VeK. 4.] SERMONS UPON HEBREWS XL 23
enough for him to do his best ; the law is not relaxed ; it requires duty without abatement, or else it enforceth punishment without any mitigation. Do and live, sin and die. It doth not accept of our prayers, our tears, and our best, for the least failing renders us guilty of trans- gressing the whole law ; so that, upon that supposition, ' if it were possible to keep the whole law, and offend in one point, he is guilty of all,' James ii. 10. That rule brooks no exception, until we change our copy ; till we be in Christ, one failing is enough to provoke God's displeasure. If a natural man could be supposed to keep the whole law and break but in one point, he is undone.
2. Because otherwise our duties receive defilement from our persons ; like precious liquor in a tainted and unsavoury vessel, or like that jewel put into a dead man's mouth, that loseth all its virtue : Prov. xxi. 27, ' The sacrifice of the wicked is an abomination to the Lord ; ' mark, ' how much more when he bringeth it with a wicked mind ? ' When it is represented to God with all the advantages imaginable, yet it is abominable because it is a wicked man's prayer ; but usually there is some foul defect, that their very persons taint their services.
Obj. 1. Is not God then a respecter of persons? will not this infringe the justice of God ? I might answer thus — If he should, he is under no rule ; the moral law is a rule to us, but not to God ; and he may do with his own creature as pleaseth him, and with his own grace as pleaseth him ; Mat. xx. 15, ' Is it not lawful for me to do what I will with my own ? '
But I answer rather, Respecting of persons, when it is sinful, is this, when in any cause we give more or less than is meet to any other person, because of something that hath no relation to the cause, as in judgment. When we wink at moral excesses, and acquit a man from the sentence of the law for his greatness, or when we deny right to a poor man because of his poverty. Now such a respect of persons can- not be imagined in God ; for —
[1.] There is a cause why God should accept the services of justified persons, because he hath received a satisfaction in Jesus Christ. We are made comely in his comeliness ; Christ hath paid down a valuable consideration why all your persons and services should be accepted, though accompanied with weakness: Heb. x. 19, 'Having therefore boldness to enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus ; ' this accept- ance is purchased for us by the blood of Jesus. It was God's bargain with Christ, that he would love, bless, and justify all his seed, if he would lay down his soul as an ofi"ering for sin, Isa. liii. 10. There is the solemn bargain, ' When thou shalt make his soul an oflering for sin, he shall see his seed, he shall prolong his days, and the pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in his hand.'
[2.] There is great reason why God should refuse the services of wicked men, because besides the state of their persons, there are gross defects in their services ; if he sacrifice, it is ' with an evil mind,' Prov. xxi. 27. For the principle, it is not out of obedience but custom ; for the manner, it is not with liie afiection of a child but with bondage ; for the end, it is not for God's glory but to promote secular interest. So that, a posteriwi, these circumstances clear the justice of God; their most devotional aim is to please God, that they may the better quiet
24 SERMONS UPON HEBREWS XI. [SeR. XX.
themselves in their vanity and excess ; but the reason why they aro not accepted is because they have no interest in Christ.
Ohj. 2. Will it not open a ji;ap to looseness ? If wicked men be not accepted, why do they pray and hear ? had they not as good do nothing ? I answer, No.
[1.] Because this would be a way to increase their sin, wholly to neglect them. There is no reason why God should lose his right be- cause we have lost our power. Inky water will never wash the hands clean, and our sinfulness doth not take off our obligation ; Grod hath required it, and a wicked man is still under an obligation ; a drunken servant is not exempted from obedience though he be disabled for work. The conmiand of God is absolute and peremptory, that all the sons of men should worship and fear him ; therefore to leave off duty would make the state more sinful. One sin cannot cure another ; there is more sin in the total defect than in the bare performance of duty.
[2.] Because duties are the means God hath appointed to break off their sin, and come out of this miserable condition. If none of their works can please God, yet it is good to stand in the road of mercy, and to lie at the jjool, John v. 7 ; though God doth not accept us for these things, yet these are the means God hath appointed for us to use. Simon Magus was bid ' to pray, if perhaps the thoughts of his heart might be forgiven him,' Acts viii. 22 ; but the man that neglects the means cuts off himself from all hope, he reprobates himself and becomes his own judge ; he doth as it were say, I will never be saved. When men give over praying, and hearing, and reading, as the apostle saith, ' you judge yourselves unworthy of eternal life,' Acts xiii. 46.