(2.) It is also requisite that the person be renewed by the Spirit of Christ ; for otherwise he cannot have his spirit, affections, and ways, such as to please God. Nature can rise no higher than itself ; it is grace carrieth the soul to God ; there .needeth renewing grace : Heb. xii. 28, ' Let us have grace, whereby we may serve him acceptably with reverence and godly fear.' To serve him evape(Tra)<i, in an acceptable manner, and with that reverence and seriousness as is necessary, is a work above our natural faculties ; till God change them, we cannot please him. So also actual grace : Heb. xiii. 21, ' Working in you that which is pleasing in his sight.' The best actions of wicked men please him no more than Cain's sacrifice, or Esau's tears, or the Pharisees prayers, it is but a shadow of what a man reconciled and renewed doth, or an imperfect imitation, as an ape doth imitate a man, or a violent motion doth resemble a natural.
VeR. 8.] SERMONS UPON ROMANS VIII. 481
Use 1. Is to show us what to think of the good actions of carnal men ; they do not please God ; they are for the matter good, hut there are manifold defects in them.
1. There is a defect in their state, they are not renewed and reconciled to God hy Christ, and therefore God may justly say; Mai. i. 10, ' I have no pleasure in you, neither will I accept an offering at your hands.' They live in their sins, and therefore he may justly abhor and reject all their services ; they live in enmity to him, and in neglect of his grace, and will not sue out their atonement.
2. There is a defect in the root of these actitns. They do not come from faith working by love, which is the true principle of all obedience, Gal. V. 6. Without love to God in Christ, we want the soul and life of every duty. Obedience is love breaking out into its perfect act : 1 John ii. .5, ' If we keep his word, herein is love perfected.'
3. There is a defect in the manner. They do not serve God with tkat sincerity, reverence, seriousness, and willingness, which the work calleth for ; they show love to him with their lips, when their hearts are far from him. Mat. xv. 8 ; there is an habitual aversion, whilst they seem to show love to him. All their duties are but as flowers strewed upon a dunghill.
4. There is a defect in the end. They do not regard God's glory in their most commendable actions ; they have either a natural aim, as when they are frightened into a little religiousness of worship in their extremities : Hos. vii. 14, ' They howl upon their beds for corn and wine.' And then they are like ice in thawing weather, soft at top, and liard at bottom. Or a carnal aim, out of bravery and vain glory, Mat. viii. 2. Or a legal aim, when they seem very devout, to quiet conscience, or to satisfy God for their sins, by their external duties : Mic. vi. G, 7, 8, ' Wherewith shall I come before the Lord, and bow myself before the high God ? Shall I come before him with burnt-offerings, and calves of a year old ? Will the Lord be ])leased with thousands of rams, or with ten thousand rivers of oil ? Shall I give my first born for my transgression, the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul ? ' But Solomon telleth us, Prov. xxi. 21, ' The sacrifice of the wicked is an abomination to the Lord,' much more when he bringeth it with an evil mind. At best it is an abomination, much more when it is to buy an indulgence in some licentious practice, by performing some duties requiring a sin-offering, not a thank-offering. But this cannot please God, so as to obtain an eternal reward. God temporarily rewardeth moral obedience, to keep up the government of the world ; as Pagan Home while it excelled in virtue, God gave it a great empire and large dominion. And Ahab's going softly and mourning, was recompensed with a suspension of temporal judgments : 1 Kings xxi. 29, 'Because he humbleth himself before me, I will not bring the evil in his days.' Again, there is a difference between a wicked man going on in his wickedness, and a natural man returning to God. When wicked men pray to God to prosper them in their wickedness, as Balaam's altars were made; or to beg pardon while they go on in their sins; so 'the sacrifice of the wicked is an abomination to the Lord,' Prov. xv. 8. Namely, as they rest in external performances, and think by their prayers or some other good duties to put by the great duties of faith,
VOL XI. 2 H
482 SERMONS UPON ROMANS VIII. [SeR. X.
repentance, and new obedience, so these prayers and good things are abominable ; but in sinners returning to God, and using the means, and expressing their desires of grace, though but with a natural fer- vency, and with some common help of the Spirit, though the action doth not deserve acceptance with God, and the person is not in such an estate that God hath made an express promise to him that he will accept him, yet he hath to do with a good God, who doth not refuse the cry of his creatures in their extremities, and it is a thousand to one, but he will speed. The carnal man is to act these abilities, and common grace he hath, that God may give more.