large enough; though he were himself as tall as the heavens, and as broad as the earth.
12. II. Now for the second part of my text. MAN MUST HAVE A COVERING. And here we are told that there are some people who make a covering, but it is so narrow that they cannot wrap themselves in it. There is one garment, friends, that never is too narrow, though the sinner is the biggest sinner that ever trod this earth, and that is the garment of the perfect righteousness of our Lord Jesus Christ. Besides that, there is no other long enough or broad enough.
13. Now, there are some sinners who think they have clothed themselves, when they have only made for themselves a nightcap. Do not smile — that’s is a fact. There are spiritual nightcaps to be bought in London. “What is that?” one says. Well it is woven in the loom of hyper-Calvinism. It is high doctrine cut off from God’s Word, taken away from its connection, taken altogether away from that part of divine truth with which we have most to do as sinners, and it is made into an antidote for all the twitchings of man’s conscience, and into a drowsy stupor by which souls are sent to sleep, preparatory to their being cast into the arms of Satan. Men get into their heads a doctrinal opinion. That opinion is right, true, good — I will preach that opinion against any man; but men forget that opinions are not evidences of salvation if the walk and talk are not right. They read, for instance, such a passage as this: “There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus.” Well, they say, “I am in Christ Jesus; there is no condemnation for me!” they put that on their heads, they go to sleep in it, and they think they are covered, because they have simply wrapped this false covering around their heads. They have a blindfold around their eyes, and they cannot see their nakedness, and therefore, they think there is no such thing. Oh, I am grieved to think that there are men who flatter that craving of corrupt nature, after something that is not salvation by Christ. You may as easily be destroyed by trusting in good doctrine as by trusting in good works; for remember, beloved, that believing right, will no more save you, (if it is only believing right doctrine) than doing right will save you. It is believing in the Lord Jesus Christ, and receiving his Spirit and being made like him, that is the only salvation that will stand the test of the day of judgment. I used to have a man sitting in front of the gallery, (not in this chapel,) but he used always to nod his head when I was preaching a doctrine; and I remember once, I thought I would cure that old gentleman of nodding his head, for he was about as bad a rascal as ever lived. Whenever I preached about justification, down went his head. Whenever I preached about imputed righteousness, down went his head. No doubt he thought I was a dear man; and so I thought I would cure him, and make his head keep still for once. So I remarked “there is a great deal of difference between God electing you, and your electing yourself, a vast deal of difference between God justifying you by his Spirit, and your justifying yourself by a belief that you are justified when you are not; and this is the difference”; I said to the old man, who then put me down for a rank Arminian; “you who have elected yourselves, and justified yourselves, you have no marks of the Spirit; you have no evidence of piety; you are not holy; you live in sin; you can walk as sinners walk; you have the image of the devil upon you, and yet you think you are the children of God.” And now, I say to any here present who are indulging in the same abominable hypocrisy, this is a spiritual delusion by which many believe a lie; and the time will come when some of us will have to speak as sharply against men who preach doctrine without practice, as we have to preach against those who do not preach the doctrine of free, sovereign, distinguishing grace. High doctrine will never cover you. It will only cover your head; it is a logical covering, made of the right sort of stuff; but it is only a headpiece, and that is not a complete covering for the naked man.
14. Now again, there are some other people who are not content with that. They do not care particularly about this covering for the head, but they think they will get a pair of slippers, and thus cover their nakedness. “What do you mean by that?” says one. Well, good works. “Ah!” they say, “those doctrinal people, they attend to the head; I do not care about the head, I shall attend to the feet.” And so they attend to the feet, and they make themselves into a very decent sort of people, too. They keep the Sabbath, they frequent the house of God, they read the Bible, they say a form of prayer, and they try to be honest, sober, and so forth. Very right. I do not say a word against slippers, only that they are not a good covering for the whole man. I do not say a word against good slippers; good works are very well, but they are not sufficient. Good works are like a pair of shoes; but do not let a man think a pair of shoes can become wide enough to cover his whole body. Such men are deluded. They think, if their outward walk and conversation is good, and right, and proper, that, therefore, their whole nakedness is covered. Oh! never delude yourselves into such an idea as that. Though you walk in the commandments of the Lord, blameless in the eyes of all men, yet as long as sin is in your heart, and the past sin of your life is unforgiven, you stand helpless, unclothed souls, in the estimation of God, and your garment is too narrow to wrap yourself in it. I have seen some poor souls trying to wrap themselves up in good works, and they were not long enough. “Oh,” one says, “come here, and I will tie on a bit for you.” And so he brings out a yard of good old stuff that is called “Baptism,” and he tags on that. “Stop,” he says, by and by, “I will bring out something else made by a Bishop, called ‘Confirmation,’ ” and another yard is put on. “Wait awhile!” says the man, “you shall have a yard of something else”; and then there is a yard of what is called “Communion,” or “Sacrament,” put on. “Now, hold on tight; you know the Catechism, and say it often; you know the prayers proper to be used at sea, on the land, and the prayers for weddings, baptisms, and churchings; and now,” they say, “by degrees the garment will be made long enough to go around you.” I have seen the poor souls tug and pull it, to make both ends meet, but they could not. I could tell you the experience of a member of this church. She says, “I attended a place of worship regularly, and tried to work out a righteousness for myself. I could not do it. At last I started attending daily service in the Puseyite Church. I became the most righteous one that you could suppose a person to be. I was never satisfied. I tried sacraments, fasting, private prayer — never good enough; never could get up to the mark; never felt that the garment was broad enough in which I could wrap myself.” No, and you never will. All the good works in the world, and all the ceremonies, and all the praises of men, and all the alms giving, cannot make a covering broad enough to wrap yourself in. Shall I tell you what is sufficient? It is the garment that is “without seam, woven from the top throughout”; a garment woven by the bleeding hands of Jesus, and then dyed in his own blood. If by faith you can put this garment on, it is broad enough to cover you; though you were wide as giant Goliath, and though your heads reached to the very clouds, it should be long enough for all your needs.
15. So you see that these coverings which men have sought for are not sufficient. Now, there are some people who are not very particular about the head, or the feet, but they come nearer the mark — they have been more particular about the loins. They gird themselves with a little garment. Their religion is to think. They like to sit at home and think over the Scripture, to think over certain doctrinal points, and meditate upon them. They think, for instance, one church is not right, and they leave that and join another. But they find that is not right; they tithe the mint there, but they do not tithe the cummin. And they go to another, where they tithe the cummin, but where they do not fast six days in the week. The religion of such a person as this is only the religion of picking holes in other people’s religion. Do you say, “Are there any people of that sort?” Yes, I know several of them; they are very good souls, if you estimate them by their own opinion, but if you estimate them by the law and by the statutes of God, you will find them different. They think that all they need to do is simply to feel that they are conscientious in what they are doing. It is very proper and right that they should be conscientious. I am not going to speak against the garments around the loins, they are very good; I only speak against a man thinking that is enough. I do not speak against their nightcaps or slippers, or against the garment around the loins, they are all good in their places; I only speak of wearing these instead of the complete raiment of Christ. You may be baptised and rebaptised; you may go from one sect to another, and secede, and secede, and you will be none the better unless you are clothed in the matchless, spotless, seamless righteousness
