SOME, perhaps, may be ready thus to infer, 'If believers are dead to the law, and the law be dead to them, they are quite at liberty to live as they please. They may sin without controul from the law, and without any remorse of conscience. Their own obedience not being a condition of their forgiveness; having no hand in procuring the favour of God, or the justification of their souls; there is no occasion for it. They may launch into licentiousness, and their state be equally safe, their end equally happy, as if they were diligent in the performance of duty, and strictly self-denying.'–In answer to such an ignorant cavil, and in confutation of such a false surmise, I shall only observe, That the great apostle has drawn a very different conclusion from the same premises. For he says, I am dead to the law, that I might–what? commit iniquity with greediness, and sin with impunity? By no means: but, that I might live unto God.
The glory of God is the ultimate end of our existence itself, and of all we enjoy*
* This capital truth is here taken for granted; but if the reader desire to see it demonstrated, he may receive satisfaction by a careful perusal of the late Mr. JONATHAN EDWARD'S Dissertation, intituled, God's Last End in the Creation of the World: or, by consulting STAPFERI Institutiones Theol. Polem. Univers. Tom. i. cap. iii. p. 485-493. Tom. iv. cap. xv. p. 267.*
All the dispensations of Providence, and all the blessings of grace, perfectly harmonize in accomplishing the grand design. But the blessings of grace, being much more glorious in themselves, more beneficial to us, and truly astonishing in the manner of their communication, are more fully adapted to answer that sacred purpose. In such a light the believer views them. As adapted to answer so high an end, he delights in them and is thankful for them. As living to God is his duty, so he esteems it his privilege, and desires to make it his constant business.
The persons of whom we speak, are said to live. They live, not only by an animal, and a rational, but also a spiritual life. This life they received from Christ. As it is written, The hour is coming and now is, when the dead in sin shall hear the voice of the Son of God; and they that hear shall live. (John v. 25.) As they received their life from him, so it is maintained by him. Its continuance, vigour, and exercise, depend on their union with him, and the communication of grace from him. (John xiv. 19.) –They live by faith. For thus the oracle of heaven: the just, the truly righteous, shall live; shall enjoy all their comfort, and perform all their obedience, by faith. (Rom. i. 17.) That we might not be at a loss to determine what faith it is by which they live, the apostle informs us, when he says, I live by faith on the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. (Gal. ii. 20.) I live by the faith of Him, whose love to me was great, unparalleled, and absolutely inexpressible in any other way than by its amazing effects, in giving himself up, as a surety for me, to the stroke of justice and the death of the cross. It is from Him, as my beneficent Substitute, I derive my peace: it is on Him, as absolutely complete, I depend for my all.
Again: They live–not to themselves, in the gratification of their sinful appetites; not to the world, in conforming to its corrupt customs, and seeking their happiness from it–but to God. As they live a life of faith on the adored Redeemer, which affords peace to their consciences; so they live a life of obedience to their heavenly Father, which brings glory to his eternal name.
This obedience includes genuine love to him, and a conscientious conformity to his commands. It includes genuine love to him. The Christian loves God, as he is in himself an infinitely amiable Being; and as he is to him an infinitely gracious Being. He who does not love the Lord, certainly cannot live to him. For we cannot be considered, with propriety, as living to any particular person, or for any particular end; unless our affections be set on the person, and the bent of our desires be to obtain the end.–But as the sinner who is dead to the law; as the believer who is married to Jesus; beholds the glory of God in the person and work of Christ; so he cannot but love him with a supreme affection. The attributes of deity shining through that wonderful medium, and the veil of ignorance being removed, he bows before the infinite Majesty, and reveres his transcendent perfections, as thus displayed. In the great Immanuel they appear, awfully glorious, yet supremely amiable.–On the cross, as an amazing theatre, he beholds, mercy and truth meeting together; righteousness and peace kissing each other. There he beholds veracity, executing her severest threatenings, with an impartial hand; and love performing her choicest promises, with the greatest alacrity: justice asserting her rights, and mercy dispensing her pardons: tremendous wrath revealed, and sovereign grace exalted. It is there he learns that divine character, The just God and the Saviour.
Beholding the condescension and love of our suffering Surety, and his amazing transactions on the cross, he at once admires his person and confides in his work. He admires his Person, as altogether lovely: he confides in his work, as absolutely complete. In Jesus he beholds the glory of the true God. This glory attracts his adoring regards, and commands the sincerest love. The more he sees of his God, the more he loves him: and it is his greatest concern, that he does not love him with a more in. tense and steady affection. The burden of his mind frequently is, that he should be guilty of such ingratitude to that sublime and beneficent Being, whose infinite excellencies deserve all possible love –Whose boundless grace and immense liberality to an unworthy object, lay him under additional and eternal obligations to make a complete and everlasting surrender of his heart and his all to him. The love of God being shed abroad in his heart by the Holy Spirit, he loves and adores his Maker: while the imperfections attending his warmest affection to his Father and his God, become the matter of his daily sorrow and penitential acknowledgment at the throne of grace. Now he sees the propriety of that apostolic maxim, We love him because he first loved us. This divine flame being kindled in his breast, he lives to God. The language of his heart is, What shall I render to the Lord for all his benefits?
That glorious grace, which laid so firm a foundation in the death of Christ for the peace of his conscience, and formed in his heart the noblest principle for producing acceptable obedience; teaches and enables him to yield a conscientious conformity to the divine commands. Being bought with a price, he now considers himself as the Lord's. The powers of his mind, and the members of his body; the talents with which he is endowed, and the time with which he is indulged: all that he is, and all that he has, he freely acknowledges belong to his God.–As possessed of the powers of reason, and surrounded with the blessings of providence, he discerns his obligations to our bountiful Creator and kind Preserver, in a much stronger light than he did while unregenerate. His rational faculties, which he before debased to subserve inglorious designs in the service of Satan, he now desires to devote to his Maker. The favours of Providence he once abused to the gratification of detestable appetites, and prostituted to the vilest purposes; he now endeavours to improve to the honour of their liberal Donor.–Being conscious that he is less than the least of all the divine mercies; that it is free favour from which they all proceed; and that he is accountable to God for the use or abuse of them: he is careful to improve them, and to perform the part of a faithful steward in the use of his temporal enjoyments, that in so doing he may obtain the approbation of his Lord. Now the poor among the people of God, whom he once overlooked, have his compassionate regards; and, according to his ability, receive relief from his hand. This he does for the sake, and in the name of his divine Saviour; being well persuaded that he will consider it as done to himself. (Matt. xxv. 3,5, 36.)
The cause of Christ and the interest of religion in general, he is ready to support, in proportion to his capacities. Thoroughly persuaded that JESUS is the dearest of names, and his the best of causes, with cheerfulness he lends a helping hand, as Providence calls and duty requires.–Being ennobled with that honour which comes from God, and an heir of eternal riches; he is not fond of worldly distinctions, nor covetous of transitory wealth. If he abound in temporal blessings, he considers himself as only intrusted with them by the great LORD of all, for more extensive usefulness. If, by a reverse in the course of Providence, he sink into poverty, he patiently bears it; knowing that he who gave the abundance, has a right to take it away whenever he pleases. Believing the promise, I will never leave thee nor forsake thee; he knows that all things work together for his good. The Almighty is become a guarantee for his safety, and he confides in him. Jehovah is his portion, and he is satisfied with it.–Thus, in proportion as faith and love are in exercise, he lives to God, in the enjoyment of providential favours, and in suffering afflictions, But as the Christian's faith is too often like a bruised reed, and his love like the smoking flax; and as he finds a law in his members rebelling against the law of his mind; his imperfections in these, as in all other instances of duty, being many and great, are a sufficient cause of holy sorrow and penitential confession before the Lord, every day of his life.
He lives to God and enjoys communion with him, in the ordinances of divine worship. While alive to the law and unregenerate, he attended to these holy institutions as dry duties, and in a formal way. To behold the glory of Christ, and to feast upon his fulness; to have the presence of God, and to rejoice in the light of his countenance; he neither expected, nor desired. But now, nothing short of these will satisfy his mind. He leaves the house of God and the exercises of the closet, with a heavy heart, if he have not beheld his Beloved, and had some degree of nearness to him. (Psal. lxiii. 1, 2. and lxxxiv. 1, 2. Cant. v. 6.)–The gospel is a joyful sound in his ears, and a reviving cordial to his drooping spirits. On the unadulterated milk of. the word, he feeds with delight, and his very soul is refreshed by it. (I Pet. ii. 2.)
Yet often, alas, when engaged in divine worship, he finds that his thoughts wander, and his pious affections are dull; the corruptions of his heart work, and Satan attacks him with horrid suggestions: all which interrupt his communion with God, and fill his mind with grief.–He is fully convinced, by repeated experience, that the best of his duties are defiled with sin, and utterly unworthy of divine acceptance. Nay such is the sense which he has of their shameful defects, that sometimes he is tempted to think, they are more likely to provoke the abhorrence, than to gain the approbation of God. Yet he does not, he cannot entirely omit them, even in those gloomy moments.–Too apt he is to forget, in such unhappy seasons, that his services, as well as his person, are accepted in the Beloved. As our persons are abominably sinful, and our services extremely imperfect; if those be not cleansed by atoning blood, and these presented by the hand of our great Intercessor, there can be no acceptance for the one or the other. Our acceptance with God in every view, both as to persons and services, is therefore only in Christ, and for the sake of his work. It is in him as our head, and for the sake of that work which he finished on a cross, that our sins are pardoned and our persons justified. It is through him, and in virtue of his intercession, that our most righteous performances meet with the least approbation from God.–Such is the ground of a believer's confidence, both as to the safety of his state and the acceptance of his duties.
The Christian, having an abiding sense that such are his imperfections, frequently confesses them at the throne of grace, and on their account is deeply humbled. But, though humbled in the dust, he looks to Jesus his heavenly bridegroom. Having fresh application of atoning blood to his conscience, he is delivered from slavish fear, and strengthened: for future duty. As a guilty creature he comes, again and again, to the sanctifying stream which flowed from the wounds of a crucified Saviour; and in this way he maintains peace in his mind. Conscious of his own insufficiency to perform any duty, to subdue any corruption, or to resist any temptation; he earnestly seeks the aid of the Spirit. Thus the blood of the cross and the Spirit of Christ enable him to live–near to God as completely justified–to the honour of God, as partly sanctified. Nor is the believer satisfied with paying a due regard to the public appointments of religion, and living to God in attending upon them. His desire is to cultivate a correspondence with his heavenly Father, in the family and in the closet; at all times and in all places.–Conscious that he is ever under the eye of Omniscience, and always in the presence of Him who searches the heart; he pays an habitual regard to the inward frame of his mind: nor does he observe, without real grief, the most secret workings of innate corruption. For he knows that the least deviation from the holy law is a sin; that the least sin is abhorred by infinite purity, and absolutely inexpiable by any atonement, but that which was made by the great Messiah. His habitual desire therefore is, to avoid sin, as the greatest of evils; and to follow after holiness, as the health and beauty of his immortal mind.–He does not think it sufficient to be free from scandalous vices, or to abstain from such things as would injure his religious character among his fellow-professors. No! it is his elevated aim so to live, and so to walk with God, as shall bear the nearest resemblance to the business and the bliss of saints in light, that the present imperfect state will admit. That ineffable glory, the fruition of which he expects in the upper world, he desires to partake by anticipation. Nor are these desires in vain. For, as he is dead to the law, and lives to God; as he believes in Jesus, and walks in the ways of holiness; he enjoys the smiles of his heavenly Father's countenance, and tastes the sweets of celestial joy. He possesses an infallible earnest, and has a delightful prelibation, of the expected happiness.
He remembers that his duration here is short, and the time of his exit extremely uncertain. This is a spur to diligence in the performance of duty, and an incentive to watchfulness against the insurrections of indwelling sin, and the incursions of outward temptation. His prevailing desire is, to perform the commands of God with punctuality, and as under the divine inspection; to fill up every station in life, with reputation to his holy profession; and to render himself useful to all around, by a heavenly conduct and a shining example, as long as he lives. To be found ready when his Lord shall come; to be found wakeful, with his lamp trimmed and burning, when the Bridegroom calls; are matters of infinite importance in his esteem.
As it is the desire of him who lives to God thus to spend his time, and thus to perform his duty; so his principal end in all is, the glory of God. This course of obedience and self-denial is not intended to gain the divine favour, or to procure the great inheritance, but for the honour of his eternal Sovereign and infinite Benefactor. Pardon of all sin, and complete reconciliation with our offended Maker; deliverance from the wrath to come, and a hope of future felicity, are not procured by our endeavours, but freely granted by sovereign grace. Of this the man who lives to God is fully persuaded; he has not, therefore, the most distant thought of procuring them by any of his exertions. But, gratitude to the Redeemer, and love to the blessed God, being the united and powerful principle from which he acts; the glory of the supreme Cause, and the honour of the divine Mediator, constitute the exalted end. This is the highest end of which we can conceive. The inhabitants of the heavenly world, in all their wonderful orders, and in all their noblest services can aim at nothing superior. Yet, with such views, sublime as they are, ought the believer invariably to act in performing every duty, in resisting every temptation, and in bearing every hardship, which may attend his progress in a course of sincere piety: and with such views he will act, in proportion as his mind is enlightened, and faith is in exercise.
Now, reader, what is the tenour of your conduct? To what, or to whom do you live? Is it the immensely glorious God? or is it yourself and the world?–On what have you placed your affections? to whom have you devoted your heart? Remember who it is that makes the tender and righteous demand, My son, give me thy heart. His infinite excellencies require it of you, as a man: and, if a believer, your obligations are unspeakably heightened. For as such, you are an object of redeeming love, and a subject of regenerating grace. You are not your own; you are bought with a price. If, then, you profess yourself a Christian, consider the import of that profession. By laying claim to the honourable character, you profess to live to God. The character, how glorious! The profession, how noble! Disgrace not that holy name by which you are called. Disgrace not that life you profess to lead, lest you pierce yourself through with many sorrows, and cause the enemies of the cross to triumph.
Awful is to think, how many there are that bear the Christian character, and profess to believe the gospel, who are nevertheless far from living to God. The world has their hearts. It engrosses their warmest affections. The language of their conduct is, 'Who will show us any temporal good?' Or, 'Where shall we find any carnal pleasure?' Such may do well to remember, that to mind earthly things –to be lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God, are the characters of profane persons in the sacred writings. (Philip. iii. 19. 2 Tim. iii. 4.) Such, whoever they be, are the children of wrath; and, in the most emphatical sense, the enemies of the cross of Christ. (James iv. 4. Philip. iii 18.) The state of such is extremely dangerous; and, if grace prevent not, eternal destruction will be their portion. Reader, is this your case? If so, you ought either to reform your conduct, or discard every pretence to christianity. You cannot obey God and Mammon. You cannot serve Christ and the world. They are opposite masters, and have opposite interests. If you profess to be dead to the law, as a covenant, you must either live to God, or contradict yourself, and blaspheme the gospel. Do not imagine that your state must be safe, because you have adopted an orthodox creed, and have a consistent view of revealed truths;–for such sentiments you may embrace, and such a consistent view of divine truths you may have, yet remain a hardened rebel against your Maker, and be a scandal to the great Redeemer's cause. You may be wise in theory, and right in your doctrinal principles, while the state of your heart, and the tenour of your conduct, are fatally wrong;–for it is a certain truth, that our religious knowledge will be of no further use to ourselves, than as it elevates our affections to heavenly things, meliorates our tempers, and rectifies our conduct. You may attend an evangelical ministry, be a member of the purest visible church, and have a seat at the Lord's table; yet, after all, die unregenerate, and be eternally lost. Think, then, O carnal professor! what a shocking figure you must make among the millions of the damned, if at last you should perish. The case of the impenitent Jews, or of idolatrous Heathens, who finally perish will not be so awful as yours. To think of one who had often heard the gospel, who professed to believe its glorious doctrines, and had frequently received the memorial of the body and blood of Christ; to think of such an one not living to God, but in allowed iniquity, and of his dying in unbelief, is awful indeed! for the glorious gospel he so often heard, will be to him the savour of death unto death; and that superior knowledge, of which he boasted, will give a dreadful emphasis to his torment, and aggravate his eternal ruin. It is greatly to be feared that, in the end, many such will be found; and take heed, reader! that you be not of that number.
Do you profess, not only to be dead to the law and to believe the gospel, but also to live to God? If so, what is the principle of your obedience, and what is the end for which you perform it? Is self-love the principle, and self-preservation the end? or, the love of God, and the glory of his eternal name? If the former, you are yet alive to the law: if the latter, it is the obedience which God accepts. Love to Him, whose perfections are infinite; love to Him, whose grace is unbounded, is the fruitful and delightful source of every work that is truly good. But as we love the Lord only in proportion to our knowledge of him, let it be your constant concern to increase in your acquaintance with him. To that end, study the cross of Christ; for there the glories of the Godhead shine: there they are displayed in the clearest manner, and appear with a winning aspect. Those glories beheld, in the face of Jesus Christ, will have a transforming influence. You will love God; you will desire to be like him. This will make duty easy, and the ways of holiness delightful. You will hate sin, not only as condemning, but also as filthy and abominable. Then, out of gratitude to the bleeding Jesus, and for the honour of eternal mercy, you will desire to obey every divine precept. Then you will not only talk about living to God, as being a duty, but you will exemplify it in your conduct. You will make it appear that you love him, and that it is your main business to glorify Him. Except you evidence this, in some degree, all your pretensions to vital religion and primitive christianity will be in vain.