A Description of
True Blessedness
By Christopher Love
"But He said, 'Yea rather, blessed are they
which
hear the word of God, and keep it.' " Luke
11:28
In the obscure
humanity of Jesus Christ, there broke forth such a glorious lustre of His
divinity that though, as to His person, He was deemed despicable and
contemptible, yet the words He spoke and the works that He did declared Him to
be no less than the Son of God. The words He spoke declared it, His enemies
themselves being judges, "The officers answered, 'Never man spake like
this man'" (John 7:46). And the works He did, the miracles He wrought, of
them it is said that "it was never done thus from the beginning of the
world." As upon His healing of the man born blind, say they, "It was
never heard that a man born blind, could afterwards see."
His miracles
wrought admiration in the hearts even of those men in whom it wrought envy. The
miracle He wrought in this chapter, the dispossessing of the devil out of a man
who was dumb, caused the fame of Christ to have great renown though many parts
of the world. And though for all this His enemies would not acknowledge the
divinity of Christ, yet a certain young woman (as may be gathered from the
history) came and lifted up her voice and said unto Him, "Blessed is the
womb that bare Thee, and the paps that Thou hast sucked." Now Christ,
instead of giving her thanks for applauding Him, rather gives her a rebuke, a
check, and said, "I will tell you who are blessed; rather blessed are they
who hear the Word of God, and keep it." Thus you have the coherence of the
words.
The speech of
the woman was a proverbial speech among the Jews. When any person did some
achievement that was praiseworthy, they would cry out and say, "Blessed is
the womb that bare Thee." And from this proverbial speech I would note
this: Good children are a great praise and blessing to their parents. This
woman could bless the mother of Christ, who bare such a son as He was. Solomon
says, "A wise son maketh a glad father" (Proverbs 15:20). And in many
other places you read what great blessing and honor accrues to parents whom the
Lord has blessed with wise and godly children. And, on the contrary, the
Scripture marks those parents with a brand of reproach who bring forth wicked children
into the world, children to increase the number of the damned, to fill hell and
to pollute the earth. Therefore it is that you so often read in Scripture that
a wicked child is a shame to his parents (Proverbs 10:1, 5).
The use is to
teach you, whom God has blessed with good children, to be exceedingly thankful
unto God, for it is a greater blessing unto you than if God should fill your
house with silver and gold. And you whom God has thus afflicted, in suffering
bad children to come out of your loins, oh, mourn under the heavy hand of God
that He has made you instrumental to bring forth children into the world which
shall increase the number of the damned in hell.
This much from
the woman's speech who said, "Blessed is the womb that bare Thee, and the
paps that gave Thee suck." But Christ said, "Rather blessed are they
which hear the word of God and keep it." Christ said, "rather
blessed." He does not say that His mother was not blessed, but that the
woman might not too much dote on His mother, to think that she was so greatly
blessed only for bearing Him in her womb. Therefore He said, "I tell you
who indeed is the blessed man and woman, even they that hear the word of God
and keep it." Christ would not give way to her applause, but He gave her a
mild and loving rebuke. Hence observe that you must take heed that you are not
tickled with pride when you hear yourselves commended. Christ would give no way
to the woman's commendation. She thought that the Virgin Mary was the happiest
woman in all the world, yet Christ put a "rather" on those who make
conscience of hearing the Word of God and keeping it. A believer hearing and
obeying Jesus Christ is more blessed in so doing than the Virgin Mary was
merely for bringing Christ into the world, although it was the happiest birth
that ever was brought forth! Oh, how should this be a spur unto you to hear,
and to practice what you hear, seeing that by so doing you are thus blessed!
Now I shall
observe something from the manner or form of expression that Christ here uses.
It is not said, "Blessed are they which hear the Word of God," for
there are many sorts of hearers who come short of blessedness. But blessed are
they that hear the Word of God and keep it, who incorporate it into
their souls and become transformed into the image of it. There are four sorts
of hearers spoken of in Matthew 13, and three of them fall short of
blessedness. All hearers, although it is the Word of God which they hear, do
not attain unto blessedness. It is not hearing, but keeping and observing the
Word of God which makes men blessed.
Observe again
that it is not said, "Blessed are you who believe." Although it is
indeed a truth that all true believers are blessed, yet it is not so said lest
men should think that a naked believing is enough to make them blessed, or lest
they should think that they are above hearing, praying, or receiving, which are
the proud aspiring vanities of many in this age.
Neither it is
said, "Blessed are you who keep the Word of God in a disjunction
from hearing," but "in a conjunction with hearing. Blessed are
you that hear, and keep." Many men pretend to a great perfection of life
and conversation in keeping what Christ commands, but it is a disjunction from
hearing; they leave off hearing the Word. But those only are blessed in the
esteem of Jesus Christ who hear and keep the Word of God.
Again, it is
not said, "Blessed shall you be who hear and keep the Word of
God," but, "Blessed are you," to show that you shall not
only be blessed when you come to heaven, but that you are blessed in so doing
while you are here on earth. "But now being made free from sin, and become
servants to God, ye have your fruit unto holiness, and the end everlasting
life" (Romans 6:22). You have your fruit, O man, if you are a holy man,
even before you come to everlasting life.
Again, it is
not said, "Blessed are you if you hear and keep," but "if you
hear the Word of God and keep it." You may hear men who preach damnable
errors, and keep them fast in your heart. But in this case you are nearer a
cursing than a blessing. Men may be followers of sermons, but if those sermons
which they hear and practice are not agreeable to the Word of God, are not
grounded upon the Scriptures, they are under a curse and not a blessing by what
they hear. Therefore the Holy Ghost here says, "Blessed are they who hear
the Word of God and keep it." This should teach men how they hear, whom
they hear, and what they hear, that they hear nothing but the Word of God, and
then keep what they hear. We read of teachers who shall bring in damnable
heresies, and that many shall follow their pernicious ways. "But there
were false prophets also among the people, even as there shall be false
teachers among you, who privily shall bring in damnable heresies, even denying
the Lord that bought them, and bring upon themselves swift destruction. And
many shall follow their pernicious ways, by reason of whom the way of truth
shall be evil spoken of. And through covetousness shall they with feigned words
make merchandise of you; whose judgment of a long time lingereth not" (2
Peter 2:1-3). Now they are not blessed who hear men who bring in such damnable
heresies. The Scripture does not entail blessing on all hearing, but on hearing
the Word of God and keeping it.
Again, it is
not said, "Blessed also," but "Blessed rather." Christ does
not say, "My mother is a blessed woman, and they also are blessed who hear
the Word of God and keep it." But Christ comes in with a
"rather." It is as if He had said, "I account those men and
women more blessed than My own mother, merely for being instrumental in
bringing Me into the world." Oh, how should the consideration hereof
enflame your hearts, and provoke you to a diligent hearing of God's Word, and a
conscientious practicing of what you hear? There is not the like phrase in all
the Bible.
It is not said,
"rather blessed are they who hear My words and My sayings." It is so
said in some other places, but here it is said, "they who hear God's
Word." For had Christ said, "rather blessed are they who hear My
Word," then people might have thought that Christ imputed blessedness only
to His own preaching, and to those who personally heard Him preach. Therefore
Christ said, "Rather blessed are they who hear God's Word," be it
preached by Peter, Paul, or Apollos, by any disciple now living or by any
minister of the gospel who shall live afterwards to the world's end.
"Whosoever shall hear the Word of God contained in the Scriptures of the
Old and New Testament, and keep it, they are more blessed than My mother was,
if she is considered only as instrumental in bringing Me into the world."
And in this expression there is a secret glory or honor put upon the ministers
of the gospel by Jesus Christ, who would not limit the blessing to His own
preaching, but extends it to the Word of God out of any minister's mouth. And
that is the reason (as many think) for that saying in Scripture, "He that
believeth shall do greater works than Christ did." It is not meant of the
works of redemption, but of the ministerial works, that a faithful minister
shall convert more souls than Christ converted by His ministry. Christ indeed
could have converted all who heard Him, but He did not do it, lest men should
have thought that they must have heard none but Christ.
We do not read
of many who were converted by Christ's preaching. There were more converted by
Peter and other apostles than by Christ Himself. Christ did this so that people
might not despise any of His ordinary ministers. If Christ had converted more
than all the disciples, people then would have slighted the disciples and
followed only Christ. This distemper began to grow in the apostles' days:
"Now this I say, that every one of you saith, 'I am of Paul, I am of
Apollos, I am of Cephas, and I am of Christ.' " The apostle blames them
for saying, "I am of Christ." The meaning is not that men were
blameworthy for following the love of Christ. God forbid! It is our highest
duty so to do, but there were some in the church of Corinth who were ready to
say, "I care not for the hearing of Paul or Apollos, but only for hearing
Jesus Christ." This was a vain and sinful crying up of Christ. Thus for
men to cry up Christ, to preach Christ, and in the mean time to cry down the
ministry, is sinful; and Christ will never own this to be preaching Him, for
Christ said, "Blessed are they that hear the Word of God and keep
it." Let it be preached by any faithful minister whatsoever.
Again, it is not
said, "Blessed are they for hearing and for keeping," but
"Blessed are they that hear and that keep." Blessedness does never
come with a "for," but with an "if" or a "that."
The Lord does not bless you for your hearing, although you hear as many sermons
as there are days in the year. But He blesses those who hear in obedience to
His command, and practice what they hear. Thus you have eight notes from the
form of the speech which Christ here used.
Now I shall
come to show what is meant by keeping the Word of God which we hear. There is a
double keeping of the Word of God:
First, there is
a keeping of it in your memory. "Mary kept all these things, and pondered
them in her heart" (Luke 2:19). She kept them in her memory. Our memories
should be as the ark wherein the pot of manna was kept. The pot of manna is
divine truths; these should be kept safe in our memories. But this is not the
keeping here spoken of, for there are many men who have good memories to keep
what they hear, and yet have neither good hearts or good lives, and therefore
are not blessed by their keeping.
Second, there
is a keeping of the Word in your practice, and that is done when there is a
conscionable care to square your lives and conversations answerable to what you
hear or know. Now blessed are you who hear the Word of God and thus keep it.
And thus I have
opened all the difficulties that may appear in the words. The observation is
this: They are more blessed who hear the Word of God, and practice what they
hear, than the mother of Jesus Christ was for bringing Him into the world. It
is a point I confess which well deserves a scanning, and if it had not been in
the Bible it would have been incredible that Christ should put a
"rather" on you, O man, or woman, in every age of the world, who
shall hear the Word of God and keep it.
It is worth
noticing what a different dialect is used by the woman in the text and
Elizabeth, who was kinswoman to the Virgin Mary. The woman in the text said,
"Blessed is the womb that bare Thee, and the paps that Thou hast
sucked." But Elizabeth cried out, "Blessed is she that
believeth" (Luke 1:45). Upon these words a learned author has a very good
note: "If the virgin Mary had not born Christ in her heart by faith as
well as in her womb, she would not have been blessed. For Elizabeth here
declares wherein the blessedness of the Virgin Mary, and of all the elect,
consists."
Now how may
this confute the dotage of the church of Rome, that so excessively cries up the
virgin Mary? I have read a little in some popish authors, and I find that for
one tract of the dignity and glory of Christ, they have written many of the
dignity of the Virgin Mary. And they relate strange stories and fooleries
concerning her, such as were never heard of in former times, idolatrously to
advance her frame. They say that she was free from original sin, whereas the
Scripture says expressly that all that descend from Adam are polluted with
original corruption, and therefore the Virgin Mary is also, being a daughter of
Adam. The papists speak more honorably of the virginity, dignity, and holiness
of the Virgin Mary, the mother, than they do of the righteousness, grace, and
merits of Christ, the Son. And therefore they hold justification by works, and
not by faith in the righteousness of Christ. Yea, they so dote on the Virgin
Mary that they make her the greatest mediatress next to God the Father. A man
would think it unnecessary to teach against the popish doctrine, but ministers
never had more reason for it than now. For there never was more likelihood of
popery spreading than in these days wherein, under the notion of a cursed
toleration, priests and Jesuits publish their blasphemous and idolatrous
tenets, and drive on their Jesuital designs. And God knows how soon you who
will not lay your neck under Christ's yoke may be brought under the popish
yoke. This I can say from my own experience, that I never found so many to
stagger towards popery as I have done of late. They who have professed the
protestant religion are staggering and apostatizing from their former
profession and solemn covenants, and God knows how soon they will prefer the
Virgin Mary before Jesus Christ. But I hope better things of you. Therefore I
shall pass this, and come to the reasons of the point, which are these:
1. They are
more blessed who hear and keep the Word of God than the Virgin Mary was for
bringing Christ into the world, because Christ accounts such to stand in more
manifold near relations unto Him than His own natural friends were. "And
He answered and said unto them, 'My mother, and my brethren are these, which
hear the Word of God and do it' " (Luke 8:21). Lo, here is the right way
of being brought into a near relation with Christ, of becoming akin to Jesus
Christ, of being accounted the brother, sister, and mother of Jesus Christ, and
that is by hearing and obeying the will of Christ.
2. Your
blessedness appears in this, because if you hear and practice you shall
persevere unto the end while others shall apostatize and fall back from the
faith. "Therefore whosoever heareth these sayings of Mine, and doeth them,
I will liken him to a wise man, which built his house upon a rock, and the rain
descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat upon that house,
and it fell not, for it was founded upon a rock; and every one that heareth
these sayings of mine, and doth them not, shall be likened unto a foolish man,
which built his house upon the sand, and the rain descended, and the floods
came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house, and it fell, and great was
the fall thereof" (Matthew 7:24-28).
Those only who
hear the Word of God and keep it persevere; they only have their souls built
upon a rock, and stand unmovable in the time of persecution. Indeed, fall they
may, and foully too (as David, Peter, and many other precious saints have
done), through the violence of Satan's temptations and the remaining corruption
that is in them, but finally and irrecoverably they shall never fall because
they are built upon a rock which can never fall; they are built upon a rock
which can never be removed, and that rock is Christ, who is both the author and
finisher of their faith (Hebrews 12:2). And He has prayed that their faith fail
not utterly (Luke 22:32). And this He has procured, and therefore, though the
storms and waves arise, they can never fall irrecoverably. Others fall off, and
fall away, when winds and storms arise.
3. The Lord
makes glorious promises to such as hear the Word of God and keep it.
"Blessed is he that readeth, and they that hear the words of this
prophecy, and keep those things which are written therein, for the time is at
hand" (Revelation 1:3). Here you see those who hear the Word of God and
keep it, that is, lay it up in their hearts and express the power of it in
their lives, are blessed.
4. By
practicing what you hear in the Word, you may bring others unto blessedness;
and happy are you who are instrumental in bringing others to heaven.
"Likewise, ye wives, be in subjection to your own husbands, that if any
obey not the word, they may also without the word, be won by the conversation
of their wives" (1 Peter 3:1). So, "Having your conversations honest
amongst the Gentiles, that whereas they speak against you as evil doers, they
may, by your good works which they shall behold, glorify God in the day of
visitation" (1 Peter 2:12). Their godly conversation might be a means to
bring others to heaven.
5. If you make
conscience to practice what you hear, you are blessed because (although you
should not bring others to heaven) you yourselves shall surely come to heaven,
shall surely come to blessedness. "Here is the patience of the saints,
here are they that keep the commandments of God, and the faith of Jesus. I
heard a voice from heaven, saying unto me, 'Write, blessed are the dead, which
die in the Lord, from henceforth, yea,' saith the Spirit, 'That they may rest
from their labors, and their works follow them' " (Revelation 14:12-13).
Oh, you who make conscience to keep the commandments of God and the faith of
Jesus, you shall surely go to heaven, although you bring none with you but
yourselves. It was a notable saying of one of the fathers that when a gospel
life goes before, an angel's life shall follow after. Oh, therefore make
conscience to practice what you hear and know.
Now I come to
the application:
USE OF
LAMENTATION. If it is so that they who hear and keep the Word of God are more
blessed than the Virgin Mary was merely for bringing Christ into the world,
should not this then be for a lamentation that men will not seek after
blessedness when they may have it upon such easy terms? Had God said, "I
will bless you if you remove mountains, if you fulfill My law in every jot and
tittle thereof," these indeed would have been impossible works to be done.
But God said, "Blessed are you if you hear the Word of God and keep
it." Therefore, if you will not practice what you hear, you refuse your
own mercy. The devil could not damn you if you would not damn yourself. You, O
man who has an obstinate heart, who (let the preacher say what he will) will do
what you will, who makes little conscience to hear, and less conscience to
practice what you hear, are inexcusable.
Now to set home
this use, take these five considerations:
1. Your
hearing, if you do not practice what you hear, will aggravate your condemnation
another day. "If I had not come and spoken unto them, they had not had
sin, but now they have no cloak for their sin" (John 15:22). The fault
admits of some extenuation, where there is no knowledge of the fault it is a
far greater sin to condemn the known law of God than to be ignorant of the law
of God. They that sin against knowledge have no cloak or excuse for their sin.
"That servant which knew his lord's will, and prepared not himself,
neither did according to his will, shall be beaten with many stripes"
(Luke 12:47). In Isaiah 13 we read of many nations and people against whom the
Lord commands the prophet to denounce a burdensome prophecy. But in Isaiah 22
we read of the "burden of the valley of vision," that is, of Jerusalem;
and it is observed that that burden was the heaviest of all others, none so
burdensome as the burden of the valley of visions. It was a place where
knowledge was, where preaching was; therefore that burden was heavier than
against Babylon, Tyre, Damascus, and all the rest. Though other men who live in
the American part of the world shall go to hell for their disobedience, yet
remember, you who live in England, where the gospel is professed and preached,
shall to go hell with a heavier load on your conscience than those who have not
the gospel. You shall be damned with a witness, who hear the Word of God and
make no conscience to practice what you hear and what you know.
It would make
one stand amazed to read that passage, "Pour out Thy fury upon the heathen
that know Thee not" (Jeremiah 10:25). Now if the fury of the Lord is
poured out upon poor, ignorant heathens who know not God, who have not the
means of knowledge, who hear not of the gospel of Christ, what wrath shall then
be poured out upon the so-called Christians who know not God? But, above all,
what inexpressible fury and vengeance shall be poured out upon those so-called
"Christians" who sin against the knowledge of God, who sin against
the light shining clearly before their eyes, who sin against an awakened and
convinced conscience? If any place in hell is hotter than another it shall be
for them, for it is a far greater sin to condemn the known law of God than to
be ignorant of the law of God; they that sin against knowledge have no cloak nor
excuse for their sin.
2. Consider,
you are void of love to God if you do not practice what you hear. "Whoso
keepeth His Word, in him verily is the love of God perfected" (1 John
2:5).
3. Consider,
God looks upon your profession as worth nothing unless you practice what you
hear. In arithmetic, put never so many zeros together and they make no sum, but
put one figure thereunto and then it makes a great sum. So make never so many
prayers, and hear never so many sermons, yet all stands but for zeros unless
you join therewith a conscionable course of life, answerable to what you hear
and what you pray.
Consider, would
you (who has been this long a professor) have God to look upon you as if you
had been a profane man all your life? God looks on you as such if you do not
practice what you hear and know. "Now the sons of Eli were sons of Belial,
they knew not the Lord" (1 Samuel 2:12). They knew not God? Surely they
did! By their education they had a speculative knowledge of God and His law, for
they were priests of the Lord, and God would not choose ignorant men for His
priests. But they had no practical, efficacious, and saving knowledge of God,
for they were men of wicked lives and conversations, and therefore God looked
upon their knowledge as no knowledge, and upon their profession as no
profession. So "The priests said not, 'Where is the Lord?' And they that
handle the law knew Me not; the pastors also transgressed against Me, and the
prophets prophesied by Baal, and walked after things that do not profit"
(Jeremiah 2:8). "They knew Me not." God did not regard the knowledge
they had of Him because they transgressed against Him. Remember, God will
account your hearing as no hearing, your praying as no praying, your receiving
the sacraments as no receiving, if you do not make conscience to obey what you
hear.
4. You can have
no good persuasion, nor discovery in your soul of the love of God unto you,
unless you make conscience to keep what you hear. "If you love Me, keep My
commandments" (John 14:15). And therefore you find in Scripture that the
love of God is often subjoined to keeping the commandments of God:
"showing mercy unto thousands of them that love Me, and keep My
commandments" (Exodus 20:6). They are both put together to show that where
there is a love of God, there will be a keeping of His commandments.
5. If we do not
make conscience to practice what we hear, we shall provoke the Lord to take
away the gospel from us. " 'And it shall come to pass in that day,' saith
the Lord God, 'that I will cause the sun to go down at noon, and I will darken
the earth in the clear day' " (Amos 8:9). And in verse 11, "I will
send a famine, not of bread and water, but of hearing of the words of the
Lord." Remember it, God will take away the Word for our not profiting by
what we hear. "Therefore I say unto you, the kingdom of heaven shall be
taken from you, and given to a nation bringing forth the fruits thereof"
(Matthew 21:43). By the kingdom of God we are to understand the gospel, the
Word of God and the ministry thereof; this shall be taken from you and given to
others, if you do not bring forth the fruits thereof.
And here we may
read both our sin and judgment. For if ever any people in the world were guilty
of barrenness and unfruitfulness under the means of grace, we of this nation
are. We have been lifted up to heaven, and therefore we may justly expect to be
cast down to hell.
Now to awaken
your consciences, I shall, in the first place, lay down some demonstrations
that we are extremely guilty of barrenness under the means of grace. And that
therefore, in the second place, we are in great danger of having the gospel
removed from us, and given to a nation that will bring forth the fruits
thereof. That we are guilty of unfruitfulness under gospel ordinances may
appear:
1. By the sad
complaints that the most fruitful stocks and plants in God's vineyard make,
they with grief and sighing of heart complain of their unfruitfulness under
gospel ordinances. Now if the trees of righteousness of the Lord's planting, in
the Lord's vineyard, complain that they bear not fruit, surely then the trees
of the forest are barren. If the trees of God's garden bring not forth fruit,
what can the trees of the wilderness do? If the people of the Lord sit down and
lament because no answerable fruit is to be found in them, what cause, then,
have the wicked of the world to complain, whose hearts remain as hard as the
nether millstone, notwithstanding all the heavenly dew which from time to time
depends upon them?
2. It appears
by the sad complaints of God's husbandmen, the ministers of Jesus Christ, who
discern but little fruit appearing after all their labor, little success to
attend their gospel ministry. Therefore they lie down upon their beds in
sorrow, and with sadness of spirit complain, as Peter did, that they have
fished all night but caught nothing, that they plow upon rocks and break their
instruments, but cannot break the hearts of men, that they wear out their own
lives, consume their own lungs, but cannot consume people's lusts. And thus
they complain with the prophet (in the person of Christ), "I have labored
in vain" (Isaiah 49:4).
3. It may
appear by comparing our times with the time in which the gospel was first
planted. Says Christ, "From the days of John the Baptist until now, the
kingdom of heaven suffereth violence, and the violent take it by force"
(Matthew 11:12). In those days men used a holy violence in the ways of
religion, but where is that violence now to be found? When the seventy
disciples had a commission from Christ to preach the gospel, it was said that
they went forth preaching the Word (Luke 10:18). And what follows? God was with
them, and many were converted, and "the devil like lightning did fall from
heaven." Their ministry had a most glorious success. And it is said (which
is a prophecy of the first times of the gospel's preaching), "Enlarge thy
tents, and let them stretch forth the curtains of thine habitations"
(Isaiah 54:2). As if there was not room enough for the converted men, therefore
"enlarge your tents," which refers to the Gentiles upon their first
conversion. And, said the apostle, "Rejoice thou barren that bearest not,
break forth, and cry thou that travailest not, for the desolate hath many more
children than she which hath a husband" (Galatians 4:27). And it is said,
"The hand of God was upon them, and a great number believed, and turned to
unto the Lord" (Acts 11:21). Yea, three thousand were converted by one
sermon of Peter's, whereas now three thousand sermons will hardly convert one
soul to Christ. And, says the prophet, "Thy people shall be willing in the
day of Thy power, in the beauties of holiness; from the womb of the morning
Thou hast the dew of Thy youth" (Psalm 110:3). The meaning of these words,
"from the womb of the morning, Thou hast the dew of Thy youth," is
this: the converts upon the first preaching of the gospel should be as numerous
as the drops of dew upon the grass in the morning. But nowadays the converting
of souls, the bringing in of men to Jesus Christ, is not so numerous as the
drops of dew, but as rare as pearls and diamonds.
4. It will
appear that there is a general barrenness under all the means of grace because
in these days more people are perverted from the truth and simplicity of the
gospel than are converted by the power and efficacy thereof. The conversion
that is wrought nowadays is but a power upon men's heads, not upon their
hearts; it works in them only fancies and notions, not practical godliness.
They are like the moon (not the sun), whose influence gives light, but no heat.
The Word, it may be, reclaims them from drunkenness in practice, but the devil
makes them drunk with opinions and errors.
Now this being
so, I shall in the next place give some demonstrations that we are in danger of
having the kingdom of God, the gospel of Jesus Christ, removed from us.
Therefore let us not be secure, for there is great danger the gospel shall be
removed, if not from the nation, yet from particular places.
1. It may
appear from that implacable opposition that is in the professors of the gospel
against the preachers of the gospel. Those very people who esteemed the feet of
their ministers to be very beautiful now say that the mark of the beast is upon
their forehead. Those people who would have pulled out their eyes to do their
ministers good would now pull out their minister's eyes. Those very people who
looked upon us as the servants of Christ, and stewards of the mystery of
salvation, now account us the limbs of antichrist and perverters of religion.
Now there is no way more likely to drive away the gospel from us than to spurn
at and oppose the gospel, and the ministers thereof. This will be the great
inlet (if the Lord prevent it not) to our utter confusion, and an outlet to the
gospel of Jesus Christ. I would have such men, who would rather see godly
ministers in prison than in the pulpit, to consider that if God should take
them away you would have worse in their room. The sectaries were weary of godly
and learned Junius; therefore God suffered Arminius, that pestilent enemy to
the gospel of Christ, to rise up after him. God may justly send us unable and
seducing teachers for our slighting of those learned and godly ministers who
are among us. When Paul and Barnabas were slighted and opposed by the
unbelieving Jews, they said, "Seeing ye put away the Word of God from you,
and judge yourselves unworthy of everlasting life, lo, we turn to the
Gentiles" (Acts 13:46). They lost the gospel by it.
2. It appears
that there is danger that the gospel should be removed from us by the general
wantonness and weariness of people living under it. When children are wanton
with bread in their hand, the parent takes it from them and makes them fast. We
have dealt with the gospel as children deal with bread when their bellies are
full. We have grown wanton and have become weary of it, so that now if a
minister preaches of faith, repentance, mortification, zeal, self-denial, and
heavenly-mindedness, these are accounted thread-bare doctrines. Now when the
Lord shall see a people grow weary of and wanton with the gospel, He will cut
them short. He will make them know the worth of the gospel by the want of the
gospel.
3. When the
Israelites loathed manna, God quickly suffered them to be hunger-bitten. He who
runs may read our sin and danger in this particular. For those very people who
with delight waited upon the ordinances of Jesus Christ, oh, how they became
weary of ordinances! Those people who accounted the six days tedious, and
thought it long before the Sabbath came, now do not care for sanctifying a
Sabbath all the year long! Those people who could not live a day without the
gospel can now live not only without, but above the gospel! They are
like those we read of in 1 Corinthians 1:12 who were so high flown, that they
scorned Paul, Apollo, and Cephas, and cried up only Christ. Now once a people
grow weary of the gospel, it will not be long before the gospel grows weary of
them and departs from them.
It appears that
the gospel is in danger of being removed from us by reason of the great
increase of such opinions as are contrary to the gospel, as are destructive to
the power and purity of it. When men shall use strong endeavors to bring in a
toleration of all religions, that is the way to bring us to no religion at all.
"When the people had set their threshold by God's threshold, and their
post by God's post" (Ezekiel 43:8), that is, when they added traditions,
their own inventions, to God's precepts, then there was a wall between God and
them. Their wickedness was as a wall of separation. God was departing from
them. Those who plead for a licentious toleration of all opinions do as much as
in them lies to put a wall of separation between God and England.
4. An increase
of damnable errors and heresies is a demonstration of the gospel's being
removed. The gospel is the sun that shines in our horizon; heresies are as fogs
and mists that darken the bright beams of the sun. One well observes that it
was not corruption in manners that unchurched the church of Rome, but merely
corruption in doctrine. When the woman was flying into the wilderness, it is
said, "The serpent cast out of his mouth poured out a flood of water to
drown the woman" (Revelation 12:15). This flood of water was a flood of
heresies, and peculiarly the heresy of Arianism. If the Lord should suffer the
dragon to pour out a flood of heresies to overflow the land, we may then justly
fear the removal of the gospel from us.
5. The
implacable opposition that is against the settlement of church government is a
demonstration of the gospel's remove. It is true, government is but the hedge,
and the gospel is the fruit, but if you break down the hedge the fruit will be
little. This is the way to have the field overrun by the wild boar. It was
Luther's saying (at his first declining from the church of Rome), that the
gospel got more prejudice by seven years suspension of a well-ordered
government than it could recover in forty years afterwards. And the Lord grant
that it proves not thus with us.
Now by all this
it may appear that we are in great danger of having the gospel taken from us.
Oh, how careful then should we be to improve the means of grace while we enjoy
them, for if the gospel is gone all is gone. We had better lose the light of
the sun than the light of the gospel. For:
1. If the
gospel goes from a people, peace goes from a people. The removal of the gospel
of peace will cause the going away of your peace.
2. If the gospel
goes, plenty goes as well as peace.
3. If the
gospel goes, if the worship of God is taken away, our safety is gone. The ark
was the Israelites' safety. When the ark was taken away, their strength and
safety was taken away. When the Jews rejected the gospel, so that it was
translated to the Gentiles, then the Romans came and took away both their place
and nation.
4. When the
gospel goes, our civil liberty goes. When the Jews slighted the gospel, they
lived no longer free men, but became slaves and tributaries to the Romans.
5. The dignity
and splendor of a nation goes when the gospel goes. As old Eli said, when the
ark was taken, "The glory is departed from Israel." And it is said in
Matthew 2:6 that Bethlehem was not in the least among all the princes of Judah.
Yet Micah said in Micah 5:2 that Bethlehem was the least, that is, the least in
regard of its situation and small number of inhabitants. But not the least, as
Matthew speaks, because the Messiah was there born and the gospel there preached.
The gospel of Christ made Bethlehem more than it was; and therefore it is that
Capernaum is said to be lifted up to heaven because the glad tidings of the
gospel were there published. Now if God should take away the gospel from us, He
would leave us as Bethlehem, the least of a thousand cities. We should not
measure the greatness of a city by the great trade, the great number of people
therein, but by the flourishing of the gospel therein. London would be the
least city of a thousand if the gospel be removed from it. Oh, then, what cause
have we to know and consider this day the things that concern our peace, lest
hereafter they be hidden from our eyes. Let us not content ourselves with a
bare hearing of the Word, but with being doers of it, expressing the power and
authority thereof in our lives and conversations.
OBJECTION. But
you will say, "If they only are blessed who hear the Word of God and keep
it, who practice what they hear, then where is a blessed man to be found? For
where is that man alive who can keep, who can live answerably to what he hears?
I hear many a sin reproved which I cannot forbear. I hear many a duty pressed
which I cannot perform. I hear many a grace persuaded unto which I cannot act.
Now how can any man be blessed, seeing he cannot keep what he hears?"
ANSWER. If you
indeed lived under a covenant of works, you could never be a blessed man
because you can never keep what you hear according to that exactness which a
covenant of works requires, for that commands a man to keep the whole law, to
keep it perfectly, and to keep it personally. But for your comfort know that
you are under a covenant of grace, which does not require a perfect, but a
sincere obedience to the law of God, which accepts the will for the deed. Oh,
remember that you are not under a covenant of works, but a covenant of grace,
which accepts what Christ has done and suffered for you (if you are a believer)
as if it were done in your own person. Though, indeed, that is true which
Christ said to the young man, "If thou wilt enter into life, keep the
commandments" (Matthew 19:17), yet you must know that Christ spoke this
unto him because He knew him to be of a pharisaic temper, and that he thought
to be saved by his good works. But if Christ should say thus unto any of us,
"You shall go to heaven if you keep every command, and you shall never go
to heaven if you break any one command," the Lord have mercy on us! We
should then all perish to eternity. But Christ said, "Believe and
live." Now promise (not work) is the object of faith (Romans 4:16).
Therefore Ambrose was wont to say, "Let us hope for pardon as of faith,
not of debt."
In a word, make
conscience to keep what you hear; bewail your inability to fulfill the law of
God; do what you can, and mourn that you can do no better; and then God will
say, "Though you cannot keep the law completely, yet My Son has kept it
for you. I accept His obedience as your obedience, and His righteousness as
your righteousness." Oh, what grace and mercy is here! How may this cheer
up your hearts in the midst of all discouragements that lie upon you! Again,
for your comfort, know that if in sincerity of heart you endeavor to keep what
you hear, in divine acceptance it is all the same as if you had perfectly kept
all that you hear. If it is the desire and labor of your soul to obey God's
will and observe His commands, in divine acceptance it is looked upon as if it
were actually done by you.
It is worth
your noticing what is said in Scripture: "By faith Abraham, when he was
tried, offered up Isaac, and he that had received the promises, offered up his
only begotten son" (Hebrews 11:17). Abraham did not actually do what is
said here that he did, but because Abraham did it in the purpose of his heart,
because the desire and resolution of his soul was to obey God's command,
therefore the Scripture counts it as done! Oh, take this for your comfort, you
who are a child of Abraham, who walk in the steps and faith of Abraham: the
very desires and purposes of your heart are looked upon as if they were really
and actually done. If you would pray better, hear better, and practice more
than you do, in divine account this is looked upon as if you had already done
it.