WHAT MEN MAY ATTAIN THAT ARE UNDER THIS COVENANT OF WORKS.
Object. But, you will say, is not this a fair declaring of the work of grace, or doth it not discover that, without all gainsaying, we are under the Covenant of Grace, when we are able, not only to speak of the glorious Gospel of Jesus Christ, but also to tell, and that by experience, that we have been changed from worse to better, from sin to a holy life, by leaving of the same, and that by hearing of the Word preached?
Answer 1. A man may, in the first place, be able to talk of all the mysteries of the Gospel, and that like an angel of God, and yet be no more in God's account than the sounding of a drum, brass, or the tinkling of a cymbal, which are things that, notwithstanding their sound and great noise, are absolutely void of life and motion, and so are accounted with God as nothing—that is, no Christians, no believers, not under the Covenant of Grace for all that (1 Cor 13:1-4). 2. Men may not only do this but may also be changed in reality, for a season, from what they formerly were, and yet be nothing at all in the Lord's account as to an eternal blessing. Read 2 Peter 2:20, the Scripture I mentioned before; for, indeed, that one Scripture is enough to prove all that I desire to say as to this very thing; for if you observe, there is enfolded therein these following things—(1.) That reprobates may attain to a knowledge of Christ. (2.) This knowledge may be of such weight and force that, for the present, it may make them escape the pollutions of the world, and this by hearing the Gospel. "For if after they have escaped the world's pollutions through the knowledge of the Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, they are again entangled therein, and overcome, the latter end of that man is worse than the beginning." [Some professors, take them at the best, they are but like dogs, spewing out their filth for a time.] Now that they are reprobates, dogs, or sows, read further; "But," saith he, "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" (Verse 22).
[Third part of the objection.] The last part of the objection. But, say you, our practices in the worship of God shall testify for us that we are not under the law; for we have by God's goodness attained to as exact a way of waking in the ordinances of God, and as near the examples of the Apostles, as ever any churches since the primitive times, as we judge.
[Answer to reason third.] What then? Do you think that walking in the order of the churches of old, as a matter of outward worship, is sufficient to clear you of your sins on the judgment day? Or, do you think that God will be contented with a bit of bodily subjection to that which shall vanish and fade like a flower, when the Lord shall come from Heaven in flaming fire, with His mighty angels (2 Thess 1:7,8)? Alas, alas, how will such professors as these fall before the judgment seat of Christ! Then such a question as this, "Friend, how camest thou in hither, not having a wedding garment?" will make them speechless and fall down into everlasting burnings, thousands on a heap; for you must know that it is not then your crying, Lord, Lord, that will stand you in stead; not your saying, We have ate and drunk in Thy presence, that will keep you from standing on the left hand of Christ. The principle and practice shall be inquired into on that day.
Quest. The principle, you will say, what do you mean by that?
Answ. My meaning is that the Lord Jesus Christ will then inquire and examine whether the spirit from which you acted was legal or evangelical—that is, whether it was the Spirit of adoption that drew you out to the thing you took in hand or a mere moral principle, together with some shallow and common illuminations into the outward way of the worship of God, according to Gospel rule.
