William Huntington

II. - The Believer's Garland Recovered from Thieves, and Restored to its Proper Owners.

"But be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your ownselves," James, i. 22.

THIS text, as well as many more, has had the misfortune to fall into the hands of thieves; thieves and robbers, who have stripped it of its meaning, and left it half dead to its owners. I mean such thieves and robbers as are aiming at heaven; not by the door of mercy, opened by the blood and righteousness of Christ; but who are climbing up another way, a way not cast up, a way that is right in their own eyes, but in the judgment of God it is the way of death: this thievery is robbing Christ of his honour, as the only way to the Father; and God of his glory, who, in his pity and compassion to ruined man, contrived this way. But will a man rob God? Yes he will. No wonder then that he says by the law of retaliation, "Behold, I come as a thief."

This text is applied, by the blind leaders of the blind, to all that make a fair shew in the flesh, to, such as appear in a voluntary humility, and to those who in a blind zeal compass sea and land to make proselytes to themselves, yea, and to all such who appear outwardly righteous before men. But, if these be the heirs of this text, then the papists, especially the nuns among them; yea, and the Jewish scribes and pharisees, and our British advocates for free will, with every other branch of the bond family, may claim it, for these all work; but does God work in them? The poor and simple among the Jews assigned the kingdom of heaven to the scribes and pharisees before all others; but then these poor things judged according to appearance, and not righteous judgment; for Christ assigned the scribes and pharisees to the greatest damnation, and adopted publicans and harlots in the their room and said, "These shall enter into the kingdom of God before them."

Before we give up this text, let us inquire,

1. What this word is, and how received.

2. What is meant by "doing the word." And,

3. He that does not the word "is one that deceives himself."

James, this great apostle, will tell us himself what he means by the word. "Of his own will begat he us with the word of truth, that we should be a kind of first fruits of his creatures." This word is the word of life, sent home to the heart by God, and applied by the Holy Spirit. Here is the sovereign and good will of God set forth to his people, which implies that this begetting is not of him that willeth, nor of him that runneth. The begetting of us is wholly owing to God's own free will and good pleasure, and so is our new birth also. It is "not of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, nor of blood, but of God." And he begets us from a death in sin, from a death in law, and from a death to all the real service of God; and to a life of faith, a life in the Spirit, and to a lively hope, by the resurrection of Christ from the dead. "He that is our God is the God of salvation; and unto God the Lord belong the issues from death."

Those that God begets are called "the first fruits of his creatures." But was all the harvest, all the crops of the holy land, carried into God's sanctuary? No; only thefirst fruits. Was all that the fig tree or the pomegranate tree bore offered to God? No; only the fruit that was first ripe. And does God beget all his creatures to life by the word of truth? No; only the first fruits of his creatures. These fruits are gathered from among the rest, which are called creatures, which bear untimely fruits, wild grapes, &c. and are called corrupt trees, with corrupt fruit; and are distinguished from God's fruit by being called the vintage and harvest of the wicked. But do those legal workers submit to the sovereign and good will of God? No; they blaspheme the counsel of his will. Are they begotten from death? No; they are under the ministration of it, and stick to it, and contend for their own dead works. Do they receive the word of truth, with which we are begotten, in an honest and good heart? No; their doctrines, writings, sermons, and confessions, are not the word of truth, but confusion and falsehood. The first fruits of his creatures here spoken of were first ripe in the council of God, first ripe under the sun of righteousness; they first trusted in Christ, and are the first that shall rise from the dead; "Christ the first fruits" of all, and these "the first fruits of God's creatures" in him.

But alas! these labourers, who labour for that which is not bread, and who spend money for that which satisfieth not, are sad enemies to these first fruits, redeemed from among men; they contend for the creatures, and cleave to them; they contend for the world, for universal redemption; they despise the free woman, and love the bond; they hate Zion, and cleave to Sinai; they lampoon the first fruits, and affect the corrupt fruits. And surely such works can never be called "doing the word;" for he that labours aright must first be a partaker of the fruits of the Spirit, and be taken himself out of the world, out of the flesh, and out of legal bondage, and bondage to sin, before he can be called a first fruit of God's creatures.

Those who deny the fall of man, those who have a will and power of their own,who have a talent and a stock of inherent grace to improve, can never be James's "doers of the word of truth;" for he that does the word receives both the word and the power to do from God. "Do not err, my beloved brethren; every good and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights." So that he is a debtor to grace for all that is good, for all that is perfect, and for all that he does; and he is said to receive these as gifts from God: and, if all that is good and perfect comes down from above, then it cannot be inherent in man. And sure I am that fleshly perfection is not to be found among all the gifts that come down from the Father of lights.

Moreover, these are called God's gifts, and therefore not man's stock. Besides, the receiver of those gifts is led to view God as the immutable Jehovah, "with whom is no variableness nor shadow of turning." But this article is no part of their creed who make God to change in his love, in his mind and will, and in his gifts of life and grace, by asserting that these first fruits may fall from adoption, from grace, and from the gift of eternal life, and perish.

Furthermore, "this door of the word" is one unto whom God hath granted repentance unto life; he is not one that "hates the light," or rebels against the word of sovereign grace; but one of an humble and a contrite heart, that trembles at God's word. For James intimates that "this doer receives with meekness the ingrafted word, which is able to save his soul." But then the repentance that produces such meekness is not to be found in the elder son, the son by creation, the son that never at any time transgressed the commandment; for, when the "father said to him, Go work to day in my vineyard, he said, I go, sir, but went not." It is the prodigal, the younger son, who has been manifested to be a son since the creation, and that by adopting grace, who, when his father said to him, Go work to day in my vineyard, replied, I will not, but afterwards repented and went renouncing his own will, and repenting of the rebellion of it and upon repentance "went and did the will of his father," denying self and self-will too.

Now this son is said to "receive with meekness the ingrafted word, which is able to save his soul." But why is it called the grafted word? In opposition to all such as receive it in the head, in the theory, in word only, in thorny ground, way side, or stony ground. And, in opposition to all that receive it as the word of man, "it is received in an honest and a good heart," as the word of God, which is quick, and gives life; sharper than a word, and cuts its way; comes in Power, and makes all high things that exalt themselves fall before it; it comes in much assurance, and raises the soul to God in faith; in the Holy Ghost, regeneration follows upon it; it is received in love, and abides there; and it is "the ingrafted word," and shall never be separated from the good tree that is made good by it, "so lightly grows the word of God and preveils."

This is God's covenant with Christ, and with us in him; "The word that I have put into thy mouth, and the Spirit that is upon thee, shall never depart out of thy mouth, nor out of the mouth of thy seed, nor out of the mouth of thy seed's seed, saith the Lord, from henceforth and for ever."

Hence it is called "the incorruptible seed, the word of God that liveth and abideth for ever." And who is to take this ingrafted word out of us? None can but the divine husbandman, and he will not, for his faithfulness shall not fail, his covenant shall not be broken, his word shall not return void, his truth shall not pass away unaccomplished; nay, he purgeth every fruitful branch in the vine, that it may bring forth more fruit; he never takes any away but concubines, who are not in wedlock, bastards who have no chastisement, and barren branches which have no union, never being made one spirit with the living vine; but these ingrafted branches, who have the ingrafted word in them, their leaf shall not wither, nor shall they cease from yielding fruit; nay, they shall bring forth fruit in old age; to shew that God is upright.

This "doer of the word" is further described by his light, his constancy, his state of freedom, and the blessing that he works under.

"But whoso looketh into the perfect law of liberty, and continueth therein, he being not a forgetful hearer, but a doer of the work, this man shall be blessed in his deed."

James here intimates that it is not enough for a man to see, but to feel; not only to look into this law, but to get into it, and to continue therein, as all will who get into this law aright; for if they do "err from it, they shall come to understanding again."

The blessing is on those, and only those, who are in this law, for the curse is on all who are out of it.

But then what is this law? The law of release, the law of faith; but why is it called the law of liberty? Because the obedience of Christ to the precepts of the moral law justifies us and frees us from the yoke, "Do and live." The death of Christ frees us from the curse of the law; the blood of Christ frees us from the guilt of sin; the love of Christ frees us from wrath, torment, and the fear of it; and the Spirit of Christ frees us from the sordid disposition and base principles of slaves; and the reigning grace of Christ frees us from the reign of sin, and from the apostacy of hypocrites.

This man is not "a forgetful hearer," he never forgets the hill Mizar; nor can he get from his part and lot in this law; and such an one "is a doer of the word and work too." But what work? Not the works of the flesh, for these are sin; nor the works of Herod, who did many things, but nothing right; nor dead works, for the blood of Christ purges the conscience from them; nor the works of the law, for such are cursed in their deeds, instead of being blessed; much less the works of darkness, which are errors and heresy: and there are also deceitful workers, who walk in craftiness, and handle the word of God deceitfully, in order to make the heart of the righteous sad, and to strengthen the hands of evil doers; but which of all these sorts of workers "are blessed in their deeds?" I answer, None of them; for they that are of the works of the law are under the curse, and so are they who are of the works of darkness; and "cursed be he that doeth the work of the Lord deceitfully," Jer. xlviii. 10.

There are various branches of doing in scripture; but the doers themselves are ranged in two classes, and the one is opposed or set in opposition to the other by God himself. "O love the Lord, all ye his saints: for the Lord preserveth the faithful, and plentifully rewardeth the proud doer," Psalm xxxi. 25.

The one here is called a saint, one separated to God's service, to grace here, and to glory hereafter, in the purpose of God; and they are called to be saints, and are sanctified, being washed in Christ's blood, and renewed by the Spirit: these are called the faithful, whom God preserves; and the other is the proud doer, who works to be seen of men, and boasts of his performances, whom God plentifully rewardeth for all his pride, and for all his doings, as he did the Jewish Pharisees; and this we have often seen with our eyes, when their doings have lifted them up in pride till they have fallen into the condemnation of the devil, and have appeared vagabonds in this world, with the evident tokens of perdition upon them.

This doer of the word of truth, who is blessed in his deed, must be a believer; for, as before observed, they that are of the works of the law are under the curse, and there is no blessing, here there is no faith; as many as are of faith, are blessed with faithful Abraham. But then there are many persuasions in the world that are called faith; this is true, "but then these persuasions come not from him that called us." Abraham's faith we know was of God, and it was not the faith of universal redemption, nor of universal grace; for though Lot came out of Haran with him, yet there was not one called out of the land of the Chaldeans but Abraham, as God says, "look unto Abraham your father, and to Sarah that bare you, for I called him alone, and blessed him, and increased him." Therefore Abraham's faith was the faith of God's elect, which is the only faith in this world that is of God, and that has God's blessing annexed to it; and sure I am that the "doer of the word" in my text is a worker in faith, or a faithful worker; for "whatsoever is not of faith is sin." Besides this man is blessed in his deed, not for it; and as many as are of faith, are blessed with faithful Abraham, for all Abraham's children are sure to copy after their father. "If ye were the children of Abraham, ye would do the works of Abraham."

But what was Abraham's work? Why the obedience of faith; "he obeyed God and went out," at God's call. But had he light, or a talent, or a stock of grace, or of power, to come to Christ of himself? No, the Lord called him. Had he a stock of wisdom or knowledge to direct his way? No, "he obeyed, and went out, not knowing whither he went." Abraham walked by faith, not by sight. Did he bring any of his free will, or human performances, to God for acceptance? No, he came to receive, not to give; "he came into a country that he should afterwards receive for an inheritance." In his way to Canaan he depended on the wisdom of God to direct him; and when he came there, he waited on God for further orders: and God appeared, and told him that it was he that called him out of Ur of the Chaldees, to give him the land, and he bids him walk through it, and he did so; and then in faith, and out of gratitude, he builds an altar, and calls upon the name of the Lord, the everlasting God, in prayer, praise, and thanksgiving. God then promises him a seed, in which he and all the nations of the earth should be blessed; he believes it, and God reckons that seed to him for righteousness.

God bids him to walk before him, and to be upright. "I am thy shield, and thy exceeding great reward." In the type of Canaan, he receives heaven in faith and hope; in the seed promised he sees Christ at a distance, and is persuaded of his coming, and embraces him in love; and in Christ God becomes his shield of defence, and through Christ he is his God, his portion, and his exceeding great reward.

Abraham lives by faith till Isaac comes, and in him he sees the nigher approach of his great Redeemer. He is bid to offer him up; he does it in faith that God was able to raise him from the dead. God receives him in a figure, and Abraham receives him back again in reality, and sees the day of Christ in the type. "Your father Abraham rejoiced to see my day, and he saw it, and was glad."

He is ordered to circumcise his family, a seal in his flesh that the righteousness of Christ was on him, and that the love of God, a better seal, was in him. He charges his household to observe his own conduct, and to depend on God, and not to take Isaac, nor to go themselves into the old country again, or into the world, from whence they came out. He dies in faith, and obtains this good report, that "he obeyed God's voice, kept his charge, his statutes, his commandments, and his laws." God's voice to him was to quit the Chaldeans. His charge was to abide in Canaan, to circumcise his family, to offer up Isaac, and to walk before God. His statutes were eternal life by the faith that he had, "and that to all generations for evermore." God's commandment to him was, "to turn out the bond-woman, and her son," and to call the seed that was to come in Isaac, not in Ishmael; and God's law to him was the law of faith, that excludes boasting, and brings an imputed righteousness to the heart, and the humbled sinner to the foot of the Lamb, as the greatest of all debtors to sovereign grace. These were the works of Abraham, and all his children do the same.

They are called of God, and come out of the world; they walk by faith, and not by sight; they receive in faith and hope the heavenly country, and call upon God in prayer, praise, and thankfullness, for what they have in heart and hope; they abide in the covenant, as he did in Canaan, and have no desire to go back from whence they came; they offer up their all, rather than part with Christ; their hearts are circumcised to love God, which is a seal to them that are justified by faith, which always works by love; they bring up their family in the nurture and admonition of God, and separate themselves from the children of the flesh that persecute the heirs of promise, and suffer not the bond-woman to domineer over the free in the household of faith, nor a bastard to claim the inheritance of grace and glory, but send them into the wilderness of this world, to which they belong: these are the works of Abraham, and this is "the doer of the word."

This doer in James's account is begotten from death by the sovereign good will of God; he receives the ingrafted word of life as able to save his soul; he receives every good and perfect gift from the Father of lights, and views God as an immutable and unchangeable God; he looks into the perfect law of liberty in the light of the Spirit, and gets into it by a sense of love, and abides in it by the power of God; and performs real works, good works, such as the works of faith, labours of love, and the patience of hope, in our Lord Jesus Christ: but without faith none can please God, without charity a man is nothing, and to be without hope, is to be without Christ in the world; and this is the believer who is blessed in his deed, though not for it.

But what has all this to do with them who are in the flesh, in the world, and never called out of it, who are enemies to the imputed righteousness which God reckoned to the father of the faithful, and enemies to the personal, particular, sovereign, and discriminating call of Abraham? Nothing at all. Can those be blessed in their deed who hate the heir of promise, contend for Ishmael, and are themselves the children of Hagar, in bondage to sin, and the father of lies, with the old vail upon their heart, bound with chains, not in liberty, and in a dry land, nor in a walled city, wild men, unhumbled and untamed by grace; archers, shooting in secret at the truth, and the heirs of it? Can such souls be blessed in those evil deeds? No. They talk indeed of a second blessing, and so did Esau; "hast thou but one blessing, O my father?" and he gets one, such an one as it was; but the blessing of eternal life is one, and all others are included in it; and this he never got, though he sought it, and though in his hunting for venison he ran for it; yet it is not of him that willeth, nor of him that runneth, but of God, who sheweth mercy, and who had entailed it upon the heirs of promise before they were born, or had done either good or evil, that the purpose of God as concerning election might stand, not on the footing of men's works, but on the sovereign will of him that calleth; who has an undoubted right to have his own name called in whom he pleaseth, and it was his own revealed will that "he" would be called the God of Abraham (not Terah); and the God of Isaac (not Ishmael); and the God of Jacob (not Esau): "this is my name for ever, and this is my memorial," or this is the covenant name that I will be called and remembered by (by mine elect), "to all generations."

A real doer of the word, is one that hears the word and receives it, and in love receives it, and holds it fast; he is called to the fellowship of Christ, and abides in him, and brings forth fruit; he loves the truth, and the truth makes him free; the word of life in the hand of the Spirit quickens him, and he walks in the spirit, and serves God in the newness of the spirit, and not in the oldness of the letter; he renounces all self-righteousness, and calls it dung and dross; he renounces all confidence in the flesh, and rejoices in Jesus; he seeks not himself, nor self-applause, but denies self daily, takes up his cross, and follows his Lord; he receives grace daily from him, and gives all glory to him; he has no fellowship with the workers of darkness nor will he herd with the dissemblers, or with the congregation of hypocrites: and he that in these things serveth Christ is accepted of God, and approved of men. The tree is made good by the Spirit, grace, and word of God; it is purified by faith, and is a tree of righteousness, the planting of the Lord, that he may be glorified; and a good tree bringeth forth good fruit.

The man therefore who, by legal works, dead works, works of darkness, works of the law, or deceitful works, thinks to get the blessing, "he deceiveth himself;" all his works are done to be seen of men: these praise him indeed, and verily he hath his reward, for that outward shew of godliness that is highly esteemed among men is an abomination in the sight of God. James, this great apostle, himself describes this self deceiver in my text, and opposes the doer of truth to him. He compares the word of God to a glass, wherein a man may see not only his face, but his heart, and all his actions; which sight is terrible to the wretched deformed sinner.

However, the real doer of the word must keep looking till he knows the worst of himself, for God will hold him to it; but free-willer, as soon as he has but a glimpse of himself in this glass, hates the light, nor will he come to it; into free-will, dead works, and into self-righteousness, he goes until the old vail blinds him again, and the wound is healed by a cry of Peace, peace, where God has never spoken peace. "For if any be a hearer of the word, and not a doer, he is like unto a man beholding his natural face in a glass: for he beholdeth himself and goeth his way, and straightway forgetteth what manner of man he was." I know that fallen man in the glass of God's word is a leper from head to foot, an enemy to God, a criminal in chains before him, and like the beasts that perish; but some people have so far forgot what manner of men they appeared to be in this glass, that they have boasted of power, contended for their own perfection, relied on their own righteousness, and ordered others to stand by, "for I am holier than thou." But the doer of the word of truth is opposed to this self deceiver in the very next verse. "But whoso looketh into the perfect law of liberty, and continueth therein, he being not a forgetful hearer (like the other), but a doer of the work, this man shall be blessed in his deed," James, i. 23, 24, 25.

This part of the spoil our King David hath taken from the Amalekites, and I have no doubt but in his own time he will recover all, and send the whole of it into the land of Judah, among the people that he hath formed for himself to shew forth his praise, and as a present to all his friends, in all places where he and his men are wont to haunt.

This great apostle was a sworn enemy to all self exalters: he ascribes his salvation to the sovereign will of God; he admires the discriminating choice of his Maker; "hath not God chosen the poor of this world rich in faith?" He has an honest and good heart, and confesses human depravity, and his own imperfections; "in many things we offend all." And so far is he from sinless perfection, that he declares, "the spirit in man lusteth to envy, and that the tongue is a fire, a world of iniquity:" and, instead of having power to keep the whole law, and to bring himself into perfect subjection to that, he defies the world to rule one member of the body; "the tongue is an unruly member, the tongue can no man tame." He is no advocate for the world, nor for the universal redemption of it, but declares that "whosoever is a friend of the world, is the enemy of God." He will not allow the voice of free will, even in the common course of business: "I will go into such a city, and continue there a year, and buy, and sell, and get gain: ye ought to say, If the Lord will, we shall live and do this, or that." He detests walking in craftiness, and the work of dissemblers; "a double minded man is unstable in all his ways, let not that man think that he shall receive any thing of the Lord."