13. *Have no end, no ultimate end but God. Thus our Lord, One thing is needful. And if thine eye be singly fixt on this one thing, thy whole body shall be full of light. Thus St. Paul, This one thing I do; I press toward the mark, for the prize of the high calling in Christ Jesus. Thus St. James, Cleanse your hands, ye sinners, and purify your hearts, ye double-minded. Thus St. John, Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eye, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world. The seeking happiness in what gratifies either the desire of the flesh, by agreeably striking upon the outward senses, the desire of the eye, of the imagination, by its novelty, greatness, or beauty; or the pride of life, whether by pomp, grandeur, power, or the usual consequence of them, applause and admiration: Is not of the Father,cometh not from, neither is approved by the Father of spirits; but of the world; it is the distinguishing mark of those, who will not have him to reign over them.
II. 1. Thus have I particularly inquired, what that circumcision of heart is, which will obtain the praise of God. I am, in the second place, to mention some reflections, that naturally arise from such an inquiry, as a plain rule whereby every man may judge of himself, whether he be of the world or of God.
And, first, it is clear, from what has been said, that no man has a title to the praise of God, unless his heart is circumcised by humility, unless he is little, and base, and vile in his own eyes: unless he is deeply convinced of that inbred “corruption of his nature, whereby he is very far gone from original righteousness,” being prone to all evil, averse to all good, corrupt and abominable; having a carnal mind, which is enmity against God, and is not subject to the law of God; nor indeed can be: unless he continually feels in his inmost soul, that without the Spirit of God resting upon him, he can neither think, nor desire, nor speak, nor act, any thing good or well-pleasing in his sight.
No man, I say, has a title to the praise of God, till he feels his want of God: nor indeed, till he seeketh that honour, which cometh of God only: and neither desires nor pursues that whichcometh of man, unless so far only as it tends to this.
2. Another truth which naturally follows from what has been said, is, that none shall obtain the honour that cometh of God, unless his heart be circumcised by faith; even a faith of the operation of God: unless refusing to be any longer led by his senses, appetites, or passions, or even by that blind leader of the blind, so idolized by the world, natural reason, he lives and walks by faith, directs every step, as seeing him that is invisible, looks not at the things that are seen, which are temporal, but at the things that are not seen, which are eternal; and governs all his desires, designs and thoughts, all his actions and conversations, as one who is entered in within the veil, where Jesus sits at the right-hand of God.
3. *It were to be wished, that they were better acquainted with this faith, who employ much of their time and pains, in laying another foundation; in grounding religion, on “the eternal fitness of things,” on “the intrinsic excellence of virtue,” and the beauty of actions flowing from it: on the reasons, as they term them, of good and evil, and the relations of beings to each other. Either these accounts of the grounds of Christian duty, coincide with the scriptural, or not. If they do, why are well-meaning men perplext, and drawn from the weightier matters of the law, by a cloud ofterms, whereby the easiest truths are explained into obscurity. If they are not, then it behoves them to consider, who is the author of this new doctrine: whether he is likely to be an angel from heaven, who preacheth another gospel than that of Christ Jesus: though, if he were, God, not we, hath pronounced his sentence, Let him be accursed.
4. Our gospel, as it knows no other foundation of good works than faith, or of faith than Christ, so it clearly informs us, we are not his disciples, while we either deny him to be the author, or his Spirit to be the inspirer and perfecter both of our faith and works. If any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his. He alone can quicken those who are dead unto God, can breathe into them the breath of Christian life, and so prevent, accompany, and follow them with his grace, as to bring their good desires to good effect. And as many as are thus led, by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God. This is God’s short and plain account of true religion and virtue; and other foundation can no man lay.
5. *From what has been said we may, thirdly, learn, That none is truly led by the Spirit, unless that Spirit bear witness with his spirit, that he is a child of God: unless he sees the prize and the crown before him, and rejoices in hope of the glory of God: so greatly have they erred, who have taught that in serving God, we oughtnot to have a view to our own happiness. Nay, but we are often and expresly taught of God, to have respect unto the recompence of reward; to balance the toil with the joy set before us, these light afflictions with that exceeding weight of glory. Yea, we are aliens to the covenant of promise, we are without God in the world, until God of his abundant mercy, hath begotten us again, unto a living hope, of the inheritance incorruptible, undefiled, and that fadeth not away.
6. But if these things are so, ’tis high time for those persons to deal faithfully with their own souls, who are so far from finding in themselves this joyful assurance, that they fulfil the terms and shall obtain the promises of that covenant, as to quarrel with the covenant itself, and blaspheme the terms of it: to complain, “They are too severe, and that no man ever did, or shall live up to them!” What is this, but to reproach God, as if he were an hard master, requiring of his servants more than he enables them to perform; as if he had mocked the helpless works of his hands, by binding them to impossibilities; by commanding them to overcome, where neither their own strength, nor his grace was sufficient for them?
7. *These blasphemers might almost persuade those, to imagine themselves guiltless, who in the contrary extreme, hope to fulfil the commands of God, without taking any pains at all. Vain hope! that a child of Adam should everexpect, to see the kingdom of Christ and of God, without striving, without agonizing first, to enter in at the strait gate! That one who was conceived and born in sin, and whose inward parts are very wickedness, should once entertain a thought, of being purified as his Lord is pure, unless he tread in his steps, and take up his cross daily; unless he cut off his right-hand, and pluck out the right-eye and cast it from him; that he should ever dream of shaking off his old opinions, passions, tempers, of being sanctified throughout in spirit, soul, and body, without a constant and continued course of general self-denial!