3. All graces are imperfect till they end in action, for they were not given us for idle and useless habits. Knowledge, to know merely that we may know, is curiosity and idle speculation. So Ps. cxi. 10, 'A good understanding have all they that do his commandments ; ' Jer. xxii. 16, ' He judgeth the cause of the poor and the needy. Was not this to know me? saitli the Lord.' That is true knowledge that produceth its eflect. So James ii. 22, ' By works faith is made perfect ; ' faith hath ])roduced its end. So love is perfected in keeping the commandments: 1 John ii. 5, ' Whoso keepeth his word, in him verily, is the love of God perfected;' as all things are perfect when they attain their end and their consummate estate. The plant is perfect when it riseth up into stalk, and flower, and seed ; so these graces.
4. The person or Christian is judged not only by what is believed, but what is done ; not by what is approved, but what is practised. Many profess faith and love ; but if it be not verified in practice, they are not accepted with God : 1 Peter i. 17, ' If ye call on the Father, who without respect of persons judgeth according to every man's work ;' and Rev. XX. 12, ' I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God ; and the books were opened ; and another book was opened, which is the book of life : and the dead were judged out of those things which were writ- ten in the books, according to their works.' God will judge men ac- cording to tlieir works, and what they have done in the flesh, whether it be good or evil: John v. 29, ' They that have done good shall rise to the resui'rection of life, and they that have done evil, to the resurrection of condemnation.' The redeemed sinner shall have his trial and judgment.
Use 1. For the disproof of two sorts — preachers and professors.
1. Preachers : if they be strict in doctrine and loose in practice, do they lift their hands to God's commandments? No; they are like the Pharisees, Avho ' bind heavy burdens upon others, and do not touch them with their own little finger,' Mat. xxiii. 4. It is not enough to lift up our voice in recommending, but we must lift up our hands iu practising, lest like a mark-stone, they show others the way to heaven, but walk not in it themselves, and contribute nothing of help by their examples.
2. Professors.
[1.] That a]Dprove the word only. There may be an idle naked approbation: liom, ii. 18, 'Thou knowest his will, and approvest the things that are most excellent, being instructed out of the law.' Video meliora prohoque ; they esteem these things better, but their hearts incline them to what is evil, and their reason is a slave to appetite.
[2.] That commend as well as approve : Eom. ii. 20, ' Who hast a form of knowledge, and of the truth in the law,' but without action and practice. Have many good words ; their voice Jacob's but their hands Esau's: Ps. 1. 16, 'l7, 'What hast thou to do to declare my statutes, or to take my covenant in thy mouth, since thou hatest in- struction, and castest my words behind me ? ' It pertaineth not to thee
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18 SERMONS UPON PSALM CXIX. [SeR. LIV.
to profess religion, since thou dost not practise it, to commend the law which thou ohservest not, or to profess love to what thou dost not ohey. Use 2. Is to press you to lift up your hands, and to ohey and do the things which God hath prescrihed in his word. Do not rest in the notional part of religion. That which will approve you to God is not a sharp wit, or a firm memory, or a nimble tongue, but a ready practice. God expecteth to be glorified by his creatures both in word and deed ; and therefore heart, and tongue, and hand, and all should be employed. I will urge you with but two reasons : —
1. How easy it is to deceive ourselves with a fond love, a naked ap- probation, or good words, without bringing things to this real proof, whether the truth that we approve, esteem, and commend, have a real dominion over and influence upon our practice ! 1 John ii. 4, ' He that saith, I know him, and keepeth not his commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him ; ' James i. 22, ' Be ye doers of the word, not hearers only, deceiving your own souls.' Kespect to God and his word is a true evidence of a gracious heart. Now, how shall we know this respect real, but by our constant and uniform practice ?
2. That it is not so easy to deceive God : he cannot be mocked with a vain show, for he looketh to the bottom and spring of all things : 1 Chron. xxviii. 9, ' And thou, Solomon, my son, know thou the God of thy father, and serve him with a perfect heart, and with a willing mind ; for the Lord search eth all hearts, and understandeth all the imaginations of the thoughts.' He searcheth our hearts, knoweth our inward disposition, whether firm, strong, or productive of obedience. Now, to him you are to approve yourselves, and he will not be mocked with lying pretences and excuses : Gal. vi. 7, ' Be not deceived ; God is not mocked.' The all-seeing God cannot be blinded: he knoweth our thoughts afar off, and seeth all things in their causes ; much more can he judge of effects. Therefore, whatsoever illuminations we pre- tend unto, if we do not live in the obedience of the commands of self- denial, humility, justice, patience, faith, and love, he can soon find us out. If our actions do not correspond to our profession, it is a practi- cal lie, which the Lord can easily find out.