight shall no man living be justified.”
(3.) A third instance is that general conclusion of the apostle, “But
that no man is justified by the law in the sight of God is evident; for
the just shall live by faith.” By this saying of St Paul, as he taketh
up the sentence of the prophet Habakkuk, chap. ii. 4, so he taketh up
this sentence, yea, and the personal justice of David also. No man,
saith he, is justified by the law in the sight of God: no, no just man,
no holy man, not the strictest and most righteous man. But why not?
Why, because “the just shall live by faith.”
The just man, therefore, must die, if he has not faith in another
righteousness than that which is of the law, called his own: I say, he
must die, if he has none other righteousness than that which is his own
by the law. Thus also Paul confesses of himself: “I (saith he) know
nothing by myself,” either before conversion or after; that is, I knew
not that I did any thing before conversion, either against the law, or
against my conscience; for I was then, touching the righteousness which
is of the law, blameless. Also, since my conversion, I know nothing by
myself; for “I have walked in all good conscience before God unto this
day.”
A great saying, I promise you. Well, but yet “I am not hereby
justified;” Phil. iii. 7; Acts xxiii. 1; 1 Cor. iv. 4. Nor will I dare
to venture the eternal salvation of my soul upon mine own justice; “for
he that judgeth me is the Lord;” that is, though I, through my
dim-sightedness, cannot see the imperfections of my righteousness, yet
the Lord, who is my judge, and before whose tribunal I must shortly
stand, can and will; and if in his sight there shall be found no more but
one spot in my righteousness, I must, if I plead my righteousness, fall
for that.
2. That the best of men are afraid to stand before God’s tribunal, there
to be judged by the law as to life and death, according to the
sufficiency or non-sufficiency of their righteousness, is evident;
because by casting away their own (in this matter), they make all the
means they can for this; that is, that his mercy, by an act of grace, be
made over to them, and that they in it may stand before God to be judged.
Hence David cries out so often, “Lead me in thy righteousness.” “Deliver
me in thy righteousness.” “Judge me according to thy righteousness.”
“Quicken me in thy righteousness.” “O Lord (says he), give ear to my
supplications: in thy faithfulness answer me, and in thy righteousness.”
“And enter not into judgment with thy servant, O Lord: for in thy sight
shall no flesh living be justified.” And David, what if God doth thus?
Why, then, saith he, “My tongue shall speak of his righteousness.” “My
tongue shall sing of thy righteousness.” “My mouth shall shew forth thy
righteousness.” “Yea, I will make mention of thy righteousness, even of
thine only;” Psalm lviii.; xxxi. 1; xxxv. 24; cxix. 40; xxxv. 28; li. 14;
lxxi. 15, 16.
Daniel also, when he comes to plead for himself and his people, he first
casts away his and their righteousness, saying, “For we do not present
our supplications unto thee for our righteousness:” And he pleads God’s
righteousness, and that he might have a share and interest in that
saying, “O Lord, righteousness belongeth to thee;” to wit, that
righteousness, for the sake of which, mercy and forgiveness, and so
heaven and happiness, is extended to us.
Righteousness belongeth to thee, and is thine, as nearly as sin, shame,
and confusion, are ours, and belongeth to us. Read the 16th and 17th
verses of the 9th of Daniel. “O Lord (saith he), according to all thy
righteousness, I beseech thee, let thine anger, and thy fury, be turned
away from thy city Jerusalem, thy holy mountain; because for our sins,
and for the iniquities of our fathers, Jerusalem, and thy people, are
become a reproach to all that are about us. Now, therefore, O our God,
hear the prayer of thy servant, and his supplications, and cause thy face
to shine upon thy sanctuary that is desolate, for the Lord’s sake:” For
the sake of the Lord Jesus Christ; for on him Daniel now had his eye, and
through him to the Father he made his supplication; yea, and the answer
was according to his prayer, to wit, that God would have mercy on
Jerusalem; and that he would in his time send the Lord, the Messias, to
bring them in everlasting righteousness for them.
Paul also, as I have hinted before, disclaims his own righteousness, and
layeth fast hold on the righteousness of God; seeking to be found in
that, not having his own righteousness, for he knew that when the rain
descends, the winds blow, and the floods come down on all men, they that
have but their own righteousness, must fall; Phil. iii
Now, the earnest desire of the righteous to be found in God’s
righteousness, ariseth from strong conviction of the imperfections of
their own, and the knowledge that was given them of the terror that will
attend men at the day of the fiery trial; to wit, the day of judgement.
For although men can now flatter themselves into a fool’s paradise, and
persuade themselves that all shall be well with them then, for the sake
of their own silly and vain-glorious performances, yet when the day comes
that shall burn like an oven, and when all that have done wickedly shall
be as stubble (and so will all appear to be that are not found in
Christ), then will their righteousness vanish like smoke, or be like fuel
for that burning flame. And hence the righteousness that the godly seek
to be found in, is called, The name of the Lord, a strong tower, a rock,
a shield, a fortress, a buckler, a rock of defence, unto which they
resort, and into which they run and are safe.
The godly therefore do not, as this Pharisee, bring their own
righteousness into the temple, and there buoy up themselves and spirits
by that into a conceit, that for the sake of that God will be merciful
and good unto them; but throwing away their own, they make to God for
his, because they certainly know, even by the word of God, that in the
judgment none can stand the trial but those that are found in the
righteousness of God.
3. That the best of men are afraid to stand before God’s tribunal by the
law, there to be judged to life and death, according to the sufficiency
or non-sufficiency of their righteousness, is evident; for they know,
that it is a vain thing to seek, by acts of righteousness, to make
themselves righteous men, as is the way of all them that seek to be
justified by the deeds of the law.
And herein lieth the great difference between the Pharisee and the true
Christian man. The Pharisee thinks, by acts of righteousness, he shall
make himself a righteous man: therefore he cometh into the presence of
God well furnished, as he thinks, with his negative and positive
righteousness.
Grace suffereth not a man to boast before God, whatever he saith before
men. His soul that is lifted up, is not upright in him; and better is
the poor in spirit than the proud in spirit. The Pharisee was a very
proud man; a proud, ignorant man; proud of his own righteousness, and
ignorant of God’s: for had he not, he could not, as he did, have so
condemned the Publican, and justified himself.
And I say again, that all this pride and vain-glorious show of the
Pharisee did arise from his not being acquainted with this, that a man
must be good before he can do good; he must be righteous, before he can
do righteousness. This is evident from Paul, who insinuateth this as the
reason why none do good, even because “There is none that is righteous,
no, not one.” “There is none righteous,” saith he, and then follows,
“There is none that doeth good;” Rom. iii. 10, 11, 12. For it is not
possible for a man that is not first made righteous by the God of heaven,
to do any thing that in a gospel-sense may be called righteousness. To
make himself a righteous man, by his so meddling with them, he may
design; but work righteousness, and so by such works of righteousness
make himself a righteous man, he cannot.
The righteousness of a carnal man is indeed by God called righteousness;
but it must be understood as spoken in the dialect of the world. The
world indeed calls it righteousness, and it will do no harm, if it bear
that term with reference to worldly matters. Hence worldly civilians are
called good and righteous men, and so, such as Christ, under that notion,
neither died for, nor giveth his grace unto; Rom. v. 7, 8. But we are
not now discoursing about any other righteousness, than that which is so
accounted either in a law or in a gospel-sense; and therefore let us a
little more touch upon that.
A man then must be righteous in a law-sense, before he can do acts of
righteousness, I mean, that are such in a gospel-sense. Hence, first,
you have true gospel-righteousness made the fruit of a second birth. “If
ye know that Christ is righteous, know ye that every one that doeth
righteousness is born of him;” 1 John ii. 29. Not born of him by virtue
of his own righteous actions, but born of him by virtue of Christ’s
mighty working with his work upon the soul, who afterwards, from a
principle of life, acteth and worketh righteousness.
And he saith again, “Little children, let no man deceive you: he that
doeth righteousness is righteous, even as he is righteous.” Upon this
scripture I will a little comment, for the proof of what is urged before:
namely, that a man must be righteous in a law-sense, before he can do
such things that may be called acts of righteousness in a gospel-sense.
And for this, this scripture, 1 John iii. 7, ministereth to us two things
to be considered by us.
The first is, That he that doth righteousness is righteous.
The second is, That he that doth righteousness is righteous, as Christ is
righteous.
_First_, He that doth righteousness; that is, righteousness which the
gospel calleth so, is righteous; that is, precedent to, or before he doth
that righteousness. For he doth not say, he shall make his person
righteous by acts of righteousness that he shall do; for then an evil
tree may bear good fruit, yea, and may make itself good by doing so; but
he saith, He that doth righteousness is righteous; as he saith, He that
doth righteousness is born of him.
So then, a man must be righteous before he can do righteousness, before
he can do righteousness in a gospel-sense.
Our second thing then is to inquire, with what righteousness a man must
be righteous, before he can do that which in a gospel-sense is called
righteousness.
And, first, I answer, he must be righteous in a law-sense: that is, he
must be righteous in the judgment of the law. This is evident: because
he saith, “He that doeth righteousness is righteous, as he is righteous.”
That is, in a law-sense: for Christ in no sense is righteous in the
judgment of charity only; but in his meanest acts, if it be lawful to
make such comparison, he was righteous in a law-sense, or in the judgment
of the law. Now the apostle saith, that “he that doeth righteousness is
righteous, as he is righteous.” They are the words of God, and therefore
I cannot err in quoting of them, though I may not so fully as I would
make the glory of them shine in speaking to them.
But what righteousness is that, with which a man must stand righteous in
the judgment of the law, before he shall or can be found to do acts of
righteousness, that by the gospel are so called?
1. I answer, first, It is none of his own which is of the law, you may
be sure: for he hath his righteousness before he doth any that can be
called his own. “He that doeth righteousness is righteous” already,
precedent to, or before he doth that righteousness; yea, he “is
righteous, even as he is righteous.”
2. It cannot be his own which is of the gospel; that is, that which
floweth from a principle of grace in the soul: for he is righteous before
he doth this righteousness. “He that doeth righteousness is righteous.”
He doth not say, he that hath done it, but he that doth it; respecting
the act while it is in doing, he is righteous. He is righteous even then
when he is a-doing of the very first act of righteousness; but an act,
while it is doing, cannot, until it is done, be called an act of
righteousness; yet, saith the text, “he is righteous.”
But again, if an act, while it is doing, cannot be called an act of
righteousness, to be sure, it cannot have such influences as to make the
actor righteous—to make him righteous, as the Son of God is righteous;
and yet the righteousness with which this doer is made righteous, and
that before he doth righteousness, is such; for so saith the text, that
makes him righteous, as he is righteous.
Besides, it cannot be his own, which is gospel-righteousness, flowing
from a principle of grace in the soul; for that in its greatest
perfection in us, while we live in this world, is accompanied with some
imperfections; to wit, our faith, love, and whole course of holiness is
wanting, or hath something lacking in it. They neither are apart, nor
when put all together, perfect, as to the degree, the uttermost degree of
perfection.