THIRDLY. The third inference is concerning carnal and unregenerate men. 'Without faith,' the apostle saith, 'it is impossible to please God;' therefore, certainly a man in his natural condition can do nothing that may be accepted with God. I shall confirm this with other places of scripture: Rom. viii. 8, 'They that are in the flesh cannot please God;' 'in the flesh,' that is, in a carnal state; it is opposed to 'them that are in Christ,' ver. 1. There is an utter impossibility that anything of theirs should be accepted with the Lord; which ariseth partly from the state of the person, and partly from the quality of the service which natural men perform.
1. From the state of the person. Unregenerate men are enemies to God, and therefore he will not accept of a gift at their hands. There is no reconciliation till an interest in Christ; for God will not be appeased with duties; the honour of appeasing and satisfying his justice is left alone for Jesus Christ. So it is proclaimed from heaven, Mat. iii. 17, 'This is my beloved son, in whom I am well pleased;' so Eph. i. 6, 'He hath made us accepted in the beloved.' Jesus Christ is the favourite of heaven; he must mediate for us. As, when 'Herod was displeased with the men of Tyre and Sidon, they made Blastus the king's chamberlain, their friend, and desired peace,' Acts xii. 20; so if ever we would find acceptance with God, we must have a friend and favourite in heaven that must plead our cause. Now, till you have an interest in his merit and intercession, God will not accept an offering at your hands; and therefore you shall find it is God's method in the covenant of grace, to begin first with the interest of the person, and then to accept of the work. See with what scorn God rejects the offering and the best services of wicked men, however accommodated: Prov. xv. 8, 9, 'The sacrifice of the wicked is an abomination to the Lord, but the prayer of the upright is his delight. The way of the wicked is an abomination unto the Lord, but he loveth him that followeth after righteousness.' Many things are notable in these two verses. First, he saith, The sacrifice of the wicked is an abomination; God is so far from accepting their choicest duties that he hates them. It is grievous that God should not accept: ay, but he doth abominate them. And mark the antithesis - 'The sacrifice of the wicked,' and the 'prayer of the upright.' Sacrifice was the more outward and costly part of worship. Wicked men may do more in the outward rite than the godly themselves, to recompense the defects of inward piety; but though they come with sacrifices, yet the single prayer of the upright is more accepted with the Lord. And mark, he saith, ver. 6, 'The way of the wicked is an abomination,' not only their sacrifice or their exercises of religion, which may be counterfeited, but their way, their second-table duties, which, because of the benefit that men receive by them, are more pleasing and plausible; yet their way, that is an abomination. They may do much; they may build colleges, promote learning, relieve the poor; yet all is an abomination, because the person is wicked. Solomon doth not say their adultery is an abomination, but their charity, their civility. But saith he, 'They that follow after righteousness,' that is, that make it their sincere aim, though they cannot always be masters of their own desires and perform their intentions, yet God loves them that follow after righteousness, their hearts are set right. But the wicked, those that are in an unjustified estate, do whatever they will, they are an abomination to the Lord; they are punished for their sins, and are not accepted for their duties. Now, lest you should think that all this doth arise from some gross defect that is in the service itself, you shall see that it is from the hatred God bears to their persons, until they be reconciled to him in Christ. I shall prove that out of Prov. xxi. 27, 'The sacrifice of the wicked is an abomination; how much more when he bringeth it with a wicked mind?' Suppose a wicked man should do his best, yet the person is not reconciled to God; and so at best it is but a wicked man's offering; therefore till we change our copy this will be our case; it will be an abomination to the Lord. Thus you see, from the interest and quality of the person, they are in an unjustified and unreconciled estate, therefore nothing of theirs can please God.
2. Consider the defect of the service. A natural man can never do or perform an act of pure obedience. It is true, his works are materially good: but it is not the matter which makes a work good. Velvet is good matter to make a garment of, yet it may be marred in the cutting; pieces of timber are good matter for a house, but it must be judiciously framed; so these actions are for the matter good in themselves, yet they are not pleasing to God, because they are faulty in the most necessary circumstances. Whatsoever is well done must come from a principle of faith and love; and it must be done to God's glory, otherwise it is not reckoned among duties, but sins. Now here a wicked man is always culpable; he can neither act out of faith, which he hath not; nor to God's glory, he cannot make that his aim, therefore still he sins. it is true, he sins more in things that are evil in themselves; as in theft and in lying, than in sacrifice; in adultery than in prayer, because the act itself is sinful; but in those duties that he doth perform, the matter of them is conducible to the good of human society. But it is all one as to their acceptance with God; for it is not enough that a thing be good in itself, but it must be done to a good end; that is a necessary circumstance, in which a wicked man is defective. Prov. xxi. 27, 'The sacrifice of the wicked is an abomination: how much more (saith the Spirit of God) when he bringeth it with an evil mind?' 'Usually wicked men have an evil mind in all that they do; they have a carnal, or a natural, or, at best but a legal end.
[1.] A carnal end. Usually they make a market of religion, and their righteousness is set to sale. Whatever they do, they do it to please men rather than God; and bow can they expect their reward of God? So our Saviour, when he speaks of the hypocrisy of those that pray, fast, and give alms, he saith, Mat. vi. 2 - 16, 'They have their reward;' they give God an acquittance and a discharge, for all that they do is to please men and not to please God; therefore they have their reward, that is, that they look after. By a vile submission, they make the service of God to stoop to their secular interests. Mat. xxiii. 14, the Pharisees 'made long prayers to devour widows' houses;' that is, to get a fame and a repute to themselves, that they might be entrusted with widow's estates. Thus the apostle speaks of some, Phil. i. 15, 'That preached Christ out of envy and strife, not of good will.' They may preach and pray to show their gifts; and the end is carnal, to provide for their secular interest. Now this is a vile scorn put upon God, when religion is made a cover for an unclean intent; it is as if you should take a cup of gold, made for the king to drink in, and make it a vessel to hold dung and excrements. Or else -
[2.] Their end in all they do is natural. It is grace that sublimates the intentions of the creature. A carnal man can go no higher than self, as water cannot ascend beyond its fountain. All that a carnal man do this for self-interest. If they eat and drink it is for self, to gratify appetite, not that they might be more cheerful in the service of God. If they pray, it is for self: Hosea vii. 14, 'They have not cried unto me with their heart (saith the Lord) when they howled upon their beds; they assemble themselves for corn and wine.' All their prayers do arise from a brutish instinct after their own ease and welfare; 'Not unto me,' saith the Lord; God is neither at the beginning nor at the end of the action. If they spend their strength in holy services, as a wicked man may do, it is but to feed their own bellies; it is still to make a god of themselves, and they lay aside the Lord, Phil. iii. 19. The apostle speaks there of false teachers, who spent their strength in the work of the gospel, out of a selfish principle, to flow in an abundance of wealth and worldly pleasures; therefore he saith, 'Their god is their belly.' Always observe, a man makes a god of that which he makes his utmost end, and accounts to be his chiefest good. Thus do all natural men set up self instead of God. Now, how can God accept an action, when his majesty is laid aside and self is set up in his stead?
[3.] Take wicked men at the best, it is but a legal end. When wicked men are most devout, it is but to quiet conscience and to satisfy God for their sins by their duties. They would fain buy out their peace with heaven at any rate; as appears by the inquiry mentioned by the prophet: Micah vi. 6 - 8, 'Wherewith shall I come before the Lord, and bow myself before the high God? Shall I come before him with burnt-offerings, with calves of a year old; will the Lord be pleased with thousands of rams, or with ten thousands of rivers of oil? Shall I give my first-born for my transgression, the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul?' What shall I give for the sin of my soul? and wherewith will God be appeased? If peace of conscience were to be purchased with money, men would part with anything rather than their sins, for nothing is dearer to men than their sins; not their children, not their estate, not their first-born. Thus carnal men, by an excess of charity, seek to expiate the offences of a carnal life, and would be liberal, so they may be sinful. Now this is that which makes men hated and more abominable to God; while they think to purchase their own pardon, and hire God to be gracious; when they do things that carry a fair show in the world, they think God is bound to forgive them their sins; and so they cause the Lord to hate them so much the more, since they neglect Christ, 'In whom alone he is well pleased.'
Use 1. This serves to represent to us the misery of natural men. This should amaze them to think that all they do is abominable in God's sight. They are debtors to the whole law, and yet they can do nothing that can be pleasing to God. Their duties cannot quit old scores, if they perform them never so exactly; they can never come up to such a pitch of duty and such a pure act of obedience as God requires; there is a vast debt upon them, and they are not able to pay one farthing. To enforce the consideration, reflect upon your own misery and the opposite happiness of the children of God.
1. Your own misery. Of all men, you are in a miserable condition, and God will take nothing in good part from you. How will you do to please him? No condition, no duty of yours, no enjoyment of yours, can render you acceptable to God; no outward condition can endear you to God. Wealth and authority in the world will nothing avail you against the process of divine justice Men are taken with pomp and high places. We are apt to favour the rich in their cause, but divine justice will not be bribed; all those things are but fuel to kindle the fire of hell. As a stone that falls from a high place is the more bruised and broken, so the greater your advantages are in the world of authority and place, the greater the judgment; the mighty shall be mightily tormented; no excellency of gifts, learning, wit, and such like things. God is not taken with parts; all those qualities and endowments are but like a jewel in a toad's head - the person is displeasing to God. What pity is it to see that old complaint verified - Surgunt indocti et rapiunt cælum, dum nos cum doctrina detrudimur in Gehennam: the unlearned may arise and take heaven by violence, when you with all your learning are thrust down to hell. So for moral honesty; it is but sin dressed up more handsomely, and set off with a fairer varnish. Whatever doth not come from a pure fountain of faith and obedience, and is not done to God's glory, it is but like a spiced carcase - it is but sin and nature perfumed. To instance in things that are more commendable - liberality to learning, giving of alms, building of churches, civility of life; these are good in themselves, and glorious in men's eyes, but they are abomination before God. Mark the emphasis of our Saviour's words: Luke xvi. 15, 'That which is highly esteemed among men is an abomination in the sight of God;' not only that which 'pleaseth' men, but is 'highly esteemed;' and he saith it is not only 'not accepted,' but it is bdelugma - an 'abomination to God;' that which is a rose to us, is a nettle to him. Carnal ends are as odious to God as gross sins are to men. Nay, go to religious duties; a wicked carnal man may pray, but his prayer is turned into sin, as a jewel in a dead man's mouth. Your prayers, because they come from dead men, 'men dead in trespasses and sins,' lose all their worth and efficacy, how good soever the action be in itself; so that when a man comes to please God, he grieveth him more. A carnal man may be employed in the offices of the church: Mat. vii. 22, 'We have prophesied in thy name, and in thy name have cast out devils, and in thy name done many wonderful works;' and yet Christ saith, 'I know you not; depart from me, ye that work iniquity,' ver. 23. A man may spend his strength and his spirits in the ministry; yet after all this may be a castaway. Christ will not take acquaintance with them that are in such a nearness of office and ministration - 'I know you not.' It is strange that Christ should not know them, when they can challenge acquaintance with him by such a good token; We had such gifts and such offices. Some men have only gifts for others; and after they have wasted themselves and swaled away like a candle in the work of the ministry, they may go out in a snuff. Gifts and employments are for the body. No doubt, in Noah's time, some that built an ark for others perished in the waters; so after we have built an ark for others, and represented Christ to them, if we do not get an interest in him ourselves, we are cast away; or like the clouds that moisten the earth, but are themselves scattered by the winds, we may moisten and convey the influences of heaven to others, but are scattered, as those that Christ refuseth, by the breath and fury of the Lord; or like the water of purification, under the law, that cleansed the leper, but was itself unclean, so men that are employed as instruments in the cleansing of others, may themselves be unclean and disallowed by God. They may deserve well of the church, and yet be unthankful to God and unfaithful to their own souls; nay, you may be orthodox, and side with the better part, and yet all this will not render you acceptable to God: Gal. v. 6, 'In Christ Jesus neither circumcision availeth anything, nor uncircumcision, but faith that works by love.' That was the controversy among the believers of that time, whether circumcision were to be kept up. Christ doth not love men for their opinion, but for their obedience. Some that are orthodox may go down to hell. The devils themselves have great skill in many points of faith; nay, which is more, men may suffer for religion for that which they call their conscience, yet all this in vain: 1 Cor. xiii. 2, 'If I give my body to be burnt, and have not charity, it profiteth me nothing;' without faith all this is nothing. The suffering of a wicked man, it is but like the cutting off a swine's head, or offering of a dog in sacrifice: as, under the law, the priest was to make inquiry if the sacrifice were sound, if it were not scabby or lame. God doth not love a scabby sacrifice; and when men are tainted with enormous lives and conversations, their sufferings will not endear them to God; nay, whatever you do in your lawful employment, in your calling, it is all sin. The whole trade and course of a wicked mans life is nothing but sin, because all those actions are not elevated by grace to a supernatural intention: Prov. xxi. 4, 'The ploughing of the wicked is sin;' whatever they do - their speaking, eating, drinking, trading - all is sin, because there is no grace. How should this take us off from our vain confidences! I have nothing but sin, I can do nothing but sin; and how should this bring the soul to lie at God's foot for mercy!
2. Consider the opposite happiness of the children of God, this will aggravate your misery. The smallest works of a man that is reconciled to God in Christ are rewarded. A cup of cold water shall not want its reward, Mat. x. 42. If a carnal man offers rivers of oil, ten thousands of sacrifices, yet they are nothing; whereas the weakest and poorest services on the other side are accepted. They that are in a state of grace have liberty of constant access to God, and God hath promised to take notice of their persons and prayers: Ps. xxxiv. 15, 'The eyes of the Lord are upon the righteous, and his ears are open to their cry;' God is ready to receive and entertain them whenever they come to the throne of grace, but, as it follows in the next verse, 'The face of the Lord is against them that do evil;' as by a frown we discourage a supplicant. Certainly, it is a great mercy that we have an access to God, and the liberty to stand before him daily; nay, the weakness of their duties shall be dispensed withal. A child of God is guilty of many failings, Partus sequitur ventrem, the birth hath more of the mother in it than of the father; so, though the Spirit of God help them in their services, yet there is much of their own weaknesses mixed with it; yet God will accept it: Cant. v. 1, 'I have eaten my honey-comb with my honey;' the honeycomb is bitter, but Christ will eat it for the honey's sake. We serve Christ in our duties as he was served on the cross, we offer him wine mingled with myrrh, but he will dispense with imperfections; then their sins of life shall be pardoned. It is true, the children of God have not a dispensation to sin; yet God will handle them with much indulgence when they are through the prevalency of corruption and infirmity drawn to sin. A hireling is soon dismissed when he doth not give content; but a child is not cast out of doors for every offence saith God, I will spare them, as a man spareth his own son that serveth him,' Mal. iii. 17.
Use 2. To represent to us the necessity of being in a state of faith, or else neither person nor work can please God; there must be a change of our state, as well as doing our duties. It is in vain to persuade people to change their actions, while their state is unchanged. If the person be not in favour, the works are hated; duties may further our delusion, but cannot further our happiness. Many heap up duty upon duty, as if they thought to please God, that way. I do not blame men for using means, but for neglecting an interest in Christ. Who will look for grapes upon thorns? No man can offer a sacrifice to God till he be first made a priest; first, there must be a consecration of their persons: Mal. iii. 3, 'He shall purify the sons of Levi, then they shall offer unto the Lord an offering in righteousness;' Heb. ix. 14, 'How much more shall the blood of Christ purge your consciences from dead works, to serve the living God.' First, the christian must be consecrated before he can minister before the Lord in holy things: 1 Peter i. 2 - 5, 'Ye are a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices, acceptable to God by Jesus Christ' Men must be kings and priests to God before they offer sacrifice to God. A natural man is a bad priest, and his own evil heart is an ill altar. Our persons must be reconciled to God, and under grace by Christ, and received into the number of those God approves, and whom he delights to be worshipped by. 'Under the law, the priests, when they went to sacrifice, were washed in the great laver of water, Exod. xxix. 4; so must a christian in the laver of regeneration, Tit. iii. 5, and then come and worship; they must change their state, then the Lord will accept of their offering in Christ.
Use 3. We learn hence, that the opinion which makes God to bestow grace upon the preceding works and merit of man is false. We have not only to do with the Papists here, but Arminians, who establish an infallible attendance of grace on natural endeavours. They say, if a man do use well his natural strength and abilities; if he do as much as he can, God will certainly help him to supernatural grace. If they stir themselves in good earnest to seek the grace of conversion, they shall infallibly and without miscarrying find it made good to them; so Arminius, Faciunt quod in se est, dantur a deo infallibiliter, et ex certa lege auxilia prævenientis gratiæ. It is true, we hold that it is the ordinary practice of free grace. God is seldom wanting to them that are not wanting to themselves; but to hold such an infallibility, and to lay an obligation upon God, this is a falsehood, contrary to the canon of the apostle - 'Without faith it is impossible to please God;' without faith all our actions are sins, therefore they cannot oblige God to give more grace. But say they, Without faith it is impossible to please him, so as their persons should be accepted to life and salvation but it is not impossible to please him, and so to be accepted as to receive more grace. But I answer, that the text excludes both; it is impossible to please God in any sense. Besides, pleasing God is all one with walking with God; for what is in the original? - 'Enoch walked with God' - is in the Septuagint, 'Enoch pleased God;' and it signifies an established communion of comfort and grace between God and the creature; it is meant of acceptation to grace as well as glory. But to handle the argument more fully, I shall show -
1. The inconveniency and falsehood of this doctrine.
2. Handle some objections.
First, The inconvenience of this doctrine, that if men would do their utmost, God will necessarily come in with grace.
1. That never a natural man did his utmost.
2. If they did so, God is not obliged to come in infallibly with supplies of grace.
[1.] Never a natural man did his utmost. See the character of such kind of men, that they do not act their abilities - 'But what they know naturally, in those things they corrupt themselves,' Jude ver. 10. It is but a fancy to suppose that any do improve nature to the uttermost. The scripture generally sets out natural men as unfaithful. He that had but one talent hid it in the earth, Mat. xxv. 18; and God seems to plead against them upon this issue, that they are unfaithful in common gifts: Luke xvi. 11, 'If therefore ye have not been faithful in the unrighteous mammon, who will commit to your trust the true riches?' Earnestness in the use of means is the first impression of the efficacy of the Holy Ghost, and proceeds from the seed of grace, which God hath cast into the heart.
[2.] If he did do his utmost, yet God is not bound; for if God be obliged and bound, it must either be by the merit of the creature, or by some promise he hath made; there is no other obligation upon God. Now, no man can engage the grace of Christ, and there is no promise on God's part.
(1.) No man can engage God to give him converting grace; this would tie grace to works, and then man would make himself to differ; and our debt to grace would be taken off, and the difference that is between us and others did arise from ourselves: this would make men sacrifice to their own net. Now this is contrary to scripture. No man can earn anything of God: Rom. ix. 16, 'It is not of him that willeth, nor of him that runneth, but of God that showeth mercy;' not upon the motion of our will, nor by virtue of our endeavours, but God merely acts out of the freedom of his own grace; not by our desires, which is implied in 'willing;' nor by virtue of our endeavours, which is implied in 'running;' so 2 Tim. i. 9, 'Who hath saved us, and called us with a holy calling, not according to our works, but according to his own purpose and grace, which was given us in Christ Jesus before the world began.' God's liberty is not abridged by any act of the creature, neither is he necessitated to have mercy upon us rather than upon others. Many inconveniences would follow according to this doctrine; as that the creature must bid and buy and engage Christ before they have an interest in Christ. It is against reason: all those foregoing endeavours cannot please God, being void of faith and mixed with sins; and that which deserves wrath cannot prepare for grace. It is against experience: many shall endeavour, but not obtain, because all works that are done in the state of nature cannot make us a whit more accepted with God. Therefore God, to show that his grace runs freely, and is not drawn out by our endeavours, saith - 'Many shall seek to enter in, and shall not be able,' Luke xiii. 24. Then again, this would make the creature to come and to plead with God; whereas the Lord will have us to lie at the foot of his sovereignty; the Lord will be the disposer of his own mercy. It crosseth the order of God in the dispensation of his grace, which is to bring the creature upon his knees, to be willing to refer all to his sovereignty - ' Lord, thou hast mercy on whom thou wilt have mercy, and whom thou wilt thou hardenest.' This would cross the work of humiliation, by which the Lord would bring the creature to absolute submission to his own sovereignty. When we have done all, God is not our debtor; he oweth us nothing but vengeance.
(2.) There is no shadow of any engagement, by promise on God's part, whereby he should undertake to any of us; there is no such promise as this - Do this by the strength of nature, and thou shalt have supernatural grace, but because they urge many things.
Secondly, I shall come to some objections.
Hebrews
contents
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