T yoihMOC Carens JHStitia qnrc vestilus est Christianoruvi. Pareus. \ Nil rniserius inisero non iniserarUe seipstun.
i. e. None is more to be pitied than a pitiable sinner who does not pity himself. II Hoc f/jOVCxoXiov ssL C'liriiiiy extra quod nulla est salits.
516 THE DOCTRINES PROPOUNDED AND OPENED.
this place Estius, and others, build their doctrine of merit ; which is to build a superstructure of hay and stubble upon a foundation of gold. The exigence of the very text itself destroys such conceits : for what have they that are poor, wretched, miserable, and want all things, to give as a price, or by way of merit for those inestimable treasures of grace ? Buying therefore in this place can signif)-^ or in- tend no more than the acquisition, compassing, or obtaining these things from Jesus Christ, in the use of such means and methods as he hath appointed ; and in the use of them we merit grace no more than the 'patient miiYii^ oihh physician by coming to him, and carefully fol- lowing his prescriptions in the use of such medicaments as he freely gives him : And that place Isa. Iv. 1. (from which this phrase seems to be borrowed) fully clears it ; " He that hath no money, let him " come and buy wine and milk without money, and without price.""
From all which, these three observations fairly offer themselves to us.
Doct. 1. That many professors of religion are under very great and dangerous mistaJces in their profession.
Doct. 2. That true grace is exceeding precious, and greatly en- riches the soul that possesseth it.
Doct. »S. That only is to he accounted true grace which is able to endure all those trials appointed, or permitted for the discovery of it.
The first doctrine naturally arises out of the scope of the text, which is to awaken and convince unsound professors.
The second, from the use the Holy Ghost makes of the best and choicest things in nature, to shadow forth the inestimable worth and preciousness of grace.
And the third, from that particular and most significant metaphor of gold tried in the fire ; by which I here understand a real and solid work of grace, evidencing itself to be so in all the proofs and trials that are made of it ; lor whatsoever is probational of grace, and puts its soundness and sincerity to the test, is that to it which fire is to gold : In this sense it is used in scripture, Psal. Ixvi. 10. " Thou '' hast tried us as silver is tried :"" And Zech. xiii. 9- " I will bring " the third part through the fire, and will refine them as silver is ** refined, and try them as gold is tried.""' So that whatsoever it is which examines and tries grace whether it be sound and sincere, that is the fire Christ here speaks of ; and such grace as abides these trials, is the gold here intended.
THE GREAT AND BAXGEttOUS MISTAKE OF SOME PIlOFESS01tS> £17
Wherein the first Doctrine is opened and proved briefli/, as a pre^ liminary Discourse to the principal Subject herein desigmed,
That many professors of religion are under very great and dan^ gerous mistakes in their professions,
j^LL flattery is dangerous ; self-flattery is more dangerous ; but $elf-flattery in the business of salvation, is the most dangerous of all.
To pretend to the good we know we have not, is gross hypocrisy; to persuade ourselves of the good we have not, though we think wo have it, is formal hypocrisy ; and this was the case of those self- deceivers in the text.
My design in this discourse is not to shake the well-built hopes of any man, or beget groundless jealousies, but to discover the real dan- gerous flaws in the foundation of many menV hopes for heaven : Every thing is as its foundation is, and dehile [fundamentum Jallit opus ; that failing, all fails.
There is a twofold self-suspicion or fear in God^s own people : The one is a fear of caution., awakening the soul to the use of all the preventive means for avoiding danger ; this is laudable : The other a groundless suspicion of reigning hypocrisy, tending only to despon- dency : this is culpable : By the former the soul is guarded against danger ; by the latter it is betrayed into needless trouble, and debar- red from peace.
Good men have sometimes more fear than they ought, and wicked men have less than they ought: The former do sometimes shut their eyes against the fair evidences of their own graces; the latter shut their eyes against the sad evidences of their sin and misery. This is an evil in both, but not equally dangerous ; for he that shuts his eyes against his own graces and privileges, loseth but his peace and comfort for a time; but he that shuts his eyes against the evidences of his sin and misery, loseth his precious soul to all eternity. Of this latter sort of self-deceivers the world is full, and these are the men I am concerned with in this point.
Oh ! that some men had less trouble ! and oh i that some had more! If the JboUsh virgins had been less confident, they had certain- ly been more safe, Mat. xxv. If those glorious professors in Mat, vii. 22. had not shut their eyes against their own hypocrisy, Christ had not shut against them the door of salvation and glory. Ananias and Sapphira; HymeneusandPhiletus; Alexander and Demas, with multitudes naore of that sort, are the sad instances and proofs of this
518 THE GREAT AJiD DANGEROUS MISTAKE OF SOME PROFESSORS.
point. It is said, Prov. xxx. 12. " There is a generation that is pure " in their own eyes, and yet is not washed from their filthiness.'* Through w4iat false spectacles do the men of that generation look upon their own souls ; the men of that generation are multiplied in this generation : Never was any age over-run with a generation of vain, self-cozening, formal professors, as this generation is. Three things I shall here endeavour to do : 1. To give evidence beyond contradiction to this sad truth, that among professors are found many self-deceivers.
(2.) To assign the true causes and reasons why it is so. And (3.) Improve it in those practical inferences the point affords.
Jl hat there are multitudes of such self-deceivers among profes- sors, will appear,