Page images
PDF
EPUB

was taken from a prison or a dunghill. If your Lord have delivered you from wrath, ye ought, upon that very account, to be wholly his: to act for him, to suffer for him, and to do whatever he calls you to. The saints have no reason to complain of their lot in the world, whatever it be. Well may they bear the cross for him, by whom the curse was borne away from them. Well may they bear the wrath of men, in his cause, who has freed them from the wrath of God; and cheerfully go to a fire for him, by whom hell-fire is quenched to them. Soul and body, and all thou hadst in the world, were sometimes under wrath: he has removed that wrath, and shall not all these be at his service? That thy soul is not overwhelmed with the wrath of God, is owing purely to Jesus Christ; and shall it not then be a temple for his Spirit? That thy heart is not filled with horror and despair, is owing to him only; to whom then should it be devoted but to him alone? That thine eyes are not blinded with the smoke of the pit, thy hands are not fettered with chains of darkness, thy tongue is not broiling in the fire of hell, and thy feet are not standing in that lake that burns with fire and brimstone, is owing purely to Jesus Christ; and shall not these eyes be employed for him, these hands act for him, that tongue speak for him, and these feet speedily run his errands? To him who believes that he was a child of wrath, even as others, but is now delivered by the blessed Jesus, nothing will appear to much to do or suffer for his deliverer, when he has a fair call to it.

III. To conclude with a word to all: Let no man think lightly of sin, which lays the sinner open to the wrath of God. Let not the sin of our nature, which wreathes the yoke of God's wrath so early about our necks, seem a small thing in our eyes. Fear the Lord, because of his dreadful wrath. Tremble at the thought of sin, against which God has such fiery indignation. Look on his wrath, and stand in awe, and sin not. Do you think this is to press you to slavish fear? If it were so, one had better be a slave to God with a trembling heart; than a free man to the devil, with a seared conscience, and a heart of adamant. But it is not so, you may love him, and thus fear him too; yea, ye ought to do it, though ye were saints of the first magnitude. See Psal. cxix. 10. Matth. x. 28. Luke xii. 5. Heb. xii. 28, 29. Although ye have past the gulf of wrath, being in Jesus Christ: yet it is but reasonable your hearts shiver, when ye look back to it. Your sin still deserves wrath, even as the sin of others: and it would be terrible to be in a fiery furnace; although, by a miracle, we were so fenced against it, as that it could not harm us.

HEAD III.

MAN'S UTTER INABILITY TO RECOVER HIMSELF.

For when we were yet without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly.-Romans v. 6.

No man can come to me, except the Father which hath sent me, draw him.-John vi. 44.

But

We have now had a view of the total corruption of man's nature, and that load of wrath which lies on him; that gulf of misery he is plunged into in his natural state. there is one part of his misery that deserves particular consideration; namely, his utter inability to recover himself, the knowledge of which is necessary for the due humiliation of a sinner. What I design here is, only to propose a few things, whereby to convince the unregenerate man of this his inability; that he may see an absolute need of Christ, and of the power of his grace.

As a man that is fallen into a pit, cannot be supposed to help himself out of it, but by one of two ways; either by doing all himself alone, or taking hold of, and improving the help offered him by others: so an unconverted man cannot be supposed to help himself out of that state, but either in the way of the Law, or Covenant of Works, by doing all himself without Christ, or else in the way of the Gospel, or Covenant of Grace, by exerting his own strength to lay hold upon, and to make use of the help offered him by a Saviour. But alas! the unconverted man is dead in the pit, and cannot help himself, either of these ways. Not in the first way; for the first text tells us, that when our Lord came to help us, we were without strength, unable to recover ourselves. We were ungodly; therefore under a burden of guilt and wrath; yet without strength unable to stand under it: and unable to throw it off, or get from under it, so that all mankind had undoubtedly perished, had not Christ died for the ungodly, and brought help to them who could never have recovered themselves. But when Christ comes and offers help to sinners, cannot they take it? Cannot they improve help when it comes to their hands? No, the second text tells us, they cannot: "No man can come unto me, (i. e. believe in me, John vi. 35,) except the Father draw him." This a drawing which enables them to come, who, till then, could not come,

N

and therefore could not help themselves, by improving the help offered. It is a drawing, which is always effectual, for it can be no less than hearing and learning of the Father, which whoso partakes of, cometh to Christ, ver. 25. Therefore, it is not drawing in the way of mere moral suasion, which may be, yea and always is, ineffectual; but it is drawing by mighty power, Eph. i. 19, absolutely necessary for them that have no power in themselves to come and take hold of the offered help.

Hearken then, O unregenerate man, and be convinced, that as thou art in a most miserable state by nature: so thou art utterly unable to recover thyself any manner of way. Thou art ruined, and what way wilt thou go to work, to recover thyself? Which of these two ways wilt thou choose? Wilt thou try it alone! Or wilt thou make use of help? Wilt thou fall on the way of works, or on the way of the gospel? I know very well, thou wilt not so much as try the way of the gospel, till once thou hast found the recovery impracticable in the way of the law. Therefore, we shall begin where corrupt nature teaches men to begin, viz. at the way of the Law of Works.

I. Sinner, I would have thee believe that thy working will never effect it. Work and do thy best, thou shalt never be able to work thyself out of this state of corruption and wrath. Thou must have Christ, else thou shalt perish eternally. It is only Christ in you, can be the hope of glory. But if thou wilt needs try it, then I must lay before thee, from the unalterable word of the living God, two things which thou must do for thyself. And if thou canst do them, it must be yielded, that thou art able to recover thyself; but if not, then thou canst do nothing in this way, for thy recovery.

FIRST, "If thou wilt enter into life, keep the Commandments," Matth. xix. 17. That is, if thou wilt by doing, enter into life, then perfectly keep the ten commands. For the scope of these words is, to beat down the pride of man's heart; and to let him see the absolute need of a Saviour, from the impossibility of keeping the law. The answer is given suitable to the address. Our Lord checks him for his compliment, "Good Master," ver. 16, telling him, "There is none good but one, that is God," ver. 17. As if he had said, you think yourself a good man and me another; but where goodness is spoken of, men and angels may vail their faces before the good God. And as to his question, wherein he discovereth his legal disposition, Christ does not answer him, saying, "Believe and thou shalt be saved:" that would not have been

so seasonable in the case of one, who thought he could do well enough for himself, if he but knew what good things he should do; but, suitable to the humour the man was in, he bids him "keep the commandments:" keep them nicely and accurately, as those that watch malefactors in prison, lest any of them escape, and their life go for theirs. See then, O unregenerate man, what thou canst do in this matter; for if thou wilt recover thyself in this way, thou must perfectly keep the commandments of God.

can say,

And (1.) Thy obedience must be perfect in respect of the principle of it; that is, thy soul, the principle of action, must be perfectly pure, and altogether without sin. For the law requires all moral perfection; not only actual, but habitual, and so condemns original sin; impurity of nature, as well as of actions. Now, if thou canst bring this to pass, thou shalt be able to answer that question of Solomon's so as never one of Adam's posterity could yet answer it, Prov. xx. 9. "Who I have made my heart clean?" But if thou canst not, the very want of this perfection is a sin; and so lays thee open to the curse, and cuts thee off from life. Yea, it makes all thine actions, even they best actions sinful, "For who can bring a clean thing out of an unclean?" Job xiv. 4. And dost thou think by sin, to help thyself out of sin and misery? (2.) Thy obedience must also be perfect in parts. It must be as broad as the whole Law of God: if thou lackest one thing, thou art undone; for the Law denounceth the curse on him that continueth not in every thing written therein, Gal.iii. 10. Thou must give internal and external obedience to the whole Law; keep all the Commandments in heart and life. If thou breakest any one of them, that will insure thy ruin. A vain thought, or idle word, will still shut thee up under the curse. (3.) It must be perfect in respect of degrees; as was the obedience of Adam, while he stood in his innocence. This the Law requires, and will accept of no less, Mat. xxii. 37. "Thou shalt love the Lord thy God, with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind." If one degree of that love required by the Law, be wanting; if each part of thy obedience be not screwed up to the greatest height commanded, that want is a breach of the Law, and so leaves thee still under the curse. One may bring as many buckets of water to a house that is on fire, as he is able to carry, and yet it may be consumed; and will be so, if he bring not as many as will quench the fire. Even so, although thou shouldst do what thou art able, in keeping the commands, if thou fail in the least degree of obedience which the Law

enjoins, thou art certainly ruined for ever, unless thou take hold of Christ, renouncing all they righteousness as filthy rags. See Rom. x. 5. Gal. iii. 10. Lastly, it must be perpetual, as the man Christ's obedience was, who always did the things that pleased the Father; for the tenor of the Law is, "Cursed is he that continueth not in all things written in the Law, to do them." Hence, though Adam's obedience was for a while absolutely perfect, yet because at length he tripped in one point, viz. in eating the forbidden fruit, he fell under the curse of the Law. If one should live a dutiful subject to his prince till the close of his days, and then conspire against him, he must die for his treason. Even so, though thou shouldst, all the time of thy life, live in perfect obedience to the Law of God, and only at the hour of death entertain a vain thought, or pronounce an idle word: that idle word or vain thought, would blot all thy former righteousness, and ruin thee; namely, in this way, in which thou art seeking to recover thyself.

Now, such is the obedience thou must perform, if thou wouldst recover thyself in the way of the Law. But though thou shouldst thus obey, the Law stakes thee down in the state of wrath, till another demand of it be satisfied, viz.

SECONDLY, Thou must pay what thou owest. It is undeniable thou art a sinner; and whatever thou mayest be in time to come, justice must be satisfied for thy sin already committed. The honour of the Law must be maintained, by thy suffering the denounced wrath. It may be thou hast changed thy course of life, or art now resolved to do it, and set about keeping the Commands of God: but what hast thou done, or what wilt thou do, with the old debt? Your obedience to God, though it were perfect, is a debt due to him, for the time wherein it is performed; and can no more satisfy for former sins, than a tenant's paying the current year's rent can satisfy the master for all bygones. Can the paying of new debts acquit a man from old accounts? Nay, deceive not yourselves, you will find these laid up in store with God, and, Sealed up among his treasures," Deut. xxxii. 34. It remains then, that either thou must bear that wrath, to which, for thy sin, thou art liable according to the Law: or else, thou must acknowledge thou canst not bear it, and thereupon have recourse to the Surety, the Lord Jesus Christ. Let me now ask thee, art thou able to satisfy the justice of God? Canst thou pay thy own debt? Surely not: for, seeing he is an infinite God, whom thou hast offended, the punishment, being suited to the quality of the offence, must be infinite. But so it is, thy punishment or sufferings for sin cannot be

« PreviousContinue »