person under heaven whose heart is not full of infirmities, weaknesses, follies, and vanities; and whose body and soul is not too often indis- posed to closet duties ? 1 Kings viii. 46, ' If they sin against thee, for there is no man that sinneth not, &c. ;'^ Eccles. vii. 20, ' For there is not a just man upon the earth that doth good and sinneth not;' Prov. xx. 9, * Who can say, I have made my heart clean, I am pure from my sin?' Job xiv. 4, 'Who can bring a clean thing out of an unclean? not one.' Job ix. 30, 31, ' If I wash myself with snow-water, and make my hands never so clean ; yet shall thou plunge me in the ditch, and mine own clothes shall abhor me.' Job ix. 20, 'If I justify myself, my own mouth shall condemn me: if I say, I am perfect, it shall also prove me perverse.' Ps. cxliii. 2, ' And enter not into judgment with thy servant: for in thy sight shall no man living be justified.' James iii. 2, * For in many things we offend all.' 1 John i. 8, ' If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.' Such that afiirm that men may be fully perfect in this life, or without sin in this life, they do affirm that which is expressly contrary to the Scriptures last cited, and to the universal experience of all saints, who daily feel and lament over that body of sin and death that they bear about with them ; yea, they do affirm that which is quite contrary to the very state or constitution of all the saints in this life. In every saint, * the flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit lusteth against the flesh, and these are contrary one to the other, so that they cannot do the things that they would,' Gal. v. 17. In every good man there are two men, the old man and the new; the one must be daily put on, and the other daily put off, Eph. iv. 22-24. All saints have a law in their members rebelling against the law of their minds; so that the good that they would do, they do not ; and the evil that they would not do, that they do, Rom. vii. 23, 25, comp. They have two contrary principles in them, from whence proceeds two manner of actions, motions, and inclinations, continually opposite one to another; hence it is that there is a continual combat in them, like the struggling of the tv/ins in Rebekah's womb. An absolute perfection is peculiar to the triumphant state of God's elect in heaven : heaven is the only privileged place, where no unclean thing can enter in. Rev. xxiii. 21 ; that is the only place where neither sin nor Satan shall ever get footing. Such as dream of an absolute perfection in this life, do confound and jumble heaven and earth toge- ther ; the state of the church militant, with the state of the church triumphant, which are certainly distinct both in time and place, and in order, measure, and concomitants, Heb. xii. 22, 23. This dangerous opinion of absolute perfection in this life, shakes the very foundation of religion, and overthrows the gospel of grace ; it renders the satisfaction of Christ, and all his great transactions, null and void ; it tells the world that there is no need of faith, of repentance, of ordinances, of watchful- ness. They that say they have no sin, say they have no need of the blood of Christ to cleanse them from sin, 1 John i. 7. Such as say they have no sin, say they have no need of faith to rest upon Christ for imputed righteousness to justify their persons. Such as say they have no sin, say they have no need of Christ as king to subdue their lusts; nor a^ priest, to expiate offences ; nor as prophet, to teach and instruct • Grace in this life is like gold in the ore, full of mixture.
240 THE PRIVY KEY OF HEAVEN. [MaT. VI. 6.
them ; nor as a Saviour, to save them from their sins, or from wrath to come, Mat. i. 21 ; 1 Thes. i. 1 0. They that have a perfect righteousness of their own, need not be beholden to Christ for his pure, perfect, spotless, matchless righteousness. Such as are without sin have no cause to repent of sin, nor yet to watch against sin. Such as are perfect cannot say, We are unprofitable servants. But are they indeed just? Then they must live by faith, Heb. ii. 4. Are they men, and not angels ? Then they must repent, Acts xvii. 30, ' For now he commands men everywhere to repent.' Surely the best of men are but men at the best. Oh how bad those men must be, who make God himself a liar, 1 John i. ] 0. But if these men are absolutely perfect, how comes it to pass that they are afflicted and diseased as other men ? How comes it to pass that they eat, and drink, and sleep, and buy, and sell, and die as other men ? Are these things consistent with an absolute perfec- tion 1 Surely no. An absolute perfection is not a step short of heaven ; it is heaven on this side heaven ; and they that would obtain it must step to heaven before they have it. But,
(2.) iSecondly, I answer, That this objection lies as strong against family-prayer, and against all oilier kind of prayer, as it doth against closet-prayer. He that shall upon any grounds make this objection a great bug-bear to scare his soul from closet-prayer ; he may upon the same ground make it a great bug-bear to scare his soul not only from all other kind of prayer, but from all other duties of religion also, whether private or public. The spirit of this objection fights against all religion at once; and therefore you should say to it, as Christ said to Peter, 'Get thee behind me, Satan.' But.