Noah was a just Job was a perfect

First, As perfect: fome fuch there have been in all ages. man, and perfect in his generation, and walked with God. and upright man; both the characters met in him which are given of the good man here. The apostle Paul fpake the wisdom of God among them that were perfect; but the question is, in what sense they may be faid to be perfect. And they are fo both with refpect to fanctification and justification.

ift, With respect to fanctification. This is what the people of God are chosen to as an end, and chofen through as a means of eternal happiness: it is called the fanctification of the fpirit, because he is the author and efficient cause of it; if any man is fanctified, it is in the name of the Lord Jefus, and by the Spirit of our God: it lies in an implantation of principles of grace and holiness in the heart, and in the exercife of them, and appears in the outward walk and converfation. It is of fo much importance and confequence, and fo abfolutely requifite to eternal life, that without it no man shall fee the Lord, even without perfect holiness; and yet no man is fo perfect in it, in the present state, as to be entirely free from fin, compleat in grace, or in-deficient in the discharge of duty.

1. Not so perfect as to be entirely free from fin. A good man is indeed free from the governing power of fin, under which he was before converfion. Sin is a king, a tyrant which reigns unto death; and to whose laws, which are lufts, men in a state of nature are voluntarily fubject; they readily ferve divers lufts and pleasures: but in converfion the power and force of fin is broken, and men are delivered from its thraldom and tyranny; they are tranflated into another kingdom, and are under another influence; they are not under the power of fin as a law, but under grace as a governing principle; and therefore fin shall not have dominion over them: it is indeed ftill in them, and has great power and prevalence at times; it threatens the afcendant over them, and sometimes fo far prevails as to lead them captive; when with their flesh, or corrupt part, they Serve the law of fin, though with the mind or fpiritual part the law of God: they are also free from the damning power of fin, both original and actual; though they finned in Adam, and the fentence of death passed on them; judgment came upon all men, and fo on them to condemnation ; and by their actual fins and tranfgreffions they become obnoxious to the curfe and condemnation

of

a The Targum renders it, "keep perfection, and behold uprightness." The Septuagint and Vulgate Latin verfions, "keep innocence, and behold uprightness." The Syriac verfion, keep perfection, and chufe uprightnefs." The Arabic verfion, "keep meekness, and thou shalt fee uprightnefs." The abftract is put for the concrete; perfection and uprightness for b Gen. vi. 9. Job i. 1, 8. 1 Cor. ii. 6.

the perfect and upright man.

с Thefs. ii. 13.

2

Rom vi. 14.

d1 Cor. vi. 11.

8 Rom. vii, 23, 25.

• Heb. xii. 14.

h Rom. v. 12, 18.

of the law; yet there is, udev xaтaxeμa, "not one condemnation to them that are in "Chrift" were there as many fentences of condemnation as there are fins, not one of them can be executed on thofe that belong to Chrift; the reafon is, because fin is condemned in his flesh; he has bore the condemnation himself; it has been executed upon him, and therefore who or what shall condemn? it is Chrift that died; and there is more virtue and efficacy in the blood and facrifice of Christ to save, than there is in fin to damn. Moreover, upon the facrifice and fatisfaction of Chrift, God does not impute fin to his people; but he imputes the righteousness of his Son, by which they are justified from all their fins, and in that sense free from them; but then, no man, no not the best of men, are free from the being of fin in them. The apostle Paul, that holy man, than whom no mere man on earth was more holy, fpeaks of his indwelling fin; it is no more I that do it, but fin that dwelleth in me'; it was an inmate of his; fin not only dwelled with him, but dwelled in him. John, the beloved difciple, fays, If we say that we have no fin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us" and the apostle James put this queftion, Do je think the fcripture faith in vain, the spirit that dwelleth in us lufteth to envy"? and not only by the mouth of three fuch witneffes is this truth established, but by the experience of all the faints in all ages: fin is like the fpreading leprofy in the house, which could not be cleanfed of it, without pulling down every ftick and stone; fin will never be removed entirely from the faints, until this earthly house of their tabernacle is diffolved. Nor are they free from the actings of fin; fin that dwells in them. is always present with them; when they would do good; and often hinders them in the performance of it, fo that they cannot do what they would; and it puts them upon the doing of that which is evil. It is an obfervation made long ago, and it is to be remarked in all ages; that there is not a just man upon earth, that doeth good, and finneth not °.

Every man fins in thought, word, or deed, and is continually finning, even every good man. He daily fins in thought; fince the fall, every imagination of the thoughts of man's heart is only evil continually. What evil thoughts are in it may be learnt in fome measure by what comes out of it, which are expreffed by the lips, and in actions; and though when a man becomes a fpiritual man, he becomes fpiritually-minded, and thinks good thoughts, which he cannot do of of himself, only under the influence of the grace of God, yet he is not always under that influence; and though he hates vain thoughts, yet these lodge within him, of which he complains; and there is no man that is capable of looking into his own heart, but muft obferve the vanity, folly, and impurity of his thoughts. He fins in word alfo, and very frequently indeed, if any man offend

not in word, the fame is a perfect man ; but v here is the man to be found that does not offend God, his neighbour, and his own confcience, by his words, at one time or another? Let a man be as circumfpect as he can; let him keep his mouth as with a 'bridle, as David did, and hold the reins ever fo ftrait; let him be as wife as Solomon, fome idle word, imprudent, unfavoury, and unbecoming expreffion or another will at times drop from him; and when provoked, let him be as patient as Job, and as meek as Mofes, he will be tempted to Speak unadvifedly with his lips': and as to deeds or actions, who can understand his errors', they are fo many? in many things we all offend or fall; fall into fm, as the righteous man does, feven times a day; and he would fall oftener, did not the Lord uphold him: and the true reason why he does not fall totally and finally, is, because he is in the arms of everlasting love, fecured in the covenant of grace,. kept by the power of God, and is in the hands of Chrift, who is able to keep him from falling.

u

That the best of men are not entirely free from fin, and the commiffion of it, in this life, is clear from their confeffions of it; none are more frequent at confeffion of fin, or more free and ingenuous in it than they are; yea, evenfuch who in a proper fenfe may be faid to be perfect. Plain-hearted Jacob owns, that few and evil had been the days of the years of his pilgrimage". Job, that perfect and upright man, fays, I have finned, what shall I do unto thee, O thou preferver of men? David, the man after God's own heart, was often at this work; I acknowledge my tranfgreffion, fays he, and my fin is ever before me'. The church in Ifaiah's time confeffes, we have finned and are all as an unclean thing, and all our righteoufneffes are as filthy rags". Daniel, that man greatly beloved of God, we read of confeffing his fins, and the fins of his people. And faints indeed find their account in fo doing;' for as it is promised, that if men confefs their fins, God will be faithful and forgive them; so David attefts it from his own experience; I acknowledged my fin unto thee and thou forgaveft the iniquity of my fin. This is alfo evident from the continual war there is in good men ; they find a law in their members warring against the law of their minds, the flesh lufting against the spirit, and the spirit against the flesh and indeed, there is nothing to be feen in the Shulamite, in the perfect one, as that word may be rendered, but as it were the company of two armies; flesh and spirit, fin and grace fet in battle array against each other: likewife, the fame appears from the groans and complaints of the faints; one fays, There is no foundness in my

h

flefb-nor reft in my bones, becaufe of my fin; another fays, wo is me, I am undone; I am a man of unclean lips; a third fays, O wretched man that I am, who shall deliver me from the body of this death! and all agree and join in this, We that are in this tabernacle groan, being burdened with the weight of fin and corruption; and fo they do and will, as long as they are in the tabernacle of the body. Once more, this is plain and manifest from the prayers of good men, that God would cleanse them from fecret faults; keep them back from presumptuous fins; pardon their iniquities, for they are great; blot them out, according to the multitude of his tender mercies; purge and wash them, that they might be whiter than fnow. And our Lord, knowing that his difciples finned, and would fin daily, taught them to afk for the forgiveness of their fins, for the application of pardoning grace to them, as often as they asked for their bread, even their daily bread; yea, it is eafy to obferve, that thofe very men, faid to be perfect, were not without fin: and though it is not pleafing to rake into the fins of good men, yet fince these ftand on record, to teach us that there is no abfolute perfection in the beft of men, and to encourage us, notwithstanding our fins and imperfections, to hope for acceptance with God through Chrift, as they had, it cannot be wrong to obferve them. Thus Noah, who was a perfect man; was guilty of intemperance; Job, another perfect man, when convinced of his evil, abhorred himfelf, and repented in duft and afhes; and it may be remarked, that frequently good men fail in that very thing for which they have been moft eminent: thus Abraham was famous for his faith, being the father of them that believe; and yet the principal failure recorded of him is, his unbelief and distrust of the care of divine providence over him, which put him on faying, Sarah was his fifter. Mofes was the meekeft man on earth, and yet spoke very rashly and hastily; ye rebels, must we fetch you water out of this rock1? You have heard of the patience of Job, and how eminent he was for that; and yet, what great impatience was he guilty of when he curfed the day of his birth? Solomon was the wifelt of men, and yet never man acted fo foolish a part, to be drawn into fuch grofs idolatry as he was by his wives.

2. Nor are any good men fo perfect as to be compleat in the exercife of grace. All grace indeed is feminally in the heart at once; the Spirit of God, the author of it, is given at once; Chrift formed in the heart, the subjectmatter of it, is done at once; all grace is implanted at one and the fame time it is a feed which is caft into the heart, and there abides; where there is one grace, there is every grace; where there is faith, there is hope; and where there is hope, there is faith; and where there are both faith and hope, there is love: as there is a ftrict connection between vices, where there is

one, there are all; though they are not all in act in every one, yet the seeds of all fin are in every man; fuch a connection there is between the graces of the Spirit, where one is, all are. They may not indeed be in exercise together, at least to the fame degree; a man can truly fay he loves Christ, when he cannot fay, my beloved is mine, and I am bis"; which is a strong expreffion of faith there may be hope of eternal falvation by him, when a man is not able to fay with Job, I know that my Redeemer liveth": one grace may be more visible than another, as to exercife; repentance may be discoverable when faith is not, yet there is no true repentance without it: a man first looks to Chrift by faith, and then mourns and repents in an evangelical manner; whence it has been faid, that" repentance is a tear that drops from the eye of faith." Yet though they are all feminally caft into the heart at once, like feed they fpring up, and arrive to maturity by degrees; grace is like feed, which first springs up in the ftalk, and then appears in the ear, and at last in the full corn in the ear: it is with men in grace, as it is with them in nature, they are first children, then young men, and then fathers; and there is at first a perfection of parts, though not of degrees; as in a new-born infant, that has its proper shape, and all its members, it is perfect in all its parts; but not yet grown up to a perfect man; that is, by degrees and so one born again is a new creature, and has all the parts of one, a new heart, and a new fpirit, new eyes to fee with, new ears to hear with, new hands to work with, new feet to walk with; but as yet not come to a perfect man, unto the measure of the ftature of the fulness of Chrift.

If we confider the feveral graces of the Spirit, it will appear that they are not in perfection as to exercife. Saving, spiritual and experimental knowledge of Chrift, and divine things, is a confiderable part of fanctification; and the apoftle fays, in understanding be ye men, or be ye, rides, "perfect":" There are means, fuch as reading, hearing, praying, and meditating, to be used, in order to a greater degree of it; and truly gracious fouls will not ftick or reft fatisfied in the first measure of knowledge, but leaving the principles of the doctrine of Chrift, will go on unto perfection; and yet come fhort of it in the present state. Some may have a greater degree of it than others, and be comparatively perfect; and in this sense we are to understand some paffages', which speak of men as perfect and they are fuch who have their spiritual fenfes exercifed, being of full ages; have a clearer fight of Chrift; a quicker hearing of his voice, fo as to diftinguish it from the voice of a stranger; a better relish and taste of the grace of God, and more skill in handling the word of life; and yet those that know the most, know but in part, as even the apostle Paul, who knew so much of Christ, and him crucified; yet defired to know more, and did not think he