Chapter XL
Where the nature of true holiness consists. In what sense it is called the life of God, and the glory of God. How far a mere civil righteousness falls short. What excellence and praise may yet be allowed as due to it.
We have discovered by comparative demonstration, that civil righteousness is not holiness. I now come to draw the last demonstration of the same
truth, from considering what true holiness is, and what are the essential
properties of it, common to it, wherever it is, whereby it will appear civility
falls short of grace. I will not instance in the spring-tides of holiness, but the ordinary streams and effects of it in their hearts, where it is in never so small a measure.
1. Consider what holiness is. Peter tells us it is a divine nature, and Moses and Paul tells us that it is the image of God ; and both the expres sions come to one and the same sense and import, that the nature of it is to be above all for God. As humanity is that in a man which makes him
respect man, so" godliness is that in a man which enableth him to respect God, and glorify him as God. It positively fits the heart to receive happi ness from God, and actively makes and sets all in it a-work for him, there
fore it is set out to us in two expressions fitted to express the nature of it.
1st, It is called the life of God : Eph. iv. 18, Having the understanding darkened, being alienated from the life of God through the ignorance that is
in them, because of the blindness of their heart.
2dly, And the glory of God : Rom. iii. 23, For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God.
That whereas God is the chiefest good of the creature, and ought to be his
ehiefest end. This,
(1.) Puts a principle into the soul to make it live in God, as his chiefest
good, and to make God his life, and therefore it is called the life of God. And (2.) To make God his chiefest end, and so to live to him, and there
fore is called the glory of God, or to make the glory of God the prime end of life. Of both these civil men fall short as other natural men, as those
places shew : Eph. iv. 18, Rom. iii. 23.
1. They are strangers from the life of God, and all their righteousness, or whatever is in them,
* falls short of the glory of God. It is Paul s phrase.
1st, Civility falls short of the life of God, and is a stranger to it. There
by men are, 1st, not fitted to walk with God. Nor, 2dly, quickened with
life and comfort from him.
(1.) Men are not by mere morality fitted to walk with God. Natural life
fits them to walk with the creatures, and it takes in from them what comfort
is to be had in them ; and moral virtues fit men to walk with men in all the
relations they stand in towards men, as husbands to wives, to give them
their due of love ; and as they are servants, to carry themselves to their masters so as to be faithful and obsequious ; and so as they are subjects, to
give Caesar his due, honour to whom honour ; and so as they are friends, to
requite love with love ; and so as they are members of a commonwealth, to be profitable to it in a calling ; and so also to walk with themselves, so as
424 AN UNREGENERATE MAN*S GUILTINESS BEFORE GOD, [BOOK X.
not to wrong their bodies or healths by intemperance, nor their estates by riot or profane courses ; so nor their credits, neither by a flagitious and
profligate way of living. But what is all this to God, in whose hands are
* walked with God, and it is for that holiness fits a man for, and enableth him unto it. Thou art courteous to men, and walkest submissively and respectively* to them, but grace will make thee walk humbly with thy God, Micah vi. 8, to have an eye and
thy breath and all thy ways ? Enoch
respect to him in all thy ways, to veil to him, and submit to him and his
will in the whole course of thy life. Thou art kind to thy neighbour, but if unthankful to God, and not sensible of the kindnesses received, so as to render again to him all thou hast, what availeth it ? Thou art just to thy neighbours, and payest every man their due, and at their day, and in lawful money ; but when God s times of payment for worship comes, as on the
Sabbath, and on morning and on evening times, to pray every day, thou then
neglectest to pay thy dues, to humble thyself, and acknowledge God in all
thy ways, and regardest not the duties which he requires at such times ; or
if thou tenderest payment to him, yet thou carest not in what coin, but
bringest anything, no matter how slight, dull, formal the performances are. Now, if thou wert just indeed, thou wouldst give as to Caasar the things which are Cesar s, so to God the things that are God s. Thou boastest of thy good nature, which sweeteneth thy converse with men, and them to
thee, and thee to them ; but believe it, grace is good nature to God, a blessed divine nature, which demeaneth itself and behaveth itself well towards God. Even as good nature makes thee carry thyself to thy friend, which is as thy own soul, or as to thy wife in thy bosom, so this divine good nature makes thee in love with God, and renders God pleasant to thee ; it makes thee
ingenuous to him, to walk upon terms of friendship, to observe the laws of
it as exactly as to men, to grieve when thou hast offended him, to be glad when he is pleased, to go and unbosom thyself to him.
(2.) A man, notwithstanding morality and civility, remains a stranger to the Hie and comfort is to be had from God. This advantage, indeed, a man hath by it, that he placeth not his happiness in gross sins, as profane men do, in lusts of drunkenness and uncleanness, which are neither profitable to a man s self nor others, but it raiseth his mind to place it higher, in carnal
excellencies of learning, preferment, riches, &c., or the credit of personal endowments, and the exercise of them for the good of others, and in such
things as are profitable to himself and others ; but still it raiseth not the heart up to God. The spring of his happiness, it may be, comes from a
higher hill than other men s, but is still on earth ; he fetcheth it not from
heaven, from that same river that runs from heaven in the conduitpipes of the ordinances, as the word, sacrament, meditation, and conference about God and Christ, which makes glad the city of God ; he never tasted of the water of this spring, as Christ told the woman of Samaria, John iv. 10, 14. His virtues and natural wisdom set him a-work to trade in such wares for the attaining of happiness, and the comfort of his life, the return of which do prove profitable to the commonwealth and place he lives in, as if he traffic
for credit (and the commodities that bring in credit must be things that are
good and commendable, for they will never commend him else) ; or, if his business lies in the exercise of virtue, so far as there is sweetness in the
excusings of natural conscience, this is the farthest step which he makes ; but he tradeth not with God for happiness and comfort out of the word.
Civil men little think that a godly man s chiefest delight lies here in this book of God ; yet David saith it doth, and so distinguished such a person * That is, respectfully. ED.
CHAP. XI. J IN RESPECT OF SIN AND PUNISHMENT. 425
from wicked carnal men, that his delight is in the law of the Lord, and his
meditation is therein day and night, Ps. i. 2. A carnal man knows not what it is to be quickened by the word, and to be quickened by prayer, which is David s language upon all occasions, and therefore he can want the
* Thou
absence of God, and not to be troubled at it. But what says David,
hiddest thy face, I was troubled ; for in thy favour is life, Ps. xxx. 7. A
godly man cannot live without it ; yea, thy loving-kindness is better than
life, says he ; and as in God s favour, so in God s businesses, his life lies. To see the church prosper, men to grow in grace, this is life to him, meat and drink to him.
* If you stand fast now, we live, 1 Thes. iii. 8. That which is God s life is by a sympathy his life. Now, God s life is the enjoy
ing of his own blessedness, and so the enjoying of God s blessedness in* his
life. The men of the world wonder men should keep such ado to find Christ, and be so sick when they want him ; they see no more in Christ than in
another beloved, Cant. v. 9 ; and yet they were the daughters of Jerusalem
said thus, ver. 8, such as had heard of him, but saw him not as a believer
sees him ; no, they know no greater crosses than in the loss of things of this
world, nor taste no greater comforts.
2. Holiness is called the glory of God, Eom. iii. 23, because it makes God a man s end, adopts all that is in a man for God, raiseth it up to be
for him. Civility may so far prevail as to raise a man up to be for common
good, and to have an eye at it, to put in an heroicness of mind for the good of men ; and so those who live in the church may have a zeal for that cause which is God s cause, as it is a common cause of the church, and as they
profess it against the enemies of the church. Thus Paul was zealous for the
religion he then professed ; and so the pharisees thought they did God good service when they cast the apostles out of the synagogues, John xii. 2, but
they do not nor cannot make God their end. For as the principles of what
they do is but nature, so the good they do at the best is but quatenus con-
gmitfini naturali, as it agrees to a natural end. They may out of pity to
their brother give alms to relieve him, or venture their lives for their coun
try, and for the religion of that party with which they join, as it is a common cause ; but to interest God in all that a man doth, this trial was that which
the pharisees shunned when Christ would have brought them to it : John
* For every one that doth evil hateth the light, neither cometh to
iii. 20, 21,
the light, lest his deeds should be reproved. But he that doth truth cometh
to the light, that his deeds may be made manifest that they are wrought in God. But one that is truly godly is willing to be searched,
* that it may be manifest his works are wrought in God ; which implies, both according to God s mind, and also that God is interested in them. Now this trial the
pharisees avoided, for therein their righteousness fell short. And that God is not the end which men only moral and civil aim at,
appears by this, that they are not for such duties, and truths, and causes, and persons, as tend to advance God, and set him up in the world. As duties
of the second table are for the good of men, for these they are very zealous ; but those of the first, that tend immediately to the sanctifying of God, these
their hearts are least in.
Obj. There remains an objection in the general to be answered, which
civil men use to make when they hear such discourses as these against their
conditions ; which is, that we utterly condemn and cry down all civility, and
discourage men that are honest so far, that it is enough to make them pro fane ; for according to this doctrine, the one is in as good a condition as the
other, say they.
* QU. is ? ED.
426 AN UNREGENERATE MAN S GUILTINESS BEFORE GOD, [BOOK X.
Ans. I answer you, first, that look what worth is in it, I will and do
acknowledge, and would have you to judge righteous judgment herein, and
give it its full due in what it is good for.
As, 1, that it is a good gift of God that men abstain from sins, and do any good. So God told Abimelech, Gen. xxvi. 6, I kept thee : and so
civil men themselves are to acknowledge. For to that end God told Abime lech he kept him, that whereas Abimelech began to boast of his own integrity, God put him in mind where he had it. And so Augustine, often in his fourth book against Julian, doth acknowledge these virtues to be Dei munera, God s
gifts. And so Paul tells us, 1 Cor. vii., that continency is a gift; but all this is but gratia gratis data, not gratia gratum jaciens ; it is freely given by God, but it doth not render the person gracious. Grace I confess it is in
this sense, both that God gives it out of his mere good, free, gracious, dis
position to one man more than another, for all men s natures are alike
corrupt ; grace also it is in this, that it is a real favour in many respects unto them thus to restrain them ; for by this they escape greater punishments hereafter, and have rewards here. And therefore God told Abimelech of
this withholding from sinning, as a favour he had done him, that he had
kept him, for else he had been a man of death ; but yet, that it is grace unto salvation, as the apostle speaks, Heb. vi. 9, that is it I deny. And, 2, I grant further, that when a man hath grace once, then these
gifts help him much in abstinence from sin, and to perform duties with ease ; they help the boat to go the further when the helm is guided right. So as a man shall perform duties of liberality to men, of piety to parents, of meek ness and patience, the easilier. As some metals will take the stamp better than others, so will some natures take more deep impressions of grace when the stamp is set on ; and so a man that hath a spirit of generosity and
ambition, when satisfied,* will have larger aims for God, and easilier deny himself than a base and low spirit ; and therefore, next to grace, they are to be preferred even to learning, and all other gifts, even as the philosophers also did give them the pre-eminence.
And, 3, I say further, that we are to honour it in them in whom we see
it, as Christ looked on the young man and loved him, Mark x. 21. They are to be encouraged, and profane men are not ; but they are not to be
encouraged for resting therein, and we are to be ready to do them good the rather for this their moral goodness. And so Abimelech, having been honest in the matter of Sarah, Abraham was to pray for him, and at his prayer, God healed Abimelech, by reason of his integrity, and also his family, Gen.
xx. 17, 18. I grant there is a goodness in this morality for this world, though none for the world to come. It is good to human purposes, in ordine ad homines, for the benefit of men ; but not in ordine ad Deum, to the glory of God. Whereas grace, as Paul tells us, is good for all things, having the
promises, as of this life, so of that which is to come : 1 Tim. iv. 8, For
bodily exercise profiteth little, but godliness is profitable unto all things ; having promise of the life that now is, and of that which is to come. If you should bring me a brass shilling that is silvered over or gilt, if, indeed, you would put it off for gold or silver I would deny it, and not take it ; nay, in such a case, I would take it and stamp it through, as false counterfeit
pieces use to be. But if you ask me, if it be not good for something, I will
grant you yes, the brass, the metal of it is serviceable for many profitable uses ; but if you will stamp the king s image on it, and have it go for coin, then I arrest you as traitors against the king s majesty. And it is a like case here, when you would have morality pass for God s image.
* Qu. sanctified ? ED.
CHAP. XI.] IN RESPECT OF SIN AND PUNISHMENT. 427
But yet withal, this I further add, I must say it, and say it again, that a man trusting in his morality, and looking no farther, is in the most dangerous condition to hinder him from repentance and faith that any man can be in ; and so, by consequence and accidentally, such a state is the worst, worse than
profaneness itself.
1. Because men that have civil righteousness of their own are ready to set
it up in the room of Christ, and so dishonour Christ more by their right eousness than profane men do by their sins.* This was the stumblingblock which all the pharisees broke their necks upon
: Rom. ix. 31, 32,
1 But Israel which followed after the law of righteousness, hath not attained
to the law of righteousness. Wherefore ? Because they sought it not by
faith, but as it were by the works of the law ; for they stumbled at that
stumbling-stone. Rom. x. 2, 3, For I bear them record, that they have a zeal of God, but not according to knowledge. For they being ignorant of God s righteousness, and going about to establish their own righteousness, have not submitted themselves unto the righteousness of God. The apostle calls it a stumbling-block, when they setting up their own righteousness, would not submit to Christ, and therefore the publicans and sinners did go
faster, and by greater troops crowd into the kingdom of heaven than the
pharisees.
And, 2, because these men, out of love to their own righteousness, are the
deadliest enemies to the power of godliness, as those devout women in Acts
xiii. 50, were to Paul, and Paul himself whilst in that estate unto the
Christians ; and so those, 2 Tim. iii. 3, Without natural affection, truce-
breakers, false accusers, incontinent, fierce, despisers of those that are good. The place is mistaken by interpreters, for it is not meant of temporary
believers, for they honour those who are good; but of civil men. Those that have a form of godliness are the greatest deniers of the power, and despisers of them that are good. They are in love with these apish imitations of
grace, and bring it to God, and are enemies to them who discover it to be
counterfeit, as they would be angry with those who should prove all their
money, if they think themselves rich, to be false. And, 3, because they are the farthest off from coming into the state of
grace. For whereas a man must be humbled, and part with his own
righteousness ere he can truly come to Christ, they are the farthest off from that work of any other. As ignorant people are far off (as the Gentiles were, Eph. ii. 12, 17, because without knowledge of God), so these, because of the want of knowledge of themselves. As take a man that hath some wit, and is conceited of it, he is farther off from being a wise man than one who
* There is more hope of a fool than of him, Prov. xxvi. 12. Why ? Because ere he become wise he must become a
is more a fool. Solomon says,
fool, as Paul tells us, 1 Cor. iii. 18, Let no man deceive himself: if any man among you seemeth to be wise in this world, let him become a fool that he may be wise. It is a double task to make that man wise, to shew him he is a fool, and then to give him wit. So here is the difference between
profane and civil men, that though these last have something, that when
grace is wrought will be more serviceable to grace than a profane man hath, and is in itself, comparing things with things, higher ; yet compare it with the working of grace, this man is farther off the working of it, because a
* Crassailla vitia quse sunt contra secundam tabulam, adulteria, &c., leviora tamen
sunt, si conferas cum sapientia et justitia, quibus pugnant contra primam tabulam. Candidus diabolus qui impellit homines ad spiritualia peccata, quse sese venditant pro
justitia, longe nocentior est nigro, qui tantum ad carnalia impellit. Lutherus Com. in
Epist. ad Gal
428 AN UNREGENERATE MAN S GUILTINESS BEFORE GOD, [BOOK X.
profane man will soon see himself wicked. But the publicans and sinners went faster to heaven than the pharisees ; yet, I say, there may be a
greater nighness between the things, when yet there is a greater distance between the working of them, and bringing them together. Thus, brother and sister are nigher in blood, but farther off marrying each other than two strangers ; and thus two men upon the tops of two houses, oppo site each to other in one of your narrow streets, though they are nigher to each other in distance than those below are, yet in regard of coming each to other they may be said to be farther off, for the one must come down, and then climb up again. Thus now a moral man, though he seems nearer to a
state of grace, yet is really farther off; for he must be convinced of his false
righteousness, and then climb up to the state of grace, to see himself as low and vile as the profanest man in the world, as every man when he is humbled doth. Besides, if it were so, that a man were only to be restored to legal righteousness, which man had in innocency, and to the acts thereof, then indeed there would be a great nearness between civility and it ; but as to
evangelical righteousness, and that of faith, which is founded upon a denial of a man s own righteousness, a mere civil and moral man is at the greatest distance.
CHAP. I.j IN RESPECT OF SIN AND PUNISHMENT. 429