"But whereunto shall I liken this
generation? It is like unto children sitting in the markets, and calling unto
their fellows,
and saying, We have piped unto you, and ye have not danced; we
have mourned unto you, and ye have not lamented..." -- Matthew 11:16-19.
Subject:
Wicked men are inconsistent with themselves.
The
occasion of this discourse was John’s sending to Christ two of his disciples,
saying, “Art thou he that should come, or look we for another?” When the
messengers had gone back, Christ enters into a discourse with the multitude
concerning John, of which the verses read are a part, in which Christ reproves
the unreasonableness of the Jews in rejecting God’s messengers. We may observe
in the words the following things:
I. The messengers of God
that are here instanced in that they had been rejected, viz. John the
Baptist and Christ. The former is spoken of in the context as being on some
accounts the greatest of all the prophets that ever came before Christ, as you
may see, verses 9-11, “But what went ye out for to see? A prophet? yea, I say
unto you, and more than a prophet. For this is he of whom it is written, Behold,
I send my messenger before thy face, which shall prepare thy way before thee.
Verily I say unto you, Among them that are born of women there hath not risen a
greater than John the Baptist: notwithstanding he that is least in the kingdom
of heaven is greater than he.” The latter, even Christ, was the great prophet
of God, the Head and Lord of the prophets, God’s only-begotten Son.
II. In what the
unreasonableness of their rejecting these messengers of God appears, viz. in
their inconsistency with themselves in those objections which they made against
them. And here we may observe,
First,
the nature of their objections against these two messengers of God. They
objected against their manner of living with respect to their meat and drink.
Second,
the different manner of living of those two messengers of God. Christ came
eating and drinking, but John came neither eating nor drinking, i.e. John
lived on a very coarse and spare diet, as we read, Mat. 3:4, “And the
same John had his raiment of camel’s hair, and a leathern girdle about his
loins; and his meat was locusts and wild honey.” He carefully abstained from
that free use of pleasant meats and drinks that others allowed themselves in.
But Christ came eating and drinking, i.e. freely using the comforts and
enjoyments of life, taking indifferently all kinds of food or drink that were
wholesome, comfortable, and lawful. This diverse manner of living of John the
Baptist and Christ was agreeable to the diverse errands that they came upon.
John’s errand was to call men to repentance, to awaken them to a sense of
their sin and misery, to bring them to mourn for their sins, and humble
themselves before God for them, that they might be prepared for the comforts and
blessings of the kingdom of heaven that were to be introduced by Jesus Christ. A
life of abstinence from the pleasant things of this world was agreeable to the
purpose of awakening the soul and of leading it to mourning and humiliation for
sin, which it was especially John’s business to preach and set an example of.
But after John had thus
prepared the way with awakenings and repentance, then Christ came to administer
comfort to those that were thus prepared for it, to preach good tidings to the
meek, to bind up the broken-hearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and
the opening of the prison to them that are bound, to proclaim the acceptable
year of the Lord, to comfort those that mourn, to appoint unto them that mourn
in Zion, to give unto them beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, the
garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness, that they might be called trees
of righteousness, the planting of the Lord, that he might be glorified. Isa.
61:1-3. And freely eating and drinking, and enjoying the comforts and pleasant
things of life, [were] agreeable to such an errand as this, and therefore
Christ, in his first beginning of his public ministry which succeeded John’s,
declares this to be the business he was come upon. Luke 4:16-19, “And he came
to Nazareth, where he had been brought up; and, as his custom was, he went into
the synagogue on the sabbath day, and stood up for to read. And there was
delivered unto him the book of the prophet Esaias: and when he had opened the
book he found the place where it was written, The Spirit of the Lord God is upon
me, because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; he hath sent
me to heal the broken-hearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and
recovering of sight to the blind; to set at liberty them that are bruised; to
preach the acceptable year of the Lord.”
Third,
their unreasonableness appears in the fact that though the way of living of
these two persons was in this respect so diverse, yet they objected against
both. John came neither eating nor drinking. And for that they objected against
him, and reviled him, as though he was one that was very odd and strange, and
beside himself, and under the influence of a diabolical spirit. This objection
seemed to manifest a dislike of such a way of living, as though it was their
opinion that a man ought not to live thus abstemiously, but should eat and drink
freely as other people did. But yet when Christ came and did that, then they
objected against that too, and bitterly reproached him for that, and called him
a glutton, and wine-bibber, a friend of publicans and sinners. So that there was
no escaping their reproaches. If a man of God lived a life of trial and
abstinence, they spoke of it as matter of great reproach, and yet if he did not
so, they made that a matter of no less reproach. It was a crime with them for a
prophet to eat and drink, and it was also a crime to let it alone. So
inconsistent were they with themselves that there was not such thing as a
prophet’s suiting them. They condemned the doing of that which at the same
time they condemned the not doing of, and both they condemned with great
bitterness, and virulent and contemptuous reproaches. This plainly showed that
their objections against John the Baptist and Christ were but vain pretenses,
and that the true reason why they disliked them was not the manner of living of
either of them with respect to eating and drinking, but because they hated their
persons and the business they came upon. When men have a prejudice against other
persons they will be ready to find fault with everything in them, they will find
out bad names for their virtues, and will reproach those things in them which
they will approve of and commend in others to whose persons they have a liking.
III. The thing to which
Christ compares their inconsistency with themselves, to wit, to children who
meet their companions in the streets or market-places, and endeavor to aid them
in their play, in things of a diverse and contrary nature. For it they pipe unto
them with notes manifesting cheerfulness and mirth, that does not suit them.
They refuse to fall in with this, as though they did not like such cheerfulness,
and as though mourning would suit them better. And then, when they see that they
took a contrary course, they mourned with them, but yet neither do they fall in
with that, they do not lament with the. So that they comfort them in nothing,
neither mirth nor mourning.
So John the Baptist
preaching repentance came with tokens of sorrow and mourning, and mean apparel,
with a garment of camel’s hair, and with a leathern girdle about his loins,
and with great abstinence. But Christ when he comes, comes eating and drinking
with tokens of comfort and joy. But neither of them suited them. From the text
thus explained we shall derive the following.
Doctrine.
Wicked men are very inconsistent with themselves. They are so in the following
respects:
I. The dictates of
their darkened understandings are inconsistent with themselves.
II. Their wills are
inconsistent with their reason.
III. Their wills
are inconsistent with themselves.
IV. Their outward
show is inconsistent with their hearts.
V. Their profession
is inconsistent with their practice.
VI. Their practice
is inconsistent with their hopes.
VII. Their practice
is inconsistent with itself.
I. Their
understandings are inconsistent with themselves. I do not mean that the faculty
of reason and understanding is inconsistent with itself. For the faculty of
understanding with which God has endowed man is wholly good and right. It is
that wherein the natural image of God consists, and is the excellency of man’s
nature. And if the faculty of reason be duly improved, it will lead men right.
Light is never inconsistent with itself. But the understandings of natural men
are perverted and blinded by sin, and are inconsistent with themselves in two
ways:
First,
their practical judgment is inconsistent with their own reason. By their
practical judgment, I mean that judgment which they make of things that prevail,
so as to determine their actions and govern their practice. This in wicked men
is in innumerable things contrary to their own reason. For, in forming their
judgment of things by which they govern themselves, they do not inquire at the
mouth of reason, but at the mouth of their inclinations. Their lusts have a far
greater hand in the judgments that they make of things, and by which they govern
themselves, than their reason. As for instance, their practical judgment is that
the things of this fading world, the enjoyments of this short life, are things
of greater importance than the things of the eternal world; and yet if they
inquire at the mouth of their own reason, that tells them the contrary. Their
reason tells them that it is most plain and evident that eternal things, things
that are to last forever, are of vastly greater importance than the things of
time.
So their reason
tells them that it must needs be the part of wisdom and prudence to improve the
present time with the utmost diligence and earnestness, and to make ready for
death. And yet they are not convinced of it, but their governing opinion is,
that it is best to neglect the business of religion for the present, and to
enjoy their ease, and sloth, and lusts awhile longer.
Their reason tells
them, that it is well worth the while for every man to deny himself outward
pleasure for the good of his soul. But their governing opinion or judgment is
contrary, viz. that it is not best. and that pleasures and the
gratification of their lusts are worth more than any benefit they would obtain
by seeking their salvation.
The reason of young
people tells them that it is their true wisdom to improve the time of youth.
Reason tells them that life is very uncertain. But when such persons hear
ministers preach concerning the infinite importance of eternal things. the
uncertainty of life, the peace and comfort that will be found in a state of
happier existence with God, are told how light a thing the difficulty and
sufferings of a holy life are in comparison, their reason assents to all this,
but their practical judgments are the contrary. When a person has lately died,
either in extreme terror and amazement, under a sense of the guilt of a mispent
life, or full of joy and comfort, in consequence of a life of holy walking with
God, their reason tells them that it would be well worth their while to labor
and deny themselves all their lifetime to be ready for death, and to have a
solid foundation of peace and comfort laid up against such an hour. But yet
their practice is directly the reverse.
Second,
some of their judgments of things are inconsistent with others. For instance, in
temporal things, they judge that the good which is of long continuance is to be
preferred before that which is of short continuance, and that a long-continued
calamity is more to be dreaded and avoided than a short one. Their governing
judgment is thus in these things, but yet it is the reverse in spiritual things.
Again, such
arguments as they judge to furnish good and clear evidence with them in those
things that are agreeable to their sinful inclination, they think not to have
any evidence in those things that are contrary to them. In temporal things they
think it to be their wisdom to improve times of special advantage, and to watch
against that which might ensnare them, or endanger their welfare, but in other
things they think the reverse. In these things, and many more that might be
mentioned, their judgments are inconsistent with themselves.
II. Their wills are
inconsistent with their reason. This inconsistency is a consequence of the
foregoing. For if their practical judgment be contrary to their own reason, it
will follow that their wills are contrary to their reason. For the will ever
follows the dictate of the practical judgment.
Their wills are
contrary to their reason in two respects.
First,
they will those things which their reason tells them are inconsistent with their
duty. And so they are inconsistent with themselves, as their wills are
inconsistent with their consciences. Conscience is a principle implanted in the
heart of every man, and is as essential to his nature as the faculty of reason,
for it is a natural and necessary attendant of that faculty. But the wills of
wicked men are contrary to it, and inconsistent with it. They choose those
things which they know to be evil, and ought not to be chosen. They choose that
which their own reason tells them is unreasonable and vile, and unbecoming men,
and justly provoking to their Maker, and contrary to the end for which they are
made.
Hence arises an
inward war in their own minds. Their wills and their consciences warring one
against another. There is no true peace in their hearts, for they are at war
with themselves, and therefore they are like the troubled sea that cannot rest,
unless by a course of horrible violations of the dictates of their own
conscience, they have proceeded so far in their war against their own
consciences as to stupefy conscience, and lay it as it were dead, which is the
case of some persons.
Second,
they will those things which their reason tells them are contrary to their own
interest, yea, those things which their own reason tells them are the way to
their ruin and misery. At the very same time that wicked men are tempted to
commit some sin, and their reason then tells them that it will expose them to
the eternal wrath of God, and that it will therefore be a dreadful folly for
them to do it, yet they will do it. Or when their reason tells them that the
course in which they are going leads to destruction, and represents to them that
it is the greatest folly, yet they will go on in it, and run the venture of
being everlastingly undone.
So inconsistent are
they with themselves, that they do and allow that of which they hope to repent,
they choose that now for choosing which at the same time they expect and hope
hereafter to charge themselves with great folly, and to be convinced that it is
folly, and to lament and bewail it. Nay, they would not do it if they did not
expect hereafter to see that it is very foolish in them so to do, and heartily
to mourn for it.
In this respect
they are so inconsistent with themselves that they are their own worst enemies.
They are inconsistent with themselves, as two mortal enemies cannot consist
together, or walk together. By choosing those things which their own reason
tells them is contrary to their own interest, and tends to their own undoing,
they may be said to hate their own souls, and to love their own ruin. Pro. 8:36,
“He that sinneth against me, wrongeth his own soul; all they that hate me,
love death.”
III. Their wills
and dispositions are inconsistent with their wills. The Jews would neither have
a prophet to come eating and drinking, nor would they have him otherwise. They
knew not what they would have themselves, there was no pleasing them. To eat and
drink did not please them; that they reproached as drunkenness, and gluttony.
Nor did it please them any more not to eat nor drink. This they reproached no
less virulently, as though it were an argument that a man was out of his wits,
and possessed by the devil. The inconsistency of wicked men’s wills with
themselves appears in the following things:
First,
they do, in some respects, choose and refuse the same things.
I shall mention
some instances.
1. In some
respects, many of them wish to be converted from sin to God. They think that
they should be ready to give almost all that they have in the world to be
converted, and they pray to God to convert them, and seek for conversion, and
take advice to that end, and use a great deal of labor for it. But yet if it be
considered what conversion is, or what is meant by conversion, viz. the
being turned from all their sins to God. They have no desire to be converted,
they will not have conversion when it is offered them, when it comes to them
they are not willing to be saved from sin, for they are not willing to part with
their sins. When they think of the thing in the general, they wish that they
were turned from sin. But when it comes to particulars, they cannot comply with
it, they love their sins too well. When a particular lust comes and pleads to be
indulged and gratified, then in this instance they have no wish to be converted,
they are not willing to be turned from their sin altogether, they cannot bear
entirely and forever to renounce and reject it. They have a wish to be
converted, but not from enjoying their right hands, and right eyes. They pray
that they may be thoroughly and savingly converted, and seem to wish and pray
for it. But yet when it comes to them, they are not willing for any more than a
partial conversion. They cannot comply with a thorough conversion, for a
thorough conversion is a turning from every one of their sins. And that proves
that they would be willing to be converted from their sins for a little while,
but to part with them finally is what they cannot find it in their hearts to
comply with.
2. Some wicked men
do in certain respects desire that a work of humiliation may be wrought in them,
and yet are utterly opposed to humiliation. They do many things that they may be
humbled, and pray that they may be brought off from their own righteousness, and
yet would by no means let it go, but are indeed building up their own
righteousness all the time.
They seem in some
respects to wish that they might submit to the justice and sovereignty of God in
their condemnation, but yet are utterly averse to any such thing as owning
God’s justice. They are averse to this submission, as appears from their
showing such a sprit of strife with God. They do not believe that God is just
and sovereign, and how therefore is it possible that they should desire really
to submit to God’s justice and sovereignty? They cannot heartily and fervently
desire to submit to God as just and sovereign, when they do not believe that he
possesses those attributes, but think him unjust and tyrannical.
3. They in some
respects wish that they might come to Christ, but indeed are utterly averse to
come to him, so that their will is in this also inconsistent with itself. They
pray that they may come to Christ, they are ready to say that they would give
all the world for an interest in Christ; and yet they will not have an interest
in him, for that is what is offered them, and what Christ is continually
inviting and urging them to accept, but they refuse it. It is true they like
some things in Christ, they like salvation from the pains of hell, they like
that safety from everlasting misery which they hear is to be had in him. But
there are other things in him which they do not like, his holiness, his
salvation from sin, his kingly office, and therefore they will not accept him as
he is. If they could have a part of Christ without the rest they would, but they
will not accept of the whole of Christ. Indeed they are not willing to come to
Christ and cordially accept of him as a Savior from hell, for they do not see
that he is sufficient to save. And besides, they are not convinced that they
have deserved it. There is no such thing as being cordially willing to accept of
a Savior, who offered to deliver us from an unjust and undeserved punishment.
For the hearty accepting of him as a Savior from the punishment would be
allowing the punishment to be just. And God’s offering a Savior from
undeserved punishment is an imposition upon them. A man therefore can never
heartily and sincerely accept such an offer. At the same time that natural men
seem to wish, and pray, and strive to come to Christ, they are in their hearts
bitter enemies to him. And there is no such thing as a sincere willingness to
accept of one towards whom at the same time we are bitter enemies.
4. Natural men in
some respects are desirous to go to heaven, and yet are averse to heaven. They
are full of designs as to what they will do hereafter that they may go to
heaven, but yet have no inclination to that wherein heaven really consists. The
employments of heaven, which consist altogether in holy acts and holy
contemplation, in holy exercises and holy praises, are that for which they have
no desires nor inclination. And for the happiness of heaven they have no relish,
but on the contrary, a dislike and an aversion. For the happiness of heaven
consists in holy communion with God and Christ, to which their natures are
opposite. Nor have they any desire for the company of heaven. And when it is
observed what heaven really is, they choose this world before heaven.
5. They wish to
have salvation from misery, but yet are averse to those things wherein salvation
consists. And at the same time that they pray to Christ to serve them, they undo
themselves as fast as they can. They spend their time daily in working out their
own ruin. They pray that they may be delivered from hell, and yet are all the
while piling up fuel and kindling and blowing the fire. Thus their wills are
inconsistent with themselves, as they do in some respects choose and refuse the
same things.
Second,
they dislike and refuse spiritual things as they are, and yet refuse to have
them otherwise. This was the very case with the Jews in the text, they would not
have a prophet come eating and drinking. If he did so, they looked on him very
reproachfully. Nor yet would they have him not come eating and drinking, for if
he did so they called him a mad man, and possessed with a devil, which is a
lively specimen of the inconsistency of wicked men, of which we are speaking.
I will mention
several instances of this inconsistency on the part of wicked men.
1. They do not like
God as he is, and yet they would not like him if he were otherwise. They would
not like him if he were otherwise than he is in those very things for which they
most dislike him.
(1.) They dislike
God because he is a holy God. This is the main foundation of the enmity that
wicked men have against God. His perfect purity and holiness make them enemies
to him, because from this perfection of his nature he necessarily hates sin, and
so hates their sins, which they love, and he will not and cannot allow of any
sin in them. They are utter enemies to such a holy God. And yet they would not
like him if they supposed him to be an unholy being, or if they supposed him to
be at all wanting in perfect holiness, for then he could not be depended upon.
If he were unholy, they know that if he promised them anything they could have
no certain dependence upon it, for an unholy being is liable to break his
promises. If he were unholy they could have no dependence on his faithfulness,
and therefore they would never be willing to give up themselves to him as their
God, for they would not know how he would dispose of them, what he would do with
them. If he were to obligate himself by covenant, yet they could have no
dependence upon it; and therefore they would by no means accept of such a God to
be their God, to rule over them, and dispose of them.
(2.) They do not
like God, because he is a God of justice. This indeed is a branch of his
holiness, for being strictly and perfectly just, he is disposed to execute just
punishment on all iniquity. Therefore they are exceeding enemies to him, for
they are the persons who are obnoxious, being those that have committed
iniquity, and exposed themselves to just punishment. And yet they would not like
God if he were an unjust God. If he were an unjust being, that would be an
insuperable objection with them against accepting him as their God, for then
they would think with themselves, "how do I know how unjustly he may deal
with me.” And wicked men, however unjust they are, never like injustice
against themselves. And they never would be persuaded to accept of such a God as
their Lord and King, for they should then expect to be wronged and abused by
him. They would dread committing themselves into the hands of a God that is
infinite in power, and can do what he will with them, and has no principle of
holiness or justice to keep him from using that power in the most unjust and
abusive manner towards them.
Though they are
enemies to God because of his justice, yet whenever at any time they think God
deals unjustly, they quarrel with him for it. How frequent is it for natural
men, when there are any of God’s methods of providence, the justice of which
they cannot see through, to have their hearts swell with enmity, and to be full
of blasphemous, malignant thoughts against God, if they do no even manifest it
outwardly by a fretful, discontented behavior, and murmuring speeches?
(3.) They do not
like God because he is an Almighty God and is able to destroy them when he
pleases. Nor yet would they like him if he were a weak being and of but little
power. They would on this account refuse to close with him as their God, for
they would have a God able to do great things for them. They wish to have many
things done for them, and they would have a God that can do them.
(4.) They do not
like God because he is an omniscient God, for hereby he sees all their
wickedness. But yet neither would they like him if he did not know all things,
for then in many cases he would not know what their case is, and what it
requires, and what is best for them. He might ruin them in the disposal of them
through mistake, he might not know how to extricate them out of difficulties in
which they are or may be involved.
(5.) Natural men
oftentimes dislike God in the exercises of his infinite sovereign mercy, when it
is exercised towards others. They are greatly displeased at God’s being so
gracious to others. They dislike it much that God bestows converting grace upon
them and pardoning mercy, and a title to eternal life upon them. When they hear
of their conversion it is unpleasant news, and they find fault with it the more
when the persons who seem to have received such mercy are very unworthy, and
have been very great sinners. They think of the sins of which they have been
guilty, and reckon up all the instances of wickedness they can think of, so that
the mercy exercised towards them is the more displeasing because it appears so
great in being bestowed on one so unworthy, like the elder brother, Luke 15:30,
“But as soon as this thy son was come, which hath devoured thy living with
harlots, thou hast killed for him the fatted calf.” And yet they would not
like God if he were not infinitely merciful, for then they would have less hopes
of obtaining mercy themselves. They are angry because God appears so merciful in
the exercises of his grace to others. But yet they should have God merciful, and
are at the same time afraid that he is not merciful enough to be willing to
pardon their sins, and bestow his blessing on them. Thus natural men do not like
God as he is, nor yet would they like him if he were otherwise.
2. They do not like
men that are holy, nor yet do they like men that are wicked. They do not like
holy men, for they know that such do not approve of that which themselves love,
and the lives of the godly are a condemnation of the wickedness of their own
hearts and lives. Hence there is an enmity between the seed of the woman and the
seed of the serpent. Gen. 3:15, “And I will put enmity between thee and the
woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head and thou
shalt bruise his heel.” But although they do not like men if they are godly,
so neither do they like them if they are ungodly. They are more forward than the
godly are to reprove others for their vice and wickedness, and bitterly to
reflect on others for their pride, their covetousness, and their idleness. None
are more apt to find fault with wickedness in others than those who are wicked
themselves, and one great reason is that other men’s lusts clash with theirs.
Thus one man’s pride crosses the pride of another, for it is the nature of
pride to desire to be alone in advancement, to make the person in whom it is
affect to be a God, to appropriate all power and all honor to himself as his own
prerogative. But such an aim in one man clashes with such an aim in another.
Hence there are none that can bear pride in others so ill, as those that are
very proud themselves, and there never are such strife and enmity as between
proud, haughty men. Proud men love to have others walk humbly before them, and
nothing enrages them so much as to have others carry themselves proudly. For the
same reason covetous men dislike covetous men, for this lust clashes with the
same lust in another. Every covetous man strives to get all into his own hands,
to get and keep all that he can to himself from his neighbor. So the lusts of
envy, and malice, and revenge, are hated in others by envious and malicious men;
because none are so obnoxious to malice, and envy, and revenge, as those that
have the most of these qualities. Hence the wicked world on earth, who are at
enmity with the church of God for its holiness, do not at all agree together.
Though they agree in being alike under the power of wickedness, yet how full is
the world of wicked men of strife and contention, of perpetual jars,
animosities, and confusion! Rom. 1:29, 30, 31, 32, “Being filled with all
unrighteousness, fornication, wickedness, covetousness, maliciousness; full of
envy, murder, debate, deceit, malignity; whisperers, backbiters, haters of God,
despiteful, proud, inventors of evil things, disobedient to parents, without
understanding, covenant breakers, without natural affection, implacable,
unmerciful: who, knowing the judgment of God, that they which commit such things
are worthy of death, not only do the same, but have pleasure in them that do
them.” So Tit. 3:3, “For we ourselves also were sometimes foolish,
disobedient, deceived, serving divers lusts and pleasures, living in malice and
envy, hateful, and hating one another.” And hence also it comes to pass that
devils and wicked men in hell, though they hate angels and saints in heaven for
their holiness, have yet no love one to another. Though they all agree in being
perfectly wicked, yet they hate one another with implacable hatred, and are
continually mortifying and tormenting one another so that hell is a world of
perfect malice and contention.
3. They refuse to
accept of heaven as it is. Yet they would not like it if it were otherwise. As
has been observed before, they have no relish for the holy enjoyments and
employments of heaven. They dislike heaven for its holiness, and yet they would
not like it if it were unholy. For then they would be liable to the same
troubles and vexations in heaven that they meet with in this world. If it were
not that heaven differs from this world in holiness, it would be as full of
pride and malice, envy, revenge, contention, injustice, violence, and cruelty,
as this world is, and so would be as vexatious a world as this is. Wicked men
are as liable to the trouble and vexation of the world, which arise from those
things, as godly men, and in some respects more so, for they have no divine
supports against those things, no safer portion to which their hearts betake
themselves.
Third,
the things that wicked men choose, imply an inconsistency in their own nature.
The things which they would have are impossibilities and self-contradictions.
1. They would have
a sufficient Savior, and not a holy one. They would not have a holy Savior,
because such a Savior does not at all agree with their lusts. But yet they would
have a sufficient Savior, one that is sufficient to save them from hell, and so
one that is sufficient to make a proper atonement for all their sins, to make
full satisfaction to the justice of God, that they may escape the penalty of
that justice. But these things prove a great inconsistency, for how is it
possible that a Savior, who is not perfectly holy himself, should make
satisfaction for the unholiness of others? How is it possible that one who
deserves to suffer the eternal wrath of God himself for his own sin, should by
his sufferings appease God’s wrath for the sin of others?
They would have a
worthy Savior, as appears in this; when they are awakened, and in some measure
sensible of their guilt, they dare not come to Christ, because they cannot see
that he has worthiness enough to commend them to God. They are afraid that he is
not worthy enough. And yet they dislike Christ because he is a holy Savior! And
what an inconsistency is this! How can he be a worthy Savior, and not a holy
one? So that their choice does in effect contain this inconsistency in it, that
they would have a Savior who is infinitely worthy, without worthiness.
2. They wish for
salvation from misery without salvation from sin. They do not love misery any
better than others, and hope to be saved from it. And some of them are in
distress for fear of misery. But yet they would have it without being parted
from their sins, which is in its own nature impossible, for the creature that is
sinful, must be miserable. For misery consists in separation from the fountain
of happiness, and an enmity between the creature and the chief good. But sin
implies in its own nature such a separation. It is a separation from that God
who is the fountain of good, and is enmity against him, and therefore
necessarily brings enmity from that being against the sinner, if it be
continued. Sin is the seed of misery. Misery is the necessary fruit of it. It is
necessary from the nature of God, who, being infinitely holy, necessarily hates
it, and so necessarily arrays himself against that being who remains under the
pollution and guilt of it. And it is necessary from the nature of man, and the
nature of sin. Misery is the natural fruit of sin, as the bud and blossom are
the natural fruit of that on which they grow, and is so spoken of, Eze. 7:9, 10,
“And mine eye shall not spare, neither will I have pity: I will recompense
thee according to thy ways, and thine abominations that are in the midst of
thee; and ye shall know that I am the Lord that smiteth. Behold the day, behold
it is come; the morning is gone forth; the rod hath blossomed; pride hath
budded.”
Natural men would
be freed from hell without being saved from sin, which is an inconsistency and
impossibility. For where sin remains the reigning power, it will necessarily
kindle up the flames of hell, and will bring on the torments of hell. Indeed,
while men remain in the body, in the midst of the carnal objects of this world
to engross the mind, to please the carnal appetites, to stupefy the conscience,
and lull the soul asleep, they may avoid the torments of hell for a little
while. But when the body comes to be dissolved, and all worldly objects,
diversions, and entertainments come to an end, and the polluted and guilty soul
comes to be stripped and turned out naked, infernal horror and misery will
naturally and necessarily arise in such a soul. So that there is no such thing
as being saved from hell, without being saved from sin.
3. They desire
happiness without holiness. Wicked men have as earnest a desire of happiness as
others. They are restlessly saying, “Who will show us any good?” And yet
they are enemies to holiness. Here also they are inconsistent with themselves,
for there is no such thing as happiness without holiness. The happiness of the
creature consists in holiness. It is as great an inconsistency to suppose that a
creature should be happy without being holy, as that a man should enjoy all the
strength, and ease, and activity, and other comforts of health, in sore
sickness; or that the notes of a tune should be harmonious that are
disproportionate and discordant. So that they would be happy, and yet would not
be happy. The thing they choose contains as great an inconsistency as if they
should choose light or brightness, consisting in the blackness of darkness.
Fourth,
in things that do most nearly concern them, they will neither choose nor refuse.
The things of religion are things that concern them in the highest degree. It is
no matter of indifference to them, whether they will betake themselves in good
earnest to the business of religion or not, whether they will obtain heaven, or
be content with a portion in this life. But yet many natural men seem to remain
in suspense about these things all the days of their lives. They are always at a
loss, always halting between two opinions, which Elijah reproves, 1 Kin. 18:21,
“And Elijah came unto all the people, and said, How long halt ye between two
opinions? if the Lord be God, follow him; but if Baal, then follow him. And the
people answered him not a word.” No wonder that they had nothing to answer,
for their unreasonableness and inconsistency too manifestly appeared in it.
Many, who hear of these subjects from their infancy, never come to a thorough
conclusion in their own minds, whether they will continue to go on in the way to
hell, or whether they will do what must be done to escape it. They neither
resolve that they will forsake all their sins, nor yet that they will retain
them. They do not determine to hearken to the warnings and counsels given to
them, nor yet do they fully reject them. They have life and death set before
them, one or the other, but they never come to a determination which they will
choose.
Fifth,
in pursuing the objects which they desire, their lusts are inconsistent with
each other. It has before been shown that the lusts of one wicked man clash with
those of another. But not only is it thus. Some of the lusts of the same person
disagree with other lusts of his. Often, wicked men’s covetousness clashes
with their pride. Their pride prompts them to many things that their
covetousness forbids. It would be agreeable to men’s pride to make a splendid
show in their houses and apparel, and manner of living, who yet are not willing,
through their covetousness, to be at the cost of it. So their covetousness often
thwarts their sensuality. Their sensual disposition inclines them to feast their
appetites, but their covetousness will not allow it.
Sometimes men’s
sloth and idleness clash with their other lusts, with their pride, their
covetousness, and sensuality. These lusts draw them one way to obtain much of
the world, in order to pamper and gratify them. But their slothfulness draws
another, or rather holds them and binds their hands from obtaining these things.
IV. The outward
show of wicked men disagrees with their hearts. They very often make an
appearance that is exceedingly different and contrary to what they really are
inwardly. They have the clothing of sheep, but the nature of wolves, Mat. 7:15.
They are like whited sepulchers, which indeed appear beautiful outward, but are
within full of dead men’s bones, and of all uncleanness. They make a show as
though they believed the truth of the gospel, and believed that God was an
infinitely great and an infinitely excellent being. They make a show of great
respect to God, a show of reverence and love, when indeed they have no such
thing in their hearts, but the contrary. The outward show they make, which is at
war with their hearts, consists either in their words, or in their behavior.
The show they make
in words is inconsistent with their hearts. Many of them profess to believe that
God is an infinitely excellent being, when indeed they think that the meanest of
their carnal enjoyments is more excellent than he. They profess to believe that
there is another world, a heaven and a hell, when indeed they realize no such
thing. They profess to believe that Christ is the only Savior, and that they can
be saved in no other. And yet they all the while believe in their hearts that
there are other saviors, and particularly that they can be saviors for
themselves by their own strength and righteousness.
They do abominably
dissemble in the profession they make of the favor of God, and of love to him,
and willingness to obey him, and desire to glorify him. They have not a jot of
these things in their hearts, but are all the while wholly under the influence
of vile carnal principles in all that they do, and are only aiming at selfish
ends and serving their lusts in all.
So did those Jews
dissemble that came to Jeremiah and desired him to inquire of the Lord. Jer.
42:20, “For ye dissembled in your hearts, when ye sent me unto the Lord your
God, saying, Pray for us unto the Lord our God; and according unto all that the
Lord our God shall say, so declare unto us, and we will do it.” So did the
Jews of whom we read in the test dissemble. They pretended to be enemies of
gluttony, and drunkenness, and to dislike any such thing as associating with
sinners. And so made a pretense of zeal against wickedness, in their opposition
to Christ; when indeed they were actuated by a love to wickedness, and were
enemies to Christ, for the sake of his holiness. So they pretended to be
influenced by enmity against the devil in their opposition to John the Baptist,
who they pretended had a devil; when indeed it was not enmity against the devil,
but against God. Many pretend a great deal of love to God in what they do, when
it is only love to the world at bottom. Eze. 33:31, “And they come unto thee
as the people cometh, and they sit before thee as my people, and they hear thy
words, but they will not do them: for with their mouth they show much love, but
their heart goeth after their covetousness.”
The show which they
make in their prayers is quite inconsistent with their hearts. Their very
approach to God in this duty has a show of religion in it without the reality.
And those things they say in their prayers are hypocritical dissembling
pretenses. They profess honor, reverence, trust, humility, a sense of
unworthiness, repentance towards God, trust in Christ as a Mediator, a
willingness to forsake sin, from which they pray to be delivered, and
thankfulness for the divine mercies. In this manner they resemble the Jews
spoken of in Isa. 29:13, “Wherefore the Lord said, Forasmuch as this people
draw near me with their mouth; and with their lips do honour me, but have
removed their heart far from me, and their fear toward me is taught by the
precept of men;” and in Psa. 78:36, 37, “Nevertheless they did flatter him
with their mouth, and they lied unto him with their tongues. For their heart was
not right with him, neither were they stedfast in his covenant.” And many of
them make a show in words, in conversation with their neighbor, that is quite
inconsistent with their hearts. They are forward in religious conversation, in
giving an account of their experience in a show of zeal, merely to be seen of
men, their God is themselves, their own honor, and the esteem of men. It is
themselves whom they love and honor in everything, and not God.
They often make
that show in their external behavior that is inconsistent with their hearts.
Many who are destitute of the least spark of love to God, and are at utter
enmity with him, will make a great show of respect to him in many things in
their behavior. They may put on a religious saint-like visage, may seem devout
in keeping the sabbath, and in their attendance on religious duties and the
ordinances of worship, may in some things be very strict, and may appear to do
all from a holy respect to God. So it was of old with the Israelites. Isa. 58:1,
2, 3, “Cry aloud, spare not; lift up thy voice like a trumpet, and show my
people their transgression, and the house of Jacob their sins. Yet they seek me
daily, and delight to know my ways, as a nation that did righteousness, and
forsook not the ordinance of their God: they ask of me the ordinances of
justice; they take delight in approaching to God. Wherefore have we fasted, say
they, and thou seest not? wherefore have we afflicted our soul, and thou takest
no knowledge? Behold, in the day of your fast ye find pleasure, and exact all
your labours.”
So did the
Pharisees of old. They made a great show of love and holy regard to God in their
behavior. They abounded in religious duties, they fasted twice a week, and they
were very strict in many things. They were so in many duties of the moral law,
they were not extortioners, nor unjust, nor adulterers. And they were
exceedingly exact in duties of the ceremonial law. They gave tithes of all that
they possessed, and so exact were they in paying tithes, that they tithed all
the herbs of their gardens, as mint, anise, and the like, and put on an
exceedingly religious countenance, and wore a righteous garment for a show of
great humility. And yet had no love to God in their hearts, but were a
generation of vipers, and most bitter enemies to God and Christ, and cruel
persecutors of good men.
V. The practice of
wicked men is often very inconsistent with their profession.
It is so, whether
we look at the profession which they make in common with others who are brought
up under the light of the gospel, or at the distinguishing and extraordinary
profession which some of them make.
First,
if we look at the professions which they make in common with the generality of
those who are brought up under the gospel. These do in general profess that
there is a God, an infinitely great and holy God, who hates sin, and who is
everywhere present, who always sees them, has his eye continually upon them,
sees what they do in secret as well as what is done openly. A God, who not only
knows all their words and actions, but sees all their thoughts, and who is able
to do what he pleases with them, and can save or destroy them as he will.
But how does the
practice of the greater part of them consist with their profession when they
live in direct opposition to his commands, when they live as though there were
no God that had the care and government of the world, and as though he were not
a holy God, but altogether such an one as themselves, liking ways of sin as well
as they, or as though they thought him a weak being, and not able to do them any
great matter of hurt, or as though they thought they were stronger than he, and
should be able to make their part good with him another day? 1 Cor. 10:22, “Do
we provoke the Lord to jealousy? are we stronger than he?”
How does that
wickedness, which many persons who are brought up under gospel light commit in
secret, those abominable secret practices of which many young people are guilty,
agree with their professing that God is everywhere present? These things they do
not commit openly for fear of human punishment, or for fear of shame and
disgrace among men. And yet they commit them boldly, and live on them in the
sight of God, upon whose favor they profess that their happiness infinitely more
depends than on the esteem of men.
They profess to
believe that there is another world, and a future judgment, and that they must
in a little time stand before the judgment-seat of God, to give an account of
themselves to him. And that then the hidden things of darkness shall be brought
to light, and the counsels of the heart made manifest. And that then God will
call them to a strict account of their improvement of their time, and all their
talents, and that for every idle word men must give account in the day of
judgment. And that then every man shall have his state everlastingly and
unalterably fixed by the sentence of the great Judge, according to the things
done in the body, that they who have done well shall be invited into heaven,
where they shall enjoy honor, and glory, and pleasure unspeakable forevermore,
and that they who have done evil, shall be sentenced and sent down to hell, into
everlasting fire, with the devil and his angels, where they shall endure
unspeakable torments, as in a furnace of fire, without any end, or any hope, and
that they shall have no rest day nor night; and that their souls shall be fixed
in one or other of those states in a little time, as soon as ever the body dies.
Now how does their
practice consist with such a profession, while they live idle, careless lives,
little troubling themselves about the good of their souls, and have their hearts
and pursuits after the vanities of the world, just as if they never expected any
other world but this, going on in sins against the plainest commands, and
loudest warnings, and fullest light, and conviction of their own conscience? How
does this consist with the profession of a belief that they must in a little
time be called to give account of themselves to God? Would any spectator who
should judge only by their practice, in the least imagine that these men
expected within a few years to burn in everlasting fire, if they did not please
and serve an infinitely holy God, and to be received to an everlasting paradise
of blessedness if they did. Could he be persuaded to think that such men are in
heart, as they profess to be, the followers of the meek, holy, and humble Lamb
of God, of him who laid down his life for his enemies?
Second,
if we look at the profession which some of them make of special and
distinguishing experiences of the influence of God’s grace in their hearts,
their practice is very inconsistent with their profession. Persons may make a
profession of such experiences, and yet be carnal and wicked men. So did some of
the Galatians, of whom the apostle was afraid, lest he had bestowed upon them
labor in vain. They professed great experience of the sweetness and blessedness
which is to be had in religion, and experienced in the truths of the gospel.
Gal. 4:11, 15, “I am afraid of you, lest I have bestowed upon you labour in
vain. Where is then the blessedness ye spake of? for I bear you record, that, if
it had been possible, ye would have plucked out your own eyes, and have given
them to me.” At their first seeming conversion, they appeared to be
exceedingly lifted up with their new light, and full of joy and comfort, and
full of affection. But by this expostulation of the apostle it appears that
their lives afterwards did not well agree with their profession. Some wicked men
may profess that they have seen their own utter insufficiency and helplessness,
their own vileness and wickedness, and have been brought to God’s footstool
self-emptied and self-abased, as wretched, miserable, poor, blind, and naked.
But yet how ill does their walk and life agree with such a profession! In this
none appear fuller of themselves than they. None seem to manifest more of a
spirit of self-sufficiency, and of dependence on their own righteousness, or
more high conceit of their own goodness, or are more ready to say to others,
“Stand by thyself, come not nigh to me, for I am holier than thou.” None
appear in their walk and conversation further from lying in the dust as being
poor in spirit than they. So it was with the Pharisees, they pretended to be
extraordinarily emptied of themselves, and to have a low thought of themselves,
in their wearing a rough garment, and in so often keeping days of fasting. And
yet none were more self-righteous and self-sufficient than these very men, who
are set forth in sacred history as living examples of self-righteousness to all
succeeding ages.
So some of them may
profess that they have had great discoveries made to their souls of God’s
glory and excellency, and that they have seen how much more glorious God is than
all earthly things. But if it be so, why do not they cleave to God, and follow
him, rather than other things? If they have known God to be so much more
excellent than the things of the world, because they have had acquaintance with
God, why do they in their practice cast off God for the sake of the things of
the world? Why do they in their practice prefer a little of the world, a little
worldly gain, a little worldly honor, or a little worldly convenience or
pleasure, before God? Certainly, if God be more excellent than the whole world,
as they profess that they have seen him to be, then surely he is worth more than
so small a part of the world.
So they may tell
what love they have found in their hearts to God, how they have found their
hearts drawn out in love to him at different times. But if they love him so
well, why do they take no more care to please him? Why are they so careless of
his honor, and of their duty to him? Why do they allow themselves in practices
which they know he hates, and utterly forbids?
So they may profess
that they have seen the truth of the gospel, and that they not only think, but
know, that the Scripture is the Word of God. But if it be so, why do they not
take more heed to it? why do they live not only as if they were not certain of
it, but as if they were certain of the contrary? If they know that those
commands which are in the Bible are the commands of God, then they are worthy of
the greatest regard. If they know that those promises and threatenings which are
found there are the promises and threatenings of God, then surely they should be
of great weight with us. Why do they seem to be of so little weight with them?
So they may tell
how God has manifested his love to their souls, has given his Spirit to witness
with their spirit that they are the children of God, and that they have much
communion with God. But if God has done such great things for them, and they are
admitted to such unspeakable privileges above others, surely they ought to do
more than others. They should not appear more carnal, and careless, and
unchristian in their temper and walk than other men who make no such pretenses.
Thus wicked men’s practice is very often inconsistent with their profession,
agreeably to Tit. 1:16, “They profess that they know God, but in works they
deny him; being abominable and disobedient, and to every good work reprobate.”
VI. Their practice
is inconsistent with their hope of eternal life. Men in general who live in
Christian countries, hope to go to heaven, and there to possess eternal glory
with God, and Christ, and holy saints and angels, though some of them have a
much more confident hope than others. Some of them think that God has already
made over this glory to them by firm promises, they look on heaven as their own,
they think they belong to that world, and have an inheritance reserved there for
them.
But the practice of
wicked men is very inconsistent with such a hope, it is very displeasing to that
God, and that glorious Redeemer, with whom they hope to spend their eternity in
heaven. Though they live wickedly, yet they hope in a little time to go to be
with an infinitely holy God, to be received by him with perfect approbation and
delight, to be near to him, and to dwell in the courts of his love. They hope to
enter into that same holy of holies, into which Christ the forerunner of saints
has entered, and there to dwell, there to be as a pillar in the temple of God,
to go no more out. Yea, they hope there to sit in that heavenly holy of holies,
to be admitted to a higher privilege than the high priests were of old in the
earthly holy of holies, who were admitted only to appear in the holy of holies
once a year. What holiness was expected of the high priests of old who were
admitted to this privilege! What holiness then may well be expected of those who
hope to be admitted to a so much greater privilege! Their wicked life is very
unsuitable to that state of heaven. Those who are in heaven are all perfectly
holy, and so must they become if ever they go to heaven. They will perfectly
hate all wickedness, and perfectly delight in the contrary. How disagreeable
therefore is the hope of spending eternity in such a heaven, to their wallowing
like swine in the filth and mire of sin, and feeding with such eagerness and
delight on the loathsome objects of their lusts, as worms feed with pleasure on
the loathsome carcass!
Their wicked life
is very unfit for the company of heaven, with which they must spend an eternity,
if ever they arrive there, even with the holy angels and saints. Heb. 12:22, 23,
“But ye are come unto mount Sion, and unto the city of the living God, the
heavenly Jerusalem, and to an innumerable company of angels; to the general
assembly and church of the first-born, which are written in heaven, and to God
the judge of all, and to the spirits of just men made perfect.” How
disagreeable is a carnal, worldly, sensual, impure life, to a hope of being one
of such an assembly as this to all eternity!
Their wicked life
is very disagreeable to the eternal business of heaven, which consists in
employing their faculties altogether on holy objects, in employing their
understandings in viewing and contemplating the holy perfections of God, and his
wonderful works, and their wills and affections in loving God, and delighting
themselves in him, and their whole souls in praising and serving him. Rev. 22:3,
4, “And there shall be no more curse: but the throne of God and of the Lamb
shall be in it; and his servants shall serve him; and they shall see his face;
and his name shall be in their foreheads.” How inconsistent is a life spent in
this world in the service of lust and of the devil, to a hope of spending
eternity in such a holy manner as this!
Their wicked life
is unfitted for the pleasure and entertainment of heaven, which consist in
delighting and rejoicing in God, in loving him, and in holy communion with him.
How unsuited to a hope of enjoying such a happiness as this throughout eternity
is it to place all one’s delight and happiness here in hoarding up worldly
pelf, in gratifying the bodily appetites and sensitive desires, and in those
pleasures that are common to the cattle and the swine?
Wicked men hope to
spend their eternity in that world, which is a world of perfect peace and love,
and to dwell there forever, where are no jars nor strife, but perfect agreement,
harmony, and love forever. Yet many of them live a life of malice and contention
in this world, are very often in one strife or other, and always carry about in
their breasts a malice and hatred towards some of their neighbors, and towards
some of those same persons with whom they pretend to hope to spend their
eternity in such perfect love and amity. If we in our thoughts compare the life
that many men actually live in this world, with that life which they hope to
live in another world, how ill do they consist together; how disagreeable and
shocking is the comparison, or the union of them in our thoughts! How many are
there who now are drunkards or unclean persons, or who live in the neglect of
secret prayer, and who cast off fear and restrain prayer before God. And how
many that are mere earth-worms in covetousness and eagerness after the world;
how many proud men whose God is their earthly honor; how many wrathful men who
spend their days in hatred of their neighbor; how many such are there who hope
in a little time to be with an infinitely holy God, in his glorious presence, in
his holy of holies, and with Jesus Christ, and in the arms of his love, and to
be of the assembly of holy angels and saints in perfect purity, holiness, and
love, loving, contemplating, and admiring God’s glory, and enjoying
unspeakable blessedness in communion with God! Thus wicked men’s practice
disagrees with their hopes.
VII. The practice
of wicked men is inconsistent with itself.
First, their
practice at one time is inconsistent with their practice at another. They are
not of a piece with themselves at different times, but are such as the apostle
James compares to “a wave of the sea, driven of the wind and tossed;” and
such as he called “double-minded.” At one time they are of one mind, with
respect to the things of religion; and at another, of another; and so have one
mind against another. It is so with false professors of religion. They are not
steadfast in God’s covenant, nor in the practice of religion. At one time they
may seem to be much affected with the things of religion, and greatly engaged in
their spirits about it, as though they could even pluck out their own eyes for
God and Christ’s sake, may be full of religious conversation, and may seem
forward in religious deeds. But, if we observe them, all their goodness is as
the morning cloud, all their religiousness is over, and they appear as carnal,
and senseless, and as irreligious as ever. Their religious affections are all
gone, their religious practice is gone, and “it is happened unto them
according to the true proverb. The dog is turned to his own vomit again; and the
sow that was washed to her wallowing in the mire.”
So it is with the
hearers, that hear the Word of God, and anon with joy receive it, but in time of
temptation fall away. So it was with many of Christ’s followers. They followed
him for a while, and by and by left him.
There were some who
seemed to believe in Christ and followed him for a while. But Christ did not
commit himself to them, he knew they were of an unstable mind, and would not be
consistent with themselves. Some of them were for a while greatly affected with
his preaching and with the miracles that he wrought, and it is said of them that
the glorified God who had given such power to men, and said, “Never man spake
like this man.” John 7:46. And it seems as though some of the same Jews who
had their affections so raised when Christ was coming into Jerusalem, and who
cried, “Hosannah to the son of David, blessed is he that cometh in the name of
the Lord;” did presently after cry, “Crucify him, crucify him!” There are
many professors like those, and like the Israelites, that sang God’s praise,
and soon forgat his works, and waited not for his counsel, that “turned back,
and dealt unfaithfully like their fathers. They were turned aside like a
deceitful bow.” That is, a bow that missed the mark to which it seemed to
direct the arrow. The arrow seems to be pointed right, as though it would hit
the mark, but yet the bow unexpectedly tends quite another way.
There are many
disciples like Judas, who was at one time a disciple, and a traitor at another.
It is commonly so that when false professors come to be tried by any remarkable
allurements of the world, or by special difficulties which they meet with in the
way of duty, that their practice as such times is quite inconsistent with their
practice at other times. While times are smooth, and the way plain, and the
external practice of religion seems to be consistent with their worldly
interests, they are very religious. But when times are changed, and they cannot
be religious without seeing them crossed, they appear quite another sort of men.
Thus their practice
at one time is inconsistent with their practice at another.
Second,
their practice in some things is inconsistent with their practice in others at
the same time.
1. Their moral and
religious practice in some things does not consist with their irreligious and
impure practice in others. False professors are very commonly widely different
in this respect from those who are sincere and upright. Sincere Christians are
universally holy. They have regard to all God’s commands. It is their sincere
desire, aim, and endeavor to do their duty in every respect. But it is generally
far otherwise with hypocrites. In some things they are like Christians, in
others like heathens. Sometimes they appear earnestly religious in duties that
immediately respect God, as in attending ordinances, and in appearing devout in
external duties of the first table. But in duties that respect their neighbor,
there is but little appearance of Christianity. Some behave themselves like
saints in God’s house, and like devils at home. Some seem to be very religious
abroad, in the house of God, and also at the houses of their neighbors, at
private meetings, and in religious conferences. But if you follow them into
their own families, and observe their carriage there towards those who dwell
under the same roof, towards their wives, or husbands, or children, or servants,
their behavior there does not at all consist with the other. So some may carry
themselves well in their families, and yet are wretchedly negligent of the
religion of the closet. Some seem to be religious men, who are not honest men.
Some are honest men, and are not religious. They are willing to pay their debts,
to speak the truth, and to avoid all knavish actions, all low and underground
management. But as to religion, or to seeking God in the religious use of his
ordinances, and in reading his holy word, in meditation and prayer, there is but
little of this to be seen in them.
Some are honest men
with respect to strict commutative justice, but they are not charitable men.
They are selfish, covetous, close, and unmerciful. Some seem to be generous and
liberal, and yet are very proud and haughty. Their honor is their God. Some are
very strict and exemplary as to all that can be seen of men, but secretly they
live in some abominable practice. So their practice does not consist with
itself. It is not of a piece. God complains of this self-inconsistency in Israel
of old. Hos. 7:8, “Ephraim hath mixed himself among the people; Ephraim is a
cake not turned.” “He hath mixed himself among the people;” that is, he
was conversant with the heathen nations, and mingled the religion and customs of
an Israelite with those of the heathen; so that he was inconsistent with
himself, he was partly an Israelite and partly a heathen. “He is a cake not
turned,” alluding to their custom of baking cakes on the hearth, or in the
sun; where, if they were not turned, one side would be baked, and the other raw.
So they on one side seemed to appear religious, and like saints, but on the
other, wicked and impure. So it was with the Pharisees. In some things they
appeared eminently religious, but in others they behaved themselves as some of
the vilest of me. Mat. 23:14, 23, “Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees,
hypocrites! for ye devour widows’ houses, and for a pretence, make long
prayers; therefore ye shall receive the greater damnation. Woe unto you, scribes
and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye pay tithe of mint, and anise, and cumin, and
have omitted the weightier matters of the law, judgment, mercy, and faith: these
ought ye to have done, and not to leave the other undone.” A true saint is
sanctified throughout, in soul, body, and spirit. He has put off the old man
with his deeds, and has put on the new man. He is all over a new creature. He
has not only a new hand and head, but he is a new man, all the members are new.
But hypocrites are monsters. They have a saint’s tongue, and a devil’s
heart. The members do not well consist together. They are inconsistent with
themselves as they go about to serve two masters, God and Mammon, which Christ
has taught us to be a great inconsistency. They are alike inconsistent as the
Samaritans were, who would serve the God of Israel and their own god too. 2 Kin.
17:28, etc. “Then one of the priests, whom they had carried away from Samaria,
came and dwelt in Bethel, and taught them how they should fear the Lord. Howbeit
every nation made gods of their own, and put them in the houses of the high
places which the Samaritans had made, every nation in their cities wherein they
dwelt.”
There is the like
inconsistency in them as was in Judas, who betrayed Christ with a kiss. How ill
did those two things in Judas consist together, his coming to him and kissing
him, his seeming to show himself his friend, and at the same time betraying him
to death! But it was not greater inconsistency than is commonly found with
hypocritical professors, who carry themselves as Christ’s friends, and as
though he were very dear to them in some things, and yet act the part of mortal
enemies in others, and by their wicked behavior do indeed betray his cause and
interest.
2. Their wicked
practice in one thing is inconsistent with their wicked practice in others. It
is a common thing for wicked men to quarrel with God for permitting those things
which they allow themselves, and practice with delight. It is common for wicked
men to ascribe the blame of their wickedness to God, therein following their
first father, Adam. So men will often lay the blame of their being unconverted,
and having lived so wicked a life, so carnal, careless, and evil a life, to God,
and especially under conviction, to quarrel with God for it. And yet they
approved of those things which they did themselves, with full consent and
approbation.
And again. It is
common for wicked men to contend with men, and hate their neighbor, for doing
the same thing that they do themselves, and allow in themselves. So an unjust
man, a backbiter and reviler, a revengeful man, will condemn in others
the sin which he allows in himself. And so, many other instances might be
mentioned. And thus I have showed through all the instances proposed, how wicked
men are inconsistent with themselves.
APPLICATION
I. Hence we may see
the woeful ruin which sin has brought on the nature of man. Man was not thus in
his first estate. If we had nothing but the light of nature, or the light of our
own reason to guide us, that would be sufficient to lead us to conclude that man
in his first estate was not made thus by his Creator, who has made other things
in such excellent order and harmony. We see that God hath so made the world,
that one thing sweetly harmonizes with another, all things are adapted to each
other, the nature of one thing to the nature of another; one thing to be
subservient to another; and all things subject to the laws that the Creator has
fixed.
We therefore,
without the Scripture, should have all reason to conclude that man, the most
noble of all the creatures in the visible world, was not made in this state of
woeful inconsistency with himself; so that all the faculties of his nature are
at war with each other, and at war with themselves; so that now there is nothing
but the most dreadful confusion to be seen.
But the Scripture
teaches us plainly that God saw all things that he had created and made, and
behold, they were very good; and particularly that God made man upright, and
that it is himself that has brought ruin on his own nature. In man’s first
estate all things were in perfect order in his nature. There shone such a light
in his understanding as led him to right judgments of things, all the dictates
of his understanding were consistent one with another. And then his reason, the
superior faculty, kept its place, and bare rule in him over the other faculties,
and there was no principle or faculty of his nature but what was subject to its
dictates, nothing rose up in rebellion against it. His will then was agreeable
to his reason, and agreeable with itself. There was a perfect harmony between
his outward appearance and his inward character. His mouth and his heart and his
mouth and practice then agreed together, and his practice then was of a piece.
Until he ate of the forbidden fruit, all was in perfect order, and peace, and
decorum, both within and without.
But what was the
consequence when man hearkened to the devil, and rebelled against his Maker? We
learn, by what has been said under this doctrine, that then the Spirit of God
departed from him, and with his influence, God’s holy image also, the life,
the crown, and glory of his nature left him, and all light, and regularity, and
order were gone, and a worse darkness and confusion succeeded than was in the
primitive chaos when it was without form and void, and darkness was upon the
face of the deep. And such is the woeful confusion of the nature of all men now
in their fallen state. Now their reason determines one thing, and their
governing practical judgment the reverse of it. And their judgment in some
things is utterly inconsistent with their judgment in others. Now the will is in
no consistency with the reason, but commonly determines directly contrary to its
dictates. Men’s wills are in such bondage and slavery to their lusts, that
they are not only determined contrary to their own consciences to choose those
things which their reason tells them are unjust, and vile, and unbecoming their
nature, but also those things which their reason at the same time declares to be
exceedingly against their own highest interest, even so as to tend to their
everlasting perdition. Yea, their dispositions are not only contrary to their
own reason and consciences, but contrary to themselves. There is not only war
between faculty and faculty, but the very same faculty is at war with itself, so
that they do in some respects choose and refuse the same things at the same
time. There are some things that they seem earnestly to wish for, and yet indeed
are at the same time utterly averse to and refuse, and will by no means accept
of when offered. Yea, they will not have them though they are urged, and
entreated, and pleaded with for years together to accept of them. So
inconsistent are their dispositions with themselves, that they will not have
spiritual and divine things as they are, nor yet will they have them otherwise.
They do not like God as he is, they find abundance of fault with him, they are
urged to accept of him as their God, but they will by no means comply with it.
They reject him, and have an enmity against him. They love to keep at a distance
from him, and to have as little as possible to do with him, and will not hearken
to him, or submit to him, but are ever maintaining a kind of warfare against
him, because they do not like him as he is. And yet they would not like him if
he were any otherwise. If it were possible that he could be altered from what he
is in any respect whatsoever, they would refuse to accept of him as their God
then. They are enemies to him because he is so holy and just a God, and yet they
would not like him if he were unholy and unjust. They do not like his almighty
power, and yet they would not like him if he were weak. They also dislike his
knowing all things, and yet they would dislike him if he were ignorant. They
quarrel with God for the exercise of his infinite mercy and grace to others, and
the more for its being so great in some instances, in being exercised towards
those who are so unworthy. And yet they would not like him if he were not
infinitely merciful. They would wish him to be merciful enough to pardon the
most unworthy, and yet sometimes quarrel with him because he is no more
merciful.
Now there is a
similar inconsistency in them with themselves in that they do not like men for
being godly. They have an enmity against such sort of men. And at the same time,
they do not like those who are godly, they hate men for being wicked, and will
have a bitter spirit against them for it. The world in its fallen state cannot
agree with the church of God. It has always had a spite against it, and has
almost always from the beginning of the world hitherto been persecuting it. And
yet neither can they agree among themselves, but are at the same time contending
and quarreling with one another. And as there is no suiting them in this world,
so neither is there any suiting them in another. They would neither go to
heaven, nor to hell. They do not like heaven because it is holy. And yet they
would not like it if it were a world of wickedness. And such is the jarring and
confusion that is in their disposition, that those things that they do choose
are impossibilities, and self-contradictions, and self-inconsistencies. They
would have a sufficient Savior and not a holy one. They would have one good, and
excellent, and holy enough to save them, and yet would not have one with any
holiness at all. They have a mind to have salvation from misery, without
salvation from sin; when sin is their misery. They have a mind to have light,
and yet to keep darkness without light. They would have a light consisting in
darkness; and sweet, consisting in bitterness; and good, consisting in evil.
They would have such a sort of happiness as is impossible in its own nature. For
they would have happiness with unholiness, which is as much as to say they would
be happy men, and yet remain destroyed and ruined. And when
life and death are set before them to choose, and they are urged to make their
choice, and told that they must certainly have one or the other, that there is
no possibility of avoiding it; yet they will come to a deliberate, determinate
choice to have neither one nor the other. They are always halting between two
opinions, they are always choosing and yet never come to a choice. Instead of
those holy principles that man had in his heart at first, that sweetly consented
one with another, he has now introduced into his soul a number of vile and
hateful lusts, that clash one with another: pride clashing with covetousness,
and covetousness thwarting sensuality, and sloth crushing all these. And instead
of the purity in body and mind, which man had at first, he is now, if he has any
show of purity, become like a whited sepulcher, that is beautifully adorned
outside, and within full of dead men’s bones, and all uncleanness. Their faces
disagree with their hearts, and their mouths disagree with their hearts. They
have the visage and show of saints, and the hearts of devils. Their prayers are
filled up with thanksgiving, adoration, great honor to God, praise and glory to
him, a show of humility before him, a show of repentance for sin, trust,
thankfulness, desire of obedience, and trust in Christ alone; when within is
nothing but a slight and contempt of God, enmity against God, distrust of God,
pride, self-righteousness, obstinacy, and disobedience, without one jot or
tittle of honor, or love, or trust, or humility, or repentance, or obedience, or
any of those things that there is a show of in their prayers. And now they say
and profess one thing, and practice another. They will show one thing to God,
and do another, and will live all their days in this world carnally,
contentious, and alienated from God, in the indulgence of brutish lusts and
filthiness. And yet hope when they die to go to be with him, and in eternal
communion with him in perfect holiness, and with holy angels, spending an
eternity in holy contemplation and praise, and to have these things for their
everlasting happiness. And when they seem to practice well for a time it lasts
but a little while, but their practice at one time is utterly inconsistent with
that at another. Yea, if they were narrowly observed, their practice at the same
time is inconsistent with itself: saints at church, and heathen at home; saints
before the world, heathen in secret; with the tongues and faces of the children
of God, and with the hearts of the children of the devil.
Such work has the
fall made in the nature of man, such a creature as this is man become, instead
of shining as at first, in the holy and lovely image of God. Thus has the fall
of man ruined God’s workmanship. And if the fall has thus ruined man,
what can be more effectually ruined? Does not this show that it is indeed so,
that man is in a lost and undone condition. And can it be expected that any
other can ever restore to him the divine image, but only that same God that made
him at first? And how vain are the attempts of natural men to rectify their
natures in their own strength, wherein is such woeful ruin and confusion! And is
there not need of a mighty Savior in order to this?
II. This subject
may be applied in the way of conviction to natural men, in several particulars.
First,
hence you may see your folly. Wisdom is ever consistent with itself, and wise
men are not wont to act inconsistently. Self-inconsistency in temporal things is
ever looked upon as a note of folly. Those men that talk very inconsistently,
are accounted to talk very foolishly. And so those men that act inconsistently
with themselves in temporal matters, are looked upon as acting very absurdly and
ridiculously, and it is common with men to treat such with derision. Certainly,
then, to be so exceedingly self-inconsistent in such great concerns as we have
spoken of, is the highest degree of folly.
The inconsistency
of the judgment of wicked men shows their folly. It shows the foolishness of
those practical judgments they govern themselves by, that they make them
contrary to the plain dictates of their own reason. Men oftentimes count the
judgments of others very foolish, because they are very inconsistent with other
men’s reason, though their judgments are formed according to the best light of
their own reason. But how much more foolish is it for men, in such things as
infinitely concern them, to make such practical judgments of things as are
plainly contrary not only to other men’s reason, but to their own; so as to
determine their will and their practice by those judgments! As for instance,
when men’s practical judgment and conclusion within themselves, by which they
determine their choice and practice, is that it is best for them for the
present, to neglect their souls and seek the vanities of this world, which are
but for a moment, more than their eternal welfare.
And how does it
show the folly of men’s judgment when some of their judgments are inconsistent
with others; as when in one thing they will judge that a long-continued eternity
is of less importance than this short and fleeting life! So it shows the great
folly of men’s wills and dispositions, that they are so inconsistent, that in
some respects they will both choose and refuse the same things, will wish and
pray for them, and take pains for them, and yet will not have them when offered.
How madly would a man be looked upon to act, that should so act in temporal
concerns, if he was sick and like to perish for want of a certain medicine, and
should wish and long for that medicine, and ask others to seek it for him, and
yet when it was bought and offered, he should utterly refuse it!
What folly does it
argue that men’s dispositions are so inconsistent with each other, that there
is no suiting them with anything! They are pleased neither with piping nor
mourning, with eating nor fasting. They will not have God, or Christ, or heaven
as they are, and yet will not have either any otherwise. How would men, if they
manifested such a disposition in temporal things, often be hissed at, as most
ridiculous, childish, and foolish. Yea, and be accounted to act like madmen! And
what folly does it discover that they will choose and accept of nothing but that
which is impossible in its own nature, and a self-contradiction, as when they
will have happiness without holiness! If any man should act thus in temporal
things, if he would have no house because he could not build one in the air, if
he refused to go because he could not go without feet, or to see because he
could not see without eyes, what words would be thought adequate to describe his
folly! Yet this is the very folly of sinners with regard to their salvation.
How would men be
looked upon if they acted thus in their temporal affairs! If they must
inevitably perish in the winter if they did not labor in the summer, and yet
spend all the summer in halting between two opinions. Or if they were sick with
some deadly disease, and were told that they must inevitably die if they did not
send for a physician, yet were undetermined, and when the distemper increased
upon them, still continued undetermined, and when it was come to extremity, and
seemed very near death, still could not come to a conclusion; or if a house
should be on fire over their heads, and they could not make up their minds to
flee from under it.
And what folly does
it argue for men, that their practices are so inconsistent with their hearts,
and that they say one thing and do another, and so are unsteady in their
practice, and inconsistent with themselves at different times! It is looked upon
as great folly, and what persons are much to be ashamed of, to be so unsteady in
temporal matters, to undo one day what they did another. And so, in their
practice in some things to be inconsistent with their practice in others. In one
thing to act like a friend, and in another like an enemy. Persons that do so in
temporals are abhorred of men, and looked upon as not fit for human society.
Second,
you may hereby be convinced of your misery. A man cannot be happy, and cannot
but be miserable, with whom it is thus. It shows a man to be undone. He, whose
nature is brought into such violation, is evidently brought into a state of
ruin. Where there is such self-inconsistency and self-opposition, a man is at
war with himself, and therefore must be miserable. It is a calamity for a man
not to be at peace with his neighbor, and to live in contention with those that
are about him. But certainly it is a much greater calamity for him to be at war
with himself, to have his judgment at war with his judgment, and his will at war
with his reason and conscience, and his will at war with itself, and one lust
thwarting another, and his outward man at war with his inward man, his mouth
contradicting his heart, his practice contradicting his profession, and
contradicting itself. It is impossible that such a man should enjoy any
happiness as long as things are thus within him. Do what you will here, you
cannot make him happy. If you take him and place him in a palace, and set him on
a throne, and clothe him in the robes of princes, and put a crown of gold on his
head, and set before him the richest dainties, feed him and feast him as much as
you will, still he that so disagrees with himself, is a miserable wretch. Though
he may be stupid, yet it is impossible he should enjoy any true peace or rest.
How should he, in whom all things are in such utter confusion and uproar within,
and in whom there is so much self-opposition.
This may convince
us of the truth, and show us the reason, of Isa. 57:20, 21, “But the wicked
are like the troubled sea, when it cannot rest, whose waters cast up mire and
dirt. There is no peace, saith my God, to the wicked.”
How should he have
any peace, who is his own enemy, who chooses and practices these things which
his own conscience condemns, and which his own reason tells him tend to his own
ruin? How should he have any peace, that hates his own soul and loves his own
death, and that has one lust holding him one way, and another the contrary, so
as in some respects to choose and refuse the same thing, to wish for a thing
that at the same time he hates and refuses, and so goes on from day to day in
warring against himself?
Third,
this shows your inexcusableness. By this inconsistency with yourself, you are
condemned out of your own mouth in that you act contrary to your own conscience.
Your own conscience condemns you in your will and practice being contrary to
your own reason. Your own reason condemns you in acting contrary to your
profession. Your own profession condemns you in the sense in which the apostle
speaks of a heretic as being condemned of himself. Tit. 3:10, 11, “A man that
is a heretic, after the first and second admonition, reject; knowing that he
that is such is subverted, and sinneth, being condemned of himself:” i.e.
he in departing from his former profession is inconsistent with himself. His
present heretical tenets are contrary to his former solemn profession, and
therefore that former profession condemns him.
Consider how
inexcusable you, who are thus inconsistent with yourself in your wickedness,
will appear at the last day, when you come to stand before the judgment-seat of
God, when you are by him called to an account for your wicked life, how will
your mouth be stopped. When you are called to an account why you have preferred
things of such short and uncertain continuance as the things of this vain world,
to the great things of the eternal world, what will you have to say for
yourself, when it shall appear that herein you acted in direct opposition to the
plain dictates of your own reason, and that this choice is inconsistent with the
judgment and choice you were wont to make in temporal things? And what will you
say for yourself when you are called to give an account why you rejected God,
and Christ, and heaven for their holiness; when it so plainly appears that you
would not like them, and would not have accepted them, if they had been any
other way than holy?
It will then appear
that you have voluntarily rejected Christ and his great salvation, and refused
to accept of heaven, and that you are condemned of yourself in it, in that at
the same time you evinced the great necessity of those things in praying for
them, and doing many things in order to the obtaining of them.
When it shall then
appear how you had a mind to have impossibilities: as a sufficiently worthy
Savior, and not a holy one; salvation from misery, and not salvation from sin,
the source of all misery; and happiness without holiness. It shall from hence
most plainly appear, that you did in effect utterly refuse to accept of any
Savior or any salvation at all, and would not be saved from misery at all, and
refused to accept of any happiness at all, because you would have no salvation,
no happiness, but such as was impossible in the nature of things, such a
salvation as was not and could not be. And then how just will it appear to your
own conscience, and to the world, that you should e’en go without salvation!
And when it shall
appear how you had life and death set before you, and were told the necessity of
coming to a choice, and were so often urged to it, and had so much opportunity
for it, and yet refused. How just will it appear that divine justice should make
your choice for you, when you refused to make any for yourself!
And how will you
appear condemned out of your own mouth, when you shall be called to an account
by the Judge, why you so often professed to God in your prayers that he was an
infinitely great and holy God, and yet never feared him. And why you so often
said to God that he was a sovereign and righteous God, and yet never submitted
to him. And why you so often said to him that the was an all-sufficient and
faithful God, and yet never would put your trust in him. And why you so often
said to him that he was an infinitely glorious, and excellent, and good God, and
yet never loved him. And why you so often owned that he was an infinitely
gracious and bountiful God, and what you had received abundance of kindness from
him, and owned him to be the author of all those good things of your life that
you enjoy, and yet never were truly thankful to him, but improved those things
that you owned were the gifts of God, against himself who was the giver of them.
Why you so often owned in your prayers before God that you were a poor sinful,
vile creature for your sins, and yet never would forsake your sins, and begged
of God to keep you from sin, and yet carelessly and willfully went on in the
commission of sin? What will you say to such interrogations of the Judge of
heaven and earth? Will not your mouth be stopped when it shall appear that what
has already so often proceeded out of your own mouth, does so much condemn you?
And what will hypocrites and self-pretenders to experiences say, who have told
what discoveries they had of the glory of God, of Christ, and of heaven. When
the Judge inquires of them, why they set so light by this God, and did so prefer
the dust of the earth and the filth of sin before him? When those who have often
told what love they have felt to the Lord Jesus Christ, are asked why they took
no more care to please and honor him, and why they rather chose from time to
time to reject him than sacrifice their worldly interest.
So when wicked men
are inquired of why, when they professed to believe a future state, they took no
more pains to prepare for it. Why, when they professed to be the followers of
Christ the Lamb of God, they were no more like him? Why, when they owned him for
their head, and expressed such wonderful love to him, they could turn and become
his enemies? Why, when they lived in hope of a life of such unspeakable glory in
heaven, they set their affections wholly on this world? Why, seeing they made
such a show of regard to God and their duty at one time, they discovered such a
total disregard at another? Why, when they made such pretenses to religion, and
had such appearances of it in some things, they were so irreligious and wicked
in others? What will they answer? Wicked men will appear self-condemned every
way: their own reason and their own consciences, their own mouths and their own
actions, have condemned them. Their reason and consciences will still condemn
them, and God will condemn them, and men and angels will and must condemn them.
So that they will appear universally condemned, they will have nothing to say
for themselves, nor will any one have anything to say for them.
Fourth,
if you are so inconsistent with yourself, you need not wonder that God will
enter into no friendship with you, or that he does not receive you into his
favor. Many natural men are ready to wonder that god will not receive them into
favor — they do so much in religion.
But if you consider
what has been said, you need not wonder at it. A wise man will make no
friendship with another who is very inconsistent with himself in those things
wherein men are concerned with him. He will not associate himself with him, nor
care to have such to communicate with him. For men know that such persons are
not to be depended on. One does not know where to find them, nor how to suit
them, and if they will be so inconsistent with themselves, certainly they will
not be very consistent with others that trust them. God therefore justly refuses
to receive such persons into union with him. It is not consistent with his
divine wisdom to give himself to them in a covenant relation.
No wonder that
Christ will not commit himself to such persons as these. John 2:23, 24, 25,
“Now, when he was in Jerusalem at the passover, in the feast day, many
believed in his name, when they saw the miracles which he did. But Jesus did not
commit himself unto them, because he knew all men, and needed not that any
should testify of man; for he knew what was in man.” Christ knew that there
was no dependence to be had upon them. He knew they would not prove consistent
with themselves.
Fifth,
how vain and inconsistent is the dependence of wicked men on themselves! If this
be the case with natural men, if all natural men are as we have heard, so
absurdly inconsistent with themselves, how unreasonable is their high thought of
themselves, and their trusting to their own goodness, to their own prayers, and
their other performances!
Added to Bible Bulletin Board's Jonathan Edwards Collection by:
Tony Capoccia
Bible Bulletin Board
Box 119
Columbus, New Jersey, USA, 08022
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Email: tony@biblebb.com
Online since 1986