But is not this plea a proud word for a creature to say, ' I have done thy commandments ' ? Who can thus say, and aver it to the face of God?
Ans. There is a twofold keeping or doing of the commandments — ■ legal and evangelical.
1. Legal, when we do them so exactly as is answerable to the rigour of the law, and the rule of strict justice doth require, which exactness is when our obedience is universal in every point, when everything commanded by God is done by us without failing in one point : Gal. iii. 10, ' Cursed is every one that continueth not in all things written in the book of the law to do them.'
[1.] In all things ; and that —
[2.J Continually, in respect of time ; from the first minute of our birth till our dissolution ; one failing in thought at any time casteth off our plea.
[3.] Full and complete in respect of the degrees and measure^ of obedience, with the utmost intension and affection of the heart, which the scripture expresseth by all the heart and all the soul. In this sense, never man was able to keep the law, save only the first Adam in innocency, and the second Adam Jesus Christ; and therefore, according to this rigour, there is no hope for us ; one sin once com- mitted would undo us for ever, as it did the apostate angels.
2. Evangelical, according to the eTrteUeia and moderation of the gospel, that is, when we do the commandments according to those terms of grace which God offereth to us in Christ ; that doth, as to obedience, mitigate the rigour of the law in two things : —
[1.] It granteth a pardon of course to some kind of sins. [2.] Accepteth of repentance after any the most heinous sin com- mitted.
224 SERMONS UPON TSALM CXIX. [SeR. CLXXXI.
[1.] It granteth a pardon of course to some kind of sins, as sins of infirmity, either of ignorance, which if we had known we would not have committed, or sins of sudden surreption, which escape without our observing of them ; or sins of violent temptation, which by sudden assault sway against the right rule before we have time to weigh both it and ourselves, or in cool blood to think what we are a-doing ; such as do not arise out of any evil purpose of the mind, but out of human frailty, and from which we shall never be free as long as we live in this body of corruption, Bom. vii. 24, — Paul groaneth under these relics ; when what we have done is not out of deliberate consent, giving way to the growth and reign of sin : Rom. vi. 14, ' For sin shall not have dominion over you.' Non dixit, non sit, sed non regnet ; inest pecca- ium cum perpetras, regnat cum consenseris, saith Austin. When we give obedience to it, freely, willingly yield up ourselves to be ser- vants of it, then sin reigns. Therefore he doth not say, Let not sin be in you, or tempt you, or please you ; but, Let it not reign in you. It is a misery to be tempted, a snare to be delighted, and a forfeiture or renouncing the grace of the covenant to give up ourselves to the full sway of it.
[2.] The gospel doth herein moderate the rigour of the law, because it leaveth a sinner a way and means of recovery, namely, by repent- ance and faith in Jesus Christ, and upon repentance giveth him a pardon, Mat. ix. 13. Remission or forgiveness is a privilege of the new covenant; the law knoweth no such matter: Ezek. xviii. 21, 22, ' But if the wicked shall turn from all his sins that he hath committed, and keep all my statutes, and do that which is lawful and right, he shall surely live, and not die : all his transgressions that he hath com- mitted they shall not be mentioned unto him/ Well, then, this is to be understood in the gospel sense ; it is the plea of a man justified freely by God's grace, and one that is sincere and upright for the main ; one that had received grace to be faithful, though not without his infirmi- ties, and did not make a practice to live in any known sin against conscience.
Secondly, We now come to show the connection between these two.
1. None can and do rightly hope for salvation but they that keep the commandments.
2. None do and can keep the commandments but they that hope for salvation.
1. None can and do rightly hope for salvation but they that keep the commandments. That will appear to you —
[1.] Partly because God hath by a wise ordination conjoined means and end, and offered the promises with a qualification : Bom. ii. 7, ' To them who by patient continuance in well-doing seek for glory, honour, and immortality, eternal life.' God hath not simply promised blessedness, but the promise requireth a qualification and a performance of duty in the person to whom the promise is made ; and therefore, before we can have a certainty of hope, we must not only look upon the assurance on God's part, but make out our qualification. So Ps. i. 1, 2, 'Blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor standeth in the way of sinners, nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful ; but his delight is in the law of the Lord, and in his law