The Christian's Charge

Proverbs 4:23. Keep your heart with all diligence; (or as it is in the Original, Above all keepings, keep your heart) for out of it are the issues of life.

Having formerly showed from (Zechariah 12:10) and from (Acts 2:37) how we might bring our hearts into a right frame; now let me show you how we may keep them so.

These words are a part of the catechism, which David taught his son Solomon, when he was yet tender and young; (verses 3-4) of this chapter, when in the third verse he says, he was his father's son, he means, his dearly beloved son, or darling; he had many other sons besides Solomon, but he his father's son; as if he should say, his father's darling, and mother's joy; as if he were the top and vigor of the affections of them both; and as they both did deeply affect him, so they both taught him, and led him along in his whole course. Though some divines cut off the coherence at the tenth verse, yet indeed the whole chapter is but one instruction. And thus you see the occasion of the words.

The words divide themselves in two parts.

First, an exhortation to the keeping of our hearts, and that exhortation amplified by an argument from the less, above all keepings, as if the heart must be kept above all keepings besides.

Secondly, a reason to persuade to this work, taken from a man's life, it is as much as the life is worth.

Now first to explain the words, and then see the notes that follow. First, what is meant by the heart. Secondly, what is meant by keeping it. Thirdly, to whom this duty is directed. And then what are the issues of life.

For the first, by the heart is here understood, not as sometimes it is taken, for the mind and judgment, for they are no such faculties, as out of which spring the issues of life; a man lives not by his knowledge: and therefore by the heart in this place, is not meant the mind or understanding, no, nor the affections, for a man may have good affections, as Jehu and Felix, and Herod, and yet not one of them live in God's sight.

The heart therefore here spoken of, is such a heart, as out of which, being well kept, springs life; evil things come out of the heart ill kept, but a good man out of the good treasure of his heart, brings forth good things (Matthew 12:34-35). It is the will of man, in which his goodness lies, and from the will it is communicated to the rest of the faculties; if the will be good, then is the understanding good (Psalm 111, last verse), then is the conscience good, the affections and speeches good; the works of our hands, and the words of our mouths, come all from a well kept heart, that is a good will.

Now what heart is this, whether good or evil? I take it, he speaks of a good heart, because first, he speaks of such a heart, as out of which are the issues of life, and that must needs be a good heart.

Secondly, because I take these words, as spoken to Solomon, and he was one of a good heart, from his tender years (2 Samuel 12:24-25). So that this being spoken to Solomon, it is a sign that even a good heart is to be kept, even the will of a man when it is regenerate and gracious.

2. What is meant by keeping? In the Original it is, Above all keepings, keep your heart; but the word translated keeping, signifies two things usually in Scripture phrase; sometimes it signifies keeping a thing in custody, as it were in prison, so the word is taken (Genesis 40:3), and that has reference to an evil heart; keep it as it were in prison, according to that (Hebrews 3:12): Take heed lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief, to depart from the living God; as if a prisoner be ready to break loose, you will cause the keeper to look well to him; so look well to your heart, hold it in durance, or else it will deceive you; yet thus far it may have reference to a good heart, a man had need confine the evil of a good heart, and not to suffer it to break out, otherwise it will, and so shall a man keep himself upright (Psalm 18:23).

But sometimes it signifies the watch and charge a man has over the holy things of the Sanctuary (Ezekiel 44:8, 16), it is the same word that is here used, and you may take them both; keep an evil heart as a prisoner, and so you shall mortify it; keep a good heart holy and pure, and clean, even as a Sanctuary, for the holy Spirit of God to dwell in; you will keep a prisoner, but keep your hearts above a prisoner; you will keep your gardens, but keep your hearts above your gardens; you will keep your vineyards (Isaiah 27:1-2), but keep the heart above all keepings; keep your heart above life: it is an ill kept life, that is kept with loss of the heart.

Thirdly, to whom is this exhortation directed? It is spoken to Solomon, and he considered not only as a good man, but as a young man, so that this is considerable in this case; here is counsel given to young men, and those whom we love best, though never so dear to us, this is the best counsel we can give them, keep your hearts.

Fourthly, what is that which he says? For out of it are the issues of life; it is as much as if he should say, for out of a heart well kept, does spring and issue out such streams of good thoughts, and good affections, and conversations, and conferences, as express the life of grace, and prepare for the life of glory. Thus you see the meaning of the words. You see then Solomon here speaks of a good heart, of a heart given up to God, and set in a good frame: from which observe this note.

Doctrine. When a man has given up his heart to God, and it is set in a good frame, it is then the best and most needful work in the world to keep it so.

For it is to a heart set in a good frame, that this charge is here given: Above all keepings, keep this. It is the greatest business in the world — no such keeping to be expressed in the keeping of a man's estate, or credit, or treasure, or prisoner, or life itself. This work of keeping the heart is a busier work than any in the world. Have you a shop, or a house, or a place, or a sanctuary to keep? Why, yet above all these keepings, keep your heart, and keep it most carefully when it is in a good frame. Now Solomon, now that God has given you wisdom, and you are now beloved of God and man, when your way is paved with the blessings of God, and his mercies surround you, now take heed that you keep your heart.

For the opening of this point: first, see the reasons; and then secondly, wherein this keeping of the heart stands.

Reason 1 is taken from the deceitfulness of our hearts — it is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked (Jeremiah 17:9-10). No prisoner is so slippery, no merchant so cunning and able to deceive us, as a man's heart is. And though that be spoken of a carnal heart, yet though the heart be regenerate and sanctified by the Spirit of grace, it still has in it a trace of its old habits. We shall taste of the old man until death separates us, and therefore even David — a man after God's own heart — yet had a heart that could tell how to ensnare him with his neighbor's wife, and afterward to plot to cover his sin. This shows you that there is nothing so deceitful as the heart is, and therefore even David had cause to speak this out of the experience he had of his own unclean and deceitful heart. He who had received a better heart than Solomon, and yet seeing it so bad, had good reason to give Solomon this charge: Above all keepings, keep your heart. This deceitfulness of man's heart is mentioned in Jeremiah 5:22-23, 24: this people has a revolting and a rebellious heart — they are revolted and gone. Though you might think the sands would soon be worn through by the boisterous waves, yet God by his word has made the sand a perpetual bulwark against the sea, so that it cannot prevail against it. But the heart of man is more unruly than the great sea, and more illimitable than the sea (Hosea 11:7). Their heart is bent to backsliding, therefore they ought diligently to look to their souls (Deuteronomy 4:9). This shows you we are apt to lose all the good God has worked for us — we know how to slip from under the power of God's grace to follow our own foolishness.

Reason 2 is from the deceitfulness of sin, which will soon get within us. See that your hearts are not unbelieving (Hebrews 3:12). Sin is deceitful, and it easily besets us (Hebrews 12:1). It gets within us at every turn, and on that account we are ready to take some contentment in it.

Reason 3 is taken from the daily war to which we are called — no day but God calls us to war with some cross, or some temptation or other. Now this was a strict charge God gave to his people (Deuteronomy 32:9): Take heed there be no wicked thing found in you when you go out to war, because if there were but one Achan found among them, it would be enough to discomfit a whole host. Take heed therefore there be no evil thing found in us, for out of a well-kept heart springs our preservation.

Reason 4 is taken from the approach we are daily making toward God — we are to resort to God to call upon his name, and to hear his word. Nothing so much hinders us from finding God in an ordinance as an unkept heart (Psalm 66:18), which shows you that if there be any evil in a man's heart, it disappoints him of all the hopes and fruits of his prayers. So when we come to hear the word, if God sees any idol in your heart, he will answer us according to that idol. We shall find something in that ordinance to feed and nourish that corruption in us.

Reason 5 — and this is especially intended in the text — is taken from the great command which the heart has over the whole man. Keep the heart well, and you keep all in a good frame. All the senses behold not an object so much as the heart does. Set before a man any pleasant prospect, and if his mind be on another thing, all his senses take no notice of it. If the heart is not taken up with a thing, the eye minds it not. Present the ear with any sweet melodious sound, and it hears and minds it not, because the heart was otherwise taken up. But upon whatever the heart is set, to that the eye looks and the ear attends — everything acts toward it, all goes freely that way: the mind, the judgment, the invention, the affection, and whatever a man has all works that way. Therefore it is well said, Out of it are the issues of life. If you have the whole man and not the heart, you have but a dead man — get the heart and you have all. As they say in nature, the heart is Primum vivens and ultimum moriens — it is the first that lives and the last that dies. According to the temper of the heart, such is the temper of the whole man. If the heart is good, though the affections should be disordered and the eyes wanton, if the will is right, all is right. "If I do that which I would not, it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwells in me" (Romans 7:20). If my heart is for God, it is not I that sin. If there be a covenant made between two states — suppose between France and England — if the princes of both states keep covenant, it is not some lawless subject or pirate on either side that breaks the league, so long as the princes do their best endeavors to punish it. So it is in the league made between God and my heart — it is not any disordered affection that breaks the league, but the sin that dwells within us.

Now, wherein stands this keeping of the heart, or what is it? There are three things implied in it.

First, that we keep our hearts clean. God is truly good to those who are of a clean heart (Psalm 73:1). "I kept myself from my iniquity" (Psalm 18:23) — we must keep ourselves from sinful defilements. "O Jerusalem, wash your heart from your filthiness" (Jeremiah 4:14). Keep your heart from old and new iniquities (Psalm 4:16).

Secondly, we must keep our hearts prepared or fixed — the word signifies both (Psalm 57:7) — that is, we must have our hearts fraught with all good things, fixed and set upon God. Our hearts must not be like the heart of a wicked man, little worth (Proverbs 10:20). But keep hearts of worth within you — I mean prepared for the presence of the Lord, as the Church says (Song of Solomon 7:13), "In our gates is all manner of pleasant fruits." The gates of a commonwealth are the gates of judicature, but the gates of a Christian is his heart (Psalm 24:7). So that when the Church says our gates are full, she means there are no graces of God but she has stored her heart with them — faith, and love, and humility, and whatever grace else.

Thirdly, to keep the heart implies to keep the heart in good order — that is, ever to have right ends, to use right means to attain those ends, to have a right measure and degree of every thing. We may indeed set our hearts on the blessings of this life, yet so as in doing so we do God's will, build up his kingdom, and honor the name of his grace; otherwise it will not be lawful for us to set our hearts upon them, no, not upon lawful things (Psalm 62:10) — meaning not principally, for if you set your hearts on things for themselves, you will lose your hearts and the comfort of them together.

Use 1. It is first a just reproof to many a soul that is more watchful in keeping any blessing in the world than their own hearts, and so are transgressors of this gracious exhortation of the Holy Ghost. You have many men that can tell how to keep their purses, their credits, and estates, and it is commendable; there are men that can tell how to keep their friends, others can tell how to keep good tables, good servants and good horses, but did we know how to keep all these and not our hearts, we shall fall short of this charge here given us. You had better lose your purses, your friends, yes, which is more, your lives, than your hearts. It is but a poor thing to be skillful in keeping all these and to bungle at keeping the heart, which stands most need of best keeping. It was a word that Ahab sometimes spoke against himself (1 Kings 20:39): "A man brought a man to me and said, Keep this man; if he be missing, your life shall go for his life: and as your servant was busy here and there, the man was gone." "Why," says the King, "so shall your judgment be." Truly God has put this charge upon us all; God has given you your heart to keep, and has told you, above all keepings, to look well to it, upon the keeping of which depends your life, and without it nothing but death. And if we shall now come and say to God, while we had this and that business to do (as they said in Luke 14), our hearts are lost and gone — then call in any rather than those who, for the comforts of this life, have lost their hearts. I do not know what men are more careless of than of keeping their hearts; most will teach their children to keep any thing rather than their hearts. You will bid them keep their books, keep their learning, keep their hats, gloves, and laces, and I blame it not in you, but I pray you consider: do you not think that the very pins and laces of your children will not one day rise up in judgment against you, when you so carefully teach them how to keep these and not at all how to keep their hearts, for want of which they are exposed to the ruin and destruction of their souls? And in this particular I cannot excuse God's own servants; from where come — think you — our manifold complaints in this kind? I now speak to them that know what it is to have the heart in a good frame: though the heart be now in a good frame, before long they will complain and confess their heart is lost in a day or two's business, so as when they should come to the ordinances again, in the midst of the week, or that day a week hence, their hearts are gone and they know not in the world where to have them. From where is it that we complain, "Nobody has such dead and cold, heavy, and unprofitable a heart as I have"? Why, does it not come from this: we have been negligent to keep our hearts? Have you kept your friends, and purses, and estates, and every thing from losing, and only your hearts lost? What a shame it is that we can say we have lost nothing but our hearts this week — that which especially should have been kept is the only thing we have lost; all is well save only the heart, and that is lost, and what a shame is this, and this only through want of diligence. What a poor case was David in (Psalm 51:10): "Renew a right spirit within me." There was a time when God had said of him that he was a man after his own heart (1 Samuel 13:14). He had a heart that was careful and watchful, but now his heart is lost. David could tell how his heart had given him the slip; his heart was soon gone after his lust before he was aware, and so far, that when he should seek it up again it is lost, and had not Nathan helped him, it may be he had never found it. Not that his grace was or could be wholly lost for ever — in his worst there was something of the Holy Spirit of grace in him — but it was so far lost that he entreats the Lord not to piece it, but to create a new and right spirit within him. He had been much defiled, and now he desires a new spirit; though he had done very wickedly, yet he was senseless and hard-hearted. And therefore is it not a shame to God's people that we can tell how so easily to lose our hearts, that unless God extraordinarily help us to gather them up again, we should die dead-hearted? And therefore let it cast a just reproof upon us, in that we have kept every thing better than our hearts; we have lived it may be 20, 30, or 40 years, and have not lost one friend, nor lost any thing that could be saved by keeping, only our hearts we have lost, and many times we know not how.

Use 2. Let it therefore teach us all, to set home this charge upon our hearts, and upon all with whom we have occasion to deal. There are many good lessons in this chapter, but above all learn this, it would not be lost labor to teach your children to learn such a chapter, but learn first to keep your own hearts; you have been taught, that no member you have is so deceitful as the heart, it will soonest give you the slip, it is bent to backsliding, you had need keep your hearts clean, that God might preserve you in all your temptations, you will then profit by any ordinance you partake in, and therefore let it be carefully kept. And for a motive, if you shall thus do, it will honor you before God and man, and by keeping your hearts, you will find favor in the eyes of such friends whom you feared, by so doing, you should have lost; First, God will put honor upon you (1 Samuel 13:14), and man will put honor upon you (Proverbs 22:11), the king shall be your friend; a man shall never want great friends that keeps his heart pure and undefiled, an unbelieving heart is apt to think the more pure he is, the more danger he is in; but though great men should be displeased, yet it would be no small help to my spiritual estate, their checks and frowns would do us much good. But how shall this be done? First, trust not in your own keeping of your hearts (Proverbs 28:26). In the fear of God therefore resign up your hearts into God's hands, be sensible of your own insufficiency to keep them (2 Corinthians 3:5), and (2 Timothy 1:2), so (Jude 24). Commend your hearts to God in prayer, and trust him with all your affairs (Philippians 4:7). Allow not yourselves in the outcoming of any unsubjected thoughts, check yourselves for unnurtured affections; there is not a vain thought that passes without a check, but it makes a rifle in our hearts (Job 31:1). The courts of the Lord are exceeding broad, there is liberty enough in God's ways to do well, but not to do evil.

Again, be careful to treasure up those graces to which God has made promise of keeping the heart.

The first is faith, that purifies the heart (Acts 15:9). Faith ever has the word for its warrant (Psalm 19:9), and also will derive all its daily strength from Christ (Isaiah 40:2, ult.).

The second is the fear of the Lord (Proverbs 16:6). When a man's heart is kept in the holy fear of God, it preserves him from evil.

Lastly, if this be done in love, it will keep all the affections and graces of the Spirit in good order, and you should labor to keep them alive, so shall you keep your hearts as they should be.

Proverbs 4:23. Keep your heart with all diligence; (or as it is in the Original, Above all keepings, keep your heart) for out of it are the issues of life.

We now come to speak of the reason of this charge, For out of it are the issues of life; from which observe:

Doctrine: That the heart kept in a good frame, keeps life in all our performances.

When the heart is kept above all keepings, then out of it are the issues of life, otherwise, out of a heart ill kept, are the issues of death; but being well kept, whatever proceeds from us, whether it be thoughts of the mind, or affections of the heart, or words of our lips, or ways of our whole man, they are all lively and spiritual. Out of it are the issues: a borrowed speech of the issues that flow from fountains; from fountains well kept, flow streams of wholesome, clear, and sweet water; so the heart, it being the fountain of our thoughts, and words, and ways, out of it well kept, [reconstructed: flows forth] such things as have life in them; it is meant of spiritual life (Proverbs 12:28). In the way of righteousness is life, and in the pathway thereof there is no death, that is, no deadening of present grace, nor destruction hereafter (Proverbs 14:12). There is a way of sin that seems good to a man, but the issues thereof are death; but on the contrary, when a man keeps his heart in a gracious frame, whatever comes from him is lively, if a word, or an affection, there is life in it; the thoughts of the righteous are right (Proverbs 12:5). All is right when the heart is right, for the heart denominates the whole man (Proverbs 11:23). The desire of the righteous is only good: this affection carries an end all the rest, for as a man desires to be, so he is, there is nothing but good in a righteous man's desire, it is good to all, only good; and as is the tree, such is the fruit, as is the heart, such are the issues thereof (Matthew 12:34). See what our Savior says, he that ponders our hearts, and weighs, as in a balance, how can you, (meaning, having evil hearts) take the best words that a carnal heart can utter, and they are vanity; they always want righteous and right rules, and right circumstances, for time and place, whatever they want else, but sure they want life, the heart is dead: so that our Savior makes it a point of impossibility, that a man should come out with a good word, that has an ill heart; there is no life in his words, if no life in his heart; and so for actions (Matthew 12:35). A good man, out of the good treasure of his heart, brings forth good things; the word in the Original is [illegible] casts forth, or bubbles up, good things come from the good heart that lies within, and all the good thoughts, and affections, and duties that come from him are good, because the heart is good, and that makes all good; if he go about any duty, there is life in it more or less, there is a treasure of goodness there, and from there steams out many good things; as if you walk in a garden well stored with sweet and fragrant flowers, all the savor that comes from them is sweet and savory, it is stored with sweet and odoriferous flowers, and therefore gives a fragrant scent, but if the garden be not well kept, but here and there lies an unsavory dunghill, out of that garden so ill kept, issues out loathsome and unsavory stenches; an evil man has an evil treasure in his heart, a treasure of pride, profaneness, covetousness, and evil treasures of wrath, and they heaped up against the day of wrath, and such a treasure in the heart, causes it to steam forth loathsome and unsavory actions, affections, and speeches; but blessed are such as keep a good treasure within them, their hearts shall live for ever (Psalm 22:27). He being desirous to live such a life, as in which he might live for ever, he earnestly entreats God, that he would set his heart right, and then his ways would be ways of eternity (Psalm 139:23-24). That is, purge my heart from dross, as a man would prove and try gold in the fire, refine it and make it pure metal, now do thus with my heart Lord, as if he should say, a man shall never walk in a constant way of eternity, unless in a good measure his heart be cleansed from a way of sin. It is a strange speech, that in (Psalm 66:18): if I regard iniquity in my heart, the Lord will not hear my prayer. From where he shows you, that cleanness of heart kept life in his prayer; if we keep our hearts clean, they will keep our performances lively, if in his heart he had had any affection or inclination to any wickedness, then God would not have heard his prayer, but he regarding no iniquity in his heart, that put life in his prayer, so as he never prays in vain; and as much is held forth in (Psalm 19:13-15). Let but the heart be kept clean, that in his heart he does not close with any wickedness, and desires to be kept clean even from secret faults; then shall the words of his mouth, and the thoughts of his heart be acceptable in the sight of God; there will ever be life in such a man's works and words; when is a man fit to have his desires granted him, but when his heart is clean? And when he has expressed to God his desire that he might be cleansed, and that not only from great and scandalous crimes, but from secret faults, then God is wont to show himself strong with a clean heart (2 Chronicles 16:9).

The redeemed of the Lord find favor, for as they are redeemed from the bondage of sin, so they are now acceptable in the sight of God, as children are acceptable to their parents, when they speak with judgment and understanding; when we allow not ourselves in pride, and are not given up to worldliness, when we desire to be stored with the treasures of grace, and they are treasured up in us as if it were knots of herbs in a garden, being thus furnished with every grace, all that issues from it are issues of life. And besides, the heart being thus kept clean, it keeps sweet and lively in us, those four radical graces we spoke of before, and from them spring the issues of life.

First for faith; the just man lives by his faith (Habakkuk 2:4; Galatians 2:20). So that if faith be the root of our thoughts, and words; that is to say, if we look at the word, for the rule of our words and actions, and depend on Christ for strength of our performances, and aim at the glory of God, if by faith we have principally respect to these; this puts life into all our performances: it is the nature of faith to believe, that God is, and diligently to seek him (Hebrews 11:6).

This far exceeds the most lively and heroic performances of the best of the heathens that ever was; whatever they did, it was from the strength of their own parts; and not from Christ, and so not from the rules of the word; but the laws of their own nations, and the common applause of men. Brutus slew his two sons out of love to his country, because they conspired treason against the state; and from where was it? Why, Vicit amor Patria laudumque immensa cupido — that he might ride on the wings of fame. But these are not living actions, have no life in them, because they want faith in the bottom.

And so, secondly, for the fear of the Lord (Proverbs 14:27), it is called the fountain of life; if a man walk in God's fear, he is kept in a holy frame (Jeremiah 32:40). He that fears God walks humbly, and humility has the promise of living grace to be conveyed into all our actions; God will revive the spirit of the humble (Isaiah 57:15). And will look to him (Isaiah 66:2). This puts life and sweet savor in our prayers and conferences, and in everything we do.

And so for patience, that possesses our souls in life (Luke 21:19), and so patience makes us perfect (James 1:4); there will be no complaining of the want of anything, but patience will help all.

And so for the love of God: though I did much, and not in love, it would be profitable for nothing (1 Corinthians 13:1-3). Love to God and man keeps our hearts and carriage towards them lively.

Reason 1: Taken from the mixture of graces and corruption in every man's heart, and the strong power corruption has to deaden grace; it will deaden our liveliest performances, in case the heart be not well kept, and so kept under, that grace may be kept lively. This is to keep the heart well: to keep under those corruptions that abound in our hearts, to keep them subdued, and as much as in us lies mortified; and so will the strength of them be broken. And withal to keep in exercise the graces of the spirit; if we do not keep the heart well, then the corruptions of our hearts, which are older than the graces of God in us, and therefore more subtle and strong than grace is, in regard of the body of them; it will come to pass, that the weight of corruption will press down the life of grace in us. I do not say kill it, but dull and deaden it; for though grace be eternal, yet it may be cast into such loathings, and swoonings, as you may truly say, your heart is dead within you (Romans 8:13). If you walk after the flesh, you shall die; you to whom there is no condemnation (verse 1), yet if you walk after the flesh, you shall die; that is, your best graces and works will be but dead. But if by the spirit you mortify your corruptions, you shall live in grace and in every duty you perform to God and man. So that from a heart well kept, spring the issues of life, because it keeps under corruption, for corruption unsubdued will choke grace much; worldly cares, sensual lusts, proud affections, these either not being espied, or winked at, will dull the sweetest graces in any spirit. But if a man by the spirit mortify these, then all our performances would be fruitful, our buyings and sellings lovely, it would not relish of oppression and deceit. Keep we the beds of graces well and clean, and our whole life and conversation will be sweet and savory. But if we suffer a spirit of pride, or worldliness, or emulation in us, or if we bring them not lower, and take care to weed and root them out, our walks will be unsavory, and our best duties yield us little, or no comfort.

Reason 2: Taken from the proportion which is between a good heart, and spiritual life, as is between the bodily heart, and natural life; if the bodily heart be kept free from such kind of malignant vapors as cause loathing and swooning, and be well stored with vital spirits; then there is life enough in the body. So is it with a good heart in regard of spiritual life. The good will of a man, if that be kept from malignant vapors of noisome corruptions, and the graces of God's Spirit thrive in us, all will be kept in a lively frame; an honest heart will not care by what means it weeds out its corruption, that they do not nestle in the heart, and then the whole man be savory. It is a notable speech, that in (Proverbs 23:7): as a man thinks in his heart, so is he; as the man's heart is, so is the man; if the desire of the soul be towards God, why is he thinks in his heart, so is he; there is life in the whole man, if there be life in the heart. Rehoboam did evil in the sight of the Lord, because he prepared not his heart to seek God (2 Chronicles 12:14); the endeavor of his heart was not that way. Amaziah did that which was good in the sight of the Lord, but not with a perfect heart, and therefore the Lord determined to destroy him (2 Chronicles 25:2, 16). Many good things he did, public idolatry he allowed not; yet when he came to trial, wanting a perfect heart, the Lord therefore threatened to destroy him (verse 16). Let a man do never so many good actions, and take the Summa totalis of it all, and wanting a perfect heart, it will all be evil in the sight of the Lord; and while a man so continues, he may know that the Lord has determined to destroy him.

And let another man do many things very weakly, and yet has some care of his heart, God knows how to pardon it; though Asa had many failings (2 Chronicles 15:17), yet his spirit was upright with God all his days, and that covered a multitude of failings that elsewhere were in him.

From the good pleasure that God takes in the heart above all the rest of the faculties of soul and body (1 Chronicles 29:17): I know you have pleasure in uprightness; famous is that (2 Corinthians 8:12): If there be first a willing mind, it is accepted; and he speaks upon occasion of giving alms, if a man have a willing mind to give, though he have but little to give, yet it is accepted, and if they had it, they would perform it. That there is a willing mind, that is God's work, but that there wants a larger hand, that is God's providence; if it be but two mites which make a farthing, yet being with a willing mind, it is accepted. Suppose a man have a willing mind, to pray in the power of God's Spirit, to confer fruitfully, etc., that he might build up his soul in his holy faith, now all that comes from him is a lively fruit of grace, be it otherwise never so weak (Psalm 103:14). God knows what we are made of, he remembers we are but dust, he knows we have many impediments to wrestle with; now, if he see we do what we can to make riddance of our work, and meanwhile look well to what we have, God accepts such a willing mind; so that the keeping of the heart well breeds God's acceptance, and his favor is better than life (Psalm 63:3; Psalm 7:4; Psalm 80:4). As the heat of the Sun is the life of the world, so the gracious shining of God's favor upon our hearts puts life into all that we do.

Use 1: To teach us what to judge of the fruit of an ill kept heart, the issues of it, what they are, you hear: if the heart be well kept, it will keep life in all our performances; but what if the heart be ill kept? Then the issues of it are the issues of death, dead thoughts, dead affections, dead actions, all dead that such a man does; the heart of such a man is like the field of the sluggard (Proverbs 24:30-31), all overgrown with briars and thorns; so take a survey of a man's speeches and actions whose heart is natural, and his heart he keeps not, what may you say of him? His best graces are but dead, a dead heart brings forth slothful desires and works, good thoughts he may have to turn to God, good speeches on his sick bed; if God would but restore him, what a man would he be? Well, God restores him, but he is as bad as ever, it was a dead heart from where it sprung; if the heart be dead, how can the hand be but withered? Well therefore does the apostle call such, dead works (Hebrews 9:14): the conscience must be purged from dead works, if we intend to serve the living God, this is a reasonable service of God; all such works of nature are dead works; the most heroic works of the best heathen, Aristides, Fabricius, and Socrates, all were but dead works, they wanted a spirit of living grace, without the fear of God; wanted love of God, and patience under his hand; whatever good things they did, yet they were not done with a perfect heart, and God will destroy them all; all such men's best duties, they are but so many dead works, because the heart is dead, all for want of first having a willing mind: but let us first give God our hearts (Proverbs 23:26), and then whatever we do will be pleasing in his sight, this then would be a living Sabbath to us, our whole work would have life in it. But how is it, that men are so dead and sleepy in these assemblies? Is it not because their hearts are first dead? And then how can their bodies but grow drowsy, and then all is of a dead savor (2 Corinthians 2:14-15). Or rather, let me say this more, even to God's own servants, if you be loose-hearted, if you keep not your hearts above all keepings, there will issue out one of these two evils, either you will bring forth many fruits to the flesh, or else, the fruits you bring forth to the Spirit, will be dead and lifeless, and that is the misery of most of God's people, at one time or other; if you keep not grace clean from the weeds of your own corruptions, you will find many unsavory fruits that choke you; so David's adultery and murder, and carelessness of soul therein, were not all these fruits of the flesh? What do you think of Abraham his dissembling, of Lot's incest, of Noah his drunkenness, Aaron's making the golden calf? Are not all these works of the flesh, and do they not deaden much? If Peter deny his Master and forswear himself, is not this a fearful dead work? And suppose we keep them better than so, that it breaks not forth into such evils, but we pray, and hear, and are diligent in our callings, partake with God in his ordinances, and yet the spirit unprofitable all this while; now then ask your souls, how have you kept your hearts? I tell you, you may pray at home, and come to church, and hear the word, though delivered with never so much life and power, yet it is but a dead savor to us, though it never so much concerns us, yet it works not upon us, and what is the matter? Why, this it is, we have not kept our hearts above all keepings, and from there it was that all our performances had no life in them.

Use 2: To exhort us all in the fear of God, above all keepings, to keep our hearts; indeed, now I say more than I said before, above all duties keep your hearts; you keep your duties constantly, your set time of prayer, and it is well, but unless you keep your heart better, all you do will be but dead works, you must keep your hearts above all: were you invested with as much wealth as the world could yield, yet keep your hearts above it; better lose a kingdom than your hearts; look to the keeping of the heart, above the keeping of crowns and scepters, otherwise your prayers will be abominable; we oftentimes come off with dead works, through want of keeping these poor precious hearts of ours.

Use 3: Labor to take diligent heed to all the corruptions that are in your hearts, labor to know what strains of pride, and hypocrisy, and covetousness is in the heart, come and complain of it to God, and labor to mortify it, and entreat him to subdue it in us, and suffer no thought to lift up itself against Christ. And whatever grace you want, do as good housewives do that want herbs for their gardens — wherever they hear of any to be had, they will seek and gather them; so observe such Christians whose graces excel you in any kind, and be often gleaning from them, and so in time you will get more patience, and meekness, and zeal, by gleaning from them upon all occasions, in your conferences with them. I therefore call upon you to keep your hearts, which is done by these two things: keep your hearts clean from corruptions, and use all good means to mortify them, and to that end apply the commandments, promises, and threatenings, and examples. Whatever graces you want, get yourselves furnished therewith, meditate duly upon the promises God has made to that end, so shall you keep your hearts alive and all your performances.

Use 4: It is of great consolation to all such Christians, whose performances are very small, and abilities run shallow, only they are able to say, they walk before God in truth, and with a perfect heart (2 Kings 20:3). His heart was with God, and it was the desire of his soul, that he could have believed more, and have been more humble, but here was his comfort, that he had walked before God in truth, and that God takes much pleasure in that. He will accept such a man's prayers, though they be but weak, and our hearings, though they be but dull and slow; if the desire of our hearts be to seek God in every duty, then out of this frame of heart life will spring forth. Whatever you conceive of it, yet there will be life in the business in the end.

Having already from the twelfth of Zechariah and the second of the Acts, spoken of bringing the heart into a good frame; and from Proverbs 4, of keeping it so; I know not now, what so fitly to speak of, as the addressing of a Christian soul, to live the life of faith, all his days before God in this world.

Galatians 2:19-20. For I through the law, am dead to the law, that I might live to God.

The words depend upon the former, and are brought in as a reason to bring Peter to a sight of his error in dissembling with the Jews.

Yet notwithstanding, because they are entire in themselves, observe, that in the words the Apostle describes his freedom from the law, of himself, and of all such others as himself was.

Observe therefore his estate in reference to the law: first, dead to the law; secondly, observe in this verse 19, the occasion of that his freedom, and the means of it — I through the law, am dead to the law. Here is expressed the end of such his death to the law, which is, that he might live to God; which death of his to the law, and his living to God, are both of them amplified by their proper and next causes. First, his death to the law is argued by the cause of it, his fellowship with Christ in his crucifying; his life to God, the causes of it are two.

First, principal, and that is the life of Christ in him: I live, yet not I, but Christ lives in me.

Secondly, instrumental, and that is the life of faith in his soul; where the faith by which he lives, is amplified by the effect of it, life; and the object of it, faith in the Son of God; and the Son of God considered, as he is applied when he works new and spiritual life in us: that loved me, and gave himself for me.

Now though Peter's failing, of which you read in the twelfth and fourteenth verses, was in breach of a point of the ceremonial law, refusing fellowship with the Gentiles, because of some Jews coming to Antioch, yet because it was such as did trench upon the moral law of God, therefore Paul in these former verses carefully reasons against the practice, as an overthrowing of the gospel of Christ, and labors therefore to overthrow what Peter had done, by sundry reasons. In which he labors to prove upon that occasion, that a man is justified, not by the works either of the ceremonial or moral law, but to both these a man is dead, after he is crucified with Christ.

From verse 19, observe these notes.

First, that a justified person is dead to the law.

Secondly, that a justified person is dead to the law, by the law.

Thirdly, a justified person is therefore dead to the law, by the law, that he might live to God.

For the first: a justified person is dead to the law.

First, what is meant by the law; and secondly, what it is to be dead to the law. By the law understand in this place, the covenant of the law, or the covenant of works, as in chapter 4:24. These are the two covenants, the one is Mount Sinai, the covenant of the law; the other is Jerusalem which is from above, which is the mother of us all. Now this covenant of the law, is that which the Apostle here says we are dead to. In that covenant you may consider, what it did require on our parts, and what it did give on God's part; on our parts it required perfect obedience of the whole man, to the whole law all our days, according to that Galatians 3:10. Now that which God did give on his part was, that in case a man did thus keep the law, he would give him eternal life; He that does these things, shall live in them (Leviticus 18:5), and it is repeated (Galatians 3:12). And so also, God did inflict a curse, and eternal death upon every transgressor of this law (Galatians 3:10). Now this law gives us no grace nor strength, for the performance of this covenant, but presupposes it once given in our first parents (John 1:17), and therefore it is impossible for the law to give life, because it gave no grace to heal our sin; and so the law gave us no surety to keep the law for us, but that is a better covenant that has Christ Jesus for a surety of it (Hebrews 7:22). But now to this covenant of the law we are dead. This law as it stood in the law of the ten Commandments, so it stood in the law of certain ordinances and statutes, the whole Ceremonial Law, which if a man kept he should live in them (Leviticus 18:5). For of that law he speaks as well as of any other, so that there was a handwriting of ordinances given to the Jewish people to be kept, and so it was to all the carnal Israelites, who were not born anew to a better covenant. But to this covenant we are now dead, which implies that we are now free from the Ceremonial Law, wholly free from that after once justified by Christ, then (Ephesians 2:14-15) they all ceased, these ceremonies caused the Gentiles to fly off from the Israelites; they looked at the manifold ceremonies of the law as ridiculous, but Christ by his death abolished these, and so we are wholly dead to the law of ceremonies (Colossians 2:14, 20).

But now for the Moral Law, the law of the ten Commandments, we are dead also to the covenant of that law, though not to the command of it; as that we must have one God, etc. Yet we are free from the covenant of it, that is, free from either expecting life by our obedience to it, or from fear of death by the breach of it; we are free from the curse of the law, and from the provoking power of it, as also from the rigor and exaction of the law.

First, from the curse of the law (Galatians 3:10). Notable is that speech of David (Psalm 49:5): Why should I fear in the day of evil, when the iniquity of my heels follow me? Why should he not fear, when his sins follow him, and are ready to triumph over him? True, he had cause to fear, if he should stand to the covenant of the law, but verse 15: God has redeemed me from the power of the grave; if faith carry us to lay hold on Christ our Redeemer, we are free from the curse of the law, and from fear of death by the breach of the law. And as we are free from the curse of the law, so we look not for life and salvation from the keeping of the law; it is true, many temporal blessings we may get by it, yet it is not so much from the law, as from God's acceptance of our Evangelical obedience, but otherwise we challenge not life, by any of our best performances. Nehemiah 13:22: when he had done much good, yet even then Spare me, according to the multitude of your mercies; when a man has done all that he can, yet he does not challenge righteousness by the law, but desires mercy in Jesus Christ to accept their weak endeavors.

This is that you read (Galatians 3:18): The inheritance is not by the law, but by promise, and therefore we challenge nothing by our most perfect obedience to the law.

Again, secondly, we are free from the provoking power of the law, that is that whereby it stirs up in us an earnestness to the commission of sin; for this is the nature of man, that if you forbid him any thing, or limit him any thing, that his conscience is bound to this or that duty, he can by no means endure it; Nitimur in vetitum, cupimusque negata; had not God forbidden our first parents to eat of the fruit of the tree, they would not have desired it; but stolen waters are sweet. For you read of the motions of sin by the law (Romans 7:5): in our carnal estate, many sinful motions we had, to stir us up to do wickedly, because the law of God restrained us; meaning the law did stir us up to more earnestness after it, by how much the more it restrained our liberty from it; but this now we are freed from. The law to a godly man does not provoke him to be more wicked, but if he see any Commandment of God against him, it is a sufficient discouragement to him to forbear that sin (Genesis 39:9). A godly man disallows himself in anything that is evil.

And so, thirdly, we are free from the rigor of the law, so as though we do not fulfill the law to the exact perfection thereof, yet we look for life by another title (Galatians 3:18).

Now by this covenant of grace it comes to pass, that God spares his children, as a man spares his son that serves him (Malachi 3:17). Thus you see what it is to be freed from the law. But there is yet something more in the freedom, for it seems to be such a freedom, as is purchased by death (Galatians 3:13-14), and therefore there is some weight in the word, dead to the law. Dead to the law, we are partly by the death of Christ, and partly by the death of our lusts, in ourselves (Romans 7:4). We are dead to the law by the body of Christ; Christ having died, he has satisfied the law; and just as the law has no dominion over a man, when once he is dead, so our head being dead, the law is satisfied, and our bond is discharged.

And we are dead to the Law also in the death of our own lusts (Romans 7:6). By our sinful lusts we were kept under the dominion and bondage of the Law, now they being dead in us, we are freed from the Law.

Now because the second point is suitable to this, let me handle them both together.

We are dead to the Law, by the Law.

Now we are said to be dead to the Law by the Law: First, because the sentence and curse of the Law crucified Christ our head, and so consequently in him crucified us (Galatians 3:13; Deuteronomy 21:23). Now then the Law gives sentence against Christ, as cursed, not for any desert of his own, but because he was willing to take upon him our sin, and therefore in crucifying our Head, it has killed us.

But yet that is not all; Therefore, secondly, the Law does kill sin in us, and thereby kills us, it kills all our former jollities and comforts in this world, that we have no life to the honors and pleasures thereof (Romans 7:9). I was alive without the Law; till this Law came, I thought myself a righteous and just man; and when the Law came he was stubborn and murmured, that God had made such Law; then sin revived, it made him lively to wickedness; but I died, I was as a dead man before God: not only all his lusts were mortified, and crucified, but his affections to the world, and all the comforts of it, they all die and decay in him; now he is crucified to the world, and the world to him (Galatians 6:14). The power of the death of Christ does wonderfully subdue the heart of a man to a weaned affection from this world, it blasts a man's contentment, even the very ministry of the Law (Isaiah 40:6-8). When a man is once blasted by the ministry of the Law, a spirit of bondage breathing in it, it does so darken and deaden all his comforts, as that a man is dead to sin, and dead to the world.

Again, there is a further power in the Law, though of itself it work nothing, yet it is a schoolmaster to drive us to Christ (Galatians 3:24). Not only the Jewish Ceremonies, but the Moral Law, when it discovers to us our sins, occasionally, and God blessing it to that end, the spirit of Adoption striking in with it, makes us cry out, What shall we do to be saved (Acts 2:37)? And so the jailor, now the Law terrifies him with sense of his own sins, and blasts all the comforts of this life, and by this occasion we are driven to Christ, the spirit of Adoption striking in, we are driven to seek to Christian communion; and being thus cast out, Christ finds us in one Ordinance or other, and gives us to see our part with him, in his death, and so we are freed from the fear of death, to which before we lay in bondage.

And again, now also we have no life to the Law; take you a man that is not in some measure dead to the Law, by the Law, and in some measure driven to Christ, and he will be very earnest after the Law; and therefore Paul opposes this death to the Law, to the desire of false teachers to be under the Law (Galatians 4:21). They are eager to be justified by the Law (Romans 10:2). They will not submit to look for righteousness only by Christ, and (Acts 24:20) they were all zealous of the Law; for want of fellowship with Christ in his death, they became zealous of the Law: but take a man whose heart is brought low by Christ, tell not him of rites and shadows, they are all empty and beggarly rudiments, he is dead to the expectation of any comfort by these means (Psalm 51:17). A broken and a contrite heart is better than sacrifice; a humbled heart, by the sense of the Law, finds no favor in these things: though for their time they were of God's own appointment, yet now there is no life in them; but sprinkle me with hyssop, (which typified the blood of Christ) and from there it is, that as he is dead to the Ceremonial Law of Moses, so he is dead to the Moral Law also; he has no heart to look for any recompense by his obedience; when he has performed any duty never so well, tell him of meriting by it, and his heart is wholly dead to it (Luke 17:10). Even then spare me O Lord according to the multitude of your mercies; he knows his case miserable, if God should enter into judgment with him. Nor does he fear death, by how much the more he has fellowship in the death of Christ; tell him of death and hell, and he will say, Why should I fear in the day of evil? Like a man that has already been in hell, and borne the wrath of God in his soul, he now fears not what flesh can do to him, and so he is dead to all his gifts and parts as Paul was.

Now the reason why every justified person is dead to the Law is, first, because it was the good pleasure of God to glorify Christ (Galatians 3:16); the inheritance is by promise, and the promise is by Christ, verse 14.

Secondly, it is taken from the impossibility of the Law to give life (Galatians 3:21). Had there been a Law that could have given life, then righteousness had been by the Law, but it was impossible for the Law to give life, by reason of the weakness of it (Romans 8:3). Had we stood in our integrity, it could have given us life, but being fallen, now it is impossible.

Use. It may be first a refutation of a principal Popish doctrine, calling men to look for life of grace and glory, from the works of the Law. For you see the Apostle says, that a justified person is dead to the Law, that is, dead to the Covenant, not to the Command of the Law; this sense is the most literal, that we by the Law are dead to the Covenant of the Law, so as we look for no salvation from the Law in regard of our best performances; all we look for at the best, is but pardon of sin, and sparing, but we look for it by promise, and by promise made to us in Christ, so that such a conceit is opposite to this doctrine: When we have done the best we can, we may not promise to ourselves life by our obedience to it. And the very truth is, if they look for righteousness by their keeping of the Law, they must expect death by their disobedience to the Law, and then what would become of them and us all? In this respect no man living can stand in the sight of God (Psalm 143:2). Meaning of the works of the Law, no man living could be justified. The Papists say, some men there be, that may plead so; but I would fain see the man that dare stand out, and tell God that he looks for righteousness by his perfect obedience to the Law of God, when as Abraham, and David, and Paul dared not expect it; and indeed it is desperate presumption against the grace of Christ.

Use 2. It may serve to avoid a cavil which some do gather out of such like places of Scripture, who are enemies to the Law: They say, that after once a man is justified by Christ, he is no more subject to the Commandment of the Law, he does nothing now in conscience of the Law, he takes himself not bound to it. And you have another sort of them who say, that not only a Christian is freed from the obedience to the Law: but take you any man in the days of the Gospel, and no man ought to have the Law pressed upon him, but only the Gospel, and the promises thereof to be expounded and applied to him: but both of them mistake this Scripture. Indeed this place exempts all from obedience to the Ceremonial Law, so far we agree with them; and for the Moral Law, we grant, that we are dead to the Covenant of the Law, but not to the command of the Law; you say to me, and so do they; but how shall I know that I am not dead also to the command of the law?

You may know it from some evident expressions of the Apostle, that he allows us not to account ourselves dead to the command of the law (Ephesians 6:1-2). He speaks there of the children of Christian parents, and he presses them to the obedience of the law; for though we expect not everlasting life by our obedience to the law, yet our obedience to it may procure us many blessings, though not from our desert, yet from God's acceptance, and (Romans 3, last verse). Christ established the law (Matthew 5:17), we should walk even as Christ has walked, and because he has ratified the rule of righteousness, given by Moses' law, it comes to pass that though we be freed from the Covenant of the law, yet by the Covenant of grace, we are bound to keep the Commandment of the law, so as to do our best endeavors that way; and hence it is, that the Apostle James presses obedience to the law (James 2:8-11), so that we to this day are subject to the law, bound to take heed we transgress it not, and this law of liberty must judge us at the last day. Take the Covenant of the law, and that is an estate of bondage (Galatians 4:24), but take it as we are freed from the Covenant of the law, and only the command of the law lying upon us; and so it is a law of liberty (James 2:12). If men therefore be hypocrites under the law, it will condemn them, and it will judge God's servants and make them fly to Christ; so that they who plead exemption from the law after justification, they transgress the righteous order of the Gospel of Christ; and for them who forbid the threats of the law to be preached, they do most preposterously mistake the wholesome doctrine of the children's bread. The Ceremonial law, that indeed was accomplished in Christ, but for the Moral law, the law of the ten Commandments, we are never said to be dead to that while we live, The law has dominion over a man as long as he lives (Romans 7:1-3), so as the law ought to be pressed as that which would kill us, until that by the law, our hearts be dead to the law of sin, and to all the comforts of this life; he mentions one law, You shalt not lust, and that is the tenth Commandment; and after that, then indeed threats are not to be pressed absolutely, but so as may mortify our corruptions; when the sentence of the law has once driven us to seek to Christ, then the terrors of the law are not to be pressed to such a soul; but think not that all Christians that are baptized, are freed from the Law, and know that carnal men, even in the time of the Gospel, are under both the covenant and curse of the Law, The wrath of God abides upon them that do not believe (John 3:36).

Use 3: To show you the comfortless condition of all such souls, as to this day are not yet justified — they are yet all subject to the whole law of God (Romans 7:1). While you yet live in an estate of nature, sin is mighty in you, and the old man reigns and rules in you. While you are strong and lively in sin, you are not yet dead to the law. There is no man dead to the law, but by the law. If the law never killed you, Christ never justified you, and then sin was never pardoned, and an unpardoned sinner is bound to keep the whole law. While you think of your own righteousness, and hope to be saved by your good meaning, you are alive to the law. Though Paul sinned not against his conscience (Acts 23:1), neither law nor conscience did accuse him, yet he looked not for righteousness by that means (Philippians 3:6, 8). And all you that walk in acts of civil justice in your callings, though it be much to be commended above men's disorderly walkings, yet I say, I beseech you, and charge you, as ever you look for salvation by Christ, that you rest not in these. Paul had as much to boast of as any man, but he is now dead-hearted to all these, and so will you be, as soon as ever you have fellowship with Christ and his death.

Use 4: Of comfort and direction — to comfort all the servants of God, that ever had experience of their death to the law, by the law. If ever the law of God blasted your sin, and your estate, and the world, and you have found them all as dead things, let this then be a direction to you. You must now take heed, that you do not suspend your peace, upon your good performances, and exact obedience to God, for that is the misery of many a poor soul. Could they but always perform duties with life and power, they could believe that God had pardoned their sin. But when they see they are so weak, and so cold in their best duties, then they cannot believe. But when you are dead to all your best performances, as well as to your sins, it is a sign you are dead to the law, for it was the law that brought you to a sight of your own corruption, and let you see the emptiness of your performances. Therefore now look for no comfort from them — suspend not your comfort and peace, and contentment upon your exact obedience to the law. And therefore for comfort, fear not what the law can do against you, only make not Christian liberty a cloak to flesh and blood, but let us walk with God, as closely as we can, and though we do fall short of what we desire to reach to, yet doubt not but justification and salvation is laid up for us in Christ.

Come we now to a second note, though it be the third in order.

Doctrine: God leads a Christian soul to the law, by the law, that he might live to God.

Thus Paul expresses God's manner of dealing with him, and he speaks in the name of all justified persons. I through the law am dead to the law, that I might live to God. So that this is Paul's case, and in him generally, the case of all justified persons.

That you may understand what is meant by living to God, see some part of the coherence of the words with the former. In the 15th and 16th verses, the Apostle says, that he, and such native Jews as himself was, knowing they could not be justified by the law, but by Christ, they therefore sought righteousness by faith in him. Now against this protestation of the Apostle, an objection might be moved by carnal reason, and the Apostle answers it. The objection may be raised thus: that if justified persons renounce the law, seek righteousness by faith in Christ, this will open a door to licentiousness, and justified persons will make no conscience of the law, but live without and besides the law, under pretense of justification by faith, and so you shall pin upon Christ the sin of all justified persons. This is mentioned in the 17th verse: Is Christ the minister of sin? etc.

Now the Apostle labors to prevent this objection, and gives a double answer to it. First, by aversation, or a word of abomination, as his manner is, God forbid — that we should transgress the law without fear or care, God forbid.

Secondly, he answers it by three reasons — all of them showing the necessary conjunction and connection that is between justification and sanctification. The first of the reasons removes the imputation of sin from Christ, and not from him only, but from any who are justified by him (verse 18). The reason stands thus: If I build again the things that I have destroyed, I make myself a transgressor, and not Christ. And as he removes it from Christ, so from himself, as unreasonable, that a man who has labored to be freed from sin, and looks for righteousness only by Christ, that he should turn again to it — to show, that it is incompatible to such men's spirits.

The second reason is taken from the end which God aims at in using the means that he does use to bring us to justification by Christ. And the means he uses is to kill us to the law: and to what end does he use that means? Not that we might live to ourselves, but to God, as in the words of the text.

The third reason is taken from the near communion which every justified person has with Christ, in both his death and life; as I have part with Christ in his death, so have I part in his life, and therefore having partnership with him by justification of faith in both his death and life, therefore the life I now live, is by the faith of the Son of God. Thus you see what is meant, by this living to God; Now then, to prove the doctrine, and see what it is to live to God in particular, and then the reasons, and the application, (Romans 7:4) We are dead to the law by the body of Christ, that we might be married to Christ, and bring forth fruit to God; this is the way by which God leads us on to spiritual life; to the same purpose you read, (2 Corinthians 5:15) Christ once died for all, that they that do live, should live no longer to themselves, but to Christ, who died and rose again for them; so that when men are driven to seek righteousness by Christ, they do by the power of his death, live no longer to themselves, but to Christ, that is the end of the work of Christ, (1 Peter 4:1-2) As Christ suffered in the flesh, etc. So arm yourselves likewise, to be of the like mind; he that has suffered in the flesh, has ceased from sin, that he should no longer live to sin, but to the will of God; and therefore now none of us live or die to ourselves, but to the Lord, (Romans 14:7-9) For this cause, Christ died and rose again, that he might be Lord of living and dead. Now for further opening of this point, see what it is to live to God in particular, and then, how this death to the law leads us to such a life.

Living to God, in that place, (Romans 14:7) is opposed to living to ourselves: now what is it for a man to live to himself?

First, (as civilians say) a man lives to himself, that is, his own man, bound to no man, but is free to live as pleases himself; a man in bondage lives to another, what he has, and what he can do, is another man's, but a man that lives to himself, is as it were his own master, no man can claim any interest in him; and so did the Jews expound it, (John 8:33) We were never in bondage to any, free from all men, in respect of subordination.

Secondly, a man is said to live to himself, that lives according to his own will, and principles, and for his own ends, as in usual phrase of speech we say, such a man lives to himself, as regards no man's profit, or pleasure, or credit, but his own, he cares for no body, further than his respect to others may accommodate his own occasions and ends; a man lives from his own principles, for the rise of his work, and for the end of his work, he aims at no further end than himself.

Now thirdly, that which follows upon this, that such a man lives to himself, as lives without being desired of other men, to himself he lives, and to himself he dies, no man is better for him, and he may die when he please, no man will hinder him, as it was said of Jehoram, he lived without being desired, and so he died, (2 Chronicles 21:20) Now this is that which the Apostle denies to justified persons, There are none of them lives or dies to themselves, but whether we live or die, we live and die to the Lord; so that then the meaning of the phrase is this.

First, when he says, we live to God, his meaning is, We acknowledge ourselves, not to be in our own hands, not to be free, to live as we please; so now we do not live according to our own principles, we acknowledge the Lord has right and interest to us, (Romans 14:8) We are bought with a price, and therefore his that bought us.

Secondly, to live to God, implies, that as now God's we are, to him we belong, and not to men or Angels, or to ourselves; so now, we do not live according to our own principles and rules, nor the wills and lusts of other men, nor their counsels, nor examples, nor commands, but we live to God. I live, yet not I, but Christ lives in me; I live now, from an inward principle of the Lord Jesus, he lives in me, and he speaks as the Father has given him commandment, (John 14, last verse) And the Son can do nothing of himself, (John 5:19) This is the whole life of any member of Christ, we dare not live as we please, nor after the wills of others, further than we see Christ in them, for Christ's we are, (1 Corinthians 7:23) so that they who now live, shall not live to themselves, (2 Corinthians 5:15) but to him; so that the life of a Christian man, as it springs from Christ's command, so from the work of his Spirit, and works not for its own ends, further than it is subordinate to Christ, for the glory of Christ, the building up of his kingdom, the doing his will; this is the bent of the whole life of a Christian.

And thirdly, hence it follows, That a Christian man thus living, as one that lives from Christ, and through Christ warranting his course by his word, and quickening his actions by his Spirit, and working not for any low ends, but for the ends of Christ, the glory and will of Christ; hence it comes to pass, that a Christian lives to God, in respect that he lives not a life unregarded or undesired, but God has a special eye to his whole course, God desires him, and he will move others to desire him, (Job 14:14-15) For you will have a desire to the work of your own hands, he shall not die undesired; Why do you say, my way is hid from the Lord? (Isaiah 40:27-28) The Most High does neither faint nor grow weary, and they that wait on the Lord shall renew their strength; If a man live by waiting upon God, for warrant from his word, for life from the Spirit for what he does, God will not suffer such a man to run into such courses, as in which he will take no notice of him.

Thus you see what it is to live to God; the two former being most principal, but this other follows upon both.

Now for the next thing; Can you show us any reasons from the word of God, that God leads his servants by death to the law, to make them live to God?

Reason 1 is taken from the power which the law has had, over and against such as are dead by the law, to the law; when the law has had such power over a man, as to kill him to the law, then the law has done with a man. Take a malefactor that has committed any capital crime; when the law has had power over him, and put him to death, he no longer lives to the laws of this world, but he lives to another world (Romans 7:1). So is this case: there is not any Christian that has been put to death by the law of God, that has been struck down by the terrors of the law, but ever after he is as a dead man to this world, and he now lives as a man of another world; his conduct is in heaven (Philippians 3:20).

Reason 2 is taken from the second marriage, which God calls us to when he calls us to death to the law, by the law (Romans 7:4). We are dead by the law, so that the law, and consequently sin which had power over us by the law, should have no more dominion over us — that we should be married to Christ, and so bring forth fruit to him. So that when by the law we are dead to the covenant of the law, now all the fruits we bring forth are to the Lord Jesus; we depend upon his grace for guidance, and upon his word for warrant, and his ordinances we frequent, the seeds of his grace we conceive, and so bring forth fruit to God.

Reason 3 is taken from the purchase which Christ has made of us to himself by his death, the possession which he claims, whenever he strikes us dead to the law. Christ having died for us, he therefore died that we might not live to ourselves, but to him (2 Corinthians 5:15). When Christ strikes us dead to the law, so as he does not only blast our lust, but makes us run to Christ, by which occasionally the life and death of Christ working together brings us on to Christ, and by this means Christ has laid fast hold on us. For otherwise the law of itself would never lead us to Christ, were not the blood of Christ sprinkled upon our hearts, so that the soul cannot rest until it find something of Christ dispensed to it.

Use 1: This serves to warn all Christian men from three principal vices that commonly accompany their lives — self-pleasing, security, and diffidence — all of them expressly here reprovable (Romans 15:1-2). When we live no other life but to please ourselves, we think we are our own, and we live from our own rules, and to our own ends, and live securely; and many times God's own servants are to be blamed herein — they grow diffident, and think neither God nor man cares for them. Therefore, try and you may know whether ever the law had any kind of working upon your spirits or not. If we be such as stand upon our own freedom — "our tongues are our own and we will speak" (Psalms 12:4) — and we break the bonds and cast the cords from us (Psalms 2:2-3), if we will stand upon our own foundations, free to live according to our own wills and rules and principles, certainly the law of God never had any work upon such unbroken hearts. And so you may make it a use of trial: if we thus stand upon our own foundations, the law never came so near us that we understood the true sense of it. And how many are there that live in the bosom of the church, who yet will bear no yokes, nor be bound to anything? You say you respect God, though not his servants. The Scribes and Pharisees pretended they respected God the Father, though they did not the person of Christ, and yet when they cast his cords from them, they resisted God himself. So if God by his servants calls us to repent and to lead a new life, and we have a device to put this off because we think it is the device of some curious brain, this is not a legal way — and so put it off — this is to stand out against God himself. But if God gives us a heart to think that we stand bound to his law, it is a sign the law has had its work upon us, else we could never have lived to any man's ends but our own. But when we live so as to advance nothing but our own pleasures, we need not wonder if we live without being desired, and die without being lamented. Therefore let this wean us from such a disposition, for if we do not live to God, then we live without God in the world, and so live the life of an atheist.

Use 2: This may serve to teach men not to be too sharp in censuring their brethren in such ways as wherein they desire to live to God, and dare not but so live (Romans 14:7-9). One man keeps a day to the Lord, another man keeps it not — why, both do it to the Lord. Who are you then that judges another man, for he lives not to himself, but to the Lord? While a man lives by the rules of the word, and in whatever he does he seeks the glory of God and the good of the church, though other men do not so, yet judge not one another in cases of this nature. Suppose one man keeps this or that day prescribed by Moses's law, another man keeps it not; he that keeps it thinks he is bound by the law of God to keep it, and for the edification of the few whom he would not offend; another man keeps it not because he thinks they are abolished in Christ, for the benefit of the Gentiles, yet he that does either, does it to the Lord. So that here is the point: if it appear that the life of our brethren is by the Son of God, and by the Spirit and word of God, and they desire to live no other life but so, then be sparing in judging and censuring one another.

Use 3 It may be to provoke any man to a holy and Christian life before God, and not to be afraid of the means that lead to it; Many a poor soul thinks when God begins to work upon him, he fears he shall never see good day after; if once the Law of God strike in upon him, that once he begins to become a dead man to his lusts, cannot drink, nor swear, etc. if he begin to make conscience of his ways, he thinks he shall now live a disregarded life, but be not afraid of that which is the life and comfort of a Christian soul, the only way to bring a man to an honorable life, wherein he lives not to his base lusts, nor to the unthankful and base world, but to God; and in very deed, till a man be by the Law struck dead to the Law, that a man find himself a dead man in the sight of God, no better than a man given over to death and destruction, till then, he is full of self-pleasing, and self-seeking, till then, a man lives to himself, and to others but for himself. Take you the measure and scantling of any natural man upon the face of the earth, take but the scantling of your heart, and give me the Summa totalis, and see if he lives any way but to himself, and for himself; show me the noblest heroes among the Gentiles, the bravest spirits among Christians, the stoutest and wisest among the sons of men, and let them tell me if this be not so, That a man that lives a life of nature, whether he lives or dies, he lives and dies to himself; and shall we think this to be the only brave life, which the sons of men satisfy themselves in, the only honorable life? And a man would think himself a mad man, if he should live otherwise; to live besides a man's self and the world, is counted a life of frenzy and madness, whereas indeed, a man must be besides himself, or else he cannot live to God. So when Paul discoursed of his own conversion and manner of life, the Governor told him rightly, he was besides himself, he stood not upon himself, as many a man in such a case would have done, and yet, Paul knew full well, he was never nearer God, than when he was furthest off from himself, never more sober and wise than at such a time to preach the Gospel; And therefore in the name of Christ, let me call upon you, not to be afraid of legal terrors, nor of a Christian life; look not at such ways, as an utter undoing to you, it is the only way to live to God, despise not such a life; true it is, As long as you do well to yourself, men will praise you (Psalm 49:18), and men will think that you deserve to live in the world, but know this, that we should not wholly live to ourselves. And therefore since the Holy Ghost is pleased, to call us on to lead a higher life than nature, I beseech you, let me persuade you to some better affection to the life of God, be not discouraged with it, nor discourage others from it; know this, there is a higher life than the life of nature, a life that lives not to itself, but from the hand, and word, and Spirit of Christ, from the Rules of Christ, and to the glory of Christ, and to the good of others.

Use 4 To direct and comfort Christians, that by the Law are dead to the law, to encourage such men the more to go on, and to be far from the former life which they have led. Know if ever the Law of God have struck you dead to sin, it has struck you down from all dependence upon your own righteousness, so as that now for ever you must live to the Lord Jesus: Why are you discouraged because of dullness and lifelessness in the performance of holy duties? You would still live to the Law, but your life is from Christ, and not from your own works, be they never so good.

And let it be a further direction to you; labor to be weaned from the world: not that I call upon any man to neglect his calling, but that must be had respect to, though after the other; A man must not be so careful for his daily bread, as that he wholly forget, and neglect his duty to God. And for your comfort, let no Christian man think, he lives an unregarded life; many men complain, they may die when they will, no body owns them; David himself sometimes was ready to think so, No man cared for my soul (Psalm 142:4). It was his complaint indeed, but there was sin wrapped up in it (Isaiah 40:27). If you live to God, make account of this, there is not the poorest Christian, that has learned to live to the Lord, but God will regard him, both in life and death; You shall never live but desired, nor die but lamented, and therefore never fear what will become of you, though you be cast aside as a refuse commodity, and every wretch can tell how to trample upon a poor Christian, yet know, that the candle of the wicked shall be put out, when he dies he shall stink, as the snuff of a candle, but the light of the righteous shall shine, and the memory of the just is precious; and when you die, the stoutest and toughest heart will secretly say, Would God I might die the death of such a man, and that my latter end might be like his.