Download The
Believer's Rule Of Life
Dear Sir,
I received the packet which you directed to me, consisting of your very long epistle, of a circular in print, and of a sermon on the promises of God. I read your epistle without offense, as I believe you meant well, which I gather from your politeness, civil treatment, and cautious way of expressing yourself; such a letter I have never received from any person who has thought proper to expose or oppose me, as a maintainer of licentious doctrines. Their letters have generally been filled with the scurrility of Billingsgate, and without any truth fairly stated; which has only served to convince me that such persons are without Christ, and have no hope in the world.
Was it in my power, I would address you as a gentleman of sense and a scholar, for both appear in your affectionate epistle, but I have neither politeness nor learning, as it is now called, yet will give you the best answer I am capable of, in the language of Scripture.
If I know anything of my own heart, I can truly assert, that I wish all that fear God to know what He hath done for my soul; and, in declaring it, I desire to speak as the oracles of God; and to live up to what I preach, as far as grace shall enable me while in this body of death! and I wish some of our zealous advocates for Moses would do the same, by letting their light shine before me that others might see as well as hear of their good works; seeing it is not the hearers nor the contenders for the law that are just before God; but the doers of the law shall be justified.
That the ten commandments are the believer's only rule of life, was insisted upon by the first person that I ever disputed with on that subject; which he endeavored to enforce and prove by Paul's quoting part of it in his epistle to the Romans, which church he supposed to consist of saints only, by Paul's addressing them as the beloved of God called to be saints, of considering that hypocrites, wise virgins and foolish ones, are to go and grow together as tares and wheat until harvest. And on the account of this mixture it is that the killing letter and the promise of life must go together, the promises are to the heirs of promise; and "we know that what things soever the law saith, it saith to them who are under the law." I asked a gentleman which of the commandments he meant? And he replied, "Those in the 20th chapter of Exodus." And if those ten commandments are the believer's rule, the other parts of Scripture, one would think, might be dispensed with by the believer; for, if that law be his only rule of life, what can he want more? Though, by and by, there is not the command to love God in that chapter. . . .
Paul says, "He that cometh to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of them that diligently seek Him;" then faith must be the rule of his coming. "We have access by faith into this grace wherein we stand; then faith is the rule of our approach to God. "The just shall live by his faith;" then faith is the just man's rule of life. "We walk by faith, not by sight;" then faith is our rule of walk. "Thou standest by faith," says Paul; then faith is the rule of the believer's standing. "Whatever ye shall ask believing, ye shall receive," says Christ; then faith is the rule of that branch of worship. By faith Enoch had this testimony, that he pleased God; "but without faith it is impossible to please Him;" then faith is a rule that God approves of, and is pleased with. "Whatsoever is not of faith is sin;" then faith is a perfect rule of holiness. "All that believe are justified from all things, from which ye could not be justified by the law of Moses;" then faith is our rule of righteousness. It is by faith we overcome the world to lay hold on eternal life, is to fight the good fight of faith, according to Paul; "I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith;" then faith was the rule of his warfare, and the rule of his race, and it was the grace of God that made Paul obedient to that rule. "We have received grace and apostleship for obedience to the faith;" that is, by Christ we have received grace to save our souls, and apostleship to be of use to the church, not as a reward of our obedience, but to furnish us with power to make us obedient to the faith, among all nations for His name, Rom. 1:5; then faith is the rule of apostolic obedience; for it cannot be called receiving grace for obedience to the faith if faith be not the gracious man's rule of obedience.
Paul counts all things but dung that he may win Christ, and be found in Him; not having his own righteousness, which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ; and tells us to walk by the same rule, and mind the same thing. You take this rule of Paul's to be his pressing forward, or any of his attainments, it is answered, by faith he pressed forward, and by faith he attained; or else his pressing and attaining had been nothing but sin, for whatsoever is not of faith, according to Paul's doctrine, is sin.
By faith Christ dwells in our hearts, and by faith we dwell in Him; and "in Christ Jesus neither circumcision availeth anything, nor uncircumcision, but a new creature," which is Christ formed within us: "and as many as walk according to this rule, peace be on them and mercy, and upon the Israel of God." Faith is the rule of life according to the revealed will of God in Christ Jesus; "and this is the will of Him that sent me, that every one which seeth the Son, and believeth on Him, may have everlasting life, and I will raise him up at the last day." (Jn. 5:40) Thus faith, appears to be the believer's rule of life. according to the will of God in Christ Jesus; and the letter of the law is the bond-childrens' rule of life; he that doth these things shall live in them. Let him do according to this rule and he shall live. The law is not the rule of believing, but of doing; the law is not of faith but of works, and the man that doth them shall live in them. (Gal. 3:12)
If to see the Son, and believe on Him, entitles us to everlasting life according to God's will, then faith must be the rule of that life; and one would think that if "he that liveth and believeth shall never die," faith must be a safe rule to live by. . . .
My friends may well ask, What is my sin? What have I done? Seeing some cry one thing and some another, the assembles are confused, and no account given of the cause of this concourse; and I can give none, unless it be for this one voice that I cried among them; touching the law, I said it is not the believer's rule of life. And this I do insist upon, that bondage, hardness of heart, revealed wrath, enmity against God, desperation, curses of hell and damnation, are the best things that men can fetch from the killing letter of the law of Moses; whether the man be a believer or an infidel it matters not. The law will pursue the believer if he goes there, Christ alone is his Refuge; it will entangle the believer, and yoke him again if he looks for help there. The law is not of faith, but of works; it is not of believing, but of doing: "he that doth these things shall live in them," is the language to the end of the chapter. Works are works. and grace is grace, the one is a covenant of works, the other a covenant of grace; one was given by Moses, the other came by Jesus Christ.
The covenant of works was made with man; it belongs to Adam, and all his children in the flesh that bear his image; the covenant of grace was made with Christ, and all His seed in Him. The one is established upon unconditional promises, the other upon the conditions of dead man's performances; and who would call this law the believer's only rule of life? he is to walk and live by faith; he is to worship and serve God in the newness of the Spirit, not in the oldness of the letter; he is to walk in love as Christ hath loved him. And it is pain that faith worketh by love, and is attended with divine life, which are all the gifts of God in Christ Jesus; they are received from His fullness, and wrought in us, and are no less than the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus, which make us free from the law of sin and death.
If faith, life, holiness, and love, come from the law of the Spirit, why are they ingrafted upon the killing letter? and why is the believer sent forth to fetch his rule of life from that law which was once his death warrant? why this confusion: why this turning things upside down? The man that has got the law of the Spirit of life in him is the man to whom the Lord speaks by His Son. He speaks not to the believer out of the cloudy pillar, nor out of thick darkness. He has spoken to us in these last days by His Son; and it is to the believer that He thus speaks: "Hearken unto Me, ye that know righteousness, the people in whose heart is My law." A believer is a righteous man, made so by imputation; and the law is not made for the righteous, but for the lawless and disobedient, (1 Tim. 1:9). God speaks to the children of the flesh in the law. "Now we know that what things soever the law saith, it saith to them who are under the law." But the saints are not under the law, but under grace, Rom. 6:14. The law is a yoke of bondage for bond children, a covenant of works for proud work mongers, and a ministration of condemnation, to curse them for their pride and evil works.
As to what David says of the law being perfect, converting the soul, and of its being a light to his feet and a lamp to his path, it is soon answered. The killing letter never turning a soul from darkness to light, from the love of sin to love God with all his heart; which is attended with faith, repentance, and godly sorrow, which flows from a sense of God's love to him in Christ Jesus; all which come from the covenant of grace. Faith is a coming to Christ, and the love that faith works by draws his heart as he goes; and both these are the free gift of God. Christ did not furnish Saul with these spiritual weapons, which are mighty through God to pull down strong holds from the killing letter. I send thee Paul to turn sinners from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan unto God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins, and an inheritance among them that are sanctified by faith that is in Me, Acts 26:10.
The brightest light that shines in the law comes from the eye of offended Justice; it was the flames of wrath that the law was given at first; it was added because of transgression, and it is in that awful light that sinners see their own condemnation, as Saul and Balaam saw their own future destruction; and it is in that light that sinners will see their endless misery, who are said to lift up their eyes in hell; but that light discovers not the path of life, which is called the path of the just. The light of the knowledge of the glory of God shines in the face of Jesus Christ, who is the true Light, and the everlasting light of all His people; he that believeth in Me, says the Savior, shall not abide in darkness.
David was not without the law of faith; he tells you he believed, therefore hath he spoken; nor was he without the law of the Spirit of life, as appears by his prayer; "Take not thy Spirit from me." It was in this law that he saw wonders; as for the ten commandments, he prayed that God would not enter into judgment with his servant under them, for he knew the commandments were exceeding broad. If the commandments afford such a deal of light to our feet, how comes it that our present advocates for them are so exceeding blind? by them it appears that Paul's assertions are true, that the veil remains untaken away in reading the Old Testament, I am bold therefore to affirm, sir, that David and you have two different meanings.
With respect to what you have heard about my speaking lightly of the law, I believe you will find, in this my answer to yours, all that I have ever said about it; and you must judge for yourself whether I have spoken the language of Scripture or not. If I have to lay the blame where it ought to be laid; "if any man consent not to the wholesome words, even the words of our Lord Jesus Christ, he is proud knowing nothing.
However, as I am determined to publish this answer to yours, my accusers will have a fair opportunity to attack the doctrine. I have advanced on the ground of truth: I have fled to none of those poor shifts called implications and the fitness of things; I have used no weapons but those that I believe to be spiritual. They cannot have a fairer opportunity, nor a fairer field to meet me on, nor a smaller number to engage. If this be Antinomianism, let them muster all their forces against it, prove it to be so, and overthrow it. I am open to conviction; my conscience is not seared, nor am I past feeling; and, if I cannot defend it by God's word, I will fly to no other shifts; and therefore I hope my opponents will not puzzle my brains with St. Basil, St. Augustine, St. Ambrose, Herman Witsius, and saint nobody knows who. Jesus I know; but who are these? For my part, I have not a single doubt but God will enable me to defend this doctrine; for I know it is the doctrine that He applied to me, and set my soul at liberty by. And as I am the Antinomian, according to their accusations, it lies with them to overthrow it, and prove their charge; and, if upon trial it be found to be the everlasting gospel, then "let them hear and say, it is truth," Isa. 43 9; and acknowledge that for the truth's sake I have suffered reproach.
Download The
Believer's Rule Of Life