|

do well. I cannot say that this dress, or this gar- | counsel; and if a priest be simoniacal, he cannot be ment, or this standing for place, is the direct sin of esteemed righteous before God by preaching well, pride; but I am sure it looks like it in some per- and taking care of his charge. To be zealous for sons; at least the letting it alone is much better, God and for religion is good, but that will not legiand is very like humility. And certain it is, that he timate cruelty to our brother. It is not enough for is dull of hearing who understands not the voice of a man to be a good citizen, unless he be also a good God, unless it be clamorous in an express and a loud man; but some men build their houses with half a commandment, proclaimed with trumpets and cla- dozen cross sticks, and turf is the foundation, and rions upon mount Sinai; but a willing and an obe- straw is the covering, and they think they dwell sedient ear understands the still voice of Christ, and curely; their religion is made up of two or three is ready to obey his meaning at half a word; and virtues, and they think to comute with God, some that is the righteousness evangelical. It not only good for some bad, woλλà μɛμyμéva, ñoλλà dè aioabstains from sins named, and sins implied, but from xpà as if one deadly wound were not enough to dethe beginnings and instruments of sin; and from stroy the most healthful constitution in the world. whatsoever is like it. The Jews were so great | Deceive not yourselves. It is all one on which hand haters of swine upon pretensions of the Mosaic rites, we fall: that they would not so much as name a swine, but called it 37 daber acher, another thing. And thus the Romans, in their auguries, used "alterum”. for "non bonum." The simile of this St. Paul translates to a christian duty: "Let not fornication be so much as named amongst you, wç πрéπOV Év Toïç ȧyíοis, as is comely amongst christians;" that is, come not near a foul thing; speak not of it, let it be wholly banished from all your conversation; for this niceness and curiosity of duty" becometh saints," and is an instance of the righteousness evangelical.

I have now done with the first sort of measures of the christian righteousness; these which are the matter of our negative duty; these are the measures of our caution and our first innocence. But there are greater things behind, which although I must crowd up into a narrow room, yet I must not wholly omit them: therefore,

e

4. The fourth thing I shall note to you is, that whereas the righteousness of the Pharisees was but a fragment of the broken tables of Moses; the pursuance of some one grace, "lacinia sanctitatis," "a piece of the robe of righteousness;" the righteousness evangelical must be like Christ's seamless coat, all of a piece from the top to the bottom; it must invest the whole soul: Misma, Dumah, Massah, said the proverb of the Rabbins; it is this, and it is the other, and it must be all, it must be a universal righteousness; not a little knot of holy actions scattered in our lives, and drawn into a sum at the day of judgment, but it must be a state of holiness. It was said of the Paphlagonian pigeons, dɩπλñv ópãoDaι Tηy Kapdíav," every one of them had two hearts;" but that in our mystical theology signifies a wicked man. So said Solomon, "the perverse or wicked man (derachaim) he is a man of two ways; avỳp divxos, so St. James expresses an unbeliever; a man that will and will not; something he does for God, and something for the world; he hath two minds and in a good fit, in his well days he is full of repentance, and overflows in piety; but the paroxysm will return in the day of temptation, and then he is gone infallibly. But know this, that in the righteousness evangelical, one duty cannot be exchanged for another, and three virtues will not make amends for one remaining vice. He that oppresses the poor cannot make amends by giving good

e Prov. xxviii. 14.

-Unum operantur

Et calor et frigus, sic hoc, sic illud adurit;
Sic tenebræ visum, sic sol contrarius aufert.

The moon may burn us by night as well as the sun
by day: and a man may be made blind by the light
of the sun as well as by the darkness of the even-
ing, and any one great mischief is enough to destroy
one man. Some men are very meek and gentle
naturally, and that they serve God withal, they pur-
sue the virtue of their nature: that is, they tie a
stone at the bottom of the well, and that is more
than needs; the stone will stay there without that
trouble; and this good inclination will of itself
easily proceed to issue; and, therefore, our care
and caution should be more carefully employed in
mortification of our natures, and acquist of such vir-
tues to which we are more refractory, and then che-
rish the other too, even as much as we please: but,
at the same time we are busy in this, it may be, we
are secret adulterers, and that will spoil our confi-
dences in the goodness of the other instance: others
are greatly bountiful to the poor, and love all man-
kind, and hurt nobody but themselves; but it is a
thousand pities to see such loving good-natured per-
sons to perish infinitely by one crime, and to see
such excellent good things thrown away to please
an uncontrolled and a stubborn lust; but so do some
escape out of a pit, and are taken in a trap at their
going forth: and stepping aside to avoid the hoar-
frost, fall into a valley full of snow. The righteous-
ness evangelical is another kind of thing: it is a
holy conversation, a godlike life, an universal obe-
dience, a keeping nothing back from God, a sancti-
fication of the whole man, and keeps not the body
only, but the soul and the spirit, unblamable to the
coming of the Lord Jesus.

5. And lastly: the pharisaical righteousness was the product of fear, and, therefore, what they must needs do, that they would do; but no more: but the righteousness evangelical is produced by love, it is managed by choice, and cherished by delight and fair experiences. Christians are a willing people; "homines bonæ voluntatis," "men of good will;" arbores Domini:" so they are mystically represented in Scripture; "the trees of the Lord are full of sap:" among the Hebrews the trees of the Lord did signify such trees as grew of themselves; and all that are of God's planting, are such as have

|

terms with God, and so carefully husbands his duty, and thinks to make so good a market of obedience, that he will quit nothing which he thinks he may lawfully keep, shall never be exemplar in his life, and shall never grow in grace, and therefore shall never enter into glory. He, therefore, that will be

a vital principle within, and grow without constraint. Πείθονται τοῖς ὡρισμένοις νόμοις, καὶ τοῖς ἰδίοις βιοῖς VIKσI TOVS Vóμovs, one said it of christians: "They obey the laws, and by the goodness of their lives exceed the laws;" and certain it is, no man hath the righteousness evangelical, if he resolves always to take all his liberty in every thing that is merely law-righteous by the measures evangelical, must conful; or if he purposes to do no more than he must needs, that is, no more than he is just commanded. For the reasons are plain.

1. The christian that resolves to do every thing that is lawful, will many times run into danger and inconvenience; because the utmost extremity of lawful is so near to that which is unlawful, that he will often pass into unlawful undiscernibly. Virtues and vices have not, in all their instances, a great landmark set between them, like warlike nations separate by prodigious walls, vast seas, and portentous hills; but they are oftentimes like the bounds of a parish; men are fain to cut a cross upon the turf, and make little marks and annual perambulations for memorials: so it is in lawful and unlawful, by a little mistake a man may be greatly ruined. He that drinks till his tongue is as full as a sponge, and his speech a little stammering and tripping, hasty and disorderly, though he be not gone as far as drunkenness, yet he is gone beyond the severity of a christian; and when he is just past into unlawful, if he disputes too curiously, he will certainly deceive himself for want of a wiser curiosity.

But 2. He that will do all that he thinks he may lawfully, had need have an infallible guide always by him, who should, without error, be able to answer all cases of conscience, which will happen every day in a life so careless and insecure; for if he should be mistaken, his error is his crime, and not his excuse. A man in this case had need be very sure of his proposition; which because he cannot be, in charity to himself, he will quickly find that he is bound to abstain from all things that are uncertainly good, and from all disputable evils, from things which, although they may be in themselves lawful, yet, accidentally, and, that from a thousand causes, may become unlawful. "Pavidus quippe et formidolosus est christianus," saith Salvian, "atque in tantum peccare metuens, ut interdum et non timenda formidet:" "A christian is afraid of every little thing; and he sometimes greatly fears that he hath sinned, even then when he hath no other reason to be afraid, but because he would not do so for all the world."

sider not only what is lawful, but what is expedient; not only what is barely safe, but what is worthy; that which may secure, and that which may do advantage to that concern that is the greatest in the world.

And 2. The case is very like with them that resolve to do no more good than is commanded them. For 1. It is infinitely unprofitable as to our eternal interest, because no man does do all that is commanded at all times; and, therefore, he that will not sometimes do more, besides that he hath no love, no zeal of duty, no holy fires in his soul; besides this, I say, he can never make any amends towards the reparation of his conscience. "Let him that stole, steal no more;" that is well; but that is not well enough; for he must, if he can, make restitution of what he stole, or he shall never be pardoned; and so it is in all our intercourse with God. To do what is commanded is the duty of the present; we are tied to this in every present, in every period of our lives; but, therefore, if we never do any more than just the present duty, who shall supply the deficiencies, and fill up the gaps, and redeem what is past? This is a material consideration in the righteousness evangelical.

But then, 2. We must know that in keeping of God's commandments, every degree of internal duty is under the commandments; and, therefore, whatever we do, we must do it as well as we can. Now he that does his duty with the biggest affection he can, will also do all that he can; and he can never know that he hath done what is commanded, unless he does all that is in his power. For God hath put no limit but love and possibility; and therefore whoever says, Hither will I go, and no further; this I will do, and no more; thus much will I serve God, but that shall be all; he hath the affections of a slave, and the religion of a Pharisee, the craft of a merchant, and the falseness of a broker; but he hath not the proper measures of the righteousness evangelical. But so it happens in the mud and slime of the river Borborus, when the eye of the sun hath long dwelt upon it, and produces frogs and mice which begin to move a little under a thin cover of its own parental matter, and if they can get loose to live half a life, that is all; but the hinder parts, which are not formed before the setting of the sun, stick fast in their beds of mud, and the little moiety of a creature dies before it could be well said to live; so it is with those christians, who will do all that they think lawful, and will do no more than what they suppose necessary; they do but peep into the light of the Sun of righteousness; they have the beginnings of life; but their hinder parts, their passions and affections, and the desires of the lower man, are still unformed; 4. Besides all this; he that thus stands on his and he that dwells in this state, is just so much of

3. He that resolves to use all his liberty, cannot be innocent, so long as there are in the world so many bold temptations, and presumptuous actions, so many scandals, and so much ignorance in the things of God, so many things that are suspicious, and so many things that are of evil report; so many ill customs and disguises in the world, with which if we resolve to comply in all that is supposed lawful, a man may be in the regions of death, before he perceive his head to ache; and, instead of a staff in his hand, may have a splinter in his elbow.

a christian, as a sponge is of a plant, and a mush- | the rest; so much as is fit to bring when we pray room of a shrub; they may be as sensible as an oyster, and discourse at the rate of a child, but are greatly short of the righteousness evangelical.

66

for a great pardon, and deprecate a mighty anger, and turn aside an intolerable fear, and will purchase an excellent peace, and will reconcile a sinner. Now in this case a christian is to take his measures according to the rate of his contrition and his love, his religion and his fear, his danger and his expectation, and let him measure his amends wisely; his sorrow pouring in, and his fear thrusting it down, and it were very well, if his love also would make it run For, deceive not yourselves, there is no other measure but this; so much good as a man does, or so much as he would do, if he could,-so much of religion, and so much of repentance he hath, and no more: and a man cannot ordinarily know that he is in a savable condition, but by the testimony which a divine philanthropy and a good mind always gives, which is to omit no opportunity of doing good in our several proportions and possibilities.

over.

I have now done with those parts of the christian righteousness, which were not only an iжɛρox, or, excess," but an ȧvriσTоixelwσis to the pharisaical: but because I ought not to conceal any thing from you that must integrate our duty, and secure our title to the kingdom of heaven; there is this to be added, that this precept of our blessed Saviour is to be extended to the direct degrees of our duty. We must do more duties, and we must do them better. And in this, although we can have no positive measures, because they are potentially infinite, yet therefore we ought to take the best, because we are sure the greatest is not too big; and we are not sure that God will accept a worse, when we can do a better. Now although this is to be understood of the internal affection only, because that must never be abated, but God is at all times to be loved and served with all our heart; yet concerning the degrees of external duty, as prayers, and alms, and the like, we are certainly tied to a greater excel-ousness" or "justice;" but the alms which chrislency in the degree, than was that of the scribes and Pharisees. I am obliged to speak one word for the determination of this inquiry, viz. to how much more of external duty christians are obliged, than was in the righteousness of the scribes and PhariIn order to this, briefly thus.

sees.

I remember that Salvian, speaking of old men summing up their repentances, and making amends for the sins of their whole life, exhorts them to alms and works of piety; but inquiring how much they should do towards the redeeming of their souls, answers with a little sarcasm, but plainly enough to give a wise man an answer: "A man," says he, " is not bound to give away all his goods, unless, peradventure, he owes all to God; but, in that case, I cannot tell what to say; for then the case is altered. A man is not bound to part with all his estate; that is, unless his sins be greater than his estate; but if they be, then he may consider of it again, and consider better. And he need not part with it all, unless pardon be more precious to him than his money, and unless heaven be worth it all, and unless he knows justly how much less will do it. If he does, let him try his skill, and pay just so much and no more than he owes to God; but if he does not know, let him be sure to do enough." His meaning is this: not that a man is bound to give all he hath, and leave his children beggars; he is bound from that by another obligation. But as when we are tied to pray continually, the meaning is, we should consecrate all our time by taking good portions out of all our time for that duty; the devoutest person being like the waters of Siloam, a perpetual spring, but not a perpetual current; that is always in readiness, but actually thrusting forth his waters at certain periods every day. So out of all our estate we must take for religion and repentance such portions as the whole estate can allow; so much as will consecrate

S. Hier. in Comment. Isa. viii. Isidor. lib. xiii. Orig.

cap. 13.

There was an alms which the scribes and Pharisees were obliged by the law to give, the tenth of every third year's increase; this they always paid, and this sort of alms is called dikawσvvn, “righte

66

tians ought to give, is xápic, and it is ȧyárŋ, it is grace," and it is "love," and it is abundance; and so the old rabbins told: "Justitia propriè dicitur in iis quæ jure facimus; benignitas in iis quæ præter jus." It is more than righteousness, it is bounty and benignity, for that is the christian measure. And so it is in the other parts and instances of the righteousness evangelical. And, therefore, it is remarkable that the saints in the Old Testament were called ɛviç, "right men;" and the book of Genesis, as we find it twice attested by St. Jerome, was called by the ancient Hellenists, βίβλος εὐθέων, "the book of right or just men," the book of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. But the word for christians is xpnoToì, "good" men, harmless, and profitable; men that are good, and men that do good. In pursuance of which it is further observed by learned men, that the word aperǹ, or "virtue," is not in the four gospels; for the actions of Christ's disciples should not be in "gradu virtutis" only, virtuous and laudable; such as these Aristotle presses in his "Magna Moralia ;" they must pass on to a further excellency than so: the same which he calls pákεiç tāv ǹpwwv, they must be sometimes, and as often as we can, in "gradu heroico;" or, that I may use the christian style, they must be "actions of perfection." Righteousness" was the ovvvvμov for "alms" in the Old Testament,-—and TEλεLÓTηs, or "perfection," was the word for "alms" in the New; as appears by comparing the fifth of St. Matthew and the sixth of St. Luke together; and that is the full state of this difference in the inquiries of the righteousness pharisaical and evangelical.

66

I have many more things to say, but ye cannot hear them now, because the time is past. One thing indeed were fit to be spoken of, if I had any time left; but I can only name it, and desire your

8 Comment. in Isa. xii. and lib. vi. in Ezek, xviii.

and an eternal prison, ἀσφαλτῶδες ῥεῦμα, of brimstone," and a cohabitation with devils to eternal ages; and if this consideration will not prevail, there is no place left for persuasion, and there is no use of reason, and the greatest hopes and the greatest fears can be no argument or sanction of laws; and the greatest good in the world is not considerable, and the greatest evil is not formidable: but if they be, there is no more to be said; if you would have your portion with Christ, you must be righteous by his measures: and these are they that | I have told you of.