The Measures of Christian Obedience, Book 1 · Chapter 6
CHAP. VI. Of Pardon promised to our fear of God, and trust in him.
The CONTENTS.
Of Pardon promised to our fear of God, and trust in him. Of the influence which mens fears have upon their endeavours, and how they carry on ignorant minds into Superstition, but well informed judgments to Obedience. Of the influence of mens trust in God upon their Obedience. The ineffectiveness of most mens trust. Of the presumption and infidelity of such confidence. That Pardon is promised to fear and trust so far only as we obey with them.
SEventhly, That condition whereupon we shall be Eternally accepted at the last day, is sometimes call'd our fear of God, and sometimes our trust and hope in him.
As for our fear of God, it is made the great means of our Pardon and acceptance. I will teach you the good and right way to your bliss and happiness, said Samuel to the Israelites; only fear the Lord, and in vertue of that fear, serve him, 1 Sam. 12.24, 25. This fear has given right to pardon in all times, and will eternally secure it. For Gods mercy is on them that fear him, from generation to generation, Luke 1.50.Ps. 115.11, 13· From everlasting to everlasting, Psal. 103.17. So that well might Solomon say, The Fear of the Lord is a Fountain of life, Prov. 14.27. and that he surely knew it will go well with them that fear the Lord, Eccles. 8.12.
And then as for our Hope, or Trust in God; great things are spoken of it. Blessed is he, saith the Psalmist, who maketh the Lord his Trust, Psal. 40.4. He is secure from all effects of his wrath and anger; for the Lord taketh pleasure in them that hope in his mercy, Psal. 147.11. In particular, our relying on Christ and confiding in him for our pardon and eternal salvation, is said to be that which will never fail or deceive us. For he that hopeth or believeth on him, says St Paul, shall never be ashamed, by a misplaced confidence or expectation, Rom. 10.11.
Now our fear of God, and our hope or trust in his mercy, are of all our passions the most active Causes and powerful Springs of our good works and obedience.
As for our fears, no passion puts us upon so much pains and industry as they do. They make us act to the utmost of our power, and do all that is to be done to get protection from that evil which excites them. For fear has the deepest root in our natural self-love, and desire of our own preservation; being raised in us by the nearness of such things as either utterly destroy, or in some degree impair it. And therefore in them the activity of our self-love is shown to the utmost; as vehemently as we desire and endeavour to preserve ourselves and our own ease; so vehemently must we desire and endeavour likewise to remove the matter of our fears, which hangs over us to destroy, or to torment us.
The most natural effect of fear then is a most vigorous endeavour by all means to remove that evil which we are afraid of. And according as this may be done several ways; so doth our passion of fear exert it self after several manners. If we think the evil may be conquered, it pushes us on to fight and subdue it. If it be above our strength, but may yet for all that be avoided; it puts us upon all means of concealment or escape; and makes us seek either to lye hid, or to fly from it. But if there is neither any prospect of withstanding the power, nor of escaping the eye of him who is ready to inflict it; as there never can be when God, who is both Almighty and Alseeing, is the Person feared; then it hurries us on by all means to regain his favour and good will, that thereby we may prevent it. And in Times of Ignorance, when men had great fears and little knowledg, when they were grievously afraid of God, but knew not what things he loved and delighted in, nor wherewith they might please him; this fear of God put them upon all the nonsensical services, and foolish propitiations of Superstition. But where God has plainly and clearly revealed his will, and manifested to all that it is their obedience alone that can continue them in his favour, or restore them to it after they have lost it: here the only effect of fear, must needs be that which is known to be the only means of favour, viz. our keeping of his Commandments, or obedience. So that our fear of God is a most sure principle and effectual means of our serving and obeying him.
And then as for our hope, or trust in Gods mercy, it is a most natural cause of our doing our Duty likewise. For all hope implies both desire and a likelihood of getting that which is desired; which two are all that is at any time needful to make us vigorously endeavour after it. For if men will be at no pains for a thing, it is either because they have little or no desire of it, or no probability of succeeding in it. But when once they are push'd on by an eager desire, it is only despair that can dull their endeavours in pursuit of it. So that if we hope for mercy, we shall be at some pains for it, and by an active service and obedience seek to procure it.
Indeed when the good thing that is hoped for needs no labour of ours, but our naked trust and reliance is all that on our sides is required to it; our hope will effect no endeavour after it, because none is necessary to obtain it. But as for that eternal life and pardon, which Christs Gospel proposeth to our hopes; they are offered us only upon certain Terms and Conditions, and will never be attained by us without our Service and Obedience. And seeing obedience here is the necessary means to the acquisition of that which we desire, the same desire and hope which carries us on towards mercy and life, must spur us on withal to works of duty and obedience also. They must be a Spring of industry and good endeavour, because they make us resolve to procure that, which is not to be got without them.
And in regard our fear of God, and our hope or trust in his mercy, are such powerful Principles of our obedience to his Laws; therefore are Pardon and Life, which are the rewards of Obedience, so frequently promised to them. God never intends to reward an idle fear, or an unactive and careless trust; but such only as are industrious and obedient.
'Tis true indeed the generality of men have taken up a dangerous errour; especially in the latter of these, and are bold and presumptuous in their hopes at the same time that they are most wicked and disobedient in their lives and practice. They find no service of their own works wherein they may be confident, and therefore they fly from them to Gods Goodness. They know this full well by themselves, that they are wicked; but they know withal, that God is gracious, and their hope is, that He will be merciful to them notwithstanding their sins. They find themselves condemned indeed by his Gospel; but their trust is to be relieved by his Nature; they are punishable and wretched by his Laws, but they expect to be saved by his pity and kindness. The Revelations of his Word, 'tis true, breathe out nothing to them but Death; but their hope is, that he will be better than his Word, and that through the infiniteness of his mercy, they shall at last be adjudged to pardon and eternal life.
But such bold hopes and presumptuous confidences as these, are the ready way to provoke and offend God, but by no means to attone and appease him. For thus to hope in his Mercy against the plain Declarations of his Will, is to chashier those measures of life which he hath given us, and, by usurping the place of Judg and Governour of the World, to make others of our own. It is plainly to oppose his Essence to his Gospel, by making it bless those whom this condemns, and to become Infidels to his Religion and Truth, under colour of promoting his Mercy and Goodness. It reproacheth his Nature under a pretence of Honouring it, by making his Vertues enterfere, and his Excellencies inconsistent, and robbing him of one most glorious Attribute to exalt another. But when he comes at last to judge the World, he will effectually assert the truth of his Gospel, and vindicate the Honour of his injured Attributes; in passing a just censure, and inflicting a most severe punishment on all such blasphemous presumptions as these are. For it is not an idle trust in God, or ineffective recumbency and reliance on Christ for salvation that shall avail any man at that Day. No, if they have despised his Laws, and their lives are disobedient, let them be as presumptuous as they please with God, and as bold as they will with their Saviour, they shall certainly go to Hell in the midst of all their high flown hopes and daring confidences. For God will be as good as his Word, and punish disobedience according as he has threatned it. It is not only in his Word, but in his very Nature, that he hates and abhors sin: so that he can never be brought to reward and encourage it, being determined by his Natural Inclination, as well as by the Truth of his Gospel, eternally to punish and avenge it. He is not a God, saith the Psalmist, who hath pleasure in wickedness; no, as an Argument of that, he will not endure it in his Presence, Evil shall not dwell with him. The foolish, or disobedient, shall not be suffered to stand in his sight, for he hateth all the Workers of iniquity, Psal. 5.4, 5.
No man therefore must dare to place his hope and trust in God, till in his works he honestly obeys him. It is only our doing what he requires, that can give us sufficient grounds to expect the performance of those mercies which he promises. A faithful obedience is the only firm foundation of a sure Trust, we must keep his Commandments before we can safely confide in him.
When God says then that he who fears the Lord shall be blessed, and that he who trusts and hopes in him shall not finally be ashamed; he speaks not of such fear and trust as are separate from obedience, but of such only as are conjoyned with it. The Phrase is metonymical, our obedient works are implyed, although they are not expresly mentioned; for we must obey him through fear, and do what he commands us in hopes of obtaining those mercies which he promises, or else we shall never attain those blessings which we hope for.
And for this the Testimonies of the Scriptures are many and plain.
For as for our fear of God, it is of no account with him further than it makes us obedient. The fear of the Lord, says Solomon, is to hate evil, Prov. 8.13. It must be an instrument of amendment and reformation; a fear whereby men depart from evil, Prov. 16.6. A means of perfecting our obedience and holy living; for that is St Paul's Character of it, when he tells us of PERFECTING holiness in the fear of the Lord, 2 Cor. 7.1. and of WORKING out our own SALVATION with fear and trembling, Phil. 2.12. It is only when obedience thus follows upon our fear, and is effected by it; that God accepts and rewards it. I will teach you the right way to pardon and happiness, said Samuel, Fear the Lord, and, together with that, SERVE him, 1 Sam. 12.24, 25. For if we would hear the conclusion of the whole matter, as saith the Wise Man, we must fear God and keep his Commandments; this obedience and fear together is the whole Duty of man, Eccles. 12.13. No man therefore can lay a just claim to Gods mercy at the last day; but he who has fear'd him in such sort, as out of that religious fear intirely to obey him. But whosoever fears so, mercy shall rest on him for ever. For the mercy of the Lord is from everlasting to everlasting on them that fear him, provided that out of that fear they keep his Covenant, and his Commandments to DO them, Psal. 103.17, 18.
And then for our trust and hope in Gods mercy, it is no saving trust, but a blasphemous and bold presumption, if we hope in him whilst we are disobedient and rebellious against him. A good mans trust is only in promised mercies, which are never made to such as wilfully and impenitently transgress Gods Laws, but only to those who honestly obey them. It is a trust, as the Psalmist speaks, in Gods Word, and not against it, Psal. 119.42. And because that word denounces nothing but woes and threatnings to all wicked men, therefore, as he speaks in another place, shall the righteous alone trust in him, Psal. 64.10. The hope of a Christian is not absolute, but suspended upon his performance of certain terms; a hope upon his active service and obedience. So that whosoever has it, and expects not to be disappointed in it, must purifie himself, as St John tells us, 1 John 3.3. Disobedience, so long as men continue in it, is a most desperate and forlorn Condition, there being no just hope to any man but in well-doing. It is, says St Paul, in teaching us to deny all ungodliness and worldly lusts, and to live godlily, soberly and righteously in this present world, that the Gospel encourages us to look for the fulfilling of our blessed hope, Tit. 2.12, 13. And the way to hold fast the confidence and joy of a just hope in Christ firm unto the end, he informs the Hebrews, is only by hearing, and thereupon obeying Gods voice, and not hardening their hearts, as the Israelites did, in the provocation, or those transgressions wherewith they provoked him, in the day of their temptation in the wilderness, Heb. 3.6, 7, 8. And the full assurance of hope, as he again declares to them, is no otherwise to be upheld but by mens diligence in obeying, and in the work and labour of love; which implies the whole of our obedience, Heb. 6.10, 11. So that, as the Psalmist says, they must trust in the Lord, and, together with that, do good, who are to receive mercy from him, Psal. 37.3.
If men therefore will dare to sin, and yet presume; affront God Majesty, and still trust in his Mercy: they must needs deceive their own Souls to their utter destruction. For it is a vain confidence and an impudent presumption in any man to rely upon Gods goodness for the pardon of his sins, without repenting of them, and obeying him; whenas he has plainly told us, That his goodness it self shall pity and pardon none but the Penitent and Obedient. He trusts to a false hope, and leans upon a broken Reed; for as long as his transgressions continue to separate between him and his God, whatever God CAN do, yet certainly he WILL not save him. The Lords hand, saith the Prophet Isaiah to the afflicted Jews, is not shortened that it cannot save, nor his ear heavy that it cannot hear: but your iniquities have separated between you and your God, and your sins have hid his face from you, that he will not hear. For your hand's are defiled with blood, and your fingers with iniquity, your lips have spoken lies, your tongue hath muttered perverseness: none calls for Justice, nor any pleads for Truth; and since your disobedience is so heinous, your hopes must needs be false, you TRVST in vanity, Isai. 59.1, 2, 3, 4. Christ himself never dyed to reconcile God to mens sins, and to procure hopes of pardon for the finally impenitent and unperswadably disobedient. So that no man may ever think himself delivered to act wickedness; or wilfully transgress Gods Laws, and still dare to trust in him. But if any are so bold and frontless, Christ will rebuke them at the last Day, as God doth the presumptuous Jews by the Prophet Jeremiah; Behold, says he, you trust in lying words which cannot profit you. Will you steal, murther, and commit adultery, and swear falsly, and notwithstanding all that, come and stand before me in this house which is called by my Name, as Men that owne my service, and dare trust in my love, and say, as in effect you do by such usage, we are delivered to do all these abominations? Dare you by thus presuming upon my favour in the midst of all your transgressions, make me become a Patron and Protector of your villainies? And is this house which is called by my Name, become a Den or Receptacle and Sanctuary of Robbers in your eyes? Behold I, even I, have seen it, saith the Lord; and that surely not to encourage and reward, but most severely to punish it; for I will utterly cast you out of my sight, Jer. 7.8, 9, 10, 11, 15. God will by no means endure to have his own most holy Nature become a support to sin, nor his Religion to be made a refuge for disobedience, nor his Mercy and Goodness a Sanctuary to wicked and unholy men. So that no man must dare to hope and trust in him, but he only who honestly observes his Laws and uprightly obeys him.
That fear of God then, and trust in his mercy which the Gospel encourages, and Christ our Judge will at the last Day accept of, is not a fear and trust without obedience, but such only as implies it. We must serve him in fear, and obey him through hope, as ever we expect he should acquit and pardon us. For no fears or hopes will avail us unto bliss, but those that amend our lives, and effect in us an honest service and obedience.