makes us to strive to be like him, and in the midst of our finite abilities, have infinite desires, that even so we may be disposed towards the holiness and glories of eternity. 38. IV. Although God exacts not an impossible law under eternal and insufferable pains, yet he imposes great holiness in unlimited and indefinite measures, with a design to give excellent proportions of reward answerable to the greatness of our endeavour. Hell is not the end of them, that fail in the greatest measures of perfection; but great degrees of heaven shall be their portion, who do all that they can always, and offend in the fewest instances. For as our duty is not limited, so neither are the degrees of glory and if there were not this latitude of duty, neither could there be any difference in glory; neither could it be possible for all men to hope for heaven, but now all may: the meanest of God's servants shall go thither; and yet there are greater measures for the best and most excellent services. 39. Thus we may understand, that the imposing of the divine laws, in all the periods of the world, was highly consistent with the divine justice, and an excellent, infinite wisdom, and yet in the exacting them, mercy prevailed;— because the covenant of works or of exact obedience was never the rule of life and death, since the Saviour of the world was promised, that is, since the fall of Adam, but all mankind was admitted to repentance, and washed clean in the blood of the Lamb of God, who taketh away the sins of the world, and was slain from the beginning of it. Repentance was the measure of our duty, and the remedy for our evils; and the commandments were not impossible to him, that might amend what was done amiss. SECTION III. How Repentance, and the Precept of Perfection evangelical, can stand together. 40. THAT the Gospel is a covenant of repentance, is evident in the whole design and nature of the thing, in the preparatory sermons made by the Baptist, by the apostles of our Lord, by the seventy-two disciples, and the exhortations made by St. Peter at the first opening the commission, and the secret of the religion. Which doctrine of repentance, lest it should be thought to be a permission to sin, a leave to need the remedy, is charged with an addition of a strict and severe holiness, the precept of perfection. It therefore must be such a repentance as includes in it perfection, and yet the perfection is such as needs repentance. How these two are to stand together, is the subject of the present inquiry. "Be ye therefore perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect" that is the charge. To be perfect as God, and yet to repent as a man, seem contrary to each other. They seem so only. For, 41. I. It does not signify perfection of degrees in the natural sense of the word. For as Philo said well, 'Afevdws αἱ τελείοτητες καὶ ἀκρότητες ενός εἰσι μόνον, " Perfections and the heights of excellences are only proper to one:"-Zopos ὁ μόνος θεὸς καὶ τέλειος μόνος, said Clemens of Alexandria; "God alone is wise, he alone is perfect."-All that we do is but little; and that little is imperfect, and that imperfection is such as could be condemned, if God did not use gentleness and mercy towards us. But, 42. II. Although perfection of degrees cannot be understood to be our duty in the periods and spaces of this life, because we are here in the state of labour and contention, of pilgrimage and progression, yet even in this life we are to labour towards it: and, "Be ye perfect," viz. with the highest degrees of holiness, is to be understood in a current and transient sense. For this precept, thus understood, hath its obligation upon our endeavour only, and not upon the event. When a general commands his army to destroy the enemy, he binds them only to a prudent, a possible, and vigorous endeavour to do it, and cannot intend the effect, but by several parts answerable to the steps of the progression. So is that in the Psalms; "Be learned, ye, that are princes of the world";" that is, Learn, and so by industry and attention arrive at knowledge. For although every man be a sinner, yet he that does not endeavour to avoid all sin, is not only guilty of the sin he commits, but the negligence also, which is the parent of the sin, is another sin, and directly criminal. So it is in the degrees of perfection; what we cannot attain to, we must at least desire. In this world, we cannot arrive thither; but in this life, we must always be going thither. It is 'status viæ;' grace is the way to glory. And as he, that commands us to enter into a city from which we are hugely distant, means we should pass through all the ways, that lead thither, so it is here. The precept must be given here, and begun, and set forward; and it will be finished hereafter. But as a man may be an adulterer, or a thief, with his heart and his eye, as well as with his hand; so it is also in good things: a man's heart may be in heaven, that is, in the state of perfection, long before he sets his feet upon the golden threshold. His desires are first crowned and sainted, and then the work shall be made perfect. 43. III. There is another sort of perfection, which may not be improperly meant in this charge of duty, and that is, a perfection of state. "Be ye perfect," that is, be ye holy; for TEETEUW is 'sanctifico;' and TEλer is festum,' or 'a holy day,' a day that hath the perfection added to it of which a day is capable, a day sanctified to the Lord. For TEALOGY τελειοῦν is the same with ȧyιálɛ, to 'sanctify' is to 'make perfect.' "Nihil enim sanctificavit lex," so the Latin reads the words of St. Paul; but in the Greek it is reλɛiwaɛv, 'The law made that perfect which it did not sanctify.' So that, "Be ye perfect as your heavenly Father is perfect," is, Be ye holy like him, or in imitation of him. And thus the word is expounded in Plato : Τέλος τῶν ἀγαθῶν τὸ ὁμοιωθῆναι τῷ θεῷ κατὰ τὸ δυνατόν· ὁμοίωσιν δὲ δίκαιον καὶ ὅσιον μετὰ φρονήσεως Yevéσa. "That is the perfection of good, to be like God; γενέσθαι. but to be like him is to be just, and holy, and prudent."That is karà rò duvaròv, as much as we can;' that is, with a hearty, righteous, sincere endeavour: for so σoç or 'holy' is used. It signifies sincere, true, without error. Ovx da όν ἐστι τὰ μέγαλα σοφὸν γενέσθαι τὸν τὰ μικρὰ μὴ δυνάμενον. So Damascius in Suidas: " It is not likely or true, that he that is not wise in little things, should be wise in great things." But to live holily in the Christian sense, is to live in faith and good works; that is Christian perfection. O τῷ Θεῷ διὰ πίστεως καὶ ἀγαθοεργίας οἰκειωθεὶς ὅσιος καὶ δίκαιος ovoμáZetaι elkóτws. He is good and holy, who, by faith and good works, is like unto God.' For this perfection or óσó • Heb. vii. 10. Tng 'holiness' is nothing else but a pursuance of that which is just and good; for so said Moses concerning the man that forsook God, and denied that he had made a covenant with him; "Do not say in thine heart, "Ociá pov yévoiro EV TÝ ȧTOστῆναι ἀπὸ τοῦ Κυρίου, Let it be lawful or holy, or permitted to me to depart from the Lord." To this sense was that of Justin Martyr, who expounds this phrase of "Be ye perfect" by 'Christianum fieri;' Be perfect,' that is, Be Christians,' be Christ's disciples: for he who came avanλngwσai tòv vóμov' to fulfil,' to consummate obedience, to perfect the law,' to obey him, and be disciples of his institution, is our perfection and consummation. 44. IV. This perfection of state, although it does not suppose a perfection of degrees, yet it can be no less than, 1. a perfection of parts. It must be a religion that is not mingled with interest, piety to God that is not spoiled with cruelty to our neighbours, a zeal that hath in it no uncharitableness or spite; that is, our religion must be entire, and not defective in any constituent part. So St. James uses the word rédui for óλókλngoι, “perfect and entire, wanting nothing." 2. To which add this also, that to this perfection of state, perseverance is of necessity to be added. For so we are taught by the same Apostle; "Let patience have her perfect work;" that is, let it bear you through all your trials, lasting till all your sufferings are over; for he that endures to the end, shall be crowned, because he only is perfect. Our holiness must persevere to the end. But, 3. it must also be growing all the way. For this word 'perfect' is sometimes in Scripture used for degrees, and as a distinction between Christians in the measures of duty. St. Paul uses it to signify well-grown Christians,' or men in Christianity. Στῆτε τέλειοι καὶ πεπληρωμένοι ἐν παντὶ θελήματι τοῦ Seou; "stand perfectly and full," or "confidently fulfilling all the will of God" for therefore "we preach Christ, and exhort every man, and teach every man in all wisdom, that we may present every man” τέλειον ἐν Χριστῷ Ἰησοῦ “ perfect in Christ Jesus';" that is, that they should not always be as babes, for whom milk and weak nutriment are to be provided; nor like those silly women, 'always learning, and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth;' but it is commanded P. Jam. i. 4. us to be wise and perfect, 'to be men in Christ;' so St. Paul makes the antithesis; "Be ye babes in malice, but in your minds Téλo yívεo be perfect," that is, Be men, wise, and confident, and strong, and well grown. "Perfectly instructed;" that is, " readily prepared to every good work;" not always employed in the elements and infant-propositions and practices of religion, but doing noble actions, well skilled in the deepest mysteries of faith and holiness. This is agreeable to that expression of St. Paul, who having laid the foundation of Christianity by describing the fundamentals, intending to speak of the more mysterious points of the religion, calls it 'a going on to perfection':' so that by this precept of perfection it is intended we should do more than the lowest measure of our duties, and there is no limit, but even the utmost of our power; all that we can, is the measure of our duty: I do not say, all that we can naturally or possibly; but all that we can morally and probably, according to the measures of a man, and the rate of our hinderances and infirmities. 45. V. But the last sort and sense of perfection, is that which our blessed Saviour intended particularly in the instance and subject-matter of this precept, and that is, a perfection in the kind of action, that is, a choice and prosecution of the most noble and excellent things in the whole religion. Three are especially instanced in the holy Gospel. 1. The first is, a being ready, or a making ourselves ready to suffer persecution,-prescribed by our blessed Saviour to the rich young man; "If thou wilt be perfect, sell all and give to the poor;" that is, If thou wilt be my disciple, make thyself ready, "and come and follow me"." For it was at that time necessary to all that would follow Christ's person and fortune, to quit all they had above their needs. For they that followed him, were sure of a cross; and therefore to invite them to be disciples, was to engage them to the suffering persecution; and this was that which our blessed Saviour calls perfection. Dulce periculum est (0 Lenæe!) sequi Denm Cingentem viridi tempora pampino *. It is an easy thing to follow God in festivals and days of t Heb. vi. 1. u Matt. xix. 21. x Hor. 3. 25. 18. 1 Cor. xiv. 20. |