The Dead Saint Speaking to Saints and Sinners Living, Treatise 5 · Application 1
1. Uſe.
If a man may do thus much, and yet fall ſhort of Heaven. What then ſhall become of them, who do nothing? If a man may pray and periſh; hear, and go to Hell; do duty, and bee damned; then what ſhall become of them, who ſwear, and blaſpheme?
I know it is the ordinary vaunt of carnal and unregenerate men, who have no taſte nor ſavour of the things of God. They will ſay,
I thank God, though I pray not ſo many Prayers, nor hear ſo many Sermons, as others do; yet my heart is as ſincere as the beſt of them all.
Alas! poor man! Though it bee poſsible for a man to do all this, and yet not bee ſincere; yet it is impoſsible a man ſhould bee ſincere, if hee do them not. Theſe things may bee done without ſincerity; but ſincerity cannot bee without theſe.
Sincerity lies in labouring, not in loitering; in working, not in lazying. Where the heart is ſincere, it will put a man upon working, and will make a man to work with all his strength, to abound in the work of the Lord; to eye the Manner, as well as the Matter; the Circumſtance, as well as the Subſtance. It will put a man upon Prayer, and make a man pray fervently, faithfully, humbly. It will put a man upon hearing. &c.
And therefore thou art miſtaken. Though a man may do theſe duties, and not bee ſincere; yet thou canſt not bee ſincere, if thou doſt them not. Though hee may do theſe things and periſh, yet thou muſt pray, hear, do duty: Otherwiſe thou ſhalt periſh. Theſe things are Neceſſary.
1. Neceſsitate Praecepti; God hath commanded them.
2. Neceſsitate Medii; they are the way to life.
You muſt not look to come to the end, if you do not walk in the way.
Object. But you will ſay, This diſcourageth us. If a man may do thus much; and yet fall ſhort of Heaven; then it is as good to ſit ſtill, and do nothing.
Anſ. I muſt tell you; this is a ſign of a low ſpirit, to argue after this manner. Wee ſhould argue thus. — Becauſe I may do all this, and yet not bee ſincere: Therefore I will labour to bee ſincere in the doing of them. Theſe things muſt bee done, though all that did them fell ſhort of Heaven. God commands theſe things to bee done, and his will muſt ſtand out againſt all. If all that hear, read, pray, &c. do fall ſhort of Heaven, yet thou muſt hear, read, pray, upon account of obedience to God.
The fault, it lies in the Perſons, not in the Duties; in the Workmen, not in the Work. The fault is not in the Matter, but in the Men, and the Manner of performance. And mans fault muſt not cauſe us to neglect our duty.
Wee have an expreſſion, Micah 1.7. —Is the Spirit of the Lord ſtreightened? do not my words do good to them, who walk uprightly? As if the Prophet had ſaid —The fault is not in the Word, but in you, who are the hearers of it. You hear, and hear; and yet get no good by hearing. And will you charge God with that? will you blame the Word? Others get good; and Gods Spirit is not ſtreightned to you more than to others. You would finde good as well as others, if you came with honeſt hearts. — Do not my words do good to them, who walk uprightly?
And what wee ſay of this, wee ſay of other Ordinances. The fault is not in Prayer, nor in Faſting: but it is in you. You walk with corrupt hearts in Gods wayes: And therefore you get no good by them.
You have a ſad place, but full for this purpoſe, Hoſ. 14. verſe laſt, the laſt words of the book; hee ſhuts up the Propheſy with it. — Whoſo is wiſe ſhall know theſe things; for the wayes of the Lord are right, and the juſt ſhall walk in them; but the tranſgreſſors ſhall fall therein. A good heart ſhall ſtand, and walk in holy wayes: but a bad heart, a corrupt heart, ſhall fall and periſh in them. An unſound ſpirit ſhall fall in the wayes of duty, in the wayes of prayer, in the wayes of profeſſion.