* As a cbild is true man, though not a perfect man, as soon as he is born ; he hath all the parts, though not the growth, and strength, and stature. 2 All was depraved by Adam, and all is renewed by Christ.
VeR. 1.] UPON THE EPISTLE OF JUDE. 29
wanting. But now tbougli this sanctification be thorough, yet it is not full and complete for degrees ; every part is sanctified, but every part is not wholly sanctified. In the most gracious there is a double prin- ciple— hell and heaven, Adam and Jesus, the flesh and the spirit, the law of the members, and the law of the mind. Such a medley and composition are we during the present state ! ' We know but in part,' and we are sanctified but in part, and there being such a mixture in the principles of operation, every action is mixed. It is notable, that there is no commendable act in scripture recorded but there is some mixture of corruption in it, even in the most heroical exercises and discoveries of faith : Moses believeth, and therefore smiteth the rock, but he smiteth twice ; Sarah believeth the promise, but giveth her maid to Abraham ; Kebecca was told that the elder should serve the younger, and believeth it, but yet she sets Jacob a-work to get the blessing by a wile ; Rahab saveth the spies, but maketh a lie, &c. Thus is our wine mingled with water, our honey with wax. Cant. v. 1, and our silver with tin. All the trial is, that the better part pre- vaileth ; and that we are still growing and hasting on to perfection, as the mornino^ sun doth to hisrh noon, Prov. iv. 18.
[2.] For actual sanctification, which standeth in a conformity to God's will, when the heart is changed so as the life, thoughts, words, actions, all are sanctified : there is a spirit of holiness working within, and breathing without, in sanctified discourse and holy exercises ; all the actions savour of grace. Now our actions are sanctified and savour of grace when they are performed upon new principles and new ends.
(1.) New principles : Duty swayeth the conscience, and love in- clineth the heart, 1 Tim. i. 5, ' The end of the commandment is charity, out of a pure heart and good conscience, and faith unfeigned.' No act is gracious and an act of pure obedience, unless it have these qualifications. It is not the matter that maketh the work good, but the principles : all that we do must come from a principle of faith, love, and obedience. Obedience respects the command, love the kind- ness and merit of the lawgiver, and faith his bounty and reward : the first swayeth the conscience, the second inclineth the heart, and the third giveth encouragement. This is to do duties with a gospel frame of spirit ; obedience takes notice of the laws of God, love of the kind- ness of God, and faith of the rewards of God ; and so obedience showeth us the matter of the duty, and faith the encouragement ; so that what- ever is done as an act of the new nature or sanctified estate, it is an act of obedience, out of gratitude, upon the encouragement of our glorious hopes and advantages in Christ. As if it be asked, Why do I do it ? God hath commanded it, 1 Thes. iv. 3, and v. 18 ; His will is motive enough ; God will have it so. Why with such strength of afiection and earnestness ? God hath deserved it, because of his love and bounty in Christ, 2 Cor. v. 14, 15 ; Titus ii. 11-14. Conscience is sensible of the obligation, and love and hope sweetens the duty. There is a natural conscience of good and evil, which is known by legal aims and carnal motives. What is done out of natural conscience is not done out of obedience and thankfulness, but out of bondage, and with a servile frame of spirit ; like fruits that are ripened by art and force, not naturally nor kindly.
30 AN EXPOSITION, WITH NOTES, [VeR. 1.
(2.) New ends. Here indeed the discovery is most sensible; principles are more hidden, and discovered mostly by ends. Now the only end must be God's glory. All that is done in the spiritual life, be it an act of piety, justice, temperance, or charity, it must be done with this aim, that God may be glorified by our obedience to his will : I owe this duty to God, and I must do it for God's sake ; be it a duty of worship, or in your civil relation and traffic ; as if I pray, the last end of prayer must be God's glory, whether I seek grace and pardon, or the conveniences and supports of the present life. Grace still sub- limateth the intention of the creature, therefore carnal men are taxed for praying out of self-interests : Hosea vii. 14, ' They have not cried unto me when they howled upon their beds ; they assembled themselves for corn, and wine, and oil.' It is but a brutish cry when men seek only their own commodity and welfare ; as beasts will howl when they are sensible of any smart and injury ; dogs or any brute beasts may do the same ; there is no act of grace in it. So in charity, many men make it a kind of bargain and traffic ; they do it ' to be seen of men,' Mat. vi. 2, to gratify their wordly interests, not to please God or honour God, for their credit and repute, to be well thought of; and there Christ saith, fiiadov avrcov a'Tre')(ovai, that is, they have that which they look for ; for other things they give God a discharge and acquit- tance. Briefly, the aims of men not regenerate or sanctified are either carnal, or natural, or legal. (1st.) Carnal, when men make a market of religion, their worship, righteousness, and charity is set to sale, and by a vile submission made to stoop to their own private interests ; as the Pharisees made long prayers to devour widows' houses, that is, to beget a fame and repute of honesty, that they might be intrusted with the management of their estates. So some may pray to show parts, preach out of envy, and to rival others in esteem, Phil. i. 15. Often is this vile scorn put upon God, that his worship is made a cover and pretence to unclean intents ; which is as if a cup of gold, made for a king to drink of, should be filled with excrements ; or as if we did set up another god beside him ; for that which we make our utmost end, we make it our God ; as false teachers are said to make ' their belly their God,' Phil. iii. 19, because all that they did was for belly cheer, to flow in abundance of wealth and worldly pleasures, by this means setting up the belly, and the concernments of the belly in God's stead. (2d.) There are natural ends. It is grace, as I said, that sublimateth the intention of the creature. A carnal man can go no higher than self, as water cannot ascend beyond its spring. Now all natural men are not hypocrites, to put on a pretence of strictness out of design : the apostle saith, ' They do by nature the things contained in the law,' Eom. ii. 14 ; that is, upon the impulses of natural conscience, they avoid such sins as nature discovereth, upon such ai-guments and reasons as nature suggesteth. If they worship, it is to satisfy their own consciences ; if they be strict and temperate, it is not out of reasons of obedience, but because the matter of carnal pleasure is gross and burdensome, and hindereth the free contemplation of the mind; or because these pleasures emasculate and quench their natural bravery, and so hinder their reputation in the world. If they be just, it is to