^RV OF PRIA^
OCT 101988
BX 9339
.S52
1862
V.7
Sibbes ,
Richa
ird,
1577-
■1635.
The comp
lete
work
;s of
Richard
Sibb
les,
D.D
Digitized by tine Internet Arciiive
in 2009 witii funding from
Princeton Tlieological Seminary Library
Iittp://www.arcliive.org/details/completeworkso07sibb
NICHOL'S SERIES OF STANDARD DIVINES.
PUEITAN PERIOD.
Wiit^ ^tmxnl "^tdwct
BY JOHN C. MILLER, D.D.,
LINCOLN COLLBOB ; HONOBABT CANON 07 W0BCK3TBB ; BECTOB Or SI UABTIN'S, BISUINaBiJi.
THE
WORKS OF RICHAED SIBBES, D.D.
VOL. VII.
COUNCIL OF PUBLICATION.
W. LINDSAY ALEXANDER, D.D., Professor of Theology, Congregational
Union, Edinburgh.
JAMES BEGG, D.D., Minister of Newington Free Church, Edinburgh.
THOMAS J. CRAWFORD, D.D., S.T.P., Professor of Divinity, University,
Edinburgh.
D. T. K. DRUMMOND, M.A., Minister of St Thomas's Episcopal Church,
Edinburgh,
WILLIAM H. GOOLD, D.D., Professor of Biblical Literature and Church
History, Reformed Presbyterian Church, Edinburgh.
ANDREW THOMSON, D.D., Minister of Broughton Place United Presby-
terian Church, Edinburgh.
©eneral ©tiitor.
REV. THOMAS SMITH, M.A., Edinbubgh.
THE COMPLETE WORKS
J
RICHARD 8IBBES, D.D.,
MA.STER OF CATHERINE HALL, CAMBRIDGE ; PREACHER OF GRAY's INN,
LONDON.
&ii^, imll^ memoir,
BY THE REV. ALEXANDER BALLOCH GROSART,
(OOR. MEMB. SOC. ANTIQ. OF SCOTLAND)
KINROSS.
VOL. VII.
CONTAINING
MISCELLANEOUS SERMONS, INDEXES, &c.
EDINBURGH : JAMES NICHOL.
LONDON : JAIMES NISBET AND CO. DUBLIN : W. ROBERTSON.
M.DCCC.LXIV.
EDINBUEGH
FEINTED BY JOHN GREIG AND SON,'
OLD PHYSIC GARDENS.
CONTENTS.
Prefatory Note. .
Balaam's Wish.
The Unprosperous Builder.
Notes.
The Vanity of the Creature.
Notes.
Discouragement's Recovery.
Notes.
The Saint's Happiness. .
David's Conclusion; or, the Saint's Resolution
Notes.
The Church's Blackness.
Notes.
Miracle of Miracles —
First Sermon. .
Notes.
Second Sermon.
The Touchstone of Regeneration.
Notes. ....
The Discreet Ploughbian.
The Matchless Mercy.
Notes. . . . . •
The Sun of Righteousness.
Divine Meditations and Holy Contemplations.
Notes. . . . . •
Pagb
ix-xi
1-15
17-31
32
33-46
47
49-64
64
65-78
79-91
91
93-104
104
105-116
116
117-126
127-137
137
139-150
151-164
164
165-178
179-228
228
VI CONTENTS.
Page
The Knot of Prayer Loosed.
Notes. .....
229-252
252
The Rich Pearl. ....
253-260
Sin's Antidote. ....
261-279
The Success of the Gospel.
Note. .....
280-287
287
Mary's Choice. ....
Notes. .....
288-297
297
The Christian's Watch. .
298-305
The Coming of Christ. .
Note .....
806-315
315
The General Resurrection.
Notes. .....
316-333
333, 334
SiBBEs's Last Two Sermons —
Prayer.
First Sermon. .
Second Sermon.
337
338-347
348-356
The Saint's Privilege.
357-366
The Witness of Salvation.
367-385
St Paul's Challenge.
Note. ....
386-397
397
The Dead Man. .
398-407
The Danger of Backsliding.
408-413
Faith Triumphant.
Note. ....
414-461
461
The Ruin of Mystical Jericho. .
Notes. ....
462-477
477
The Demand of a Good Conscience.
Notes. ....
478-491
491
A Glimpse of Glory.
Notes. . . . .
492-504
504
The Pattern of Purity. .
505-516
The Beast's Dominion over Earthly Kin
Notes. ....
gs.
517-533
533, 534
The Church's Echo.
535-546
CONTENTS.
Til
Page
AnTIDOTUJI contra NaUFEAGIUM FiDEI ET BONiE CONSCIENTI^. 547-560
Notes. ....... 560,561
SiBBEs AND Gataeek. ..... 563, 564
Bibliographical List of Editions of Sibbes's Works. . 563-565
Glossary. ...... 565-568
Names. ....... 568-570
General Index. ...... 571-601
Textual Index. ...... 601, 602
Concluding Note. ..... 603, 604
PEi:r .:
PREFATORY NOTE,
The present volume includes the whole of the 'single' Sermons
not already given, and the whole of the remaining writings of Dr
Sibbes ; and now the Editor has to congratulate the subscribers to
the Series, and himself, upon the completion of this first collective
edition of the entire Works of this author.*
In so doing, he takes this opportunity of repeating the expression
of his obligation to friends and correspondents for valuable sugges-
tions and help kindly rendered from volume to volume. It is for
others to judge how far, with suph aid, he has succeeded in his
arduous task ; he only knows that, without that aid, he would not
have succeeded so well.
In the Preface it was proposed to give, in a short essay, an
' analysis' and 'estimate' of Sibbes as a man and a writer, together
with a view of his 'opinions' and 'character' as reflected in his
books ; likewise to try to shed a little light on his relations to others
and theirs to him, and to guide the casual reader to the treasures
of thought, wisdom, spiritual insight, tenderness, and consolation
of this incomparable old worthy.t It will be found that all this
has been forestalled in another shape — viz., in the somewhat minute
' analysis ' of each important treatise contained in the ' contents ' of
the successive volumes, and in the ' notes,' elucidatory and illustra-
tive, appended to the several dedications, epistles, and numerous
allusions and quotations, in combination with the full Indices and
Glossary in the present volume. All of these have much exceeded
the original estimate, and i^radically fulfil the promise and enable
each reader to do for himself what at best could only have been
done imperfectly by another. The Index of Topics has received
anxious attention, and, incorporating as it does the original tables
drawn up by Sibbes and his original editors, will readily guide
to what may be handled and sought. The most cursory use of it
* Cf. Preface, Vol I. page xiii. t Ibid. p. xy. t Memoir, Vol. I. p. xix.
PEEFATORY NOTE.
will reveal that the author gives forth no ' uncertain sound,' but
definitely yet most catholically, scripturally yet most charitably,
expresses his ' opinions,' which all bear the stamp of being convic-
tions. He was a Puritan in ' doctrine,' but loyal to the Church of
England with that touching loyalty shewn to the throne by illustri-
ous contemporaries even when they despised its occupant. On
almost every point of Theology the Works of Richard Sibbes will
rarely be consulted ' in vain.' They are a casket of gems, and the
lid needs but to be raised to flash forth wealth of spiritual thought.
In closing his onerous labours, the Editor would, in a few sentences,
characterise the Works now collected and completed ; and at once
that epithet, which seems by universal consent to have been asso-
ciated with the name of Richard Sibbes — * HEAVENLY ' — recurs. It
is the one distinctive adjective for him. For if there ever has been,
since apostolic times, a ' heavenly ' man, the meek ' Preacher ' of
Gray's Inn was he. Emphatically, ' he was a good man, and full of
the Holy Ghost and of faith' (Acts xi. 24) ; and in accord with this,
he is pre-eminently and peculiarly a ' son of consolation,' a * com-
forter.' This, I should say, is the merit of these works. The
minister of the gospel and the private reader will find abundant
' consolations ' for bruised, tried, despondent, groping souls. Nor
is this characteristic a small thing. It must be a growing con-
viction, with all who mark the ' signs of the times,' that the want
of our age, in the church as in the world, is not more intellect or
genius, learning or culture, but more reality of Christian life
— more 'good' rather than more 'great' men. Perhaps there
never has been a period — speaking generally — of more intellect in
intense activity, if not in mass, more learning and diffused culture,
than the present ; and certainly never was there an age of such thick-
coming interrogation of all problems in all realms of thought and
speculation. But these seem often lamentably disassociated from
GOODNESS, from conscience, from spiritual integrity and truthful-
ness, and above all, from Christian LIFE.
For Sibbes, then, is not claimed the title of 'great' — so much
abused, and indeed vulgarised — in the world's meaning. Weighed
against contemporaries — Shakespeare, Bacon, Milton — he has no
awful crown of genius. Placed beside other divines. Church and
Puritan, he lacks the orient splendour of Jeremy Taylor, the massive-
ness of Barrow, the intensity of Baxter, the unexpected wit of Thomas
Adams, the exhaustiveness of John Owen, the profundity of Thomas
Goodwin ; nor has he left behind him any great work such as that
on the 'The Creed' by Pearson, or the 'Defensio' by Bull. In
reading him, we never come upon recondite speculation, wide-
PREFATORY NOTE. XI
reaching generalisation, sustained argument, burning eloquence,
flashes of wit, aphoristic wisdom, not even, or but rarel}'-, melody of
words. But a ' soul of goodness ' informs every fibre and filament
of his thinking ; nor is there a page without FOOD for the spiritually
'hungry.' He has few equals, and certainly no superior, for
ingenuity in bringing 'comfort' to tried, weary ones, and in happy
use of Scripture, his mere citation of a text being often like a
shaft of light.* It should be noticed, that the very invariable-
ness of Sibbes's excellence hides his richness and power, as the very
commonness of the air makes us forget the wonder and the
blessedness of it.
In a word, Richard Sibbes seems ever to come to us fi'om his
knees, ever brings with him a 'savour' of Christ, and beyond almost
every contemporary approaches the office of the Holy Spirit, whose
specific work is not to do 'great' but 'good' things, ever taking 'of
the things of Christ and shewing them.' May the Master own
and use this edition of his long-departed servant's Works in these
' latter days.' A. B. G.
* See ' Affliction' and ' Assurance' in General Index.
BALAAM'S WISH.
VOL. Til.
BALAAM'S WISH.
NOTE.
' Balaam's Wish' forms one of the sermons which compose ' Evangelical Sacrifices'
(4to, 1640). [Cf. Vol. V. page 156.] Its separate title-page is given below.*
* BALAAMS
WISH.
In one Funerall Sermon upon
NvMB. 23. 10.
By
The late Learned and Reverend Divine,
Rich. Sibbs:
Doctor in Divinity, Mr of K a T H E R i n e Hall
in Cambridge, and sometimes Preacher
to the Honourable Society of
Geayes-Inne.
Pko. 13. 4.
The soule of the sluggard desireth, and hath nothing.
London,
Printed by E. Purslow, for N. Bourne, at the Eoy-
all Exchange, and R. Harford at the gilt
Bible in Queenes head A Hey, in Pater-
Noster-Row. 16 3 9.
BALAAM'S WISH.
Let me die the death of the righteous, and let my last end be like his! — Numb.
XXIII. 10.
The false prophet Balaam goes about to curse, where God had blessed.
But God reveals his wonders in his saints by delivering of them, and
keeping them from dangers, when they never think of them. They never
thought they had such an enemy as Balaam. The church of God is a
glorious company, and the great God doth great things for it. So long as
they keep close to him, their state is impregnable, as we may read here.
Neither Balak nor Balaam, that was hired to curse them, could prevail,
but the curse returns upon their own head.
These words I have read to you, they are Balaam's desire, Balaam's
acclamation. Divers questions might be moved concerning Balaam, which
I will not stand upon, but come directly to the words, wherein are con-
siderable these things.
First, That the righteous men die, and have an end as well as others. _
Secondly, That the state of the soul continues after death. It was in
vain for him to desire * to die the death of the righteous,' but in regard of
the subsistence of the soul.
Thirdly, That the estate of righteous men in their end is a blessed estate,
because here it was the desire of Balaam, ' Oh that I might die the death
of the righteous ! '
Fourthly, There is an excellent estate of God's people, and they desire
that portion : ' Oh let me die the death of the righteous.' These are the
four things I shall unfold, which discover the intendment of Balaam in
these words.
For the first I will touch it briefly, and so go on.
Obs. 1. The righteous die, and in the same manner outwardly as the
wicked do.
For Christ, in his first coming, came not to redeem our bodies from
death, but our souls from damnation. His second coming shall be to
redeem our bodies from corruption into a ' glorious liberty.' Therefore
wise men die as well as fools. Those whose eyes and hands have been
lift up to God in prayer, and whose feet have carried them to the holy
place, as well as those whose eyes are full of adultery, and whose hands
are full of blood, they die all alike, in manner alike. Ofttimes it is the
b BALAAM S WISH.
The third is that,
Obs. 3. There is a wide, broad difference between the death of the godly and
of the wicked.
The godly are happy in their death, for here we see it is a matter desir-
able. This caitiff, this wretched man Balaam, Oh, saith he, ' let me die
the death of the righteous, and let my last end be like his.' It being the
object of his desire, it is therefore certainly precious, * the death of the
righteous.' And indeed so it is; holy and gracious men, they are happy
in their life. While they live they are the sons of God, the heirs of
heaven ; they are set at liberty, all things are theirs ; they have access to
the throne of grace ; all things work for their good ; they are the care of
angels, the temples of the Holy Ghost. Glorious things are spoken of these
glorious creatures even while they live.
But they are more happy in their death, and most happy and blessed
after death.
In their death they are happy in their disposition, and happy in con-
dition.
(1.) Hajopy in their disposition. What is the disposition of a holy and
blessed man at his end ? His disposition is by faith to give himself to
God, by which faith he dies in obedience ; he carries himself fruitfully and
comfortably in his end. And ofttimes the nearer he is to happiness, the
more he lays about him to be fruitful.
(2.) Besides his disposition, he is happy in condition ; for death is a
sweet close. God and he meet; grace and glory meet; he is in heaven,
as it were, before his time. What is death to him ? The end of all
misery, of all sin of body and soul. It is the beginning of all true happi-
ness in both. This I might shew at large, but I have spoken somewhat
of this point out of another text.* They are happy in their death, for
' their death is precious in God's sight.' The angels are ready to do their
attendance, to carry their souls to the place of happiness. They are
• happy in their death, because they are ' in the Lord.' When death severs
soul and body, yet notwithstanding neither soul nor body are severed from
Christ. ' They die in the Lord ;' therefore still they are happy. Much
might be said to this purpose, and to good purpose, but that the point is
ordinary, and I hasten to press things that I think will a little more con-
firm it. They are blessed in death.
(3.) And blessed after death especially; for then we know they are in
heaven, waiting for the resurrection of the body. There is a blessed
change of all; for after death we have a better place, better company,
better employment; all is for the better.
There are three degrees of life :
The life in the womb, this world, heaven.
The life in the womb is a kind of imprisonment ; there the child lives
for a time. The life in this world, it is a kind of enlargement; but, alas!
it is as much inferior to the blessed and glorious life in heaven, as the life
in the womb is narrower and straiter and more base than this life wherein
we behold the blessed light and enjoy all the sweet comforts of this life.
They are happy after death ; then the image of God is perfect in the soul.
All graces are perfected, all wants supplied, all corruptions wrought out, all
enemies subdued, all promises accomplished, waiting their time for the
resurrection of the body; and then body and soul shall sit as judges upon
the wretches that have judged them on earth, and they shall be both to-
* See the Sermons on Phil. ill. 21. [Vol. V. pp. 143-152.]— G.
BALA.\M S WISH. I
gefcher ' for ever with the Lord.' I might enlarge the point much. It
is a comfortable meditation ; and before I pass it, let us make some use
of it.
If godly men be blessed and happy, not only before death, in the right
and title they have to heaven, but in death, because then they are invested
into possession of that that makes them every way happy.
Use 1. Therefore this may teach us who are truly wise. A wise man is he
that hath a better end than another, and works to that end. A true
Christian man, he hath a better end than any worldling. His end is
to be safe in another world, and he works and cari'ies his forces to that
end. ' Let my last end be like his,' saith Balaam, insinuating that
there was a better end in regard of condition and state than he had aimed
at. A gracious man, his end is not to be happy here ; his end is to enjoy
everlasting communion with God in the heavens, and he frames all his
courses in this world to accomplish that end, and he is never satisfied in
the things that make to that end. A worldling he hath no such end. He
hath a natural desire to be saved, — as we shall see afterwards, — but a man
may know that is not his end, for he works not to it. He is not satisfied
in prowling for this world ; he is not weary of getting wealth ; he is not
satisfied with pleasure. So that his end is the things of this life. There-
fore let him be never so wise, he is but a fool, for he hath not the true end,
nor works to it. Wicked men are very fools in the manner of their
reasoning ; for they will grant that there is a happy estate of godly men in
death, and after death better. If it be so, why do they cot work and frame
their lives to it ? Herein they are fools, because they grant one thing and
not another which must needs follow. They do believe there is such a
happiness to God's children, and yet seek not after it.
Use 2. If there be such a blessed estate of God's children in death and
after death, I beseech you let us carry ourselves so as that ive may be par-
takers of that happiness : let us labour to be righteous men, labour to be in
Christ, to have the righteousness of Christ to be ours, to be out of our-
selves, in Christ ; in Christ in life, in Christ in death, and at the day of
judgment in Christ, ' not having our own righteousness,' as the apostle saith,
' but his righteousness,' Philip iii. 9, and then the righteousness of grace
and of a good conscience will alway go with the other. For this makes a
righteous man to be in Christ, and to have his righteousness, and to have
his Spirit, and the beginnings of the new creature in us. Let us labour to
be such as may live and die happily and blessedly, and be for ever happy.
So much for that third point.
That which I intend mainly to dwell on is the last, and that is this, that
Even a ivicked man, a icretched worldliny, may see this ; he may know this
happiness of God's people in death, and for ever, and yet notxcithstanding may
contimie a cursed wretch.
Balaam here wishes, ' Oh that I might die the death of the righteous,
and that my last end might be like his.' It was a strange speech of such
a man as this was, that his soul should be rapt up in this manner ; but
indeed Balaam was scarce himself, he scarce understood what he said, no
more than the beast that carried him.
But God will sometimes even stir up the hearts of wicked men to a sight
and admiration of the excellent estate of God's children. Why ? For
diverse reasons. Among the rest for this, that he may convince them the
more of their own rebellion, when they see a more excellent estate than they are
in, if they ivill not take the course to partake of it. Therefore at the day of
O BALAAM S WISH.
judgment it will justify the sentence of damnation upon such wretches, and
they may pronounce self-condemnation upon themselves. Oh what a
terror will it be when they shall think, I had a better estate discovered ; I
heard of it in the ministry of the word, and God's Spirit revealed an excellent
estate, and I might have gotten it if I had improved the blessed means that
God made me partaker of, and now I am shut out for ever and ever from
communion in that estate. To convince wretched men, I say, and to justify
the just sentence of damnation upon them, that their hearts may go with
the sentence at the day of judgment, God thus enlightens them oftentimes,
that they see better courses if they had grace to take them.
What a thing is this, that a wicked man should see such an estate and
not take it ! And what serves that knowledge for but to damn them the
more ! This is the estate of many men that Hve in the bosom of the
church, and partake of the means of salvation, and yet Hve in sins against
conscience. They get knowledge by the ministry, and by good books and
acquaintance, and such hke. They have "a savour in the use of good
things. Something they have, some little apprehension of the estate of a
better life.
Again, for another end God reveals to them the excellent estate of his
children sometimes, to keep them in better order, to awe them, that they be
not\opeii enemies to the church, hut may do good service; for conceiting
that there is such a happiness, and that perhaps they may partake of it,
they will not carry themselves malignantly against those that are true
professors.
There are several degrees of wicked men. Some are well-willers to good
things, though they never come far enough. Some are open, malicious
persecutors. Some again are better than so. They have a hatred to
goodness, but they do not openly shew themselves ; as hypocrites, &c. God
reveals these good things to wicked men to keep them in awe. The net
draws bad fish as well as good ; so the net of the word, it draws wicked
men, it keeps them from violence and open malice. Besides, even the
majesty of the word, and the conviction of that excellent estate that belongs
to God's children, it keeps them from open malice and persecution. This
is another end that God aims at. What may we learn hence ?
Use 1. Seeing this is so, it should teach us that ive refuse not all that ill
men say ; they may have good apprehensions, and give good counsel. It had
been good for Josiah to have followed the counsel of wicked Pharaoh, a
heathen. God often enlightens men that otherwise are reprobates. Kefuse
not gold from a dirty hand ; do not refuse directions from wicked men.
Because they are so and so, refuse not a pardon from a man, a base
creature. We ought not therefore to have such respect of persons as to
refuse excellent things because the person is wicked. But that which I
intend to press is this : If this be so, that wicked men may have illumina-
tion whereby they discover an excellency, and hkewise may have desires
raised up to wish and desire that excellency,
Use 2. It should stir us up to go beyond ivicked men. Shall we not go so
far as those go that shall never come to heaven ? We see here Balaam
pronounceth the end of the righteous to be happy. This should therefore
stir us up to labour to be in a different estate from wicked men. Let us
therefore consider a little wherein the difference of these desires is, the
desires that a Balaam may have, and the desires of a sound Christian,
wherein the desires of a wicked man are failing.
(1.) These desires, first of all, they were but flashes: for we never read
BALAAM S WISH.
that he had them long. They were mere flashes ; as a sudden light, that
rather blinds a man than shews him the way. So these enlightenings they
are not constant. Wicked men ofttimes have sudden motions and flashes
and desires. ' Oh that I might die the death of the righteous.' Oh
that I were in such [a] man's estate. But it is but a sudden flash and light-
ning. They are like a torrent, a strong sudden stream, that comes sud-
denly and makes a noise, but it hath no spring to feed it. The desires of
God's children they are fed with a spring, they are constant ; they are
streams, and not flashes.
(2.) Again, this desire of this wretched man, it was not from an itmard
jmnciple, an inward taste that he had of the good estate of God's children,
but from an objective delight and admiration of somewhat that was oftered
to his conceit by the Holy Ghost at this time. It was not from any in-
ward taste or relish in himself that he speaks, but from somewhat outward,
as a man that saw and heard excellent things, that ravished him with
admiration, though he had not interest in them himself.
(3.) Again in the third place, this desire of the happiness of the estate
of God's children, it was not ivorkinr/ and operative, but an unejfectual desire.
It had only a complacency and pleasing in the thing desired ; but there
was not a desire to work anything to that end. This wretch therefore
would be at his journey's end, before ho had set one step forward to the
journey. It was a desire of the end without the means. It was not an
operative efi'ectual, but a weak transient desire. Where true desires are,
they are not only constant, and proceed from an inward interest and taste
of the thing desired, but they are efi'ectual and operative. They set the
soul and body, the whole man on work, partly to use the means to attain
the thing desired, and partly to remove the impediments ; for where desire is,
there will be a removing of the impediments to the thing desired ; as he
that intends a journey, he will consider what may hinder him, and what
may help him in it. He that sets not about these things, he never means
it, for a man cannot come to his journey's end with wishing ; we can attain
nothing in this life with wishing. There is a working, I say, that tends to
remove impediments so far as we may, and tending to use all means to
efiect and bring the thing to pass. We see, then, there is a main difler-
ence between the desires of this wretched man Balaam and the desires of
the true chui-ch of God. To go on and follow the point a little further.
(4.) Where desires are in truth, the party that cherisheth those desires,
will be ivilling to have all help from others to have his desire accomplished.
If a man desire to demolish a place, if any will come and help him down
with it, or if any man desire to weed his ground, he that will help him,
he will thank him for his pains. ■V^^lere there is a true desire, there is a
willing closing with all that ofi'er themselves, that the thing desired may
be brought to pass. Where there is a desire of the happy estate of God's
children, there will be a willing entertainment of any help. Let a man
come to a man that desires grace and glory, and discover his especial sins
that hinder him, you must weed out this, and you must pull down this, he
will thankfully embrace all admonitions, because he truly desires the end ;
therefore he desires the means that tend to the end. He desires the re-
moving of the hindrances ; he will be thankful, therefore, for any help that
he may have, and especially that of the ministry, that it may powerfully
enter into his soul, and rip him up. Why ? Because he desires to
please God in all things, and he would not cherish a motion or desire con-
trary to the Spirit of God. Therefore the more corruption is presented
10
BALAAM S WISH.
and made odious to him, the more the ' inward man ' is discovered, the
more he blesseth God, and blesseth the blessed instruments ; and of all
means he is willing to attend upon such.
Where there is swelling and rising against the blessed means, either in
private admonition or public teaching, let men pretend what they will,
there is no true desire of grace and to be in the estate of God's people ;
for then they would not be contrary to the means. This wretched man
Balaam, when the angel stood in his way, with his sword drawn, to stop
his way, yet notwithstanding he goes on still. He was so carried with
covetousness, and so blinded, that neither the miracle of the beast speaking,
nor of the angel in his way, nor God in the way, could stop him. Alas !
where was this desire then ? No, no ! The glory of earthly things
dazzled the glory of the estate of God's people. Therefore we see he goes
against all means that was used to stop him in his journey.
If a man desire to be good, and to leave his sins, he will not stand
against the means.
Have we not many that stand against the ministry of God's ministers
[who] are God's angels ? They stand in the way, and tell people, if you
live in this course you shall not inherit heaven ; if you live in oppression
and base lusts, unless you be changed, you shall all perish. They come to
particular reproofs, and hold forth the sword of God's Spirit, yet men break
through all and wreak their malice upon God's messengers. Is here a
true desire when they are not willing to have the hindrances removed ?
when there is not respect of the means that should be used ?
(5.) Again, true desires of grace, they are growing desires. Though they
be little in the beginning, as springs are, yet as the springs grow, so do the
waters that come from them. So these desires, they grow moie and more
still. They grow sometimes in God's children, that they will have no stop
till they come to have their full desire, to have perfect union and com-
ruunion with God in heaven. The desires of a blessed soul, they are never
satisfied till it come to heaven. ' Let him kiss me with the kisses of his
mouth,' saith the church,' Cant. i. 2. Oh, let me have nearer communion
with Christ ! It desires in the word and sacraments to come nearer and
closer to God, and in death then, ' Come, Lord Jesus, come quickly,'
Eev. xxii. 20. And when the soul is in heaven there is yet nearer union,
a desire of the body's resurrection, that both may be for ever with the Lord.
Till a Christian be perfect in body and soul, there is desire upon desire,
till all desires be accomplished. They are growing desires, as St Peter
saith : * As new born babes desire the sincere milk of the word, that ye
may grow thereby,' 1 Peter ii. 2. It is a desire that is never satisfied,
because there is alway somewhat to be desired till we be perfectly happy.
(6.) And then they are desires that ivill not he stilled. A child, if it have
not strong desires, it will be stilled with an apple ; but if the desires be
strong, nothing will still it but the dug. So God's children, if their desires
be strong, it is no bauble they desire, nothing but grace and inward comfort
will quiet the inward man. It is a desire that is growing and strong. It
will not be stayed with anything in this world, but will break through all
impediments ; as a strong stream, it will never rest till it have communion
with God. And therefore the desires that men think are good and earnest
enough, that go on plodding in a constant course, and never labour to grow,
they are no desires at all, no sanctified desires from a supernatural prin-
ciple of grace. The desires of a Christian grow, and are never satisfied
till he have perfect happiness.
BALAAM S WISH.
11
The three worthies of David brake through the host, and got the water of
Bethel for David: ' Oh that I had of the water of Bethel,' 2 Sam. xxiii. 15.
So where there are strong desires they are like David's worthies, they
carry the soul through all impediments, they grow stronger and stronger,
and are never satisfied till they come to the water of life. Let us consider
these things, whether we have this desire or no. If we have but some-
times flashes, inconstant, ineffectual desires, desires that grow not, that
are soon satisfied, and are stilled with anything, alas ! these desires the
Spirit of God never kindled and bred in the heart ; they are ordinary
flashes, that shall serve for our deeper damnation. Therefore let us take
heed, and not rest in a castaway's estate; let us not rest in Balaam's state,
but labour that the desires of our souls may be as they should.
Desires, I confess, are the best character to know a Christian ; for works
may be hypocritical, desires are natural. Therefore we ought to consider
our desires, what they are, whether true or no ; for the first thing that
issues from the soul are desires and thoughts. Thoughts stir up desires.
This inward immediate stirring of the soul discovers the truth of the soul
better than outward things. Let us oft therefore examine our desires.
And let me add this one thing to the other, let us examine our desires by
this, besides the rest,
(7.) Whether we desire holiness, and the restoration] of the image of God,
the new creature, and to have victory against our corruptions ; to be in a
state that we may not sin against God, to have the Spirit, to be ' new born,'
as well as we desire happiness, and exemption from misery. Balaam
desired happiness, but he desired not the image of God upon his soul ; for
then he would not have been carried with a covetous devil against all
means. No ; his desire was after a glimpse of God's children's glory only.
A wicked man can never desire to be in heaven as he should be ; for how
should we desire to be in heaven ? to be freed from sin, that we may
praise God and love God ; that there may be no combat between the flesh
and the spirit. Can he wish this ? No, His happiness is as a swine to
wallow in the mire, and he desires to enjoy sensible delights. As for
spiritual things, especially the image of God, and the vision of God, they
are not fit objects for him, as far as it is a freedom from sin, but as he
hath a conceit, oh they are goodly things to be seen, &c. So it corre-
sponds with his disposition, but to be free from sin, and from the conflict of
the flesh and spirit, and to be set at liberty to serve God alway, he cannot
desire it so. Tell him of heaven, he loves it not. There is no gold, there
is not that that he aflects,* therefore he cares not for it, he cannot relish
it, he is not changed. Therefore it is a notable character of a true Chris-
tian to desire heaven, to be freed from sin, to have communion with God
in holiness. Other prerogatives will follow this.
Let us therefore consider what our desires are, how they are carried, for
desires discover what the soul is. As a spring is discovered by the vapours
that are about it, so is this hidden state of the soul discovered by the
breaking out of desires. They are the breath and vapour of the soul. Let
us consider what is set highest in our souls, what we desire most of all.
Oh, a Christian soul that hath ' tasted of the loving-kindness of the Lord,'
accounts it ' better than life itself,' Ps. Ixiii. 3. It is not ' corn, and wine,
and oil' he desires, 'but. Lord, shew me the light of thy countenance,'
Ps. iv. 6. The desires of his heart are large to serve God, andto do good,
more than for the things of the world. He desires earthly things, but as
* That is, ' loves,' ' chooses.' — G.
12
BALAAM S WISH.
instruments for better things, and this is the desire of every sanctified soul
in some measure.
Let us hence make a use of conviction of the folly of base men, that live
in the church, and yet come not so far as Balaam, that come not so far as
those that shall go to hell. They turn over all religion to a ' Lord, have
mercy upon us,' and ' Christ died for us,' and ' we hope we have souls to
God-ward,' as good as the best, and to a few short broken things. They
turn religion to compendiums, to a narrow compass, and make the way to
it wide and broad, and complain of preachers that they straiten the way
to heaven.
This is the disposition of worldlings ; whereas, alas ! there must be a
righteousness that must 'exceed the righteousness of the Scribes and
Pharisees,' Mat. v. 20 ; there must be a righteousness from an inward
principle ; there must be a strong, constant desire of righteousness, more
than of any thing in the world, before we can be assured of our interest
and part with God's people. Let us take heed that we delude not ourselves
this way.
But to come to an use of direction. How may we so carry ourselves,
as we may have a spring of blessed desires, a spring of holy desires, that
may comfort us, that we may have our interest and portion in the state of
God's people?
That we may have these desires, let us desire of God the spirit of revela-
tion. Desires follow discover}^, for desires are the vent of the soul upon
the discovery of some excellency it believes. Therefore let us beg of God
the spirit of revelation, to discover the excellent estate of God's people.
And because this is given in the use of means, let us present ourselves with
ail diligence under such means, as where we may have somewhat of the
kingdom of God, that the riches of Christ being unfolded, our desires may
be carried to such things ; for there is never any discovery of holy and
good and gracious things to a Christian soul, but there are new desires
stirred up. Our souls are like a mill that grinds what is put into it ; so
the soul it works upon the things that are put into it. If it have good
desires and good thoughts put into it, by good means used, and by prayer,
it feeds upon them. Let us alway, therefore, be under some good means,
that good thoughts may be ministered unto us, that may stir up gracious
desires for the soul to work upon. Let us be in good company. 1 Sam.
X. 12, ' Saul among the prophets,' we see he prophesied ; and the heart is
kindled and enflamed when we are among those that are better than our-
selves, especially if their hearts be enlarged to speak of good things. But
to come nearer.
2. That we may have holy and gracious and constant desires, let iis
take notice and make trial continually of the state and frame of our sotds,
ivhich ivay for the present they are carried, in what current our desires run.
If they run the right way, to heavenly things, it is well ; if not, take notice
what draws and diverts and turns the streams of our desires the false way.
Let us think what the things be, and the condition of those things that
draws our desires down, and make us earthly and worldly, whether the
pleasures or profits or honours of this life. The way to have better desires
is to wean ourselves from these things, by a constant holy meditation of
the vanity of these things that the soul is carried after. Solomon, to wean
his heart from these desires, from placing too much happiness in these
things, he sets them before him and saith, ' they were vanity and vexation
of spirit,' Eccles. i. 14. Let us set them before us as nothing, as they
BALAAM S WISH. 13
will be ere long. ' Heaven and earth will pass away,' Mat. xxiv. 35 ; the
world will pass away, and the concupiscence and lust of it. Let us con-
sider the baseness, fickleness, and uncertainty of things that our souls are
carried after, and this will be a means to wean them from them. And
the soul being weaned from earthly things, it will run amain another way.
Let us study, therefore, to mortify our base affections, and study it to pur-
pose, to cut off the right hand and to pull out the right eye ; spare nothing,
that God may spare all. That God may have mercy upon us and spare us,
let us spare nothing. These ' lusts they fight against our souls,' 1 Peter
ii. 11.
And, as I said before, feed our souls ; minister unto them better thoughLs
continually. Those that are governors of those that are young, season
them while they be young with good things ; for while the soul is not filled
with the world, and while covetousness and ill lusts have not wrought
themselves into the soul, good things and good desires are easily rooted
and planted, and gi'ow up in the soul. As letters graven in the body of a
tree, they grow up with the tree, and the fruit of the tree grows up with
the tree, and therefore the twigs break not with the greatness of the weight
of it, because they grow up together. So plant good things in those that
are young, inure them to know good things, to hate ill ways, plant in them
blessed desires, and inure them to holy exercises and good duties, that good
exercises may grow up with them, as the fruit with the tree. We see
what a hard matter it is to convert an old man, to draw the desires of a
carnal worldly man to heaven. When we speak of good things to him, his
soul is full of the world. What is in his brain? The world. What is in
his heai-t ? The world. So he is dry, and exhausted of all good things,
and that that is in him is eaten up with the world. It is a great impro-
vidence in those that govern youth, that they labour not that their desires
may be strong to the best things.
And let us all, both young and old, labour for heavenhj wisdom, that
when good things are ministered to us from without, or good motions
stirred up by the Spirit of God, to close with them, and not to quench
those motions and resist the Spirit, but to embrace those motions, and
cherish them, till they come to resolutions, and purposes, and actions. If
we have a motion stirring us up to repentance, let us ripen it till it come
to perfect repentance, till we repent indeed, and have turned from all our
evil ways, and turn to God with full purpose of heart, that it may be a
motion to purpose. If it be a motion to faith, let us never leave cherish-
ing of it by the promise till our hearts be * rooted in faith.' If it be a
motion to any other good thing, let us cherish and follow them to purpose,
and embrace every motion, as an angel sent from heaven from God to
a good end, to put us in mind, to invite us to good, and to drive us
from ill.
And because desires are fickle and fading of themselves unless there be
some art in helping of them, therefore let us add to these things a daily
course of renewing of our covenant with God, that this day, as God shall
enable me, I have a constant purpose against all sin, I will regard no
iniquity in my heart, I will have respect to all good ways discovered.
Renew our covenants and resolutions of old. Saith David, * I have sworn
and will perform it, that I will keep thy statutes,' Ps. cxix. 106. And as
we determine and resolve, so make particular vows sometimes against
particular hindrances, to abstain from such things.
Quest. What needs all this ado ? saith the wicked atheist. Will not
14 Balaam's wish.
less serve the turn, but there must be these vows, and purposes, and
resolutions ?
Ans. No ; God values us by our resolutions and purposes, and not by
ineflfectual glances and wishes. Will wishing help us take a journey, or
to do anything in this world ? And can we not do anything in this world
with wishing, and can we for heaven ? No ; certainly there must be
resolutions, and covenants, and purposes, &c. What is the difference
between a Christian and another man ? A Christian unlooseth his heart
from base desires. Nothing shall tie him to the base world. But his
conscience tells him that he is free from living in sins against conscience,
and as for infirmities, he labours and resolves against them. Therefore he
is fit to die and to resign his soul. Whensoever God shall take him, he is
in a good way, in good purposes and resolutions. God values us accord-
ing to our purposes and resolutions. David did not build the temple,
Abraham did not offer Isaac, but they resolved upon it, and it was
accounted as done. This is our comfort, that God takes the resolution for
the deed ; and the perfection of a Christian is, that God accepts of these
resolutions when he determines on the best things, till he bring his heart
in some measure to that estate.
Quest. What is the reason that many men at the hour of death will
admit no comfort ?
Ans. The reason is, their hearts were naught. They respected some
iniquity in their hearts. They were in bad ways, and allowed some reign-
ing sin ; and till these be mortified, we can minister no comfort. It is
only the resolved Christian that is a fit subject for comfort.
But to answer an ordinary let* or two that the devil casts in men's ways
in these things.
Obj. But doth not God accept the will for the deed ? Put the case I
have a good will to do a thing ; though I do it not, God accepts that.
Ans. I answer, God accepts the will for the deed, only where the impedi-
ments and hindrances are impossible to be removed ; as, put the case a
poor man would be liberal if he had it, God accepts the will for the deed,
because he wants opportunity. But it never holds when a man can do it.
God accepts not the will for the deed when a man hath a price in his hand
to get wisdom, and yet is a barren plant and not a tree of righteousness.
It is a sign of a naughty heart.
Obj. Oh, saith another, ' God quencheth not the smoking flax,' Mat.
xii. 20, therefore, though I have weak desires, all shall be well.
Ans. It is true God doth not quench the smoking flax, but he doth not
leave it smoking, but blows the spark, that in time it comes to a flame.
Where there are beginnings of goodness embraced, it will grow from smok-
ing flax to a flame. They are growing desires, as I said before. There-
fore flatter not thyself that Christ will not quench the smoking flax. It is
true, if there be a desire of growth, for then I must speak comfort to a
poor Christian that cannot be so good as he would, but desires it, and
complains, Oh ' that my ways were so direct, that I might keep thy statutes ! '
Ps. cxix. 5, With his desires, he complains that he cannot do it, and
useth the means to grow. It is a good sign ; God will not quench the
smoking flax till he have brought corruption into subjection in us. Let
every good soul comfort itself with this, if thou have these blessed desires,
God meets with thee, for he desires thy salvation, and Christ desires thy
reconciliation, and it is the desire of thy heart, and thou usest the means.
* That is, ' hindrance,' = objection. — G.
Balaam's wish. 15
Thou wilt not live in sins against conscience. Be of good comfort. We
that are the ministers of God, and I at this time, bring the news of pardon ;
Christ's desire and thine meet in one.
Let us enlarge these things in our own deep and serious meditation.
Alas ! for want of serious meditation in our hearts of such like truths as
these, men perish and sink suddenly to hell. There is but a step between
ordinary profane persons and hell, and yet they never think of renewing
their covenants with God, and entering into the state of grace, but content
themselves with that which comes short of thousands that ai'e now in hell,
that have had more wishes and desires. Men put all upon empty things,
' God is merciful,' &c. No ; God will not be merciful to such as bless
themselves in ill courses ; his wrath shall smoke against such, as I said ;
for in thus reasoning, they make a covenant with hell and death as much
as they can. They that do thus forget God and good courses, and God
will forget them ; they treasure up wrath, and God treasures up wrath
against them. Let us take heed of Balaam's wishing, and labour to have
such desires as may be accepted of God and comfortable to us.
THE UNPEOSPEROUS BUILDER.
VOL. VII.
THE UNPROSPEROUS BUILDER.
NOTE.
' The Unprosperous Builder ' is another of the sermons from ' Evangelical
Sacrifices' (4to, 1640). Its separate title-page is given below.* G.
* THE
VNPROSPEROVS
BVILDER.
A Sermon preached upon the S*''' of
November, in remembrance of Our
Deliverance from the Papists
Powder-Treason.
BY
The late Learned and Reverend Divine,
Rich. Sibbs:
Doctor in Divinity, Mr. of Kathekine Hall
in Cambridge, and sometimes Preacher
to the Honourable Society of
Geayes-Inne.
Hab. 2. 12.
Woe to him that buildeth a Towne with blood, and
establisheth a Citie by Iniquity.
LONDON,
Printed by T. B. for N. Bourne, at the Eoyall Exchange,
and R. Harford, at the guilt Bible in Queenes-head
Alley in Pater-noster-Eow. 1639.
THE UNPROSPEROUS BUILDER.
Cursed be the man before the Lord that riseth up and builds this city Jericho:
he shall lay the foundation of it in his first-born, and in his youngest son set
up the gates thereof. — Joshua VI. 26.*
The words are a terrible denunciation of a curse of the man of God
Joshua ; wherein you have the curse generally set down — ' Cursed be the
man before the Lord that riseth to build this city Jericho ' — and then a
specification in particular, wherein the curse stands. The two branches
of the curse are these, * He shall lay the foundation of it in his first-born,
and in his youngest son set up the gates thereof.' It shall be with the
raisingf out of his posterity. So that the text is nothing else but a terrible
denunciation, under a curse, of the destruction of the family of that person
that should labour to build up Jericho again. I will not speak much of
cursing or blessing, being not pertinent to my purpose, only to give a
touch of it. As in blessing there are three things considerable, that come
near one another, — there is a blessing, a prayer, and a prophecy : the
prayer is for a blessing to come ; the prophecy is of the certainty of it,
that it shall be ; the blessing is an efiicacious application of the thing to
the person ; I mean those three, because the one gives light to the other, —
so is it likewise in cursing : there is a prayer that God would pour forth
his vengeance upon the enemies of the church, and a prophetical predic-
tion that God will do it ; and a cursing, when it comes from a qualified
person, that is led by a better spirit than his own ; for every one is not fit
to cast these bolts. Cursing is an efficacious application of the curse to the
person ; when a man is, as it were, the declarative instrument whereby
God works and brings the curse upon the person. So that we must
account a curse to be a wondrous deep thing. The persons qualified for
cursing or blessing, they are parents, either politic, as magistrates, or
parents natural, to curse or bless their children, as we see in Noah, —
' Cursed be Ham,' &c.. Gen. ix. 25, — or else parents spiritual, whose
office it is indeed especially to bless or curse. It is a greater matter than
the world takes it for, a blessing or a curse, especially from a spiritual
father. The apostles, that were spiritual fathers of the church, they began
their epistles with blessings ; and so the prophets and patriarchs.
Therefore we should regard the blessing that God gives by his ministers.
* Misprinted ' 10.'— G. t Qu. 'razing?'— Ed.
20 THE TJNPROSPEBOUS BUILDER.
Some are ready to run out before the blessing, as not esteeming either
blessing or curse. Luther, a man of great parts and grace, saith of him-
self, ' That if a man of God should speak anything terrible to him, and
denounce anything against him, he knew not how to bear it, it would be
BO terrible' («). The Jesuits themselves, amongst the rest one De Lapide,
he saith, ' The priest cannot sooner come into the pulpit, but if there be a
nobleman there, down he falls, and all look for the blessing of the priest'
{b). The devil is always in extremes, either to drive people to supersti-
tion, or else to profaneness and atheism ; either to regard the blessing of
those whom they should not regard, or not to regard any blessing at all ;
not to regard that good men should pray for them or their children. If
the devil can bring men to hell by either extremes, he hath his will. As
for the blessing of Eome, we expect it not ; and for their curse, we need
care no more for it than an armed man needs to care for a headless arrow
or for a child's pop-gun.* But those men that come in the name of God,
and are qualified with callings to pray and to bless, their prayers and
blessings are highly to be esteemed; and so likewise their curses. I would
it were more esteemed; it would be a means to convey God's blessing more
than it is.
* Cursed be the man before the Lord.'
Take this caution by the way : though Joshua were a man of God, he
was a mixed person; he was both a magistrate and, in some sort, a
minister. As we say of kings, they are mixed persons, they are keepers
of both tables : custodes utriusque tabula;. There is more in the supreme
magistrate than is common. Every one must not take upon him to curse
upon every motion of the flesh ; for here it is not, as one of the ancients
saith well, * the wrath of a man in commotion and fury, but the sentence
of a man in a peaceable temper, who is the conveyer of God's curse' (c).
It is passive here as well as active.
In the New Testament we are commanded to bless and not to curse.
It is a common fault upon every distemper to fall a cursing; and ofttimes
it lights, as an arrow shot upwards, upon the head of the curser. We are
people of God's blessing, all true believers; and we should delight in
blessing. Having felt the blessing of God ourselves upon our souls, we
should be moved to blessing, both by way of gratitude to those that are
our superiors and have done us good, that God would bless them, and by
way of amity and friendship to those that are under us or about us, and
by way of mercy to our very enemies. We should pray for and bless our
very enemies themselves, as our blessed Saviour prayed for them that
cursed him. This should be our ordinary disposition, we should be all
for blessing. As for curses, we must take heed that we direct them not
against any particular person; we have no such warrant, though the
primitive church pronounced a curse against Julian, a notable enemy [d) ;
and St Paul, he cursed Alexander the coppersmith, 2 Tim. iv. 14. But
for us this time, the safest way is to pronounce all those curses in the
Psalms and elsewhere in Scripture upon the implacable and incorrigible
enemies of the church, the whole body of the malignant church, and so
we should not err. I will not dwell longer upon this argument, only I
thought good to remember you to regard the blessing of those that have
the Spirit of God to bless, especially that have a calling to do it; and to
take heed of cursing. But to come to the particulars.
' Cursed be the man before the Lord.'
* Misprinted ' pot.' — G.
THE UNPEOSPEEOUS BUILDER. 21
That is, let him be cursed indeed. That that is done before the Lord
is truly and solemnly done. This was a solemn curse, a heavy curse, and
it did truly light upon him. And let him be cursed before the Lord, how-
ever the world bless him ; as a man cannot do such a thing as to build a
city, but the world will commend a man for doing such a thing, but it is
no matter for the world's commendation, if a man set upon a cursed cause.
So much for the phrase, ' Cursed be the man before the Lord ;' that is, he
is truly and solemnly cursed, and cursed before the Lord, though men bless
him.
* That riseth and builds this city Jericho.'
That is the cause why he should be cursed, because he would build that
city that God would have to be a perpetual monument of his justice. Why
would not God have Jericho built again ?
1. God would not have it built up, partly hecause he would have it a
perpetual remembrance of his goodness and merciful dealing with his people,
passing over Jordan, and coming freshly into Canaan ; for we are all sub-
ject to forget. Therefore it is good to have days set apart for remem-
brance and somewhat to put us in mind, as they had many things in old
time to help memory. If this city had been built again, the memory of it
would have been forgotten; but lying all waste and desolate, the passen-
gers by would ask the cause — as God speaks of his own people, — What is
the reason that this city lies thus ? — and then it would give them occasion
of speaking of the mercy of God to his people. And likewise it would
give occasion to speak of the justice of God against the idolatrous inhabi-
tants, whose sins were grown ripe. God foretold in Genesis that the sins
of the Amorites was not yet ripe ; but now their sins were ripe, they were
idolaters.
2. And Hkewise it was dedicated to God as the firstfndts. Being one of
the chief mother cities of the land, it was dedicate and consecrated to God
as a thing severed; it was to be for ever severed from common use.
There are two ways of severing things from common use : one by way of
destruction, as here the city of Jericho; another by way of dedication, as
the gold of Jericho. God would have this city severed from common use,
as a perpetual monument and remembrance of his mercy and justice.
3. And likewise he would have it never built up again, /o/- terror to the
rest of the inhabitants ; for usually great conquerors set up some terrible
example of justice to terrify others. Now, this being one of the first cities
after their passing over Jordan, God would have the destruction of it to
strike terror, together with this sentence of a curse, upon all that should
build it again for ever.
4. And then that this terrible sentence might be a means to draw others
to come in to God's people to join with them, and submit, and prevent their
destruction, seeing how terribly God had dealt with Jericho. Many such
reasons may be probably alleged ; but the main reason of reasons, that
must settle our consciences, God would have it so. Joshua he was but
God's trumpet and God's instrument to denounce this curse, ' Cursed be
the man before the Lord that shall build up this city Jericho.' We must
rest in that. I will go over the words, and then make application after-
wards to the occasion.
I come to the specification of the curse, wherein it stands : * He shall lay
the foundation thereof in his first-bom.'
If any man will be so venturous to build it up again, as one Hiel did, in
1 Kings xvi. 34, if any man will be so audacious, he shall do it with the
22 THE UNPROSPEEOUS BUILDER.
peril of the life of his first-begotten ; and if he will not desist then, he shall
finish the gates of it, he shall make an end of it, with the death of his
younger son. It is God's custom to denounce a threatening of a curse
before he execute it. It is a part of God's mercy and of his blessing, that
he will curse only in the threatening; for therefore he curseth, that he
might not execute it; and therefore he threateneth, that he might not
smite; and when he smites, he smites that he might not destroy; and
when he kills the body, it is that he might not destroy the soul; as
1 Cor. xi. 32, ' Therefore some of you are weak, and sick, and some
sleep, that you might not be condemned with the world.' Thus God is
merciful, even till it comes to the last upshot, that men by their rebellions
provoke him. God's mercy strives with the sins of men. Mark here the
degrees of it: first, God threatens the curse, 'Cursed be the man;' and
then in the particulars, he begins with the eldest son. First, there is a
threatening; and when the execution comes, he takes not all his sons
away at once, but begins with the eldest ; and if that will not do, he goes
to the youngest.
This carriage of God, even in his threatenings, it should put us in mind
of God's mercy, and likewise it should move us to meet God presently,
before any peremptory decree be come forth, as we shall see afterward ; for
if we leave not sinning, God will never leave punishing. He might have
desisted in the death of his first son ; but if that will not be, God will
strike him in his youngest son, and sweep away all between ; for so we
must understand it, that both elder, and younger, and all should die.
Now for the judgment itself.
* He shall lay the foundation thereof in his first-born.'
There is some proportion between the judgment and the sin. The sin
was to raise up a building, a cursed city, contrary to God's will. The
punishment is in pulHng down a man's own building ; for children, accord-
ing to the Hebrew word, are the building, the pillars of the house (e) ; and
since he would raise up a foundation and building contrary to God's mind,
God would pull up his foundation. Cities are said to have life, and to
grow, and to have their pitch, and then to die like men ; and, indeed, they
do : observing only a proportion of time, they are of longer continuance,
but otherwise cities live and grow and die and have their period as men
have.* Now he that would give life to a city, that God would have buried
in its own ruins, God would have his sons die ; he would have his sons
as it were buried under the ruins of that city that he would build in spite
of God, that would give life to that city that was cursed. Ofttimes we may
read our very sins in our punishments, there is some proportion. But to
go on to the particulars.
* He shall lay the foundation in his first-born.'
A heavy judgment, because the first-born, as you know he saith of
Keuben, he was his strength ; and he was king and priest in the family.
The first-born had a double portion, he was redeemed with a greater price,
as we see in Moses's law, than other sons. It was a heavy judgment to
have his first-born smitten in this fashion, to be taken away.
If any ask why God was so severe, that he did not punish Hiel in him-
self, but take away his children, it may seem against reason.
But we must not dispute with God, for we must know that God hath the
supreme power of life and death.
* Cf. Dr Vanghan's ' Ages of Great Cities,' wherein this truth is eloquently
illustrated and enforced. — G.
THE UNPBOSPEEOUS BUILDER. 23
Then we must know again that children are part of their parents ; God
punisheth the parents in their children, and it is a heavier punishment oft-
times in their esteem than in themselves, for they think to live and con-
tinue in their children. Now when they see their children took away it is
worse than death. Men ofttimes live to see things worse than death, as
those that see their children killed before them, as Zedekiah and Mauritius,
the emperor, for indeed it is a death oft (/) ; a man dies in every child. This
man he died in his eldest son, and he died in his youngest son ; he died in
regard of the apprehension of death. It was more sharp in apprehension
than when he died himself. So it is a heavy judgment to be stricken in
our children. God, when he will punish, he punisheth ofttimes in pos-
terity ; as we see it was the most terrible judgment of all upon Pharaoh, that
in his first-born ; God drew them all to let Israel go out, when ' he smote their
first-born.' It is a heavy judgment for a man to be stricken in his first-
born, either when they are dissolute, and debauched, and lawless, for God
hath judgments for the soul as well as for the body, or else when they are
taken out of the world.
But, thirdly, which is very likely another reason that moved God, — that
we may justify God in all our sentence that we give of him, — he took them
away, because they imitated their father in ill ; and God hath a liberty to
strike when he will, when there is cause ; and whom he will, he will spare
for so many generations.
Quest, You will say. Why doth he light on such a generation ? and why
not on such a place ?
Ans. It is his liberty and prerogative, when all deserve it ; and he lights
upon one and not upon another. We must not quarrel with God, but leave
him to his liberty. It is a part of his prerogative, * Who art thou, 0
man, that disputest ? ' Kom. ix. 20. Why God, when all are equally sin-
ners, strikes one and not another ; why he executes judgments in one age
and not in another ; there may be reasons given of it ; but it is a mystery
that must not be disputed. But I cannot stand on these things.
* He shall lay the foundation thereof in his first-born, and in his youngest
son set up the gates thereof.'
This terrible sentence we see executed in 1 Kings xvi. 34. In Ahab's
time, there was one so venturous as to build Jericho again. There is an
accent* to be set upon that, that it was in Ahab's time. Hiel would
needs build Jericho again ; and why should he build it ? Hiel no doubt
saw it a wondrous commodious place to found a city, being near to Jordan.
And then he saw and considered that it was accounted a famous thing to
be founder of a city. And then no doubt he thought that Ahab would not
only permit him to do it, but [itj would gratify him : wicked Ahab, which had
sold himself to work wickedness ; that was an abominable idolater himself,
and countenanced idolatry, and had set up the false worship of Baal. It
was likely enough in his time that Jericho should be built ; and therefore,
no doubt but he did it partly to insinuate himself with Ahab. And to
shew how little he cared for Joshua's or Jehovah's threatening, as usually
such impudent persons that are grown up with greatness, that have sold
themselves to be naught,f that have put off all humanity and modesty, they
are fittest to carry wicked and desperate causes, being agreeable to them.
So this wicked person was a fit man to do this, and he thought to please
Ahab by it.
Man is a strange creature, especially in greatness of riches or place, &c.
* That is, ' emphasis', — G. t That is, ' naughty' == wicked. — G.
24 THE UNPEOSPEROUS BUILDER.'
A piece of earth that will be puffed up, if he have flatterers and sycophants
about him, and a proud heart withal, he will forget, and dare the God of
heaven, and trample under foot all threatenings and menaces whatsoever.
As this wicked Hiel, rather than he will miss of his will, he will break
through thick and thin, and redeem the fulfilling of his will with the loss of
his own soul, and of his children, his first-born, and his last and all. Mens
tnihi pro regno ; let a man be happy in his will, he cares not for all the
world. If he may have his will, let all go upon heaps. This is the nature
of man. One would think that this threatening might have scared a man
that had loved himself, or his posterity. But nothing would keep him, he
would venture upon it, as we see in that place, 1 Kings xvi. 34. Thus we
have passed over the words.
To come to handle the words by way of analogy, how they may agree to
other things by way of proportion, and in a spiritual mystical sense.
There are divers degrees of men that venture upon curses, and there-
upon grow to be cursed themselves. Even as this man ventured upon the
building of Jericho, so there be many that do the like in a proportion-
able kind. I shall name some few.
God did determine that the Jewish ceremonies should determine and have
an end and period. Now, in St Paul's time, there were many that would put
life into them, and join them with the gospel. St Paul tells them, * Christ
shall profit you nothing,' Gal. v. 2. Those are they that build Jericho
again, that revive and put life into that that God hath determined should
never revive again. When the Jewish ceremonies were honourably interred,
and laid in their graves, these men would raise them out of their graves
again, and so venture upon God's curse, and be excluded from Christ.
These are one sort of men that raise Jericho again ; and so afterwards in
the church, there were those that would build up Jericho, that would still
retain Jewish ceremonies, and heathenish in the church, and some at the
first with no ill minds. But then afterwards, as Augustine complains, they
so pestered the church with Jewish and heathenish ceremonies, that the
Jews' condition was better than theirs, for these things should have been
buried {g). Gerson, that had many good things in him, though he lived
in ill times, * Oh,' saith he, ' good Augustine, dost thou complain of those
times ? what wouldst thou have said if thou hadst lived now ?' (h) What
is popery but a mass of Jewish and heathenish ceremonies, besides some
blasphemies that they have ? I speak concerning what they differ from ours,
which are decent and orderly. What a mass of ceremonies and fooleries
have they, to mislead men that are taken away with fancies to distaste
the truth of God, and to have respect to fancies, to outward pomp and gor-
geous things, rather than the gospel ? These men build up Jericho again,
and bury the gospel as much as they can.
There are another sort of men that raise up Jericho, that revive all the
heresies that were damned to hell by the ancient Councils. The heresy of
Pelagius was damned to hell by the ancient councils. The African coun-
cils, divers of them, divers synods, wherein Augustine himself was a party,
they condemned Pelagius's heresy.* Are there not men now abroad that
will revive these heresies ? And there must be expected nothing but a
curse where this prevails ; for they are opinions cursed by the church of
God, that have been led by the Spirit of God heretofore ; such opinions, I
mean, as speak meanly of the grace of God, as if it were a weak thing, and
advance the strength of free-will, and make an idol of that ; and so, under
* Cf. Note/, Vol. II. page 194.— G.
THE DNPKOSPEROUS BUILDER. 25
the commendation, and setting up of nature, are enemies of grace. These
are those that build up Jericho.
3. There are a company that build up Jericho likewise, persoyis that ivill
venture upon the curse of founders of colleges, dc, those that have left statutes,
and testaments, and wills, established and sealed them with a curse, as it
were, against the breakers of them ; yet some make no more bones of
breaking these, either statutes or wills, than Samson did of breaking his
cords ; as if they would venture upon the curse of former times, and per-
sons that very likely were led by the Spirit of God, and could say amen to
their curses, as if they were nothing like Hiel, that would venture upon the
terrible curse of Joshua; come what would, he would break through all.* '
4. But the Jericho especially that a world of people go about to build
again, is joojoery. How many have ye to build up the walls of Jericho again
in this kind ? But to make this a little clearer, because the occasion leads
to this something, I will be the larger in it.
Quest. How came they to build these walls of Jericho ? By what means
came this religion that is so opposite to the religion of the Scripture ; this
religion, that was gathered by the Council of Trent into one sea, as it were,
that whosoever drinks of it dies, as it is in the Revelation, sx. 14. How
comes this religion ? How crept it into the world ?
Ans. I could be long to shew that it came by degrees. While the
husbandmen slept, then the devil sowed his tares by heretics and such
like. It grew by degrees. And then the world was scared and terrified
with shows and fancies ; as with the succession of Peter, that is a mere
fancy ; and then they were frighted with excommunications, the terrible
sentence of the church. And then again it is a kingdom of darkness,
popery is. By little and little they brought in ignorance, not only of the
Scriptures, but of other things. They had their prayers in an unknown
tongue, forbidding the Scriptures and the like. In the night they might
do what they would, when they had put out the candle. When they had
buried the knowledge of the word of God they might bring in any heresy ;
many ways they came in.
Now the preaching of the gospel is the means to pull down these walls
of Jericho, it is the going about the walls of Jericho. By the preaching of
Luther and others, the walls have fallen, though not utterly ; yet notwith-
standing, in the last hundred years there hath been a great ruin of
popery.
Quest. What means have they now to build the walls again ? How they
bestir themselves ! There is a new sect of Jesuits, that are the spirit of
the devil for knowledge and industry. It is a strange project they have
now to build up the walls of Jericho again ; and three things they have in their
project, and these are to set up the pope again, and a catholic king under
him, as he is the catholic head of the church, and to set up the Council of
Trent in the full vigour. These are the main projects they labour
to set up, and so to build Jericho again this way ; and what course do
they take ?
Ans. The devil hath a thousand wiles. I cannot reckon all the instru-
ments of Satan. Who can tell all his wiles ? They go about to build the
walls of Jericho again among other ways.
By shutting out of all light by their terrible inquisition, a most cruel thing.
By the tyranny of this inquisition, they shut out all light of God's truth in
all places where popery is established.
Then again they have all Satan's arts to build up Jericho, by slanders
A J THE UNPEOSPEROUS BUILDER.
and lies. They labour to estrange the hearts of people what they can
against the truth of religion, and therefore they raise all the lies and
slanders they can ; nay, and they will not suffer so much as a Protestant
writer to be named, but the name of such a one, say they, be blotted out.
Then they have their Index Purgatorius,-- to purge all that savour of truth
that favour our cause. And then they have their dispensations. And, to
cut off other things, for where should I end ? indeed their policy is almost
endless in this kind ; they have the quintessence of their own wit and of
Satan's to sharpen them in this kind.
They deal as the magicians of Egypt. When Moses came to do wonders,
they imitated him in all the rest, except in one. So they strengthen them-
selves much in imitating the Protestants. We labour to build the walls of
Jerusalem, they imitate us in building the walls of Jericho. We preach
to shake off drowsiness, and they fall a preaching. We print, and they
print. We publish books of devotion ; they go beyond us. We set out
books of martyrology [i), to shew the cruelty of them, and they have lost
much by that. Hereupon they do so too, and aggravate things, and add
their own lies. So by imitating our proceedings, wherein we have gained
upon them, they, like the Egyptian magicians, do the like, and God
hardens their hearts, as he did Pharaoh's, by the magicians.
Again, by labouring to make divisions between kings and their subjects,
what they can in those places where their religion hath not obtained ground.
That they may get a party they cherish division like the devil ; they divide
and rule.
It was Julian's policy to provide that no Christian should bear any
office in the wars, to be captain, &c. So if the Jesuits and papists may
have their will, no man that is opposite to them shall have any place.
Those that shall have the place to manage offices, and such like, shall be
those that incline to them. This they bring to pass if they can, and so
for captains in the wars, &c. As Julian the apostate, he cared not for
Judaism, but did what he did out of spite to the Christians ; so in the most
of their plots thus they work one way or other. I say there is no end of
their plots, only it is good to know them ; for so we may the better
prevent them.
Quest. How shall the building up of Jericho be stopped, seeing they go
about it so ? And indeed they have built much of late years, and have raised
up their walls very high, and labour what they can to stop the building of
Jerusalem !
Ans. 1. The way to stop this Jericho, that it never go up again, is the
judicious knowledge of popery ; that it is a religion contrary to the blessed
truth of God. God hath left us his testament, his will, wherein he hath
bequeathed us all the good that we can challenge from him. Now this
religion is contrary to our Father's will, and they know it well enough, and
therefore they build their courses upon men's devices, and not upon divine
truth. They know if people come to know the Testament, that they should
lose, and therefore they labour to suppress knowledge, and extinguish it ;
we should labour to know^the controversial truths between us and them,^and
to have the knowledge of the Scriptures ; for knowledge is a notable
means to strengthen us ; there are none that know popery that will be
deceived by it.
2. And then, together with the knowledge of their tenets, to knoiv their
courses, and practices, and policy. In 2 "Tim. iii. 9, ' They shall prevail
* That is, ' Expurgatorius ' = Index of Prohibited Books. Cf. Mendhan.— G.
THE UNPEOSPEEOUS BUILDEE. 27
no longer,' saith Saint Paul, ' for their madness shall be made manifest.'
Why shall they not prevail any longer ? Their madness shall be manifest.
So that the manifesting of the madness of men is the cause why they
shall prevail no longer. It were good to know all their undermining tricks,
and all the policy of the Jesuits and papists, that lay their trains afar oft',
that they may be the less seen. As the spider gets into a corner, that
she appear not, so themselves will not appear, but they draw women, and
other licentious persons, and they have greater than them too. So they
lay their trains afar off, that they may have their will. It is good to know
their devilish practices, that so their diabolical madness may be manifest,
that so they may prevail no longer ; for undoubtedly, if their courses were
laid open, there is no man that loves his own safety, and the safety of the
kingdom, but would hate them.
3. Another way to stop the building of Jericho is to have young ones
instructed. I would parents would have more care of catechising, and
others in their places would have more care of grounding young ones in
the grounds of religion. Popery labours to overthrow that. For the
worshipping of images it is directly against the second commandment, and
they are so guilty of it that they take it away in some of their books. The
younger sort, that are the hope of the succeeding church, should be well
grounded in religion. That that is right will discover that that is crooked.
It would make them impregnable against all popish solicitations.
The neglect of this is the cause why many gentlemen, and of the
nobility [apostatize]. The neglect of their education by those that should
overlook them hath made them fit for Jesuits and priests to work on, having
ripe wits otherwise. And all because of the atheism of those that have
neglected their breeding, and filled their heads with other vanities ; it hath
been the ruin of many families in this kingdom. Therefore it is good to
season younger years with the knowledge of the grounds of religion.
4. And in all the dark corners of the land to set up lights that 7nay shine ;
for these owls fly in the dark. They cannot endure the light of the gospel
by any means. They see the breath of God's mouth is too hot for them;
and they must be consumed at length by that, by the preaching of the
gospel. Not with the sword, but with the sword of Christ's mouth, Anti-
christ must especially be consumed. And they know this by experience.
Therefore they labour underhand. They will not be seen in it, but oft-
times others are instruments more than they are aware, to stop the preaching
of the gospel by all the policy they can.
5. Again, as I said before, popery is a kingdom of darkness, and nothing
will undo it but light ; therefore we should labour to cherish all good
learning. It is a notable means to assist against popery. Julian knew
that well enough. Therefore he would not sufier parents to send their
children to school, but to be brought up in ignorance. And so papists
would have a neglect of learning that might help this way.
6. And because they labour to reign in division, let us labour to unite
ourselves^ and not break upon small matters, hut to join together with one
shoulder, as one man, against that malignant generation, and mark those
among us that are the causes of division ; as the apostle saith, ' Mark
them, they serve not Christ, but their own belHes,' Philip, iii. 19 ; they
serve their own turns that reign in division. Let us labour as much as
may be if we will join strongly against the enemies of God and his church,
to unite our forces together, and not to entertain slight matters of breach
one from another.
28 THE UNPEOSPEROUS BUILDER.
7. And with these let us join our prayers to God, and our thanksgiving.
We are not thankful enough that God hath brought us out of the kingdom
of darkness ; not only out of the darkness of sin and Satan, but from the
darkness of popery. We have not been thankful to God for that deliver-
ance in Queen Elizabeth's time, out of the Egyptian darkness, and the
deliverance in our late king's time, and deliverances in later times, we
are not thankful enough. And we begin to shew it in not making much of
religion, and growing in further and further obedience of religion. Is this
our thankfulness to God ? What, doth religion hurt us ? Are we not
beholden to God for our religion, and to religion for our peace and deliver-
ance ? Hath not God witnessed the truth of our religion from heaven by
deliverances ? Hath not God been with us strangely by the confusion of
the plots of others. And how do we requite it ? By growing to a lukewarm
temper. A lukewarm temper is odious in the sight of God. * I would
thou wert hot or cold,' saith Christ, Kev. iii. 15. The best religion in the
world is odious if it be cold. God will not endure us to join the ark and
Dagon, Christ and Belial. Certainly, if we do, God will spue us all out.
It will be the confusion of the church and state, and yet this is the thank-
fulness that we give to God for the gospel of peace, that we have been so
much beholden to him for.
Therefore it is good to take occasions, as we have one" ministered this
day, to call to mind the former dealing of God to us, in the gunpowder
treason and other deliverances, which we have had several occasions upon
this day to speak of. And, to come nearer ourselves, let us stir up our
hearts to thankfulness, which is the main end of this day, and among the
rest for our gracious prince, that God hath delivered him as the three
children in the fiery furnace (j). They were kept and preserved untouched of
the fire ; so God hath preserved him in the fiery furnace. The not being
thankful for these things will be a means for God to lay us open to his and
our enemies. Therefore let us make use of this day especially to stir us
up to thankfulness. To go on.
8. For the building of the walls of Jericho what should I speak of
popery and the like ? We should labour to overthrow that Jericho. All of
us have vowed in baptism to fight against the world, and the devil, and
the main enemy of all that is within us, that is, our flesh. We could not
be hurt by them. We betray ourselves, as Samson betrayed himself to
Delilah. Those that are baptized, and especially that have renewed their
vows by solemn fasting, and renewed their covenant in taking the com-
munion, as there are none of us all but have vowed against our corruptions
and sins in baptism, and have renewed their solemn vows in the com-
munion and in public fasting. Well, when we go about to strengthen our
corruptions, and the corruptions of the times in the places where we live,
what do we go about ? To build the walls of Jericho again. What do
we go about, but to strengthen that that God hath cursed ? There is
nothing under heaven so cursed as this corruption of ours, that is the cause
of all the curses of the creatures, of all the curses that ever were, or shall
be, even to the last curse : ' Go, ye cursed, to eternal destruction,' Mat.
XXV. 41. This pride, and sensuality, and secret atheism and infidelity that
we cherish, and love more than our own souls, this is that that many go
about to build, and oppose all the ways that are used to pull down Jericho,
and hate nothing so heartily as the motions of God's Spirit, and the
means that God's Spirit hath sanctified to pull down these walls of Jericho.
Must not this be a cursed endeavour, when we go about to build that
THE UNPROSPEKOUS BUILDER. 29
that we ourselves have vowed to pull down ? when we go about to raise
that that we have formerly destroyed by our own vows ? As Saint Paul
saith, Gal. ii. 18, ' If I again build the things I have destroyed, I make
myself a transgressor,' Indeed, when we go about to build the things that
we have vowed their destruction, we make ourselves transgressors.
Let us take notice of the wondrous poison and rebellion of the corrup-
tion of our hearts in this kind. Hath not the Lord threatened curse upon
curse against many particular sins ? ' Cursed is the man that calls evil
good, and good evil,' Isa. v. 20. Have we not many that do so ? In
Deuteronomy there is curse upon curse to those that mislead others, xxvii.
16, et alibi. And in the New Testament there is curse upon curse ; St Paul
threateneth that such and such shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven,
l^Cor. vi. 9, 10. Yet, notwithstanding the curse, we go about to build
Jericho again, to set up that that God hath pronounced a curse upon.
We cry out against popery, and well we may, when the Scripture directs
curses against their particular opinions, as where it saith, * If an angel from
heaven shall teach other doctrine, let him be accursed,' Gal. i. 8. The
Council of Trent hath cursed those that say traditions are not of equal
authority with the Scriptures, and so they set curse against curse. We
wonder at them that they are not afraid of the curse of God, nay, to coun-
ter-curse God as it were ; when he curseth disobedience, to curse the
practice of obedience to him. And then there is a icurse to those that
shall add or take away from the Scripture. St John seals the whole
Scripture with a curse : ' Cursed is he that adds, or takes away,' &c.. Rev.
xxii. 18. Now they add to the Scripture that that is no scripture ; and
they take away what they list, as the second commandment and the cup
in the sacrament. I say we wonder at them, that they will run upon the
curses, that they will be stricken through with so many curses, more than
Absalom with javelins, or Achan with stones : * Cursed is he that worship-
peth graven images,' Deut. xxvii. 15 ; besides particular things that are
cursed in Scripture. We wonder at them that they are so desperately
blind to run on. But are not we as ill ? Are there not many curses in
the Scripture, and denunciations of being excluded from the kingdom of
God, against the courses that are taken by many men ? And yet we ven-
ture on it. Will a negative religion bring any man to heaven, to say he is
no papist, nor no schismatic ? No. Certainly therefore profane persons
that maintain corruptions, and abuses, and abominations, against the light
of conscience, and nature, and Scriptures, they raise up Jericho again and
they are under a curse.
Let me ask any one why Christ came ?* The apostle saith, and they
will be ready to say, ' To dissolve the cursed works of the devil,' 1 John
iii. 8. It should seem by many, notwithstanding, especially at these times,
that he came to establish the works of the devil ; for what good we do in
the ministry, in three quarters of a year, it is almost undone in one quarter.
At the time when we pretend great honour to Christ, we live as if he came
to build up the cursed wall of hell ; to break loose all. Whereas he came
to destroy the works of the devil : ' He came to redeem us out of the hands
of our enemies, that we might serve him without fear, in holiness and
righteousness, all the days of our life,' Luke i. 75. He came to redeem us
from our vain conversation. Nay, many live as if he came to give liberty
to all conversation. Is not this to raise Jericho ? to raise a fort for
Satan to enter into our souls and keep possession in us ? to beat out God
* In margin here, ' Application concerning the feast of the nativity,' — G.
80 THE UNPROSPEROUS BUILDER.
and his Spirit ? to fight against our known salvation, when we rear up
coui'ses contrary to Christ's coming in the flesh, and to the end of Christ's
dying for us, which was to free us from our vain conversation, and to
redeem us from the world, that we should not be led as slaves to the cus-
toms of the world ?
Therefore let us consider what we do, what our course of life is. If it
be a proceeding, and edification, and building up ourselves more and more
to heaven, a growing in knowledge and in holy obedience to the divine
truths we know ; if it be a pulling down of sin more and more, a going
further and further out of the kingdom of darkness, and a setting ourselves
at a gracious liberty to serve God ; oh it is a happy thing if it be so !
If our life be a taking part with Christ, and his Spirit, and his ministry, to
grow in grace and piety, oh it is an excellent thing when we grow better
the longer we live in the world, and this cursed Jericho, the corruption of
nature, which, if we cherish, will be the cause of an eternal curse after, if
it go down, and we ruin it more and more, and we sufier the word to beat
down the forts of Satan, those strong imaginations, &c. But if our life be
nothing else but a living answerable to our lusts ; that as we are dead and
cursed by nature, so we make ourselves twice dead, a hundred times dead
by sin, and bring curse upon curse by our sinful conversation, we are then
under God's broad seal cursed. We are all born accursed, till we get out
of the state of nature ; to free us from which Christ became a curse. If
we get not out of this, but go on and feed our vanity and corruption, what
will be the end of it but an eternal curse afterwards ? Therefore let us
consider what we do, when we maintain and cherish corruptions and abuses
in ourselves and others. We build that that God hath cursed ; we build
that that we have vowed against ourselves.
And how will God take this at the hour of death ? Thou that art a care-
less, drowsy hearer of the word of God, and a liver contrary to the word of
God, how will God take this at thee, at the hour of death, when thy con-
science will tell thee that thy life hath been a practice of sin, a strengthening
of corruption ? The ' old Adam ' that thou hast cherished, it will stare
and look on thee with so hideous a look that it will drive you to despair ;
for conscience will tell thee that thy life hath been a strengthening of
pride, of vanity, of covetousness, and of other sins. Thy whole Hfe hath
been such ; and now when thou shouldst look for comfort, then thy corrup-
tions, which thou shouldst have subdued, they are grown to that pitch that
they will bring thee to despair, without the extraordinary mercy of God to
awaken thy heart by repentance. Why therefore should we strengthen
that that is a curse and will make us cursed too ? and will make the time
to come terrible to us, the hour of death and the day of judgment ? How
shall men think to hold up their faces and heads at the day of judgment,
whose lives have been nothing else but a yielding to their own corruption
of nature, and the corruptions and vanities of the times and places they
have lived in ? that have never had the courage to plead for God ; that
have been fierce against God : ' Who ever was fierce against God, and pros-
pered?,' Job ix. 4. When men make their whole life fierce against God,
against the admonitions of his word and Spirit, and their whole life is
nothing but a practice of sin, how can they think of death and judgment
without terror !
Now, it were wisdom for us to carry ourselves so in our lives and con-
versations, that the time to come may not be terrible, but comfortable to
think of; that we may lift up our heads with joy when we think of death
VHE UNPEOSPEKOTJS BUILDER. 81
and judgment. But when we do nothing but build Jericho, when we raise
up sin, that we should ruin more and more, what will the end of this be,
but despair here and destruction in the world to come ?
You may shake off the menaces and threatenings of the ministers, as
Hiel shook off Joshua's. He was an austere, singular man, and it is a
long time since Jericho was cast down, and God hath forgotten. Hath he
so ? He found that God had not forgotten ; so there are many that think
that words are but wind of men, opposite to such and such things. But,
though our words may be shooken , off now, and the word of God now in
the preaching may be shook off, yet it will not when it comes to execution.
"When we propound the curse of God against sinful courses, you may shake
off that curse ; but when Christ from heaven shall come to judge the quick
and the dead, and say, * Go, ye cursed,' that were born cursed, that have
lived cursed, that have maintained a cursed opposition to blessed courses,
that have not built up your own salvation, but your corruptions, you that
loved cursing, ' Go, ye cursed, to hell-fire, with the devil and his angels for
ever,' Mat. xxv. 41. Will you shake off that ? No, no ! Howsoever our
ministerial entreaties may be shaken off, yet when God shall come to judge
the quick and the dead, that eternal threatening shall not be shaken off.
Therefore, I beseech you, consider not so much what we say now, but what
God will make good then. ' What we bind on earth,' out of the warrant of
God's book, ' shall be bound in heaven,' Mat. xvi. 19, and God will say
Amen to that we say agreeable to his word.
Think not light of that we speak, for God will make good every word.
He is Jehovah, he will give being to every word. He is not only mercy
but justice. We make an idol of him else. And we must fear him in his
justice. * He loves to dwell with such as are of a contrite spirit, that
tremble at his word,' Isa. Ivii. 15.
It is said of David, that when Uzzah was stricken, he trembled,' 2 Sam.
vi, 6. fHiel, and such kind of persons, regard not the threatenings of God,
but go on and treasure up wrath. It is a sign of a wicked man to bear
the menaces and threatenings, and not to tremble. To end all with two
places of scripture : Saith Moses, ' He that hears these things, and blesseth
himself, my wrath shall smoke against him,' Deut. xxis. 20. God's wrath
shall smoke and burn to hell against such a one as blesseth himself, that
knows he is cursed under the seal of God, that doth ill, and yet he blesseth
himself in doing ill. Therefore, take heed of that, ad«l not that to the rest.
God's wrath will smoke against such a one. And you know what St Paul
saith : Kom, ii. 5, ' If thou go on and treasure up Wrath,' thou buildest
Jericho, that thou hast vowed the destruction of. Every time thou takest
the communion, thou treasurest up wrath against the day of wrath. For
there will be a day of the manifestation of the just wrath of God, and then
these things will be laid to thy charge. *5
Let us every one labour to get out of the state of nature, to break off our
wicked lives, and to get into Christ the blessed seed, and then we shall be
blessed, we shall be made free, free from the curse of nature and of sin.
Let us renew our covenants against all sin, and make conscience to be led
by the Spirit of Christ, that we may gather sound evidence every day, that
we are in Christ, and so out of the curse.
32 THE UNPROSPEROUS BUILDER.
NOTES.
(a) p. 20. — ' Luther, a man of great parts and grace, saith of himself, " That if," '
&c. The sentiment is found in his ' Table Talk,' on which cf. note uu, Vol. III.
p. 583.
{b) P. 20. — ' The Jesuits themselves, amongst the rest one De Lapide, he saith.'
' One De Lapide ' is somewhat contemptuous for a name so famous as Corneille de la
Pierre, commonly called Cornelius a Lapide. His great ' Commentarii in Sacram
Scripturam ' (10 vols, folio) is an extraordinary chaos of wisdom and folly. The
thing stated ante is a commonplace of popery.
(c) P. 20. — ' As one of the ancients saith well, " the wrath of a man," ' &c. Pro-
bably Augustine, but I have failed to trace it.
(d) P. 20. — ' The primitive church pronounced a curse against Julian.' It needeth
not to annotate so familiar a fact in the early conflicts of Christianity ; but perhaps
it is as well to notice that ' curse ' is not used technically. There was angry de-
nunciation, yet scarcely excommunication proper.
(e) P. 22. — ' Children, according to the Hebrew word, are the building, the pillars
of the house.' The allusion here is not, as at first sight would seem, to ' first-born'
in the text, but to the general word for children, viz., Q''3^, and probably also to
• T
the Hebrew word for ' house,' JT^^ [qvasi /li2l)> ^^^^ which words are derived from
the verb nJ2l> ' to build.' So we read the passage, ' Cursed be the man that riseth
T T
up and buildeth (nj3,) Jericho;' as if he said, 'that riseth up and maketh Jericho
T T
to have children and house. That man shall suffer for it, inasmuch as his children
shall die, and his house be left desolate.'
(f) P. 23. — 'As Zedekiah and Mauritius the emperor.' With respect to Zede-
kiah, cf. 2 Kings xxv. 7. ' Mauritius ' is of course Mauricius Flavius Tiberius, one
of the greatest of the emperors of Constantinople. Sibbes alludes to the well known
fact, that his five sons were murdered in the church of St Antonomus, Chalcedon,
while their father was compelled to look on.
(^r) P. 24. — ' As Augustine complains, they so pestered,' &c. Eepeatedly in his
De Civitate Dei, and in his Controversies.
[h) P. 24. — ' Gerson . . . saith.' To distinguish this from other Gersons, it may
be stated that Sibbes no doubt refers to John Gerson of Gerson [Charlier], whose
writings are numerous. Died 1429.
(z) P. 26. — ' We set out books of martyrology.' The great martyr-book is that of
John Fox ; but for others prior and subsequent to Sibbes, cf. Watt's Bib. Brit., sub
voce. G.
(j) P. 28. — The reference is to the safe return of Prince Charles, afterwards
Charles L, from the visit which he made in company with Buckingham into Spain,
whence he returned on the 5th October 1623. His safe return is frequently referred
to as a matter of thankfulness by the preachers of the period. There is already
published in tliis Series a sermon preached on that occasion by Samuel Ward
(Works, p. 134).
THE VANITY OF THE CREATURE.
VOL. YII.
THE VANITY OF THE CREATUKE.
NOTE.
' The Vanity of the Creature' forms No. 18 of the Sermons in the Saint's
Cordials of 1629. It is not contained in the editions of 1637, 1658. The separate
title-page will be found below.* G.
*THE
VANITIE OF
THE CREATVRE.
In One Seemon.
WHEREIN IS SET FORTH,
C The decaying condition of all naturall parts, and worldly
I comforts.
I Together with the meanes hoiv to attaine an estate super-
naiurall, to live with God in Christ.
Shewing who are the truly wise men in the world.
With sundry helps and directions to stirre up in Christi-
ans a longing desire after their best home, <^c.
[The ornament here, described in Vol. IV. page 60. So in all the Sermons from
the Saint's Cordials in this volume. — G.]
Vpeightnes Hath Boldnes.'
LONDON,
Printed in the yeare 1629.
THE VANITY OF THE CREATURE.
And Barzillai said to the hing, How long have I to live, that I should go up
ivith the king to Jerusalem? I am this day fourscore years old, dc. —
• 2 Samuel XIX. 34-38.
I HAVE read, beloved, a large text. In the handling of it, we will do as the
traveller doth that is belated ; we will cast how we may post the next way
to an end. The oration, you see, is very plain. We shall not need to
spend much time in explicating the terms.
The words are part of a conference, you see ; a passage between king
David and Barzillai of Eogelim, in the county of Gilead. This Barzillai
had been wondrous kind to David in the time of his distress. David being
now restored from danger, remembers the kindness of his old friend, and,
in way of requital, tenders him this offer, that in case he would go with
him to the court of Jerusalem, he should be very welcome thither, and he
should have such entertainment as the court would afford. This invite-
ment* of the king foregoes f our text.
The old man Barzillai is now upon his answer in the words read, who
doth,
1. First, very modestly and mannerly put off the king's motion to him.
2. And then next he tenders and jjrefers a suit of his oivn. For the king's
motion, that he should turn courtier, Barzillai puts off very finely, as you
may see in the text. He gives sundry reasons for his so doing.
1. The first is, because that he ivas no fit man for the court.
First, He was smitten in age, and therefore, in case he should go up, he
could but only salute it ; for, saith he, ' how many are the days of my years ?'
My years are brought to days ; my days may quickly be numbered. I
should die by that time I were warm there, and therefore what should I do
at the court? Secondly, put the case he did draw breath there a while,
that was all ; for, saith he, ' Am I able now to discern between good and
evil?' There is nothing that oflers itself to my eye, to my ear, to my
taste, to any of my senses, that will give me any great content, and there-
fore there is no great reason why I should be drawn thither. This is his
first reason, from the unfitness of the thing.
* That is, ' invitation.' — G.
t That is, ' goes before,' = precedes, used as also ' fore-think,' and the like, by
contemporaries. — G.
86 THE VANITY OF THE CKEATUKE.
Second, Afterward he proceeds to other reasons in the text, that is first
thus much : if he should live there, it must he to do the king some service,
at the least to yield him some contentment. But so it was that he was under
age's command, and was able for neither. He was neither fit for work nor
fit for play. He found no great contentment in himself, and he could
yield little to others, and therefore why should he be a burden to the
king's court?
Third, The third reason is this, that he had done what he had done for
the kinr/, but in duty. It was his duty to do what he did, and it was but a
little. All that he could do for the king was only to bring him a mile or
two on his way ; and why should the king trouble his thoughts about a
recompence for this, saith he ? Thus he puts oif the king's motion ; he
craves leave that he may forbear the court, and be excused thence.
Fourth, This done, he comes in the next place, because he would give
no offence, to tender a suit of his own, and that is double.
1. In regard of himself.
2. And then in regard of his son Chimham.
For himself he craves leave to go back again to his own dwelling ; and
here he doth finely set his petition by the king's motion.
1. He desires the king's leave, that he would give him leave to go home
and die.
2. And next, that the king would be pleased so far to gratify him, that
he may die in his own dwelling, where his habitation was.
Fain he would die as the hare doth in her own form, and as other
creatures willingly do in their own nests. Then, in the next place, he adds
another reason why he would be dismissed; because he would die where
his father and his mother were buried. There he was bred, there he was
born, there he drew his first breath, and there he would gladly resign him-
self again, and his breath, and be laid and gathered in mercy to his fathers.
This is his suit for himself.
In the behalf of his son, he tenders him to the king's grace, as if he
should say. Your motion is very gracious, far beyond my desert, and such
as I should be very happy in the enjoying of, in case age did not hinder me.
For proof whereof, I leave my son as a pledge and pawn.* This stafi" of
my age, this stay of my comfort, I commend him to your grace ; deal with
him as shall seem best in your eyes. And thus Barzillai he hath com-
mended his suit to the king.
Now this being thus delivered, it is further amplified and set forth from
the effect that this wrought in the king.
1. First, King David he accepts of his excuse. He gives him to under-
stand, if he will go, he shall be kindly welcome; if he stay behind, there
is no ofience shall be taken, but further, the king will be ready in any other
kind to gratify him as occasion shall serve.
2. And next for his son, the king accepts of him, and promiseth to do
for him that which should seem good in the eyes of his father.
These be the parts of this conference, and the eff'ects of it ; so that in
sum you see here is a dialogue,
A conference between David and Barzillai.
We are now upon Barzillai's answer, which is set forth,
1. From the parts.
2. From the efiects of it, as before we inferred.
Now from all these generals, sundry particular instructions might be
* That is, ' security.' — G.
THE VANITY OP THE CREATUKE. 37
raised. But I perceive the time hath prevented me; therefore we will.
briefly handle a point or two, and so for this time cease.
1. First of all, in the first place, we see that Barzlllai hath no mind to
the court; and he draws his argument and his reason from his state and
from his age. * How many,' saith the original, ' are the days of my years?'
{a.) The motion* was very gracious on the king's part, and such as man's
nature is ready enough to entertain. Naturally, we desire honour and
preferment; at least an old man might take some contentment in the
dainties and delicates of a court. Further than this, let a man be never so
religious, in David's court a man might find much contentment, and might
take much comfort and solace in the presence and company of such a
prince. Notwithstanding all this, saith old Barzillai, my days are almost
spent, my glass is almost run, and therefore what should I talk of a court ?
I will go home and die.
Doct. 1. In him we learn thus much, how that no company, no comforts,
no motions in the earth, should jnit off thoughts of death when death begins to
creep upon us. I say wheresoever we live, what offers soever are made us,
whatsoever the motion be, for ease, for profit, for promotion, for any out-
ward contentments, we must not lay down, we must not lay aside the
thoughts of our mortality. No dream must put us out of these thoughts
while we travel in this main roadway of all flesh. We must never be so
busy in discourse, in contrivements,t as to forget our way, to forget which
way we are going, but still our thoughts must be homewards ; that as we
deal with other journeys here upon earth; for these momentary homes that
we have here, wheresoever we be, in company that we like wondrous well,
where our entertainment is full of kindness, where our welcome is of the
best, and all content is given; yet notwithstanding, thoughts eftsoonsj
will offer themselves of home, night will come, and it will grow late, I must
home for all this, and leave all this company. So, my brethren, should it
be concerning our long homes, which is that surest dwelling ; wheresoever
we be, howsoever for the present we be tempted or taken up, still, still our
eye must be home ; we must remember our latter end, remember whither
we are going. This Barzillai teacheth us in his practice. A motion is
made for the court. Tush ! court me no courts, saith Barzillai ; I am an
aged man ; I have one foot in the grave ; let me go home and die. Here
is an off'er made him of comfort and contentment. No; I will go home
and lie by my fathers. Death possesseth his thoughts ; he minds nothing
else now but dying. This Barzillai did, and thus the apostle would have
us do in 1 Cor. vii. 29, 30. Our time, saith he, it is abbreviated. Now
our time is nothing in comparison of that it was in the time of the
patriarchs. A great part of our time is already run out, and there is but
a Httle of it left behind. Our time being thus short, saith the apostle,
* Let him that is married, be as if he were not married; let him that weeps,
be as if he wept not; let him that rejoiceth, be as if he did not rejoice; he
that is in the world, as if he were not in the world.' Let us so carry our-
selves, that we may be very indifferent towards all matters in this life.
Let us so order the matter, that no occasion of grief, of sorrow, of comfort,
of joy, of company, of one thing or another, public or private, may divert
our thoughts, and turn them aside from thinking upon death. This is that
which David and others press in sundry psalms. § He calls upon rich and
poor, upon high and low, one and another, in the 82d Psalm. He calls
* That is, ' proposal.' — G. J That is, ' immediately.' — Q.
t That is, ' contrivances.' — G. | In margin, ' Psalms xlix. and Ixxxii.' — G.
88 THE VANITY OF THE CEEATUEE.
upon judges and magistrates, though they be in place gods, yet in nature
men, and must die as men. This is that which Solomon presseth too.
But what needs particulars ? We will not trouble you with particular
instances of Scripture, much less with instances of other stories. Every
man almost knows what some heathen princes have done this way. They
had some to call upon them in their beds, some at their boards, to remem-
ber them that they were mortal, that they must die, to mind them of this
in the midst of their greatest security, and in the midst of all their
jollity (b). And indeed there is great reason why it should be thus, why
it is good still to hold on the thoughts of our mortality and of our death,
whatsoever occasion be offered.
1. It is needful for the preventing of evil.
2. And it is useful for the obtaining of good.
Reason 1. These evils ivillbe hereby prevented. (1.) The constant thoughts
of death and mortality icill tie us to our good behaviour, that we shall not
offer any injustice, any hard measure, to any man. Whereas let death be
once out of the sight of the thoughts of a man, he grows wild, he grows
unruly, he grows masterless. You see in the parable of the servant,*
when he thought his master was gone afar off, that he would not come a
great while, that his reckoning, his account would not be soon, it would
not be sudden, he lays about him like a Nimrod, he smites and beats his
fellow- servants, he makes no conscience of his dealing to his poor brethren.
Whereas, on the other side, when Job presented to himself the thoughts of
death and mortality, how that there was a Lord and a Judge that would
call him to an account for all, he dares not lift up his hand, he dares not
lift up his tongue, against any underling or inferior, f
(2.) Again, as this will prevent injustice towards men, so it will prevent
impenilency toivards God. The heart of man secures itself like the
harlot, Prov. vii. 10, et seq. When she conceives her husband is gone
afar off, and hath taken a great journey, she is secure. So the heart,
the impenitent heart of man, when a man puts far from him the
thoughts of death, and will not conceive that the Judge stands at the
door, then he doth obstinate J himself in sinful courses, and doth what
he can to stiffen himself against all the admonitions and rebukes of God's
mouth.
(3.) Further, this is another evil that is prevented ; the thoughts of
mortality will prevent dotage, as it were, about these ivorldly things. The
world will grow upon us and bewitch us, if we suffer the thoughts of death to
fall once. If we do not see death stand at the end of all our earthly pro-
fits, of all our worldly pleasures and advantages, we shall be even almost
mad after them, and we shall be too too glad of them when we have them,
and too too much surfeit upon them ; whereas, on the other side, the
thoughts of this, that we must shortly leave them, and depart hence, this
will cool our appetite to earthly things, it will make us have them as if
we had them not, as you heard from the apostle.
(4.) Yea, these thoughts of our mortality in all estates and conditions,
it is that which ■willjjrevent the danger of death. It will take away the sting
of it, it will take away the terror of it. Death is a most temble thing in
its own nature you know, and the heathen could speak [so of] it. Death is
most terrible, especially to him that doth not die in his thoughts daily.
Whenas a man in his meditations doth daily present death to himself, and
* Mat. XXV. 15, et seq. — G. t Job xxxi. 13. — G.
X That is, 'hardens,' = grows stubborn. — G.
THE VANITY OF THE CEEATURE. 39
looks upon it, then death is like the prevented* basilisk, death hath lost;
the sting. It can do us no hurt ; it proves like the brazen serpent looked
upon. The beholding of that death puts an end to all other miseries, to
all other maladies, to all other deaths whatsoever, so that there is much
good gotten, at the least there is much evil prevented, in case we do
constantly entertain in us thoughts of mortality and of death, as Barzillai
did.
Eeason 2. Secondly, As this thought of mortality is profitable for us in
that respect, in preventing evil, so in a second regard proposed, that it
doth even help ^^s to much goodness. Thoughts of mortality, what will
they do ?
(1.) First, They will make a man painful t in his place, to dwell upon
his own vocation, upon his own business ; as Paul saith, • Knowing the
terror of the Lord, we exhort and admonish,' 2 Cor. v. 11. We being
apostles, we do the duty of apostles. Upon this ground Barzillai, remem-
bering his mortality, that he must shortly go hence, he betakes himself
home, that death might find him in his own place.
(2.) Again, the thoughts of mortality, as they will make a man painful f
in his place, so they will make him profitable consequently to men ; as the
apostle Peter speaks, 2 Peter i. 13, he stirs up himself to put the people
of God in remembrance of those things they had learned, because he con-
sidered that ' shortly he was to lay down his tabernacle,' to make an end
of his life.
(3.) And further, the thoughts of death and mortality, they will make a
man patient in the midst of all the hard measure that is offered to him ; in
the midst of all preserves us, as the apostles speak, both James and Paul,
that we shall be patient : * Let your patience be known unto all men,
because the Lord is at hand, because the time is short, because the Judge
stands at the door,' &c., Philip, iv. 5, James v. 10. This is that which
will make one quiet in all provocations ; this is that will comfort him in
all discouragements : I shall shortly be sent for, I shall be called from
hence ; then I shall be righted where I am wronged, I shall be cleared where
I am accused, I shall have rest where I have trouble, all shall be well, and
therefore why should I not be quiet ?
(4.) Yea, this thought of mortality is that that will make one prepare for
death. A man that resolves he must die, he goes about to set his house
in order, to set his heart in order, to set all in order, and prepare now for
that guest that is so near approaching.
So that whether we look to the evils that are prevented, or to the good
things that are obtained and acquired, it will be a profitable course for every
man to be of Barzillai's mind, to set aside all motions, and all solicita-
tions, all other respects, and to take to himself thoughts of death and
mortality. "We will stand no longer in proving and clearing this plain
point unto you, we will be as brief as we may in applying it, and that with
all plainness.
Use 1. First, then, is this our duty? Here we must shame and blame
ourselves that we forget our home, and that we remember no better our latter end.
This is a matter of humbling to us, that we do not remember that which
should be always in our thoughts. The end of a man's days should be at
the end of all his thoughts. Still, as the goal is in the eye of the runner, as
* Alluding to tlie idea that if a man see a basilisk before it sees him, it cannot
injure him, but dies. — Ed.
t That is, ' painstaking.'— G.
40 THE VANITY OF THE CREATUKE.
the white* is in the eye of the archer, so still a man's latter end should be
in the eye of him whilst he is running his race and his course here in this
world.
A man should be still bound for home, as it were, as you see all creatures
be. Let a stone be removed from home, from the centre, let it be put out
of its place, it will never be quiet till it be home again. Let a bird be far
from the nest, and it grows towards night, she will home even upon the
wings of the wind. Let every poor beast, and every creature, though the
entertainment be but slender at home, yet if you let it slip loose it will home
as fast as it can. Everything tends to its place ; there is its safety, there
is its rest, there it is preserved, there it is quiet. Now, sith it is so with
every creature, why should it not be so with us ? Why should not we be
for our home ? This, my brethren, is not our home, here is not our rest.
That is our home where our chief friends be, where our Father God is,
where our husband Christ is, where our chief kindred and acquaintance
be, all the prophets, and apostles, and martyrs of God departed are, that
is our home, and thither should we go.
Again, that is our home where our chief work, where our chief business
lies. And where is chiefly a Christian's business but in heaven ? His
conversation must be there, his affection is there. He himself while he is
on earth must be out of the earth, and raise himself from earth to heaven
every day.
More than this, that is our home where our rest and peace is. Here we
have no abiding city; there is our home, as our Saviour speaks, our
mansion.f We have no abiding place till we come to heaven. While we
are here, we are tossed to and fro from place to place ; but when we are
there, there we rest. We rest from our labours, we rest from sin, we rest
from corruption, from all fears, from all tears, from all griefs, from all
temptations ; that is our home. Why do we not go home, then, my
brethren ? Why are we like a silly child, that when his father sends him
forth, and bids him hie him home again, every flower that he meets with
in the field, every sign he sees in the street, every companion that meets
him in the way, stops him, and hinders him from repairing to his father ?
So it is with us for the most part ; every trifle, every profit, every bauble,
every matter of pleasure, every delight, is enough to divert and turn aside
our thoughts from death, from home, from heaven, from our God, and we
are taken up, and lose ourselves I know not where. This shews that
either we conceive not heaven as our home, and earth as a pilgrimage and
tabernacle, or else it shews we are too, too childish, like children in this
behalf.
Use 2. But, secondly, here is another word of instruction for us, and
that is thus much, that every one of us now should labour after the examj^ile of
this good man, even to remember his latter end, to remember whither he is
going, to remember his home.
Quest. What need this ? will some say ; how is it possible for a man to
forget this point ?
Ans. 1. Yes, my beloved, it is very possible. It is a very easy matter
to speak of death, but it is an hard matter to think of it, and to think of
it seriously, for a man to take it home to his own thoughts. It is a
very difficult thing for a man to apprehend privations, | those things that
are so far from eternity and being. It is the hardest thing in the world
* That is, 'mark' in the centre of the 'butt.' — G. X That is, ' negatives.'— G.
t John xiv. 2 — G.
THE VANITY OF THE CREATURE.
41
to do this in the greatest privation of all, in matter of death. A man is
utterly unwilling, utterly unable. This argues he hath no mind to see
death, nor no will to salute it.
Ans. 2. Besides, many men, upon many occasions, will labour to turn
aside a man's thoughts this way. Hence it is, that though we say we are
mortal, yet we scarce beheve ourselves to be mortal ; but we carry immor-
tal hopes and immortal conceits in mortal breasts. Hence it comes to pass,
that though we look into the graves of others, yet we little think that our-
selves shall shortly be closed in the grave. Though we see others fall at
our right hand and at our left, yet we hardly believe that those eyes of ours
must shortly be closed up and stopped, and all our members must be for-
saken, and left lifeless as a carcase. These things are far from our
thoughts, and therefore it is needful for us to press this oft and oft upon
our thoughts, namely, that we are mortal, and that we must away.
Obj. Why, will some man say, how can a man choose but think so,
when he hath so many instances of mortaHty every day before his eyes ?
He sees rich and poor, young and old, one and another die, and therefore
he cannot conceive but that he must die too.
Ans. But yet all this will not do, except a man be assisted by the divine
Spirit. This Moses intimates, Ps. xc. 12. They fell in the wilderness by
hundreds, nay, by thousands, and yet saith Moses, * Lord teach us to
number our days, &c., and give us wisdom to apply our hearts unto
wisdom ;' and to that sense and effect Moses prays. Moses, though he
had instances enow of mortality, notwithstanding that he was an excellent
man himself, and had to do with the best people that were then in the
world, yet he sees reason to pray to God that God would teach them their
mortaHty, and that God would make them wise, and that they might know
how to number their days, and to remember their own estate. If Moses
saw reason to put up this petition to God, certainly there is great need for
us to do it. We had need pray Moses' prayer, and we had need to prac-
tise Moses' practice too.
(1.) First, let us labour to take the sum of our life, wha-t it is in thegross,
as he saith in that psalm, ' Our days are threescore years and ten, it may
be one may come to fourscore ;' he may arrive to such a number, or there-
abouts ; this is the life of man, Ps. xc. 10. And then,
(2.) Secondly, in the next place, let us consider how much of this time
is run out already, how that the fourth part, or the third part, or the half
of our days is already expired and {run out. Let us do in this case as an
apprentice doth reckon how many years he was bound for, how many he
hath served already, and what is behind. Let us do as a traveller would
do : So many miles I must go this day, so many are measured already,
the remainder must be passed before night. So let us do in this appren-
ticeship, in this journey of death. Account what it is, how much of it is
spent, how the time slides away in an insensible manner, [how] it steals
away.
(3.) Nay, let us in the third place consider hoiv others fall on every hand
before us. Present this to thy own thoughts, and say. There dwelt such a
gentleman the other day, now he is dead ; there dwelt such a woman, such
a neighbour of late, she is now departed ; not long since there dwelt so
many in that family, and there are few now left. Thus let us reckon, con-
sider how death seizeth upon other men, and then reflect upon thyself.
Who knows whose turn may be next?
(4.) Yea, let us in the last place consider, how death steals on us too by
42 THE VANITY OF THE CKEATURE.
degrees, Jioiv it takes possession of 2is. It is with ns as it is with an house.
There falls down a window, and then comes down a piece of a wall, and
then a door, &c. ; so it is with a man, death seizeth upon his feet, and then
upon his hands. Let us take notice how death steals on us, and say,
Death is already in mine eye, I begin to be dim- sighted : death is already
in mine ear, I begin to be thick of hearing ; death is in my limbs and
joints, they begin to be lazy, and stiff, and cold, I begin to feel the symp-
toms of death upon me already. Let us look oft upon ourselves to this
purpose, take notice how nature begins to wither and decay. Let the
whiteness of our hairs, the weakness of our joints, the wrinkles in our faces,
be so many witnesses against us, as he speaks in that place in Job xvi. 8.
Thus we must do, my brethren, to come to settle this in our thoughts, that
we are mortal, and when we have once persuaded ourselves of this, then
let us make preparation for death. Oh think of it by thyself alone, think
what it is to die, think what is concluded* in that short word, think what
is thy preparation to it, think what business is about it, think what treads
on the heels of it when thou art gone. ' It is appointed to men to die once,
and after that comes the judgment,' Heb. ix. 27. Consider, I say, by
thyself, what it is to die, consider with other folk, with other people. Be
ready to speak of it, as Barzillai doth, to mind thyself and others of mor-
tality : and more than this, make preparation, set thy house in order, set
thy heart in order.
Preparation to death. For thy house, for thy persons, goods, or chil-
dren, look thou set them in order.
First, For thy persons, dispose of thy children as Barzillai doth here.
Dispose of thy family, of thy kindred, place them in caUings, dispose of
them for thy habitation. As Isaac and Jehoshaphat, and others in Scrip-
ture, give them good instructions, leave them precepts that shall stick by
them when thou art dead and gone.
Second, For thy goods, dispose of them, ; what is evil gotten restore, what
is well gotten dispose to pious and merciful uses, to thy family, to those
that may challenge right in thee. And it is good to set these things in
order before such time as death cometh. Oh, my brethren, it is a miser-
able madness among the sons of men. They defer these weighty and
important businesses to the last hour. When the powers of nature are
shaken, when their wits and memories fail, when their speech and under-
standing leaves them, then, then they go about the most important business
of all others. Do this in time ; have thy will ready about thee, dispose of
thy family, of thy estate, whilst thou art in memory and understanding.
Third, As thy house must be disposed of, so much more thy heart must be
disposed of. 'Eepent of thy sins, pluck out the sting of death, which is sin ;
' the sting of death is sin.' Death cannot hurt where there is repentance
of sin. Sin unrepented will bring a sting in the time of death. It will fill
the heart with sorrow, and the soul with amazement, and the conscience
with terror. Pull out the sting, and then thou shalt triumph over death,
and over the grave, and say, ' 0 death, where is thy sting ? 0 grave, where
is thy victory ? ' 1 Cor. xv. 55. 0 hell, where is thy triumph ? 0 Satan,
where is thy malice and power ? Nothing is able to do thee harm.
Fourth, In the next place, labour to take possession of heaven now. Make
entrance into it while thou art here, by getting the life of Christ, and the
life of faith in thee, by getting the saving graces of the Spirit in thee. If
these things be in thee and be not unfruitful, then thou shalt have entrance,
* That is, ' shut up,' == included. — G.
THE VANITY OF THE CREATURE.
43
as Peter speaks, ' into the inheritance and kingdom,' 2 Pet. i. 11. This
then is somewhat, that we should have said more largely, if we had had
more time and fitness to have spoken to the first point ; and therefore we
will but name to you some other particulars that we should have spoken to.
In the next place, you see his second reason why he would not be a
courtier, is, that now his natural parts, his outward senses begin to fail,
that he found his sight to decay, that he could not discern colours;
his taste wasted, he could not distinguish between sweet and sour ; his
ears were not serviceable ; now the mirth, and music, and melody of the
court was nothing to him. Herein then we see in the next place how it
fares with us.
Voct. 2. That natural parts and powers uill decay with age. Age will
decay and wear out our nature. All parts, and powers, and faculties what-
soever they be, time and age will wear out. The clothing both of the
body and of the mind, age wears out the clothing of the body, and the gar-
ment of the mind, as it were. The mind and the soul is clothed with flesh.
This body of ours, our flesh, is clothed with other raiment. Time wears
out the one as well as the other. The heaven and the earth, which are
more durable than man, yea, than a generation of men, as Solomon saith :
Eccles. i. 4, * Man dieth, a generation of men pass away, but the earth
stands,' and much more the heavens continue ; yet the heavens and the
earth, they are as a garment, they wax old and are soon changed, as the
Holy Ghost tells us, Isa. 1. 9, much more the sons of men. Yea, the water
by drops wastes the stones, nay, a rock of stones, nay, a mountain of stones,
as it is in Job xiv. 19, and therefore it will consume in time flesh and blood.
To stand to prove this is needless ; I will give you some instances for the
enlightening of the point, and so end.
1. First, Isaac, when he was an old man, when he waxed old, his sight
was thick and dim, as in Gen. xxvii. 1. David in 2 lungs i., when he
was stricken in age, when he was passed on in years, then saith the text,
David's natural heat began to decay, and they were fain to apply means to
help him; so Solomon in Eccles. xii. 1, a place known, tells us that evil
days will come, and cloud will follow upon cloud, and then the keepers of
the house, the hands, will wax feeble ; the pillars of the house, the legs
and thighs, will wax faint and weak ; those that look out at the windows,
the eyes, will be dark and duskish ; then all the daughters of music, the
eaxs, they will begin to wax thick too and heavy, and so of the rest, as we
see there (c). We cannot stand on particulars.
Ohj. If any man object, and say, How can this be, sith the soul of a man
is no material thing, and it is the soul that sees, and the soul that hears,
and not the body ; and, therefore, why should the seeing, and hearing, and
these senses decay ?
Ans. The answer is very easy. The soul doth these things, but it useth
the body as an instrument and organ, and so it must work according to the
nature of the instrument. Let a man be never so good a horseman, and
never so cunning in the way, he must travel as his horse will give him
leave. So in this case, let the soul be never so active and full of life, it
must perform its actions as the organ and instrument, the members of the
body are disposed. Now the body is frail and mortal in a double regard.
First, In regard of the curse and sentence of God passed upon man, * In
the day that thou eatest thereof, thou shalt die the death,' Gen. iii. 3.
Secondly, In regard of the matter whereof man's body is compounded
and made. If you make an house of weak and rotten timber, it will decay ;
44 THE VANITY OF THE CREATURE.
if you make a coat of tliat which is not very sound and durable, it vrill not
last. Man's body is made of such matter, of such metal, of such timber,
of such stuff, it will not hold out ; therefore in time it wastes and rots in
pieces.
Use 1. For the use of this, thus much in brief. Sith these bodies, the
natural faculties and powers, will decay and wear out in time, let us iwjnove
them ivhile ux have them ; let us make use of them, as we do of other instru-
ments while they are fit for use. Memory will decay, therefore let us
labour to treasure up good things in our memories, lay up things worthy
to come into a treasury, and not bad things. That is Solomon's use that
he makes : ' Remember thy Creator in the days of thy youth,' saith he,
Eccles. xii. 1. Long before the evil days come, and before the decay of
thy natural powers, employ thyself well, redeem the time. So say I to
you ; use memory whiles it lasteth, use wit whiles it lasteth, for the truth :
' Do nothing against the truth,' as Paul speaks of himself, 2 Cor. siii. 8 ;
so for thine eyes, let them be casements to let in fresh air, and not to let
in corruption ; use thy ears for wholesome instructions ; use thy feet for
good purposes, to follow the ways to the house of God ; use thy hands,
employ them in profitable business while you can work. This providence*
men have for their outward estate, and for the body. When we are young
we provide for age, we provide somewhat to keep us when we are old. Let
us do somewhat for our spiritual estate. You that have young and fresh
wits, fresh memories, and eyes, and ears, and hands, and feet, all the parts
of your bodies and powers of your souls, ready to do service, improve your
time, lay hold on the opportunity. Now is the time of reading, now is the
time of learning, now is the time of gathering, now is the time of yom-
harvest ; provide for winter ; there will evil days come, cloud will follow
cloud, as Solomon speaks.
Use 2. Secondly, here is another point of instruction : since this is so,
that the natural powers and faculties will fail, let us therefore strive to get
more than this which is natural. Since this will away, let us provide some
more durable substance. You know when an old suit fails, we think of
getting a new suit of apparel ; when the old lease is expired, we think
where to get another habitation ; we begin to take a new state, and a new
lease. As we do thus in matters of this life, so we should do much more for
matters of the soul. When we see the natural life will not hold out, and
that it cannot continue long, oh, labour, labour, my brethren, for a better
life, for another life, a life that is heavenly, a life that is supernatural ; get
the life of God in you, and then you shall never die. To this end, get the
fountain of life, Christ, to be yours, receive him into your understandings by
knowledge, into your hearts by love and affection ; receive him, and clasp
him, and take him to yourselves by faith, and he that believes in him shall
never die ; yea, though he die, he shall live ; he shall live in death, and
shall outlive death,',as Christ tells us in that place of the Gospel, John
XV. 26. And when you have this fountain of life, that Christ lives in you,
that you live not your own life, that you live not the life of Adam, the life
of nature,
First, Labour to act to this life. Life is made up of many actions, so is
the life of God too.
Secondly, If we live the life of Christ, and act it when he puts Hfe into
us, we shall labour to mortify the lusts of tlie flesh, and of the old man. So
much corruption, so much death ; so far as sin lives, so far the man dies.
* That is, ' forethought,' = care. — G.
THE VANITY OF THE CREATURE. 45
Thirdly, Labour to exercise and to stir up those rjraces of the Spirit that Christ
hath bestoived on us ; and so much as faith lives, and as patience lives, and
as charity lives, and the graces of God's Spirit live in us, so much we live,
and live that life that shall never be determined* and take end. That is
another thing briefly.
Yet we add one thing more.
Use 3. In the third place, so this may serve to shew ivho is the ivisest
man in the world, who makes the wisest choice ; for wisdom is most seen
in comparative actions. When things are compared together, and a choice
is made of things that excel each other, lay the comparison. Who is the
wisest man ? Some men are for outward things ; no man is admired of
them but for his natural parts. We look who hath the finest hand, who
hath the finest eye, who hath the finest wit, and the best memory for natu-
ral regards. This man regards this man, and commends this. This man
applauds a child, chooseth a wife, respects men for these things, and for
these only. But now spiritual things, heavenly endowments, these things
commend a man ; they make the man in truth, they are the whole
man, as in Eccles. xii. 13. You know that Christ saith, when he comes to
determine the question between two sisters, ' Martha, Martha, Mary hath
chosen the better part,' Luke x. 42. And why the better part ?j She hath
chosen that which ' shall not be taken from her.' So he makes the best
choice then, that prefers those things that are most durable, those things
that will last, those things that death cannot kill, those things that sickness
cannot make sick, those things that weakness cannot weaken, that no out-
ward thing can deprive us of, those supernatural, spiritual, heavenly graces.
A wise man prefers these before all natural parts whatsoever. That is the
second thing.
Boct. 3. There is a third thing that we should have spoken to, and that is
this, that not only natural jmrts, but natural comforts and delights, ivear away.
So Barzillai tells us, he takes no comfort in that he sees, in that he
tasted, in that he heard. All matter of delights in nature were taken from
him. So that natural delights and comforts they wear out, that as it is
said of Sarah, * it was not with her after the former manner ;' so we may
say of all natural delights and comforts, in time it will be with the eye, it
will be with the ear, it will be with the taste, that nature will be so, that it
will not be with them after the manner of the eye, after the manner of the
taste, after the manner of the ear ; they shall be as if a man had no eyes,
as if he had no taste, as if he had no hearing at all. This we might shew
in many instances, but this shall suffice, because we would pass to the
grounds ; and the reason it is clear.
Reason 1. First, All natural objects from whence natural delights and
contentments arise, they fail in time.
Ueason 2. Secondly, The natural senses and means whereby men appre-
hend these, they wax dim, and slow, and heavy, and so they perform their
actions and their functions with tediousness, because they do it not with
alacrity, therefore it is not done with dehght.
Eeason 3. Further, again, because these very things in themselves in
time will work a satiety of all natural dehghts, a man shall be filled with
them, not only with the world, but with the lusts of the world. The desire of
earthly things will vanish too, 1 John ii. 16, 17. So the eye is never satisfied
with seeing, or the ear with hearing ; these things cannot quiet the appe-
tite, they cannot fill the mouth of the desire, these things cannot give con-
* That is, ' terminated'. — G,
46 THE VANITY OF THE CKEATURE.
tentment. All natural things are so short and finite, that in time they wear
out, that a man shall be dulled and tired with them.
Ifse. The use we should make of this should have been thus much : first
of all it serves to teach us this lesson, that therefore we should not rest, ive
should not lean too much upon natural comforts and delights, trust not to
natural cheerfulness, to natural courage, as if these would bear us through
all perils, and dangers, and fears, and as if these would carry us through
all griefs and heart-breakings. No ; nature is a little finite thing ; it hath
its latitude and its extent as a bow hath, which, drawn beyond the compass,
breaks in pieces ; or as an instrument, the string of an instrument, strain
it to an higher pitch, it snaps asunder ; so it is with nature too, draw it
beyond the pitch, it breaks. You cannot lay much upon the back of
nature, but it crusheth it, and breaks it, it falls asunder ; and therefore
rest not too much in natural parts, for wit and cheerfulness, all these shall
fail in time.
Obj. Ay, but nature is propped up with art.
Ans. It may be so for a time, but that is patchery. It may be for a
time. If natural delights fail, much more will artificial ; if true fire can-
not warm a man, and give him relief, painted fire cannot do it. But so it
is that natural and artificial things fail in time. Let a man's eye be made
of glass in spectacles, and that which is made of flesh as the natural eye,
both the natural and artificial eyes, both turn to dust at length. Let a
man have a leg, a crutch of wood, or a leg of flesh, as the natural leg, yet
both come to dust and ashes in time. All natural and artificial things
decay at the last.
Obj. Ay, but carnal delights will help a man.
Ans. Least of all : if wine will not comfort a man, poison will not. Now
all carnal pleasures and delights are poison. Where shall we go then for
comfort and delight ? Yet above all the creatures, there be joys I confess
to be had, that will drink up all tears, all sorrows ; there be comforts to
be had, that will carry a man over all discouragements and grievances ;
there be everlasting joys, unutterable comforts, inconceivable hopes, and
peace of conscience, that will carry a man through sickness, and through
pain, and through poverty and shame, through death and all, and will never
give him over ; a peace that will be with a man in his bed, that will run
with him when he flies before the enemy ; a peace that will follow him to
his grave, and beyond the grave ; a peace that will live with him when he
dies, that will follow him to the throne and tribunal of Christ, and will set
a crown of glory and grace upon him at the last. These joys and comforts
be to be had. Oh make out for them, my brethren ; seek the joys that are
spiritual, seek the comforts of the Scriptures, rejoice in this, ' that your
names are written in heaven,' Luke x. 20 ; rejoice in this,Hhat God is your
Father ; rejoice that Christ dwells in you ; rejoice that heaven is yours,
that Christ is yours, that God is yours, that the promises and the cove-
nant is yours ; and these be the joys that no man can take from you, that
nothing can take from you. These will make you rejoice in sorrow, these
will make you live in death. As I said before, labour for these that may
carry you over all troubles, and miseries, and terrors whatsoever. That is
another point. There are divers others I was thinking to have said some-
thing to, for I intended no more but only to give you some general heads,
some words of instruction in general out of this large text ; but I know not
how theHime hath overslipped us in speaking this little that we have ; and
therefore we will go no further at this time.
THE VANITY OF THE CREATURE. 47
NOTES.
(a) P. 37. ' " How many," saith the Original, " are the days of my years ?" ' So
commonly in the margin of our English Bible, ' How many days are the years of
my life ?' Cf. Ps. xc. 12.
(b) P. 38. ' The heathen had some to call upon them,' &c. Cf. Note z. Vol. II.
p. 435.
(c) P. 43. ' Keepers of the house,' &c. It is interesting to compare this inciden-
tal exposition of a difficult figurative passage, with modern interpretations, e. g.,
Wardlaw, Macdonald (of America), Moses Stuart, and Ginsburg. Sibbes diflfera
somewhat. G.
DISCOURAGEMENT'S RECOVEEY
VOL. VII.
DISCOUKAGEMENT'S RECOVERY.
NOTE.
' Discouragement's Recovery ' forms No. 2 of the Sermons in the first edition of
the Saint's Cordials (1629). It was withdrawn in the two subsequent editions.
Valuable and suggestive in itself, this sermon has the additional interest of being
from a verbally parallel text with that on which ' The Soul's Conflict' is based ;
and is thus, in all probability, its first form. The separate title-page is given be-
low,* G.
* DISCOVRAGEMENTS
RECOVERIE.
WHEREIN THE Sovle BY REFLEXI-
ON OF THE STKENGTH OF VNDEESTAN-
ding, quarrelling with it selfe, is at length reduced
and charged to doe that, which must and should be the
true vpshot of all Distempers.
Vprightnes Hath Boldnes.
PsAL. 31.21, 22.
Blessed be the Lord, for he hath shewed me his marnellous kindnesse in a strong
Citie.
1 said in mine haste, 1 am cut off from before thine eyes, neuerthelesse thou heardest
the voice of my supplications, when I cryed vnto thee.
L 0 N D ON,
Printed in the yeare 16 2 9.
DISCOURAGEMENT'S RECOVERY.
WJiy art thou cast down, 0 my soul ? and why art thou disquieted ivithin me ?
hope in God ; for I shall yet praise him, who is the health of my counte-
nance, and my God. — Ps. XLIII. 5.
This psalmwas penned by David, which shews the passions of his soul ;
for God's children know the estate of their own souls for the strengthening
of their trust and bettering their obedience. Now this is the difference
between psalms and other places of Scripture. Other scriptures speak
mostly from God to us ; but in the Psalms, this holy man doth speak
mostly to God and his own soul ; so that this psalm is an expostulation of
David with his own soul in a troubled estate, when being banished from the
house of God, he expostulates the matter with his soul : ' Why art thou
cast down, 0 my soul ? and why art thou disquieted within me ? ' The
words contain,
1, David's perplexed estate ; and, 2, His recovery out of it.
His perplexity is laid down in these words : ' Why art thou cast down,
0 my soul ? ' &c. His recovery out of it is first by questioning with him-
self : ' Why art thou cast down, 0 my soul ? ' and then by a charge laid
upon his soul : ' Trust in God ;' and this trust is amplified from the matter,
for what his soul should trust in God : * I shall yet praise him, and give
him thanks ;' that is, I shall be delivered, for which delivery my heart will
be enlarged to give him thanks. Because this is my God, my salvation,
and my help, there is the ground of my faith and trust.
1. For the first, which is his perplexity, consider the way, how he comes
to he thus perplexed.
(1.) He ivas in great troubles and afflictions. So that it is seen, God
suffers his children to fall into extremities, many and long and great afflic-
tions and troubles, ere deliverance come. They are most sensible of
spiritual crosses by reason of the life of grace that is in them ; and there-
fore it is that these do cast them down more than all other things. The
want of spiritual means makes them thirst more than any want else ; yea,
than the hart which brayeth after rivers of water, Ps. xlii. 1. Spiritual
wants grieve much, spiritual thirst is strong, and the life of grace must be
kept. Now to want the means which must do it, this toucheth him more
than all the rest.
A soul that is lively in grace cannot endure to live under small means of
52 discotjeagement's kecovert.
salvation, much less to endure blasphemous reproaches. Therefore such
persons who can content themselves with small or any means, with small
comforts, without labouring and striving after more sweet and near com-
munion with God, they have cause to fear their own estates. A child, so
soon as it is born, if it be not still-born, cries and seeks for the breast,
which puts it out of all question there is life in it, though never so weak.
So the life of grace begun in us is known by our spiritual appetites and
desire aft^r the means of grace.
(2.) The second thing that troubled this holy man, was the hlaspTiemous
xvords of tciched men. Therefore if we would try our state to be good, see
how we take to heart everything that is done against religion. Can a child
be patient when he sees his father abused ? When a man sees the gospel
of God trodden down, for a man now to be quiet, that shews his heart is
dead. It is better to rage than to be quiet in such a case ; for that shews
life, though with much distemper. God will set light by his salvation that
sets hght by his honour. The enemy said, * "Where is now thy God ? ' Ps.
xlii. 10. This went to David's heart. What doth the enemy say now at
this day ? Where is now your God ? your reformed religion ? your Christ ?
where is your God ? Well, they that are not affected with this are in
an evil and in a dangerous state, let them judge of themselves what they
will. God's children are sensible of such things ; they are men, and not
stones flesh, and not iron. Therefore it is no wonder that they are so
sensible of our times, and take them to heart as they do ; forget their
wounds, and mingle their passion with their aiflictions, that so perplexeth
their minds. Thus David was troubled, and over-troubled and grieved,
and that too much, for he checks himself: ' Why art thou cast down, 0
my soul ? ' Indeed, by nature we have no bounds in our affections ; if we
joy, we joy too much ; if we sorrow, we sorrow too much. Grace only doth
qualify all our actions and affections, and where there is no grace there is
either all joy or all sorrow. Nabal, when he did begin to joy, he joys
over much, and when he did begin to sorrow, he exceeded in that, 1 Sam.
XXV. 36, 37. A wicked man hath nothing to uphold him, and therefore he
is over head and ears in all that he doth. The child of God is kept upright
by that which is wrought in his heart, whereby his sorrow and joy is mixed
together.
' Why art thou cast down, 0 my soul ?' The point is this,
Obs. 1. That it is a sin for a child of God to be too much discouraged and
cast down in afftictions, nay, I add more, though the cause be good, as it was
here, to be banished and want means of comfort ; in this case, to be too
much cast down and disquieted, it argues a distempered heart.
Quest. But how shall we know when a man is cast down too much ? for
it is a sinful thing in a man not to be sensible of that which lies upon
him.
Ans. The soul is cast down too much, to name this one for many, ivhen
our mourning and sorrow brings us not to God, but drives us from God.
Grief, sorrow, and humility are good ; but discouragement is evil. That
which brings a man from delighting, from trusting in God, which hinders
a man in his calHng, either as he is a Christian, or in his particular calling,
by this he may know he is in excess. As the children of Israel were in
great trouble under Pharaoh, and heeded not therefore unto that which
Moses spake unto them for anguish of spirit, Exod. vi. 9. The husband
and wife must not live at odds, lest their prayers be interrupted, 1 Pet.
iii. 7. No ; though the cause be never so good, they must not be over much
discoueagement's recoveby. 53
troubled ; therefore, when Christians exceed in anything, they do it not as
Christians, but as they are men overcome of their passions.
Quest. "What is the ground why casting down and disquieting is a sin ?
Ans. 1. Because it doth turn to the reproach of religion and God himself y
as if there were not strength in the promises of God to uphold a soul in the
time of trouble and disquietment.
2. Because their so sinking under afflictions never yields any good fruit.
Yea, the devil himself, in such a case, will say, God neglecteth thee, — thus
joining his temptations with thy corruptions, — then where art thou ? And,
therefore, I beseech you consider. What ! Shall a father neglect his own
children so much that they should be cast down, whenas he only* knoweth
what they want, and hath in his own power to give all that is good ?
3. Because it hinders us both from and in holy duties. For where the
soul is cast down, either we do not perform holy duties at all, or otherwise
they are done but weakly ; for as the troubled eye cannot see well, so the
troubled soul cannot do good, nor receive good. It is the quiet soul that
both receiveth and doeth good as it ought to be done ; for quietness is the
stay of the soul, either to do or receive. Holy things are not accepted of
God by the stuff of them, but by the willingness and cheerfulness in doing
of them. Thus, when the soul is too much cast down, God accepts not so
well of the actions, because they want life. Then it plainly appears to be
a sin thus to be cast down. Therefore, holy David takes up his soul and
chides himself downright : ' Why art thou cast down, 0 my soul ? and why
art thou so unquiet within me ?' If this be so, that it is a sin to be too
much cast down, what shall we say of those who disquiet themselves in and
for a vain shadow ? Ps. xxxix. 6. They trouble themselves so much about
vain things that they are discouraged from doing good. The holy man doth
in this case raise up his soul ; for the Spirit of God saith, * This is the
way, walk in it; and this you should have done, but herein you fail, and
here is your wants,' Isa. xxx. 21. Thus I thought good to enlarge this
point.
Obs. 2. ' Why art thou cast down, 0 my soul?' The word in the ori-
ginal shews it is the nature of sorrow, to bring the soul downwards [a). Sorrow
and sin agree both in this, for as they come from below, so they bring the
soul downwards to the earth. The devil, ever since he was cast down
himself, labours to cast all down. His voice is, Down, down to the ground.
He would have no man stay in going down in afflictions or desperation.
The new creature created by the Spirit of God is clean contrary ; for that
is all upward. Where the hope is, there the soul loves to be in thought
and meditation, and all that it doth or can do is to go upwards.
' Why art thou cast down, 0 my soul? and why art thou so disquieted?'
Here are two words used, ' Why art thou cast down? why art thou so dis-
quieted?'
Quest. What is meant by casting down? and why doth he find fault
with himself for it ?
Ans. Because it breeds disquieting. I say casting down, when it is not
with humility, but discouragement, breeds disquieting ; but when it is
joined with humility, that raiseth the soul to see mercy, in which sort, if
God doth cast us down to humble us, it is to raise us up with so much the
sweeter consolation ; for so much as the soul is cast down by God, so much
it is raised up by God. But the soul that is cast down by Satan rests not
in God, but is troubled, as Ps. xxxvii. 1, it is said, ' Fret not thyself,' &c.
* That is, ' he alone.' — Gt.
54 discouragement's eecovery.
So a man may know when his soul murmurs, and his fretting is against
God himself, or against the instrument of the sinful discouragement of his
soul, being over much cast down. Here is no true humiliation, but abun-
dance of corruption, which brings vexation and disquietments. But I
hasten to that which I have further to deliver, * Why art thou so cast
down, 0 my soul?' He doth check himself because he was thus cast
down and disquieted. Here, then, you see,
1, David's perplexity; and, 2, the particular branches thereof, casting
down, and disquieting.
Quest. What was the reason why he was thus cast down ?
Ans. The reason is in the words, — a reason from the contrary. He
reproves his soul for being thus cast down ; he doth check and command
himself to wait and trust in God ; he checks his soul ; which shews he had
no good reason why he was thus cast down. Wherefore should he ask
this reason, but that there was no just cause, but sophistical reasoning,
which bred this ? As Jonah iv. 9, God demands, ' Dost thou well to be
angry, Jonah?' As if he had said, There is no good cause. You may see,
by this manner of asking, the cause was ignorance and false reasoning,
false trust and want of trusting in God. There is no discouragement in
any aflfliction or trouble whatsoever, but it is for the want of knowing the
ground wherefore God doth it. First, sometimes for the exercise of our
graces, as well as for our sins. Again, forgetfulness of God's dealing, as
Heb. xii. 5, ' You have forgotten the consolation which speaks unto you,'
&c. And sometimes we are troubled in affliction because we do not examine
the cause rightly with our own souls. Many go to the highest step of the
ladder, to their election, before they come to tlae fruits thereof, Rom. v. 1.
I beseech you, let us be more wise. There be some people who do trouble
themselves by seeking their comfort only in their sanctification, when it
should be looked for in their justification ; and some others who trouble
themselves about the issue of things for time to come, when we are com-
manded not to care for to-morrow. Mat. vi. 34, and in the mean time
neglect their duty in using lawful means, and trusting in God. Again,
want of trusting in God; for when we trust not in God, then we have
false trusts in the creature, or in something else. Then this follows:
vanity will bring vexation of spirit.
Thus, when vanity goes before, there will come vexation after. There-
fore when men do set upon doing any good, or suffering for good, by their
own strength, and trust not in God for a constant supply, this moves God
to take away his support, and then they fall most shamefully. Nay, when
a man trusts in himself, and In his present grace, more than in God, he
shall be sure to fall ; for we must trust in God for time to come for fresh
grace, and pray that God would renew his graces, to strengthen us in every
trouble and affliction. The cause why God's children do so miscarry in
times of trouble is, because they trouble themselves, and do not trust in
God for a new supply of grace. We cannot perform new duties, and
undergo new sufferings, with old graces. So now you have some causes
why men are thus cast down and disquieted ; false trust, or else not trust-
ing in God, as if the prophet had said, ' Why art thou cast down, 0 my
soul?' The reason is this, thou dost not trust in God as thou shouldst
do; therefore it was our Saviour reproved Peter when he feared, saying,
* 0 thou of little faith,' Mat. xiv. 31. It was not the greatness of the
waves, but the weakness of his faith, which made him faint. In truth,
the cause of our trouble and disquieting is either for want of faith or want
DISCOURAGEMENT S RECOVERY.
55
in faith, whereby we cannot rely upon God in our troubles and afflictions ;
for the soul being weak of itself, it hath need of something to rely upon, as
a weak plant had need of a supporter. Now that which gives answerable
strength is our relying upon God. When we omit this, then comes dis-
quieting and troubles in our souls. And so I end the point of perplexity,
and come to the charge that he lays upon his own soul, saying, Trust in
God. His remedy is double.
1. First, A reflecting action upon his soul, ' Why art thou disquieted, 0
my soul?'
2. Secondly, A command laid upon his soul, * Trust in God.'
Before I come to particulars, observe in general this point,
Boct. 3. That God's children, in their greatest troubles, recover themselves.
For here was the trouble, and his disquietness for the trouble. He was in
temptation, afflictions, and discouragements. Here was Satan tempting,
and the corruptions boiling, and God withdrawing the sense of his love,
leaving David for a while to himself; and yet, notwithstanding, at length
he breaks through all, and expostulates the matter with himself. So God's
children, when they are in troubles, though never so great, they can recover
and comfort themselves. And in truth the holy Scripture shews this; for
this trusting and relying on God in extremities is a diflference betwixt the
child of God and an" hypocrite. A little cross will not try men's graces so
as great ones. As in Saul, it brings him to great trouble, and then he
goes to the witch, and then see what becomes of him, 1 Sam. xxviii. 7.
But the child of God, in his greatest troubles, he having the Spirit of God
to strengthen him, he rests upon God, as is shewed, Rom. viii. 26. In
the greatest troubles, the Spirit doth help our infirmities ; and in the lowest
depth of trouble, there is the Spirit of comfort. Now this Spirit works
faith, that enables us to send out strong prayers and cries, which cry loud
in God's ear. The child of God can mourn, and cry, and chatter, striving
against deadness, and against his infidelity, and strives for comfort as for
life ; so, when they are at the lowest, they can recover themselves. God's
children, at the beginning of trouble, do labour to recover themselves
presently : ' Why art thou disquieted within me ?' He stops himself at the
first. Jonah was to blame this way ; he did feed and flatter himself, and
would not stand to expostulate with his heart, Jonah iv. 9 ; but David
doth not so here, but saith, ' Why art thou so cast down, 0 my soul? and
why art thou so disquieted?' There is a contrary spirit in them who are
not God's children; for they do feed upon mischief, wickedness, and dark
conceits, according to which apprehensions they make their conclusions ;
but God's children, knowing their own estates, they reprove themselves, and
say, ' Why art thou cast down, 0 my soul? why art thou so troubled?'
Doct. 4. Again, see the excellent estate of the soul. It is an atheistical
conceit that the soul doth arise out of the temper of the body ; for that
cannot be, because we see the soul doth cross our nature, and cross itself;
much more the body. How can this be, if it rise of the body, that it should
cross itself, and the very inclinations to evil? For though the soul be
ready to run to excess of melancholy and excess of joy, yet there is resist-
ance in the soul, and striving against these things in some measure ; for in
every Christian there are three men.
(1.) First, The natural man, the good creature of God, having understand-
ing, will, and afiection.
(2.) There is nature under the ' spirit of bondage,' which we call * the
old man.'
56 discouragement's recovery.
(3.) There is the ' new man,' framed by the ' Spirit of God,' which doth
strive against the corruption of his nature; for nature cannot but be
troubled in afflictions. This we see in Adam in his innocency ; yea, in
Christ himself. Grace doth stay us in this state, then much more doth
grace stop nature. In the excellent state of the soul, having the Spirit of
God in him, whereby a man is raised up above himself, and humbles him-
self, this is the excellency of the spiritual nature of the soul, and especially
the excellency of the Spirit in the soul. The soul can check the body, and
the Spirit can check both soul and body. Well, this I speak but in a
word; for I will not stand upon it, but only to shew the nature of the
soul.
Quest. It may be asked. How shall we know in these things, when any-
thing comes from the Spirit, and not from the natural soul ? for here is
nature, flesh, and the Spirit.
Ans. I answer, when there is [the] Spirit in a man, that doth cross the
natural constitution of the body, and checks the constitution of his soul
being in affliction and discouraged in it, that thereby a man recovers him-
self again.
Afflictions of the soul are the greatest and worst of all, yet in this estate
his soul doth carry him upward; and therefore there must be something
in him that is better and above nature, which enables him to check and
reprove himself. Now, this must needs be an excellent thing. "Why?
Because this is the Spirit of God, which enables us to strive, as Job did :
' Though thou kill me, yet will I trust in thee,' Job xiii. 15. And our
blessed Saviour in his depths of afflictions cries, * My God, my God, why
hast thou forsaken me?' Mat. xxvii. 46. The sense of his present state
caused him to cry out as if God had forsaken him ; yet herein the blessed
Spirit doth raise him up, for he cries, • My God.' Thus we see when
there is a crossing of ourselves in that state which we are in, this is a
sign that it comes from the Spirit of God, and not from nature : * Why art
thou so cast down, why art thou so disquieted within me, 0 my soul ?'
Another thing that I observe is this,
Doct. 5. That the prerogative of a Christian in these disquietings, and in
all estates, is, he hath God and himself to sj)eak unto, uhereby he can remove
solitariyiess. Put him into a dungeon, yet he may speak unto God there,
and speak unto himself.
This is an excellent state. He who hath laid up store of grace before-
hand, he can reprove and cross himself, and in his depths cry out unto
God. Therefore take a Christian in the worst estate of all others, yet he
can improve his estate to the best before God, whereby, even then, he
hath an happy communion with God. This is a comfort to a Christian,
when he hath nothing to comfort himself withal ; as David here had
neither goods, nor comforts, nor prophets, nor the tabernacle with him,
yet he had his good God to go unto, who was the only thing he had ; and
when he speaks comfortably' unto him, then David speaks as comfortably
unto his soul : ' Why art thou cast down, 0 my soul ? '
Let all the tyrants in the world do their worst to a Christian, if God be
with him, he is cheerful still. This is plentifully seen in David. He was
vexed outwardly, punished, persecuted, and banished from God's house,
yet he goes unto God ; and though he were vexed in his soul in particular,
yet he cries out, ' Why art thou so vexed within me, why art thou so un-
quiet ? '
The point from hence is this,
disooueagement's recovery. 57
Boct. 6. The best way to establish the soul is to deal ivith our oicn souls,
and to begin with them first, and proceed in a judicial manner, as this holy
prophet of the Lord did. When we are in any troubles and afflictions, do
not go to the trouble, but go to the soul ; for if the soul be not set in right
frame, and quieted, we cannot endure anything. But if we can set and
frame ourselves to God, all the tyrants in the world, and all the devils in
hell, cannot hurt us. The devil comes to our Saviour, but he could do
him no harm, because there was nothing within him for him to fasten
upon, John xiv. 30. Therefore this is the way, if we be in trouble, let all
other things go, and lay the foundation of our quiet in God, and deal with
our own souls. And the way to do this is to cite our souls before our-
selves, hereby to make ourselves offenders and judges, teachers and
scholars, as the prophet doth here : ' Why art thou so unquiet, 0 my
soul ? ' God hath erected a court in a man, that he may cite and con-
demn himself. God hath set up this court, and given us this liberty, to
prevent another examination, and condemnation for ever in the world to
come. Therefore, 1 Cor. xi. 31, it is said, ' If we will judge ourselves,
we shall not be judged of the Lord.' The way to do this is to call our
own souls to a reckoning. This is to be strongly endeavoured for many
reasons, that I will not stand upon, but only name some one of them.
As, namely, because it is an hard thing. For there is an affection of
nature, and an affection of rebellion, and strong motions, that keep the
soul in such a thraldom that it cannot fully know itself; and for a man to
know all things, and not to know himself, what a miserable thing is it !
What! to look altogether abroad, and never to look at home, that is_ a
misery of all miseries. Well, if ever we would be saved, we must do this.
If we would begin with ourselves, we might put the devil and our tor-
menting conscience out of office ; for the time will come when it will be
objected. This and that have been our sins, and this is the state of your souls,
will Satan say. Well, says the soul thus prepared, ' I know all this, I
have accused myself before God for this, and I have made my peace with
God.' But when we go on in sin, and leave all to God, then comes the
devil and accuseth us, and our consciences take God's part; thus we go
down to hell for ever. Therefore take warning of this betimes, and call
thy soul to a reckoning. But I will not spend too much time to enforce
this holy action. The way to bring our souls to this is, to furnish them
with holy thoughts, to sanctify and season our judgments with holy
touches, to know what is good, and to bring our souls to love and delight
in it. But if we have not a judicature in us, we can never do this, for we
must not go blindly about this work, but know what evil we have com-
mitted, and which is done against this law, and which against that com-
mandment. Thus a Christian must and will examine himself. But an
ignorant person goes and never lays up anything in his soul ; and therefore
though he hath power in his soul to do this, yet he doth it not, because he
is an ignorant and blind man.
Use. Well, let this serve to stir us up to be careful in this holy duty.
Obj. But the hypocrite will say, Tush, this is hid, and the world sees it
not; for me to take pains to work upon my soul, the world cannot see it;
what profit comes by this course ? But the child of God is most busy and
carefully employed about that which carries with itself least applause with
the world. This is always a sure sign of a good heart ; for the best work
of the new creature is within us, that the world cannot see. And therefore if
ye will have sound assurance of salvation, then call often in question the
58 discoubagement's eecovery.
state of your own sonls, and labour to get this disposition, and inquire of
your souls what is the reason. Do you well to be angry ? What ! thus
angry ? At this time, and upon this occasion ? And, what ! do you well
to be merry thus now ? If we could do this, what an excellent state of
soul should we live in ! It would clear religion of many scandals. For
from whence comes all these scandalous actions we fall into, but because
we do not check ourselves in evil things before they break out into our
lives ? The soul many times doth rise in rebellious motions, and troubles
the Spirit of God in us ; but what an honour is it to a Christion to be free
from scandal in this life, and to suppress evil in the beginning ! There
is nothing that is evil but it is first in thought, then in affection, and then
in action ; therefore if we could think when we are tempted to any evil,
this thing will be a scandal, it will be open in the mouths of wicked men,
it will grieve the true-hearted servants of God, oh how glorious might the
servants of God shine in these woeful, dark, and sinful days ! Well, I
beseech you, do but consider, and bring the practice and carriage of most
men and women to this rule that I have laid down, and what a pitiful estate
shall we find the most to be in, who would seem to be religious, whose lives
declare this before men.
Do but ask a covetous man why he is so extremely carried away with
the things of this world; he answers by and by, Oh, he hath a great
charge, and the times are hard ; and in the mean time he neglects wholly
the making sure of his own salvation. Nay, come to God's children
themselves, who do too much hunt after the things of this world, I say to
them, and sometimes ye shall hear the same answer. But what, have not
ye a Father to provide for you ? and this your Father, hath he not all
things at his own disposing — having promised, you shall want nothing
that is good — even he who is an infinite, loving, and merciful Father? I
beseech you, consider what can we want, if we have faith to rely upon God ?
And then consider how vile a thing covetousness is ; what for an old man
now to be worldly, when one foot is in the grave ! So for a blasphemer to
provoke the majesty of God, there is no reason to be given for it. For
sin is an unreasonable thing, and it cannot endure this question. What
reason is there for this and that^ Therefore the Scripture calls all wicked
and ungodly men unreasonable men and fools, because they cannot give a
good reason for anything they do. And therefore when they are in hell
they may well say, We fools thought this and said thus. I beseech you,
consider what reason is there that a man should sell God's favour, and the
assurance of his salvation, for a wicked action, and for his lust, and for a
little honour ; I say, consider what you shall get, and what you shall lose,
even the hope of heaven, for the attaining at the best but of perishing things,
and many times miss of them also.
These things considered, the Spirit of God doth well to call us to ques-
tion with ourselves, to give a reason for that we do, and then to censure
ourselves, as David in another place did : ' How foolish was I, like a
beast,' Ps. Ixxiii. 22.* And so, I beseech you, when you are tempted to
any sin, then say. What a base thought is this ! what base thing is this !
is this according to my profession and religion ? If we would but thus
examine and question ourselves, accuse and condemn ourselves, oh how
happy and blessed creatures might we be ! And thus much for the first
remedy.
* It is Asaph, not David, who says so. — G. See, however, the first sentence of the
next sermon, — Ed.
discouragement's recovery. 59
Now come we to the second : * Trust in God, wait on God.' Here is,
1, An action; 2, a fit object.
The action, trust; the object, God: 'wait on God,' for God is the only
prop and rock whereon we may rest safe in time of danger. Waiting on
God implies his meeting our souls, before we can have any comfort from
him. Therefore all our care should be to bring God and our souls together.
This trusting in God, and waiting for God, is an especial means to uphold
us in our greatest troubles. This is the state of the new covenant ; for
we have fallen in Adam by our infidelity, and must now have faith to
recover ourselves, which is the applying grace that doth help us up, and
enable us to wait on God and his truth, for they are all one. As a man of
credit and his word are all one, so is our trusting in God and his trust* and
promises. But because I have spoken of this trusting in God out of another
place of Scripture,! I will be brief in it ; only I will now add something
to help us on in this point, wherein our souls shall find so much comfort.
Doct. 7. ' Trust in God.' This trusting in God is the way to quiet our
souls, and to stay the same in every estate. The reason is, because God
hath sanctified this holy grace to this end. This is the grace of the new
covenant, the grace of all graces, which stays the soul in all disquietings
whatsoever.
The first thing that disquiets the soul is sin. Now God by his Spirit
and word doth give us the pardon thereof. Therefore trust in God for
this, and for life everlasting, and then trust in God in this life for whatso-
ever thou dost want. Know that the same love of God that brings thee to
everlasting hfe will give thee daily bread. Therefore trust in God for
provision, for protection, and for whatsoever thou dost want. For the
first thing that a troubled soul doth look unto is for mercy, salvation, and
comfort ; and therefore in every troubled estate we have one thing or other
still from God to comfort us. I say, if we be in trouble, there is answer-
able comfort given us of God. Are we sick ? He is our health. Are we
weak ? He is our strength. Are we dead ? He is our life. So that it
is not possible that we should be in any state, though never so miserable,
but there is something in God to comfort us. Therefore is God called in
Scripture a rock, a castle, a shield. A rock to build upon, a castle wherein
we may be safe, a shield to defend us in all times of danger, shewing that
if such helps sometimes succour us, how much more can God. I beseech
you, consider God is our 'exceeding great reward,' Gen. xv. 1. God is
bread to strengthen us, and a Spirit of all comfort ; and indeed there is
but a beam in the creature, the strength is in God. And if all these were
taken away, yet God is able to do much more, and to raise up the soul.
What ! can a castle or a shield keep a man safe in the time of danger ?
how much more can God ! I beseech you, consider how safe was Noah
when the ark was afloat, Gen. vii. 16. And why? Because God shut the
door upon him and kept him there. Thus you see there is something in
God for every malady, and something in the world for every trouble ; then
' trust in God.' This is the way to quiet our souls. For as heavy bodies
do rest when they come to the centre of the earth, so the soul, for joy, and
for care, for trust, doth find rest in God when it comes to him and makes
him her stay. The needle rests when it comes to the North Pole, and the
ark rested when it came to the mount Ararat, Gen. viii. 4, so the soul rests
safe when it comes to God, and till that time, it moves as the ark upon
* Qu. 'truth?'— Ed.
t See General Index under ' Trust,' and ' Soul's Conflict.' — G. .
60
DISCOUKAGEMENT S EECOYERY.
the waters. Therefore our blessed Saviour saith in Matthew, * Come unto
me, all ye that are weary and heavy laden, and you shall find rest in
your souls,' Mat. xi. 28. This holy man would have rest, therefore he
saith, '0 my soul, wait upon God.'
Quest. Well, in a word, how shall we know if we have this rest and trust
in God or no ?
Ans. By this which I have said ; for if we trust in God, then we will
be quiet, for faith hath a quieting power. Therefore, if thou canst stay
thyself, and rest upon God for provision, for protection, for all that helps
thee from grace to glory, thou art safe. Again, faith hath a comforting
power. There is a distinction between alchymy gold and true gold ; for
that which is true will comfort the heart, but counterfeit faith, like alchymy
gold, will not strengthen the heart. Therefore, if thou dost find thy faith
strengthen thee, to cast thyself upon God and his mercy in Jesus Christ,
then there is true faith. The garment of Christ, when it was but touched,
there was virtue went out of it, so that the woman found strength
therein to quench her bloody issue. Mat. ix. 21, xiv. 36 ; and dost not
thou find strength from God to quench the bloody issue of sin in thy soul ?
Then hast thou cause to doubt of the truth of thy faith ; for precious faith
brings virtue from the root. As the tree doth draw strength from the
earth to feed the body and the boughs, whereby it is fruitful, so faith
brings virtue from Christ and his promises, which strengthens the soul.
I beseech you consider, if you have your soul strengthened by the pro-
mises of God, and the nature of God, it is a sign j'ou have true faith.
What a shame is it for Christians, when they have an infinite God for their
God, who hath made abundant promises, and have a rich Saviour, and yet
they live so unquiet and discontented, and sometimes for earthly trash, as
if there were no Father for them in heaven, nor providence upon earth !
Now, at this time, which are times of trouble abroad, wherein our faith
should be exercised, how are the hearts of many cast down, as though God
had cast away his care over his church ! Consider, I pray you, doth an
husband cast away his care over his wife in time of danger when she is
wronged ? No ; but is the more inflamed to be revenged : much more
will God arise to maintain his own cause, but we must wait the time,
knowing ' they that believe make not haste,' as it is Isa. xxviii. 16.
Quest. But what is the matter for which we are to trust God ? ' I shall
yet praise him.'
Ans. His meaning is, though he be for the present in great afilictions,
yet he shall be delivered. See the language of Canaan. The holy people
of God, if they receive any deliverance, they give God the praise and glory,
for this is all that God looks for ; if thou art in any afiliction, and God
doth deliver thee, then to give him all the glory and the praise. So this
holy man saith to his soul, 'God will deliver thee;' then saith the soul, 'I
will praise him ; ' so he gives the delivered soul both matter and affection
to praise his name. I beseech you, consider here when the soul hath
nothing in itself to trust in, how it doth sustain itself by looking towards
God. Christ himself, when he was in his extremities, looks upward to his
Father in heaven. Mat. xxvi. 39, so this holy man comforts himself he shall
be delivered. Thus he lays sound grounds in God, for there is no loose
sands there. Therefore the ship of his soul rides safe. He trusts God for
the present and for the time to come ; as though he should say. Though
I am now in great affliction, yet it shall be better with me, howsoever it
be now.
discoubagement's eecotery. 61
Use. Let us raise this comfort to ourselves, trust in God. What if we
should live here all the days of our life in this troubled estate that we are
now in ! ' Yet wait upon God, 0 my soul, for I shall yet praise him.*
We live here in many troubles and afflictions, and we sit down by the
rivers of Babel. Well ! what if we die in this affliction ? Yet I shall have
glory with Christ. Thus, I beseech you, extend this comfort to the whole
church of God ; put the case the church be in trouble, what hath the
church to do ? ' To wait on God ; ' because it shall have delivery, and all
the true church shall praise God upon their delivery. God will deliver his
church, and in the mean time preserve and provide for it. It is as dear
unto him as the apple of his eye, it is his jewel, his vine which himself
hath planted ; and therefore let us comfort ourselves with this. What though
we are now cast down and in heaviness for the church of God abroad ;
yet God will redeem Israel from all his iniquities, much more out of all
his troubles and afflictions, Ps. cxxx. 8. The church must be delivered,
and Babel must fall. Nay, the Holy Ghost saith it is fallen, Eev. xviii. 2,
to shew the certainty of it, for God will do it. The Bed Sea and Jordan
must return, and the church must sing praises for her deliver}^ ; and thus
we do daily and continually wait upon God for the performance hereof.
Quest. What ground hath this holy man for this waiting ?
Ans. He is my present help and my God, he is my salvation and my
God. The word is 'salvations:' he hath more salvations than one (h).
Therefore though we be troubled with poverty, shame, or any other afflic-
tion, yet God is salvations and helps. Consider this, if you are in trouble
of conscience for sin, or Satan condemns you, then say that ' God is salva-
tion ; ' if you are in trouble, God is deliverance ; if you are persecuted by
any wicked malicious enemies, God is a castle : as Ps. xviii. 2, ' The Lord
is my rock, and my fortress, and my deliverer ; my God, and my strength,
in whom I will trust; my buckler, and the horn of my salvation, and' my
high tower.' ' Who is a rock, save our God ? I will call upon the name
of the Lord, so shall I be delivered from all mine enemies.' Thus you see
how David after all his victories describes God to be his God, and his sal-
vation both for body and soul, for the present and for the time to come,
with means, without means, and against all means. What a comfort is
this ! He can command salvation, he can command the creature to save,
and the devil himself to be a means to save us ; and if there be no means
for thee to see, yet he can create means to do it in an instant. Thus God
is our help ; and what a ground of comfort is this ! Therefore I beseech
you be not discouraged. Mourn we may like doves, but not roar like
beasts in our afflictions ; when we have humbled ourselves enough, then
must we raise up our souls from our grief to another object. For a Chris-
tian must look to divers objects : look to the trouble with one eye, and to
God with the other, and know him to be his salvation. Then, let the
trouble be what it will be, if God be thy deliverer ; it is no matter what the
disease be, if God be thy physician. But many times we do betray our-
selves into the hands of the devil for want of thinking of these things.
' He is my God.' There is another ground of his comfort. Give me leave
a little to unfold this sweet point. Consider therein with me two thinc^s.
1. God is the God of his children. 2. He is so constantly.
This is the ground of all comforts, God is my God, and God is our God.
First, because he doth choose us, and call us in his due time, and then
makes a covenant with us to be our God, and then he knows us, loves us,
and preserves us, and so he is our God ; because they whom God doth
62 DISCOURAGEMENT S RECOVERY.
choose, lie knows them for his own, and stirs up answerable affections,
that we may take God, and know God to be ours. For there must be an
action on God's part in taking and choosing us, and an action of soul in
us to choose God again. If God say to our souls, I will be thy God, then
our souls should answer God, ' Thou art the strength of my salvation.*
First, God doth love us, then know us, and then we reflect God's love
upon God. Again, he knows us, and we know him again ; he delights in
us, and we delight in him. The Scriptures are full of speeches in this
kind. There is a reciprocal natural passage between God and the soul ;
for in covenant there must be consent on both sides, and then we make
him our God when we choose him before all creatures both in heaven and
in earth. Then we have familiarity with him, love him, and trust in him
in all our necessities.
Thus we see how God is said to be our God. First, God is ours by
election, adoption, by sanctification and redemption. God is our God, by
dwelling with us ; and this propriety, ' My God,' is the first of all ; for
when God saith, ' Thou art mine,' the soul saith. Thou art mine, and shalt
be mine. This is an everlasting covenant of salvation : God doth endure
world without end. Our salvation is according to the nature of God, from
everlasting to everlasting, from election to glory. Thus God is the God of
Abraham from everlasting to everlasting ; he is the God of Abraham's body,
now his soul is in heaven, and his body is in the dust. Mat, xxii. 32.
Abraham hath a being in his love. And so we have an everlasting propriety
therein, God takes us for ever, marries us for ever, Hos. ii. 19. Therefore
we must trust in God, and wait upon God, for he is our God and our
salvation.
Use 1. I beseech you, give me a little leave to press this ; for certainly
there is more comfort in this word ' My God,' than in all the words of the
world ; for what is God to me if he be not my God, and so make me his ?
For this same propriety of comfort is more than all the comforts in the
world. We account a little patch of ground, or corner of an house of our
own, more than all the city and town where we live. This comforts a man,
when he can say, This is mine. As a man that hath a wife, it may be, she
is not of the best, or the richest, or the fairest, yet she comforts him more,
and he takes more content in her, than in all the women in the world,
because she is his wife ; so if a man can say, ' 0 my God,' he needs not
say any more, for it is more than if he could say. All the world is mine. If
we have God we have all, and if we had a thousand worlds, all were nothing
to this, if we cannot say ' God is my God.' Therefore, though the child
of God may seem to be a poor man, yet he is the only rich man. Other
men have the riches of this world, as a kind of usurpers, for they have not
the highest right unto them. Worldly men are like unto bankrupts, who
are taken to be rich men because they have a great deal of goods in their
possession, but the true right belongs to others, and so they prove in the
end to be worth nothing. I beseech you, consider what God's servants
have said heretofore : ' God is my portion,' Lam. iii. 24. If God be our
God, then he will supply all our wants, as it shall make for the best unto
us. This is a great comfort to all Christians in what estate soever. God
in dividing things, it may be, he hath given others honours, beauty, and
riches, and parts of nature. Well ! God falleth to thy lot. Let the world-
lings, the lascivious and ambitious persons, make themselves merry with
their portions in this life, yet let the Christian, in what estate soever, glory
in his portion, for God is his, and all things else. Though there be many
discouragement's recovery. 63
changes in thyself, why shouldst thou be discouraged or disquieted in any
state whatsoever ? God is thine to do thee good.
Use 2. Again, Here is a ground of comfort against all losses ivhatsoever.
The world, and worldly men, may strip us of these earthly things, vex our
bodies, and restrain our liberties, and take away outward things from us ;
but this is our comfort, they cannot take our God from us, for this is an
everlasting portion, my God, my help, my all-sufficiency. In truth, friends,
means, and life itself may be taken away, yet God will never fail nor forsake
us. We are here to-day, and gone to-morrow, and life is the longest thing
we have, for we may out-live our riches and honours. But what then ?
Ps. xc. 1, 2, it is said, ' Thou art an everlasting habitation, from everlasting
to everlasting,' and we dwell in the fear of God. We had a being in thy
love, 0 Lord, before ever we were born, and when we are dead, we are in
thy love still. What a comfort is this to cause us to rest in our God, and
that for ever ! But as for the wicked, it is not so with them ; their voice
is, The * Philistines are upon me, and God hath forsaken me,' 1 Sam.
xxviii. 15. This is a fearful speech, and is, or shall be, the voice of every
wicked man ere long. Now they ruffle it out,* and none so free from care
and trouble as they ; but where is their comfort when their consciences
shall be awakened ? Then their voice will be. Death and hell and all are
upon me, and God hath forsaken me ; what shall become of me and mine ?
But as for the children of God, let what will come upon them, yet God can
command salvation, and he commands comfort to attend his people, for
God is my God. I beseech you to enlarge these things in your own medi-
tations, and do not disquiet yourselves, but believe in God for these things,
aud for your own happiness in heaven, and cast yourselves upon Christ for
the pardon of sins in the first place; and then, ' trust in God,' and nothing
in all the world that comes between you and heaven but God will remove
it, and bring you safe thither ; but, in this case, many doubts arise :
1. For perseverance.
Obj. I may fall away for time to come.
Ans. I answer, That God, that hath begun this good work in me, will
finish it in his due time, Philip, i. 6.
Obj. Ay, but I am changeable.
Ans. It is true, but God is unchangeable ; thou mayest be ofi' and on, but
God is not so, for the ground of his love is always alike. Therefore fear
nothing for the present nor for the time to come.
Obj. Oh but I have a great charge, and these are hard and evil times.
Ans. God is thy God, and the God of thy seed, therefore labour to make
this sure, that God is thy God, and in thus doing, thou providest for thy-
self and thy posterity ; and when thou art dead and gone, then the living
Father will be a God toothy posterity and children. Therefore I beseech
you trust in God, wait upon him, and fear not the want of necessaries in
this life. What foolish children are we, that think God will give us heaven
when this life is gone, and yet we fear he will not give us such things as
shall maintain this life, while we are here employed in his service ! ' The
heathen seek after all these things,' saith our Saviour, Mat. vi. 32; but
' it is your Father's pleasure to give you a kingdom,' Luke xii. 32.
Exhortation. Well, therefore, for provision and protection both in life
and death, trust in God for all, and all shall be well with us ; then wait
upon God. I beseech you make one thing sure, that is, make God to be
our God, by trusting in him, and walking worthy of him. And this one
* That is, are at ' the height of prosperity.' Cf. Glossary, sub voce. — G.
64 discouragement's recovery.
care will free you of all other cares. This one study is better than all other
studies ; for if we can make God our God, then we make all other things
ours also. This requires more than ordinary of a Christian, to walk worthy
of the Lord : * Two cannot walk together if they be not agreed,' saith Solo-
mon,* therefore this requires great mortification of soul, and much holiness,
to walk with God. This world knows not what this is, to walk with God in
the ways of heaven, where there is nothing but holiness. Therefore we must
exercise our communion with God, by praying to him, and by hearing of
him, and thinking upon his word and presence, and abstaining from all
filthiness of the flesh and spirit. We have an holy God, therefore we must
labour for a good measure of holiness, if we will maintain communion with
God. This should enforce us thus to stand for God and his truth, because
he is our God. It is strange to see how men do not walk this way. They
will part with anything, or do anything for their lust, but yet they will not
endure to part with anything for God, and for the comfort of their souls.
Well ! Christ stood for us unto the death, and gained us life, when it could
not be had otherwise ; and are we too good to stand for a good cause ; nay,
to die for the maintenance of God's cause ? What ! shall not we stand for
God ? Yes ; for he is an ' hiding-place ' to us ; and if death come to us
for this cause, he is life to us, and we have a being for ever in his love.
* It is Amos (iii. 3j, not Solomon, who says this. — G.
NOTES.
{a) P. 53. ' The word in the original shews it is the nature of sorrow,' &c. More
exactly the rendering is, ' Why wilt thou cast down,' &c., = dejection, self-rebuked.
(b) P. 61. ' Salvation.' See Note /, Vol. I. p. 294. ' G.
THE SAINT'S HAPPINESS.
VOL. -VTI.
THE SAINT'S HAPPINESS.
NOTE.
' The Saint's Happiness' forms one of the four ' Sermons' appended to ' The Saint's
Comforts,' concerning which see Note, Vol. VI. page 160. Its title-page is given
below.* Each of the four Sermons has separate pagination, but they do not appear
to have been issued separately. Gr.
* THE
SAINTS
HAPPINESSE :
Shewing mans Happi-
nesse is in Communion
with God.
"With the meanes, and trialls
of our Communion with God,
being the substance of
divers Sermons.
By that Faithfull and Reve-
rend Divine, E. Sibbes, D.D.
and sometime Preacher to the Ho-
norable Societie of
Grayes-Inne.
Printed at London, by Tho. Cotes, and are
to be sold by Peter Cole. 1637.
THE SAINT'S HAPPINESS.
But it is good for me to draw near to God. — Ps. LXXIII. 28.
This psalm is a psalm of Asaph, or of David, commended to Asaph, who
was a seer and a singer. It represents one in a conflict afterward recovered,
and in a triumphant conclusion. It begins abruptly, as if he had gained
this truth : Say flesh and Satan what they can, yet this I am resolved of,
I find God is yet good to Israel. Then he discovers what was the cause
of this conflict. It was his weakness and doubt of God's promises in
ver. 13, occasioned from the great prosperity that the wicked enjoyed,
described from the 2d verse to the 13th. Then he sets down his recovery
in the 17th verse. He went into the sanctuary, and saw what God meant
to do with them at last. Then follows the accomphshment of the victory
in the 23d verse. I am continually with thee. Thou hast holden me up.
Thou wilt guide me now and bring me to glory. Therefore there is none
in heaven but thee. Though nature may be surprised, yet God is my
help ; and for the wicked, they shall perish ; nay, thou hast destroyed
them. Therefore ' it is good for me to draw nigh to God.'
Now from that which hath been laid open we may observe,
Doct. First, That God's dearest children are exercised with sharp conflicts
in the faith of principles, yea, of God's providence. This should comfort
such as God sufiers to cast forth mire and dirt of incredulity. It is the
common case of God's dearest children, yea, of the prophets of God, David,
Jeremiah, and Habakkuk, and therefore we ought not to be dejected too
much ; and the rather because, — which also we may note in the second
place, —
Doct. [Second,] God's children, though they be thus low, yet they shall recover,
and after recovery comes a triumph. They may begin to slip a little, but still
God's hand is under them, and his goodness ever lower than they can fall ;
and this should teach us to discern of our estates aright, and to expect
such conflicts, yet to know that still God's Spirit will not be wanting to
check and repress such thoughts in the fittest time. Contrarily it is a
principle to wicked men to doubt of God's providence, and therefore they
sufi'er such temptations to rule in them.
In the next place observe,
'*' Doct. [Third,] The way for a Christian to recover his ground in time of temp-
tation, is for him to enter into God's sanctuary, and not to give liberty to his
68 THE saint's happiness.
thoughts to range in, considering the present estate that he is in ; but look
to former experiences, in himself, in others ; see the promises and apply
them ; it shall go well with the righteous, but woe to the wicked, it shall
not go well with them. This is to go into the sanctuary ; and happy man
thou art, and in high favour, whom God admitteth so near to him. The
world will tell thee of corn, and wine, and oil, and how great and glorious
men are here ; but the sanctuary will shew thee they are set in slippery
places. Carnal reason will tell thee God ha«h left the earth ; he sees not,
he governs not, all are out of order. But the sanctuary will shew thee all
things are beautiful in their time, Eccles. iii. 11. Mark the end of the
righteous, Ps. xxxiii. 37. See Joseph, once a prisoner, after lord of Egypt ;
Lazarus, once contemned and despised, after in Abraham's bosom ; Christ
himself, once a rebuke and scorn of all on the cross, but now triumphing
on * the right hand of God, far above all principalities and power,' Eph.
i. 21. All God's ways are mercy and truth, though we seem never so
much forsaken for the present. Again, from David's observing the state
of wicked men, — it is said, he saw the prosperity of wicked men, — we may
gather,
Doct. [Fourth,] Whether it he the eye of faith or the eye of sense, all serveth'to
bring us nearer to God. God represents to the outward view of his children
the example of his justice on others, to draw his children nearer home ; and
it is one main reason why God suffers variety of conditions in men, that his
children may gain experience from seeing their behaviour and by convers-
ing with them.
Last of all, from the connection of this text with the former words,
observe,
Doct. [Fifth,] That the course of the children of God is a course contrary to
the stream of the world. ' They withdraw away from thee, and shall perish,'
saith the prophet, but ' it is good for me to draw near ;' as if he had said,
Let others take what course they will, it matters not much, I will look to
myself, ' it is good for me to draw near to God ;' and the reason is.
Reason 1. Because they are guided by the Sjyirit of God, which is contrary to
the world, and the Spirit teacheth them to see, not after the opinions of the
world that is their best friend, but God is my best friend, that will never
forsake me. ' Many walk that are enemies to the cross of Christ, but our
conversation is in heaven,' Philip, iii. 18. And then a Christian hath
experience of the ways of God, and by it he is every day settled in them ;
by it he sees what the world works in others, and how God is opposite to
them, and thereby he is made more zealous ; as in winter time the body
is more hot within than in summer. And those that are well grounded
grow more strong by opposition ; and however they may sometimes stagger,
yet their motion is constant.
Use. If we will know our estates, examine after what rule we lead our
life, and tvhat jjrinciples we follow. If outward weights of the love of the
world, self-love, or the like do move us, as clocks that go no longer than the
weights hang on them, this shews that we are but actors of the life of
a Christian, and that we are not naturally moved, that our nature is not
changed, and that we are not made ' partakers of the divine nature,'
2 Peter i. 4 ; for then our motion would come from above : ' My life and
flesh may fail, but thou. Lord, wilt never fail,' Ps. xl. 12. Therefore it is
good for me to draw near to thee ; which words proceeding from an
experimental trial of David, of the goodness and happiness of this near-
ness to God, afford us this consideration,
THE SAINT S HAPPINESS.
69
Doct. [Sixth,] That God's Spirit enahleth his children by experience to justify
wisdom. He suffers his children to meet with oppositions, that they may see
they stand by an almighty power above their own, and above the power of
their enemies. Nihil tarn certnm est, quam quod post dubium cerium est, and
therefore thoset'that have felt the bitterness of their sins know how bitter
it is ; and those that have been overcome in temptations know their nature
is weak, and those that have felt the unconstancy of the world, and the
vanity of it, know it is a bitter thing to be far from God, and therefore
they resolve, Hosea ii. 7, ' I will go to my first husband ; for then it was
better with me than now ;' and as the prodigal, ' There is meat enough in
my father's house, why then do I perish here with hunger' ? Lukexv. 17;
and therefore, if we will ever think to stand out resolutely in our courses
against trials, we must labour for experience, and diligently observe God's
dealings. It is experience that breedeth patience and hope. Experience
of a truth seals a truth with a prohatum est. And without it, the best and
sti-ongest judgments will in time of trial be" ready to be jostled out of the
maintenance thereof, and great professors will be ashamed of their good
courses.
But to come to the particulars. * It is good ; ' that is, it puts in
us a blessed quality and disposition. It makes a man to be like God
himself; and, secondly, ' it is good,' that is, it is comfortable ; for it is
the happiness of the creature to be near the Creator ; it is beneficial and
helpful.
' To draw near.' How can a man but be near to God, seeing he filleth
heaven and earth : ' Whither shall I go from thy presence ? ' Ps. cxxxix. 7.
He is present always in power and providence in all places, but graciously
present with some by his Spirit, supporting, comforting, strengthening the
heart of a good man. As the soul is said to be tola in toto, in several
parts by several faculties, so God, present he is to all, but in a diverse
manner. Now we are said to be near to God in divers degrees : first,
when our under standing is enlightened ; intellectus est veritatis sponsa ; and so
the young man speaking discreetly in things concerning God, is said not to
be far from the kingdom of God, Mark xii. 34. Secondly, in minding ;
when God is present to our minds, so as the soul is said to be present to
that which it mindeth ; contrarily it is said of the wicked, that ' God is not
in all their thoughts,' Ps. x. 4. Thirdly, when the will upon the discovery of
the understanding conies to choose the better part, and is drawn from that choice
to cleave to him, as it was said of Jonathan's heart, ' it was knit to David,'
1 Sam. xviii. 1. Fourthly, when our whole affections are carried to God,
loving him as the chief good. Love is the first-born affection. That
breeds desire of communion with God. Thence comes joy in him, so
as the soul pants after God, ' as the hart after the water springs,' Ps. xlii. 1.
Fifthly, and especially, ivhen the soul is touched with the Spirit of God work-
ing faith, stirring up dependence, confidence, and trust on God. Hence
ariseth sweet communion. The soul is never at rest till it rests on him.
Then it is afraid to break with him or to displease him. But it groweth
zealous and resolute, and hot in love, stiff in good cases ; resolute against
his enemies. And yet this is not all, for God will have also the outward
man, so as the whole man must present itself before God in word, in
sacraments ; speak of him and to him with reverence, and yet with strength
of afi'ection mounting up in prayer, as in a fiery chariot; hear him speak to
us ; consulting with his oracles ; fetching comforts against distresses, direc-
tions against maladies. Sixthly, and especially, we draw near to him when we
70
THE SAINT S HAPPINESS.
praise him ; for this is the work of the souls departed, and of the angels in
heaven, that are continually near unto him. And thus much for the
opening of the words. The prophet here saith, ' It is good for me.' How
came he to know this ? Why, he had found it by experience, and by it he
was thoroughly convinced of it ; so
Doct. [Seventh,] Sinritual conviction is the ground of practice; for naturally
the will folio weth the guidance of the understanding; and when it is convicted*
of the goodness of this or that thing, the will moveth toward it. Now there
are four things that go to conviction : first, the understanding must be enlight-
ened to see the truth of the thing, that there is such a thing, and that it is
no fancy ; secondly, we must know it to be good, as the gospel is called
the good word of God ; thirdly, that it is good for me ; and lastly, upon
comparing all these together, it is the best for me of all, though other
things seem to be good in their kind. A wicked man may be convinced
that heaven and grace are good things ; but his corrupted affections per-
suade him it is better to live in pleasure and lust ; and when death
comes then he may repent, for God is merciful. But a good man pre-
ferreth drawing near to God above all, and therefore we should labour for
this conviction of our spirits. For it is not enough to hear, read, discourse,
pray, but we must get the Spirit to set to his seal to all upon our hearts ;
and this made Moses in sober balancing of things, choose rather to draw
near to God and join with his afflicted brethren, than to be in honour in
Pharaoh's court, to be the son of Pharaoh's daughter, or to enjoy the
pleasures of sin, * for he had respect to the reward,' Heb. xi. 25. He was
convinced that there was more to be gotten with them than amongst the
Egyptians. Thus Abraham came to forsake his country, and the disciples
to forsake all and follow Christ. And undoubtedly the ground of all pro-
faneness is from atheism that is within. Would the swearer trample upon
the name of God, if he did believe and were convinced that he should not
be guiltless ? Would the filthy person come near strange flesh, if he were
persuaded that God would judge ? Would any wicked man change an
eternal joy for a minute's pleasure, if he did believe the unrighteous should
not inherit the kingdom of God ? Nay, the best have a remainder of this
corruption of atheism. David : ' So foolish was I, and a beast,' Ps. Ixsiii. 22.
From hence come all sin against knowledge and conscience in men, whereof
David complains : ' Keep me, that presumptuous sins prevail not over me,
or get not dominion over me,' Ps. xix. 13. And for remedy against this
vile corruption, there is no way but the immediate help of the Holy Spirit;
and therefore, John xvi. 9, it is said that the Spirit, when it comes, ' shall
convince the world of sin ; ' that is, it shall so manifest sin to be in the
whole world, because of the general unbelief, as they shall see no remedy
but in Christ ; and therefore we should beforehand search out the crafty
allurements to sin, that we may be provided to give them an answer when
they set upon us, lest we be suddenly overcome, and labour to see the
excellency of the things that are freely given us of God, which amongst
other titles are called a feast, ' a feast of fat things,' Isa. xxv. 6. Now if
we will not feast with him, how do we ever think to suffer with him if he
should call us thereto ? * It is good.' How is it good ? Both in quality
and condition ; for while we are here in this world we are strangers, and
in an estate of imperfection as it were. Paul saith, while he was present
in the body he was absent from the Lord ; and the more near perfection
we are, the more near must we be to the ground of all perfection, and
* Tliat is, 'convinced.' — G.
THE SAINT S HAPPINESS.
71
this is only in God. For, first, he is goodness itself. He hath the beauty
of all, the strength of all, the goodness of all, originally in himself. He is
the gathering together of all excellency and goodness. Secondly, he is
the universal good. He is good to all. What all hath that is good, cometh
from him. Of creatures, some have beauty, others riches, others have
honours, but God hath all together. Thirdly, he is the all-sufficient and satis-
factory good. The goodness of no creature can give full content ; for the
soul of man is capable of more than all created goodness together can
satisfy. Only it is filled with God's likeness, and satisfied with communion
with him. The best thing here to satisfy the soul, as Solomon witnesseth,
is knowledge ; and yet it contents not the heart of man : sine Deo omnis
copia estegestas, [saith] Bernard.* God alone fiUeth every corner of the
soul in him. We are swallowed up with 'joy unspeakable,' and ' peace
that passeth understanding.' ' Eye cannot see it, ear cannot hear it, heart
of man cannot conceive those things which even in this life are but beams
of his brightness,' 1 Cor. ii. 9. Fourthly, God is a goodness that is pro-
p)ortionaUe and fitting to our soids, which is the best part in a man ; and
that which we draw near unto must communicate some loveliness, for that
moves us to draw near to it. Now God is a Spirit fit to converse with our
spirits ; and he is love, and can answer the love and drawing near of our
spirits with love and drawing near to us again. The things of this world
cannot love us so as to give us content, or to help us in the day of wrath.
Fifthly, nothing can make us happy hut drawing near to God. If there were
nothing in the world better than man, then man would be content with him-
self; but by nature it is evident man seeth a better happiness than is in
himself, and therefore he seeketh for it out of himself. And as Solomon
tried all things, and found no happiness but in the fear of God, so man
cannot rest in any outward content till he comes to God as the Creator of
all happiness, and the spring-head from whence the soul had its original ;
and therefore, 1 John i. 3, * All the gospel is to this end, that we may have
fellowship with the Father, and his Son Jesus Christ ;' and 1 Pet. iii. 18,
' Christ's sufferings [were] to this end, that being dead in flesh, but quickened
in the spirit, he might bring us again to God,' Eph. i. 10, and 22, ' That he
might gather all into one head.' By sin we were scattered from God, from
angels, and from our ourselves ; but now by Christ we are made one, with
one another, and with the holy angels, one with God our chief good.
For use hereof, it should teach us to labour to attain to this estate of being
spiritually convinced of the goodness of God, that we may by experience say,
' It is good for me to draw near to God,' for God will not esteem of us accord-
ing to our knowledge, but as our affections are, and therefore the wicked
man he calls a worldling, because the world fiUeth him, let his knowledge be
never so great. And the church in the Eevelation is called heaven, because
their aflfections and minds are that way, xxi. 1 ; and again, the more we
are convinced of God's goodness, the better we are ; for God's goodness,
tasted and felt by the soul, doth ennoble it, as a pearl set in a gold ring
maketh it the more rich and precious. But to come to the estate that is
so commended to us, it is described to us by drawing near unto God, so
as we may take this for a received ground, that
Doct. [Eighth,] Mans happiness is in communion with God. Before the fall
of man, there was a familiar conversation with God ; but by the sin of our
first parents we lost this great happiness, and now we are strangers, and
as contrary to God as light is contrary to darkness, and hell to heaven ;
* A frequent sentiment in his Letters. — G.
72 THE saint's happiness.
he holy, we impure ; he full of knowledge, we stark fools ; and instead of
delighting in him, we now tremble at his presence, and are afraid of such
creatures as approach nigh to him, trembling at the presence of angels,
nay, afraid of a holy man. ' What have I to do with thee, thou man of
God? art thou come to call my sins to remembrance?' 1 Kings xvii. 18.
And therefore we fly the company of good men, because their carriage and
course of life do upbraid us ; and hence it is that at the least apprehension
of God's displeasure, wicked men do quake. The heathen emperor trembled
at a thunder clap.* But God, in his infinite mercy andjgoodness, left us
not, but entertaining a purpose to choose some to draw near unto him ;
and to this end he hath found out a way for man and him to meet, but no
way for the angels ; and the foundation of this union is in Christ, in whom
he reconciled the world to himself; for he being God, became man, so to
draw man back again unto God ; and thus, like Jacob's ladder, one end of
it is in heaven, the other on earth. The angels ascending and descending
shew a sweet intercourse between God and man, now reconciled together,
so as Christ is now ' a living way ' for ever, being ' the way, the truth, and
the life.' He is a way far more near and sure than we had in Adam ; for in
him God was in man, but now man subsisteth in God, so as our nature is
now strengthened by him, who also hath enriched it and advanced it : and
what he hath wrought in his own human nature, he by little and little will
work in all his mystical members ; so being once far off, we are now made
near, and this he did principally by his death, for reconciliation is made by
his blood. Col. i. 20 ; and thus, by the admirable mystery of his deep wis-
dom, he hath found a means to make the seeming opposite attributes of
justice and mercy to kiss each other, so as we are saved, and yet his
infinite justice hath full content. For how could his hatred of sin appear
more gloriously than in punishing it upon his own only beloved Son ? And
therefore worthily he is called ' our peace ; ' for he is that great peace-
maker offering himself up, and us in him, ' as a sweet-smelling sacrifice,
acceptable to God,' Philip, iv. 8, being then thus brought near to God, to
keep and maintain this nearness, so as nothing may separate us again. He
hath put into us his own Spirit, so as we are one spirit with Christ ; and
by that Spirit he worketh in us and by us by that Spirit. We hear, read,
pray, and as by the soul in us our bodies do live, breathe, and move, and
the like, so he maketh his Spirit to move in us to a holy conversation and
a heavenly life, being thus made ' partakers of the divine nature,' 2 Peter
i. 4 ; and this sanctifies us to a holy communion with God ; and there-
fore the apostle prays, 2 Cor. xiii. 14, ' The grace of our Lord Jesus
Christ, the love of God the Father, and the communion of the Holy Ghost,
be with them ; ' that is, for a fuller manifestation of the love of God in
sending Christ, the grace of Christ in coming to us, and the communion of
the Holy Spirit, because by it we are made to live a holy life, and to com-
municate with God ; and thus the three persons in Trinity conspire together
in reducing man back again to be more near to God.
Use 1. Now, for use of this, it should teach us hoiv to think on God, not
as all justice and power, hating sin and sinners, but as a Father, now lay-
ing aside terrible things that may scare us from drawing nigh to him, and
as a God, stooping down to our human nature, to take both it and our
miserable condition upon himself, and see our nature not only suffering
with Christ, but rising, nay, now in heaven united to God ; and this will
feed the soul with inestimable comfort.
* Thia is told of Nero.— G.
THE saint's happiness. 73
Use 2. Secondly, Labour to be more near to him, by the mo7-e full partici-
pation of his Spirit. Those that have not Christ's Spirit are none of his.
By it we in Christ have access to God ; and therefore the more spiritual
we are, the nearer access we have to the secrets of God. In our first
estate, we are altogether flesh, and have no spirit; in our present estate of
grace, we are partly flesh and partly spirit; in our third estate in heaven,
we shall be all spiritual ; yea, our bodies shall be spiritual, 1 Cor. xv. 44.
It is sown natural, but it shall be raised spiritual, and shall be obedient to
our souls in all things, and our souls wholly possessed and led by the
Spirit of God, so as then God shall be all in all with us ; and for means
hereunto.
First, Labour to he conversaiit in spiritual means, as in hearing of the
word, receiving of the sacraments. God annexe th his Spirit to his own
ordinances ; and thence it is that in the communion with God in the
ordinances, men's apprehensions are so enlarged as they are many times
spiritually sick, and do long after the blessed enjoying of God's presence
in heaven. But take heed how we come, think what we have to do, and
with whom. Come not without the garment of Christ ; and it is no matter
how beggarly we are, this food is not appointed for angels, but for men.
And come with an humble heart, as Elizabeth. Who am I, that (not the
mother of my Lord) God himself from heaven should come to me ! '
Luke i. 43.
Secondly, Converse with those that draw near unto him. God is present
where two or three are assembled in his name, warming their hearts with
love and afiection, as it is said of the two disciples going to Emmaus, ' Did
not our hearts burn within us while we walked in the way, and conferred
of the sayings?' &c., Luke xxiv. 32. Oh, it is a notable sign of a spiritual
heart to seek spiritual company ; for when their hearts join together, they
warm one another, and are hereby guarded from temptations ; nay, the
wicked themselves in God's company will be restrained. Saul, a wicked
man, amongst the prophets will prophesy now, 1 Sam. x. 12. If by good
company carnal men themselves do in a manner draw near to God, how
acceptable ought this to be to us, and how powerful in us.
Thirdly, And especially, be much in prayer ; for this is not only a main
part of this duty of drawing near to God, but it is a great help thereunto.
God is near to all that call upon him ; for then are those most near to
God when their understandings, afiections, desires, trust, hope, faith, are
busied about God ; and therefore as Moses's face did shine with being in
the presence of God, so those that are conversant in this duty of prayer
have a lustre cast upon their souls, and their minds brought into a hea-
venly temper, and made fit for anything that is divine. I could wish that
men would be more in public prayer, and that they would not forget
private prayer, if ever they intend the comfort of their souls, not only
hereafter, but even during this present life. For every day's necessities
and dangers in the midst of many enemies, the devil, flesh, and world, ill
company, and strong corruptions, should invite us to cast ourselves into the
protection of an almighty Saviour. There is not a minute of time in all
our life but we must either be near God or we are undone.
Fourthly, Observe the first motions of sin in our hearts, that may 'grieve
the Spirit of God ' in the least manner, and check them at the first. Give
no slumber to thine eyes, then, nor the reins to thy desires: 'Thou, 0
man of God, fly the lusts of youth,' 2 Tim. ii. 22. The best things in us,
if they come from nature in us, God abhors. Rebuke therefore the first
74
THE SAINT S HAPPINESS.
motions, before they come to delight or action. God abhorreth one that
gives liberty to his thoughts, more than one that falleth into a grievous
sin now and then, through strength of temptation; and such shall find
comfort sooner of the pardon of their sins, for they cannot but see their
offences to be heinous, and so have ground of abasement in themselves ;
but the other, thinking of the smallness of their sins, or at least that God
is not much offended with thoughts, do fill themselves with contemplative
wickedness, and chase away the Spirit of God, that cannot endure an un-
clean heart. We must therefore keep ourselves pure and unspotted of
this present world, * for the pure in heart shall see God,' Mat. v. 8 ; and
' without holiness none shall ever see him,' Heb. xii. 14. The least sin in
thought, if it be entertained, it eats out the strength of the soul, that it
can receive no good from God, nor close with him, so as it performeth all
duties deadly and hollowly: Ps. Ixvi. 18, ' If I regard iniquity in my heart,
the Lord will not hear my prayer;' and hence it is that so little good is
wrought in the ordinances of God. Men bring their lusts along with
them. They neither know the sweetness of the presence of God's Spirit,
neither do they desire it. It is a true rule that every sin hath intrinse-
cally in it some punishment ; but it is not the punishment that is the
proper venom or poison of sin, but this, that it hinders the Spirit of God
from us, and keeps us from him, and unfits us for life or for death. But
this inward divorce from God's Spirit above all it is the most bitter stab
that can befall any one that ever tasted of the sweetness of Christian pro-
fession. Now, for the better keeping of our thoughts, we should labour
to watch against our outward senses, that by them thoughts be not darted
into us. ' The eyes of the fool are in the corners of the world,' Prov.
xvii. 24, saith the wise man; and therefore let men profess what they
will, when they go to lewd company and filthy places, where corruptions
are shot into them by all their senses, they neither can take delight to
draw near to God, nor can God take any delight to draw near to them.
Dinah, that will be straying abroad, comes home with shame; and that
soul that either straggles after temptations, or suffereth temptations to
enter into it uncontrolledly, both ways doth grieve God, and that good
Spirit that should lead us to him. As for such as live in gross
sins, as lying, blaspheming, swearing, drunkenness, adultery, or the like,
let them never think of drawing near to God. They must first be civilised
before they can appear to be religious ; and they contrarily proclaim to the
whole world that they say to God, ' Depart from us, for we will none of
thy ways,' Job xxi. 14; so as God draws away from them, and they draw
away from him.
Fifthly, Be in God's nriUcs and ordinances in a course of doing good, in
our Christian or civil calling, sanctified by prayer and a holy dependence
upon God for strength, wisdom, and success. Go not out of those ways
wherein he gives his angels charge of our persons and actions, and what-
ever we do. Labour to do it with perfection, as our Father in heaven is
perfect.
Sixthly, Observe God's dealings with the church, both formerly and now
in these days, and how he dealeth and hath formerly dealt with ourselves,
that from experience of his faithfulness to us we may gather confidence to
approach nigh him at any occasion. God's works and words do answer
one another: * Hath he said, and shall he not do it ?' He is always good
to Israel. Observe therefore how all things work together for thy parti-
cular drawing nigh unto him ; for if all do work together for thy good,
THK saint's happiness. 75
then it must be of necessity for thy drawing near to God, and drawing
thee away from this present world; and observe how thy soul answereth
the purpose of God, how thy affections are bent, and so how all comes out
for thy benefit at last. See God in afflictions embittering ill courses in
thee; in thy success in thy affairs, encouraging thee; and thus w^alk with
God. But evermore think of him as of a Father in covenant with thee.
Seventhly, Labour to maintabi humility, having evermore a sense of thy
unworthiness, and wants, and continual dependence on God, and thus
humble thyself to walk with him. Hence the saints in God's presence
call themselves 'dust and ashes,' as Abraham, Gen. xviii. 27; 'and less
than the least of God's mercies,' as Jacob, Gen. xxxii. 10. God is ' a
consuming fire,' Heb. xii. 29, and will be sanctified in all that come nigh
unto him. He will give grace to the humble, but behokleth the proud afar
olf, as they look on others : James iv. 8, ' Draw near to the Lord, and he
will draw near to you.' Humble yourselves under ' the mighty hand of
God,' and he will lift you up. He that lifteth himself up, maketh himself
a god; and God will endure no co-rivals. Contrarily, he dwelleth in the
heart of the humble, Isa. Ixvi. 2 ; and in the Psalms, ' An humble and a
contrite heart, 0 God, thou wilt not despise.' But pride he abhorreth as
an abomination of desolation.
Eighthly, Labour for sincerity in all our actions. Whatever we do to
God or man, do it with a single eye, resolute to please God. Let men
say what they will, ' a double-minded man is unstable in all his ways,'
James i. 8 ; and what is a double-minded man, but one that hath one eye
on God, another on a by-respect? If religion fail him, he will have favour
of men, or wealth, yet would fain have both, for credit sake. Such are
gross temporisers ; and in time, of temporisers [it] will appear that their
religion serves but for a cloak to their vile hypocrisy. This God loathes,
and will ' spue them out,' Rev. iii. IG.
Ninthly, Observe thejirst motions of GocVs Spirit; and give diligent heed
to them, for by these God^knocks for entrance into the heart: Eev. iii. 20,
' Behold, I stand at the door and knock.' God is near when he knocks,
when he putteth inclinations into the heart, and sharpeneth them with
afflictions. If, then, we stop our ears, we may say ' the kingdom of God
was near unto us;' but if he once ceaseth knocking, our mouths shall for
ever be stopped; and for this reason it is that so many live daily under
the means, and yet live in vile courses, as if God had determined their
doom. They resisted the first motions, and close with their lusts, and so
God pronounceth a curse : ' Make this people's heart fat,' Isa. vi. 10.
On the contrary, those that will open to God while he continues knocking,
God will come in and make an everlasting tabernacle in them, and sup with
them. Rev. iii. 20.
Lastly, Take up dally controversies that do arise in us, through the incon-
stancy of our decelvable hearts. Repentance must be every day's work,
renewing our covenant, especially every morning and evening ; repair
breaches by confession ; and considering the crossness of our hearts,
commit them to God by prayer : ' Knit my heart to thee, that I may fear
thy name,' Ps. Ixxxvi. 11.
A third use of this doctrine is of instruction ; and, first, to teach us that
a Christian that thus draweth near to God is the wisest man. He hath
God's word, reason, and experience to justify his course. He is the
wisest man that is wise for himself. The Christian feels it and knows it,
and can justify himself, 2 Tim. i. 12. Paul suffered, and was not ashamed.
76 THE saint's happiness.
Why ? ' I know,' saith he, * whom I have believed.' Let men scorn, I
pass* not for man's censure. They shall never scorn me out of my reli-
gion; and for them, the Scripture, that can best judge, calls those wicked
men fools ; for they refuse God, who is the chiefest good, and seek for con-
tent where none is to be found. Contrarily, if we do affect honour, or
riches, or pleasure, God is so gracious as in religion he gives us abundance
of these. In God is all fulness ; in Christ are unsearchable riches ; in
God everlasting strength, ' and his favour is better than the life itself,' Ps.
Ixiii. 3. Ahithophel was wise, but it was to hang himself; Saul a mighty
man, but to shed his own blood; Haman's honour ended in shame.
Secondly, Hence we may learn how to justify zeal m relit/ion. If to be
near God be good, then the nearer him the better; if religion be good,
then the more the better; if holiness be good, then the more the better;
it is best to excel in the best things. Who was the best man but Christ,
and why ? He was nearest the fountain. And who are next but the
angels, and why? Because they are always in God's presence. And who
next but those that are nearest to Christ. If we could get angelical holi-
ness, were it not commendable ? And therefore it should shame us to be
backward, and cold, and to have so little zeal, as to be ashamed of good-
ness, as most are.
Thirdly, This should teach us that a man must not break with God for
any creature's sake whatever. It is good to lose all for God. Why ?
Because we have riches in him, liberty in him, all in him. A man may
be a king on earth, and yet a prisoner in himself; and if we lose any-
thing, though it be our own life, for God, we shall save it. If we be
swallowed up of outward misery, the Spirit of God, that * searcheth the
deep things of God,' 1 Cor. ii. 10, passes and repasses, and puts a relish
into us of the ' unsearchable riches of Christ,' Eph. iii. 8. ' Taste and
see how good God is,' Ps. xxxiv. 8. ' How excellent is thy loving-
kindness, which thou hast laid up for them that fear thee,' Ps. xxxvi. 7.
' How precious are thy thoughts to me, 0 Lord,' Ps. xxxix. 17. ' Thou
hast the words of everlasting life, whither then shall I go ? ' said Peter,
when he felt but a spark of the divine power, John vi. 68.
A further use of this doctrine shall be an use of trial, to know ivhether
we draw near to God or not.
First, therefore, where this is, there will be a farther desire of increase of
communion with God. The soul will not rest in measure, Exod. xxxiii.
11, seq. Moses had divers entertainments of God: he had seen him in
' the bush,' and in mount Sinai, and many other times; but not contented
herewith, he would needs see God's face. And thus Abraham, he gathers
upon God still more and more ground in his prayers : ' What if fifty,
what if forty, what if twenty, what if ten righteous be found there ? ' saith
he. Gen. xviii. 24, seq. And Jacob, how often was he blessed whom Isaac
blessed, when he was to go into Paran ! when he was there at his retui-n ;
and yet when he comes to wrestle with the angel, ' I will not let thee go
till thou bless me,' Gen. xxxii. 26. And the reason is, because as God is
a fountain never to be drawn dry, so is man an emptiness never filled, but
our desires increase still till we arrive in heaven ; and therefore the more
we work, and the more we pray, and the more good we do, the more do our
desires increase in doing good.
Secondly, This will appear in abasing or humbling ourselves, as it was
with Abraham. The more near God is, the more humbly he falls on his
* That is, ' pause,* = care for. — G.
THE saint's happiness. 77
face, and confessetli he is but ' dust and ashes.' The angels, in token of
reverence, do cover their faces, ' being in the presence of God.' And it
is an universal note, that all such as draw near to God, they are humble
and reverent in holy duties ; and therefore proud persons have no com-
munion with God at all.
Thirdly, The nearer u-e are to God, the more we admire heavenly things ;
and count all others ' dross and dung,' as St Paul, Philip, iii. 8. When
the sun riseth, the stars they vanish ; and those that do not admire the
joy, peace, and happiness of a Christian, are unacquainted with drawing
near to God.
Fourthly, When we have a sense and sight of sin, then ive may truly he
said to 'draw near,' and to be near to God; for by his light are our eyes
enlightened, and we are quickened by his heat and love; and hence we
come to see little sins great sins, and are afraid of the beginnings of sin :
'Lord, purge me from my secret sins; create in me a new heart; oh let
the thoughts of my heart be always acceptable in thy sight,' Ps. xix. 12.
And those that make no scruple of worldly affairs on the Lord's day, of
light, small oaths, as they call them, or of corrupt discourse, they neither
are nor can draw near to God.
Fifthly, The nearer we draw to God, the more is our rest. ' Come unto
me, all you that are weary and heavy laden, and you shall find rest unto
your souls,' Mat. xi. 28. Ps. xvi. 4, ' The sorrows of those that worship
another god shall be multiplied,' and therefore they may well maintain
doubting. And therefore such, if they be in their right minds, never end
their days comfortably.
Sixthly, In all distresses, those that draw near to God uillfly to him with
confidence; but a guilty conscience is afraid of God, as of a creditor that
oweth him punishment, or that intendeth to cast him into perpetual prison.
And as a child will in all his wrongs go and complain to his father, Rom.
V. 2, seq., so if we have the spirit of sons we have access to God, and peace
with God, and can come boldly to the throne of grace, to find help in him
at need.
Seventhly, He that is near to God is neither afraid of God nor of any
creature, for God and he are in good terms. In the midst of thundering
and lightning, Moses hath heart to go near, when the Israelites fly, and
stand afar ofi': Ps. xxvii. 1, ' The Lord is the strength of my salvation, of
whom shall I be afraid?' Ps. cxii. 7, ' He that feareth the Lord will not
be afraid of evil tidings ;' but, contrarily, on the wicked there are fears,
and snares, and pits. They fear where no cause of fear is ; and when God
revealeth his terror, indeed then, Isa. xxxiii. 14, ' the sinners in Sion are
afraid, and the hypocrites that make show of holiness are surprised with fear-
fulness ; who amongst us shall dwell with devouring fire, and who amongst
us shall dwell with everlasting burnings ? '
Eighthly, The nearer we are to God, the 7nore in love tve will he with spiri-
tual exercises ; the more near to God, the more in love with all means to
draw nigh to him; as of books, sermons, good company. My delight
'is in the excellent of the earth,' Ps. xvi. 3; 'Oh how I love thy law,'
Ps. cxix. 97 ; ' How beautiful are thy dwelling-places, 0 Lord of hosts,'
Ps. Ixxxiv. 1.
Ninthly, He that is near God is so warmed ivith love of him, so that he
will stand against ojiposition, and that out of experience — ' He that delivered
me out of the paw of the bear, will deliver me from the hands of this un-
circumcised Philistine,' 1 Sam. xvii. 37, — and out of his experience he will
78 THE SAINT S HAPPINESS.
be encouraged to use tlie ordinances of God. He will pray, because he
hath found the sweetness of it ; he will be in good company, because ha
finds it preserves him in a better temper for the service of God ; he will
hear the word spiritually and plainly laid open to him, because he hath
found the power of it in renewing and quickening his affections and
desires ; and those that do not draw nigh to God, do either loathe, or at
least are indifferent, to days, to companies, to exercises. All are alike to
them ; and they wonder at the niceness of Christians that take so much
labour and pains, whenas a man may go to heaven at an easier rate by
much ; and, on the contrary, Christians do as much wonder at them, that
they are so careless, whenas 'few are called;' and of those that are called,
some ' hear the word, but receive it not.' Some receive, ' and in time
of trial fall off,' Luke viii. 5, so as not the third part of hearers are saved.
What then now remaineth but that we should be encouraged unto this duty
of drauing near unto God. We see how Scripture, reason, and experience
proves that it is a thing necessary and profitable ; and those that are far
from God shall perish, and those that go a-whoring from him he will
destroy, as it is in the foregoing verse. Those that are either of a whorish
judgment, or affections after lust or covetousness, or the like, God will
curse, for all sin is but adultery, or defiling of the soul with the creature;
and therefore labour for chaste judgments and afiections ; love him, and
fear him above all, and this is the whole duty of man ; and use other crea-
tures in their own place, as creatures should be used. We know not what
troubles and difficulties we shall meet with ere long, wherein neither friends
nor all the world can do us any good; and then happy shall we be if, with
a comfortable heart, we can go to God with David: Ps. xxii. 11, 'Be not
far from me, for trouble is near, and there is none to help,' If God be
then far off from us when trouble is near to us, we may go and cry to
him; but his answer will be, Prov. i. 31, ' You shall eat the fruit of your
own way ; you have set at nought all my counsel, and would none of my
reproof.' You would not draw nigh to me; you shall now call and seek
to me, but now you shall not draw nigh to me, you shall not find me.
What, then, can our friends do ? What can the whole world then supply
to us, when sickness comes as * an armed man,' and death as a mighty
giant, against whom is no resisting ; but will we or nill we, away we must
be gone ? Then to have a God nigh us, to whom we may go as Peter did
in the storm, ' 0 Master, save me, I perish,' Mark iv. 36 ; then to have a friend
in heaven, who can for the present guide us by his counsel, and instruct us
against Satan's wiles and our deceivable hearts, and be a safe guard to us
in the fire and in the water, in the dungeon and when we are in the greatest
depths of misery to outward sense ; though in death, in the shadow of
death, and in the valley of the shadow of death, yet can send us such
cheerful remembrances of his love, as the cloud shall be scattered, the
shadow taken away, and death, an enemy, shall be a friend ; nay, a
friendly meeting between God and the soul, so as the soul shall triumph
in death, and shall delight to die, and desire it: 'Lord, now let thy ser-
vant depart in peace, for,' by the eye of faith, I have * waited for thy sal-
vation,' Luke ii. 29 ; I say, then will the sweetness of this estate of
drawing near to God be manifested to us, and then shall we not repent oi'
any labour or travail spent in our lifetime, in the attaining of such a
condition.
DAVID'S CONCLUSION; OR, THE SAINT'S
RESOLUTION.
DAVID'S CONCLUSION; OR, THE SAINT'S RESOLUTION.
NOTE.
' David's Conclusion ' is one of tlie sermons of tlie ' Beams of Divine Light.' (4to,
1639. Cf. Vol. V. p. 220.) Its separate title-page is given below.*
DAVIDS
CONCLVSION:
OR,
THE SAINTS
RESOLVTION.
In one Sermon.
By the late learned, and reverend Divine,
Richard Sibbs.
Doctor in Divinitie, Master of Katherine-Hall
in Cambridge ; and sometimes Prea-
cher at Grays-Inne.
leremy 30. 21.
Who is this that ingageth his heart to approach uri'
to me, saith the Lord ?
James 4, 8.
Draw nigh to God, and he will draw nigh to you.
London,
Printed by E. P. for Nicholas Bourne
and Rapha Harford.
16 39.
DAVID'S CONCLUSION; OR, THE SAINT'S
RESOLUTION.
But it is good for me to draw near to God. — Ps. LXXIII. 28.
This psalm is a psalm of Asaph, or a psalm of David, and committed to
Asaph the singer, for Asaph was both a seer and a singer. Those psalms
that David made were committed to Asaph, so it is thought to be a psalm
of David. • And if not of David, yet of Asaph, that likewise was a singer in
the house of God {a).
The psalm represents to us a man in a spiritual conflict, by a discovery
of the cause of it, and a recovery out of the conflict, with a triumphant
conclusion afterwards,
1. He begins abruptly, as a mannewly come out of a conflict: ' Truly God
is good to Israel ; ' as if he had gained this truth in conflicting with his
corruptions and Satan, who joins with corruption in opposing. Say the
flesh what it can, say Satan what he can, say carnal men what they can,
* yet God is good to Israel.'
2. After his conflict he sets down the discovery, first of his weakness,
and then of his doubting of God's providence, and then the cause of it, the
prosperity of the wicked, and God's contrary dealing with the godly. Then
he discovers the danger he was come to, ver. 13, ' Verily I have cleansed
my heart in vain, and washed my hands in innocency,' &c.
3. And then the recovery, in ver. 17 : 'I went into the sanctuary, and
there I understood the end of these men.' The recovery was by going into
the sanctuary ; not by looking upon the present condition, but upon God's
intention, what should become of such men ; and there he had satisfaction.
4. Then his victory and triumph over all: ver. 23, 'Nevertheless I am
continually with thee.' It was a suggestion of the flesh that thou wast gone
far from me, by reason of the condition of carnal men that flourish in the
eye of the world. No : ' Thou art continually with me, and thou boldest
me by my right hand.' Thou upholdest me, I should fall else. But what,
would God do so for the time to come ? ' He will guide me by his counsel,'
while I live here and when I am dead. What will he do for me after ?
' He will receive me to glory.' Whereupon saith he, * Who have I in
heaven but thee ? and there is none in earth that I desire besides thee.'
Therefore, though for the present ' my flesh fail,' yea, and ' my heai-t fail,'
VOL. VII. F
82 David's conclusion ; or,
yet God is the ' strength of my heart, and my portion for ever.' We see
here his victory set down, and he gives a lustre to it, by God's contrary
dealing with the wicked : * For lo, they that are far from thee shall perish :
thou hast destroyed all them that go a-whoring from thee.' Now, in the
words of the text, you have his conclusion upon all this, 'Nevertheless it
is good for me to draw near to God.'
This is the conclusion upon the fonner principles. This is, as it were,
the judgment upon the former demurs. The sum of all comes to this : Let
all things be weighed and laid together, I am sure this is true, ' it is good
for me to draw near to God.' So he ends where he began, ' God is good
to Israel.' Therefore, because God is so good to Israel, 'it is good to
draw near to God.' So you see in what order the words come. They are
the words of a man got out of a conflict, after he had entered into the
sanctuary, and after he had considered the end of wicked men, at whose
prosperity he was troubled and took scandal.
Before I come to the words, it is not amiss briefly to touch these points,
to make way to that I am to deliver.
First of all, that,
1. God's dearest children are exercised with sharp spintual coyiflicts.
God suffers their very faith in principles sometimes to be shaken. What
is more clear than God's providence ? Not the noonday. Yet God
suffers sometimes his own children to be exercised with conflicts of this
kind, to doubt of principles written in the book of God, as it were, with a
sunbeam, that have a lustre in themselves. There is nothing more clear
than that God hath a particular special providence over his ; yet God's
wa} s are so unsearchable and deep, that he doth spiritually exercise his
children ; he suffers them to be exercised, as you see here he comes out of
a conflict ; ' but it is good for me to draw near to God.' I will touch it.
Therefore I will extend it only to God's people, that, if by reason of the
remainders of corruption God suffer their rebellious hearts to cast mire
and dirt, to cast in objections that are odious to the spiritual man, that
part that is good, they may not be cast down too much and dejected. It
is no otherwise with them than it hath been with God's dear children, as
we see in Jeremiah, Habakkuk, and others. It is a clear truth. I only
point at it that we might have it ready to comfort ourselves when such
things rise in our souls. It is no otherwise with us than it hath been with
other of God's dear children.
The second point is, that,
2. God's children, ivhen they are in this conflict, they recover themselves.
God sufi'ers them to be foiled, but then they recover themselves. First,
there is a conflict, and then ofttimes the foil. A man is foiled by the
worst part in him, and then after a while he recovers ; and then, as in
other conflicts, there is triumph and victory, as we see here his conflict
and recovery.
For God's children go not far off" from him, as it is in ver. 27, ' Lo,
they that are far off from thee shall perish.' They may have their thoughts
unsettled a little concerning God's providence, but they run not far off',
they go not a-whoring, as carnal men do. They begin to slip, but God hath
a blessed hand under them to recover them, that they do not fall away,
that they fall not foully. They may slip and fall a little, to stand better
and surer after, but they go not far off as wicked men do. They never
slip so low but God's goodness is lower to hold them up. He hath one
hand under them and another hand above them, embracing them, so that
THE saint's resolution. 83
they cannot fall dangerously. This is the second ; from this that we see
here, he recovers out of this conflict.
Use. Which may serve to discern our estate in grace. If we belong to
God, though such noisome imaginations rise, yet, notwithstanding, there
is a contrary principle of grace always in God's children that checks them,
at the least afterwards, if not presently. Such noisome thoughts as these
rule and reign in carnal men, for they take scandal * at God's government,
and they judge, indeed, that the ways of wicked men are happy. They
have false principles, and they frame their course of life to such false prin-
ciples and rules, from cherishing atheistical doubts of God's providence, and
the like. It is far otherwise with God's children. There are conflicts in
them, but there is a recovery ; they check them presently ; they have God's
Spirit, and the seed of grace in them. That is never extinct. -
3. The way of recovery is to enter into GoiVs sanctuary. For we must
not give liberty to ourselves to languish in such a course, to look to present
things too much, but look into God's book, and there we shall find what is
threatened to such and such ill courses, and what promises are made to
good courses. And then apply God's truth to the example ; see how God
hath met with wicked men in their rufi'e,f and advanced his children when
they were at the lowest, when they were even at the brink of despair.
Examples in this kind are pregnant and clear throughout the Scripture.
The Lord saith, ' It shall go well with the righteous, and it shall [not] go well
with the wicked,' Ps. xci. 8 ; ' Let him escape a thousand times. Doubt-
less there is a reward for the godly,' Ps. Iviii. 11. Let us look in the
book of God, upon the predictions, and see the verifying of those predic-
tions in the examples that act the rules, and bring them to the view : let
us see the truths in the examples. This entering into God's sanctuary it
is the way to free us from dangerous scandals, and to overcome dangerous
conflicts ; for the conclusions of the sanctuary are clean contrary to sen-
sible carnal reason. Carnal reason saith, Such a one is a happy man ;
sure he is in great favour ; God loves him. Oh, but the sanctuary saith.
It shall never go well with such a man. Carnal reason would say of Dives,
Oh, a happy man ; but the sanctuary saith, * He had his good here,' and
' Lazarus had his ill here.' Carnal reason saith. Is there any providence
that rules in the earth ? Is there a God in heaven, that sufi'ers these things
to go so confusedly ? Ay, but the word of God, the sanctuary, saith,
there is a providence that rules all things sweetly, and that * all things are
beautiful in their time,' Eccles. iii. 11.
We must not look upon things in their confusion, but knit things.
' Mark the end, mark the end of the righteous man,' Ps. xxxvii. 37. Look
upon Joseph in prison. Here is a horrible scandal ! For where was God's
providence to watch over a poor young man. But see him after, ' the
second man in the kingdom.' Look on Lazarus at the rich man's door,
and there is scandal; but see him after in Abraham's bosom. If we see
Christ arraigned before Pilate, and crucified on the cross, here is a scan-
dal, that innocency itself should be wronged. But stay awhile ! See him
at the right hand of God, ' ruling principalities and powers, subjecting all
things under his feet,' Eph. i. 21.
Thus the sanctuary teacheth us to knit one thing to another, and not
brokenly to look upon things present, according to the dreams of men's
* That is, ' make a stumbling-block of.' — G.
t Edward Philips, Sibbes's contemporary, uses the word ' ruflfe ' very much as here.
See ' Godly Learned Sermons ' (1605), p. 160. It seems = height of prosperity. — G.
84 David's conclusion ; or,
devices ; but to look upon the catastrophe and winding up of the tragedy;
not to look on the present conflict, but to go to the sanctuary, and see the
end of all, see how God directs all things to a sweet end. * All the ways
of God to his children are mercy and truth,' Ps xcviii. 3, though they seem
never so full of anger and displeasure. Thus you see God's children are
in conflict ofttimes, and sometimes they are foiled in the conflict ; yet by
way of recovery they go into the sanctuary, and there they have spiritual
eye-salve. They have another manner of judgment of things than ' flesh
and blood hath.'
4. Again, we see, when he went into the sanctuary, the venj sight of faith
makes him draw near to God. Sometimes God represents heavenly truths
to the eye of sense, in the examples of his justice. We see sometimes
wicked men brought on the stage. God blesseth such a sight of faith, and
such examples to bring his children nearer to him ; as we see immediately
before the text, ' thou wilt destroy all that go a-whoring from thee ;' and
then it follows, ' It is good for me to draw near to God.' So that the
Spirit of God in us, and our spirits sanctified by the Spirit, takes advan-
tage when we enter into the sanctuary, and see the diverse ends of good
and bad, to draw us close to God.
Indeed, that is one reason why God sufi'ers difi'erent conditions of men
to be in the world, not so much to shew his justice to the wicked, as that
his children, seeing of his justice and his mercy, and the manifestation and
discovery of his providence in ordering his justice towards wicked men, it
may make them cleave to his mercy more, and give a lustre to his mercy.
' It is good for me to cleave to the Lord.' I see what will become of all
others.
5. The next that follows upon this, that God's children, thus conflicting
and going into the sanctuary, and seeing the end of cdl there, they go a con-
trary course to the world. They swim against the stream. As we say of
the stars and planets, they have a motion of their own, contrary to that
rapt motion, whereby they are carried and whirled about in four- and- twenty
hours from east to west. They have a creeping motion and period of their
own, as the moon hath a motion of her own backward from west to east,
that [shej makes every month ; and the sun hath a several* motion from the
rapt motion he is carried with that he goes about in a year. So God's
children, they live and converse, and are carried with the same motion as
the world is. They live among men, and converse as men do ; but not-
withstanding, they have a contrary motion of their own, which they are
directed and carried to by the Spirit of God, as here the holy prophet
saith, ' It is good for me to draw near to God.' As if he should say, For
other men, be they great or small, be they of what condition they will, let
them take what course they will, and let them see how they can justify
their course, and take what benefit they can ; let them reap as they sow ;
it do not matter much what course they take, I will look to myself; as for
me, I am sure this is my best course, ' to draw near to God.'
So the sanctified spirit of a holy man, he looks not to the stream of the
times, what be the currents, and opinions, and courses of rising to prefer-
ment, of getting riches, of attaining to an imaginary present happiness
here ; but he hath other thoughts, he hath another judgment of things, and
therefore goes contrary to the world's course. Hear St Paul, Phil. ii. 21 ;
saith he there, * All men seek their own, — I cannot speak of it without
weeping, — whose end is damnation, whose belly is their god, who mind
* That is, ' separate.' — G.
THE saint's resolution. 85
earthly things.' But what doth St Paul, when other men seek their own,
and are carried after private ends ? Oh, saith he, * our conversation is in
heaven, from whence w^e look for the Saviour, who shall change our vile
bodies, and make them like his glorious body, according to his mighty
power, whereby he is able to subdue all things to himself.' So you see
the blessed apostle, led with the same Spirit as the man of God here, he
considers not what men do, he fetcheth not the rules of his life from the
example of the great ones of the world or from multitude. These are
false, deceiving rules. But he fetcheth the rule of his life from the experi-
mental goodness he had found by a contrary course to the world. Let
the world take what course they will, ' it is good for me to draw near to
God.'
6. I might add a little further, that the course and corrupt j)rinciples of
the ivorld are so far frorn shaking a child of God, that they settle him. They
stir up his zeal the more. As we say, there is an antiperistasis, an increas-
ing of contraries by contraries, as we see in winter the body is warmer by
reason that the heat is kept in, and springs are v/armer in winter because
the heat is kept in ; so the Spirit of God, in the hearts of his children,
works and boils when it is environed with contraries. It gathers strength
and breaks out with more zeal, as David, Ps. cxix. 126, when he saw men
did not keep God's law. We see how he complains to God, ' It is time.
Lord, for thee to work.' Indeed, it is the nature of opposition to increase
the contrary. Those that have the Spirit and grace of God in truth, they
gather strength by opposition.
Use. Therefore the use we are to make of it, is to discern of ourselves of
what spirit ice are, wliat principles we lead our lives hy ; whether by exam-
ples of greatness, or multitude, or such like, it is an argument we are led
by the spirit of the world and not by the Spirit of God. God's children,
as they are severed from the world in condition, they are men of another
world, so they are severed from the world in disposition, in their course
and conversation. Therefore, from these grounds their course is contrary
to the world. ' But it is good for me;' ' but' is, not in the original. It is,
* And it is good for me ;' but the other is aimed at. The sense is, ' But
it is good for me to draw near to God,' and so it is in the last translation [b).
Thus you see what way we have^ made to the words. I do but touch
these things, and it was necessary to say something of them, because the
words are a triumphant conclusion upon the former premises.
7. And in the words, in general, observe this first of all, that God by
his Spirit enahleth his children to justify wisdom by their oivn experience.
To make it good by their own experience : ' It is good for me to draw
near to God.' And this is one reason why God suffers them to be shaken,
and then in conflict to recover, that after recovery they may justify the
truth. Nihil tarn certimi, &c., nothing is so certain as that that is certain
after doubting (c). Nothing is so fixed as that that is fixed after it hath
been shaken, as the trees have the strongest roots, because they are most
shaken with winds and tempests. Now God suffers the understanding,
that is, the inward man, of the best men to be shaken, and after settles
them, that so they may even from experience justify all truths ; that they
may say it is naught,* it is a bitter thing to sin. Satan hath abused me,
and my own lust abused me, and enticed me away from God ; but I see no
such good thing in sin as nature persuaded me before. As travellers will
tell men you live poorly here. In such a country you may do wondrous
* That is, ' naughty ' = wicked. — G.
86
DAVID S CONCLUSION ; OR,
well. There you shall have plenty and respect. And when they come
there, and arc pinched with hunger, and disrespect, they come home with
shame enough to themselves that they were so heguiled ; so it is with God's
children. Sometimes he suffers them to be foiled, and lets them have the
reins of their lusts awhile, to taste a little of the forbidden tree ; that after
they may say with experience, it is a bitter thing to forsake God, it is better
[to] go to my * former husband,' as the church saith in Hosea, when God took
her in hand a little, ii. 7. Sin will be bitter at the last. So the prodigal
he was sufl'ered to range till he was whipped awhile, and then he could con-
fess it was better to be in his ' father's house.' God suflers his children
to fall into some course of sin, that afterward, by experience, they may
justify good things, and be able to say that God is good.
And the judgment of such is more firm, and doth more good than those
that have been kept from sinking at all. God, in his wise providence,
suffers this.
Use. We should labour, therefore, to justify in our oini experience all
that is good. AVhat is the reason that men are ashamed of good courses so
soon ? It may be they are persuaded a little to pray, and to sanctify the
Lord's day, to retire themselves from vanity and such like. Ay, but if
their judgments be not settled out of the book of God, and if they have
not some experience, they will not maintain this ; therefore they are driven
off. Now a Christian should be able to justify against all gainsayers what-
soever can be said, by his own experience. That to read the book of God,
and to hear holy truths opened by men led with the Spirit of God, it is a
good thing, I find God's Spirit sanctify me by it. To sanctify the Lord's-
day, I find it good by experience. That where there is the communion of
saints, holy conference, &c., I can justify it, if there were no Scripture for
it : I find it by experience to be a blessed way to bring me to a heavenly
temper, to fit me for heaven. So there is no good course, but God's chil-
dren should be able, both by Scripture, and likewise by their own expe-
rience, to answer all gainsayers. When either their own hearts, or others,
shall oppose it, he may be able to say with the holy man here, it is no
matter what you say, * it is good for me to draw near to God.' So much
for the general. To come more particularly to the words.
' It is good for me to draw near to God.'
Here you have the justification of piety, of holy courses, which is set
down by ' drawing near to God ; ' and the argument whereby it is justi-
fied, ' It is good.' This gloss put upon anything commends it to man ;
for naturally since the fall there is so much left in man, that he draws to
that which is good ; but, when he comes to particulars, there is the error,
he seeks heaven in the way of hell, he seeks happiness in the way of misery,
he seeks light in the way of darkness, and life in the way and path of death :
his lusts so hurry him and carry him the contrary way. But yet there is
left this general foundation of religion in all men ; as the heathen could
suy, naturally all men from the principles of nature draw to that which is
good. Here religious courses are justified and commended from that which
hath the best, attractive, and most magnetical force. * It is good to draw
near to God.' ' Good' hath a drawing force; for the understanding, that
shews and discovers; but the will is the chief guide in man, and answerable
to the discovery of good or ill in the understanding, there is a prosecution
or aversation* in the will, which is that part in the soul of man that cleaves
to good discovered. To unfold the words a little.
* That is, ' turning from.' — G.
THE saint's resolution. 87
• It is goocV to draw near to God, who is the chief good. It is good in
qiiality, and good in condition and state. It is good in quality and dispo-
sition ; for it is the good of conformity for the understanding creature to
draw near to Grod the Creator, who hath fitted the whole inward man to
draw near, to conform to him.
And then it is good in condition ; for it is his happiness to do so. The
goodness of the creature is in drawing near to God. The nearer anything
is to the principle of such a thing, the better it is for it ; the nearer to the
sun, the more light ; the nearer to the fire, the more heat : the nearer to
that which is goodness itself, the more good ; the nearer to happiness, the
more happy ; therefore it must needs be the happiness of condition to draw
near to God. So you see what is meant, when he saith here, * It is good.'
It is a pleasing good, conformable to God's will ; he commands it; and it
is for my good likewise ; it advanceth my condition to draw near to God.
' To 'draw near.' What is it to draw near to God ? We shall see by
what it is to go from God. God is everywhere. We are always near to
God. ' Whither shall I go from thy presence ? If I go to hell, thou art
there,' &c., saith the psalmist, Ps. cxxxix, 8. God is everywhere indeed
in regard of his presence, and power, and disposing providence ; but then
there is a gracious presence of God in the hearts of his children. And
there is a strange presence of God to Christ, the ])rese)ice of union ; which
makes the human nature of Christ the happiest creature that ever was,
being joined by a hypostatical union to the second person. But we speak
not of that nearness here. There is a gracious nearness when the Spirit
of God, in the spirits of those that belong to God, sweetly enlargeth, and
comforts, and supports, and strengtheneth them, working that in them that
he works in the hearts of none else. For instance, the soul is in the whole
man. It is difi'used over all the members. It is in the foot, in the eye,
in the heart, and in the brain. But how is it in all these ? It is in the
foot as it moves it. It is in the heart, as the principle of life. It
is in the brain and understanding, using and exercising his reasoning,
understanding power. So that, though all the soul be in the whole
man, yet it is otherwise in the brain than in the rest. So, though
God be everywhere, yet he is otherwise in his children than in others.
He is in them graciously and comfortably, exercising his graces in them,
and comforting them. He is not so with the rest of the world. You
see how God is present everywhere, and how he is graciously present with
his. So answerable we are said to be near to God. We are near him
in what state soever we are, but then there is a gracious nearness when our
whole soul is near to God, as thus : when our understandings conceive
aright of God ; as it is said of the young man in the Gospel, when he began
to speak discreetly and judiciously, ' Thou art not far from the kingdom of
God.' When men have a right conceit* of divine truths, they are not far
from the kingdom of God, when there is clearness of judgment to conceive
aright. Those that have corrupt principles are far ofi". If the understand-
ing be corrupt, all the rest will go astray. There is the first nearness when
the judgment is sanctified by the Spirit to conceive aright.
Then again, there is a nearness when we not only know things aright,
but mind them ; when the things are present to our minds ;^ when God is
in our thoughts. David saith of the wicked man, ' God is not in his
thoughts.' When we mind and think of God and heavenly things, they
are near to us, and we to them. For the soul is a spiritual essence. It
* That is, conception. — G.
88 David's conclusion ; or,
goes eveiywLere, it goes to heaven, and is present with the things it minds.
We are nearer to God and heavenly things when we mind them, and think
on and feed our thoughts on them.
Again, we are near them tvhen our icills first make choice of the better part
with Mary ; when upon discovery of the understanding, the will chooseth
deliberately. Upon consideration follows the determination and choosing
of the will ; and upon choice, cleaving, which is another act of the will.
When it chooseth that which is spiritually best, every way best for grace
and condition, then it cleaves to it. As it is said of Jonathan, ' His heart
did cleave to David,' 1 Sam. xviii. 1. So the woman cleaves to her hus-
band, as Saint Paul speaks, 1 Cor. vii. 10. When the will chooseth and
cleaves to that which is good, then there is a drawing near.
And likewise, ivhen the affections are carried to God as their object, then
there is a drawing near to God ; when our love embraceth God and
heavenly things, for love is an affection of union. It makes the thing
loved and he that loveth to be one. It is the primary, the first-born affec-
tion of the soul, from which all other affections are bred. When we love
God, we desire still further and further communion with him. And where
there is love, if we have not that we love, then the soul goes forth to God
in desire of heavenly things. ' The heart pants after God, as the hart
doth after the rivers of waters,' Ps. xlii. 1, and after holy things, wherein
the Spirit of God is effectual. And when we have it in any measure, then
the soul shews a sweet enlargement of joy and delight in God. Thus when
we judge aright of and mind heavenly things, and make choice of them, and
cleave to God with all our affections of love, and joy, and delight, when
these are carried to God and heavenly things, then we draw near to him.
And especially when the ' inward man ' is touched with the Spirit of God.
Even as the iron that is touched with the loadstone, though it be heavy of
itself, it will go up, so, when the inward man is touched by the Spirit of
God with a spirit of faith, which is a grace by which we draw near to God
with trust, — for it is confidence and trust that draws us near to God, —
faith, it is wrought in the whole inward man, in the understanding, in the
mind, in choosing and cleaving, but especially it is in the will ; for faith
is described to be a going to God, a coming to him, which is a promotion
or going forth, which is an act of the will ; so by faith and trust specially
we draw near and cleave to God. Even as at the first we fell from God
by distrusting of his word ; saith the Devil, ' Ye shall not die at all,' Gen.
iii. 4 : we believed a liar more than God himself. Now we are recovered by
a way contrary to that we fell ; we must recover and draw near to God
again by trusting and relying upon God. You see what is meant by the
words, ' It is good for me to draw near to God.'
To come to observe some things from them, first this, that
Spiritual conviction of the judgment, it is the ground of practice.
It is good, and good /or me. For we know in nature that the will follows
the last design of the understanding. That which the understanding saith
is to be done, here and now, all circumstances considered it is best, that
the will chooseth and that a man doth, for the will rules and leads the
outward man. Now where there is a heavenly conviction of the under-
standing of any particular thing, this at this time is good, all things con-
sidered; and weighed in the balance, on the one side and on the other,
where this is, there comes in practice and drawing near to God alway.
Conviction is when a man is set down, so that he cannot gainsay nor will
not, but falls to practice presently ; then a man is convinced of a thing.
THE saint's resolution. 89
That which is immediately before practice, and leads to practice, it is con-
viction. Now, there are these four things in conviction.
There is first truth. A man must know that such a thing is true. Then
it must not only be a truth, but a good truth ; as the gospel is said to be
' the good word of God,' Heb. vi. 5, and * it is a true and a faithful saying,'
1 Tim. i. 15. It is a true saying, 'that Christ came to save sinners,'
Matt. ix. 13 ; and it is a faithful, a good saying. If it be not good as
well as true, truth doth not draw to practice as it is truth, but as it is
good.
As it must be truth, and a good truth, so it must be good for me, as the
holy man saith here, ' It is good for me,' &c. A thing may be good for
another man. The devil knows what is good ; and that makes him envy
poor Christians so. Wicked men know that which is good when they sin
against the Holy Ghost ; but for them it is better to keep in the contrary.
So that we must Imow it is a truth, and a good truth, and good for us in
particular, that it is best for us to do so.
The fourth is this : Though it be true, and good, and good for us ; yet
before we can come to practice, it must he a good that is comparative, better
than other things that are presented, or else no action will follow. A man
must be able to say, This is better than that. A weak man that is led with
passions and lusts, he ofttimes sees the truth of things, and sees they are
good, and good for me, and wishes that he could take such a course ; but
such is the strength of his passions at this time, that it is better to do thus,
it is better to yield to his lusts, and he trusts that God will be merciful,
and he shall recover it afterwards. These four things, therefore, must be
in conviction before we can take the best course ; and these are all here
in this holy man, for he saw it was a truth, a duty, and likewise that it
v/as a good truth ; for to be near to God, the fountain of good, it must
needs be good. And then it was good for him to be so, nay, it was good,
all things considered ; for it is a conclusion, as it were, brought out of the
fire, out of a conflict. Nay, say the flesh, and say all the world what it
can to the contrary, ' It is good for me to draw near to God.' He brings
it in as a triumphant conclusion. Put drawing near to God in one balance,
and lay in that balance all the inconveniences that may follow drawing near
to God, — the displeasure of great ones, the loss of any earthly advantage, —
and lay in the other balance all the advantages that keep men from draw-
ing near to God, — as if a man do not keep a good conscience, he may please
this or that man, he may get riches, and advance himself, and better his
estate, — consider all that be, yet notwithstanding, it is better to di'aw near
to God, with all the disadvantages that follow that course, than to take the
contrary. Thus you see the truth clear, that conviction is the way and
foundation of practice.
Use. Therefore we should labour by all means to be convinced of the
best things. It is not suflicient to have a general notion, and slightly to
hear of good things. No ; we must beg the Spirit of God that he would
seal and set them upon our souls ; and so strongly set and seal them there,
that when other things are presented to the contrary, with all the advan-
tages and colours and glosses that flesh and blood can set upon them, yet
out of the strength of spiritual judgment we may be able to judge of the
best things out of a spiritual conviction, and to say it is best to cleave to
God. So said the blessed man of God Moses. There was in the one end
of the balance the pleasures of sin, the honours of a court, there was all
that earth could afi'ord, — for if it be not to be had in a prince's court,
90
DAVID S CONCLUSION ; OR,
where is it to be had ? His place was more than ordinary ; he was ac-
counted the son of Pharaoh's daughter, — yet lay all that in the balance,
and in the other part of the balance, to draw near to God's people,
though the people of God were a base, forlorn, despised, afflicted people
at that time, 3-et notwithstanding to draw near to the cause of religion, the
disgraced cause of religion, * to draw near to God ' when he is disgraced
in the world, — it is easy to draw near to God when there is no opposition, —
but Jo draw near to God's part and side when it is disgraced in the world,
Moses saw it the best end of the balance, put in the afflictions, and dis-
grace of God's people, or what you will. So it was with Abraham when
he followed God as it were blindfold, and left all, his father's house and
the contentments he had there. So it was with our Saviour's disciples.
They left all to follow Christ ; they were convinced of this, Surely we
shall get more good by the company of Christ than by those things that
we leave for him.
Let us labour therefore to be convinced of the excellency of spiritual
things, and then spiritual practice will follow. And undoubtedly the reason
of the profane conversation of the world, it comes from hidden atheism ;
that men make no better choice than they do, that they draw not near to
God. Let them say what they will, it proceeds from hence. I prove it
thus. When men are convinced of good things, they will do good, for
conviction is the ground of practice ; and when men do not take good
courses, it is because they are not convinced of the best things. There-
fore men that swear, and blaspheme, that are carnal, brute persons, at that
time atheism rules in their hearts, that they believe not these things in
the book of God to be true. Can the swearer believe that ' God will not
hold him guiltless that takes his name in vain ; that a curse shall follow
the swearer,' Exod. xx. 7, and the whoremonger ; ' that whoremongers
and adulterers God will judge ? Heb. xiii. 4, and so the covetous, and
extortioners, they that raise themselves by ill means, * shall not enter into
the kingdom of heaven,' Can men beheve this, and live in the practice of
these sins ? If they did believe these things indeed, as the word of God
sets them down, if they did believe that sin Avere so bitter, and so foul a
thing as the word of God makes it, certainly they would not ; therefore it
comes from a hidden atheism. Indeed, there is a bundle of atheism
and infidelity in the heart of man, and we cannot bewail it [too much.
In the best there are some remainders of it : as this holy man, ' So
foolish was I, and as a beast before thee,' Ps. Ixxiii. 22, when he
thought of his doubting of God's providence. Therefore considering
that the cause of all ill practice is that we are not spiritually con-
vinced of the contrary, that sin is a naughty and bitter thing, nor are we
sufficiently convinced of the best things, let us labour more and more to
be soundly convinced of these things.
Now, nothing will do this but the Holy Ghost, as ye have it John xvi. 7,
seq. : ' Christ promiseth to send the Comforter, the Holy Ghost, and he
shall convince the world of sin ;' that is, he shall so set sin before the eyes
of men's souls, that they shall know there is no salvation but in Christ.
He shall convince them of unbelief, that horrible sin. They shall have it
presented so to them, that they shall believe presently upon it. This the
Holy Ghost must do.
But the Holy Ghost doth it in the use of means. Therefore it must be
our wisdom to hear and pray and meditate much, that God would vouch-
safe his Spirit to persuade us, to convince our understanding, to convince
THE saint's resolution. 91
US of all our false reasonings against good things, that tliere may not a
vile imagination rise in our hearts contrary to divine principles.
'It is good to draw near to God.' Therefore it is good to come to the
sacrament, which is one way of drawing near to God. Let us be so con-
vinced of it, that it is not only a necessary, but a comfortable and sweet
dutyl^to have communion with God ; for will we suffer for Christ if we will
not feast with him '? What shall we say of those, therefore, that are so
far from drawing near to God, when they have these opportunities, that
they turn their backs ? They clean thwart this blessed man here. He
saith, ' It is good for me to draw near to God ;' nay, say they, it is good
for me to have nothing to do with God, nor Christ, no, not when he comes
to allure me. Now, he is come near us indeed, that we might come near
him. Because we were strangers to God, and could not draw near to him,
simply considered, God became man, Emmanuel, God with us, that he
might bring us to God. Christ is that Jacob's ladder that knits heaven
and earth together. Christ, God and man, knits God and man together.
This was the end of his incarnation and of his death, to make our peace,
to bring those near that were strangers, nay, enemies before ; and of our
part and portion in the benefits of his death, we are assured in the sacra-
ment. Therefore let us draw near to our comfort, with cheerfulness, for
his goodness that we have these opportunities. Let us draw near to God
to have our faith strengthened and our communion with him increased.
Only let us labour to come with clean hearts. ' God will be sanctified
in all that come near him,' Lev. x. 3. Let us know that we have to deal
with a holy God, and with holy things, and therefore cast aside a purpose
of living in sin ; let us not come with defiled hearts, for then, though the
things be holy in themselves, the}' are defiled to us. Let us come with a
resolution to renew our covenant, and come with rejoicing that God stoops
so low to use these poor helps, that in themselves are weak, yet by his
blessing they are able greatly to strengthen our faith.
NOTES.
[n) P. 81. — ' This psalm is a psalm of David, or of Asapli.' Cf. Dr J. A.
Alexander and Thrupp in loco. Modern criticism seems to have no doubt that
Asaph was tlie author, not merely the ' singer,' of this psalm.
[b) P, 85. — "'But' is not in the original." Cf. above reference. Dr Alexander
renders, ' And I,' &c. ' As for me — the approach of God to me (is) good.' The
' last translation' is our present authorised version. ' G.
(c) P. 85. — ' Nihil tarn certum,'' &c. An apophthegm common to Philosophy, and
met with in various forms ; e.g. it is a common saying, ' He who never doubted,
never believed.'
THE CHURCH'S BLACKNESS.
THE CHURCH'S BLACKNESS.
NOTE.
' The Church's Blackness' forms No. 17 of the sermons in The Saint's Cordials
of 1629. It was withdrawn in the after- editions. Its separate title-page is given
below.* G.
* THE
CHVECHES
BLACKNES.
In One Sermon.
SHEWING,
f That the best of Gods Saints, whitest they are here, are in
I imperfect estate.
That though our estate be here tinperfect, tjet we must not
J be discouraged.
I As also, that Christians have beauty as well as hlacknesse.
And that there is a glory and excellency in the Saints of
I God, in the midst of all their deformities and debase-
[^ ments.
Prselucendo Pereo.
Vpeightnes Hath Boldnes,
LONDON,
Printed in the yeare 1629.
THE CHURCH'S BLACKNESS.
I am black, hut comely, 0 ye daughters of Jerusalem, as the tents of Kedar,
and as the curtains of Solomon. Look not upon me, because I am black,
because the sun hath looked upon me ; my mother s children were angry
u'ith me ; they made me the keeper of the vineyards : but mine own vine-
yard have I not kept. — Cant. I. 5, 6.
In the former verses of this chapter, the church having shewed her fervent
love and dear affection unto Christ, and longing for a nearer communion
\vith^ him ; having also confessed and professed her own weakness and
inability to come towards him, for which cause she says, ' Draw me, we
will run after thee ; ' in the words which I have read, and in the verse fol-
lowing, she comes to remove certain objections and impediments, which
might either discredit her or discourage her daughters, which she doth by
turning her speeches unto them, who are answered as though they had
expressed their objection in direct words ; for the Spirit knows how to
meet with our secret thoughts, either present or to come. Now these
daughters who here make the objection, are supposed to be such as have
no sanctifying grace as yet in them, at least very little (as it appeareth by
their contemning of the church, ver. 6, and disacquaintance with Christ,
chap. V. 9), yet daughters of Jerusalem. Now the first objection the
church hath to meet with, is by reason of such as live in the church, are
bred and born there, partake of the ordinances, are in the church, though
not all of it, and these the church hath to do withal. As for the daughtei's
of Babylon, and those out of the church, they do not heed what she saith,
nor understand in any measure her language, they are neither for her nor
her love. Well, with these daughters she deals, and taking up their objec-
tion, first, she answers it, ver. 5 ; secondly, she enlarges her answer,
ver. 6. _ The objection is, ' Thou art black ; ' and this is aggravated from a
comparison ; the manner with her afiected love, thus : And is Christ
indeed, as thou reportest him, the best lover, full of sweetness and holi-
ness, a king ? what an unwise woman art thou to entertain any hopes of
marrying him, sith you have nothing, be poor, afflicted, filthy ; in a word,
black, yea, very black. This is the objection, which she answers nimbly
two ways.
1. By yielding what was said: ' I am black ; ' that is, my estate here is
imperfect, subject to sin, to affliction ; not beautiful, therefore, in carnal
eyes and judgments, but deformed.
96 THE church's blackness.
2. By denying the argument, that therefore she must be despised of men,
rejected of Christ as one that had nothing in her ; nay, black folks may
be handsome and desirable, and so saith she, I am to the eye contemptible,
yet inwardly rich, desirable, and lovely, -uhich she showeth by two com-
parisons.
First, thus : It is -with me as with the tents of Kcdar. The Kedarenes
dwelt in Arabin, they dwelt in tents covered with hair (as Solymus and
Pliny speaks) {a), which tents were very coarse to look to, tanned, exposed
to all weather, rough with the sun, and hard, and yet in those tents they
had much treasure, they were full of wealth, in cattle, in spices, in gold,
in precious stones. So is it with the church ; though outwardly base, yet
there are treasures within, and much glory, as further she shews, saying,
she was like Solomon's curtains ; his bed is after mentioned ; and out of
question all his doings were admirable.
This is her second comparifion. Xou read what a glorious house he
built, how long it was a-building. If the church therefore be like his
curtains, she is very glorious, amiable, and rich. But how is she like
them ? Thus, as the curtains of Solomon's bed were most glorious, and
yet did not lie open to every eye, it being for those especially favoured to
be admitted into such a king's bedchamber, and inmost rooms, which be
for the king and his spouse, so it is with the church ; she is rich, though
her riches be inward, and not discernible by every eye: as Ps. slv. 13,
* The king's daughter is all glorious within ; like Solomon's curtains and
Kedar's tents.' As if she should say, ' I am black,' so are the tents of
Kedar, and yet have treasures in them. And not to send you so far, ye
daughters of Jerusalem, know that there is much treasure and glory in
Solomon's palace, which every one sees not, and so in me. Thus she
answers the objection, and next, ver. 6, she dwelleth upon it, and enlargeth
it. But first of this. For the meaning thereof, you see what we conceive
of it; we will not be prejudicial to any man's opinion [b). The very
matter is, she contends that it is possible for her to be rich, glorious, and
lovely inwardly, though not in show (because her outward blackness did
expose her to censure in the eyes of most men), and this she proves by two
instances, well known unto these daughters : 1, of the Arabians, who
brought treasure yearly to Solomon, 2 Chron. ix. 14, which argued their
riches, though they lived in sun-burnt tents ; and 2, of Solomon, who was as
rich within doors as without, though all saw it not. Thus you have the
church's confession, and her defence ; black outwavdly, and inwardly for
some corruption, as after this is objected. Thus much is yielded. Hence
then learn we,
Point 1. The church of God and Christians, whilst they are hero, are in
an unperfect state. No Christian in this life attains to full happiness and
brightness, but is attended on by those sins and sorrows that argue an
unperfect estate. The church of God, and every converted Christian, must
needs confess that they be black outwardly and inwardly. This we hear
not only from her own mouth, in her first conversion, but after ; for how-
soever we conceive of these things in the first chapter and part of the
second, to agi-ee with the first age of a Christian especially, yet not only ;
for what is here said of her is ever true whilst here on earth, though the
degree be somewhat varied. The Holy Ghost useth a fair comparison; he
makes the church to be born in the night, and to travel towards the day ;
she is going towards perfection, as one that sets out before day ; yea, she
is gone so far that it draweth towards the dawning. There is a mixture of
THE church's blackness. 9
some light and darkness together, and so it will be till we come to heaven,
both for sin and sorrow, for sins and defects in soul. So, 1 Peter ii. 20,
the saints have faults in this life, and are buffeted for them ; there must
be addition of grace to grace, 2 Peter i. 5, so Eph. i. 18. The eye of our
understanding is shut until it be opened ; and we have wonderful things
to look after beyond the power of our present condition ; for outward estate,
see Prov. iv. 18, the church's path is like the shining light, ' which
shineth more and more unto the perfect day ; ' for both she is duskish
between night and day, and so will be till that full morning come. So
Ps. xlix., what is the whole tenor thereof, save only a large commentary
of our frailties and imperfections whilst we live here ? So we find by
Paul's description of the church, Eph. iv. 12, she is a house not yet fully
furnished, nor beautified, but exposed to storms, and imperfect ; she is a
body not yet grown, like the tabernacle, an imperfect thing. This we see,
Eev. ii. 3. Every church there is noted for sins, or afflictions, or both. If we
conceive these churches to be types, the proof is most pregnant ; if not
(for I am persuaded God hath done teaching his church by types ; for, as
Heb. i. 2, * In these last and latter days he speaks unto us by his Son,
whom he hath made heir of all things '), yet since no church was more
famous than those, who yet had blemishes and frailties a-many, it warrants
here, and strengthens the point we have in hand. Hence comes the
church's confession here both of sin and sorrow. Hence Paul saith, 1 Cor.
xiii. 9, speaking of the church's estate, ' We know in part, and prophesy
in part. But when that which is perfect is come, then that which is in
part shall be done away.' Hence 1 John i. 8, it is said, ' If we say we
have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. The causes
why God will have it so are.
Reasons. 1. First, In regard of outward infirmities, that we might be made
conformable to his Son, Rom. viii. 17, and so reign with him, being first
made suitable to the body. Christ was to be like us in all things, sin
excepted, and to partake with us in flesh and blood, that he might destroy
him that had the power of death ; that is, the devil, Heb. ii. 14. And we
are to partake of him and his afflictions, that so we may come to partake
of the divine nature, and be all in a suit,* as servants of the same master.
2. Secondly, In respect of outward and inward infirmities, both because
God's glory is seen in our infirmities, 2 Cor. xii. 7, his grace being sufiS-
cient to uphold us, and also in regard our weakness commends his strength,
and our folly his wisdom.
3. Thirdly, Because he would draw us out of the earth, and have us
hasten to accomplish the marriage and come away, therefore he sends us
so many crosses, and so little rest in the flesh.
4. Again, Because God would have us humble, patient, and pitiful
people, neither of which would be unless our state were imperfect ; we
would never know ourselves, our brethren, and God, unless it were so,
that on both sides we saw the prints of our imperfections. The use is
twofold.
Use 1. Is this so? Learn these lessons. First, confess if we be of the
church, so much. No man is more ready to charge the church than she is
to confess her infirmities. She never hideth them, she never justifieth
them ; she is black, she hath afflictions, she kept not her own vine, she
wants knowledge, afiection, discretion, love. She never denies it, but con-
fesseth all freely from her heart ; she hides not her sin, but tells what she
* That is, as elsewhere, ' wear the same dress.' — G.
VOL.'VII. G
98 THE church's blackness.
is, what she hath done, that so she may give glory to the Lord God of
Israel. And indeed, it maketh much for the honour of Christ, and com-
mends his grace, that he, such a king, will set his heart and his eye upon
such a deformed slut as the world dcemeth her to be. It makes for the
comfort of her poor children, and much stayeth them, when they shall
hear the church in all ages, and in her Abraham, David, and Paul, saying,
* I am black,' I have affliction, corruption, as well as others. It makes for
the silencing of all saucy daughters that will upbraid her ; an ingenuous
confession, stops their mouths, and puts them all to silence. It much
quickens her to the use of the means, and maketh her cry, ' Shew me, 0
thou whom my soul loveth, where thou feedest.' And to seek her comfort
in Christ Jesus. Oh it doth her good to receive the sentence of death,
shame, poverty, damnation, in herself, that so she may be found in Christ,
arrayed with the rich robes of his righteousness. Hence her plain-hearted
openness in her confession. Let us do the like, and leave it to the harlot
and whore of Babylon to say herself is a queen, she is glorious, she cannot
err. But let us say with the church, we are black ; yea, let us see it, let
us speak it with sorrow, with shame, as the saints have done, and be so
affected with our estate, that it may truly humble us, and cause us to say,
' It is the Lord's mercies that we are not consumed.' And let us so con-
fess it in ourselves, that we pity others, and bear with them, though full
of sins and miseries ; so confess it, that we stir up others thereby to run,
as Paul did, and use the ordinances with all diligence, to pray much, to
read much, to hear, to confer, to advise, and be humble and sincere. A
verbal confession of frailties, without humility, mercy, diligence, without
the use of the means, is hypocrisy. If we will speak- with the church, we
must feel what we say, and so well understand ourselves and our estate,
that we may gain humility, mercy, watchfulness by it.
Use. 2. In the second place, thirst after heaven, nay, after the day of
resurrection. Well may it be called the day of refreshing, the day of mar-
riage. Till then the church is parched with the sun, and not half tried,
till then she is accompanied with sundry imperfections in her outside.
The saints are subject to aches, shames ; their bodies are vile, corruptible ;
though in the grave free from pain, yet not from dishonour. Imperfec-
tions within the soul there are many, conflicts, corruptions, temptations,
fears, sorrows, &c. Imperfections also in company : she is not taken out
of the world ; she hath her dwelling in the tents of Kedar, meets with
hypocrites, atheists, persecutions, devils. Imperfections for means; she
seeth but in a glass, she beholds Christ but through a window ; she is in
prison, and speaks through it ; and there are imperfections in services,
repentance, faith, prayer ; and imperfections in parts and members : some
members be not called yet, and it grieves her ; some being called are very
sickly, weak, heady ; the best on earth imperfect, those in heaven not per-
fected till we come also, Ileb. xii. 23. Nay, Christ himself, as head of the
body, not yet perfected in his members, and in his church, which is his
fulness, as Paul speaks, Eph. i. 23. Oh then, sith nothing in the church
attains its perfection till that day, sith Christ calleth, come away, that
head and members may have the same glory together, sith the creatures
here, and all saints cry, come ; let us so well understand our estate here,
and there, and the odds of both, that we may say also, come, fly, my be-
loved, and be like the roe, that so] all the shadows may fly away ; and
therefore, not only pray and hasten ourselves, but others also, that so
harvest may be ripe when we sow betimes.
THE chuech's blackness. 99
Well, then, she yields herself to be bLack, but yet she is not discouraged ;
she will not be set down, she is comely for all her blackness, she will to
Christ still, as the verse tells us. Hence learn,
Doct. 2. Though our estate he here imperfect, yet we fmist not he dis-
couraged. God's children must so see their sins, and sorrow for them, as
that though they be thereby sent to humiliation, yet they may retain hope
of mercy. So the church does, Ps. xliv. 17, 'All this is come upon us,
yet have we not forgotten thee, neither have we dealt falsely in thy cove-
nant; our heart is not turned back,' &c. So Isa. Ixiii. 17, though the
church was hard-hearted, yet she goes to Christ to bemoan herself : ' Oh
Lord, why hast thou made us to err from thy ways, and hardened our
heart from thy fear ? Return, 0 Lord,' &c. ; yet she conceives hope.
This was Samuel's counsel to the people, 'Fear not: ye have done all
this wickedness : yet turn not aside from following the Lord, but serve the
Lord with all your heart,' 1 Sam. xii. 20, 21. And David likewise to his
soul, Ps. xlii. 11, ' Why art thou cast down, 0 my soul ? and why art thou
discouraged within me ? yet trust in God.' So the like is Paul's practice,
Rom. vii. 24, '0 wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me?' &c.
Then he answers, ' I thank God, through Jesus Christ our Lord.' Thus
you see the point is plain ; now the reasons.
Reason 1 . We have a great and mighty deliverer. He loves his children
in the midst of all their deformities. Like a good father, he tenders us in
our weaknesses of soul and body, and as a father pities his child the more
for being sick, so here he calls her for all this, ' 0 thou fairest amongst
women,' &c.
2. Secondly, He is able to help them in all estates ; his grace is still
sufficient, he hath present help. What needs the child be dismayed for
pain, when the Father can remove it at his pleasure ?
3. Thirdly, The saints of God in all ages have gone through imperfec-
tions ; they have been sick, poor, doubtful, passionate, as well as we.
God hath brought them to heaven, to happiness, through all storms.
Though in their life they cried, ' we are black,' we are forsaken; and why
should we fear to wade through those waters where all have escaped that
went before us ?
4. Fourthly, Uprightness may stand with imperfection, some gold may
be amongst earth ; as the church shews here, beauty and deformity may
stand together, some light, some darkness. Now God bids the upright
hope, rejoice, says he is blessed, Ps. xxiii. 6.
5. Lastly, Because the effects of discouragement are too bad, as fretting,
Ps. xlii. 11 ; yea, this doth not only keep out praises, but causes neglect
of all ordinances, drives from God, makes one fierce, envious, uncomfort-
able, impotent, &c.
TJse 1. This is to humble ourselves for our weakness; for, alas! how
soon are we swooning and discouraged. Every slight affliction, corrup-
tion, temptation, doth dismay and put us to silence. If storms fall, and
winds blow, if flesh stir, and Satan be busy, our faith trembles, and hearts
are shaken ; we meditate, fear and suspect ourselves ; we suspect God, and
shun his presence, and say in our haste ' we are forgotten ;' this is our
death. Oh how unworthy Christ is this carriage ! How unlike the church
in this place. She is charged with faults, upbraided with baseness, yet
she holds on, she prayeth still. To Christ she runs; no affliction, no
temptation, no corruption shall keep her from him, because nothing can
keep him from her, as Rom. viii. 38 is at length shewed. Where is our
100 THB church's blackness.
faith, strength, courage, patience ? Where is the spirit of power, that we
are so weak in every temptation? Verily, these faintings of spirit, these
despairing questions, these violent fears, do argue much weakness. Let
us be humbled for this; humbled, I say, but not discouraged; for even
the church sometimes, sometimes Manoah, yea, a David, have thus failed.*
Use 2. Now learn to be courageous. Are afflictions upon thee ? Be
sensible of them, be humbled in them, but never shrink from thy hold of
Christ or hope of mercy. Be of Paul's resolution ; ' We are distressed,'
saith he, ' but yet faint not.' See God at thy right hand, as David did,
and therefore be not moved. See what is gained by affliction, ' the inward
man grows.' See what is laid up for these light and short afflictions,
2 Cor. iv. 17, * even a far more excellent and eternal weight of glory.'
Art thou censured and scorned by men ? Make use of it, but not to dis-
couragement. Kemember Christ was despised, counted a worm, judged
wicked, and then say with the church, * Rejoice not against me, 0 my
enemy, though I fall I shall rise again : When I am in darkness, the Lord
he will be a light unto me,' Micah vii. 8. Art thou assaulted by Satan ?
Cry with Paul, and bemoan thyself; but know therewith that God's ' grace
is, and shall be sufficient for thee,' 2 Cor. xii. 9 ; that he hath overcome,
and therefore resolve, with Job, to receive from God what he will put upon
thee, yea, to die at his feet. Job xiii. 15. Art thou led captive with thy
corruptions ? Mourn with Paul, but say withal, ' It is not I, but sin in
me; I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord,' Romans vii. 17, 25. It
is a most worthy service to give Christ the glory of his riches in poverty,
of his power in weakness, grace in sin, life in death. Then we hve by
faith, then we shew forth the strength of the Spirit. To this purpose, first
learn to know thyself, what thou art by nature, and all men else. The
want of this knowledge breeds pride, discouragement, error in judgment,
mistaking, misapplication of things. Secondly, know what Christ is, how
lovely, how rich, how able, how true ; how willing he is to help the dis-
tressed and miserable, never adding affliction unto affliction. Thirdly, see
what he hath done for others, for thyself heretofore. Now lay graces by
infirmities with the church here, and when the devil upbraids thee with
thy maims, look on thy cures ; when he sets before thee the tempestuous
dark works of the first Adam, do thou oppose, and lay before thee the quiet
fruit of righteousness and peace-making reconciUatiou and works of Christ,
the second Adam, thy surety, who hath paid thy debts and satisfied divine
justice to the full.
Further, in that the church here stands upon her comeliness, notwith-
standing of all her deformities and infirmities, learn we,
Doct. 3. There is a glory and excellence in the saints of God in the midst
of all their deformities and debasements. Though they be encompassed with
many miseries, yet are they glorious even in this life. Indeed their glory
is like Solomon's curtains, not obvious to every eye; like Kedar's tents, or
a heap of wheat in the chaff, and outwardly base, laut inwardly excellent.
Their life is sanctified indeed, and they live the life of grace, hence they
are termed glory, Isaiah iv. 5 ; hence, as Ps. Ixviii. 13, after their misery,
it is promised they should be as the wings of a dove, covered with silver,
and her feathers with yellow gold ; hence, Ps. xlv. 16, they are called princes
in all lands, all glorious within, to be of excellent beauty; hence. Ps. ex.
3, their beauty is termed a holy beauty ; yea, that which is said of the
church of Smyrna, Rev, ii. 9, may be said of every church, ' She is poor,
* Cf. Judges xiii. and Ps. Ixxi. — G.
THE church's blackness. 101
but rich;' and that which Paul saith of the apostles may be said of all,
they are poor and rich, base and honourable, dying and yet living, having
nothing, and yet possessing all things, 2 Cor. iv. 8, et se.q. And why ?
Beason 1. Needs it must be so, for being converted, they obtain a new
name, Kev. ii. 17 ; yea, they have this peculiar favour granted, as 1 John
iii. 1, to be called the ' sons of God.' This is set down with a ' behold,'
to admire the wonderful love of God and excellency of the saints, who are
also called princes on earth, as Ps. xlv. 16.
2. Secondly, they have a new nature, being made partakers of the image
of God, and so of the divine nature ; as it is, 2 Pet. i. 4, ' having escaped
that corruption which is in the world through lust.'
3. Thirdly, they have a new estate ; Christ Jesus makes them free, as
John viii. 35, and he makes them also rich, supplying all their wants with
the riches of his glory : as Ps. iv. 3, the prophet says, ' But know that the
Lord hath set apart him that is godly for himself,' &c.
4. Lastly, they have a new kindred and guide. God is their Father,
they are members of Christ: 1 Cor. xii. 13, they are ' led by the Spirit of
God.' God dwelleth in them, and the Spirit of glory rests upon them
even in affliction, 1 Pet. iv. 14, and fiUeth them with glorious faith and
precious graces.
[1.] This first discovers a wonderful blindness in ns, who can see no such
matter in the saints of God. Christians shine in the world as stars in a
dark night, and as far excel all others as corn weeds, chaff; yea, as far as
lilies and roses do thorns and briars ; and yet we cannot see it, unless we
have riches, titles, fashions, wit, beauty to grace them. We see no beauty
in them, we do not regard nor reverence them, we neglect, nay, despise
them. Oh hearts of flesh, oh carnal eyes, that can see nothing but out-
ward gauds and toys ! How do we stick in the outward mud of this
world, that serve only the world ! How do we judge by the outward ap-
pearance ! How carnal to have the glorious faith of Christ in respect of
persons ! Jude 16. How blind are we who cannot see the sunshine, and
no excellency in those whom all the glorious angels serve, whom the King
of glory terms ' the fairest of women !' Brethren, what shall I say to you?
If your eyes be so blinded that you cannot see the church like Solomon's
curtains, cannot see beauty in a Christian's face, wisdom in his language,
glory in his behaviour, even in affliction; when their happiness is revealed,
it will be a proof against you that you have not that anointing of God
which teaches you all things, that you are but natural. Ask yourselves,
therefore, the question, what men do I most admire, reverence, and who
is most glorious in my eye? And if the Christian be not, you have but
fleshly eyes, hearts, and aflections. Strive and labour reformation.
[2,] Secondly, This is comfort to saints now and hereafter. Now they
be glorious, but yet they are but in the way going to glory ; as Prov. iv.
18, ' The path of the just is as the shining light' that waxeth more and
more unto the perfect day.' Yet ' their life is hid with God in Christ.'
When Christ, ' which is their life, shall appear, then shall they likewise
appear in glory,' Col. iii. 3. Now they are the sons of God ; but it
appeareth not in this world what they shall be ; and if they be now such,
whilst black, what when in heaven, when Christ is made glorious in them ?
If thus in their pilgrimage, what at home in their country ? If thus,
imperfect, what in perfection ? If thus, in corruption, what when this
corruption shall put on incorruption ? And if thus, in mortality, what
when mortality shall be swallowed up of life ?
102 THE church's blackness.
Thus we have heard the church's apology for her blackness. The next
verse, which I cannot now speak of as I would, contains the remainder of
her answer, wherein she proceeds to shew thus much, that the church and
Christians, even at the worst, are not to be despised for infirmities. This
she takes for granted, as formerly proved, and then goes on to shew the
causes which wrought her blackness and misery.
1. First, outwardly ; The sun had parched her, that is, many afflictions
had overtaken her ; and then, in her particular, her mother's sons had
crossed her ; false hypocrites, erroneous, proud professors, carrying the
name of brethren, had vilified and taken all occasions to put base drudgery
upon her.
2. The second cause was inward ; She kept not her own vineyard, that is,
she did not husband her own soul aright ; she looked not to her own work
and charge ; which words contain not an extenuation of her blackness, but
an amplification of the causes of it rather. Thus you see the church's
mind : she thinks men should rather comfort and encourage her, than
despise her for her many afflictions, seeing she doth so freely confess them ;
and those who are in misery ought to be comforted. Not to stand upon it :
hence we learn,
Doct. 4. We must not still be poring into the defomiities of God's church
and people, like flies on galled places, or dogs upon garbage and raw flesh.
For,
Reason 1. First, This is a practice which utterly crosseth God in his
commandments, who chargeth us ' not to despise the day of small things,'
Zech. iv. 10.
Reason 2. Secondly, This is quite against justice ; for Christians have
beauty as well as blackness, graces as well as corruptions.
Reason 3. Thirdly, This neither cometh from any good, nor worketh good.
It ariseth from pride, ignorance, &c., and sheweth that a man neither knows
his own estate, nor God's proceedings with his people, who brings them
to honour through baseness, and confounds the glory of the world with
base things.
Use 1. This condemneth those Christians who have their eyes still upon
the blackness of the church, who are of three sorts :
First, papists, who deck a whore, and call her Christ's spouse, and in
the mean time despise the church of Christ for blackness and outward defor-
mities.
Secondly, against such who stum^ble as much at our inward deformities,
as these at our outward debasements, at our discipline, preaching, ministry,
sacraments, calling, ordinances, as though all were antichristian. Why
will not such see white with black ? good with bad ? We confess that in
our church, as in every church visible, there is corn and tares, fish, good
and bad, sometimes children, sometimes bastards, only sons by the mothers'
side : we never knew it otherwise in any church.
Thirdly, This is against such as like bats can see to fly in the dark
only. The prosperity of Christians they cannot see, or graces, nor com-
forts, nor good works, to be provoked thereby to obedience ; but if any one
be crossed in his profession, they speak of it ; if any fall into sin, they
remember him ; if any sufi"er shipwreck, if any live less comfortably, or
die less cheerfully, oh then there is work enough : who would be a Chris-
tian ? How doth it make men mopish and lumpish, and bring men out of
their wits ? And whence is all this ; but from ignorance or great hypo-
crisy, or malice ? In love there is no such offence, as John speaks, and
THE church's blackness. 103
therefore to these the church speaks, * Look not upon me, because I am
black, &c.
A word only of the causes of her affliction, and so I have done — which
came by her mother's sons, such as live in the church. So that we see
the church hath those who afflict her and persecute her even within her-
self. See for this point: Eebekah's sorrow and strugghng within her,
two nations. Gen. xxv. 22, Next, see how they use her, and why ? They
take her by violence, and force her to slavery, and exercise too much hard-
ness over her ; and the reason that she apprehends is, the neglects in her
own business ; lay these together : so we learn,
Doct. 5. Then God's children pay for it, when they do not their own work,
not keeping their own standing. It is with them as soldiers and scholars,
when they keep not their own places, and learn not their own lessons :
they are met with on every side. And that,
Reason 1. First, because no man speeds well out of his own place, but
Christians worst of all ; as Prov. xxvii. 8, a thousand inconveniences befall
to one's self, to his charge, when absent. God will be upon him, and leave
him to himself, till he hath wound himself into woeful brakes.*
Reason 2. Secondly, Men will be upon his back, as Paul on Peter's, or
else grow strange till he be humbled ; but bad men they will curse him, all
the hypocrites in the town will be at his heels.
Reason 3. Thirdly, The devil will be upon them, and having drawn them
out of the way, will either still mislead them, or else cut their throats and
steal all, or hold them, if possible he may, from returning unto God ; as in
the prodigal son.
Reason 4. Fourthly, Their own consciences will be upon them, and it is
with them as with a child that plays truant, his heart throbs, he hath no
peace: so a Christian, whether he prosper or not prospers, he hath no
peace, he eats not, he sleeps not in peace. The uses briefly are two.
Use 1. Is this true ? It first teacheth us to do as the church doth, to
examine ourselves when troubles come, when the Lord sends officers to arrest
us, sets dogs upon us to fetch us in. When we meet stirs and storms abroad,
when wicked men bark and brawl, when they tyrannize and task, when good
men look strangely on us, when God hides his face, and our consciences
be not comfortable unto us, oh, then, let us ask ourselves the question, jwhere
am I ? what have I done ? wherein have I been negligent ? This, this is
that which God aimeth at. Therefore he makes our paths uncomfortable,
to the end we should examine our vaunts ; therefore he turneth loose wicked
men, that we might inquire. This is that which will work us patience in
all provocations, drive us to repentance, and bring us home ; this will make
one lay his face in the dust, and rather justify God, than charge him fool-
ishly. Therefore let us not fret or chafe at men, their pride, malice, &c.,
but say, why doth living man fret ? He suffers for sin : Lament, iii. 1, et
seq., say with the church here, ' I kept not mine own vine : and this hath
hurt me.' And then howsoever God's people may sometimes smart for
not keeping their vines, and performing their own duties ; yet those crosses
sting not, but comfort ; they then ere long abound with joy, peace, increase
of love and watchfulness, which are let in most an end by former negli-
gences. God saw his people drowsy, worldly, secure, and therefore is con-
strained to send persecution, so that if evils be upon us, we have cause to
say, ' I kept not mine own vine ;' time was when I was idle all day in the
vineyard, and did nothing, and yet I am too negligent.
* That is, ' thickets ' = difficulties. — G.
104 THE church's blackness.
Use 2. Secondly, Here see uhat is the best ivay to prevent crosses. All
crosses be rods, as Christ speaks in the gospel, and scourges. Now if a
child will do well, what father will whip him ? If we will learn the lessons cf
our salvation, Christ, God will not scourge us ; if we would follow the shep-
herd and not stray, what need dogs run at us ? Why then, let us know
the duties of our place and do them, and keep ourselves close to them, for
all our safety, peace, comfort, lieth there. Our place is a ship on the seas.
Now two ways we fail in our course. First, by out-running our callings.
We grow too far over-busy, and indeed this is most incident to the church
in her first beginning. She is then too nimble with others, and too busy ;
her zeal, as she thinks, carries her captive. Secondly, by running too
slowly. This is incident to Christians of riper years. After a while they
slack, cooling apace, and it is with us as with children, so eager to go to
school at first, that there is no quiet, but after hardly* drawn. So it is witk
us. Amend, amend therefore these : turn neither to the right hand nor
the left ; for if thou doest, thou art like to smart for it. Then up and
upon your callings as Christians, as masters, as servants, as magistrates,
as husbands, as wives. Every one hath a vine to look to, look to your
callings ; and then whatsoever befall you, ' if you suffer not as evil doers,
blessed are you,' 1 Peter iii. 14.
* That'is, ' with difficulty.'— G.
NOTES.
(a) P. 96. — ' They dwelt in tents, covered witli hair (as Solymus and [as] Pliny
speaks).' The tents of the Kedaveens, a nomadic tribe of North Arabia (Gen.
XXV. 13, Isa. xxi. 17), were and still are made of coarse cloth obtained from the
shaggy hair of their black goats (Rosenmiiller, Orient, iv. 939 ; Saalschiitz,
Archaologie der Hebraer, Erster Theil. p. 63). Cf. Guisburg among modern, and
Robotham and Trapp among early, commentators »i loco. For Sibbes's references
lo Pliny, see Natural History, lib. vi. c. 28; and for Solinus (not Solymus), c. 26;
i.e., Caius Julius Solinus, who has been called the 'ape of Pliny,' for the large use
he makes of that writer's works. Among the many services to our early English
literature by Arthur Golding, was a translation — racy and finely touched — of
Solinus.
(6) P. 96. — ' For the meaning, ... we will not be prejudicial to any man's
opinion.' Commentators named in above, note a, will shew the various ' opinions,'
— the Puritans having much quaint fancy, and not less quaint lore. G.
MIEACLE OF MIRACLES.
MIRACLE OF MIRACLES.
NOTE.
'A Miracle of Miracles' originally appeared as a thin 4to, in 1638. The title-
page is given below of the second edition (1656). It was appended to the Com-
mentary upon 2 Corinthians chap. iv. See note Vol. IV., page 308. Cf. Memoir,
Vol. I. pp. cxxv. for remarks of Fuller. G.
A
MIRACLE
OF
MIRACLES:
OK,
Christ in our Nature.
Wherein is contained
The WonderfuU Conception, Birth,
and Life of Christ, who in the fulnosse of
time became man to satisfie divine Justice
and to make reconciliation between
God and Man.
Preached to the honourable Society of
Grayes Inne, by that godly and faithfull Mi-
nister of Jesus Christ, Richard Sibbes, D.D.
Phil. 2. 5.
He made himself e of no reputation, and took upon him the
forme of a servant, and was made in the likenesse of men.
LONDON,
Printed by W. H. for John Rothwell, at the Sign
of the Beare and Fountaine in Cheapside, 1656.
MIRACLE OF MIRACLES,
(FIRST SERMON.)
The Lord himself shall give a sign ; behold a virgin shall conceive, and hear
a son, and shall call his name Immanuel. — Isaiah VII. 14.
The Jews at this time were in a distressed condition, by reason of the
siege of two kings, Resin and Pekah : the one the king of Syria, the other
the king of Israel. Whereupon the prophet labours to comfort them, and
tells them that these two kings were but as two fire-brands, that should
waste and consume themselves, and then go out. For confirmation thereof,
because he saw the heart both of king and people astonished, he biddeth
them ' ask a sign of things in heaven or earth.' No, saith king Ahaz, * I
will not tempt God ; ' and making religion his pretence against religion,
being a most wilful and wicked man, would not.
For he had framed an altar according to the altar which be had seen at
Damascus, neglecting God's altar at Jerusalem as too plain and homely.
Man, unsubdued by the Spirit of God, admires the devices of men, and the
fabric of his own brain.
And though this king was so fearful, that his heart, and the rest of their
hearts, were ' as the leaves in the forest,' shaking, and trembling, and
quaking at the presence of their enemies, and though he was surprised
with fear and hoi-ror, seeing God his enemy, and himself God's enemy,
and that God intended him no good, yet he would go on in his own super-
stitious course, having some secret confidence in league and affinity with
other kings that were superstitious like himself. This, by the way.
We may learn by this wretched king, that those that are least fearful
before danger are most basehj fearful in danger. He that was so confident
and wilful out of danger, in danger, his heart was ' as the leaves of the
forest.' For a wicked man in danger hath no hope from God, and therefore
is incapable of any intercourse with him. He will trust the devil and his
instruments, led with a superstitious* spirit, rather than God : as this
king had more confidence in the king of Syria, that was his enemy, and so
shewed himself after, than in God. It is the nature of flesh and blood,
being not sanctified by God, to trust in this means and that means, this
carnal help and that carnal help, ' a reed of Egypt,' yea, the devil and lies,
rather than to God himself.
The prophet, in an holy indignation for the refusing of a sign to confirm
* Cf. Acts xvii. 22.— G.
108
MIRACLE OF MIKACLES.
his faith that these kings should not do the church harm, breaketh forth
thus : Know, 0 house of David, ' is it a small thing for you to weary men,
but will you weary my God also ? ' God offers you a sign out of bis love,
and you dislike and contemn his blessed bounty. Therefore ' the Lord
himself shall give you a sign.' What is that? 'A virgin shall conceive,
and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel.'
From the inference, we may see the conflict between the infinite goodness of
God and the inflexible stubbornness of man ; God's goodness striving with
man's badness. When they would have no sign, yet God will give them a
sign. His goodness overcometh and out-wrestleth in the contention man's
sinful strivings, his mercy prevails against man's malice.
To come to the text itself. * Behold, a virgin shall conceive, and bear a
son, and they shall call his name Immanuel.' It was not so much a sign
for the present, as a promise of a miraculous benefit, which was to be pre-
sented almost eight hundred years after the prophet spake these words,
even the incarnation of Christ, a miracle of miracles, a benefit of benefits,
and the cause of all benefits. He fetcheth comfort against the present dis-
tress from a benefit to come. And to shew how this can be a ground of
comfort at this time of distress, ' that a virgin shall conceive,' we must
know that * Christ was the Lamb slain from the beginning of the world,'
Rev. xiii. 8. All the godly of the Jews knew it well enough, the Messiah
being' all their comfort. They knew that he was ' yesterday and to-day,
and shall be the same for ever.' The church had in all times comfort
from Christ. Profuit anteqnam fuit : he did good before he was exhibited
in the world.
And thus the prophet applies the comfort to the house of David : * A
virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and they shall call his name
Immanuel, who shall be of the family of David.' And therefore the house
of David shall not be extinct and dissolved. The reason is strong. You
of the house of David are in fear that your kingdom and nation shall be
destroyed ; but know that the Messiah must come of a virgin, and of the
house of David. And considering this mus certainly come to pass, why
do ye fear, ye house of David ?
Again, it hath force of a reason thus. The promise of our Messiah is
the grand promise of all, and the cause of all promises ; for all promises
made to the church, are either promises of Christ himself, or promises in
him and for his sake, because he takes all promises from God, and con-
veyeth them, and maketh them good to us. God maketh them, and per-
formeth them in Chi'ist and for Christ.
Now the reason stands thus, if God will give a Messiah, that shall be the
' son of a virgin,' and ' Emmanuel,' certainly he will give you deliverance.
He that will do the greater will do the less. What is the deliverance you
desire to the promised deliverance from hell and damnation, and to the
benefit by the Messiah, which you profess to hope for and believe ?
The apostle himself, Rom. ii. 8, reasons thus : ' God, that spared not
his own Son, but gave him to death for us all, how shall not he with him
give us all things ? ' If God will give Christ to be Emmanuel and incarnate,
he will not stand upon any other inferior promises or mercies whatsoever.
Obj. But you will say, this promise was to come ; and how could this
confirm their faith for the present, that they should not be destroyed ?
Ans. I answer. In regard of his taking our nature, he was ' to come,'
yet Christ was always with his church before. They understood him in
the 'manna;' he was the 'angel of the covenant.' They that were
THE FIEST SERMON. 109
spiritually wise amongst the Jews, understood that he was the rock that
went before them.
And again, it is usual in Scripture to give signs from things to come, as
Isa. xxxvii. 30, 'The next year thou shalt eat that which groweth of itself,'
&c., because where faith is, it maketh things ' to come ' all one as if they
were present.
And so we should make this use of the grand promises of Christ to com-
fort us against all petty matters and wants whatsoever. And to reason
with the holy apostle, ' God spared not his only begotten Son, but gave
him to death.' He hath given Christ, and will he not give things needful?
Hath he given the greater, and will he stand with thee for"" the less?
This is a blessed kind of reasoning. And so to reason from other grand
things promised. God shall raise my body out of the dust and the grave,
and cannot he raise my body out of sickness, and my state out of trouble ?
Cannot he raise the church out of misery ? So saith St Paul, 2 Cor. i. 9
* God that raised Christ, restored me again, that had received the sentence
of death.' When we receive sentence of death in our persons, look to him
that raised Christ from the dead, and to the grand promises to come.
They before Christ comforted themselves in times of all distress by the
grand promise of Christ ' to come.' Eut now the Messiah is come. And
which may much more strengthen our faith, he hath suffered, and given his
body to death for us ; and therefore, why doubt we of God's good will in
any petty matters whatsoever.
To come to the words more particularly, ' Behold, a virgin shall con-
ceive, and bear a son,' &c.
You have diverse articles of our faith in these few words. As Christ's
conception by the Holy Ghost, his being bom of the Virgin 3Iary,' &c. You
have here the human nature of Christ, ' A virgin shall conceive, and bear a
son.' And the divine nature of Christ, his name shall be calledEmmauuel,
which signifieth also his office, ' God with us ' by nature, and God with us by
office, to set God and us at one. So you have divers points of divinity
couched in the words, which I will only open suitable to the occasion.
'Behold.' This is the usual beacon set up, the usual harbinger to
require our attendance* in all matters concerning Christ. And it hath a
threefold force here. 'Behold,' as being a thing presented to the eye of
faith. He mounteth over all the interim between the promise and the
accomplishment, for faith knoweth no difference of times.
2. And then, it is to raise attention. ' Behold ;' it is a matter of great
concernment.
3. And not only attention, but likewise admiration. f 'Behold,' a
strange and admirable thing. For what stranger thing is there than that
a virgin should conceive, that a virgin should ^be a mother, and that God
should become man.
We had need of strong grace to apprehend these strange things. And
therefore God hath provided a grace suitable, above reason, and above
nature, and that is faith. Reason mocketh at this. The devil knoweth it
and envieth it. The angels know, and wonder at it. The soul itself
without a grace suitable to the admirableness of the thing, can never
apprehend it. And therefore, well may it be said, ' Behold, a virgin shall
conceive, and bear a son.'
' Behold, a virgin shall conceive, and bear.' And why a virgin ? When
God is to be born, it is fit for a virgin to be the mother. Christ was not
* That is, ' attention.'— G. t That is, ' wonder.'— G.
110 MIRACLE OF MIRACLES.
to come by the ordinary way of propagation. He was to conxQ from Adam,
but not h]i Adam ; for he was to be sanctified by the Holy Ghost. Because
he was indeed to be a sacrifice, and he must be without spot or sin himself,
that was to ofier himself for the sins of others. Therefore the foundation
and ground of his nature must be pure and clean ; and that is the founda-
tion of all the purity of his life and conversation, and therefore a virgin.
This was typified in Aaron's rod, which budded though it had no root.
No juice could come from a dry stick, jei by an almighty power the rod
did bud. And so Moses's bush. It burned and did not consume. And
that God that caused those things, caused a virgin to be a mother.
He enters into the womb of a virgin without any defilement at all, con-
sidering the Holy Ghost, from the Father and the Son, did purge and
purify and sanctify that mass whereof the blessed body of our Saviour was
made. The virgin aflbrded the matter, but the wise framer was the Holy
Ghost. She was passive, the Holy Ghost was the agent.
Now, when did the virgin conceive ? When upon the angel's coming
to her and telling her ' that she was greatly beloved,' and that she should
conceive ; she assented, ' Be it so as the Lord hath spoken,' Luke i. 38.
When she assented to the word, presently Christ was conceived ; her faith
and her womb conceived together. When her heart did conceive the truth
of the promise, and yielded assent thereunto, her womb conceived at the
same time also.
Obs. From hence learn something for ourselves : It had been to little pur-
pose though a virgin conceived Christ, unless Christ had been conceived like-
wise in her heart. And there is no benefit by virtue of this conception to
others, but to such as conceive Christ in their hearts also.
To which end our hearts must be in some measure made virgin hearts,
pure hearts, hearts fit to receive Christ.
We must assent to promises of pardon and of life everlasting : ' Be it
as the Lord saith.' A Christian is a Christian, and Christ liveth in his
heart, at the time of the assenting to the promise. So that if you ask.
When doth Christ first live in a Christian's heart ? I answer, then, when
the heart yieldeth a firm assent to the gracious promises made in Christ
for the pardoning of sins and acceptation to the favour of God, and title
and interest to life everlasting. For faith is the birth of the heart.
Christ was conceived in the womb of an humble and believing virgin.
So that heart that will conceive Christ aright, must be a humble and
believing heart : humble, to deny himself in all things ; and believing, to
go out of itself to the promises of God in Christ. When God by his
Spirit hath brought our hearts to be humble and believing, to go out of
themselves and believe in him, rest upon him and his promises, then Christ
is conceived in our heart.
' Behold, a virgin shall conceive, and hear a son.' Here is the birth of
Christ as well as the conception. Christ must not only be conceived in
the womb, but also brought forth, because God must be manifested in the
flesh ; as St Paul saith, ' Great is the mystery of godliness, God manifested
in the flesh,' 1 Tim. iii. 16. If he had only been conceived, and not brought
forth, he had not been manifested. He was to do all things that befitted a
Mediator.
And therefore he went along with us in all the passages of our lives.
He was conceived as we are, remained in the womb so many months, born
as we are born, brought into the light as we are ; away therefore with idle,
monkish devices and fond conceits, that affirm the contrary !
THE FIEST SERMON. Ill
He was like to us in all things, ' sin excepted ;' conceived, brought forth,
bung upon the breast as we, an infant as we ; hungry, and thirsty, and suf-
fered as we.
And as he was in all things like to us, so in everything that was in him
there was something extraordinary ; as he was a man like to us, so he was
an extraordinary man. He was conceived, but of a virgin, which is extra-
ordinary. He was born as we are, but there his star appeared, and the
wise men came to adore and worship him. He was poor as we are, but
there were beams of his Godhead appeared. When he was poor, ' he
could command a fish to furnish him,' Mat. xvii. 27. He died as we die,
but he made the ' earth to quake, the veil of the temple to rend,' when
he triumphed on the cross. Mat. xxvii. 51. All which declared he was
more than an ordinary person.
And so we must all conceive Christ, and bear Christ in our words and
actions. It must appear that Christ liveth in us ; it must appear out-
wardly to man what we are inwardly to God. Our whole outward life
must be nothing but a discovery of Christ living in us. * I live, yet not I,
but Christ liveth in me,' saith St Paul, Gal. ii. 20; which should appear
by word, conversation, and action. Our lives should be nothing but an
acting of Christ living in our souls.
This is not a mere analogical truth, but it floweth naturally. Whoso-
ever are to have the benefit of his birth and conception, Christ sendeth
into'' their heart the same Spirit that sanctified the mass whereof he was
made, and so frameth a disposition suitable to himself. He sets his own
stamp upon the heart. As the union of his human nature to the divine
was the cause of all other graces of his human nature, so the Spirit of
God, uniting us to Christ, is the cause of all grace in us. If we have not
the Spirit of Christ, we are none of his.
* And shall call his name Emmanuel.' Many things might be observed
concerning the ordinary reading of the words. Some read, ' She shall call
his name Emmanuel,' because he had no father ; others, ' His name shall
be called Emmanuel ;' but they be doubtful, therefore I leave them (a).
But * Jesus ' was his name ; therefore how can it be said, he shall be
called ' Emmanuel' ?
The meaning is, he shall be 'Emmanuel,' and shall be accounted and
believed to be so ; he shall be God with us indeed, and shall shew himself
to be so ; for in the Hebrew phrase, the meaning of a thing imports the
being of the thing. The like phrase is in Isa. ix. 6, * To us a child is
born, to us a son is given ; and his name shall be called Wonderful,
Counsellor, the everlasting Father, the Prince of peace ;' that is, * He
shall be believed to be so, and shall shew himself to be so, and shall be so
indeed.' The like you have, because it is an answer to the cavil of the
Jews, which object he was not called ' Emmanuel :' * Judah shall be saved,
Israel shall dwell safely ; and this is his name, whereby he shall be called,
The Lord our righteousness,' Jer. ii. 3. For indeed he is Jehovah our
righteousness, and we have no righteousness to stand before God with but
his. Divers other places of Scripture there be of the same nature ; but
these two are pregnant, and therefore I name them for all the rest.
Besides the conception and birth of Christ, you have here likewise the
divine nature of Christ and the offices of Christ ; for Emmanuel is a name
both of nature and office.
It is a name of his nature, God and man ; and of his office, which is to
* Qu. ' naming ' ? — Ed.
112 MIRACLE OF MIRACLES.
reconcile God and man. We could not be ' with God,' but God must first
be 'man with us.' We were once with God in Adam, before he fell; but
there being a breach made, we cannot be recovered again till God be with
us. He must take our natures, that he may reconcile our persons.
Now, Christ is ' Emmanuel ;' first, in regard nf naturr, ' God with us,'
or God in our nature. The pure nature of God, and the base nature of
man, that were strangers ever since the fall, are knit together in Christ.
What can be in a greater degree of strangeness, except the devil's, than
men's unholiness and God's pure nature ? Yet the nature of man and of
God being so severed before, are met together in one Christ; so that in
this one word 'Emmanuel' there is heaven and earth, God and man,
infinite and finite ; therefore we may well prefix ' behold.'
A true Saviour of the world must be ' God with man, whether we
consider the greatness of the good we are to have by a Saviour, or the
greatness of the evil we are to be freed from by a Saviour, both which do
enforce that he must be Emmanuel, God with us.
I. (1.) First, The greatness of the good which we are to have, for he is
to be God and man together, to satisfy the wrath of God, to undergo a
punishment due to sin as our surety. He must give us title to heaven,
and bring us thither, and who can do this but God ?
(2.) Besides, secondly, he must know our hearts, our wants, our griefs,
our infirmities ; he must be everywhere to relieve us ; and who can do this
but God ?
(3.) So, thirdly, in regard of evil, which we are to be freed from. He
is to defend us in the midst of our enemies ; and who is above the devil,
and sin, and the wrath of God, and all the oppositions that stand between
us and heaven, but God ? So in regard of the good, in regard of the evil,
and in regard of the preservation to an eternal good estate, and freedom
from eternal evil, he must be ' Emmanuel, God with us.'
These grand principles are enough to satisfy in this point.
II. And, secondly, as he must be God, so there was a necessity of his
being man. Man had sinned, and man must sufier for sin, and 'without
blood there was no remission,' Heb. ix. 22 ; and then, that he might be 'a
merciful and pitiful Saviour,' Heb. ii, 17, he must take that nature on him
that he meaneth to save. There must be a suitableness and sympathy;
suitableness, that the head and the members, the sanctified and the sanc-
tiner, may be both of one nature ; and a sympathy, that he might be
touched with human infirmities.
III. Thirdly, This God and man must be one person ; for if there were
two persons, God one distinct person and man another, then there were
two Christs, and so the actions of the one could not be attributed to the
other.
As man died and shed his blood, it could not have been said that God
died; but because there was but one person, God is truly said to die,
though he died in man's nature, for he took man's nature into unity with
his person ; and whatsoever either nature did, the whole person is said to
do ; and therefore Christ is a Saviour according to both natures, as God
and as man ; for he was to sufier, and he was to overcome, and satisfy in
sufiering. He was not only to hear our prayers, but to answer them.
Both natures had an ingredience* into all the work of mediation.
God died, and God sufiered, and supported the manhood, that it might
uphold the burden of the wrath of God, that it might not sink under it.
* That is, 'entrance.' — G.
THE FIRST SERMON. 113
And so in all bis actions there was concurrence of divinitj' and humanity ;
the meaner works being done by the manhood, the greater works by the
Godhead, so making one ' Emmanuel, God with us.'
For God must bring us to heaven by a way suitable to his holiness,
and therefore by way of satisfaction ; and that cannot be but by God equal
with himself.
And that is the reason why the apostle joins together ' without Christ,
without God,' Eph. iii. 12; that is, they that know not Christ God-man,
to reconcile God and man, have nothing to do with God. For the pure
nature of God, what hath it to do with the impure nature of man, without
Emmanuel, without him that is God-man, to make satisfaction ?
But now that Christ hath taken our nature, it is become pure in him,
and beloved of God in him. And God in him is become lovely, because
he is our nature; yea, in Christ, God is become a Father: 'I go to your
Father, and my Father,' John xiv. 28. His nature is sweet to us in
Christ; our nature is sweet to him in Christ; God loveth not our nature,
but first in him in whom it is pure. And then he loveth our nature in us,
because, by the Spirit of Christ, he will make our natures like to Christ's;
and therefore we may conceive of God as Emmanuel, God well pleased
with us, and we well pleased with him. Out of Christ we are angry wi.h
God, and he angry with us. We could wish there were no God, and
choose rather to submit to the devil, to be led by his spirit to all profane-
ness and licentiousness. We have a rising against God and his image ;
and whatever comes from God, the proud, unmortified heart of man
swelleth against it. But when the heart once believeth that Christ,
Emmanuel, God with us, hath satisfied God's justice, now, God is taken
by the believing heart to be a Father ' reconciled in Jesus Christ,' 2 Cor.
V. 18. And we are taught to be his sons. And our nature is more and
more purified and cleansed, and made like the pure nature of Christ; and
so by Httle and little the terms between God and us are more sweet, till
we get to heaven, where our nature shall be absolutely perfect and purged
by the Holy Spirit. So that he is Emmanuel, God with us, to make God
and us friends, which is two ways : first, by satisfaction, taking away the
wrath of God; and then, secondly, by the Spirit; for God sendeth his
Spirit into our hearts, to fit us for friendship and communion with him,
when we have something of God in us.
From hence many things may be spoken, partly for instruction and com-
fort. I will name a few.
1. First of all, it is to be wondered at, and we cannot wonder enough,
though we were angels, and had natures larger than they are, at the viar-
relloiis vxercies and love of God, that ivould stoop so loiv, as that God in the
second person should take our nature and become one with us. It is
marvellous love that he would be one with us by such a means as his own
Son, to make peace between him and us. It is a marvellous condescend-
ing and stooping in the Son to take our nature. When there be better
creatures above us, that he would let pass all above us, and take our
nature, that is dust, into unity of his person ; that earth, flesh and blood,
should be taken into one person with the Godhead, it is wonderful and
marvellous.
He took not the nature of angels ; so that we be above angels, by the
incarnation of Christ. Because he took not the angels' nature, they are
not the spouse of Christ, but every believing Christian is the spouse of
Christ. He is married to Christ; he is the head, we the members. He
VOL. VII. H
114 MIRACLE OF MIRACLES.
is the husband, we the spouse ; and therefore we may stand in admiration
of the love of God, in taking our natures on him.
It requires hearts warmed by the Spirit of God to think of and admire
these things answerable to their natures. The angels, when Christ was
born, could not contain, but break out, ' Glory to God on high, on earth
peace, good will towards men,' Luke ii. 13, 14, because there was then
peace; peace between God and us, and by consequence with all the crea-
tures, which do but take part with God and revenge his quarrel.
These things be matters of admiration ; and we shall spend eternity in
admiration thereof in another world, though here our narrow hearts can
hardly conceive it. But what we cannot believe by understanding, as
things above nature, let us labour to understand them by believing.
Desire God we may believe them, and then we shall understand them to
our comfort.
* Emmanuel, God with us.' If God be with us in our nature, then he
is with us in his love; * and if God be with us, who shall be against us ?'
Rom. viii. 31. For this Emmanuel hath taken our nature forever; he
hath taken it into heaven with him. God and we shall for ever be in
good terms, because God in our nature is for ever in heaven, as an inter-
cessor appearing for us. There is no fear of a breach now ; for our
Brother is in heaven, our Husband is in heaven, to preserve an everlast-
ing union and amity between God and us. Now, we may insult* in an
holy manner over all oppositions whatsoever. For if God be w^ith us in
our nature, and by consequence in favour, who shall be against us ? and
therefore with the apostle, ' let us triumph,' Rom. viii. 87, seq.
Let us make use of this Emmanuel in all troubles whatsoever, whether
of the church or of our own persons. In troubles of the church ; the
church hath enemies, hell, and the world, and Satan's factors; but we
have one, Emmanuel, God with us, and therefore we need not fear. You
know whose ensign it is, whose motto. Dens nobiscum is better than Saiuta
Maria. Saiicta Maria will down when Dens nohiscum shall stand (h).
I beseech you, therefore, let us comfort ourselves in regard of the
church, as the prophet in the next chapter, verse 7, comforts the church
in distress : ' He shall pass through Judah ; he shall overflow and go over ;
he shall reach even to the neck : and the stretching out of his wings shall
fill the breadth of thy laud,f 0 Emmanuel.' It may seem a kind of com-
plaint, ' The enemy stretcheth out their wings over thy land, 0 Emmanuel;'
which may teach us in the person of the church to go to Emmanuel :
Remember the enemies of thy church spread their wings over thy land and
people; 0 Emmanuel, thou seest the mahce of the enemy, the malice of
antichrist and his supporters. He is the true Michael, that stands for his
church. And then in the tenth verse, ' Take counsel together, and it shall
come to nought ; speak the word, and it shall not stand : for God is with
us.' And as the church before Christ came in the flesh, much more may
we, now he is come in the flesh, insult over all. Let all the enemies con-
sult together, this king and that power, there is a counsel in heaven will
disturb and dash all their counsels. Emmanuel in heaven laugheth them
to scorn. And as Luther said, ' Shall we weep and cry when God
laugheth ?'|. He seeth a company of idolatrous wretches, that conspire
together to root out all protestants from the earth, if it lay in their power.
They that are inspired with Jesuitical spirits, the incendiaries of the world,
* Tliat is, 'triumph.'— G. t Cf. Vol. I. page 126.— G.
t In marj^in, ' churcb.' — G.
THE FIRST SERMON. 115
have devoured all Israel and Christendom in their hopes ; but the church,
which is Emmanuel's land and freehold, sees it, and laughs them to scorn.
God can dash all their treacherous counsels.
And so in all personal trouble whatsoever, * Emmanuel, God with us,'
is fitted to be a merciful Saviour. He was poor, that he might be with
the poor. He took not on him an impassible nature, but he took our
poverty, our miserable nature. He is poor with the poor, afiiicted with
the afflicted, persecuted with the persecuted. He is deserted with them
that be deserted : ' My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me ? ' He
suffers with them that suffer ; he hath gone through all the passages of
our lives. In the beginning of it he was conceived and born ; and he hath
gone along with us, and is able to pity and succour us in our poverty, in
prison, in bonds, in disgrace, in our conflict with God, in our terror of
conscience, in all our temptations and assaults by Satan. He was tempted
himself by Satan, for this purpose, that Emmanuel might in all these be
merciful.
Let us not lose the comforts of this sweet name, in which you have
couched so many comforts. In the hour of death, when we are to die,
think of Emmanuel. When Jacob was to go into Egypt, saith God,
' Fear not, Jacob ; go, I will go with thee, and bring thee back again,'
Gen. xlvi. 3; and he did bring him back to be buried in Canaan. So fear
not to die ; fear not to go to the grave, Emmanuel hath been there. He
will go into the grave ; he will bring us out of the dust again ; for ' Em-
manuel' is ' God with us,' who is God over death, over sin, over the wrath
of God, God over all, blessed for evermore ; and hath triumphed over all.
So that ' what shall separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus ? '
Rom. viii. 35.
He is not only God with us in our nature, but he is God for us in
heaven at all times. He is God in us by his Spirit. He is God amongst
us in our meetings : ' Where two or three be gathered together in my
name, I will be in the midst of them,' Mat. xviii. 20. He is God for us
to defend us, for he is for us in earth, for us in heaven, and wheresoever
we be, specially in good causes. And therefore enlarge our comforts as
much as we can.
And shall not we then labour to be with him, as much as we can ? All
spirits that have any comfort by this Emmanuel, they are touched on by
his Spirit, to have desires to be nearer and nearer to him.
How shall I know he is my Emmanuel, not only ' God with us,' but
God with me ? If by the same Spirit of his that sanctified his human
nature, I have desires to be nearer and nearer to him, to be liker and liker
to him ; if I am on his side ; if I be near him in my affections, desires,
and understanding; if I side not against the church, nor join in opposition
against the gospel ; if I find inwardly a desire to be more and more with
him, and like to him ; if outwardly, in the place where I live, I side with
him, and take part with his cause: it is a sign I have interest in him.
And therefore let us labour to be more and more with Christ and with
God in love and affections, in faith, in our whole inward man, because he
is in us.
We must know this Emmanuel doth trust us with his cause, to speak a
good word for him now and then, to speak a word for his church, and he
takes it ill if we neglect him : ' Curse ye Meroz, because he came not out
to help the Lord,' Judges v. 23. God trusteth us, to see if we will be on
his side ; and calls to us, as Jehu did, * Who is on my side ? who ?'
116 * MIRACLE OF MIBACLES.
2 Ivingg ix. 32. Now, if we have not a word for the church, not so much
as a prayer for the church, how can we say, ' God with us,' when we are not
used to speak to God by way of prayer, nor to man but by way of opposi-
tion and contestation ? By this therefore examine the truth of our interest
in Christ.
Those that intend to receive the communion must think, Now, I am to
be near unto Christ, and to feast with him. Christ is with us in his word,
in the sacrament. There is a near relation between the bread and the
wine, and the body and blood of Christ. Now, the true child of God is
glad of this most special presence of Christ. All true receivers come with
joy to the sacrament. Oh, I shall have communion with Emmanuel, who
left heaven, took my nature into a more near hypostatical union, the
nearest union of all ; and shall not I desire the nearest union with him
again that can be possible ? Oh, I am glad of the occasion, that I can
hear his word, pray to him, receive the sacrament. Thus let us come
with joy, that we may have communion with this Emmanuel, who hath
such sweet communion with our nature, that our hearts may be as the
Virgin's womb was to conceive Christ. I beseech you, enlarge these
things in your meditations.
And because we know not how long we may live here, gome of us be
sick, and weak, and all of us may fall into danger we know not how soon,
let it be our comfort that God is Emmanuel. He left heaven, and took
our nature to bring us thither, where himself is. When times of dissolu-
tion come, consider, I am now going to him to heaven, that came down
from thence to bring me to that eternal mansion of rest and glory. And
shall not I desire an everlasting communion with him ? God became
man that he might make man like God, partaking of his divine nature, in
grace here and glory hereafter. Shall not I go to him that suffered so
much for me ? Therefore saith St Paul, ' I desire to be dissolved, and to
be with Christ,' Philip, i. 23; which is the eflect of Christ's prayer,
* Father,' saith he, ' my will is, that where I am they may be also,
John xvii. 24. And in this God heareth Christ, that all that believe in him
shall be where Christ is, as he came down from heaven to be where we
are. Lay up these things in your hearts, that so you may receive benefit
by them.
NOTES.
(a) P. 110, — ' Many things might be observed concerning the ordinary reading ol
the words.' Cf. Dr Joseph Addison Alexander, Dr Henderson, and Maurer in loco,
for the different readings and interpretations.
(b) P. 114. — ' You know whose ensign it is, whose motto, Deus nohiscum is better
than Sancta Maria.' "Watchwords of the English and Spaniards respectively in the
war of the Armada. 'G
MIRACLE OF MIRACLES.
(THE SECOND SERMON.)
Behold, a virgin shall coyiceive, and hear a son, and shall call his name
Immanuel. — Isaiah VII. 14.
The occasion of these words we have heard. The church was in great dis-
tress under two mighty kings, that threatened great matters ; but indeed
were but two smoking firebrands, that went out of themselves. Ahaz, being
a wicked king (and wickedness being always full of fears, fearful in trouble,
though not before trouble, for they that be least fearful of trouble be most
fearful in trouble), and God intending comfort to the church, the prophet
bids him ask a sign. Ahaz, out of guiltiness of conscience and stubborn-
ness together, would ask none. God intended to strengthen his faith, and
he would not make advantage of the offer ; and therefore the prophet pro-
miseth a sign, the grand sign, the sign of all signs, the miracle of all
miracles, the incarnation of the Messiah.
Doct. By the way, I beseech you let me observe this : It is atheistical pro-
faneness to desjnse any help, that God in his wisdom thinketh necessary to
prop and shore*' our weak faith withal. And therefore, when many out of
confidence of their own graces and parts refuse the sacrament, — God know-
ing better than ourselves we need it, — unless it be at one time of the year,
and refuse the other ordinance of preaching, which God hath sanctified,
they seem to know themselves better than God, who out of knowledge of
our weakness, hath set apart these means for the streuRthening of our
graces. And as Ahaz, refusing God's help, provoked God by it, so these
must know they shall not escape without judgment, for it is a tempting of
God, and proceedeth from a bad spirit of pride and stubbornness.
How this promise of the Messiah could be a sign to them to comfort
them, we spake at large. We will now deliver something by way of addi-
tion and explication.
The house of David was afraid they should be extinct by these two great
enemies of the church ; but, saith he, ' A virgin of the house of David
shall conceive a son,' and how then can the house of David be extinct ?
Secondly, heaven hath said it ; earth cannot disanul it. God hath said it,
and all the creatures in the world cannot annihilate it. It was the promise
made to Adam, when he was fallen. It run along to Abraham, and after-
wards to the patriarchs ; so that it must needs be so.
* That is, ' support.' — G.
118 klRACLE OF MIKACLES.
It was tlie custom of the men of God, led by the Spirit of God, in these
times, in any distress, to have recourse to the promise of the Messiah, as for
other ends, so for this, to raise themselves up by an argument drawn from
the greater to the less. God will give the Messiah, God will become man.
* A virgin shall conceive a son ;' and therefore he will give you less mercies.
I note this by the way for this end, to teach us a sanctified manner of
reasoning. Was it a strong argument before Christ's coming, the Messiah
shall come, and therefore we may expect inferior blessings ? And shall
not we make use of the same reason, now Christ is come in the flesh, and
is triumphant in heaven ? ' God having given Christ, will he not give all
things necessary whatsoever ?' Eom. viii. 32. Shall the reasonings before
Christ's coming be of more force than these be, now Christ is come, and
is in glory, appearing in heaven for us.
Beloved, it should be a shame to us, that we should not have the sancti-
fied art of reasoning, to argue from the gift of Christ, to the giving of all
things needful for us.
The ground of this reason is this. All other promises, whatsoever they
are, are secondary to the grand fundamental promise of Christ. All pro-
mises issue from a covenant founded in God-man. Now covenants come
from love ; and love is founded in the first person, loved, and the founda-
tion of all love. Therefore, if God giveth Christ the foundation of love,
and out of love makes a covenant, and as branches of the covenant giveth
many 'promises, then, having made good the main promise of all, Jesus
Christ, will he not make good all the rest ? And therefore we should have
often in our hearts and thoughts, the accomplishment of all promises in
Christ, and from thence make use of the expectation of all inferior pro-
mises ; for they issue from that love of God in Christ, which is fully mani-
fested already.
We have spoken of the preface, ' Behold,' which is a word usually pre-
fixed before all the passages of Christ ; his birth, his resurrection, his
coming again. And great reason.
For what do we usually behold with earnestness ? Rare things, new
things, great things, especially if they be great to admiration, and that
concern us nearly ; useful things, especially if they be present. And is
any thing rarer than that, * A virgin shall conceive, and bear a son ' ? Then
the incarnation of Christ. Never was the like in nature, never the like in
heaven or earth, that God and man should be in one person. It is a rare
thing, a new thing, it is great to wonderment ; and therefore in the ninth
chapter of this prophecy, ' His name shall be called Wonderful,' Isa. is. 6,
as in many other respects, so wonderful in his conception and birth.
And then all is for us. * To us a child is born, to us a Son is given,' in
the same chapter. For us, and for us men, he came down from heaven.
And then to the eye of faith all these things are present. Faith knoweth
no difierence of time.
Christ is present to the eye of faith now. We see him sacrificed in the
sacrament and in the word. Faith knoweth no distance of place, as well
as no distance of time. We see him in heaven, as St Stephen, sitting at
the right hand of God for the good of his church. Acts vii. 56 ; and there-
fore ' behold.'
If ever any thing were, or shall be great, from the beginning of the world
to eternity, this is great, this is wonderful. And if any thing in the world
be fit for us ; and if any thing dignifieth the soul, and raiseth the soul
above itself, it is this wonderful object.
THE SECOND SERMON. 119
We, out of our weakness, wonder at poor petty things, as the disciples
at the building of the temple, ' What stones are these ?' Mat. xiii. 1. We
wonder at the greatness of birth and place, but, alas ! what is fit for the
soul, being a large and capable thing, to stand in admiration of? Here is
that that transcendeth admiration itself. * Behold, a virgin shall conceive
a son ;' and therefore attend to the great matter in hand. This I thought
good to add to what I formerly delivered in that particular.
* A virgin shall conceive a son,' &c.
You need not go farther than the text for wonders ; for here are two
great ones, a virgin a mother, and God man.
So in the words you have the conception and the hhth of Christ, his
human nature, his divine nature and his office, to reconcile God and us
in one.
As he is God in our nature — he took our nature into communion of per-
son— so his office is to bring God and man together ; his two natures is
to fit him for his office. God and man were as much distant terms as could
be, unless between the devil and God. And therefore God-man in one
person must perform the great office of bringing such as were in such oppo-
site terms together.
Of his conception by the Virgin Mary we spake sufficiently, only we will
add this for further explication. A further type of this was in the birth of
Isaac. Isaac, you know, was born of a dead womb. Christ was conceived
of a virgin, and in a manner far more improbable than the other. Isaac
was the ' son of the promise,' Christ was ' the promised seed,' both in
some sort miraculously born ; for indeed it was a true wonder that Isaac
should be born of a dead womb, and here that a virgin should conceive.
Sarah had nothing to supply moisture and juice to the fruit ; and so here
was nothing of a man to further Christ's conception.
I will shew why there must be this kind of conception of Christ, which
will help our faith exceedingly.
1. First, Christ must be without all sin. of necessitij ; for else when he
took our nature, stubble and fire had joined together. * God is a con-
suming fire,' Heb. xii. 29 ;' and therefore the nature must be purified and
sanctified by the Holy Ghost in the womb of the Virgin.
2. And then again, in the conception, there must be ^foundation of all
obedience, active and passive, and of all that was afterwards excellent in
Christ. If there had been any blemish in the foundation, which was his
conception, if he had not been pure, there had been defect in all that
issued from him, his active obedience and passive obedience, for every
thing savours of the principle from whence it cometh. And therefore it was
God's great work in this strange conception, that sin might be stopped in
the root and beginning ; nature might be sanctified in the foundation of it.
And so that he might pursue sin from the beginning to the end, both in
his life, by living without sin, and also in his death, by making satisfaction
for sin.
And therefore ground our faith on this, that our salvation is laid on one
that is mighty, God-man, and on one that is pure and holy. And there-
fore in his obedience active, holy ; and in his obedience passive, holy.
Again, He came to be a surety for us ; and therefore he must pay our
whole debt, he must pay the debt of obedience ; he must pay the debt of
punishment. Now obedience must come from a pure nature, and his death
must extend to the satisfying of an infinite justice. And therefore he must
be conceived of the Holy Ghost in the womb of a pure virgin.
120 MIKACLE OF MIRACLES.
And we must know that in this conception of Christ there were two or
three things wherein there was a main difference between Christ and us.
(1.) Christ was in his human nature altogether without sin. We are
sinful in our nature.
(2.) Again, Christ's human nature had always suhsistence in the divine,
and it was never out of the divine nature. As soon as his body and
soul were united, it was the body and soul of God. Now our natures are
not 80.
(3.) And then in manner of projyagation. His was extraordinary alto-
gether. Adam was of the earth, neither of man, nor woman ; Eve of man,
without a woman ; all other of Adam and Eve ; Christ of a virgin, and
without a man. But setting aside his subsistence in the second person,
and extraordinary means of propagation, Christ and we are all one ; he
had a true human body and soul, and all things like ourselves, sin and the
former differences excepted.
Why Christ must be man we have already heard. He became man to
be suitable to us in our nature, and to sympathise in all our troubles.
And shall call his name Immanuel. ' He shall call his name Immanuel,'
saith the New Testament, Mat. i. 23. That is, he shall be Immanuel
indeed, and shall be known to be, and published to be so. Whatsoever
hath a name is apparent.* Christ was before he took our flesh ; but he
was not called Emmanuel. It did not openly appear that he was God in
our nature ; he was not conceived in the womb of a virgin. They before
Christ, knew that he should come, but when he was conceived and born, he
was then called Emmanuel.
There were divers presences of Christ before he came. He was in the
* bush' as a sign of his presence. He was in the ' ark' as a sign of his
presence. He was in the prophets and kings as a type of his presence.
He took upon him the shape of a man as a representation of his presence,
when he talked with Abraham and the patriarchs. But all this was not
* God with us,' in our nature. He took it on him for a time, and laid it
aside again. But when he was Emmanuel, and was called and declared so
to be, he took on him our nature, never to lay it aside again. He was
bom in our nature, brought forth in our nature, lived in our nature, died
in our nature, was crucified in our nature, became a curse for us in our
nature, buried in our nature, rose in our nature, is in heaven in our nature,
and for ever will abide there in our nature.
All their faith before he came in the flesh was in confidence that he
should take our flesh in the fulness of time. Now came the time when he
was called Immanuel ; and then the word became flesh and took our nature
on him.
From hence, that God took our nature on him in the second person,
come divers things considerable.
(1.) For, first, it appears that he hath dignified and raised our nature
above angels, because he hath taken the seed of Abraham and not of the
angels ; — a wonderful advancement of our nature, for God to be with us,
to marry such a poor nature as ours is ; for the great God of heaven and
earth to take dust into the unity of his person. If this may not have a
' behold ' before it, I know not what may.
(2.) To join altogether. For the great God of heaven and earth, before
whom the angels cover their faces, the mountains tremble, and the earth
quakes, to take our flesh and dust into unity of his person, and for such
* That is, 'manifested' ('?). — G.
THE SECOND SERMON.
121
ends, to save sinful man, and from such misery as eternal misery, from
such great enemies, and then to advance him to such great happiness as
we are advanced, to take Christ, Emmanuel, in the whole passage of his
mediation, and there is gi'ound of admiration indeed.
(3.) But consider it specially in the raising and advancing of our natures
to he one ivith God. Shall God be God* with us in our nature in heaven,
and shall we defile our natures that God hath so dignified ? Shall we live
like beasts, whom God hath raised above angels ? Let swearers, beastly
persons, and profane hypocrites, either alter their courses, or else say they
believe not these truths. Shall a man believe God hath taken his nature
into unity of his person, and hath raised it above all angels, and can he
turn beast, yea, devil incarnate, in opposition of Christ and his cause ?
What a shame is this ! Can this be where these things are believed ? A
Christian should have high thoughts of himself. What ! shall I defile the
nature that God hath taken into unity of his person ?
(4.) And as he hath dignified, and raised, and advanced our nature so
highly, so likewise he hath infused and put all the riches of grace into our
nature ; for all grace is in Christ that a finite nature can be capable of, for
Christ is nearest the fountain. Now, the human nature being so near the
fountain of all good, that is, God, it must needs be as rich as nature can
possibly be capable of. And is not this for our good ? Are not all his
riches for our use ?
And therefore seeing our nature is dignified by Emmanuel, and enriched
exceedingly by his graces nest to infinite — for our human nature is not
turned to God as some are conceited ; it is not deified, and so made infinite
— yet as much as the creature can be capable of there is in Christ-man,
and so shall we defile that nature ?
(5.) And from hence, that our nature is engrafted into the Godhead, it
foUoweth, that what was done in our nature was of wonderful extension,
force, and dignity ; because it was done when our nature was knit to the
Godhead, and therefore it maketh up all objections. As,
How could the death of one man satisfy for the deaths of many
millions ?
Secondly, It was the death of Christ, whose human nature was engrafted
into the second person of the Trinity.. For, because they were but one
person, whatsoever the human nature did or suiiered, God did it. If they
had been two persons, God had not died, God had not suffered, God had
not redeemed his church.
And therefore the scripture runneth comfortably on this : ' God hath
redeemed the church with his own blood,' 1 Peter i. 18. Hath God
blood ? No. But the nature that God took into unity of persons hath
blood ; and so being one person with God, God shed his blood. It is God
that purchased a church with his blood. It is God that died. The
Virgin Mary was mother of God, because she is the mother of that nature
which was taken into unity with God.
Hereupon comes the dignity of whatsoever Christ did and sufi'ered.
Though he did it in our nature, yet the Godhead gave it its worth, and
not only worth, but God put some activity, some vigour, and force into all
that Christ did. It doth advance Christ Mediator according to both
natures. And from hence ariseth communication of properties, as divines
call it, which I will not now speak of. It is sufiicient to see that whatsoever
was done by Christ was done by God, he being Emmanuel, and therefore had
* Qu. 'one'?— Ed,
122
MIRACLE OF MIRACLES.
its worth and dignity to prevail with God, Hence cometh a forcible reason,
that God must satisfy divine justice, because it was the action of a God-
man. His great suficrings were the sufferings of the second person in our
nature. And hereupon from satisfaction and merit comes reconciliation
between God and us. God being satisfied by Christ, God and we are at
terms of peace. Our peace is well founded if it be founded in God the
Father, by God the Son taking our nature into unity of his person. These
things must have influence into our comforts and into our lives and con-
versations, being the grand articles of faith. And therefore we ought to
think often of them. We must fetch principles of comfort and holiness
from hence, as from the greatest arguments that can be. Therefore I
desire to be punctual* in them. God is Emmanuel, especially to make God
and us one. Christ is our friend in taking our nature to make God and
us friends again.
Quest. But how doth friendship between God and us arise from hence,
that Christ is God in our nature ? I will give two or three reasons of it.
(1.) First, It is good reason that God should be at peace with us, because
sin, the cause of dirision, is taken awaij. It is sin that separateth between
God and us, and if sin be taken away, God is mercy itself, and mercy will
have a current. What stoppeth mercy but sin? Secondly, take away sin,
it runneth amain. Chiist therefore became Emmanuel, God with us, because
' He is the Lamb of God that taketh away the sins of the world.'
Before Adam had sinned there was sweet agreement and communion
between Adam and God, but sin, that divided between God and the
creature. Now Christ having made satisfaction for all our sins, there can
be nothing but mercy.
(2.) Again, Christ is a fit person to knit God and us together, because
our nature is pure in Christ, and therefore in Christ God loveth us. After
satisfaction God looks on our nature in Christ, and seeth it pure in him.
Christ is the glory of our nature. Now if our nature be pure in our head,
which is the glory of our nature, God is reconciled to us, and loveth us in
him that is pure, out of whom God cannot love us.
As Christ is pure, and our nature in him, so he will make ns pure at
length.
(3.) Thirdly, Christ being our head of influence, conveyeth the same Spirit
that is in him to all his members, and by little and little by that Spirit
purgeth his church, and maketh her fit for communion with himself, for he
maketh us ' partakers of the divine nature,' 2 Peter i. 4. He took our
frail human nature, that we might partake of his divine nature ; that is,
of his divine qualities, to be holy, pure, humble, and obedient as he was.
And thus Christ being a head, not only of eminence to rule and govern,
but of influence to flow by his Spirit into all his members, is fit to be a
reconciler, to bring God and us together, partly because our nature is in
him, and partly because he doth communicate the same Spirit to us that
is in himself, and by little and little maketh us holy like himself.
I hasten to the main use of all.
(4.) Then God the Father and we are in good terms, for the second
person is (Joel in our nature for this end, to make God and i(s friends. There
is a notable place of Scripture whichlnote for the expression's sake, he speak-
ing there of a * day's-man : ' ' There is no day's-man between us, that might
lay his hand on us both,' Job ix. 33 ; that is, a middle person to lay his
hand on the one and the other. Now Christ is the middle person, as the
* TLat is, ' exact ' ' accurate.' — G.
THK SECOND SERMON. 123
second person in tlie Trinity. And then he is God and man, and there-
fore he is fit to be mediator, to lay his hand on both sides, on man as man,
on God as God. And Christ is a friend to both, to God as to God,* and to
man as man, and therefore he is fit to be an umpire, to be a day's-man, to
be a mediator. And he hath done it to purpose, making that good in
heaven that he did on earth. And therefore labour to make a gracious
use of all this. I know nothing in the world more useful, no point of
divinity more pregnant, no greater spring of sanctifying duty, than that God
and man were one, to make God and us one. He married our nature, that
he might marry our persons.
Use 1. And if it be so that God and man are brought to terms of recon-
ciliation on auch a foundation as God-man, then ought not ice to improve this
comfort ? Have we such a foundation of comfort, and shall not we make
use of it ? Shall we have wisdom in the things of this world, and not
make use of the grand comforts that concern our souls ?
Use 2. But how shall tee improve it / In all our necessities and wants
go to God. How ? Through Christ, God-man, who is in heaven making
intercession and appearing for us by virtue of his satisfaction made ou
earth, and therefore we may go boldly to the throne of grace to God, being
reconciled by God. God hath God at his right hand, appearing for us, and
shall we be afraid to go to the throne of grace ? When we want strength,
comforts, or anything, go to God, in the mediation of Emmanuel, and then
God can deny nothing to us that we ask with the spirit of faith in the
name of Christ.
I beseech you, therefore, let this be the main use, continually to improve
the gracious privileges we have by Emmanuel. Our nature is now accept-
able to God in Christ, because he hath purified it in himself, and God's
nature is lovely to us, because he hath taken our nature. If God loved
his own Son, he will love our nature as joined to his Son, and God's
nature is lovely to us. He took our flesh upon him, and made himself
bone of our bone. And shall not we like and aflect that which was so
graciously procured by Emmanuel.
Consider of it, and let it be ground of reverent and bold prayer, in all
our wants to go to God in Emmanuel.
Use 3. Let us make use of it likewise in behalf of the church. The
church is ' Emmanuel's land,' as ye have it in the next chapter : verse 8,
' The stretching out of his wings shall be the breadth of thy land, 0
Emmanuel.' The church of the Jews was Emmanuel's land, but then it
was impaled within the pale of the Jews. But now the Gentiles are taken
in. The church is scattered and spread abroad over the whole earth.
And therefore go to God in behalf of the church. Thou tookest our
nature into unity of thy person, that thou mightest be a gracious and a
merciful head. And therefore look in mercy on thine own mystical body,
the church. They, before Christ came in the flesh, who had the spirit of
faith, knew the church of the Jews could not be extinct, because Emmanuel
was to come of it.
And we may know the church shall never be destroyed till the second
coming of Christ, because those things are not yet performed that God
hath promised, and must be performed. And therefore we may go as
boldly to Christ, and spread the cause of the church before him now, as
they spread the cause of the Jews before him then ; look upon thy land,
look upon thy church, 0 Emmanuel.
* Qu. ' as God' ?— Ed.
124
MIRACLE OF MIRACLES.
That there must be a church we must believe, and we cannot believe a
non ens. We must have ground for our faith, and therefore never fear that
heresy shall overspread the face of the church, ' Emmanuel's land' shall be
preserved by some way or other, though not perhaps by the way we expect.
God must have a church to the end of the world. The gospel must get
ground. Antichrist must fall. God hath said it, and man cannot unsay
it. And therefore in all estates of the church spread its cause before
Emmanuel.
When Emmanuel came once, the church of the Jews wasted. There-
fore, if you will have good arguments against the Jews, this is a good one to
convince them, that Christ is come in the flesh. The church of the Jews
was to continue till Emmanuel, but the church of the Jews hath ceased to
continue, and is now no church. There is now no family of David, and
therefore Emmanuel is come.
And for a further use, let us have thoughts of the second coming of
Emmanuel, as they had thoughts of the first. Christ was called the con-
solation of Israel at his first coming, and in the New Testament it is every-
where expressed a sign of a gracious man to look for the appearing of
Jesus Christ, and to love it. Now let us comfort ourselves that this
Emmanuel will appear in our flesh ere long ; let us wait for the * consola-
tion of Israel.' Emmanuel came down to us, to take our nature upon
him, and to satisfy God's wrath, that he might take us to heaven with
himself, and that we might be for ever with him in glory. And therefore
let us, if we would make a true use of Emmanuel, desire to be with him.
Christ delighted, before he came in the flesh, to be with the sons of men,
and he is with us now by his Spirit, and so will be with his church to the
end of the world ; and shall not we be with him as much as we may ?
Indeed, he loved our nature so much, that he descended from the height of
majesty to take our misery and business* upon him, and shall not we desire
to be with him in glory ?
There be divers evidences whether we have any ground of comfort in
this Emmanuel or no. This shall be one.
(1.) We may know we have benefit by the first coming of Emmanuel,
if we have a serious desire of the second coming, if we have a desire to be with
him ; if, as he came to us in love, we have desires to be with him in his
ordinances as much as may be, and in humble resignation at the hour of
death. How shall we be with him here ? Be with him in thoughts, in
meditation, in faith and prayer ; meet with him wheresoever he is. He is
in the congregation : ' Where two or three are gathered together in his
name,' he is amongst them, Mat. xviii. 20. Be with them in all things
where he vouchsafeth his gracious presence. It is the nature of love to
desire perfect union, and therefore the Christian soul, touched with the
Spirit of God, will desire * to be dissolved and to be with Christ, as best
of all,' Philip, i. 23 ; * Come, Lord Jesus, come quickly,' Rev. xxii. 20 ;
and therefore in the hour of death is willing to resign himself to God that
he may go to Emmanuel, and enjoy his presence, that left the presence of
his Father, to take our nature, and to be with us on earth.
(2.) But the main thing I desire you to observe, is matter of comfort from
this Emmanuel, that now he having taken our nature upon him, that he
might take our persons into unity of his mystical body, we might have
comfort in all conditions. For he took our nature upon him, besides his
other ends, that he might take our persons to make up mystical Christ.
Qu. ' baseness ' ? — Ed.
THE SECOND SERMON. 125
He married our nature to marry our persons. And therefore if he did it for
this end, that we might be near him as our nature is near him, shall not
we make it a ground of comfort, that our persons shall be near Christ as
well as our natures ?
As Christ hath two natures in one person, so many persons make up
one mystical Christ, so that our persons are wonderfully near to Christ.
The wife is not near* the husband, the members are not nearer the head,
the building is not nearer the foundation, than Christ and his church are.
And therefore comfort ourselves in this ; Christ is Emmanuel, God with
us in our nature. And will he suffer his church to want, that he hath
taken so near to himself? Can the members want influence when the head
hath it ? Can the wife be poor when the husband is rich ? Whatsoever
Christ did to his own body, to his human nature taken into the unity of
his person, that he will do in some proportion to his mystical body.
I will shew you some particulars. He sanctified his natural body by
the Holy Ghost, and he will sanctify us by the same Spirit. For there is
the same Spirit in head and members. He loveth his natural body, and
so as never to lay it aside to eternity. And loveth his mystical body
now in some sort more, for he gave his natural body to death for his mysti-
cal body. And therefore, as he will never lay aside his natural body, he
will never lay aside his church, nor any member of his church. For with
the same love that he loved his natural body he loveth now his mystical
members. As he rose to glory in his natural body, and ascended to
heaven, so he will raise his mystical body, that it shall ascend as he
ascended. I beseech you, therefore, consider what a ground of comfort this
is. God took our nature on him, besides the grand end of satisfaction,
that he might make us like himself in glory, that he might draw us near
to himself. And therefore now Christ being in heaven, having commission
and authority over all things put into his hand ; he * having a name above
all names in heaven and earth, that at the name of Jesus every knee should
bow,' Philip, ii. 10, 11 ; that is, every subjection should be given ; will
he suffer any member of his body to suffer more than he thinks fit? No;
seeing he is in heaven and glory, for his church's good. For all that he
hath done and suffered is for the church and the church's use.
To conclude all, let us consider what we are. Let not a Christian be
base-minded. Let him not be dastardly in any cause that is good, or
God's. Let him be on God's side. Who is on his side ? A Christian is
an impregnable person. He is a person that can never be conquered.
Emmanuel became man to make the church and every Christian to be one
with him. Christ's nature is cut of danger of all that is hurtful. The
sun shall not shine, the wind shall not blow, to the church's hurt. For
the church's head ruleth over all things, and hath all things in subjection.
Angels in heaven, men on earth, devils in hell, all bow to Christ. And
shall anything befall them that he loveth, unless for their greater good ?
Therefore though they may kill a Christian and imprison him, yet hurt
him they cannot. ' If God be on our side, who can be against us?' Rom.
viii. 30. But God is on our side, and on what grounds ? God-man hath
procured him to be our friend, he hath satisfied God, and therefore if we
believe, we be one with Christ, and so one with God.
We have many against us. The devils are against ns, the world is
against us, to take away the favour of God, to hinder access to him in
prayer, to stop the church's communion with God, and hinder the sweet
* Qu. 'nearer'?— Ed.
126 MIRACLE OF MIRACLES.
issue of all things that befall us as far as they can. ' But their malice is
greater than their power. If God should let them loose, and give the
chain into their own hand, though they seem to hurt, yet hurt they cannot
in the issue. And shall not we make use of these things in times of dis-
tress ? Wherefore serve they but to comfort us in all conflicts with Satan,
and in all doubtings that arise from our sinful hearts ? Answer with this,
• If God be with us, who can be against us ? ' If any be against us, name
them ; if not, be satisfied. And therefore come life, come death, Christ is
our surety. He layeth up our dust, keepeth our acts-i- in the grave ; and
will Christ lose any member ? ' Fear not, Jacob, to go down into Egypt,
for I will bring thee back again.' So fear not to go down into the grave.
The Spirit of God will watch over our dust, and bring us to heaven.
Therefore fear nothing. God will be with us in life and death, yea, for
ever ; and we shall be for ever with the Lord, as the apostle saith in the
Thessalonians, 1 Thes. iv. 17. And that issue of all that Emmanuel hath
done, Christ was one in our nature, that he might bring God and us into
favour, that we may be for ever with him in heaven, that we may be for
ever with the Lord, which is the accomplishment of all the promises.
* Qu. ' bodies ' ?— Ed.
THE TOUCHSTONE OP EEGENEEATION.
THE TOUCHSTONE OF KEGENERATION.
NOTE.
' The Touchstone of Eegeration' forms No. 24 of ' The Saint's Cordials ' of 1629,
one of those displaced by others in the after-editions. Its separate title-page is
given below.* G.
* THE
TOVCHSTONE
OF
EEGENERATION.
In One Sermon.
WHEREIN THE VNDOVBTED
and true Signes of Regeneration are discovered, and the
Soule pointed to such a frame and temper of disposition,
which having attained, it may be comforted..
Praelucendo Pereo.
Yprightnes Hath Buldnes.
Galat. 5. 22.
But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, long-suffering, gentlenesse, good-
nesse, faith.
Meelcnesse, temperance, against such there is no law,
LONDON,
Printed in the yeare 1629.
THE TOLTCHSTONE OF UEGENERATION.
The xcolf also shall dwell with the lamb, and tJie leopard shall lie down with
the kid: and the calf, and the young lion, and the fatling together ; and a
little child shall lead them. The cow and the bear shall feed ; their
young ones shall lie down together : and the lion shall eat straw like the ox.
And the sucking child shall play upon the hole of the asp, and the weaned
child shall put his hand upon the cockatrice's den. They shall not hurt nor
destroy in all my holy mountain, dc. — Isaiah XI. 6—9.
I HAVE formerly, in divers sermons upon this scripture,* declared that it,
by way of prophecy, foretelleth what shall be the fruits of Christ's king-
dom under the gospel, shewing that miraculous change Christ should make
upon men, shadowed out in this scripture under the similitude of beasts,
as lions, wolves, bears, leopards, &c. The sum whereof is, that God will
take from us that fierceness, malignity, and bitterness of nature in us, and
bring us, in place thereof, to a loving, sweet, mild, and meek society
together.
Many things already have been particularly handled out of this text ; as,
1. First, from the condition and natural estate of men, wherein they
may be called beasts, lions, serpents, &c.
2. And secondly, of that change Christ thereafter makes in us, which
indeed is a miraculous change. This was the first thing handled.
First, That in every soul which shall come to heaven there must be a
change.
Secondly, You have heard whereof the change must be ; not of the
substantial parts of a man's body, but of the corrupt qualities of the mind;
or, if you will have it so, of the soul, and all the powers thereof.
Thirdly, I shewed upon whom this change was made — look verse 9 ; it
is made upon the church of God in this world, which in my text is called
God's holy mountain. So also, Heb. xii. 22, the church is called the
mountain of God.
The fourth thing considered was, by whom this change was made ; even
by the spring-head of all. From the God of grace it cometh, and floweth
to us by Jesus Christ our Lord, who was ' God manifested in the flesh.'
Fifthly, We inquired then by what means this change is wrought. This
we shewed to be by the knowledge of the law, &c. And this is the reason
* These sermons have not teen preserved; but of. Vol. II. pp. 437-517. — G.
VOL. YII. I
180 THE TOUCHSTONE OF REGENERATION.
which is added why there shall be no hurt nor destroying in all this holy
mountain, because the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord as
the waters cover the sea ; meaning there shall then be an abundant know-
ledge, a deep knowledge, and a well-seasoned permanent knowledge, which
shall keep every one within their limits, every one knowing his duty, so
maintaining a mutual peace in all this holy mountain.
Next, now sixthly and lastly, for ending of this text, I am to speak of
the marks of this change; or rather, I may call them, the effects of this
change, the certain and infallible signs of the same. Yet look not that
here I will undertake to handle a commonplace, and shew unto you all the
signs of regeneration ; only I will contain myself within this text, contented
to shew you those which this scriptui'e affordeth, which whosoever hath,
may assure themselves of the rest. Wherein, ere we proceed further in
particular, let us first make the general ; that is, a taming, a subduing, a
taking away of the fierceness and cruelty of our corrupt nature. This
throughout the text is the main mark of the change ; which will yet be
more evident by the particulars.
What meaneth this, * that the lion shall lie down with the calf, that the
leopard shall lie down with the kid,' when they shall come from their own
kind to another strange generation, as it were ? What meaneth this, that
they shall trust one another with their young ones ? that the lion shall no
more prey upon blood, as in times past, but eat straw with the ox ? that
the serpent shall let the little child play upon the hole of his den ? and all
these to be so tamed that a little child should lead them, take them, and
rule them ? What meaneth all this but this.
That it is an eminent and infallible mark of regeneration to hare the violence
and fierceness of our cruel nature taken away. This is a sure sign; for this
look Eom. i. 29, how naturally the heart is filled with all maliciousness
and sinful cruelty, which to be subdued and tamed is a special grace ; so
Gal. vi. 7-9, and Eph. iv. 17, et seq. There you may see the fruits of the
old man to be idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance, wrath, strife, sedition,
&c. ; there you may also read of a change, of a renewing of the new man
in love, joy, peace, long-suffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness,
temperance, against whom there is no law. There you may see what a
great alteration this change maketh, and what the marks of corruption are.
But yet there it is worth the marking, that here in these places the Holy
Ghost calleth for works of mercy, to perform duties to men, meekness,
temperance, patience, &c., not mentioning duties directly due unto God.
Why are these duties towards men so much urged, but to shew that our
corruption is not so much manifested in the worship of God as in works of
mercy to men ? Therefore it is that all the prophets do so call for works
of mercy, that Christ himself so inviteth thereunto, because men may
deceive the world with a counterfeit show of outward justice to God, but
in works of mercy there is no means to escape, Micah vi. 7. * If the
first-born, or ten thousand rivers of oil,' with a number of the like sacri-
fices, might please God, all would bo given for the sin of the soul ; but
the Lord calleth for works of mercy, meekness, and to walk humbly with
God.
Now the cause why men are so hardly brought to be merciful to others,
and more easily to works of piety towards God's worship, I take to be,
because, as it is John viii. 44, ' the devil is a liar and a murderer from the
beginning.' Now his prime quality being to be a murderer, he worketh so
in the children of disobedience, that, like unto him, they have a murderous
THE TOUCHSTONE OP EEGENEKATION. 181
disposition to sliew no mercy, to relieve none, which sheweth that such are
poisoned with the same sorts of poison wherewith he is infected. Thus
you see there must be a general meekness in all who are heavenly wise, far
from this murderous disposition. So James iii. 13, he saith, ' Who is a
wise man, and endued with knowledge among you ? let him shew out of a
good conversation his works, with meekness of wisdom.' There he speaks
of a deviHsh wisdom, which comes not from above, ' which is full of
envying and strife ; !but the wisdom which is from above is first pure, then
peaceable, gentle, and easy to be entreated, full of mercy and good fruits,'
&c. Thus he shews by what coat-armour* a Christian must be known;
how the sons of God must be discerned. This is the general mark : if
that natural cruelty and bitterness bred in us be taken away, and meek-
ness, gentleness, and the like, put in place thereof, this for the general
is a sure sign that the change is made, regeneration is begun. Now I
come to speak of these marks and infallible signs of regeneration contained
in this test, which must be in some measure in the party regenerate.
The first is,
1. Harmlessness.
Which, though it be a thing that runs along the body of my text, and is
last named, yet here I bring it first, because it is partly imphed in all ; for
in this, that it is said * the little child shall play upon the hole of the asp,'
and take no hurt, what doth this imply but a mild and harmless disposi-
tion, contrary to our natural fierceness and cruelty ? It is written, Prov.
iii. 27, ' Withhold not good from them to whom it is due, though it be in
thy power to do it.' As I take it, by good in that place is meant works of
mercy ; that we must be so like God as may be in works of charity. He
that -refuseth works of mercy to those in need, he is a murderer. How
can a man say he is renewed, unless in some sort he be like unto God in
mercifulness ? We see the wicked, it is a prime quality in them to do
mischief; they delight in evil; it is meat and drink to them to do
wickedly ; they are still musing on some cursed deed or other. But it is
a property of God's child to be harmless. Yet for further trial of this grace
note we two signs of this sign.
First, If ice ivould not do evil, though ive might do it unseen of any
creature : as, when a little child shall lay his hand on the cockatrice's den,
the serpent might sting, and yet, unseen of any, pull in the head again.
This, likewise, is a true sign of harmlessness — when, though a man may do
some hurt unseen, yet he will not. Thus was not Herod ; he abstained
a-while from beheading of John Baptist, but it was more for fear of the
people, than any other cause. Therefore, Christ, in another place, calleth
him a fox, Luke xiii. 32, so far was he from this harmlessness we speak
of. Thus we see the doctrine of Christ may be preached to a-many, but
the power of the same extendeth but to a few.
Beloved, I would have all of us to consider this. We live, all of us, in
the kingdom of Christ ; but where is the man that, though he might do
evil unseen, yet would not do it ? We have a worthy pattern of this grace
in Joseph, Gen. xxxix. 9, who, though he might have done evil unseen,
yet would not, ' Oh,' saith he, * how shall I do this evil, and sin against
God ?' and ofiend God. Oh, how many are there which withhold the
passions of their tongues, and the violence of their hands, only because
they are not able to work mischief ! How many men now smooth the
hands of God's people, and say as they say, only because they dare not,
* A heraldry term. — G.
132 THE TOUCHSTONE OF BEGENERATION.
and cannot do them mischief, who, if that opportunity served, would sting
them ! This will shew a change to be made, and we to be harmless, if,
when opportunity of doing evil is offered, yet we can abstain.
A second sign of this sign is, lohen, though a man hath provocation to do
evil, yet he will abstain. This is a sound trial. We see it is said, that the
little child shall play upon the hole of the asp, and the weaned child shall
lay his hand upon the cockatrice's den. Is not here provocation, and yet
no hurt done ? In this the Holy Ghost would give us a sure sign indeed.
Many men are of a mild natural disposition, and so may, perhaps, forbear
mischief when it is in their power. And so, many men, which are merely
natural, may bear with rehgion for some by-respects. But, provoke
them, and then you shall have them all of a fire, ready to fly in your
face. What religion is there in this ? For to do good for good, and evil
for evil, — this, Christ says, even publicans may do : there is no thank in
this ; but if, when we are provoked, we can forbear to revenge, this is a
blessed thing. If there be true love in our hearts, the apostle says, 1 Cor.
xiii. 5, that it is not * provoked.' And it is written, Isa. liii. 7, that Christ
' he was afflicted, oppressed, yet opened he not his mouth : he is brought
as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is dumb, so
opened not he his mouth.' This he did, thus holy men have done, and
this, if we would see life, we must do. Yet we see, though" we should be
like sheep, even they will now and then push at one another ; but this is
not with much violence ; besides that, it doth not endure. The apostle
wills us to forbear, forgive one another ; so this strife hath an end. There-
fore, if I cannot forgive in a small matter, but that either my tongue must
fly out in words, or the heart be set on mischief, this is a woeful estate.
If this be all our goodness, surely it is miserable goodness ; here is no
harmlessness : suspect thy estate. But the true goodness and blessed
estate is to follow that counsel of our Saviour Christ, ' Bless them that
curse and persecute you,' &c.. Mat. v. 54. This, then, is harmlessness,
when there is afforded unto us both secret occasion and provocation to do
evil, and yet we abstain. So much for the first.
Now I pass to the second, which is
2. Sociableness.
Which is set out in the whole body of my text. But with whom is it
that this seciety holdeth ? Not of lions with lions, or wild beasts with
wild beasts ; and yet many of these cannot endure one another : for the
rhinoceros and the unicorn, when they meet, they fight ; so doth the wild
horse and the bear ; but if at length they agree, this sociableness of theirs
is of wicked beasts one with another. But this is more, that the wolf and
the lamb, the cow and the bear, the leopard and the kid, the calf and the
young Hon, shall lie down together, and that the little child shall play upon
the hole of the asp. This implies, not only a simple society, as among
wild beasts, but a sociableness, as it were, among those of another genera-
tion. =t-
To apply this unto ourselves : there be good bands of our sociableness
one with another, both reason and speech ; for, naturally, all of us have
been lions, bears, and wolves, and unsociable haters of goodness in others.
Now, then, this sociableness with those former servants of God, who
have been called, this is a very sure mark of this change in us ; so the
apostle speaks, 1 John iv. 14, ' By this we know we are translated from
death to life, because we love the brethren.' And so Christ, our master,
* That is, kind or species. — G.
THE TOUCHSTONE OF REGENERATION. 183
speaketh, * By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye love
one another.' This nearness imports consanguinity. It is common, in
the Scripture, to call the children of God brethren.
[l.j No man can love a saint, as a saint, but a saint. This is a sure
sign of this sign. For this cause, the apostle to Philemon, he rejoiceth
for his faith to God, and love to the brethren, ver. 5. And so again, ver.
7, it was his joy that the brethren were comforted. The reason hereof is,
because, as there is a natural enmity among us by sin, to shew a difference,
the children of God must rejoice in unity.
Further, a true trial of sociableness is, when men will joy to sort them-
selves with those with ivhom fornierly they have been most unsociable, and
ivhose co7njmny they most loathed : as, first, we see the wolf doth lie down
with the lamb, which is a slow beast ; secondly, the leopard with the kid ;
thirdly, the young lion and the calf, for these fat beasts are, for the most
part, a prey to the lion ; fourthly, the cow and the bear, for the cow is a
prey to the bear ; fifthly, the serpent is especially an enemy to mankind,
as, Gen. iii, 15, God said, * I will put enmity betwixt thy seed and that of
the woman.' This, I confess, is chiefly meant of the devil, yet the extent
thereof reacheth thus far unto us, who naturally loathe serpents, that so
great shall this sociableness be, that even a little child shall play upon the
hole of the asp, and receive no harm. Now, when all these are reconciled
thus, where formerly was special envy, this is a true trial of sociableness.
For further proof hereof, note an idolater when he is converted, none are
so dear unto him as God's servants. The voluptuous man, having left his
lust, loves none so well as Christ's people ; the riotous man, having left
his excess, loveth none so well as the sober ; the atheistical, profane man
delighteth, being changed, so much in none as the truest worshippers : so,
we see, though before conversion men may roar like bears, as Isa. lix. 11,
yet, being tamed, it is said, Jer. xxxi. 9, that then they shall come weep-
ing, &c., and draw into sociableness with others formerly hated. When
some men come to be of our religion, and yet keep such about them as
are not sincere, this is no good sign. But, take this for a sure rule, that no
man is truly turned unto God, but he that loveth the society he formerly
hated.
[2.] A second sign of this sign is, to love every brother, yea, though it
ivere to lay down our life for a brother. But how is this implied ? — ' The
calf and the young lion shall He down together.' If the young lion can
endure not to raven on the calt, then it can endure any other of that kind.
Beloved, it is a special grace to love all the brethren, without respect of
persons. So the prophet David, Ps. cxix. 63, says, ' I am a companion
of all those that fear thee.' Here is implied, not to love some one brother,
but the brethren. I confess, for some special cause a man may rejoice
and delight more in the company of some, than of others ; as David, Ps.
xvi. 2, ' But to the saints that are in the earth, and to the excellent, all my
delight is in them.' So that, I say, for some special grace, or graces, one
may love one better than another. Thus Christ loved John best, being
called the beloved disciple, which was not for any special grace in John,
but from a kind of sympathy in natures, which many times, from a hidden
cause, produceth much love. But, if we have respect of persons, as it is,
James ii. 3, we are to blame. If we respect a great rich man, with a little
grace, more than a poor man with a great deal ; or, if we respect not a
poor man as a rich, with alike graces. We see. Acts viii. 14, et seq., when
Philip preached at Samaria, Simon Magus did cleave also to him ; but it
134 THE TOUCHSTONE OF REGENEKATION.
seems he did not stick so close to Philip for hia graces, as it appeareth he
did for somewhat in his person. Brethren, if partially we admire some for
their persons, it is suspicious. It is dangerous too much to admire fleshly
excellency, for those gifts of goodness in the same. If I do truly love
goodness in rich apparel, why do I not also love it in rags? Beloved, if
we love not thus, we love with the parrot, our love is not true ; there ought
ever to be the like love in kind, though not in measure.
Now I come to the third mark, which is,
8. Constancy.
How is this implied ? By dwelling and lying together. You shall have
beasts meet together, by chance, yet part asunder quickly again ; but when
they lie and dwell together in constant abode, this is a sure sign. You
shall have many companions go with a man, for fashion's sake, to the church,
and yet leave going ere it be long ; you shall have some men sick, and then,
like a serpent frozen in winter, which casts his skin, you shall have them
cast their skin a little, that is, send for a preacher, or such a man, make
confession of their sins, saying, Oh, if God will spare me, I will become
a new man, I will never do as I have done, I will never any more haunt
such company ; but yet, when he is well, within a month after, where shall
you find him ? Not with the lambs, but with the bears, and wolves, and
lions. Thus, when we can constantly hold on with an unmoved, constant
affection, to the children of God, this is a sure sign.
But I hasten to the next. The fourth is,
4. Inivardness.
How is this implied ? Their little ones shall lie down together. There
is nothing so dear unto all creatures as their young ones, of which they are
most jealous. There are no creatures which are not jealous and tender of
their young ones, chiefly the bear, which is most of all tender, fighting
sometimes, even to the death, in defence of her young ones. But this,
that the little ones of the bear, and of the cow, shall lie together, this im-
plies an inwardness together, such an inwardness as I think is meant. Acts
iv. 32, where it is said, * These dwelt together, and possessed all things in
common use.' Yet not losing that title they had unto the same as their
own ; and, ver. 34, their charity is described, that * no man lacked any-
thing which another had, but in necessity all things were common.' This,
their united charity to help others, was their little ones which did lie
together. And this, also, must be our trial, if whatsoever is dear and
near unto us, even our young little ones, if they be ready to lie down
together with the necessities of others, this is inwardness. Think of this
also, that this dwelling and lying together is a thing free, not any way
constrained. This is a trial of our sociableness, not when we are tied
together in a cage, but at liberty, and then we dwell together; for
many keep company now together, both in dwelling and lying together,
which would fly out if time served. We read in the book of Esther, that
when the Jews had the better hand, many of their enemies joined with
them, but not of love, but because they had the better hand of their
enemies, Esther x. 3 ; and so, when the people of God came from Egypt,
many of the people, because of their prosperity, did join with them ; and
now also, in the time of the gospel, I appeal to the consciences of many
among us, whether they do not lie down with us for fear now. Let no
man tlaink amiss of me for that I thus speak, for now such join with us,
who, if they had another day, would shew other strange tricks unto us ;
and, as it is, Jer. xviii 18, ' let us smite him with our tongues ;' so many
THE TOUCHSTONE OF REGENERATION. 185
of these are ready to smite ns with their tongues now, who seem to be
inward with us. What would these do if the day were their own ? Be-
loved, such men cannot be of God, who thus do malign the servants of
God. You may couple beasts together in a chain, but, being loose, they
run asunder again ; so many now, like such beasts among us, are tied with
chains for a while, but untie them once, and all is gone. Many of these,
when once they are loose, keep company with bears and wolves.
But I hasten to the fifth, which is,
5. Tractahleness.
How is this implied ? A little child shall lead them and rule them. It
is a true sign of grace when we become easy to be ruled and brought in
compass. We read of lions to have been tamed to draw in chariots ; this
is tractahleness. So when a poor servant of God hath nothing but his
simphcity to bring us in, this is tractahleness, when we can be content to
be brought in even by men inferior to us, that are simple and of mean
gifts. So when the husband can endure to be brought home by the wife,
being wiser and of more knowledge than she ; when the wife can be con-
tent to be brought home by the daughter or maid-servant, like Job, who
despised not the counsel of his own servants. Job xxxi. 13 ; this is tract-
ahleness. To be brief, when men can be content to come to their old,
ancient food.
6. Simplicity,
Which is the sixth and last sign of this change. This is a sure trial of
regeneration. But how is this implied ? That the lion shall eat straw like
the ox. Beasts at the beginning were not thus cruel as since the fall of
man, but did feed on grass, &c. ; so the Holy Ghost doth imply, that when
our state is come back to that it was at the beginning, as near as may be,
that is to say, when the lost image of God is so restored in us that a man
is come to his former food again, that as then, so now, he feeds on the con-
templation of the wisdom of God, the justice of God, the mercy of God,
the greatness and power of God, the abundant goodness and truth of God,
&c., this is a sure sign of regeneration. Cain he was bloody, and fed upon
blood ; therefore, as it is John iv. 32, when a man is come thus far, that
he hath meat which one seeth not, whereupon he feedeth, holy thoughts,
holy meditations, &c., when he can suck the breasts of God's consolations,
whereon his children feed, to draw virtue from the same unto himself, this
is a sure sign that a man is most happy, and born again. In a word, as
the apostle speaks, when thus striving for masteries, he becomes temperate
in all things, 2 Tim. ii. 5, this is a sure mark and infallible. Now, I come
to the uses, which are two :
1, For consolation; 2, for exhortation.
Use 1. The first thing is, for the place. But how shall this be brought
in ? What of the place ? I say a trial by the place, where all shall be
in: *Inmy holy mountain.' It shall be therefore for trial of religion.
Where the mountain is, there is the true reUgion, there is the church ;
look where you will, still it is in the mountain. Many now-a-days cry
out and keep a stir to know where the true church is, and I affirm, it is in
the mountain. So that in this I may say of the church, as sometime
Elijah did speak of the true God, 1 Kings xviii. 24, ♦ Let him which
answereth by fire be the true God ;' so I say of the church and of true
religion. Let that be the true religion that hath most fire in it, that which
sheweth forth most piety and holiness. The papists they say they are the
true church; but look on God's mountain, look which religion makes a
136 THE TOUCHSTONE OF RKGENEKATION.
man most mild, and tames bis fierce nature, which takes away a man's
dogged disposition, for a dog barks and then be bites, so the barking and
biting of the Romish Church shews them not to be in the mountain ; their
church doth allow biting. Was there ever any doctrine like theirs, which
teaches a man to murder his own king, to keep no faith, &c. ? Was there
ever any religion like theirs, that set poisoning afoot ? which also set
princes at variance ? The last sacrament of theirs will never be forgotten,
when that peace was proclaimed between both religions, then one would
have thought all was well and ended, there were ten thousand massacred
at one place called Labius, eighty slain with one sword, with many other
of their cruelties ; and the gunpowder treason, so odious and monstrous as
the like hath not been heard («). The like I may say of Garnet's part,
who must not reveal this treason, because it was done in confession (b).
Oh monstrous times, that confession should be so abused to barbarous,
inhuman, matchless cruelty ! If ever you take our religion to teach such
things, though popery should prevail against us, as God forbid, we will
claim no more right of the mountain. Never did, nor never will, our reli-
gion teach taking up of arms against our king, cruelty against superiors
and others; but, by the contrary, our religion teacheth a man to suffer
with and for Christ. It may be some cruel men may be among us, but
we look what we profess, and teach that men with meekness must suffer;
all this that I have said much concerneth us. If God will have no cruelty
to be taught nor reign where he loveth, see what a thing it is to be thus
cruel. If we be thus fierce and savage, let us not deceive ourselves, we
are not yet come to the mountain of God ; for, saith the prophet, ' They
shall not hurt nor destroy in all my holy mountain.'
Use 2. Now I come to the second use, /or exhortation. There is yet a
little of the lion and the bear remaining in every one of us, which shews
us to be not thoroughly renewed, yet I do not say that those who are
angry are not regenerate ; but I say, if this do rage and rule with us, all
is not safe and well. A good tree sometimes may have some bare or crab
stock on some side of the tree, that bears crabs, and yet the tree be good ;
but this must not be predominant. The apostle says, ' If there be divi-
sions and dissensions among you, are you not carnal ? ' 1 Cor. iii. 3. I
speak not of some little faults, — God help us ! in all our natures there is
much frailty, — but of such that rule in us. It is a wonder to see how un-
charitable many men are to censure others for every little fault, when
they themselves swallow down camels, I mean gross sins. Some man, for
refusal of riotous excess, though he be full of excellent parts, yet say they.
Such a one is a Puritan; and so again, if an honest man or woman fall by
infirmity into some sin, Oh, say some, lo, now his hypocrisy discovers
itself. Shall men be thus censured, as though perfection were on earth ?
This is far from covering thy brother's nakedness, this is far from
St Paul's rule, ' to restore such a one with the spirit of meekness,' Gal.
vi. 1. Beloved, God forbid that I should harden any man in sin; I speak
these things only that since a little of the bear and the lion will still be in
every one of us so long as we shall live in this world, let us learn to bear
one another's infirmities, otherwise if thou chafe, censure, brawl, and
chide still, I can give thee no comfort of thy state. Can such a one be
regenerate ? What ! is the bear, and the lion, and the wolf come among
us again ? To conclude, as abroad, so look to thy conversation at home,
among thy servants and friends ; take heed thy authority deceive thee not,
to think thou mayest set thy heart to raging and plotting envj' and strife,
THE TOUCHSTONE OF REGENERATION. 137
to be angry and chafing still. If sucli raging be at home in thy house, I
can give thee no comfort ; as thou wouldest look for the evidences of thy
lands, as certainly must thou look for this mildness, meekness, and this
change in thyself. Mark this still, when a good man hath found out his
sins, he is bound and doth lament for them ; when he hath offended, he
turneth the stream of his anger that way. So that, I say, if a man be
thus bitter of his tongue, look what St James saith of such a one : ' That
man's religion is in vain that cannot bridle his tongue,' James i. 26. * Be
not,' saith he, * my brethren, many masters ; for we have one Master,' &c.,
James iii. 1. If these contentions remain still among us, our stock yet
bears crabs ; we may suspect ourselves. But withal take with you this
caution, let not men think it cruelty to execute the justice of God upon
malefactors ; but if magistrates do it cruelly, let them look to it, they
shall dearly pay for it. The prophet David saith, Ps. ci. 1, 'I will sing
of mercy and judgment,' &c. So for war, I call not that cruelty to fight
God's battles ; but if any man without a commission will take up the sword,
he shall perish by the sword ; so Christ saith unto Peter, Mat. xxvi. 52.
This point is needful to be pressed still, because men cry Mercy, mercy ;
but, I say, judgment must be mingled ; for as there may be a cruel justice,
so there may be a cruel mercy, to suffer the lions to devour the sheep. We
must, hke God, temper them together, and make justice and mercy go
hand in hand, that so the God of mercy may deal with us as we with
others.
Thus you see what minds we must have if we look for an habitation in
God's holy mountain. God, for his Christ's sake, grant unto us this
tamedness and meekness, this thorough change of our cruel nature, that so
we may come unto the assurance to be of that number for whom Christ
died, seeing his Spirit hath wrought such an effectual, thorough change
in us.
NOTES.
(a) P. 136. — ' Ten thousand massacred at Labius,' &c. We have little doubt that
there is a misprint here, and that the reading should be, ' there were ten thousand
massacred ; at one jilace in Calabria eighty slain with one sword.' The first
reference we supi^ose to be to the massacre in Paris on St Bartholomew's Day, 1572.
Davila estimates the number slain in that city on that day at ten thousand. The
other reference we suppose to be to a massacre at Montalto, in Calabria, in 1560,
when eighty-eight men had their throats cut by one executioner.
(6) P. 136. — ' Garnet's part.' Cf. note ooo, "Vol. III. page 535. G.
THE DISCREET PLOUGHMAN.
THE DISCREET PLOUGHMAN.
NOTE.
' The Discreet Plougliman' forms No. 26 of ' The Saint's Cordials' of 1629. It was
■withdrawn from the other two editions. The separate title-page is given below.* — G .
* THE
D I S C K E E T
PLOWMAN.
In One Seemon.
WHEEEIN THE FRVITLES VA-
nity, and needlesse carking and vexing Cares of Gods
Children under the hand of God is reproved, and better Di-
rections given them what to doe :
Informing them for the time to come, how to attaine a more
speedy and easie end of their Afflictions.
Praelucendo Pereo.
Vpeightnes Hath Boldnes.
I AM E s 1. 4.
But let patience have her perfect worke, that ye may be perfect and intire, lacking
nothing.
I AM. 4. 10.
Humble your selves in the sight of God, and he shall lift you up.
LONDON,
Printed in the yeare 1629.
THE DISCREET PLOUGHMAN.
Give ye ear, and hear my voice ; hearken, and hear my speech. Doth the
2}loughman plough all day to soio ? doth he open and break the clods of his
ground ? When he hath made plain the face thereof, doth he not cast
abroad the fitches, and scatter the cummin, and cast in the princijml wheat,
and the appointed barley, and the rye, in their place ? For his God doth
instruct him to discretion, ayid doth teach him. For the fitches are not
thrashed with a thrashing-instrument, neither is a cart-ivheel turned about
upon the cummin ; but the fitches are beaten out with a staff, and the
cummin with a rod. Bread-corn is bruised ; because he ivill not ever be
thrashing it, nor break it with the wheel of his cart, nor bruise it with his
horsemen. This also cometh forth from the Lord of hosts, uhich is ivon-
derful in counsel, and excellent in working. — IsA. XXVIII. 23-29.
The drift of these words is to comfort God's children in afflictions ; and
because in such smarting crosses, when one is sorrowful, weak, taken up
and overpressed with grief, we are then unfit and incapable of instruction,
the anguish of the suffering destroying our attention ; he therefore says',
doubling it four times, ' Give ye ear,' ' hear my voice,' hearken ye,' and
' hear my voice ;' wherein he insinuates that the matter he is about to
dehver requires attention. As though he should say. You can hearken to
the world, to carnal reason, to the devil and his instruments, who lead you
astray ; but if you would have sound peace and comfort, you must hearken
unto God's word, because it is his voice, one who loves you, tenders* your
good, and does all things well.
Then he comes to the consolation, the sum whereof is, that none loseth
by God's afflictions, but rather they are gainers, and great gainers. This he
shews by two comparisons, both taken from a husbandman, who when he
hath sowed will not harrow it always, but will give every ground sufficient
labouring and manuring ; who will sow seed, and every seed, and fit seed,
in measure, time, and fit place. And then he shews, when God doth give
this discretion to a husbandman, how much more doth he abound therein,
who, John XV. 1, is called an husbandman; yea, he is the best husband-
man who knows times and seasons, when to begin and when to make an
end. This is the ground, as the wise husbandman's discretion teaches him
how, when, and how much to plough his ground, and when and what seed
* That is, ' cares for.' — G.
142 THE DISCREET PLOUGHMAN.
to SOW ; SO God is much more the greatest and wisest husbandman, who
knows when and how much to afflict us ; when to begin and when to make
an end ; when to sow, and how to make fruitful.
The second work of the husbandman is taken from the purging of his
grain, where he shews the labourer will take and use fit instruments to
cleanse it with. First, cummin, a cart-wheel is not turned about upon it ;
then, secondly, the fitches shall not be thrashed with a thrashing- instru-
ment. Thirdly, then the third he shews as having most need, shall have
the wheel to go over it ; yet he shews the wheel shall not always go over
it, nor break it so as to have any hurt by the pressm-e, for it shall lose
nothing thereby but the chaff.
Now having declared thus much, then he shews, this discretion of wisdom
in husbandry comes from the Lord of hosts, * who is wonderful in counsel,'
knowing with the height of deliberation and knowledge how to do all things.
And then ' excellent in working,' to make all things frame to a good, sweet,
seasonable, and happy end.
Before I come to the particulars, see in general he applies both compari-
sons to one and the same end, to evince* us of this great truth. As
Pharaoh had his vision and dreams of the seven ears and seven lean kine
doubled unto him, which two were but to confirm one thing that Pharaoh
must be assured of ; so here he deals in di'awing us the right way to find
comfort.
' Give ear, and hear my voice ; hearken, and hear my speech,' &c.
Doct. 1. Hence observe, the only ivay to quiet one's heart, and jiftcify one
in all distresses, is to hearken what God says. Therefore he goes over and
over with it, * give ear ;' * hearken,' and ' hear my voice,' for this shall
quiet your souls, and bring you much quiet and peace of mind. In afflic-
tions we toss, turmoil, and trouble ourselves more than we need. We cry
out, Oh, none were ever so vexed and crossed as we are ! and so say, Oh,
I shall never get an end of this cross ! this affliction will make an end of
me ! And then God comes to us to parley with us in this slumber, and
hath much ado to wake us. He loves us best, and shews us this is our
best way to find ease, to hear his voice.
Reasons, 1. First, Because God's word will work faith, which does purify
the heart, overcome the world, and quenches the fiery darts of Satan.
2. Secondly, It will teach a man wisdom, whence and why it comes, and
that struggling with God is in vain, and that in so doing we shall have the
worse. The greatest hurt of our crosses comes from passion and distemper ;
for if we put no more in crosses than God puts in, all should be well ; but
we put in other things, our own impatience, false fears, fretting, and carnal
reason, which makes this good purge of our heavenly Father's providing,
be so bitter and heavy unto us. This we should by all means strive
against, and make a good use of affliction, such as God would have and
intends.
3. Thirdly, It will be a means to work patience in the heart. All the
Scriptures are written to work patience in us ; for God would have us sub-
mit, and our proud hearts can hardly be brought to stoop. This is the
end of all.
4. Fourthly, If we hearken to God, this will make us go to God and
pray, and prayer will bring comfort and ease to the heart ere long ; but if
we hearken to the flesh, the further we run this way, the more we plunge
ourselves in misery. God, you know, bids us come to him, and says,
* That is, ' convince.' — G.
THE DISCKEET PLOUGHMAN. 143
Wait a while, and all shall be well ; he will come flying with deliver.ance
when the hour is come. Thus, if a man do pray and wait, he shall be
heart-whole quickly. What saith the apostle in this case ? Phil. iv. 7,
* And the peace of God, which passes all understanding, shall keep your
hearts and minds through Jesus Christ.' As though he should say, You
think the cross causes this disquietness, carking and caring ; but if you
trust, wait, and pray, you shall have quietness and ease in the most bois-
terous afflictions.
Use. The use hereof is, to take no more such unprqfitabte courses for com-
fort and ease in afflictions, as we have done in running to broken cisterns that
can hold no water. It is usual with us, when afflictions are great, and
pressing down, to complain, Oh, I have great crosses, never the like ; they
are beyond my strength ; God is against me, and these and these afflict
me. But the truth is, if we look to it, we may say. My folly, my pride,
my foolishness, distrust, unbelief, and our great* hearts, these be the
special causes that disquiets us. So that if we would have a quiet heart
in trouble, and a happy end of it, we must hearken to God. He loves us
as well in trouble as out of trouble, and there is a medicine in the word
against all troubles whatsoever. Then he asks,
' Doth the ploughman plough all day to sow ?' &c.
Doct. 2. Hence we see all God's children must he ploughed. All the
elect are compared to God's husbandry, all who must be ploughed and
humbled. To this the Lord exhorts them, Hos. x. 12, * Sow to yourselves
in righteousness, reap in mercy, break up your fallow ground,' &c. God
hath no heath nor brakes in his church but are or shall be ploughed ; they
shall at one time or other have deep furrows made in them; they shall go
whither they would not ; all must be taken down.
Reason. And there is great reason for it ; for naturally, all the elect of
God be as subject to that would cross and keep down the seed as others.
They have thorns and brambles growing, weeds of all sorts, which would
quickly mar them if they were not soundly ploughed. Job for this pur-
pose says that ' man new born is like an ass's colt ; nay, like a wild ass's
colt,' Job xi. 12. A tame ass might perhaps be ruled, but a wild ass's
colt, this is worst of all. So is man following his own reason, led by his
own affections, passions, desires, and actions. We would run riot, never
be tamed unless the Lord did plough us and cause us break up our fallow
ground. Even God's elect are foolish, worldly, covetous, full of envy,
lusts, passions, mistakings, ignorance, and the like. God's ploughing
helps all, tempers the ground better, digs out and keeps down the weeds,
and makes the seed to grow, which otherwise would be cropped and
destroyed. Thus, howsoever we may think of ourselves, and please our-
selves in a thing of nought, no corn is more apt to have weeds amongst it
than our hearts, unmastered, are unfit to bear or bring forth fruits of grace.
We would think a husbandman foolish and mad that would sow corn
amongst grass, where, having no root, it must rot, and not grow, the
ground being unploughed. So we must hold this judgment in ourselves ;
for unless our hearts be tamed, no good seed will grow or take root there.
To this effect our Saviour speaks : John xv. 2, ' Every branch in me that
beareth not fruit he taketh away ; and every branch that beareth fruit, he
purgeth it, that it may bring forth more fruit.' If God be a husbandman,
we shall be ploughed and pruned to make us be fruitful, lest we grow wild,
and so be only fuel for condemnation.
* That is = ' proud,'— G.
144 THE DISCBEET PLOUGHMAN.
The uses are,
Use 1. First, tiot to envy those xcho are not thorowjhly jjloiir/hed with afflic'
tions, for to admire the happiness of such, is no more than if a man should
pass through a barren heath, and say this is good gi'ound. I say no ; if
it were so, it should not lie unploughed. So we may fear of the state of
many wicked men ; unless they repent, they are not God's ; were they of
his husbandry they should be ploughed.
Use 2. Secondly, If we be of God's husbandry, and would be thought
so indeed, then t]iink tvo not the fiery trial of our ploughing to be a strange
new thing, that God should sometimes set so sore upon us and plough us to
our cost. If we would have an easier way, take the prophet's counsel,
' Plough up your fallow ground, and sow no more amongst thorns.' Oh,
but some may say, I read and pray, and go to sermons. Ay, but you sow
amongst thorns if thorns come up ; look to this. The husbandman will
plough indeed, but he will not sow amongst thorns. The church com-
plains, Ps. cxxix. 3, ' The ploughers ploughed upon my back, and they
made long their furrows.' Why did God suffer this ? They were ploughed
deep indeed, but had no hurt by it, but only ploughed them so as to be fit
and good ground. Because in her ploughing she ploughed short, and left
many balks and patches unploughed ; therefore when we plough not our-
selves as we should, it is a mercy of God to send us many ploughers. God
will plough us rather than we should be overtaken with sins. God will find
other means of afllictions to plough us. If, therefore, we plough ourselves
soundly, crosses when they come will not do us so much hurt. If we our-
selves be not guilty of neglect this way, afflictions when they come will be
nothing so weighty, or of continuance. It follows :
The first comparison.
' Doth he open and break the clods of his ground, when he hath made
plain the face thereof ?' &c. The sum is, as if he should say, I appeal to
your consciences, if you did see a husbandman ploughing and breaking the
clods of his ground, casting out rubbish and the like, would you imagine
he did spoil the ground, to break it up so always, and be still digging in
it ? Sure no. From our confession he would have it, that no husband-
man knows so well how to plough, dig, and when to make an end of plough-
ing and afflicting as he doth, whose infinite knowledge and skill is beyond
all others' knowledge, and therefore will make an end of ploughing his chil-
dren in the best time. Whereby we learn thus much,
Doct. 3. God xvill make a siveet and seasonable end of afflicting his chil-
dren. He doth correct us for our profit, that we may be partakers of his
holiness : for, as it is, Ps. cxxv. 3, ' The rod of the wicked shall not rest
upon the lot of the righteous, lest the righteous put forth his hand unto
iniquity.' Miseries and afllictions never rest till they meet with wicked
men ; but on the righteous they come as a sojourner, which comes to tarry
a while and so be gone ; it shall not rest on them. And why so ? Because,
if God did not help us betimes, we would either murmur, or use some ill
means to help ourselves. God will therefore make a good and seasonable
end of the afflictions of his children.
Ohj. Ay, but when will God will make an end of afflicting his servants ?
How shall it be known when he will make an end ?
Ans. Why, as husbandmen, when the clods lie high, bring the harrow
over the same, that the seed may spring through with the more ease ; and
when the weeds are ploughed and weeded out that would mar all, then he
■will make an end ; and then affliction shall cease when the ground is made
THE DISCREET PLOUGHMAN. 145
smootli and apt to bear and be fruitful in due season. Whence we may
observe this much,
Doct. 4. When the Lord hath made us plain, and hath fitted us with hearts
to receive good seed, then is the time of rest. If a man would plough in seed-
time, we would think this a foolish, unwise action. God's ploughing is
seasonable to cleanse and purge us, that we may have all fit helps to
enable us for his service, as it is written, Isa. xxvii. 9, ' By this there-
fore shall the iniquity of Jacob be purged, and this is all the fruit to take
away his sin,' &c.
Use. Therefore, if we would have a good and a speedy end of our crosses,
fears, and afflictions, if we would have rest, and God to make an end of
ploughing us, we must labour to be plain and even ground, to take down
the pride of our hearts and wills ; all high things, and everything which
exalts itself, must be cast down and laid low. Many of God's children yet
are weary, and suifering, and cry out. Oh when, when shall there be an
end ? In this case, I say, see in what fitness thy heart is brought to attend
upon the word, look in what measure it is engrafted in thy heart. When
we can hear the word with joy, and the stream of our endeavours is that
way, then we are near an end of our affliction ; when the ground is once
made plain and fit, then the hour is come.
What remains then ? When he hath made plain the face of the ground,
he will sow seed, and the fittest seed, and do it in measure with wisdom.
Whence observe :
Doct. 5. When God hath humbled us by his word, then he will furnish
and arm us with his word, and enable us tvith strength that ivay. This is a
difference betwixt his teaching of godly and wicked men : the one are
the better, and mend by it ; the other worse and worse ; for the godly,
with ploughing, he doth instruct and teach them, and make them pliable,
it being contrary with the wicked. Many heaths, you know, do meet with
streams and floods of water, and yet are nothing the better nor more fruit-
ful ; but God's arable, the saints, they are ploughed and instructed, as the
psalmist speaks : * Blessed is the man whom thou correctest, and teachest
in thy law,' &c., Ps. xciv. 12. To have the one without the other is
nothing, and does no good, but when correction and teaching go together,
then one sees all the good of affliction, and why God sent it upon him.
It is said in the Hebrews, that, * he scourgeth every son whom he receiveth :'
he corrects them, and convinces them of that evil by his word, of that sin
which brought such and such a misery upon them, and makes them ac-
knowledge God's justice in it. Conviction is this, when I bring evident
reasons unanswerable, for to prove that which I would bring another to
practise and believe. Now, we must acknowledge God's goodness unto us,
that gives us not the one without the other, not correction only, but his
word also to instruct and teach us. Hereby we know afflictions come from
God's love, when they make us in love with the word, and cleave unto it.
When we see a husbandman in a field ploughing, and one in a garden
digging, we hope for good corn, fine herbs and flowers ere long; so we may
say. Thus doth the Lord ; now he is a-ploughing and digging of my heart :
it is because he means to sow good seed, the seed of eternal life therein.
Now, understand thou therefore by afflictions, when God is the husbandman,
and afflictions the seed, there must come a good crop of it ; God will make
it multiply and increase abundantly to our comfort, whatsoever the diffi-
culties be which may seem to hinder the growth of it. The reason hereof
is added in the next place.
VOL. VII. K
146 THE DISCREET PLOUGHMAN. •
' For his God doth instruct him to discretion, and doth teach him.'
Whence, in brief, learn we thus much :
Voct. 6. Skill 171 hushandry is the gift of God, wisdom must come from him.
' Every good gift, and every perfect gift,' says James, ' is from above, and
Cometh down from the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness, nor
shadow of turning,' James i. 17. So, in other deep things, wherein we
have ability to discourse of, know, and practise, let us give God the praise.
Usually we are prone to sacrifice to our own nets, to magnify nature in our
actions which we do wisely ; but, know we, all is of God. If we did
believe this, we would never be proud of our skill, and wit, and whatsoever
gifts, but labour rather to use it to God's glory, and the good of others.
Now comes
The second comparison.
' For the fitches are not threshed with a threshing instrument, neither is
a cart wheel turned about upon the cummin,' &c. Hence see,
Doct. 7. All God's grain needs threshing and ploughing ; and as they need
it, so they shall have it. There is no husbandman but he sends his corn
to the mill ; wheat, or barley, and all sorts of grain must be purged and
winnowed, ere it be useful and serviceable unto us. And whereas he speaks
of divers grains, some more useful and excellent than others, this shews
that some be of more excellent degree in the church than others. But the
sum is, that all the best corn hath chafi", and all shall and must be purged,
which shall ever be of use to God's service, and the good of others, as
Zech. xiii. 9. All God's third must be purged and passed through the
fire. As the best gold and silver hath dross in it, which must be purged
and refined, so the best Christians must be melted, in a manner, and tried;
but he shews they shall lose nothing by afflictions but the dross and chaff",
which shall be purged out, during which trial as he brings them into the
fire, so he will be with them in it, and bring them through it in safety.
Again,
; It is said, 'Bread corn is bruised, because he will not ever be threshing
it.' This shews,
Doct. 8. The best grain shall have the sorest trial, and hardest pressure.
So God proportions answerable crosses to our strength, and no further.
The rest have not such manner of usage. The fitches are not threshed
with a threshing instrument, but are beaten with a staff" ; neither is a cart
wheel turned about upon the cummin, but beaten with a rod ; but the
wheat must have the wheel go on it. The meaning is an allusion unto that
manner of the ancient Jews in treading their wheat, as appears by that
precept, ' Thou shalt not muzzle the mouth of the ox or the ass that treadeth
down thy corn,' Deut. xxv. 4, for then the oxen, drawing a wheel over the
wheat, did so bruise it, but not break it. So the best Christians and
patriarchs have been visited with sore and hard trials. Jacob, even after
the blessing, how grievous crosses and afflictions endured he ! how was he
tossed and tumbled up and down ! Alas, saith the prophet, speaking of a
great calamity, ' it is a time of great trouble, there is none like it : it is like
the time of Jacob's trouble ; yet he shall be delivered,' Jer. xxx. 7. And
Abraham, the friend of God, had many, and sore afflictions. The prophets
also, you know how they had all their several crosses in life, many in life
and death. Jeremiah complains of his persecutors, which were many.
Holy David, a man of sorrows all his lifetime, how was he vexed with
variety of crosses, one after another ! What shall I say of Job, the mirror
of patience, and his many sorrows ? And the apostles, were they not the
THE DISCKEET PLOUGHMAN. 147
chiefest men next unto Christ ? and yet all destinate to sore and great
afflictions and trials, so that the nearer they were unto him, the greater
were their afflictions.
Reason. And that because God thereby doth humble us and make us
heavenly-minded, and keeps us low, for if God did not thus put water
amongst our wine, and now and then give us vinegar and wormwood to
drink, we would have been proud, and lifted up above measure : as we read
of Paul, he was buffeted, and had a prick in the flesh to keep him under,
2 Cor. xii. 7. For, as the main posts and beams of a house are laid forth
a long time ere they be used, endure many winds, storms, and tempests,
lest, being unseasoned, they should warp, bear no weight, and shrink,
marring the building, so God's warriors, the main posts of his spiritual
building, if not seasoned with winds and tempests of afflictions, they would
grow to ease and pomp, to abound in vanity. Therefore, that they may
bear weight, and not warp or shrink, but hold out, Paul, a chosen vessel,
what shall be told him ? Why, this, ' I will tell him what he shall suff'er
for my name's sake,' saith our Lord, Acts ix. 16.
Use. The use hereof, briefly, is thus much, to reform our judgments, to be
comforted, not to he dismayed, nor condemn ourselves or others because of great
afflictions. The afflictions of wicked men make them more proud ; but
what afflictions bring out more prayers, and drive us nearer to God, these
are happy afflictions. ' It is good for me,' saith David, ' that I have been
afflicted, for thereby I have learned thy law,' Ps. cxix. 71. When we are
come thus far, then we shall be no more bruised. He knows how to deliver
his own out of temptation, and how to moderate the cross when they have
been humbled, and make a speedy and a seasonable end, even of great
crosses. As a wise husbandman knows when to stay the wheel of his cart,
when the wheat is, and when it is not, enough bruised ; as he is careful of
the treading and bruising, so is he also of rest and ease, the work being
done ; much more so is the Lord careful of his spiritual husbandry,
not to overdo, but to give his children sufficient ploughing, in measure,
and not beyond measure. Oh, but some for all this cry out, Oh, I have
been long afflicted, things are worse and worse, I see no hope of any end ;
the more I pray, all is one, no deliverance comes, I grow more impatient,
not able to hold out. Sure, if this cross continue thus and thus, it will
make an end of me. Oh the foolishness of flesh and blood ! What is the
matter ? Knowest thou in whose hands thou art ? Look about thee, unto
the experience and confession of all the saints, and unto which of them
canst thou turn thee, who have not been the better by their afflictions, and
come forth as the gold, as Job assured himself he should before his deUvery,
Job xxiii. 10. Look upon^them, and see what end the Lord made. This
is as much as for thee to say, the Lord is an ill husbandman ; he can,
indeed, tread his corn, but he knows not when it is enough bruised, or he
is careless of it, indifferent whether it be broken or spoiled, or what come
of it. Oh take heed, know thou^that thy God, who gives the husbandmen
all their discretion, much more doth he know the best time and fittest for
thy deliverance. Which is now the nest point to speak of.
' Bread corn is bruised, because he will not ever be threshing it, nor
break it with the wheels of his cart, nor bruise it with his horsemen.' The
point is this,
Doct. 9. God almighty knows best, and he appoints what shall he the
means, time, and measure of the trials of his children. He knows what is
the fittest instrument to purge his grain with. The husbandman, he knows
148 THE DISCREET PLOUGHMAN.
the fittest instruments to purge his corn with : ' The fitches are beaten with
a staff, and the cummin with a rod, the wheel going over the wheat;' much
more God will have the fittest rod, to do all in love, and for our good.
Thus he corrects all he loves. I note this so much the more, because, in
a gi'eat cross we are ready to fly out, and say, Oh, if it had been any cross,
any trouble but this, I could have borne it, but oh, this, this, I know not how
to benr it. Why, what's the matter ? Know, none was so good or fit for
thee as this. Might the patient appoint the potion or plaster to be applied
and taken, it is like he might perish, or the wound rot ; he would endure
no corrosive to eat out the proud* and dead flesh, nor anything to make him
sick, and purge out his bad humours. So, if we might have what instru-
ment or cross we list to appoint, our corruptions would never be mastered
and cured. If a child should see his father use the wheel to bruise and
fit the wheat for purging and winnowing, and should come and say, Father,
why do you use this instrument? this were better; would not we judge such
a one to be a foolish, rash child, and that a frivolous, idle question ?
Surely so is the case with us, when we cry out, Oh, were it any other instru-
ment, or any other cross but this, I could bear it. No ; thou deceivest
thyself; we cannot, without him, bear the least, and supported by his
strength, we shall be able to bear the greatest. Job had many and strong
crosses, and many creatui'es against him, — the Sabeans, Chaldeans, wind,
and fire from heaven, — yet he would not do them that credit, as to think
or say, it was the Sabeans or Chaldeans that destroyed his substance, but
this, ' The Lord giveth, and the Lord taketh, blessed be the name of the
Lord,' Job i. 21.
Use. The use hereof is. Since the Lord himself appoints the instrument,
time, measure, and ending of our afllictions, therefore never fear, ive shall
not be overpressed or overborne by them, as Isa. xxvii. 8, ' In measure he
will contend with us, he stayeth his rough wind in the day of his east wind' ;
and Job xxxiv 23, it is said, ' He will not lay upon man more than right,
that he should enter into judgment with God ;' and the apostle says, 1
Peter i. 6, that ' these afflictions are but for a season (if need be), otherwise
we should not be in heaviness through manifold temptations.' Therefore,
always think and be persuaded of this, that his instrument is the best.
Every one shall be beaten with the fittest rod, and not too long nor too
much. He who is able to make a good and a hoh' use of a former afflic-
tion, having his ground made plain and fit for good seed, he shall have the
cross mitigated or removed, with a comfortable issue of all his troubles.
But how shall all this be made good ? What assurance may we have of
this discreet and seasonable ploughing, in time, measure, and continuance,
we having so many enemies without us, and corruptions within us ? ' This
also cometh forth from the Lord of hosts, which is wonderful in counsel,
and excellent in working.' From hence we observe,
Doct. 10. God, in the chastisements, trials, and afflictions of his elect, hath
wonderful wisdom and power beyond onr wulerstandiny. He knows not only
which is the best way to lead us to heaven, but also he is excellent in work-
ing, to bring his counsel to pass. See it in examples. As in Joseph,
appointed to be the greatest save Pharaoh in all Egypt. First, he is sold
for a slave. Secondly, acciTsed falsely by his mistress ; so cast into prison,
that for a long time, as it is Ps. cv. 18, ' the iron entered in his feet, until
the Lord's time was come.' What meant God thus to suffer an innocent
man to be wronged and disgraced ? He was * wonderful in counsel ' all
* That is 'inflamed'— G.
THE DISCREET PLOUGHMAN. 149
this while. One might think at first that counsel was darkened without
knowledge ; but, indeed, this affliction was the best means for him, as upon
stairs, to climb up to his preferment. Besides all this, while in the prison,
God so tamed him that he bare all patiently. He could not have come to
ihis honour, nor borne it as became him, unless the Lord had first thus
ploughed him. So David, after he was anointed king, in a state of
honour, and all pomp and pleasure, how was he vexed and ploughed with
many crosses ? In all likelihood he lived a much better and quieter life
when he was a shepherd. What means was this to raise him, to be so
afflicted ere he came to it ? He was humbled and acquainted with God
by these trials, which drove him to prayer, to believe, trust, and wait upon
God ; and then, all these were helps to fit and enable him for his kingdom.
So at Ziklag, his wives and] all his goods were taken away ; the flesh had
a bout,* he wept till he could weep no more ; yet then was God excellent in
working ; Saul was overthrown within a while ; and the Amalekites, having
much goods together, he asked counsel of God, being but four hundred men,
and overtook, overthrew them, and had a great spoil, being able to send
presents and rewards to all his men. So that which was at first a strange
and uncouth thing, a most grievous cross, was turned into a very great
blessing. So God was wonderful in counsel, to put all their store in his
possession ; secondly, he was excellent in working, his enemies had no
heart to withstand him.
Use. The use is, therefore, to he patient, because in all troubles and afflic-
tions 'he is wonderful in counsel;' and all his works are beautiful in time,
which we shall see when both ends of the cross shall meet ; and though
we see not which way things shall be eiiected, yet he is infinite in wisdom.
If we will but be quiet, stand still, and see his salvation, we shall see a
wonderful issue, if we wait in patience.
Obj. Oh but, say some, they come, I know, from God ; but I cannot
bear this cross, I see no fruit of the working thereof upon me.
Ans. I say. Yet stay a while ; as it is true his physic always works at
length, so it is as true that he is not bound it shall work by and by at all
times. Perhaps this is not good for thee ; yet know, that as he is ' wonder-
ful in counsel,' so he is also ' excellent in working.' We give counsel
many times, and cannot make the party follow it ; but God can, he hath
power, and wisdom, and will abundantly ; he who gives the purge, can
cause it work to purpose ; he who applies the plaster, can make it cure
and heal, and in the best time ; therefore we must be comforted in all our
troubles with these considerations.
Lastly, to conclude, where he says, ' This also comes forth from the
Lord of hosts,' thereby he shews,
Doct. 11. That nothing can stay him from ivorklng, to hinder our comfort
and deliverance in due time. Why ? IBecause ' he is Lord of hosts,' and
all the creatures are his soldiers at command, and must do what he will,
as, Isa. liv. 16, he most excellently shews, that no weapon without him
shall prosper to hurt his people : ' For,' saith he, ' behold I have created
the smith that bloweth the coals of the fire, and that bringeth forth an
instrument for his work, and I have created the water f to destroy;' there-
fore he overrules all things to work for our good, so as we shall have a
seasonable, happy, and blessed end to all our afflictions. Oh, if we could
believe this, how happy were it for us ! — that God is the Lord of hosts,
that the devil is chained up, and all the creatures, from hurting us, till he
* That is, ' round ' = turn.— G. t Q^i- ' waster '?— Ed.
150 THE DISCREET PLOUGHMAN.
arm them with his power against us ; that he is a fiery wall about us, and
hath hedged us, and all that we have, about ; that he loves us, pities us,
delights not in chastising and afflicting us ; that he doth it not willingly,
but enforced, in a manner, for our good ; and that all the while, as the
prophet Isaiah speaks, ' he waits to have mercy upon us,' Isa. xxx. 18,
having a certain appointed time for our deliverance. This, I say, being
believed, would help to carry our heads above water, in all the tempestu-
ous waves of our afflictions, so as to expect and hope for the accomplish-
ment of this divine scripture : that, as the ploughman will not plough all
the day to sow, &c., no more will our all-sufficient, only wise God; but
will make a happy and comfortable end of his spiritual husbandry, in the
best and fittest time, to the everlasting comfort and salvation of his
children.
THE MATCHLESS MERCY.
THE MATCHLESS MERCY.
NOTE.
' Matchless Mercy' forms No. 22 of the original ' Saint's Cordials,' 1629. It was
not included in the after-editions. Its separate title-page will be found below.*
G.
* THE
MATCHLES
MEECIE.
In One Seemon.
WHEREIN IS SHEWED
the Excellency and wonder of Divine Mercy in par-
doning and subduing of sinne in us.
WITH THE REASONS WHICH
may induce the soule to beleeve and ap-
prehend the same.
Prgolucendo Pereo.
Vpeightnes Hath Boldnes.
PsAL. 144. 9, 10.
The Lord is gracious and full of compassion, slow to anger, and of great mercy.
The Lord is good to all, and his tender mercies are over all his workes.
LONDON,
Printed in the yeare 1629.
THE MATCHLESS MERCY.
Who is a God like unto thee, that pardoneth iniquit;/, and passclh by trans-
gression of the remnant of his heritage ? he retaineth not his anger for ever,
because he delighteth in mercy. He will turn again, he will have compassion
upon us ; he will sicbdue our iniquities : and thou wilt cast all their si7is
in the depth of the sea. Thou wilt perform the truth to Jacob, and the
mercy to Abraham, ivhich thou hast sworn unto our fathers from the daijs
ofold.—MiCAB. VII. 18-20.
The drift and scope of this place is to shew God's infinite and constant
mercies unto his children, who are tossed and tumbled in a world of
miseries of this life, sometimes being altogether void of comfort and the
sense of God's love ; and this is two ways propounded :
1, In the benefits they receive ; 2, in the reasons moving unto the same.
The benefits he promiseth are in number two :
1, Justification by the blood of Christ ; 2, sanctification by his Spirit.
Now, this justification is set forth, for our better understanding, by divers
arguments :
1. He shews what he will take away, viz..
First, He says he will take away original sin, in these words, ' pardoneth
iniquity.'
Secondly, He sheweth that he will take away our rebellion in these words,
' and passeth by transgression.' In sum, he sheweth that he will take away
both the root and the fruits of sin.
2. He sheweth the fruits of this justification in this, what he will
pass by.
' He passeth by the transgression of the remnant of his heritage.' The
sum is, he will both forgive and forget. The original, in the time present,
thus reads it, 'taking away,' arguing and shewing a continual act of God,
even a continual act of mercy in him ; implying, that as there is a con-
tinual spring of original corruption in us, which staineth all our best
actions, making us continually liable to the wrath of God, so that in him
there is a continual spring of mercy flowing from him, both to pardon and
wash away this iniquity («).
And now having shewed this benefit of justification, in the next place
he Cometh to describe the persons who shall obtain this great favour two
ways :
154 THE MATCHLESS MERCY.
1, They are but a remnant; 2, they are God's heritage.
Now, before he come unto the other benefit of sanctification, he answereth
two objections :
Olj. First, "Whereas some poor souls may object, "What ! how can this
be ? Is God such a God who pardoneth iniquity, and passeth by the
same ? I find my sins to lie heavy and sore upon me ; they accuse me
day and night, and they pursue me.
Ans. To this he answers, True it is God is forced to take notice of your
sins, to let them accuse you, to curb and keep you in. If we will not take
notice of our sins, then God must do the same. Yet, saith he, for your
comfort rejoice, he * retaineth not his anger for ever;' be patient a while,
and you shall see deliverance, it is for your good that you are thus
afflicted.
Obj. Ay, but here, because the afflicted soul may again object. But I am
not only troubled with outward crosses and afflictions, but also many inward
tentations do assail me ; I have committed sins of knowledge and presump-
tion since my calling; I have trespassed against my enlightening, grieved
the Spirit, I have forced God to depart from me ; this seemeth hard, to be
without the favour of God.
Ajis. To this he answereth. It is true : God, to your thinking, seemeth to
be gone from you. Ay, but despair not, stay your mind in peace a while ;
he hath but turned away his face for a little, he will turn again, he will have
compassion upon you, &c. Though he correct and humble you for a while,
yet you shall have a joyful issue of all. Now, having propounded this first
mercy of our justification, he cometh to,
2. The second benefit, of sanctification, and it is amplified by two
degrees :
1, In this life; 2, in the life to come.
For the first he says, ' He will subdue our iniquities ;' that is, though
at first we were sinful, ruled and overruled by our sins, yet now, when God
cometh unto us thus in justification, working sanctification, he says he
will subdue them; that is, by little and little he will master them, so that
the force and power of them shall be taken away.
Secondly, He sheweth that all the sins of those whom he subdueth he
■will throw into the bottom of the sea. To understand which we must call
to mind a history of former times, which is, that the Lord will deal with
our sins as sometimes he did with the temporal enemies of his people.
When Pharaoh and his army pursued them, the Lord did overthrow the
chariots and horsemen of Egypt, and drowned them in the bottom of the
sea; unto which the Spirit of God alludeth here, that he will, for assur-
ance's sake, for ever drown all our sins ; so that, as the Lord said to Moses,
' The Egyptians whom ye have now seen, ye shall not see any more,'
Exod. xiv. 13; so here the Lord saith, that our sins, which vexed us, we
shall never hereafter see any more, for he will drown all our sins from out
of his sight; they shall never any more either vex us or grieve him, they
shall be all cast into the bottom of the sea.
Now, the reasons moving God are taken from his nature :
1, From his mercy; 2, from his truth, aided with four reasons thereof.
For the first he saith, for mercy pleaseth him, or, ' he delighteth in
mercy.'
For the second, of God's truth, because above all things we are full of
infidelity, and hardly believe this, therefore he strengtheneth and confirmeth
it with divers other reasons.
THE MATCHLESS MERCY. 155
First, From antiquity. It is an ancient truth, even from the days of old,
so that a thing of so ancient a truth must needs be beheved.
Secondly, From the often repetition thereof: * to Abraham, Isaac, and
Jacob.' So that a truth that hath been so often repeated, must needs be
true.
Thirdly, It is a truth confirmed by many witnesses, even a truth known
of all our fathers ; so that must needs be true which is confirmed by such
a cloud of witnesses.
Fourthly, If all this will not serve, yet he says that ' God hath sworn
it.' It is as true as God's truth; so that better it were that all the world
should fail, than God should fail of his truth. And therefore, if we will
needs keep and observe our oaths, much more must God. It stands him
to defend his truth. Thus far of the opening and meaning of the words ;
now let us come to the instructions rising from hence.
And first, in that we see in the coherence of the text, he cometh in, as it
were in a triumph, challenging all the powers in heaven and earth, angels and
devils, with admiration, crying, 'Who is a God like unto thee,' &c., we learn
that,
I)oct. 1. There is none so merciful as God. So the Lord speaketh,
Isa. xlix. 13, ' Can a woman forget her child, and not have compassion
upon the son of her womb ? Though they should forget, yet will not I
forget thee,' &c. He sheweth here that all natural compassion is nothing
to that great care God hath of us. So Ps. ciii. 13, 'As a father hath
compassion on his children, so the Lord hath compassion on them that
fear him.' So also we may see the same practised by examples. For at
first when Adam had forfeited his estate, flying away out of God's presence,
yet we see God cometh, and findeth him out, then forgives his sin, and
lastly, comforts him in the promise of the blessed seed, Gen. iii. 15. And for
the loss of a paradise upon earth, he bringeth him to a far more glorious
and eternal paradise in heaven. So Saul, Acts ix. 3, et seq.,^ going unto
Damascus in fury and rage to persecute the saints, we see Christ he comes
unto him, finds him out, lovingly reasons the matter with him, and for-
gives him, sending him unto the means of his final conversion. Thus as
of sins of nature, so of sins after regeneration, we may see the like. When
David had sinned in adultery and murder, before he could half make con-
fession of his sin, the Lord he meets him as it were half way, and pardon-
eth his sin, putteth it quite away from his sight, imputeth not the same
unto him ; so that we may justly cry out also with this prophet, ' Who is
a God like unto thee ?' &c. The reasons are divers.
Reason 1. First, Because mercy is God's nature. It is his name, even
an attribute as infinite as himself. And he himself being infinite for
measure, infinite in continuance, so his mercy must needs be as infinite as
himself. .
Reason 2. Secondly, Because all creatures in heaven and earth have their
mercy by derivation from this mercy of God. In him it is his nature, _ in
us derived, as a drop to the ocean, from him ; so is all our mercy nothing
else but a drop of his infinite mercy : so that he is merciful above all.
Reason 8. Thirdly, Because mercy in God is free, without any cause m
us moving him to the same. In us mercy and love is still procured by
something in the party we love. In God it is not so, for he loveth freely,
without any moving cause in us : so that his mercy is over all his works.
Use. The use is. Is it so that mercy is God's nature, is an infinite
essence, is free in him ? Why then, in all distresses, let us come running freely
156
THK MATCHLESS MERCY.
unto him, and reaching out the hand of faith, let us confidently promise
unto ourselves whatsoever mercies the best child hath ever found from the
most kind and tender-hearted father and mother ; for it is certain, if we
come unto God, and have a good conceit of his mercy, and of the infinite
immensible* depth, and length, and breadth, and height thereof, that we
shall return from the throne of grace filled with a great measure of this
mercy.
As the prodigal son, before he resolved to go unto his father, he had
first a good conceit of him by a secret comparison and unequals, — ' Oh,'
saith he, ' how many hired servants are at my father's, and have bread
enough, and I die for hunger ! therefore, I will rise, and go to my father,'
&c., Luke XV. 17, — even so we come unto God very often with small com-
fort. Why ? Because we have not a high conceit of God's attributes';
we judge of him like unto ourselves, and so we speed for the most part,
departing as we came. And I pray you, if our children should lament,
weep unto us, and bemoan themselves, would not we pity them ? What
pride then is this in us, to think better of ourselves than of God ? If we
be thus merciful, is not he much more merciful unto his children, since
all our mercy is but a small drop of his infinite mercy ? It was a good
speech uttered by Benhadad, though a heathen man, who because of a
flying report he had, that the kings of Israel were merciful, did humble
himself in sackcloth, and found mercy ; so, I say, if Ahab, a wicked man,
upon this was merciful to Benhadad, though with his own destruction, how
much more, do we think, doth God exceed in mercy ? So many of us
want comfort, because we will not go unto him for mercy ; and therefore
also do we want comfort even of our dearest friends, because God would have
us run unto him, call earnestly for his mercy, be so much the more desirous
thereof, and be acquainted with him.
Now, in the second place, where he beginneth to reckon up what this
mercy is, first he sheweth that he pardoneth iniquity, which is remission
of sins ; where the doctrine is,
Doct. 2. lliat it is the mercy of all mercies to have our sins forgiven, to
have them covered, buried, and done quite away. Now there be many
reasons to prove this, that it is the mercy of mercies to have our sins
forgiven.
Reason 1. First, Because other mercies reprobate men may have, as an
abstinence from some sins ; a show of sanctification, some outward gifts of
the Spirit, &c., but this mercy none can have but the elect.
Reason 2. Secondly, Because this benefit is the chiefest fountain which
flowed from Christ's blood : ' He hath loved us, and washed away our sins
with his own blood.'
. Reason 3. Thirdly, Because it bringeth unto us the happiest fruits and
benefits here and hence ; for, first, here ; by this we are at peace with God,
yea, in a more perfect peace than God had with Adam before his fall.
Secondly, by this we have peace of conscience. When God favours us,
then our conscience favours us, and all is at peace when once we are
sprinkled with the blood of Christ. Thirdly, he hath peace with all the
creatures, even in league with the beasts of the field, as Job speaketh : so
also for the world to come.
Reason 4. Fourthly, This brings us to an everlasting peace in heaven,
making us to be able that we may stand in the great day of his appearance
without fear, as also now it is no small benefit, that God with forgiveness
* That is, ' unmeasurable,' — G.
THE MATCHLESS BIERCY. 157
of sins healeth the nature of his children, that sin and Satan shall never
have their former dominion over them.
Use 1. Since, then, we see this is so great a benefit and mercy to have
our sins forgiven, it must teach all of us earnestly to prize it, since such are
so blessed who have their sins forgiven. The means is, to pray often and
earnestly for the forgiveness of the same ; to confess them often, and to
appeal often to that payment which Christ liath already made for us ; for
if we come to confess our sins before God, we come but to get an
acquittance of that debt which Christ hath formerly paid for us.
Use 2. Secondly, It is comfort unto such who have been sorry and
grieved for their sins, who have got power against them, to be thankful for
such deliverances, yea, to be thankful for all crosses in the mean time, for
all such following crosses are but as wholesome medicines to cure our souls
from our sins, that we may have our corruptions and the cry of sins
removed. This is a great cause to rejoice, as Ps. ciii. 1, ' Praise the
Lord, 0 my soul, and all that is within me praise his holy name ; which
forgiveth all thy sins,' &c.
Ohj. But here the trembling soul may object. Oh, but I am sinful, and
full of sins !
Ans. What then, if thou believe in Christ he hath paid all. Imagine
two men did owe one of them a hundred thousand pounds, the other a
small sum, having one surety for both, may not a man demand the hun-
dred thousand of the party, as well as the little sum ? Even so I say, it
is all one to Christ thy surety, to pay thy great debts as well as thy small
ones, if thou come unto him.
Obj. Ay, but here the trembling soul may object again. But I am a
daily sinner, I sin again and again, how then shall I be sure to be still
forgiven ?
Ans. To this the Lord answereth, as it is in the original, in the present
number, 'passing by iniquity,' arguing a constant, continual act in God of
forgiving {b). He is more ready, saith he, to forgive than you to sin ; as
there is a continual spring of wickedness in you, so there is a greater spring
of mercy in God. It is not, as many think, that God expects that after
regeneration we should sin no more ; no, he looks but that still we should
be a-cleansing our bodies and souls, that we should still come unto him for
new assurance. God he cleanseth us not like unto a cistern, which filleth*
not again, but like unto a vessel that will fill* again, and so must still be
emptied and filled, until it break by dissolution.
Use 3. It is for imitation. Is God thus merciful unto us, and ready to
forgive ? Why, then, we must labour to be like God, and merciful one to
another.
Obj. Oh, but my enemy hath a spring of evils against me.
Ans. And I answer. But God hath a greater spring of mercy to forgive
thee. Oh ! but it is great ! Oh ! but God hath forgiven us much more.
And yet further, as St Luke saith, It is a matter of great credit to for-
give, Luke vi. 35, for thereby we are declared to be the children of our
heavenly Father. It is also matter of comfort for us, for if we forgive, so
shall we also be forgiven. If a poor man had a few shiUings owing him,
and he did owe the king many thousand pounds, were not he, think you,
a mad man, that would not forgive the shillings to have the many thousand
pounds forgiven him? Even so, we all owe many thousand pounds unto
God; we must then forgive our shillings, that he may forgive our pounds.
* Qu. ' fouleth ' and ' foul ' ?— Ed.
158 THE MATCHLESS MERCY.
And thus we see how the poor, as well as the rich, may be merciful even
to forgive wrongs, to love for hatred, and the like.
Having thus shewed you both what God doth forgive in the wonder of
forgivenness of sins by a more wonderful mercy, and also how he doth for-
give, none being like unto him, now he cometh to describe,
Tlie persons who shall enjoy these great benefits ; and first, he calleth
them God's heritage ; whence learn,
Doct. 3. 'Hud God in a ivondeiful and special manner respecteth his heritage,
the proof whereof, I need not stand upon it, is evident enough, and known
both by his working since the creation, and in our time of the gospel. I
come to reasons thereof.
Reason 1. First, Because they are God's purchase; for, whereas the
elect forfeited all their estates, he hath again purchased them by the blood
of Christ. The rest of the world are none of his. If we then do make
much of our purchases, much more will God do with his. This is the
reason, because God hath paid a full and a valuable price for them all.
Reason 2. Secondly, Because of his providence, in that he keepeth a
continual watch over them, as it is Isa. xxvii. 3 ; there the Lord saith, ' I
the Lord do keep it, I will water it every moment ; lest any hurt it, I will
keep my vineyard night and day.' Again, he speaketh, John xv. 2, to
same purpose, 'Every branch that beareth fruit, he purgeth it, that it
may bring forth more fruit.'
Reason 3. Thirdly, Because he dwelleth amongst his church, and there-
fore he will have a special care of his own heritage, to do them all manner
of kindnesses.
1^. Use 1. The uses are. Since, therefore, the Lord is so ready, present, and
■willing to defend and prune his heritage, 1. We must labour to be fruitful
unto him with some proportionable obedience, as Heb. vi. 7, 8. We see
good ground will be fruitful and drink in the rain, and receiveth therefore
a blessing from God ; but that which bringeth forth thorns and briers is
rejected, being nigh unto cursing and burning. It is no strange thing to
Bee brambles and thistles in a heath, but to see such weeds in a watered
garden of good ground were more than strange. So let us look to it, and
be sure, that now, when God hath bestowed much cost upon us, he looketh
for some answerable fruits.
Use 2. Secondly, It is matter of comfort unto us, that since God always
dwelleth with his heritage, he therefore sees all our sorrows and cares ;
and because of this his abode, for this cause the church shall stand, because
he loveth his dwelling-place ; yea, though all the power of hell should be
turned loose, yet they shall not hurt the church of God; yea, though their
sin draw down judgments upon them, yet they shall not rest upon them for
ever.
In the second place, we see the persons are described by calling them
' a remnant,' ' a little flock,' whence the point is,
Doct. 4. That the people of God be but a remnant in regard of the wicked,
even like the gleanings of the corn, a small company, which is a cause they
are so despised of the world. Whereof the uses are.
Use 1. First, We must not be discouraged though we see few go with us
in the way to heaven. Many are ready to object and cavil against such,
but few are ready to profess and suffer with them ; yet, let all such who
walk forward with the multitude, remember they are but a remnant which
shall be saved.
Use 2. Secondly, Is it so, that this small remnant is so opposed and
THE MATCHLESS MERCY. 159
scoffed at? Why then, let us labour so much the more to love and make
much one of another, and thus we shall be assured to do more good, than
all the power of hell can procure hurt unto us. The devil he labours to
sow sedition amongst us ; but by love we shall overcome all. The church
hath ever received more hurt by discord, than by open enemies.
Having thus described the parties on whom these great mercies shall be
bestowed, now he proceedeth to prevent* an objection of some troubled
Bouls, which might arise from the former doctrine.
Obj. You say that God is thus, and thus, and thus merciful,'^yet I feel
him scourge me often and long together for my sins ; I am sure he seems
to be angry for the time.
Ans. To this he answereth, *He retaineth not his anger for ever.'
Whence the doctrine ariseth,
Doct. 5. That the afflictions of God's children shall have a seasonable and a
speedy end. The Lord he knoweth best when it is good to begin, and when
to make an end ; so the Lord speaketh, Isa. liv. 7, ' For a small moment
have I forsaken thee, but with great mercies will I gather thee ; in a little
wrath I hide my face from thee for a moment, but with everlasting kind-
ness will I have mercy on thee, saith the Lord thy redeemer.' So saith
the psalmist, 'Heaviness may come in the morning, but joy cometh in the
evening,' Ps. xxx. 5. The reasons whereof be divers.
Beason 1. The first is taken out of Lam. iii. 33, 'Because the Lord doth
not afflict willingly, nor grieve the children of men.' He doth it not to
hurt us, but to mend us and make us come unto him, otherwise we would
not come.
;; Beason 2. Secondly, Because we, having such a sure friend in the court
of heaven, even Christ Jesus, to make intercession for us at the right hand
of the Father, it is not possible but our afflictions should have a seasonable
end ; for if the church, having Esther, so sure a friend in the court of
Ahasuerus, found by her so speedy and true dehverance, much more shall
the church now, by the intercession of Christ, obtain deliverance from the
court of heaven.
Beason 3. Thirdly, We shall have speedy and seasonable deliverance
from afflictions, because by afflictions we gain instruction. This leadeth
us to humiliation and confession of sins, and then the Lord having bound
himself by promise and oath, it is not possible but we must have deliver-
ance. He cannot choose but be merciful. Whereof the ground is, that,
look how soon God hath his end, which. is our unfeigned humiliation, con-
fession, and amendment of Hfe, instantly we have also our end, which is
deliverance.
Beason 4. Fourthly, They shall have speedy and seasonable deliverance,
because he correcteth them only for their profit; lest, therefore, they should
faint and mourn under the burden, he will and hath promised to hasten
help, as the psalmist speaketh : ' The rod of the wicked shall not always
rest upon the just, lest the wicked oppress and triumph over him.' Ex-
cellently also to this purpose doth the Lord speak, Isa. Ivii. 16, 'I will not
contend for ever, neither will I always be wroth : for the spirit shall fail
before me, and the souls which I have made.' So, certain it is, God will
not beat his children unto death ; he beateth not in revenge, but to bring
home and amend us. The uses are,
Use 1. Beproof to God's own dear servants, who, in a sharp and quick
cross, where they see no issue, they begin to murmur and repine, saying,
* That is, ' anticipate.' — G,
160 THE MATCHLESS MERCY.
Oh ! I shall never get out of this cross. But what, tell me, wouldst thou
think of thy child, that, when thou art a-chastising him for some fault,
would have such a conceit of thee, that thou wouldst beat him to death ?
Miwhtest not thou think him an unnatural child? Yet much more un-
natural are we unto God, who is a great deal more loving ; for if he once
bec^in, we straight imagine that he will never make an end. But we ought
not thus to repine, but rather quench his anger with repentant tears, and
take away the fuel of sin which kindle th the sense of this wrath, and then
the fire will cease. So let us take away the proud and dead flesh, and the
plaster will quickly fall away.
Use 2. Secondly, We must hereby learn to imitate and be like unto God.
If we will needs be now and then angry, let it be quickly gone ; let us
spend our anger upon our sins, and not let the sun go down upon our
wrath.
But now here ariseth another objection, worse than the former, for the
troubled soul might object. Oh ! but I have driven God quite away by my
innumerable sins; I have lost my feeling, angered my God, grieved the
Spirit, and forced God to depart from me. This is a miserable estate; but
yet the prophet, in the next verse, answereth, for the comfort of such, that
he is not quite gone away, 'He will turn again,' saith he, 'and have com-
passion,' &c. Whence I gather,
Doct. 6. Those who have once had any saving comfort, they sludl have it
again. We see David, he quenched the Spirit, made a foul house, brought
ail things out of frame ; he kept his union with God, but he lost his com-
munion°with Christ. The graces of the Spirit were seeming dead in him,
yet this man had much comfort again, and did much good to the church,
and died in peace and prosperity. So we see. Cant. iii. 1, the church at
first quite lost Christ, in a manner ; she had no feeling, yet she sought
him up and down ; nay, she went through all the means of salvation, yet
found not Christ. It seems a strange thing, that sometimes one should
use all holy means, and yet find no comfort or feeling ; yet is it most true.
But what then ? She went a little further, and then she found him whom
her soul loved. So let us always learn this much, that when we have used
all the means to find feeling and comfort in vain, yet to go a little further,
which is, to wait in patience for God's good time, and to hope above hope, &c.,
and then we see the issue — we shall find him whom our soul loveth; yea,
then he will enable us to lay surer hold upon him than ever, and also keep
him surer. So Peter, he fell for a while, yet we know Christ came again
unto him, and made sure work, that he was the stronger for ever. The
reasons are plain.
Reason 1. First, Because all God's saving graces be given for everlasting,
therefore they shall never be finally taken away from his children, as those
outward graces of the Spirit, which were in Saul, was.
Reason 2. Secondly, He will turn again and have compassion, though he
turn away his face, because his heart is near unto us ; hke unto a mother,
who in seeming anger turneth away her face from her child, yet she longeth
until she turn again, even so the Lord when his face is turned from his
children, he longeth until he turn again and have compassion, &c.
Reason 3. Thirdly, Because of all burdens the absence of God's favour is
so intolerable, which absence Christ himself at that time could not endure,
but cries out, 'My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?' Mat. xxvii.
46. And David, you know, he cries out, 'Thy loving kindness is better
than life,' Ps. Ixiii. 3. Therefore, I say, God being a most loving Father unto
THE MATCHLESS MERCY. 161
his children, and knowing how precious his favour is unto them, and how
grievous his absence, that they cannot live without him, why then, as sure
he is God, and goodness itself, no more can he be without them ; he will
turn again and have compassion, though not in our time, yet in a better
time, even in such a time as he shall see fittest ; therefore let us not be
dismayed, but redouble our courage.
Use 1, The use hereof is, first, reproof unto suoh who say, that if their
peace be once lost, oh ! they shall never have it again, they shall never have
comfort, favour, or feeling of God's love. But mark our error : we in this
case judge God to be like unto a man, who will say. Oh ! I will never again
love this man, who hath deceived me. But let us remember that God did
foresee all our errors and sins that ever we should commit, before we did
commit the same. Now if these our sins, befoi'e our calling, which in the
course of our life we were to commit, being all before God's face, could
not hinder his love unto us, what folly is it to think that now, after our
efiectual calling, our sins which he foresaw can stay his mercies from us.
This the apostle aimeth at, Rom. v. 10, ' For if, whilst we were enemies, we
were reconciled unto God by the death of his son ; much more, being
reconciled, we shall be saved by his life.' So that most certain it is he will
turn again and have compassion. For if a father should foresee such and
such faults in his son, do you think he would punish his son for those faults
which he foresaw would of necessity be in him ? Certainly he would not.
Though he seemed angry, yet he would love him still.
Use 2, Secondly, If "we have lost our feeling, like the chu»ch, Cant. iii. 1,
let us seek it again night by night, that is, constantly, diligently, and
earnestly ; as Isa. Ixii. 7, let us give God no rest until he return ; let us,
with David, entreat him to 'restore unto us his Spirit again,' Ps. li. 12.
Now, restoring argueth a former having, so he will return, and have com-
passion, according to the multitude of his mercies.
Having thus at length propounded and spoken of the first benefit God
promiseth, of justification, now he cometh unto the second, of
Santification, 1. In this life ; 2. In the life to come.
First, then, /or this life. After he hath spoken of justification, now he
cometh to santification, as a necessary, inseparable fruit thereof; and
sheweth, that whensoever God cometh to have mercy upon us, then he also
subdueth our sins, and bringeth them in subjection. ' He will subdue,'
saith he, * our iniquities.' Whence learn that,
Doct 7. Where God forgiveth sin, there he also suhdueth mn ; as unto Paul,
look how soon God was merciful unto him in eff'ectual calling, so soon did
he begin to subdue sin in him. So we see of Mary Magdalene, how peni-
tent she was after forgivenness of sins ; and so Peter, weeping bitterly
after the same ; so of Manasseh, that great sinner, who, when his sins
were once pardoned, did leave off his sins ; — they were subdued also.
Reason 1. The reasons are, first. Because the virtue of Christ's death
can never be separated from the merit of the same. Now the merit of his
death being the purchase of our free pardon by what he hath done for us
imputed for forgiveness of sins, the virtue of his death, which is to
kill and wound sin by degrees, to subdue and bring it under, to mortify
the aflections, can never be separated from the same.
Reason 2. Secondly, Because without this subduing of sin upon forgive-
ness, neither should we have comfort from him, nor he glory from us; for,
so long as we groan under the burden and dominion of sin, we cannot
rejoice in God heartily, we cannot serve him. Now, because God would
VOL. VII. L
162 THE MATCHLESS MERCY.
have his servants to rejoice and serve him here fullj', therefore upon accepta-
tion of our persons, he will also loose our bands, and make us able to
serve him.
Use 1. The use is, (1.) reproof and terror unto such who say they hope
their sins are forgiven, when indeed they are not subdued ; for it is certain
that with forgiveness of sins God also healeth the nature in such, that the
like be committed no more, at least there is a resolution, and a total, con-
stant endeavour and striving, to leave all sin.
Use 2. Secondly, This serveth unto us for strong consolation, to see that
this is not a death of sin here meant, but that it shall not assail so often,
come so strong, act with such delight, and be so violent. No; the child
of God in this life shall never have sin so subdued, as to find a death of it,
only it shall be subdued. Therefore, this is a stronghold unto us, that if
God have abated the force of sins in us, this is a sure sign of our justifica-
tion.
Use 3. Thirdly, It is matter of instruction for us all, that whensoever we
find our sins too strong for us, let us then fly out of ourselves unto him,
who is stronger than all, and hath sworn to subdue them.
Obj. Some object, and say. Oh ! I would come if I could but subdue
this sin.
Ans. No, I say, because thou canst not overcome this or that sin, yet
come. God, he bids thee come because thou art not able to subdue it, that
he may come against it with his mighty power and subdue it; otherwise,
if it were in ouwpower to subdue our sins, we should be like unto so many
gods. Now, I mean, we must go unto God in all his means, to prayer, to
the word also, which is mighty to cast down holds, all strong mountains of
sin. Again, we must go unto the sacraments, which, we must think, are
as able to feed us to life, by eating and drinking of a little bread and wine,
as the eating of a little unholy food was at first to bring upon us destruc-
tion. This is a stronghold to rest upon. Again, for subduing of our sins,
let us bind them up in fetters and chains, let us bind one another by
reproofs and holy admonitions. I deny not, for all this, God's children
have, and may have, many vexing sins, but with humiliation let them be
humbled for them. This is a death of sin, even this weakening and sub-
duing of it.
Now followeth the second part of this santification, after this life, in these
w^ords, 'He will cast all our sins in the depth of the sea,' meaning that he
will drown all our enemies, dealing with our spiritual enemies, as some-
times'•= he did with the temporal enemies of his church. Pharaoh and all
his army he drowned in the bottom of the sea ; so he says, at length he
will drown and destroy all our spiritual enemies. After subduing of sins
shall come drowning of them. Whence the doctrine is, that,
Doct. 8. Those ivho have their sins subdued whilst theij live, shall have them
alldroimed when they are dead. We see, 1 Cor. xv. 26, it is said, ' The last
enemy we have is death;' but this is only in regard of nature — to them it
is a passage to heaven, for the others, unto hell. Kev. xiv. 13, the dead
in the Lord are pronounced blessed, for then all their enemies are quite
subdued. Here we labour under the burden of many crosses and afilictions,
but then is deliverance; here we are troubled with many sins, but then
cometh freedom from sin, then we labour no more, then all shall have an
end. Wait but a little until then, and all shall appear most exceeding
glorious; for then, for our comfort, all our sorrows and troubles, wherewith
* That is, >= ' sometime.' — G.
THE MATCHLESS MEKCY. 163
we are now fined* in the furnace of affliction, shall be quite forgot, as though
they had never been : former things shall be remembered no more.
Use 1. The use of all this is for us, since all our sins and sorrows shall
then be subdued and forgot, to fight our battles cheerfully here, and look
up unto heaven for help.
Use 2. Secondly, Again, that we should be exceedingly comforted in this,
that our battle is so short, our victory so sure, and our reward so infinite
and eternal; since after a little while all our sins and crosses shall be
drowned, they shall be put as far from us as the east is from the west, as
heaven is from hell : then, then our long tedious enemies shall all fly away.
Use 3. Thirdly, It is infinite consolation for us against the fear of death,
that that death which parteth body and soul, shall also part us from all our
sins, sorrows, and crosses for evermore. All those means we now do use,
serve but to weaken sin, but death, this kills and vanquisheth it for ever-
more. So that the speech of Moses to the Israelites may as truly be said
of our enemies, ' The Egyptians whom you have seen to-day, you shall
never any more see,' Exodus xiv. 13. Even so, I say, though thou be
vexed and troubled with many sins, crosses, and afflictions, yet stand still
but a while, yet a little while, nay, a very little while, and all these crosses
and sins which vex you, you shall never see any more : he will drown them
all [in] the bottom of the sea.
I now come unto the reasons of these doctrines, which are in number
two, wherein I must use brevity :
1, His mercy; 2, his truth.
I will only touch them, and so make an end. The first is, because he
delighteth in mercy. If we will needs speedily and earnestly perform that
wherein we do delight, much more will God. The point is, that,
Boct. 9. That wherein God delighteth, it is imjjossihle hut it must needs
come to pass. Now he, delighting in mercy, therefore it is of necessity
that he must needs pour upon us abundance of all his mercies ; for he is
the perfection of goodness, the perfection of love. Nothing can stay him
from performing that wherein he delighteth, therefore all these excellent
mercies must needs be bestowed upon his children.
The next reason, as I shewed in the opening, is taken from the truth of
God, aided with many reasons : of antiquity, often repetition, many wit-
nesses, and the oath of God confirming the same. So that the giving of
these mercies, and certain assurance thereof, dependeth upon God's truth.
"VVtiGiiCG iGtirn
Doct. 10. God is hound, in rerjard of his truth, to fulfil all his former riier-
cies unto his children ; and therefore as certainly as God is true, as certainly
•all his benefits and mercies shall be given unto them.
Use 1. The use hereof is unto us, notwithstanding all these promises, to
see our weakness, how in tentationf we are ready to rob God of his truth,
neglecting the promises, because we find not present help. Behold how
we deal with God ! If a man promise us a thing again and again, we
believe him; but if he swear and confirm the same with an oath, then we
doubt no more ; and yet when God he promiseth again and again unto us
many precious promises, yea, and giveth us the earnest in hand, and
sweareth unto us, yet, lo our wretchedness, we trust not with assured con-
fidence in him ; a mortal man would take it ill to be thus used at our hands.
So every small tentationf maketh us to rob God of his truth, and to think
that he will not be as good as his word.
* That is, ' refined ' = purified.— G. t That is, ' temptation.'— G.
164 THE MATCHLESS MERCY.
Use 2. Secondly, It must be matter of instruction for us all, that when
we come unto God we must promise ourselves to have good speed, since
God is most true of his promises, and we must labour by all means to re-
member and apply them, and so to turn them into prayers ; thus reasoning
the matter, What ! I am in this and this necessity, God he hath promised
to help ; since he is true, it must needs be that he will have a care to fulfil
his truth ; for howsoever I should not be heard, yet God he should be the
greatest loser, to lose his truth. 0 beloved, it is easy for us to speak,
but in the evil day to put on our armour, to fly unto prayer, to hang upon
God, to fight against tentations, to give unto God the praise of his
attributes, that as he is true, loving, just, merciful, all-sufficiency, infinite,
omnipotent, so to expect infinite love, infinite truth, infinite mercy from
him, — this is no small matter, yea, it is true Christian fortitude, in tenta-
tion and affliction thus to reason the matter, to rely upon God, and as it
were to bind his help near unto us with the chains of his loving promises.
If a promise bind us, much more it bindeth God ; for all our truth is but
a small spark of that ocean of truth in him. And therefore to conclude all
with this promise, worthy to be engraven in everlasting remembrance upon
the palms of our hands, God he hath promised that all the afflictions of his
children they shall work for the best, Rom. viii, 28. This is as true as
God's truth, I shall one day see and confess so much if I wait in patience ;
why, therefore, I will wait. God is infinite in wisdom and power, to bring
light out of darkness; so also he is true, and he will do it. Therefore
because I believe * I will not make haste;' I will walk in the perfect way
until he shew deliverance. This must be our resolution, and then it shall
be unto us according to our faith; which God, for his Christ's sake, grant
unto us all !
NOTES.
(a) P. 153. — ' The Original, in the time present, reads " taking away;" '
And agaia —
(6) P. 157. — 'As it is in the Original, in the present number, "passing by
iniquity." ' The Hebrew is ^I^3~7^ 12^; = passing by transgression. So Dr
Henderson, and all the early and recent Commentators. G.
THE SUN OF RIGHTEOUSNESS.
THE SUN OF RIGHTEOUSNESS.
NOTE.
The Sermon from Malaclii iv. 2, 3 is appended to the Exposition of Philippians
ii. 12-30 . (See Vol. V. p. 2 ) The pagination is continuous from. Philippians
and there is the simple heading,
A
SERMON
VPON MALACHIE. G.
THE SUN OF RIGHTEOUSNESS.
But unto you that fear my name shall the Sun of righteousness arise with
healing in his icings ; and ye shall go forth, and grow up as calves of the
stall. Arul ye shall tread down the wicked ; for they shall he as the dust
in that day. — MAiiACHi IV. 2, 3.
In the former chapter we may read of a sort of wicked men, yet those not
of the worst, that had in their corrupt observation noted that God did seem
to approve of those that were notorious idolaters ; therefore they contested
with him, ' What profit is there,' say they, ' that we have kept his ordi-
nances?' ver. 14 and 15. This God could not endure, and therefore,
verse 8th and 13th, he reproves their boldness, telling them that they had
robbed him, and had spoken stout and rebellious words against him, and
from the laying open of their rebelHous carriage, he proceeds to describe
the carriage of some that were good, who spake often to one another ; whence
we may observe by the way, that in the ivorst times some take God's part.
Some are notoriously wicked, carrying sin with a high hand, and some are
more civil, yet irreligious, murmuring and complaining as if Christ were
not king, and as if true religion were not to be cared for ; and these are
as hateful to God as the other. For this complaining proceeds either of
anger, because things are not suitable to their humours, or from a mur-
muring at God's government, as if they were wiser to dispose of things
than God ; and there are likewise some that recover themselves from such
misapprehensions of God's dealings, and justify God : • Just art thou, 0
Lord, and righteous ; and it is thy mercy we are not consumed,' Neh, ix. 33 ;
and such look at those favours they have, though burdened with other
calamities, and to these are these words spoken, * But to you that fear my
name,' &c.
In the former verse there is a terrible denunciation against the wicked, and
therefore there is no ground that any should be offended at their prosperity.
There is a day of vengeance, when they shall be burnt up, and there shall
be left them neither root nor branch. This vengeance began to the Jews
at the first coming of Christ, and was accomplished at the destruction of
Jerusalem. They looked indeed for the Messiah, and the day of the Lord,
but woe be to them, ' for it shall be a day of darkness,' Amos v. 8. The
persons against whom this denunciation was threatened are said to be the
proud men, such as sin against their own consciences, casting off God's
168 THE SUN OF RIGHTEOUSNESS.
rule and laws. WTien lie bids tliem not to swear, they will; when he com-
mands them to attend the means of salvation, they will not, they will live
by their own law. So as pride is an ingredient in every sin, as humility is
in every virtue ; for humihty gives God place above ourselves, and above
our lusts. But to the present purpose ; those words are a gracious promise
made to those that fear. In the icorst times God hath a mtmber that do fear
him ; for else it would follow, there should be an act without an object,
that we should believe a church where none is, and that there should
be war without enemies, that there should be God without glory. For
what glory hath God from such as rebel and shake off all rule ? No ; it
is the saints that praise God : Ps. cxlv. 10, * All thy works praise thee,
and thy saints bless thee.' This should comfort us in that our posterity
shall ever have some to stand for God in the worst times ; nay, in
the worst places, where Satan's throne is. In the next place we may
observe, that comfort belongs to such as are God's; for here it is pronounced
to those * that fear.' The ground of which is in this, that Christ is given
to them, and ministers should give ' such their portion,' and not grieve
those that God grieves not ; for such as do not thus are carnal in their
disposition, and do steal the word from the people. But to proceed: good
men are described here by this, that ' they fear the name of God ; ' that is,
they fear lest by their infirmities there should be a divorce between God's
outward favours and them, and fear lest they should offend so good a God,
and so they fear his name ; that is, fear him as he hath revealed himself
ia his word ; for the devil will fear when God comes in his person. There-
fore it is no thank for men to fear his presence ; nay, those that fear God
most when God declares his presence in his judgments, as when the wicked
are smitten with horror and trembling, as Belshazzar was at the hand-
writing, they have the least true fear. And therefore to come to church
at a set time with a composed carriage, and doing outward duties, is not
enough to make a man such a one as fears God. Some solace themselves
while they are in prosperity, Oh ! they will repent when judgments come.
The devil will do as much, he will tremble. Can there be any comfort in
this fear ? Can we think that a man who lives in all manner of notorious
crimes till judgment overtake him, will heartily repent him of his faults,
that he hath committed, out of love to God ? No. It is the fear of wrath
and judgment that terrifies him. If this be repentance, the damned in
hell have it. How then shall this fear be discerned where it is ? I
answer. If we fear the name of God there will be a jealousy over ourselves,
and a special jealousy of our inward corruptions, so as we fearing the traitor
within us, will not give ear to everything, nor give our eyes liberty to look
on temptations, but eat with fear, and converse with fear ; for those that
fear temptations are not secure, and fear not God.* Secondly, where this fear
of [God] is, it frees us from base fears. We will fear no man when we are in
a good cause. ' The man that feareth God shall not be afraid of evil tidings,'
for his heart is fixed upon God, Ps. cxii. 7, and fears no creature further
than as having a beam of God's glory. He fears not death itself, though
the king of fears. God he fears as his king, father, husband, and master,
and considers of him accordingly to stir up in him an awful reverence of so
great a majesty. There is indeed a covenant between God and him, but
so as it is with those that fear him.
' Shall the Sun of righteousness arise.' From the most glorious creature,
' the sun,' he expresseth the most glorious Creator, * Christ Jesus,' taking
* Tlmt is, ' those that fear temptations and fear not God, are not secure. — G.
THE SUN OF RIGHTEOUSNESS.
169
occasion to help our understandings in grace by natural things, and teach-
ing us thereby to make a double use of the creatures, corporal and spiritual;
out of the excellency of the creatures, raising up our minds to consider the
excellency of the Creator, so as if these things have beauty and strength,
and are comfortable ; how much more he that endueth these things with
these qualities. Thus, as the rivers lead to the sea, so these creatures
should lead us to the glorious majesty of God. But the main observation
is, that Christ is the Sun of righteousness, for as by nature there was no
guile found in his lips, so is he habitually and actually righteous. He is
wisdom, justification, sanctification, and redemption, 1 Cor. i. 30. He is
compared to the sun, first, because as all light was gathered into the body of
the sun, and from it derived* to us, so it pleased God that in him should
the fulness of all excellency dwell, Col. i. 19 ; and therefore those that look
for perfection out of Christ, do look for light without the sun. Secondly,
as there is but one sun, so there is but one Sun of righteousness; and there-
fore what needeth two heads, or two husbands. One must needs be an
adulterer. Christ doth all by his Spirit, which is his vicar. Other vicar
needs not, though there were a thousand worlds more. Thirdly, as thesuyi
is above in the firmament, so Christ is exalted up on high, to convey his graces
and virtues to all his creatures here below; even as the sun conveys life,
and quickens the earth, yea, all things thereon, though itself be but one.
Fourthly, as the sun works largely in all things here below, so doth Christ.
Fifthly, as the sun is the fountain of light, and the eye of the world, so Christ
is the fountain of all spiritual light. ' I am the light of the world,' saith
he of himself, John viii. 12. He was that light that enlightens the world,
saith St John of him, John i. 9, and therefore Zacharias termeth him * the
day-spring from on high,' Luke i. 78. Sixthly, as the sun directeth us whither
to go, and which way, so doth Christ teach us to go to heaven, and by what
means ; what duties to perform, what things to avoid, and what things to
bear. Seventhly, as the sun is pleasant, Eccles. xi. 7, and darkness is ter-
rible, so Christ is comfortable; for he makes all at peace where he comes,
and sends his Spirit the Comforter. Now he is in heaven. Therefore as
ignorance and error is expressed by darkness, so, contrarily, joy and honour
and knowledge, which bringeth it, is expressed by light, Esther viii. 16 ;
and Christ is our director, our supporter, and without him what are we ?
and what do we but glory in our shame ? Eighthly, By the beams of the
sun is conveyed influence to make things grow, and tO' distinguish between
times and seasons. Thus Christ, by his power, makes all things cheerful,
and therefore is called the ' quickening Spirit,' 1 Cor. xv. 45 ; for he quickens
the dead and dark soul, which, till Christ shine on us, it is a dungeon of
ignorance and unbelief; and as his Spirit blows on our spirits, so also it
works a spring in growth of grace, or a summer in strength of zeal.
Ninthly, the sun ivorks these effects not by coming down to us, but by influence,
and shall we, then, be so sottish as to imagine that Christ of necessity must
come bodily in the sacrament to us, or that there is else no work of the
Spirit by that ordinance. Can the sun be thus powerful in operation by
nature, and shall not this Sun of righteousness be more powerful by the
influence of his Spirit to comfort and quicken us, though he cometh not
bodily down into a piece of bread? Tenthly, As the sun doth work freely,
drawing up vapours to dissolve them into rain upon the earth, to cherish
it when it is dry, so doth Christ. He freely came from heaven to us, and
freely draws up our hearts to heaven, which cannot ascend thither but by
* That is, ' communicated.' — G.
170 THE SUN OF RIGHTEOUSNESS.
Lis exhaling power. Christ is our loadstone, that draws these iron hard
hearts of ours upward, causing us to contemn this hase world, counting it
' dross and dung,' as the church is shadowed out in the Eevelation treading
the moon under our* feet. Eleventhly, as the sun shines xipon all, yet doth
not heat all, so Christ is offered to all. He shines on all where the gospel
Cometh, but all are not enlightened ; and all that ai-e enlightened do not
burn in love to him ; nay, some are more hardened by it, as it is the nature
of the sun to harden some bodies. Twelfthly, and lastly, as the sun quickens
and puts life into dead creatures, so shall Christ, by his power, quicken our
dead bodies, and raise them up again when he shall come to judgment.
And notwithstanding all these particulars, yet he is not everyway like it,
for the sun shines upon all alike ; but Christ doth not thus, for many are
in eternal darkness, notwithstanding this light. He is mercy, yet many
are in misery.
How, then, shall we know whether Christ be a sun to us or not ?
I answer, Tfirejind that we feel the heat and comfort of a Christian, "li is
a sign Christ hath effectually shined upon us. We know that a stone, being
naturally cold, if it be hot, that either the sun hath shined on it, or it hath
been near some fire. The papists ask us how we know faith to be faith.
We may ask them how they know heat to be heat, or light to be light.
Even so, by experience, do we find Christ his presence by enlightened
hearts and holy affections. They, forsooth, will have the pope judge of
these main things, and of the Scripture itself, and thus teach men to look
for the sun by candle light.
Secondly, He shall see his marvellous light, and admire it, even as a man
newly out of a dark prison, or a blind man restored to sight, how cheerful
and joyous is he ; or a cripple, when he is healed, oh how he skips and
leaps ; so a Christian he shews forth the joy of his own heart by telling
how good God hath been to his soul. Carnal men wonder at fair
buildings, precious jewels, and the like, but David crieth out, ' Lord, lift
up the light of thy countenance upon me, and then I shall rejoice,' Ps.
iv. 6.
Thirdly, If Christ have shined upon any effectually, they uill walk comely
as children of the light ; and therefore if they live in a course of sin against
conscience, the light will tell them their conscience belies them, if they
think the light hath shined on them. And indeed it is a wonder how a
man should be thus sottish to think he is a child of the light, and yet live
in such sins as indeed a man should be ashamed to name ; yea, such as the
heathen did condemn. This shall be their condemnation, even because
they sin against the light ; ' light is come into the world, and yet they love
darkness more than light, because their deeds are evil,' John iii. 19.
But how shall we carry ourselves, that Christ may shine on us ?
For answer thereunto ; we should ever be under sanctified means. All
the light is gathered into the Scriptures. Attend we, in humihty and obe-
dience to God's commandment, on them, and let Christ alone for the pro-
fiting of us. It is he that gives us to will and to do according to his good
pleasure. Use we the company of those that are good, for by conference
God works strangely many times, as in the hearts of the two disciples that
went to Emmaus, Luke xxiv. 13. Contrarily take we heed of filthy com-
pany. Christ will not shine on base houses, and company where all serves
to fire temptations and strengthen our lusts.
Quest. But here may it be demanded what comfort was this to the Jews,
* Qu. 'her'?— G.
THE SUN OF KIGHTEOUSNESS.
171
to whom this was spoken, whenas it was now near a hundred years after,
before Christ came ?
Ans. To which I answer, it was a comfort to them to be assured that
their seed and posterity should see this ' Sun of righteousness.' Abraham
rejoiced because the promise was made to him ; the Jews rejoiced because
of the conversion of the Gentiles which was to come ; and where grace is,
there will be joy for any good that ariscth to others that are led by the
same Spirit, and one spiritual member is engaged in the good of another.
Secondly, Christ ivas a son^ be/ore he icas in the Jiesh. He was ' a Lamb
slain from the beginning of the world,' Kev. xiii. 8, in virtue and force,
and also to the eye of faith, so as thereby those Jews saw this Sun of
righteousness as present, and thus Abraham saw Christ's day and rejoiced ;
and thus is the second glorious coming of Christ present to every be-
liever, and wraps up the soul in joy, as if it were in heaven ; for faith
regards no distance of time nor place, and therefore it sees Christ really
present in the sacrament without the help of popish presence.
Now for use of this doctrine.
Use 1. Is Christ a Sun of righteousness ? Then should we pity their estate
that are in darkness, and never had Christ to shine on them by his Spirit nor
ordinances, as in many places of this kingdom. It is a cruel bloody practice
of those lay pastors, that for want of the ministry of the word do betray
the souls of many poor people into the jaws of the devil. f
Use 2. Secondly, If Christ be the Sun of righteousness, we should, when
we are cold and benumbed, repair to him, and conceive of him as one havinr/
excellencies suitable to our ivants. Are we dark ? He is light. Are we dull ?
He can heal us. Are we dying ? He is life. And are we in discomfort ?
He is the fulness of love. He is therefore the Son,* that we should seek
to him, and make him ours all in all ; our Prophet, to direct us by his
light ; our Priest, to make atonement for us ; our King, to help us over-
come all our corruptions, and to make us more than conquerors.
' With healing in his wings.'
By wings are understood beams of the sun, for beams are spread from
the lightsome body, as wings from the body ; and thus Christ, though but
one, can spread all his graces to all parts of the world ; and by the beams
are conveyed all that is in the sun, as light and power ; and the like effects
which grace works in us. Again, wings have a power to keep warm, and
comfort the young ones ; and therefore God is said to gather his children
as a hen doth gather her chickens. Mat. xxiii. 37. In the beams there is
a healing nature also. So as the meaning is evident, that this Sun of right-
eousness shall be a healing sun.
For naturally we are all sick and wounded. Some see and feel their
diseases and pain, others do not ; but those that do not are the most dan-
gerously afflicted. We are all sick of a general spreading leprosy ; and
besides, we have every one of us our particular diseases. Some swell with
pride, as men do with the dropsy ; others that are covetous have ever a
supposed hunger, crying ever ' Give, give ;' some burn in wrath and anger,
as men do in the hot ague ; and as we are sick, so are wo also wounded by
terror of conscience, by Satan's temptations, and therefore have need of
healing ; and this is wrought by Christ, but after a wonderful manner, even
from heaven he comes to invite us to come to him. ' Come to me, all ye that
are weary,' Mat. xi. 28. Healing is ordinarily by natural medicines of drugs
and the like ; but Christ heals with a plaster of his own blood, even by
Qu. ' Sun '? — Ed. f Cf. our Memoir of Sibbes, Vol. I. c. viii. p. Isxi. — G.
172
THE SUN OF RIGHTEOUSNESS.
* his wounds and stripes are we healed,' Isa. liii. 5. He heals by his
Spirit, enlightening our understandings, which by nature is dark, and soon
led away to mistake light for darkness, and darkness for light. This he
heals by his word breeding sound affections and judgments, whereby we
esteem of things as they are, and accordingly do affect them. He heals
our wounds of conscience that Satan makes by his darts and sharp tempta-
tions, whereby he would bear us in hand that we are reprobates, and that
God is angry with us. Against these he strengthens our faith and trust in
God, yea, though he kill us. These temptations, and many other, may
gather together to cloud this Sun, but it will at length scatter them all.
So as there is ever hope of comfort so long as we use good means. Indeed,
amongst bodily diseases some there are that are called opprohria medico-
rum ;=;= but in soul there is no disease but if it be felt it may be cured.
The soul that hungers after comfort shall find it ; for Christ is an universal
healer, healing both bodies and souls of men, and healing them from all
evil, both blindness and deafness of the heart ; nay, the very dead heart
he can restore to life. And this serves to reprove the carelessness of men.
It is wonderful, if the head doth but ache, no cost nor labour is spared to
redress it. The physician is sent for presently ; but in the soul's sick-
ness they are so far from sending for them as they hate them. Am not I
your enemy because I tell you the truth ? saith the apostle. Gal. iv. 16 ;
and thus now-a-days none are greater enemies in the esteem of ordinary
men than the minister that deals faithfully with them.
Again, this should teach us to take notice of our diseases in time, and
go to the healing God, as he terms himself, Exod. xv. 26, and lay open our
estates to him, and confess, as David did, Ps. xH. 4, ' Heal me, Lord, for
I have sinned against thee.' And thus lay open our sores, as beggars use
to do to move commiseration ; for as there are beams of majesty in this
Sun, so are there beams of mercy and bowels of compassion in him. And
to this end we should claim his nature and truth in performance of his pro-
mises, and we should attend on the means ; for there is a tree in the
church of God, even ' the tree of life,' whose leaves are appointed ' to heal
the nations,' Rev. xxii. 2, and this is the word of God. We should also
take heed of despair. Though as yet Satan lulls us asleep, telling us that
the sin we are tempted to is but a little one, and that God will dispense
with it ; that we may yet a while swear and commit adultery, and when we
die we may repent. Believe him not, for when death approacheth he will
alter his rhetoric. Oh ! thou hast lived in sins against conscience a long
while. Though thou hast been told of it often, thy sins are scandalous ;
thou hast resisted God, he will now resist thee ; never hope for mercy,
thou art mine. What comfort is there then for a poor miserable wretch,
but to be well grounded in the knowledge of his Physician, and to be
assured of his healing power that hath cured innumerable souls. We
should furthermore take heed of ignorance ; for many, when temptations
come, have not the least knowledge of any healing power in Christ, and
60 they go on till death, and die like blocks. We should meditate of his
commandments and promises ; of his goodness and nature ; of his encou-
ragements given to us to come to him, ' Come to me, all ye that are weary,'
Mat. xi. 38. We praise physicians that have peculiar sovereign medi-
cines, that can work extraordinary cures. Now Christ he hath a medicine
of his own able to cure any disease, though never so desperate, any person
though never so sick ; Mary Magdalene as well as Paul ; Zaccheus as well
* That is, ' the shame of physicians' = incurable. — G
THE SUN OF EIGHTEOUSNESS. 173
as Manasseh ; all come whole from him ; and therefore when Satan
would tempt us to despair, we should call to mind that we have a mer-
ciful God that ' forgives all our sins, and heals all our infirmities,' Ps.
ciii. 3.
Qiiest. But it will be asked, Why then are we not healed ? What means
this that we are subject to these infirmities of ours ?
Ans. I answer, Some of Christ's works are all at one time perfected,
but some by degrees, by little and little. Christ heals the soul of guiltiness
presently, but there remains the corruption and the dregs of this disease
for heavenly purposes. And thus he heals by not healing, and leaves infir-
mities to cure enormities. He suffers us to be abased and humbled by our
infirmities, lest we should be exalted above measure, as he dealt vvith Paul,
2 Cor. xii. 7, even as the body of a man is cured of an appoplex* by an
ague, est utile quihmdam ut cadant ; Peter did more profitably displease
himself when he fell, than please himself when he presumed ; and there-
fore we should retort Satan's accusations when he tempteth us to despair
because of our sins, and reason thus, because we have infirmities, there-
fore we will pray the more earnestly, ' forgive us our trespasses ;' because
we are sick, we will go to Christ that took our nature not to cure the whole
but the weak ; for we may be sure Christ will not perfectly cure our weak-
nesses, because he will have us live by faith, every day going to the throne
of grace, and depending on his promise for the forgiveness of our sins,
assuring ourselves that the spirit, like David's house, shall grow stronger
and stronger, and the house of Saul weaker and weaker, 2 Sam. iii. 1 ;
and this flesh beginning once to fall, shall surely fall.
' And ye shall go forth, and grow up as calves of the stall.'
The most translations have it, ' you shall leap forth;' and the last trans-
lation is, 'you shall grow up.'f All is to one end, signifying a cheerful
moving. The terminus a quo is sickness or bonds. Those that are sick
are God's prisoners ; but here it is taken for weakness of the spirit, and
the promise is, that they should go forth in all good duties, and that they
should walk with strength, so that Christ's benefits go together. Where
there is forgiveness, there is also strength of grace promised; and where
there is strength, there is promised increase thereof, even to fulness ; for
where Christ begins, he leaves not till his work be complete, in wisdom,
righteousness, sanctification, and redemption; and therefore he comes
both by water and blood also, for God is unchangeable ; and that love that
moves him to elect, moves him to justify, and sanctify, and glorify us; and
all the promises do join these together, justification and sanctification: 'I
will put my fear into their hearts, and they shall not depart away from
me,' Jer. xxxii. 40. Where forgiveness of sin is, there is also power against
sin, and strong resolutions to labour against it ; and where there is justifi-
cation, it will shew itself in works of sanctification. This will convict many
to be no Christians that boast of the forgiveness of sins.
But where is this healing power of Christ seen ? In their conversa-
tions. He that is cured can rise and walk, — as the cripple did, — in good
duties of a holy life ; for the spirit of adoption is the spirit of sanctifica-
tion, and we are sick in the bed of sin if we come not out. In the next
place we may observe, that in every Christian there is a going out; for so it
is promised here, and this hath many degrees. There is a going out of
misery in this life, for at this present the church was in great misery, and
* That is, ' apoplexy'. — G.
t That is, the Authorised Version of 1611. — G.
174 THE SUN OF RIGHTEOUSNESS.
*a going out' was promised to them; for wlaen a comfortable workllj'
estate is good for tlie church, it shall have it. Secondly, there is a going
out of the bonds of sin, by little and little in this world ; and because here
we are in a warring estate, and our freedom here is but from the dominion
of sin ; there is another 'going out' at the last day, when we all shall go
perfected out of the graves, body and soul being freed from sin ; and then
shall our joy be full. But in this world there is a going out to good
duties, for true believers have hearts enlarged to 'go forth' in good duties.
Their hearts are set at liberty, being freed from damnation, and free to
walk in good courses; for where grace enables us to go, it enables us
freely to go, so as God's people are a free pieople. In the building of the
tabernacle and the temple, they did offer ' freely,' and David praised God
for it, 1 Chron. xxix. 14, and Ezra likewise, Ezra ii. 4; and the reason is,
because these have Christ's Spirit, which is a Spirit of liberty, 2 Cor. iii.
17; and it is a promise, Ps. ex. 3, that Christ's people shall be willing.
God's people are all volunteers, doing holy duties freely ; for they are
freed from exaction and coaction. The Spirit that witnesseth the one
worketh also the other, and setteth them at liberty. And as this is true,
so it is also true that it is dearly bought. It cost Christ's blood, who
redeemed us ' to serve him without fear,' Luke i. 74 ; and that we might
be a holy people, zealous of all good works, Titus ii. 14; and therefore
our lukewarm, cool carriage shews that we are not yet at liberty. And
that is the reason we cannot spend an hour in good duties, but it is very
irksome and tedious to us. It was otherwise with Zaccheus after his con-
version ; how free in charitable works ! And with the jailor, how cheerful
was he in feasting the apostle, whom a little before he had tormented !
In the primitive church, how willingly did they endure persecutions, living
together with one heart, one mind, and had all things common. Acts ii. 44.
Thus is it in some measure in all Christians, when they are once heated
by this Sun of righteousness. In the next place, God's people do not
only go forth, but grow up, and go on in a continued motion; for it is
promised that the soul shall grow strong in grace as well as the body in
natural strength. And as nature doth enable the body, so doth grace
enable the soul, giving ever a desire of liberty to grow up, and to grow in
strength, thereby to overcome all weaknesses of the soul whatever, by
those holy means appointed to that end. And this is necessary in regard
of God, that he might have the more glory; for when we pray or do any
good duty with strength, as when we can be resolute in the defence of a
good cause, God is honoured therehy, and his truth honoured, and his
wisdom justified. And it is likewise necessary in regard rf others, that
they may be won, and strengthened by our examples, they seeing that
such things are possible to be done; and thus are they also won. When
in our actions to one another we do them with all our might and cheerful-
ness, how grateful and lovely is it to them ! And likewise in regard of
ourselves ; for the stronger we grow, the less burdensome will our profes-
sion be to us. For why are we so untoward and dead, that goodness
comes from us as fire out of the flint, by force, but because we want this
habit, that should grow upon us by practice ? Therefore it is we are not
grown yet; and therefore cannot pray privately, nor hear conscionably,*
but with almost an insensible heart. And likewise this is necessary in
regard of opp)ositions, which is such as must be gotten out of the fire,
whatever good we" labour for. We daily feel the strength of our own cor-
* That is, ' conscientiously.' — G.
THE SUN OF RIGHTEOUSNESS. 175
ruptioDS of outward oppositions by indispositions of others and scandal of
the times, and therefore we had need grow up.
Now, for means hereunto, we should first pwfje and cleanse the soul of
iveakeninrj matter. Practise the duty of repentance daily; and though it be
bitter, it is better to burn, to cut and lance here, than to die hereafter. It
is better to renew our repentance daily, than to go on in security to des-
peration. And as it is in the body that is sick, the more it is nourished
the greater is the strength that the humours do gather ; or as it is in leak-
ing ships, the longer we suffer the leak to open, the more danger the ship
is in. The best of us daily gather ill humours, partly by reason of our
own corruptions within us, partly by reason of the corruption in others
with whom we converse; and these make us like sick men, either with-
out stomachs, or with stomachs that can digest none but unwholesome
meats ; and these once purged out, makes us hunger after goodness, and
stronger than before, and more intense in our love to Christ, as Peter was
after his bitter tears.
In the next place, we should come to good food. When we have purged
out the ill humours of our corruption, digest some comfortable truths, and
that presently after we are humbled, lest Satan get advantages on us;
therefore we should resort to the preaching of the word whiles we may.
That study is accursed that takes up a man when he should be at God's
ordinances ; and the good that is gotten at home, when we may go to
church on the Sabbath, is as the water of cursing, because it is gotten in
contempt of God's ordinances.
And what though, as many poor Christians object, we forget immediately
many times what we hear, yet for the present it will strengthen our souls
to walk moi'e strongly after it ; as our meat doth when it is passed from
us, yet the virtue thereof remaineth behind in us.
Thirdy, We should use exercise of holy duties. We see men that are
given to daily labour, how strong they are to bear burdens, and what
stomachs they have to their meat ; and thus it is in those that are oft in
prayer and meditation, how do they long after the word ! and how sweet
is it to them ! and how do they treasure it up ! Contrarily those that
use no exercise, let them boast as they please, they are full, and care not
for the word; and are graceless, however they may excel for civil* parts.
If they come to church, or like of any of that breed, f it must be to their
taste, or they will have none of it; gross meat their finer stomachs cannot
digest. The preacher must be as a player upon a well-tuned instrument ;
and this sort of men are never good practitioners, :J but commonly given to
vanity.
But let us take heed we do not lightly esteem of God's ordinance, but
in reverence use all means for the strengthening of our faith by the word,
sacraments, and prayer. We have but a short time to work. Our wages
are in heaven ; and it should be a shame to us that we do no more work
for so great a reward as we shall have. We should set no stay nor pitch
in rehgion, but evermore pray and endeavour that God's kingdom may
come, and that his will may be done on earth as it is in heaven. Be not
dejected by the length of the way, nor the fierce serpents of this world.
Take heed of returning into Egypt in our thoughts, but go on from grace
to grace, and from one degree to another, till God shall call us to rest.
Quest. But doth a Christian perpetually grow ?
* That is, ' moral and intellectual.'— G. J That is, ' putters into practice.''— G
t Qu. ' bread ' ? and for ' like ' = take ?— G.
176 THE SUN OF RIGHTEOUSNESS.
Ans. In answer, Not at all times in all parts. Trees we know, in winter
time, grow in the root. Christians grow not always in all graces, but only
in some one radical grace, as in faith, or humility, or the like. If there
be any stop, it is to further his speediness afterwards, as we see in those
that stumble in their course, and as water stopped, breaks out more out-
rageously. Thus was it in ihe slips of David and Peter. And God's
children, after such times, are as a broken bone : after it is set, it grows
stronger in that part than in any other.
Obj. But a man may say, I perceive not this growth.
Ans. To which I answer, We perceive not the corn grow, nor the
shadow to move, yet in continuance of time we perceive the corn hath
grown, and the shadow hath moved. So, though we perceive it not, yet
every act of repentance and faith doth strengthen us. There may be many
turhida intervalla, cloudy times in every Christian's life. David, a man
after God's own heart, had many infirmities; and this may cloud a man's
eyes that he may think he is going quite backward. But yet these should
not hinder our faith in God's love ; for God calls not every slip in a man's
life to reckoning. Any traveller may set his foot awry and may go out of
his way, yet at length he gets home ; and God judges not of us by single
acts, but by the tenor of our lives.
How then shall we know whether we are grown or not ?
1. I answer. Our growth may be discerned by these signs : first, if we
can taste and relish the food of our souls, the word of God; for it is with the
soul herein as with the body. If our meat be not loathsome to us, our
stomach is good, and it is a sign of health ; so if we can hear the word of
God with delight, and if it be not tedious to us, it is a sign of our Chris-
tian growth.
2. Another sign is, if we find ourselves able to bear great burdens of the
infirmities of our brethren ; and thus did Christ long bear the infirmities of
his weak disciples that followed him ; and the apostle, Gal. vi. 1, counts it
the office of those that are strong, to restore such as are fallen with the
Spirit of meekness.
3. A third sign of our growth is, if we find ourselves able, like Samson,
to break the green cords of pleasure and profits, that they cannot bind us,
and to run lightly away with a heavy load of afflictions, as Samson did with
the city gates of Gaza, counting them light and momentary, as the apostle
calls them, 2 Cor. iv. 17.
4. Lastly, our growth of grace is seen in our performance of duties; if
they be strongly, readily, and cheerfully performed ; an example whereof
we have in the apostle, Phil. iv. 12, who could abound and suffer want,
yea, could do all things through Christ that strengthened him : and this is
in all Christians more or less, to content themselves in the will of God, and
to run the race of God's commandments with a large and cheerful heart.
Yer. 3, * And ye shall tread down the wicked, and they shall bo as dust.
This is another promise made to the church, and in it to every member
thereof, of victory over their enemies. God's children and the wicked are
like scales, when the one is up, the other is down, j Therefore, as this is a
promise to the children of God, so is it a threatening to the wicked; for it
is the happiness of the church ' to tread down the wicked,' which words
must have a large interpretation ; for the wicked generally seem to tread
down the godly, and therefore we must know that these words were spoken
to the Jews, and in them to all other Christians analogically ; and it was
fulfilled, first, when the good Jews saw the confusion of all the rebeUious
THE SUN OF EIGHTEOUSNESS. 177
Jews under Vespasian, when the temple and the city was destroyed, and
they made a by-word unto the nations. Secondly, the words may have
reference to the conversion of the Jews, whenas all the enemies of their
glorious conversion shall be trodden down, as it is in Micah iv. 13, 'Arise,
0 Zion : thou shalt beat in pieces many people ; ' for undoubtedly there
is a glorious conversion of the Jews to come, in what manner and at what
time we hope ere long to know ; for ever since this prophecy their estate
and condition hath been very low and mean, and there must come a time
of restoring. In the next place, these words may be intended as a promise
to all God's church ; for while they gloriously and powerfully profess the
truth, they are the head and not the tail, ruling and not ruled, as appear-
eth by the Jews' example.
1. First, While they obeyed God, they were a terror to the whole earth,
but once fallen from God, they were and remain a scorn to all people ;
and thus is it now where the white horse goes before, the red horse follows
after, as it is in the Revelation, Rev. vi. 4. So long as the church keeps
good terms with God, none so terrible as they, and their enemies knoweth
this full well: 'Let us take him, God hath forsaken him, and he shall
fall into our net,' Ps. Ixxi. 11.
2. Secondly, The church treadeth down its enemies in regard of true
JHLhjinent and discerning of their estates ; for they do think and account of
the wicked as a vile and abominable thing, and as of an object of pity; and
this the wicked do know, and this makes them hate God's children.
3. Thirdly, The church of God tramples on all tilings that rule wicked
men, B.S riches, honours, and the like; and therefore, in the Apocalypse, it
is said to 'tread on the moon,' Rev. xii. 1; that is, putting all earthly,
worldly things under it ; and thus did Moses, Daniel, and Paul. All is
dross and dung in comparison of Christ; and thus is the church and
child of God a spiritual king.
4. Fourthly, The church and children of God tread down the wicked in
regard of their example, for by it and by the word they subdue the spirits of
the world, and bind kings in chains, bringing down their mighty strong
corruptions and hard hearts to obedience, and if not, yet by making them
inexcusable, we fasten a censure and a sentence of condemnation which
hereafter is executed on them ; and thus the saints in old time were said
to condemn the world, and the white horse to go forth conquering ; and
there is no man but he must either yield or he is condemned already'; and
the arrows of God stick fast in him even here, and the liberty they seem to
have is no other but as the liberty of the Tower.*
5. But lastly, this promise is accomplished at the last day of judgment,
when we shall sit with Christ as kings, ruling with him, and as judges of
the tv/elve tribes of Israel, judges of the world. We are here conquerors
of the world, flesh, and devil ; but then all things shall be put under our
feet. And this should comfort us in our sufferings under wicked men; fof
at that time those that now triumph over us shall be trodden down as dust.
And again, we should learn not to fret to see the prosperity of the wicked,
Ps. xxxvii. 1. They are but flowers of a day's continuance. Who env'es
the estate or happiness of a base person that in a play acts the person of a
king ? This world is no other than a stage play. Let the wicked be in
never so great a place, he must return to his rags ; and the good man,
though he acts the part of a beggar here for a while, he shall be a king
* That, is of ' the Tower of London,' within which State prisoners were confined.
VOL. VTI.
M
178 THE SUN OF RIGHTEOUSNESS.
hereafter for ever, and in the mean time God considers of him as his dear
son, and it is no matter how high or low he is in the subsidy* book.
If we see ill men therefore advanced, and scandalous men insult, let us
enter into the sanctuary, and then we shall see their end to bo cursing ;
and feed we ourselves with meditations, by faith seeing ourselves sitting in
judgment on these wicked men. For God's truth and justice will not
always sutler these men to rulHe,f for then the devil would be a better
master than Christ. And for the present times, do we see that wicked
men prevails and increases, take no scandal at it. We know we have as
great promises as the Jews ever had ; though by these trials God doth
purge and quicken his church, it- will not always be thus. The beast is
going to destruction. They may serve for a while as scouring stutf to purge
the church, or as horse-leeches to suck the corrupt blood of the church,
and when this work is done, they shall be thrown on the dunghill. It will
be thus ere long. ' Babylon is fallen ; ' and as Christ out of his deep and
basest abasement under death did rise to the highest pitch of glory, so his
enemy antichrist contrarily, when he is most high and lifted up, shall
suddenly and irrecoverably come tumbling down, and at the judgment day
shall be more despicable and confounded. He shall be cast into the lake
of fire burning with brimstone, Rev. xix. 20. Amen !
* That is, ' the tax-book,' = how great or liow small his income is. — G.
t See our Glossar}', sub voce. — G.
DIVINE MEDITATIONS AND HOLY
CONTEMPLATIONS.
DIVINE MEDITATIONS AND HOLY CONTEMPLATIONS.
NOTE.
The ' Divine Meditations and Holy Contemplations ' appeared originally in a
small volume (18mo.), published in 1638, having a finely-engraved title-page. A
second edition was issued in 1651, and a third in 1658. The last is oiir text, and
its title-page will be found below.* These ' Meditations ' seem to have been taken
from Sibbes's Commonplace book, or from his lips as they occurred in his Sermons,
as many of them will be found scattered up and down his writings. G.
* DIVINE
MEDITATIONS
And
HOLY
Contemplations
BY
That Eeverend Divine,
R. SIBBES D.D.
Master of Catherine Hall in Cam-
bridge, and sometimes Preacher
of Graves Inne in
LONDON.
The third Edition Corrected.
LONDON,
Printed for Simon Miller at the Starre in
S' Pauls Church-yard, near the
West end. 1658.
TO THE CHEISTIAN READEE.
Courteous Eeader, — Thou hast here meditation upon meditation offered
to thy consideration, as a help to thee when thou art privately alone.
As sweet spices yield small savour until they are beaten to powder, so
the wonderful works of God are either not at all, or very slightly smelled
in the nostrils of man, who is of a dull sense, unless they be rubbed and
chafed in the mind, through a fervent afl'ection, and singled out with a par-
ticular view ; like them which tell money, who look not confusedly at the
whole heap, but at the value of every parcel. So then a true Christian
must endeavour himself to deliver, not in gross, but by retail, the millions
of God's mercy to his soul ; in secret thoughts, chewing the cud of every
circumstance with continual contemplation. And as a thrifty gardener,
which is loath to see one rose leaf to fall from the stalk without stilling ; *
so the Christian soul is unwilling to pass, or to stifle the ' beds of spices,'
in the garden of Christ, without gathering some fruit. Cant. vi. 2, which
contain a mystery and hidden virtue ; and our ' camphire clusters ' in the
vineyards of Engedi,' Cant. i. 14, must be resolved into drops by the still
of meditation, or else they may be noted for weeds in the herbal of men,
which hath his full of all kinds. But some are slightly passed over, as the
watery herbs of vanity, which grow on every wall of carnal men's hearts,
and yield but a slight taste how good the Lord is, or should be to their
souls. It therefore behoveth us, first, to mind the tokens of his mercy
and love, and afterwards for the helping of our weak digestion, to champ
and chew by an often revolution, every part and parcel thereof, before we
let it down into our stomachs ; that by that means it may eflectually
nourish every vein and living artery of our soul, and fill them full with the
pure blood of Christ's body, the least drop whereof refresheth and cheereth
the soul and body of him which is in a swoon through his sin, and maketh
him apt to walk and talk as one who is now living in Christ.
By this sweet meditation the soul taketh the key where all her evidences
lie, and peruses the bills and articles of covenant agreed and condescended
unto between God and man. There she seeth the great grant and pardon
of her sins, subscribed unto by God himself, and sealed with the blood of
Christ.
There he beholdeth his unspeakable mercy to a prisoner condemned to
* That is, ' distilling.'— G.
182 TO THE CHRISTIAN READER.
die, without which at the last in a desperate case he is led and haled unto
execution, by the cursed crew of hellish furies.
Here she learneth how the Holy Land is entailed, and retaileth by dis-
course the descent from Adam, unto Abraham and his son Isaac, and so
forward unto all the seed of the faithful. By meditation the soul prieth
into the soul, and with a reciprocal judgment examineth herself and every
faculty thereof, what she hath, what she wanteth, where she dwelleth,
where she removeth, and where she shall be.
By this she feeleth the pulses of God's Spirit beating in her ; the sugges-
tions of Satan ; the corruptions of her own affections, who like a cruel
step-dame mingleth poisons and pestilent things to murder the Spirit, to
repel every good motion, and to be in the end the lamentable ruin of the
whole man.
Here she standeth, as it were with Saul upon the mountains, beholding
the combat between David and Goliah ; between the Spirit and the uncir-
cumcised raging of the flesh, the stratagems of Satan, the bootless attempts
of the world.
Here appear her own infirmities, her relapses into sin, herself astonied
by the bufiets of Satan, her fort shrewdly * battered by carnal and fleshly
lusts, her colours and profession darkened and dimmed through the smoke
of affliction, her faith hidden because of such massacres and treasons ; her
hope banished with her mistrust ; herself hovering ready to take flight
from the sincerity of her profession.
Here she may discern, as from the top of a mast, an army coming,
whose captain is the Spirit, guarded with all his graces ; the bloody arms
of Christ by him displayed, the trumpets' sound, Satan vanquished, the
world conquered, the flesh subdued, the soul received, f profession bettered,
and each thing restored to his former integrity.
The consideration hereof made Isaac go meditating in the evening,
Gen. xxiv. G3.
This caused Hezekiah to * mourn like a dove, and chatter like a pye ' in
his heart, in deep silence, Isa. xxxviii. 14.
This forced David to meditate in the morning, nay, all the day long,
Ps. Ixiii. 6, and cxix. 148th vei'se, as also by night in ' secret thoughts,'
Ps. xvi. 7.
This caused Paul to give Timothy this lesson to meditate, 1 Tim. iv. 13,
seq. And God himself commanded Joshua, when he was elected governor,
that he should meditate upon the law of Moses both day and night, to the
end he might perform the things written therein, Josh. i. 8.
And Moses addeth this clause, teaching the whole law from God him-
self, ' These words must remain in thy heart, thou must meditate upon
them, both at home and abroad, when thou goest to bed, and when thou
risest in the morning,' Deut. vi. 7.
This meditation is not a passion of melancholy, nor a fit of fiery love,
nor covetous care, nor senseless dumps, but a serious act of the Spirit in
* That is, ' injuriously.'— G. ■(• Qu- ' revived ' ? — G.
TO THE CHRISTIAN READER. 183
the inwards of the soul, whose object is spiritual, whose affection is a
provoked appetite to practise holy things ; a kindling in us of the love of
God, a zeal towards his truth, a healing our benumbed hearts, according
to that speech of the prophet, ' My heart did wax hot within me, and fire
did kindle in my meditations,' Ps. xxxix. 3, the want whereof caused
Adam to fall, yea, and all the earth, into utter desolation ; for there is no
man considereth deeply in his heart, Jer. xii. 16. If Cain had considered
the curse of God, and his heavy hand against that grievous and crying
sin, he would not have slain his own brother. If Pharaoh would have
set his heart to ponder of the mighty hand of God by the plagues already
past, he should have prevented those which followed, and have foreslowed*
bis haste in making pursuit, with the destruction of himself and his whole
army.
If Nadab and Abihu had regarded the fire they put in their censers, they
might have been safe from the fire of heaven.
To conclude, the want of meditation hath been the cause of so many
fearful events, strange massacres, and tragical deaths, which have from
time to time pursued the drowsy heart and careless mind ; and in these
our days is the butchery of all the mischiefs which have already chanced
unto our countrymen ; for whilst God's judgments are masked, and not
presented to the view of the mind by the serious work of the same, though
they are keen and sharp, it being sheathed, they seem dull, and of no
edge unto us, which causeth us to prick up the feathers of pride and inso-
lency, and to make no reckoning of the fearful and final reckoning which
most assuredly must be made, will we, nill we, before God's tribunal.
Hence it cometh to pass that our Enghsh gentlewomen do brave it with
such outlandish manners, as though they could dash God out of counte-
nance, or roistf it in heaven as they carve it here, so that thousands are
carried to hell out of their sweet perfumed chambers, where they thought
to have lived, and are snatched presently from their pleasant and odori-
ferous arbours, dainty dishes, and silken company, to take up their room
in the dungeon and lake of hell, which burneth perpetually with fire and
brimstone.
And for want of this, God's children go limping in their knowledge, and
carry the fire of zeal in a flinty heart, which, unless it be hammered, will
not yield a spark to warm and cheer their benumbed and frozen affections
towards the worship and service of God, and the hearty embracing of his
truth.
By this God's works of creation are slipped over, even * from the cedar
to the hyssop that groweth on the wall,' 1 Kings iv. 33.
The sun, the moon, the stars, shine without admiration ; the sea and
the earth, the fowls, fishes, beasts, and man himself, are all esteemed as
common matters in nature. Thus God worketh those strange creatures
without that glory performed which is due, and his children receive not
that comfort by the secret meditation of God's creation as they might.
* That is, ' slackened beforeliand.'— G. t That is, ' roister.'— G.
184
TO THE CHRISTIAN EEADER.
Hence it proceedeth that they are often in their clumps, fearing as though
they enjoyed not the hght; whereas if they would meditate and judge aright
of their estates, they might find they are the sons of God, and heirs of that
rich kingdom most apparently * known and established in heaven, and shall
suddenly •]- possess the same, even then most likely when their flesh thinketh
it farthest off; as the heir being within a month of his age, maketh such a
reckoning of his lands that no careful distress can trouble him. But this
consideration being partly through Satan's, and partly through their own
dulness and over-stupidness, they fare like men in a swoon, and as it were
bereaved of the very life of the Spirit, staggering under the burden of
afiliction, stammering in their godly profession, and cleaving sometimes
unto the world. Through this they carry Christ's promises like comforts
in a box, or as the chirurgeon his salves in his bosom.
Meditation applieth, meditation healeth, meditation instructeth. If thou
lovest wisdom and blessedness, meditate in the law of the Lord day and
night, and so make use of these Meditations to quicken thee up to duty,
and to sweeten thy heart in thy way to the heavenly Jerusalem. Fare-
well.— Thy friend,
EZEKIEL CULVEKWELL.J
* That is, ' manifestly.' — G. f That is, ' quickly,' = ' soon.' — G.
% For notice of this profound thinker, see Dr Brown's reprint of ' The Light of
Nature,' with Essay by Dr Cairns ; and of. our Bibliographical List of editions of
Sibbes's Works at end of this volume, under ' Divine Meditations.' — G.
DIVINE MEDITATIONS.
1. That man hath made a good progress in religion that hath a high
esteem of the ordinances of God ; and though perhaps he find himself dead
and dull, yet the best things have left such a taste and relish in his soul,
that he cannot be long without them. This is a sign of a good temper.
2. A wife, when she marries a husband, gives up her will to him. So
doth every Christian when he is married to Christ. He gives up his will
and all that he hath to him, and saith, ' Lord, I have nothing but if thou
callest for it thou shalt have it again.'
3. When we come to religion, we lose not our sweetness, but translate
it. Perhaps before we fed upon profane authors, now we feed upon holy
truths. A Christian never knows what comfort is in religion till he come
to be downright ; as Austin saith, ' Lord, I have wanted of thy sweetness
over long; all my former life was nothing but husks.'*
4. God takes care of poor weak Christians that are struggling with temp-
tations and corruptions. Christ carries them in his arms. All Christ's
sheep are diseased, and therefore he will have a tender care of them, Isa.
xL 11.
5. Whatsoever is good for God's childi-en, they shall have it; for all is
theirs, to further them to heaven. Therefore if poverty be good, they shall
have it; if disgrace be good, they shall have it; if crosses be good, they
shall have them ; if misery be good, they shall have it ; for all is ours, to
serve for our main good.
6. God's children have these outward things with God himself. They
are as conduits to convey his favour to us ; and the same love that moved
God to give us heaven and happiness, the same love moves him to give us
daily bread.
7. The whole hfe of a Christian should be nothing but praises and thanks
to God. We should neither eat, nor drink, nor sleep, but eat to God, and
sleep to God, and work to God, and talk to God ; do all to his glory and
praise.
8. Though God deliver not out of trouble, yet he delivers from the ill
in trouble, from despair in trouble, by supporting the spirit. Nay, he
delivers bi/ trouble, for he sanctifies the trouble to cure the soul, and by
less troubles he delivers from greater.
9. What are we but a model of God's favours? What do we see, or
* A frequent plaint of Augustine in the ' Confessions.' — G,
186 DIVINE MEDITATIONS
what do wo taste, but matter of the mercies of God? The miseries of
others shonki be matter of praise to us. The sins of others should make
us praise God, and say, ' Lord, it might have been my case, it might have
befallen me.'
10. God pities our weakness in all our troubles and afflictions. He will
not stay too long, lest we out of weakness put our hands to some shifts.*
He will not suffer the rod of the wicked to rest upon the lot of the righteous,
Ps. cxxv. 3.
11. Is it not an unreasonable speech for a man at midnight to say it
will never be day? And so it is an unreasonable thing for a man that is
in trouble to say, ' 0 Lord, I shall never get out of this ! it will always be
thus with me.'
12. Do the wicked think to shame or fear good men? No; a spirit of
grace and glory shall rest upon them. They shall not only have a spirit of
grace rest upon them, but a spirit of glory, so that their countenances shall
shine as Stephen's did when he was stoned. Acts vi. 15.
13. If God hides his face from us, what shall become of our souls. We
are like the poor flower that opens and shuts with the sun. If God shines
upon the heart of a man, it opens ; but if he withdraws himself, we hang
down our heads : ' Thou turnedst away thy face, and I was troubled,' Ps.
XXX. 7.
14. When we have given up ourselves to God, let us comfort our souls
that God is our God. When riches, and treasures, and men, and our lives
fail, yet God is ours. We are now God's Davids, and God's Pauls, and
God's Abrahams; we have an everlasting being in him.
15. A special cause of too much dejection is want of resolution in good
things, when we halt in religion ; for as halting is a deformed and trouble-
some gesture, so in religion, halting is always joined with trouble and dis-
quiet.
16. God hath made the poorest man that is a governor of himself, and
hath set judgment to rule against passion and conscience against sin ; there-
fore reason should not be a slave to passion.
17. It is the peculiar wisdom of a Christian to pick arguments out of his
worst condition, to make him thankful. And if he be thankful, he will be
joyful ; and so long as he is joyful he cannot be miserable.
18. God hath made himself ours, and therefore it is no presumption to
challenge him to be our God. When once we have interest in God, he
thinks nothing too good for us. He is not satisfied in giving us the bless-
ings of this life, but he gives himself unto us.
19. As we receive all from God, so we should lay all at his feet, and
say, ' I will not live in a course of sin that will not stand with the favour
of my God;' for he will not lodge in the heart that hath a purpose to
sin.
20. God's people have sweet intercourse with God in their callings.
When we look for comfort, we shall find it either in hearing, reading, or
praying, &c., or else in our callings.
21. We glorify God when we exalt him in our souls above all creatures
in the world, when we give him the highest place in our love and in our
joy, when all our affections are set upon him as the chiefest good. This is
seen also by opposition, when we will not ofi'end God for any creature,
when we can ask our affections, ' Whom have I in heaven but thee ? ' Ps.
Ixxiii. 25.
* That is, ' expedients.' — G.
AND HOLY CONTEMPLATIONS. 187
22. There is no true zeal to God's glory but it is joined with true love
to men ; therefore let men that are violent, injurious, and insolent, never
talk of glorifying God so long as they despise poor men.
23. If we do not find ourselves the people of God's delight, let us attend
upon the means of salvation, and wait God's good time, and stand not dis-
puting, ' Perhaps God hath not a purpose to save me ;' but fall to obedience,
casting thyself into the arms of Christ, and say. If I perish, I will perish
here.
24. The love of God in Christ is not barren kindness. It is a love that
reaches from everlasting to everlasting; from love in choosing us, unto
love in glorifying of us. In all the miseries of the world, one beam of this
loving-kindness of the Lord will scatter all.
25. Our desires are holy if they be exercised about spiritual things.
David desires not to be great, to be rich in the world, or to have power to
be revenged upon his enemies, but that he may ' dwell in the house of the
Lord, and enjoy his ordinances,' Ps. xxvii. 4.
26. Desires shew the frame of the soul more than anything; as where
there is a spring, it discovers itself by vapours that arise ; so the breathing
of these desires shew that there is a spring of grace in the heart.
27. Desires spring from the will; and the will being as the whole man,
it moves all other powers to do their duty, and to see for the accomplishing
of that it desires. Those therefore that pretend they have good desires,
and yet neglect all means, and live scandalously, this is but a sluggish
desire.
28. An hypocrite will not pray always, but a child of God never gives
over; because he sees an excellency, a necessity, and a possibility of
obtaining that he desires. He hath a promise for it: 'The Lord will
fulfil the desires of them that fear him,' Ps. cxlv. 19.
29. Prayer doth exercise all the graces of the Spirit. We cannot pray
but our faith is exercised, our love, our patience ; which makes us set a
high price upon that we seek after, and to use it well.
30. God takes it unkindly if we weep too much, and over-grieve for loss
of wife, child, or friend, or for any cross in the things of this life ; for it is
a sign we fetch not that comfort from him which we should and may do.
Nay, though our weeping be for our sins, we must keep a moderation in
that. We must with one eye look upon our sins, and with the other eye
look upon God's mercy in Christ; and therefore if the best grief must he
moderated, what must the other ?
31. The religious affections of God's people are mixed ; for they mingle
their joy with weeping, and their weeping with joy, whereas a carnal heart
is all simple. If he joy, he is mad ; if he be sorrowful, unless it be
restrained, it sinks him ; but grace ahvays tempers the joy and sorrow of
a Christian, because he hath always something to joy in and something to
grieve for.
32. We are members of two worlds. Now, whilst we live here, we must
use this world ; for how many things doth this poor life of ours need ! We
are passing away; and, in this passage of ours, we must have necessaries.
But yet we must use the world as if we used it not; for there is a danger
lest our affections cleave to the things of this life.
33. It is a poorness of spirit in a Christian to be over joyful, or over-
grieved for things worse than ourselves. If a man hath any grace, all the
world is inferior to him; and therefore what a poorness of spirit is it to be
over joyful, or over-much grieved, when all things are fading and vanish
188
DIVINE MEDITATIONS
away. Let ns therefore bear continually in our minds, that all things here
below are subordinate.
34. A sincere heart that is burdened with sin, desires not heaven so
much as the place where he shall be free from sin, and to have the image
of God and Christ perfected in his soul ; and therefore a sincere spirit
comes to hear the word, not so much because an eloquent man preacheth,
as to hear divine truths : because the evidence of [thej Spirit goes with it, to
work those graces. You cannot still a child with anything but the breast;
so you cannot still the desires of a Christian, but with divine truths, as,
Isa. xxvi. 8, ' The desires of our souls is to thy name and to the remem-
brance of thee.'
35. There is a thousand things that maj hinder good success in our
affairs. What man can apply all things to a fit issue, and remove all things
that may hinder ? Who can observe persons, times, places, advantages,
and disadvantages ; and when we see these things there is naturally a
passion, that it robs us of our knowledge : as, when a man sees any danger,
there is such a fear or anger, that he is in a mist. So that, unless God
give a particular success, there is none. As it is in the frame of a man's
body ; it stands upon many joints, [and] if any of these be out of frame it
hinders all the rest.
36. If we will hold out, because the error is in want of deep apprehen-
sion of the miseries we are in by nature ; let us labour therefore to have
our hearts broken more and more. Upon this fault it was that the stony
ground spoken of in the gospel wants rooting. Therefore it is Christian
policy to suffer our souls to be humbled, as deep as possible may be, that
there may be mould enough ; otherwise there may be a great joy in divine
truths, and they may be comfortable, but all will be sucked up like dew
when persecution comes, if it be not rooted.
37. What is the reason that God's children sink not to hell when troubles
are upon them? Because they have an inward presence strengthening
them : for the Holy Ghost helps our infirmities, not only to pray, but to
bear crosses, sweetening them with some glimpse of his gracious counte-
nance. For what supports our faith in prayer, but inward strength from
God.
38. In prosperity, or after some deliverance, it is the fittest time for praise ;
because then our spirits are raised up and cheered in the evidence of God's
favour : for the greater the cross is from which we have been delivered,
the more will the spirit be enlarged to praise God.
39. Whenever we receive any good to our souls, or to our bodies, who-
ever is the instrument, let us look to the principal; as in the gifts we
receive, we look not to the bringer but to the sender.
40. Take heed of Satan's policy, * That God hath forgotten me because
I am in extremity ;' nay, rather God will then shew mercy, for now is the
special time of mercy, therefore beat back Satan with his own weapons.
41. Whatsoever God takes away from his children, he either supplies it
with a great earthly favour, or else with strength to bear it. God gives
charge to others to take a care of the fatherless and widow, and will he
neglect them himself?
42. That is spiritual knowledge, which alters the taste and relish of
the soul: for we must know there is a bitter antithesis in our nature,
against all saving truths ; there is a contrariety between our nature and
that doctrine, which teacheth us, that we must ' deny ourselves,' Titus ii.
12, and be saved by another. Therefore the soul must first be brought to
AND HOLY CONTEMPLATIONS. 189
relish, before it can digest : there must be first an holy harmony between
our nature and truth.
43. If we walk aright in God's ways, let us have heaven daily in our
eye, and the day of judgment, and times to come, and this will stern* the
course of our lives, and breed love in the use of the means, and patience
to undergo all conditions. Let us have our eye with Moses upon him that
is invisible, Heb. xi. 27.
44. A man may know that he loves the world, if he be more careful to
get than to use. For we are but stewards, and we should consider, I must
be as careful in distributing as in getting : for when we are all in getting,
and nothing in distributing, this man is a worldling ; though he be moderate
in getting, without wronging any man, yet the world hath gotten his heart,
because he makes not that use of it he should.
45. It is a sottish conceit to think that we can fit ourselves for grace, as
if a child in the womb could forward its natural birth. If Grod hath made
us men, let us not make ourselves gods.
4G. As natural life preserves itself by repelling that which is contrary to
it, so, where the life of grace is, there is a principle of skill, of power, and
strength to repel that which is contrary.
47. It is the nature of the soul, that when it sees a succession of better
things, it makes the world seem cheap ; when it sees another condition,
not liable to change, then it hath a sanctified judgment to esteem of things
as they are ; and so it overcomes the world.
48. In the covenant of grace, God intends the glory of his grace above
all. Now faith is fit for it, because it hath an uniting virtue to knit us to
the mediator, and to lay hold of a thing out of itself ; it empties the soul
of all conceit of worth, or strength, or excellency in the creature : and so
it gives all the glory to God and Christ.
49. What^ we are afraid to speak before men, and to do for fear of
danger, let us be afraid to think before God. Therefore we should stifle
all ill conceits in the very conception, in their very rising : let them be used
as rebels and traitors, smothered at the first.
50. The heart of man, till he be a believer, is in a wavering condition,
it is 'never at quiet, and therefore it is the happiness of the creature to be
satisfied, and to have rest : for perplexity makes a man miserable. If a
man have but a little scruple in his conscience, he is like a ship in the sea,
tossed with contrary winds, and cannot come to the haven.
51. The righteousness of works leaves the soul in perplexity. That
righteousness which comes by any other means than by Christ, leaves the
soul unsettled, because the law of God promiseth life only upon absolute
and personal performance. Now the heart of man tells him, that this he
hath not done,' and such duties he hath omitted ; and this breeds perplexity,
because the heart hath not whereon to stay itself.
52. Glory follows afllictions, not as the day follows the night, but as the
spring follows winter ; for the winter prepares the earth for the spring : so
doth afllictions sanctified prepare the soul for glory.
53. This life is not a life for the body, but for the soul ; and therefore
the soul should speak to the body, and say, ' Stay, body, for if thou movest
me to fulfil thy desires now, thou wilt lose me and thyself hereafter.' But
if the body be given up to Christ, then the soul will speak a good word for
it in heaven; as if it should say, 'Lord, there is a body of mine in the
* That is, 'steer,' = place a helm at the stern. — G.
190 DIVINE MEDITATIOXS
earth, that did fiist for me, and pray with me:' it will speak for it as
Pharaoh's butler to the kiug for Joseph, Gen. xli. 9.
64. Afflictions makes a divorce and separation between the soul and sin.
It is not a small thing that will work sin out of the soul; it must bo the
spirit of burning, the fire of afflictions sanctified : heaven is for holiness,
and all that is contrary to holiness afilictions works out, and so frames the
soul to a further communion with God.
55. "When the soul admires spiritual things, it is then a holy frame; and
so long it will not stoop to any base comfort. "We should therefore labour
to keep our souls in an estate of holy admiration.
5G. All those whom Christ saves by virtue of his merit and payment, to
those he discovers their wretched condition, and instead thereof a better to
be attained ; he shews by whom we are redeemed, and from what, and
unto what condition : the Spirit informing us thoroughly, that God enters
into covenant with us.
57. Spiritual duties are as opposite to flesh and blood as fire to water ;
but, as anointing makes the members nimble, and strong, and cheerful, so,
where the Spirit of God is in any man, it makes him nimble, and strong,
and cheerful to good duties. But when we are drawn to them as a bear
to the stake, for fear, or an inbred natural custom, this is not from the
Spirit ; for where the Spirit is, there duties are performed without force,
fear, or hopes. A child needs no extrinsecal motion to make him please
his father, because it is inbred and natural to him.
58. As the weights of a clock makes all the wheels to go, so artificial
Christians are moved with things without them ; for they want this inward
principle to make them do good things freely. But where the Spirit of
God is, it works a kind of natural freedom.
59. As the woman in the law, when she was forced by any man, if she
cried out she was blameless, so if we unfeignedly cry unto Christ, and com-
plain of our corruptions, that they are too strong for us, this will witness
to our hearts that we are not hypocrites.
60. Good duties come from unsound Christians as fire out of the flint ;
but they flow from a child of God, as water out of a spring ; yet because
there is flesh in them as well as spirit, therefore every duty must be gotten
out of the fire. And yet there is a liberty, because there is a principle in
them that resists the flesh.
Gl. God's children are hindered in good duties by an inevitable weak-
ness in nature, as after labour with drowsiness ; therefore ' the spirit may
be willing when the flesh is weak,' Mat. xxvi. 41. If we strive therefore
against this deadness and dulness, Christ is ready to make excuse for us,
if the heart be right, as he did for his disciples.
62. A child of God is the greatest freeman, and the best servant, even
as Christ was the best servant, yet none so free ; and the greater portion
that any man hath of his Spirit, the freer disposition he hath to serve every
one in love.
63. Sight is the most noblest sense. It is quick : it can see from earth
to heaven in a moment. It is large : it can see the hemisphere of the
heavens with one view. It is sure and certain : for in hearing we may be
deceived. And, lastly, it is the most afiecting sense. Even so is faith the
quickest, the largest, the most certain, and most afiecting. It is like an
eagle in the clouds : at one view it sees Christ in heaven, and looks down
into the world. It sees backward and forwards : it sees things past, pre-
sent, and to come ; and therefore it is, that faith is expressed by beholding.
AND HOLY CONTEMPLATIONS. 191
64. A veil or covering had two uses amongst the Jews. One was sub-
jection, and therefore the women were veiled ; another was obscurity, and
therefore was the veil on Moses's face. Both these are now taken away in
Christ ; for we serve God as ' sons,' and as a spouse her husband. We are
still in subjection, but not servile ; and now also with ' open face' we
behold the glory of the Lord. We behold the things themselves ; they are
now clearly laid open ; the veil is taken away.
65. Our happiness consists in our subordination and conformity to
Christ ; and therefore let us labour to carry ourselves, as he did to his
Father, to his friends, to his enemies. In the days of his flesh he prayed
whole nights to his Father. How holy and heavenly-minded was he, that
took occasion from vines, and stones, and sheep, to be heavenly-minded.
And when he rose from the dead, his talk was only of things concerning
the kingdom of God. For his carriage to his friends, ' he would not quench
the smoking flax, nor break the bruised reed,' Mat. xii. 20. He did not
cast Peter in the teeth with his denial. He was of a winning and gaining
disposition to all. For his carriage to his enemies, he did not call for fire
from heaven to destroy them, but shed many tears for them that shed his
blood. * 0 Jerusalem,' &c.. Mat. xxiii. 37 ; and upon the cross, ' Father,
forgive them, for they know not what they do,' Luke xxiii. 34. So that if
we will be minded like unto Christ, consider how he carried himself to his
Father, to his friends, to his enemies, yea, to the devil himself. When
he comes to us in wife, children, friends, &c., we must do as Christ did,
bid ' Avoid, Satan ;' and when we have to deal with those that have the spirit
of the devil in them, we must not render reproach for reproach, but answer
them, * It is written.'
66. When we find any grace wrought in us, we should have a holy
esteem of ourselves, as when we are tempted to sin. What ! I that am
an heir of heaven, a king, a conqueror, the son of God, a freeman, shall I
stain myself? God hath put a crown upon my soul, and shall I cast my
crown into the dirt ? No ; I will be more honourable. These are no
proud thoughts, but befitting our estate.
67. Those that are besotted with the false lustre of the world, do want
spiritual light. Christ himself, when he was here upon the earth, he lived
a concealed life ; only at certain times some beams broke out. So let it
comfort us that our glory is hid in Christ, Now it is clouded with the
malice of wicked men, and with our own infirmities. But let us comfort
ourselves with this, that we are glorious in the eyes of God and his angels.
68. As men after a fit of sickness grow much, so God's children grow,
especially after their falls, sometimes in humility, sometimes in patience.
As we may observe in plants and herbs, they grow at the root in winter,
in the leaf in summer, and in the seed in autumn ; so Christians appear,
sometimes humble, sometimes spiritual and joyful, and sometimes they
grow in spiritual courage.
69. That which we drew from the ' first Adam' was the displeasing of
God, but we draw from the ' second Adam' the favour of God. From the
' first Adam' we drew corruption, from the ' second Adam' we drew* grace :
from the ' first Adam' we drew misery and death, and all the miseries that
follow death. We draw from the ' second Adam' life and happiness. What-
soever we had from the * first Adam' we have it repaid more abundantly in
the second.
70. Grace makes us glorious, because it puts glory upon the soul. It
* Qu, ' draw ' ?— Ed.
192 DIVINE MEDITATIONS
carries the soul above all earthl}^ tbiu^s : it tramples tbe world under ber
feet : it prevails against corruptions, tbat foil ordinary men, A man is not
more above beasts than a Christian that hath grace is above other men.
71. It is an evidence that we are gracious men, if we can look upon the
lives of others that are better than we, and love and esteem them glorious.
A man may see grace in others with a malignant eye ; for natural men are
so vaiu-glorious, that when they see the lives of other men outshine theirs,
instead of imitation they darken. What grace they will not imitate, they
will defame. Therefore those that can see grace in others, and honour it
in them, it is a sign they have grace themselves. Men can endure good
in books, and to hear good of men that are dead, but they cannot endure
good in the lives of others to be in their eyes, especially when they come
to compare themselves with them. They love not to be out- shin ed.
72. As the sun goes its course, though we cannot see it go ; and as
plants and herbs grow, though we cannot perceive them : even so it follows
not, that a Christian grows not, because he cannot see himself grow. But
if they decay in their first love, or in some other grace, it is that some
other grace may grow and increase, as their humility, their broken-heart-
edness. Sometimes they grow not in extension, that they may grow at the
root. Upon a check, grace breaks out more ; as we say after a hard win-
ter, usually there follows a glorious spring.
73. God's children never hate corruption more than when they have
been overcome by corruption. The best men living have some corruptions,
which they see not till they break out by temptations. Now when corrup-
tions are made known to us, it stirs up our hatred, and hatred stirs up
endeavour, and endeavour revenge ; so that God's children should not be
discouraged for their falls.
74. When the truth of grace is wrought in a Christian, his desires go
beyond his strength, and his prayers are answerable to his desires. Where-
upon is it that young Christians oftentimes call their estate in question,
because they cannot bring heaven upon earth, because they cannot be per-
fect ; but God will have us depend upon him for increase of grace in a daily
expectation.
75. Christ is our pattern, whom we must strive to imitate. It is neces-
sary that our pattern should be exact, that so we might see our imperfec-
tions, and be humbled for them, and live by faith in our sanctification.
76. Consider Christ upon the cross as a public person, that when he
was crucified, and when he died, he died for my sins, and this knowledge
of Christ will be a crucifying knowledge. This will stir up my heart to
use my corruptions, as my sins used Christ. As he hated my sin, so it will
work the same disposition in me, to hate this body of death, and to use it as
it used Christ, answerably. As we see this clearly, it will transform us.
77. With our contemplation let us join this kind of reasoning. God so
hated pride, that he became humble to the death of the cross, to redeem
me from it, and shall I be proud ? And when we are stirred up to revenge,
consider that Christ prayed for his enemies. When we are tempted to dis-
obedience, think God in my nature was obedient to the death, and shall
I stand upon terms ? And when we grow hard-hearted, consider Christ
became man, that he might shew bowels of his mercy. Let us reason thus
when we are tempted to any sin, and it will be a means to transform us
from our own cursed likeness into the likeness of Christ.
78. When we see God blasphemed, or the like, let us think, how would
Christ stand affected if he were here ? When he was here upon earth, how
AND HOLY CONTEMPLATIONS. 193
zealous was he against profaneness, and shall I be so cold ? When he saw
the multitude wander as sheep without a shepherd, his bowels yearned ;
and shall we see so many poor souls live in darkness, and our bowels not
yearn ? Mat. ix. 36.
79. We must look upon Christ, not only for healing, but as a perfect
pattern to imitate ; for wherefore else did he live so long upon earth, but to
shew us an example. And let us know that wo shall be countable* for
those good examples which we have from others. There is not an example
of an humble, holy, and industrious life, but shall be laid to our charge ;
for God doth purposely let them shine in our eyes, that we might take
example by them.
80. As the spirits in the arteries quickens the blood in the veins, so the
Spirit of God goes along with the word, and makes it work. St Paul
speaks to Lydia, but the Spirit speaks to her heart. As it was with Christ
himself, so it is with his members. He was conceived by the Spirit,
anointed by the Spirit, sealed by the Spirit. He was led into the wilder-
ness by the Spirit. He offered up himself by the Spirit, and by the Spirit
he was raised from the dead. Even so the members of Christ do answer
unto Christ himself. All is by the Spirit : we are conceived by the Spirit.
The same Spirit that sanctified him sanctifies us ; but first we receive the
Spirit by way of union, and then unction follows after. When we are knit
to Christ by the Spirit, then it works the same in us as it did in him,
81. When a proud wit and supernatural truths meet together, such a
man will have something of his own. Therefore in reading and studying
of heavenly truths, especially the gospel, we must come to God for his
Spirit, and not venture upon conceits of our own parts ; for God will curse
such proud attempts.
82. Many men think that the knowledge of divine truths will make them
divine, whereas it is the Holy Ghost only that gives a taste and relish, for
without the Spirit their hearts will rise when the word comes to them in
particular, and tells them you must deny yourself, and venture your life
for his truth.
83. When men understand the Scriptures, and yet are proud and mali-
cious, we must not take scandalf at it, for their hearts were never subdued.
They understand supernatural things by human reason, and not by divine light.
84. Those that measure lands are very exact in everything, but the poor
man whose it is knows the use of the ground better, and delights in it
more, because it is his own. So it is with those ministers that can exactly
speak of heavenly truths, yet have no share in them ; but the poor soul that
hears them rejoiceth, and saith. These things are mine.
85. This life is a life of faith; for God will try the truth of our faith,
that the world may see that God hath such servants as will depend upon
his bare word. It were nothing to be a Christian if we should see all here.
But God will have his children to live by faith, and take the promises upon
his word.
86. The nature of hope is to expect that which faith believes. What
could the joys of heaven avail us if it were not for our hope? It is the
anchor of the soul, which being cast into heaven, it stills the soul in all
troubles, combustions, and confusions that we daily meet withal.
87. It is too much curiosity to search into particulars, as what shall
be the glory of the soul, and what shall be the glory of the body. Eather
* That is, ' accountable.' — 'G.
t That is, must not make it a ' stumbling-block.' — G.
VOL. VII. N
194 DIVINE MEDITATIONS
study to make a gracious use of them, and in humility say, ' Lord, what is
sinful man, that thou shouldst so advance him?' Ps. viii. 4. The con-
sideration of this should make us ahase ourselves, and in humility give
thanks aforehand, as Peter did, 1 Peter i. 1. When he thought of an
inheritance immortal and undefiled, and that fadeth not, he gives thanks,
* Blessed he God the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, which, according to
his abundant mercy, hath begotten us,' &c.
88. When we see men look big and swell with the things of this life, let
us in a holy kind of state think of our happiness in heaven, and carry our-
selves accordingly. If we see anything in this world, let us say to our
souls, This is not that I look for; or when we hear of anything that is good,
let us say, I can hear this, and therefore this is not that I look for ; or
when we understand anything here below, this is not the thing I look for:
' But for things that eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, nor that ever entered
into the heart of man,' 1 Cor. ii. 9.
89. There are four things observable in the nature of love : first, an
estimation of the party beloved ; secondly, a desire to be joined to him ;
thirdly, a settled contentment ; fourthly, a desire to please the party in all
things. So there is first in every Christian an high estimation of God and
of Christ. He makes choice of him above all things, and speaks largely in
his commendations. Secondly, he desires to be united to him, and where
this desire is, there is an intercourse. He will open his mind to him by
prayer, and go to him in all his consultations for his counsel. Thirdly, he
places contentment in him alone, because in his worst conditions he is at
peace and quiet if he may have his countenance shine upon him. Fourthly,
he seeks to please him, because he labours to be in such a condition that
God may delight in him. His love stirs up his soul to remove all things
distasteful. It seeks out, as David did: ' Is there never a one left of the
house of Saul to whom I may do good for Jonathan's sake?' 2 Sam. ix. 1.
90. Infirmities in God's children preserves their grace. Therefore it is
that in God's Scripture, where God honours the saints, their weaknesses
are made known. Jacob wrestled with God and prevailed, but he halted,
Gen. xxxii. 24 ; and Peter, ' Upon this rock will I build my church,' Mat.
xvi. 18 ; yet, ' Get thee behind me, Satan,' Mat. xvi, 23. ' Paul was
exalted above measure with revelations, but he had the messenger of
Satan to buffet him,' 2 Cor. xii. 7.
' 91. It is the poisonful nature of man to quench a great deal of good for
a little ill. But Christ cherishes a little grace, though there be a great
deal of corruption, which yet is as offensive to him as smoke. Therefore
we should labour to gain all we can by love and meekness.
92. Christians find their corruptions more offensive to them than when
they were in the state of nature, and therefore it is that they think their
estate is not good, but then corruption boils more, because it is restrained.
93. The more will, the more sin. When we venture upon sini'ul courses,
upon deliberation, it exceedingly wastes our comfort. When we fall into
sin against conscience, and abuse our Christian liberty, God fetches us
again by some severe afHiction. There shall be a cloud between God's
face and us, and he will suspend his comforts for a long time. Therefore
let no man venture upon sin, for God will take a course with him that shall
be little to his ease.
94. The reason why mean Christians have more loving souls than men
of greater parts, is because great men have corruptions answerable to their
parts. Great gifts, great doubts. They are entangled with arguments,
AND HOLY CONTEMPLATIONS. 195
and study to inform their brains, when others are heated with affection. A
poor Christian cares not for cold disputes. Instead of that he loves; and
that is the reason why a poor soul goes to heaven with more joy whilst
others are entangled.
95. Many men are troubled with cold affections, and then they think to
work love out of their own hearts, which are like a barren wilderness, but
we must beg of God the Spirit of love. We must not bring love to God,
but fetch love from him.
96. When we love things baser than ourselves it is like a sweet stream
that runs into a sink. As our love therefore is the best thing we have,
and none deserves it more than God, so let him have our love, yea, the
strength of our love, that we may love him * with all our souls, and with
all our mind, and with all our strength,' Lev. xix. 18.
97. As the sun when it hath gotten to any height it scatters the clouds,
so a Christian is then in his excellency when he can scatter doubts and
fears, when in distress he can do as David did, comfort himself in the Lord
his God.
98. Many men would be in Canaan as soon as they are out of Egypt,
they would be at the highest pitch presently. But God will lead us through
the wilderness of temptations and afflictions till we come to heaven. And
it is a part of our Christian meekness to submit to God, and not to mur-
mur, because we are not as we would be. But let us rather magnify the
mercies of God that works in us any love of good things, and that he
vouchsafes us any beginnings.
99. As noblemen's children have tutors to guide them, so God's chil-
dren have the Spirit telling them. This you should do, and that you should
not do. The Spirit not only changeth, but leads forward unto holiness.
Wicked men have the Spirit knocking, and fain would enter, but they will
not hear ; but God's children have the Spirit dwelling in them.
100. A Christian is now in his nonage, and therefore not fit to have all
that he hath a title to. But yet so much is allotted to him as will con-
duct him, and give him a passage to heaven. If therefore he be in want
he hath contentment, and in suffering he hath patience, &c. All things are
his, as well what he wants as what he hath.
101. The word of God is then in our hearts, when it rules in the soul,
when it rules our thoughts, affections, and conversations, so that we dare
not do anything contrary but we shall be checked. Who shall get out that
which God's finger hath written in our hearts ? No fire nor faggot, no
temptation whatsoever.
102. We shall never be satisfied to our comfort, that the Scripture is
the word of God, unless we know it from itself by its own light, and it
shews itself abundantly to a believer in casting down the soul, and altering
the mind and conversation. When the word is only in the brain, if there
come a temptation stronger than our faith, then we despair. The word is
far off from those that can oul}' discourse and talk of it, when they see it
only as a natural truth, when they look upon holy things, not in a divine,
but in a human manner.
103. When the word dwells as a familiar in the heart, to direct, counsel,
and comfort, then it is a sign it is there. The devil knows good and hates it,
therefore knowledge alone is nothing. But when the promise doth alter
the temper of the heart itself, then it is engrafted.
104. God excepts against none, if we do not except ourselves. There-
fore thou, and thou, whosoever thou art, if thou beast a man or a woman,
196 DIVINE MEDITATIONS
and wilt come and take Christ upon his own terms, for thy Lord and
hushand, for better for worse, with persecutions, afflictions, crosses, &c.
Take Christ thus, and take him for ever, and then thou shalt be saved.
105. When we behove divine truths by the Spirit, they work upon the
heart and draw the afi'cctions after them. Therefore, if we spiritually
beheve the story of the gospel, wo shall have our souls carried to love, and
embrace it with joy and comfort,
lOG. "We may be brought very low, but we shall not bo confounded ;
yet we shall be brought as near confusion as may be, to shew us the vanity
of the creature. In the judgment of the world we may be confounded, but
a hand of mercy shall fetch us up again. Let the depth of misery and
disconsolation be what it will be, we shall not be ashamed.
107. The reason why God's children do oftentimes with great perplexity
doubt of their salvation, is because they have a principle of nature in them
as well as of grace. Corruption will breed doubtings. As rotten wood
breeds worms, and as vermin comes out of putrefaction, so doubtings and
fears come from the remainder of corrruption.
108. For want of watchfulness God oftentimes gives us up to such a
perplexed estate, that we shall not know that we are in grace, and though
we may have a principle of grace in us, yet we shall not see it, but may
go out of the world in darkness.
109. We ought not at any time to deny the truth, nor yet at all times
to confess it. For good actions and graces are like princes that come forth
attended with circumstances, and if circumstances in confession be wanting,
the action is marred. It is true of actions as of words : ' A word spoken
in season is like apples of gold with pictures of silver,' Prov. xxv. 11.
Therefore discretion must be our guide, for speech is then only good when
it is better than silence.
110. It is not lawful for any weak one to be present at the mass. Dinah
ventured abroad, and came cracked home. It is just with God, that those
that dally with 'these things should be caught, as many idle travellers are.
It is pity but those should perish in danger that love danger.
111. He that will not now deny himself in a lust, in a lawless desire,
will not deny himself in matter of life in time of trial. He that hath not
learned the mortification of the flesh in time of peace will hardly be brought
to it in time of trouble.
112. We must not only stand for the truth, but we must stand for it in
a holy manner, and not swagger for it, as proud persons do. We must
observe that in the first [Epistle] of Peter, iii. 15,, to do it * in meekness
and fear.' We must not bring passion to God's cause, nor must our lives
give our tongues the lie.
113. There is such a distance between corrupt nature and grace, that
we must have a great deal of preparation ; and though there be nothing in
preparation to bring the soul to have grace, yet it brings the soul to a
nearer distance than those that are w^ild* persons.
114. Nature cannot work above its own powers, as vapours cannot
ascend higher than the sun draws them. Our hearts are naturally shut,
and God doth open them by his Spirit in the use of the means. The
children of Israel in the wilderness saw wonders upon wonders, and yet
when they came to be proved they could not believe.
115. It is God's free love that hath cast us into these happy times of
the gospel; and it is his further love that makes choice of some, and
* That is = ' in a state of nature.' — G.
AND HOLY CONTEMPLATIONS.
197
refuses others. This should therefore teach us sound humility, consider-
ing that God must open or else we are eternally shut.
116. Seeing grace is not of our own getting, therefore this should teach
us patience towards those that are under us, waiting if God at any time
will give them repentance. Though God work not the first time, nor the
second time, yet we must wait, as the man that lay at the pool of Bethesda
for the moving of the water.
117. He that attends to the word of God, doth not only know the
words, which are but the shell, but he knows the things. He hath spiri-
tual light, to know what faith and repentance is. There is at that time a
spiritual echo in the soul, — as Ps. xxvii. 8, ' When thou said^t. Seek ye
my face; my heart answered. Thy face. Lord, will I seek,' — and therefore
must men judge of their profiting by the word; not by their carrying of it
in their memories, but by how much they are made able by it to bear a
cross, and how they are made able to resist temptation, &c.
118. There should not be intimate familiarity but where we judge men
faithful ; and those whom upon good grounds we judge faithful, we must
be gentle towards them, and easy to be entreated ; and w^e wrong them
if we shew ourselves strange unto them.
119. True faith works love, and then it works by love. When it hath
wrought that holy aSection, it works by it; as when the plant is engrafted
and takes, it grows presently, and shews the growth in the fruits.
120. The word of God is ancienter than the Scripture; for the first
word of the Scripture was the promise, ' The seed of the woman should
break the head of the serpent,' Gen. iii. 15. The Scripture is but that
viodus, that manner of conveying the word of God. This Scripture is the
rule whereby we must walk, and the judge also of all controversies of reli-
gion; and in spite of the Church of Rome, it will judge them. _ St Augus-
tine hath an excellent discourse : ' When there is contention betwixt
brethren, witnesses are brought ; but in the end, the words, the will of the
dead man is brought forth, and these words determine. Now, shall the
words of a dead man be of force, and shall not the word of Christ deter-
mine ? Therefore look to the Scripture' (a).
121. All idolaters shall be ashamed that worship images, that trust to
* broken cisterns.' Let those be ashamed that trust to their wits and
policies. All those shall be ashamed that bear themselves big upon any
earthly thing, for these crutches will be taken away, and then they fall.
These false reports shall make them all ashamed.
122. The way to bring faith into the heart is, first, there must be a
judicious,* convincing knowledge of the vanity of all things within us and
without us that seems to yield any support to the soul, and then the
soul is carried to lay hold on Christ ; as David saith, ' I have seen an end
of all perfection,' Ps. cxix. 96. Secondly, the soul must be convinced of
an excellency in rehgion above all things in the world, or else it will
not rest, for the heart of man would choose the best ; and when it is per-
suaded that the gain in religion is above the world, then it yields. And,
thirdly, a consideration of the firmness of the ground whereupon the pro-
mise is built. Put God to it, therefore, either to make his promise good,
or to disappoint us ; and he will be sure to make it good in our forgiveness
of sin, proceeding in grace and strength, against temptations in time of trouble.
123. Man is naturally of a shortf spirit; so that if he have not what he
would, and when he would, he gives up, and shakes ofi" all. There is not
* Qu. ' judicial ' ?—G. t Tliis is, ' hasty.'— G.
198
DIVINE MEDITATIONS
a greater difference between a child of God and one that wants faith, than
to be hasty. Such men, though they may be civil, yet they are of this
mind. They will labour to be sure of something here ; they must have
present pleasures and present profits. If God will save them in that way,
so; if not, they will put it to a venture.
124. There be many things to hinder this grace of waiting. There is a
great deal of tedious time, and many crosses we meet with ; as the scorn
and reproach of this world, and many other trials. God seems also to do
nothing less than to perform his promise ; but let us comfort ourselves
with this, that he waits to do them good that wait on him.
125. We should labour to agree mutually in love, for that wherein any
Christian differs from another is but in petty things. Grace knows no
difference; the worms know no difference; the day of judgment knows no
difference. In the worst things we are all alike base, and in the best things
we are all alike happy. Only in this world God will have distinctions, for
order's sake ; but else there is no difference.
12G. Christians are like to many men of great means, that know not bow
to make use of them. We live not like ourselves. Bring large faith, and
we shall have large grace and comfort. We are scanted in our own bowels,
therefore labour to have a large faith, answerable to our large riches. And
though Christians be low enough in outward things, and oftentimes poorer
than other men, yet they are rich; for Christ is rich unto them, in their
crosses and abasements. That which they want in this world shall be made
up in grace and glory hereafter.
127. We ought daily to imitate Christ in our places, to be good to all;
as the apostle saith, ' Be abundant always in the works of the Lord,' 1 Cor.
XV. 58. Let us labour to have large hearts, that we may do it seasonably,
and abundantly, and unweariedly. The love of Christ will breed in us the
same impression that was in him.
128. None come to God without Christ; none come to Christ without
faith ; none come to faith without the means ; none enjoy the means but
where God hath sent it. Therefore where there was no means of salva-
tion before the coming of Christ, there was no visible intendment* of God
ordinarily to save them.
129. Preventing mercy is the greatest. How many favours doth God
prevent us with ! We never asked for our being, nor for that tender
love which our parents bore towards us in our tender years. We never
asked for our baptism and engrafting into Christ. What a motive there-
fore is that to stir us up, that when we come to years, we may plead with
the Lord, and say, ' Thou hadst a care of me before I had a being; and
therefore much more wilt thou now have a care of me, whom thou bast
reconciled unto thyself, and remember me in mercy for time to come.'
130. If God's mercy might be overcome with our sins, we should over-
come it every day. It must be a rich mercy that must satisfy ; and there-
fore the apostle never speaks of it without the extensions of love, * the
height and depth.' We want words, we want thoughts, to conceive of it.
We should therefore labour to frame our souls to have rich and large con-
ceits and apprehensions of so large mercy.
131. God is rich in mercy, not only to our souls, but in providing all
we stand in need of. He keep us from ill, and so he is called a ' buckler;'
he gives all good things, and so he is called a ' sun.' He keeps us in good
estate, and advanceth us higher, so far as our nature shall be capable.
* That is, ' design,' or ' intention.' — G.
AND HOLY CONTEMPLATIONS.
199
132. The sun shines on the moon and stars, and they shine upon the
earth; so doth God shine in goodness upon us, that we might shine ia our
extensions of goodness unto others, especially unto them of the household
of faith.
133. We are styled in Scripture to be good and righteous, because our
understandings, our wills, and affections are our own ; but so far as they
are holy, they are the Holy Ghost's. We are the principal in our actions,
as they are actions ; but the Holy Ghost is principal of the hoHness of the
action. The gracious government of the new creature is from the Spirit.
If the Holy Ghost take away his government, and do not guide and assist
us in every holy action, we are at a stand, and can go no further.
134. Every man naturally is a god unto himself, not only in reflecting
all upon himself, but in setting upon divine things in his own strength, as
if he were principal in his own actions, coming to them in the strength of
his own wit and in the strength of his own reason. This seed is in all
men by nature, until God have turned a man out of himself, by the power
of the Holy Ghost.
135. Those that care not for the word, they are strangers from the
Spirit ; and those that care not for the Spirit, never make right use of the
word. The word is nothing without the Spirit; it is animated and quick-
ened by the Spirit. The Spirit and the word are like the veins and
arteries in the body, that give quickening and life to the whole body ; and
therefore where the word is most revealed, there is most Spirit ; but where
Christ is not opened in the gospel, there the Spirit is not at all visible.
136. When Christ comes into the soul by the Spirit, then he carries
himself familiarly, discovering the secrets of God the Father, and shewing
what love there is in God toward us. It teacheth us how to carry ourselves
in all neglects, and when we are at a loss it opens a way for us ; it resolves
our doubts, it comforts us in our discouragements, and makes us go boldly
to God in all our wants.
137. As we may know who dwells in a house by observing who goes in
and them that come out, so we may know that the Spirit dwells in us by
observing what sanctified speeches he sends forth, and what delight he
hath wrought in us to things that are special, and what price we set upon
them. Whereas a carnal man pulls down the price of spiritual things,
because his soul cleaves to something that he joys in more; and this is
the cause why he slights the directions and comforts of the word. But
those in whorn the Spirit dwells, they will consult with it, and not regard what
flesh and blood saith, but will follow the directions of the word and Spirit.
138. A Christian will not do common things, but, first, he sanctifies
them, and dedicates himself, his person, and his actions to God, and so he
sees God in all things. Whereas a carnal man sees reason only in all that
he doth; but a Christian sees God in crosses to humble him, and every-
thing he makes spiritual. Yet because there is a double principle in him,
there will be some stirring of the flesh in his actions, and sometimes the
worser part will appear most. But here is the excellency of a Christian's
estate, that the Spirit will work it out at last. It will never let his heart
and conscience alone till it be wrought out by little and little.
139. The Spirit of God may be\nown to be in weak Christians. As
the soul is known to be in the body by the pulses, even so the Spirit
discovers itself in them by pulses, by groaning, sighing, complaining, that
• it is so with them, and that they are no better; so that they are out of love
with themselves. This is a good sign that the Spirit is there in some measure.
200
DIVINE MEDITATIONS
140. "WTiere the Spirit dwells largely in any man, there is boldness in
God's cause, a contempt of the world : ' He can do all things through
Christ that strengthens him,' Philip, iv. 13. His, mind is content and
settled. He can bear \\'ith the infirmities of others and not be ofl'ended,
for it is the weak in spirit that are offended. He is ready in his desires
to say, ' Come, Lord Jesus ; come quickly,' Kcv. xxii. 20. But where
corruption bears sway there is, ' Oh stay a little, that I may recover my
strength,' Ps. xxxix. 13; that is, stay a while that I may repent. For the
soul is not fit to appear before God but where the Spirit dwells in grace
and comfort.
141. When we are young carnal delights lead us, and when we are old
covetousness drowns us ; so that if our knowledge be not spiritual, we shall
never hold out. And the reason why at the hour of death so many despair,
is because they had knowledge without the Spirit.
142. God gives comforts in the exercise and practice of grace. We
must not therefore snatch comforts before we be fit for them. When we
perform precepts, then God performs comforts. If we will make it good
indeed that we love God, we must keep his commandments. We must not
keep one, but all. It must be universal obedience fetched_ from the heart
root, and that out of love.
143. It is a true rule in divinity, that God never takes away any bless-
ing from his people but he gives them a better. When Elijah was taken
from EHsha into heaven, God doubled his Spirit upon Elisha. If God
take away wife or children, he gives better things for them. The disciples
parted with Christ's bodily presence, but he sent them the Holy Ghost.
144. God will be known of us in those things wherein it is our comfort
to know him. In all our devotions, the whole counsel of heaven comforts
us jointl}'. The second person prays to the Father, and he sends the third,
and as they have several titles, so they all agree in their love and care to
comfort.
145. In trouble, we are prone to forget all that we have heard and read
that makes for our comfort. Now, what is the reason that a man comes
to think of that which otherwise he should never have called to mind? The
Holy Ghost brings it to his remembrance. He is a comforter, bringing to
mind useful things at such times when we have most need of them.
14G. Those that care not for the word of God, reject their comfort. All
comfort must be drawn out of the Scriptures, which are the breasts of conso-
lation. Many are bred up by education that they know the truth and are
able to discourse of it, but they want the Spirit of truth ; and that is the rea-
son why all their knowledge vanisheth away in time of trial and temptation.
147. No man is a true divine but the child of God. He only knows holy
things by a holy light and life. Other men, though they speak of these
things, yet they know them not. Take the m^^sticallest points in religion,
as justification, adoption, peace of conscience, joy in the Holy Ghost, the
sweet benefit of communion of saints, the excellent estate of a Christian in
extremit}'-, to know what is to be done upon all occasions, inward sight and
sorrow for sin, they know not what those things mean. For howsoever
they may discourse of them, yet the things themselves are mysteries. Ee-
pentance is a mystery, joy in the Holy Ghost is a mystery. No natural
man, though he be never so great a scholar, knows these things experi-
mentally ; but he knows them as physicians know physic, by their books,
but not as a sick man by experience.
148. It is a great scandal to religion that men of great learning and parts
AND HOLY CONTEMPLATIONS. 201
are wicked men. Hereupon the world comes to think that religion is
nothing but an empty name ; so that, without this inward anointing, they
never see spiritual things experimentally; but though they know these
things in the brain, yet secretly in their hearts they make a scorn of con-
version and mortification ; and though for his calling he may sj^eak of these
things excellently, and with admiration, yet in particular he hath no power
of them in his heart.
149. It is good and comfortable to compare our condition Avith the con-
dition of the men of the world; for howsoever they may excel in riches and
learning, yet we have cause to bless God, as Christ saith in the 11th of
St Matthew, ver. 25, ' I thank thee, 0 Father, Lord of heaven and earth,
because thou hast hid these things from the wise and prudent, and hast
revealed them unto babes.' It is good in all outward discouragements,
when things go not well with us, thus to reason with ourselves. Wilt thou
change thy estate with the men of the world ? God hath advanced thee
to a higher order. Let them have their greatness. Alas ! they are miser-
able creatures, notwithstanding all that they do enjoy.
150. If we desire to have the Spirit, we must wait in doing good, as the
apostles waited many days before the Comforter came. We must also
empty our souls of self-love, and the love of the things of the world, and
willingly entertain those crosses that bring our souls out of love with them.
The children of Israel in the wilderness had no manna till they had spent
their onions and garlic ; so this world must be out of request with us before
we can be spiritual. Let us therefore labour to see the excellency of spiritual
things, and how cheap and poor all the glory of the world is to those. These
things, thought and considered on, will make us more and more spiritual.
151. The Holy Ghost would not come till Christ, by his death, had
reconciled his Father, and after that as an argument of full satisfaction
had risen again, because the Holy Ghost is the best gift of God ; and
whatsoever grace or comfort was received before was by virtue of this ; so
that the sending of the Holy Ghost is the best fruit of God's reconciliation.
152. Let a particular judgment come upon any man, presently his con-
science recalls back what sins have been committed by him ; so that this
waking of conscience shews that we are sinful creatures.
153. Every man by nature, though the wisest, till he be in Christ, is a
slave to the devil, who abuses his wits and parts, and makes him work out
his own damnation. This is not the condition of a few fools ; but the
greatest and wisest in the world. Satan leads them to honours and volup-
tuousness, as a sheep is led by a green bough. He goes with the stream
of man's natui'e, and so is never discerned.
154. As a man that is called before a judgment-seat, being guilty of
many crimes, yet the judge offers him his book, as meaning to save him
by that means ; but he cannot read. Now he is condemned, partly for his
former faults, but especially because he cannot read, and cannot have the
benefit of the law (b) ; so therefore a wicked man, not believing in Christ,
because the remedy is pi'epared, and he takes no hold of it. In this sense,
as some divines speak, no sin but infidelity condemns a man ; for if a man
could believe and repent, no sin should be prejudicial to his salvation. We
had need, therefore, to look to our faith, when want of belief seals a man
up under sin. A man is imprisoned in his conscience until he come to
Christ, and his conscience is his jailor. His conscience, enlightened by the
law, tells him that he is guilty of such and such sins, and hereupon keeps
him to further judgment.
202 DIVINE MEDITATIONS
155. There is a miserable cosenage in sin. Naturally, men will deny
sin, or else mince it, as Adam did, and as Saul, when Samuel cume to con-
vince him ; ' I have,' saith he, ' done the commandment of the Lord;' and
when he wis driven from that, then ' he did but spare them for sacrifice ;'
but when nothing could satisfy, ' then, I pray thee, honour me before the
people,' 1 Sam. xv. 30. Things that we cannot justify, yet we will excuse
them, unless God come by his Spirit. We are ready to shift them off". But
when the Spirit comes, and takes away all these fig-leaves, then it convinces
him of his miserable condition, not only in general, but the Spirit, working
together with the word, brings him to confess, ' I am the man.'
156. The affections of grief and sorrow follow upon the discovery of sin
by the ministry of the word. Where the judgment is convinced, the affec-
tions are stirred up with hatred against that sin ; and where this is not,
there is no convincing. When a man cries for mercy as for life, this is an
argument of sound condition. He that is truly convinced will be as glad
of a pardon as a malefactor that stands at the bar condemned.
157. It is the policy of the devil to labour to make us slight the gracious
work of conviction ; for he knows that whatsoever is built upon a false
foundation will come to nothing, and therefore he makes us slight the
work of self- examining and searching of ourselves. But slight this, and
slight all ; for if thou beest slight in searching and examining thyself,
thou wilt also be slight in thy repentance and obedience.
158. Naturally, men labour to put out all checks of conscience by sen-
suahty. Men are loath to know themselves to be as they are. They
are of the devil's mind, they would not be ' tormented before their time,'
Mat. viii. 29. Such men, when they are alone, are afraid of themselves.
As the elephant will not come near the waters because he hath an ill
shape, he would not see himself, so men, by nature, will not come near
the light, lest they should see their ill deformities. For nature is so
foul, that when a man sees himself, unless he be set in a better con-
dition, it will drive him to despair.
159. We ought to have especial high conceits of the lordship of Christ,
as lord paramount over all our enemies, the fear of death, and wrath of God ;
yea, whatsoever is terrible indeed. He hath freed us from the fear of it.
160. No sin is so great, but the satisfaction of Christ and his mercy
is greater. It is beyond comparison of father or mother. They are but
beams and trains to lead us up to the mercy of God in Christ.
161. The greatest spite of a carnal man is, that he cannot go to
heaven with his full swing; that he cannot enjoy his full hberty ; and
therefore he labours to suppress all the ordinances of God as much as
he can.
162. The quintessence and the spirits of the things we ask in prayer
are in God, as joy, and peace, and contcntcdness ; for without this joy and
peace, what are all the things in the world ? and in the want of these out-
ward things, if we have him we have all, because the spirits of all is
in him.
163. Prayer is a venting of our desires to God, from the sense of our
own wants, and he that is sensible of his own wants is empty. * A poor
man speaks supplications,' Prov. xviii. 23.
164. It is not so easy a matter to pray as men think, and that in regard
of the unspiritualness of our nature^compared with the duty itself, which is
to draw near to a holy God. We cannot endure to sever ourselves from
our lusts. There is also a great rebellion in our hearts against anything
AND HOLY CONTEMPLATIONS.
203
that is good. Satan also is a special enemy; for when we go to God by
prayer, be knows we go to fetch help and strength against him, and there-
fore he opposeth all he can. But though many men do mumble over a
few prayers, yet indeed no man can pray as he ought, but he that is within
the covenant of grace.
165. A child of God may pray and not be heard, because at that time
he may be a child of anger. If any sin lie unrepented of, we are not in a
case fit to pray. Will a king regard the petition of a traitor that purposeth
to go on in his rebeUion ? Therefore, when we come to God, we should
renew our purposes of better pleasing him, and then remember the Scrip-
ture, and search all the promises as part of our best riches ; and when we
have them, we should challenge God with his promise, and this will make
us strong and faithful in our prayers, when we know we never pray to him
in vain.
166. When we pray, God oftentimes refuseth to give us comfort, because
we are not in good terms with him ; therefore we should still look back to
our life past. Perhaps God sees thee running to this or that sin, and
before he will hear thee, thou must renew thy repentance for that sin : for
our nature is such, that it will knock at every door, and seek every corner
before we will come to God ; as the woman in the Gospel, she sold all before
she came to Christ, Mat. ix. 20, seq. So that God will not hear before we
forsake all helps, and all false dependence upon the creature ; and then he
gets the greatest glory, and we have the greatest sweetness to our souls.
That water that comes from the fountain is the sweetest ; and so divine
comforts are the sweetest, when we see nothing in the creature, and he is
the best discerner of the fittest time when to give us comfort.
167. When God means to bestow any blessing on his church or children,
he will pour upon them the Spirit of prayer ; and as all pray for every one,
so every one prays for all. This is a great comfort to weak Christians ;
when they cannot pray, the prayers of others shall prevail for them.
168. A fool's eye is in every corner, and fools' attiictions are scattered.
The only object of the soul is that 'one thing needful,' Luke x. 42, and
this will fill all the corners of it. When a man hath sucked out the pleasure
of worldly contentments, they are then but dead things ; but grace is ever
fresh, and always yields fresh and full satisfaction.
169. Desires are the spiritual pulse of the soul, always beating to and
fro, and shewing the temper of it ; they are therefore the characters of a
Christian, and shew more truly what he is than his actions do.
170. In the ark there was manna, which was a type of our sacraments ;
and the Testament, which was a type of the word preached ; and the rod
of Aaron was a type of government. Wheresoever, therefore, there is
spiritual manna, and the word preached, and the rod of Aaron in the go-
vernment, there is a true church, though there be many personal corruptions.
171. The bitterest things in religion are sweet. There is a sweetness
in reproofs ; when God meets with our corruptions, and whispers to us
that those and those things are dangerous, and that if we cherish them,
they will bring us to hell. The word of God is sweet to a Christian, that
hath his heart touched. Is not pardon sweet to a condemned man, and
riches sweet to a poor man, and favour sweet to a man in disgrace, and
liberty sweet to a man in captivity ? So all that comes from God is sweet
to a Christian, that hath his heart touched with the sense of sin.
172. It is not happiness to see, but sight with enjoyment, and interest.
There are but two powers of the soul, understanding and will. When both
204 DIVINE MEDITATIONS
these have their perfection, that is happiness : when the understanding
sees, and the will draws the affections. So there are these things concur
to make up our everlasting happiness, the excellency of the thing, with the
sight of it, and interest in it.
173. We see hy experience that there is a succession of love. He that
loves for beauty will despise when he sees a better ; so it is in the soul,
between heavenly and earthly things : when the soul sees more excellency,
and more fruitfulness in heavenly things, then the love of earthly things
falls down in his heart, as Saint Paul saith, Philip, iii. 7, ' I account all
things dross and dung in comparison of Christ.'
174. In prayer we tempt God, if we ask that which we labour not for.
Our endeavour must second our devotion ; for to ask maintenance, and not
put our hands to the work, it is as to knock at the door, and yet pull the
door unto us that it open not. In this case, if we pray for grace and
neglect the spring from whence it comes, how can it speed ? It was a rule
in the ancient time, 'Lay thy hand on the plough and then pray' (r). No
man should pray without ploughing, nor plough without praying.
175. Wisdom is gotten by experience in variety of estates. He that is
carried on in one condition, he hath no wisdom to judge of another's estate,
or how to carry himself to a Christian in another condition ; because he
was never abased himself, he looks very big at him. And therefore, that
we may carry ourselves as Christians, meekly, lovingly, and tenderly to
others, God will have us go to heaven in variety, not in one uniform con-
dition, in regard of outward things.
170. There is no condition but a Christian picks good matter out of it,
as a good artsman sometimes will make a good piece of work of an ill piece
of matter, to shew his skill. A gracious man is not dejected over-much
with abasement, nor lifted up over-much with abundance, but he carries
himself in an uniform manner, becoming a Christian, in all conditions ;
whereas those that have not been brought up in Christ's school, nor trained
up in variety of conditions, they learn to do nothing. If they abound,
they are proud ; if they be cast down, they murmur and fret, and are
dejected, as if there were no providence to rule the world.
177. There is a venom and a vanity in everything, without grace, where-
with we are tainted ; but when grace comes, it takes out the sting of all
ill, and then it finds a good in the worst.
178. Christianity is a busy trade. If we look up to God, what a world
of things are required in a Christian, to carry himself as he should do : a
spirit of faith, a spirit of love, a spirit of joy and delight in him above all.
And if we look to men, there are duties for a Christian to his superiors, a
spirit of subjection ; to equals he must carry a spirit of love ; and to in-
feriors a spirit of pity and bounty. If we look to Satan, we have a com-
mandment to resist him, and to watch against the tempter. If we look to
the world, it is full of snares. There must be a great deal of spiritual
watchfulness, that we be not surprised. If we look to ourselves, there are
required many duties to carry our vessels in honour, and to walk within
the compass of the Holy Ghost ; to preserve the peace of our consciences ;
to walk answerable to our worth, as being the sons of God and coheirs with
Christ. He must dispense with himself in no sin ; he must be a vessel
prepared for every good work ; he must baulk in no service that God calls
him unto : and therefore the life of a Christian is a busy trade.
179. Sincerity is the perfection of Christians. Let not Satan therefore
abuse us. We do all things, when we endeavour to do all things, and
AND HOLY CONTEMPLATIONS. 205
purpose to do all things, and are grieved when we cannot do better, thau*
in some measure we do all things.
180. A Christian is able to do great matters, but it is in Christ that
strengthens him. The understanding is ours, the affections are ours, the
will IS ours ; but the sanctifying of these, and the carrying of these super-
naturally, to do them spiritually, that is not ours, but it is Christ's.
181. We have not only the life of grace from Christ at the first, and
then a spiritual power answerable to that again, whereby our powers are
renewed, so as we are able to do something in our will, but we have the deed
itself : the doing is from Christ, he strengtheneth us for the performance
of all good.
182. God preserves his own work by his Spirit : first, he moves us to
do, and then he preserves us in doing, and arms us against the impediments.
183.^ Though Christ be a head of influence that flows into every member,
yet he is a voluntary head, according to his own good pleasure, and the
exigentsf of his members. Sometimes we have need of more grace, and
then it flows into us from him accordingly. Sometimes we have need to
know our own weakness, and then he leaves us to ourselves, that we may
know that without him we cannot stand ; and we may know the necessity
of his guidance to heaven in the sense of our imperfections, that we may
see our weakness and corruptions, that we had thought we had not had in
us ; as Moses, by God's permission, was tempted to murmur, a meek man,
and David to cruelty, a mild man, that thought they had not had those
corruptions in them.
184. God is forced to mortify sins by afflictions, because we mortify
them not by the Spirit ; and in the use of holy means God doth us favours
from his own bowels, but corrections and judgments are always forced.
185. We may for the most part read the cause of any judgment in the
judgment itself; as, if the judgment be shame, then the cause was pride ;
if the judgment be want, then our sin was in abundance : we did not learn
to abound as we should when we had it.
186. As we say of those that make bold with their bodies, to use them hardly,
to rush upon this thing and that thing ; in their youth they may bear it
out, but it will be owing them after ; they shall find it in their bones when
they are old : so a man may say of those that are venturous persons, that
make no conscience of running into sin, these things will be owing to
them another day ; they shall hear of these in time of sickness, or in^the
hour of death ; and therefore take heed of sinning upon vain hope, that
thou shalt wear it out, for one time or other it will stick to thee.
187. When God visits with sickness, we should think our work is more
in heaven with God than with men or physic. When David dealt directly
and plainly with God, and confessed his sins, then God forgave him them,
and healed his body too, Ps. xxxii. 5.
188. It were a thousand times better for many persons to be cast on the
bed of sickness, and to be God's prisoners, than so scandalously and
unfruitfully to use the health that they have.
189. It is an art wherein we should labour to be expert, to consider God's
gracious dealing in the midst of his corrections ; that in the midst of them
we might have thankful and cheerful, and fruitful hearts, which we shall
not have, unless we have some matter of thankfulness. Consider, there-
fore, doth God make me weak, he might have struck me with death ;
* Qu. ' then ' ?— Ed. f That is, ' exigencies.'— G.
206 DIVINE MEDITATIONS
or, if not talicn away my mortal life, yet he miglit have given me up to a
spiritual death, to an hard heart, to desperation.
190. In this latter age of the world, God doth not use the same dispen-
sation. He doth not always outwardly visit for sin ; for his government
is now more inward. Therefore w§ should take the more heed, for he
may give us up to blindness, to deadness, to security, which are the great-
est judgments that can befall us.
191. We should labour to judge ourselves for those things that the world
takes no notice of, for spiritual, for inward things ; as for stirring of pride,
of worldliness, of revenge, of security, unthankfulness, and such like
unkindness towards God ; barrenness in good duties, that the world can-
not see. Let these humble our hearts ; for when we make not conscience
of spiritual sins, God gives us up to open breaches that stain and blemish
our profession.
192. Many men put off the power of grace, and rest in common civil
things, in outward performances ; but when we regard not the manner,
God regards not the matter of the things we do ; and therefore oftentimes
he punishes for the performance of good duties, as we see in 1 Cor. xi.
30, 31.
193. Our whole life under the gospel should be nothing but thankfulness
and fruitfulness. Take heed, therefore, of turning the grace of God to
wantonness. The state of the gospel requires ' that we should deny all
ungodliness and worldly lusts, and live righteously and soberly and godly
in the present world,' &c., Titus ii. 12. Therefore, when we find our-
selves otherwise, we should think, Oh! this is not the life of a Christian
under the gospel : the gospel requires a more fruitful, a more zealous car-
riage, more love to Christ, &c.
194. If any man be so uncivil, when a man shews him a spot on his
garment, that he grows choleric, will we not judge him an unreasonable
man ? And so, when a man shall be told this will hinder your comfort
another day, if men were not spiritually besotted, would they swell and
be angi-y against such a man ? Therefore take the benefit of the judgment
of others among whom we live. This was David's disposition, when he
was told of the danger, going to kill Nabal and his household. So we
should bless God, and bless them that labour by their good counsel and
advice, to hinder us from any sinful course, whatsoever it is.
195. Those that truss up the loins of their souls, and are careful of
their ways, they are the only sound Christians. They are the only com-
fortable Christians, that can think of all conditions and of all estates com-
fortably.
196. It is an ill time to get grace when we should use grace ; and there-
fore that we may have the less to do, when we shall have enough to strug-
gle with sickness ; and that we may have nothing else to do when we die,
but to die, and comfortably to yield up our souls to God, let us be exact in
our accounts every day.
197. God takes a safe course with his children, that thej^ may not be
condemned with the world. He makes the world to condemn them, that
they may not love the world : he makes the world to hate them, that they
may not love the world, but be crucified to the world. He makes the
world to be crucified to them. Therefore they meet with crosses, and
abuses, and wrongs in the world. Because he will not have them perish
with the world, he sends them afflictions in the world, and by the world.
198. If God should not meet with us with seasonable correction, we
AND HOLY CONTEMPLATIONS. 207
should sbame religion, and shame Christ ; and therefore God in mercy
corrects us with fatherly correction.
199. In the governing of a Christian life we are carried naturally to
second causes, whereas they are all but as rods in God's hands. Look,
therefore, to the hand that smites ; look to God in all. He chastiseth us,
as David saith in the matter of Shimei, 2 Sam. xvi. 10 ; and as Job saith,
' It is the Lord that bath given, and the Lord that hath taken away,' Job
i. 21.
200. We have oftentimes occasion to bless God more for crosses than
for comforts. There is a blessing hidden in ,the worst things to God's
children, as there is a cross in the best things to the wicked. There is a
blessing in death, a blessing in sickness, a blessing in the hatred of our
enemies, a blessing in all losses whatsoever ; and therefore in our affections
we should not only justify God, but glorify and magnify him for his mercy,
that rather than we should be condemned with the world, he will take
this course with us.
201. Though our salvation be sure, and that we shall not be condemned
with the world, yet the knowledge of this doth not make us secure ; for
though God doth not damn us with the world, yet he will sharply correct
us here. And by a careful, sober life we might obtain many blessings, and
prevent many judgments, and make our pilgrimage more comfortable.
Therefore it argues neither grace nor wit, that because God will save me,
therefore I will take liberty. No ; though God will save thee, yet he will
[take] such a course with thee, thou shalt endure such sharpness for thy
sin, that it shall be more bitter than the sweetest of it was pleasant.
202. Gracious persons in times of peace and quiet do often underprize
themselves, and the graces of God in them, thinking that they want faith,
patience, and love, who yet, when God calleth them out to the cross, shine
forth in the eyes of others, in the example of a meek and quiet subjection.
203. God oftentimes maketh wicked men friends to his children without
changing their disposition, by putting into their hearts some conceit for the
time, winch inclineth them to favour, as Nehemiah ii. 8. God put it into
the king's heart to favour his people ; so Gen. xxxiii. 4, Esau was not
changed, only God for the time changed his afiections to favour Jacob.
So God puts into the hearts of many groundedly naught,* to favour the
best persons.
201. Usually in what measure we in the times of our peace and liberty
inordinately let loose our afiections, in that measure are we cast down, or
more deeply in discomfort. When our adulterous hearts cleave to things more
than become chaste hearts, it makes the cross more sharp and extreme.
205. A man indeed is never overcome, let him be never so vexed in the
world by any, till his conscience be cracked. If his conscience and his
cause stand upright, he doth conquer, and is more than a conqueror.
206. Partial obedience is no obedience at all. To single out easy things
that do not oppose our lusts, which are not against our reputation, therein
some will do more than they need. But our obedience must be universal
to all God's commandments, and that because he commands us.
207. In every evil work that we are tempted uuto we need delivering
grace, as to every good work assisting grace.
208. That Christian who is privy to his own soul, of good intentions to
abstain from all ill, he may presume that God will assist him against all
ill works for the time to come.
* That is, ' fundamentally wicked.' — G.
208 DmNE MEDITATIONS
209. We should watcli and labour daily to continue in pra^-cr, strength-
eniu'T and backing them with arguments from the word and promises, and
markin<T how our prayers speed. When we shoot an arrow, we look to
the fall of it ; when we send a ship to sea, we look for the return of it ; and
when we sow seed, we look for a harvest ; and so when we sow our prayers
into God's bosom, shall we not look for an answer, and observe how we
speed ? It is a seed of atheism to pray, and not to look how we speed.
But a sincere Christian will pray, and wait, and strengthen his heart with
promises out of the word, and never leave till God do give him a gracious
answer.
210. Take a Christian, and whatsoever he doth he doth it in fear. If
he call God Father, it is in fear. He eats and drinks in fear, as St Jude
speaks of them that eat * without fear,' ver. 12. The true servant of God
hath fear accompanying him in all his actions, in his speeches and recrea-
tions, in his meat and drink. But he that hath not this fear, how bold is
he in wicked courses, and loose in all his carriages! But mark a true
Christian, and you shall always see in him some expressions of an holy fear.
211. The relation of servant is of great consequence to put us in mind
of our duty. If we will be God's servants, we must make it good by
obedience, we must resolve to come under his government, and be at his
command, or else he will say to us, as to them in the 10th of Judges, * Go
to the gods whom you have served,' x. 14. Therefore empty relations are
nothiufT to purpose. If we profess ourselves God's servants, and [do] not
shew it by our obedience, it is but an empty title. Therefore let us make
our relations good, at least in our afiections, that we may be able to say,
* I desire to fear thy name,' Ps. Ixxxvi. 11.
212. In reading of the Scriptures, let us compare experiments* with
rules : Neh. i. 8, 9, ' If you sin, you shall be scattered ; and if you return
a<^ain, I will be merciful.' We should practise this in our lives, to see how
God hath made good his threatenings in our corrections, and his promises
in our comforts.
213. Those that have had a sweet communion with God, when they have
lost it, do count every day ten thousand till they have recovered it again ;
and when Christ leaves his spouse, he forsakes her not altogether, but
leaves something on the heart that maketh her to long after him. He
absents himself that he may enlarge the desires of the soul, and after the soul
hath him again, it will not let him go. He comes for our good, and leaves
us for our good. We should therefore judge rightly of our estates, and
not think we are forsaken of God when we are in a desertion.
214. When men can find no comfort, yet when they set themselves to
teach weaker Christians by way of reflection, they receive comfort them- ■
selves, so doth God reward the conscionablet performance of this duty of
discourse, that those things we did not so sweetly understand before, by
discourse we understand them better. This should teach us to be in love
with holy conference, for besides the good we do to others we are much
bettered ourselves.
215. We may use God's creatures, but not scrupulously, nor supcr-
stitiously, singhng out one creature from another, nor yet may we use them
as we list. There is a difference between right, and the use of right.
The magistrate may restrain the use of our right, and so may our weak
brother in case of scandal. So that all things be ours, yet in the use of
them we must be sober, not eating nor drinking immoderately, nor using
* That is, ' experiences.' — G. t Tliat is, ' conscientious.'— G.
AND HOLY CONTEMPLATIONS. 209
anything uncliaritably, whereby others mcy take offence ; for albeit we
have a right to God's bounty, yet our right and use must be sanctified by
the word and prayer.
216. Many men fall to questioning, Oh that I had assurance of my sal-
vation ! Oh that I were the child of God ! Why, man, fall to obedience.
Ay, but I cannot ; for it is the Spirit that enables. But yet come to holy
exercises, though we have not the Spirit ; for many times in the midst of
holy exercises God gives the Spirit ; and therefore, attend upon the means
until we have strength to obey. Wait upon God's ordinances till he stirs
in thy soul. All that love your souls, attend upon the means, and have a
care to sanctify the Lord's day : Rev. i. 10, ' John was ravished in the
Spirit on the Lord's day.'
217. God takes nothing away from his children, but instead thereof, he
gives them that which is better. Happy is that self-denial that is made up
with joy in God. Happy is that poverty that is made up with grace and
comfort. Therefore let us not fear anything that God shall call us unto in
this world. It is hard to persuade flesh and blood hereunto ; but those
that find the experience of this as Christians, do find withal particular com-
forts flowing from the presence of Christ's Spirit. St Paul would not have
wanted his whippings to have missed his comforts.
218. Christ doth chiefly manifest himself unto the Christian soul in
times of afliiction, because then the soul unites itself most to Christ ; for the
soul in time of prosperity scatters and loseth itself in the creature, but there
is an uniting power in afflictions to make the soul gather itself to God.
219. Christ took upon him our nature, and in that nature suifered
hunger, and was subject to all infirmities. Therefore, when we are put to
pains in our callings, to troubles for a good conscience, or to any hardship
in the world, we must labour for contentment, because we are hardly* made
conformable unto Christ.
220. There is not any thing or any condition that befalls a Christian in
this life but there is a general rule in the Scripture for it, and this rule is
quickened by example, because it is a practical knowledge. God doth not
only write his law in naked commandments, but he enlivens these with the
practice of some one or other of his servants. Who can read David's
Psalms but he shall read himself in them ? Ho cannot be in any trouble
but David is in the same, &c.
221. As children in the womb have eyes and ears, not for that place,
but for a civil life afterwards among men, where they shall have use of all
members, even so our life here is not for this world only, but for another.
We have large capacities, large memories, large aftections, large expecta-
tions. God doth not give us large capacities and large aftections for this
world, but for heaven and heavenly things.
222. Take a Christian that hath studied mortification, you shall see the life
of Jesus in his sickness, in a great deal of patience and heavenly-mindedness,
when his condition is above his power, his strength above his condition.
223. As men do cherish young plants at first, and do fence them about
with hedges and other things to keep them from hurt, but when they are
grown, they remove them, and then leave them to the wind and weather,
so God, he besets his children first with props of inward comforts, but
afterwards he exposes them to storms and winds, because they are better
able to bear it. Therefore let no man think himself the better because he
is free from troubles. It is because God sees him not fit to bear greater.
* That is, ' with difficulty.'— G.
VOL. VII. O
210 DIVINE MEDITATIONS
224. Wlien we read tbe Scriptures, we should read to take out some-
thing for ourselves ; as when we read any promise, This is mine ; when we
read any prerogative. This is mine, it was written for me ; as the apostle
saith, 'Whatsoever was written aforetime was written for our learning,' &c.,
Rom. XV. 4.
225. As the Spirit is necessary to work faith at the first, so is it necessary
also to every act of faith ; for faith cannot act upon occasion but by the
Spirit; and therefore we should not attempt to do or to suffer anything
rashly, but beg the Spirit of God, and wait for the assistance, because
according to the increase of our troubles must our faith be increased ; for
the Hfe of a Christian is not only to have the Spirit work faith at first, but
upon all occasions to raise up our former graces. For faith stirs up all
other graces, and holds every grace to the word; and so long as faith con-
tinues, we keep all other graces in exercise.
226. There is no true Christian but hath a public spirit to seek the good
of others, because as soon as he is a Christian, he labours for self-denial.
He knows he must give up himself and all to God, so that his spirit is en-
larged in measure unto God and to the church ; and therefore the greater por-
tion a man hath of the Spirit of Christ, the more he seeks the good of others.
227. If we would have hearts to praise God, we must labour to see every-
thing we receive from God to be of grace, and abundance of grace answer-
able to the degrees of good. "Whatsoever we have more than nature is
abundant grace. Whatsoever we have as Christians, though poor and
distressed in our passage to heaven, is abundant grace.
228. There are three main parts of our salvation : first, a true knowledge
of our misery ; and secondly, the knowledge of our deliverance ; and then,
to live a life answerable. The Holy Ghost can only work these. He only
convinceth of sin ; and where he truly convinceth of sin, there also of
righteousness, and then of judgments.
229. That we may be convinced of sin, the Spirit must work a clear and
commanding demonstration of our condition in nature. It takes away
therefore all cavils, turnings, and windings ; even as when we see the sun
shine we know it is day. The Spirit not only convinceth in generals that
we are all sinners, but in particulsirs, and that sti-ongly, ' thou art the
man.' This convincing i^ also universal, of sins of nature, of sins of life,
sins of the understanding, of the will, and of the affections ; of the misery
of sin, of the danger of sin, of the folly and madness of sin, of sins against
so many motives, so many favours. Proud nature arms itself with deftness,*
strong translations, t strong mitigations. It is necessary therefore that the
Holy Ghost should join with men's consciences to make them confess, * I
am the man.'
230. The convincing of the Spirit may be known from common convic-
tion of conscience by this, that natural conviction is weak like a little spark,
and convinceth only of breaches of the second table, and not of evangelical
sins. Again, common conviction is against a man's will : it makes him
not the better man, only he is tortured and tormented. But a man that is
convinced by the Spirit, he joins with the Spirit against himself; he
accuseth himself; he takes God's part against himself. He is willing to
be laid open, that he may find the greater mercy.
231. It is not enough to know that there is a righteousness of Christ,
but the Spirit must open the eyes of the soul to see, else we shall have a
* That is, ' dexterity.'— G.
t That is, 'transferences.' Cf. Gen. iii. 12, seq.—G.
AND HOLY CONTEMPLATIONS. 211
natural knowledge of supernatural things. It is necessary to have a super-
natural sight to see supernatural things, so as to change the soul ; and
therefore the Spirit only works faith to see Christ is mine. Further, only
the Spirit can work the conscience to be quiet, because he is gi-eater than
the conscience, and can answer all inward objections and cavils of flesh and
blood. Unless, therefore, the Holy Ghost apply what Christ hath done,
the conscience will not be satisfied.
232. The best men in the estate of grace would be in darkness, and call
their state into question, if the Holy Ghost did not convince them, and
answer all cavils for them ; and therefore we must not only be convinced at
the first by the Spirit, but in our continued course of Christianity. This,
therefore, should make us to come to God's ordinances with holy devotion.
0 Lord, vouchsafe the Spirit of revelation, and take the scales from mine
eyes, that as these are truths, so they may be truths to me ! Do thou
sway my soul, that I may cast myself upon thy mercy in Christ!
233. Spiritual convincing is not total in this life, but always leaves in
the heart some dregs of doubting, though the soul be safe for the main.
As a ship that rides at anchor is tossed and troubled, but the anchor holds
it, so it is with the soul that is convinced weakly : it is sure of the main,
yet it is tossed with many doubts and fears, but the anchor is in heaven.
234. The Spirit of God doth so far convince every Christian of the
righteousness of Christ, as preserves in him such a power of grace, as to
cast himself upon the mercy of God. God will send his Spirit so far into
the heart, as it shall not betray itself to despair. He will let such a beam
into the soul, as all the powers of hell shall not quench.
235. When we neglect prayer, and set upon duties in our own strength,
and in confidence of our own parts ; if we belong to God we shall be sure
to miscarry, though another man perhaps may prosper ; and therefore we
should be continually dependent upon God for his direction and for his
blessing in whatsoever we go about.
236. As many women, because they will not endure the pain of child-
birth, do kill their children in the womb , so many men , who will not be troubled
with holy actions, do stifle holy motions. Therefore, let us take heed of
murdering the motions of the Holy Spirit, but let us entertain them, that when
they are kindled, they may turn to resolution, and resolution into practice.
237. This is a common rule, .that we cannot converse with company
that are not spiritual, but if they vex us not they will taint ns, unless
we be put upon them in our callings. We should therefore make special
choice of our company, and walk in a continual watchfulness.
238. It is rebellion against God for a man to make away himself. The
very heathens could say, that we must not go out of our station till we
be called, (d). It is the voice of Satan, ' Cast thyself down.' But what
saith St Paul to the jailor ? * Do thyself no harm, for we are all here,' Acts
xvi. 28. We should so carry ourselves, that we may be content to stay
here till God hath done that work he hath to do in us and by us ; and then
he will call us hence in the best time.
239. He is a valiant man that can command himself to be miserable ;
and he that cannot command himself to endure some bondage and disgrace
in the world, it argues weakness. Christ could have come down from the
cross, but he shewed his strength and power by enduring their reproaches
and torments.
240. The reason why many Christians stagger, and are bo full of
doubts, is because they are idle, and labour not to grow in grace. There-
212 DIVINE MEDITATIONS
fore we should labour to gi'ow iu knowledge and mortification, for in that
■way we come to assurance.
241. Whatsoever good is in a natural man, is depraved* by a self-end.
Self-love rules all his actions. He keeps within himself, and makes for
himself : he is a god to himself : God is but his idol. This is true of all
natural men in the world. They make themselves their last end ; and
where the end is depraved, the whole course is corrupted.
242. The sense of assured hope cannot bo maintained without a great
deal of pains, diligence, and watchfulness : 2 Pet. i. 10, ' Give all diligence
to make your calhng and election sure,' insinuating that it will not be had
without it. It is the diligent and watchful Christian that hath this assu-
rance ; otherwise the Holy Ghost will sutler us to bo in a damp,t and under
a cloud, if we stir not up the graces of the Spirit. It is grace in the exer-
cise, and love in the exercise, that is an earnest, and so faith and hope in
the exercise is an earnest. If grace be asleep, you may have grace, and
not know it. Therefore we should labour to put our graces into exercise.
243. Those that have assurance of their salvation have oftentimes trouble-
some distractions, because they do not always stand upon their guard.
Sometimes they are lifted up to heaven, and sometimes cast down even to
hell ; yet always in the worst condition there is something left in the soul,
that suggests to it that it is not utterly cast off.
244. He to whom this pilgrimage is over- sweet, loves not his country ;
yet the pleasures of this life are so suitable to our nature, that we should
sit by them, but that God follows us with several crosses. Therefore let
us take in good part any cross, because it is out of heavenly love that we
are exercised, lest we should surfeit upon things here below.
245. In melancholy distempers, especially when there goes guilt of spirit
with it, we can see nothing but darkness in wife, children, friends, estate,
&c. Here is a pitiful darkness, when body, and soul, and conscience, and
all are distempered, Now let a Christian see God in his nature and pro-
mises, and though hecannot live by sight in such a distemper, yet let him
then live by faith.
246. Though God do personate an enemy, yet faith sees a fatherly
nature in him. It apprehends some beams of comfort. Though there be
no sense and feeling, yet the Spirit works a power in the heart, whereby
the soul is able to clasp with God, and to allege his word and nature
against himself.
247. The reason why the world seeth not the happy condition of God's
children is, because their bodies are subject to the same infirmities with
the worst of men ; nor are they exempted from troubles. They are also
subject to fall into gross sins, and therefore worldly men think. Are these
the men that are happier than we ? They see their crosses, but not their
crowns ; they see their infirmities, but not their graces ; they see their
miseries, but not their inward joy and peace of conscience.
248. To walk by faith is to be active in our walking, not to do as we
list, but it is a stirring by rule. Since the fall, we have lost our hold of
God, and we must be brought again to God by the same way we fell from
him. We fell by infidelity, and we must be brought again by faith, and
lead our lives upon such grounds as faith affords. We must walk by faith,
looking upon God's promise, and God's call, and God's commandments, and
not live by opinion, example, and reason.
249. In the exercise of our callings, when we think we shall do no good,
* That is, ' vitiated.'— G. t Q^- ' ^ump ' ?— G.
AND HOLY CONTEMPLATIONS. 213
but all things seem contrary, yet faith saith, God hatli set me here ; I will
cast in my net at thy commandment, Luke v. 5. Let us look upon God,
and see what he commands, and then cast ourselves upon him.
250. A Christian hath sense and experience of God's love, together with
his faith. It is not a naked faith without any relish, but that sense and
experience we have here is given to strengthen faith for time to come ; and
therefore when we have any sweet feelings, we must not rest in them, but
remember they are given to encourage us in our way, and to look for ful-
ness in another world.
251. There is a double act of faith : first, the direct act, whereby I cast
mj'self upon Christ, and there is a reflect act, whereby I know that I am
in an estate of grace by the fruits of the Spirit. It is by the first act that
we are saved. Feelings are oftentimes divided from the first act ; for God
may enable a man to cast himself upon Christ, and yet for some ends he
shall not know it, because he will humble him. God gives the reflect act,
which is assured hope, as a reward of exact walking, but we must trust to
that closing act of faith as to that which saveth us. We ought to live by
this direct act of faith till we come to heaven, but add this, that there is no
man walks by faith that wants comfort.
252. God oftentimes defers to help his children until they be in ex-
tremity, till they be at their wits' end, because he will have them live by
faith and not by sight ; as good Jehoshaphat, ' We know not what to do,
but our eyes are towards thee,' 2 Chron. xx. 12. So St Paul received the
sentence of death in himself, that he might trust in the living God, 2 Cor.
i. 9. This is the cause of divine desertions, why God leaves his children
in desperate plunges, seeming to be an enemy to them, because he will
have us live by faith ; and when we live by it, then he rewards us.
253. Howsoever things are in sight, yet we should give God the honour
to trust to his promises. Though his dealings towards us seem to be as
to reprobates, yet let us believe his word. He cannot deny it. Say,
' Lord, remember thy promise to thy servant, wherein thou hast caused me to
trust,' Ps. cxix. 49. Therefore wrestle with God, for thereby he doth convey
secret strength to his children, that they may be able to overcome him.
254. The reason why many men at the hour of death are full of fears
and doubtings, and their hearts are full of misgivings, is, because in their
lifetime they have not been exercised in living by faith.
255. Confidence doth then arise from faith, when troubles make it the
stronger. Therefore it is a true evidence, when confidence increaseth with
opposition, great troubles breeding great confidence. Again, it is a sign a
man's confidence is well bred, when a man can carry himself equal in all
conditions, when he hath learned to want and to abound. He needs a
strong brain that drinks much strong water. Now when a man hath an
even spirit, to be content in all conditions, it argues a well-grounded
confidence.
256. None can be truly confident but God's children. Other men's
confidence is like a madman's strength. He may have the strength of
two or three for a time, but it is a false strength ; and it is when they are
lifted up upon the wings of ambition and favour of men, but these men in
the time of trial sink: 'The hope of the hypocrite shall perish,' Prov. xi. 7.
257. Wicked men depart out of this world like malefactors that are
unwilling to go out of prison. But God's children, when they die, they
die in obedience : ' Lord, now let thy servant depart in peace, according
to thy word,' Luke ii. 29. To be in the body is a good condition, because
214
DIVINE MEDITATIONS
we live by fixith ; but it is better to be with the Lord, because then we shall
live by sight.
258. Au ambitious man is an unilerminer of others, and if any stand in
his way, he will make way through blood, he will tread upon his friends to
get to honour, so a soul that is graciously ambitious considers what stands
in his way. He hates father and mother, nay, his own life ; he pulls out
his right eye, he cuts off his right hand, he offers violence to everything
that stands betwixt him and his God.
259. We should study the Scriptures, that we may find what is accept-
able to God and Christ. Now that which most pleaseth God is holiness.
So doth grace and mercy. Therefore we should study to be holy, and
gracious, and merciful. ' This is the will of God,' saith the apostle, 'even
j'our sanctificatiou, that is, to be holy as God is holy,' 1 Thes. iv. 3. Those
that will be acceptable to God must be good in private, in their closet, be-
cause sincerity supposeth that God sees all. They must be humbled for the
rising of sin, because these things are seen of Christ with grief and hatred.
260. If in our recreations or other lawful things we be so religious as we
should, we will then have Christ in our eye, and see how this may further
me in his service, or how this may hinder me ; for the most glorious
actions of religion are no service . at all if not done in faith, and with
respect to Christ.
261. Let no man be discouraged in the doing of good actions, though
otherwise thej' may be bad men, having no interest in Christ ; for so far as
any outward action is outwardly good it shall be rewarded. The Scribes
and Pharisees had the promise of men for their reward. The Eomans
were straight* in their civil government, and God so blessed them for it,
that their commonwealth flourished for many hundred years. Let the
people be what they will, if civil, f they shall have their reward suitable to
that good they do. As for heaven and happiness in another world, they
care not for it ; yet every man shall have his ' penny,' Mat. xx. 13.
262. It is a great art in faith to apprehend Christ suitable to our pre-
sent condition ; as when we are fallen into sin, think of the terrors of the
law, but when we are broken-hearted, then present him as a sweet Saviour,
inviting all to come unto him ; and thus neither shall Christ be dishonoured
nor our souls wronged.
263. It is much to be desired that there were that love in all men to
teach what they know, and that humility in others to bo instructed in what
they know not. God humbles great persons to learn of meaner ; and it is
our duty to embrace the truth whosoever brings it ; and oftentimes mean
persons are instruments of comfort to greater than themselves ; as Aquila
and Priscilla instructed Apollos, Acts xviii. 26.
264.* He that seeks us before w^e sought him, will he refuse us when we
seek after him ? Let no man therefore despair or be discouraged. If there
be in thee the height and depth, and length and breadth of sin, there is
ajso much more the height and depth, and length and breaiUh of mercy in
God. And though we have played the harlot with many lovers, yet return
again : Jer. iii. 1, * For his thoughts are not as ours,' and his mercies are
the mercies of a reconciled God.
• 265. When we are under a cloud of temptations, let us take heed of
opposing our comforts ; for it wrongs Christ's intention, who would not
have us at any time to be uncomfortable ; and besides, whilst we are in
such a condition, we are unfit to glorify God, for fear doth bind up the
* That is, 'exact,' 'strict.' — G. t That is, 'moral,' or 'equitable.' — G.
AND HOLY CONTKMPLA.TIONS.
215
Boul, and makes it in a palsy temper. "We are not fit to do anything as we
ought without some love and some joy; and though we be at present under
a cloud, yet the sun is always the same. We may therefore for a time
want the light of his gracious countenance, but never his sweet influence.
266. Most men if they could they would always live here, but whosoever
is partaker of Christ's resurrection, his mind doth presently ascend ; and
here we are always enlarging our desires, because we are under a state of
imperfection.
267. Many men thnt make a profession are like kites, which ascend
high, but look low. But those that look high as they ascend high are
l-isen with Christ. For a Christian being once in the estate oi grace, he
forgets what is behind, and looks upon ascending higher and higher, till he
be in his place of happiness ; and as at Christ's rising there was an earth-
quake, so such as are risen with him do find a commotion and division
between the flesh and the spirit.
268. Christ hath an especial care of his children, when by reason of the
guilt of sin they have most cause to be disconsolate ; and therefore, where
the heart of any man is upright towards God, it is not to be expressed what
indulgence there is in him towards such a poor sinner; for though Peter
had denied him, yet in Mark xvi. 7, ' Go tell his disciples, and tell Peter,'
so that Christ took great care to secure him of his love, though he had
most shamefully denied him.
269. God hath not in vain taken upon him the name of a Father, and
he fills it up to the full. It is a name of indulgence, a name of hope, a
name of provision, a name of protection. It argues the mitigation of
punishment. A little is enough from a father. Therefore in all tempta-
tions it should teach us by prayer to fly under the wings of our heavenly
Father, and to expect from him all that a father should do for his child, as
provision, protection, indulgence, yea, and seasonable corrections also,
which are as necessary for us as our daily bread ; and when we die we may
expect our inheritance, because he is our Father. But yet we must under-
stand also, that the name of Father is a word of relation. Something also
he expects from us. We must therefore reverence him as a Father, which
consists in fear and love. He is a great God, and therefore we ought to
fear him ; he is also merciful, yea, hath bowels of mercy, and therefore we
ought to love him. If we tremble at him, we know not that he is loving,
and if we be over bold, we forget that he is a great God. Therefore we
should go boldly to him with reverence and godly fear.
270. Those that are at peace in their own consciences will be peaceable
towards others. A busy, contentious, querulous disposition argues it never
felt peace from God ; and though many men think it commendable to censure
the infirmities of others, yet it argues their own weakness. For it is a sign
of strength, where we see in men any good, to bear with their weaknesses.
Who was more indulgent than Christ ? He bore with the infirmities of his
disciples from time to time. Therefore we should labour to carry ourselves
lovingly towards them that are weak, and know that nothing should raise
us so high in our esteem above others, so as to forget them to be brethren,
inasmuch as those infirmities we see in them shall be buried with them.
271. Many men will make much of eminent persons, and men of excellent
parts, but there may be a great deal of hypocrisy in that, and therefore the
truth of our love is" tried in this, if we bear a sincere affection to all the
saints, Eph. vi. 18.
272. We must take heed of coming to God in our own persons or
216
DIVINE MEDITATIONS
worthiness, but in all things look at God in Christ. If we look at God
as a Father, we must see him Christ's Father first. If we see ourselves
acquitted from our sins, let us look at Christ risen first. If we think of
glorification in heaven, let us see Christ glorified first, and when we con-
sider of any sijiritual blessing, consider of it in Christ first. All the promises
are made to Christ. He takes them first from God the Father, and derives*
them to us by his Spirit. The first fulness is in God, and then he empties
himself into Christ. ' And of his fulness we all receive grace,' &c.
273. God is said to be our God, or to be a God unto us, whenas he
applies for the good of his creature, that all-sufficiency that is in himself.
God is our God by covenant, because he hath made over himself unto us.
Every believing Christian hath the title passed over to him, so that God
is his portion, and his inheritance. There is more comfort in this, that
God is our God, than the heart of man can conceive. It is larger than his
heart, and therefore though we cannot sa}', that riches, or honours, or
friends, &c., are ours, yet if we be able to say by the Spirit of faith that
God is ours, then we have all in him. His wisdom is ours to find out a
way to do us good. If we be in danger, his power is ours to bring us out ;
if under the guilt of sin, his mercy is ours to forgive us ; if any want, his
all-sufliciency is ours to supply, or to make it good. If God be ours, then
whatsoever God can do is ours, and whatsoever God hath is ours.
274. God is the God and Father of all the elect, and he is also a God
and a Father unto every one of the elect. God is every saint's soUdum.
Even as the sun is wholly every man's, so is God. He cares for all as one,
and for every one as if he had but one.
275. There is not only a mystery, but a depth in the mystery ; as of
election and reprobation, so of providence. There is no reason can be given
why some of God's children are in quiet and others are vexed, why one should
be poor and another rich. In Ps. xcvii. 2, ' clouds and darkness are round
about him.' You cannot see him, he is hid in a cloud'; ay, but righteous-
ness and judgment are the foundation of his throne. Howsoever he wrap
himself in a thick cloud, that none can see him, yet he is just and righteous.
Therefore when anything befalls us, for which we can see no reason, yet we
must reverence him and adore his counsels, and think him wiser than we.
276. When we ai'e diligent in our calling, keeping a good conscience and
labouring for a carriage answerable ; when these three meet together,
calling, and standing, and wise carriage : then whatsoever befalls us, we may
with comfort say, ' The will of the Lord be done.' We are now in his way, and
may then expect a guard of angels without, and a guard of his Spirit within.
277. All the contentions between the flesh and the spirit lies in this,
whether God shall have his will or we ours. Now God's wall is straight,
but ours is crooked, and therefore if God will have us ofi'er up our Isaac
we must submit to him, and even drown ourselves in the will of God, and
then the more we are emptied of ourselves, the freer we are by how much
we are made subject to God. For in what measure we part with anything for
him, we shall receive even in this world an hundredfold in joy and peace, &c.
278. Whatsoever outward good things we have, we should use them in a
reverent manner, knowing that the liberty we have to enjoy them is pur-
chased with the blood of Christ, as David, when he thirsted for the waters
of Bethlehem, would not drink it, because it was the blood of his three
worthies, 2 Sam. xxiii. 15, scq. So though we have a free use of the creatures,
yet we must be careful to use them with moderation and reverence.
* That is, ' communicates.' — G.
AND HOLY CONTEMPLATIONS.
217
279. There is nothing of God can please the world, because the best
things are presented to the heart of a carnal man as foohshness. Man's
nature above all things would avoid the imputation of folly, and rather than
he will be counted a fool he will slander the ways of God to be* foolishness.
Now the law of Christ constrains us, and makes us do many things for which
the world doth think us out of our wits, and therefore we should labour to
quit our hearts, and account of it a greater favour from God, when the
Michals of this world scoff at us for our goodness, 2 Sam. vi. 22 ; for
when they are offended at us God is delighted with us.
280. To discern of our estate in grace, let us chiefly look to our affec-
tions, for they are intrinsecal, and not subject to hypocrisy. Men of great
parts know much, and so doth the devil, but he wants love. In fire all
things may be painted but the heat. So all good actions may be done by
an hypocrite, but there is a heat of love which he hath not._ We should
therefore chiefly examine the truth and sincerity of our afiections.
281. We may apprehend the love of God, but we cannot comprehend
it. All the fruits of his love passes our common understanding, and there-
fore we have the Holy Spirit given to us to take away the veil, and to
make report of it to the soul ; and then as soon as this love of Christ is
apprehended, it constrains us to all holy duties, not as fire out of flint,
but as water out of a spring. The love of a wife to her husband may begin
from the supply of her necessities, but afterwards she may love him also
for the sweetness of his person. So the soul doth first love Christ for
salvation, but when she is brought to him, and finds that sweetness that is
in him, then she loves him for himself.
282. It should be our continual care to manifest the sincerity of our
hearts to God in our several places and caUings, and this is done when we
look at God in every action, and endeavour to yield our whole soul to the
whole will of God, serving him in our spirits, and performing the works of
our callings by his Spirit, according to his word, and unto his glory ; and
if we thus labour to approve ourselves to him, whatsoever be the issue, we
shall be endued with a holy boldness, with inward peace aiid comfort,
having carried ourselves as in the sight of God.
283. That a man may be fit to persuade others he must have love to
their persons, a clear knowledge of the cause, and grace, that he may be
able to speak in wisdom to their souls and consciences. As we are saved
by love, so we are persuaded by the arguments of love, which is most
agreeable to the nature of man, that is led by persuasion, not by compul-
sion. Men may be compelled to the use of the means, but not to faith. Many
men labour only to unfold the Scriptures, for the increasing of their know-
ledge, that they may be able to discourse, whereas the special intent of the
ministry is to work upon the heart and afiections.
284. As we must approve ourselves to God and to our own consciences,
so also to the consciences of others, — not to their humours and lancies,- —
that they may witness for us, that we love them and deal faithfully with
them. AVe should labour to do all the good we can, especially to the souls of
men that are redeemed with the blood of Christ. If we deserve well of them,
they will give evidence for us ; but if we walk scandalously, they will evidence
that we by our ill courses and examples drew them to ill courses, and har-
dened them in evil. It should be our care therefore to approve ourselves
to the consciences of men, that we may have them to witness for us, that
such men of whom we have deserved well may be our crown at the last day.
* That is, = as foolishness. — G.
218
DIVINE MEDITATIONS
285. A man doth tlien keep a good conscience in relation to others, when
he makes it appear that he can deny himself to do them good ; when the
consciences of other men shall think thus, Such a man regards my good
more than his own ; he seeks no advantage to himself ; he lives so as that
the world may see he is in good earnest ; he speaks so as that he makes
it good hy his life. Now if our care he to walk thus, we shall approve our-
selves to the consciences of men.
286. There are many that will give some way to divine truths, but they
have a reservation of some sin. When Herodias is once touched, then
John Baptist's head must off. Mat. xiv, 0. Such truths as come near makes
them fret, because their conscience tells them they cannot yield obedience
to all. The lust of some sins hath gotten such domination over their affec-
tions, that the conscience saith, I cannot do this ; and then that hatred that
should be turned upon the sin, is turned upon the word and the minister.
Like unto some vermin, that when they are driven to a stand, they will fly
in a man's face, so these men, when they see they must yield, they grow
malicious, so that what the}' will not follow, that they will reproach ; there-
fore it should be our care at all times to yield obedience, according to what
we know.
287. There is a generation of churlish people, such as watch for offences,
because they would go to hell with some reason. They will not see who
are weak, and who are hypocrites, but they cast reproach upon all ; and
therefore oftentimes God in justice to them suffers good men to fall, that
such men may take ' scandal ' at them to their ruin.
288. A man may know that the word hath wrought upon his conscience,
when he comes to it, that he may hear and learn and reform. A man that
hath a heart without guile, is glad to hear the sharpest reproofs, because
he knows that sin is his greatest enemy ; but if we live in a course that we
are loath should be touched, it is a sign our hearts are full of guile.
Corrupt men they mould their teachers, and fashion them to their lusts ;
but a good and upright heart is willing that divine truths should have their
full authority in tlie soul, giving way to our duty, though never so contrary
to flesh and blood.
289. It is the duty of ministers to labour to prevent objections that may
arise in the hearts of the people, so as to hinder the passage of their doc-
trine ; and that truths may more readily come into the heart, we should
labour to relish the person, for secret surmises are stones to stumble at ;
therefore both ministers and people should be careful to remove them.
290. A man ought not to commend himself, but in some special cases :
first, because pride and envy in others will not endure it ; secondly, it
toucheth upon God's glory, and therefore we should take heed ; thirdly, it
deprives us of comfort, and hinders the apology* of others. The heathens
could say, that the praising of a man's self is a burdensome hearing (c) ;
let us take heed, therefore, that we snatch not our right out of God's hand.
But now, on the contrary in some cases, we may praise and commend our-
selves, as when we have a just calling to make an apology in way of defence,
and for the conviction of them that unjustly speak evil of us ; secondly, we
may speak well of ourselves in way of example to others, as parents to
their children ; and this doth well become them, because it is not out of pride
or vain glory, because the end is discovered to be out of love unto them.
291. It is the duty of those that are God's children, when they have just
occasion, to take the defence of others upon them : and thus did the blind
* That is, ' defence.'— G,
AND HOLY CONTEMPLATIONS.
219
man, John ix, 30 ; lie defended Christ againsif the Pharisees ; and Jonathan
spoke to his father in the behalf of David, 2 Sam. xx. 30. Though he was
the son of a rebellious woman, yet he knew that he ought* this unto the
truth. God hath a cause in the world that must be owned, and therefore
when the cause of religion is brought upon the stage, then God seems to
say as Jehu did, • Who is on my side, who ?' 2 Kings ix. 32. God com-
mends his cause and his children to us ; and therefore ' Curse ye Meroz,
saith the angel of the Lord, curse ye bitterly the inhabitants thereof,
because they came not to the help of the Lord, to the help of the Lord
against the mighty,' Judges v. 23. So a curse Hes upon those that, when
the truth sufiers, have not a word to defend it.
292. Usually the defamers of others are proud, vainglorious persons.
If a man will search for the spirit of the devil in men, lot him look for it
amongst vainglorious teachers, heretics, and superstitious persons. ^ The
ground of it is from the nearness of two contraries. There the opposition is
the strongest, as fire and water when they are near make the strongest
opposition ; and who are so near God's children as vainglorious teachers
that are of the same profession ? Pilate, a heathen, shewed more favour
to Christ than the Pharisees. And this use we should make of it, not to
take scandal when we see one divine depravef another, for it hath been so,
and will be so to the end of the world.
293. All things out of God are but grass. When we joy in anything
out of God, it is a childish joy, as if we joyed in flowers, that after we have
drawn out the sweetness, we cast them away. All outward things are
common to castaways as well as to us ; and without grace they will prove
snares ; at the hour of death what comfort can we have in them, further
than we have had humility and love to use them well. Therefore if we
would have our hearts seasoned with true joy, let us labour to be faithful
in our places, and endeavour according to the gifts we have to glorify God.
294. To glory in anything whatsoever, is idolatry, because the mind sets
up a thing to glory in, which is not God ; secondly, it is spiritual adultery
to cleave to anything more than God ; thirdly, it is false-witness-bearing
to ascribe excellency where there is none. We have a prohibition, ' Let
not the wise man glory in his wisdom, nor the strong man in his strength,
nor the rich man in his riches,' Jer. ix. 23. God will not give his glory
to another ; and therefore when men will be meddling vvith glory, which
belongs to God alone, he blasts them, and sets them aside, as broken
vessels, and disdains to use them.
295. A Christian joys aright, when it proceeds from right principles,
from judgment and conscience, not from fancy and imagination ; when
judgment and conscienoe will bear him out ; when there is good terms
between God and him : for our joy must spring from peace : Rom. v. 1,
' Being justified by faith, we have peace towards God.' The apostles begin
their Epistles with mercy, grace, and peace : mercy in forgiveness ; grace
to renew our natures ; and peace of conscience here. These are thmgs to
be gloried in. If we find our sins pardoned, our persons accepted, and
our natures altered, then we may comfort ourselves in anything, in health,
in wealth, in wife, in children," in anything, because all come from the
favour of God. We may joy in afflictions, because there is a blessing in
the worst things, to further our eternal happiness ; and though we cannot
joy in affliction itself, as being a contrary to our nature, yet we may joy in
the issue. So that we may joy aright, when having interest in God, we
* That is, ' owed.'— G. t That is, ' undervalue.'— G.
220
DIVINE MEDITATIONS
glory in the tostimon\' of a gflod conscience ; when looking inward we find
all at peace ; when we can say upon good grounds, that God is mine, and
therefore all is mine, both life and death and all things, so far as they may
serve for good.
296. The hearts of men, yea, of good men, are apt to be taken up with
outward things : when the weak disciples had cast out devils, they were
ready to be proud ; but Christ quickly spies it, and admonisheth them,
' not to rejoice that the devils were subject to them, but that their names
were written in the book of life,' Luke x. 20. Therefore, when we find
the least stirrings to glory in anything, we must check ourselves, and con-
sider what grace we have to temper them ; what love we have to turn
these things to the common good ; for whatsoever a man hath, if he have
not withal humility and love to use it aright, it will turn to his bane.
297. It hath been an old imputation to lay distractedness upon men of
the greatest wisdom and sobriety. John the Baptist was accused to have
a devil, and Christ to be besides* himself, and the apostles to be full of
new wine, and Paul to be mad ; and the reason of this is, because as
religion is a mystical and spiritual thing, so the tenets of it seem paradoxes
to carnal men : as, first, that a Christian is the only freeman, and other
men are slaves ; that he is the onl}' rich man, though never so mean in the
world ; that he is the only beautiful man, though outwardly never so
deformed ; that he is the only happy man in the midst of all his miseries.
Now these things, though never so true in themselves, seem strange to
natural men. And then again, when they see men earnest against sin, or
making conscience of sin, they wonder at this commotion for trifles, as if we
made tragedies of toys.f But these men go on in a course of their own,
and make that the measure of all : those that are below them are profane,
and those that are above them are indiscreet ; by fancies and affections,
they create excellencies, and then cry down spiritual things as folly ; they
have principles of their own, to love themselves, and to love others only
for themselves, and to hold on the strongest side, and by no means to
expose a man's self to danger. But now when men begin to be religious,
they deny all their own aims, and that makes their course seem madness
to the world, and thei'efore they labour to breed an ill conceit of them,
as if they were madmen and fools.
298. God's children are neither madmen nor fools, as they are accounted.
It is but a scandal cast upon them by the madmen of the world. They are
the only wise men, if it be well considered ; for, first, they make the highest
end their aim, which is to be a child of God here, and a saint hereafter in
heaven. Secondly, they aim to be found wise men at their death, and
therefore are always making their accounts ready. Thirdly, they labour to
live answerable to their rules. They observe the rule of the word, to be
governed according to the same. Fourthly, they improve all advantages
to advance their end ; they labour to grow better by blessings and crosses,
and to make a sanctified use of everything. Fifthly, they swim against
the stream of the times, and though they eat, and drink, and sleep as others
do, yet, like the stars, they have a secret course and carriage of their own,
which the world cannot discern ; and therefore a man must be changed,
and set in a higher rank, before he can have a sanctified judgment of the
ways of God.
299. Those that lay the imputation of folly and madness on God's chil-
dren will be found to be fools and madmen themselves. Is not he a fool
■"^ That is, ' beside.'— G. t That is, ' trifles.'— G.
AND HOLY CONTEMPLATIONS. 221
that cannot make a right choice of things ? and how do carnal men make
their choice, when they embrace perishing things for the best? Secondly,
a carnal man hath not parts to apprehend spiritual things aright. He can-
not see things invisible. Thirdly, in his heart he accounts it a vain thing
to serve the Lord. Fourthly, he judges his enemies to be his best friends,
and his best friends to be his worst enemies. Fifthly, the principles of all
his actions are rotten, because they are not directed to the right object ;
therefore all his affections are mad, as his joy, his love, his dehght. His
love is but lust, his anger vexation ; for his confidence he calls God's love
into question ; but if a false suggestion comes from the devil, that he em-
braces, and therefore is he not now a madman ? And this is the condition
of all natural men in the world.
300. True freedom is when the heart is enlarged, and made subordinate
to God in Christ. A man is then in a sweet frame of soul when his heart
is made subject to God ; for he, being larger than the soul, sets it at liberty.
God will have us make his glory our aim, that he may bestow himself
upon us.
301. When the love of Christ is manifested to me, and my love again to
Christ is wrought by the Spirit, this causes an admiration to the soul,
when it considers what wonderful love is in Christ ; and the Spirit shall
witness that this love of Christ is set upon me ; from hence it begins to
admire,* ' Lord, wherefore wilt thou shew thyself to us, and not to the
-world ? ' John xiv. 22. What is the reason thou lovest me, and not others ?
When the soul hath been with God in the mount, and when it is turned
from earthly things, then it sees nothing but love and mercy, and this con-
strains us to do all things out of love to God and men.
802. AVhen Joshua cursed the man that should build the walls of Jericho,
he was not in commotion and fury, but in a peaceable temper, Joshua vi.
26. So that, when cursing comes from such a one, he is a declaratory
instrument, and the conveyer of God's curse. Therefore every man must
not take upon him to curse, for men oftentimes curse where they should
bless, which is an arrow shot upright, that falls down upon his own head ;
but those that come in the name of the Lord, and are qualified for that
purpose, their cursings or blessings are to be esteemed, for they are a
means oftentimes to convey God's blessings or his cursings upon us.
308. It is over-curious to exact the first beginnings of grace, because it
falls by degrees, like the dew, undiscernibly ; and further, there is a great
deal of wisdom as well as power in the working of grace. God offers no
violence to the soul, but works sweetly yet strongly, and strongly yet
sweetly. He goes so far with our nature, that we shall freely delight in grace.
So that now he sees great reason why he should alter his course, God doth
not overthrow nature. The stream is but changed, the man is the same,
304. When the soul desires the forgiveness of sin, and not grace to lead
a new life, that desire is hypocritical ; for a true Christian desires power
against sin as well as pardon for it. If we have not sanctifying grace, we
have not pardoning grace. Christ came as well by water to regenerate as
by blood to justify. It should therefore be our continual care and endea-
vour to grow and increase in grace, because without it we shall never come
to heaven. Without this endeavour our sacrifices are not accepted ; with-
out this we cannot withstand our enemies, or bear any cross ; without it we
cannot go on comfortably in our course ; without this we cannot do any-
thing acceptable and pleasing to God.
* That is, ' wonder.' — G.
222 DIVINE MEDITATIONS
305. God will bo ' as the dew unto Israel, and he shall grow as the lily,
and cast forth his roots as Lebanon,' Hos. xiv. 5. These are not words
wastefuUy spent ; for we have great need of such promises, especially in a
distressed state, for then our spirits are apt to sink and our hearts to faint,
and therefore we have need to have the same comforts often repeated.
Profane hearts think, what need all this ? but if ever thou beest touched in
conscieuce for thy sins, thou wilt then be far from finding fault, when
God useth all the secrets in the book of nature, and translates them, to
assure us of his mercy and love.
306. God's children are strengthened by their falls. They learn to stand
by their falls. Like tall cedars, the more they are blown, the deeper they
are rooted. That which men think is the overthrow of God's children,
doth but root them deeper ; so that, after all outward storms and inward
declinings, this is the issue, ' They take root downward, and bring forth
fruit upwards.'
307. A Christian in his right temper is compared to the best of every-
thing. If to a lily, the fairest ; if to a cedar, the tallest ; if to an olive-
tree, the most fruitful : ' And his smell shall be as Lebanon.' We should
therefore make use of all natural things, and apply them to spiritual. If
we see a lily, think of God's promise and our duty; we shall grow as lilies.
When we see a tall tree, think, I must grow higher in grace ; and when we
see a vine, think, I must grow in fruitfulness. When we go into our
orchards or gardens, let the sight of these things raise our thoughts higher
unto a consideration of what is required of us.
308. As it is the glory of the olive-tree to be fruitful, so it is the glory
of a Christian to be fruitful in his place and calling; and the way to be
fruitful, is to esteem fruitfulness a glory. It is a gracious sight to see a
Christian answer his profession, and flourish in his own standing; to be
fruitful, and shine in good works. When ability, and opportunity, and a
heart answerable to all, meet for doing good, this is glorious.
309. When we go about any action or business, let us always ask our
souls this question, Is this suitable to my calHng, to my hopes ? But if
not. Why do I do it ? I that am a king to rule over my lusts, doth this
a^ree with my condition ? This base act, this base company, shall such
a man as I do this ? When a man brings his heart to reason thus with
himself, it will breed Ephraim's resolution, ' What have I any more to do
with idols ? ' And in walking thus circumspectly, we shall find a heat of
comfort accompanying every good action; and a sweet relish upon the
conscience, with humility and thankfulness, acknowledging all the strength
we have to be from the dew of his grace.
310. In times of calamity, God will have a care of his fruitful trees; as
in chap. xx. of Deut., ver. 19, the Israelites were commanded that they
should not destroy the trees that bare fruit. So though Gofl's judgments
come amono-st us, yet God will have a special care of his children that be
fruitful, but°the judgments of God will light heavy upon barren trees. _ And
howsoever God may endure barrenness in the want of means, yet he will not
in the use of means. It were better for a bramble to be in the wilderness
than in an orchard ; nothing will bear us out but fruitfulness.
311. It may be observed that old men seem not to grow, nor to be so
zealous as many young Christians ; but the reason is, because there is in
young Christians a greater strength of natural parts, and that shews itself,
and makes a great expression. But aged men they grow in strength and
Btableness, and are more refined. Their knowledge is more clear, their
AND HOLY CONTEMrLATIONS. 223
actions more pure, their zeal more refiued, and not mingled with wild-fire ;
and therefore, though old Christians be not carried with a full stream, yet
they are more stable and judicious, more heavenly-minded, more mortified.
They grow in humility, out of a clearer sight of their own corruptions.
212. In true conversion the soul is changed to be of the same mind with
Christ, that as he is aflected, so the soul of such a one is afiected; and as
he loathes all ill, so upon this ground there must be a loathing of whatso-
ever is evil. But a carnal man is like a wolf driven from the sheep, that
yet retains his wolfish nature ; so these men that are driven from their
sins only out of terror of conscience, they are affrighted with sin, but they
do not hate it; therefore a loathing of evil is required as well as the leaviu'^
of it.
813. If we would make it evident that our conversion is sound, we must
loathe and hate sin from the heart. Now, a man shall know his hatred of
evil to be true, first, if it be universal ; he that hates sin truly hates all
sin. Secondly, where there is true hatred it is unappeasable ; there is no
appeasing of it but by abolishing the thing it hates. Thirdly, hatred is a
more rooted affection than anger ; auger may be appeased, but hatred is
against the whole kind. Fourthly, if our hatred be true, it hates all ill in
ourselves first, and then in others ; he that hates a toad, hates it most in
his own bosom. Many, like Judah, are severe in censuring of others, but
are partial to themselves. Fifthly, he that hates sin truly, hates the
greatest sin in the greatest measure; he hates it in a just proportion.
Sixthly, our hatred is right if we can endure admonition and reproof for
sin, and not be in rage with him that tells us of it ; therefore those that
swell against reproof hate not sin ; only with this caution, it may be done
with such indiscretion and self-love, that a man may hate the proud
manner. Therefore in discovering our hatred of sin in others, we must
consider our calling. It must be done in a sweet temper, with reservincf
due respect of those to whom we shew our dislike, that it may be done out
of true zeal, and not out of wild-fire.
314. All love and associations that are not begun on good terms, will
end in hatred. We should take heed whom we join in league and amity
withal. Before we plant our affections, consider the persons what they
are. If we see any signs of grace, then it is good ; but if not, there will
be a rent. Throughout our whole life this ought to be our rule. We
should labour in ail companies either to do good or receive good ; and
where we can neither do nor receive good, we should take heed of such
acquaintance. Let men therefore consider and take heed how they stand
in combination with wicked persons.
315. ' Whosoever will live godly in Christ Jesus, must suffer persecu-
tion,' 2 Tim. iii. 12. He must have his nature changed, and carry his
hatred against all opposite courses ; and therefore to frame a religion that
hath no trouble with it, is to frame an idol. But neuters in religion are
like unto bats, that men can scarce distinguish from mice, or flyino fov.'l,
because they have a resemblance of both. Take heed therefore of
neutrality in religion. After the first heat many become lukewarm, and
from that they fall into coldness ; let us therefore look to our beginnings.
Pure affection in religion must also be zealous.
316. Wise men will do nothing without great ends; and the more wise
the greater are their ends. Shall we attribute this to men, and not to the
wisdom of God ? Christ would never have appeared in our nature, and
suffered death, but for some great end. Shall we think that this mystery
224 DIVINE MEDITATIONS
of God taking flesh upon him, was for a sHght purpose ? Now, the end
of his coming was to save sinners, 1 Tim. i. 15; he came to bring us to
God, 1 Peter iii. 18; but he that will save us must first bring us out of
Satan's bondage, therefore Christ came to destroy the works of the devil,
1 John iii. 8. It must needs follow therefore that the salvation of our
souls is of great consequence, seeing for this only end Christ took our
nature upon him and suffered for us.
317. Christ came to destroy the works of the devil in us, but yet he
makes us kings under him, to fight his battles; and as by his Spirit in
us he destroys the works of the devil, so he doth it in the exercise of all
the powers and parts of soul and body, and by exercising the graces of his
Spirit in us. * He hath made us kings and priests,' not that we should do
nothing, but that we should fight, and in fighting overcome. The chiefest
grace that God doth exercise in overcoming our corruptions is faith. We
fell by infidelity and disobedience. Now, Christ comes and displants
infidelity, and instead thereof he plants f\iith, which unites us to him; and
then by a divine skill, it draws a particular strength from Christ, to fight
his battles against corruption.
318. Temptations at first are like Elias's cloud, no bigger than a man's
hand ; but if we give way to them, they overspread the whole soul. Satan
nestles himself when we dwell upon the thoughts of sin. We cannot with-
stand sudden risings, but by grace we may keep them that they do not
abide there long. Let us therefore labour as much as we can to be in
good company and good courses ; for as the Holy Ghost works by these
advantages, so we should wisely observe them.
319. It is hard to discern the working of Satan from our own corrup-
tions, because for the most part he goes secretly along with them. He is
like a pirate at sea ; he sets upon us with our own colours ; he comes as a
friend; and therefore it is hard to discern, but it is partly seen by the
eagerness of our lusts, when they are sudden, strong, and strange, so
strange sometimes, that even nature itself abhors them. The Spirit of
God leads sweetly, but the devil hurries a man hke a tempest, that he will
hear no reason ; as we see in Amnion, for his sister Tamar. Again, when
we shake ofl' motions of God's Spirit, and mislike his government, and
give way to passion, then the devil enters. Let a man be unadvisedly
angry, and the devil will make him envious and seek revenge. When
passions are let loose, they are chariots in which the devil rides. Some
by nature are prone to distrust, and some to be too confident. Now, the
devil he joins with them, and so draws them on further. He broods upon
our corruptions; ho lies as it were upon the souls of men, and there broods
and hatches all sin whatsoever. All the devils in hell cannot force us to
sin. He works by suggestions, stirring up humours and fancies ; but he
cannot work upon the will. We betray ourselves by yielding before he can
do us any harm, yet he ripens sin.
320. There are some sins that let Satan loose upon us ; as, first, pride ;
we see it in Paul, 2 Cor. xii. 7. Secondly, conceitedness and presump-
tion ; as we may see in Peter, Mat. xxvi. 33. Thirdly, security; which is
always the forerunner of some great punishment or great sin, which also is
a punishment, as we see in David. Fourthly, idleness ; it is the hour of
temptation, when a man is out of God's business. Fifthly, intemperance,
either in looseness of diet or otherwise ; therefore Christ commands us to
be ' sober, and watch,' and look to sobriety in the use of the creatures.
Sixthly, there is a more subtile intemperance of passion, for in what degree
AND HOLY CONTEMPLATIONS. 225
we give way to wrath, and revenge, and covetousness, in that degree
Satan hath advantage against us. Seventhly, when a man will not believe
and submit to truths revealed, though but a natural truth ; therefore God
gave them up to vile affections, Rom. i. 2G, because they would not
cherish the light of nature, much more when we do not cherish the light
of grace.
321. As Christ wrought our salvation in an estate of baseness, so in our
way to glory we must be conformable to our Head, and pass through an
estate of baseness. We are chosen to a portion of afflictions, as well as to
grace and glory. God sees it needful also, because we cannot easily digest
a flourishing condition. We are naturally given to affect* outward excel-
lencies. When we are trusted with great matters, we are apt to forget
God and our duty to others. This should therefore teach us to justify God
when we are any ways abased in the world.
322. There are a world of poor, who yet are exceeding proud; but God
sanctifies outward poverty unto his children, so as it makes way for poverty
of spirit ; that as they are poor, so they have a mean esteem of themselves.
It makes them inwardly more humble and more tractable. Therefore when
we are under any cross, observe how it works ; see whether we join with
God or no. When he afflicts us outwardly, whether inwardly we be more
humble ; when he humbles us and makes us poor, whether we be also poor
in spirit ; when God goes about to take us down, we should labour to take
down ourselves.
323. Poverty of spirit should accompany us all our life long, to let us
see that we have no righteousness of our own to sanctification ; that all
the grace we have is out of ourselves, even for the performance of every
holy duty. For though we have grace, yet we cannot bring that grace
into act without new grace ; even as there is a fitness in trees to bear fruit,
but without the influence of heaven they cannot. That which oftentimes
makes us miscarry in the actions of our calling, is because we think we
have strength and wisdom enough ; and then what is begun in self-
confidence, is ended in shame. We set upon duties in our own pride and
strength of parts, and find success accordingly. Therefore it is a sign that
God will bless our endeavours, when out of the sense of our own weakness
we water our business with prayer and tears.
324. It is not sufficient for a Christian to have habitual grace. There
is no vine can bring forth fruit without the influence of heaven, though
it be rooted ; so we cannot bring forth fruit unless God blow upon us.
Our former strength will not serve when a new temptation comes. It is
not enough to have grace, but we must use it. We must exercise our
faith, love, patience, humility; and for this purpose God hath furnished
us with the Spirit of all grace. Let us therefore remember, when we have
any duty to do, to pray unto Christ to blow upon us with his Spirit.
325. God doth not so much look at our infirmities as at our upright-
ness and sincerity; and therefore when we are out of temptations, we
should consider and examine what God hath wrought in us. And then
though there be infirmities and failings, yet if our hearts be upright, God
will pardon them ; as we find that David and others were accounted upright,
and yet had many imperfections.
326. Watching is an exercising of all the graces of the soul, and these
are given to keep our souls awake. We have enemies about us that are
not asleep, and our worst enemy is within us; and so much the worse,
* That is, ' love,' choose. — G.
VOL. VII, P
226 DrV'lNE HrEDITATIONS
because so near. Wo live also in a world full of temptations, and wicked
men are full of malice. We are passing tlirongli our enemy's country,
and therefore liad need to have our wits about us. The devil also is at
one end of every good action, and therefore we had need to keep all our
graces in perpetual exercise. We should watch in fear of jealousy,
taking heed of a spirit of drowsiness ; labouring also to keep ourselves un-
spotted of the world.
327. It may be asked, how we shall know the Scripture to be the word
of God ? For answer, do but grant, first, that there is a God, it will follow
then that he must be worshipped and sensed ; and that this service must
be discovered to us, that we may know what he doth require; and then
let it be compared what the word of God can come near to be the same
with this. Besides, God hath blessed the superstition of the Jews, who
were very strict this way, to preserve it for us; and the heretics, since the
primitive church, have so observed one another, that there can be no other
to this word. But now we must further know, that we must have some-
thing in our souls suitable to the truths contained in it, before we can truly
and savingly believe it to be the word of God, as that we find it to have a
power in working upon our hearts and aflections: Luke xxiv. 32, 'Did
not our heai'ts burn within us, when he opened to us the scriptures ? '
Again, it hath a divine operation to warm and pacify the soul, and a power
to make a Felix tremble. It hath a searching quality, to divide between
the marrow and the bone. We do not therefore only believe the Scrip-
tures to be the word of God because any man saith so, or because the
church saith so; but also and principally because I find it by experience
working the same effects in me that it speaks of itself. And therefore let
US never rest, till, when we hear a promise, we may have something in us
by the sanctifying Spirit that may be suitable to it; and so assuring of us
that it is that word alone that informs us of the good pleasure of God to
us, and our duty to him.
328. There is in God a fatherly anger. After conversion he retains
that ; and this fatherly anger is also turned away when in sincerity we
humble ourselves. There is one saith well, ' A child of anger, and a child
under anger' (f). God's children are not children of wrath, but some-
times they are under wrath, — when they do not carry themselves as sons,
when they venture on sins against conscience, &c. But if they humble
themselves and reform, and fly to God for mercy, then they come into
favour again, and recover the right of sons.
329. We may know that God loves us, when by his Spirit he speaks
friendly to our souls, and we by prayer speak friendly to him again ; when
we have communion and familiarity with him. Whom God loves, to them
he discovers his secrets, even such secrets as the soul never knew before.
He reveals them to us when our hearts are wrought to an ingenuous con-
fession of sin, and when we have no comfort but from heaven. Even as a
father discovers his bowels most to his child when it is sick, so God
reserves the discovery of his love, especially until such a time when we
renounce all carnal confidence. Therefore if we can assure our souls that
God loves us, let us then be at a point for anything that shall happen to
us in this world, whether it be disgrace or contempt, or whatsoever, because
we may fetch patience and contentedness from hence, that God's love sup-
plies all wants whatsoever.
330. After a gracious pardon for sin, there are two things remaining in
us, infirmities and weaknesses. Infirmities are corruptions stirred up,
AND HOLY CONTEMPLATIONS. 227
wliich hinders us from good, and puts us forward to evil. But yet they
are so far resisted and subdued, that they break not forth into action.
Weakness is when we suffer an infirmity to break out for want of watch-
fulness; as if a man be subject to passion, when this is working disturbance
in the mind, it is infirmity ; but when, for want of watchfulness, it breaks
forth into action, then it is weakness. Aftd these diseases are suffered in
us, to put us in mind of the bitter root of sin ; for if we should not some-
times break forth into sin, we should think that our nature were cured.
Who would have thought that Moses, so meek a man, could have so broken
out into passion ? We see it also in David, and Peter, and others ; and
this is to shew that the corruption of nature in them was not fully healed.
But there is this difference between the slips and falls of God's children
and of other men. When other men fall, it settles them in their dregs ;
but when God's children fall, they see their weaknesses, they see the bitter
root of sin, and hate it the more, and ai'e never at quiet till it be cast out
by the strength of grace and repentance. Therefore let no man be too
much cast down by his infirmities, so long as they are resisted, for from
hence comes a fresh hatred of corruption ; and God looks not upon any sin
but sin ungrieved for, unresisted ; otherwise God hath a holy end in suffer-
ing sin to be in us, to keep us from worse things.
331. There is none that out of sincerity do give themselves to holy con-
ference but are gainers by it. Many men ask questions, and are inquisitive
to know, but not that they might put in practice. This is but a proud
desire to taste of the tree of knowledge ; but the desire of true-affected
Christians is to know that they might seek Christ. We gain oftentimes
by discourse with those that are punies in religion. St Paul desires to
meet with the Romans, though they were his converts, that he might be
strengthened by their mutual faith, Rom. i. 12.
332. When once the Spirit doth fasten the wrath of God upon the con-
science of one whom he means to save, then there follows these afflicting
affections of grief and shame ; and from hence comes a dislike and hate of
sin ; hence begins a divorce between the soul and the beloved sin ; so that
whereas there was before a sceptre of sin in the soul, now God begins to
dispossess that strong man, and then follows a strong desire to be better,
and a holy desperation, that if God in Christ be not merciful, then the soul
saith. What shall become of me ! and as the Spirit lets in some terrors, so
he lets in also some hopes, as, ' What shall I do to be saved ?' implying
a resignation of the will to take any course, so he may be saved; and then
all the world for one drop of mercy.
833. Christ never comes into any heart but where he is valued and
esteemed ; yet he delights not to hide himself from his poor creature. But
when we are fit, when we truly judge ourselves unworthy of any favour,
then he receives us. Here is comfort, therefore, for the worst of men ; if
they will come in, and submit to God's ordinances, they will be effectual
to subdue our corruptions ; and when once God hath taken up the heart of
man for his temple, he will then bring into it all his treasures. There will
be a mutual fellowship between God and the soul when we are once subdued.
334. God is so powerful an agent that he can overthrow all. He can
overthrow the carnal principles of reason, which every natural man hath in
the fort of his soul. He presents to men the condition they are in by
nature, and lets in a taste of his vengeance. When God in his ordinances
shews greater reasons for goodness than Satan can in his carnal courses,
then all falls down. Those, therefore, that are not fully subdued, yet let
228 DIVINE MEDITATIONS AND HOLY CONTEMPLATIONS.
them come to the ordinances, for then they are within God's reach. When
the word of God discovers the baseness, vileness, and danger of sin, then
the soul stoops. Therefore let none despair ; for though thy heart be stone,
yet God can work powerfully. Nothing is difficult to infirmities ; but it is
a divine work to pull down a wicked sinner.
335. However we take pains in our callings, yet the ability and blessing
comes from God. We pray for daily bread, and yet he gives it, though we
labom- for it. There is a gift of success, which, unless it be given us from
above, we shall, with the disciples, * catch nothing,' Luke v. 5.
336. Gifts are for gi-ace, and grace for glory. Gifts are peculiar to some
men, but grace is common to all Christians. Gifts are peculiar to many,
and common to such as are not good. Gifts are joined with great sins,
but grace hath love and humility to take down the soul. The devil hath
lost little of his acnteness, but yet he remains mischievous. So many men
have great parts, but they have also a devilish spirit. Grace comes from
more special love, and yet men had rather be accounted devils than fools.
Account them men of parts, and then count them what you will.
337. It is a hard matter to find out the least measure of grace and the
greatest degree of formality ; for as painting oftentimes exceeds the thing,
so doth an hypocrite oftentimes make a greater show ; but the least mea-
sure of saving grace is from desires. And these are known to be saving,
if they proceed from a taste of the thing, and not merely from the object ;
and therefore we must distinguish between aff'ections stirred up and the
inward frame; for those that are suddenly stirred up do presently return.
The waters in the bath* have a natural hotness, but water, when it is heated,
will return to its former coldness.
338. Though we be sure of victory over our spiritual enemies, yet we
must fight. The conquered kings must be fought withal. Chx'ist, that
fights for us, fights with us and in us, and crowns us when all is done.
And the time will come, ere long, when we shall say of our enemies as
Moses said of the Egyptians, ' Those enemies that we now see, we shall
see them no more for ever,' Exod. xiv. 13 ; 'Be strong therefore in the
Lord, and in the power of his might,' Eph. vi. 10.
* That is, ' hot-spring.' — G.
NOTES.
I
(a) P. 197. — ' St Augustine hath an excellent discourse,' &c. A reminiscence
rather than quotation of a frequent illustration from this Father. Cf. any Index of
his works sub vocihus.
(6) P. 201.—' As a man that is called,' &c. See note a, Vol. V. p. 408.
(c) P. 204, — 'It was a rule in the ancient time, "Lay thy hand,"' &c. As
already noticed, this 'rule' is embodied in the sentiment ' Speed the plough.'
{d) P. 211. — ' The very heathens could say, tliat we must not go out of our station
till we be called.' A commonplace of Cicero and others of the ancients who have
written striking things against suicide.
(e) P. 218. — ' The heathens couM say, that the praising of a man's self is a
burdensome hearing.' This idea is found in Demosthene^ great speech ' De Corona.'
[Reiske ed., p. 226, line 20 ; Bekker, § 4.]
(/) P. 226. — ' There is one saith well, " A child of anger, and a child under
anger." ' Bernard and Augustine furnish the thought, and the distinction is common
to all the Fathers. G.
THE KNOT OF PRAYER LOOSED.
THE KNOT OF PRAYER LOOSED.
NOTE.
'The Knot of Prayer Loosed' forms No. 16 of 'The Saint's Cordials' of 1629.
It was not inserted in the after-editions. Its separate title is given belo-w.*
G.
*THE KNOT OF
PRAYER LOOSED.
In One Sermon.
Wherein is shewed,
The Conditions, Limitations, Qualities, Companions, and
Attendants of Prayer ; The Causes of the DifBculties therein : How to
pray as we may be heard, nourishing and quick-
ning our Faith, &c.
Prselucendo Pereo.
Vpeightnes Hath Boldnes.
Iames. 1. 5.
If any of you lacke wisedome, let him aslce of God, ivho giveth to all men liberally, and
upbraideth not, and it shall he given him.
LONDON,
Printed in the yeare 1629.
THE KNOT OF PRAYER LOOSED.
Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall dnd ; knock, and it\shaU
he opened unto yon: for every one that asketh, receiveth ; and he that seek-
eth, findeth ; and to him that knocketh, it shall he opened. Or what man
is there of you, icho, if his son ask hread, will give him a stone ? or if
he ask a fish, will give him a serpent ? If ye then, heing evil, know hoiv
to give good gifts unto your children, how much more shcdl your Father which
is in heaven give good things to them that ask them? — Mat. VII. 7-10.
I HOPE it will not be offensive to any here present, — it may be profitable
to some, — briefly to repeat what I have spoken in another place of this
text.* The whole contains an exhortation to prayer, Christ's exhortation
to Christ's hearers. The parts are two.
1. The exhortation strictly taken, pointing out the duty.
2. The motives and arguments enforcing the same. In brief.
The nail and the hammer.
The duty is laid down in these words, 'ask,' 'seek,' 'knock;' all of
them whetting on our dulness ; by which we may see, the pressing of these
things in this manner imports diligence, that we should set on the same
eagerly, yea, with an earnest desire of obtaining our suit, as we do with
those we have occasion to speak wnth, whom by all means we importune
for a despatch. Our Lord here would have us so to make haste, using all
means and diligence for obtaining of our suit.
The motives are,
1. Ordinate, directly urging the duty.
2. Subordinate, standing as helps and supporters thereunto.
The motives ordinate are these : ' Ask, and receive ;' ' seek, and find ;
knock, and it shall be opened unto you.' The argument is taken from a
threefold promise, according to the threefold urging of the duty. In sum,
the success they should have, that they shall speed.
The subordinate arguments follow the former, and they are of two sorts,
simple or by comparison. The simple in these words, ' For every one that
asketh receiveth, and he that seeketh findeth, and to him that knocketh it
shall be opened.' And this simple argument is drawn, as it were, from
the common experience of others, as if our Lord should have said, Since it
is found by sure and certain experience, that every one that asketh
* The previous Sermons have not been preserved. — G.
232
THE KNOT OF PRAYER LOOSED.
receiveth, why should not ye also, if ye ask, think to speed as well as
others ?
Lastly, There is set down an argument of comparison, from the lesser
to the gi-eater, from fathers on earth, endowed with a little of that pity and
mercy, the greater fountain and ocean whereof is in God ; from which the
inference is, that if earthly and evil parents will be ready to hear their
children, and give good things unto them, how much more will our good
and heavenly Father be ready to hear and grant our requests, that is, give
good things to such as ask in faith ? This is the sum.
From the exhortation note, the duty of prayer is a common task, so that
every Christian, who would be in deed and not in name so called only, he
must be a man of prayer. Then, in the next place, from the exhortation
and reason laid together, note the potent means by which we shall be best
enabled to receive from God what we would ; and what we have need of
is prayer. There might be, but needs not, many proofs of this, whereof
there was delivered many uses then ; the last and main whereof was, that
we should learn to make more reckoning of our prayers than formerly we
have done, that as we reckon our states in bonds and bills, and that we
have beyond seas in stock, as well as that we have in possession by us ;
so we should reckon in our spiritual wealth, not only what we have and
feel, but also that stock of prayer we have long since adventured to a far
country, as merchants do of that they have adventured to East India :
so much the rather, because these may fail in whole or in part, and so
that stock may perish ; but the adventure and return of this stock of prayer
is most certain to increase more, which, if we do, we shall be sure of a
more quick and speedy return. Hence we came to a knotty and great
objection.
Obj. Whether all men in prayer have this assurance to be heard, seeing
Ckrist's promise is so sure and firm ?
Aus. There are indeed a great many Christians full of complaints and
discouragements this way. Oh, say some, I have prayed thus and thus long,
and am worse and worse ; I have prayed and am not heard ; better leave all,
seeing I am not the better for it. I answer. Though our Lord do speak
so confidently, yet God's charter must be interpreted to God's meaning,
with such conditions and limitations as he hath revealed unto us out of his
word, which, though not named here, yet must be understood. We are
undone, every mother's son, if we lose any part of that charter Christ hath
made, to think we can make no certain return of our prayers sent to our
heavenly country ; for it remains always sure, ' Ask, and ye shall receive ;
seek, and ye shall find ; knock, and it shall be opened to you.' For
the better answering of the objection, here comes two things to be con-
sidered,
1. Conditions on our part; 2. Limitations on God's part.
1. The first thing in the conditions on our part is concerning the party that
must pray : he must be a free denizen in the state of faith and repentance.
An outlawed man can put up no petitions with assurance to speed. St John
saith, ' This is the confidence we have in him, that if we ask any thing
according to his will, he heareth us,' 1 John v. 14. The will of iaod is,
that he who prays be a man qualified ; so all the promises of God are
made, at least to such who hunger and thirst and desire to be in Christ.
Faithless, godless, careless men are outlawed, as we see, Ps. 1. 15, 16, the
promise is, ' Call upon me in the day of trouble ; I will deliver thee, and
thou shalt glorify me ;' and then presently he makes a stop. * But unto
THE KNOT OF PRAYER LOOSED. 233
the wicked God saitb, What hast thou to declare my statutes, or that thou
shouldest take my covenant in thy mouth ? seeing thou hatest instruction,
and easiest my word behind thee.'
_ Obj. Here some may object, that even many heathens have been heard
m their prayers who were not thus quahfied.
Ans. To which I answer, It is not out of the privilege of this great
charter here that such are heard ; but out of his common goodness unto
all,_ whereby he would draw even the most rebelhous to admiration of his
divnie abundant mercies, yea, and even teach us, if such prevail thus,
much more shall we, being within the covenant.
2. The second is. Our prayers must be made to God alone.
3. Thirdly, They must pass under the seal of the Mediator.
For though all Christians may claim a part in the charter, yet the title
must be pleaded in the Mediator's name only ; no Mediator to thee, no
hearmg,
_ 4. Fourthly, Concerning the things prayed for, they must be lawful in
kmd also ; not fore-excepted, nor under any general nor particular hmita-
tions forbidden. Not everything we desire is rightly asked, some of which
may cross his nature and will ; some things also are ill for us, by general
and special decree forbidden, as exemption from afflictions and sufferings
with him. If God hear us not in this, Christ forfeits not his word, but we
our prayers.
5. Fifthly, That we have a right end in prayer ; as James iv. 3, the
apostle speaks, ' You ask, and receive not, because you ask amiss, that
you may consume it upon your lusts.' If the end be naught, the prayer
IS confiscate.
6. Sixthly, The time ; there be certain seasons and times wherein the
Lord will be found ; as Dan. ix. 2, when he knew the time of the captivity
to be near expired, then he prays for the return of the people. If we wait
and seek in season, we may obtain ; but otherwise we mav have a nap, and
the door be knocked against our heads. Since then, ' there is a time that
the Lord will be found,' as the prophet speaks, Isa. Iv. 6, I would not
have us omit our time, but now when there is a stirring of the Spirit, let
us take the opportunity, lest we miss it when we shall have most need
of it.
7. Seventhly, There is the manner, under which I comprehend the order
of the things asked and desired. If we would speed in temporal things,
we must first seek spiritual, saith our Saviour; 'But seek ye first the
kingdom of heaven, and his righteousness, and all these things shall be
added unto you,' Mat. vi. 33. If we miss of this, we may knock long ere
we have entrance. To come to God and seek oil and wine, and the°like
things, and in the mean time to negiect the oil of grace, what a disorder is
here. If in this case thou be crossed, it is not because he would put thee
off without hearing, but because he would teach thee a better way to speed.
For as when we eat our meat disorderly we want digestion, and for the
most part buy experience at a dear rate, so many times God doth beat his
dearest children, and put off their prayers for a long time, that he may
teach them in due order what is first and principally to be desired ; all
these the party praying must carefully look unto for speeding in his
suit.
Further, we have to observe in prayer,
1. The qualities. 2. The companions. 3. The attendants of prayer.
1. The qualities of prayer.
234
THE KNOT OF PRAYER LOOSED.
(1.) That it be the prayer of faith ; not generally and confu'^cilly of the
Godhead only, but distinctly of the persons, and of the redemption pur-
chased, and of the hearing of thy petitions, having interest in him, 'Believe
and it shall be given thee.'
(2.) llitmilin/ ; that a man go to God with a knowledge and a sense of
his own insufficiency to succour himself. No man may come to God, but
upon his knees. I speak not of the bowing of the knee, but of the heai't ;
it is written, 'God will hear the desires of the humble,' Ps. ix. 12. In
misery, affliction, sense of our necessity, and the like, we should assure
ourselves to be heard.
(3.) The heat and fervency of prai/er. Our God, which is a 'consuming
fire,' Heb. xii. 29, doth not endure a cold prayer ; the heart must be
elevated, as Hannah, her heart spake unto the Lord, 1 Sam. i. 13 ; and
Saint James saith, * the effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth
much,' James v. 16. By the contrar}', a cold prayer hath but a cold
answer ; that man is but a mocker of prayer, that would have God to hear
him, when he hears not himself.
2. llw companiois of prayer.
(1.) First, Charity which extends itself toward all men, and a brotherly
love toward the saints, joined with graciousness in ourselves ; and it hath
two things in it, giving and forgiving. He that would have mercy, must
shew mercy ; rich men may do the one, and all men may do the other,
but the other is harder, to forgive. He that is able to give, and relieve
others as their need shall require, and yet will not, let him not wonder if
God deny his suit ; and so he that will not forgive others, let him not look
to be foi'given. 'Blessed is he,' saith the Scripture, 'that judgeth wisely
of the poor, the Lord shall deliver him in the day of trouble,' Ps. xli. 1.
If thou ask, and speed not, in this case marvel not ; thou hast denied him
in his own members asking of thee, and therefore it is just with him to
deny thee.
(2.) The second is, Thanlfulncss for benefits and blessings received and
enjoyed, with forgiveness of the old debts ; thanksgiving ere we beg more
mercies. For this cause we speed not in our suits ; because we forget
him, he forgets us.
3. The attendants of prayer.
(1.) First, ]\!rseverance, called ' watching with prayer;' as we see our
Lord teacheth us by the example of the importunate widow, and the unjust
judge, thereby intimating for our comfort, how much more certainly, in
the like case, we may assure ourselves to speed with him, who is the most
just judge of the world, and goodness itself. So that he that will be sure to
have this promise, 'Ask and ye shall have, seek and ye shall find,' made
good unto him, he must make a trade of prayer, not for two or three times,
and so have done, but he must still ask, and so obtain. As he desires
constancy in holding out in our suits, so he would have us ask constantly
without fainting ; and as he will give conveniently in the best time, so he
shews we shall still be set on work in begging, as his mercy shall be in
giving.
(2.) The second is, diligence in the means ; wo tempt him, to ask for
that we labour not for. As we pray, so our endeavours must second our
devotion ; for to ask maintenance, and not put our hands to the work, it
is as to knock at the door, and yet to pull the door unto us that it open
not. In this case, if we pray for grace, and neglect the spring from whence
it comes, how can we then speed ? It was a rule in the ancient time, 'Lay,
THE KNOT OF PRAYER LOOSED. 235
thy hand on the plough, and then pray ;' no man in old time might pray
without ploughing, nor plough without praying {a).
(3.) The third is, Expectation, waiting, perseverance in hope, until God
hear us. The reason is, because the Lord, who hath promised the thing,
hath not limited the time. In this we may see what patience brings forth,
as the prophet's experience is, Ps. xl. 1 : ' I waited patiently for the Lord,
and he inclined to me, and heard my cry;' and in another place he saith,
'It is good for man both to wait, and trust in the Lord,' ver. 4 ; so, Eey.
iii. 10, he saith, 'because thou hast kept the word of my patience, I will
also keep thee from the hour of temptation,' &c. This waiting doth interest
us in him, when we are so earnest that we will not away till we speak with
him ; as, when a man knows a party he desires to speak with to be in such
a house, and that he will come forth, he waits at the door, and will not
away till he speak with him, so, if we were earnest, and had faith and
assurance that God would come, we would stand still at the door till he
came, and not be gone and faint upon every light occasion. All of us fail
in this, that we wait not constantly at the door of grace till we obtain.
Gross sius indeed, these cause a man to faint, that he dare not look God
in the face but with much ado ; but if we strive and labour to hold out, God
accepts of the truth, though the measure be small, when we cannot do as
we would. But if there be gross failings in this kind, that we fall into the
old bias of our sins, and so leave knocking, or are quickly weary, we obtain
not by and by, as though we might limit him the time. If, I say, in this
case, like the raven sent out of the ark, our prayers return no more, and
we faint and sink comfortless in desolation, anguish, and sorrow of mind,
let us not blame our Saviour, whose promise is firm and inviolable without
change. If we would learn to mend our prayers and wait, we should hear
more from him. All these are limitations on our part.
Secondhj, The limitations on God's part.
In general, we must be wary that our misunderstanding of providence
make us not to fail : first, all such things are excepted, as God cannot give
unto our prayers without crossing some part of his revealed will, or a secret
government and providence of his, which we would not willingly cross, if we
knew it, but rather submit ourselves unto the same, as Christ did in his
agony, 'Nevertheless, not as I will, but as thou wilt,' Mat. xxvi. 39. I say
then, God will so give, as may not cross himself in anything. There are some
things God cannot grant, I speak with reverence, unless he forfeit his word.
A man prays and says, 'Lord, forgive me my sins,' without a desire to leave
them, or resolution of a new course of life, but goes on, swears and sins
again ; God cannot in this case hear such a one, because it is against his
word to hear sinners, so long as with delight and without remorse they love
the sin. The prophet saith, ' If I regard wickedness in my heart, the Lord
will not hear me,' Ps. Ixvi. 18. Therefore, seeing God cannot lie, repent,
nor deny himself, such a one cannot be heard.
Again, an idle man in his calling, though he pray much and often to
prosper therein, God, if he make his word good, will not grant his suit.
As he hath said, 'the hand of the diligent maketh rich,' Prov. x. 4, so, on
the contrary, he hath said in other places, ' that the sluggard shall be clothed
with rags ; that his soul shall desire, and have nothing ; that because he will
not plough in the cold, therefore he shall beg in harvest,' Prov. xx. 4, and
thou, 0 sluggard, dost thou think then to obtain anything without pains-
taking ? So in another kind the Jews bade Christ to come down from the
cross, and save himself, if he were the son of God ; when in the mean time
236 THE KNOT OF PRAYER LOOSED.
for the very same thing, because he was the Son of God, and had under-
taken and promised to finish then the work of our redemption, he might
not come down from the cross and save himself from that hour. And
further, when a man blesseth himself in sin, as it is Deut. xxix. 19, saying
in his heart, that 'he shall have peace, walking in the imagination of his
heart; adding drunkenness to thirst,' &c., God hath passed his word, that
he will not spare such a man, but his wrath shall smoke against him, and
all the curses that are written in the book of God shall lie upon him.
In this case, continuing and delighting in sin, God cannot hear such a
prayer, unless he forget his word. Understand thou, man, God could
never be held by such prayers that cross his will, and the manner of his
government, yea, such against which he hath so often protested in his
word.
Secondly, In the things asked, he understands that such should be good
for us in lawfulness of cii'cumstances, as,
1. The quality of the same good things. 2. The time. 3. The means.
4. The manner. 5. The measure.
I. For the first, [' the quality']. We know the main promise, made to the
faithful, Kom. viii. 28, is, that ' all things work together for good unto them
that love God.' Therefore, that which cannot be unto thee for good it is
not intended, nor ever shall be given, if God do love thee. See also in
my text, the last part of Christ's last argument is the same in eftect: 'how
much more shall your Father which is in heaven give good things to them
that ask them?' The physician knows better than the patient what is
good for him, so that I say, for this cause many things are profitably denied
us, which could not conveniently without hurt be granted : as we see fathers
will keep from their children knives, burning sticks, and all such sharp
and dangerous things, not because they love them not, but because
they love them so much, therefore they will keep from them all things
hurtful.
II. Secondly, For the time. God gives us his bill, but he will pay at
his pleasure. There is a time, but when, that is concealed ; not that it is
uncertain unto God, but it is hid from thee, as in Ps. Ixxxvi. 7, ' He will
hear,' but it is ' in the time of trouble ; ' yea, of great trouble and sorrow;
betwixt the cup and the lip, as the proverb is. It was Abraham's experi-
ence : Gen. xxii. 14, ' In the mount of the Lord it shall be seen ; ' all things
were there ready for a sacrifice, the wood was laid, the fire was ready,
Isaac was bound, the hand and knife lifted up to kill and cut asunder the
only son, and son of the promise ; but at an instant came a stop unlooked
for, which mercy bein» so great, it was then made unto us an instance for
ever, that even in the most desperate cases we should not despair, but
hope against hope, as he did. Now, why the Lord thus delays to help and
hear us, there be divers reasons.
(1.) First, That our faith and dependence on him might he the better triedy
which experience, though it be sore, yet we must be courageous, since the
issue is joyful ; though it bo bitter, yet the victory obtained is great, as we
may see in the woman of Canaan, a good suitor, having a good suit, yet
how doth our Lord put her off' a long time, that to others ho might open
the faith of this woman, and make her unto us a precedent for ever, Mat.
vii. 6, et seq.
(2.) Secondly, Sometimes it is done to humhle men, as Judges xx. In a
good quarrel, having a good cause, we know what befell them. See what
need we have of prayer to do all things aright. They consult with God
THE KNOT OF PEAYEK LOOSED. 237
what to do ; they receive encouragement from him to go on, and yet are
overthrown; the second time they weep, and mourn, and are beaten again.
In such a case it seemeth strange to be overcome. Well, the third time
they weep and fast, are humbled before God for their own sins, ere they
seek revenge for other men's, then they prevail. Thus ' God resists the
proud, and gives grace to the humble,' James iv. 6. Till we be nothing
in our own eyes, he never comes with comfortable deliverance till we come
to that pinch wherein we cry. Up, ' Lord, how long,' &c., as Paul saith of
himself, ' We had the sentence of death in ourselves, that we might not
trust in ourselves, but in God which quickeneth the dead,' 2 Cor. i. 9.
The Lord brought him out of hope of life, that he might be humbled, and
learn to know where only life, help, and comfort in all extremities is
to be found.
(3.) Thirdly, To quicken our appetite. God puts us off the longer ; we
are unwise and think he doth it to put us off for ever ; in which manner of
working the Lord in a manner fisheth for us. The fisher, we know, doth
draw back the hook when he finds the fish is like to bite, that the fish may
follow. So God gives back from our suits sometimes, not to make us
give over, but that we may press him so much the more. The experience
hereof once found is very sweet, though smarting in the beginning, as we
may see in the spouse : Cant. v. 2, ' She slept, and lost Christ by her
sluggishness.' She made some idle excuses not to open unto him. Well,
what came of it? When she would have opened to her best beloved her hands
dropped myrrh ; all her affection was not gone, for he had left so much
with her as made her in love with him, but her beloved had withdrawn
himself. Well, yet more. Li search of him the watchmen ' beat her,
wounded her, took away her veil.' Here she pays worthily for her sloth ;
she had all sweet words given her to open unto Christ : ' Open to me, my
sister, my love, my dove, my undefiled ; ' but putting him off, as I have
shewed, he departs and leaves her in the pursuit of him. And why goes
he away ? Partly to chastise her neglect of him, to whom she should have
gone out, and opened with all cheerfulness and diligence ; and partly it was to
quicken on her desires, as we see it fell out, ver. 8, wherein she chargeth
the daughters of Jerusalem, that if they find her beloved, to tell him that
she was sick of love.
(4.) Fourthly, He delays and puts off our suits, to enhmxce the price of
tJwse thiur/s he gives; for what lightly comes, for the most part, as the pro-
verb is, lightly goes ; but what we come hardly by, that we highly prize,
and have in estimation, as we see in the chief captain. Acts xxii. 28, when
Paul had pleaded he was a Eoman, he repHed, ' With a great sum obtained
I this freedom ;' he bought it at a dear rate, and therefore he valued it
highly. ^ So if the things of God did not cost us sighs, tears, weepings,
lamentations, watchings, strivings, earnest longings, and many prayers, we
would think them easy, to be got at our pleasure, and so despise, con-
temn, or let them lightly pass as they came. God therefore, to enhance the
price, doth keep them off till the bell ring, that we may know the rich value
of these his commodities. All this is for the time.
III. The third circumstance is, the means and u-ay. Here is all the
strife. God would have it his way, and we would have it our way. Oh,
saith Naaman, 2 Kings v. 11, ' Behold, I thought he would surely come
out to me, and stand, and call upon the name of the Lord his God, and
strike his hand over the place, and recover the leper.' But the Lord will
not be tied to the means. When we see God, and fit means for effecting
238 THE KNOT OF PKAYER LOOSED.
of sucli and such a tiling, if then we grow secure tlierein, and think this
is good, this is surely the way, and this will do it, herein we fail, because
we see that alone, and do uot principally and first of all see and seek unto
God; and therefore in this case, because of our idolatrous conceit in hfting
up the means beyond their places, God is forced many times to dash the
means in pieces, and help us by some other way, of all others least
expected, as we may see how God ordered the matter in Paul's shipwreck.
Acts xxvii. 22. God did give unto him his own life, and the lives of all
that were in the ship with him, but withal the ship must perish. A strange
manner of deliverance ! How should they then be saved, this being in all
appearance the only means of safety ? By the wreck of the ship God did
perform his promise, some by swimming, the rest on boards, and some on
broken pieces of the ship, all get on land ; and even so, I say, we many
times escape on boards, and broken pieces of a ship ; I mean those means
we least thought of, or least trusted unto, because we should not set up
unto ourselves so many gods before us. Again, we may remember,
Gen. xxxix., when Joseph was advanced into Potiphar's house, a great man
and a prince of the state, then he might have thought he was likely now
to rise, and that the accomplishments of his dreams were in fair way to
speed ; but this proved not the means. He becometh his enemy, and
causeth him to be cast in a dungeon. Well, next a butler is made his
friend by expounding of his dream ; and now Joseph had good hope the
butler would be a means of his enlargement, and no question he prayed
also for good success, but God would not bless the same, because he will
not have our means, and that we rest upon to speed. But at last God's
means brings him out : Pharaoh dreams, is vexed, the butler then remem-
bers ; thus came his honour.
In France, the time was when their persecution was great, and their fears
many ; then they did trust on the king of Navarre, Oh what great matters he
would do ; but he failed them at their need. God indeed paid him
home for disappointing the prayers and hopes of his people. Why did
God suffer this ? We may imagine this as a main cause, lest they should
too much exalt the means, and say, the king of Navarre, the king of Navarre,
the prince of Conde hath done this (h). God did cashier them, and set
up another means of his praise. Judges vii., Gideon's army Hkewise is
brought from thirty-tvpo thousand to one thousand, and yet the Lord says
they are too many, he will save Israel by three hundred only. Why ?
Lest Israel vaunt themselves against me, saying, * My own hand hath saved
me.' He knows how ready we are to attribute and sacrifice the fat of the
ofiering unto man, and set up the means, forgetting him, the author and
fountain of all the good things we enjoy ; in all which and the like is
verified, that which Saint Paul speaks, 1 Cor. i. 27, ' God hath chosen
the foolish things of the world to confound the wise ; and God hath chosen
the weak things of the world to confound the mighty ; and base things and
naught, and things that are despised, hath God chosen, yea, and things
which are not, to bring to nought things that are : that no flesh should
glory in his presence ; but all the praise be of him, and to him.'
These are the causes why God doth answer our prayers so often by thoso
means we do not trust unto. If we send in a message at one door, what
if we go about to another for an answer ; let him appoint the means, and
thy deliverance shall be so much the more speedy and comfortable. Many
want comfort long for this cause, that they appoint unto themselves such
and such means thereof. In afflictions, you shall have some say, Oh if I
THE KNOT OF PRAYER LOOSED. 239
might speak with such aud such a man I should he satisfied, he would ease
my mind, when in the mean time, with this there is a sinful neglect of
other men's ministry nearer, whose help we are bound to require. In this
too much doating on the means, if we profit not, and our prayers remain
unanswered, in this case, let us blame ourselves, who have prescribed him
how to do his own work.
IV. The fourth circumstance is, the limitation of the manner of (jrantinrj.
We must distinguish of this,
(1.) First, God unll not he tied to the manner. Sometimes when we ask,
God doth give just the same we ask for, as 1 Sam. i. 11, Hannah prayed
for a man-child unto the Lord, and she was heard, obtaining Samuel. If
not so, yet then the Lord may answer us in value, though not in kind,
giving us as good as we have desired. This is all one, if one pay us a sum
in silver, do we ask him why it is not in gold ? Moses, he desired to see
the land of Canaan, God brought him not in thither, but yet he shews him
it, Deut. xxxii, from the top of mount Nebo, whence he saw more of it by
probability than he could have seen in any place of the land. He had his
desire in value, though not in kind. So 2 Cor. xii. 7, alluding to Judges
ii. 3, where it is said the Canaanites should be as thorns in their sides. A
thorn in the flesh was sent to bufiet St Paul, called the messenger of
Satan, against which he prayed and prayed again (for nothing doth more
grieve the child of God than to be humbled and buffeted with base tempta-
tions), but it was not removed. God's answer was, ' My grace is sufficient
for thee, for my strength is made perfect in weakness.' Paul had it in
value though not in kind. So many times our prayers are heard when we
least think and perceive the same, and the good we desire done us, as it
were, against our will. As apothecaries and surgeons use to deal with us,
so many times God deals with men ; when the plaster smarts, men cry to
take it off, when in the mean time, by holding it on, the cure is done ; and
so it is with us, we cry out unto God to take away this pain, that he would
pull away such a plaster, such a corrosive from us. Why ? Oh, say they,
that we may serve him better, and yield him more obedience, when indeed,
with holding thee to it, and by binding, as it were, this cross fast upon thee,
the very same thing God worketh in thee.
(2.) Again, in prayer, you shall have many complaints of some. Oh that
T had more life ! oh that I had more sense and feeling ! oh that this
lumpish heaviness were removed ! when indeed the holding them off and
delaying them in this suit is the highway to help them to their suit.
(3.) Finally, When God hears us not in any of the foresaid ways, yet in
effect he shews n^e have sometimes far better things tlian ice desired, as we see
his promise is, Isaiah Ix. 17, ' For brass I will bring gold, and for iron I
will bring silver,' &c. Thus, many times when we pray for brass, iron,
wood, and stones, we have gold, silver, brass, and iron in place of them ; for
when men labour in prayer, and have not the same things they have willed
and asked for, God makes it up better another wa}'. A man perhaps
suffers poverty, loss, or wreck at sea, and is now driven nearer unto God
by prayer, hath a more plentiful measure of the Spirit poured upon him,
learns now to depend upon God, and know what true riches is: this man,
if he could value grace, is a hundred times richer than before, having his
eyes open to see afar off into things invisible. In this case, a man may
come to complain, I have prayed thus and thus long, yet my prayers are
not heard, yet this and this cross lies heavy upon me. But look if thou
hast gotten patience, and canst see that God hath sent this upon thee ; look
240 THE KXOr OF PRAYER LOOSED.
if God have thereby driven thee olT, and weaned thee from the world, and
hath let in the oil of grace into thy heart, so as now thou art a new man,
having thy conversation more in heaven than ever, remember in this, thy
prayers are not lost, but double paid, and I hope there is no cause to com-
plain when the payment is so good. Thus all God's promises, like rivers
perpetuated, ending in the sea, do end in heaven, and to this tend all the
comforts, promises, threatenings, and crosses to bring us thither. Unto
all these I might also add this, that sometimes our prayers are not heard
for others, when yet the reflex of that good we wish thee* comes upon our-
selves, so that they are not lost ; as we may see in the mission of the
apostles. Mat. x. 13, they are willed in whatsoever house they come, to
salute it, and if the house be worthy, that their peace be upon it. If there
be a son of peace there, that peace be upon him, otherwise, our Lord saith,
' let 3-our peace return to you.'
V. The last circumstance is, the measure of propnrtinn. He hath set forth
to no man any proportion of the things promised. To one he gives five
talents, to another hut one. Must every one have as much faith, hope,
love, humility, honour, riches, and other qualities as others ? Where then
is that order which God hath appointed, to give the greatest and most
eminent graces unto those he hath fitted for the greatest works and places.
He gives thee not so much grace as another, because he hath not so much
work for thee to do as for him unto others, or there is not so great trials
and temptations appointed for thee to buckle with as is for such a one. It
is a wonder to see how restless a great many are when they see others out-
strip them in grace. They think nothing of that they have ; unless they
could pray as well as such a one and such a one, then all were well ; but I
say unto thee, content thyself if thou have any portion of grace, and be
thankful for it. If God will open his hand in the use of the means, and
give thee an increase, receive it joyfully ; but fret not with thyself, or
quarrel with him ; if he keep thee of thy small measure, it shall serve thy
turn to salvation as well as the greatest if he will give thee no more.
Even as it was in the gathering of manna, Exod. xvi., he that gathered
much had nothing over, and he that gathered little at the meetingf had no
lack ; so he that hath most grace, it shall bring him but to heaven, and
thy small measure shall lead thee thither also. Say not. Oh I shall never
come thither unless I have such and such a measure of grace, and can do
as such and such a one. What if thy God will have thee contented with a
little ? His allowance shall suffice, the least measure shall bring us home.
If in this case thou pray long and he hear thee not, blame thyself, striving
thus to be thine own carver, not contented with allowance.
So there is a measure of the dispensation of things, as I touched before.
He hears us going on in a course and trade of prayer, his grant includes a
continual trading ; as rain comes not all at once, but by degrees, that we
might still have dependence for more, so God will give grace but by
little and little, so as we shall still thi*ough the course of our life have
cause to depend upon him and pray for increase. Thus, and many other
ways, our Lord's promise is most sure. It stands always good. * Ask,
and you shall receive ; seek, and ye shall find ; knock, and it shall be
opened unto you.' If the fault be not in ourselves, prayer shall bring
down a blessing at one time or other, and we shall find the eflect and fruit
of it.
,Now I come to the reasons, which are two: first, 'every one that asketh
* Qu. 'them'? — Ed. f Qu. 'meting?' that is, ' measuriug.' — Ed.
THE KNOT OP PEAYER LOOSED. 241
receiveth ; ' as if he should say, for the Lord exempts no man that doth
not disable himself. This promise, we must understand, is not a thing
chained to some function, as most promises are, but this is as the Lord's
common. All must and may pray, and are heard, always reserved the
former exceptions.
The second is taken from fatherly compassion, so raising us up unto
God, in and from whence these small streams we have flow, being much
more abundantly merciful than any bowels of compassion which may
be in us. ^
But chiefly I would have you consider how here in this place our Lord
doth press this matter again and again, assuring us we shall be heard in our
prayer, of purpose, as it were, to hold up our heads above water, which in
this our weary journey are so ready to sink. One would have thought this
a very large charter, 'Ask, and ye shall receive; seek, and ye shall find ;
knock, and it shall be opened unto you ; ' and yet because he knew the
difficulty of the same as well as the necessity, that it is a hard and a great
task to pray in faith aright, and yet a thing absolutely needful, he follows
it therefore, and presseth it home with several supporting arguments,
which, God willing, we shall come to in their places.
First, we must consider of the necessity of faith in prayer. For he that
comes to God must believe that he is a ' rewarder of them that diligently
seek him,' Heb. xi. 6 ; and St James shews us, that he who asks must ask
in faith, or else we speed not, James v. 15. Thus Jehoshaphat encourageth
his fearful army to believe in God, but first he was encouraged himself.
It was told him, and he told it them, that they should not need to fear;
God was on their side, he would fight for them ; and yet after this, Jehosha-
phat shews how they must come by this deliverance : ' Believe in the
Lord your God, so shall ye be established; believe his prophets, so shall
ye prosper,' 2 Chron. xx. 20.
Brethren, it is true, the glory of God is put into our hands, as it were,
to extend the same in obedience to every precept we are enjoined to observe;
that so others, 'seeing our good works, may glorify our heavenly Father.'
But most of all in believing we glorify him, and set forth his praises, because
hereby we seal unto the truth of all the rest ; where by the contrary, if we
believe him not, it is the greatest dishonour and disgrace that may be ;
yea, John saith, ' Such a one hath made God a liar,' 1 John v. 10. Will
you see an instance, how heinous this sin was in one of the best saints, in
whom frailty no question for our comfort was suffered? Moses, Num. xx.
10-12, was bidden to speak to the rock, that water might come forth to
that murmuring multitude ; but in anger he smites twice on the same,
uttering these words, 'Hear now, ye rebels, must ice fetch ye water out of
this rock,' as though if it came not, he was excused ; and if it came, so,
there it was. But for this, we know, he was not suffered to enter into the
land of Canaan. We must trade in faith in all our actions, or we shall
suffer loss in all ; when by the contrary, if we go on in this, we shall have
mercy unto mercy.
We read. Acts xiv. 9, th'at Paul, as he preached at Lystra, seeing an
impotent cripple look on him stedfastly, in whom he saw faith to be healed,
that by and by he made him stand up, and cured him ; this was bred, no
question, in him by the Spirit of God, but the special means thereof was
his attending on the word preached. This attention, prizing, and valuing
of the word, is a near way unto it; when by the contrary, the infidelity
of men doth, as it were, bar up the way against themselves, that the power
VOL. VII. Q
242 THE KNOT OF PRAYER LOOSED.
of the Spirit is not so lively in working amongst them : as we see Christ
says of those he conversed amongst, that because of their unbeHef, he could
not do any great works amongst them ; the infidelity of these, as it were,
hindering him, bound his hands in a manner, they being uncapable thereof.
Lo ! what a necessity there is of faith in prayer, and how loathsome that
stain of infidelity is ! If our faith fall, all doth fall to the ground ; if this
abide, all goes well. Wherefore, as in war men take others' bonds and
promises without further specialties, so do thou with thy God ; take his bond,
and go boldly unto him : believe his promise ; there is a necessity thereof,
it stands thee on thy life so to do.
Secondly, /or the dijficuluj of prai/er with faith; our Lord saw that there
was no work more difficult to be done, and therefore he so presseth it
with arguments.
The causes of the difficulty of prayer I take to be these : —
(1.) First, Because our profaneness and natural corruptions do most
shew themselves in this action. Hence herein are those many and often
complaints of our deadness, dulness, and hardness of heart in prayer, and
of those world of things which violently, we know not whence, and suddenly
thrust themselves into our minds. The devil helps also, and thrusts on,
incensing* our corruptions.
(2.) Besides, this puts us down and out of heart from praying with
assurance to be heard. The conscience of guiltiness gives stabs to our
prayers. In this combat, the Egyptian or Israelite must die. If a man
let loose himself to some gross sin, he shall be sure to find it in his prayer,
sometimes to terrify him : sometimes to deaden his spirits, to weaken his
faith ; yea, at the best he shall be found not to pray with any life : as Mr
Perkins tells us of a man who had stolen a sheep, who for all this, though
he went on in his devotions, found no rest until he had confessed the same ;
till then the beast was ever in his way (e). Yea more, what checks and
reproaches are then in the heart, sent close home by the accusing conscience !
As, what ! Wilt thou go unto God, and think to be heard ; thou, so wretched
and profane a creature ; thou, that hast so often broken thy vows and pro-
mises ; thou, that knowest so much of thy master's will, and docst so little ;
thou, that hast sinned against conscience and knowledge ; that art so soiled
and defiled with wallowing in the mire of sin ?
Thus, though a man have prayed earnestly and often, it is not an easy
matter to wash off the stain of sin, and quiet the conscience. As after a
storm on the sea, though the tempest be gone, yet there is not by and by
a calm, there will be a rolling and tossing of the waves up and down a long
while after ; so, to believe that God will hear our prayers, and that he hath
done away all our sins out of his sight, it is not by and by done, there is
a rolling and a stain of sin, that will toss up and down a long time after
our prayers are done. Will you see the proof of this in one of the best
saints, who was tossed thus for our comfort ? The prophet David, after
his great sin, and that he had confessed the same, 2 Sam. xii. 13, he had
an absolution pronounced unto him by the prophet Nathan : ' The Lord
also hath put away thy sin, thou shalt not die.' What could be more, and
what now may hinder his joy ? * Blessed is he whose transgression is for-
given, and whose sin is covered,' Ps. xxxii. 1. But yet you see how the
waves roll, and are troubled, though the storm be over ; as Ps. li., how
is he vexed ! how earnestly doth he pray for mercy ! — that ' his iniquities
might be blotted out ;' that his sin might ' be cleansed ;' that he might * hear
* That is, ' inflaming.' — G.
THE KNOT OF PEAYER LOOSED. 243
the voice of joy and gladness ;' that * the bones which he had broken might
rejoice;' that God would not 'cast him from his presence, nor take his
Spirit from him ;' that he would * restore unto him the joy of his salva-
tion,' &c.
What was the cause of all this stir ?
(1.) The filthiness of sin discovered, the Majesty offended, the punish-
ment due, the scandal which came to others, to the dishonour of God by
the part}^ offending, together with the odious stain and filth which that sin
left behind upon the soul, was such, that the greenness and yet smarting
of the wound did not suffer him thoroughly to apprehend and fetch home
the consolation. As we see, if a wound be raw, though suppling oil be
brought unto it, and though it be applied with a light hand, which is com-
mendable in that art, yet being touched, because of that rawness it smarts
still ; so the conscience being wounded, and the sore raw still, sin appearing
like a monster in his colours, the punishment due apprehended, and the
bitter belches thereof yet arising, though the comforts of God be like sup-
pling oil applied by the hand of the skilful surgeon, to allay and cure the
same, yet the comforts not being digested, nor able so soon to expel the
former impressions, the Spirit being but raw in them, and the conscience
of their own unworthiness being great, no comfort can fasten, but many
fears remain in them for a long time.
(3.) Thirdly, Because there is a marvellous ignorance in us of the nature
and dealing of God ; not that we can be altogether ignorant of him, who is
so glorious in all his creatures, filling heaven and earth with the majesty
of his glory, yea, and is so good unto us ; but as it is one thing to give rules
of war, and another to practise the rules, so it is one thing to speak of
God bravely, and another thingf to practise those things we know and speak
of. For when we have need to ask and beg of God those great and rich
mercies to salvation, which should support and help us in all storms, diving
into the use and depth of his attributes, in place thereof we draw unto
ourselves a narrow scantling,* and false image of God, judging of him not
as he is, but as we conceive him to be, like one of us. Which we see the
Lord reproves, Isa. Iv. 7 : there God saith, ' Let the wicked forsake his
way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts, and let him return unto the
Lord, and he will have mercy on him ; and to our God, for he will abun-
dantly pardon.' And then it follows: 'For my thoughts are not your
thoughts, neither are my ways your ways, saith the Lord. For as the
heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways,
and my thoughts than your thoughts.' Is there sense in this ? Dost thou
ask what the sense is ? As if he should say, alluding to thy senseless
ignorant objections. What man could pass by these and these things !
what father could pass by these offences in his child ! how then shall I look
for pardon of God ? Unto this he answers. Measure not my working by
scantling* the same after the proportion of any creature, or anything in his
imagination, unless, I say, he have had his light from God, for my mercy
outstrips all your conceits. Hence our prayers are weak and cold, because
we make false images of God. But this point I shall meet with anon,
therefore I let it pass.
(4.) Fourthly, Because we take a delay for a denial, and so are dis-
couraged ; that if we be not heard by and by, we throw down our armour
and run away, or sit still astonished, so disabling ourselves.
(5.) Fifthly, The hardness and difficulty of .the things we pray for hin-
* Cf. note a, Vol. I. page 117.— G.
244 THE KNOT OF PRAYER LOOSED,
ders our prayers ; as John xi. 38, when Christ came to Lazarus's grave,
and called to take away the stone, that he might raise him up, Martha cries
out, ' Lord, by this time he stinketh, for he hath been dead four days.'
This hinders our prayers, when we cry out it is too late, or the thing is so
great, how can it be done ? She was reproved, you know, and so must we
be in this case. Another instance we have, 2 Kings vii., where, after Elisha
had prophesied of that sudden plenty should be in the gate of Samaria
after so great a famine, a lord, on whose hand the king leaned, answered
the prophet, * Behold, if the Lord would make windows in heaven, could
this thing be ?' He had an answer suiting his unbelief, and Hved to see
his infideUty punished, being trodden under foot by the people in the gate,
as they went forth into the forsaken camp of the Assyrians. So, I say,
these and the like things stand in our way, because they seem hard to be
done. As in the East India adventures, a time was when men were quick
and ready to buy other men's shares, because the returns were good ; but
when the business went in show backwards, many have been as busy in
selling their parts again ((/). So we seem rather to go back than forward
in our prayers, because of the difficulty of the things we pray for. We are
ready to leave all, and sell our adventure.
(6.) Lastly, The sixth impediment is Satan's opposition to our prayers,
which he labours by all means to interrupt. For it stands him on it to
bestir himself to quench our faith if he can, because it gives vigour, force,
and Hfe to prayer. It troubles not the devil the saying of a thousand
Paternosters and Ave Marias without faith. If a man know not what he
says, or cares not whether he pray or no, all is one to him, if there be no
faith in prayer. Satan knows if faith lay not hold on God, God does not
lay hold on us, and therefore his policy is to deal with us as Scanderbeg is
reported to have used his enemies in fight, still to aim at the general (e) ;
or rather Hke that stratagem of the king of Syria, 2 Chron, xviii. 30, neither
to fight against great or small, but against the king of Israel ; so Satan's
special charge is to fight against faith and prayer, the special man ; the
which his subtile and cruel dealing towards us is much like unto that
tyranny Pharaoh used toward the children of Israel in Egypt, Exod. iii. 18;
he put them into extreme toiling servitude to make brick ; so he commanded
to slay the children ; but when none of these succeeded to his mind, he
then determined to kill all. So, many times before prayer, the devil puts
men to make brick, by filling their hearts with many cares or temptations,
or by their own sins, deadness, dulness, hardness of heart, or other things
to be done, with a world of discouraging, and confused thoughts of God, — ■
his mercy, justice, and the like ; and all this to keep a man from prayer.
But if the mercy of God help a man through these difficulties, that because
of the command of God, that knowledge he hath of his will, and his own
necessities, he will yet break through all, and go to prayer, notwithstanding
all impediments ; then, in the next place, he labours to make us kill the
children in the birth ; that is, whenas our weaknesses, and many wants
and imperfections that way, should be as fuel to our prayers, and induce-
ments to make us hold on, and in reverence contain ourselves, still begging
and waiting at the throne of grace for what we want or desire, he turns
the same into horrors, fears, and flying away from God. Yet if this will
not serve the turn, but that our God doth allure and draw us unto his
presence again, and that we resolve to pray, though with many tremblings,
fears, and weaknesses, because we know not whither to fly from his pre-
sence ; then, when our prayers are done, and wo have striven as we are
THE KNOT OP PRAYER LOOSED. 245
able, he persuades us to despair that our prayers are not heard, are nought,
that our persons are abominable, that God loves us not, and that since
Christ so turns us off still without comfort, we shall never, therefore, have
any, &c.
The uses are.
Use 1. First, Arjainst the jjrofaneness of such persons ivho make a mock of
prayer. But some may object there are none such. I wish there were
not. But we know there are too many of this strain. I speak not of
prayer established by law ; none will, none dare meddle with that ; it is
dangerous. But for praying in houses, it is strange to see the profaneness
in this kind. You shall have some say, Lo now these hypocrites ; see what
a stir they make ; and he that doth keep some form of prayer in his own
house constantly, though it may be but coldly done, yet he cannot escape,
but is branded with the name of Puritan, when it may be, of all others,
he least deserves it. But I will pass by this.
2. The second use is, for reproof to such as think it an easy matter to pray.
Ask a ^beggar wandering through the country how he thinks to come to
heaven, and he will answer. By my good prayers. So the dissolute and
profane man, ask him how he thinks to come to heaven, he will say. By
my good prayers. I confess, if you mean saying of a prayer, it is easy ;
but to pray aright, to pour out thy heart and soul before God, to believe
he hears, and will come to help thee, to pray in faith, to rend thy heart
before him, to lay hold of those things in him which are for thy humiliation
and consolation, to wrestle with him, and strive for a blessing, to hope
above hope, and, being delayed, to wait for him till he come, this is ex-
ceeding hard to be done. What then, profane man, hast thou not heard
what is written ? Zech. xii. 10, * And I will pour upon the house of David,
and upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the spirit of grace and supplication,'
&c. ; so, hast thou not read what is wi'itten ? Ps. x. 17, * Lord, thou hast
heard the desire of the humble, thou wilt prepare their hearts,' &c. Hast
thou not read what is written, Eom. viii. 16, ' Likewise the Spirit helpeth
our infirmities ; for we know not what we should pray for as we ought ;
but the Spirit itself maketh intercession for us, with groanings which can-
not be uttered.' And dost thou, a lump of flesh, wallowing in thy sin,
think to prevail by and bye in prayer ? Those who are most forward thus
in little esteeming and talking of prayer, many times are most to seek in
sore and hard trials ; as you shall have fencers, who make bravest flourishes
when they play at blunt, are put most to their shifts when they come
to the sharp (/") ; so, if such a one as I speak of fall into distress, he cannot
draw out his sword, it rusts in the scabbard. It is a wonder to see grave
and wise men to come so far short of this, that in the sorrows and discom-
forts of themselves or others, they cannot pray ; a minister must be sent
for to say somewhat unto them ; they cannot themselves pray. I deny not
but that God's dear children may be driven to this need upon divers occa-
sions of sickness, sorrows, and temptations, to crave the help of others, that
they may be humbled. Neither deny I but that book prayers may be
good and profitable, and that there is a good and holy use of them, in which
all our necessities may be included, if they be well and rightly penned ; but
yet for all this, it is a shame for men to be so ignorant that they cannot
tell their mind to God in prayer, and plead for themselves and others in
necessity, being more unfit to pray than David was to march in Saul's
armour.
3. The third, use is for covifort. To whom? To such as are good in
246
THE KNOT OF PRAYER LOOSED.
prayer, and jet are out of heart with their prayers. I would have such see
how Jacob wrestled, wept, and prevailed with God in prayer. In some sort
we must be contented to go away halting ; there will be defects and imper-
fections in our best prayers, do what we can. * That which is born of the
flesh is flesh,' and will be so; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit,'
John iii. 6. You shall have those who are fullest of grace most complain,
like rich men whining most when their bags arc fullest, you shall have them
complain, Lord, help me, I cannot pray ; what shall I do ? It is all to no
purpose ; better leave than go on in such a formal course. I am worse and
worse. Surely, if I could pray aright, I should speed better. But I ask
thee how ? Dost thou not pray at all ? Yes, will they say, I pray, but I
pray not as I should, with faith, fervency, constancy, and feeling. I faint,
and am discouraged in my journey. Hear me ; thou seest a man go under
a great burden, and perhaps so sinking under the same, that he must stoop
and rest him often ; and yet thou pitiest him, and thinkest for all this that
he carrieth this burden, though he rest himself. So may it be with thee
in prayer, seeing it is one of the hardest tasks of the world to pray with
faith and feeling. If in this thou find stops and failings, be not discouraged;
thou seest what a hard thing it is [to] go upright under so gi-eat a burden.
Yet be not out of heart, though thou must sit down by the way; but know
thy striving and endeavour shall bring thee through at the last. The bring-
ing forth of a right prayer through so many oppositions, it is in a manner
like the bringing forth of a child, in which there is much pain, anguish,
and sorrow ; so that we had rather do anything else ; but when the child
is born, then there is joy. Though with the remembrance of the throes of
prayer thou art astonished, be comforted in this, the work is done, and
thou hast made thy prayers known ; the issue at one time or other shall be
comfortable.
4. The fourth use is for advice. If the Lord have given us liberty at
any time this way, that our hearts have been opened and enlarged, our
faith strengthened, our eyes cleared, our consciences eased, so that our
confessions have been large, bless God for this, and reckon it a most sin-
gular mercy. We fail all herein for want of thanksgiving. We can com-
plain in wants, strivings, deadness, and senseless hardness. Oh my wants !
Oh my ignorance ! Oh my blockishness ! Oh my hardness of heart ! Oh my
infidelity ! But when our suit is granted, where is our thanksgiving ?
If thou bring forth a right prayer, let God have a sacrifice. It is a great
matter.
5. A fifth use is, /or exhortation, to set on prayer as a work of great diffi-
cult)/. We must learn to whet and sharpen our tools first. As the pro-
phet David out of meditations thus made prayers, thus must we prepare
matter ere we pray. As the blood runs to the veins from the liver, made
of the best and purest food concocted and digested ; so we should prepare
and digest fit matter, and not set on the same rashly and unpreparedly,
as some think they may. Hear me : What will not men do in great
important matters to compass them ? So doth it much behove thee to
consider what may humble thee, what may raise thee, what may encourage
thee, and draw thee on before thy God, that thou mayest in thy distress
make a right and proper use of the nature of God, and all these excellent
things considerable in him. When we set on it shghtly, it is no marvel
though our return of consolation be of the same stamp. So in our general
prayers we should have a fellow-feeling to set on edge our desires ; but spe-
cially if we would be men of prayer. Christ would have set our faith on work
THE KNOT OF PRAYER LOOSED. 247
that this might fly to heaven, to fetch from thence whatsoever is good for
us. Now in this case it is a marvellous cunning to dung our faith, as
men dung the root of a tree to make it fruitful ; though I confess some-
what else is to be done to the body, as the pruning and lopping of the
branches, such as the increasing and scouring of our hope and love, with
other graces, by the Spirit, which, as it hath an office in the branches, so
doth it also descend into the root and help us there ; so that the root of
all prayer is the Spirit, but the root to thee is faith.
Now by what means should this be done, to dung our faith ?
As in war they use a double help for their further security and strength.
1. The main;
2. The auxiliary helps ;
So is it with our faith. The helps are divers.
(1.) First, To labour to know and make clear our title to God, as a Father :
which is here implied : ' How much more shall your Father which is in
heaven give good things to them that ask them ?' To this, two main things
belong : first, to consider the right how we come to this title ? Only by
faith in the Son of God : as it is John i. 12, ' But as many as received
him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that
believe on his name.' Nothing can make them become the sons of God,
but by faith in the Son of God. To clear this, it must be by the sign as
well as by the cause. The apostle tells us, Gal. iv. 6, ' And because ye
are sons, God hath sent forth the Spirit of his Son into your hearts, cry-
ing, Abba, Father.' Dost thou think thyself now in a blessed estate ?
Art thou one of the sons of God — for all his children are sons and daugh-
ters b}' adoption ? Dost thou say thou art one of his sons and daughters ?
And dost thou say thou believest, being one with Christ, and so art justi-
fied by him ? Take this also with thee ; then he hath ' sent forth the
Spirit of his Son into thy heart, to cleanse and sanctify thee : and hereby,'
saith the apostle, 1 John iii. 24, * we know that he abideth in us, by the
Spirit which he hath given us.' If we make claim to justification, and
omit sanctification : if no Spirit, we have no title of sons ; for we know
the same apostle saith, ' Whosoever is born of God, doth not commit sin,
for his seed remaineth in him ; neither can he sin, because he is born of
God,' 1 John iii. 9.
(2.) Next, To be careful to keep the evidences of our adoption always in
repair: I mean that we keep those graces which build us up hereunto, as
fresh and flourishing as may be, that we read them fair in the time of trial.
A man that in the country lays up his deeds and writings in the smoke,
may find them so eaten and darkened, that when he should use them they
cannot be read ; so I doubt many of our evidences are smoky, and so
blotted, that in our need we cannot read them. Our care hath not been
to lay them up safe, and keep them in repair, by which it comes to pass
that now we are to seek in those things which belong to our peace.
(3.) Lastly, as it is in Col. iii. 17, ' Whatsoever we do in word or in
deed, we do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God and
the Father by him.' We do no honour to God, but through Christ ; and
so in the particular of our prayers we have the less joy, living in dis-
couragements, not giving the beginning of all unto him, and the riches of
his grace. When because we have nothing of our own to put in, where-
upon we may build and rely, we go away heartless and discouraged, as
though we should not be so bad, but somewhat should be in us to procure
his mercy, never all this while having sufficiently seen our nakedness, that
248 THE KNOT OF PRAYER LOOSED.
there is nothing in us, and that we must be covered altogether, and wholly
in his presence, that no lilthiness be discovered. We read, Exod.
xxviii. 42, that the high priest going about his sacrifice must have on his
linen breeches, from the loins even unto his thighs, that he might not bear
iniquity, and die, discovering his nakedness. What ! Such a high priest ?
so holy, so gloriously attired, so covered with rich robes ? yet he shall die
for all this if he want his linen breeches. I fear many of us come thus to
(rod, not having soundly seen our own nakedness, and where only all our
comfort is to be found. The apostle, 1 Cor. iii. 21, says, ' Therefore let
no man glory in men : for all things are yours ;' to wit, with the former limi-
tations, to do us good. * All things are yours; whether Paul, or Apollos,
or Cephas, or the world, or life, or death, things present or things to come,
all are yours :' but a man's title must be in Christ : for it follows, ' And
you are Christ's, and Christ is God's.' So Rom. viii. 82, the apostle's
argument is, ' He that spared not his own Son, but gave him up for us all,
how shall he not with him freely give us all things ?' If Christ be once
given thee, Christ is more than heaven, and earth, and all ; if he be given,
God will deny thee nothing.
The auxiliary helps are as foreign soil to barren grounds, marl, lime, and
the like, which make fruitful ; and herein consider these things,
(1.) The general graciousness of God to all his creatures. This is a
gi'eat help that he feeds the young ravens ; yea, as it is Mat. vi. 26, that
be feedeth all the fowls of the air. "Whence from his general goodness the
inference is, ' Wherefore, if God so clothe the grass of the field, which to-
day is, and to-morrow is cast into the oven, shall he not much more clothe
you, 0 ye of little faith ? ' The consideration of his graciousness unto all
the sons of men, and especially to many evil men, when they have called
upon him, of which God hath shewed us many instances that they have
been heard, should make us not keep off, but hope to speed well; yea, and
in this also to consider the graciousness of God in receiving great sinners
unto mercy, which the prophet, admiring, thus speaks of : Micah vii. 18,
* Who is a God like unto thee, that pardoneth iniquity, and passeth by the
transgressions of the remnant of his inheritance ? he retaineth not his
anger for ever, because he delighteth in mercy,' &c. I doubt many wrong
themselves in this, because they erect before them a false image of God.
If one should see a picture of God before him, as the papists do make him,
like an old man with a cloak and a staff, and a great many about falling
down before him, frowning on some, beating of others, kicking of others
away, what an absurd thing would we think this (//) ! What difference is
there betwixt a false picture and a false image of God in thy heart ? When
thou canst not conceive of him but as terrible and incensed against thee,
assure thyself, thou dost not prostrate thyself with right thoughts before
him, if being a sinner thou thinkest he will smite thee down.
(2.) Secondly, His all -sufficiency and omnijwtency, being in heaven above,
and overruling all, who is excellent in knowledge, wonderful in working,
all-sufficient to save, and powerful to put down the mighty from their seats,
and to exalt the humble. He is beyond all fathers. They see but a little,
they are not always present, they are not always able to help when they
would, but he doth see thee at all times, is ever present, and able to help
thee in all disti'esses ; he is greater than all in breadth, in depth, in height,
in length, in mercy, in power, as being in heaven above all ; fathers are
not so. These be two special helps.
(3.) Thirdly, The j)rovtises, the faithfulness of God. The precedents of
THE KNOT OF PKAYER LOOSED.
249
them in former times to thyself, or others. As Ps. Ixxvii. 5, David was in
great and sore distress, yet, saith he, ' I have considered the days of old,
the years of ancient times,' &c. And in another place the church pleads,
* Our fathers trusted in thee, and were delivered ; ' and so from thence
raiseth a ground of confidence. Thus the prophet David he reasons the
matter with Saul, when he was to go forth and fight with that great and
terrible Philistine : 1 Sam. xvii. 34, ' Thy servant kept his father's sheep,
and there came a lion and a bear, and took a lamb out of the flock ; and I
went out after him, and delivered it out of his mouth ; and when he arose
against me, I caught him by the beard, and smote him, and slew him.
Thy servant slew both the lion and the bear ; and this uncircumcised
Philistine shall be as one of them.' The danger was now the same, where-
fore having the like faith and protection, he looks for the like deliverance.
So look what experience thou hast had of that which God hath done for
thee, and make thy advantage thereof. Withal remember how even good
men, where they have been bountiful, delight to give more and more still.
Though it be not so always with men, yet it is so always with God ; if
once he have heard thee in mercy, he will hear thee always.
(4.) The last and principal one for this purpose, is that which lieth in
the text, the first main reason which now fitly profiers itself, the universality
of the grant, which is as a common, every commoner having interest therein,
some more, and some less, yet all have interest less or more. As princes
have masters of requests, who as grand officers have access unto them at
all times, and are familiars, yet every man may deliver a petition to the
king. Abraham we know was a holy man, and the friend of God ; others
there be inferior. Saint James wills those who are sick to send for the
elders of the church, that they may pray over them, &c., James v. 14.
Thus though all be not officers, yet all men have an universality of the
grant : * Every one that asketh, receiveth.'
Some may here object. What is that to me ? I am not in the covenant.
I answer. If thou be an outlaw, get thee in as soon as thou canst ; but if
thou art such an one that art not outlawed, then thou hast a title in the
common, do as thou canst in carrying thyself as a commoner. Let us
remember in the common cause we have need to be ready with our help,
as we would be glad of help in the like case. In this let us ask ourselves,
What have we done for others with our prayers ? What for the church at
home and abroad ? It shall lie heavy upon us if we shall omit to help
them now with our prayers at their need. In the city, when men have
entered freemen, they use to pay scot and lot {h) ; so in Christianity, if we
be entered as freemen, where is our scot and lot ? Where are our prayers
offered up for king, our country, for religion, against masses, the sins of
the time, the judgments threatened, and the like ?
Here some may object, and say, Alas ! I am a poor servant, I cannot
pray, let others pray that can ; I am a poor ignorant man, with such like.
I answer. What if thou be ! Thou art a citizen in Christianity ; thou
must pay scot and lot. How do men strive with their landlords for their
commons ? They will raise a mutiny, do anything, keep somewhat on it
for possession's sake, rather than lose it, if it were but to keep one poor
cow upon it. So, whatever thou be, maintain thy title in this common,
do somewhat for it.
The last argument is taken from the lesser to the greater, from fathers
on earth, declaring that if so much mercy, pity, affection, may be, and is
in them to their children, how much more pity, love, mercy, and the like
250
THE KNOT OF PRAYER LOOSED.
may we expect from onr heavenly Father. I will go over but a few of
these things, and so make an end, wherein I will not dispute all things,
how fathers do and should do to their children, but limit myself within
the compass of two examples only.
1. Of a good father to an ill sou.
2. Of a good father to a good son.
1. That of 2 Sam. xviii. 33 shall be the first, where when Absalom had
rebelled against his father, cast him out of the kingdom, abused his con-
cubines, and was in pursuit of him for his life, yet when that battle was
lost, wherein his son died, and the victory now on his side, how doth the
king mourn, as though all had been lost ! and though he was a magnani-
mous king, yet this made way to his passion, so that he went up and
down weeping and crying, ' 0 Absalom, my son, my son Absalom, would
God I had died for thee, 0 Absalom, my son ! ' Oh the love of a father
to his son !
2. The second is that of Jacob, who when he had thought Joseph had
been dead, it is said be rent his clothes, put on sackcloth, mourned for his
death many days, which sorrow was so great, that when all his sons and
daughters rose up to comfort him, he refused to be comforted, but said,
' I will go down into the grave unto my son mourning,' Gen. xxxvii. 35.
So Gen. xliv. 30, when Benjamin was like to have been stayed prisoner by
Joseph behind the rest, with what earnest affection doth Judah plead for
his enlargement many ways ! amongst which this was the chief, that
Jacob's life was bound up in the life of his children.
Now, it is to considered, that though fathers be thus good, yet some may
fail ; but the thing is, they know how to be good, and are so ordinarily,
unless it be when some, like monsters, prove unnatural in distemper of
temptation, necessity, or some other sinister way. This dear affection the
Lord excellently shews us, Isa. xlix. 15, ' Can a woman forget her sucking
child, that she should not have compassion on the son of her womb ? yea,
they may forget, but I will never forget thee.' A father may prove un-
natural to a son in a fit of temptation and distemperature, as Saul, who
threw a javelin at his son Jonathan ; sometimes necessity will cause
unnaturaluess, as 2 Kings vi. 28, in those women who consented to seethe
their sons, one of them complaining to the king that she had done so, but
the other would not. A miserable complaint, and most woeful misery, to
hear of a woman who had buried her son in her own bowels. But this is
rare and not usual. So a father may forget himself, and pass all afiection
in jealousy, as that Turk who made one strangle his own son out of a
conceit he was too well beloved of his subjects. Thus with many the like
occasions, parents may become churlish and unnatural to their children ;
but still this stands firm, they know at least how to be kind unto them.
Our Lord would have us learn from hence, that he can do much more, and
far surpasseth them all in whatsoever kindness can or may be in them.
See this last help to stay up our hands, to wit, that little picture of the
great God in the dearness of affection which he hath placed in parents. If
thou be a father or a mother, thou knowest it ; but no man can know it
but a father or a mother. Also, hast thou not seen what affection may bo
in a son to the father ? As we read of the son of Croesus, who, though he
were dumb, yet when he saw the murderers to come in, who were ready to
kill his father, violence of affection suddenly burst forth into these words,
as the story shews, * Oh, spare my father ! ' (/'). If so much may be in a
son unto thee, how much more may be in thy God for thee ?
THE KNOT OF PEAYER LOOSED. 251
Now for all this, thou art afraid of thy imperfections, weaknesses, and
manifold infirmities, that these shall stay good things from thee ; and there-
fore thou criest out, Oh my prayers are lost, they are to no purpose ! oh
my sins, weaknesses, and infirmities, these stop the way to my prayers !
What, man ! Hast thou a son, and perhaps he marries without thy per-
mission, or doth some other shrewd* turn, which grieves and vexeth thy
spirit, and this child, perhaps, comes home wounded unto thee, with blood
about his ears, and so falls down before thee, freely confessing his wander-
ing and misdemeanours, and prays for thy favour and forgiveness ; tell me,
wouldst thou not embrace him, and cry out, ' Oh my son, my son ! ' all
the rest should be forgotten and forgiven ? What then, 0 man, thinkest
thou of thy God, when thou sayest thou canst have no comfort in prayer ?
Thou beast, what wilt thou mali:^ of thy God ? What ! is he a God of
cruelty, anger, and revenge only ? No, no ; in this case thou feignest unto
thyself false and abominable conceits of God, and thence the returns of thy
comforts are answerable unto thy wretched fancies. But if ever he hath
turned thy heart unto him, and dealt graciously with thee, or hath allured
thee unto him by his graciousness and kind dealing with others ; or if thou
findest in thyself how much thou canst pass by in thy child, though there
be many great faults and omissions, make thy advantage of this, and go
unto thy God ; whatsoever thy case be, thou shalt find him more exceed-
ing merciful, as the church doth, Micah vii. 9, and therefore she comes to
triumph : ver. 18, ' Who is a God like unto thee, that pardoneth iniquity,
and passeth by the transgressions of the remnant of his inheritance ? he
retaineth not his anger for ever, because he delighteth in mercy. He will
turn again,' &c.
We are all much to blame in this, even those who have the greatest mea-
sures of grace, that we do not aright make use of the nature of God.
Sometimes melancholy, temptation, and want of judgment are causes of
our error, wherein our understanding, fancy, and other powers of the soul
are disordered, until light come in to dispel these clouds. It is strange to
think that when we were enemies to God, with our backs to him in our
natural blindness, and in sin running from him, then to think he should
receive us, and now to stab us with our faces towards him in the state of
reconciliation.
To conclude, if it be such a hard thing to pray so as to obtain, if we
have need of such and so many helps to lift and hold up our very hands,
which are ready to fall down, the Lord teach us to know our faults, and
tell us what is yet further to be done, that we may learn to wrestle with
God, and prevail in prayer ! If we have been faulty in times past, let us
mend ; and among other things, now when the ark is like to be in danger,
let us not prove injurious unto God in forsaking his cause. Hear me ;
hath God brought the church in divers places now into such dangers, yea,
and some great ones also, environed with fears and crosses, and shall we
now prove so injurious to God as to retire from them (at least not to have
the benefit of our help and prayers) ? Was it accounted such a foul offence
to cause Uriah to be left in danger in the foremost rank, and then command
that the troops should retire ; and shall we not now be much more faulty
to leave them in this danger ? Let us aid them, then, with our prayers,
until God, who is wonderful in working, and excellent in power, bring
light from this darkness. We know not what the issue may be ; but in
* Cf. our Glossary, stib voce. — G.
252 THE KNOT OP PRAYEB LOOSED.
the mean time, if we pray, this remaineth always sure, that ' if we ask, we
shall receive.' Our Lord hath said it ; it is so, it must be so.
NOTES.
(a) P. 235. — ' It was a rule in the ancient time, " Lay thy hand on the plough,"
&c. See note c to ' Divine Meditations,' page 229.
(b) P. 238. — ' The king of Navarre . . . the prince of Conde.' It is only neces-
sary here to notice tliat Sibbes evidently sees tlie ' iinger of God' in the murder
of Henry by Eavaillac. The apostasy of the great Huguenot points many 'a moral'
to the Puritans. The services of Conde it were superfluous to annotate. He too was
assassinated, by Montesquieu.
(c) P. 242.—' Mr Perkins tells us of a man,*&c. Cf. our Memoir of Sibbes, Vol.
I. pages xxsviii., xxxix. See the ' Cases of Conscience' of this fervid and searching
old Divine for the above and many other similar quaint illustrations.
{d) P. 244. — ' As in the East India adventures.' India was the JSl Dorado of the
age of Sibbes ; and every year witnessed some scheme of romantic adventure and
fabulous promise. Our speculation is not so modern a thing as many deem.
(e) P. 244. — ' Deal with us as Scanderbeg is reported.' This is the celebrated
warrior-king of Albania, renowned in song and story. There are various early
English books, contemporary with Sibbes, about him. Cf. Watt sub voce.
(/) P. 245. — ' Fencers make bravest flourishes when they play at blunt.' That
is, in sport, or for practice, not in earnest. The weapons, or ' swords,* are then
' covered,' or * blunted.' Hence the technical phraseology ' blunt,' being a pointless
rapier or foil to fence with.
(ff) P. 248. — ' If one should see a picture of God before him.' Such ' pictures' are
not at all uncommon ; for it is a popular mistake that only God the Son, and, as the
' dove ' or ' radiance,' God the Spirit, are represented. In Genoa there is at this day
a painting very much corresponding with Sibbes's description. If I remember aright
it is by Pietro Perugino.
(h) P. 249, — ' Scot and lot.' These are the dues to the lord of the manor for
ingress and egress.
(i) P. 250. — ' The son of Croesus.' . . . "Oh, spare my father." This touching
and remarkable incident, which was the means of saving the life of Croesus, took
place at the siege of Sardis. The beautiful narrative of Herodotus has made it
immortal. G.
THE RICH PEAEL
THE RICH PEARL.
NOTE.
' The Rich Pearl' forms the second of the four ' Sermons' appended to ' The Saint's
Comforts' (see Note, Vol. VI. page 160). Its separate title-page is given below.
G.
THE RICH
PEARLE.
In a Sermon upon the
Parable of a Merchant
man seeking good
pearles.
Matth. 13. 45.
Shewing what that Pearle
is, how we may get it, how
we mny know we have
it, how to improve
it, &c.
By that FaiyifuH and Re-
verend Divine, R. Sibbes,
D.D. and sometimes Preacher to
the Honorable Societie
of Grayes-lnne.
Printed at London by Tho. Cotes and
are to be sold by Peter Cole. 1637.
THE RICH PEARL.
And again, the kingdom of heaven is like imto a merchantman seeking goodly
pearls, ^fc— Mat. XIII. 45, 46.
St Paul expresseth in the Epistle to the Philippians what this parable
typifies. There he teaches all is ' dung in comparison of Christ,' Philip,
iii. 8. Here the Spirit teaches that all must be parted with to gain this
pearl spoken of in this place ; and as St Paul, so Christ, his thoughts
were all heavenly. He came from heaven ; and while he was on earth,
his thoughts and speeches shewed whence he was. All his discourse is of
heaven, sometime in plain doctrine, other whiles in parables; as in this
chapter is manifested, comparing the kingdom of heaven to a sower,
ver. 24 ; to a grain of mustard seed, ver. 31 ; to leaven, ver. 33 ; to an
hidden treasure, ver. 44 ; and in these two verses to a merchant of pearls,
beginning the verse with the word ' again,' to shew that he insisted upon
the former matter. His love to mankind admits of no weariness in repe-
titions, and often inculcating the same things, thereby to work a strong
impression in our minds, as knowing that they are above our understand-
ing, and that we are indisposed to them naturally. And it should teach
us not to he iveary of hearing the same things; as also St Paul admonisheth
us, in telling us it is safe for us: Philip, iii. 1, 'Though in itself it be
tedious to the minister.''"' And indeed it is the unhappiness of ministers to
be often pressing the same thing ; and yet they must not neglect it, seeing
Christ stooped so low to take up this duty, for the benefit of our souls.
In the next place observe, Christ teacheth hg j^wraWe's, helping the soul
by the body, the understanding by the sense; teaching us, out of objects
of our sense, to raise up our souls to divine meditations, so as the soul is
beholden to the body as well as the body to the soul, though not in so
eminent a measure. But it may be questioned. Are not parables hard to
be understood ? I answer. It is true, if they be not unfolded they are
hard ; but if they be once manifested, they are of excellent use ; and like the
cloud, lightsome towards the Israelites, to give to them light, but towards
the Egyptians a cloud of darkness. And carnal men are earthly in
heavenly matters; and, on the contrary, those that are spiritually-minded
are heavenly disposed in earthly matters. And it teacheth us our duty,
viz., to be of a holy disposition in the use of these outward things; for the
* He says just the opposite, ' To me it is not grievous.' — Ed.
256 THE RICH PEARL.
creatures Lave a double use, one for the good of the body, another for the
good of the soul, as Rom. i. 20, ,scq. The Godhead is so manifest in the
creature, as it alone is sutlicieut to leave us without excuse ; and therefore
as we daily use them, so should our souls, by way of meditation, make
them as a ladder to ascend on high. But for the parable itself, in it
first we will expound the terms, and then pass to the observations. And,
first, by the ' kingdom of heaven ' is meant sometime the company of men
that are under Christ's regiment,* that acknowledge him for their king ; as
wo say it is not the walls that make the city, but the body of men united
and governed by one law, custom, and privilege. But here it may be well
taken for the blessed estate that doth belong to such, together with tho
means that bring them to this estate, and the prerogatives annexed to it,
as peace, joy, grace, and the like ; but most especially for the glorious
estate of a Christian, begun here and perfected hereafter, for where this is
supposed, it doth suppose the means and prerogatives also formerly spoken
of. And therefore if we ever think to come to heaven, it must be bei/un
here i)i tJiis hlmidom of a race. And hence it is that the word is sometimes
called the ' kingdom of heaven ;' for Christ will rule in those here by his
Spirit that think to reign with him hereafter. And it should also comfort
those that find in them the first-fruits of this kingdom, for they shall
assuredly have the harvest at length. Fear not trials nor troubles ; grace
once begun, though as a grain ' of mustard seed,' will not leave growing
till it ends in glory. And yet it must be supposed that our carriage here
must be as if we were in heaven ; our thoughts must suit with our estates.
We are kings, our thoughts must be high; and take heed how we dis-
esteem the gospel. If we neglect it, we neglect the kingdom of heaven ;
if we contemn it, we refuse also, and contemn grace, and so disclaim all
title to heaven. It is further said that it is with this * kingdom' as with a
merchantman that seeks pearls. This merchant is evenj Christian. Our
life is a continual merchandising of something, and taking other in ex-
change, and taJdnrj such as are better than the thinr/s u-e part with, else
will our trade be soon at an end, and we never a whit the better. And
therefore the Christian, like a good merchant, trades for pearls. A Chris-
tian life therefore is a life of trading, a venturing life ; and therefore a life
of danger, being ever as it were in danger of death, as the merchant is at
sea, yet ever sure that his God will not forsake him, but assist and defend
him off from the rocks of Satan's temptations, and accusations, and terror
of conscience, and despair on the one side, and from the alluring waves of
the world, that he falls not into that dangerous whirlpool on the other side.
His life is also a life of labour, labouring in his particular calling with
faithfulness, having ever an eye on his other calling; and thus by an holy
use of the things here below, his mind is ever climbing up the hill, to see
the end of all his labour, and to aim at it in all his thoughts, words, and
deeds. And as it is a life of labour, so it is not fruitless. It isf for pearls
of honour, pleasure, or profit; but the Scripture counts these but dirt and
thorns, although in our childish esteem we count them goodly jewels, being
indeed but counterfeit glass. Yet there is a sort of higher spirit, that do
indeed seek a pearl, having purposes to serve God ; but they in seeking
meet with counterfeits, with false teachers, that make glorious shows, yet
indeed are but mountebanks, who shew and sell them much counterfeit
pearl, and thereby seduce them from the right way. But such as God
intends good unto, he informs them by his Spii'it that this is not the right
* That is, ' government.' — G t Qu. ' is not '? — Ed.
THE RICH PEARL. 257
orient pearl ; and this tliey find by experience. It quiets not their hearts
nor their consciences ; it gives them no comfort. Briefly, it stands them
in no stead ; nay, it hinders them. And this makes them cast about
anew for other treasure, as the woman of Samaria, a ' Messiah that will
shew them all things,' John iv. 25 ; and at length they meet with this rich
and precious pearl. And thus Augustine, a Manichee at the first, fell to
doubting of his estate, and at length met with God indeed, which he for-
merly sought in vain.* To proceed: this merchant seeks, then finds, then
sells all, to get the pearl that he thus found, wherein we will shew what
this pearl is.
First, therefore, by this pearl is meant Christ Jesus, ^olth all his fimces
and prerogatives derived]- to us, by the means of his ordinances. Christ is the
great pearl; all the rest are pearls, but no otherwise than as they lead us
to Christ, the peerless pearl. Now, we know that pearls are bred in
shell-fishes, of a celestial humour or dew ; and like hereto was Christ, by
heavenly influence formed in the womb of the Virgin. And as pearls,
though formed in the water, yet originally are from the heavens, so the
graces of God's Spirit are from heaven, though placed in earthly hearts.
And again, as pearls, though here below, yet are like the heavens in clear-
ness, so Christians by this gracious influence from this pearl Christ Jesus,
though they live here on earth, are more like heaven than earth, wherein
they are bred ; and thus is Christ also. ■ Though he took the flesh of man
upon him, yet he hath the lustre of the Godhead, in whom all the attri-
butes of God do plentifully shine. Again, a pearl is of great value and
worth; and so Christ, one Christ of infinite value, and therefore became a
ransom for many millions that were in bondage, so as all the whole church
hath interest in him, and every particular Christian hath such a part in
him, as if one only man had been in the world to have been saved by him,
Christ must have died for him. He was given by God to purchase our
redemption ; and not only to purchase our deliverance, but also to make
us acceptable, and to fill us with other things that are good in him. We
have all that we stand in need of here and hereafter ; all our grace and
comfort ariseth from him. In him are the treasures of wisdom and
counsel hid; 'and from his fulness we all receive grace for grace,' John
i. 16. Furthermore, it is such a pearl as frees us from all ill; nay, it is
powerful to turn all ill to the greatest good. It makes life out of death ;
it makes joy out of afiliction ; it makes the devil, our enemy, to be a
means of hastening us to heaven. Lastly, this pearl makes us good.
Like the philosopher's stone, it turns everything into gold. So this
makes us God's jewels ; and our High Priest doth now in heaven bear us
in his breast, as the precious stones that were in Aaron's breastplate. It
makes us kings and priests to God, and a spouse fitting for him our Hus-
band. It adorneth us with all graces, it makes all ours, and entitles us to
heaven, which we lost in our fall. Christ then is this pearl.
But now, in the second place, let us see how ive may come by this pearl.
We must therefore know that this pearl may be had ; and we must have
hope thereof, else there is no venturing for it; and therefore God, to pre-
vent all excuse, he offers this pearl in his word. The pearl is sent from
heaven to come to us. The ministry layeth open the riches of Christ, to
make us long after him. He desires us to be good to our own souls, to
receive the pearl thus offered. He entreats us to be reconciled to God,
* Cf. ' Confessions,' Introduction and throughout. — G.
t That is, ' communicated'. — G.
VOL. vn. B
258 THE RICH PEARL.
2 Cor. V, 20: 'Oh that my people woiald bear,' Dcut. v. 29; '0 Jeru-
salem, how oft would I have gathered thee, as a hen gathereth her
chickens!' liuke xiii. 31. What can we have more? We see it is no
desperate matter, therefore it may be had. The ministry, though never
80 vile in account of men, yet hath made men rich : 2 Cor. vi. 10, * Yet
making many rich.'
In the next place, nhat must ^l'e part nith / We see in this text the
merchant parts with all, so must we give all that we have; and if we have
nothing, then we must give ourselves, and God will give us ourselves
again, but far better than we were when we gave ourselves to him. But
what ! may some say, doth God require we should forsake all indeed ? I
answer, not as the papists do, that vow wilful beggary,
1. But, in the first place, n'e should partivilh the estimation of all. We
may keep them and use them, for God gave us these things to that end;
but yet let us so use them as though wc did not use them. Let them not
have our chief affections, nor chief seats in our hearts.
2. Secondly, So we are to part with all things, that 7ve viust hare a heart
prepared to part irith all, if we cannot enjoy them, and this pearl too. If
the question be whether we had rather have this world than Christ, we
must resolve to part with father, mother, lands, yea, with a man's own
self, rather than with Christ. Without him honour shall be no honour,
pleasure no pleasure. To us all things should be dung and dross in com-
parison of Christ ; nay, * the sufferings of this world are not worthy to be
compared with that glory we shall have,' Rom. viii. 18. So as there is no
proportion between them
3. Thirdly, We must so part with these things as we must be ready to
sell all without constraint, to honour Christ in his p>oor members; sell all for
ointment for Christ's feet, part with anything that we may stand for
Christ. Especially we must part tcith all sins. He that retains any one
sin can never get this pearl ; he that keeps in his heart but one beloved
pleasure or profit of this life, let him read, pray, hear, profess never so
much, the devil hath him sure by the leg or by the wing, and as sure as if
the whole man were in his hands ; for he will willingly suffer a mau to go
to, and use any good exercises, knowing they add to a man's damnation,
so long as he retains a secret delight and liking to any lust, let it be never
so small. And further, we must not part with sin only — for every sin
hath some one good or other for its object, as covetousness of riches,
ambition of honour, and such like ; we must therefore ' sell all,' part with
our affections, with all their branches and objects, if they will not stand
with Christ ; part with honour, riches, yea, our own lives, for they are far
inferior to this precious pearl. Take heed of reservations of this one thing,
this Zoar or that Rimmon, as Ananias and Sapphira. For who would not
have Christ, if he might have pleasure, or profit, or honour with him ?
No, Christ will have all ; and therefore this is the first lesson in Christ's
school, deny ourselves, our reputation, the conceit of our own wisdom. "
In the next place, let us see what the tjain of this trade will be. AVo shall
think ourselves no losers. We shall have Christ, and with him all things.
What we give to him, he will return back, if they be fitting for us, and
with them he will give us grace to use them, teaching us to want and to
abound ; and when we are come to give all for this pearl, — though indeed
we have nothing here at all but only in our own esteem, — Christ will be
worth all to us. Witness Moses, that chose to suffer affliction with the
people of God before the pleasures of Pharaoh's court, Heb. xi. 25, seq.
THE RICH PEARL.
259
And therefore Christ in this life promiseth a return of a hundred fold,
which consisteth in abundance of comfort to our full satisfaction and con-
tent, which all the world cannot give, and that makes all things here to be
* vexation of spirit ; ' and therefore David, when he was a king, counted
the testimonies of God better than gold, Ps. xix. 10 ; and St Paul counted
these things here, notwithstanding his many privileges, to be ' dross, and
dung, and loss in comparison of Christ,' Philip, iii. 8. And it stands on
God's lionour not to make us losers when we trade with him. If we part
with riches, pleasures, and honours, life, world, we shall have better riches,
better and more enduring pleasures and honours, eternal life, and ' a new
heaven and a new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness,' if we part with
these for conscience' sake ; whence we may learn zvJio are the true rich men,
even the Christian, that hath abiding riches, that will continue with him so
long as his soul continueth, and such riches as make us good and accept-
able in God's esteem, that in our extremities will stand us in stead, sup-
porting and commending us to God, and in'^death doth not forsake us, but
goes with us to heaven. But a worldling ' walks in a vain shadow, and
disquiets himself in vain,' Ps. xxxix. G, in heaping to himself riches and
pleasures which he must part with, for he can carry nothing with him
when he dies but a load of sins, which he commits in gathering this worldly
pelf. All this gay clothing he must put off when he goes to his long home.
See, in the next place, tcho is the right fool. Is not he that in his judg-
ment preferreth counters* before gold, and the baubles of this present life
before that enduring substance in the heavens. We condemn Adam, Esau,
and Judas for their foolish choice, when, alas ! there is no worldling but is
as ill as the worst of them, if not worse, if worse may be. Are there not
many that sell Christ for less than thirty pieces ? Are there not many
that cast him away for nothing ? What doth the common swearer and
blasphemer but sell Christ, nay, cast away him, and all hope of happiness,
for a mere presumptuous daring of God ? And the best worldUng sells
Christ for a very thing of nought, a toy, a pleasure of sin, or a little profit.
Such strongholds hath the king of this world in the hearts of the children
thereof. But how shall we know when we have this pearl ? We should
examine our hearts, ivhat we could part ivith for Christ. Many that make
profession of Christ in this life shew that they affect f nothing but a bare
title of profession ; for their hearts tell them they never yet could find in
their heart to deny pleasure or profit, no, not anything for Christ's sake;
and yet are fully persuaded they must needs have this pearl. No, no !
Christ is not to be had, neither is he to be kept upon such poor easy terms.
Men ' cannot serve God and Mammon,' Mat. vi. 24.
Secondly, K we have this pearl, ire shall have a ivonderful admiration at
the excellency of the value thereof: Ps. Ixxxiv. 1, 'How beautiful are thy
dwelling places ; ' Ps. cxix. 97, ' Oh how do I love thy law ; ' 1 Peter i. 8,
' Joy unspeakable ; ' and chap. ii. 9, * Marvellous light.' What says the
worldling ? Oh, this or that marvellous rich man, goodly living, stately
house, ancient family ! Are these things for a Christian to wonder at, who
entitles himself to glory in the highest heavens ? No. Worldly respects
fall down where heaven is advanced. When Paul is a convert, ' those
things that were formerly gain to him, he counteth loss for Christ,' Philip,
iii. 7.
Thirdly, Whosoever hath this pearl, it works in him a wonderful joy
above all worldly joy whatever, ' above the joy of harvest,' Isa. ix. 8.
* Cf. Glossary, sub voce.—G. t That is, ' desire.'— G.
260 THE RICH PEARL.
Zaccheus and the eunuch rejoiced ; yea, in adversities this joy forsalies us
not. It made St Paul sing in prison. But men will say, Who are more
heavy and dejected than Christians? I answer, that God's Spirit appeareth
not always in joy, but sometimes in mourning ; for the want of the assist-
ance of God's Spirit, which is an evidence of a taste and interest in the
blessed estate of regeneration.
In the last place, if we have this pearl, our affections and speeches will be
busied evermore about it, and our whole course of life will shew that we
have it. In the next place, if we have this pearl, bow shall we improve it
to our most advantage ? First, therefore, let us be as laborious in keeping
it as Satan is laborious in striving to deprive us of it ; and to that end we
are to icatch over our especial and imrticular corruptions, and then most espe-
cially ivhen the devil proffers %is a good ; for we may be sure it is to deprive
us of a better good. He gives an apple, but he looks to deprive us of a
paradise. There was never man yet escaped from him a gainer ; and
therefore in such temptations, examine his ofiers by the light of sanctified
reason, and we shall find ever he ofiers us loss. In the next place, let us
look that ice preserve the vessels of our souls in jniriti/, that we may be fit for
the pearl that must be set in gold. And in the next place, let us make use
of Christ and our interest in him. If we be in bonds under sin, ofier Christ
to God. 0 Lord ! Christ which thou gavest me is the righteousness
which thou canst not but accept, seeing his righteousness is infinite, and
thou hast made it mine. I am a beggar of myself, but thou hast made
Christ all in all to me, to that end that thou mayest esteem of us all in all
to thee. Oh how quiet and peaceable is that soul that is in this estate !
' How goodly are thy tents, O Jacob ? who is like to thee, 0 Israel ! '
Num. xxiv. 5. Saved by the Lord, happy art thou! In less temptations,
as afilictions, or death, that king of terrors, if that should seize on us, then
consider. What do we lose ? Nothing but that which we must one day
leave of necessity. If we then have laboured formerly for this invaluable
jewel, we are then most near it ; our salvation then is most near even at
that instant while we are labouring. Are we enjoying our treasure ? shall
not we be as desirous of the rich things that grace afi"ordeth us as we are
of the riches of this life ? If the promises of such things do quicken us,
how much more the things themselves. If we be troubled with losses,
what lose we ? Not our pearl, not grace, not our God, in whom is ever
fulness of content. If he fills us with content, it is more than all this vain
counterfeit world can afibrd us. What if we be robbed of pins, so long as
we keep our jewels and hid ti'easure. Are we troubled with solicitations of
Satan ? are we subject to be drawn away of ill company ? We should
reject such things with scorn, and eay, 'Avoid, Satan!' Your offers are
loss to me ; loss of peace, loss of comfort. The pleasures of sin are but
for a season, godliness is profitable to all ; nay, it is above all other riches.
The time will come when nothing besides it will comfort us ; nay, all
other things will charge us with greater account, and load us with bitter-
ness at the latter end. Let us therefore learn to be good husbands* for our
souls. What is the glory of our nation ? Is it not that we have mines of
this invaluable riches, that we have ministers to draw out of this deep well,
and to reveal this precious water of life to all, and that we may buy without
money. Therefore let us take heed how we trifle away these privileges.
The time will come when we shall want them, and then wisdom will laugh
at us as if we have not been wise to lay up durable riches.
* That is, ' husbandmen.' — G.
SIN'S ANTIDOTE.
I
SIN'S ANTIDOTE.
NOTE.
' Sin's Antidote ' forms No. 25 of the original edition of Saint's Cordials, 1629.
It was not givea in the other two editions. Its separate title-page will be found
below.* G.
* SINNES
ANTIDOTE.
In One Sermon.
"Wherein is shewed,
■ What sinne is.
The misery of if.
How it bindes over to condemnation.
How and in what sense it is said to be remitted.
How lustice and Mercy jo yne in this act of remission of sinnes.
That all the benefits of the new Covenant are given with remission of sins.
That it is possible to attaine unto the knowledge that our sins are remitted.
L Lastly, how this knowledge is attained by the spirits threefold conviction.
Prselucendo Pereo.
Vpkightnes Hath Boldnes,
1 lOHN 1. 9.
If we confesse our sinnes, hee isfaithfull and just to forgive us our sinnes, and to cleanse us
from all unrighteousnesse.
EoM. 3. 19.
For as by one mans disobedience many were made sinners, so by the obedience of one shall ma-
ny be made righteous.
LONDON,
Printed in the yeare 1629.
SIN'S ANTIDOTE.
For this is viy blood of the New Testament, which is shed for many, for the
remission of sins. — Mat. XXVI. 28.
I HAVE already noted three things in the text.*
1. The name or title that is here given to the sacrament: it is called 'the
blood of the new testament.' I have shewed the reason of it, and how all
our good is made over to us by a new covenant which is sealed with the
blood of Christ.
2. I have shewed also how this testament is confirmed, ratified, and
established by the blood of Christ.
3. I have shewed the fruits and benefits by this covenant thus established,
in the extent of it, which we spake of the last day, ' It is shed for many,'
where I proved that many shall reap benefit by it ; and not few, but many ;
and again, not all, but many ; though many, not all.
Now it remains that we come to the main benefit itself, and that is, the
remission of si)is, which, that you may the better understand and make use
of, I will first open the phrase clearly, what is meant by this same * remis-
sion of sins.' Secondly, We will answer some doubts about the sense.
Thirdly, We will gather the main conclusion, collect the main point intended,
make application of it, and so conclude.
First, for the phrase that is here used, the great benefit that we have by
the covenant, and by the blood of Christ, it is remission of sins : ' Shed for
many for the remission of sins.' The word in the Greek, a<psGiv, 'remis-
sion,' properly signifieth the sending of a thing back again to the place from
whence it was taken ; so remittere is retromitterc, to send a thing back again,
as old Jacob in his prayer, ' The good Lord be merciful to you, my sons,
and give you favour in the sight of the man, that he may send back again
that my other son, and Benjamin also,' Gen. xliii. 14 ; there, to 'remit,' is
to send them back again to the house from whence they came.f
So likewise Paul sent Onesimus back again to Philemon, in this sense,
when he came away ; that is the proper sense of the word, ver. 12. And if
it should be taken properly, then to remit sin is to send it back again from
* The previous Sermon or Sermons have not been preserved. — G.
■j" Cf. Kobiuson sub voce in Greek, and Freund in Latin. — G.
264
SIN S ANTIDOTE.
■whence it had its first heing and beginning. Satan, the devil, tempted man,
it is to send sin back from man to him, from whence it came first. But we
need not tie the word so strictly. I say therefore the word is a metaphor,
and so here only alludes to that same custom of releasing captives, or of
releasing servants that were bound, in the year of jubilee, and the like ; to
release them from that yoke, bondage, and subjection to which they were
tied : and so rcmittcrc is as much as reJa.rarc, so it is used, to release and
to free one from a yoke and bondage. * Thus we have obtained remission
of sins, when we are released from that bondage under which sin hold us.
That you may yet more clearly understand this, you must consider what
opposition sin hath —
1. Against God.
2. Against his law.
1. By cliscrrninrf of these we shall hwtv uhat it is to have sin remitted to a
man, howsoever these in the thing are but one and the same. There is
no man transgresseth the law, but he sins against God, and there is no
man that sins against God, but he transgrcsseth the law ; yet, for doctrine's
sake, and for your understandings, we will distinguish them, and shew you
what that is that sin doth more directly against the majesty of God ; and
then what it doth against the law of God, and how it is said to be remitted
in both these.
Every sin is an injury and wrong oflfered to God. Now, when God
remits sin, he passeth by the wrong done to himself. In point of his
honour and sovereignty, the creature is bound to his Creator, to give all
his strength to his service. Now, when a man employs any of his strength,
either of soul or body, in the service of anything against God, God is so
far wronged, and therefore sometimes God takes this as a dishonour to
himself, sometimes he accounts it as a rebellion against himself ; so that
in sin there is an enmity against God, and a dishonour to God. There is
an enmity: so Eom. viii. 7, 'The wisdom of the flesh is enmity against
God ;' and ho shews the reason why he calls it enmity against God,
' because it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be ;' that
is, it doth not yield that orderly subjection to God which the creature
should to the Creator, that subjection to the Lord that children should
shew to their father ; and therefore David, when he comes to confess his
sins, Ps. li. 4, says, 'Against thee, against thee have I sinned, and done
evil in thy sight.' He notes two things there in sin that aggravates it,
and makes the sense more grievous, that it was before God, and done in
his sight ; and then, it was against God, ' Against thee have I sinned, and
against thee have I done evil.' So that, when God doth remit sin, he doth
as it were forgive that rebellion ; he doth not account a man longer a rebel
against himself ; and though he have rebelled before, and have rebelled
never so much, yet now he accounts him as a loyal subject, and now he
recounts him a faithful servant, and an obedient child, because his rebellion
is pardoned. That is the first thing.
Another thing in sin is, God is dishonoured. Why? ' If I be a father,
where is my honour ? if I be a master, where is my fear ?' saith God in
that same Mai. i. G. He accounts obedience his honour, therefore dis-
obedience is dishonourable to him. ' He that offers me praise, glorifies
me,' saith he, ' and to him that orders his conversation aright, will I shew
the salvation of the Lord,' Ps. 1. 23. Now the ordering of a man's con-
versation, which is an actual and real praising of God, this is a glorifying
of God ; when a man orders his conversation amiss, when he disorders his
sin's antidote. 265
conversation, and walks in a sinful course agaiust the rule and against God,
he dishonours God. Now, when God forgives sin, he doth put up all
injuries done to his honour, and accounts him now as a man that had
never dishonoured him at all. And that is the first thing.
2. Secondly, Consider sin as it is a breach of the law. So it is said of
sin, ' It is a transgression of the law.' The law is the bond that binds all
men ; sin leaves a man in this bond. Now the law laps a twofold bond
upon a man.
1. A bond of duty ;
2. A bond of misery ; if he shall neglect and fail in his duty.
(1.) The first is, a bond of duty, that is, a bond of obedience. Every
man is bound by the law to obedience, to obey God according to that will
which he hath manifested and revealed in his law. Now when a man fails,
the bond is forfeited, he remains now under this bond, to expect all the
danger that will follow upon the neglect of obedience ; and therefore sin is
called a debt: 'Forgive us our debts,' Mat, vi. 12. So that when God
forgives a man's sins, he deals with him as a merciful creditor doth with
his debtor, that though he were indebted to him, yet when he forgives him,
he accounts it as if he were not in debt ; and him, as if he had paid all,
and there remains no more reckonings between them : so that God releases
the bond now in respect of obedience, in the first sense, that is, in respect
of that obedience, that should have been performed in time past ; as it is,
Kom. iii. 25, ' he is our reconciliation through faith in his blood, to declare
the righteousness of God in the remission of the sins that are past ;' that is,
those sins that were committed before, they are now forgiven, and a man
is acquitted even from that obedience that is due to the law for the time
past. That is the first thing, that whereas he failed in the breach and
transgression of the law, his disobedience is not imputed, it is not accounted,
and he remains as if he had obeyed the law for the time past, though he
had not obeyed it all.
(2.) But then, secondh', there is soviethinr/ wherein a man is hound for
the time to come ; that is, he is bound now to the curse of the law : ' Cursed
is every one that continues not in all that is written in the law to do it,'
Gal. iii. 10. Now when God remits sin, he frees a man from that curse ;
all that should have followed upon his neglect or failing in his obedience,
' He hath freed us from the curse of the law,' saith the apostle, ' inasmuch
as he was made a curse for us,' Gal. iii. 13. So that, put all this together,
and 3'ou now see what it is to have sin remitted. It is, for a man to be
released and freed from all that guilt under which he was held, by which
he was bound over to judgment for dishonour done to the majesty and
glory of God ; for rebellion against the sovereignty of God, for trangressing
the law of God, and that curse under which he was bound ; he is freed from
all, so that God beholds a man now as one that had not at all dishonoured
himself, or rebelled against him ; God looks upon a man now, as a man
that had not transgressed his law, or been under the curse and censure of
the law in any point. So that you see there is a perfect and total forgiving
and passing by of all sin, and a releasing of a man of the punishment of
sin. When a man obtains this favour, to have his sins remitted him, this
is that we call remission of sins. But now for the sense, there be two
questions that must be answered.
Quest. 1. The first is. Whether this remission of sins be all the benefit we
hare in this new covenant by the blood of Christ? So it seems to be here,
as if there were no other benefit but this ; ' This is the blood of the new
266 sin's antidote.
testament, shed for many, for the remission of sins.' There he names
nothing but remission of sins.
Ans. 1. I answer, This is not all the benefit, though this include all the
rest, and therefore it is only named. You shall find sometimes that this is
left out : Jer. xxxi. 14, ' This shall be the covenant,' saith the Lord, ' that
I will make with them ; I will be their God, and I will put my fear in their
hearts, and they shall not depart from me :' and there is no mention of
remission of sins there. There sanctification is mentioned without justifi-
cation ; here again remission of sins is mentioned without the working of
fear in their hearts ; here is justification without sanctification, and so in
that place of the Acts, x. 43.
Ans, 2. Secondly, We are said to be * baptized for the washing away of
sins.' There the washing away of sins is put for all the rest.
Sometimes again you shall have them both mentioned : and so in Jer.
xxxi.' 32, * This shall be the covenant that I will make with thee, in those
days,' saith God: ' I will be their God, and they shall be my people ; I will
forgive their iniquities, and give them a new heart, and I will take away their
heart of stone, and give them an heart of flesh,' &c. Here is all put
together now ; sin remitted, and the new heart given, and all expressed
and mentioned in the new covenant.
Quest. 2. How comes it then that remission of si)is is here put for the
rest ?
Ans. 1. I answer, first, Because that this is the first mercy ; and,
secondly. This is the chiefest mercy, and the chiefest benefit in the new
covenant, and therefore it is put for all the rest, by a figure usual in the
Scriptures.
(1.) First, I say, it is that which God first doth, it is the first mercy
which he shews. It is no hoping that he will bestow any gift on a man,
until he receive him to favour. All those other gifts, those gifts of grace, they
follow the gracious accepting of a man. First, God receives the person of
a man, accepts him to favour, and then he bestows upon him all those
gifts that are bequeathed by Christ in this testament. A king first receives
a rebel to favour, forgives him his offence before he bestow any honour,
any other privilege upon him. Now, because this is the fii'st, therefore it
is put for the rest, the rest follow it.
(2.) Then, secondly, because this is the chief, and so it includes all
the rest under it ; for, if this be once obtained, if this favour be once
bestowed on a man, that God have forgiven him his sins, then he gives him
everything else. So the apostle, Ilom. v. 9, 10, saith he, ' If, when we
were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son ; much
more now, being reconciled, shall we be saved by his life.' If, when wo
were enemies, wo were reconciled by the death of Christ, that is the first
thing ; and the greatest of all the great works of mercy was to remove and
take away the impediments, the obstacles, the blocks that lay in the way.
Sin, the conscience of sin, to pui-ge the conscience from that, to forgive all
that which laid a man open to the wrath of God, this is the greatest work ;
if this be done, it is an easy matter to obtain all the rest. And this may
be noted the rather for the comfort of weak Christians, that doubt so much
of sti-ength of grace to subdue any corruption, for assistance and grace to
persevere in an holy course. Hath God done the first work ? Hath he
forgiven thy sins ? All the rest are less works than this ; it is a less
mercy, after sin is forgiven, to increase grace, to continue grace, to subdue
corruption, and the rest ; all will follow upon this, they are all included
sin's antidote. 267
under this : therefore, I say, let a man make sure this to himself, first,
that he hath forgiveness of sins, and then from thence let him raise argu-
ments to strengthen his faith, and to encourage himself in asking another
mercy at the hands of God ; and so in any outward thing, in any outward
want,_ distress, or difficulty, if God have done the greater, he hath forgiven
thy sms. You know the apostle reasons from the giving of Christ, ' If he
have given us his Son, with him he will give us all things,' Eom. viii. 32.
Now the first and greatest gift, in the Son, it is this, to have our sins for-
given, and therefore he will certainly give all the rest with it ; if a man
can make good this one thing to his soul, all the rest will follow upon it.
bo much for the second question.
Quest. 3. Again, there is another, and that is this, Hoiv can it he said here
that this blood is shed for the forgiveness of sins ? It seems somewhat con-
tradictory and opposite one to another ; for, if sins be forgiven, How comes
Christ to shed his blood for them ? And if Christ shed his blood for them,
How are they said to be forgiven ?
Ans. 1. The shedding of Christ's blood supposeth merit. It was by the
merit of his death that we obtained this mercy. Now where there is merit,
what mercy is there in it ? Forgiveness supposeth a free gift, a free grace ;
but where there was such a merit, as was procured by the blood of Christ,
what free gift was in it ? These two seem to fight one against another,
and therefore we must reconcile them; for these two may well stand
together, remission of sins, and yet the obtaining this by the blood of
Christ.^ To this purpose you must consider in God,
Justice and mercy.
He IS exactly just, and exactly merciful. He so shews mercy, as it must
be done without injury to his justice. Justice must be fully satisfied, that
mercy may be fully and comfortably manifested. Now there is the blood-
shedding of Christ to satisfy justice, there is forgiveness of sins to declare
mercy ; for that is the common speech of people. Ask them how they
hope to be saved ? They will answer. They hope to be saved by the mercy
of God. It is upon a mistake, for they do swallow up justice in mercy,
as if God could not remain exactly just in shewing mercy ; now tell them
again, that God is as perfectly just as he is merciful. Ay, but they hope
to find better than so, they hope they shall find mercy.
And therefore know, that there is no man that receives this mercy in
the forgiveness of his sins till justice be satisfied even to the utmost. If
the justice of God were not fully satisfied, I say, the infinite justice of God
m the exact rigour, and in the perfect righteousness of it, if it had not
been satisfied to the atmost, it had been impossible that any flesh should
have been saved.
A71S. 2. And therefore, secondly, consider another thing, and that is,
the comparison between Christ and us. Look upon Christ, and there is
justice fully satisfied ; look upon us, and there is mercy fully shewed. In
us there is no merit, nothing but the guilt of sin ; that if God would receive
sinful men to favour, reckon, it must proceed from the tenderness of the
bowels of his mercy, from the freeness of his love, by whom we have
redemption through his blood, even the remission of our sins in his rich
grace in the same, Eph. i. 7, 8 ; it is the tenderness of mercy, and the
riches of grace, if he look on us, because there is nothing in us.
Now look upon Christ, who hath indeed satisfied the wrath of God to
the utmost, and therefore he is declared to be a Saviour by the resurrec-
tion. If Christ should not have remained in the prison, as he was in the
268
SIN S ANTIDOTE.
prison of the grave till he had paid the utmost farthing, God had not been
just ; he was indeed our surety, and there was no possibihty of our being
released from the debt, unless our surety had paid the utmost farthing.
But now therefore, when Christ rose out of the grave, and was now released
of the bonds of death, and was freed out of prison, into which he was cast
as our surety, it is evident the debt is fully discharged, the creditor is fully
satisfied, and now our peace is fully made, because Christ hath purchased
us, and therefore in respect of Christ we are said to be bought : ' You are
bought with a price, and therefore glorify God in your bodies and spirits.'
And you are redeemed, saith the apostle ; that is, you are bought, ' not
with silver and gold, but with the precious blood of Jesus Christ,' 1 Peter
i. 18. So that there was a price upon the blood of Christ, a value, a
worth. Consider the person that shed that blood ; it was one that had
two natures : he was God, able to satisfy the wrath of an infinite, ofi"ended
majesty, and therefore it is said that God purchased the church with his
blood, Acts XX. 28 ; that is, because he that purchased the church with
his blood was God as well as man. Now by this it comes to pass that his
blood was meritorious, of an infinite value, worth, and price, and so he
merited the favour of God. It was merited on Christ's part, but not on
our part. Every way it is free to us. The gift of Christ is free, for that
it comes from the free grace of God. ' To us a child is born, to us a son
is given,' Isa. ix. G. It is a gift, Christ was given, and then the applica-
tion of Christ to us, the acceptation of us through Christ ; this is a gift,
and a gift of grace, as the apostle calls it in that same Rom. iv. 4. It is
of free grace that God accepts us ; he might have chosen others. We
know that angels fell, and fell irrecoverably ; Christ took not upon him
the nature of angels, but he took upon him the seed of Abraham, and so
he became a Saviour, not of angels, but of men, Ileb. ii. IG. The angels
that fell are fallen for ever, but Christ died that he might save men. So
that every way it is free. It was free that God gave his Son to this abase-
ment, it was free that God gave his Son for men, it was free that God
should give men faith to lay hold upon his Son : ' Through faith you are
saved by grace, and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God,' Eph.
ii. 8. So that remission of sins, though it be by the blood of Christ, it is
an act of free mercy, an act of mercy whereto God is no way bound, but
did it freely of his own love and mere motion, and'of his own good pleasure.
Thus you have the words opened. I have shewed you what remission is.
I ha-ve shewed you also how these things stand together, the shedding of
Christ's blood, and yet remission of sins by free grace.
Now let us come to the main point intended, and that is this, that
Doct. All the hcuejits that hclicvcrs hare hij the }ieir covenant, and so by
the death of Chriat, they are all of thcvi yiren them in the reniis><ion of their
sins. And therefore remission of sins is here put for the whole covenant,
for all the privileges of the covenant, because all the rest are given in this
and with it. Look what time God forgives a man's sins, at that time he
gives him all other things, sanctification, and whatsoever else, as we see
at large in Ezek. xxxvi. 2G, the Lord speaks there of the intention of his
goodness to his people : ver. 26, he shews what he will do, he will cleanse
them from all their idols, and forgive all their sins, and then he will give
them a new heart, he will cause them to walk in his ways ; and then he
comes with outward mercies too, as far as shall be good for them ; he pro-
miseth them deliverance from their enemies, and other good things, in the
rest of the chapter, but all other things come in with remission of sins. A
sin's antidote. 269
man that hath his sins forgiven, he hath the other things given with it.
This point we are to prove and apply, it is a point of great weight, it is the
very key of the gospel, which requires great attention in the^ hearer, and
great care in the speaker ; there is much in it, for the very not distinct
and clear understanding of this causeth a world of doubts and scruples,
and gives advantage to Satan for many temptations, as we shall shew when
we come to open certain cases about this.
1. First, We must open the point, and make it appear to be a truth, tliat
all other privllecjes and benefits of the new covenant are given to believers in,
and ivith the rcviission of their sins, so that a man may conclude, he that
hath his sins remitted and forgiven, he hath, and shall have all the rest of
the promises of the new covenant ; and therefore David, Ps. xxxii. 1, 2,
saith, ' Blessed is the man whose iniquities are forgiven, blessed is the man
to whom the Lord imputeth not sin.' The apostle, Rom. iv., expounding
that text in the point of justification, he shews wherein the blessedness of
a man consists ; that is, in that he may appear before God without his sin,
without his filth, without that that makes him abominable to God. And
therefore such a man is truly blessed, for he hath with this all that can
make him blessed. Look whatsoever a man would have to make up his
blessedness, and to prove to his own soul that he is a blessed man, he hath
all that here with remission of sins ; you know, that other things, sancti-
fication and the rest, are part of our blessedness, and therefore they must
go along with this remission of sins. And so in another place of Scrip-
ture that speech of the apostle. Acts x. 43, is for us, ' To him give
all the prophets witness, that through his name we have remission of
sins.'
Now the prophets gave witness concerning Christ of many other things
besides remission of sins. That we have in his name, that we have by
him, but all other things come with this, and therefore he would have them
chiefly to mark, that that which all the prophets wouild have the church to
understand to be the great benefit they have by Christ, is the remission
of sins. They all join in this, that this is the general benefit, as it were,
the great gift of all, that supposeth and includeth all the rest in it, that
'whosoever believes in him shall have remission of sins;' 2 Cor. v. 19,
* God was in Christ, reconciling the world to himself, not imputing their
sins.' God was in Christ, reconciling the w^orld to himself, a marvellous
great mercy ! This consists in this, that their sins were not imputed.
Ay, but there are many other things that a Christian would desire besides
this ; for what man that hath, in truth, his sins forgiven, that hath his faith
working by love, by love to Christ, but he would desire also, that as his
sins past might be pardoned, so he might walk before God in newness of
life ; and therefore that is that which David so much prayed for : ' Oh that
my ways were so direct, that I might keep thy statutes,' Ps. cxix. 5. Now
we have this into the bargain, we have this into the agreement, as it were,
in with the rest, that our sins are not imputed. When this is granted we
have this also with it, that they shall not condemn, as we see, Rom. viii. 1,
' There is no condemnation to them that are in Christ Jesus, which walk
not after the flesh, but after the Spirit;' there is no condemnation to them.
This is a great mercy, and this is one mercy that we have by Christ ; but
this is not all, for, saith he, * they walk not after the flesh, but after the
Spirit ; ' to shew that this walking after the Spirit, it is a thing that the
Spirit of grace works in them, that is given to them by Christ ; for ' the
law of the Spirit of life which is in Christ hath freed me from the law of
270 sin's antidote.
sin and of death.' So that now you see plainly there is something else
given when sin is not imputed, and so a man is free from condemnation ;
all the rest Qomes in with it; that the law of the Spirit of life frees us from
the law of sin and of death, and so by degrees perfects holiness and sancti-
fication with it ; and so in divers other places of Scripture I might allege
for this purpose, but I intend not to dwell upon it. I will make it appear
to you by some reasons, and so come to the uses. You see it is so, you
shall see also it will be so, and it must be so when we have remission of
sins, when this great mercy is bestowed on a man, that his sins are for-
given, all the rest are given with it.
'Eeasu)is. 1. The first reason is taken from {he nature of sin. Consider
that if sin be taken away once, that which hinders all our good is taken
away, as Isa. lix. 1, 2, it is said, * The hand of the Lord is not shortened,
that it cannot help ; nor his ear is not deaf, that he cannot hear : but your
sins separate between you and your God, and hide his face and keep good
things from you.' Good things are kept from us when God's face is hid
from us. That which keeps good things from us, it is sin ; saith the
prophet, * your sins separate between you and your God ; ' take away that
now, take away sin that makes the separation, break down that partition
wall, break down this distance between God and us, that keeps us from
God, that we have not that access unto his presence, and keeps God from
us, that there is not this free influence, as it were, of grace upon us. I say,
take away that, and then a man is settled in all the other benefits, whatso-
ever comes by communion with God. Therefore this is the first thing, that
remission of sins pulls down the wall, and brings a man into com-
munion with God. Now by communion with God we have all good, we
have all in him, all from him. There is no good denied to man when
God hath received him to favour, and God never denies his favour to a
man when he hath forgiven him his sins ; for indeed that is the great act
of his love, the great act of his favour and goodness, that he forgives sins
to a man ; that is the first thing.
2. Again, secondly', it will appear yet further, if you consider the cntlre-
ness of Christ, his perfcctness. How perfect a Saviour he is in every way !
He is the head of the church, able to fill all his members, to fill the whole
body, and therefore the church is called ' the fulness of Christ, that fills
all in all, that fills all things,' Eph. i. 23. There would be some emptiness
in a Christian if Christ should not fill the heart of man, fill the desires of
the soul, if he should not also give something else with remission of sin.
And therefore, 1 Cor. i. 30, saith the apostle, * He is made to us of God
the Father, wisdom, righteousness, sauctification, and redemption.' He is
an entire perfect Saviour every way ; he is made redemption to us ; he is
made, besides that, righteousness to us ; besides that, he is made sauctifi-
cation to us; besides that, he is made wisdom to us. Mark, if a man
would have redemption, it is Christ; * B}' him we have redemption, even
forgiveness of sins,' saith the text. Now a man that hath redemption in
Christ, that hath forgiveness of sins, ho hath other things with it. He hath
wisdom by Christ too, righteousness by Christ, and sauctification by Christ
too. And so he hath everything, because he is an entire and perfect
Saviour. And that is the second reason.
3. There is a third reason, and that is this, it is taken from the chaining
and tying of all the priviler/es of the new covenant toff ether. They are in-
separably knit; they may be distinguished, but they are not divided; they
are in the same subject. Where God gives one, he gives all ; and there-
sin's antidote. 271
fore, Kom. Tiii. 30, it is said, ' Whom he predestinated, them also he called ;
and whom he called, them also he justified ; and whom he justified, them
also he glorified.' They go all together. If a man be a justified person,
he is eflfectually called too; if he be eftectually called, he was predestinated,
and he shall be glorified. So that now there are many links in the chain,
when all are joined together. If a man pull but one part of it, he takes
all ; they all follow, they are all chained together. The privileges of the
new covenant they are coupled together. In the new covenant God doth
not say, I will do this or thus, and so speak of them disjunctively; he will
.do one or another. I will give you a new heart, or I will forgive you your
sins, or you shall be my people. He doth not do so ; but the new cove-
nant delivers them coupled so, that they are linked together ; ' You shall
be my people, and I will forgive you your sins, and I will give you a new
heart,' &c., Ezek. xxxvi. 26. They are all joined together, and coupled
together, and may not be divided asunder. If God give remission of sins,
the rest goes with it, for they are coupled together in that grant, in the
main grant; that is, in the covenant of grace itself. Thus then the point
is opened and proved : I come to make some use of it. This is a point of
great weight; the greatest work is to bring it home to the hearts of
Christians.
The first use we will make of it shall be for instruction and exhortation,
and we will come after to comfort, and to resolve certain cases, if time
serve. The cases are many, and rise from mistake of the covenant.
Use 1. First, for exhortation and instruction, and that shall be to per-
suade every one, if they would make themselves happy in the enjoyin» of
all things that are good, what course they should take for it. Get this,
their sins forgiven. Let that be the first thing. If a man would make all
comfort sure to himself, let him make this sure first to himself, that his
sins are forgiven him. Therefore I beseech you consider this, and take it
to heart, that we may persuade you to get the knowledge of the remission
of your sins. We persuade you not to anything that is impossible or un-
necessary. It is a thing that may be had, and it is a thing that is neces-
sary you should have, if you will have any good. Make this first sure to
thyself, that thy sin is pardoned.
I. I say, first, it is jjossible. It is that which the papists deny, and that
which others question, and which natural reason is against ; and therefore,
because it is a point of faith, the Scripture is more large in it, and we must
be more express in clearing of it, to make it appear to you that it is pos-
sible that a man may have the knowledge that his sins are forgiven him ;
that he may not only conclude that sins are forgiven to some, or, it may
be, I may hope that my sins shall be forgiven to me ; but he may conclude
resolutely that my sins are forgiven me, and as truly and as certainly, and
more certainly, than if an angel from heaven should tell a man so. A man
would think when an angel shall come and tell Cornelius that his prayers
and alms-deeds were accepted, there could be no certainer knowledge than
that. When an angel shall come and tell Daniel that he was a man greatly
beloved, there could not be more certainty of it by any means. All that
Dives required was but that one might arise from the dead, that his brethren
might certainly know the things in another world. But we will make it
appear to you that there is a way to make it more certain to us than the
•voice of any that should rise from the dead, or the report of an an^el.
Men have been deluded by apparitions, and Satan may ti-ansform himself
into an angel of light ; but this way of making it known to a man's self that
272 sin's antidote.
his sins arc forgiven cannot deceive him, as we shall now shew to you.
But that there is such a certainty,
(1.) First, Else how is it possible that the servants of God should have
peace of conscience till a man may know that his sins are actually par-
doned him '? But to settle a man's conscience in quiet and in peace there
must be an act in the court of heaven ; and somewhat must be done in the
court of conscience. Something Christ doth in heaven with God his
Father, and something like that he doth in the heart of a man, he makes
peace with God his Father for us. Now God is reconciled to a man ; then
af^ain he doth by his Spirit give to a man the knowledge of this reconcilia-_
tion with God by clear evidences out of the word, and then a man is at
rest, then a man is at peace, and therefore a man may know it. Suppose
a malefactor had a pardon granted in the court, as long as he knows not of
it, he is full of trouble still, when it is brought home to his chamber, to his
lodcrinc, to the prison, or wheresoever he is, now he hath peace. The soul
of a man is not at peace till the pardon be brought home to the consistory,
to his chamber, to a man's own conscience. Now where there is one of
these manifested evidently to him, that he may read it, and take notice of
it, then he is at peace. Now it is possible for a man to have peace in this
life: Rom. v. 1, ' Being justified by faith, we have peace with God, through
Jesus Christ.' It was not only Paul's case that he had peace with God,
but it was the case of the believing llomans, and therefore he joins the rest
with himself, 'We being justified by faith, have peace with God.'
(2.) Again, it appears a man may know that his sius are pardoned by
another thing, else how could a man pi-ay for the pardon of sin '? We are
bound to pray for it ; but what we ask we must ask in faith, and waver
not, James i. 5, and whatsoever you ask, believe it shall be granted, and
it shall be done to you, Mark xi. 24. A man must pray in faith ; in pray-
in" for the particular thing, faith applies it to a man's self, applies it to his
own soul, not in a wavering, suspeusing, doubtful manner, but that upon
knowledf^e : 'By his knowledge shall my righteous servant justify many.'
There is a knowledge in faith ; that is, such a knowledge as is grounded
upon divine revelation, upon the truth of the word, whereupon f\xith looks,
which, when a man knows and applies, now he hath peace ; by this he
knows that his sins are pardoned.
(3.) Again, to what use else is the sacrament, if it be not to make known
to a man the forgiveness of sins ? for that same giving to every particular
man with the intent of it, to remember me, as Christ speaks, that which
Christ did, as the end of it, that he died for sinners, and died for those
particular sinners to whom he ofi'ereth himself, to whom he is given in the
sacrament. All this is but to bring the knowledge and application of this
forgiveness of sins to my own self.
(4.) Again, other of God's servants have known the forgiveness of their
sins, that'' their sins have been forgiven, why may not we also ? Doth the
Spirit of God work diversely in the saints ? did he work one way in David
and another way in us ? did he work one way in Paul and another way in
us ? It will appear otherwise : Ps. xxxii. 5, ' I said, I will confess against
myself my sins,' saith David ; ' and thou forgavest the iniquity of my sin.'
David knew it was forgiven.
Ay, may some man say, David did it by some extraordinary revelation.
No, saith he ; ' for this shall every one that is godly seek to thee,' &c.
For this shall 'every man;' it is every man's case as well as mine, and
they shall seek it the same way that I have done, that they may obtain the
sin's antidote. 273
same mercy that I have found. And so the apostle Paul saith, I was a
persecutor, and a blasphemer, and an oppressor, but I was received to
mercy ; ' Paul knew he was received to mercy.
Ay, but Paul might know it by some extraordinary revelation.
Nay, saith the apostle for the comfort of those that shall believe here-
after to eternal life, ' God hath shewed on me all long-suffering and patience
for the comfort of those that hereafter shall believe to eternal life.' This
mercy manifested to Paul was for the comfort of others of God's ser-
vants that should afterward believe to eternal life. So it is not a thing
impossible.
II. Again, secondly, when we persuade you to the knowledge of the
forgiveness of your sins, we persuade you to a thing that is as profitable as
possible ; as it is possible to be had, so it is profitable, useful, and neces-
sary for us. When a man will come and ask any mercy at God's hands,
how shall he lay a foundation now of hope and faith, that he may speed
with God in obtaining it, but in this first, that his sins are forgiven ? And
therefore it was even David's course, whensoever he came to beg any great
mercy at the hands of God, he begins with this confession of sins, to beg
pardon for sins. So, Dan. ix. 4, when he comes to beg a mercy for the
whole church at the time in those times of sorrow, what course doth he
take ? First, he confesseth the sins of the church, he begs forgiveness of
the sins of the church, as the great hindrances of mercy to the church.
And therefore here is the thing, if a man would beg any good thing at the
hands of God, begin here first, remove that which hinders. Till sin be
done away, there will be hindrances of all our prayers. Every prayer is
lost, whatsoever petition a man puts up, he shall never speed and obtain it
till his sins be pardoned. Consider in the time of our Saviour Christ,
whensoever he would bestow any special mercy upon men, — many came to
him in several cases with several diseases, — the first speech of Christ is,
• Thy sins are forgiven; ' when he healed their bodies and other particulars,
or cast out devils, &c., it went along with this still, ' Thy sins are forgiven
thee.' And therefore, of all things, it is most necessary that we may know
how to speed in prayer, that we may know what right we have to come
before God, and to make our requests known, that we know that our sins
are forgiven and pardoned.
Quest. But how may I know that ? Now I come to the main question,
how a man may know that his sins are forgiven in particular.
Ans. I answer. It is known by the testimony of the Spirit. That which
they stand so much upon, which is extraordinary revelation, it is not need-
ful for this business ; but yet a revelation from the Spirit is needful, and
therefore it is called 'the Spirit of revelation,' Eph. i. 17; that is, the
Spirit revealg to a man the things that are given him of God ; and the
apostle proves strongly that any believer may know the rich privileges of
the new covenant, because any beHever hath the Spirit ; as, 1 Cor. ii, 9,
&c., * The things,' saith he, ' that eye hath not seen, that ear hath not
heard, nor hath entered into the heart of man, are they that God hath laid
up for those that love him.' What things are these? They are things
that are laid up in heaven, though that be not denied; but the chief
thing, the meaning there is, the great privileges that we have in the gospel,
which God hath prepared for those that love him, and are laid up in the
gospel ; as in a rich treasury, there they lie ; and therefore the promises are
called 'precious promises,' because they contain these jewels and pearls,
and these spiritual riches of a Christian in them. It is a rich cabinet that
VOL. VII. 8
274 SIN S ANTIDOTE.
hath rich jewels in it, so they are precious promises that have such precious
mercies in them. Thus these are such things as 'eye hath not seen, nor
ear hath heard,' Sec.
Obj. But some man will say, If no man ever saw them, if no man ever
knew them, how shall we ever get the knowledge of them ?
Aus. But, saith the apostle, ' God hath revealed them to us by the Spirit.'
The eye of man, that is, the natural eye of man, can never see them, the
natural heart of man can never conceive them, &c., yet, nevertheless, God
hath revealed them to us by his Spirit; and so he goes on, ver. 14, ' The
natural man knows not the things of God, but the spiritual man discerns all
things.' Why so? Because the Spirit of God, who now causeth the light
of tiie gospel to shine in his heart, reveals to him those things, that with-
oat that light can never be discovered or discerned by any man.
Quest . But now the great question is, How the Spirit of God reveals to a
man that his sins are pardoned in particular ? Every man will doubt of it.
' The same Spirit bears witness with our spirits, that we are the sons
of God,' Kom. viii. IG. So there is a witness of the Spirit with the spirit
of a man in the heart and conscience of a man, that he is accepted in the
sight of God.
Quest. Oh, but now how doth the Spirit witness this ? and what is the
testimony that the Spirit gives of this, or by what way gives he it ?
Ans. I answer, briefly, by alluding to that expression that you shall find
John xvi. 7, 8: *I will send,' saith Christ, 'the Holy Ghost. And when
he is come he shall reprove the world; he shall convince the world of sin,
of righteousness, and of judgment.' Ho shall convince the world, but of
what shall he convince the world ? ' Of sin, of righteousness, and of judg-
ment. Of sin, because they have not believed in me : of righteousness,
because I go to the Father : and of judgment, because the prince of this
world is judged.' I say I allude to that, for there is such a work in this
business that now we have in hand, as there is in that convincing the
world concerning Christ ; I say, there is such a work of the Spirit con-
vincing a man ' of sin, of righteousness, and of judgment,' that he may
reveal to him the pardon of his sins; there are certain works of the Spirit
that we may express by these :
1. First, I say, He convicts of sin. The Spirit that testifies to a man
that his sins are pardoned him, doth it first by convincing a man of his
sins. Now, you know, there is more in conviction than bare discovery.
It is a full and thorough discovery of the thing ; and not only so, but an
eff'ectual discovery, such as works upon the soul ; there is not only a light
in the understanding, but some heat in the affection and in the will.
Now, when the Spirit convinceth a man of sin, here is the first thing now
whereby he knows that his sins are pardoned. You shall see this the
better in the effects of it, and that is,
(1.) First, It makes a man to see that there is no sweetness in sin; it
makes a man to find that sin is the greatest burden, the greatest misery,
of this life. For that which makes a man delight in sin, is because it is
presented to him in false shapes ; but now when the Spirit of God comes
to manifest sin, to discover sin in its own shape in the soul, and makes a
man to look upon it in its own nature, as it is, then he finds it to be
the most unprofitable burden that ever he bore in his life. Upon this
comes that work upon the heart, which is that oppression of spirit,
that a man comes laden and heavy burdened. You know this ever goes
with forgiveness of sins : Mat. xi. 28, ' Come unto me, all ye that are
sin's antidote. 275
laden and heavy burdened, and I will ease you.' That if a man would be
eased of his sins he must be laden and heavy burdened first, that is, he
must find a need of ease ; and when he is laden and heavy burdened, that
he may be assured he shall have ease if he come to Christ. That is the
first effect.
(2.) Secondly, There is another thing that goes along with this, that sin
being discovered thus to a man, he comes to seek, above all things in the ivorld,
to he rid and to be eased of it; as the apostle in that same 2 Cor. vii. 11
saith, ' Behold, what clearing of yourselves,' &c. He will get to be free
from it rather than his life. Now, there is no clearing of a guilty person
but by confession ; for how shall a malefactor get to be cleared before the
judge but by confessing his fault ? If he sue for mercy, it may be he
may obtain "it; but if he stand out till it be proved against him, he will be
cast. It fails with men many times, but it never fails with God ; and
therefore saith David, ' I said, I will confess against myself my sin, and
thou forgavest the iniquity of my sin,' Ps. xxxii. 5, 6. So it is said,
* He that confesseth his sins, and forsakes them, shall find mercy,' Prov.
xxviii. 13.
(3.) But, thirdly, it is not a hare confession of sin, that may p-oceed from
common hioidedge and illumination; but there goes more in it, and^ that is,
there is a loathing and a detesting of it. By that the Lord describes the
repentance of the people of Israel : Isa. xxx. 22, ' They shall defile the
rich idols, and their apparel,' &c.; 'and shall cast them out, and shall
say. Get you hence ; they shall cast them out as a filthy thing, as a thing
that they" cannot endure to look on, and to have in their sight.' There is
such a loathing of sin in the soul where God intends to forgive that sin.
(4.) Fourthly, There is yet a fourth thing in this conviction of sin, and
that is this, that all the care of a man is how he may free himself from the
actual committing of sin, how he may set himself in a right state- again,
how he may be right set ; as Gal. vi. 1, ' If any be fallen by infir-
mity, you that are spiritual, set him in joint.' He is now like a man
whose bones are out of joint, and he is in pain with it ; therefore^ all his
care is how he may be set in joint again, how he may be set into the
estate that he was in before ; for every time a man commits a sin, the soul
is disordered by it, and a man is now much distempered. With that he
is forward to commit other sins, he is backward to any good. And now
the greatest care of a man is, when God hath thus fitted him by his con-
viction, by this work of the Spirit convincing him of sin, how to get his
sin off, and how to get his soul rid of it ; as Isa. i. 16, 18, ' Wash you,
make you clean,' saith God; 'take away the evil of your works from
before mine eyes ; cease to do evil, and learn to do well ; and then come
and let us reason together : Though your sins were as crimson, they shall
be as snow; though they be as scarlet, they shall be as wool.' He doth
not mean that he would not at all forgive a man's sins till he have gotten
such a victory over all his sins that he shall not at all commit any sin;
but the meaning is thus. There should be in the soul such a contention,
such a strife against sin, that it may appear that he endeavours nothing so
much as to be rid of it. All his care is to be washed, to be made clean,
and to have the evil of his works took from the eyes of God. Now, when
a man sees the evil of sin, as it is contrary to God's holiness, and contrary
to his word, and to his law, &c., seeing the evil of sin in himself, and the
effects of it, he hates nothing so much, he strives against nothing so much,
he desires not so much to be rid of anything as of sin ; that is the first thing.
276 sin's antidote.
2. But then, secondly, there is a conviction of ritjliteomness: 'He shall
convince the world of righteousness ;' that is, that a man now, when God
hath forgiven him his sins, he is to look up to seek after righteousness.
And this is certain, that God forgives no man his sins but by Christ, and
through Christ, and for Christ; and he draws the ej'e of the soul, and the
bent and the inclination of the heart, towards Christ; that now a man sets
a price upon him, he prizeth him above all things : he prizeth him in hia
desire, till he may get assurance that he is his ; and after he prizeth him
in his estimation, walking va. Christ, after he hath got assurance. There,
I say, is the first thing then, he prizeth Christ before all things, he seeks
nothing so much. You see the Lord works this disposition in the church
in the Canticles, when the church had sinned by neglecting Christ ; and
now he withdrew himself from her, what doth she do ? She comes and
seeks him by the watchmen, and they smite her ; she comes to those that
kept the tower, and they mock her ; she comes to the daughters of Jeru-
salem, and they slight her husband, him whom her soul loves ; she goes
on seeking still. This is the case of a Christian after relapse into sin,
that he is not set again in his peace and comfort till he be made to prize
Christ at an higher rate than before. So likewise he describes the church,
Jer. 1. 4, thus seeking after Christ: 'They shall go weeping as they go;
and shall seek the Lord God, and shall ask the way to Zion, with their
faces thitherwards.' They shall go ; their end is to find out God, that
God that was in covenant with them ; to find out God, and they shall go
weeping, and their faces towards Zion. This is the disposition of the soul
of that man whose sins shall be forgiven him ; he seeks nothing so much
as Christ.
Again, he prizeth Christ at so high a rate, having forgiveness, that he
will not part with him. The church saith, ' If she could get Christ, she
would keep him in the chamber of her mother that brought her forth.'
And when she hath him, what is her desire ? ' Set me as a seal upon thy
hand : for love is strong as death, and jealousy is cruel as the grave.
Much water cannot quench love,' Cant. viii. 6, 7. She so loves Christ
now, that she will never part with him again, but will continue with him
for ever. So we see Mat. xiii. 44, ' The kingdom of heaven is like a
treasure hid in a field ; which when a man hath found, he hides it, and
for joy of it he departeth, sells all, and buys it.' When a man hath found
Christ, and the benefit of remission of sins by Christ, there is nothing
that shall answer Christ in the esteem of his soul. Thus faith works by
love, love to Christ; as we see the apostle Paul, Philip, iii. 8, he accounts
' all things as dung in comparison of Christ, that he might be found in
him, not having his own righteousness, but the righteousness of Christ.'
So then thus we see every way there is an high esteem of Christ, a seek-
ing of him till he be found, and a keeping with him when a man hath
gotten him, in prizing of Christ at a high rate, nothing in comparison of
Christ ; this now is because he is convinced that there is a righteousness
to be had in Christ, and a righteousness that can be had nowhere else but
in Christ, and such a righteousness as can make him perfectly righteous.
It is the great thing that he desires above all the world, and that is the
second thing. The Spirit doth this ; as it draws, so it links a man to Christ.
3. There is a third thing, the conviction of judfjment ; such judgment as
wherein * the prince of this world is judged.' That a man falls now in
condemning the motions of sin in his heart, and to condemn himself for
the actions of sin before. That you may understand these things clearly,
sin's antidote. 277
(1.) First, I say, a man condemns the actions of sin he hath committed;
he condemns them and himself for them. This disposition is in all those
whom Christ receives to forgiveness, whom he forgives these sins. ' Thou
shalt judge thyself worthy to be cut ofl',' saith God, * when I will be recon-
ciled to thee,' Jer. xxxvi. 3. When God will be reconciled to his people, this
is one thing, they shall judge themselves worthy to be cut off ; and therefore,
1 Cor. xi. 31, 'if you would judge yourselves,' saith he, 'you should not
be judged of the Lord.' So that this is that now which frees a man from
the judgment of God ; when he begins with his own heart, and judgeth him-
self for sin, he shall not be judged. It shall be judged once ; and if a man
will not judge himself, God will judge him ; but if a man will judge himself,
he shall not be judged of the Lord. Now, therefore, you have the convic-
tion of judgment, when a man is now brought to judge himself, that is,
to set himself against himself, as a judge sets himself against a malefactor :
he arraigns him before him, he brings in evidence against him ; he lays
upon him the sentence of the law, he condemns him, and takes order that
execution be performed upon him. Thus it is when a man sets himself to
judge himself: he arraigns himself, he sets himself to a serious considera-
tion before the tribunal of Jesus Christ, who is the judge of the quick and
the dead, to consider how the matter stands between God and him, and he
brings in evidence against himself, the testimony of his own conscience, the
witness of the law ; the books that shall be opened then are now opened
to prevent that judgment. He looks upon the law, and it shews him
what he should have done ; he looks upon his conscience, and that shews
him what he hath done ; and, when he hath thus done, he comes to confess
himself guilty ; he proceeds now upon this conviction to condemn himself,
and to acknowledge that all the curses in the law are due to him, and he
wonders that God should bear with such a one as he to live upon the face
of the earth thus long ; he subscribes to the righteous judgment of God, if
he should cast him into hell for his sins, for he judgeth himself worthy to
be cut off ; he extenuateth not any sin, he lessens not any sin that he hath
committed ; he desires nothing so much as to feel the weight of it in his
heart, that he may indeed see the ugliness of sin more and more, and be
brought to be more out of love with it ; and thanks any man that will help
him to aggravate his sins to himself, and to see the ugliness of them.
When he hath done thus, he comes to execution, that is, he comes to that
revenge upon himself ; thei'e is an indignation against sin, and a revenge
upon himself too, because of sin ; he judgeth himself unworthy of those
liberties that he hath abused, and sometimes he ties and limits himself in
those particulars, and denies himself of those things that by reason of his
corruption he cannot tell how to use without sin ; or otherwise he takes
revenge upon himself for particular ills. I say, thus a man judgeth him-
self for his sins past. That is one thing.
(2.) But now secondly, he judgeth the prince of this world, as ivell as him-
self; that as he judgeth himself for his actions, so he judgeth all the motions
of sin in his heart : that for the present, if any motion be rising from his
own corruption, di'awing him to a new act of evil, he judgeth and con-
demneth the sin in his heart, and this is the very original, and the root of
that conflict in his soul, this work of the Spirit, a conviction of judgment,
that now hath made a man as a judge against himself ; and therefore now
he sits as a judge doth, to prevent sin by all means ; he sets himself against
the motions of sin, which was the case of the apostle Paul : Rom. vii. 19,
• When I would do good, evil is present with me.' But what, doth he let
278 sin's antidote.
this go on ? No, he strives against it, that as the flesh histeth against the
spirit, so the spirit lusteth against the flesh ; there is a seed, there is a
work of grace striving to work out the corruption in his heart. This is in
all the servants of God, in all those whom God bestows this mercy upon
of the forgiveness of sins, to condemn the motions of sin, and therefore he
sets against them. ' 0 wretched man ! saith the apostle, ' who shall deliver
me from this body of death ?' He calls for help as it were against the body
of death ; he looks about to see if it be possible by any means to get it
rooted out. When a man hath a thief gotten into his house, he calls for
all his neighbours to help him, that he may take him there ; so there is a
thief got into the soul, for now sin is not in his heart as a lord, but as a
thief, and therefore he calls for help, that seeing it is gotten in, he may
get it out again. But this, I say, beloved, is in all the servants of God
that shall have remission of sins, there is this conviction of judgment ; that
is, they are brought to this pass, that now they judge themselves and their
sin, and condemn it in themselves. Now, upon this follows I'cformatioh
and amendment of life, because they judge the prince of this world ; they
judge all the works of Satan, and all the motions of sin in their hearts ;
and therefore now they set themselves into a contrary way, to works of
obedience, and amendment of life. So the promise is made that, 1 John
i. 9, * If you walk in the light, as he is in the light, the blood of Christ shall
cleanse you from all your sins.' Thus you see now how a man may know
and prove that his sins are forgiven. Put all this together, and let every
man now examine his own heart ; I know no man but would desire to par-
take of the comfort of this doctrine ; and I told you already, there is great
reason why every man should labour after it, to get the knowledge of this,
that his sins are forgiven. We are yet but upon that point, how a man
may know that his sins are forgiven. Now for this purpose, I say, consider
what hath been said. It is a thing that is revealed to a man by the Spirit
of God ; the Spirit of God doth manifest in the word those grounds
and texts upon which a man may gain this assurance to his soul. Now
look on this threefold conviction of the Spirit, whereby it manifests this
work, conviction of sin, conviction of righteousness, and conviction of
judgment, for they all go together in that heart whose sins are forgiven. I
say conviction of sin : first, it makes a man see the loathsomeness of his
sin, the ugliness of it ; it makes him account it a burden that he would
fain be eased of it, and therefore heconfesseth it; therefore he sets against
it with all his might, and therefore he loathes and detests it. That is the
first thing.
Now try yourselves by that, whether you yet apprehend your sins in that
manner or no ; not for a man to say generally, I am a sinner, &c., and to send
forth some few sighs, slight and short, to no purpose, in a cursory and
formal manner, — as the manner of many is, — but it is another manner of
work. And therefore, I beseech you, consider seriously what is that in-
ward secret work of the Spirit upon the heart ; what effects it hath upon
the affections of the soul, that is, upon the discovery of the filthiness of
sin, to make a man weary of it, to loathe it, to hate it, to desire to be rid
of it, to strive against it, to confess it, &c.
Whither hath this consideration sent thee ? Hath it made thee to set a
greater price upon Christ, and upon the gospel offering Christ unto thee ;
such a prizing of him as that thou lettest all go to seek him, that is, thou
seekest Christ above all things ; and if thou hast indeed gotten him, thou
wilt not lose the comfort of him, but daily walk in him, that thy life is now
sin's antidote. 279
a living in Christ. I beseech you, consider this, the walking of a man that
hath received Christ, in the Scripture, is called a walking in Christ: 'As
you have received Christ, so walk in him ;' and the living of believers is
said to be a living in Christ : * Now I live, yet not I, but Christ liveth in
me,' Gal. ii. 20; that is, in his whole life he lives to express the virtues
of Christ ; express Christ in thy life. I beseech you, consider this, that the
affections are now set wholly on Christ, and that a man now gives himself
to Christ, as a servant to his Lord, to be commanded and to be guided by
him. So that nothing now swaj'S in a man, nothing now carries him in
his actions so as Christ shall, when he knows what is agreeable to the will
of Christ, that shall most of all draw him to perform it. When he knows a
thing is contrary to Christ, that shall make him set most of all against it.
Besides this, when he hath done this, there is a conviction of judgment ;
that now thou art the sharpest judger of thyself for thy sins past, and art
the most watchful judger of the motions of sin present. This is thus in
every one. I beseech you, take this home with you ; consider of it now
in the preparation to the sacrament that you are to receive ; for the sacra-
ment is a seal, as we shall shew you after, because it seals, as among other
things, this, ' forgiveness of sins.' Now, that you may seal this comfort to
yourselves, consider that the sacrament is a seal to none but to them that
are sealed with the Spirit : ' In whom, after you believed, you were sealed
with the Holy Spirit of promise,' Eph. i. 13. The Spirit, the inward seal,
gives virtue to the sacrament, and to everything else that are seals of com-
fort, and nothing can seal comfort to a man, but the Spirit within, that
makes everything effectual for that purpose ; and therefore if the Spirit
doth it, it doth it by this means ; consider of this, therefore, seriously.
There be in this divers cases that should be answered for the further opening
of it, and for the settling of weak-hearted Christians in a settled estate,
and somewhat for the casting off of presumptuous persons that are in the
height of their pride, that we may give every one their portion ; that the
weakest may see against many particular temptations and doubts, that even
his sins are forgiven ; and that the other should see that they had but a
false plea, a false claim all this while to the pardon of sins, when they
cannot make it good by the testimony of the Spirit. But the work would
be very large, and I have been already more large than I intended.
THE SUCCESS OF THE GOSPEL'
Whereto then shall I liken the men of this generation ? and what are they
like .?— Luke VII. 31-35.
Christ in the former verses had commended St John's ministry, and in
the verse next going afore he speaketh of the different success it found in
the publicans, from that it found in the pharisees, who rejected the counsel
of God. Now in the verses following he shews what success his own
ministry had amongst them, and thus he doth by way of comparison or
parable. And this he brings by way of asking a question, which implies
admiration* and indignation, both shewing a deep passion, as it is in Isa. :
' What shall I do for my vineyard' ? Isa. v. 4 ; and this shews in general,
that the refractory dispositio?i of man is a matter of indignation and of admira-
tion, especially if we consider what it despiseth, and whom.
First, They despise tlie ivord of God, the saving word, the counsel and
wisdom of God ; nay, secondly, they despise God clothed in flesh, that was
bom and died for their sakes, and thereby offers salvation to them, and
life everlasting ; yet all this to the obdurate heart of man is as lightning
that dazzleth the eyes and helps not the sight a whit ; and therefore, Isa.
vi. 10, the prophet is bidden ' to make the heart of the people fat.' Go
tell this people, hearing they shall not understand, &c. ; and therefore no
marvel if God bears indignation against such. * Whereto shall I liken the
men of this generation,' Luke vii. 31 ; this generation of vipers, that are
worse than any of the generations fore-passed, by how much they have had
more means to be better.
Ver. 32. * They are like unto children sitting in the market-place, and
calling one to another, and saying. We have piped to you, and you have
not danced ; we have momiaed to you, and ye have not wept.'
The comparison is to little children that, at marriages and times for
* ' The Success of the Gospel ' forms the third of the four ' Sermons ' appended to
'The Saints' Comforts' (See Vol. IV. page IGO). The title-page is as follows : —
' The Svccesse of the Gospell. Shewing the diverse entertainements it hath in the
World. In a Sermon Preached upon the 7. of Luke and 3L verse. By that Faith-
full and Reverend Divine, R. Sibbes, D.D. and sometimes Preacher to the Honorable
Societie of Grayes-Inne. Printed at London by Tho. Cotes and are to be Sold by
Peter Cole. 1637.' It has distinct pagination, but does not appear to have been
published by itself.
t That is, ' wonder.'— G.
THE SUCCESS OF THE GOSPEL. 281
feasting, piped and danced, and at funerals and times of mourning did
mourn and use some fitting ceremony. Now there were some among them
that were froward, and would neither be content with mourning nor piping,
and playing, and to these Christ compares these great doctors; the scribes
and pharisees ; a froward generation, neither pleased with Saint John's
austere course of life, nor with Christ's affability and meek carriage, and
thus he crosseth their proud, froward disposition. For the custom itself,
for that it is only related, and no whit censured, therefore I forbear to
speak further thereof, but come to the reddition* of the comparison.
Ver. 33. * For John Baptist came neither eating bread nor drinking wine ;
and ye say, he hath a devil.'
Ver. 34. The Son of man is come eating and drinking ; and ye say,
Behold a gluttonous man, and a wine-bibber, a friend of publicans and
sinners ! '
Where observe God's gracious dealing with man. He useth all kind
of means, sendeth men of several natures, austere John, and meek Christ,
and they use all means to convince the judgment, all methods to work upon
the memories, all reasons to work upon the affections and wills. He turns
himself into all shapes to gain wretched man unto him.
Secondly, Observe the order God useth ; first, John, then Christ. John
prepares the way, throwing down hills : ' 0 ye generation of vipers,' Mat.
iii. 7. Oh, say they, this man is too harsh, I think he hath a devil. Then
Christ comes with blessed : * Blessed are the poor, blessed are you that
weep,' &c., Mat. v. 8, seq. So he sent the law first, then the gospel; first
he threatens, then promises.
Thirdly, Observe that the manner of their teaching is double, by doctrine
and life, and these agree, wherein observe it is good that life and doctrine
should suit ; for John's life was austere and retired, his doctrine was
also tending to beat down the proud conceits of man. Christ came to all,
conversed with all meekly and lovingly ; and the reason of God's making
use of men of severe dispositions is, because of the different natures of
men, whereof some can better relish one nature than another. Some love
the hot and fiery nature, others delight in the meek spirit ; and though
there be diversity of gifts, yet they come from the same Spirit. Even as
the diverse smells of flowers comes from the same influence, and the diverse
sounds in the organs comes from the same breath, so doth the Spirit difluse
itself diversely, as it meets with diverse natures. Yet all tendeth to the
perfecting of one work. We may hence therefore gather, that to converse
fruitfully and lovingly is to be preferred before austerity, and commendable
above it, because it is the conversation of Christ himself.
And the papists shall never be able to prove their foolish austere vows of
a solitary life, &c.,to be preferred before communication and society, unless
they will prove John better than Christ. And again, this should teach us
to moderate our censures of the diverse natures and carriage of men, as
knowing that God in wisdom hath appointed it for excellent use, and that
all agree in the building up of the spiritual temple of the church.
In the next place, observe that where grace doth not overpower nature, no
means will 2^^'evail over the obdurate nature of man. Neither John nor
Christ could work anything upon these Pharisees. Thus was it in the
■wilderness and Egypt. What admirable wonders did God work, yet how
incredulous and stifi-necked were they ! And the reason is, God gave not
a heart, and in the conversion of a sinner there must be another manner of
* That is, ' rendering,' or application. — G.
282
THE SUCCESS OF THE GOSPEL.
grace than oiili/ ojTcrinrf and exhortation to accept of Christ; nay, tho Spirit
itself must do more than exhort, for it may lay open to us many motives,
tell us of God's goodness, truth, and strength sealed to us; it may tell us
of wrath and judgment, and on the other side of kingdoms, everlasting
joys, perfection of happiness, yet all not work any remorse in the heart of
man if the Spirit leaves him there. And the reason is, man is dead in sin
by nature, and that ' strong man' having gotten the possession, cannot be
cast out but by the ' stronger man,' which must quicken and give power,
that may change every part of the soul, the understanding, will, and afiec-
tions, else all means is to no purpose but for to make us uncxcusable at
the day of judgment. Hence therefore we niaij see the shallowness of those
that conceive of the word of God, as if it did only jtersnade the will. No; it
must alter the will and change it quite, else arguments are to no purpose ;
and in the second place, it teacheth us to come to the ordinances with holy
hearts, begging God's power to soften our hard and stony hearts, and
desiring him to join the powerful work of his Holy Spirit with the outward
means, and that his word may be like to that word at the beginning, that
no sooner commanded light, but ' there was light.'
And lastly, it teacheth us to conceive of the word, together with the good-
ness and power thereof, witJi admiration and wonderment.
In the next place, observe, from the calumniation of the scribes, that
Tchellion and opposition against goodness is never ivithout sliow of reason ; and
men they will never go to hell, but they have reason for it. They will
countenance rebellion by defaming and scandalising the people of God ; and
to that end they will be sure to take things with a strong hand. Austere
John ' hath a devil ;' sociable Christ ' is a wine-bibber.'
And the reason is, the pride of man, that will not be thought so foolish
as to speak, or do anything without reason, and therefore when it is wanting
they will feign one. In every calumniation they do so, and the calumnia-
tion and scandal here was the greater, because it was raised by the scribes
and pharisees, the great doctors and the wise rabbis, whose word must
carry such credit with it, as alone to condemn Christ : ' We would not have
brought him to thee were he not worthy of death,' Mat. xxvi. GG ; and
whose life must be a rule to others : ' Doth any of the pharisees believe in
him,' John vii. 48.
For use therefore of this doctrine, let us account it no strange matter if we
he traduced, disgraced, and scandalised, for it was Christ's and John's lot.
Great slanders must be maintained from great men, such as them that sit
in Moses's chair, the pharisees and scribes. John's holiness should have
procured reverence, and Christ's sociableness should have been rewarded
with love ; but it is the lot of them and all Christians : ' The disciple is
not above his master,' Mat. x. 24. They may do well, but must look to
hear ill. Wicked men when they learn to think well, they will learn to
report well.
Let us grieve at their estate, and comfort ourselves in Christ, who will
maintain our cause.
Thirdly, Be innocent as doves, and be ever doing good, that our lives may
give them the lie, and stop others from giving credit to their malicious
aspersions.
Fourthly, Let its look that ice approve ourselves to God, who shall judge
us. Stand or fall to him, and pass* not for the judgment of man, and of
such as shall be judged themselves.
* Cf. Glossary, sub voce. — G.
THE SUCCESS OF THE GOSPEL.
283
'' Lastly, Let us take heed ive take not a thlnrj in the ivronrj sense and of
vain prejudice. Men are witty- to lay stumbling-blocks in their own way
to heaven. This preacher is too strict, that too mild ; this too plain, that
too poor. Like the children Christ speaks of here, nothing will please
them : hence, in the last place, we may learn from the example of Christ,
that it is not ill to speak ill of ill men, in case of apology and prevention
of scandal ; for Christ's example doth warrant it. But to proceed.
Ver. 35, * But wisdom is justified of all her children.'
From the connection of these words with the former, by this word ' but,'
we may observe, that is is the lot of GocVs truth to have diverse cntertainimnts
in this u-orld. Some will be children of wisdom, and justify it ; others, as
the Pharisees, will scandalise it ; and the reason is, from the diversity of
men's natures in this world, wherein are contrary seeds f and contrary ser-
vants to contrary kingdoms. Some will flock after Christ ; others wiU say,
' he deceiveth the people,' John vii. 12. Yet as there is ' a generation of
vipers,' so there is a generation of children belonging to the kingdom, that
swim against the stream, like the stars that have a retrograde motion to
the residue. But for the meaning of the words, by * wisdom' here is meant
the doctrine of the gospel, not only as it is in books, but as it is in the
ministry. And briefly the ways of God laid out in his ordinances, and
taught by weak men, all this is understood in this word ' wisdom,' and this
word 'justified,' that is approved and received ' of her children,' that is, of
her followers, being such as wisdom begets to a new life. Li these words
let us consider, first, that there is a doctrine which is wisdom ; and this
teacheth what God intends to us, and we should return unto him. This
reason will evince that God being so good unto man, he should have some
thanks at his hands, and some acknowledgment of duty to him, by way of
worship, which it is most fit God himself should institute; and the rule
hereof, joined with practice, is that wisdom here meant, for there is diverse
wisdoms : first, as it is in God, and so it is a depth unsearchable. ' Man
knoweth not the price hereof,' Job xxviii. 13. Secondly, there is a wisdom
communicated to Christ, who hath a twofold wisdom, infinite as God, and
finite as man ; and a wisdom as he is God and man joined together ; and
this is called wisdom of union. In the next place, there is a wisdom of
vision, and this the saints and angels have in heaven, and we shall have
hereafter; and there is a wisdom of revelation, which is revealed in the
Scripture to us by the Spirit, and this is the wisdom meant in this place,
as it is comprehended either in principles laid down in the gospel, or in
conclusions inferred necessarily from them, or in our improvement of
them, to the right and best end, which is God's glory and our salvation.
This is wisdom ; and called so here by way of emphasis, shewing it is the
only excellent wisdom, which will further appear in these respects.
1. First, It doth arise from a higher leginning than all other wisdom
whatever ; for it comes from God's goodness and mercy.
2. Secondly, The matter. It is a deep mystery. Christ, God-man ; his
nature, offices, and benefits.
3. Thirdly, It is more powerful than all other wisdom ; for it transforms
us. It makes us wise, and changes us from wicked, and makes us good.
4. Fourthly, It is better than the law, which was a killing letter. This
gives life. , t • a j j
5. Furthermore, this wisdom is everlasting, and it is ancientest : mtended
before the world was. It is also inviolable. God will change the course of
* That is, ' wise ' = ingenious.— G. t C'f- Isa. Ixv, 23, with i. 4.— G.
284 THE SUCCESS OF THE GOSPEL.
nature for his churcli's sake ; and sooner will he break covenant with the
day and night than this covenant, which shall be for ever, Ps. xix. 9.
6. The end of it is to bring us home to God, 1 John i. 3.
This wisdom hath the same iiame with Christ, who is the Wisdom of the
Father. He gives his power to the word ; and what reproach is done to
it, he accounts it as done to himself.
Use 1. This serves, therefore, to convince the atheists, who cannot choose
but acknowledge there is a God, that it is fit the creatures should depend
upon him, and shew it by way of service ; and that this service should be
prescribed by God rather than by man. Let them know this is the wis-
dom and the word of God. No word like it in the convincing power it
hath in purity and holiness ; none so powerful to transform us from death
to life, from nature unto grace.
Use 2. Secondly, it serves to exhort us all to attend upon the commands
of this ivisdom. Men are admired for their deep wisdom in policy, whereby
they come to be great. This without grace is enmity to God ; and the
devil dwells in the heads of such as makes honours, ambition, or pleasures
their sole aim. The wisdom of arts and sciences goes beyond that, yet
comes far short of this ; that being but temporary, and perishing with the
things themselves, but this everlasting and eternal ; and indeed policy and
civil learning at the most do but civilize and make men morally wise ; to
which, if nothing else be adjoined, the life of such is but a smooth passage
to hell.
Use 3. Lastly, this should teach us to consider, magnify, and admire* at
God's goodness, that hath given such a wisdom to us as this, to be a lantern
to light our way in this dark world, and to be as manna to feed us, that
we faint not in the way, till we attain to everlasting life.
The second general thing is, that there are children of icisdom, and that
the xvorld\ it is fruitful and able to beget ; for it hath the Spirit of God accom-
panying it, which is fruitful. We see the sun and the rain beget herbs ;
trades makes men tradesmen, and arts artists ; and shall we not think this
wisdom should make men wise, and this trade make a man fitting for
work ? Yes, verily. No wisdom hath this begetting and operative spirit
but this ; for the law finds us dead, and leaves us dead. Again, this wis-
dom is the arm of God to salvation. By it ' we are begotten to be sons of
God ;' by it we are children ' made like to God,' holy, pure, heavenly,
begotten to his image ; and therefore as children we ought ' to obey the
word' in performance of all duties ; of prayer, hearing, reading. Further-
more, in that we are scliohus in Christ's school, ivhich is wisdom itself, we
may be said to be ' sons of wisdom,' as those were called the sons of the
prophets that were disciples to them. Now our teacher is a mighty teacher.
It is no matter for the dulness of the scholar, this teacher can put wit and
capacity where none was formerly, Ps. cxix. 12. Moreover, if this were
not thus, then it would come to pass, that there should bo a time when
there would be no church ; that Christ should be a king without subjects,
and likewise a doctor without scholars.
1. From the doctrine we may observe, therefore, that those that follow the
best rule, which is God's word, and intend the best end, which is their own
salvation, these are the most icise, for they provide for the worst times, as
the ant for winter ; and with the wise steward they provide themselves of
friends, and like Joseph they lay up for dear years. These are wise that pro-
cure shelter for themselves against all dangers, and are fruitful in doing good.
* That is, ' wouder.'— G. t Q,^- ' word'?— Ed.
THE SUCCESS OF THE GOSPEL. 285
2. And, in the second place, let this pe7-suade us to attend upon wisdom, be
we who we will be, a publican, an extortioner, a persecuting Saul. This
wisdom will * of stones raise children up unto Abraham,* Mat. iii. 9.
3. In the next place, observe the children of wisdom do justifij it ; that is,
they receive it, approve it, defend it, maintain it ; for it is fitting that
children should stand for their mother, and take to heart any wrong that
is done to her ; and therefore the child of wisdom privately believes it, and
loves it ; and openly, if the truth or any ordinance of God or holiness of
life be spoken against, he will defend and maintain it, yea, to the death ;
for wisdom, though with the loss of all things, is rich enough. So Moses
esteemed the rebukes of Christ more than the pleasures of a king's court,
Heb. xi. 25.
Quest. But must we maintain it, so as to speak for it always, and in all
companies ?
Ans. I answer, No, but when we are called to it. Wisdom dwells with
the prudent ; and where it is, it will teach when to speak, and what, and
in what manner. And the reasons of this observation are, first, it is fitting
that God's children shoidd concur in judgment ivith God, who justifies his
wisdom in his children,'' and admires his graces in them, *0 woman, great
is thy faith,' Mat. xv. 38 ; as contrarily he doth admire the stubbornness
of the heart of wicked men. Secondly, rvisdom in itself is justifiable; for it
justifies itself; for it carries a justifying spirit with it. It hath a power
able to change. In all estates it justifies itself ; in trouble and anguish it
comforts. Yea, in death, when all other wisdom perisheth, this raiseth up.
It is powerful above the power of nature. It pulls down the proud heart
of man in prosperity.
Quest. But it may be said, if it be thus, what need is there that the
children of wisdom should justify it ?
Ans. 1 answer, in respect of itself, it needs not our help to justify it ;
but in regard of others, to draw them on to the loving and embracing thereof,
and in respect of ourselves, to manifest the truth of grace in us.
The church also justifies it by proposing it, and declaring the goodness
thereof by defending it and commending it. Yet is it not above the Scrip-
tures, no more than we are above the truth of God, when we are said to
* seal it.' Children we are of the truth, and desire to be ruled by it, not to
judge it, and all children agree herein to justify it, as it is said here, ' Wis-
dom is justified of all her children.' Though there be of divers countries,
of divers nations and natures, yet all agree in commending and embracinc
this wisdom ; and thereby are they known to be children of wisdom, for
hereby may we know what estate ire are in, even by our carriage of ourselves
towards unsdom. How many, professing to be the children of wisdom, do
notwithstanding condemn it. Diverse abroad, whom wisdom shall not judge,
but they will judge wisdom, and are indeed the children of human tradition.
And among ourselves, are there not many that reject the ordinance of God ?
Is not, say they, reading of good books at home as good as going to church ?
Do not such confess that the rivers of Damascus are as good as Jordan ;
whenas, if ever we come from this spiritual Egypt into the land of promise,
we must go over this Jordan. We must come to heaven by the foolishness
of preaching.
Again, are there not many, because they see there is diversities of religions,
they will be of none, till it be decided which is the truth, and this is the way
to die in no religion. These are bastards. They cannot be children of
wisdom, for they know it not ; as likewise they are such that justify
296 THE SUCCESS OF TUE GOSPEL.
ignorance, making it the mother of devotion (a). They profess they are the
children of irmorance and error, and not of wisdom. Another sort there
are that in ironl justify tiisdom, saying it is the ^Yord of God, but in their
life and conversation do deny it. Let such know, he that Hves against the
faith shall be damned, as well as he that believes against it. Good meat
is commended more by eating and cheering than by talking. If such did
truly believe the wisdom of God, it would purify them ; and not to believe
is madness ; but to live so as if they believed not is desperate madness.
The sinner denies God's presence, the covetous man denies God's provi-
dence, the despairing man denies God's mercy and Christ's merits, the
sinner a^^ainst conscience denies God's justice, else the terror of the Lord
would m'ove him. Yet if we see these things in us, and allow not of them,
but condemn ourselves for them, God will be merciful and spare us.
This should encourage us, in the next place, to proceed on in a resolute
course of Christianity. What though the wicked world laugh at us, and
scorn us, God the Judge justifies us, his children justify us. As for other
men, the Scripture calls them fools, for God hath given them over to a
reprobate judgment in things that concern a godly life, and therefore if we
be censured by such, let us account it our crown.
Moreover, this is a ground of exhortation, to move us to this duty of jus-
tifyiny the ordinances and icays of God in life and conversation. Justify
Christ to be our Saviour by relying on him, and let the justified soul justify
him to the world by repairing to him and depending on him. Justify God
to be our Father, by repairing to him in all estates. Justify truth to be
the best riches, by "esteeming all other wisdoms dross and dung in com-
parison ; and let us admire the goodness of wisdom, else wisdom will not
lod^e with us. Let it rule in our hearts, and it will abide with us ; else it
is a^stranf^er, and will not tarry. In our days the voice of wisdom is heard.
It uses ail means. It hath sent men of all manner of conversations and
gifts. Of all others, we are inexcusable if we entertain it not, and justify
it not in our lives and conversations.
But it will be asked. How shall we justify wisdom ?
I answer. Let ns strive first to empty ourselves and souls of corruption. As
a vessel full of bad liquor must be emptied before good can be put in, so
w^e by nature are full of folly, and must empty ourselves before we can be
enabled to justify wisdom ; and in what proportion this folly is overruled
in us, in the same proportion do we justify wisdom ; for where wisdom is,
it must dwell largely and purely ; for itself is pure, and will endure no mix-
ture. And therefore those that justify themselves in any ill course cannot
justify wisdom ; for when it once comes to cross him in his beloved course,
let his w^ords be never so good, his folly will discover itself. ' How can
you believe, when you seek for glory one of another ?' saith Christ, John
V. 44.
Secondly, Bey of God that he would take away the veil of our hearts, that
u'e may know and love the best thinys in the best inanner ; that he would open
to us the wonders of his law.
Thirdly, Labour that all our knoidedye may be spiritual, for if it be acquired
out of books, and not written in our hearts, in time of temptation we shall
never justify wisdom. This is evident out of the history of the martyrs.
Many illiterate men stood out stiffly for the truth, and justified it with their
blood, when many great clerks* gave over their profession; for when the
Spirit teaches, it teaches to obey, to want, to abound, and to despise the
* That is, ' learned men.' — G.
THE SUCCESS OF THE GOSPEL. 287
glory of the world. Spiritual wisdom brings humility, other wisdom puffs
men up with pride.
Fourthly, Therefore we should 2'>fny for the Spirit of God, that it would
settle and seal truths into our hearts, and teach us to obey and practise
the things it enjoins us.
Fifthly, We should also condemn ourselves, and grow poor in sjnrit ; for
what justifying is there like to that of those that, being abased by outward
afflictions, are likewise inwardly humbled ; so, condemning themselves, they
justify God's wisdom ; and therefore those that either trust to intercession
of saints or their merits, in vain they think ever to come to the perfor-
mance of this duty.
^\x\Xi\y, Attend ivo on ivisdom ; for what is more excellent than it, and
without it all are fools. Wise they may be for the world to get riches,
while their end is condemnation and perpetual beggary in hell. Many are
wise to get high places here, and witty* to get a deep place in hell. They
study for wisdom in the creatures, and when they die, their wisdom perishsth
with them, and they want that true wisdom that should support them in
death.
Seventhly, And endeavour ive to be rooted in it, that we may be able to
speak out of the power thereof in our souls, and to resist the temptations
of Satan, with sound resolutions against them ; and then when that day of
revelation of all things shall come, Christ will own us, and justify us, when
the children of this world shall tremble to hear that truth and wisdom
condemn them perpetually, which here they hated and slandered.
Lastly, In all our wants and distresses, so carry ive ourselves that we may
shew we have a Father to jyrovide, a King to defend us in our desertions, that
we have a Priest in heaven to make our peace, and in all temptations that
we have a Prophet that will direct us in the right way unto heaven, in
spite of the malice of hell itself.
* That is, 'wise, ' = ingenious. — G.
NOTE.
(a) P. 286. — 'Ignorance . . . the motlier of devotion.' "Kiis subsequently famous
or infamous phrase was perhaps first used hy Dr Cole in the great Disputation held
at Westminster. Cole was an out-and-out defender of Popery. G.
MARYS choice;
Now it came to pass, as they went, that he entered into a certain village: and
a certain woman, named Martha, received him into her house, d'c. — Luke
X. 38-40.
This history is absolute of itself. Christ having despatched business else-
where, .went from place to place to do good, it being his whole aim and
office. And now divine providence and holy love directs him to these two
women, who formerly had entertained him in heart, and now in their
house ; yet did he feast them more liberally than they could him. And
yet so studious they were in his entertainment, that they fall out in a
manner about it. Mary she sat at Jesus's feet, knowing his custom, that
his lips did ever drop down sweet- smelling myrrh in his gracious words,
as it is Cant. v. 13; and therefore she forgat all other things. But to
come to some observations.
First, From the coming of Christ to these women observe, that where
God hath bcv/un grace, he iriU not discontinue, but will he perfecting of it till
the dag of the Lord; directing by his providence continually for their good,
and sending his servants the prophets to that end ; for God's providence
extendeth to the lea|t things, even to the hairs of our head, and to spar-
rows, Mat. X. 29. The use is to teach us to endeavour to be fruitful in
communion one icith another, if we profess to be led by the same Spirit
that Christ is guided with. The lips of the righteous are pleasant, and
their tongues are refined silver. Sometimes the sin of man makes instruc-
tion unseasonable, and to swine it is pity to cast pearls. Mat. vii. 6. And
many times men are deluded with a vain despair of not pro/iti)tg by their
speech, when no doubt if they did but trust on God in performing such
duties, their exhortations or admonitions would take more efiiect than they
* ' Mary's Choice' forms the last of the four ' Sermons' appended to ' The Saint's
Comforts' (see Vol. VI. page 160). Its title-page is as follows: — 'Maries Choise.
Wherein is laid down some directions how to choose the better part. Comforts for
them that have chosen it. Signos whereby we may know we have chosen the better
part. By that Faithfull and Reverend Divine, R. Sibbes, D.D. and sometimes
Preacher to the Honorable Societie of Grayes-Inne. Printed at London by Tho.
Cotes and are to be sold by Peler Cole. 1G37.' It has distinct pagination, but does
not appear to have been published separately. Henry Smith has a fine sermon from
the same text and under the same title. Cf. ' Sermons,' 4to, 1G75, pp. 149-157 of
second division of the volume. — G.
Mary's choice. 289
look for, as oftentimes it falls out ; for in man tliere is naturally a desire
of good and profit. Sometimes a spirit of dnjuess jwsseasetli good men.
Christ had the fulness of the Spirit without measure, men have it accord-
ing to their measure ; and so through multitudes of occasions and busi-
nesses are overcome with a dryness, so as they can distil no grace as they
should.
Against these %ve should study and consider beforehand what occasions we
are most like to meet with; and study discourse fit for such occasions
which we may best profit by. Study for sufiiciency, that we may be like
full clouds, or as paps that do pain themselves with fulness, till they be
eased of their milk.
Secondly, And lament over our deadness, and beg spiritual influence, that
may make us willing.
Thirdly, And let all take Christ's example for a pattern, to draw others to
heaven, and to be ever busied in our calling.
Fourthly, And we should also imitate Mary; be wise to draw from other
men, when they are not disposed to enlarge themselves. The wise man
saith he is a fool that regards not the price in the hand of the wise.
There is none but excels in one gift or other; and it is part of the
honour due to such to take notice of them, and to make use of them; and
it is unthankfulness to let such persons go without regard of those gifts.
Many no doubt are dead, and their gifts with them, which had men been
wise might have saved others much labour and increased knowledge much,
if they had been displayed to others. Furthermore, it is said that Mary
sat at Jesus's feet, implying her composed and settled demeanour, which
helps to a quiet mind and attentive heart ; ' but the eyes of a fool are in
the corners of the world,' Prov. xvii. 24, which hinders attention. But
Martha was troubled about serving. Mark as in this good woman, so in
many of her sex, goodness troubled with passion. She chides with Mary.
The grounds of it in her were either a mistaking of Christ's disposition,
whom she thought looked for much entertainment ; though she was therein
much deceived, for that Christ came to feast them, not to feast with them.
And for this she is gently rebuked of Christ, as if he would have told her
that it eoneerned the glory of Grod more nearly to receive and take notice
of his diffused mercies ; and Grod requires it rather than performance of any
outward duty of love to him. But for the words.
Verse 41, 'And Jesus answered, and said unto her, Martha, Martha.'
These and the ensuing words contain, first, a reproof of Martha;
secondly, an instruction of her; thirdly, a justification of Mary, with the
reason thereof. In the reproof of Martha, consider the compellation,
wherein observe the ingemination,* ' Martha, Martha.' It implies love
that Christ bare to her. He calls her gently by her own name. Christ
saw in her good mixed with ill, and therefore is not over- sharp or bitter to
her. It implies also seriousness; and therefore Christ doubles her name,
even as Pharaoh's dreams. Two aiming at one end argueth the thing is
sure ; and as ' Lord, Lord ' in prayer argues vehemency, so he reproved
Martha for her inconsiderateness, and brought her thereby more seriously
to ponder what she did. And Christ's example should be a rule to us,
namely, in our reproofs, to imitate him who had all the parts of a good
reprover.
And, frst, we should be sure to reprove out of love to the party, else the
proud nature of man will not endure it.
* That is, reduplication. Cf. Kichardson sub voce. — G.
VOL. VII. T
290 Mary's choice,
Secondhj, It must be done in wisdom; first advise, then speak, else shame
will return on us, and the other will be hardened.
Thirdhj, It must be with liberti/ of speech. We must conceal nothing ;
and thus disposed was Christ. In him was the fountain of love and the
treasures of wisdom ; nay, he was wisdom itself, and he took liberty of
speech. Though he was entertained, he doth not therefore sell his
liberty; and though we say he that receives a benefit sells his liberty,
but it was not so with Christ. Some there are if they give entertainment
to a minister, they think they are bound to silence, and not to tell them
of anything they see amiss in them; and therefore it was St Paul's wisdom
not to take the oflered kindness of the Corinthians, 2 Cor. xii. 14, seq.,
lest he should be engaged to them. These things should be precedents to
us, that we should be friends upon no other terms than to speak what is
for their good; for some proud persons there are that think none friends
but flatterers. Let us take heed of base engagements to sueh ; for Balak
will engage Balaam with gifts, if he can win him no other w^ay to his
humour. And it is reason that we should maintain this liberty of speech,
for friends suffer disgrace for the folly of their friends. He that keeps
company with adulterers shall be defamed, and therefore it is reason a man
should have liberty of speech to reprove such.
* Thou art careful and troubled about many things.'
Not that Christ mislikes domestical business and hospitality; but by this
Christ shews his pity of his* troublesome cares and distractions, which might
have been passed over with far less burden to her, and hereby therefore he
took occasion to heal her error in judgment, who thought Christ came to be
feasted when he came to feast them ; as also that he might free her from
that hard opinion that she began to carry towards Mary her sister, whom
she thought either negligent or proud in not helping her. It is therefore
a ground to be supposed, that hospitality becomes both men and women.
It is a part of that calling God commits to us, and it is commended to us
from the example of Abraham, and the event of it, that he thereby enter-
tained angels into his' house, Heb. siii. 2 ; and in this place it is implied
under the words care and trouble, as if he had said. Thou dost trouble thy-
self too much, and more than there is need, giving us this lesson,
Doct. That in things that are lawful excess is easy in holy persons, for
what more lawful than a calling ? What more commendable than hospi-
tality ? Yet in this Martha is too much troubled.
The reason is, because there is little or no fear of sin ; and where there is
least fear there is most error ; and security breeds neglect, and therefore it
is the common plea, for excess in recreations and apparel, is it not lawful ?
Yes; who denies it? But is there not a mean? Nay, in their calling
here may be exccssj for there must be measure observed in them, and that
is the reason no doubt.
And ac^ain, in laxiful things defect in any one circnmstance makes the thing
ill, though in itself never so good, and therefore reformation of the state is
good, but not by private persons. So here hospitality is good, but not
when we should be hearing Christ speak. To a good action there is
required not only) .tl^ai'.tite Hi^^.ure of it be good, but that it be well done in
every \;ircumstance, for, failing '^nany, one piakes it vicious.
Use. And therefore we should nave a jnincipal watch over our affections, and
that in lawful things ; for good me^anings do not always justify actions. Christ
vas crucified, and the martyrs burnt ; and the actors in it thought they did
* Qu. ' her ' ?— En.'
maey's choice. 291
God good service, and shall this excuse ? Peter bad a good intent when he
would have persuaded Christ from going to Jerusalem, yet received no better
thanks than ' Get thee behind me, Satan,' Mat. xvi. 23. Therefore let us
look in all our actions, how lawful soever they be, in the matter. It is
not enough, but they must be lawfully done, according to the rule of the
word of God, else it is sin to the doer, whate'er his intent be.
In the next place observe from the translation of the words, which is
more exactly thus : ' Thou troublest thyself (a), and true it is, that we
bring upon ourselves oftentimes more trouble than God lays on us ; and those
that have lived any long time, if they advisedly consider of their labours
past they shall find they may thank themselves for most of it; and in truth,
without God's Spirit, we are self-tormentors, and our error is double in
this kind ; for either we pull too great burdens on us, or they being laid on,
us, we make them too grievous to be borne bg our careless laying them on us, or
bg our unhandsome and unseemlg carriage under them, as it is in ordinary
burdens. Those that are skilful can carry a burden with a great deal less
pain than another man can that wants skill, though it may be he be the
stronger.
Secondly, And another reason hereof is in our froward pettish natures.
An unmortified nature is like a sore, everything pierces to the quick, besides
that it vexeth itself.
Thirdly, And this is caused partly bg too much passion in us, and partly by
want of judgment, and Ignorance or not remembering the end and Issue of them.
Where these causes are, there cannot choose but be such effects. In the
darkness everything scares us.
Use 1. Therefore let us take heed of this Infirmltg and never excuse It, say-
ing, men need not care for me, I trouble none but myself; for thou sinnest
against God, and thou art a sinner against the sixth commandment by self-
murder in troubling thyself as well as by troubling others.
Use 2. Secondly, Let ms not be over much troubled at troubles. Poor souls
are much ti'oubled this way. If they find but a little dulness of spirit,
then they conclude they want grace, they are none of God's children.
Censure not tjourselves, nor vex not yourselves. It made Jonah almost
quarrel with God ; and patient Job complain of his mother, of the day, of
the night. Alas ! what hurt did they him. And if we see others in this
estate of censuring, vexing, or troubling themselves, censure not them rashly.
The children of God are not always alike, nor always in tune ; for a calm
mind is a grace that God gives according to his good will and pleasure, and
it ebbs and flows as he pleaseth. But to proceed ; in the next place, observe
that the things of this life, meeting with a nature not mortified, are subject to
trouble it, and the reason is, they are inferior in themselves, empty and
vain, giving no content, but bringing vexation, and are subject to mutabi-
lity, and therefore not able to give the soul content, being of an higher
nature, and more constant enduring, and therefore requires comforts and
contents suitable, which these things, not able to afi'ord, when they fail, as
ever they do, the soul is vexed and offended.
For use thereof we should take notice of the nature of these things, and
take heed of fii^liMvaig (SiunxaTg, troubhng ourselves about the things of this
life. For it divides and weakens the soul ; and the dividing of a river must
weaken the force of the streams ; and so Cyrus diverted the streams of
Euphrates, and thereby took Babylon.* And the soul, when intent upon
one thing, though then it be strong, yet being turned to many things, is
* Cf. note a, Vol. II. p. 248.— G.
292 Mary's choice.
much weakened, and the forces thereof scattered. And therefore we should
meddle only with things that concern us, and so much with them as is fitting.
Yer. 42, ' But one thing is needful.' Christ doth not only reprove, hut
he doth instruct. He shews the disease and the remedy, to shew his love,
and that his mind was not to gall or vex, but to heal and make peace. And
this he doth by way of information, telling her these businesses are full of
trouble, and not necessary, and therefore she was not to spend herself in
them, but turn her to that'one thing which is necessary, which is to commioii-
cate with God in the vse of all sanctified means of r/race. It is necessary to
come out of our natural estate, and to be settled further into communion
with God ; and because holy means discovers our misery, opens a remedy,
works grace in us to lay hold on Christ, therefore it is necessary also to
attend on the means.
Quest. But it may be asked. What, are not meats and drinks, clothes and
government in a commonwealth, are not these necessary ? Wherefore
serve callings ? Nay, this whole life is a life of necessities, how then is
there but one thing necessary ?
Ans. I answer, It is true these things are necessary in their compass
and sphere, for this present life, but this life itself is nothing without a
better being, and we had better not be than be and not be translated hereafter
to a better life, and therefore Christ applies himself to these means, as to
that which conducteth us to that better life, which is only absolutely
necessary.
(Jhj. But, it may be urged, is not Christ's righteousness, faith, God's
Spirit, more than one ; and yet are they not all necessary ?
Ans. I answer, though they be diverse, yet they run all to one end.
Even as many links make one chain, so all these tend to make a man one,
that is a Christian ; and therefore a wise soul considers them as one thing,
and runs over them all at one view. He considers the word and the Spirit
as that which, by working faith in him, brings him to Christ, who brings
him to eternal glory ; and therefore he doth not hear, to hear, but to bo
renewed inwardly, and so to have communion with Christ, and to attain to
salvation ; and therefore the word is called the kingdom of God, the word
of reconciliation, of grace, of the kingdom, for by it we are conducted
thither ; and therefore. Acts xiii. 46, they that did neglect the gospel,
which was the power of God to eternal life, are said to neglect eternal life.
' And therefore if we will ever profit by holy means,' consider them as chained
to salvation ; hear the word, and with it receive the Spirit, and with it
faith, with it Christ, with him heaven and happiness. This is the one
necessary thing, others are but accessary, and so we should esteem them.
What is skill in reasoning, and not to bo able to know the subtle sophistiy
of Satan ? And to what purpose is skill in healing of sickness of the body,
and to have a soul sick to the death ? Tongues* are but the shell of
knowledge ; what good will deep skill in the law do us, if we be not able
to make our title to salvation sure ? What profit in ending controversies
if we be not able to answer Satan's accusations and quarrels that he picks
with us ? And the reason is, all these are but for this life, short and un-
certain. It would make the best of us ashamed, if we did but consider
how little we live to God, or our own comfort, knowing many impertinent f
things, and yet are ignorant of this our only main thing, and die before
we live as we should. But, for the avoiding hereof, let us carefully observe
these directions.
* That is, ' languages,' = learniDg. — G. t That is, ' things not pertinent.'— G.
mary's choice. 293
And first, Consider in evenjlhinr/ what reference it hath to this one thinc^,
what reference it liath to grace and glory. So long as we neglect this, the
devil cares not what we have, whither we go, in what company we are ; all
is one to him.
Secondly, Carry ourselves respectireJy according to the necessity of the thinys
that we are to he busied about, whereof some are more, some less necessary,
according as they have more or less good in them. Those that cannot
stand with this main one thing, cut them off, for other things that are
necessarily required for our well-being in this life, as our daily bread, our
callings in these, and the like.
Thirdly, Take heed of faithless cares, and bey ivisdom to despatch business so
as they jjrejudice not tJie main, and look still how they aim at the main end.
As travellers and warriors do unburden themselves of things less necessary,
so let us take heed of entangling ourselves in the cares of this life, 2 Tim.
ii. 4. The covetous man labours for riches, others for pleasures, that they
may live sensually, wherein they never can come to the degree of that
happiness that brutish creatures do, that have them without care and enjoy
them without fear ; but for a Christian this is the whole, ' to fear God and
keep his commandments,' Eccles. xii. 13.
Fourthly, In all business we should observe what the main end is, and labour
to direct them to that main end. In baptism, the one thing there, is the
covenant ; in funerals, the one thing is a work of charity, to commit the
dead body to the ground. Yet in these and such like things, all the time
is taken up in ceremonious preparations. In our buildings and dwellings
we look for good air, good soil, good neighbours, but where is the main ?
Who inquireth what minister have we ? What means of salvation ? Tush !
this enters not into their thoughts ; and thus do they invert God's order.
So, in bringing up of children, men look to teach them to read and to be
fit for the course of life they intend they shall follow, and how to leave
them enough to make them rich and great ; but who desires and endeavours
to have the image of God engraven in their hearts, and to provide an
eternal inheritance for them.
Fifthly, Every morniny we should consider what is most necessary for the
day. Have we renewed our covenant with God and renewed our repent-
ance ? Have we armed ourselves by prayer against all occasions of
temptations, and provided to avoid such as are likely to meet with us ?
Alas ! how few trouble themselves this way. ' What shall we eat, drink,
how shall we spend the time ?' These things take up the minds of most ;
how to uphold a short troublesome life. And yet all their care cannot
add one inch to their stature, or change the colour of a hair. ' But seek
thou the kingdom of God and his righteousness,' this one thing, ' and all
other shall be added,' Mat. vi. 33.
' And Mary hath chosen the better part,' and yet censured we see by
Mary's example. It is the lot of God's children sometimes to undergo the
censures of those that are good, for their forwardness ; and thus did David's
brethren censure David : ' We know the pride of thine heart ; thou art
come down to see the battle,' 1 Sam. xvii. 28. But let us be comforted,
for as it often falls out that we suff'er rebuke with Mary, so we shall have
Christ to justify us as she had ; and therefore,
Use. Let us resolve with Saint Paul not to pass for the censure of man,
but remember that day when God will justify those that are his. Here
we pass through a hidden eclipsed glory, but the time will come that we
shall be approved ; and it shall appear then what we are. Let us learn
294
MARY S CHOICE.
innocency, that though wc undergo their censure yet we may not justly
deserve it, and then whatever men do deem of us, we should he encouraged
to bear it, in regard our witness is in heaven, in our own hearts, and in the
hearts and spirits of good men.
But to i^roceed : Christ takes Maiy's part, and justifies Mary's choice to
be the best ; in handling whereof we will lay down, in the first place, some
grounds that I will go upon, as first that tJtere are diversity of parts, and
dirersiti/ of ranks of good tJiinr/s ; and of these some concern this life, some
concern the other life ; and of either of these God gives to some more, to
others less. Some have the goods of this life in plenty, others are endued
with the gifts fitting them for a better life, and thus God sets forth his free
rule over all creatures, and his free liberty to dispose them as he thinks
best ; and God exercises his children in the use of all sorts of things, and
in discerning of things that difter.
A second ground is that there is a spirit of discretion planted in man,
to discern of the difference of things, and this he is enabled to by the v?ord
especially, for man hath not this wisdom of himself.
Thirdly, The best things in our minds must challenge the chiefest choice and
first j)lace in aUoicing them, then trying them, and lastly choosing them. The
good part here meant is grace and glory. This is that which Mary chose, to hear
Christ speak for the strengthening of the graces in her, and that thereby she
might assure her salvation to herself; and grace is good, because it makes
us good. Outward things are snares, and makes us worse, but grace com-
mends us to God. All other things are temporal, and death buries them,
but grace and glory ai-e in extent equal to our souls, extending to all eter-
nity. Grace and the fruits thereof is our own ; all other things are not
ours. Grace brings us to the greatest good, and advanceth us to the
true nobility of sons and heirs of God, and grace makes us truly wise.
It makes us wise to salvation ; it makes ns truly rich with such riches as we
cannot lose. Grace is so good, it makes ill things good, so as afflictions with
the word and grace are better than all the pleasures in Pharaoh's court in
Moses's esteem, Heb. xi. 25. Seeing it is thus, let us he animated by this
example of Mary ; and to that end, first, beg the Spirit of revelation to open
our eyes to see the high prize of our calling, the happiness thereof ; and to
get a sense and taste of the pleasures thereof, that w'e may judge by our
own experience. For the meanest Christian out of experience knows this
to be the good part ; and this it is which the apostle prays for, Philip i. 10,
that the Philippians may approve the things that are excellent. The word
signifies in all sense and feeling, to approve the things that arc excellent,
or do differ (/>).
Secondly, Let us endeavour to balance things, by laying and comparing
them together. For comparison gives lustre ; and thus shall we see the dif-
ference and the excellency of some things above others, and the sooner be
able to choose. Thus did David ; and the eilect thereof was this, * I have
seen an end of all created perfection, but thy commandments are exceeding
broad or large,' Ps. cxix. 96.
Thirdly, Labour for spiritual discretion to discern of j)nrticulars. This is
as it were the steward to all actions, teaching what to cut ofl", what to add.
In all particular aflairs of this life, what time and what place fitteth best,
tells what company, what life, what way is the best. And when we have
done this,
Fourthly, Proceed on and make this choice. If we do not choose it only, but
stumble upon it, as it were, it is no thank to us. Though it be the fashion
MARY S CHOICE.
295
now-a-daj^s ; men read the word, and go to church ; why ? Not that they
have, by balancing and the spirit of discretion, made choice of this as the
best part, but they were bred up in it ; and they went with company, and
custom hath drawn them to it ; they happen on good duties it may be
against their wills ; and this is the reason of those many apostates that
fall off to embrace this present world, as Demas did, 2 Tim. iv. 10 ; for
they not being grounded, must needs waver in temptation.
Fifthly, In the next place, when we have made this choice, u-emiist resolve
with a deliberate resolution to stand by this choice. It is not enough to make an
offer, or to cheapen, as we say, but come with resolution to buy, to choose.
So David, Ps. cxix. 30, 31, 'I have chosen the way of truth, and have
stuck to thy statutes ;' and ver. 57, ' I have said,' that is, set dow^n with
myself, * that I would keep thy w^ords :' for the will rules in our souls. If
we be good, our will is good. There are many wicked men that under-
stand and are persuaded what is best ; but for want of this resolution and
will they never make this determinate choice ; and many rail at good men
and persecute them. Let such know that God will not take men by chance.
If they choose the worst part, they must look for to reap the fruit of their
choice. Assuredly God will not bring any to heaven, but such as have
chosen it here, as the best part before they die ; and therefore it is no mat-
ter what the world think or speak. Let us take up that notable resolu-
tion of Joshua, ' I and my house will serve the Lord,' Josh. xxiv. 15.
If we go alone it is no shame ; but to such as should accompany us, let
them flout at us, and call us singular. If there be any way to heaven, the
straightest,* and hardest, and least frequented is the right way. Let them
take the delightful frequented broad way. Let us with Mary choose the bet-
ter part. Though our choice be singular, it is Mary's choice. And take this
as a sign that we are in the right way with Mary, if with her we still desire
more and more growth in grace and knowledge, and never think that we
know enough, that we are good enough, or faithful enough, and diligent
enough in our ways.
Sixthly, In the next place, come ive often, and sit at Christ's feet, as Mary
here came to the ministry. ' He that heareth you heareth me,' saith Christ.
Live under a powerful plain ministry.
Lastly, Labour to draw on others to this choice. By so much the more
earnest endeavour, by how much the more we have been a means to draw
them to ill heretofore, and this will seal up all the rest, it being a sure sign of
our perfect and sincere choice.
' Which shall not be taken away from her.'
The best things are diversely commended unto us, and here that good
part is commended by the continuance, that it shall be ours for ever. The
moans indeed shall end, for that time must come when Christ shall be all
in all, but the fruit of them shall continue for ever in eternal glory; for
hereby have we interest in the covenant, and the promises which are for
ever assured to us, and the marriage between Christ and his church is an
everlasting knot. We are an immortal seed. The image of God in our
souls lasts for ever, and cannot be blotted out.
Secondly, Our choosing tiiis good part is an evidence God hath cliosen us;
and once chosen, ever chosen. Our actions are but reflex. He chose us,
loved us, knows us, and therefore we choose, love, and know him ; and
these being the gifts of God to us, are without repentance on his part.
And who can take this part from us ? God will not, for he is unchange-
* Qu, 'straitest'?— Ed.
296 maky's choice.
able. Enemies cannot, for, as Christ said, ' My Father is greater than
all,' John X. 29, and Christ is Lord of hell and death. ' What shall separate
us ? Not life nor death, principalities nor powers,' Eph. i. 21. Nothing
can be able to separate. By gi-ace are wo kept to salvation, ' and by the
power of God,' 1 Pet. i. 5 ; so as we shall not depart from him,' Jer. xxxii.
40. ' The peace of God preserves us,' Philip, iv. 7; and this should com-
fort lis and establish us. We may lose wealth, friends, honours, health, by
death. Those that have this ' good part ' cannot lose it in all the changes
that possibly can happen.
This also may justify a Christian in his labours. It is for the best part,
that is everlasting, that which will accompany him in de.^lh. The wicked
men of this world they labour and spend themselves in getting that which,
as far as they know, the next hour they may be constrained to part with.
They vex themselves with care in getting, with care in keeping, and with
vexing grief in the parting from them.
In the next place, this should content them that are poor and despised in
this ii-orld. If they have chosen this good part, they have that which will
make them amiable in God's eyes ; and this riches shall no man be able
to take from them ; and hereafter their enemies shall be ashamed, when
they shall see these poor contemned ones to reign with Christ as princes a
thousand years for evermore, and when they shall see those that were the
rich men here to howl in perpetual misery. And therefore the considera-
tion of this should fncouraije us to set ourselves upon the best things, and give
no liberty to our consciences to rest till we have found that we have made
this good choice ; give our souls no rest till we have made an habitation
for the God of Jacob in our hearts. In death we all look for comfort. Is
it a time then to look for a choice ? No. Men may shew a desire to
repent, but few do it in earnest. They then send for ministers, but it is in
fear. Few such ever die with comfort. However God in his mercy dispose
of them, it must not be thus. If we look for comfort in death, we should
now get oil in our lamps, now get the means of salvation ; be at charges
for it; spare no cost or labour. It will quit our cost, and we shall find it.
Use prayers privately by ourselves with our families ; care not for the jest-
ing of men. He that shall judge the ' quick and the dead' v/ill justify us
in that day, and will give us that good part that shall never be taken from
us. But how shall we know whether we have chosen this good part ? I
answer, we may gather divers signs from what hath been said ; as first, our
affections and esteem will testify what is of greatest esteem with us, and
beareth the highest place in our hearts. That thing we have chosen ; and
therefore, if we love the means of grace principally, if we can say, with
David, * that we love God's testimonies above silver and gold,' Ps. xix. 10,
and admire at the value of them, oh ! how wonderful are thy command-
ments ! how sweet ! how do I love thy law ! as if we count the feet beau-
tiful of the messengers of peace, and the communion of saints sweet, this
is a sign we have made this choice. Otherwise, if we count basely of the
ministry, of the saints as of vile persons fit for scorn, whenas they are ' pre-
cious in God's eyes,' Ps. cxvi. 15, whatever we say, we are proud, empty,
and vain persons. Peter was of another mind, John vi. G8 ; and let not
men think, because Christ is in heaven, they go not from him when they
turn from the word, for Christ saith, ' He that heareth you heareth me,
and he that despiseth you despiseth me,' Luke x. 16. And because he
would honour his ministers' and apostles' doctrine, he did accompany it
with a more large portion of his Spirit working effectually than his own
maey's choice. 297
immediate ministry, as appeareth by tlie multitudes that his apostles did
convert at one sermon. In the next place, exaiiiine we ourselves if we he
unlling to 2^c(>'t ivith. anytliiiuj for the means of salvation; for if we love any-
thing, and choose it, rather than we will part with that we will part with
anything. If we love the pearl, we will sell all to gain it. Far from the
humour of some, that will sell the pearl, sell the word, sell the care of the
souls of men, to men of corrupt conversation for filthy lucre.
Thirdly, If we have made this choice, ice will hare confidence to justify it
against all depravers* Michal's scorn cannot put David out of conceit with
his dancing before the ark of God : ' I will be more vile than thus,' said
he, 2 Sam. vi. 22. In vain we think to scorn usurers out [of] their trade.
No. They find it is sweet. Their purse comforts them against all scorns.
Thus it is with the child of God. Let men scorn, censure, rebuke, they
comfort themselves; as Job, 'their witness is on high,' Job svi. 19, and
that makes them not pass for men's censure.
In the next place, if we find that when all things fail us, we do retire our-
selves to this as our stag, that our good part shall not he taken aivag, nor ever
will fail ; and thus David, Ps. Ixxiii. 26, ' My flesh and heart fail, but
thou. Lord, art my portion for ever ; ' and make that use of it that David
did : ' It is good for me to draw near to God.' As a man robbed of all
his money, if his jewels be saved, he solaceth himself in them; and as
Hezekiah, Isa. xxxviii. 3, if we can appeal to God in witness of our sin-
cerity, ' Lord, remember how I have lived, how I have served thee in
uprightness.' Then shall we find the comfort of this will never be taken
away from us, else if we cannot thus appeal to God, we may call and cry
to him but he will give us but a comfortless answer: 'Go to the gods
which you have chosen,' Judges x. 14, let the world help you, let pleasures
and riches deliver you ; you would not choose me while I gave you all
blessings of life and health, now, ' Go, ye cursed,' Mat. xxv. 41.
* That is, ' under valuers.' — G,
NOTES.
(a) P. 294. — ' Observe from tlie translation of the words, which is more exactly
thus, "Thou troublest thyself.'" The original is, Md^da, Md^da, fis^i/Mvai; %ai
TVol3dt,r itiol voXXd, = ' art anxious and confused.'
(6) P. 297. — ' The word signifies, in all sense and feeling, to approve the things
that are excellent, or do difl'er.' The verb is ho'/JijATu, = to prove, test, assay.
Cf. Bishop Ellicott in loco. G.
THE CHRISTIAN'S WATCH.'
Blessed are those servants, tvho7n the Lord, when he conieth, shall find
watching. — Luke XII. 37.
These words are part of a sermon that Christ made to his disciples con-
cerning worldly cares, and concerning mercy to those that stand in need.
Now in the last place he gives directions concerning watching : ' Blessed
are those servants that shall be found watching when their master cometh.'
It was the custom of servants in those times to stand at night to watch
for their master's coming.
Here Christ compares himself to a man that is lately married, solacing
himself, and preparing a place for his spouse, and leaving a servant at home
to wait for his return. Christ is gone into heaven to solace himself, and
to prepare a place for us, and will come again to receive us into heaven.
In the mean time we are to watch : ' Blessed are those servants that are
found watching when their master cometh.'
In these words we are to consider, first, our relation, that we are
' servants.'
And then our condition, we are servants appointed ' to watch for our
master's coming,' for our Lord is not yet come.
This life is a condition of waiting. We are always waiting for some-
thing, till we are taken up to Christ.
' Blessed are those servants that their lord shall find watching.' And
then there is the relation and condition of them also, they wait for the
return of their master. And their carriage is suitable, to wit, watching.
And then the encouragement, ' Blessed are those servants, that their Lord,
when he cometh, shall find so doing.'
1. Concerning the relation of servants, in a word, some are so by office,
as magistrates and ministers ; but all are servants as Christians. It was
the best flower in David's garland to be a servant to the Lord ; and it is
so for every one, be they never so great in dignity, to serve God ; for to
serve him is to run into the most noble service of all; for all God's servants
shall be kings, nay, they are kings.
* ' The Christian's Watch ' and ' Coming of Clirist ' were appended to the
Exposition of Philippians, c. iii. (4to, 16ay). [Sec note, VoL V. page 2.] They are
from difl'erent texts, but, as being on tlie same subject, coukl not be well separated.
Neither has a separate title-page, only the heading as above. — G.
THE christian's WATCH. 299
And then it is a rich and most beneficial service ; for we serve a Lord
that will reward to a cup of cold water. It is not such a service as
Pharaoh's was, to gather stubble ourselves ; but he will enable us to do,
and where we fail he will pardon, and when we do anything he will reward,
and when our enemies oppress us he will take our parts.
Observe here how the Scripture speaketh, when we are servants, but do
not our duty, and when we do it. When David had committed that sin in
numbering the people, he said to Nathan, * Go tell David,' 2 Sam. xii. 1 ;
but when he had an intent to build a temple to the glory of God, then he
said, * Go tell my servant David,' 2 Sam. vii. 5. When we are doing our
duty towards God, then we are his ' servants,' but when we are about other
service, God will not own us. Israel were the people of God when they
were good, but when they committed idolatry, then, ' Go tell thy people,'
saith God to Moses, ' that thou hast brought up out of the land of Egypt,'
Deut. ix. 12. Let us therefore remember that we are God's servants, and
if servants, then God will own us.
2. Now to go on : ' Blessed are those servants whom their Lord, when he
cometh, shall find watching.'
We see here that there must be a constant waiting and watching for the
coming of the Lord ; whence we may learn that it is the duttj mid office of
every Christian constantly to watch and wait for the master s coming.
Watching, you know, presupposes life ; and hence first waking and then
watching.
Sense springs from spiritual life, and then waking. All that have spiritual
life are not all watchers, and all that wake do not watch. Waking is when
the spirits return into the senses, and are in exercise. You Imow sleep
binds up the senses ; but when the spirits return the obstruction is dissolved.
And then there is waking when all the powers are in a readiness, and
when there is a discessation* of vapours that stopped the senses before.
So, then, waking is the return of the spirits, either by some motion, as
stirring up the body, or by some great shining light. So it is in the
spiritual life. The vapours causeth sleep, but the Spirit of God, scattering
a light, awakens us. By this light is meant either the light of his judg-
ments, or the Hght of his mercies, or the light of divine truth ; for by all
these sometimes we ai'e awakened.
There is first a waking condition, and then we watch. I intend to speak
of watching. Now waking is a preparation to this.
' Watching' is when upon waking all the powers and graces are in exercise,
preparing for good and avoiding of evil.
Now, for bodily watching, we have nothing to do with that here, because
here it is spiritually meant ; but yet taken so far as the body is an instru-
ment of the soul in the action both of soul and body. As, when the body
is surprised with any inordinate affection of the blessings of God, then the
soul is unfit for watching ; and therefore it is specially meant of spiritual
watching.
In the primitive church, they had watchings bodily and spiritually ; for,
being under the tyranny of the heathen emperor, they had not liberty to
serve God in the day. But afterwards they had their vigils, watching times,
called vigils, preparations, which were before the word and sacraments, or
when there was any great business in hand. And when superstition grew,
they had their vigils too ; but they made laws to bind the people to observe
them three times in a night ; but their prayers were in Latin. It was a per-
* That is = discession, i.e. going away, departure. — G.
300 THE christian's watch.
Terse imitation of David, that rose at midnight to praise God ; that was
when ho was stirred up upon some extraordinary occasion, when there was
some danger or some other occasion near, not that he did it ordinarily.
But we are fallen into a conti'ary course than the ancient church was, to
spend whole nights in prayers ; for we have those that spend whole days
in sleep. We cannot watch one hour with Christ ; but we can spend whole
nights in vanity.
Duct. That which I mean to stand upon at this time shall be this :
that the carriage of a Christian in this ivorld is an estate of watching till
Christ come home.
I will shew this by some reasons why it should be so, and give some
directions how we must be in a waking condition.
Reason 1. The first reason is this : because ive are in danger of sin, and
in danger hg sin. This occasions watching, especially being ever in danger
of sin ; and besides many other sins, that sin of drowsiness, deadness, and
heaviness of spirit ; for every man by experience finds this spiritual drowsi-
ness hanging upon him sometimes more than other. Therefore we ought
to have the soul in a better condition.
And then we are in danger by sin, and that is more than I can express ;
for by drowsiness oftentimes we fall into sins whereby we ofiend God and
the good angels, and give Satan advantage, and grieve the good Spirit of
God, and put a sting into all other troubles. Yea, sin makes the blessings
of God which we enjoy, no blessings, and hinders us from praising God as
we ought for his blessings. So that thus we may see we are in danger to
sin and hg sin. Therefore we have need to keep a spiritual watch.
Reason 2. Again, consider in what relation tve are i)i tJiis world, and ivhat
the life of a Christian is compared 2(nto. We are travellers through our
enemies' country. This is Satan's place where he reigns, being ' god of
this world ;' therefore we had need to have our wits and senses about us.
And then again, the worst enemy is within us, our own hearts ; which
joins with Satan to betray us to the world, he being the god of this world.
Now canying an enemy in our own bosom, therefore we need to watch,
for that is the condition of travellers through their enemies' country. We
also carry a jewel, a soul, a precious jewel in a brittle glass. If once the
vessel break, all is lost.
Reason 3. And then again, ice run in a race. Now those that run need
have the goal in their eye, the price '^'' of their high calling; they had
need look upon that which may encourage them. And of all men runners
need be watchful. We are all runners ; therefore you see the necessity of
a watch.
Reason 4. Again, our whole life is not only a race but a warfare. And
of all conditions a warfare needs watching ; for we have enemies to fight
against that never sleeps. Satan our enemy never sleeps, ' but goes about
like a roaring lion seeking whom he may devour,' 1 Peter v. 8. We sleep,
but Satan sleeps not, nor those that are his instruments. The poor dis-
ciples slept, but Judas slept not. The traitors of the church sleep not, the
poor disciples they fall asleep, and suffer Christ to manage his own cause.
They have a time, and they will be sure to take it. We being therefore
not only runners in a race, but born fighters, for every Christian is born
so, therefore we must needs strive.
Now the strongest enemy is in our own bosom. Satan is said to depart
from Christ for a time, but he never departs from us. We have an enemy,
* That is, 'prize.'— G.
THE CHRISTIAN S WATCH. 301
that is, corruption, which hinders us from good, and taints that good we
do. We carry corruption in us that seeks to betray us, and will give us
no rest at all.
Reason 5. Again, not only thus, but we are all also steicanls, and we
have all of us 'talents,' of which we are to give an account. Now an estate
of account ought to be a watchful estate.
We are all subject to give an exact account of that we have done in the
flesh. Being therefore to give a strict account, we ought to be watchful.
Reason 6. Again, men that are under observation need be watchful. Now
there is no Christian but is in perpetual observation, for there is in him a
conscience. Though it be asleep for a time, yet that conscience will awake
and stare him in the face. You know what is said in Genesis of Cain,
' Sin lieth at the door,' Gen. iv. 7. Conscience, like a sleepy dog, lieth
at the door, and will fly in our face when we are going out of this world,
and then it will be a heavy time. Thus we are in observation of conscience
within us.
We are likewise in observation of Satan, that watches all whatsoever we
speak or do.
And then God observes all that we do. All our sins are written with
a ' pen of iron,' that they can never be gotten out of the soul without
repentance.
If conscience fail, yet God will not fail. Therefore, being under obser-
vation, we had need be watchful.
I hope there is none that will deny this, but that they ought to watch.
Now, beloved, since our life is a vigil, a watching time, a warring time,
and a race, we are therefore to stand in perpetual watch.
Let us now consider how we may be stirred up to watch. I will not
speak all that may be said, but only give you a few things to shew you how
we may keep the Lord's watch.
1. And that we may keep it the better, let iis labour to have waking con-
siderations, that we may preserve our souls, because consideration is a help
to watchfulness. Know and believe that there is a God that watches, and
an enemy that watches, and [thatj conscience will do his office first or last ;
to know and believe also that there is a day of judgment wherein we must
answer all that we have done.
2. Again, consider the end wherefore ^ve live here; and let us also consider
how suitable our actions are to that end, and whether they be for our good
and the salvation of our souls.
3. And then to have a waking consideration of the presence of God, as
Job had. ' Shall not God see if I do thus and thus ? ' Job xxxi. 4. And
so Joseph, ' How shall I do this great wickedness and sin against God,' Gen.
xxxix. 9. The eyes of the Lord goes through the world, seeing the good
and bad. He hath an eye that never sleepeth. His eyes see into the dark
thoughts of our hearts and sees our inward thoughts. All is naked to his
eyes. Now the consideration of this may make us watch over our secret
sins. What saith the heatben by the light of nature ? What if thou hast
nobody to accuse thee? Thou hast a conscience and a God that sees
thee.* Think then when thou art in secret, that thou art in the presence
of God, who is a judge. Consider of this, that we must all appear before
the judgment-seat of Christ. St Paul was kept in a watching condition by
the consideration of this : ' Knowing the terror of the Lord, we persuade
men; ' knowing also that it will be a terrible day, 2 Cor. v. 11. And
* Seneca. — G.
302 THE chkistian's watch.
wlien Solomon would study an argument to startle young men, * Go to,
young man, take thy pleasure ; but for all this, remember God will bring
thee to judgment,' Eccles. xi. 9.
To this waking consideration add some further considerations.
4. The fearful co)idUiou, to be found in an estate xckerein ice are not fit to die,
A man is not in a good condition that is not fit to die. Add this also,
that our life is short and uncertain. Now for us to live in an estate that
we are not fit to die in is a fearful condition. Let us therefore take heed
of promising mirth and jollity to ourselves to-morrow, for that may be the
time of God's striking of thee. And that which he hath done to some may
be done to thee. Ananias and Sapphira were stricken suddenly. The same
may befall thee, and that resolution of thine in vain and sinful courses may
be the time that God will take thee.
I might add many more ; I only give you a taste of things. In a word,
5. Labour for sucJi an inward disposition as may dispose ns to watchfulness.
Now, there are two affections, when they are raised, will much help us, to
wit, fear and love. See Jacob, when he was afraid of his brother Esau, he
spent the night before in prayer and watching. Let us therefore labour to
preserve the aflection of fear, and in fear, the fear of reverence to offend so
gracious a God. And let us watch over our hearts and lives, and labour
for the fear of jealousy, because we have hearts subject to betray us.
' Blessed is the man that feareth always,' Prov. xxviii. 14 ; and ' make an
end of your salvation with fear and trembling,' Philip, ii. 12. What fear ?
The fear of jealousy and reverence ; for there is a great use of this fear.
Now if these will not prevail, then fear the day of judgment, and fear
hell, if we will fear nothing else.
It is the atheism of these times to stand in awe of nothing ; but he who
hath a fear of reverence and jealousy is fit for all things. Besides, fear
stirs up care, and care stirs up duty ; for he that is afraid to ofiend will be
careful to avoid offence and also to please.
So the affection of love ; for as the soul is raised to the love of God and
Christ, so it will be watchful.
This is a sweet affection, and keeps the soul watchful over anything that
may displease the person whom we love.
And then it is full of invention, how he may give content to the person
that is loved, and how to keep the soul in the presence of God. We never
sin till the soul is drawn away from this, and we never have the soul in a
better tune than when we are thus. We need therefore to wind up our
affections every day. An instrument, though it be never so well in tune,
let it but alone, it will be out ; therefore it must be tuned every day. So
we should deal with our souls, and when we find our affections to be down,
wind them up with waking considerations ; and let us do this daily, because
they are ready to sink to present things, we are so nusselled* up in them.
Those, therefore, that wish well to their souls, had need to wind them up,
because they are for another world. And withal, labour to be wise and
foresee ; that is, to know ourselves both in good and evil, to know what we
are naturally prone unto, and wherein we are subject to be overtaken, and
then what hath done us good, and wherein we have been overcome. There
is no creature will be taken in a snare if he see it. The dull ass, you can-
not drive him through the fire. But man, since his fall, though he hath
been catched, yet such is the pleasure of sin, that he will fall again there-
into, whereas he should be wiser than a dull beast.
* That is, 'nursed,' 'pampered.' — G-
THE CHRISTIAN S WATCH. 303
Add hereunto, to have a soul fit for all advantages of doing good; let us
labour for this, whereby we may know how to judge everything in its own
worth, that so we may affect* it. Oh that hereby the soul may be raised
up, otherwise it will fall. To know God in his greatness, Christ in his
goodness, the world in its vanity, and sin in the danger thereof, will be
means to stir up the soul to watchfulness. So long as the judgment is in a
good frame, so long the soul will be fit for anything. And when we have
advantages to anything, let us study how we may turn it to God's glory ;
and let us redeem those advantages, for this is one exercise of watchin^, to
observe all advantages tending to the glory of God. It will grieve us^one
day, when we shall see at such a time we lost such an opportunity of doinw
good, and at such a time neglected such a duty ; let us therefore labour to
have such a disposition fit for all advantages, considering that this is our
seed time. But, alas ! how many advantages do we lose in not takin^
good and doing good ! ^
And let us be wise to see what hinders us from doing good. As, too
much business about the things of this world, as if we were born for them
whereas the Scripture limits our care for earthly things, tellina us that we
' should use this world as though we used it not,' 1 Cor. vii. 31, but that
we may enjoy these things here ; but we must use them so as we may be
wise unto salvation. Take heed ' of surfeiting, and drunkenness, and the
cares of this world,' saith Christ, Luke xxi. 34. For when men are plunged
in the cares of this world, they have their hearts eaten up, and thereby
they lose many advantages of doing good and taking good. We should
therefore labour to be in such a disposition that we may take heed of all
hindrances. And we ought to do this, because our life is a warfare. We
should therefore divide the day, and keep a daily watch.
First in the morning begin to awake with God before the world or the
flesh thrust in, and bethink of all that may befall us that day, of all the
dangers, of all the troubles ; and we should likewise think with what armour
we need to encounter with those accidents that may befall us. And then
get provision, that whatsoever happens unto us, alf may be for our good ;
and then let us consider how we stand prepared, and where we are like to
be surprised strongly, there to prepare. And withal, before we set upon
any good thing, let God have the first fruits of our time, and the first fruits
of our hearts ; let him have the first of the day by prayer, that when at
any time we fall into any sin or afiiiction, we may not have cause to say,
we have not commended ourselves unto God, and therefore this evil hath
befallen us.
And this will be a comfort to us in all the actions of the day with this
resolution. This is my comfort, I have commended myself and my prayers
to God, and have set upon the day with this resolution, to do nothing that
may offend God or a good conscience, and to regard no iniquity in my
heart, but to pass the day under the shadow of the wings of the Almighty.
We should labour to be in such a disposition as this ; and afterwards in
the day let us do nothing wherein we conceive God will not protect us ■
as in any evil way, for it is a fearful condition to be in any such, God not
being in that place.
And then upon occasion be sure we carry a heavenly mind in earthly
businesses, whereby we may serve God better, and fear him more • for
there is nothing fallsf in this life, but a gracious heart may draw out some-
* That is ' choose,' ' love ' it.— G, f That is, ' befalls.'— G.
304 THE christian's watch.
what of it to make his heart more reh'gious. And to think with ourselves
God hath set ns in this place, and therefore we do this work.
Many other things may be given, but I name but some. So for recrea-
tions, in those whettings be watchful, especially above all things where we
are ready to be surprised, as in prosperity. Therefore the Lord com-
mands his people, take heed when thou art in the good land that floweth
with milk and honey, that thou forget not the Lord thy God, Deut. iv. 9.
Job knew this ; therefore when his children were feasting, he offered sacri-
fice for them, lest they should dishonour God in their hearts. Job i. 5. It
was a gracious heart in holy Job so to do. We should in like manner be
watchful over ourselves, especially in that we are most prone to be over-
taken in ; and we should be watchful over ourselves when we are alone,
for every man cannot use privacy well. Therefore our sequestration from
company we should use in holy meditations. We should be watchful in
that, because the devil is busy still. Oh when we are sequestered from
others, our thoughts are a fit shop for the devil. Take heed, therefore, of
privacy and idleness.
And so for company, by which we may either do good or receive good ;
for that is a great help to our watch — company — for one strengthens
another, as stones in an arch. God hath sanctified the communion of
those that are good for the strengthening of others. And therefore the
Scripture saith, ' Stir up one another, and exhort one another,' Heb.
iii. 13.
If we could account religion a serious thing, as it is, we would not hear
these things as strange things, but we would think of them seriously, and
practise them afiectionately.
And so likewise, when we are to pass the occasions of the day, we
should make use of that time we have spent, and go over all that we have
done that day again. As God did when he created the world, he viewed
all that he had done again. And let us not sufier our bodies to rest till
our consciences are assured our sins are forgiven. Oh, it is dangerous to
go to bed with a guilt}^ conscience ; for what do we know whether we shall
see the world again or no ? Let us therefore be sure to watch over this,
and let us renew our resolution for the time to come. And if we find
God's assistance and blessing upon our labours, then let us watch unto
prayer, together with praising of our good God, observing all advantages
of prayer and praises.
Now when we have observed in some measure that God hath been with
us, then it is good to watch that God may have the honour by it.
3. Beloved, if this be so that w^e must take this course to watch con-
tinually, then mark w^hat Christ saith, ' Blessed is he that is found watch-
ing :' so that blessing goes along with watching. And by this blessedness,
Christ encourageth us unto watchfulness. Those that keep their souls in
a watching frame are blessed. Who saith this ? Christ. He speaks and
says, ' Blessed are those servants that he shall find watching when he
cometh.' They shall be blessed in their life, and blessed at their death
especially. Then we should give our souls to watching, because there is
a meeting of all when he comes to us in death ; for then we give ourselves
to him.
Besides, look we to our former course of life, and to the glory that
remains for us, and to Christ that is in heaven ready to receive us, and
then to commit our souls to him ; and to take heed of Satan's temptations,
that we despau- not thereby ; and then to watch, for then Satan must have
THE christian's WATCH. 305
all or lose all, and so to end our days. Christ came to some in the first
hour of the watch, to some the second, and to some the third hour of the
watch ; but happy is he that, when Christ shall come, he shall find watch-
ing. It is therefore good for young men to watch ; but especially when
men are in a declining age. It is good for them to watch for Christ's
coming, because it cannot be long before he comes to them. Christ may
come to the young and middle age, but those that are in the declining part,
they should watch especially.
Beloved, Christ is come to us, and we every day go to him, for every day
takes away part of our life. We should therefore every day fit ourselves for
going to him by death. Our life should be nothing but a fitting ourselves
for him ; and what is good at the hour of death is good now. We have
no security of our life. There is not the worst man but will then wish he
had abstained from such and such courses. Do it now.
Beloved, I exhort you to nothing but that which is fit for us, namely,
watchfulness ; and what is watchfulness but a frame of soul fit to meet
Christ. When our faith and hope, and our love about the object, and all
the graces of the soul are fit, a man is as he should be.
It is the happiness of a man to be in an estate of well-doing; for what
is the estate of heaven ? Nothing but so ; and to be watchful is the most
excellent of all. Therefore as we ought to be watchful at that time,
so now.
Now for preparation to the sacrament,* let us consider with whom we
are to deal. We are to I'eceive Christ ; we are to feast with Christ.
Natural wisdom teaches us, when we have to deal with great persons, to
labour to have a suitable carriage, not only to speak that which is good,
but to do it in all the circumstances exactly and comely. Let us so labour
to come as we should do, by preparing our hearts, hungering and thirsting
after this blessed means, and to come with hearts kindled with the love of God
and Christ, because he gave himself for us ; to come with hearts enlarged
with thankfulness, and with holy resolutions for the time to come ; and look
better to our walking in the strength of that receiving. Now forty to one but
Satan will set upon us : let us therefore especially watch afterwards ; for when
the devil knows we have gained any thing in the word and sacraments, by
base thoughts, by base company and loose carriages, he seeks to overthrow
us ; let us therefore not only watch before, but after we have received, that
we lose not the fruit. It is not the action that saves us, but the well-doing.
* Let a man therefore examine himself, and so let him eat,' 1 Cor. xi. 28 :
for as blessed is that servant whom his Master, when he cometh, shall find
so doing, so blessed is that receiver whom the Lord shall find holy in
preparation, holy in person, and holy in carriage.
* In margin here, ' This was preached before the sacrament, April 27. 1635.'
Sibhes died on July 5. following. — G.
VOL. VTI.
THE COMING OF CHRIST.
Behold, I come as a thief. Blessed is he that tvatcheth, and keepeth his gar-
ments close, lest he walk naked, and they see his shame. — Rev. XVI. 15.
We spake the last day concerning watching, out of the 12th of Luke and
the 37th verse, ' Blessed are those servants whom their Master, when he
shall come, shall find watching.' We will now go on in the argument a
little, to add somewhat to that which hath heen spoken, out of this 16th
chapter of the Revelation, the 15th verse, being my present text.
' Behold, I come as a thief in the night. Blessed is he that watcheth,
and keepeth his garments close, lest he walk naked, and be ashamed.'
After the sixth vial was poured out upon the enemies of the church, these
words are brought in somewhat abruptly, out of Christ's care and love to
his poor church in times of danger, ' Behold, I come as a thief in the
night.'
You have in the words a prophetical premonition of watching and keep-
ing our garments close, lest men walk naked, ' Behold, I come as a thief.'
Beloved, Christ's coming is compared to the coming of a thief:
How comes a thief? He comes secretly and unexpectedly; secretly,
lest he be discerned, and then with all advantages of surprisal, that he may
not be taken himself while he is taking others. So Christ is said to come
to judgment. He comes suddenly, and unexpectedly, and with a purpose
to surprise. When people will take no warning, he watches the time of
their destruction, so that here you have ' the goodness and the severity of
God,' Rom. xi. 22 ; first, his goodness is shewed in that he will give warn-
ing in all dangers ; but here is his severity also : when warning will not be
taken, then he comes with judgment. The scripture runs thus, ' Prepare
to meet thy God, 0 Israel,' Amos iv. 12; but when nothing will do, neither
judgments nor mercies, then it is just with God to come with all advantage
to our overthrow, as a thief in the night.
Comparisons usually are to be taken from that which is usually done,
whether good or evil ; for the goodness or badness of a thing is not regarded
in comparisons.
The Spirit of God makes use of all things, ill things and good things.
You see the diligence of the devil and the Jesuits, those old Jews and
Pharisees that go about sea and land to make a proselyte. Why should
cot we be as diligent as they ? A gracious heart will take good of them
from their industry.
THE COMING OF CHKIST.
307
Christ here says * he will come as a thief in the night,' and this his
coming is by reason of our unfaithfulness. And his coming is sudden,
unless to some of his children that he prepares by warning.
When he came into the world at his first coming, there were but a few
• waited for the consolation of Israel,' Luke ii. 25 : the rest did not. So
when he shall convert the Jews and judge the world ' Shall he find faith
upon the earth ? ' Luke xviii. 8. When he comes to any man or nation in
his judgments, doth he find faith ? No ; he finds them blessing them-
selves that to-morrow shall be as to-day. Beloved, let us take heed ; for
there be divers degrees of Christ's coming. He comes to a person, and
comes to a nation. We here in this nation bless ourselves when all the
world is in combustion and we are safe ; as the three children in the fiery
furnace. We bless ourselves, and cry, ' The temple of the Lord ! Oh the
temple of the Lord ! but go to Shiloh, and see what the Lord hath done
there,' Jer. vii. 12. Go to Bohemia, go to the Palatinate, and see what
God hath done there. Oh, how should our hearts be awakened with the
consideration of this, when we have such fair warning, and when the judg-
ments of God are abroad.
But mark the prophecy spoken by Enoch, which was a thing to come —
he was the seventh from Adam — ' Behold, he comes in the clouds, with
thousands of his saints,' Eev. i. 7. This prophecy was five thousand
years ago, yet ' Behold, he cometh in the clouds.'
It is the nature of faith to answer all relations of God's dealings. That
which God prophesies of, it is as sure as if it were past ; so faith is affected
with it. In matter of judgment, faith is affected with sorrow, and affected
with a waking heart ; in matter of joy, it is affected with delight. Alas I
what is the difference of time between us and the last coming of all ? what
is this Httle distance ? It is nothing. Therefore, * Behold, I come as a
thief in the night; blessed is he that watcheth, and keepeth his garments
close.'
The Holy Ghost, the Spirit of Christ, here makes use of this his coming
to stir us up to watch.
All that have spiritual life, labour to be waking Christians and then
watching Christians. That which usually awakens is th^e noise of a
trumpet, or some shining light. Now, living in the light of the gospel,
and under the sound thereof, this should awaken us ; if not this, the noise
of the judgments round about us should. If ever we will be waking
Christians, now is the time. And it is not enough that we be waking, but
watchful Christians.
What is the difference between men, but that carnal men are sleepers,
and spiritual men are waking ? And what is the difference of Christians
that are good, and that are not ? The one is a watchful Christian, and
the other not so. Wherein is one better than another ? As the one is
more careful to avoid sin than another. A weak Christian being watchful
is better than a strong that is not so. See the difference between David
and Joseph. Joseph was a servant tempted to folly, yet in the midst
of his youth he avoided the temptation. David was a grown man, a holy
man, a man of many experiences of God's mercies ; yet you see with how
small a temptation he was overtaken, because he was not watchful. So
that thus Christians differ from themselves and others, as they are more or
less watchful.
To come therefore to some directions how to carry ourselves, and among
others remember this : wo should have this waking and watchful considera-
308 THE COMING OF CHKIST.
tion, that we have a soul immortal, and that we are for eternity; and what-
ever we do in the flesh, that shall be ever with us; and how that shortly
we are going to the tribunal seat. In all these respects we should labour
to be watchful at all times, because that time in which we take liberty to
ourselves may be the time of our surprisal. We should therefore watch
at all times, in prosperity and adversity. We should watch against all the
sins of our persons, and the sins of the state we are in.
Moreover, we are not Christians indeed but when we are waking and
watchful Christians, and we never live indeed but when we are watchful ;
neither can we give so good an account of our time.
Besides, if we use this course, we shall bring our souls to that awe as
that they shall not dare to offend God, by reason they must come to be
examined. And how will our souls be willing to be judged before Christ,
when we are unwilling to set ourselves before ourselves ? If we use this,
it will bring a holy awe upon our souls, because they know they must come
to examination for every sin.
But mark what follows : ' Blessed is he that watches and keeps his gar-
ments close, lest he walk naked.'
Watchfulness is for action; as 'Watch unto prayer,' Mat. xxvi. 41, and
' Watch unto thanksgiving,' 1 Peter iv. 7 ; as he saith here, ' Watch to
the keeping of your garments close.' Now, this keeping of our garments
close, is somewhat alluding to the ceremonial law ; as if their garments
were spotted, or as if they had touched some unclean body.
By garments here is meant, first, the keeping Christ close to the soul,
and together with Christ all that is in him ; for as a Christian is clothed
with Christ, so also with his satisfaction, obedience, and righteousness,
for Christ is given of God. Let us therefore keep our garments close ;
and not only so, but apply Christ for our sanctification. Put on the
Spirit of Christ, and keep the soul in a holy frame. And keep not only
the righteousness of Christ, but the holiness of Christ; and put on Christ,
with the expression of his life in our life and conversation ; as we are said
to put on a man, when we express him in our life and conversation. And
then keep Christ with his obedience, and keep him with his Spirit, with a
holy desire to express him, keep all things close ; and with Christ all the
good we have by him, by using all means. Keep truth and our profes-
sion ; keep the obedience of Christ and the graces of Christ ; keep the
Spirit of Christ and the truth of God, whereby all good is conveyed, and
the profession of that truth keep unspotted. The danger is, ' lest you walk
naked, and you be ashamed.'
You know sin and shame came in together. Adam was not ashamed of
his nakedness till he saw it, and then he was loathsome to himself when
his conscience was awakened ; so it is sin that makes us ashamed. There-
fore ' keep your garments close.' To come to that I mean to speak on,
the words being clear,
1. First, Know tve have no (/arments of our own. No man is born clothed ;
but God gives him wisdom to make use of all creatures for ornament for.
him, notwithstanding we are born naked.
Now, it is thus in spiritual things. We have no garments of our own
since the fall ; but before we had. We have none now but original corrup-
tion, that spreads over the soul. Besides that, men living unto years have
another nature worse than the leprosy, custom. Here is all the clothing
we have of ourselves ; but for any spiritual good, we must fetch it from
Christ. Since the fall we must have all our garments out of another
THE COMING OF CHEIST. 309
wardrobe. That is here supposed that we have no garments of ourselves;
and therefore 'Buy of me,' saith Christ, Rev. iii. 18.
2. Now, the second thing is this, we having none of ourselves, therefore
we must have garments; and when we have them, we must keep them clean
and close: * Blessed is he that keeps his garments close.'
For the first, being born naked, there is a necessity for modesty to have
garments to cover our shame. When God saw Adam naked, he would
make him garments himself rather than he should be naked. There must
be garments for defence ; so in spiritual things there must be garments to
defend us from the wrath of God, else we lie as naked to God's wrath as a
man in a storm being naked lies open to the storm.
We must have garments of amity and friendship now. Being to enter-
tain friendship with God, we must have something apphed to us and
wrought in us by the Spirit of God ; for whatsoever is of Christ is amiable,
because he is the only beloved.
Again, we must have garments for distinction. Now, garments do dis-
tinguish Christians at the day of judgment, for then God looks upon us to
see what we have of his image ; and if he find us in ourselves and not in
Christ, then we are condemned with the world.
Garments that are coverings must be all over of equal extent. They
cover the whole man. So head, hands, and heart, all must be sanctified
as well as justified. So that those that look upon a Christian should see
nothing in him but somewhat of Christ, his words, his callings, his
thoughts. And as a man sees nothing of another man outwardly but his
apparel, so the whole conversation of a Christian should be nothing but
the expressing of Christ. He should speak by the Spirit of Christ, do all
that he doth by the Spirit of Christ. We must labour to be * wholly sanc-
tified,' as the Sci-ipture phrase is, 1 Thes. v. 23. There is an expression
of this in the 2 Chron. xviii. 33 : * A certain man drew a bow, and smote
the king of Israel between the joints of the harness.' There was some
small place open, and that cost him his life. Let a man's profession be
never so great, and let him have good expressions thereof, if there be any
place for Satan's entrance, he will be sure to wound him in that place. So
that by this you may see there must be an universal clothing.
And we must be clothed not only with garments, but armour, because
we live in the midst of our enemies ; by which we may perceive the neces-
sity of the putting on of the one as well as the other.
Now, as we must have garments, and must keep them close, so also we
must keep them from stains. The persons where these graces are, may be
defiled, but the graces are pure. We should therefore labour to keep our
actions unspotted. The reason why we should do so, among many other,
is this, we live in a soiling age. The holy prophet could say, ' I am a
man of polluted lips, and live among men of polluted lips,' Isa. vi. 5. We
are defiled with corruption, and that soils all our actions ; and therefore
we ought, as much as in us lies, to keep our nature unspotted. We are
polluted ourselves, and we live among men that are polluted. We live in
an infected air, therefore we ought to keep our garment close, unspotted,
and safe. Beloved, nothing will do us good but the application of things.
All the virtue of things without us is conveyed unto us by application ;
therefore as the garments of a Christian are precious, so they must be
applied. We must keep them close, and we must labour for the spirit of
faith and of all graces. The truth must be engrafted into our spirits, that
the word may be an engrafted word ; for being from without us, we never
310
THE COMING OF CHRIST.
have them to do us any good without the application. Therefore watch-
fulness is put before : * Blessed is he that watcheth, and keepeth his gar-
ments close.'
The righteousness of Christ is an excellent garment, but it must be put
on ; and if we have Christ we have all. We will speak a little to shew
you what is the reason men are tempted to despair, viz., because they keep
not the garment of Christ clean, and close to their souls by the spirit of
faith, for then the devil gets in between them and Christ. When garments
are not close, the wind gets between them, or else perchance [they] fall off.
So here we must labour to keep our garments close, and to renew our right
in Christ every day, that we may not fall away utterly ; and that is the
reason we so often take the sacrament to strengthen our faith, by which
we are ready against all despair, and against all the temptations that
Satan can administer ; and so we have all necessary graces ready. We
have our hope ready to set our souls quiet ; our preparation to endure is
ready ; our meekness and our love is ready. ' Put on love,' saith the apostle,
because it is the uppermost, the largest, and the richest garment ; and set
all other graces on work, as meekness, patience, &e.. Col. iii. 14. We
Bhould therefore labour to have these graces ready, that is, by watching ;
for watchfulness is nothing but to have grace in readiness. And we have
opportunity every day for one grace or other; but when we have them, we
must keep them close by watching.
And so for truth, by which all comfort is conveyed unto us. When that is
ready we are able to withstand temptations, but when that is to seek,
mischief is ready to surprise us. Now if the word were engrafted in our
hearts, then we should have some divine truths upon every occasion, and
we should be ready against every sin, as Joseph was. We should therefore
labour for this spiritual leaven, to season all other truths, that we may
savour of them in all our thoughts and actions, and so shall our garments
be close about us.
^ There is another thing intended in this Scripture. These are dangerous
times, and there are spiritual cheaters abroad in the world. Therefore we
Bhould keep our profession close, and keep our truth and our judgments
close, and get love into our affections ; for we shall be set upon, and if we
walk at large, then heretics and seducers will come between us and salva-
tion, because our garments are not close. What a deal of loose profession
have we ! Were it not for authority that establisheth it, how many thou-
sands have we would fall off?, and all because they keep not their garments
close. They fasten not truth to their souls. Their garments are loose
about them, that so hereby the Jesuits have some points ready to fall upon
jjy reason of unready Christians, Tor so they are taken. Therefore, ' Blessed
is he that watcheth, and keepeth his garments close.'
So it is in the life and conversation ; for in all men sin and corruption
are ready, and where truth is not invested grace is not in the heart, but
only in the brain. Some have some knowledge of things, but it is not
ready, and hereupon they yield unto any temptation.
Now you have many halters in religion between God and Baal, between
Christ and Belial. Our religion, beloved, must be our house. It is that
with which we must cover our souls. We must build upon a rock, and
our profession is our building, and the soul must not be so unsettled or
loose, as not to know whether it should serve God or Baal.
If a man will have any good by religion he must cleave to religion. No
loose profession shall ever come to heaven ; for with the mouth we must
THB COMING OF CHRIST. 311
confess, but we must believe with the heart to salvation. You have a
company that think they may be saved in any religion, but the Scripture
is directly for those that follow the best. Therefore we must take heed of
unsettledness in religion.
And so in conversation men think they may be ambitious and unjust, and
good Christians too. This loose profession never doth a man good ; for
we cannot join Christ and Mammon together. God will not be served
with others. He will be served alone. He must be set up in our hearts
and souls, and nothing with him. ' 0 Timothy, keep that which is com-
mitted to thee safe,' 1 Timothy vi. 20. Even so that truth that is com-
mitted to us, and that sacred depositance,* let us keep safe and close ;
for if we keep truth, truth will keep us : * Because thou hast kept the
word of my patience I will keep thee,' Rev. iii. 10. Oh but, saith some,
if I keep truth I shall fall into this danger and that danger. No ; but
because thou kept the word of my patience, of all others thou shalt be safe.
Therefore keep that as a jewel.
' Lest they walk naked, and men see their shame.' All shame arises
from this, that we do not keep our garments close. So long as truth and
Christ by truth have a place in the soul, so long we are safe. You see
Adam could not be prevailed over till he wrung the truth from him. Then
he stripped him of all God's image. When the children of Israel had
cast their earrings into a calf, it is said the people were naked, Exod.
xxxii. 25. So people when they keep not their garments close are naked.
What make men loathsome to themselves ? He hath in the eye of his
soul his sin and his base courses. He hath not kept grace close in his
heart, and that makes him naked. A man that hath grace in exercise he
is a lovely object to himself, when he shall think with himself of his
courses, how he hath abstained from such temptations, he is refreshed in
the remembrance of them, as good Hezekiah said, ' Remember, Lord, how
I walked before thee in truth of heart,' Isa. xxxviii. 2, seq.
A gracious man is lovely to himself, and sin makes him loathsome to his
soul, and afraid of his own condition.
Now to give some directions how to keep our garments close.
1. First, Labour /or convincing knowledge, because all grace comes into
the soul by the light thereof. Grow therefore in grace and in the know-
ledge of our Lord Jesus Christ ; and often propound queries to our judg-
ments about the word and sacraments. Am I able to maintain this truth
I have been brought up in ? And do I find them true to my soul, &c.
There is scarce any point of religion but hath this savour in it. And
who finds not this, that our nature is prone to the contrary ? But when a
man finds this, that he can justify things from experience, he resolves with
himself, I know this, not because I have been taught it, but from experience
I know it.
And so peace and joy that ariseth from judgment. I know I have
found peace and joy in believing. When I was in a desertion, and when
my conscience was awakened, I found this a comfortable point upon experi-
ence. By this means a man shall not easily fall from this truth. As
for example, ' All things work together for the best to them that love
God,' Rom. viii. 28. Few can by experience speak this, I have found
God at such a time making this good unto me. But a Christian man
can absolutely say this is true by experience. Wherefore we should beg of
* Cf. Concio in the present volume. — G.
312 THE COMING OF CHRIST.
God that lie would engraft his truth into our soul ; for this is the promise
of grace, that he will teach our hearts, not our brains.
Christians are taught of God to love one another, therefore we should beg
this of God. If that we will keep our garments close, we must labour
every day more and more to grow in all grace, and then we shall have
graces ready upon all advantages, and we must desire God to bless the
words and sacraments for this end, and to use our profession as it should
be, not to have an upper garment, to cover a naughty heart, but to labour
more and more to put off the old man, and not to make religion a cloak
and veil of hypocrisy ; for besides all the sins we have, to make religion
serve our turns, it makes our sin the greater.
When a man's religion shall be a cover to his sinful courses, that
increases his sin, and makes his sins abominable.
' What hast thou to do to take my word into thy mouth, and hatest to
be reformed ?' Ps. 1. 17. ' Take him, bind him hand and foot, and cast
him into utter darkness,' Mat. xxii. 13.
It is a good phrase that is used in the sixth of the Komans : * Let us be
cast into the mould,' Eom. vi. 17 (a). We must fit ourselves for the word.
That is the mould we must be cast into. If we hear any duty, say, * Lord,
fasten my soul to this duty, and when we are fastened to divine truths,
then who shall come between truth and us, when truth is engrafted in us ?
But when it lies loose in the brain it may be removed, but when it hath
gotten into the affections, who shall get Christ thereout.
A good conscience is a casket to keep divine truths in, and when we have
gotten soul-saving truths, let us keep them by a good conscience.
Do nothing against the truth. Keep it in love. The affection of love
must keep it.
If we have religion only in the brain, and not in love, we shall be stripped
of all. Satan will rob us of any truth. Therefore it would be a great
advantage for the putting on of Christ, if those that are young would labour
to know all the points of religion betimes, that so they may get them rooted
in the soul, that they may oversway our lusts, and strengthen the soul
against temptations.
What is the reason many begin not to be religious till they be old ?
They have not divine truths engrafted into their hearts. They have a great
advantage that are seasoned from the beginning ; for that strengthens the
soul against temptations. And if they fall into any sin they can recover
themselves, because they have truth within them, and they are the readier
to give way to any good counsel, because there is somewhat therein that will
answer.
We must earnestly labour that the soul may be open to all divine truths,
and then our hearts must close with them, so that thereby we may have
comfort in all temptations, that when sickness, Satan, and the hour of
death approaches, our knowledge fail us not, being rooted in our hearts.
And then we shall keep it in our affections, whereof love is the seat.
■ In the Thessalonians, because they ' kept not the truth in the love of the
truth,' they fell into gross errors, 2 Thes. ii. 10. Whatsoever, therefore,
we know to be good, we should get it into our affections. Love all that is
supernatural, keep all graces, and be in love with every one of them, as
you have it, 2 Peter i. 5, seq. There is a furniture of graces, that if a
man have one he must have another. We must keep all our graces, we
must not lose one. Every part must be clothed. We must be clothed in
our understanding with knowledge, and in our will with obedience, and in
THE COMING OF CHRIST. 313
our affections with love. Our tongue must not only be clothed with good
words, but we must labour that our hearts may be clothed also.
2. Those that will have good gardens will have flowers of every kind,
so a Christian must have graces of every kind. When Ahab was killed
there happened a weapon to strike through the joints of his harness, and
killed him ; to what purpose was it for him to have harness with loose joints ?
He should have had it complete. So we must have complete armour, and
not any grace in part. We must not be right in opinion, and loose in
action ; not hot in affection, and weak in judgment. We must put on
whole Christ for justification and sanctification, and we must add grace to
grace ; and when we have put on every grace we must keep them clean,
and not defile our profession. Beloved, Christian religion is a pure religion.
We must therefore keep our judgments pure, and we must take heed that
we be not tainted with errors.
And as we judge, so we must affect and practise. If our judgments be
naught, all is naught.
A Christian owes a due to truth ; his understanding is a spouse to truth ;
be must not therefore cleave to this opinion and that opinion, but he must
keep close all graces. In our place we must stand for the truth ; and as
Jacob's sons strove for the wells, so we should strive for the truth, and not
incline to any schismatical or heretical opinion. What a poor thing M^ere it
for a man to drag an excellent garment through some sink-hole ! Sure every
man would say he were mad. Now, we have an excellent profession, and
shall we sufier it to be stained ? What is religion, but to keep ourselves
unspotted of the world ? We should therefore hate the garments spotted
with the flesh, Jude 23. We should do with religion as we do with our
clothes ; he that is a neat man will not endure a spot upon his clothes.
Beloved, shall we have such a garment, and care no more for it ? Shall
we care for our outward garments, and shall we endure spots in our profes-
sion and in our understanding ?
We live in a leprous time, wherein men are spoiled in their affections,
and are of a devilish disposition, hating God ; whereas we ought to be of
holy profession and conversation. A Christian should be glorious, for he
hath a dignity above angels. Now, for a man that is a Christian to be
failing in justice, what a shame it is ! The very heathens abhorred this ;
and shall a Christian be no better than a pagan ? Let us take heed of this
our profession. And when we do anything, let us reason thus. Is this becom-
ing my religion ? and say thus to ourselves, I should walk worthy of Christ,
and as it becometh the gospel ; for what is the ornament of a Christian
but the graces he hath ? All the beauty we have is to be religious.
You know if a man be clothed we can see no deformity within him ; so
a Christian should be pure, that we may see no deformity in him, but all
things that are pure ; we should see Christ in his conversation. Indeed,
we should all labour that the Spirit of Christ may speak and act ; for every
Christian hath the same Spirit that Christ hath to clothe his soul withal ;
therefore nothing should appear in him but Christ ; the Spirit should so
shine in him that all might appear glorious.
Shall that man look to have benefit by religion, who is a deceiver, a har,
a loose speaker ? Is this to be clothed with the Spirit of Christ ? Some
men are of malicious minds, hating God and goodness ; and yet they will
take it as a great indignity to them if they should not have the title of
Christians. But you see what they aim at ; they know they should keep
all their garments close, and that they should labour to fasten them upon
314 THE COMING OF CHRIST.
their souls ; that they may say of themselves as the church in the Canticles,
' My beloved is all fair,' v. 16 ; and as the mould gives the true impression
of the print, so he may be all fair, not only having the righteousness of
Christ, but may have some grace in all the parts of his soul.
We are clothed when we have the love of all grace and a desire to some
of all grace ; and when we complain that we are no better ; and when we
endeavour after all that is good, that wherein we fail we may comfort our-
selves with this, that though our sanctification be imperfect, yet we are
clothed with the perfect righteousness of Christ, which is the evangelical
clothing.
This is a point of great consequence, that we have some evidences. We
have put on Christ for our clothing, else there is no grace. Where there
is faith to lay hold on the righteousness of Christ, there is likewise grace
suitable ; and as our souls desire both, so he gives both : he gives the
righteousness of Christ and the Spirit of Christ. And then we may know
we are clothed, if we have the righteousness of Christ.
And again, if we have a high esteem of that above all, as Paul had in the
Philippians, iii. 8, * I account all things dung and dross in comparison of
Christ,' for all our righteousness is but as a 'polluted cloth,' Isa. xxx. 22.
A Christian hath put on Christ when he admires the righteousness of
God-man ; it is a righteousness of his own appointing and sending ; what
a high esteem therefore should we have of this !
And then we may know we are clothed when we love Christ, because
our sins are forgiven. In the 7th of Luke, ver. 47, it is known that Mary*
put on Christ, her love being such unto him because her sins were forgiven
by him.
And then, when we have faith to believe this, that Christ is ours, and
when we have boldness to go to God in our mediator's name, and can triumph
over all our enemies, 'Who shall lay anything to the charge of God's
people ?' Eom. viii. 33. Out of the knowledge of this, that Christ died for
me, and is now in heaven making intercession for me, I can triumph over
all enemies. Alas ! Satan will pick a thousand holes in our righteousness ;
but when we can look upon death and the day of judgment, and not be dis-
couraged, it is a sign we are clothed. Let us therefore keep our garments
close.
And let us make this use of our daily sins. Every day let us renew our
right in Christ by repentance, saying thus. This day I have forfeited all,
but now I will regain my right ; there is a fountain open for sin and for
uncleanness, Zech. xiii. 1.
The * second Adam ' takes away all sin ; and therefore when we can make
daily use of our justification, it is then a sign we live by faith. This is to
feed upon Christ, when we feed upon his obedience.
The life of a Christian should be to live by faith. This use we should
make of our daily infirmities, afflictions, and sins, to keep our garments close.
How doth Satan draw the souls of many to hell ? When Christ is loose
in their understanding, then the devil comes between them and their gar-
ments ; and when conscience feels the weight of sin, and hath nothing to
support it, then Satan robs them, because they want the spirit of faith.
They which walk in white here, shall walk in white in heaven ; they
which go on constantly here, they shall at the length walk in heaven with
more white eternally with Christ.
* There is no good reason to believe that the ' woman which was a sinner ' was
Mary Magdalene. — Ed.
THE COMING OF CHRIST. 815
Now let ns see our danger. If, on the contrary, we keep not our gar-
ments close, ' we shall be found naked.' Now, nakedness is a woeful
condition ; it is a curse. Therefore, when we are to appear before God,
let us labour for the Spirit of Christ, that when Christ shall come to judge
us, he may see his own stamp upon us.
And let us consider what a shame it will be unto us at that time if he
shall find us naked.
What a shame is it to be a worldling ! that when Christ is not upon our
affections to turn Demases, asDemas followed Paul but afterwards embraced
the world, 2 Tim. iv. 10 ; or, at the hour of death, what a shame is it
that whereas many men went for religious men, but for want of keeping
their garments close they then want comfort ; and at the day of judgment
shall be ashamed before God, angels, and men.
Let us therefore labour to make Christ ours, that then we may live
clothed and die clothed ; and then we shall be blessed : ' For blessed is he
that hath Christ upon him here ; he shall be blessed for ever hereafter.'
NOTE.
(a) P. 812. — 'Let -us be cast into the mould.' Sibbes's rendering of the tutov
of Paul is adopted by Webster and Wilkinson in loco, from whom 1 add this note :
' TWTTOV did. the scheme or mould of instruction to which ye were committed, ii. 20,
2 Tim. i. 13. The construction is by attraction for VTrr^xoua. rui rvTrw hihayrig eig
ov -za^idodi^rt. Cf. Acts xxi. 16. Their professed subjection to the gospel of Christ,
their reception of the doctrine according to godliness was an acknowledgment of
obedience to a new Master. They were put under a die or mould, from which they
were to receive a new impression.' G.
THE GENERAL RESUREECTIOK*
Jesus sailh to her, Thy brother shall rue again. Martha saith unto him,
I know that my brother shall rise again in the resurrection at the last day.
—John XL 23, 24.
Having formerly spoken of the communion of saints, t now we come to
speak of the other two blessings and benefits which the Lord doth give
and grant to the church in the life to come. The one whereof is, ' the
raising of our bodies at the last day,' the other, ' life everlasting ;' which
be the blessings he hath reserved till the day of judgment, wherewith he
closes up and makes an end of all, and yet not a final end with them,
because they shall have no end, for the Lord will bestow eternal happiness
on them ; which day, though to some it shall prove a doleful day, yet it
shall be joyful to the church of God, even a day that they have many a
time looked for and desired.
In handling whereof, we are first to consider the order of God's distri-
bution, who giveth us first the blessings and the benefits of this life, and
then those of eternal life. Now that which is the order of God's distribu-
tion, must be the order in our intention.]; We must labour to have com-
munion with the saints here in this life, to have our sins pardoned, and
then the Lord will raise up our bodies at the last day, and give us life
everlasting ; which, if we omit, we can have no hope to rise to everlasting
life, but to perpetual shame and contempt. Therefore we must labour to
entertain the communion of saints here. It is said, Kev. xx. 6, ' Blessed
and holy is he that hath his part in the first resurrection, for on such the
second death shall have no power.' Thus he is a blessed man that in this
life rises out of his corruptions and sins, for on such a one ' the second
death hath no power,' otherwise one must be held captive of the second
death : for if one make a bargain, and giveth somewhat in hand, having
* ' The General Eesurrection' forms No. 21 of the original edition of ' The
Saint's Cordials' of 1629. It was not given in the after editions. Its separate title-
page is as follows : — ' The Generall Kesvrrection.' In One Sermon. Declaring, The
manner, time, and certainty of our Resurrection. In what estate our Bodies shall rise
againe. Wlierein the glory and excellency of the Saints shall consist after the Eesur-
rpction, shewed in sundry particulars. Together with the deplorable estate of the
wicked in that day, &c. Prtelucendo pereo. Vprightnes hath boldnes. London,
printed in the yeare 1629.' — G.
t See general Index, suh voce, also textual Index. — G.
X That is, = striving, intentness. — G.
THE GENERAL RESURRECTION. 317
received earnest, he looks for the bargain ; even so the Lord hath made a
bargain with us, to give us heaven and happiness, whereof, if he give us
earnest in this life, the communion of saints, and the forgiveness of sins,
then we may look to have our bodies raised to life everlasting : otherwise
raised unto the second death.
Now in this great point of faith we are to consider divers particulars :
the first whereof is,
Point 1. That ive believe, althour/h ive shall be laid into the cjrave, and
dissolved into dust, yet one day ive shall rise ayain by the jioimr of Christ, and
hy virtue of his resurrection. This is the proper faith of a Christian only ;
for heathens believe that they shall die and turn to dust. The Christian
goes further, and believes to rise again ; which is clear and manifest, both
1. By Scripture, and 2. by reason.
1. First we will prove it by Scripture, John v. 28, where Christ having
spoken of that great work of raising up dead souls from the grave of sin to
the life of grace, by his quickening and powerful word in the ministry ; lest
it should seem strange unto them, fetches a comparison from the resurrec-
tion of the body to life everlasting. ' Marvel not at this, for the hour is
coming, in which all that are in the graves shall hear his voice, and shall
come forth, they that have done good unto the resurrection of life ; and
they that have done evil unto the resurrection of condemnation.' So Dan.
xii. 2, ' And many of them who sleep in the dust shall awake, some to
everlasting life, and some to shame and perpetual contempt.' So 1 Cor.
XV. 19, St Paul says, ' If in this life only we have hope in Christ, we are
of all men the most miserable;' and then adds, vcr. 21, a strong reason,
* For since by man came death, by man came also the resurrection from
the dead. For as in Adam all die, so in Christ shall all be made alive.
But every man in his own order,' &c. And Acts xvii. 31, he shews why
all men are commanded to repent, everywhere : * Because,' saith he, ' he
hath appointed a day in which he will judge the world in righteousness by
that man whom he hath ordained ; whereof he hath given assurance unto
all men, in that he hath raised him from the dead.' In another place he
says, Acts xxiv. 15, making it the issue of his believing of all things in the
law and prophets, ' And have hope towards God, which they themselves
also allow, that there shall be a resurrection of the dead, both of the just
and unjust.' Christ's threatenings to Chorazin and Bethsaida, Mat. xi. 22,
shew that there shall be a day of judgment : so he threatens. Mat. xii. 36,
' But I say unto you. That every idle word that men shall speak, they shall
give account thereof in the day of judgment.' And he proves the resur-
rection from an instance of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, he being their
God, ' who is not a God of the dead, but the living,' Mat. xxii. 32, which
also made the prophet Isaiah comfort the people : Isa. xxvi. 19 — in that
desperate estate of theirs, wherein they appeared as dead men without hope
of recovery — from the similitude of the resurrection, ' Thy dead men shall
live, together with my body shall they rise. Awake and sing, ye that dwell
in the dust : for thy dew is as the dew of herbs, and the earth shall cast
out the dead.' Many other strong proofs there are, both direct and by
similitudes/besides the proof thereof in Christ, Enoch, Elias, and others.
But I will pass them over, and end only with that one of St John's vision,
Eev. XX. 12, ' And I saw the dead, both small and great, stand before God :
and the books were opened ; and another book was opened, which is the
book of life : and the dead were judged out of those things which were
written in the books, according to their works. And the sea gave up the
318 THE GENERAL RESURRECTION.
dead which were in it ; and death and hell delivered up the dead which
were in them : and they were judged every man according to their works.'
And, therefore, seeing all things are come to pass which the Scripture hath
foretold, and shall come ; and seeing God is true, faithful, and almighty in
power to do whatsoever he will : we may then also be sure of this, that
God will raise again the dead at the last day.
Secondly, Thus much is proved by reasons of divers sorts, five in
number.
1. From the power of God. 2. From the justice of God. 3. From the
mercy of God. 4. From the end of Christ's coming. 5. From the resur-
rection of Christ.
(1.) [Power of God.] For the first Tertullian says well, ' It was a harder
matter for God to make a man, being nothing, out of the dust of the
earth, than now, being something, to raise him up and repair him again' (a).
And he who spake the word, and made this great frame of heaven and
earth, is able also, by his power, to raise up the dead at the resurrection ;
which made Christ, in that disputation with the Sadducees, Mat. sxii. 29,
reprove their ignorance in this point : * Ye do err, not knowing the Scrip-
tures, nor the power of God.' Now of this, when we are once soundly
convinced, then we can believe, and say with Job, * I know thou canst do
everything, that no thought can be withholden from thee ; who is he that
hideth counsel without knowledge ?' &c., Job xlii. 3.
(2.) The second is drawn from his justice; for it is agreeable with his
justice, that those who have been partakers in good and evil actions should
participate in suitable rewards and punishments ; but the bodies of men
are partners in good and evil actions with the soul ; therefore the Lord
will raise up both, to reward and punish them, according as they have done
good or evil. Tertullian saith, ' We must not think that God is slothful
or unjust; 1, We may not think that God is unjust to reward the soul
and destroy the body, or punish the one, and not the other; but he will
raise up both, to reward both together, according to their sufferings and
misdeeds. Again, we must not think him slothful, that he will not take
pains to raise up dead bodies; no; he is indefatigable, not subject to any
weariness. It is but for him to speak the word, think the thought, will it
to be, and all shall be done,' (b). So, in regard of his justice, the body
must rise also.
(3.) The third is drawn from the mercij of God, which is infinitely more
in him than in us, extending itself in a large measure unto all. Now this
mercy is in men, that, if they could raise all the dead bodies of their friends,
they would do it. But the mercy of God being infinitely more than all our
compassion can be, extends therefore itself to all the souls and bodies of
men, to raise them up again, and perpetuate them ; wherein, if the wicked
had not forsaken their own mercy, they might have had joy and comfort
with the rest. For this cause Christ tells us, Mat. xxii. 32, ' that he is
the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob,' not the God of the dead ; for if
it were so, then he should be only a God of one part of Abraham, and not
of the other; but he is the God of both, therefore he wiU raise both soul
and body at the last day, and the dead shall rise.
(4.) Fourthly, From the end of Christ's coming, as it is 1 John iii. 8,
' For this purpose appeared the Son of God, that he might loose* the works
of the devil ;' for the devil first brought in sin, and sin brought death.
This was the great work the devil aimed at, to bring in sin and death ; and
* The Greek word is Xuw.— G.
THE GENEEAL EESUEEECTION. 319
therefore Christ coming to dissolve this great work, amongst the rest, v/hich
is not done unless there be a resurrection of the dead. Therefore the dead
shall rise again.
(5.) The fifth is drawn /row the resurrection of Christ; for Christ did not
rise as a private person, like unto the widow's son, and as Lazarus did,
but he rose as the public head of the church. St Paul says, * that he was
the first fruits of them that slept,' 1 Cor. xv. 20. So, in the rising of
Christ, all the people of God rise, and that which went before in the head
shall follow in the members, as Augustine speaks. And Cyril saith well,
* that Christ entered into heaven by the narrow passage of his sufferings
and death ; by his death and resurrection to make a wide passage for us
unto heaven' (c). So in Christ's rising we rise. Here one may object. Oh,
it was an easy matter for Christ to rise, because he was God. I answer,
true ; but as God-man, sustaining the burden and weight of all our sins,
it was not so easy; for when we are laid in the grave, we have but the
weight of our own sins to keep us down. Christ, he had the sins of all the
elect people of God upon him, and therefore it was a harder matter for
Christ to rise again than we suppose ; and yet he broke through all, and
rose again ; therefore do not thou doubt but that he will at length raise
thee again. So Christ's promise is, * When I am Hfted up, I will draw all
men after me,' John xii. 32 ; only our care must be to have communion with
Christ in our life and death ; to live as he lived, die with him, lie in the grave
with him, be as near in life, and lay our dead bodies as near his as may be,
and then, when Christ, who is our life, shall appear, as it is in Col. iii. 1,
* then shall we likewise be raised up, and appear with him in glory.'
Otherwise, we shall be raised, but unto all sorrow and misery in eternal
torments, not as unto a head, but unto a terrible judge ; where, when one
hath lived a thousand years, they are as new to begin again ; and so be
tormented world without end. Now divers objections are made by atheis-
tical persons against this main point of faith.
Ohj. 1. The first is a common one. How is it possible, say they, that a
body which hath lain rotting a thousand years in the grave should rise
again, so turned into dust ?
A71S. I answer, Though it be above reason, yet it is not against reason ;
for we see that the flies that be dead all the winter time, when the summer
Cometh, with the heat of the sun, they live again ; so the corn rots in the
ground, and revives again. Now if with the heat of the sun the one may
be done, much more is the power of God able to raise up those who have
lain in the grave a thousand years, to live again.
Obj. 2. Secondly, say they, It is impossible for men to rise again,
because their dust is so mingled one with another, and with the dust of
other creatures, as in a churchyard, where dust is mingled, one cannot well
say This is the dust of my father, or This is the dust of my mother, things
being so mixed ; as, take a quantity of milk, and put into the sea, there
both remain in substance, but so mingled, as that they cannot be parted
one from another; and so, say they, it is with dead men, whose dust is so
mingled together, as it is impossible to part them.
Ans. To this I answer, 1. In general, though it be an impossible work
for man to do, yet it is not impossible for an Almighty God, unto whom
all things are possible, it being an easy matter for him to give to every man
his dust again, and sever it one from another, even as a man who hath a
handful of divers seeds in his hand can easily distinguish and take one
from another, putting each sort by itself agaip. We see that there be some
320 THE GENERAL RESURRECTION.
men so cunning and skilful, that they can draw out of an herb or flower
the four elements, fire, earth, air, and water. Now if so much cunning and
skill may be in a man, how much more able is the Creator of men, who is
only wise, of an all-seeing eye, to sunder every man's dust, and to bring
them together again ?
Obj. 3. Oh but, say they, what say you to this ? When one man eats
another, then that man's flesh becomes one with another man's flesh; in
which case, if the one rise, the other cannot. To this I answer,
Ans. It is true indeed, one man eating another becomes a part of the
other for the time ; but yet he was a perfect man before he ate of the
other, and the other a perfect man before he was eaten. Now it is a truth
in divinity, that every man shall rise with his own flesh ; but a man shall
not rise with everything that was once a part of him. As, for instance, if
a man have a tooth beaten out, and another come in the room of it, he
shall not rise with both these ; so likewise a man hath a piece of flesh
stricken ofi" with a sword, and new flesh comes in the room of it, he shall
not rise with both, but with so much as shall make him a perfect man.
Even so, though one man eats of another man's flesh, he shall not rise
with that, but with so much as shall make him a perfect man ; neither shall
he who was eaten want anything of his perfection at the resurrection.
Obj. 4. Lastly, They bring one Scripture in show against us, and but
one, which is this : ' That flesh and blood,' as the apostle speaks, ' cannot
enter the kingdom of heaven,' 1 Cor. xv. 50. To which I answer,
Ans. The meaning is figuratively spoken ; that is, flesh, as it is cor-
rupted and sinful, clothed with infirmities, and subject to mortality and
death, so it shall not enter in. So this is expounded, Heb. ii. 14, * For-
asmuch, then, as the children were partakers of flesh and blood, he also
himself likewise took part of the same, that through death he might destroy
him that had the power of death, that is, the devil; and deliver them who,
through the fear of death, were all their lifetime subject to bondage.'
Therefore it is meant of flesh and blood in this transitory life, subject to
infirmities ; thus it shall not enter into heaven. And thus have we des-
patched the cavils of the atheists, against all which this point stands sure
and firm, that the dead shall rise again.
Use 1. Seeing the dead shall rise again, therefore though we die as others
do, and are dissolved into dust, 7jet to be comforted, in regard vhat this is the
worst our sins mid the xvorld can do unto us, to take from us a frail natural
life^ — which, when they have done, it shall be restored unto us again in a
far more excellent manner, — this, in all distresses and troubles, must
comfort us, as it did Job, xix. 25, 26 : ' I know that my Redeemer liveth,
and that he shall stand at the latter day upon the earth ; and though after
my skin worms destroy this body, yet in my flesh shall I see God.' This
also supported David, Ps. xvi. 9 : ' Wherefore my heart is glad, and my
tongue rejoices ; and my flesh also resteth in hope : for thou wilt not leave
my soul in the grave : neither wilt thou suff'er thy Holy One to see corrup-
tion.' And so Christ himself says. Mat. xx. 19, unto his disciples : ' The
Son of man shall be dehvered unto the chief priests, and unto the scribes,
and they shall condemn him to death, and deliver him to the Gentiles to
scourge and to crucify : but the third day he shall rise again.' Now that
which comforted Christ, Job, and David, must also comfort and support us
in all crosses and troubles that befall us ; for death, the seeming worst of
things, shall prove advantage unto us. It was a comfort unto old Jacob
that the Lord said unto him, ' Fear not, go down into Egypt ; behold I
THE GENEKAL KESURRECTION. 321
will be with tliee,' &c., Gen. xlvi. 3. So faith in death hears this comfort-
able voice of God, Fear not to go into the ground, to sleep in the grave a
while ; for behold I will go do\Yn with thee, keep thy ashes there, and raise
thee up again ; for death dealeth no otherwise with us, than David did by
Saul when he was asleep : he took away his spear and his water-pot, which
he restored unto him when he was awake. Even so death, he takes away
our spear and our water-pot, our strength and a weak frail life, and when
we awake again it is restored at the day of refreshing in a more excellent
and more abundant manner.
Use 2. Secondly, Seeing the dead shall rise again, this must comfort us
in regard of our dead friends departed, that aUJiouf/h death have sundered us
for a time, yet ice shall all meet together again. So Martha here : ' I know
that my brother shall rise in the resurrection of the just ;' and, 1 Thes.
iv. 14, the apostle saith, ' For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again,
even so those who sleep in Jesus will God bring with him ;' and then
he adds, ver. 18, * Wherefore comfort one another with these words.'
Chrysostom says well, ' If a man take a long journey, his wife and children
do no.t usually weep, because they expect his return ere long home again' {d).
Even so it is, our friends who die in Christ, they are gone but a long
journey, we must comfort ourselves that we shall meet again.
Vse 3. Thirdly, Seeing the dead shall rise again, this must make us care-
ful therefore to spend our time well ultilst ive are here; for if a man did not
rise again, he might live as he list ; but because we shall rise again with
these bodies which have sinned, therefore we should be careful to pass our
time here in holiness and righteousness, which is the use St Paul makes of
it, Acts xxiv. 10, that because there shall be a resurrection both of the just
and the unjust, ' herein,' saith he, ' I endeavour myself to have a clear
conscience towards God, and towards man.' So should we in this case do.
When Peter heard it was the Lord who was near him on the water, he
girded his coat unto him, for he was naked. One would have thought that
rather he should have put off his garment and have laid it aside ; but Peter
had this consideration, that when he came on the other side he should stand
before his Master, and therefore he girded himself, that he might stand
seemly and comely before him. Even so, seeing when we have passed the
glassy sea of this world, we are to stand before God, therefore we are to
have this consideration, that we gird ourselves and make everything ready,
that we may come seemly and holily before God at the last day.
Point 2. The second main point is, that ve believe that we shcdl rise again
at the last day with the same bodies. So Job xix. 25, ' I know that my
Ptedeemer liveth, and he shall stand [at] the last on the earth : and though
after my skin worms destroy this body, yet in my flesh shall I see God :
whom I shall see for myself, and mine eyes shall behold, and not another ;
though my reins be consumed within me.' And Ezek. xxxvii., there is
shewed that life and sinews came into the same dry bones, and flesh grew
upon them ; which, though it be a parable, yet it enforceth that that which
falleth being dead, shall rise again, because the strength of comfort therein
set forth unto his people, is taken from the similitude of the resurrection.
So Eevel. xx. 12, John saith, ' And I saw the dead both great and small
stand before God,' &c. Thus TertuUian says, that ' he will pray that the
same body may rise again ; for the resurrection is not of another body,
but of the same that falleth : not a new creation, but a raising up '(«?). St
Jerome says, ' that it cannot stand with equity and right that one body should
sin and another body be punished' (/). Neither will a just judge suffer
VOL. VII. X
322 THE GENEBAL RESURRECTION.
a victorious person to die and another to have the crown of his deservings.
Therefore the same body that sinned shall be punished, the same that hath
gotten the victory shall be crowned, and that same body shall rise again.
We see in Christ's resurrection, the same body that was wounded, the same
body did rise again ; he could, if he had pleased, in three days have cured
his wounds, seeing that he could heal all sicknesses and diseases with a
word, or a touch, but he let them alone to confirm his disciples, and to
shew that he had the very same body which was crucified. Thus Thomas
was bid, John xx. 27, to reach his finger and behold his hands, and reach
his hand to put in his side, whereby appeared the same body and wounds
remaining. Therefore, as in the head the same body which died rose again,
so shall it be with all his members. Against this doctrine there be some
objections.
Obj. 1. The first is out of 1 Cor. xv. 44, where it is said, * that it is
sown a natural body, but is raised a spiritual body,' so it is not the same
body that riseth again. To this I answer,
Ans. That it is not spiritual in regard of substance, but in regard of the
estate and condition which they shall be in ; for a natural life is upheld
by the use of meat, and drink, and sleep, physic, and rest, but then our
bodies shall be upheld by the power of God, without the use of these means.
Now our bodies are heavy, but then our souls shall be full of agility and
nimbleness to move upwards or downwards at pleasure swiftly, so that it is
a spiritual body, not in regard of substance, but in regard of quality and
operation.
Obj. 2. Secondly, Say some, if the same bodies shall rise again, then
they rise with a number of needless parts ; for what shall a man need teeth,
seeing they shall eat no meat ? What shall they need a stomach, seeing
there shall be no concoction or digestion ? and what, shall a man need
bowels, seeing there shall be no redundance to fill them ?
A71S. Augustine shall answer for me : saith he, ' Concerning the teeth,
they shall be needful and useful then, for we have a double use of them :
they serve to eat with, and they are to further our speech, and therefore,
though we shall have no need of teeth in regard of eating, yet we shall
have need of them to speak with, for ia heaven we shall praise God, and
sing the song of Moses and of the Lamb. And as for the other parts of
the body, they are, saith he, for sight and comeliness ; for though there be
no need of the stomach to concoct, nor of the bowels because there is no
redundance, yet these shall be as ornaments to the body, to adorn and
beautify it. For as there be some things not needful now save for orna-
ment, as a man's beard and his breasts, which have no other use save this,
even so, though we shall not need a stomach to concoct, nor bowels for
redundance then, yet shall they be for an ornament to man \g).
Obj. 3. Thirdly, It is objected, the same bodies do not rise, because they
be heavy and ponderous ; for how, say some, should heavy and weighty
bodies stay above the clouds in the pure heaven, which is purer and thinner
than the air ? To this I answer,
Ans. (1.) That if a man may fill a great vessel of lead, and make it swim
above the water, by drawing the air into it, why then may not God draw
his Spirit into us, and fill us so with it, as to make our heavy bodies abide
above the clouds, as well as a man to make a vessel of lead swim above water ?
Ans. (2.) Again I answer, that everything abides in his own proper place
at God's appointment. As, for example, the clouds are heavy and wet,
and therefore would fall down to the ground, but that God hath appointed
THE GENERAL RESUERECTION. 323
the air to be the proper place of them, where therefore they abide ; so like-
wise the water would be above the land, but that God hath limited the
proud waves to a confinement, where it must rest and advance no further.
So, it being God's appointment which makes anything to remain where it
doth, though contrary to the nature thereof; therefore, because heaven is
the proper place of a glorified body, and earth of a mortal body, the same
bodies shall remain here until the day of judgment, after which, being made
glorified bodies, they shall remain for ever in heaven, the proper place of
their assignment. The uses are,
1. First, That seeing we shall rise with the same bodies, therefore we
must be careful to keep them well, that they be pure and unspotted, without sin.
It is Paul's conclusion, 1 Cor. vi. 18, ' Fly fornication. Every sin that a
man doth is without the body : but he who committeth fornication sinneth
agamst the body.' So, because our bodies shall rise again, let us fly every
sin and corruption, and keep our bodies unspotted, that so they may be
presented before Christ holy and pure at that day. For what a shame will
it be to stand before God in judgment, when we have wronged and grieved
God by our sins ; when our heavenly judge shall say unto us, Are not these
the eyes wherewith you have let in lust and looked after vanity ? are not
these the tongues that ye have told so many hes with ? are not these the
mouths wherewith you have sworn and blasphemed my name ? are not these
the hands you have wrought wickedness with ? are not these the feet which
have carried you to sin, vanity, and disorder ? And then how shall we be
able to answer the Lord ! Therefore let us be careful to live well, and keep
our bodies unspotted, that we may have comfort at that day. We read, 2
Chron. xxxvi. 8, when Jehoiachim was dead, there was found the characters,
niarks, and prints of his sorcery; howsoever during his life he, being a
king, bore it out, and kept it close ; yet, being dead, there remained the
prints of his abominations found on his body. So, howsoever sinners may
hide and conceal their sins here, and deceive the world, yet when they be
dead there shall be found the marks and prints of the foul sins that they
have committed ; therefore keep we our bodies pure and unspotted against
that day.
2. Secondly, Seeing the same bodies shall rise again, therefore ice should
depose and lay them down rvell at the day of death, to die in faith and repent-
ance. "We see if a man put ofi" his garment, and means to put it on again,
he will not rend and tear it off his back, but pull it off gently, brush and
lay it up safe, that so it may do him service again, and grace him before
his friends. So, seeing our bodies are as a garment for our souls, when
we put them off, let us labour to depose and lay them down well at the day
of death, that they may do us credit at the day of judgment. We read,
2 Peter i. 14, saith he, * I think it meet, so long as I am in this tabernacle,
to stir you up, by putting you in mind ; seeing I know that the time is at
hand that I must lay down this my tabernacle, even as the Lord Jesus
hath shewed me.' So Saint Paul, 2 Cor. v. 1 : ' For we know, that if the
earthly house of this tabernacle be dissolved, we have a building given us
of God,' &c. Thus is he careful of a better building, in pulling down of
the old. There is great difference between a soldier destroying of an house,
and one that only dissolves it. He that destroys a house pulls down the
timber and stones, and flings everything he cares not where, because he
doth not purpose to use them again ; but a man that dissolves a house, he
will take it down piece by piece, laying up carefully every several parcel,
because he intends to build with it again. Even so, because we know our
324 THE GENERAL EESUKRECTION.
bodies shall rise again at tbe last day, we must not therefore destroy them,
but labour to dispose of them, and lay them down well at the day of death.
3. Thirdly, Seeing the same bodies shall rise again, this should make us
live with fear, so to lay them do'wn ivell at the day of death. Here this great
question may be answered : whether we may know one another at the day
of judgment ? But this needs be no question, seeing we shall rise again
with the same bodies that we lay down here, therefore we shall know one
another in heaven. The reasons are,
Beasons. 1. First, Because our himdedge shall at that time be more perfect
than ever Adam's u-as in the time of innocency, in which state he did know
his wife as soon as she was brought unto him, though he never saw her
before ; therefore much more we shall then know one another, seeing our
knowledge, rising with the same bodies, shall be perfecter.
2. Again, The disciples in the mount, at Christ's transfiguration, had hut
a glimpse or taste of the heavenly glory, and yet Peter hnew Moses and Elias,
though they were dead many hundred years before. Wherefore, if he,
having but a taste of heavenly glory, knew them, he being unglorified,
much more we shall know one another, when we have fulness of glory.
3. Because our happiness shall he greatly increased by the means of the
mutucd society one ivith another; as. Mat. viii. 11, Christ says, ' But I say
unto you, that many shall come from the east, and from the west, and shall
sit down with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in the kingdom of God.' And
therefore, seeing our happiness shall be greatly increased by mutual society,
we, are not to think that we shall go to a strange people, where we shall
know nobody ; but we shall go to all our godly friends and acquaintance,
and to such as we know.
4. We shall hear the indictment of the wicked at the day of judgment ;
when, if we hear the same, we shall know the persons indicted of wicked
men, such as oppressed the people of God, Cain, Pharaoh, Judas, Nero,
and the like. And as we shall know the wicked, so we shall know the
godly too, when they shall be rewarded. This, methinks, may be a motive
to quicken us in our care to live holily and christianly, seeing we go not to
a strange country, or people, but to our friends and acquaintance, and to
such as we know.
The third general point is, the time when we shall rise.
Point 3. At the day of judgment, then, and never till then, as John xi.
23, Martha confesses, ' I know my brother shall rise again in the resurrec-
tion at the last day.' So, 1 Cor. xv. 51, Saint Paul says, ' We shall not
all sleep, but we shall all be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an
eye, at the last trumpet (for the trumpet shall blow), and the dead shall
be raised up.' Of which there be four reasons.
Reasons. 1. First, Because there might be a i^roportion hetidxt Christ and
his members ; for, when he died, he did not by and hje rise again, but he
lay a while trampled and trodden under foot of death. So must we.
Irenseus with this shuts up his book, saying, ' Even as our heavenly master
did not fly to heaven by and bye, but did remain under death and in the
grave for a time, even so all his servants must be contented to lie in the
grave, and to be trampled under foot of death for a time before we go to
heaven' (/i),
2. Secondly, Because the saints might meet the bodies of all the faithful
which are gone before the^n together, they shall not rise to prevent one another
in glory, but shall all go together ; as it is 1 Thes. iv. 14. This is an excellent
comfort unto us who live in the last age of the world, that the saints
THE GENERAL EESUREECTION. 325
departed before us shall not rise to heavenly glory till we also be ready with
them. Until this time they wait for our accomplishment in their graves ;
as 1 Sam. xvi. 11, when Samuel calleth all Jesse's sons before him, there
being yet one of them wanting, said, Fetch him, we will not sit down till he
be come, so all the people of God He in their graves, and cannot rise till
our time also be accomplished.
3. Thirdly, For the further declaration of the poiver of Christ ; for it seems
a greater matter that Christ should raise men who have been lying rotting
in their graves a thousand years, than it is to raise men when they are
newly dead. Therefore, when Christ was about to raise Lazarus from the
death, Martha said to Jesus, ' My brother stinketh already, for he bath
been dead these four days ;' therefure she inferred, it was not so easy a
matter to raise him then as at first, being new dead, and as it was to raise
Jairus's daughter, and the widow's son. So Ezek. sxxvii. 3, when the Lord
demanded this question of the prophet, ' Can these dead bones live ? he
answered, 'Lord, thou knowest ;' as though he had said. It is not impossible
to thee, but it is a hard matter to be done, or bring to pass.
4. Fourthly, For the further confirmation of our faith ; for look how many
there be of the dead bodies of the saints amongst us, so many pledges and
pawns there are for our redemption ; for although we might in ourselves
doubt of our own bodies rising in regard of our sins, and of the badness of
our lives, yet because there be so many bodies of the dead saints among
us, we need not doubt but he will raise them up one day to glory. There
are three bodies already ascended into heaven: Enoch before the law,
Elias in the time of the law, and Christ in the time of the gospel ; and for
these three bodies he hath left many thousand of the dead saints' bodies
remaining in the grave, to be pledges and pawns to us of our resurrection ;
to_ this purpose Saint Paul says, Heb. xi. 40, that God provided ' better
things for us, that they without us should not be made perfect.' The
uses are,
1. First, Seeing that the bodies of the saints do not rise till the day of
judgment, therefore i(;e must he contented to he under affliction and trouble till
God deliver us ; as the saints' bodies are trampled upon, and rest quietly
till the day of deliverance.
2. Secondly, That seeing the bodies of the saints rise not till then, that
we should therefore desire and long for it, yea, and unit ; as it is said,
Eom. viii. 21, both the creatures rational and irrational do groan and
travail in pain towards that day of redemption, and glorious liberty of the
sons of God. We see if a man have broken an arm, or put a leg out of
joint, if one have promised him that he will come to set it in joint at such
an hour, he will still be looking and longing for his coming ; even so, seeing
at the day of judgment the Lord will restore us again to our former integrity,
we should long for that day, and be looking for it.
3. Thirdly, This should moderate the delicate and too much jyampering of
our bodies, which must ere long lie so trodden under and rotting in the grave,
to be so careful about them, but to take care for our soul's good, and then
both body and soul shall be raised up unto glory for ever.
Quest. Now here ariseth a question : Seeing our bodies must lie so many
years and ages rotting in the grave, what may be our comfort to uphold
and sustain us in the mean time ?
Ans. 1. That God will be present with us, that he will not fail us nor
forsake us, but will go to the grave with our dead bodies, watch over our
ashes with the eye of his providence, to keep them, and raise up all again.
326 THE GENERAL RESURRECTION.
So that look how God encouraged Jacob, Gen. xlvi. 4, * Fear not to go
down into Egj'pt, for I will go with thee, and I will bring thee up again,'
so God will go down into the grave with our dead bodies, watch over them,
and bring them up again.
2. Secondly, That though our bodies lie rotting in the grave, yet that
our souls shall be happy and blessed, which was Paul's comfort : 2 Cor.
V. 1, ' For we know that if this earthly house of our tabernacle be
dissolved, we have a building given us of God, not made with hands, but
eternal in the heavens.' So Eev. vi. 11, the souls which lay under the
altar, crying, ' How long. Lord' ? were comforted with the long white robes
given unto them ; the present blessed estate of their souls.
3. Thirdly, This may comfort us, that although we lie in the grave a
long time, yet that Christ hath sanctified and sweetened it unto us, by
lying therein himself ; so that the grave is now become a sweet bed to rest
in peace in : as Isa. Ivii. 2, he speaks of such, • Peace shall be upon them,
they shall rest in their beds, every one that walketh before me ; ' so that
Christ hath now made this the plain way to heaven. Wherefore, as the
children of Israel marched through the wilderness, where were fiery ser-
pents, enemies, and many discouragements, overcoming all, because it was
their way to Canaan, so the grave, being our way to heaven, let us over-
come all doubts, and not fear to march that way unto it.
4. Fourthly, That although we lie a long time in the grave, that we have
assured hope that we shall rise again ; as David says, Ps. xvi. 9, ' Wherefore
my heart is glad, and my tongue rejoiceth ; my flesh also rests in hope :
for thou wilt not leave my soul in the grave ; neither wilt thou suffer thy
Holy One to see corruption ; ' as it was true thus of Christ, so is it of all
the members : when they are laid in the grave they are not gone and past
hope. Though like Jonah, for the time swallowed up of a whale, the grave
receive them, yet the Lord will in due time speak to the grave to cast them
out again. Therefore it should teach us to live comfortably in this life, to
encourage others; and when the time of our death cometh, then to depart
in peace, seeing God will be with us, and our bodies shall rise again,
heavenly glory in the mean time being appointed for our soals.
The fourth point is, the consideration by whose power we shall rise.
Point 4. That is, by the x>oiver of Christ ; no power else can do it. It
cannot be done by the power of nature ; as Job xiv. 14, ' If a man die, shall
he live again ? ' meaning, that if a man die he cannot rise of himself ; so
David says, Ps. xlix. 7, ' Yet a man can by no means redeem his brother,
he cannot give his ransom to God.' So Ps. xlix. 15, * But God shall
deliver my soul from the grave ; for he will receive me ; ' so all shall rise
by the power of Christ, but with great difierence : the godly with boldness,
joy, and ravishment; the wicked with fear, shame, and astonishment.
The uses of which are,
Use 1. First, To viagnifrj and rely upon this mighty porrer of Christ, by
which we shall rise again out of the grave, and from the belly of rottenness.
2. Secondly, Therefore to labour to feel the poiver of Christ here in this life
to thy conversion and conscience qnietiny, or else thou shalt feel the power of
Christ to thy terror at the day of judgment.
3. Thirdly, Seeing all shall rise again at last, through the power of
Christ, therefore let tis not doubt but that the Lord irill raise us out of all
troubles whatsoever in the best time, as we see, Ezek. xxxvii. 3, the Lord
there asks the prophet, ' Son of man, can these dead bones live' ? then he
bade him prophesy upon those bones, and bone ran to his bone, and the
THE GENERAL KESUEEECTION. 827
flesh and sinews grew on them again, so that there stood up a great army.
Now God applies this, ver, 11, ' Son of man,' saith he ' these bones are
the whole house of Israel, which did lie in captivity and bondage ; ' where-
fore God shewed the prophet that as he was able to raise these dead bones,
so he was able to bring his people out of captivity and bondage again ;
therefore doubt not but thy God will raise thee out of thy troubles, what-
soever they be. So Ps. Ixxsvi. 13, David confesseth, ' Great is thy mercy
towards me, and thou hast delivered my soul out of the lowest grave.'
This the saints have found, and this thou shalt find to thy comfort, there-
fore make a right use of the power of Christ.
The fifth pointis, in what estate our bodies shall rise again.
Point 5. That is, into an estate ofglonj. Now our bodies are mortal and
mutable, subject to a number of infirmities, hunger, cold, nakedness, sick-
ness, and pains ; now they are lumpish, dull, and heavy in the service of
God, but at the resurrection then our bodies shall be made immortal, with-
out subjection to any infirmities of nature, having strength to perform our
own actions ; in this goodly estate shall our bodies rise in.
If a physician should out of his art and skill give us such a potion that
we should never hunger nor thirst after it, and to be freed also thereby
from all griefs, pains, infirmities, and diseases, how would one strain to his
utmost to buy such a potion ? Yet such a potion the Lord hath freely
provided for us at the last day, when he will give us such a cup to drink
of as we shall never hunger, thirst, or feel any more pain, how should we
therefore long and desire after the coming of Christ ! We see what our
Saviour says. Mat. xviii. 8, ' It were better for a man to enter heaven hurt
and maimed, than otherwise to be cast into hell in never so great perfection
of parts.' But thanks be to God, we may enter into heaven, and have all
things in the state of perfection. Therefore how should this make us -
strive to be God's people, that we may attain unto this so excellent an
estate ?
But this question which St Paul propounds, 1 Cor. xv., in what estate
our bodies shall rise at the last day, cannot be answered but with a dis-
tinction. The bodies of the godly rise in an estate of glory, the bodies of
the wicked rise in an estate of shame and disgrace ; so ^both rise, but in a
different estate, as Gen. xl. 20, we read Pharaoh's two servants were both
delivered out of prison, but in a diverse manner, the one to stand before
the .king, and give the cup into his hand, as formerly, the other to be
executed and hanged. Even so it is with the godly and wicked at the last
day, both of them shall be raised out of the grave, but the one to honour,
to stand in [the presence of God, the other to shame and perpetual con-
tempt. So the bodies of the saints, though now weak, shall be glorious
then; as Paul shews, 1 Cor. xv. 37, of corn, which, when it is sowed, it is
but bare corn, but God giveth it a body at his pleasure ; so, saith he, is the
resurrection of the dead. Our bodies are sown in corruption, but raised
m honour; it is sown in weakness, and is raised in power; it is sown a
natural body, and is raised a spiritual body. So St Paul shews, ' Christ
shall change our vile bodies, that it may be fashioned like unto his glorious
body;' for look, in what estate Christ's body rose again, in the same estate
shall all the bodies of the saints rise in ; for the members must be con-
formable to the head ; but Christ's body did rise in a far more glorious
estate than ours are now. Therefore, when we look on our bodies, and see
them weak, and poor, contemptible, crooked, and deformed, we should live
well, and then comfort ourselves with this, that in the kingdom of God our
328 THE GENEEAL RESURRECTION.
bodies shall be made glorious and beautiful, and all deformities taken from
them. One says well, that as the goldsmith melts his gold, and so frames
a cup to serve the king, so the Lord only melts and refines us by death, to
fit us to be vessels of glory hereafter. Therefore it is an excellent medita-
tion to think often of the glory to come, to strengthen us against the terrors
of death ; as Job doth, chap, xix., when he was covered with griefs and
sores ; ' I am sure,' saith he, ' that my Kedeemer lives, and he shall stand
[at] the last on the earth ; and though after my skin worms destroy this body,
yet shall I see God with my flesh,' &c. So must we comfort ourselves in
the like extremities. Now this glory shall not be from the redundance of
the spirit only, but it shall be also in regard of the blessed and happy estate
that the body shall be in at that time ; which appears in
Six things, wherein the glory and excellency of the body shall consist
after the resurrection.
1. First, That all the parts of the body shall he then j^&rfect and entire, and
shall leant nothing. Howsoever now a man may be maimed and deformed,
wanting a hand, eye, leg, arm, finger, or the like, yet all shall be supplied
unto him then at that day ; and that for two reasons.
(1.) First, Because all things then shall be reduced to their former
estate ; as Peter shews. Acts iii. 21, speaking of Christ, ' Whom,' saith he,
' the heavens must contain until the time cometh that all things shall be
restored.' But in the beginning, man's body was made perfect and entire,
wanting nothing either for beauty or comeliness ; therefore to this estate
it shall be restored again.
(2.) Secondly, TertuUian fetches it from another ground, Eev. xxi. 4,
where it is said, ' There shall be no more death then.' ' Always,' saith he,
* in the greater is inferred the lesser. Now the lameness or deformedness
of any member is the death of that member. Now if death be expelled
from the whole man, so also must it be from every particular member ;
therefore the bodies of the saints shall rise again perfect and entire at the
last day' (/).
Use 1. Therefore, in any oj the wants and inipcrfections of ourselves or our
friends, tve must labour to live a holy life, draw them on also in goodness,
and then be comforted.j ^Whatsoever our imperfections are, God will help
all at the last day.
Use 2. Again, seeing at the day of judgment all parts shall be perfected
and restored, we should not now be afraid to give any of them for the name
of Christ ; for he that did restore the ear of Malchus, who was his enemy,
much more will reslore any part which his friends shall lose for his name's
sake. Therefore we read, Heb. xi. 35, how those holy men there men-
tioned endured, and would not be delivered from those pains and torments
which they endured of wicked men, that they might receive a better resur-
rection.
2. Secondly, The glory of the body consists in this, that it shall be beautiful
and lovely, though now deformed and ill-favoured ; being dead especially,
which made Abraham desire to buy a place to bury his dead out of his
sight. Gen. xxiii. 4 ; for these reasons :
Reason 1. First, look what estate Adam was in in the time of his inno-
cency; in the same estate shall the bodies of the saints be at the resurrec-
tion. But in the beginning, the body of man was so beautiful, glorious,
full of brightness and splendour which came from it, as all the beasts of the
field came gazing, and stood looking on him ; therefore the bodies of the
saints shall be in the same state at the resurrection.
THE GENERAL RESURRECTION. 829
2. Secondly, Because all deformities, blackness, and ill-favouredness are
punishments and penalties for sin ; but when our sins shall cease, and our
corruptions, then the penalty and punishment of them shall cease also.
Oh how should this quicken up our care to repent us of our sins, to get
faith in Christ, and to walk holily before him, that we may have our por-
tion with the saints at last. Men cannot help defoi'medness, but God can.
Both the temples were built, and defaced again, the last not so glorious
as the first ; but God will raise up all his, and make them more glorious
than ever.
3. Thirdly, The glory of the hodij shall then- consist in this, that it shall be
filled ivith hfiiihtness and splendour. Now our bodies are dark and obscure,
but then the bodies of the saints shall be like so many bright stars and
shining lamps, when the wicked shall look dark and ugly to behold. We
read, Dan. xii. 3, ' That they who be wise, shall shine as the brightness of
the firmament ; and they that turn many to righteousness, shall shine as
the stars for ever and ever.' So Mat. xiii. 43, Christ enlargeth the same
their shining, where he saith ' that the just shall then shine like the sun
in the kingdom of their Father.' Therefore what glory they shall have is
unconceivable of us. We see, when Moses had talked with God forty days,
by the reflection of God's glory upon him, his face did so shine, that the
children of Israel were not able to behold it ; therefore how much more
glorious shall the saints be to behold, when they shall stay, not forty days
only with God, but for ever and ever ? If in this case a spark was such,
what shall the flame be ? and what shall be the inward glory of the soul ?
Use 1. The use hereof is, that ive shoxdd much and often solace ourselves
icith the meditation hereof, abstracting our minds from this world ; and, as
Gen. xiii. 17, when the Lord had made a promise to Abraham of the land
of Canaan, ho bid him to arise and walk through the laud in the length and
breadth thereof, so seeing God hath promised us heaven, though we be not
in actual possession, as we shall be, yet we should arise often, and walk
through this land in the length and breadth thereof ; that is, meditate and
think of the surpassing glory and excellence of the place.
Use 2. Secondly, Let us then be careful to live icell, and spend our time in
holiness and righteousness whilst we live here; for how can we expect that
God should honour us then, when we are not careful to honour him with
our bodies now ? It is a rule in art, that they who would finish their
colours in brightness must lay light grounds ; even so, if thou wouldst have
Christ to finish up thy life in glory, never lay the sad grounds and black
colours of sin and corruption, but repent of thy sins, purify thy heart by
faith in Christ, wash thyself often in the blood of CTirist, that so he may
present thee pure and unspotted in that day.
4. Fourthly, The body shall then be immutable and immortal. Now our
bodies are subject to many alterations and changes ; as it is Job xiv. 2,
' Man shooteth forth as a flower, and is cut down : he vanisheth away as a
shadow,' &c. Now our bodies are subject to hunger, and thirst, and many
diseases, but then they shall be brought to such an estate of pre-eminency
as they shall never hunger or thirst any more, nor have any alteration.
So Rev. xvi. 7, it is said, ' They shall hunger no more, neither thirst any
more, neither shall the sun light on them, neither any heat.' So Rev.
xxii. 4, he shews God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes, and there
shall be no more death, neither sorrow, neither crying, neither shall there
be any more pain,' so they shall have rest. And as this is clear by the
Scripture, so is it also by reason ; for it is a ground in nature that all
330 THE GENERAL EESURKECTION.
things labour to attain to their last perfection, so to rest in it. We see in
nature, if the shipman's needle be touched with a loadstone, it turns, and
shakes, and never is at rest till it stand against the north pole, when, if it
be hindered by anything, it stands trembling as discontented, resting when
once it cometh there. So is it with the bodies of the saints that are touched
with the loadstone, that is, who have touched Christ by faith ; they be not
in rest and quiet here, but subject to many sorrows and infirmities of
nature, until they be brought to Christ, where they securely rest, and be
immutable and unchangeable. Therefore, when we feel these diseases and
decays of nature, let us take Peter's counsel, mentioned Acts iii. 19,
' Repent and turn to the Lord, that our sins may be put away, when the
time of refreshing shall come out from the presence of the Lord.' It is a
world to see what means men use to keep their bodies from putrefaction,
to embalm them, keep them in lead with sweet spices, lay them in marble,
yet none of these will serve, for all must stoop and yield to the grave and
rottenness. But if we live a holy Hfe, and get faith in the Lord Jesus,
then at the last day the body shall be brought to such an estate as shall be
immortal and immutable.
5. Fifthly, They shall he sjnritual bodies. Now they are natural bodies,
but then they shall be spiritual ; as it is 1 Cor. xv. 44, ' It is sown a
natural, and is raised a spiritual body.' Now, it shall not be a spiritual
body in regard of substance, for it shall have ^breadth, and length, and
thickness, parts and dimensions, as our bodies now have. So Christ told
the disciples, Luke xxiv. 39, when entering the house, they supposed to
have seen a spirit, but he says, ' Behold my hands and my feet, and handle
me, for a spirit hath not flesh and bones.' Now, in two respects, our
bodies are said then to be made spiritual.
(1.) First, Because then they shall be upheld and maintained by the
Spirit. Now our bodies are upheld by meat and drink, sleep and physic ;
but then the Spirit of God shall quicken them, and they shall have no need
of these helps. We know that Moses was forty days in the mount, where
he was so filled with the glory of God, that he was neither thirsty nor
hungry, nor desired to rest or sleep. Now if Moses was thus upheld with
the glory of God in the estate of mortality,* without the use of meat and
drink, much more shall the bodies of the saints be upheld in the state of
glory, where God shall be all in all unto them (j).
(2.) Secondly, Because the body shall attend the spirit in all good duties,
and shall be subject unto it ; as Augustine speaks, ' It is not called a
spiritual body, because, as some think, the substance of the body is turned
into a spirit, but,' saith he, ' it is called a spiritual body, because it shall
be subject to the spirit, and attend it' (A-). The schoolmen, as Thomas
Aquinas, confess thus much. It is a plain case that in glory the spirit
shall not depend on the body, but the body shall be led by the spirit and
attend it. For in the best there is now such reluctation betwixt the flesh
and the spirit, as Gal. v. 17, that they being contrary to one another, we
cannot do the things that we would ; so Mat. xxvi. 40, when the disciples
should have watched and prayed, Christ found them asleep ; so Rom.
vii. 22, ' For I delight in the law of God as touching my inward man: but
I see another law in my members rebelling against the law of my mind,
and leading me captive unto the law of sin which is in my members ; ' so
Ezek. iii. 14, * I went,' saith he, ' but it was in the bitterness of my spirit.'
Thus the wrestling is great in us betwixt the flesh and the spirit, but one
* Qu. 'immortality'? — Ed.
THE GENERAL EESUEKECTION. 331
day it is our comfort, the spirit shall have a final victory, and we shall be
led by the spirit. When Rebecca had conceived. Gen. xxv. 22, she felt so
great striving and struggling in her, that she was much perplexed, until
she went to God, and had this answer, that two nations were in her, and
that the elder should serve the younger. So must this be our comfort,
that though now we be troubled with the flesh, which is the elder, yet that
the time shall shortly come that the flesh shall submit, attend, and be sub-
ject to the younger, which is the spirit, last bred in us, in all things. If
one bring a little spark of fire to a great heap of gunpowder, the fii-e will
dissolve it and bring it to nothing ; so, although there be a great heap of
sin and corruption in us, yet if a man get but a little spark of the Spirit of
God into us, it will dissolve our sins, and bring those purposes to nothing.
Therefore now we must comfort ourselves with this, that though now our
bodies be not ruled by the spirit, yet that one day they shall be subject
unto it.
6. Sixthly, In that it shall he a powerful body ; as 1 Cor. xv. 43. Now
this power of the body appears in two things.
(1.) First, That it shall have power to perform the actions of the body
without defatigation or weariness. Now we cannot do any action but in
time we shall be weary of it, weary of going, sitting, standing ; as it is said
of Christ, John iv. 6, that being weary, he sat down upon the well ; so
Exod. xvii. 12, Moses's hands waxed weary in holding them up for Israel.
So the best Christians are weary in the best duties, but at that day all
duties shall be performed without any show of weariness, which should
comfort us now amidst our imperfections, making us long for that day when
we shall be enabled to serve God without ceasing.
(2.) Secondly, In that the body shall then move any way with ease,
being able to walk in the air, on the water, even as now we can walk on
the ground. Though now our bodies be heavy, yet then they shall have
strength, as they shall be able to mount upwards, downwards, or forward
or backward with as much ease as a man lifts up his hand ; which should
stir us up to live a holy life, that we may one day be partakers of these
excellent privileges. Pliny reports of the little bees, that in a great wind
or tempest, they fetch up little stones in their claws, to ballast themselves
against the wind, that they be not carried away in it (l). So should we
do in the time of temptation or trouble ; ballast ourselves with the promises
of God and hope of blessedness, that so we be not carried away with the
wind of temptation and trouble. Thus far of the godly.
Now for the wicked, in what estate they shall rise in ; it consists in two
things.
1. First, They shall rise in an estate of shame and disgrace. * And they
shall go forth, and look upon the carcases of the men that have transgressed
against me : for their worm shall not die, neither shall their fire be
quenched ; and they shall be an abhorring unto all flesh,' Isa. Ixvi. 24.
We see in sickness and pain, or a great fear, how our countenances alter
and change ; much more shall they then, in so great vexation and anguish
of spirit.
2. Secondly, As the godly shall be free from hunger, cold, thirst, and
all diseases and pains, so the wicked shall be subject unto all these in much
extremity for ever, insomuch as if they should but, like the rich glutton,
desire a drop of comfort to refresh them, they shall not have it. Where-
fore seeing all the necessities and pains of nature, yea, and all the vengeance
that the anger of an angry incensed God can inflict upon them, shall tor-
332 THE GENERAL RESURRECTION.
ment them for ever, let us now stir up ourselves to strive more than ever
to sliun this woeful miserable condition which the wicked shall then be in,
and hearken unto the good counsel and advice of God's word, of the
ministers, and of our godly friends to help us on in the good ways of God,
which leads to heaven and happiness.
Thus I have done with the doctrine of the resurrection of the body ; yet
there remains some questions to be answered, which for mine own part I
could be contented to pass over ; because as David says, Ps. cxxxi. 1, ' I
have not walked in great matters and hid from me.' And in the law,
Esod, xix. 23, the priests as well as the people had their bounds set them,
which they might not pass beyond. Yet, notwithstanding, because some
are desirous to hear what further may be said, I will answer your desires,
and make a further supply of them as far as the light of God's truth will
lead me.
1. The first question is. Whether such as were born monsters and mis-
shapen shall rise so at the last day ?
Augustine answers, that they shall not rise monstrous deformed
bodies at the last day, but corrected and amended in all parts. The reason
he shews in another place is this, ' Because if a workman cast an ill
favoured piece of work at first, h-e takes it and melts it again, until he
make it an excellent piece ; therefore much more God can and will melt
these deformed bodies by death, and make them glorious, entire, and
perfect' («;). Now to this judgment I assent thus far, that all the deformed
bodies of the godly shall rise, melted by death, glorious and perfect in all
parts ; but that they who be wicked shall have the same deformities upon
them at the day of judgment. My reason is, deformedness and mis-shapen-
ness is a punishment of sin ; but at the day of judgment the punishment
of sin shall not be repealed unto the wicked, but shall be further increased.
But the Schoolmen say, unto which I assent, that if a wicked man lose an
eye or a hand for his oflence, by the command of the magistrate, they shall
be restored unto them at the day of judgment, to their further increase of
torment. Lo, then the way to shun deformity, if thou be mis-shapen any
way, live in the fear of God, believe in Christ, repent thee of thy sins, and
then at that day all thy deformities shall be done away, and thy body made
like unto Christ's glorious body for ever.
^ 2. The second is, In what sex we shall rise, whether men shall rise men,
and women women, or not ?
I answer, They shall rise in the same sex ; as Mat. xxii. 8, we see by
the Sadducees' question propounded to Christ, of a woman who had seven
husbands, whose wife she should be in the resurrection ? Christ doth not
say there shall be no women in the resurrection, but he says they shall not
marry ; so that the sexes shall not cease, but they shall be as the angels of
God in heaven. And Saint Jerome upon that place afiirms, that ' Christ
gives us thereby to understand, where he says they shall not then marry,
nor give in marriage, that both shall rise again in their proper sex, men
shall rise men, and women shall rise women ;' and the Greek text bears
so much, though the Latin do not (»). So 1 Peter iii. 7, the apostle
exhorts both men and women to live together as heirs of the grace of life.
And Mat. xii. 42, there it is said that ' the queen of the south shall rise up
in judgment against this generation, and shall condemn it,' &c. ; so it is
clear that both sexes shall rise again.
3. The third question is. In what age we shall rise, whether children
shall rise children, and old men rise old men ?
THE GENERAL KESUREECTION. 333
^ Augustine, unto whom the Schoolmen agree, answers, * That all shall
rise at the age of Christ, of thirty-three years of age ' (o). But I dare not
assent unto this opmion, because there is no warrant for it out of the
bcriptures ; for whatsoever is not of faith is sin ; and that which hath not
Its warrant from the word cannot be of faith, which must be grounded on
the Scripture There is one place which seems to confirm the former
opinion, that of Eph. iv. 13, ' Till we all meet together in the unity of the
faith, and knowledge of the Son of God, into a perfect man, and into the
age of the fulness of Christ.' Now by a consent of most of the fathers,
hey unders and this place m another sense. Chrysostom saith, that in
this place 'by the fulness of the age of Christ,' is meant not the full age
of Christ, but the gifts and graces of Christ (o). So some others say to
the same sense St Jerome says, that ' by the age of Christ is not meant
the grounds of the bodies of the godly, but the inward man, of the mits
and graces of the soul (o). Again Tertullian difiers from his iud«ment
another way; saith he, 'Let Christians remember that our souls" shall
receive the same bodies from the which they departed ; and therefore look
m what stature and m what age they departed, in the same they shall rise
again {p}- And m my judgment there be some reasons to prove the
contrary. '-
_ 1. First, That there is nothing in a child more than in a man to hinder
him from the kmgdom of God ; for Christ saith, ' Suffer little children to
come unto me, and forbid them not ; for of such is the kingdom of God '
And I make no question, if in innocency Adam had had children, thev
should have been blessed ; much more are they capable of blessedness in
heaven.
2. Secondly, Children may perform the chiefest act of our work in
heaven, namely to praise God ; as Ps. viii. 2, ' Out of the mouths of babes
and sucklings thou hast ordained praise.'
^ 3 Again, all those whom Christ raised, being upon earth, were raised
in the same stature they were in when they died, as the maid, the widow's
son, and Lazarus ; and those who were raised at the resurrection of Christ
how should they else have been known of their friends if they had not
risen the same they were ? So that the imperfection of children is only in
regard of labour and travail, not in regard of capacity to live a spiritual
Thus have I satisfied your desires in delivering my judgment in these
weighty points, which I tie no man to believe further than the Spirit of
God shall direct him. We must not be too curious in this ^reat point
only stir up yourselves to the love and fear of God, to walk with him
according to the prescription of his word, and then let it sufiice us we
shall be raised up m a wonderful manner to everlasting glory and happi-
ness, beyond all that we are able to think or speak ; unto which, God of
his mercy bring us all in due time. Amen.
NOTES.
(a) P. 31 8.— 'Tertullian says well, " It was a harder matter for God to make n
man, being nothing," ' &c. The present and after-references (6, e, i,p) combine
somewhat oddly, scattered reminiscences not only of this Father's great treatie
De Resmrectione Canus, but hkewise of his De ^nm^, and immortll 'Anoloo-v'
Cf. for the former c. svii., for the next c. iv. and xxii,, for the third c xMii
334 THE GENERAL RESURRECTION.
Probably the present reference is to the last, which is eloquent and effective. Bp.
Kaye's 'Tertullian,' c. iii. pp. 190-214, will reward consultation.
(b) P. 318. — ' Again, Tertullian saith well, "We must not think," ' &c. Cf. note
a above.
(c) P, 319. — ' As Augustine speaks; and Cyril saith well, "that Christ entered,'"
&c. ' As with Tertullian, Sibbes in his references brings together various scattered
reminisences of Augustine. The indices to his De Civitate Dei furnish many refer-
ences reflective of 8ibbes's words. I suspect that Cyril is here a misreference for
Basil, in whose Hexaemeron (Homil. viii.) the thought occurs, if I err not.
{d) P. 321. — ' Chrysostom says well, " If a man take a long journey," ' &c. Con-
sult as in note o.
(e) P. 321. — ' Thus Tertullian saith, that "he will pray," ' &c. Cf. note a.
(f) P. 321. — ' St Jerome says, " that it cannot stand with equity," ' &c. I find
the thoughts under the following references in this Father's works [Benedictine ed.),
iv. pp. 323, 325, 326. So much does Jerome enter into details in the statement
of the doctrine of the resurrection of the body, that he intimates there will be no
use of barbers in the resurrection state, the hair and nails having ceased to grow,
as did those of the Israelites during their sojourn in the wilderness. This Father
abounds in the most singular illustrations of Sibbes's oddest questions.
(g) P. 322. — 'Augustine shall answer for me,' &c. Consult as in note o; but
Jerome, as described in note /, is more curious.
(h) P. 324, — ' Irena3us with this shuts up his book.' The 'book' referred to is
his (fragmentary) Adversus Hcereses.
(i) P. 328. — ' Tertullian fetcheth it from another ground,' &c. Cf. note a.
(J) P. 330. — ' We know that Moses was forty days in the mount,' &c. Dv Adam
Clarke, in his Commentary upon the place, furnishes us with a fine Eabbinical
explanation. Eelative, he says, to the ' forty days' ' fast of Moses, there is a beau-
tiful saying of the Talmudists : '"Is it possible that any man can fast forty days
and forty nights?" To which Kabbi Meir answered, " When thou takest up thy
abode in any particular city, thou must live according to its customs. Moses
ascended to heaven, where they neither eat nor drink ; therefore he became assimi-
lated to them. We are accustomed to eat and drink ; and when angels descend to
us, they eat and drink also." ' It was in very truth a ' heavenly,' not an ' earthly
life,' in the case equally of Moses, Elijah, and the Lord.
(k) P. 330. — ' Augustine speaks, " It is called a spiritual body," ' &c. Cf. as in
note 0 ; also various references under the text.
(1) P. 331. — ' Pliny reports of the little bees.' This apocryphal statement is only
one of many concerning bees and other creatures found in Pliny, and magnified in
the early English translation by Philemon Holland.
(m) P. 332. — ' Augustine answers, that they shall not rise,' &c. Cf. as in note o.
(n) P. 332. — ' St Jerome upon that place (Mat. xxii. 8) affirms.' &c. Cf. note/.
(o) P. 333. — ' Augustine answers,' &c. Cf. index-references of Augustine under
Eph. iv. 13 ; also Chr}sostom and Jerome. The point comes up repeatedly in these
and in all the Fathers.
(pj P. 333.—' Again, Tertullian differs,' &c. Cf. note a. G.
SIBBES'S LAST TWO SERMONS ; FROM CHRIST'S
LAST SERMON.
HONOBATISSIMO DOMINO,
DOMINO EOBEETO COMTTI WAKWICENST,*
HAS MELLITISSIMI THEOLOGI ElCHABDI SiBBS, S. ThEOL. DoCTOEIS,
(quem peechaeum habuit, cujusque concionantis atjditoe eeat assiduus
UNA CUM NOBILISSIMA FAinLIA),
CYGNEAS CONCIONES,
IN PIENTISSIMI AUTHOEIS AFFECTUS, NECNON IPSORUM
SINGULARIS OBSEQUn
ILVTiflOd'OVOV.
D.D.D.
Thomas Goodwin, f
Pniiiippus Nye.]'
* Eobert Earl of Warwick, is a historic name in himself, and from his relations
to the illustrious house of Sidney. See all the Peerage books.
t That is, Dr Thomas Goodwin, who discharged the oflSce of editor to many of
the Puritans besides Sibbes, e.g., Burroughes, Thomas Hooker. Consult Dr Hal-
ley's ' Memoir,' prefixed to vol. ii. of works in this series.
X One of the most venerable worthies of Puritanism. Born in 1596, he died in
1672. See ' The Nonconformists' Memorial,' vol. i. 96-7. G.
LAST TWO SERMONS.
Note.
For the circumstances under wMcli these ' Two Sermons ' were delivered, consult
our Memoir, c. xi. ult. Our text is taken from the 4th edition. Its title-page is
given below.* Three editions preceded, as follows : —
(a) 1st, 1636. 4to. Pp. 69.
(b) 2d, 1636, 4to. Pp. 65. [The ' Prayer' first added to this ed.]
(c) 3d, 1637. 4to. Pp. 103.
(d) 4th, 1638. 18mo., as below.— G.
Title-page —
TWO
SEKMONS
Vpon the first words of
Christs last Sermon,
John 14. 1.
Being also the last Sermons of
ElCHAED SiBBS D.D.
Preached to the honourable socie-
ty of Grayes Inne, lune 21.
and 28. 1635.
Who the next Lords day foUow-
ing, dyed, and rested from all
his labours.
2 Sam. 23. 1. These are the last words of
the siveet singer of Israel,
The fourth Edition.
LONDON,
Printed by Thomas Harper, for Law-
rence Chapman, and are to be sold at
his shop at Chancery lane end, in
Holborne, 1638.
THE AUTHOK'S PRAYER BEFORE HIS SERMON.
Gracious and holy Father ! wliicli hast sanctified this day for thy own
service and worship, and for the furthering of us in the way of salvation ; and
hast made a most gracious promise, that when ' two or three be gathered toge-
ther in thy name, thou wilt be there in the midst of them :'* vouchsafe, then,
we beseech thee, the performance of this thy promise unto us, now gathered
together in thy name, to pray unto thee, to hear and speak thy holy and
blessed word, and so sanctify our hearts by thy Holy Spirit at this time,
that we may perform these holy services as shall be most to thy glory and
our own comfort. Unworthy we are in ourselves to appear in thy most
holy presence, both by reason of the sins of our nature, and the sins of our
lives, even since that time that we have had some knowledge of thy blessed
trath ; which holy truth we have not entertained nor professed as we should
have done, but oftentimes against the light that thou hast kindled in our
hearts by thy Word and Spirit, we have committed many sins ; and,
amongst the rest, we confess our sins against thy holy ordinance ; our not
preparing our hearts unto it, nor profiting by it as we should and might
have done ; giving thy Majesty hereby just cause to curse thy own holy
ordinance unto us. But thou art a gracious and merciful Father unto us
in Jesus Christ, in the abundance of thy love and mercy. In him we come
unto thee, beseeching thee, for his sake, not to give us up to these inward
and spiritual judgments ; but vouchsafe us a true insight into our own
estates, without deceiving of our own souls, and from thence, true humilia-
tion. And then we beseech thee to speak peace unto us in thy Christ, and
say to our souls by thy Holy Spirit, that thou art our salvation. And for
clearer evidence that we are in thy favour, let us find the blessed work of
thy Holy Spuit opening our understandings, clearing our judgments, kind-
ling our afiections, discovering our corruptions, framing us every way to be
such as thou mayest take pleasure and delight in. And because thou hast
ordained thy holy word ' to be a light unto our feet, and a guide and direc-
tion to all our ways and paths, 'f and to be a powerful means to bring us
more and more out of the thraldom of sin and Satan, to the blessed hberty
of thy children, we beseech thee, therefore, to bless thy word to these
and all other good ends and purposes for which thou hast ordained it. And
grant, we beseech thee, that now at this time out of it we may learn
thy holy will ; and then labour to frame our lives thereafter, as may be
most to thy glory and our own comfort, and that for Jesus Christ his sake,
thine only Son, and our blessed Saviour. Amen. J
• Matt, xviii. 20. t Ps- cxix. 105.
X This ' Prayer ' appeared first in edition 6 of the ' Two Sermons.' It forms an
item in Bishop Patrick's defence of 'printed ' and 'read' prayers. See ' Continua-
tion of the Friendly Debate ' (Pt, ii., Works, vol. v. pp. 680-2). The authority on
which Patrick rests in his statement that Sibhes used above single form of prayer
does not bear him out. He refers to Geree (Vindicise EcclesisB Anglicanse, 4to,
1644), but his words are, ' In prayer men many times limit themselves, as Doctor
Sibbs is said to use one form of prayer before his sermons printed by Mr Goodwin
and Mr Nye.' It is very improbable that Sibbes thus limited himself ; and certainly
neither Goodwin nor Nye make such an assertion. — G.
VOL. vn. y
THE FIRST SERMON.
Let not your hearts be troubled : ye believe in God, believe also in me. —
John XIV. 1.
Holy men, as they be ' trees of righteousness,' Isa. Ixi. 3, and desire to be
fruitful at all times, so most especially towards theii' end ; having but a
short time to live in the world, they be willing to leave the world with a
good savour. So it was with Jacob. So with Moses, as appears in his
excellent Song made before his death. You may see it in King Solomon
and David before their deaths. But especially in our Saviom\ The nearer
to heaven, the more heavenly-minded. When grace and glory are ready to
join, the one to be swallowed up of the other, then grace is most glorious.
All the passages of Christ are comfortable ; but none more comfortable than
those sermons of his, that were dehvered a Uttle before his death. Of aU
words that come from loving men to those they love, such are most re-
markable as be spoken when they be ready to die ; because then men are
most serious, they being about the most serious business. Then they be
wisest, and best able to judge ; for the consideration of their end makes
them wise. And therefore, saith God, ' 0 that my people were wise to
consider their latter end ! ' Deut. sxxii. 29. And, ' teach me to number
my days, that I may apply my heart to wisdom,' saith Moses, Ps. xc. 12.
And indeed there is no wisdom to that ; for it teacheth men to pass a right
judgment upon all things in the world. They be no longer drunk with the
prosperity of the world ; they be no longer swayed with opinion, but they
pass an estimation of things as they ai'e.
Besides, love at that time is especially set on work. Therefore our
blessed Saviour being now to offer himself a sacrifice on the cross, he
sweetly dehvereth these words before his departure, ' Let not your hearts be
troubled.' Let us hear them therefore, as the dying words of om' Saviour
to his disciples, and in his disciples, to us all, as in the 17th of St John.
' I pray not for them only, but for all such as shall beheve in me, through
their word,' ver. 20. For his comforts concern us all, as his prayers did.
This chapt-er is sweetly mixed of comforts, counsels, and gi'acious promises ;
but especially it affords matter of comfort. Mark who it is that gives this
comfort, — our blessed Saviour. And at what time, — when he was to sacri-
fice himself.
What admirable love, and care, and pity is in this merciful high Priest of
FIEST SEEMON. 839
ours, that should so think of comforting his disciples, as to forget himself,
and his_o\\Ta approaching death! It is the nature of love so to do; and we
should imitate our blessed Saviour in it. You see how he laboureth to
strengthen them, especially towards his end. He knew they would then
need it most, and therefore he endeavoureth by all means to strengthen
them, both by counsel, as here ; by the passover, and by a newly instituted
sacrament, 1 Cor. xi. 23.
But what need we wonder at this in our blessed Saviour, who so regarded
us, as he left heaven; took our natui-e; became man; put himseK under
the law ; became sia ?
The words contain a dissuasion from over-much trouble, and then a direction
to believe in God, and Christ. Comforts must be founded on strong reasons.
For we are reasonable and understanding creatures ; and God works on us
answerably to our principles. He stays our spirits by reasons stronger
than the grievance. For what is comfort but that which estabHsheth and
upholds the soul against that evil which is feared or felt, from a greater
strength of reason which overmastereth the evil ? If the grievance be but
even with the comfort, then the consolation works not. But Christ's com-
forts are of an higher nature than any trouble can be. For he not only dis-
suades from trouble, but also persuades to confidence, ' Be of good comfort,
I have overcome the world,' John xvi. 33.
The occasion of this comforting them, and of removing their discourage-
ments, was this. In the former chapter, he had told them, that he should
leave them, and that they should leave him ; the best of them all, even
Peter, should take offence at him, and deny him, and that all the rest should
leave him. From whence they might gather, that the approaching trouble
should be great, that should cause Peter to deny him, and them all to for-
sake him. And thence must needs arise great scandals. Our Saviour saw
by the power of his Godhead into their hearts, and like enough, in their
looks he saw a spirit of discoiu-agement seizing on them, for his departure,
and Peter's fall, their forsaking of him, and the persecutions that would
follow. And therefore Chiist discerning this dejection of their spirits, he
raiseth them by this, 'Let not your hearts be troubled.' The heavenly
Physician of our souls appHeth then the remedy, when it is the fittest
season.
There was some good in their trouble ; something natm-ally, and some-
thing spfritually good. There was ground of natm-al trouble at the departure
of such a friend, at the hearing of such persecutions. For we are
flesh, not steel ; and m that sense, Christ was troubled himself, to shew
the truth of his manhood. Nay, trouble is the seasoning of all heavenly
comforts, so as there were no comforts, if there were no trouble ; and there-
fore this natural trouble was not disallowed by Christ. There was likewise
something spirituaUy good, in this trouble. They loved their Master, who
they saw was gomg away, and they knew it was a shameful thing for them
to forsake him. There was love in them towards him all this whUe. Christ
could discern gold in ore, some good in a gi-eat deal of ill ; and therefore
loved them again, and manifested it by comforting them, ' Let not your
hearts be troubled.' They were right in this principle, that all comfort
depends on the presence of Christ. And so the main ground of the sorrow
was good. For as all heavenly light, and heat, and influence comes from
the sun (it being all gathered into that body) ; so all heavenly comforts are
gathered into Christ, and therefore must come to us from Christ's presence,
bodily or spiritually. Their error was in tying all comfort to a bodily, a
840 FIEST SERMON.
corporal presence ; as if it were necessary for the sun to come down and
abide upon the earth, to bestow its heat and influence. And therefore he
tells them, that though he was to go away, yet he would send another com-
forter, the Holy Ghost.
And then they were overcome by an opinion that it would go worse with
them when Christ was gone. Therefore Christ telleth them that it should
be better for them ; and indeed it was better. Christ did not take away his
blessed presence for their disadvantage, but for their good. God never
takes anything from his children, but he maketh it up in a better kind. If
Christ takes away his bodily presence, he leaveth his spiritual presence,
and more abundantly.
So that, though they were led with sensible things, and what they saw
not they could hardly believe, yet Christ looks to what is good in them,
and accepts it. He saw what was naught in them, with a purpose to purge
it ; what was naturally weak in them, to strengthen it ; and therefore he
counsels them, ' Let not your hearts be troubled.'
The thiag that I wiU first observe out of the words is, that the test
Christians are subject to he troubled, to be pensive, and dejected more than
should be.
Indeed our Saviour Christ himself was troubled, but his trouble was like
the shaking of clear water in a crystal glass. There was no mud in the
bottom. But our trouble is of another kind, and apt to be inordinate.
We may carry this truth through the whole Scripture, and shew how
Hannah was in bitterness of spirit, which exceeded so, that Eli, a good
man, mistakes her, supposing that she was overcome with drink, 1 Sam.
i. 13.
Hezekiah, a good king, was in such bitterness that, like a crane or swal-
low, he did chatter, Isa. xxxviii. 14. And David complained that his spirit
was overwhelmed within him, Ps. kxvii. 3 ; and Jonah cries out that he
was * in the belly of hell,' Jonah ii. 2.
And God will have it so, partly for conformity to our Head, and partly
that we may be known to ourselves ; that we may discern where our weakness
lieth, and so be better instructed to seek to him in whom our strength heth.
He suffers us, likewise, to be troubled for the preventing of spiritual sins,
pride and security, and the like.
And partly in regard of others, that we may be pitiful. Christ was man
for this end, that he might be a merciful High Priest ; and we have much
more need to Icnow and feel the infirmities that are in ourselves, that we
may be merciful to others ; that we may not be harsh and censorious upon
the troubles of others ; from want of which consideration proceeded EH's
rashness in passing that censure upon Hannah.
But how shall we know that our hearts are more troubled than they
should be ? For I lay this for a ground : That we may sin in being over
much troubled at things for which it is a sin not to be troubled. If they had
not been at all afiected with the absence of Christ, it had been a sin, and
no less than stupidity ; yet it was their sin to be over much troubled. In
a word, therefore, for answer, a trouble is sinful when it hinders us in duty
ox from duty ; when it hinders us in duties to God or to others ; or from
duty, that is, when the soul is disturbed by it, and, like an instrument out
of tune, made fit for nothing, or like a limb out of joint, that moves not
only uncomelily, but painfully, and becomes unfit for action. When we
find this in our trouble, we may know it is not as it should be.
There be some affections especially, that are causes of over much trouble ;
FIKST SERMON. ^**
fear of evils to come, sorrow for evils that at present seize on us. Now,
when these do hinder us from duty, or trouble us in duty, they be exorbi-
tant and irregular.
Naturally, affections should be helps to duty, they being the winds that
carry the soul on, and the spiritual wings of the soul. So that a man with-
out affections is like the dead sea, that moves not at all. But then they
must be regulated and ordered ; they must be raised up and laid down at
the command of a spiritual understanding. When they be raised up of
themselves, by shallow and false conceits and opinions, they be irregular.
When they be raised up by a right judgment of things, and laid down again
when they ought to be, then they are right and orderly.
Now, besides the hurt that is in such affections themselves, Satan loves
to fish in these troubled waters. The affections are never stirrred and
raised up irregularly and exorbitantly but Satan joins with them. And
therefore we have need to keep our affections of grief and fear within their
due bounds. Satan is a curious observer of any excess in our passions ;
and in just correction, to speak the mildest of it, God lets loose Satan to
join with that excess. And therefore the apostle saith wisely, ' Let not
the sun go down upon your wrath, neither give place to the devil,' Eph.
iv. 26, because as soon as ever we give way to any excess of affection,
Satan fishes in these waters, and joins with that excess. He being a spirit
of darkness, loves to dwell in the soul when it is in darkness. And there-
fore, when it is clouded by passion, as all passions beyond their due mea-
sure are as clouds that darken the soul, Satan, that works in darkness, then
seizes on the soul presently.
That was Saul's case. He was envious at David, being of a proud and
haughty spirit, that could not endm-e competition ; and Satan took his time
to work on him. And therefore it is said he was troubled with an evil
spirit, 1 Sam. xvi. 23.
But trouble of spu-it is too large an argument. I will not now stand
upon it ; only I will shew that we should not yield to excess of trouble any
way. And the reasons are : —
First. We ivrotig our own selves tvJien ive give way to grief and sorrow, that
is immoderate and inordinate. The soul is, as it were, put out of joint by
it. We make actions difiicult unto us. The wheels of the soul are thereby
taken off. Joy and comfort are, as it were, oil to the soul. And therefore
Nehemiah saith, ' the joy of the Lord is your strength,' chap. viii. 10.
When, therefore, we give way to fear and giief, and such passions, it weak-
eneth the soul in action. Aid then again they are, as it were, a cloud be-
twixt God's love and us ; and so the soul is hindered of much comfort and
enlargement. Joy enlargeth the soul, but grief straiteneth it. Comfort
raiseth up the soul, grief and sorrow weigh down the soul. A Christian
should be of a straight, upright, and enlarged spii-it. When, therefore, the
spii-it is straitened, when it is pressed down and dejected, a Christian is
not in his right mind, in his due and proper frame.
Second. Besides, if we regard God himself, we should take heed that the
toul be not thus distempered ; for by over-much sorrow and grief, what a
great deal of dishonour do we to God, in proceeding from a mistake of his
goodness and providence ! And with over-much fear and sorrow, there ia
always joined murmuring and discontent, and a spirit unsubdued to God,
and his Spirit. There is a wronging, as of his care in providence, so of his
graciousness in his promises. There is a grieving of his good Spirit ; a
questioning of his government, as if he did not dispose of things as he
342
FIRST SERMON.
should ; wlieii we will have it one way, and God will have it another way.
There is likewise a gi-eat deal of pride in dejections and discontent. The
most discontented spirit in the world is the devil, and none prouder. It
argues a great deal of pride and sullenness to be affectedly sad, and de-
jected ; as if such worthy and excellent persons as we should be so afflicted :
or there were greater cause for us to be dejected than raised up. Whereas
if we balance our grounds of comfort, being Christians, as we should do,
they would appear incomparably above the grounds of our discouragements.
So it is a wrong to God, and his truth, and his gracious sweet government,
to yield to a dejected sullen disposition.
It is hkewise a wrong to others. For it maketh us unfit for any office
of love to them, when we plod and pore so much upon our discontent-
ments, and drink up our spirits, and eat up our hearts. It disables the
soul, taking away not only the strength, but also the willingness of the soul ;
besides the scandal that it brings on religion, and the best ways ; as if there
were not enough in religion to comfort the soul.
But you will say, religion breeds a great deal of trouble and pensiveness.
It is indeed the speech of the shallow people of the world, ' religion makes
men sad.'
And it is true, that as our Saviour Chi'ist here had made his disciples
sad, by telling them that he would leave them ; and that a great scandal
would be taken at his cross, and shameful suffering ; but yet withal, bids
them not be troubled, and gives them grounds of comfort ; so religion wiU
make men sad ; for it discovers truths, and sad truths. Aye, but the same
rehgion wiU cheer them up again, yea, it casts them down, that it may raise
them up. The sun in the morning raiseth clouds ; but when it hath
strength it scatters them. God intending solid and substantial comfort,
doth first beget troubles, and discovers true grounds of trouble ; he lets us
see that aU is not well. But still as religion brings any trouble, so it brings
with it great remedies against these troubles ; and that God that raiseth a
soul to see just matter of grief, wiU by his Spirit shew its due and right
portion, in comfort. Thus, to be sorrowful and sad, in some measure is from
religion ; but that which will prevent the excess and over-measure of it, is
from religion likewise.
So that it is a scandal to religion to be oveiTuuch dejected.
Third. Besides, though we should be troubled for sin, yet to be over-
much troubled for sin is a dishonour to Christ, and to the love of God in
Christ ; for it is as if we had not in him a sufficient remedy for that great
malady. As, be it grief for the troubles of the church ; as not to be
troubled at the affliction of Joseph, is branded for a sin ; so to be too much
cast down, as if Christ had cast off the government from his shoulders, or
had not the name of the church on his breast in heaven (as the high priest
had the names of the twelve tribes in his breastplate) ; to be so cast down
as to be taken off from prayer, and from the use of all good means to help
the church, this is sinful. So also when grief for sin makes us forget the
mercies of God in Christ ; to forget the healing virtue of him our brazen
serpent ; to neglect to search om- grounds of comforts, and to yield to
Satan, to temptation. Overmuch sadness, even though it be for sin, or
for the chm'ch, it is hurtful and scandalous.
Joshua was much cast do-\vn when he saw it went not weU with Israel ;
but ' Get thee up, Joshua,' saith God, ' what dost thou lying here ?' Up
and do thy duty ; consider -^hat is amiss ! There is an Achan in the
camp. And so when things go not well, let not your thoughts be conversant
FIEST SERMON.
§43
about the matters of trouble, so much as about your duty. So we see it is
incident to God's people to be ovennucb troubled, and we see also the
reasons why it should not be so, because it is injurious to God, to our-
selves, and others every way.
And after all this, there is much reason in this, that Christ hath forbidden
it, ' Let not your hearts be troubled.'
Obj. But Christ could as well have cured it, being God, as easily as for-
bidden it.
Am. It is true, but he cures it by forbidding it. With the words, there
went forth a spirit of comfort into their hearts ; an influence of gi-ace ac-
companied his commands, for the word and Spirit go together. Christ
deals with men by men. The Spirit of comfort is a spirit of truth ; and
therefore God comforts by truths. He gives us sanctified understandings
and affections ; and then works on them by sanctified truths.
And sometimes Christ cures it by real comforts ; for comforts are either
rational, which are fetched from grounds, which faith ministers ; or real,
from the presence of anything which comforts ; as the sight of friends, or
the accommodating of us in anything wherein we see the love of God con-
veyed. How many real comforts doth God bestow, when he fitteth us with
conveniences in our way to heaven, so that we may read the love of God in
them ! God doth not only comfort us by his gracious promise, by his
word and sacraments, administering heavenly comforts by them ; but also
by the conveying of himself and his love, by outward comforts that we en-
joy in the world. Howsoever carnal men abuse them (making all things to
work for the worst) ; yet that love, that intends heaven, sweetens all things
in the passage to heaven, to his children ; because they see the love of God
in the least comfort.
Again, observe from this here, ' let not your hearts be troubled,' what is
the seat of comfort, the heart. The seat of comfort is the seat of grief.
There must be an application of comfort suitable to the grief, and the heart
must be comforted.
And therefore in Isa. xl. 1, 2, ' Comfort ye, comfort ye my people, speak
to the heart.' As the grief sinks and soaks to the root of the heart; so do
Christ's comforts, like true cordials indeed, that go as deep as the grievance.
If the grief goes to the heart, the comfort must go as deep. Now God,
the Father of spirits, and the Holy Ghost, the Comforter, knows and searches
our spu-its. They know all the corners of the heart. They can banish
fear and sorrow out of every cranny ; and bring light, heat, and influence
into every part of the soul. And therefore Christ saith, ' Let not your
hearts be troubled.'
Now for the ways whereby we must labour to comfort our hearts (amongst
many that I might speak of), I will name a few.
First of all, there must be a due search into the heart, of the grounds of our
trouble ; for oftentimes Christians are troubled, they cannot tell wherefore ; as
children that will complain they know not why. I speak not of h3'pocrites,
that will complain of that which is not a true grief to them ; like some birds
that make greatest noise, when they be furthest from their nests. But of
some poor Christians that are troubled, but distinctly know not the ground
of it. But search the heart ingenuously and truly to the bottom of it, and
see if there be not some Achan in the camp ; some sin in the heart (for sin
Is hke wind ; when it gets into the veins, it will have vent, and a trouble-
Some one; and so wUl sin, if it get into the soul). It is that indeed which
•causeth all trouble. And therefore search your hearts thoroughly;
S44
FIEST SERMON.
what sin lieth there unrepented of, and for which you have not been
humbled.
2. And when you have found out your sin, give it vent by confession of it
to God, and in some cases to others.
8. And when we have done so, consider what promises, and comforts, in
that word of God are fitted to that condition. For we can be in no condi-
tion but there are comforts for it, and promises fitted to yield comforts for
every malady. And it will be the v,'isdom of a Christian to accommodate
the remedy to the sore of his heart. And therefore we ought to be skilful
and well seen in the word of God, that we may store up comforts before-
hand. Our Saviour Christ tells them beforehand of the scandal of the cross,
and of Peter's denial, that they might lay up strength and spiritual
armour against the day of trial. Those comforts do not, for the most part,
hold out in the day of adversity, which were not procured in the day of
prosperity. Non durant in adversis qua no7i in pace quaisita. It is not wis-
dom to be to learn religion when we should use it. And, therefore, let us
be spiritual good husbands* for our souls, by storing up comforts out of the
word of God ; and then we shall have no more to do, than to remember the
comforts that we did beforehand know.
And there be some promises of more general use, that are catholica, fitted
for all sorts of grievances. And of these we must make use when we
cannot think of particular ones, as the promises that concern forgive-
ness of sin. Think of God's mercy in pardoning sin with admiration ;
because sin will be presented us in such terrible colours, that if God
be not presented in as gracious colours, we shall sink. And, therefore,
set out Christ in his mercies, and all-sufiiciency, when sin is aggravated to
be in its heinousness, and out of measure, sinftdness ; as the prophet Micah
doth, ' Who is a God like our God, that pardoneth iniquity, transgression
and sin ?' vii. 18. Likewise, how many promises and comforts are there in
that one promise, ' He will give his Spii'it to them that ask him,' Luke
xi. 13. And here our Saviour promiseth to send the Comforter. All graces
and all comforts are included in the Spirit of grace and comfort. His Spirit
is a Spirit of all grace ; and, therefore, our Saviour thought that he pro-
mised enough when he said he would send them the Comforter. And so
what a world of comfort is in that promise ! * All things shall work
together for the best, to them that love God,' Kom. viii. 28. Yea,
those things that are worst shall work together. Though they be hostile,
and opposite one to another, yet they join issue in this, they be all for the
good of God's people ; as in a clock the wheels go several ways, but all
join to make the clock strike. And so in the carnage and ordering of
things, one passage crosses another, but in the issue we shall be able to
say, ' all things work together for the best ;' I found God turning all things
for my good ; and I could not have been without such a cross, such an
affliction. And so for present assistance in your callings or straits, remem-
ber that promise made to Joshua, which is repeated in Hebrews xiii.,
* I will not fail thee, nor forsake thee,' verse 5 : a promise which is five
times renewed in Scripture. And how much comfort is in that, that he
will vouchsafe by his Spirit a gracious presence in all conditions whatso-
ever ! And hkewise that of David, Ps. xxiii. 4, ' Though I walk in the
valley of the shadow of death, yet will I fear no ill, for thou art with me.'
It was a terrible supposition made, that ' though he should walk in the val-
ley of the shadow of death, yet he would fear no evil.' These promises
* That is, ' husbandmen.' — Q.
FIKST SEEMON.
345
well digested, will arm the soul with confidence, that it shall be able to put
any case of trouble ; as in the 27th Psalm, 1-3, David puts cases, ' The Lord
is my strength, the Lord is the light of my countenance, of whom shall I
be afraid ? Though thousands shall rise against me, yet in this I will be
confident.' If our hearts be estabUshed by the word of God, settled in the
truth of such promises by the Spirit of God, we may set God and his truth
against all troubles that can arise from Satan, and hell, and the instru-
ments of Satan, or our own hearts. And, therefore, it is a great wrong to
God, and his truth, if we know not our portion of comfort, and use it as
occasion serves. More particulars I omit, leaving them to your own indus-
try ; the Scripture being full of them.
4. When we have these promises, let us labour to understand them tho-
roughly ; to understand the grounds of our comfort in them, and to beUeve
the truth of them, which are as true as God, who is truth itself. And then
to love them, and digest them in our afiections, and so make them our
own, and then to walk in the strength and comfort of them.
5. Labour hkewise to have them fresh in memory. It is a great defect
of Christians, [that] they forget their consolation, as it is in the Hebrews, xii.
5. Though we know many things, yet we have the benefit of our comfort
from no more than we remember.
6. But, above all, if we will keep our hearts from trouble, let us labour
to keep unspotted consciences. Innocency and diligence are marvellous pre-
servers of comfort. And, therefore, if the conscience be spotted and un-
clean, wash it in the blood of Christ, which is fii'st purging, and then puri-
fying. It first purgeth the soul, being set awork to search our sins, and
confess them ; which maketh us see our need of Christ, who died to satisfy
divine justice. Then, God sprinkles our heart with his blood, which was
shed for all penitent sinners ; by which, when the heart is purged, the con-
science will be soon satisfied also, by Christ's blood. And when it is purged
and pacified, then keep it clean ; for a foul soul is always a troubled soul ;
and though it may be quiet, yet it is sure to break out afterwards.
7. And because there can be no more comfort than there is care of duty,
therefore, together with innocency, let us be careful of all duties in all our
several relations. Let us consider in what relations we stand, and what
duties we owe, and be careful to satisfy them all. Neglect of duty is a
debt, and debts are troublesome. When the soul reflects upon the omis-
sion of a necessary duty ; I owe such a duty to such a person ; I should
have done such a thing, in such a relation, but I have omitted it, it is a
disquietment, and that upon good grounds ; and if you have been negli-
gent, there must be an actual renewing of the covenant, and a setting upon
the duty, with fresh endeavours to make amends for former negligences ; or
else the soul shall have no comfort, nor will God sufier it to admit of com-
fort. And, therefore, ' work out your salvation with fear and trembhng,'
Phihp. ii. 12. The reason that men do still tremble, and are troubled with
this doubt and that fear, is, because their salvation is not wrought out ;
something is left undone, and their consciences tell them so.
8. But above all, that we may receive comfort, let us labour for a spirit
of faith. Therefore here it is said, ' You beheve in God, believe also in
me.' Christ brings them to faith for comfort. And he sets down a double
object of faith, — God, that is, the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost; and Christ,
considered as Mediator ; and Christ brings them to himself, ' Beheve also
in me,' Johnxiv. 1, because he would fence them against the future scandal
of his suffering. As if he should say, You will hereafter, when you see me
346 FIRST SERMON.
SO handled, and upon the cross, doubt and call in question wliethei' I am
God and the Messiah of the world or no. But if you believe in God, * be-
lieve in me.' For howsoever, in love to you and mankind, I took man's
nature on me, and am abased, yet, in my greatest abasement, remember
this, that I am God. And surely there is nothing can stay the soul more,
especially when it is deeply humbled, than to consider God in the second
person incarnate, and abased and crucified, and made a curse and sin for
us ; to see the great God of heaven and earth, whose excellencies we cannot
comprehend, to take our nature, and in our nature to sufier for us those
things which he did endure. This will establish the soul indeed. Can
the soul think that this was done for any small or to little purpose ? Or can
there be any grief or sin that should hinder comfort, or persuasion of the
possibility of pardon, when the great God became man on pm-pose to die
for sin ? We may set this against all discouragements whatsoever. And
therefore, * believe in God, believe also in me.' Howsoever you see me
abased, yet you may have comfort in my abasement, for it is for you. And
therefore, saith Paul, * I rejoice to know nothing but Jesus Christ, and him
crucified,' 1 Cor. ii, 2. That which proud and atheistical heathens took
scandal at, that he rejoiceth in, ' God forbid that I should glory in any-
thing but in the cross of Christ,' Gal. vi. 14. Peace of conscience, joy in
the Holy Ghost, reconciliation, and title to happiness, is all founded upon
Christ crucified.
And then, again, you see he joins both together, ' Ye believe in God, be-
lieve also in me,' to shew the distinction of persons in the Trinity, God the
Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. All om' faith is resolved at length into one
God, but yet withal into three persons in that divine nature, because, as
there is God the Father offended, so there must be a God to satisfy that
God, and there must be a God to reveal and apply that satisfaction. The
soul is so full of doubtings, that nothing can set it down but that which is
above the soul and above the devil. And therefore, for our salvation, and
to give us comfort, there is a necessity of three persons in the Godhead.
The Father is offended, God in the second person must satisfy offended
justice, and God in the third person must reveal and apply that satisfaction
for comfort. And therefore he names them distinctly, ' Ye beheve in God,'
&c. And because we cannot believe in God the Father but by believing in
Christ, therefore he joins them together, ' Ye believe in God, ye believe also
in me.' ' No man comes to the Father but by the Son,' John xiv. 6. God
the Father dwells in the light that no mortal eye can approach unto ; only he
hath manifested himself in his Son, who is the engraven image of his per-
son. God shines in the face of Christ, and as he comes down and makes
himself known to us in his Son, so we must go up to him in his Son, as he
saith afterwards, ' I am the way, the truth, and the hfe,' John xiv. 6.
There is no going to the Father but by me. Nothing is more terrible than
to conceive of God out of Christ, for so he is a ' consuming fire,' Heb xii.
29. Therefore think of God as om-s in Christ. Carry Christ our elder
brother with us, and desire God to look upon us in his Son.
Quest. Now, how doth faith in Christ ease the soul in trouble ?
Ans. Many ways. I will name a few.
1. Faith in Christ hanisheth troubles, and hringeth in comfort, because it
is an emptying grace. It emptieth us of ourselves, and so makes us cleave
to another, and thereby becomes a gi-ace of union. It is such a grace as
brings the soul and Christ together. Now, Christ being the fountain of
comfort, God having treasured all comfort in him (' for the fulness of the
FIRST SERMON.
347
Godhead dwells in Christ,' Col. i. 19, and faith causeth Christ to dwell in
us), brings the soul and Christ together, and so must needs make way for
comfort. For it makes us one with the fountain of comfort, and by its re-
peated acts derives fresh comfort.
2. Again, faith estahlisheth the heart. Now, to establish the soul there
must be a solid basis, as in building there must be a foundation, and a
planting upon that foundation. Now here is a foundation, God and Christ ;
and there must be a gi-ace to found and bottom the soul thereupon, and
that is faith. And so the soul is established. The chain and connection
of causes herein is this. God the Father in Christ, and by the Holy Ghost,
conveys comforts, through the word laid hold upon by faith. It is not the
word alone, for that is but as the veins and arteries that convey the blood
and spirits. So the Spirit being conveyed by the promises, helpeth the
soul to lay itself upon Christ by faith, which is a grace of union, by which
union with him the soul is established.
3. And then, again, faith stirreth up such graces as do comfort the soul, as
hope in all good things promised. Aiid therefore in the next verse he adds,
to comfort them, ' In my Father's house are many mansions,' and faith is
the grace that apprehends the joys thereof; and hope expects that which
faith believes, and that hope becomes an anchor to the soul, and stayeth
the soul in all the waves and troubles of the world. And what is the
ground of that hope but faith ? Faith stirreth up hope, and hope pitcheth
on the promise, especially of life everlasting. And thus faith becomes a
quieting and a stilling grace, because it raiseth the soul, by representing
and making real to it better things than the world can give or take, as it
doth also at other times present heavier things than the world can threaten.
Faith makes things present to the soul ; and because it lays hold on divine
things, greater than anything here below, therefore it overcomes the
world, and all things in the world, yea, hell itself, because it lays hold on
heaven and happiness, upon the power of God, and the mercy of God in
Christ, and upon those rich promises. What is in the world, or in the
rank of good things, but faith outbids it by setting heaven against it ! and
what evil is there but faith overcomes the fear of it by setting hell against
it ! I shall have such a good if I yield to such a lust. Aye, but what is
that to heaven ? saith faith. For faith being the hypostasis, the substance
of things to come, makes them substantial and evident to the soul, as if
they were already subsistent, being looked upon in the certainty of the
word ; and so it affects the soul deeply, and upholds it strongly, even as if
the things themselves were present, and so it banisheth and dispels all dis-
comforts. The 11th chapter to the Hebrews is a comment upon this
truth in the example of Moses and many others. "What greater object of
fear might be presented to a man than the angiy face and countenance of
a terrible tyrant ? Yet when by the eye of faith he saw him that was in-
visible, and then looked upon Pharaoh, what was Pharaoh to God ? "When
Micaiah had seen God sitting on his throne, what was Ahab to him ? And
when the soul hath entered into the vail, and sees the glorious things of
heaven and happiness, what are all things below ? Faith sets the soul
on a rock, above the reach of waves, upon the love of God in Christ. And
therefore set the grace of faith on work, keep it on the wing, preserve it on
exercise ; and faith exercised will be able to comfort the most dejected soul
in the world, and to raise it above all the troubles that can be imagined or
befall us.
* Qu. ' in ?'— G.
THE SECOND SEEMON.
Ijet not your hearts he troubled : ye believe in God, believe also in me.^
John XIV. 1.
The words of dying men departing out of the world, as being the most
serious and weighty, are most to be regarded. The children of God, the
nearer they are to heaven, the more suitable they are to their heavenly con-
dition. So was our Saviour Christ ; and therefore he labours to furnish his
disciples, and in them us, with good counsel to estabHsh their hearts against
the troubles and scandals to come, [This will appear] if you consider the
time when he spake these words. It was when he himself was to be
troubled more than ever was any creature. Yet he forgets himself and
his future troubles, and thinks how to raise up and comfort them. He
foresaw that Peter would deny him, that the rest would leave him; he
foresaw that they would be dejected when he was gone. Yet ' let not your
hearts be troubled.'
Oh, what a blessed and sweet Saviour have we, that thinks more of us
than of himself, that he forgets his own troubles, and suiferings, and ex-
tremities, and thinks of the supporting and upholding of his disciples !
This came from the same love that drew him from heaven to earth,
which moved him to take our nature, and in that nature to die for us.
And what may we not expect from that sweet and large love ? Out of the
same bowels of pity and compassion was it (that they should not be over-
much dejected) that he saith, ' Let not your hearts be troubled.'
He knew his disciples were in the state of grace already, yet he foresaw
they were such as would sin ; nay, that Peter would deny him. Yet the
foresight of Peter's and their unkindness did not take away his love, and
pity, and compassion towards them. Yet, notwithstanding, he gives them
sweet counsel ; nay, after they had dealt unkindly with him, and denied
and forsook him indeed, he took no advantage of their weakness. He
knew they had a secret love to him, that they had in them a root of affec-
tion ; and he was so far from taking advantage for it that presently after he
Baith, * Tell my brethren that I ascend to my God and their God,' yea, and
' tell Peter so too,' John xx. 17, that hath dealt most unkindly of all with
me. What a gracious and merciful Saviour have we, that foresees what ill
we will do, and when we have done it, takes no advantage against us, but
is careful to keep us from too much dejection, though he knew we would
SECOND SERMON.
349
deal so unkindly by him ! And, indeed, he did of purpose take our nature,
that he might be a merciful High Priest.
Christians must distinguish betwixt dejection and grief. It had been a
sin for them not to have grieved, as well as it was a sin for them to be over-
much troubled. None are more sensible than a Christian. Sentit dum
vincit. He feels troubles whiles he overcomes them.
Christ speaks to the heart, because the heart is the seat of trouble, * Let
not your hearts be troubled.'
Christ could speak to the ears and heart at once. His words were
operative, and conveyed comfort with them. Together with his words, he
let in his Holy Spirit, that comforted them. God's commands in the
ministry of his word, suppose not that we have any ability to execute them,
but together with his word there comes forth a power. As when Christ
said, ' Lazarus, arise ! ' there went forth a power that caused Lazarus to
arise ; as in the creation he said, * Let there be light ;' for the word and the
Spirit go together.
Having taken them off from trouble, he shews a way how to raise them,
which is by faith, * Ye believe in God, believe also in me.'
The object in believing is God, and Christ Mediator. We must have
both to found our faith upon. We cannot believe in God, except we be-
lieve in Christ. For God must be satisfied by God, and by him that is
God must that satisfaction be appHed, the Spirit of God, by working faith
in the heart, and for the raising of it up when it is dejected. All is super-
natural in faith. The things we beheve are above nature ; the promises are
above nature ; the worker of it, the Holy Ghost, is above nature ; and
everything in faith is above nature. There must be a God in whom we
believe; and a God through whom. If God had not satisfied God, the
conscience would never have been satisfied ; there would still have been
misdoubtings. And yet if the Holy Ghost sets not down the heart, and
convinceth it throughly of the all-sufiSciency of that satisfaction, it would
never believe neither. And, therefore, as ' ye beheve in God, beheve also
in me,' for I am God too.
We may know that Christ is God, not only by that which Christ hath
done, the miracles, which none could do but God, but also by what is
done to him. And two things are done to him, which shew that he is God ;
that is, faith and prayer. We must believe only in God, and pray only to
God. But Christ is the object of both these. Here he is set forth as the
object of faith, and of prayer in that of Saint Stephen: ' Lord Jesus, receive
my spirit,' Acts vii. 59. And, therefore, he is God ; for that is done unto
him, which is proper and peculiar only to God.
That which I shall now touch upon is this : We must remember what a
strong foundation, what bottom, and basis, our faith hath. There is God
the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, and Christ the Mediator. That our
faith may be supported, we have him to beheve on who supports heaven
and earth, as in Heb. i. 2, and Col. i. 16, 17. He created all things as
well as the Father. He is honoured of all as well as the Father. He that
supports the pillars of heaven and earth is able to support the pillars of thy
soul.
But how doth, faith in Christ ease the soul of trouble ?
In a word, as it carrieth the soul out of itself unto God in Chnst, and unto
Christ, uniting and making us one with him, and so sets the soul above all
trouble whatsoever. For, being one with Christ, we are already with him
in heaven. And again, faith is a grace th&i presents things to come, as pre-
850
SECOND SEKMON.
sent, and so establishetli the soul. It is the hypostasis of things, it gives
subsistence to them in the promise, and it doth never leave to do it till the
things subsist indeed. It is a grace that accompanieth the soul to heaven,
looking upon things in the word of him that is truth itself, and so giving a
kind of being to them, throughout all the way to heaven, till they have a
being indeed. And then faith is out of office, yielding it up to sight, and
the full enjoyment of all.
Quest. But did not the disciples believe already ?
Ans. Yes, they did. But they had need to renew their faith, as occa-
sions were renewed, and as troubles were to increase. ' Believe in me.'
It is as he should have said : ' Now there is occasion for you to use your
faith. I must be taken out of your sight. You must see me suffer. And
you had need of an extraordinary measure of faith to see me in such abase-
ment, and yet to believe that I am God.'
We must grow from faith to faith, that we may live by it continually ;
and we must increase with the increase of God, that as our difficulties do
increase, our strength to go thi'ough them may increase also ; as they
prayed, ' Lord, increase our faith,' Luke svii. 5.
I give some directions how we might not be troubled.
And fii'st, we must labour to have our j^arf and portion in Christ, else
there is nothing belongs to us but trouble. There are two sorts of men in
the chm-ch, some that usurp a peace and exemption from trouble, as if joy
and comfort were their portion. Satan is wise enough not to trouble them,
and they take an order -^th their consciences, that they shall not trouble
them till needs must, till the hour of death, or some dismal accident. The
only way for such is to be troubled, that their trouble may be a foundation
of their comfort. For to such as live in their sins against conscience, ap-
parently * so, that every man may see it, and yet are not troubled, they
have no interest in comfort. Nothing but woe and misery belongs to them.
Indeed, Chi'ist came to save sinners, but it is broken-hearted sinners, peni-
tent sinners, that are weary and heavy laden under the burden of sin. And,
therefore, though they speak peace to themselves, yet we dare not speak
any comfort to them from Christ. As Jehu said to Joram, ' What hast
thou to do with peace, as long as the whoredoms of thy mother Jezebel are
so many?' 2 lungs is. 22. Dost thou talk of peace as long as thou art a
swearer, a profane liver, a malicious person, against all that are truly good?
What hast thou to do with peace ?
Now, in the visible church, there is another sort that Satan laboureth to
trouble. Since he cannot keep them in the state of nature, but they break
from him — Christ pulling them out of Satan's kingdom by the power of his
ordinances and Holy Spirit — he labours to trouble them in their peace aU
he can. Because they be, in the world, above the world, he envies their con-
dition, that they should enjoy that paradise which he left, the comforts that
he once had ; and, therefore, he labours to distm-b them in their comforts.
The estate of such is mixed here in this world. They have that in them,
and without them, which will always be a cause and occasion of trouble.
They have corruption in them not altogether subdued; and they have with-'
out them Satan taking advantage against them ; and the world opposing
them. These, although they have something in them that must be subdued,
yet something also that must be cherished and strengthened. And there-
fore these are the persons to whom comfort properly belongs.
In heaven we shall have no need of being comforted, for there our peace
* That 13, ' openly." — G.
SECOND SERMON.
851
shall be to have no enemies at all. Our peace here is to have comfort in
the midst of discomfort, and an heart enlarged in troubles.
He speaks this to them here who were behevers aheady ; (' Ye believe
in God'), who he knew should not be troubled, ( 'Let not your hearts be
troubled'). So that to the end we may be subjects capable of comfort, we must
be such as by faith are one with Christ ; and so reconciled to God. All
motion ends in rest, and all the rest of the soul ends in God, — the centre
of the soul. And therefore before the soul can settle itself, it must be
brought to God, through Christ. That must be laid as a ground.
Now there is a threefold malady that troubleth us, and there must a three-
fold peace, and ground of comfort against them.
First, it is a trouble to the soul (when once it is awakened), that God
and it should be in ill terms ; when the soul looks upon God as angry, and
displeased with it.
Secondly, Again, the soul is troubled, when it looks upon itself, and sees
nothing but turmoils and seditions there.
Thirdly, when it looks upon the affairs of the world, and accidents here
below, it is full of confusion for the present ; and it is full of fears for time
to come, that things will be worse and worse. Thus the soul, whilst it
is in the world, is troubled about its peace with God, and with itself, and
about this evil world.
Now before the soul can yield to any quiet, all these quarrels must be
taken up.
First, a peace must be made betwixt God and us, by the great Peacemaker, who
is also called ' our peace,' Eph. ii. 14 ; and when we be justified and acquitted
from our sins by the blood of Christ, sprinkled on our souls by faith, that
blood of Christ speaks peace to the soul in the pardon of sin; 'being justified
by faith, we have peace with God, through Jesus Christ our Lord,' Rom. v. 1.
Then secondly, there must be another peace settled in some degree, and
that is the peace of government in the soul ; grace must be above corruption.
They will be together in the soul whilst we are here, but sin must not have the
dominion. This is such a peace, not as will admit of no conflict, but a peace
wherein grace may get the better ; and where grace gets the belter, it will
keep corruption under. And God gives his Spirit to whom he gives his
Son ; that as we be in good teiTus with God, so our natures may be like
his ; that we may love and delight in what he loves and delights in ; and so
may be as fiiends, enjoying acquaintance and communion together.
Aye, but thirdly, there is confusion in the world, and many accidents may
fall out, that may disquiet us for time to come. Now before the soul can
be at peace in that respect, it must know that, being once in Christ, reconciled
to God, and having the Spirit of God, it is under a gracious government and
providence, that disposeth all things to good, and maketh everything peaceable.
Tranquillus Deus tranquillat omnia When God is at peace, all is at peace ;
yea, so far at peace, that they have a blessing in them. The curse and
venom is taken out of them by Christ, who took the curse on himself, and
satisfied the wi-ath of God ; and now they be not only harmless, but medi-
cinal, and helpful, so that they be all om-s, and made in some sort service-
able to further our spiritual good.
When our husband hath all things committed unto him in heaven or
earth, will he suffer anything to befall his dearly beloved spouse, that shall
be disadvantageous, and prejudicial to the main ? No, no ; he will not suf-
fer anything to befall her, which he will not rule, and order, and overrule
for the good of the church ; and so there comes to be that third peace.
354
SECOND SERMON.
we discover any true faith in the fruit of it, let us support and comfort our-
selves "with it.
For when a man is in Christ, and by Christ an heir of heaven, and a
child of God, what in the world can befall him, that should deject over-
much, and cast him down? What loss, what cross, what want of friends?
Hath he not all in God, and in Christ, and in the promise ? Do not the
promises weigh down all discouragements whatsoever ? Surely they do.
And therefore we must strive against dejection. For besides what I
spake the last day, it is a dishonour to the profession of religion, which is
in itself so glorious ; a dishonour to God, and to Chiist, that when we have
such glorious prerogatives and privileges, which the angels themselves ad-
mire, yet every petty cross and loss that we meet withal in the world
should cast us down. We should take heed exceedingly of this, and should
labour every day to have a more and more clear sight of the promises that
belong unto us, and to know the privileges of Christianity, and renew our
faith in them continually, that they may be fresh to us in all temptations, and
occasions whatsoever.
I beseech you, do but consider any one grand promise ; which if it be
rooted in the soul, how it is able to support the soul against all troubles
whatsoever. As that, ' Fear not, little flock, for it is your Father's good
pleasure to give you the kingdom,' Luke sii. 32. Or tlaat other, ' If God
spared not his Son for us, how wiU he not with him give us aU things else ?'
Rom. viii. 32.
Labour to have these things fresh in memory, together with the privi-
leges belonging to Christians. Think what it is to be a child of God, and
an heir of heaven !
We must not look only to the bhnd and dark side of our condition.
Christians have two sides, one to heaven-ward and God-ward ; and that is
full of glory, certain and immoveable. Another towards the world ; and
that is oftentimes fuU of abasement, full of disgrace, and dejection. That
is moveable ; sometimes better, sometimes worse, as God pleaseth to dis-
pense his government in the church. Let us look to the grace, to the
comforts that belong to that gi'ace ; to the promises ; the best side ; and
not to be carrried away with the darkness of the other.
It is a terrible sight to look upon sin, and misery, and hell, and judgment
to come ; but what are these to a Chi-istian that is in Christ, that seeth
them all subdued, and overcome to him? The afflictions of the world, and
the crosses of the world, what are they to a soul, that is already in heaven
by faith, and seeth them all overcome in his head Christ ? ' Be of good
comfort, I have overcome the world,' John xvi. 33. And therefore we must
not be so malignant, as to look all upon one part of a Christian, and that
the worser part, which is the object of sense. For shame, live not by sense !
But if we be Christians, let us live by faith, look to the best part ; look up-
wards and forwards to that which is eternal.
6. And withal labour to keep the gi-aces of the Spirit in continual exercise
upon all occasions. For grace exercised, brings certain comfort. It may be
with a Christian in his feelings as with the worst man hving ; but he may thank
his own negligence, his own dulness; his not stirring up of the graces of God
in him. For therefore it is that he hangs the wing upon every petty cross, on
every occasion. Labour to have an heart ready to exercise grace suitable to
that occasion. For then grace will reflect sweetly, where there is sincerity and
grace in exercise. Sincerity alone will not comfort a man, unless it grow up to
fruitiulness ; and fruitfulness which springs from the exercise of grace, hath
SECOND SEKMON. 355
a sweet reflection upon the soul. 'Eemember, Lord, how I walked before
thee, in truth, and with a perfect heart,' saith Hezekiah, 2 Kings xx. 3.
He stood then most in need of comfort ; and this comforted him ; this his
reflection upon his former sincerity. So when a man can appeal unto God,
as Peter did, * Lord, thou knowest I love thee,' John xxi. 17. So much
sincerity, so much boldness with God. And therefore let us keep grace in
exercise, that we may be fruitful in our lives and conversations, and then
we shall be always comfortable.
And to add a little, there is no grace in a Christian but, if it be exercised,
there is a suitable comfort upon it even here in this world. There is a
jjrmnknn ante 2^rainium, a reward before a reward. Nay, the heathen
men, Socrates and the best of them, so far as they exercised the natural
goodness that was in them, their consciences reflected peace ; so far as
they were good, and did good, they had peace, much more peace than
bad men had. God gave even them some rewards upon discharge of their
duties. He will not be .beholden to any man that exerciseth any degi-ee of
goodness that is in him. Much more therefore shall a child of God enjoy
it, when he exerciseth his graces in any temptation. When he overcomes
any unclean, earthly, vainglorious, vindictive, or any other base lust, he
shall find peace of conscience suitable. And the more he grows in strength
and resolution for the time to come, the more he groweth in inward peace.
Eighteousness and peace go together ; not only the righteousness of Christ
and our reconcihation before God, but also the righteousness of an holy
life and peace in om* own consciences.
The righteousness of Christ entitles to heaven ; and the righteousness of
an holy life sheweth my title unto comfort. As faith in Christ's right-
eousness brings peace, so sanctification also. Christ is first 'King of
righteousness,' and then 'King of peace,' Heb. vii. 1. And therefore
where there is no righteousness, there is no peace. But, on the contrary,
as heat foUoweth the fire, and as the beams have an emanation from the
sun, so doth comfort arise from grace, especially from grace exercised.
Therefore they that would have inward peace, let them labour to be
gracious ; and that not only in the inward frame of the heart, but in the
exercise of grace upon all occasions. ' For they that walk according to
this rule,' that is, of the new creature, 'peace be to them, and the whole
Israel of God,' Gal. vi. 16. An exact and careful Hfe will bring constant
peace.
Therefore let us labour first for interest in Christ's righteousness, and
then for the righteousness of an holy Hfe ; for a conscience to justify us,
that we have no purpose to live in any sin ; and a not accusing conscience
will be a justifying conscience. What a blessed condition shall we be in,
to be in Christ, and to know that we are so ! 0 the heaven on earth of
such a man as is in that condition ! For which way soever he looks, he
finds matter of comfort. If he looks backward, to the government of the
Spirit that hath ruled him in the former part of his life, he may say with
St Paul, ' I have fought a good fight, I have run the race that God hath
set before me,' 2 Tim. iv. 7. And what a sweet reflection is this ! He
is not afraid to look back to his life past as other men. If he looks for-
ward, he seeth a place prepared for him in heaven, and there he sees him-
self already in Christ. Henceforth ' there is laid up for me a crown of
righteousness, which the righteous Judge shall give me at that day,'
ver. 8 ; and all that love his appearing, saith he, there. When there
comes iU tidings of the chm-ch abroad and at home, it doth not much
354
SECOND SERMON.
■we discover any true faith in the finiit of it, let us support and comfort our-
selves with it.
For when a man is in Christ, and by Christ an heir of heaven, and a
child of God, what in the world can befall him, that should deject over-
much, and cast him down ? What loss, what cross, what want of friends ?
Hath he not all in God, and in Christ, and in the promise ? Do not the
promises weigh down all discouragements whatsoever ? Sm-ely they do.
And therefore we must strive against dejection. For besides what I
spake the last day, it is a dishonour to the profession of religion, which is
in itself so glorious ; a dishonom- to God, and to Chiist, that when we have
such glorious prerogatives and privileges, which the angels themselves ad-
mire, yet every petty cross and loss that we meet withal in the world
should cast us down. We should take heed exceedingly of this, and should
labour every day to have a more and more clear sight of the promises that
belong unto us, and to know the privileges of Christianity, and renew our
faith in them continually, that they may be fresh to us ia all temptations, and
occasions whatsoever.
I beseech you, do but consider any one grand promise ; which if it be
rooted in the soul, how it is able to support the soul against all troubles
whatsoever. As that, ' Fear not, little llock, for it is your Father's good
pleasure to give you the kingdom,' Luke xii. 32. Or that other, ' If God
spared not his Son for us, how will he not with him give us all things else ?'
Eom. viii. 32.
Labour to have these things fresh in memory, together with the privi-
leges belonging to Christians. Think what it is to be a child of God, and
an heir of heaven !
We must not look only to the bhnd and dark side of our condition.
Christians have two sides, one to heaven-ward and God-ward ; and that is
full of glory, certain and immoveable. Another towards the world ; and
that is oftentimes full of abasement, full of disgrace, and dejection. That
is moveable ; sometimes better, sometimes worse, as God pleaseth to dis-
pense his government in the church. Let us look to the grace, to the
comforts that belong to that grace ; to the promises ; the best side ; and
not to be carrried away with the darkness of the other.
It is a terrible sight to look upon sin, and misery, and hell, and judgment
to come ; but what are these to a Christian that is in Christ, that seeth
them all subdued, and overcome to him ? The afflictions of the world, and
the crosses of the world, what are they to a soul, that is already in heaven
by faith, and seeth them all overcome in his head Christ ? ' Be of good
comfort, I have overcome the world,' John xvi. 33. And therefore we must
not be so malignant, as to look aU upon one part of a Christian, and that
the worser part, which is the object of sense. For shame, live not by sense !
But if we be Christians, let us live by faith, look to the best part ; look up-
wards and forwards to that which is eternal.
6. And withal labour to keep the gi-aces of the Spirit m continual exercise
upon all occasions. For gi'ace exercised, brings certain comfort. It may be
with a Chi'istian in his feelings as with the worst man hving ; but he may thank
his own negligence, his own dulness ; his not stirring up of the graces of God
in him. For therefore it is that he hangs the wing upon every petty cross, on
every occasion. Labour to have an heart ready to exercise grace suitable to
that occasion. For then grace will reflect sweetly, where there is sincerity and
grace in exercise. Sincerity alone will not comfort a man, unless it grow up to
fruitfulness ; and fr-uitfuhiess which springs from the exercise of grace, hath
SECOND SERMON, 365
a sweet reflection upon the soul. ' Eemember, Lord, how I walked before
thee, in truth, and with a perfect heart,' saith Hezekiah, 2 Kings xx. 3.
He stood, then most in need of comfort ; and this comforted him ; this his
reflection upon his former sincerity. So when a man can appeal unto God,
as Peter did, ' Lord, thou knowest I love thee,' John xxi. 17. So much
sincerity, so much boldness with God. And therefore let us keep grace in
exercise, that we may be fruitful in our lives and conversations, and then
we shall be always comfortable.
And to add a little, there is no grace in a Christian but, if it be exercised,
there is a suitable comfort upon it even here in this world. There is a
jjramiwn ante x>ra:mmm, a reward before a reward. Nay, the heathen
men, Socrates and the best of them, so far as they exercised the natural
goodness that was in them, their consciences reflected peace ; so far as
they were good, and did good, they had peace, much more peace than
bad men had. God gave even them some rewards upon discharge of their
duties. He will not be .beholden to any man that exerciseth any degree of
goodness that is in him. Much more therefore shall a child of God enjoy
it, when he exerciseth his graces in any temptation. When he overcomes
any unclean, earthly, vainglorious, vindictive, or any other base lust, he
shall find peace of conscience suitable. And the more he grows in strength
and resolution for the time to come, the more he groweth in inward peace.
Eighteousness and peace go together ; not only the righteousness of Christ
and our reconcihation before God, but also the righteousness of an holy
life and peace in our own consciences.
The righteousness of Christ entitles to heaven ; and the righteousness of
an holy life sheweth my title unto comfort. As faith in Christ's right-
eousness brings peace, so sanctification also. Christ is first ' King of
righteousness,' and then 'King of peace,' Heb. vii. 1. And therefore
where there is no righteousness, there is no peace. But, on the contrary,
as heat foUoweth the fire, and as the beams have an emanation from the
sun, so doth comfort arise from grace, especially from grace exercised.
Therefore they that would have inward peace, let them labour to be
gracious ; and that not only in the inward frame of the heart, but in the
exercise of grace upon all occasions. * For they that walk according to
this rule,' that is, of the new creature, 'peace be to them, and the whole
Israel of God,' Gal. vi. 16. An exact and careful hfe will bring constant
peace.
Therefore let us labour first for interest in Christ's righteousness, and
then for the righteousness of an holy life ; for a conscience to justify us,
that we have no purpose to live in any sin ; and a not accusing conscience
will be a justifying conscience. What a blessed condition shall we be in,
to be in Christ, and to know that we are so ! 0 the heaven on earth of
such a man as is in that condition ! For which way soever he looks, he
finds matter of comfort. If he looks backward, to the government of the
Spirit that hath ruled him in the former part of his life, he may say with
St Paul, ' I have fought a good fight, I have run the race that God hath
set before me,' 2 Tim. iv. 7. And what a sweet reflection is this ! He
is not afraid to look back to his life past as other men. If he looks for-
ward, he seeth a place prepared for him in heaven, and there he sees him-
self already in Christ. Henceforth ' there is laid up for me a crown of
righteousness, which the righteous Judge shall give me at that day,'
ver. 8 ; and all that love his appearing, saith he, there. When there
comes ill tidings of the church abroad and at home, it doth not much
356 SECOND SERMON.
dismay him. His heart is fixed ; he believeth in God and in Christ, and
that keeps him from being Hke a reed shaken with every wind. For re-
proaches and disgraces that he meets withal in the world, he wears them
as his crown, if they be for religion and goodness' sake. For his witness
is in heaven, and in his own conscience. And God in heaven, and his
conscience within, do acquit him ; and if he sufier for his deserts, yet in all
afflictions God dealeth with him as a correcting Father. He knoweth he
hath deserved them, but he looks on them as coming from a Father in
covenant with him. And what can come from a father but what is sweet ?
He sees it moderated and sweetened, and in the issue tending to make him
more holy. The sting is taken out, and a blessing is upon it, to make him
better. And therefore what can make a Christian uncomfortable, when he
hath the Spirit of Christ, and faith, the root of grace ?
These comforts being warmed with meditation, will stick close to the
heart. Comforts that are digested are they that work. Let them there-
fore not only enter into the brain and fleet* there, but let them sink into
the heart, by often consideration of God's love in Christ, and the privileges
of Christians here and in heaven, where our Head is, and where we shall
be ere long. Warm the heart with these, and see if any petty thing can
cast thee down !
* That is, ' flit.'— Q.
THE SAINT'S PRIVILEGE.
When he is come, he shall reprove the world of sin, righteousness, and judg-
ment: of sin, because they believe not in me; of righteousness, because I go
to my Father ; of judgment, because- the prince of this world is judged.
Especially the 10th verse. Of righteousness, because I go to my Father,
and you shall see vie no more. — John XVI. 8-10.
Our blessed Saviour descending from heaven to earth for the redemption
of man, after he had accomplished that great work, he ascended thither
again. And knowing his disciples would take his departure very heavily,
he labours to arm them against the assaults of all grief and sorrow that
might otherwise oppress them ; and that by many arguments. Among the
rest, this is not the least, that when he is gone away he will ' send the
Comforter unto them.' God never takes away anything from his children
but he sends them a better. And this Comforter whom he promised to
send shall bear them through in all their ministry, all function ; and in
effect he thus bespeaks them. You my disciples are to encounter with
the world ; be of good comfort, my Spirit shall go along with you, and * he
shall reprove the world of sin, righteousness, and judgment.' Of your-
selves you are too weak, but the Spirit shall strengthen you, and make
way into the hearts of those that shall be saved, by convincing them of
* sin, righteousness, and judgment.' So that be not discouraged ; the Spirit
shall breathe courage into you, and make way for your doctrine. ' When
the Comforter is come, he shall reprove the world of sin, and of righteous-
ness, and judgment : of sin, because they believe not in me ; of righteous-
ness, because I go to the Father ; of judgment, because the prince of this
■world is judged.'
* ' The Saint's Privilege ' appears to have been a favourite with the pixhlic. Be-
sides more modern reprints, I possess the following editions: — (1.) 1638, 18mo. Its
title-page is as follows :— ' The Saints Priviledge or a Christians constant Advocate ;
Containing a short but most sweet direction for every true Christian to walke com-
fortably through this valley of teares. By the faithfull and Reverend Divine R. Sibs,
D.D. and sometime Preacher to the Honourable Society of Grayes-Inn, London,
Printed by G M for George Edwards dwelling in Green-Aibour at the signe of the
Angell. 1638.' (2.) 1638, 4to. (3.) 1641, 4to. (4.) 1650. Appended to successive
editions of ' The Returning Backslider. (Cf. Vol. II. page 250.) The first edition,
which is our text, has Marshall's portrait of Sibbes prefixed, with the usual inscrip-
tion.— G.
358
THE SAINT S PRIVILEGE.
There are tliree main parts of salvation.
Knowledge of our misery, knowledge of our deliverance, and a life
answerable. The Holy Ghost shall work all these. He shall convince
the world of their own sin, of righteousness by a mediator, and of a
reformation of life. So that the Holy Ghost shall go along with you in
the carriage of the whole business of man's salvation. Where he begins,
he makes an end. Where he convinces of sin, he convinces of righteous-
ness, and then of a necessity of a reformation. He bears all afore him,
and he doth it in a spiritual order.
1. First, He ' convinces the world of sin,' then ' of righteousness,' then
' of judgment ;' because it were in vain to convince of the righteousness of
Christ unless he hath before convinced of sin. For who cares for balm
that is not wounded ? Who cares for a pardon that is not condemned ?
Therefore he convinces of sin first. I have spoken heretofore of convinc-
ing of sin.
Here is a threefold convincing; of sin, of righteousness, and of judgment;
and every one of these hath a reason added thereto. ' Of sin, because
they believe not in me ;' * of righteousness, because I go to my Father ;'
'of judgment, because the prince of this world is judged.'
The Holy Ghost begins with convincing of sin. What is this convincing ?
It is a clear and infallible demonstration of our condition. It brings a
commanding light into the soul. It sets down the soul and takes away
all cavils, all turnings and windings. To 'convince' is to make a man,
as the psalmist's* phrase is, ' lay his hand upon his mouth.' Light is a
convincing thing. Now we see the sun we see it is day. Though ten
thousand men should say it is not day, we would not believe them, because
the convincing hereof is undeniable, that he must be an unreasonable man
that gainsays it.
So then, the Spirit of God brings a commanding light into the soul
undeniable. Thou art thus and thus ; here no shifting, no winding and
turning will serve the turn when the Holy Ghost comes with this light.
I do but plainly unfold this.
This conviction of the Holy Ghost is not in general only, that all men
are sinners, but particular and strong. ' Thou art a sinner, and thou art
in danger of damnation.' And it is universal, taking in sins of nature,
sins of life, sins of Uie understanding, will, and affections ; and it is not of
sin only, but of the misery by sin, ef the danger, folly, and madness of sin,
and of the aggravations that greaten sin, as of stifling so many good
motions, withstanding so many means, abusing so many mercies. The
Holy Ghost convinces us thoroughly, that we can have nothing to reply.
Because I have spoken of this before, I am short. Beloved, unless the
Holy Ghost ' convince,' there will be no convincing. Our deceitful hearts
have so many windings and turnings ; proud nature arms itself with
defences, as a hedgehog winds himself round and defends himself by his
pricks. So you have many clothe themselves with strong words, ill transla-
tions upon others, f frivolous mitigations ; the way of the multitude, as
with a coat of mail to keep out this conviction, that did not the Hoi}" Ghost
strike in hard with their consciences, ' Thou art the man,' this work would
never be done.
Quest. But you will ask me this question. How shall we know common
conviction of conscience from this of the Spirit ? For carnal men that go
* Qu. 'Job'? -Ed.
t That is, ' blaming others.' Cf. Genesis iii. 12, seq. — G.
THE SAINT S PRIVILEGE.
359
to hell are < convince.cl' bj a common conviction. "Wiiat is tliis saving
conviction ?
Am. Difference 1. I answer, common conviction by the liijht of nature is a
weak co)iviction. A little spark will shew a little light, but it will not
enlighten a room. It must be the work of some greater light, as the sun.
The Spirit is a strong light, stronger than natural conscience. Natural
conscience, and common light, is of some breaches of the second table.
Natural conscience never ' convinces ' of corrupt nature, but the Spirit doth
most of all, as you may see in David, Ps. li. 5, he resolves all into this, as
if he should say, What should I tell you of my murder and adultery, ' in sin
did my mother conceive me ; ' so a true Christian doth not look to the
branches so much as to the root.
Difference 2. Then again, a natural conscience, when it convinceth a man,
it is against his loill. It makes him not the better man. He mends not
upon it, but he is tortured and tormented. But a man that is ' con-
vinced' by the Holy Ghost, he takes God's part against himself; he is
willing to be laid open that he may find the greater mercy. So that there
is a grand difference between common conviction of nature and the con-
viction of the Spirit. The conviction of the Spirit is the light of the Spirit,
which is of a higher nature than that of natural conscience: ' I will send the
Comforter,' when he comes he will greatly enlighten and overpower the soul.
Difference 3. Again, the conviction of the Spirit sticks by a man, it never
leaves the soul. But that of an^ ordinary conscience it is but for a flash,
and after they are worse than they were before.
I must cut off these things, because the time is always past upon these
occasions before we begin.
Use 1. Come we therefore to make some use. The Spirit doth ' convince
of sin.' But how ? By the ministry ordinarily, though not alone by
the ministry. Therefore we must labour willingly to submit to the ministry
' convincing of sin.' Conscience will convince first or last. Is it not
better to have a saving conviction now to purpose, than to have a bare
desperate conviction in hell ? Oh, beloved, all the admonitions we hear, if
we regard them not now, we shall hereafter. Therefore labour to make
good use of this ' sword of the Spirit' of God ; and it is an argument of a
good heart to wish. Oh that the ministry might meet with my corruption ;
that it may be discovered to me to the full. A true heart thinks sin the
greatest enemy, and of all other miseries it desires to be freed from the
thraldom thereof. For that defiles heaven and earth, and separates God
from his creature. It is that that threw angels out of heaven, Adam out of
paradise. What embitters blessings, and puts a sting into all atHictions
but sin ? If it were not for sin, we would take up any cross, and bear any
affliction more quietly than we do.
Therefore as we desire to be saved, and to stand with comfort before God
at the day of judgment, let us desire and endeavour to be thoroughly con-
vinced of sin. Take heed of resisting the Spirit of God in the ministry.
Why are many led captive of their lusts, but because they hate the ministry
of the word ? They look upon it as Ahab did upon Elias : ' Hast thou
found me, 0 my enemy,' 1 Kings xxi. 20. They naturally are in love with
their sins, and there is none so much hated as those that present them-
selves. A man, take him in his pure naturals, is a foolish creature ; his
heart rises against conviction. You see the pharisees, wise men, learned
men, being convinced, they hated Christ to the death. Why ? Because
he did untomb them and discover the dead men's bones within, Mat. xxiii. 27.
360
THE SAINT S PKIVILEGE.
So many now-a-days, that are convinced, hate any. that by life or speech
discover their sins unto them, if it were possible, and in their power, to
the death. Thus the Holy Ghost convinces of sin. But before I leave
this point, let me add this from the reason or ground of this conviction,
'Because they believe not in me.' That unbelief makes all other sins
damnable. No sin is damnable if we could believe and repent. Therefore
we are convinced of sin, because we do not believe ; as we say of a man
that is condemned, because he cannot read, therefore he is condemned. He
should escape if he could read, being for no great fault.* So it is here. It
is not believing in Christ and repenting makes all other sins deadly.
The differing of one man from another is their faith and repentance.
Some there be whose sins are greater than others, yet by the Spirit of God
and faith, they work them out every day. It is faith in the ' brazen serpent'
that takes away the sting of the fiery serpents. Num. xxi. 9. '
I have done with the conviction of sin. Let us now come to speak of
the conviction of righteousness.
* Of righteousness, because I go to my Father, and you shall see me no more.'
It is a fit time for the Holy Ghost to convince God's people of righteous-
ness when they are convinced of sin before. Then they can relish Christ.
Balm is balm indeed when the wound is discovered and felt. Oh then a
pardon is welcome when the party is condemned. The reason of this con-
viction of righteousness is, ' because I go to my Father, and you shall see
me no more.' The Holy Ghost, as he sets on sin upon the conscience, so
he takes off sin by applying to the conscience the righteousness of Christ.
This is his office, first, to convince the world of sin, and then to convince
of righteousness, whereby we stand righteous before God.
And tliis righteousness here, is not our own inherent, but the righteous-
ness of Christ a Mediator, God and man.
The Holy Ghost convinces of righteousness in this order of a fourfold
gradation.
First, That there must be a righteousness, and a full righteousness.
The second is this, that there is no such righteousness in the creature.
Thirdly, That this is to be had in Christ the Mediator.
Fourthly, That this righteousness is our righteousness.
1. First, Tliere must he a righteousness ; for we have to deal with a God
who is righteousness itself; and no unclean thing shall come into heaven,
Eev. xxi. 7. Unless we have a righteousness, how shall we look God in
the face, or how can we escape hell ?
2. Now for the second, that it is not in any creature, men or angels. We
have not a righteousness of our own ; for there are divers things to be
satisfied, God himself, and the law, and our own consciences, and the world.
Perhaps we may have a righteousness to satisfy the world, because we live
civilly. t Oh but that will not satisfy conscience. And then there must
be a satisfaction to the law, which is a large thing that condemns our
thoughts, desires, but God is the most perfect of all. Put case we have a
righteousness of a good carriage among men ; this will not satisfy God and
the law; it will not satisfy conscience. Men they are our fellow-prisoners.
Conscience will not be contented but with that which will content God, when
conscience sees there is such a righteousness found out by the wisdom of
God, that contents him, else conscience will be always in doubts and fears.
3. Thirdl}-, This righteousness is to be had in Christ. What is the right-
* Tlie reference is to ' Benefit of Clergy.' Cf. note, Vol. V. page 408.— G.
t Tliat is, ' morally.'— G.
THE saint's privilege. 361
eoosness of Christ ? The righteousness of Christ is that righteousness
that is founded upon his obedience: active, fulfilhng the law; and passive,
discharging all our debts, satisfying God's justice. The meritoriousness
of both of them is founded upon the purity of his nature. All his suffer-
ings and doings had their excellency from the personal union of God and
man ; in reference to which union we may without blasphemy aver that
God performed the law, God died for us.
4. Fourthly and lastly. This rujhteousness is our righteousness. The Spirit
convinces that this belongs to all behevers, for* it is better than Adam had.
His righteousness was the righteousness of a man, this righteousness is the
righteousness of a mediator; and it is such a righteousness, that when we
are clothed with it, we may go through the justice of God. We may have
access with boldness to the throne of grace, and say, • Lord, I come in the
righteousness of Christ, that hath appeased thy wrath and satisfied thy
justice. This the Holy Ghost convinces of.
Quest. But you will ask me. How doth the Holy Ghost ' convince' me of
the righteousness of Christ ?
Alls. I answer, first, the Holy Ghost presents to the soul the knowledge of
this excellent righteousness, and then creates a hand of faith to embrace it,
being projiosed. You that are humble and broken-hearted sinners, here is
Christ for yoy. The Spirit of God doth not only reveal the excellency of
Christ, but that this belongs to me, that Christ is given for me, and that
'revelation of the Spirit' doth sway the soul; when the Spirit doth not
tell in general only that Christ is an excellent Saviour, but shall relate to
a Christian soul, God gave Christ for thee. This sways the heart to rest
upon Christ, whereupon the marriage is made up between the soul and
Christ. The soul says, 'I am Christ's, and I give myself to Christ,' and
to whatsoever accompanies Christ. And then as it is in marriage, the
persons, by virtue of that relation, have interest into each other's sub-
stance and estate; so when this mystical marriage is made up between
Christ and us, we have a right unto Christ by all rights, by titles of
purchase and redemption. He hath purchased heaven for us, and us for
heaven. All that Christ hath is ours; all his good is ours; our sins his,
and his righteousness ours. So when the Holy Ghost convinces me of
Christ's^ righteousness, and gives me faith to embrace it, then Christ is
mine with all he hath. By this I have spoken, you may see how the
Spirit convinces. Do but imagine what a blessed condition the soul is in
when this match is made !
But you will ask me why is the sending of the Spirit necessary for the
* convincing of this righteousness ' ?
I answer, for divers reasons.
Reason 1 . First, Because it is above the conceit f of man that there should
be such a righteousness of God-man. Therefore" it is discovered by the
Spirit; and when it is discovered, the Spirit must open the eyes of the
soul to see, else we shall have a natural knowledge of supernatural things ;
for a man, by a natural knowledge, may understand them, so as to be able
to discourse of them; therefore, to change the soul, there must be a super-
natural sight to see supernatural things. A devil incarnate may know all
things, and yet want to see. Only the Holy Ghost gives inward sight, in-
ward ej-es, and works faith to see Christ as mine.
Fieasoa 2. Again, the sending of the Holy Ghost is necessary for this
conviction ; because he alone must set down the soul and make the conscience
* Qu. ' and ' ? -G. f That is, ' conception.'— G.
3G2
THE SAINT S PRIVILEGE.
quiet, who is greater than the conscience. Conscience will clamour, ' Thou
art a sinner;' the Holy Ghost convinces, 'In Christ thou art righteous.'
The Holy Ghost only knows vvhat is in the heart of God the Father, and
in the heart of every man. He only knows the intent of the Father to
every Christian, and can answer all inward objections and cavils of flesh
and blood raised up against the soul ; therefore the convincing of the Holy
Ghost is necessary. Howsoever Christ hath purchased our peace, yet the
Holy Ghost must a^plj it ; for the conscience is so full of clamours, that
unless the Holy Ghost apply what Christ hath done, conscience v/ill not be
satisfied. God the Father hath appointed Christ, and Christ hath wrought
it; but the third person must apply it to the soul, to assure us that this
belongs to us. The application of all good things to the soul that Christ
the Son hath wrought, is the proper office of the Third Person. In civil
contracts here, there must not only bo a purchase, but a seal. Though
Christ hath wrought righteousness for us, the Spirit must seal it to every
soul : ' This righteousness belongs to you ;' ' Christ is yours, with all that
is his.'
Reason 3. Again, it must needs be a work of the Spirit; because flesh
and blood is full of jyride, and imidd fain have some righteousness of their
01V71. The Jews were of this temper; and it hath been the greatest ques-
tion from the beginning of the world till this day, what is that righteous-
ness whereby we must stand before God ? But God's Spirit answers all
objections. Beloved, the best of us, though in an estate of grace, if the
Holy Ghost do not convince us, we shall be in darkness, and call all into
question. Therefore we must not bo convinced only at the first, but in a
continued course of Christianity. Unless the Holy Ghost doth this, we
shall fall into a dungeon of darkness ; therefore the convincing of the Holy
Ghost is necessary.
Beloved, this should make us take heed how we hear and how we read,
even to beg this convincing of the Spirit in every ordinance : 0 Lord !
vouchsafe ' the Spirit of revelation,' and take the scales ofi" mine eyes, that
as these are truths of themselves, so they may be truths to me ; sway my
soul, that I may cast myself upon thy mercy in Christ, &c.
Obj. I must answer some cases that many a poor soul is troubled withal :
Alas ! I am not ' convinced by the Spirit that Christ is my righteousness,'
therefore what case am I in ?
Ans. I answer, some are more strongly convinced, and some less. Let
a man be careless of holy duties, and he is less convinced; but let him be
constant therein, and he shall find the Holy Ghost convincing him more
strongly that the righteousness of Christ is his. There are many pre-
sumptuous persons that ' turn the grace of God into wantonness,' Jude 4 ;
who because through the enthusiasm of Satan, they never question their
estate, but conceit themselves to be good men and in the estate of grace,
think this to be the convincing of the Holy Ghost ; whereas this is
a general rule, spiritual convincing is not total, but always leaves in the
heart some drugs * of doubting ; as a ship that rides at anchor, though it
may reel to and fro, yet is it safe for the main. So is it with the soul that
is truly convinced. It is safe for the main, yet it is tumbled and tossed
with many doubts and fears, but their anchor is in heaven.
Take this for a ground of comfort subscribed unto in the experience of
all believers, that the Spirit of God so far convinces them of Christ's
righteousness, as preserves in them such a power of grace as to cast them-
* Qu. ' dregs ' ? — G.
THE saint's privilege. 363
selves upon the mercy of God in Christ; and God will not quench that
spark. Though there be little or no light, yet there will be heat. God
will send his Spirit into the heart, so far as it shall not betray itself to
despair, and let such a beam into the soul as all the power in hell shall
not be able to keep out. But it is our own neglect that we are not more
strongly convinced, so as to break through all. This is the privilege of a
constant, careful Christian, to be strongly convinced of the righteousness
of Christ.
Use. Thus we see how the Holy Ghost convinceth us of righteousness.
Other things I must omit. If this be so, I beseech you, let us not lose ourjyrivi-
leges and j^^'eyogatives. Doth God give grace, and give Christ with all his
righteousness, and shall not we improve them ? Let us use this righteous-
ness in all temptations. Let us plead it to God himself, when he seems to be
our enemy: Lord, thou hast ordained a righteousness, the righteousness of
Christ, that hath given full satisfaction to thy justice, and he hath given
me a title to heaven. Howsoever my soul be in darkness, yet. Lord, I
come unto thee in the name of my Saviour, that thou wouklst persuade my
soul of that righteousness. I would glorify thy name. Wherein wilt thou
be glorified ? In mercy or justice ? Oh, in mercy above all. I cannot
glorify thee in thy mercy, unless thou persuade me ' of the righteousness
of Christ.' Can I love thee except thou love me first? Canst thou have
any free and voluntary obedience from me, unless I be convinced that
Christ is mine ? Now, Lord, I beseech thee, let me be such as thou mayest
take delight in. Beloved, since we have means of such a gift, let us never
rest till we have it. If Satan set upon us, hold this out. If he tell thee
thou art a sinner, tell him I have a greater righteousness than my own,
even the righteousness of God-man ; I have a righteousness above all my
unrighteousness. Satan saith God is displeased with me : ay, but he is
more pleased with me in Christ, than displeased with me in myself. Satan
saith I have sinned against God ; ay, but not against the remedy. Send
Satan to Christ. Oh, but thou hast a corrupt nature that makes thee run
into this sin and that sin ; but there is a spring of mercy in God, and an
over-running fountain of righteousness in Christ, an overflowing sea of the
blood of Christ. Therefore let us labour to improve this righteousness of
Christ to God and Satan against all temptations, yea, against our own con-
sciences. I am thus and thus, jei God is thus and thus ; all his attributes
are conveyed to me in Christ. Let us exalt God and Christ, and set up Christ
above our sins, above any thing in the world, as St Paul, who ' counted all
things dung and dross for the excellent knowledge of Christ,' Philip, iii. 8.
Quest. You will ask me. How shall we know whether we be convinced of
this righteousness or no ?
Ans. I answer. We may know by the method Christ uses in convincing.
First, he convinces of sin, and then of righteousness. For a man to catch
at righteousness before he be convinced of sin, it is but an usurpation ; for
the Holy Ghost first convinces of sin.
Therefore you have man}^ perish because they never were abased enough.
Beloved, people are not lost enough and not miserable enough for Christ ;
and not broken enough for him ; and therefore they go without him.
Quest. But how shall I know that the Holy Ghost hath convinced me
enough of sin, so that I may without presumption apply the righteousness
of Christ unto myself ?
Ans. Only thus : if the Holy Ghost have discovered my sinful condition
of nature and life, so as to work in me an hatred of sin, and to alter my
384 THE saint's privilege.
bent another way, and so make Christ sweet unto me, then I am suffi-
ciently convinced of sin.
This in answer to that question by the way. To return ; in the next
place, I may know I am convinced thoroughly of the righteousness of Christ
b}f the ivitiiess and ivork of the Sjnrit. The Spirit brings light and faith.
The work of the Spirit hath a light of its own ; as I know I believe, when
I believe. But sometimes we have not the reflect act of faith whereby to
evidence our own graces to ourselves ; but ever he that is convinced of the
Spirit of God, his heart will be wrought to bear marvellous love to God.
Upon this apprehension that God is mine, and Christ is mine, the soul is
constrained to love ; whereupon ensues an enlargement of heart, and a
prevalency of comfort above all discomfort, for love casteth out fear. This
one comfort that our sins are forgiven, and that we have a right and title
to heaven, when the soul is convinced of this it is in a blessed condition.
Then what is poverty and what is imprisonment ? Not worthy to be
reckoned in respect of the glory that shall be revealed.
Again, where the Holy Ghost convinces enough, there is imcard peace
and great joy suitable to the righteousness. As the righteousness is an excel-
lent righteousness of God-man, so, that peace and joy that comes from it is
unspeakable peace and joy. So that then the heart sees itself instated in
peace and joy, as you have it, Eom. v. 1, ' Being justified by faith, we
have peace towards God ;' not only inward peace and joy, but a peace that
will shew itself abroad ; a glorious peace, a peace that will make us glory :
ver. 3, * "We glory in tribulation.' A hard matter to glory in abasement.
Not only so, but we glory iu God. God is ours, and Christ's righteousness
ours. When Christ hath satisfied God's wrath, then we may make our
boast of God.
Again, where this conviction of righteousness is, it answers all objections.
The doubting heart will object this and that, but the Spirit of God shews an
all-sufficiency in Christ's obedience ; and that sets the soul down quietly
in all crosses, and calms it in all storms in some degree. Where the soul
is convinced of the righteousness of Christ, there the conscience demands
boldly : ' It is God that justifies, who shall condemn ? It is Christ that
is dead, and risen again, and sits at the right hand of God. Who shall
lay any thing to the charge of God's elect ?' Eom. viii. 33. So that a con-
vinced conscience dares all creatures in heaven and earth. It works
strongly and boldly. I shall not need to enlarge this. You know whether
you are convinced.
Use. To end the point, I beseech you, labour to live by this faith. Here
is an evidence if we can live by it. How is that ? Every day to make
use of the ' righteousness of Christ,' as every day we run into sin. Be
sure we have our consciences sprinkled with the blood of Christ ; that as
we increase new guilt, so we may have a new pardon. Therefore every
day labour to see God as reconciled, and Christ as our advocate with the
Father. Christ is now in heaven. If we sin, make use of him. This
should be the life of a Christian, to make use of Christ's righteousness.
When you find nature polluted, go to God, and say, Lord, my nature,
though foul in itself, yet is holy and pure in Christ. He took the weak-
ness of the human nature unto him, that he might communicate the worth
and efficacy of his divine nature unto me. And for my actions, I am a
sinner ; but Christ hath fully discharged all my debts, and is now in heaven.
He hath performed all righteousness for me. Look not upon me as in
myself, but look upon me in Christ. He and I are one. This should be
THE saint's privilege. 365
every day's exercise, to see ourselves in Christ, and so see him and our-
selves one, I should enlarge the point further, but I will speak a word of
the reason.
What is the reason why the Comforter may and shall convince of right-
eousness ? ' Because I go to the Father.' What strength is there in that
reason ? Why this : Christ took upon him to be onr surety ; and he must
acquit us of all our sins ere lie can go to his Father. If one sin had been
unsatisfied for, he could not have gone to his Father ; but now he is gone
to his Father, therefore all our sins are satisfied for. So that now the ascen-
sion of Christ is a sufficient pledge to me that my person is accepted,
and my sins pardoned ; because he is gone to his Father, to appear
before the Father for us, which he could not have done had he not fulfilled
all righteousness.
But wherefore did he go to the Father ? Why, to viake application of
what he had wrought. If Christ should not have gone to the Father, he
could not have sent the Holy Ghost to us. Therefore there is great use
of this going to his Father. Satan pleads before God we are such and
such. Ay, but saith Christ, I have shed my blood for them; and
there he perfumes all our weak prayers. If we were not imperfect, what
need we a Mediator in heaven ? Therefore he is gone to heaven to dis-
annul all Satan's accusations, and to provide a place for us. Die when we
will, our place is ready.
Then again, he is gone to the Father to clothe us with a siveet relation,
to make the Father our Father. For he saith, John xx. 17, 'I go to my
Father and to your Father,' so that he is not ashamed to call us brethren.
By virtue of this, we may go to God and call him Father ; and when we
die, we may without presumption say, ' Father, into thy hands I commend
my spirit,' Luke xxiii. 46 ; for the Father loves us as he loved Christ, with
one and the same love, though in a far different degree. What a comfort
is this, that when we die, we go to our Father that is better than any
earthly father. Therefore it should joy us when the time of our departure
comes. We see old Jacob, when he saw the chariots come out of Egypt,
how his heart leaped because he should go to see his son Joseph, Gen.
xlv. 27, so when death is sent to transport us to Christ, to heaven, had we
a strong faith we should be exceeding glad.
And let us learn here the art of faith from Christ. ' I go to the Father,'
saith he. There was a great deal of time yet to pass, no less than forty
days after his resurrection, before he went to the Father, yet he saith, ' I
go to the Father,' to shew that faith presents things future as present, faith
sees heaven as present, and the day of judgment as present, and doth afi'ect
the soul as if they were now existent. If we had a spirit of faith, it would
thus present things far off as nigh at hand. Therefore when we meet
with anything that may make our way to heaven seem long or troublesome,
exercise your faith, and make your term present to your spirits. Though
remote from sense, say, I go to the Father. What, though I go through
blood and a shameful death, yea, perhaps a tormentful death, yet I go to
the Father ! When a man is once persuaded that God is his Father in
Christ, it will make him walk to heaven before his time.
Use. Let us make use of this point of Christ's going to the Father. Be-
loved, there is not a point of religion but hath a wonderful spring of com-
fort ; and it is want of faith that we do not draw more comfort from them.
When, therefore, we part with our friends by death, think they are gone to
their Father. If ye loved me, saith Christ, ye would rejoice because I said
366 THE saint's privilege.
* I go to the Father.' If we love our friends, we should rejoice when they
die. Beloved, this should comfort us, Christ is gone to his Father ! Oh,
what welcome was there of Christ when he came into heaven. The same
welcome will there be when we go to the Father. How joyful entertain-
ment shall we have of the Father and the Son. Therefore death should
not be troublesome to us ; say, Christ's righteousness is mine ; therefore I
know I shall go to the Father. What care I, then, what kind of pains I
go through. If a man be going to a desired place, howsoever the way be
troublesome, the sweetness of the end will make him forget the discourage-
ments of his passage. Perhaps we must wade to heaven through a sea of
blood. It matters not. The end will recompense all. Though we lose
our limbs by the way, it is better to limp to heaven than dance to hell.
April 10. 1638. Imprimatur Tho. Wykes.
THE WITNESS OF SALVATION.*
For ye have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear ; hut ye have received
the Spirit of adoption, ivhereby ive cry, Abba, Father. The Spirit itself
beareth icituess with our spirit, that we are the children of God. — Rom.
VIII. 15, 16.
The apostle in this Epistle sets down a platform of Christian doctrine,
whereupon all persons and Christian churches might safely build them-
selves ; shewing therein a sure way how those might come unto the Lord
Jesus, who are to obtain salvation by him : which he delivereth in three
heads.
1. First, Shewing how God will convince the world of sin.
2. He discovereth unto them tvhat that righteousness is, which ivithout
themselves is imputed unto them.
3. He setteth forth tluit righteousness inherent, created in us by sanctifica-
tion of the Spirit, with the effects thereof and motions that help us thereunto.
Answering that threefold work of the Spirit, John xvi. 8, where Christ
promiseth that when the Comforter cometh, he shall reprove the world,
1. Of sin ; 2. Of righteousness ; 3. Of judgment.
First, He shews the comforter shall work a conviction of sin, leaving a
man as vile, empty, and naked as may be. Not a bare confession of sin
only, which a man may have and yet go to hell ; but such a conviction
which stops a man's mouth that he hath not a word to speak, but sees a
sink of sin and abomination in himself, such as the apostle had, Rom. vii.
18 : ' For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh) dwelleth no good thing,'
&c. To attain unto this sight and measure of humiliation, there must be
work of the Spirit.
» ' The Witness of Salvation ' forms No. 12 of the original ' Saints' Cordial,' 1629.
It was -withdrawn in the after-editions. Its separate title-page is as follows : — ' The
Witnes of Salvation : or, God's Spirit Witnessing with ovr Spirits, that wee are the
Children of God. In One Sermon. Wherein is shewed, What the spirit of Bondage
is. Why God suffers his Children to be terrified therewith. The paralleling of the
Witnesses in Heaven and Earth. What the witness of our spirit is. How to discerne
of it. The order of the Witnesses. What the witnesse of Gods Spirit is ; and, How
to discerne the truth thereof. Pr^luceudo Pereo. Vprightnes Hath Boldnes. Job
27. 5. God forbid that I should justifie you : till I dye I will not remove my integritie
from niee. My righteousnesse I hold fast, and will not let it goe : my heart shall
not reprove me as long as I live. London, Printed in the yeare 1629.' — G,
368 THE WITNESS OF SALVATION.
First, therefore, the apostle begins with the Gentiles in the first chapter,
who failing grossly in the duties of the first table, God had given also over
to err in the breach of all the duties of the second. Then the second chapter,
and most part of the third, are spent on the Jews. They bragged of many
excellent privileges they had above the Gentiles ; as to have the law, cir-
cumcision ; to be teachers of others ; to have God amongst them ; and
therefore despised the Gentiles. The apostle reproves them, shewing, that
in condemning the Gentiles they condemned themselves, they having a
greater light of knowledge than they ; which should have led them unto
the true and sincere practice of what they were instructed in. Then he
goes on, and shews naturally all to be out of the way, the 14th verse of the
third chapter ; and so concludes them to be under sin, ' that every mouth
may be stopped, and all the world found guilty before God.' This is an &ad
of the first part.
Now, this being done, in the latter end of the third chapter he goes on
and proceeds to that second work of the Comforter, to convince the world
of righteousness. But upon what ground ? 'Because I go tp my Father,
and ye see me no more ;' that is, he shall assure the conscience that there
is now a righteousness of better things purchased for us ; that Christ is
wounded, condemned, and arraigned for us ; that he was imprisoned, but
now he is free, who was our surety; yea, and that he is not freed as one
escaped, who hath broken prison and run away, for then he could not have
stayed in heaven, no more than Adam in paradise after his fall : but now
that Christ remains in heaven perfectly and .for ever co-enthronized with his
Father, this is a sure ground to us that the debt is paid, and everlasting
peace and righteousness is brought in for our salvation.
This the apostle enlargeth, and shews this to be that righteousness only
which Adam had, and which all we must trust unto, unto the sixth chapter.
Then the apostle goes on unto the third point, and comes unto the con-
vincing the world of judgment and rir/hteousness, in the eighth chapter,
which are two words signifying one thing ; but because he had named
righteousness before, which was that righteousness without a man, in Christ
Jesus, in justification, he calls the third judgment, which is that integrity
inherent, bred, and created in us, as we may see in that place of Isaiah
xhi. 3. It is said of Christ, ' A bruised reed shall he not break, and the
smoking flax shall he not quench, till he bring forth j)(r///)»c;?^ unto victory.'
He shews judgment there to be a beginning of righteousness in sancti-
fication, even suchj a one as can never be extinguished. So Job xxvii. 2,
the word is taken, where he expostulates the matter : ' As the Lord liveth,
who hath taken away my judgment from me, all the while my breath is in
me, and the Spirit of God in my nostrils, my lips shall not speak wicked-
ness, nor my tongue deceit. God forbid that I should justify you : till I
die I will not remove my integrity from me. My righteousness I hold fast,
I will not let it go.' Here you see by judgment is meant integrity and that
righteousness which is created and inherent in us, so that the ground of
that place of Isaiah is, that God will never give over to advance and make
efiectual that weak righteousness and santification begun in us, until it
shall prevail against and master all our sins and corruptions, making it in
some a victorious sanctification. And the ground thereof is, ' For the prince
of this world is judged ;' he is like one manacled, whose strength and
power is limited, so that now though he be strong, yet he is cast out by a
stronger than he, that he cannot nor shalFever rule, as in times past. This
strain of doctrine, the apostle holds in this epistle, shewing that, as that justi-
THE WITNESS OF SALVATION. 369
fication of rigliteonsness by the blood of Christ is a thing without us, so
sanctification is righteousness inherent and created in us, and is the ground
of the witness of our spirit, as we shall hear in its own place. So that the
blood of Christ doth two things unto us : 1. It covers our sins in justification ;
2. And then in sanctification it heals our sins and sores ; so that if there
be any proud* flesh, it eats it out and then heals the wound. ' Therefore,
saith he, not under the law, but under grace.' He that sees the law to be
satisfied by another, and all to be under grace, he will not much stand on
anything in himself for his justification, but fly unto grace, and be much
in thankfulness ; therefore we are commanded that sin have no dominion
over us, ' for we are not under the law, but under grace.' Then he pro-
ceeds unto the particulars, and shews divers things, especially verse 12th
of this eighth chapter, he drives unto the point of sanctification ; as though
he should say. You are freed from the law, as it is a judge of life and death,
but yet the law must be your counsellor. You are debtors of thankfulness,
seeing whence you are escaped, that ye may not live after the flesh. And
then he proceeds to shew them how they should walk ; that seeing they
have received the Spirit, they should walk after the Spirit. Now that they
had received that which should subdue and mortify the flesh and the lusts
thereof, they should be no more as dead men, but quick and lively in opera-
tion, to live after the Spirit ; otherwise they could not be the sons of God.
And then he comes unto the words which I have now read, verse 15th,
* For ye have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear ; but ye have
received the Spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father.'
' For the Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit that we are the sons
of God.'
Here the apostle shews the ground of our union and communion with
Christ, because having his Spirit, we are of necessity his ; as St John speaks,
1 John iii. 24, * And hereby we know that he abideth in us, by the Spirit which
he hath given us.' What ties and makes one, things far asunder, but the
same Spirit of life in both ? So that Spirit which is in him, a full running-
over fountain, dropping down and being also infused in us, unites us unto
him ; yea, that very Spirit communicated to me in some measure, which is
in him in such fulness, that Spirit doth tie me as fast unto Christ as any
joint ties member to member, and so makes Christ dwell in mine heart.
As the apostle to this purpose speaks, Eph. ii. 21, 22, ' That thus by one
Spirit we are built up and made the temple of God, and come to be the
habitation of God by the Spirit.' So that now by this means we are
inseparably knit and united unto him. For, I pray you, what is it that
makes a member to be a member^to another? Not the nearness of joining,
or lying one to or upon another, but the same quickening spirit and life
which is in both, and which causeth a like motion. For otherwise, if the
same life were not in the member, it should be corrupt, dead, and of no
use to the other ; so that it is the same spirit and life which is in the
things conjoined that unites. Yet to explain this more — as I have often in
the like case spoken — imagine a man were as high as heaven, the same
life and spirit being in all parts, what is that now that can cause his toe to
stir, there being such a huge distance betwixt the head and it ? Even that
self-same life which is in the head being in it ; no sooner doth the head will
the toe to stir but it moves. So is it with us ; that very Spirit which is in
him being in us, and he in us, thereby we are united to him, grow in him,
and live in him, rejoice in him, and so are kept and preserved to be glori-
* That is, ' inflamed.'— G.
VOL. vn. A. a
370 THE WITNESS OF SALVATION.
fied with him. He is the ' second Adam,' from whom we received the
influence of all good things, showering* down and distilling the graces of
his Spirit upon all his members, that look, as it was said of Aaron, who was
a type of the second Adam, and of that holy oil representing the graces of
the Spirit, * Which did not only run down his head and beard, but the
skirts of his garments, and all his rich attire about,' Ps. cxxxiii. 2 ; so
when I see the oil of the Spirit of grace not only rest upon the head, but
also descend to his heel and run upon the members, making me now as one
of them, in some sort another thing than I was or my natural state made
me, by the same Spirit I know I am conveyed into Christ and united unto
him. To this purpose is that which Christ so stands upon, John vi. 63, unto
the Jews, where, speaking of the eating of his flesh, and that bread of life
which came down from heaven, lest they should mistake him, he adds, ' It
is the Spirit that quickeneth, the flesh profiteth nothing; the words that I
speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are life.' So that we see it is the
Spirit that gives a being unto the thing ; and therefore the apostle also pro-
ceeds to shew, 'As many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons
of God,' Eom. viii. 13, 14 ; that look, as Christ is the true natural Son of
God, so we as truly, by the conveyance of the same Spirit unto us, are his
sons by adoption, and so heirs of God. This he begins to shew, ver. 15,
that now being in this excellent estate, they were not only servants or
friends — a most high prerogative — but they were 'the sons of God,' having
' the Spirit of adoption,' whex-eby they might boldly call God Father. In
which verse he opposeth ' the spirit of bondage,' which doth make a man
fear again, ' unto the Spirit of adoption,' which frees a man from fears, so
as boldly to call God Father.
Now two things may be observed hence : first, the order that the Spirit
of God keej)s. Ere it comforts, it shakes and makes us fear. This the
apostle speaks of, Heb. ii. 14, where he shews the end of Christ's coming
was, that ' Because the children were partakers of flesh and blood, he also
himself likewise took part with them ; that through death he might destroy
him that had the power of death, that is, the devil ; and deliver them who
through the fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage.' The
first work then of the Comforter is to put a man in fear. Further, hence
is shewed, that until this Spirit doth work this fear, a man doth not fear.
The heart holds out. The obstinacy is so great, that if hell gates were
open, a man will not yield till then that the Spirit worketh it. So St
John speaks of the Comforter, that ' when he comes, he will convince or
reprove the world of sin,' John xvi. 8 ; that is, he will convince and shew
a man that he is but a bondman ; and so he makes us to fear.
No man must think this strange, that God deals with men at first in this
harsh manner, as it were to kill them, ere he make them alive ; nor be
discouraged, as if God had cast them off for ever as none of his ; for this
bondage and spirit of fear is a work of God's Spirit, and a preparative to
the rest. But it is but a common work, and therefore, unless more follow
it, it can afibrd us no comfort.
Ohj. Why then doth God suffer his children to be terrified first with this
fear?
Ans. I answer, that in two respects, this of all other is the best and
wisest course to deal with us Ipy the Holy Ghost, or else many would put
it ofi', and never rightly come unto a sense of mercy. 1. In respect of
God's glory ; 2. In regard of our good.
* Misprinted 'shewing.' — G.
THE WITNESS OF SALVATION. 371
1. But now, let us see why is such a course good in respect of GoiVs
fjlonj. Because, as in the creation, so in the work of redemption, God will
have the praise of all his attributes. In the former, there appeared his
infinite wisdom, goodness, power, justice, mercy, and the like, so would he
in the greater work of redemption have all these appear in strength and
brightness ; for in so doing, we honour him. It is honour to acknowledge
all these things to be in him in high perfection, whereby the contrary, it is
his dishonour when we acknowledge not the excellency of his infinite attri-
butes. Yea, I may safely say, the work of redemption was the greater ;
for therein appeared all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge, and in
conveying it unto the church.
(1.) For his wisdom. There appeared infinite wisdom in so ordering the
matter to find out such a means for the redemption of mankind, as no
created understanding could possibly imagine or think of.
(2.) For his mercy. There could be no mercy comparable unto this, in
not sparing his own Son, the Son of his love, to spare us, rather than we
should perish, who had so grievously transgressed.
(3.) So there could not be so much justice seen in anything as in sparing
us, not to spare his Son ; in laying, as it were, his Son's head upon the
block, and chopping it off, in renting and tearing that blessed body, even
as the veil of the temple was rent — which was a type of him — so did he,
as it were, tear him for us, and break him, when he ' made his soul an
ofiering for sin.' This was the perfection of justice, and thus was he just,
as the apostle speaks, ' that he might be a justifier of them who are of the
faith of Jesus,' Rom, iii. 26. God would therefore in this great work have
justice and mercy to meet and kiss each other. And that for two reasons:
for the magnifying, 1. of his justice ; 2. of his mercy.
1, Justice. For the former, the Spirit must first become a spirit of
bondage and fear, for the magnifying of his justice, that God may have the
glory thereof, as we see the prophet David, having sinned, was driven to
this pinch : Ps, li, 4, ' Against thee, thee only have I sinned, and done this
evil in thy sight, that thou mightst be justified when thou speakest, and.be
clear when thou judgest,' Thus he, an holy man, was brought to confess,
to give God the glory of his justice. And so to this end, that a man might
pass by, or through, the gates of hell into heaven, the Lord will have his
justice extended and spread abroad to the full view ; and therefore, for the
present sight of mercy, he turns the law loose to have its course ; and thus,
as in the work of redemption, he would have the height of justice to
appear. So neither, in the application thereof, would God sufier justice to
be swallowed up of mercy. But even as that woman, 2 Kings iv. 1, who
had nothing to pay, was threatened by the creditors to take away her two
sons and put them in prison, so the law is let loose upon us, though we
have nothing to pay, yet to threaten imprisonment and damnation ; to
afiright and terrify us, to magnify the justice of God. This is the first
cause.
Further, God hath set forth many terrible threatenings against sin and
sinners. Shall all this be to no purpose ? The wicked are insensible of
them ; must they therefore be in vain ? Some people there be on whom
they must work. ' Shall the lion roar, and no man be afraid ?' Amos iii. 8,
Since, then, those who should will not, some there are who must tremble,
and those even his own dear children. This the prophet excellently sets
forth, Isaiah Ixvi. 2, where the Lord sheweth whom he will regard : ' But
to this man will I look, even to him that is poor, and of a contrite spirit,
372 THE WITNESS OF SALVATION.
and trembling at my words.' So that you see even some of his own must
thus tremble and be humbled of necessity, and that it is not without just
cause that God doth deal with his own children in this manner, though it
be sharp in the experience. We must fear, tremble, and be humbled, and
then we shall receive a spirit not to fear again.
That vain courage which some have to brag of, * I fear not death,' this is
not that meant here ; for, alas ! such braggers, out of ignorance of the thing,
and desire to be out of misery in this life, may embrace death willingly,
hoping it may put an end to their miseries. But this spirit not to fear
again, is such a spirit that assures me of the forgiveness of all my sins,
shewing me my freedom in Christ Jesus from hell aud eternal condemna-
tion, making me live an holy life, and from hence not to fear; and so seals
us up unto the day of redemption, as we shall hear anon, when we come
unto the witness of this Spirit. This is for the glory of his justice.
2. Mercy. Secondly, It is requisite that the Comforter should work a
fear in men, for the glory of his mercy, which would never be so sweet, nor
relish so well, nor be esteemed of us, if the awful terrors of justice had not
formerly made us smart ; as we may see in that parable, Mat. xviii. 23,
whereunto our Saviour likens the kingdom of heaven, of that man who owed
ten thousand talents unto the king his master. He shews he forgives him
all. But what did he first ? He requires the whole debt of him ; and
because he had nothing to pay, he commands him, his wife and children,
and all that he had, to be sold, that payment might be made. First, he
would have him pinch, thoroughly to know how much he was indebted ;
and in that case how high that favour was which he received in forgiving
him all. Thus a king, for great faults, casts men into prison ere he pardon
them, and then mercy is mercy indeed. So God deals with us. Many
times he puts his children in fear, shews them how much they owe, how
unable they are to pay, casts them into prison, and threatens condemnation
in hell for ever. After which, when mercy comes to the soul, then it
appears to be a wonderful mercy, yea, the acts of exceeding mercy. Why
do so many find no savour in the gospel ? Is it because there is no witness
or matter of delight in it ? No. It is because such have had no taste of
the law and of the spirit of bondage ; they have not smarted, nor found a
sense of the bitterness of sins, nor of the just punishment due unto the
same. Even as a king will suffer the law to pass on some grievous male-
factor for high treason, and cause him to be brought to the place of execu-
tion, and lay his head on the block, ere he pardon, as we have had
experience in this country. A man who otherwise would not cry, nor shed
a tear for anything, despiseth death, and would not fear to meet an host of
men, such a one now having at this instant a pardon brought from the
king, it works wonderfully upon him, and will cause softness of heart and
tears to come when nothing else could ; whilst the wonder of this mercy
is admired; which now appeareth so sweet and seasonable, that he is struck,
and knows not what to say. So therefore, for this cause, God shews us
first a spirit of fear and bondage, and prepares us to relish mercy ; and then
the Spirit of adoption, not to fear again.
And thus, by this order, the one is magnified and^highly esteemed by
the foregoing sense of the other.
If, therefore, this terror and fear be hard and troublesome unto us, yet
if it be for God's glory, let us endure it. If he will give me over to a
wounded, terrified conscience, to fears, tremblings, astonishments, yea, or
to draw me to the fire itself, or to any other punishment, since it is for his
THE WITNESS OP SALVATION. 373
glory, I must be contented. But what do I say? God gets nothing by us.
All that we do is for ourselves. Our acknowledgment of him makes him
no wiser, stronger, juster, nor better than he is, Job xxxv. 6, 7 ; but, in
glorifying him, we do glorify ourselves, and so pass from glory to glory,
until we be fully transformed into his image, 2 Cor. iii. 18. And herein
consists our happiness in acknowledging of his wonderful attributes, that,
by reflex of the knowledge of them, we may grow in them as much as may
be for our good. He was as glorious, powerful, wise, just, happy, and
good before the world was made as now. For if the case be put of glori-
fying him, the persons of the Trinity were only worthy of so great honour,
not we, as we may read Prov. viii. 30. There Wisdom shews how it * was
with the Father before all time, and that they did mutually solace them-
selves in the contemplation of one another's glory.' Then, says Wisdom,
• was I by him, as one brought up with him, and I was daily his delight,
rejoicing always before him ;' and John xvii. 5, there we read the same in
effect, where Christ prays, * And now, 0 Father, glorify thou me, with
thine own self, with the glory which I had with thee before the world was.'
So that the beholding, magnifying, and admiring his glory as much as may
be, labouring to be like him, is our glory. Thus much of the glory of God
in beginning of his work in us by fear.
This second was, that this course is for our good, and that two ways,
1. In justification. 2. In sanctification.
1. In justification. For the first, we are such strangers unto God,
that we will never come to him till we see no other remedy, being at the
pit's brink, ready to starve, hopeless of all other helps. We are such
wretched creatures, so hard frozen in the dregs of sin, delightins in our
own ways, as we see m the parable of the prodigal son, Luke xv. 11, seq.
He would never think of any return to his father till all other helps failed
him, money, friends, acquaintance, all sort of food ; nay, if he might have
fed on husks with the swine, he would not have thought of returning any
more to his father. This being denied him, then the text saith, * He
came to himself,' shewing us that whilst men run on in sinful courses they
are madmen, out of themselves, even as we see those men in Bedlam.
They are beaten, and kept under; comforts denied them till they come
to themselves. Then what says he? ' I will go to my father, and confess
that I have sinned,' &c. So it is with us, until the Lord humbles and
brings us low in our own eyes, and shews us our misery and sinful
poverty, and that in us is no good thing ; that we be stripped of all helps
in and without ourselves, and must perish for ever without we beg his
mercy. We will not come unto him, as we see it was with that woman
whom Christ healed of her bloody issue, Luke viii. 43, how long it was
ere she came to Christ. She had been sick twelve years ; she had spent
all her substance on physicians, and nobody could help her. This extre-
mity brought her. So that this is a means to bring us to Christ, to drive
us on our knees, helpless, as low as may be, — to shew us where only help
is to be found, and make us run into it.
Thus, ^therefore, when men have no mind to come unto Christ, he sends
as it were fiery serpents to sting them, that they might look up unto the
brazen serpent, or rather unto Christ Jesus, of whom it was a type, for
help. Num. xxi. 8, John iii. 14. So unto others, being strangers unto
him, he sends variety of great and strange afflictions, to make them come,
that he may be acquainted with them. As Absalom set Joab's corn on
fire because he would not come at him, being twice sent for, 2 Sam. xiv.
374 THE WITNESS OF SALVATION.
30, SO God dealeth with us before our conversion many times ; and with
an iron whip he lasheth us home, turning loose the avenger of blood after
us, and then we run and make haste unto this city of refuge for our life.
Thus, I say, God doth shoot ofl' his great ordnance against us, to make us
run unto him. So John the Baptist in this manner came preaching of
repentance, in attire, speech, diet, all strange; clothed with camel's hair,
and with a girdle of skin about his loins, his meat locusts and wild honey ;
the place, in a wilderness; the speech, harsh and uncomfortable, thunder-
ing in voice, calling them generation of vipers, and telling them that now
was the axe also laid to the root of the tree or under the wood, that every
tree that brought not forth good fruit was hewn down and cast into the
fire, Mark i. 6, seq.
As also we know in this manner, the Lord came unto Elias, 1 Kings
xix. 11, seq. First, a great and strong wind rent the mountains, and brake
in pieces the rocks before the Lord, but the Lord was not in the wind ;
and after them went an earthquake, but the Lord was not in the earth-
quake ; and after the earthquake a fire, but the Lord was not in the fire.
These were as a peal of great ordnance, shot off" to prepare the way for
him, to shew the King his coming. And after the fire a still small voice,
and there the Lord was. So the Lord rends, tears, and shakes our con-
sciences ofttimes to prepare the way for him, and then he comes unto us in
that still and soft voice of consolation.
2. For our sanctification. It is good for us that the Comforter's first
work is to work fear in us ; for we are naturally so frozen in our dregs,
that no fire in a manner will warm and thaw us. We wallow in our
blood; we stick fast in the mire of sin up to the chin, that we cannot stir.
So that this fear is sent unto us to put us from our corruptions, and to
make us more holy. As we see a man having a gangrene beginning on
his hand or foot, which may spread further and be his death, he is easily
persuaded to cut ofi" that, that it go no further. So doth God deal with us
in this fear of bondage, that we may be clothed anew with his image, in
holiness and righteousness.
Now, to efiect this, the sharpest things are best. Such as are the law
and threatenings of condemnation, the opening of hell, the racking of the
conscience, and a sense of wrath present and to come. So hard-hearted
we are by nature, being as children of the bond-woman, unto whom
violence must do the work. Even as we see a man riding a wild and
young horse to tame him, he will run him against a wall that this may
make him afraid, ride him into deep and tough lands, or taking him up
unto the top of some high rock, from whence bringing him to the bank
thereof, he threatens to throw him down, and so makes him shake and
quake for fear, whereby at last he is tamed. So deals the Lord by us.
He gives us a sight of sin, and the punishment due thereunto, a sense of
wrath ; sets the conscience on fire ; fills the heart with fears, horrors, and
disquietness ; opens hell thus unto the soul ; brings one as it were unto
the gates thereof, and threatens to throw him in ; and all this to make us
more lowly, or the rnore to hate sin. So that by this we see there must
be strange mortifying and subduing of us by strong hand, to bring us unto
Christ, for our sanctification.
Ohj. Ere I proceed, give me leave to answer one objection of a troubled
soul, which may arise from hence : Oh, may one say, ' what comfort,
then, may I have of the first work of the Spirit in me, for as yet I have
found none of these things ? I have not been thus humbled, nor terrified,
THE WITNESS OF SALVATION. 375
nor had such experience, as you speak of, in that state under the spirit of
bondage.'
Ans. I answer, This, though it be the work of the Spirit, yet it is not the
principal, sanctifying, and saving work of the Spirit. Yea, a child of the
devil may come to have a greater measure of this than God's own dear
children, whom for the most part he will not aflfright, torture, nor afflict in
that terrible manner as he doth some of them ; but the consequent of this
is more to be accounted of than the measure, to see whither that measure
I have, whatsoever it be, leads me. For if the measure were so absolutely
necessary to salvation, then all God's children should have enough of it ;
for I make a difference still betwixt humiliation and humility, which is a
grace of itself, and leads me along with comfort and life. Thus, therefore,
I think of humiliation. If I have so much of it as may bring me to see
my danger, and run unto the medicine and city of refuge for help, to hate
sin for the time to come, and set myself constantly in the way and prac-
tice of holiness, it is sufficient. And so, I say, in the case of repentance.
If a man could have a heart firmly set upon the sight of sin past, against
all sin to come, the greater and firmer this were, the lesser measure of
sorrow might suffice for sins past. As we see a wise father would never
beat his child for faults past — he takes no delight in that but for preven-
tion of what which is to come, for we see the child cries out in the time of
correction, I will never do so more ! — so God deals with us. Because our
promises and resolutions are faint, and fail, and that without much mourn-
ing, humiliation, and stripes we attain not this hatred of sins past, and to
have strength against them, therefore it is that the measure of our humi-
liation and sorrow must be proportionable to that work which is to be
done, otherwise any measure of it were sufficient which fits us for the time
to come.
I will add, there are indeed divers measures of it, according unto which
the conscience is wounded. When there is a tough, melancholy humour,
that the powers of the soul are distracted, good duties omitted, and the
heart so much the more hardened ; when upon this the Lord lets loose the
bond of the conscience, oppressing the same with exceeding terrors and
fears, this the Lord wseth as a wedge to drive out a hard piece of wood to
be cut. God then doth shew us, because we would not plough ourselves,
we shall be ploughed : ' If ye would judge yourselves,' saith the apostle,
'you should not be judged,' 1 Cor. xi. 31. And therefore the church
confesseth and complains, Ps. cxxix. 2, that ' the ploughers ploughed
upon her back, and made deep furrows.' Why, how came this ? * She
did not plough up her own fallow ground.' Wherefore the Lord sent her
other ploughers, that ploughed her soundly indeed. Wherefore doth God
thus deal ? Because he is the great and most wise husbandman, who will
not sow amongst thorns. Therefore when he is about to sow the seed of
eternal life in the soul, which must take deep root and grow for ever, he
will have that ground thoroughly ploughed.
The way, then, to avoid these things, so harsh and unpleasing to flesh
and blood, is to take the rod betimes and beat ourselves. When we are
slow, secure, and omit it, God doth the work ; yet he makes a difterence
of good education in those who have kept themselves from the common
pollutions and gross sins of the time. It pleaseth God that faith comes
upon them, they know not how for the time. Grace drops in by little
and little, now a little and then a little by degrees. Sin is more and
more hated, and the heart inflamed with a desire of good things in a con-
376 THE WITNESS OF SALVATION.
Bcionable life. But in a measure, I say, such must have had, or have, or
shall have, fears or terrors, so much as may keep them from sin, to go on
constantly in the ways of holiness ; or when they fly out of the way, they
shall smart for it, and be whipped home again. Yet for the main they
find themselves as it were in heaven, they know not how. But if a man
have stuck deep and long in sin, he must look for a greater measure and
more certain time of his effectual calling. There must be haling and
pulling of such a man out of the fire with violence. That man must not
look for peace and comfort with ease. God will thunder and lighten in
this man's conscience in mount Sinai ere he speak peace unto him in
mount Sion.
A second time also there is of a great measure of humiliation, which is,
though a man be free of worldly pollutions and gross sins, when the Lord
intends to shew the sense of feeling of his mercy to any in an extraordinary
measure, or to fit them for some high service, then they shall be much
humbled before, as we see Paul was, Acts ix. 8. God did thunder upon
him, and beat him down in the highway, being stricken with blindness
three days after.
And thus much shall suffice to have spoken of the 15th verse, touching
'the spirit of bondage' and the ' Spirit of adoption.' The apostle tells
them, they may thank God the spirit of fear thus came, that hereafter they
might partake of the Spirit of adoption to fear no more. He stirs them
up, as it were, to be thankful, because now they had obtained a better
state. Why, what estate ? A very high one : ver. 16, ' The Spirit itself
beareth witnesseth with our spirit, that we are the children of God.'
The thing is then to know ourselves to be the children of God. There
must be sound evidences. Here then are two set down, whose testimony
cannot fail. I will touch them, by your patience, as briefly as I can, and
so make an end.
1. The witness of our spirit. 2. The witness of God's Spirit with our
spirit.
These be two evidences, not singly but conjoined, wherein you see there
must be some work of our own spirit.
Obj. Our spirit is deceitful; how can our spirit woA then in this manner
to testify this ?
Ans. I answer in this place, Our spirit is taken as an evidence of God
from heaven ; as it were a love-token given, and assuring me from good
grounds that I have not misapplied the promises ; that though God do write
bitter things against me, yet I love him still, and cleave unto him ; that
for all this, I know that I hunger and thirst after righteousness ; that I
will not be beaten ofi", nor receive an ill report of my Lord and Saviour; that
I rest, wait, serve, and trust in him still. In a word, the witness of our
spirit I take to be a sanctified resolution upon deep sorrow and mature
judgment both of God's mercies bestowed, and my obedience to the will of
God ; whence the soul gathers strength to wait and depend upon God, and
serv^him in all holiness, though for the present he hide his face and seem
an enemy. When thus our valour and faith is tried, then comes the same
Spirit, and seals with our spirit, that we are the children of God. When
our seal is first put, then God seals with our spirit the same thing by his
Spirit. To this efl'ect, 1 John v. 8, we read of three witnesses there set
down,
1. The Spirit ; 2, the water ; 3, the blood.
' And these three agree in one.' These three witness that we have
THE WITNESS OF SALVATION. 877
everlasting life, and that our names are written in heaven. How do these
three agree with these two witnesses ? Very well, Saint John ranks them
according to the order of their clearest evidence.
1. The Spirit ; 2, then the water ; 3, then the blood.
The apostle here ranks them according to their natural being : first, our
spirit in justification ; and sanctification is put next, and then God's Spirit.
For the Spirit, of all other things, is the clearest evidence ; and when this
is bright and manifest, there needs no more. The thing is sealed. So the
testimony of water is a clear evidence whereby is meant sanctification.
This is put next unto the Spirit ; for when the Spirit is silent, yet this may
speak. For though I have many wants and imperfections in me, yet if
my spirit can testify unto me that I have a desire to please God in all
things, that I have resolved to set up his service as the pitch of all my
utmost endeavours ; that I with allowance will cherish no corruption, but
have set myself against all : this water will thus comfort. It holds up a
man from sinking, as we see in all the sore troubles of Job, chap, xxvii. 2-5,
he still stood upon the integrity of his own spirit, and would not let that
go though he were sore beaten of the Almighty, and slandered of his friends
for a wicked person. But the water may be muddy, and the struggling of
the flesh and spirit so strong, that we cannot well judge which is master.
What then ? In this case faith lays hold of the blood of justification, which
though it be the darkest testimony, yet is it as sure as any of the other.
Now in comparing these witnesses together in Saint John and in my text,
1. I rank the water and the blood with the testimony of our spirit. And,
2. The Spirit mentioned in St John and in my text to be all one.
Not as though we wrought them, but that we do believe them to be so.
If a man ask, how I know that I am sanctified ? the answer must be, I
believe, I know it to be so. The work of working these things in me comes
of God ; but the work of discerning them is certain, how our afi'ection stands
in this case — comes of us. But yet to come nearer to the matter.
* The testimony of our spirit.'
I conceive to be, when a man hath taken a survey of those excellent
things, belonging unto justification and sanctification ; when according to
the substantial truths which I know in the word belonging thereunto, I
observe and follow as fast as I may what is there commanded ; when I
take the candle of the word, and with that bright burning lamp search what
is to be done, and therewith lance my corruptions, and so brinr/ it home,
then is it mine. This is the ground-work of the witness of our spirit. As
in the blood, with my spirit I must see what is needful to be done to be
justified ; what free promises of invitation belong thereunto. I must see
how God justifies the sinner, what conditions on our part are required in
justification, and my interest therein. I must see what footings and grounds
of life give way, and hope for a graceless man to be saved, yea, even unto
the worst person that may be. In this case a man must not look for an}^-
thing in himself as a cause. Christ must not be had by exc-hange, but
received as a free gift, which the apostle shews, Eom. iv. 16, ' Therefore it
is of faith, that it might be by grace ; to the end the promise might be sure
to all the seed,' &c. I must therefore bring out* the receiving of Christ a
bare hand ; first, it must be of grace. God for this cause will make us let
fall everything before we shall take hold of him. Though qualified with
humiliation, I must let all fall ; not trusting unto it, as to make me the
worthier to receive Christ, as some think. When thus at first for my
* Qu. 'unto'?— Ed.
378 THE WITNESS OF SALVATION.
justification I receive Christ, I must let anything I have fall, to lay hold on
him, that then he may find us thus in our shirts, as it were — in our blood
— and in this sort God will take us, that all may be of mere grace.
Another thing is required, that the j)romise may he sure. If anything in
us must be as a cause or help to our justification, a man should never be
sure ; therefore it is all of grace, that the promise may be sure. As though
God should say, I care for nothing else, thou canst bring me in this case.
Bring me my Son, and shew me him, and then all is well. And in this
you see he doth not name hope or love, or any other grace, but faith. For
the nature of faith is to let fall all things in laying hold of Christ. In
justification faith is a sufierer only. But in sanctification it works and
purge th the whole man, and so witnesseth the certainty and truth of our
justification, and so the assurance of salvation.
Hence, from the nature thereof in this work, 2 Pet. i. 1, the apostle
writes unto them who had received the like precious faith. In this case,
it was alike to all in virtue in this work, whatsoever the measure be. And
I may liken it thus : Paul, we know, says, ' with these hands I got my
living,' 1 Cor. iv. 12. Now, though strong hands may work more than
weak, and so earn a great deal, yet a beggar who holds out his hands
may receive more than some other can earn ; so faith doth justify us
by receiving, not working, as you may see, John i. 12, ' But as many as
received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to
them that believe in his name.' What then should we do to be saved ?
Why, receive him : that is, beheve in him now. Come and take sure hold,
as in the Revelation, ' and let him that is athirst come ; and whosoever
will, let him take of the water of life freely,' Piev. xxii. 17.
1. Open house. Now when I see that God keeps open house, come who
will, without denying entertainment unto any, and when God's Spirit
hath wrought the will in me, and I come and take God at his word, and
believe in Christ, laying hold by degrees on the other promises of life,
winding and wrapping myself in them as I am able, this is faith ; but that
persuasion, that I have, that I shall go to heaven, which many think to be
faith, is not so, but rather a consequent thereof. The promise is made
unto those who believe in Christ ; for in him, saith the apostle, ' all the
promises are yea and amen,' 2 Cor. i. 20. If a man weep much, and beg
hard for the forgiveness of sins, he may weep and be without comfort unto
the end of the world, unless he have received Christ, and applied his vir-
tue home unto the trembling soul. A man must first receive Christ, and
then he hath a warrant to interest himself in all the promises. So that
now this being done, if such a man were asked. Hast thou a warrant to
receive Christ ? He will answer, Yes, I have a warrant. He keeps open
house unto all who come, welcoming all, and I have a will to come. This
is a good and sufficient warrant ; if I have a will in me wrought for to
come, and do come. And this is the first thing to be observed in the wit-
ness of our spirit.
2. Invitation. Now if a man do stagger, for all that the King keeps
open house, so as he will not or doth not come, then in the second place
comes invitation. Because we are slow to believe, therefore God invites
us : Mat. xi, 28, ' Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden,
and I will give you rest.' Many object. Oh, I am not worthy to come !
But you see here is invitation to encourage me ; yea, the sorer and heavier
my load is, I should come so much the rather. So that if in this case the
question should be asked of such a one. Friend, how came you hither ?
THE "WITNESS OF SALVATION.
379
What -warrant had you to be so bold ? Then he shews his ticket, as if he
should say, Lord, thou gavest me a word of comfort, ' a warrant to come.'
My load and burden indeed was very heavy, and my unworthiness great ;
but at thy invitation, in obedience to thy word, and faith in thy promise, I
came hither. Now this invitation is directed to them who have no good-
ness yet wrought in them. When, then, my spirit warrants thus much
unto me, that upon this word of promise and invitation, I have come in for
relief and ease of my miseries unto Christ Jesus, the great physician,
relying on him for cure, and lying, as it were, at his foot for mercy, this
is the testimony of my spirit, that I do believe, and a ground for me to
rest on, that now I am in the way of life, and justified by his grace.
3. Entreaty. Thirdly, Sometimes Christ meets with a slow and dull
heart, lazy and careless, in a manner, what become of it ; not knowing or
weighing the dangerous estate it is in ; making excuses. There Christ
might justly leave us ; for is it not too much that the Iving should invite
us for our good, as he did those in the gospel, who, for refusing to come to
his supper, were excluded from ever tasting thereof, and strangers were
fetched in in their places ? God might so deal with us ; but you see,
2 Cor. V. 20, ' God sends an embassage to entreat ks ;' erects a new office,
as it were, for our sakes. Says he, ' Now then we are ambassadors for
Christ, as though God did beseech you by us : we pray you in Christ's
stead, to be reconciled to God.' This may seem to be needless ; we being
weaker than he ; ambassadors are sent to the stronger. The apostle reasons
the matter : ' Are we stronger than he ? Do v/e provoke the Lord to
anger ?' But here we see and may admire his infinite rich goodness, that
he doth come to sue to us to be reconciled with him. We know it might
be counted a kind of indignity for the king of Spain, so great a monarch,
to sue unto the Hollanders for peace, who are so far inferior unto him.
This dishonour God puts up at our hands, and says* unto us first, when
rather it becomes us on our knees to beg for it. The effect of the embas-
sage is, that we would be friends with him, and receive that which is so
highly for our advancement. When, therefore, I see this quickness in my
heart, so that, as St James speaks of the engrafted word to save our souls,
I can bring it home, having some sweet relish and high estimation of it
in my heart, that it begins to be the square and rule of my life, then I am
safe. If this or any of these fasten upon the soul, and thereupon I yield
and come in, it is enough to shew that I am a justified person, and from
hence our spirit may witness, and that truly. This is a third thing in the
witness of our spirit.
4. Command. Fourthly, If none of all this will do, then comes a further
degree, a command from, the Highest, You shall do it, as 1 John iii. 23,
' And this is his commandment, that we should believe on the name of his
Son Jesus Christ, and love one another as he gave us commandment.' In
the parliament of grace there is a law of faith, which binds one as strictly
to believe as to keep any of the commandments. Saith the apostle, Kom.
iii. 27, ' Where is boasting then ? It is excluded. By what law ? Of
works ? Nay, but by the law of faith.' So that if I will not believe on the
Lord Jesus, who easeth me from the rigour of the law, and so is my right-
eousness, I shall perish for ever. What, may one object, must I needs
believe ? Yes, thou art as strictly bound to believe, as not to murder, not
to be an idolater, not to steal. Nay, I will add more, that thy infidelity
and contempt of that gracious offer, thy disobedience to the law of faith, is
* Qu. ' sues ' ?— Ed.
330 THE WITNESS OP SALVATION.
greater than thy disobedience to the law of works ; when thou dost flin«
God's grace in his face again, and, as it were, trample under foot the blood
of the covenant. See for this John xvi. 9. What is that great sin which
Christ came to reprove ? Even this infidelity, says he, ' because they
believe not in me ;' which in two respects is a great sin. First, because
it sins against God's mercy ; secondly, because it is a chain which links
and binds all other sins together. Thus faith is sure, when it lies on the
word, otherwise all other thoughts are but presumption, and will fail a
man in the time of need. For what is faith, I pray you, but my assent to
believe every word of God. He hath commanded me to believe, and to
endeavour the practice.
5. Threatenings. Fifthly, If all this will not do, then comes tlireaten-
incfs. Then God swears, that such as refuse shall never enter into his
rest. If the prince should sue unto a beggar's daughter for marriage, and
she should refuse and contemn his offer, do you think he would be well
pleased ? So it is with us when the King of heaven's Son sends to us, will
you be married to me ? If we refuse, the Son doth take on wonderfully ;
and therefore, Ps. ii. 12, he says, * Kiss the Son, lest he be angry, and ye
perish in the way, when his wrath is kindled but a little. Blessed are all
those that put their trust in him.' So Hebrews iii. 18 : God swore because
of infidelity those unbelieving Jews should never enter into his rest. All
the rest of the threatenings in the law were not with an oath. There
was some secret reservation of mercy upon the satisfaction of divine jus-
tice ; but here there is no reservation. God hath sworn such shall never
come to heaven. Look not for a third thing in God, as a mitigation of
his oath. It cannot be. He hath sworn no unbeliever shall ever enter
into his rest.
These five things are the grounds of faith even to the worst and un-
worthiest persons that may be, which, once wrought in the heart and the
spirit, and the Spirit of God renewing our spirits, discerneth the same spirit.
These are the witness of our spirit.
Now, our spirit having viewed all these things and the promises upon
which they are grounded, thus it witnesses, as if one should demand of one,
Are all these things presented to thy view true ? Yes, will he say, true as
the gospel. Then the next thing is. Are they good and profitable ? Oh
yes, saith he, all are very good and desirable. Then the upshot is. Are
all good to thee ? If then thou accept of this and warp and fold thyself
in the promises, thou canst not wind thyself out of comfort and assurance
to be in Christ Jesus ; for, I pray you, what makes up a match but the
consent of two agreeing. So the consent of two parties upon this embassage
makes up the match between us and Christ, and unites and knits us unto him.
There are also, being now incorporate, other means to make us grow up
in him, by which time discovers what manner of engrafting we have had
in him. As we see four or five siens- may be engrafted in a stock and
yet some of them not take root, but wither, so, many are by the word and
sacraments admitted as retainers and believers of the promises who shrink
and hold not out, because they never took root, but it only swimmed in
the brain. Yet, howsoever, all that come to life must pass this way, if
they look for sound comfort. Thus much shall suffice for the witness of
our spirit in justification ; but our spirit's testimony goes further, wherein
I might shew you how in sanctification our spirit says, * Lord, prove me,
try me if there be evil in me, and lead me in the way for ever,' Ps. cxxxix.
* That is, ' scions,' = grafts. — G.
THE WITNESS OF SALVATION. 381
23. He loves the brethren, desires to fear Grod, as Nehemiah pleads, Neh.
i. 11, 'Be attentive to the prayer of thy servant, and of thy servants, who
desire to fear thy name,' &c. This is the warrant that I am partaker of that
inward true washing, and not of that outward only of the hog, which being
kept clean, and in clean company, will be clean till there be occasion of
returning to wallow in the mire again. But when I find, though there were
neither heaven to reward me nor hell to punish me, if opportunity were,
yet my heart riseth against the sin because of him who hath forbidden it,
this is a sure evidence, and testifies that I am the child of God. Thus
much is for the first thing in bringing a man in to survey the promises con-
cerning justification and sanctification, whereupon our spirit doth truly
witness the assurance of our salvation.
Secondly, When I find Christ drawing and changing my nature, that
upon the former reasonings and view, and laying hold of Christ, making
me now have supernatural thoughts and delights, — for this a man may
have, — then, certainly, my spirit may conclude that I am blessed ; for,
saith the Scripture, ' Blessed is the man whom thou choosest, and causest
to come unto thee,' Ps. Ixv. 4.
But some like drones do dream of this, I know not on what grounds ;
these men can have no comfort. But do I this waking with my whole soul ?
Doth my spirit testify it upon good grounds ? Then I may rest upon it ;
it is as sure as may be. This is the testimony of our spirit. Yet, ere I
come to the witness of God's Spirit with our spirit : there may be often an
interposing trial betwixt ; God may write bitter things against me, seem to
cast me off, wound me for all this as with the wound of an enemy, and
remove the sense of the light of his countenance from me. Wliat then is
to be done ? What doth the witness of our spirit now ? Why then I will
trust in him, though he kill me. Job xiii. 15. Sure I am I have loved and
esteemed the words of his mouth, more than mine appointed food, Job
xxiii. 12 ; as Job speaks, ' I have laid hold of them to shew their power and
believe them, I have desired to fear him and yield obedience to all his com-
mandments.' If I must die, I will yet wait on him and die at his feet.
Look here is the strength of faith. Christ had faith without feeling when he
cried out, ' My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me ?' When sense
is marvellous low, then faith is at the strongest. We must walk here by
faith ; we shall have sense and sight enough in another world. The apostle
saith, ' We walk by faith, and not by sight, and by faith we stand ;' as we
may see a pattern in that woman of Canaan, Mat. xv. 22, seq. She was
repulsed as a stranger, yet she went on ; then she was called a dog. She
might have been dashed and given over her suit ; but see, this is the nature
of faith, to pick comforts out of discomforts ; to see out of a very small hole
those things which raise and bring matter of consolation. She catcheth at
that quickly, Am I a dog. Lord ? Why yet it is well, ' The dogs eat the
crumbs which fall from their master's table.' Thus faith was strong in her ;
and when this trial was past, then Christ says unto her, * Woman, great is
thy faith, have what thou wilt.'
I have done with the testimony of our spirit. And then from our believ-
ing God in generals and valorous resting upon him, taking him at his word,
comes ' the testimony of God's Spirit, witnessing with our spirit, that we
are the children of God.'
I say, this being done, and God letting us have trial what his strength
is in us, he will not let us stand long in this uncomfortable state, but will
come again and speak peace unto us ; after two days gather us up, and the
382 THE WITNESS OF SALVATION.
third day revive us, that we may live in his sight. As if he should say,
What ! hast thou believed me on my bare word ? Hast thou honoured
me so as to lay the blame and fault of all my trials on thyself for thy sins,
and clear my justice in all things ? Hast thou honoured me so as to magnify
my mercy, to wait and hope in it for all this ? Hast thou trusted me so
as to remain faithful in all thy miseries ? Then the Lord puts to the seal
of his Spirit. As we may read Eph. i. 13, saith the apostle, ' In whom
also ye trusted, after that you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your
salvation : in whom also, after that ye believed, ye were sealed with the
Holy Spirit of promise, which is the earnest of our inheritance,' &c.
Here is the difference betwixt faith and sense. Faith doth take hold of
general promises, applies them, makes them her own, and lives and walks
by them ; and so squares his life by those rules in all things, as without
sense she leads us on to heaven ; but sense is another thing, when as Ps.
XXXV. 3, there is a full report made unto the soul of its assured happiness.
As in that place, ' Say unto my soul, I am thy salvation.' When a man
hath thus been gathered home by glorifying him and believing his truth,
then comes a special evidence unto the soul and says, ' I am thy salvation,'
which, in effect, is that which Christ in another place speaks, ' He that loveth
me shall be beloved of my Father, and I will love him, and manifest myself
unto him,' John xiv. 21. And as it is Cant. i. 2, 'He will kiss us with
the kisses of his mouth,' so as we shall be able to say, * My well-beloved is
mine, and I am his.' When God hath heard us cry a while until we be
thoroughly humbled, then he takes us up in his arms and dandles us,
makino' his Spirit after a sensible manner seal unto us the assurance of our
salvation. So that a meditation of the word being past, a man having
viewed his charter and his evidences, surveying heaven and the promises
and privileges, with the glory to come, then the Spirit comes in and makes
up a third guest ; then comes joy unspeakable and glorious, and in such a
measure that the soul is wonderfully pleased. It shall not continue always
so, but at some times we shall have it ; yet it endures so as that it shall
never be taken quite away, as our Saviour's promise is, John xvi. 22 :
* And you now therefore have sorrow ; but I will see you again, and your
heart shall rejoice, and your joy shall no man take from you.' This is the
root of all consolation, that God will not forsake us for ever, but he will
come at last and have compassion of us, according unto the multitude of
his mercies.
Obj. Here some may object. What ! doth the Spirit never seal but upon
some such hard trials after the witness of our spirit ?
A71S. I answer, The sealing of God's Spirit with our spirit is not always
tied to sore, hard, and such foregoing trials immediately ; for a man may
be surveying heaven, or the glory to come, or praying earnestly in much
humility, with a tender melting heart, applying the promises and wrestling
with God ; then at these or some such times God's seal many times may
be, and is put to our seal : ' For as the wind bloweth where it listeth, and
no man discerneth the coming thereof,' John iii. 8, so may the Spirit of
God seal at divers times and upon divers occasions ; yea, and why may it
not seal in the time of some great suffering for the truth, as we read of the
apostles. Acts v. 41, who went away from the council 'rejoicing that they
were counted worthy to suffer any shame for his name ' ?
Lastly, for trial ; we must now see how to distinguish this testimony of
the true Spirit from the counterfeit illumination of the Anabaptists and some
friars, who will now and then have some strange sudden joys, the devil, no
' THE WITNESS OF SAIiVATION. 383
question, transforming himself into an angel of light to deceive them. This
trial is made, 1. By three things going before; 2. By three things follow-
ing after.
First, See that the ground-work be sure. If a man be in the faith, and do
believe the word ; if, upon believing, meditation, opening unto the knock of
Christ at first, not delaying him off, like the lazy spouse in the Canticles,
if in this case the Spirit come and fill the heart with joy, then all is sure
and well. It comes with promise, because then he hath promised to enter.
If a man have a dull, dead, delaying ear to open unto Christ, or apply him
upon good grounds, and therewith great fantastic joys, he may assure him-
self they are but idle speculations, not wrought in him by the right sancti-
fication of the Spirit ; but if this joy come upon the surveying of charters,
evidences, &c., it is sure, we may build upon it.
Secondly, A man must consider, if he hath as yet overcome strong jmssions
and temptations, and passed through much hazard and peril, having been
buffeted with divers temptations, over which he hath obtained mastery.
For this seal of God's Spirit with our spirit comes as a reward of service
done ; as we may see Kev. iii. 17, ' To him that overcometh will I give to
eat of the hidden manna, and I will give him a white stone, aud in the
stone a new name written, which no man knoweth saving he that receiveth
it ; ' whereby he means, in such a case he will give a secret love-token unto
the soul, whereby it may rest assured of the unspeakable love of God and
freedom from condemnation.
The Athenians had a custom, when malefactors were accused and
arraigned, to have black and white stones by them, and so according to the
sentence given, those acquitted had a white, those condemned had a black
stone given them. Unto this the Holy Ghost here alludes, that this seal
shall assure them of an absolute acquittance from condemnation, and so
free them from the cause of fear. Again, he shews Christ will give a man
a new name, that is, his absolution written in fair letters upon the white
stone with a clear evidence ; as if he should say, ' When Christ hath seen
a man overcoming, and how he hath buckled with temptations, aud yet
holds out, pressing on for his crown unto the end of the race, he will come
in then, and stroke him on the head, ease all his pains, feurs, and sorrows
with such a sweet refreshing as is unspeakable. When a man hath won it
in sum, he shews he shall wear it.
Thirdly, 1/ the Spirit seal after tneditation in the v:ord, it is right. The
apostle saith, ' In whom, after ye believed, ye were sealed with the Holy
Spirit of promise,' Eph. i. 13. Examine the root of your joys. The Spirit
gives no comfort but by the word. If a man do meditate on the promises,
and thereupon have a flame kindled, when he knows his interest in them,
this is sure. A man may say, the word did stir it up. If it be God's
comfort, assure thyself God would have his word to make way unto it.
Those who find no sweetness in the word, what is the cause thereof? Be-
cause they chew not the cud to imprint it in their memories and hearts.
If comfort comes whilst a man is meditating on the promises, and wedging
them home upon the heart, it is of God, otherwise it is but counterfeit and
false. These and divers others may be the forerunners to this seal. Now
three things follow after, which the Spirit leaves behind it.
1. First, Humility ; as in his knowledge, so in his sense, it makes a man
more humble. There is naturally in all a certain pride which must be
overcome ; yea, of all sorts, spiritual pride is the most dangerous. Where-
fore know the holiest are ever the humblest people. The apostle saith,
384 THE WITNESS OF SALVATION.
' What hast thou that thou hast not received ? and if thou hast received it,
why boastest thou?' &c., 1 Cor. iv. 7. By the contrary, the more near a
man comes unto the glory of God, the more he sees him, and is truly
acquainted with him, so much the more rottenness he finds in his bones ;
as we see in Job, what he says of himself in this case : Job xlii. 5, * I have
heard of thee by the hearing of the ear, but now my eye seeth thee.' His
inference is — ' wherefore I abhor myself, and repent in dust and ashes.'
And the prophet Isaiah, he cries out, Isa. vi. 5, ' Woe is me, for I am
undone, because I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a
people that is of unclean lips.' But wherefore is all this ? saith he. * For
mine eyes have seen the Lord of hosts.' It is a certain thing, an humble
soul is a sure and certain habitation for the Spirit of God. ' For thus saith
the high and lofty One that inhabiteth eternity, whose name is the Lord of
Hosts : I dwell in the high and lofty place, witla him also that is of a contrite
and humble spirit, to revive the spirit of the humble,' &c., Isa. Ivii. 15.
A proud spirit, therefore, but in vain brags of this seal of God's Spirit,
which leaves a man humble, and the vilest of all others in his own sight ;
for then the brightest and best light hath shewed him more than ever his
manifold and darkest corruptions, which abase him in his own eyes, seeing
how far short he comes of what he should and ought to be.
2. A second thing which the Spirit leaves behind it, if it seal rightly, is,
a prevention of security to come. In this case we must look for a new en-
counter. A false persuasion makes a man to fall into security ; because
Satan is then most malicious and busy, a man must stand faster than ever.
The devil, he hates those most which are most endowed with God's image,
whom, because he cannot reach, he persecutes his members. And there-
fore in this case, it must be with us as it was with Elias in his feast,
1 Kings six. 8. After such an enlightening, a man must now think that
he hath a great journey to go, and so walk on in the strength of that, long
time. The devil, you see, watcheth a man at the best, then to overcome
him, as we see in Adam and Eve. No sooner were they placed in that
estate of innocency but he buckled with them. How much more a man
having a sweeter taste of the Spirit and less strength now, may he look to
be set upon ? And therefore in these feasting days had need to be more in
his watch and pray more ; for we have more given unto us than Adam had.
We have a new name give us, a secret love-token. Further, we see Christ
saith. Rev. iii. 20, * Behold, I stand at the door and knock : if any man
will open unto me, I will come in and sup with him, and he with me.'
Now, in such a case, if we be such parties who let our hearts fly open to
let him in, we are safe ; as if he should say, if you would be sure of recon-
ciliation to be at peace with me, sup with me, and I will sup with you.
For we know, if men formerly enemies be brought to keep company and
eat together, we use to say, all is done and lapped up in the napkin ; old
reckonings are forgotten and taken away. Now they are certainly friends.
But if, like the spouse in the Canticles, we let him stand knocking, and
will not let him in, we may have great, many, and sound knocks ere we
find him again, as we know it befell the church then, when she had lost her
communion with him. Our Saviour, you see, knowing the devil's violence
and subtilty in taking us unprovided, how often doth he command us to
watch and pray, that we enter not into temptation. * That I say unto you
I say unto all men. Watch,' Mark xiii. 37. If we would therefore retain
our comfort after such a sweet taste, or having lost it, recover the same,
let us watch chiefly at that time, and prepare for a new assault. Then
THE WITNESS OF SALVATION. 385
again, in a loss, let us mark the knocks of the Spirit, when, as it is Isa.
XXX. 21, ' A voice behind us says. Walk this vfaj, and that way,' &c., and
grieve him not by withstanding holy motions, and then we shall find him
sealing our solvation, and witnessing with our spirit that we are the chil-
dren of God. Men, you see, wait for the wind, and not the wind for them,
else they may be long enough ere they reach home. So must we watch
the knocks of Christ to let him in, that so his Spirit may seal us up to the
day of redemption. Oh, how happy were it for us if thus we could do, and
still watch and be ready for a new encounter ! For let no man think to
have more freedom from temptations than our blessed Saviour had, of
whom it is written, Luke iv. 13, ' That when the devil had ended all his
temptations against him, he departed from him /or a season.'
The third thing the true Spirit leaves behind it is love. It makes a man
the more enkindled with love to God. If a man do not love God more
after such an enlightening, it is false and counterfeit. Saith the prophet
David, ' I will love thee dearly, my Lord, my God, because thou hast heard
my voice.' And the apostle saith, 2 Cor. v. 14, * For the love of God
constraineth us,' &c. And therefore, if we be obedient sons, we must shew
it in loving and honouring our Father more and more ; as Mai. i. 6, 'A
son honoureth his father, and a servant his master ; if I then be a father,
where is mine honour ?' Yea, then, this love will break forth unto others
like fire, to warm and comfort them. ' Come unto me, all je that fear
the Lord, and I will tell you what he hath done for my soul,' &c., saith the
prophet, Ps. Ixvi. 16 ; so a holy soul in this case finds a fire like that of
Elihu. It is like new wine in bottles that cannot hold. There is an holy
rejoicing, an holy praising ; holy flames sent towards others. Much love
increased to them ; admiration of such excellent surpassing things as remain
in the life to come, if a taste be so much here.
I cannot go on further now. These, in brief, may serve us for a trial
of the truth of God's Spirit witnessing with our spirit that we are the chil-
dren of God, which now let us pray for, * 0 Lord our God,' &c.
VOL. vn. B b
SAINT PAUL'S CHALLENGE.
What shall we then say to these thinqs ? If God be for us, who can he against
ns .?— KoM. VIII. 31.
The words are a glorious conclusion and triumph of faith : the conclusion
upon all the former particulars in the chapter, and the foundation of all
the comforts that follow after, to the end of the chapter. They are as the
centre of the chapter. All the beams of heavenly comfort in this divine
chapter, they meet, as it were in one, in this short clause, * What shall we
say then to these things ?' &c.
In the words, briefly, there is Jirst a question, ' What shall we say to
these things ? '
And then a triumj)h, ' If God be with us, who can be against us ?' It
is a question answered with another question, ' What shall we say to these
things ?' He answers it with another question, * If God be with us, who
can be against us ? '
* What shall we say to these things ? '
To these things before mentioned. If we be in Christ, there is no con-
demnation to us ; if we be led by the Spirit, if we be heirs of heaven and
fellow-heirs with Christ, if we suffer with him, if we have the spirit of
prayer to help our infirmities in the worst conditions, if all creatures groan
with us, and if all work for our good, if God from all eternity hath written
our names in heaven by election, and separated us from the rest of the
world in vocation, and hath sanctified and justified us, and will after glorify
us, ' what shall we say to these things ?'
The heart of man is full of doubtings and misgiving, full of thoughts :
' According to the multitude of my thoughts, thy comforts refreshed my
soul,' Ps. xciv. 19. A multitude of thoughts and a multitude of comforts.
There is comfort after comfort, because there are thoughts after thoughts,
and surmises after surmises. There is no waste comfort set down in this
* 'Saint Paul's Challenge' forms No. 8 of the Sermons entitled ' Beams of
Divine Light' (4to, 1639). Its separate title-page is as follows: — 'Saint Pauls
Challenge. In one Sermon. By The late learned and reverend Divine, Kich.
Sibbs : Doctor in Divinitie, M"^ of Katherine Hall in Cambridge, and sometimes
Preacher at Grayes-Inne. Psal. 27. 8. Though an Host should encampe against
me, my heart shall not fear ; though warre should rise against me, In this will I be
confident. London, Printed by E. P. for Nicholas Bourne, and Rapha Harfcrd
1638.'— G.
SAINT Paul's challenge. 387
chapter ; and when he hath set down all, he comes and concludes in a
triumphant manner, ' What shall we say to these things ?' He propounds
the quare to himself, he catechiseth his own heart and others. If these
things be so, what can be said against them ? Surely the unbelieving,
doubting, dark, rebellious heart of man hath many things to say against
divine truths ; for though divine truths be lighter than the sun, and there
is no greater evidence of anything in the world, yet they find no place in
the unbelieving heart. Let God say what he will, the doubting heart is
ready to gainsay it. But these truths are so pregnant and clear, that it is
a wonder that anything should be said against them : ' What shall we say to
these things ?'
Again he means, what comfort can you have more ? What can you
desire more ? What can be said more ? What use will you make of all
that hath been said ? What will you suck out of it ? If all this be true
that hath been spoken before, that a Christian is so elevated above the
common condition ; if God love him from everlasting in election, and to
everlasting in glorification ; if in the middle time all shall work for the
best, what comfort can the heart of man desire more ? and what use
can you make of this for courage and for comfort for the time to come ?
These things are implied in this question, ' what shall we say to these
things ?'
Use. It is good often to propound qiurres and demands to our own hearts,
when we read or hear divine truths ; to ask our own hearts, You have
heard these things, what say you to them ? For whatsoever God saith in
his word will do us no good till we speak to our own hearts, and be con-
vinced of it, and say it is so. Therefore we should say to ourselves. Here
are many comforts and duties pressed, but what sayest thou to it, my heart '?
Dost thou not stand out against comforts and advice ? It is no matter
what God saith, unless he overpower the unbelieving heart to say, ' What
shall I say to these things ? ' Shall I not agree with God and his Spirit,
and his comforts ? Shall they be best in regard of an unbelieving heart ?
Oh no ! Therefore let our care be to store them in the treasury of our
memory, which should be like the pot of manna, to contain heavenly com-
forts. Let us treasure up all the truths we can, all will be little enough
when we shall need comfort. But when we have them in our memory, let
us ask ourselves. Are these things so or no ? If they be so, believe them ;
if they be not so, then let us give liberty to ourselves, and away with hear-
ing and reading, &c. If they be so, for shame let me yield to them.
Let us ask these questions with some fruit ; let us deal thus with our
own hearts, often call them to account whether we believe or no ; for we
have such a faculty and power, we can reflect upon ourselves. And we
ought to desire of the Spirit of God to teach our hearts to reflect upon
themselves, to examine whether we know, and if we know, whether we
believe, and what use we make of these things, and why we should live
thus ? Doth this life and course of mine agree with these principles ?
The best of us all are tardy this way. Therefore let not that part without
making some use of it. But I proceed to that I will more dwell on,
' If God be for us, who can be against us ?'
Here is first a ground laid, and then a comfort built upon it. The ground
that is laid is, ' If God be with us.' When he saith, ' If God be with us,'
he doth not put the case, but lays it as a ground. ' If God be with us,' as
indeed he is with all his in electing them, in calling them, in working all
for their good, in glorifying them after, &c., ' If God be with us,' as he
o88 SAINT PAUL S CHALLENGE.
is, then this comfort is built upon this ground, ' who shall or can be
against us ?'
For the first, the ground that is laid is, that God is with his children.
Indeed, he is with the whole world. He is everywhere ; but he is with
his church and children in a more peculiar manner. The soul is spread
in the whole body, but it is in the brain after another manner, as it under-
stands and reasons. God is everywhere ; but he is not everywhere com-
forting, and directing, and sanctifying, nor everywhere giving a sweet
and blessed issue. So, besides the general respect, that I will not now
stand on, God is * with us' that are his in a more peculiar manner in
all his sweet attributes : in his wisdom to direct us, with his power to
assist and strengthen us, by his grace and love to comfort us ; and he is
with us in all our perplexities, to stay our souls. He is with us by his
sweet and gracious mercy, to feed us with hidden manna, with secret com-
forts in the midst of discomforts. When there is no comfort else with
us, then God is with us ; and then he is with us in the issue of all that
a godly man takes in hand in his name. He is with him in all. crosses,
to direct and turn them to his best good ; * All things work for the best
to them that love God,' Eom. vi. 23. He is with them in all his sweet
relations as a gracious Father in covenant, as a husband. He is with them
in those sweet comparisons : as a hen. Mat. xxiii. 37 ; as an eagle, to carry
them on his wings above all dangers, as he carried the Israelites in the
wilderness, Deut. xxxii. 11. He is with them in all comfortable relations.
Therefore God, in the Scriptures, borrows names from eTerything that
is comfortable. He is with them as a rock, to build on; as a shield, to
defend them ; in the time of heat and persecution, he is a shadow, to keep
them from the heat; he is with them as a light. Christ is our life in
death, our light in darkness, our righteousness in sinfulness and guilt, our
holiness in impurity, our redemption in all our miseries. There is some-
what of God in every creature ; therefore God takes names from his own
creatures, because there is some strength or comfort in them. God gives
himself variety of names, as there are variety of our distresses. Are we
in misery ? God is a rock, a shield, a tower of defence, a buckler ; he is
all that can be said for comfort. He is with us in his attributes and sweet
relations, and all sweet terms that may support our faith, that whatsoever
we see comfortable in the creature, we may rise more comfortably to God,
and say, God is my rock and shield, and my light and defence.
And then God is with us in every condition and in every place whatsoever.
He is not only a God of the mountains and not of the valleys, or a God of
the valleys and not of the mountains, as those foolish people thought,
1 Kings sx. 28, but he is in all places, and at all times with his. If they
be in prison, he goes with them: Acts svi. 22, seq., he made the prison
a kind of paradise, a heaven. If they be banished into other countries,
he goes with them ; * I will go with thee, 0 Jacob, into Egypt, and bring
thee back again,' Gen. xlviii. 21. If they be in death, he is with us to
death and in death : ' In the valley of the shadow of death, thou art with me,'
Ps. xxiii. 4. At all times whatsoever, and in all conditions, God is with us.
In all our affairs whatsoever God is with us. ' Fear not,' Joshua ; * fear
not,' Moses. What was the ground of their comfort ? * I will be with
thee.' He was with St Paul in all conditions, therefore he bids him ' fear
not,' Acts xxvii. 24. So our blessed Saviour, the head of all, in Acts x.
38, in the speech of Peter to Cornelius, he did all things well, ' for God was
with him.' You see how God is with his children.
SAINT Paul's challenge. 389
What is the ground that the great, and holy, and pure God, blessed for
ever, should be with such sinful and wretched creatures as we are ? that
he should not only be with us, and about us, and compass us as a shield,
but be in us ?
The ground of all is his free love in Christ. Christ was God with us
first. God, that he might be with us, ordained that Christ should be God
with us ; * Emmanuel,' that he should take our nature into unity of person
with himself. Christ being God with us, that he might satisfy the just
wrath of God for our sins, and so reconcile God and us together, he hath
made God and us friends. So that this, that God is with us, it is grounded
upon an excellent and sound bottom ; upon the incarnation of our blessed
Saviour, that for this very end, that God might be with us, was God with
us ; that is, he was God and man, to bring God and man together ; he was
God and man in one, to bring God and man, that were at contrary terms, to
terms of reconciliation ; to recollect and bring us back again to God, from
whence we fell. So the reason why God the i'ather. Son, and Holy Ghost
are with us, it is because Christ, the second person, God and man, is with
us, or else there could be no such sweet terms as these are. You see hov/
it is founded. Christ took our nature, and advanced and enriched it. Now
he having taken our nature and our persons to be one with him, how near
are Christ and we together ! There is one common Spirit in him and us,
one common Father, ' I go to my Father and your Father, to my God and
your God,' John xx. 17. There is one common kingdom and inheritance.
We are fellow-heirs with him. Oh, how near is Christ to us ! Our souls
are not so near our bodies as Christ is to us, and God in Christ. So you
see this, that God is with us. It is founded upon an excellent, wonderful,
comfortable mystery. This I suppose is clear ; therefore I come to that I
intend further to enlarge; that is, the comfort built upon this ground,
' If God be with us, who shall be against us ?'
One would think this a strange question ; for a Christian no sooner comes
to be one with Christ, and so to be reconciled to God, but he hath against
him all the powers of hell ; and then he hath the whole world against him
presently, Satan's kingdom ; and then he hath an enemy that is worst of all,
that stirs up strife and rebellion and contention even in his own heart, his
own flesh. So that we may say, who is not against a Christian ? If God
be with us, all else but God will side .against us. There are two grand sides
in the world, to which all belong. There is God's side, and those that are
his; and there is another side, that is, Satan's, and those that are his; two
kingdoms, two seeds, two contrary dispositions, that pursue one another,
till all the one be in hell, Satan and all his seed together, the devil and all
that fight under his banner, that are led with his malignant, poisouful spirit.
Though it may be they cannot do more hurt, or do not out of politic
respects, though they have poisonful hearts, yet these never leave contend-
ing till they be in hell ; and the other never leave till they be in heaven
together. Christ makes it his prayer, ' My will is, that where I am, they
may be also,' John xvii. 24, and his will must be performed ; so that he
need not ask the question, ' If God be with us, who shall be against us ?'
There will be enow against us.
It is true. But in what sense are they against us, and how far are they
against us ?
They are thus far against us in their wit,* in their plots and policies ;
in their wills they would devour all if they could. They are against us in
* That is, ' wisdom.' — G,
390 SAINT Paul's challenge.
tbeir endeavours. They do what they can against the church and people
of God. They are against us in their prevaiHng likewise. Their endeavours
are not idle, but prevail very far over God's people, even to insolency :
' Where is now their God T Ps. xlii. 10, as it is oft in the Psalms, and to
the dejection of God's people ; ' The Lord hath forsaken me ; the Lord
hath forgotten me,' Ps. xxxi. 12. God's people are brought very low, to
the pit's brink ; the pit almost shuts her mouth upon them. So you see
they are against them many ways. God gives a great length to their
tether.
And many reasons God hath to let them prevail, both to draw out their
malice the more, and then to shew his people iheir corruptions the more,
and then to exercise their graces in waiting, and for the just confusion of
their enemies at the latter end, and for the sweet comfort of his children at
the end — when God sees the fittest time to meet with the enemies — that
they might have sweet experience of God's seasonable care, however God
put off a long time for some respects. So you see they may prevail a long
time. Yet who can be against us in this sense, that is, to prevail alto-
gether ? Who shall be against us, so far as to have their will in the issue ?
They prevail a great way. What do they intend ? Not to prevail over
the person of God's church and people, but the cause, which, in spite of
Satan and his instruments, and all, must stand invincibe to the end of the
world. They intend likewise to prevail over the courage of God's people.
That they cannot neither ; for Saint Paul saith after, in this chapter, ' In
all these things we are more than conquerors,' Rom. viii. 37 ; that is,
abundant conquerors, a strange high term. But in some sense we are
more than conquerors ; for if we consider what weak persons God's chil-
dren are, what strong enemies they have, and what weak means they prevail
with in the sight of the world, to flesh and blood, that such persons should
prevail over such enemies, by such weak means as they do, in this respect,
they are more than conquerors. So he may say, ' Who can be against us ? '
that is, to have their wills, to overthrow the cause of Christ, and the
courage of God's children ; they may prevail in this or that particular, but
at the last all their plots and counsels shall prove abortive, and bring forth
a lie. All is but to magnifj'^ God's power the more in letting them go so
far, and then to dash all their moulds and plots. God's children, they
have the devil and all his company, the world and the flesh [against them].
But there is God the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost for them, the blessed
Trinity, that are able to blow away the other three, and all the strength and
support they have whatsoever.
* Who shall be against us ? '
It is not a question of doubting, or inquisition to learn anything, but it
is a question of triumph. He doth, as it were, cast a bank, and bid defiance
to all enemies whatsoever. ' AVho shall be against us ? ' Let them stand
out, Satan and the world, and all Satan's supports ; let them do their
worst. There is a strange confidence which is seated in the hearts of God's
children, that they dare thus dare hell and earth, and all infernal powers ;
they set God so high in their hearts, that they dare say with a spirit of
confidence, ' Who shall be against us ? ' The meaning is not, who shall
be against us, to take away our lives or liberties, &c. As the speech is, they
may kill us, but they cannot hurt us. The worst they can do is to send us
to heaven, and make us partakers of that we desire most. First, we desire
that God will be with us here ; and, secondly, that we may be with God
in heaven. They make God's children partakers of their desires by killing
SAINT Paul's challenge. 391
of tliem. Let tyrants and all persons tliat have a malignant disposition to
the church of God, and armed with power, let them do their worst, the
cause must stand impregnable. Christ will have a church and kingdom in
the world, and their spirits will be impregnable against them. They may
kill them, but they cannot hurt them ; they may kill them, but they cannot
kill their courage. As we see in the martyrs, there was the Spirit of God
in them above all the dealings of the persecutors; there was a fire of God's
Spirit in them above all outward fire whatsoever. You see it must be taken
for granted, that the church of God and every particular Christian hath
many enemies against them, as it is Ps. cxxix. 1, ' From my j^outh up,'
saith the church, ' they have fought against me, but they have not prevailed.'
From my youth up ; from Abel to the last saint that shall be in the world ,
there will be alway some against God's people, yet their comfort is that
none shall be against them to prevail, either over the Spirit of God in them,
or over the cause that they manage.
Use. First of all you see then, that the state of a Christian in this world
is an -impregnable state, and a glorious condition. Here is glory upon
glory, from this clause to the end of the chapter : ' If God be with us, who
shall be against us ? If God gave his Son for us, shall he not with him
give us all things else ? ' There is another glorious speech, ' Who shall
lay anything to the charge of God's people ? ' Another glorious triumphant
speech, another glorious speech, ' Who shall separate us from the love of
God founded in Christ ? ' He loves Christ first, and us in Christ as mem-
bers ; and as he loves them* eternall}', so he loves us eternally too. There-
fore you see every way the state of a Christian is a glorious condition.
' Who can be against us ? ' You see the state of God's people. It is an
impregnable and glorious condition. Then by this means those that are
strange paradoxes to flesh and blood, yet they agree in a Christian. He is
never alone. When he is alone, God is with him ; the Father, Son, and
Holy Ghost are with him, angels are with him. God is not only with him,
but his guard is with him ; and God's Spirit is with him, and in him
victoriously both in grace and comfort. Christ saith to his disciples, when
they thought to leave him alone ; saith he, you cannot leave me alone,
' my Father is with me,' John viii. 16; and St Paul towards his latter end,
that had deserved so well of the Christian world : ' All forsook me,' saith
he, * but the Lord forsook me not, but delivered me out of the mouth of
the lion,' 2 Tim. iv. 17. So a Christian is not alone ; he is not left to
the mercy of his enemies, but God is with him, and who shall be against
him to prevail over him ?
Again, though a Christian be a worm, a person trampled upon, for so
the church is the most afflicted part of mankind, yet * fear not thou, worm
Jacob,' Isa. xli. 14. The world accounts them as worms, and they account
themselves so. They are trodden on as worms. They are worms upon
earth, yet they have a glorious head in heaven, and a glorious guard about
them. Strange things agree in a Christian. Therefore let us not stumble,
though we see not these things presently. The life of a Christian is a
mystery.
Again, hence we see that a Christian profession, to be a sound Christian,
to have true faith in Christ, to be one with Christ, and to be taken out of
the state of nature, this condition and the happiness of it, it hath the
strongest foundation of any life in the world. Christianity is founded
upon the strongest and the greatest reasons that can be. Faith stands with
* Qu. ' him ' ?— Ed.
392 SAINT Paul's challenge.
the greatest reason tliat a thing can do. Why ? The comfort of a Chris-
tian is that he hath no enemy that shall prevail over him, and what is the
ground of that? God is with him; God the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost.
Faith is that that lays hold upon that presence, and promise, and covenant
of God. And is not faith well bottomed? A Christian that carries him-
self valiantly and courageously, is not his course grounded on sound reason ?
Is not God with him ? God the Father is his Father, God the Son is his
Redeemer, God the Holy Ghost is his Comforter. There is no other men
that have strong reason for their course, for that choice that they make of
their religion and of their ways. They prove but fools in the conclusion.
Only the sound Christian that by the Spirit of God hath his eyes opened to
see the cursed estate he is in by nature, and what it is to be in Christ, and
by a Spirit of faith is made one with Christ, he is the truly wise man in
his faith and affiance, that the world mocks at, that he hath no common
supports in the world, which he cares not for if God be on his side. He
cares not what man can do against him, as it is Ps. cxviii. 6. You see on
what ground it is founded. God is with him, and none can be against him.
Let us labour to lay up these principles. We work according as our
principles are. Principles are the foundation of all conclusions that arise
from them. As our grounds are, so are we in our faith, and working, and
gi-ace, and comfort every way. If we have rotten principles, if the grounds
of our comfort be rotten, our course w-ill be rotten and uncomfortable in
the conclusion. Let us build upon the rock, to be well bottomed and
founded, that our principles and grounds be strong, and that they be so to
us ; for what if God be with his, if he be not so to us ? Let us labour to
lay up sound grounds. Grounds have influence into the whole course of
our lives. This one text hath influence into all the parts of our lives, in
doing, in sufiering, in all conditions. I know not a more pregnant, fruit-
ful principle in the Scripture than this, ' If God be with us, who can be
against us ?' It is like a pearl, little in quantity, few in words, but strong
in sense, large in the fruit that issues from it. Therefore as we may carry
pearls or precious things wheresoever we go, because there is a great deal
of worth in them, and they be small in quantity, so we may carry this prin-
ciple with us, let us be sure to lay it up and make use of it. There be these
two, that there is a God, and that God is with his children, and so with
his children that he will subvert and overthrow all their enemies, and all
their plots and endeavours, a principle of wonderful comfort.
If this principle be well laid, it is a ground of a Christian's courage in
all conditions whatsoever. It is no matter how many enemies he hath ;
for as Cyprian saith, Non 2)otest seculum, dc: the world cannot hurt him
that in the world hath God for his protector. For the devil, he is crushed
already. Though he keep ado, and stir up storms, he perisheth in the
waves, as he saith. He hurts himself more than anybody else; he in-
creaseth his own torment, and so do all his children. The flesh likewise
it bustles against the Spirit, but it loseth; and the Spirit gains upon every
foil. Why ? Here is the principle, ' God is with us.' There is no power
can resist God, for then God should withstand himself. The power that
the creature hath, it is but a borrowed power; and if by a borrowed power
it should withstand God's purpose, God must be against himself, his king-
dom must be divided, which is a contradiction. Therefore this is the
ground of the courage of a Christian in all conditions. What is the reason
that the Scripture hath this phrase so often, 'Fear not, I am with thee,'
as to Paul, and Joshua, and the rest ? Because it is the ground of all
SAINT Paul's challenge. 393
courage. We see weaker creatures than man: a dog in the sight of his
master, he ■will fight courageously, because he hath a superior nature by
him, that he thinks will back him. And shall not a Christian, when he
hath laid up this principle, that God is with him, God incarnate, God in
his nature, when he is a member of God as it were, of that person that is
God, shall he not be courageous when he hath him to look upon him, and
to back him ?
And if God be with us, he is not so with us as to neglect us. He is so
with us as he hath interest in the cause we have, and in our persons. He
is with us as one with us, nay, as in us by his Spirit, and whosoever
toucheth us toucheth the apple of his eye : ' Saul, Saul, why persecutest
thou me ? ' Here is ground of courage in whatsoever may befall us, to
stand it out in all conditions whatsoever. Nothing can sever Christ and a
Christian; this body will never be beheaded; Christ will never be sepa-
rated from his body; he will not lose the poorest member he hath. You
see it is the duty of a Christian to be courageous and undaunted in the
cause of God; and from this ground, because God is with him, and ' who
can be against him?' Let all the world be against God, and against the
cause that a Christian professeth, they do but kick against the pricks.
They dash against a rock; as the waves that break themselves, they do
not hurt the rock a whit. They do but cast stones upward, that fall upon
their heads again. Therefore it is a desperate cause that malicious spirits
manage, who have more parts than gi'ace, and arm themselves and their
wits to hurt the people and church of God, and slander his cause, and do
all the hurt they can.
It is a ground likewise of encouragement in our callings. When God
calls us to anything in our places that is good, he will be with us. There-
fore in our places and standing, let us do that that belongs to us ; let us
not fear that we shall want that which is necessary, or miscarry any way.
When Moses pretended he could not speak, ' Who gives a mouth ? ' saith
God to him, Exod. iv. 11. Therefore let us take courage, not only in
suffering and opposition, but in our places and standings. God will be
with us; he gives his angels charge to keep us in our ways, Ps. xci. 11.
We have a guard over us.
Here is a ground likewise of all contentment in any condition in the
world. What can be sufficient to him that God cannot suffice ? God,
all-sufficient, is with thee ; thou canst want nothing that is for thy good.
Thou mayest want this and that, but it is for thy good that thou wantest
it: 'Those that fear God shall want nothing that is good,' Ps. xxxiv. 11.
It is a ground of all contentment, God is with them, to fill their souls to
utmost. He is made for the soul, and the soul for him ; for our end is to
have communion with God in Jesus Christ here, and everlastingly in
heaven. God is fitted for us, and we for him. Here is fresh comfort for
the soul alway : he can fill up every corner of the soul, he is larger than
our souls. Tlaerefore let us be content; in what condition soever we are
in, God is with us. Therefore ' let the peace of God, which passeth all
understanding, guard our hearts,' Philip, iv. 7; even from this very ground
and conclusion, * God is with us, who can be against us ? ' Let Moses be
cast into a basket of bulrushes, if God be with him, he shall not be
drowned. Let Daniel be cast into the den, if God be with him, God will
come between the lions' teeth and him. Let the three blessed men be
cast into the fiery furnace, a fourth shall be with them, and keep them
from the hurt of the flame. Let God be with Noah, he shall swim upon
394 SAINT Paul's challenge.
the waters; and the greater the waters, the more safe he, and the nearer
to heaven. Let God be with us, and we may be content with any condi-
tion whatsoever.
Again, let us not be over-much discouraged with our infirmities and
corruptions : ' If God be with us, who can be against us ? ' Our corrup-
tions are against us, and they are worse to me than the devil and all
enemies, saith a poor Christian. Indeed they are, for the devil hath no
advantage against us but by our corruptions; but if thou account thy
corruptions thine enemies, they are God's enemies and Christ's enemies
as well as thine. He will be with thee, and thy corruptions shall more
and more be wasted; for the flesh shall fall before the Spirit. This
Dagon shall fall before this blessed ark, 1 Sam. v. 3. Stronger is he that
is in us than he that is in the world, 1 John iv. 4, The Spirit of
God is stronger in us than corruption in us, or the world without us ; it
ministers stronger grounds of comfort than all other can do of discomfort.
If you be under the Spirit and under grace, ' sin shall not have dominion
over you,' Rom. vi. 14. It may be in you, but it shall not have dominion,
because ye are under the covenant of grace. Therefore though corruption
be in us, for our exercise and humiliation, yet it shall not be against us, to
abridge us of comfort. They serve to drive us nearer to God. Let none
be discouraged, ' Christ came to destroy the works of the devil,' 1 John
iii. 8 ; therefore he came to destroy sin in us, which is the work of the
devil. He came to take away not only the guilt, but the very being of
sin, as he will at last ; for if God and Christ be with us, who shall be
against us ?
Obj. But it may be objected by some, But I find not God with me.
Ans. It is true, sometimes God hides himself : ' Thou art a God that
hidest thyself,' Is. xlv. 15. He seems as a stranger in his own church;
to be ' as a wayfaring man,' as the prophet saith, Jer. xiv. 8. He takes
no notice of his church and their afflictions ; he seems not to take them
to heart, nor to pity his church. Oh, but this is but for a time, and for
trial: 'Can a mother forget her child?' Isa. xlix. 15. Put case she
should, yet will not I forget thee. God hides himself but a while, to try
the graces of his children, and to give way to the enemies; to let his
children to see their corruptions, and his wise dispensation. And these
desertions we must be acquainted with. God seems to be away from his
children, yet he is with them, and supports them with invisible strength.
He seems to be with wicked men in prospering them in the world, that
they have all at their will in outward things, yet he is far from them. He
withdraws himself in spiritual things ; they have no grace, no sound
inward comfort. And he seems opposite to his children; he leaves them
outwardly in regard of assistance and friends, but they have an invisible
inward presence of the Spirit to support and strengthen them ; therefore
measure not desertions, God's being or not being with us, by outward
respects; for so he is with the enemies of the church ofttimes, and not
with his children. But he is with his in the sweetest manner, supporting
of them when they are in darkness, and see no light of God's counte-
nance ; yet they have so much light, though they think they see it not, as
makes them trust in God : ' Let him that is in darkness, and sees no light,
trust in the name of God,' Isa. 1. 10. Therefore, as I said, it is a prin-
ciple pregnant for comfort and use. If God be with us, he is with us in
life and death; for whom he loves he loves everlastingly, from everlasling
to everlasting.
SAINT Paul's challenge. 395
Quest. If this be so, what shall we do to God again ? What is the best
evidence to know that God is with us ?
A71S. There is a relation between God and his. He is so with them, as
that they are with him likewise in all passages. Doth he choose them ?
They in time choose him : * Whom have I in heaven but thee ? and there
is none in earth that I desire in comparison of thee,' Ps. Ixxiii. 25. Doth
he call them ? they answer. Doth he justify and free them from their
sins ? they make that answer of faith that Peter speaks of, ' I do believe ;
Lord, help my unbelief,' Mark ix. 24. They have faith to lay hold upon
the forgiveness. And likewise, if God be with them, they can delight in
God's presence. Can God delight to be present with them that have
not grace to delight in him ? God's children maintain their communion
with him in all the sanctified means they can ; they are afraid to break
with God. Therefore those that, to please and give content to others, and
for base ends will displease their God, it is a heavy sign that God as yet
hath not shewed himself in his gracious mercy in Christ Jesus to them.
If God be with us, we will be of his side ; and his enemies shall be our
enemies, and his friends our friends. He that claims this, that God is
with him, he will say, I will be with God and for God. God hath two
things in the world that we must have a care of, his church and his cause.
Take them out of the world, the wprld is but a hell upon earth ; a com-
pany of miscreants, profane, godless, impudent, poisonful creatures. Take
away the cause of God, religion, and the people that aie begotten by reli-
gion, and what is the rest of mankind ? The world would not stand, but
be all upon heaps, for a company of sinful wretches that will have their
wills ; but it is for the church and people of God that the world stands.
Now he that hath God with him, ancl he is in terms with God, that they
are friends, as Abraham was the friend of God, he will side with God and
religion. God's cause shall be his cause, and God's people his people.
He will cleave to God's side as the safest. If he may have never so much
preferment in the world, he will not join with antichrist. He will not
betray the cause of religion if he might have a world for it. Why ?
Because he knows if God be with him, who can be against him ? God
hath given us understanding and grace to maintain friendship with him,
to have common friends and common enemies : therefore, if we stand not
for God, let us never talk of God's presence with us. He will be present
to confound us, to overthrow us, and pursue us to hell ; but not graciously
present without we labour to maintain the cause of religion as far as we
may. ' God is with us, if we be wdth him,' 2 Chron. xv. 2. If we be
with God to take his part, he will be with us to protect and defend us, to
guide and comfort us, and to give issue to all our affairs. Not that our
being with him is the prime cause of his being with us, but it is an evi-
dence to know whether he be with us, as we make profession, when as far
as our callings will suffer, we be with him and maintain his cause.
Again, If we would know whether we be with God, and he with us, ask
conscience whether it be with thee ; for conscience is God's vicar. Is con-
science with thee ? Dost thou not sin against conscience ? What con-
science saith, God saith ; and what it forbids, God forbids, especially when
it is enlightened by the word. Doth conscience speak peace to thee from
the word ? Then thou art with God, and God is with thee. Especially
in the great point of justification, doth conscience speak peace to thee in
the blood of Christ ? Is thy heart sprinkled with it, that it is not as the
blood of Abel, that cries for vengeance ? Hast thou a spirit of faith, to
396 SAINT Paul's challenge.
believe that Christ shed his blood for thee in particular ? Then thou art
with God, and he with thee, because God hath sprinkled the blood of Christ
upon thy heart.
Quest. What course shall we take to keep God comfortably with us ?
Ans. Look thou he in covenant with him, and not only at large in cove-
nant; hut look that continually upon all occasions thou renew thy covenant.
For sometimes God's children may be in covenant, they may be his chil-
dren ; yet because they renew not their covenant, especially after some
breaches, God is not with them so comfortably as he would, to free them
from their enemies, as we see in the case of the Benjamites, Judges xx. 35.
God's people sometimes may have the worst, though they be in covenant,
because they have committed some sin, and have not renewed their peace
and covenant with God. Therefore, if we would make a comfortable use
of this truth, that God is with us, and would find him so in our affairs and
business, let us renew our covenant upon all occasions, and our purpose to
please God.
And then look to the cause ice take in hand, and to our carriage in that
cause. If our persons be good, be in covenant, and the cause good, and
our conscience good, and our carriage suitable, then God will be with us.
Let us make use of these principles, that we may be in love with the com-
fortable secure condition of a Christian, There is no state so glorious, so
comfortable, so secure, and free from danger. If we were in heaven, and
should look down below upon all snares and dangers, what would we care
for them ? Now if he be with us, and we with him, ' God is our habita-
tion,' ' we dwell in the secret of the A-lmighty, he is "our high tower, the
way of wisdom is on high, to escape the snares below,' Ps. xci. 9. There-
fore let us raise our souls as high as heaven and God is ; and set our-
selves where our hopes are, where our God is, and we have set ourselves
in our tower ; that we have set God in our hearts, and set ourselves in
him ; then we may overlook the devil, and men, and death, and danger,
and all. As a man that stands upon the top of a rock, that is higher than
all the waves, he overlooks them, and sees them break themselves upon the
rock, so when we see God with us, and ourselves with him, by a Spirit of
comfort we can overlook all with a holy defiance, as the apostle saith here,
' Who can be against us ?' ' What can separate us ?' Oh, the excellent
state of a Christian when he is assured of his condition ! Who would not
labour for assurance that yields this abundant comfort in all conditions ?
A word of the occasion* for which I made choice of this portion of Scrip-
ture. Here is a double fitness to the occasion, both at home and abroad,
' If God be with us, who can be against us !'
God was at home in '88. f He was with us in the powder treason : he
was with us in the great sickness to preserve us, I and to give us our lives
for a prey. He hath been with us ; and we ought not to forget this, but
upon occasion of this great deliverance, to call all former deliverances to
mind, national and personal ; to consider how often God hath given us our
lives, and how oft he hath preserved us from death ; and to take occasion to
bless God for all at once, and so to make some special use of these meetings.
Then if we look abroad, God hath been with us in that he hath been
his church, § for they and we make but one body. That member that hath
not a sympathy with the body, it is but a dead member. Therefore if we
* In margin here, ' Novemb. 5,' ' The Gunpowder Plot.'— G.
t That is, 1588, the Armada year.— -G. § Qu. ' with his church' ?— Ed.
X That is, ' The Plague.'— G.
SAINT Paul's challenge. 397
we be not affected with the presence of God with the armies abroad, we
are dead members. We may say, in regard of these outward deliverances,
* God hath been with us, and none hath been against us.' If God had
not been with us in the powder-plot, where had we been ? Our lives would
have been made a prey. That that would have been done, would have been
more than the blowing up of the parliament. They would have blown up
the kingdom with the king, and religion with religious persons, and the
state with statesmen. It would have brought a confusion of all, and would
have moulded all after an idolatrous antichristian fashion. It would have
overthrown the state, and persons, and all. The issues would have been
worse than the present thing. And, therefore, if God had not been with us,
as he was graciously with us, what would have become of us ? as it is in
Ps. cxxiv. 1. If God had not been with us, they had made us a prey, and
overwhelmed and devoured us all ; there had been no hope.
Have not we cause to bless God and be thankful ? Therefore let us labour
to do it for ourselves and our neighbours. How shall we shew our thankful-
ness to God ? Not in outward manifestations only, which is laudable, and
a good demonstration of the affections of people. But alas ! what is that ?
"We must shew our thankfulness in loving that religion that God hath
so witnessed for, and defended so miraculously. Labour to love the truth,
to entertain it in the love of it, and to bring our hearts to a more perfect
hatred of popery ; for if we wax cold and indifferent, or oppose God's cause,
and undermine it, do we think that God would suffer this long ? Would he
not spue us out of his mouth ? — with reverence I speak it. Though he have
defended us again and again, he will be gone with his truth and religion.
It came not alone, nor it will not go alone. If religion go, our peace and
prosperity, and the flourishing of our state, all will go. It is our ark. If
that go away, our happiness goes away. Let us make much of religion.
That is the way to be thankful.
Again, Let us shew our thankfulness by giving and doing some good to
the poor, by refreshing their bowels, that they may have occasion to bless
God.
And for the time to come let us trust in God ; that God will be with us
if we be with him, and to stick to him. Who then shall be against us ?
Let the devil, and Rome, and hell, be all against us, if God be with us.
Bellarmine goes about to prove Luther a false prophet («). Luther, as he
was a courageous man, and had a great and mighty spirit of faith and prayer,
so his expressions were suitable to his spirit. What saith he ? The cause
that I defend is Christ's and God's cause, and all the world shall not stand
against it. It shall prevail. If there be a counsel in earth, there is a coun-
sel in heaven that will disappoint all. God laughs in heaven at his ene-
mies, and shall we weep ?* And things are in a good way if we can go on
and help the cause of God with our prayers and faith that God will go on ; ■
and with our cheerfulness and joy that God may delight to go on with his
own cause. We may encourage ourselves, though perhaps we shall not
see the issue of these things, yet posterity shall see it.
* Cf. Vol. I. page 126.— G.
NOTE.
{a) P. 397. — ' Bellarmine goes about to prove Luther,' &c. Any of the numerous
treatises of the great Jesuit will furnish examples of his ' railing' against the greater
Reformer. See specially his Disputationes. — G.
THE DEAD MAN.'
And you hath he quickened, wlio ivere dead in trespasses and sins. —
Eph. II. 1.
The matter of this excellent epistle is partly doctrinal and partly exlior-^
tatory, as it was St Paul's course in all his epistles to lay the foundation of
practice in doctrine. The heart must be moved, but the brain must be
instructed first. There is a sympathy between those two parts; as in
nature, so in grace. The doctrinal part of the epistle sets oat the riches
of Christ — chiefly in the first chapter — in regard of the spring of them,
God's eternal election. Then in this chapter, by way of comparison, by
comparing the state of grace to the state of nature : ' You hath he quick-
ened, who were dead in trespasses and sins.'
The dependence of this verse, I take it to be from the 19th verse of the
first chapter. The apostle there prays that the Ephesians might have
• the eye of their understandings opened and enlightened,' that they might
know, among other things, what the exceeding great power of God is
towards us that believe : ' According to the working of his mighty power
that he wrought in Christ, when he raised him from the dead,' that they
might have experience of that mighty power that raised Christ from the
dead. Now, here in this chapter he saith, 'They were raised _ together
with Christ, and set together with him in heavenly places.' ^ His reason
is in this manner : those that are raised up and quickened with Christ to
sit in heavenly places with him, have experience of a mighty power; but
you are raised up and quickened with Christ to sit in heavenly places with
him ; therefore you have experience of a mighty power that raised Christ,
for those that are raised and quickened with Christ have experience of that
power that Christ had when he was raised up.
The second thing that he intends especially in this chapter is, to shew
that, heinrj raised with Christ, they are brought nearer to Gcd, both Jews and
« 'The Dead Man' forms another of the Sermons in the 'Beams of Divine
Light' (4to, 1639), being No. 3 therein. Its title-page is as follows :— ' The Dead-
Man, or. The State of Every Man by Nature. In one Sermon. By the late Keve-
rend' and Learned Divine Eichard Sibs, Doctor in Divinity, Master of Katherine
Hall in Cambridge, and sometimes Preacher at Grayes Inne. John v. 25. Verily,
verily I say unto you, the houre is comming and now is when the dead shall heare
the voice of the Sonne of God, and they that heare shall live. London, Printed by
G. M. for Nicholas Bourne and Kapha Harford. MDOXXXIX.'— G.
THE DEAD MAN. 399
Gentiles, that of themselves icerefar of. Now, he shews that they 'were
raised and quickened with Christ, and brought near to God in Christ,'
that they might magnify the free grace of God in Christ — all is by grace
—and thereupon to be stirred up to a suitable, comfortable, and gracious
life. To come to the words, 'And you hath he quickened,' &c. They
are an application of the former comfortable truths to them, ' you hath he
quickened,' &c. These words, ' hath he quickened,' are not in the original
in this place. They are after in verse 5, ' When we were dead in sins, he
quickened us;' but they are put in in the translation, because they must
be understood to make the full sense.
In the words consider these things :
First of all, here the apostle puts them in mind of their former coyulition.
And then he sets down in particular xvhat it was : ' they were dead in
trespasses and sins.'
Then he tells them wherein they ivere dead, what was the cause of their
death, and the element wherein they were dead : ' in trespasses and
sins.'
Lastly, Not in one trespass and in one sin, but 'in trespasses and sins.'
And then to speak a little of 'quickening,' to take it out of the 5th
verse : 'You hath he quickened.' There is the benefit with the condition.
That which I aim at is especially to shew our estate by nature, and how
we are raised out of that. I shall touch the points briefly as I have pro-
pounded them.
1. St Paul here first minds them of their former condition — 'You were
dead in trespasses and sins,' — for contraries give lustre one to another ;
and it magnifies grace marvellously to consider the opposite condition!
He that never knew the ' height, and breadth, and depth ' of his natural
corruption, will never be able to conceive ' the height, and breadth, and
depth' of God's infinite love in Jesus Christ. St Paul had deep thoughts
of both as ever man had ; therefore he could never enter into the argu-
ment of abasing man and extolling the love of God in Christ, that \e
could satisfy himself, but his spirit carries him from one thing to another,
till he set it out to the full. And every one of us should be skilful in this
double mystery, the mystery of the corruption of nature, that is unsearch-
able. There is corruption in the heart that none knows but God only ;
and we must plough with his heifer, that carries a light into the hidden
parts of the soul, and discovers corruption. There is a mystery of that as
well as of the gospel, of our deliverance out of that cursed estate from the
guilt and thraldom of it. I do but touch it only, to shew the scope of the
apostle.
Now, besides the consideration of it for this end — to magnify the grace
of God, and to understand what our former estate was the better — there
are many other ends ; as to stir up our thankfulness, when we consider
from what we are delivered, to glorify God the more. There is no soul
so enlarged to glorify God as that soul that hath large thoughts of its
estate by nature; and that estate by nature made worse by custom, our
second ill nature and bondage voluntary. Considering God's mercy in
delivering and freeing us from all sins and trespasses, this will make us
thankful indeed. And it is a spring of love to God. When we consider
what great sins we have forgiven us, it will make us humble all the days
of our lives and pitiful to others. But this may be handled fitter from an-
other portion of Scripture. To come therefore to the words :
' Who were dead in trespasses and sins.'
400 THE DEAD MAN.
Their condition is, * they were dead.' The specification of their death,
* in sins and trespasses,' and not in one, but in ' sins and trespasses.'
Here I might digress and tell you a discourse of life and death at large :
every man knows by experience what they are. In a word, death is a
privation of life. What is life ? and whence ariseth it ? Not to speak of
the life of God, — God is life and Christ is hfe, — but of life in us, it ariseth
from the soul. First there is a soul, and then a life from the union with
that soul ; and then there is a secret-kindled motion and operation outward
wheresoever life is. Life in man, I say, springs from the soul. The soul
hath a double Hfe, a life in itself, and a life it communicates to the body.
The life in itself it liveth when it is out of the body, — it hath an essential
life of its own, — but the life of the body is derived from its union with the
soul ; and from that union comes lively motion and operation. The
spiritual life of the soul is by the Spirit of Christ, when our soul hath union
with the quickening Si^irit of Christ, and by Christ's Spirit is joined to
Christ, and by Christ to God, who is life itself, and the first fountain of all
life : then we have a spiritual life. The Spirit is j^the soul of our souls ;
and this spiritual soul, this Spirit in us, is not idle. Wherever life is there
is motion and operation inward and outward, suitable and proportionable
to the fountain of life, the Spirit of God himself.
So on the contrary it is with death. What is death ? Death is nothing
else but a separation from the cause of life, from that from whence life
springs. The body having a communicated life from the soul, when the
soul is departed it must needs be dead. Now death, take it in a spiritual
sense, it is either the death of law, our sentence, — as we say of a man when
he is condemned, he is a dead man, — or death in regard of disposition ;
and then the execution of that death of sentence in bodily death and in
eternal death afterward. Now naturally we are dead in all these senses.
1. First, By the sin of Adam, in whose loins we were, we were all
damned. There was a sentence of death upon all Adam's rotten race ; as
we say, damnati antequam nati, we were damned before we were born, as
soon as we had a being in our mother's womb, by reason of our commu-
nion with Adam in that first sin.
And then there is corruption of nature as a punishment of that first sin,
that is a death, as we shall see afterward, a death of all the powers : we
cannot act and move according to that Hfe that we had at the first ; we
cannot think ; we cannot will ; we cannot afiect* ; we cannot do anything
[that] savours of spiritual life.
2. Hereupon comes a death of sentence vpon us, being damned both in
Adam's loins and in original sin, and Hkewise adding actual sins of our
own. If we had no actual sin it were enough for the sentence of death to
pass upon us, but this aggravates the sentence.
3. We are dead in law as well as in disposition. This death in law is
caUed guilt, a binding over to eternal death. It breeds horror and terrors
in the soul for the present, which are the flashes of hell-fire, and expecta-
tion of worse, even of the ' second death,' for the time to come, which is an
eternal separation from God for ever — an eternal lying under the wrath
and curse of God in body and soul, after they are united at the resurrec-
tion,— because we would sin eternally if we did live eternally here. And,
no satisfaction being made for man after death, there must be an eternal
sentence and punishment upon him. A terrible condition ! If we were
* That is, * choose,' love. — G.
THE DEAD MAN. 401
not afraid of the first death, we should be afraid of the second death that
follows. * We are all dead in trespasses and sins.'
Now what is the reason of it why we are dead ?
First of all, The ground of it is : by sin we are separated from the
fountain of life ; therefore we are all dead.
Secondly, By sin we lost that first original righteousness which was corn-
produced with Adam's soul. When Adam's soul was infused, it was clothed
with all graces, with original righteousness. The stamp of God was on his
soul. It was co-natural to that estate and condition to have that excellent
gracious disposition that he had. Now, because we all lost that primitive
image and glory of our souls, we are dead.
We are dead likewise, not only in regard of the time past, but for the
time to come. No man by nature hath fellowship with the second Adam
till he be grafted into him by faith, which is a mere* supernatural thing.
In these regards every man naturally is dead.
Na}^, sin itself, it is not only a cause of death, — of temporal death as it
is a curse, and so of eternal death ; of that bitter sentence and adjudging
of us too, both that we feel in terrors of conscience and expect after, — but
sin itself is an intrinsecal death. Why ? Because it is nothing but a
separation of the soul from the chief good, which is God, and a cleaving to
some creature ; for there is no sin but it carries the soul to the changeable
creature in delight and afiection to its pride and vanity, one thing or other.
Sin is a turning from God to the creature, and that very turning of the
soul is death : every sinful soul is dead. In these and the like considera-
tions you may conceive we are all dead.
* And you hath he quickened who were dead,' &c.
Let us consider a little what a condition this is, to be ' dead in trespasses
and sins.' Not to speak of the danger of the death of sentence, when a
man by the state of nature lies under the wrath of God, that hangs over
his head and is ready to crush him every moment, but to speak of that
death that seizeth upon our dispositions, we are dead by nature. And
what doth death work upon the body ?
1. Unactivencss, stiffness ; so when the Spirit of God is severed from the
soul it is cold, and unactive, and stiff. Therefore those that find no life
to that that is good, no, nor no power nor strength, it is a sign that they
have not yet felt the power of the quickening Spirit ; when they hear coldly
and receive the sacrament coldly, as if it were a dead piece of work and
business ; when they do anything that is spiritually good coldly and forced,
not from an inward principle of love to God, that might heat and warm their
hearts, but they go about it as a thing that must be done, and think to
satisfy God with an outward dead action.
2. Again, death makes the body unlovely. Abraham would buy a piece
of ground that he might bury his dead out of his sight ; he could not endure
the sight of his own beloved wife when she was dead. Death takes away
the beauty and the honour that God hath put upon the body, so that it is
not honourable to those that behold it after death. The image of God
stamped upon the soul of man by the Spirit, it is the glory of a man ; after
sin it is an unlovely soul. * We are all deprived of the glory of God,' as
St Paul saith, Rom. iii. 23.
3. And not only so, but there is a loathsomeness contrary to that honour
that was in it before. Though all art and skill be used that may be to set
out a dead body, — with flowers, or whatsoever you will, — to please the
* That is, ' altogether.'— G.
VOL. VII. c c
402 THE DEAD MAN.
fancy of the living, yet it is but a dead body, and the stench will be above
all other sweet smells. So let any natural man be as witty, and as learned,
and as great, and as rich as you will, or as he can be set out with all these
ornaments and flowers, yet he is but a carrion, a loathsome creature to God,
if his soul be separate from God and inwardly cleave to the creature. If
he have not a new heart, he is abominable and loathsome to God, and to
all that have the Spirit of God. A dead soul is abominable to all God's
senses. The scripture thus familiarly condescends unto us ; he will not
behold him. * He looks upon the proud afar ofi',' Isa. ii. 12. And he smells
no favour* from their performances, * The very sacrifice of the wicked is
abominable,' Isa. i. 13. He looks upon them as we do upon a dunghill,
as a loathsome thing : ' The prayers of the wicked are an abomination to
God,' Prov. xxviii. 9 ; he turns away his face from them, he cannot endure
them. And for his ears, ' He will not hear the prayers of the wicked.'
And for feeling, he is wearied with their sins, ' as a cart is with sheaves,'
Amos ii. 13. Nay, he is wearied with their very good actions, as it is Isa.
i. 8, seq. Whatsoever wicked men perform, it is abominable to God ; he
cannot behold them ; he cannot endure them ; he is burdened with their
sins ; and those also that have the Spirit of God in them, as far as they
see the foulness of their sins, they loathe them.
But herein a wicked man agrees with a dead body : a dead body
is not loathsome to itself. So take a carnal man, he pranks up him-
self; he thinks himself a jolly man ; especially when he is set out in his
flowers, — those things that he begs of the creatures, — he sees not his
loathsomeness ; he thinks himself a brave man in the world, in the place
he lives in ; and he hath base conceits of others, of God, and all things of
God. Dead men are not loathsome to themselves, because they want
senses. As in a prison, the noisome savour is not ofiensive to them, because
they are all acquainted with it ; it hath seized upon and possessed their
senses. So wicked men they smell no ill savour and scent, one from another,
because they are all dead persons. One dead man is not loathsome to
another ; as a company of prisoners they are not offended with the noisome-
ness of one another.
4. Again, ive sever dead persons from the rest. So, indeed, a dead soul,
as he is severed from God, so, de jure, he should be severed from the com-
pany of others. There should be a separation ; and as soon as the life of
grace is begun, there will be a separation between the living and the dead.
' Let the dead follow the dead, and bury the dead,' saith our Saviour in the
gospel. Mat. viii. 22.
5. Where bodily death is it deprives of all senses. There is no use of
any, either of the eye or tongue, &c. It makes them speechless. So he
that is spiritually a dead man, he can speak nothing that is savoury and
good of spiritual things. If he doth, he is out of his element. If he speak
of good things, he speaks with the spirit of another man. If he speak of
the writings of other men, it is with the spirit of the writer. He cannot
speak to God in praise, or to others in experience of the work of grace,
because he hath a dead soul. Put him to his own arguments, to talk of
vanity, to swear, or to talk of the times, you shall have him in his theme ;
but to talk of God and divine things, unless it be to swear by them and to
scorn good things, he cannot. He is speechless there ; it is not his theme.
And as he is speechless, so he hath no spiritual eyes to see God in his works.
There is nothing that we see with our bodily eyes, but our souls should
* Qu. ' savour ' ? — Ed.
THE DEAD MAN. 403
have an eye to see somewhat of God in it ; Lis mercy and goodness and
power, &c. And so he hath no relish to taste of God in his creatures and
mercies. When a man tastes of the creatures, he should have a spiritual
taste of God and of the mercy in him. Oh how sweet is God ! A wicked
man hath no taste of God. And he cannot hear what the Spirit saith in
the word. He hears the voice of man, but not of the Spirit when the
trumpet of the word sounds never so loud in his ears. These things ought
not to be over much pressed. Much curiosity must not be used in them,
but because the Holy Ghost raiseth the proportion from these things, some-
thing must be said of them.
6. As there is no sense nor m.oviug to outtvard things, so no outward
thing can move a dead body. Offer him colours to the eye, food to the
taste, or anything to the feeling, nothing moves him. So a dead soul, as
it cannot move to good, so it is moved with nothing. That that aifects a
child of God, and makes him tremble and quake, it affects not a carnal man
at all.
7. And as in bodily death, the longer it is dead, the more noisome and
offensive it is every day more than other, so sin it makes the soul more
loathsome and noisome daily, till they have filled up the measure of their
sins, till the earth can bear them no longer. We say of a dead body it is
heavy; so dead souls, I am sure, they are heavy, heavy to God, and to
Christ that died for sin, and heavy in themselves. They sink to earthly
things in their affections, and thereby they sink lower and lower to hell, and
never leave sinking till they be there. As the life of grace is like the sun
when it riseth, it grows still till it come to full perfection, till it come to the
life of glory, so, on the contrary, this death is a death that is more and more
increased in the loathsomeness and noisomeness of it every way ; so that the
longer a carnal man lives, the more guilt he contracts. ' A child of a hun-
dred years old,' Isaiah Ixv. 20, as the prophet saith, the longer he lives, the
more vengeance is stored for him ; ' he treasures vengeance up against the
day; of vengeance,' Rom. ii. 5, and it is a curse for a man in his natural estate
to live long, for he grows more and more abominable every way. These
things help to understand the Scripture, and therefore so far we may well
think of them.
If this be so, I beseech you let 7(s learn to himr ichat we are bg nature,
not to make ourselves in our own conceits better than indeed we are. We
judge of ourselves as we are to civil things. A man that hath natural
parts, that can discourse and understand the mysteries of law and of the
state, we value men by these. Alas ! poor soul, thou mayest be dead for
all this. What are all these abilities for ? Are they not for the spiritual
life ? What is this to the life of grace ? They only blow thee up with
pride, and set thee further off, and make thee incapable of grace. If thou
talk of learning, the devil is a better scholar than any man. He knows
matters of state and other things better than thou dost, and yet he is a devil
for all that. Therefore never stand upon these things. But there is a com-
pany that are more to blame than these. One would think that these have
something to be proud of, that they might set themselves against God and
goodness ; but there is a generation that have little in them, that yet think
themselves the only men in loose licentious life, despising all, caring for
none, and think it the only life to live as they list, to go where they list,
in what companies they list, to have bounds of their own. These think
themselves the only men, when indeed they are nobody ; they are
dead, loathsome creatures. It is the mercy of God that the ground doth
404 THE DEAD MAN.
not sink under them ; and yet they carry themselves as if they only were
alive.
Again, if we be all dead by nature, and there ought to be a separation of
the living from the dead, let lis take Jieed in our amity and society, that we
converse not v:ith natural men too much, that have not spiritiial goodness in
them; that we converse not with them with delight and complacency. It
is a tyrannical thing to knit dead and living bodies together, and he was
accounted a tyrant that did so. Surely, in choosing our society, conjugal
or friendly, any intimate society, to join living and dead'souls together, we
are tyrants to our own souls. We wrong our souls to join with dead per-
sons ; who would converse with dead corses and corpses ?* The very crea-
tures startle at the sight of a dead body ; nature startles at that that is dead.
If we had the life of grace, further than the necessity of civil conversation,
and the hope of bettering them forceth it upon us, we would have no
society with those that we see are in the state of nature. What issues from
them but stench? eyes full of adultery; nothing that is pleasing can come
from them; nothing can come from all their senses but rottenness and
stench. What comfort can a man that loves his own soul, and hath any
desire to be saved, have by intimate converse with such persons ? Let
them have never so good parts, they hurt more one way than they do good
another. You see we are all dead by nature, and what this death is.
Ohj. But you will say there is a difierence between natural death and
spiritual death ; for in natural bodily death there is no moving, but in this
spiritual death of the soul men have senses and motion, &c.
Ans. It is true thus far they differ ; though a man be spiritually dead,
yet notwithstanding he hath feet to carry him to the house of God; he hath
ears to hear the word of God ; he hath abilities of nature upon which grace
is founded, God works grace upon nature. Now a man living in the
church of God, that is a grace when a man hath grace to live within the
compass of the means. He can, by common grace, without any inward
change of nature, come and hear the word of God ; and when he is there,
he may yield an ear to listen, and he hath common discourse and under-
standing to know what is said, and upon what ground. He can offer him-
self to the work of the Spirit ; he can come to the pool, though he be not
thrust in this day or that day, when God stirs the waters. This, by com-
mon grace, any man living in the church may do.
Therefore, though we be all dead, even the best of us, by nature, yet let
us use the parts of nature that we have, that God hath given us, to offer
ourselves to the gracious and blessed means wherein the Spirit of God may
work. Let us come to hear the woi'd of God : John v. 25, ' The time is
come, and now is, that the dead shall hear the voice of God,' where the
voice of God is in the ministry, ' and so they shall live.' As in the latter
day the noise of the trumpet shall raise the dead bodies, so the trumpet of
the word of God, sounding in the ears of men, together with the Spirit,
shall raise the dead souls out of the grave of sin. Therefore I beseech you,
as you would be raised up out of this death, hear the noise of God's trum-
pet. Come within the compass of the means. As God is the God of life,
and Christ calls himself the life, and the Spirit the Spirit of life, so the
word ' is the word of life,' because, together with the word, God conveys
spiritual life. The word of God in the ordinance is an operative, working
word. As it was in the creation, God said, * Let there be light, and there
was light,' so in the ministry it exhorts and stirs up to duty ; and there is
* Spelled ' courses' and ' corps,' an apparent pleonasm. — G.
THE DEAD MAN.
405
a clothing of the ministerial word with an almighty power. It is a working
word ; as when Christ spake to Lazarus when he stank in his grave, he
said, * Lazarus, come forth,' it was an operative working word. There
went an almighty power to raise Lazarus. Therefore, though we find our-
selves dead, and have no work of grace, yet let us present ourselves more
and more to the ordinance of God. God will be mighty in his own ordi-
nance. The blessed time may come ; let us wait when the waters are
stin-ed, and take heed that we despise not the counsel of God, which is to
bring man to spiritual life this way.
And object not, I am dead and rotten in sin many years ; I am an old
man.
You know many were raised in the Gospel ; some that had been dead few
days. Lazarus was rotten, and stank. It shews us that though a man be
dead and rotten in sin, yet he may be raised first or last. The blessed
time may come, therefore wait. Never pretend long custom and long living
in sin. All things are in obedience to God. Though they have a resistance
in themselves, yet God can take away that resistance, and bring all to obey
him. All things in the world, though they be never so opposite to God's
grace, they are in obedience to his command. Therefore though there be
nothing but actual present resistance in the soul to that that is good, and
a slavery to the bondage of sin, yet attend meekly upon the ordinance.
God can make of lions lambs ; he can take away that actual resistance. As
Christ, when he was raised, the stone that lay upon the grave was removed,
so when God will quicken a man, he will remove the stone of long custom
that is upon him. Though he have been dead so many years, yet God can
roll away the stone, and bid him rise up. Therefore let none despair.
God is more merciful to save those that belong to him, than Satan can be
malicious to hinder any way.
The best of us all, though we be not wholly dead, yet there are some
relics of spiritual death hanging upon us, there be corruptions which in
themselves are noisome. Therefore let all attend upon the means, that
the Spirit of God by little and little may work out the remainders of death,
the remainders of death in our understandings, and of rebellion in our
wills and affections. For there be usually three degrees of persons in the
church of God. Some open rotten persons, that are as graves, open
sepulchres, that their stink comes forth, and they are profane ones. There
are some that have a form of godliness that are merely ghosts ; that act
things outwardly, but they have not a spirit of their own. They have an
evil spirit and yet do good works. They walk up and down, and do things
with no spirit of their own. The second are more tolerable than the first
in human society ; because the other stink and smell to common society :
common swearers and profane persons, that stink to any except it be to
themselves. But the godly have this death in part. The life of sentence
is perfect, the life of justification ; but spiritual life in us is by Uttle and
little wrought in the means. The Spirit of life joins with the word of life,
and quickens us daily more and more. A word of these words,
' And you hath he quickened.'
Suitable to the occasion.* This being our estate, let us know how much
we are beholding to God ' who hath quickened us.' God quickens us with
Christ and in Christ.* It is a comfortable consideration, in that God hath
quickened Christ and raised him from the grave, it shews that his Father's
wrath is pacified, or else he would not have quickened him. He gave him
* In margin here, ' Easter-day.' — G.
406 THE DEAD MAN.
to death, and quickened him again ; therefore we may know that he hath
paid the price for us. And he quickens us with Christ and in Christ.
Whatsoever we have that is good, it is in Christ first : ' That Christ in all
things might have the pre-eminence,' Col. i. 18. Christ first rose and
ascended and sits in heaven, and then we rise, and ascend, ' and sit in
heavenly places with Christ.'* Therefore, as St Peter saith well in 1 Peter
i. 20, ' God hath raised Christ, that our faith might be in God.' If Christ
had not been raised up, our faith and hope could not have been in God
that he would raise us up. We are quickened and raised in Christ. All
is in Christ first, and then in us. The ground of this is, that Christ was
a public person in all that he did in his death ; therefore we are crucified
and buried with him ; in his resurrection and ascension, therefore, we are
quickened with him, ' and sit in heavenly places with him.' He is the
' second Adam.' And if the first Adam could convey death to so many
thousands so many thousand years after, and if the world should continue
millions of years he would convey death to all, shall not Christ, the second
Adam, convey life to all that are in him ? So think of all things, both
comfortable and uncomfortable, in Christ first. When we think of sin,
think of it in him our surety ; and when we think of freedom from death
and damnation, think of his death. When we think of our resurrection,
think of his when he rose again. In his resurrection, the acquittance
from our sins was sealed. Thei-eby we know that the debt is paid, be-
cause he rose again. Let us see an acquittance of all in the resurrection.
And if we think of the glory that God hath reserved for us, think of it in
Christ. See Christ glorious first, and we in him. See Christ at the right
hand of God, and we in him. Carry Christ along with us in our contem-
plations. We are quickened with Christ. Christ takes away all the deaths
I spake of before. Christ by his resurrection took away the death of sen-
tence. He rose again for our justification, ' so that now there is no con-
demnation to them that are in Christ,' Rom. viii. 1. So again in regard
of that deadly disposition that is in us, Christ quickens us in regard of
that, by infusing grace by his Spirit, for Christ is an universal principle of
all life. Now Christ, by his death pacifying his Father, obtained the
Spirit, and by that Spirit, which he infuseth as a principle of life, he more
and more quickens our nature, and makes it better and better, till it be
perfect in heaven. As Adam was a principle of death, and the more we
live in the state of nature, the worse we are, till we come to hell, so when
we are in Christ, the Spirit sanctifies us more and more, till he have
brought us to perfection. And as we are quickened from the death of
sentence and of disposition, so we are quickened in regard of that hope of
glory that we have. For now in Christ we are in heaven already ; and
though there come bodily death between, yet notwithstanding, that is but
a fitting us for glory. The body is but fitted and moulded in the grave for
glory. This very consideration will quicken a man in death : my head is
in heaven above water, therefore the body shall not be long under water.
And faith makes that that is to come present, and afiects the soul comfort-
ably. Christ is in heaven already, and I am there in Christ ; and I shall
be there as verily as he is there. I am there de jure, and de facto I shall be
there. In these considerations, Christ quickens us. Therefore, saith St
Peter, ' Blessed be God the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath
begotten us again through the resurrection of Christ from the dead to a
lively hope of an inheritance immortal,' &c. We are begotten again to this
* In margin here, ' See the Sermons upon Kom. viii. 2.' Cf. Vol. V. pp. 225-247. — G.
THE DEAD MAN. 407
inheritance by the resurrection of Christ, who is risen again to quicken
himself and all his. The consideration of this should affect us as it did St
Peter, ' to bless God.'
Now all this quickening power ariseth from our union with Christ. We
must have a being in Christ before we can have comfort by death with him
or by rising with him. Our union with Christ springs from faith. Faith
is cherished by the sacrament. The word and sacrament beget faith.
Faith unites us to Christ. Union with Christ makes us partake of his
death and the benefits of it, and of his resurrection and ascension to glory.
Therefore the more we attend upon this ordinance of the word, , and the
seal of the word, the sacrament, the more our faith is increased ; lor God
invites us to communion and fellowship with Christ, and all his benefits
and favours ; and the more we find faith assured of Christ, the more union
and fellowship we have with Christ; and the more we feel that, the more
Christ is a quickening Spirit, quickening us with the life of grace here,
and the hope of glory afterward. Therefore let us comfortably attend upon
the ordinance of God sanctified for this purpose, to strengthen this our
union with Christ.
THE DANGER OF BACKSLIDING.'
For Demas hath forsaken me, and embraced this present world. —
2 Tim. IV. lOt
Blessed St Paul, being now an old man, and ready to sacrifice his dearest
blood for the sealing of that truth which he had carefully taught, sets
down in this chapter what diverse entertainment he found both from God
and man in the preaching of the gospel. As for men, he found they dealt
most unfaithfully with him, when he stood most in need of comfort from
them. Demas, a man of great note, in the end forsook him. Alexander
the coppersmith, — thus it pleaseth God to try his dearest ones with base
oppositions of worthless persons, — did him most mischief. Weaker Chris-
tians forsook him, &c. But mark the wisdom of God's 3pint in the
blessed apostle in regard of his different carriage towards these persons.
Demas, because his fault was greater, by reason of the eminency of his
profession, him he brands to all posterity, for looking back to Sodom and
to the Avorld, after he had put his hand to the plough. Alexander's
opposing, because it sprung from extremity of malice towards the profes-
sion of godliness, him he curseth : ' The Lord reward him according to his
works.' Weaker Christians who failed him from want of some measure of
* ' The Danger of Backsliding' forms No. 10 of ' The Saint's Cordials,' 2d edit.,
1637. It had previously appeared in the 1629 edition, under the title of ' Experience
Triumphing; or the Saint's Safety,' from 2 Timothy iv. 17, 18. Probably the
change of title was owing to other sermons having been published in the interval,
under the title ' The Saint's Safety,' for which see Vol. I. pp. 293-334, There -was
no separate title-page for the * Danger of Backsliding ' in the 2d edition, but that of
the first is as follows : — ' Experience Trivniphing, or. The Saints Safetie. In One
Sermon. Wherein is shewed, how the Comfort of Former Experiences of Gods Good-
ness and Mercy, doe and ought support and stay the soule for the expectation and
assurance of Deliuerances and helpe for time to come, &c. Prselucendo Pereo.
Vprightnes Hath Boldnes. Psal. 63, 6, 7. When I remember thee vpon my bed, and
meditate on thee in the night watches : Because thou hast beene my help, therefore
in the shadow of thy wings will I reioyce. London, Printed in the yeare 1629.'
It may be proper to state that the present Sermon, from the second edition, is
much shorter than in the first, the explanation being that Sibbes had elsewhere,
e. g., in ' The Saint's Safety ' supra, used the omitted portions, and so had wished it to
appear in its abbreviated form thereafter; another incidental confirmation of my
supijosition that the text of the Saint's Cordials of 1637 had received his sanc-
tion.— G.
t Misprinted 1 Timothy in second and third editions.— G.
THE DANGER OF BACKSLIDING. 409
spirit and courage, retaining still a hidden love to the cause of Christ,
their names he conceals, with prayer that God would not lay their sin to
their charge. But whilst Paul lived in this cold comfort on earth, see
what large encouragement had he from heaven ! Though all forsook me,
yet, says he, ' God did not forsake me, but stood by me, and I was delivered
out of the mouth of the Hon,' ver. 17.
Obs. In the words we have, 1. This remarkable observation, that it is
the lot of God's dearest children to be oftentimes forsaken of those that have
been most near unto them. Thus it was with Christ himself. His disciples
fled and left him, Mat. xxvi. 56. David complaineth that his friends for-
sook him, Ps. cxix. 87, and xxvii. 10. And Elias mourneth because he
was ' left alone, and they sought his life also,' 1 Kings xix. 10.
Reason 1. And God suffers his dearest childi'en to be thus forsaken, that
they may be made conformable to their head Christ Jesus, who was left
alone of his beloved disciples, and had noue to comfort him.
Reason 2. Again, God suffers this to draw them to the fountain, that
they might fly to Christ, in whom all true comfort lies, and see whether he
is not better than ten sons, as Eli spake to Hannah, 1 Sam. i. 8. The
Lord oft embitters other comforts to men that Christ may be sweet to
them. Our hearts naturally hang loose from God, and are soon ready to
join with the creature. Therefore we should soar much aloft in our
meditations, and see the excellencies of Christ, and adhere to him. This
will soon take off the soul from resting upon other props. When David
began to say, ' My hill is strong,' then presently ' his soul was troubled,'
Ps. XXX. 6, seq. Out of God there is nothing fit for the soul to stay itself
upon ; for all outward things are beneath the worth of the soul, and draw
it lower than itself. Earthly things, such as are riches, honours, friends,
&c., are not given us for stays to rest upon, but for comforts in our way
to heaven. Whatever comfort is in the creature the soul will spend quickly,
and look still for more ; whereas the comfort that we have in God, ' is un-
defiled, and fadeth not away,' 1 Peter i. 4.
God hath therefore planted the grace of faith in us, that our souls thereby
might be carried to himself, and not rely upon vain things, which only
are so far good as we do not trust in them. Who would trust to that for
comfort, which by very trusting proves uncomfortable to him? If we trust
in friends, or estate, more than God, we make them idols.
There is still left in man's nature a desire of pleasure, profit, and what-
ever the creature presents as good ; but the desire of gracious comforts,
and heavenly delights is altogether lost, the soul being wholly infected with
a contrary taste. Man hath a nature capable of excellency, and desirous
of it, and the Spirit of God in and by the word discovers where true excel-
lency is to be had ; but corrupt nature leaving God, seeketh it elsewhere
in carnal friendship and the like, and so crosseth its own desires, till the
Spirit of God discovers where these things are to be had, and so nature is
brought to its right frame again, by turning the stream into its right
current. Grace and sinful nature have the same general object of comfort,
only sinful nature seeks it in broken cisterns, and grace in the fountain.
The beginning of our true happiness is from the discovery of true and false
objects ; so as the soul may clearly see what is best and safest, and then
stedfastly rely upon it. For the soul is as that which it relies upon ; if
on vanity, itself becomes vain ; if upon God and Christ, it becomes a
spiritual and heavenly soul. It is no small privilege then which the Lord
vouchsafeth some, by knocking off their fingers, and crossing their greedy
410 THE DANGEK OF BACKSLIDING.
appetites after earthly comforts, that lie may refresh them with pleasures
of a higher nature. Alas ! what is the delight that we have in friends, or
children, and the like, to the joy of God's presence, and the pleasures at
his right hand for evermore ?
Ohs. But to hring the test a little closer to ourselves, the thing that I
would have you chiefly to observe is this, that those that have cjone far in
religion may yet noticithstancling fall away, and become apostates.
Reason 1. The reason is, 1. Because they rest on their oini strength, and
there is )io support in mcin to uphold himself. Without Christ we can do
nothing. We see how weak the apostles themselves were, till they
were endued with strength from above. Peter was blasted with the
speech of a damsel. Therefore in all our encounters and fear of falling, we
should lift up our hearts to Christ, who hath Spirit enough for us all, and
say with good Jehoshaphat, ' Lord, we know not what to do,';but our eyes
are towards thee,' 2 Chron. xx. 12. The battle we fight is thine, and the
strength whereby we fight must be thine. If thou goest not out with us, we
are sure to be foiled. Satan knows that nothing can prevail against Christ,
or those that rely upon his power ; therefore his study is, how to keep us
in ourselves and in the creature ; but we must carry this always in our
minds, that that which is begun in self-confidence will end in shame.
Reason 2. Because Satan, that grand cqiostate, is fallen from the triith
himself, and he labours to draw others to fall back ivith him; for being a
cursed spirit, cast and tumbled down himself from heaven, where he is
never to come again, he is fvxll of malice, and labours all that he can to
ruin and destroy others, that they may be in the same cursed condition
with himself. By his envy and subtlety we were driven out of paradise at
the first, and ever since he envies us the paradise of a good conscience.
He cannot endure that a creature of meaner rank than himself should enjoy
such happiness.
Use. I beseech you, therefore, let us learn that exhortation of the apostle,
* Let him that standeth, take heed lest he fall,' A watchful Christian
stands, when careless spirits have many a fall. It is no easy matter to
keep our ground. We see tall cedars oftentimes to shake and fall. How
many are like buds in a frosty morning, nipped suddenly. We have no
more truth of grace than we hold out to the end.
Quest. But how shall we persevere in goodness ?
Ans. 1. Labour for true grace. What is sincere, is constant. That is
true grace which the Spirit of God doth work in us, and is not built
on false grounds, as to have respect to this or that man, or by-ends of
our own.
Now, that we may have true grace, let us labour to be throughly con-
vinced of sin, after which conviction of our evil ways, grace will follow.
To which end we should pray earnestly for the Spirit, which will ' convince
us of all sin,' John xvi. 9, and work this grace of constancy, and all other
graces in us. For where the Spirit is, there is a savour and relish in all
the ways of God. How sweet is the goodness of God in our redemption,
justification, and preservation, to a spiritual heart ! If there be a relish in
the meat, and not in the man, all is nothing.
Ans. 2. Again, if we would hold out, get a strong resolution against all
oppositions, for, know this, scandals will come, difficulties will arise, but
firm resolution will carry us through all. Those that go forth to walk for
pleasure, if a storm comes, they return in again presently ; whereas he
that is to go a journey, though he meets with never so many storms and
THE DANGEB OF BACKSLIDING. 411
tempests, yet he ^vill go through all, because he hath so resolved before-
hand. Things are either good or evil, as a man willeth them. The bent
of the soul to Grod makes a man good.
Ans. 8. That thou mayest persevere to the end, labour, as for the obe-
dience of faith, to believe the truth, so for the obedience of practice. Labour
to know the truth, and to practise what thou knowest, that so thou mayest
be built on the rock Christ Jesus. If thou fall, it is thy own fault for
building on the sand. Therefore, often put this question to thy soul. Is
this truth that I hold ? would I die for it ? If so, then hold it last, other-
wise suspect there is unsoundness.
Ans. 4. Above all things, get the love of God in thij heart. This will
constrain us to obedience. If we look altogether upon our discourage-
ments, alas ! we shall soon flag and fall away. But if we eye our
encouragements, it is impossible we should desert Christ, or his truth.
Who would not hold out, having such a captain, and such a cause as
we fight for. Where the truth is received in the love of it, there is con-
stancy.
Ans. 5. Strive to groxo daily in a denial of thyself. None can come to
heaven, but he must first strip himself of himself. He must not own his
own wit, will, or aflections ; he must be emptied of himself wholly. He
must deny himself in all his aims after the world, in the pleasure, profit,
or preferment of it. He must not respect anything if he will follow Christ.
A respective religion is never a sound religion. A true Christian hath a
single eye ; he serves G od for himself. A man that hath worldly aims
hath a double eye as well as a double heart ; such a one cannot but waver.
Bring therefore single eyes, hearts, and aims to receive the word. It is
the great fault of many ; they bring false hearts with them to the ordi-
nances of God. It is said of Israel that he brought Egypt into the wil-
derness, Num. xi. 18. So it is with most men, they think to have religion
and their lusts together ; but whatsoever doth begin in hypocrisy will end
in apostasy. And know this, that he that hath religion needs not go out
for aims or good company. He hath acquaintance with God and Christ,
and he hath an eternal inheritance to aim at. There be encouragements
enough in religion itself. We need not go out and look abroad for more.
I speak this the rather, because false aims and ends is the ready means to
undo men, when we have respect to such a man or such a thing in our
practice of holiness. Joash was a good king all the while Jehoiada lived.
This respect kept him in awe. The eye of a great person keeps some men
in, and causeth them oft to blaze forth in a greater show, than many others
less outwardly apparent, but more inwardly sincere.
Afis. 6. Labour, therefore, to have divine truths engrafted in thee ; not to
have them loose, for then they will never grow, but get them engrafted in
thy heart, that so they may spring forth in thy hfe, as that which is set
in a stock turns the stock into the same nature with it. We should
embrace truths inwardly. And indeed God's children will have truths
as belonging to themselves. As a wife receiving a letter from her husband,
saith, This is sent to me, it belongs to me, so we should say in every truth,
this was penned for me, and directed to my soul in particular.
Ans. 7. Lastly, That thou mayest grow deeper in religion, groiv deeper
and deeper in humiliation. Then a man is humble when he accounteth
sin his greatest evil and grace his chiefest good. Such a one will hold
out in time of trial; and if temptations come on the right hand, of profit
or preferment, Oh, saith he, Christ is better to me ! And if sin comes on
412
THE DANGEK OF BACKSLIDING.
the left hand, to draw him aside, Oh, saith he, this is the vilest thing in
the world; it is the worst of all evils, I may not yield to it.
Obs. But to go on, from Demas his forsaking of Paul, and embracing of
the present world, we learn, that the love of Christ and the ivodd cannot
lodge tor/ether in one heart.
Reason 1. The reason is, 1, They are two masters, ruling by contrary laws.
Christ was resolved to suffer, but the world saith, ' Spare thyself,' Mat.
xvi. 22. How can these agree ? I deny not but a man may be truly
religious, and abound with all outward blessings ; but the love of the
world, and love of religion, cannot harbour in one breast. When the love
of the world entered into Judas, it is said the devil entered into him, John
xiii. 2. Now, Christ and Satan are contrary one to the other. Where
religion is, it carries the soul upwards to heaven and heavenly things; but
where the love of the world is, it brings the soul downward to the earth
and things below.
Use. This discovereth the gross hypocrisy of such men as labour to bring
God and the world together, which cannot be. Where the world hath got
possession in the heart, it makes us false to God and false to man. It
makes us unfaithful in our callings, and false to religion itself. Labour
therefore to have the world in its own place, under thy feet; for if we love
the world, we shall break with religion, with our friend, with the church,
and with God himself. We see how it hindered the man in the Gospel
from blessedness. When once Christ told him he must ' sell all that he
had, and give to the poor,' he went av.^ay sorrowful, ' for he had great
possessions,' Mat. xix. 22. Oh how do these things steal the good word
out of our hearts, as the birds did the seed that was on the ' highway
side,' Mat. xiii. 4. It even chokes the word, as the tares did the corn
when it was sprung up. Mat. xiii. 26. Where this worldly love is, there
can be no true profession of Christ, let men delude themselves never so
much.
Quest. But how shall I know I love the world ?
Ans. That will be seen by observing the bent of our heart, how it is
swayed towards God and his service, and how towards things below.
When two masters are parted, their servants will be known whom they
serve, by following, their own master. Blessed be God, in these times we
enjoy both religion and the world together; but if times of suffering should
approach, then it would be known whose servants we are. Consider there-
fore beforehand what thou wouldst do. If trouble and persecution should
arise, wouldst thou stand up for Christ, and set light by liberty, riches,
credit, all in comparison of him ?
Yet we must know it is not the world simply that draws our heart from
God and goodness, but the love of the world. Worldly things are good in
themselves, and given to sweeten our passage to heaven. They sweeten
the profession of religion, therefore bring not a false report upon the world.
It is thy falseness that makes it hurtful, in loving it so much. Use it as
a servant all thy days, and not as a master, and thou mayest have comfort
therein. It is not the world properly that hurts us, but our setting our
hearts upon it; whenas God should be in our thoughts, our spirits are
even drunk with the cares below. Thorns will not prick of themselves,
but when they are grasped in a man's hand they prick deep. So this
world and the things thereof are all good, and were all made of God for
the benefit of his creature, did not our immoderate affection make them
hurtful, which indeed embitters every sweet unto us. This is the root of
THE DANGER OF BACKSLIDING. 413
all evil. "When once a man's heart is set upon the world, how doth he
set light by God, and the peace of his conscience, to attain his ends ! How
doth he break with God, his truth, religion, and all, to satisfy a lust !
And indeed as we fasten our love, so we are either good or bad. We are
not as we know, but as we love. If we set our love on earthly things, we
ourselves become base and earthly ; but if we love heavenly things, our
conversations will be spiritual and divine. Our affections are those things
which declare what we are. If we do not love religion, it is no matter what
we know or talk of it.
He that loves the world, brings it into the church with him. It is chief
in his thoughts, and therefore he carries it about with him in his heart
Avherever he goes. As it is said of Israel, they carried Egypt into the
wilderness, so these bring the world to the ordinances of God, they come
to the hearing of the word like drones, leaving their stings behind them.
Paul saith not here ' Demas did forsake him ' for fear of persecution, but
' for the love of the world.' Faults are in their aggravation as they are in
deliberation. Peter denied his Master, but it was not with dehberation,
whereas Demas did it in his cold blood. He loved the world, he set up
the creature in his heart higher than the Creator.
Use. Labour therefore to know the world, that thou mayest detest it.
In religion, the more we know the more we will love; but all the worldly
things, the more we know the less we will affect them ; as a picture afar
off, it will shew well, but come near it and it is not so. Let us see, then,
what the world is. Alas ! it is but the ' present world,' which will vanish
away suddenly. Poor Demas thought a bird in the hand was worth two
in the bush, and therefore he would brave it out a while ; but, alas ! what
is become of him now ? A worldling oftentimes, in seeking these things,
loseth himself and the world too ; but a Christian never loseth that which
he seeks after, God and Christ, and the things of a better life. The more
we know the vanities of the world and the excellencies of grace, the more
we will love the one and hate the other.
Labour, then, for faith, that you may overcome the world. It was an
excellent speech of Christ when he sent forth his disciples, ' Did you lack
anything ?' and they said, ' Nothing at all,' Luke xxii. 35. Labour there-
fore for faith to rely on the promise; for provision, protection, and all
things needful. If God be our shepherd, we are sure to lack nothing.
And cherish a waking heart; lay hold of eternal life. The way to get
this is not to be drunk of the world, but to be wise, redeeming your time ;
and balance these earthly things with heavenly. See what these fading
comforts are to eternity. All the things we see here are temporal, but the
things which are not seen, they are eternal, 2 Cor. iv. 18. Therefore we
should let our affections run the right way, and have Abraham's eyes to see
afar off, and feed our meditations with the things which we shall have here-
after, as Moses did.
I beseech you, let us prize the favour of God above all that the earth
affords. What though we endure hardness here ! Did Christ leave heaven
to suffer for us, and shall not we suffer some straits for him ? Faith can
see a greater good in Christ than in the creature. This is that that will
set out the vanity of the world and the excellency of heaven, the certainty
of the one and the perishing condition of the other. It will make things
to come as present with us, and find out a sufficiency in the worst estate.
FAITH TRIUMPHANT/
These all died in faith, not having received the promises, hut having seen them
afar off, they were persuaded of them, and embraced them, and confessed
that they were strangers and pilgrims on earth. — Heb. XI. 13.
This chapter is a little book of martyrs. It discovers the life and death
of the holy patriarchs, and by what means God's children are brought into
possession of that that they have an interest and right unto upon earth.
It is by faith. By faith we do and suffer all that we do and suffer, all
that God hath ordained us to go through, till he have brought us and
invested us to heaven, which iS prepared for us.
In the former part of the chapter there is an induction, the ' instances of
particular blessed patriarchs ; and after he had named diverse particulars,
he sums them up in this general, * All these died in faith.'
In this verse there is.
First, The general set down, * All these died in faith.'
And then the particular unfolding of this. ' They received not the
promises, having seen them afar oif, and were persuaded of them, and
embraced them, and confessed they were strangers and pilgrims on earth.'
He sets down their faith particularly, hereby setting down what might
hinder it and yet did not hinder it, 'the not receiving of the promises.'
' They received not the promises, and yet they believed the promises ; ' that
is, the things promised. They were afar off, and yet they saw them.
' They saw them.' That is the first degree.
' They were persuaded of them.' That is the second.
' They embraced them.' That is the third.
' They confessed they were pilgrims and strangers.' That is the fourth.
* All these died in faith.'
"■' There is one faith from the beginning of the world. As there is one Christ,
one salvation, so there is one uniform faith for the saving of our souls,
We hope to be saved by Jesus Christ as they were. I do but touch that.
* 'Faith Triumphant' forms 'five' of the Sermons of 'Evangelical Sacrifices'
(4to, 1640). Its separate title-page is as follows: — 'Faith Trivmphant. In five
Sermons, on Heb, 11. 13. By the late Learned and Eeverend Divine, Rich. Sibbs.
Doctor in Divinity, Mt of Katherine Hall in Cambridge, and sometimes Preacher to
the Honourable Society of Grayes-Inne. Luke 7. 50. And hee said to the woman,
thy faith hath saved thee, goe in peace. London, Printed by T. B. for N. Bourne,
at the Royall Exchange, and R. Harford, at the guilt Bible in Queenes-head Alley
in Pater-noster-Row. 1639.'
FAITH TRIUMPHANT. 415
Then again, here is implied a continuance and perseverance in faith. 'AH
these died in faith ;' that is, they lived in faith and by faith till they died,
and then they died in faith. Faith first makes a Christian, and then
after, he lives by faith. It quickens the life of grace, and then he leads his
life by that faith. He continues in it till he come to death, which is the
period of all, and then he dies by that faith. But of perseverance to the
end and the helps to it, I spake at large upon another occasion, therefore
I omit it.* 'AH these died in faith.' Faith carried them along all their
lifetime till death itself. Now that faith that helped them through all the
difficulties of this life, that faith by which they lived, in that faith they died.
* They died in faith.'
In the faith of the Messiah, in faith of Canaan, in faith of heaven. For
the patriarchs, they had not Canaan till many hundred years after. It was
a type of heaven. They had not Christ till some thousands of years after.
So they died in faith of Christ, of Canaan, and of heaven. The benefits
by Christ is the upshot of all this. ' They died in faith.' He doth not
say how otherwise they died, because it is not material whether they died
rich or poor, great or mean. God takes no great notice of that, nor a
Christian takes no great notice of it. ' They died in faith.' Whether they
died a violent or a peaceable death it is no matter ; they died blessed, in
that they died in faith. 'They died in fiiith,' which in other phrase is, 'to
die in the Lord,' ' to sleep in the Lord;' because whosoever dies in faith,
dies in Christ. Faith lifts them up to Christ, and they sleep in Christ.
It is a happy thing to die in Christ. Now those that die in faith, they die
in Christ. ' Blessed are those that die in the Lord, they rest from their
labours,' saith the apostle, Rev. xiv. 13.
* All these died in faith.'
They continued in faith to death, and then they ended their days in
faith. When death closed up the eyes of their bodies, then with the eye
of faith they looked upon Christ, upon God in Christ reconciled to them.
The point is clear, that
Doct. The grace of faith, it is such a grace that it carries a Christian
through all the passages of this life.
It enableth him to hold out to the end, to suffer those things that he is
to suffer, and in the end by it he dies. And when all things else leave him
• in death, when riches leave him, when friends leave him, when honour and
great places leave him, when his Hfe and senses leave him, when all leave
him, yet faith will never leave him till it have put him in full possession of
heaven, and then it ceaseth when it hath done the work it hath to do,
which is to bring us to heaven. Then it is swallowed up in vision and
sight, and hope into fruition, and enjoying of the thing "hoped foi\ It is
a blessed grace, that stands by us, and goes along with us, and comforts us
in all the passages of this life, and even in death itself, in those dark pas-
sages. It never forsakes us till it have put us in possession of heaven.
' All these died in faith.'
Quest. What is it to die in faith ?
Ans. To die in faith, as I said, is to die in the Lord by faith ; and it
looks to the time past, present, to come.
1. To the time past. To die in faith is to die in assurance of the for-
giveness of sins, when by faith and repentance we have pulled out the sting
of sins past. For faith looks upon Christ, and Christ hath taken the sting
* The perseverance of the saints will be found frequently discussed by Sibbes
throughout his works. For references see the Index. — G.
416 FAITH TEIUMPHANT.
of death in his own, and death ever since hath been stingless and harmless
to his members. He hath disarmed it. Death had nothing to do to kill
Christ. Now seizing upon him, who should not have died, who was our
surety, death hath lost his sting. So that to die in faith is to die in assur-
ance of forgiveness of sins past by Christ.
2. For the present. In the present instant of death, to die in faith is to
see God reconciled to us in Christ, and with the eye of Stephen, to see
Christ ready to receive our souls, Acts vii. 59, to see Christ sitting at the
right hand of God, to break through all that is between, to see ourselves
sitting * at the right hand of God, in heavenly places with Jesus Christ,'
Eph. i. 20. This is to die in faith ; to see ourselves there with our head,
where we shall be ere long. Faith makes things to come present. To die
in faith is to die in assurance of that blessed salvation presently, even at
that instant of time, at the parting of soul and body, that Christ will
receive our souls, that are redeemed with his precious blood, that cost him
so dear. He will not suffer the price of his blood to miscarry. Faith
apprehends that Christ will go down with us to the grave. As God said
to Jacob, * Fear not to go down into Egypt ; I will go with thee,' Gen.
xlvi. 3, so God would not have us fear to go down into the grave, those
dark cells and dungeons ; God will go down with us. ' Our flesh shall
rest in hope,' Ps. xvi. 9, because Christ, our surety, was raised out of the
grave, ancl sits in heaven in glory and majesty. Therefore ' our flesh rests
in hope ; ' as it is, Ps. xvi. 10, ' Thou wilt not sufi'er thy Holy One to see
corruption.' Therefore our flesh rests in hope till the resurrection ; be-
cause God did not sufi'er his Holy One to see corruption. This is to die
in faith.
3. And /or the time to come. To die in faith is by faith to overcome all
the horror of death. Death is a terrible thing ; and of all the passages
wherein we have occasion to use faith, it is most exercised in death. It
requires more to die in faith than to live in faith ; for then the soul it looks
to the horror of the grave, it sees nothing there but dust and rottenness.
It looks to the pangs of death, sense and nature doth. And likewise the
soul, so far as it hath nothing but nature in it, it looks to the dissolution
of two friends, the body and the soul, who have been long coupled together,
and their parting is bitter. And then it looks to the parting with friends
here, with whom they have lived lovingly and sweetly. In death, nature
sees an end of all employment in this world, of all the comforts of this life,
&c., and therefore it is a terrible thing. Now to die in faith is to die in
conquering all these, with a spirit above all these. What doth faith in the
hour of death ? It overcomes all these, and all such hke.
For when the soul by faith considers the horror of the grave as the
chambers of death, faith considers they be but resting places for the body,
that it sleeps there awhile till the day of the resurrection, and then they
meet again. And it considers that the flesh rests there in hope of a glori-
ous resurrection ; and faith sees a time of restoring, as St Peter saith,
• There shall be a day of restoring of all things,' Acts iii. 21. There is a
day of refreshing and restoring to come, when those eyes wherewith we now
look up to heaven, and those feet that carry us about our callings, and
about the exercises of religion, and those hands that have been lift up to
God, that body that hath been the vessel of the soul, shall be restored,
though it be turned to dust and rottenness. Faith seeth the faithfulness
of God, that God in Christ hath taken these bodies of ours in trust. * I
know whom I have believed, and he is able to keep that I have committed
FAITH TRIUMPHANT. 417
to liim,' 2 Tim. i. 12. I have committed to him my soul, my body, my
whole salvation. I know he is able to keep that I have committed to him.
* And I know that my Redeemer liveth,' saith Job. It was his comfort in
all extremity, that he should see him with his very same eyes.
And then for the pangs of death, which nature trembles and quakes at,
faith considers of them as the pangs of child-birth. Every birth is with
pangs. Now, what is death but the birth to immortality, the birth of
glory ? We die to be born to glory and happiness. All our lifetime we
are in the womb of the church, and here we are bringing forth glory.
Now death, I say, it is the birth-day of glory, and a birth is with pain.
Faith sees it is a birth-day. It sees that presently upon it there shall be
joy. As with a woman after she hath brought 'a man-child into the world,'
John xvi. 21, so it comforts itself against the pangs of death. Again, faith
sees them short, and sees the glory after to be eternal. It is a little dark
passage to an eternal glorious light.*
Then for the dissolution and parting of two friends, soul and body, faith
sees that it is but for a while, and then that that parting is a bringing in a
better joining; for it brings the soul immediately to her beloved, our
Saviour Christ Jesus ; and faith sees that it is not long till body and soul
shall be re-united again for ever, * and they shall be for ever with the
Lord,'
And then for friends. Faith sees, indeed, that we shall part with many
sweet friends ; but faith saith we shall have better friends. We go to God,
we go to the souls of perfect men,^ we go to [anj innumerable company of
angels, Heb. sii. 22, we go to better company a great deal.
And for all the employments we have here, that we have below, faith sees
that there will be exercise in heaven. We shall praise God with angels and
all the blessed and glorious company of heaven. So consider what you will
that is bitter and terrible in death, faith conquers it. It sees an end of it,
and opposeth to it better things ; because, notwithstanding death cuts off
many comforts, yet it brings better. It is a blessed change ; it is a change
for the better every way. Faith sees that there is a better place, better
company, better employment, better liberty, — all better. And, which is
more, to die in faith is to die in assurance that all is ours, as- the apostle
saith, 1 Cor. iii. 16. Even death is ours. Paul is yours, Christ is yours,
death is yours. This is our comfort when our days shall be closed up with
death. Faith believes that death is ours, that is, it is for our good ; for,
as I said, it brings us to our wished haven; it brings an end to all misery,
an end to our sins, an end to our pain, an end to our vexations, an end
to our discomforts, and to all scandals here below; an end to all the temp-
tations of Satan. * The Lord will wipe all tears from our eyes then,' Rev.
vii. 17. And it is the beginning of happiness that shall never end. So,
indeed, faith sees that the day of death is better than the day of birth.
When we come into misery, it is not so good as when we go out of misery,
and enter into happiness. This is to die in faith. For the time past to
see the forgiveness of all our sins, to see the sting pulled out ; and for the
present to look to Christ, ready to receive our souls, and to see him present
with us to comfort us, to strengthen us against the pangs of death ; and for
the time to come, by faith to overlook the grave, to overlook death and all,
and to see all conquered in Christ ; to see ourselves in heaven already with
Christ. And thus a Christian being upheld with this grace, he ends his
days in faith.
* Cf. note c, Vol. I. p. 350.— G.
VOL. VII. D-d' , ,
418 FAITH TRIUMPHANT.
Use. This should stir us up, if this be so, to get this grace of faith; above
all graces, to get assurance that we are in Christ Jesus, that so we may live
with comfort, and end our days with comfort, and live for ever happy in
the Lord. It is only faith, and nothing else, that will master this king of
fears, — this giant that subdues all the kings of the earth to him. This
monster death he outfaceth all (a). Nothing can outface him but faith in
Christ, and that will master him. As for your glorious speeches of pagans,
and moral, civil men, they are but flourishes, vain, empty flourishes. Their
hearts give them the lie. Death is a terrible thing when it is armed with
our sins, and when it is the messenger of God's wrath, and citeth us before
God. It is the end of happiness and the beginning of torment. When
we look upon it in the glass of the law and m the glass of nature, it is the
end of all comforts. It is a curse brought in by sin. It is a terrible thing.
Nothing can conquer and master it but faith in Christ. Oh, let us labour,
therefore, to get it while we live, and to exercise it while we live, that we
may live every day by faith.
it is not any faith that we can die by. It must be a faith that we have
exercised and tried before. It is a tried, a proved faith, that we must end
our days by. For, alas! when death comes, if we have not learned to live
by faith before, how can we end our days in faith ? He that, while he lives,
will not trust God with his children, that will not trust God with his soul ;
he that will not trust God with his estate, but will use ill means, and put
his hand to ill courses to gain by ; he that will not trust God for his in-
heritance, that will not ' cast his bread upon the waters,' Eccles. xi. 1, and
trust God to see it again ; he that will not do this while he lives, how shall
he trust God for body and soul and all, in death? He cannot do it. It
must be a faith that is daily exercised and tried, whereby we must commit
our souls to God when we die, that we may die in that faith ; that we may
be able to say. All the days of my life I had experience of God's goodness ;
I depended upon him, and I have found him true in all his promises. I
committed myself and my ways to him, and I found him good and gracious
in blessing me. I^ found him giving me a good issue ; and now I am
strengthened thereby to trust God, that hath been so true to me all my life-
time. I will trust him now with my soul that he will never fail me.
Let us all labour for this faith ; for though it cannot be said of us that
we die rich, or that we die great in the world, perhaps we may die a violent
death, as there be divers diseases that lead the body into distempers. It
is no matter how we die distempered, and in any estate, so it may be said
of us we die in a blessed faith.
Ohj. But it may be objected that all God's children die not in faith,
because some die raging and distempered, and in such fits.
Arts. But we must know that they die in faith notwithstanding all that,
for then they are not themselves. The covenant between God and them
was made before : they have given up themselves to God, and committed
their souls to God before ; for a Christian gives up himself every day.
He commits himself, soul and body, continually to God, as a blessed sacri-
fice of a free-will offering ; so he learns to die daily, daily labours to live
in the estate he would die in. He ought to do thus ; and many Christians
do thus. Therefore, notwithstanding these distempers, the covenant be-
tween God and the soul remains still, and he dies in faith. It is said here,
they ' all died in faith.' He saith not they all died in feeling. A man may
die in faith, and yet not die in feehng ; and sometimes the strongest faith
is with the least feeling of God's love. Feeling may be reserved sometimes
FAITH TRIUMPHANT. 419
for heaven. Yet notwithstanding, we must not take it so as if there were
no feeling where there is faith ; for there was never faith yet but upon the
touch of faith, the soul drew some strength and some inward feeling.
Though it be not discerned of the soul in regard of the immoderate desire
of the soul to have more, yet there is^alway so much feeling, and strength,
and comfort, that supports the soul from despair, take the child of God at
the worst. Therefore when I speak of feeling, I speak of a glorious demon-
stration that God sometimes takes away from his children. They died in
faith, though not alway in feeling of it ; they died in faith, though not
alway by a fair death or in a comely manner outwardly, to the applause of
the world. It is no matter for that ; they all died in faith, and that is
sufficient.
It is the desire of God's children that they may die in faith and die in
Christ, as they have lived in faith and lived in Christ. Faith is a blessed
grace. By it we live, by it we stand, by it we conquer and resist, by it we
endure, by it we die, by it we do all those worthy matters we do, in spite
of the devil and his kingdom. This is that excellent grace of faith by which
we live and by which we die.
* These all died in faith.'
For they lived as they died, and died as they lived. It is a usual general
rule, as men live, so they die. He that lives by faith, dies by faith. He
that lives profanely, dies profanely. If we suffer the devil to lead us and
abuse us all the time of our life, we must think God in just judgment will
give us up, that he shall delude us and abuse us at the hour of death.
Carnal confidence disposeth men to think they shall step out of their filthy
blasphemous course of life, out of their sinful cursed condition, to leap to
heaven presently. It is no such matter. Alas ! * heaven it must be entered
into on earth. There must be a fitting and preparing time on earth for heaven.
We must look to die as we live. There is but one example of a man that
died by faith that did not live by faith ; that is, the good thief; and yet
that little time of life we see how fruitful it was. But the rule is, all that
will die in faith must live in faith ; and usually men are affected and dis-
posed, and their speeches and carriage are on their death-bed as they
were when they lived, God in just judgment giving them up to that course.
Many wish that they may live in popery, and enjoy the liberty of that
carnal religion, but they would not die by that religion. They live by
that religion, and die by ours. When they have had the sweetness and
liberty that is given them there to sin, and then open all in confession and
be clean, and then sin again ; and such easy courses they have that
betrays thousands of souls to damnation. Now this is their course : when
conscience is awakened, they fly to salvation by Christ, if they understand
any thing at all, or else they die desperate, if they look to be saved by
that religion as they live by it. If _we look to die by faith, we must live
by it.
* These all died in faith, not having received the promises.'
For God promised them Canaan, and they died many hundred years
before. Their posterity came into Canaan. He promised them Christ,
and they died long before Christ came. He promised them heaven,
and they entered not into heaven till death. So they received not the
promises, that is, they received not the things promised ; for else they
received the promise, but not that that was promised. They received not
the type, Canaan, nor the things typified, — Christ and heaven. This is
* Another example of Sibbes's peculiar use of ' alas ' — G.
420 FAITH TKroMPHANT.
added as a commendation of their faith, that though they received not the
things that they looked for, yet notwithstanding they had such a strong
faith, that they continued to live by faith and died in faith. The promises
here ai'e taken for the blessed things promised.
This should teach us this lesson, that God's promises are not empty
shells ; they are real things. And then, whatsoever God promiseth it is
not barely propounded to the soul, but in a promise. It is wrapped up in
a promise. He gives us not empty promises nor naked things ; but he
gives us promises of things which we must exercise our faith in, in depend-
ing upon him for the performance of them till we be put in possession.
For here all the blessings they looked for is wrapped up in the name pro-
mises. ' They received not the promises.' The meaning is, they received
not Canaan ; they received not Christ in the flesh, nor life everlasting.
Now the believing soul, it looks upon all the good things that it looks for
from God, not nakedly, but as they are involved and wrapped and lapped*
up in promises. It must have a word for it ; it looks to God's word.
For the soul looks not now immediately, as it shall do in heaven. It looks
not to God and to Christ directly ; but it looks to Christ, and heaven,
and happiness, as it is in a promise. II dares not expect any thing of God
but by a promise, Alas ! the guilty soul, how dares it look God in the
face but by a promise, except he have engaged himself by promise ? And
he hath engaged himself by promise that he will do it. He hath pawned
his faithfulness that he will do it. And then the soul looks to the pro-
mise ; and in that it looks to Christ and grace, and heaven and happiness,
and all good things.
A presumptuous idle person, that knows not what God is, that he
is a ' consuming fire,' he rusheth into God's presence. Faith dares not
go to God, but first it pleads his word to him ; it pleads his promise to
him ; it looks on God by a promise. The very phrase enforceth this
upon us that we should make great account of the promises, because we
have all good wrapped in them. The promises are the swaddling
clouts. t Christ and heaven is wrapped in them. And when we have a
promise, let us think we are rich indeed ; for God will perform his pro-
mise. From the promise then the soul goes to the nature of God. Then
he thinks of his justice : his justice ties him to perform it. It thinks of
his mercy and truth, * faithful is he that hath promised,' Heb. x. 23.
Then it thinks of that great name Jehovah, that gives being to the world,
gives being to all things, nay, and that will turn all things that are now to
nothing ; as when they were nothing he gave them being at the first.
That Jehovah hath made these promises of life everlasting, of necessary
grace to bring us thither. He hath made a promise of perseverance and of
comfort under the cross and affliction ; a promise of provision and the
like. That great God Jehovah, that gave being to all, is faithful : he hath
bound himself; he hath laid his faithfulness to pawn, that he will make
all good that is here promised. The soul, after it sees the promise, it
riseth up and looks to God. * They received not the promises,' that is,
the things promised. So much I desire to observe from the phrase.
* They received not the promises.'
He speaks in the plural number, though he mean but one main promise,
that is, the Messiah, for all other were types of him. Believers are called
' children of the promise,' Gal. iv. 28. Here they are called promises, for
the repeating of them. The promise of the same thing it was made oft :
* That is, 'covered up,' e.g. lap, a coYering. — G. f That is, ' clothe*.' — G.
FAITH TBIUMPHANT.
421
there'was no new promise. The promise of the same thing it was seven*
times repeated and renewed to Abraham presently one after another. So
they are called promises, to shew that the promise can never be too much
thought on, though it be the same promise of life everlasting ; the same
promise of grace and of comfort ; the same promise of the resurrection, &c.
All the promises of good things to come we cannot think of too oft, nor
receive the sacrament, the seal of the promise, too oft. God knows what
we are. He will have us oft receive the sacrament, and oft hear the same
things. We see the prophet Isaiah and the rest, how oft they inculcate
the same promises of comfort to the people in captivity, concerning their
deliverance out of it. They repeat it again and again. The same reason
should enforce the soul to have recourse to the promises again and again ;
when there is any doubt or darkness ariseth, to comfort the soul with
the promise again and again. Satan puts clouds and darkness before the
soul every day. There is a repeating of sin, of infirmities and darkness
every day. We should every day repeat the promises still, though it be the
same promise, and the seal of them. This I observe from the number.
* They received not the promises.'
There is a distinction of the vfords^' Evangelion and EjmngeUa in the
Greek. -f- They have a different signification. Epangelia is of the time of
the promises that were before Christ, and they were all in expectation of
the promise, of the promised Messiah. The time of that dispensation was
Epangelia ; Evangelion, that was the time of the gospel, when the promise
was brought into performance, when our salvation was wrought by Christ
in his first coming. So they lived under the promise, but they lived not
under the things promised. They had Epangelia, the promise made to
them; but they had not Evangelion, that is, the dispensation oi time
wherein Christ lived ; which were indeed glorious times, when Christ came
in the flesh. They received not those, yet notwithstanding they died
in faith, to shame us, that have so many means and helps, and yet
notwithstanding are so earthly-minded, and so stagger and doubt in
matters of salvation, and have our faith to seek ; when all these blessed
worthies, the patriarchs, died in the faith that they lived in, and yet * they
received not the promises,' no, not the type of the promises. They received
not Canaan, which was an earthly type of heavenly Canaan, which was
promised them. They came not to reap that till long after, when they
came out of Egypt ; as for Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, they lived in the
land of promise as strangers.
' They received not the promises.'
They were comforted notwithstanding, that'their posterity should receive
them. Canaan was a type^of Christ and of heaven. I observe this by
the way that,
Ohs. God cloth not reveal all things at all times.
God doth leave diverse things to be revealed in diverse ages of the
church. God doth not reveal everything in every time, to comfort all
ages of the church. We see not everything in our times ; we must be
content.
There is to come the conversion of the Jews. Many good souls desire
that. There is to come the confusion of antichrist, >nd many good things
that God will bring to pass in another age. Our posterity they shall see
it. Let it comfort us. By faith we see the promises. Though we do
not receive the things promised, we have the promise in the Scriptures.
* Qu. 'several'?— Ed. t Tbat is, svayyiXiov. i-xayyiXia.—iJ.
422 FAITH TEIUMPHANT.
Let US comfort ourselves in that, that the benefit is reserved to our pos-
terity. Every age hath several privileges : that that one age hath not,
another hath. These grand patriarchs saw not what their posterity saw.
Their posterity saw not what those that lived in the time of Christ saw.
Those in Christ's time saw not the discovery of antichrist which we see.
Our posterity shall see the confusion of antichrist, which, it may be, we
shall not see.
Again, this should help us against the common infirmity that Christians
are subject unto. We should be thankful for some things, though we have
not all that we would have. These ' received not the promises.' They
had the promise, they had the word, though they had not the things pro-
mised ; and that comforted them. Though they had not the thing, no,
not so much as the type of the thing, not Canaan, — these blessed patriarchs,
Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, — yet they were thankful and cheerful, and died
in faith.
It is a common infirmity which our nature is too prone to. If the church
be not in all things as we would, we will not hear, we care for nothing.
Like curst children, if they have not all they would have, they care for
nothing. These all, they had the promises, they had not the things pro-
mised ; but did they take pet upon this ? Oh no ! ' they embraced the
promises,' and looked for the things promised in due time, though they
had them not themselves. So it is with particular Christians. Other
Christians they see go comfortably in their Christian course, and they have
nothing, — no grace, no faith, no love, no goodness. Because they have not
all they would have, therefore they have nothing. What an ill affection is
this ! We should be thankful for that we have, that we can deny our-
selves ; and we should be content to wait for that we have not. This is
the disposition of a Christian that is in a right temper ; and that is it which
holds many from comforts, that they do not thankfully acknowledge that
they have. Our covetousness and greediness of that that we have not,
and yet would have it, makes us that we do not see that we have already.
We all look forward, we would have more and more, and are not
thankful for the present grace. The patriarchs were not so. They
wanted many things that they desired heartily to have, and yet they
comforted themselves, and died in faith. Though ' they did not receive
the promises,'
' They saw them afar off".'
' They saw them afar off, and were persuaded of them and embraced
them,' &c. This is the order of God's Spirit ; first to open the eye to see,
and by sight to persuade, and upon persuasion to stir up the heart and
afiections to embrace ; for good things are brought into the soul through
the understanding, by the spiritual sight of the understanding, and from
that into the will and affections by embracing the things we know. This
is God's course daily. Therefore he saith they first saw them, and then
were persuaded of them, and then embraced them.
* They see them afar off.'
Indeed, they saw them afar oflf. They were not fulfilled till many years
and generations after, yet they see them.
By what eye ?
By the eye of faith. Faith makes things present, though in themselves
they be far off. It is the nature of faith to make things that are absent to
be present to the believing soul ; and it affects the soul somewhat as if it
were present. We know things work not upon the soul but as present ; a
FAITH TRIUMPHANT.
423
danger that is many years to come, it affects not the soul unless it be
apprehended as present ; nothing affects the soul but as present. Now
there are two ways of things being present. One is, when the things them-
selves be present ; that is, when we shall be in heaven and enjoy Christ and
all the joys of heaven, then the things are present themselves. And then
there is a presence of faith. When faith apprehends the things promised
to us as present, faith makes the things present in some sort, not in all
respects, for then faith were all one with vision and possession, but in
regard of certainty they are present, and in regard of sound comfort.
Therefore God gives other graces, between faith and possession, to strengthen
and enable faith that it do not sink in the work. Between faith and the
full possession of the good things we believe, we have patience and hope,
and many other sweet graces ; but all dispdse the soul comfortably to wait
for the accomplishment of the things believed. Now, though the presence
of faith affect not so much as the presence of sight, yet it doth affect. What
is the reason that a holy man is so much affected with heavenly things ?
He feels no more* joy many times than a wicked man. It is the nature of
faith that so represents them to him, and sets before his eyes the excellency
of the things that he sees them as present.
Faith hath her eye, faith hath her senses, faith hath feet of her own,
whereby she goes to Christ ; faith hath arms of her own to grasp and to
clasp Christ. Faith hath ears of her own to hear the word of God and
believe it. Faith hath eyes of her own ; and what kind of eyes ? To see
things afar off ; to see things invisible ; to see things within the veil ; to
see things that are upward, things that sense and reason can never reach
unto. Reason sees more than sense ; but faith sees more than reason.
Faith sees the resurrection of the body ; faith sees the glory in heaven,
that all the eyes in the world cannot see. Faith correcteth the error of
reason ; reason corrects the error of sense. * They saw him afar off,' with
the blessed eye of faith. Faith hath an eye that sees afar off; it sees
things remote both in time and place.
1. It sees things far off in place. Faith sees things in heaven ; it sees
Christ there ; it sees our place provided for us there ; it sees God recon-
ciled there ; by it we see ourselves there, because we shall be there ere
long. Faith sees all this ; it breaks through and. looks through all ; it hath
most piercing beams, the eye of faith. And it works in an instant ; it goes
to heaven in a moment and sees Christ.
And for distance of time, the eye of faith it sees things past and things
to come. It sees things past. It sees the creation of the world ; it sees
the redemption of us by Jesus Christ ; it sees our sins there punished in
Christ our surety ; it sees us crucified with Christ Jesus ; it sees all dis-
charged by him. Faith sees this in the sacrament : when we take the
bread, faith hath recourse presently to the breaking of the body of Christ
and the shedding of the blood of Christ. Then Christ is crucified to us
and dies to us. When we believe Christ was crucified for us and died for
us, faith makes it present.
And so for the time to come, faith hath an eye that looks afar off. It
sees the resurrection of the body and life everlasting. Faith sees the general
judgment. It sees eternal happiness in heaven ; it sees things afar off. It
is the evidence of things not seen.
What is the reason of it ?
It makes things not otherwise seen be seen, and presently seen ; it gives
■^ Qu. 'feels more'? — Ed.
424
FAITH TEIUMPHANT.
a being to things. It is a strange power that faith hath. Faith is the eye
of the sanctified souF; it is the light of the soul.
In the dark, though things have a colour and a lustre in them, yet till
light come to make them clear, they are all as if they were not, they are
not seen ; but when the light discovers them, then those things that were
impossible to be seen and had in them colour and lustre, they come to be
actually seen. So it is with faith ; there is the happiness of a Christian ;
there is glory and grace. Reason, it seeth not this. Here is a night of all
these things, if there be not light in the eye of faith. Now, when there
comes the promise of God as a light discovering them, and the eye of faith
to see all this, then here is an evidence of the things, a clear sight of them,
which without faith are as excellent things in the night, that no eye can see.
Faith is a further light, a light beyond all, a supernatural heavenly light
and sight. It sees beyond all other eyes, beyond the eye of the body, or
beyond the other eye of the soul, which is reason.
Now this work of faith is called sight; among other respects 'for this,
that sight is the most capacious and comprehending sense. It apprehends
its object quickly ; and sight it works upon the affections. So faith hath
a^ quick eye-sight ; it pierceth through the dark things of the world ; it
pierceth through contraries. God's children, though they see their estate
ofttimes contrary to the promise, as if God did not regard them, yet they
break through that. You know God's manner of working is in contrary
estates. When we die, faith sees life ; when we most apprehend our sins,
faith sees the forgiveness of sins ; when we are in the greatest mystery,
faith hath so quick a sight that it sees happiness and glory through all. It
sees afar off, notwithstanding the interposing of anything contrary by flesh
and blood.
Faith is sometimes called taste, and by the name of other senses ; but
especially by the name of sight. As in sight there is both the light out-
ward and a light in the eye, and the application of the light in the eye to
the object, so in faith there is a light in the things revealed, a promise and
discovery of it by the light of the gospel, and an inward light in the soul
answerable to the inward light in the eye. For a dead eye sees nothing,
and a quick living eye sees nothing without the light of the air. So there
is a double revelation, by the word and by the Spirit. The Spirit works
an eye of faith in the soul, and then it discovers to it the things of God.
* They saw them afar ofl\^
God created a new eye in the soul, a new sight which they had not by
nature ; for even as the natural eye cannot see things that are invisible, so
the natural man cannot see the things of God, which are seen not by a
natural, but by a supernatural eye. ' Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard,
nor hath entered into th« heart of man to conceive, what God hath prepared
for his children,' 1 Cor. ii. 10, 11. The eye therefore that must see things
afar off, it must be a supernatural eye ; and the light that must discover
them must be the light of God's truth. For reason cannot see the resur-
rection of the body, and the life to come, and such glorious things as the
word of God reveals to us.
Quest. If you ask why this sight of faith is so necessary, this supernatural
sight ;—
Ans. I answer, nothing can be done in religion without the supernatural
eye of the soul, nothing at all ; for a man may see heavenly things with a
natural eye and be never a whit the better. A man may see the joys of
heaven ; he may hear much of heaven and happiness and forgiveness, and
FAITH TEIUMPHANT.
425
think, Ob, these are good things ; but yet notwithstanding he doth not see
these things with a supernatural eye ; he doth not see these things to be
holy and gracious, and to be fit for him ; he wisheth them with conditions,
but not with the altering of his disposition. As a man may see an earthly
thing with a heavenly eye, because he sees Grod in it, and there is some-
what of God in it to lead him to see him, so a man may see heavenly things
with a carnal eye, as Balaam wished ' to die the death of the righteous,'
Num. xxiii. 10. A carnal man may be ravished with heavenly things ; but
he must look upon them as things suitable, or else all is to no purpose.
Quest. How doth faith see this ? How comes faith to have this strength ?
Ans. Because faith sees things in the power of God. It sees things in
the truth of God. He is Jehovah ; he gives being to things. Therefore,
as God Almighty gives being to things in, their time, when they are not, so
faith in his promises sees that these things will be. "^ It sees things in the
truth of God, in the promise of God. There it hath these eyes to see afar
off. Itself is wrought by the mighty power of God in the soul, for it is a
mighty power for the soul to neglect the things it sees, to neglect riches,
and honours, and pleasures, and to stand admiring of things that it sees
not. For a man to rule his course of life upon reasons which the world
sees not, because there is a happiness to come and a God that he believes
in, &c., it is a mighty power that plants such a grace in the heart. Faith
is wrought by the mighty power of God. As itself is wrought by the power
of God, so it lays hold upon the power of God, that the promises shall be
performed. In all the promises it sees and lays hold on the mighty power
and truth of God, and therefore it hath such an eye.
Use. Our duty then is to labour to have our faith clear, to have this eye
of faith, to have a strong faith, a strong sight.
Quest. When is the sight of faith strong ?
Ans. When it is as the faith of these patriarchs was.
There are three things that makes a strong sight, that makes us conceive
that the sight of faith is a strong sight.
1. When the things are far off that we see, then if the eye see them, it is
a strong sight. A weak eye cannot see afar ofi'.
2. Secondly, When there am clouds between, thoxigh the things be near.
Yet when there are clouds between, to break and pierce through them,
there must be a strong sight.
3. Then, thirdly, when there is but a little light. When there are many
obstacles in the midst, and to break through all by a little light to see
things remote, here is a strong eye ; and this was the sight of these blessed
men. They had a strong eye.
1. For the things they looked on were remote, ajar of. Divers thou-
sands of years, they saw Christ by faith. The soul mounted up on the
wing of faith. It flew over many thousands of years in a moment, and
saw Christ the Messiah, and saw heaven itself typified in Canaan.* So
swift is the eye of faith, it mounts over all in a moment. As the eye of
the body in a moment can look to the visible heavens; so a strong faith it
sees Christ in heaven.
2. And then between them and that they looked to what difficulties were
there ! Blessed Abraham, who was a type of Christ, how many difficulties
had he, besides other of the patriarchs ! We see God commanded him to
slay his son, a command one would think against reason, against affection,
against hope. It was faith against faith, as it were. It was against reason
* ' Saw,' misprinted twice ' see." — G.
426 FAITH TRIUMPHANT.
in the eye of flesh. Now in this case to strive against all these difficulties,
what a-many clouds must Abraham break through here, against sense and
against affection. He must hope against hope ; he must have faith against
faith, he must deny affection, he must go and take his only begotten son
Isaac, and he must be the executioner and butcher himself, and slay him
for a sacrifice. Here must be a strong faith in the power of God, that
must see God raising Isaac from the dead, as he did after a sort ; for when
he was bound for a sacrifice ready to be slain, he caused a ram to be taken
in the thicket, and to be offered, and Isaac escaped. It was a strong faith
to break through all these. Indeed, blessed Abraham saw more excellency
and power in the work of God than in his beloved Isaac. So faith that is
strong, it sees more comfort, and joy, and matter of benefit and blessing
to the soul in the promises and in the word of God than in Isaac ; that is,
than in the dearest thing in our own account that we have, that the faithful
soul had rather part with all than with God. It will not part with his
promises for all that is in the earth, not for the dearest thing in this world ;
Isaac shall go rather.
3. Then for their light to go by, it was but little. What a little light had
they ! Promises.. They saw things in types and glasses, a few promises.
And what was that they sought ? A heritage far off. We, on the contrary,
have all set nearer hand that may help us ; but we have a weaker faith.
One would think it should greatly help us to lead our lives till we come to
heaven ; for that that we believe is nearer, heaven is nearer. How little
a time is between us and the day of judgment ! How little a time between
us and the glory that is to be revealed ! For the clouds that we have
between they are none in comparing our light with theirs. How many
promises have we discovered beforehand ! We have Christ come in the
flesh and risen again ; we have the Gentiles called, and all these things.
We have light upon light. We have larger promises, and a larger unfold-
ing of divine truths. The canon is enlarged, the Bible is enlarged more
than it was then. There are many books added, and the New Testament.
Now how doth it come to pass that we see not so well as they, nor so
strongly as they ? I answer, the reason is this, — their light was less, but
their sight was stronger. We have more light and less sight. We have
things nearer, but our sight is weaker ; the more shame for, us. A strong
eye may see afar off by a little light, when a weak eye cannot see so far by
a greater light. The eye of their soul, the eye of faith was sti'onger and
more lightsome. The Spirit of God was stronger in Abraham, but his
light of revelation was lesser, he had fewer promises ; for he desired to see
Christ's day, and saw it not.
So it is with Christians sometimes ; when there is a great strength of
faith, yet it may be there is not so much light. A weak Christian may
have more light, but he hath a weaker eye, and he in that respect sees
better than a stronger. To a stronger, God doth not discover to him so
much outwardly sometimes, suitable to his inward. God's dispensations are
diverse in this kind.
Now to help our sight to heaven, this sight of faith, that we may every
day ascend with the eye of our souls with this blessed sight.
1. Let us take heed of the god of this world, Satan, that he do not with
the dust of the world dim our sight. What is the reason that many cannot
see the glorious things of God ? * The god of this world,' saith the
apostle, ' hath blinded their eyes.' He casts dust in their eyes. They
are covetous, they are blind in their afi'ections, they have dark souls. The
FAITH TEIUMPHANT.
427
soul when it is led by affections and lusts, when the affections will not
suffer it to see, it covers the eyes of it. And then the outward things of
the world, they are cast into the eyes. We must take heed of these inward
and outward lets ; take heed of Satan, that he do not with outward objects
bewitch us. For as it is in prospective glasses, you know such glasses,
some are of that nature they represent to a man things that are afar off as
if they were near ; so faith it is a kind of prospective glass, it presents to
the soul by reason of this supernatural light, things that are far off as if
they were near. Now, as God hath his prospective glasses to see afar off,
so the devil hath prospective glasses that when things are near he makes
them seem afar off, — as such glasses there are too. When death, and
danger, and damnation are near ; when a man carries the sentence of
damnation in his bosom, when he carries a stained, deliled conscience, the
devil with his prospective glass makes him see death and destruction as
afar off. I may live so many years and enjoy my pleasure and my will.
Now this is but a false glass, the devil abuseth them ; for your life is but
a death, and when we begin to live we begin to die. Why should we
account therefore of the time to come ? Death and life go in equal pace
one with another. Every day we live, so much is taken from our life, and
then the cutting off of all is uncertain. Let us take heed that Satan blind
us not.
2. And withal desire God to open our eyes every day, to take the scales
from the eye of our souls, that we may see the promises, that we may see
Christ, that we may see God shining on us in Christ; that he would take
away the veil from the things by exposition, that he would open the truth
to us by his ministers, and that he would take away the veil from our
hearts, that our hearts may join with the things ; that when by ministerial
means the things are clear, that there may not be a veil of infidelity on
our hearts, but that our hearts may sweetly join with them. Let us beg
daily that God would take away the things that hinder, inward and out-
ward, that we may see the things afar off; that we may not be, as Peter
saith, mop-eyed {b), that we cannot see afar off; but that we may set
heaven before our eyes, and the judgment and the happiness to come, that
we may see, and view, and eye those things by faith, and that we may
square our lives answerable.
3. Then, again, to help our sight of Christ and happiness, let us get a
fresh sight of our corruption and sin every day ; let us every day look on
that terrifying object of our corruption of nature, hang it in the eye of our
souls as an odious object, to humble us. Let us see every day what a
corrupt heart we carry about us ; see how odious these things are to God,
how it offends him; see how it exposes us to the wrath of God, if he
should take us in the midst of our sins and corruptions. Let us have
these things fresh in our eyes every day, and that will clear our sight.
Men are loath to look in the book of their consciences, because they are
loath to be disturbed from their pleasures.
Let us see what need we stand in of Christ. The view of our corrup-
tions will make us glad to see a better object. It wiU make us turn our
eyes to Christ, to the promises, and all things that we have by Christ; we
shall be glad to look to him. What is the reason we have no more delight
to see the glorious things afar off? We see not the dimensions of our
corruptions, for then we would be glad to see all the dimensions of God's
love in Christ ; the height, and breadth, and depth and all. So much for that.
' They saw them afar off.'
428
FAITH TRIUMPHANT.
' They were persuaded of them.'
^ It was such a sight of the things as was with convincing, with persua-
sion. And indeed this follows well upon sight, for sight of all other senses
persuades best. Hearing is not so persuasive as sight (c). Supernatural
sight brings forth supernatural persuasion. Sight is a convincing sense,
even outward sight. So inward sight it is a convincing thing ; it per-
suades and sets down the soul that a thing is so, when a man sees it.
All the men in the world cannot persuade the weakest man in the world
when it is day or night, when the sun shines or it is dark, that it is not
so. When he sees it, he will believe his own eyes more than all the
world besides. And as it is in sensible things we believe our own eyes,
so much more in spiritual things we believe our eyes. When there is a
spiritual light of revelation in the word discovering such things, and also
to spiritual light a spiritual eye, when the Spirit puts an eye into the soul
to see supernatural things that reason cannot attain to, then there is per-
suasion. Though all the world should persuade the soul that such a thing
were not so, it would say it is so, it will believe its own eyes. If all the
world should persuade a Christian that there is no such excellency in
religion, that his ways are not good, that he is but foolish, &c., he knows
the contrary, and will not be scorned out of his religion, and driven out of
it by any contrary persuasion of men whom he pities — though perhaps they
are otherwise beyond him — in the state of nature, for sight it is a con-
vincing thing.
Especially when there is some taste with sight, for taste together with
sight convinceth of the goodness of things ; as we see in those that lead
their life by tasting and feeling. The creatures maintain their life by
tasting some proportionable food fit for them ; so a Christian, when once
he hath tasted of spiritual things, the proper food of his soul, when he
hath seen and tasted of them, he will never be driven out of his religion
and his course by any means ; when he hath seen and tasted, he is
thoroughly persuaded. A man must not dispute against taste. When he
hath tasted a thing to be so, talk to him otherwise, he saith, I have tasted,
and feel, and see it to be so ; and therefore we see that after sight comes
persuasion.
Now, this persuasion is a supernatural persuasion, and it is general and
particular.
A general persuasion of the things, of the general truths, and a parti-
cular personal persuasion of our interest in them. When we are per-
suaded that the truths are so, generally, that are revealed in the word of
God, and when we are persuaded, by the help of the Spirit, that we have
a particular interest in them, a portion in them ; and both are here meant.
* They saw them afar off, and were persuaded of them ;' they were con-
vinced both of the truth and goodness of them, and of the truth and good-
ness to them in particular.
Now, persuasion is a settled kind of knowledge. Persuasion comes
divers ways. There be divers degrees tending to persuasion.
1. First, The poorest degree of the apprehension of things is conjecture,
a guessing that such a thing may be so or otherwise, but I guess it rather
to be so.
2. Beyond conjecture there is opinion, when a man thinks it is so, upon
more reasons swaying him one way ; and yet in opinion there is fear on the
contrary, that it may be otherwise.
^ 3. And the third degree beyond opinion is certain knowledge; when a
FAITH TEIUMPHANT. 429
man is not only conceited * that the thing is so, his opinion is so upon
some reasons inducing him, but he knows it by arguments and reasons.
That is science and knowledge when the mind is persuaded by arguments.
But that is not so much here meant, the persuasion by argument.
4. There is another degree then of knowledge, which is bij the authority
of the speaker, a persuasion from thence. When I know not the thing by
the light of the thing so much, because I see the reason of the thing, but
because I know such a one saith it, that is the persuasion of faith ; when
one is persuaded of a thing not so much out of his own knowledge, out of
the principles of the thing, setting out the causes of the thing, as out of
the credit of the person that speaks. Now, this persuasion riseth out of
faith in the authority of the person. When I believe a thing for the
authority of the speaker, it ariseth from the knowledge of him that speaks,
that he is able, and that he is true, and that he is honest, and good ; that
he will not deceive because he is good, and he will not be deceived because
he is wise. We conceive that he is wise, and holy, and able withal ; one
that we trust. If together with this knowledge and persuasion from the
authority, and truth, and goodness, and wisdom of the speaker, there be
joined sense and experience, we see it proved; and when there is experi-
ence, there is reason why we should believe that he saith, because we
have found the thing to be so. So when there is both the authority of
the speaker and some inward sense — some sight, and taste, and feeling,
and experience of the thing spoken — here comes that settled persuasion,
for he is undoubtedly true that hath spoken it, and I have found in some
degree the thing true that he hath spoken. Now, both are here meant in
some degrees, ' they saw the things afar off,' both by the authority of the
promise, as likewise by their own sight, and some taste they had.
For God reserves not all for heaven. God gives his children some taste
and feeling, some little joy and comfort, the 'first-fruits of the Spirit'
here, Rom. viii. 23. So they were persuaded from the authority of the
speaker, and some sense and feeling of the thing in some measure.
Now, this persuasion hath its degrees.
There is a, full persuasion.
And there is a j^ersuasion that is not so full, that is growin« to farther
persuasion still.
And this persuasion hath degrees, both in the general persuasion of the
truths themselves, and in their particular interest ; for all Christians are
not alike persuaded of divine truths themselves, nor all Christians are not
alike persuaded of their particular interest in those truths. There be
degrees in both respects.
1. For the things themselves, we may grow stronger and stronger per-
suaded ; even as the light and our eye grows clearer the stronger is our
sight, so our persuasion while we are here may grow stronger and stronger.
It was strong in Abraham ; yet not so uniformly strong, but that it was
weaker some times than others, as we see in the story.
2. And so for particular persuasion. The Spirit of God may give assur-
ance that may be shaken; ay, but he recovers himself presently. The
tenor of a Christian's life is usually a state of sight and persuasion, when
he is himself and when he remembers his own principles.
To come particularly, you see here that
Spiritual persuasion is necessarij.
Both of the things in general, and of our interest in them.
* That is, ' conceives ' — G.
430 FAITH TRIUMPHANT.
Quest. It may be asked, whether there may be a persuasion of the truth
in general, without a persuasion of our own particular interest in them ?
Ans. I answer, No ; not a sound, undoubted, spiritual persuasion.
There is a double conviction, a conviction when a man cannot tell what to
say against it ; but spiritual conviction is when a man is convinced of the
truth and goodness of the thiug, and this always draws the other with it,
first or last. A man may be convinced that he cannot tell what to say
against the truth, but that is not properly persuasion. A man is per-
suaded by divine truth that all the promises are true in the gospel, and it
draws with it a particular light; he sees, and is persuaded, of his own in-
terest in it, first or last. For a strong persuasion of divine truth, of God's
word, when I know it is God's word, it works in my flesh, it changeth me,
it lifts me up, it casts me down, &c. So that a Christian knows that the
word of God is the word of God by a spiritual persuasion, wrought by the
efficacy of the word, from an intrinsecal principle in the word itself.
But sometimes it falls out that a Christian may be convinced of the
truth of the word in general that it is God's word, and that the promises
of salvation are true, and yet notwithstanding he may not feel the parti-
cular persuasion of the forgiveness of his sins, and of his acceptation to
life everlasting, and his interest in Christ. These two are sometimes
separable in regard of feeling. A Christian hath alway a persuasion of
the truth of God, of the things, but he hath not alway a like persuasion of
his own interest in them.
Quest. How do you prove that these are severed sometimes ?
Ans. Thus: there is the birth and infancy of a Christian. When a
Christian is in his birth, he is not persuaded of his own good estate, as he
is after when he is grown. Then he knows his estate. A soul that is in
the state of grace, that hungers and thirsts after good things, at that time
it may be it is not acquainted that it shall be satisfied ; it is not acquainted
of its own interest, but stretcheth itself forward for entire satisfaction, and
it shall be satisfied ; that is, the soul that hungers and thirsts after the
persuasion of God's love in Christ, and the forgiveness of sins, and life
everlasting, there is never soul that thus hungers and thirsts, but God
satisfies it at length ; for the most part in this world, or else certainly in
the world to come for ever. But alway where there is this persuasion
supernatural, that the word of God is true indeed, that there is salvation
to all true iDelievers, when it is wrought by the Spirit, there is either a
persuasion of our interest, or somewhat tending to persuasion, some hun-
gering and thirsting, some desire that God accepts for the deed, to shew
that such a man is in the state of grace.
I speak this the rather, because some are deceived in their own estates.
They do not conceive aright of themselves. They think they are not in
the state of grace, when they find not that particular, strong, assured per-
suasion.
I answer, they may be in the state of grace notwithstanding. A Christian
knows not his own estate alway, at all times. It is one grace to be in a
good estate, and another to have the knowledge of it. They be difiereut
gifts of God, and God suspends the knowledge of a man's being in a good
estate for several ends.
1. Sometimes, among the rest for this one, to Imimhle us, to keep us
from security, to make us careful and diligent ; to make us know that he
hath the keeping of our feeling and persuasion in his own hands. As he
hath the keeping of all our grace, so he hath the keeping of the knowledge
FAITH TRIUMPHANT. 431
that we have grace, and of our comfortable walking, that we may know we
have everything from him, both grace and the feeling of grace; and if we
take liberty to ourselves, he will take liberty to keep our feeling at that
time, to make us humble, and to make us seek reconciliation again. It
is one part of God's dispensation with his children to hinder their persuasion
of their particular interest sometimes.
Sometimes the children of God may be in such a condition, as that they
may think for a time in their judgment, that they be in a contrary estate ;
they are mispersuaded of themselves not to be God's children, as it were.
God may suffer this, that they shall not only have a weak, staggering per-
suasion, but a persuasion to the contrary, though it be a false persuasion.
Quest. But how shall they know that they are God's children at that
time ? They say they are so shaken, and at a stand, they are so con-
ceited* that they are none of God's ; that God hath left them, and forsaken
them.
Ans. You may know it by this, that at the same time they are conscion-
abtef of all heavenly duties, at the same they neglect no means of salva-
tion ; at the same time they complain against their own corrupt course of
life that hath given God occasion to leave them thus to themselves ; at the
same time they strive against this, and labour to be persuaded of God's
truths in general. And though the devil sometimes shake that persuasion,
that God's truth is not God's truth, and make them question whether it
be the word of God or no, and whether there be such a thing as life ever-
lasting,— the devil shakes us in principles sometimes, — but yet a Christian
in such temptations, though he be shaken in his principles by the force of
wickedness, yet he attends upon the means, and goes on more conscion-
ably, he doth not give back, but labours for satisfaction and further
settling still, and is ashamed of himself that he should have such beastly
thoughts, as the psalmist saith, ' so foolish was I and ignorant, and as a
beast before thee,' Ps. Ixxiii. 22, when he began to stagger in the prin-
ciple of the providence of God. So sometimes a Christian is brought to
stagger in principles, in the main general persuasion of the word of God ;
but he likes not himself, he accounts himself as a beast, and labours for
satisfaction still in sanctified means, and never gives over, though he have
not particular persuasion, he gives not over holy duties, but goes on in
spiritual duties ; he labours to obey God in all things ; he is conscionable
to God in fear and trembhng, in the least thing. A man may say to such
a soul, it shall find peace at the length; for God's ways are unsearchable.
God hath cause and reason why he keeps such a soul under for a time,
and withholds some sense and persuasion ; but usually God's comforts
come more abundantly to such a soul, he reserves it for the time of aflflic-
tion or the hour of death.
The truth is, it is a constant rule, that though it may be thus with some in
some cases, yet ordinarily God's children may be persuaded of their particular
condition ; yea, and they ought to labour after this persuasion and assur-
ance, that their souls may be filled with marrow and fatness, and that they
may joy in God, and have boldness to come before God in prayer, that
they may be fruitful in all holy duties ; that they may be strong to suffer
afiiictions, and to resist temptations. Therefore though God sometimes, in
his wise dispensation, suffer them to be hindered, yet notwithstanding, this
[is] a thing that is both attainable, and that they ought to labour for, and
never give their hearts rest till they attain to it.
* That is, ' they so conceive.' — Ed. f That is, ' conscientious.' G.
432 FAITH TRIUMPHANT.
I say we ouglit to labour for it ; for the soul is never in such a frame as
it oucht to be but when it hath gotten some assurance of God's love. But
I must add this, we must labour that this persuasion be supernatural, by the
Spirit of God, both of the truths in general, of the promises in general, and
of our interest in particular in them. We must labour that it be by the
Spirit to our spirits ; that the Spirit may seal them to our spirits. For it
is not sufficient to know the word of God to be the word of God, and the
promises to be the promises, because we have been brought up in them,
and can say them by heart, and it were a shame for us to conceive the
contrary. That is not sufficient, for that will deceive us. We must
labour (as I said of knowledge, that we may be supernaturally convinced,
60 also that is from that knowledge), that it may be spiritual, or else it
will deceive us.
Quest. How do we prove that ?
Ans. To make it a little clearer, because it is a point of some conse-
quence, even as I shewed of what consequence the sight of faith is, so I
may say of this persuasion. We must labour therefore to know how we
come by this persuasion, and whether it be such as we can hold out in ;
whether it be such by which we can stand out in the time of temptation.
If there be nothing but that argument of breeding, and of general light, of
discourse, that we see one thing how it follows from another, I say it will
deceive us, because constant obedience will never follow upon such a per-
suasion ; nor constant holding out to death, nor constancy in death, if the
conscience be once awakened ; neither will we be fruitful in our lives and
conversations. To make this clear.
1. If the soul be not persuaded by the Spirit of God, together with the
Spirit of the Scripture ; for the same Spirit that is in the Scripture must
be in our spirit, working our natures suitable to the Scriptures to be holy ;
if we do not, by that Spirit by which the Scripture was indited, know those
truths, we shall never be obedient to them, not constantly. For what is the
reason that men when they are told, God doth forbid you to take his name
in vain ; God forbids you to seek after earthly things ; God forbids
you by the Scriptures to defile fyour vessels ; he forbids you to seek
these things below ; he forbids you these courses ? * Now a man that
hath knowledge that is not supernatural, that hath it not by the ^ Spirit,
he hears these things with a kind of scorn, and despiseth them as niceties ;
he never makes scruple of these things, because he knows they are for-
bidden or commanded of God, because he hears so. But he hath not
known by the Spirit of God that penned the Scriptures, that these indeed
are God's divine truths. The Spirit hath not sealed these truths to his
soul, this is God's word. He hath not felt it in converting his soul,^ in
mortifying his corruptions, in raising him being cast down, in working
wonders in his conscience, in bringing all into a spiritual subjection.
When he hath not felt the word work thus, for all his general^ knowledge
by education, and breeding, and reading, he may be a disobedient wretch,
and live and die a rebel, and bitter opposite against the power of grace,
because he hath not knowledge of the word of God, and of particular truths
by the Spirit of God, it is no persuasion of the Spirit.
And this is that that men wonder at, that know not the mystery of these
things, to see great scholars, men of great knowledge, perhaps divines,
that are preachers to others, to see such an one vicious, to see him carnally
disposed as others. When a man seeth this he thinks. What, do you talk
* The sentence is left thus unfinished. — G.
FAITH TBIUMPHANT. 433
of the word of God ? If there were such a thing, men that know these things
must needs lead their lives after the rule. It is no wonder. The devil
hath knowledge enough, but he is no divine at all, because he hath it from
his nature, being a spirit. So a man may be a devil incarnate, he may
have knowledge of these things, and yet no true divine. But he that is
taught by the Spirit of God the things in the word of God, the Spirit works
a taste in them. Historical truths are known by their own light. There
is no such need of the Spirit to discover them ; but the promises, and
threatenings, and such things are known by the Spirit. A man feels the
power of the word of God. Then a man is convinced. Otherwise if the
Spirit do not reveal these things, a man will never obey, but be rebellious.
2. And as there will be no obedience, so there will be no holdin// out in time
of peril and temptation. The persuasion that a carnal man hath, that is not a
sanctified persuasion, it will not hold out in the hour of death, in the time of
temptation, in strong temptation, either on the right hand by preferments and
favours, or on the left hand by threatenings and persecutions. It is but a
seeming persuasion. When anything comes that is stronger than it, it will
not hold. When there is afflictions and persecutions in the church, we see
many excellent learned men hold not out in their profession. Why ?
They were drawn to the profession of religion by dependence on such kind
of men, or they only followed religion as they saw reason for it, or they
have been so bred in it, &c. Now reason may be brought against reason.
When men have no other motives than these ; when persecution comes
that they must lose their preferments or their friends, or their life, they
fall away altogether, because that persuasion that they seemed to have
before, it was no spiritual persuasion wrought from intrinsecal grounds of
divine truth, that hath a majesty and a spiritualness in itself, but it was merely
wrought out of foreign grounds. Now we see a meaner man that hath his
knowledge wrought by the Spirit of God, the same Spirit it seals that know-
ledge to him with the word of God that indited the Scripture, and acted
the holy men of God that wrote the Scriptures. As his portion is incom-
parably great, so he is persuaded of his interest in those good things. The
same Spirit that convinceth him of the truth, and of the certainty of the
things, it convinceth him likewise of his part in them, and this super-
natural persuasion, together with his interest in those good things persuaded
of, sets down the soul so as it will not move. He holds out in persecution,
because he hath felt the work of divine truth in his soul. He hath found
the Spirit of God casting him down, and raising him up to comfort, there-
fore he holds out in his persuasion in all trials, and never apostatiseth from
that estate and condition.
3. And so for uufruit/idness in conversation. Notwithstanding all those
motives we have in the word of God, a man that is not convinced spiritually
of those excellent things, he goes on deadly, as if there were no motives,
because the Spirit of God hath not sealed them to his spirit. He hath not
given him an apprehension of the divine encouragements wrapped up in the
promises in the Scripture ; and when death and danger come, for the most
part such men are desperate, notwithstanding all their learning and know-
ledge literal that they have ; for it will not hold water. All knowledge
that is not wrought by the Spirit of God sealing divine truth to the soul,
with some evidence of the power of it, it will not hold out in the trial.
Especially when Satan with his fiery darts comes with strong tempta-
tions, for the soul never felt the working power of the word. It feels
then the temptation, it apprehends the poisonful fiery temptation, but it
VOL. YII. E e
434 FAITH TRIUMPHANT.
hath not so inwardly digested the truths of the Spirit, and therefore is sur-
prised with horror and despair. There is not wrought in the heart an
experimental feeling of knowledge, and therefore the heart cannot beat back
the temptation.
When the devil shall come and tell men, You have been thus and thus,
and they have not felt the truth of that they seemed to believe, conscience
tells them. It is true I have heard and read sucha,nd such things; I never
believed them ; they never sunk deeply into my heart. When temptation
shall be nearer the soul than the truth shall be, when temptation presseth
sore, they are swallowed up of despair. Therefore let us labour that our
general knowledge from the word, and our particular knowledge and per-
suasion, that it may be spiritual.
Quest. Now how doth the Spirit work this particular persuasion ?
Ans. I answer, the Spirit of God works it in the soul together with the
word: the Spirit and the word go together. All the men in the world
cannot persuade the soul without the Spirit of God join. Paul preached,
but God opened Lydia's heart. Acts xvi. 40, seq. We have it not of our-
selves. It must come from without, from God's Spirit opening our eyes,
and persuading and convincing our hearts : * God persuades Japhet to dwell
in the tents of Shem,' Gen. ix. 27. No creature can do it. It is passive.
It is said here ' they were persuaded.' That persuasion that is sound, that
carries a man to heaven, by which he dies in faith, it must be from the
Spirit of God. All the words of the ministry, and all reasons, nothing will
do it but God. God must persuade the souL
Quest. Now what doth the Spirit here ?
Ans. The Spirit enlightens the understanding, which I spake of before.
It opens the understanding in persuasion. It doth propound arguments
and motives from the excellency of the things promised, and the privileges
of religion, and the good things we have by Christ, &c. ; and, together with
propounding these excellent encouragements and motives, the Spirit strongly
works upon the disposition, upon the will, and affections. It works upon
the soul, and so doth persuade and convince.
And thereupon comes embracing, which I shall have occasion to speak
of afterward. The soul being persuaded, embraceth.
Now this persuasion is not only by propounding of arguments by the
word and Spirit, but likewise a working upon the will ; from whence there
follows an inclination of the will, and an embracing of the things we are
persuaded of.
For let all the arguments in the world be brought to a man to persuade
him that God will be merciful to him in Christ, tell him of the free offer,
'Whosoever will, let him come in,' Rev. xxii. 17; all that will: a large
offer ; let him join to that offer of mercy the inviting, ' Come unto me, all
ye that are iceary and heavy laden,' Mat. xi. 28, and I will ease you ; a
sweet inviting ; join with the invitation a command, ■* It is his command
that we should believe in his Son Jesus,' Acts xvii. 30 ; let him strengthen
that command with the threatening, ' He that believes not is damned
already,' John iii. 18 ; let a man remove all objections that the soul can
make of its unworthiness, * Come unto me, all ye that are weary and heavy
laden, and I will ease you,' though you groan under the burden of your
sin ; let a man object again, I have nothing worthy in myself; why, come
and buy, though you have no money; let him strengthen ail these- proposals
with examples of the mercy of God to Manasseh, to Peter, to Paul, a per-
secutor, to Mary Magdalene, and the like ; let all these arguments be won-
FAITH TRIUMPHANT. 435
drous effectually propounded, the soul will not yield, unless God's Spirit
join with these arguments, and all in that kind, and convince the soul of
our particular interest in these things, and persuade the will to embrace
these things offered.
That, God hath reserved in his own power to bring our hearts and the
promises together, to bring our hearts and divine truths together. Let
there be never so much set before us in the ministry, he hath reserved this
prerogative and authority, that our hearts and the truth should close
together to embrace them in hearing. All things depend upon the Spirit ;
when we do not regard the Spirit in hearing and reading, &c., let all the
things the Scripture hath be propounded, and set on with all the excellency
and eloquence that may be, God hath reserved it to himself, by his Spidt,
to give faith to persuade our souls that these belong to us, and to incline
and draw the will.
I have shewed you, then, the kinds of persuasion, general and particular,
and how it is wrought by the Spirit ; that unless this persuasion be wrought
by the Spirit, we shall never hold out in it. Though we have all the
arguments in the world, we shall be disobedient. Disobedience comes
when things are not discovered by the Spirit, and apostasy when the per-
suasion is not wrought by the Spirit, and desperation when the knowledge
is not spiritual.
Now the manner is by removing contraries, and moving the heart, and
drawing it. With the word of man, God enters into the very will and
affections ; for, as he made the soul, and framed it, so he knows how to
work upon it, and to draw it sweetly by reasons, but yet strongly, that it
may be carried to the things revealed. God at the same time works strongly
by carrying the soul, and sweetly with reasons. For God first comes into
the soul by divine light, by reasons, and then he sinks into the soul by his
Spirit, to draw the soul to these reasons. Without this, we never yield to
those reasons, but stand out in rebellion.
1. God persuades the soul siveetly of the truth, by shewing a man the
goodness of it, and the suitableness to our condition, and the reasons of it,
how they agree to our nature. He doth not force the soul, but doth it
with reasons and arguments sweetly.
2. And he doth it stronfjly, that the soul, when it is persuaded, would
not for all the world be of another mind. It is so strong, that the per-
suasion and the promises are stronger than the temptations of Satan 'and
the corruptions of the flesh, or than the scandals of the world; that nothing
can separate us from Christ, nothing can drive us from our faith and hope.
The persuasion is set so strongly upon the soul,, because it is a divine
persuasion.
It is a strong work to j^ersuade the soul.
For the Spirit of God, when it brings a light into the soul, it brings a
great many graces with it. When it shines upon the soul, and discovers
better things, it brings other graces to persuade, and to embrace the things
it discovers.
As it is an infinite mercy and goodness of God to discover to our souls
such excellent things as we may be persuaded of, as of our estate to be
such as indeed it is above our comprehension in thjg, world — ' Neither eye
hath seen, nor ear heard, nor hath entered into the heart of man, the things
that God hath prepared for them that love him,' Isaiah Ixiv. 4, — so like-
wise it is God's infinite work of power to frame the soul to be persuaded
of this. It is as much power to work the soul to this persuasion, as it is
436 FAITH TRIUMPHANT.
mercy to discover them in a manner. There is such inward rebellion and
distrust in the soul calling these truths into question, as if these things
were too good to be true. Considering our own unworthiness and vileness,
and the excellency of these things, laying these together, the unbelieving
heart of man is prone to unbelief above all other sins. He can hardly
conceive that there are such things for God's children, except the heart be
mightily wrought on ; unless, together with persuasion, there be some work
in the soul whence it may gather by the work of the Spirit that they are
those to whom such good things belong, because the Spirit of God hath
singled them out, and set his seal and stamp on them, above other men, by
some evidences of grace.
It is another manner of work than the world takes it to be ; for, as I said
before, together with the Scripture, there must a Spirit of persuasion go.
There is a secret messenger goes with the outward speech both of the
preacher and of the Scripture, or else all the arguments will not be to pur-
pose ; they will be of no efficacy.
As the Israelites they had arguments and motives enow to persuade them
of God's love and care to them, yet notwithstanding God gave them not a
heart, Deut. xxix. 4. In Christ's time what miracles did they see ! Yet
their hearts were hardened, because God, together with his shining in the
outward means, did not subdue the rebellion of their wills and affections ;
and therefore the more they saw, the more they were hardened, the Scribes
and Pharisees, and some of their desperate followers.
Use. Well, then, considering that the Spirit doth this great work, let us
labour that our knoidedge may be spiritual ; that our persuasion of divine
truth in general, and our part and portion in divine truth, that it may be
spiritual. For, as St Paul divinely and excellently sets it down, 1 Cor.
ii. 10, 11, that * as no man knows the things that are in man, but the
spirit that is in man : so no man knows the things of God's word,' divine
truths, nor his part and portion and interest in them, but by the Spirit of
God. If we bring the engine of our own wit and parts to God's truth, to
sermons and books, we may never be the better, if we come not with a
spiritual intention,* with reverent and humble hearts, and implore the
teaching of the Spirit, that together with the revelation of the word there
may be a removing of the veil by the Spirit ; that with the outward teach-
ing there may be the inward teaching of the Spirit ; that with the sound
opening the ear there may be the opening of the heart ; that he that hath
the key of David may open, and incline, and persuade the heart ; that he
may ' persuade Japhet,' as the Scripture phrase is.
It is sacrilegious presumption to come to holy places, and to set upon
holy duties, to hear or read the word of God, without lifting up our hearts
to God for his Holy Spirit. We cannot plough without his heifer. Can
we know the mind of God without the Spirit of God ? What arrogancy
is this to think I shall be saved ; and the Spirit never tells us with the
word so : but it is only a presumptuous conceit. This is a sacrilegious
usurpation upon God's glory. The Spirit of God knows what things are
in God towards us, and reveals to our spirits God's inward love to us.
* The Spirit teacheth us to know the things that are given us of God.'
Wo only know the good that God means us by his own Spirit ; and therefore
let us labour every day more and more to be spiritual and heavenly-minded.
And, above all things, to make it the pitch of our desires, as it is Luke
xi. 13, to pray for the Spirit, * he will give his Holy Spirit to them that
* That is, ' intentness.' — G.
FAITH TRIUMPHANT. 437
beg it.' It is the best and the chief gift of all ; for this makes our knowledge
heavenly, our persuasion heavenly, and sound and constant in life and
death. And this Spirit carries the whole soul with it : this Spirit makes
us like the word of God. Because it is spiritual, it makes us so ; and we
love it in our inward man, and consent to it, and joy in it. Whereas
naturally there is inward rebellion in the greatest scholar in the world
against the word of God. The heart riseth against divine truths. They
are as opposite as fire and water, as heaven and hell. The proud heart of
man slights the promises of mercy, as nothing to petty things of the
world. It slights the comforts of the word to carnal comforts, and the
commandments of God in respect of the commandments of men. The
proud man looks scornfully upon the things of conscience and of the
Spirit ; only the Spirit of God brings the proud heart of man to be sub-
ject to the word of God. Nothing that is not spiritual will hold out. What-
soever is not spiritual, Christ will not own at the day of judgment. If the
Spirit seal us and set a stamp upon us, Christ will look on his own stamp
of the Spirit ; where the first fruits are not, the harvest will not follow.
The Spirit is an * earnest.' Where the * earnest' is not, the bargain will
not follow. I beseech you, let us labour for the Spirit in the use of all
means : let us attend upon the word, ' which is the ministry of the Spirit,'
and we shall find that the Spirit wdll alter and change us, and shew us our
interest in the promises, and the goodness of them. The more we attend
upon the means, the more we shall see it ; and the more we pray, the
more we shall have the Spirit ; and the more we obey God, the more we
shall have the Spirit of God. God gives his Spirit to ' them that obey him.'
Use. And this should teach us ivhen we come to hear or to read the xvord
of God, Lord, open mine eyes ! , Lord, persuade my soul ! Lord, bow the
neck of my soul ! of my inward man, that iron sinew. Lord, take away
my hard heart, and give me a heart of flesh, teach my heart. Thou must
persuade and incline me ; incline my heart, Lord !
We want religious carriage in this. We come presumptuously upon
confidence of our wit, to hear sermons, and to read the word ; and so we
come away worse than we went. Why ? We do not pray to God to per-
suade us.
' They were persuaded of them.'
Mark here, first, he opens the eyes, and so he persuades. God persuades
the inward man with enlightening. He shews a reason. The devil, and
antichrist his vicar, they persuade by darkness, by maintaining a kingdom
of darkness. The devil allures : he shews no reason ; he keeps the soul in
darkness and blindness. Antichrist persuades men to their religion.
How ? By fleshly allurements ; not instructing them and opening their
eyes, enlightening their understandings ; but God opens their eyes to see,
and then teaches and persuades. The devil's instruments they persuade,
and so they teach and draw away. They persuade with carnal objects and
the like, to draw and bewitch the aflections, and so the judgment is dark
still ; but where there is true dealing there is no fear of the light.
Therefore, those that are enemies to the means of salvation, that fear
God's people should know too much, they take a course contrary to God.
For God enlightens, and then persuades ; and knowledge enlighteneth :
so that knowledge is necessary. All divine persuasion of faith hath the
name of knowledge. They were persuaded by the Spu-it of God of the
truth of God, having their eyes opened.
It is an evidence we are not persuaded. We come to church, and attend
438 FAITH TEIUMPHANT.
upon the means. We go on in a course of sin : we are not divinely per-
suaded. God hath not persuaded our hearts. He hath not enhghtened
us ; for if the covetous man were persuaded, ' that neither covetous, nor
extortioners, should enter into the kingdom of heaven,' 1 Cor. vi. 10,
would he not leave that course ? Light and persuasion alway rule the
action : for we work as we see and are persuaded in every thing.
The very beasts do as they see, and as sense leads them. An ass bears
burdens. You know nature hath framed and made him for it ; but can
you drive the silly creature into the fire ? He knows that will consume
him. So that men they are brutish : they will not be persuaded by the
Spirit of God. Tbey run into courses that, if they had light in their souls,
and if they were persuaded whither it tends, they would never run into
hell fire. If there were a pit open before a man's eyes, would he plunge
himself into that pit that were before his eyes ? A man that lives in sins
against conscience, he runs into a pit. There are no manner of liars, of
whoremongers, of covetous persons, of such wretches as take the name of
God in vain, that shall escape unpunished. Men lead a life in a course
wherein they see a pit before them, and yet they run on. Are they per-
suaded ? No, no ! Certainly they are not persuaded.
And so for the means of salvation. Men that care not for hearing the
word, are they persuaded it is the word of God to salvation ? They are
not persuaded. We may know the truth of our persuasion by the power
it hath to rule our lives and conversations. What is the reason that a
simple man, a weak man, he lives Christianly, and dies in the faith he lived
by, whenas a great man, in conceit in knowledge, he lives wickedly, and
dies worse ? Because the one hath not this knowledge of the Spirit. The
Spirit of God never opened his eyes : the Spirit of God never persuaded
him. He hath it in books, and by education and the like. There are
none that ever hold out but those that have the Spirit of God to be their
teacher and persuader. We must see things in their own proper light.
The Spirit of God hath to deal with the heart. God hath only power of
that. He must deal with the heart. We must not trust therefore to edu-
cation, or to outward things. If a man should ask the reason of men. Why
do you leave these courses ? why do you do this good ? A Christian doth
not say, I was brought up to this, or I cannot do otherwise ; but I do it
from a principle of the ' new creature.' Let us desire God, that we may
do things from reasons of Scripture, from reasons of pleasing God ; that we
may do them from a holy sanctified afi'ection ; that we may be persuaded
by the Spirit, and then it will hold out. ' They were persuaded of them,
' And embraced them.'
They embraced the promises, the good things promised : Christ's coming
in the flesh, and Canaan, the type of heaven, and heaven itself. Though
they had not these things, yet they embraced what they had, they embraced
the promises. That is the nature of faith. If it have not that it looks for,
as it hath not till it come to heaven, yet it makes much of that it hath ; it
embraceth the promises, and in the promises the thing itself promised.
Now these things follow one another in a most natural order ; for sight
brings persuasion, sight and conviction brings strong persuasion, and per-
suasion breeds embracing. For we embrace that in our afiections that we
are persuaded of to be good. According to the strength of conviction and
persuasion is the strength of the afiections. Those things that we have a
weak persuasion of we have a weak affection to. Those things that we are
fully persuaded of, and are great withal, the affections cannot but stretch
FAITH TRIUMPHANT, 439
forth themselves to embrace them. When the understanding was enlight-
ened to see the truth, and to be persuaded of the truth of the promises,
then the will and affections, they join and embrace those things. The will
makes choice of them, and cleaves to them, the affection of desire extends
itself to them, the affection of love embraceth them, the affection of joy
delights in them. Spiritual conviction always draws affection. For God
hath framed the soul so, that upon discovery of a good out of itself, it doth
stretch out itself to embrace that object, the good thing presented. It can-
not be otherwise.
We see the eye, it cannot but delight in beautiful objects, so the under-
standing of itself, it delights in true things, and the will in things that are
good, that are delightfully good, or spiritually and conveniently good to the
person. It cannot but be so.
The author of nature, God, doth not overthrow nature, but preserves it
m its own work. Therefore where he gives a light to discover and persuade,
both of the truth in general and of our particular interest in those things,
he gives grace likewise to the will and affections, to that part of the soul
that is carried to good things to embrace them. And upon discovery of
evil, in that part of the soul that is affected to evil, there is an aversion and
loathing of things that are inconvenient and hurtful. It must needs be so
in the light of reason.
We may know whether the Spirit of God have wrought anything in us
by our embracing of good things ; for, as I said, God hath made our souls
thus, when the soul is convinced of the truth and goodness of a thing, and
is persuaded, the affections will always follow that that is shewed to be the
best. _ Now when the Spirit of God discovers to the soul the excellencies
of religion to be above all other excellencies whatsoever, ' that the favour
of God is better than life itself,' Ps. Ixiii. 3, and discovers to the soul the
vanity of all other things, then comes the soul to embrace them. For the
soul cannot but embrace that which the understanding being convinced
designs to be best, and best for me ; in comparison of all other things, this
is now at this time, all things considered, best for me to do. Hereupon
comes embracing always. The affections follow spiritual persuasion.
There be two main branches of faith : one is spiritual conviction and
persuasion that things are so good, and that they belong to us ; another
branch of faith is to go out, and close, and meet with the things. Upon
discovery of the excellency of the things, the heart opens itself to let in
those things.
It is in grace as it is in nature : the heart is open upwards, and pointed
downward. So the heart and soul of a man opens to heavenward. When
those things are discovered by the soul to be best, the Spirit opens and
closeth with those things.
A man may know what he is in religion by his affections, by his affection
of love ; for the affection of love will open to the things that are discovered
to be best, whereof he is persuaded. And his affection of joy ; he will
delight in those things. And his affection of grief; his heart will be shut tn
things that are contrary ; and his affection of zeal in the pursuit of the
means, and in opposing that that is an enemy to that good. It is alway
so. The heart embraceth what we are persuaded of.
God hath made the affections of the soul for supernatural things, he hath
made our understanding to conceive of the heavenly light, and those pre-
rogatives and privileges, and he hath made our affections to embrace those
heavenly things. And then a man is in his right subordination, in his right
440 FAITH TRIUMPHANT.
state under God ; he is framed as he should be. He is in a right frame of
soul, when his soul is convinced of the excellency of the best things, and when
his affections of joy and love and delight, of zeal and trust, and all are set on
those things. For then a man is raised above the condition of an ordinary
man. Such a man is come to his perfection. He is come out of that
cursed estate that naturally all are in. For now the soul is set upon things
that make it better than itself. For the soul is as the things are it is
carried to. When the soul is persuaded of heavenly things and of its
interest in them, and is carried to them by the sway and weight of the
affections of love, and joy, and delight, — which is called here embracing, —
then the things embraced transform the soul to be like them, as they be
heavenly, and glorious, and excellent. There is nothing in the world to
be named with them. All else is dung and dross. Then a man comes to
be holy, and heavenly, and spiritual. He is raised in a condition far above
others, above all other men, though he be never so mean in the world.
When his soul is enlightened, and answerable to the light, there is heat ;
when there is light in the understanding, and heat in the affections accord-
ingly to embrace, then the soul is in a right temper, a man is a holy and
happy man. Therefore no wonder if upon persuasion and sight they
embraced those things.
Let us try the truth of our estate by our affections, by our embracing of
good things, by opening our hearts to the best things, by our joy and delight
in them. Is there a holy wonderment at them? * Oh how I love thy law ! '
Ps. cxix. 97 ; and ' one day in thy courts is better than ten thousand else-
where,' Ps. Ixxxiv. 10 ; and ' Oh the depth of his mercies ! ' Kom. xi. 33 ;
and ' one thing have I desired of the Lord ; that I may dwell in the house
of the Lord all the days of my life,' Ps. xxvii. 4. When the soul stands
in admiration of God and good things, when it is ready to welcome Christ
and heavenly things and the state of religion : now away all former vanities !
away all lusts of youth ! away all confidence in beauty, and strength, and
riches ! All these are but dung to the soul. The soul hath seen better
things. There is a discovery of better things ; and now the respect of all
other things falls down in the soul when there is a discovery of better things.
The soul cannot do otherwise when it is convinced supernaturally. The
same Spirit that discovers better things opens the soul to follow them. It
is so with every soul that hath the true work and stamp of the Spirit in it.
It is set upon heavenly things. It saith with St Paul, ' I account all
dung and dross in comparison of the excellent knowledge of Christ,' Philip,
iii. 8. There is an attractive, a drawing, magnetical power in heavenly
things when they are propounded to the soul by the Spirit, to draw the
affections, and to make us spiritual like themselves.
Let us therefore labour more and more to have our affections wrought
upon. As we are in our affections, we are in religion.* It is impossible
that a Christian should be spiritually convinced that there are such excel-
lent things belong to religion, and that he hath his part and portion in
them, and not be transformed to a spiritual state and frame of soul, to love
and delight in holy things, and to despise that which is contrary.
And when he is in such a state, what is all the world to him ? What
cares he for riches, or pleasures, or honours, when the soul sees incom-
parable better things ? ' Whom have I in heaven but thee '? and what do
I desire on earth in comparison of thee ? saith David, Ps. Ixxiii. 25, when
* Cf. Edwards's Treatise of ' The Eeligious Aifections,' which is only a splendid
expansion of this sentiment, as developed in the sequel. — G.
FAITH TRIUMPHANT. " 441
he had a little meditated of the vanity of earthly things, and saw the
goodness of God to his children. ' It is good for me to draw near unto
God,' Ps. Ixxiii. 28. It is a speech of conviction. The soul is convinced
that it is good and best to draw near to God in holy means, and in holy
duties to keep close to him, and then it cries out, 'Whom have I in heaven
but thee ? '
Therefore let us never rest in such a knowledge of holy things as doth
not convince us of the goodness of them, and of our interest in them, so
far as may draw and work upon our affections to embrace those things.
When we find our hearts and aifections wrought on, that holy things, as
they are excellent in themselves, so they have an answerable place in our
hearts, that as they are holy, and high, and best, so they have a high place
in our hearts, then a man is in the estate of a Christian, or else a man may
very well doubt of his estate, when he can hear of heaven, and happiness,
and of the excellency of the children of God, that they are heirs of heaven,
&c., and his heart be not aftected with these things. He may well ques-
tion himself. Do I believe those things? Here are rich and precious
promises, but where is my precious faith to close with and to embrace
these things ? Do I believe them ? If I do, how is it that I am no more
affected with them ? And so let us stand in the meditation of the excel-
lencies of religion so long till our hearts be aff'ected and warmed with
them. This will follow affections, a desire to think oft of them ; as David
joins both together : ' Oh, how do I love thy law ! it is my meditation
continually.' That that a man loves he oft thinks of. That stirs up love,
and love makes him oft consider of it; and when it is thus with a man, he
is in such a condition as these holy patriarchs, fit to live and die by his
faith. * They saw them, and were persuaded of them, and embraced them.'
Therefore, I say, we may know whether we have this spiritual light,
w^hether we have true faith or no, if we have these embracings. If we be
so persuaded of them that we embrace them with delight, and desire, and
love, and joy; if we make choice of them, and esteem them highly, and
cleave constantly to that which is revealed to us : then it is a divine light
and persuasion, because we embrace them.
Certainly there is nothing in religion divine, unless the affections be
carried with it. True faith carries the whole soul, to whole Christ, out of
a man's whole self. It carries the understanding to see, and the will to
choose and to cleave ; it carries the aifections to joy and delight and love ; it
carries all. Therefore, those that when holy things are discovered they have
not a high esteem of them ; that they prize them not above earthly things ;
that they cleave not to them with a disesteem of other things ; that they joy
not in them as their best portion ; that they do not embrace them : there
is no true faith at all, for where there is true faith there is this embracing.
God hath made the soul, as I said, for these heavenly things ; and when
the soul and they close together, there is a sweet embracing. Then the
soul is raised above itself; the soul is quieted, and stilled, and satisfied.
There is nothing in the world else will better the soul but the embracing of
these things ; nothing else will beautify and adorn the soul in God's sight.
Our souls are made for them, our desires are made to embrace them, our
love and our joy to delight in them, our wills to cleave to them and make
choice of them above other things.
We abuse our souls. They are not made to close and grasp with the
world ; they are not made for those things that are baser than ourselves.
We abase our souls. A covetous man makes himself worse than he is ;
442
FAITH TRIUMPHANT.
therefore he is called the world,* because he hath nothing in him better
than the world. If we embrace Christ and the promises of salvation, the
things of another life, the embracing of these raiseth the soul to be excellent
like the things, and it doth quiet and rest the soul. For nothing will rest
but in its own element. As the heavy bodies rest not but in the centre,
in the middle point of the earth, and light bodies rest coming to their place
above, so the soul it rests in God and in Christ. Faith resting in the
power of God quiets the soul, carrying it to the thing it is made for. As
these holy men, in all the turmoils and troubles of the world, in all con-
fusions, the souls of these blessed men rested in Christ.
_We may say of all earthly things, as Micah hath this sentence of them,
Micah ii. 10, ' Go ye hence, here is not your rest.' So we may say to the
soul concerning riches, and honours, and friends, ' Here is not your rest.'
You were not made to embrace and to cleave to these things. Our rest is
in Christ and in the good things we have by him. These good men embraced
him with their whole soul.
This shews that many men have not faith ; they know not what it means.
Where there is true faith, there is alway love, and joy, and delight in the
things believed. It carries the soul with it. In what measure we appre-
hend the goodness of a thing, in that measure our love is to it. In what
measure we apprehend the greatness and fitness of a thing, in that measure
our affections are carried to it. The understanding reports it to the affections
of love and liking, and they are naturally carried to that which the soul makes
report of to bo useful. The understanding makes them follow it. There-
fore it is a sign our understandings are not persuaded, our eyes are not
opened, when we love not good persons and good things, when we cleave
not to them above all things. Those that do not embrace and cleave in
their will and affections to good things, let them say what they will, they
do not believe. If there were but a light conjecture in men, if there were
but a guessing that there were such a happiness and that there were such
horrible torments for sinners that live in sin, they would live otherwise
than they do. Therefore deadness in the affections discovers atheism in
the judgment and heart ; it shews there is unbelief. For how is it possible
that a man should not be carried in his affections to a good that he is per-
suaded of. And how is it possible he should not loathe ill and destructive
things ? If he were persuaded that hell were such as it is, and that these
courses lead to hell and destruction, and estrange him from the favour of
God, « whose loving-kindness is better than life itself,' Ps. Ixiii. 3, if men
were persuaded of these things in any strength, their souls would not be
affected as they are.
Therefore if we would know whether nature be corrupted or no, we may
do it by this. You have some men that are conceited, especially when they
are in their rufi'f and have all things plenty. Divines talk much of the
corruption of nature and such things. They think all is well. Oh, but do
but lay these things together, the excellency of the things promised and
the terror of the things threatened, and our indisposition to these things
in regard of persuasion, that we live as if we did not think these things to
be true. What a disposition of soul is that tbat calls divine truths into
question ! To believe the lies of our own hearts and the temptations of
the devil, and the world that lies in mischief, before the resolved truth of
God itself, that is sealed with the oath of God. And yet the heart of man
is naturally carried to believe these things more than God himself. Witness
* Cf. 1 Cor. ii. 12, xi. 32, et alibi f?).— G. t That is, = in state, grandeur.— G.
FAITH TRIUMPHANT. 443
the lives of men who have dead, carnal, base affections in regard of heavenly
things, they shew that they are not pei'suaded of them, notwithstanding all
the sweet arguments and persuasions that the Scripture hath. They do not
profess that they call them in question, yet they live as if they made no doubt
that they are all false. It is a folly not to believe those things that are
sealed by so many evidences as divine things are ; but it is more desperate
folly to live as if we did not beheve them at all.
If these things were digested, they would make us out of love with our
own natural estate, and to labour for a spirit of faith to persuade our souls,
both that those things are so indeed that God hath revealed, and to get
assured persuasion of our part and interest in them. Indeed, a dead faith
is no faith at all. It is the effect of the whole Epistle of St James, that it
is no faith that is dead ; it doth not work upon the heart and affections, nor
the life and convex'sation. A dead faith is no faith at all.
Let us shame ourselves therefore : Lord, do I profess I see things above
natui'e ? that I see Christ in heaven and see myself there ? and do I pro-
fess that I am persuaded that the word of God is true, and am I no more
affected ? Where is my love ? Where is my joy ? Where is my comfort ?
Doth my heart run after other things, that profess myself to be persuaded
of better things ? Let us never rest, but be angry and wroth with our hearts
and affections, for they are made for these promises. Our precious faith is
made to embrace precious promises, and to carry the whole soul to them.
And let us help this with complaining of ourselves and with prayer.
Lord, thou hast discovered excellent things in thy word, and hast persuaded
me. Lord, open my heart ; the heart is thy throne ; the heart, and will,
and affections thou dealest with especially. Lord, incline my heart, enlarge
my heart. The Lord hath promised in the new covenant to teach our
bowels to love ; Lord, teach my heart to love thee. Thou hast opened my
understanding to conceive holy things, or else I had never been able to
understand thee and thy truth. Teach my bowels also to love ; teach
them to cleave to the things ; take off my love, my joy, and delight from
earthly things, and plant them where they should be ; enlarge them the
right way ; fill my heart with thyself, as thou hast made it for thyself.
This should be our desire.
Quest. What be the affections whereby the soul embraceth these good
things it is persuaded of?
Alls. The soul embraceth these things in the affections of faith and hope
in the first place ; for faith is an empty grace in itself ; it is carried to
somewhat out of itself that it embraceth and layeth hold on ; and hope is
with faith alway. Together with the work of faith and hope there is a
sanctified affection of the embracing soul ; there is a love of the things
promised, which is embracing, and a love of the means, and likewise joy
and deUght in them expressed by thankfulness. As you see the patriarchs
in the story of Genesis, when God discovered holy things to them afresh,
that he would give them the land of Canaan and the Messiah to come, and
all that happiness, there was thankfulness, presently they built altars to God;
and which alway accompanies thankfulness, humility. As Abraham, Gen.
xvii. 3, down he falls when God made him such a large promise ; he falls
down on his face, as if he were unworthy of such a thing. So this dispo-
sition alway accompanies a soul that embraceth. Together with faith and
hope, that leads the affections after them, there is love, expressed in a con-
stant obedience and care of duty to God many ways, as it is an affection
that will not be concealed. And joy and delight, with thankfulness and
444 FAITH TRIUMPHANT.
humility, considering the excellency of the things and our unworthiness ;
that we cannot but have this disposition alway, thankfulness and humility.
And likewise contentment to end our days, a disposition that follows
embracing in faith ; for, where embracing of faith and love is in an imperfect
estate, there will be joy when that comes that makes way to full embracing;
that is, in heaven itself, as Simeon rejoiced when he embraced Christ in
his arms. What did the old man, think we, when he came to heaven, when
Christ and he met there ? And Abraham rejoiced to see Christ's day with
the eye of faith ; and Hkewise embraced it with faith, and that wrought joy.
What did Abraham then when he came to heaven, when he saw all ended
there ? I say, death, that makes way to full enjoining* and embracing, in
this very respect it is not only patiently entertained of God's children, but
comfortably, as letting them in to the good things that they esteem above
all the world besides ; to the possession of Christ ; to heaven and happi-
ness. Let us consider of these things.
To come to direct us a little about this embracing in faith, and hope,
and love, and joy, and the whole soul, when the soul as it were goes out
to the things we are persuaded of.
Quest. How shall this be wrought upon the soul ?
Ans. This embracing we see it follows upon persuasion, and persuasion
follows seeing : ' They saw them far off, and were persuaded of them, and
thereupon they embraced them.'
1. Therefore let tis labour for a clear widerstanding of divine tilings.
That which the eye sees, the heart grieves for in ill, and that that the eye
sees the heart embraceth in good. And in what measure our eyesight of
heavenly things is clearer, and our persuasion stronger, in that measure
our embracing is lovely and full of jo}' and delight. Therefore let us labour
to grow in knowledge, in supernatural spiritual knowledge, and that our
persuasion ma}'' be stronger every day more and more ; for answerable to
that our affections will grow, and will be carried to the things discovered.
And there is nothing more effectual to commend knowledge to us
than this, that it is a means to work a holy and heavenly disposition and
temper in us, especially if it be spiritual. And let us meditate upon what
we seem to know and are persuaded of; let us dwell upon things still, to
work them upon the will and affections ; let us dwell upon them till our
hearts be warmed well with the things known, and that we profess ourselves
to be persuaded of.
And join with it an inquiry upon the soul. Are these things so ? Do I
know these things ? and am I persuaded of these things that they are so ?
How is my disposition answerable then ? am I so affected as I should be ?
Is my love so hot, and my joy so working, and spiritly,f and quick as it
should, or no ? And hereupon take occasion to stir up ourselves, and
to check our own souls : Alas ! that I should have such things discovered,
and that I should see such things, in such a strong persuasion in the book
of God, and profess myself to be persuaded of these things, and yet be so
dead at all times.
And if we find our affections anything working, that we are disposed to
embrace these things, then we cannot but be in an excellent temper, and
bless God that vouchsafed, together with the excellency of the things them-
selves, to shew us our portion by his Holy Spirit, to enlighten our under-
standings, and to persuade us. Let us bless God for this, for it is a work
above nature.
* Qu. ' enjoying'? — G. f Qu. ' sprightly ' ? — G.
FAITH TKIUMPHANT. 445
And withal, because the soul cannot close with and embrace these things
but it must let loose other things (for, you know, in embracing there must
be a letting go of those things that were formerly within the grip), if we
would grip these things in our affection and will, «'e must have them only ;
we must not think to grasp the world and them together, the things here
below and them together ; as we shall see after in that point, ' they
accounted themselves strangers' to earthly things. Therefore this is one
way to come to this embracing, to come to the sight of the vanity and in-
sufficiency of all things in comparison of Christ, and the happiness we have
by Christ. To see in matter of judgment the insufficiency of works and
merit, and such like, in the matter of justification, the insufficiency of all
such trash as the popish religion abuseth the world withal. And so in
matter of conversation, to see the insufficiency, and emptiness, and vanity,
yea, the vexation of all things besides these good things here offered. The
good things that God's Spirit offers to the eye of our souls, that he offers
to our wills and affections, what are all to these ? And effectually think
so, think what should draw a man's affections after it. Beauty or strength !
Consider what will become of these ere long.
And then withal consider the excellency of the estate of the body and
soul in heaven, if we carry ourselves as we should do, and preserve our-
selves in our spiritual condition. Let us lay these things together, and
then we shall see how infinitely the one is beyond the other. If it be for
honour and favour of the world, consider the vanity of them and how
short a time we may enjoy them, and the things themselves are subject to
alteration. And withal consider the constant excellency of the favour of
God in Christ Jesus, which will comfort us in life, in death, and for ever.
And so for riches and possessions in this world, consider how soon all
here must be left, and how the soul is larger than all these things, if we
had a thousand times more abundance than we have ; and that our souls
that are more large and more excellent, they are not made for these things,
but for better; and what use we shall have of better things when these fail,
the soul being immortal and eternal. This will make us let go earthly
things in our affections, and hold them in their place, in a secondary
place, as things serviceable in the way to heaven, and not to grasp them in
our affections, for then they pierce the soul to death and damnation.
And if we would be affected as we should be to good things, let us keep
our affections tender, and keep them clear from the guilt of any sin that may
work fears and doubts, for together with sin goes fears and doubts. They
are bred in sin naturally ; therefore if we would maintain this embracing,
oh let us keep our souls ! As we keep our understandings clear, so keep
our affections tender by all means, and keep our consciences unspotted,
that so our affections of joy, and delight, and love, may be ready pressed to
good things, even to the best things.
Another way is in particular to meditate of the love of Christ, the love of
God in Christ, and of his embracing of us; for we must know that our
embracing is upon persuasion of God's embracing of us. We embrace
not the promises of Christ as a man embraceth a dead post, that cannot
return embraces to him again. This embracing of Christ and heaven, it
is a mutual embracing; and it is a second, reflexive embracing. We
embrace God and Christ, because we find God in Christ embracing our
souls first in the arms of his love ; therefore we embrace him again in the
arms of our affections, because we find Christ embracing us in the arms of
his affections.
446 FAITH TRIUMPHANT.
Therefore let us attend upon the means, upon private reading of the
word and upon the ministry ; for what are the ministers but to contract
Christ and the soul together? They are 'friends of the Bridegroom,' to
discover, Christ's love to us, and his loveliness, — his loveliness in himself,
his riches in himself, and his love to us, to allure us again to Christ. The
ministry is for this end especially, to draw Christ and the soul together.
And whatjs the Scripture in the intent and scope of it, but to discover to
us the excellency of Christ, and the good things we have by him, his love
and good intention to our souls ? Now, hearing these things in the
ministry, they are effectual, together with the Spirit, to draw our affections
back again to him ; and, naturally, we cannot but love those that love us.
Now, whenVe are persuaded of God's love to us in Christ, and Christ's
love to us (God having made our souls for love to himself, and friendship
with himself, and the nearest and sweetest conjugal friendship, now there-
fore) the more his love is discovered to us, the more we shall love him.
Therefore let us be constant in attending ujwn good means. We shall
alway hear something that will either strengthen our faith in the promises
of God, or shew us our duty to God again. We shall have something dis-
covered whereby the Spirit will be effectual to help this embracing. Let
us go to reading and hearing with this scope and intention. Now, I come
to hear, I come to have my soul wrought on, I come to hear some message
from heaven, to hear some good thing to draw my mind from the world
and worldly things ; and upon hearing our duty to God, to walk lowly in
thankfulness for those good things that we have, and that we hope for in
another world. It is no wonder that men lose their affections that are
careless in the use of means ; and if they lose them, will they not lose all ?
The best man living, if he be careless in using the means of salvation, and
give himself to the world altogether or to his calling, — things not in them-
selves unlawful, — his affections will be dead, he shall lose them ; for God
hath ordained that our affections should be quickened by heavenly means,
and God knoweth better than we ourselves, that hath sanctified these
means to this purpose. In attending upon the means, we shall hear a
discovery of good things, and hear comforts, and have our light strength-
ened by new discovery of new Scripture, or by old Scriptures lively
applied ; something to increase the life of our persuasion, at every sermon
and reading good books, and by every good company. And that which
increaseth knowledge and persuasion, makes our affection and embracing
stronger.
I beseech you, let us take these courses, or else all is to no purpose.
The main thing in religion is the will and affections, and when the will and
affections are wrought on, the work is done in the matter of grace. And
there is no other way to know whether the former work of the understand-
ing and persuasion be effectual and to purpose or no, but this ; to know
whether the will choose and cleave to good things, and whether our affections
joy and delight in them. There is the trial of the main work. The work
indeed is especially in the judgment, when it hears soundly and super-
naturally of the ills that are to be avoided, and of the good things that are
to be embraced, but where is the trial of the judgment, but when it carries
the whole soul with it, when it carries the stern of the soul with it ? Now
that which is immediate to our souls is our affection of joy and delight,
and the like. Therefore let us take to heart these things, and never think
we are anything in religion till our hearts and affections be wrought upon ;
till our knowledge be such as may sway that whole inward man.
FAITH TRIUMPHANT. 447
Again, consider the excellency of those good things that we have discovered
to us in the gospel, that are the object of our embracing, together with the
necessity of them, that without them we are wretched creatures, there is
no hope for us. Let us every day consider what ground of hope we have,
though the things be not yet possessed, whether the things be true that we
hope for, whether they be confirmed to be true or no, and how we rest on
them. For let things be never so excellent and necessary, unless the
soul conceive of them as things attainable, as things belonging to us, all is
to no purpose, this effect of embracing will not be wrought in the soul.
Therefore consider more and more the hopefulness of them. That may help
this embracing.
A Christian, when he beheves and hopes for that happiness that shall be
revealed to him, the things promised, what a world of grounds of hope
hath he for it ? He hath the word of God for an * inheritance immortal
and undefiled,' 1 Peter i. 4 ; he hath the will of Christ : ' Father, I will
that where I am, they may be,' John xvii. 24. His prayer to his Father
is his will, and his will must be performed ; for he lives for ever to make
good his own legacy to his church. And he is now in heaven, preparing
that happiness for us that we so embrace with faith. And he hath left us here
his Spirit to be a pledge that h& will come again. He hath left his Spirit,
and hath taken our flesh to heaven, to strengthen our hope, that this shall
follow. Our flesh is in heaven in him already, and his Spirit is in earth
in us ; as a mutual depositum in trust between him and us ; and all to
strengthen the hope of that happiness that is reserved.
Besides the seal of the sacrament, the end of which is to cherish hope-
fulness of Christ, and of all the good we have by him, his oath is added
to his promise, that all things might be immutable and unchangeable of the
forgiveness of sins and life everlasting, &c. Now especially when we find
our hearts to sink downward, and not to have that life as they should have,
by meditating on these things, of their excellency and necessity, and to
conceive in Scripture the grounds of hope of them, it will quicken us.
Add likewise, for our own interest, what work of the Spirit we have, and
then what singular promises we have, that where God hath begun he will
make an end. For why is the work of the Spirit called an earnest, but
that God will make good the bargain ? Consider what work of the Spirit
we have ; for whatsoever is spiritual is eternal in a man. What joy is
spiritual, what love is spiritual, what knowledge is spiritual, it shall be
made up in perfection, it shall never be taken away.
See then how the Spirit seals us by the work of it, and what earnest
we have, in peace of conscience and the work of it. This will cherish
hope ; for that is part of this embracing, to embrace them with faith and
hope.
And this should be a daily course, to work upon the affections, to estrange
them from all things, and from the meditation of all things, else. And as
I said before, to consider the love of God to us, and to love him again.
And consider likewise the hopefulness of good things, that nothing in the
world is so made good to us as the things of a better life ; the things of
grace and glory. And God hath borrowed from all assurance amongst men,
terms to shew the assurance of the good things we have in hope and faith.
The pledge of the Spirit, the earnest of the Spirit, the seal of the Spirit,
the witness of the Spirit.* What terms are there used among men that
may confirm anything, that you have not used to strengthen this super-
* Cf. Eph. i. 14 ; Kev. viii. 2 ; 1 John v. 9.— G.
448 FAITH TRIUMPHANT.
natural assurance of these supernatural good things ? God herein succours
our weakness, knowing how prone we are to call these things into question.
And consider especially our own un worthiness, our vileness and baseness,
that we deserve none of this. When conscience is once awaked to know
aright our own unworthiness, then we shall find it a difficult thing to
believe these things. Therefore it is a work worthy of our daily endeavour,
to search the Scriptures, which applies itself to our capacity, and confers
all the help in the world to increase our grounds of hope of the best things,
and then our disposition is as it should be.
And let us deeply consider of the necessity of heavenly things, and the
foulness of sin, and the danger of our natural condition, and this will make
us embrace better things. He that sees himself in danger of drowning will
embrace that that may stay him. He that sees himself in danger to be
pulled away from that that upholds him from sinking, he will clasp about
it fast. Let us consider what a-many things we have in this world to pull us
away from God and good things, and to loose our grip, that we may not lay
such hold of them. The devil envies our embracing of these things, and
there are many things to loose our afiections from them. Consider the
danger, and withal the necessity of these good things, that if they be lost,
we do not only lose them, but we lose them with the loss of our souls,
with eternal damnation in the world to come. We do not simply lose them,
but we plunge ourselves into the contrary. Let us consider of this, and it
will make us clasp fast, and keep our hold by all means possible. In that
measure that we apprehend the danger, in that measure we shall embrace
these excellent things.
Case. Now to answer a doubt and a case or two by the way. How hap-
pens it, then, that God's children sometime, when their judgment is con-
vinced, yet their affections are not so quick, they are something flat in their
affections? As God's people complain sometimes, Alas! that I should
believe such a happiness as heaven is, and such glory, and yet find my
affections no more stirred ! Is it possible that I should be the child of
God, and believe these things, and find myself no more affected?
Sol. Indeed, this troubles the peace of God's children sometimes; and good
reason: for we see here, after sight comes jjersuasion, then embracing. The
will and affections cannot but entertain that good they are persuaded of,
and so there is great ground for the objection.
But there may be some mistake in this ; for sometimes the judgment
may be convinced, and yet the affections not be so quick, because there
may be a diversion at the same time. There may perhaps be some present
cross that may befall thee, or some present thing lawfully loved, that takes
up the affections at that time. As, for example, the presence of father,
mother, wife, or children, or of other friends, may take up the affections
for the time. Now the affections running that way at that time, perhaps
not sinfully neither, they are not so enlarged to heavenly things. God
knows our capacity, and what our affections can do.
Then again, there may be some present grief upon them, that God, to
humble a man, may take up his affections, so that at that time he shall not
be so affected with good things, though ordinarily he comfort himself with
the best things ; and so he doth afterward, when he hath given his grief
and his present affections some liberty. There is a love of intention* and
of valuing : a man may be deceived that way. A man values his child
more than a stranger that he entertains, yet for the present he may give a
* Cf. Glossary, sub voce. — G.
FAITH TEIUMPHANT. 449
stranger better looks and better entertainment. Though be set more value
on his child, or his dear friend that he hath secured himself of, yet he will
not shew such countenance to them as to a stranger on the sudden.
So it is here. God's children their constant joy is in the best things,
and they are judiciously carried to the best things ; but on the sudden
there may be an entertaining of some other thing, and perhaps not un-
lawful neither. Perhaps it may be sinful, to humble God's children ; but
that is but on the sudden. His course is to carry his affections above all
earthly things.
Again, in another case, GocVs children are deceived this icay sometimes;
for they think they have no affections when they have affections. How is
that seen? In case of opposition. Let God, and Christ, and heavenly
things be opposed, and you shall see then that they have affections. Those
that, for want of stirring up the grace of God in them, or for want of good
means, or by indisposition of body, seemed to be dull in their affections,
let religion be disgraced or opposed any way, and you shall find then their
affections deep in their hearts to heavenly things ; but they appeared not
before, because there was no opposition. These, and such like thoughts,
we may have to content the soul that is disquieted this way. But the rule
is certain, that a man's aff'ections are as his persuasion is, and his persuasion
as his light is. As he hath a heavenly light, discovering heavenly things,
so is his persuasion of a better estate than the world can yield ; and, answer-
able to his persuasion, his soul is raised up to delight in the best things.
This is his course. If it fall out to be otherwise, there be reasons for it,
which we must discreetly judge of, and not trouble the peace of a good
conscience. To go on.
' They confessed they were strangers and pilgrims on earth.'
These words contain what they were in regard of earthly things ; their
disposition and carriage to all things besides the promises, to the things
below. They were strangers and pilgrims in regard of their condition
below. It sets down how they apprehended themselves to be, and how
they discovered themselves to the world to be.
They were in regard of heaven indeed, heirs of happiness, heirs of a
kingdom ; in regard of the world and earthly things they were * strangers and
pilgrims.' And as they were, so they made themselves to be no better than
they were. They confessed it. They were not ashamed of it. They
apprehended themselves to be as they were, and they carried themselves
answerable. Their life and course spake as much as their tongues. They
confessed both in word and in deed that they were ' strangers and pilgrims.'
Now in the words I say you have their disposition and their profession,
their condition and their confession ; their disposition and carriage, and
state and condition ; ' they were strangers and pilgrims.'
The discovery of it, ' they confessed' they were so. And this confession
is double.
Their confession was either verbal, as Jacob confessed when he came
before Pharaoh : ' Few and evil have the days of the life of my pilgrimage
been,' saith old Jacob, Gen. xlvii. 9.
Or it was a real confession, discovered by their carriage that they were
strangers : their course spake louder than their words..
Those that in the whole course of their Hfe shew a weaned affection to
earthly things, though they talk not gloriously, as some idle persons do in
a bravery, ' we are but strangers here, and we must be gone,' &c. Though,
I say, they do not speak thus, as some do that never think so, yet, not-
VOL. YII. ^ ^
450 FAITH TRIUMPHANT.
withstanding, their carriage bewrays it ; their course, and company, and
conversation shews that indeed they * confess themselves pilgrims and
strangers.'
Now the order of the words is this, ' strangers and pilgrims.' There
is little difference between these two. * Strangers ' shews our absence from
home, that we are abroad in another country, that we are in another place.
And * pilgrims ' shews our carriage to our country, our going home : a
pilgrim or traveller is he that is going homeward. They confessed them-
selves that they were not at home, but they were going toward that that
was their home, toward heaven, to that city 'whose builder and maker was
God himself,' Heb. xi. 10. We are 'strangers,' to shew what we are here
on earth. In regard of heaven we are strangers on earth, and not mere
strangers that rest, and do nothing, but such strangers as are passing home
toward their country ; ' we are strangers and pilgrims ' on earth. The one
implies our absence, the other impHes our moving to the place of our
abode.
The ppints considerable are, first, this, that God's children upon earth
here are strangers and jnlgrims; They are not at home, but are travelling
toward their country.
The second is this, that
Theij profess themselves to he so. They know they are so, and they confess
that they are so. They are not ashamed of it.
For the first,
Doct. It is the disposition of him that hath truly interest in better things
(though but in faith and hope) to be a stranger and a pilgrim in regard of
all things here below.
And this follows the other ; for where the eyes of the understanding are
opened, and a man is persuaded, there is an embracing of better things as
our proper good things ; there is a considering of all other things as things
that do not belong to us; in a manner we are strangers. When faith
apprehends Christ and heaven and happiness to be our own, and our
country to be above, faith apprehending and grasping these things, and
embracing them, at the same time it is to be supposed, and necessarily
follows, that we are strangers.
It follows out of the necessity of the thing itself; for, upon the very
consideration that a man is an heir of heaven, that he hath another country
and condition, out of the necessity of the thing itself, though there were
no other reason for it, the affections of the soul will be closed up, as it
were, to other things, and he will consider of other things in an inferior
condition as they are.
For the things, though they be good in their kind and order, both the
things above and the things below, yet there being such a difference in
these good things and the things here below, the contentments here on
earth being so meanly good, and so short in continuance, and so weak in
their satisfaction of the soul, that they cannot be possessed, together with
the blessed assurance of better things, but with the affections of strangers
and pilgrims, this follows, I say, from the nature of the thing, that in whose
eyes heavenly things are great, in his eyes earthly things are mean. They
are accounted as they are, secondary, mean things of the way, to help him
forward home.
If a man were on the top of a great mountain, he would see the things
below to be very little, and the things above would appear greater to him ;
so when the soul is raised up to see great things, though they be afar off,
FAITH TKIUMPHANT.
451
as these did with the eye of faith, at the same time, his soul looking to
things below must needs apprehend them to be little in quantity, as indeed
they are.
If a man were in body lift up to heaven, and should look upon the earth,
what were the earth but a poor silly point, the whole earth itself, much
more a man's own possession ; so when the soul is lifted up to heaven by
faith, — which sets a man in heaven before his time, — when it looks from
thence to the earth and earthly things, it must of necessity consider them,
as they are, to be poor mean things. Therefore this follows, that being
persuaded of the promises, that is, of the good things promised in religion
in the word of Grod, to earthly things they were ' strangers and pilgrims.'
He that is from home, and hath another home which he is not at, he ia
a stranger; but Christians have another home.
1. For, first, they are bred from heaven, they are born from heaven, they
are born in Jerusalem that is from above; they are born in the church by the
seed of the word and Spirit. Now as they are from heaven, so their bent
is to heaven again ; for everything naturally riseth as high as it springeth.
As we say of water, it mounts as high as the head of it is, so our affections
mount as high as the spring of them is. Now a Christian being born from
heaven, he tends to that in his affections, that is his country. It is his
country, because his Father is there in his glory, and his Saviour is there,
and a great part of his kindred are there ; the souls of perfect men, and the
glorious angels in a most glorious manner, — though they be in their attend-
ance upon the earth, — there is his country, his city, his house, there is his
happiness, his home. I shall not need, therefore, to prove that the godly
are strangers. If heaven be his country, earth must needs be the place of
his pilgrimage; there is no question but that follows.
It is said here ' they were pilgrims and strangers upon earth.' ' Upon
earth ;' because, wherever a Christian is, if it be upon any place upon
earth, he is a stranger and a pilgrim. If he be in his own house, he is
upon earth, and therefore he is a stranger in his own house ; if he be in
his own possession, he is upon earth, and therefore he is a stranger in his
own possession. As David confessed, though he were a king, < I am a
stranger and a pilgrim here, as all my fathers were,' 1 Chron. xxix. 15.
A king in his kingdom is upon God's earth, and therefore he is a stranger
in his own kingdom here. As Austin saith very well, * Quisque domus sua;,'
&c., every man is a stranger in his own house.* We are strangers here on
earth, therefore. It is not any condition on earth that exempts a child of
God from being a stranger, when the greatest kings in the world have con-
fessed that they were strangers and pilgrims ; so that all Christians, of
what condition soever they are, from the highest to the meanest, they are
all strangers upon earth. It is a clear point.
And it must needs be so, for the head of Christians was a stranger. His
love made him a stranger; for he left his Father's bosom. His love drew
him from heaven to earth, and here he conversed as a stranger. He dwelt
in his body here as a tabernacle, which he laid aside for a while, to work
the work of our redemption, and then after to dwell in it for ever. He was
the prime stranger of all strangers. He that makes us all strangers here,
and citizens of heaven, he was a stranger on earth. He was not indeed a
stranger, for he was Lord of heaven and earth, yet in regard of his state of
exaltation that was to come after, in regard of dispensation, he was here as
a servant : he lived here as a stranger. And indeed he was as strangely
* Sibbes's previous sentences aie a paraphrase of Augustine in loco. — G.
452 FAITH TEIUMPHANT.
used; * for he came among his own, and his own knew him not,' as it is
in John i. 10. He was not known among his own countrymen the Jews;
' he was a stranger on earth.'
He conversed with us here, and was among us as a stranger. You see
how his speech and carriage and conversation on earth it was as a stranger's.
He was talking alway of his Father's house and of the kingdom of heaven.
When he speaks of the estate of the church, which is the only company of
people here in whom God rules by his Spirit, yet because they are ordained
for the kingdom of heaven, he calls them strangers here, and terms them
by that that they are ordained to. All his mind was of the kingdom of
heaven. We see after he was risen, the matter of his discourse, as the
gospel tells, it was of the kingdom of heaven. He talked of things that
belonged to the kingdom of God ; all his speeches were that way, and his
comparisons were fetched that way. ' The kingdom of heaven is like' to
such a thing and such a thing. And all his work was to draw men from
the earth. As it was his grand work to redeem men from the earth, that
is, from hell, and from their cursed condition, so the matter of his teaching
was answerable to his work, to draw men to heaven. All the pains that
he took before and after his death, till he was taken into heaven, it tended
that way.
He came from heaven to earth to woo us to be a spouse to himself.
He came from heaven into a strange country, to take us for his spouse, to
take our nature, and in our nature to win us, to die for us. He carried
himself as a stranger every way; he regarded not earthly things. Now
answerable to our head Christ, must all Christians be in their affections and
dispositions. We must be conformable to him ; we must be strangers as
he was.
All that look to die in the faith of Christ, and to be happy for ever, they
must witness their believing and loving of better things by an answerable
carriage to all things here below ; they must have the affection of strangers
and travellers. Faith doth enforce this. It is the nature of the soul, from
a principle and ground of nature, that when the soul is carried up one way,
it is shut another; when it cleaves unto, and embraceth better things, when
it is open to heaven, the point of the soul is shut to the earth; and we
look upon these things as strangers and pilgrims, only for necessary use.
These holy men the patriarchs were strangers.
1. Strangers in their oim esteem. As Abraham and Jacob, they confess
they were sojourners ; and David, though he were a king, yet he saith * he
was a stranger, as all his fathers were.' So all the patriarchs they professed
themselves to be strangers and sojourners ; and they did it not in word
only, but in deed. They shewed it by dwelling in tabernacles and tents ;
poor things, fit for strangers. Heaven was their house. Tabernacles are
moveable, weak things, that have no foundation ; so they knew their life
was like a tabernacle here. And their manner of life shewed what they
looked for; they carried themselves as those that hoped and looked for
better things. They were strangers in their dispositions; they affected
things above, and cared no more for these things than for necessary use,
to help them to serve God in their places ; and those that are strangers in
their dispositions, they desire to be at home.
2. Again, they were strangers in God's esteem.. God termed them so ;
and so it is with all that believe in Christ. When we once believe, and
are new creatures, new born to a better inheritance, presently at the same
time we are strangers here.
FAITH TRIUMPHANT.
453
•" 3. Strangers likewise in the esteem of the tvorld. The world used them
as strangers, strangely. When a man leaveth the world and cleaveth to
God, presently the world setteth on him by reproaches, and all they can.
Because they think he will disgrace them by his change, therefore they
labour to make him as black as they may that way : they use all strangely
that break from them. God will have it so. Because he will have his
children not to love the world, therefore he will have the world hate them.
So they are strangers in that respect : they think it strange that they do
not as they did formerly ; that they do not as they do. Wicked men think
it strange that they ' run not with them into the same excess of riot,' 1 Pet.
iv. 4 : so they are strangers in the esteem of wicked men.
4, So they are strangers in regard of their place. Heaven is their hope.
They are ' begotten to an inheritance immortal, undefiled,' &c., 1 Pet.
i. 4 ; they live in a place where they are strangers ; they are every way
strangers.
Obj. But you will say, Wicked men are strangers, and pilgrims too ?
Ans. I answer. They are indeed so, for in regard of the shortness of
their lives, and the uncertainty of the things they enjoy, — for they outlive
all their happiness here, — they are snatched hence before they be aware,
therefore they are but travellers here ; but they go from ill to worse. Yet
in regard of their affections they are no strangers, but account themselves
at home from a spirit of infidelity, and pride, and earthliness. Therefore
they are called men of the earth, and those that * dwell on the earth,' in the
Eevelation, Eev. iii. 10, because they look no further than the earth ; and
here they root and fix their affections upon this earth. They do not fix
their hearts and affections upon the things above; they look not after
them ; they care not for them ; they value them not, nor esteem them.
Therefore, answerable to their thoughts, and bent of their soul and mind,
is their discourse, their speech and carriage ; and thereupon they are called
* men of the earth,' and called ' the world,' because they love nothing but
the world ; they are as it were changed into the things they love ; they are
earth, as the prophet saith, ' 0 earth, earth,' &c., Jer. xxii. 29 ; and
they are the world, because their affection of love joins them to these
earthly things. The church in the Revelation is called heaven ; but the
beast is said ' to rise out of the earth,' Rev. xiii. 11 ; for that which bred
the carnal religion of popery, it was nothing but earth and earthly respects.
Therefore, however they are strangers here, that they cannot be here long,
and they have souls that are of an everlasting continuance ; yet because
their affections and the bent of their souls are all here, they account them-
selves at home here, and here they plant themselves and their posterity ;
therefore, though in some sense they be strangers, yet not in that sense
that the children of God are.
Every Christian is born from above, and born to things above, and he is
a stranger here. All his course, from his new birth till he come to the pos-
session of his inheritance in heaven, it is nothing but a travelling. He
never sits down, but is alway in his motion and passage. Every good
work is a step of his way : he is in motion still ; he takes degrees from
better to better, from grace to grace, from knowledge to knowledge, till he
come to his home.
Let us make a trial of ourselves, how our affections stand to these things,
whether our hearts be weaned from earthly things. Undoubtedly, if we
have embraced Christ, we shall use the world as though we used it not.
We shall be transformed into the image of Christ ; and he used the things
454 FAITH TRIUMPHANT.
of this world as a stranger, only to comfort him in the way'. We shall
have the same mind that he had. We shall carry ourselvers as strangers,
as those that hope for a country in heaven. Therefore I will name some
particulars, to shew the condition and carriage of a stranger.
1. First of all, a stranger is travelling to another country — to join both in
one ; for the one follows the other. He that is a stranger, that apprehends
what he is, and apprehends that he hath a country to go to, he travels toward it.
2. A stranger that is travelling homeward, he is content ivitk iiis present
condition, for he knows he shall have better at home. In Jer. xlv. 4,
God, by Jeremiah, speaks to Baruch, a good man : ' I will destroy all
these things ; and dost thou seek great things for thyself?' If a Christian
did consider, I am going to heaven, to God, what do I seeking great things
here, which God will destroy ? What will become of heaven and earth,
and all things here ere long ? And if the time be long ere heaven and
earth be destroyed, yet what will become of me ere long ? I shall be
turned to earth, and shall I seek great things here upon earth ? Shall I
not be content with my portion ? Certainly a stranger is content with his
present portion. He that is a traveller, when he comes to his inn, if per-
haps things be not so clean, if his usage be not so good, he thinks it is
but a night and away : it is no great matter. This is not the main. He
will not be over much discontent, and quarrel at any unkind usage in the
way, for he knows he shall have better usage when he comes home.
Therefore, as he will be content with little, be it what it will be, he knows
it is not the main.
3. So he will be 2^atient if he meet with unkind usage : he will not stand
quarrelling by the way, and so hinder himself in his journey ; he will be
patient in the injuries and wrongs in this life. If a prince be misused in
another country, he is contented, and thinks with himself, I have a coun-
try where I shall be more respected ; and therefore he bears it the more
wiUingly. So a Christian is a king, he is an heir ; and being a stranger,
he shall meet with dogs in this world ; as, who do dogs bark at, but at
strangers ? Now being strangers we must look for dogged usage. It is
no wonder that dogs bark at strangers ; it is their kind. They consider
it is the disposition of wicked men to do so ; they do but their kind.
Would a man have dogs not to bark ? And would we have wicked men
that have evil tongues not to scorn that they know not ? To do otherwise
is to forget their kind. A Christian knows they do but their kind. He
pities them ; and he doth not stop his journey and his course for it. He
will not be scorned out of his religion by a company of profane spirits ; he
will not be laughed out of his course ; he knows what he doth better than
they. They are mad and fools ; he knows it, and they shall know it them-
selves ere long. He knows that he is in a serious judicious course that
he can approve, and they cannot theirs ; therefore he will not be scorned
out of his course.
Thus faith in Christ makes him that is a stranger here, content and
patient. He whose soul hath embraced Christ is contented with anything :
anything is sufficient to his soul that is filled with better things. Nothing
will content a covetous earthly man, a man of earth. Such men think
themselves at home ; they make a league with hell and death. The men
of the world they think they shall live here alway ; but a Christian that
embraceth a better hfe with Christ in happiness to come, he knows he shall
not be here long. He is here but as a stranger, and shall shortly be at
home ; and therefore he is contented with anything.
FAITH TRIUMPHANT.
455
" 4. Likewise the knowledge of this that we are strangers and pilgrims, it
will make a man not only content and patient, but thankful, for any kind-
ness he finds in this world ; that God sweetens his absence from heaven and
his pilgrimage on earth [some j what ; that God should love me so, not only
to give me heaven, but to give me contentments on the earth to sweeten
my way to heaven : what a mercy is this ! He is thankful for any content-
ment; he is thankful to the world, to those that do anything for him,
that afford him any courtesy here that may help him in his pilgrimage, and
make it less troublesome and cumbersome to him.
All the saints in former time were wondrous thankful for that they had ;
for what can a traveller look for but discourtesies and hard usage ? And if
he find anything better he will be thankful : certainly it is more than I
looked for, saith he. When a man is bent toward heaven, he cannot but
look for hard usage from the world. We see when Christ did but look
toward Jerusalem, the Samaritans had enough ; they began to malign him.
Why ? ' His face was toward Jerusalem,' Luke ix. 53. So when base world-
lings see that a man will to heaven, and leave their company and courses,
they cannot digest this. A man with an ill conscience, when he sees
another oppose that course that he resolved to stick to, he sees he confutes
his course, he sees his face is toward heaven, and therefore labours to dis-
grace him. As the wench said to Peter, ' Thou speakest as one of Galilee ;
thy speech bewrays thee,' Mat. xxvi. 73 ; so when a man is_ going toward
heaven, every base person, the veriest rascal of all, hath pride enough to
scorn religion. So we see they make not much of the world, nor the world
of them ; therefore they are contented and thankful if they find better ; for
what can a stranger look for but strange usage in a strange place ?
And therefore we see in Scripture how thankful they were, even for
refreshings, for meat and drink. Our Saviour Christ was known by
* breaking of bread.' He used to be thankful. ' In all things give thanks,'
Eph. V. 20. They saw the favour and love of God in a crumb of bread, and
in a drop of refreshing in any kind. Oh, here is a blessed God, that hath
given us these comforts in the way. The saints of God are wondrous
thankful for the comforts of their pilgrimage, the comforts of this life.
And this should make us more thankful, because all men's pilgrimages
are not alike ; for do we not see the life of some more cumbersonae ? Some
live in a great deal of want ; some live in a great deal of opposition more
than others do ; others go in a smoother way to heaven. God sees his
children's weakness; he sees they have not strength; and if in pity he
keeps them that they shall not encounter with opposition, but lead them
a better way than others, it is special matter of thankfulness to God and
men too,
5. He that is a stranger, he is glad of any good company. ^ Oh, if he
meet with a man of his own country, he is a man alone for him ; so it is
with a Christian that walks in the way to heaven with him, he is com-
forted much in it.
6. A stranger, he hath his prime intention* home to his country, and what
he doth in the way, it is in virtue of his prime intention, though he doth
not, in every particular action that he doth, think of it. A traveller when
he rides on the way he doth not think of home in every step. Ay, but he
doth that that he doth in virtue of his prime intention when he first set out,
and calls to remembrance ofttimes as he goes home; he thinks of his
journeys. And by the way,
* Cf. Glossary, sub voce. — G.
456 FAITH TBIUMPHANT.
I observe this note of some weak Christians that think they are not
heavenly-minded, except they do nothing but think of heaven and heavenly
things. That is but a weak and silly conceit. It should be our thought in
the morning. Our thoughts should open with that. It should be the key to
open the morning, the thought of this course what will become of us ere
long in heaven. But then all that we do should be in virtue and strength
of that prime intention to please God, and to go to heaven. Though we
think not alway of the present business, yet it is good as much as may be
to quicken our endeavour.
7. And hence it is that there is another property of a stranger that is
going to a place, perhaps he may step out of the way, yet notwithstanding, by
virtue of his first intention, he gathers himself homeward again. If he take
other matters in hand, he gathers home still, though he go out of his way,
in he comes ; he considers, this is not my way. So a child of God, some-
times he diverts and turns aside, yet notwithstanding he considers, doth
this way lead to Godward, to heavenward ? Be these actions Christian
actions ? Are they the way to heaven ? If he see they be not, though he
have stepped awry, he comes in again, and is gathering homeward.
Though he may perhaps forget himself a little — a traveller — yet his bent
is homewards. So a Christian man, though perhaps in some particular he
may forget himself, yet he is alway gathering home; his bent is home, and
his course is godly. Take a Christian, perhaps he may step awry, but his
course is godly, and he labours to recover himself; and if a traveller stay
at any time by the way, he makes amends afterwards by making more haste.
So doth a Christian, if we consider him with his affections loose to good
things ; yet he recovers himself again, and sets upon religious actions and
courses with more violence of spirit, and recovers his foi'mer loss again.
8. A traveller and stranger he provides beforehand for all encumbrances.
He knows though he meet not with troubles, yet he may, therefore he will
be sure to go with weapons, and he will go with that that may sustain
him by the way. Religion teacheth a man to gather out of the word of
God comforts beforehand, and munition beforehand, to carry with him.
Put the case he never use them ; he may have cause to use them, and
then if he have them not, what will become of him ? He lies open to
adversaries by the way. Therefore there is a spirit in a Christian, an
instinct that stirs him up ; he will be reading the word of God, and good
books, and hearing the word. This I may have use of at such a time ;
this I will lay up for such an occasion. Put the case that such an occasion
come not, he loseth nothing. He seasoneth his soul in the mean time,
and prepares it for worse things if worse come.
Woe to those that have not laid up strength and comfort against evil
times beforehand. If a man go to sea, and be not provided beforehand ; if
he take a journey, and be not provided beforehand, then when a storm
comes, what a case is he in ! It pleaseth God to teach us by these
resemblances heavenly things. Therefore because th«y are fit means to
convey holier things unto us, it is good to take this help that God afi'ords
us, considering that he shews us by these shadows better things. When we
travel, and are going on in our journey towards heaven, it is good to con-
sider higher things, it is a good meditation. Therefore to go on a little
further.
9. A traveller and stranger is inquisitive of the way, whether he be in the
way or out of the way. He asks not at random. That doth not content
him, whether he go west, or north, or south, or east ; it doth not content
FAITH TBITJMPHANT. 457
him to ask where lies my country, eastward ? See. No ; but he will ask
the particular towns, and particular turnings and windings, how he may
avoid going out of his way, and which is the right way, and he will ask upon
every occasion, because he knows if he go but a little out of his way it will
be a long time ere he shall recover it, and he will be ashamed to come back
again ; and the more he goes out of the way, the more trouble it is to come
back again. So it is with a Christian, he doth not only desire to know in
general, but he desires to have daily direction, what shall I do in such a
case of conscience, and in such a case ? How shall I overcome such a
temptation if I meet with it ? And so he is willing to have daily direction
how to walk with God day by day, that he go not out of his way in anything.
For even as every step that a man takes is a part of his journey, so
every action of a man's life it is a part of his journey to heaven, and there-
fore he is willing to have direction for every step, that he may walk step
upon step upon good ground. Therefore he goes upon good grounds of a
good conscience, in the duties of Christianity. He will have sound con-
viction what is good, and what is true in religion ; what religion is true
that he may venture his soul upon, and what use he may make of his par-
ticular calling; what he may do with a safe conscience, and what not; and
what he may not do that he will not meddle with, and what is clear to his
conscience that he will do. So every step he takes, though it be in his
particular calling, it helps him forward. As St Paul saith, in the Epistle
to the Colossians, of servants, that they serve God in serving their master,
so a poor servant in his drudgery may serve God. So in our ordinary
professions we are in the way to heaven, if they be sanctified by prayer
beforehand, and do it in conscience and obedience to God, that hath set us
in this way.
There are two callings, our general and particular calling, and we shew
religion, that is our general calling, in our particular calling, as we are
placed in this or that calling ; and what we do in either of these callings
is the way to heaven. Now the care of a Christian is, that he be well
advised what to do, and on what ground.
10. And even as a traveller considers of things by the way as they make
to his end, to further his journey or hinder his journey, he looks to heaven
as his country that he hopes for, and therefore he doth not tangle himself
with any more than may help him home. If they hinder him once, away
they go ; if they may help him, he takes them. A Christian in his travel
in the way to heaven considers of things that may fall out by the way, as
they may help and further him to heaven. If I find that things, though
they be indifferent in themselves, if they trouble me in my way to heaven
(it may be they are not so to another, but they are to me), though another
can do it, yet I must consider whether I can do it, and find myself enlarged
to heaven as at other times. If not, away with it. It is not indiflerent to
me, because it hinders my journey to heaven. A wise traveller will venture
upon things and courses as they serve or hinder the main, though they be
things perhaps that he cannot over- well spare, yet if they trouble him in
his journey, off they go, that he may be more expedite and right in his way.
I wonder at the boldness of many that profess themselves religious, and
yet dare venture upon anything. Undoubtedly, if they did search their
own hearts, they could not but say that such courses do dead and dull
them, and make them forget rehgion; that such company is not safe to
keep. I find myself the worse by it, why should I venture upon anything
that may stop and hinder, or cool and dead me in my way to heaven ?
458
FAITH TRIUMPHANT.
If a man be wise, he will consider of things as they help or hinder him
to that.
As for sins whereof we are convicted, it is the apostle's counsel, Heb.
sii. 1 — he puts it out of all question — * We must cast off all that burden,
that presseth down,' &c. A traveller will not have a burden upon him.
The sin that hangs so fast on we must labour to mortify, to kill our lusts
and corruptions more and more, and never leave till we have cast them
off. These things are undeniable. I spake before of things in themselves
indifferent, and to other men indifferent, if they have a larger measure of
wisdom; but for corruptions and sins, they fight against the soul, they
fasten us to the world, therefore above all things we must cast off them;
as St Peter saith excellently, in 1 Peter ii. 11, 'I beseech you, brethren,
as pilgrims and strangers, abstain from fleshly lusts, which fight against
your souls :' insinuating that pilgrims and strangers should altogether
abstain from lusts, from the cherishing of carnal lusts, for these fight
against the soul, they fight against the comforts of the soul, against the
graces of the soul, and against the eternal well-being of the soul. The
more a man cherisheth base lusts, the more it damps his comfort and
grace, and weakens his assurance of life everlasting. They fight against
all good in the soul ; therefore let us abstain ' from fleshly lusts, that fight
against the soul.' That is clear; all confess that. But the other that I
spake of before, carefulness of things indifterent, if we find them not so to
us, till we get more mastery of ourselves, we must even be careful of
our liberties, and not give ourselves those liberties that others do, if we
find they hinder us in particular. Yet with a secret concealing of it, not
to entangle the consciences of other men, who perhaps may use those
things with less hindrance than we do : a wise Christian will be wary in
that kind. If he find the things of the world to hinder him, he will not
have his heart eaten up with the world, nor eaten out with lawful things.
Being therefore to prepare for a better life, and to do God's business, he
will only take the things of this life as they may make for a better life,
and be a furtherance of him to his home. He winds home by all means,
he useth all advantages to come nearer to God, and whatsoever hinders him
he labours to avoid.
11. Again, he that accounts himself a stranger here, he doth not value
himself hij outward things. Faith teacheth a man, when he is an heir of
heaven, not to value himself by earthly things. He thinks himself a
stranger in his own house, as David did, though he were a king, as I
said. Every Christian is a stranger at home. He values not himself by
his honours, nor dignity, nor by the things that he hath here; nor he
doth not disvalue himself by poverty or disgrace. He knows he is a
stranger ; he is going home ; therefore he values himself by that he hath
at home. Christians are kings and heirs ; they esteem not or disesteem
of themselves by what they have here below; they account them as things
in the way, that God gives them, if they be good, to sweeten their pil-
grimage ; if they be ill, to sharpen their journey. It is necessary that
God should give them these things, good things to sweeten their journey;
and if they loiter in their way to heaven, then that they should have crosses
to drive them homeward.
In all confusions in the world, faith teacheth a man to stand as a man
upon a rock immoveable, because he is a stranger. If anything fall out
in the city or place where a stranger is, he carries his own jewels and
things about him, and so goes away, his goods are not of that place; so
FAITH TRIUMPHANT. 459
in all confusions of the world, a Christian hath good things of another
world. The good things he carries with him are not subject to losses or
crosses, they are not subject to the misusing of the world. When all
things shall be on fire, a Christian hath his treasure laid up in heaven, in
a place where no earthly creature hath power of it. It is not subject to
any ill, and that makes him in all estates contented and patient. Let
heaven and earth go together. A Christian when he hath embraced
better things, a Christian thinks himself a stranger that is going home ;
therefore in all his life he carries himself as a stranger. To go on a little
further.
12. A traveller in his way must of necessity have refresliings by the way,
or else he will fail; therefore sometimes he sings, and sometimes useth
other refreshings. Now, what saith David ? * Thy statutes have been
my song in the house of my pilgrimage,' Ps. cxix. 54; that is, when I
want other comforts, they are my song, my joy, and delight. A traveller
must needs have comforts that may revive him in his fainting; he must
have some pleasant walks for meditation. Let us therefore, when we
grow weary, refresh ourselves in walking, in holy meditation. Take a
turn there, to think of the vanity of all earthly things, and how soon they
come to an end ; and of the excellency and eternity of our glorious condi-
tion and estate when we come home, and then think of the helps and
comforts by the way, and such like. The art of divine meditation is an
art for this end, that since we are all travellers, that we are from home,
and that we are going home, we may walk in wisdom. Let us learn that
art, to feed and strengthen our souls with such meditations as may clear
them by the way, to set some time apart when we grow dull and indis-
posed in religion. Then let us think how to cherish and refresh our souls
with those excellencies, that are indeed above our comprehension; our
hearts cannot conceive of it. It is set out in the word of God to our con-
ceit, but as it is we cannot conceive here what is reserved for us when we
shall come home. Therefore let us do as travellers, often think of home,
and what is at home for us ; and that will make us when we are in the
way, and any comfort would draw us out of our way, to think. Oh, these
are good comforts, but this is not my home. I have better at home than
this, and this will stay me from home. Therefore the cross is necessary
for travellers, that they may know they are not at home, that they may
embitter his comforts. This consideration, that he is not at home, and
that this is not his country, as it will keep a Christian from temptations,
so it will draw him on to constancy in his love and in going on ; for a
traveller sits not down to stay there. He thinks. Here I am, and home I
must go, and I shall not come home by sitting here.
So the oft thinking of home, it will both sweeten our troubles, and like-
wise the comforts that we meet with in this world. It will make us that
we shall not be ensnared with them; because, though they be comfortable
things, yet, alas ! what are these ? These indeed are fit to make a man
forget home, to forget hoaven, as a man that sees goodly things, goodly
houses. These things, saith he, are they that make a man unwilling to
go out of the world (d). But he that is assured of a country, and knows that
he hath a better home than all these earthly things, that are shadows and
vanity, he thinks these are very goodly things ; but what are these to that
that is reserved ? And if I sit down by these, if a traveller sit down by
delights, and gaze upon things by the way, when shall he come home ?
Let us think oft of home ; there be many uses to think and meditate of
4:60 FAITH TRIUMPHANT.
that blessed day ; this among the rest, that it draws us on forward and
forward still, that we shall not sit quiet, but go on still, and not rest till
we come home.
And the nearer we are home, the more busy and the more cheerful we
should be ; as a traveller, when he comes near home he is more cheerful,
when he hath home in his eye ; when he sees the smoke of his country,
he rejoiceth. As these patriarchs, they saw the promises afar off. As
men when they see the tops of steeples and houses, they think, Now we
have them continually in our eye, we see something of home ; and the
nearer they come the more they see, and the nearer they come still the
more they see. So the longer a Christian lives, the nearer and nearer he
comes home. If he understand himself, and have any assurance in any
degree, it makes him more joyful towards his end.
Thus it was with God's people. When they were nearer their end,
then they sung sweetly the swan's song, and then they were enlarged in
their spirits ; as Jacob, when he was dying we see what a will he made,
what legacies to his children. And Joseph, when he was dying, and
Moses the man of God ; the song of Moses, and David, the ' sweet singer
of Israel.' The last words of David, what sweet words they were ! And
St Paul, when he was to go out of the world, * I have fought the good
fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith : henceforth is laid
up for me the crown of righteousness,' &c., 2 Tim. iv. 7. And our
blessed Saviour, toward his end, we see how heavenly he was in his
prayer. And good Simeon, ' Lord, now let thy servant depart in peace,'
&c., Luke ii. 29. When he had grasped Christ once, he was loath to
live any longer. So it should be with Christians as it is with travellers :
the nearer they are home, the more and more comfortable they should be
still.
It is a shame for old men to fear when they come near their end, when
they are near the haven, then to fear. It is as if a man in a storm should
fear the haven ; or a man that travels and sees a city, to be afraid of his
own house ; whereas he should rejoice and think he is nearer his happiness
than other men, as Saint Paul tells the Eomans, ' Your salvation is nearer
now than when you first believed,' xiii. 11. So we should think our
salvation and happiness in heaven is nearer now than when we first believed ;
and therefore the less time we have to travel here with incumbrances in
the way to heaven, the more joyful we should be. The nearer we are to
death, the nearer to our preferment, the nearer to our country and our
home. These are the advised thoughts of a Christian ; and when other
thoughts come into a man, when he is stricken in years, surely they are
not in him as a Christian, but as he is weak and wants faith and assurance
of salvation. Oh let us therefore labour to get assurance of another, a
better country ; for what made these holy men confess themselves strangers
and pilgrims here ? ' They saw the promises afar off, and were persuaded
of them and embraced them ;' and in that measure they were assured of a
better condition, * they carried themselves as strangers and pilgrims here.'
To wind up all in a word, you see here their disposition. I beseech you,
make this text your pattern to be moulded into. You see how these
blessed men long ago lived in faith when their light was less than ours is ;
and they died in faith, and will welcome us when we shall come to heaven.
We shall go to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and the rest of the patriarchs
and holy men. It will be a blessed time when all the blessed men that
have gone before shall welcome us to heaven. If we look to be happy as
FAITH TRIUMPHANT. 461
they are, we must live as they did, and die as they did. Though we
cannot so strongly as they did see that with the eye of faith that no eye
else can see, yet let us desire God to persuade us of these truths more
strongly than the devil of* our own lusts shall persuade us to the contrary ;
let us desire God to set on his truths so strongly that all other things may
not hinder us, that we may embrace them with our best affections of love,
of desire, of contentment ; that we may witness all this by our demeanour
to earthly things ; by our base esteem of them, and carry ourselves as
pilgrims and strangers on earth. If we do thus live in faith and die in
faith, we shall live with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in the kingdom of
heaven eternally.
^ Qu. 'or'?— Ed.
NOTE.
(a) P. 418.— 'Death . . . this king of fears.' Cf. note e, Vol. IV. page 38. I
would supplement this note with a fuller quotation from Aristotle, to whose blank
despair, when he treats of death, Sibbes alludes repeatedly : Eth. Nic. iii. 5, 4,
(po(3s^ui7aTOV b' 6 davarog. it'i^ag yag, -/.a] ohhh 'in tu) nStisuiTi dozii o'or 'ayadlv
ovTs xaxhv iivat.
{b) P. 427. — ' As Peter saith, mop-eyed.' Cf. 2 Peter i. 9. Mop-eyed means
short-sighted, and very well translates Tij(pX6g, = natural state of blindness, and
worse — closing the eyes to the light as follows : /J^uu-^ = contracting the eyelids
as one who cannot see clearly = short-sighted.
(c) P. 428. — The author seems to have had in his mind the well-known lines of
Horace —
' Segnius irritant animos demissa per aurem,
Quam quae sunt oculis subjecta fidelibus.'
(d) P. 459 — ' These things, saith he, are they that make a man unwilling to go
out of the world.' This remark anticipates by more than a century a similar one
ascribed to Dr Samuel Johnson, to Edmund Burke, and to John Foster the essayist,
' These are what make a death-bed terrible.' It seems to be one of those memorable
things that have got inwrought into our language. G.
THE RUIN OF MYSTICAL JERICHO/
By faith the walls of Jericho fell doiai, after they had been compassed about
seven days. — Heb. XI. 30.
This verse suits somewhat to the occasion : f therefore I have made choice
of it at this time. This chapter contains the triumph of faith in the
hearts and souls of those in whom this blessed grace is planted ; so that
the excellency and office of all graces are attributed to it. There is a stir-
ring up of all other graces whatsoever in faith. All the worthies that are
spoken of before, they did that they did, and ' obtained a good report by
faith.' The Spirit of God goes on here, and shews a glorious effect of this
blessed grace, in the falling down of the walls of Jericho. This short verse
is taken out of the story of the conquest of Jericho, mentioned in Josh, vi.,
in the latter end of the chapter, where you have the whole story set down
at large. I need not rehearse it ; and withal you have there a curse set
down, that whosoever should go about again to build the walls of Jericho,
he should lay the foundation in his first-born, and in his youngest son he
should set up the gates. He that would raise up such a cursed building
again, he should do it with the overthrow of his own building, of his own
family ; as the Scripture calls a man's house a building. J He should lay
the foundation in his eldest son, and build the gates at the death of his
youngest son.
And a little to acquaint you with the fulness of the word, before I come to
the story, you have an audacious cursed attempt to build the walls of Jericho
again, in 1 Kings xvi. toward the latter end, ver. 34, in a wicked king's
time, in Ahab's time. There was one so adventurous, one Hiel, that he
would build Jericho. He laid the foundation in Abiram, his first-born,
* ' The Euin of Mystical Jericho ' is another of the Sermons included in ' Evan-
gelical Sacrifices' (4to. 1640). Its separate title-page is as follows : — ' The Rvine
of Mystical lericho. A Sermon preached upon the b^'^ of November, in remembrance
of Our Deliverance from the Papists Powder-Treason. By the late Learned and
Reverend Divine, Rich. Sibbs. Doctor in Divinity, M^ of Katheriue Hall in Cam-
bridge, and sometimes Preacher to the Honourable Society of Grayes-Inne. — losh.
6. 10. And it came to passe when the people heard the sound of the Trumpet, and
the people shouted with a great shout, that the Wall fell downe flat, &c. London,
Printed by T. B. for N. Bourne, at the Royall Exchange, and R. Harford, at the
guilt Bible in Queenes-head Alley in Pater-noster-Row. 1639.' — G.
■ t In margin, ' Novemb, 5.'— G. % p, a son ; from njH; to build. — Ed.
THE RUIN OF MYSTICAL JERICHO. 463
and set up the gates in his youngest son Segub, according to the word of
the Lord spoken by Joshua the son of Nun. You see whence this story
is fetched. * By faith the walls of Jericho fell down, after they had been
compassed about seven days.' They were compassed about seven days,
and the ark in the midst ; and the seventh day they went seven times
about, and then the walls fell down, as you have it in the story. But to
come to the words ; and to hasten to that I specially mean to touch at
this time.
First of all, observe here, that Jericho had mighty walls, as you see in
the story. It had walls, and trusted in these walls ; or else they would have
come out and have made conditions of peace with Israel. But as they had
walls, so they were confident in them ; as you see the spies, in Num.
xiii. 28, they tell what walled cities they had, and that terrified them.
And next you see here, that God overthrows their walls ; and by what
means ? By poor and base means, by trumpets of rams' horns. They had
silver trumpets, but they used not them, but meaner instruments, rams'
horns. Those were the means ; and the time that they used them, seven
days together ; and then that by faith, using these means, they overthrew
the walls of Jericho, they fell down. From hence, by analogy and propor-
tion, we may see,
First of all, that carnal men they build up walls, and put their trust in
them.
The second is, that God confounds these courses.
The third is, that God doth it by weak and silly means, believed by
faith.
The last point is, that faith in the use of these means overcomes all.
* By faith the walls of Jericho fell down, after they had been compassed
about seven days.' And then we shall come to other things that concern
us, and apply it to the time.
Doct. 1. Natural men, since the fall, thetj must have somewhat to trust to.
Since man lost his first prop and confidence, and communion with God,
he turns to the creature. There is always some confidence in some crea-
ture ; and men leave God in what measure they trust that. When Cain
was i)anished his father's house, then he falls to building of cities ; he
must have some contentment. And those that were escaped the flood,
within a hundred years after the flood, they must build a tower of
Babel, that should reach to heaven, to get themselves a name, wanting
better courses. Every one will have some castle and wall of Jericho to
trust to. Riches are the rich man's stronghold, as Solomon saith, Prov.
xi. 16. Ahithophel trusted to a shrewd head and policy, that proved
his ruin afterwards. The Jews had outward sanctity to trust to, oppos-
ing it to the righteousness of Christ; the righteousness of faith, Rom.
X. 6. They would set a-foot a dead righteousness that could not stand ;
and therefore they were shut from the righteousness of God in Christ.
Man will have a holiness, a wisdom, a strength, and power of himself, in
the things below here, as I might shew at large, both in examples and
otherwise. Naturally we find it in ourselves. If we be sick, we trust to
the physician and other means. If we be in danger, we flee to the arm
of flesh, to some mighty man ; we trust in some great friend, if we have
any. If we be in danger of invasion, or such like, we trust our walls and
defences ; and till strong temptations come, we trust in our own strength,
till Satan pick so many holes in it, that we cannot stay there, and that
conscience upbraids us. Always a man hath somewhat to trust to, till he
464 THE EUIN OF MYSTICAL JERICHO.
be broti"ht to desperate conditions ; and rather than he will have nothing
to trust to, he will trust to the broken reed of Egypt ; he will trust to that
that will deceive him and hurt him, as the reed of Egypt did the Jews ;
rather than they would trust God, and the word brought by the prophets,
they would trust Asshur, and Egypt, 2 Kings xviii. 21.
Now the Spirit of God in the Scriptures takes notice of this proneness to
false confidence. ' Trust not in uncertain riches. If riches increase, set
not your hearts on them,' 1 Timothy vi. 17. And man, when he sets his
heart upon false confidence, the issues are more dangerous ; he will come
against God ; he doth not only set up these holds that he hath in rebellion
against God, but he proclaims, as it were, defiance to God, and his word,
and his ordinances, till afterwards God destroy all his false confidence, and
bring him to shame.
In 2 Cor. x. 4 there is a notable place to shew what holds there are in
the heart of man, that oppose against God and his truth in his word ; holds
that Satan keeps in man, and man, joining with Satan the enemy, holds
against God and his truth : ' The weapons of our warfare,' saith he, * are
not carnal, but mighty through God to cast down strongholds.' The holds
are within us, and we are so far from preparing ourselves to grace, and to
entertain grace when it is ofibred, that naturally we set up holds against
God and grace. There must be strong power to overturn all, to lead them
into captivity to the obedience of Christ : ' To cast down the imaginations,
and every high thing, every high thought that exalts itself against the
knowledge of God, and to bring in captivity every thought,' 2 Cor. x. 5.
So there are three mighty things in every natural man.
(1.) This false reasoning and sophistry. There is no man will go to hell
without reason. Take the debauchedest wretch that lives, he is mad
with some reason, and he will be damned with some reason. ' God is
merciful,' ' Christ is come,' and ' others are as bad as I,' and ' I hope in
time to repent ;' this vile reasoning must be turned out of a man before he
can be saved.
(2.) Then there are proud thoughts. What, shall I yield to such a
one as he ? I am better than he ; I understand these things as well as
he. As that proud cardinal in Germany said, ' I confess these things that
Luther finds fault with are naught ; but shall I yield to a base monk ?' (a)
So men think, shall I yield to a minister ? The proud rebellious heart of
man is lift up in proud thoughts against God.
(3.) And then there he forecasts. If I do thus, this danger will come of
it ; I shall provoke such an enemy ; I shall lose such a friend ; I shall
endanger myself. Now, when the truth of God comes, down goes all these
sophistries and high thoughts, and all these forecasts ; they all lie flat when
the Spirit of God comes in the power of the word. But naturally every
man hath these ; he builds up some castle against God ; he builds up the
walls of Jericho, and trusts in them too. * Thy wisdom hath caused thee
to rebel,' saith God to the king of Babylon, Isa. xlvii. 10. 'Let not the
wise man trust in his wisdom,' Jer. ix. 23, insinuating that wise men are
subject to trust in their wisdom, and the rich man in his riches, and the
strong man in his strength ; therefore God commands that they should not
do so. * Thy wisdom hath made thee to rebel.' _
Use. Let us take notice of this, and make this use of trial of it, that if,
by the power of God's Spirit, we can use all outward means and not trust
in them ; that we can trust in God, and not to our strength, then we have
somewhat in us above nature ; for naturally every man, before he be in com-
THE KUIN OF MYSTICAL JERICHO. 405
munion and covenant with God, he hath some earthly false support or
other to trust on ; either within him, some poHcy and wisdom, or without
him, some friends or riches, some bulwark or other ; and this sets him
against God and against the means of salvation, till God come in eflfectual
calling and overturn all. But this doth but make way to other things,
therefore I only touch it.
The second thing is this, that,
Obs. 2. God first or last overturns all vain confidence in the creature.
The walls of Jericho, down they must ; and whatsoever exalts itself
against God, either it shall end in conversion or confusion, because the
time must come that God must have all the glory. ' Was there ever any
man fierce against God, and prospered ?' Job ix. 4. * The rage of man
turns to the glory of God,' saith the psalmist, Ps. Ixxvi. 10. ' There is
neither wisdom nor policy, counsel nor strength, or any earthly thing against
the Lord,' as the wise man saith, Prov. xxi. 30. ' God will confound all ;
he scattered the proud in the imagination of their own hearts,' as the
blessed virgin saith, Luke i. 5L And when they had built Babel, to get
them a name, they found confusion. There is a notable place in Isa. 1.
11 : ' Behold, all ye that kindle a fire, that compass yourselves about with
sparks : walk,' saith God, ' in the light of your fire, and in the sparks
that ye have kindled. This ye shall have at my hand ; ye shall lie down
in sorrow.' Men that will walk in the light of their own fire, that will
have a wisdom of their own, distinct, nay, contrary ofttimes to God's ; —
Well ! go on, walk in the light of your own fire that ye have kindled ; but
take this withal with you, ' You shall have this at my hands,' saith God,
* ye shall lie down in sorrow.' What became of Haman's plots ? What
became of Ahithophel's policy ? They all turned upon their own heads.
Although men build up castles to secure themselves in their earthly defences
and munition, yet God overturns all.
Use. Therefore let us make that use that Jeremiah doth, Jer. ix. 23 :
* Therefore let not the wise man trust in his wisdom, or the strong man in
his strength, or the rich man in his riches.' Let a man joy in none of
these ; but if he will joy, let him joy in this, that he knows the Lord,
that he is in covenant with God. That for the second, briefly.
The third is this, that,
Ohs. 3. God doth this by base and weak means.
He confounds great and mighty enterprizes and mighty persons, and
useth but base and despised means ; as here, the walls of Jericho fell down
with the noise of rams' horns. This I might carry along through all the
stories in the Scripture, from the creation to this present time, to shew
how God doth great things by despised means ; sometimes by no means
at all, sometimes clean contrary to all means. When our Saviour Christ
gave sight to the blind, he put clay upon his eyes, that, one would think,
were fitter to put them out. We see in the story of the Israelites what an
ox-goad did, and what Samson did with the jaw-bone of an ass. We see
by what a trick the Midianites were put to flight by Gideon.* In all the
stories we see, when God would do great matters, he doth it by base means.
When he would confound the pride of Pharaoh, he will do it by frogs and
lice, and such base creatures, that were fittest in God's wisdom to over-
throw the pride of that wretched king. God, as he overturns the pride of
men, so for the most part he doth it by weak and despised means.
Reason. And the reason is clear, that he may have all the glory. Some-
* Cf. (1) John ix. 6, (2) Judges iii. 31, (3) Judges sv. 16, (4) Judges vii. 16.— G.
VOL. VII. G g
466 THE KUIN OF MYSTICAL JERICHO.
times the means he useth have no influence at all to effect the thing, bnt
are only joined with the thing ; as here, what influence could poor trumpets
of rams' horns have to cast down walls ? They could have none ; but only
it was a thing joined before the walls fell down ; they were things that
must be used to try their obedience ; and that they might know that it was
not by chance that they fell down, but by God's power ; and for other
reasons. But if there be any influence from the cause to the effect, it is
supposed it cannot produce the effect of itself, therefore, I say, God doth
this that he may have all the glory ; for that is his end, and it ought to be
our end. We see here, though they had silver trumpets, yet they must
by God's appointment use these base means, trumpets of rams' horns.
Now, they were to use them seven days together, and therefore on a
Sabbath day ; but it was no breach of the day, because God can dispense
with his own law. In case of charity, good works may be done on the
Sabbath, and in case of duty likewise, as the priests kill the sacrifice on
the Sabbath. So here was sufficient warrant for them ; God gave them a
command ; God, that made the law, can dispense with his own law in
things that touch not upon his nature, as his truth and purity, &c., doth.
In things that touch his nature, he should denyhimself if he should dispense.
God cannot lie, because truth is natural to him. God cannot do anything
that is unfit for his nature ; but for things that are out of him, he is Lord
of days ; he is Lord of goods and Hfe ; he hath a right to dispense here,
as we see in the taking away the Egyptian's jewels and the like ; they were
outward things. But for those things that are intrinsecal in God, he can-
not command that which is contrary to his truth and nature. Other things
belong to his sovereignty. But that by the way.
They were to compass the walls seven days. If they had made an end
before the seventh day, the walls had never fallen down. Howsoever, there
was no power in their going about to eff'ect that, yet God would not work
the effect till he was waited on in all the seven days ; the means appointed
by God must be used, and so long as God will have them used, there must
be a depending and waiting upon God all the time.
Quest. To give a little further light to that I touched before, you will ask
why God usetla means and doth not work immediately ? why he did not
cast down these walls by his own will and pleasure ?
Ans. Besides that I said before, God useth second causes, not for defect
of power, but for demonstration of his goodness ; and for the trial of our
obedience, and the like. Therefore, being Lord of hosts, he hath multi-
plicity of ranks of creatures which he useth to effect those things that he
could"^ do himself if it pleased him. Therefore let such questions cease ; it
pleased God so to do.
The last point is this —
f. Ohs. 4. It tms by faith in the use of means that the walls of Jericho fell doivn.
If they had not depended upon God in their going about seven days, the
walls had stood still. It was by faith they did it ; and it was a great faith
that, using such a ridiculous stratagem as this, to go about the walls with
rams' horns, they should think the walls would fall. It might shake their
faith, and likewise expose them to the scorn of those of Jericho within, there-
fore it was a great faith in them. Not that all had faith, for certainly divers
of them were unbelieving persons ; but Joshua their captain, and some
others of them, had faith, and all of them had hope of the best. It was
faith that believed this in this unlikelihood of second causes, for there is
the strength of faith ; when second causes are weak, then faith is strong.
THE KUIN OF MYSTICAL JEEICHO. 467
Abraham's faith was the stronger by reason there was more indisposition
in the second causes, in Sarah's womb to conceive a child ; for her womb
was dead ; in the course of nature she could not conceive. Therefore it is
said by Saint Paul, Rom. iv. 20, ' He being strong in faith, gave glory to
God :' strong faith gives glory to God. So here was a strong faith, because
the means were weak, or none at all ; for these means had nothing in
themselves to work such a glorious effect as this, that the falling of the
walls should follow. It was but a means adjoined. That it should be
done by such a poor thing as this, it was the strength of faith. But was
it the strength of faith in itself ? Could faith do this ?
Oh no ; but that which that faith lays hold on doth, that faith is said to
do. God honours the grace of faith by terming that to be done by it that
he doth himself; for it was the power of God, the goodness of God to
them, and the justice of God against the sins of these people, that over-
turned the walls of Jericho. Faith, it was but an empty hand to lay hold
upon this power. It was the grace, whereby they went out of themselves,
and denied themselves, and gave glory to God, in accomplishing the truth
of his word, and his wisdom, and power, and justice. So God did it. But
it is said to be done by faith, because, as I said, God honours faith thus
much. What strength God and Christ hath, when faith lays hold on them,
faith hath that strength, because it builds upon them. Faith sets a man
upon God and Christ, and upon the truth of God. Hereupon it comes to
be so victorious and conquering a grace as it is, because it carries us to
that that doth all. By faith they did this.
But here were other graces likewise that sprang from faith, that helped
them also. There was a great deal of patience to go about after that silly
fashion with rams' horns seven days together. Here was patience, and
perseverance, and hope. But, as I said before, because faith doth enliven
all other graces, it gives life to all, and stirs up all, therefore that is named.
In the whole chapter the exercise of other graces is attributed to faith,
because they draw strength from that to quicken them all, and to stir them
all to their several offices. Strengthen faith, and strengthen all other
graces whatsoever. Thus you see we have briefly gone over these four
main things.
Now, let us by way of proportion raise them higher, and make use of
them to other things. To give a little touch. The walls of Jericho
represent to us many things.
1. The kingdom of Satan in general, the power of the devil in himself and
in his instruments, who hinders what he can, our coming out of Eg}'pt to
Canaan. He labours to come between us and heaven ; to hinder us all he
can by all means. He hath walls of many kinds ; the strength of tyrants,
the subtilty of heretics. What a world of ado was there to bring Israel
out of Egypt ! God was put to it, as it were, to work so many miracles
to bring that poor despised people out of Egypt, to bring them through the
Red Sea. When they were in the wilderness, what ado was there to bring
them thence ! what opposition ! And then when they came to Jordan,
what miracles were wrought ! The division of the waters by the ark com-
ing through ; and then the first, the frontier town, that was, as it were,
the key to let in all and to stop all, Jericho, the first town for the entrance
into Canaan. There was opposition made when they would have entered
into Canaan. It is no easy thing to come out of Egypt and to enter into
Canaan. It is a mighty work to bring a poor Christian out of the kingdom
of Satan, to bring him out of spiritual Egypt through the wilderness of
468 THE RUIN OF MYSTICAL JEKICHO.
this life ; to bring him through Jordan, those waves of death ; to put him
into heaven, to bring him at length to his own country, to Canaan; because
there is spiritual wickedness stands in the way, both in regard of Satan him-
self, and in regard of the instruments he useth.
But Christ came 'to destroy the works of the devil,' as it is said 1 John
iii. 8 ; and he himself overcame Satan and triumphed over him, as it is
Col. ii. 15. He led him in triumph. He triumphed over Satan himself,
and he will triumph over Satan in all his members. As he overcame Satan
in himself, so he will overcome in us all : ' For stronger is he that is in us
than he that is in the world,' 1 John iv. 4. The Spirit of God, as he is in
us, is stronger than Satan. Not only Christ our glorious captain overcame
him and is now in heaven, but the Spirit of God in us weak creatures, with
faith laying hold upon the word of God, is stronger than he that is in the
world ; he is stronger than the devil and all that are against us.
2. But besides Satan, there is in iis much oj)position that must he subdued
before we come to Canaan. As we saw before in 2 Cor. x. 5, those reason-
ings and sophistries, proud high thoughts, all must be brought down,
because Satan doth join with these ; and if it were not for enemies within
us, Satan could not prevail over us. As it was Delilah that betrayed
Samson, or else the Philistines could not have hurt him, so it is with our
own corruptions. There be these walls within us. These betray us to Satan.
He could not hurt us but that we betray ourselves.
Now, by little and little all these walls shall fall ; not all at once, as the
walls of Jericho did, but they shall moulder in pieces by little and little.
God by degrees will perfect the work of mortification and sanctification till
he make us like his Son Christ, like our husband and head, that we may
be fit for so glorious a head.
3. But to come to the particular occasion. Besides other enemies that
are between us and heaven, Satan is powerful, and efiectual, and strong in
the kingdom, of antichrist. And by all means, that church which is opposite
to Christ hath studied to build up walls, to build up Jericho, and to stop
the church of Christ, to hinder it what they could. Now, what walls have
they built up ? As Pharaoh said, * Let us deal wisely,' Esod. i. 10. How
wittily have they gone to work to overthrow the church of God in all times,
and to set up themselves and their own kingdom. It were a large dis-
course ; it would take up the whole time to shew their policy and the plots
they have had. To give an instance in a few.
How strongly have they built up walls in their own conceit when they
had got the whole world almost into subjection to them ! Before Luther's
time, all the world followed them. They had used the matter so, that
kings themselves had betrayed their very crowns to them, they had be-
trayed their kingdoms, they were rather vassals to them than kings. They
had gotten the temporal sword into their hands as well as the spiritual.
And they had raised up to themselves a bloody inquisition to suppress all
light of truth as soon as ever it sparkled out. All beams of truth were
stopped with their bloody inquisition. They thought they had fenced
themselves safe enough. Then again, they had disabled all the kings and
princes of Christendom. And then because the pope would engage princes
to him to strengthen the walls higher, and to make them stronger, the
young sons of princes, he would make them cardinals. And then he would
arrogate to himself a power absolute to dispense in case of marriage, and
oaths, and such like. And besides, what plots have they had for the
counterfeiting of authors, for falsifying of authors, purging out true authors,
THE RUIN OF MYSTICAIi JERICHO.
469
that they might have none give witness against them ! What tricks have
they to keep people in ignorance, because it is a kingdom of darkness !
The Bible they must have, God hath preserved that ; but they would have
it in ah unknown tongue. And what other devices to abuse the people
withal. How have they fenced themselves, by applying themselves to
humour all sorts of people ! For even as the devil enlargeth his kingdom
by applying himself to the cursed sinful disposition of men, so doth the
pope here upon earth apply himself to the sinful disposition of all sorts of
men. There are no kind of men but they have a bait in popery. For
loose libertines, there are stews. For others that are of a more reserved
and severe disposition, there are monasteries. For superstitious persons,
there they have a world of ridiculous ceremonies, devised to themselves of
their own brain, and never used in the primitive church. For those that
are covetous, they have the riches of the world in their own hands, they
have had at least before more than they now have. For proud, ambitious
persons, they have honours of all sorts. For the people, they have many
carnal liberties for them. And for all the senses of the body, they have
something to delight them, to draw people from the power of religion to
carnal outward worship. So they have studied and whetted their wits all
the ways that might be, to apply themselves to the dispositions of all sorts
of men whatsoever, that so they might strengthen the walls of Jericho. I
might be large ; I give you but a taste.
Well, but what hath God done ? God hath infatuate and overthrown
their walls, and by weak means. Luther, a poor monk, with a trumpet of
rams' horns, with his preaching and with his writing, you see how he shook
the walls of Eome, how much they have lost within the last hundred years.
The last age, the last century of years, they have lost a great part of this
western part of the world, that they had in slavery before ; and how ? By
weak means, as you heard, by the preaching of the gospel, by learning, and
knowledge. It is no wonder that the devil hates knowledge and learning.
As Luther saith well, ' He hates the quills of geese, because they are
instruments to write against them' (6). He hath a kingdom of darkness,
and hell, and the pope is a king of darkness. Now when the light of know-
ledge, the light of the word of God, the ordinance of God, when preaching
came, these poor trumpets did shake the Church of Kome. As we see in
England, the walls of Jericho fell down. By what means ? By a child, in
a manner. King Edward the Sixth, and after by a woman ; * and if the
word of God had gone on in like proportion in other places, popery had
been lower than it is.
So we see then, that as high as they built, and as much as they fortified,
though they be not wholly cast down, yet they are shaken, and that by
weak means. Now the way to effect this, that these walls may fall down
more and more, it must be by the spiritual means that God will use. We
must use the means that God hath appointed us, poor contemptible means,
trumpets of rams' horns, the preaching of the word, the discovery of the
truth ; and by this means we shall more and more gain upon them. And
undoubtedly, let them but give free liberty to the preaching of the word in
other countries, and we shall see them shortly as heretical, as they term it,
even as London and England is. Such a power there is in God's ordi-
nance, the Spirit of God accompanying it, that it carries all before it, it
lays all flat, it beats all strongholds down before it.
What shall we do then ?
* Elizabeth.— G.
470 THE KUIN OF MYSTICAL JEEICHO.
By faith use the means that God hath appointed. The weapons ap-
pointed and sanctified by God, they are strong through God to beat down
all strongholds. And take heed especially that we do not build up the
walls of Jericho again, nor suffer them to build them. You know Joshua
pronounceth a curse upon all that should build the walls of Jericho. He
should lay the first stone in the death of his eldest son, and the last at the
death of his younger ; and so, as we have it in the story of Hiel, it was made
good. I beseech you, therefore, let every one of us in our place labour to
ruinate these walls of Jericho, and take heed how we build them again, or
suffer any to build them again.
Quest. What way have we to prevent their building, that the walls of
Jericho be not built again ? They go about it what they can. We see
what course they take. They have all the art of hell to help them, lies and
equivocations. How many kings and great ones have they at this day to
support and help them, to keep them from falling ! They do all that they
can to keep life now. How shall we prevent this, that they build not up
the walls of this spiritual Jericho again ?
dns. 1. First of all, every one labour to do ivhat they can in their callings.
Magistrates to execute the laws of the kingdom, which, as those say that
are well acquainted with them, are very beneficial to the church of God.
Therefore the magistrates in their place should do what appertains to
them.
2. And so for ministers. The spiritual means whereby such heresies
must be confounded, it is by the breath of the mouth of Christ ; as it is
2 Thes. ii. 8, ' He shall consume him with the breath of his mouth.'
For things are dissolved contrary to that way that they were raised at the
first, and contrary to that way they were maintained. Popery, as it was
raised, so it is maintained, by darkness, and blindness, and ignorance of
the word of God and of divine truth. The way to hinder it, therefore,
from being built again, is to lay open divine truths, and to plant the
ministry. Every one must labour for this, to be faithful in their place
and standing. St Paul saith, 2 Tim. iii. 9, ' They shall prevail no longer,
because their madness shall be manifest.' How doth that follow ? The
very manifestation of error hinders the prevailing of it. That is the way
to hinder poperj'^ from prevailing, to manifest it by preaching, and writing,
and such good means. For the demonstration of errors to be so is a refut-
ing of them ; for who would willingly be deceived ? Therefore the laying
open of the madness of popery, and the folly of their devices, it hinders
their prevailing. No man willingly would have his soul led into error.
Therefore let us lay their errors open in the ministry, and the grounds of
them ; the danger of popery, how pernicious it is. When this is discovered
in the ministry, men, as they love their own souls, will take heed. That
is the way therefore to keep the walls of Jericho from being built, to set an
able ministry everywhere, and to countenance them, and those that are
God's captains to fight his battles against them.
It is a world of hurt that comes to the church by impropriations, espe-
ciallj'- in the north parts, as we hear too much by reports. In great and
mighty parishes to set up poor and weak men, and others wholly to receive
the revenues ; and that is the reason of the swarm of dangerous papists in
those parts. Oh, that these things had been looked to in time ! The
walls of Jericho had not been bnilt again in those parts so much as
they are. This is one main way, the planting of an able ministry ; for
this painted harlot, she cannot endure the breath of the ministry. It
THE EUIN OF MYSTICAL JEKICHO.
471
discovers all her painting ; it lays her naked and open ; she knows it well
enough.*
3. Then again, take heed of the spreading of infections. Men should
be careful this way. They build up their religion thus, that else would
fall down more and more. We are so confident in our cause, that we sufi'er
men to read any popish treatises. They on the other side watch all thmgs,
so that there cannot a spark of our light break into them, what by their
Inquisition, and other courses that they [take. Confidence in our cause
hath made us careless and secure in this kind. Therefore care this way
is one means to help it.
4. And then encouragement of good learning. Popery fell with the begin-
ning of good learning. ' Keligion and good learning came in together. If
I were in some place I should speak more of this ; for, as I said before, it
is a dark religion, not only in regard of the religion itself, but it grows and
thrives with ignorance and barbarism, and not understanding of arts and
tongues. They have helped very much towards the overthrow of these
walls of Jericho. ' Every one should contend for the faith once given,'
as St Jude admonisheth,' ver. 3. Every one, the poorest man, may con-
tend with his prayers. He that saith, ' Thy kingdom come,' what doth he
pray for ? If he pray in feith, he desires that God would pull down all
opposite kingdoms to the kingdom of his Son Christ ; that the kingdom
of Christ may come, more and more in the hearts of his people ; that he
may reign everywhere more freely and largely than he doth. Every one
may help forward the kingdom of Christ ; he may help forward Jerusalem,
and pull down Jericho ; every one that hath a fervent devotion of prayer.
5. And by a hohj life; for when men are vicious and carnal, they occa-
sion God,— for not loving and embracing the truth,— to give themup to
popish errors and such like. Many ways there be to stop the building up
of Jericho.
6. But this is one especial, which this day occasions ; that is, thankful-
ness to God, a thankfd remembrance, how God hath fought for us ; how God
hath by little and little ruinated the walls of this Jericho, and hath helped us
to build the walls of our Jerusalem. A thankful remembrance is a notable
means to hinder the growth of popery; for when we remember their
attempts, how God hath cursed and crossed them, it will make us love our
religion that God hath witnessed to by so many deliverances, and it will
make us hate theirs the more. Therefore it was a worthy work of that
reverend bishop, that set out in a treatise all the deliverances that have
been from popish conspiracies, from the beginning of Queen Ehzabeth s
time to this present. It was a worthy work, beseeming that grave and
reverend person (c). ' Prayer gets blessings, but thankfulness keeps them.
So thankfulness to God for l^at which is past, for so many deliverances,
is a means to preserve God's love and care of us still ; that he will be our
buckler, and castle, and hold, and all defence ; thankfulness will do this.
We are over- prone to look upon civil grievances,— which are to be regarded
and helped in season,— but naturally our nature is subject to complain more
than to he thankful. We are so sensible of ill as to pray for remedy ; but
then let us alway be thankful to God for the good we have had these many
years together, and the good that still, blessed be God, we enjoy. ^ What
cause have we to be thankful, that we are as the ' three young men m the
furnace ! All Europe hath been in combustion, and we have been un-
touched and safe in the midst of the furnace under a quiet government.
* Cf. Memoir, Vol. I. p. 60, seq.—G.
472 THE RUIN OP MYSTICAL JERICHO.
What cause have we to bless God, for continuing the liberties of the gos-
pel, whereby the soul is built up in saving knowledge, and ignorance
banished ! It was a fault in Eehoboam's time, in the beginning of his
reign, it was a fault in these men, they could complain of the government
of Solomon ; and certainly there were many grievances in Solomon's : he
was a great builder, and it was not without some cause they complained.
Yet notwithstanding Solomon's time was a blessed time, and they had
great cause to bless God for the government of Solomon. Now it is very
likely in the story that they forgat it, and only lighted upon some grievance.
I beseech you, let us in these times stir up our hearts to be thankful ; as
upon other occasions, so upon occasion of this day we are to bless God
for this glorious deliverance, which we have spoken of so oft, again and
again ; and therefore we need not be much in the particular setting out
the facinorous* and prodigious fact, that gives the day occasion to be
remembered, as it hath oft done before. Let that remembrance, I say,
fetir us up to thankfulness, to shew our thankfulness, and love to that truth
that God hath defended. ' Hath God been a wilderness to us ?' Jer.
ii. 81, as the prophet complains. Hath religion done us any harm ? Why
should we grow cold and lukewarm ? Why should we decay in our first-
love ? Why should we be so unfruitful, when God hath given us so many
encouragements to be thankful and fruitful, as he hath done ? I beseeeh
you, let us consider with ourselves, if we be not more thankful upon these
occasions for these deliverances, and work our hearts to love religion, and
to hate popery more, it will be just with God that they shall be thorns in
our sides more than they have been, and pricks in our eyes ; that we shall
see what a dangerous faction they are, and what case we are in. For
those that are drunk with the cup of this harlot, it takes away their wits
from them. Those that worship images and stocks, they are stocks them-
selves. Though the danger be great to themselves, yet they labour to make
others worse than themselves. There is no trusting to them. We should
more fear them than foreign enemies. Both reasons of state, and reasons
of religion, and reasons of our own safety, all should be forcible to have a
special regard to prevent the growth of popery.
For ourselves, that hear of the destruction of this Jericho, we have heard
what Jericho was before it was destroyed. For aught we know, God may
destroy Jerusalem, as well as Jericho, and by a worse people than them-
selves, as the prophet saitb, Ezek. xvii. 14, by ' a base people.' It is no
matter, though others be worse than ourselves. God, when he plagues his
people, will do it by worse than themselves, and cast the rod into the fire
when he hath done ; ' Asshur, the rod of my wiath,' Isa. x. 5. Therefore
let us look to ourselves, that we be thankful to God. It will be no plea
that we have been safe thus long, thus manv years ; for these people of
Jericho, God let them alone four hundred years, as it is in Gen. xv. 16,
They were threatened, but ' the sins of the Amorites were not yet full.'
Jericho was a part of that country ; but when their sins were full, then
they were destroyed. God had patience four hundred years to the sins
of the Amorites, to this people ; and at last judgment came upon them
fearfully. So howsoever God hath been forbearing and long-suffering
towards us, yet let us look about us ; oh, destruction may be near. It is
not sufficient to think that God will destroy antichrist, that the walls of
Jericho shall down. He may do that, and yet he may destroy us. There
may be danger towards us too ; and it is no comfort to them neither that
* That is, ' wicked to excess.' — G.
THE RUIN OF MYSTICAL JERICHO.
473
God will punish us ; for that easeth not their overthrow neither, * for if
he do so to the green tree, what will he do to the dry?' Lukexxiii. 31.
If his children be whipped with scorpions, what will he do to rebels ? ' If
the children of God scarcely be saved, where shall the sinner and ungodly
appear ?' 1 Pet. iv. 18. If the children taste of the wrath of God, then
the enemies shall taste of the dregs of his wrath. It is no comfort
for them, for their doom is set down, ' Babylon is fallen,' Rev. xiv. 8. It
will not be so much comfort to us that God will destroy them, as it will be
to look to ourselves in time before a peremptory decree come forth, to
make our peace with God. The king of Sodom and others were delivered
by Abraham, but afterwards we see how fearfully they perished. Pharaoh
was let alone for a time, yet after he w^as destroyed in the sea. Jerusalem
had warning after warning, yet afterwards it was destroyed. So, though
we have had deliverance upon deliverance, yet if we make not more of reli-
gion, and grow more in detestation of that religion, that God would have
us set ourselves against, it will be just with God to punish us, and to lay
us open to them that we have sinfully favoured.
Use. "We see what great matters faith will do in the use of means, though
they be poor, weak, base means. Therefore let us set upon popish reli-
gion, in our places and callings, in a spirit of faith, in the use of means ;
and let us never think we are too weak ; and now they are mighty and
strong. It was said to Luther, when he began to write against the pope,
Oh, poor monk, get thee into thy cell, and say. Lord have mercy upon
thee ! dost thou think to overcome the whole world with thy writing ? (d).
So the walls of Jericho may seem so mighty, the opposite power that we
are to set against, as if we should lose our labour to set against it ; but
whatsoever is opposite to Christ, we have a promise it shall be overthrown.
Let us in a spirit of faith set upon them in the use of means, and God will
make it good, as in former times.
And for all other things that stand between us and heaven, all the walls
of Jericho, all opposition, let us set upon them with a spirit of faith in the
use of means ; for he that hath overcome us, - as I said, will by little and
little overcome in us. These corruptions of ours shall fall before the Spirit
of God by little and httle. And as Haman's wife could tell him, ' If thou
begin to fall before that people, thou shalt certainly fall,' Esther vi. 13 ;
so if the work of grace be begun in us, that corruptions begin to fall,
undoubtedly and certainly they shall fall. They cannot stand before the
Spirit ; for grace is in growing, and corruption is in decaying, continually
in a Christian.
Quest. Why doth not God all at once subdue these walls of Jericho in us,
but by little and little ?
Ans. 1. God icill exercise our faith and patience. We are warriors here
in this world. Our life is a warfare, and he will exercise grace in us ; he
will have us combat with enemies ; these inward enemies among the rest.
2. Again, He will let us see what he hath done for us. If we were not
exercised with enemies, we should not be thankful sufficient for victory over
the devil. When we have been vexed with the devil's temptations, then
blessed be God and Christ, that at last these troubles are ceased. How
much are we beholden to Christ, that hath freed us from the danger of these !
We are only annoyed with the trouble. This will make us thankful when
we have smarted.
3. This keej)S us likewise from soul-devouring sins. Less infirmities in us
* Qu. ' for lis ' ?— Ed.
474 THE EUIN OF MYSTICAL JEEICHO.
keep us from pride and security. God hath many ends ; but to cut off
other things, because the point is large, I only give a taste.
Let this comfort us, that the walls of Jericho, that is to say, whatsoever
opposeth us in our coming out of the state of nature, and our entrance into
the state of heaven, whatsoever opposition is between, shall fall. Therefore
let us strengthen our faith in the use of means.
Quest. How shall we strengthen our faith this way?
Ans. Faith is strengthened hy the knowledge of the attributes of him,, whom
we lay hold upon, whose 2)ower doth all. The more we know him, the more
we shall trust him. Let us labour to know God in covenant to be our Father,
and to know Christ as he is, in his nature and offices, what he is to us :
to know his wisdom, and power, and truth, that there may be a bottom for
faith to build on. The more we grow in spiritual knowledge the more we
shall grow in faith ; and the more we grow in faith, the more we shall
grow in other graces, whereby we overcome all our enemies that set
against us.
Again, Let usjnake use of all former experience to strengthen faith. Hath
God begun the work ? Do the walls of Jericho begin to fall ? ' He that
hath begun a good work will finish it to the day of the Lord,' Philip, i. 6.
Let us take in trust the time to come, by experience of God's truth for the
time past ; for the work of the Spirit is a continued work. The Spirit of
God, in subduing our corruptions, he would not have begun if he had meant
to have left ofl' and interrupted the work. The Spirit sufiers us to fall
sometimes, but it is to teach us to stand better afterward. He turns our
very falls and slips to our good. Let us strengthen faith, therefore, from
former experience, as David did. We have overcome the bear and the
lion ; therefore let us set on the Philistine, 1 Sam. xvii. 37. And as
Joshua set his foot on the necks of the ten kings, and said, ' Thus shall
the Lord thy God destroy all thine enemies,' Joshua x. 24, seq., so hath
the Spirit of God set his foot as it were upon some corruptions. Thus
shall God deal with all corruptions and temptations at length, and never
leave the blessed government of us till he have subdued all. Let us rise
from one experiment* to another, to strengthen faith. God is alike in all
truths. You know in Judges v. 31, saith the holy woman Deborah, ' So
let all thine enemies perish.' The heart of that blessed woman was, as
it were, enlarged prophetically. When one falls, they shall all fall, there
is like I'eason. See how gloriously Hannah in her song enlargeth her faith,
by God's power and goodness, because she had experience in herself. So
experience in ourselves or others will enlarge our faith to look for greater
matters still from our gracious, powerful God. Thus we ought to labour
to strengthen our faith.
And the third thing to help faith in all spiritual oppositions that we
meet with, is daily exercise in using it, to make it brighter continually every
day, hy working with it upon our enemies. And in the estate of grace to
live by it, both for this present life, to depend upon God for all things,
and likewise for necessary grace ; as the disciples when they were enjoined
a hard duty, ' Lord, increase our faith,' say they, Luke xvii. 5, they go
to exercise their faith upon it. If that be increased, all is increased. And
so in our callings, exercise it by depending upon God for strength and
success. Saith Peter to Christ, ' Lord, at thy word I will cast out the net,'
Luke V. 5, though it were very unlikely it should do any good. They had
fished all day, and catched nothing, but yet he would wait, and go on still :
* That is, ' experience.' — G.
THE KUIN OF MYSTICAL JERICHO. 475
* At tliy word I will cast out the net.' He did it, and the net brake with
the multitude of fish. Let us exercise our faith in daily obedience to God,
depend upon him in the use of means.
And learn this, to wait in the exercise of our faith ; as they that went
about the walls of Jericho, they did it seven days. Put case they had done
it six, and no more, the walls had stood still. He that hath ten miles to go,
and goes but nine, he shall never come to his journey's end. When God hath
set down such a time, so long thou shalt wait, and use the means, and
depend upon me by faith, in the use of the means; if we be short-spirited,
and lengthen and strengthen not our faith in the use of the means, we
shall never attain our desire, therefore let us labour to wait. Here is the
difference between Christians and others. There is no man but he would
be happy if so be it wei-e not for this waiting. If a wicked man should see
hell open, would he commit sin if he should see it present ? If he should
see heaven open, and Christ coming with his reward with him, he would
be godly. There is not the vilest wretch in the world but he would be so
if these things were present. But because it is only discovered in the word
of God, and faith must believe, and wait for the reward, and faith must
wait all the time of our life, here is the trial. So that a Christian differs
nothing from a worldly man, but in a spirit of faith and waiting, and con-
tinuance of that faith in the mean time before a man come to enjoy and
receive what he looks for. Faith gives God the glory of all his attributes.
The glory of his truth ; he hath spoken, and therefore he will make it
good. The glory of his wisdom ; that he hath found out such a course for
us to walk in. The glory of his mercy ; that he hath made such promises to
such wretches. So all other attributes faith gives glory to. Therefore
God glorifies faith, and the special act of faith is waiting : ' If I tarry long,
wait thou,' Hab. ii, 3. And we have need of patience. Faith stirs up
patience to help and assist it, as we see here, these waited seven days.
Remember therefore to exercise faith in continual dependence upon God.
Take heed of being short-spirited. Though God defer the rewarding of
the righteous, and the punishment of the wicked, jet hold out still. He that
hath promised will come in time, and make good that that he hath said in
due time. Give God the glory of appointing the fittest time. He is the
best discerner of opportunities : * Our times are in his hand,' Ps. xxxi. 15,
all kind of times ; therefore let us depend upon him for that ; only labour
to have a strong spirit of faith, that we may wait his good leisure.
And to help us, do but consider what if we wait a few years, what is that
to eternity ? I might enlarge the point.
What great matters faith will do both in heaven and earth every way.
We see here faith shakes the very, earth. God he is the Lord of heaven and
earth. The earth is the Lord's. Because these walls were built upon
God's earth, we see here one puff of God blows them all down ; and faith
laying hold upon this casts them down. Though faith doth it not imme-
diately, yet God doth it, because he is laid hold on by faith.
Let us labour therefore to have faith above all other graces. It is the
mother grace. It is the grace that is the spring of all graces. If we would
have patience, and hope, and love, and perseverance, and constancy
together, let us labour to have faith strengthened ; and to feed our faith
the more, let us look to the word of God, make it familiar to us. The
Spirit goes together with the word to strengthen and increase our faith, and
that being strengthened, all is strengthened whatsoever.
Now the way to try whether we have this faith or no, not to speak
476 THE EUIN OF MYSTICAL JERICHO.
largely of the point, but as tlie text leads me, is, if we humbly attend upon
the means that God hath appointed, though they seem base to carnal
reason. As how do we know that these Israelites had faith when they
went about the walls of Jericho ? Because they have humbled themselves
to use the base means that God had appointed, though they were very
unlikely. Naaman, out of the pride of his heart, saith he, what are the
waters of Jordan ? Have not we waters that can do as much ? But if
the servants had not been wiser than the master, he had gone home a leper
as he came, 2 Kings v. 11, seq. So when men hear the word preached,
they think, Cannot we read good books at home ? And for the sacrament,
it is a poor ordinance. What is there but wine and bread, and such like?
Take heed of a proud heart. God will have weaker means to try us
whether we will humble ourselves to his wisdom or no. Where there is
true faith it will be careful to use all good means, or else it is a tempting of
God, and not a trusting of him, when we do not use the means that he hath
sanctified.
And where there is faith, as there will be a carefnl use of all means, so
there will be a care in the use of means, not to depend upon the means, but
to trust in God. There will be a joining of both together. Faith doth not
take away the use of means, nay, he that is most certain of the end should
sti'ive to be most careful of all means used to that end. There ought no man
to be more diligent in using the means, than he that is most certain
of the end ; because he is encouraged to use the means, knowing that
he shall not beat the air, that he shall not lose his labour; so if we
by faith lay hold upon God for the destruction of antichrist, and that God
would subdue our corruptions, and that they shall fall before the Spirit by
little and little ; if by faith we lay hold upon this, that God will perfect the good
work he hath begun in the use of good means : this will stir us up to use
all means with cheerfulness and constancy. There are none that are more
careful of the means than those that are most sure of the issue. Those
that are careless of the means, let them pretend what they will, they are
presumptuous persons, they have no faith ; for that will stir us up to use
the means, and in the use of means to depend upon God. So careful is
faith to use the means, as if without them God would do nothing, and yet
in the means it is so careful to depend upon God, as if the means could
not do anything without God. Thus faith walks between the means and
the great God.
Let us go on constantly in living the life of faith, and using all the blessed
means that God hath sanctified. God hath sanctified the preaching of the
word to beat down all these spiritual walls. Let us go on all our lifetime ; and
at length the last trump shall sound, another trumpet shall sound, and
then not only the walls of Jericho, but the walls of heaven and earth shall
fall down, and then we shall enter into that heavenly Canaan, both body
and soul. In the mean time, let us exercise faith, and to quicken our faith
the more, let us have those blessed times in the eye of our soul, let us see
them as present. It is the nature of faith to apprehend things to come as
present. Let us see heaven and earth on fire, see Christ coming to
judgment. Let us see all the walls down, the graves open, whatsoever
opposelh and stands between us and glory, see all gone. Let us see our-
selves at the right hand of Christ, and triumphing in heaven. For the
Scripture speaks of that that is to come, as if it were past. ' We sit in
heavenly places with Christ,' Eph. ii. 6, and we are saved by faith, and we
are glorified. Thus the spirit of faith speaks of the glorious times to come,
THE KUIN OF MYSTICAL JERICHO. 477
when all enemies shall be trodden under foot. Satan and all enemies
whatsoever shall go to their place. The opposite church shall be no
longer. When the last trump shall blow we shall all stand together at the
right, hand of Christ, and be for ever glorious with him.
NOTES.
(a) P. 464. — ' As that proud cardinal in Germany said, " I confess," ' &c. This
saying is imputed to the Cardinal Cajetan, but whether a good authority we do not
know.
(b) P. 469. — ' As Luther saith well, " He hates the quills of geese," ' &c. One of
his ' Table Talk ' sayings. Cf. note uu, Vol. III. page 533.
(c) P. 471. — ' It was a worthy work, beseeming^ that grave and reverend person.'
The following is no doubt the work referred to by Sibbes : — ' A Thankfull Kemem-
brance of God's Mercy, in an historical collection of the great and mercifuU deliver-
ances of the Church and State of England since the Gospel began here to flourish
from the beginning of Queen Elizabeth.' 1627. 4to, The author was George
Carleton, Bishop of Chichester.
(d) P. 473. — ' It was said to Luther when 'he began'. A taunt often, met with
in the contemporary controversies, and one which, at times, flung a shadow of doubt
over the great Pieformer himself, as witnessed in his ' Table Talk.' G.
THE DEMAND OF A GOOD CONSCIENCE.*
The like figure whe^-eunto even baptism doth also now save tis {not the 2nittin(i
away the filth of the flesh, hut the answer of a good conscience toward God)
by the resurrection of Jesus Christ. — 1 Pet. III. 21.
The dependence of these words upon the former is this. The blessed
apostle had spoken before of those that were before the flood, and of Noah's
savinw in the ark, whereupon he mentions baptism : * The like figure
whereunto is baptism, which also saveth us.' * Christ was yesterday, to-day,
and the same for ever,' Heb. xiii. 8. He was the same unto them before
his incarnation, and the same unto them that lived in his time, and to us
that shall be for ever. All were saved by Christ, and all had several
sacrifices that were types of Christ. As there were two cities of the world
from the beginning of the world figured out in Cain and Abel, the beginners
of both, so God hath carried himself differently to the citizens of both.
He always had a care to save his Noahs in the midst of destruction ; he
bad an ark alway for his Noahs. ' God knoweth how to deliver his,' saith
the apostle Peter, 2 Pet. ii. 9. It is a work that he hath practised a long
time, since the beginning of the world ; and for the other that are not his,
that are of Cain's posterity, God carries himself in a contrary way to them ;
he destroys them. But to come to the words, ' The Hke figure whereunto
even baptism doth now save us,' &c. The saving of Noah in the ark was
a correspondent answerable type to baptism ; for as baptism figures Christ, so
did the saving of Noah in the ark. They are correspondent in many things.
" 1. As all that were without the ark perished, so all that are without
Christ, that are not engrafted into Christ by faith, whereof baptism was a
seal, they perish.
2. And as the same water in the flood preserved Noah in the ark, and
destroyed all the old ivorld, so the same blood and death of Christ, and his
sufierings, it kills all our spiritual enemies. They are all drowned in the
* ' The Demand of a Good Conscience ' forms one of the ' Sermons ' which com-
pose 'Evangelical Sacrifices' (4to, 1640). Its separate title-page is as follows: —
' The Demand of a Good Conscience. In one Sermon, upon 1 Pet. 3. 21. By The
late learned and Reverend Divine, Eich. Sibbs : Doctor in Divinity, Master of
Katherine Hall in Cambridge, and sometimes Preacher to the Honourable Society of
Grayes-Inne. 2 Cor. 1. 12. For our reioycing is this, the testimony of our Con-
science, &c. London, Printed by E. Purslow, for N. Bourne, at the Royall Exchange,
and R. Harford, at the gilt Bible in Queenes head Alley, in Pater-Noster-Row. 1640.
THE DEMAND OF A GOOD CONSCIENCE. 479
Ked Sea of Christ's blood, but [itj preserves bis children. There were three
main waters and deluges, which did all typify out Christ : the flood, that
drowned the old world ; the passing through the Eed Sea ; and the waters
of Jordan. In all these God's people were saved, and the enemies of God's
church destroyed, whereunto Micah the prophet alludes when he saith,
' He shall drown our sins in the bottom of the sea,' chap. vii. 19. He
alludes to Pharaoh and his host drowned in the bottom of the sea. They
sunk as lead ; so all our sins, which are our enemies, if we be in Christ,
they sink as lead.
3. As Noah, when he went to make the ark and to get into it, was mocked
of the wretched world, so all that labour to get into Christ and to be saved,
they are derided.
Yet notwithstanding, Noah was thought a wise man when the flood came ;
so when destruction comes, then they are wise that get into the ark, that
get into Christ before. Many such resemblances there be. I name but a
few, because I go on.
' The like figure whereunto baptism also saveth us,' &c.
Here, first of all, in a word, is a description of the means of salvation,
how we are saved : ' baptism saveth us.'
Then there is a prevention of an objection, ' not the putting away of the
filth of the flesh,' the outward part of baptism.
Then he sets down how baptism saves us, but ' the answer of a good
conscience.'
And then the ground of it, ' by the resurrection of Jesus Christ.'
The former I pass over, that I may come to that which I specially
intend. I come, therefore, to the prevention* of the objection, which I will
not speak much of, but somewhat, because it is a useful point. When he
said that baptism saves us, he saith, not that baptism which is a putting
away ' the filth of the flesh ; ' insinuating this, that baptism hath two parts.
There is a double baptism : the outward, which is the washing of the body;
the inward, which is the washing of the soul; the outward doth not save
without the inward. Therefore he prevents them, lest they should think
that all are saved by Christ that are baptized, that have their bodies washed
outwardly with water. The apostle knew this, that people are naturally
prone to give too much to outward things. The devil in people is in
extremes ; he labours to bring people to extremes, to make the sacraments
idols or idle, to make the outward sacrament a mere idol, to give all to
that, or to make them idle signs. The devil hath what he would in both.
The apostle knew the disease of the times, especially in his time, they
attributed too much to outward things. St Paul, writing to the Galatians,
he is fain twice to repeat it, ' Neither circumcision availeth anything, or
uncircumcision, but a new creature,' Gal. v. 6. You stand too much on
outward things. That that God requires especially is the ' new creature.'
So in the Old Testament, when God prescribed both outward and
inward worship, they attributed too much to the outward, and let the
inward alone. As in Ps. 1. 16, God complains how they served him;
therefore, saith he, ' What hast thou to do to take my covenant into thy
mouth, and hatest to be reformed?' And so in Isa. i. 13, and Isa.
Ixvi. 3, we see God's peremptory dealing with them : ' I will none of your
new moons, I abhor your offerings.' And in Isa. Ixvi. 3, * It was as the
cutting off of a dog's neck, the offering of sacrifice ; ' and yet they were
sacrifices appointed by God himself. What was the reason of this ? They
* That is, ' anticipation.' — G.
480 THE DEMAND OF A GOOD CONSCIENCE.
played the hypocrites with God, and gave him only the shell ; they brought
him outward performances, they attributed too much to that, and left the
spiritual part that God most esteems. So our Saviour Christ to the
Pharisees, we see how he takes them up : ' Say not with yourselves, We
have Abraham to our father,' Mat. iii. 9. They boasted too much of
their outward privileges. You see through the current of the Scriptures,
those especially that belong not to God, they are apt to attribute too much
to outward things. It were well if they would join the inward too, which
they neglect. There are two parts of God's service, outward and inward,
that is harsh to flesh and blood. As in baptism there are two parts, out-
ward and inward washing ; and in hearing the word, is the outward man
and inward soul, when it bows to hear what God saith ; so in the Lord's
Supper, there is outward receiving of bread and wine, and inward making
of a covenant with God. Now people give too much to the outward, and
think that God is beholding to them for it ; but now for the inward, be-
cause they are conscious of their lust, they care not for that.
But more particularly, the reason is in corrupt nature.
First, Because the outward part is easy and glorious to the eye of the
world. Every one can see the sacrament administered, every one can see
when one comes and attends, and hears the word of God. They are easy
and glorious in the eye of the world.
Second, And then again, people rest in them, because somewhat is done
by it to daub conscience, that would clamour if they should do nothing, if
they were direct atheists. Therefore, say they, we will hear the word, and
perform outward things, and being loath to search into the bottom of their
conscience, rest in outward things, and satisfy conscience by it. These
and the like reasons there are.
Use. Let us take notice of it, and take heed of the corruption of nature in
it ; let us know that God regards not the outward without the inward, nay,
he abhors it. He abhors his own worship that he hath appointed himself,
if the inward be not there, much more devices and ceremonies of men's
own devising. Popery is but an outside of religion. They labour to put
off God with the work done. They have an opinion fit to corrupt nature ;
that is, that the sacrament administered confers grace, without any dispos-
ing of the party. One of the chief of them, a great scholar, he will have
the water itself to be elevated above its own nature to confer grace, as if
grace had any communion with a dead element {a). And thus they speak,
to make people doat too much upon outward things. I will not stand to
confute this opinion. This very text sheweth that the outward part of
baptism, without the inward, is nothing ; not the washing of the body, but
* the answer of a good conscience,' saith St Peter.
Let us labour, therefore, in all our services of God, to bring especially
the spiritual part. The prophet Hosea finds fault with Ephraim : ' They
loved to tread out the corn, but not to wear the yoke,' Hosea x. 11. Now
the ox that wears no yoke, it is no trouble to tread out the corn ; they fed
upon the corn as they trod it. ' Thou shalt not muzzle the mouth of the
ox that treadeth out the corn,' Deut. xxv. 4. So Christians are like
Ephraim. They are content to take the easy part of religion, but to take
the yoke, that which is hard, that they love not. Now we must labour to
bear the yoke of rehgion. What the heart doth is done in religion ; what
the heart doth not, is not done ; and there is a kind of divinity, a divine
power in all the parts of God's worship that is requisite besides the bring-
ing of the outward man. As in hearing there is required a divine power to
THE DEMAND OF A GOOD CONSCIENCE. 481
make a man hear as be ought to do, to bow the neck of the inward man of
the soul. And so to receive the sacrament, more is required than the
outward man. There is a form and power in all the parts of religion.
Let us not rest in the form, but labour for the power. There is a power
in hearing of the word to transform us into the obedience of it, and a power
in the sacrament to renew our covenants with God for a new life, and to
cast ourselves altogether upon God's mercy in Jesus Christ — besides the
outward elements — to have further communion wdth Christ.
We see what kind of persons those were in 2 Tim. iii. 5, that practised
* a form of religion, without the power.' He names a catalogue of sins
there : ' they were lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God.' Yet these
people will have a form of religion notwithstanding, but they deny the
power of it. But I hasten to that that I will more dwell on.
Use 2. The ministers likewise are to learn their duty hence, to observe the
dispositions of people, and what bars they lay to their own salvation. If we
see them superstitious, that they swell in outward performances, and so are
deluded by Satan in an ill state, and feed themselves with husks, then we
are to take away such objections as much as we can, as St Peter here,
when he had said that baptism answers to the flood. Both shew the
deliverance of God's people by the blood of Christ. Ay, saith he, not the
outward baptism, the washing of the body, but ' the answer of a good
conscience.'
So Christ takes away a secret objection. Say not with yourselves, ' We
have Abraham to our father,' Mat. iii 9. And to feed people in their ill
humours, this is not the way, but to labour to make them spiritual, for God
is a Spirit, and he loves that part of his worship that is spiritual and in-
ward. We shall have no man damned in the church if there were not an
inward spiritual part of God's worship, for the worst men of all will be
busiest in outward performances, and glory most in it of any other. It
is a delusion that brings thousands to hell ; and that made me a little
dwell upon it. But I go on. * Not the washing away the filth of the
body,'
' But the answer of a good conscience.'
Upon the preventing of an objection and removing their false confidence,
he positively sets down what that is that doth save in baptism. Saith he,
it is ' the answer of a good conscience.' The scope of the words should
have moved the holy apostle to have said thus, ' not the putting ofl' the
filth of the body, but the putting off the filth of the soul.' But instead of
that he sets down the act of the soul, which is an ' answer of a good con-
science to God,' by the resurrection of Jesus Christ.
Where, first of all, you must know this for a ground. Indeed, it is a
hard place of Scripture. I will only take that that I think fittest, and
raise what observations I think fit for you, that out of that you must know
for a ground that —
There is a covenant of grace.
Since God and man" brake in the creation, there is a covenant which we
call a * covenant of grace.' God hath stooped so low, he hath condescended
to enter into terms of covenant with us. Now, the foundation of this
covenant is, that God will be our God, and give us grace and glory, and
all good in Christ, the mediator of the new covenant. Christ is the founda-
tion of the covenant, the mediator of the covenant, a friend to both : to
God as God, to man as man, God and man in himself and by office ; such
is his office, as to procure love and agreement between God and man. He
VOL. VII. H h
482 THE DEMAND OF A GOOD CONSCIENCE.
being the foundation of the covenant, there must be agreement in him.
Now Christ is the foundation of the covenant, by satisfying God's justice,
else God and we could never have come to good terms, nor conscience
could ever have been satisfied ; for God must be satisfied before conscience
be satisfied. Conscience else would think God is angry, and he hath not
received full satisfaction ; and conscience will never be satisfied but with
that that God is satisfied with. God is satisfied with the death of the
mediator ; so conscience being sprinkled with the blood of Christ, applying
the death of Christ, conscience is satisfied too. Now, what doth shew that
the death of the Mediator is a sufiicient sacrifice and satisfaction ? The
resurrection of Christ ; for Christ our surety should have lain in the grave
to this day, if our sins had not been fully satisfied for.
Christ is the foundation of the covenant of grace, by his humiliation and
by his exaltation, whereof the resurrection was the first degree. Now, in
this as in other covenants, there is the party promising, making the cove-
nant, and the parties that answer in the covenant. God promises life
everlasting, forgiveness of sins, through the death of Christ, the mediator.
We answer by faith, that we rely upon God's mercy in Christ ; this is the
answer of conscience. Now, this sound answer of conscience, it doth save
us, because it doth lay hold on Christ that doth save us. Christ properly
saveth us, by his death and passion. An argument of the sufficiency of
his salvation was his resurrection. He is now in heaven triumphing; but
because there is somewhat in us that must lay hold of this salvation, it is
attributed to that that is the instrument of salvation, that is, to the answer
of a good conscience. Now, this answer of a good conscience doth afford
us this observation, that
There must he something in us hefors we can m.ake use of ichat good is in
God or Christ.
In a covenant, both parties must agree. There must be somewhat
wrought in us that must answer, or else we cannot claim any good by the
promises in Christ, or by any good that Christ hath wrought : that is the
answer of a good conscience. Or else Christ should save all, if there were
not the answer of a good conscience required, that only God's elect chil-
dren have. But to shew the reasons of this, that there must on our part
be this answer.
Reason 1. The reason is partly from the nature of the covenant. There
must be consent on both sides, or else the covenant cannot hold; there are
indentures drawn up between God and us. God promiseth all good, if we
believe and rest on Christ; we again rest upon Christ, and so have interest
in all that is good. There is a mutual engagement then in the covenant.
God engageth himself to us, and we engage ourselves to God in Christ ;
and where this mutual engagement is, there the covenant is perfect ; as
here, there is ' the answer of a good conscience.' That is the first reason,
then, from the nature of the covenant, there must be this answer.
Reason 2. The second reason, that there must be somewhat in us, is
because u-hen two agree, there must he a like disposition. Now, there must
be a sanctifying oi" our nature, from whence this blessed answer comes,
before that God and we can agree. There must be a correspondency of
disposition. Of necessity this must be, for we enter into terms of friend-
ship with God in the covenant of grace. Now, friends must have the
same mind ; there must be an answering. Now, this answer is especially
faith, when we believe, and from faith, sanctified obedience. That is
called the restipulation or engagement of a good conscience to God.
THE DEMAND OF A GOOD CONSCIEXt'E. 483
When the promise is made, we engage ourselves to believe, and to live as
Christians.
Use. Now from this, that there must be an answer in us, an engagement
on our part, I beseech you, let us in general therefore know that we must
search our own hearts for the evidence of ojir good estate in reli;/ion. Let us
not so much search what Christ hath done, but search our own hearts how
we have engaged ourselves to God in Christ, that we believe and witness
our believing, that we lead a life answerable to our faith, renounce all but
Christ. This mutual engagement is in the form in baptism, that was used
by the apostles and by the ancient church; for we know that in the
ancient church that they that were baptized, they were questioned. Do you
believe ? I do believe. Do you renounce the flesh, and the world, and
devil ? I do renounce them. These two questions were made. Now, when
they answered this question from a good conscience, truly, faithfully, and
sincerely, then they had right in all the good things by Christ. Some-
thing alway therefore in the church was required on our part. Not that
we answer by our own strength, for it is the covenant of rf race. Why is it
a covenant of grace ? Not only because the things promised are promised
of grace, but because our part is of grace likewise. We believe of grace,
and live holily of grace ; every good thought is from grace ; it is by grace
that we are that we are. All is of grace in the new covenant, merely of
grace. God requires not any answering by our strength, for then he
should require light of darkness and life of death. There is nothing good
in us. He requires obedience, that he may work it when he requires it.
For his commands in the covenant of grace, they are operative and work-
ing. When he commands us to believe and obey, he gives us grace to
believe and obey. It is ourselves that answer, but not from ourselves, but
from grace. Yet notwithstanding let us make this use of it, let us
search ourselves, though it be not from ourselves, that we answer God's
promise by faith and his command by obedience ; yet we must have this
obedience, though from him, before we can challenge anything at God's
hands. It is arrogant presumption to hope for heaven and salvation
before we have grace to answer all God's promises and commands, by a
good conscience.
To come more particularly to the words, some will have it, * the ques-
tioning,' 'the demand' of a good conscience, but that follows the other;
for when we answer truly the interrogatories in baptism, when we believe
and renounce, then we may from a good conscience demand of God all the
good in Christ. We may call upon him, and pray unto him. Hath not
Christ died, and made peace between thee and us ? And may we not
triumph against all enemies when there is the answer of good conscience ?
If Satan lay anything to our charge, Christ died, and rose, and sits at the
right hand of God : ' Who shall lay anything to the charge of God's
people ? ' Rom. viii. 33. We may, with a heart sprinkled with the blood
of Christ now ascended into heaven, answer all objections, and triumph
against all enemies. We may go boldly to God, and demand the perform-
ance of his promises.
Hence comes all the spirit of boldness in prayer from the answer of a
good conscience, for that draws all other after it. Now, to come more
particularly to the words, ' the answer of a good conscience.' It would
take up all the time to speak of conscience in general, and it were not to
much purpose. I will take it as it serves my purpose at this time. A
good conscience, in this place, is a conscience peaceable and gracious.
484 THE DEMAND OF A GOOD CONSCIENCE.
Peace and purity make up a good conscience. To make this clearer,
there be three degrees of a good conscience, though the last be here meant
especially. There is, first, a good conscience that is troubled, a troubled
good conscience ; and then a pacified good conscience, and then a gracious
good conscience.
1. A troubled good conscience is when the Spirit by conviction opens to
us what we are in ourselves. He opens our sins, and the danger and
foulness of our sins, whereupon our conscience is terrified and afl'righted.
Therefore this good conscience, whereby we are convinced of our estate by
nature, in itself it is a good conscience, and tends to good; for it tends to
drive us to Christ. There is a good conscience therefore that hath terror
with it.
2. The second degree of a good conscience is that that comes from the
other; when we are convinced of sin, and of the misery that comes by sin,
then that good conscience speaks peace to us. When God shines upon the
conscience by his Spirit, from whence there is peace, that is a peaceable
good conscience, for God takes this course. After he hath terrified con-
science by his Spirit and word, then he ofiers in the gospel; and not only
ofiers, but commands, us to believe. He off'ers all good in Christ, and
commands us ; and not only so, but invites us : ' Come unto me, all ye that
are weary,' &c.. Mat. xi. 28. Nay, he beseecheth us : ' We beseech you
to be reconciled,' 2 Cor. v. 20. He takes all courses. Now, his Spirit
going with these entreaties, he persuades the soul that he is our gracious
Father in Christ Jesus. Christ hath sufiered such great things ; and he
is God and man, he is willing and able to save us. Considering he is
anointed of God for this purpose, hereupon conscience is satisfied, and
doth willingly yield to these gracious promises. It yields to this com-
mand of believing, to these sweet invitings. This is a peaceable good
conscience.
3. Hereupon comes, in the third place, a gracious good conscience, which
is a conscience, after we have believed, that resolves to please God in all
things; as the apostle saith, Heb. xiii. 18, ' AVe have a good conscience,
studying to please God in all things.' We have a good conscience toward
God and toward men. When the conscience is appeased and quieted,
then it is fit to serve God, as an instrument that is in tune. An instru-
ment out of tune yields nothing but harsh music; so when the soul and
conscience is distempered, and not set at peace, it is not gracious. So
now you see the order : there is a troubled good conscience, and a peace-
able good conscience, and then a gracious heart ; for while conscience is
not at peace by the blood and resurrection of Jesus Christ, by considering
him, and by application of him, there is no grace nor service of God with
that heart ; but the heart shuns God, it hates God, and murmurs against
God. Men think, why should they do good deeds when they believe not ?
When they cast not themselves upon Christ, and when conscience is not
sprinkled with the blood of Christ, they are able to do nothing out of the
love of God; and * whatsoever is not of faith and love, it is sin,' Rom.
siv. 23. The heart cannot but be afraid of God, and wish there were no
God, and murmur and repine till it be pacified. That is the reason why
the apostles, in the latter part of their epistles, they press conscience of
good duties when they had taught Christians before and stablished them
in Christ, because all duties issue from faith; if they come not thence,
they are nothing. If there be first faith in Christ, then there will be a
good conscience in our lives and conversations.
THE DEMAND OF A GOOD CONSCIENCE. 485
And from the gracious conscience comes the increase of a peaceable
conscience. There must be peace before we can graciously renew our
covenants to please God ; but when we have both these, faith in Christ
and a resolution to please God in all things, there comes an increase of
peace; for then there is an argument to satisfy conscience, when first of
all conscience goes to Christ, to the foundation. I have answered God's
command ; I have believed, and cast myself upon Christ; I have answered
God's promise. He hath promised, if I do so, he will give me Christ with
all his benefits ; I have yielded the obedience of faith. Hereupon comes
some comforts ; here is the foundation of this obedience. But then when
conscience likewise from this resolves to please God in all things, in the
duties to God and man, hereupon comes another increase of peace, when
I look to the life of grace in my own heart. For a working, careful
Christian hath a double ground of comfort : one, in the command to
believe, and in the promise, whether he hath evidences of grace or no ;
but when he hath power by the Spirit to lead a godly life, and to keep a
good conscience in all things, then he hath comfort from the evidence of
grace in his own heart, from whence an increase of peace comes. You
see what a good conscience is here in this place : ' the answer of a good
conscience.' I will not speak largely of it. To come a little further to
the point.
Quest. How know we that a man hath a good conscience, a peaceable
good conscience, when it is troubled ? For here is the difficulty, a con-
science is never so peaceable and gracious but there is a principle of
rebeUion in us, the flesh, that casts in doubtings, and stirs up objections,
as indeed our flesh is full of objections against God's divine truth. There
be seeds of infidelity to every promise, and of rebellion to every command
in the word. How shall a man know that he hath a peaceable good con-
science in the midst of this rebellion ?
Ans. 1. Let him look if the conscience ansirer God in the midst of opposi-
tion and rebellion. My flesh and blood saith thus. My sins are great, and
Satan lays it hard to my charge ; yet notwithstanding, because God hath
promised and commanded, I cast myself upon God. Let us ask our own
hearts and consciences what they say to God, what is the answer to God.
We see what Job saith: ' Though he kill me, yet I will trust in him,' Job
xiii. 15 ; flesh and blood would have shewed its part in Job, as if God had
neither respected nor loved him ; yet when Job recovered himself, ' Though
he kill me, I will trust in him.' So a man may know, though conscience
be somewhat troubled ; yet it is a gracious peaceable conscience if peace
get the upper hand, and grace subdue corruption, when the conscience,
so far as it is enlarged by God's Spirit, can check itself. ' Why art tliou
disquieted, 0 my soul?' Ps. xlii. 5. Why art thou troubled? Trust in
God. Trust in God reconciled now in Christ. When conscience can lay a
charge upon itself, and check itself thus, it is a sign that conscience hath
made this gracious answer.
2. Again, one may know, though conscience be troubled somewhat,
vet it is°a gracious peaceable conscience ichen it alwai/s allows of the truth
'of God in the inward man. Whatsoever the flesh say, the word is good,
the commandment is good, the promise is good ; as St Paul saith, ' I
allow the law of God in my inward man,' Rom. vii. 22. By this a man
may know, though his peace be somewhat troubled, that yet, notwith-
standing, there is the answer of a good conscience.
3. Again, when a man can break out of trouble, and such an estate as the
486 THE DEMAND OF A GOOD CONSCIENCE.
devil weakens our faitli by; for he useth the troubles of the church, and
our own troubles, to shake our faith, as if God did not regard us : now
when conscience can rise out of this, as in Ps. Ixxiii. 1, ' Yet God is good
to Israel; yet, my soul, keep silence to the Lord.' Though things seem
to go contrary to a man, as if God w^ere not reconciled, as if he had not
part in Christ, ' yet, my soul, keep silence, and God is good to Israel.'
This conflict shews that there is a gracious part in the soul, and that
conscience is a gracious conscience. It is said here, it is ' the answer of a
good conscience towards God.'
For conscience, indeed, hath reference to God, and that will answer
another question ; for conscience, as it performs holy duties, as it is a
gracious conscience, it looks to God.
Quest. Whether may a man knoiv, or how shall he knoiv, that he doth
things of conscience ? whether he be in the state of grace, and doth things
graciously ?
Ans. He may; for why is conscience set in man but.to tell him what he
doth, with what mind he doth it, in what state he is ? This is a power of
the soul which conscience shews. A man may know what estate he is in,
and whether he perform things graciously or no.
Quest. Now how shall a man know whether he doth things of conscience
or no?
(1.) First, Whatsoever the answer of conscience is, it is towards God. If a
man do things from reasons of religion, if a man be charitable to his
neighbour, if he be just and good, if it be from reasons of religion, because
God commands him, this is a good conscience. A good conscience
respects God and his command. What we do for company or for custom
is not from a good conscience. A good conscience doth things from God,
with reasons from God, because he commands it. It is God's deputy in
our hearts.
(2.) Again, what we do from a good conscience we diO from the inward
man, from an inward principle, from the inward judgment, because we
think it is so, and from an inward aflection. When we have not a right
judgment of what we do, and do it not out of love, and from the inward
man, we do it not out of a good conscience. What is done out of con-
science is done from the inner man. Therefore in all our performances let
us examine ourselves, not what we do, but upon what ground we do it, in
conscience to God, to obey him in all things. I cannot dwell upon these
things.
The answer of a good conscience, that saves us, together with baptism;
when there is the answer of a good conscience, then baptism seals salvation.
To come more near to the answer of a good conscience in baptism.
Ohj. You wiJl object. If the answer of a good conscience in baptism do
all, and not the outward washing of the body, why are children baptized
then; they cannot make the answer of a good conscience?
Ans. I answer. The place must be understood of those of years of dis-
cretion. For infants that die in their infancy we have a double ground of
comfort concerning them. First, they are within the covenant. Have they
not received the seal of the covenant, which is baptism ? And however
they actually answer not the covenant of grace by actual believing, yet they
have the seed of believing, the Spirit of God in them, and God doth com-
prehend them by his mercy, being not able to comprehend him. Nay,
we that are at years of discretion are saved by God's comprehending and
embracing us. We are comprehended of him, as the child is of the
THE DEMAND OF A GOOD CONSCIENCE. 487
nurse or of tlie mother. The child holds the nurse, and the nurse the
child. The child is more safe from falling hy the nurse and the mother's
holding of it, than by its holding of them. Those that are at years must
clasp and grasp about Christ, but Christ holds and comprehends them ;
much more doth God comprehend those that are children, that are not able
to comprehend him. For those that hve to years of discretion, their bap-
tism is an engagement and obligation to them to believe, because they
have undertaken, by those that answered for them, to believe when they
come to years; and if, when they come to years, they answer not the
covenant of grace and the answer of a good conscience, if they do not be-
lieve, and renounce Satan, all is frustrate. Their baptism doth them no
good, if they make not good their covenanS by believing and renouncing.
It is spoken, therefore, of those that are of years of discretion. We leave
infants to the mercy of God. Those, therefore, that are at years of dis-
cretion must have grace to answer the covenant of grace by believing and
renouncing. To come, therefore, to ourselves.
We that will answer to the covenant made in baptism must perform it,
especially that that we then covenanted. What was that? We answered
that we would believe. Dost thou believe? I believe every article of the
faith. And do you renounce the devil and all his works ? I do. There-
fore, unless now we believe in Christ, and renounce the devil, we renounce
our baptism. It doth us no good. There are divers kinds of people that
overthrow their own baptism.
Those that live in sins against conscience, they do renounce their baptism
in some sort, those that feed their corruptions; for in baptism we are
consecrated in soul and body to God, we are given up to him, ' we are not
our own,' 1 Cor. vi. 20; his name is called on us; we are called Christians.
Therefore our eyes are not our own, our hands are not our own, our
thoughts and affections are not our own. There must be a renouncing and
a denial of all sin, as far as it is contrary to Christ's spirit. Those, there-
fore, that labour to feed their corruptions, what do they else so far but
renounce their baptism, and under the livery of Christ serve the enemy of
Christ, the devil, that they should renounce ? Those that feed their eyes
with seeing of vanity, and their ears with filthy discourse ; those that suffer
their feet to carry them to places where they infect their souls ; those that,
instead of renouncing their corruptions, feed them, and their hearts tell
them they cherish those corruptions they should renounce by baptism : what
shall we think of these ? And yet they think to be saved by Christ ; * God
is merciful,' and ' Christ died,' when they live in a continual renouncing of
baptism.
For a use therefore of exhortation, if so be that this be the effectual
baptism, the chief thing that we ought to stand on, this answer of a good
conscience, then I beseech you let us all labour for this echo, for this
answer: when God saith, 'Seek ye my face,' to answer, 'Thy face. Lord,
will I seek,' Ps. xxvii. 8 ; when he saith, 'I will be your God,' to answer,
* We will be thy people.' When he saith in the ministry, ' Beheve,' to
answer, 'Lord, I believe, help my unbelief,' Mark ix. 24. Let us labour
to echo : this holy echo is the answer in the covenant of grace.
This answer of our faith is set down in Scripture alway when it speaks
of the estate of those that are in the covenant of grace. It is mentioned
on our part that we take God for our God, and Christ for our Christ :
' My beloved is mine, and I am my beloved's,' Cant. ii. 16, and vi. 3.
There is a mutual owning of both sides. Therefore, if we would answer
488 THE DEMAND OF A GOOD CONSCIENCE.
the covenant of grace, let us work our hearts to answer. When we hear
in the ministry, and in the covenant of grace, answer, Lord, I desire to
believe this; and when there is anything commanded, let our hearts answer,
and desire God to bow our inward man to obedience, that we may be
pliable. Let us labour to have that free spirit that holy David prays for,
Ps. li. 12. That was stopped by reason of his sin ; for when we renew
sins against conscience, we stop the mouth of our prayers, that we cannot
go to God; we stop the mouth of conscience, that we cannot go boldly to
God; therefore he had then lost that freedom of spirit. Let us labour to
be pliable to the Spirit, ready to answer God in all that we are exhorted
to, and to yield the obedience of faith to all the promises. That is the
state of those that are in the covenant of grace; there is the answer of a
good conscience. Therefore let us resolve to take this course, if we would
attain the answer of a good conscience.
First of all, labour that our consciences may be convinced of the ill that is
in lis, that we may have a good troubled conscience : first, that we may
know thoroughly what our estate by nature is ; and then labour, in the
second place, to have peace, and then raise and renew our purpose to serve
God in all things ; and to try the truth of this, let us put interrogatories
to ourselves ; let us ask ourselves. Do I believe ? do I not daub with my
heart? do I obey? do I willingly cast myself into the mould of God's
word, find willingly obey all that I hear? do I not deceive myself? Let
us propound these interrogatories: * God is greater than our conscience,'
1 John iii. 20. If we answer God with reservations, I will answer God in
this, and not in this, — I will yield to religion as far as it may stand with my
own lusts and advantage ; — this is not the answer of a good conscience.
What is done to Gocf must be done all; what is done zealously and reli-
giously, hath respect to all God's commandments and promises, to one
thing as well as another. If our hearts tell us there are reservations from
false grounds, here is not ' the answer of a good conscience.' Therefore
let us search ourselves, and propound questions to ourselves, whether we
believe and obey or no, and from what ground we do it.
And let us make use of our baptism upon all occasions, as thus,
1. Satan hath two iraijs of tempting. One is, he tempts to sin, and tlien
he t.emp)tsfor sin, to accuse our consciences to make a breach between God
and us, that we dare not look upon God. When he tempts us, or our
corruptions move us, or the world by allurements would draw us to any
sin, let us think of our baptism, and the answer we have made there, and
make use of it. Is this agreeable to the promise I made ? Surely I have
renounced this. Shall I overthrow my own promise ? I make conscience
to make good my promise to men, and shall I break with God ? I have pro-
mised to God to renounce the flesh, the world, and the devil; to renounce
all these corruptions. Let us have these thoughts when we are solicited
to sin, when proud nature would have us set up the banner of pride. I
have renounced these proud alTections ; I shall overthrow my baptism if I
yield. And so for the enlarging of our estates, or for getting up to honour
to please men's humours, to break the peace of my conscience. These
things we have renounced, the world and the vanities of it in our baptism.
The life of many is nothing but a breach of their vow and covenant in
baptism. How will they look at the hour of death, and the day of judg-
ment, that God should keep his promise with them to give them life ever-
lasting, when they never had grace to keep touch"' with him, notwithstand-
* Qu. ' troth ' ?— Ed.
THE DEMAND OF A GOOD CONSCIENCE. 489
ing their engagements in baptism and their so often repeating it at the
communion, and their renewing of their vows when they have been sick ?
How can we look for performance on God's part, when we have not had
grace to perform our part, but our whole life hath been a satisfying of our
base lusts ! Let us make that use in temptations to sin ; let us fetch
arguments against sin from our baptism, from the answer that we made
then ; for we must make good now that that was made then, or else it is
in vain.
2. Again, irhen tee are solicited by Satan to be discouraged, let us con-
sider that we are baptized ' in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and
of the Holy Ghost ;' and consider that the promise is made whensoever we
repent, without any exception of time, nay, though we have broke with
God, — for Satan will use that as a chief weapon, ' Thou hast fallen, thou
hast fallen,' — yet as it is Jeremiah iii. 1, seq. Though a man will not take
his wife after a breach, yet God transcends us; he is God, and not man.
Therefore, after breaches, if we yet answer his command and his promise, —
for the command of believing is upon us while we live, — if we believe, and
' confess our sins, we shall have mercy,' if we come and cast ourselves
upon Christ. Therefore, after relapses, let not Satan abuse them to make
us despair. Baptism is a seal of our faith, and faith is enjoined us all the
days of our life. All this time of life is a time of grace, and we are com-
manded to repent and believe. Let not Satan therefore discourage us after
sin ; let us go to our baptism. It is a seal to us of faith and repentance
■whensoever we believe and repent.
3. When we are solicited to distrust in God for the things of this life any
u-ay, as if God cared not for us, let us consider that we have answered, that
' we believe in God the Father Almighty ;' therefore he is our Father, he knows
what is good for us, and he loves us. He is an almighty God. It is an article
of our faith that we have answered to : let us make it good upon all tempta-
tions in that kind. Doth not God care for us ? He had an ark for Noah
in the worst times, when the flood^ overwhelmed the whole world. So it
there be the answer of a good conscience, he will have an ark for his
Noahs, to save, and protect, and defend us ; he is a Father Almighty.
Let us know the grounds of our religion, the articles of our faith, the
grounds and foundation of our" faith. Let us consider the good things
promised there, and consider withal that we have all engaged ourselves to
believe those things, and to make use of our faith upon all occasions.
Those that cannot read, if they have no other, let them look on these two
books, the book of their baptism and the book of conscience. They would
be sufficient to instruct them. Some people pretend ignorance. Consider
what thou art baptized to : the grounds of religion ; consider there what
thou hast renounced ; consider in particular whether this thing that
thou art moved to be God's or the devil's command, and answer Satan
and thy lusts by not answering of them ; give them their answer, and tell
them a good conscience must answer God's command and promise. But
they must have their answer by denial, by this answer of a good con-
science. Those that cannot read, and are not learned, let them make use
of the learning of their baptism. There is a world of instruction and com-
fort, a treasury of it in baptism. I dare be bold to say, if any Christian,
when he is teiiipted to any sin, to despair or discouragement, if he consider
what a solemn promise he hath made to God in baptism, it would be a
means to strengthen his faith, and to arm him against all temptations.
There is no man sins, but there is a breach with God first in wronging the
490 THE DEMAND OF A GOOD CONSCIENCE.
promise he hatli engaged himself to in baptism. We all that are here
have been baptized, let us learn to make more conscience of this blessed
sacrament than we have done, and let us labour to have the answer of a
good conscience at all times.
What a comfort is it when our hearts and consciences makes a gracious
answer to God in believing and obeying, and in renouncing all God's and
our enemies ! What a comfort is such a conscience ! It will uphold us
in sickness, in death, and at the day of judgment, in all ill times in this
life. A conscience that hath answered God b}"^ believing his promises, and
hath renewed the covenant to obey God in all things, what a wondrous
peace hath it ! Let the devil object what he can ; let our unbelieving
hearts object what they can, yet notwithstanding, if it be a renewed sancti-
fied conscience, it can out of the privity of its own act say, I have believed ;
I have cast myself upon God's mercy in Christ ; I have renounced these
motions, and suggestions, and courses, and though I be overcome with
temptations, yet I heartily hate them. What a comfort is this !
Conscience, it is either the greatest friend or the greatest enemy in the
world. It is the chiefest friend when it is privy to itself of this resolute
answer, that it hath obeyed God in all things. Then conscience is our
friend, it speaks to God for us at all times. Then again at the hour of
death, what a comfort it is that we have this answer of a good conscience,
especially at the day of judgment, when we can look God in the face. A
sincere heart, a conscience that hath laboured to obey the gospel, and to
keep covenant with God, it can look God in the face. For what in the
covenant of grace goes for perfect obedience, but sincerity and truth ? God
requires that. When the heart can say with Hezekiah, ' Lord, thou
knowest that I have walked perfectly before thee,' Isa. xxxviii. 3 ; Lord,
I have believed, and laboured to express it in my life and conversation,
though with much weakness, yet in truth ; this sincerity will make us
look God in the face, in the hour of death, and at the day of judgment,
and in all troubles in this life.
A Christian that hath the answer of a good conscience, he hath Christ
to be his ark in all deluges (b). Christ saves us not only from hell and
damnation, but in all the miseries of this life. If anything come upon us
for the breach of God's covenant, — as God threateneth. Lev. xxvi. 21, seq.
' to send war and famine,' &c., for the breach of his covenant, — what a
comfort is it then for such as have kept the covenant ! For then God hath
an ark for such in ill times ; for every deliverance in evil times, it comes
from the same ground as the deliverance from hell doth. Why doth God
deliver me from hell and damnation ? Because he loves me in Christ, and
that moves him to deliver me in evil times, if I keep a good conscience ;
and that love that gives me heaven, gives me the comforts of this life. If
I labour to have this answer the apostle speaks of, what a comfort is this
in the worst times ?
Those that live in rebellion, and make no conscience of their vows and
covenants to God, that they have made and repeated ofttimes, and renewed
in taking of the Lord's supper, but go on still in their sins, alas ! what
comfort can such as these have ! How can they look for an answer from God
of any promise that he hath made, when their lives are rebellious. Their con-
science tells them that their lives do not witness for God in keeping covenant
with him, but they rebel against him. Their hearts tell them they cannot
look to heaven for comfort. They carry a hell in their bosom, a guilty
conscience ; they do not labour to be purged by the blood of Christ, nor
• THE DEMAND OF A GOOD CONSCIENCE. 491
labour for the Spirit of God to sanctify them, in renewing them to holy
obedience to God. Those that have their conscience thus stained, espe-
cially that purpose to live in sin, they can look for nothing but vengeance
from God. It is not known now who are the wisest people. In the times
of trouble, and at the hour of death, at such times it will be known that
they are the wisest people that have made conscience of keeping their
covenant with God, of renewing their covenant with God, lirst, in all
things that would serve him better, and then when they have renewed their
covenant with God, as we have cause now indeed, if ever, to renew them,
when we are warned by public dangers ; or when we have cause to take
occasion to renew our covenants that we made with God in baptism, to
bind our consciences to closer obedience ; and those that have renewed
their covenant, and have grace to keep it, those are wise people. We see
in the current of Scripture, in dangerous times there was still renewing of
their covenants with God. And those that God delights in, he puts his
Spirit into them, that they shall be able, by the help of his Spirit, to keep
their covenant in some comfortable measure ; and those God will choose
and mark out in the worst times.
NOTES.
(a) P. 480. — ' One of the chief of them, a great scholar, he will have the water itself
to be elevated,' &c. Query, Bellarmine ? It is, however, a commonplace of tho
Baptismal controversy.
(b) P. 490. — 'He hath Christ to be his ark in all deluges.' This recalls the
title of one of Brooks"s most searching and valuable books, viz., his ' Ark for all
God's Noahs in a Gloomy Stormy Day,' 16G2. G.
A GLIMPSE OF GLORY;
Accordinci to Ms divine power, who hath given unto tis all things that pertain to
life and godliness, through the knowledge of him ivho hath called us unto
glory and virtue. — 2 Peter I. 3.
You have often heard in these two verses, how the apostle lays down the
groundwork of that his prayer, which he had made in the second verse,
wherein he wishes the multiplication of grace and peace unto them, 'through
the knowledge of God, and our Lord Jesus Christ.' And further, in these
verses he makes manifest, that we have a grant and gift given us of all
things pertaining to life and godliness, by that same way by which he had
formerly wished unto them the multiplication of grace and peace, ' through
the knowledge of him who hath called us unto glory and virtue,' which in
the fourth verse he clears, and shews that by the virtue of God's calling on
his part, and our acknowledgment on our part, he hath given unto us those
precious promises by which we may be, and are, made partakers of the
divine nature, of which a sure sign and evidence is, that such ' do fly the
corruption which is in the world through lust.'
Something does yet remain of the third verse untouched, and then, God
assisting us, we shall come unto the fourth. f In the third verse, the sum
whereof you have heard, we have considered,
1. A gift : ' he hath given us.'
2. The fountain from whence : * his divine power.'
8. The kind of gift : ' things pertaining to life and godliness.'
4. The extent thereof : ' all things.'
5. The means of conveyance by which this great gift is made ours: ' by
the knowledge of him who hath called us to glory and virtue.'
Knowledge, then, is the means by which we make claim to, and make
use of, this great charter, grant, and gift of God. Not by every divine
* ' A Glimpse of Glory ' forms No. 20 of the original ' Saints' Cordials,' 1629. It
was ■withdrawn in the after-editions. Its separate title-page is as follows : — ' A
Glimpse of Glorie. In One Sermon. "Wherein is shewed, The excellency and neces-
sity of a particular calling. What our calling to glory is. Divers particulars to
ravish the soule in admiration of it. &c. Praslucendo Pereo. Vprightnes Hath
Eoldnes. 1 Cor. 2. 9 But as it is written. Eye hath not seene, nor eare heard,
neither have entred into the heart of man the things which God hath prepared for
them that love him. London, Printed in the yeSre 1629.' — G.
t The other sermons have not been preserved. — G.
A GLIMPSE OF GLORY. 493
knowledge of God, nor by a general knowledge of every branch of divinity,
but by the knowledge of him only who ' calleth us to glory and virtue.'
Then, I say, the immediate or mediate calling of God and Christ is con-
siderable, or both if you will. This is that we must take knowledge of, if
we mean to make claim either to piety in this world, or life in that to come.
If once we come to have, and be assured of this calling, then therewith all
things also pertaining to Hfe and godliness are given us. And the reasons
thereof are,
1. Such is the efficacy of this calling ; ' not of men, but of God.'
2. Such is the fidelity of him who calleth us.
3. Such is the continual supply he will make of all things to us.
If he hath called us, he will supply us with all things, with piety here,
and crown us hereafter in glory.
Thus far we went. Now let us go on. Something yet remains to be
handled of the conveyance, where he saith, ' He hath called us. This word
lis hath his proper weight, and must not slightly be passed over. For
although we have ali'eady spoken of calling in general, and the necessity
thereof, yet now it is also fit to consider thereof in particular for our proper
interest therein ; for, as it is not sufficient to have a general knowledge of
God in his power, justice, mercy, goodness, or other his attributes, or of
Christ in his person and function, but I must know how he is merciful
and good unto me, how he justifies and conveys life to me, — for unless we
know God in Christ in particular, the general will not serve, — to know
only that there is a covenant, a gospel, and life therein, that there is a
Mediator, thou mayest know all this and more, and yet it be unprofitable
to thee ; so it will not suffice us to know there is a calling to glory and
virtue, but in particular we must know him calling us to glory and virtue ;
for if we cannot say. He hath called us, we have small reason to rejoice, or
be content of our estate. I enlarged this the last day by the similitude of
a rich inventory and a will ; a man may have a rich inventory, and read
of many brave things and moveables therein, and know them also, but
unless from the gift of the testator he may make claim to somewhat given
him by name in the will, he is a poor man, for all his rich inventory. So
is it of calling ; a man may have a general calling, but he must have it by
name : ' Who hath called us to glory and virtue.'
The point then is,
Doct. 1. That xi-hcrchy a Christian may have title, interest, and comfort, in
life and fflory. It is not a knowledge of calling in general, but of that par-
ticular calling of ourselves to glory and virtue. This doth interest us in
the promises of God. See Acts ii. 39, where, after they had been pricked
with his sermon, he says, to comfort them, and invite all to hope and seek,
' For the promise is made to you and to your children ;' and then he adds
the condition, 'Even to as many as the Lord our God shall call.' No
calling, no promise. Nay, further, without this there is no encouragement
to holiness. 1 Tim. vi. 12, there Paul wills Timothy ' to fight the good
fight of faith, to lay hold upon eternal life ;' but on what ground is this ?
' Whereunto thou art also called.' This is the reason why he is encouraged
to lay hold ; God had sanctified, and made a change in him, therefore he
had good reason to lay hold of eternal life. So I would have every one of
you know, that it is a command of God that every man should make ' his
calling and election sure,' 2 Peter i. 10, as is shewed in the tenth verse of
this chapter, where my text is. And for this, that we may be stii-red up
unto it, see both reason and example.
494 A GLIMPSE OF GLORY.
The reason is, because by this knowledge of our calling we draw home
to our election. See for this Rom. viii. 30 : ' Whom he called, them also
he justified ; and whom he justified, them also he glorified,' and so elected
and predestinated.
By our calling, therefore, which is by an eternal purpose and grace of
God in time, changing and renewing us unto holiness of life, we come to
know the eternal decree of God, which otherwise were presumption to
search, and may not be looked unto. For, as a prince's secret mind is
made known by edicts and proclamations, which before we durst not search
into, neither could know, so when God's secret counsel to execution is
manifested, by changing our hearts, by calling us from the world to an holy
calling, in a sanctified life : this, then, is no presumption, but duty in
us, by our calling, to judge of our election, and so of our calling to glory
and virtue.
If you look for an example of this, see that of St Paul, Gal. ii. 20, where
that Paul gives a proof of his hope of life and calling, says, ' Nevertheless
I live ; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me : and the life which I now live
in the flesh, I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave
himself for me.' What doth Paul mean here ? Doth he mean to engross
unto him only, and make a monopoly of Christ ? No ; but he invests and
puts himself into the common inheritance of the saints, because Christ
loved him, and had given himself for him, because Christ dwelt in him,
and that he had attained to lead a holy life. This was the ground of his
assurance to eternal life, and of his calling to glory and virtue.
Obj. But some may object, and say, What speak you of St Paul ? This
was peculiar unto him, he was a chosen vessel, others cannot attain the
like ; chiefly the papists, they object most against this, who would have no
assurance of calling but by special revelation. But the apostle, 1 John
iv. 16, saith far otherwise. There he saith not, we hope, for he knew so
weak a word could not express so great a matter and such assurance as he
was about to declare unto them, but ' we have known and believe the love
wherewith God hath loved us.' To know God's calling, and not our
interest therein, it is a punishment, rather than any comfort unto us ; as
Christ speaketh of the Jews, Mat. viii. 11, 'For I say unto you. That
many shall come from the east and west, and shall sit down with Abraham,
and Isaac, and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven. But the children of the
kingdom shall be cast out into utter darkness.' It is a small comfort to
the children of the kingdom to know much, and yet to be thrust into utter
darkness ; but we must labour to know and believe this love of God to us,
as the apostle did. Not that I exclude hope from faith, for though there
be a distinction between them, yet there can be no separation ; faith hath
ever hope with it : a strong faith, a strong hope ; a weak faith, a weak
hope ; a staggering faith, a staggering hope ; a pale faith, a pale hope ;
but this we must do, make it our own, know it, believe it, apprehend it for
our own. Many may know Christ in a sort, but not apprehend him.
What is my knowledge, but so much the more misery to me, if I apprehend
not Christ ? For this I must crave leave to tell you a tale which shall
make this I say good. There was not long ago a revolting wretch, one
Francis Spira, beyond seas, who in the midst of his torments and despair,
being told of the mediation of Christ's justification, the virtue of his blood,
and merits of the same, burst out in this strange unexpected speech, ' I
know all this, and more than any of you, and yet I cannot lay hold thereof
to me ' (a).
A GLIMPSE OF GLORY. 495
Then further, let us by the way adil one point more, which formerly in
part I touched.
Doct. 2. That this Jcnowlcdrje of our particular calling is one of the strongest
motives unto all goodness, against that opinion of the papists, that say this
doctrine opens a door to all licentiousness. Nay, it is so far from openinff
a door to all licentiousness, that like that angel of paradise, which with a
flaming sword was set to keep the tree of life, he shuts all such liberty and
licentiousness out of doors. So we see the apostles in their opinions still
urge holiness and sanctitication from this ground of the assurance of calling
and election. Gal. v. 13, the apostle wills them ' not to use their liberty as
an occasion to the flesh ; ' but on what grounds presseth he this '? « Ye
have been called unto liberty.' Eph. iv. 2, he desires them ' to forbear
one another in lowliness and meekness, endeavouring to keep the unity of
the Spirit in the bond of peace.' But on what ground ? ' That ye walk
worthy of the vocation wherewith you are called.' Col. iii. 12, he exhorts
them ' to put on bowels of mercies, kindness, humbleness of mind, meek-
ness, and long-suffering, forbearing and forgiving one another.' But on
what ground '? ' As the elect of God, holy and beloved.' I might mention
many places to this purpose ; take this one more : 1 Thes. v. 9, after he
hath exhorted them unto ' watchfulness and sobriety, to be sober, putting
on the breastplate of faith and love, and for an helmet, the hope of salva-
tion.' What is his ground ? ' For God hath not appointed us to wrath,
but to obtain salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ.' He that hath no
assurance of this calling can have little comfort in performing of holy
duties. A fearful, doubting soul lives iu much vexation. Now I come to
the uses, which are three.
1, Confutation; 2, trial; 3, instruction.
Use 1. The first is against all such as oppugn this doctrine, chiefly the
papists, who are for that, that a man should not inquire after the assurance
of his salvation. Such kind of men, I pray you what do they but do as
much as in them lieth to overthrow and pluck up the root of faith, and of
all obedience unto God ? Oh, what should water my heart, and make it
melt in obedience unto my God, but the assurance and knowledge of the
virtue of this most precious blood of my Eedeemer, applied to my sick
soul, in the full and free remission of all my sins, and appeasing the justice
of God ? What should bow and break my rebellious hard heart and soften
it, but the apprehension of that dear love of my Saviour, who hath loved
me before I loved him, and now hath blotted out that hand-writin" that
was against me ? What should enable my weak knees, hold up my weary
hands, strengthen my fainting and feebled spirit in constant obedience
against so many crosses and afflictions, temptations and impediments,
which would stop up my way, but the hope of this precious calling unto
glory and virtue ? Down, then, with this false opinion and perverse doc-
trine, which overthroweth all the comfort of godliness, ftiith, and obedience
to God.
Use 2. The second is, that every man then must try his title, what calling
he hath. The trumpet of God is come and sounded loud in our ears ; I
mean, as it is Titus ii. 11, ' The grace of God, that bringeth salvation unto
all men, hath appeared, teaching us to deny all ungodliness and worldly
lusts,' &c. Not that it bringeth salvation unto all men, but unto all
nations, to some of every sort. Now inquire whether this grace be come
home unto thy heart, what power thou hast against thy corruptions, what
sanctification and calling thou hast.
496 A GLIMPSE OF GLORY.
Exception. There is no man, I liope, that from hence needs to gather
any matter of despah' or discomfort, for that which hath not heen it may
be. God may have a time for thee ; for who knows, but even whilst now
that we are speaking of calUng, the Lord may call thee, and touch thy
heart with a sense of his love. I say to thee, be not discouraged, for there
may be a time for thee. But I say unto such who think they are called,
Art thou called ? Hast thou had comfort of thy calling ? Deceive not
thyself; look from whence thou art called; if he have called thee, as it is
1 Peter ii. 9, out of darkness, he hath called thee to light, yea, out of
darkness into his marvellous light. Hast thou seen a rare light in the
gospel? Hast thou seen what palpable darkness thou hast been in? Hath
he enhghtened thee now from darkness into holiness, that now thou
delightest thyself to do the works of God ? If thus thou be called, then
hath he called thee ' to a fellowship in his Son.' Shew me what con-
formity hast thou with him ? Believest thou in him ? at least, dost thou
receive him offered unto thee ? "'> If thou receive him offered to thee, then
cheer up thy heart, thou art called ; so saith John i, 12, ' But as many as
received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God,' &c.
What apprehension and feeling of this there wants, if thou hast received
Christ, yet power is given thee to be the son of God, thou mayest have it.
Further, I say unto such, what peace hast thou obtained through him ?
Having him, thou hast peace ; ' he is our peace.' Look what thou once
wast, look now, w'hat remission of sins, what dominion thou hast over them,
what peace of conscience thou hast obtained ! His blood hath a purging
and a cleansing virtue to wash us from all sin, in delight, love, and appro-
bation, as Heb. ix. 13, the apostle sheweth, ' that if the blood of bulls and
goats, and the ashes of an heifer, sprinkhng the unclean, sanctified them,
as to the purifying of the flesh, how much more shall the blood of Christ,
who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without spot to God, purge
your consciences from dead works, to serve the living God ! ' Hast thou
then peace, and a clean conscience with God and man ? Hath he made it
clean ? Hast thou seen thy sin and thy impiety ? and hath he cleansed
thee from it by means of life ? Hast thou in thy body been dead, and then
art thou ahve, and quickened from the dead ? Hast thou found thyself to
be alive ? If thus thou be called, thou art also certainly justified. There
is a calling and an election begun, that shall lead thee to life and glory. Be
of good cheer then : thou mayest rejoice in peace ; thou art certainly called
to glory and virtue.
Yet to go on ; he says, ' called us.' This was necessary to be stood
upon in particular, that a man might not be deceived of his estate. For
as there are some who presume on false and no titles, having no right, so
there are some who have good title to glory, yet dare not make claim to
the same, nor have any comfort thereof: as, on the contrary, we see some
will boast of faith, and yet not know what it meaneth ; but a liking of god-
liness in others, a seeming show of it in themselves, haunting of good com-
pany, for some respects, and the like, makes a shew of faith ; when those
others who cannot see their calling and election, nor their title, are indeed
more happy. For whence is their discomfort ? Not because they want a
title, but because they see it not, for either affliction and crosses hath so
slurred and dimmed the print, that they cannot for the present read it ; or
by temptations, Satan hath cast a blot upon their evidence, that they know
it not ; or their eyes are so full of tears, and their mind carried, that they
cannot duly consider thereof, though indeed their title be good still. Even as
A GLIMPSE OF GLORY. 497
a print of a seal, though the print be dimmed, and not apparent, yet is a
good sufficient evidence in law, though it be not so fairly stamped, and the
seal so evident, as that of other seals : so I say unto thee, be not dis-
couraged though thy seal be smooth, and little ; yet look if any measure of
faith be in thee in truth, or any light of God have shined in thine heart,
though there remain faith and doubting still in thee. This dims the print,
but mars not quite the evidence ; as though the legs and knees be not so
strong as others, jet thou wilt not deny, but having weak legs and knees,
thou hast such members as well as others, and art able to go ; thou hast
them in truth, though not in such strength as well as they; so I say,
thy weak and dim evidence may be true as the strongest. When we
desire for more, wish for more, endeavour for more, and are not content of
that we have, in this case, the evidence is but blotted, we want not the
title.
Use 3, The third is for instruction. If this be so, let not then any man
dare to confound the external calHng of men with the internal calling of
God. You shall at some times see some men at a word of God falling sud-
denly upon them, struck as with a clap of thunder, and go away bleeding,
as one struck on a galled wound ; this aflfects much for the present, but
continueth not.
So again, the calling of God by the ministry, breeds in some a certain
amazement, when the majesty and glory of the word, overcoming our senses,
doth for the present ravish us with a marvellous conceit of the excellency
thereof ; as those in the Gospel, who having heard of the excellency of the
kingdom of God, do thereupon send out this confession, ' Blessed are they
that eat bread in the kingdom of heaven,' and yet in neither of these a true
calling. A man, if he have no more, may have small comfort in either,
save by the one he may be convicted, and by the other condemned. The
market, indeed, by the preaching of the gospel, is set open, the banquet
is provided, and the guests invited to it, but where is thy warrant to come ?
where is thy invitation ? where is thy wedding garment ? what answer
canst thou make unto the Lord of the feast ? where are the fruits of thy
faith ? where is thy sanctity ? where is the sense of thy poverty and
wretched misery ? where is thy hunger and thirst, and desire of Christ ?
Look to this well.
Again, we must not think that the particular calling of men, either to
magistracy or ministry, is this calling to glory and virtue ; the first whereof,
is to
1. Execution; 2. Action.
For if an outward calling to the ministry be sufficient, then Judas, who
had such a calling to assist Christ in his ministry, and had, with the other,
power to cast out devils, had this calling, Luke ix. 1. But he was not
thus called ; he knew it not, for if he had known it, he had been saved
and lived.
Further, how precious this calling should be unto us, we may see, Luke
X. 20, whereupon the seventy disciples returned rejoicing, that the spirits
were subject unto them. Christ reproves them, saying, ' Notwithstanding,
in this rejoice not, that the spirits are subject unto you; but rather rejoice,
because your names are written in heaven.'
Here is only cause of true joy. We know this was a great and excellent
work, to subdue spirits and devils, to relieve poor souls, and in this to
shew forth his exceeding power, who had sent them ; and yet all is nothing
to this calling. Christ he wills them to look to their election, and rejoice
VOL. VII. I i
498 A GLIMPSE OF GLORY.
therein, as though all other joys were in vain, until a man might rejoice
in this.
Let not, therefore, a man rejoice in any outward calling only ; nay, not
in this, that he is called to be a minister in the church of God, without this
particular calling.
By this then be sure to take thy warrant of rejoicing, fetch it out of this
calling, that God hath called thee to glory and virtue, which is the next
thing to consider of; our calling to glory and virtue ; I mean, a considera-
tion of these things whereunto we are called, glory and virtue.
1. Glory. Glory is the end of all. The glory of God is the furthest
reach and end of all things, and virtue is the way leading unto glory.
Glory, the extent of glory, is set before virtue, the means and way there-
unto : why unto virtue, and not by virtue, I have shewed already, I will
not now insist. The liberty of the Scripture is manifold in the like. Glory ;
what is glory ? Glory with men is nothing else but an estate in the
world, that draws amazement and admiration after it ; this it is, not that
which we look after. Of such a kind of glory we read, Gen. xlv. 13, of
Joseph, whereof he speaks to his brethren, 'And you shall tell my father
of all my glory in Egypt.' This was a glory, and a glory, I confess, not
to be despised, when God gives it as a favour and pledge of future glory,
as it was unto him.
Further, we read of another glory, which was put from Moses upon
Joshua, Num. xxvii. 20, where God said to Moses, that he shall bring Joshua
before the priest, and shall put some of his glory upon him, and his Spirit,
that he might be honourable before the people : this was the glory of
endowments, but it is not that glory we inquire after. We read of another
glory, Prov. xxii. 4, the reward of humility, and the fear of the Lord, is
riches, glory, and life ; neither is this that glory we inquire for, ours is of
a higher strain. This glory then we speak of, is the reward of goodness,
and is ever attended with virtue. For as shame and sin still go together,
so do glory and virtue, -even by the testimony of the consciences of all good
and ill men. The glory then we speak of is an eternal glory.
' Called to glory and virtue.'
It is not meant, when he says ' called to glory,' that a Christian is only
called unto that, and unto nothing else by the way, but by the way he is
called unto virtue, and by occasion unto afflictions. When God will give
physic, humble, purge, and fit us by the way, then accidentally come
afflictions and crosses, that if there be anything in us which hinders and
makes us unfit for glory, these afflictions and crosses scour us, and purge
away.
But God's end of calling us is unto glory; as 1 Thes. ii. 12, there they
are exhorted to ' walk worthy of God, who hath called you unto his king-
dom and glory.' Rom. ix. 23, the children of God are called the ' vessels
of mercy, which he had afore prepared to glory.' This glory is only of
his mercy, from whence glory floweth unto us; mercy is the ground
thereof. What shall I say of glory ? See what is written. Rev. xix. 9,
when a voice came to him and willed* Write, what doth he write ? ' Blessed
are they which are called unto the marriage supper of the Lamb.' There
was a glorious feast, full of glory; and then it followeth, ' These are the
true sayings of God,' for to comfort and assure th« faithful, of the excel-
lency and truth of this happiness, and to stir them up to a pursuit thereof.
Why thus blessed ? Because by this marriage supper is meant that great,
* Qu. ' called ' ?— Ed.
A GLIMPSE OF GLORY. 499
general wedding feast in heaven after the resurrection, where the King of
glory and the angels ai-e, where the Lamb's wife, as it is in the former
verse, and all shall meet, at which all the creatures in their greatest glory,
heaven and earth and all, shall put on new habits; for as a vesture shall
they all be changed, Heb. i. 12 ; 2 Peter iii. 7, they shall be renewed.
Here shall be glory, and surpassing glory, as it is written, 1 Cor. i. 9,
then to be 'called unto fellowship with Christ;' yet more, as Rom. viii.
17, to be heirs; nay, yet a step more, to be co-heirs with him together in
glory. Men cannot reward their servants thus, but it is the only excel-
lency of our great Master,* that he can make all his servants heirs, and
all his sons kings. Thus as it is upon this strong tower, whereupon now
we stand, and rejoice in the hope of the glory of God ; as it is called the
glory of God, so, 2 Thes. ii. 14, we are stirred up to thankfulness for the
same, as being called by the gospel to the obtaining of the glory of the
Lord Jesus Christ ; and, 1 Peter v. 4, it is there called a crown of glory
that fadeth not away.
And, finally, what use and advantage the faithful make of this glory
against all the crosses, afflictions, storms, and tempests of this life, the
apostle sheweth; 2 Cor, iv. 17, saith he, 'For our light affliction, which
is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more excellent and eternal
weight of glory.' The more affliction, the more glory. Our thoughts
cannot bear nor reach to that exceeding depth of the apostle's conceit of
glory.
But perhaps like unto some great glory of a prince, it may continue but
for a day, though but a day in this great glory were a wonderful thing,
and passing all the glory of this world. No, saith the apostle, it shall bo
eternal. What more ? It shall be a load, a weight, an exceeding weight,
of glory. Oh how the apostle grows full, and lifts himself higher and
higher, striving to express a thing unexpressible ! Why doth he thus, but
to move our hearts, and ravish us also in exceeding admiration of the
greatness of this glory ?
What can be said more ? If yet you desire to hear more of glory, con-
sider we, if you will,
1, The place, where; 2, the company, with whom; 3, the title, what;
4, the time, how long.
1. First, For the place. It is heaven, the proper seat and mansion of
all glory, where Christ is. So Christ speaketh in that prayer of his :
John xvii. 24, ' Father, I will that they also whom thou hast given me be
with me where I am, that they may behold my glory.' This needs not
much proof. So also 1 Thes. iv. 17, ' Then we which are alive and remain
shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in
the air : and so shall we ever be with the Lord.' Oh if the outside,
skirts, and suburbs of the palace (the stars and planets, chiefly those two
great hghts, the sun and moon) of this great King be so glorious, that
with our eyes we cannot look upon the splendour of the same, what
brightness of glory is in the chamber of presence, innermost court, and
sanctum sanctorum itself ! And if now, in the state of corruption, where
sin hath abated such a deal of their glory, these creatures are yet so
glorious, what shall they be when they shall be changed and renewed iu
that state of incorruption ? And if they then be glorious, how much more
shall the glory of the Creator ! Yea, when all the creatures shall put on
their new habits, gloriously arrayed for this marriage feast ; when the
* That is, the ' excellency' of Christ alone. — G.
500 A GLIMPSE OF GLORY.
general kinds of all creatures shall be changed, renewed, and delivered
from the estate of corruption and vanity unto the glorious liberty of the
sons of God ; for that they shall be delivered it is clear, Rom. viii. 21.
So the apostle Peter speaks of a new heaven and a new earth, 2 Peter iii.
13 ; not new in substance or quality, but renewed and purged. I say,
when the glory of all these creatures shall meet, renewed in exceeding
glory, what a deal of glory shall be there, both in heaven and earth ! And
if the servants at that day shall be glorious, judge you what shall be the
glory of the bride and bridegroom.
2. The second thing is the company, irith ivliom. No chaff shall be there
mingled with the wheat, no darnel shall be amongst the corn, no unclean
thing shall enter therein or be amongst them, Eev. xxi. 27, but there we
shall be with innumerable millions of God's holy angels ; and not so only,
but with Jesus Christ the Mediator of the new covenant, and God the
judge of all, &c. ; as the apostle shews, Heb. xii. 22. To which he
sheweth we are now already come in this life, and entered with them ; but
then is the full time, that we shall find the full comfort and perfection
thereof in that meeting.
And therefore the Queen of the South's spirit did fail her when she had
seen all Solomon's magnificency, his wisdom, the glory of his house, his
meat, table, the attendance of his ministers, their apparel, &c., pronounc-
ing those men and servants to be happy which might stand continually
before him to hear his wisdom, 2 Chron. ix. 7. Blessed Lord, how great
shall our felicity be to be continually with our God, who is the fountain
of all Avisdom, and to behold his face continually in so wonderful a light !
3. Thirdly, The title, ichat. Not of creatures, or of servants, not so
only, but of sons and heirs, and co-heirs with Christ. This, one would
think, were sufficient; and yet the Scripture gives us others to the like
effect, as that we shall be kings and priests unto God. What can be
more ? But what shall be our condition then in this so excellent an
estate ? Oh, who can tell ? Surely I cannot. But as those spies who
went to view the land of Canaan, by some of the grapes and fruits which
they brought, did judge of the fertility of the land, so, I say, if by the
word of God those first-fruits of the Spirit, the love of God shed abroad
in our hearts, those beginnings of grace, the divers working and operation
of the same Spirit, those feelings and joys of the faithful raised thereby,
peace of conscience, and all that which shines in the glory of the gospel,
we may think of the same. If by these grapes, these fruits of our celestial
Canaan, we may judge of our condition then, I will speak my mind to you.
This we know for certain, that the ircage of God shall then be perfectly
renewed in us, so to know and feel no more labour, no more pensiveness
of heart, no more sin, sorrow, nor temptations, which shall all then cease,
and then again to be holy as God is holy, I mean not in that habit of
holiness he is holy, but in that manner. And so here we shall have a
happiness beyond that estate of Adam's innocency; for at the best all he
received was but a possibility to stand if he would, but we shall receive an
impossibility ever to fall again.
So again, for our bodies, they shall have no manner of disturbance or
subjection to corruption; then they shall know nothing but glory, glory
within and glory without, all glorious. So the apostle Paul, 1 Cor. xv. 42,
sets down the same of the body in four heads :
(1.) Says he, the body is sown in corruption, but raised in incorruption.
Then no more mortality, nor tribulation, nor any sense of sorrow. Some
A GLIMPSE OF GLORY. 501
interpreters have thought good to express this by the word impassible,
signifying an impossibility of feeling any more hunger, cold, thirst, sorrow,
and the like ; in brief, not capable of suffering any more ; for at first, sin
brought in corruption, but then all sin being abolished, corruption, and all
things thereunto belonging, must needs cease.
(2.) He says it is sown in dishonour, and is raised in glory. Thus we
see how loathsome a dead body is generally to all, yea, even that of our
dearest friends ; we cannot then endure to see it. Some may say this is
but passion for friends which causes this. I grant, but yet generally there
is an hatred naturally in all to look upon a dead body. Ay, but then it
shall be a glorious body, a bright, shining body, as Mat. xiii. 43, ' Then
shall the righteous shine forth as the sun in the kingdom of their Father.'
We see here how things of great splendour do aifect and move us, as the
heat and light of the sun, and the glory of the heavens, the moon and stars,
and the like. Consider, then, how glorious thou shalt be, to shine as the
sun in the firmament, yea, as the sun when he riseth in his might.
(3.) So again, these bodies, though lame, dismembered, disfigured,
abortive, or what you will of the like kind, shall rise again without all de-
formities, caused either through want and defect of nature, or time ; and
therefore the apostle, though he say, ' it is sown in weakness,' yet he adds,
' it is raised in power,' strong with the qualities and necessities thereunto.
(4.) So also, lastly, the apostle unto the power addeth agility, nimble-
ness, spiritualness. It is sown * a natural body, it is raised a spiritual
body ;' subtile as it were, like a spirit, not unable by lumpish heaviness to
move upwards, but being uncapable of anything pressing downwards ; a
glorious body, not clogged with mortality ; and the soul, no more imprisoned,
then is swift, nimble, and spiritual. Not that I say it shall not then keep
the bodily dimensions, to be a body truly, for it shall do so still, but by
reason of alteration of qualities, swiftness and agility, so it shall be a
spiritual body. And if the glory of the body shall be such, what think you
shall be that exceeding glory of the soul ?
A taste hereof we have set forth, 1 John iii. 2 : ' For we know that,
when he shall appear, we shall be like him ; for we shall see him as he is.'
What can be more ? And, Phil. iii. 20, the apostle says, ' But our con-
versation is in heaven ; from whence also we look for the Saviour, the Lord
Jesus Christ, who shall change our vile body, that it may be fashioned like
unto his glorious body.' May some say. This is soon said ; how shall this
be done ? He answers, By that mighty power whereby he is able to sub-
due all things unto himself. If he hath power over all things, then hath
he power to bring to pass this also.
4. Now we want but the time, how Jong. What can be said of eternity ?
Think what we can, this is ever beyond the reach of all our thoughts, only
I may say thereof as it is Ps. Ixxxiv. 10. If the prophet David did make
BO great account of one day, in the sanctuary upon earth, * that he had
rather be one day in God's court, as a door-keeper, than be a thousand
otherwhere, or dwell in the tents of wickedness,' what shall it be to be not
one day in the court of heaven ; for even but one day were a great happi-
ness to be there ; but to be there for ever, out of all time ! For then, the
angel in the Revelation, ' Time shall cease, and be no more,' Rev. x. 6.
What is time, but the measure of motion, which, once ceasing, time shall
cease also, and we shall have eternal rest. As no minute of time shall
ever be that shall give any release to the torments of the damned, so shall
there never again be any time which shall give the least intermission to the
502
A GLIMPSE OF GLORY.
joys of the elect. Oh, where are our hearts ? How should they be lift up
to hear of these things ; what should we leave undone that may be done,
once at last, to have life eternal ? Now I come to
The uses. 1. If this, then, as is proved, be the only calling that we are
called unto, unto glory and virtue, let us labour to acknoivledge the excel-
lency of the calling of God, and set a due jjrice njwn the same. Why stagger
we herein ? We are full of false fears, and discouragements, because we
hear that ' all that will hve godly in this world shall suffer persecution,'
2 Tim. iii. 12 ; therefore we give back, and are shamefully dismayed ; and
yet what lose we by this suti'ering ? for, saith the apostle, ' If we sufier
with him, we shall reign with him,' 2 Tim. ii. 12. Is not, then, the reign-
ing beyond the sufiering ? Oh but if it were to suffer only, it were some-
what ! But herein we must war and fight. Oh but it is for a kingdom ;
would we be crowned and not fight ? and in fight would we have no enemies?
Ay, but we may be overcome in the fight. No, but we are sure to over-
come. Who would not then fight ? God, when he calls us to conquer,
then he conquers for us, and he conquers in us ; and, as it is Rom. viii.
87, * We are more than conquerors in him.'
No man, we know, how base soever, even the greatest coward that may
be, but he would fight, if he were sure to overcome. What cowards then
are we. Every one of us would be reputed stout and valiant ; where, then,
is our valour, whenas every barking of a dog, as I may so call them, or
every touch of a fly, makes us deny our master ? Oh, the shame of our
profession ; what is this temporising but to draw to lukewarmness, and so
to denial, that we are ashamed in this or that company for these and these
causes of our profession ! Well, remember, if we deny him, he will deny
UB ; if we be ashamed of him, he will be ashamed of us. Mat. x. 33. In
this case, what shall, what can we answer him at that great day ?
But if nothing in the excellency of this great calling will encourage us to
war thus, yet let glory do it. ' Called to glory,' as it is Heb. xii. 2. Set
glory before thy eyes, this or nothing will make thee go on. Look at
Christ Jesus, ' who, for the joy that was set before him, endured the cross,
and despised the shame, and is now set down at the right hand of God.'
This will encourage thee to go on ; and if thou so run that thou may est
obtain, so shalt thou in time be.
This is that which formerly hath been taught us out' of the former chapter,
Heb. xi. 10. Of all those famous champions, what made them hold out
BO in all their troubles and crosses but this, that they look at ' a better
city, which hath foundations, whose builder and maker is God ?' Here,
therefore, stir up A'our fainting spirits to despise these base things you so
delight in here, and look at glory ; and to stir you up a little thereunto,
give me leave to tell you a story which may help you to see what base
delights we rejoice so in.
It is written of Caesar that, travelling in his journey through a certain
city, as he passed along, he saw the women for the most playing with
monkeys and parrots, at which sight, thinking it strange, he said. What,
have they no children to play with ? So, I say, it is a base thing for
us to be so toying* with these worldly delights, as though we had no better
things to look to, when we are carried away with fair buildings, rich house-
hold stuff, riches, high birth, and the like ; what are all these but monkeys
and parrots unto this glory ?
I confess, in themselves they are good things, but when these put Christ
* That is, 'trifling'— G.
A GLIMPSE OF GLORY. 603
out of doors, and take up your heart so as we think most of them, then all
is not well. Nay, even in the church, how are our hearts carried away
from better things ? When we see one with a better fashioned gown than
we, one with a better plume, oh our hearts run on this all the sermon time,
never resting until we have the like. If it be thus with us still, 0 God,
where is our calling to glory and virtue ? Where is that kingdom we aspire
after, when we hunt so eagerly after these things, in themselves so vain,
got with so much ado, kept with so many fears, and parted with [with] such a
deal of sorrow, and thus forget that calling of him who calleth us to glory
and virtue ?
It were good, methinks, that every man, when he is a-going to these idle
sports, should thus reason with himself: 0 my soul, whither now art thou
a-going? to see such a show, to see such a fair house, to see this mask and
yonder play, and this and that company ? If these seem to delight thee,
yet what are they compared to glory ? Are they not all vanity ? Why art
thou so eager in vain things. Oh why are we told here of a calling unto
glory and virtue, but to stir and lift our hearts unto the search of such a
calling which we are called unto, and in regard thereof to set a low price
on all the things of this earth ? There are many of you, I know, that dare
not in your hearts say against that which I now speak, and yet you labour
not for the same. Well, I wish you deceive not yourselves. Never think
that you have learned anything, until your hearts be warned* and aflfected
at these things. Oh worldly-minded men, and so taken up with the things
of this life, with the base trudgery of this world !
2. The next is, to value the children of God highly for the graces' of Ood
in them, so judging of them. Not that I take upon me, as some have
foolishly done, to judge and know certainly such a one to go to heaven or
not. I determine not of such, only I mean that such in whom we see
God's graces shine in a holy life, we must judge that such are called. And
to what are they called ? To glory, and eternal glory. You see how much
ado we make here of great heirs, though we shall never be the better for
them. How we do prize, embrace, dandle them in our arms, who at age
never thank us again. If we delight so in these great heirs, why prize we
not the heirs of heaven? why delight we not in God's children, who are
greater heirs? Perhaps they are in their minority and nonage, yet are
they heirs of heaven, kings and priests of God. But perhaps they are
wronged and abused by some in this world, yet are they great heirs still.
How darest thou despise or abuse any of these little ones ? Sayest thou that
thou art called to glory and virtue ? Hast thou any portion in Christ, and
despisest such ? If thou wert called to glory, thou wouldst highly esteem
of such.
3. The last is /or consolation, a man that hath this calling unto glory,
Oh how marvellously may such an one be joyful in all tribulations, sorrows,
and crosses. Oh but, says one, I am in poverty, what shall I do ? Stay
a while, and glory will come, and thou shalt be rich as the best. Oh, may
some other say, but I am tormented with sorrow and sickness, yea, am so
loathsome, as doth make me stink in my own sight, and be a burden to
myself and others, — a thing which may befall even God's dear children.
Oh but think then even this loathsome vile body is appointed unto glory,
and glory will come ere it be long. And so in my children and friends, in
whose death, as a heathen said, we die often [h) ; yet I will rest in this, in
that God hath taken them into perpetual rest, in that they are laid up in
* Qu. ' warmed ' ? — Ed.
504 A GLIMPSE OF GLORY.
the bosom of my Saviour, and are heirs of glory. I will think them all
most safe. Oh but grisly death comes; what of all this? This shall cheer
me most of all. There may well be a little struggling, but I shall over-
come : this shall be to me the door of life and rest. Then will I think and
expect the bright morning shall come, and look for a glorious wakening.
So of all Satan's temptations, how many, mighty, or gi-eat soever they be,
though they vex me sore for a time, yet I shall get double strength by
them, having once overcome, for he who most wrestles thus hath most
strength at last. All they shall make me but so much the stronger to con-
tend for this glory ; yea, all the sufl'erings of this life shall not be able to
rob me of the same ; for strong is my Redeemer to confirm me unto the
end. What shall I say more ? If we were not novices, and unacquainted
in this our calling to glory, we could not be so distempered at our* own
crosses and losses, and those of others. What will not the hope of glory
go through ? Lord, so work upon our hearts, that we may know what the
excellence of this our calling is to glory, that so we contend for the same.
NOTES.
(a) P. 494. — ' One Francis Spira.' See note, Vol. III. page 533, note qq.
(6) P. 503. — ' So in my children and friends, in whose death, as a heathen said,
we die often.' Seneca, in his Epistolce ; but it is a commonplace of the Classics.
G.
THE PATTERN OF PURITY.
And every one that hath this hope in him purifieth himself, even as he is purr.
—1 John III. 3.
I SHALL not need to stand on any curious division of tbese words : if you
please shortly for your memory's sake to observe these three things :
1. The workman. 2. The work. 3. The pattern to be imitated.
1. The workman is • every one that hath hope in him,' every one that
looks to be like the Lord Jesus in the kingdom of glory, he is the man
must set about this task. 2. Secondly, The work is a work to be wrought
by himself; he is a part of the Lord'shusbandry, and he must take pams
as it were to plough his own ground, to weed his own corn, he must
purify himself; this is the work. 3. Thirdly, The pattern by which he must
be directed is the pattern of the Lord Jesus his purity. Put him for a
pattern and instance ; look unto him that is the author and finisher of our
faith ; as you have seen him do, so do you ; as he is pure, so labour you
to express in your lives the virtue of him who hath redeemed you. These
be the three particulars.
Not to stand on curiosity, but to fall to the work in hund, the work is
purity, ' to purify ourselves ;'' that howsoever this is a task which is now
laughed out of countenance, — purity is become a nickname, those that will
be thus are counted the scorn of the world, a reproach to men, — yet it is a
point so absolutely needful unto salvation, that if thou despise it thou
despisest thyself. If thou hast a hope to be saved, thou must do this ; so
that if a man do not purify himself, and take pains this way and overgo
the scorns of the world, and cannot get the mastery, but will be kept out
of heaven for a laugh of the world, he is worthy to go to his place, he is
worthy of damnation.
But for the workman that God puts this task on, it is ' every one that
hath this hope.' What hope is that, you see in the verse before. Now we
are the sons of God ; it doth not yet appear what we shall be : but wo
* 'The Pattprn of Purity' forms No. 13 of the original edition of the Saint's
Cordials 1629. It was withdrawn in the other two editions. Its separate title-
tjaee is as follows :— ' The Patterne of Pvritie : Wherein is shewed, AV hat Purity of
heart is. The necessitie and excellency thereof. The meanes how to purifie our
selves With divers other particulars concerning the same. Prscluceudo Tereo.
Vprightnes Hath Boldnes. London, Printed in the yeare 1629.'
506 THE PATTERN OF PURITY.
know that when he appears, we shall be like him as he is, that is, they
they that look to be like to the Lord Jesus in glory, they must be conform-
able in grace. Wilt thou be glorious as he is in heaven, thou must have
the image of his grace on earth ; so that if we will be glorious, we must be
pure.
Thou must not continue with a common heart, as foul hands are called
common hands in the Scripture, we must wash ourselves, make ourselves
clean. Now from hence I observed in another place this doctrine,
Doct. 1. That a man that is careless of j^tn'ifljiiij himself, that man must
have no hope.
A harsh point, to bring a thing to desperate issue, but what shall we
do ? Shall we encourage men to that hope, that they shall carry with
them to hell ? May we say, thou mayest hope to be like Christ in glory,
when thou dost not labour to be like him in purity in this world ? We
should betray souls. And do you know, this is the beginning of salvation.
When a man hath run hitherto in a naughty course, and now comes to
be resolved in his conscience, that if he continue thus and thus, and alter
not his course, he shall perish, I say the revolving of his conscience that
way is the beginning of his conversion. When a man sees no hope, if he
do not alter and turn, this will make him good or nothing, — I proved it
from many places of Scripture, — so that, * ho that purifies not himself hath
no true hope.' The point I then chiefly insisted upon was, to take away all
the objections that the devil, and flesh and blood, could make to keep a man
from purifying himself with a false hope, that surely men may come to
heaven notwithstanding this hard task ; I put to you the infiniteness of
God's mercy, the mediation of Jesus Christ, the intercession of all saints,
all the prayers thou canst make, all thy cries to God in extremity, all thou
canst saj', I proved they should not help thee one whit. No ; the more
infinite God's mercy is, the heavier his wrath shall burn against thee, that
dost not prepare thyself to receive that mercy ; thou hast counted the
blood of the covenant an unclean thing. He hath washed us with his blood,
but thou wilt not be washed ; thou rejectest that blood, delighting in un-
cleanness, that it had been better for thee Christ had never been incarnate,
he is so far from helping thee that he shall pronounce sentence of damna-
tion against thee, ' Go, thou cursed, I know thee not.' If all the saints in
the world should lift up their hands to God for thee, all will do no good as
long as a man resolves to continue in iniquity : * If I regard iniquity in my
heart, the Lord will not hear my prayer.' If thou continuest in the course
of the world, and wilt not take pains to cleanse thy heart, there is no hope
of thy salvation ; so that this is harsh, but I say it is true, it is a thing
not possible to be altered. Heuven and earth shall pass, before the truth
of this I have delivered shall pass. That man that taketh not pains to
purify himself, that man must have no hope to be saved.
Obj. But if a man object. How doth this stand true, as soon as men have
this hope they purify themselves ?
Ans. I answer. Where the Scripture speaks of hope it is a divine hope,
a work of grace that shall never disappoint a man ; for hope is upheld and
sustained by faith, as Hebrews xi. 1. For what is faith ? ' It is the sub-
stance of things hoped for.' It is that that sustains and bears up the thing
hoped for ; so that hope is a pillar that is grounded on faith. Nothing is
hoped for but what is first believed, on grounds taken from the word of
God. As in faith, there is a dead faith, and a lively faith; now it is not
every faith that saveth, but only that faith that is lively, and shews itself
THE PATTERN OF PURITY.
507
by good works ; as James saith, ' What profiteth it, my brethren, if a man
say he hath feith, and not works? can that faith save him ? No', James n.
14. Therefore the Scripture speaks of a Hvely hope, as well as of a lively
faith : * Blessed be the Lord, that hath regenerated us to a Hvely hope,"
1 Peter i. 3.
So that here is the difference between this hope and the other : the one
hath for his foundation faith, laying hold firmly on the mercies of God— it
is as sure every whit ; Christian hope, that divine grace, is a thmg as
certain and infallible as faith is ; for all that is hoped is picked from faith,
faith is the ground of the thing hoped for; so that if faith cannot be shaken,
hope cannot, which is settled upon and sustained by it.
Now, on the other side, an impure man that walks on in iniquity, what
sustains his hope ? Faith in God's promises ? No ; see God's book if
there be any promise made to such a one : ' The ^mercies of God are from
everlasting to everlasting towards them that fear him,' Ps. ciu. 17. And
in the second commandment, ' The Lord will shew mercy to thousands of
them that love him,' Exod. xxxiv. 7. There be promises that way, but
where is the least promise, the least syllable in all God's book, that if thou
continuest not in his fear he will shew thee mercy ? Nay, if a man say, I
shall be deUvered, notwithstanding I do thus and thus, the Lord will not
shew mercy to that man. Deut. xxix. 29, he says, ' Thou that thinkest thou
hast a promise of God's mercy, and hast no word to put thee in hope, but
to put thee out of hope, know the godly's hope is a work of God's Spirit
in their heart, it is sustained by a promise ;' faith in the promise makes it
God's word, and cannot fail ; but the hope of a wicked man is not upheld
by faith in the promises, but by a foolish, a presumptuous conceit that he
fancies in his own brain.
Indeed, beloved, it is a mad conceit that he hath, that he may do thus
and thus ; a strong presumption clean contrary to all that God hath set
down in his word. It is as impossible as that God should be forsworn, as
in the song of Zacharias : Luke i. 70, et seq., ' The oath that he s^\mo
unto our fathers, that we being delivered out of the hands of our enemies,
we might serve him without fear, in holiness and righteousness before him,
all the days of our life.'
It is an old oath, God sware that if thou be delivered out of the hands
of thine enemies, if thou be freed and rescued from everlasting damnation,
God hath taken an oath that thou shalt serve him. Now for a man that
will not serve him in holiness and righteousness, and yet persuade himselt
that he shall be delivered from his enemy, what hope is this ?
But you will say,.' If hope be so certain, what ditierence is there between
faith and hope, if one be as sure as the other.' Many will grant, we may
hope for salvation, but doubt whether they may believe it, they think there
be many things come between this and that. But I say, it is a loolish
distinction in respect of the point of certainty, for the certainty must ot
force be the same, for nothing is hoped for but it is first believed.
' Faith is the substance of things hoped for,' giving the strength and
sustentation to it. Therefore, Heb. vi. 19, it is called 'the hope which
we have, as an anchor of the soul, both sure and stedfast, and which
eiitereth into that which is within the veil,' that for certamty and mlalli-
bility giveth as great firmness as the anchor doth to a ship, that keeps it
from wavering ; and the reason is, hope is not like the anchor cast down-
ward, but upwards, entering into that within the veil, is pitched on Jesus
Christ, the rock of our salvation. Therefore, if we go by sea while we are
SOS
THE PATTEKN OF PUEITY.
in the sea of this world, this is it that bears us up against all surges and
billows.
_ But to the point propounded, that I may not forget to shew what is the
difference between faith and hope, if one be as sure as the other. I
answer. The difference it is not in certainty, but in another respect, that is
thus: faith is a thing that hath neither time nor place, hut makes anything
present. It puts a man as it were in real possession of eternal life ; when
he believes he hath it, he is in heaven already, but now hope carries us in
expectation of it. There is a difference between them, we must stay in
the mean time ; for now ' it doth not appear what we shall be.' Now are
we the sons of God, and faith apprehends that certainly, being an heir, I
shall have a kingdom in heaven, faith puts me in real and actual posses-
sion of that great inheritance. But stay a while, you are not there yet,
• it doth not appear what we shall be ; ' then comes hope and quahfies that.
Oh that I should be here bora to so great estate, and yet be scorned and
despised in the world, and kept so long from it ; here comes hope and
quiets it. It is a patient expectation of that which is firmly believed by
faith, that is the difference between hope and faith. Bead Eom. viii. 24 ;
there the apostle points to that difference, ' Hope that is seen is not hope :
for what a man sees, why doth he yet hope for it ? But if we hope for
that we see not, then do we with patience wait for it.' As faith, so hope
is of things unseen, hope is certain it shall enjoy the thing unseen. Where
is the difference then ? Faith puts me as it were in real possession of it,
the other makes me patiently to expect the full performance of it. If we
hope, we do certainly expect. This distinguisheth these two virtues so
near. And then this patience is a thing described by hope : 1 Thes. i. 3,
' Remembering without reasoning* your work of faith, and labour of love,
and patience of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ, in the sight of God and our
Father.' So that this patience, this expectation, this waiting, as it were,
of God's leisure, is the thing that stays the stomach in the mean time,
and that that doth distinguish this divine hope from faith. It is not the
certainty, for they are equally certain, but the one brings always with it a
settlement of the heart, with a patient expectation of the full fruition of
the thing hoped for.
Then what follows ? Nothing is so certain as the accomplishment of
God's promise. He that builds his hope on faith in God's promises, nothing
is so sure as he shall attain his desire. On the other side, he that builds
his hope on the presumptuous conceit of his own brain, there is nothing so
certain as that man's hope shall be vain, as Rom. v. 23, • We,' saith he,
' have peace with God ; ' and not only so, ' we glory in tribulations : knowing
that tribulation worketh patience; and patience, experience; and experience,
hope: and hope maketh not ashamed.' What is the meaning of that ?
^ Beloved, it is as much as if he had said, there is a difference between
divine and human hope. The one hope is, when I repose confidence in the
promise of a man, and when I look for the thing hoped for, the man breaks,
60 that my hope cannot be firmer than that I grounded on. It breaks,
I am ashamed and confounded, that I did repose my hope and con-
fidence that way; for this, see Job vi. 15, in the winter time, there
comes land floods : ' My brethren,' saith he, ' have dealt deceitful as a
brook, and as the stream of brooks they pass away ; which are black
by reason of the ice, and wherein the snow is hid : what time they
wax warm, they vanish away: when it is hot, they are consumed out of
* Qu. ' ceasing ' ? — Ed.
THE PATTERN OF PUKITY. 509
their place. The paths of their ways are turned aside; they go to nothing,
and perish. The troops of Tama looked, the companies of Sheba waited
for them. They were confomided, because they hoped; they came thither,
and were ashamed.' In the winter time, when waters abound and there is
no need of waters, there will be a mighty stream, but in summer being
parched with heat, he turns himself thither, and there is no water to
be found, he is ashamed ; when a man's hope is disappointed, it makes
him ashamed.
Then here is the difference between the hope of God's child, that puri-
fieth himself, and of an impure person ; when the time comes he shall have
need of hope, his hope is gone, as this hope will, that he shall be saved,
though he purify not himself. The devil may continue it as long as he
continues, but come to death, there is the difference, he is ashamed and
disappointed. You see, Prov. x. 18, which is cited there, ' The hope of
the righteous shall be gladness, but the expectation of the wicked shall
perish;' that is, thou mayest hope for salvation, as well as God's children,
but what is the difference ? ' The hope of the righteous shall be gladness,
but the expectation of the wicked shall perish.' Again, chap. si. 7,
* When the wicked dies, his expectation shall perish, and the hope of
unjust men perisheth.' So they have a hope, but a hope that shall perish
as well as themselves, that shall be quite gone at the time of their death.
Therefore, Job xxvii. 8, saith he, ' What is the hope of the hypocrite,
though he hath gained, when God taketh away his soul ?' Give me that
hope that I shall have the comfort of when God takes away my soul. Now,
while thou art in this world, thou hast a hope as strong as God's child, and
thou wilt not be beaten from it, but when the Lord takes away thy soul
what wilt thou get by it ? It shall stick upon the world without end ; it shall
vex and gnaw thy soul, that thou shouldst stick to a hope that deceived thee.
So you see what a case a man is in that takes no pains to purify. We
can speak no more to a man's discomfort than to tell him thou canst have
no hope. It is said of the Gentiles, before they knew Christ, ' they were
strangers from the commonwealth of Israel, being without hope in the
world,' Eph. ii. 12 ; and that is thy case. Let not the devil feed thee
with a false hope, and say thou shalt be like Christ in glory, though thou
art not like Christ in purity in this world. It is false, it cannot be ; thou
art in the case of a very Turk, notwithstanding thou hearest much of the
Lord Jesus ; thou hast received baptism, yet as yet there is no hope for
thee unless thou repent. I beseech you, as you tender your own salvation,
yield to the truth of God's word. Let not Satan lead you on, and train
you to destruction, to think that things may be otherwise than this preacher
speaks, as the oracles of God. If we say that a man that purifies not him-
self cannot have hope, this is confirmed in heaven ; whosoever hath this
vain hope shall be ashamed. Therefore every one that hath this divine
hope, that looks to be saved, to be like Christ in glory, he must without
delay purify himself. So much for the workman.
Now, to come to the work. Then, what is the work ? ' To purify him-
self.' * Every one that hath this hope,' &c.
Doct. 2. Whosoever hopes to he saved, must set himself upon this work, to
purify himself. But here is as great a difficulty as the other. Doth it lie
in the power of a man to purify himself ? That is the work of God ; and
that David knew well enough, as in the 51st Ps., ver. 10, ' Create in me a
clean heart, 0 God, and renew a right spirit within me ; ' and we know it is
the gi'eat purchase of Christ ; they are purified that are purchased by him.
510 THK PATTERN OF PURITY.
You must not make one truth of God to destroy another ; therefore, for
the clearing of it, consider what the apostle writes to them : Philip, ii. 12,
' Work out your salvation with fear and trembling. For it is God that
worketh in you, both to will and to do of his good pleasure.' Mark how
one depends on another, and then you shall see these things may stand
very well together : ' work out 5'our own salvation with fear and trembling.'
We must go about the work ; but why so ? ' For it is God that worketh in
you both to will and to do of his good pleasure.'
The meaning is, God doth not work things in us or with us, as we do
with a spade or a shovel ; that is, that we shall be mere patients only, but
he works with us suitably to the reasonable soul he hath bestowed upon us.
He hath given us understanding and will, so, though the Lord be the first
mover and worker, and that we are not able to do anything, yet notwith-
standing, as soon as God's grace hath seized on us, presently it puts us on
doing ; what God worketh in thee, thou must work thyself.
Therefore know, that when God finds a man at the first, when he is with-
out grace, he is not able to stir, nor to do anything; talk'of purifying
himself, you may as well talk to a dead man. When God first visits with
grace, we are not able to work, to do anything, why, we are stark dead ;
as it is said, ' And j'ou that were dead in trespasses and sins hath he
quickened,' Eph. ii. 1, so that God comes first, and finds a man stark
dead. He may work natural works, civil works, moral works, but to do
works he shall find in heaven, to lay a foundation for the time to come, he
is able to do nothing of that ; for things of heaven, he is utterly dead in
sins and trespasses. Therefore, John v. 25, it is said, ' The hour is
coming, and now is, that the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God :
and as many as hear his voice shall live ; ' that is, the force of God's
quickening Spirit, the voice of Jesus Christ coming to a dead man, the
powerful word of God, seconded with the lively Spirit of Jesus Christ, this
finding a dead man conveys life into him, that presently he begins to hear
and see. Though first there be an influence of life coming to us from
Christ Jesus, yet presently, as soon as life is infused, wherein we are mere
patients, presently, I say, as soon as the life of grace is come, we hear,
and do, and work, though God works the first act of a man's conversion,
' Behold, I stand at the door and knock,' saith God ; ' if any man opens, I
will come in ; ' as soon as grace is infused, let me come in, Christ is there,
and thou wert not aware of him.
But as soon as a stock of grace is given, presently, thy will must work,
and thou must say. Lord, come in ; he knocks as soon as thou hast grace,
he enables thee to give a will, that thou mayest open. Though principally
God, yet there is a concurrence between God and thee ; and this is grace,
when thy will is made active and able to do things, that now the things
done by God's grace are attributed to men. Ezek. xviii. 31, God says,
' Cast away from you all your transgressions, and make you a new heart
and a new spirit : for why will ye die, 0 house of Israel ? ' make you a
new heart. So in 2 Cor. vii. 1, saith God, ' Having therefore these pro-
mises, let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, per-
fecting holiness in the fear of God.' So that here is grace indeed, when
thy will is enabled to open to Christ, to repent, to believe, to pray to Christ
thyself. This is a thing needful to be stood on, because many will be very
willing to hear that on God's part ; Oh, if God will send grace, that they
may not be put to take pains, then all is well, they like that well. But if
thou hast hope, thou must work thyself, not as if thou didst it of thyself,
THE PATTERN OF PURITY. 511
no, God hath given thee ability, he hath given thee life, he would have
thee go about thy business, he gives a stock whereby thy will is freed to do
so much as God will accept ; thou shalt have power to do that which God
will accept of as well as the best service. I alway remember that place,
Eev. iii. 8, * I know thy works : behold, I have set before thee an open
door, and no man can shut it : for thou hast a little strength, and hast
kept my word, and hast not denied my name.' Mark, oh, if I had so
much grace as others, I would purify myself ; nay, but hast thou any
strength, a little grace ? Be not a dastard, a coward, but resolve in the
work God hath called thee to and then thou wilt do' it.
' Thou hast kept my word,' a little strength and a good heart will do it.
Thou idle servant, that which thou countest little is a talent, it is a gift fit
for the great King of heaven and earth, it will carry thee far, if thou hast not
a deceitful heart ; if thou hast an upright heart, God giveth thee strength,
that thou mayest purify thyself, as he is pure. But M'herefore serves
grace ?
If the Lord have given grace, he will not have thee idle, but this grace
- frees the will, that thou must go about the work with success. Therefore,
I beseech you, that ye be not deluded by this, so making one truth oppose
another. When the Son visits with grace, thou art free ; wherefore comes
the Son ? To make thee free. Thou hast thy will bound up, thou
couldest not affect* the ways of God ; the Son of God hath freed this will,
and now requires that thou shouldst use it, to purify thyself as he is pure ;
so for that point it is clear.
Now for this, that a man should purify himself, what need I bring many
arguments ; if the first will not do it, nothing will do it ; if thou doest not,
thou art lost, there is no hope.
1. This must be done ; and then, 2. It may be done.
Therefore God gives his Spirit and gi-ace, that though the work comes
originally from him, ' For except the Lord build the house, they labour in
vain that build it,' Ps. cxxvii. 1, yet if a man say, I will do nothing except
the Lord build the house, let him build it if he will have it built. No ; the
Lord will have it built, but thou must be a workman. ' The foundation of
God standeth sure. The Lord knoweth who are his. And let every one
that nameth the name of Christ depart from iniquity,' 2 Tim. ii. 19. The
foundation of God standeth sure ; the Lord knoweth who shall believe in
him. There is a privy seal put to this, ' the Lord knoweth who are his ; '
but there is never a seal, but this purging that is for letters patent that be
open ; this is not a close rule, but thou mayest view and read it thyself;
' and let every one that nameth the name of Christ depart from iniquity.'
There is the broad seal, whereby I may know that I am one of the
number, that I shall appear in glory when Christ appears. Therefore if a
man purge himself from these, he shall be a vessel to honour, sanctified
and meet for the Master's use, and prepared for every good work.
Mark how a man works actively and passively. He is ' prepared and
sanctified for the master's use,' but is he a mere patient ? No ; he must
purge himself from these things. So there must be an active and passive
working. When the Lord hath done the first work, the Lord looks thou
shouldst put thine hand to, and be doing ; but I say, there is no hope if
I do not take pains, and therefore I must of necessity purify myself. All
the matter is now, seeing it cannot be avoided, it must be done, and is
facible.
* That is, ' choose.' — G.
512 . THE PATTERN OF PURITY.
How may it be done ?
Resolve on the thing, that it must be done, and then I will give directions
how to do it. The examples of the world are like a stream that carries a
man clean out of the way of purity ; but seeing there is no way but that I
must, through good report and bad report, what must I do then ?
1. Remember we come to do service to a Father ; that is, for encourage-
ment. God did of his own free accord, not for any goodness in us, cast
his love on us ; he hath adopted thee for his son ; he puts thee about his
work ; he will spare thee, as a man spareth his own son. This is thy case,
thou art not like a mercenary servant, that is only to earn his wages ; thou
hast it by inheritance, because thou art a son, and the Lord looketh for
filial, and no servile service of thee. If a servant doth not his work, the
master puts him off, and takes a better ; but God doth not stand with thee
on the strict observance of the law, as if he were to reckon with thee for
wages, the Lord requires that thou do thy best, and the Lord will spare
thee. Go truly and painfully* about thy work with the strength God hath
given thee ; the Lord will spare thee, and will not turn thee off, and take
another, but will deal with thee as with his son ; he takes it in good part
when thou doest thy best : that is for thy encouragement. The keeping of
God's word, as he will accept, may be done with a little strength : then how
shall I do ?
(1.) First, Go to the fountain ; let the cock run. What is the fountain of all
cleanness ? The blood of Christ ; as Rev. i. 5, ' Unto him that loved us,
and washed us from our sins in his blood.' There is the first thing, begin
with faith. It is the blood of Jesus Christ that must wash me from
sin. Thou must not go like a moral man, to labour by multitude of acts
to get a new habit ; but thou must work from another principle : all this
cleansing must come from the blood of Jesus Christ. And how may I apply
this ? By faith. So thou must go every morning, and present thy soul
before the Lord, and look on him crucified, and say, Lord, thou didst shed
thy blood to cleanse my soul from the spots of sin ; have faith, rinse f thy
soul, as it were, in the blood of this immaculate Lamb ; apply the blood of
Jesus Christ not only for justification to free thee from the guilt of sin, but
let faith work, as it may be applied for sanctification, to wash away the
spots and pollutions of sin. This is certainly the most effectual means that
can be imagined. Go to the well-head ; look to that main and principal
beginning, like a Christian, and not like a moral man ; that though thou
art polluted and defiled, yet the blood of the Lord Jesus will purge thee
from all sin, spot as well as guilt, as we see written, Heb. ix. 13, 14 ; ' For
if the blood of bulls and goats, and the ashes of an heifer sprinkhng the
unclean, sanctifieth to the purifying of the flesh ; how much more shall the
blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without spot
to God, purge your consciences from dead works to serve the living God.'
Mark that. You talk of a purgatory : there is the purgatory. That true
purgatory is the fountain that is laid open for the house of Judah to wash
in : serving not only for expiation of thy sin, that it shall not be laid to
thy charge, but it serves to purge thy conscience from dead works to serve
the living God. It is as effectual for sanctification, being applied by faith,
as it is for justification.
Therefore, as I may speak with reverence, make thy breakfast, as I may
say, every morning, of the flesh and blood of Jesus Christ, and this will
give thee more life, more ability, and strength, the multiplying and con-
* That is, ' painstakingly.' — G. \ Spelled ' ranee.' — G
THE PATTERN OF PURITY. 513
tinual repetition every day of the act of faith, laying hold on Christ's body
broken, his blood shed. It is a most effectual means ; try it, and you shall
find the experience of it.
(2.) No means in the world so eflfectual than, when a man would go to
Christ, to look to Ids ordinances. What are they ? His word and his sacra-
ments. Come like a Christian, and not like a moral man. Go to the
fountain for justification and sanctification where it may be had, thou shalt
find then greater effects than ordinary. Then for the word, it is an effec-
tual means whereby we may purify ourselves : we may read Eph. v. 26,
' Even as Christ loved his church, and gave himself for it, that he might
sanctify and cleanse it, with the washing of water by the word.' The blood
of Jesus Christ washeth thee, there is the main washing ; but notwithstand-
ing, there be certain conduits and pipes, whereby the virtue of this is con-
veyed. Christ doth sanctify and purify thee, by washing, by water, by the
word ; so that when a man comes with faith in his word, in his promises,
this is a special means. Note one place more : John xv. 2, ' Every branch
in me that beareth not fruit, he taketh away, and every branch that bear-
eth fruit, he purgeth it, that it may bring forth more fruit.' ' Now you are
clean through the word that I have spoken unto you :' nothing is more
plain ; the word of God taken with faith is a special ordinance, whereby
thou mayest come to purify thy heart. But how is that ? How may I
apply the word thus ?
1. First, Consider the word of God is a word of power. When thou
comest to the ministiy of the word, remember that God hath made them
able ministers of the Spirit, not only of the letter. Christ is with them to
the end of the world. They are not only such as do prescribe barely this
and that, and give no strength. No ; we are ministers sealed : the Lord
accompanies the external ministry of the word with the internal power of
his Spirit, that when thou comest to church, thou comest only for the
ordinance sake ; the Lord hath pleased to make that a door of grace effec-
tual, and he shall not only barely command, but he shall be a minister of
the Spirit, shall enable me to do the things God requires. Oh, if a man
come as to a market of grace, and say. Lord, thou, thou hast commanded
me to come, and to expect from their mouth the donation of the Spirit,
thou hast touched their tongue with the fire of thy blessed Spirit, to shew
that that shall be a means to convey grace. Now if a man could come
thus, the word would go far, and be very effectual, whereas we come now to
hear rather a lecture of moral philosophy than for God's Spirit.
2. Again, The promises in the ivord of God, \vhen thou dost apprehend
them spiritually, they are a wonderful means to purge. Many think that they
should apprehend only the promises of justification. Nay, faith extends ;
wheresoever God hath a tongue in his word, there faith hath an ear to
hear, and a hand to lay hold on. The oath that he swore to our forefathers,
that we should serve him in holiness and righteousness before him all the
days of our life : there is a word God hath sworn, that I shall serve the
Lord Jesus ; and beloved, if this be a word of truth, and if my faith can
apprehend and apply it, notwithstanding many difficulties, though there be
oppositions of men and angels, I am yet to wrestle with principalities and
powers. But look to the Lord, the Lord hath sworn thou shalt serve him,
all thine enemies shall not hinder. Where is thy feith now ? Bring faith
to this promise, this oath of God : and what will it make a man do ? It
will make us go out against all oppositions, though we have walls of brass
and chariots of iron against us. But hath God said they shall go out ?
VOL. VII. ^ '^
514 THE PATTERN OF PURITY.
Lay hold on that ; believe that as firmly as thou wilt believe the promise
of justification. So the word of God will be made a wonderful effectual
means ; only let us come, like believers, like true Christians, and the Lord
will do wonders, above all we can imagine and think, if we can come in the
right way. Well, that is the word.
3. But the Lord hath appointed his sacraments. It is a strange thing
that the first sacrament of regeneration there should be so little use made
of it. It is a popish error, and cannot be yet weeded out of men's hearts.
They think, what is in baptism ? It washeth aw^ay what is there for the
present, but it serves for no other matter to purify afterward ; a gross and
popish error. You must know it hath virtue and effect, that must be made
useful for cleansing thyself even at this hour: as Kom. vi. 1-4, 'What
shall we say then ? Shall we continue in sin, that grace may abound ? God
forbid. How shall we that are dead to sin, live any longer therein ? Know
you not that as many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ were bap-
tized unto his death ? Therefore we are buried with him in baptism into
death ; that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the
Father, even so we should also walk in newness of life.' Mark how the
apostle fetches his ground and foundation from baptism, not as past, but
as having present operation and force. If thou hast faith to overcome thy
corruptions now, the force and effect of baptism is in thee ; it hath a regard
for the time to come, as well as for the time past ; therefore say. Lord,
thou hast appointed thy blessed sacraments, to be a seal for the confirma-
tion of thy promises which thou hast made, that I should be washed ;
Lord, I present thy word, thy own seal ; I beseech thee, make it good to
my soul. So that if a man look to his baptism, and present it to the Lord,
I say, it will be a more effectual means of cleansing thee, than if thou look
back, and apply it only for thy present state at the time of baptism ; and
BO of the Lord's Supper. But I cannot go to particulars, these be the
main things.
First, Remember to whom thou goest, to a Father; then go to Jesus
Christ, then to his word and promises, then make use of his seals and his
blessed sacraments, sue God of his word and deed, challenge them, and
when thou art thus prepared,
3. Then go and read a lecture to thyself of watchfulness. What it is to
watch, that implies when a man is in great danger to be surprised, that all
is untrusty within him, and false abroad; then reason, I had need of a
strong watch of every side ; I have a false nature, and this flesh of mine is
ready to betray me into the hands of the world and of the devil ; therefore
there must be a marvellous strong guard. I must not suffer my affections
to rove, that is the way to bring in the devil, even seven devils, whereas if I
keep a watch all will be well. James i. 14, it is said, when a man is tempted,
he is tempted of his own lust, but is he not sometimes with the world and
the devil ? No ; all the temptations of the world and devil will do no hurt.
Look to that within ; there is a concupiscence ; the world and devil cannot
tempt thee but by working on thine own lusts ; therefore look to thyself
within, that there be no parley, no intercourse between them. Make a
covenant with thine eyes, with thy tongue : perhaps thou wilt go to a place
where there is nothing but filthiness; is this watchfulness? Dost thou
know the corruption of thine own nature ? ' Be not deceived, evil words
corrupt good manners;' put what gloss thou wilt upon them, evil words
shew an evil heart, and evil words and an evil heart, hid before in the
cinders, now make a great flame. Therefore seeing this corruption will
THE PATTERN OF PURITY. 515
not be wholly weeded out, yet it must be kept under, that the forces
without may not join with them within.
Oh, much ado we have to keep ourselves from being surprised within.
Then suppose the devil comes not as to Eve, but to Adam, for Adam's
temptation was more dangerous than Eve's. If the devil comes in his
own colours, then it is nothing, every one will flee from him; but he comes
as to Adam, by the woman, perhaps by a friend, by a great man. Let us
know when there is any temptation, any motion this way, this is a way to
let in these and these enemies: as 2 Kings vi. 32, ' Elisha sat in his
house, and the elders sat with him, and the king sent a man before him ;
he said to the elders, see how this son of a murderer hath sent to take
away my head, look when the messenger comes, shut the door, and hold
him fast at the door: Is not the sound of his master's feet behind him?'
Mark, let this be thy case: within, thou hast a false heart; there is danger
without; one comes and entices thee to do this and that; what shalt thou
do ? Shalt thou entertain and listen to, and suffer this treacherous motion
to enter into thy soul? Let not thy lust lay hold on it within, then care
not for a thousand devils, for ten thousand worlds, for ' the feet of his
master follows, his master ' the devil will be there presently, on the first
motion.
A man that hath this resolution to suppress sin at the first motion, as
soon as it is born, — resolving, I will shut the door, there is the feet of the
devil behind, that will murder my soul, — shall find comfort. And then
again, a man that is resolved not to live in any known sin (perhaps there
be some sins of infirmity that will stick to a man's soul), but there be sins
that waste the soul, uncleanness, swearing, extortion, and especially such
sins as we are subject unto by our calling, and the course we follow, utterly
unlawful and unwarrantable, and known by the word of God to be so. As
if a man make a trade of living on usury, this is a sin goes with me all the
days of my life; it is with me waking and sleeping, a main sin that com-
passeth me round. If thou mean to purge thyself, thou must not live in
any one known sin, for that wastes grace. When a man multiphes sin, he
increaseth the stock of original corruption. There is nothing more sure
than that we say, that original corruption is equal in all. It is true natu-
rally. Every man's face answereth to his neighbour's, as face to face in
water ; none better than the other ; but though there be an equality that
way, I may add weight myself. Two men are weighed, they are just alike
heavy ; hut if one of them contract his spirits, he oversways* the other ; if
he add his will to his natural poise, he is heavier than the other. So, not-
withstanding, the wickedness of sin is perhaps as much in one as another ;
yet when I use my will, and multiply and repeat, that is a sign that custom
of sin hardens the heart, and makes the stain and spot grow deeper, that
now thou canst not wash it out. Therefore be sure, if thou wilt go to
heaven, that thou do not continue one hour in any known sin, for the more
thou dost, the more thou strengthenest thyself in sin.
I should now go to the third point, the pattern to which we should con-
form ourselves. The glass we should imitate is our Saviour Jesus Christ,
as he is pure. It is not meant thou shouldst ever hope to be as pure in
quantity. As is not a note of quantity, but of quality, it shews a likeness.
* Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven ;' that is, as by the angels in
heaven, cheerfully, readily, and willingly, though not in the same quantity;
so that the life of our Saviour Jesus Christ, and the word of God, must be
* That is, = ' outweighs.' — G.
515 THE PATTERN OF PURIXY.
our pattern. But you will say, How am I able to attain to this ? I answer,
the law of God prescribes to us a perfect form of obedience, though it be
not possible for me to fulfil it, and so the life of our Saviour Christ, we
are not able to express the virtues in him, and his purity; yet there cannot
be a better pattern than the law, and the life of our Saviour Christ.
A man that would have his child to write a fair hand, he will not give
him an ill copy to write by, but as fair as may be, though there be no
possibility the child should write so well as it. So we cannot possibly
attain to that purity in Christ, yet the copy must be fair. Scholars, if
they will have an elegant style, they set the best orators before them.
Thus, though the law of God be perfect, though such a thing as a man is
not able to fulfil, yet it is a fit pattern; the copy must be fair, that I may
mend my hand by it.
And thus, if we go on following our pattern, as the scholar's hand, by
practice, mends every day, though it never come near the copy, so shall we
grow in grace ; for, as the prophet speaks, * then shall we know if we go
on in knowing,' Hos. vi. 3. A Christian must mend his pace every day,
as he learns his Master's will, so to be transformed into the image thereof,
that the virtues of God may shine forth in him, that his ' path may be
brighter and brighter unto the perfect day,' Prov. iv. 18, and towards that
measure of the age of the fulness of Christ Jesus. But I cannot now press
the point further, because of the time.
THE BEAST'S DOMINION OVER EARTHLY
KINGS.*
For God hath put into their hearts to fulfil his will, and to agree to give up
their kingdoms to the beast, until the word of God shall be fulfilled. — Rev.
XVII. 17.
The occasion of this day's solemnity hath been long and well known, and
we have often in this place spoken of it ; and it were a thing not unseason-
able for the day to set out in its lively colours that facinorousf act, which
will scarcely be credible to posterity. It exceeds my conceit to set it out
in the right colours. I have therefore taken a text tending that way, and
serving for our present purpose.
It pleaseth our blessed Saviour, out of his love to his church, not only
to give directions what to do and what not to do, what to believe and what
not to believe, but to foretell likewise all future calamities, that so the church
might be fore-armed, and might not be surprised with terror upon the sight
of some sudden or strange accident, as especially the flourishing estate of
Antichrist. He therefore foretells all, both the beginning, the growth, the
strength, the proceeding, and at last the destruction of that man of sin.
The church in this world is always under some prophecy, it is always
under somewhat that is unfulfilled ; for until we come to heaven, there is
not an accomplishment of all prophecies.
This Book is a setting down of prophecies of futm'e events to the end of
the world.
* 'The Beast's Dominion' is one of the three gunpowder-plot anniversary ser-
mons contained in 'Evangelical Sacrifices' (4to, 1640). Its separate title-page is
as follows : — ' The Beasts Dominion over Earthly Kings. A Sermon preached upon
the 5th of November, in remembrance of Our Deliverance from the Papists Powder-
Treason. By the late Learned and Keverend Divine, Kich. Sibbs. Doctor in
Divinity, Mr. of Katherin^ Hall in Cambridge, and sometimes Preacher to the
Honourable Society of Grayes-Iune. Eevel. 16. 14. For they are the Spirits of
Devils working Miracles, which goe forth to the Kings of the earth. London,
Printed by T. B. for N. Bourne, at the Koyall Exchange, and R. Harford, at the
Bible in Queenes-head Alley in Pater-noster-Row. 1639.' As explaining and
qualifying the unmeasured language of the present and kindred sermons, it may be
permitted me to refer to my Memoir of Dr Sibbes, Vol. I. p. Ixiii. — G.
t That is, ' wicked to excess.' — G.
518 THE beast's dominion
This chapter sets out in lively colours the state of the pontificality, the
state of Kome, under the bishop of Eome, the pope, and not the state of
Eome under the heathen emperors. It sets down likewise the judgment
of God in this life upon this beast, and upon the whore that sits upon the
beast.
The description is large in the former part of the chapter. It would
take up a great deal of time to unfold that ; but because I have divers other
things to speak of, I will pass that by.
The judgment of God upon the beast and whore, is set down partly in
the verse before the text : ' The ten horns which thou sawest upon the
beast shall hate the whore, and make her desolate and naked, and shall
eat her flesh, and burn her with fire. For God hath put into their hearts
to fulfil his will, and to agree to give up their kingdoms to the beast,' &c.
Here the judgment is set down, what it is and by whom it shall be : by
the ten horns, that is, the ten kings. And, secondly, what they shall do;
and that is set down in order.
First, These ten horns, these ten kings, western kings, ' they shall hate
the whore.'
Hatred is the beginning of all actions that are offensive ; for it is the
strongest and stiffest afiection of ill, as love is the strongest of good afiec-
tions. ' They shall hate the whore;' it is not only anger, but hatred.
'They shall make her desolate and naked:' that is the second degree.
They shall leave her; they shall strip this strumpet of her ornaments and
strength, whereby she set out herself.
' They shall eat her flesh:' that is the third. That is, what they have
given her before to enrich her withal, that which made her in such well
liking, that which commended her, that which is her living, the riches
of the pope's clergy, gotten, most of it, by ill means, they shall take
from her.
But that is not all, but there is a higher degree than all this : * they shall
burn the whore with fire.'
So that in the foregoing verse you see is set down what the judgment is,
and who shall be the executioners of this judgment.
But why must all this come to pass ? He riseth to the highest cause :
* God hath put into their hearts to fulfil his will, and to agree with one
consent^ to give their kingdoms to the beast.' God afterwards put into
their minds to hate the beast.
So that in this verse is the severity and the mercy of God, his justice
and his goodness. His severity in putting into the hearts of these kings
to agree with one consent to give up their kingdoms to the beast. A great
judgment so to besot them. But here is a limitation of that severity at
last, till the time come, until the word of God shall be fulfilled ; that is,
until they shall cease to be thus deluded by the bishop of Rome, and then
they shall begin to hate the whore as much as ever they were deluded by
her, * and shall eat her flesh, and consume her with fire.'
For the explication of these words, they being somewhat hard, I will
spend a little time to unfold them. And, first, I must shew who is this
beast.
' For God hath put into their hearts to fulfil his will, and to agree to give
up their kingdoms to the beast.'
The beast is mentioned in three places in the Revelation : in the ninth
chapter there is mention of the beast coming out of the bottomless pit ;
and in the thirteenth, of the beast that rose out of the sea ; and here in
OVER EARTHLY KINGS. 519
tliis seventeenth, of a scarlet- coloured beast, ' having seven heads and ten
horns.'
The beast, in a word, is the state of Rome, sometime under the
heathenish emperors, sometime under the pontificality. The question is,
Whether the beast here spoken of be the state of Rome under the Roman
persecuting emperors before Christianity prevailed much, or the state of
Rome under the usurpation of the bishop of Rome ?
I answer, undoubtedly it is here meant of the state of Rome as it is
upheld, the whore; the beast, that beast; for it is meant here of one that
seduced by lying miracles, of one that should come in a mystery, of one
that should deal with fornication and such courses.
Now heathenish Rome, it overcame men by violence and by force, and
not by whorish insinuations, by drawing them on to idolatry. It is said
in the fifth verse that upon her forehead was a name written, ' Mystery,
Babylon the Great, Mother of Harlots.' Babylon in a mystery, and this
mystery is a great word too with them. The mystery of the mass ; in
everything there is a mystery ; all their ceremonies are mysteries. This
word ' mystery' therefore, in the forehead of the whore, sheweth what beast
it is that is here meant.
It is observed by divers writers, that in the frontlet of the pope's diadem
there is written this name, ' Mysterium,' as in Julius the Second's time ;
but afterwards, when they smelled that he was construed thereby to be the
very whore, they razed out that, and put in Julius Secundus, &c.*
< And she sits upon many waters.' * She sits.' Mark, the Spirit of
God will not suffer us to err. What is the regiment f of the pope called?
' Sitting.' Such a pope sat so long ; the whore sits in the very phrase.
And what is the seat called ? The see of Rome, the see of antichrist.
Divers other particular things there are to shew that he means Rome, that
is, the state of Rome under the bishop of Rome, to be the beast here
spoken of.
Especially considering the connection of this chapter with that follow-
ing, where is set down the final destruction of this beast. Now we know
that heathenish Rome ended long ago ; therefore that beast which is here
meant must needs be that which follows in the next chapter, and therefore
it must needs be Rome as it is under the bishop, the pope of Rome.
It is said in the thirteenth chapter that this beast made the former beast
to speak, did enliven and quicken the former beast. So indeed this beast,
Rome considered under the pope, which succeeds that beast, Rome as it
was under the Roman emperors, quickens the former beast ; for now all is
as glorious as ever it was in heathenish Rome. For after that the Goths
and Vandals had possessed Rome, the pope put some life into the empire
of Rome, and did himself become emperor. For indeed the emperor of
Germany, though he be entitled King of Rome, yet that is but a mere
titular thing; the eagle is deplumed of her feathers, of her authority; it
is only the title he bears. And if any emperor come to Rome, the pope
will make him swear fealty ; and he must not long stay in Rome, he can-
not endure that.
And it is well said in the Revelation that this beast is the image of the
former beast, for the pope is altogether like the emperors almost in every-
thing. For the emperors were crowned, the pope for failing hath three
crowns ; the emperors had their scarlet, this is a purple-coloured whore in
scarlet. They spake the I.atin tongue, and forced all nations almost to
* Cf. note d, Vol. V. p. 539.— G. t That is, ' government.'— G.
520 THE beast's dominion
speak Latin, as a monument of their slavery ; so all in the popish church
is in Latin, their prayers in Latin, all in Latin, even for the simple and
sottish people to use. Ancient heathen Rome had their grave senators,
the pope hath his cardinals. The heathen emperors, as Domitian and
others, would be adored as gods ; so likewise is the pope of Rome adored.
And mark the slight, he hath a crucifix upon his feet, and kings must kiss
that; and so with adoring of the cross they adore his person, as they did
Heliodorus, that heathen emperor (a). Thus in everything almost they
agree with ancient Rome, and in many other things I might run over their
likeness to the former beast.
Now this beast, to describe him a little better, that we might know what
these kings did, when they gave up their kingdoms and thrones to the
beast, it is said in the thirteenth chapter that the dragon gave power to
the beast. The dragon is the devil ; and as he wrought effectually in the
former beast in heathen Rome, to make war with the saints, so is this
beast, pontifical Rome, stirred up, and acted by the devil, the dragon, to
persecute the church. So that tlais beast hath the power and the spirit of
the dragon, the devil himself.
And that you may discern that I do them no wrong, consider how the
dragon and this beast, which is moved, and led, and acted by the spirit of
the dragon, agree in their courses. I will name two or three to you.
The dragon's course is to make us distrust God. You know how in
paradise he taught our first parents to distrust the word of God : * Ye
shall be as gods, knowing good and evil,' Gen. iii. 5. So the force of
popery is to dishonour and to discredit God's truth, to put out the
people's eyes, to lead them blindfold, to make the Scripture a matter of
error and heresy, and bid the people take heed of it ; as if God meant to
deceive them, to go beyond them in giving them his word; as though it
were not a word of salvation. As the dragon himself said to Christ, ' If
thou wilt fall down and worship me, all these will I give thee,' Mat. iv. 9,
so the pope takes upon him the dragon's power. These that will be good
sons of their church, these and these preferments will he give them, when
he hatk as much right to them as the devil had to those.
The devil fell from heaven at the preaching of the word, at the preaching
of the gospel. The apostles, when they returned from preaching, told our
Saviour that they saw Satan fall down like lightning (b). So antichrist
falls by the preaching of the gospel, by the breath of the Lord's mouth.
He is not able to stand before it no more than Dagon before the ark. The
word preached is as fire to consume him. So he is like the dragon in that.
In disposition he is like the dragon. The devil is a liar and a murderer
from the beginning, the father of lies. So likewise the pope is a liar ; all
popery is nothing but lies. Therefore, 2 Thes. ii. 11, it is said, 'they
are given over to believe lies.' Popery is a grand lie. It is a lie in the
primacy;* for it came in by forgery and intrusion. It is a lie in purga-
tory, which is a mere conceit. It is a lie in their miracles, which they
have devised to maintain their false worship with. It is a lie in their
works of supererogation, that they can fulfil more than the Law requireth.
So that all popery, consider it distinctly from our religion, because they
have that which we have, and some patches of their own, consider it by
itself, it is a mere lie.
Besides that, they maintain the doctrine of equivocation, which is a lie,
a justifier of lies, which is worst of all.
* That is, ia the pope as claiming to be successor of Peter. — G.
OVER EARTHLY KINGS.
621
'And to murder: this present day and occasion tells us that murders
come from them. Their doctrine maintains it ; and they make orations in
commendations of traitors, as Sixtus Quintus did in praise of him that
killed Henry the Third, king of France, and the bloody massacre of France
is pictured up in the pope's court (c). As the devil is a liar and a mur-
derer, so is this son of the devil, who is led by the spirit of the dragon ; in
disposition they are alike.
In course of life they are alike. The dragon is said to draw the third
part of the stars of heaven down to the earth ; that is, to draw men which
were as the stars of heaven, to make them deny their religion. So this
dragon, this pope, the instrument and vassal of Satan, he draws the third
part of the stars from heaven, and he draws men from the love of the truth
by preferment and honour. Men that are learned, men that are otherwise
of excellent parts, he draws them from heaven to earth ; that is, he draws
them from the knowledge of the truth and goodness to earth, and lower
than earth too if they do not repent, even to hell itself, from whence he
came. Thus I might go on to shew that this beast is Ronie under the
pontificality, and not Rome under the heathen emperors ; likewise that
this beast is acted, led, and guided by the spirit of the dragon, by reason
of the resemblance which it holds parallel with him in these and other
things. So much for explication of this beast.
But why is the state of Rome called the beast ?
Daniel first knew the great empires : the one of Babylon, called a lion ;
the Persian monarchy, a bear ; the Grecian, a leopard ; but here in this
chapter is a strange beast, that hath all the cruelty and fierceness of all
those monarchies, called therefore a beast for her fierceness and cruelty.
God's church, they are sheep and lambs. Christ himself the Lamb of
God ; the opposite church of antichrist, a beast, a cruel beast. If you
go to plants, God's church are lilies ; the opposite kingdom are thorns.
If you go to fowls, God's church are doves, turtles, mild and gentle ; the
opposite church are eagles and birds of prey.
But I say they are called beasts for their cruelty. The state of Rome
under those heathenish emperors was a beast ; and in those ten persecu-
tions the emperors are rightly called beasts. So likewise Rome papal is a
beast. Our religion, true religion entertained, makes of beasts men ; the
true knowledge of Christ alters their natures, turns lions into lambs, as the
prophet saith, Isa. xi. 6. But the popish religion, it makes of men beasts,
makes them worse than themselves. For these gunpowder traitors, many
of them, as they were by birth gentlemen, so their dispositions were gentle
and mild, divers of them, not of the worst dispositions, only that bloody
religion made them worse than their nature was. So I say papal Rome is
a beast, and popish religion makes men beasts.
Well, I will not enlarge myself in the uses of this point, because I shall
speak of it afterward, if the time will give me leave, only this, have nothing
to do with this beast, keep out of her paws, keep out of her claws. A lion,
or a cruel beast, may seem to be calm for a while, but a lion will, as we
say, shew a lion's trick once a year. Meddle not, therefore, with this beast.
It is a beast. So much for that, what the beast is, the state of Rome
under the bishop of Rome.
« For God hath put into their hearts to fulfil his will, and to agree to
give up their kingdoms to the beast.'
Whose ? The angel sets down in the verse before, ' the ten horns, the
ten kings, the ten western kings.' Whether it be a certain number for an
522 THE beast's dominion
uncertain, or whether It be a certain number, I will not dispute of now,
but take it so as it cannot be disputed against, a certain number for an
uncertain. A number of the western kings gave up their kingdoms for a
while to the beast, until the word of God should be fulfilled.
But mark the phrase, * God put it into their hearts to give up their
kingdoms to the beast.' Will God put it into their hearts to give up their
kingdoms to the beast ? Wh}^ then, the pope of Rome need not pretend
Constantino's donation,* that he three hundred years after Christ gave
unto them many territories about Rome ; but they may depend upon a
higher donation, ' God put it into the hearts of the kings to give up their
kingdoms to the beasts.' Here is a higher title than the donation of
Constantino.
But we must know that this is not meant, as if God gave him a right
by putting into the hearts of the kings to give up their kingdoms to the
beast, but God seeing these ten horns, these ten kings to be in a sinful
estate, who deserved to be left of him, and to be given np to further illu-
sion, and by withdrawing his grace to give them up to the occasions of sin,
so this seducing beast and whore, he put into their hearts to give up their
kingdoms to the beast.
But this must be a little cleared. Is God the author of sin ? * God put
it into their hearts.' He did not only rule the events, ' but he put it into
their hearts,' &c.
I answer, the phrases of the Scripture are well enough known in this
kind. ' God gave them up to a reprobate sense,' Rom. i. 21. The falling
of the people from Rehoboam, it is said, * it was of the Lord ; ' and God
bade Shimei rail. Divers such phrases there are in the Scripture. How
must these be understood ? Thus : not that God doth allow or command
any thing that is evil, much less that he doth infuse any evil into men, so
that when it is said he put these things into their hearts, here is neither
an outward command nor an inward infusion. What is it, then ? Here is
a finding of them in an evil and sinful estate, and God useth that evil, and
mischief, and wickedness that he finds to his own end and purpose ; he
infuseth no malice or evil, but finding of it, he useth it to his own particular
end and purpose, and makes way and vent for it upon particular occasions.
These ten kings, he infuseth no love of superstition into them, but finding
them evil, and not as they should be, subjects of his kingdom, and mis-
liking his sweet government, it was just with God to give them up to be
slaves to the beast, and by consequence to the devil himself, that spake
and wrought by the beast. So I say God took away the impediments, and
opened a way to their evil disposition. He used their evil disposition to
this or that particular thing, even as a workman that finds an ill piece of
timber, he makes not the timber ill, but when he finds it ill, he useth it to
his own good purpose ; and as a man, it is Luther's comparison (d), as a man
that moves a horse that is lame, he doth not put lameness into the horse,
but useth him to his own purpose being lame, so God, finding these men evil
in the general, he directs this ill into particular courses, to work itself this
way and not that, in this particular action, not in that. For God, although
he be not the author of evil, yet he is the orderer of it ; and he determines
and directs it both to the object and also to that end which he pleaseth.
In a word, consider sin in three distinct times : before the commission,
in it, and upon the performance. Before, God doth not command it, nor
infuse it, but disallow and forbid it. In the sin, he permits it to be done.
* That is, ' gift.'— G.
OVER EARTHLY KINGS. 523
How ? By subtracting of his grace in not working, then by offering occa-
sions that are good in themselves, and thirdly, by tradition, by giving
men up to Satan ; as here the beast is given up to Satan, and the kings
are given up to the beast. So that God gives men up by subtraction of
his grace, and by tradition ; and then he doth uphold them in the com-
mitting of sin, upholds the powers. And when it is done, applies them to
this particular, and not to that particular. In the doing of it, he limits it,
he sets the bounds of it, both for the time of it, as also for the measure of
it, as here in the text, ' Thus long shall the ten kings give up their crowns to
the beast, and thus far shall they go, until the time come that the word of
God shall be fulfilled.' Bo he limits sin in the committing of it, both for the
measure and also for the time. ' The rod of the wicked shall not rest
upon the back of the righteous,' Ps. cxxv. 3.
Thus you see the meaning of the words, ' God will put into their hearts ;'
that is, by withdrawing of his grace, which they deserved by their sinful
courses ; and offering to them this man of sin, this beast, which shall come
with such efficacies of error, so that his grace being withdrawn, and they
given up to the devil, to Satan and the beast, they shall without doubt be
deluded and seduced, but with this hmitation, until the time come that
the word of God shall be fulfilled.
I might be large in this point, but it is not so suitable to the occasion,
only somewhat must be said for the unfolding of the text. So much, there-
fore, for that.
' God put into their hearts to fulfil his will, and to agree to give up their
kingdoms to the beast.'
They agree all unto it ; and therefore it was not a thing done by force.
Kome and the heathen emperors did compel men, did overcome men by
force of arms. These agree. It was a voluntary and a free act in them.
Necessary it was in regard of God's judgment, but it was free and voluntary
in regard of themselves ; for with one consent they gave up their kingdoms
to the beast.
Thus having unfolded the meaning, we come to observe some truths and
conclusions that do arise out of the words. I will not mention all, or the
most that might be observed, but only some special.
' God put into their hearts to give up their kingdoms to the beast.'
Here, first of all, from this ariseth, GocVs special •providence in ill. In
the greatest evil that can be, there is his special providence apparent :
' God put into their hearts to give up their kingdoms to the beast.' Observe
here many acts of his providence, the withdrawing of his grace, the giving
them up to Satan, and to ill occasions ; the presenting them with good occa-
sions, which, meeting with an ill disposition, makes them worse ; for good
occasions meeting with an ill disposition makes it worse, makes it rage the
more, as the stopping of a torrent makes it rage and swell the more ;
as also the limitation of all this, ' until his word shall be _ fulfilled.'
Thus in this work, heaven, and earth, and hell meet in one action. Thus
it was in that great action of the crucifying of our blessed Saviour. There
is the action of God in giving his Son to be a sweet sacrifice, and the action
of Judas, and the devil in him, betraying of Christ, and the action of the
soldiers in crucifying him. Saint Augustine, in the unfolding of this pomt,
of the providence of God in evil, observes how many may concur in one
action, God without blame, man without excuse {e). God without blame ;
he finds men ill, and leaves men deserving to be left ; he takes aw^ay his
grace, and as a judge gives men up to Satan. Man without excuse, because
524 THE beast's dominion
man works willingly : * They with one consent gave up their kingdoms to
the beast.' That is the first.
The second is this, that the will of man may be swayed by divine gover-
nance, and yet notwithstanding work most willingly and freely.
Here God puts into their hearts to do this, and yet they willingly and
with one consent gave their crowns to the beast.
God first hath his providence in ill, and then that providence is such
that it doth not rob man of his liberty, because God finding man in an ill
course, he forceth him not to this or that particular ill, but directs him
only : ' The hearts of kings are in the hand of the Lord, as the rivers of
waters,' Prov. xxi. 1. A man when he findeth a river of water, he doth
not make the stream, but only makes way that it-may run this or that way,
as it pleaseth him. So God finding the hearts of kings, or the hearts of
any, as the rivers of water, he opens vent that they should run this and
not that way; that they should be given to this, and not to that. Here is
the action of God, and yet the free liberty of man.
But how could this be free, when they could not avoid it ?
I answer. They were not privy to God's directing ; they worked not in
conscience * of God's moving, but they followed their own lusts and will.
Between God's work and man's will there is always sin. God never works
immediately in man's will ; for man's will is free, but man's sinful free will
is the next cause in sin. Although God put it into their hearts, yet he
found them sinfully disposed.
And then, the judgment is not bound or tied. The hearts of these kings
told them that they might give their crowns or not give them to the beast.
Their judgment saw they had reason to do it, though their judgment were
corrupt. So a sinner sees reason to do this or that, and although it be
corrupt reason, yet it moves him at that time. His judgment is not bound
up, but God lets his judgment be free, though he take away his heavenly
light, and so he judges perversely. That is the second.
The third is, that it is a terrible judgment of God to be given up to a man's
oivn will, to leave a man to his own consents.
It is here spoken by way of judgment, that ' God put it into their hearts
to give up their kingdoms to the beast.' And indeed so it is a terrible
judgment.
There are some objections to be taken away for the clearing of this
weighty point.
1 How is it a judgment or a punishment when it is voluntary ? ' They
willingly gave up their kingdoms.'
I answer, The more voluntary and free a man is in sin, the more and
greater the judgment is ; and as when sin is more restrained, either
inwardly by the Spirit, and by the conscience, or outwardly by the laws
and terror, the more mercifully God deals with men. So the more free
the current of the disposition runs in ill ways, the more wretched a man is.
Yea, but will the heart of some atheistical person presently say, What
punishment is it, as long as I have liberty in evil, and meet with no
hindrance in my courses, and feel no harm, but rather the contrary, as
many that get their riches by ill means, and those great papists, those great
usurpers, we see what estates they get to themselves ?
I answer. Spiritual judgments are so much the greater, by how much
they are less sensible, because if they be not sensible to us here, they will
be the more sensible to us hereafter. And those that have their will most
* That is, ' consciousness.' — Ed.
OVER EARTHLY KINGS. 525
here, shall suffer most against their will hereafter. It is the greatest judg-
ment in this world for a man to have his will in sinful courses. He that
shall make an idol of his will, especially a man that is in great place of
honour, that shall make all ways serve for the accomplishment of his will
when he hath it, he is the most miserablest man in the world ; for he that
hath his will most in courses unjustifiable, shall suffer most against his will
when he cometh to a reckoning. Such men therefore are the more miser-
able, because such taking themselves to be absolute persons, and their ways
the best ways, though they have many determents from their base courses,
yet they will hear no counsel, and therefore the harder to be reclaimed. It
doth not therefore take away from their punishment, but rather aggravate it.
I beseech you, let me press this a little, that these judgments are great
judgments, although we do not feel them, when with a free consent we give
ourselves unto ill. It is a heavy judgment when God leaves us to our
own lusts, and takes away the guidance of his Spirit. We had better that
God should give us up to the devil for a while to be tormented ; we had
better be in hell, if a man might come out at a certain time, than to be
given up all our life-time to do with our own consent and will, that which
is liking to our own will and lust, because by yielding to our own will we
yield to the devil that rules in a man's affections and will. For a man's
affections, when they are carried to evil, they are the chariots of Satan.
When the devil sees excessive sinful affections, as excessive sinful joy and
delight in sinful pleasures, he being about us, is always carried in these
affections, and carries us also strongly in the ways that lead unto eternal
perdition.
We judge, when a man suffers some outward punishment, as casting into
prison or the loss of his sight, oh, he is in a fearful case ; but what is the
case of a man blinded by Satan and his own lusts ? a man that is a slave
to his own base affections, and by consequent to the devil, which rules
in his affections, and so consequently to damnation ? a man that lies
under the wrath of God, that hath no heart to repent ? If a man had
spiritual eyes to consider the case of that man, he would never pity so
much the case of those men that suffer outward losses, as he would pity those
which he sees to live, and oftentimes to die, in evil courses of life.
This should therefore be an use of direction to us, that seeing we hear that
God rules the hearts of men ; that he takes away his Spirit, and leaves
men to occasions, we should pray to God to rule our hearts himself. Lord,
take thou the rule of our hearts, to govern them thyself. It was a good
prayer of the ancient church : ' 0 God, from whom all holy desires and
all good counsels do proceed,' &c. (J). Indeed, it is he from whom all
good counsels do proceed. These ten horns, they were ten kings. No
doubt but as they were men of great place, so of great parts ; but without
God's Spirit, without his light, the greatest and the wisest man is but mad.
He is as a man out of his wits, puzzled in darkness, and knows not which
way to go. When God gives men over to their own lusts, to their Wind
affections, they lead men to judgment, and they must needs fall into the pit.
Let us desire God to put into our hearts holy desires, holy purposes,
for from him all holy desires come. Let us desire him not only to govern
our estate, and to preserve our bodies from danger, but. Lord, keep thou
our hearts. We cannot keep our hearts of ourselves. Do thou bend our
understandings, bow our affections and our wills, that they may run in the
right way.
And to stir us up to this the more, we must know, that that evil which
526 THE BEAST S DOMINION
we do not, we are beholding to God for, as much as for the good we do.
Why do not men, having an ill disposition and corrupt nature, do ill ?
Because God offers not occasions of ill. If God should offer occasions,
they would commit the evil as well as others. It is God that puts into
men's hearts to hate that evil. If God should take away his Spirit, men
would not hate evil wherv occasions are offered, as these men did not when
the occasion was offered : ' They gave up their kingdoms and thrones to
the beast.' So that we are beholding to God for all the ill that we do not ;
either it is his not offering occasions, or else his giving us strength in the
occasions. This we forget. We are apt to say. This wicked man hath
done this ; this good man is fallen into this ; this man hath done that.
But where is our devotion at this time ? We should rather say. Lord, it
was thee, for causes thou best knowest ; for if thou hadst left me, especially
when occasions were presented and offered, and there was a correspondent
corruption in my heart to close with the occasion, I had fallen into the
like sin. It was thy keeping, and not my goodness.
One thing more ; the beast is expressed before in chap. xiii. to be led by
the devil. So that howsoever the devil, who by St Paul is called the god
of this world, and the pope the subordinate vicar to the devil, and so by
consequence he is the devil, for the devil, the dragon rules him. Howso-
ever, I say there be the devil, the god of this world, and the pope in this
world, the vicar of that dragon ; yet there is but one monarch, one that
rules all, both devil and pope, and all the wicked limbs of both to his own
ends. It was God that put it into the hearts of these kings to give up
their kingdoms to the beast. It is he alone that is absolute, that gives
up the liberty of the chain, both to men and devils : thus far they shall
go, and no further. It is a good saying of the schools. That there is no
ill so ill, as there is good that is good: there is not any ill so strong as
God is good, but every ill must come under the government of God. The
devil himself, nor the vile heart of man, cannot go out of his rule, yet may
run out of his commandments. But then it runs into his justice. He
may go against the revealed will of God, but then he runs into his secret
will. There is no ill ill in that degree that God is good ; but every ill is
in somewhat, and from somewhat, and for somewhat, that is good, as it is
over-ruled by God. The crucifying of Christ, which was the worst action
that ever was, yet it tended to the greatest good, viz., the salvation of man-
kind. So this giving to the beast of these ten thrones by these ten kings,
it was a sin and a punishment of their sin ; but it was for a good end, as
we shall see afterward, if the time will give leave.
This should teach us absolute dependence and subjection to this great
God. They need fear no creatures that fear God. They need fear no
devil, nor Turk, nor pope, nor all the limbs of them ; for God is the abso-
lute monarch of the world. He can do what he will ; and if God be on
our side, who can be against us ? It is said he is a wise politician that
can make his own ends out of his enemies' designs. The great governor
of heaven and earth can do so. He can put a hook into the nostrils of
the leviathans of this world, and can draw them and rule them as he
pleaseth. They may do many things, but it shall be all to accomplish his
ends and purposes. They shall do his will. God put it into the hearts
of these kings to fulfil his will ; he put it into their hearts to agree to give up
their kingdoms to the beast, and so they did submit themselves to anti-
christ for a great while.
In the next place, it is expressed how this came : * They gave their king-
OVEE EARTHLY KINGS. 527
doms to the beast.' We are to see how far faulty these kings were, and
how far faulty the pope, the beast, was, to whom they gave their kingdoms.
For it may be objected that these men they did but obey God, for he put
it into their hearts ; and for the pope, they offered their kingdoms to him,
and who would not receive offered gold ? But here is a deal of devilish
deceit. For, first, God gave them over to themselves, and they gave them-
selves and their kingdoms to the beast." What then was sinful in them ?
This, to give their kingdoms to the beast.
This, they betrayed their kingdoms. Here is a wrong to God, a wrong
to themselves, and a wrong to their subjects. A wrong to God, whose
vicegerents they were. Did he give them their kingdoms to give them to
his enemy, to give them to the beast, and by consequence to the devil ?
Doth God raise up men to rule that they should enthral themselves and
their kingdoms to the beast, to give them to God's enemies ? No ; kings
reign by him. The pope saith, By me. Is their constitution of men ?
No, kings reign by God ; they derive their authority from him : ' It is he
that hath power over kings,' Dan. ii. 21. They reign not if he will, and
they may rule if he will, by his will permitting, else no man can reign. ' By
me kings reign.' If, then, they reign by him, it is a treason against God
to betray the kingdoms that he hath given them into the hands of his
enemies. It is a wrong to Christ. Whereas they should kiss the Son by
kisses of subjection ; as princes use to do in the eastern countries, to fall
down and kiss their sovereigns' toes, they do in this the clean contrary.
Here is a wrong to themselves. They betray their own authority ; that
when God hath made them kings to rule they will be slaves ; and it is a
great sin for a man not to maintain his standing, as it is well observed by
his Majesty, who, if ever prince did, doth vindicate himself, and challenge
his regal authority : and it shall continue, and make him live even to the
world's end (g). It is the greatest sin for a man to betray himself. Every
man is to maintain that place and standing that God hath set him in.
These ten horns they wronged themselves and their place ; God made them
kings over their people, and they become slaves to an antichristian priest.
It was a great wrong to their subjects. Kingdoms, we know, follow
their kings ; and if Jeroboam make Israel to sin, all Israel will quickly sin.
Diseases come from the head ; if the head be naught,* there will be a
disease in the body ere long. A greater stone being tumbled down from a
hill, it carries lesser stones along with it : so great kings, when they fall them-
selves, they draw their kingdoms after them (A). Therefore the phrase of the
Scripture is, ' God put into their hearts to give,' not only themselves, but
their kingdoms, to the beast. For commonly the idol of the people is their
king, and, being led by sense and not by faith, they fear him more than
they fear God ; and their own restraint more than they fear hell ; and so
they come to this damned religion by depending upon him. Therefore it
is a wrong to the people, knowing they are so slavish by nature and want-
ing faith, are fearing, terror-led by the present command of their king.
Thus it was a wrong in these kings every way.
But the pope, the beast, what was to blame in him ? He did but take
that which was offered him. ' They gave their kingdoms to the beast.'
I answer. Indeed, he took that which was offered him, but he abused
these kings, he abused the Christian world. He had no title to these
kingdoms, but was a fraudulent possessor of them, because he came to them
by a slight. f He raised himself to the popedom by the ruins of the
* That is, 'naughty,' = diseased.— G. t That is, 'sleight, = craft. — G.
528 THE beast's dominion
empire ; for, upon the divisions of the empire, the emperor having enemies
in the east, he was fain to rest in Constantinople, and thereupon Kome
being much neglected, at last was overrun by the Goths and Vandals ;
and the pope, taking occasion of the absence of the emperor, set up him-
self, thus raising himself by the ruins of the empire ; and then, he being
established, set up Pepin, father of Charles the Great, and put down
Childerick ; who, being a weak prince, he deposed, and set the other up,
that he might gratify, him so. So he collogued* with princes. f
And then again, he won| respect and authority from the horns by dia-
bolical and vile courses. For, first, he abused their understandings, keeping
them from the Scriptures, and then he abused their affections, and drew
them this way and that way with toys.§ They gave him great matters,
and he gave them indulgences and pardons, and consecrated grains, (i) and
such like things.
Then again, he would oft force them to yield by excommunications, and
many false titles of Peter's successor and Peter's chair ; so, by the terror
and dread of excommunication he awed them.
Again, he wrought by subtilty, joining with one prince against another,
setting one against another ; and, if he joined with any party, he had such
a slight that he would be sure to make him a slave to the papacy, one way
or other, or else he would excommunicate him ; and then, before they
should be absolved, they must either pay a great sum of money, or else
they must go such a voyage, or set such men or such on such an enterprise.
And then again, he gave dispensations to sell souls ; and so men might
do what they would, they should have pardon, otherwise they should have
excommunication.
And then again, he had preferments for the sons of the horns ; cardinals'
places for their second sons, that they should be great princes ; he had high
places for them.
Then again, he laid his foundation on false grounds. He would be uni-
versal bishop ; and the church could not err ; and all of them must fetch
and determine of their matters from him ; and appeal must be made to
none but to him ; and in certain cases none could satisfy the conscience
but him. So that he greatly raised his authority by these false and cozen-
ing means ; and all that yielded to him were a deluded company of people,
that were deluded by the false and subtile courses he took. And therefore,
although they gave their kingdoms to him, yet he possessed them by a
fraudulent title ; the means he used were diaboHcal.
* They gave their kingdoms to the beast, till the word of God should be
fulfilled.'
Well ! we see here the judgment of God upon the Christian world. It
was not only a judgment upon these kings, as they were kings, but God
punished the people's sin in the slavery of these kings to the beast.
See here the judgment of God upon kings and princes for not esteeming,
as they should do, the glorious gospel of Christ ; for they, both princes and
people, had it, but they esteemed it not, but delighted in untruths ; there-
fore God gave them up to believe lies.
We are not, therefore, over much to pity our ancestors. Though they
deserve pity, yet we excuse them overmuch this way ; for certainly God is
just in his judgment, who, seeing them delight in lies more than in his
* That is, ' entered into league,' = plotted. — Q.
t These are the commonplaces of history now. — G.
X Printed ' wan.'— G. § That is, ' trifles.'— G.
OVER EARTHLY KINGS. 529
truth, took away his grace, and gave them up to this beast, that they should
give up their authority, both prince and people, to him. And because they
would not be ruled by God's will, thinking themselves wiser than he, he
appointed them to be ruled by one that should be ruled by the devil ; for
the devil was in the pope, and who would serve the devil if he knew it?
But because they would not yield unto Christ's sweet government, there-
fore he gave them over to a government fit for them, even to be g£)verned
by the beast.
I beseech you take notice of this point. "When we entertain not the
glorious gospel of Christ, the good word of God, that word that declares
salvation unto us, and which is an instrument to work grace in us, to fit us
for heaven ; that word that is the seed and the food of our new birth, the
evidence of our inheritance ; that good word which is the greatest jewel
under heaven ; when we do not value that, it is the greatest error that can
be, and it is just with God to give us up to this and to that error, if not
unto popery, yet unto some one error that the devil is in, and contrary to
the Spirit of God. Do ye think, if a master should see his servant take
ill courses, and would not do according to his appointment and admonition,
that he would not leave him to take his own course, and so let him do his
own will, that thereby he might see his folly in not being ruled by him ?
So it is just with God, when he sees that we do not make much of his
gospel, of his soul-saving gospel, that we will not have that alone, but tradi-
tions with it, and that, besides Christ, we must have other mediators, as
if Christ were not rich enough, it is just with God to give both prince and
people up to the beast. Let us, therefore, make much of the gospel.
What moved God to give up the eastern empire, those glorious churches
in Saint John's time, unto the Turk ? Nothing but this : they did not
value the gospel. What moved God to give up those western kings to
Eomish antichrist, — for those two, the Turk and pope, are twins ; they had
their beginning at once, about seven hundred years after Christ, — what
moved this, but only, when God had dealt graciously with them at the
first, and gave them his truth to save their souls, which is the most com-
fortablest thing in the world to have God discover what he means to do
with us, and what he would have us to do, when he discovered his will to
them, and saw them leave his will, saw them leave gold, and take dross,
prefer the traditions and wisdom of men before the wisdom of God, it was
just with him to give them up to believe lies.
' They gave their kingdoms to the beast' (mark the limitation here
' until') ' until the word of God should be fulfilled.'
I see I cannot make an end of the text. A httle further, and so I will
conclude.
Here is an ' until;' here is a stop. The devil and the beast had their
time to seduce the kings, and the kings had their time to be seduced, and
to give up their kingdoms, but God hath his time, Christ hath his time.
Christ gives his enemies time, and then takes time himself, * until the time
that the word of God shall be fulfilled.'
We see here, then, a mixture of mercy with justice ; that after God had
given them up justly, not only the eastern empire, but also the western
kings to the pope, yet notwithstanding here is an ' until.' God limits ill
not only for the measure of it, but also for the time of it. God at length
turns the stream of things ; so that these kings that were thus abused and
baftied by this man of sin, this beast, at last they grow wise, by the
instinct of God, and hate the beast as much as ever they loved her.
VOL. YII. ^ 1
530 THE BEAST S DOMINION
So, then, this is the point, that the same God that by divine providence
gave way to these kings to abuse the doctrine of the gospel, and that gave
way to these people, that were unthankful, to yield themselves in such
slavery to the pope, yet notwithstanding, in mercy, God at the last put
into the hearts of these kings to withdraw their necks from this yoke, and
to put their necks under Christ's yoke.
This ' until' hath had a beginning many years ago, for we know, to omit
other kings of other countries. King Henry the Eighth, of famous memory,
take him without those things we cannot upbraid,* now he was a man of
great and excellent parts, as he was of great vices. He was an excellent
instrument of Christ to unhorse the pope, to shake off his government, to
hate the whore, and to cat her flesh ; that is, to overthrow the monasteries,
those cages of unclean birds, and those Peter pence, those exactions ; for
indeed the pope made England his ass to bear his burdens. It would move
any man's patience to see how pitifully the popes of Kome have abused
this island, so that we may now truly say, as Christ saith, ' If the Son
make you free, you are free indeed,' John viii. 36. Christ hath made us
free, the gospel hath made us free, and ever since the coming of the gospel
we have flourished. King Henry shook off the yoke first, and after him
Kino Edward, and after him Elizabeth of blessed memory, and now our
gracious king. So that this ' until ' it begun long since to hate the beast,
and to eat her flesh. One thing there is yet undone, * to burn her with
fire.' If they hate the beast, and eat her flesh, this will come too, to burn
her with fire ; even the ten kings that were subject to her before shall do
that.
We see wickedness shall not thrive always. It shall not always be
night, but the sun shall arise at the last. Impostures shall not always
abuse the world. Their madness shall be made manifest at length, as Paul
saith, 2 Tim. iv. 18. This is our comfort, that there is an ' until,' a time
prefixed of God to discover and to lay open all impostures ; and now the
time is come that most of this should be fulfilled. Some of these words
of God are fulfilled. The beast is hated ; and now the beast is known to
be the beast, to be cruel. Witness the blood of saints, the murder of
kings, those horrible acts that are allowed from Rome. The beast, I say,
is now discovered and hated.
The affections that are due to the beast is hatred. If ever we hated any-
thing, we may hate the state of Rome. It is a beast, and the object of
hatred, and ever was ; and if ever, I say, we hated anything that was de-
servable of our hatred, it is that. Why? Do we not hate a harlot? Do
we not hate an old strumpet, an old painted strumpet? Do we not hate
her that is a bawd? There was never bawd, there was never whore, that
did the thousandth part of that harm that this bawd, this beast, this whore
of Rome hath done, drawing so many thousand souls to hell.
Of all the judgments that ever were since the beginning of the Christian
world that God hath visited the pride and wickedness of men with, there
was none so grievous as to sufier this man of sin to rule in the church.
The spiritual judgment of the papacy it is the greatest judgment of God
that was ever inflicted upon any.
We hate them that misuse us under the pretence of love, that cheat and
cozen us, and we delight in their punishment. There was never cheater,
never cozener hke this. And surely so God hath fulfilled his word, that
* That is, ' exaggerate.' We have here an excellent example, awanting in
Richardson, sub voce, of the use of this word in this (now obsolete) sense. — G.
OVER EARTHLY KINGS. 531
she is hated even in our children, that know but the grounds of religion,
to whom Christ hath shined by the evidences of his truth, that have the
Spirit of G-od in them. They hate those impostures, those abuses of
Christian religion, with which this beast hath deluded the Christian world,
which shews that they have a contrary spirit to the Spirit of God. And
indeed so they have; for, besides their own base government, they main-
tain the corruptions of men, feeding the pride and vanity of men's natures
with outward, formal, empty th:'ngs ; so that the very weak ones, even
children, now they hate the whore, hate her impostures, hate her cruelty,
hate her lying, and all.
I see the time is past : I can go no further, but will draw to an end,
only a little to stir us up. Shall God then reveal and discover this painted
strumpet, this bawd, and shall we labour to conceal her ill ? shall we daub,
shall we make her better than she is ? Shall we hinder God's purpose ?
God's word is, that she shall be revealed ; the princes shall hate her, and
consume her with fire. Let every one of our purposes help God's purpose,
and providence, and decree in this point. That this shall be, it is God's
purpose ; and whosoever stops it, certainly they bring the juclgment of God
upon them. Those that would rear up Jericho again, we know what befell
them ; and they that rear up Rome, that begins now to be discovered,
they bring the judgment of God upon them. God will perform this as well
as he performed the other. As he put it into the hearts of these kings to
betray their kingdoms to the beast, so he will put it into their hearts to
hate the whore.
Now that we may hate her, let every one labour in his place : ministers
in their place to lay open their impostures, their cozenings, and all their
filthiness, whereby they deceive the people ; magistrates in their place to
countenance the ministers, to see the laws executed as they may. These
that through ignorance are seduced, that are not Jesuited, for there is no
hope of them ; but others, their persons many times in the policy of state
may have favour, but not their religion.
Let us all take heed that we grow in knowledge : let us labour to make
more of the gospel of Christ. The more Christ appears in glory, the more
antichrist will appear in shame. Let us labour by prayer, and not give
God over by prayer, to plant the love of the truth in our hearts, to enter-
tain the truth with love, to value it according to the respect it deserves at
our hands, and let us labour to be moulded into that truth, to obey it ; else,
though we have it, yet if we do not love it, if we be not transformed into
it, though our wits and parts be never so great, we may be seduced to
error. God gave over these kings, men of great place and of great parts,
— because they did not love the truth, — to believe lies.
My purpose was to have shewed the danger, if we do not further God's
purpose in discovering this wicked antichrist : a state wherein the devil,
the dragon, is effectual, and this book wondrously sets down the danger.
It is another manner of danger now to relapse, and to apostatize, after the
appearing of the glorious gospel of Christ, than it was a hundred j-ears ago
under darkness ; and we know it to be so. Of all the judgments in this
world it is the greatest for God to give up a man to decay in his love to
the truth, to affect* this cursed religion, that the sentence of God hath
passed upon, and it must be fulfilled, ' That they shall hate the whore, and
burn her with fire, that she shall be left desolate and naked.'
But you may object. Alas ! how is that likely to be, when we see now
* That is, ' love,' ' choose.'— G.
532 THE beast's dominion
what strength the beast hath gotten, and how he ruffleth in the world at
this time ; how he triumpheth and trampleth the poor church under his feet ?
Well, it is but a living before death. Undoubtedly Babylon is fallen,
it is ' fallen,' saith John in his time, Kev. xiv. 8 ; that is, it is as
sure to fall as if it had fallen already. The word of God hath said
so. The power of man cannot hinder it. He hath put it into the heads
and hearts of the kings to betray their kingdoms ; he shall also put it
into their hearts and heads to hate and burn the whore with fire at the
last. It must be so. The angel said it was done, as if it were done
already. It is as sure as if it were done. Therefore let us never take
scandal at the flourishing state of the enemies of the church abroad ; let
us never dislike our religion for that. Babylon is fallen. The time will
come when it shall be done. Heaven hath concluded it, and earth cannot
hinder it ; no, nor hell neither : God hath said it, and shall not he do it ?
It is the word of him that is Lord of his word ; because he is Lord of hosts,
and Lord of the creatures. It is the word of him that is Lord of lords,
that is Lord of heaven and earth. Lord of all things. He hath said that
Babylon is fallen ; and therefore it must be so, he being Governor and
Lord of all things, and of his word too, that can make all things prove ser-
viceable to his purpose. Let us comfort ourselves, therefore, as if it were
present, and not take offence at the state of the beast, and the whore's
flourishing, but present him to yourselves as he is set out in the text. See
him growing, see him rising, see him decaying, and at last see him cast
into the bottomless pit, to burn in the lake of fire for ever. It is, you see,
the word of God from heaven, that he is fallen, and cast into the earth' as
a millstone, and shall never rise again. He shall never quicken* again.
Heathen Eome was quickened by papal Kome : the pope quickened the
former beast ; but there shall never be beast after this Rome, and there-
fore he is said in this chapter, ' to go into destruction ;' that is, he, and
his state, and all without repentance, shall so go into destruction, that
there shall never be other beast.
And that that shall help this destruction forward, shall be the course that
themselves take. God as he hath decreed their destruction, so he hath
appointed that their own plots, which they have devised for their own
maintenance, shall turn to their confusion. Do you not think that the ruin
of the pope will be by the Jesuits, who are grown, by their pressing them-
selves, and by their pragmatical meddling into princes' aflairs, by their
drawing and assuming all business to themselves, and by their striving and
bringing all to their profession, to such hatred of the world, that even these
means, which they themselves take, will be the means of the overthrow and
downfall of popery ? As the counsel of Ahithophel was the means to infa-
tuate him, so their own courses will cause their own overthrow.
In the powder treason, they thought they had been made for ever, but
God turned their wickedness upon their own heads. And now in these
later times we may see that God takes his cause into his own hands ; and
you know who spake it by observation, Haman's wife, ' If thou begin to
fall, thou shalt not prevail, but shalt surely fall before him,' Esther vi. 13.
So if God take the matter into his own hands, as he hath done already, let
them fear. For they shall surely fall and not prevail, Until he hath wrought
his work in Sion ; until he hath thoroughly purged his church, they shall
prevail. There is a little time allotted them, but it is nothing. Let us
see by the eye of faith what this book saith of them, that they shall be
* That is, ' live,' = ' be made alive.' — G.
OVER EAETHLY KINGS. 533
destroyed ; and let us look on the courses they themselves take which will
cause their destruction. Was there ever anything that weakened popery
so much as this desperate attempt that we now celebrate this day?
Indeed, if we go to an ignorant papist, and tell him what doctrine they
teach, and what upholds their doctrine, tell him of the powder treason,
ask him concerning the traitors, he will mince the matter. Oh, they were
unfortunate gentlemen, &c. But how did Sixtus Quintus mince the matter
when they had success in the massacre in France ; when many thousands
of people were slain against the law, slain under pretence of being married
and bidden to a marriage ? (j) He was so far from disallowing the act, as
that he caused it to be pictured in his palace. So if these had achieved
this, they had not been unfortunate gentlemen ; they had been made, they
had been sainted, as some of them are, St Garnet ! St Devil ! * If the
devil himself will help them, and further popery, he shall be sainted ; and
if they be never so base, yet for their rebellion and destruction of kings,
they shall be sainted by them. Will not this provoke men to hate the
beast and the whore, to make her desolate and naked, and to eat her flesh,
and to burn her with fire ?
Well, the time is past, I cannot finish the text as I thought to have
done. To speak to the particular occasion I need not, it is yet fresh. And
what should we speak of the gunpowder treason '? The Jesuits and priests,
having the devil for their midwife, they are big of such like plots ; hell,
Eome, and Satan, and the Jesuits, those frogs of the bottomless pit, they
are full of devising such attempts. But I rather thought to speak against
popery, against the beast and her religion at this time, than rhetorically to
amplify that act of theirs, when indeed we are ready to have a new one
continually, for they are always plotting and devising, I mean those Jesuits.
Our comfort is to look to the Scripture, to look here what shall be the end
of these frogs and of the beast. Ere long they shall be cast into the burn-
ing lake. Let us bless God that we live under this government, of so
gracious a prince, that hath more weakened the pope by his learned writ-
ings, that ever any prince did.f So much for this time.
* Cf. note 000, Vol. II. page 535.— G. t Cf. note ff, page 534.— G.
NOTES.
(a) P. 520. — 'Kings must kiss that ... as tliey did Heliodorus.' Query, the
private secretary of the Emperor Hadrian, and himself subsequently prefect of Egypt ?
Sibbes's name of ' emperor ' would make it seem so : but tlie trait would better suit
the haughty Heliodorus, author of the famous romance at the end of which he
has proudly told that he was of the family of priests of the Syrian god of the sun
(ToJv d<p' 'HXi'ou yivog).
(b) P. 520. — ' The apostles, when they returned from preaching.' This is a singu-
lar slip on the part of Sibbes. It was Jesus who thus ' saw ' Satan ' fall,' whatever
the mysterious words may mean. The apostles told how the ' devils ' had been sub-
ject to them. Probably this was running in Sibbes's mind at the time, Cf. Luke x.
18, et seq.
(c) P. 521.— 'As Sixtus Quintus,' &c. The murderer of Henry III. (on August
1st 1589) was Jacques Clement, a Dominican friar. In Henry III. the House of
Valois became extinct. By the ' bloody massacre ' is no doubt intended that of St
Bartholomew, The papal approbation, if we may not say exultation, on both occa-
sions is a commonplace of history.
534 THE beast's dominion over earthly kings.
(d) p. 522. — ' And as a man, it is Luther's comparison, that moves a horse' The
' comparison is common to various of tlie early Fathers, e. g. Augustine and Basil,
also Lomhard, as well as Luther. Dr John Boys has worked it in very well, with
much additional lore, in shewing how the Spirit is said to lead in temptation.
Cf. Works, p. 234 (1629).
(e) P. 523. — ' St Augustine, in the unfolding of this point, of the pirovidonce of
God in evil.' See the reference to Boys in previous note id). The reconciliation
often recurs in Augustine.
(/) P. 525. — ' it was a good prayer of the ancient church, Oh God, from whom
all holy desires and all good counsels do proceed,' &c. One of the memorahilia of the
Book of Common Prayer.
(g) P. 527. — ' His majesty, who, if ever prince did, doth vindicate himself.' Sibhes
seems, from this and other tributes, to have held a high opinion of James I. (VI.
of Scotland). liCt this be placed against more modern depreciations.
{h) P. 527. — ' Kings . . . they draw their kingdoms after them.' Probably the
author was thinking of Horace's line —
' Quicquid delirant reges, plectuntur Achivi.'
{i) P. 528. — ' Consecrated grains.' Query, the ' wafer ' of the host?
(y) P. 533 — ' Sixtus Quintus.' Tillemont has pronounced this pope 'the most
extraordinary man of his time (1585).' Sibbes would seem to refer to the great
massacre on the ' Festival ' of St Bartholomew, Aug. 24. 1572 ; but the then reigning
pope was Gregory XIIL Cf. note c supra. G.
THE CHURCH'S ECHO;
And the SjJirit and the bride say, Come. — Rev. XXII. 17.
This book of the Revelation is an history of the state of the church, from
the first coming of Christ to his second coming.
These two last chapters set down the glorious condition of the chm'ch,
in the latter end of the world, and as it shall be in the consummation of
all things, when the present state of things shall determine* in the ' second
coming ' of Christ. For howsoever, no doubt but there is set down the
glorious condition of the church in this world in part, yet the desire of
the church rests not in any condition here, therefore it is carried to the
consummation and perfection of all. There shall be a kind of new world
at the conversion of the Jews ; but when the church is under that blessed
condition, yet it is under desires still of farther perfection, till an end be
made of all things. Therefore this saying here, ' Come,' hath reference to
the future state of the church. All the desires of the church are restless
till the consummation of all things in the latter coming of Christ. It
carries all before it in a desire ; ' come. Lord,' therefore to call the Jews ;
' come, Lord,' to confound antichrist, which must be before that. For
the Jews will never come in till the scandal f of idolatry be removed, and
when all this is fulfilled, then ' come, Lord,' to make an end of this smful
world.
As it is with a river, it carries all before it, till it discharge itself into
the ocean, where it is swallowed up, so it is with the desires of a Christian.
They carry all in the mean time, between heaven and them, in a stream,
and never rest till they be swallowed in heaven itself, and the ' second
coming ' of Christ to finish all things ; and then is the period of all happi-
ness, and the accomplishment of all promises, ' when Christ shall come to
be glorious in his saints,' 2 Thes. i. 10.
* ' The Church's Echo' forms one of the sermons included in the ' Beams of Divine
Light' (4to, 1639). Its separate title-page is as follows :—' The Chvrches Eccho.
In one Sermon. By The late learned and reverend Divine, Rich. SJibbs : Doctor in
Divinitie, Mr of Katherine Hall in Cambridge, and sometimes Preacher at Grayes-
Inne. Isay 64. 1. Oh that thou wouldst rent the heavens and come downe, that the
Mountaiues might flow downe at thy presence. London, Printed by E. P. for
Nicholas Bourne, and Kapha Harford, 1638.' G.
* That is, ' end.'— G. t That is, 'stumbling-block.'— G.
536 THE church's echo.
Tlie words they are, as it were an echo, an answer back again of the
bride, the spouse of Christ, unto his promise of his coming, which he
makes twice in this chapter, in ver. 7, ' Behold, I come quickly ; ' and in
ver. 12, ' Behold, I come quickly ; ' and he comes not empty-handed,
' My rewards is with me.' Now the church here echoes back again : Christ
saith, ' I come,' and the Spirit and the bride say, ' Come.' The words
contain the most heavenly desire that can be, of the most excellent person-
age in this world, the queen, the bride of Christ ; and it is a desire to the
most excellent person absolutely, Christ himself, a desire of his coming ;
and it is stirred up by the most excellent Spirit, the Holy Spirit of God.
For the meaning of the words is this, ' The Spirit and the bride say, Come,'
not as distinct and severed, but the bride by the Spirit saith, ' Come,' the
Holy Ghost in the bride, as it is Kom. viii. 26, ' We Ifnow not what to
pray, but the Spirit makes intercession,' How is that ? The Spirit makes
intercession, by making us make intercession ; for what Christ doth, the
Spirit causeth us to do, for there is one Spirit in Christ and us. So the
bride, by the motion of the holy and blessed Spirit, says, ' Come.' The
order of our discourse upon these words shall be this.
First, to speak of the person wishinr/, and her condition, the bride.
And then of the desire of this excellent iJersonarje, the bride.
And then of the moving cause that stirs up the bride to desire the coming
of Christ.
First, For the j^erson, the bride.
The church is sometime compared to a woman for wealmess ; sometimes
to a wife, for faithfulness to her husband Christ ; sometimes to a bride,
because she is contracted to Christ in this world ; sometimes to a mother
for her fruitfulness ; sometimes to a virgin for her chastity ; here to a bride,
because this life is but the time of contract, but the consummation of the
marriage shall be in heaven. Now this contract [is] between the church
and Christ, and between every particular soul and Christ ; for both are the
bride of Christ. Even as it is the same soul that is in the little finger and
in all the whole body, the same soul enlivens both, so it is the same Spirit
in the bride in general, and in every particular Christian, therefore the
bride is both every particular Christian's and the whole church's. Now the
contract that is made between the soul, and between the church and Christ,,
it is by the Spirit of God, which knits the soul to Christ, and Christ to the
soul ; and for this end, that Christ might be a husband, and contract this
bride to himself in our nature, he married our nature that he might marry
our persons.
There is a threefold degree of union :
An union of nature, grace, glory.
The union of nature was, when Christ took oiir nature upon him. The
union of grace is, when we take his nature, when we partake of the di\'ine
nature. The union of glory is when we shall all be in heaven. The first is
for the second, and the second for the third. Cbrist became bone of our
bone in nature, that we might be ' bone of his bone ' with him in grace ;
and so perfectly one with him in glory. We see the bride, that is the
person. Here I might take occasion to speak of the sweet comfort that
issues from this, that the second person in the Trinity should dignify us
so much, as to take us to unity with and contract us to himself. But I
will not speak much of this point, having spoken more at large of it out of
the Canticles.*
* Cf. ' Bowels Opened,' Vol. II. in loc.-G.
THE chukch's echo. 537
If marriage be honourable, what is this marriage and contract which is
indeed the pattern of all other ? Others are but shadows to this.
Use 1. Hence comes the sweet security and peace of the church, from this
contract between Christ and it ; for all our debts are discharged by this. He
took upon him our sins. And then the church hath interest in him and
all his in this contract and marriage which is to be consummate ; all that
he is and hath is the church's. ' All is yours, because you are Christ's,'
1 Cor. iii. 21, seq. What a large comfort is this, if we had hearts to con-
sider of it and to improve it ! His grace serves for the church : ' of his
fulness we receive grace for grace.' John i. 16. So we maj^ say of all
the privileges that Christ hath, they are first in him and then in the
church. The church shines in his beams. And as it is matter of
wondrous comfort, so it is likewise matter of more special comfort, in case
of infii-mities. The church is a woman, therefore the weaker vessel. Now
God, that bids us ' bear with the woman, as the weaker vessel,' 1 Peter iii.
7, to honour her with the honour of gentle usage, — for that honour is
meant, — he that teacheth man his duty, will he not perform it himself, to
bear with his church, as the weaker vessel ? Especially when it is the
condition of the marriage, Hosea ii. 19, ' I will marry thee to me in
mercy.' We may claim mercy as a part of our dowry by Christ, pardon-
ing mercy, forbearing, pitying mercy. We make not use of this comfort
when we are discouraged.
Use 2. But this teacheth us likewise how to carry ourselves to Christ as
ire should do, chastely. To take heed how we judge of things, we must keep
our judgments chaste. A Christian hath not hberty to riot in his 'opinion,
to run at random, to see what carnal reason saith. No ; he must think what
Christ thinks, and submit his judgment to him. And he must have no
will of his own ; he must give it up to his contracted husband, Christ, and
be content to be ruled by him in all things ; he must forget his father's
house and his former condition, and not to make this marriage, as carnal
professors do, a cover for their adulterous unfaithfulness. What is the
course of many Christians ? They make the profession of rehgion a coyer
for their ill dealing, for their unfaithful courses. What a shame is this !^
It is abominable. What makes the faults of wives worse than the fault of
single persons ? Because they are contrary to covenants, besides many
other inconveniences, the confusion of oflspring and the like. But this is
one grand difierence, to make the exaggeration of the fault, it is contrary to
former covenant. Those that are swearers and filthy persons, that disgrace
rehgion, and yet notwithstanding cover themselves under pretence that
they are contracted to Christ, they are baptized and come to the sacra-
ment, &c , such wretched persons shall know ere long what it is to dally
with rehgion. What is the aggravation of the faults of such persons?
They deal as filthy adulteresses do, they make rehgion a cover for their
wretched courses. God is merciful, Christ died, we are Christians, we
are baptized, &c. This is an obligation to a stricter hfe. It gives men no
liberty, but is a stricter bond to a holy hfe, the renewing of the new cove-
nant again and again. Therefore there is no comfort for any such wretched
persons, that countenance themselves under the profession of religion. It
adds a gi'eater degree to their offence. 0 ye adulterers and adulteresses,
saith St James, 'know ye not that the love of the world is enmity with
God ' ? James iv. 4. When we let our hearts loose to vain things, and yet
pretend that we are contracted to Christ, we are adulterers and adulteresses.
I beseech you therefore, in the name of Christ, for it is our office that
538 THE church's echo.
are ministers, to bring Christ and his spouse together, we are Paranymplii,^-
friends of the bridegroom, as it is in the New Testament. Let me entreat
you in good earnest, those that have not seriously given up their names to
Christ, to be contracted to him, to join with him in good earnest, and to
resign all to him in your inward man, in your judgments, and wills, and
aiiections, and then you shall find it the most comfortable condition in this
world. Indeed, all is nothing to the comfort of this condition, to be in
deed and not in outward profession only, in covenant with Christ, to be con-
tracted to him. If not, if you will take Hberty under the profession of
reUgion, to live loosely, to be swearers and filthy persons, to use your
tongues as you list,! as if you had made no promise to Christ, as indeed
we all have, what will be the confusion of your souls ere long ! Oh that
we dallied with religion ! that we were entreated to be as we should be by
all sweet bonds ! and yet we preferred our o\stq lusts and base affections.
This will be the aggravation of hell and damnation itself ; this entreaty of
Christ, and the excellent prerogatives and privileges that we have in Christ.
And in the mean time we stand more upon our own base courses, and will
not leave anything to give up ourselves to Christ. But I mean not to
dwell on this point. This is the person, ' the bride.' She is called ' the
bride,' and not the wife, because she is only contracted here on earth ; and
she is called ' the bride,' in opposition to the whore of Babylon in this
book, that is, the filthy adulteress, the false church. The true church of
Christ is a bride and a vii'gin ; in heaven she shall be a wife. The false
church is a whore. She defiles herself with idolatry and abominations. So
partly for distinction from itself in heaven, where it shall be a wife, and
partly in opposition to the false church, she is here called a bride.
To come, in the next place, to the desire of the church. How should the
church know she is a bride ? This is one way, the desire of the marriage.
Where there is a true contract, there is a desire of the marriage, of the
consummation of it, a desire of the coming of Christ. In this there are
two things considerable.
First, that Christ ivill come.
And then the church hath a desire of this coming. That Christ will come,
I need spend no time to prove it, for it is an article of faith, ' He shall
come to judge the quick and the dead.' And he will come to make an end
of what he hath begun here. He came to redeem our souls. He must,
and he will come to redeem our bodies from corruption. He came to be
judged and to die for us. He must come to be judge of the quick and
dead. " He came to contract us, he will come again to marry us and to take
us where he is. He loved us so, that he came from heaven to earth where
we are, to take oiu- nature, that he might be a fit husband, but he will come
to take us to himself. We shall enter ' into his chamber, to the palace of
the great King,' Ps. xlv. 15. He will come, there is no question of that.
The uneven carriage of things in this world to the eyes of men evinceth
so much. You see how it is here with mighty persons that shake off Christ's
yoke, how they bear sway, how Satan plays freaks J in opposing Christ ; he
rules in the children of pride. This must not alway be so. There must
and will be a time when Christ will ' be glorious in his saints.' Now the
life of Christ in the saints is a ' hidden' life ; there must be a day of reve-
lation. And even as it was in Christ's first coming, there was all kind of
arguments and witnesses to prove that he should come in the flesh, a choir
* That is, from 'rraoavufM^iog = brideman. — G.
t That is, ' choose.'— G. J JMisprinted ' reaks.'— G.
THE CHURCH S ECHO.
589
of angels from heaven to witness it ; and on earth, the wise men among the
Gentiles ; and among the Jews, old Simeon. There was men and women,
all kind of witnesses. So in his ' second coming,' there is all kind of wit-
nesses. In this chapter here is Christ, and the angel, and John, and the
Spirit, and the spouse, the church in general and every particular soul.
Their desire of his coming shews that he will come ; for the desires stirred
up in the heart by the Holy Ghost, they will not be in vain. The desires
of his coming shew that he will come ; for spiritual desires must have their
accomphshment. There will be a coming of Christ, there is no question
of that.
And the church here desires it. It is the disposition of the church to be
carried in her desires to it ; wherein we will shew the ground of this desire,
and then the use that we are to make of it.
The grounds why the church desires the coming of Christ are manifold.
1. First of all, look but to the present condition of things in this world,
the state of things, the scandals that are in the church. There will be a
desire in the church that all scandals and offences may be removed, as it is
in the gospel, ' Christ will come and take away all that offend.'
2. Look again to the state of the church here, it is but a -persecuted,
afflicted estate, nay, those that should countenance the poor church, how
roughly is the poor church used ofttimes of those ! Those that should
encourage the church, their rugged and rough usage stirs up this desire in
the church, when those that should be most encom-agement are ofttimes the
greatest discouragement.
3. Then again the church hath antichrist to oppose it, and false brethren in
it, false persons that hang in their affections to the world. And however
they make a show, yet their minds are carried to pomp and to a false reh-
gion, because they are besotted with a proud carnal disposition, which they
prefer before the simplicity of the gospel ; vain persons in the bosom of the
church, that know not what the glory of the church is.
4. Then again, if we regard even the tceakness of the church itself, it
breeds a desire of Christ's coming ; for, alas ! there is but a weak sight in
men ; and variety of sight where there is weakness, breeds variety pf judg-
ment ; and where there is variety of judgment, there will be jealousies even
among good persons ; and these are irksome to the Spirit of God m any
that love the sweet peace and concord of Christians, that are contractedto
Christ. This will not be avoided in this world. Only those that are wise
and strongest in grace, they will be the greatest peace-makers, and bear with
the weak in this kind. ,
5. Then again, while we are in this world, there is not the best thing
but Satan iv ill put his foot and claw in, except grace overpower him. The
magistracy and ministry, alas ! how are they many times profaned and
abused by Satan and corrupt-hearted men, that know not how to manage them
graciously and fruitfully ? The magistracy that is for good, it is turned ott-
times for grievance, as if all the world were made for them, and they to do
nothing bSt to have others idolise them. And then for the ministry, those
that should be teachers of others, many times discourage those that they
should cherish ; and as the prophet complains in this time of the alse pro-
phets, they discourage those that they should encourage, and strengthen
the bands of the wicked, and grieve those that God doth not grieve by then:
false carriage, taking contrary ways to God's Spirit. J^^^ S^/^^^, ^^,^^^^^^
that thev should cherish and comfort, and strengthen the hearts of those
that they should take down, by flattery and false applications, ihis will
540
THE CHURCH S ECHO.
be to the end of the world, notwithstanding the excellent ordinance of God,
by which God works his own good ends. While the world stands there
will be a taint upon God's ordinance till Christ come, and then all that
grieve and offend shall be taken away. There shall be no sun nor moon
then, for the Lamb will do all. There shall be no magistracy nor ministry
then, ' God will be all in all,' 1 Cor. xv. 28.
And so for all conditions. There is no condition nor nothing that is
good in the world, but Satan labours to bring a vanity upon it, and the
con-upt heart of man is prone to yield to him ; this will be to the end of the
world. Therefore we should not be over much offended, to see things
carried otherwise than we would have them. Why should we ^vish for that
condition that will never be in this world ? Wish we may, but we must
wish it in its own time. It will be hereafter. Let us labour that it may
be so then, and bear with all here as patiently as we can.
6. Again, take the best Christians of all, in themselves, in their own
particulars. Alas ! lohat a conflicting Life hath a Christian tvith his own
heart ! Sometimes, in general, he can see truths very clear, but, in a par-
ticular, some passion or other, of anger or revenge, &c., it clouds his judg-
ment, that he cannot see what is to be done, what is best. The reason is,
the imperfection of the work of mortification, hinders him in his passages
and business, that he cannot clearly decide of what is best at this time. St
Paul complains of this, that he ' could not do the good that he would, and
that he did the ill that he ivould not,' Rom. vii. 21. There are none but
they carry some of these dregs with them in this world, that hinders them
in their designs and determinations. Only those that have the power of
God's Spirit in a greater portion than the rest, they get more victory over
these things, and can more clearly see anything than others. Yet notwith-
standing, all have some impediment this way, even the best.
7. The necessities of this life enforce a great deal of trouble ; the sup-
plying the necessities of nature and of the condition that God hath set us
in, which all shall have an end then.
8. Then again, the relation between Christ and this contracted spouse, and
every faithful soul, enforceth a desire of his coming. It is the time of the
church's contract ; she is a bride now, she is contracted. Now all the
time between the contract and the marriage, it is a time of longing and
desire ; therefore the church cannot but desire the second coming of Christ.
It is the nature of imperfection, where there is truth in imperfection, to
desire perfection. You see the little seed that is sown in the ground, it
breaks through the thick clods, because it is not in its perfection till it be
in the ear. Nature hath given it an instinct to break out. So where the
seed of grace is, it will break out and shoot forward to desire still and still,
till it comes to perfection. Grace being an imperfect state here, it puts
forward in desiring that perfection that it cannot attain in this world,
but in the world to come. Therefore the Spirit and the spouse say,
' Come.'
9. And then, /ro?n the nature of the affection of love itself, ivhere it is
planted. It is an affection of perfect union. Contract will not serve, but
marriage must come after. Love will not satisfy itself in imperfect union,
but it cries, ' Come, come,' still. It is carried in a restless desire till it
come to perfection. Therefore put the case the Jews were called and con-
verted, and antichrist subdued, hath the church an accomplishment of the
period of her desires, to say no more, ' Come ? ' Oh no ! Yet Christ is
not come as he will. There is not a perfect consummation of all ; until
TEE church's echo. 541
that of time itself, there will be a desire of the bride and spouse to sa}^
* Come.' Thus we see what grounds there are of this desire.
Quest. But is this only true of the church militant here below ? Doth
not the church in heaven say, ' Come,' too ?
Ans. Yes, the church in heaven saith, ' Come,' too. The church in
heaven and earth are but one family. They are, as it were, but one par-
liament. There is the higher house in heaven, and the lower on earth, and
both say ' Come.' What is the reason that the church in heaven saith,
' Come ? ' Because the church in heaven have bodies that be rotting in
earth ; which bodies helped them to serve God on earth, fasted with
them and prayed with them, and endured pains and toil with them. The
soul accounts itself imperfect till it be joined to its old companion the body
again. Therefore it desires, ' Come, Lord,' that my body may be united to
me again ; that so we may both perfectly praise thee in heaven.
Then again, they have not all their company ; all the saints are not
gathered; and they will not be merry indeed till they all meet in heaven.
"Therefore that all may meet, even the church in heaven hath a desire,
' Come, Lord.' So both heaven and earth agree in this, they meet in this
desire.
Use 1. This may be a gi'ound of trial, ivhetker we he truly the hide of
Christ or no. The ground of the trial may be gathered hence. Whither
is the bent of our desire carried ? Is our condition so here, as that we de-
sire to be as we are still ? Then all is naught with us. The church, we
see, saith ' Come.' Nothing will content her in this world. So those
hearts that are wi'ought upon by the Spirit of God, nothing here wiU con-
tent them, but still they say, ' Come.' The disposition in carnal persons is
clean contrary. They say, as it is in Job, * Depart from us, we will none
of thy ways,' Job xxi. 14 ; they are of the mind of the devil in the Gospel,
' Why dost thou come to torment us before our time ? Mat. viii. 29. Do
not come. If it were in the power of most men in the church, whether
Christ should come to judge the world or no, do you think they would
give their voice that way, that Christ should come ? They would never do
it : for they know how unfit a condition the}' are in for the second coming
of Christ. If thieves and malefactors might have liberty to choose whether
there should be assizes or no, surely they would never have any. So it is
with the men of the world, that live in sinful, wretched courses ; that abuse
their tongues and their bodies ; are they of the disposition of the bride, to
say, ' Come ' ? Oh no ! They know they have not done their duty.
Therefore let us enter deeply into our own souls, and try whether cordially
we can yield this desire of om- hearts to say, ' Come ' ?
(1). Therefore, to spend a little time in further search, if we can truly
say ' Come,' ice will desire Christ to come into our soxds now, to rule our
souls now, to come and make way for himself in om- hearts. Is it possible
for the soul to desire to go to Christ, that will not sufier him to come to it ?
If Christ rule not in us, we shall never reign with Christ : if Christ's
kingdom come not to us, we shall never enter into Christ's kingdom.
Therefore the soul that hath this desire truly, to say, ' Come,' it vnW give
Christ entrance into it and let him ' come ' by his ordinances. ' Come,'
Lord, by thy word ! come by thy Spirit into my heart ! close with my
heart ! drive out whatsoever is there that will not give thee libeiiy to reign
as thou wilt ! These desires will be in a true heart. It wiU not cherish
wilfully those desires that are contrary to this.
Shall we think that that Christian that saith these words in good earnest
542 THE church's echo.
will put Christ away in his ordinances, and not care for to hear his word,
nor care to meet Christ here in earth, and yet pretend a desire to meet him
in heaven ? Where is Christ here ? Is he not in his congregations and
assemblies of his saints ? Those, therefore, that despise the ordinances of
God, and yet pretend that they desire that Christ should come, do they not
profane the Lord's prayer when they say, ' Hallowed be thy name,' ' Thy
kingdom come ' ? They patter* it over ; they do not mean it in good ear-
nest. When they despise the ministry and the ministers, and whatsoever
is Christ's, despise the motions of his Spirit, and will not suffer him to
rule in their hearts, but are ruled by rules of policy and reason and
flesh, can they say, ' Come ' ? No ! They do abominably profane the
Lord's prayer. What kind of service is that, when their desires are quite
clean contrary ? It is a protestation contrary to their faith, and therefore
it is a nullity. They profess in their prayers that they would have Christ
to come, and yet their course of life is contrary ; they would not have
him come.
(2.) Again, those that truly desire Christ should come, they will be subordi-
nate helpers under Christ, to promote those things that tend to his cominrj.
Before Christ comes, antichrist must be abolished and consumed ; the
Jews must be converted, and the number of the elect must be con-
summate and finished. Therefore what shall we say, when those that
pretend to desire the coming of Christ shall countenance heresies that
must have an end fii'st ? And those that are against wholesome laws to
be made in that kind, those that countenance idolatry and false worship,
stablishing what Christ must abolish before he come, can they say, ' Come,'
in good earnest ? Their course is contrary to what they pray. There-
fore in deed and in good earnest we pray, 'Thy kingdom come,' and
say with our souls as the church here, ' Come,' when we set ourselves to
abolish heresy and false worship of God, that is adulterous, and promote
the true service of God ; when we labour in our places that the number of
the elect may be consummate ; when we labour that our children may be
God's children, and our servants may be God's servants, and every one in
our places labour that the kingdom of Christ may be enlarged — if we put
not to our helping hand to thatweprayfor, it is a contradiction. Those, there-
fore, that live scandalous lives, in scandalous courses and speeches, and hinder
the conversion of people's souls ,and labour to di'aw them to wicked, hellish
courses, when they post to hell themselves, and labour to draw others into
cursed society with themselves, they cannot truly say, as the church here,
' Come.' Let us take it to heart, that we do not mock and dally with
religion. It is a greater matter than we take it for. It is impossible but a
Christian that saith his prayers in earnest, should be thus affected, unless
we make a mockery of religion.
(3.) Again, if we can indeed say ' Come,' there will he a fitting for this
coining, a preparing ourselves for it, for our going to Christ. Is it not so
in civil things ? And doth not grace work that that nature doth, in a higher
degree ? If we desire that a great person should come to us, will there not
be a fitting of our houses, of our apparel, and entertainment suitable to the
worth of the person ? or else a man may say, Surely you look for nobody this
day; there is nothing fitted and prepared. So if we pretend we desire Christ
to ' come,' and yet notwithstanding we are careless of getting knowledge
and of purging our souls, of growing in grace, careless of being such as
Christ may delight to come unto, this carelessness of fitting and preparing
* The allusion is to the pater noster of popery. — O.
THE church's echo. 543
ourselves shews that we do but in hypocrisy speak the woi'ds when we have
no such thing in our hearts. Those that desire the kingdom of Christ, and
the happy condition of Christians in another world, they desire the way of
it here, that is, by fitting and preparing themselves for that estate ; and in-
deed it will work those effects as it is Tit. ii. 12, and other places. What
is the motive there to live a holy and righteous and sober life ? ' Looking
and waiting for the glorious appearing of our Lord and Saviour Jesus
Christ.' There he inserts a holy life between the two comings of Christ,
shewing that the believing the end of both, will work this efiect in the
change of our lives, 'to be sober to ourselves, and just to others, and holy
to God.' ' The grace of God hath appeared,' that is, in the first coming of
Christ, ' teaching us to deny all ungodliness and worldly lusts,' &c., and then
looking forward still for the second coming of Christ, ver. 13. So that he
believes that the grace of God hath appeared in saving our souls by the
death of Christ in his first coming; and he that believes that he will come to
be glorious after in his second coming, certainly he will live justly and soberly
and righteously in this present world ; he will fit himself for that estate that
he professeth to desire. Let us try ourselves by these evidences in some
measure, and not think our state good till we can say from our hearts,
' Come.'
But are Christians always in this state of soul that they can say, ' Come ' ?
Ans. I answer, they are ahvay in some degree fitting themselves for
Christ ; but, notwithstanding, they are not alway so exact and watchful,
that they could wish that he should come at this time. Take the comparison
from a wife, a spouse : she heartily desires the coming home of her hus-
band ; yet perhaps sometimes things may not be in so good order as to
wish that he were here now ; nay, I have not yet prepared. This is the
state of careless Christians, that have soundness of grace, and 3'et are care-
less. They desire the coming of Christ, and they love the glory of the life
to come, and endeavour weakly for it ; yet they are so careless ; some cor-
ruption hangs on them, that they have not so mortified and subdued as
they should do ; they are not yet so fitted as they should be. Therefore God
often rouseth such by afflictions and other courses in this world, to wean
them more from the love of the world, and to prepare us, because we are
slothful and careless to prepare ourselves. So I say that sometimes the
best Christians may be more indisposed than at others, by reason of security
growing on our souls, so weak are we and beset with temptations. There-
fore let none be over much discouraged with that, but let us strive as the
church here, to be in such an estate as we may alway say, ' Come.'
Well, upon trial, if we find om'selves not so disposed as we should, how
shall we carry ourselves that we may say, ' Come ' ?
Use 1. Let us labour to imnje ourselves by mortification more and more.
' He that hath this hope purgeth himself,' 1 John iii. 3. And let us endure
God's purging of us, and justify God's purging of us by afflictions, and
think that God hath this aim. Certainly this is to make me more heavenly-
minded, to raise my affections up. I will therefore bear the auger of God ;
I have deserved it, and he hath holy ends in it to make me partaker of his
righteousness. Let us purge ourselves by grace, and endure the course
that God takes to purge us by daily crosses, for God aims by it to wean us
more and more from the world.
Use 2. And let us labour daily more and more to unloose our hearts from
the thinys below. Those that would remove a tree, they loosen it from the
root of it ; so our afiections are rooted to earthly things, therefore we should
544 THE church's echo.
labour to loose tliem daily more and more, by the consideration of the
uncertainty and vanity of all things. They are not that that will stick to
us and give us content, when we shall stand in most need of them. Here
we must leave the things of the world, as we find them here, we must part
with them. Therefore we should labour to unloose our hearts, and to
plant, and set, and pitch them where they may be safe, and swallowed up
in better things.
Use 3. And to this end often meditate of the excellency that shall be in
the second coming of Christ. Oh the glorious time then ! See the means
how the church comes to be stirred up here to say, ' Come.' Christ saith
before, that he was ' the root of David,' the ' bright morning star.' He
sets out himself gloriously, and the gloriousness of that time. Then the
church, heai-ing what the excellency of that state will be then, and the
excellency of Christ, the Church hath desires suitable to those manifesta-
tions. Therefore let us meditate of the state of the church what it will be,
and of the excellency and glory of Christ when he shall come to be glorious
in his saints, what a happy condition it will be ! And to feed our medita-
tions, let us be oft in hearing and reading of these things. If we hope for
anything to come in this world, as if a young heir that shall have great
possessions, the more he grows towards years, the more he thinks, I shall
have this manor and that, he thinks of the possessions he hath ; so a Chris-
tian, the nearer he grows to heaven, the more he thinks upon and talks
and is willing to hear of that condition that he shall have. The more we
are in meditation, and, to help meditation, the more we are in thinking, and
speaking, and conferring of these things, what will befall us ere long, if we
be God's, the more our affections will be raised up, as we see in the spouse
here ; upon the manifestation of the excellency of Christ comes this desire
after the coming of Christ. This is one reason of the deadness of our
hearts. We do not awaken them with such holy thoughts as we should,
and we are not under those means as we might ofttimes. There cannot be
anything more sweet and powerful to draw up our souls than meditation iu
this kind.
Use. 4. Again, that we may bo able to say ' Come,' let us labour to be
more and more spiritual, that the Holy Spirit may rule our spirits ; and then
the Spirit is always for ' Come.' Nature saith not Come, because it is above
nature ; I mean nature not corrupt saith not ' Come.' It is a hidden secret
to nature. Nature saith, Stay still. It hath no desire to it. The flesh is
contrary altogether. But the Spirit in the spouse saith, ' Come.' The
Spirit doth all. As the soul doth all in the body,— it acts it, and leads it,
and comforts it, and gives beauty to it, — so the Spirit first knits Christ and
us together. There is the same Spirit in Christ the head and in the
chm-ch, there is one common Spirit in head and members. And when it
hath done so, it acts, and leads, and sanctifies, and purifies the church. It
acquaints the church with the good things that God hath given her, ac-
quaints her with the deep meaning of God, the love of God in Christ. It
acquaints God with our desires. He knows our meaning in our prayers,
and we know his meaning. It acquaints us with the state we shall have
after, and assures us of it. It is the ' earnest ' of the inheritance. The
Spirit and the graces of it are not only the earnest but a part of that in-
heritance, a part of heaven where our bodies shall be spiritual ; not
that they shall turn to be spirits, but they shall be ruled wholly by the
Spirit, as the soul rules the body.
As it is in a river, it is impossible that the stream should run higher than
THE church's echo. 545
the spring-head from whence it comes, so it is impossible that our desires
should rise higher than the spring from whence they come. The desires of
nature cannot go higher than nature. The desires of the flesh are fleshly,
but spiritual desu-es, as they spring from heaven, they have a noble original
and head, so they carry to heaven again. Therefore, as the Spirit comes
from God the Father and the Son, so it carries us back again to the Father
and the Son ; as it comes from heaven, so it carries to heaven back again.
That is one way to know whether our desires be spiritual or no. Our desire
of death and of the coming of Christ, if it be from wearisomeness of hfe,
and from afflictions in the world, so nature may desire. I were better be
dead than to be thus, as Jonas wished death, and the children of Israel, and
Elias in a passion. Oh that I were dead, &c. But if those desires spring
from the Spirit, then they come from heaven, from the consideration of the
excellency of the state we shall have there, that it shall be better with us,
and that death is but a dark passage to a glorious condition. We may
know our desires are spiritual from the rise of them, if they come from
spiritual and holy and heavenly considerations. The Spirit doth all in the
spouse that is holy and spiritual.
Therefore let us give entertainment to the Spirit of God, and be where
we may have further and further communion with the Spirit in spiritual ordi-
nances. The preaching of God's holy word, though it be meanly esteemed
by the world, it is the ministry of the Spirit. In the hearing of it the
Spirit is given. If we would have the Spirit, let us attend upon the ministry
of the Spirit. And let us study Christ, and make him all in all. Saint
Paul questions with the Galatians ; saith he, ' I would know of you, how
came ye by the Spirit ? by hearing of Christ's gospel or of the law preached ? '
No ; it was by the gospel, Gal. iii. 2. So that not only the ministry in
general, but the evangelical ministry that unfolds Chx-ist, and the infinite
love of God in Christ, the excellent condition we have in this world and
look for in the world to come ; the Spirit is effectual with these thoughts to
make us holy and heavenly. The law beats do^vn, but the gospel, espe-
cially these evangeHcal truths, make us spiritual. Therefore we should be
willing to hear spiritual points. There are a company of men that love to
hear cm-ious * and nice points, and if a minister be quaint, and satirical,
and unfold points suitable to their apprehension, they can digest this ; but
come to speak of things about nature, of Christ, and the benefits by him,
they are spfritual, they are remote and transcendent about their nature, that
they cannot rehsh them. But he that hath the Spirit of Christ, of all
points, there are none to those that unfold Christ and the benefits by him,
the glory that we hope for by him in another world.
And "let us not grieve the Spirit, but give way to his motions. The
Spfrit is now among us in his ordinance, Imocking at om- hearts, and desir-
ing entertainment. Let us give way, and not quench the good motions that
he stirs up ; and the Spirit shall be given more and more to us : ' The Holy
Ghost is given to them that obey him,' Acts v. 32. And let us beg the
Spirit. God ' will give his Holy Spirit to those that ask him,' Luke xi. 13.
As if he should say, the Spirit is the best thing God can give. You that
are evil can give 'good things to your children ; ' but your heavenly Father
hath one good thing instead of all ; he will give his Spirit. Therefore,
when we find our hearts dead, and dull, and earthly, and base-minded,
think thus, Alas, I am a lump of flesh now. Where is the Spirit of God ?
Certainly if I had the Spirit in me, I could not be as I am. K we love our
* That is ' oDer-curious.' — G.
VOL. VII. ^ ^
546 THE chukch's echo.
sonls, we will take this conrse ; we trifle with religion else. God doth all
by the Spirit. The Spirit is Christ's vicar. Here is no need of a minis-
terial head between the spouse and Christ, the Spirit and the spouse are so
near together. There is such a conjunction between Christ and his church,
that where the Spirit is, he stirs up desires of his coming. Only let us
attend upon the means and ordinances that he hath left in his church, and
let us consider we are are not for this life ; we are not to live here alway.
The child in the womb is not for that life, and when it is in the world, it
is not for this life. There is a third life that we are for. An imperfect
state rests not till it come to perfection. Our best is behind. Let those
that are naught* fear the second coming of Christ. Let Herod, and Judas,
and the beast of Rome fear, that shall be cast into the burning lake. Let
Felix tremble, the corrupt judge, and all that live in corrupt courses.
But we that profess ourselves to be Christians, and hope for better things
in another world, let us labour to banish base fears : and to this end let us
labour to be spiritual, and not to be led by the flesh. Whosoever is
Christ's, hath the Spirit of Christ, or else he is none of his, as it is sweetly,
and largely, and heavenly proved, Rom. viii. 14, seq. We have nothing to
do with Christ, unless we have his Spirit, to stir up motions and desires of
better things than this world can aflbrd.
* That is ' naughty,' = wicked. — G.
ANTIDOTUM CONTRA NAUFRAGIUMFIDEI
ET BONj; CONSCIENTIi;.*
[dedication.]
viro iksigni,
tum pietate tum eruditione pr^claro, reverendissimo
Do. Do. JOAN. AEEOWSMITH,t D.D., S., Sm
ET INDIVIDU^ TRINITATIS COLLEGH APUD CANTABRIGIENSES PRiEFECTO,
HANC CONCIONEM AD CLERUM.
L. M. Q. D. D*
N. W. G4 '
* This ' Concio ' is the only specimen of Sihhes's Latinity extant. It was published
in a tiny volume in 1657, which is excessively rare. Its title-page is as follows : —
' Antidotum Contra Naufragium Fidei & Bonse Conscientiaj. Concio Latine Habita
Ad Academicos Cantabrig. in Ecclesia S. Marise 9 die Octobris, 1627. Authore
Rich : Sibbs, S. S. Th. D.D. & Aulse Catharinse Prseside. Londini, Excudebat
J. G. pro Nath : Webb & Guliel : Grantham apud signum nigri Ursi in Ccemeterio
Paulino. 1657.' If the Latinity, with mosaic of Greek, be somewhat rude, this
* Concio ' is yet a piece of vigorous high-toned Protestantism, much needed in these
days of lukewarmness.
f It were superfluous to annotate a name so eminent as that of Dr John Arrow-
smith. He died in 1659. Cf. Brook's Lives of the Puritans, vol. iii. pp. 315-318,
and every history of Puritanism.
X These initials probably represent the publishers Nathaniel "Webb and William
Grantham, the W being used for the surname of the former and the Christian name
of the latter. G.
ANTIDOTUM CONTRA NAUFMGIUM FIDEI
ET BONil CONSCIENTIiE.
Custodi praclarum dejjositum per Spiritum Sanctum hahltantem in nobis. —
2 Tim. I. 14.
Sanctam animam Deo jam brevi redditurus Paulus, et coelo proximus,
Timotheum filium instruit in iis quae et ipsi et ecclesije usui essent.
Cum autem salva doctrina salva sint omnia, urget curam uTorvroffsoog
sacrorum verborum, quam ut fortius premat, repetita bortatione, sed aliis
verbis utitur, * custodi depositum,' &c. Scriptura cum rh auro Xsysi oh ravro-
XoysT, quasi dixisset, tu, miTimothee, mihi (adcselestis vitseprsemiaevocato)
superstes futurus es, boc unum in votis est, vit depositam a Cbristo doctri-
nam eustodias; prsevideo tempestates, sed ne succumbas, praesto erit
Spiritus in subsidiis.
In bis verbis tria spectanda,
1. Commendatum.
2. Mandatum.
3. Argumenta vim addentia.
Ex parte objecti depositum est, ex parte adjuncti prseclarum, ex parte
Eubjeeti, juvabit Spiritus : Depositum est, ut jure debeas ; praeclarum est,
ut libenter velis ; juvabit Spiritus, ut facile possis.
Quid ergo reliquum est (mi Timotbee) nisi ut eustodias prseclarum depo-
situm, per Spiritum sanctum babitantem in nobis ?
Primo vobis considerandum est quid sit depositum, et qui sint depositarii.
Quadruplex depositum Timotbeis omnibus committitur.
1. Populus Dei ipsius sanguine redemptus.
2. Munus docendi.
3. Dona ad docendum idonea ; qui dedit bomines dedit dona bominibus.
4. Ipsa doctrina salutis, pabulum vitae, quam cum Tertulliano bic prae-
eipue intelligimus depositum.
Bellarminus per depositum intellexit traditiones non scriptas (a) ; sed
facessat ilia sententia, siquid enim Paulus tradidit, a Cbristo prius accepit,
1 Cor. XV. 3. At papales traditiones spuriae sunt, incerto patre nat®.
Recte Hieronimus contra Helvidium, ' Credimus quia legimus, non quia non
legimus ' (h). Audiat apostolum vae ipsis angelis fulminantem, siquid praeter
tradiderint, Gal. i. 8. Nobis ergo depositum sit sacra doctrina, quae aut
matrix omnis doctrinse ipsa scriptura, aut articuli fidei ex scripturis deducti,
aut corpus doctrinae articulis fidei consonum, ex scripturis concinnatum;
quales sunt confessiones fidei ecclesiarum.
Antequam ostendam quinam sunt depositarii, quatuor baec fundament!
loco praemittenda.
1. Esse aliquod depositum; haec enim connexa sunt, Deus, homo, reli-
ANTIDOTUM CONTRA NAUFRAGIUM FIDEI ET BON^ CONSCIENTI^. 549
gio, revelatio, unde fundetur religio. Deus enim ex suo pra3scripto coli
vult, non nostro.
2. Esse hoc depositum unum, licet articuli sunt multi, corpus tamen
unum ; extra fidem est quicquid extra unam fidem. Hillar.
3. Esse scriptum hoc depositum. Traditio enim non tutus est tradendi
modus : licet natura Dei innotescat aliquatenus ex creaturis, ex scripto tamen
debet constare de voluntate.
4. Esse aliquem coetum qui custos sit hujus depositi, quern eeclesiam
vocamus, quam vix mehus definieris, quam quod sit custos prasclari hujus
depositi per Spiritum sanctum habitantem in ea.
Ambigitur inter nos et pontificios, quinam sint meliores fidei depositarii.
Nos eos reos agimus coram toto mundo multipliciter violati depositi ; multa
addiderunt, ut nova sacramenta, novos articulos fidei, novam formam jura-
menti annexam concilio Tridentino : multa detraxerunt, poculum e ccena,
&c., multum transmutarunt, sacramenta in sacrificia, prsecepta in consilia,
regimen ecclesiaa in visibilem monarchiam. In multis depravarunt doctri-
nam fidei, pcenitenti®, clavium ; quid non, excepta doctrina de Trinitate, ab
istis Harpiis fedatum ? Quod ad sacrum codicem spectat, dandum^ est eos
aliquatenus custodire ; custodiunt, sed in versione varie corrupta ; in scnsu
violento, quem vi inferunt, non auferunt. At verba vagina tantum_ sunt,
sensus est gladius ; custodiunt, sed in Hngua plebi ignota,^ cum scriptura
sit publici juris. E re sua esse norunt populum non nimis sapere : Sit
veritatis cursus liber, et liceat populo credere quantum ei persuaderi potest
ex literis fidei, et brevi videbimus ipsam Hispaniam et Italiam a^que ortho-
doxam atque est ipsa Anglia. Custodiunt, sed aliis non sibi ; non suo, sed
latentis apud eos ecclesiae bono. Custodiunt ut fures,_ quod non suum.
Custodiunt sibi, sed in crucem ; consumit enim eos Christus non tarn ore
gladii, quam hoc gladio oris sui. Custodiunt, sed adjungunt aUos custodes
ne noceat, ut traditiones et Apocrypha. Alias sibi metuunt ab hoc depo-
sito ut rebus suis inimico. Magno redemptum vellent nullumesse depo-
situm ; quando hoc consequi non possunt, conantur omnibus modis
delumbare scripturas. Sed xg;r^g/a san« doctrinae nonnihil perpendamus,
ut hinc judicium fiat penes quos sit depositum. _ , . , •
1. Qufe a Deo est doctrina fontem malorum ostendit, mysterium latentis
vitiositatis recludit ; peccatum enim impedit sui ipsius cognitionem. Quam
dilute de hoc sentiunt papistae, satis notum est. Sana hujus articuh doc-
trina peculiaris ecclesiae, sensus piis in ecclesia. _
2. Doctrina a Deo inspirata conscientiam pacat, vim habet quietativam
(ut alia taceam), in agone luctantis conscientife ; a doctrina justitife Christi
nobis imputata3 quanta menti serenitas ! Hanc justitiam ut supra angeli-
cam, utpote Christi Gsai/^^w-ou ipsi infenso Deo opponimus. Hac freta fides
paterna Dei viscera introspiclt, et ut lyncei ei sunt oculi, cernit post nubila
solem. Pura doctrina est instar maris vitrei praelucidi, m quo_ benignam
faciemDei in Jesu Christo cernimus. Aurum verum dignoscitur a chy-
mico, quod verum confortat cor, Ps. xix. 10. At pontificu pavidis con-
scientiis inextricabilibus casibus cruces erigunt. LocustfB ilia) cruciant
animos non satis edoctos ex verbo. _ . • •, l l •
3. Vera doctrina congrua est nature ipsius Dei, qui spintus est, et in
spiritu coli vult. At papistica quid aliud quam farrago ineptiarum ? In-
dignissime de Deo sentiunt, quem his crepundiis se posse demereri putant.
Vera religio conjungitur cum vera sapientia. •■•171 t^
4 Qufe desuper est sapientia casta est, pacifica, kc. IJac. 111. i/.J la
est, tales pr^stat homines qualis ipsa est, non parricidas et ^quivocos
550 ANTIDOTUM CONTRA NAUFEAGIUM
impostores, quales papse pleni vel ex parricidalibus doctrinas principiis, etiam
reclamante genio, seipsis facti deteriores. Qui quintessentiam papisticae
doctrinse hauserunt, ut nee Deo fidem, sic nee principi fidelitatem servant.
Christi cognitio mutat non homines in leones, sed leones in homines.
5. Ex antipathia inter sapientiam carnis et mundi, et ctelestem verita-
tem, liquet quas sit vera religio, Ejusmodi est qualis inter medicinam et
peccantes humores. Hsec est indoles caslestis doctrinas, ut nunquam emergat
non fremente Sathana et suis, quia vagis animi cupiditatibus fraenum inji-
cit ; unde quo quisque impurior est, eo infensius odit veritatem. Veritas
odio est (ut Lactantius) ob insitam austeritatem (c). At pontificii religionem
excogitarunt naturae gratam, rebus suis aptam, hominibus dementandis
idoneam. Norunt apud ambitiosos honorem, apud avaros lucrum, apud
dissolutos libertatem, apud superstitiosos cerimoniarum larvam valere.
Hinc tot allicia, et auctoramenta apud eos, quibus sibi devinctos reddunt
homines, ut non mirum sit, si de numero glorientur.
6. Ex consanguinitate cum apostolicis ecclesiis et doctrina constat quae sit
fides semel^ tradita ; hie illud valet, ' ;5?-/or tempore, jwtiorjure.' Sed veritati
non praescribitur a doctrina nudiustertius inventa, de mendacio praejudicanda
est quffi sapit adversus semel traditam. At si Komam in Koma qujerimus,
frustra erimus ; ' quomodo fidelis civitas facta est meretrix ! ' [Isaiah i. 21.]
Consensus universalis omnium ecclesiarum, etiam ipsius papanae, qua
aliquid sani retinet. Qnse enim unquam ecclesia non agnovit positiva
nostras ecclesiae dogmata ? Docemus scripturam esse regulam fidei, esse
legendam, fide nos justificari, Christum esse mediatorem, Deum esse invo-
candum. Annon ipsi paores, annon ipsi pontificii? Solum illos male
habet innocens ilia exclusiva sola, a qua tamen, aut eandem vim habente,
non abhorrent liter® sacras, non patres, non ipsi in agone mortis, utpote
tutissimo asylo. Litem intendunt nobis non tarn de iis quae credimus,
quam de iis quae non credimus ; unde scoptice religionem nostram negati-
vam vocant. Sed probe no\dmus esse quasdam additiones perimentes ;
seqne subjacet maledicto qui addiderit, ac qui subtraxerit. Nos metuimus
nobis a fulmine apostolico ; metuimus nobis ab interminatione qua obsig-
natur canon (f/) ; metuimus nobis a sacrilegii reatu, si gloriam Deo debitam
demus alteri. Non alitor Deus adoratur quam si solus ; non aUter in
Christum creditur, quam si in solum, mors ergo in oUa religionis Romanas ;
sanguineum hoc et tabidum mare, unde quicunque bibit moritur.
Quaeritur quffinam doctrina sit magis catholica ? Vel ipsis judicibus, nonne
ilia quam ipsi communiter nobiscum tenent ? At nos rejicimus eorum
assumenta, ut et purior ecclesia. Hinc apparet quam puerilis sit ille x6x-
KvGfiog, — ' Ubi vestra ecclesia ante Lutherum ? Vix octogenaria est ' (e). Re-
spondemus, ecclesiam ante Lutheri tempora esse congeriem heterogeneam,
in qua defaecatior pars idem depositum custodivit nobiscum, quoad funda-
mentalia ; placita enim scholte non sunt dogmata fidei, neque unaquasque
Veritas theologica est de fide ; quoad primaria fidei dogmata nobiscum sen-
serunt : religio qu^dam habet seternitatis, quasdam temporis, ut ritus qui
variant. Doctrina semel tradita sterna est, et aeterna est ecclesia in ilia
aeterna veritate.
A deposito commendato accedo jam ad officium demandatum eustodiendi.
Hie supponenda sunt tria,
1. Ecclesiam non esse dominam, judicem, vel authorem fidei, sed cus-
todem tantum. Ecclesia ovx dudivrsi dvd^hg, Dei est deponere, ecclesise tan-
tum proponere.
2. Arduam esse depositi custodiam, quam tantopere premit apostolus.
riDEI ET BON^ CONSCIENTIJE. 551
3. Non eandem omnino rationem esse hujus depositi, et aliorum : Hoc
enim ita depositum est, ut sit talentum, ct Thesaurus, cujus ususfructus
noster est,^ licet dominium sit Christi, et nostro bono apud nos deponitur.
Hie positis, nosse oportet custodiendum esse hoc depositum ex voluntate
deponentis, qui deposuit hoc, 1. ad cognosccndum ; 2. deinde ornan-
dum; 3. augendum ; 4. defendendum ; 6. communicandum ; 6. propa-
gandum.
Primum ergo cognoseendum, quia eapienter nobis credendum est, et
rationale obsequium postulat Deus : ut iutcrventu lucis transfunditur calor
cffilestis, sic mediante luce accenduntur omnes sancti habitus, et dilatationem
intellectus sequitur dilatatio voluntatis. Est et quasdam obedientia intel-
lectus, nee permittenda est lascivientibus ingeniis licentia quidvis sentiendi ;
sunt et opinionum monstra : intellectus sponsa est veritatis : et est qusedam
castitas judicii. Et hie major cura adhibenda est, quia ubi non bene
creditur non bene vivitur ; vitium prims concoctionis non corrigitur in
secunda. Debile fundamentum faUit opus. Hinc diabolus, prineeps
tenebrarum, tenebras primo oflfundit intellectui, ut cum lueem eripuerit
ducat quo velit. Ad parandam banc cognitionem deglutiendus sacer est
codex, et in sueeum et sanguinem convertendus, ut nobis familiaris sit et
in numerate, et arma inde ad manum parata. Ad hujus intellectum mult89^
a theologis traduntur regulse, partim ad speculationem, partim ad interiorem
sensum spectantes. Quod ad theoriam, loca pauciora intelligenda per
plura, obscuriora per liquida ; verbi causa, si de perseverantia qua3ratur,
quorsum attinet vexare locos dubios, cum dicat Johannes, 1 Ep. iii. 9. ' Qui
natus est a Deo non peccat, nee potest,' &c., multa sunt ejusmodi locaadeo
clari ut soils radio scripta videantur. Si quid dubii occurrat, non tam
videndum quid in transitu dicat scriptura, quam quid ubi destinato et dis-
ertis verbis aliquid profert. Deinde phrasis et dieendi modus observandus
est. Instemus in saeramentario negotio, quod multos torsit, unde sym-
bolum paeis factum est MrjXov E"^idog. Quidam licet aversentur porten-
tiloquia transubstantiationis, consubstantiationis, volunt tamen Christum
adesse in pane, tantum nescire se quo modo. At verba (ut recte Philippus) (/)
non sunt propter panem, sed propter hominem. Signatum dicitur de signo
majoris certiorationis causa, ut non ficte accedentes in possessionem quasi
corporis Christi immittat. Ut alia mittam, averruncandae sunt cupiditates,
quae nubem obdueunt intellectui, unde res non xad' b-TroSrasiv sed xar"
ififaaiv videntur. Sardus venter nil audit, ca3ca ambitio nihil videt in
spiritualibus, superbo oculo Veritas non videtur ; ubi ventris negotium non
agitur, aut honori non velificantur, papista? satis recte sapiunt. Respectus
ad terrena, et pruritus ad propria in causa est cur draconis cauda tot stcllae
detractae sunt e coelo ecclesias. Caveamus etiam ne divinam veritatem
nostro modulo circumscribamus, ut non aliter verum esse judicemus, quam
si nos assequamur ; quasi noster intellectus mensura esset judiciorum divi-
norum. Sunt quaedam inaccessa, ad qu£e exclamat apostolus, w ^a&og ! [Rom.
xi. 33.] Sed quibusdam D. Paulo acutioribus haee vadosa ct pervia sunt.
Cur hunc non ilium eligit Deus, in causa est, quia praeviderat hune non
ilium crediturum ; quasi praeviderit aliquid Deus quod non decreverat dare,
qui author totius entis et in natura et in gratia. Hinc tot quasi de coelo
tacta, et syderata ingenia, qua3 in arcam audacius quam faelicius introspieere
gestiunt. Est quaedam lux quae fulguris instar terret, et occaecat, non
dirigit et illustrat. Sed optimum ad Scripturam intelligendam compendium
est pietas. Ergo et seijsu opus est ad intelligendum depositum. Aliter
inteUigit segrotus quid sit morbus, aliter medicus ex scriptis. Aliter novit
552 ANTIDOTUM CONTRA NAUFRAGIUM
transmarinas regiones qui auroVr»;s vidit, quam qui in tabulis tantum
geographicis. Sentitur res cujus virtus cognoscitur ; vita spiritualis ut et
naturalis gustu ducitur. Non patitur promissa evangelica sibi eripi qui
dulcedinera eorum degustavit : ut Petrus cum vim verborum Cbristi in
intimis praecordiis sensisset, statim clamat, * Domine quo abirem ? tu verba
vitiB seternse babes,' Job. vi. 68. Ad sensum necessaria crux est tentatio ;
mysterium enim crucis sine cruce non intelligitur ; voluptatibus ebrii,
stupidi sunt, nee gustum ullum veri boni babent, quia, ut loquitur Augus-
tinus, deest iis spirituale palatum. Horum judicium nullum est pr^judi-
cium in rebus a sensu remotis. Ad sensum etiam conducit particularis
fiducia, cujus est promissa, ihioironTa&ai ut peculium et patrimonium nostrum.
Multa etiam intelliguntur in ipsis exercitiis pietatis ; quid sit amare et
credere, soli amantes et credentes intelligunt. Hinc illud apostoli ad
Timotbeum, * Exerce te ad pietatem,' 1 Ep. iv. 7. Sed bic ante omnia
necessarium est subsidium a Spiritu saucto, qui velum toUat a cordibus ; alias
res divinas tantum intelligimus bumano modo, et non in sua propria luce.
Nibil bomini impuro cum sacrosancto boc deposito, nisi mentem purgaverit
Spiritus. Sincerum est nisi vas, quodcunque infundis acescit. Ubi
Spiritus non domat insitam contumaciam, Veritas soepe in rabiem agit
.homines.
2. Nee tantum intelligendum proponitur boc depositum, sed et ornandum ;
non enim bic est ut in matbematicis principiis, quorum finis est nuda
speculatio ; ornabimus autem si toti totum boc depositum, et solum custo-
diamus. Nam Deo in totum bominem jus est. Anima debet esse instar
arcse in qua positte sunt tabulte Testamenti, et unaqua3que facultas instar
arculjE ; memoria sit instar urnte in qua custoditur manna, sit Thesaurus
hujus Thesauri : hinc eat in voluntatem, aflfectus, et in totum bominem.
Tbeologia prsecipue versatur circa voluntatem et affectus dirigeudos, undo
boni vel mali dicimur, non a cognitione. Eetinendum ergo depositum est
in medio cordis ut in propria sua sede. Sit cviJ,(p'orog Xoyog, intimis affecti-
bus insitus, ut surculus vertens nos in suam naturam ; ut omnia dicta, facta,
cogitata sapiant depositam veritatem. Sit in dcliciis ad admirationem usque.
Sapientis est alias res non admirari, at bic solius sapientis est mirari (g).
Vas et theca hujus pretiosi depositi est bona conscientia, honestum
cor, cui fixum, et in proposito cordis est tradere se in typum verbi fingen-
dum et formandum. Dedignatur htec sacra Veritas sui copiam facere nisi
illis qui se totos illi in obsequium tradiderint : ea lege custoditur, si regnet,
et a consiliis nobis sit in omnibus. Datur enim non ad ostentationem
scientias, sed ad regulam vitae. Sic ornabimus depositum. VomicjB sunt
et dehonestamenta religionis qui sub forma ejus vim abnegant, quorum
culpa fit ut religio male audiat. Perinde Sathanfe sive male vivat quis,
sive male credat ; profanus vivit contra fidem, hsereticus credit contra fidem ;
uterque damnandus. Excusatius peccant qui nunquam de evangelio audi-
verunt : nos tanto deteriores quanto meliores esse debebamus ; et deterior
conditio spretse, quam non agnitje veritatis.
Ut a totis, sic totum servandum est, quia totum utile, et est ea parte
dWrjXou^ia : ita apta omnia in tbeologia et connexa sunt, ut quemadmodum
in arcuatis fornicibus si vel unus laxetur lapis, tota ruit compages : sic in
fide integritas totius pendet ab integritate partium. Hinc illud, fides non
eligit objectum, sed fertur in omne revelatum. Ut totum sic et solum
servandum est in negotio fidei. Nil ultra scire est omnia scire, et ut Ter-
tullianus, cum credimus, hoc credimus, nihil esse guod ultra credamus (h).
3. Deinde requiritur ad custodiam depositi, ut proficiamus in fide ; pro-
FIDEI ET BON^ CONSCIENTI^. 553
ficiat fides, non mutetur, ut Vincentius Lyrinensis. Prodigiosum est si
plura smt membra, non si explicentur et crescant ; idem senex qui et puer;
illustrare licet depositum, non alia pro aliis subjicere, et nove, non nova.
Angustiora sunt vasa nostra quam ut capiant pl'enitudinem illius deposit!,
iinde locus est perpetuo profectui ; et paulatim superandas difficultates,
donee adolescamus in virum perfectum. Alia ratio theologia? in idea, alia
m subjecto, liic semper imperfecta : unde Bernardus, ' Si dixeris, Svffi-
cit, peristi.' Tepidi sunt qui dicunt, Nolumus majoribus nostris esse me-
liores,
4. Defendendum est hoc depositum, partim a calumnia, partim a sophisticis
argutiis ; et primo vindicandum a calumniis est, quia hypocritas causam Dei
deformant, et devenustant mendaciis, ne aliter sine causa sensissc videantur.
Ndtam veretur Veritas quam ne ignota damnetur ; vindicias ergo liic neces-
sarise. Contra eos etiam qui rationibus oppugnant defendendum, contenden-
dum est pro fide semel data, nee dicendum tantum de veritate, scd pro veri-
tate ; utendum sinistra teque ac dextra : multis melior dextra quam sinistra,
melius oppugnant aliena, quam defendunt sua : est et prajclarum certamen
seque ac prieclarum depositum. Isaaci servi contendunt de puteis, multo magis
nobis de vitas fonte etiam ad sanguinem resistendum. Noluit David bibere
deaqua Bethleemitica quam cum periculo vita3 heroes attulerant, quia san-
guis lUorum fuit ; magni ergo ajstimandus sanguis coram domino est pro
domino effusus. Veritas ha3c ipse est sanguis martyrum (/) : sed et hie caven-
dum est ne adversarios suis ipsorum telis petamus, non eget tali defensione
causa Christi ; depositum hoc armamentarium est, ex se suppeditat tela.
Smt adversariis piae fraudes, pia convitia, s^oudsmir/Mi, veros authores cas-
trent, depravent, falsos supponant, certissimo indicio deploratjB causa?.
Non veretur Sixtus Senensis laudare superstitiosum illud sihcernium, Pium
Quintum, quod indicibus expurgatoriis locum dederit. Possevino ( j) etiam
hac in re plus oris est, minus mentis ; nos ut causa, sic et agendi modo
vincamus, et vicimus sane. lUi enim solis Sathana? artibus instructi nos
adoriuntur, nee aliis nutabundus papismus fulcitur tibicinibus. Sed Veritas
non eget vanitate ad sui subsidium.
Quod ad fratres nonnihil dissentientes attinet, optandum est, ut coale-
fieremus, ut junctis viribus hostes oppugnaremus. Inter regia Jacobi regis
■/.aro^dM/xara et hoc censendum, quod praecipitem contentionis rotam Synodo
sufllpminare conatus est (k). Cui (licet ab aliis indictaj) momentum addidit
tanti regis- authoritas. Cui pacis consilio si successus non respondent, in
causa est quorundam intemperies, quibus nihil gratum nisi quod suum;
quibus cordi est ut sint ungues in ulcere. Inter beatam illam animam
Philippum et Calviuum pia et ecclesiae utilis intercessit concordia, hcet in
nonnulHs dissenserint. Inter Dei servos (ut ait Ambrosius) coilatio sit,
non contentio ; contentionibus enim impeditur invocatio, distrahuntur affec-
tus et studia, aluntur suspiciones, quibus alter alteri redditur inutilis ; et
quod sanguineis lachrymis deplorandum esset, multi non mali alienantur ab
ecclesiis nostris, suaeque impietati hoc pretexunt akoi ; et in his paroxysmis
omnia plerunque augentur in majus ; et certe altercationibus raro quajritur
Veritas, saepe amittitur, semper periclitatur. Et fere aliquid vitii adjunc-
tum habet etiam justa defensio ; humani enim aliquid patiuntur saape viri
optimi. Non est tamen redimenda pax veritatis jactura, qua3 nobis omni-
bus charitatibus pretiosior esse debet ; nee ea lege indulgenda est erranti-
bus quam petunt tolerantia, ut hceat iis spargere sua dogmata, nobis interim
silentibus. Intrepide hie explicanda sententia est, error enim cui non re-
sistitur approbatur.
554 ANTIDOTUM CONTRA NAUFRAGIUM
Interim hoc concedendum est paei ecclesise, ut sine felle feramus priva-
tim dissentientes, paratos cedere meliora docentibus, dum sibi tantum
sapiunt. Si qui autem sint dolosi operarii, qui praetextu nescio cujus mo-
derationis veritatem actis cuniculis subruere conantur, et miscellam quan-
dam religionem ex adulterio veritatis conflare moliuntur, his quantum in
nobis est nuUus locus est dandus. Deformem banc claudicationem ferre
non potest Deus, ut qui non vult homines de aheno, multo minus de divino
esse Hberales. Malefida semper fuit rehgionum ferruminatio, et prtevia
publicis calamitatibus. Periculose ergo suadetur inter nos et pontificios
unio, non obstante tanto hiatu ; castam Christi sponsam decet casta Con-
cordia.
Facit et hoe ad defensionem depositi, ut Veritas muniatur adversus sean-
dala; commodis ergo verbis exphcanda Veritas, et a crudis maleque sonan-
tibus sententiis abstinendum, quantum sine veritatis prasjudicio fieri potest.
Non est enim deserenda Veritas propter scandala. Odium faciunt quidam
causas bona^ verbo non bono, irresistihilis ; vox etiam physicse actionis
quibusdam CDetera orthodoxis, ut horridius quidem sonans, non satis placet.
Sed modo constet de re ipsa, in verbis difficiles esse non decet, et haec
explicatione molliuntur. Nee patiendum ut contemptim loquantur homines
de iis quorum opera usus est Deus in restituendo deposito. Apud Deum
sit in benedictione, apud nos in honore nomen eorum. Sunt qui fidem
nostram sannis adversariorum exposuerunt, dum mittunt s/g zo^azag homines
rectius se sentientes. Hinc pontificii, En quos correctores antiquitatis,
quos reformatores habuit Ecclesia Anglicana ! Quorum nominibus parco ;
interim in nuUius verba ita jurandum, ut singula praestemus quae dixerint.
Novimus enim magnis luminaribus suas esse eclipses, ne cuiquam nimis
addicti essemus. In primEeva ecclesia T^osu-iroXri-^la induxit 'TT^oauToXaT^'siav,
ilia mortuorum ajioXar^lav, h^c iiduXoXur^lcx.v ; ut nuUus terminus falso
est. Cautio ergo hie adhibenda est et candor ; cautio, ne nimio vini amore
faeces bibamus ; candor, ut cuique suus constet honos.
5. Insuper et hoc depositum communicandum est ; talentum enim est quod
tum custoditur cum aliorum usui impenditur. Custodimus etiam cum non
custodimus. Non producimur in banc scenam ut simus zuKpa ir^^oauira, ut
speculationibus indulgeamus ; ut condi simus tantum, non promi, ut
conchae, non canales : maledictus qui abscondit frumentum; et faelices nos
quorum opera uti dignatur Deus in vinea sua, quod non simus rejicula
turba, fracta, et inutilia instrumenta, sed quorum industriam in alto loco
posuerit Deus. Fatendum quidem est nonnihil diminutum a majestate
theologize praepopera quorundam praxi, sed hoc faciat ad excitandam aliorum
industriam. Tacerent forsitan graculi si canerent cygni. Cuique suum
(y/T-o/ieT-^/oi/ distribuendum est. Thesis ad hypothesin aptanda. Non tantum
ad ministrum spectat h^^&o'Trohuv, sed et ii^dorofj-sTv. Nostrum est explicare
divitias Christi, ut quanta habeat sponsa Christi in Christo, quantum ful-
geat mariti sui radiis intelligat,
6, Propagandum etiam est. Hinc illud ad Timotheum suum, 2 Ep. ii. 2.
* Quae audisti a me commenda fidelibus hominibus, qui idonei erunt et alios
docere.' Ybs qui praeestis studiis adolescentum, et bene natis ingeniis do-
minamini, instillate in dicata Christo pectora hujus amorem depositi ;
magnas familias pessundabit neglecta prima institutio. Indocti enim tibi-
arum similes nihil sonant nisi ab aliis inflati ; et videndum ne qui formant
aliorum studia imbuant eos odio optimorum et hominum et rerum. Male
tincta enim ingenia ut nigrae lanarum nullum alium colorem imbibunt.
Juventus est purissima pars ecclesiae, et primitise spiritus sunt suaviores et
FIDEI ET BONa; CONSCIENTI^. 555
fervidiores. Hinc est quod his prscipue insidietur Sathan, ut sibi in pos-
terum reddat obnoxios. Foveamus ergo adolescentum studia, ne quod apes
capere oportet fuci intercipiant. Nemini fraudi aut damno sit pietati fuisse
addictiorem ; quid enim aliud hoc est quam Christum infantem in juvenum
cordibus, Herodis instar, occidere? Hisce omnibus adminicula sunt matri-
cum hnguarum, artiumque scientia ; una cum sacra doctrina sacr^ etiam
lingua? restituta? sunt ; frangenda enim nux ei qui nuclcum edere vult. Nee
ulla ars est qua? non ancillarem operam pra;stat huic domin*, nee elegan-
teni respuit theologia Hteraturam ; Spiritus sanctus mundus est, avcrsatur
sordes, etiam has literarum et sermonis,. Cum Christus venit in mundum
pohtior hteratura in suo solstitio erat ; florebant tum ingenioram apices.
At cum antichristus erat in sua auge et zenith, barbaries regnabat in scholis,
qua e soho suo deturbata, religionis, Hterarum, Hnguarumque simul erat
'TraXiyysnoia. Spissa errorum cahgine discussa, suus et literis redditus
nitor. Et sane logicis rhetoricisque lacertis vibrata theologica tela fortius
leriunt, altius penetrant; multum refert quo brachio hasta torqueatur.
Nee neglectim habenda philosophia ; si enim ad illius appellemus tribunal,
stare non possunt nupera ilia dogmata de media scientia, et de prjevisa fide,
qufe tollunt dependentiam causarum inferiorum a prima, qua? intimius agit in
lis quam ipsas, Unde Jesuita? non aliter sua probare possunt dogmata, quam si
novam cudant philosophiam. Sed artium encomia suis praelectoribus relinquo.
Imprimis autem utile erit cognoscere quodnam fuerit in singuhs ajtatibus
hujus depositi fatum, quinam adversarii, a quibus iutercessum, quomodo a
prima veritate deflexum sit; quam sinuosi ha3resium anfractus. Magdebur-
gensium hie elaboravit industria, magnum quid hie prtestitit ecclesiasticorum
annalium consarcinator, in quo major industrise laus quam fidei, fidei quam
judicii. Huic mos est (ut observat Wintonensis) (/) ut si quid non sit ad
stomachum, vel eradat ex historiis, vel ari'odat in historia, alias non mains
SI non omnia torsisset ad statuminandam Romanam monarchiam (?«).
Ad historiam redeo; in qua, ut observat Rhenanus (n), plurimum sibi
mdulsit antiquitas, dum formam vitiB delineare cupiebat. Non diu mansit
ecclesia virgo; sed attentarunt Christi sponsse pudicitiam hasretici, qui ex
pastoribus faeti lupi. Aha et alia ecclesiae facies, prout major vel minor
cura hujus depositi, et suus cuique seculo genius; hoc autem omnibus
commune, quod neglectis fontibus cumularunt ridiculas ceremonias, de
quo conquestus Augustinus, aiens, tolerabiliorem fuisse Judajorum con-
ditionem: si tuo tempore sic dolebas (0 bone Augustine) quid nostra
tempestate dixisses? inquit Gerson. Auream illam apostolorum astatem
excepit argentea, illam secuta est ferrea. Nonum et decimum seculum
fere exhaustum bonis literis et viris. Decimum seculum produxit nobis
scholasticos, pugnaees homines, qui rixatricem induxerunt theologiam,
et seposito hoc deposito Lombardi racemationes substituerunt (o) [p).
Fuerunt hi (ut tempora tunc erant) docti et ingeniosi homines, sed deposi-
tum miscuerunt argutiis philosophicis, et qua3stionum minutiis rerum fro-
gerunt pondera. Nimia sublimitas infesta veritati est, ut virtuti. Arane-
arum telis quid subtilius, quid inutilius ? Non desunt tamen ex illis qui
Augustinum sequuntur, qui satis recte sapiunt, inter reliquos Georgius
Ariminensis {q), magnus gratis patronus. Quia nobis negotium est cum
papistis, quibus patriarchae scholastici, qui nomen theologi tueri vult, non
debet esse omnino hospes in sehola ; sed male primo ablegant studiosos ad
scholasticos, cum longe plus sit spiritus theologici et apostolici in patribus
vel ultimae antiquitatis. Hoc in illis laudibile est, quod missis laciniosis
et inerticibus declamationibus, stringunt res. Utile erit ■j'TroTuzutcu aliqua
556 ANTIDOTUM CONTEA NATJFBAGIUM
sanorum verborum, tanquam saburra librare et solidare judicium, prius-
quam solvamus in oceanum authorum ; alias misere fluctuabimus.
Tandem ecclesise su^ misertus Deus excitavit heroas qui religionem
reformarunt, non formarunt ; idem speculum detersum pulvere quod et
ante, sed nitidius. Postquam autem a papatu secessimus, quidam e nostris
damnatas ab ecclesia veteri opiniones recoxerunt, quibus si Augustinum pr^e-
feramus, non habent quod ^gre ferant. Scripsit historiam Pelagianam post
Latium (r) Vossius (s), sed partibus addictior, alias vir doctus et modestus,
nimis multa haurit a Jesuitis, aiiisque non optimis fidei authoribus : sin-
gulffi (t) hsereses suas habent historias, quas non inconsultum esset contexere.
Harum indago difficilis, quia dum dormierunt agricolas, sparsa sunt zizania;
et verecunda, ut vitiorum, sic errorum initia ; ut liquet si singulorum erro-
rum census babeatur. Cuneis in hoc non dissimiles, qui tenues primo
lignis impact! locum faciunt crassioribus, donee paulatim fissum dissiliat
lignum. Error errori viam struit ; sed ut et errorum natales ignoti fuerint,
satis tamen est ut si cum fide semel data non consentiunt, pro damnatis
habeantur. E re etiam erit observare quodnam in pravis dogmatibus, crcco-
Tov -^sudog unde alia fluunt. Ut ecclesiam, i. e. papam non posse errare ;
quod non solum error, sed errandi principium, unde jus cuivis errori. Hoc
intuitu vitium non erit vitium, proditio non proditio. Audite Bellarminum ;
' Si papa erraret prohibendo virtutes, praecipiendo vitia, teneretur ecclesia
credere vitia esse bona, virtutes esse malas,' &c (ii). Quid est contra Deum,
contra naturam, contra veritatem bellum gerere, si hoc non est ? Quasi
Veritas non in rebus ipsis sed in opinione sita esset. At dia^^ov diff'/^fov -/.av
hoxri y.av /myj doK^, hoc est terminos a Deo positos mutare, qui aeternum
divorcium posuit inter lucem et tenebras, bonum et malum. Sic aiunt ;
concupiscentiam Adamo fuisse naturalem, tantum frseno originalis justitiaa
cohabitam. Hinc post baptismum non tam habere rationem culpae quam
pcBnae. Quorsum hoc, nisi ut inferant, non obstante concupiscentia legem
posse impleri, operibus nos justificari, mereri, supererogare (v) ? Unde
indulgentiag, purgatorium, et quid non.
His positis, ostendamus jam paucis, quo afiectu et conatu custodiendum
sit hoc depositum.
1. Sancte habenda est base sacrosancta fides : area minus reverenter
excepta multas clades intulit ; sunt qui in hoc deposito ludos sibi faciunt.
2. Sincere. Aurum accepimus, aurum reddamus, non superstruendae
stipul^e aut faenum ; nee scenae serviendum. Infornum suum circumferunt,
qui depositum hoc ad aliorum libidinem inflectunt. Non miscendo nostros
aifectus cum sacro hoe deposito ; quod fecisse quibusdam morituris tor-
mento fuit. Augustinus suo tempore questus est, vix quasri Jesum, prop-
ter Jesum ; quae utinam querela nostro tempore locum non haberet.
3. Constanter etiam adha3rescendum ; parum est verbis et calumniis
peti, ne vita quidem contra hoc depositum chara est ; omnia patiamur ne
quid patiatur depositum ; quo amisso ut alia omnia possideremus, tamen
miseri sumus. Apostatarum princeps Sathanas conatur omnes eadem
ruina involvere ; non desinit (inquit Cyprianus) perditos perdere.
Cum ebullit aliqua novitas, statim apparet paleae levitas, et frumenti
gravitas ; nam levia et desultoria ingenia cito transferuntur, et semper sunt
ancipites temporum palpatores. Vespertiliones in fide, qui nunc in avibus
nunc in muribus habentur.
4. Studiose et solicite ; nam id nunc verum est quod olim questus Hil-
larius, ingeniosam rem esse nunc esse Christianum ; sola innocentia non
satis tuti sumus (».'). Ne ergo securis nobis elabi, aut invitis eripi depositum
PIDEI ET BON^ CONSCIENTIE.
557
l^^ZT^ 1 '""""^ ^^tr°f.^bus mfesta, et invasori Sathan.-e fere una
Ihll ^''^"''^ ^"l"""' 'P°^^'*' ^^^ P^''^^'^^^"^^ ^J"^ ^'^litia, quo minus
elucesceret sacra ventas ; ats effecerit ut non custodiamus, hoc ei safe
ent. Cavendum hic et a vivis et a mortuis impostoribus, vix hie cavet
etiam qui cavet. _ Ait PI nius, scorpium caudam subinde ad lapides acuere
ne desit occasion! ; sic adversarii nostri intenti sunt omnibus occasionibus •
tJZ f . r? ^f "'•;"' ^"^ ^^^ perniciem, quam nos ad salutem ?
Juaas (ut dicitur) non dormit.
1. Eestat jam ut ad argumenta moventia accedam ; primo depositum
est. In depositano requiritur ut fidelis sit. Mutua est obhgatio deposit!
inter Deumet nos; ille penes nos depositam suam veritatem voluit • nos
Item nosmetipsos, salutem nostram, et coronam apud eum deponimus ^ At
qua hducia pendebimus ab ejus fide, si nos proditares depositi fuerimus ^
bi depositum hoc nostra culpa detritum, mutilatum fuerit, actio mal® fidei
m nos competet. Apud homines turpe est eos fallere qui nisi nobis credi-
dissent non fallerentur.
2. Secundo, prsclarum hoc est depositum, eminenter bonum Ita a
Deo lacti sumus, ut praeclaris moveamur : rh xaXb xaXir, evocat ad sui
amorem vi quadam magnetica. Bonum est unde nos ipsi boni • unde
maxima nobis et offeruntur, et exhibentur bona; unde communio' nobis
mtercedit cum summo bono. Hinc Deum alloquimur, et suis promissis
luctamur cum eo. Hinc Sathanam in fugam damns ; ortu, forma, materia
divmum est, usu salutiferum, effectis mirandum. Hinc enim visus coecis
vita mortuis, ab inferis erutos in coelo ponit : sanctitate authorem refert'
mysterio profundum, majestate gloriosum, unde nos transmutamur a gloria
m gloriam ; duratione aetemum, unde nos asterni sumus, et sterna nobis
bona legantur. Absque hoc deposito esset quam atra nox (x) incumberet ani-
mis nostris? Quanta opinionum divortia, et confusio ? Quam inermes
essemus m medio cingentium hostium ? Hic ipsius Dei non os tantum
apertum audimus, sed mentem etiam nudatam cernimus. His qui non
movetur ignorat rh tov xaXou -AaXh. Vilis ei salus cui depositum hoc vile
Quomodo evademus (inquit apostolus) si neglexerimus tantam salutem '>
Hoc depositum est m quo prajrogativam sibi vendicat ecclesia. Non sic
omni nationi.
Habita semper est hasc academia custos depositi. Beda et Alcuinus nos-
trates erant, Augustini doctrinam amplexi ; pluris apud nos sit majorum
nostrorum authoritas quam nescio quorum turbatorum vicinarum ecclesia-
rum. Hoc ad decus gloriosum, ad conscientiam pium, ad fructum utile,
ad eventum tutum fuerit, si hanc nobis gloriam constantem esse velimus.'
Depositum hoc verum palladium est, quo in tuto nos tuti ; unica aven-un-
candorum imminentium malorum ratio, custodia depositi. Circumspicia-
mus regiones circumjacentes, Eamus ad Siloh, ut loquitur propheta, vide-
bimus abominationem desolationis ibi erectam ubi pura Christi doctrina
sonabat [Jerem. vii. 12]. Gloria eorum discessit ab iis; caveamus ergo
ab iis qui doctrine formam mutatam vellent. Servat servata fides.
Quia custodisti verbnm meum, custodiam te, inquit Christus [Joann*.
xvii. 6]. Non longum vitas curriculum nobis concessit Deus, quanti
erit si morituri cum apostolo dicere possimus, * Fidem servavimus,
bonum certamen certavimus' [2 Ep. Tim. iv. 12J. Alia scripta magna
pollicentur, sed plus in titulo quam in pyxide ; cedit medecina morbo,
relinquunt stimulum omnis mali peccatum. Ac docet hoc nostrum
depositum exarmata esse omnia mala, et nobis in bonum servire • hinc
ergo doceamus, hinc discamus : Felices nos quos ad hasc tempora servavit
558 ANTIDOTUM CONTRA NAUFRAGIUM
Deus ! Quidam iniquissimi rerum aestimatores contemnunt lucem nunc
divinitus accensam, digni quorum ingrata superbia conspuantur. Inhserea-
mus huic deposito, turn minor sensus praesentium malorum, dum a sacris
cogitationibus nos avelli non patimur, terrena omnia ut infra nos posita
cernimus ; calamitates adversus pectus hoc deposito munitum nihil possunt.
At non est nostrarum virium in tanta mentium caligine, tanta infirmi-
tate, tanta mole impedimentorum, tanto Satbanae furore et malitia, et
ministrorum ejus versutia ac numero, custodire depositum. Certe non est,
et expedit hoe scire quod non sit, ut nobis diffisi toti aliunde pendeamus.
Addit ergo per Spiritum sanctum quo uncti omnia scimus, omnia *pos-
sumus, omnia vincimus ; omnia Spiritui prona cedunt. Qu® ut liquidius
constent, sciendum est, omnia a divina natura proficisci mediantibus per-
sonis, et inter personas, a TPatre, in Filio, per Spiritum sanctum, qui ut
substantialis amor et vigor ab utroque procedit. Hie Spiritus est vinculum
unionis, deinde communionis inter nos et Christum, in quo, ut primo ama-
bili fundatur Dei in nos amor ; unde Spiritus primo in Christo requiescit,
tum in nobis, ut unguentum in caput Aaronis effusum usque ad oram ves-
tium ejus descendit : prsesentia autem hsee spiritus in Christo non est
hypostatica, sed mystica, ipsius persona Spiritus, licet non personalis ;
eodemque modo in Christo est ae in nobis, servata capitis praerogativa. Sed
quomodo Spiritus in Christo et nobis ? Eespondeo, mysterium hoc mag-
num est ; hie valet illud Durandi, motum sentimus, modum neseimus,
praesentiam credimus ; habitat ergo in nobis Spiritus ; pulsat quidem corda
aliorum, sed non habitat in iis. De Spiritu Christi solum vivit corpus
Christi, inquit Augustinus {y). Nee nudus venit in nos, sed omnium grati-
arum satellitio stipatus, unde gratiarum nomen a Spiritu, cujus fructus sunt.
Quoad inferiora quaedam dona Spiritus sanetus est in multis, sed qua sanc-
tificans, in solo corpore mystico, cujus solius est servator ; ut anima est in
toto corpore, sed prout ratiocinatur, in arce capitis sedem fibi figit. Non
diversatur ut abiturus, sed habitat ; nee unquam destituit nos, ne in sepul-
chro quidem cineres nostros, donee deduserit (ut angelus ille in deserto)
ad cffilestem Canaan. Non est corpus Christi quod non erit] cum eo in
seternum. Hinc recte Irenaeus, Templum Dei non participare salutem quo-
modo non maxima blasphemia est ? Nee circa nos, aut cum nobis habitat,
sed in nobis, praesentia operosissima et efficaeissima, sed (ut loquuntur)
modifieata, et attemperata ad modum nostrum. Et per modum voluntarii
agentis, nee agentis tantum, sed et regentis, vineentis, et tandem triumphan-
tis, cum erit omnia in omnibus, et ipsum corpus reddatur spirituale. Stu-
penda dignatio ! Spiritum sacrosanctum velle inter medias sordes et inimi-
citias sedem suam figere, ubi delicietur, xsifiriXia sua reponat, secreta revelet.
Ut in nobis, et solis, sic in singulis habitat. Unde Paulus (non habi-
tantem in me sed) in nobis. Quia Spiritus est commune vinculum inter nos
et caput, et omnia membra. Ut idem spiritus qui est in organis pneuma-
ticis, est et in singulis fistulis, sed modulus est varius; sic idem Spiritus non
pari modo diktat se in omnibus, sed fortis in Paulo, fervidus in Petro,
Bublimis in Johanne, sanetus in Davide, sed idem in omnibus, pro mensura
donationis Christi.
Cseterum triplex hie notanda ev^vyla. 1. Inter Spiritum et depositum;
2. Inter Spiritum et nos custodientes ; 3. Inter mandatum et vires sub-
ministratas.
1. Inter Spiritum et depositum. Verbum est vehieulum Spiritus, Spiritua
anima verbi. Spiritus inspirat verbum, et ab eodem Spiritu custoditur.
Talis inter venas et arterias est av^vyia ; spiritus in arteriis fovet sanguinem
FIDEI ET BON.E CONSCIENTLE. 559
in venis, sanguis in venis alit spiritum in arteriis. Hinc respondetur ad
ilia quaesita, qugenam est formalis ratio credendi verbum esse verbum Dei ?
Kespondemus, authoritatem divinam in verbo se Spiritui in nobis ingeren"-
tem. Sed unde judicium fit de hoc Spiritu ? Si a verbo ad verbum no3
ducat. Spiritus enim officium est dueere nos in omnem veritatem. Hinc
dicitur Spiritus veritatis quam obsignat in cordibus nostris ; non credendum
ergo est spiritui qui abducit a deposito ad humana commenta (z).
2. ^ulvyia inter nos et Spiritum. Nos custodimus, sed per Spiritum qui
agit primo in nobis, tunc per nos ; nos credimus, sed Spiritus aperit cor ;
nos audimus, sed Spiritus aperit aures ; nos loquimur, sed Spiritus aperit
os; facimus, sed facit Spiritus ut faciamus; agimus, sed acti; sequimur, sed
tracti ; movemus, sed moti, ut orbes inferiores moventur a primo moto're.
Nee offert Spiritus sanctus gratiam si velimus, sed inspirat ut velimus.
Ipsa potestas, ipsa voluntas, ipsa actio custodiendi est a Spiritu, qui movet
et applicat ad agendum, sustentat in agendo, removet impedimenta, et
promovet ad eum gradum ad quern visum est ei nos perducere. Recte
Augustinus, A nobis custodimur, sed non de nobis ; liberi sumus, sed in
quantum liberati ; domini sumus actionum nostrarum, sed sub domino ; non
tam dursgo'yff/o/ quam uTi^ovaioi ; subordinatio hie, non coordinatio. Nee
uUa libertatis hie L-esio, quia ut fortiter in nobis agit Spiritus, sic suavitcr,
salvo nostro agendi modo. Pra3vium enim semper est mentis judicium!
Non ergo laborandum tantum est nobis, sed et orandum ; non innitendum (aa)
tantum, sed et Spiritui innitendum, fustra enim (ut pulchre Bernardus) niti-
tur qui non innititur.
3. 1v^\jyia inter mandatum evangelicum et vires simul administratas.
Custodi, sed per Spiritum ; Spiritus indit vires, jubet, sed juvat ; operativa
enim sunt verba, ut in creationej^ai etfidt. Sed hoc in foederatis tantum ;
nee aliis tamen mandando illuditur, quia vellicat eorum conscientias ; ehcit
contumaciam, ut quodammodo convicti sint, licet non victi. Vocat eos
Deus, et provocat ulterius quam ipsi vellent. Quomodo alias resisterent
Spiritui sancto nisi ei reniterentur ad altiora ducenti ? Sed potuit Deus
toUere banc contumaciam ; recte, volenti enim hominem salvum facere,
nullum humanum resistit arbitrium, ut Augustinus. Cur ergo non tollit ?
Tu quis homo ? Salva maneat summo regi sua prsrogativa. Non ergo
sequitur ratio a mandato ad vires nostras, sed ad vires a Spiritu sancto sup-
peditatas. Agit Deus nobiscum per modum collationis, loquitur ad modum
nostrum, sed agit ad modum suum ; humanitus loquitur, sed divinitus
operatur, et dum vocat omnes, per Spiritum evocat suos. Ne ergo qujer-
amus subsidium desidiae ab infirmitate nostra, quia dabit Spiritum sanctum
petentibus. Rogandus, flagitandus ergo Deus, ut Spiritus sui luce nos
dirigat, virtute fulciat, solatio erigat, robore sustentet. Apostolis, cum
pericula ingravescerent, crevit animus, sufficiente illis invictum adversus
omnia robur Spiritu sancto, ut flores pluvia decidui flaccescunt, donee solis
radiis erigantur ; idem nos patimur si Spiritus non aifulgeat. Ut Sampson
rasa caesarie nihil aliis validior, sic nos, nisi Spiritus moneat, moveat,
removeat impedimenta, et ad summum gradum paulatim promoveat. Spiritus
hie petentibus promittitur, obedientibus datur, a non resistentibus et extin-
guentibus custoditur. Agite ergo ; quid resistamus ? quid causemur ? vela
pandamus huic Spiritu. Aperiamus portas nostras huic regi ; animorum
nostrorum sedes vaeivas faciamus huic hospiti. Et 0 felices nos tali hos-
pite ! ut rationalis hie spiritus statuit nos in ereaturarum ordine supra
animalia quae in ventrem prona finxit Deus ; sic Spiritus hie sanctus nos
supra vulgarem hominum censum elevat. Christi spiritu imbutus sublimius
560 ANTIDOTUM CONTRA NAtJFRAGIUM FIDEI ET BON^ CONSCIENTI^.
quiddam est quam reliqui homines. Omnia infra se videt, utpote qute
nihil juris habeant in spiritum. Qaicquid ab orbe condito heroicum, et
supra modum humanum, id totum ab hoc Spiritu. Christiani hoc muni-
mentum habentes in pectore, adversus omnia mala intrepidi steterunt.
Ut omnia contrahamus ; depositum hoc praeclarum a Christo nobis relic-
tum, ab apostolis traditum, a patribus per omnium seculorum memoriam
propagatum, a majoribus nostris de manu in manum transmissum, san-
guine tot martyrum obsignatum, principum authoritate firmatum, legibus
munitum, divinitus defensum, omni modo commendatissimum, tueamur
ipsi, ut et preciosissimum thesaurum posteris relinquamus. Debemus hoc
(academici) Christo, debemus ecclesise Christi sponsse, debemus matri aca-
demise, debemus hoe pife juventuti indies hie succrescenti. Quorsum
academia, quorsum tot indulta privilegia, et prseclare fundata collegia, nisi
ut hie felicia alantur ingenia in spem ecclesias ? Nisi ut iis studeamus in
terris quorum fructus nos manet in coelo ? Hoc ergo unum agamus, in hoc
simus nos, qui sacrse huic militiae nomina dedimus ; ut pectora nostra hoc
deposito locupletemus ipsi, et deinde stillemus ut ros super sitibundas populi
mentes. Ilagssya nobis ne sint 'i^ycc, summse enim infelicitatis est (ut bene
philosophus) singula speculari. Caeteris suus locus et ordo sit, sed suus.
Formicas dieunt eandem terere semitam, sic et nos. Ssepe obversetur
nobis depositi hujus dignitas, mandati gravitas, et ad promovendum omnem
pium conatum paratfe, Spiritus sancti suppeti®, qui cum Spiritus veritatis
sit, veritatis assertores non destituet. Dicamus cum Nazianzeno, to, s/jjavrou
xa,) Tov i[jjauTov di^ojfxi ru rr/iv/J^ari, /movov ayercf) nal x,ivhru), &c. {bb). Divinum,
inquit, sum instrumentum, a divino musico pulsandum ; videamurque nobis
saepe audire Sanctum Paulum hrec verba auribus nostris ingerentem, ' Cus-
todita prfficlarum depositum per Spiritum sanctum habitantem in nobis.'
NOTES.
(a) P. 548.— Bellarminus. Cf. Opera, ' Traditiones,' in Indie, (b) P. 548.—
Hieronimus, i. e. St Jerome. The reference is to his ' Contra Helvidium de B.
Marise Virginitate,' &c. (c) P. 550. — Lactantius. Cf. his ' De Mortibus Perse-
cutorum.' (d) P. 550. — Apocalypse xxii. 19. (e) P. 550.^ — ' Ubi vestra', &c. Cf. note
sss, Vol. III. page 536. (f) P. 551. — Philippus, i. e. as onward, Philip Melancthon.
(g) P. 552. — ' Nil admirari,' &c. The allusion is no doubt to the Nil admirari,
&c., of Horace, for which see note A, Vol. II. p. 518. (h) P. 553. — Tertullianus.
Cf. ' Apologia,' under fides. («') P. 553. — ' Sanguis martyrum.' Cf. note m.
Vol. III. p. 530. (J) P. 553. — Qu. Possevinus ? i. e. Antonius Possevinus, a learned
Jesuit and theological writer. Died 1611. (k) P. 553. — Synod, i. e. of Dort.
(I) P. 555. — "Winton, i. e. Bishop Andrewes. [m) P. 555. — History, i. e. Baro-
nius. {n) P. 555. — Khenanus. Misprinted Khevanus. (o) P. 555. — ' Sub-
stituerunt.' Misprinted ' substituerint.' (p) P. 555. — Lombard That is, the
great ' Master of the Sentences.' (q) P. 556. — Georgius Ariminensis. That is,
George Amira, a famous Maronite. (r) P. 556. — Latius, i. e.. Job. Latius, author
of ' Comm de Pelagianis et Semipelagianis.' 1617. (s) P. 556. — Vossius, i.e.
probably the famous scholar and critic, who must not be confounded with the
Socinian, if not atheistic, canon of Windsor, Isaac, his son. {t) P. 556. — ' Singulro.'
Misprinted ' singulas.' (u) P. 556. — Bellarminus. Cf. note g, Vol. I. p, 313.
{v) P. 556. — ' Supererogare.' Misprinted ' superogare.' [w) P. 557. — Hilarius.
Cf. note I, Vol. IV. p. 305. (z) P. 557.—' Nox qufe.' The ' quae ' dropped out.
{y) P. 558.— AugustiDUs. Cf. note hhhh, Vol. III. p. 537. {z) P. 559.—' Veritatem.'
Some lines here have been ' broken up ' in the original edition. They are restored
conjecturally. {aa) P. 559. — ' Non innitendum.' Query, Non intendum ? [bb) P.
660. — Nazianzen. Cf. note g, Vol. V. p. 455.
SIBBES AND GATAKER*
To the Eight Worshipful Mr Robekt Offley, Master of the Company
of Haberdashers, and the Eight Worshipful Sir John Gaeeet,
Knight, Mr Alderman Hammeesly, Mr Alderman Whitmoee, Mr
Alderman Eanton, and other worthy Fathers and Brethren of the
said Company, all prosperity in this world, and happiness in the
world to come.
Eight Woeshipful,
Albeit the expressions of a gracious heart by lively voice breed
deeper impressions (God attending his own ordinance of preaching with a
more special blessing), yet writing hath in this respect a prerogative, that
holy truths thus conveyed to the world spread further, and continue longer.
Those, therefore, deserve well of the church that this way impart those
things to pubHc and future use, by which God wrought on the hearts of
the hearers for the present. In which respect, this funeral sermon,
preached out of love and honour of the graces of God in a poor yet well
esteemed Christian (Master Winter), may gain acceptance, as being not
only for matter sound, for handling clear, but for the times seasonable.
For what were necessary in these times, wherein many are ashamed of the
downright profession of that religion by which they hoped to be saved,
than to press constant faithfulness in known truths, unto which all pro-
mises are entailed ? Particular points have been much and long urged
amongst us ; it is very needful that constant cleaving to all those blessed
truths likewise be enforced. And from what stronger encouragement can
this be, than from a crown of life here promised to the crown of all graces,
Perseverance ? Since the fall, one dangerous disease of the soul is, unsettled-
ness in good purposes, especially where either discouragements or allure-
* The above ' Epistle Dedicatory' by Sibbes, which has hitherto escaped all
notice, is prefixed to a ' Fiineral Sermon,' the title-page of which is as follows : —
'Christian Constancy crowned by Christ : a Funerall Sermon on Apocalyps 2: 10.
Preached at the buriall of Mr "William Winter Citizen of London. Together with
the Testimony then given unto him. By Thomas Gataker, B of D. and Pastor of
Kotherhy th. Veritas Filia Teraporis. London Printed by Anne Griffin for Edward
Brewster, and are to be sold at the signe of the Bible, at Fleet-bridge. 1637.'
This characteristic ' Epistle ' forms another contribution to chap. ix. of our Memoir.
G.
VOL. VII. N n
5G2 SIBBES AND GATAKER.
ments are offered. But what will not a soul break through, that hath in
the eye of it a crown, held out to all that hold out to the end, by him who
hath both obtained it for us, and keepeth it for us, and us for it ? There
is a mutual passage of trust between God and us, for thus graciously he
condescendeth to us. We trust him with the salvation of our souls, he
trusteth us with his truth, which, if by grace we be enabled to keep, it will
keep us, and raise up our hearts to an expectation of all good from our
faithful and good God, even at that time when our souls gasp for comfort,
at the hour of death. And at the day of judgment the sentence will pass,
not according to greatness of parts and place, but according to faithfulness.
Well done, not learned, wise, rich, but faithful servant, &c. This sermon,
entreating of things thus useful, is presented by me, as entreated by the
widow of the late deceased (Master Winter), and some others whom I
respect, and to you as chief of that company whereof he was a poor member ;
and this by willing consent of the author, my reverend and ancient friend,
of whom I am not willing to take this occasion to speak : his long, faith-
ful, learned labours in the church have made him sufficiently known. He
gave her full power of the copy for her use ; which, in her behalf, and at her
desire, I offer unto your worships as a testimony of her respect ; as like-
wise, if there be a blessing in your hands in the behalf of the orphans of such
as have been of your company, I was not unwilling to take this advantage
of presenting her estate to your merciful considerations, considering she
traineth up a son at the university, for the future service of the church.
It is a special blessing of God, where he hath given power and a willing
mind to do good, to offer likewise the opportunity of fit objects, that bounty
be not misplaced, which here undoubtedly you shall have, and the blessing
of the fatherless and widow shall come upon you. The Lord lead you on
in a course of faithfulness, to which we are here encouraged, that in the
end you may receive the crown of life which is here promised.
Yours in all Christian service,
R. SiBBS.
Gray's' Inn, Jan. 2. 1623.
*^* Gataker has received the highest praise of, earlier, Salmasius, Aenius,
Morhof, Baillet, Witsius, and, later, of Hallam and Dr Wordsworth. He died 1654.
His works, ' Opera Gritica,' were collected by Witsius into 2 vols, folio, 1698 ; his
' Sermons,' &c., occupy a noble folio, 1637. The ' sermon' to which Sibbes's epistle
was prefixed, is contained in it. The 'son' of ' Master Winter,' referred to, after-
wards became minister of West Acre, Norfolk; several fugitive sermons were
published by him. G.
INDEXES, &c.
L-BIBLIOGEAPHICAL LIST OF THE WOEKS OF
EICHAED SIBBES, B.D.
NOTE.
Agreeably to my promise in Preface, there is herewith appended a chronological catalogue of the
several books and tracts of Dr Sibbes, with references to the places in the respective volumes of our
edition in which they will be found. To save mere repetition, these references are intended also to
guide therein, to the exact title-pages and accounts of different editions of every volume and single
sermon. I have departed from my intention to record more modern reprints of the few treatises that
have been reprinted, as, with the exception of Picliering's two volumes, these are of no bibUographi.
cal interest or value. G-
I. Latin Verses in University Collections. —
1. On death of Dr William Whitaker, 1595. Pee
Memoir, vol. I. p. Ixxxii. 2. On birth of James,
Duke of York, 1633. See Memoir, vol. L p.
Ixxxiii.
II. The SainPs Cordials. Folio O^^'Se). 1st
edition. There is no date in the general title-
page ; but the separate sermons all bear the date
of 1629. Besides title, pp. 4y3. 2d edition-
Folio (small), general title-page, titles, texts, and
doctrines of the sermons, pp. 8 (unpaged), and
pp. 395. 3d edition — Folio (small), general title-
page, titles, texts, and doctrines of the sermons,
pp. 8 (unpaged), and pp. 395.
*^(.* The third is the handsomest book, and
contains the same sermons with the 2d edition.
For the full title-pages of the three editions, see
vol iv. p. 60.
The following are the contents of the 1st edi-
tion. At end of each 'sermon' in this list is
given its place in the original, and in our edi-
tion : — 1. The Art of Contentment, title, and pp.
2-17, vol. V. p. 176. 2. Discouragement's Reco-
very, title, and pp. 2l-o2, vol. vii. p. 50. 3, 4.
Judgment's Reason, title, and pp. 35-50, 51-62,
vol. iv. p. 76. 5. Experience Triumphing ; or the
Saint's Safety: also called ' The Danger of Back-
sliding' (as infra), title, and pp. 65-85, vol. vu.
p. 408. 6, 7. The Matchless Love and In-being,
title, and pp. 89-101, lUo-llS, vol. vi. p. 384.
8-11. Josiah's Self-Reformation, title, and pp.
117-129, 131-141, 143-157, 159-171, vol. vi. p. 28.
12. The Witness of Salvation, title, and pp. 175-
191, vol. vii. p. 367- 13. The Pattern of Purity,
title, and pp. 195-204, vol. vii. p. 505. 14, 15.
Spiritual Mourning, title, and pp. 207-217, 219-
231, vol. vi. p. 266. 16. The Knot of Prayer Un-
loosed, title, and pp. 235-253, vol. vii. p. 230.
17. The Church's Blackness, title, and pp. 259-
2tf7, vol. vii. p. 94. 18. The Vanity of the Crea-
ture, title, and pp. 271-281, vol. vii. p. 34. 19.
The Eight Receiving, title, and pp. 285-297, vol.
iv p. 60. 20. A Glimpse of Glory, title, and pp.
301-311, vol. vii. p. 492. 21. The General Resur-
rection, title, and pp. 315-330, vol. vii. p. 316.
22 The Matchless Mercy, title, and pp. 333-343,
vol vii. p. 152. 23. The Poor Doubting Chris-
tian Drawn to Christ. (By Thomas Hooker
of New England, and therefore necessarily ex-
cluded ) 24. The Touchstone of Regeneration,
title, and pp. 369-376. voL vii. p. 128. 25. Sin's
Antidote, title, and pp. 379-393, vol. vii. p. 262.
26. The Discreet Ploughman, title, and pp. 397-
405, vol. vii. p. 140. 27, 28. The Life of Faith,
title, and pp. 409-421, 423-432 (misprinted, 418),
vol. V. p. 358. 29. Salvation Applied, title, and
pp. 423-453, vol. v. p. 386. The 2d edition of
Saint's Cordials does not contain No. 2, nor 12 to
26 of the 1st edition, these having probably
been withdrawn to make room for others that
were included in it; and these sermons prefer-
ably as being imperfectly reported, and, more-
over, consisting, in nearly every case, of single
sermons of a series not preserved. Of the
omitted sermons, the whole, except Nos. 13,
17, and 23 (Hooker's), are ascribed to Sibbes in
that valuable and authoritative compilation by
Osborne and Crowe, 'The Catalogue of our
English Writers of the Old and New Testa-
ment, either in whole or in part : whether
Commentators, Elucidators, Annotators, Expo-
sitors, at large or in single Sermons.' Our
references are to 'The second impression,
corrected and enlarged, 1668,' 12mo. Nos. 13
and 17 seem to have been overlooked; they
authenticate themselves, being full of Sibbes's
recurring phrases and words. Nos. 3 and 4
of the 1st edition are in the 2d entitled ' The Art
of Self-judging.' No. 5 of the 1st edition, from
2 Timothy iv. 17, 18 (misprinted 1 Timothy, in 2d
and 3d editions), has its title changed to ' The
Danger of Backsliding,' evidently because of the
other sermons entitled, ' The Saint's Safety.' Nos.
6 and 7 in the 1st edition, are called 'The Saints'
Assurance' in the 2d ; and so No. 11, ' The Saints'
Refreshing,' instead of 'The Peace-gathering
Privilege ' in the 1st. The following nine ser-
mons, contained in the 2d and 3d editions, were
not in the 1st. As before, I append to each the
reference to our edition— 1. Christ's Sufferings
for Man's Sin, vol. i. p. 352. 2, 3. The Saint's
Safety in Evil Time.s, vol i. p. 296. 4 Christ is
Best, vol. i. p. 336. 5, 6. The Church's Visita-
tion, and The Ungodly's Misery, vol i. p. 372, and
p. 385. 7. DifBculty of Salvation, vol. L p. 395.
8, 9. The Saint's Hiding-place, vol. i. p. 401.
Nos. 1 to 4, and 5 to 9 respectively, had previous/
been published. For the former, see under IV ;
for the latter, under V.
*^* Of Nos. 8 to 10 I have in my library
beautifully written manuscript ' Notes,' which are
much more vivid and directly personal than the
564
BIBLIOGKAPHICAX LIST OF WORKS.
published editions, evidencing that they had
been taken down from Sibbes's lips, and care-
fully re-copied. The volume is a handsome
quarto, In contemporary morocco binding, gilt
edged, richly tooled and gilded, and with the
letters L. P. stamped in gold on both sides. The
opening paragraph of the first sermon, ' The
Tender Heart,' from our MS., may be compared
with the printed copy (vol. vi. p. 29) : ' You have
heard lately, how in the former two verses the
prophetesse Huldah (vpon Josiah's message vnto
her fearinge Judgment to come) had denovnced
a fearfuU threatning against Jerusalem and the
inhabitants thereof, from whence we noted divers
Lessons : as, first, what weake meanes God vses
to doe greate matters when it pleases him ; a
silly weake woman is stirred vp to counsaile and
comfort a great religious king ; and then her
wisdome, how she backs her message, and puts
the glorie where it is due, " Thus saith the
Lord." Then in the manner of the denvntiation,
" Beholde," we observed this word to be a fore-
runner of some strange thinge : and so it was yt
the Lord should punish soe severely his owne
beloved people : vpon wch we put you in minde
of God's long-suflferinge and patience, wch the
longer it be abused, vpon soe manic warnings,
at length produceth soe much the more judg-
ment upon the contemners. From hence we
obserued, that whatsoeuer the instruments of
affliction be, yet the Lord directs all, and in the
end makes it appeare that no privilege can pro-
cure any safetie to a people if they goe on in a
sinfuU course of life, and doe not make their peace
with God.' There follows fully other two pages,
and then, with slight verbal changes, come in
the opening words, as printed. So throughout.
m. ne Bruised Reed and Smoking Flax. 1st
edition, 1630, 18mo. Title; dedication, pp. 17
(unpaged) ; to the Christian reader, pp. 20 (un-
paged) ; table of the contents, pp. 9 (unpaged),
and pp. 347. For title-page and other editions,
see vol. i., page 34.
IV. The Saint's Safety in Evil Times. For
title-page, &c., see vol. i. p. 296. For the separate
sermons above, after contents of the Saint's
Cordials. Title, 1st sermon, 'The Saint's Safety,'
pp. 1-75," and 79-173 ; ' Christ is Best,' pp.
1 77-239 ; ' Christ's SuSerings for Man's Sin,' pp.
243-302.
V. The Church's Visitation. For title-page,
Ac, see vol. i. p. 372. For the separate sermons,
as in IV. The edition of IV in 1634, which was
a mere re-issue of that of 1633, with a new title-
page, has V. appended. Title, pp. 240 ; table,
pp. 20 (unpaged). This table includes IV. The
sermons of V. are Nos. 5, 6, 7, 8, and 9 of Saint's
Cordials, 2d and 3d editions.
VI. The Soul's Conflict. 1st edition, 1635, 12mo.
Title ; dedication, p. 1 ; to the Christian reader,
pp. 21 ; treatise, pp. 728 ; table, pp. 18. For
title-page and other editions, see vol. i. p. 120.
Cf. also note g, pp. 290-294 in refutation of Bp.
Patrick.
VII. Two Sermons upon the First Word^ of
Christ's Last Sermon. 1st edition, 1636, 4to.
Title, and pp. 69. For title-page and other
editions see vol. vii. p. 336.
Vin. The Spiritual Man's Aim. 1st edition,
1637, ISmo. Title, and pp. 1-92 ; table, pp. 6 ;
' Ucence,' p. 1 (unpaged) ; portrait by Marshall.
For title-page, and other editions, see vol. iv.
p. 40.
IX A Fountain Sealed. 1st edition, 1637,
ISmo. Title, dedication, pp. 7 ; the contents,
pp. 11 and pp. 252 ; errors to be corrected, and a
page before the treatise. For title-page and other
editions, see vol. v. p. 410.
X. The Christian's Portion (or the Charter of
a Christian). 1st edition, 1639, 18mo. Title and
pp. 67 ; ' licence,' p. 1. For title-page, &c., see
vol iv. p. 2.
XL Divine Meditations and Holy Contempla-
tions. 1st edition, 18mo. Fine engraved title-
page ; title ; to the Christian reader, pp. 20
(unpaged), and pp 274. For title-page and other
editions, see vol. vii. p. 180.
XII. Light from, Heaven Discovering the Foun-
tain Opened, die. 4to. Title ; dedication, pp.
6 ; to the reader, pp. 5 ; contents, pp. 4 (all un-
paged). 'The Fountain Opened,' and 'Angels'
Acclamations' are separately paged 1-297, and
' The Church's Riches by Clirist's Poverty,' and
' The Rich Poverty, or the Poor Man's Riches,'
1-157 ; table for both at close, pp. 13 (unpaged).
The following are the contents, with references :
— 1. The Fountain Opened, vol. v. p 458. 2.
Angels' Acclamations, vol. vi. p. 316. 3. The
Church's Riches by Christ's Poverty, vol. iv. p.
490. 4. The Rich Poverty, or the Poor Man's
Riches, vol. vi. p. 230. For general title-page,
see vol. iv. p. 490.
XIII. The RicheJ! of Mercy, in two Treatises :
1. Lydia's Conversion ; 2. A Rescue from Death,
with' a Return of Praise. 18mo, 1638. Title and
pp. 108 and table (unpaged) pp. 15 and pp. 146.
' Licence,' and portrait. For title-page, &c., see
vol. vi. p. 518. It may be stated here that ' The
Rescue from Death' is erroneously assigned in
the note to Lydia's Conversion to vol. vii., where-
as both are in vol. vi. See p. 135.
XIV. Tea and Amen ; or, Precious Promises
and Privileges. 18mo, 1638. Pp. 429, i. e. 1-215
and 217-429. For title-page, &c., see vol. iv. p.
114 for ' Yea and Amen,' and vol. v. p. 260 for
'The Privileges of the Faithful.'
XV. The Saint's Privilege ; or, A Christian's
Constant Advocate. 18mo, 1638. Title ; table,
pp. 6 ; licence, pp. 47. For title-page and editions
Bee vol. vii. p. 357.
XVI. The Bride's Longing for her Bridegroom's
Second Coming. 1038, ]8mo. Title ; to the
reader (unpaged), pp 12 ; the contents, pp. 7
(unpaged) and pp. 138 ; licence. For title-page
see vol. vi. p. 536.
XVII. Two Sermons Preached by that Faithful
and Reverend Divine, Richard Sibbes, DD. ISmo,
1638, Title and licence ; dedication ; and pp.
83. For title-page of the former, ' The Spouse,
her Earnest Desire after Christ,' see vol. ii. p.
198 ; for the latter, ' The Power of Christ's Resur-
rection,' vol. V. p. 196.
XVIII. A Olance of Heaven ; or, A Precious
Taste of a Glorious Feast. 1638, 18mo. Engraved
frontispiece by Marshall ; title ; to the Christian
reader, pp. 7 (unpaged) ; table, pp. 12 (unpaged).
Sermons i.-iii. pp. 211, and then iv. pp. 59. For
title-page see vol. iv. p. Ii2. The secondary
head-line title is, ' Hidden Secrets Revealed by
the Gospel.'
XIX. The Saints Comforts. 1638, 12mo. Title;
contents of the sermons upon Ps cxxx. and pp.
113. For title-page, &c., see vol. vi. p. 160.
The following sermons belong to this volume —
1. The Saint's Happiness, vol. vii. p. 66. 2 The
Rich Pearl, vol. vii. p. 254. 3. The Success of
the Gospel, vol. vii. p. 280. 4. Mary's Choice,
vol. vii. p. 288.
XX. A Miracle of Miracles ; or, Christ in our
Nature. 1638, 4to. Title and pp. 25 and 27 ;
licence. For title-page, &c., see vol. vii. p. 106.
XXI. The Christian's End. 1639, 4to. Title
and pp. 111. Fine portrait. For title-page sea
vol. v. p. 288.
XXII. Christ's Exaltation purchased by Humi-
liation. 1639, 18mo. Title ; contents (unpaged),
pp. 6 and pp. 196. For title-page see voL v. p.
324.
XXm. The Returning Backslider. 1st edition,
1639, 4to. Portrait ; title ; to the reader (unpaged),
pp. 4 ; sum of the treatise (unpaged), pp 7 and
pp. 482. For title-page, &c., and other editions
see vol. ii. p. 250.
XXIV. Beams of Divine Light. 1639, 4to.
Title ; dedication, pp. 5 (unpaged) ; to the reader
(unpaged), pp. 3 and pp. 330 and 232 ; table
(unpaged), pp. 14. For general title-page sea
vol. V. p. 220.
BIBLIOGRAl'HICAL LIST OF WORKS.
565
The following are the separate sermons— 1 A
Description of Christ, vol. i. p. 144. 2. God's
Inquisition, vol. vi. p. 206. 3. The Dead Man,
vol.vii. p. 398. 4. The Fruitful Labour, vol. vi.
p. 358. 6. Violence Victorious, vol. vi. p. 294.
6. The Church's Complaint and ConfiJence, vol!
VI. p. 182. 7. The Spiritual Jubilee, vol. v. p.
220. 8. St Paul's Challenge, vol. vii. p. 386.
9. The Church's Echo, vol. vii. p. 535. 10. David's
Conclusion ; or. The Saint's Resolution, vol. vii.
p. 80. 11. King David's Epitaph, vol. vi. p. 488.
XXV. Tlie Excellency of the Gospel abore the
Law. 1639, 12n)0. Title ; contents (unpaged),
PP. 17 and pp. 650. For title-page see vol. iv. p.
XXVI. A Breathing after God. 1639, 18mo.
Title ; to the Christian reader (unpaged), pp. 9 ;
license, contents, pp. 8 ; portrait. For title-page
see vol. ii. p. 210. A friend suggests that the
initials ' To the reader' more probable represent
Henry Jessey.
XXVn. An Exposition of the Third Chapter
of the Epistle of St Paul to the Philippians. Two
sermons of Christian Watchfulness ; an exposition
of part of the second chapter of the Epistle to the
Philippians ; a sermon upon Malachi. 1639, 4to.
Title ; dedication ; to the reader, pp. 8 (unpaged) ;
directions to the reader ; a table, pp. 12 ; Exposi-
tion of Philip, iii. pp. 1-256 ; table, 2 pages ;
works of Sibbes ; Christians' Watch and Coming
of Christ, pp. 1-146 ; The Christian Work, pp.
47-173 ; on Malachi, pp. 174-204. The Exposi-
tion of Philippians was Issued separately. For
general title-page see vol. v. p. 2
The following are the several portions, with
references :_1. Philippians chap, iii., vol. v. p. 56.
2. Christian's Watch, vol. vii. p. 298. 3. The
Coming of Christ, vol. vii. p. 306. 4. The Chris-
tian Work, vol. V. p. 6. 5. Of the Providence of
God, vol. V. p. 35. Nos. 4and5 make the exposition
of ' part of Philippians chap, ii.' In the ' note ' to
title-page of XXVII. I promise a novice of Cole,
one of Sibbes's publishers. I found it in Edwards's
Gangraena (2d^part, pp. 50, 51, edit. 1646), in an
account of an interview in the shop of ' Mr Smith,
Cornhill,' whereby it appears he was at one with
Edwards as to ' Liberty of Conscience and Tolera-
tions,' which were as 'the unpardonable sin' to
the hot-headed and wrong-headed Presbyterian.
He says — 'In December 1644, coming into Mr
Smith's shop in Cornhill, near the Exchange,
where some persons were, there was some dis-
course about liberty of conscience ; whereupon I
spoke against it, and Mr Cole, bookseller, con-
fessed he was against a general liberty of con-
science by what he saw and knew,' &c. &c. There
is another glimpse of Cole in an address of ' The
Stationer to the Reader' — said stationer being one
'Dr Newman' — prefixed to Burroughs' 'Gospel
Remission' (4to, 1668). Among other things
extraneous, this occurs : 'Knowing that Mr Peter
Cole (who fonnerly printed many of the author's
works) had long laid wait and endeavoured to
get this copy out of the hands of those that pub-
lished the author's books, offering a great reward
for the same, but could not obtain it,' &c &o.
Pity that these old booksellers and publishers
have no memorial. It is a literary mine all un-
wrought. Surely it will tempt some worthy
antiquary some day. The Cole.s, and Simmonses,
and Parkhursts, and Calverts to whom we owe
many a stately folio and precious quarto, and
equally priceless lesser volumes, deserve to have
their names and labours revived. Cole's heraldic
shield is proudly displayed in his book catalogues,
e.g., prefixed to Thomas Hooker's volumes. The
date is 1316.
XXVIII. Bowels Opened. Sermons on 'Canticles.'
1st edition, 1639, 4to. For title-page and editiona
see vol. ii. p. 2.
XXIX. The Spiritual Favourite at the Throru
of Grace. 1640, 18mo. Pp. 101. For title-page,
&c., see vol. vi. p. 92.
XXX. Evangelical Sacrifices in Nineteen Ser-
mons. 1640, 4to. General title ; dedication, pp.
5 ; to the reader, pp 4 (unpaged), and pp. 318
and 218 ; table, pp. 8.
The following are the several sermons, with
references: — 1. The Beast'sDominion over Earthly
Kings, vol. vii. p. 517. 2. The Ruin of Mystical
Jericho, vol. vii. p. 462. 3. The Unprosperous
Builder, vol. vii. p. 18. 4, 5. The Successful
Seeker, 2 Sermons, vol. vi. p. 110. 6-10. Faith
Triumphant, vol. vii. p. 414. 11, 12. The Hidden
Life, vol. vi. p. '204. 13. The Redemption of
Bodies, vol. v. p. 156 14. Balaam's AVish, vol vii.
p. 2. 15, 16. The Faithful Covenanter, vol. vi. p.
2. 17. The Demand of a Good Conscience, vol.
vii p. 478. 18, 19. The Sword of the Wicked, vol.
i. P; 104. For general title-page see vol. V. p. 156.
XXXI. A Consolatory Letter to an Afflicted
Conscience. 1641, 4to. See Memoir, vol. I. pp.
Cciv-cxvi.
XXXH. The Glorious Feast of the Gospel. 1650,
4to. Title ; to the reader, pp. 8 (unpaged) ; table,
pp. 6 (unpaged), and pp. 106, alphabetical table,
pp. 5. For title-page see vol. ii. p. 433. In the
prefatory ' note ' I I'efer to mistakes in pagination
in this tractate ; but as this is shared by it with
numerous others of the early editions, it is not
deemed needful to specify them.
XXXIII. A Heavenly Conference between Christ
and Mary. 18mo, 1654. For title-page, &c., see
vol. vi. p. 414.
XXXI V. A Learned Commentary or Exposition
upon the First Chapter of the 2d Epistle of St
Paid to the Corinthians. 1655, folio. Title ; to
the reader, pp. 3 (unpaged), and pp. 1-581 ; alpha-
betical table, pp. 18 (unpaged) ; fine portrait ia
style''of Hollar. For title-page, &c., see vcL iii. p. 2.
XXXV. A Learned Commentary or Exposition
upon the Fourth Chapter of the 2d Epistle oj St
Paul to the Corinthians. 1656, 4to. Title ; to
the reader, pp. 5 (unpaged) ; errata and pp. 273,
&.C: For the title-page, vol. iv. p. 308. For the
other pieces mentioned in title-page see VIII. XX.
and XXXin.
XXXVI. A ntidotum contra Naufragium Fidei,
&c. 1657, 18mo. For title-page, &c., see vol. vii
p. 547.
XXXVII. For 'Epistles' Dedicatory and Pre-
fatory by Sibbes to the books of others, see chap,
ix. of our Memoir, pp. Ixxxiii-cx and vol. vii. p.
462.
TT-GLOSSAEY.
NOTE.
This Glossary is given in fulfilment of our promise in Preface (Vol. I. page xiv). It may be stated
that, as a rule, we have not given separate references lo the different grammatical forms of the words,
i. e., noun, adjective, verb,&c., are placed under a. single form. There will be found in these references
liot'a few excellent early examples of now classic words, and also some in the transitional state, half-
English only at the time. In nearly every case the references guide to explanations in th'k places — Q.
Abased, ii. 135." I Absolutely, iv. 328. I Acception, iii. 17, 382.
Abroach, iii. 336, 514. | Abstractively, ii. 230— v. 283. | Acquisite, iii. 626.
566
GLOSSARY.
Admiration, i. 382, 384— v. 532
— vi. 95— vii. 109, 280. Ad-
mirable, ii. 48.
Admires, i. 399— ii. 137, 204— iii.
285— V. 350— vi. 549— vii. 221.
Admiring, ii. 365 — v. 475.
Adequation, iii. 113.
Advocation, ii. 188.
Affect, ii. 25, 86, 205, 416, 496—
iii. 333, 498_iv. 121, 126, 157
—V. 94, 145, 230, 271, 276, 277,
280, 281, 347, 417, 461— vi. 113,
166, 533, 544^vii. 11, 76, 123,
172, 225, 239, 303, 400, 452, 511,
531.
Affected, iii. 32— vi. 220.
Affiance, vi. 453.
Affluence, v. 290.
Afore, vii. 358
After-claps, ii. 295.
After-wit, vi. 211.
Alas! i. 396— iii. 159- iv. 163—
V. 331, 402, 475, 482, 518— vii.
419.
Allude, ii. 444.
Amain, v. 401, 443.
Amiable, iv. 12.
Ambages, iii. 477.
Amort, iii. 131, 471.
Apology, iv. 395— V. 177 — vii.
219.
Apostatical, ii. 150.
Apparent, apparently, iv.l89 — v.
198— vi. 389— vii. 120, 184, 350.
Apparitions, V. 499 — vi. 418.
Appendencies, ii 178.
ipplauseth, ii. 491.
^ppoplex, vii. 173.
Arbitrai-y. iv. 16.
Argued, iii. 233.
Asportation, vi. 416.
Assaies, assays, ii. 54 — vi. 259.
Assoyle, v. 352.
Assumpt, V. 521.
Attendance, vii. 109
Available, iii. 9.
Aversation, ii. 368, 371— iv. 289
— vi. 29— vii. 86.
Avoids, iii. 4S4— iv. 319.
Award, ii. 10? — vi. 20i
.\wful, vi. 249.
Back, vi. 501.
Backs, i. 211.
Balk, ii. 371.
Bawd, iii. 32.
Becom'd, ii. 280.
Begins, ii. 174.
Being, ii. 54 — v. 16.
Benefit, iii. 327, 534.
Be-rent, ii, 337.
Besides, iii. 370— iv. 128, 349— v.
302— vi. 343— vii. 220.
Blackamore, iv. 24, 38.
Bonefire, iii. 198.
Bout, iii. 121— iv. 12— vii. 149.
Bowl, ii. 425.
Brabbles, i. 261— v. 85.
Bravery, iv. 123.
Brook, iv. 257, 329— vi. 93, 304,
651.
But, ii. 498.
Butt, i. 397— iii. 190, 270.
Capitulate, vi. 101.
Captivate, v. 341.
Cares, iv. 101.
Cashier, ii. 76.
Catcli, i. 68, 101.
Cautelous, iii. 137, 256— V. 268.
Channel, i. 109.
Chary, ii. 403.
Civil, ii. 19— iii. 15— iv. 159, 340,
383, 397, 430— V. 229, 422, 435,
495— vi. 193, 219— vii. 360.
Clerks, iii. 245— iv. 178— vii 285.
Clouts, vii. 420.
Coat-armour, vii. 131.
Cockered, ii. 370.
Collogued, vii. 528.
Colluding, i. 262.
Commination, ii. 144.
Combers, ii. 478.
Comb-downcs, iii. 533.
Commons, iv. 74.
Compelling, iv. 496.
Complexion, iii. 121.
Compliment, i. 275 — iii. 13.
Comproduced, vii. 401.
Conceit, ii. 5, 51, 64, 306— iii.
234— iv. 84, 171, 254, 275, 317,
517— vii. 87, 361, 429.
Concenterate, ii. 69.
Concluded, vii. 42.
Concourse, v. 270.
Conscience, i. 252 — ii. 365 — iv.
482. Conscionable and con-
scionably, ii. 5.3 — iii. 81, 497,
5 1 6- V. 299, 394— vi. 39, 138,
19e, 227, 297, 386, 658— vii.
174, 208, 431.
Consequent, ii. 7, 51.
Consist, vi. 184.
Consistence, iv. 331.
Contentment, vii. 36. Contented,
iii. 28. Contentation, ii. 178
—iii. 18G— iv. 511— v, 274, 277,
279. Contents, i. 6— iii. 3S5.
Continual, ii. 72.
Contrivements, vii. 37.
Conversation, i. 379.
Convicted, vii. 70.
Coquus, ii. 447.
Co-rivality, ii. 132.
Cost, ii. 11.
Counterpane, v. 434.
Cratch, iii. 232— vi. 318.
Curious, iv 390— v. 145, ?,52—
vi. 233, 443, 491— vii. 545.
Customary, iv. ^17.
Dagg, ii. 261— vi. 98.
Damned, iv. 99.
Daubed, iv. 95.
Deaded, ii. 6, 48.
Deboisedness, i. 342 — ii. 370 — iv.
373— vi. 223.
Deceive, iii. 338.
Decline, iv. 115.
Defy, vi. 371.
Deliquium, ii. 111.
Deordination, ii. 247.
Deprave, i. 127— ii. 31— iv. 278
_vi. 344— vii. 212,219.
Derives, ii. 356, 409— iii. 11, 29,
65, 145— iv. 206, 268, 297, 322,
435-V. 35, 210, 243, 330— vi.
13, 21, 106, 305— vii. 169, 216,
257. Derivance, iii. 444 — iv.
33. Derivation, v. 296.
Desert, iii. 477.
Designment, iii. 8.
Desirous, v 381.
Destitute, iii. 78.
Determined, ii. 269 — v. 294—
vii. 45, 535.
Detract, iii. 479. Detracted, vi.
120.
Devotion, iv. 20— v. 334.
Digest, ii. 70.
Dignation, v. 479, 517.
Discessation, vii 299.
Disclaim, ii. 291.
Discovery, iii. 392. Discovered,
iv. 25.
Discreet, vi. 309.
Dispose, i. 252.
Dissemble, iii. 340.
Distracted, iv. 34i.
Distinctly, iv. 315.
Diuturnity, ii. 503.
Diversion, iv. 43 — v. 424. Di-
verting, ii 259.
Doctor, ii. 142— iv. 228.
Donation, vii. 522.
Drives, iii. 49.
Droil, vi 217.
Drone, ii. 473— v. 75 — vii. 413.
Drugs, vii. 362.
Earnest-penny, iii. 476 — v. 449.
Eftsoons, vii. 37.
Enabled, ii. 324— iii. 17, 22, 85.
Evasion, vi. 256.
Evince, vii. 142.
Exhibited, iv. 493.
Exigents, iii. 404, 509— iv. 80,
135, 212_vii. 205.
Expense, ii. 40
Expedite, iii. 507.
Experiments, i. 277 — ii. 325 — iii.
73, 98— vii. 208, 474.
Expiate, iv. 417.
Facinorous, vii. 472, 617.
Factors, iv. 347.
Falls, vii. 303.
Fetch, i. 229, 273, 300— iii. 145.
File, i. 158, 289.
Platted, ii. 452.
Fleet, vii. 353.
Foils, i. 154— ii. 86- iii. 138, 171
— iv. 423— V. 26.
Fond, ii. 125— iii. 425, 512— iv.
118, 324— V. 179, 523.
Forced, iv. 313.
Foregoes, vii. 35.
Forfeiture, vi. 449.
Form, iv. 49.'?.
Frame, iv. 354.
Qalaxia, v. 31.
Gaudy-day, ii. 441.
Generation, vii. 132.
Glorious, ii. 415.
Grandees, iv. 437.
Great, vii. 143.
Gripple, gripleness, vi. IC, 20.
Groundedly, ii. 476.
Groom-porter, v. 261.
Gulls, iv. :i79.
Habit, v. 150. Habitual, iv. 470.
Had, ii 473.
Handsomely, v. 472
Hardly, i. 379— ii. 26, 387— ul.
32, 337.
Harsh, iii. 337.
Harmless, v. 23, 34.
Hatches, v. 492.
Hint, iii. 234.
Humorous, i. 188.
Husbands, vii. 344.
Idiot, i. 186, 290.
Idol, V. 4.
Immediately, iii. 28 — vi. 152,
Impertinent, vii. 292.
Impetration, v. 210.
Implead, iv. 223.
Impudent, iv. 456.
Inable, iii. 13
Incensing, vii. 242.
Indentures, ii 426 — iii. 343.
Inforcive, ii. 258.
Infidelity, ii. 496.
Infallible, iii. 358.
Infers, v. 88.
Infatuate, vii. 469.
Ingenuous, ii. 47, 48, 52, 55, 88,
255. Ingenuity, i. 301— u. 38
_iv. 618— V. 432, 452.
GLOSSABY.
567
Ingemination, vi. 166— vii. 289.
Inright, v. 338, 355.
Insult, iv. 153— V. 533_TiL 114.
Insultatlon, ii. 211.
Intend, i. 118— v. 97, 109, 138.
Intension, v. 72, 83— Yi. 192—
vii. 316.
Intendment, i. 267— ii. 80, 96—
V. 335, 454.
Intritively, ii. 462.
Interesting, iv. 336. Interessed,
V. 271.
Interlunium, iv. 398, 498.
Invitement, vii. 35.
Ironia, iii. 138.
Judicial, ii. 486.
Judicious, vl. 220, 424.
Knowledge, iv. 234.
Lazar, iv. 176.
Legal, iv. 622.
Let, i. 67, 101— ii. 99_i!l. 344,
479— v. 270— vii. 14, 427.
Lightsome, v. 476, 539.
Limbs, li. 14.
List, ii. 242— iv. 23, 217, 236, 394
—V. 312— vii. 29, 209, 538.
Lists, iii. 103.
Lively, ii. 123.
Loathsome, ii. 40.
Loose, iii. 511.
Magnifique, ii. 17,
Waived, v. 471.
Mart-town, iii. 7.
Meant, v. 150.
Mere, iv. 145, 348, 441, 513— v.
228— vii. 401. Merely, i. 391
— vi. 524.
Meretrices, ii. 80.
Merit, iv. 498.
Military, ii. 211.
Miserable, iv. 408.
Moe, V. 297.
Mop-eyed, vii. 461.
Mortify, iv. 56. Mortification,
iv. 413, 414.
Motives, V. 296. Motion, vii. 37,
57.
Mued, iii. 253.
Natural, iii. 29. Naturals, iii.
378— iv. 119— vi. 136. Natu-
rally, iv. 205.
Naught and naughty, ii. 170 —
iii. 62, 211, 230, 2-34- iv. 16,
117, 217, 232, 506, 509, 518— v.
229, 231, 298, 320, 419, 471,
511— vi. 15, 23, 30 143, 20S,
405, 429, 459, 501,542— vii. 14,
23, 85, 207, 233, 527, 541.
Neat, ii. 80— iv. 188— v. 453.
Nice and nicety, ii. 37, 194 — iv.
378, 429.
Nilleth, v. 145.
Nuzled, ii. 89, 412— iii. 129— v.
131— vii 302.
Obnoxious, v. 337.
Obsequious, i. 224.
Obstinate, vii. 39.
Occurrence, ii. 414.
Occurrents, iii. 235.
Odd, iii. 305.
Offensive, iv. 253.
Officious, iii. 234.
Only, iv. 218.
Opposite, ii 116, 162,
Oratories, ii. 468.
Overly, iii. 501, 527.
Over-sways, vii. 515.
Over-timely, iv. 82.
Own, iv. 364.
Painful, V. 49, 122— vi. 511— vii.
39, 512.
Party, iii. 9— v. 277, 362, 392—
vi. 21.
Parvity, ii. 515.
Pass, iv. 56, 101— v. 17, 98, 430
— vi. 138, 362— vii. 76, 2s2.
Passible, iv. 498.
Patcheries, ii. 241 — iii. 377 — iv.
116— vii. 46.
Pates, iv. 194.
Patter, v. 461.
Pawn, iv. 506— vii. 36.
Pendulous, iii. 519.
Person, ii. 472. Personated, vi.
301.
Pertinency, v. 289.
Phantasy, ii. 40.
Physical, ii. 447.
Pity, ii. 480.
Plotteth, iv. 208.
Point, i. 407— V. 85, 145.
Polite, iv. 248. Politeness, Iv. 311.
Positure, i. 169.
Posthume, iv. 311.
Prefixeth, ii. 414.
Prejudice, iii. 210, 211, 312.
Prepossessing, ii. 193.
Prescribing, iii. 500.
President, iii. 76, 92.
Prevent, preventing, ii. 65 — iii.
74, 192, 203— iv. 79, 412, 523—
V. 62, 283, 317, 427— vi. 10.3,
168, 523, 530— vU. 39, 67, 159,
198.
Price, ii. 469— vii. 300.
Pried, v. 498.
Primitive, iv 470.
Privative, iii. 30. Privations,
vii. 40.
Proper, ii. 503.
Properly, iv. 206.
Propension, iii. 12 — v. 435.
Prophet, iv. 338.
Propriety, i. 272, 283— ii. 140,
174— iv. 15, 49, 62, 496— v. 61,
411— vi. 106, 475.
Protestantial, ii. 445.
Proud, vii. 148, 369.
Providence, vii. 44.
Provoked, ii. 69— v. 25.
Punctual, punctually, ii. 299 —
vii. 122.
Put on, ii. 69.
Quaeres, ii. 348— iii. 205, 313.
Quail, iv. 458.
Querks. ii. 149.
Rectify, v. 291.
Reddition, vii. 281.
Referred, ii. 366
Reflect, iii. 224.
Refuse, iii. 13.
Regiment, i. 393— ii. 309 — iii.
2 .2, 465— iv. 236, 4.')6— V. 312,
329, 422— vi. 246, 401, 409, 503,
529— vii. 256, 519.
Reject, iv. 401.
Remote, iii. 129.
Renitency, vi. 541.
Renounce, iii. 167.
Rent, V. 341. Renting, ii. 375—
iv. 258.
Require, iii. 178.
Resembled, ii. 6.
Respective, i. 224— iii. 11. Re-
spectively, iv. 358.
Revengeful, ii. 395— vi. 55. Re-
venging, i. 361.
Reverence, i. 269— ii. 14, 493 —
iv. 61.
Reversion, v. 209.
Roist, vii. 183.
Roods, ii. 393.
Routs, v. 91.
Ruffe and ruffle, v. 212, 492—
VU. 63, 83, 412.
Sacramental, iii. 12.
Sad, iv. 147— V. 266.
Salving, ii. 77.
SaUns, ii. 131.
Satisfactory, iii. 82— v. 127— vi.
190.
Scandal, i. 279— ii. 412, 427— iii.
21, 338, 435— iv. 108, 161, 506
—V. 14, 266, 274, 332, 350, 352,
532— vi. 178, 212— viL 83, 193,
535.
Scantling, i. 117, 229— vl. 443—
vii. 243.
Scarce, vi. 237.
Science, iii 304.
See-to, iv. 153.
Seison, iii. 154, 531.
Seize, iv. 67 — vi. 211.
Self-respect, iv. 369.
Seminary, ii. 235 — iv. 10.
Senseless, ii. 207.
Sensible, iii. 143— iv. 172— vi
31— vii. 83.
Several, vii. 84.
Sew, ii. 42.
Shiftless, i. 273— ii. 295— v. 348
— vi. 539. Shifting, ii. 39, 89
— vi. 128, 131. Shifts, ii. 87,
89— iii. 148, 263— v. 180.
Shew, iii. 367.
Shoaled, iv. 217.
Shore-up, i. 277.
Shrewdly, vii. 182,251.
Sincerity, v. 512.
Sith, vi. 276— ViL 40.
Slight, vii. 527.
Sobs, i. 86, 101.
Soder, ii. 375.
Sometimes, vii. 162.
Squeesy, vi. 416.
State, ii. 217.
Staves-end, vi. 438.
Stay, V 20.
Stern, i. 288— ii. 428— iii. 274,
301— iv. 42, 295— vii. 189.
Stilling, vii. 181.
Stomach.?, v. 515.
Stond, vi. 36.
Stops, V. 81.
Straight, ii. 451— vii. 214.
Stupid, ii. 480.
Strucken, ii. 450.
Subject, iv. 385, 39L
Success, ii. 16.
Subsidy, vii. 177.
Suddenly, vii. 184.
Suit, vii. 97.
Surely, i. 357— ii. 315, 395— iii.
64.
Syance, iv. 368— v. 480— vi. 528.
Sciens, vii. 380.
Tang, iii. 121.
Taxeth, iii. 499.
Temper, v. 163.
Temples, iv. 104.
Tenent, v. 76, 523.
Tender, v, 179— vi. 88, 197— vii.
141. Tendereth, vi 69,
Tent, iv. 91.
Tentations, vi. 13, 369.
Termined, ii. 125. Term, iii.
289.
There, iii. 618.
Thieves, iv. 355, 486.
Through-stitch, v. 376, 384.
Thwart, v. 233. "
dm
NAMES QUOTED OR REFEERED TO.
Tidings, iii. 299.
To, iv. 498. .
Tongues, vii. 292.
Took, U. 167, 409— iv. 252.
Touch, vii. 488.
Toy, i. 186— ii. 42— iii. 295— v.
64— vii. 220, 502, 528.
Tradition, vi. 38. •
Translation, vi. 170 vii. 358.
Travel, vii. 5.
Trudgery, vii. 503.
Trunks, iv. 263.
Tuitioa, i. 418.
Unconscionable, iv. 81 — vi. 257.
Unpassible, iv. 40j.
Unreasonable, iii. 143 — iv. 226.
Upbraid, vii. 530.
Use, iii. 52— iv. 6.
Uxorious, iv. 46.
Vent, i. 109_vi. 107.
Velleity, vi. 544.
Vindictive, i. 361,
Virtual, iv. 378— vi. 116.
Voyage, i. 85, 101.
Want, iii. 186.
Whilst, ii. 399— vi. 85.
White, vii. 39.
Wit, iv. 178, 233, 374, 393_v.
267, 274, 468, 470, 476— vi. 15,
104, 246, 249— vii. 389. Wittv,
ii. 295— iii. 112, 137, 190, 443
— iv. 283, 401, 451, 510, 518—
vi 318— vii. 283, 287. Wittily,
ii. 291.
Without, ii. 421— iv. 70, 159—
vi. 318.
Wracked, ii. 109.
ni-NAMES QUOTED AND EEFEKEED TO.
Abbot, George, Archbishop, I.
xliv, xlv, xlvii.
Abbot, Robert, Bishop, I. L'cxxvi.
Abbot, Maurice, Sir, v. 3.
Ackerman, ii. 433.
Adam, Thomas, iii. 530.
Adam, Melchior, i. 158.
Adams, Thomas, I. xiii, xir,
IxTii— ii. 433— iii. 512, 533—
iv. 420.
Adrian IV., v. 153.
Alabaster, br, I. Lxxii.
Alexander, Dr J. A., i. 101 — ii.
460— iv. 487— Ti. 157, 203— vii.
91.
Alford, Dean, i. 31— ii. 194- iii.
529, 530— vi. 356.
AUeine, I. xxi., cxvii, cxviii.
Almack, Richard, Esq., I. xv.
Almond, Edward, I. xxxvi.
Amira, vii. 560.
Ambrose, i. 195— iii. 534, 536—
iv. 38, 486.
Amurath, iii. 533.
Anderson, I. Ixx — iv. 35.
Andrews, Bishop, v. 639 — vii.
560.
Angell, I. Ixxix.
Antiochus, iv. 3C5.
Antisthenes, iv. 488.
Aquinas, iii. 531.
Aratus, iii. 529.
Aristotle, ii. 194— iv. 38, 200— v.
322.
Arius, iv. 526.
Arnot, V. 161.
Arnold, Christopher, I. xxv.
Arnold, i. 410.
Arnobius, ii. 435.
Arrowsmith, John, Dr, vii. 547.
Ascham, I. xxxii.
Ash, Simeon, I. xxi, xxii— iv. 311.
Augustine, I. cxxiii, 57, 58, 68,
70, 148, 174, 184, 197, 198, 200,
241, 268, 286, 313, 324, 327— ii.
42, 89, 194, 218, 222, 261, 434,
631, 532, 633, 534, 535, 637—
iv. 38, 200, 237, 304, 305, 310,
486, 487, 488 -v. 34, 107, 193,
455, 539, 640— vi. 132, 263, 356,
381, 485, 486, 516— viL 32, 228,
334.
Bacon, Francis, Lord, I. xxviii,
xU, xlii—ii. 194, 435— iii. 20—
iv. 159.
Bacon, Sir Nicholas, I. xxxi,
Bagge iv. 305,
Ball, John, I. c, cv, cxxiv.
Bankes, Sir John, i. 121.
Bankes, Thomas, I. xxxvL
Barnardiston, I. xxix.
Baronius, iv. 37— vii. 560.
Barrow, i. 118— ii. 433.
Basil, iv. 4£6.
Baxter, Richard, I. xix, xxi —
V. 456.
Bayns, Michael, i. 172.
Bayne, Paul, I. xxxiv, xxxv,
Ixxxiii.
Beadle, iii. 24.
Beaumont, Francis, I. xxxi.
Becket, iii. 535.
Bede, I. xix.
Beddoes, Lovell, I. Ixxviii,
Ixxix.
Bedell, Bishop, I. xlviii.
Bell, Currer, Ellis, Acton, I.
cxxiii.
Bellarmine, I. Ixxxii, 313 — ii.
194— iii. 531^iv. 38, 626_v.
153, 540— vi. 132— vU. 560.
Bengel, v, 285.
Benlowes, Edward, i. 128.
Bennet, Benjamin, i. 293.
Berkeley, Bishop, i. 101— iv. 200.
Bernard, i. 94, 182— iii. 531— iv.
38, 526— V. 355, 356— vii. 397.
Beza, i. 184_v. 64.
Bird, Charles, I. xvi.
Blackstone, Sir Wm., iii. 531.
Blachynden, iii 468.
Bloys, Wm., i. 127.
Blomefield, I. xxv.
Bloomfleld, I. xxviii.
Blunt, V. 153.
Bonar, Dr, I. xvi — iii. 533.
Bourne, I. xxxi.
Boys, Dr John, vii. 534.
Bright, J. B., Esq., I. xv, cxxi.
Brigs, Richard, I. xxv, xxxi.
Brinsley, John, iv. 352— v. 21.
Bronte, ii. 199.
Brook, I. xxvi., xliii, Ixi, Ixxix.
Brooke, Sir Robert, \ I. cxviii,
Brooke, Lady, j cxix.
Brooks, Thomas, i. 350, 397, 412
— ii. 617— vii. 491.
Browne, Wm., I. xxxi.
Brown, John, of Haddington, i.
294.
Brown, Stafford, iii. 469.
Brownrig, Bishop, L xlix, liii,
cxlii, 334.
Bruce, John, L Iviii.
Bryce, Dr, I. xvi.
Brydges, Sir Egerton, i. 127.
Bucer, ii. 434— v. 153.
Buckingham, Duke of, I. xlviii.
Bungener, iii. 632.
Burgess, Daniel, iv. 486.
Burroughs, Jeremiah, L xxi,
xxii — iv. 5.
Burke, I. xxv.
Butler, Bishop, v. 539.
Butler, Capt. T., ii. 434.
Buts, Dr, I. Iv.
Byrd, iv. 183.
Caesar, Julius, v. 539.
Cairns, Dr, I. xvi.
Calderwood, Henry, Rev., iv.
304.
Calvin, L cxxiii — ii. 434 — v. 54.
154, 356.
Capell, Richard, L xciii.
Carkesse, i. 410.
Carlyle, I. Ixxi, Lxxii, Ixxiii.
Carleton, Bishop, vii. 477.
Carpenter, Nathaniel, i. 410.
Carraciolus, i. 184, 289 seq.
Caryl, iv. 310.
CasteU, Ed., I. liii.
Catharinus, v. 153.
Catlin, Zachary, 1. xiv, xix, xxvi,
xxix, XXX, xxxiii, cxx, cxxi,
cxxii, cxxiii, cxxxiii, cxxxiv
— ui. 460.
Cawton, Thomas, I. xxxvii.
Charles I , I. xciii.
Charles II , I. cxi.
Charles IX., i. 149.
Chauncy, Charles, I. liii.
Chrysostom, iii. 530— iv. 309,
485, 486, 488, 526. 527— vii. 334.
Church, Joseph, I. xxi, xxii —
iv. 311.
Cicero, i. 303, 304, 316— ii. 488,
517— iii. 631, 533— v. 322.
Clarendon, iv. 491.
Clark, Thomas, I. xxx, cxxi.
Clarke, Samuel, I. xxvi, xxxvii,
Iv, Ivi.
Cleanthes, iii. 529.
Clay, iii. 529.
Clive, Mrs, I. cxxvii — v. 355.
Cole, Dr, vii. 287.
Cole, Peter, v. 2- vii. 565.
Coleridge, Hartley, I. IxviiL
Constable, I. xxvi, xxviii.
Constantine, v. 173.
Conybeare & Howson, iii. 529.
Cooper, C. H., Esq., I. xv, xxxvi,
liii, liv, Ixxxii.
Cooper, Thompson, Esq., I. xv.
Cooper, W. D., Esq., I. xv.
Coote, Edmund, I. xxxii.
Coster, ii. 434— iu. 531.
Cotes, ii. 198.
Cotton, John, I. xxxvii, Ii, Iii
—iii. 366,
Coverdale, I. xxix.
Cowper, V. 163.
Crabbe, George, I. xxviii.
Cragge, John, iv. 304, 305.
Cmnmer, iii. 537.
NAMES QUOTED AND EEPKRP.ED TO.
5G9
Crew, I. xliii.
Croly, iii. 536.
Cromwell,!, xxxvii, Ixxi— i v. 401.
Crooke, I. xlix.
Culverwell, Ezekiel, I. xxi, Ixxxi
— II. Ixxxix — vii. 184.
Cyril, vU. 334.
Cyprian, iii. 530, 535, 536— iv.
304_v. 153— vi. 485.
Damascene, iii. 535.
Davenant, IJishop, I. xliii.
Davenant, Sir Wm., i. 350.
Davidson, Rev. A. B., iii. 533 —
vi. 175.
Davenport, John, B. D., I. xxi,
Iviii, Ixxiv, xcv, seq.
Davy, I. XXV.
Demarest, i. 334.
Democritus, ii. 518.
Demosthenes, vii. 228.
Denny, Sir Wm., i. 121.
Descartes, v. 356.
Digges, Sir Dudley, 1. 121.
Diodorus, I. Ixxxiii.
Dod, John, I. xxi.— ii. 4.
Donaldson, Dr, I. xxxi.
Dorchester, I. Iv.
Doune, I. xx.
Ducke, Mrs, I. xxi.
Durant, iv. 350.
D'Aubigne, i. 126.
D'Ewes, Sir Sy., L xxxii.
Eachard, I. Ivi.
Eaple, ii. 434.
Edwards, vii. 440.
Edward III., I. xxvi.
Edward VI., I. xxxi— ii. 392.
Eliot, Sir John, I. Ixxii.
Elliott, iii. 38- V. 539.
Elllcott, i. 334— ii.434— iv. 305—
V. 26, 34, 153, 193— vii. 297.
Epiphanius, iii. 536.
Erasmus, iv. 396.
Erskine, Eben, Rev., i. 101.
Erskine, Kalph, Rev., ii. 194.
Eusebius, iii. 536.
Faber, ii. 240, 241, 434.
Eagius, Paulus, iii. 532.
Felix, of Nola, iv. 487, 488,
Fenton, Dr, I. cxii.
Ferre, v. 153.
Finch, Lord Keeper, I. Ixx.
Firmin, v. 455.
Fletcher, Giles, 1 j
Fletcher, Phineas, ) ^- ^^'•
Fletcher, John, I. xxxi.
Forster, John, I. Ixxiii.
Foss, Edward, I xv, Ixxx.
Fox, John, vii. 32.
Frederick, Elector, L Ivii.
Fulgentius, i. 230.
Fulke, Wm., ii. 435.
Fuller, Thomas, I. xxvi, liii, Ivi,
cxxv.
Gainsborough, I. xxvi, xxviii.
Gale, Theophilus, L cxix.
Galen, v. 46, 54.
Gardiner, Stephen, I. ixxx — iii.
633.
Garnet, iii. 535 — vii. 137.
Gataker, Thomas, B.D., vii. 562.
Gerhard, iv. 309.
Gerson, ii. 42— vi. 416 — vii. 32.
Ginsburg, ii. 193.
Goodwin, John, I. xxi, xxii, 100
—V. 3, 5.
Goodwin, Dr Thomas, I. xxi,
xxxviii, liv, cxvi, cxix — ii. 3.
Goodwin, Philip, iv. 486.
Gouge, Dr Wm., L xx, liii,
Iviii, xc, xci.
Gough, Ilenry, iii. 529.
Granger, I. xxi.
Greave.s, I. xxxiii, xxxiv.
Gregory, i. 96, 284— iv. 38.
Gregory, Nazianzen, v. 455.
Gurnal, i. 35— iv 310.
Gustavus Adolphus, iv. 464.
Hacket, Bishop, I. Lxiv.
Hall, Thos., i. 334.
Hall, Bishop, I. xxxi.
Hamilton, Sir Wm., iv. 304.
Hampden, I. Ixxii.
Hanbury, iv. 311.
Hathaway, Anne, I. j^x\.
Hayward, Sir John, I. xvi.
Heliodorus, vii. 53.!.
Helps, I. Ixxviii, l.\: x.
Henderson, Dr, i. ;>;;..
Henry, Philip, v 322.
Henry III., vii. 533.
Henry IV., vii. 252.
Henry VIII., iii. 401, 486.
Herbert, I. xx, xxxi, liii. 101.
Herodotus, ii. 248— vii. 262.
Hertford, Earl of, ii. 435.
Hessey, Dr. I. v, xv.
Heylin, I. Ixiv.
Hilary, iv. 3u5_vii. 561.
Hill, John, I. xxi— ii. 212, 251.
Hills, John, I. xlvii.
Hobbes, I. xxxi.
Hobson, I. xxxvi.
Hodge, Dr, i. 31— iii. 529.
Holdsworth, I. liii.
Holmshed, ii. 190.
Homer, vi. 515.
Hooker, I. xix, .^x.
Hooper, I. xxix.
Horace, ii. 518.
Home, T. H., iii. 534, 535.
Howe, Mrs, I. Ixxxi.
Howland, Sir John, ii. 199.
Hughes, George, iv. 316— vi. 538.
Hutton, Rev. Thomas, M.A., iii.
536.
Ignatius, ii. 194.
Irenaeus, vii. 334.
Isidore, iii. 524.
Jackson, Arthur, I. xxi, xxii,
lxix_ii. 442— iv. 494 — v. 160.
Jeffrey, John, I. U
Jenkyn, I. xxvi.
Jerome, i. 81 — vii. 334, 560.
Jewel, ii. 434.
Johnson, Dr. i. 410.
Jonson, Ben, I. Ixxiii.
Josephus, iii. 536, 637.
Junius, vi. 228, 416.
Juvenal, ii. 517 — v. 154.
Kalisch, i. 313— ii. 433.
Keightley, I. Ixxxiii.
Knewstub, I. xxxiii, xxxiv.
Kypke, ii. 434.
Lactantius, ii. 433 — iv. 486 — v.
322— vi. 516— vii. 560.
Laertius, Diogenes, ii. 194— iv.
488.
Lamson, v. 153.
Languet, I. IvL
Lapide, De, vii. 32.
Lathbury, i. 313.
Latins, vii. 560.
Laurence, St, iv. 488.
laul, I. xxxi, Ivii, Ix-lxxxi,
cxiii.
Leaver, i. 234.
Leigh, I. Ixxxil.
Leighton, I. cxxv., seq.
Leo, i. 369_iii. 418.
Lewis, Rev. W. O., I. xvi.
Locke, i. 117— iv. 200, 4S5.
Logic, Andrew, ii. 2-18- iii. 536.
Lombard, i. 101— vii. 560.
Long, i. 239— iii. 536.
Longfellow, i. 350.
Lowell, iii. 529.
Lucretiu.s, iv. 488.
Luther, i. 126, 227— ii. 248, 433,
434— iii. 533, 536_iv. 304, 309,
486, 488— V. 153, 285— vi. 3J4
— VU. o2, 477, 534
ATacaulay, I. Ixvi.
Mahomet, iv. 4SS.
Manchester, Earl of, iv. 305.
Manchester, Duke of, I. xv.
Maudevill, Philip, I. xxxii.
Maudeville, ii. 3 — v. 167.
Mansel, iv. 304.
Jlanton, I. xix. xxi,— iii. 5.
Martyr, Justin, iii. 530.
Martyr, Peter, i. 184, 289— v. 153.
Massinger, I. xxxi.
Masson, David, I. liii, Uv, Ivii,
Ixiv.
Mather, Cotton, I. xxxvii, Ii, Iii,
cxxv.
Maurice, iv. 304.
Mayor, Rev. J. E. B., I. xv,
lol.
Mede, I. xlviii, liii.
Meir, Rabbi, vii. 334.
Melanchthon, i. 126, 158 — vii
56ij.
Meteyard, I. xli.
Micklethwaite, Paul, I. 1.
Milles, Daniel, I. Ivi.
Milton, John, I. xxiii, xxv, xxx,
liii, Ixv, 101— ii. 434— iii. 20 —
iv. 486, 488.
Montgomery, James, I. oxxxi—
vi. Iu8.
More, Mrs, I. xciii.
Morison, iv. 520.
Morton, Earl of, ii. 435
Mosely, Sir Edward, i. 121.
Mountagu, Bishop, I xxv.
Nalton, Jas., I. xxi, xxii— ii. 442
iv. 311.
Neal, I. xix, xxvi, Ixvi — iv. 491.
Neile, Dr, I, Ixxii.
Nero, i. 289, 332— v. 356.
Newton, John, i. 289— iii. 534
V. 286.
NicoUiides, iv. 487.
North, Sir Dudley, I. liii.
Nye, Philip, L xxi, cxix— ii. 3
248.
Oakes, Urian, I. cxxiv.
Orme, iii. 536.
Orwell, I. cx.vv.
Ovid, ii. 194.
Owen, Dr John, iv. 38.
Paulinus, iv. 487.
Papinian, iii. 636.
Pascal, iv. 37.
Pattison, Rev. E., I. xvi.
Patrick, Bishop, i. 2'JO, seq., 3 5
— ii. 495— V. 23— vii. 337.
Pearson, Bishop, ii. 242— iv. 381.
Pelagius, iv. 310.
Pepys, I. Ixxiii.
Perkins, I. xxxv, Ixxxv, bcxxvii,
262— ii. 435— iv. 309.
Perry, I. bcvii.
Peyto, Samuel, I. xx'*
Philips, Edw., vii. 83.
Philippus IL, u. 435.
570
NAMES QUOTED AND KEFEKRED TO.
Philo, iv. 488.
Pickering, Wm., I. xlii.
Picus, John, v. 539.
Plato, ii. 136— iv. 488.
Pliny, i. 281-v. 153_vii. 334.
Possevinus, vii. 560.
Preston, Dr John, I. xxii, xxxvii,
xhii, 1, li, xcv, seq.
Prynne, I. lix, Ixvi, Ixvii.
Pyra, John, I. Ivii.
Pym, Charles, 1 Ivii.
Quarles, I. xxxi— i. 29.
Quiatilian, iv. 488.
Rainolds, Dr John, ii. 434.
Randolph, Thos, I Iv.
Ranke, i. 313— iii. 537.
Reading, Dr John, i. 127.
Redpath, Rev. R., I. xvi.
Reland, iii. 536.
Reuchlin, iii. 630, 531.
Rhevanus, vii 560.
Rich, Sir Nathanael, X xliii,
cxxx.
Rich, Lady, I. cxix.
Richardson, Charles, i 101, 118
—iii. 103, 113, 131, 198— v. 179
vii. 530
Robertson, Rev. J. C, I. xvi.
Robinson, Rev. C. K., I. v.
Robinson, Dr Hastings, I. xxi.
Rogers, John, I. xxix
Rogers, Richard, ii. 194
Ross, iv. 491.
Rous, Fr., I. Ixxii.
Russell, I. cxxvi.
Rushbrook, I. xxxiii, xxxiv— iii.
532.
Ryle, Rev. J. C, I. Ixxix.
Salvianus, i. 266— ii. 518 — iv
527— V. 34_vi 157.
Sanderson, Bishop, I. xx.
Sampson, Professor, i. S13— ii.
194,
Savil, Sir Henry, I. xliii.
Scaliger, iii. 529 — v. 539.
Scheler, iii. 535.
Scott, Sir Walter, v. 408.
Scudder, Henry, I. Ixxxvi,
Ixxxvii.
Seaman, L., I. xxi — iv. 154.
Sedgwick, John, 1. xxi, cxx iv.
492— V. 158.
Sedgwick, Obadiah, iL 2.
Segar, I. xl.
Selden, I. xxxi, Ixxii, Ixxiii.
Seneca, i. 278— ii. 518— v. S4, 365.
Senhouse, I. xxxix.
Sewell, iii. 532.
Shakespeare, I. xxxi, xlii, 117,
289— u. 435— iv. 68 — v. 248,
322.
Sherland, I. xxvi, 336, 350.
Shirley, James, ii. 434.
Sidney, Sir Philip, I. xxx, Ivi,
Ixv— iii. 487.
Siegfried, R., I. xv.
Smiles, I. xxix.
Smith, Dr, iv. 305, 526, 527.
Smith, John, I. c, cxxv— ii. 242
— iv. 381.
Smith, Henry, iii. 535.
Smith, Rev. Thos, I. xvi.
Sozomen, I. cxxx.
Spedding, James, I. xv.
Spira, vii. 504.
Spring, Sir Wm., I. xxvi, xxxi,
cxxx.
Spurstowe, I. Ivii.
Stanford, Charles, I. cxvii.
Stanley, Dean, i. 31— iii. 529, 534.
Stedman, Rev. Paul M., I. xv.
Sterry, I. liii.
Stoughton, I. xxii.
Stehelin, iii. 530.
Strong, Wm., I. cxix.
Stubbes, Henry, v. 455.
Suidas, iv. 346.
Tacitus, i. 332— v. 539.
Taylor, Jeremy, L xxxiv, Ivii—
iii. 531, 537.
Taylor, Rowland, T. xxviii.
Taylor, Thomas, I. Iviii.
Taylor, Wm., I. xxi, xxii— ii. 442.
Teate, Faithful, I. xxvi — ii. 434
—V. 14.
Temple, Sir Wm., I. xliv, xlv.
Tennyson, I. xxvi— vi. 108.
Tertullian, i 281— ii. 517— iii
630, 533— vi. 89, 108, 356, 534
—vii. 333, 334, 560.
Theodosius, v. 64.
Thomson, Rev. George, L xvL
Thrupp. iii. 536.
Thuanus, i. 149.
Tichbourne, iv. 350.
Tillotson, ii. 195.
Towne, Robert, I. xxi— ii. 199.
Trail. Rev. Robert, I. xxxviii.
Trapp, iv. 316.
Truro, Baron, I. cxx — v. 221
Tuck, W. Q., Rev., I. xv.
Tyler, iv. 304.
Urban YIII., i. 311, 313.
Ussher, I. xxxi, xlii, xliii, xliv,
xlv, xlvi, xlvii, xlviii, xcv.
Vaughan, Dr, ii. 434.
Vaughan, Henry, I. Ixii, cxxxL
Vere, Sir Horatio, i. 35.
Vere, Lady, I. Ixxiv, 35.
Virgil, i. 118— V. 639.
Vossius, viL 660.
Wall, John, I. xxii.
Wallis, I. XV, liv.
Walton, Isaac, I. xvi, xx.
Ward, Dr Samuel, I. xlvii.
Ward, Samuel, I. Ixviii.
Warwick, Earl of, 1. cxx — ^iv.
491.
Warwick, Countess,'iv. 491.
Watson, Thos., i. 98.
Watts, I. xvi.
Way, Albert, Esq., L xv.
Webster k Wilkinson, L xvi,
334— ii. 194— iii 529, 537— iv.
83, 149, 439, 485 -vii. 315.
West, Rev. Wm., I. xvL
AVestcott, V. 79.
Whateley, Archbishop, i. 101—,
V. 455.
Wheelock, I. xxv, liii.
White, Francis, I. cxvi.
White, John, I. Ixxvi,
Whitehouse, W. E, Esq., L xvi.
Whitaker, 1. Ixxxi— ii. 43, 435.
Wickliffe, i. 290— ii. 434.
Wiggers, ii. 194.
AFilbore, John, I. xxxvi.
Willet, ii. 435— V. 247.
Williams, Bishop, 1. liii, cxii, feq.
Wilson, Joshua, Esq., 1. xv. cxiii.
Winter, William, vii. 561, 526.
Wiseman, Cardinal, iv. 68, 305.
Wither, I. xxxi.
Wood, Anthony, I. IxxxiL
Woodlark, I. xlix.
Wordsworth, ii. 43;).
Wotton, I. XX— vL 415.
Wratisland, I. xv.
Wren, I. liii.
Wright, John, I. xxxii.
Wriothesly, Lord, 1. Uii. .
Xenophon, ii. 248.
Yelverton, Sir Henry, I. xxxix
350. '
Yeoman, I. xxviii.
York, Duke of, I. Ixxxii, IxYTJij.
Young, Arthur, I. xxxii.
Young, Patrick, Dr, I. cxL
Zancluus, ir. 346— t. 153.
i
IV.-GENEEAL INDEX.
NOTE.
The principle acted upon in the construction of this General Index was to select thoughts rather
than mere words. An effort has been made to include all the former. The ' Tables' given in the
original and early editions are substantially incorporated, but frequently under more definite and
concise headings. Where, as in ' Christ,' tlie references would have been so numerous as to confuse,
as many as possible have been distributed under other topics. G.
Aaron's rod, vii. 110.
Abasement, of Christ, i. 6 ; whence, i. 7 ; fruit of,
i. 7 ; contrast with his exiUtation, v. 346 ; cur's
justified, vi 63 ; greatness of Christ's, vi. 01,
62, 63 ; his word powerful in, vi. 149 ; his
Godhead appeared in it, vi. 318 ; sanctified,
whence, vi. 239 ; considerations to abase us,
vii. 251.
Able, V. 181 ; a Christian has an abler Spirit than
his own, V. 181, 182 ; the act, v. 190.
Above, seek things, v. 200, 201.
Absence, of God's Spirit discourageth, 1. 398 ;
from Christ solaced, ii. 203 ; Christ absent,
vi. 406 ; how know he is not, vi. 407.
Absolute, go not to God as, iv. 333 ; no evil,
V. 270.
Abundance, of grace, iv. 471, 475; abound or
want, V. 179, 180 ; abounding, v. 215.
Abuse, ii. 242.
Accepted, in Christ, i. 12; acceptance, vi. 72;
acceptable to God, vii. 2l4.
Accusations of Satan, how to answer, ii. 179, 181.
Achaia, the country wherein Corinth was, iii. 11.
Acknowledge, the good as well as evil in us, ii. 47 ;
or acknowledgment, what, iii. 300, 314 ; to
acknowledge Christ, what, iii. 315 ; Christ
acknowledged in the minister, iii. 315, 316 ;
how to know whether we acknowledge the
minister, iii. 315, 317.
Acquaintance with God, ii. 515, iv. 186; and
familiarity with God, vi. 17.
Action and Actions, how to know whether from a
good ground, i. 82 ; what, are to be imputed to
weak Christians, i. 75, 76 ; what are the prin-
ciples of them, i. 191 ; holy, rightly performed,
bring strength, ii. 85, 89 ; of Christ, all pre-
cious, ii. 153 ; good always with comfort, ii. 364 ;
three sorts of, good, ill, indifferent, iii. 241 ;
holy, by change, iv. 258 ; principles of, iv. 380 ;
imperfection of good, v. 184 ; act, v. 190 ;
an.'iwerable, v. 199 ; measure of, v. 301 ; of
gj'ace, reflected actions, vi. 46 ; follow good,
vii. 89 ; principles in, vii. 199 ; holy, shunned,
vii. 211 ; be not discouraged in doing good,
vii. 214.
Activity, grace is active and vigorous, i. 60, 61.
Acts of Apostles, quotations in, iii. 629.
Adam, advance from Adam's state in Christ,
i. 19, 31, iii. 419, 425, iv. 208 ; his sin what, v.
520 ; redemption, exceeds our estate in Adam,
vi. 326, 1st and 2d, vii. 191.
Adoption by Christ, iv. 134, 146, 502.
Admiration, admire God's love, i. 263, iv. 174;
admire God, v. 284 ; holy admiration, vii. 19).
Adultery, corporal and spiritual adulterers, hardly
reclaimed, ii. 387.
Advancement, v. 347, 352.
Advantage, take, ii. 206.
A dvantages, vi. 553, 554.
Adventure, of faith, makes a rich return, i. 266.
Advise, iv. 185.
Affection and Affections, their conflict one with
"another, i. 152 ; how to be ordered, i. 159 ; in
case of God's dishonour no affection is exces-
sive, i. 159 ; why they do not always follow the
judgment, i. 254 ; God most to be affected, i.
268 ; ought not to cleave to base things, ii. 25 ;
are like their objects, ii. 25 ; of Christians are
in Christ's government, ii. 109 ; where it is in
truth, it will discover itself by outward expres-
sion, ii. 110 ; true, are serious in the things of
God, ii. 124; Christ the best object for them to
be spent on, ii. 157 ; chaste, ii. 205 ; not con-
cealable, ii. 243 ; their use, ii. 368, 869 ; ought
to be placed on their right objects, ii. 375 ; why
planted in the soul, ii. 390, 391, v. 478 ; look to,
iv. 102, 187, 193, vii. 217 ; large, iv. 469 ; not
taken away by religion, vi. 305 ; commanding
affection, v. 276 ; as the wind, v. 368 ; to God,
vi. 10 ; on right objects, vi. 55 ; avoid opposite,
vi. 58 ; to religion, strong in women, vi. 52j ;
mixed, vii. 187 ; cold, vii. 195 ; drawn out after
truth, vii. 196 ; stirred up, vii. 202 ; try our
state, vii. 440 ; wanting, sliew want of faith,
vii. 442; shame ourselves in want of, vii. 443 ;
pray for, vii. 443 ; to l>e kept tender, vii. 445,
why sometimes dead, vii. 448. (See Gospel,
Hatred, Mystery.)
Affectionate, converse with, iv. 197.
Affinity, V. 282.
Affliction and Afflictions, must take heed of '\f»-
patiency in, i. 67 ; why we are oft foiled with
small and courageously pass through great,
i. 94 ; a sign of Christ's love, ii. 11 ; a means
to make us prize Christ, therefore not to mur-
mur, ii. 146 ; Christ never more near his church
than when in, ii. 140 ; sweetest communion
with Christ under the greatest, ii. 140 ; strength
in, ii. 204, 207 ; how to know they are not in
wrath though continued, ii. 326 ; not to com-
plain of, ii. 257 ; profitable to God's children,
ii. 358, 359 ; necessary, ii. 376 ; happens in the
sunshine of the gospel, ii. 378 ; small ones not
regarded make way for greater, ii. 379 ; out
carriage therein must be good, ii. 404 ; God will
deliver his out of all, ii. 317 ; how, ii. 317, 318 ;
godly afflicted more than others, and why, ii.
317; discovers false brethren, ii. 317; God's
children subject to, and why, iii. 52, 53, 65, 79,
117; God's people are sensible of, and why,
iii. 120, seq. ; good men lying under afflictions
and crosses are subject to rash and hard cen-
sures, iii. Ill, 112, 115,116 ; of the saints are
for the good of others, how, iii 94, 95 ; the good
we get by others' afflictions is by stirring up
grace in us, iii. 101 ; God aims at many things
in the same affliction, iii. Iu6 ; effects of to God's
children and to the wicked, iii. 153 ; affliction
called death, iii. 161 ; sharp, iv. Iu6 ; bearing,
iv. 362 ; multiplied, iv. 399 ; sweetest, iv. 408 ;
life discovered in, iv. 418; Christ most glorious
in, iv. 419, 434 ; fresh faith needed in, iv. 442 ;
light afl[iiction, iv. 478 ; weans, iv. 478 ; daily,
V. 375 ; conform us to Christ, v. 491, vi. 237 ;
Christ works in the afflictions of his church,
V. 492 ; how Christ rules in, v. 532 ; church,
when afflicted, v. 633, 534 ; why sent of God,
vi. 113, 144 ; prayer a remedy in, vi. 144 ; lead
to gentleness, vi. 162 ; stir up devotion, vi. 165 ;
benefit of, vi. 184; God appears in the night of,
vi. 318 ; to whom afflictions are sanctified, vi.
S47 ; seasonable, vi. 395 ; how to prevent, vii. ^
103, 104 ; comfort in, vii. 141 ; no loss, vii. 141,
142 ; seek not vain relief from, vii. 143 ; needed,
vii. 143 ; envy not the unafflicted, vii. 144 ; no
strange things, vii. 144 ; God's ends, vii. 144 ;
a time for rest from, vii. 145 ; best are sorest
tried, vii. 146 ; not to dismay, vii. 147 ; will not
overbear, vii. 148 ; wisdom of God in, vii. 148 ;
deliverance from not to be hindered, vii. 149 ;
572
GENERAL INDEX.
seasonable and speedy end of, vii. 159 ; how
glory follows, vii. 1S9 ; discover soul and sin,
vii. 190 ; Christ manifested in, vii. 209.
'Against' us, vii. 390 ; how far the enemies of
God's children are against them, vii. 390 ; in
what respect none are, vii. 390, 391.
Age, vii. 43, 44, 45.
Agreement, of God, vi. 5.
Aim, high, iv. 194 ; spiritual man's, iv. 39, 57 ;
aims, V. 289 ; gracious, v. 291, 339, 340 ; men,
as their aims are, v. 322.
All, Christ is all in all, iii. 371, 372 ; 'all,' we,
iv. 255 ; from God, iv. 393 ; in necessity we
must give to, iv. 524 ; all by Christ's strength,
V. 181; 'for your sakes,' iv. 466; 'all things
work together,' v. 251, 252 ; causes, v. 262, 263 ;
sin itself, v. 266 ; all, whether Christ loved and
gave himself for, v. 388, 389, 391 ; all-sufficiency
of Christ, V. 407.
Alms, alms-deeds, or sacrifice, ii. 270.
Alteration, essential, iv. 176 ; of our nature, vi.
99.
Alone, the devil set on Christ when he was alone,
iii. 76 (see Solitariness) ; Christian never,
vii. 391.
Alphonsus, anecdote of, ii. 157.
Ambition, vii 214.
America, progress of, i. 101.
Amen, iv. 117, 118 ; what and how taken, iii.
382, 383 ; a double, iii. 421 ; all promises in
Christ are yea and amen, iii. 382, seq., 390, seq. ;
why, vi. 540, 541.
Amity, with papists dangerous, il. 381.
Angels, ii. 231 ; Christ's poverty not for, iv. 501 ;
admire, iv. 506 ; ministering, v. 253 ; not to
envy them, v. 489 ; knew the incarnation of
Christ beforehand, v. 496, 497 ; office of, v. 496,
497 ; attendance, whence it is, v 499 ; why they
appear not now, v. 499 ; comfort from, v. 500 ;
communion with, v. 50j ; conflict between good
and bad, v. 500 ; not to grieve, v. 501 ; wherein
we are advanced above, v. 501 ; good motions
stirred in us by, v. 502 ; why God uses the
ministry of, v. .'j02, vi. 320 ; our enemies, when,
V. 502 ; description, v. 503 ; office, double, v.
50.; ; guard of comforting, vi. 319 ; praise, a
duty fit for, vi. 151 ; attended Christ, vi. 419 ;
acclamations of, vi. 315, 356 ; cause of their
fall, vi. 504. (See Church and Host.)
Anger, i. 118; of God, what it is, ii. 322; what
effects it hath against us, ii. 3:22 ; the special
thing in aiflictions, ii. 322 ; makes the least
cross terrible, ii, 323 ; turned away by repent-
ance, ii. 323 ; means to avoid it, ii. 326, 327 ;
humility a certain means to avoid it, ii. 327 ;
fatherly, vii. 226.
Anguish, V. 258.
Annoyance, none in this life or another but God
has provided some defence, ii. 396.
Anointing, what kind of persons were formerly
anointed, iii. 442, 444, 446 ; the order of our
anointing in Christ, iii. 443, 446 ; the graces
of the Spirit compared to an ointment, why,
iii. 443, •66 ; anointed, iv. 129, 130 ; anointing
and sealing, iv. 132 ; name of Christian, v. 182.
Antichrist, iv. 389.
Antinomians, error refuted, ii. 316.
Antiquity, of our church and religion proved
against the papists, iii. 375, 376, seq. ; popery
not ancient, iii. 377.
Antitheses, Iv. 395.
Apology, Christians often driven to, iii. 204 ; just,
V. 177.
Apostasy, why so many apostatize under the
word, ii. 57 ; the ground of it, vi. 244.
Apostle, the privilege of, above ordinaiy ministers,
and how they diOer from, iii. 8 ; St Paul's pre-
rogative above other apostles, iii. 8 ; apostles
and prophets, how subject to err and mistake
and how not, iii. 355, 356 ; their privilege, v.
508, 509.
Appearance, of salvation in the countenance,
whence and why, i. 260. Appear, v. 208, 209 ;
Christ shall, v. 212.
Appetite, how to be procured toward Christ and
spiritual things, ii 34 ; appetite, ii. '.51 ; bless
God for, vi. 142 ; spiritual, how recovered, vi.
156.
Applause, seek not, i. 30, 31.
Application, of mercy in particular, necessary,
reasons, i. 264, iii. 421 ; in the wicked it is a
lie, i. 265 ; no easy matter to say ' my God,' i.
265 ; when it is right, i. 267 ; a shame not to
improve it, i. 272 ; wrought by the Spirit, v.
241 ; faith in, v. 241 ; particular, v. 316, 391,
392 ; means of popish, ridiculous, v. 515 ; the
ground of obedience, vi. 115, 116 ; necessity
of, vi. 116, 117, 344 ; principle of, vi. 117 ; beg
the spirit of, vi. 117, 118 ; danger in want of,
vi. 118. (See Faith and Preaching.)
Appliel, salvation, v. 385, 408.
Approach, comfort in to God, i. 13.
Appropriation, v 436.
Apprehend, not comprehend, vii. 217 ; sins, vii.
278.
Arguments, with God, i. 21 ; for faith to come to
God, i. 246 ; argue from less to greater, iv. 158,
167 ; strong in prayer, vi. 95.
Ark, of the temple, vii. 203. (See Baptism.)
Arm of God, iv. 367.
Art, in bearing of troubles, i. 148 ; in misery to
think of matter of joy, i. 240 ; aggravates sin,
i. 298 ; of contentment, v. 175-193 ; of self-hum-
bling, vi. 44, 58 ; of mourning, vi. 59, 75 ; of
faith, vii. 214.
'As,' iv. 292.
Ascension, the Spirit given more abundantly since
Christ's, 1. 23 ; circumstances of Christ's, v. 526,
vi. 443 ; a mystery, v. 527 ; how know, vi.
444 and vi. 445, 447 ; not separated from us by,
vi. 449.
Ashamed, be not, of Christ, vi. 433.
Astrology, vi. 157.
Assemblies, calling of, vi. 89.
Assent, vi. 542 ; four degrees of, iii. 523.
Association, must join with those that are good,
ii. 337 ; all wicked wiU end in everlasting
hatred, ii. 375, 376.
Assurance, by the Spirit, i. 19, 22 ; faith and yet
no full assurance, i. 62 ; what to do in the want
of, i. 252 ; to be sought betimes, i. 417 ; of
Christ's love, ii. 205, 207 ; why pray still, ii.
225 ; how know, ii. 243 ; causeth thankfulness,
ii. 273 ; a Christian may and ought to be assured
of his state in grace, iii. 468 ; all Christians
have not the like, nor at all times, iii. 466, 467 ;
God's children may be, that they shall persevere
to the end, iii. 468 ; we may be assured from a
little measure of grace, iii. 470 ; may know,
iv. 141, 142 ; base to lose, iv. 179 ; grow in, iv.
198 ; known, iv. 450 ; no enemy to good works,
iv. 518; labour for, v. 317, 401 ; springs from
faith, V. 393 ; freely given, v. 395 ; not full
always, v. 400 ; freed from objection, t. 401 ;
what to do when not, v. 402 ; command, v. 403 ;
may get, v. 446 ; time to come, T. 448 ; lesser,
V. 454 ; how to get, vi. 178, 179 ; mar attain it,
vi. 389, 479, 480 ; peace with, vi. '339, 390 ;
maintain, vi. 481, vii. 212 ; how it worketh, vi.
545 ; makes not secure, vii. 207 ; distractions
in, vii. 212 ; how to know our state in want of,
vii. 431.
Atheism, hrinf^s judgment, i. 302; atheists, iv.
341. (See Nature.)
Attend, Attention, God opens the heart to, vi.
625 ; necessary, vi., 527 ; directions to attend
on the word, vi. 527 ; trials of attending aright,
vi. 529.
Attendance, occasional at church, ii. 240 ; on
teaching, iv. 146.
Attire, selling and wearing rich, lawful, vi 521.
Attributes, of God are to be applied to ourselves,
i. 412 ; of God in Christ, vi. 325.
Austerity, in ministers to be used wisely, i. 53, 98.
Authority, iv. 167; of Holy Spirit, ii. 441,493;
why St i?aul alleged human in his epistles and
dealings with men, iii. 9, 10 ; what power of
authority the church gives to the Scriptures,
GENERAL INDEX.
57»
iii. 9, 10, 623 ; of Christ from his Father, vL
374. (See Church and Scripture.)
Babylon, ii. 248.
Back, faith with strong reasons and arguments,
i. 245.
Backsliding, God's children prone to, ii. 302 ; the
Returning Baclislider, ii. 248-435 ; backsliding,
V. 259 ; danger of, vii. 4U8-413.
' Balaam's Wish,' vii. 1-15.
Baptism, made an idol by papists, ii. 379 ; rested
in, V. 317 ; faith sealed, v. 392 ; and circumci-
sion, vi. 22 ; want of, no prejudice to salvation,
vi. 22 ; ground of baptizing infants, vi. 22 ;
aggravation of sins after, vi. 24; the ark a
figure of, vii. 478 ; parts of, vii. 479 ; children,
why baptised, vi. 486 ; binds, vi. 487 ; cove-
nant in, vi. 487 ; what sins renounced in, vi.
487 ; how to use, vi. 488 ; a seal of salvation,
vi. 530 ; how to think of, vi. 530.
Barrenness, in goodness ought not to discourage
us, ii. 333 ; under means, not endured by God,
ii. 349.
Barsillai and David, vii. 35, seq. ; old, vii. 35 ;
incapable of service, vii. 36 ; done duty only,
vii. 36 ; his son, vii. 36 ; to be imitated, vii.
40, 41.
Base-minded, be not, vii. 125 ; base things, what
like, vii. 195.
' Beast's Dominion,' vii. 517-533 ; the beast, who,
vii. 519 ; and dragon compared, vii. 52i) ; state
of Rome the beast, why, vii. 521; ill carnage
towards kings, vii. 527 ; to further the destruc-
tion of, vu. 631; shall fall, vii. 532. (See
Hatred.)
Beauty, of a well ordered soul, i. 167 ; of Chris-
tian's works performed in season, i. 248, 249 ;
wherein it consisteth, ii. 137, 138 ; of Christ is
especially spiritual, ii. 138 ; Christ most beau-
tiful, ii. 138 ; of God, ii 229, 236 ; why not dis-
covered, ii. 236 ; everything in its own place
beautiful, v. 315.
Bep, grace, iv. 128, vii. 221 ; the Spirit, iv. 147,
1'72, 301 ; will be carried on, vii. '/SS.
Beggar, Christ not a, iv. 500 ; a beggar, iv. 526,
627.
Begin, when we should, vi. 87 ; Christ a media-
tor from the beginning, iv. 497 ; great things
from small beginnings, vi. 520.
Behaviour, good, vii. 38.
Behold, i. 4, 5, vi.78, vii. 109 ; beholding, iv. 269,
270.
Belief, believe, believing, believing in Christ more
glorifies God than if wewereas pure as Adam, ii.
184 ; how hardly man's heart is brought to be-
lieve, iii. 54, 464 ; believe not but love, iv. 175 ;
God and his servants, iv. 346 ; belief after
Spirit of faith, 449 ; belief against belief, v.
273 ; believe, all to, v. 389 ; condemned for not,
V. 390 ; Christ believed on , how, v. 517 ; en-
couragements to believe, from Christ, v. 520,
521.
'Beloved,' Christ, L 11, 12; how we come to be
Christ's, ii. 179.
Benefits, v. 282.
Bent, of the soul, vi. 98.
Best, things at the feast, ii. 446 ; at the last, i.
341, 383, ii. 508 ; a true Christian is best, where
best known, iii. 259 ; not seen, iv. 479, 480 ; of
everything, vii. 222.
Betimes, God to be sought, vi. 128.
Better, Christians than others, v. 304.
Bilney, his offence at a preacher, i. 230.
Blackness, Church's, vii. 93-104; admitted, vii.
96 ; but not to be despised for, vii. 96 ; confess,
vii. 97, 98 ; why so black, vii. 102.
Blame, to be laid upon ourselves in judgments,
vi. 198.
Blameless, Christians must be, v. 23 ; how St
Paul was when he was without the law, v. 80.
Blasphemous, thoughts, how known and expelled,
i 63 ; temptations of blaspheming, and how
checked, i. 227.
, Blessed: vu. 304
Bless, to bless God, what, iii. 23 ; how Godblesseth
us and how we bless God, iii. 23 ; we add
nothing to God, when we bless him, iii. 23 ;
why we ought to bless God iii. 23 ; we ought to
bless God for Christ, iii. 27.
Blessings, of God not to be spent on our lusts, ii.
274 ; outward may be prayed for, ii. 266 ; how
to know they came from God's love, ii. 267,
268 ; blessing, what, iii. 15 ; the pope's nothing
worth, iii. 15 ; how to be valued, iv. 616 ; defile
ourselves in, vi. 239 : better for those removed,
vii. 200, 209. (See Praise, Thankfulness, and
Ministers)
Blindness, spiritual, vii. 101.
Blood, shed, vii. 267
Boasting, is idolatry, ii. 283.
Body, sickness, iv. 80, 81 ; base and hard, v. 143,
144 ; how to be regarded and cared for, though
base, v. 144 ; shall be changed by Christ, v.
146 ; when, v. 147 ; how like unto Christ's glo-
rious body, v. 148; redemption of, v. 155-173;
vile, V. 162, 163 ; abate pride in, v. 164 ; satisfy
not lusts of, V. 164 ; offend not God for, v. 164 ;
shall be changed, v. 164, 166 ; by Christ, v. 165 ;
like to Christ, v. 165 ; glorious as, v. 166, 167 ;
wherein, v. 167 ; perfect, beautiful, transfigured,
immorUil, powerful, spiritual, v. 167, 168 ; con-
secrate to Christ, V. 169 ; best to come, v. 169,
170 ; change begins in the soul, v. 170 ; use
body is put to by us, v. 170 ; evidences from Paul,
v. 171 ; pledge and earnest here, v. 172 ; com-
fort at hour of death, v. 173 ; evils of body, v.
260; bought, v. 312 ; wholly Christ's, v. 316;
distemper, effects of, v. 393 ; same that suffers
shall be glorified, v. 534; of others, not to be
doated on, vi. 514. (See Vile.)
Boldness, to come before the throne of grace, how
bred in us, i. 47 ; of conscience, i. 95 , iv. 232,
233, 326, 327, 452, 453, v. 274 ; spiritual, v.
442, vi. 41, vii. 200 ; ground of, v. 484 ; evi-
dence of peace, vi. 342, .343. (See Sincerity.)
Bondage, to Satan, iv. 218 ; freedom in sin i3
bondage, v. 231.
Books, all written to amend the book of con-
science, i. 149 ; at home. ii. 240.
Bountiful, to all, iv. 524, 526
' Bowels Opened,' ii. 1-195.
Breach, of inward peace: still look at thyself
therein, i. 171.
Bread, in the Lord's Supper, made an idol of by
papists, ii. 379 ; of life, ii. 440 ; daily, vii. 185.
Breathing after God, ii. 209-218.
Brethren, false, discovered by affliction, i. 317,
vi. 435, 439, 440 ; Timothy, St Paul's brother,
how, iii. 10; all Christians as believers are
brethren, iii. 10, v. 36, 57 ; brother, relation of,
vi. 458.
' Bride's Longing,' vi. 535-560 ; the church of
God a bride, vii. 536 ; why so called, vii. 538.
'Bruised Heed,' i. 33-101 ; what, i. 43 ; they must
be as, with whom Christ deals, i. 43 ; Christ
will not break the, i. 43, 44; signs of one truly
bruised, i. 46 ; why it is necessary, i. 44 ; means
of, i. 47 ; measure of, i. 47, 48.
'Builder, Unprosperous,' vii. 17-31 ; build, iv.
128.
Burial, comely, vi. 80.
By-work, ii. 2iS,
Calamity, in the common, the wicked dare not
appear, i. 400.
Calling, mean, i. 294 ; doing things in our general
or particular calling, with respect to God, not
man, will arm against discouragement, ii. 97;
men in Scripture often called by that which they
are led and ruled by, iii. 261, 347 ; called first,
iv 219 ; of a Christian, iv. 339 ; choice of, iv.
486 ; effectual, v. 362, 363 ; callings allowed of
God, vi. 521 ; calling, vii 493, 494 ; objection,
vii. 494 ; ' called in,' vii. 496, 497 ; to execu-
tion and action, vii. 497, 498.
Camel, eye of a needle pass through, iv. 486, 487.
Capacities, for after-use, vii. 209.
Care and Cares, ii. 214, 216, 394; ground of in our
574
GENERAIi INDEX.
conduct, vi. 208 ; God hath a care of his, vi.
234 ; instances of, vi. 234, 235.
Carefulness, careful Christians, vii. 206.
Carelessness, take heed of, vi. 426, 427.
Carnal, confidence, danger of, ii. 283 ; man, viL
202.
Cases, put, iv. 521.
Castaway, v. 279, 2S0.
' Cast down,' iv. 398, vii, 52, 53 ; casting down
disquiets, why, i. 142 ; remedies against, i. 143 ;
what, vii. 53, 64 ; remedy for, vii. 55 ; measure
of, vii. 207 ; faithless, vii. 293.
Catholic, faith, iv. 444, 445, 446 ; what to be
accounted, v. 477.
Came, in good we ought to be resolute, ii. 407 ;
having God for our shelter we ought to be bold
in, ii. 401 ; general and particular, iv. 78 ;
second, vii. 207.
Caution, in forecasting changes, i. 163.
Cavils, the Spirit answers, vii. 211.
Censure, of others, must not be rash, i. 44 ; al-
though it be the censure of the church, i. 55 ;
or of the civil magistrate, i. 65 ; or private
Christians, i. 66 ; censure not distempered
Christians, dangerous to do so, i. 141 ; comfort
against censure of the world, ii. 170 ; against
censuring those that are under crosses and
afflictions, iii. 115, 141 ; men are prone to cen-
sure men's callings for some particular actions,
iii. 357 ; sin must be censured and judged when
it is committed, iii. 489 ; heed not, iv. 101 ;
censuring and judging, v. 350 ; rash, vi. 162,
163 ; of wicked not to be regarded, vi. 138 ;
moderate, vi. 172.
Ceremonies, v. 197 ; bondage of in the Law, vi.
310.
Certainty, a double, iii. Ill, 421 ; how the pro-
phets and apostles were certain and infallible,
and how not, iii. 355, 366 ; breeds security, a
cavil, V. 453.
Chains, sin as, v. 227.
Challenge, St Paul's, vii. 386-397.
Change, of nature, changeth all, i. 181 ; changes
must be forethou,'?ht of, i. 1G5 ; caution in,
i. 163; directions for forethinking in troubles,
i. 163, 164; iv. 256 ; necessity of, iv. 266, 267,
258 ; real and gradual, iv. 257 ; how changed
into likeness of Christ, iv. 264, 2C5 ; bodies
shall be, v. 164, 165; by and like to Christ, v.
165 ; comfort in all changes, v. 216 ; changes,
vi. 78.
Character, of a good soul, i. 234, 235.
Charter, the Christian's, or Portion, vi. 1-37.
Chastisement, iv. 104, 105 ; sanctified, iv. 105.
Clieerfulness, spiritual, ii. 456, v, 215, 366, 367,
454, vi. 480 ; do good to others cheerfully, iv.
523.
Cherished, a little grace, vii. 194.
Cherubim, what they signify, v. 498.
Children, of God are known by God's correcting
them, i. 383 ; the devil their enemy, i. 397 ;
must be committed to God, i. 424 ; ought not
to hinder our standing out in a good cause,
ii. 296 ; ought not to make us worldly, ii. 296,
297 ; at our death, in faith to be commended to
God, ii. 296, 297 ; of God are always in his
sight, ii. 394, 395 ; comfort arising from hence,
ii. 395 ; a contrary disposition to the world, ii.
423 ; not to fear future things, ii. 408 ; in
variety of conditions, v. 178 ; know how to
conduct themselves in, v. 178, 179 ; care for,
v. 377 ; seed, vi. 21 ; God's gracious dealing
with, vi. 177 ; keep back judgment, vi. 84 ;
value of, vi. 84, 85, vii. 503 ; difference between
God's children and those not, vi. 163, 164 ; chil-
dren signify 'building,' vii. 32 ; of God sorely
afflicted, vii. 67, 82 ; opposite to the world, vii.
68, 84, 85 ; guided by the Spirit, vii, 68, 195 ;
conflict, discovery, recovery, victoiy, vii. 81 ;
Buffer for not working, vii. 103 ; measure of
trial appointed, vii. 147, 148 ; God with his,
vii. 388 ; ground of, vii. 389.
Choice, should rest in God's, i. 10 ; things, ii. 447 ;
our choice, what, iv. 183, 184 ; or not, vi. 484 ;
Mary's, vii. 287-297 ; stand by our, vii. 205 ; of
the good part, vii. 295, 296 ; not to be taken
away, vii. 297.
Cliosen, Christ of God, how, 1. 10.
Christ, Description of, i. 1-31 ; withdraws himself,
i. 4, 30 ; prophecy fulfilled thereby, i. 4 ; near-
ness to God ; i. 4-11 ; calling and qualification,
1. 4, 15, 16 ; execution of that calling, i. 4, 15 ;
manner thereof, i. 4, 15, 29 ; a servant, 1 5-11 ;
abasement, i. 6, 7 ; head of elect, i. 9 ; chosen and
choice, i. 10 ; the Beloved, how, i. 11, 12 ; com-
fort, i. 12, 13, 14 ; God and man, i. 17 ; a priest,
i. 17 ; full supply in, 1. 20 ; fulness of, i. 21 ; to
be offered to God, i. 21 ; ascended, i. 23 ; richea
of, i. 24 ; strives not, i. 29 ; an especial servant
of God in the work of our redemption, i. 42 ; ha
will not break the bruised reed, i. 43 ; his oiBce
calls him to this work, i. 43 ; he was clothed
with our nature, that he might succour the
tempted, i. 45 ; though oft he seem an enemy,
yet he is a true friend indeed, i. 71 ; is an all-
sufficient comforter, i. 72 ; we should not har-
bour hard conceits of, i. 72 ; he doth rule as
Lord over his own, i. 82 ; the government of
his church is well ordered, i. 82 ; we should aU
submit to his government, i. 91 ; he alona
maketh us victorious, i. 91, 92, 93 ; is salvation,
clothed in man's flesh, i. 259 ; is Best, or St
Paul's Strait, i. 335-350 ; his sufferings for
man's sin, i. 351-369 ; his presence more and
more desired where there is true grace, ii. 13;
why earnestly desired of the church, ii. 14 ;
how to know he is present with us, ii. 21 ; his
presence a heaven to Christians, ii. 21 ; having
his presence need fear nothing, ii. 22 ; is our
brother, ii. 22, 23 ; we ought not to be ashamed
of him or of his cause, ii. 23 ; the comfort of
his being our brother, ii. 23, 24 ; he only is the
church's husband, ii. 24 ; being our husband,
our sins or unworthiness should not discourage
us, ii. 25 ; how to know we are espoused to him,
ii. 26 ; we must be ruled by him, ii. 26 ; is to
be followed in all conditions, ii. 26 ; directions
for such as are not yet in him, ii. 26 ; excel-
lency of their condition who are one with him,
ii. 26 ; wheresoever he comes, he comes not
empty, ii. 28, 29 ; communion with to be en-
deavoured after, ii. 29 ; he and the church
mutually feast each other, ii. 32 ; compared to
a feast in sundry respects, ii. 32 ; there is that
in him which answereth to all our wants, ii.
82, 33 ; in him we enjoy choice rarities, ii. 33 ;
in him there is an overflowing of all that is
good for our good, ii. 33 ; how he is our friend
and we his, ii. 36 ; why he sometimes uses us
hardly, ii. 37 ; is a constant friend, ii. 37 ; he
still desires a further and further communion
with his church, ii. 58 ; why he withdraws him-
self from u.s, ii. 68, 59 ; how to know he dwells
in us, ii 64 ; we should cherish good concep-
tions of him, ii. 64 ; labour to entertain him,
ii. 66 ; benefits of entertaining him, ii. 67 ; he
hath never enough of his church till he hath it
in heaven, ii. 70 ; low stooping for the good of
our souls should quicken us to receive him, ii,
71 ; all love scattered in relations is united in
Christ, ii. 72 ; his love to his church is free,
tender, and invincible, ii. 73, 74; his love is
incomparable, ii. 76, 77 ; his wonderful love
set forth in his low abasement for us, ii. 77 ;
compared to a dove, ii. 78 ; how his righteous-
ness is made ours, ii. 81 ; he looks not upon us
in our present imperfections, but as he means
to perfect the work of grace in us, ii. 83 ; com-
munion with him is not easily attained, ii. 87 ;
communion hindered by false reasonings and
excuses, ii. 87 ; he sometimes leaves his church
and particular members, ii. 101 ; the kinds of
Christ's leaving his church, ii. 101 ; ends why
he leaves his church, ii. 101 ; the cause of his
withdrawing comfort from us rests in ourselves,
ii. 103; never leaves his totally, ii. 104, 105;
his grace the cause of ours, ii. 104, 105 ; won-
derful in his goodness to his saints, ii. 109;
GENERAL INDEX.
575
hearts of God's children sometimes fall them
for want of his presence, 11. HI, 112 ; his pre-
sence and absence makes the summer and
winter of a Christian's soul, 11. 112 ; we should
depend upon him when he seems to be absent,
11. 115 ; we ought to be In love with his govern-
ment, 11. 120 ; he is a most beautiful person,
li. 138 ; his beauty spiritual, 11. 138, 139 ; he
Is the chiefest of all, 11. 139 ; all our fulness
comes from him, 11. 139 ; he Is set forth by all
the excellencies of the creatures, li. 139 ; he
only was king, priest, and prophet, 11. 140 ; of
his kingly, priestly, and prophetical ofiBces, 11.
140 ; he Is set forth in his graces of mercy and
meekness, 11. 141 ; he hath the pre-eminence
in all things, ii. 141 ; his excellency is the
church's, 11. 142; his supereminent excellence
ought to draw those to him who are not yet in
him, 11. 142 ; two forcible reasons to draw us to
him, 11. 142, 143 ; our sins should not hinder
our coming to him, 11. 142, 143 ; Christians
justified In their choice of him, 11. 150 ; folly of
those who refuse him and choose base transi-
tory things, 11. 143 ; the woeful state of those
who accept not him being offered them, 11. 143,
144 ; we must have respect to him, In choice
and love, to other things, 11. 144, 145 ; means
how to highly esteem of him, 11. 145 ; exalting
of him In our hearts is a strong preservative
against sin, despair, and all discouragements,
11. 145 ; folly of delaying to seek him till old
age, 11. 145, 146 ; how his death Is a sufficient
satisfaction for the sins of the whole world, li.
147 ; he hath many excellencies In him, 11.
148 : It should be the care of Christians to
study the several excellencies of Christ, 11. 148,
149 ; signs of Christ that God shews to the
souls of Christians, 11. 149 ; sights of faith
which the soul frames to Itself of him, 11. 149 ;
why compared to an head of gold, 11. 149 ; he
hath clear eyes, able to discei-n all things, li.
151 ; his doctrine is sweet and sound, il. 153 ;
all his actions are precious, 11 153 ; his ways
are all constant and firm, 11. 154 ; everyway he
is 'altogether lovely, ii. 156 ; most lovely in his
abasements for us, 11. 157 ; his righteousness
ought to be perfectly trusted in, 11. 157 ; he Is
the best object for our best affections to be
placed on, 11. 157 ; how to know we love him,
11. 157 ; a desire of the appearance of him is a
sign of our flaming love to him, 11. 159 ; how to
attain to an high esteem of him, 11. 75, "76 ; ends
of the church's setting forth his excellencies,
il. 162, 163; his excellencies meditated on will
justify our pains in the exercises of religion,
il. 163 ; Christians have more cause to boast
of their portion in him than worldlings of the
world, 11. 165 ; he will not be long absent from
his church, 11. 171 ; we must be first united to
him before we can receive comfort and com-
munion of his graces, ii. 173 ; Christ and Chris-
tians have a mutual property in each other, 11.
174 ; there Is a mutual love, familiarity, and
likeness between Christ and Christians, 11. 174,
175 ; they have a mutual care of each other's
good, 11. 174, 175 ; there Is a mutual com-
placency between Christ and the church, 11. 174,
175 ; they that are Christ's will be resolute in
owning his cause, il. 174, 175 ; in order of
nature he is ours first, though not in order of
knowing, ii. 177 ; how he comes to be ours, 11.
177, 178; being ours, we have all things, 11.
177, 178 ; being ours, it should make us be con-
tented with our condition whatsoever it be, 11.
178 ; his excellencies to be studied, 11. 178 ;
how we come to be his beloved, 11. 179 ; our
giving ourselves up to him is an evidence
that he is ours, ii. 180 ; reasons why he must
be first given to us before we can give our-
selves over to him, IL 182, 183 ; he hath the
same care of every particular Christian as of
the whole church, 11. 184 : how to be enabled
to love and embrace him, ii. 184 ; love to him,
how it may stand with lore to other things, ii.
185 ; he feeds his church among fat pastures,
11. 1S8 ; he feeds as well as breeds his church,
11. 188, 189; he feeds his church plentifully and
sweetly, ii. IgO ; motives to entice those who
are not yet in Christ to come in, ii. 187 ; Christ
never asked others to pray for him, ii. 94 ; he
is to be loved, 11. 201 ; lie belongs to all Chris-
tians equally, 11. 202 ; foretastes of his love,
li. 203 ; further desires of, ii. 203 ; his love
manifested, why, ii 204, 205; riches of, 11. 2o4;
sight of him, li. 205 ; take no nay from him,
ii. 206 ; communion with him, ii. 207 ; cannot
requite, ii. 208 ; power of God in Christ, il.
474 I his fear of death, ii. 475 ; he will come,
ii. 617 ; Christ three ways taken in Scripture,
ill. 82 ; is the main object of preaching, ili.
S69 ; is all in all to us, ill. 371, 372 ; how to
think of him, iii. 371 ; God's love founded in
him, iii. 385, 386; how to get into him, iii.
396 ; a prophet, priest, and king, iii. 446 ; the
Scripture sets forth Christ by all comfortable
terms, iii. 60; a priest, and king, Iv. 103 ; grand
object of preaching, iv. 115 ; covenant in, iv.
118 ; Christ that Spirit, how, iv. 205, 206, 208 ;
be like Christ, iv. 214; study him, iv. 214,
215, 261 ; he redeems, iv. 218 ; the only
Kedeeraer, iv. 243, 244; learn to be friend.s,
iv. 262 ; gentle, iv. 262 ; obedient, iv. 262 ;
kind to his enemies, iv. 263 ; see all iu
Christ, iv. 269 ; the Spirit comes from, iv.
294 ; lay open Christ, iv. 303 ; designations of,
Christ, iv. 324, 325 ; God in Christ is sweet,
iv. 325 ; discovers the Father, iv. 326 ; rich,
496; poor, why, iv. 497, 498; made sin, iv.
499 ; example of, iv. 520 ; is our Lord, and how,
V. 59; 143 ; who chose Christ, v. 91, 92 ; how
excellent he is In himself, and how profitable
for us, V. 89, 90, 91 ; how he may be obtained,
V. 90 ; how we are in him, v. 93 ; how we
may be united to, v. 94 ; how and wherein
we are conformable to him, v. 97, 98 ; how
he apprehends us, v. 103 ; he first appre-
hends us, then we him, v. 104, the Spirit of
God subjects all things in us unto Christ, v.
105, 106 ; he shall come again, and this his
second coming is expected of his children and
desired, and why, v. 140, 141, 142 ; he is able
to subdue all things unto himself, v. 150 ; he
is risen ; v. 197, 198 ; Ufe, how Christ Is, v.
209 ; how know this, v. 211 ; what we are to
Christ, v. 212 ; eternal Son, v. 253 ; love to, v.
277 ; Lord specially applied to, v. 308 ; excel-
lency of, V. 309, 310 ; side with, v. 320 ; lose
nothing by, v. 321 ; exaltation purchased by
humiliation, v. 323-356 ; he died as a public
person, as second Adam, voluntary, as surety,
V. 326, 327 ; rose, v. 327 ; revived, v. 330 ; near
at death, v. 354 ; high valuing of, v. 3G5 ; spe-
cial and peculiar love, v. 387 ; extent of Christ's
atonement, v. 388, 389 ; all-sufficiency, v. 407 ;
slighted, V. 420 ; the scope of the Scriptures, v.
479 ; when conceived in the heart, v. 486 ;
motives to get into, v. 502 ; no Intercourse
with God without Christ, vi. 340, 341 ; God's
love only in Christ, and why all from Christ,
vi. 251, 351 ; misery of men out of, vi. 351 ;
act of Christ, vi. 385 ; God loves, vi. 386 ;
God's love to us in him, vi 387 ; comprehensive
prayer of, vi. 397 ; in all believers, how, vi.
402, 403; how know so, vi. 403-405; how to
keep Christ, vi. 409 ; beg him to stay, vi. 410 ;
to perfume our souls, vi. 410 ; appearances of,
vi. 418 ; our brother, vi 433 ; labour to get hold
of, vi. 434 ; thank God for what he hath done
to Christ, vl. 462 ; when God was his God, vi.
463 ; promise of, vll. 108 ; Emmanuel, vli. Ill,
112; human and divine, vii. 110, 111, 112;
condescension of, vii. 113 ; conception of, vii.
119, 120; previous presences of Christ, vii. 120;
the sun of righteousness, vii. 169 ; our pattern;
vii. 192, 193, 198; a pubUc person, vii. 192,
join reasoning with contemplation of, vii. 192 :
come to God bv, only, vii. 198; enters the
soul, vll. 1&9, 228 ; lowliness of, vii. 202 ; our
576
GENERAL INDEX.
head, vii. 205. (See Faith, Love, Mystery,
Mercy-seat, Preaching, Fear.)
Christian, combat, we must fight before the
victory, i. 95, 96, 97 ; calling : what is the true
ability to it ? grace, not gifts only, i. 242 ; par-
ticular calling, directions for it, i. 243 ; par-
ticular Christians, in regard of the chiefest
privileges, have the same regard as the whole
church, ii. 6, 7 ; should walk as men severed
from the world, ii. 11 ; should be fruitful, ii. 11,
12 ; not to wrong them, ii. 24 ; weak not to be
discouraged, vi. 32, 33 ; no Christian but hath
somewhat to welcome Christ with, ii. 32, 33 ;
gracious are abased for defects and indisposi-
tions to good, ii. 39 ; may know his state though
he be mixed with flesh and spirit, ii. 46, 47 ; is
what his heart is. ii. 49 ; how differenced from
hypocrites, ii. 50 ; who the best, ii. 50, 61 ;
waking, their excellence, ii. 55 ; know the voice
of Christ, even in a sleepy state, ii. 56 ; true are
discerned by their spiritual taste of the word,
ii. 56 ; at the lowest, longs after Christ, ii. 58 ;
Christian love should be confined to Christ, ii.
84 ; are not to wrong themselves by false judg-
ing their own state, ii. 86 ; lives should be a
communion with Christ, ii. 87 ; wanting com-
fort not to be censured, ii. 103 ; at worst have
some sparks of grace left in them, ii. 106, 107 ;
to be a sound Christian is no easy thing, ii.
118 ; all not alike deserted of God and afflicted,
ii. 118, 119 ; in the upbraidings of conscience
should look as well on the good in them as the
ill, ii. 136 ; care should be to study the several
excellencies of Christ, ii. 148 ; should endeavour
to be suitable to Christ their head, ii. 150 ; have
more cause to boast their portion in Christ than
worldlingsof the world, ii. 165 ; in what respects
compared to lilies, ii. 169 ; why they want
outward things, ii. 178 ; it is the Christian's
happiness, he is not his own, ii. 181 ; weak as
well as strong, the spouse of Christ, ii. 184 ;
excellency of walking in divine light above
others, ii. 186 ; happiness in these days in
regard of the plenty of means they enjoy, ii.
190 ; chief distinctions of, ii. 219 ; roughly used,
ii. 441; hard 'to be, ii. 503; why hated of the
world, ii. 29i ; place no confidence in the
creature, ii. 282 ; Christian course, to be in love
with it, ii. 409 ; a Christian's glory 5s to be
fruitful in his places, ii. 348 ; their comfortable
state, ii. 345, 348 ; compared to lilies for growth
and grace, ii. 336 ; ought all to be excellent in
their kind, ii. 330 ; compared to corn, ii. 258 ;
fruitful under good means, ii. 258 ; like vines
for fruitfulness, ii. 359 ; unfruitful as the worst
of men, ii. 360 ; who are fruitful God takes a
special care of, ii. 361 ; weak, not to be dis-
couraged, Ii. 362, 363 ; how they send forth a
sweet scent, ii. 363 ; what is done to Christians
is done to Christ, iii. 86 ; a true Christian is
best where he is best known, iii. 259 ; a sound,
loves and values all Christians, ii. 432 ; as
prophets, priests, and kings how, iii. 447, seq. ;
any a teacher, iv. 338, 339 ; earnest, iv. 429 ;
poor yet rich, iv. 504, 505, 506 ; Christian's
main scope is to apprehend Christ, v. 103 ;
Christianity is a race, v. 186 ; are members of
Christ, V. 120 ; must do all things in the
Lord, V. 48, 49 ; Christian's end, v. 289-S22 ;
careful, not easy to be, v. 306, vi. 171 ; secure
state of, V. 343 ; true Christian, who, v. 461 ;
weak, vi. 100 ; how to regard Christians, vi.
408 ; dignity of, vi. 436, 437 ; difference between
and others, vi. 301, 505, vii. 475 ; disposition of
true, vi. 304 ; artificial, vii. 190.
Church, compared to weak things, i. 43 ; it sliould
be merciful in censures, i. 55 ; as Christ, so
should we commiserate the distressed church,
i, 76 ; the Church of Rome is tyrannical over
wounded consciences, i. 77 ; the church shall
have victory, i. 97 ; visitation, i. 371-384 ; of
God, is his house, i. 374 ; why, i. 374 ; he pro-
vides for it, i. 374 ; whether the English Church
be God's house i. 376 ; proved, i. 376 ; the
church needs purging, i. 376 ; God cleanseth it
when need is, i. 376, 377 ; it should severely
punish sin, i. 378 ; it is God's spouse, i. 390 ;
impregnable, i. 303 ; in what respects compared
to a garden, ii. 10, 11 ; cared for and protected
by God, ii. 12 ; disposition is to please her hus-
band, ii. 14 ; gives all to Christ, ii. 15 ; royal
descent, ii. 23 ; is the spouse of Christ, ii. 23 :
husband, is Christ only, ii. 24 ; the church and
every particular Christian is subject to variety
of changes, ii. 37 ; in this latter age is in a
sleepy condition, ii. 40, 41 , none in the church
but have been allured at one time or other to
come in, ii. 68 ; to be prayed for, ii. 69 ; Christ's
love, and why, ii. 72, 73 ; out of the church no
saving love, ii. 73 ; compared to a dove, ii. 78 ;
defence in her persecutions, ii. 80 ; of God hath
always a rest in God in the worst times, ii. 81 ;
how said to be undefiled, ii. 81 ; to be accounted
a church though defiled with corruptions, ii. 85 ;
never totally left by Christ, ii. 104, 106 ; how
wounded by the watchmen, ii. 119 ; compared
to Jerusalem, ii. 123 ; persecuted by pretenders
of religion, ii. 121, 122; how to know we are
members of, ii. 123 ; fair under disgraces of the
world, ii. 135 ; fairness, whence it comes, ii.
135; is within, ii. 135; never more fair in
Christ's eye than when she judgeth herself most
deformed, ii. 135 ; how to be judged of under
seeming disgraces, ii. 135 ; nothing can dis-
hearten the church from commending Christ,
ii. 148 ; why so exact in particularising her
beloved, ii. 148, 157 ; hath no golden head but
Christ, ii. 149 ; the ends why the church sets
forth the excellencies of Christ, ii. 162, 163 ;
heavy doom of those who are wicked, being in
the church, ii. 169 ; why Christ will not be long
absent from it, ii. 171 ; Church's and particular
Christian's suffei'ings, reasons of them, ii. 179,
180 ; Christ never more near it than when it
is in affliction, ii. 180 ; fed by Christ in fat
pastures, ii. 188, 189 ; the church, ii. 226, 227 ;
reverence in, ii. 227 ; how beautiful, ii. 23!, 232 ;
ordinances of, ii. 232-234 ; protection, provision
of ii. 234 ; occasional attendance, ii. 240 ; dif-
ferent churches, ii. 240, 241, 242 ; what consti-
tutes a church, ii. 242 ; particular churches, ii.
226, 248 ; how God governs the church by con-
traries, ii. 360 ; in misery to be prayed for, ii.
294 ; yields a shadow ii. 353 ; no salvation out
of, ii. 354 ; the benefits of being in it, ii. 354 ;
who live out of it are in a woeful state, ii. 356,
357 ; outward condition despicable, ii. 360 ;
weak of itself, ii. 360 ; miseries and desolations
of, ii. 443 ; symbolised, by a mountain, ii. 444-
446 ; whether the church can give authority to
the word or Scripture, iii. 9, 10, 523 ; God hath
a church in the most wicked places, and among
most wicked people, iii. 10 ; every Christian
ought to be a member of some particular church
or congregation, iii. 11, 12 ; the church has its
name sometimes, (1) from the mixture in it ;
(2) from the better part of it, iii. 12 ; not to be
left or forsaken for some corruptions in them,
iii. 322 ; world in, iv. 100 ; before Luther, iv.
115 ; warring and triumph, iv. 168 ; works on
others by the church, iv. 389, 390 ; enemies to,
iv. 392 ; all for Christ's sake, iv. 467 ; Church's
Kiches, iv. 489-527 ; in the church men of dif-
ferent dispositions, v. 135 ; live to church, v.
298 ; truth of, catholic, v. 232 ; state of, vi 67 ;
kings and, vi. 88 ; complaint and confidence,
vi. 197 ; sorrowful men in the church, vi. 287 ;
comfort for, vi. 290 ; desires, second coming,
vi. 547 ; angels attend on, vi. 321 ; greatest
sins committed in, vi. 329 ; of God will be after
us, vi. 233 ; God's dealings with, vii. 74, 75 ;
blackness of, vii. 93-104 ; imperfect state, vii.
96, 97 ; outward infirmities, vii. 97 ; humble
vii. 97 ; why so black, vii. 102 ; Emmanuel's
land, vii. 123 ; echo, vii. 535-546.
Circumcision, we must be circumcised, and
wherein, v. 69 ; circumcision, vi. 22.
Civil men, who, v. 495.
GENERAL INDEX.
677
deansed, labours to be by blood of Christ, vi. 190.
Cleaving, vii. 352.
Clergy, benefit of, y. 408.
Clothes, vi. 60 ; clothed, vii. 313, 314
Clouds, scattered, vii. 195.
Cobweb, iv. 487, 488.
Combat, spiritual, how discerned from that of
common grace and light, i. 153.
Comb-downes, iii. 533.
Comfort, Christ is a complete and all-suffiGient
comforter, i. 70, 72 ; consolation to weak Chris-
tians, i. 86 ; that our victory lies with Christ,
not ourselves, i. 97 ; who fit for comfort, i. 48 ;
in the church's troubles, i. 244, 261 ; amiss,
sought in sanctification, i. 138 ; have and hold
comfort, grow up in holiness, i. 139 ; a sin not
to comfort the afilicted, i. 195 ; how comfort
tendered doth no good : miscarriages, i. 196 ;
if not found in one means is to be sought in
another, ii. 123 ; comfort, ii. 213, 221, 222, 241,
457 ; abused, prove snares ; ii. 397 ; naturally
accompanies good actions, ii. 364 ; of Christians,
why not apprehended by them, ii. 340 ; comfort
or consolation, what, iii. 44, 45, 86 ; God the
God of comfort, how, iii. 44, 45 ; what this title
attributed to God implies, iii. 47 ; whatever the
means, God is the spring and fountain, iii. 49 ;
God can create comfort out of nothing, iii. 47 ;
can raise it out of contraries, iii. 47, 48 ; what use
to be made of this that God is the God of comfort,
iii. 48, 49, 54, 55, seq. ; reasons or grounds why
Christians are uncomfortable, iii. 50 ; God com-
forteth his people in all tribulation, iii. 51, 52,
53, 54 ; objection against this answered, iii. 52,
74 ; God applieth comfort answerable to all
miseries in this life, iii. &2, 63 ; to comfort,
what, iii. 54 ; how to derive comfort from the
God of comfort, iii. 55 ; no comfort for such as
go on in sin, iii. 56 ; for those that are relapsed,
iii. 57 ; general comforts should be had for all
kind of calamities and maladies, and which be
they, iii. 57, 58 ; means for obtaining comfort,
iii. 57, 59-64 ; to keep a daily course of com-
fort, how, iii. 59, 60 ; Christ in Scripture is set
forth by all comforting terms, iii. 60 ; means
whereby we may comfort others, iii. 65, 66, 69,
70 ; all God's children have interest in divine
comforts, why, iii. 66 ; divine comforts are not
impaired by being communicated, iii. 66 ; God
conveys comfort to men by men, iii. 67, 68 ;
we should be willing, ready, and able to comfort
one another, iii. 67, 68, 69, 75, 76 ; experience
a great help to comfort others, why, iii. 76, 77,
78 ; objections of such as complain of want of
comfort answered, iii. 74; our comforts and
consolations are proportionable to our sufferings,
iii. 86 ; greatest comfort follows greatest suffer-
ing, why, iii. 86 ; what hinders comfort in
afiliction, iii. 90 ; no comfort for wicked men,
iii. 90 ; comfort and consolation abound by
Christ, iii. 91 ; why Christians are no more
comfortable, iii. 92 ; suffering a necessary pre-
cedent to comfort, why, iii. 108 ; those that
suffer as they should are sure of comfort, iii.
110 ; course in want of, iv. 140, 297 ; in dejec-
tion, iv. 370 ; reserved, iv. 434 ; in greatest
misery, iv. 438, v. 198 ; all, in Christ, iv. 463 ;
ground of, v. 215 ; saints above all, v. 272 ; why
justified always in comfort, v. 366 ; more than
others, V. 296 ; spring of, vi. 17, 18, 21 ; Saint's,
vi. 159-180 ; extent of, vi. 465 ; to comfort others
an angelical work, vi. 320, 321 ; God's love
in Christ, ground of, i. 12, vi. 352 ; when to be
stored up, vi. 227 ; ground of, for weak Chris-
tians, vi. 297 ; fundamental, vi. 468 ; earthly,
•wears away, vii. 45, 46 ; present, defects in,
vii. 101 ; returns, vii. 160 ; belongs to God's chil-
dren, vii. 168; not to snatch, vii. 200; source
of, vii. 200 ; no comfort, what to do, vii. 208;;
maintain, vii 353 ; double ground of, vii. 485.
Comforters, in way of humanity, many : few in
way of Christianity, i. 192 ; graces necessary in
a good, i. 193 ; method of comforting, i. 193, 194.
Coining, the bridegroom's second, vi. 635 ; will be,
VOL. VII.
vi. 644 ; why the church desires, vi. 547 ; what
benefit by the first, vi. 550 ; prepare for, vi. 550,
551 ; ' not so desirous as I ought,' vi. 554 ; look
for, vii. 124 ; of Christ, vii. 306-315 ; there must
be a second, of Christ, vii. 538 ; the church
desires, vii. 539 ; in heaven desires, vii. 641 ;
Christians not always fitted for, vii. 543 ; direc-
tions how to desire, vii. 543.
Command of God over all things, vi. 147 ; God's
commandments to be obeyed, ii. 420 ; com-
mand, vii. 379.
Commendation, a man may speak in commenda-
tion of himself, and in what cases, iii. 2o4, vii.
218, 219.
Commerce, lawful, vi. 621.
Commonness, of sin is a sign it is ripe, i. 379 ;
common matters, vi. 78 ; things, viL 199 ;
'common' all, correction, iv. 38.
Communication, of all good things, ii. 20 ; God's
goodness communicative, vi. 113.
Communicative, grace is, i. 61, 62.
Communion, with God, i. 75 ; with .saints, i. 75; with
God, to be sought, how Christians have continual
ground of it, i. 249 ; of friends, in watching over
one another, i 1S9 ; in comforting one another, i.
190 ; with God, to be laboured for, ii. 267 ; none
between God and idols, ii 291 ; with God makes
us hate sin, ii. 373 ; bond of, iii. 432 ; commu-
nion, iv. 185, 240, 418, 461, v. 278 ; recover, vi.
• 3, 4 ; with Christ, vi. 66 ; with God, man's
happiness, vii. 71, 72 ; increases, vii. 76 ; lost,
vii. 208.
Community, in sin, lessens not, vi. 169.
Company, with saints is a means to keep us awake,
ii. 51 ; evil, makes Christ withdraw, ii. 58, 59 ;
evil, ii. 207, ii. 448 ; good, a means to enable
us to walk resolutely in God's ways, ii. 427 ;
companions in sin shall be companions in
suffering, iii. 110.
Compare, ii. 245.
Comparisons, vii. 201, 294.
Compassion, the children of God ought to be
compassionate, and why, v. 125, 126.
Complain, of thyself, not of God nor others, i. 161.
Comprehension, iv. 165.
Conceal, Christ conceals, vi. 424 ; why ? faith,
patience, prize more, vi. 425 ; no concealments,
vii 290.
Conception, of mind is like the body, i. 297 ; men
apt to form false conceptions of God and Christ,
ii 90 ; should have a good, of others, iii. 306,
307, 327.
Concio, vii. 547-561.
Concision, what it is, and why so called, v. 65 ;
papists, not protestants, are of, v. 71.
Concupiscence, not severely censured by papists,
i. 172.
Condemnation, self, iv. 86 ; vii. 277 ; execute sen-
tence, iv. 86, 87 ; in things the world condemns
not, iv. 88 ; world to be, iv. 98 ; what, iv. 102, 103.
Condition, of life, none wherein we may not
exercise some grace, i. 170 ; a man can be in
no condition wherein God is at a loss and can-
not help him, i. 203 ; none so disconsolate but
God can alter it, ii. 290, 291 ; former, vii. 399,
400 ; any good in, vii. 204
Conference, heavenly, vi. 413-485.
Confession, honoureth God, ii. 38, 39 ; shames
Satan, ii. 38 ; prevents malicious imputations
from the world, ii. 38, 39 ; gives ease to the
soul, ii. 38, 39 ; is a means of present delivery
out of trouble, ii. 39 ; to whom to be made, ii.
261 ; is a sign of the forgiveness of our sins, ii.
263 ; of sin, necessary, vi. 187 ; good men in
confession rank themselves with others, vi. 187,
188 ; confession, vi. 168, vii. 344 ; think of pro-
mise after, vii. 344.
Confidence, in a man's self the way to fall, i. 94 ;
in ourselves, how chased away, i. 197 ; for
mercies, warranted to us as well as to David or
others, i. 250 ; carnal, danger of, ii. 283 ; not
placed on the creature by a true Christian, ii.
282 ; in outward helps men prone to by nature,
ii 278 ; in the creature, when exceeded, U
0 0
578
GENERAL INDEX.
282 ; certain account of and looking for death
draws from self-confidence, ill. 127 ; God's
children proi>e to, iil. 128 ; false, iv. 451 ; care-
less, iy. 45L ; fruitless, iv. 452 ; not exercising,
iv. 452 ; not bold, iv. 452 ; natural and carnal
men have, in outward things, and why, v. 77, 78 ;
signs of fleshly, v. 78 ; issue of false, dangerous,
vii. 463 ; overturned, vii. 465 ; how it arises,
vii. 213 ; God's children, only truly confident,
vii. Ill, 214.
Confirm, approbation of strong Christians confirms
the weak, vi. 573.
Conflict, of grace and corruption much casts us
down, i. 237 ; should make us trust in God the
more, 1. 237, 238 ; in man's soul, kinds and
degrees of them, i. 152 ; Conflict, Soul's, i. 119-
294; conflict, iv. 145, 451, v. 379 404, 442, vii.
81 ; between God's goodness and man, vii 108.
Conformity, a threefold, with Christ, iii. 110 ;
of Christ to us, iv. 268 ; of us to Christ, iv. 399,
400, vii 209 ; to Christ, wherein, v. 531.
Conjunction, four wonderful, i. 6.
Conquerors, threefold, iv. 403 ; conquest by Christ,
V. 307.
Conscience is a judge within us, i. 87 ; how it be-
comes bold, i. 1)5 ; how tortured, i. 70 ; how
stilled, i. 70 ; how it is tender, i. 57 ; not clear
brings disquietness, i. 139 ; good, fears not
death, i. 339 ; in a sleepy temper, how known
to be awake, ii. 48 ; afflicted in are not to judge •
of themselves by feeling, but by what they are
in Christ, ii. 84 ; in the upbraidings of. Chris-
tians should as well look on the good in them
as on the ill, ii. 135, 136 ; make conscience of
duty, ii. 224 ; good ought not to be parted with,
ii. 295 ; what, iii. 208, 209, 210, seq. ; three
things joined with, iii. 209 ; God hath set up a
court in man, wherein conscience is, 1. regis-
ter; 2. witness; 3. accuser; 4. judge; 5. exe-
cutioner, iii. 210, 211 ; judgment of, a forerun-
ner of the great aud general judgment, iii. 210,
211 ; beareth witness, iii. 211 ; what manner of
witness conscience is, viz., 1. faithful ; 2. in-
ward, iii. 211, 212 ; how to have conscience
witness well, iii. 212-215, seq. ; an ignorant man
cannot have a good, iii. 213 ; why men have
bad, iii. 213 ; papists cannot have a good, why,
iii. 214 ; the witness of a good conscience
ground of joy, why, iii. 215-219 ; a good breeds
joy, 1. in life ; 2. in death ; 3. at the day of
judgment, iii. 216-219 ; a good comforts in all
states whatsoever, iii. 216-219 ; why a good doth
not always witness comfort, iii. 219, 220 ; means
how to joy and rejoice in the witness of, iii. 221 ;
nothing worse than a bad, iii. 223-226 ; labour
for a good, iii. 226 ; commendation of, iii. 226 ;
how to have, iii. 227 ; God's children have place
in the conscience of others, iii. 304 ; conscience,
Iii. 6*2, iv. 78, 118 ; sins against, iv. 237 ; bet-
ter than words, iv. 312 ; suggests, iv. 510 ; bad,
V. 291 ; friendly, v. 455 ; when consience ia
awaked, v. 483 ; what to do in trouble of, v 483 ;
sins against, vi. 35 ; nature of, vi. 474, 47t ;
cases of, vi. 37, 38, 70 ; guilty, vi. 174 ; after
long sinning, hardly comforted, vi. 212, 213 ;
recalls, vii. 201 ; cracked, vii. 207 ; peace of,
vii. 215 ; approve to, vii. 218 ; when, vii. 218 ;
a word wrought on, vii. 218 ; wrath fixed on,
vii. 227 ; unspotted, vii. 345 ; demand of,
whence, vii. 483 ; good, what, vii. 483 ; three
degrees of a good, vii. 484 ; good that is troubled,
vii. 4t5 ; how to know we do things from, vii.
486 ; to get the answer of, vii. 487 ; comfort
from, vii. 430 ; demand of a good, vii. 478-491.
C<.,isetit, ii. 201.
Consideration, the best objects of it, i. 181 ; hin-
drances of, vi. 216.
Consolation, ii. 476.
Constancy, in sin to be shunned, i. 298, iv. 402,
vii 134 ; nature constant, v. 435.
Consubstantiation, ii. 433.
Consult, iv. 185.
Contemplations, Divine Meditations and, vii. 178-
228 ; join reasoning with, vii. 192,
Contentment, contented meekness becomes a
Christian in that estate which he is in, i. 65,
66 ; contentment to be framed to ourselves, and
how, i. 164 ; a special means of quieting the
soul, i. 164, iv. 187 ; with Christ, iv. 350, 351,
v. 274, vii. 393 ; out of, v. 175-193 ; a branch of
love, V. 277 ; desire to give, v. 280.
Continuance of sin, or sins of continuance dan-
gerous, i. 229 ; how to be dealt withal, i. 229,
230 ; a sin, v. 258, 259.
Contrariety, to light, ii. 465 ; contraries, ii. 487 ;
God is able to raise comfort out of, iii. 48 ; God
carries on the work of our salvation by, why,
iii. 137, iv. 78, 173, v. 262, vi. 164 ; a Christian's
state in, iv. 506 ; agree in a Christian, vi. 192 ;
faith when all is contrary, vii. 213.
Controversy, Godliness a mystery without, v. 476.
Conversation, fruitful, excellence of, ii. 365 ; con-
verse with good, ii. 452 ; what, iii. 252 ; Chris-
tianity may stand with conversing abroad in
the world, iii 253; religion makes a man con-
verse so untainted, iii. 254 ; a Christian's con-
versation is best where he is best known, iii.
259, iv. 90, 521 ; in heaven, why, v. 162.
Conversion, before and after, need of bruising, i.
44 ; how to be happy instruments to convert
others, ii. 167 ; power in, iv. 360 ; Lydia's, vi.
517-534; conversion, vii. 223; how evidence
true, vii. 2*23.
Conviction, want of, makes us careless of sin, ii.
3u5 ; the Spirit convinceth, iv. 214 ; ground of,
vi. 225, 226 ; ground of practice, vii. 70, 71, 88,
89 ; slight not, vii. 202 ; of sin, whence, vii. 210 ;
Of the Spirit distinguishable, vii. 210, 211, 358,
359 ; spiritual, vii. 211 ; preserved from despair,
vii. 211 ; of sin, vii. 275 ; of righteousness, vii.
276 ; judgment, vii. 276, 279 ; uses of, vii. 359 ;
doubts, vii. 430.
Cordials, Saint's, iv. 60 ; text of, v. 176.
Correction, shews we are God's children, i. 383 ;
seasonable, evidence of Christ's love, ii. 74, 75 ;
patience of God to us should make us endure
patiently, ii. 71, iv. 78 ; cause of, iv. 78 ; forced,
iv. 78 ; justify God in, iv. 78 ; add teaching, iv.
79 ; general, iv. 81 ; of believers, iv. 81, 104,
105 ; submit to, vi. 172 ; why God corrects, vi.
175, 176 ; sanctified, vi. 473 ; God corrects his
children, vi. 491 ; corrections, vii. 2i)6, 207.
Corinth, CorinViians, Exposition of 2d Epistle to
the Corinthians, c. i., iii. 1-543 of c. iv., iv.
307-488 ; Corinth, a very wicked city, yet even
there God hath a church, iii. 10 ; what is now
become of, iii. 10, 11 ; metropoUs or mother city
of Achaia. (See Achaia.)
Corruption, how far curbed or repressed by God,
i. 177 ; remaining in an holy heart natural,
uncontrollable, i 171 ; what follows, i. 173 ; where
it is not thoroughly purged, and a careful watch
kept over the soul, after recovery will follow a
more dangerous distemper, ii. 38 ; remains of,
ii. 228 ; cherishing of, iv. 87, 88 ; natural, iv.
369, V. 255 ; victory over, vi. 14 ; unconverted,
vi. 390 ; best men subject to, why, vi. 513 ;
ground of support against, vi. 514 ; cry out
against, vii. 190 ; in ourselves, hate, vii. 192 ;
offensive, vii. 194 : how to set against, vii. 472 ;
why not subdued at once, vii. 472 ; tostrengthen
faith in the fall of, vii. 427, 474 ; how to know
nature is corrupted, vii. 442.
Cosenage, of sin, vii. 202
Cotes, Shakspeare's publisher, ii. 198.
Counsel, the will of God called, why, vi. 498.
Courage, ii. 214, iv. 231, v. 370 ; ground of in
Christ's cause, v. 534, v 373, vii. 100.
Course, every man hath his, vi. 218 ; God judgeth
men according to, vi. 218.
Court, of conscience, why backward to keep, L
146.
Covenant, of grace, compriseth not only what God
will do to us, but our duty also that we owe to
him, ii. 183 ; renew, iv. 94 ; in Christ, iv. 118 ;
promises of, v. 189 ; with a church, v. 262, 263 ;
formation of, v. 263 ; of works, vi 3 ; of grace, vi.
6, 470 ; four periods of, vi. 4 ; test of covenant.
I
GENEBAIi INDEX.
579
vi. 4 ; need, vi. 5 ; parties of, vi. 6 ; substance
of, vi. 6, 8 ; qualities, sure, peculiar, free, spi-
ritual, vi. 6, 19-21 ; how know it belongoth to
us, vi. 8 ; trial of, vi. 9 ; renewed to maintain
peace, vi 344 ; of grace, vi. 350 ; to be renewed,
vii. 13 ; look to, vii. 396 ; foundation of, vii.
481 ; nature of, vii. 482 ; why so called, vii. 483.
(See Testament and Works.)
Covenanter, Faithful, vi. 1-25.
Coverings, iv. 253.
Covetous, man, vii. 58.
Cowardice, in God's ways to be avoided, L 116,
117.
Creator, comfort from God as, i. 409, 413, 414 ;
served as, vi. 98.
Creatures, all are obedient to Christ, ii. 7 ; in every
creature beams of excellency, ii. 147 ; not able
to help us in our greatest need, ii. 279 ; the
vanity of it, ii. 279 ; emptiness discovered in
sundry respects, i. 2S5 ; the most comfortable
in their excess hurt, ii. 397 ; shames men's
pride by other creatures, vi. 221 ; insufficient
to teach the knowledge of God, vii. 112 ; all, v.
253, 254 ; vanity of, vii. 3-3-47.
Crosses, what we ought to do in, v. 99, 100 ; who
are enemies to the cross of Christ, v. 127, vii.
207, 212.
Criicifixes, ii. 381.
Cruelty, vi. 167.
Cure, iv. 82, 83.
Curiosity, over, vii. 193, 194, 221.
Curse, not to curse particular persons, vii. 20 ;
calm, vii. 221.
Cry, God's children cry in afflictions, vi. 143.
Danger, God suffers his children to fall into ex-
treme perils, why, iii. 117, 118, seq. ; failure in,
why, iv. 128 ; danger, what to do in times of,
vi. 226, 227, vii. 107 ; of sin, vii. 300.
Dark, times, why, i. 24.
Darkness, stay in, iv. 244; God overcomes all,
iv 317, 318.
David, his comfort, courage, care, ii. 213 ; his
epitaph, vi. 487-516 ; with Barsillai, vii. 35
seq. ; his perplexed state wherein, vii. 51, 52 ;
why cast down, vii. 54 ; his conclusion or the
saint's resolution, vii. 79-91.
Day, in that, ii. 104, 105 ; Christ hath a day, iii.
323 ; there be two special days of Christ, iii.
323 ; the measure of a Christian's joy is as it
will be esteemed at the day of judgment, iii.
324 ; we should often think of the day of the
Lord Jesus, iii. 325 ; of redemption, v. 445 ;
daily thought, vii. 293.
Dead, things trust not, iv. 215 ; ' ye are dead,'
V. 205 ; man, vii. 398-400 ; former condition,
vii. 400 ; why are we ? vii. 401 ; what, vii. 401,
402 ; uses of considering, vii. 403, 40i
Deadness, why, ii. 207.
Deal, with thyself in all afllictions to get quiet-
ness, i. 162.
Dealings, unfaithful, vi. 21.
Death, comfort in, i. 241, 242 ; in the state after, 1.
242 ; compared to a wild beast, i. 334 ; a short
dark passage, i. 334 ; a departing, i. 339 ; how
Paul desired it, i. 339 ; not to be feared by a
Christian, i. 340 ; may be desired by a wicked
man, i. 340, 341 ; our ends must be considered,
i. 386 ; of the godly to be lamented, and why,
i. 344 ; their death a sign of judgment, i. 379 ;
of Christ, how a sufficient satisfaction for the
sins of the whole world, ii. 147 ; fear of, ii.
440, 459, 471, 472 ; swallowed up, ii. 472, 473 ;
ashamed of, fear of, ii. 475 ; Christ's fear of, ii.
475 ; slighted, ii. 476 ; preparation for, ii. 477-
479 ; be not afraid of, ii. 515, 516, 517 ; God's
children are sometimes very sensible of, and
afraid of, why, iii. 120-122, seq. ; how and in
what respect the saints desire death, iii. 124 ;
Christ was afraid of and yet .thirsted after it,
how, iii. 124 ; God's children often deceived
concerning the time of, and why, iii. 125 ; un-
certain how, iii. 125, 126 ; certainaccount of and
looking for is a means to d»aw from self- con-
fidence, and from the wall, and to make us
trust in God, iii. 126, 127 ; physicians flatter the
sick, iii. 127 ; affliction called, iii. 161 ; acces-
sory to, iv. 107 ; terrible of terribles, iv. 38 ; de-
sire of, iv. 186 ; why fear, iv. 287 ; works in
us, iv. 437, 438 ; comfort before, iv. 524 ; in, iv.
526 ; trouble, whence, iv. 526 ; every man under
the law of, v. 234 ; how, v. 235 ; sin and death
go together, v. 2.35; freedom from, what, v.
243 ; evil of, v. 260 ; comfort in, v. 310, 311 ;
direction in, v. 311 ; duty, v. 312 ; exaltation
of Christ a comfort in, v. 335 ; of friends, vi.
79 ; less miserable than if spared, vi. 81 ; la
the Lord, vi. 83 ; rescue from, with a return of
praise, vi. 133 ; confidence in, vi. 348 ; comfort
after, vi. 318 ; trust God with our souls, vi. 258,
259 ; gates of, what, vi. 142 ; how to disarm, vi.
143 ; put not oil' thoughts of, vii. 37, 38 ; our
duty to think of, vii. 39, 40 ; what really to
think of, vii. 40, 41 ; preparations for, vii. 42 ;
of person, goods, heart, for heaven, vii. 42 ; by
Bin of Adam, of sentence, in law, vii. 400 ; natural
and spiritual, vii. 404 ; terrible, vii. 418 ; men
die as they live, vii. 419 ; righteous and
wicked die, vii. 3; why men want comfort in,
vii. 14.
Debt, discharged by Christ, iv. 501.
Decay, not in grace, iv. 290.
Deceitfulness, of the heart, iv. 57.
Decree, v. 262.
Defamers, vii. 219
Defects, three main, in man, i. 16 . in life, rise
from defects in trust, i. 222 ; a supply for all,
i. 238.
Defend, others, viL 219.
Defer, ii. 510.
Defiled, best actions of the just are, vi. 191.
Deformity, ii. 238 ; pore not on, vii. 102.
Dejection, ii. 516, v. 180 ; useful, v. 257 ; Chris-
tians subject to, vii. 340 ; dishonours Christ,
vii. 342 ; Christ forbids it, vii. 343 ; grounds of,
vii 343.
Delay, not the praising of God, i. 264 ; answers to
prayer delayed, why, ii. 224 ; repentance not
to be delayed, vi. 212 ; why God delays help, vi.
146 ; danger of delaying, vi. 212.
Deliberation, in what things to be used, i. 337.
Delight, is brought into the soul by grace, i. 53.
Delight, in God, how wrought, vi. 352, 353; in
Christ, the ground of it, i. 13.
Departure, of God, ii. 247.
Denial, Self, — of ourselves necessary, wher3in, 1.
168 ; notes of it, i. 169 ; wicked policy to deny
Christ to avoid danger, v. 52, vii. 196, 210, 411.
Deliverance, we have daily from God, should cause
us to glorify him, i. 329 ; God doth not deliver
his children at the first, why, iii. 161, 162 ; after
he has done his work, iii. 162 ; time to deliver,
when, iii. 16.3, 164 ; God's children always stand
in need of, iii. 165 ; God delivers outwardly and
inwardly, iii. 166, 170 ; Christians have de-
liverance from trouble, iii. 167 ; a double de-
liverance, iii. 168 ; experience of, ground of
confidence, iii. 162, 168, 171 ; objection against
the doctrine, iii. 169 ; deliverance, various or
manifold, iii. 170, 171 ; God will deliver his
people out of all trouble, iii. 171 ; delivered, to
death, iv. 429, 430 ; issue of, iv. 431.
Delivering, grace, vii, 208.
Demos, vii. 412.
Deordination, of nature to be looked upon, and
how, i. 176; most needful is to do, i. 177.
Dependence, iv. 126, 127, v. 309 ; upon God, vii.
626.
Depths, children of God fall into, vi. 161 ; make
us more desirous of heaven, vi. 162 ; God up-
holds in, vi. 163 ; rea.sons, vi. 163 ; comfort in,
vi. 165 ; religion supports in, vi. 165.
Desci-i]}tion, of Christ, i. 3-31.
Desertion, then Christ should be put between God
and us, i. 271 ; outward and inward, ii. 101 ; to
prepare for it, ii. 103 ; causes of it in ourselves,
ii. 103 ; and of it. &c , ii. 101, 102, 177 ^ signs
of, ii. 112 ; what Christians are to do in, g. 116,
580
GENERAL INDEX.
117 ; benefits of, ii. 116, 117 ; after Christ visits
his church with abundant comfort, ii. 172 ; to
see distemper is no wonder, ii. 17ij ; when
usually Christ returns after it, ii. 177 ; deser-
tion, iv. 391, V 217, 258, 374, 407, 438.
Desires, how ordered, i. 60 ; what, i. 338 ; of
Christ's children after his presence makes
Christ grant it, ii. 20 ; the church is carried
from desire to desire after the presence of
Christ, ii. 20, 21 ; earnest, ii. 200, 201, 215. v. 278 ;
ground of, 201, 203 ; desiring, person, ii. 200 ;
202, 203 ; of Christ's love, ii. 203 ; further, ii.
203, 204 ; reasons, ii. 204, 205 ; holy, spiritual,
ii. 2l8, 219 ; chief distinctions of a Christian,
fi. 219 ; kindled from love of God, ii. 220 ; honour
to God, ii. 220 ; test of right, ii. 221, vii. 387 ;
things from God, ii. 222 ; turn into prayers, ii.
222 ; unsatisfied, fully, ii. 204 ; of union and
communion, iv. 1S5 ; holy, iv. 431 ; answerable,
vi. 544 ; earthly love, vi. 16 ; fervent, con-
stant, religion consists of holy desires, vi. 98 ;
growing, vi. 99 ; beyond strength, vii. 192 ;
Bhew what is, vii. 187 ; in the will, vii. 187 ;
outstrip, wicked in, vii. 8 ; differences of, in
men, vii. 8 ; best character of a Christian, vii.
11 ; wicked desire not heaven aright, vii. 11 ;
directions for holy desires, vii. 12 ; God leaves
not good desires, vii. 14.
Despair, of mercy, no cause of it, i. 287 ; may be
where there is only a general apprehension of
mercy, i. 264 ; to be avoided, 1. 318 ; despair, iv.
110 ; not in, iv. 397, v. 371, vi. 166, 167, vii.
406 ; comfort against, v. 482, 517, iv. 516.
' Despise,^ what, vii. 280.
Destruction, spiritual means the best to prevent,
ii. 254 ; destroyed not, iv. 398 ; how to prevent
our own, vii. 472.
Devil, enemy to God's children, i. 397 ; be not in-
debted to, iv. 173 ; how Christ dealt with, iv.
263 ; opposes ordinances, iv. 339 ; motions of,
vi 164 ; carnal men better than the devil would
have them, v. 229 ; Christ destroys works of,
vii. 224.
Devotions, who help in, vii. 200.
Dero, God as, vii. 222.
Difference, between a carnal Christian and an-
other, i 251 ; of excellence, iv. 173 ; of evil, iv.
173 ; of heaven and earth, iv. 480 ; differences,
vii. 198 ; discern, vii 294 ; of people, vi. 232 ;
death of godly and wicked, vi. 60y, and vii. 6.
Digesting, iii. 454.
Diligent, to sin, i. 298 ; to know Christ's grace,
iv. 517 ; diligent, vii. 216 ; diligence, how stirred
up, vi. 307.
Direction, in our ways afforded by grace, i. 60.
Disagreements, removed, iv. 327.
Discipline, iv. 227.
Disconsolate, against God's wish, vi. 448 ; remedy,
vi. 655 ; Christ specially cares for, vii. 215.
Discouragement, in affliction, incident to God's
people, i. 133 ; causes, in ourselves, privative,
positive, i. 136, 137 ; we are apt to cast down
ourselves, i. 142 ; reasons against, the hurt
that comes by it, i. 143 ; crosseth our own prin-
ciples, i. 145 ; in times of, should not think too
much of our corruptions, i. 156; a godly man
knows how to bear himself in, j. 157 ; be not
with grace begun, iv. 284, 285, v. 407, vi 391,
vii. 339; Recovery, vii. 49-64; sinful to be dis-
couraged, why, vii. 52, 63 ; imperfection, no
ground of, why, vii. 99.
Discovery, degrees of, iv. 165 ; descerning our
state, vi. 178 ; Christ discovers himself, vi.
422 ; by words, vi. 422 ; begins, vi. 423 ; not
our fault therefore, vi. 424.
Discretion, in alms-giving, iv. 524, 525, vii. 139-
150.
Diseases, vii. 172 ; of the soul, how to know them,
ii. 303.
Disgrace, what to do under, ii. 490, 491 ; in-
decency, patience, courage, sincerity, prayer,
ii. 491 ; disgraces, v. 375 ; comfort in, v. 491.
Disgraces, of the time ought not to make us think
the worse of others, ii. 120.
Dishonour, only wicked men dishonour God, vi.
150.
Disobedience, against the gospel, the greatest sin,
wny, L 388 ; how known, 391.
Dissembling, dissimiulation, grounds of, iii. 231 ; a
threefold dissimulation, (1) before, (2) in, (3)
after, the project, iii. 231, 232; objection for dis-
sembling answered, iii. 234 ; man naturally
prone to, iii. 231-237 ; to be avoided, iii. 300,
301 ; a Christian is no dissembler, iii. 301.
(See Simulation).
Disputations, their censure, i. 54 ; when jangling,
see how they disquiet the peace of the church,
i. 77 ; dark, useless, iv. 182 ; away with, v.
403 ; whence, and whether all good or bad, v.
22.
Dispense, no dispensing with God's law, iii. 380.
Displease, take heed of displeasing God, vi. 148.
Disposition, spiritual, ii. 247, 453, 497, iv. 181.
Disproportion, ii. 465.
Disquiet, we may be disquieted for that which it
is not sinful to be disquieted for, i. 155 ; dis-
quietness, three notes of that which is not be-
fitting, i. 156 ; for sin, when it exceeds mea-
sure, i. 166 ; disquietment, proper for the soul,
beside those of the body, i. 160 ; cause of all,
i. 199.
Distempers, fall, if arraigned before reason, i.
145 ; what to do in spiritual, vi. 156 ; hinders
not Christians dying in faith, vii. 418.
Distress, distressed persons. God very merciful to,
ii. 294.
Distrust, the cause of all disquiet, i. 199.
Dissolved, v. 278.
Divine, true. vii. 200 ; divinity transcends other
arts, vi. 140.
Division, in a land forerunner of judgment, L
379, 380.
Doctrine, should keep sound what has been left us
pure, i. 331 ; of Christ is sweet and sound, ii.
153, iv. 178.
Doing, all from Christ, vii. 205.
Dogs, wicked men are, resemblances, v. 65, 66.
Dominion, no man hath, over another's faith, iii.
499 ; what is no domineering over the faith of
others, iii. 500 ; what is, iii. 500 ; who are
guilty of, iii. 501, the Church of Rome, how and
wherein, iii. 501 ; grounds of, iii. 605.
Double, doubling a great sin, iii. 234 ; man by
nature prone to, and grounds, iii. 237 ; some
persons and callings more prone to than others,
iii. 237 ; a Christian is no doubler, iiL 301 ;
double-dealing, vi. 167.
Doubts, and needless scruples, how hushed, i. 68 ;
arise from popish doctrine of works, i. 133;
Romish, disallowed, i. 417; kills thankfulness,
ii. 272 ; of God's mercy, a great sin, ii. 309 ;
cause of it, iv. 517 ; doublings, v. 256, 447,
448 ; why, vii. 196 ; doubts, vii. 363.
Dragon. (See Beast.)
' Draw near,' vii. 69. 78, 87 ; when, vii. 88.
Dress, vanity of, iv. 437.
Drunkenness, spiritual, vi. 35.
Duty, not to be hindered by consideration of our
infirmities, i. 65 ; indisposition to duty, how
known and prevented, rules, i. 66 ; discourage-
ments, in whom they arise, i. 67 ; more to be
thought of than comfort, i. 247 ; to be done
with united forces or spirits, i. 139; holy, en-
couragements to be frequent in, ii. 28 ; spiri-
tual, why shuffled off by men, ii. 89 ; enlarge-
ment to, iv. 231 ; moral to be taught, iv. 340 ;
enabled to perform, iv. 369 ; on reasons, iv.
495 ; two ways considered, v. 77, 78 ; heavenly,
their source, v. 200 ; owing, v. 315 ; enabled
to, V. 342 ; .spring of, v. 349 ; under Christ in
all, v. 369, 370 ; duty upon duty, v. 439 ; stirred
up to, vi. 177 ; enforced, vi. 480 ; spiritual, vii.
190 ; good, difference in unsound Christians,
vii. 190 ; hindrances in, vii. 190 ; discharge all,
vii. 346
Divell, in house of God, ii. 215, 226 ; why, ii. 227.
Dying, iv. 406 ; in Christ, iv. 406, 407, 408, 411 ;
10 ourselves what, v. i92, 293 ; to the Lord, v.
GENERAL INDES.
581
341 ; there is a time of, as well as of liTing, vi.
609.
Bar, sanctified, iv. 358.
• Earnest,' what the Spirit is an earnest of, iii.
465 ; compared with, in five particulars, iii.
465, 460 ; how to know if we have, iii. 470-472 ;
how to get. iii. 480-4S2 ; motives to labour for,
iii. 482, 483.
Earnest7icss, ii. 223, iv. 140, 141 ; what, iv. 141 ;
effects of, iv. 148, 149.
EarOien, vessel, iv. 342 ; not base, iv. 358, 359.
Earthly, prone to, by nature, ii. 89 ; things, love
of, vi. 67 ; how to glorify God on earth.vi. 324,
325 ; why the angels wish peace on Oiirth, vi. 341.
Easy, to be a Christian, not, v. 306
Eat, and eat not to the Lord, v. S25 ; eating,
what, iv. 68.
Echo, spiritual, vii. 197.
Effectual, the word, how, iv. S77, 378 ; calling, v.
363.
Ejaculations, iv. 134.
Election, not known, no hindrance to our trust in
God, i. 266 ; Christ head of, i. 9 ; love, not
election, iv. 175 ; certainty of salvation of, v.
269 ; not elected, v. 403 ; mistakes about, v.
444; God father of, vii. 216.
EUments, of the Supper, significance of, iv. 66, 67,
Eloquence, of Ambrose converted Augustine, i.
184.
Embrace, faith embraceth, wliat, vii. 438 ; em-
bracing followeth persuasion, vii. 438, 4-39 ;
what alTections embrace good things, vii. 443 ;
embracing, how wrought, vii. 444.
Emmanuel, vii. Ill, 112, 114, 115 ; how know he
is ours. vii. 115 ; comfort of, vii. 116 ; make
use of, vii. 123.
EmpcinefS, iv. 195, 351, 302; empty relations to
God, vi. 97.
Encouragement, iv. 403 ; to be good, under the
gospel, iv. 519. Encouragements, vi. 480.
End, our, must be considered, i. 386 ; right end,
the best way is to take God's way, ii. 420 ; con-
sideration of, will make us resolute in right
way, Ii. 427 ; holy men work for holy ends, iii.
330 ; Christian's, v. 287-322 ; inferior, v. 294 ;
larger, v. 294; not defiled, v. 294; tending to
end, V. 301 ; consider, t 302 ; ' for the end,' v.
R.Hl, 332; fools forget, vi. 137 ; great end, vii.
224
Endear, delays of promises, ii 500.
Endeavour, the benefit of it, ii. 145, 146 ; differ-
ence between endeavours of Christians and
others, vi. 307, 308. (See Success.)
Endurance, vii. 112.
Enemy. Christ, though he seems so awhile, j-et
in the end he proves a true friend, i. 71 ;
enemies of the church, comfort against them,
i. 244 ; to be prayed for, i. 405, 406 ; represented
two ways, i 311 ; enemies, ii. 213, 214 ; prevail
often, ii. 473 ; powerful, v. 308 ; Christ died for
us, when, v. 334 ; insolency of, vi. 66 ; sequester
from God's, vi. 393 ; God's must be ours, vi.
342 ; God meets with, vii. 529 ; God's children
have, vii. 421 ; God personates an enemy, yet
faith, vii. 2 .2.
Energy, divine, iv. 411.
England, how Christ hath used all kinds of knock-
ing to it, ii. 66.
Enjoyment, of promises, ii. 497.
Entireness, v. 297.
Entreaty, vii. 379.
Envy, not prosperity of the wicked, i. 262 ; snarls
at great goodness, i. 299 ; none in spiritual
things, ii. 137 I envy, iv. 279 ; nature of angels
without, vi. 322 ; none in God, vi. 113, 114 ;
not grace in others, vii 192.
Epicures, happiness of unstable, vi 142.
Equivocation, popish, odious and abominable, iii.
233, 354, 494 ; a man may not, to save his hfe,
V. 62, 53.
Error, how prophets and apostles were subject
to, and how not, iii 356 ; (see Infallible and
Mistake) ; error first like Esau, iv. 310.
Establishing, grace, iv. 126.
Estate (=. state), of a Christian, how to be judged,
i. 137 ; a Christian may know his, ii. 47.
Esteem, from what ground to, ourselves, iv. 609 ;
of ourselves, vii. 191.
Estimation, v. 436.
Eternity, our desire of God's glory should be
carried into, i. 331 ; of misery should deter us
from sin, v. 236 ; eternal things not seen, iv.
481.
Evangelical, what, v. 187.
Event, of things not to be too much forecasted,
i. 141.
Everlasting, what meant by meat that endures to
everlasting life, vi. 303, 364.
Everything, God in, iv. 472.
Evidence, of faith more constantly upholds the
soul than -sight, i. 278 ; false, against ourselves,
iv. 143 ; clear, vii. 353.
Evil, in an holy Christian not to be too much
looked upon, i. 141 ; nor evils of the time, i.
141 ; evils of sin, i. 154 ; we must not plot to do
it, i. 307 ; difference between, done and suffered,
i. 321 ; manifestation, aggravates it, i. 322 ;
company, iii. 207 ; freedom from by Christ, iv.
604 ; overcome for and in us, v. 264 ; no absolute,
V. 270 ; except not against, v. 272 ; of sin, vi.
86 ; do not, even unseen, vii. 131 ; provoked,
yet do not, vii. 132 ; lesser cure greater, vi. 162 :
how God hath a hand in, vii. 622, 523 ; keeps
us from doing, vii, 625, 526
Examination, self-, iv. 62, vii. 57, 58, 68, 103 ;
often, iv. 63 ; wherein, iv. 65 ; of the grounds
of religion a means to escape judgment, i. 381.
Example, of others, of what force, i. 56 ; of
governors prevail, i. 332 ; must not live by, ii.
412 ; examples, iv. 197, 495 ; forcible, iv. 495 ;
should move us, iv. 520, vi. 49 ; how to profit
by, iv. 520 ; good, must be imitated, and how to
follow, V. 121, 122, 123 ; why they are given in
Scripture, v. 122, 123 ; example, vii. 209.
Exaltation, Christ's, puixhased by humiliation,
V, 322-356 ; think of, v. 332 ; comfort and
security of, v, 333.
Excellency, of God to be branched out for our
several uses, i. 271 ; of Christ, why set forth by
his church, ii. 162, 163 ; of people, what, v. 473 ;
of the gospel above the law, iv. 201-305 ; in the
gospel, iv. 360 ; what degree, iv. 378, 379 ; of
the saints, vii. 100.
Excellent, things prepared, iv. 165 ; all from
Christ, V. 160.
Except, God excepts none, vii. 195, 196.
Excommunication, ii. 242.
Excuse, no excuses, unless invincible necessity
or unremoveable impediment, will avail, ii. 94 ;
folly of those who plead present excuses, ii. 94,
95 ; for not giving, iv. 525.
Exercise, of grace, a means to keep it alive, i. 74 ;
cautions, i. 75 ; preserves the soul, i. 199 ; holy,
vi. 551 ; of all graces, vii. 354.
Expectation, ii. 211 ; what to expect from Christ,
V. 347.
Experience, of God treasured up in the heart
would much help faith, i. 277 ; to be called to
mind, i. 210 ; communicated to others, i. 217 ;
of God's care and love expressed, we may collect
the future, i. 320, 417 ; experience, ii. 612, iv.
167, 412 ; former, a ground to expend like
mercies, iii. 171, seq. ; of our miseries in Christ,
V. 480 ; ours teach what Christ's sufferings were,
vi. 162; what a bitter thing sin is, vi. 162;
compare experiences, vii. 208 ; not naked faith,
vii. 213 ; wisdom of God, by, vii. 204.
Extrem,ities, whereunto the godly are suffered to
fall, and why, i. 210, ii 294, iii. 117, 119 ; God's
people sensible of, iii. 120 ; extremity, iv. 392,
393 ; (see Afflictions, Sufferings, Tribulation,
Ci-y) ; God to be sought in, vi. 129 ; difference
of men in, vi. 129 ; extremity, vi. 164, 396, 397,
471, vii. 188, 213.
Eyes, Chrisi hath clear, to see all, ii. 151 ; should
restrain from sin, ii. 151 ; of God continually
on all his children, ii. 394, 395 ; our eye should
582
GENEKAIi INDEX.
be upon him, ii. 396 ; should make us bold in
his cause, 11. 395 ; ' eye hath not seen,' y. 381 ;
desire God to open, vu. 427.
Face, open, Iv. 252, 253 ; of Christ in gospel, iv.
322; of God, what, vl. 200; God hides, vi. 200,
201 ; how to be sought, vi. 201 ; seeliing God's,
what, vi. 125 ; directions how, vi. 127 ; en-
couragements to, vi. 131
Fade, men fade as leaves, vi. 197.
Fair, never more so than when she judgeth her-
self deformed, i. 136; church fair under dis-
graces, ii. 135 ; from whence it comes, ii. 135,
136 ; inward and hidden, ii. 135. (See Beauty).
Failure, failings pardoned where is no malicious
intention, i. 218 ; how to malie use of Christ
in, i. 21 ; failure, how, v. 188, 191.
Faint, not, iv. 477.
Faith, upheld by promises, i. 5 ; may have, and
no assurance, i. 62; strong and weak, how each
stands, i 85 ; weak, how it prevails, i. 86 ; how
shaken, i. 110 ; to be strengthened, i. 110 ;
must own God especially, i. 262, 263 ; why, i.
264 ; relies on a double principle, i. 213 ; why
so requisite in Christians, i. 213 ; shaken by
the devil and wicked ones, i. 134 ; must be
prized, and how this may be, i. 217, 218 ; in us
no seeds of, as of obedience, i. 222 ; its efficacy,
i. 399 ; takes hold by little, i. 414 ; active and
passive, i, 415 ; is strengthened by deliverance,
i. 325 ; sign of our interest in heaven, i, 328 ;
kept waking is a means to preserve our soul
awake, ii. 51 ; will bear through all discourage-
ments, ii. 98, 99 ; as it receives, so it makes us
give ourselves to Christ, ii. 183 ; exercised,
' tried,' ii. 207, 500 ; come in, to ordinances, ii.
244 ; walk by, ii. 441 ; how by, ii. 508, iv. 170 ;
gi-eat netded, ii. 493 ; exercised by promises,
iv. lis ; twofold, Iv. 142 ; difference between
and presumption, iii. 422 ; double pct of, (1) di-
rect, (2) reflect, iii. 467; of standing by faith
(see Standing) ; to have dominion over the faith
of others (see Dominion) ; the foundation must
not be self, iii. 522 ; built upon the word, not
on tradition, iii. 522, 523 ; popish, not so, iii.
623, 624 ; sure and certain, iii. 524 ; will per-
severe and hold out to the end, iii. 523, 524 ; it
is by it we stand and withstand, iii. 524 ; a
Christian wins victory by, iii. 524, 625 ; the
sacrament a means to strengthen, iii. 528 ;
strengthened, iv. 66, 116 : grow, iv. 138 ; pre-
cious, iv. 343 ; vessel of, iv. 351 ; worked, iv.
878; fundamental iv. 440 ; spirit of faith, iv.
440, 441; one faith, iv. 446, 447; infuseth
vigour, iv. 456, 457 ; excellent use of, iv. 465 ;
touch of, V. 191; how obtained, v. 115; doth
khat which Christ doth, v. 241 ; Life of, v. 357-
884 ; fountain of, v. 359 ; why is faith the grace
of life, V. 360 ; die by, v. 380 ; mighty, v. 384 ;
act and fruit of, v. 390, 391, 396; how know, v.
B96 ; special time, v. 397 ; carries on to death,
r. 397 ; reason must stoop to, v. 467 ; marries
the soul to Christ, v. 514 ; the grace of applica-
tion, V. 515 ; Christ the object of, v. 516 ; what
conception to have of faith, v. 519 ; put for all
graces, v. 520 ; trials of, v. 521 ; to be cherished,
,"v. 628 ; in those who do good in their life-time,
iv. 524; nature of faith, vi. 254 ; spirit of, vL
!177 ; to get into Chri.st by faith, why, vi. 493 ;
'trials of, vi. 534; makes us draw near to God,
Vii. 34 ; shored up, vii. 117 ; unites, vii. 189;
■works love, vii. 197 ; how to bring into the
. heart, vii. 197 ; seek large, vii. 198 ; Spirit
needed for, vii. 110 ; double act of, vii. 213;
Triumphant, vii. 414-61; in use of means, vii.
46 ; does that God doth, vii. 466 ; enlivens all
igraces, vii. 467 ; strengthened by experience,
"vii. 474 ; to be laboured for, vii. 475, 476 ; one
from the beginning, vii. 414 ; perseverance in,
vii. 415 ; carries through all, vii. 415 ; die in,
what, vii. 415 ; overcomes death's terrors, vii.
416 : eye of it, vii. 422 ; seeth afar off, how,
vii. 423 ; sight of, how to help it, vii. 426 ;
two branches of, vii. 439 ; seek Spirit of faith.
vii. 345, 346 ; banlsheth trouble, vii. 346 ;
establislieth the heart, vii 347 ; stirs grace, viL
347; how it easeth the soul, vii. 349; objec-
tions against, vii. 352 ; makes things present,
vii. 508.
Faithfulness, of God to be trusted in, i. 412 ; he
is faithful, i. 411 ; we must be faithful in what
he trusts to us, i. 424 ; of God, ii. 441 ; to con-
victions, ii. 468.
FMthful, privileges of, v. 249-285.
Falling, the way to fall is to be confident, i. 94 ;
falls of Christians not to be rejoiced in, ii. 115 ;
of God's children made their gain, ii. 340 ; re-
covery from, ii. 204; why suffered, vi. 246,
329 ; strengthened by, iv. 391, 392, vii. 222 ;
best may be overtaken, vii. 410
False, falsehood, iii. 300, 301 ; evidence against
ourselves, iv. 143.
Fame, commit to God. i. 30, 31.
Family, all under it the better for a godly gover-
nor, ii. 355, vii. 197.
Fancy, to be limited and restrained, i. 188 ; pro-
per use of, i. 183.
Fasting, vi. 89 ; Rabbinical story of, vii. 334.
Father, God a father, ii. 239 ; God specially mer-
ciful to the fatherless, ii. 294 ; God as the
father of Christ to be praised, iii. 26, -zl (see
Praise) ; our Father and the father of mercies,
how, iii. 26, 27 ; why God is so called, iii. 28 ;
■why not of mercy but of mercies, iii, 28, 29;
uses to be made of this title, iii. 31-34, seq (see
mercy) ; bless God as being our father in Christ,
iv. 352 ; the Father, all goodness, v. 252, 253 ;
Christ's Fatlier, vi. 450, 451 ; what may expect,
vi. 451, 453; 'my,' 'our,' vi. 454, vii. 215;
comfort of, vi. 460, 461 ; consideration of, what
fatherhood of God should work, vi. 202 ; who
meant by fathers, vi. 512 ; when we die we are
put to our fathers, vi. 512.
Fathers, ancient, not always to be relied on, i,
42, 43.
Fathomless, wisdom, vii. 188.
Faults, extenuate not, iv. 87, v. 184.
Favours, how to preserve some of God's favour,
i. 276 ; former make the soul more sensible of
contrary, i. 131 : how to know we are under
God's favour, iv. 516 ; praise God for, iv. 473 ;
spiritual, eternal, vi. 9 ; of God to be sought
first, vi.l2S ; endeared, vi. 179 ; God's favours,
vii. 185, 186.
Favourite, Spiritual, at the Throne of Grace, -vi
91-108.
Fear, disturbs peace, i. 421 ; is a means to pre-
serve the soul awake, ii 68, 69 ; ashamed of,
ii. 475 ; God above all, vi. 10 ; Christian dies,
vii 208 ; what it is, v. 11, 12 ; all done in fear
of God, V. 12; properties, marks, and signs, v.
13 ; with love, v. 283 ; with trembling, vi. 47 ;
place of, vi. 177 ; faith keeps out base, vi. 255,
256 ; done away in God, vii. 77.
Feast, feasting mutual between Christ and hi3
church, ii. 32 ; of Christ more sumptuous in
some ages than others, ii. 36 ; Glorious, of the
Gospel, ii. 437-518 ; choice things, ii. 447 ;
variety, ii. 447 ; sufficiency, ii, 447 ; com-
pany, ii. 448 ; choicest garments, ii. 448 ;
passover, ii, 448 ; manna, ii. 448 ; rock, ii.
449 ; former feasts, ii. 450 ; sacrament, ii.
450; prepare to partake, ii. 450, 451; large
hearts, ii. 451 ; appetite, ii. 451 ; purge, ii.
452 ; maintain trade of Christianity, ii. 452 ;
converse with the good, ii, 452 ; life short, il.
452 ; spiritual disposition, ii. 453 : bring some-
thin g, ii. 458 ; Lord's Supper not an ordinary
feast, iv. 61 ; glance of heaven, or a precious
taste of a glorious feast, iv. 151-2Q0..
Feeding, need as well as breeding, ii. 188, 189 ;
why continual, ii. 189 ; Christ feeds his flock
plentifully, ii. 190 ; how to know we have fed
on Christ, vi. 369 ; motives to feed on, vi. 372.
Feeling, v. 406 ; Christians may want, vii. 418.
Few, God's children few, -vi. 233.
Fight, must be before victor i. 95, 96, 97 ; vii.
278.
GENERAL INDEX.
583
Fire, a symbol of the Spirit, iv. 213, 214.
First-born, death of, a great judgment, vii. 524.
Fitted, gradually, ii. 500.
Flax, smoking, Christ will not quench, i 51 ;
rules to know whether we are, i. 58 ; general
rules of trial, i. 59 ; particular signs, i. 61.
Flesh and blood are not to be consulted with, ii.
91 ; what, iii. 262, 346 ; carnal wisdom, why
called flesh, iii. 346 ; to purpose and consult
according to the flesh, a ground of lightness,
iii. 348 ; how to know whether we do so, iii-
349 ; signs of not being led by the flesh, iii.
349, 350 ; hew to avoid fleshly wisdom, iii. 350,
351 (see Wisdom) ; backward, iv. 221, 222 ;
what meant by Christ manifest in the, v. 479 ;
desires and appetites of the flesh not to be
satisfied, v. 131, 132 ; and Spirit, vii. 217.
Food, Christ and his benefits, why called, vi. 364 ;
difference of spiritual and corporal, vi. 366.
Fools-folly, wicked men, fools, vi. 136 ; why, vi.
136 ; folly in God's children, vi. 139, vii. 217.
Forces, home or foreign, not to be trusted to, il.
281.
Forgiveness of sin, how known to be truly desired,
ii._262 ; to be desired above all mercies, ii. 262 ;
misery of those who lack it, ii. 264 ; not easily
attained, ii. 315 ; forgiveness, v. 449 ; possible,
vii. 271 ; knowledge, vii. 271, 272 ; David and
Saul, vii. 272, 273 ; profitable, vii. 273 ; how
know, vii. 273, 274 ; Spirit witnesses, vii. 274,
275 ; forgiveness, vi. 172 ; how God forgives,
vi. 173 ; only God, vi. 174 ; all need, vi. 175.
Formality in religion a forerunner of judgment,
vi. 223, 427, vii. 228.
' Forsaken' not, iv. 397 ; forsaking, vi. 105 ; by
friends, vii. 409.
Foundation, strong, ii. 444.
Fountain, Sealed, v. 409-456 ; Opened, v. 457-540.
Free, love of God to his people, ii. 317.. 318 ; free
love of God cause of all mercies, ii. 320 ; all
good by Christ free, vi. 350 (see WiiV) ; free will,
iv. 224.
Freedom, acceptable, v. 236 ; from all ill by Christ,
V. 237 ; double, v. 242, 308, 309 (see Violence
and Liberty) ; true freedom, vii. 221.
Friends, living, spiritual privileges by them, 1.
191 ; departure, comfort in, i. 243 ; special
things required in, ii. 36, 37 ; keep God our
friend, iv. 394 ; forsake not, v. 261 ; friendship
with God, vii. 122 ; God and we friendly, vii.
226. 227.
Fruitjulness required, i. 345, ii. 502, vii. 206, 222 ;
means to attain it, i. .346 ; Christians planted
in God's garden to be fruitful, ii. 11, 12 ; benefit
of it, ii. 349 ; fruition, ii. 505 ; of Christians in
their particular places is their glory, ii. 348 ;
delightful to God and man, ii. 349, 350 ; in grace
brings peace and comfort to a man, ii. 365 ;
fruitful Christians leave a good scent behind
them, ii. 350 ; compared to vines, ii. 359 ; God
hath a special care of, ii. 361 ; conversation,
excellence of it, ii. 365 ; fruitless Christians
worst of men, ii. 360 ; whence it is, vi. 244 (see
Jove and grace) ; true faith fruitful, vi. 533 ;
God cares for, vii. 223 ; whence, vii. 225, 226.
Fulfilled, all shall be, vii. 163, 164.
Full, Christianity a full state, vi. 298.
Fulness, of Christ, i. 21, iv. 129, 343.
Future, care and love in God collected by things
past, i. 417, 418.
Gain, for, the Church of Rome proves tyrannical
over conscience, i. 77.
Garm.ents, ii. 448 ; wedding, iv. 72 ; use of therr,
vi. 521 ; what, vii. 308, 309 ; righteousness cf
Christ, vii. 310 ; how to keep close, vii. 311.
Gataker, epistle before, vii. 562.
Gates. (See deaih )
Gathering, vi. 79.
Generality, in sin no plea, vi. 214, 215 ; in sin a
forerunner of judgment, vi. 222.
Generation, prerogatives of Christ's, iii. 370 ;
what, vi. 492 ; eternal, vi. 493 ; every man has
his particular, vi. 494 ; observe that we live in.
Ti. 494 ; benefit by the good, vi. 495 ; not taint-
ed by the sin of, vi. 495 ; labour for, vi. 496.
Gentiles, what they were, v. 510 ; why not called
before, v. 510 ; a mystery, v. 510, 511 ; why not
called till Christ came, v. 510, 511.
Gentle, courses first used, why, iii. 489 ; when
prevail not severe, iii. 489.
Ghost, Holy, sin against, v. 425, 423 ; mistakes
about, V. 426. (See Grief, Grieve.)
Give, Gifts, of others to be improved by question^,
ii. 136 ; give wisely, iv. 525 ; ourselves to the
Lord, v. 305 ; gifts for grace, vii. 228 : a gift,
vii. 492.
Glance, of Heaven, or a precious taste of a glori-
ous feast, iv. 151-200.
Glass, as in what, 246, 247, 248 ; uses of, iv. 248, 249.
Glimpse, of glory, vii. 492-504.
Glortous and Glorying, how to be made, ii. 246 ;
glorying, ii. 513 ; things, iv. 274 ; glorying
threefold, iv. 327, 328 ; glorious thing.s, vi. 54S,
649.
Glory, Glorify, God for his deliverances, i. 329 ;
our desire of God's glory should be infinite, i.
331 ; makes others do so, i. 333 (see Honour) ; a
way to glorify God, i. 339 ; to come, set before
our eyes, ii. 99 ; to come, ii. 515 ; whether a
man may glory of anything in himself, may and
may not, iii. 204 ; cautions, iii. 228 ; God's mani-
fest in the gospel, viz., the glory of his, 1. jus-
tic ; 2. mercy ; 3. wisdom ; 4. power ; 5. truth,
iii. 418, 419, 420 ; is displayed by the ministry,
iii. 420 ; grace and, difl'er but in degrees, iii.
469 ; of God, what, iv. 240 ; where seen, iv.
241, 242 ; all to, iv. 470 ; glorify God by justify-
ing, iv. 242, 243 ; favour to, iv. 256, 257, 273 ;
Christ, and our dependence of, v. 217 ; how to
glorify Chi-ist, v. 339 ; degrees of, four, iv. 273,
274 ; inward, iv. 275 ; in heaven and earth one
name only, iv. 280, 281 ; riches of by Christ, iv.
502 ; life of glory, v. 373 ; glory, what, v. 525 ;
whence,v. 529 ; of Christ suspended, why, v. 533 ;
angels, wished, why, vi. 323 ; of God, our chief
aim, vi. 324 ; wherein shewed most, vi. 324,
325 ; of God to Moses, vi. 326 ; how to know we
glorify God, vi. 329, 330 ; hindrances of, vi. 332 ;
how to glorify God, vi. 334 ; first fruits of, iv.
50H, (see Feace) ; God gets by weak means, vii.
465, 466 ; wherein, v. 213 ; when, v. 213, 214 ;
glimpse of, vii -492-504 ; grace and glory, vi. 99 ;
called to glory, vii. 498 ; a place, vii. 499 ; com-
pany, vii. 50j'; title, vii. 501 ; uses. vii. 502.
God, love of, i. 7 ; God and man in Christ, i. 17 ;
arguments with, i. 21 ; makes every man a
governor over himself, i. 149 ; still left to a
good heart when all others fail, i. 198 ; only is
the object of trust, i. 203 ; cannot out of Christ,
be thought on comfortably, i. 204 ; is some
men's specially, i. 262 ; hence is the spri^lg of
all good, i 264 ; when we prove this to our
souls, i. 267 ; tokens of it, i. 269 ; comfort by it in
extremities, i. 270 ; presence sweetcneth all
places and states, i. 130 ; his glory more to be
regarded than our own good, i. 247 ; is many
salvations to his people, i. 259, 294 ; a rock not
to be undermined, i. 259 ; the church is his
house, i. 374 ; and he ours, i. 375 ; our bodies
and all to him, i. 407 ; he is faithful, i. 411 ; we
must be our own ere we can give ourselves to
him, i. 414 ; must commit ourselves to him if
we would be kept, i. 418 ; must eye him in all
we do, i. 422, 423 ; rely on him, i. 423 ; he will
be known in his attributes, i. 302, 303 ; his love
to his, i. 302 ; he is overcome by prayer, i 303 ;
author of our deliverance, i. 320 ; our glorify-
ing him makes others do it, i. 333 ; we must be
faithful in what he trusts us, i.424 ; God's
attributes to be applied to ourselves, i. 412 ;
must be in covenant with God, i. 414 ; comfort
from God as a creator, i. 410, 413, 414 ; must be
glorified for his deliverances, i. 329 ; trust his
faithfulness, i. 412 ; where he begins grace he
goes on and finishes, ii. 13 ; accepts and delights
in graces of his children, ii 27 ; God's children
never totally fall, ii. 49 ; his goodness to be mag-
584
GENEEAL INDEX.
nified, ii. 43 ; love to God, ii. 220, 227 ; rightly
apprehended makes us shake off all false trusts,
ii. 292 ; all-sufficiency in all states, ii. 295 ; to
be trusted in distresses, ii. 298 ; the great
physician of the soul, ii. 305 ; willing to heal
and save, ii. 306 ; loves his people freely, ii.
31T, 318 ; make him our shadow, ii. 400 ; be
bold in good causes then, ii. 401 ; comfort of it,
ii. 401 ; how conceived of in worshipping him,
ii. 382 ; not to be transformed like ourselves in
our affections, ii. 382 ; anything above God is
idolatry, ii. 383 ; the only true defence and
shelter, ii. 397 ; happiness arising, ii. 398 ; not
being the wicked's shelter, makes their state
woeful, ii. 398, 400 ; beauty of God, ii. 215, 229,
230 ; how discovered, ii. 230 ; nature of, ii. 217 ;
deserves honour, ii. 220 ; present in house of
God, ii. 228 ; power of, sweet, ii. '.30 ; a Father,
ii. 239 ; revelation of, to be sought, ii. 246; de-
parture, ii. 247 ; will perform, iL 509 ; is
Jehovah, ii. 509; faithful, ii. 509; pitiful, ii.
509 ; seems contrary, ii 510 ; God our God
made good, ii. 514 ; by daily acquaintance, ii.
514, 515 ; go to by a promise, iv. 120 ; admire
God, V. 284 ; of the world, iv. 313 ; gracious, iv.
316 ; unbounded, iv. 817 ; hath his people, iv.
167 ; goodness of God, iv. 196 ; providence of,
V. 35-54; how a Spirit, v. 487; Christ God
before he was man, iv. 496 ; oui' Mediator must
be God, why, iv. 497 ; afflictions bring us to,
vi. 239 ; belly, made a god, v. 130 ; honour to
God, V. 275 ; two things wherein we are like
God, vi. 113 ; God willing to bestow his good-
ness, vi. 113, (see Communication) ; to be
sought in trouble, vi. 140 ; a peculiar comfort
is love to God, vi. 473 ; honour to God from the
word and Spirit, vi. 395 ; what is it to be God ?
vi. 7, 8, 464, 465 ; make God so, vi. 15, 406,
467 ; have a God to go to, vi. 475, 476 ; deliver
all up to God, vii. 186 ; intercourse with, vii.
186 ; first place to, vii. 186 ; a Father, vii. 61,
62, 215, 216; make God thy God, vii. 63, 64,
186 ; {bis) how our God, vi. 472, vii. 216 ; ours
in Christ, vi. 477, 478, 485; goodness itself,
universal good, proportioned, supreme, labour
for, vii. 71 ; how to think of God, vii. 72.
Godly men, when best disposed, i. 162 ; can
restrain themselves in distempers, i. 148 ; can
make good use of privacy, i. 148 ; afflicted more
than others, why, i. 377 ; their sins greater
than others, i. 377 ; seem neglected, but end is
peace, i. 420 ; shall not be subdued, i. 304 ;
their prosperity makes way for the subversion
of the wicked, i. 304; they suffer, i. 316; yet
differing from the wicked, i. 319 ; in straits, i.
337 ; death, how to be lamented, i. 344 ; bring
good where they are, i. 344 ; deny best good for
the church, i. 344 ; good men dying, sign of
coming judgment, i. 379; must be actively as
well as passively good, i. 301, 302 ; not enough
we be good ourselves, but must flow out, ii. 13 ;
ought to labour for good of all, ii. 13 ; good in
us be acknowledged, ii. 47, 135, 136 ; good in
a sleepy state, ii. 47, 48 ; from what reasons,
godly, vi. 460 ; difference between and others,
. vi. 214.
Good, Godliness, all comes from God, ii. 404 ; no
saving good from man, ii 403 ; why good works
cannot merit, ii. 404, 405 ; converse with, ii.
452 ; God's children do good in every condition,
iii. 106 ; good by others' afflictions, iii. 101 ;
sufferings of saints do good to others, iii. 101,
(see Afflictions) ; in all ill God intends good,
iii. 142 ; a good man a public good, iii. 258 ;
should take occasion to do good, iii. 336 ; the
good of the wicked not blessings but curses,
iii. 395 ; how, iii. 395, 396 ; good things in
love, iii 396 ; done to others, iv. 122 ; all from
the Spirit, iv. 295 ; in Christ, iv 331 ; look to
as well as ill, iv. 401 ; special, intended God's
people, iv. 157 ; goodness of God, v. 2S2; godli-
ne.ss, what, v. 460; what breeds it, v. 460 ; Christ
to be imitated in doing good, iv. 623 ; bounty
for the good specially, iv. 525 • good men ought
to be beloved, why, v. 49, 50 ( unknown, v. 51 ;
good in our actions though defiled, vi. 192 ;
are advanced to the greatest good by Christ, v.
245, (see Generation) ; ' good it is,' vii. 87 ; all
good given to Christians, vii. 185 ; good men
not to be shamed, vii. 186 ; all, from God, vii.
188 ; god, man a, to himself, vii. 199.
Goodwill, of God, ground of all, v. 16, vi. 350 ;
what learn from here, v. 17.
Gospel, and law, how they differ, i. 29, 59 ;
ministry of the Spirit, i. 23 ; in rejecting it we
reject God, i. 387, 3SS ; sin against worse than
against the law, i. 389 ; it lays open Christ, i.
393 ; disobedience thereunto a great sin, i. 388 ;
how known, i. 392 ; first and second spring of
it speedy, ii. 337 ; hiddenness of, iv. 156 ;
ministers of, iv. 158 ; excellency above the law,
iv. 201-305 ; properties and prerogatives of, iv. '
203 ; ministration of the Spirit, iv. 204 ; of
righteousness, iv. 204 ; remaineth, iv. 204 ;
plain, iv. 204 ; efficacy, iv. 205 ; difference from
law, iv. 341 ; a treasure, iv. 342, 343 ; for time
to come, iv. 344 ; powers of God not of man,
iv. 360 ; no gospel in nature, iv. 159 ; our
affections to, v. 478 ; manner of publishing, v.
506 ; double spring of, v. 510, 611 ; what use to
make of, v. 510, 511; sins against, v. 512;
esteem of, sign of peace, vi. 343, 344 ; why it
converts, iv. 520 ; why disesteemed, vi. 311 ;
Spirit effectual in, vi. 312 ; punishment for
slighting, vii. 529 ; the ground of faith, vi.
626 ; Success of, vii. 28iJ-2S7.
Government, of Christ over his people, i. 79 ;
victorious, i. 84, 91 ; we should all submit to it,
i. 91 ; is opposed, i. 96 ; reasons, i. 96 ; well-
ordered, i. 80 ; mean gifts not neglected but
cherished by Christ, i. 49 ; good to be under
Christ's, i. 393, ii. 120 ; all inferior creatures
under, iii. 275.
Governors, examples avail, i. 331 ; of families
ought to be good for the sake of those under
them, ii. 356 ; gracious governors will com-
municate grace to their family, ii. 356.
Grace, in a small measure at first, i. 49 ; much in
worth, i. 49 ; doth not waste corruption all at
once but by degrees, i. 50; Christ cherishes weak
beginnings, i. 61 ; .should be imitated therein,
i. 52, 53 ; God looks at the truth of grace, not
the measure, i. 68 ; often scarcely discernible,
i. 50 ; yet discerned, as fire by light, i, 59, GO ;
direction, i. bO ; delight, i. 60 ; is active, i. 61 ;
pliable, communicative, i. 61, 62 ; working up-
ward, i 62 ; spreading, giowing, i 62 ; as gi'ace
increaseth, so doth the sense of sin, i. 62, 63 ;
means how Christ preserveth, i. 74 ; exercise
thereof, means to keep it alive, i. 75 ; why
growth is insensible, i. 90 ; shall in the end be
a glorious and visible conqueror, i. 84 ; of the
Spirit make way to heaven easy, i. 399 ; deliver-
ing, needed against temptation, i. 323 ; grace
needed for grace, ii. 8, 9, 10 ; where he begins
he will perfect, ii. 8, 9, 10; still desires Christ's
presence, ii. 13 ; Lord delights in the graces of
his children, ii, 27 ; are acceptable to Christ,
ii. 27 ; ought to be rejoiced in, ii. 30 ; compared
to myrrh, spice, honey, milk, ii. 31, 32 ; God's
children never totally fall, ii lo6, 107 ; all from
Christ, ii. 104 ; of God are sweet, ii. 105, 106 ;
to be judged by the value, not quantity, i. 118 ;
grows stronger by opposition, ii 102 ; a sure
argument we are in state of, ii. 122 ; our rel sh
of the word, ii. 155 ; though small it grows, ii.
165 ; error of papists touching the efficacy of
grace in congruity, i. 16 ! ; compared to dew,
ii. 331 ; of God free, ii. 331 ; comes insensibly
and invisibly, ii. 331, 332 ; works mildly, ii.
332 ; cheers and comforts the soul, ii. 332 ;
makes barren souls fruitful, ii. 333; irresistible,
ii. 333 ; barrenness in, ought not to discourage,
ii. 333 ; means to increase, ii. 334 ; wrought in
the soul is an evidence of pardon, ii. 334 ; all
from God, ii. 334, 335 ; how to be attained, ii.
335 ; compared to olives, ii. 347 ; how to be
rooted in, ii. 343 ; why some more thin others.
GENERAIi INDEX.
585
ii.405 ; wait on God for, ii. 405 ; of a fructify-
ing nature, ii. 33S ; fruit comes fium God aiid
us too, ii. 404 ; nature of, ii. 217 ; as of, vii. 210 ;
suitable to waitinp, ii. 506, 509 ; an earnest, ii.'
610 ; sweetens all a Christian's conversation,
"'• ^'^'}?'' ^^^^' '"• 16; Christians still need
grace, iii. 17, 331, 332 ; how to have assurance
of, iii. 18, 19 ; a man may know his own state,
iii. 221, 222; objection answered, iii. 223;
why gi-ace not wisdom, iii. 275, 276 ; twofold,
iii. 281 ; wrought in us described, iii. 2S1, 2S2 ;
all our wisdom from, iii. 282 ; every thing
necessary to bring us to heaven is grace, ii.
283, 334, 335 ; all the good we have is of grace,
iii. 283 ; <jod is ready to give us, iii. 284 ; signs
of being led and guided by, iii. 288, seq. ; helps
to, iii. 293, 294, seq. ; preaching of the word a
special, iii. 330 ; every benefit and blessing is,
iii. 2S3, 334, 335 ; strengthen radical graces, iii.
434 ; little assures of a state of, iii. 470, seq. ;
how to know if true, iii. 472, seq ; at the Supper,
iv. 65 ; state of, iv 111 ; establisliing, iv. 126,
127 ; means to, iv. 127 ; fundamental, iv. 127 ;
small yet mighty, iv. 129, 137 ; grace is glory
iv. 245, 246 ; labour for, iv. 277 ; blemish not,
iv. 278 ; how know if we have, iv. 279, 280 ;
groweth to glory, iv. 2S2, 28.3, 288 ; Christians
go back, iv. 288, 289 ; decay not, iv. 290 ; use-
fulness in, iv. 343 ; defined, iv. 470, 471 ; abun-
dant, iv. 471 ; all of grace, iv. 512 ; against the
papists, iv. 514 ; fruitful, iv. 515 ; must be
known, iv. 517 ; no enemy to good works, iv.
518 ; look at grace of Christ, iv. 620 ; all done
by grace, v. 454 ; tried, v. 178, 179, life in, v. 376 ;
the ground of peace, vi. 849 ; Christians, why
poor in, iv 510 ; excellence of, iv. 511 ; all our
riches from Christ's grace, iv. 512, 513 ; what,
iv. 512 ; Christ the meritorious cause of, iv.
513 ; four descents of, iv. 613, 514 ; justified
by, iv. 514 ; twofold, iv. 514 ; fruitful, iv. 515 ;
cannot pray for grace of ourselves, vi. 247;
works not to be desired, vi. 250 ; two graces
always requisite, vi. 252 (see Mystery, and
Diligent, and Covenant) ; to be 'stirred up,
vii. 44, 45 ; makes glorious, vii. 191, 192 ; can't
make ourselves gracious, vii. 189 ; test of being,
vii. 192 ; reach all, vii. 313.
Gradation, iv. 156, 157.
Cfreat, in most danger, and why, i. 147, 192 ;
greatness of sin may encourage us to go to
God, i 228; joined with goodness envied, i.
299 ; what makes times and persons, v. 473 ;
Christ at the lowest did the greatest works, v.
488, 489.
Grief, more for sin than punishment, i. 48 ;
gathered to a head will not be quieted at the
first, i. 131 ; casteth down as joy lifteth up,
i. 141 ; how to be mitigated, i. 189 ; faulty,
when, i. 156; even godly, is to be bounded,!.
157 ; how to be ordered aright, i, 158; for sin,
why we want it so much, i. 233 ; what to do in
want of, i. 236 ; it is not all at first, i. 236 ; of
contrition and of compassion, i. 158 ; good, ii.
481 ; grieve not the Spirit, iv. 147, 236 ; how
grieved, iv. 236, 237 ; care not, v. 370 ; com-
mand or counsel, v. 412; prone to and ought
not, v. 414 ; as a person can't be grieved, v.
414; how, V. 414, 4)5; intend not, v. 416;
wherein we specially grieve, v. 416, 417 ; in
others, v. 423 ; will grieve us again, v 424 ;
whence do we grieve the Spirit, v. 424 ; how to
prevent, v. 426 ; sealing an argument not to,
V. 451 ; whether or not, v. 451 ; he recovers, vi.
410 ; hearty, vi. 57 ; grieve that cannot more
grieve, vi. 71 ; sincerity of, vi. 72 ; overmuch,
vii. 187 (his), 188.
Growth, in laying claim to God, i. 266; of Chris-
tians like lilies, ii. 336; sudden, ii. 336; the
necessity of it, ii. 338 ; means to attain to it,
ii. 338 ; to be endeavoured after, ii. 345 ; Chris-
tians often deceived about, ii. 344 ; chiefest
blessing, ii 345 ; growing Christians, their
excellency, ii. 366; in knowledge, ii. 240, 469,
616 ; in grace, iv. 138 ; in the new creature,
vi. 552, 553; Christians grow, vii. 191, 192;
growth, vii. 175, 176, 223, 411.
Guard, over the soul to be kept, i. I77.
Guidance, of God to be prayed for, vii. 525.
Guilty, the best men guilty of the sins of the
times, vi. 188.
Gunpowder, treason, i. 310, 311, y. 159, 160.
HaUing, vii. 186.
Jiajrpiness, present, aggravates eternal misery, i.
386 ; an expectation, ii. 211, v. 283 ; hereafter,
V. 583 ; heaven, vii. 194 ; happiness, iv. 335 ;
who are the happy, iv. 408 ; outlive, vi. 82 ;
judgment of the world who are, v. 231 ; wicked
outlive, vii. 5 ; of the godly, vii. 6 ; wicked,
may know the happiness of God's children,
vii. 7 ; Saint's, vii. 65-78 ; communion with
God, vii. 71, 72 ; wherein it consists, vii. 191 ;
concealed, why, vii. 212, 213.
Hard, to be a Christian, ii. 503 ; hearted, vi. 37.
Harden, how doth God, vi. 38.
Harmlessness, vii. 131 ; Christians must be harm-
less, V. 23.
Har2)ers, harping, iv. 376.
Hatred, of sin, a good sign of grace, notes of it,
i. 235 ; how to discern it, ii. 370 ; is universal,
ii. 370 ; implacable, ii. 370 : ever follows true
conversion, ii. 372 ; how to be attained, ii. 373,
390 ; how known, ii. 391 ; men by nature hate
God, vi. 342 ; hatred of sin a sign of peace with
God, vi 343; due to the Beast, vii. 530; love
ends in, often, vii 223.
Health, is a gift, a blessing, iii. 191 ; all uncom-
fortable without, iii. 191, 192 ; God raiseth up
his sick children, and why, v. 45, 46.
Hear, Hearken, why God hears weak prayers,
i. 71 ; our state in grace may be known by our
relish of the word, ii 56 ; how doth God not
seemingly hear, vi. 73 : to God, vii. 142.
Heart, of man, not easily brought to God, i. 200 ;
to be most watched and kept in temper, i. 142 ;
though vile shall be fitted for (Sod, comfort,
and glory, i. 238 ; enlarged to praise God is the
chief deliverance, i. 262 ; of Christians first
cheered by God, then their countenance, i. 260 ;
of a Christian is God's closet, i. 374 ; discovered
in affliction, i. 317 ; gracious is privy to its own
grace and sincerity, ii. 14 ; to approve to Christ,
ii. 28 ; what meant by it, ii. 46 ; a Christian is
what his heart is, ii 49 ; differenceth a sound
Christian from a hypocrite, ii. 52, 53 ; is the
house and temple of God, ii. 64; how to know
whether Christ dwells in. ii. 64 .chiefly required
by God, ii. 369 ; broken, a sacrifice, ii. 269 ;
hearts, ii. 451, iv. 62, 63 ; depths of, iv. 87 ;
light needed in, iv. 320 ; enter our own, iv. 383 ;
of wicked, v. 269 ; tender, vi. 29-43 ; testimony
of, V. 279 ; left to our own, v. 424 ; enlarged,
v. 442 ; deceitful, v. 447 ; what is meant by a
tender heart, vi. 21, 32 ; supernatural, vi. 32 ;
how made tender, vi. 33 ; howpreverse, vi. 34,
35 ; how know from a reprobate, vi. 37, 38 ;
work upon, vi £0 ; God governs, vi. 107 ; does
Christ rule our, vi. 551 ; opened by God, vi.
523, 524 ; what meant by, vi. 525 ; sincerity of,
vii. 188 ; broken, vii. 188 ; wavering, vii. 189 ;
take up with outward things, vii. 220.
Heathen, God hears the prayers of, vi. 138.
Heaven, how to make the way thither ea.sy, i 399 ;
faith a sign of our interest in, i. 328 ; pride
purged also a sign, i. 328 ; how to relish hea-
venly things, ii. 91, 92 ; only, fully satisfies, ii.
228, (see Earth) ; believer in, here, iv 103 ;
degrees in way to, iv. 233, 234; glance of, iv.
151, 20) ; hard to come to, why, v. 99 ; how it
may be had and obtained, v. 102, 103, 137, 138;
have an eye upon, v. Ill ; an inheritance and
a prize, v. Ill, 112 ; signs whether heaven
belong to us or not, v. 112 ; is a city, and wherein
like to, V. 135, 136 ; how many ways a Christian
may be said to be in, v. 136, 137; the church
of the kingdom, vi. 296 ; threefold signification
of ' the kingdom of heaven,' vi. 296 ; why grace
and means of called so, vi. 297 ; the country of
586
GENERAL INDEX.
a Christian, vii. 431, (see Desire) ; thirst for,
vii. 98 ; daily think of, vii. 189.
Help, helps against our infirmities, i. 58 ; by
others in discerning our state, i. 209 ; where
none is, yet trust in God, i. 209 ; help to do
God's will, vi. 502, 503. (See Outward.)
Hereajter, happiness, v. 283.
Heresies, ancient, revived in the church, ii. 42, 43.
Heritage, God respects his, vii. 158.
Hiding-place, Saint's, in the evil day, i. 401-425 ;
God sometimes hides himself, 1-. Ill, 112, vii.
186 ; hidden, riches of a Christian hidden, iv.
604, 505 ; hidden, why, iv. 168, 169 ; hidden
life, v. 203-218 ; in Christ, v. 206 ; how hidden,
v. 206, 207, vii 191.
Hindrances, iv. 377, 418 ; avoid, vii. 303.
Hold out, ii. 503 ; must stir ourselves to lay hold
on God, vi. 195.
Holiness, of God no discouragement to true
Christians in their many infirmities, i. 238,
239 ; Holy Ghost, work of distinguished, i. 18 ;
holy men are but men, iii. 355, 356 ; holiness
and happiness differ but in degrees, iii. 469 ;
if happy must be holy, iii. 469, 470 ; enforced
from Christ's ascension, v. 535.
Home, heaven our, vii 39, 40.
Honour, honouring God we honour ourselves,
i. 333 ; a sign in a good state, i. 331, (see
Olorify) ; to God, v. 275.
Hope, the main support of a Christian, i. 202 ;
difference from faith, i. 203 ; most in a hopeless
ground, 1. 266 ; hour of mercy not yet past, i.
232 : must be exercised, i 399 ; double efficacy
in, iii. Ill, 113, may for the performance of
divine truths, iii. 113 ; well of others, iii. 306,
307, 327, (see Conception and Opinion) ; hope,
iv. 170 ; vain, iv. 177 ; living, iv. ISO ; all may,
iv. 516 ; stirred up, v. 373 ; fruits and effects
of, V. 141, 142. (see Violence a,nd. Faith) ; nature
of, vii. 193 ; false, vii. 5u6, 507 ; true, vii. 509 ;
purifies, vii. 509.
Horses, wicked men compared to, vi. 2 18, 219.
Hosts, Lord of, ii 446 ; angels called, why, vi. 319.
House, of God desired, ii. 216, 226 ; none to be
got, ii. 22S ; God present, ii. 228.
Huldah, vi. 29.
Human, nature as in Christ, iv. 119 ; dignified
by Christ, vii. 120, 121.
Humiliation, Christ's exaltation purchased by,
v. 323-356 ; deep, v. 441 ; inward, vi. 46 ; affec-
tions of, vi. 46, 47 ; outward, vi. 47 ; motives
to, vi. 51 ; promises to, vi. 51 ; how known
from hypocrisy, vi. 52, 53 ; voluntary and with
reformation, vi, 53 ; with hope, vi. 56 ; not
same amount in all, vi, 57 ; shewn outwardly,
how, vi. 59, 60 ; body and soul in, vi. 62 ;
ground of, vi. 199 ; necessary, "vi. 185 ; kinds
of, vi 185 ; helps to, vi. 185 ; verbal, vi. 187 ;
extraordinary, vi. 197, 198 ; ground of, in wicked
men, vi. 138 ; before God, vii. 76, 77 ; discipline
to, vii. 99; God blesses after, vii. 145 ; state of,
best for salvation, vii. 225 ; need of, vii. 376 ;
labour for, vii. 411.
Humility, taught, i. 8, 9, 30 ; why to be laboured
for, i. 30 ; humble persons comforted, i. 232 ; to
humble us God does not need to go beyond our-
selves, i. 160 ; nor we, i. 171 ; seek it, ii. 206,
iv. 127, 171, 237, 3j6, 359, 610, v. 2S1, 299, 443,
vii. 197, 214 ; requisite, i. 399 ; a certain way
to shun God's anger, ii. 327 ; needed to under-
stand God's mysteries, v. 470 ; to improve
Christ's riches, iv. 510, 511 ; crosses should
humble us, v. 499 ; humble, iv. 171, 365 ; to
humble not unbefitting kings, vi 44, 45 ; secure
and safe, vi. 51, 52 ; art of humbling, vi. 44-58 ;
humility, vii. 75.
Husband, Christ only the church's, ii. 24 ; and
wife, symbols, ii. 200.
Husbandry, skill in from God, vii. 146.
Hypocrisy, man naturally prone to, ii. 90 ; damage
by, ii 467, iv. 63 ; wherein a saint differs from,
iii. 14, seq. ; a Christian not a, iii. 14, 301 ; pro-
fane professors are, iii. 12 ; dread of being, iv.
106 ; differences between and children of God,
iv. 169 ; take heed of, vi. 36 ; sorry for judg-
ment only, vi. 66 ; often shewn towards eminent
persons, vii. 216 ; when we are, vii. 222 ; gross,
vii. 412.
Idle, life is ever a burden to itself, i. 139 ; idle-
ness is the hour of temptation, i. 182.
Idolatry, ground of it, i. 21 ; brings judgment, i.
379 ; men prone to by nature, ii. 287, 386 ; what
it is, ii. 287 ; frames base conceptions of God,
ii. 378 ; how it is committed, ii. 378, 379 ; oc-
casions of it to be avoided, ii. 382, 383 ; close
of many Christians, ii. 3S2, 383 ; God's puuish-
ment of, ii. 387 ; means to avoid, ii. 385 ; hate-
ful to God, ii. 385 ; how slighted by many, ii.
388 ; nothing lost by renouncing, ii. 392, 393 ;
idols, why to be hated, ii. 377 ; abominable, ii.
377 ; opposite to, ii. 377, 378 ; idolaters, vii.
197, 219.
Ignorance, of Christ's merciful disposition a block
to comfort, i. 69 ; ignorance, ii. 440, 461, 462,
III, things work together for good, v. 264, 255 ;
spiritual, what and why, v. 255, 259.
Illumination, of the wicked, more rebellious, v.
268.
Image, of God defaced by sin, vi. 220 ; of Christ,
iv. 138, 259, 260 ; why changed into, iv. 260,
261 ; how know we have, iv. 2G6, 267.
Imagination, and opinion, causa of much dis-
quiet, i. 178; how it hurteth us, i. ISO; how
sinful imaginations work in the soul, i. 179 ;
remedy and cure of, i. 180 ; opportunities of
helping it to be sought and taken, i. 1S3 ; how
it may be made serviceable in spiritual things,
i. 184 ; not impossible to rule, i. 188 ; miscon-
ceptions, i. 188.
Imitation, good examples must be imitated, v.
121, 122 ; wherein it consists, v. 122 ; of holy
men needful, vi. 507 ; to take heed whom we
imitate, vi. 513, 515.
Immanuel (see Emmanuel), a name of nature,
and office, i. 263.
Immunity, v. 185, 186.
Impatience, under the cross, hurtful, i. 67 ; im-
patience, vii. 197, 198. ,
Impediments, should not discourage, i. 238 ; re-
move, vi. 67.
Impenitence, impenitent sinners not to be envied,
ii. 304 ; impenitence, vii 38.
Imperfections, hinder not acceptance, ii. 14, 15 ;
imperfections, iv. 248, vii. 99
Importunity, ii. 223 ; why to be importunate with
God, vi. 196.
Impossible, v. 356.
Impregnable, Christian, vii. 391.
Impudence, in wicked men more than in devils,
i. 275 ; sign of the ripeness of sin, i. 379, 380.
Impurity, vii. 506.
Imputation, what we must do when under false,
ii. 121 ; comfort against, ii. 152.
Incarnation, value of, iv. 328, 329, 498.
Incense, iv. 474.
Inclinations, of soul to the creature should be at
first subdued, i. 221.
Inconstancy, ynbMc persons should labour against,
iii. 342 ; grounds of, iii. 343, 344, 345 ; must not
mistake about, ii. 343 ; remedies, ii.346 ; carnal
men inconstant, iii. 352.
Indeavour (see Endeavour), difference of a Chris-
tian and others, vi. 307, 308.
Indifferent, things not too hastily to be censured
in others, i. 66.
Indignation, against sin, vi. 271.
Indisposition, to duty, rules then to be observed,
i. 66.
Indulgences, Popish, iii. 99 ; comforted, iii. 99.
Infallibility, how prophets and apostles were, and
"how not, iii. 355, 356. (See Error and Mis-
take.)
Infidelity, negative is less than disobedience
against the gospel, i. 389 ; shame of, ii. 496 ;
cause of all woe, ii. 419 ; sign of, v. 637 ; in-
fidelity, vii. 201.
Infirmities, should not discourage us from duty,
GENERAL INDEX.
587.
i. 71, 72, ii. 116 ; what are sins of, i. 68, 69 ; in
whom, 1. 69 ; helps against them, i. 58 ; borne
with, ii. 201 ; should make us prize Christ, ii.
146, 147 ; why God suffers them in his children,
ii. 314 ; made their gain, ii. 314 ; ought not to
over-deject, ii. 314, 315 ; what Christ took, v.
470 ; comfort in, v. 530 ; infirmity, v. 184 ;
what is, V. 184; customary sins, not, v. 184.
185 ; how God regards, vii. 226 ; remains, vii.
227; be not over -discouraged by, vii. 394;
Christ's peculiar, v. 3i)7.
Ingratitude, a horrible sin, iii. 193 ; a carnal man
ungrateful, why, iii. 24.
Injuries how far we may be sensible of, ii. 122.
Innocent III. first claimed title of husband of
the church, ii. 24 ; innocence, in what case to
stand on, vi. 193.
Inquire, ii. 215.
Inquisition, God's, vi. 205-228.
Instinct, supernatural leads the godly to God, i.
246 ; instinct, iv. 421.
Intercession, v. 388, 389.
Intercourse, with God, iv. 186 ; all by Christ, iv.
212.
Interest, in God, the ground of trusting in him, i.
246.
Inventions, multiplication of, made Augustine
mourn, ii. 42, 43.
Inviolable, seals, v. 437.
Invitation, ii. 439 ; those invited to the feast, 11.
446 ; Lydia's, vi. 533 ; invitation, vii. 378.
Invocation, of saints, vi. 83.
Inward, characteristics, ii. 211 ; sins, v. 256 ;
temptations, v. 258 ; we must do good to others,
iv. 623 ; God looks to, v. 134 ; inwardness, vii.
134.
Isaiah, the penman, ii. 493.
Jealousy, men prone to, iii 339, 485 ; whence, ill.
340, 4S5, 466 ; what, iii. 485 ; mischief of, iii.
483, 486 ; labour to avoid, why, iii. 487 ; of cor-
ruption, vii. 168.
Jericho, Satan's kingdom like the walls of, vil.
467 ; corruption also, vii. 468 ; Antichrist's
kingdom like, vii. 468 ; means to cast down
mystical, vii. 469 ; how to prevent building of,
vii. 470 ; why not to be built again, vii 21 ;
how men build again, vii. 24, 25 ; Ruin of Mys-
tical, vii. 462-467.
Jesting, with sin, sign of judgment, vi. 137.
Johnson, Dr. saying of, i. 410.
Joshua, and Moses, vi. 5.
Josiah, reformation, vi. 27-90 ; how gathered to
grave in peace, vi. 81, 82.
Journey, a commendable thing for Christians to
bring one another on their journey, iii. 3.38 ;
our, to heaven certain, iii. 357 ; how St Paul
could be deceived in, and not in his doctrine,
iii. 355, 356.
Joy, Rejoice, spiritual, ii. 466 ; Christians have
their, iii. 205, 206, 506, seq. ; is spiritual, in.
205, 206 ; wicked men dare not reveal their,
iii. 207; a Christian not ashamed of, why, iii.
207 ; a faithful minister is the joy of his people,
why, iii. 317, 506, seq. ; people's proficiency in
grace is the minister's joy, iii. 319 ; salvation
termed joy, whv, iii. 506 • the end of the minis-
try is to be helpers of the people's joy, iii. 506 ;
how, iii. 509, seq. ; objections answered, iii, 511,
seq. ; joy, that frame and state of soul that
Christians are in, why, iii. bO&.seq. ; reasons or
motives why Christians should be joyful, iii.
567, seq. ; ministers, helpers, not authors of,
iii. 506 ; God's Spirit alone speaks, why, in.
613,514; faith breeds, how, iii. 516; signs, in.
617 ; spiritual, iv. 135 ; a seal, how, iv. 136, v.
439 ; in God, vi. 11 ; solid, vi. 285 ;_ safe, vi.
286 ; how to be employed, vi. 321, 322 ; excel-
lence of true, V. 5y ; how may be had, v. 59 ;
causes of, v. 75; signs of, v. 76; over-much,
vii. 187, 188. „ . „„.
Juhilee, V. 446 ; Spiritual, v. 219-248, iv. 228.
Judging, of others, must avoid rashness, i. 44 ;
when proceed such different, by the samts
of themselves, i. 50 ; take heed how we judge
others, i. 55 ; rules to help us in, i. 88 ; inferiors
should think well of superiors, i. 56 ; conscience
a judge, i. 87 ; judge ourselves, vii. 206 ; prince
of the world, vii. 277.
Judgment, i. 26, 27 ; word of God is, i. 27 ; sanc-
titication, i. 27 ; what it is to bring unto vic-
tory, i. 77, 78 ; a good man's judgment is re-
fined, i. 78 ; Satan principally strives to corrupt,
i. 71 ; how to know when it is victorious, i.
66 ; directions how to make our judgments
victorious, i. 88 ; well employed will raise up a
dejected spirit, i. 144, 145 ; how to know when
near, i. 379 ; how to prevent, i. 381 ; will begin
at God's house, why, i. 383 ; what it is, and its
divisions, i. 383 ; wicked shall not appear in
day of, i. 400 ; consideration and examination,
means to escape, i. 381 ; mourning for our own
and others' sins, why, i. 382; no privilege can
exempt from, i. 377 ; God's word the judge of
all controversies, iii. 364 ; properties of a judge,
iii. 364 ; of conscience, forerunner of the great
and general, iii. 210, 211 ; measure of a Chris-
tian's joy as it will be esteemed at the day of
judgment, iii. 323 ; should often think of the
day of, iii. 324 (see Day) ; Reason, iv. 75-112 ; of
others, benefit of, iv. 90 ; kinds of (see Sick.
Sleep, Weak), what, iv. 64, 65, S3 ; reluctant
to, iv. 83, 84 ; not persuaded, v. 394 ; corrupt,
V. 421 ; God's children suffer in common, vi.
235 ; of the world, v. 65 ; threefold of men, v.
129 ; of God, how spoken of, amiss, vi. 209 ;
how to speak aright of, vi. 210 ; offended when
we repent not by, vi. 211 ; neglect of self-judg-
ment cause of misery, vi. 215 ; after long pa-
tience, God sends, vi. 222 ; coming, how known,
vi. 222 ; sin to be looked to in, vi. 198, 199 (see
Spiritual) ; cause of, vii. 205 ; benefit of by
others, vii. 206 ; Right, vii. 219, 220.
Jtist, men, who they be, ii. 421 ; have respect to
all God's commandments, ii. 421 ; do all things
to a good end, ii. 421, 422 ; desire to grow in
grace, ii. 422 ; love to brethren, ii. 422 ; have
only cause to rejoice, ii. 422.
Justice (see SiJi), v. 269, vii. 267, 371.
Justification, necessary connection between and
sanctification, ii. 183, iv. 219, 220 ; perfect, v.
210, 268, 263 ; double, v. 492 ; spiritual poverty
in, vi. 244 ; benefits of, vii. 153 ; good in order,
vii. 373. . .^ , , .
Justify, ways of godliness, ii. 455 ; justified, what,
V 487 ; Christ in spirit, how, v, 487, 488, 489 ;
to whom Christ is, v. 489, 490 ; why Chri.st,
himself, v. 492 ; how we justify Christ, v. 493 ;
our profession, v. 494 ; God, in our abasement,
vi. 238 ; God in his judgment, vi. 140.
Kindness, churlishly refused is a high provoca-
tion, i. 76 ; should be requited, i. 77.
Kinds, of judgment. (See Sick, Sleep, Weak).
Kingdom, Kings, Christians are kings, ui. 448,
449 iv. 222, 223 ; of God, iv. 228, 229 ; spiri-
tual, iv. 228, 229 ; care of the commonwealth,
vi 88 ■ won't save from humiliation, vi. 63 ;
Christ is a husband, v. 3J9 ; king, medium of
blessing, vi. Iu4, 105 ; of heaven is not per-
fected in us here, v. 105 ; of grace and glory
differ onlv in degrees, v. 137 ; what things are
in vi 298, 299 ; excellency of, vi. 212, (seo
Heaven) ; the ten kings, wherein sinful, vu.
527 ; of grace here, vii 256.
Kiss, ii. 202, 203 ; sweetest, ii. 207.
Kites, Christians like, vii. 215. , .. -„ ci .
Knocking, how Christ is said to knock, u. 60,61 ,
why, when he might open, ii. 63 ; is specially
by the ministrv of the word, ii. 68.
Knowhdgc, its neces.sity, i. 81 ; means to keep the
soul awake, ii. 52, 53 ; grow in, ii. 240 ; how to
know our state, ii. 243, v. 319 ; makes people
leave idolatry, ii. 385, 386; God is known in
his 1. nature, 2. promises, 3. words, lu. 149 ;
knowledee must be spiritual or we fall into,
1 sin, 2. despair, 3. apostasy, ni. 526, 5ii7 ;
spiritual, how know secrets, iv. 157, 161, vil.
588
GENEBAIi INDEX
18S, 189, 200, 2S6 ; negative, iv. 166 ; in face of
Christ, iv. 334 ; purifies, iv. 334 ; with appli-
cation, iv. 335 ; transforming, iv. 335 ; how-
got, iv. 336 ; comfort by, iv. 458 ; mystical, v.
178 ; know ourselves better, v. 255 ; pufleth up,
V. 395 ; sins against, v. 417 ; directly, colla-
terally, v. 417 ; what condemns, v. 478 ; grace
may be known, iv. 517 ; what knowledge, iv.
617 ; God trusted as he is known, vi. 253, 259 ;
experimental, vi. 260 ; how the knowledge of
Christ exceeds human, v. 86 ; God wiUiug to
be known, vi. 112 ; of our state suspended, vii.
430; of calling, vii. 493; objection, vii. 494;
strong motive to goodness, vii. 405 ; uses, vii.
495 ; shall know one another in heaven, vii.
324.
Labour, Fruitful, for Eternal Food, vi. 357-381 ; for
earthly, when immoderate, vi. 363 ; distin-
guishes Christians, vi. 379, 380 ; labourers, to
be prayed for, vi. 626.
Ladder, Jacob's, what it signified, v. 499.
Language, of Scripture, savoury, vi. 490.
Latimer, three prayers, all granted, i. 250.
Laiv and gospel, how they differ, i. 59 ; extent of
law of God to be considered, and its spirituality,
1. 176 ; less to sin against than against the gos-
pel, i. 389 ; watchful in use of lawful things, ii.
64, 55 ; law and gospel, know, iv. 89 ; of God
stands fast, iv. 117 ; e.xcellency of gospel above,
iv. 201-305 ; ministration of the letter, iv. 204 ;
of condemnation, iv. 204 ; done away, iv 2J4 ;
obscure, iv. 204 ; terrible, iv. 204 ; delivery dark,
iv. 204 ; minds blinded under, iv. 204 ; to be
preached, iv. 339, 340 ; moral duties, iv. 340 ;
diflferences under from gos]>el, iv. 341 ; why
preached, v. 50 j ; implied in the gospel, v. 506 ;
what, V. 226, (see Gosj^el and Sin) ; excess in
lawful things, vii. 290.
Learning, of Christ, learn, iv. 263 ; ' I have
learned,' v. 178 ; mere, vii. 201.
Least mercy of God to be prized, i. 255.
Legacy, God's promises are, iii. 415 ; difference
between and covenant, iii. 415.
Leprosy, sin a, vi. 189.
Lest, iv. 145, 146.
Liberality, Christ's example should stir up to, iv.
622.
Liberty, Christian's may not be unknown nor
abused, i. 140, 161 ; liberty, iv. 216, 217 ; Chris-
tian, iv. 216 ; evangelical, iv. 216 ; when set at
liberty, iv. 218, 219 ; from fear, iv. 223 ; of will,
iv. 224, to good, iv. 226, 227 ; to preach the gos-
pel, iv. 227 ; of discipline, iv. 227 ; character of
our, iv. 227 ; spiritual liberty, iv. 230 ; how
know, iv. 230, 231 ; sell, iv. 234 ; independent,
iv. 235 ; of sons of God, iv. 238 ; Christian
liberty, v. 208 ; sweet, v. 308, 309, 348, 349 ; to
the throne of grace, iv. 602.
Licence, not liberty, iv. 235, 236
Lie, all sorts of unlawful, iii. 234 ; what, iii. 3Ul ;
equivocation is, iii. 301, (see Equivocation) ;
grand in the Church of Rome, vi. 499.
Life of a Christian, a life of trouble, i. 160 ; a mix-
ture of good and evil, i. 249 ; hid, i. 273 ; lose
most by yielding to ourselves, i. 147 ; commu-
nion with Christ, i. 87 ; of man subject to many
annoyances, ii. 399 ; men must have spiritual
life before they can walk in God's ways, ii. 425 ;
short, ii. 453 ; life, ii. 470 ; may not live as we
choose, if we would die well, iii. 258 ; living to
ourselves, v. 291, 292, 293 ; to the Lord no loss,
V. 295 ; what, v. 297, 298 ; thoughts of, v. 298 ;
liberty, v. 303 ; how to live to, v. 33S ; daily, v.
404 ; to come, iv. 170 ; out of Christ, what, v. 302,
303 ; long, vi. 83 ; new, iv. 09, 224 ; holy, iv.
220 ; mixed, iv. 400 ; of .Tesus, what, iv. 408,
seq., 415, 416; inward, iv. 416, 4.33 ; Christ foun-
dation of all, iv. 417 ; life of Jesus leadeth to,
iv. 421 ; seeds, spiritual life, iv. 423 ; life part-
ed with for, iv. 427, 428, 429 ; three degrees of
life, iv. 4.32, 433 ; hidden, v. 203-21S ; sure, v,
2,)7 ; in heaven, in Christ, in God, v. 207, 208 ;
peculiar, v. 208 ; higher than ordiuary, v. 359 ;
made excellent, and its source in Christ, v. S59 ;
spiritual life, v. 360 ; how know if we live life
of faith, V. 365 ; in sanctification, v. 367 ; of
grace lively, v. 370 ; new lives, vi. 24 ; end of
it, what, vi. 336 ; of a Christian is laborious, v.
102 ; directions how to frame, v. 28 ; how and
wherein a blessing, v. 46 ; in Christ, how, v.
236, 237 ; to serve God in time of, vi. 497 ; long
not to be looked for, vi. 509 ; not to repine, if
God give us, vi. 51u ; improve time of, vii 4 ;
three degrees of, vii. 6, 7, (see Lie, Hidden,
Soul) ; of labour, vii. 256 ; of grace, vii. 189 ;
double, vii. 189 ; of faith, vii. 193.
Light, contrariety to, ii. 465 ; heavenly, iv. 195 ;
as a word, iv. 304 ; God source of, iv. 314 ; in
face of Christ, iv. 315 ; cause of, iv. 314 ; end of,
iv. 314; jiroportions of, iv. 314; why created,
iv. 315, bl6, 486 ; wherein the children of God
resemble, v. 28, 29 ; God's children are lights,
v. 30 ; how we may be made, v. 30, 31, 123.
Lightness, public persons should avoid the just
imputation of, iii. 342 ; ground of, iii. 343, 344,
345 ; remedies against, iii. 3-15, 346 ; to purpose
for the flesh, ground of, iii. 348.
Lions, all naturally such, i. 315.
Logic, and Luther, ii. 248.
London, children in, vi. 23.
Longing, iv. 70.
Longsuffering, of God, v. 268.
Lord, Christ is, over his own, i. 82, 83 ; what, and
how, V. 307 ; lordship, how, universal, indepen-
dent, of the whole man, eternal, excellent, v.
330, 331.
Losses, vii. 63.
Love, of God, i. 7, ii. 227, iv. 175 ; Christ loved
by God, how, i. 11 ; requires love, i. 79 ; la-
bours to keep alive, i. 89 ; such as can refm-n,
i. 143, 144 ; of God to be looked at in every
mercy, i. 254 ; tokens from God, arguing ne is
ours, i. 2 J9 ; not to be questioned, grounds, i.
212, 213 ; decay of, a sign of judgment, i. 380 ;
requisite for a Christian, i. 399 ; it descend.s,
why, i. 410, ii. 174; assurance of God's love to
be sought betimes, i. 417 ; present too much, i.
317 ; all scattered in relations are united in
Christ, ii. 72 ; church, Christ's love to, and why,
ii. 27 ; no saving out of the church, ii 73 ; of
Christ to the church a free, tender, and invin-
cible, ii. 73, 74 ; will make us glorify God, ii.
74, 76 ; of Christ, how known, ii. 74, 75 ; none
comparable to. ii. 76, 77 ; to be confined to
Christ, ii. 84 ; will make a Christian puss
through all discouragements, ii. 99 ; ravishment
of first love, reason of it, ii. 117 ; love-sick to
Christ, what it is, ii. 128 ; how to know we are
sick of to Christ, ii. 125 ; sets forth the praise
of her Beloved, ii. 141 ; is wages to itself, ii.
162 ; to God how caused, ii. 174 ; how to have
our hearts warmed with, ii. 174 ; to other things
how stand with love to God, ii. 185 ; to Christ
will enable us to suffer, and facilitate duties to
us, ii. 188 ; of God an evidence of the pardon
of sin, ii, 264 ; to his people free, ii. 317, 318 ;
eternal, i. 319 ; not to be measured by our feel-
ing of it, ii. 320 ; the cause of all mercies to us,
ii. 32u ; is a fruitful love, ii 330 ; love to God,
ii. 227, iv. 175, ISO, 181, vi. 10, 11 ; seek, iv. 189 ;
degrees of, iv. 121 ; above all graces, iv. 181 ;
elements of, iv. 182, 183 ; grace of, iv. 192 ;
what we may love, and how, iv. 193 ; how to
know if we, iv. 193 ; faint, iv.'193, 194 ; motives
to, iv. 198, 199 ; matchless, vi. 383-412 ; may
and ought to know God's love to us in Christ,
vi. 388; Christ's invisible, vi 438; constant,
vi. 439 ; seasonable, vi. 440 ; no desert of, vi.
441 ; Satan roars against, vi. 441 ; to men, vi.
337 ; to man's nature, vi. 349, 350 ; of God to us,
how known, vi. 352 ; how gotten, vi. 353, 364 ;
fruitful, 355, 356 ; greatness of Christ's, iv. 606 ;
how we must love, v. 71 ; decay in, a forerunner
of judgment, vi. 225, 226 ; trials of faith by love,
vi. 534 ; of God, ground of, v. 276 ; whence, v.
277 ; special and peculiar, v. 387 ; in Christ,
Tii. 187 ; seek love to God, iv. 189, v. 281 ; ex-
GENERAL INDEX.
589
ercise, v. 283; stored up, v. 300 ; prow in, vi.
SI ; succession in, vii. 204 ; nature of, vii. 19'1 ;
wonderful, of Christ, vii. 221.
Low, brought, vii. 196.
Jyvst, comfort apainst rebellion of, v. ?44.
LrUher. assured of a particular mer v in prayer,
i. 250.
Lydia's Conversion, vi. 517-534
ifad, an old charpe, vii. 220 ; untrue, vii. 220,
221 ; reversed, vii. 221.
Made, 'as though he would have gone farther'
explained, iii. 532, 533.
Magistrates, how far they may be mild and when
rough, i. 55 ; needful to the church, i. 343 ; to
be tender, vi. 64.
Magnanimity, v. 373.
Malady, threefold, vii. 351.
Malefactors, vii. 214.
MaUce, iv. 236, 237, 313 ; Satan's, v. 443. (See
Reproach.)
Man, union to Christ, i. 6 ; and God united, i. 6 ;
not to be a prescriber of his own way, ii. 420 ;
three kinds of, v. .3.59 ; young, vi. 37 ; .Tosiah,
young, vi. 84 ; earthly, vi 398, 399 ; why the
gospel dispensed by, v. 507 (see God) ; out of
Chri.st, iv. 123 ; understanding creature, vi. 3 ;
dead. vii. 398-407 ; the wisest, vii. 45, 75, 76 ;
unsubdued, vii. 107.
Manifestation, of God, different ways of, ir. 323 ;
of Christ, vi. 394 ; when doth Christ manifest
his Father's love ? vi. 396 ; Christ's death, vi.
4(!0, 401 ; and of, vi. 401.
Manna, ii. 448, 517.
Many, not all, iv. 82
Marriaeje, a spiritual contract, ii. 201 ; consent,
ii. 201 ; communication of all good things,
ii. 201 ; resemblance between temporal and
spiritual, ii. 2.3, 24. (See Faith.)
Martha, vii. 289.
Martyrs, ii. 434. iii. 532. iv. 163, 164.
Marvel, marvellins, ii. 469.
Mary, Virgin, worship of, iv. 304. vii. 110 ; mis
take of, vi. 420 ; addressed by Christ, vi. 421 ;
the name, vi. 421, 422 ; command to, to whom,
when, vi. 431 ; sweet message, vi. 433 ; choice
of, vii. 288-297.
Mass, ought not to be present at, ii. 380, vii. 196.
Massacre, of France terrible afterward to the
king, i. 149.
Mean, no calling, i. 294.
Means, must be used, not neglected, i. 80 ; whether
relied on or no, i. 225 ; Christians are sensible
of, they enjoy, ii. 57, 58 : outward without the
inward work of the Spirit will do no good, ii.
59 ; outward, must not be rested in, ii. lofi ;
usually God works with. ii. 166 ; of salvation
not profited by, bring destruction, ii. 349 ; in
the use of to look up unto God, ii. 40fl ; means,
ii. 221, 467, 46S ; sanctified, ii. 469 ; in reading
Scripture, ii. 496 ; attendance on. iv. 123 ; for
grace, iv. 127; omit none, iv. 146, 147; use
carefully, iv. 215, 216; greatness of sinning
against, vi. 495 ; false confidence overturned
by weak, vii. 465 (see Faith) ; God brings elect
under, vi. 523.
Measure, of faith and grace, iv 444.
Mediator, there is none so pitiful as Christ, i.
75, 76. (See Beninning.)
Meditation, iv. 267, r. 16fi ; order to meditate on
Christ, v. 538 ; meditation v. 334 ; divine, and
contemplations, vii. 178-228, 181 ; examples of,
vii 182, 183.
Meekness, contented becomes a Christian, i. 66 ;
definition and effects of, ii. 78.
Melancholy, charge of, ii. 456, 457 ; how to act
under, vii. 212.
Mephibosheth, lame, iv. 305
Mercy, abused, i. 22, /3 ; of Christ, will not break
the bruised reed, i 43, 44 ; not less in heaven
than on earth, i. 45 ; how we may know our-
selves rightly qualified for mercy, i. 46 ; signs
of one fitly qualified for, i. 47 : means to qualify
us, L 47 ; who do offend against Christ's mercy.
i. 73 ; who may lay claim to, i. 75 ; abused, turns
to fury, i. 73; of Ood mu.st not be limited by
man's sini3, i. 229 ; it is God's name, he pleads
for it, i. 279 ; of Christ must not be presumed
on, i. 390 ; exceptions against Christ's mercy,
i. 393; God's must be specially noted, i. 309;
consideration of is the way to glorify him. i.
330 ; God's scope in the new covenant, ii. 309 ;
are complete to his children, ii. 265 ; sweeteneth
all his attributes, ii. 292 ; agreeable to God's
nature, ii. .325; chiefly to those who stand in
need of, ii. 293 ; to others an evidence of pardon
of our sins, ii. 264 ; a charter of God's child, ii.
296, 297 ; tender, ii. 483, iv. 82 ; what, iii. 30 ;
God styled the Father of, why, iii. 29, 30, 31 ;
why not of mercy only. iii. 30, 31 ; use to be
made of God's mercifulness, iii. 31, see/. ;
against presuming upon, iii. 32, 33 ; men prone
to, iii. .32, 33 (see Pre.iumptinn) ; all God's
attributes without, are terrible, iii. .30 ; objec-
tions of a dejected soul answered, iii. 36 ; to
whom unlimited, iii. 32 ; how to be made fit
for, iii. 42 ; how to improve daily, iii. 42, 43 ;
kinds of, iii. 31 ; the special glory of God in
Christ, iv. 330 ; fly to God's, iv. 93,' 94. vi. 173 ;
free, vi. 174: mercy-seat a t^^pe of Christ, v.
498 ; in God answers all objections, vi. 327 ;
sins greater than God's mercy, not, vi. 3.'-3 ;
meditation of a help to glorify God, vi. 334 ;
mistake in applying, v. 354; spring of all our
felicity, v. 45, 46 ; extends to temporal bless-
ings, V. 46 ; wonderful, vi. 456 ; exact, vii. 207 ;
magnified, vii. 372 ; matchless, vii. 151-164;
not to be overcome, vii. 198 ; God rich in, vii.
198 ; none so merciful as God ; vii. 155. 156 ;
exceeds all sin, vii. 202.
Merit, against, iii. 191 ; merits, iv. 479.
Meritorious. (See Grace.)
Merry, ii. 441.
Mind, must be sanctified to hear the word, vl.
525.
Ministers, how they should carry themselves to the
weak, i. 53 ; not to preach too austerely, i. 54 ;
nor too darkly, i. 54 : nor doubtfully in di.s-
pute.s, i. 54 : hardly believed, i 307 (see Watch-
men) : woeful state of those who despise, ii.
68 ; setting forth Chrisl's excellencies to be in
love with, ii 168 ; only with the Spirit, i. 19;
set forth variously, iv. 352, 353 ; must win by
life as well as doctrine, iii. 260 ; joined with
Christ in acceptance, iii. 317 ; a faithful is joy
of his people, iii. 317 : a great gift and bles.s-
ing. iii. 31S, 329, .3.?0, 331 ; people's grace joy
of, iii. 319 ; all good from Christ by, iii. 372 ;
consent of. help to faith, iii. 373 ; to be prayed
for (see Prayer) ; set forth variously, iv. 352,
3n3 ; earthen vessels, why, iv. .342 ; how, v.
354. 355 ; use while we have them, iv. 355 ; not
prejudicial to, iv. 356 ; success of, iv. 361 ;
variously represented, iv. :^67 : names of, v,
254 ; as brethren, v. 36: fellow-l.ibourers, v. 37,
38 : fellow-soldiers, v. 38 : highly to be prized
and loved, v. 48, 49 : though they reprove and
cross. V. 49 : may flee, v. 53 ; bls.ssing of to be
regarded, vii. 20 ; duty of, vii. 481 ; uncon-
verted, vii. 193.
Miracle of Miracles, vii. 105-126.
Mischief, to contrive is the sign of a man notori-
ously wicked, i. 300 ; therefore to be abhorred,
i. 301.
Misery, out of Christ, iv 69. vi. 412 ; happy in
all, V. 270 ; of others to be seen. vi. 67 : sight
of, vi. 82; get out of sin, vi. 168 ; ungodlv's,
i. 385-394 ; of wicked men, vi. 142 ; why God
suffers men to fall into, vi. 143.
Misgivinos. whence, vii. 213.
Mission, home, iii. 529.
Mistakes, ii. 499 ; holy men are subject to, Iii.
355, 356. (See Error.)
Moderators, catholic, i 388,
Modest, in desires, ii. 206.
Moon, in the change, nearest the sun, so we to
God in greatest dejection, i. 135.
Morality, v. 268.
590
GENERAL INDEX.
Mortification, necessary, i. 400 ; two especial
ways of, ii. 6 ; mortification, iv. 414, vii. 205,
212; ground of, v. 536; labour for, v. 72;
means, v. 73 ; signs, v. 97, 98.
Moses. (See Glory.)
Motions, of sin to be at first crushed, i. 166 ; to
be cherished, vii. 13,
Motives, to love, iv. 198, 199.
Mountain, symbol of tlie church, ii. 444, 445.
Mourning, for our own sins and of others is the
way to avert judgment, i. 382 ; house of, iv.
90 ; act of, vi. 59-75 ; befitting, vi. 63 ; why a
Christian must mourn, vi. 66 ; when to leave
off, vi. 69 ; spiritual, vi. 265-292 ; spiritual
mourner is happy, vi. 267, 268 ; carnal, vi. 26S,
270 ; proof, vi. 268, 271 ; works repentance, vi.
270; issue of, vi. 271; unhappiness in not
mourning, vi. 278 ; wherein spiritual, differ-
enceth, vi. 274; how get, vi. 275; order, vi.
276 ; motives, needful, reasonable, profitable,
comfortable, vi. 276-278; end of, vi. 279, 2S0 ;
from promise of God, vi. 280 ; experience of
God's people, vi. 280 ; nature of sorrow, vi. 281;
better spring, vi. 282 ; manner, vi. 2S3 ; end,
vi. 283 ; nature of the comfort, vi. 284, 289 ;
cause of, vi. 284 ; labour for, vi. 286 ; when it
is spiritual, vi. 287, 288 ; must mourn, why, vi.
288 ; resolve to, vi. 288 ; how know, vi. 291 ;
universal, with prayer and thankfulness, vi.
291, 292 ; for sins of the times, vi 226, 227.
Murder, of the tongue, i. 135.
Murmuring, kinds of, v. 19, 20 ; causes and
remedy, v. 20, 21 ; in trouble, cause of, vi. 141 ;
means, vi. 24, 41 ; of salvation, vi. 100, 393 ;
attended on yet, vi. 394, 395.
'My,' vii. 62.
Mysteries, ii. 461, 463 ; 'mysterium,' v. 539 ; what,
v. 461, 402 ; the gospel, how, v. 462, 463 ; every
grace a, v. 463 ; all in Christ, v. 464 ; bless God
for, v. 466 ; how to come to, v. 466, 467 ; who
teacheth, v. 468 ; how to know, v. 4GS ; diffe-
rent attitudes of men toward, v. 469 ; of
iniquity, v. 471 ; popery, v. 471, 492 ; why
suffered, v. 491, 492 ; godliness a great, v. 472 ;
how to be affected with, v. 474 ; believing on
Christ a, v. 517 (see Controversy and Ascen-
sion) ; mystery, vii. 266.
Mystical, the church, v. 464.
Name, men have, by that they are ruled by, iii.
262, 346 ; God's children leave a good, vi. 489,
v. 260.
Nativity, of Christ, how to be celebrated, vi. 328.
Nature, of Christ is tender to weak Christians,
therefore should not despair, i. 71 ; our nature
ill, i. 63 ; unclean naturally, i. 63 ; of man since
sin came in, subject to misery, i. 132 ; proved
and applied, i. 132, 133 ; favourers, enemies of
grace, i. 175 ; divine, the only counter-poison
of sin, i. 177 ; natural righteousness in Adam,
1. 173; natural sin in us, voluntary, i. 174;
nature and Christianity different, i. 405 ; of
God and the soul and of grace, ii. 217 ; benefit
of Christ's taking our, v. 480 ; not to defile, v.
485 ; faith above, v. 519 ; things made use of,
vi. 221 ; see what we are by nature, tainted, vi.
189; actual sins shew the corruption of, vi.
191 ; three things in man by, vii. 464 ; atheism
against, vi. 143 ; God takes particular notice
of, vi. 520 ; human, in Christ, iv. 119 ; cannot
rise above itself, vii. 196 ; no gospel in, iv. 159 ;
above, iv. 213
Nay, take no, ii. 206.
Near, and nearer God, draw, vii. 73.
Necessity, of bruising, i. 44, (see All) ; of what
we pray for, vi. 195.
Negative, knowledge, iv. 166.
Negligent, ii. 207, v. 394, vi. 61.
Neuters, hateful to Christ, vi. 304.
New, popery is a new religion, iii. 377, 378 ; life,
iv 69, 197, V. 199, vi. 24, 170 ; creatures, iv.
212, 213, V. 182.
Nicety, iL 194.
Nonage, vii. 195.
Nye, ii. 248.
Obedience, i. 24, 25, iv. 219, 301 ; Spirit given to
the obedient, i. 24, 25 ; must not be hindered
by consideration of our infirmity, i. 66, 71, 72 ;
rules to observe when indisposed to, i. 66 ; dis-
couragements, whence, i 66, 67 ; Christ, though
gentle, looks for, i. 79 ; to the gospel, what, i.
387 ; who have it not, i. 387 ; not of ourselves,
but wrought, i. 391, 392 ; free and cheerful, i.
393, 394 ; active and passive, i. 403 ; God tries,
V. 507 ; quality of, vi. 119, 120 ; suitable to the
command, vi. 121 ; universality of, v. 185 ; live
to Christ in, v. 338 ; to God, vi, 12, 467, vii.
187; partial, vii. 207, 208 ; fall to, vii. 200; of
faith and practice, vii. 411.
Oath, what, iii. 357, 493 ; lawful, iii. 494, 495 ;
kinds of, iii. 357, 493, 494, 495 ; a Christian life
is a kind of, iii. 498 ; conditions of, iii. 357, 494,
495 ; not good unless necessary, iii. 357, 493, 494,
495 ; qualifications of, iii. 495 ; none but good
should, iii. 493 ; parts of, iii. 493 ; only in
serious matters, iii. 494. (See Swearing).
Objections, all, answered, ii. 58, 59, v. 482, vii.
218 ; of a troubled soul, vii. 374, 375.
Objects, of religion or conversation not to be substi-
tuted, i. 218.
Obscure, and dark preaching censured, 1. 54
Occasion, of sin to be avoided, ii. 371 ; a good man
must take all, to do good, iii. 336.
Offenders, offence against God takes not away
trust in, i. 199 ; offenders, ii. 253 ; offended, ii.
515 ; afraid to offend God, v. 281 ; offences,
watching for, vii. 218.
Offer, danger of neglecting, vi. 354.
Office, of ministry only in the Spirit, i. 19 ; of
Christ, in what order performed, i. 16.
Often, seek God, ii. 223
Ointment, the Spirit compared to, iii. 443, 446 ;
symbol of grace, iv. 130-1R2.
Old, age, folly of delay till, ii. 95 ; our religion is,
iii. 375, 376, seq. ; popery not, iii. 377, 378 ; men,
iv. 282, 2S3 ; religion, when, vii. 312.
Omission, of duties breeds trouble, i. 140 ; sins of,
bring grief and shame, ii 108 ; not to be slighted,
i. 06.
Once, why not at, vi. 408.
' One,' good man may do much good, i. 345 ;
' thing,' ii, 216-218, vii. 203
Oneness, a Christian man is one, iii. 301 ; of faith,
iii. 375 ; of catholic church, iii. 306, 307, 327.
(See Conception and Hope.)
Open, trials whether the heart be, vi. 520, (see
Heart) ; house, vii. 378 ; Opened, Fountain, v.
457-540 ; Bowels, ii. 1-195.
Opinions, of others not to be too much heeded, i.
141, 163, 164.
Ox>positiun, to Christ's government, why, i. 95, 96,
97 ; to sin in the godly is universal, i. 155 ;
opposition, iv. 376, 418 ; is bitterest among
those that are nearest, i. 299 ; grace increased
by, vi. 31)9 ; how to oppose popery, vii. 473 ;
opposition, vii. 77.
Oracles, iii. 534, 535.
Order, ii. 233 ; right, v. 302 ; faith in, v. 379 ;
God's, vii. 281 ; Spirit's, \\i. 370 ; good, vii. 371.
Ordinances, all Christ's, are sweet, ii. 153 ; those
who hinder are his enemies, ii. 152 ; of God, ii.
2.32, 234, 240, 467 ; difference of enjoyment, iv.
210, 211 ; seek right apprehension, iv. 336, 337 ;
depend on, iv. 372 ; power shewn by, iv. 3S7,
38S ; devil opposes, iv. 338 ; God to be sought
in, vi. 129, lau ; high esteem of, vii. 185.
Original, sin, how it defiles and spreads, i. 63,
64 ; sin, v. 255.
Ornaments, vi. 60, 6 1 .
Others, matters, how to be minded, i. 34'). (See
Speedy, Cheerful, Inwardly, Constantly, Sea-
sonably.)
Ourselves, cite before, iv. 86.
Out, Outward, outward things no fit stays, i. 219,
220 ; service, alone, not accepted, vi. 195, 196 ;
helps to do God's wiU, vi. 501 ; men give too
GENEEAL INDEX.
591
much to, worship, vii. 479 ; why men are prone
to, vii. 480 ; out of self, iv. 96 ; of Christ, iv.
123 ; rely not on, iv. 295 ; gifts, v. 254 ; be-
stowed on reprobates, v. 254 ; of princes, v.
254 ; evils work for good, v 259-261 ; how
received, v. 264, 165 ; punishment of, not
always, vii. 206 ; performances, vii. 206 ; things,
how use, vii. 217 ; as grass, out of God, vii. 219.
Outlive, happiness, vi. 82.
Overjoying, in outward comforts breeds troubles,
i. 140.
Overthrow, papists work their own, vii. 532, 533 ;
God can, all, vii 228.
Owing, sin, vii. 205.
Own, do good to others of, iv. 523 ; not our, v.
297, 350.
Pa/jw-taking, vii. 39.
Pagans, conversion hindered, v. 513.
Parable, Christ teaches by, vii. 255.
Pardon, of sin the great mercy, ii. 310 ; God
pardons all, ii. 301, 302, 307 ; why not appre-
hended, ii. 310 ; how known, ii 31 1, 312 ; when
6till subject to sin, ii. 313 ; not obtained with-
out humiliation, ii. 315 ; pardon, iv. 94, 95.
Part, willing to, with all, iv. 184.
Partalcers, those that partake in other men's sins,
shall also partake in their sufferings, iii. 110 ;
of life, iv. 410, 411.
Particulars, rise from the generals, i. 309.
Passions, conflict one with another, i. 152 ; not
to be put to our troubles, i. 164 ; hid till drawn
out, and how this is, i. 165 ; to be avoided in
God's mysteries, v. 470, 471 ; wicked men fools
for their, vi. 136, 137 ; how it presents things,
vl. 137, vii. 186.
Passover, il. 448.
Patience, In suffering, i. 67 ; of God to us should
make us patient, ii. 71, iv. 170 ; ground of in
suffering, v. 534 ; to others, the ground of it,
vi. 524 ; in ourselves, vi. 140, vii. 142, 149, vii.
39, 197.
Patrick, Bishop, charge of falsification by, re-
futed, i. 290-294.
Pattern, Christ our, iv. 523.
Paul, St, his Strait, or Christ is Best, i. 335-350 ;
his prerogative above other apostles, iii. 8 ;
modesty and humility, iii. 9 ; had a good
opinion of the Corinthians, iii. 306 ; how could
be deceived in his journey and not in his
doctrine, iii. 355, 356; how Timothy was his
brother, iii. 10 ; resolution, iii. 308 ; a seeds-
man, iv. 77 ; trumpet of the gospel, iv. 155 ;
vindication of his office, iv. 155 ; scorned, iv.
850 ; Challenge, vii. 386-397.
Pawn, Christians have a rich, iv. 506.
Peace, of conscience, when lost, i. 70 ; how re-
covered, i. 70 jjepitome of all good, i. 168; a
sign we have committed ourselves to God, i.
421 ; disturbed by care;;, i. 421 ; end of the
godly man, i. 420 ; evidence of pardon, ii. 263,
312 ; in a carnal man, whence, ii 313 ; true,
Issues from grace, iii. 20, iv. 286, 287 ; in
Christ, V. 255 ; prone, iv. 402, v. 209, 366 ; with
God, meaning, vi. 337 ; whence, vi. 337 ; what,
vi. 338 ; Christ our peace, vi 339 ; founded in
Christ, vi. 339 ; wrought by, vi. 339, 340 ; how
to know we are at, vi, 341, 342; with God,
works with others, vi. 344 ; false, dangerous,
vi. 344 ; how maintained, vi. 344 ; motives, vi.
345 ; danger of men without, vi. 346 ; happiness
with, vi. 347 (See Earth and Grace) ; four
things trouble, v. 225 ; of conscience, vii.
215.
Pearl, ii. 248 ; Rich, vii. 253-260 ; what meant by,
vii. 257 ; how to get, vii. 257 ; what must be
parted with, vii. 258 ; gain of, vii. 258, 259,
260 ; results of possession, vii. 259, 260.
People, God hath a, in worst times, ii. 423 ;
esteem, iv. 469 ; three sorts of, before Christ, vi.
521, 522 ; God's free, vii. 74.
Perfection, iv. 247, 248.
Performances, outward, trusted to, idolatry, ii.
384 ; God will pcrfo:m ii. 509, iv. 121, 124; of
covenant, vi. 25.
Perish, meat that perisheth, what, vi. 360; not
to gain things that, vi. 362.
Perplexed, iv. 396.
Persecution, Church always has been persecuted
by pretenders, ii. 121, 122 ; persecuted, not
always the best, ii. 121, 122; persecution, ii.
484 ; they who persecute the saints perse-
cute Christ, iii. 85 (see Affliction, Suffering,
and Tribulation) ; Pant persecuted, iv. 397 ;
religion, why persecuted, v. 464, vii. 224.
Perseverance, in grace warranted, and how, i.
237 ; ground of, ii. 321 ; resolution to, iii. 307,
308 ; St Paul's resolution to, iii. 308 ; God's
children will, iii. 468, seq. ; he who is in state
of grace with, iii. 469 ; perseverance, iv. 108,
v. 215, 343, V. 380, vii. 410.
Persons, to have in admiration is idolatry, ii. 383 ;
faith looks to, v. 516.
Persuade, persuasion, iv 224 ; why all, if died not
for all, v. 389 ; how of God's love, vi. 391 ; fol-
lows sight, vii. 42S ; what, vii. 428 ; degrees of,
vii. 429 ; spiritual, necessary, vii. 4.30 ; particular,
sometimes weak, vii. 430 ; how to know it is
not supernatural, vii. 432 ; wrought by the
Spirit, vii. 434 ; how, vii. 434 ; manner of work-
ing, vii. 435 ; a strong work, to, vii 435 ; labonr
for spiritual, vii. 4S6 ; desire God to persuade,
vii. 437 ; evidences, vii. 437, 438, vii. 217.
Pestilence, praise God for deliverance from, vi.
154
Peter, whether ever at Rome, iii. 535.
Philijypians III., exposition of, v. 55-152 ; notes
on, V. 152-154 ; rich, vi. 229, 263.
Physician, do ill in flattering the sick, iii. 127 ;
should open our case to our spiritual physician,
iii, 513 ; God the best, vi. 529.
Pilgrims, difference between, and strangers, vii.
449, 450.
Pity, Christ is a most pitiful mediator, L 75,
76.
Plague, sin worse than, vi. 191.
Please, seek to, God, iv. 188.
Plenty, iv. 342
Plot, gunpowder, t. 159, 160.
Pto!/ffAma?i, Discreet, vii. 139-150; ploughing
needed, vii. 143, 144.
Poison, sin as, vi. 141.
Policy, carnal, i. 415 ; hinders our safety, i. 416 ;
to be avoided, iii. 347 ; not to subordinate
religion to state, iii. 279, 280.
Poor, Christ, iv. 497,498 ; to enrich us, iv. 501, 502 ;
why, iv. 602, 503 ; honour the, v. 167 ; despise
none for, iv. 508 ; relations to us, iv. 522 ;
particulars of Christ's poverty, iv. 498, 499 ;
aggravates, iv. 499, 500 ; our own as part of our
riches, iv. 506 ; despise not for, iv. 508, vi. 240,
241 ; spiritual poverty, what, vi. 242 ; evidences
of this, vi. 243 ; necessity of it, vi. 244 ; after
conversion, vi. 244 ; signs of, vi. 244 ; labour
for, vi. 250 ; how to get, vi. 250 ; makes us
trust God, vi. 261 (see Grace) ; poor spirits, vi.
48 ; often proud, vii. 225 ; poverty of, vii. 225.
Popery, crept into the church by degrees and
under glorious pretences, ii. 42 ; objection of,
how we shall know the word of God to be so, il.
57 ; error of, ii. 167 ; papists' gross idolatry, ii.
288, 378, 379 ; their worship of images, ii. 288 ;
saints, ii. 378, 379 ; the pope, ii. 379 ; worse
than the heathen, ii. 380 ; why so impudent in,
ii. 380 ; why so hardly converted, ii. 386 ; not
to be conversed with, ii. 381, 3S2 ; writers, be-
ware of, ii. 381, 382 ; no reconciliation between,
ii. 381 ; popery ii. 444, 445 ; crosses the word of
God, iii. 365, 366 ; treasuiy, iii. 99 ; founded on
traditions, iii. 522, 523 ; a rotten and unsound
religion, iii. 523 ; full of contradictions, iiu
366 ; uncertainties, iii. 306, 367 ; how and pro-
testantism agree and differ, iii. 376, seq. ; pro-
testant safer, iii. 379 ; whether a papist may
be saved, iii. 379, .^80 ; to be detested, iii. 1:!3 ;
advances of, iv. 357 ; be thankful for freedom
from, vi. 311, 312 ; opposeth preaching, why, vi.
592
GENERAL INDEX.
313 ; work their own overthrow, vii. 532, 533 ;
how to oppose, vii. 473 ; how it sprang, vii. 25 ;
comforted, vi. 171, 118.
Portion, of the godly in God alone, i. 273 ; Chris-
tian's, or Christian's Charter, iv. 1-37.
Possession, v. 329.
Posterity, commit to God, i. 423 ; motive, i. 424 ;
how to provide for, iv. 625, 526.
Power, Christ brings us through all difficulties, i.
93, 94 ; what power this is, i. 97, 98 ; we have
over ourselves, is of God, i. 197 ; of the gospel,
iv. 360 ; in ministers, iv. 361 ; excellent power
against all opposition, iv, 361, 362 ; against
affliction, iv. 362 ; in enjoyment, iv. 362, 363 ;
how shewn, iv. 368, 369 ; after conversion, iv.
369 ; examine if we have, iv. 372 ; confounds
if it draws not, iv. 373 ; objections, iv. 373 ;
wrought by degrees, iv. 375 ; how get, iv. 382,
383 ; depends not on ministers, iv, 387 ; power of
Christ's resurrection, iv. 195-2U1 ; great, tomake
a Christian, v. 495 ; of Christ to give himself,
vi. 378, 379 ; God's word powerful, vi. 147 ; en-
couragements to pray from, vi. 148. (See Abase-
ment )
Practice, ii. 468, iv. 95, 145.
Praise, in trouble, more minded by the godly than
their delivery, i. 247 ; special times to praise
God, i. 246, 247 ; no easy matter to praise God
aright, i. 252 ; conditions, i. 254, 255 ; motives,
i. 257 ; means of performing it, i. 257, 258 ; an
acceptable sacrifice, ii. 270 ; helps to enable u.s,
ii 271 ; must be from a broken heart, ii. 271,
272 ; for encouragements to it, ii. 274, 275 ; an
honour to God, ii. 274, 275 ; a gainful trade, ii.
275 ; a noble act of religion, ii. 275 ; larger
sacrifice than prayer, ii. 275 ; an heavenly
action, ii. 275 ; brings joy, ii. 275 ; how to know
when it is accepted, ii. 2T6 ; praise, ii. 233,
234; God the object of, iii. 26 ; is the Father of
Christ, iii. 27 ; follows prayer, iii. 193 ; of many
are grateful to God, iii. 193, 194 , how the
lower creation praise God, iii. 195 ; for others,
iii. 195 ; wherein it consists, iii. 196 (see
Bless and Thankfulness) ; matter of, iv. 476 ;
all men to, God, vi 149, 150 ; other creatures,
how, vi. 150 ; the end of all we do, vi. 191 ;
helps, and means to, vi. 152, vii. 185, 188.
Prayer, means to obtain the spirit of, i. 26 ;
though weak yet acceptable, i. 65 ; why God
accepts, i. 65, 66 ; needful to keep ourselves in
temper, i. 147 ; heard, signs of, i. 256 ; and
praise depend each on other, i. 247, 257 ; must
pray before we get, i 418 ; for our enemies, i.
405, 406 ; God overcome by, i. 303 ; order of God's
hearing his church in, ii. IS ; how God prepares
our heart to, and then hears us, ii. 17 ; why
heard, ii. 18 ; Christians friendless, have God,
ii. 18 ; to be used by Christians, ii. 18 ; spirit
of, lost greatest loss, ii 18, 19 ; unfit for, ii. 18,
19 ; cross our own, ii. 97, 98 : how to know God
hears, ii. 20, 116 ; best of God's childi-en cannot
sometimes pray as they would, ii. 124 ; if
others are to be desired, ii. 46, 47 ; in special
helps against all sin and sorrow, ii. 258 ; sets
God on work, ii. 259 ; answered where a spirit
of prayer is given, ii. 300 ; heard when we re-
nounce sin, ii. 393 ; praying, i. 26, ii. 222, 223 ;
Christ never sought to be prayed for, ii. 194 ;
why not immediately answered, ii. 224 ; a means,
Ii. 246, 468, 469 ; a means to convey good and
aeliver" foom ill, iii. 178 ; God's children can,
Iii. 180 ; Christians ought to help, iii. 181 ; for
ministers, iii. 182, 183, 189, 190 ; what for them,
iii. 190 ; Christians have not the spirit of at all
times aUke, iii. 182 ; not work of gifts but of
grace, iii. 183 ; different, iii. 183 ; prevents, iii.
184, seq. ; how to know, iii. 188, 189 ; ill not to
be able to pray, iii. 189, 190 ; God will deliver
ministers by, iii. 180 ; in sickness, good, iii.
192 ; more eminent more need of, iii. 203 ;
prayer, iv. 71 ; sanctify all by, iv. 211 ; shack-
fed, iv. 237 ; use, iv. 365, 374 ; observe what we
pray for, iv. 474 ; incense, iv. 474 ; how to, v.
271 ; provoke to, v. 272 ; pray for sealing, v.
454 ; spring of, vi. 13 ; necessity of, v. 467 ;
for peace, vi. 345 ; for benefactors, iv. 524 ; form
of prayer useful, vi. 183 ; danger of neglecting,
vi. 194; lays hold on God, vi. 194; look for
answer, vi. 196 ; resignation of ourselves, vi.
202 (see Worshi'p) ; what state we are fit to
pray in, vi. 144 ; to God successful vi. 146 (see
AMiction) ; spirit of, vi. 13 ; God notices, vi.
72 ; why, vi. 73 ; barrenness in, vii. 74 ; strong
arguments in, vi. 95 ; a holy, vi. 105 ; power of,
vi. 108 ; to the Lord, only, vi. 166 ; constancy
in, vi. 166 ; fervent, vi. 166, 167 ; wilful neglect
of God's word, vi. 167 ; sin hinders, vi. 168 ;
Christ's comprehensive, vi. 397 ; Spirit brings,
vi. 406 ; be much in, vii. 73 ; affection leads to,
vii. 142, 143 ; perseverance in, vii. 187 ; exer-
cises grace, vii. 187 ; quintessence of, vii. 202 ;
what prayer is, vii. 203 ; not easy, vii. 203 ;
may not be heard, vii. 203 ; comfort, refused,
vii. 2u3 ; spirit of, bestowed, vii. 203 ; tempting
God in, vii. 204 ; watch unto, vii. 208 ; neglect
of, leads to miscarriage, vii. 211 ; knot of,
loosed, vii. 229-252 ; exhortation to, vii. 231 ;
a common duty, vii. 232 ; assurance of, vii.
232 ; conditions and limitations, vii. 232, 233 ;
heathens heard, vii. 233 ; made to God by
Christ, lawful, a right end, time and manner,
vii. 233 ; qualities of, vii. 233, 234 ; companion
of, vii. 234 ; attendants, vii. 234, 235 ; limita-
tions of, vii. 235, 236 ; lawfulness, vii. 236 ; why
delay, vii. 236, 237 ; means and ways, vii. 237,
238 ; manner of granting, vii. 239 ; measure,
vii. 240 ; necessity of faith in, vii. 241 ; diffi-
culty of and causes, vii. 242 ; David's com-
plaint, vii. 243; hindrances, vii. 243, 244; uses
of all things, vii, 245, 246 ; read prayers, vii.
245 ; how to increase, vii. 247 ; considerations
towards, vii. 248, 249 ; objections, vii. 249 ;
arguments to faith, vii. 250 ; imperfections
no bar, vii. 251 ; seek to know our faults,
vii. 251 ; Sibbes' prayer before sermons, vii.
337.
Preach, Christ the main object of, iii. 369, v. 50S,
509 (see Word and Ministry) ; what, v. 505 ;
necessity of application in, v. 505, 506 ; use of, v.
508 ; Christ profits not, but as preached, v.
508, 509 ; Christ preached, how, v, 509, 510
(see Law and Preaching.)
Preaching, i. 27, 28 ; grand object of, iv. 115 ;
liberty of, iv. 227 (see Preach) ; force of it, vii.
469 ; the word preached the usual means of
faith, vi. 526 ; how to be prized, vi. 527.
Predestination, v. 212, 213, vi. 241.
Pre-eminence, of Christ, i. 18.
Preference, iv. 166.
Preparation, prepare for an alteration of thy
state and spirit, 1. 141 ; preparation, ii. 450,
451, iv. 64 ; prepared, good, iv. 157 ; God pre-
pares for, iv. 175 ; work of necessary, vi. 522 ;
from God, vi. 522 ; remove hindrances, vi. 522 ;
progress of, vi. 522 ; not to be rested on, vi.
523, vii. 196.
Prerogatives, how to use our, v. 244.
Presence of God in the worst times, i. 248, ii.
228, 229 ; Christ vouchsafes, ii. 20 ; how to know
we enjoy it, ii. 21 ; is an heaven on earth, ii.
21 ; need fear nothing, ii. 21, 22 ; want of casts
down, ii. 112, 113 ; shunned by the carnal, ii.
113, 114 ; in discouragement, though not felt,
ii. 114. 115 ; personal hath a special power. Hi.
329 ; of God, how considered, vi. 124 ; of God,
vi. 48.
Present, too much addicted to, i. 316, 317 ; pay-
ment, iv. 124 ; things as, aflfect us, vii, 422.
Preservation, is from God, i. 325. (See Provi-
dence.)
Presumption, against presuming on God's mercy,
iii. 32, 33 (see Mercy) ; difference between faith
and, iii. 422 ; presumption, iv. 110, 516, v. 371
425 ; distinguished, vi. 473, 474.
Preventing, vii. 198.
Pride, of the Romish church, who stumble at
Christ's lowliness, i. 77 ; if purged a sign of
interest in heaven, i. 328 ; to be avoided, i.
i
GENERAL INDEX.
593
345 ; a sin apainst all the commandments, iii.
' 207, 208 ; grounds against, v. 485 ; cause of our
Fall, iv. 603 ; what takes the fuel away, vi.
238 : must be taken down though the spirit be
dejected, i. 147 ; and passion, mischievous, i.
146.
Priestly office of Christ, i. 16, 17 ; priests, Chris-
tians as, iii. 447, 448.
Principles, different, iv. 422; in a Christian
dwells, vi. 192; lay up, vii. 392.
Private, exercise with contempt of public, con-
demned, V. 507.
Privilege, none exempt from judgment, i. 382 ;
and prerogatives, iv. 129 ; advance in, from
the Law, iv. 238, 239 ; esteem spiritual, iv. 511 ;
of the faithful, v. 259-285 ; whence to esteem,
V. 511, 512 ; Saint's, vii. 357-366.
Prizing, v. 277 ; of Christ , v. 405.
Proclamation of God and men differ, v. 514. (See
Profession and Justify.)
Profaneness. persons, vi. 163 ; feel as Christ did
toward, vii. 192, 193.
Professors, loose life wounds the gospel, i. 377 ;
profession from teeth, outward, v. 201.
Profitable, to be, vii. 39.
Promises. Christ promised in the Old Testament,
i. 3 ; of God, what they are in different respects,
i. 212 ; not all reserved for heaven, i. 250,
251 ; of Christ known, work grace, ii. 343 ; how
God establisheth, ii. 343 ; temporal, connected
with prophecy, i. 4, 5 ; glorious, ii. 497 ; will be
performed, ii. 497 ; best treasure, ii. 500 ; long
time for performance, ii. 500 ; partly received
here, ii. 501 ; God deals with man by, iii. 383,
vii. 420 ; what iii. 384 ; all in Christ, iii. 384 ;
all, yea and amen in, iii. 388, 389, seq. ; kinds
of, iii. 394 ; till in Christ no good by, iii. 399 ;
what right a man out of Christ has to, iii. 400 ;
comfort from, iii. 400, 402, seq. ; how to use,
iii. 404 ; in trouble and can't recall a particular,
iii. 409 ; make familiar iii. 409, seq. ; signs or
evidences of believing, iii. 413 ; are legacies,
iii. 415 ; called a testament, a will, iii. 415 ;
necessity of self-application, iii 420, seq.; heart-
changed, only interested in, iii. 452 ; and Pri-
vileges, iv. 11.3-149 ; what, iv. 118, 119 ; go to
God by, iv. 120 ; universal, iv. 121 ; particular,
iv. 121 ; outward and spiritual, iv. 122 ; ab-
^ solute and conditional, iv. 122 ; treasure of,
iv. 402 ; believing of, v. 441 ; Christians rich
in, iv. 505 ; performed by degrees, vi. 236 ; allege
to God, vi, 122 ; faith looks to God by, vii.
420 ; turned into prayers, vi. 545 ; gradual per-
formance, vi. 546 ; examples, vi. 546, 547, vii.
213.
Property in God chiefly to be laboured for, i. 264.
Prophetical office of Christ, i. 1 6 ; how Christians
are prophets, iii. 447 ; prophets and apostles,
how subject to error, and how not, iii. 355, 356 ;
prophets vi. 30.
Props, vii. 210.
Prosperity, seeming, of the wicked shall have an
end, i. 385, 419 ; must not grieve at, i. 385, 386 ;
continual of a bad estate, a sign, i. 402 ; of
others, iv. 473 ; outward, no mark, v. 269 ; faith
in, sweetens and orders, v. 378 ; danger of it,
vi. 237 ; ' prosper,' vi. 101, 102, 103, 204.
Protection and pre-eminence, iv. 359 ; and pro-
vision, V. 377.
Providence of God, makes all good to us, i 204 ; a
special stay of our faith, i. 205 ; what God is he
makes good by, i. 205 ; graces to be exercised in
by observing, i. 207 ; God will keep us if we
commit ourselves to him, i. 418 ; eye, him in
all, i. 422, 423 ; rely on him, i. 423 ; commit
posterity to, i. 424 (see Preservation) ; the ways
of, are right, ii. 418 ; what, iii. 167 ; of God, v.
180, 269, 270, vi. 83, 84, v. 35-54 ; instances of,
vi. 135.
Provision, protection, ii. 234.
Prudence (see Wisdom), heavenly, definition of,
ii. 413.
Pulse, of the soul, vii. 203.
Punishment, proportionable to sin, vii. 22.
VOL. VII.
Purchase, Christ by, vi. 307.
Purge, ii. 452.
Purity, iv. 170 ; purifying, iv. 482 ; seek, iv. 483 ;
pattern of, vii. 505-516 ; • purity,' vii. 505 ;
workman in, vii. 505 ; careless of, no hope,
vii. 5U6 ; arguments for, vii. 511 ; how, vii.
612 ; means, vii. 513, 514.
Qualifies, God, iv. 176 ; within, iv. 577 ; must be
from heaven, iv. 179 ; qualifications as well as
title, v. 276; qualities of Clirist as Lord, v.
309 ; God, for hereafter, v. 383.
Quenching the Spirit, how, i. 74 ; helps to cherish,
i. 74, 75.
Query, it is good to propound queries to ourselves,
ii. 136, 137.
Qucstimis, about needless disputes, their ccn.sure,
i. 54 ; breed knowledge, ii. 136 ; gifts of others
to be improved Ijy, ii. 136, 13" ; question.s, such
as, vii 222 ; well to put, vii. 387.
Quickened, love quickens to duty, vi. 255, vii.
495, 406.
Quiet, mistrust thyself when all is, i. 97; how
faith quiets the soul, vi. 255 ; subjection, vii.
207.
Race, Christianity is a, v. 106 ; how to run this, v.
106, 108 ; impediments, v. 107, 109 ; we must
not rest in, v. 109, vii. 300.
Raise, up Christ, and therefore us, iv. 459.
Ravishing, to the soul, iv. 482.
Read, how the Scriptures, iv. 160 ; with the Spirit,
iv. 160.
Real, praises of God necessary, i. 255 ; things put
out troublesome thoughts, i.'lSl.
Reason, true religion not contrary to, i. 80 ; for
sin, none at all, i. 245 ; of a godly man, divine,
i. 245 ; insufhcient, ii. 495 ; over e.xalt not, iv.
159 ; Judgment's, iv. 75-112 ; mysteries of
above, v. 467 ; use of in religion, v. 467. (See
Faith).
Rebellion, show of reason for, vii. 282.
Receive, receiving, the right, iv. 59-74 ; cannot
all, here, iv. 169.
Reconciliation, v. 209, 330, vi. 652 ; Spirit, fruit
of, vii. 201.
Recovery, from falling, ii. 204 ; recover, how, iv.
254 ; how Paul knew of, iv. 460 ; spiritual, vi.
401 ; Discouragement's, vii. 49-04 ; of God's
children, vii 65, 67, 82 ; how, vii. 67, 68, 83.
Recreations, to be made good use of, iv. 511, vii.
214, 304.
Redemption, wonder of, i. 7 ; Christ a special
instrument of, i. 42 ; all we are, and have re-
deemed, V. 301 ; Christ redeems, how, iv. 218 ;
of bodies, v. 155-173 ; day of, v. 444 ; full, not
yet, V. 445 ; but there is a day, v. 445 ; greater
than creation, i. 7, 12 ; v. 519, vi. 326.
Reed, Bruised, i. 33-101.
Reji'ct, man can, upon his actions, vi 215.
Reformation, of life must be joined with prayer,
ii. 277 ; Josiah's, vi. 27-90 ; with humiliation,
vi. 66 ; with prayer, vi. 75.
Refreshing, Saint's, vi. 90.
Regeneration, Touchstone of, vii. 127-137 ; marks
of, vii. 131 ; violence taken away by, vii. 130.
Rejoice, Christians are always to, ii. 34 (see Joy) ;
Christians must, v. 58 ; why Chi-istians some-
times rejoice not, v. 61 ; Christ is the matter
of, V. 74, 75 ; alway, vi. 68.
Relapse, relapses pardonable and curable, i. 231 ;
how to do in, v. 366.
Relations, wherein we stand to God must be all
answered, and how, i. 215 ; Christian, v. 289.
Religion, not to be entered on with hopes of plea-
sure and ease, i. 398 ; reformation of, hath
brought blessings, i. 312 ; exercises of, discon-
tinued causeth Christ to withdraw, ii. 68, 59 ;
how to attain a spiritual relish of them, ii. 91,
92 ; folly of those who excuse themselves from,
ii. 93 ; young men to inure themselves to, ii. 94,
95 ; to "be adorned for bringing in others, ii.
136, 137 ; justify our pains, oft think of the
excellencies of Christ, ii. 162 ; not to subordi-
Pp
594
GENEEAIi INDEX.
nate to state policy, iii. 279, 280 ; tends to prac-
tice, iii. 2S0 ; popish is carnal, iii. 2.J6, seq. ;
most religious are the best statesmen, iii. 299 ;
wherein our religion and the popish agree and
dififer, iii 376, seq. ; unsound and rotten, iii.
523 ; not founded on the Scriptures, iii. 522,
523 ; crosseth Scripture, iii. 365, 366 ; full of
contradictions, iii. 366 ; uncertainties, iii. 366,
367 ; protestant, the safer, iii. 379 ; can a papist
be saved ? iii. 379, 380 ; the way of, full of com-
fort, V 120 ; how to carry ourselves in, v. 465 ;
not easily learned, vi. 508 (see Persecute) ; holy
desires make, vi. 98, 99.
Relish, departing, ii. 453, 467 ; look to, iv. 102.
Rely, v. 393.
Remainders, iv. 221, 222, 267.
Remedy, for ' casting down,' vii. 55.
Remembrance, where, vii. 200.
Remission, vii 263 ; what to have sin remitted,
vii. 264 ; is this all the benefit ? vii. 265, 266 ;
why put for all, vii. 266, 267 ; all benefits given
in, vii. 268, 269; how, vii. 270, 271 ; uses of all
this, vii. 271.
Remnant, God's people a, vii. 158.
Remorse, iv. 91, 92
Renew, covenant, iv. 94.
Renounce, the world, ii. 468.
Renunciation, of religion at death, iii. 531.
Repentance, begins in the love of God, i. 184 ; a
way to turn away wrath, i. 381 ; true, is of the
particular sin we are most addicted to, ii. 277 ;
trial of it, ii 277, 278 ; not to be delayed, ii.
305 ; turns away God's anger, ii. 323 ; late,
seldom true, iii. 39, vi. 212 ; what, vi. 328, 329 ;
benefit of livingt vi 213. (See Sin).
Reproach, expression of malice, i. 109 ; not to be
cast down for, i 109 ; David sensible of, i. 113,
114 ; and rebuke removed, ii. 459, 488, 490 ;
causes of, ii. 489 ; beware of bringing, ii. 489 ;
what to do under, ii. 491, v. 274 ; not to be re-
garded, vi. 303, 304.
Reprobates, i. 25 ; who are, vi. 406.
Reproof, for sin patiently endured is evidence of
pardon, ii. 371 ; iii. 314, 491 ; of sin, how to be
ordered, ii. 372 ; ministers must not spare to
reprove, iii. 491 ; threefold reproof, iii. 492, 493.
Requite, cannot, Christ, ii. 208
Rescue, from death with a return of praise, vii.
133-157.
Reservation, of sins, vii. 218.
Resignation, iv. 319, 320, 393, v. 318.
Resisting, whence, iv. 385, 386.
Resolution, needful in a Christian, i. 100,2-53;
want of it breeds disquiet, i. 140 ; firm and
peremptory, to be aflarmed, i. 201 ; renew it,
i. 201 ; quickly, i. 202 ; is required in .spiritual
courses, ii. 167 ; helps to attain to it, ii. 167 ;
of good, iii. 308, seq., v. 429, vii. 295, 410 ; we
must be resolute, v. 81 ; ground of, vi. 510 ;
resolutions, vi. 17.
Rest, iv. 186, 187 ; resting and quieting, v. 279,
vii. 77, 145.
Resurrection, its end, i. 85 ; an argument to
strengthen faith, iii. 157 ; willbe a. iii. 157, seq ;
God raiseth the dead, iii. 157 ; of Christ and
the Spirit, iv. 209, 210, v. 192, 193 ; power of,
V. 195-201 ; many rose with Christ, v. 355 ; the
saints not perfectly happy until, v. 98, 99 ; par-
takers of, vii. 215 ; general, vii. 316-333 ; shall
rise, vii. 317 ; proved, vii. 318, 319 ; how pos-
sible, vii. 319 ; objections and answers, vii. 319,
320, ; uses of, vii. 320, 321 ; rise with same
bodies, vii. 321 ; objections and answers, vii.
322 ; uses, vii. 323, 324 ; know one another,
reasons, vii. 324 ; times of rising, vii. 324, 325 ;
uses, vii. 325, 326 ; question about bodies, vii.
325, 326 ; by whose power shall we rise, vii.
326, 327 ; in what state, vii. 327 ; glory of the
resurrection body, vii. 328 ; uses, vii. 328 ;
reasons, vii. 328, 329 ; uses, vii, 329 ; spiritual
bodies, vii. 330 ; of wicked, vii. 331, 332 ; curi-
ous questions, vii. 332, 3-33.
Returning, to the Lord, ii. 255 ; how to know
whether we have returned, ii. 255, 256.
Revelation, seek, ii. 246, v. 407 ; degrees of, iv.
158 ; seek further, iv. 172, 175 ; an agency, iv.
377, 378 ; spirit of, to be begged, vi. 335, 355 ;
God dctli not reveal all things at all times, vii.
421 ; of our wretched condition, vii. 190.
Revived, Christ, v. 330.
Reward, to Josiah, vi. 76.
Riches, of Christ, i 24, ii. 204, iv. 496 ; carry our-
selves answerable to, i. 21 ; Church's, iv. 4S9-
527 ; of Christ, what will they do if poverty so
much, iv. 507 ; outward, iv. 508, 509 ; Christ
was rich, iv. 495 ; riches, what, iv. 496 ; Christ
became poor to make us rich, iv. 498 ; what,
we have by Christ, iv. 498 ; abasement of out-
ward, iv. 508 ; why we want spiritual, iv. 509,
510 ; Christians do not know sometimes their,
iv. 510 ; how to improve, by Christ, iv. 510, 511.
Right, Christ's by, v 307.
Righteousness, righteous, what meant thereby, i.
395 ; they are saved, yet hardly, why, i. 396,
397, 398 ; of Christ, how made ours, ii. 81, 84 ;
perfectly to be trusted to, ii. 157 ; cannot justify
us, V. 05 ; how Christ's is ours, v. 96, 97 ;
righteous man, who, vii. 7 ; Poor Man's, or
Rich Poverty, 229-263; Sun of, vii. 165-178 ;
necessity of, vii. 360, 361 ; Spirit convinces of,
vii. 361 ; why necessary, vii. 361, 362 ; objec-
tions, vii. 362, 363 ; use, vii. 363 ; how know if
convicted of, vii. 363, 364 ; uses, vii. 364.
Risen, Christ, v. 197 ; we shall rise, v. 198 ; proof
of satisfaction, v. 329 ; entered into possession,
V. 329 ; Christ rose, v. 327 ; again with many,
on the Lord's day, to shew kind of life, v. 327,
328.
Rock, ii. 449 ; what is meant by, in Matthew xvi.
18, iii. 376.
Rod, sin puts a, into God's hand, vi. 141.
Rome, tyrannical over aflGlicted consciences, i. 77.
Rule, over, iv. 89 ; fit to, v. 455 ; God hath left to
his church, v. 119 ; properties of, v. 119, vi.
499. 500 ; how to be applied in particular actions,
vi. 501. (See Word.)
Sabbath, respited, vi. 557.
Sacraments, of the Lord's Supper, its nature, i.
67 ; sacrament, ii. 233, 450 ; a mystery, ii. 461 ;
Christ not bodily present, v. 528 : how to con-
ceive of Christ in, v. 538 ; a sign and seal, iv.
68, V. 25 1 ; seven, iv. 149 ; faith in, v. 379 ;
seal. vi. 23, 24 ; how often observed, v. 153.
Sacrifices, of Christians under the gospel, ii. 269.
Saints, Safety in Evil Times, i. 295-334 ; hatred of
wicked men, i. 300 ; Hiding-place in the Evil
Day, i. 406-425 ; stability proved, ii. 77 ; Cor-
dials, three editions of, iv. 60 ; our love and
respect should be for all, iii. 11 ; God scatters,
why, iii. 12 ; all who profess, should be, iii. 12 ;
professors called, iii. 12 ; four things requii-ed
to be, iii. 13, 14 ; how to know, iii. 14 ; how
different from hypocrites, iii 14, (see Chris-
tian) : delight in communion of, vi. 513 ; ex-
cellency of, why, vii. 100, 101; Refreshing,
vi 76-90; imitation of, vi. S3; Comforts, vi.
159-180.
Sakes, for your, iv. 500.
Salt, iv. 367.
Salutations, iii 529 ; use of, threefold, iii. 15;
holy, iii. 15, 10 ; God's name when taken in
vain in, iii. 15, 16 ; when to be omitted, iii.
100, seq.
Salvation, chosen to, i. 9 : of God plentiful and
manifold, i. 259 ; to be thought upon in trouble,
i. 259 ; the golden chain of it, i. 264 ; diEBculty
of, i. 394-400 ; certainty of, i. 396 ; certain, ii.
318 ; God willing to save, ii. 306 ; none out of
the church, ii. 354 ; salvation, ii. 512, 513 ;
wrought by suffering, and how, and by Christ,
how, iii. 100, seq. ; how afflictions help, iii. lOl,
102, seq. ; two ways to obtain, iii. 100, seq. ; in
all aim at, v. 9 ; degrees of dispensation of, v.
512 ; Christ a joint cause of, iv. 512; applied,
V. 384-408 ; part of, vii. 210, 358 ; witness of, vii.
366-385.
Samaritatis, iii. 536, 537.
GENERAL INDEX.
595
Sanctification, i. 27; Christ is our, as well as
justification, i. 79 ; a strong motive to it, ii.
19 ; sanctification, iv. 72, 73, 135, v. 209, 367 ;
benefits, vii. 154 ; good in order of, vii. 374.
Sanctuary, benefit of entering, place of deliver-
ance, vii. 67, 68.
Satan, his ob.iections answered, 1. 98 ; when over-
come by weak means is most outrageous, i. 98 ;
why he prevails sooner over us than Christ, i.
63 ; and his instruments still casting down the
godly, i. 134 ; cunning in divers humours of
Christians, i. 13" ; discourages when God en-
courages, i. 279 ; study to unloose the heart
from God, i. 223 ; to divide between God and
us, i. 223 ; how to answer his accusations, ii.
179 ; when under, v. 228 ; usurpation of, iv.
313 ; defeated, v. ^56, v. 2f;i, 262, how to dis-
cern between and our corruptions, vii. 224 ; let
loose by some sin vii. 225 ; observes, vii. 301.
Satisfaction, only in heaven, ii. 228 ; against
popish merits and, for others, iii. 99 (see In-
dulgences) ; required in our restoring, iv. 503 ;
corrections not for, iv. 108 ; full, v. 329.
Saviour, Christ our, v. 142.
Scandal, makes it hard to be saved, i. 398.
Soot, and lot, vii. 252.
Scripture, why Jews understand not, v 479,
(see Christ) ; how to understand, vi. 489 ;
authority o^ ii. 441, 493, 494 ; majesty, mys-
tery, in.spiration, efficacy, searching, ii. 494 ;
the word of God, ii. 495 ; be made good, ii 496 ;
time to read, iv. 160 ; accusation of by Jesuits,
iv. 312 ; Christ the Spirit of, iv. 210 ; comfort,
V. 447 ; as known by reason, vii. 193 ; how to
reach, vii. 2:o.
Scruples, needless, how remedied, i. 62.
Sealing, Christ the head is first sealed and then
the members, iii. 452 ; our sealing, what, iii.
463 ; four uses of, iii. 453, 454 ; theSpirit com-
pared to a seal, wherein, iii. 454, 455, seq. ;
how the Spirit differs from other seals, iii. 455,
456, seq. ; how the Spirit seals us, iii. 456, 457,
seq. ; four things the Spirit works in this seal-
ing, iii. 456 ; how to know the sealing of the
Spirit, iii. 456, 457,458, 459 ; objections, iii. 458,
seq. ; motives to labour to get, ii. 4C0, seq. ;and
anointing, iv. 1.32 ; uses of, iv. 132, 133 ; what,
iv. 133 ; how know, iv. 134, 135 ; seek, iv. 137 ;
of persons and truths, iv. 139 ; Fountain Sealed,
V. 40it-456 ; Holy Spirit the sealer, v. 432 ; per-
sons, V. 433, 434; significance of, y. 434, 435,
436; sealed distinguishing from others, v. 435 ;
degrees of, v. 437, 438 ; an argument not to
grieve Holy Spirit, v. 451 ; sealed yet doubting,
V. 452 ; clear stamp, v. 45'i ; seal God's truth,
vi. 542 ; of Christ, what, vi 374 ; what use to
make of, vi. 375 ; how to know Christ is sealed
for our good, vi. 375, 376 ; threefold, vi. 376 ;
what, vi. 377 ; walk as sealed, v. 453 ; seal,
vii. 382, 383, 384.
Searched, willingness to be, v. 404.
Second, Coming, vii. 124.
Secrets, iv. 157 ; reasonsfor, iv. 168, 169 ; secrecy,
v. 437 ; will of God no rule, vi. 490.
Security, mark of ripeness of sin, i. 379 ; brings
sorrows, ii. 110 ; forerunner of judgment, vi. 222.
Seeds, two, ii. 489 ; blood of the 'martyrs, seed of
the church, iii. 531 ; seed, iv. 308.
Seek, they that, shallfind, ii. 117, 218, 221, iv 70 ;
Seeking the Successful, vi. 109-132 ; God by his
strength, vi. 124 ; ground of seeking God, vi.
124, (see Strength, Betimes, Face) ; seeking, vii.
215.
Self-, denial requisite to praise God, 1. 252 ; self,
what in the godly and what in others, i. 160 ;
self-denial required, i. 345 ; examination, iv.
62, 65 ; reluctant, iv. 83, 84 ; necessary, iv. 84,
85 ; benefits from, iv. 85 ; mistaken, iv 89 ;
times of, iv. 92, 93 ; love, iv. 183 ; denial, v.
180, 299, 341, 441 ; degrees of, v. 293, 294 ; live
not to, V. 294 ; sinful, v. 294 ; humbling, vi.
44 ; love, vii. 212.
(Sensei, spiritual, ii. 238; sense and fate differ-
ence, vii. 382.
Scnsibleness, sensible, vi. 39 ; how know we have,
iv. 420, vi. 39 ; ' sensible,' vi. 39 ; four ways
vi. 39, 40. ^
Sentence, of Christ unavoidable, vii. 31.
Separation, vi. 44, 338.
Sermons, end of, iv. 48 6.
Serpent, brazen, iv. 352, 353.
Servants, how, i. 5 ; comfort that he was, i. 9
offer Christ in our service, i. 10 ; faithful, vi.
88 ; ' thy,' vi. 94, 95 ; how did they know, vi.
93 ; of the hou.se, vi. 405 ; danger of deferring,
vi. 497 ; God the object of, vi. 498 ; service
what, vi. 498, 499 ; common actions a service,
vi. 508 ; qualification, vi. 508 (see Life) ; the
Christian best, vii. 190 ; relation of useful to put
in mind of duty, vii. 208 ; we are, vii. 298, 299.
Serve, servant, Christ a servant, i. 5-11 ; humility
taught thereby, i. 8, 9 ; it is not vain to the
Lord, ii. 409, 41U ; men must not appoint how
to serve God, vi. ill.
Set. about it. iv. 70.
Shame, vii 311.
Sheep, Christ's, vii. 185.
/S/u'ne, on others, iv. 336.
Shoiv, iv. 58.
SiBBEs, RicHAED, D.D., never before edited, L
xiii ; plan and spirit of this edition, I. xiv,
XV ; ' Heavenly' his usual designation, i. xix ;
neglect of contemporaries to write his Life, I.
xix ; Isaac Walton, Dr William Gouge, Hichard
Baxter, John Davenport, (ioodwin, &c., &c.. I.
xx-xxii ; his own indifference to posthumous
fame, I xxiii, xxiv ; spellings of the name, 1.
xxiv, xxv ; Bishop Montagu's allusion, i. xxv ;
his birth-place Tostock not Sudbury, i. xxvi ;
Zachary Catlin MS., L xxvii ; born 1577,
parentage, I. xxvii ; Tostock and vicinity
described, I. xxvii. xxviii ; removed to Thurs-
ton, I. xxix ; ' wheel-wright' shop, I. xxix ;
school, 'leather-suited,' I. xxx ; 'Free-School,'
Bury St Edmunds, I. xxxi ; contemporary
boys, i. xxxi ; father withdraws Master Richard,
L xxxiii ; friends interfere and send him to
St John's College, Cambridge, I. xxxiii-xxxiv ;
B.A. 1598-9 and other degrees to B.D. in 1610,
I. xxxiv ; his conversion under Paul Bayne,
modest reticence approved, I. xxxiv, xxxv ;
' Memorial' as to ■ Trinity Lectureship,' I xxxv,
xxxvi ; subscribers, ' common people,' I.
xxxvi ; success, conversion of John Cotton, L
xxxvii-viii ; Thomas Goodwin, I. xxxviii ;
character of prevalent ' preaching,' L xxxviii-
ix ; deprived of Lectureship and ' outed' from
Fellowship, I. xxxi.x ; Preachership of Cray's
Inn, London, secured by Sir Henry Yelverton,
I. xxxix-xl ; date corrected, I. xl ; illustrious
auditory, I. xl, xli ; Lord Bacon 'a bruised
reed.' I. xli, xlii ; Shakspeare, I. xlii ; Arch-
bishop Ussher seeks to have him transferred
to Trinity College, Dublin, 1 xlii : correspond-
ence. L xlii-xlviii ; accepts 'Mastership' of
Catharine Hall, Cambridge, L xlviii ; history
of this college and Sibbes's success, I. xlix, seq. ;
Preston and Sibbes, contemporaries and hearers,
L 1-liv ; Trinity Lectureship again, I. liv ;
testimonies, I. Iv-lvi ; students, I. Ivli ; puri-
tans watched, I. Ivii ; the Elector Palatine
and Sibbe-s's interest and efibrts, I. Ivii-viii ;
Laud persecutes. Star-chamber, L lix ; preacher
of Gray's Inn under surveillance, I Ix ; Sibbes
uncontroversial, I. Ix ; faithful out-speaking, I.
Ixi ; sad and strange yet not strange hatred of
Laud, I. Ixii, seq. ; popish services, I. Ixiv,
seq. ; all good and true men harrassed by the
protestant primate, I. Ixvi. seq. ; puritan lite-
rature the very life-blood of the literature
of the age, I. Ixvii ; worthlessness of the
•writings' of the Laudian divines, I. Ixviii ;
noble words of Sibbes, I. Ixviii, seq ; 'Feoffees'
another handle for persecuting Sibbes, I. Ixx ;
contemporary events, I Ixx, seq. ; extracts
from Laud's ' Journal' and ' Defence,' L
Ixxxiii, seq. ; character of Laud delineated, L
Ixxix-lxxxi ; Sibbes's ' IntroducUons' to works
596
GENEEAL INDEX.
of contemporaries, Whitaker, Paul Bayne,
Henry Scutlder, Ezekiel Culverwell, Dr John
Preston, John Smith, John Ball, Ptichard Capel,
I Ixxxi-cx, and VII. 561, 562 ; presentation to
Vicarage of Trinity by the king, I. cxi ; another
relaxation of 'order' of Gray's Inn, I. cxii ;
Bishop Williams and Sibbes, I. cxii-xiii ; letter
to Goodwin, I. cxiv-xvi ; emigrants to ' New
England,' I. cxvii ; visits to country mansions
of nobility by Sibbes, I. cxviii, seq. ; church
of Thurston, I. cxxi-xxiii ; ' The Beginning of
the End,' retrospect, I. cxxiii-iv ; character,
testimonies, the English Leighton, I. cxxiv,
stq. ; 'The Valley of the Shadow of Death,
last sermons, will, illness, death, burial, I.
cxxvii, seijr. ; conclusion, I. cxxxi ; appendix,
Zachary Catlin's ' Memoir' of Sibbes, annotated,
I. cxxxiii-xli ; Sibbes's family and name, I.
cxli-ii ; successors of Sibbes in his offices, I.
cxliii. ; notices of and tributes to Sibbes, ii. 4,
442, ili. 4, 5, iv. 154, 310 311, 492, 494, v. 158,
221, 223, 411 anecdotes of, v. 455 ; epistle to
sermon of Gataker, vii. 561, 562.
Sickness, comfort in, i. 240 ; God's children sub-
ject to, V. 40, 41 ; how behave in. v. 48 ; sick,
iv. 80, V. 375 ; cause of, vi. 140 ; how from God,
vi. 141 ; extremity of, vi. 141 ; natural cause,
vi. 141 ; how to converse with the sick, vi.
142 ; have recourse to God in, vi. 146 ; sick-
ness, vii. 205, 206.
Siding, with God in evil times, i. 270, vi. 472.
Sight, of God not always alike, reasons, i. 278 ;
of Christ, ii. 205 ; spiritual, ii. 462 ; things in,
ii. 464 ; degrees of, ii. 464 ; perfect, ii. 505,
506 ; not fitted for glory yet, ii. 50S ; degrees of,
iv. 250, 261, 252 ; three wonderful sights, iv. 270,
271 ; what meant by, v. 496 ; sin takes away
the sight of itself, v. 2.32 ; things requisite to, vii.
424 ; three things in strong, vii. 425 (see Faith,
Persuasion) ; four things requisite to, vi. 527 ;
with enjoyment, vii. 204 ; supernatural, of
simple things, vii. 211.
Signs, of a good estate, i. 137 ; signs, vii. 109.
Silence, Quakers, v. 34 ; silence, vii. 196.
Simplicity, what and how taken, iii. 205, 229, 230 ;
why called godly, iii. 240 ; difference between,
and sincerity, iii. 229 ; St Paul's conversation
in simplicity, how, iii. 229, 230 ; to what things
it is opposed, iii. 232, seq. ; directions to get,
iii. 237, 238, vii. 135.
Simulation, iii. 231 ; aggravations of this sin,
iii. 2.32, seq. (See Dissemblinfl.)
Sin, is laid open to the sense by the light of grace,
1. 59, 60 ; of infirmity, what, i 68, 69 ; in whom,
i. 67 ; more grieve for sin than punishment, i.
48 ; original, spreads, i. 63, 64 ; ever unreason-
able, i. 146 ; the greatest trouble, i. 241 ; avoid
not trouble by sin, i. 241 ; sweet in doing, bitter
in reckoning, i. 228 ; God punishes it wherever
he sees it, i. 377 ; when ripe, i. 379 ; against
the gospel is against God's attributes, i. 388 ;
greatest against greatest light, i. 388 ;
nearest must be parted with, i. 390 ; efifects, i.
392 ; sweet, i. 397 ; sticks to all. i. 397 ; sins of
the second table grounded on the first, i. 298,
299 ; full of deceit, i. 306, 307, 311 ; God
delivers from great, i. 324 ; abstinence from
present, the way to be delivered from future,
i. 323, 324 ; art and diligence aggravate, i. 298 ;
church must punish, i. 378 ; sinners, what, i.
400 ; should not discourage us, ii. 25 ; small, a
grief to gracious souls, i. 41 ; Christ leaves not
the church for, ii. 59 ; grieved for, ought not to
discourage, ii. 29 ; murmurs bring grief and
shame, ii. 108 ; not to be slighted, ii. 108 ;
should not hinder our coming to Christ, ii. 142 ;
will make us highly value Christ, ii. 157 ; how
to answer Satan's temptations, ii. 181 ; weak,
not refused by Christ, ii 59 ; sinners, how said
to be holy, ii. 82 ; all alike hated by a sincere
Christian, ii. 261 ; why to be prayed against,
ii. 261 ; brings judgment, ii. 256 ; hateful to
an awakened conscience, ii. 261, 262; former,
to be remembered, ii. 263; how to know they
are forgiven, ii. 263 ; bitterness causeth re-
pentance, ii. 290 ; is a disease, ii. 302 ; God
willing to pardon all, ii. 307 ; neglected prove
incurable, ii. 303 ; Jseing disease, is to be
cured, ii. 304, 305 ; to be searched out, ii. 310 ;
subdued, an evidence of pardon, ii. 312 ; why
suffered to remain, ii. 313, 314 ; object of God's
anger, ii. 322; contrary to God's nature, ii. 322;
forsaken and hated, ii. 369 ; how known to be
hated, ii. 370 ; when universally, implacably,
chiefly, ii 370, 371 ; in greatest measure, ii.
371 ; love not to be flattered in, ii. 371 ; occa-
sions to be avoided, ii. 371 ; how come to hate,
ii. 373 ; set forth in its own nature will make
us hate it, ii. 374 ; the bane of all our comforts,
ii. 374 ; the only object of the hatred of God's
children, ii. 390 ; helps to make us hate, ii. 390 ;
cause of all ill, ii. 390 ; our greatest enemy, ii.
390, 391 ; renounced will make God hear our
prayers, ii. 393 ; want of conviction makes us
careless in, ii. 267 ; impenitent sinners not to
be envied, ii. 304 ; their dangerous condition,
ii. 374 ; how affected towards, iv. 74 ; owing,
iv. 79 ; corrected in believers, iv. 81, 82 ;
judged, iv. 91 ; liberty to, iv. 110 ; dominion of,
broken ,iv. 230 ; hate sin, iv. 266 ; despair not
from, iv. 322 ; special, v. 186, 187 ; original, v.
255 ; aljstaining from, v. 281 ; how to judge of,
v. 425 ; against knowledge, v. 417 ; second
table, V. 418 ; against the gospel, v. 420 ; of
contriving ; v. 421 ; avoidable, v. 421, 422 ;
cavilling, v. 422 ; in our own strength, v. 422 ;
troubled mind, v. 422 ; omission, v. 422 ; little
sins, v. 429 ; great, vi 36 ; willing to bear, vi.
49 ; bitter to the soul, vi. 53 ; offend not in, vi.
53; avoid allurements of, vi. 53; loathing of,
vi. 53; hate it universally, increasingly, be
willing to be admonished for and to speak of,
vi. 54; ugliness of, vi. 55 ; God opens eyes to
see, vi. 169, 170 ; how to be sensible of, vi. 170,
171 ; insupportable, vi. 171 ; sense and sight,
best are sinners, vi. 169; greatness of, hinders
not God's love, vi. 354 ; how far Christ took
our sins, iv. 498 ; the lust we have, vi. 211 ;
particular, foreshewing judgment, vi. 223 ;
naturally we are under sin, v. 226, 227 ; three-
fold, V. 227 ; justice of God to give men up to,
V. 227, 228 ; misery to be under, v. 228 ; fruit
of thraldom to, v. 230, 231 ; men not all alike
given up to, v. 233 ; death in, v. 235 (see
Generality, Death, Leprosy, Judgment) ; con-
sidered in these times, vii. 522, 523 ; aggrava-
tion of, vi. 138 ; unhappy succession of, vi. 139,
140 ; beginnings of, to be avoided, vi. 139, 140 ;
particular, to be searched out, vi. 140 ; what,
hinder prayer, vi. 147 ; first stirrings of, vii.
73 ; sense and sight of, insupportable, vii. 77 ;
sin pardoned greatest mercy, vii. 156 ; when
forgiven is subdued, vii. 161 ; will be drowned
when dead, vii. 162, 173 ; freedom from, vii.
188 ; Christ's Suff'ering for Man's Sin, i. 351-369 ,
Sin's Antidote, vii. 261-279 ; opposition in,
against God and law, vii. 264 ; breach of law;
vii. 265 ; confession and loathing of, vii. 275 ;
delivered from committing, vii. 275.
Sincerity, makes a Christian, ii. 362 ; what, iii.
240 ; iiow differs from simplicity, iii. 226 ; why
godly, iii. 240 ; a Christian's conversation in
the world should be in, iii. 240, 258 ; in good
actions how tried, iii. 241 , 242 ; in all, iii. 243 ; in
indifferent, iii. 244 ; motives to labour for, iii.
245, 246, seq^ ; means to get, iii. 247, 248 ; cor-
ruptions and imperfections, iii. 250, seq.; order
in, iii. 251 ; extends itself to the whole frame,
of life, iii. 252, 253 ; must have our conversa-
tion in, iii 258 ; boldness of, vi. 532 ; sincerity,
vii. 75, 188, 205, 217, 237.
Singularity, there is a spirit of, in many, iii. 9.
Skill, seek, iv. 401 ; what, v. 192.
Slandering, and depraving other.s' actions, the
devil's office, i. 56 ; a cloak for cruelty, i. 300 ;
how to arm against, iii. 340.
Slave, man by nature a, iv. 217 ; slavery of sin,
vii. 201.
I
GENERAL INDEX.
597
Sleep, what meant by, of the church, ii. 40 41
42 ; compared with the bodily causes, effects'
dangers, ii. 41, 42 ; best prone to, ii. 42, 43 ; civil
of the state, what it is, ii. 42, 43 ; a punishment
of spiritual, ii. 42. 43 ; the signs of sleepy state,
11. 43, 44 ; motives against, ii. 44, 45 ; secure,
a dangerous state, ii. 44, 45 ; makes us lose our
grace and the comfort of it, ii. 45 ; brings
crosses, ii. 45, 46 ; odious to God, ii. 45 ; what
good retained in, ii. 47, 48 ; difference of sleep
of Christian and carnal men, ii. 47, 48 ; sleep
iv. 80 ; the death of the godly a, vi. 511.'
Slighting, iy. 171.
Snare, in best things, iv. 123.
Srmffers, iv. 486..
Sobriety, iv. 170.
Sociableness, society, comfort, and benefit of, iii.
76, 253 ; sociableness, vii. 132 ; trials of, vii.
Soliloquies, of special use, i. 191.
Solitariness, ill for afflicted ones, 1. 195 ; intoler-
able to the wicked, why, i. 149 ; very danger-
ous, iii. 76, 253 (see Alo7ie and Society) ;
removed, vii. 56.
Somethings, iv. 481.
Son, of God, mistake about, iii. 530 ; Christ, Son
of God, how differing from other sons, ii. 370 ;
who are sons of God, and how known, v. 24 ;
whether all God's sons know themselves to be,
V. 26 ; sons witnessed by the Spirit, vi. 458.
Sorrow, weakens the heart, i. 142 ; not required
for itself, i. 232 ; can't make satisfaction, i. 233 ;
dangerous overmuch, i. 233 ; popery in it, i.
234; comfortable degree of, for sin, when, i.
235 ; why Christians seem, v. 61 ; God's chil-
dren have not, v. 47 : not repented of, vi.
270.
Soul, union with the body, 1. 6 ; most constant
state in respect of sin, i. 28 ; to be cited and
pressed to gi^ve account, i. 147 ; excellency in
reflecting on itself and judging all its issues, i.
149 ; debased by wicked men, i. 150 ; should
be first set in order, i. 131 ; needs more than
itself to uphold it, i. 160 ; temper, when right,
i. 157 ; over-born gets free, i. 202 ; gracious,
most sensible of the want of spiritual means,
i. 131 ; knows when it is well and ill, i. 132 ;
committed to God, i. 4ij6, 407, 40S, 418 ; why,
i. 409 ; must be done sincerely, i. 422 ; reasons,
i. 422 ; directions, i. 414 ; what it is, i. 419 ;
how we may know when we commit it to God,
i. 421 ; even in the most desperate state, i.
414, 415 ; desire to be kept from sin, i. 407 ;
■wicked think they have none, i. 407 ; must be
respected above other things, i 407, 408 ; not
satisfied but by strong reasons, i 409 ; carried
away with delight, i. 409 ; immortality proved,
ii. 77 ; precious, ii. Iu9 ; how to know diseases
of, ii 303 ; God willing to save, ii. 306 ; nature
of the soul, ii. 217 ; what made for, ii. 247 ;
Soul's Conflict, i. 119-294; God's Spirit speaks
comfort to, iii. 514 ; God intends good to us
aU, iii. 142 ; must have somewhat to trust to,
iii. 142 ; should open our case to our spiritual
physician, iii. 513 ; outward not proportionable
to the soul, iv. 509 ; God by his word heals, vi.
155 ; chiefly to be cared for, vi. 613, 514 ; made
for heavenly things, vii. 441 ; love of earthly
things abase, vii. 441, 442 ; how quieted, vii.
442; continues after death, vii. 4; double life •
of, vii. 4 ; how to use, vii. 5 ; soul, vii. 55, 56 ;
how to establish, vii. 57 ; estimate things,
vii. 189.
Sovereign, one only, y 270 ; comfort of Christ's
sovereignty, v. 337 ; honourable, v. 338.
Speak, much of, iv. 184, 449, 450, 454 ; when to,
iv. 456.
Speed, good to be done with, iv. 623.
Spirit, an evidence, i. 14 ; put on Christ, i 15 ;
work of, i. 18 ; assurance by, i 19, 22 ; striving,
i. 22 ; gospel by, i. 23 ; reprobates have, i. 25 ;
by prayer, i. 26 ; how to know we have, i. 14 ;
degrees of receiving, i. 15 ; given and received
by Christ, how, i. 17; three things received, i.
18, 19 ; how Christ gives, i. 23, 24 ; of God, how
far it dwells in the earthly-minded, i. 96 ; how
our spirit is helped against our infirmities, i.
57, 68 ; the word is the breath of, i. 74, 75 ; how
it works with the gospel, i. 391 ; its power, i.
399 ; chiefest part of man, i. 298 ; supports
us in spiritual losses, i. 319 ; a royal, sign of
our interest in, i. 328 ; how compared to wind,
ii. 8; need ploughing of, ii. 9, 10; keeps
awake, ii. 49 ; to be prayed for, ii. 98, 99 ;
in spiritual things no envy, ii. 137 ; stirs de-
sires, ii. 219 ; seek, ii. 496, iv, 91 ; spiri-
tual marriage contract, ii. 201 ; compared to
ointment (see Anointing and Ointment) ; to
an earnest (see Earnest) ; to a seal (see Sealing) ;
why grace attributed to, iii. 447 ; why is said to
seal, iii. 477 ; means to attain, iii. 480, 481, 482,
tcq. ; how to know we have, iii. 478, 479 ; of our
anointing by, iii 442. seq., sealing by, iii. 452,
seq ; alone seals, iii. 614 ; must worship God in
V. 71, 72 ; joy of, iv. 135 ; seals, whv, iv. 144
how know we have, iv. 144, 145; ledby, iv. 146
Etirs, iv. 146 ; grieve not, iv. 147 ; fulness in
Christ, iv. 206, 207, 211, 212 ; dispensation by
Christ, iv. 207 ; quickens, iv. 207 ; how Christ
dispenses, iv. 209 ; comparison of, iv, 213, 214;
convinceth, iv. 214 ; more than persuades, iv.
224 ; seek, iv. 219 ; works all, iv. 293 ; Spirit
comes from Christ, iv. 294 ; distinct from Christ,
iv. 296 ; try whether we have, iv. 298 ; trials,
iv. 298, 299, 300 ; how get, iv. 300-302 ; came
of right, iv. 316 ; know not the working of, iv.
380 ; attributes of the Holy Spirit, v. 253 ;
grieve not, v. 412, 413 ; not in us personally,
V. 413; a counsellor, v. 414; prone to gi'ieve.
v. 414; as a person can't be, v. 414, 415 ; how,
V. 415 ; in Christ, how, v. 238 ; draw to the, v.
420; upward, v. 420 ; how know motions of, v.
427 ; obey, v. 427 ; give full scope, v. 428 ; not
assisting, v. 429 ; healed by, v. 432 ; witness,
v. 440, 441 ; how know voice of, v. 441, 442
doth seal us, v. 451 ; spiritual jubilee, v. 218
248 ; spiritual mourning, vi. 265-292 ; blessed
vi. 267 ; necessity of depending on, v. 468
teacheth to apply, v. 469 ; overcomes, v. 492
Christ's absence supplied by, v. 531 ; how ob-
tained, iv. 503 ; riches of Christians, spiritual
iv. 505 ; converse with those who have, iv. 521
means to get, vii. 545, (see Ascension, Gospel,
Stir, Hold) ; spiritual judgments are greatest,
vii. 524 ; order of working, vii. 422 ; beg to per-
suade us, vii. 436 ; how know it is the, vii. 66
sjiiritual things, excellence of, vii. SO ; firsi
movements of, vii. 75 ; with the word, vii. 193
seek, vii. 193 ; only the Spirit gives relish
vii. 193 ; evidences of indwelling, vii. 199, 200
why he convinces, vii. 365 ; order of the work-
ing, vii 370.
Spouse, of Christ is the church, i. 390, ii. 23 ;
sons by nature, ii. 24 ; how to know we are, ii.
26; directions for those who are not, ii 26;
her excellent condition, ii. 23 ; necessity of
having Christ for our, ii. 26 ; weak as well as
strong, the, ii. 183 ; her earnest desire, ii.
197-208 ; spouse, ii. 197-208.
Stability, of saints proved, ii. 77 ; of saints, where
it ariseth, ii. 33y, 347 ; comforts arising from,
ii. 342 ; stablishing grace necessary, iii. 422 ;
Christ the foundation of, iii. 423 ; judgment
will be stablished in Christ, iii. 424 ; only God
can, iii. 426, seq. ; so he will, iii. 426, seq. ; sta-
blishes by stablishing graces, 1. fear, 2. wis-
dom, 3. faith, 4. peace, &c., iii. 431 ; means of,
iii. 433, 437 ; signs, iii. 437, 438, seq. ; stability,
iv. 124.
Staggering, whence, v. 476, 477.
Slate, of God's children, firm, ii. 341, 342 ; of the
wicked, unstable, ii. 341, 342 ; difference be-
tween, in Adam and Christ, ii. 405.
Steivards, vii. 189, 301.
Stitch, through, v. 304.
Stoicism, ii. 480.
Stones, of the temple, i. 5.
Strait, St Paul's, or Christ is Best, i. 335-350.
598
GENERAL INDEX.
Strangers, God's people here, vii. 450 ; Christ a,
vii. 4,')2; have the afl'ections of, vii. 452 ; wick-
ed men, how, vii. 453 ; bearing of, vii. 454. (See
Pilgrim )
Stream, vi. 543, 544.
Strength, in affliction, ii. 204 ; of spiritual things,
ii. 454, 467 ; how 2 Cor. i. 8 and 1 Cor. x. 13
may stand together, iii. 116, 117; depend not
on our own, iv. 126 ; grace of, v. 182 ; in Christ,
V. 189 ; in Christianity, why so few, v. 369 ; self-
strength, V. 369 ; spiritual, v. 442, 443 ; strong-
hold pulled down, iv, 361 ; best sense, vii. 190 ;
from God, vii. 188 ; in Christ, vii. 205 (l/is).
Strictness of life forced from the gospel, iv 519.
Studi', Christ daily, vi. 355.
Stumbting -block, arm against, iv. 161.
Subdues, iv. 145.
Subjection, v. 313 ; to Christ only, v. 350.
Success, Christians' endeavours successful, vi.
307 ; there is a succession of men, vi. 492 ; of
the gospel, vii. 280-287 ; success, vii. 188 ; suc-
cession in love, vii. 2:j4.
Suffering, with patience, i. 67 ; of the godly and
ungodly differ, i. 373 ; it is best for God's chil-
dren, i. 401, 402 ; conies when God will, i. 402,
403 ; must look from whence it comes, i. 403 ;
well-doing before well-suffering, i. 404 ; not to
be avoided by sin, i. 405 ; in well-suffering heap
coals of fire on our enemies, i. 405, 406 ; we
overcome by, i. 406 ; no by-respects in, i. 406 ; of
Christ in himself, ii. 70 ; in his ministers, ii.
70, 71 ; our testimony of love for Christ, ii. 1:38 ;
reason of church's, and individual, ii. 180 ; love
to Christ will enable us to .suffer with cheerful-
ness, ii. 188 ; those who will not suffer for Christ
make him an idol, ii. 383 ; suffering, Christ, for
man's sin, i. 335-369 ; of Christ abound in us,
iii. 78 ; all Christians suffer, iii. 104 ; threefold
suffering, iii. 80, 81 ; of Christians as sufferings
of Christ, why, iii, ; Christ's twofold, iii, 82;
difference between and ordinary crosses, iii.
83 ; motives to, iii. 83, 84, 85 ; how the suffer-
ings of saints do good to others, iii. 101 ; God's
children partake of the sufferings of others, iii.
107 ; must precede comfort, iii. 108, seq ; those
who suffer as they should are sure of comfort,
iii. 108, (see Affliction, Persecution, Tribula-
tion) ; what to look to in, iv. 405 ; for Christ's
sake, iv. 413, 414 ; suffer for Christ, v. 278 ; spi-
ritual poverty in, vi. 247 ; service of God in, vi.
506, 508.
Sufficiency, ii. 447.
Suicide, vii. 211, 212.
Sun, symbol of Christ, vii. 169 ; how know if Christ
is our, vii. 170 ; use to be made of, vii. 171, 199.
Superstition, the source of it, i. 180.
Supper, the fjord's, iv. 61 ; unworthy coming, iv.
61, 77 ; often, iv. 62.
Supplication, vi. 470.
Supply, our, whence, i. 20.
Surprisal, by passion, v. 184.
Suspicio7i, man's inature prone to, iii. 339, 485 ;
grounds of, whence, iii 340, 4s5, 486 ; what, iii.
340, 485 ; how to arm against, iii. 340 ; how to
know when it is evil, iii. 341 ; more than fear,
less than judgment, iii. 485 ; makes the worst
construction, iii. 485, 486 ; why the devil cher-
isheth, iii. 486 ; mischief from, iii. 486.
Symmetry, of the soul most lovely, i. 167.
Sympathy, vi. 66.
Swearing, what meant by the prohibition, 'swear
not at all,' iii 357, 494, 49,5 ; by none but God,
iii. 493 ; lawful, iii. 494, 495 ; ordinary con-
demned, iii. 357, 358, 494, 495, 496 ; objections
answered, iii, 495, seq. ; original causes of, iii.
496, 497 ; motives against, iii. 497, 498 ; means
against, iii. 497, 498; ordinary, curse themselves,
iii. 497.
Sv:eetness, not lost, but translated, vii. 85 ; in the
bitterest, vii. 203, 204.
Sword, of the Wicked, i. 103-118 ; of the Spirit, iv.
367.
Table, service of God in obeying the 2d, vl. 605,
506 ; whence the breach of, vi. 139.
' Take out,' iv. 67.
Taste, iv. 107 ; a most necessary sense, vi. 371.
Teaching, and correction, iv. 79.
Tears, ii. 479, 482 ; necessity and comfort of, Ii.
482; spring of, ii. 486; for sin, ii. 487; in
secret, ii. 487 ; lead to reformation, ii. 487 ; yet
to rejoice, ii. 487 ; friar-like, vi. 70.
Temjjtation, Christ was clothed with our flesh to
favour the tempted, i. 45 ; reason why Satan
prevails sooner over us than over Christ, i. 63 ;
divine, what it is, i. 133 ; considerations against,
i. 3S6 ; God will not be tempted, i. 421 ; grace
requisite against those times, i. 323 ; tempta-
tions, ii. 204 ; power against, iv. 364 ; resist,
iv. 369 ; little, iv. 391 ; subtle, v. 440 ; help
against, iv. 108 ; all, iv. 109 ; how Satan repre-
sents God in, V. 412, 413, 414 ; comfort in, v.
214 ; to evil, vii. 20S ; small at first, vii. 224
cloud of, vii. 215.
Tenderness, must be shewn to weak Christians, 1.
53 ; conscience is tender, i. 45, 53 ; tender
heart, vi. 30, 31 ; inward and outward expres-
sion of, vi. 31; excellent, vi. 42; contrary,
wretched, vi. 42 ; our own hearts, vi 67, C8.
Terrible, God out of Christ, vi. 326, 327, 328.
Testament, a covenant, vi. 4 ; bequeath, vi. 4.
Testimony, of the Spirit, and our own, vii. 377.
Thanks, best when it tends to praise, i. 254;
should be large, i. 254 ; never without some
taste of mercy, i. 256 ; special help in our
afflicted condition, i. 256 ; excellent use of it,
i 2.38 ; assurance of God's love works, ii. 272,
273 ; verbal thanksgiving ought to be justified
by deeds, ii. 271 ; how to know it is accepted,
ii. 276 ; thankfulness, ii. 455, 474, 511 ; disposi-
tion of God's people to be, iii. 22 ; especially
for spiritual favours, iii. 24 ; means to become,
iii, 24, 25, 26, 196, 197 ; a carnal man unthank-
ful, iii 25 ; motives to, iii. 26,' 198, 199, 200 ;
not only verbal but real is required, iii. 200
(see Bless and Praise) ; thankfulness, iv. 14^,
171, 291, 292, V. 166, 215, 216, 398, vi. 388, vii.
185, 186, 207; ground of it, vi. 234; whence,
vi. 244.
Thief, vii. 306, 307.
Things, i. 410, the ' one thing,' ii. 216, 217, 218 ;
divine, ii. 402 ; to come, iv. 318, 319, 484 ;
temporal things seen, iv. 481.
Thomas, mistake about, i. 101.
Thoughts, blasphemous, when they come from the
devil, and how to repel them, i. 63 ; evil, their
original, and how remedied, i, 63, 04 ; to be set
in order every morning, i. 1S6 ; are not free, i.
186, 187 ; danger of that opinion, i. 187 ; of
praise should be precious to us, i. 249 ; think
much, ii. 244, iv. 184, 185 ; thoughts, vii. 189.
Threatening, God threatens ere he strikes, vii. 21,
22 ; threatening, vi 65, vii. 380.
Tlireshing, needed, vii. 146.
Thrive, wickedness shall not always, vii. 530.
Through-stitch, v. 384.
Time, an appointed, for God visiting his
church, i. 378, 384 ; when that is, i. 378 ;
we must use time present in doing good
against the day of judgment, i. 382 ; the wicked
shall not appear in these special times, i. 400 ;
must avoid sin for the time to come, i 323 ;
much better we ought to be, ii. 88 ; God's the
best, ii 510 ; trifle not with, iv. 304 ; to come,
vi. 49 ; why God hath some people in the worst,
vi. 232 ; comfort against, vi. 235 ; when espe-
cially to be improved, vi. 226 ; why to make
use of, vi. 493 ; both miserable and happy, vi.
494 ; to serve God our whole, vi. 497 ; God's
children must serve their, vi. 510 ; in God's
hands, vi. 81 ; every man's allotted, vi. 510 ;
vanishing, vii. 41 ; worst friend of God in,
vii. 167 ; to get grace, vii. 206, 207.
Titles, empty, of goodness bring empty comfort at
last, i. 275 ; ours in God to be maintained, i.
277, 278 ; respect to, vi. 275 ; God's, vi. 272.
GENERAL INDEX.
509
Tctich, me not, vi. 42S, 429 ; reasons, vi. 429, 430 •
circumstances, vi. 431. " ' '
Tractableness, vii. 135.
Trade, of conversing with God, the riche.st in the
TForld, i. 253 ; of Christianity, ii. 452. vii 204
206. '
Tradition, popish faith is built upon, iii. 23, 522
Transforming, ii. 506, iv. 138, 271, vi. 15.
Treasure, in earthen vessels, iv. 342 ; gospel a
treasure, iv. 342 ; difTcrence from God's, iv. 344,
345 ; independent, proportioned to dignity^
make ourselves abide, can carry about, iv. 344^
346 ; seek, iv. 34«, 347 ; how know we have. iv.
347, 348, 349 ; refuse not, for weakness of the
vessel, iv. 359.
Treasury, in Christ, i. 20 ; the pope's, what, iii.
99 ; confuted, iii. 99 ; Christ is the only, iii.
99 ; treasures under, iv. 350.
Tremble, at God's word, vii. 31.
Trent, Council of, error corrected, ri. 314.
Trespasses, dead in, vii. 401, 402, 403.
Trial, of trust, whether it be right, i. 226 ; com-
fort against the fiery, i. 373; of 'testimony'
vii. 382, 383.
Tribulation, God's children are subject to, iii. 52,
65, 79. (See Affliction, Persecution, and Suffer-
ing.)
Trinity, the whole agree in the work of our re-
demption, i. 43 ; whenue we have communion
with, V. 483 ; how to think of the persons in,
iv. 513 ; Trinity, vii. 200.
Troubles, outward, appointed to help the soul in-
wardly, i. 149 ; onward, threefold miscarriage
of it, i. 156 ; as of physic, iv 91 ; troubled, iV.
395 ; comfort in, v. 531 ; difference of men in,
vi. 347, 348 ; deliverance in, vii. 185 ; self-
troubled, vii. 291 ; dissuasion from, vii. 339 ;
sin in, vii. 340 ; wrong ourselves, vii. 341 ;
directions to the troubled, vii. 350
Trust, is the means to bring God and the soul
together, i. 2'j3 ; to settle, know the mind as
well as the nature of God, i. 212 ; trust must
answer the truth of God, i. 213 ; directions
about, i. 214 ; whether we may, friends, riches,
or helps, i. 318 ; a sin so to do, i 219 ; in self
not to be tru.^ted, i. 220 ; should follow God's
order of promising, i. 221 ; trial of ourselves
exceeding necessary, i. 165 ," must not trust to
flesh, i. 413 ; God's children are prone to trust
in themselves, why, iii 128 ; not to trust in
anything but in God, iii. 132, 133, 134, seq. ;
signs of trusting in these outward things, as
riches, &c., iii. 129, 130 ; dangerous to, in our-
selves or the creature, iii. 132 ; popery to be
detested, why, iii. 133 ; must not, our own
grace, iii. 133; creatures may be, subordinately,
iii. 135, 136 ; worldlings trust in the creature
above, yea, against God, iii. 135 ; how to cure
false confidence, iii. 1.36, 138 ; to, in God hardly
learned, iii. 139 ; thrown out of ourselves to
trust in God, iii. 139 ; sole and proper object
of, iii. 144 ; God in Christ, object of, iii. 144 ; a
man's duty to, God, iii. 145 ; trials and signs
of, iii. 146, 147, 148 ; help is means, iii. 149 ;
how to be exercised in great afflictions, iii. 152 ;
how, at death, iii. 153 ; God, to strengthen our
trust, hath given us promise, seal, oath, earnest,
power, seisin, iii. 154 ; objection against, an-
swered, iii. 155 ; a Christian may trust or rely
on, for time to come, iii. 168 ; trust what, iii.
305 (see Complain); God must be trusted in,
vi. 253, 254 ; what meant by it, vi. 254 ; God,
how the object of, vi. 254 ; evidences of, vi.
254 ; how to come to trust, vi. 259 ; to be ex-
ercised upon all occasions, vi. 261 ; trial of, vii.
464 ; trust, vi. 11, vii. 59, 60, 61.
Truth, an antipathy in our nature to divine, ii.
155, 156 ; truth, ii. 240 ; not to be .spoken at
all times, iii. 233, 234 ; God true and faithful,
iii. 360 ; objection, iii. o61 ; how to know the
word of God to be true, iii. 366, 373 ; it is a
matter of comfort to believe the word of God to
be true, iii. 367, seq. ; the word of God or evan-
gelical doctrine, most true and certain, iii.
373; Innexible, iv. 117; from Christ by the
fepirit, iv. 207 ; solid, iv. 357 ; try, v 183 •
general, v. 290; divine not to be slighted v
468; of God, vi. 116 ; faith looks to God's power'
vii. 425 ; differently dealt with, vii. 283; stand
fast for, vii. lyO.
Turn, vi. 93, 94.
Tyranny, of sin, v. 232.
Unbelief, ii. 463 ; God alone removes, ii. 464 465 •
lieart of man is full of, iii. 464, 465 ; hinders
God's glory, vi. 332, 333.
Unclcniiness, iv. 236.
Undefiled, how the church is said to be, ii. 81.
Underprizing, vii. 207.
Understand, understanding not to be defiled, ii.
24, 25 ; how to use our understanding, vi. 216 '•
understanding at the Supper, iv. 65. '
Underratning, v. 277.
Unfruilfulness, a sign of coming judgment, i.
380, vi. 225 ; sin against the gospel, v. 513. '
Ungodly, misery of, i. 385-394.
Unicorn, v. 153
Union, with Christ, ii. 474 ; there is a threefold
iii. 108, V. 481 ; with Christ necessary, iv. 185,'
467, 503 ; strengthen, iv. 351 ; more, iv. 418 '
desire of, v. 278, 280 ; ground of, vii. 369. '
Uniformity, necessary in the lives of Christians,
i. 168 ; a Christian is uniform, iii. 301 ; uni-
formity, V. 297.
Unlettered, bold for Christ, iv. 139; more love
often, iv. 194, v. 395, vii. 194, 195.
Unreasonable, vii. 186.
Untliankfnlness, to God most sinful, i 253, 254 •
detestable to God and man, i. 256. '
Unworthiness, may not keep from God, i. 266, ii.
31, 36 ; sight of, should not discourage us, ii.
318 ; unworthy coming to the Lord's supper, iv.
61 ; of old, iv. 64 ; meaning of, iv. 64; irreve-
rence, iv. 79.
Upright (see Justice) ; uprightness, vi. 30.
Us, all good in Christ before, i. 18 ; how the Spirit
takes from Christ and gives to, i 18 ; how put
on Christ for, i. 21, 22 ; what Christ did was
for, v. 240
Use, sanctified, of all troubles to God's children
i. 198 ; not abuse, ii. 242, vii. 209
Vain, ministers not, in the Lord, iii. 7.
Vainglorious, be not, i. 30 ; why to be avoided i
30. ' ■
Vahies, ground whence to. Christians, i 14 ; by
what God, his children, vi. 490, iv. 162. (Sea
Blessings )
Vanity, of things, iv. 352 ; of the Creatures vii
33-47.
Variety, ii. 447
Vehement, carnal men are, iii. 353.
Veil, of the church, what, ii. 119 ; how t,iken
away by false watchmen, ii. 119 ; veil. ii. 440
459, 460 ; where, ii. 460, 461 : God alone re-
moves, ii. 464 ; from children of God only, ii.
4(;5 ; seek removal, ii. 466. 467 ; when t.-iken
away, iv. 215 ; uses of, vii. 191.
Vengeance, near to those who profit not by the
means of salvation, ii. 349.
Venom, in all without grace, vii. 204.
Vessels, earthen, ministers are, iv. 342; seek to
be golden, iv. .3.55.
Vexation, popish, iv. 479.
Victory, of truth will appear at last, i. 88 ; the
government of Christ a victorious, why for a
while the enemy seems to prevail, i. 90 ; how
to know when we shall be victorious, i. 87;
three degrees of, i. 88 ; directions how to make
our judgments victorious, i. 88; by Christ alone
obtained, and how he brings judgment to vic-
tory, i. 93, 94 ; a fight before, i. 95, 96, 97 ; lies
in Christ, not in ourselves, i. 97 ; church shall
have, i. 99; over ourselves, signs of, i. 169;
how it may be obtained, i. 170 ; victory, ii. 474 ;
victorious violence, vi. 293-314.
V:rlne, vii. 498, 499,
Violence, Victorious, vi. 293-314 ; offered the
600
GEXEEAL INDEX.
kingdom, how, vl. 299; Christian's disposition
violent, how, vi. 299, 300 ; ground of this, vi.
300 ; judge our estate by, vi. 302 ; after out-
ward things, vi. 3u2, 303 : only takes heaven,
vi. 306 ; freedom of grace enforceth, vi. 306 ;
holy, hopeful, vi. 307 ; precious things require,
vi. 309 ; exhortation to holy, vi. 309, 310 ;
gospel in Luther's time, why embraced with
violence, vi. 311 ; how to get, vi. 313. (See
Wisdom)
Visibility, of the church, ii. 444.
Vision, v. 372.
Visitation, Church's, 1. 371-384.
Vital, V. 297.
Vocation, of a Christian is a high, v. 112 ; whether
a Christian be always sure of, v. 113.
Voice, of Christ is known by a Christian even in
a sleepy state, ii. 49.
Voluntary, Christ's abasement, iv. 513.
Vows, their use, ii. 268.
Wait, waiting on God a necessary duty, i. 251 ;
what it is, i. 251 ; be ever in a waiting condi-
tion, i. 277 ; difficult helps, i. 279 ; ought to,
God's leisure, ii. 152. 172 ; after all, seeking
must be waiting, ii, 173 ; wait, ii. 244, 441, 442,
502, 504 ; grace suitable to, ii. 506, 509; grounds
of waiting upon God for deliverance, iii. 163,
164, seq., 410; after prayer necessary, vi. 147 ;
difficult, iv. 146 ; a time of, vi. 179 ; ground of,
vii. 61 ; grace of, vii. 198 ; for the Spirit, vii.
201.
Wakefulness, how to be persevered in, ii. 51, 52,
53; a blessed state, ii. 51, 52, 53 ; a waking Chris-
tian his excellency, ii. 54 ; seek, vii. 3ol, 302,
307, 308.
Walk, ii. 454; by faith, vii. 213.
Want, ought to be sen.sible of our spiritual, ii. 39,
40 ; Christ will not suffer his to, ii. 179 ; God's
children yet shall be satisfied, v. 39, 40 ; com-
fort in, V. 531 ; outward supplied by Christ, iv.
505 ; why to us still, vi. 469.
Warfare, the lawfulness of war, ii. 281 ; warfare,
vii. 300.
Warnings, God gives before he smites, ii. 254.
Watchfulness, our remissness herein, what evil it
brings, i. 74, ii. 502; needed, v. 257; necessary
to maintain fear with God, vi. 344 ; when re-
quisite, vi. 227 ; watchfulness;, v. 423, 432, 455,
vii. 196, 211, 226, 299; for action, vii. 308, 514;
Christian's state a state of, vii. 300, 307 ; Chris-
tian's watch, vii. 298-305 ; constant duty, vii.
299.
Watchmen, why used of God, ii. 118, 119 ; every
man is to himself, ii. 119 ; how the church was
wounded by,ii. 119 ; why they became wounders
of, ii. 120.
Water, every year turned into wine, ii. 337 ; and
blood, vii. 377.
Wai/s of God ought to bejustiSed by us, ii. 93; of
Christ are still constant and firm, ii. 154; of God
right, ii. 418 ; wherein he walks to us, ii. 417 ;
which God prescribes, ii. 417, 418 ; of God's pro-
vidence are right and just, ii. 417, 418 ; man ought
not to be a prescriber of his own, ii. 418 ; to
justify God in evil times, a mark of the elect, ii.
424 ; before they can w ilk in, must have spiri-
tual life, ii. 425; walking in justifies men to
be true Christians, ii. 425, 426; must be walked
in, not only talked of, ii. 430 ; and will make us
resolute, ii. 428 ; must walk wisely, ii 428 ; what
we must avoid, ii. 429 ; the safest, ii. 429 ; plea-
santest, ii. 429 ; most holy and clear, ii. 429 ;
walking in, what it implies, ii. 426; how to
know we do, ii. 426 ; who will walk right must
be resolute, ii. 427 ; pray to God for strength, ii.
427; good company a means, ii. 427; walkers
in CJod's ways, tlieir happiness, ii. 430 ; com-
mendable custom for Christians to bring one
another on the way, iii. 338
Weak, Christians, how they must be heartened
with tenderness, i. 45, 53 ; a caution for them,
i. 52 ; may sometimes be dealt with more
roughly, i. 55 ; men should not pry into their
weaknesses, I. 56; means to work us to receive
them, i. 61, 62; weakness, what, i. 65 ; doth not
debar from mercy, i. 65 ; what actions to be im-
puted to weak Christians, i. 69; in whom sins
of infirmity, i. 69, 70 ; weak faith, how it pre-
vails, i. 90; Christ helps, i. 90; the church com-
pared to weak things, i 43 ; prayers accepted, i.
65 ; why, i. 65 ; faith, how strengthened, i. 325 ;
Christians not to be discouraged, ii. 362 ; the
weakest creatures have the strongest shelters,
Iii. 430; weakness of God's servants, v. 265;
whence we respect, v. 503 ; how to judge of, vi.
530 ; weak, iv. 80, vii. 186 ; means advance
God's glory, iv. 390, 391 ; weaknesses, vii. 227.
Weapons, of Satan, vi. 392, 393.
Wedding, garment, iv. 72.
Weep, ii 480, 486 ; weeping, vi. 62 ; for other
things, vi. 71 ; over much, vii. 117.
Weigh, not number, v. 154.
Wicked, Sword of, i. 103-118 ; their end, i 385 ;
confidence of their torment should wean us from
the world, i. 386 ; they are reserved to further
plagues, i. 419, 420 ; shall not prevail over the
godly, i. 302 ; though for a time over their per-
sons, yet not over their cause, i. 303 ; get no-
thing by persecuting the church, i. 304 ; in their
enterprises they are but to work God's will, i.
304 ; their plots against the church miscarry,
i. 305 ; as fools, i. 305 ; how said to be cedars,
ii. 154 ; thorns, ii. 170 ; wickedness never
wanted pretexts, ii. 90, 91 ; condition of, fading,
ii. 342 ; are abominable, ii. 352 ; most miserable,
iii .398 ; all against God, angels, good gifts,
V. 267 ; unhappy, v. 269 ; degrees of, vii. 8 ; out
of hell, vi. 82, 83 ; made friends, vii. 207 ; to be
trodden down, vii. 176, 177.
Wilderness, vii. 195.
Will, of man hath a sovereignty, 1. 174 ; of the
godly conformable to God's will, i. 247 ; of itself
cannot be rectified but bv the understanding,
i. 373 ; God's, that men suffer, how, i. 402 ; wil-
fulness aggravates .sin, i 297 ; how men made
their own wills and wits idols, ii. 384 ; worship
no slight matter, ii. 387 ; every one placed in
his calling by the, of God, iii. 8, 9 ; the more
the greater sin, iii. 236 ; willingness to be
searched, v. 414 ; there is a, to do good, v. 14,
15 ; of God known and not done aggi'avates sin,
vi 503 ; worship, why forbidden, vi. 199 ; free
in sin, vii. 524 ; to be left free, a great judgment,
vii. 524 ; when accepted for the deed, vii 14 ;
will, iv. 224, 225 ; chooses, iv. 225 ; apprehends,
iv. 225, 226 ; enlargement, iv. 226 ; given up
to, vii. 185 ; desires in, vii. 137 ; increases sin,
vii. 194.
Winds, wicked men blown away as, vi. 198 ; false,
V. 298.
Wisdom, the ways of God as ways of, i. 80 ; spirit-
ual, great help unto us in our Christian course,
i. 83 ; carnal, is folly, 301, 302, 305 ; truly wise
but few, ii. 412 ; all men desire to be thought
in Christ, ii. 412, 413 ; heavenly, definition of,
ii. 413, 414 ; signs of, ii. 414 ; manifold, iii. 260,
261 ; what, iii. 261 ; carnal or fleshly described,
iii. 261, 262, 263 ; why called fleshly, iii. 261,
262 ; where is no simplicity or sincerity, iii.
262 ; God's children not ruled by, iii. 263, 274,
275 ; mischief of carnal, iii. 264, 265 ; hinders
our joy and comfort, iii. 273, 274 ; popery
founded on carnal, iii. 522, 523 ; how to avoid
fleshly, iii. 350, 351 ; a Christian needs, iii 277;
may be had, iii, 278 ; should go to God for, iii.
278, 279 ; gives, for the things of this life, iii.
279 ; true toucheth conversation, iii 280;
divine truth is, v. 461 ; what violence may
stand with, vi 303 ; in man corrupted, v. 232,
233 ; spiritual to be begged, vi. 138 ; who are
truly wise, vii. 7 ; wisdom, iv. 351 ; spiritual,
V. 430 ; justified by experience, vii. 69, 86,
285, 286 ; taught by afliiction, vii. 142 ; highest,
vii. 283, 284 ;"children of, vii. 284, 285.
Wit, wicked men witty in their generation, vi.
138 (see Wisdom).
Witness, and comfort, v. 439 ; of water and the
GENERAL INDEX.
601
Spirit, V. 439 ; of salvation, vii. 367-385 ; two,
1 who, vii. 376 ; tliree, wlio, vii. 376, 377.
Woman (see Ajfections).
Wonders, i. 4-8 ; sliallow things wondered at, i.
8 ; how to cease wondering at worldly things,
V. 475 ; Christ's incarnation matter of, v. 485 ;
learn wonder of the angels, v. 497.
Word, Spirit given in, i. 23, 24 ; of God, judg-
ment, i. 27 ; the breath of the Spirit, i. 74, 75 ;
like himself, i. 412 ; papists' objection how to
know that the word is the word of God, ii. 57 ;
why so many apostatize under, ii. 57 ; when
Christ's word is entertained Christ himself is,
ii. 65 ; woeful estate of those who obey not the
ministry of, ii. 68, 69 ; our state in grace may
be discerned by our relish for, ii. 155 ; though
for the present not effectual, yet it will be, ii.
HI ; we ought to be in love with, ii. 168 ; is
perfect, ii. 419 ; to be believed, ii. 419 ;
without the Spirit ineffectual, ii, 415 ; salva-
tion to the godly, perdition to the ungodly, ii.
431 ; not to be thought worse of because
wicked men are made worse by, ii. 431, 432 ;
preaching of, accompanied with God's Spirit, is
able to convert the most wicked, iii. 10, 11
(see Ministry and Preaching) ; vital to believe
the word true, certain, and immutable, iii. 367,
seq.; judge of all controversies, iii. 363 ;
Christ the, iii. 390, 446 ; of God is most
true, certain, and infallible, iii. 373 ; how to
know it true, iii. 366, 373 (see Scripture) ;
power of, iv. 360 ; how know to be, iv. 363 ;
defend, iv. 364 ; a voice of waters and thunder,
iv. 375, 376 ; why not always powerful, iv. 376,
377; operative, iv. 384,'885 ; names of, v. 254 ;
how may be known, v. 65 ; is the word of life,
V. 32 ; why must not be neglected, v. 33 ;
written, the rule of our service, vi. 499 (see
Power and Tremble) ; words, more than, v.
133 ; Spirit goes with, vii. 193 ; when in our
heart, vii. 195 ; (3) before Scripture, vii. 197 ;
neglectors of, vii 199 ; source of comfort, vii.
200; how know to be, vii. 226.
Works, justify not, i. 388 ; want of ought not to
hinder our conversion or justification, ii. 421,
422; good, why they cannot merit, ii. 404 ; the
Christian's work, v. 1-34 ; how good, are loss,
V. 84, 85 ; papists, not protestants discourage,
V. 86 ; Christians must labour and, v. 6, 7 ; our,
must be performed in obedience and sincerity,
V. 7 ; motives to the Christian, v. 10 ; by whose
power, V. 14, 15; how God and we co-operate,
V. 14, 15 ; matter and manner good, v. 51 (see
Covenant) ; evidence of belief, v. 205 ; works,
vii. 189 ; hope and faith, vii. 510.
World, Worldly, worldly good hath some evil,
and worldly evil some good, i. 166 ; plodding
upon takes away desire of Iieavenly things, ii.
34 ; worldlings, excuses to keep them from
Christ, i. 94, 95 " not able to deprive us of God's
Spirit and grace, ii. 407 ; renounce, ii. 468 ;
Christianity may stand with converse in, iii.
253 ; untainted l)y, iii. 254 ; wicked men called,
why, iii. 261, 346, 347 ; worldly things are
loss, and why, v. 81 ; how use so as not to
hinder, v. 82 ; signs, v. 135 ; what meant by,
V. 516 ; for whose sake the world stands, vi.
232, 233 ; of the world hinders civilisation,
vi. 217 ; worldly things to be neglected, why,
vi. 362 ; course of worldlings, vi. 140 ; how to
be used, vii^ 5 ; weaiy of, v. 255 ; to be con-
demned, iv. 98 ; what, iv. 98, 99, 100 ; in the
church, iv. 100 ; shut out of Christ's prayer, iv.
101 ; get out of, iv. 101 ; heed not censures of,
iv 101 ; see if taken out of, iv. 101, 102; why
the world despises grace, iv. 276 ; oppose grace
to, iv. 278 ; God of, iv. 313 ; foolish, iv. 356 ;
raised above, iv. 370; faith judgments against,
V. 380 ; Christians belong to two, vii. 187 ; how
know love of, vii. 412, 413 ; dotage on, vii. 38.
Worship, true signification thereof, v. 70, 71 ;
why outward is generally so well liked, v. 72 ;
who are spiritual worshippers, v. 72, 73, 74 ;
helps unto spiritual, v. 73 ; prayer put for all,
vi. 193.
Worst, the world can do, iv. 398, 399, 410, 412.
Worthy, no man, iv. 62.
Wound, fools, themselves, vi. 138.
Wrath, of God makes crosses curses, ii. 305 ; how
to oppose Christ to the, of God, v. 483.
Wrought, how know if power hath, iv. 380.
Yea, and nay, grounds of, iii. 353 ; dissemblers
are, all at once, iii. 354 ; all promises, and pro-
mises in Christ, iii. 388, 389, 390, seq. ; and
Amen, or Precious Promises and Privileges,
iv. 113-149 ; yea, what, iv. 116 ; why, vi. 543.
Yet, not in hell nor at worst, a mercy, and unde-
served, i. 248.
Youth, to be curbed quickly, i. 147.
Zeal, ii. 243, iv. 190 ; persecuting, v. 79 ; against
contrary doctrine, v. 365 ; to good works, v.
398 ; for God, vi. 11 ; how to justify, vii. 76 ;
true, vii. 186, 187.
Y.-TEXTS.
NOTE.
In this Index will be found the whole of those texts which are discussed fully in Treatise or Sermon,
and likewise such incidental citations and explanations of others, as have called for notice in the Notes.
The references to the latter have a * prefixed. It was very soon discovered that more than this was
inexpedient. There are thousands of other texts quoted by Sibbes, and more or less fully elucidated,
illustrated, or applied ; but it had demanded a goodly volume to enumerate them alone. Consequently
but with some reluctance, these were left to he traced by the Index of Subjects. G.
*Gen. ii. 7.
*iv. 7,
xvii. 7,
*xix. 26.
*Exod. xxiv. 18,
Num. xxiii. 10,
Josh. vi. 26,
*vi. 26,
2 Sara. xix. 34-38,
2 Chr. xxxiv. 26,
xxxiv. 27,
xxxiv. 27,
xxxiv. 28,
Neh. i. 11,
VOL. VU.
I. 6, 31
*Job ii. 9,
III. 268. 533
Psalms cxxx. 2,
. VI. 166-168
I. 313
Psalms vii. 14,
1.297-313
cxxx. 3,
. VI. 168-172
VI. 3-25
xxvii. 4,
II. 213-248
cxxx. 4,
. VI. 172-179
VI. 416, 485
xxvii. 8,
VI. 111..132
cxxx. 5,
. VI. 179-180
VII. 334
xlii. 10,
1. 105-117
*Eccles. xii. 1,
. VII. 43, 47
VII. 1-15
•xhi. 10,
I. 118
Cant. i. 2,
. II. 200-208
VII. 17-32
xlii. 11,
1. 130-289
i. 5,
. VII. 93-104
vii. 32
•xlii. 11,
1. 259, 294
•i. 5,
VII. 104
vii. 33-47
xhii. 5,
VII. 49-64
Iv. 16,)
v. vi J
ii. 5-193
VI. 29-43
lxxiii.28,
VII. 65-78
VI. 44-58
Isxiii. 28,
VII 79-91
iv. 16,
II. 7-16
VI. 59-75
cvii. 17,
VI. 135-156
V. 1,
II. 17-46
VI. 76-90
*'cxix.
. 111.412,536
V. 2,
II. 46-76
VI. 93-108
cxxx. 1,
. VI. 161-166
V. 2,
u. 76-86
Qq
602
GENERAL INDEX.
Cant. y. 3,
V. 6,
V. 6,7,
V. 7,
V. 8, 9,
V. 9, 10,
V. 10,
V. 10-13,
V. 13,
V. 16,
vi. 1,
vi. 2,
vi. 3,
vi. 3,
Isaiah vii. 14,
xi. 6-9,
sxv. 6,
xxv. 6, 7,
XXV. 7, 8,
XXV. 8,
XXV. 8, 9,
XXV. 9,
xxviii. 23-29,
*xlii. 1,
*xlii. 1,2,
Ixiv. 6-8,
Jer. viii. 6,
Hosea xiv.
xiv. 1, 2,
xiv. 2,
xiv. 2, 3,
xiv. 3,
xiv. 4,
xiv. 4, 5,
xiv. 5, 6,
xiv. 6, 7,
xiv. 7,
xiv. 8,
xiv. 9,
xiv. 9,
Micah vii. 18-20,
Zeph. iii 12,
Malachi iv. 2, 3,
Matthew v. 4,
*vi. 28, 29,
vii. 7-10,
xi. 12,
xii. 18,
xii. 20,
xiii. 34,
xiii. 45, 46,
*xvi. 22,
*xix. 24,
xxvi. 28,
*xxvii. 45,
xxvii. 46,
Luke ii. 13, 14,
iv. 5,
*iv. 20,
vii. 31-35,
* viii. 38,
X. 38-40,
xii. 37,
*xxiii. 11,
xxiv. 28,
*John i. 51,
vi. 27,
xl. 23, 24,
xiv. 1,
xvii. 26,
n. 86-99
John XX. 16, .
VI. 418-485
. II. 100-115
*xx. 25, 27, .
I. 49, 101
. 11.115-121
♦Acts ii. 44, .
IV. 16, 38
. 11.121-126
xiii. 36, .
VI. 489-515
. II. 126-134
xvi. 14,15, .
VI. 519-534
. 11.134-140
xvi. 33, .
I. 316, 334
. n. 141.147
*xvii. 28, .
III. 9, 629
. 11.147-152
♦Romans vi. 17, .
VII. 312,315
. II. 153-161
viii. 2, .
V. 225-247
. 11.161-164
viii. 15, 16, .
VII. 366-385
. 11.165-168
viii. 28,
V. 251-284
. 11.169-171
viii. 81,
VII. 386-397
. 11.171-181
*viii. 32,
1.4
. 11.182-193
xiv. 7, 8,
V. 289-322
VII. 106-126
xiv. 9,
V. 325-355
VII. 127-137
*1 Cor. ii. 10,
III. 478, 537
. II. 443-458
iii. 21-23,
IV. 6-37
. 11.458-470
vii. 29-31,
IV 41-57
. n. 470-479
xi. 28, 29,
IV. 61-74
. 11.479-499
xi. 30, 31,
IV. 77-96
. 11.499-507
xi. 30-32,
. IV. 97-112
. 11.507-517
*xiv. 24,
I. 291
VII. 139-150
*xv. 26,
1.334
L 26, 31
2 Cor. i..
. III. 1-543
1.4
i.l.
. III. 7-14
. VI. 183-203
1.2,
. III. 14-21
. VI. 207-228
i.3,
. III. 22-51
. II. 252-433
1.4,
. IIL 51-78
. II. 252-260
1.5,
. III. 78-93
. II. 260-273
1. 6,
. III. 93-106
. II. 273-286
i. 7,
. 111.107-114
. 11. 286-299
i. 8,
. III. 114-126
. II. 299-316
1.9,
. 111.126-161
. 11. 316-328
1.10,
. 111.161-177
. II. 328-346
1.11,
. 111.177-203
. II. 346-357
1.12,
. 111.203-309
. 11. 357-376
1.13,
. 111.309-313
. 11. 377-410
1.14,
. III. 314-327
. II. 410-422
1.15,
. III. 327-337
. II. 423-433
1.16,
. 111.337,338
. VII. 151-164
1.17,
. 111.338-355
. VI. 231-263
1.18,
. 111.355-369
. VII. 165-178
i. 19,
. 111.369-382
. VI. 267-292
1. 19-23,
. IV. 115-149
. II. 169-195
i. 20,
. 111.382-420
. VII. 229-252
1.21,
. 111.420-442
. VI. 295-314
1.22,
. III. 442-434
I. 3-31
i. 23,
. 111.484-499
I. 42-100
i. 24,
. 111.499-528
. II. 245, 248
ii. 9,
. IV. 155-200
. VII. 253-260
ill. 17, 18,
. IV. 203-304
11. 74, 194
iv.,
. IV. 312-485
IV. 368, 486, 487
iv. 6,
. IV. 312-349
. VII. 261, 279
Iv. 7,
. IV. 349-394
V. 488,539
iv. 7-9,
. IV. 394-412
1. 353-369
iv. 10,
. IV. 412-426
. VI. 317-356
iv. 11,
. IV. 426-436
IV. 51, 58
iv. 12, 13,
. IV. 437-447
11.153, 194, 195
iv. 13,
. IV. 447-457
. VII. 280-287
iv. 14,
. IV. 457-465
. 1. 339, 350
iv. 15,
. IV. 465-477
. VII. 288-297
iv. 16-18,
. IV. 477-485
. VII. 298-305
viii. 9,
. IV. 495-526
. II. 160, 195
•x. 4, 5,
1. 28, 31
. 111.234,532
Galatians ii. 20,
. V. 359-384
V. 64, 152, 153
ii. 20,
. V. 387-408
. VI. 359-381
•vi. 1,
. III. 71, 630
. VII. 316-334
Ephesians ii. 1,
VII. 398-407
, VII. 357-366
iv. 30,
. V. 412-455
, VI. 385-412
*Ephesians vi. 13,
Philip. 1. 23, 24,
Ii. 12,
11. 13,
11 14,
11. 15,
*li. 15,
11. 16,
11. 24,
ii. 25,
11. 26,
ii. 27,
11. 28,
ii, 29,
11. 30,
111. 1,
Iii. 2,
*lii. 2,
Iii. 3,
iii. 4,
Iii. 5,
Iii. 6,
Hi. 7,
Iii. 8,
iii. 9,
iii. 10,
Iii. 11,
Iii. 12,
iii. 13,
iii. 14,
iii. 16,
iii. 16,
iii. 17,
iii. 18,
iii. 19,
*iii. 20,
iii. 20,
Iii. 21,
Iii. 21,
iv. 11-13,
*iv. 11,
Colossians iii. 1,
iii. 3, 4,
1 Timothy iii. 16,
2 Timothy 1. 14,
iv. 10,
iv. 17, 18,
*iv. 17,
Titus iii. 8,
*Hebiews xi. 1,
xi. 13,
xi. 30,
xii. 1,
*James i. 5,
1 Peter i. 5,
Iii. 21,
iv. 17,
iv. 17-19,
iv. 18,
iv. 19,
2 Peter 1. 3,
*i. 9,
1 John iii. 3,
*v. 7,8,
*Jnde 3,
Revelation xvi. 15,
xvii. 17,
xxii. 17,
xxil. 20,
III. 518, 637
I. 337-350
V. 6-14
V. 14-19
T. 19-23
V. 23-32
V. 34
V. 32-34
V. 35, 36
V. 36-40
V. 40-47
. V. 47, 48
V. 48
V. 48-61
V. 61-64
V. 57-64
V. 64, 69
. V. 69, 163
V. 69-78
V. 78
V. 78, 79
V. 79, 80
V. 80-83
V. 83-93
V. 93-96
V. 96-98
. V. 98-100
. V. 100-105
. V. 105, 106
. V. 106-113
. V. 113-118
. V. 119-121
. V. 121-124
. V. 125-128
. V. 128-136
. I. 327, 334
. V. 135-143
. V. 143-152
. V. 161-173
. V. 177-193
. V. 178, 193
. V. 197-201
. V. 205-218
. V. 459-538
VII. 548-560
VII. 408-413
. I. 314-334
. I. 315, 334
. 11. 349, 434
1. 313
VI 1. 414-461
VII. 462-477
11.9
. V. 192,193
. 1 326,334
VII. 478-491
. I. 385-394
. I. 373-384
. I. 395-400
. 1. 401-425
VII. 492-604
VII. 461
VII. 505, 616
. 111.464,536
. V. 256, 285
VII. 306-315
VII. 517-634
VII. 535-646
. VI. 539-560
CONCLUDING NOTE : EERATA AND EMENDATIONS.
In so large a work it is to be expected that a few errata will
occur. It is believed that they are neither numerous nor import-
ant. The following include such as have been noticed, along with
a few emendations : —
Vol. I. p. cxxv., footnote %. Besides B. E. and S. C, Sibbos's ' Divine Medita-
tions' (1638) was also in Leighton's Library. It is bound up with the B. R., and
in common with the others, bears numerous markings and pencillings, shewing
Sibbes to have been a favourite with the saintly Archbishop. I may also state that,
in the recently issued ' Fourth Series ' of the ' Collections of the Massachusetts
Historical Society' (Boston, 1863), which consistsof ' Letters,' hitherto unpublished,
of nearly all the eminent Puritans, from the WinthropMSS., a letter from Humfrey
has this postscript : ' I have sent you those new books that are lately come out . . .
and now Dr Sibs' " Bruised Eeed" (p. 4). His books were well read by the Fathers
of New England.'
Vol. I. p. 171, line 26 from top, insert * here,' and read, ' This is that which here
put,' &c.
Vol. I., Note /. p. 290. I gladly withdraw the long current charge against
Sterne, in the light of Fitzgerald's new ' Life' (2 vols. 1864). One is always glad
to have any stain removed from a great name :. and though much in Sterne remains
to be deplored, it must now be admitted that the creator of ' Uncle Toby' was not
the poor wretch which tradition has made him, and Thackeray sanctioned.
Vol. II., p. 3, ' family papers at Kimbolton.' The following is the work referred to,
now published : ' Court and Society from Elizabeth to Anne. By the Duke of Man-
chester,' 2 vols. 8vo, 1864. Scarcely a name of note contemporary with Sibbes
but has light cast upon it in this work. It may be worth while mentioning, that
in the only reference to Sibbes, his name is mis-read ' Gybbes.' The connection
and mention of his successor Potter, at Gray's Inn, shews that he was intended.
Cf. ' Letter of Leicester to Mandeville,' Vol. i. csxi, p. 364.
Vol. II , Note s, p. 195, ' lilies.' As ' white' was the royal colour among the
Hebrews, perhaps our Lord's comparison of Solomon's robes is, after all, to the
' royal lily,' or crown imperial, common in Judea still, and which is ' white.'
Herod arrayed our Lord in iff^-^ra Xa/j.'X^av, as King of the Jews; and Xa/j.'zpdv
seems to express the idea of ' white,' and shining like the light (Luke xxiii. 11).
On the other hand, the imperial colour among the Eomans was ' purple,' aud thus
Pilate's soldiers put upon our Sa-viour }ij,dTiov '^■o^<pv^ouv, a ' purple robe' (John xix.)
Vol. II., Note u, p. 195, 'If God is mine.' I have since learned that the author
of this hymn, as of others, is Beddome, an eminent ' Baptist ' minister, whose
' Sermons ' received the praise of Robert Hall.
Vol. II., Note 0, p. 434, Beelzebub. More properly read 'Beelzebul.'
Vol. II., Note c, p. 517, ' Manna J There are two etymologies of the word:
Jiiin IQj =^ ' What's this ? ' and ]Q, = a portion, i. e., man-ha ; or manna from a
supposed old form, (130- The former, as in our Note, seems preferable.
Vol. III., Note A, p. 47. Sibbes's reference will be found in St Chrysostom, a
little onward. I had stopped short too soon.
Vol. III., p. 529. What Irenseus relates is that St John refused to go into the
public baths when he heard the heretic Cerinthus was there. This he had from
the martyr Polycarp, St John's own scholar and disciple.
Vol. IV., Note e, p. 78, ' Death, .... Aristotle.' The fuller expression of * the
philosopher's' blank despair concerning death, is found in his Hth. Nic, iii., 6. 6, as
follows : — (polSsPUiraTOV d' 6 ddvarog' cregag yocg, xa/ ovdiv 'in tSj nhiurt boTui our'
dya&h ours %a%hv uvai..
Vol. IV., Notes d, p. 58, and Note k, p. 305, 'Sic transit Gloria Mundi.' I add
the following earlier notice : ' In Eom. Pontificum inauguratione interea dum de
604 CONCLUDING NOTE.
more sacellum D. Gregorii declaratus prgetergreditur, ipsum prseit ceremoniarum
magister gestans arundines seu cannas duas, quarum alteri sursum apposita est
candela ardens, quam alteri cannse, cui superpositse stuppse sunt, adhibet, incen-
ditque dicens : Patek Sancte, sic transit glokia mundi. Quod et ipsum tertio
iterat. Unde Paradinus sumpsit symbolum quod inter heroica sua possuit : Nil
SoLiDUM. Hoc olim non ignorarunt Romani. Nam si alicui ex ipsorum ducibus
vel Imperatoribus ob res feliciter gestas, et hostibus devictis, triumphus a Senatu
decretus esset, et is in curru triumpliali maxima pompa urbem ingrederetur, eodem
curru carnifex minister publicus vebebatur, [Zonaras lib. ii.] qui pone coronam
auream gemmis distinctam sustinens, eum admonebat, ut respiceret, id est, ut re-
liquum vitse spacium provideret, nee eo honore elatus superbiret. Appensa quoque
erat currui nola et flagellum : quce innuebant eum in tantas calamitates incidere
posse ut et flagris csederetur, et capite damnaretur. Nam qui ob facinus supremo
supplicio afficiebantur nolas gestare solebant, ne quis inter eundum contactu illorum
piaculo se obstringeret.' — Philippi Camerarii Meditationes Historicce, 1644, p. 76.
Vol. IV., Note b, p. 200, ' Take all from me,' Augustine. Cf. Cowper, close of
' The Task.'
Vol. IV., Note k, p. 486, Augustine. Cf. also De Civitate Dei, xxii. 5.
Vol. IV., Note kk, p. 488, ' Vespertiliones.' There is a curious parallelism to
this quoted from St Bernard, Serm. II. in Corn. A Lapide, On the Minor Prophets,
p. 3, ' in terrenis lynces, in cselestibus talpse.'
Vol. v., Note ee, p. 34, ' Harmless.' For ' without harm,' read, as with Sibbes,
p. 23, ' -without horn ;' and the Greek word is not a/AS/x-rrog, but axioaiog.
Vol. V„ foot-note, p. 163, for Cowper read Watts.
Vol. v., foot-note, p. 183, I add, that a la mort means ' going to die,' i.e., so they
fancy, or 'like dead men.'
Vol. v., Note b, p. 247, ' Law.' Perhaps Sibbes's reference may be to Caesar's
classic saying on proceeding to cross the Eubicon. According to Suetonius
Csesar 30) he quoted the lines of Euripides (Phoenisse, 534-5) :
" If I must be unjust, 'tis best to be so
Playing for empire ; just in all things else."
Vol. v.. Lady Brooke, p. 411. In the ' Memoir' contained in Parkhurst's funeral
sermon for this illustrious and venerable ' lady,' will be found a very interesting
notice of Sibbes's visits to her, and of their mutual regard.
Vol. v.. Note b, p. 539, ' Common and profane;' read rather %oivhg. ' The rea-
son' seems to be that holiness or religious purity, as well as everything belonging-
to religion, was connected by the ancients (especially the Hebrews) with the notion
of something set apart or separate ; and whatsoever was not thus set apart, or was
outside the sacred enclosure, was common d^ndi profane, whether used in good or bad
sense.
Vol. v., p. 153, ' Ferns.' I rather take to be Dr Joh. Wild (Latinised Ferus), a
celebrated Franciscan preacher and expositor at Mentz at the time of the Eeforma-
tion. The only other name of the kind known, is that of the celebrated Spanish
Dominican, S. Vincent Ferrar, who died in 1419.
Vol. v., p. 256, Credo quia impossibile est, is the famous paradox of TertuUian.
Vol. v., p. 435. Does 'civil men ' mean men of the world, 'natural men,' as our
translators call them, and not ' moral men ' ?
Vol. v., p. 353. In the remark of Calvin with regard to whether our Lord
merited personally, &c., the marks of quotation are wrongly placed. It ought to
be : Saith he, ' Whether He did or no, it is curious to search, it is,' &c.
*j^* I have mislaid my reference to Sibbes's quotation of ' likeness' being the
ground of ' communion.' The reader chancing upon it will be glad to have it
confirmed with the noble passage in Plato: Thesetetus, 176, A, irn^aGdai y^^n
svdivds sxsTas (povysiv o ri rayj<S7CL <pvyri bi bfLoiuGig 6iu> xara* to dwarov, ofio'iuGig
hi hixaiov y.al osiov fUTa (Dpovrjtiiug yinG&ai,
A. B. G.
end of vol. vn.
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