done; for whatsoever is not of faith, is fin": and it should be done in the exercife of faith on God that enjoins it, and on Chrift, in whom alone it is acceptable; for without faith it is impoffible to please God"; and therefore what is without it cannot be a good work: the apostle puts the fuperior excellency of Abel's facrifice to Cain's, not fo much upon the matter of them, though there was a difference between them in that refpect, as upon the manner of performing them, the one being done in faith, the other without; by faith Abel offered unto God a more acceptable facrifice than Cain*: as faith without works is a dead faith, fo works without faith are dead works alfo. A good work must be done in the name and strength of Chrift, without whom we can do nothing spiritually good and acceptable to God. If we pray, it must be in the name of Chrift, which is always prevalent; if we give thanks, it must be to the Father, in the name of our Lord Jefus; if we give an alms-deed to any of his people, it must be in his name, and because they belong to him; whatsoever ye do, in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus: and every good work must be directed to the glory of God; if men seek themselves, the applause of men, their own glory by what they do, as the Pharisees did by their prayers and alms-deeds, their works cannot be properly called good works. But to proceed to the particulars of those things which true Ifraelites ought always to do. (1.) Every thing that relates to God, his will, and his worship. Every thing that is of a moral nature, or belongs to the moral law; for though the law is abolished, as it was a miniftration of Mofes, and as it is a covenant of works; and as to juftification by it, and the curfe and condemnation of it; yet is it to be regarded as a rule of walk and converfation; and believers are not without law to God, and are under the law to Chrift, as king and lawgiver. Morality, in its utmoft extent, in all its branches, ought to be attended to, not only what is in the decalogue or ten commandments, but whatever is to be found elsewhere. The decalogue is a good fyftem of laws drawn up for the use of the Jewish people; but as all that is in it is not moral, fo the whole of morality is not contained in that body of laws; and not only what is in that, but every thing of a moral nature that is to be found in any part of the word of God, either in the Old or in the New Teftament, whether in David's pfalms, Solomon's proverbs, the writings of the prophets, Chrift's fermons, or Paul's epiftles, or any others, is to be obferved and done. Likewife, whatsoever is of divine appointment, of pofitive inftitution, relating to the worship and fervice of God; not indeed any thing of this kind that was under the former difpenfation, fuch as circumcifion and other rites of the ceremonial law, the law of commandments contained in ordinances now abolished; VOL. I. G let let no man judge you in meat or in drink, or in respect of an holy day, &c. that is, let no man condemn you for the non-obfervance of these things; which are a Shadow of things to come, but the body is of Chrift: but every thing of this nature under the Gospel-difpenfation ought to be carefully obferved and complied with; the ordinance of Baptifm ought to be fubmitted unto, and the Lord's Supper fhould be kept as it was inftituted, and all things which Chrift has commanded fhould be done; all his precepts fhould be esteemed, and impartially regarded; Ifrael fhould "walk in all the commandments and ordinances of the Lord blame"lefs;" the affembly of his faints fhould not be forfaken; his word should be conftantly heard, and every ordinance kept as delivered; and the Lord our God fhould be worshipped, and he only fhould be served. Particularly, the duty of prayer should be attended unto; men fhould pray without ceafing; our Lord put forth a parable to encourage his people to pray always, and not faint: prayer in the clofet fhould be constantly kept up; when thou prayeft, fays Christ, enter into thy closet, &c. and prayer in the family should be daily used; if neglected, God will refent it: he will pour out his fury on the families that call not on his name: prayer is a powerful means of keeping up the spirit and life of religion, and without it, it cannot be kept up with vigour. Praying, fays a good man, will either make you leave off finning, or finning will make you leave off praying. (2.) Every thing which concerns our fellow-creatures, whether as men or christians, ought to be done by the Ifrael of God; they fhould love their neighbours as themselves, and do that to men, which they would have done to themfelves; nay, it becomes them to love their enemies, to do good to them that hate them, to feed them when hungry, and give them drink when thirsty, and to overcome evil with good. And as for their fellow-chriftians, they should by love ferve them both in things temporal and spiritual; they fhould do good to all, but especially to the houshold of faith; they fhould "bear one another's "burdens, and fo fulfil the law of Chrift;" they should "fupport the weak, "and comfort the feeble-minded;" they fhould give advice and counsel where it is wanting, pray with, and for one another, " build up each other in their "most holy faith." But I go on to shew, 2. The neceffity of doing these things, or why Ifrael, or the people of God, ought to do them: there are certain neceffary uses, as the apoftle calls them, for which good works are to be done; the question is, what they are? And, (1.) Negatively they are not to be done in order to procure the love and favour of God; as, if a man would give all the fubftance of his boufe for love, it would utterly be contemned; fo if he was to perform ever fo many good works, a Col. ii. 16, 17. • Titus iii. 14. b Matt. vi. 6. f Cant. viii. 7. Jer. x. 25. Mr Vavafor Powel. and and those ever so well, they would not obtain the love of God, which is altogether free and unmerited; nothing out of God can be the cause of it: the reason why he loved Ifrael of old, and why he loves any, is, because he would and will love them; he will be gracious to whom he will be gracious: nor are they to be done to make atonement for fin, or to make peace with God. Was a man to bring thousands of rams, or ten thousands of rivers of oil, or do ever fo many works of a ceremonial, moral, or evangelic nature, they would never atone for his fins; present service due to God, can never make atonement for former tranfgreffions, or reconcile finners to God: atonement and reconciliation for fin, and peace with God, are made by another hand, and in a better way, even by Christ and the blood of his crofs. Nor are they to be done to justify us in the fight of God, and to render us acceptable to him; there is no justification before God by the works of the law; were there, men would have whereof to glory in his prefence; but boasting is excluded by the law, or doctrine of faith, by the doctrine of juftification by faith in Chrift's righteousness: if righteousness was by the law and its works, the death of Chrift would be in vain, and his obedience and sufferings ufelefs; but it is certain that a finner is juftified without the works of the law, and by a righteousness imputed to him without them: nor are they neceffary to falvation, or to be done in order to procure it; falvation is neither according to them, nor by them; it is wrought out by Christ, and is fo compleat and perfect, that nothing can be added to it to make it more fo: he is the fole author of it, his own arm has brought it in; it is in him, and in no other. Nor are they to be performed with a view to merit any thing at the hand of God: it is impoffible for a creature to merit any thing of God by what he does: men may talk of enthusiasts and visionaries, but they are the greateft, who dream of the merit of their good works; the leaft thing cannot be merited by us, not a morfel we eat, or a rag we wear, much less the above things relating to eternal falvation. That by which we merit fhould be profitable to him of whom we merit; but "can a man, or any thing he does, "be profitable unto God?" It fhould not be due to him of whom we merit; but all our works are due to God, he has a prior right to the performance of them: what is done in a way of merit, fhould be done in our own strength, without any affiftance from him of whom we would merit; whereas our best works are done in the ftrength of the Lord, and by the affiftance of his grace: to which may be added, there fhould be fome proportion between that which is merited, and that by which we merit; but there is none between eternal falvation, and our works; wherefore these are not the neceffary ufes for which they. are to be done. But, (2.) Pofitively: these things ought to be done, and there is a neceffity of doing them, with respect to God; because it is the will of God they should be done, he has commanded them, and because they are approved of by him, and are well pleafing to him through Christ when rightly done; besides, they are the means of glorifying God, not only by the persons that do them, but by others that behold them; for which reafon our Lord directs unto them; let your light So shine before men, that they may fee your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven. They are neceffary with respect to men; they are good and profitable unto them; it is fetting them a good example, and may be a means of recommending religion to them, and of foftening their minds to an attention to the truths of the gospel, and of winning fuch without the word, who are not won by it; and, however, of putting to fhame and filence such who are forward to accufe the good converfation of the faints. They ought to be done on account of the people of God themselves; to teftify their fubjection to God, and gratitude to him for mercies received from him; to adorn the doctrine of God their Saviour, and to evidence the truth of their faith, and the fincerity of their profeffion. And they should be done on account of the works themselves, because they are good, honeftly good; they are things "honest, just, pure, lovely, and of good report;" they are pleasantly good, there is a pleasure enjoyed in them; great peace have they which love the law of God and obey it; and they are profitably good, though not to God in the instances before mentioned, yet to men. But I proceed to shew, 66 3. Why Ifrael, the people of God, of all men, ought to do these things; and there are two reafons for it: (1.) Because they are under the greatest obligations to do them. They are chofen of God unto them; though they are not chosen because they were holy, yet that they might be holy in heart and life; though the act of election passed before they had done either good or evil, and fo is irrespective of their works; yet they are fuch which God hath fore-ordained that they should walk in them'; and it becomes them to make their calling and election fure, which fhould be done, as it seems, by fome third thing, that is, by good works; and fo fome copies read the text. They are redeemed by Christ for this end, that they should be a peculiar people, zealous of good works'; and unless they are performed, this end is not answered; fince they are redeemed from a vain conversation", they ought not to follow one; and fince they are not their own, but are bought with the price of Chrift's precious blood, they should glorify him in their body and Spirit, which are his. The "love of Chrift fhould conftrain them to live to "him who died for them, and rose again":" they are effectually called by his grace, and though not according to their works, yet with an holy calling, and unto holiness: such who are called ought to be holy, as he that has called them is holy, and should by their lives and converfations fhew forth the praifes of him who * 2 Pet. i. 10. h Matt. v. 16. ■ Tit. ii. 14. Eph. i. 4. and chap. ii. 10. 1 Pet. i. 19. "has "has called them out of darkness into marvellous light." They have received many exceeding great and precious promises from the Lord, that he will be with them, and not leave them, or forsake them; that he will help and strengthen them, and assist them in every duty, and work in them both to will and to do of his good pleasure; will carry on and perform his good work in them until the day of Christ, and will be their God and Father, and they shall be his fons and daughters, and ever continue in this relation: and having therefore thefe promifes, fays the apostle, let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and fpirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of the Lord: to which may be added, that they have received many mercies and favours from the Lord, both temporal and spiritual, which they are unworthy of; and these should influence and engage them to the performance of good works: this is an argument the apostle Paul uses to this purpose; I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye prefent your bodies a living facrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your reasonable fervice. (2.) Another reason why of all men the Ifrael of God, or his own special people, ought to do good works, is, because they are in the best capacity of doing them; nay, they are the only persons that can perform them aright. There is no good thing in unregenerate men, and therefore no good thing can come out of them, or be done by them; they have no true knowledge of that which is good, and much less to do it; they have no inclination or defire, nay, an aversion to it; they have no free-will thereunto, nor power to perform; it may as reasonably be expected to gather grapes of thorns, and figs of thistles, as good works to be done by an evil man; a wicked man is to every good work reprobate and unfit: but Ifraelites indeed, they are good men, and fo capable of doing good works: a man must first be a good man before he can do good works: men begin at the wrong end, when they propose to do good works, in order to make themselves good men; the firft concern should be to have a good work of grace upon the heart, which is the Lord's work; for unless there is a good work begun within, there will be no good works done without; the tree must first be made good ere the fruit will be good. Moreover, such are made alive by the grace of God; the Spirit of life from Chrift has entered into them; Chrift himself has said to them whilst in their blood, live. Principles of grace, life, and holiness are wrought in their hearts, and fo they are in a capacity, under the influence of divine grace, of producing acts of holiness, or of performing good works; whereas men dead in trefpaffes and fins are not able to do any thing fpiritually good, and at most and best their works must be dead works. Spiritual Ifrael are fuch as are regenerated and fanctified by the Spirit of God, and fo are meet for the master's use, and prepared unto every good work: • 2 Cor. vi. 17. and chap. vii.1. Rom. xii. 1. 1 Ezek. xvi.6.. |