_Second_ argument; and that shall be taken from the purity of God, and
the present corrupt and polluted state of man.
GOD is described in holy scripture (and I speak to those who profess
to know the scripture) as a Spirit; as a being of such infinite
sanctity, as to be of “purer eyes than to behold iniquity;” as to
be so transcendently holy, that it is said “the very heavens are not
clean in his sight; and the angels themselves he chargeth with folly.”
On the other hand, man is described (and every regenerate person will
find it true by his own experience) as a creature altogether “conceived
and born in sin;” as having “no good thing dwelling in him;” as being
“carnal, sold under sin;” nay, as having “a mind which is at enmity
with GOD,” and such-like. And since there is such an infinite disparity,
can any one conceive how a filthy, corrupted, polluted wretch can
dwell with an infinitely pure and holy GOD, before he is changed, and
rendered, in some measure, like him? Can he, who is of purer eyes than
to behold iniquity, dwell with it? Can he, in whose sight the heavens
are not clean, delight to dwell with uncleanness itself? No, we might
as well suppose light to have communion with darkness, or CHRIST to
have concord with _Belial_. But I pass on to a
_Third_ argument, which shall be founded on the consideration of the
nature of that happiness GOD has prepared for those that unfeignedly
love him.
To enter indeed on a minute and particular description of heaven,
would be vain and presumptuous, since we are told that “eye hath not
seen, nor ear heard, neither hath it entered into the heart of man to
conceive, the things that are there prepared” for the sincere followers
of the holy JESUS, even in this life, much less in that which is to
come. However, this we may venture to affirm in general, that as GOD is
a Spirit, so the happiness he has laid up for his people is spiritual
likewise; and consequently, unless our carnal minds are changed, and
spiritualized, we can never be made meet to partake of that inheritance
with the saints in light.
It is true, we may flatter ourselves, that, supposing we continue in
our natural corrupt estate, and carry all our lusts along with us, we
should, notwithstanding, relish heaven, was GOD to admit us therein.
And so we might, was it a _Mahometan_ paradise, wherein we were to
take our full swing in sensual delights. But since its joys are only
spiritual, and no unclean thing can possibly enter those blessed
mansions, there is an absolute necessity of our being changed, and
undergoing a total renovation of our depraved natures, before we can
have any taste or relish of those heavenly pleasures.
It is, doubtless, for this reason, that the apostle declares it to
be the irrevocable ♦decree of the Almighty, that “without holiness,
(without being made pure by regeneration, and having the image of GOD
thereby reinstamped upon the soul) no man shall see the LORD.” And
it is very observable, that our divine Master, in the famous passage
before referred to, concerning the absolute necessity of regeneration,
does not say, Unless a man be born again, he _shall not_, but “unless
a man be born again, he _cannot_ enter into the kingdom of GOD.” It is
founded in the very nature of things, that unless we have dispositions
wrought in us suitable to the objects that are to entertain us, we can
take no manner of complacency or satisfaction in them. For instance;
what delight can the most harmonious music afford to a deaf, or what
pleasure can the most excellent picture give to a blind man? Can a
tasteless palate relish the richest dainties, or a filthy swine be
pleased with the finest garden of flowers? No: and what reason can be
assigned for it? An answer is ready; because they have neither of them
any tempers of mind correspondent or agreeable to what they are to be
diverted with. And thus it is with the soul hereafter: for death makes
no more alteration in the soul, than as it inlarges its faculties, and
makes it capable of receiving deeper impressions either of pleasure or
pain. If it delighted to converse with GOD here, it will be transported
with the sight of his glorious Majesty hereafter. If it was pleased
with the communion of saints on earth, it will be infinitely more so
with the communion and society of holy angels, and the spirits of just
men made perfect in heaven. But if the opposite of all this be true, we
may assure ourselves the soul could not be happy, was GOD himself to
admit it (which he never will do) into the regions of the blessed. But
it is time for me to hasten to the
♦ “decreee” replaced with “decree”
_Fourth_ argument, because CHRIST’s redemption will not be complete in
us, unless we are new creatures.
If we reflect indeed on the first and chief end of our blessed LORD’s
coming, we shall find it was to be a propitiation for our sins, to
give his life a ransom for many. But then, if the benefits of our
dear Redeemer’s death were to extend no farther than barely to procure
forgiveness of our sins, we should have as little reason to rejoice
in it, as a poor condemned criminal that is ready to perish by some
fatal disease, would have in receiving a pardon from his judge. For
christians would do well to consider, that there is not only a legal
hinderance to our happiness, as we are breakers of GOD’s law, but also
a moral impurity in our natures, which renders us incapable of enjoying
heaven (as hath been already proved) till some mighty change have been
wrought in us. It is necessary therefore, in order to make CHRIST’s
redemption compleat, that we should have a grant of GOD’s holy Spirit
to change our natures, and so prepare us for the enjoyment of that
happiness our Saviour has purchased by his precious blood.
Accordingly the holy scriptures inform us, that whom CHRIST justifies,
or whose sins he forgives, and to whom he imputes his perfect obedience,
those he also sanctifies, purifies and cleanses, and totally changeth
their corrupted natures. As the scripture also speaketh in another
place, “CHRIST is to us justification, sanctification, and then
redemption.” But,
_Fourthly_, Proceed we now to the next general thing proposed, to draw
some inferences from what has been delivered. And,
_First_, If he that is in CHRIST be a new creature, this may serve as
a reproof for those who rest in a bare performance of outward duties,
without perceiving any real inward change of heart.
We may observe a great many persons to be very punctual in the regular
returns of public and private prayer, as likewise of receiving the holy
communion, and perhaps now and then too in keeping a fast. But here is
the misfortune, they rest barely in the use of the means, and think all
is over, when they have thus complied with those sacred institutions;
whereas, were they rightly informed, they would consider, that all the
instituted means of grace, as prayer, fasting, hearing and reading the
word of GOD, receiving the blessed sacrament, and such-like, are no
farther serviceable to us, than as they are found to make us inwardly
better, and to carry on the spiritual life in the soul.
It is true, they are means; but then they are only means; they are part,
but not the whole of religion: for if so, who more religious than the
Pharisee? He fasted twice in the week, and gave tythes of all that he
possessed, and yet was not justified, as our Saviour himself informs us,
in the sight of GOD.
You perhaps, like the Pharisee, may fast often, and make long prayers;
you may, with _Herod_, hear good sermons gladly. But yet, if you
continue vain and trifling, immoral or worldly-minded, and differ from
the rest of your neighbours barely in going to church, or in complying
with some outward performances, are you better than they? No, in no
wise; you are by far much worse; for if you use them, and at the same
time abuse them, you thereby encourage others to think there is nothing
in them, and therefore must expect to receive the greater damnation.
But,
_Secondly_, If he that is _in_ CHRIST be a new creature, then this may
check the groundless presumption of another class of professors, who
rest in the attainment of some moral virtues, and falsely imagine they
are good christians, if they are just in their dealings, temperate in
their diet, and do no hurt or violence to any man.
But if this was all that is requisite to make us christians, why
might not the heathens of old be good christians, who were remarkable
for these virtues? or St. _Paul_ before his conversion, who tells
us, that he lived in all good conscience? but we find he renounces
all dependance on works of this nature, and only desires to be found
in CHRIST, and to know the power of his resurrection, or have an
experimental proof of receiving the Holy Ghost, purchased for him by
the death, and ensured and applied to him by the resurrection of JESUS
CHRIST.
The sum of the matter is this: christianity includes morality, as grace
does reason; but if we are only mere Moralists, if we are not inwardly
wrought upon, and changed by the powerful operations of the Holy
Spirit, and our moral actions, proceed from a principle of a new nature,
however we may call ourselves christians, we shall be found naked at
the great day, and in the number of those, who have neither CHRIST’s
righteousness imputed to them for their justification in the sight, nor
holiness enough in their souls as the consequence of that, in order to
make them meet for the enjoyment, of GOD. Nor,
_Thirdly_, Will this doctrine less condemn those, who rest in a partial
amendment of themselves, without experiencing a thorough, real, inward
change of heart.
A little acquaintance with the world will furnish us with instances, of
no small number of persons, who, perhaps, were before openly profane;
but seeing the ill consequences of their vices, and the many worldly
inconveniencies it has reduced them to, on a sudden, as it were,
grow civilized; and thereupon flatter themselves that they are very
religious, because they differ a little from their former selves, and
are not so scandalously wicked as once they were: whereas, at the same
time, they shall have some secret darling sin or other, some beloved
_Dalilah_ or _Herodias_, which they will not part with; some hidden
lust, which they will not mortify; some vicious habit, which they will
not take pains to root out. But wouldst thou know, O vain man! whoever
thou art, what the LORD thy GOD requires of thee? thou must be informed,
that nothing short of a thorough sound conversion will fit thee for
the kingdom of heaven. It is not enough to turn from profaneness to
civility; but thou must turn from civility to godliness. Not only some,
but “all things must become new” in thy soul. It will profit thee but
little to do many things, if yet some one thing thou lackest. In short,
thou must not only be an almost, but altogether a new creature, or in
vain thou boasteth that thou art a christian.
_Fourthly_, If he that is in CHRIST be a new creature, then this
may be prescribed as an infallible rule for every person of whatever
denomination, age, degree or quality, to judge himself by; this
being the only solid foundation, whereon we can build a well-grounded
assurance of pardon, peace, and happiness.
We may indeed depend on the broken reed of an external profession;
we may think we are good enough, if we lead such sober, honest, moral
lives, as many heathens did. We may imagine we are in a safe condition,
if we attend on the public offices of religion, and are constant in the
duties of our closets. But unless all these tend to reform our lives,
and change our hearts, and are only used as so many channels of divine
grace; as I told you before, so I tell you again, christianity will
profit you nothing.
Let each of us therefore seriously put this question to our hearts:
Have we received the Holy Ghost since we believed? Are we new creatures
in CHRIST, or no? At least, if we are not so yet, is it our daily
endeavour to become such? Do we constantly and conscientiously use all
the means of grace required thereto? Do we fast, watch and pray? Do we,
not lazily seek, but laboriously strive to enter in at the strait gate?
In short, do we renounce our own righteousness, take up our crosses and
follow CHRIST? If so, we are in that narrow way which leads to life;
the good seed is sown in our hearts, and will, if duly watered and
nourished by a regular persevering use of all the means of grace, grow
up to eternal life. But on the contrary, if we have only heard, and
know not experimentally, whether there be any Holy Ghost; if we are
strangers to fasting, watching and prayer, and all the other spiritual
exercises of devotion; if we are content to go in the broad way, merely
because we see most other people do so, without once reflecting whether
it be the right one or not; in short, if we are strangers, nay enemies
to the cross of CHRIST, by lives of worldly-mindedness, and sensual
pleasure, and thereby make others think, that christianity is but
an empty name, a bare formal profession; if this be the case, I say,
CHRIST is as yet dead in vain, to us; we are under the guilt of our
sins; and are unacquainted with a true and thorough conversion.
But beloved, I am persuaded better things of you, and things that
accompany salvation, though I thus speak; I would humbly hope that you
are sincerely persuaded, that he who hath not the Spirit of CHRIST is
none of his; and that, unless the Spirit, which raised JESUS from the
dead, dwell in you here, neither will your mortal bodies be quickened
by the same Spirit to dwell with him hereafter.
Let me therefore (as was proposed in the _last_ place) earnestly exhort
you, in the name of our LORD JESUS CHRIST, to act suitable to those
convictions, and to live as christians, that are commanded in holy writ,
to “put off their former conversation concerning the Old Man, and to
put on the New Man, which is created after GOD in righteousness and
true holiness.”
It must be owned indeed, that this is a great and difficult work; but,
blessed be GOD, it is not impossible. Many thousands of happy souls
have been assisted by a divine power to bring it about, and why should
we despair of success? Is GOD’s hand shortened, that it cannot save?
Was he the GOD of our Fathers, is he not the GOD of their children
also? Yes, doubtless, of their children also. It is a task likewise,
that will put us to some pain; it will oblige us to part with some lust,
to break with some friend, to mortify some beloved passion, which may
be exceeding dear to us, and perhaps as hard to leave, as to cut off
a right-hand, or pluck out a right-eye. But what of all this? Will not
the being made a real living member of CHRIST, a child of GOD, and an
inheritor of the kingdom of heaven, abundantly make amends for all this
trouble? Undoubtedly it will.
The setting about and carrying on this great and necessary work,
perhaps may, nay assuredly will expose us also to the ridicule of the
unthinking part of mankind, who will wonder, that we run not into the
same excess of riot with themselves; and because we deny our sinful
appetites, and are not conformed to this world, being commanded in
scripture to do the one, and to have our conversation in heaven, in
opposition to the other, they may count our lives folly, and our end
to be without honour. But will not the being numbered among the saints,
and shining as the stars for ever and ever, be a more than sufficient
recompense for all the ridicule, calumny, or reproach, we can possibly
meet with here?
Indeed, was there no other reward attended a thorough conversion, but
that peace of GOD, which is the unavoidable consequence of it, and
which, even in this life, “passeth all understanding,” we should have
great reason to rejoice. But when we consider, that this is the least
of those mercies GOD has prepared for those that are in CHRIST, and
become new creatures; that, this is but the beginning of an eternal
succession of pleasures; that the day of our deaths, which the
unconverted, unrenewed sinner must so much dread, will be, as it were,
but the first day of our new births, and open to us an everlasting
scene of happiness and comfort; in short, if we remember, that they who
are regenerate and born again, have a real title to all the glorious
promises of the gospel, and are infallibly certain of being as happy,
both here and hereafter, as an all-wise, all-gracious, all-powerful GOD
can make them; methinks, every one that has but the least concern for
the salvation of his precious and immortal soul, having such promises,
such an hope, such an eternity of happiness set before him, should
never cease watching, praying, and striving, till he find a real,
inward, saving change wrought in his heart, and thereby doth know of a
truth, that he dwells in CHRIST, and CHRIST in him; that he is a new
creature, therefore a child of GOD; that he is already an inheritor,
and will ere long be an actual possessor of the kingdom of heaven.
Which GOD of his infinite mercy grant, through JESUS CHRIST our LORD.
To whom, &c.