of the many who call themselves Christians; for there are, as Nazianzen expresses it, the oi TÓTE Kaì vôv papioaîo, the old and the new Pharisees. I wish it were no worse amongst us; and that all Christians were indeed righteous as they were; est aliquid prodire tenus; it would not be just nothing. But I am sure that to bid defiance to the laws of Christ, to laugh at religion, to make a merriment at the debauchery and damnation of our brother, is a state of evil worse than that of the Scribes and Pharisees: and yet even among such men, how impatient would they be, and how unreasonable would they think you to be, if you should tell them, that there is no present hopes or possibility that in this state they are in they can be saved! "Omnes videmur nobis esse belluli Et festivi, Saperdæ cum simus σanρuí." But the world is too full of Christians whose righteousness is very little, and their iniquities very great ; and now-a-days, a Christian is a man that comes to church on Sundays, and on the week following will do shameful things "Passim corvos sequitur, testâque lutoque Securus quo pes ferat, atque ex tempore vivit ;"being, according to the Jewish proverbial reproof, as so many Mephibosheths: discipuli sapientum qui incessu pudefaciunt præceptorem suum: their master teaches them to go uprightly; but they still show their lame leg, and shame their master; as if a man might be a Christian, and yet be the vilest person in the world, doing such things for which the laws of men have provided smart and shame, and the laws of God have threatened the intolerable pains of an insufferable and never-ending damnation. Example here cannot be our rule unless men were much better; and as long as men live at the rate they do, it will be to little purpose to talk of exceeding the righteousness of the Scribes and Pharisees. But because it must be much better with us all, or it will be very much worse with us at the latter end, I shall leave complaining and go to the rule, and describe the necessary and unavoidable measures of the righteousness evangelical, without which we can never be saved. 1 1. Therefore, when it is said "our righteousness must exceed that of the Scribes and Pharisees," let us first take notice by way of precognition, that it must, at least, be so much: we must keep the letter of the whole moral law; we must do all that lies before us, all that is in our hand: and therefore opytáčeσDai, which signifies to be religious, the grammarians derive απὸ τοῦ χεῖρας ὀρέγεσθαι, from reaching forth the hand: the outward work must be done; and it is not enough. to say, "My heart is right, but my hand went aside." Prudentius saith, that St. Peter wept so bitterly, because he did not confess Christ openly, whom he loved secretly.. "Flevit negator denique Ex ore prolapsum nefas, A right heart alone will not do it; or, heart is not right when the hand is wrong. strikes his neighbour, and says, Am not I in jest? It is folly and shame to him," said Solomon. For, once for all, let us remember this, that Christianity is the most profitable, the most useful, and the most bountiful institution in the whole world; and the best definition I can give of it is this: it is "the wisdom of God brought down among us to do good to men ;" and therefore we must not do less than the Pharisees, who did the outward work; at least let us be sure to do all the work that is laid before us in the Commandments. And it is strange that this should be needful to be pressed amongst Christians, whose religion requires so very much more. But so it is: upon a pretence that we must serve God with the mind, some are such fools as to think that it is enough to have a good meaning. Iniquum perpol verbum est, bene vult, nisi qui bene facit. And because we must serve God in the spirit, therefore they will not serve God with their bodies; and because they are called upon to have the power and the life of godliness, they abominate all external works as mere forms; and because the true fast is to abstain from sin, therefore they will not abstain from meat and drink, even when they are commanded: which is just as if a Pharisee, being taught the circumcision of the heart, should refuse to circumcise his flesh; and as if a Christian, being instructed in the excellencies of spiritual communion, should wholly neglect the sacramental; that is, because the soul is the life of man, therefore it is fitting to die in a humour, and lay aside the body. This is a taking away the subject of the question; for our inquiry is, How we should keep the Commandments; how we are to do the work that lies before us; by what principles, with what intention, in what degrees, after what manner, ut bonum benefiat, that the good thing be done well. This therefore must be presupposed; we must take care that even our bodies bear a part in our spiritual services. Our voice and tongue, our hands and our feet, and our very bowels, must be servants of God, and do the work of the Commandments. This being ever supposed, our question is, How much more we must do; and the first measure is this: whatsoever can be signified and ministered to by the body, the heart and the spirit of a man must be the principal actor. We must not give alms without a charitable soul, nor suffer martyrdom but in love and in obedience; and when we say our prayers, we do but mis-spend our time unless our mind ascend up to God upon the wings of desire. Desire is the life of prayer; and if you indeed desire what you pray for, you will also labour for what you desire; and if you find it otherwise with yourselves, your coming to church is but like the Pharisee's going up to the Temple to pray. If your heart be not present, neither will God; and then there is a sound of men and women between a pair of dead walls, from whence, because neither God nor your souls are present, you must needs go home without a blessing. But this measure of evangelical righteousness is of principal remark in all the rites and solemnities of religion; and intends to say this, that Christian religion is something that is not seen, it is the hidden man of the heart; ἔστι τις Θεὸς ἐνδόν, it is God that dwells within; and true Christians are men who, as the Chaldee Oracle said, are πολὺν ἐσσάμενοι νοῦν, clothed with a great deal of mind. And therefore those words of the Prophet Hosea, Et loquar ad cor ejus, "I will speak unto their heart," is a proverbial expression signifying to speak spiritual comforts, and in the mystical sense signifies εvayyeλiew, to preach the Gospel; where the spirit is the preacher, and the heart is the disciple, and the sermon is of "righteousness, and peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost." Our service to God must not be in outward works and scenes of religion, it must be something by which we become like to God; the divine prerogative must extend beyond the outward man; nay, even beyond the mortification of corporal vices; the Spirit of God must go in trabis crassitudinem, and mollify all our secret pride, and ingenerate in us a true humility, and a Christian meekness of spirit, and a divine charity. For in the Gospel, when God enjoins any external rite or ceremony, the outward work is always the less principal. For there is a bodily and a carnal part, an outside and a cabinet of religion, in Christianity itself. When we are baptized, the purpose of God is that we "cleanse ourselves from all pollution of the flesh and spirit;" and then we are indeed kalapol oxo, "clean all over." And when we communicate, the commandment means that we should. be made one spirit with Christ, and should live on him, believing his word, praying for his Spirit, supported with his hope, refreshed by his promises, recreated by his comforts, and wholly and in all things conformable to his life that is the true communion. The sacraments are not made for sinners until they do repent; they are the food of our souls, but our souls must be |