Evangelical Perfection: How Far the Gospel Requires Believers to Aspire after Being Completely Perfect

Evangelical Perfection. OR How far the Gospel requires Believers to Aspire after being compleatly Perfect. As it was Delivered on a Lecture at Boston, on June 10th. 1694.

By Samuel Willard, Teacher of a Church in Boston.

_MATH. V.48._Be you therefore perfect, as your Father which is in Heaven is perfect.

In this Chapter, with the two following an account is given of the substance or heads of a Sermon which Christ preached to his Disciples, in the audience of a multitude soon after he had called them. The matters contained in this fifth Chapter, may be reduced to three heads. [1.] He points the way to true blessedness, by describing the subjects of it in several distinguishing characters of them, and declaring wherein they appear to be really happy, Verse 3. to 13. [2.] He lays open the office and duty of such as would approve themselves to be faithful and edifying ministers of the Gospel, to Verse 17. [3.] He asserts the great usefulness of the Moral Law, under the Gospel, assuring us that his design was not to abolish, but establish it; and thereupon proceeds to vindicate the true sense of it from the corrupt and false glosses of the Jewish Doctors to the end of the Chapter. In which he insists upon several articles, which had been more especially depraved by them: and the words of our Text are an exhortation which he draws from the whole foregoing discourse; though I know there are some who needlesly restrain it to the next foregoing duty of expressing our cordial love to our enemies, in opposition to the doctrine of the Scribes, who taught that we should love our neighbor, and hate our enemy. I know the words are expressed in the Future tense; You shall be perfect; but yet they are not to be understood Promissorily, as some do interpret them; but Preceptively, as an injunction laid upon us. And we have several like instances in this Chapter; yes, and it is frequent in all languages to use the Future for the Imperative: You shall do thus or so; intending, I require or command you so to do.

In the words, besides the Illation, therefore, which refers to the foregoing discourse, there are two parts;

1. A duty enjoined; Be you perfect. The subject of this command are Christ's Disciples, verse 1. The thing required is perfection; which, what it is, will be afterward considered.

2. The pattern which is set before us to follow, in our essayes after this perfection; as your Father which is in heaven is perfect. So that here the Divine perfection is proposed to us for our imitation; and an argument is used to urge it from the consideration of that relation which he bears to us, he is our Father in heaven; and children are apt to take after their parents. Hence that (1 Peter 1:15, 16), As he which has called you is holy, so be you holy in all manner of conversation; because it is written, be you Holy, for I am Holy. Here is not an equality intended, but a similitude, together with such a measure as the creature is capable of attaining to: for the greatest perfections of the most excellent creatures, are imperfections, compared with God. Nor are all the Divine perfections here intended: there are those that are by Divines called Incommunicable, which we are to admire, but not to aspire after; and there are those which are said to be Communicable: namely, such whereof there may be an image, or dark representation in us; and these are here aimed at. These perfections consist in that holiness and righteousness which are required in the Moral Law, to which we are enabled by the sanctification of the Spirit, the graces whereof in us are called, the image of God; by which we imitate him in his holiness, and righteousness. That the duty here required is Evangelical; therein appears, because Christ enjoins it on his Disciples, and such as can call God their Father, by virtue of the adoption, which we are told comes in upon believing (Galatians 3:26), For we are the children of God, through faith in Jesus Christ.

The only matter of difficulty before us, is to know what is the perfection intended by Christ in this precept, and which he requireth and expecteth that all those who approve themselves to be his Disciples, should be always aspiring after. And that which makes it the more difficult, is because the word is variously used in the Scriptures, and differently applied by Expositors to this Text. The word signifyeth, that which has attained its end; and, because when a thing has so done, it has reached its perfection according to its capacity, it is Metonymically used for it: and so, one that is adult, or grown up to his full stature, is said to be a perfect man (Ephesians 4:13). And they whose grace is arrived to [illegible] fulness in glory, are called just men made perfect (Hebrews 12:23). Divines distinguish perfection into legal and evangelical; which is a true distinction if taken in a sound sense, but is warily to be understood. They tell us also, that there is a perfection of parts, which is called Integrality; and so an infant is a perfect man, because he has all the parts which belong to that species: and of degrees, when these parts are completed, and come to the just measure which nature aspired to. They speak also of a relative or comparative perfection, when, though a thing be in itself defective, yet when it is compared with another of its own kind, it does very much exceed or go beyond it; and that which is absolute, which is when it is improved to its utmost capacity; and they observe that perfection is sometimes used for sincerity, in opposition to hypocrisy; when a man not only professeth godliness, but is the man he pretends to be, such an one is sound or perfect, whereas the other is unsound, and so imperfect. Now all these distinctions have their foundation in the word of God: nor, without distinguishing, can we be able to reconcile those Texts which assert the present perfection of the people of God, even in this life, with those that do deny any here to be perfect; which would else be contradictions, whereas we are assured that the Spirit of God does not contradict himself in his word. Now, though it be easily granted on all hands, that Christ requires sincerity, or an upright heart of us, yes and integrity too, or a cordial respect to be expressed to all his Commands; and he will accept of such sincerity and integrity at the hands of his people in these duties which they perform in faith, seeking for their acceptance in Christ: in which respect, I suppose, evangelical obedience does mainly differ from that which is legal, and God is pleased with it, when he rejects the other; yet, how far absolute perfection is comprized in the precept here given by Christ, is a matter of doubt and debate among many. There are, and those not a few, who with greatest confidence do assert, that God does not expect or require of his people, under the Gospel Covenant, that perfection in their obedience to him, which he did under the Covenant of Works; but has abated of the strictness of the Command; and if we do our best, there is no more required of us. Which assertion, though I believe that many who use it, do mean well, and intend nothing else in it than is acknowledged by all the orthodox; yet it is a very unsafe assertion in the letter of it; and is one foundation on which the Papists do build their doctrines of men's merits, and works of supererogation; yes and many Protestants do also introduce that absurd and dangerous notion of making our obedience to be of the matter of our justification; because being upon a New Covenant account, we do fulfil the obedience that is in it required of us, and so, by that Covenant, it bespeaks our justification: loose professors also are hurt by this opinion; they think they are sincere, and because of this indulgence, are too negligent in their duty, and fail in that true repentance, which they ought every day to be in the renewed exercises of. It may then be of present use to discuss this case, namely,

Quest. Whether that personal perfection which God requires of his people under the Covenant of Grace, be the same for kind and degree with that which was required in the Covenant of Works, or any thing short of it?

A. For the more distinct opening and resolving this important case, let these things be observed.

1. That the question is not concerning Unconverted Ones who are under the outward dispensation of the Gospel; but those that are under [•]race, that is, those that are truly Converted to God. Touching the former of these, it is to be well observed, that notwithstanding the offer they have made to them, and standing which they have under the Covenant and Promises exhibited by the Gospel to men, in which li[•]e and Salvation is hypothetically promised to them, and invitations are urged upon them to entertain it on the terms proposed; yet before such time as they have actually embraced the offered grace, they are truly under the Law as a Covenant of Works: and because they are so, it demands of them personal perfection both habitual and actual, and that on pain of death. For we are told in (Galatians 3:10): As many as are of the works of the Law, are under the Curse: for it is written, Cursed is every one that continues not in all things which are written in the Book of the Law, to do them. Hence, as of old, God gave the Moral Law a new Sanction, on Mount Sinai with thunderings and lightnings, and great terrors, as we are informed (Exodus 19 & 20), so to make way for the veiled Gospel, which was afterwards given to Moses, and by him to Israel, in those Ordinances, or Ceremonial Institutions which were delivered to him; so, under the Gospel; to those that are partakers of the outward benefits of it, when he comes to Convert any Sinners among them to Christ, and make them to accept of him, as a Savior, he lays them under the terrors of the Law Moral, by showing them what is therein required of them, and what they are to expect at the hands of a Righteous God, if those demands be not fully answered; and by this he convinces them of their misery, and self impotency to deliver themselves from it, thereby making way for their hearkening after, and giving the greatest welcome to a Redeemer. On this account is the Law called our School-master to Christ (Galatians 3:24), because by it we are acquainted with our need of him, and excited to seek after him. There is then no doubt to be made, but that the same perfection is required of them, notwithstanding their being in the visible Kingdom of Christ. Whereas true Converts or such as have believed in Christ, are delivered from this severity, that is, they are no longer under the Law as a Covenant pronouncing of them dead men if they fail of their obedience in the least punctilio: and the reason is, because they are brought under the Covenant of Grace, by which they are freed from the former, according to (Romans 6:14): Sin shall not have dominion over you, for you are not under the Law, but under Grace.

2. The question is not with respect to our Justification before God. The Justification of fallen man has not the least regard to any personal obedience of theirs, as having an influence causal into it; and consequently it can have no respect to any kind of perfection of it. Gospel Justification comes altogether by the Imputation of the Righteousness of another to us; namely, that of Christ, which was for that end provided by God for us, and is called his Righteousness (Philippians 3:9): The Righteousness that i[•] of God by faith; and so it is not ours personal or inherent, but by acceptation for us. It is called the Justification of a Sinner, or of the Ungodly (Romans 4:5), and therefore must needs have a respect to that Law in relation whereto the man is a Sinner; which is the Moral Law, under obligation whereto all men do stand as they derive from the first Adam, to whom it was given for himself and his pos[•]erity; and hence it must have a Righteousness to answer it, every way as perfect as that Law required, which no fallen man is able in himself to pay; nor can any offer it for him, but Christ only. They wholly mistake the very nature of Gospel Justification, who allow any Righteousness short of that, to have any concernment in it; and since by the fall man is become Guilty, and so subjected to the Curse of the Law, if he had a personal Righteousness, as b[•]oad as that which the Law required of man in integrity, yet that would not satisfy for the removal of his Guilt, without which he cannot be Justified. So that whether it be perfect or imperfect, it signifies nothing here.

3. Nor is the question about what obedience of ours will find acceptance with God through Christ. It is certain, that no obedience of ours will be at all accepted of us out of him; and it is also beyond doubt that the imperfection which attends the sincere services of God's Children, will not procure that these services of theirs should be rejected by him, for if so, it were impossible that any of us, in this imperfect state that abides us, should ever please God in any thing that we do, which must needs be an invincible discouragement to us in doing any duties that are required of us: but then it is through Christ that they find acceptance with him. In this respect it is that the sincerity which God's Children do express in their obedience, is so often called perfection, in the Scriptures, (Job is said to be a perfect man, and upright, Job [•]:1.) by reason that being offered to God with Christ's incense, it finds favor with him, and he smells a sweet savor in it, notwithstanding that according to the Law it would have been utterly rejected, by reason of the concomitant defects. So that the true Believer who serves God in integrity, is not to be discouraged, because he finds his best to come so far behind of that perfection which the Law prescribes to men, but is to look to the gracious encouragement which is given to them who love God in sincerity.

But it is with regard to the obligation to new obedience that lies upon justified believers. It presupposes them to be in a state of justification, and looks upon them as under the government of Christ, and owing a service to him. There are indeed those who deny that any such obligation lies upon the children of God, and that the moral law no longer binds them under duty of conformity to it, but that upon their believing in Christ, they are freed from any such engagement; this is purely Antinomian, and bespeaks all the precept given to the children of God under the Gospel, to be wholly in vain; or only to concern such as are as yet unregenerate, for the awakening them to betake themselves to Christ, and seek an interest in him by faith, and not at all to belong to those that are already partakers in the grace of God. But why then have the children of God that title of obedient put upon them, and are called upon to express it by this conformity (1 Peter 1:14): "As obedient children, not fashioning yourselves according to the former lusts, &c." Supposing then such an obedience as this to be our duty, which prerequires a principle to be put into us, empowering us to a compliance with it, in order to our actual performance of it, our enquiry is about the extensiveness of it, or how far it is our duty to endeavour after perfection in it? And for the clearing of this case we may take the following conclusions into consideration.

That the design of the New Covenant, in which the grace of it is to appear, is to bring fallen man back to a state of blessedness. It was because mankind were become woefully miserable by the apostasy of Adam, in which they all fell, and there was no room left for any remedy to be afforded to them by the Covenant of Works, inasmuch as the law could no longer give life (Galatians 3:21), and God had a pity for some of that unhappy race and would save them, that he opened a New Covenant, in which he makes the displays of his rich grace to them. Now, as it was the glory of his grace that God had a regard to ultimately in this contrivance; so the way in which he would exalt this attribute, and make it illustrious and for ever admirable, was in their salvation: so that the salvation of lost sinners is inseparably connected with, and nextly subordinated to this last end of God; because in and by it he will accomplish it. In which salvation they are delivered from that misery under which they were fallen by reason of sin, to all that felicity which they had so lost; hence we are told that it is by grace that we are saved (Ephesians 2:8), on which account it is called the grace of God which brings salvation (Titus 2:11). When therefore the undone sinner is brought to the enjoyment of perfect felicity, then has the grace of God accomplished its design.

That in order to the bringing about of this purpose of God, there are two things requisite to be done for the man, namely the justification of his person, and the sanctification of his nature. The ground of this, is because there is a double misery befallen the man by the apostasy, namely guilt, which has rendered him obnoxious to the wrath of God, yes brought him under a sentence of condemnation, binding him over to suffer the whole curse that is contained in the threatening of death, to the execution whereof the justice of God stands engaged in the Covenant of Works: and pollution, by which his nature is depraved, and fallen under the dominion of sin which reigns as a king in him, and so he is rendered utterly impotent to the doing of that which is good, and in which his formal happiness did consist, and all his powers are violently bent to that which is evil. And so long as these two abide upon him he cannot be happy, but must needs be miserable. As long as the man lies under the curses of the law, a prisoner of revenging justice, doomed to suffer all the wrath that is contained in the threatenings that are out against sinners, in which the quintessence of all evil is contained; and is held fettered in cords of iniquity, so as that he can do nothing of that business which he was made for, but is, by the force of his carnal lusts, hurried and precipitated into repeated provocations of God, he must needs be a miserable creature. Nor can he be recovered to a state of blessedness, but by the removal of both these evils from him; and if either of them remain upon him, he is incapable of being a blessed man in that condition. The former of these is done by justification, and the latter by sanctification. In the one his condemnation is removed, his guilt is taken away, he is acquitted from the law, and delivered from all danger of suffering the direful penalties of it; yes and is adjudged to life, to partake in the good that is laid up in the promise; in the latter his nature is restored, and renewed again, and he is rendered able to serve God in newness of life; he who before was unprofitable, is now made profitable; and can glorify God, which was his last end. And for this reason both these benefits of the New Covenant, are so much celebrated in the Gospel: both of these are included in that reason of the name which was put upon Christ at his birth (Matthew 1:21): "You shall call his name Jesus, for he shall save his people from their sins." And in God's taking away all iniquity from them (Hosea 14:2).

3. That the end of this sanctification, is to make him a fit subject to enjoy true blessedness. It is true, without justification of the man's person, and in it a pardon of his sins applied to him, he cannot be happy; for how is it possible that he should be so, as long as the wrath of God abides on him, and he is every moment liable to the fearful stroke of Divine Vengeance, which is ready to fall on him, and cut him off! Whereas if once this state of his be changed, and he is a justified and pardoned man, he is forthwith blessed, according to Psalms 32:1: Blessed is the man whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered. Yet this alone is not sufficient for his actual enjoyment of the felicity promised in the New Covenant; for true blessedness can only consist in the closure of the faculty with its object, and resting satisfied in it; for without satisfaction the man is not happy; and that it may thus do, it is necessary that there be a suitableness between the faculty and the object, how else should it either close with, or take real content in it? Now the blessedness which God has laid in to entertain his people withal, is suited only to holiness in the subject of it; so that without it, it is impossible that the man should ever participate in it, or be delighted with it (Hebrews 12:14): Without Holiness no man shall see God. So that the sinful pollution which is upon the very nature of fallen man, by reason of the sin that dwells in him, renders him, in the present condition, and so long as he abides under the prevailing efficacy of it, altogether unmeet for blessedness, yes indeed incapable of it. He cannot have communion with God, in which his felicity must consist, for God alone is a beatifying object; nor, if he could, can he take any content to himself in it, because God is Holy, and such is the fellowship which he holds with the Creature, than which nothing can be more contrary to the corruption wherewith his nature is defiled. We read of a meetness for the inheritance of the saints (Colossians 1:12), which meetness implies a suitable disposition in us thereto, in which it is absolutely requisite that there be in us such gracious qualifications as render us conformable to the inheritance itself; these we have not in us by nature, as we derive it from the unclean fountain from which we are originated — for, Who can bring a clean thing out of an unclean? It must then be done by sanctification, in and by which we are assimilated to our inheritance; because hereby we are made holy, and so are fitted for the enjoyment of the holy place, and of all those holy things which are there prepared to make us happy in it.

4. That the man can only be truly blessed in the glorifying of God, and enjoying of him. The blessedness of the reasonable creature requires the concurrence of two things to make it complete, namely, well doing, and well being: nor can either of these be alone. A man is then happy when he fully reaches the end that he was made for; now man was made for God, not only ultimately, but immediately too; and to lose this end must needs be his misery. Now, God's glory being his own last end in all his works of efficiency, hence it follows that the last end of all these works of his must be to serve to that glory, how else should he obtain his end by it in the event? And every one of his creatures is to serve to this end agreeably to that nature which God put into it when he made it; in which he bestowed on it a capacity of so serving his design by it. Accordingly, man was made capable of doing this actively, inasmuch as he was endowed with such powers as enabled him to act as a cause by counsel, and make choice of his way; and therefore it is only by his so doing that he can reach the great end of his being: in his missing of this he becomes vain, for what else is vanity, but the missing, or falling short of one's end? That the man may attain this end, it is requisite that he have a power in him to serve to it; and what else is that power but holiness? Created holiness in man, is nothing else but that rectitude in his whole nature, and all the powers of it, whereby he is enabled and inclined to live and be to the glory of God in all things. And from the exerting of this principle do proceed all his holy actions. Man in his lapsed estate is without this principle, having lost it by his unhappy fall — it must therefore be again restored to him in sanctification, else he cannot serve God. Now man's well being is consequent upon the former; God only is an adequate object for him, or a sufficient portion for him, to make him blessed; he must then enjoy him, if ever it be well with him, for in this fruition his actual felicity must consist: for could he obtain and have the full freedom of using all that is in heaven and earth, separate from God, he were still miserable; the Psalmist could say (Psalms 73:25), Whom have I in heaven but you? and there is nothing on earth that I desire with you. And the only way for our enjoying of God, is by glorifying of him. It is sin that has made the woful separation, which has procured our infelicity (Isaiah 59:2): Your iniquities have separated between you and your God. And what is sin, but a coming short of the glory of God (Romans 3:23)? God therefore has fully declared that he will bestow this favor upon none but those that honor him (1 Samuel 2:30): Them that honor me, I will honor, and they that despise me, shall be lightly esteemed.

5. That for this active personal glorifying of God, man must have a rule. It is not enough that he have an inward principle of sanctification put into him, whereby he is disposed to this service, and empowered for the discharging of it, though without it he must needs fall short of his great end; but he must also have a directory to shew him his way, in which this work is to be done. As there must be an heart in us inclining of us to glorify God, else we cannot move one step towards it, so there must be a way according to which we are to incline our selves hereunto. It is certain that there are those things whereby God is dishonored in the lives of the children of men, as well as those whereby they do honor him; and how should the man be able either to avoid the one, or rightly to prosecute the other, except he have something to guide his steps, and order his conversation by? For this therefore there must be a rule laid before him, hence God tells them (Micah 6:8), He has shown you oh man, what is good; and what does the Lord require of you, but to do justice and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God? The promise therefore is made to such as live conformably to this rule (Galatians 6:16), As many as walk according to this rule, peace be on them, and mercy; and it is the alone prerogative of God, not only to require service of his creature, which it owes to him as he is its supreme Lord and Owner, but also to prescribe to it how and wherein he will be served by it. He who is our Lord and King, is our lawgiver too (Isaiah 33:22). And he must some way or other reveal this to them that are concerned in it, how else should they know how to order their conversation aright, so as to see his salvation? It is by this rule that they are to square all their actions; they must therefore look upon it, and apply it to every step. David says (Psalm 119:105), Your word is a light to my feet, and a lamp to my path; but this it cannot be except they be acquainted with it; so that they must receive it from him in order to their practising of it (1 Thessalonians 4:1), We exhort you by the Lord Jesus Christ, that as you have received of us how you ought to walk, and to please God, so you would abound more and more.

6. The moral law was at first given to man to be this rule. As there is a common government which God exercises over the creation, so there is a special government by which he leads intelligent and rational agents to the end they are appointed to: now this law was the rule of God's special government with respect to mankind. This law is by some made the same with, and by others divers from the law of nature; but if we reckon the law of nature, to be that which was engraven on the heart of man at the first, it may be well reckoned for the same. This was every way suited to the nature of man; it was fitted for the guiding of such a creature to its last end, in all the things in which he was concerned. The sanctified understanding in man, during his state of integrity, not only could read the inscriptions of it on his heart, but saw and approved the reasonableness and equity of it; yes, the convictions of a natural conscience in fallen man, do prove that he cannot withstand the righteousness of it (Romans 2:14, 15). Man was to obey this law in all things, and to be happy in that obedience (Romans 10:5), The man that does these things shall live by them; and see (James 1:25). The threatening indeed was annexed to the sacrament of that covenant (Genesis 2:17), In the day you eat thereof you shall surely die; but every article in it or precept of it being ratified by that seal, it so sealed up and confirmed the whole of it to man, and had a reference to every duty that was contained therein. This was the same law which had a new edition of it at Mount Sinai, where God published it, and registered it on tables of stone, and summed it up in ten precepts, which comprised in them the sum and substance of man's duty, and wherein he was bound to serve and glorify God in his whole course, reaching both his heart and his life, the matter, manner and end of all he did.

7. Though the sanctions of that law as a covenant be removed, in respect to believers; yet as a rule, it abides for ever. Under the Covenant of Grace, neither is the promise of bestowing a reward of life upon mens performing of perfect personal obedience, nor the threatening of punishing the least defect in that obedience with death, any longer of force in regard of the children of God: and the reason is, because the Law of Works has ceased to be a covenant to them, upon their accepting the terms of, and being admitted into the Covenant of Grace. We do now stand upon other terms with God, through Christ in the New Covenant, whereof we are partakers by faith in him. But still the precepts of the Moral Law abide on us as our duty, there never was any repeal of the command; nor indeed can they ever cease to be a rule to man, for the guiding of him in the right ordering of his conversation, inasmuch as they are every way suited to the nature of man, considered as being made on purpose for the actual glorifying of God; so that if we would actually glorify him as men, we must do it in compliance with these precepts. All that is contained in this rule is reduced to those two heads (Matthew 22:37, 39): You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind; and you shall love your neighbor as your self. And this can never cease to be our duty, so long as we are men; nothing can discharge us from the obligation of loving God and our neighbor, inasmuch as the relation we bear to both cannot cease, and the duty is inseparable from such a relation. It is also certain that all of these duties are reinforced in the Gospel; or under the dispensation of the Kingdom of Grace; and may be all of them found on record in the preceptive part of the New Testament, required of Christians, as they would walk worthy of the vocation with which they are called; and are therefore called new commands, because they are there reinforced with arguments fetched from the consideration of the grace of God appearing to us; we have this summarily commended to us in (Titus 2:11, 12): The grace of God which brings salvation has appeared to all men; teaching us, that denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously and godly in this present world. Under which three heads, are comprised all those duties which are required in and by the Moral Law.

8. That all the commands of the New Covenant, which are purely evangelical, are inclusively comprehended in this rule. It is to be observed, that there are some duties introduced by the New Covenant, and are enjoined on all such to whom it is promulgated, which were not duties incumbent on man while he continued in a state of integrity, such as faith in Jesus Christ, repentance to life, and the several things that are contained in these, as they point to us the way for fallen man to recover God's favor, and obtain eternal salvation; and indeed these duties were inconsistent with that state. Man had not forfeited himself to the law, and so needed not a Redeemer; he stood in his uprightness, and was defiled with no sin, and had no occasion for repentance. These duties therefore were not immediately comprised in the law of nature, nor was man in innocency able by the improvement of his reason, to gather that there were any such duties hypothetically belonging to his rule. Nor is it to be supposed, that when God at first indented with man in the Covenant of Works, and warned him against disobedience, by showing him the threatening; that he made any discovery to him of a hope that in case of his miscarriage he might be saved, or that he foretold a way of his recovery, in case he ruined himself by trespassing against the command, and bringing of himself under the threatening: doubtless he reserved this for the opening of the Covenant of Grace: and till he so made it known, man could not possibly so much as guess at such a thing. However, there is thus much contained in the Moral Law, and the light of nature clearly discovered to man at first, namely, that the rightful authority and supremacy that God has over all men, claims a liberty for him at any time to enjoin man in any thing, and make it his duty by virtue of his command to do it, if it be within the power which he at first endowed him withal; and consequently that he owes obedience to God in whatever he shall at any time declare to be his will; hereupon positive commands oblige men by the light of nature, as well as natural duties, supposing there be a revelation of them made to them. We find therefore that God at first exerted this authority over our first parents, when he put them into the garden, by an arbitrary exempting the tree of knowledge from their eating of it, under pain of death; nor did they dispute, but acknowledge his sovereignty over them in that regard, though afterwards the adversary used it as a snare to draw them into sin. And how many such positive precepts did God give to Israel of which he renders no other reason but this, I am the Lord? Hence therefore, when God once reveals to fallen men that it is his will that they should repent and believe, in order to their being made partakers in pardon and salvation, it becomes their bounden duty, by virtue of that command, that they so do; and not only will they miss of salvation if they neglect to comply with these terms on which it is offered; but they will thereby sin against God, and so aggravate their guilt; and in this respect the Gospel may well be called the law of Christ. Hence we are told (Acts 17:30): Now God commands all men every where to repent — that is, now when the Gospel is promulgated; and (1 John 3:23): This is his commandment, that we should believe on the name of his Son Jesus Christ.

9 This being a perfect rule, requires every sort of personal perfection in us. Our perfection must needs consist in our conformity to the rule of it, and if so, we cannot be entirely perfect, unless our conformity be as large as the duties which are required by it: and that not only in all the parts of it, by answering to every precept in it, and having a respect to all the Commandments of God; but also in the degrees of our compliance with it, which must consist in such a holiness, as has not the least mixture of the contrary in it; that does not only do the thing, but does it with that accuracy that there be nothing wanting in the matter of it, with that diligence that we never fail either in omission or commission, with that intenseness of love, that has no mixture of reluctancy, or backwardness, with that singleness of heart that has no allay or mixture of any sinister aims or ends; and with that constancy that we hold on without wavering to the end; which though none of the children of God ever did or shall, in this life attain to, yet it is the perfection which we are called to aspire after, and not to rest in any thing short of it, but to be in an earnest pursuit of it, as long as we abide here, and till we reach it in the Kingdom of Glory. And that this is required of us will appear, if we consider;

1. That every thing short of this perfection is moral impurity. The command is the rule of our holiness; and if so, then the perfection of our holiness must consist in our being commensurate to that rule: and whatever is contrary to holiness is impurity; and consequently in what degree soever we come short of this measure, it is by reason of a moral deficiency in us with respect to this rule; and that can proceed from nothing but sinful imperfection, which must needs render us so far impure. Now the Holy God who loves holiness, cannot be well pleased with any thing that he sees in us, that is of another tincture. He may and does love our persons in Christ, which love of his is unchangeable, and nothing in us shall ever be able to separate us from it. He also loves his graces which are in us, they being the fruits of his own Holy Spirit; and so far as they are exercised by us, so far he smells a sweet savour in the services that we do. But for all this, so far as we come short by reason of sin in us, and the mixture of it with any thing that we engage in, so far is there something in us which is not grateful to him, according to (Hebrews 1:13): "You are of purer eyes than to behold evil, and cannot look on iniquity." Which must needs intend a look of approbation, for his infinite omniscience cannot but behold it so as to know it. And certainly it concerns us not to rest or be satisfied so long as there remains any thing in us which is ingrateful to this Holy God, which there will be so long as we abide short of sinless perfection.

2. That sincere Christians are commanded to grow in grace. This is a Gospel precept enjoined us by the Spirit of God (2 Peter 3:18): "But grow in grace." Now this command presumes that there is truth and uprightness in us; that there is a new principle of holiness infused into us; for we must have grace in us, before we can grow in it. Where there is not life, there cannot be growth: there must be a beginning in order to a progress; and as this is a duty of all new converts, in whom the seeds of all the graces of the Spirit are sown, as (1 Peter 2:2): "As new born babes desire the sincere milk of the word, that you may grow thereby." It is no less expected of all God's people in this life, to whatever degree they have already attained; and the reason is, because they are not yet arrived at perfection, so the Apostle argues (Philippians 3:12): "Not as though I had already attained, either were already perfect; but I follow after, if that I may apprehend that which I am apprehended of Christ Jesus." So that though sincerity be accepted in Christ, yet we are not to rest in it, but to labor after more strength, more victory over corruption, more holiness; and when we have reached to any further degree in this than we had before, we are not now to sit still, but to aspire after more and more, and not to cease till it comes to be perfect. This use we are directed to make of the promises (2 Corinthians 7:1): "Having these promises, let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God." And if it be enquired how long we are to pursue this business, we are told (Ephesians 4:13): "Till we all come to a perfect man, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ." Now the reason of the imperfection of grace is the remains of sin in us, and it is by the decrease of that in us, that our grace grows.

3. That all the short comings in regard of his people, are displeasing to God. True, they do not shut them out of his favor; for, as he has accepted them in Christ as to their persons, so he has cast the robe of his righteousness over them, under which he has covered all their obliquities, and therefore, as a Judge, he sees no iniquity in them (Numbers 23:21). He has seen no iniquity in Jacob, nor perverseness in Israel. But yet, as they have their failings, by reason of that sin which remaineth in them, so by these follies of theirs, they do sometimes stir up his anger as he is their father, and he discovers it in some awful effects of it; we read (2 Samuel 11, ult.) the thing which David did displeased the Lord, and we see how severely he treated him (Chapter 12). For these follies of theirs it is that they are so often corrected, and that sometimes with severity: for these it is that so many afflictions are brought upon them in the course of God's Providence, who has assured us, that he does not afflict willingly (Lamentations 3:33). And on this account holy men have so often complained of the bitter sense they have had of his anger (Psalms 38:3, 4): There is no soundness in my flesh because of your anger: neither is there any rest in my bones, because of my sin: For mine iniquities are gone over mine head, as an heavy burden, they are too heavy for me: And see (Psalms 32:3, 4; 88:7, &c.). And though God does not always chide for every defect that he discovers in his children, for then their spirit would fail; since there is nothing they do which has not this short coming in it; whereas, he knows our frame, and remembers we are but dust (Psalms 103:14). Yet even these unavoidable infirmities, which attend upon the best duties that ever we do, are things which he takes no pleasure in: and that he animadverts not upon them, is because of his pity (Psalms 103:13). Like as a father pitieth his children, so the Lord pitieth them that fear him.

4. There is a sacrifice of atonement appointed even for these defects. The sacrifices of old were typical, and had a spiritual aim which was to be apprehended in them: and it is certain, that where there was required by the Ceremonial Law a sacrifice of expiation, it signified that there had been something which was offensive to God, for which there must be a satisfaction made to him, there must be something to reconcile him, if ever the person hoped to have him atoned to him, but for which there had been no need of such a sacrifice. Whatever therefore required such a sacrifice to be offered up for it, must needs intimate that it had some ill thing adhering to it, that was offensive to God, and must be removed: now the very duties that God's people do, wherein they do sincerely serve him, and express the greatest endeavour after holiness in them, must have the virtue of Christ's oblation applied to them, for the expiation of the defects that accompany them; this was aimed at in that Levitical Law (Leviticus 16:33): He shall make an atonement for the holy sanctuary, and he shall make an atonement for the tabernacle of the congregation, and for the altar; and he shall make an atonement for the priests, and for all the people of the congregation. Intimating that all had defilement cleaving to them, by reason of imperfections in those who were concerned in them. And for this reason we are to seek acceptance through Christ for our best duties; and the very prayers of the saints, must come through his hands, and be offered with his incense (Revelation 8:3): There was given him much incense, that he should offer it with prayers of all saints, &c. And why so, but to perfume them, and take away the unsavouriness that cleaves to them! which would not be needed, if there were no sin adhering to them.

5. The best of God's people do profess themselves to be short of perfection, and engaged in the pursuit of farther degrees of holiness. If a man has reached so far as is expected of him by the tenor of the Covenant of Grace, under which God has taken him, there is no need or occasion for him to aspire after any more, inasmuch as that is the covenant which he is to stand to, and by the terms whereof he is to judge of his duty. Certainly the holy men of old knew what they did, when they professed their own great defects, and bewailed them: it was the same covenant that Old-Testament saints were under, and yet we find them acknowledging sinful defects in the best (Proverbs 20:9): Who can say, I have made my heart clean, I am pure from my sin? And (Ecclesiastes 7:20): There is not a just man upon earth, that does good and sinneth not. Nor have believers in Christ in Gospel days been otherwise persuaded, or thought that their New-Covenant state took from their imperfect actions the nature and denomination of sinful (1 John 1:8): If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us; and this apprehension has put them upon it, earnestly to prosecute more perfection, not being content with the degrees obtained; of this we have a full instance in Paul (Philippians 3:13, 14): I count not myself to have apprehended; but this one thing I do, forgetting those things that are behind, and reaching forth to those things that are before, I press toward the mark. Paul when he wrote this Epistle was a prisoner at Rome, and so it was not long before his death; he was not only a sincere Christian, but one that had made a very great progress in godliness, and arrived to an high pitch in grace; and yet he assures us that he was a great way short of that perfection, which he was in pursuit of, and counted it his duty to use utmost endeavours after the obtaining it; and it was not a legal perfection which he sought, for that he utterly disclaims, but it was evangelical, or that which, according to the rule of the Gospel he was to pursue.

6. The children of God, when they do their best, do still bitterly bewail themselves that they can do no better. It must needs be granted that such imperfection in us, as is a just ground for the sorrow and mourning of the people of God, and which they do and ought to cry out of as their burden and bitterness, is a short coming in them which ought not to be, else all those complaints, and self judgings about it, must needs be superfluous and unreasonable: not that the sense of this should drive them to despair of God's gracious acceptance of them, since he has provided for that in Christ, notwithstanding all this: but yet it excites godly sorrow in them, and helps to keep them humble and mournful all their days, and directs them where to fix their hope, namely, upon God's free mercy in and through Christ. We find therefore how Paul amplifies in his bemoaning of himself on this account in Romans 7. And though it hinders not, but helps his thanksgiving, verse 25: "I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord." Yet he complains of it as a thing that was grievous to him, verse 15: "That which I do, I allow not; for what I would, that do I not, but what I hate that do I." And verse 23: "I see [illegible] her law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin, which is in my members." And upon the review of all this he cries out as one that was in very fore distress, verse 24: "Oh wretched man that I am, who shall deliver me from the body of this death?" And this was not a representation of his natural state, when under the legal convictions of sin, and remorses of conscience by reason of it; but under the conflict between grace and corruption in him, as the whole tenor of his expressions does evince. Nor was it on the account of bold transgressions, and more enormous and scandalous prevarications; for he could make that challenge (1 Thessalonians 2:10): "You are witnesses, and God also, h[illegible]w holily, and justly and unblameably we behaved ourselves among you, that believe." But it was the mixture which he experienced of sinful corruption with his grace which discovered him not as yet arrived at full perfection.

7. The best of men do deprecate the rigor of God in his animadverting upon them; which they would have no occasion to do, if they did not know themselves to be short of that perfection which they ought to seek after, and that the want of it belongs to the remaining sin in them. They do indeed hope in his grace, and accordingly look to receive free salvation from it; and they believe that this failing of theirs shall not hinder their partaking in it, because God has laid in for their pardon and acceptance in another: but there is a way in which they come to have a title to this salvation, and on account whereof they may claim it, according to, or consistent with the justice of the first covenant, under which they once were: and they dare not to put themselves on the trial of their own holiness for this, and the reason is, because they know it to be so short and defective, that if God should take advantage from what his holy eye sees to be wanting therein, he would have occasion and provocation offered him, to make severe animadversions upon them. On this account David so pleads (Psalm 130:3, 4): "If you, Lord, should mark iniquities; O Lord, who should stand? But there is forgiveness with you, that you may be feared." And makes that deprecation in Psalm 143:2: "Enter not into judgment with your servant; for in your sight shall no man living be justified." And though they can plead their interest in his favor, from the evidence of their integrity, and comfort themselves in it; it being an effect of his distinguishing grace in them, and having the promise secured to it; yet they dare not plead any personal righteousness of their own, for the procuring of any favor for them, but renounce it (Daniel 9:18): "We do not present our supplications before you for our righteousnesses, but for your great mercies." And for this reason the sense of these defects attending them, makes them oftentimes to tremble at the thoughts of God's displeasure (Psalm 119:120): "My flesh trembles for fear of you, and I am afraid of your judgments."

8. It is their duty daily to pray for forgiveness. Prayer is one part of natural worship, and it is not appointed for a complement, but as a necessary duty for the upholding of communion between God and men; it being the way in which we are to seek and obtain the good we need, and give him the due acknowledgments of it. In the petitionary part of it then, we are to ask him only for such things as we want: and the apprehension of our want, and his ability to succor us, is the motive of our so seeking to him. Now there is such a petition which Christ has directed his disciples, and such as can call God their Father, to press daily to him (Matthew 6:12): "Forgive us our debts," that is, our sins. And there is ever implied in such a petition, a confession of our debts, else we cannot in earnest ask the forgiveness of them. We then daily want forgiveness; not only a further confirmation of the pardon we received in our justification, but new forgiveness; and there is none so holy in this life as to be discharged from the obligation of making this petition in prayer: and [illegible] there are many of God's children that are kept from precipitating themselves into [illegible] sins; nor do any truly gracious ones make a daily trade of it. This therefore plainly intimates, that the very remaining imperfection, which makes them in their whole lives to fall behind in regard of that absolute perfection which consists in a complete conformity to the rule, has that in it which needs forgiveness to be applied to it by the free grace of God. It therefore has sinfulness in it, otherwise it could not stand in need of a pardon: and whatever in us stands in need of that, tells us that we ought to labor indefatigably to get it taken away as a thing which is evil and bitter.

One great design that God aims at, in his Ordinances and Providences which he dispenseth to his people, is to purge away these imperfections, and to lead them on towards perfection. The Gospel Ordinances, which Christ has appointed to be dispensed to his people, were not only designed for the bringing about the conversion of sinners, though that also is purposed in them, we are therefore said to be begotten by the word of truth (James 1:18). And Paul was sent to open men's eyes, and turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan to God (Acts 26:18). But God also aimed at the edification of saints by them. They are therefore Christ's Ascension gifts which he has bestowed on his Church, to help them forward to a sinless perfection, till when they are not to cease (Ephesians 4:10, &c.). There are also the many afflictive Providences, which God sees meet to exercise his own children withal in this world, and among other purposes which he intends to bring about hereby, we are told that this is one great thing that he aims at by them (Isaiah 27:9): "By this shall the iniquity of Jacob be purged, and this is all the fruit, to take away his sin." On this account, the afflictions that the children of God are visited withal, are compared to a furnace, and to a refiner's fire, in which, remaining dross is separated from the good metal, to make it yet more pure. This good effect Job encouraged himself that he should obtain by his afflictions (Job 23:10): "When he has tried me, I shall come forth as gold." And surely, that which God uses such courses with us, to take away from us, must needs be a thing, that we should endeavour the removal of: Job was a perfect man as to integrity (chapter 1:1), and yet he needed this trial.

They must be fully perfected in order to their perfect glorification. Though the body of death attends them through the present life, and gives them no little molestation in it, yet it shall be wholly put off with it, and they shall no more be pestered with it for ever. There shall be perfection of holiness enjoyed by us, when we come to perfect glory; nor indeed can our glory be perfect without it. We are told how Christ will present his Church to himself at last (Ephesians 5:27): a glorious Church, not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing. None are admitted into the assembly above, but just men made perfect (Hebrews 12:22). When we come there we shall sin no more, nor have any dregs of pollution abiding in us, but be entirely conformed to the image of God. Now that which is the perfection which God will bring us to at last, is that which we all ought to be aspiring after, and restless in pursuit of, till we come to obtain it. And truly, inchoate holiness makes us capable only of partaking in inchoate blessedness; our vessels are not prepared to be filled with glory, nor can we have that near communion with God in Christ, which is requisite to give us complete and unintermixed satisfaction, till we are completely holy in the highest degree which our natures are able to receive. If then God has appointed us to salvation, and there can be none without this, it must needs be our duty not to take up with anything short of this; and consequently it must be that which is promised to us in the Covenant of Grace, and we ought to pursue it, and endeavour to go from strength to strength in it, till we arrive at the fulness of it, which is not to be expected till we get to the Eternal Kingdom.

THE END.