[2.] Their end in all they do is natural. It is grace that sublimates the intentions of the creature, A carnal man can go no higher than self, as water cannot ascend beyond its fountain. All that a carnal man do this for self-interest. If they eat and drink it is for self, to gratify appetite, not that they might be more cheerful in the service of God. If they pray, it is for self : Hosea vii. 14, ' They have not cried unto me with their heart (saith the Lord) when they howled upon their beds ; they assemble themselves for corn and wine.' All their prayers do arise from a brutish instinct after their own ease and welfare; 'Not unto me,' saith the Lord ; God is neither at the beginning nor at the end of the action. If they spend their strength in holy services, as a wicked man may do, it is but to feed their own bellies ; it is still to make a god of themselves, and they lay aside the Lord, Phil. iii. 19. The apostle speaks there of false teachers, who spent their strength in the work of the gospel, out of a selfish principle, to flow in an abundance of wealth and worldly pleasures ; therefore he saith, ' Tlieir god is their belly.' Always observe, a man makes a god of that which he makes his utmost end, and accounts to be his chiefest good. Thus do all natural men set up self instead of God. Now, how can God accept an action, when his majesty is laid aside and self is set up in his stead ?
[3.] Take wicked men at the best, it is but a legal end. When wicked men are most dev^out, it is but to quiet conscience and to satisfy God for their sins by their duties. They would fain buy out their peace with heaven at any rate ; as appears by the inquiry mentioned by the prophet: Micah vi. 6-8, 'Wherewith shall I come before the Lord, and bow myself before the high God ? Shall I come before him with buint-offerings, with calves of a year old ; will the Lord be pleased with thousands of rams, or with ten thousands of rivers of oil ? Shall I give my first-born for my transgression, the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul ? ' What shall I give for the sin of my soul ? and wherewith will God be appeased ? If peace of conscience were to be purchased with money, men would part Avith anything rather than their sins, for nothing is dearer to men than their sins ; not their children, not their estate, not their first-born. Thus carnal men, by an excess of charity, seek to expiate the offences of a carnal life, and would be liberal, so they may be sinful. Now this is that which makes men hated and
VeU. 6.] SERMONS UPON HEBREWS XI. 93
more abominable to God ; while they think to purchase their own par- don, and hire God to be gracious ; when they do things that carry a fair show in the world, they think God is bound to forgive them their sins ; and so they cause the Lord to hate them so much the more, since they neglect Christ, ' In whom alone he is well pleased.'
Use 1. This serves to represent to us the misery of natural men. This should amaze them to think that all they do is abominable in God's sight. They are debtors to the whole law, and yet they can do nothing that can be pleasing to God. Their duties cannot quit old scores, if they perform them never so exactly ; they can never come up to such a pitch of duty and such a pure act of obedience as God requires ; there is a vast debt upon them, and they are not able to pay one farthing. To enfoice the consideration, reflect upon your own misery and the opposite happiness of the children of God.
1. Your own misery. Of all men, you are in a miserable condition, and God will take nothing in good part from you. How will you do to please him ? No condition, no duty of yours, no enjoyment of yours, can render jovi acceptable to God ; no outward condition can endear you to God. Wealth and authority in the world will nothing avail you against the process of divine justice. Men are taken with pomp and higli places. We are apt to favour the rich in their cause, but divine justice will not be bribed ; all those things are but fuel to kindle the fire of hell. As a stone that falls from a high place is the more bruised and broken, so the greater your advantages are in the world of authority and place, the greater the judgment ; the mighty shall be mightily tor- mented; no excellency of gifts, learning, wit, and such like things. God is not taken with parts ; all those qualities and endowments are but like a jewel in a toad's head — the person is displeasing to God. What pity is it to see that old complaint verified — Siirgunt indocti et rapiunt calum, dum nos cum doctrind detrudimur in Gehennam : the unlearned may arise and take heaven by violence, when you with all your learning are thrust down to hell. So for moral honesty ; it is but sin dressed up more handsomely, and set off with a fairer varnish. Whatever doth not come from a pure fountain of faith and obedience, and is not done to God's glory, it is but like a spiced carcase — it is but sin and nature perfumed. To instance in things that are more com- mendable— liberality to learning, giving of alms, building of churches, civility of life ; these are good in themselves, and glorious in men's eyes, but they are abomination before God. Mark the emphasis of our Saviour's words : Luke xvi. 15, ' That which is highly esteemed among men is an abomination in the sight of God ; ' not only that which ' pleaseth' men, but is ' highly esteemed ; ' and he saith it is not only ' not accepted,' but it is ^BeXvyfxa — an ' abomination to God ; ' that which is a rose to us, is a nettle to him. Carnal ends are as odious to God as gross sins are to men. Nay, go to religious duties ; a wicked carnal man may pray, but his prayer is turned into sin, as a jewel in a dead man's mouth. Your prayers, because they come from dead men, ' men dead in trespasses and sins,' lose all their worth and efficacy, how good soever the action be in itself ; so that when a man comes to please God, he grieveth him more. A carnal man may be employed in the offices of the church : Mat. vii. 22, ' We have prophesied in thy name, and in thy name have cast out devils, and in thy name done many