because ‘Jesus was gone to be guest to one that was a sinner,’ yea, a
sinner of the publicans, and are most fitly applied to the case in
hand. For though Zaccheus climbed the tree, yet Jesus Christ found him
first, and called him down by his name; adding withal, ‘For to-day I
must abide at thy house’ (v 5); which being opened by verse 9, is as
much as to say, I am come to be thy salvation. Now this being believed
by Zaccheus, ‘he made haste and came down, and received him joyfully.’
And not only so, but to declare to all the simplicity of his faith, and
that he unfeignedly accepted of this word of salvation, he said unto
the Lord, and that before all present, ‘Behold, Lord, the half of my
goods I give to the poor; and if I have taken anything from any man by
false accusation,’ a supposition intimating an affirmative, ‘I restore
him fourfold.’[18] This being thus, Christ doubleth his comfort, saying
to him also, and that before the people, ‘This day is salvation come to
this house.’ Then, by adding the next words, he expounds the whole of
the matter, ‘For I am come to seek and save that which was lost’; to
seek it till I find it, to save it when I find it. He finds them that
sought him not (Rom 10:20); and saith, Zaccheus, Behold me! to a people
that asked not after him. So, then, seeing Jesus findeth this publican
first, preaching salvation to him before he came down from the tree, it
is evident he received this as he was a sinner; from which faith flowed
his following words and works as a consequence.
Sixth. ‘Jesus saith unto him, Verily I say unto thee, To-day shalt thou
be with me in paradise’ (Luke 23:43).
This was spoken to the thief upon the cross, who had lived in
wickedness all his days; neither had he so much as truly repented—no,
not till he came to die; nay, when he first was hanged he then fell to
railing on Christ; for though Luke leaves it out, beginning but at his
conversion; yet by Matthew’s relating the whole tragedy, we find him at
first as bad as the other (Matt 27:44). This man, then, had no moral
righteousness, for he had lived in the breach of the law of God.
Indeed, by faith he believed Christ to be King, and that when dying
with him. But what was this to a personal performing the commandments?
or of restoring what he had oft taken away? Yea, he confesseth his
death to be just for his sin; and so leaning upon the mediation of
Christ he goeth out of the world. Now he that truly confesseth and
acknowledgeth his sin, acknowledgeth also the curse to be due thereto
from the righteous hand of God. So then, where the curse of God is due,
that man wanteth righteousness. Besides, he that makes to another for
help, hath by that condemned his own, had he any, of utter
insufficiency. But all these did this poor creature; wherefore he must
stand ‘just from the law in the sight of God, while sinful in himself.’
Seventh. ‘Lord, what wilt thou have me to do?’ (Acts 9:6).
What wilt thou have me to do? Ignorance is here set forth to the full.
Paul hitherto knew not Jesus, neither what he would have him to do; yet
a mighty man for the law of works, and for zeal towards God according
to that. Thus you see that he neither knew that Christ was Lord, nor
what was his mind and will—‘I did it ignorantly, in unbelief’ (1 Tim
1:13-15). I did not know him; I did not believe he was to save us; I
thought I must be saved by living righteously, by keeping the law of
God. This thought kept me ignorant of Jesus, and of justification from
the curse by him. Poor Saul! how many fellows hast thou yet
alive!—every man zealous of the law of works, yet none of them know the
law of grace; each of them seeking for life by doing the law, when life
is to be had by nought but believing in Jesus Christ.
Eighth. ‘Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved’
(Acts 16:31).
A little before, we find Paul and Silas in the stocks for preaching of
Jesus Christ; in the stocks, in the inward prison, by the hands of a
sturdy jailer; but at midnight, while Paul and his companion sang
praises to God, the foundations of the prison shook, and every man’s
bands were loosed. Now the jailer being awakened by the noise of this
shaking, and supposing he had lost his prisoners, drew his sword, with
intent to kill himself; ‘But Paul cried out, Do thyself no harm; for we
are all here. Then he called for a light, and sprang in, and came
trembling, and fell down before Paul and Silas, and brought them out,
and said, Sirs, what must I do to be saved?’
In all this relation here is not aught that can justify the jailer.
For, 1. His whole life was idolatry, cruelty, and enmity to God. Yea,
2. Even now, while the earthquake shook the prison, he had murder in
his heart—yea, and in his intentions too; murder, I say, and that of a
high nature, even to have killed his own body and soul at once.[19]
Well, 3. When he began to shake under the fears of everlasting
burnings, yet then his heart was wrapped up in ignorance as to the way
of salvation by Jesus Christ: ‘What must I do to be saved?’ He knew not
what; no, not he. His condition, then, was this: he neither had
righteousness to save him, nor knew he how to get it. Now, what was
Paul’s answer? Why, ‘Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ,’ look for
righteousness in Christ, ‘and then thou shalt be saved.’ This, then,
still holdeth true, ‘men are justified from the curse, in the sight of
God, whilst sinners in themselves.’
[Reasons for the first position drawn from the texts.]
THIRD. I should now come to the second conclusion, viz., that this can
be done by no other righteousness than that long ago performed by, and
remaining with, the person of Christ. But before I speak to that, I
will a little further press this, by urging for it several reasons.
The First Reason.—Men must be justified from the curse while sinners in
themselves, because by nature all are under sin—‘All have sinned, and
come short of the glory of God. He hath concluded all in unbelief; he
hath concluded all under sin’ (Rom 3:23, 11:32; Gal 3:22). Now having
sinned, they are in body and soul defiled, and become an unclean thing.
Wherefore, whatever they touch, with an intent to work out
righteousness thereby, they defile that also (Titus 1:15; Lev 15:11;
Isa 64:6). And hence, as I have said, all the righteousness they seek
to accomplish is but as a menstruous cloth and filthy rags; therefore
they are sinners still.’ Indeed, to some men’s thinking, the Pharisee
is holier than the Publican; but in God’s sight, in the eyes of Divine
justice, they stand alike condemned. ‘All have sinned’; there is the
poison! Therefore, as to God, without Christ, all throats are an open
sepulchre (Matt 23:27; Rom 3:13).
The world in general is divided into two sorts of sinners—the open
profane, and the man that seeks life by the works of the law. The
profane is judged by all; but the other by a few. Oh! but God judgeth
him.
1. For a hypocrite; because that notwithstanding he hath sinned, he
would be thought to be good and righteous. And hence it is that Christ
calls such kind of holy ones, ‘Pharisees, hypocrites! Pharisees
hypocrites!’ because by their gay outside they deceived those that
beheld them. But, saith he, God sees your hearts; you are but like
painted sepulchres, within you are full of dead men’s bones (Prov
30:12; Matt 23:27-30; Luke 11:26, 16:15). Such is the root from whence
flows all their righteousness. But doth the blind Pharisee think his
state is such? No; his thoughts of himself are far otherwise—‘God, I
thank thee,’ saith he, ‘I am not as other men, extortioners, unjust,
adulterers, or even like this publican’ (Luke 18:11,12). Aye, but still
God judgeth him for a hypocrite.
2. God judgeth him for one that spurneth against Christ, even by every
such work he doth. And hence it is, when Paul was converted to Jesus
Christ, that he calls the righteousness he had before, madness,
blasphemy, injury; because what he did to save himself by works was in
direct opposition to grace by Jesus Christ (Phil 3:7,8; Acts 22:3,4,
26:4; 1 Tim 1:14,15). Behold, then, the evil that is in a man’s own
righteousness! (1.) It curseth and condemneth the righteousness of
Christ. (2.) It blindeth the man from seeing his misery. (3.) It
hardeneth his heart against his own salvation.
3. But again, God judgeth such, for those that condemn him of
foolishness—‘The preaching of the cross,’ that is, Christ crucified,
‘is to them that perish foolishness’ (1 Cor 1:18,23). What, saith the
merit-monger, will you look for life by the obedience of another man?
Will you trust to the blood that was shed upon the cross, that run down
to the ground, and perished in the dust? Thus deridingly they scoff at,
stumble upon, and are taken in the gin that attends the gospel; not to
salvation, but to their condemnation, because they have condemned the
Just, that they might justify their own filthy righteousness (Isa
8:14).
But, I say, if all have sinned, if all are defiled, if the best of a
man’s righteousness be but madness, blasphemy, injury; if for their
righteousness they are judged hypocrites, condemned as opposers of the
gospel, and as such have counted God foolish for sending his Son into
the world; then must the best of ‘men be justified from the curse in
the sight of God while sinners in themselves’; because they still stand
guilty in the sight of God, their hearts are also still filthy
infected—‘Though thou wash thee with nitre, and take thee much soap,
yet thine iniquity is marked before ME, saith the Lord God’ (Jer 2:22).
It stands marked still before God. So, then, what esteem soever men
have of the righteousness of the world, yet God accounts it horrible
wickedness, and the greatest enemy that Jesus hath. Wherefore, this
vine is the vine of Sodom; these clusters are the clusters of Gomorrah;
these grapes are grapes of gall; these clusters are bitter, they are
the poison of dragons, and the cruel venom of asps (Matt 3:7; 23). No
marvel, then, if John in his ministry gives the first rebuke and jostle
to such, still calling them serpents and vipers, and concluding it is
almost impossible they should escape the damnation of hell; for of all
sin, man’s own righteousness, in special, bids defiance to Jesus
Christ.
The Second Reason.—A second reason why men must stand just in the sight
of God from the curse, while sinners in themselves, is, because of the
exactions of the law. For were it granted that men’s good works arose
from a holy root, and were perfect in their kind, yet the demand of the
law—for that is still beyond them—would leave them sinners before the
justice of God. And hence it is that holy men stand just in the sight
of God from the curse; yet dare not offer their gifts by the law, but
through Jesus Christ; knowing that not only their persons, but their
spiritual service also, would else be rejected of the heavenly Majesty
(1 Peter 2:5; Rev 7:14-16; Heb 8:7,8).[20]
For the law is itself so perfectly holy and good as not to admit of the
least failure, either in the matter or manner of obedience—‘Cursed is
every one that continueth not in all things that are written in the
book of the law to do them’ (Gal 3:10). For they that shall keep the
whole law, and yet offend in one point, are guilty of all, and
convicted of the law as transgressors (James 2:9,10). ‘Tribulation,’
therefore, ‘and anguish, upon every soul of man that doth evil, of the
Jew first, and also of the Gentile’ (Rom 2:9). And observe, the law
leaveth thee not to thy choice, when, or when not, to begin to keep it;
but requireth thy obedience so soon as concerned, exactly, both as to
the matter and manner, and that before thou hast sinned against it; for
the first sin breaks the law. Now, if thou sinnest before thou
beginnest to do, thou art found by the law a transgressor, and so
standest by that convicted of sin; so, then, all thy after-acts of
righteousness are but the righteousness of a sinner, of one whom the
law hath condemned already (John 3:18). ‘The law is spiritual, but thou
art carnal, sold under sin’ (Rom 7:14).
Besides, the law being absolutely perfect, doth not only respect the
matter and manner as to outward acts, but also the rise and root, the
heart, from whence they flow; and an impediment there spoils all, were
the executive part never so good—‘Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with
ALL thy heart, with ALL thy soul, with ALL thy mind, and with ALL thy
strength’ (Mark 12:30). Mark the repetition, with all, with all, with
all, with all; with all thy heart, with all thy soul, in all things, at
all times, else thou hadst as good do nothing. But ‘every imagination
of the thought of the heart of man is only evil continually’ (Gen 6:5).
The margin hath it, ‘the whole imagination, the purposes, and desires’;
so that a good root is here wanting. ‘The heart is deceitful above all
things, and desperately wicked: who can know it?’ (Jer 17:9). What
thoughts, words, or actions can be clean, sufficiently to answer a
perfect law that flows from this original? It is impossible. ‘Men must
therefore be justified from the curse, in the sight of God, while
sinners in themselves.’ But further yet to open the case. There are
several things that make it impossible that a man should stand just in
the sight of God but while sinful in himself.
1. Because the law under which he at present stands, holds him under
the dominion of sin; for sin by the law hath dominion over all that are
under the law (Rom 6:14). Dominion, I say, both as to guilt and filth.
Guilt hath dominion over him, because he is under the curse: and filth,
because the law giveth him no power, neither can he by it deliver his
soul. And for this cause it is that it is called beggarly, weak,
unprofitable; imposing duty, but giving no strength (Gal 3:2, 4:9).
Expecting the duty should be complete, yet bendeth not the heart to do
the work; to do it, I say, as is required (Rom 8:3). And hence it is
again that it is called a ‘voice of words’ (Heb 12:19);[21] for as
words that are barely such are void of spirit and quickening life, so
are the impositions of the law of works. Thus far, therefore, the man
remains a sinner. But,
2. The law is so far from giving life or strength to do it, that it
doth quite the contrary.[22]
(1.) It weakeneth, it discourageth, and dishearteneth the sinner,
especially when it shows itself in its glory; for then it is the
ministration of death, and killeth all the world. When Israel saw this,
they fled from the face of God; they could not endure that which was
commanded (Exo 20:18,19); yea, so terrible was the sight, that Moses
said, ‘I exceedingly fear and quake’ (Heb 12:20,21). Yea, almost forty
years after, Moses stood amazed to find himself and Israel yet alive,
‘Did ever people,’ said he, ‘hear the voice of God speaking out of the
midst of the fire, as thou hast heard, and live?’ (Deut 4:32,33). Alas!
he who boasteth himself in the works of the law, he doth not hear the
law; when that speaks, it shakes Mount Sinai, and writeth death upon
all faces, and makes the church itself cry out, A mediator! else we die
(Exo 20:19; Deut 5:25-27, 18:15,19).
(2.) It doth not only thus discourage, but abundantly increaseth every
sin. Sin takes the advantage of being by the law; the motions of sin
are by the law. Where no law is, there is no transgression (Rom 4:15,
7:5). Sin takes an occasion to live by the law: ‘When the commandment
came, sin revived; for without the law, sin was dead’ (Rom 7:8,9). Sin
takes an occasion to multiply by the law: ‘The law entered, that the
offence might abound’ (Rom 5:20). ‘And the strength of sin is the law’
(1 Cor 15:56). ‘That sin by the commandment might become’ outrageous,
‘exceeding sinful’ (Rom 7:13). ‘What shall we say then? Is the law sin?
God forbid. Nay, I had not known sin, but by the law: for I had not
known lust, except the law had said, Thou shalt not covet. But sin,
taking occasion by the commandment, wrought in me all manner of
concupiscence. For without the law, sin was dead’ (Rom 7:7,8)
These things, then, are not infused or operated by the law from its own
nature or doctrine, but are occasioned by the meeting of, and having to
do with, a thing directly opposite. ‘The law is spiritual, I am
carnal’; therefore every imposition is rejected and rebelled against.
Strike a steel against a flint, and the fire flies about you; strike
the law against a carnal heart, and sin appears, sin multiplies, sin
rageth, sin is strengthened! And hence ariseth all these doubts,
murmurings, and sinful complainings that are found in the hearts of the
people of God; they have too much to do with the law; the law of works
is now in the conscience, imposing duty upon the carnal part. This is
the reason of the noise that you hear, and of the sin that you see, and
of the horror that you feel in your own souls when tempted. But to pass
this digression.
The law, then, having to do with carnal men, by this they become worse
sinners than before; for their heart now recoileth desperately,
opposeth blasphemously; it giveth way to despair; and then to conclude
there is no hope for hereafter; and so goeth on in a sordid, ungodly
course of life, till his time is come to die and be damned, unless a
miracle of grace prevent. From all this I conclude, that ‘a man cannot
stand just from the curse, in the sight of God but while sinful in
himself.’ But,
3. As the law giveth neither strength nor life to keep it, so it
neither giveth nor worketh repentance unto life if thou break it. Do
this and live, break it and die; this is the voice of the law. All the
repentance that such men have, it is but that of themselves, the sorrow
of the world, that endeth in death, as Cain’s and Judas’ did, even such
a repentance as must be repented of either here or in hell-fire (2 Cor
7:10).
4. As it giveth none, so it accepteth none of them that are under the
law (Gal 5:4). Sin and die, is for ever its language; there is no
middle way in the law; they must bear their judgment, whosoever they
be, that stand and fall to the law. Therefore Cain was a vagabond
still, and Judas hangeth himself; their repentance could not save them,
they fell headlong under the law. The law stays no man from the due
reward of his deeds; it hath no ears to hear nor heart to pity its
penitent ones (Gen 4:9-11; Matt 27:3).
5. By the law, God will show no mercy; for, ‘I will be merciful to
their unrighteousness,’ is the tenor of another covenant (Heb
8:9,10,12). But by the law I regard them not, saith the Lord. For,
6. All the promises annexed to the law are, by the first sin, null and
void. Though, then, a man should live a thousand years twice told, and
all that while fulfil the law, yet having sinned first, he is not at
all the better. Our legalists, then, begin to talk too soon of having
life by the law; let them first begin without sin, and so throughout
continue to death, and then if God will save them, not by Christ, but
works, contrary to the covenant of grace, they may hope to go to
heaven.
7. But, lastly, to come close to the point. Thou hast sinned; the law
now calls for passive as well as active obedience; yea, great
contentedness in all thou sufferest for thy transgressing against the
law. So, then, wilt thou live by the law? Fulfil it, then, perfectly
till death, and afterwards go to hell and be damned, and abide there
till the law and curse for thy sin be satisfied for; and then, but not
till then, thou shalt have life by the law. Tell me, now, you that
desire to be under the law, can you fulfil all the commands of the law,
and after answer all its demands? Can you grapple with the judgment of
God? Can you wrestle with the Almighty? Are you stronger than he that
made the heavens, and that holdeth angels in everlasting chains? ‘Can
thine heart endure, or can thy hands be strong in the day that I shall
deal with thee? I the Lord have spoken it, and will do it’ (Eze 22:14).
O, it cannot be! ‘These must go away into everlasting punishment’ (Matt
25:46). So, then, men must stand just from the curse, in the sight of
God, while sinners in themselves, or not at all.
Objection [to the second reason]. But the apostle saith, ‘That the
doers of the law shall be justified’ (Rom 2). Plainly intimating that,
notwithstanding all you say, some by doing the law may stand just
before God thereby; and if so, then Christ fulfilled it for us but as
our example.
Answer. The consequences are not true; for by these words, ‘The doers
of the law shall be justified,’ there is no more proof of a possibility
of saving thyself by the law than there is by these: ‘For by the works
of the law shall no man living be justified in his sight’ (Gal 2:16).
The intent, then, of the text objected, is not to prove a possibility
of man’s salvation by the law, but to insinuate rather an
impossibility, by asserting what perfections the law requireth. And
were I to argue against the pretended sufficiency of man’s own
righteousness, I would choose to frame mine argument upon such a place
as this—‘The hearers of the law are not just before God’; therefore the
breakers of the law are not just before God; not just, I say, by the
law; but all have sinned and broken the law; therefore none by the law
are just before God. For if all stand guilty of sin by the law, then
that law that judgeth them sinners cannot justify them before God. And
what if the apostle had said, ‘Blessed are they that continue in all
things,’ instead of pronouncing a curse for the contrary, the
conclusion had been the same; for where the blessing is pronounced, he
is not the better that breaks the condition; and where the curse is
pronounced, he is not the worse that keeps it. But neither doth the
blessing nor curse in the law intend a supposition that men may be just
by the law, but rather to show the perfection of the law, and that
though a blessing be annexed thereto, no man by it can obtain that
blessing; for not the hearers of the law are justified before God, but
the doers, when they do it, shall be justified. None but doers can by
it be just before God: but none do the law, no, not one, therefore none
by it can stand just before God (Rom 3:10,11).
And whereas it is said Christ kept the law as our example, that we by
keeping it might get to heaven, as he; it is false, as before was
showed—‘He is the end of the law,’ or, hath perfectly finished it, ‘for
righteousness to every one that believeth’ (Rom 10:4). But a little to
travel with this objection; no man can keep the moral law as Christ,
unless he be first without sin, as Christ; unless he be God and man, as
Christ. And again; Christ cannot be our pattern in keeping the law for
life, because of the disproportion that is between him and us; for if
we do it as he, when yet we are weaker than he; what is this but to
out-vie, outdo, and go beyond Christ? Wherefore we, not he, have our
lives exemplary: exemplary, I say, to him; for who doth the greatest
work, they that take it in hand in full strength, as Christ; or he that
takes it in hand in weakness, as we? Doubtless the last, if he fulfils
it as Christ. So, then, by this doctrine, while we call ourselves his
scholars, we make ourselves indeed the masters. But I challenge all the
angels in heaven, let them but first sin as we have done, to fulfil the
law, as Christ, if they can!
But again; if Christ be our pattern in keeping the law for life from
the curse before God, then Christ fulfilled the law for himself; if so,
he was imperfect before he fulfilled it. And how far short this is of
blasphemy let sober Christians judge; for the righteousness he
fulfilled was to justify from sin; but if it was not to justify us from
ours, you know what remaineth (Dan 9:26; Isa 53:8-10).
But when must we conclude we have kept the law? Not when we begin,
because we have sinned first; nor when we are in the middle, for we may
afterwards miscarry. But what if a man in this his progress hath one
sinful thought? I query, is it possible to come up to the pattern for
justification with God? If yea, then Christ had such; if no, then who
can fulfil the law as he? But should I grant that which is indeed
impossible—namely, that thou art justified by the law; what then? Art
thou now in the favour of God? No, thou art fallen by this thy
perfection, from the love and mercy of God: ‘Whosoever of you are
justified by the law are fallen from grace’ (Gal 5:4). He speaks not
this to them that are doing, but to such as think they have done it,
and shows that the blessing that these have got thereby is to fall from
the favour of God. Being fallen from grace, Christ profits them
nothing, and so they still stand debtors to do the whole law. So, then,
they must not be saved by God’s mercy, nor Christ’s merits, but alone
by the works of the law! But what should such men do in that kingdom
that comes by gift, where grace and mercy reigns? Yea, what should they
do among that company that are saved alone by grace, through the
redemption that is in Jesus Christ? Let them go to that kingdom that
God hath prepared for them that are fallen from grace. ‘Cast out the
bond-woman and her son; for he shall not be heir with the son of the
free-woman’ and of promise (Gal 4:30).[23]
But to pass this objection. Before I come to the next reason, I shall
yet for the further clearing of this, urge these scriptures more.
[Further scriptures to prove the second reason.]
1. The first is that in Galatians 3:10, ‘As many as are of the works of
the law are under the curse.’