SECTION IX.

THE NATURE AND EFFECTS, THE CAUSE AND CURE, OF A SELFRIGHTEOUS SPIRIT.

THE nature and effects, the cause and cure of a selfrighteous spirit, might have been collected from the principles laid down and proved in the other sections of this Essay, by the judicious reader; but for the sake of weaker capacities, it may not be amiss, if these things are briefly stated; and the rather, as it is of great importance this subject be well understood.

In general, a self-righteous spirit consists in a disposition to think more highly of ourselves than we ought to think; and so, it is pride. And it stands in opposition to humility, which is to think soberly of ourselves, and as we ought to think, as St. Paul defines it. (Rom. xii. 3.) And a self-righteous spirit arises from blindness to the divine glory, and ignorance of our true character and state, as they appear in the sight of God, and as they really are, compared with his holy law. The spiritual knowledge of God and his law, and a view of ourselves in contrast with God and his law thus known, is the cure of a self-righteous spirit. When the divine character, as exhibited in his law, begins to appear in its infinite glory, our character will begin to appear in its infinite odiousness. And this begets a disposition to think soberly of ourselves, and as we ought to think. And so we, through the law, become dead to the law, that we may live to God. But to be more particular,

I. A self-righteous spirit consists in a disposition to think more highly of ourselves than we ought to think. How we ought to think of ourselves hath been already stated. (Sect. III.) When a man thinks more highly of himself than he ought to think on the account of his fine clothes, he is called by the odious name of fop. But when, in the exercise of the same temper, he thinks more highly of himself than he ought to think, upon religious accounts, he is called by the more odious name of a self-righteous man. (Luke xviii. 9, 14.) The same spirit of pride, which leads one to be proud in a view of his fine clothes, inclines another to be proud in a view of his large estate, or honorable parentage, or good bodily features, or superior genius, or great acquired mental accomplishments. And it is the same spirit which leads all mankind in general to think more highly of themselves than they ought to think in

religious respects; for a self-righteous spirit is common to mankind in general, although in different men it operates differently; and in some more than in others. It reigns in all unregenerate men and it is mortified in saints no further than they are sanctified, and will not be entirely eradicated out of their hearts until they become perfectly holy. It operates differently in different men.

In the profane, it operates to keep them secure, to fortify them against the fears of death and hell, and guard them against the terrors of the divine law; that they may take their full swing in sinful pleasures unmolested. For thus it inclines them to think: "I can break off my sins when I please; and whenever I break off, God will be obliged to forgive me." Herein he thinks more highly of himself than he ought to think, in two respects. First, he thinks his heart to be much better than it is, even that he can find in his heart to give up all sin and turn to God. But if he would make a thorough trial, he would find it to be a mistake. He would find that sin has full power of his soul; that he loves it so entirely, that it is not in his heart to be inclined to forsake it. To forsake sin, in general, I mean; for he may be inclined to change one lust for another, turn out a black devil and take in a white one, leave profaneness, and become a civil, sober, self-righteous hypocrite. But to turn from all sin in general, and to turn unto the Lord, is not in his heart. "For the carnal mind is enmity against God; is not subject to his law, neither indeed can be." And, secondly, he thinks too highly of himself in another respect, namely, that there will be so much virtue in his repentance and reformation, as to atone for all his past wickedness, and entitle him to the favor of God; whereas, according to the divine estimation, there is so much blame and ill-desert in one wilful transgression, as to make an eternal forfeiture of his soul, and plunge him into a hopeless, remediless state, according to a rule of strict justice. So that, if he had no more interest in Adam's sin than in Noah's, yet, after one transgression, he is a lost creature, liable to die and go to hell in a moment; and God absolutely unobliged, if he lives, to grant him any assistance of his Spirit, or ever to regard any of his prayers. For if one transgression exposes a man to the curse of the law, according to Gal. iii. 10, then the transgressor may be justly sent to hell immediately; and therefore God is unobliged to show him any favor of any kind; and it is entirely owing to pride and self-conceit, that sinners are inclined to view things in another light. They think more highly of themselves than they ought to think; and this, which

is natural to profane sinners, has a great influence to keep them secure in sin.

In awakened sinners it operates to incline them, by their reformations, prayers, tears, etc., to go about to establish their own righteousness; for, being so terrified with the thoughts of eternal destruction, that they can no longer go on quietly in their sinful pleasures, they now go about to pacify the Deity by their amendment and fervent prayers. And thus they think: "If I repent and reform, if I humble myself before God, and pray, and do as well as I can, he is obliged to show me mercy; for it would be hard and unjust in God to require more of his poor creatures than they can do, and then damn them for not doing." And perhaps thousands and ten thousands build their hopes for heaven on this foundation, and live and die upon it; not considering, that "if righteousness come by the law, then Christ is dead in vain ;" not once reflecting, that if their best doings ought in reason to recommend them to the divine favor, there was no occasion for the incarnation and death of the Son of God; and that therefore, if they are right, the whole gospel is overthrown. Their pride absolutely blinds their eyes, that they cannot see; and stops their ears, that they cannot hear; and hardens their hearts, that they cannot understand. Or, if some men, of more penetration, perceive that this way of thinking does in fact overthrow Christianity, they will sooner give up the whole of divine revelation, than give up their pride. And from this source it is, that Great Britain is so filled with infidels. And from this source it is, that infidelity begins to creep into New England, which, if divine grace prevents not, may in half a century make great progress. For as the Pharisees would sooner believe, that Jesus cast out devils by Beelzebub, than that they were serpents and a generation of vipers, worthy of the damnation of hell; even so it is here. But meanwhile, in Antinomian converts, to extricate themselves out of these embarrassments, a self-righteous spirit prompts and emboldens them to take a short and easy method, to think well of God and of themselves both at once, and so their pride and religion become perfectly harmonious; in the belief of these two maxims: first, "God loves me, impenitent as I am;" secondly, "To believe that God thus loves me, and to love him merely in this belief, is the sum of religion." For in the belief of these two articles, the divine law, which stands prepared to slay the self-righteous sinner, is set aside, and turned out of doors; the curse, by the first; the command, by the second; and so the divine law being cashiered by this belief, the self-righteous sinner stands completely self-justified.

He believes, or rather imagines himself into the love of God, and out of the reach of the law, and so into a good opinion of the Deity, and of himself, both at once; or rather through that enmity to God's real character, with which his selfrighteous spirit inspired him; emboldened by the same selfrighteous spirit, he forms a deity in his own fancy, all made up of love to him, which suits his heart; and being suited with the deity he has made, is pleased with himself more than ever. And so he thinks himself a believer, a saint, a disciple of Christ, and that he shall be rewarded in heaven for all the reproach he brings upon himself; not knowing that enmity to God and his law, and to the cross of Christ, lie at the bottom, and are the sources of all his religion. And thus, and in this way, he is confirmed and self-justified in thinking more highly of himself than he ought to think. And thus we see how a selfrighteous spirit operates differently in different persons. These three sorts are mentioned only as a specimen; for instead of three, there may perhaps be three hundred different ways in which this same spirit works.

II. A self-righteous is a sin-extenuating, self-justifying, and in consequence a law-hating, God-condemning disposition; and so stands in direct opposition to repentance towards God, faith towards our Lord Jesus Christ. Just in exact proportion as a man is inclined to think more highly of himself than he ought to think, is he inclined to make sin-extenuating, selfjustifying pleas; and every word he says in his own justification, is to the condemnation of God and of his law; for if in fact we are not so bad, nor so much to blame, as the divine law supposes, he who made the law will stand condemned. Take Gal. iii. 10, "Cursed is every one that continueth not in all things written in the book of the law to do them," which are the words with which St. Paul militated against a selfrighteous spirit in his day, and show what the divine law requires in heart and life, and show what is implied in the curse, and from the eternal punishment threatened infer the infinite evil of sin, and by consequence our infinite obligations to love God with all our hearts, and yield a perfect obedience to his will; and show that God is absolutely unobliged, according to law, that perfect rule of right, either to assist the sinner, or to pardon his defects; and urge this law home upon a self-righteous heart, as the law of the great God, the law which was honored on the cross of Christ, and which will be put in execution at the day of judgment on every Christless sinner, angels and saints shouting Hallelujah all around the

judge; and as the anvil bounds back the hammer, so will such a heart resist the truth.

And while he extenuates his sin and justifies himself, he will blame the law, and condemn the lawgiver. For says the profane, "To suppose that my delaying repentance one day longer, is so great a crime, as justly to expose me to the eternal pains of hell without hope, cannot be true; nor will I ever believe God is so unjust as to put his frail creatures under such a law." And says the awakened, "I have reformed and humbled myself before God, and prayed, and done what I can. And to believe now, after all, that God is still absolutely unobliged to show me mercy; that he requires perfect love and perfect obedience on pain of eternal damnation; is more than I can bear. It cannot be justified. The very thoughts of it breed hatred and heart-risings in spite of my heart." And says the Antinomian convert, "I always found by experience, that it was impossible to love God, before I believed his love to me; and by experience I still find, that it is impossible to love God in any other view. All, therefore, that God really requires is, that we believe his love to us, and in that belief, love him again." And thus all three stand discharged from that duty which the divine law requires, self-justified; God and his law implicitly condemned.

The divine law supposeth that God is an absolutely perfect, an infinitely glorious and amiable being; and on this ground it requires mankind, each and every one, to love him with all their hearts, on pain of eternal death. This it requires even of the Gentiles, who never heard of the grace of the gospel, and consequently of all mankind, antecedent to that consideration. And in the sight of God all were without excuse, every mouth stopped; and in this view of the case, he gave his Son to die upon the cross, to declare this law to be holy, just, and good. But in this view, the divine law is universally hated by every self-righteous heart, and a non-conformity thereto is universally justified, from the most profane to the most devout. "I cannot," cries one. "It is impossible," cries another. "The very thought of such a law breeds hatred and heartrisings, in spite of my heart," cries each and every one.*

* Mr. Cudworth has gone further, and taken a very extraordinary step indeed, to justify the self-righteous sinner, in not loving that character of God which is exhibited in the divine law, in honor to which an incarnate God died on the cross. He not only declares, and endeavors to prove, that it is "utterly impos sible" to love it; but also that to love it, is in its own nature a wicked thing, "contrary to the law of God." And if "contrary to the law of God," it is contrary to the nature of God. God himself then does not love that character; that is, God the Father does not love himself. No wonder, then, he thinks, that