SERMON LIII. UNIVERSAL OBEDIENCE REQUISITE TO SALVATION. SERM. LUKE i. 6. And they were both righteous before God, walking in all the ALTHOUGH the whole nature of man be very much depraved and disordered by the fall of our first parents, yet by virtue of the promise which was immediately after made [Gen.3.15.] unto them, "That the seed of the woman should break the serpent's head," there have been some in all ages, sincerely Rom. 5. 19. good and righteous men. For as the Apostle saith, "As by one man's disobedience, many were made sinners: so by the obedience of one, shall many be made righteous." By the disobedience of the first Adam, in eating the forbidden fruit, many, even all mankind, which are very many indeed, were both guilty of, and defiled with sin: but Christ, the [Phil. 2. 8.] second Adam, having been "obedient to death, even the death of the Cross," many are thereby made and accepted as righteous before God Himself. And that too, not only since, but before His passion, in all ages since the beginning of the world; for the aforesaid promise being made to our first parents, while they were yet in Paradise, upon the same day on which they fell, from that time the virtue of Christ's blood, signified in it, began to take place; who is therefore Apoc. 13. 8. called the "Lamb slain from the foundation of the world." For so He was in the decree and promise of God, which was as certain to take effect, as if it was done already. And hence it is that God hath always had His Church upon earth, the Communion of Saints, a company of pious 14. 18; and just persons, that walked in holiness and righteousness before Him all their days: some of which are recorded in the Holy Scriptures, and so are attested by God Himself to have been such. As Abel is said to have been a righteous [Matt. 23. "Enoch walked with God," that is, as St. Paul Gen. 5. 24; 35.] person. explains it, "he had this testimony, that he pleased God.” Heb. 11. 5. "Noah was a just man and perfect in his generations, and Ger. 6. 9. walked with God." Such also were Abraham and his nephew Lot, Isaac and Jacob, and other of the Patriarchs, Moses, Aaron, Caleb, Joshua, Samuel. "Job was a perfect and Job. 1. 1. upright man, one that feared God and eschewed evil." "David was a man after God's own heart." And several 1 Sam. 13. of the succeeding kings, are said to have followed his steps, as Asa, Jehoshaphat, Uzziah, Jotham, Hezekiah, and Josiah. Besides which, there were in every age many excellent persons, whose names were written in the Book of Life, although not recorded in the Holy Scriptures. In Ahab's reign, when the Prophet Elijah himself knew of none but himself that worshipped the true God, God knew of many more, and therefore said, "Yet I have left Me seven thou- 1 Kings 19. sand in Israel, that have not bowed the knee to Baal." Rom. 11. 4. And of these it was, that the Church of God then consisted, when as to all outward appearance, it was quite overrun with idolatry and superstition. Such there were in all ages throughout the whole Old Testament, besides the Prophets whom God raised up for their instruction and comfort. And after that too, when the spirit of prophecy ceased, the spirit of holiness still continued in the Church, or rather made the Church still to continue, by enlightening, sanctifying, and confirming many in the true faith and fear of God, as we read in the history of the Maccabees; and so all along from Malachi, to our Saviour's coming into the world, which was about four hundred years. But Malachi being the last of the Prophets of the Old Testament, and knowing himself to be so, he concludes his prophecy with a clear prediction of Elias, or St. John Baptist, the forerunner of Christ. For having foretold the coming of Christ, as "the Sun of Righteous- [Mal. 4. 2.] ness, which should arise with healing in His wings," and exhorted the Church to continue in the meanwhile to observe the Mosaic Law, he puts an end to his own, and all C LIII. Mal. 4. 5, 6. SERM. the prophecies of the Old Testament, by saying in the Name of God, “Behold, I will send you Elijah the Prophet, before the coming of the great and terrible day of the Lord; and he shall turn the heart of the fathers to the children, and the heart of the children to their fathers, lest I come and smite the earth with a curse." Whereby he plainly intimated, that no more Prophets were to be now expected, till Elijah came, but that he should come next, and prepare the way for Christ, the Messiah, whom all the Prophets had foretold. Now as the Prophet Malachi concludes the Old Testament with the prediction of Elias; the Evangelist St. Luke begins the New, with a history of his coming, according to that prediction. For that John the Baptist was that Elias, which the Prophet spake of, is attested by the Holy Angel Luke 1. 17. who foretold his birth; and by a greater witness than he, Matt. 11.14. by Christ Himself. And therefore this Evangelist, to shew the great agreement betwixt the Law and Gospel, and to connect or join them the better together, he begins his Gospel where the Law ended, even with the birth of John the Baptist and for our better understanding how he came into the world, he first acquaints us with his parents, describing them both by their names, their family, and their character; his father's name was Zacharias, his mother's Elizabeth, both of the family of Aaron, he being a Priest of the course of Abia, she one of the daughters of Aaron, although some of her ancestors had intermarried with the tribe of Judah, as is plain from her being related to the Luke 1. 36. Blessed Virgin, and called her cousin. But the thing I chiefly design to insist on at present, is, the character, which the Evangelist here gives us of these two persons, Zacharias and Elizabeth, saying, “And they were both righteous before God, walking in all the Commandments and Ordinances of the Lord blameless;" which is as high a character, as great an encomium as can be given of any persons whatsoever. And it being given them by the Holy Spirit of God Himself, we cannot but conclude both these to have been in the number of those holy and righteous persons before spoken of, sound members of that Church which Christ had established upon earth before His incarnation, real and true Saints, such as we must all be, if we desire to go to Heaven. For these words contain a plain and full description of such persons; insomuch, that should you ask me, who they are whom the Scriptures call Saints, and whom God will accept of as such, I could not resolve you better than in these words, they are such as are righteous before God, walking in all the commandments and ordinances of the Lord blameless. This is the character which God Himself here gives of two of His Saints or Servants, and which He hath left upon record, on purpose that we might follow their example, and become such too. For which purpose therefore it will be necessary to consider two things in this text. I. What is the true sense and meaning of the words in general, as spoken of Zacharias and Elizabeth. II. How we must apply them to ourselves, so as to become such persons as they were. But before we shew in what sense these words are to be understood, we must first consider in what sense they are not to be understood: Even not so as if these two persons were absolutely perfect and free from sin, as the Papists and others interpret the words; and therefore would infer from them, that a man may be so perfect, and observe the whole Law of God so exactly, even in this life, that he may be justified by his own works, without any respect to the righteousness and merits of Christ. 46. But this cannot possibly be the meaning of the words, as being contrary to many other texts of Scripture, and to the very context itself: For nothing is more frequently asserted by God Himself, than that all mankind are guilty before Him. "For there is no man," saith Solomon, " that sinneth Kings 8. not;" "Who can say, I have made my heart clean, I am Prov. 20. 9. pure from my sin?" "They are all gone aside," saith Ps. 14. 3. David, "they are altogether become filthy, there is none that doeth good, no not one." From whence St. Paul infers, "That all the world is become guilty before God;" "For Rom. 3. 19. all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God." Yea, the very best of men, in the best actions of their whole life; for "there is not a just man upon earth that doeth Eccles.7.20. good and sinneth not." And therefore St. John himself, ver. 23. SERM. ver. 10. one of the best men that ever lived, saith of himself and all his fellow Saints; "If we say that we have no sin, we 1 John 1. 8. deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us;" and "if we say that we have not sinned, we make Him a liar, and His Word is not in us." So that whosoever saith he hath no sin, he sins in saying so; for he tells a lie, yea, and makes God Himself to be a liar too, which is one of the greatest sins a man can be guilty of, which no good man, be sure, is: But the better any man is, the worse he always looks upon himself to be, as being more sensible of his own sins and imperfections than others are. Who was ever more pure, more holy, more righteous, more approved of by God Him[1 Sam. 13. self, than David was, 66 a man after God's own heart." And 14.] yet how humbly doth he confess his sins, how frequently bewail them, how earnestly beg pardon for them? Not only for one or two, but for many which he knew himself to be guilty of. "Mine iniquities," saith he, " are gone over my head, as an heavy burthen, they are too heavy for Ps. 40. 12. me." "For innumerable evils have compassed me about, mine iniquities have taken hold upon me, so that I am not able to look up: They are more than the hairs of my head, Ps. 19. 12. therefore my heart faileth me." And, "Who can understand how oft he offendeth? Cleanse Thou me from my secret faults." Ps. 38. 4. And in the New Testament, St. Paul, whom Christ Him[Acts 9.15.] self called "a chosen vessel unto Him," and who, by the Phil. 3. 6. Spirit of God, could truly say, that "touching the righteousness which is in the Law he was blameless." Yet after all, he was so far from looking upon himself as perfect, that he acknowledgeth himself to be less than the least of all Saints, 1 Tim. 1.15. yea, to be the greatest of all sinners. "This," saith he, "is a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am chief." And if these two, King David and St. Paul, who were certainly as great Saints as ever lived upon the face of the earth, if they were not perfect, nor free from sin, we may well conclude, that no mere man ever was so. And by consequence, that the words of my text cannot be so understood, as if the two persons there mentioned, were so |