|
The Allegories of Sarah and Hagar
A Sermon Delivered on Sabbath Morning, March 2, 1856, by the
REV. C.H. SPURGEON
At New Park Street Chapel, Southwark
"These are the two covenants."Galatians 4:24.
There cannot be a greater difference in the world between
two things than there is between law and grace. And yet, strange to say, while the things
are diametrically opposed and essentially different from each other, the human mind is so
depraved, and the intellect, even when blessed by the Spirit, has become so turned aside
from right judgment, that one of the most difficult things in the world is to discriminate
properly between law and grace. He who knows the difference, and always recollects
itthe essential difference between law and gracehas grasped the marrow of
divinity. He is not far from understanding the gospel theme in all its ramifications, its
outlets, and its branches, who can properly tell the difference between law and grace.
There is always in a science some part which is very simple and easy when we have learned
it, but which, in the commencement, stands like a high threshold before the porch. Now,
the first difficulty in striving to learn the gospel is this. Between law and grace there
is a difference plain enough to every Christian, and especially to every enlightened and
instructed one; but still, when most enlightened and instructed, there is always a
tendency in us to confound the two things. They are as opposite as light and darkness, and
can no more agree than fire and water; yet man will be perpetually striving to make a
compound of themoften ignorantly, and sometimes wilfully. They seek to blend the
two, when God has positively put them asunder.
We shall attempt this morning to teach you something of the allegories of
Sarah and Hagar, that you may thereby better understand the essential difference between
the covenants of law and of grace. We shall not go fully into the subject, but shall only
give such illustrations of it as the text may furnish us. First, I shall want you to
notice the two women, whom Paul uses as typesHagar and Sarah; then I shall
notice the two sonsIshmael and Isaac; in the third place, I shall notice Ishmael's
conduct to Isaac; and I shall conclude by noticing the the different fates of the
two.
I. First, we invite you to notice THE TWO WOMENHagar and Sarah. It is
said that they are the types of the two covenants; and before we start we must not forget
to tell you what the covenants are. The first covenant for which Hagar stands, is the
covenant of works, which is this: "There is my law, O man; if thou on thy side wilt
engage to keep it, I on my side will engage that thou shalt live by keeping it. If thou
wilt promise to obey my commands perfectly, wholly, fully, without a single flaw, I will
carry thee to heaven. But mark me, if thou violatest one command, if thou dost rebel
against a single ordinance, I will destroy thee for ever." That is the Hagar
covenantthe covenant propounded on Sinai, amidst tempests, fire and smokeor
rather, propounded, first of all, in the garden of Eden, where God said to Adam, "In
the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die." As long as he did not eat of
the tree, but remained spotless and sinless, he was most assuredly to live. That is the
covenant of the law, the Hagar covenant. The Sarah covenant is the covenant of grace, not
made with God and man, but made with God and Christ Jesus, which covenant is this:
"Christ Jesus on his part engages to bear the penalty of all his people's sins, to
die, to pay their debts, to take their iniquities upon his shoulders; and the Father
promises on his part that all for whom the Son doth die shall most assuredly be saved;
that seeing they have evil hearts, he will put his law in their hearts, that they shall
not depart from it, and that seeing they have sins, he will pass them by and not remember
them any more for ever." The covenant of works was, "Do this and live, O
man!" but the covenant of grace is, "Do this, O Christ, and thou shalt live, O
man!" The difference of covenants rests here. The one was made with man, the other
with Christ; the one was a conditional covenant, conditional on Adam's standing, the other
is a conditional covenant with Christ, but as perfectly unconditional with us. There are
no conditions whatever in the covenant of grace, or if there be conditions, the covenant
gives them. The covenant gives faith, gives repentance, gives good works, gives salvation,
as a purely gratuitous unconditional act; nor does our continuance in that covenant depend
in the least degree on ourselves. The covenant was made by God with Christ, signed,
sealed, and ratified, in all things ordered well.
Now come and look at the allegory. First, I would have you notice, that Sarah
who is the type of the new covenant of grace, was the original wife of Abraham. Before
he knew anything about Hagar, Sarah was his wife. The covenant of grace was the original
covenant after all. There be some bad theologians who teach that God mad man upright, and
made a covenant with him; that man sinned, and that as a kind of afterthought God mad a
new covenant with Christ for the salvation of his people. Now, that is a complete mistake.
The covenant of grace was made before the covenant of works; for Christ Jesus, before the
foundation of the world, did stand as its head and representative; and we are said to be
elect according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, through the obedience and
sprinkling of the blood of Jesus. We, long ere we fell, were loved of God; he did not love
us out of pity to us, but he loved his people, considered purely as creatures. He loved
them when they became sinners; but when he started with them he considered them as
creatures. He allowed them to fall into sin, to show forth the riches of his grace, which
existed before their sin. He did not love them and choose them from among the rest, after
their fall, but he loved them beyond their sin, and before their sin. He made the covenant
of grace before we fell by the covenant of works. If you could go back to eternity, and
ask which is the oldest born, you would hear that grace was born before lawthat it
came into the world long before the law was promulgated. Older even than the fundamental
principles which guide our morals is that great fundamental rock of grace, in covenant
made of old, long ere seers preached the law, and long ere Sinai smoked. Long before Adam
stood in the garden God had ordained his people to eternal life, that they might be saved
through Jesus.
Notice next: though Sarah was the elder wife, yet Hagar bare the first
son. So the first man Adam was the son of Hagar; though he was born perfectly pure and
spotless, he was not the son of Sarah when he was in the garden. Hagar had the first son.
She bore Adam, who lived for a time under the covenant of works. Adam lived in the garden
on this principle. Sins of commission were to be his fall; and if he omitted to do the
sin, then he was to stand for ever. Adam had it entirely in his own power whether he would
obey God or not: his salvation, then, rested simply on this basis, "If thou touchest
that fruit thou diest; if thou obeyest my command, and dost not touch it, thou shalt
live." And Adam, perfect as he was, was but an Ishmael, and not an Isaac, till after
his fall. Apparently, at any rate, he was a Hagarene, though secretly, in
the covenant of grace, he may have been a child of promise. Blessed be God, we are not
under Hagar now; we are not under the law since Adam fell. Now Sarah hath brought forth
children. The new covenant is, "The mother of us all."
But notice again, Hagar was not intended to be a wife; she never ought to
have been anything but a hand-maid to Sarah. The law was never intended to save men:
it was only designed to be a hand-maid to the covenant of grace. When God delivered the
law on Sinai, it was apart from his ideas that any man would ever be saved by it; he never
conceived that man would attain perfection thereby. But you know that the law is a
wondrous handmaid to grace. Who brought us to the Saviour? Was it not the law thundering
in our ears? We should never have come to Christ if the law had not driven us there; we
should never have known sin if the law had not revealed it. The law is Sarah's handmaid to
sweep our hearts, and make the dust fly so that we may cry for blood to be sprinkled that
the dust may be laid. The law is, so to speak, Jesus Christ's dog, to go after his sheep,
and bring them to the shepherd; the law is the thunderbolt which affrighteth ungodly men,
and maketh them turn from the error of their ways, and seek after God. Ah! if we know
rightly how to use the law, if we understand how to put her in her proper place, and make
her obedient to her mistress, then all will be well. But this Hagar will always be wishing
to be mistress, as well as Sarah; and Sarah will never allow that, but will be sure to
treat her harshly, and drive her out. We must do the same; and let none murmur at us, if
we treat the Hagarenes harshly in these daysif we sometimes speak hard things
against those who are trusting in the works of the law. We will quote Sarah as an example.
She treated Hagar harshly, and so will we. We mean to make Hagar flee into the
wilderness: we wish to have nothing to do with her. Yet it is very remarkable, that coarse
and ill-featured as Hagar is, men have always a greater love for her than they have for
Sarah; and they are prone continually to be crying, "Hagar, thou shalt be my
mistress," instead of saying, "Nay, Sarah, I will be thy son, and Hagar shall be
bondmaid." What is God's law now? It is not above a Christianit is under
a Christian. Some men hold God's law like a rod, in terrorem, over Christians, and
say, "If you sin you will be punished with it." It is not so. The law is under a
Christian; it is for him to walk on, to be his guide, his rule, his pattern. "We are
not under the law, but under grace." Law is the road which guides us, not the rod
which drives us, nor the spirit which actuates us. The law is good and excellent, if it
keeps its place. Nobody finds fault with the handmaid, because she is not the wife; and no
one shall despise Hagar because she is not Sarah. If she had but remembered her office, it
had been all well, and her mistress had never driven her out. We do not wish to drive the
law out of chapels, as long as it is kept in its right position; but when it is set up as
mistress, away with her; we will have nought to do with legality.
Again: Hagar never was a free woman, and Sarah never was a slave. So,
beloved, the covenant of works never was free, and none of her children ever were. All
those who trust in works never are free, and never can be, even could they be perfect in
good works. Even if they have no sin, still they are bond-slaves, for when we have done
all that we ought to have done, God is not our debtor, we are debtors still to him, and
still remain as bond-slaves. If I could keep all God's law, I should have no right to
favour, for I should have done no more than was my duty, and be a bond-slave still. The
law is the most rigorous master in the world, no wise man would love its service; for
after all you have done, the law never gives you a "Thank you," for it, but
says, "Go on, sir, go on.!" The poor sinner trying to be saved by law is like a
blind horse going round and round a mill, and never getting a step further, but only being
whipped continually; yea, the faster he goes, the more work he does, the more he is tired,
so much the worse for him. The better legalist a man is, the more sure he is of being
damned; the more holy a man is, if he trust to his works, the more he may rest assured of
his own final rejection and eternal portion with Pharisees. Hagar was a slave; Ishmael,
moral and good as he was, was nothing but a slave, and never could be more. Not all the
works he ever rendered to his father could make him a free-born son. Sarah never was a
slave. She might be sometimes taken prisoner by Pharoah, but she was not a slave then; her
husband might sometimes deny her, but she was his wife still; she was soon owned by her
husband, and Pharoah was soon obliged to send her back. So the covenant of grace might
seem once in jeopardy, and the representative of it might cry, "My Father, if it be
possible, let this cup pass from me;" but it never was in real hazard. And sometimes
the people under the covenant of grace may seem to be captives and bond-slaves; but still
they are free. Oh! that we knew how to "stand fast in the liberty wherewith Christ
hath made us free."
One thought more. Hagar was cast out, as well as her son; but Sarah never
was. So the covenant of works has ceased to be a covenant. Not only have the people
been cast away who trusted in it, not simply was Ishmael cast out, but Ishmael's mother
too. SO the legalist may not only know himself to be damned, but the law as a covenant has
ceased to be, for mother and son are both driven out by the gospel, and those who trust in
law are sent away by God. You ask to-day who is Abraham's wife? Why Sarah; does she not
sleep side by side with her husband in the Machpelah's cave at this instant? There she
lies, and if she lie there for a thousand years to come, she will still be Abraham's wife,
while Hagar never can be. Oh, how sweet to think, that the covenant made of old was in all
things ordered well, and never, never shall be removed. "Although my house be not so
with God, yet hath he made with me an everlasting covenant, ordered in all things and
sure." Ah! ye legalists, I do not wonder that ye teach the doctrine of falling away,
because that is consistent with your theology. Of course, Hagar has to be driven out, and
Ishmael too. But we who preach the covenant of free and full salvation know, that Isaac
never shall be driven out, and that Sarah never shall cease to be the friend and wife of
Abraham. Ye Hagarenes! ye ceremonialists! ye hypocrites! ye formalists! of what avail will
it be, when at last ye shall say, "Where is my mother? Where is my mother, the
law?" Oh! she is driven out, and thou mayest go with her into eternal oblivion. But
where is my mother? the Christian can say at last; and it will be said, "There is the
mother of the faithful, Jerusalem above, the mother of us all; and we shall enter in, and
dwell with our Father and our God."
II. Now we are going to review the TWO SONS. While the two women were types
of the two covenants, the two sons were types of those who live under each covenant. Isaac
is a type of the man who walks by faith, and not by sight, and who hopes to be saved by
grace; Ishmael of the man who lives by works, and hopes to be saved by his own good deeds.
Let us look at these two.
First, Ishmael is the elder. So, beloved, the legalist is a great
deal older than the Christian. If I were a legalist to-day, I should be some fifteen or
sixteen years older than I am as a Christian, for we are all born legalists. Speaking of
Arminians, Whitfield said, "We are all born Arminians." It is grace that turns
us into Calvinists, grace that makes Christians of us, grace that makes us free, and makes
us know our standing in Christ Jesus. The legalist must be expected, then, to have more
might of argument than Isaac; and when the two boys are wrestling, of course Isaac
generally gets a fall, for Ishmael is the biggest fellow. And you must expect to hear
Ishmael making the most noise, for he is to be a wild man, his hand against every man, and
every man's hand against him; whereas Isaac is a peaceful lad. He always stands up for his
mother, and when he is mocked, he can go and tell his mother that Ishmael mocked him, but
that is all that he can do; he has not much strength. So you notice now-a-days. The
Ishmaelites are generally the strongest, and they can give us desperate falls when we get
into argument with them. In fact, it is their boast and glory that the Isaacs have not
much power of reasoningnot much logic. No, Isaac does not want it, for he is an heir
according to promise, and promise and logic do not much consist together. His logic is his
faith; his rhetoric is his earnestness. Never expect the gospel to be victorious when you
are disputing after the manner of men; more usually look to be beaten. If you are
discoursing with a legalist, and he conquers you, say, "Ah! I expected that; it shows
I am an Isaac, for Ishmael will be sure to give Isaac a thrashing, and I am not at all
sorry for it. Your father and mother were in the prime of life, and were strong; and it
was natural that you should overcome me, for my father and mother were quite old people.
But where was the difference between the two lads in their outward
appearance? There was no difference between them as to ordinances, for both of them
were circumcised. There was no distinction with regard to outward and visible signs. So,
my dearly beloved, there is often no difference between Ishmael and Isaac, between the
legalist and the Christian, in matters of outward ceremonies. The legalist takes the
sacrament and is baptized; he would be afraid to die if he did not. And I do not
believe there was much difference as to character. Ishmael was nearly as good and
honorable a man as Isaac; there is nothing said against him in Scripture; indeed, I am led
to believe that he was an especially good lad, from the fact that when God gave a
blessing, he said, "With Isaac shall the blessing be." Abraham, said, "O
that Ishmael might live before thee." He cried to God for Ishmael, because he loved
the lad, doubtless, for his disposition. God said, yes, I will give Ishmael such-and-such
a blessing; he shall be the father of princes, he shall have temporal blessings; but God
would not turn aside, even for Abraham's prayer. And when Sarah was rather fierce, as she
must have been that day when she turned Hagar out of the house, it is said, "It
grieved Abraham because of his son;" and I do not suspect that Abraham's attachment
was a foolish one. There is one trait in Ishmael's character that you love very much. When
Abraham died, he did not leave Ishmael a single stick or stone, for he had previously
given him his portion and sent him away; yet he came to his father's funeral, for it is
said that his sons Ishmael and Isaac buried him in Machpelah. There seems then to have
been but little difference in the characters of the two. So, dearly beloved, there is
little difference between the legalist and the Christian as to the outward walk. They are
both the visible sons of Abraham. It is not a distinction of life; for God allowed Ishmael
to be as good as Isaac, in order to show that it was not the goodness of man that made any
distinction, but that he "will have mercy on whom he will have mercy, and whom he
will be hardeneth."
Then what was the distinction? Paul has told us that the first was
born after the flesh, and the second after the Spirit. The first was a
natural son, the other a spiritual one. Ask the legalist, "You do good works; you
have repented, you say: you are keeping the law, and you have no need to repent. Now,
where did you get your strength from?" Perhaps he says, "Grace;" but if you
ask him what he means, he says that he used it; he had grace, but he used it. Then the
difference is, you used your grace, and others did not. Yes. Well, then, it is your
own doing. You may call it grace, or you may call it mustard; it was no grace after all,
for it was your using, you say, that made the difference. But ask poor Isaac how he has
kept the law, and what does he say? Very badly, indeed. Are you a sinner, Isaac? "Oh!
yes, an exceedingly great one; I have rebelled against my father times without number; I
have often gone astray from him." Then you do not think yourself quite as good as
Ishmael, do you? "No." But yet there is a difference between you and him after
all. What has made the difference? "Why, grace has made me to differ." Why is
not Ishmael an Isaac? Could Ishmael have been an Isaac? "No," says Isaac,
"it was God who made me to differ, from the first to the last; he made me a child of
promise before I was born, and he must keep me so."
"Grace all the work shall crown
Through everlasting days;
It lays in heaven the topmost stone,
And well deserves the praise."
Isaac has more really good works; he does
not stand second to Ishmael. When he is converted, he labours, if it be possible, to serve
his father far more than the legalist does his master; but still doubtless, if you were to
hear both their tales, you would hear Isaac say that he was a poor miserable sinner, while
Ishmael would make himself out a very honorable Pharisaic gentleman. The difference is not
in works, however, but in motives; not in the life, but in the means of sustaining
lifenot in what they do, so much as in how they do it. Here, then, is the difference
between some of you. Not that you legalists are worse than Christians; you may be often
better in your lives, and yet you may be lost. Do you complain of that as unjust? Not in
the least. God says men must be saved by faith, and if you say, "No, I will be saved
by works," you may try it, but you will be lost for ever. It is as if you had a
servant, and you should say, "John, go and do such-and-such a thing in the
stable;" but he goes away and does the reverse, and then says, "Sir, I have done
it very nicely." "Yes," you say, "but that is not what I told you to
do." So God has not told you to work out your salvation by good works; but he has
said, "Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God that
worketh in you to will and to do of his good pleasure." So that when you come before
God with your good works he will say, "I never told you to do that. I said, believe
on the Lord Jesus Christ and be baptized, and thou shalt be saved." "Ah!"
you say, "I though the other was a great deal better way." Sir, you will be lost
for your thoughts. "Why is it that the Gentiles, who followed not after
righteousness, have attained unto righteousness," when Israel, who followed after
righteousness, hath not attained it? It is this: "Because they sought it not by
faith, but by the works of the law."
III. Now I will briefly say a word or two concerning ISHMAEL'S CONDUCT TO
ISAAC. It says that Ishmael mocked Isaac. Have not some of you, dear sons of Hagar, felt
exceedingly irritated when you heard this doctrine? You have said, "It is dreadful,
it is horrible, it is quite unjust, that I may be as good as I like, but if I am not a son
of the promise, I cannot be saved; it is really awful, it is an immoral doctrine; it does
a deal of damage, and ought to be stopped." Of course! That shows that you are an
Ishmael. Of course Ishmael will mock at Isaac; and we need no further explanation. Where
the pure sovereignty of God is preached, where it is held that the child of the promise,
and not the child of the flesh, is the heir, the child of the flesh always makes a hubbub
about it. What said Ishmael to Isaac? "What business have you here? Am I not my
father's eldest son? I should have had all the property, if it had not been for you. Are
you above me?" That is how the legalist talks. "Is not God the father of
everybody? Are we not all his children? He ought not to make any difference." Said
Ishmael: "Am not I as good as you? Do I not serve my father as well? As for you, you
know you are your mother's favourite, but my mother is as good as yours." And so he
teased and mocked at Isaac. That is just how you Arminians do with free salvation. The
legalist says, "I don't see it, I cannot have it, and I won't; if we are both equal
in character, it cannot be fair that one should be lost, and the other saved." And
thus he mocks at free grace. You may get on very easily, if you do not preach free grace
too fully, but if you dare to speak such things, though they are obnoxious to the crowd,
what will people say? They call them "baits for popularity." (See the so-called
FREEMAN Newspaper.) Few fishes, however, bite at those baits. Most men say, "I hate
him, I cannot bear him; he is so uncharitable." You say we preach this to gain
popularity! Why, it is, upon the surface of it, a bare-faced lie; for the doctrine of
God's sovereignty will always be unpopular; men will always hate it, and grind their
teeth, just as they did when Jesus taught it. Many widows he said, were in Israel, but to
none of them was the prophet sent, save unto a widow of Sarepta. And many lepers were in
Israel, but none of them were healed, except one who came far away from Syria. A fine
popularity our Saviour got from that sermon. The people ground their teeth at him; and all
the popularity he had, would have been to be pushed down the hill, from which, it is said,
they would have cast him headlong, but he made his way out of them and escaped. What! popular
to humble a man's pride, to abolish man's standing, and make him cringe before God as a
poor sinner? No; it will never be popular till men be born angels, and all men love the
Lord, and that will not be just yet, I ween.
IV. But we have to enquire WHAT BECAME OF THE TWO SONS.
First, Isaac had all the inheritance, and Ishmael none. Not that
Ishmael came off poorly, for he had many presents, and became very rich and great in this
world; but he had no spiritual inheritance. So the legalist will get many blessings, as a
reward for his legality; he will be respected and honored. "Verily," said
Christ, "the Pharisees have their reward." God does not rob any man of his
reward. Whatever a man angles for, he catches. God pays men all he owes, and a great deal
over; and those who keep his law, even in this world, will receive great favours. By
obeying God's command they will not injure their bodies as much as the vicious, and they
will preserve their reputation better-obedience does good in this way. But then Ishmael
had none of the inheritance. So, thou poor legalist, if thou art depending on thy works,
or on anything, except the free sovereign grace of God, for thy deliverance from death,
thou wilt not have so much as a foot of the inheritance of Canaan, but in that great day
when God shall allot the portions of all the sons of Jacob, there will be not a scrap for
thee. But if thou art a poor Isaac, a poor guilty trembling sinnerand if thou
sayest, "Ishmael has his hands full,
But nothing in my hands I bring,
Simply to the cross I cling."
If thou art saying this morning
I am nothing at all,
But Jesus Christ is my all in all."
If thou renouncest all the works of the
flesh, and dost confess, "I the chief of sinners am, but I am the child of the
promise; and Jesus died for me," thou shalt have an inheritance, and thou shalt not
be robbed of it by all the mocking Ishmaels in the world; nor shall it be diminished by
the sons of Hagar. Thou mayest sometimes be sold, and carried down to Egypt, but God will
bring his Josephs and his Isaacs back again, and thou shalt yet be exalted to glory, and
sit on Christ's right hand. Ah! I have often thought what consternation there will be in
hell when outwardly good men go there. "Lord," saith one as he goes in, "am
I to go into that loathsome dungeon? Did not I keep the Sabbath? Was not I a strict
Sabbatarian? I never cursed or swore in all my life. Am I to go there? I paid tithes of
all that I possessed, and am I to be locked up there? I was baptized; I took the Lord's
supper; I was everything that ever a man could be, that was good. It is true, I did not
believe in Christ; but I did not think I needed Christ, for I thought I was too good and
too honorable; and am I to be locked up there?" Yes, sir! and amongst the damned thou
shalt have this pre-eminence, that thou didst scorn Christ most of all. They never set up
an anti-Christ. They followed sin, and so didst thou in thy measure, but thou didst add to
thy sin this most damnable of sins: that thou didst set up thyself as an anti-Christ, and
bowed down and worshipped thine own fancied goodness. Then God will proceed to tell the
legalist, "On such a day I heard thee rail at my sovereignty; I heard thee say it was
unfair of me to save my people, and distribute my favors after the counsel of my own will;
thou didst impugn thy Creator's justice, and justice thou shalt have in all its
power." The man had thought he had a great balance on his side, but he finds it is
only some little grain of duty; but then God holds up the immense roll of his sins, with
this at the bottom: "Without God, without hope, a stranger from the common wealth of
Israel!" The poor man then sees that his little treasure is not half a mite, while
God's great bill is ten thousand million talents; and so with an awful howl, and a
desperate shriek, he runs away with all his little notes of merit that he had hoped would
have saved him; crying, "I am lost! I am lost with all my good works! I find my good
works were sands, but my sins were mountains; and because I had not faith, all my
righteousness was but white-washed hypocrisy."
Now, once more, Ishmael was sent away, and Isaac was kept in the house.
So there you are some of you, when the searching day shall come to try God's church,
though you have been living in the church as well as others, though you have got the mask
of profession on you, you will find that it will not avail. You have been like the elder
son; whenever a poor prodigal has come into the church, you have said, "As soon as
thy son is come which hath devoured thy living with harlots, thou hast killed for him the
fatted calf." Ah! envious legalist, thou wilt be banished at last from the house. I
tell you legalist, and formalist, that you have no more to do with Christ than the
heathens have, and thou you have been baptized with Christian baptism, though you sit at a
Christian table, though you hear a Christian sermon, you have neither part nor lot in the
matter, any more than a Catholic or a Mahomedan, unless you are trusting simply in the
grace of God, and are an heir according to the promise. Whosoever doth trust to his works,
though it be ever so little, will find that that little trust will ruin his soul. All that
nature spins must be unravelled. That ship which works have builded must have her keel cut
in halves. A soul must trust simply and wholly to the covenant of God, or else that soul
is lost. Legalist, thou hopest to be saved by works. Come, now, I will treat thee
respectfully. I will not charge thee with having been a drunkard, or a swearer; but I want
to ask thee, Art thou aware, that in order to be saved by thy works, it is requisite that
thou shouldst be entirely perfect? God demands the keeping of the whole law. If you have a
vessel with the smallest crack in it, it is not a whole one. Have you never committed sin
in all your life? Have you never thought an evil thought, never had an evil imagination?
Come, sire, I would not suppose that you have stained those white kid gloves with anything
like lust, or carnality, or that your fine mouth which uses such chaste language ever
condescended to an oath, or anything like lasciviousness; I will not imagine that you have
ever sung lascivious son; I will leave that out of the questionbut hast thou never
sinned? "Yes," sayest thou. Then, mark this: "the soul that sinneth, it
shall die;" and that is all I have to say to thee. But if thou wilt deny that
thou hast ever sinner, dost thou know that if in future thou commit but one
sinthough thou shouldst live for seventy years a perfect life, and at the end of
that seventy years thou shouldst commit one sin, all thy obedience would go for nothing;
for "He that offends in one point is guilty of all." "Sir," you
say, "you are going on a wrong supposition, for though I believe I ought to do some
good works, I believe Jesus Christ is very merciful, and though I am not exactly perfect,
I am sincere, and I think sincere obedience will be accepted instead of perfect
obedience." You do, indeed! and pray what is sincere obedience? I have known a man
get drunk once a week; he was very sincere, and he did not think he was doing wrong so
long as he was sober on a Sunday. Many people have what they call a sincere obedience, but
it is one which always leaves a little margin for iniquity. But then you say, "I do
not take too much margin, it is only a little sin I allow." My dear sir, you are
quite in error as to your sincere obedience, for if this be what God requires, then
hundreds of the vilest characters are as sincere as you are. But I do not believe you are
sincere. If you were sincere, you would obey what God says, "Believe on the Lord
Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved." It strikes me thy sincere obedience is a
sincere delusion, and such thou wilt find it. "Oh," sayest thou, "I believe
that after all we have done, we must go to Jesus Christ, and we must say, "Lord,
there is a great deficiency here, wilt thou make it up?" I have heard of weighing
witches against the parish Bible, and if they were found heavier they were declared to be
innocent; but to put the witch and the Bible in the same scale is a new idea. Why, Christ
will not get in the scale with such a conceited fool as thou art. You wish Christ to be a
make-weight. He is much obliged to you for the compliment, but he will accept no such
menial service. "Oh," sayest thou, "he shall assist me in the matter
of salvation." Yes, I know that would please you; but Christ is a very different kind
of Saviour; he has a propensity when he does a thing to do it all. You may think it
strange, but he never likes any assistance. When he made the world, he did not ask the
angel Gabriel so much as to cool the molten matter with his wing, but he did it entirely
himself. So it is in salvation: he says, "My glory I will not give to another."
And I beg to remind thee, as thou professest to go to Christ, and yet to have a little
share in the business thyself, that there is a passage in the Scriptures which is apropos
to thee, and which thou mayest masticate at thy leisure, "And if by grace, then is it
no more of works; otherwise grace is no more grace. But if it be of works, then is it no
more grace; otherwise work is no more work." For if you mix the two together, you
spoil them both. Go home, sir, and make yourself a stirabout with fire and water,
endeavour to keep in your house a lion and a lamb, and when you have succeeded in doing
these, tell me that you have made works and grace agree, and I will tell you, you have
told me a lie even then, for the two things are so essentially opposite, that it cannot be
done. Whosoever amongst you will cast all his good works away, and will come to Jesus,
with this "Nothing, nothing, NOTHING,
Nothing in my hands I bring,
Simply to the cross I cling,
Christ will give you good works enough, his Spirit will work in you to will and to do of his good pleasure, and will make you holy and perfect; but if you have endeavoured to get holiness before Christ, you have begun at the wrong end, you have sought the flower before you have the root, and are foolish for your pains. Ishmaels, tremble before him now! If others of you be Isaacs, may you ever remember that you are children of the promise. Stand fast. Be not entangled by the yoke of bondage, for you are not under the law, but under grace.
The Reformed Reader Home Page
Copyright 1999, The Reformed Reader, All Rights Reserved |