IN THE SANCTIFICATION Ob' 132LI12VLItB, or not to rest in any acts or dutiesof obedience, in any good works, how good and useful soever in them- selves, nor howsoever multiplied by us, unless there be a vital principle of holiness in our hearts. A few ho- nest actions, a few useful duties, do satisfy some per- sons, that they are as holy as they should be, or as they need tobe. And some men's religion bath consisted in the multiplying of outward duties, that they might be meritorious for themselves and others. Bat God ex- pressly rejecteth not only such duties, but the greatest multitude of them, and their most frequent reiteration, if the heart be not antecedently purified and sanctified, if it be not possessed with the principle of grace and holiness insisted on, Ise. i. I 12, 13, 16, 15, 16. Stich acts and duties may be-the effects of other causes, the fruits of other principles.- Mere legal convictions will produce them, and put men upon a course of them. Fears, afflictions, terrorsof conscience, dictates of reason, improved by education, and confirmed by custom, will direct, yea, compel men unto their obser- vance. But all is lost; men do bat labour in the fire about them, if the soul be not prepared with this spiri- tual principle of habitual holiness wrought in it imme- diately by the Holy Ghost. Yet we must here Observe these two thingss (I.) That so far as these duties, be they of morality or religion, of piety or divineworship, aregood in them- selves, they ought to be approved, and men encouraged in them. There are sundry tanys whereby the best du- ties may be abused and misapplied, as when meti rest in them, as if they were meritorious, or the matter of their justification before God: for this, as is known, is an effectual means to divert the souls of sinners from faith in Christ for life and salvation, Ilom, ix. 31, 32. chap. x. 3, 4. And there are reasons and causes that render them unacceptable before God, with respect unto the persons by whom they are performed; as when they are not dune in faith, for which ;Cuin's sa- crifice was rejected; and when the heart isnot previous ly sanctified and prepared with a spiritual principle of obedience. But yet, on neither of these grounds or pretences.can we, or ought we, to condemn or under. value theduties themselves, which are good in their own nature, nortake offmen from the .perfori, ncc of them; yea, it were greatly to be desired that wecould see more of the fruits ;of moral xirtpes, and duties of religious âB 'rot= ... _.....d . a-= -.*``-' - piety, among unsanctified persons than sre sio. 'Tho world is not in a condition to spare the good acts (Shad men. But this we may do, and, as we are called, we ought to do. When men are engaged in a course "of duties and good worts', on principles that will not a- bide and endure the trial, or ter ends that will sped and corrupt all they da, we may tell them, (as our Sa- viour did the young man, who gave that great account of his diligence in all legal duties,) one thing isyet ¿cool- ing unto.uon, you want faith, or you want Christ, or you want a-spiritual principle of evangelical holiness, without which all you dowill be lost, and come to no account at the last day. The due assertion of grace never was, nor never can, be an obstruction unto any duty ofobedience. Indeed, when any will give tip them- selves unto such works or actings, under the name of duties and obedience unto God, which, although they make a specious shew and appearance in the world, yet areevil in themselves, or such as God requireth not of men, we may speak against them, deny them, and take men off from them. So persecution hash been looked on as a good work, men supposing they did God good service when they slew the disciples of Christ, and men giving their goods unto pious uses, as they were called (indeed, impious abuses) to have others pray for their souls, nod expiate their sins, when they were gone out of this world. 'These, and the like'other innumerable pretended duties, may bejudged, condemned, exploded, without the least fear ofdeterring men from obedience. (2.) That wherever there is this principle of holiness in the -heart, in those that are adult, therewill be the fruits and effects of it in the life, in sliduties ofrighteousness, godliness, and holiness; for the main .work and end of this principle, is to enable us to comply with that grace of God,, which teacheth ass to eleny all ungodliness and worldly lusts, and to live soberly, and righteously, and godly, in this present world, Titus ii. 11, 12. That which we press for, is thegreat direction of our Saviour, make the tree good, and thefi-ait will be so also. And there can be no more vile and sordid hypocrisy, than for any to pretend unto inward habitual sanctification, whilst their lives are barren in the fruits of righteous- ness and dutiesof obedience. Wherever this root is, there it will assuredly bear fruit. Secondly, It will appear. from hence: whence it is that men propose and steer such pariionscourses with respect 29
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy OTcyMjk=