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           Title: The Complete Works of Thomas Manton, D.D. Vol. V.
      Creator(s): Manton, Thomas (1620-1677)
     Print Basis: London: James Nisbet & Co. (1871)
   CCEL Subjects: All
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    THE

                          WORKS OF THOMAS MANTON, D.D.

VOL. V.

COUNCIL OF PUBLICATION.
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   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 Presbyterian
   Church, Edinburgh.

   General Editor

   REV. THOMAS SMITH, D.D., EDINBURGH.
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THE COMPLETE WORKS

    OF

                              THOMAS MANTON, D.D.

VOLUME V.

CONTAINING

A PRACTICAL COMMENTARY; OR, AN EXPOSITION, WITH NOTES, ON
THE EPISTLE OF JUDE.

MEAT OUT OF THE EATER.

ENGLAND'S SPIRITUAL LANGUISHING, ITS CAUSES AND CURE.

SERMONS AT MORNING EXERCISE.

PREFACE TO SMECTYMNUUS REDIVIVUS.

LONDON:

JAMES NISBET & CO., 21 BERNERS STREET.

  1871.
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CONTENTS.

   PAGE

   A Practical Commentary; or, an Exposition with Notes, on the Epistle of
   Jude:--

   The Epistle Dedicatory
   3

   To the Reader
   6

   Exposition
   9-376

   Meat out of the Eater
   377

   England's Spiritual Languishing
   411

   Sermons at the Morning Exercise:--

   How we may Cure Distractions in Holy Duties
   441

   How Ought we to Improve our Baptism?
   459

   Man's Impotency to Help himself out of his Misery
   473

   The Scripture Sufficient without Unwritten Traditions
   485

   Editorial Note on Smectymnuus Redividvus
   501
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                            A PRACTICAL COMMENTARY,

    OR

                            AN EXPOSITION WITH NOTES

    ON THE

                                EPISTLE OF JUDE.

   VOL. V.
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THE EPISTLE DEDICATORY.

   To the Religious and Honourable Lady, Letitia Popham, wife to Colonel
   Alexander Popham.

   MADAM,--It is a lovely conjunction when goodness and greatness meet
   together. Persons of estate and respect in the world have more
   temptations and hindrances than others, but greater obligations to own
   God. The great landlord of the world expecteth a rent from every
   country cottage, but a large revenue from great houses. Now usually it
   falleth out so that they that hold the greatest farms pay the least
   rent. [1] Never is the Lord more neglected and dishonoured than in
   great men's houses, in the very face of all his bounty. If religion
   chance to get in there, it is soon worn out again. Though vices live
   long in a family, and run in a blood from father to son, yet it is a
   rare case to see strictness of religion carried on for three or four
   descents. It was the honour of Abraham's house that from father to son
   for a long while they were heirs of the same promise,' Heb. xi. 9; but
   where is there such a succession to be found in the houses of our
   gentry? The father, perchance, professeth godliness (for ou polloi,
   saith the apostle, 1 Cor. i. 26, not many noble,' &c., there are a
   few--he doth not say there are none), and a carnal son cometh and
   turneth all out of doors, as if he were ashamed of his father's God.
   The causes of this mischief may be supposed to be these:--(1.) Plenty
   ill governed disposeth to vice and sin, as a rank soil is apt to breed
   weeds. (2.) Brave spirits (as the world counteth them) think strictness
   inglorious,' [2] and the power of religion a base thing, that taketh
   off from their grandeur and esteem. A loose owning of Christianity is
   honourable, since the kings of the earth have counted it one of the
   fairest flowers of their crowns to be styled the Catholic King,' the
   most Christian King,' the Defender of the Faith,' &c. But a true
   submission to the power of it is made a scorn, as being contrary to
   that liberty of fashions, vanity of compliment, and some Gentile
   customs, which, in a fond compliance with the humour of the age, they
   are loath to part with. It were a rude zeal to deny them honest
   civilities, but certain customs and modes there are inconsistent with
   the severity of religion, which, rather than men will part with, they
   will even break with God himself. (3.) The marriage of children into
   carnal families, wherein they consult rather with the greatness of
   their house than the continuing of Christ's interest in their line and
   posterity. How careful are they that they should match in their own
   rank for blood and estate! Should they not be as careful for religion
   also? But even good people give a suspicion sometimes that they do not
   believe what they do profess. That this is the ready way to undo all
   that hath been set on foot for God, is evident by scripture and
   experience. See Gen. vi. 1-3; Ps. cvi. 38; Neh. xiii. 25, 26. In
   scripture, we read of Jehoram, who is said to walk in the way of the
   kings of Israel, for the daughter of Ahab was his wife,' 2 Kings viii.
   18; and in ecclesiastical history, of Valens the emperor, who, by
   marrying with an Arian lady, was himself ensnared in that wicked
   opinion.

   All this is spoken, madam, to quicken you to the greater care in your
   relations, that you may settle a standing interest for Jesus Christ so
   hopefully already begun in your house and family. It will not be
   pleasing to you that I should publish upon the house-top what God hath
   done for you, or enabled you to do for him. Go on still, and be
   faithful. There are few that I know in the world who have more cause to
   honour God than you have.

   That I have inscribed this Commentary to your name will not seem
   strange to those that know my great obligations to yourself and your
   worthy husband, and your interest in that beloved place [3] and people
   among whom I have had so many sweet opportunities of enjoying, and, I
   hope, of glorifying God, and from whom I should never have removed but
   upon those weighty causes and considerations which did even rend me
   from them. And though I am now transplanted, and owe very much service
   and respect elsewhere, yet that noble lord [4] that gave me the call
   will allow me full time and leave to pay my old debts, that afterward I
   may be the more in a capacity publicly to express my gratitude to
   himself.

   If any should be so foolish as to object the unsuitableness of
   dedicating a comment on the scripture to one of your sex (as it seemeth
   some did to Jerome [5] ), I shall not plead that two of the books of
   scripture are named from women, Ruth and Esther, that an epistle which
   maketh up a part of the canon is inscribed to an elect lady,' that if
   this be a fault, others have faulted in like kind before me; [6] but
   only that this is a practical commentary, and surely in matters of
   practice (which is every Christian's common interest) your sex hath a
   full share. Though your course of life be more private and confined,
   yet you have your service. The scriptures speak of the woman's gaining
   upon the husband, 1 Peter iii. 1; seasoning the children, Prov. xxxi.
   1, 2 Tim. i. 5; encouraging the servants in a way of godliness,
   especially of their own sex; it is said, Esther iv. 16, I also and my
   maidens will fast likewise.' These maidens were either Jews, and then
   it showeth what servants should be taken into a nearer attendance, such
   as savour of religion (see Ps. ci. 6), or else, which is more probable,
   such as she had instructed in the true religion, for these maidens were
   appointed her by the eunuch, and were before instructed in court
   fashions, Esther ii. 9; but that did not satisfy. She taketh time to
   instruct them in the knowledge of the true God, and it seemeth in her
   apartment had many opportunities of religious commerce with them in the
   worship of God. Madam, how far you practise these duties it is not
   necessary that I should tell the world. Persevere with cheer fulness,
   and in due time you shall reap if you faint not. The good Lord shed
   abroad the comforts and graces of his Spirit more abundantly into your
   heart, which is the unfeigned desire of him who is, madam, your most
   obliged and respectively [7] observant,

   Tho. Manton.
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   [1] Qui majores terras possident, minores census solvunt.'--Parisienis.

   [2] Coguntur esse mali ne viles habeantur.'--Salvian.

   [3] Stoke Newington.

   [4] The Right Honourable William Earl of Bedford.

   [5] Hieron. Epist. 140.

   [6] Hieron. to Celantia, Asella, &c.

   [7] That is, "respectfully."--Ed.
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TO THE READER.

   GOOD READER,--The people of God have ever been exercised with two sorts
   of enemies persecutors and sectaries: it is hard to say which is worst.
   When the Christian church began first to look forth in the world, there
   were adverse powers without ready to crush it, and Libertines who, like
   worms bred within the body, sought to devour the entrails and eat out
   the very bowels of it. The first ringleader was Simon Magus, and there
   followed Menander, Saturninus, Basilides, Carpocrates, Cerinthus,
   Ebion, Cerdo, Marcion, Tatianus, Valentinus, and many others, who,
   being once turned aside from the truth and the fellowship of the
   faithful, lost all awe of God, and were given up to a sottish judgment
   to believe all kinds of fables and fancies. The monsters of Africa came
   from the unnatural commixtures of the beasts running wild in the
   deserts; so when men had once broken through the hedge, mingling their
   own fancies with the word of God, by an unnatural production they
   brought forth such monstrous and absurd opinions.

   In succeeding ages the devil hath often played over the old game,
   sometimes oppressing the church by the tyranny of pseudo-Christians, as
   many martyrs being made by antichristian as pagan persecutions, Rev.
   xiv. 13; at other times corrupting the truth by error, or rendering it
   suspicious by the divisions about it. Heresies revolve as fashions, and
   in the course of a few years antiquated errors revive again, and that
   by their means who did not so much as know them by name.

   When God first called his people out of Babylon by Luther's
   reformation, and the Christian religion began to be restored to its
   pristine purity, there was not only a Roman party to persecute, but a
   fanatical party to perplex the estate of reformation and retard the
   course of the gospel, as histories do abundantly declare, especially
   Sleidan in his Commentaries.

   What hath been our late experience we all know, and have cause to
   bewail: as soon as we were freed from our hard taskmasters, and a door
   of hope began to be opened to us, a swarm of Libertines have arisen
   among us, and do every day increase in number, power, and malice, and
   under various forms oppugn the unquestionable interests of Jesus
   Christ, to the great scandal of reformation, and the saddening of the
   hearts of the godly. We seem to be ripe for a judgment, but from what
   corner the storm shall blow we cannot tell; some fear a return of
   popery, and that a second deluge of antichristianism shall overwhelm
   the western churches. The Papists, I confess, are dangerous, but the
   great and next fear I think to be from Libertines and a yokeless
   generation of men, who are most reproachful to religion and most
   troublesome.

   The spirit and drift of this epistle is carried out mainly against this
   fanatical and libertine party, and therefore I suppose it to be a
   mistake in Dr Willet, Mr Perkins, and others, when they would turn the
   edge of it against the Papists. I confess they had a temptation that
   way, these being the only heretical party with whom the church of God
   was then in suit, and symbolising in many things with those of the
   other extreme, as usually darkness and darkness doth better agree than
   light and darkness; but certainly the party described here are not a
   domineering faction, that carry things by power and greatness and
   height of natural abilities, as the Papists do, but a creeping party,
   such as by sordid and clancular ways seek to undermine the truth, a
   kind of mean and loose sort of people, that vented monstrous and gross
   conceits, chiefly out of envy, against those that excelled in gifts and
   place; and if our modern Ranters, Familists, Quakers, be not here
   described in their lively colours (as if the apostle had lived to hear
   their blasphemous expressions and that contempt which they cast upon
   the officers of the church), I confess then I understand no thing of
   the whole epistle. If the judicious reader let alone the larger
   discussion of the observations, and go but over the explications of
   each verse, he will soon find my observation true.

   What I have done, through grace, to the clearer understanding of the
   apostle's scope, and the larger explanation of the common-places here
   offered, I shall not mention, but leave to the reader's judgment. Some
   will blame me for being too large, and others in many places for being
   too short. I shall only let the first sort know that in the larger
   explications of points of doctrine I have rather satisfied the desires
   of others than followed my own judgment, who, when these things were
   first delivered (which was long since) in the way of short notes, were
   willing to hear the points more largely debated, and so I went over
   them again in a sermon-fashion. If any blame me for being too short,
   let them know that therein I have more satisfied myself, as keeping to
   the laws of an expository exercise. I confess I am so conscious to the
   many imperfections of this work, that the reader had never been
   troubled with it had it not been extorted from me by such importunity
   as I could not withstand: especially did I judge the publication
   needless, the elaborate commentary of my reverend brother, Mr William
   Jenkyns, being already printed; but when I saw that we went different
   ways in prosecuting the same truth, that objection ceased. Seasonable
   things must be often urged, and the variety of method maketh the
   repetition grateful. I observe God's providence in it, when divers men
   fall upon the same work, that in the mouth of two or three witnesses
   every truth might be established. Beza, I remember, persuadeth Olevian
   to print his meditations on the Galatians, though many excellent
   writers had but lately and diligently explained that epistle. Dr King,
   Dr Abbot, and Dr Benefield all wrote upon Jonah, and with approbation,
   near about the same time. As much as my occasions would permit me, I
   consulted with my reverend brother's book, and when I found any point
   at large discussed by him, I either omitted it or mentioned it very
   briefly, so that his labours will be necessary to supply the weaknesses
   of mine.

   This work hath been long in the press, and no wonder, the author lying
   under such an oppression of business, it being carried on by snatches
   and spare hours. Many faults have been occasioned, whether by the
   obscurity of the copy or the negligence of the printer I will not now
   determine. Surely I have had to do with those that learned how to make
   a pitcher in a tub, or else they would never have so pitifully mangled
   the Greek and Latin sentences that in some places they are scarce
   intelligible. I have added the errata in the end, which must be
   consulted with, or else the reader will hardly find sense, [8] and in
   some places not true doctrine. The tables I have collected with some
   diligence, the one of scriptures, which are either vindicated or
   largely illustrated in this commentary, the other of the principal
   matters, especially the common-places here discussed. If by all thou
   findest any help in the way of thy heavenly calling, bless God, and
   forget not to put up one prayer for the meanest of the Lord's servants,

   Tho. Manton.
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   [8] Unfortunately the errata are worse printed than the text, and
   themselves contain many errata. It is hoped that nearly all errors are
   corrected in the present edition.--Ed.
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AN EXPOSITION, WITH NOTES,

    UPON THE

EPISTLE OF JUDE.
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   Jude, the servant of Jesus Christ, and brother of James, to them that
   are sanctified by God the Father, preserved in Jesus Christ, and
   called.--Ver. 1.

   THIS epistle, as others, beginneth with usual Christian salutations;
   these are continued through the two first verses, in which you have:

   1. The person saluting, Jude, the author of the epistle.

   2. The persons saluted, the believers of that age.

   3. The form of salutation, ver. 2, mercy, and peace, and love be
   multiplied.

   This first verse presenteth us with the two first circumstances, the
   saluter and the saluted. (1.) The saluter is described by his name,
   Judas; his office and condition of life, the servant of Jesus Christ;
   by his kindred and relation, and brother of James. (2.) The saluted,
   they are described--(1st.) By their condition, kle'tois, called, that
   is to read first, as Beza. (2d.) By the effects and manifestations of
   it, which are two: First, sanctified by God the Father; secondly,
   preserved in Jesus Christ. These are the parts: I shall explain them
   branch by branch in the order propounded, with practical hints from
   each, which I shall handle in no fuller latitude than the present text
   will allow.

   1. The saluter, and there his name, Judas,' called also Thaddeus,' Mat.
   x. 3, and Lebbaeus;' these several names implying the same thing, and
   were given him either by the people or the disciples, partly to
   distinguish him from Judas the apostate, partly to note his constancy
   in confessing and praising God; for so it signifieth, as you may see,
   Gen. xxix. 35, Now Leah said, I will praise the Lord, therefore she
   called his name Judah.'

   Obs. Divers note hence--(1.) That Christian names should be
   significant, such as may remember us of duty. (2.) That it is lawful to
   divulge or conceal our names in our writings, according as it may make
   for the glory of God to do either the one or the other. Jude mentioneth
   his name, but Paul doth not, or whosoever was the author of the Epistle
   to the Hebrews. (3.) That godly men and wicked may both be called by
   the same name; so Judas the apostle and Judas the apostate; there was
   Enoch, Cain's son, Gen. iv. 17, and Enoch, Seth's son, of the church
   line, that walked with God,' Gen. v. 22. But to mention these things is
   more than enough; the next circumstance will afford us more.

   2. His office and condition, the servant of Jesus Christ.' It is a
   thing usual with the apostles to prefix this among other their honorary
   titles; as Rom. i. 1, Paul, a servant of Jesus Christ;' so Phil. i. 1.
   The greatest honour that he would put upon himself and Timothy was
   this, Paul and Timotheus, the servants of Jesus Christ.' This term, a
   servant of God or Christ, in the use of scripture, is several ways
   applied. (1.) It may be understood of any kind of subserviency to God's
   will and secret counsels, or instrumentality in the execution of his
   decrees; so wicked men may be said to be God's servants, so far forth
   as he serveth his designs of their endeavours; as Cyrus was God's
   servant, because he should perform all his pleasure; so Nebuchadnezzar,
   Jer. xxvii. 6, These things have I given into the hands of
   Nebuchadnezzar, my servant,' (2.) It noteth a pious care to perform
   God's revealed will; they that out of a sense of his love resign up
   themselves to do his will are called his servants: so he that is called
   in the Lord,' whether he be bond or free, is said to be Christ's
   servant,' 1 Cor. vii. 22. So godly masters are said to have the Lord
   for their master: Eph. vi. 9, Knowing that your master is also in
   heaven,' In the former place he saith a servant is God's freeman; and
   here, that a master is God's servant. (3.) It noteth designation to any
   public office for God's glory; those that do more eminently or more
   nearly serve God in some peculiar office are called his servants; as
   magistrates: Rom. xiii. 4, He is the minister of God for thy good;' and
   ver. 6, God's ministers attending continually for this thing.' But yet
   more especially they are called ministers and servants who sustain the
   public offices of the church; as 2 Tim. ii. 24, The servant of the Lord
   must not strive, but be gentle to all men, apt to teach, patient,'
   meaning one employed in the public ministry. So the priests of the Old
   Testament were called the Lord's servants; as Ps. cxxxiv. 1, Behold,
   bless ye the Lord, all ye servants of the Lord, which by night stand in
   the house of the Lord.' He speaketh to the priests that were to watch
   in the temple; and in this sense it is said, Amos iii. 7, I have sent
   my servants the prophets.' But now among these ministers and officers
   of the church the prophets and apostles are styled so by way of
   eminency. Yea, yet further, Christ, because of his office of Mediator,
   which is the highest office, and proper to the head of the church, is
   called God's servant; as Isa. xlix. 3, Thou art my servant;' and Isa.
   liii. 11, By his knowledge shall my righteous servant justify many.' To
   apply all now to the case in hand: Jude is called a servant of Jesus
   Christ,' not only as one that had given up himself to do his will as a
   Christian, but as an apostle. [9] Let us now observe something hence.

   Obs. 1. Observe, first, that Jude placeth his service among his titles.
   He might have urged other things to render himself honourable to the
   world, but he doth not stand upon those things; it is enough for him to
   say, Jude, a servant.' As Jude, the Lord's cousin, calleth himself his
   servant, so doth Mary, the Lord's mother, style herself his handmaid:
   Luke i. 38, Behold the handmaid of the Lord.' And the apostles
   generally urge it as one of the fairest flowers in their gar land, the
   honour of being Christ's servants; yea, Christ himself counteth it no
   dishonour to be styled God's servant. The meanest offices about princes
   are accounted honourable; to be a groom there is better than to be a
   lord elsewhere. Servire Deo regnare est--it is royal and kingly to be
   God's servant; indeed, every servant there is a king, 1 Peter ii. 9,
   Rev. i. 6; as Zeba and Zalmunna said of Gideon's brethren, They each
   one resembled the children of a king,' so all these are spiritual
   kings, that live the noblest and freest life in the world. And as we
   have a glorious master, so consider your fellow-servants, the glorified
   saints and we make but one family, Eph. iii. 15. And the angels
   themselves are called his ministers: Ps. ciii. 21, Ye ministers of his
   that do his pleasure;' they are a part of God's attendance, and wait
   upon their master's person. When we have such fellow-servants, we
   should not count our work a slavery and baseness; it can be no
   disparagement to us to be in the same rank and order with the angels
   and saints departed. Well, then, learn to value the honour that you
   have by Christ's service; as that emperor counted it a greater
   privilege to be a member of the church than head of the empire. Look
   upon duty as an honour, and service as a privilege: honorabilia legis,
   Hosea viii. 12, so the Vulgar. And if ever you be put to your choice,
   either to enjoy the greatest outward honours, or to serve Christ with
   disgrace, choose the latter. Moses refused to be called the son of
   Pharaoh's daughter when he came to age,' Heb. xi. 24. 25. Galeacius
   Carraciolus left the honour of his marquisate for an obscure life and
   the gospel at Geneva. Indignities and dishonours done you in the way of
   duty are honours; reproaches for Christ's sake' are treasure, Heb. xi.
   26. One of Paul's honorary titles is, Paul, a prisoner of Jesus
   Christ,' Philem. 1; and elsewhere he holdeth up his chain in a kind of
   triumph: For the hope of Israel am I bound with this chain,' Acts
   xxviii. 20. Whatever befalleth us in and for our service to Christ, be
   it never so disgraceful, it is rather a mark of honour than a brand of
   shame.

   Obs. 2. Observe, again, his relation to Christ is expressed by service;
   as he describeth himself to be James's brother, so Christ's servant; by
   that means he was entitled to Christ; if we would be Christ's we must
   do his will: our relation ariseth from service, John xii. 26. Therefore
   I shall here take occasion to show you what it is to be Christ's
   servants. (1.) Whoever is Christ's servant must resign and give up
   himself wholly to the will of Christ; for he that is Christ's servant,
   he is so by covenant and consecration. We are indeed Christ's by all
   kind of rights and titles; he made us, and not we ourselves;' no
   creature is of itself, and therefore it is not its own, but another's.
   It is God's prerogative alone to love himself and seek himself, because
   he alone is without obligation and dependence; but we owe ourselves to
   him, and therefore cannot without robbery call ourselves our own. Your
   tongues are not your own to speak what you please, Ps. xii. 4, nor your
   hearts your own to think what you please, nor your hands your own to do
   what you please; by virtue of your creation you are another's, and are
   bound to live and act for another, according to his will, for his
   glory. But this is not all; by redemption you are Christ's: Ye are
   bought with a price,' 1 Cor. vi. 20, as the redeemed are bound to serve
   him that ransomed them. If a man had bought another out of captivity,
   or he had sold himself, all his strength or service belonged to the
   buyer. Christ hath bought us from the worst slavery, and with the
   greatest price; no thraldom so bad as bondage to sin and Satan, no
   prison so black as hell; and certainly Christ's blood is better than a
   little money. So that to live as if we were at our own disposal is to
   defraud Christ of his purchase. Thus we are Christ's by creation and
   redemption; but now, if we would be his servants, we must be his by
   voluntary contract and spiritual resignation: Yield up yourselves,'
   &c., Rom. vi. 13. Christ loveth to have his right and title established
   by our own consent. We take Christ for lord and master, and give up
   ourselves to him, that we may be no longer at our own disposal, and
   therefore it is not only robbery, but treachery and breach of covenant
   to seek ourselves in anything. This resignation must be made out of a
   sense of Christ's love to us in his death and sufferings: 2 Cor. v. 15,
   Christ died, that they which live should not henceforth live to
   themselves, but unto him that died for them.' We enter upon other
   services out of hopes, but we enter upon Christ's service out of
   thankfulness. Again, this resignation must be universal, without
   reservation of any part. You must have no other master but God: Mat.
   vi. 24, Ye cannot serve two masters, ye cannot serve God and mammon.'
   Usually men divide themselves between God and the world; they would
   give their consciences to Christ, and their hearts to mammon. The devil
   pleadeth for a part, for by that means he knoweth that the whole will
   fall to his share; therefore all, the whole man, in vow, purpose, and
   resolution, must be given up to God. (2.) Having given up yourselves to
   God's service, you must walk as his servants; that is, not as you list,
   but as the master pleaseth. The angels are God's ministers, doing his
   pleasure,' Ps. ciii. 21. A servant hath no will of his own, but hath
   given up his liberty to the directions and commands of another;
   therefore, if you be God's servants, you must earnestly desire the
   knowledge of his will, and readily comply with it; you must not do
   things as they please self and flesh, but as they please God. David
   beggeth for knowledge as God's servant: Ps. cxix. 125, I am thy
   servant, grant me understanding, that I may know thy testimonies.' A
   faithful servant would not willingly offend his master, and therefore
   would fain know what is his will. They plead with God, and search
   themselves, Rom. xii. 2, and all to know his pleasure; and not only to
   know it, but to do it, otherwise they are worthy of many stripes by
   Christ's own sentence. The master's will should be motive enough, 1
   Thes. iv. 3, v. 13; 1 Peter ii. 15. If God will have it so if Jesus
   Christ will have it so, it is enough to a faithful servant. I he very
   signification of God's will carrieth with it reason enough to enforce
   the practice of it. Yea, you must equally comply with every will of
   God, not only with the easy and pleasant ways of obedience, but such as
   cross lusts and interests. When two men go together, a man cannot tell
   whom the servant followeth till they part. When God and our lusts or
   our interests command contrary things, then you are put to the trial
   whether you are God's servants.

   Obs. 3. Again, observe from the proper acception of the phrase, as it
   is applied to those that stand before the Lord in some special office
   and ministration; as to the apostles, and by consequence to the
   ministers of the gospel. The note is, that ministers are servants of
   Jesus Christ; Paul a servant, and Jude a servant. We are to deal
   between God and the soul, factors for heaven. There is many a good
   inference may be collected from this notion. I shall refer all to two
   heads, the ministers' duty and the people's. (1.) It hinteth duty to
   ministers; it teacheth us diligence in our Lord's work, for we are
   servants, and must give an account, Heb. xiii. 17, what good we have
   done in our places, how we have employed our parts, improved our
   interests, for his glory: Mat. xxv. 19, After a long time the lord of
   those servants cometh and reckoneth with them.' We are entrusted with
   the talent of gifts, with the talent of office and authority in the
   church; now God will see what we have done for his glory, whether we
   have beaten our fellow-servants, or helped them in the way of
   salvation; whether our pound hath been hidden in a napkin, or laid out
   for the gain of souls. Again, it hinteth faithfulness. We are not to
   trade for ourselves, and to drive on our own designs of credit and
   advantage; we are servants, employed for the master's uses: Gal. i. 10,
   Do I yet please men? If I pleased men, I should not be the servant of
   Christ.' A man that sets up for himself is to trade for himself; but
   all that a servant doth should be for his master's honour and profit.
   (2.) It hinteth duty to the people. Regard ministers as servants of
   Christ, that you may give their persons all due honour. Consider, God
   hath retained them as for a nearer service to himself: 1 Cor. iv. 1,
   Let a man so account of us as of the ministers of Christ, and stewards
   of the mysteries of the gospel.' The world counteth the calling
   probrosum artificium, a sordid artifice and way of living, whereby men
   set their tongues and parts to sale, and think that of all callings
   this can best be spared, therefore it is high time to assert the
   dignity of the office. Men should not think so basely of those who are
   Christ's servants, not only to do his business, but to wait upon his
   person, his special attendants; nay, ambassadors, that impersonate and
   represent their Master, 2 Cor. v. 20. Again, bear our doctrine with
   meekness and patience; we are but servants. If the message which we
   bring be displeasing, remember it is the will of our master; it is not
   in our power to comply with your lusts and humours, if the scripture
   doth not. As God said to Jeremiah, Jer. xv. 19, Let them return unto
   thee, but return not thou to them.' So you should comply with the word;
   we cannot comply with you. The false prophets returned to the people,
   complied with their humours. We must deliver our message, pardon to
   whom pardon, terror to whom terror is due: servants must be faithful.
   Thus must you look upon them as servants, yet but as servants, that you
   may not fondly idolise their persons: What is Paul and Apollos, but
   ministers by whom ye believe?' 1 Cor. iii. 5. It is the old way of
   flesh and blood to sacrifice to the next hand. And that you may know to
   whom to go for the fruit of the ordinance, when we have done our work,
   there is one that cometh after us who is mightier than we,' Mat. iii.
   11, who giveth the increase' to what we have planted and watered,' 1
   Cor. iii. 6.

   3. The author of the epistle is described by his kindred and relation,
   and brother of James. There were two in the college of the apostles of
   that name, James of Zebedee, and James the son of Alpheus,' who was
   also called the brother of the Lord,' that is, his cousin-german, who
   is the person intended, for Jude was his brother, as Mat. xiii. 55, Is
   not his mother called Mary? and his brethren, James, and Joses, and
   Simon, and Judas?' Now this clause is added, partly to distinguish him
   from the other Judas, called Iscariot, who betrayed our Lord.

   Obs. It is good to prevent all visible scandals and exceptions against
   our persons. I observe this, because the scripture doth elsewhere: John
   xiv. 22, Judas saith unto him, not Iscariat, How is it that thou wilt
   manifest thyself to us, and not unto the world?' The scripture would
   not have you mistake him that said so. Men drink less freely of a
   suspected fountain. Partly because this would make the epistle the more
   welcome. James was of great credit and repute, reckoned by Paul among
   the pillars,' Gal. ii. 9. From whence observe:--

   Obs. 1. That it is lawful to use the credit of others, for the
   advantage of the truth. In the 15th of the Acts, the apostles might
   have deter mined the case by their own infallible spirit, but for the
   greater credit sake they take in the consent of others: ver. 23, The
   apostles, and elders, and brethren,' &c. Paul, dealing with heathens,
   quoteth the sayings of their own writers in divers places, which may
   justify the unaffected use of sentences and passages out of the ancient
   writers of the church. It is good to bait the naked hook of truth
   sometimes with the advantage of carnal credit. Again, observe:--

   Obs. 2. That we should walk so that we may be an honour to our
   relations. This is one of Jude's titles, the brother of James.' He took
   it for an honour to. be related to so eminent an apostle. Worthy men
   reflect a credit upon their families. To be brother, father, son, to
   such as have deserved well of the church, is no mean honour and
   engagement to virtue. Well, then, live so that you may not disgrace
   your lineage; and you that come of worthy ancestors, walk answerably to
   the dignity of your extraction. The images of your progenitors are not
   more sullied with dust, and smoke, and age, than they are with your
   vices. The Spirit of God brands a degenerate issue for walking unworthy
   their birth and the privileges of their blood, 1 Chron. iv. 22, 23.
   Vide Junium et alios in locum. So much for the saluter.

   Let us now come to the saluted; they are described by their condition,
   called; by the effects and manifestations of it, which are two,
   sanctification and preservation.

   1. Their condition, called, for that both in the construction of the
   words, and the order of nature, is to be read first. There is an
   outward calling, and in that sense Christ speaketh, Mat. xx. 16, Many
   are called, but few are chosen;' that is, outwardly called in the
   invitations of the word; so all wicked men that live within the hearing
   of the gospel; but it seemeth they are only called obiter, by the by,
   as they live among the elect: those are called kata prothesin,
   according to purpose.' Rom. viii. 28. But there is an inward and
   effectual calling, by the persuasion of the Spirit, or the voice of the
   Son of God,' which causeth life, John v. 25. The apostle speaketh here
   of the called according to purpose,' and that by an inward and
   effectual calling. Whence note:--

   Obs. That it is the condition of the people of God to be a called
   people; this is first in their description: see Rom. i. 6, Among whom
   are ye also the called of Jesus Christ.' So the Corinthians are said to
   be saints by calling, 1 Cor. i. 2, and Heb. iii. 1, Holy brethren,
   partakers of the heavenly calling.' Now the saints are a called people,
   first, because all they have and enjoy is from God's calling; a
   Christian is nothing and hath nothing but what God is pleased to work
   in him by his creating word: Calling the things that are not as though
   they were.' Rom. iv. 17. Now God is pleased to work this way, partly to
   give us a warrant, that we may possess our privileges in Christ without
   intrusion and usurpation: No man taketh this honour upon him till he be
   called of God,' Heb. v. This is that they have to show to conscience,
   that we do not presume and usurp; we have a calling so to do. Why dost
   thou, vile wretch, go to God in the name of Christ? How dost thou that
   art a sinner look him in the face, lay hold of Christ, hope for glory?
   Still the call is our warrant and title. If it should be asked of the
   guests that came in a wedding garment, Friends, how durst ye come
   hither, and approach the presence chamber of the king's son? they might
   answer, We were bidden to the wedding, Mat. xxii. So in Mat. xx., Why
   do not you go into the vineyard?' Their answer was, No man hath hired
   us;' they had no calling. Partly to give us encouragement: we need not
   only leave to come to God by Christ, but also quickening and
   encouragement, for we are backward. In other preferments there needeth
   nothing but leave, for there men are forward enough; but here guilt
   maketh us shy of God, and God is forced to call and holloa after us. By
   nature we are not only exiles, but fugitives. Before God banished Adam,
   he first ran away from him, he ran to the bushes, and then God called
   him, Adam, where art thou?' Gen. iii. 9. How often doth God holloa
   after us in the word before we return and come out of the bushes! He
   maketh proclamation, Isa. lv. 1, Ho, every one that thirsteth,' &c. We
   are under spiritual bondage, as the Israelites were in Egypt under
   corporal bondage, and God sendeth again and again, and out of very
   anguish of heart we will not believe him; therefore he calleth and
   crieth, Sinners, where are you? why will you not return unto me? God's
   outward call is managed by men, and therefore it is very hard to
   persuade them to discern the voice of God; as Samuel would not be
   persuaded but that it was Eli called him, when it was the Lord. We
   think it to be the charity of the minister, and will not easily
   acknowledge a call from God, and therefore do not only need leave, but
   encouragement. Partly because God will work in a way suitable to his
   own nature and ours; fortiter et suaviter, strongly like himself, and
   sweetly with respect to us; and therefore he doth not only draw but
   call; not only put forth the power of his Spirit, but exhort and invite
   by the word. The efficacy of divine grace is conveyed this way more
   suitably to the nature of man; there is grace offered in the gospel,
   and the Spirit compelleth to come in. In all the works of God, there is
   some word by which his power is educed and exercised. In the creation,
   Let there be light,' &c. At the resurrection there is a trump, and the
   voice of an archangel, Arise, ye dead, and come to judgment.' In all
   Christ's miraculous cures there are some words used, Be thou clean,'
   and Be thou whole,' and Be thou opened;' and to Lazarus in the grave
   Christ useth words of ministerial excitation, Lazarus, come forth.' So
   in converting a sinner, there is not only a secret power, but a sweet
   call and invitation; some word by which this power is conveyed and
   represented in a way suitable to our capacity. For all these reasons
   doth God work grace by calling.

   Again, God's people are well styled a called people, because they are
   so many ways called: from self to Christ, from sin to holiness, from
   misery to happiness and glory. They are called from self to Christ:
   Mat. xi. 28, Come unto me, all ye that are heavy laden.' The main end
   of a call is to bring Christ and the soul together; every dispensation
   of God hath a voice; and God speaketh to us by conscience, by his
   works, by benefits, by crosses, but chiefly by his word, the
   application of which by the Spirit is, as it were, an awakening call;
   but the chief call of God is by the voice of the gospel, wherein the
   offers of grace are discovered to us: Come, poor wearied soul, come to
   Christ, and thou shalt find ease and comfort. Again, they are called
   from sin to holiness: 1 Thes. iv. 7, God hath not called us to
   uncleanness, but to holiness.' Though the immediate end of divine
   calling be faith, yet the intermediate end is holiness, as the ultimate
   end is glory. Thus we are called out of Babylon into Sion, from the
   tents of Kedar into the tents of Shem, from nature to grace, and the
   power of Satan into the kingdom of God; in short, this call is a
   separation from uncleanness, and all common and vile uses. Again, they
   are called from misery to happiness and glory, from aliens to be
   friends, from darkness to light, 1 Peter ii. 9, from being enemies to
   be reconciled, from bastards to become sons, from vessels of wrath to
   be heirs of glory. With respect to all these sorts of calling it is
   termed sometimes a high calling,' Phil. iii. 14; sometimes a holy
   calling,' 2 Tim. i. 9; and sometimes a heavenly calling,' Heb. iii. 1.
   It is a high calling,' because of the honour and dignity of it; it is
   no small matter to be children of God, John i. 12; co-heirs with
   Christ, Rom. viii. 17; kings and priests to God, Rev. i. 6. Many are
   lifted up because they have borne offices, and are called to high
   places in the world: a Christian hath a calling more excellent, he is
   called to be a saint, a spiritual king, a holy priest to God. It is a
   holy calling,' because of the effect and purpose of it. Man's calling
   may put dignity and honour upon us, but it cannot infuse grace; it may
   change our condition, but not our hearts. It is a heavenly calling'
   because of the author of it, God by his Spirit; and because of the aim
   of it; the grace whereby we are called came from heaven, and its aim
   and tendency is to bring us thither. See 1 Thes. ii. 14; 2 Peter i. 3,
   Called us to glory and virtue,' &c. We are first called to grace, and
   then to heaven; first the sweet voice saith, Come unto me,' and then
   the great voice, Come up hither:' from self, sin, and the world we are
   called off, that we may enjoy God in Christ for evermore. You see the
   reasons, let us apply it now.

   Use 1. First, It serveth to press us to hearken to the Lord's call.
   Many are kept off by vanity and pleasures, others by their own fears.
   To the first sort I shall only represent the danger of neglecting God's
   invitation, and slighting a call: Prov. i. 25, 26, Ye have set at
   nought my counsel, therefore I will laugh at your calamity, and mock
   when your fear cometh.' God's wrath is never more terrible than when it
   is stirred up to avenge the quarrel of abused mercy. Men cannot endure
   that two things should be despised--their anger or their kindness.
   Nebuchadnezzar, when he thought his anger despised, he biddeth them
   heat the furnace seven times hotter; and David, when he thought his
   kindness despised, threatened to cut off from Nabal every one that
   pisseth against the wall.' Certainly the Lord taketh it ill when the
   renewed messages of his love are not regarded; and that is the reason
   why where mercy is most free, God is most quick and severe upon the
   refusal of it: the Lamb's wrath is most terrible, Ps. ii. 10; no fire
   so hot as that which is enkindled by the breath of the despised gospel.
   What a terrible threatening is there in the place alleged! I will laugh
   at their calamity.' It is the greatest happiness when the Lord
   rejoiceth to do us good,' and the greatest misery when he rejoiceth to
   do us evil: God's laughing will certainly be the creatures' mourning.
   Consider, then, what an affront you put upon grace, when every vile
   thing is preferred before it. When the Lord offered Canaan to the
   Israelites, and they preferred Egypt before it, he swore, They should
   not enter into his rest,' Ps. xcv. 11; and those that preferred a yoke
   of oxen, a farm, or marriage, before the king's feast, the king
   protesteth against them, Luke xiv. 24, None of those that were bidden
   shall taste of my supper.' Whoever have glory and grace by Christ, they
   shall have none.

   For the other sort, that are kept off by their own fears, they are wont
   to allege, It is true there is mercy in Christ for sinners, but Christ
   doth not call them. My brethren, what do you look for? an audible voice
   to speak to you, Thou John, thou Thomas, &c.? In the tenders of the
   gospel you are included as well as others, and why will you exclude
   yourselves? If God say sinners, you should subsume and reply, I am
   chief.' I remember it is said, John x. 3, Christ calleth his sheep by
   name, and leadeth them forth.' How doth Christ call them by name? By
   speaking expressly to their case, as if he did strike them upon the
   shoulders, and say; Here is comfort for thee. As at a feast, when there
   is a dish that we affect set upon the table, though all the company be
   free to make use of it, yet we say, Here is a dish for me. So should
   you apply and take to yourselves your own portion; though it be
   propounded generally, yet when God directeth the tongue of his
   messengers to speak so expressly to your case, that is all the calling
   by name which you can look for, since oracles are ceased, and therefore
   you should say, This was a dish provided for my hungry conscience,
   intended to me, &c. But they will reply, Sure there is no mercy for me,
   I am so unworthy. I answer--The invitation taketh no notice of worth,
   but of thirst: Rev. xxii. 17, Let him that is athirst come, and
   whosoever will let him take of the water of life freely.' Thou art not
   worthy, but thou art thirsty, or else whence come these groans? And by
   the way take notice of the pride that is in legal dejection. Men are
   loath to be beholden to Christ; they would be worthy before they will
   come to him; and therefore the apostle useth that expression, ouch
   hupetagesan, Rom. x. 3, They have not submitted to the righteousness of
   God.' A proud creature would fain establish a righteousness in himself,
   and is loath to submit to take all from another; as an outward proud
   man preferreth a russet coat of his own before a silken garment that is
   borrowed or given him by another. But they are such sinners, &c. Ans.
   The more need to come to Christ; he came to call sinners,' Mat. ix. 13.
   It is no matter what thou hast been, but what thou wouldst be; Christ
   doth not call us because we are holy, but that we may be holy. Is it a
   rational plea in outward cases, I am too poor to take alms, I am too
   filthy to go to the water to be washed? But they have stood out against
   so many calls already, and scorned God's counsel. Ans. Wisdom calleth
   scorners, Prov. i. 22, Turn ye scorners; how long will ye delight in
   scorning?' It is a mercy that thou hast one call more; do not increase
   the guilt that thou complainest of. But I know not how to come to
   Christ. Ans. The blind and the lame are invited to the wedding, Mat.
   xxii., and wisdom calleth fools, Prov. ix. 4, Whoso is simple,' &c. The
   stray lamb is brought home upon the shepherd's shoulders, Luke xv. Oh!
   that these words might be spirit and life to you!

   Use 2. Again, it presseth us to make our calling and election sure,' 2
   Peter i. 10; that is, to evidence our election by our calling; for
   calling it is but election put in act. Election is nothing but God's
   love and intention to bestow saving grace upon such and such persons;
   and calling is nothing but the actual manifestation of God's love, or
   the application of saving grace: Rom. viii. 30, Whom he hath
   predestinated, them he called.' Calling is the first and immediate
   fruit of election, by which it springeth forth, and is exercised on the
   vessels of mercy: So 2 Thes. ii. 13, 14, God hath from the beginning
   chosen you to salvation, through the sanctification of the Spirit, and
   the belief of the truth, to the obtaining of the glory of God,
   whereunto he hath called you by my gospel.' Here is the whole method of
   salvation. The first rise and spring of mercy was at election, which
   breaketh out by effectual calling, and so floweth down in the channels
   of faith and holiness, till it lose itself in the ocean of everlasting
   glory. So that by calling, God executeth in time what he decreed before
   all time; and he that is called, may look backward upon eternal
   purposes of grace, and forward upon an eternal possession of glory.
   Well, then, if we would get any assurance of God's favour, or of our
   interest in everlasting glory, the great business we should labour in
   is to clear up our calling; it is the freest and surest discovery of
   God's love, and so fittest to bottom a confidence or assurance. In
   elective love, we have the best view of mercy, and a call is the first
   discovery and copy of it; for it is an act of God, which ariseth merely
   from his choice, preventing and anteceding, not only the merit, but the
   acts and industry of the creature: see 2 Tim. i. 9. Other acts of God's
   bounty follow the acts of the creature, but this is the first motion
   God maketh to the soul; he accepts us when we come, but he called us
   when we did not think of coming. In short, calling is the key of the
   gospel, the plank that is cast out to save a sinking sinner, a sure
   pledge of glory, which is therefore called the high prize of our
   calling,' Phil. iii. 14. Once more, here we have the clearest and most
   sensible experience of the work of grace. After conversion, the work
   may be carried on tacitly, and with more silence; but in calling and
   conversion, as in all changes, the operations of grace are more
   sensible; we may grow insensibly, as a plant doth. The step from sin to
   grace is a work of greater difficulty and power than to go on from
   grace to grace; as the apostle maketh it a matter of more ease to save
   a saint than to gain a sinner, Rom. v. 8-10, and therefore degrees
   cannot be alike sensible as change of state. The apostle, speaking of
   the first conversion of the Thessalonians, he saith, 1 Thes. i. 9, Ye
   know what manner of entering we had unto you.' The first approaches of
   God's power and word to the soul, as they meet with more opposition, so
   they cannot but be more sensible, and leave a greater feeling upon us.
   It were strange if an almighty power should work in us, and we no way
   privy or conscious to it, and all done as in our sleep; to think so
   were to give security a soft pillow whereon to rest, and to suffer men
   to go away with golden dreams, though they feel no change in
   themselves, pleasing themselves with the supposition of imaginary
   grace, wrought without their privity and knowledge. I would not press
   too hard upon any tender conscience. I do foresee the objection that
   may be made, namely, that if calling giveth such a sensible experience
   of the work of grace, how cometh it then to pass that so few of God's
   children have assurance or any sense of their conversion? I
   answer--(1.) It is possible God's power may work in us, and we not be
   sensible of it. There is a difference between our outward and inward
   senses: we may lose our spiritual feeling; and inward sense doth not so
   clearly discern its object, because of the way in which God conveyeth
   His power; it is strong, but sweet; like the influences of the heavens;
   of a great efficacy, but scarce discerned: as there was a great power
   wrought in the Ephesians, but they did not discern it so sufficiently,
   Eph. i. 18, 19. (2.) It is the fault of God's children not to be
   sensible of the power that worketh in them; sometimes it is their
   carelessness, sometimes their peevishness. Their carelessness in not
   observing the approaches of God, and how he worketh and breaketh in
   upon their hearts in the word; so that the time of love is not marked
   when it is present, nor remembered when it is past. As God said of
   Ephraim, Hosea xi. 3, When Ephraim was a child, I taught him to go,
   taking them by the arms, but they knew it not,' that is, did not
   observe it. So God communicateth grace to his people, giveth in help
   and supports, but they observe it not. Sometimes it is peevishness and
   perverseness of judgment: sense of sin, and many weaknesses, like a
   thick cloud, hinder their clear discerning. God hath called them, but
   they will not own and acknowledge it, and so underrate their spiritual
   condition. (3.) God doth not call every one in a like violent and
   sensible manner. Some men's conversion is more gentle and silent;
   whereas, to others, Christ cometh like a strong man armed, and
   snatcheth them out of the fire: some are drawn they know not how, and
   love, by a gentle blast, sweetly and softly bloweth open the door: Ere
   ever I was aware,' &c., Cant. vi. 12. Upon others the Spirit cometh
   like a mighty rushing wind,' and they are carried to Christ, as it
   were, by the gates of hell. As in the natural birth, some children are
   brought forth with more ease, others with greater pains and throes, so
   the new birth in some is without trouble and delay. God opened the
   heart of Lydia,' we read of no more, Acts xvi.; but others are brought
   in with more horror of conscience, extreme sorrow, and desperation. God
   biddeth men put a difference,' Jude 22, 23; so doth God himself. (4.)
   This different dispensation God useth according to his own pleasure; no
   certain rules can be given. Sometimes they that have had good education
   have least terrors, as being restrained from gross sins; sometimes most
   terrors, because they have withstood most means. Sometimes they that
   are called to the greatest services have most terrors, that they may
   speak the more evil of sin, because they have felt the bitterness of
   it; sometimes it is quite otherwise; those that are not called to such
   eminent service drink most deeply of this cup, and taste the very dregs
   of sin, and serve only as monuments of the power of God's anger;
   whereas others are spared, and public work serveth instead of sorrow
   and trouble of conscience. Again, sometimes men and women of the most
   excellent and acute understandings are most troubled, as having the
   clearest apprehensions of the heinousness of sin, and terribleness of
   wrath. Again, at other times it cometh from ignorance, as fears arise
   in the dark, and weak spirits are apt to be terrified: sometimes these
   terrors fall on a strong body, as best able to bear it; sometimes on a
   weak, the devil taking advantage of the weakness of the body to raise
   disturbances in the mind. Many times in hot and fiery natures their
   changes are sudden, and carried on in an extreme way; whereas soft
   natures, whose motions are slower, are gently and by degrees surprised;
   they take impressions of grace insensibly. Thus you see no certain
   rules can be given; only in the general way we may observe, that this
   different dispensation maketh the work of God in calling more or less
   sensible. Those that are brought in by the violent way and roughly,
   must needs be sensible of that omnipotent pull by which their hearts
   are divorced from their corruptions, and can discourse of the time, the
   means, and the manner, and all the circumstances of their calling with
   exactness: as Paul, 2 Cor. xii. 2, I knew a man in Christ fourteen
   years ago,' &c. Now, every one cannot deliver a formal story, nor tell
   you the exact method and successive operations of grace in conversion.
   (5.) Though there be a different dispensation used in calling, yet
   there is enough to distinguish the uncalled from the called; partly
   because though God's call be not discerned in the acts of it, yet it
   may be discerned in the effects of it. Conversion is evident, if not in
   feeling, yet in fruit. Many works of nature are for the convoy of them
   insensible, but the effects appear: Eccles. xi. 5, We know not the way
   of the spirit, nor how the bones grow in the womb.' We know not the
   manner, point of time, but yet the birth followeth. They are not
   Christ's that neither know how they are called, nor can give any proof
   that they are called. The blind man, John ix., when they asked him, How
   did he come to open thine eyes?' answered, How he did it I cannot tell;
   but this one thing I know, that whereas I was blind, I now see.' Early
   or late the soul will give this testimony, How I got him I cannot tell,
   but I am glad I find he is here. Partly because where conversion and
   calling is carried on more tacitly or silently, there will be something
   felt and found in them; there is at least an anxiousness about their
   everlasting estate. Every soul doth not walk in the region of the
   shadow of death,' but every soul first or last is brought to What shall
   I do? which is usually upon some secret or open sin into which God
   suffereth them to fall against conscience: there will be care, though
   not horror; and solicitousness, though not utter despair. No soul ever
   came to Christ without a load upon his back, though every one be not
   ready, with the jailor, to kill himself for anguish. You will be at a
   loss sometimes; it is easy security that goeth on from the cradle to
   the grave in the same tenor of hope without variation. There will be a
   time when you will smite upon the thigh,' and cry, What shall I do?'
   And as there will be some trouble found in them, so some change; all
   are not converted from profaneness to religion, some from civility to
   religion, from profession to sincerity, from servility to ingenuity.
   Time was when they were careless of communion with God, prayed now and
   then out of custom, had no delight in the Almighty, but now it is
   otherwise. Partly because there is a constant calling, so that first or
   last we shall be sensible of the motions of the Spirit, and the heart's
   answer: to some God speaketh in thunder, to others in a still voice,
   but to all he speaketh; therefore did you ever discern God's calling
   and your answering? Ps. xxvii. 8, The Lord said, Seek ye my face; my
   heart said, Thy face, Lord, will I seek.' There is no gracious heart
   but they are often sensible of such a dialogue between God and the
   soul. This discourse is constant; he speaketh to us by the injection of
   holy motions and the actual excitations of his grace, and we speak to
   him by serious promises and resolutions of obedience. God calleth us
   into his presence often, and the heart echoeth, Lo, I come.'

   Well, now, upon all these considerations labour to get your calling
   evidenced. That will clear up your title to the great privileges of
   grace. By it you may rebuke your doubts and fears. When conscience
   asketh, What have you to do with these comforts, to look upon
   yourselves as objects of God's election, as heirs of glory? you may
   answer, I did not take this honour upon me. I was called of God. But
   you will say, What are the infallible notes and marks of effectual
   calling? I answer--These. I shall contract larger discourses. You may
   know your effectual calling partly by the preparations made for it.
   Though the work itself be done in an instant, and many times when we
   least think of it, yet usually God maketh way for his mighty work. As
   the husbandman harroweth and breaketh the clods before he throweth in
   the seed, so by some preparative conviction God breaketh the heart, and
   maketh it meet to receive grace. Redemption needed no preparation, but
   conversion doth. Look, as Moses brought them to the borders, but Joshua
   led them into the land of Canaan, so usually there is some foregoing
   law work, though we are called properly by the gospel: 2 Thes. ii. 14,
   Called by my gospel.' The law driveth us out of ourselves, but the
   gospel pulleth in the heart to Christ. Look, as in outward generation
   the matter is gradually prepared and disposed, so is the soul for the
   new birth. A man is awakened by the sight of his own wretchedness,
   convinced of sin, and the evil consequences of it; and then the work is
   done by the mild voice of the gospel, Hosea ii. 14; Gal. iii. 1; as
   manna came down in sweet dews. It is God's way to speak terror before
   he speak comfort. Christ showeth the method: John xvi. 8, The Spirit
   shall convince of sin.' The word elenxei is notable. To convince is to
   show a thing to be impossible to be otherwise than we represent it.
   [10] So the Spirit convinceth, and maketh the person yield, and say,
   Certainly I am a sinner, an unbeliever, a very wretch, that hath no
   interest in Christ. This is God's method. We come to some certain issue
   about our being in the state of nature, before we come to some certain
   issue about our being in the state of grace. The soul saith, Surely I
   am stark naught, in a deplored lost condition. Well, then if you had
   always good thoughts of yourselves, or only a slight and general
   knowledge, we are all sinners, &c, you are not prepared. The blind man,
   John ix., could say, I was blind.' Were you ever brought to say, I was
   a wretch, a miserable, forlorn creature out of Christ? This feedeth
   presumption and security, because we never bring the debate to an issue
   concerning our being in either of the states, but content ourselves
   with blind guesses and loose acknowledgments that we are all sinners,
   and Christ must save us, &c. This is not enough; there must be a
   particular and humbling sense of sin. Unworthiness and wretchedness
   felt is the first occasion to bring us to Christ. Never a poor soul
   that taketh sanctuary at the throne of grace but he standeth guilty
   there, Rom. iii. 19; Heb. vi. 18; and in danger of damnation.

   2. Again, the next note or occasion of discovery may be taken from the
   instrument or means by which God hath called us, namely, the word: 2
   Thes. 14, By my gospel.' Oracles and audible voices are not his usual
   course. Some Christians talk of such things, but, to say the least of
   the mistake, they are but the suppositions of an over-troubled fancy,
   delusions which God, who bringeth light out of darkness, may at length
   order for good, and in the wisdom of his providence make use of them to
   bring off his people from their discouragements. [11] But usually God's
   way of calling is by the word, and most usually by the word preached,
   seldom otherwise; for God loveth to own and honour the means of his own
   appointing with a blessing. I suppose scarce an instance can be given
   of any converted by reading or meditation that neglected prophesying
   where it was to be had. I confess the word may not work always in time
   of hearing. There is a notable instance, Cant. v. 6, My soul failed
   when he spake;' or rather, it may be rendered, because of his speech.'
   Now compare it with the time of Christ's visit, ver. 2, 3, Open, my
   sister, my dove,' &c. While Christ was speaking she is careless and
   sluggish, I have put off my coat; how shall I put it on?' You see her
   heart was far from failing then; but when she remembered it afterward,
   then her bowels were troubled. As Peter also was wrought upon by the
   remembrance of Christ's words a great while after they were spoken,
   Mat. xxvi. 75. Thus many times God reviveth old truths, and maketh them
   effectual long after the time of delivery. The word worketh, then,
   either in the hearing or in the remembrance or deep meditation upon it.
   Well now, can you remember such an experience when God called you by
   his word, and spake comfortably to your hearts?' Did he ever move you
   to go aside into the closet, that you might be solitary and serious,
   and consider of your condition? Usually at our first call we are moved
   to go aside, that God and we may confer in private; as Hosea ii. 14,
   God calleth into the wilderness, that he may speak to the heart.' And
   Ezekiel was called into the field,' that God might more freely talk
   with him: Ezek. iii. 22, Arise, go forth into the plain, that there I
   may talk with thee.' So Cant. vii. 11, Come, my beloved, let us go
   forth into the fields,' &c. Usually his first motions are to go aside
   and consider. Christ is bashful before acquaintance, and doth not speak
   to us in company, but in private. Did he ever thus invite you into
   secret places? did he ever call thee by name, speak so expressly to thy
   case, as if he had said, Here is mercy for thee, comfort for thee; here
   is thy portion? First or last God's children have such experiences.
   There is a time of loves,' Ezek. xvi. 6, 7, which they cannot forget;
   at least a time wherein the master of the assemblies' fastened a nail
   in their hearts. God's people are wont to talk how seasonably and yet
   how strangely providence cast them upon such opportunities; as David,
   Ps. cxix. 93, I shall never forget thy precepts, for by them thou hast
   quickened me.' Oh! I shall never forget such an ordinance, such a
   sermon, wherein the Lord was pleased to take notice of me, and to speak
   to my heart. Weak impressions are soon razed out, but powerful effects
   of the word leave a durable mark and character that cannot be defaced.

   3. The next mark may be taken from the formal answer or correspondent
   act of the creature to the call of God, for that is it which sealeth
   our election; for otherwise many be called,' but they are not chosen,'
   unless the heart be prevailed with to obey the call. Yea, the notion of
   vocation in its full latitude implieth not only God's act, but ours,
   our answer to his call: Christ's sheep hear his voice.' When Christ
   saith, Mary,' she answereth, Rabboni,' my Lord, John xx. 16. God's call
   is the offer of grace, our answer is the accepting of grace offered;
   there must be receiving as well as offering; vocation is not effectual
   unless it end in union; it is receiving that giveth us interest, John
   i. 12. The scriptures do everywhere imply and signify this answerable
   act of the creature to the call of God. God saith, Seek ye my face,'
   and the soul, like a quick echo, Thy face, Lord, will I seek,' Ps.
   xxvii. 8. So Jer. iii. 22, Return, ye backsliding children, and I will
   heal you;' and then, Behold, we come unto thee, for thou art the Lord
   our God.' The soul is enabled to do that which it is exhorted to do.
   God saith, Come to Christ, and the soul saith, Lord, I come. Well,
   then, is the call obeyed? do you receive Christ for your Lord and
   Saviour? The proper answer of the call is the consent and full purpose
   of the heart to take Christ; for offering is the call, and receiving is
   the answer. Have you subscribed and consented to take Christ upon his
   own terms? as the prophet, when he was to take a wife, maketh an offer,
   Hosea iii., I will be for thee, and thou shalt be for me.' Are you
   content? Christ will be for you in all his graces, merits, benefits, if
   you will be for him in all your motions, tendencies, aims. Alas! your
   hearts know that you are for yourselves, lusts, interests, &c.

   4. Again, you may know your calling by the concomitant dispositions of
   the soul that go along with such a return and answer. Wherever Christ
   is received, he is received with worthy and suitable affections; these
   are most notable:--(1.) Godly sorrow: Jer. xxxi. 9, They shall come
   with weeping and supplication, and I will lead them.' It is spoken of
   the Jews' conversion; when God cometh to lead them, they shall bewail
   their hardness of heart and unbelief. Such kind of workings there are
   in the heart of every returning sinner; as, that God should look upon
   such a worthless creature as I am, that have all this while gainsayed
   and stood out many an invitation! that ever God should care for such a
   vile and stubborn wretch! seek to reclaim such a wayward heart! Usually
   there are such mournful and self-humbling reflections that get the
   start of faith and comfort, and do more sensibly bewray themselves.
   Never did any child of God get home to him, but smiting on the thigh,
   Jer. xxxi. 18, and complaining of themselves before they could take
   comfort in God. (2.) Holy wonder, which ariseth from comparing their
   own wretchedness with God's rich mercy in Christ; and therefore the
   apostle saith, 1 Peter ii. 9, Who hath called us out of darkness into
   his marvellous light;' implying that God's grace is most wonderful at
   first conversion, as light is to a man that cometh out of a dungeon;
   woful darkness maketh it marvellous light. In this change there is
   nothing but what is wonderful; both the sweetness and the power of that
   grace by which it is wrought. The sweetness of grace: When God came to
   offer Abraham the grace of the covenant, he fell upon his face, Gen.
   xvii. 3, in a humble adoration and reverence. The power of grace: If
   Peter wondered at his deliverance by the angel out of that strong
   prison, we have much more cause to wonder that the yoke is broken, and
   that we are set free by Christ; the sweet effects of this grace cause
   wonder: The peace of God, which passeth all understanding,' &c. (3.) A
   free resolution and confidence; come whatever cometh, they will obey
   God; as Abraham, being called, obeyed God, not knowing whither he
   went,' Heb. xi. 8. So when they have a warrant, they will make
   adventures of faith, though they know not the success; as Peter would
   cast out the net at Christ's command, though there were little
   likelihood of taking fish: Howbeit at thy command,' &c., Luke v. 5. So
   it is unlikely God will receive me to grace, yet I will adventure; I
   know not what will come of it. Where faith is sensible of a command, it
   doth not dispute a duty, but accomplish it. The Spirit speaketh to the
   soul as the disciples did to the blind man, Mark x. 49, Be of good
   comfort; rise, because the master calleth thee.' I instance in these
   dispositions because they are most sensible.

   5. It may be evidenced by the fruits and effects of a call; the call
   inferreth a change of the former estate, both in heart and life.

   [1.] There will be a change in the whole heart. In the mind and
   judgment; there the activity of the new nature is first discovered:
   Eph. iv. 23, Renewed in the spirit of the mind;' in that which is most
   intimate and excellent there. In our discourse and reason; all the
   discourses, debates, purposes, and cares of the soul will be to please
   God. The mind is made a forge for holy uses, wherein to debate and
   contrive how to carry on the work of grace, how to glorify God in our
   relations, concernments; certainly this will be found in all those that
   are called and converted. So in the will and affections there will be a
   constant inclination towards God as the chiefest good: Ps. cxix. 57,
   Thou art my portion, Lord; I have said that I will keep thy words.' The
   soul is resolved; there is a decree issued forth in that behalf to
   dedicate itself to God and his will. This is the great difference
   between men and men in fixing their chiefest good and utmost end. The
   soul, finding comfort in God, setteth the whole bent of her endeavours
   towards him. So for the other affections which attend upon the other
   act of the will, aversion and loathing; a soul that is called and
   converted hateth sin, its own beloved sin, as the greatest evil: Hosea
   xiv. 8, What have I any more to do with idols?' Isa. xxx. 22, Thou
   shalt say to it as to an abominable rag, Get thee hence.' A keen
   displicency and hearty indignation is kindled in the soul against sin:
   when God changeth a soul, he putteth a disposition into it somewhat
   like his own nature. God cannot abide sin, and a sanctified heart
   cannot abide it; Get thou hence,' &c.; the new life hath an antipathy
   to that which is contrary to it.

   [2.] In the life there will be a change; men will walk worthy their
   calling, not disgracing it by scandals or unseemly practices: Eph. iv.
   1, I beseech you, brethren, walk worthy of the vocation wherewith ye
   are called;' that is, suitable to the purity, suitable to the dignity
   of it. When David was a shepherd, he thought of nothing else but
   keeping his father's sheep; but when God called him to be a shepherd of
   the people, then he had other projects, and was of other manner of
   behaviour. A new calling requireth a new conversation: so 1 Thes. ii.
   12, Walk worthy of God, who hath called you to his kingdom and his
   glory.' The divine calling puts an honour upon you: it is not for
   princes to embrace the dung,' nor for eagles to catch flies; to be
   vain, voluptuous, carnal, and worldly, as others are: you are called to
   the fellowship of saints and angels; will it become one of your hopes
   to drive on such a low design as a worldly interest? If you saw a man
   labouring in filthy ditches, and soiling himself as poor men do, would
   you believe that he were heir-apparent to a crown, called to inherit a
   kingdom? Who will believe your calling when you stick in the mud of
   pleasures, and are carried on with such a zealous respect after secular
   interests? The apostle reproveth the Corinthians for walking as men,' 1
   Cor. iii. 3. Some walk as beasts, others are of a more civil strain;
   but this is but as men: you should walk more sublimely, above the
   ordinary rate of flesh and blood. When Antigonus was going into the
   house of a harlot, one told him, Thou art a king's son. Oh! remember
   your dignity, and walk worthy of your high calling; walk as having the
   world under your feet, with a holy scorn and contempt of sublunary
   enjoyments. And as you should walk worthy of the dignity of your
   calling, so of the purity of it: He that hath called you is holy,' 1
   Peter i. 15; and your condition is a holy calling,' 2 Tim. i. 9; and
   the end of your calling is holiness: 1 Thes. iv. 7, God hath called us
   unto holiness.' All which are so many engagements to urge us to the
   more care. A filthy, loose conversation will never suit with this
   calling; you are a shame and a stain to him that calleth you if you
   walk thus: as some in the prophet are said to pollute God, Ezek. xxxi.
   9, namely, as their pollutions were retorted upon God.

   Let us now come to the manifestations and effects of this calling; and
   the first effect mentioned is sanctification, sanctified in God the
   Father. Where you may note two things:--(1.) The state, sanctified;
   (2.) The author of it, by God the Father.

   1. The state, egiasme'nois, to them which are sanctified;' instead of
   which some copies have, egapeme'nois, beloved by God the Father:' but
   let us keep to our own reading, the other being a mistake, and in few
   Greek copies. The note is:--

   Obs. That God's people, whom he hath called out of the world to
   himself, are a sanctified people. I shall show you--(1.) What it is to
   be sanctified; and then (2.) Why God's called people must be
   sanctified.

   First, What it is to be sanctified. There are many acceptions of the
   term; the most famous are two--to sanctify is either to set apart, or
   to cleanse. These two notions will be enough for our purpose, if in
   each of them we suppose both something privative, and something
   positive; as when it signifieth to set apart, you must conceive not
   only a setting apart from common use, but a dedication to holy uses, or
   a setting apart for God, which is the most proper acception of the
   word. So when it signifieth to cleanse, you must not only conceive a
   purgation from filthiness, but a plantation of seeds of grace; not only
   an abolition of natural corruption, but a renovation of God's image. In
   this method let us a little consider the thing in hand.

   1. To sanctify is to set apart and dedicate. Now, God's people are set
   apart by God, Ps. iv. 3, and they dedicate themselves to his use and
   service: 2 Tim. ii. 21, Vessels of honour for the master's use.' They
   are set apart by God both in time and before time. Be fore all time
   they are set apart by God's decree, to be a holy seed to himself in and
   by Christ, separated from the perishing world to be vessels of honour;
   as the reprobate are called vessels of wrath and dishonour;' thus we
   are said to be chosen to be holy,' Eph. i. 4. But then in time they are
   regenerated, and actually set apart. Sanctification is an actual
   election (as before) by which we are set apart from the perishing world
   to act for God, and to seek the things that make for his glory. Thus we
   are called God's first-fruits,' which were the Lord's portion, James i.
   18, and is there made a fruit of regeneration. And thus we are said to
   be a holy priesthood,' 1 Peter ii. 9, the priests being men set apart
   to minister in God's presence. Now, this consecration inferreth a holy
   preciseness and singularity in the godly, that they may keep themselves
   unspotted from the world,' James i. 28, as holy things were to be kept
   from a common use; [12] and it implieth that every sin is a kind of
   sacrilege, it stealeth a holy thing from God. But over and above all
   this, they dedicate themselves, or set apart themselves, by the consent
   of their own vows: Rom. xii. 1, Present yourselves,' &c., as every man
   was to bring his own sacrifice; and for this dedication the Lord
   calleth when he saith, My son, give me thy heart;' because God loveth
   to put the honour upon us of a gift, when it is but a debt; and because
   our voluntary consent to this surrender is a necessary fruit of grace,
   and the immediate effect of his own choice.

   2. To sanctify is to cleanse, together with its positive act, to renew
   and adorn with grace.

   Let us first speak of the privative or cleansing work; this notion is
   necessary to be added to the former. They that are sanctified must not
   only be separated to a holy use, but must also be cleansed: as to
   sanctify signifieth to separate, so there is a difference between them
   and others; and as it signifieth to cleanse, so there is a difference
   between them and themselves. They differ from others, because they are
   a people set apart to act and live for God; they trade for God, eat for
   God, drink for God, more or less, all is for God's glory, 1 Cor. x. 31,
   and so are a distinct company from the men of the world, who are merely
   swayed by their own interests, a company that merely act for themselves
   in all that they do. And then there is a difference between them and
   themselves, for sanctification is the cleansing of a thing that was
   once filthy: 1 Cor. vi. 11, Such were some of you, but now ye are
   washed, but now ye are sanctified in the name of the Lord Jesus, and by
   the Spirit of our God;' they are not the same men they were before. We
   all come into the world polluted with the stain of sin, which is purged
   and done away by degrees, and at death wholly, and never before. When
   Christ cometh to bring us to God as the fruits of his purchase, then we
   are without spot and blemish,' Eph. v. 27. The Papists cavil, yea,
   trifle, when they argue from that place, that either we must grant a
   perfection in this life; or a purgation after death, or how else cometh
   the soul to be without spot and blemish? I answer--That place asserts
   the thing to the comfort of the elect, that once they shall get rid of
   the filthy spots of sin; but for the time, most probably in the moment
   of expiring. As the soul in the very moment wherein it is joined to the
   body becometh sinful, so in the moment wherein it leaveth the body it
   is sanctified, and presented by Christ to God; as many pious souls
   breathe out their last with the profession of this hope. Then we shall
   be cleansed indeed; now the work is in fieri, it is a-doing. The work
   of grace for the present consists in rubbing away the old filth, and
   weakening original corruption more and more; [13] as also in washing
   off the new defilement which we contract every day by conversing in the
   world. See John xiii. 10, where our Saviour alludeth to a man that hath
   been bathing himself, but after his return by treading on the ground
   again staineth his feet, and needeth another washing, of his feet at
   least. So by conversing in the world, there are stains and spots
   contracted, which must always be washed off by daily repentance,
   besides our general bathing at first conversion or regeneration, Titus
   iii. 5. I have no more to say to this cleansing work, but only this,
   that it is not merely like the washing off of spots, but like the
   purging of sick matters or ill humours out of the body; it is a work
   done with much reluctation of corrupt nature, and therefore it is
   expressed by subduing our iniquities,' Micah vii. 19. In outward
   filthiness there is no actual resistance, as there is in sin.

   But to speak now of the positive work, or the decking and adorning the
   soul with grace. As the priests under the law, when they came to
   minister before the Lord, were not only washed in the great laver, but
   adorned with gorgeous apparel, so to be sanctified is more than to be
   purified; for besides the expulsion of sin, there is an infusion of
   grace, a disposition wrought clean contrary to what we had before,
   therefore called a new heart and a new spirit;' see Ezek. xxxvi. 25-27;
   from whence also there floweth newness of life and conversation; there
   is a new heart or conformity to God's nature, and a new life or
   conformity to God's will. The pattern of that sanctification which is
   wrought in the heart is God's nature or image, 2 Peter i. 4, Eph. iv.
   24; and the pattern of that sanctification which is wrought in the life
   is God's law or revealed will, 1 Thes. iv. 3; the one is our habitual
   holiness, and the other our actual.

   [1.] For habitual sanctification, or that which is wrought in the
   heart, I observe, that it is thorough but not full; there must be all
   grace, and every faculty must be adorned with grace: [14] 1 Thes. v.
   23, The very God of peace sanctify you wholly: I pray God your whole
   spirit, soul, and body be preserved blameless until the coming of Jesus
   Christ.' All of man is made up of spirit, soul, and body; that is the
   theological distinction of the faculties:--the spirit, that is the more
   rational and angelical part of the soul, understanding, conscience,
   will; and then there is soul, the lower part, the more brutish and
   sensual affections and desires; and then body, the outward man, the
   instrument of soul, which needeth to be sanctified, that is, kept in a
   good order and frame, that it may not rebel, or disobey the motions of
   the better part. You see, then, every faculty must be seasoned with the
   new nature; [15] this leaven must get into the whole lump; the mind,
   memory, conscience, will, desires, delights, all must be brought into
   conformity to the image of God. And as every faculty must be
   sanctified, so there must be every grace. In conversion there is
   introduced into the soul a stock of truth, and a frame of grace, called
   in other terms the anointing,' 1 John ii. 27, and the seed of God,' 1
   John iii. 9. There is a stock of truth brought into the understanding
   to season that; not that every one that is regenerate doth actually
   know all truths, but there is a saving light and knowledge of things
   necessary; they see enough to avoid courses of damnation, and to cleave
   to the ways of God: and there is an inquisitiveness after truth, and a
   suitableness to them when they are revealed; they are teachable, though
   actually ignorant; there is something in their hearts that carrieth a
   cognation and proportion to every truth, and claimeth kin of it
   whenever it is revealed. And then there is a frame of grace; for the
   mind is not only enlightened, but the will and affections are
   sanctified, and the heart inclined to choose the ways of God, and to
   obey him whenever occasion is offered. The habits of all grace are
   brought into the heart by regeneration, as original sin containeth the
   seeds and habits of all sin: though there be not explicit workings of
   all graces at that time, yet they are introduced, and make up one
   sincere bent of the soul towards God, called Holiness in truth,' Eph.
   vi. 24. Thus you see the new creature doth not come out maimed; the
   person sanctified hath all the parts of a new man, not one member is
   wanting. But now though this sanctification be thorough, yet it is not
   full and complete for degrees; every part is sanctified, but every part
   is not wholly sanctified. In the most gracious there is a double
   principle--hell and heaven, Adam and Jesus, the flesh and the spirit,
   the law of the members, and the law of the mind. Such a medley and
   composition are we during the present state! We know but in part,' and
   we are sanctified but in part, and there being such a mixture in the
   principles of operation, every action is mixed. It is notable, that
   there is no commendable act in scripture recorded but there is some
   mixture of corruption in it, even in the most heroical exercises and
   discoveries of faith: Moses believeth, and therefore smiteth the rock,
   but he smiteth twice; Sarah believeth the promise, but giveth her maid
   to Abraham; Rebecca was told that the elder should serve the younger,
   and believeth it, but yet she sets Jacob a-work to get the blessing by
   a wile; Rahab saveth the spies, but maketh a lie, &c. Thus is our wine
   mingled with water, our honey with wax, Cant. v. 1, and our silver with
   tin. All the trial is, that the better part prevaileth; and that we are
   still growing and hasting on to perfection, as the morning sun doth to
   high noon, Prov. iv. 18.

   [2.] For actual sanctification, which standeth in a conformity to God's
   will, when the heart is changed so as the life, thoughts, words,
   actions, all are sanctified: there is a spirit of holiness working
   within, and breathing without, in sanctified discourse and holy
   exercises; all the actions savour of grace. Now our actions are
   sanctified and savour of grace when they are performed upon new
   principles and new ends.

   (1.) New principles: Duty swayeth the conscience, and love inclineth
   the heart, 1 Tim. i. 5, The end of the commandment is charity, out of a
   pure heart and good conscience, and faith unfeigned.' No act is
   gracious and an act of pure obedience, unless it have these
   qualifications. It is not the matter that maketh the work good, but the
   principles: all that we do must come from a principle of faith, love,
   and obedience. Obedience respects the command, love the kindness and
   merit of the lawgiver, and faith his bounty and reward: the first
   swayeth the conscience, the second inclineth the heart, and the third
   giveth encouragement. This is to do duties with a gospel frame of
   spirit; obedience takes notice of the laws of God, love of the kindness
   of God, and faith of the rewards of God; and so obedience showeth us
   the matter of the duty, and faith the encouragement; so that whatever
   is done as an act of the new nature or sanctified estate, it is an act
   of obedience, out of gratitude, upon the encouragement of our glorious
   hopes and advantages in Christ. As if it be asked, Why do I do it? God
   hath commanded it, 1 Thes. iv. 3, and v. 18; His will is motive enough;
   God will have it so. Why with such strength of affection and
   earnestness? God hath deserved it, because of his love and bounty in
   Christ, 2 Cor. v. 14, 15; Titus ii. 11-14. Conscience is sensible of
   the obligation, and love and hope sweetens the duty. There is a natural
   conscience of good and evil, which is known by legal aims and carnal
   motives. What is done out of natural conscience is not done out of
   obedience and thankfulness, but out of bondage, and with a servile
   frame of spirit; like fruits that are ripened by art and force, not
   naturally nor kindly.

   (2.) New ends. Here indeed the discovery is most sensible; principles
   are more hidden, and discovered mostly by ends. Now the only end must
   be God's glory. All that is done in the spiritual life, be it an act of
   piety, justice, temperance, or charity, it must be done with this aim,
   that God may be glorified by our obedience to his will: I owe this duty
   to God, and I must do it for God's sake; be it a duty of worship, or in
   your civil relation and traffic; as if I pray, the last end of prayer
   must be God's glory, whether I seek grace and pardon, or the
   conveniences and supports of the present life. Grace still sublimateth
   the intention of the creature, therefore carnal men are taxed for
   praying out of self-interests: Hosea vii. 14, They have not cried unto
   me when they howled upon their beds; they assembled themselves for
   corn, and wine, and oil.' It is but a brutish cry when men seek only
   their own commodity and welfare; as beasts will howl when they are
   sensible of any smart and injury; dogs or any brute beasts may do the
   same; there is no act of grace in it. So in charity, many men make it a
   kind of bargain and traffic; they do it to be seen of men,' Mat. vi. 2,
   to gratify their wordly interests, not to please God or honour God, for
   their credit and repute, to be well thought of; and there Christ saith,
   misthon auton apechousin, that is, they have that which they look for;
   for other things they give God a discharge and acquittance. Briefly,
   the aims of men not regenerate or sanctified are either carnal, or
   natural, or legal. (1st.) Carnal, when men make a market of religion,
   their worship, righteousness, and charity is set to sale, and by a vile
   submission made to stoop to their own private interests; as the
   Pharisees made long prayers to devour widows' houses, that is, to beget
   a fame and repute of honesty, that they might be intrusted with the
   management of their estates. So some may pray to show parts, preach out
   of envy, and to rival others in esteem, Phil. i. 15. Often is this vile
   scorn put upon God, that his worship is made a cover and pretence to
   unclean intents; which is as if a cup of gold, made for a king to drink
   of, should be filled with excrements; or as if we did set up another
   god beside him; for that which we make our utmost end, we make it our
   God; as false teachers are said to make their belly their God,' Phil.
   iii. 19, because all that they did was for belly cheer, to flow in
   abundance of wealth and worldly pleasures, by this means setting up the
   belly, and the concernments of the belly in God's stead. (2d.) There
   are natural ends. It is grace, as I said, that sublimateth the
   intention of the creature. A carnal man can go no higher than self, as
   water cannot ascend beyond its spring. Now all natural men are not
   hypocrites, to put on a pretence of strictness out of design: the
   apostle saith, They do by nature the things contained in the law.' Rom.
   ii. 14; that is, upon the impulses of natural conscience, they avoid
   such sins as nature discovereth, upon such arguments and reasons as
   nature suggesteth. If they worship, it is to satisfy their own
   consciences; if they be strict and temperate, it is not out of reasons
   of obedience, but because the matter of carnal pleasure is gross and
   burdensome, and hindereth the free contemplation of the mind; or
   because these pleasures emasculate and quench their natural bravery,
   and so hinder their reputation in the world. If they be just, it is to
   maintain commerce between man and man; if they be kind in their
   relations, it is for their own peace and quiet; nothing is done as in
   and to the Lord, as the apostle enjoineth, Eph. v. God is neither at
   the beginning nor at the end of any of these actions; the love of God
   is not their spring and rise, nor the glory of God their aim. If they
   pray, there is no intention beyond self, and the welfare of their own
   natures; the matter is but the outward work of the law, ergon nomou,
   Rom. ii. 15, and their aim is but the freedom and welfare of nature.
   (3d.) There are legal ends. When wicked men are most devout, it is but
   to quiet conscience, to satisfy God for their sins by their duties;
   they would fain buy out their peace with heaven at any rate: Micah vi.
   6-8, Wherewith shall I come before him? what shall I give for the sins
   of my soul?' They are devout, charitable, that by diligence in worship,
   and exceeding in charity, they may expiate the offences of a carnal
   life. If peace of conscience were to be purchased with money, they
   would not spare; they would rather part with anything than their
   corruptions, because nothing is so dear to a carnal heart as sin. So
   that you see devout nature is very corrupt and perverse, and therefore
   all its actions are justly hated of God: Prov. xxi. 27, The sacrifice
   of the wicked is an abomination; how much more when he offereth it with
   an evil mind?' that is, to buy an indulgence in other sins, that he may
   sin them freely and with leave from heaven. In short, all their duties
   of worship and charity are performed as a sin-offering, and not as a
   thank-offering; to satisfy God, not to glorify him; usually they are
   extorted from him in a pang of conscience, as a mariner casts out his
   goods in a storm, or a traveller yieldeth his money when beset with
   thieves; there is no true delight in God or in obedience. And thus I
   have showed you what it is to be sanctified in heart and life, which
   was the first thing propounded.

   Secondly, Let me now show why God's called people must be sanctified,
   and that briefly and in few words.

   1. For the honour of God, of every person in the Trinity, Father, Son,
   and Spirit. For the honour of the Father, that his choice may not be
   disparaged: Eph. i. 4, He hath elected us to be holy;' 2 Thes. ii. 14,
   Chosen to the sanctification of the Spirit.' There is some conscience
   in the world that maketh them adore strictness; mere morality hath some
   majesty with it in the eye of nature, but especially gospel holiness;
   whereas looseness is looked upon with scorn and contempt; so that his
   chosen people would be a dishonour to him if they were not sanctified.
   Therefore God the Father aimeth at it in all his dispensations; he
   chooseth us that we may be of a choice spirit. As when Esther was
   chosen out among the virgins, she was purified and decked with
   ornaments, and had garments given her out of the king's wardrobe, so we
   are made holy, being chosen of God. And then he calleth us, that he may
   put this honour upon us in the eye of the world, to make us like
   himself: Be ye holy, as he that hath called us is holy,' 1 Peter i. 15.
   It were monstrous that God should set his affections upon a people
   altogether unlike him; [16] that he should call them to be so near
   himself that continue corrupt and carnal. It is the aim of his
   providences as well as his special grace; we are afflicted that we may
   be partakers of his holiness,' Heb. xii. 10; threshed that our husk may
   fly off. God certainly delighteth not in the afflictions of his people;
   no, he loveth the prosperity of the saints,' Ps. xxxv. 27, but he had
   rather see them in any condition than see them sinful. Again, it is for
   the honour of God the Son, whose members we are. Head and members must
   be all of a piece, like one another. It were monstrous that Christ
   should have such a body as Nebuchadnezzar saw in his dream, where the
   head was of pure gold, and the thighs brass, and the feet iron, &c.;
   and it were an odd sight that a face of Europe should be put upon the
   body of a negro or Ethiopian; and as strange and odd it is that Christ
   should have a disproportioned body, quite unlike himself; yea, it is
   little for his honour that he should be the head of an ulcerous body,
   as well as a monstrous body. So much of sin as you continue, so much
   you disparage your Redeemer and put him to shame; therefore all
   Christ's aim is to make us holy; for that end he redeemed us, that he
   might sanctify us, and make us a glorious church, without spot and
   wrinkle, Eph. v. 26, 27. When Christ was upon the cross, in the height
   of his love, he was devising what he should do for his church to make
   her honourable and glorious, and he pitched upon sanctification as the
   fittest blessing that he could bestow upon us. Every distinct society
   must have some distinct honour and privilege; now Christ had set apart
   the church as a distinct society to himself, and therefore he would not
   bestow upon her pomp and worldly greatness--other societies had enough
   of that--but holiness, grace, which is our splendour and ornament: Ps.
   xciii. 5, Holiness becometh thy house, O Lord, for ever.' And indeed
   this was a far better gift than any outward greatness and excellency
   could be; for moral excellences are far better than civil and natural.
   It is God's own honour to be holy, therefore it is said that he is
   glorious in holiness,' Exod. xv. 11. He is elsewhere said to be rich in
   mercy.' Rom. x. 12; Eph. ii. 4; but here, glorious in holiness.' His
   treasure is his goodness, but that which he accounts his honour is his
   holiness or immaculate purity; as you know among men their wealth is
   distinguished from their honour. But in this gift Christ hath not only
   respect to the excellency of it, but to our need and want. Christ was
   then repairing and making up the ruins of the fall. Now we lost in Adam
   the purity of our natures as well as the favour of God; therefore, that
   the plaster might be as broad as the sore, he would not only reconcile
   us to God, but sanctify us; his blood was not only lu'tron, a price,
   but lou'tron, a laver, wherein to Wash us and make us clean: as under
   the law there was in the tabernacle a great laver as well as an altar,
   to show we must be washed and sanctified as well as reconciled to God;
   and Christ came not only to abolish the guilt of sin, which is against
   our interest, our peace and comfort, but also to destroy the power of
   sin, which is against God's glory. And as this was Christ's aim in
   redemption, so also in the gospel, and all the precious promises of it:
   he died that ordinances might be under a blessing, and conduce to the
   promotion of holiness; for so it is there in Eph. v. 26, That he might
   sanctify us by the washing of water through the word.' There is a
   treasure of grace purchased, and left in the church to be conveyed to
   us by the use of these ordinances. So John xvii. 19, I sanctify myself
   for their sakes, that they may be sanctified through the truth.'
   Whenever we come to the word, or enjoy the use of the seals, we may
   expect to reap the fruits of Christ's purchase. Celsus objected against
   Christianity that it was a sanctuary for villains and men of a
   licentious life. Origen answered him, that it was not a sanctuary to
   nourish them in their evil practices, but an hospital to cure them. As
   under the law all the cities of refuge were cities of Levites and
   schools of instruction, so Christ hath made the church a school wherein
   to learn the trade of holiness; and the word and the seals, and all the
   ordinances, look that way. Lastly, it is for the honour of God the
   Spirit that the called people should be holy, because they are his
   charge, in pupilage to the Holy Ghost, for this end and reason, that
   they may be sanctified. Sanctification is made his personal operation:
   The sanctification of the Spirit,' 2 Thes. ii. 14, and 1 Peter i. 2. He
   is to shape and fashion all the vessels of glory, to deck the spouse of
   Christ with the jewels of the covenant. This is the great advantage
   that we have in the economy and dispensation of grace, that we have God
   to purpose it, God to purchase it, and God to work it; the Father,
   Word, and Spirit, who agree in one, to sanctify the creature and make
   it holy. Now it is a great grief to the Spirit when the work doth not
   go on and prosper in the soul; for he worketh us to this very thing,'
   and is therefore called the Spirit of holiness.' It is not for his
   honour to dwell in defiled temples, and to let the called people go
   naked and without their ornament. Well, then, you see, God, for his
   honour's sake, will have his purposes accomplished for which he chose
   us, and Christ his purchase made good, and the Spirit who is left in
   charge to see all accomplished, he goeth on with the work.

   2. Another reason why we must be sanctified is, because of the hopes to
   which we are called and the happiness which we expect. Now we cannot
   have it unless we be holy: Heb. xii, 14, Without holiness no man shall
   see God.' We are bidden in that verse to follow peace,' but chiefly
   holiness;' for it is not said that without peace no man shall see God.
   [17] Peace may be often broken in the quarrel of truth and holiness,
   and so God's children may be passively men of contention. Ay! but for
   all that they shall see God: but those that are not holy he cannot
   endure their presence, and therefore they shall never see his face, and
   enjoy him hereafter. Usually by a fond abuse we restrain the word
   saints to the saints departed. Ay! but we must be saints here, or else
   we shall never be saints hereafter. I mean true saints; for by another
   abuse the word saints is made matter of pretence in some, and matter of
   scorn by others; but to be saints indeed, that is all the evidence you
   have to show for your interest in your glorious hopes. What should
   others do with heaven that are not saints? How can they see God that
   have not a pure eye? A dusky glass cannot represent the image: the
   degree of vision is according to the degree of sanctification. [18] And
   what should a carnal heart, that knoweth no other heaven but to eat,
   drink, and sleep, and wallow in sensual delights, do with the
   inheritance of the saints in light?' The apostle saith, we must be made
   meet' for such a state, Col. i. 12. The vessels of glory are first
   seasoned with grace. Alas! otherwise carnal men can no more tell what
   to do with heaven than swine with pearls. We do not look for a Turkish
   paradise, but a sinless state; not to bathe our souls in carnal
   pleasures, but to be consorts of the immaculate Lamb. Our hopes engage
   us to holiness: 1 John iii. 3, He that hath this hope purifieth
   himself, as Christ is pure.' If his heart be fastened upon such a hope
   as to see Christ as he is, and to be like him both for temper of soul
   and state of body, certainly he must needs be a holy man; he will be
   practising and trying here upon earth how he can conform to Christ, and
   begin his happiness as well as he can. Certainly he that expecteth that
   his body shall be like to Christ's glorious body,' he will possess his
   vessel in sanctification and in honour.' He cannot use his body, that
   is under so great hopes, merely as a strainer for meats and drinks, and
   a channel for lust to pass through; his mind, that shall see God, he
   cannot fill it with chaff, or suffer it to be occupied with vanity,
   toying thoughts, and vile cares and unworthy projects; and his
   affections, that should cleave to God inseparably, to be prostituted to
   every base object. Thus, with respect to our hopes, we must be
   sanctified; the foundation and seed of glory is laid in grace, and that
   life begun which we must live for ever.

   Use 1. It serveth for conviction. If God's people are a sanctified
   people, then here is but sad news for two sorts of persons. (1.) The
   profane, that care not for holiness; God hath no birthright for such
   Esaus; the portion of the Lord are a holy portion, but these have a
   spot that is not as the spot of his children,' Deut. xxxii. 5. See what
   John speaketh of such persons as wallow in their filthiness: 1 John
   iii. 8, He that committeth sin is of the devil, for the devil sinneth
   from the beginning,' o poion amarti'an, he that tradeth in sin, and
   maketh it his work and business. You may presume that you belong to
   God, but you are of the devil; you have not, indeed, the least pretence
   of a claim, and do not go so far as hypocrites, being so little careful
   to be holy, that you are not moral. Are you called? from what? where is
   the least evidence of it? Ay! but our hearts are better than we show
   for. [19] This is to appeal to a witness that cannot be found; it is
   all one as if a man should claim to another's land, and pretend that he
   hath lost the evidences. Your guilt is written in legible characters,
   that he that runneth may read it. (2.) It convinceth persons that scoff
   at holiness. Scoffing is the overflow of gall and malice, and a black
   mark, let it be found where it will. In the general it argueth a bad
   spirit, but especially when religion is made a byword and a reproach.
   When you deride men for their holiness, you deride them for that which
   is the express image of the glorious God, and so deride God himself.
   Holy brethren, as the saints are styled, Heb. iii. 1, should no more be
   a disgrace than holy Father, as God himself is styled, John xvii. 11.
   You hate God more than you do the saints, if you hate them for their
   holiness, which shineth in them with a faint lustre, but is infinitely
   and originally in God. Take heed of the chair of scorners.' Those are
   dogs that are without, Rev. xxii. 15, that bark at the splendour of
   God's image, that make saints a word of disgrace. Scoffing Ishmaels
   that will be mocking are sure to be cast out, Gen. xxi. 9; they do not
   belong to God. The apostle interprets that mocking to be persecution,
   Gal. iv. 27; so it is in God's account; and yet it is always found in
   those that are born after the flesh,' Profane spirits think religion a
   matter of nothing; and men are wont to mock at those which make a great
   matter of what they account nothing. Oh! remember, holiness is the
   badge of those which are the Lord's called people, and it should be a
   matter of reverence, not reproach.

   Use 2. Again, it serveth for caution, to prevent mistakes. Christians,
   look to your sanctification: Ps. iv. 3, Know that God hath set apart
   him that is godly for himself.' The beast's worshippers have the
   beast's mark, Rev. xiii. 16. So also God's children are stamped with
   his seal and impress: 2 Tim. ii. 19, The foundation of the Lord
   standeth sure, having this seal,' &c., they are sealed with a mark of
   preservation, The Lord knows those that are his;' and they are sealed
   with a mark of distinction, Let every one that nameth the name of God
   depart from iniquity.' As Cain is stamped on both sides, so hath God's
   seal a double motto--one that noteth his owning the saints, the other
   that noteth their temper and disposition; they depart from iniquity.
   Take heed, then, have you this seal and impress? There are many things
   that look like sanctification, but are not. I shall touch upon
   four--civility, formality, restraining grace and temporary grace.

   1. Civility, which is nothing else but a fair demeanour in the world,
   or, in the apostle's expression, a fair show in the flesh,' a darker
   representation of holiness, rather heathenish strictness than
   Christian. You may descry it by these notes:--(1.) It is usually
   accompanied with ignorance, and little knowledge of God's institutions.
   Men live well, are no drunkards, no swearers, but know little of God,
   have no insight in matters of religion; like Nicodemus, a strict
   Pharisee, but grossly ignorant, John iii. 10. Spiritual life beginneth
   with knowledge, and endeth in a rational strictness, and what they do,
   they do upon principles. Conscience is swayed by the acknowledgment of
   God's will. Others live plausibly, but know not the ground and reason
   of their actions, and therefore are soon satisfied; never troubled
   about imperfections, because where there is no light there is not that
   tenderness which is found in real Christians, who look into the purity
   of the law, and are troubled because they know so much of the will of
   God, and do so far come short of it, as in a clear glass the least mote
   is soon espied. (2.) There is little of Christ in such souls; for a man
   that is satisfied with his own righteousness doth not prize Christ.
   Paul, a Pharisee, counted his works gain,' which afterward he found to
   be loss,' Phil. iii. 7. By gain he meaneth an advantage to procure the
   favour of God. Self is wont to take up all their thoughts, and
   therefore moral strains suit more with them than gospel comforts, and
   doctrines that breed faith. The law is more natural to men than the
   gospel, and therefore with those that are of a moral disposition, and
   no more, it findeth better entertainment and welcome than the gospel
   doth. There is no hungering and thirsting' after Christ; they do not
   see the need of the sweetness of his grace, of the help of his Spirit,
   going on in a plausible, moral course, without rub or difficulty.
   Whereas, in the spiritual life, Christ doth all, and every day they see
   more cause to bless God for him, Gal. ii. 20. (3.) Usually there is
   some great prevailing sin. Civility is but a freer slavery; one way or
   another Satan holdeth them captive, and their honesty and fair show to
   the world is but to serve their carnal interests, to hide a lust or
   feed a lust, and most commonly this sin is worldliness. Christ's young
   man, that had kept all those things from his youth,' had great
   possessions,' and they were a great snare to his heart, Mat. xix. 22.
   The sin of the Pharisees was vainglory and ambition. Some morsel there
   is reserved under the tongue, some sin kept with the greater allowance
   from conscience, and the less shame from abroad, because otherwise the
   life is fair and honest. (4.) There is a greater care about actions
   than lusts. Wrath, and pride, and wanton thoughts, are digested,
   because there is no violence and uncleanness in the conversation.
   Civility is all for the carriage, nothing for tempering the affections
   to such an order and moderation as becometh grace. Paul complaineth of
   his lusts, and the law of sin within, Rom. vii.; yea, of such sinful
   workings as do not fall under the cognisance and discovery of the light
   of nature, Rom. vii. 7, the first risings and stirrings of sin
   forbidden in the tenth commandment, the least rebellion of nature. Thus
   for civility.

   2. Formality, or pretended grace: you may be deceived in that; and
   therefore the apostle speaketh Of a true holiness,' en hosioteti tes
   aletheias, Eph. iv. 24, in opposition to that which is feigned and
   counterfeit. Now, false grace is always acted by foreign and external
   considerations; as pupils [20] have not a principle of life within
   them, but are moved by an external force. The hypocrite's principles of
   motion are without him, as carnal respects, self-ends, &c. True grace
   hath an inward propensity to comply with the will of God; there is a
   law upon their bowels;' [21] by-ends work by constraint, and carry the
   soul contrary to its native inclination; a man would not do such a
   thing, were it not for such ends; therefore the apostle saith, 1 Peter
   v, 2, Feed the flock that is among you, not by constraint, but
   willingly; not for filthy lucre, but of a ready mind.' When a man
   acteth genuinely in a work; his own heart carrieth him to it more than
   all outward encouragements. Again, false grace is shy of God's presence
   and sight: pretences are to deceive men; therefore such persons strive
   to get God out of their thoughts, they know his eye will find them out.
   But now truth of grace is ready to draw everything into God's sight;
   though they tremble to think what defects God can find in them, yet
   they appeal to him for the sincerity of their hearts: John xxi. 17,
   Lord, thou knowest all things, and thou knowest that I love thee.' He
   would not excuse miscarriages; yet, for the general temper and bent of
   his heart, he referreth himself to God's omnisciency. So Job xxxi. 6,
   Let me be weighed in an even balance, that God may know mine
   integrity;' and yet elsewhere he saith, Job xlii. 5, 6.' Mine eye seeth
   thee, and therefore I abhor myself in dust and ashes,' in the one place
   he appealeth to God, for he was confident that his integrity would hold
   weight; and yet in the other he could even loathe himself when he
   thought of God, because of so many defects and failings. So David, Ps.
   cxxxix. 23, Search me, O Lord, and know my heart,' &c. No doubt David
   was sensible that God could find enough in him; but Lord, search, see
   if anything be allowed with full leave of conscience. Again, false
   grace doth not grow, unless it be worse and worse. Pretences wither
   rather than thrive: God complaineth, Jer. vii. 24, that they went
   backward rather than forward.' False grace is always declining till it
   be wholly lost; like bad salt, that loseth of its acrimony and
   smartness every day till it be cast to the dunghill. But now true
   grace, from a grain it groweth into a tree, Mat. xiii., from a morning
   glimpse to a perfect noon, Prov. iv. 18, from smoking flax it is blown
   up into a flame. The least meal in the barrel, and oil in the cruse,
   when it is fed with a supply from heaven, shall prosper into abundance.
   Nicodemus, that at first came to Christ by night, after boldly
   declareth himself for him, John xix. 39. Grace gets ground upon the
   flesh, and holiness by degrees advanceth into a triumph. Examine, then,
   whether you increase or decrease: if you go backward from zeal to
   coldness, from strictness to looseness; if you lose your care of duty,
   and choiceness of spirit, and there be no complaining, it is a sign
   grace was never wrought in truth. Once more, false grace is not
   accompanied with humility. When men, the more they profess, the prouder
   they grow, and more self -conceited, there is cause of suspicion. With
   true grace there always goeth along a spiritual poverty, or a sense of
   our spiritual wants; the more knowledge, the more they discern their
   ignorance; compare 1 Cor. viii. 2, with Prov. xxx. 2, 3; the more
   faith, the more they bewail unbelief, and see a need of increase and
   further growth: Mark ix. 24, Lord, I believe, help mine unbelief.' Oh!
   I want faith, what shall I do? still I am haunted with prejudicial and
   lessening thoughts of God's all-sufficiency and goodness. It is
   excellent when the soul is thus kept hungry and humble under our
   enjoyments, and we forget the things that are behind,' because the
   things that are before us,' or not yet attained, are much more, Phil.
   iii. 13.

   3. The next thing is restraining grace, [22] which is nothing else but
   an awe upon the conscience, inclining men to forbear sin, though they
   do not hate it. Now you may discern it, partly because love is of
   little use and force with such kind of spirits; they are chained up by
   their own fears. The great evangelic motive is mercy: Rom. xii. 1, I
   beseech you by the mercies of God.' The heart is most ingenuous when it
   yieldeth to such entreaties. It is good to serve God with reverence,
   but a servile awe hath little of grace in it. It is true, in deed, it
   is better to have a slavish fear than none at all; therefore David
   saith to them that would be held in with no other restraints, Ps. iv.
   4, Stand in awe, and sin not.' To cool and charm their fury he maketh
   use of the argument of God's vengeance; though this is also the fault
   of slavish spirits, that carnal respects and thoughts of outward
   inconvenience do equally sway them, as a servile fear of God's
   judgments. Again, you may know it, because it doth not destroy sin, but
   only prohibit the exercise of it. Abimelech's lust was not quenched,
   yet God withheld him from sinning against Sarah, Gen. xx. 6. The heart
   is not renewed, though the action be checked; as Israel had an
   adulterous heart towards God, when her way was hedged up with thorns,'
   Hosea ii. 6. Again, it is their trouble that they are held in the
   stocks of conscience; they would fain be enlarged and find out their
   own paths.

   4. The next thing that looketh like sanctification, but is not, is
   common grace. This is a distinct thing from all the rest, yet I call it
   common grace, because it may be in them that fall away and depart from
   God. It differeth from civility, because it is more Christian and
   evangelical; from formality, because that is only in pretence and show,
   whereas this is a real work upon the soul; from restraining grace,
   because that is only conversant about sins and duties out of a servile
   awe of God, but this seemeth to carry out the soul with some affection
   to Christ. It is a common work, good in itself, which God ordaineth in
   some to be a preparation and beginning of the work of grace. Of this
   the apostle speaketh, Heb. vi. 4, 5, where he calleth it an
   enlightening,' a taste of Christ and of the powers of the world to
   come,' and a partaking of the Holy Ghost;' meaning the gifts of the
   Spirit, abilities for holy duties, &c., of all which elsewhere; only
   now let me note three things:--(1.) That the light there spoken of is
   not humbling; (2.) The taste is not ravishing, and drawing out the soul
   after more of Christ; (3.) Their gifts are not renewing and
   sanctifying.

   [1.] That light is not humbling. He saith, they are enlightened,' but
   he doth not say they are humbled. Foundations totter that are not laid
   deep enough. The more true light a man hath, the more cause of
   self-abasement will he find in himself. You can never magnify Christ
   enough, and you can never debase self enough; and certainly Christ is
   most exalted when you are most abased, Isa. ii. 19. Dagon must fall
   upon his face if you mean to set up the ark; and if Christ shall be
   precious to you, you must be vile in your own eyes; none have such true
   revivings as the humble, Isa. lvii. 15, 16. True humiliation is far
   from weakening your comforts, it maketh them more full and sure;
   therefore a main thing that was wanting in those spoken of in Heb. vi.,
   was humiliation, and their fault was a rash closing with Christ in the
   pride of their hearts.

   [2.] Their taste was not ravishing and affecting the heart so as to
   engage it to seek after Christ; they had but loose and slight desires
   of happiness, glances upon the glory of heaven and the comforts of the
   gospel, which possibly might stir up a wish, Oh! that I might die the
   death of the righteous,' &c. They were not serious and holy desires
   after Christ, after grace and strength to serve him. The saints, that
   have a taste, groan after a fuller communion in his graces as well as
   comforts, Rom. vii. 24, Ps. cxix. 5; that experience which they have
   had of Christ maketh them long for more. But now in temporaries there
   is a loose assent and slight affection, a taste enough to prevail with
   them, to make some profession for a while, a rejoicing for a season,
   &c.

   [3.] Their gifts are not renewing and sanctifying; such possibly as may
   make them useful to the church, but do not change the heart. The
   apostle saith, they were made partakers of the Holy Ghost;' that is,
   had some share--it may be a plentiful share,--of church gifts, so as to
   be able to carry on duties to the edification and comfort of others.
   But, alas! what is a man the better, if the heart be oppressed with
   sins in the meantime, and be not upright with God? 1 Cor. xiii. 1,
   Though I speak with the tongues of men and angels, and have not
   charity, I am become but as a sounding brass and tinkling cymbal.'
   Though you can speak of the things of God with much enlargement and
   affection, pray sweetly, all is but as tinkling with God, if there be
   not saving grace. It is a great evidence that we are such as the
   apostle speaketh of, when the affection doth not answer the expression
   of a duty, nor the life our knowledge, and gifts have not a
   proportionable influence upon practice. So much for that point.

   Having spoken of the state, I come now to speak of the author of it,
   God the Father. But why is it so distinctly attributed to the Father?
   Is not Christ our sanctification?' 1 Cor. i. 30, and is it not called
   the sanctification of the Spirit?' 2 Thes. ii. 13. The answer shall
   draw out the strength of the phrase in these propositions. (1.) It is
   true that the whole Trinity, one way or other, concurreth to the work
   of holiness; those works ad extra are indivisa, common to all the
   persons--the Father sanctifieth, the Son sanctifieth, and the Holy
   Ghost sanctifieth: the same may be said of preserving and calling. (2.)
   Though all work jointly, yet there are distinct personal operations, by
   which they make way for the glory of each other; the love of the Father
   for the glory of the Son, and the glory of the Son for the power of the
   Spirit. See how the scripture followeth these things. You shall find
   first, that no man cometh to the Son, but from the Father, by election:
   John vi. 37, All that the Father giveth me shall come to me:' so ver.
   65, No man cometh unto me, unless it be given him of my Father,' Look
   again and you shall find that no man cometh to the Father from the
   bondage of sin and Satan, but by the Son, through his redemption and
   mediation: John xiv. 6, I am the way, the truth, and the life; no man
   cometh unto the Father but by me.' Again, you shall see no man is
   united to the Son but by the Holy Ghost, who worketh in those whom the
   Father did choose, and the Son redeem; and therefore the sanctification
   of the Spirit' is as necessary as the blood of Jesus,' 1 Peter i. 2. So
   that you see all have their distinct work; the inchoation is from the
   Father, the dispensation by the Son, and the consummation by the
   Spirit: from the Father, in the Son, and through the Spirit. There is
   God's choice, Christ's purchase, and the Spirit's application; all are
   joined in one verse,--for indeed they must not be severed,--even in the
   place last alleged, 1 Peter i. 2. (3.) Because the first distinct
   operation is the Father's, therefore the whole work in scripture is
   often ascribed to him. He is said to justify;' the justifier of them
   that believe in Jesus,' Rom. iii. 26. So he is said elsewhere to purge:
   John xv. 1, 2, I am the vine, and my Father is the husbandman; he
   purgeth it, that it may bring forth more fruit.' All dependeth upon the
   decree of his love. Christ doth not work upon a person, unless he be
   given to him by the Father; and, therefore, he being first in order and
   operation, the whole work is made his work: Sanctified in God the
   Father.' Observe:--

   Obs. 1. That sanctification is God's work, wrought in us by the Father.
   To cleanse the heart is beyond the power of the creature; it can no
   more make itself holy, than make itself to be. We could defile
   ourselves, but we cannot cleanse ourselves: as the sheep can go astray
   of itself, but it can never return to the fold without the shepherd's
   care and help. [23] Lusts are too hard for us, and so are the duties of
   obedience. God, that gave us his image at first, must again plant it in
   the soul. [24] Who can repair nature depraved, but the author of
   nature? When a watch is out of order we send it to the workman: We are
   his workmanship in Christ,' Eph. ii. 10. God taketh it to his
   prerogative: Lev. xxi. 8, I am the Lord that sanctifieth thee.' Grace
   is his immediate creature; man's will contributeth nothing to the work
   but resistance and rebellion; and outward means work not, unless God
   put in with them; else why should the same word preached by the same
   minister work in some and harden others? All the difference ariseth
   from God's grace, which acteth according to pleasure. Well, then:--

   Use 1. Let us wait upon God till the work be accomplished. Our wills
   are obstinate and perverse, but God never made a creature too hard for
   himself; he is able to do this thing for us, and it is our comfort we
   have such a God to go to. The heathens, that groped and felt after God,
   were to seek of a power to quell their lusts, and therefore were put
   upon sad remedies: whereas all is made easy to you in the power of God
   through Christ. Crates gave this advice to one that came to him to know
   how he should subdue the lust of uncleanness; he answered, that he
   should either famish himself or hang himself; [25] they knew no remedy
   but offering violence to nature, or else death and despair. Democritus
   blinded himself, because he could not look upon women without lusting
   after them. Now God teacheth us to put out the eye of our lust, not of
   our bodies. [26] Bless God that you know whose work it is, and to whom
   to go for sanctification.

   Use 2. Praise the Lord whenever this work is accomplished. Not I, but
   grace; it must not be ascribed to our works, or to any power that is in
   ourselves, but to God's mercy, Christ's merits, and the Spirit's
   efficacy. There is God's grant: To her it was granted to be covered
   with fine linen, the righteousness of the saints,' Rev. xix. 8. God the
   Father giveth leave or issueth forth an authentic act and decree in the
   court of heaven; as Esther by the grant of the king was supplied out of
   the king's wardrobe. Then there is Christ's merit; the stream wherein
   we are washed floweth out of Christ's own heart: 1 John i. 7, The blood
   of Christ cleanseth us from all sin.' Then there is the Spirit's
   efficacy; no less power will vanquish the proud heart of man. It is
   notable, that grace is expressed not only by the notion of creation,
   Ps. li. 10; Eph. ii. 10; 2 Cor. iv. 6, which is a making things out of
   nothing, but also by victory, Luke xi. 21, 22; 2 Cor. x. 5; 1 John iv.
   4, or a powerful overcoming of opposition. In creation, as there was
   nothing to help, so there was nothing to resist and hinder; but in man
   there is, besides a death in sin, a life of resistance against grace;
   therefore sanctification must entirely be ascribed to God: we deserve
   it not, it cometh from the Father's good-will and Christ's merit; we
   work it not, it is accomplished by the power of the Holy Ghost

   Obs. 2. Again observe, that though the work of grace be immediately
   wrought by another person, yet our thoughts in believing must not stay
   till we ascend and come up to God the Father. You shall see the
   scripture carrieth out our acts of faith to him everywhere: Rom. iv.
   24, If we believe in him who raised up Jesus our Lord from the dead;'
   that is, in God the Father. So John xii. 44, He that believeth in me,
   believeth not in me, but in him that sent me.' That not is not
   negative, but corrective. Not only in me, but his thoughts must ascend
   to the Father also, who manifesteth himself in me. So John xiv. 1, Ye
   believe in God, believe also in me.' Both expressions may be
   imperative. Besides believing in Christ, we must also believe in God,
   as the first fountain and author of grace. Now the reasons are--(1.)
   Because all grace beginneth with the Father. The first in order of
   being is first in order of working. It is the Father that floweth out
   to us in Christ and by the Spirit. Whatever Christ hath and is, he hath
   from him as the original author: 1 Cor. i. 30, Of him Jesus Christ is
   made to us sanctification.' The high priest went into the sanctuary
   before he blessed the people. So doth Jesus Christ sanctify you in the
   Father and from the Father. As Mediator certainly he is to be
   considered as God's servant and instrument. Well, then, reason is in
   its progress till it climb up to the first cause of a thing. So should
   faith. Do not leave till you come to the Father, who is the highest
   fountain of grace. (2.) Because whatever is done to you by Christ, is
   done with a respect to his Father's love: John xvii. 2, Thou hast given
   him power over all flesh, that he should give eternal life to as many
   as thou hast given him.' So see ver. 6, I have manifested thy name unto
   them; thine they were, and them thou gavest me.' That was the ground of
   Christ's respect, the Father's donation, or the charge he received from
   him; and therefore you must look upon the Father's love as well as
   Christ's care; for in all his respects to us he still acknowledgeth his
   obedience to the Father, and, indeed, it giveth us a double ground of
   hope. The Son loveth us because the Father required it, and the Father
   loveth us because the Son asketh it. [27] If Christ be faithful to his
   Father, we are sure to be loved, or if the Father have any respect and
   love to Christ. (3.) Because it is a great support and comfort to faith
   to consider of the Father in the act of believing. Two are better than
   one; and it is often made a privilege to have the Father and the Son,'
   1 John i. 3, and ii. 23, 24; 2 John 9., et alibi. There is the Father's
   love and the Son's merit. Either severally will not yield that joy and
   peace in believing, and therefore it is good to have them both
   together. There is no access to the Father but in the Son. What will
   guilt do with justice? stubble with consuming fire? God out of Christ
   is terrible rather than comfortable. Therefore it is said, 1 Peter i.
   21, that by him we believe in God;' that is, by Christ through his
   merit we come comfortably to pitch upon God the Father. So again,
   Christ separate from the Father doth not yield such firm grounds of
   confidence. There must be some act of the Father to give us full
   security: for in the business of redemption God the Father is
   represented as the offended, wronged party, who is to receive
   satisfaction. We are sensible of the wrong and offence; conscience
   feeleth that. We must be also sensible of his favour and grace towards
   us. Now when we see him first in all acts of grace, that taketh away
   all jealousy and scruple. (4.) Because in the Father's love there are
   many circumstances which are very engaging to the soul, which are not
   to be found in the rest of the divine persons; for he being first in
   order, hath the chiefest work ascribed to him; but especially are not
   to be found in Christ as Mediator. And because Christ as Mediator is
   most known to the creatures, I shall prosecute this matter with respect
   to that consideration. (1st.) In the Father's love and acts of grace
   there is an original fulness. Christ's fulness as Mediator is but
   derived out of the Father's plenty: Col. i. 19, It pleased the Father
   that in him all fulness should dwell.' And it is limited by the
   Father's will in the dispensation of it. All that Christ dispensed was
   according to the charge and commandment given him by his Father. See
   Mat. xx. 23, It is not mine to give, save to those for whom it is
   prepared of my Father.' Christ doth not deny his authority to give
   glory as well as grace; only he showeth how in all the dispensations
   proper to the Mediator he was limited by the will and counsel of the
   Father. And so he denieth to dispense the knowledge of times and
   seasons, because the Father had kept it in his own power,' Acts i. 7.
   So that now it is an engaging consideration to remember that the
   Father, whose will is absolute, who hath an original fulness of all
   grace, that he himself loveth us,' and is first in all acts of
   blessing. (2d.) In the Father's acts you have the purest and freest
   apprehension of love. He began and first broke the business of our
   redemption. God the Son can have a higher motive, the Father's will;
   but God the Father can have no higher motive than his own love. His
   elective law was the first rise and spring whence all that love that
   passeth out to the creature issueth forth, and therefore here we have
   the freest apprehension of love. There was a love of the Father
   anteceding the merit of Christ: John iii. 16, God so loved the world,
   that he gave his only Son.' There was the most independent and free act
   of love.

   Use. It serveth to press us to give a distinct glory in believing to
   God the Father. Get a right apprehension of the divine persons, and the
   several endearments with which their personal operations are
   represented. It is said, John v. 23, that God will have all men honour
   the Son as they honour the Father.' God is most honoured when your
   thoughts are most distinct and explicit in this matter. Do not forget
   the Father; you are his gift, as well as the Son's purchase, and the
   Spirit's charge. If God the Father had not loved you before all worlds,
   Jesus Christ would not have redeemed you; and if Christ had not
   redeemed you, the Spirit would never sanctify you: and as the Spirit
   will not work unless you look upon him as Christ's Spirit, John xvi.
   14, He shall glorify me, for he shall receive of mine;' so Christ came
   to glorify the Father, and to finish his work, John xvii. 4. Bless them
   and praise them all then. If you receive anything, see the Father's
   bounty in it, the freeness and everlastingness of his love stamped upon
   what you have. So if you want anything, holiness, comfort, grace,
   pardon, reflect not only upon the fulness of Christ's merit, but the
   freeness of the Father's love. You deal with a God of bowels and
   bounty; Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, all are yours. There is a fond
   affectation in some to carry all things in the name of Christ, even
   such acts wherein the Father is most concerned; as the former age
   carried all dispensations in the name of God Almighty, without any
   distinct reflection, upon God the Son, in whom the Father will be
   honoured, and by whom we have an access to the Father. So many in this
   age, in their popular discourses and prayers, carry all things in the
   name of God the Son, and with a fond and luscious affectation
   ingeminate the name, Jesus Christ, Jesus Christ,' so that the honour
   and adoration due to the other persons is neglected and forgotten;
   whereas Christ is to be acknowledged Lord in all tongues, and among all
   nations, to the glory of God the Father,' Phil. ii. 11.

   But now it is high time to proceed to the second and last manifestation
   of their effectual calling, preserved in Jesus Christ, teteremenois en
   Chri'sto, kept in or by him; the meaning is, they were not only
   sanctified for the present out of the store and plenty of God the
   Father, but should for ever be kept in that estate by Jesus Christ. The
   point is:--

   Obs. That God's called and sanctified people are preserved and kept in
   their state of grace and holiness in and by Jesus Christ. The point
   asserteth two things--that they are kept by Christ and in Christ; that
   is, not only for his sake, but by virtue of union with him. Jesus
   Christ is the cabinet wherein God's jewels are kept; so that if we
   would stand, we must get out of ourselves, and get into him, in whom
   alone there is safety. I might handle this latter branch apart, namely,
   that union with Christ is the ground of our safety and preservation.
   But because I am sensible that I have staid too long upon this verse
   already, I shall content myself with handling upon this occasion the
   general doctrine of the perseverance of the saints. And, first, I shall
   give you the state of it, how far we may expect to be preserved;
   Secondly, The grounds of certainty and assurance in this kind.

   1. How far we may look for preservation. The doctrine of perseverance
   is much impugned; but the earth is never the more unsettled because to
   giddy brains it seemeth to run round. However, let us grant what must
   be granted, and then the truth will be burdened with less prejudice.
   Seeming grace may be lost: Take from him that which he hath,' Mat. xxv.
   29, is, Luke viii. 18, Take from him that which he seemed to have.'
   Blazing comets and meteors are soon spent, and fall from heaven like
   lightning, while stars keep their orb and station. A building in the
   sand will totter, and hypocrites be discovered before the congregation,
   Prov. xxvi. 26. Again, initial or preparative grace may fail, such as
   is spoken of in Heb. vi. 4, 5, to wit, illumination, external
   reformation, temporary faith, devout moods, some good beginnings, &c.
   Plenty of blossoms do not always foretell store of fruit; some die in
   the very pangs of the birth, and are still-born. Yet again, true grace
   may suffer a shrewd decay, but not an utter loss; the leaves may fade
   when the root liveth. In temptations God's children are sorely shaken;
   their heel may be bruised, as Christ's was, but their head is not
   crushed. Peter denied Christ, but did not fall from grace; there is a
   remaining seed, 1 John iii. 9. It is notable what Chrysostom observeth
   concerning Christ's prayer for Peter, Luke xxii. 32, I have prayed for
   thee that thy faith fail not.' Mark, saith he, he doth not say, I have
   prayed for thee that thou shouldst not deny me, but I have prayed that
   thy faith should not altogether vanish and be abolished. [28] Once
   more, such grace as serveth to our well-being in Christ may be taken
   away, joy, peace, cheerfulness, &c. As a man may have a being, though
   his well-being be lost; he is a man, though a bankrupt, though poor,
   though sick, though diseased: so a Christian may be living though he be
   not lively. Yet further, the operations of grace may be obstructed for
   a great while: a fit of swooning is not a state of death; there may be
   no acts, and yet their seed remaineth; this may last for a long time.
   David lay in a spiritual swoon nine months; for he awaked not till
   Nathan came to him, Ps. li., the title; and when Nathan came to him,
   the child begotten upon Bathsheba was born; for he saith, 2 Sam. xii.
   14, The child which is born to thee shall die.' Yet further, grace if
   left to us would soon be lost; we showed that in innocency: but it is
   our advantage that our security lieth in God's promises, and not our
   own; that we are not our own keepers; that grace is a jewel not trusted
   but in safe hands; that perseverance is God's gift, not man's act; and
   that Christ hath a charge to conduct the saints, and keep them safe to
   everlasting glory, John vi. 37-40; and x. 28, I give unto them eternal
   life, and they shall never perish (neither shall any perish); none
   shall pluck them out of my hand. My Father which gave them is greater
   than all; none is able to pluck them out of my Father's hand.' They
   neither shall nor can; God and Christ are engaged in the keeping of
   them; Christ by God's command as Mediator, and God by Christ's merit:
   therefore he that separateth us from God must tug with Jesus Christ
   himself, and be too hard for him also, or else he can never pluck them
   out of his hands. If they should question Christ's power, because of
   the ignominy of the cross, the Father's hands are also engaged, for our
   greater assurance. Can any creature loose his eternal and almighty
   grasp, and pluck out those whom the Father hath a mind to keep?

   We do not plead for any wild assurance and certainty of perseverance;
   we do not say that they that neglect means, or grieve the Spirit, and
   do what they list, are sure that they shall not miscarry; that is
   against the nature of God's dispensation, and the nature of this
   assurance, and therefore but a vain cavil, It is against the nature of
   God's dispensation; whom he maketh to persevere, he maketh them to
   persevere in the use of means. Hezekiah had assurance from God of life
   for fifteen years, yet he taketh a lump of figs, and applieth it as a
   plaster to the boil, Isa. xxxviii. 5, with 21. More clearly, Acts
   xxvii. 31, All shall come to land;' but, Except ye abide in the ship ye
   cannot be safe.' We are sure of life as long as God hath any service to
   do for us, yet we are bound to get food and raiment, and to use all
   means to preserve life. This was Satan's cavil against God's protection
   over Christ, Thou art sure not to fall, therefore neglect means, cast
   thyself upon danger, Mat. iv. 9, 10. You learn this doctrine from the
   devil; thou mayest do what thou list, thou art sure to be safe; it is
   the devil's divinity. Again, it is against the nature of this
   assurance; he that hath tasted God's love in God's way cannot reason
   so. A child that hath a good father that will not see him perish, shall
   he waste and embezzle his estate he careth not how? A wicked child may
   presume thus of his father (though it be very disingenuous) because of
   his natural interest and relation to his father; the kindness which he
   expecteth is not built upon moral choice, but nature: but a child of
   God cannot, because he cannot grow up to this certainty but in the
   exercise of grace; it is begotten and nourished by godly exercises; and
   the thing itself implieth a contradiction; this were to fall away
   because we cannot fall away. You may as soon say that the fire should
   make a man freeze with cold, as that certainty of perseverance in grace
   should make us do actions contrary to grace.

   Again, we do not say that a believer is so sure of his conservation in
   a state of grace, as that he needeth not to be wary and jealous of
   himself: 1 Cor. x. 12, Let him that standeth take heed lest he fall.'
   There is a fear of caution, as well as a fear of diffidence and
   distrust; and there is a great deal of difference between weakening the
   security of the flesh, and our confidence in Christ. None more apt to
   suspect themselves than they that are most sure in God, lest by
   improvidence and unwatchfulness they should yield t6 corruption. Christ
   had prayed that Peter's faith might not fail, yet together with the
   other apostles he biddeth him watch, Luke xxii. 40-46. The fear of God
   is a preserving grace, and taken into the covenant: Jer. xxxii. 40, I
   will put my fear into their hearts, and they shall not depart from me.'
   This is a fear which will stand with faith and certainty; it is a fruit
   of .the same Spirit, and doth not hinder assurance, but guard it; it is
   a fear that maketh us watchful against all occasions to sin and
   spiritual distempers, that we may not give offence to God: as an
   ingenuous man that hath an inheritance passed over to him by his friend
   in court is careful not to offend him.

   Again, this certainty of our standing in grace doth not exclude prayer:
   Luke xxii. 46, Watch and pray, that ye enter not into temptation.'
   Perseverance is God's gift, and it must be sought in God's way; by
   Christ's intercession, to preserve the majesty of God, and by our
   prayers, that we may constantly profess our dependence upon God, and
   renew our acquaintance with him; besides, by asking blessings in
   prayer, we are the more warned of our duty; it is a means to keep us
   gracious and holy. As those that converse often with kings had need be
   decently clad, and go neat in their apparel, so he that speaketh often
   to God is bound to be more holy, that he may be the more acceptable to
   him.

   Again, it is not a discontinued, but a constant perseverance that we
   plead for; not as if an elect person could be quite driven out of the
   state of grace, though he be saved at length; he cannot fall totus a
   toto in totum, the whole man with full consent, from all grace and
   godliness; he may sin foully, but not fall off totally, no more than
   finally; there is something that remaineth, a seed, an unction, a root
   in a dry ground, that will bud and scent again. Briefly, true grace
   shall never utterly be lost, though it be much weakened, but in the use
   of means it shall constantly be preserved to eternal life.

   Once more, and I have done with the state of the question. God doth not
   only require the condition of standing, or continuing in the exercise
   of grace, but give it infallibly. The precepts of the covenant of grace
   are also promises: Heb. viii. 10, This is the covenant that I will make
   with the house of Israel,' &c., where all the articles carry the form
   of promises. God undertaketh to fulfil our part in us when we submit to
   the covenant. So Jer. xxxii. 40, I will put my fear into their hearts,'
   &c. If there be any breach, it must be from our departing from God, or
   God's departing from us. [29] Now God never departeth, his love never
   permitteth him to repent of giving his fear and putting his grace into
   our hearts; but all the fear is our departing from God. So some say,
   God will not depart from us, if we be not wanting to ourselves. And
   Bernard observed that our own flesh is not mentioned, Rom. viii., What
   shall separate us from God?' &c. Soli eum deserere possumus propria
   voluntate--our own will may separate us and withdraw us from God. And
   the Remonstrants: Though God doth not repent doni dati, of what he hath
   given, yet we may repent doni accepti et retenti, of what we have
   received, and grow weary of the service of God. But all is answered by
   God's undertaking in the covenant: I will put my fear into their
   hearts, that they shall not depart from me.' He will give faith, and
   love, and fear, bestow and continue such graces as dispose the soul to
   perseverance.

   2. The grounds of certainty, by which it may appear that we shall be
   preserved in that state of grace unto which we are called in Jesus
   Christ. The grounds are many; put them altogether, and you may easily
   spell out of them the perseverance of the saints.

   [1.] There are some grounds on God the Father's part; there is his
   everlasting love and all-sufficient power. His everlasting love. God
   doth not love for a fit, but for ever, From everlasting to
   everlasting,' Ps. ciii. 17, before the world was, and when the world is
   no more. God's love is not founded upon any temporal accident, but on
   his own counsel, in which there can be no change, [30] because the same
   reasons that moved him to choose at first continue for ever. God never
   repented in time of what he purposed before all time: Rom. xi. 29, His
   gifts and calling are without repentance.' By gifts he meaneth such as
   are proper to the elect; and by calling, effectual calling; such is
   kata` pro'thesin, according to his eternal purpose; of these he never
   repents. The fruits of repentance in men are shame and sorrow; now God
   is never ashamed of his choice, nor sorry for his choice, so as to wish
   it undone. And then the other ground is his all-sufficient power.
   Almightiness is engaged in the preservation of grace by his eternal
   love and will, John x. 28, 29. Can they pluck Christ from the throne?
   are they stronger than Christ's Father?

   [2.] There are grounds on Christ's part; his everlasting merit, and
   close union between him and us, and constant intercession. For his
   merit, see Heb. ix. 12. He is entered into the holy place, having
   obtained an eternal redemption for us.' Legal expiations did but last
   from year to year, but Christ's merit for ever and ever; his redemption
   is eternal, not only as it is of use in all ages of the church, but in
   respect of every particular saint. Those who are once redeemed by
   Christ, they are not redeemed for a time, so as to fall away again;
   that, would argue that the virtue of Christ's blood was spent, and
   could preserve them no longer; but they are for ever kept to salvation.
   So Heb. x. 14, By one offering he hath perfected for ever them that are
   sanctified.' He hath not only purchased a possibility of salvation, but
   all that we need to our full perfection; it is not for a certain time,
   but for ever. Then there is a close union between him and us; this is
   the notion of the text, preserved in Christ,' Look, as it is impossible
   to sever the leaven and the dough, when they are once mingled and
   kneaded together, [31] so Christ and a believer, when they are united
   together, there is no parting more. Can Christ's mystical body be
   maimed, or lose a joint? Then his constant intercession; that is
   another ground, a copy of which we have in the 17th of John, where he
   saith, Keep them through thy name,' &c., and Keep them from the evil,'
   &c. See Heb. vii. 25, He is able to save to the uttermost those that
   come to God by him, for he liveth for ever to make intercession for
   them.' He is interceding with God, that the merit of his death may be
   applied to us; and what is that? Salvation to the uttermost,' or to the
   end,' eis to te'los. The heirs of salvation need not fear miscarrying.
   Jesus Christ, who is the testator, who by will and testament made over
   the heritage to them, he also is the executor, he liveth for ever to
   see his own will executed; he died once to make the testament, and he
   liveth for ever to see it made good. Whenever we are in danger, he is
   entreating his Father for supports and assistances of grace.

   [3.] On the Spirit's part there is a continued influence, so as to
   maintain the essence and seed of grace. The Father's love is continued
   by the merit of Christ, that he may not depart from us; and we are
   preserved by the Spirit of Christ, that we may not depart from him. He
   doth not only put into our hearts faith, fear, love, and other graces
   at first, but he maintaineth and keepeth them, that the fire may never
   go out. Our hearts are his temple, and he doth not love to leave his
   dwelling-place. And besides, in the economy of salvation, it is his
   office to glorify Christ as his vicegerent, and to be our comforter;
   therefore, with respect to the honour of Christ, and the comfort of
   believers, he preserveth and maintaineth that grace that is once really
   wrought in our hearts. To preserve the glory of Christ thus, Christ,
   you know, hath received a charge from the Father to lose nothing,' John
   vi. 39, neither body nor soul--nothing that belongeth to an elect
   person. Now, that he may be true to his trust, he sendeth the Spirit as
   his deputy or executor, that his merit may be fully applied. It is for
   the honour of Christ, that wherever the work is begun, wherever he hath
   been an author, there he may be a finisher also, Heb. xii. 2. It was
   said of the foolish builder, that he began, and was not able to make an
   end.' This dishonour can never be cast upon Christ, because of the
   power and faithfulness of the Spirit; he doth katerga'zesthai, Phil. i.
   6, go through with the work which he hath begun; the Spirit is to fit
   vessels for glory. He doth not use to leave them half carved; he is
   faithful to Christ, as Christ is to his Father. The Father chooseth the
   vessels, Christ buyeth them, and the Spirit carveth and fitteth them,
   that they may be vessels of praise and honour. But this is not all. He
   preserveth and continueth us in the state of grace as our Comforter; by
   working grace he puts us into an expectation of glory and happiness,
   and to make it good he carrieth. on the work without failing; therefore
   grace is called the first-fruits of the Spirit.' Rom. viii. 24, and the
   earnest of the Spirit,' 2 Cor. i. 22, and v. 6, for it hath a double
   use, to be a taste and a pledge. It is a taste to show us how good
   eternal life is; and a pledge to show us how sure it is. The first
   degree of regeneration is of this nature; it is an earnest, or gage,
   assuring us of a more perfect enjoyment--the livery and seisin of glory
   to come. As soon as a real change is wrought, the Spirit of God doth
   give us earnest; and will God lose his earnest? will he give us a
   pledge, and fail our expectation? Surely no.

   Let us now come to application.

   Use. 1. It presseth us to persevere with the more care. It is no
   unreasonable inference: see 1 John ii. 27, 28, Ye shall abide in him;
   and now little children abide in him;' Since we have so many advantages
   of standing, let us not fall away. Oh! how great will your sin be, if
   you should miscarry and dishonour God! We pity a child that falleth
   when it is not looked after; but when a froward child wresteth and
   forceth itself out of the arms of the nurse, we are angry with it. You
   have more reason to stand than others, being brought into an
   unchangeable state of grace; being held in the arms of Christ, God will
   be very angry with your slips and failings. Mercy holdeth you fast, and
   you seek to wrest yourselves out of mercy's arms. None can sin as you
   do, with such frowardness, with such dishonour to God; you disparage
   the Spirit's custody, the merit of Christ, and the mercy of the Father.
   See Heb. iv. 1, Let us therefore fear, a promise being left to us of
   entering into his rest, lest any should seem to come short of it.'
   Look, as some seem to stand that do not, so some seem to fall utterly
   that do not. A child of God indeed cannot come short, but he should not
   seem, that is, give any appearance of coming short. When our religious
   course is interrupted, and we give way to sin and folly, that is a
   seeming to come short, and so you bring a scandal upon the love of God,
   as if it were changeable; upon the merit of Christ, as if it were not a
   perfect merit. Scandalous professors make Arminians; in an age of
   defection, no wonder if men plead for the apostasy of the saints.

   Use 2. If you fall through weakness, be not utterly dismayed. As the
   spinster leaveth a lock of wool to draw on the next thread, so there is
   somewhat left. When you are departed from God, you have more holdfast
   upon him than another sinner; a child, though a prodigal: go to him and
   say, Father. David pleadeth the relics of grace yet left, Ps. cxix.
   176, I have gone astray like a sheep; seek thy servant, for I do not
   forget my commandments;' as if he had said, Lord, I have sinned through
   weakness, but I hope there is some grace left, some bent of heart
   towards thee. So the church, Isa. lxiv. 8, 9, Now, O Lord, thou art our
   father,' &c. Yea, God is angry when we do not plead. So Jer. iii. 4,
   Wilt thou not cry, Thou art my father?' &c. You have an interest,
   though you have been disobedient. Thus do, and your falls will be an
   advantage; as you have seen men go back to fetch their leaps more
   commodiously.

   Use 3. When you stand, let it excite you to love and thankfulness.
   Nothing maketh the saints love God more than the unchangeableness of
   his love. When they see themselves safe in the midst of weaknesses and
   Satan's daily assaults, it doth much endear God to their souls.
   Certainly Daniel was much affected with his preservation in the lions'
   den, when he saw the lions ramping and roaring about him, and yet
   restrained with the chains of providence, that they could do him no
   harm. So the children of God must needs love their preserver when they
   consider what dangers are round about them, how little they subsist by
   their own strength, 1 Sam. ii. 9, and how much they have done a
   thousand times to cause God to withdraw his Spirit from them; and
   therefore the great argument why the saints do love and praise him is
   not only the freedom of his grace, but the unchangeableness and
   constancy of it: His mercy endureth for ever;' it is several times
   repeated, Ps. cxxxvi. So Ps. cvi. 1, Praise ye the Lord; O give thanks
   unto the Lord, for he is good, for his mercy endureth for ever.' No
   form is more frequent in the mouths of the saints: and good reason; for
   alas! if we were left to ourselves, we should damn ourselves every
   hour. We have a revolting heart,' Jer. v. 23, xiv. 10. We are like
   glasses without a bottom; as soon as they are out of hand they are
   broken; we cannot stand of ourselves: and we have a restless enemy,
   that desireth to toss us and vex us, as wheat is tossed from sieve to
   sieve, Luke xxii. 31; and we have often forfeited God's protection, and
   grieved him day by day. Were it not for everlasting mercy, what would
   become of us? Certainly they that do not love God for their
   preservation, they are not sensible of their condition in the world.
   What a naughty heart they carry about with them! It is a miracle that
   ever grace should be preserved there, where there is so much pride,
   love of pleasures, worldly cares, brutish lusts; that such a heavenly
   plant can thrive in the midst of so many weeds. And what a busy devil
   they have to do withal, who watcheth all advantages, as a dog that
   standeth waving his tail (it is Chrysostom's comparison) and expecting
   a bit; and his envy and malice is most bent against them that have most
   grace. Finally, they do not consider that the world is full of snares
   and dangerous allurements; for if they did, they could not choose but
   fall a-blessing of God for Jesus Christ, who yet fasteneth them as a
   nail in the holy place. I remember one of the fathers bringeth in the
   flesh saying, Ego deficiam, I will surely fail and miscarry; and the
   world Ego decipiam, I will deceive them and entice them; and Satan, Ego
   eripiam, I will snatch them and carry them away; and God saith, Ego
   custodiam, I will keep them, I will never fail them nor forsake them;'
   and there lieth our safety and security.

   Use 4. It informeth us that if any fall often, constantly, frequently,
   easily, they have no interest in grace: 1 John iii. 9, He that is born
   of God sinneth not,' ou poiei amarti'an, he makes not a trade of sin;
   that is the force of the phrase. God's children slip often, but not
   with such a frequent constant readiness into the same sin. As fair
   meadows may be everflown, but marsh ground is drowned with the return
   of every tide, so are wicked men carried away with every return of the
   temptation; therefore he that liveth in a course of profaneness,
   worldliness, drunkenness, his spot is not as the spot of God's
   children.' You are tried by your constant course and walk, Rom. viii.
   1. What is your road? what do you do constantly, easily, frequently? I
   except only those sins which are of usual incidence and sudden
   surreption; as sudden stirrings of passion in a choleric temper, and
   vanity of thoughts, and distractions in duties, &c. And yet for these a
   man should be the more humble and watchful; if they be not felt and
   striven against, and mourned for, it is a bad sign.

   Use 5. It provoketh us to get an interest in such a sure condition. Be
   not contented--(1.) With outward happiness; things are worthy according
   to their duration. Nature hath such a sense of God's eternity, that the
   more lasting things are, it accounteth them the better. An immortal
   soul must have an eternal good. Now all things in the world are frail
   and pass away, therefore called uncertain riches,' 1 Tim. vi. 17. It is
   uncertain whether we shall get them, and uncertain whether we shall
   keep them, and uncertain whether we shall live to enjoy them if they
   stay with us. All of this side grace is uncertain; these things are
   usually blasted in their flower and beauty, as Herod was stricken in
   the midst of all his royalty: so that a man may out live his happiness,
   which is the greatest misery; or at least it must terminate with death;
   there is no use of wealth in the other world. But now the better part
   can never be taken from us,' Luke x. 42; and by seeking that we may
   have other things with a blessing, Mat. vi. 33. (2.) Rest not in gifts,
   they are for the body rather than the person that hath them; as many
   are carnal, and yet come behind in no gift. God useth them like
   negroes, to dig in the mines of knowledge, that others may have the
   gold. Judas could cast out devils, and yet afterward was cast out among
   devils; see 1 Cor. xii. 31. The apostle had discoursed largely of
   gifts, and then concludeth thus: But yet I show you a more excellent
   way;' and what is that? Grace that abideth and endureth for ever, as in
   the next chapter. Many that have great abilities to pray, preach,
   discourse, yet fall away. According to the place which they sustain in
   the body, so they have great gifts of knowledge, utterance, abilities
   to comfort, direct, and instruct others, to answer doubts, to reason
   and argue for God, for conference and holy discourse, and yet fall
   foully; as those Heb. vi. 4, are said to be partakers of the Holy
   Ghost;' that is, to have a great share of church gifts. Nay, this is
   not all; gifts themselves wither and vanish when the bodily vigour is
   spent: The glory of a man is as the flower of the grass,' 1 Peter i.
   24. By the glory of a man is meant whatever excellency we have by
   nature, wit, knowledge, strength of natural parts, as well as wealth
   and riches. Many times we, like the dry stalk, remaineth [32] when the
   flower is gone; nothing but the gracious work of the Spirit will last
   for ever. (3.) Seeming and unsound grace, as false faith, such as
   beginneth in joy, will end in trouble; [33] it easeth you for the
   present, but you shall lie down in sorrow. General probabilities, loose
   hopes, uncertain conjectures, vanishing apprehensions of comfort, all
   these things soon come to nothing. The planting of true faith is
   troublesome at first, but it leadeth to true comfort; otherwise you may
   look upon the gospel with some kind of delectation for a while, as
   thorns may blaze under the pot though they cannot keep in the fire:
   therefore do not rest in tasting the good word,' Heb. vi. 5, in some
   slight and transitory comfort. Again, there is formal profession. Many
   may begin in the Spirit' and end in the flesh,' Gal. iii. 3. A man may
   seem to himself and to the church of God to have true grace; he may
   profess the truth, escape the pollutions of the world,' that is, foul
   gross sins; yea, and all this not out of a carnal aim, but out of a
   slight and insufficient touch of the truth upon the conscience, and yet
   fall away, like the corn in the stony ground, that grew up, but had no
   root. But much more, Christians, will that form which is taken up out
   of private aims fail and miscarry. God delighteth to take off the mask
   and disguise of a hypocrite by letting him fall into some scandalous
   sin, or by changing the times and posture of affairs, or by sending a
   storm. Paint is soon washed off: therefore rest not in these outward
   and superficial changes, till solid and substantial grace be wrought in
   you.

   Use 6. Is comfort to God's children: grace is sure, and the privileges
   of it are sure. Grace itself is sure; through your folly it may be nigh
   unto death, but cannot die. This is the advantage of spiritual
   comforts, that they do not only satisfy our desires, but secure us
   against our fears. The redeemed of the Lord have an everlasting joy,'
   Isa. xxxv. 10. Once in Christ, and for ever preserved in Christ. Grace
   would be little better than temporal things if it did yield but a
   temporary refreshing. They weaken Christian comfort that make believers
   walk with Christ like dancers upon a rope, every moment in fear of
   breaking their necks. This is the comfort of a gracious heart, that as
   nothing shall altogether cut him off from enjoying God, so nothing
   shall utterly make him cease to love God. The children of God would be
   troubled if grace should fail, though their privileges should not be
   cut off; you are sure of both; for as grace is sure, so are also the
   privileges of grace. This was figured under the law; an Israelite could
   never wholly alienate his inheritance and title to the land: Lev. xxv.
   23, His title to the land shall not be cut off, nor sold for ever.'
   This was a type of our spiritual inheritance in Christ, which cannot be
   alienated from us; he might for. a while pass it away, but it was to
   return again; so those that are made co-heirs with Christ are never
   disinherited. It is true we forfeit it by the merit of our actions, but
   God doth not take the advantage of every offence. It is true we lose
   the evidences that are in our keeping, peace of conscience, and joy in
   the Holy Ghost; but the estate itself is indefeasible, and cannot be
   made away from us. Sometimes we are under a kind of sequestration, and
   there is a suspension of comfort and grace; as the Israelite might make
   away his inheritance for a time; but we shall recover possession again,
   though not by ourselves, yet by our Goel, our kinsman, or him that is
   next of blood. As under the law, if a person were not able to redeem
   the inheritance, the kinsman was to redeem it; so Jesus Christ, our
   kinsman after the flesh, he is our Goel, he interposeth by his merit,
   and reconcileth us to God. Well, then, you see grace is kept, and the
   privileges of grace are kept in Christ. But now, because comforts are
   never prized but in their sea son, and men that have not been exercised
   in spiritual conflicts nauseate these sweet truths, they know not what
   it is to be left to uncertainty when troubles come like waves, one in
   the neck of another; therefore let us see when this truth will be most
   sweet and seasonable. (1.) In great troubles, when God seemeth to hide
   his face. Oh! how sweet is it to hear him say, I will not forsake thee
   till I have performed all that I promised thee,' Gen. xxviii. 15; all
   this shall better thy heart and hasten thy glory. In times of distress
   we are apt to think that God hath cast us off, and will never look
   after us more, though formerly we have had real experiences of his
   grace. What a foolish creature is man, to weaken his assurance when he
   should come to use it! to unravel all his hope and experiences in times
   of trouble, which is the only season to make use of them! (2.) In the
   hour of temptation and hard conflicts with doubts and corruptions. When
   we are sensible of the power of sin, and how difficult it is to remove
   it out of the heart, we are apt to say, as David after all his
   experiences, I shall one day perish by the hand of Saul,' 1 Sam. xxvii.
   1; and many times out of distrust give over the combat. Oh! then,
   remember now you are preserved in Christ, and that nothing shall
   separate: as Sarcerius came to Camerarius' wife, when she had been
   exercised with a long and tedious conflict, and read to her the latter
   end of the 8th of the Romans, she brake out in triumph, using Paul's
   words, Nay, in all these things we are more then conquerors.' O
   Christians! neither sin, nor devil, nor world can divide you from
   Christ; for he did not only tread down Satan,' but under your feet.'
   Rom. xvi. 20. (3.) In times of great danger and defection, either
   through error and persecution; as Saunders trembled to think of the
   fire. Especially when others fall fearfully, who were before us in
   knowledge and profession of zeal and piety; when the first become last,
   when glorious luminaries are eclipsed, and leave their orb and station;
   as the martyrs were troubled to hear of the revolt of some great
   scholars that had appeared for the gospel. When Hymeneus and Philetus,
   two eminent professors, fell, there was a great shaking, 2 Tim. ii. 18,
   But the foundation of the Lord standeth sure,' &c.; that is the comfort
   the apostle opposeth in such a case. (4.) In times of disheartening, be
   cause of the difficulties of religion, when the use of means groweth
   troublesome. To quicken you in your Christian course, think of the
   unchangeableness of God's love. All graces rise according to the
   proportion and measure of faith; loose hopes weaken endeavours: 1 Cor.
   ix. 26, I run not as one uncertain.' Those that ran a race gave over
   when one had far outgone them, as being discouraged and without hope.
   When hope is broken, the edge of endeavours is blunted. Go on with
   confidence, you are assured of the issue; God will bless you, and keep
   you to his everlasting kingdom. (5.) In the hour of death. When all
   things else fail you, God will not fail you: this is the last brunt; do
   but wait a little while, and you will find more behind than ever you
   enjoyed; death shall not separate:' as Olevian comforted himself with
   that, Isa. liv. 10, The hills and mountains may depart, but my
   loving-kindness shall not depart from you,' [34] Being in the agonies
   of death, he said, Sight is gone, speech and hearing is departing,
   feeling is almost gone, but the loving-kindness of God will never
   depart. The Lord give us such a confidence in that day, that we may die
   glorying in the preservation of our Redeemer.
     __________________________________________________________________

   [9] See my Exposition on James i. 1.

   [10] To` me` du'naton allo's echein, all' o`tos os emeis
   le'gomen.'--Arist.

   [11] I suppose Austin's Tolle et Lege was of this nature.

   [12] It was a profanation in Belshazzar to drink in the cups of the
   temple.

   [13] So obstinate is man's heart, that that is all that can be done;
   the weakening of sin, but not the destruction of it.

   [14] As a child is true man, though not a perfect man, as soon as he is
   born; he hath all the parts, though not the growth, and strength, and
   stature.

   [15] All was depraved by Adam, and all is renewed by Christ.

   [16] Ea demum vera est religio, imitari quem colis.'--Lactant.

   [17] Cho'ris hou; the masculine article showeth that it is to be
   referred to agi'asmos.

   [18] Kata` te`n analogi'on katharo'tetos.

   [19] Caspar Stres. in Miscellaneis; Multi gloriantur cor suum bonum
   esse, etiamsi extus vita non respondeat; decipiuntur isti homines, nam
   si candela intus accensa est, lucerna extus necessario lucet et
   splendet; posito quod cor tuum bonum est, tamen damnaberis, quia
   Christus non judicat secundum cor sed secundum opera.' If the
   Israelites had slam and eaten the Passover, yet if the door-posts were
   not sprinkled with blood, the angel would not spare them.

   [20] Qu. puppets'?--ED.

   [21] Ps. xl. 7, marg.--ED.

   [22] See Mr Lyford's Catechism, last edition, pp. 308, 309.

   [23] Domine, errare per me potui; redire non potui.'--Aug. Meditat.

   [24] Non potest reddi nisi ab eo a quo potuit dari.'--Aug.

   [25] Primum famem suasit, deinde laqueum.'--Tertul. in Apol.

   [26] Christianus salvis oculis foeminam videt.'--Tertul. ib.

   [27] Causa ob quam Filius nos amat, quia ipsi a Patre demandatum est,
   et causa cur Pater nobis favet, est quia hoc Filius ab ipso postulat et
   promeretur,' &c.--See Stella at large, De Amore Dei, 18.

   [28] Ouk e'phe i'na me` arne'se, all' oste me` ekli'pein te`n pi'stin
   sou.'--Chrysost.

   [29] God's love will not let him depart from us, Isa. liv. 10, and fear
   will not let us depart from God.

   [30] Ameta'theton tes boules.'--Heb. vi. 17.

   [31] Sicut impossible est massam a pasta separare,' &c.--Luther.

   [32] Qu. we are like the dry stalk remaining'?--ED.

   [33] Hymeneus and Alexander are said to make shipwreck of faith, that
   is, false faith, 1 Tim. i. 19, 20.

   [34] Vide Scultetum in Isa. liv.
     __________________________________________________________________

   Ver. 2. Mercy unto you, and peace and love be multiplied.

   We are now come to the third thing in the inscription, and that is the
   form of salutation, delivered, as all apostolical salutations are, in
   the way of a prayer. In which we may observe--(1.) The matter of the
   prayer, or blessings prayed for, which are three, mercy, peace, and
   love. (2.) The manner or degree of enjoyment, be multiplied.

   I begin with the matter, or blessings prayed for. It will not be
   altogether unuseful to observe that diversity which is used in
   salutations. In the Old Testament peace was usually wished without any
   mention of grace; as Ps. cxxii. 8, For my brethren and companions' sake
   I will say, Peace be within thee;' and Dan. vi. 25, Peace be multiplied
   unto you.' But in the times of the gospel, grace being more fully
   delivered, that was also added and expressed in the forms of
   salutation. But yet in the times of the gospel there is some variety
   and difference. Sometimes you shall meet with a salutation merely
   civil, as James i. 1, To the twelve tribes chai'rein, greeting;' so
   Acts xv. 23, which was the usual salutation among the heathen; but most
   usually it is grace and peace.' Rom. i. 7; and in other places, grace,
   mercy, and peace,' as 2 John 3 and 1 Tim. i. 2; and here it differeth
   from them all, for it is mercy, peace, and love.' And Causaubon
   observeth that the Greek fathers, if they wrote to a carnal man, they
   would wish him grace, but not peace; if to a godly man, they would wish
   him grace and peace too. To touch upon these things is sufficient. From
   these blessings mentioned in this place I shall observe something in
   general, and then handle them particularly and apart.

   First, In the general consideration you may observe:--

   Obs. 1. That spiritual blessings are the best blessings that we can
   wish to ourselves and others. The apostles in their salutations do not
   wish temporal felicity, but spiritual grace. God's people pray for one
   another out of the communion of the Spirit, and for themselves out of a
   principle of the divine nature; and therefore they do not seek wealth
   and honour for themselves or one another, but increase of God's favour
   and image. It is true, nature is allowed to speak in prayer, but grace
   must be heard first. Our first and chiefest requests must be for mercy,
   peace, and love, and then other things shall be added to us,' Mat. vi.
   33. [35] The way to be heard in other things is first to beg for grace:
   Ps. xxi. 4, He asked life of thee, and thou gavest him length of days
   for ever.' Solomon sought wisdom, and together with it found riches and
   honour in great abundance. Well, then, if thou prayest for thyself,
   make a wise choice, beg for spiritual blessings. So David prayeth, Ps.
   cvi. 4, Remember me, O Lord, with the favour that thou bearest unto
   thine own people.' Nothing less would content him than favour ites'
   mercy. Other blessings are dispensed out of common pity to the
   generality of men; but these are mercies privilegiate, and given to
   favourites. Now, saith David, Of this mercy, Lord. No common blessing
   would serve his turn. So Ps. cxix. 132, Look upon me, and be merciful
   to me, as thou usest to do to those that love thy name.' Surely that
   which God giveth to his people, that is a better mercy than that which
   God giveth to his enemies. Again, these are mercies that cost God
   dearer. They flow to you in the blood of his Son; yea, they are mercies
   that are better in themselves. Wealth and honour may become a burden,
   yea, life itself may become a burden, but not mercy, not grace, not
   peace of conscience; and therefore they are better than life,' Ps.
   lxiii. 3, than wealth, than honour. None ever complained of too much
   mercy, of too much love of God. These are blessings that swallow up
   other miseries, yea, the loss of other blessings. Grace with poverty,
   it is a preferment, James i. 9. Peace of conscience with outward
   troubles is a happy condition. If there be a flowing of spiritual
   comforts, 2 Cor. i. 5, as there is an ebbing of outward comforts, we
   are not much wronged. Therefore first seek these blessings. Again, if
   you pray for others, pray for grace in the first place. That is an
   evidence of spiritual affection. Carnal men wish such things to others
   as they prize and affect themselves; so also do gracious men, and
   therefore their thoughts run more upon mercy, peace, and grace than
   wealth and honour and greatness. When a man sendeth a token to a
   friend, he would send the best of the kind. These are the best mercies.
   If you were to deal with God for your own souls, you can ask no better.
   You may ask temporal things, for God loveth the prosperity of his
   saints;' but these special blessings should have the preferment in your
   wishes and desires of good to them, and then you are most likely to
   speed. Our Lord Christ, in the 17th of John, commendeth the college of
   the apostles to the Father; and what doth he ask for them? dominion and
   worldly respect? Surely no; nothing but preservation from evil, and
   sanctification by the truth. These are the chiefest blessings we should
   look after as Christians.

   Obs. 2. Observe, again, the aptness of the requests to the persons for
   whom he prayeth. Those that are sanctified and called' have still need
   of mercy, peace, and love.' They need mercy, because we merit nothing
   of God, neither before grace received nor afterward. The very
   continuance of our glory in heaven is a fruit of mercy, not of merit.
   Our obligation to free grace never ceaseth. We need also more peace.
   There are degrees in assurance as well as faith. There is a temperate
   confidence, and there are ravishing delights, so that peace needs to be
   multiplied also. And then love, that being a grace in us, it is always
   in progress. In heaven only it is complete. Take it for love to God;
   there we cleave to him without distraction and weariness or satiety.
   God in communion is always fresh and new to the blessed spirits. And
   take it for love to the saints; it is only perfect in heaven, where
   there is no ignorance, pride, partialities, and factions--where Luther
   and Zuinglius, Hooper and Ridley, join in perfect concert.

   Obs. 3. Again, observe the aptness of these requests to the times
   wherein he prayed, when religion was scandalised by loose Christians,
   and carnal doctrines were obtruded upon the church. In times of
   defection from God, and wrong to the truth, there is great need of
   mercy, peace, and love. Of mercy, that we may be kept from the snares
   of Satan. Christians, whence is it that any of us stand? that we are
   found faithful? It is because we have obtained mercy. They would
   deceive, if it were possible, the very elect,' Mat. xxiv. 24. Why is it
   not possible to deceive the elect as well as others? of what mould are
   they made? wherein do they differ from other men? I answer--Elective
   grace and mercy interposeth; it is not for any power in themselves, but
   because mercy hath singled them out, and chosen them for a distinct
   people unto God. And we need peace and inward consolations, that we may
   the better digest the misery of the times; and love, that we may be of
   one mind, and stand together in the defence of the truth.

   Obs. 4. Again, note the aptness of the blessings to the persons for
   [36] whom he prayeth. Here are three blessings, that do more eminently
   and distinctly suit with every person of the Trinity; and I do the
   rather note it, because I find the apostle elsewhere distinguishing
   these blessings by their proper fountains; as Rom. i. 7, Grace to you,
   and peace from God the Father, and our Lord Jesus Christ.' Sort the
   blessings right; there is grace from the Father, and peace from Christ.
   So here is mercy from God the Father, who is called the Father of
   mercies, and the God of all comfort,' 2 Cor. i. 3; and peace from the
   Son, for he is our peace,' Eph. ii. 14; and love from the Spirit: Rom.
   v. 5 , The love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost,
   which is given to us.' Thus you see every person concurreth to our
   happiness with his distinct blessing.

   Obs. 5. In the next place, how aptly these blessings are suited among
   themselves: first mercy, then peace, and then love. Mercy doth not
   differ much from that which is called grace in Paul's epistles, only
   grace doth more respect the bounty of God, as mercy doth our want and
   need. By mercy, then, is meant the favour and good-will of God to
   miserable creatures; and peace signifieth all blessings inward and
   outward, as the fruits and effects of that favour and good-will; more
   especially calmness and serenity of conscience, or a secure enjoying of
   the love of God, which is the top of spiritual prosperity. And then
   love sometimes signifieth God's love to us; here I should rather take
   it for our love to God, and to the brethren for God's sake. So that
   mercy is the rise and spring of all, peace is the effect and fruit, and
   love is the return. He beginneth with mercy, for that is the fountain
   and beginning of all the good things which we enjoy: higher than love
   and mercy we cannot go, for God's love is the reason of itself, Deut.
   vii. 7, 8; Rom. ix. 15; Isa. xlv. 15, and we can deserve nothing at
   God's hands but wrath and misery; and therefore we should still honour
   mercy, and set the crown upon mercy's head (as further anon); that
   which you give to merit you take from mercy. Now the next thing is
   peace. Mark the order still; without mercy and grace there can be no
   true peace: Isa. lvii. 21, There is no peace, saith my God, to the
   wicked;' they say, Peace, peace,' but my God doth not say so. Christ
   left his peace with his own disciples, John xiv. 27, and not as worldly
   and external peace is left, in the happiness of which both good and bad
   are concerned; that is general, but this is proper, confined, within
   the conscience of him that enjoyeth it, and given to the godly. It is
   the Lord's method to pour in first the oil of grace,' and then the oil
   of gladness.' Alas! the peace of a wicked man it is but a frisk or fit
   of joy, whilst conscience, God's watchman, is napping; stolen waters
   and bread eaten in secret,' Prov. ix. 17. The way to true peace is to
   apply yourselves to God for mercy to be accepted in Christ, to be
   renewed according to the image of Christ; otherwise sin and guilt will
   create fears and troubles. Again, the last thing is love; great
   privileges require answerable duty. Mercy and peace need another grace,
   and that is love. It is God's gift as well as the rest; we have graces
   from God as well as privileges, and therefore he beggeth love as well
   as mercy and peace; but it must be our act, though we have the grace
   from above. We would all have mercy and peace, but we are not so
   zealous to have love kindled in our hearts. Mercy, peace, all this
   runneth downward, and respects our interest, but love, that mounteth
   upward, and respects God himself. Certainly they have no interest in
   mercy, and were never acquainted with true peace, that do not find
   their hearts inflamed with love to God and a zeal for his glory; that
   as he hath ordered all things for our profit, so we may order and refer
   all things to his glory and honour. Mercy runneth down from God, and
   begets peace of conscience, for peace of conscience is nothing else but
   a solid taste of God's mercy; and peace of conscience begets love, by
   which we clasp about God again; for love is nothing else but a
   reverberation or beating back of God's beam upon himself, or a return
   of duty in the sense of mercy; so that God is at the beginning and
   ending, and either way is the utmost boundary of the soul: [37] all
   things are from him and to him.

   Secondly, Let me handle them particularly and apart. And first, mercy,
   which is the rise and cause of all the good we have from God. The Lord
   would dispense blessings in such a way as might beat down despair and
   carnal confidence. Man hath need of mercy, but deserveth none. Despair
   would keep us from God, and carnal confidence robbeth him of his glory;
   therefore, as the Lord would not have flesh to glory, so neither to be
   cut off from all hope. Mercy salveth both; we need not fly the sight of
   God: there is mercy with him, why he should be feared, 7 Ps. cxxx. 4.
   False worships are supported by terror; but God, that hath the best
   title to the heart, will gain it by love and offers of mercy. And we
   have no reason to ascribe anything to ourselves, since mercy doth all
   in the court of heaven, and not justice. If you reckon upon a debt, you
   are sure to miss. It is a part of God's supremacy that all his
   blessings should come as a gift; that he should act freely, and
   entertain us as a king, not as an host. Merit taketh off something of
   his royalty and supreme majesty. Touching the mercy of God, give me
   leave to give you a few observations.

   1. It is the aim of the whole scripture to represent God merciful. [38]
   It is true, God is infinitely just, as well as infinitely merciful; but
   he delighteth in gracious discoveries of himself to the creature; he
   counteth it his glory. Moses was earnest with God to show him his
   glory, and then God proclaimeth his name: Exod. xxxiv. 5, 6, The Lord,
   the Lord, merciful and gracious, long-suffering, and abundant in
   goodness and truth, keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity,
   transgression, and sin,' &c. In this description there is more spoken
   of his mercy than of his justice; and, first, his mercy is described,
   and then his justice; for justice is only added to invite men to take
   hold of his mercy, and to show that justice is never exercised but in
   avenging the quarrel of abused mercy. So he is called a God of pardon,'
   Neh. ix. 17, as if wholly made up of sweetness. So 2 Cor. i. 3, he is
   called pate`r oikti'rmom, Father of mercies, and God of all
   consolations.' He is a just God, but he is not called the Father of
   justice. Mercy is natural to him; he counteth it as the proper fruit
   and product of the divine essence.

   2. Mercy is represented as his delight and pleasure: so Micah vii. 18,
   Mercy pleaseth him.' It is an act exercised with complacency. Judgment
   is called his strange work,' Isa. xxviii. 21. God loveth to bless and
   protect; to destroy is not suitable to his disposition; it is a thing
   that he is forced to. Punitive acts in the representations of the word
   are most against his bowels, drawn and extorted from him; [39] as Jer.
   xliv. 22, The Lord could no longer bear because of your doings: their
   sins were so clamorous that they would not let God be quiet; he would
   bear no longer, unless they would make an idol of him. But now all acts
   of grace and favour are exercised with delight: I will rejoice over
   them to do them good,' Jer. xxxii. 41. It is as pleasing to God to do
   it as it is to us to receive it. The scripture, after the manner of
   men, doth often represent a conflict in the attributes about sinners;
   and if mercy get the upper hand, it is always with joy and triumph:
   James ii. 13, Mercy rejoiceth over judgment;' but if he be compelled to
   strike, and justice must be exercised, the scriptures represent a
   reluctation in his bowels: Lam. iii. 33, He doth not afflict willingly,
   nor grieve the children of men;' in the original, from his heart;' but
   is like a father, with a rod in his hand, and tears in his eyes.

   3. The scripture representeth God as exercising mercy, though with some
   present disadvantage to his glory; as mercy to the Ninevites, though
   the credit of his message lay at stake: Nineveh shall be destroyed in
   forty days;' yet God spared it, and therefore Jonah, in a pet,
   challengeth him for it: Jonah iv. 2, Lord, was not this my saying when
   I was in my country? for I knew that thou wert a gracious God.' As if
   he said, I knew it would come to this; that the prophets of Israel
   should be disgraced before the men of Nineveh; and to threaten
   judgments in his name is to expose ourselves to derision. When we have
   done our errand, free grace will make us all liars. To this effect did
   he expostulate with God. God might easily destroy sinners with much
   honour to himself; but he is long-suffering, even then when his
   patience for a while seemeth to impair the revenues of heaven. The
   world suspects his being, the saints quarrel his justice and question
   his love, and all because the wicked are prosperous, and God keepeth
   silence. The great stumbling-block at which most have dashed the foot
   of their faith, is the suspension of due judgments. What was the
   effects of his patience to them of Assyria and Babylon? The Lord
   himself telleth you, Isa. lii. 5, My name every day is blasphemed.'
   That was all he got by it: his people suffered in person, and God
   himself in his reputation; all that he got was blasphemies, and
   reproaches, and injuries: so Ps. 1. 21, I kept silence, and thou
   thoughtest that I was every way like thyself;' that was the
   effect--gross conceits of his glory and essence. When judgments are
   quick and speedy, the world is under greater awe, the confidence of the
   saints is strengthened and supported, and God's honour is more clear
   and un stained; yet, with all these disadvantages to his glory, if we
   may speak so, God forbeareth. Certainly his heart is much set upon the
   honour of his mercy, that God will glorify it though other attributes
   seem to suffer loss.

   4. The scriptures speak much of his readiness to receive returning
   sinners. Though they have done infinite wrong to his holiness, yet upon
   repentance, and as soon as they begin to submit, mercy embraceth and
   huggeth them, as if there had been no breach: Luke xv. 20, I will go to
   my father,' and the father ran to meet him.' So Isa. lxv. 24, Before
   they call,' &c. So Ps. xxxii. 5.'1 said, and thou forgavest,' &c. So
   Jer. xxxi. 18, with 20, I have heard Ephraim be moaning himself,' &c.;
   and presently, O my dear and pleasant child!' The first relentings of
   the creature work upon the bowels of mercy. Love's pace is very swift,
   it runneth to meet a returning sinner. Christ cometh skipping over the
   mountains,' Cant. ii. 8. He thinketh that he can never be soon enough
   with us. He would fain have the company of sinners, and therefore
   meeteth them more than half-way. When we but conceive a purpose, we
   presently receive the fruit of his early mercies.

   5. God doth not only admit them to come, but of his own accord inviteth
   them that are slack and backward. The scriptures do every where record
   the intreaties of God: he draweth us with cords of love; cords that are
   woven and spun out of Christ's heart and bowels. In one place thus,
   Cant. iv. 8, Come away from Lebanon, my sister, my spouse, from the
   lions' dens, from the mountains of leopards.' Christ's love is hot and
   burning, he thinketh we tarry too long from his embraces. So Cant. v.
   2, Open to me, my sister, my spouse,' &c. Christ stands begging for
   entrance. Lost man! do but suffer me to save thee; poor sinner! suffer
   me to love thee. These are the charms of gospel rhetoric. So Isa.
   xlix., Hearken to me, and attend to the words of my mouth,' &c. O
   sinners! you will not hearken to me for the good of your souls! You see
   none singeth so sweetly as the bird of paradise, the turtle that
   chirpeth upon the church's hedges, that he may cluck sinners to
   himself. The scripture is full of such a holy witchcraft, such
   passionate charms, to entice souls to their happiness.

   6. They that constantly refuse the offers of his grace are borne with
   for a long time: Rom. ix. 22, polle` makrothumi'a, He endured with much
   long-suffering,' &c. All may bless God for patience; they owe a heavy
   debt to divine justice, yet it is a long time ere God putteth the bond
   in suit; though they dare him to his face, yet they walk up and down
   without the arrest of vengeance. He beareth with them years and years,
   after a thousand and a thousand affronts, from their cradles to their
   graves. When they were green wood, they were fuel fit enough for divine
   wrath. Oh! consider, there can be no cause of this but his mercy to his
   worst creatures. It is not out of any delight in sin, for he is holy,
   and cannot endure to look upon it: Hab. i. 13, Of purer eyes,' &c. It
   is not out of any stupid neglect; he is just, and will not clear the
   guilty,' Exod. xxxiv. 7. It is not out of any ignorance; he telleth man
   his thoughts;' nor for want of power; so men forbear. The sons of
   Zeruiah may be too hard for them; but, 1 Sam. xxiv. 19, If a man
   findeth his enemy, will he let him go well away?' When they are in our
   power, we satisfy our wrath and revenge to the full. But now God
   upholdeth all things by the word of his power;' he can in a minute
   speak us into nothing. As the impression of a seal upon the water
   dependeth upon the seal, if the seal be taken away the impression
   vanisheth; so do our beings depend upon providential influence and
   supportation. If God should withdraw the word of his power, we should
   soon vanish and disappear; therefore it is not for want of power, but
   merely out of mercy that we are forborne. How may we wonder at this! We
   are of eager and tart spirits, sharp-set upon revenge. Could we have
   put up so many refusals of love, such despites done to mercy, such
   wrongs, such grievings of spirit, and yet have contained? The disciples
   themselves, though holy men, when they were sensible of being slighted
   in the village of Samaria, called for fire from heaven,' Luke ix. 54.
   Certainly we could not endure such a contradiction of sinners. If
   thunderbolts were in our power we should soon kindle a burning, and
   turn the world into smoke and desolation.

   7. It is not only the aim of the word, but of providence, and of all
   the dispensations of God to the creature, to represent him merciful.
   The whole world is a great volume, written within and without with
   characters and lines of mercy: Ps. cxlv. 9, His mercy is over all his
   works.' Every creature beareth the marks and prints of divine goodness
   and bounty. Once more, the world is a great theatre and stage whereon
   mercy has been acting its part for these six thousand years. Justice is
   to have a solemn triumph at the last day. Now and then God hath kept a
   petty sessions, and given us occasion to say, Yerily there is a God
   that judgeth the world,' as well as preserveth the world. But the
   greatest part that hath been acted upon the theatre of the world is
   mercy; as you will easily see, if you consider--(1.) The black lines of
   providence. If God threaten, it is that he may not punish; if he
   punish, it is that he may not punish for ever. In the sadder
   providences, though there be misery at the top, yet there is mercy at
   the bottom. Many times God threateneth, but it is to reclaim; though he
   doth not change his counsel, yet he doth often change his sentence,
   [40] Jer. xviii. 7, 8: when the message is nothing but plucking up and
   pulling down, free grace cometh in with a sudden rescue, and prevents
   the execution. Mercy, you see, is forced to use all methods, and to
   speak in the language of justice, that men may be more capable to
   receive it. Sometimes God punisheth, but with what aim? That he may not
   for ever punish. It is we that make punishment to be a pledge of
   eternal damnation; in its own aim it is a prevention, and so it proveth
   to the elect: We are judged of the Lord, that we may not be condemned
   with the world,' 1 Cor. xi. 32. So Hosea ii. 6, I will hedge up her way
   with thorns,' &c. We should soon grow worldly, and drowned in carnal
   business and projects, if God did not come now and then and blast our
   enterprises, and make us see our folly. We are puffed up, and God
   pricketh the bladder, 2 Cor, xii. 7. How sweet is this, when in the
   midst of judgment God remembereth mercy!' Yea, the very executions of
   justice are found to be one of the methods of mercy. In the middle of
   the first curse God dropped out a promise of the blessed seed; so often
   mercy overtaketh a judgment, and maketh it cease in the midway. Look,
   as there was a conflict between the twins in Tamar's womb, Zarah did
   put out the hand, but Pharez broke out first; so is there between God's
   mercy and justice: justice puts out the hand in a threatening, or some
   beginnings of a judgment, but mercy gets the start and breaketh out
   first. (2.) Consider the white lines of providence. He entreateth that
   he may do us good, and doth us good that he may do us good for ever.
   For his entreaties: It is not duty so much that is in the bottom of the
   exhortation as mercy. To glorify mercy is the last aim of God and his
   eternal purpose: He hath accepted us in the beloved, to the praise of
   his glorious grace,' Eph. i. 6. God receiveth no profit; he entreateth
   us not that he may be happy, but that he may be liberal. See Prov. ix.
   12, If thou be wise, thou shalt be wise for thyself; but if thou
   scornest, thou alone shalt bear it.' God dealeth with us as earnestly,
   as effectually, as if the profit were his own, but it wholly redoundeth
   to us. Again, he doth us good that he may do us good for ever. He
   trusteth us with mammon to prepare us for the true riches, Luke xvi.
   11, and with the riches of grace to prepare us for glory. Look, as men,
   when they would put precious liquor into a vessel, first try it with
   water to see whether it leaketh or no, so doth God try us with common
   mercies; he giveth us an estate in the world, that, being moved with
   his goodness, we may look after an estate in the covenant and an
   interest in Christ, and so fit us for heaven. It is our wretchedness to
   make our table a snare and our welfare a trap. As the sea turneth all
   that it receiveth into salt water, the fresh streams, the influences of
   the heavens, &c., so do carnal men assimilate and corrupt their
   comforts, and by little and little all their blessings are cursed; for
   mercy can bear anything but a constant abuse and neglect of itself.
   Certainly God's revealed will is otherwise; that which cometh from God
   should lead us to God. See Rom. ii. 4, 5.

   8. Consider in how many notions mercy is represented to us. God's mercy
   hath many names; a distinct consideration of them yieldeth an advantage
   in believing; for though they express the same thing, yet every notion
   begetteth a fresh thought, by which mercy is more taken abroad in the
   view of conscience. This is that pouring out of God's name,' spoken of
   Cant. i. 3. Ointment in the box doth not yield such a fragrancy as when
   it is poured out, and spices do not give forth their smell till they
   are chafed. Nothing is more conducible to beget a trust than distinct
   thoughts and conceptions of God's mercy. Let us take notice of some
   places where it is set forth. See Ps. ciii. 8, The Lord is merciful and
   gracious, slow to anger, and plenteous in mercy.' The expression is
   diversified, and I note it the rather, because in other places the same
   notions of mercy are punctually expressed: see Neh. ix. 17; so Ps.
   cxlv. 8, and in divers other places: Joel ii. 12; Jonah iv. 2; chiefly
   see that Exod. xxxiv. 7, and you will find that this is the very
   description which God hath given of himself. Now what doth the Spirit
   of God aim at in this express enumeration and accumulation of names of
   mercy, but to give us a help in meditation, and that our thoughts may
   be more distinct? (1.) The first notion is mercy, which is an attribute
   whereby God inclineth to succour them that are in misery. It is an
   attribute that merely respecteth the creature. The love and knowledge
   of God first falleth upon himself, but mercy is only transient, and
   passeth out to the creatures. God knoweth himself, loveth himself, but
   he is not merciful to himself. And then it respecteth the creatures in
   misery; for misery is mercy's only motive; justice seeketh a fit
   object, but mercy a fit occasion; justice requireth desert, but mercy
   only want and need. (2.) The next notion is grace, which noteth the
   free bounty of God, and excludeth all merit of the creature. Grace doth
   all gratis, freely.' Rom. iii. 24, though there be no precedent,
   obligation, or debt, or hope of recompense, whereby anything may accrue
   to himself; only that it may be well with the creature. God's external
   motive is our misery, his internal motive is his own grace and elective
   love. Am I in want? there is mercy; am I unworthy? there is grace.
   Mercy respects us as we are in ourselves worthy of condemnation, grace
   as compared with others not elected. The ultimate reason of the choice
   is God's grace. The angels that never sinned are saved merely out of
   grace, but men that were once miserable are saved not only out of
   grace, but also out of mercy. (3.) The next notion is long-suffering,
   or slowness to anger. The Lord is not easily overcome by the wrongs or
   sins of the creature, but easily overcometh them by his own patience
   and goodness. He doth not only pity our misery, that is mercy; and do
   us good for nothing, that is grace; but beareth long with our
   infirmities. Alas! if God were as short and swift in the executions of
   revenge as men are, God must create another world to raise up seed to
   Christ. [41] If he did not wait upon sinners, there would be none made
   saints. We provoked him to cut us off long since, but wrath is not
   easily heightened into rage, and therefore he waiteth that he may be
   gracious,' Isa. xxx. 18. (4.) Kindness or bounty, plenteous in
   goodness,' berab chesid. God's communications of his grace to the
   creature are every way rich and full. You may say, God is merciful,
   gracious, patient, but will he be thus to me? Yes, he is plenteous in
   goodness,' kind and communicative: Ps. cxix. 68, Thou art good, and
   dost good;' therefore David goeth to him for grace. Well, then, study
   God's name, and answer all your discouragements out of the descriptions
   of his mercy.

   9. Consider your own experiences. We have not only heard that God is
   merciful, [42] but we have known it. All men may speak of patience, and
   common mercy, and outward deliverances, but few improve them to a
   spiritual use and purpose. (1.) Consider God's patience; how long hath
   he waited for your conversion? and he that hath spared you can save
   you. It is said, The wages of sin is death.' Rom. vi. 23. The word
   implieth that God is bound to pay it by virtue of an implicit bargain
   and agreement between him and the creature. But as yet the hand of God
   hath not found you out; you are indebted to justice, but mercy stoppeth
   the arrest of vengeance. Many others have been taken away in their sins
   by a sudden arrow and dart from heaven; vengeance hath trodden upon the
   heel of sin; as Zimri and Cosbi unloaded their lusts and their lives
   together; the angels for an aspiring thought were turned out of heaven;
   Gehazi was blasted with leprosy just upon his lie; and Lot's wife
   turned into a stone for a look, a glance upon Sodom; and Herod smitten
   with lice in the midst of his pomp and vainglory: and some have
   perished in the midway,' Ps. ii., in the very heat of some carnal and
   wicked pursuit. God can do the like to you; therefore reason thus: If
   mercy would not save me, why hath mercy spared me? God might have sued
   out the bond long since; what is the meaning of the dispensation? Is
   God weak or unjust? or hath he a mind to be gracious? Surely he would
   not have spared me all this while, if he had not a mind to save my
   soul. Such reasonings as these many times give us the first
   encouragement to apply ourselves to God. Wicked men, like spiders, draw
   other conclusions, Ps. l. 21. But should not his patience, &c., Rom.
   ii. 4. (2.) Consider God's goodness in giving thee food, and clothing,
   and honour, and gladness of heart, and all this without thy desert.
   Say, Certainly all these benefits are but so many baits to catch my
   soul. I see the sun riseth every day with a fresh countenance, and
   shineth upon the fields of just and unjust; to what purpose, but to
   show that God is gracious without hire? This bodily sun is but an
   obscure type of the Sun of Righteousness, that is willing to display
   his beams and wings over a poor languishing soul. Common mercies are
   the tastes of God's love while you are sinners, and the common fruits
   of Christ's death, that you may be invited to come for more. Why hath
   he given me the unrighteous mammon,' but that I may look after the true
   riches'? What a vile unthankful heart should I have, if I should be
   contented with mammon without Christ, and be like Judas, with the bag
   in my hand, and the devil in my heart! God's children are wont to make
   these gifts a step to higher dispensations: they know God, like the
   good householder, bringeth forth the best at last; therefore they must
   have something above and beyond all these things. Common hearts are
   contented with common mercies; but they are still waiting when the
   master of the feast will bid them sit higher. I may have this and be
   damned; where are the arguments of his special love? (3.) Consider
   deliverances from imminent dangers. Then the curse began to seize upon
   you; but God-snatched you out of the fire like brands out of the
   burning,' Amos iv. 11; or like a debtor that escapeth out of the
   sergeant's hands. Every deliverance is a temporary pardon: see Ps.
   lxviii. 38, Then he, being full of compassion, forgave their iniquity,
   and destroyed them not;' the meaning is, respited vengeance, as
   appeareth by the context. So Mat. xviii. 32, He forgave them the debt;'
   yet it was after required; the meaning is, spared them for the present.
   Thus when God taketh you out of the teeth and jaws of wrath, when you
   are delivered out of sickness and apparent danger, you have a reprieve
   or a temporary pardon. Oh! if you had died, you had died in your sins,
   and so been eternally miserable: if the Lord had taken the present
   advantage, you had been howling a sad note among the screech-owls of
   darkness. For ever blessed be that mercy that made a rescue!

   10. Consider God's invitations. Mercy pointeth and beckoneth to thee to
   come and be saved. How many means hath God used to call thee to
   himself! Every good motion is a call, every preacher a messenger sent
   from heaven to invite thee to Christ, every sermon a new summons. Plead
   with thyself, Though God hath not drawn me, yet he hath warned me. The
   elect have no more favour in the general means than thou hast. Though
   God's grace be limited by the pleasure of his wisdom, yet thou hast a
   fair warrant and encouragement, and every way as good a ground to come
   to Christ as others have: Whosoever,' &c., John vi. 37. When the gospel
   doth not exclude me, why should I exclude myself? Doubts that God will
   not accept me if I come, are but foolish jealousies without a cause.
   But it is time to leave off this meditation upon God's mercy, which
   hath carried me out so far, and to come to the uses.

   Use 1. It informeth us that those that would apply themselves to God
   must make mercy their only plea and claim. Returning sinners have this
   form put into their mouths, Hosea xiv. 2, Take away all iniquity,
   receive us graciously,' Lord, we desire to be entertained by mercy, to
   have our suits dispatched by mercy. So David professeth that he had no
   other claim: Ps. xiii. 5, I have trusted in thy mercy.' Upon which
   Chrysostom [43] sweetly glosseth: If any others have any thing to
   allege, let them plead it; Lord, I have but one thing to say, one thing
   to plead, one thing upon which I cast all my hopes, and that is thy
   mercy. So must you come to the throne of grace: Lord, my plea is mercy,
   all the comfort I expect to receive is from mercy. The apostle, I
   remember, maketh a challenge: Rom. xi. 35, Who hath first given him,
   and it shall be recompensed to him again?' Is there any man that can
   enter this plea, This is due to me? Lord, give me what thou owest, I
   desire no more; let me have no blessing till I do deserve it.
   Merit-mongers [44] are best confuted by experience. Let them use the
   same plea in their prayers which they do in their disputes; let them
   say, Give me not eternal life till I deserve it at thy hand; let them
   dispute thus with God or with their own consciences, when they are in
   the agonies of death, or under the horrors of the Lord's wrath. Surely
   men that cry up the merit of works are men of little spiritual
   experience, and seldom look into their own consciences. Dare they plead
   thus with God in their agonies and horrors? The best claim God's
   dearest servants can make is mercy. Possidius, in the life of Austin,
   reporteth of Ambrose, when he was about to die, he said thus, Though I
   have not lived so that I should be ashamed to live among you, yet I am
   not afraid to die; not that I have lived well, but because I have a
   good and gracious Master. [45] This hath still been the ground of the
   saints' confidence.

   Use 2. It exhorteth us to use this encouragement to bring our souls
   into the presence of God. Think of the mercies of God; the vile abuse
   of this doctrine hath brought a suspicion and prejudice upon it: but
   children must not refuse their bread because dogs catch at it. When
   Benhadad was dejected, and in danger not only of losing his kingdom but
   his life, his servants comforted him with this fame, 1 Kings xx. 31, We
   have heard that the kings of Israel are merciful kings.' You have heard
   how the God of Israel delighteth in mercy. When you come for mercy, you
   speak to his very bowels. You shall read in 2 Sam. xiv. 1, that when
   Joab perceived the king's heart was to Absalom,' then he setteth the
   woman of Tekoah a-begging. The king's heart is to show mercy; he hath
   sworn that he hath no pleasure in thy destruction, Ezek. xviii. 32;
   therefore take courage and come to him. He hath sent Christ to you as a
   pledge of his good will and mercy; why will you not come to him? He
   that had love enough to give us Christ, hath bowels enough to give us
   pardon, and bounty enough to give us heaven, and whatever we stand in
   need of. Fear not his justice; justice and mercy are made friends, Rom.
   iii. 25, 26, and 1 John i. 9. Christ hath taken up the quarrel between
   them; so that nothing hindereth but that God may act according to the
   natural inclination of his own grace. And let not the multitude of your
   sins discourage you: The free gift is of many offences to
   justification.' Rom. v. 16. Take it for the offences of many persons,
   as the context seemeth to carry it, and it is an encouragement to think
   of the multiplied instances of mercy, and how many monuments of free
   grace we shall see when we come to heaven, and that all this while
   mercy is not tired. Or take it for the many offences of the same
   person, and still it is an encouragement that mercy can so often bear
   with our vanity and folly, and not only pardon several sorts of sin,
   but frequent relapses into the same sin. He will multiply to pardon,'
   Isa. lv. 7. If the soul still draw back, and be under discouragement,
   consider your own need. If the Lord were never so tenacious and hard to
   be entreated, yet such is your need that you should follow him with
   incessant complaints. It is blasphemy to wrong his mercy by lessening
   thoughts. But grant the sinner his supposition, yet you should be
   instant, and try what he will do for importunity's sake. See Luke xi.
   8, dia te` anaidei'an, and Luke xviii. 5, i'na me` upopia'ze me`, &c.
   In those parables there is a kind of condescension and yielding to our
   unbelief; as if the Lord had said, If you will not believe all this
   that is said concerning my mercy, yet your want is great; that is
   enough to make you earnest and frequent in your addresses to me; come
   and see what I will do for your importunity; the unjust judge was moved
   with the widow's clamour: be it as you imagine, that I have no bowels
   for creatures' miseries, nor ears for their requests, which yet is a
   blasphemy confuted by every object in the world; the young ravens will
   tell you otherwise, Job xxxviii. 41; Mat. vi. 26; Luke xii. 24; but be
   it so; you are undone if I be not merciful; see what I will do for
   constant asking. Upon all these encouragements be persuaded to make an
   essay: faith at first standeth but upon one weak foot. Who knoweth but
   that God will be gracious?' Jonah iii. 9; Joel ii. 14. There is
   encouragement enough to venture, though we do not know what will come
   of it. Take up a resolution to make trial; you will find better welcome
   than you can expect. God desires to exercise mercy as much as you
   desire to feel it.

   Use 3. It presseth us in all our enjoyments to acknowledge mercy. The
   saints are wont to do so, Eph. ii. 4; 1 Tim. i. 13; Gen. xxxii. 10;
   Phil. ii. 27. It is good to refer all things to their head and proper
   fountain. Everything that we enjoy is the fruit of mercy, especially
   saving grace. It is a sure sign a man hath received no benefit by grace
   if his heart be not stirred up to praise it. We have cause to praise
   God for his mercy above the angels. I mean, not only the bad angels,
   with whom God entered not into a treaty; he dealt with them in justice
   and not in mercy; but even the good angels; in some respects we have
   more cause to bless God than they have. Gratitude respecteth the
   freeness and graciousness in giving, rather than the greatness of the
   benefit. God was bountiful to the angels in making them such excellent
   creatures out of nothing; but he is merciful to us, notwithstanding the
   demerit of our sins. There was no let in his doing good to the angels;
   goodness floweth out freely from a holy God to righteous creatures: but
   wronged justice interposed, and put in a bar against us: so that his
   justice must be satisfied before mercy can have a free course. We are a
   generation of sinful men, the wretched offspring of fallen Adam: we had
   forsaken God, and cast him off, which the angels had not; and
   therefore, though they have a large experience of God's goodness, yet
   they wonder at the grace showed to us, 1 Peter i. 12. But now much more
   is this mercy to be acknowledged if we consider the difference between
   us and other men, who, it may be, excelled us in moral accomplishments;
   but God hath passed them by, choosing us poor things of nought, poor
   base creatures, that the glory might entirely redound to his own grace.
   But especially should this mercy affect us. when it hath made a
   distinction between us and others that were involved in the same guilt;
   when one is taken and another left;' as the bad thief went to his own
   place, when the good thief was taken to paradise; and many of God's
   elect were as deep in sin as those in hell. I say, in all such cases we
   should still be crying out Mercy, mercy; for certainly justice could
   make no such distinction; it awardeth a like punishment to all that are
   found in a like crime; but God's infinite and eternal mercy only maketh
   the difference.

   Use 4. It is caution. Do not wrong grace and mercy, if it be the cause
   of all the good which we enjoy. This is to close up the fountain, and
   to make mercy our enemy; and if mercy be our enemy, who shall plead for
   us? If mercy be an accuser, where shall we get an advocate? But how do
   we wrong grace? I answer--Partly by neglecting the offers of it, when
   you make God speak in vain, 2 Cor. vi. 2. It is a great affront we put
   upon God, to despise him when he speaketh to us in the still voice, and
   all the wooings and pleadings of mercy do not move to look after our
   salvation; though you do not despise, there is danger in bare neglect,
   Heb. ii. 3. [46] When all the charms of mercy do no more work with you
   than a story of golden mountains, or rubies and diamonds fallen from
   heaven in a night dream, this neglect argueth a greater suspicion and
   distrust of God's mercy than doubts and troubles of conscience do.
   Mercy speaketh to them, and they do not think the message worth the
   hearing or regarding. Again, you wrong grace by refusing it out of
   legal dejection, for by this means you straiten the riches, and darken
   the glory of it; as if there were not more in grace than there is in
   sin, or as if an emperor's revenue could not discharge a beggar's debt.
   The prodigal could say, there was bread enough in his father's house.'
   If we perish, it is not for want of mercy, but for want of faith. Grace
   is God's treasure; he is rich in mercy,' Eph. ii. 4. As far as we
   straiten grace, we make him a poorer God. Again, we wrong grace and
   mercy by intercepting the glory of it. It is the greatest sacrilege
   that can be to rob God of his glory, especially of the glory of his
   grace;' for that is his great aim in all his transactions with man, to
   make his grace and mercy glorious; see Eph. i. 6. Now when you think
   God accepteth you rather than others for some worth and good qualities
   that he seeth in you more than others, it may be in this light of the
   gospel which we now enjoy such thoughts are not expressed, but if they
   lurk secretly in the heart, you think God foresaw you would bring him
   more glory, Deut. ix. 4; you take the crown from grace's head, and put
   it upon your own. So also you wrong grace when you ascribe anything to
   your power and strength. As Joab sent for David to take the honour of
   winning Rabbah: 2 Sam. xii. 28, Lest I take the city, and it be called
   after my own name;' so send for God to take the honour: Not I, but
   grace,' 1 Cor. xv. 10. Throw the crown at grace's feet. The industrious
   servant said, Thy pound hath gained ten pounds,' Luke xix. 16; not my
   industry, but thy pound. Once more, we wrong grace by turning it into
   wantonness; see ver. 4. It is made there to be a heavy charge and black
   note when men presume on grace, and use it only as a dung-cart to carry
   away their filth. Grace must bear all, and pardon all; as riotous
   children that have a rich father care not how they spend; his estate
   shall pay for all. It is a mighty wrong to grace this, when you make it
   pliable to such vile purposes, and father the bastards of your own
   carnal hearts upon gospel encouragements. It is the devil's covenant,
   not God's, when you think that you may live as you list, be at your own
   dispose, and mercy shall be at your beck, and you shall have comfort
   when you please; and that you may sin freely because God pardoneth
   freely, as if mercy gave you a privilege and liberty to sin. In short,
   if a man slacken any part of his duty for mercy's sake, or lets loose
   the reins to vile affections with more freedom, upon the presumption
   that God will not be rigorous, he wrongeth grace exceedingly. I say, if
   he grow more careless, secure, negligent, not so constant in duty, not
   so watchful and strict in conversation, or abateth aught of his
   humiliation for sin, he is a spider that sucketh poison out of this
   flower. Lastly, we wrong grace by slighting it after a taste. At first
   coming to Christ we make an essay and trial, and usually then God
   giveth us a taste to engage us to look for more, 1 Peter ii. 3; Heb.
   vi. 4-6. Now after trial you are not satisfied, but return to your
   sinful courses again, and so do, as it were, proclaim to the world that
   you found carnal comforts and pleasures to be better than communion
   with God. This is but the interpretation of your apostasy. The whole
   aim of the word is to persuade us to make trial of the sweetness of
   grace. Now you that have once tasted of it, and grow weary, do by your
   practice tell the world that there is no sweetness in it at all, which
   is a great wrong to grace and mercy.

   It is high time now to speak of the second thing prayed for, which is
   peace; whence observe that peace is a great blessing, one of the main
   privileges of the gospel.

   I shall, first, Show you what it is; secondly, Give you some obser
   vations concerning it; and thirdly, Come to application.

   1. What it is. It is a tranquillity of mind arising from the sense of a
   sure estate with God. To this peace two things concur. First, a sure
   estate, or terms of amity with God. This is called in scripture peace
   with God,' and is the immediate effect and fruit of actual
   justification, Rom. v. 1. And then, secondly, there is a sense of this
   sure estate, or the reflex of this amity upon the conscience, and is
   usually called peace of conscience,' and is a special privilege of
   Christ's spiritual kingdom. See Rom. xiv. 17; the apostle speaketh
   there of a peace,' which is ranked with joy in the Holy Ghost.' But it
   will be better opened to you in the ensuing propositions.

   [1.] Man by nature is at enmity with God, and upon ill terms with him.
   When we lost God's image, we lost his favour. This enmity is mutual;
   man is an enemy to God, and God is an enemy to man. On God's part there
   is wrath, which is all that we are born to by nature, Eph. ii. 3; and
   on man's part there is hatred; we hate God because we love sin, Col. i.
   21. God's enmity is suspended in the day of his patience. Now and then
   wrath breaketh out, but it is not executed to the full; sentence is
   passed, but not executed. Nay, it may be reversed if we take sanctuary
   at grace; for God is now upon a treaty with us, or offer of peace;
   therefore it is said peace on earth,' Luke ii. 14. The next world is a
   time of vengeance and recompense; but during our earthly state God
   wooeth us and inviteth us to lay down the weapons of our defiance, and
   accept of terms of peace. Thus matters stand on God's part. But now on
   our part this enmity is carried on with a great deal of spite. We seek
   to destroy God, and to deface all the memorials of him that are
   impressed upon the conscience; we ungod him in our thoughts and
   affections. It is a pleasing thought to us to suppose if there were no
   God, as guilty prisoners wish there were no judge, no assizes, that
   they may not be called to account.

   [2.] Man being at enmity with God, all God's creatures are at enmity
   with him. Angels, men, fire, air, water, they are all at God's beck,
   and are ready to destroy man whenever the Lord biddeth them; as good
   subjects take part with their prince against rebels. The angels hearken
   for the voice of his word,' Ps. ciii. If he do but hiss for the fly of
   Egypt,' Isa. vii. 18, it is ready presently. It is ill contesting with
   him that can command legions. The fire saith, Let me burn his house or
   dwelling-place; the water saith, Let me drown his ships; the earth, Let
   me swallow him up quick, as I did Korah and his accomplices. Certainly
   the Lord cannot want instruments of vengeance. Man as God's creature is
   his own enemy. God needeth not fetch forces from without, there is
   enough within; the humours of the body, the passions of the mind, all
   these are willing to serve God as creatures for our punishment; so that
   if God should but arm our own thoughts, our own affections against us,
   man is soon overwhelmed. Who can bear the wounds given him by his own
   conscience?

   [3.] We, being in this estate, can only be reconciled by Jesus Christ.
   He obtaineth it by his merit, and conferreth it by his power. For his
   merit, see Col. i. 20, and Isa. liii. 5, The chastisement of our peace
   was upon him.' It will not stand with the majesty of God to make peace
   with us without satisfaction. That there might be no wrong done to his
   sovereignty, his law, his truth, his justice, his holiness, it was meet
   that we should be chastised either in our own persons or in our surety;
   and also all the notions of the Godhead are kept inviolable. Then for
   his power: He worketh it at first, and then maintaineth and keepeth it
   afoot between God and us. He worketh it at first, and bringeth it about
   thus, by opening the gospel, wherein God is revealed as pacified in
   Christ; which is the only doctrine that can calm the conscience, and
   establish the soul in peace and hope. All false religions are
   accompanied with scruples and jealousies: Jer. vi. 16, there is no rest
   for the soul.' And then he applieth the gospel by his Spirit. The
   gospel is a sovereign plaster, but Christ's own hand must make it
   stick. There is a double ground of enmity in man's heart--the guilt and
   power of sin. Christ wipeth guilt out of the conscience by the
   application of his own blood, and weakeneth the power of sin more and
   more. Sin is the makebate, and Christ is the Prince of peace,' Isa. ix.
   6. The great end for which God set him up, was to plant grace in our
   hearts, and so to work a friendship between God and us. But Christ is
   not only the author, but the great conservator of the peace between us
   and heaven. Partly by his intercession: as foreign states have their
   agents in princes' courts to preserve a mutual correspondence, so
   Christ taketh up all differences that fall out between us and God, that
   no breach may ensue, Heb. ix. 24. Partly by a further declaration of
   God's love to the conscience, Isa. xxvi. 3. Partly by stirring us up to
   watchfulness, that no occasion may be given on our part by returning to
   folly,' Ps. lxxxv. 8. Thus you see what Christ doth: all is briefly
   summed up by the apostle in 2 Cor. v. 19, God was in Christ reconciling
   the world.' Where note, that our peace with God is a reconciliation or
   a peace after a breach, and this reconciliation is mutual. God
   appeareth in a form of grace and mercy to us, and we lay down our
   enmity against God; he is gracious to us, and we love and serve him.
   Only observe, that God beginneth first, though he be the wronged party;
   he was reconciling.' And mark again, it is in Christ' to show it is
   sure. Those that are reconciled to men are still in umbrage and
   suspicion with them; they that have once been enemies, they may be
   again; therefore they do not return to perfect grace; [47] when the
   wound is cured, the scars remain. But our reconciliation with God, it
   is like the soldering of a vessel, which is strongest in the crack; or
   as a leg broken, if well set, it is the stronger; so are we upon firmer
   terms than we were in innocency; there was a possibility of being at
   odds with God, which is now taken away.

   [4.] God being reconciled in Christ, all things else are at peace with
   us, tranquillus Deus tranquillat omnia. For his league with us is
   offensive and defensive: My horses are as thy horses, and my chariots
   as thy chariots.' God and all his confederates are in the league, or
   rather God and all his subjects, as a prince doth not only contract for
   his person, but his subjects and estates. Angels are at peace with us;
   instead of being instruments of vengeance, they become ministering
   spirits,' Heb. i. 14. A Christian hath an invisible guard; Satan is
   sensible of it, though we be not; he saith of Job, Thou hast hedged him
   round about.' God's heirs are well attended; angels wait upon them at
   Christ's direction. Other creatures serve us, as if they were in league
   and covenant with us; stars, winds, seas, beasts: Job v. 23, Thou shalt
   be in league with the stones of the field, and the beasts shall be at
   peace with thee.' They are included in God's league, which is as much
   as if there were an express covenant between us and them that they
   shall not do us harm: they are at the beck of providence, and
   therefore, so far as it conduceth to our good, at our service. So Hosea
   ii. 18, I will make a covenant for them with the beasts of the field,
   and the fowls of the heaven,' &c. So for men; they are wolves one to
   another, yet God can change them. The gospel civiliseth, and pulleth
   the beast out of men's bosoms where it worketh least, [48] see Isa. xi.
   7-9. The hearts of men are in God's hands; he can either destroy their
   persons, or restrain their rage, or turn out their respects to you:
   When a man's ways please the Lord, he maketh his enemies to be at peace
   with him,' Prov. xvi. 7. We think to carry all by force and violence
   many times, but obedience to God is the best way to gain the respects
   of men, as a key openeth a door sooner than an iron bar. If you be in
   with God, you stop enmity and strife at the fountainhead. So for peace
   with the saints; Jesus Christ breaketh down the partition wall, Eph.
   ii. 16-18, removeth prejudices and jealousies, changeth interests,
   cleareth up truths, and by his Spirit meekeneth their hearts that they
   may be at one. Surely his blood is the best cement and bond of
   friendship. [49] Christ hath called us into a body, that there might be
   peace in the church, Col. iii. 15. Brothers have defaced the feelings
   of nature, but fellow-members are wont to care one for another. Peace
   with fellow-saints was his dying charge, his legacy, John xiv. 27, his
   prayer, John xvii., and his constant care now he is in heaven. Then for
   peace with ourselves. Sin rendeth and teareth a man from himself; it
   maketh a mutiny in his own heart, Rom. ii. 15, thoughts accusing and
   excusing by turns,' met' alle'lon. A man and his conscience are at
   odds, and a man and his affections. Now, we being reconciled to God,
   the foundation is laid for peace of conscience, that we and our hearts
   may talk together as loving friends, without scolding, without
   reproaching. And then grace giveth us a calm and contented spirit,
   which easeth us of a great deal of trouble, for a discontented man is
   his own burden. We need the peace of God not only in our consciences,
   but to bear rule in our hearts, Col. iii. 16, that we may refer all
   matters to God's disposal, Ps. iv. 8.

   [5.] Though all things are at peace with us; yet some troubles are left
   for our exercise, but not for our hurt and destruction. The peace of
   God it is a very riddle: Phil. iv. 7, It passeth all understanding.' To
   sense who more wretched than God's children, hated, reviled,
   persecuted, afflicted? How are they at peace with God and all his
   creatures? I answer--The privileges of Christ's kingdom are spiritual:
   whatever troubleth the saints, nothing can harm them, 1 Peter iii. 13.
   They may harm the man, but not the Christian. All things are at peace
   with them, because they are at the disposal of a wise and gracious
   providence, and cannot do hurt to the better part: they work for good.
   Death is at peace with them, which doth the greatest hurt to the body.
   Ask old Simeon and he will tell you so: Luke ii. 29, Lord, now lettest
   thy servant depart in peace,' &c. They are sent for by their friend;
   the king of fears is a grim messenger, but they know his errand, and
   therefore are not afraid.

   [6.] In heaven there is a perfect peace; in the new Jerusalem all is
   quiet: It is just with God to give you that are troubled, a'nesin,
   rest,' 2 Thes. i. 7; and there is a rest that remaineth for the
   children of God,' Heb. iv. 9. There we rest both from our sorrows and
   our labours; there is no trouble nor affliction more; all privileges
   are at the height; no more apprehensions of God's wrath, fears of
   death. There we are not only free from hurt, but danger; our exercise
   is at an end: there we do immediately behold the king's face, which is
   not granted us here; now we are in Absalom's condition, pardoned,
   reconciled, but cannot see the king's face. So much for the nature of
   this peace, and the observations that open it to you. Let us now apply
   all.

   Use 1. If peace be such an excellent blessing, and a main privilege of
   the gospel, then it puts us upon trial. Are we at peace with God
   through Christ? If it be so, then--(1.) Enmity is laid aside; God's
   enemies will be yours, and yours will be God's; otherwise what peace?
   What! do we talk of peace with God, as long as we are in league with
   God's enemy? What peace as long as the whoredoms of thy mother Jezebel
   are so many?' Our league with God is defensive and offensive. There is
   a war with Satan, [50] if we be at peace with God: the spiritual
   conflict is the best evidence we have of our unity with God. With the
   wicked, God is at open war: There is no peace,' &c., Isa. lvii. 21. The
   devil may be at a secret peace with them, but God is at a distance, and
   abhorreth all communion with them. Christ is called the Prince of
   peace,' Isa. ix. 6; but it is to those that submit to his government;
   to his subjects, he saith, Take my yoke upon yon, and ye shall find
   rest,' Mat. xi. 29. We are not in a capacity to receive this blessing
   till we take an oath of allegiance to Christ, and continue in obedience
   to him. (2.) The next note is, delight in communion with God: Job xxii.
   21, Acquaint thyself with him, and be at peace.' A man that is at peace
   with God will be often in his company: bondage and servile awe keepeth
   us out of God's presence; we cannot come to him, because we cannot come
   in peace. A man never delighteth in duties of commerce with God when
   either he hath a false peace or no peace: duties disturb a false peace;
   and when we are raw and sour, we are unfit for work. When a peace is
   concluded between nations that were before at war, trading is revived:
   so will it be between God and you; commerce will be revived, and you
   will be trading into heaven, that you may bring away rich treasures of
   grace and comfort.

   Use 2. It presseth us to make peace with God by Christ. We speak to two
   sorts--the careless and the distressed. (1.) To the careless. Consider
   you are born enemies to God: they that loved him from their cradle
   upward, never loved him. You must make peace with God, for you cannot
   maintain war against him: Are you stronger than he?' What! will you arm
   lusts against angels? And do you know the terror of his wrath? One
   spark of it is enough to drink up all your blood and spirits, Job vi.
   4. The present life is but a vapour, soon gone. If God be angry, he can
   arm the least creature to kill you: the whole creation taketh part with
   God: Adrian was strangled with a gnat. But death will not end your
   sorrows. None can punish their enemies as God can; he can ruin your
   body and soul for ever and for ever. How will you screech and howl like
   dragons? But your torments are without end and without ease. Be wise,
   then, and do not sleep when your damnation sleepeth not,' 2 Peter ii.
   3; now is the time to make your peace with God. Ah! that you knew in
   this your day the things that belong to your peace,' Luke xix. 41.
   Peace must be had now, or else it can never be had hereafter. The day
   of patience will not always last; therefore let us get into the ark
   before the flood cometh. It is a dreadful thing to be under the wrath
   of God, and you know not how soon it will light: our care should be to
   be found of him in peace,' Peter iii. 14. Christ is now a Saviour, then
   a judge: you will yell and howl for mercy when it is too late. (2.) I
   am to speak to distressed consciences. Lift up your heads, God offereth
   you peace; he sent angels from heaven to proclaim it, Luke ii. 14. The
   ground of the offer is good-will, and the end of the offer is only his
   own glory. God hath no other reasons to move him to it but his own
   good-will, and no other aim than to glorify his grace; see Eph. i. 6;
   and therefore take hold of his covenant of peace, as it is called, Isa.
   liv. 10. He is content we shall have peace upon these terms, and peace
   assured us by covenant. Certainly it is not a duty to doubt, nor a
   thing accept able to God, that we should always be upon terms of
   perplexity, and keep conscience raw with a sense of wrath and sin:
   wherefore did Christ bear the chastisement of our peace'? God is more
   pleased with a cheerful confidence than a servile spirit, full of
   bondage and fear.

   Use 3. It is caution. If peace be a privilege of the gospel, let us
   take care that we settle upon a right peace, lest we mistake a judgment
   for a blessing. It is the greatest judgment that can be, to _be given
   up to our own secure presumptions, and to be lulled asleep with a false
   peace. When the pulse doth not beat, the body is in a dangerous estate;
   so when conscience is benumbed, and smiteth not, it is very sad. The
   grounds of a false and carnal peace are--(1.) Ignorance of our
   condition. Many go hoodwinked to hell; a little light breaking in would
   trouble all, Rom. vii. 9. Sluttish corners are not seen in the dark.
   Things are naught that cannot brook a trial; [51] so you may know that
   it is very bad with men when they will not come to the light,' John
   iii. 20, or cannot endure to be alone, lest conscience should return
   upon itself, and they be forced to look inward; their confidence is
   supported by mere ignorance. (2.) Sensuality. Some men's lives are
   nothing else but a diversion from one pleasure to another, that they
   may put off that which they cannot put away; there is bondage in their
   consciences, and they are loath to take notice of it: Amos vi. 3, They
   drink wine in bowls, and put far away the evil day.' This is to quench
   the spirit' without a metaphor. All their pleasures are but stolen
   waters, and bread eaten in secret;' frisks of mirth when they can get
   conscience asleep. Cain's heart was a trouble to him, therefore he
   falleth a-building of cities. Saul, to cure the evil spirit, ran to his
   music; and so usually men choke conscience either with business or
   pleasures. (3.) From formality and slightness in the spiritual life.
   First, either they do not seriously perform duty; that will make men
   see what carnal, unsavoury, sapless spirits they have. He that never
   stirreth doth not feel the lameness of his joints. Formal duties make
   men the more secure; as the Pharisee thought himself in a good case,
   because, &c., Luke xviii. 11; but spiritual duties search us to the
   purpose, as new wine doth old bottles. Or else, secondly, they do not
   exasperate their lusts, and seriously resist sin. Tumult is made by
   opposition. When a man yieldeth to Satan, no wonder that Satan lets him
   alone: Luke xi. 21, The goods are in peace,' because the devil's
   possession is not disturbed; he rageth most when his kingdom is
   tottering, Rev. xii. 12. Please the worst natures, and they will not
   trouble you. There is no tempest where wind and tide go together. You
   let Satan alone, and he lets you alone; this is a peace that will end
   in trouble.

   I now come to speak of the third thing prayed for, and that is love,
   which, being taken here, not for God's love to us, but our love to God,
   may be thus defined:--It is a gracious and holy affection, which the
   soul, upon the apprehension of God's love in Christ, returneth back to
   God again by his own grace. The grounds and causes of it are two; the
   one worketh by way of argument and suasion, the other by way of
   efficacy and power.

   1. It ariseth from the sense and apprehensions of God's love in Christ.
   Love is like a diamond, that is not wrought upon but by its own dust: 1
   John iv. 19, We love him, because he loved us first.' Love is like an
   echo, it returneth what it receiveth; it is a reflex, a reverberation,
   or a casting back of God's beam and flame upon himself. The cold wall
   sendeth back no reflex of heat till the sun shine upon it, and warm it
   first; so neither do we love God till the soul be first filled with a
   sense of his love. And as radius reflexus languet, rays in their
   reflection are more faint and cold, so our love to God is much weaker
   than God's love to us. Valdesso saith, God loveth the lowest saint more
   than the highest angel loveth God. Once more, the more direct the
   stroke and beam is upon the wall, or any other solid body, the stronger
   always is the reflection; so the more sense we have of the love of God,
   the stronger is our love to him.

   2. The next cause of love is the grace of God. There is not only an
   apprehension of love, but the force of the spirit goeth along with it.
   Our thoughts, our discourses upon the love of God to us in Christ, nay,
   our sense and feeling of it, is not enough to beget this grace in us.
   Love is a pure flame, that must be kindled from above, as the vestal
   fire by a sunbeam: 1 John iv. 7, Love is of God;' that is, of a
   celestial or heavenly original. There is in the soul naturally a hatred
   of God, Rom. i. 30, theostugeis, and a proneness to mingle with present
   comforts, which can only be cured by the Spirit of grace. Our naked
   apprehensions will not break the force of natural enmity; and it is God
   that must circumcise and pare away the foreskin of the heart before we
   can love him, Deut. xxx. 6. There is a natural proneness to dote upon
   the creature and hate the Creator. Base creatures neglect God, and
   pollute themselves with one another; and there is no help for it till
   the heart be overpowered by grace. Thus for the causes of love.

   The object of love is God himself; not merely as considered in himself,
   for so he is terrible to the creature, but as God in Christ, for so he
   will be known and respected by us in the gospel, and so we have the
   highest engagement to love him; not only upon the respects of nature,
   as our Creator, but of grace, as our God and father in Christ. Now God
   is the supreme object of love, and other things are loved for God's
   sake, because of that of God which we find in them; as his word, which
   is the copy of his holiness, his engraven image, as the coin beareth
   the image of the prince. So it is said, Ps. cxix. 47, I will delight
   myself in thy commandments which I have loved.' And then his saints,
   which are his living image, as children resemble their father; so it is
   said, Ps. xvi. 3, To the saints, and to the excellent of the earth, in
   whom is my delight.' And then other men, because of his command, 2
   Peter i. 5, Add to brotherly kindness, love.' So his creatures, because
   in them we enjoy God, the effects of his bounty. But chiefly his
   ordinances, as they exhibit more of God than the creatures can. So that
   love respects God, and other things for God's sake.

   Again, in the description I take notice of the essence or formal nature
   of it, and call it the return of a gracious and holy affection to God.
   Love is carried out to its object two ways--by desire and delight. Our
   necessity and need of God is the ground of desire; and our propriety
   and interest is the ground of delight. Desires are the feet of love, by
   which it runneth after its object; and delight is the rest and
   contentment of the soul in the enjoyment of it. Because of our
   imperfect fruition in this life, love bewrayeth itself by desires
   mostly, or pursuing after God; see Ps. lxiii. 8, My heart followeth
   hard after thee.' It noteth those sallies and earnest egressions of
   soul after the Lord, that we may have more communion and fellowship
   with him. In short, the radical (if I may so speak) and principal
   disposition of love is a desire of union; for all other effects of love
   flow from it This it is that makes the soul to prize the ordinances,
   because God is. to be enjoyed there, and these are means of communion
   with him: Ps. xxvi. 8, I have loved the place where thine honour
   dwelleth.' This maketh sin terrible, because it separateth from God,
   Isa. lix. 2. This maketh heaven amiable; the fairest part of our
   portion in heaven is a closer and nearer communion with Christ, Phil.
   i. 23. This maketh the day of judgment sweet, for then we shall meet
   with our beloved in the air,' 1 Thes. iv. 17. In short, this maketh the
   soul to take such contentment in thinking of God, and speaking of God;
   it is the feast of the soul: My meditation of him shall be sweet,' Ps.
   civ. 34. Their souls cannot have a greater solace than to think what a
   God they have in Christ.

   Having in some manner described the love of God, let me use some
   arguments to press you to it.

   First, God hath commanded it; the sum of the law is love. When the
   scribe came to Christ, Mat. xxii. 36, Master, which is the great
   commandment in the law?' Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord
   thy God with all thy heart, and all thy soul, and all thy might,' Mark,
   this is the first and great commandment,' to love God; it is not a sour
   command, but sweet and profitable. God might have burdened us with
   other manner of precepts, considering his absolute right; to offer our
   children in sacrifice, to mangle our flesh with whips and scourges; but
   these are cruelties proper to the devil's worship. The Lord is a gentle
   master, and only desireth the love of his servants; we have cause to
   thank him for such a gracious precept. If he should require us not to
   love him, this were hell itself; that is the hell of hell, that they
   which are there do not love God. It is our privilege as much as our
   duty. God loveth all his creatures, but hath commanded none to love him
   again but man and angels; so that it is the great privilege of the
   saints to love God. It had been a great favour if God had given us
   leave to love him; as it would be a great favour if a king should give
   leave to one of his meanest subjects to have the key of his privy
   chamber, to come to him and visit him, and be familiar with him when he
   pleaseth; how would this be talked of in the world! Yet this is not so
   wonderful, since the king and the peasant are both men; in their
   natural being they are equal, though in their civil distinction and
   condition of life there be a difference. But what a favour is this,
   that he who is the King of kings, and Lord of lords,' doth not only
   permit his creature made by his own hands to come to him, and love him,
   and deal with him when he pleaseth, but hath expressly commanded it!
   Nay, this is the great commandment.' Certainly God is very desirous of
   our love, when he layeth such an obligation upon us. Was there ever
   such a master, that made this to be his servants' chiefest duty, that
   they should love him? Again, I observe in God's command that the
   precept runneth thus: Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy
   heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might.' The Lord would
   not lose one grain of the creature's love. Surely he valued it when he
   is so solicitous about it. If we should see a wise man careful to
   preserve the relics of what we counted a neglected weed, it would make
   us think there were some what in it. We lavish away our love upon
   trifles, and God prizeth every grain of it. You see he speaketh as if
   he would not lose one dust of love: All thy soul, all thy heart, and
   all thy might.' When he biddeth us love our neighbour, he sets limits
   to it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself;' but when he biddeth
   us love God, he requireth all the heart. The only measure is to love
   him without measure. The next place that I shall take notice of, where
   the precept is recorded, is Deut. x. 12, And now Israel, what doth the
   Lord require of thee, but to fear the Lord thy God, and to walk in all
   his ways, and to love him, and to serve the Lord with all thy heart,
   and with all thy soul.' God doth not require of us things without the
   sphere of duty; that we should go into the depths of the sea, toss
   mountains in the air, pluck the stars from heaven, &c. These things lie
   out of the power of man. He doth not require of us barbarous
   austerities--to offer our first-born, to lance ourselves, to mangle our
   flesh with whips and scourges. He doth not require of us absolutely
   such things which some men can and ought to perform; not such a measure
   of alms, what then would become of the poor? not such a degree of
   wisdom and learning, what then would become of the simple and
   unlearned? But, O Israel, what hath the Lord required of thee, but that
   thou shouldest love the Lord thy God?' A duty to be performed by poor
   and rich, learned and unlearned. Whatever their estate and condition
   be, they may all love God. There are many in heaven that never were in
   a condition to give, but to receive, that were never learned and
   skilled in sciences; but none that never loved God.

   Secondly, God hath deserved love. Let us a little take notice of God's
   love to us. He beginneth and loveth us that we may love him again, 1
   John iv. 19. If God should hate us, we were bound to love him, because
   of his excellency, and because of our duty and obligation as we are
   creatures. How much more when God hath loved us, and bestowed so many
   benefits upon us? Love is an affection which God will have repaid in
   kind. When he chideth us, he doth not expect that we should chide him
   again. When he judgeth us, we must not judge him again. In these things
   the creature is not to retaliate. It is true, we do it too often, but
   still to our loss and blame. But now when he loveth us, he willeth us
   to love him again. He loveth us for no other cause but that he may be
   loved. Love must be paid in kind. As water is cast into a pump when the
   springs lie low to bring up more water, so God sheddeth abroad his love
   into our hearts, that our love may rise up to him again by way of
   gratitude and recompense. Now in the love of God we may take notice
   of--(1.) The properties; and (2.) The effects of it.

   First, For the properties of God's love, consider:--

   1. The ancientness of it: Ps. ciii. 17, From everlasting to
   everlasting,' &c. With reverence we may speak, ever since God was God
   he was our God. You may track his love from one eternity to another.
   Before the world was he loved us, and when the world is no more he
   loveth us still. His love began in eternal purposes of grace, and it
   endeth in our eternal possession of glory. It is not a thing of yester
   day. He is our ancient friend. He loved us not only before we were
   lovely, but before we were at all. We adjourn and put off our love of
   God to old age, and thrust it into a narrow corner. When we have wasted
   and spent our strength in the world, we dream of a devout retirement.
   But the Lord thinketh he could never love us early enough. From
   everlasting to everlasting,' &c. We receive the fruits and effects of
   love in time, but all cometh out of God's ancient and eternal love.
   This grace was provided for us before we were born. Yea, look upon
   God's love in time. How merciful was God to us before we could show the
   least sign of thankfulness to him? He loved us a long time before ever
   we had a thought of him. In infancy we could not so much as know that
   he loved us. When we came to years of discretion we knew how to offend
   him before we knew how to love and serve him. How many are there of
   whom it may be said, God is not in all their thoughts;' and yet all
   this while God hath thoughts of peace' and blessing towards them.

   2. Consider the freeness of God's love. The value of all benefits
   ariseth from the necessity of him that receive th, and the good-will of
   him that giveth. God wanted not us, our love is no benefit to him; but
   we wanted him, we are undone without him. Yet he hath more delight in
   pardoning than we in salvation, and he is more ready to give than we to
   ask. [52] He often calleth upon us to call upon him; as if he were
   afraid we would not ask, or not enough, or not soon enough, or not
   often enough. A man would think that our wants should be importunate
   enough to put us upon requests, and that we needed not enforcements to
   prayer; yet you see God doth not only prevent the request, but make the
   prayer, and stirreth us up to utter it. But we are not only needy
   creatures, but guilty creatures; and that God should love us 1 When we
   were in our blood and filthiness, it was a time of loves,' Ezek. xvi.
   7. This is the great miracle of divine love, that a time of loathing is
   a time of loves. And we will wonder at it more if we consider the
   active and endless hatred of his holiness against sin, and therefore
   why not against sinners? The holiness of his nature and essence sets
   him against them; and natural antipathies and aversions can never be
   reconciled, as a man can never be brought to delight in a toad, or a
   lamb in a wolf. And consider again his infinite wisdom. We may love
   that which is not lovely, because we are often blinded by inordinate
   affection; but now God's love is not blind and overcome with the
   vehemency of any passion, as man's is. This maketh the wonder, there is
   no blindness and passion in him that loveth, and yet the thing that is
   loved is vile and uncomely.

   3. The frequency of the expressions of his love. It would weary the arm
   of an angel to write down God's repeated acts of grace: Rom. v. 16, The
   free gift is of many offences unto justification.' We carry loads of
   experiences with us to heaven. God's book of remembrance is written
   within and without. This will be our wonder and amazement at the last
   day, to see such huge sums cancelled with Christ's blood: every day
   pardoning mercy is put in: our past lives are but a constant experience
   of our sinning and God's pardoning. We are weary of everything but sin;
   we are never weary of that, because it is natural to us. The very
   refreshments of life by continuance grow burden some: meat, drink,
   music, sleep, the chiefest pleasures, within a while need to be
   refreshed with other pleasures; man is a restless creature, and loveth
   shift and change. But now we are never weary of sin; we have it from
   the womb, and we keep it to the grave; and yet all this while we
   subsist upon God. We subsist upon him every moment; we have life, and
   breath, and hourly maintenance from him, whom we thus grieve and
   offend. Dependence should beget observance, but in us it is otherwise.
   As a dunghill sendeth out vapours to obscure the sun that shineth upon
   it, so do we dishonour the God of our mercies, and grieve him day by
   day. How long hath God been multiplying pardons, and yet free grace is
   not tired and grown weary!

   4. Consider the variety of the expressions of his love. We have all
   kind of mercies; we eat mercy, we wear mercy, we are encompassed with
   mercy as with a shield.' The apostle saith, 2 Peter i. 3, He hath given
   us all things that pertain to life and godliness;' that is, as I would
   interpret, all things that are necessary to life natural, to life
   spiritual, to maintain grace here, and to bring us to glory here after.
   He that hath an interest in Christ, his portion is not straitened; be
   hath a right to all things, and a possession of as much as providence
   judgeth needful; therein we must not be our own carvers. A man of
   mortified affections thinketh he hath provision enough if he hath
   things necessary to life and godliness; and will you not love God for
   all this? Certainly we do not want obligations, but we want affections.
   Look, as too much wood puts out the fire and causeth smoke, so the
   multitude and daily experience of God's mercies lesseneth the esteem of
   them. We have but too many mercies, and that maketh us unkind and
   neglectful of God. What shall I tell you of sabbaths, ordinances, food,
   raiment? If a man would be but his own remembrancer, and now and then
   come to an account with God, he would cry out, O the multitude of thy
   thoughts to us-ward, how great is the sum of them!' Ps. cxxxix. 17. Or
   if a man would but keep a journal of his own life, what a vast volume
   would his private experiences make; how would he find mercy and himself
   still growing up together! Shall I show you a little what a multitude
   of mercies there are? I will not speak of the higher and choicer
   mercies, such as concern the soul, but of such as concern the body.
   What a deal of provision is there for the comfort and welfare of the
   body! I instance in these mercies, partly because they are so common
   that they are scarce noted; partly because carnal men prize the body
   most; they prefer it above the soul. Now the Lord would leave them
   without excuse; they that love the body shall not want arguments to
   urge them to love God, since he hath bestowed so much of his love and
   care upon the body, to gratify all the senses not only for necessity
   but delight. There is light for the eye; the poorest man hath glorious
   lamps to light him to his labours; for the taste, such variety of
   refreshments of a different sap and savour; for the smell, delicious
   infusions into the air from flowers and gums and aromatic plants; for
   the ears, music from birds and men; and all this to make our pilgrimage
   comfortable, and our hearts better. How many creatures hath the Lord
   given us to help to hear burdens? how many things for meat and
   medicine? If man had not been created last, after the world was settled
   and furnished, we should have seen the want of many things which we now
   enjoy and do not value. First God provided our house, and then
   furnished our table; and when all was ready, then man is brought in as
   the lord of all. We are not affected with these mercies. How can we sin
   against God, that can look no where but we see arguments and reasons to
   love him? As Christ said, Many good works have I done amongst you; for
   which of these do you stone me?' so may the Lord plead, I have done
   many things for you; you cannot open your eyes but you see love, you
   cannot walk abroad but you smell love and hear love, &c.; for which of
   those do you grieve me, and deal so despitefully with me?

   Secondly, Let me now come to the effects of God's love. I shall only
   instance in those three great effects--creation, preservation, and
   redemption. Certainly that must needs be a great bonfire out of which
   there flies not only sparks but brands; and so that love which can
   produce such fruits and effects must needs be exceeding great.

   1. Creation. This deserveth love from the creature. The fruit of the
   vineyard belongeth to him that planted it; and whom should we love but
   him that gave us the power to love? All that thou hast, all that thou
   canst see, that thou canst touch, is his gift, and the work of his
   hands. He gave thee the essence not of a tree, a bird, a beast, but of
   a man, capable of reason, fit for happiness. God made other creatures
   by a word of command, and man by counsel. It was not, Be thou, but, Let
   us make man, to show that the whole Trinity assisted and joined in
   consultation. He made other creatures for his glory, but not for his
   love and service. God is glorified in them passively, as they give us
   occasion to glorify God; the creatures are the harp, but man maketh the
   music: All thy works praise thee, and thy saints bless thee,' Ps. cxlv.
   10. How many steps may a Christian ascend in his praise and
   thanksgiving! We might have been stones without sense; beasts, and
   without reason; born infidels, and without faith; we might have
   continued sinners, and without grace: all these are so many steps of
   mercy. But creation is that we are now to speak of, and truly it
   deserveth a remembrance, especially in youth, Eccles. xii. 1, when the
   effects of God's creating bounty are most fresh in our sense and
   feeling: we are always to remember our Creator,' but then especially.
   The aches of old age serve to put us in mind of our ingratitude; but
   the strength, and vigour, and freshness of youth should make us
   remember the bounty of our Creator. Look upon the body or the soul, and
   you will see that we have cause to love him. In the body we find as
   many mercies as there are limbs. If a man should be born blind or lame,
   or should lose an eye or an arm, or a leg, how much would he love him
   that should restore the use of these members again! We are as much
   bound to love him that gave them to us at first, especially when we
   consider how often we have deserved to lose them. We would love him
   that should raise us from the dead: God is the author of life, and the
   continual preserver and defender of it. If we love our parents that
   begot us, we should much more love God that made them and us too out of
   nothing. Take notice of the curious frame of the body. David saith, Ps.
   cxxxix. 14, I am wonderfully made;' acu pictus sum, so the Vulgar
   rendereth it, painted as with a needle,' like a garment of needlework,
   of divers colours, richly embroidered with nerves and veins. What shall
   I speak of the eye, wherein there is such curious workmanship, that
   many upon the first sight of it have been driven to acknowledge God? Of
   the hand made to open and shut, and to serve the labours and ministries
   of nature without wasting and decay for many years? If they should be
   of marble or iron, with such constant use they would soon wear out; and
   yet now they are of flesh they last as long as life lasteth. Of the
   head? fitly placed to be the seat of the senses, to command and direct
   the rest of the members. Of the lungs? a frail piece of flesh, yet,
   though in continual motion, of a long use. It were easy to enlarge upon
   this occasion; but I am to preach a sermon, not to read an anatomy
   lecture. In short, therefore, every part is so placed and framed, as if
   God had employed his whole wisdom about it.

   But as yet we have spoken but of the casket wherein the jewel lieth.
   The soul, that divine spark and blast, how quick, nimble, various, and
   indefatigable in its motions! how comprehensive in its capacities! how
   it animateth the body, and is like God himself, all in every part! Who
   can trace the flights of reason? What a value hath God set upon the
   soul! He made it after his image, he redeemed it with Christ's blood,
   &c. Well, then, God, that made such a body, such a soul, deserveth
   love. He that made the soul hath most right to dwell in it; it is a
   curious house of his own framing. But he will not enter by force and
   violence, but by consent; he expecteth when love will give up the keys:
   Rev. iii. 20, Behold, I stand at the door and knock; if any man open to
   me, I will come in and sup with him.' Why should Christ stand at the
   door and knock, and ask leave to enter into his own house? He hath
   right enough to enter, only he expecteth till we open to him.

   2. Preservation. We are not apprehensive enough of daily mercies. The
   preservation of the world is a constant miracle. The world is hanged
   upon nothing' (as it is in the book of Job). A feather will not stay in
   the air; and yet what hath the world to support it but the thin fluid
   air that is round about it? It is easy to prove that the waters are
   higher than the land; so that we are always in the case the Israelites
   were in when they passed through the Red Sea. Nos sumus etiam tanquam
   in medio rubri maris, saith Luther--the waters are round about us and
   above us, bound up in a heap as it were by God, and yet we are not
   swallowed up. It is true the danger is not so sensible and immediate as
   that of the Red Sea, because of the constant rampire of providence.
   More particularly, from the womb to the grave we have hourly
   maintenance from God. Look, as the beams in the air are no longer
   continued than the sun shineth; so we do no longer continue than God
   upholdeth our beings by the word of his power,' Heb. i. 3. Or as it is
   with a seal in the water, take away the seal and the impress vanisheth;
   so do we disappear as soon as God doth but loosen his hand and almighty
   grasp, by which all things are upheld and preserved. But let us speak
   of those acts of providence that are more sensible. Into how many
   diseases and dangers might we fall, if God did not look after us as the
   nurse after her child! How many have gone to the grave, nay, it may be
   to hell, since the last night*! How many actual dangers have we
   escaped! God hath looked after us, as if he had forgotten all the world
   besides; as if his whole employment were to do us good. He saith that
   he will no more forget us than a woman doth her sucking child;' and
   that we are written before him, and graven in the palms of his hands,'
   Isa. xlix. 15, &c., as men tie a string about their finger for a
   remembrance, or record in a book such things as they would regard. All
   these are expressions to describe the particular and express care of
   God's providence over his children. Now what shall be rendered to the
   Lord for all this? If we could do and suffer never so much for God, it
   will not answer the mercy of one day. Certainly at least God expecteth
   love for love. Love him as he is the strength of thy life and length of
   thy days,' Deut. xxx. 20. Every day's experience is new fuel to keep in
   the fire. The very beasts will respect their preservers; they are
   loving to those that are kind to them: The ass knoweth his owner, and
   the ox his master's crib.' There is a kind of gratitude in the beasts
   by which they acknowledge their benefactors that feed them and cherish
   them; but we do not acknowledge God who feedeth us and upholdeth us
   every moment. There is no creature made worse by kindness but man. He,
   that was made to be master of the creatures, may become their scholar;
   there is many a good lesson to be learned in their school.

   3. Redemption. As a man, when he weigheth a thing, casteth in weight
   after weight till the scales be counterpoised, so doth God mercy after
   mercy to poise down man's heart. Here is a mercy that is overweight in
   itself: 1 John iv. 10, Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that
   God loved us, and sent his Son to be a propitiation for our sins.' If
   we had had the wisdom to pitch upon such a remedy, as certainly it
   could not have entered into hearts of men or angels, Eph. iii. 10, yet
   we could not have the heart to ask it. It would have seemed a rude
   blasphemy in our prayers to desire that the Son of God should come out
   from his Father's bosom and die for us. Therefore, herein is love;'
   that is, this is the highest expression of God's love to the creature,
   not only that ever was, but can be; for in love only God acteth to the
   uttermost: he never showed so much of his power and wisdom, but he can
   show more; of his wrath, but he can show more; but he hath no greater
   thing to give than himself, than his Christ. At what a dear rate hath
   the Lord bought our hearts I He needed not; he might have made nobler
   creatures than the present race of men, and dealt with us as he did
   with the sinning angels; he would not enter into treaty with them, but
   the execution was as quick as the sin; so the Lord might utterly have
   cast us off, and made a new race of men to glorify his grace, leaving
   Adam to propagate the world to glorify his justice; or, at least, he
   might have redeemed us in another way, for I suppose it is a free
   dispensation, opus liberi consilii. But, John iii. 16, God so loved the
   world, that he gave his only-begotten Son.' He took this way, that we
   might love Christ as well as believe in him. God might have redeemed us
   so much in another way, but he could not oblige us so much in another
   way; he would not only satisfy his justice, but show his love. It was
   the Lord's design, by his love, to deserve ours, and so for ever to
   shame the creature, if they should not now love him. Oh! think much of
   this glorious instance, the love of God in giving Christ, and the love
   of Christ in giving himself. When the sea wrought and was tempestuous,'
   and Jonah saw the storm, he said, Cast me into the sea, and it shall be
   calm to you;' but the storm was raised for his own sake. Now Christ,
   when he saw the misery of mankind, he said, Let it come on me. We
   raised the storm, but Christ would be cast in to allay it. If a prince,
   passing by an execution, should take the malefactor's chains, and
   suffer in his stead, this would be a wonderful instance indeed. Why!
   Christ hath borne our sorrows and carried our griefs,' Isa. liii. 4;
   the very same griefs that we should have suffered, so far as his holy
   person was capable of them. His desertion was equivalent to our loss,
   his agonies to our curse and punishment of sense; and all this very
   willingly for the sake of sinners. It is notable, he doth with like
   indignation rebuke Peter dissuading him from sufferings, as he doth the
   devil tempting him to idolatry: Get thee behind me, Satan;' compare
   Mat. xvi. 22, with Mat. iv. 10. He is well pleased with all his sorrow
   and sufferings, so he may gain the church, and espouse her to himself
   in a firm league and covenant: Isa. liii. 11, He shall see the travail
   of his soul, and be satisfied;' as if he said, Welcome agonies, welcome
   death, welcome curse, so poor souls be saved! As Jacob counted the days
   of his labour nothing, so he might obtain Rachel; and yet there is a
   vast difference between the love of Christ and the love of Jacob.
   Rachel was lovely, but we are vile and unworthy creatures; and Christ's
   love is infinite, even beyond his sufferings and the outward
   expressions of it; as the windows of the temple were more large and
   open within than without. Well, then, every one of Christ's wounds is a
   mouth open to plead for love. He made himself so vile, that he might be
   more dear and precious to us. Certainly, if love brought Christ out of
   heaven to the cross, to the grave, should it not carry us to heaven, to
   God, to Christ, who hath been thus gracious to us? Thus God hath
   deserved our love.

   Thirdly, The third and next argument is, God hath desired it. What doth
   the Lord see in our hearts that he should desire them? If a prince
   should not only make love to a vile and abject creature, but seek all
   means to gain her affection, you would count her very froward and
   unthankful to give him the denial. Christ doth not only oblige us, but
   woo us. If man were such as he should be, he would not need
   enforcements, because of the multitude of his obligations; and if the
   Lord did deal with us as we deserve, he would slight us and scorn us,
   rather than woo us. He doth not want lovers; there are angels enough in
   heaven, whose wills and affections cleave to him perfectly; yea, God
   doth not need the love of any creature; all this wooing is for our
   sakes. Wherein can frail men be beneficial to God? What increase of
   happiness hath he if all men should love him? It is his happiness to
   love himself, and he would have us to share in this happiness;
   therefore he threateneth, and promiseth, and beseecheth. As one that
   would gladly open a door, trieth key after key, till he hath tried
   every key in the bunch; so doth God try one method after another to
   work upon man's heart.

   1. He threateneth eternal torments if we do not love him: 1 Cor. xvi.
   22, If any man love not the Lord Jesus Christ, let him be anathema
   maranatha.' The form of speech implieth the most dreadful curse that
   may be. It is not arbitrary whether you will love him or no; you are
   either to love him, or to perish eternally. Among men, if love doth not
   come kindly, we neglect it; that which is forced is nothing worth: yet
   the Lord is so earnest after the love of the creature, that he would
   have it by any means.

   2. He promiseth. We have not only mercies in hand, but mercies in hope;
   not only obligations, but promises. It is our duty to love God if there
   were no heaven; our obligations might suffice; yet what great things
   hath God provided for them that love him!' 1 Cor. ii. 9. If a man
   should sell his love, he cannot have a better chapman than God, who is
   most rich and most liberal. If an earthly potentate should promise to
   them that love him half his kingdom, he would find lovers enough. God
   hath promised glory, the kingdom of heaven, and shall we not take him
   at his word? The Lord will give a gift for a gift; because he hath
   given us to love him, therefore he will give us heaven as the reward of
   love. Who ever heard that a hungry man was hired to eat, and rewarded
   for tasting dainty food? or a thirsty man for drinking? The love of God
   is so excellent a privilege, that we should endure all torments to
   obtain it; and yet God hath promised a reward: yea, he is pleased to
   bargain with us as if he were our equal, and we were altogether free
   before the contract.

   3. Again, he beseecheth. We are cold and backward, therefore he useth
   entreaty upon entreaty, as if he were impatient of a denial. Out of
   what rock was man hewn? God himself cometh a-wooing, and we have the
   face to give him a repulse; and what doth he woo for but our hearts,
   which are his already by every kind of right and title? Prov. xxiii.
   26, My son, give me thy heart.' God is pleased to call that a gift
   which is indeed a debt. Though the heart be due, yet God will put this
   honour upon the creatures, to receive it from them in the way of a
   gift. It is but equity to give to God the things that are God's.' Look
   upon the heart; see if any could make it but God himself. Whose image
   and superscription doth it bear?' Wilt thou refuse to surrender up to
   God his right? God hath made it, bought it, and yet he beggeth it. When
   thou hast been as earnest with God, and asked anything regularly of
   him, did he deny thee? It is no benefit to him; he desireth the heart
   of the creature, not that he may be happy, but that he may be liberal;
   he would have thy heart that he may make it better. How easily do we
   give up our affections to anything but God, who hath the best title to
   them! If the world or Satan knocketh, we open presently. We are as wax
   to Satan, and as stone to God; exorable and easy to be entreated by any
   carnal motion. As some hard stones cannot be wrought upon but by their
   own dust, so men are facile only to their own corruptions, to their own
   lusts, not to the motions of God's Spirit.

   Fourthly, The nature of love showeth that it is fit for nothing but
   God. He hath given us this faculty and disposition, that we may close
   with himself. He that looketh upon an axe will say it was made to cut;
   and he that looketh on love will say it was made for God. What is the
   genius and disposition of love? Love is nothing but an earnest bent and
   strong motion of the soul to what is good for us. [53] Every man hath
   an inclination in his nature to what he conceiveth to be good, Ps. iv.
   6, and grace doth only direct and set it right. All the difference
   between nature and grace is in fixing the chiefest good and the utmost
   end. One great blessing of the covenant is a new heart;' that is, a new
   and right placing of our affections. Well, then, God is summum bonum,
   the chiefest good; even nature cannot be satisfied without him, but
   grace findeth all contentment in him. If there be any good in the
   creatures, it is originally in him; he is the fountain of living
   waters, where comforts are sweetest and freest. The heart hunteth after
   good among the creatures, which is but an image and ray of that
   perfection which is in God; and who would leave the substance to follow
   the shadow, and prize the picture to the disdain of the person whom it
   represents? It were easy to prove that God is the only proper, eternal,
   all-sufficient good of the soul; and if the heart were not perverted
   and biassed with carnal desires to other objects, it would directly
   move to God, as all things do to their centre. I say, were it not for
   sin, we should no more need be pressed to love God, than to love
   ourselves. There need no great motives to press us to love ourselves,
   nature is prone enough of its own accord; and if nature had remained in
   that purity wherein it was created, it would move to God of its own
   accord; as all things move to their centre, and there they rest. Now
   God is the centre of the soul. The soul's good is not honours,
   pleasures, profits; the soul is a spirit, and must have a spiritual
   good; it is immortal, and it must have an eternal good. By experience
   we find that our affections are never in their due posture, but are
   like members out of joint (or the arms when they hang backward) when
   they are not fixed upon God; therefore there is a restlessness and
   dissatisfaction in the soul. [54] We grope and feel about for
   happiness, and cannot find it, Acts xvii. 26, 27; like Noah's dove, we
   hover up and down, and find no place whereon the sole of our foot
   should rest. Well, then, if God be the only all-sufficient good of the
   soul, why do not we love him more? If he be the centre of the soul, why
   do not we move directly thither? It is a shame that a stone should be
   carried with greater force to its centre than we to God. By its natural
   course it falleth downward, and breaketh all things in the way, yea,
   though itself be broken in pieces. But alas! how little do we break
   through impediments to go to God! It were a miracle to see a stone
   stopped in the air by a feather. But now every vain thing keepeth us
   off, and intercepts our affections; sin hath given us another centre,
   and after grace received, we hang too much that way. Again, as love is
   for good, so it is for one object; like a pyramid, it ends in a point;
   affection is weakened by dispersion, as a river by being turned into
   many channels. In conjugal love, where friendship is to the height,
   there is but one that can share in it; that is the law of nature: Mal.
   ii. 15, Did he not make one? yet he had the residue of spirit;' the
   meaning is, that God made but one man for one woman, though he had
   spirit enough to make more; it was not out of defect of power, but wise
   choice, that their affections to one another might be the stronger,
   which otherwise would be weakened; as they are in the brutes scattered
   promiscuously to several objects. So the true object of love is one
   God; he is loved for himself, and other things for his sake. Once more,
   the force and vehemency of love showeth that it was made for God; love
   is the vigorous bent of the soul, and full of heights and excesses,
   which, if diverted to other objects, would make us guilty of idolatry;
   we should place them in the room of God. Still we find that men are
   besotted with what they love; as Samson was led about like a child by
   Delilah: all conveniences of life, pleasures, profits, are contemned
   for the enjoyment of the thing beloved. Now, these are heights proper
   to the divinity, to the infinite majesty of God. To whom else is this
   vehemency and this self-denial due? If we lavish it upon the creatures,
   we make gods of them; and therefore covetousness is called idolatry,
   Eph. v. 5, and the sensualist is said to make his belly his god, Phil.
   iii. 19. There is such an excess, such a doating in love, that if we be
   not careful in fixing it, before we are aware we run into practical
   idolatry and practical atheism. There is an atheism in the heart as
   well as in the judgment. Atheism in the judgment is when we are not
   convinced of the being of God; in the heart, when our affections are
   not set on God: this is more incurable, because the dogmatical atheist
   may be convinced by reason, but the practical atheist can only be
   reformed by grace. Thus the nature of love showeth it.

   Fifthly, The nature of the saint showeth it; the new nature hath new
   affections; it bewrayeth itself by the new heart, as well as by the
   renewed mind, Rom. xii. 2. There are not only new thoughts, but new
   desires and new delights; desires after God, and a delight in God, as
   the fountain of holiness. When we come to God at first, we love him out
   of spiritual interest, for ease and comfort, and the benefit we gain
   by. him; Christ alloweth it: Come to me and I will give you ease,' Mat.
   xi. 28. When fire is first kindled, there is as much smoke as flame;
   but afterwards it burneth brighter and brighter by degrees. A fountain,
   as soon as digged, runneth muddy at first, but afterwards the stream
   groweth more pure and clear. So doth the love of the saints; at first
   it is but a love of interest, but by acquaintance we love him out of a
   principle of the new nature, for his holiness and excellency, because
   that which is in us in part is in God by way of eminency and
   perfection. Certainly likeness must needs beget love, and the saints,
   being conformed to God, delight in him; so that then their love floweth
   not so much from profit and interest as grace; yea, at length out of a
   vehement complacency of the new nature, they love holiness above
   happiness or spiritual interest; and hell is not so bad as sin in their
   account. [55] There cannot be a worse hell to them than unkindness to
   God or grieving his Spirit; and heaven is amiable for God's sake,
   because he is loved there and enjoyed there; there are none of God's
   enemies in heaven, and there they shall serve him and cleave to him
   without weariness and wandering. Well, then, there is such a
   disposition in the saints to love God, Ps. xxxi. 23, which ariseth not
   only from hope, because of the great benefit which we expect from him,
   nor only from gratitude, or the sense of his love already showed, but
   from an inclination of the new nature, and that sympathy and likeness
   that is between us, [56] because we hate what he hateth, and love what
   he loveth, Prov. viii. 13; Rev. ii. 6, and because God is the original
   fountain and sampler of holiness.

   Use. Well, then, saints mind your work. Do you indeed love God? Christ
   puts Peter to the question thrice, John xxi. A deceitful heart is apt
   to abuse you. Ask again and again, Do I indeed love God? Evidences are
   these:--

   1. If you love God, he will be loved alone; those that do riot give all
   to God, give nothing; he will have the whole heart. If there were
   another God, we might have some excuse for our reservations; but since
   there is but one God, he must have all, for he doth not love in mates.
   When the harbingers take up a house for a prince, they turn out all;
   none must remain there, that there may be room for his greatness. So
   all must avoid, that God may have the sole possession of our hearts.
   The devil, that hath no right to anything, would have a part, for by
   that means he knoweth the whole will fall to him; conscience will not
   let him have all, and therefore he would have a part to keep
   possession: as Pharaoh stood bucking with Moses and Aaron; if not the
   Israelites, then their little ones; if not their little ones, then
   their herds; if not their herds, then their flocks: but Moses telleth
   him there was not a hoof to be left. So Satan, if he cannot have the
   outward man, yet he would have the heart; if there be not room enough
   in the heart for every lust, then he craveth indulgence in some things
   that are less odious and distasteful; if conscience will not allow
   drunkenness, yet a little worldliness is pleaded for as no great
   matter. But the love of God cannot be in that heart where the world
   reigneth. Dagon and the ark could not abide in the same temple; neither
   can the heart be divided between God and mammon. All men must have some
   religion to mask their pleasures and carnal practices, that they may be
   favourable to their lusts and interests with less remorse; and usually
   they order the matter so, that Christ shall have their consciences, and
   the world their hearts and affections. But, alas! they do not consider
   that God is jealous of a rival; when he cometh into the heart, he will
   have the room empty. It is true, we may love other things in
   subordination to God, but not in competition with God; that is, when we
   love God and other things for God's sake, in God and for God. When a
   commander hath taken a strong castle, and placed a garrison in it, he
   suffereth none to enter but those of his own side, keeping the gate
   shut to his enemies. So we must open the heart to none but God, and
   those that are of God's party and side, keeping the gate shut to
   others. We may love the creatures as they are of God's side, as they
   draw our hearts more to God, or engage us to be more cheerful in
   service, or give us greater advantages of doing good. Of what party are
   they? Bring nothing into thy heart, and allow nothing there, that is
   contrary to God. When Sarah saw Ishmael scoffing at Isaac, she thrust
   him out of doors. So when riches, and honour, and the love of the world
   upbraid you with your love to God, as if you were a fool to stand so
   nicely upon terms of conscience, &c., when they encroach and allow
   Christ no room but in the conscience, it is time to thrust them out of
   doors, that the Lord alone may have the preeminence in our souls.

   2. This love must be demonstrated by solid effects, such as are:--

   [1.] A hatred of sin: Ps. xcvii. 10, Ye that love the Lord, hate evil.'
   With love to the chief est good, there will be a hatred of the chiefest
   evil. Friends have common loves, as I said, and common aversations.
   Upon every carnal motion doth thy heart recoil upon thee, and say, How
   can I do this wickedness, and sin against God?' Gen. xxxix. 9; or else,
   Is this thy kindness to thy friend?' or after such a deliverance as
   this,' &c., Ezra ix. 13. Love to God will be interposing and crossing
   every carnal motion.

   [2.] By a delight in obedience: 1 John v. 3, This is love, that we keep
   his commandments, and his commandments are not grievous.' Nothing is
   difficult and tedious to him that hath any affection to his work. As
   the prophet cured the bitterness of the wild gourds by casting in meal,
   so mingle but a little love with your work, and the bitterness is gone.
   Shechem yielded to be circumcised for Dinah's sake, because he loved
   her; and Jacob endured his seven years' service for Rachel's sake: so
   will love make us obey God cheerfully in things contrary to our natural
   inclination. Love and labour are often coupled in scripture, 1 Thes. i.
   3; Heb. vi. 10; and those that left their first works had lost their
   first love, Rev. ii. 4, 5.

   [3.] Delight in God's presence, and grief for his absence; or a holy
   sensibleness both of his accesses and recesses, to and from the soul.
   Can a man love God, and be content without him? If you lose but a ring
   which you affect, how are you troubled till it be found again! Ye have
   taken away my gods (saith he), and do you ask, What aileth thee?'
   Judges xviii. 24. So when God is withdrawn, all visits of love and
   influences of grace are suspended, and they have no communion with him
   in their duties, should they not mourn? See Mat. ix. 15. Is spiritual
   love without all kind of passion? or are they Christians that are
   stupid and insensate, and never take notice of God's coming and going?

   These are the evidences. I shall only now suggest two helps to keep up
   and increase this love to God, and I have done with this argument.

   1. Prize nothing that cometh from God unless thou canst see his love in
   it. God giveth many gifts to wicked men, but he doth not give them his
   love. The possession of all things will do us no good unless we have
   God himself; other mercies may be salted with a curse. God's children
   are not satisfied till they can see him and enjoy him in every comfort
   and mercy. Esau was reconciled to Jacob, and therefore Jacob saith,
   Gen. xxxiii. 10, I have seen thy face as the face of God.' It was a
   token and pledge of the gracious face of God smiling on him. Hezekiah
   was delivered out of a sickness, and then he doth not say, Thou hast
   delivered me from the grave; but, Thou hast loved me from the grave,'
   Isa. xxxviii. 17.

   2. Prize nothing that thou return to God unless there be love in it. We
   accept a small gift where the party loveth, and otherwise the greatest
   is refused: If I give my body to be burned, and have not love,' &c., 1
   Cor. xiii. 3. Love is an act of grace by itself; other duties are not
   acts of grace unless they come from love; as alms, fasting, prayer,
   martyrdom, &c., they are all nothing; ou'den eimi (saith the apostle),
   I am' not only little, but nothing.' On the other side, small things
   are made great by love; as a cup of cold water, a poor woman's mite,
   they are accepted as coming from love.

   So much for the matter of the prayer. We come now to the manner or
   degree of enjoyment, be multiplied; from whence note:--

   Doct. That we should not [57] seek grace at the hands of God, but the
   increase and multiplication of it. In managing this point, I shall
   first give you reasons to press you to look after growth in grace;
   secondly, I shall give you some observations concerning it; and so,
   thirdly, come to some application.

   First, the reasons are these:--

   1. Where there is life there will be growth; and, if grace be true, it
   will surely increase. A painted flower keepeth always at the same pitch
   and stature; the artist may bestow beauty upon it, but he cannot bestow
   life. A painted child will be as little ten years hence as it is now.
   So a pretence of religion always keepeth at the same stay; yea, when
   their first heats are spent, they are fearfully blasted. But now they
   that have true grace are compared to a living plant, which increaseth
   in bulk and stature, Ps. xcii. 12, 13, and to a living child, which
   groweth by receiving kindly nourishment, 1 Peter ii. 2. Therefore it is
   not enough to get peace and love, but we must get them multiplied.

   2. If we do not grow, we go backward, Heb. vi.; compare the first with
   the fourth verse, Let us go on to perfection;' and then presently he
   treateth of apostasy. We cannot keep that which we have received, if we
   do not labour to increase it. They that row against the stream had need
   ply the oar, lest the force of the waters carry them back ward; or as
   he that goeth up a sandy hill sinketh down if he do not go forward,
   Mat. xxv. He that would not improve his talent lost it. So here we
   waste and consume what we have, if we do not improve it. It is
   dangerous to rest satisfied and never go further; there is no stay in
   religion: all the angels on Jacob's ladder were either ascending or
   descending, continually in motion. There are no stunted trees in
   Christ's garden; if they leave off to grow, they prove doated or rotten
   trees. An active nature, such as man's is, must either grow worse or
   better; therefore we should be as careful after the increase of grace
   as we would be cautious of the loss of grace.

   3. It is an ill sign to be contented with a little grace. He was never
   good that doth not desire to grow better. [58] Spiritual things do not
   cloy in the enjoyment. He that hath once tasted the sweetness of grace
   hath arguments enough to make him seek further, and desire more grace;
   every degree of holiness is as desirable as the first; therefore there
   can be no true holiness without a desire of perfect holiness. God
   giveth us a taste to this end and purpose, that we may long for a
   fuller draught; as the clusters of Canaan brought to Israel in the
   wilderness made them put on for the country. They are hypocrites, and
   sure to be apostates, that are contented with a taste, Heb. vi.

   4. Because we cannot have too much grace: there is no nimium in the
   internals of religion; you cannot have too much knowledge, too much
   love of God, too much of the fear of God. In the outward part there may
   be too much done, and then it proveth will-worship and superstition.
   The apostle saith, 2 Peter i. 11, That we must give diligence, that an
   abundant entrance may be ministered to us into the everlasting kingdom
   of God and our Saviour Jesus Christ.' Some are afar off from the
   kingdom of God, Eph. ii. 13, as persons ignorant and touched with no
   care of religion: some come near, but never enter, Mark xii. 34; Acts
   xxvi. 28, as semi-converts and men of a blameless life; these cheapen,
   but do not buy, and go through with the bargain: others enter, but with
   greater difficulty, are scarcely saved,' 1 Peter iv. 18, Saved as by
   fire,' 1 Cor. iii. 15. They make a hard shift to go to heaven, and have
   only grace enough to keep body and soul together (as we say) not a jot
   to spare: others enter with full sails, or as it is said, they have an
   abundant entrance ministered to them,' and yet all is but little
   enough; spiritual things cannot exceed measure. But you will say, It is
   said, Eccles. vii. 16, Be not righteous over-much.' I answer--Either it
   is meant of an opinionative righteousness, be not too righteous in
   thine own conceit; or rather, of an indiscreet heat, or a rigid and
   sullen severity, without any temper of wisdom and moderation; otherwise
   in real holiness there can never be enough.

   5. God hath provided for them that grow in grace a more ample reward;
   according to our measures of grace, so will our measures of glory be;
   for they that have most grace are vessels of a larger capacity; others
   are filled according to their size. It is indeed a question whether
   there be degrees of glory, yea or no; [59] but I suppose it may easily
   be determined: He that soweth sparingly shall reap sparingly,' whereas
   others have their bosoms full of sheaves. If a man with a little grace
   should get to heaven, yet he hindereth his own preferment. Who would
   have a thin crop, and a lean harvest?

   6. It suiteth with our present state. Here we are in a state of
   progress and growth, not of rest and perfection: grace is not given out
   at once, but by degrees. Christ saith, John xvii. 26, I have declared
   thy name, and will declare it: and John i. 50, Believest thou? thou
   shalt see greater things than these;' there is more to come, therefore
   let us not rest in our first experiences. Paul saith, I have not
   attained,' Phil. iii. When grace is wrought, yet there is something
   lacking. He is a foolish builder that would rest in the middle of his
   work; and because the foundation is laid, is careless of the
   superstructure. The state of the saints is expressed by a growing
   light,' Prov. iv. 18. As long as there is want, there should be growth;
   see 1 Thes. iv. 1.

   7. Seeking the increase and multiplication of spiritual gifts suiteth
   best with the bounty and munificence of God. The Father, Son, and Holy
   Spirit have rich grace for us; and we are most welcome when we seek for
   most plenty. God the Father is represented as rich in mercy,' Eph. ii.
   4; Rom. x. 12. We can never exhaust the treasures of grace, and
   impoverish the exchequer of heaven. So Christ hath a rich and full
   merit, 2 Cor. viii. 9, to make us rich, &c. God the Son aimed at it in
   all his sufferings and condescensions, that he might make a large
   purchase for us, and we might not be straitened in grace. The Spirit of
   God is poured out plousi'os, richly,' Titus iii. 6. There is mercy
   enough in God the Father, merit enough in God the Son, efficacy enough
   in God the Spirit: God is not wanting, if we be not wanting to
   ourselves. If a mighty king should open his treasure, and bid men come
   and bring their bags, and take as much as they would; do you think they
   would neglect this occasion of gain? Surely no; they would run and
   fetch bag after bag, and never cease. Thus doth the Lord do in the
   covenant of grace; you will rather want vessels than treasure.

   8. It is a necessary piece of gratitude: we would have mercy to be
   multiplied, and therefore we should take care that peace and love be
   multiplied also; we would have God add to our blessings, and therefore
   we should add to our graces; see 2 Peter i. 5. When we have food we
   would have clothing; and when we have clothing we would have house and
   harbour; and when we have all these things, we would have them in
   greater proportion; the like care should we show in gracious
   enjoyments. When we have knowledge, we should add temperance, and when
   we have temperance, we should add patience, &c.

   9. We may learn of our Lord Jesus, to whom we must be conformed in all
   things: Luke ii. 52, He grew in wisdom and stature:' the meaning is,
   his human capacity was enlarged by degrees according to his progress in
   age and strength, for in all things he was like us except sin, and our
   reason is ripened and perfected together with our age.

   10. We may learn of worldly men, who join house to house, and field to
   field,' Isa. v. 8, and are never satisfied. So there is a holy
   covetousness in spiritual things, when we join faith to faith, Rom. i.
   17, and obedience to obedience, one degree to another: our blessings
   are better, and the chiefest good should not be followed with a slacker
   hand; it is our happiness to enjoy the infinite God, and therefore we
   should not set a stint and limit to our desires. With what arts and
   methods of increase doth a covetous man seek to advance himself? He
   liveth more by hope than by memory; and what he hath seemeth nothing to
   what he expecteth. So should we forget the things that are behind, and
   reach forth to the things that are before us,' Phil. iii. 14. A
   covetous man seemeth the poorer the more he hath gotten: go should we
   grow humble with every enjoyment; it is a good degree of grace to see
   how much we want grace. A covetous man maketh it the main work and
   business of his life to increase his estate: He goeth to bed late,
   riseth early, eateth the bread of sorrows,' and all for a little pelf.
   The strength of lust should shame us. Should not we make religion the
   business of our lives, and our great employment? Shall we be as
   insatiable as the grave to the world, when a little grave serveth the
   turn?

   Obs. 2. The next thing which I am to do is to give you some
   observations concerning growth in grace: they are these:--

   1. To discern growth there is required some time. A total change, which
   is far more sensible than growth, that may be in an instant; then a
   sinner, now a saint; but there must be a competent time to judge of our
   growth; we cannot discern it by single acts, so much as by the greater
   portions of our lives. We cannot so easily find out how we grow by
   every sermon as by comparing our past estate with our present: we do
   not fly to the top of Jacob's ladder, but go up step by step; [60] it
   is a work of time; and so we may judge of our not growing, if after a
   long time we are where we were, under the power of the game prejudices,
   or the same doubts, or the same lusts still; see Heb. v. 12.

   2. In the growing of saints there is much difference; all the plants in
   Christ's garden are not of a like height and stature; some that are
   more publicly useful have their five talents, others but two; some
   thrive more, and grow of a sudden: 2 Thes. i. 3, Your faith grew
   exceedingly;' others are weak and slow, and yet they are fruitful: we
   all grow according to the measure of a part, Eph. iv.; that is,
   according to the rate of that part which we sustain in the body. A
   finger groweth not to the quantity of an arm; they all grow, but the
   growth of all is not equal.

   3. Growth in grace is always accompanied with growth in knowledge: 2
   Peter iii. 18, But grow in grace, and in the knowledge of our Lord and
   Saviour Jesus Christ,' &c. Plants that grow out of the sun send up a
   longer stalk, but the fruit is worse. Some Christians pitch all their
   care upon the growth of love, and take no pains to grow in knowledge;
   but this is not right; we should always follow on to know the Lord,'
   Hosea vi. 3. We read that Christ grew in knowledge;' we do not read
   that he grew in grace. God's choicest saints are always bettering their
   notions of God. Moses, his first request was, Tell me thy name,' Exod.
   iv., and afterwards, show me thy glory,' Exod. xxxiii. Our fairest
   portion in heaven is the satisfaction of the understanding with the
   knowledge of God: therefore if we would have grace multiplied, it must
   be through the knowledge of God,' 2 Peter i. 2; the more shine, the
   more warmth.

   4. Growth of knowledge in the growing and increase is less sensible
   than the growth of grace, but afterward more sensible. As a plant
   increaseth in length and stature, though we do not see the progress,
   but afterwards we know that it hath grown, growth in grace is always
   cum lucta, with many assaults, and so more sensible, whereas the work
   upon the understanding is more still and silent; draw away the curtain,
   and the light cometh in without any more stir; our ignorance vanisheth
   silently, and without such strife as goeth to the taming of carnal
   affections: but afterwards it is more sensible, for we have not always
   a spiritual feeling, but the effects of knowledge are standing and
   permanent: Eph. v. 8, Ye were darkness, but now are light in the Lord.'

   5. Progress in knowledge is rather in degrees than in parts and matters
   known: I mean, it consisteth not so much in knowing new truths, as in a
   greater proportion of light; yet I say it is rather, not altogether,
   for a man may walk in present practices which future light may disprove
   and retract; but usually the increase of a Christian is rather in the
   measure of knowledge than in knowing new things; the light shineth more
   and more,' Prov. iv. I know God more, Christ more, the vanity of the
   world more, the odiousness of sin more, that is, more practically and
   in another manner than I did before; old principles are improved and
   perfected. I speak this because of the danger to which men expose
   themselves by expecting new light, keeping the soul from an
   establishment in present principles, and looking for new truths to be
   revealed to them.

   6. Of all graces we need most to grow in faith: 1 Thes. iii. 10, I
   desire to see you, that I may perfect that which is lacking in your
   faith;' Luke xvii. 5, Lord, increase our faith;' and Mark ix. 24, Lord,
   I believe; help my unbelief.' Faith is most defective; our assent is
   tremulous; our affiance weak, and faith is most assaulted. All the
   temptations of Satan tend to weaken your faith, and all other graces
   depend upon the increase of faith.

   7. Growth in parts and gifts must needfully be distinguished from
   growth in grace. Many may grow in parts that go back in grace; you can
   only discern a mere growth in parts and gifts by pride and self ends:
   Knowledge puffeth up,' 1 Cor. viii. 1. When men grow in abilities, and
   grow more proud and carnal, it is a sad symptom.

   8. The infallible signs of growth in grace are three--when we grow more
   spiritual, more solid, more humble.

   [1.] More spiritual. The growth of wicked men in spiritual wickedness
   is less debauched, but more malicious; so will our growth in grace be
   discerned by our spirituality in our aims, when our ends are more
   elevated to God's glory, &c. In our grounds and principles; as when we
   resist sin out of love to God, and as it is contrary to our purity and
   holiness, and when we are carried out against inward corruptions: such
   as the world doth not take notice of; not only against sins, but lusts
   and thoughts, for that argueth more light and more love. So when we
   regard the spirituality of duties, serving the Lord in the spirit.' So
   when we relish the more spiritual part of the word, plain and solid
   preaching, rather than such as is garish and full of the pomp of words:
   1 Cor. ii. 6, We speak wisdom among those that are perfect;; the
   trappings of an ordinance are baits to take the more carnal sort of
   hearers. Plutarch, in his treatise of growth in moral virtue, [61]
   wherein are many notable things applicable to growth in grace, saith
   that a man that hath made some progress in virtue is like a physician,
   that, coming into a garden, he doth not consider flowers for their
   beauty, as gallants do, but for their use and virtue in medicine. So he
   doth not consider speech for its fineness, but fitness and
   seasonableness to present use. The same holdeth good also in growth in
   grace; the more we grow, the more we regard the spiritual part of the
   word, and such as is of a practical use and concernment.

   [2.] More solid and judicious: Phil. i. 9, I pray God your love may
   abound more and more in all judgment.' There is a childishness in
   religion as well as nature, 1 Cor. xiii. 11, when we are led altogether
   by fancy and affection; but afterward we grow more prudent, sober, and
   solid. Growth, then, is not to be measured by intenseness and vigour of
   affection that goeth and cometh, and in the infancy of grace our
   affections are most warm and pregnant. A young tree may have more
   leaves and blossoms, but an old tree is more deeply rooted, and young
   Christians seem altogether to be made up of will and affections, and
   fervorous motions, but have less of judgment and solidity, many times
   of sincerity. [62] As men in a deep thirst take down what is offered to
   them to drink before they discern the taste of it, so acts of will
   outstart the understanding; but in old men, nature being spent, and
   through long acquaintance with religion there are not such quick and
   lively motions; the one are sick of love, have more qualms and agonies;
   the other are more rooted in love, and grow more firm, constant, solid,
   rational, and wise, in ordering the spiritual life.

   [3.] More humble; as it is a good progress in learning to know our
   ignorance; they that have but a smattering are most conceited.
   Plutarch, in the fore-mentioned treatise, tells us of the saying of
   Menedemus, that those that went to study at Athens at first seemed to
   themselves to be wise, afterwards only lovers of wisdom, then orators
   such as could speak of wisdom, and last of all, knowing nothing, with
   the increase of learning still laying aside their pride and arrogancy.
   [63] So it is with those that grow in grace by acquaintance with God:
   light is increased and made more reflective, and they are more sensible
   of their obligations to God, and so are more tender, and by long
   experience are better acquainted with their own hearts; and that is the
   reason why we have such humble acknowledgments from them. Paul, a
   sanctified vessel, yet calleth himself chiefest of sinners,' 1 Tim, i.
   15, and less than the least of the saints,' Eph. iii. 8. And Agur,
   Prov. xxx. 2, 3, Surely I am more brutish than any man; I have not the
   understanding of a man, I have neither learned wisdom, nor have the
   knowledge of the holy.' So if you did overhear the secret confessions
   of the saints to God, you would think them the vilest persons in the
   world, for so they are in their own sense and representations to God.

   9. The lowest evidences of growth in grace are longing for food, and
   being humble for want of growth. For the first, longing for food, see 1
   Peter ii. 2. Life hath a nutritive appetite joined with it, when that
   is strong it is a sign the soul is healthy, it will grow. As we say of
   children that take the dug kindly, they will thrive and do well enough.
   For the second, humble for want of growth, see Mark ix. 24, Help my
   unbelief.' It is a sign you mind the work, and are sensible of
   spiritual defects, which is a great advantage.

   10. Growth is the special fruit of the divine grace. God giveth the
   increase, 1 Cor. iii. 6. Plants thrive better by the dew of heaven than
   when they are watered by hand. Grace, that is necessary to every
   action, is much more necessary to every degree. In the text, the
   apostle doth not exhort, but pray, mercy, peace, and love be
   multiplied.' Our endeavours are necessary, as ploughing and digging are
   necessary, but the blessing cometh from above. These are the
   observations; let us now apply all.

   Use 1. Let us be earnest with God for this increase. He hath the riches
   of glory,' Eph. iii. 16, which we cannot exhaust. You honour God when
   you go for more; you want more, and he can give more; when men are
   contented with a little, it is a sign either of hardness of heart, they
   are not sensible of their wants; or of unbelief, as if God had no
   higher and better things to give us.

   Use 2. First, It showeth us how far they are from being Christians that
   care not for the least degree of grace, that do not spend a thought
   that way; these are far from the kingdom of God.

   Secondly, That are fallen back and have lost the savouriness of their
   spirits, and their delight in communion with God. Time was when they
   could not let a day pass without a duty, nor a duty pass without some
   sensible experience of God, but now can spend whole days and weeks and
   never give God a visit; time was when there could not a carnal motion
   arise, but they were up in arms against it, but now their hearts swarm
   with vain thoughts, and they can swallow gross sins without remorse;
   improvident mis-spence of time was once a great burden, but they have
   lost their tenderness, and can spend a Sabbath unprofitably and find no
   regret; their vain thoughts were wont to trouble them, but now not
   their carnal practices; duty was once sweet, but now their greatest
   bondage. Certainly, the candle of the Lord doth not shine upon them as
   it did in the months that are past.'

   Thirdly, Those that are at a stay had need look to themselves; stunted
   trees cumber the ground, and they that go on in a dead, power less
   course do hurt rather than good; lukewarm profession is but the picture
   of religion, and painted things do not grow, but keep at the same
   pitch. If a man were a Christian in good earnest, could he be contented
   with the present weakness of his faith, imperfection of his knowledge,
   with this creeping, cold way of obedience?
     __________________________________________________________________

   [35] Prostethe'setai, an additional supply, like paper and pack-tread,
   which is given over and above the bargain.

   [36] Qu. to'?--ED.

   [37] So in the angel's song, Luke ii. 19, Glory, peace, and good-will.
   All comes from good-will; that is the first cause, as God's glory is
   the last end. Under the law the first and the tenth were the Lord's;
   the beginning and ending are his.

   [38] Id agit tota scriptura, ut credamus Deum esse
   misericordem.'--Luther.

   [39] Misericordia suadet ut parcam, peccatorum clamor cogit ut
   puniam.'--Salv.

   [40] Mutat sententiam sed non decretum.'--Bradwardine.

   [41] Nisi expectaret impium, non inveniret quem glorificaret pium.'
   --Aug.

   [42] As they said, We have heard that the kings of Israel are merciful
   kings,' 1 Kings xx. 31.

   [43] Hoi me`n a'lloi ei ti` kai` e'choien lege'tosan, e'go de e` ouda,
   e`n le'go,' &c.--Chrysost.

   [44] Chemnitius observat aliter de justificatione sentire homines in
   disputationibus, quando cum hominibus sui similibus rixantur, aliter in
   meditatiouibus quando coram Deo sistuut conscientiam suam quasi causa
   dicenda esset,' &c.--Davenant. de Justitia.

   [45] Etsi non sic vixi ut pudeat inter vos vivere, etc., sed quia bonum
   dominum habeo.'--Possidius in Vita August.

   [46] So those in Matthew did not deny, but made excuse, amele'santes,
   Mat. xxii. 5. They would not take it into their care and thoughts.

   [47] Qu. peace'?--ED.

   [48] Qu. lust'?--ED.

   [49] Eodem sanguine Christi glutinati.'--Aug. Confess. de Seipso et
   Alipio.

   [50] Pax nostra bellum contra Satanam.'--Tertul. ad Martyras.

   [51] Iniqua lex est quae se exquinari non patitur.'--Tertul. Apol.

   [52] Dii multa dedere neglecti.'

   [53] See Neirembergius De Ingenio Amoris.

   [54] Domine, fecisti nos propter te; et irrequietum est cor nostrum
   donec perveniat ad te.'--Aug.

   [55] Si hic peccati pudorem, illic iuferni horrorem,' &c.--Anselm.

   [56] Eadem velle et nolle, ea demum vera est amicitia.'--Sallust.

   [57] Qu. not only'?--ED.

   [58] Minime bonus est qui melior fieri nos vult.'--Bernardus.

   [59] See Spanheim. Dub. Evang., parto 31, Dub. 135, et alius passim.

   [60] Ascendendo, non volando, ascenditur summitas scalae.'--Bernard.

   [61] See Plutarch in his treatise peri` tes prokopes ep arete.

   [62] Young men, if they know their hearts, have cause to complain of
   hypocrisy, as old men of deadness.'--Mr Thomas Goodwing in a Treatise
   of Growth in Grace.

   [63] Kataplein ga`r e'phe tou`s pollou`s epi` schole`n Athe'naze
   so'phous to` proton, eita ge'nesthai philoso'phous, eita re'toras, tou
   de` chro'nou proi'ontos idio'tas, o'so mallon a'ptontai tou lo'gou,
   mallon to` oi'ema kai` to`n tu'phon katatitheme'nous.'--Plutarchus ubi
   supra.
     __________________________________________________________________

   Ver. 3. Beloved, when I gave all diligence to write to you of the
   common salvation, it was needful for me to write to you, and exhort
   you, that ye should earnestly contend for the faith which was once
   delivered to the saints.

   The apostle, having dispatched the salutation, maketh way for the
   matter of the epistle. This verse is the preface to the whole, wherein
   he proposeth two things:--

   1. The occasion of his writing.

   2. The matter and drift of it.

   1. The occasion of writing this epistle, which was double.

   [1.] His earnestness in promoting their good, beloved, when I gave
   diligence to write to you, of the common salvation.

   [2.] The urgency of the present necessity, it was needful for me to
   write unto you, and exhort you.

   In assigning his earnestness and zeal for their good, you may take
   notice of three things, which I shall explain in their order.

   (1st.) A compellation of their persons, aga'petoi, beloved, a term
   usual in the apostles' writings: the same word is used 1 Peter ii. 11,
   and there translated dearly beloved.' It noteth not only that affection
   which by the law of nature we owe to one another, Rom. xiii. 8, nor
   that love which by the law of bounty and kindness we are bound to
   render to them that love us, Mat. v. 46, but that singular love which
   we owe to them that are one with us in Christ, which is always
   expressed by aga'pe in scripture, and we sometimes translate it
   charity, often love; the Rhemists always charity, whose tenderness in
   this point (as one observeth) is not altogether to be disallowed, lest
   it be confounded with common and impure love, expressed by e'ros; and
   charity, being a church word, is wholly free from such indifferency and
   equivocation: so here, instead of beloved, they render my dearest,
   which fitly noteth the tenderness and bowels that are in Christian
   affection.

   Doct. From this compilation observe, that Christians should be to each
   other as beloved; such dearness and entireness of affection should pass
   between them, that they may entitle one another to their bowels and
   choicer respects.

   The reasons are these:--

   1. None can have better grounds to love another. They are members of
   the same body, 1 Cor. xii. Brothers born of the same womb, living in
   the same family, have defaced all the feelings of nature, and been
   divided in interest and affection. But surely no such schism can happen
   in the same body. Who would use an arm to cut off a leg, or a hand to
   scratch out the eyes? Members care for one another.' Now this is the
   relation which Christ hath left us; he hath not only called us into a
   family, but into a body, Col. iii. 15. See the same pressed, together
   with many other uniting considerations, Eph. iv. 4-6, There is one
   body, one Spirit, even as ye are called in one hope of your calling;
   one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, who is
   above all, and through all, and in you all,' Let us a little go over
   that place. The first engagement is one body; they are wens and
   monstrous excrescences, not members, that suck all the nourishment to
   themselves. Again, one member lacking, or out of joint, is a pain and
   deformity to the whole. The next engagement is one Spirit, which in all
   other relations can only be had in fancy and imagination. Friends speak
   as if they lived by one common soul, but here it is so really; all
   believers have the same Spirit. I say in other relations, even in the
   nearest, every one is acted by his own soul; but here by one Spirit we
   are baptized into one body,' 1 Cor. xii. 13. What should divide us when
   we have the same Spirit? We have not all the same measures, and that
   occasioneth some difference; as the soul showeth itself in some members
   more than in others, though it acteth all; but the Spirit is the same.
   The next consideration is one hope. Shall not the same earth contain
   those that expect to live in the same heaven? Luther and Zuinglius,
   Cranmer and Hooper, Ridley and Saunders, shall all accord for ever in
   heaven; and certainly it is through the relics of the flesh that they
   cannot accord here. In other relations there may be divisions, because
   they have different hopes, and it may be hopes that entrench and
   encroach upon the good of each other; but here you have one heaven and
   one hope; it is all for you: there may be a difference in the degree of
   glory, but none to provoke pride or feed envy. How will bitter and keen
   spirits look upon each other when they meet in glory? It followeth one
   Lord. We are in the same family, how will you look God in the face if
   you fall a-smiting your fellow-servants?' Mat. xxiv. 45. Then one
   faith. There may be different apprehensions, and every one may abound
   in his own sense in circumstances, but the faith is the same, they
   agree in the same essentials and substantiate of religion. The enemies
   of the church, though divided in interests and opinions, yet, because
   they agree in one common hatred of the saints, can hold together.
   Gebal, and Ammon, and Amalek, and the men of Tyre, did all conspire
   against Israel, Ps. lxxxiii.; like Samson's foxes, though their faces
   looked several ways, yet were tied to one another by their tails, and
   ran together to burn up the corn-fields; and shall not the people of
   God agree, who all profess one and the same faith? The next
   consideration is one baptism; that is, one badge of profession: it was
   a cause of difference among Jacob's sons that one had a coat of divers
   colours,' a special badge of affection. Consider you are all brought in
   by the baptism of water and the use of ordinary means; none have a
   special and privilegiate call from heaven above the rest of their
   brethren. Lastly, it followeth, one God and Father of all. You all
   worship the same God; there is nothing divides more than different
   objects of worship. When one scorneth what another adoreth it is
   extremely provoking; [64] it was the plea used to Joseph, Gen. l. 17,
   Pardon the trespass of the servants of thy father's God.' Thus you see
   that we have better grounds of love than others have.

   2. None can have higher motives than the love of Christ: Eph. v. 2,
   Walk in love, as Christ hath also loved us.' The pagan world was never
   acquainted with such a motive. Now none are affected and melted with
   the love of Christ but those that have an interest in it. Therefore
   Christ expecteth more love from Christians than from others: Mat. v.
   46, If ye love them that love you, what reward shall ye have? do not
   even the publicans the same?.' The publicans were accounted the most
   vile and unworthy men in that age; but a publican would love those of
   his own party; therefore a Christian that is acquainted with Christ's
   love to strangers, to enemies, should manage his affections with more
   excellency and pureness. The world is not acquainted with the love of
   Christ, and therefore only loveth its own,' but we are acquainted with
   it, and therefore should love others. See John xiii. 34, See that ye
   love one another, as I have loved you.' Jesus Christ came from heaven,
   not only to repair and preserve the notions of the Godhead by the
   greatness of his sufferings, but to propound to us a more exact pattern
   of charity, and to elevate duty between man and man.

   3. None have a greater charge. Christ calleth it his new commandment:'
   John xiii. 34, A new commandment give I unto you, that ye love one
   another.' How new, since it was as old as the moral law, or law of
   nature? I answer--It is called new because excellent, as a new song,
   &c., or rather because solemnly and specially renewed by him, and
   commended to their care, as new things and new laws are much esteemed
   and prized; or enforced by a new reason and example of his own death.
   So 1 John iii. 23, aute e'stin e entole`, This is the commandment, that
   we should believe in him whom he hath sent, and love one another as he
   gave commandment.' It is made equal with faith. All the scriptures aim
   at faith and love;' it was Christ's dying charge, the great charge
   which he left at his death: John xv. 17, These things I command you,
   that ye love one another.' Speeches of dying men are received with most
   veneration and reverence, especially the charge of dying friends. The
   brethren of Joseph, fearing lest he should remember the injuries
   formerly done to him, they use this plea, Thy father did command us
   before he died, saying,' &c., Gen. 1. 16. Let us fulfil the will of the
   dead. When Christ took leave of his disciples, he left this as his last
   charge. Think of it when thou art bent to quarrel or to neglect others.
   Shall I slight his last commandment, his dying charge? It is made the
   character of Christ's disciples: Hereby shall all men know that ye are
   my disciples, if ye love one another.' It is as much as your
   discipleship,' &c.

   Use 1. It serveth to press you to this amity and love. Why should those
   that are to meet in the same heaven be of such an estranged heart to
   each other? Certainly it cometh from evil. In two cases God's people
   can agree well enough--in glory and in misery; in a prison, as Ridley
   and Hooper did; and in heaven, as all do; in heaven, where there is no
   sin, and in a prison, where lusts lie low, and are under restraint. Oh!
   then labour for love and meekness. To which end take a few
   directions:--(1.) Honour the least of Christ's wherever you find it. If
   any should despise others for their meanness, it would be more proper
   to God to do so than for any other, because they are most distant from
   his perfection; but he will not despise smoking flax,' Mat. xii. 20.
   You do not know what a spark of glory and of the divine nature may lie
   hid under smoke and a covert of darkness. Christ loved the young man
   that had but some accomplishments of nature in him,' Mark x. 21. Jesus
   loved him;' much more should you, when you find any weak appearances of
   Christ, though they do not come up to your measures. (2.) Let not
   difference in opinion divide you. It were to be wished that believers
   were of one heart and of one way--that they all thought and spoke the
   same thing; yet, if they differ, cherish them for what of God is in
   them. In a great organ the pipes are of a different size, which maketh
   the harmony and melody the sweeter: Whereunto we have attained, let us
   walk by the same rule, and mind the same thing,' Phil. iii. 16. Many
   men love to impropriate religion, as if there were nothing of God to be
   found but in their own sphere. It is natural to a man to do so. We
   would be singular, and engross all repute of piety, orthodoxy, and
   right worship to ourselves. (3.) Take heed of letting love degenerate
   into compliance. There is the bond of the Spirit,' Eph. iv. 3, and
   there is an unequal yoke,' 2 Cor. vi. 14; there are cords of love,' and
   the chain of antichristian interests, and you must be careful to make
   distinction, Isa. liv. 15. They shall gather, but not by me.' There are
   evil mixtures and confederacies that are not of God, which you must
   beware of, lest by joining with men you break with God, and turn love
   into compliance. The image was crumbled to pieces where the toes were
   mixed of iron and clay, Dan. ii. Love may forbear the profession of
   some truths--there is a having faith to ourselves'--but must not yield
   to error. (4.) There are some so vile that they will scarce come within
   the circuit of our Christian respect, such as are the open enemies of
   Christ, and hold things destructive to the foundation of religion: 2
   John 10, If any one bring not this doctrine, bid him not God speed.'
   Vile wretches must know the ill sense the church hath of their
   practices. Elisha would not have looked upon Jehoram, had it not been
   for Jehoshaphat, 2 Kings iii. 14. When men break out into desperate
   rage and enmity to the ways of Christ, or run into damnable errors, it
   is a compliance to show them any countenance. Thus for the
   compellation.

   (2d.) The next circumstance in the occasion is, a testification of the
   greatness of his love and care: pasan spou`den poioumenos, When I gave
   all diligence.' He speaketh as if it were his whole care and thought to
   be helpful to their faith, and therefore did watch every occasion: he
   addeth to write to you, that is a further testimony of his love, that
   he would think of them absent; to write, when he could not speak to
   them. So that here are two things:--(1.) The greatness of his love;
   (2.) The way of expressing it, by writing.

   Obs. 1. From the first, I gave all diligence, observe, that offices of
   love are most commendable when they are dispensed with care and
   diligence: it is not enough to do good, but we must do good with
   labour, and care, and diligence. See Titus iii. 14, Let ours also learn
   to maintain good works;' in the original, proistasthai kalon ergon,
   watch for good works, hunt out occasions. So Heb. x. 24, Consider one
   another, to provoke to love and good works:' it is not enough to
   admonish one another, but we must consider, study one another's
   tempers, that we may be most useful in a way of spiritual communion. So
   Rom. xii. 17, Providing for things honest in the sight of God and men,'
   pronoou'menoi, catering, contriving, as carnal men do for their lusts,
   Rom. xiii. 14. So for ministers; it is not enough for them to press
   that wherein they are most versed, or what cometh next to hand, but to
   study what will most conduce to the ends of their ministry with such a
   people: Study to approve thyself a good workman,' &c. Well, then, try
   your Christian respects by it. The spirit is most pure, not only when
   you do good, but when you do it with care and diligence. Wicked men may
   stumble upon good, but they do not study to do good; common spirits are
   moved to pray, but they do not watch unto prayer, Eph. vi. 18; that is,
   make ii their care to keep their hearts in order, and expressly to suit
   their prayer to their present necessities; many may do that which is
   useful to the church, but they do not watch opportunities, and make it
   their design to be serviceable.

   Again, let no care be grievous to you, so you may do good: I am willing
   to spend myself, and to be spent for you,' 2 Cor. xii. 15. We cannot be
   wasted in a better employment; so we shine, no matter though we burn
   down to the socket, or, like silk-worms, die in our work: Phil. ii. 17,
   If I be offered upon the sacrifice of your faith, I rejoice with you,'
   &c. The greatest pains and care, even to a maceration of ourselves,
   should not be unpleasing to a gracious heart. Certainly this is an
   expression will shame us: I gave all diligence; he sought all
   opportunities, when we will not take them. Love will put us upon
   searching out and devising ways of doing good.

   Obs. 2. This love he would express by writing when he could not come to
   them. Holy men take all opportunities to do good; present or absent,
   they are still mindful of the saints, and write when they cannot speak:
   as Ambrose alludeth to Zacharias, writing when he was stricken dumb.
   [65] A man would think that absence were a fair excuse, a writ of ease
   served upon us by providence; yet godly men cannot be so satisfied, but
   must use all helps to promote the common benefits: a willing mind will
   never want an opportunity, and they that have a heart will be sure to
   find an occasion; they give all diligence to promote others' welfare;
   and therefore use all means, take all occasions. Which showeth--(1.)
   How far they are from this temper that do nothing but by constraint. A
   ready mind' is a special qualification in an elder, 1 Peter v. 2, and a
   sure note of our reward, 1 Cor. ix. 17. But now when the awe of the
   magistrate prevaileth more than love of souls, everything is done
   grudgingly. It is Paul's advice, Be instant in season and out of
   season,' 2 Tim. iv. 2; not only at such seasons as are fairly offered,
   but where corruption and laziness would plead an excuse. Christ
   discoursed with the woman at the well when weary, John. iv. We have but
   a little while to live in the world, and we know not how soon we may be
   taken off from our usefulness; that was Peter's motive to write, 2
   Peter i. 12, 13. (2.) This showeth their sottishness that are not
   careful to redeem opportunities for themselves. Jude is studying which
   way to promote the salvation of others, and many do not look to the
   state and welfare of their own souls. Again observe:--

   Obs. 3. That writing is a great help to promote the common salvation.
   By this means we speak to the absent and to posterity; and by this
   means are the oracles of God preserved in public records, which other
   wise were in danger of being corrupted, if still left to the
   uncertainty of verbal tradition. By this means are errors more publicly
   confuted, and a testimony against them transmitted to future ages.
   Speech is more transient, but writing remaineth. So Christ telleth the
   apostles that they should bring forth fruit, and their fruit should
   remain,' John xv. 16. Apostolical doctrine being committed to writing,
   remaineth as a constant rule of faith and manners, and by the public
   explications of the church left upon record we come to understand the
   dispensations of God to every age, what measures of light they enjoyed,
   how the truths of God were opposed, how vindicated. Finally, by writing
   the streams of salvation are conveyed into every family, as a common
   fountain by so many pipes and conveyances, that in the defect of public
   preaching good supply may be had in this kind. Well, then, it is an
   acceptable service to the church which they do who can handle the pen
   of the writer,' Judges v. 14, when they send abroad a public testimony
   against error, a public monument of their affection to the truth. The
   goose-quill hath smote antichrist under the fifth rib. The Earl of
   Derby accused Bradford for doing more hurt by his writings than
   preaching. Hezekiah's servants are commended for copying out' the
   Proverbs of Solomon, Prov. xxv. 1. They deserve not to be censured, but
   commended and cherished, that do service in this kind. I confess there
   is no end of books. Pride and ambition may put many upon scribbling,
   and filling the world with chaff and vanity; so that there needeth a
   restraint rather than an incitement. Some merely blur paper, [66] which
   is no small discouragement to modest and able men. Surely care should
   be taken to prevent abuse: [67] writing is a more public way of
   teaching, and men should not undertake it without a call. Jerome's
   advice is good, Ne ad scribendum cito prosilias, et levi ducaris
   insania; multo tempore disce quod doceas (Hier. ad Rusticum
   Mohachium)--be not too hasty to write; that which is prepared for
   public instruction had need be prepared with great deliberation. The
   vestal virgins were ten years in learning, and ten years in practising,
   and ten years in teaching and prescribing directions to others. [68]
   When every sciolist will be obtruding his notions upon the world, it is
   a great abuse; for by this means useful men are discouraged, or if they
   publish their labours, they are not taken notice of, as two or three
   grains of good corn are hardly found out under a heap of chaff. But
   take away this abuse, writing is a great help to the church in
   practicals, that people may still be furnished with good books in every
   age, old ones written long ago being neglected, or lying hid in some
   private studies, or else not coming up to the rate of present light, or
   not answering the temper of the present age, not meeting with the sins,
   nor encouraging the graces within use and exercise. Again, in
   controversial there is great use of writing, controversies not being so
   easily determined by the judgment of the ear as the eye. In the clamour
   of disputations and violent discourse, usually there is such a dust
   raised, that we cannot so soon discern the truth as upon a calm debate
   and mature consideration of what is delivered in writing; which I
   remember was the cause why Tertullian wrote his treatise against the
   Jews, lest the tumult and noise of the dispute should be some prejudice
   to the truth. [69] But of this enough.

   (3d.) I come now to the next circumstance in the insinuation or
   profession of his readiness to do them good, and that is the object or
   subject concerning which he would write to them, the common salvation,
   a fit argument for saints.

   Obs. 1. The apostles, in their private and familiar letters, were very
   spiritual; yea, when they wrote about their ordinary occasions, as Paul
   to Philemon, still they were ready to impart some spiritual gift,
   whether by conference or writing. Those letters, then, should be most
   welcome to us that mind us of the best things.

   But what was this common salvation?' I suppose by it is meant that
   salvation wherein he and they and all the saints were concerned. This
   expression may be conceived to be an argument, either of the apostle's
   meekness; though he were an apostle, and they private believers, yet I
   and you have but one common salvation;' as captains, to endear
   themselves to their troops, will say, Fellow soldiers, as engaged in
   one common warfare; or else of his holiness, the common salvation;'
   that is, which I am to look after as well as you; or else of his love
   to their salvation, which he would look after as well as his own. The
   saints carry on a joint trade to heaven; they are all partners, and
   salvation lieth in common between them: you are to promote mine, and I
   yours. Well, then, he having their faith and salvation in like respect
   with his own, he was willing to write to establish them in the truth. I
   shall form the point in the very words of the text.

   Obs. That the salvation of the people of God is a common
   salvation,--not to good and bad; for it belongeth only to a peculiar
   people,--but common to all believers: it is common to them in divers
   regards.

   1. They all are chosen by the same grace; there is no special reason
   why Paul should obtain mercy rather than John, and Andrew, and Thomas.
   Free grace acteth upon the same terms. All God's motives are taken from
   himself, from his own bosom: For my own sake,' saith the Lord, Isa.
   xliii. 25. There may be a difference in the creature; John and Andrew
   may be otherwise tempered and disposed than Paul and Peter; but God's
   motives to choose both the one and the other are still the same.

   2. They have the same Christ: There is no other name under heaven,'
   Acts iv. 12; and Jesus Christ, the same yesterday, to-day, and for
   ever,' Heb. xiii. 8. In all ages the church hath been saved by Christ;
   none of the holy ones of God had a more worthy Redeemer than we have.
   Christ gave the same ransom to purchase heaven for me, and thee, and
   others: as under the law, the rich and the poor were to give the same
   ransom: Exod. xxx. 15, The rich shall not give more, and the poor shall
   not give less than half a shekel.' The price of Christ's blood for all
   souls was equal. If they had a more worthy Christ to die for them, you
   might be discouraged.

   3. You are justified by the same righteous one as far as another: The
   righteousness of Christ is unto all, and upon all that believe, and
   there is no difference.' Rom. iii. 22. In inherent righteousness, there
   is a great deal of difference; one hath more grace, and another hath
   less. In sanctification there are degrees, but as to imputed
   righteousness, they are all equal; none of the saints hath finer linen,
   or are decked with a better vesture than you are. There is a difference
   in the degree of faith, which receiveth this righteousness, but there
   is no difference in the righteousness itself. A giant or strong man
   holdeth a precious jewel, so doth a child; the jewel is the same;
   though a man holdeth it with a stronger hand, it loseth nothing of its
   worth in the child's hand. [70] So here the righteousness is the same,
   though the faith be not the same.

   4. As we have the same privileges, so the same way; all by faith; and
   the faith of the weakest as to the essential privileges is as accept
   able to God as the faith of the strongest: 2 Peter i. 1, Simon Peter to
   them that have obtained like precious faith with us.' It is like
   precious for kind, though not degree; [71] of the same nature, worth,
   and property, though every one cannot come up to the height of an
   apostle.

   5. They are all under the same rule and direction: Gal. vi. 16, As many
   as walk by this rule, peace on them, and the whole Israel of God.' The
   way of error is manifold, but there is but one path that leadeth to
   heaven.

   6. They are in one mystical body, ministering supplies to one another:
   Col. ii. 19, Not holding the head, from which all the body, by joints
   and bands, having nourishment ministered, and knit together, increaseth
   with the increase of God.' The head is the fountain of all vital
   influence, but the joints and bands do minister and convey the
   nourishments; the whole body is still increasing and growing up to
   perfection, and they are helping one another, as the members of the
   same body do continue the communion of the same spirit, or, by the
   continuity of the parts, make way for the animation and quickening by
   the same soul.

   What use shall we make of this? I answer:--

   1. It hinteth public care, that we should help salvation forward, both
   in ourselves and others; rejoice in others' faith as well as in your
   own: Rom. i. 12, Comforted by the mutual faith of you and me.' His
   faith was a comfort to them, and their faith a comfort to him; nay, out
   of an excess of love and charity, Paul useth an expression not
   imitable: Rom. ix. 3, I could wish that I were accursed from Christ for
   my brethren, my kinsmen according to the flesh.'

   2. It checketh the impropriating of grace and religion, to such an
   order or sort of Christians, such as was the ambition of former times;
   as if all religion were confined within a cloister, or wrapped up in a
   black garment; those were called religious houses, and those the
   clergy, or God's portion, all others were lay and secular. Oh! how far
   was this from the modesty of the apostles! Peter calleth the faith of
   common Christians, like precious faith;' and Jude speaketh of a common
   salvation.' So the Jews before them, they confined God's choice to
   their nation; they could not endure to hear of salvation among the
   Gentiles,' and of a righteousness that came to all, and upon all that
   believe.' We have an envious nature, and would fain impropriate common
   favours. The church of Rome would fain bring all the world to their
   lore, and confine truth and faith and salvation within the precincts of
   their synagogue; they seize upon and possess themselves of the keys of
   heaven, to open to whom they please. Now God hath broken down all pales
   and inclosures, they would fain rear up a new partition wall. Corrupt
   nature envieth that others should have a fellowship in our privileges,
   therefore the same spirit still worketh; men do so value their lesser
   differences, and that distinct way and opinion which they have taken
   up, as if none could be saved but those of their own party and
   persuasion; it is very natural to us to affix holiness to our own
   opinions, and to allow none to be good but those that jump with us in
   all things. There were factions at Corinth, and those that said, I am
   of Christ,' were counted a faction too, 1 Cor. i. 12, as arrogating
   Christ to themselves; therefore the apostle writing to them, saith, 1
   Cor. 1, 2, To the saints at Corinth, and all that call on the Lord
   Jesus Christ, theirs and ours.' We are apt to be rigid to those that
   differ from us, and to be favourable to those that think with us.
   Tertullian [72] saith of some in his time, Illic ipsum est
   promereri--it is holiness enough to be one of them. Oh! let it not be
   so among the people of God! do not nullify your brethren. Rom. xiv. 10,
   Why dost thou set at nought thy brethren? ti` exoutheneis, Tertullian
   rendereth it, Cur nullificas fratrem? When God hath made a Christian of
   him, why dost thou make nothing of him? and cry up every private
   opinion for another religion, as if none could be saints and believers
   but they that think with you? Take heed of impaling the common
   salvation; inclosures are against the law.

   3. It showeth that there are not several ways to heaven, there is but
   one common salvation' to all the elect, and one common faith,' as Paul
   saith, Titus i. 4, To Titus my own son according to the common faith.'
   There are a sort of libertines that think a man may be saved in any
   religion, so he doth not walk against his own light. Do not flatter
   yourselves; all the elect are brought to heaven the same way, whether
   Jew or Gentile, bond or free;' there is a good old way, Jer. vi. 16,
   which if we miss we are sure to perish.

   4. It informeth us who are best to deal in matters of religion; those
   that are religious, that can call it a common salvation;' that is,
   common to them with others; they have share in it, and therefore they
   can best defend it. Differences are aggravated when carnal men
   intermeddle in religious controversies, but those are likest to deal
   with most purity of zeal and love that can say your salvation is their
   salvation; so in the next verse, They turn the grace of our God into
   wantonness;' they that have an interest in grace cannot endure to see
   it abused.

   5. It forbiddeth scorn of the meanest Christian. They have as good
   hopes through grace as you have in Jesus Christ: all are one, master
   and servant, rich and poor. Onesimus, a poor runagate servant, yet
   being converted, Paul calleth him his faithful and beloved brother,'
   Philem. 10. In earthly relation there is a difference, yet in regard of
   the common faith and common salvation we are all one.

   I have now done with the first part of the occasion, his earnestness in
   promoting their good. I now come to the second part, the urgency of the
   present necessity: It was needful for me to write to you, and exhort
   you, which is said to show that this epistle was not only occasioned by
   the fervency of his own love, but the present exigence and necessity as
   affairs then stood; the school of Simon, the Gnostics, and divers other
   heretics of a like loose strain and libertine spirit, sought to
   withdraw and alienate them from the truth, for that was the necessity
   here expressed, as appeareth by the next verse. Exhortations, the more
   necessary, the more pressing; need quickens both writer and reader; and
   the less arbitrary things are, the more tho roughly we go about them.

   Obs. 1. Observe from hence, that necessity is a time for duty;
   necessity is God's season to work, and therefore it should be ours: For
   a season, if need be, ye are in heaviness,' 1 Peter i. 6. Duties are
   best done when we see they are needful and necessary; things that are
   arbitrary are done with a loose heart; the creatures' duty towards God
   begins at the sense of their own wants: James i. 5, If any man lack
   wisdom,' &c. Well, then, take this hint for prayer and other services;
   if there be a need, omit not to call upon God: as when distempers grow
   upon the spirit, the heart is unquiet, the affections unruly, a
   deadness increaseth upon you, temptations are urgent, and, too strong
   for you, cry out of violence, as the ravished virgins. So when
   conscience is incessantly clamorous, David could not find ease till he
   confessed, Ps. xxxii. 5. Silence will cause roaring, and restraint of
   prayer, disquiet. Again, if there be a need, omit not to call upon men
   by exhortation and counsel, as when you see things grow worse every
   day, and can hold no longer: the king's danger made the king's dumb son
   speak: Paul was forced in spirit when he saw the whole city given to
   idolatry,' Acts xvii. 16. When we see men by whole droves running into
   error, and ways destructive to their souls, is there not a need? is it
   not a time to speak? Men say we are bitter, but we must be faithful. So
   they say the physician is cruel, and the chirurgeon a tyrant, when
   their own distempers need so violent a remedy: can we see you perish,
   and hold our peace?

   Obs. 2. Observe again, that ministers must mainly press those doctrines
   that are most needful. It is but a cheap zeal that declaimeth against
   antiquated errors, and things now out of use and practice. We are to
   consider what the present age needeth. What use was it of in Christ's
   time to aggravate the rebellion of Korah, Dathan, and Abiram? Or now to
   handle the case of Henry the Eighth's divorce? what profit hence to our
   present auditories? There are present truths' to be pressed, 2 Peter i.
   12; upon these should we bestow our pains and care. Usually when we
   reflect upon the guilt of the times, people would have us preach
   general doctrines of faith and repentance. But we may answer, It is
   needful for us to exhort you,' &c. To what end is it to dispute the
   verity of the Christian religion against heathens, when there are many
   seducers that corrupt the purity of it amongst ourselves? In a country
   audience, what profit is it to dispute against Socinians, when there
   are drunkards, and practical atheists and libertines, that need other
   kind of doctrine? He that crieth out upon old errors not now produced
   upon the public stage, doth but fight with, ghosts and challenge the
   dead. So again, to charm with sweet strains of grace when a people need
   rousing, thundering doctrine, is but to minister cordials to a full and
   plethoric body, that rather needeth phlebotomy and evacuations. It is a
   great deal of skill, and God can only teach it us, to be seasonable to
   deliver what is needful, and as the people are able to bear.

   Obs. 3. Again, observe, the need of the primitive church was an
   occasion to complete the canon and rule of faith. We are beholden to
   the seducers of that age that the scripture is so full as it is: we
   should have wanted many epistles had not they given the occasion. Thus
   God can bring light out of darkness, and by errors make way for the
   more ample discovery of truth.

   I have done with the occasion. I come now to the matter and drift of
   this epistle, and exhort you that ye should earnestly contend for the
   faith that was once delivered to the saints; in which there is a
   necessary duty pressed; and these two circumstances are notable--the
   act and the object. (1.) The act is to contend earnestly; it is but one
   word in the original, epagonizesthai; but it is a word of a vehement
   signification, and therefore fitly rendered to contend earnestly,' (2.)
   The object of this contention, which is, the faith once delivered to
   the saints. Faith may be taken either for the doctrine of faith or the
   grace of faith; [73] both are too good to be lost, either the word
   which we believe, or faith by which we believe; the former is intended:
   faith is taken for sound doctrine, such as is necessary to be owned and
   believed unto salvation, which he presseth them to contend for, that
   they might preserve it safe and sound to future ages. Now this faith is
   described--(1st.) By the manner of its conveyance, dothei'se, it is
   given to be kept; it is not a thing invented, but given; not found out
   by us, but delivered by God himself; and delivered as to our custody,
   that we may keep it for posterity, [74] as the oracles of God in the
   Old Testament were delivered to the Jews to be kept by them, Rom. iii.
   1. (2d.) By the time of its giving out to the world: the doctrine of
   salvation was given but once, as never to be altered and changed, once
   for all. (3d.) The persons to whom, to the saints; so he calleth the
   church according to the use of the scriptures, or else by saints is
   meant the holy apostles, given to them to be propagated by them. I
   shall first speak of the object, before I come to the duty itself; and
   because the description here used will agree both to the grace of faith
   and the doctrine of faith, though the doctrine of faith be mainly
   intended, yet give me leave a little to apply it to the grace: if it be
   a diversion, it shall be a short one.

   Obs. 1. This faith is said to be given. Observe, that faith is a gift;
   so Phil. i. 29, To you it is given to believe;' umin echari'sthe, given
   freely, Eph. ii. 8, By grace ye are saved, through faith, not of
   yourselves, it is the gift of God.' We cannot get it of ourselves; a
   mere imagination and thinking of Christ's death is easy, but to bring
   the soul and Christ together requires the power of God, Eph. i. 19. We
   cannot merit it, and therefore it is a pure gift. God bestoweth it on
   them that can give nothing for it: works before conversion cannot
   engage God, and works after conversion cannot satisfy God. Well, then,
   let us admire the mercy of God in the covenant of grace. Christ is a
   gift: John iv. 10, If thou knewest the gift,' &c. His righteousness is
   a gift: Rom. v. 16, The free gift is of many offences unto
   justification;' and faith, which receiveth this righteousness, is a
   gift: so that all is carried in a way of grace; in the covenant of
   grace nothing is required but what is best owed. Again, it teacheth us
   whither to go for faith: seek it of God, it is his gift; all the
   endeavour and labour of the creature will never procure it. But must we
   not use the means of prayer, meditation, and hearing, &c.? I
   answer--Yes; for (1.) God dispenseth it in a way of means: Mark iv. 24,
   With what measure ye mete it shall be measured to you again, and unto
   you that hear more shall be given.' According unto the measure of our
   hearing, if the Lord will work, is the measure of our faith: Acts xvi.
   14, The Lord opened Lydia's heart to attend to the things spoken by
   Paul.' God stirreth up to the use of means, and whilst we are taught'
   we are drawn,' John vi. 44, 45. (2.) Though faith be God's gift, man's
   endeavours are still necessary, for supernatural grace doth not exclude
   the ordinary and natural means. Marriage is necessary for the
   propagation of mankind, though the rational soul is from God; yea, more
   care is had of women with child than of brute beasts, because the fruit
   of the womb is the immediate work and blessing of the Lord: so faith is
   of God's planting, and therefore we should be the more careful in the
   use of means.

   Obs. 2. This faith is said to be once given. This will also hold
   concerning grace; for where it is once planted it cannot be totally and
   finally destroyed; rather it is continually supplied by the care and
   faithfulness of God: see 1 Cor. i. 8, and 1 Thes. v. 24, and Phil. i.
   6. And those hypocrites that fall off after a long profession seldom
   recover themselves by repentance,' Heb. vi. 6; 2 Peter ii. 21. Well,
   then, here is comfort to the people of God, that find so many lusts and
   so many temptations. They think they shall never hold out; faith is but
   once given: where it is really given there needeth not a second gift.
   Again, here is caution. Faith is a precious jewel; if once lost
   wilfully after the knowledge of the truth, it is not easily regained.

   Obs. 3. Consider the persons to whom it is given. It is not given to
   every one;' for all men have not faith,' 2 Thes. iii. 2; and the gospel
   is hidden to those that are lost,' 2 Cor. iv. 3; but it is given to the
   saints, to those who were chosen, that they might be saints: which
   showeth--(1.) The excellency of faith; it is a privilegiate and
   peculiar mercy. (2.) That believers are saints; faith giveth an
   interest in Christ, and therefore they must needs be holy: His blood
   cleanseth,' 1 John i. 7; His Spirit sanctifieth,' 1 Cor. vi. 11. Again,
   Faith itself hath a cleansing, purifying virtue: Hearts purified by
   faith,' Acts xv. 9. Faith applieth the blood of Christ; and the hand of
   the laundress is as necessary to cleanse the clothes as the soap
   wherewith they are cleansed. Faith waiteth for the Spirit. It argueth
   from the love of God. Faith and sin are like the poison and the
   antidote, always working one upon another, till faith hath gotten the
   mastery. Well, then, is your faith sanctifying? Strong persuasions of
   an interest in grace, and a loose life, will not suit: we are not
   perfectly clean and holy, but there will be strong desires and earnest
   groans after more holiness; as Ps. li. 10, and Rom. vii. 24, Who shall
   deliver me?' &c.; that is, Oh! that I were; questions are put for
   wishes. So Ps. cxix. 5, Oh! that my ways were directed to keep thy
   statutes.' Yea, there will be not only groans under, but strugglings
   against sin. A child of God may fall into sin, but he cannot rest in it
   and lie down with ease; as mud may be cast into a pure fountain, or
   stirred up in it, but the fountain never ceaseth till it work itself
   clean again. Peter and David stepped aside, but they could find no
   peace till they were reconciled to God: I will return to my first
   husband, then it was better than it is now,' Hosea ii. Again, you may
   know it by the drift and disposition of the heart. Which way lieth the
   bent of your spirits? and what are your constant motions and
   operations? A man that is travelling another way may now and then look
   back. How is your heart inclined? Ps. cxix. 112, I have inclined my
   heart to perform thy statutes always unto the end.' Is there a constant
   inclination towards God? 1 Chron. xxii. 19, Now set your hearts to seek
   the Lord.' Is the heart set? what is your constant course and walk?
   Rom. viii. 1.

   But so much for this digression, occasioned by the suitableness of
   words to the grace of faith. Let us now come to the other acception,
   which is more proper in this place, namely, as faith is put for the
   doctrine of faith. How this was--(1.) Delivered; (2.) Once delivered;
   (3.) To the saints.

   First, Delivered, not invented; [75] it is not the fruit of fancy or
   human devising, but hath its original from God; it was delivered by him
   to holy men chosen for that purpose, and by them delivered by word of
   mouth to the men of that age wherein they lived, and by writing for the
   use of after ages: and delivered to be kept; it is a sacred depositum
   which God hath put into the hands of the church: Keep that which is
   committed to thy trust,' 1 Tim. vi. 20; and To them were committed the
   oracles of God.' Rom. iii. 2. I shall observe--(1.) The mercy of God in
   delivering this faith or rule of salvation. (2.) The duty of the church
   concerning it.

   Obs. 1. The mercy of God in delivering this faith to chosen men, that
   by their means the world might come to the knowledge of it. The
   doctrine of salvation first came out from God, and then was conveyed to
   us by the hands of holy men. We are not sensible enough of the
   privilege, Ps. cxlvii. 19, 20, He showeth his word unto Jacob, his
   statutes and judgments unto Israel, he hath not dealt so with any
   nation,' &c. It is not a common mercy, for many nations want it; nor no
   casual thing. In the primitive times not only the doctrine of the
   apostles was directed and ordered by the Holy Ghost, but also their
   journeys; the gospel came not to them by chance, but as a special gift
   from heaven. But that we may be more sensible of the privilege, I shall
   show you:--

   1. The benefit of the word. By it God's heart is opened to us, and our
   own hearts to ourselves; by it we are acquainted with the way of
   salvation, and come to understand the courses of the Lord's justice and
   mercy, and in what manner he will govern and rule the world, which are
   altogether unknown to them that have not such a revelation delivered to
   them. We should never have known the cause of our misery, our fall in
   Adam, nor the means of our recovery, redemption by Jesus Christ, if
   they had not been delivered to us in this doctrine and rule of faith;
   we should never have known how to worship God, or enjoy God. If carnal
   men should have a liberty to let nature work, and set down a divinity
   of their own, what a goodly religion should we have in the world! a
   very comely chimera no doubt! For practicals it would be large enough I
   am sure, for natural conscience hateth fetters and restraints; in
   doctrinals it would be absurd enough. Man can never take a right
   draught and image of God. Who can empty an ocean with a cockle-shell?
   And since the fall we are grown quite brutish; our conceits are not so
   monstrous in anything as in the worship of God. The pagan philosophers,
   that were most profound in the researches and inquiries of reason, they
   sat abrood, and thought of hatching an excellent religion; but what was
   the issue? Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools.' Rom.
   i. 22. All that they produced was fables and high strains of folly,
   mixed with popular rites and customs. There are many things necessary
   to religion, which the angels themselves could not have known if they
   had not been revealed, therefore their knowledge increaseth by
   observing God's dispensations to the church, Eph. iii. 10. The way of
   salvation by Christ is such a mystery as could not have entered into
   the heart of any creature, no, not of an angel. If an angel had been to
   set down which way man should be redeemed, nay, if all the cherubim and
   seraphim, thrones, dominions, and powers had met together in a synod
   and council, and had taken in all the world to their assistance, it
   would have posed them all to have found out such a way as God hath
   appointed. But not to speak of mysteries. There is in the word some
   moralities suitable to the law of nature, which was once written upon
   man's heart; but alas! now there remains only some scattered fragments
   and obscure characters, so defaced that they cannot be read; and how
   blind are we in these things without the word! Witness the sottish
   idolatry of those nations that want it, worshipping stocks or stones,
   yea, a piece of red cloth, or whatever they saw first in the morning.
   And witness those brutish customs among other nations, whereby
   uncleanness and unnatural sins have been authorised by a law.
   Therefore, it is a great mercy that something is delivered, and given
   out as a rule of faith and manners.

   2. That this tradition is written, and put into a stated course in
   those books which we call scriptures. If the revelation of God's will
   had been left to the tradition of men of such a rank or order, what a
   liberty might they take of coining oracles, and obtruding their fancies
   upon the world! It is a great mercy that our faith does not depend upon
   uncertain suggestions, but some main public records, to which all may
   appeal and find satisfaction. Heretofore the Lord revealed himself by
   visions, oracles, and dreams, to persons of eminent holiness and
   sanctity, that they might instruct others; which course was sure enough
   while the people of the world were but a few families, and the persons
   entrusted with God's message had authority and credit sufficient with
   the present age, and lived long to continue the tradition with the more
   certainty to future ages. But afterwards the Lord was pleased to speak
   to his church both by word and writing. His word was necessary for
   further revealing and clearing up the doctrine of salvation; and
   writing was necessary, because when precepts were multiplied it was
   needful for men's memories that they should be written; the long life
   of God's witnesses was lessened, corruptions began to increase, Satan
   giving out lying oracles and visions, idolatrous rites and customs
   crept into the best families, Josh. xxiv. 3, Gen. xxxi. 19; the people
   of God were grown numerous enough to make a commonwealth and politic
   body; therefore, to avoid man's corruptions and Satan's deceits, the
   Lord thought fit that we should have a written rule at hand, as a
   public standard for the trial of all doctrines. God himself wrote the
   first scripture with his own finger upon tables of stone, Exod. xxiv.
   12, and he commanded Moses and the prophets to do the same, Exod. xvii.
   14, and xxxiv. 27; which dispensation of word and writing continued
   till Christ's time, who, as the great doctor of the church, perfected
   the rule of faith, and by the apostles, as so many public notaries,
   consigned it to the use of the church in all ages. When the canon began
   to be complete, the latter apostles pressed the receiving of it; and
   John, as the last, and as one who outlived all the rest, closeth up his
   prophecy thus, Rev. xxii. 18, 19, If any man add,' &c., and if any man
   take away,' &c., which doth not only seal up the book of the
   Revelation, but the whole canon and rule of faith; which indeed was a
   great mercy to the world: the Lord knew to what a liberty we inclined
   in divine things, and therefore we needed to be tied up to a rule,
   which here is given us.

   3. The mercy of God appeareth in preserving it, that it may be
   delivered from one age to another. No doctrine so ancient as the
   doctrine of the scriptures; it describeth the whole history of the
   world from the very creation, and the original of all things. Where are
   there records so ancient? and yet they have been preserved even to our
   time. We have some ancient writings of the heathens, though nothing so
   ancient as scripture; but these are not contrary to men's lusts, and
   have been cherished by them, and yet they have felt the tooth of time,
   and are in a great measure mangled; but the word of God hath been
   maligned and opposed, and yet it continueth, and holdeth up its head in
   the world: not only the main doctrine of the scriptures hath been
   continued, but no part of the word hath been falsified, corrupted,
   destroyed: the world wanted not malice nor opportunity; the powers of
   the world have been against it, and corrupt persons in the church have
   been always given to other-gospelling, Gal. i. 6, 7; 1 Tim. vi. 3; but
   still the scriptures have been wonderfully preserved, as the three
   children in the furnace, not a hair singed, not a jot and tittle of
   truth perished.

   4. That God doth continually stir up men in the church, and be stow
   gifts upon them, for the opening and application of this faith and
   doctrine of salvation. Christ, that hath given prophets and apostles to
   the church to write scripture, hath also given pastors and teachers to
   open and apply scripture, that so still it might be delivered to the
   saints, and also to vindicate the doctrine of it when opposed. Every
   age that hath yielded the poison hath also yielded the antidote, that
   the world might not be without a witness. If there hath been an Arius,
   there hath been an Athanasius; if a Pelagius, there is also an Austin:
   the church hath never wanted help in this kind. Look, as in war, as the
   arts of battery and methods of destruction do increase, so also doth
   skill in fortification; and in the church God still bestoweth gifts for
   the further explication of truth.

   5. That the light cometh to us, and shineth in this land. The gospel is
   a great national privilege: To you is this word of salvation sent,'
   Acts xiii. 26. Pray mark, it is sent; he doth not say we have brought
   it to you, but it is sent; it is a token sent from heaven in love.
   There is a mighty providence accompanieth the gospel; the journeys of
   the apostles, as I said but now, were ordered by the Spirit as well as
   their doctrine: Acts viii. 26, The angel of the Lord said to Philip,
   Arise, and go towards the south, towards the way that goeth. down to
   Jerusalem.' They went not as their own good affection carried them, but
   according to the Spirit's direction. So Acts xvi. 7-9, The Spirit
   suffered them not,' &c., as prophecy came not by the will of man,' 2
   Peter i. 21; that is, the doctrine itself, so the delivery of it; the
   doctrine they had from the Holy Ghost, and also their commission and
   passport. You would stand wondering, and think it a special benefit, if
   in a time of drought the rain should fall on your field, and none else,
   if, as Gideon's fleece, your heritage should be wet, and all is dry
   round about you; or if the sun should be shut up to others, and shine
   only in your horizon, as it did in Goshen. This is a better blessing,
   and God hath a special hand in the progress of it; it goeth from place
   to place as the Lord will. Why should it come to us? our ancestors were
   of all nations most barbarous and portentous for their idolatries. [76]
   Why to us? No cause can be assigned but the free grace and gift of God.

   6. That it is given to us in our persons in particular in the power and
   efficacy of it. It is offered to the nation, but bestowed upon us: John
   xiv. 22, How is it that thou wilt reveal thyself to us, and not unto
   the world?' Others have only truth presented to them obiter, by the by,
   for your sakes; but you are called according to purpose.' Rom. viii.
   28. Though in the general means they have a like favour with you, yet
   you may observe the particular aim of God in continuing the gospel to
   England for your sakes.

   Use. Well, then, acknowledge God in the truths that are delivered to
   you out of the scriptures. Whatever means are used, God is the author
   of the doctrine, and the disposer of the message: receive it as the
   word of God,' and then it will profit you,' 1 Thes. ii. 13. If you had
   an oracle from heaven speaking to you on this wise, you would be more
   serious. It is as certain, yea, it is bebaioteros lo'gos, a more sure
   word,' 2 Peter i. 19, more sure than the oracle spoken of in the
   context. Regard the promises and threatenings of it with more
   reverence, as if God in person had delivered them to you. If you
   receive it as the word of God, and not of men,' what will you venture
   upon the promises of it? These are bills of exchange given you, that
   you may draw your estate into another country, that you may lay up
   treasures in heaven.' Neglect of the opportunity is a sign of unbelief.
   If one should proffer you a hundred pounds for the laying out of a
   penny, and you go away and never heed it, it is a sign you do not
   believe the offer. The recompenses of the word do far exceed all
   temporal emolument; if you do not heed them, it is a sign you do not
   believe them. So what will you forbear upon the threatenings of the
   word? If there were a law made that every time we deceive or slander
   one another, we should hold one of our hands in scalding lead for half
   an hour, men would be afraid of the offence. God hath told us that the
   wages of sin is death,' that we shall be plunged for evermore in the
   lake that burneth with fire and brimstone;' and yet it doth not deter
   us from sin, and giving offence to God. If a man were told that he were
   in danger of a cruel death every moment if he did not presently get a
   pardon, he would not sleep till it were done. Natural men are in danger
   of hell every moment by the sentence of the word, and yet how backward
   are they to make their peace with God!

   Obs. 2. The word delivered, implieth a leaving things in another's hand
   by way of trust, and so doth not only note the mercy of God, but the
   duty of the church, to whom the oracles of God are committed to be
   kept. Whence observe, that God hath delivered the doctrine and rule of
   faith to the church as a public trustee, that it may be kept and
   employed to the uses of the truth. Let us a little see what is the
   church's duty towards the truth. I answer--(1.) To publish it to the
   present age. (2.) To keep it and preserve it for ages to come. So that
   to the present age we are witnesses, to the future trustees, Isa.
   xliii. 10.

   1. To publish, own, and defend the truth, by profession and martyrdom;
   and therefore the church is called the pillar and ground of truth,' 1
   Tim. iii. 15, namely, in respect of men, and as it holdeth it forth to
   the world; and therefore we ought to hearken to the church's testimony
   till we have better evidence. We do not ultimately resolve our faith
   into the church's authority, for the church's authority is not
   absolute, but ministerial; as a royal edict doth not receive credit by
   the officer and crier, he only declareth it and publisheth it; yet the
   church's testimony is not to be neglected, for faith cometh by
   hearing.' Rom. x. 14, and this publication of the church is a good
   preparative inducement, John iv. 42. If we would know the truth of a
   thing, till we have experience we go to those that have experience, and
   ordinarily the judgment of others whom we respect and reverence causeth
   us to have a good opinion of a thing till we make trial ourselves: in
   which respect Austin saith, I had never believed the scriptures unless
   I had been moved thereunto by the authority of the church; [77] as we
   should never have known the king's pleasure unless the messenger had
   brought us his letters. The church hath not power to make and unmake
   scripture at pleasure, but only to communicate and hold forth the
   truth; and till we have further assurance, is so far to be heard. We
   receive the faith per ecclesiam, by the ministry of the church, though
   not propter ecclesiam, for the authority of the church.

   2. The next office of the church is to preserve the truth, and transmit
   it pure to the next age. As the law was kept in the ark, so was truth
   delivered to the church to be kept: 1 Tim. i. 11, The glorious gospel
   committed to my trust.' There is a trust lieth upon us; upon the
   apostles first to publish the whole counsel of God, and then upon
   pastors and teachers in all ages to keep it afoot, and upon all
   believers and members of the church to see that after ages be not
   defrauded of this privilege. We are to take care that nothing be added,
   Deut. iv. 2, and xii. 32; there is enough to make the man of God
   perfect;' nothing diminished; none of the jewels which Christ hath left
   with his spouse must be embezzled; that it be not corrupted and
   sophisticated; for we are not only to transmit to the next age the
   scriptures, those faithful records of truth, but also the public
   explications of the church in summaries and confessions must be sound
   and orthodox, lest we entail a prejudice upon those that are yet
   unborn. Every one in his place is to see that these things be
   accomplished. So much for the tradition itself.

   Secondly, Now for the manner, once delivered; that is, once for all, as
   never to be altered and changed; and when the canon or rule of faith
   was closed up, there was nothing to be added further, as a part of the
   authentic and infallible rule, though the daily necessities of the
   church do call for a further explication. But you will say, You told us
   but now how the word was many times delivered, how then once? I
   answer--The apostle speaketh not of the successive manifestations of
   God's will to prophet after prophet till the Old Testament was
   perfected, but of that common doctrine which the apostles and
   evangelists by one consent had published to the world, and which was
   now to settle into a rule, and so to remain without change till the
   coming of the Lord. Observe, that the doctrine of salvation was but
   once delivered, to remain for ever without variation. Paul chideth them
   for being withdrawn to another gospel,' Gal. i. 6; and Peter telleth
   them, to prevent the reception of feigned oracles, that they had a
   surer word of prophecy,' 2 Peter i. 19, a safe rule to trust to; and
   Paul biddeth Timothy continue in the things which he had learned,' 2
   Tim. iii. 14, 15; and our Lord saith, Mat. xxiv., This word of the
   kingdom shall be preached to all nations.' Now the doctrine of
   salvation is but once delivered--(1.) Because all is done so fully and
   perfectly, that nothing can be added; there is enough to make us wise
   to salvation,' 2 Tim. iii. 15, and what should Christians desire more?
   There is enough to make the man of God perfect,' ver. 17, that is, to
   furnish him with all kind of knowledge for the discharge of his office;
   there needeth no more; there is enough to make us wise to preach, and
   you wise to practise; and it is certain enough that you need not spend
   your time in doubting and disputing; and it is full enough, you need
   nothing more to satisfy the desires of nature, or to repair the defects
   of nature: here is sufficient instruction to decide all controversies,
   and assoil all doubts, and to give us a sure conduct to everlasting
   glory. (2.) Because this rule can never be destroyed. The word hath
   often been in danger of being lost, but the miracle of its preservation
   is so much the greater. In Josiah's time there was but one copy of the
   law; in Diocletian's time there was an edict to burn their bibles, and
   copies were then scarce and chargeable; yet still they were kept, and
   so shall be to the end of the world, for the sacraments must continue
   till Christ come,' Mat. xxviii. 20, and 1 Cor. xi. 26; and the word
   must be preached till we all grow into a perfect body in Jesus Christ,'
   Eph. iv. 12, 13; not only de jure, but de facto, not only it must be
   so, but it shall be so. Well, then, expect not new revelations or
   discoveries of new truths beside the word, which is the immutable rule
   of salvation: Hold fast till I come.' Rev. ii. 25. Again, it checketh
   them that expect new apostles, endowed with a spirit of infallibility,
   to resolve all doubts and questions. We must give heed to the
   scriptures, till the day-star arise in our hearts,' that is, till we
   have full communion with Christ; for our reward in heaven is expressed
   by the morning star:' Rev. ii. 28, To him that overcometh I will give
   the morning star.' Again, it confuteth the Familists, that dream of
   some days of the Spirit, wherein we shall have a greater light than is
   in the scriptures; they fancy the time of the law to be the days of the
   Father, the time of the gospel to be the days of the Son, and the
   latter end of the world to be saeculum Spirilus Sancti (as the
   Weigelians phrase it), the age of the Holy Ghost; but foolishly, for
   these are the last times,' Acts ii. 17, and Heb. i. 1; and the Holy
   Ghost was never more gloriously poured out than at Christ's ascension,
   and greater things cannot be revealed to us than God in Christ
   reconciling the world,' Lastly, it is for the comfort of the saints
   that their salvation is put into a stated course, and God hath showed
   you what you must do if you would inherit eternal life.

   Thirdly, The next circumstance is the persons to whom it was delivered,
   to the saints. It may be understood of the apostles, to whom it was
   delivered to be propagated; or of the church, to whom it was delivered
   to be kept, and who, in the constant use of scripture, are called
   saints. Observe, that saints are most interested in the acknowledgment,
   propagation, and defence of truth. The Christian faith was delivered to
   saints, and by saints, and none receive it so willingly, and defend it
   so zealously, and keep it so charily and faithfully as they do. (1.)
   The men that the Spirit of God made use of as penmen were holy men,'
   specially purified and sanctified for this work: 2 Peter i. 21, Holy
   men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost;' and Eph. iii.
   5, Revealed unto his holy apostles and prophets by the Spirit.' These
   men were the fittest instruments to beget an external repute to the
   word. Surely they would not do anything for their own ends, and obtrude
   their own inventions upon the world as oracles from God. A carnal man's
   testimony is liable to suspicion. Who would count that wholesome that
   cometh from a leprous hand? Yea, those that were not of eminent
   sanctity were not fit for such an employment: a novel doctrine, such as
   the gospel seemed to be in the world, needed all the advantages that
   might be, to gain a title and interest in their belief; therefore did
   the Lord make use of such holy and self-denying persons, who expected
   to gain nothing but ignominy, poverty, afflictions, bonds, death; these
   things did abide for them in every city. (2.) Holy persons are only fit
   to preach the faith; sancta sanctis, holy men for holy things; it is an
   holy faith, and therefore fit to be managed by holy persons, that their
   hearts may carry a proportion with their work: Isa. lii. 11, Be ye
   clean that bear the vessels of the Lord.' The officers that carried the
   vessels and utensils of the temple out of Babylon were to take care of
   their cleanness. God purified Isaiah when he sent him to reprove, Isa.
   vi. 7, and the priests under the law that ministered before the Lord
   were to wash in the great laver. Re generation is the best preparation
   for the ministry. Others disparage their testimony, and bring a
   reproach upon the gospel. People think we must say somewhat for our
   living, and so give us the hearing, but that is all. Oh! think of it,
   the credit of Christ lieth at stake; and since miracles are ceased, all
   the external confirmation that we can add to the word is by holiness of
   conversation. The Levites first cleansed themselves, and then cleansed
   the people, Neh. xii. 30. The life of a minister is much either to
   edification or destruction; they take the lesson rather from your lives
   than your mouths, and by your levity or vanity sin cometh to be
   authorised: in short, either your doctrine will make your life blush,
   or your life will make your doctrine blush, and be ashamed. [78] (3.)
   None are fit publicly to defend the truth but the holy; they speak with
   more power, as from the heart and inward experience, and are more
   zealous as being more nearly concerned. They that partake of God's
   nature will soonest espouse God's cause and quarrel, and their zeal is
   most pure. Carnal men pervert religious differences; they change the
   nature of them, turning them into a strife of words, or a contention
   for interests; matters are not managed so purely as when there is
   conscience on both sides. The saints contend best for the saints'
   faith: We can do nothing against the truth, but for the truth,' 2 Cor.
   xiii. 8. Zeal in carnal men is like fire in straw, quickly up and
   quickly down; but in the godly, it is like fire in wood, longer kept:
   Wisdom is justified of her children,' Mat. xi. 19; they are fittest to
   interpose. Again, false zeal is most passionate, without pity and
   meekness; but the flame is most pure and bright in a holy heart, which
   is subdued to the power of truth. (4.) None receive the truth so
   willingly as the saints do. Holy persons can best understand what was
   written by holy men, they pierce into it more deeply; as iron that is
   red hot runneth further into the board than a sharp tool that is cold.
   God unbosometh himself to his familiars, Ps. xxv. 14; John vii. 17.
   Holy hearts are not clouded with the mists of lusts and interests.
   Where there is purity there is brightness; mou ka'tharsis e'llampsis
   (Nazi. Orat. ut memini 40); the mind being separated from gross things,
   is fitted for the reception of spiritual mysteries. Paul saw most of
   God when he was blind to the world; the heart being taken off from the
   world, is erected to things supernatural and of a higher cognisance.
   (5.) None retain the truth more firmly than the saints do. Manna was
   kept in a golden vessel, and so is truth in a pure soul: 1 Tim. iii. 9,
   Holding the mystery of faith in a pure conscience.' Holiness doth not
   blunt the wit, but sharpen; none have a worse spiritual sight than they
   that lack grace, 2 Peter i. 9. An unclean vessel soureth the liquor
   that is put into it; so doth a carnal heart pervert the faith and taint
   the judgment. Let a man once be given up to some great lust, and you
   shall soon find him to be given up to some roaring error also; and when
   once they come to make shipwreck of a good conscience,' they do not
   long hold the faith that was once given to the saints, for grace and
   truth always thrive together.

   I come now to the main observation that is to be drawn from these
   words.

   Doct. That it is the duty of Christians in times of error and
   seducement to contend earnestly for the faith once given to the saints.
   It is their duty at all times, but then especially--(1.) That we may
   not discredit ourselves and the truth. (2.) That we may not hazard
   ourselves and the truth.

   1. Let me first speak to the discredit, and there I shall show--(1.)
   That truth is honoured by a bold and resolute defence of it. We are not
   ashamed of it, though it be questioned and scorned in the world: Mat.
   xi. 19, Wisdom is justified of her children.' Neither John's doctrine
   nor Christ's doctrine would relish with the world, yet some had a
   reverent opinion of it for all that: Ps. cxix. 126, 127, They make void
   thy law, therefore I love it above pure gold.' In times of defection
   our love to God and the ways of God should be the greater; as fountain
   water is hottest in coldest weather. It was an honour to the Christian
   religion that the primitive professors were glad of an occasion to die
   for it, [79] and the more it was despised and persecuted, the more did
   they own it; falsehoods cannot endure the brunt of opposition. (2.)
   That we may not dishonour ourselves, and discredit our own profession.
   He is but an ill servant of Christ that will not serve him when the
   Lord hath need of him;' when God distinguisheth sides, and crieth out,
   Who is of my side, who?' Exod. xxxii. 26. Times of error and seducement
   are searching, trying times. Light chaff is carried about with every
   wind, but the solid grain lieth still upon the ground: The approved are
   made manifest,' 1 Cor. xi. 19. There is a time not only to show love,
   but valour: Jer. ix. 3, They are not valiant for the truth upon the
   earth.' To be valiant for truth is to defend it in time of opposition,
   and to sparkle so much the more in a holy zeal because they pervert the
   right ways of the Lord. A Christian must have a heart as well as a
   liver; not only love the truth, but contend for it, and the more
   earnestly the more it is opposed. The apostle saith that a bishop must
   hold fast the word of truth,' Titus i. 9, antecho'menon. The word
   signifieth a holding it fast against a contrary force; as when a man
   seeketh to wrest a staff out of another's hand, he holdeth it the
   faster.

   2. The next reason is, that we may not endanger and hazard ourselves
   and the truth. (1.) That we may not endanger ourselves. It is good to
   be able to defend religion when it is questioned; ignorant, secure, and
   careless spirits will certainly miscarry. Present truths and present
   errors have an aspect upon our interests; we must determine one way or
   another. Now how easily are they carried away with interests that have
   no principles, no i'diou ste'rigmou, 2 Peter iii. 17, no proper ballast
   in their own spirits! Therefore let us strive to know the truth, to own
   the truth in a time of trial; it is needful. All errors and heresies
   are but men's natural thoughts gotten into some valuable opinion,
   because backed with the defences of wit and parts. What are all the
   learned disputes against the truth, but the props of those vulgar
   misprisions and gross conceits that are in the heart of every natural
   and ignorant man? We have all a heretic in our bosoms, and are by
   nature prepared to drink in all kinds of errors and lies, and therefore
   we are said, Ps. lviii. 3, to speak lies from the womb,' because these
   things are in our natures. We are born Pelagians, and Libertines, and
   Papists. [80] As in the new nature there is a cognation and proportion
   between us and truth, so in the old nature there is an inclination to
   all manner of errors. Luther saith, Every man is born with a pope in
   his belly. And Mr Greenham hath a saying, that if all errors, and the
   memorials of them, were annihilated by the absolute power of God, so
   that there should not the least remembrance of them remain, yet there
   is enough in the heart of one man to revive them again the next day.
   Certainly whatever is suggested from without doth very well suit with
   the carnal thoughts that are in our own bosoms. Look upon any error or
   blasphemy that is broached in the world, and you will find it true. Is
   atheism vented? The fool hath said in his heart, There is no God,' Ps.
   xiv. 1. Gentilism, or the doctrine of many gods? So do we set up many
   gods; whatever we fear or love, that we worship: Whose god is the
   belly,' Phil. iii. 19. Every man naturally is a pagan and idolater.
   Pelagian tenets, wherein original sin is denied, are natural. Common
   people think they had ever a good heart towards God: All these have I
   kept from my youth,' Mat. xix. 20. Chance and fortune, in a
   contradiction to God's decrees, are a man's natural opinions. So the
   doctrine of works and merit is in every man's heart. What question more
   rife, when we begin to be serious, than What shall I do?' A ceremonious
   ritual religion is very pleasing to carnal sense; conjectural
   persuasions is but a more handsome word for the thoughts of ignorant
   persons; they say they cannot be assured, but they hope well. Doctrines
   of liberty are very suitable also to corrupt nature: Cast away the
   cords,' Ps. ii.; and Who is lord over us?' Ps. xii. 4. Nay, all sins
   are rooted in some error of judgment, and therefore they are called
   errors,' Ps. xix. 12. Well, then, for our own caution we had need stand
   for the truth, because error is so suitable to our thoughts; now when
   it spreadeth further, it is suitable also to our interests, and then we
   are in great danger of being overset. (2.) That we may not hazard the
   truth. When errors go away without control, it is a mighty prejudice
   both to the present and the next age: The dwellers upon earth' rejoiced
   when God's witnesses were under hatches, and there was none to contest
   with them, Rev. xi. 10. Fools must be answered, or else they will grow
   wise in their own conceit,' Prov. xxvi. 4, 5. Error is of a spreading,
   growing nature, therefore it is not good to retreat and retire into our
   own cells from the heat and burden of the day; let us stand in the gap
   and make resistance as God giveth ability. Two motives will enforce
   this reason:--(1.) The preciousness of truth: Buy the truth and sell it
   not.' It is a commodity that should be bought at any rate, but sold by
   no means, for the world cannot bid an answerable price for it. Christ
   thought it worthy his blood to purchase the gospel; by offering up
   himself he not only procured the comfort of the gospel, but the very
   publication of the gospel; therefore we should reckon it among our
   treasures and choicest privileges, and not easily let it go, lest we
   seem to have cheap thoughts of Christ's blood. (2.) The trust that is
   reposed in us for the next age, that is an obligation to faithfulness.
   We are not only to look to ourselves, but to posterity, to that
   doctrine which is transmitted to them; one generation teacheth another.
   And as we leave them laws and other national privileges, so it would be
   sad if we should not be as careful to leave them the gospel: Our
   fathers told us what thou didst in their days,' Ps. xliv. 1. Every age
   is to consider of the next, lest we entail a prejudice upon them
   against the truth. What cometh from forefathers is usually received
   with reverence: A vain conversation received by tradition from your
   fathers,' 1 Peter i. 18. If you be not careful you may sin after you
   are dead; our errors and evil practices being continued and kept afoot
   by posterity. All the world had been lost in error and profaneness, if
   God had not stirred up in every age some faithful witnesses to keep up
   the memory of truth. There is in man a natural desire to do his
   posterity good; love is descensive. Oh! consider, how shall the
   children that are yet unborn come to the knowledge of the purity of
   religion, without some public monument or care on your part to leave
   religion undefiled? Antichrist had never prevailed so much if men had
   thought of after ages; they slept, and unwarily yielded to encroachment
   after encroachment, until religion began to degenerate into a fond
   superstition, or bundle of pompous and idle ceremonies; and now we see
   how hard it is to wean men from these things, because they have flowed
   down to them in the stream of succession, and challenge the authority
   and prescription of ancient customs. Look, as sometimes the ancestor's
   guilt is measured into the bosom of posterity, because they continued
   in their practices, Mat. xxiii. 35, That upon you may come all the
   righteous blood,' &c.; so many times the miscarriages of posterity may
   justly be imputed to us, because they shipwrecked themselves upon our
   example: The fathers ate sour grapes, and the children's teeth are set
   on edge.' Well, then, let us perform the part of faithful trustees, and
   keep the doctrine of salvation, as much as in us lieth, pure and
   unmixed.

   Use. It presseth us to this earnestness of contention and zeal for the
   truths of God. We live in a frozen age and cursed indifferency hath
   done a great deal of mischief. Christians! is error grown less
   dangerous, or the truth of religion more doubtful? Is there nothing
   certain and worth contention, or are we afraid to meddle with such as
   shroud themselves under the glorious name of saints? We will not oppose
   saints, and so let the truth' go that was given to the saints, to be
   kept by them. Oh! my brethren, Paul withstood Peter to the face when
   truth was like to suffer, Gal. ii. 11. So should we with stand them to
   the face rather than make such sad work for the next age, and leave our
   poor babes to the danger of error and seduction. What is become of our
   zeal? There is none valiant for the truth upon the earth.' Prejudices
   and interests blind men so that they can not see what they see, and are
   afraid to be zealous, lest they should be accounted bitter. We have
   been jangling about discipline, and now doctrine itself is like to
   escape us. In the name of God let us look about us. Are there not
   crafty thieves abroad that would steal away our best treasure, and in
   the midst of the scuffle cheat us and our posterity of the gospel
   itself. We have been railing at one another for lesser differences, and
   now we begin to be ashamed of it. Satan hopeth that error and blasphemy
   itself shall go scot-free. Ah! my brethren, it is time to awake out of
   sleep. Whilst we have slept the enemy hath come and sown tares. What a
   tattered religion shall we transmit to ages to come; if there be not a
   timely remedy! To help you I shall show:--

   1. What we must contend for.

   2. Who must contend, and in what manner.

   1. What we must contend for. For every truth of God, according to its
   moment and weight. The dust of gold is precious; and it is dangerous to
   be careless in the lesser truths: Whosoever shall break the least of
   the commandments, and teach men so to do,' &c., Mat. v. 19. There is
   nothing superfluous in the canon. The Spirit of God is wise, and would
   not burden us with things unnecessary. Things comparatively little may
   be great in their own sphere, especially in their season, when they are
   the truths of the present age, and now brought forth by God upon the
   stage of the world, that we may study his mind in them. Better heaven
   and earth should be blended together in confusion, saith Luther, than
   one dust of God's truth should perish. [81] If the Lord call us out to
   the defence of them, what ever cometh of it we must be faithful. A man
   may make shipwreck of a good conscience in small matters. Say not, It
   is a little one, and my soul shall live.' Hearken to Satan, and this
   will be a little one, and that shall be a little one, till we have
   littled away all the principles of faith. I tell you, the world hath
   counted those small things for which the children of God have ventured
   their all. It is your duty to take the little foxes,' Cant. ii. 15. The
   first appearances of error are many times modest. There is a chain of
   truths; the devil taketh out a link here and a link there, that all may
   fall to pieces. See 2 Thes. ii. 2, Let no man deceive you with such
   doctrine as that the day of Christ is at hand.' Why? They might say
   there is no great danger in that. Peter saith, The end of all things
   draweth nigh,' 1 Peter iv. 7. The seducers said, ene'steke, it is at
   hand;' and Peter saith, e'ngike, it draweth nigh.' Here is no great
   difference. Ay! but be not shaken in mind, saith Paul, neither by
   letter nor by word nor by spirit, as if the day of the Lord were at
   hand;' that is, take heed of such suggestions, under what pretence
   soever they are brought to you, either of revelations or collections
   from my doctrine; it is all a falsehood. Why is Paul so earnest?
   Because Satan had an aim to make them look for the sudden coming of
   Christ, which not happening accordingly, to make them fall
   a-questioning all the truths of God. [82] So Gen. iii. 3, Ye shall not
   eat nor touch lest ye die.' That was Satan's repetition. Whereas God
   had said, Gen. ii. 17, Thou shalt surely die.' No great difference, but
   Satan got a great deal of advantage by it. Therefore be not ignorant of
   Satan's devices.' The Council of Nice would not gratify Arius in a
   letter, [83] and Nestorius in a letter. [84] The lesser truths are not
   to be slighted in their time and place; they deserve an earnest
   contention. The martyrs were not foolish nor prodigal of their lives;
   they knew what they did when they durst not give place for a moment.

   All this is not spoken to justify undue rigours, such as are without
   any temper of Christian moderation, or those frivolous controversies
   about trifles, such as have no foundation in the word; as about the
   observance of Easter between the eastern and western churches, which
   difference grew so high that they excommunicated each other; or about
   celebrating the Lord's Supper with leavened or unleavened bread; or the
   fierce bickerings between Chrysostom and Epiphanius about Origen's
   books, set on by Theophilus, in pursuit of which many were slain, the
   senate house pulled down, and the great church at Constantinople set on
   fire; nor to justify mere verbal strifes about words and names,'
   forbidden by the apostle, 2 Tim. ii. 14; 1 Tim. vi. 4. Vainglorious
   men, if they can get but a different method of expression, cry, No new
   light, and so there is a great deal of noise stirred up about a
   mistake. Nor to justify the breaking of church fellowship and
   communion, and making rents in the body of Christ, because of
   difference of opinion in smaller matters, when we agree in the more
   weighty things. We are to walk together as far as we are agreed,' Phil.
   iii. 16; and externals wherein we differ, lying far from the heart of
   religion, are nothing to faith and the new creature, wherein we agree,
   Gal. v. 6, and vi. 15. The most weight should be pitched upon the
   fundamentals and essentials of religion; and when there is an agreement
   there, private differences in smaller matters should not make us break
   off from one another. False zeal is unevenly carried out to these lower
   things, both in opinion and practice; and usually young professors are
   eager upon disputes, impatient of contradiction, and lay out all their
   strength this way, to excuse their care in the more weighty matters of
   Christianity; whereas the kingdom of God doth not stand in meat and
   drink, but in peace and righteousness and joy in the Holy Ghost.' Rom.
   xiv. 17. The itch of disputing and zeal for an opinion, rather than
   religion in the main, are bad characters. Again, when men, though in
   the right, think there is no religion or holiness but within the
   compass of such an opinion, this is censorious rigour, or to be
   righteous over-much,' Eccles. vii. 17; or when a lesser dissent is
   loaded with all the odious consequences that you can fancy in your
   thoughts, though disclaimed by the party dissenting; when Eloi is
   turned into Elias, and things are perverted by a misinterpretation, as
   Christ's words were, John ii. 19, compared with Mat. xxvi.
   61;--briefly, when men upon every small occasion draw all things to
   extremity, and break out into contumely, revilings, persecution, biting
   and devouring one another, [85] it is not zeal, but fierceness and
   brutish immoderation. Therefore, all this excepted, it standeth us upon
   to be zealous even to sufferings for the lesser truths, that we may
   prevent the further encroachments of Satan, and antichrist, his eldest
   son, upon the liberties and privileges of the saints.

   But now, besides the lesser things, there are fundamentals and
   essentials in religion, which challenge the choicest of our care and
   zeal, that they may be kept entire and without violation; the ignorance
   of them is damnable, and the denial heretical: to determine what they
   are is an undertaking of great concernment to the Christian world, but
   of too high a nature for the present exercise. I shall only mention a
   few points which seem to be en pro'tois, matters concerning the
   foundation; as the creation of the world by God in six days out of
   nothing, God's providence, man's misery by sin, deliverance by Christ,
   the necessity of the new creature, the resurrection of the dead, and
   the everlasting recompenses. These are points of the greatest moment,
   though I cannot but say that others also are fundamental; [86] but
   these come to mind as being of the most practical concernment.

   2. Who must strive, and in what manner. I answer--All in their place,
   and in that way that is proper to them.

   [1.] Private Christians must have a share in this holy contention;
   their duty is partly--(1.) To search out the truth, that they may not
   fight blindfold, or by an unhappy mistake lavish out their zeal upon
   fancies which they affect, or ordinances and doctrines of men. People
   are never so furious as when they have least ground and reason for what
   they assert; yea, and error never prevaileth so much as when Christians
   are all flame and affection without judgment, and do not understand the
   reasons of that religion which they do profess. See 1 Peter iii. 15, A
   reason of the hope that is in you;' and 2 Peter iii. 17, i'dion
   ste'rigmon, their own steadfastness;' that is, such a steadfastness as
   doth arise from solid grounds in their own hearts, and not merely from
   the consent of others. (2.) To own the profession of the truth,
   whatever it cost them. I say, it is their duty to own the profession of
   the truth; for the public owning of the people it is a great let and
   restraint to tyranny, and such innovations as otherwise a carnal
   magistrate would introduce into the church by force and power. See Acts
   iv. 21, they let them go because of the people; so Mat. xiv. 5, and
   xxi. 46. And again, I say they must own it whatever it cost them, for
   zealous defences are a great honour to the truth. The disputations of
   the doctors do not commend it to the world so much as the death of the
   martyrs; and therefore, though you cannot dispute for the truth, yet
   you should die for the truth: Ye have not yet resisted unto blood,'
   &c., Heb. xii. 4. We cannot be at too much cost to preserve so precious
   a treasure to posterity. And here even women may put in a share; they
   have lives to sacrifice upon the interest of the truth, and usually
   they do not fall in vain. [87] (3.) To honour the truth by their
   conversations: there are heretical manners as well as heretical
   doctrines; and-there are many that are otherwise of an orthodox belief,
   yet make others sectaries and disciples of their vices: some live
   atheism; there are Antinomians in practice; an apostate is a practical
   Arminian. Therefore Christians are called to hold forth the word of
   life' in their conversations, Phil, ii. 16; and to make the doctrine of
   God the Saviour comely,' Titus ii. 10, by glorifying God in that course
   of life to which they are disposed. To preach and write for the truth
   doth not honour it so much as to walk in the truth,' 3 John 4; and the
   life is a better witness of the reality of religion than the tongue.
   [88] (4.) To comprise all in a few words, whatever maketh for the
   truth, either with God or men, all that must the people do: We can do
   nothing against the truth, but for the truth,' saith Paul, 2 Cor. xiii.
   8. To God you must pray, that he would send forth not only labourers,
   but champions, Mat. ix. 38; not only such as can handle the trowel, but
   the sword in the battles of the church. To men, you are to quicken
   those that have gifts to look to their duty in this kind: [89] Say to
   Archippus, Take heed to thy ministry which thou hast received in the
   Lord,' Col. iv. 17. Many may be stirred up by your exhortations, that
   otherwise would lie useless in idleness and privacy: in the battle the
   trumpeter hath his use as well as the soldier. Neither are they to be
   admonished only, but assisted; and by that means you have an interest
   in the glory of the work: 3 John 8, We ought to receive such, that we
   may be fellow-helpers to the truth;' su'nergoi, co-workers; your
   helping hand is to the action, and God will not be unmindful of it:
   yea, if you bear any part of the toil, by performing any labour of love
   to them, it shall turn to a good account in the day of the Lord.
   Hezekiah's servants did but copy out the proverbs, and it is mentioned
   to their praise, Prov. xxv. 1. All this may be done by persons of a
   private gift and station.

   [2.] There is something that the magistrate may do: He is the minister
   of God for good.' Rom. xiii. 4; not only for good civil, but spiritual;
   and therefore doth the apostle bid us pray for them, that they may be
   keepers of both the tables: 1 Tim. ii. 2, That we may lead a quiet life
   under them, in all godliness and honesty.' Heathens have asserted, that
   it belongeth to the magistrates' duty chiefly to look after matters of
   religion; [90] much more is it evident by the light of Christianity.
   The kings of the Old Testament are commended for their zeal in this
   kind; and in the times of the gospel it is prophesied that kings shall
   be the church's nursing fathers, and queens her nursing mothers,' Isa.
   xlix. 23, which they cannot be if they suffer poison to be given to
   God's little ones without any let and restraint. It is a clear truth
   that if a man give up himself to Christ, he is to give up himself to
   him in every relation; his wit, wealth, parts, authority, all to be
   laid out for the use and service of Christ: he that doth not give up
   all, giveth nothing; we are to be Christ's in every capacity. Therefore
   a magistrate as a magistrate must not only countenance religion, but
   also discountenance error, and hinder the spreading of it within his
   charge. It is by Christ that kings reign,' Prov. viii. 15, from him
   they received their power, and to him must they give an account of the
   exercise of it in the great day of recompenses; therefore they are
   bidden to be wise and to kiss the Son,' Ps. ii. 10-12, which certainly
   noteth more than a negative act or not opposing: there must be
   something positive, a zealous defence of the truth in their way, or
   else God will reckon with them. Those Gallios that are indifferent to
   Christ and antichrist cannot expect a long and happy reign. I cannot
   see how they can be true to civil interest unless they be careful for
   the suppression of error; for when false doctrines are freely vented,
   it is to be supposed they will find a general reception, for the most
   are the worst; and then, when the generality of a nation are corrupted,
   national judgments will not long be kept off, the whole body is sure to
   smart for it; for, as the Jewish proverb is, two dry sticks will set a
   green one on fire. Besides that error is masterly and bloody, and
   loveth to give law; therefore, ere it be too late, they should look to
   the civil peace, for if men be quiet, God will not, when his honour and
   truth and worship is neglected. But of this more hereafter.

   [3.] Ministers are to contend for the truth, for by their office and
   station in the church they are captains of the people in this war
   against Satan and his adherents; therefore it is required of them that
   they should be able to handle the sword and the trowel; not only to
   exhort by sound doctrine,' but to convince the gainsayers,' Titus i. 9.
   These are pi'stoi a'nthropoi, 2 Tim. ii. 2, The faithful men,' the
   feoffees in trust, to whom truth is committed; they are the salt of the
   earth, Mat. v. 13, those that must season the world with gracious
   principles; therefore they must above all others labour in the defence
   of the truth, otherwise they are compared to dumb dogs that bark not'
   when the thieves come to steal away the treasure, Isa. lvi. 10, 11. Now
   ministers must contend, partly by preaching, warning the people of the
   wolves that are abroad, Acts xx. 29; partly by disputing, Acts xv. 2,
   and xviii. 28, that by the knocking of flints light may fly out, and
   that truth may beat its enemy hand to hand in the open field; and
   partly by writing, [91] for many times disputes are carried on with so
   much tumult and popular noise, that truth is lost in the crowd;
   besides, by this means we are a help to posterity, that, together with
   the poison, the antidote may be transmitted to them.
     __________________________________________________________________

   [64] Summus utriusque Inde furor vulgo, quod numina vicinorum Odit
   uterque locus.'--Juvenal.

   [65] Zacharias, cum loqui non potuit, scripsit.'

   [66] Scribunt doctique indoctique poemata passim.'--Juvenal.

   [67] Councils have thought it worthy their care, vide Canones
   Apostolorum (ut vocant), Can. 60.--Synod. Dordrec. Consilia de
   corrigendis typographiae abusibus.--Sess. 222.

   [68] Eis te`n me`n pro'ten dekati'an a` chre dran mantha'nousi, ten de
   me'sen a' memathe'kasi drosi, ten de tri'ten ete'ras autai`
   dida'skousi.'--Plutarchus in Vita Numcae.

   [69] Alternis vicibus contensioso fune uteque diem in vesperam
   traximus, obstrepentibus etiam quibusdam spectantibus, singulorum
   nubilo quodam veritas obumbrabatur.'--Tertul. contra Judaeos.

   [70] Gemmam annulo curvo inclusam amplectitur et gigas, amplectitur et
   puerulus. Licet gigas fortius eam amplectatur quam puerulus, tamen
   manet annulus aeque preciosus et gemma aeque preciosa.'--Luther.

   [71] Fides una et eadem, non respectu subjectorum graduum sed respectu
   objecti finis.'

   [72] Tertul. in Praescrip adversus Haereticos.

   [73] Fides est duplex, fides quae creditur, et fides qua creditur.'

   [74] Aliquid tibi traditum, non a te inventum; aliquid quod accepisti,
   non exagitasti,' &c.--Vincentius Lyrinensis.

   [75] Quod tibi creditum, non a te inventum; quod accepisti, non
   excogitasti.'--Vinc. Lyrinensis.

   [76] Monstra diabolica colebant, AEgyptiaca uuuc numero
   vincentia.'--Gildas.

   [77] Non crederem scripturae nisi me ecclesiae moveret
   auctoritas.'--Aug.

   [78] Erubescit quamvis praeclara doctrina quam propria reprehendit
   conscientia.'--Hieron. in Epitaph. Marcellae.

   [79] Quid ergo malum in Christiana religione, cujus reus gaudet,
   accusatio votum est, et poena felicitas.'--Tertul.

   [80] Pelagiani omnes nascimur et cum supercilio pharisaico.'--Spanheim.

   [81] Potius ruat coelum quam pereat una mica veritatis.'--Luther.

   [82] Ne forte cum transisset tempus quo eum credebant esse venturum, et
   venisse non cernerent, etiam caetera fallaciter sibi promitti
   arbitrantes et de ipsa mercede fidei desperarent.'

   [83] Homoou'sios and omoiou'sios.

   [84] Theodo'chos and theoto'kos.

   [85] As Rivet said of Montague, Non potest ille quenquam a quo
   dissentit vel in levissimis sine convitiis nominare.'--Riveti Apol. pro
   Sanctissima Virgine Maria.

   [86] There are divers other fundamentals of the highest nature, as the
   mystery of the Trinity, into which we are baptized, the union of the
   two natures in the person of Christ, that the scriptures are the word
   of God, &c.

   [87] Ipsae foeminae sunt nobiscum in eadem confessionis gloria
   constitutae.'--Cyp. Mart. Cum triumphantibus viris et foeminae veniunt,
   quae cum saeculo dimicantes sexum quoque vicerunt.'--Cyp. Serm. de
   Lapsis.

   [88] Efficacius eat vitae quam linguae testimonium.'--Bernard.

   [89] Gladiatores perfectissimos non tantum magistri et praepositi sui,
   sed etiam idiotae et supervacui quique adhortantur de longinquo, ut
   saepe ab ipso populo dictata suggesta profuerint.'--Tertul ad Mart.

   [90] To` peri` theion epime'leia,' &c.--Arist. Polit., lib. vii. cap.
   8.

   [91] Alternis vicibus contentioso fune uterque diem in vesperam
   traximus, obstrepentibus etiam quibusdam spectantibus, singulorum
   nubilo quodam veritatis obumbrabatur.'--Tertul. contra Judaeos.
     __________________________________________________________________

   Ver. 4. For there are certain men crept in unawares, who were before of
   old ordained to this condemnation; ungodly men, turning the grace of
   our God into lasciviousness, and denying the only Lord God, and our
   Lord Jesus Christ.

   Jude having made way into their affections by a salutation, which,
   according to the wont of the apostles, breatheth out spiritual and
   heavenly wishes for their good, he doth in the third verse exhort and
   engage them to a constant defence of the truth; and now the necessity
   or occasion of such an exhortation is declared, namely, because false
   teachers were got abroad, and had slyly taken up the general name and
   profession of Christians; therefore in faithfulness he could not choose
   but warn them of the danger.

   The whole epistle is spent in the description of heretics, their sins
   and punishments. In this verse they are described by four things:--(1.)
   By their entrance into the church, certain men crept in unawares. (2.)
   By their condition before God, who were before of old ordained to this
   condemnation. (3.) By the disposition of their spirits, ungodly men.
   (4.) By the course of their doctrines and conversations; where two
   things are charged upon them:--(1st.) Abusing the gospel, turning the
   grace of our Lord into lasciviousness. (2d.) Denying Jesus Christ in
   his nature and offices, denying the only Lord God, and our Lord Jesus
   Christ.

   First, Let us begin with the description of their entrance into the
   church, there are certain men crept in unawares. Some say they are not
   named, as not being worthy, or rather, it not being necessary, they
   being so plainly described; and indeed it is usual with apostles, who
   rather dealt against things than persons, to suppress the name, and
   describe the error or sin. But what is the meaning of this first thing
   laid to their charge, they crept in unawares'? I answer:--

   1. It may imply their entrance into the church under a colour and show
   of profession. Wicked men may creep into the best church; God
   permitteth it not only for their own hardening, but for our trouble and
   trial. Paul complaineth of false brethren privily brought in to spy out
   their liberty,' Gal. ii. 4; and the adversaries of Jerusalem, said,
   Ezra iv. 1, Let us build with you, for we seek your God as ye do;' but
   it was with an intent to hinder the work: so Simon Magus got to be
   baptized, Acts viii., as thieves seek to be entertained in the house,
   that they may have the more opportunity to work mischief whilst the
   good-man is asleep. Learn hence to be more watchful in admissions to
   the church: no perils so great as those occasioned by false brethren.
   We think to fill the church, but we do but fill the house with thieves:
   wicked men ever prove a trouble. It is an easy matter to fill the
   church by remitting the rigour and severity of discipline; but heaven
   is never the fuller, but the emptier, for wicked men are hardened and
   confirmed in their own security; and the church never fareth the
   better, [92] it loseth in strength what it gets in breadth, as a river
   doth, and zeal is lessened the more the number is increased: yea,
   wicked men usually prove a trouble, and we come to wish afterward we
   had been more strict. It is said, Acts v. 13, 14, Of the rest durst no
   man join himself unto them, but the people magnified them, and
   believers were the more added unto the Lord, multitudes both of men and
   women.' It is spoken upon the occasion of the sudden death of Ananias
   and Sapphira; it terrified the hypocrites, but brought in more sound
   believers; for of the rest durst no man join,' that is, of such as
   Ananias and Sapphira were, believers in show, but carnal in heart; they
   saw it was not dallying with God in such matters. Just so when the
   church keep a strait hand, hypocrites dare not join, but sound
   believers will the sooner, and then the church, though it be a lesser
   body, it is more sound, healthy, and active. But what rule must we go
   by? we must go by outward and general profession. I answer--This place
   will give us some direction. As far as we can discern men, so far may
   we judge of them; for the entrance of these men is here declared to be
   clancular and surreptitious: if the church had known them, or looked to
   them so warily as it should, the mischief had been prevented.
   Bellarmine [93] himself confesseth, that the intention of the church is
   only to gather believers into a body, and if it knew the wicked and
   unbelieving, it would either not admit them, or being admitted by
   chance, it would cast them out. It is good to be strict, lest by
   promiscuous admissions we bring in such a mischief to the church as we
   cannot easily get rid of.

   2. It may note their intrusion or invasion of the office of preaching;
   presuming without a warrant, or coming into the fold not by the door,
   in the regular established way, false teachers usually running unsent;
   it is often charged upon them in the scriptures: none so prone to
   errors as those that have a defect in their calling. Christ, when he
   prayeth for a blessing on the apostles' labours, he useth that as an
   argument, John xvii. 18, I have sent them into the world.' They that
   are loath to submit their gifts to public approbation draw a just
   suspicion upon themselves. How came they to you? did they creep in? or
   were they solemnly admitted? When elements are out of their place they
   breed confusion. When men are out of their place they are not a
   blessing but a mischief to the church.

   3. The two former senses may be allowed, but I rather prefer a third;
   their creeping into the people's hearts and affections by plausible
   pretences and insinuations, instilling their errors drop by drop before
   they could be observed, and pretending themselves to be friends of
   truth and piety. I do prefer this sense, partly because he saith only
   crept in, without mentioning either church or office; but chiefly
   because this epistle is but the abridgment of the second epistle of
   Peter, as will easily appear to those that do compare them. Now, there
   it is said, 2 Peter ii. 1, They shall privily bring in damnable
   heresies, denying the Lord that bought them.' From this sense
   observe--That false teachers use to varnish over and mask the face of
   error with plausible pretences, that unawares we may take it into our
   bosoms. The apostle speaketh of their sleights and cunning craftiness,'
   Eph. iv. 14. Their sleights and pretences are many; I shall touch upon
   a few. (1.) Sometimes greater strictness: Col. ii. 18, Which things
   have a show of wisdom, and neglect of the body;' rigorous observances
   and outward mortifications, as the Papists do. (2.) Special meekness:
   Ravening wolves in sheep's clothing,' Mat. vii. 15, as if they were all
   for love and kindness. [94] Absalom stole away the people's hearts by
   this artifice, 2 Sam. xv. 2. (3.) Higher gospel strains; therefore doth
   Paul speak so much against the other gospel,' Gal. i. 3, and the other
   Jesus,' 2 Cor. xi. 4, namely, such a one as they had set up. (4.)
   Self-denial; as some false teachers at Corinth would take no
   maintenance to disgrace Paul, see 2 Cor. xi. 12, &c.; this was their
   glorying, that they would preach freely; and whereas they contributed
   to the relief of Paul, to them it needed not. (5.) Greater learning,
   and notions of a newer and more sublime strain: Oppositions of science
   falsely so called,' 1 Tim. vi. 20, Platonic speculations, un grounded
   subtleties. (6.) Greater favour and liberty to nature: They promise
   liberty, and allure through the lusts of the flesh,' 2 Peter ii. 18,
   representing the faithful ministers of Christ as envying the
   contentment of your natures, and burdening you with exactions too
   rigorous; therefore the apostle saith, I am afraid lest any through
   subtlety beguile you, as the devil did Eve,' 2 Cor. xi. 3. How was
   that? I answer--By insinuating a kind of envy in God, as if he did
   begrudge them the perfection and freedom of their natures: Gen. iii. 5,
   God knoweth that your eyes shall be opened,' &c. So they think others
   are too strict, and lay too many restraints upon your carnal desires,
   and by this means allure many loose and unstable souls. (7.) Many times
   pretending the defence of that truth which they secretly impugn; as
   Pelagius talked altogether of grace, and Faustus Rhegiensis, pretending
   to oppose the Pelagians, did but more covertly own their cause. [95]

   Uses of this point are divers. (1.) For information; it showeth us the
   reason why we cannot set down the precise beginning of errors, because
   they are privily brought in. Mystery is written in the whore's
   forehead, Rev. xvii. 5; the leak is not espied many times, though the
   ship be ready to sink. The originals of heresy are like the fountain of
   Nile, obscure and hidden; a man may lose himself in the labyrinth of
   antiquity before he can find them out. The Roman apostasy is a mystery
   of iniquity, that stole into the church disguised and by degrees, [96]
   so that the beginning of it is not so easily stated as of other
   heresies that are full grown at their first appearance. (2.) It
   informeth us of the odiousness of error; it dareth not appear in its
   own colours, nor be seen in its own face; therefore Satan, when he
   would set any error on foot, he maketh choice of the most subtle
   instruments, that they may put a varnish upon it; as when he tempted
   Eve, he made use of the serpent, the most subtle of all the beasts of
   the field,' Gen. iii. 1, whereas the Lord chooseth the plainest
   instruments, and hath commanded them to use all simplicity and godly
   sincerity,' 2 Cor. i. 12, for truth is so lovely in itself, that it
   needeth no borrowed colours. (3.) It informeth us what reason those
   that are over you in the Lord have to press you to caution; excuse
   their holy jealousy,' 2 Cor. xi. 2, all is but need. We must bark when
   we see a wolf, though in a sheep's garment; our silence and negligence
   doth but give them an advantage: Whilst the husbandman slept, the enemy
   came and sowed tares,' Mat. xiii. 25. (4.) It presseth you to skill and
   watchfulness; you had need be sound in the faith, that you may discern
   between good and evil, yea, to have your senses exercised,' Heb. v. 15.
   A soft credulity is soon abused: Prov. xiv. 15, The simple believeth
   every word.' There is no reason but knowledge should cost us pains as
   well as gracious conversation. It is a matter of great skill to be a
   thorough Christian; there is a great deal of sophistry and cunning
   about. If you follow the cry, you are in danger of engaging in a
   confederacy against God; if you stick to received customs, there may be
   error there too. If you run after every novelist on the other hand, you
   will soon be led into the bogs of error and profaneness; therefore go
   to him for direction that hath the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.
   But you need not only skill, but care and watchfulness. It is not good
   to drink too freely of suspected fountains; let not your affections
   surprise your judgment; we admire the persons, the gifts, and so easily
   swallow the doctrine: Try the spirits,' 1 John iv. 1; 1 Thes. v. 21.
   When there is counterfeit gold abroad, we use the touchstone. Truth
   loseth nothing by being tried, and you lose nothing, for then your
   affections are better grounded: Prove all things.' No man is
   infallible; an implicit faith begets but a fond affection.

   Secondly, These seducers are described by their condition before God,
   who were before of old ordained to this condemnation, palai, of old,
   that is, from all eternity, for so the matter here spoken of imports;
   progegrammenoi, we translate it before ordained, but the word
   signifieth written as in a book; it is usual in scripture to compare
   God's decrees to a book; as Christ, alleging God's decree for his
   mission into the world, saith, Ps. xl. 8, In the volume of thy book it
   is written of me.' The meaning of the metaphor is to show that these
   decrees are as certain and determinate as if he had a book wherein to
   write them. Now, these are said to be written before of old,' to show,
   that though they crept in unawares as to the church, yet not as to God;
   they fell under the notice of his decrees before ever they acted in
   this evil way. It is further added, that they were ordained or written
   down in God's book, eis krima, for judgment' or condemnation;' the word
   is in different to either sense, for krima is often put for katakrima;
   thus it is to be taken here for condemnation, appeareth by that place
   of Peter, haireseis tes apoleias, damnable heresies,' 2 Peter ii. 1,
   and ver. 3, Whose damnation of a long time slumbereth not;' as he saith
   here, of old ordained to this judgment.' The meaning of the whole is,
   that they were such as were left to themselves, to bring upon
   themselves by their own sins and errors a just condemnation.

   Obs. 1. That the object of the divine decrees are not only men's ways,
   but men's persons. He doth not only say that their condemnation was
   pre-ordained, but they also were ordained of old to this condemnation.
   I observe this, because many say that God's decrees do only respect
   actions and the events; we see they respect persons also; we have no
   cause to mince matters when the scriptures speak up to the point so
   fully and roundly.

   Obs. 2. Again, from that ordained, or forewritten, observe, God hath
   his books and registers, wherein the persons, behaviours, and eternal
   estates of all men are recorded. At the day of judgment these books
   shall be opened, Rev. xx. 12. Therefore it should be our care to be
   able to read that our names are written in the book of life,' than
   which there cannot be a greater privilege, Luke x. 20. And it presseth
   caution; all that we do standeth upon record: our speeches, Mal. iii.
   16, 17; our thoughts, 1 Cor. iv. 5; our actions, Jer. xvii. 1.

   Obs. 3. Again observe, that in all those things which appertain to the
   judgment of sinners, God doth nothing rashly, but proceedeth by
   foresight and pre-ordination.

   Obs. 4. Again, no man ever perverted the truths of God but to his own
   loss. They were ordained to this judgment, that is, that by their sins
   they should come to such a ruin. We play with opinions, but do not
   consider that damnation is the end of them; the way of truth is the way
   of life, but error tendeth to death.

   These things might be observed, but I shall rather pitch upon two
   points: one particular, and restrained to the scope of the context; the
   other general, as being taken from the consideration of the expressions
   in their full latitude. The first is:--

   Obs. 5. That heresies and errors do not fall out by chance, but
   according to the certain pre-ordination and foreknowledge of God. There
   are two reasons for it:--Nothing can come to pass without his will, and
   nothing can come to pass against his will. (1.) Not without his will.
   If a sparrow cannot fall to the ground without our heavenly Father,
   Mat. x. 29, that is, cannot be taken and slain without the will of God,
   then certainly nothing can be imagined which God did not foresee, or
   which he could not have hindered. There is nothing so small but the
   Lord taketh cognisance of it; nothing so evil but he turneth it to
   good. Exempt anything from providence, and you weaken that respect
   which is due from the creatures to God. If Satan may do what he will,
   and God only be a looker-on, then the devil-worship of the heathens
   would seem more rational; it was their custom first to appease the
   angry gods, lest they should hurt them, and then to invoke the
   propitious. Upon this doctrine we might fear the devil and carnal men,
   though God be propitious; for many things are done whether he will or
   no. (2.) Not against his will; for then God should make a creature too
   hard for himself. Things may be against his revealed will, for that is
   a rule to try the creatures; but not against his secret will, for that
   would make God impotent and weak. Things that are most against his
   revealed will yet fall under the ordination of his secret will; and
   whilst men break commandments they fulfil decrees. His revealed will
   showeth what should be done, his secret will what will be done.
   Briefly, the concurrence of God in and about the errors of men may be
   conceived in these things:--(1st.) He denieth grace and light, which
   might direct and sanctify; he is debtor to no man, and may do with his
   own according to his good pleasure, Mat. xx. 15. He is not bound to
   give grace to all, and therefore it is no prejudice to his goodness to
   pass by some. (2d.) He leaveth difficulty enough in the word, that men
   who will not be satisfied may be hardened: Mark iv. 11, 12, All these
   things are spoken in parables, that seeing they might see and not
   perceive;' that is, for a punishment of their wilful blindness and
   hardness. Corrupt nature stumbles in God's plainest ways; the word is
   clear enough to them that have a mind to understand it, and yet
   difficult enough to them that have a mind to harden themselves into a
   prejudice. Non periclitor dicere (saith Tertullian), ipsas scripturas
   ita dispositas esse, ut materiam subministrarent hereticis. So the Lord
   himself saith, Jer. vi. 21, Behold I will lay stumbling-blocks before
   this people;' that is, suffer them to stumble at their own prejudices.
   (3d.) God leaveth them to follow the course of their own hearts; he
   doth not incline and compel their wills, or infuse evil to them, only
   suffereth them to follow the carnal bent and corrupt ambition of their
   own hearts: Hosea iv. 17, Let him alone;' 1 Kings xxii. 22, Go forth
   and do so;' Ps. lxxxi. 12, I gave them up to their own counsels;' he
   hindereth not their wickedness; yea, permitteth it, that so his wise
   counsels may take place. (4th.) God ordereth it for good, thereby
   bringing great advantage to his own name: Exod. ix. 16, For this cause
   have I raised thee up, to show in thee my power;' great shakings and
   tumults discover much of God to the world; the devil picketh out the
   most polished shafts in all the quiver of mankind; and yet still the
   Lord maintaineth the lot of his inheritance. Yea, God doth not only
   advance his name, and discover the glory of his providence, in
   protecting the church, notwithstanding Satan's factors, and the
   abettors of his cause and kingdom, but also causes the truths that are
   questioned to shine the more brightly, as being more strongly
   vindicated and asserted, as a torch shineth the brighter when it is
   waved with the wind. Such times put men the more upon the study and
   love of truth, doctrines not being taken up upon trust, but sound
   conviction; besides error being permitted manifests the approved,' 1
   Cor. xi. 19, as a quick smart wind separateth the solid grain from the
   chaff; and it is a means to engage our dependence upon God for
   knowledge and instruction. Christ's prophetical office would lie idle
   and useless were not the chains of consent sometimes broken, and the
   language divided, some saying one thing, some another, as the
   difference between the Jews and the Samaritans about the place of
   worship maketh the woman to go to Christ for satisfaction, John iv. 20.
   Once more, God's permission of error conduceth to the just ruin of his
   enemies: Offences must be, but woe be to that man by whom they come,'
   Mat. xviii. 6, 7. So 1 Sam. ii. 25, Eli's sons would not hearken to the
   voice of their father, because the Lord had a mind to slay them.' By
   their own voluntary sins God bringeth them to their just ruin and
   condemnation. God lets them alone to wanton and play away their own
   salvation; if they will turn seekers, familists, ranters, atheists, let
   them alone.

   Uses. The point may be applied many ways. (1.) Here is comfort to those
   that regard the affairs of Sion; all the confusion and troubles that
   are in the church are ordered by a wise God; he will bring some good
   issue out of them, some glory to his name, wherein the saints rejoice
   as much as in their own welfare; some good to the church. Observe, hast
   not thou been more confirmed in the truth? engaged to a more frequent
   recourse to Christ, in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and
   knowledge? Hast thou not seen more of God's providence displayed by
   these tumults? &c. (2.) It checketh fear; it is all in the hands of a
   good God; as God trieth you to see what you will do, so you must wait
   upon God to see what he will do: let him alone; in and by all he will
   bring forth his work in due time. (3.) It showeth their wickedness that
   take occasion to turn atheists from the multitude of errors. When the
   church is rent into so many factions, men fool it, as if there were no
   God, and the whole gospel were but an imposture and well-devised fable;
   that is the reason why Christ prayeth, John xvii. 21, Let them be
   perfect in one, that the world may know that thou hast sent me,' i.e.,
   that they might not suspect me for an impostor. Usually we find that
   thoughts of atheism are wont to haunt us upon these occasions; but
   there is little reason for it, for all these things are foreknown by
   God, foretold by God: they must be,' 1 Cor. xi. 19; Mat. xxiv. 6. And
   never is there so much of God and of the beauty of truth discovered as
   when errors abound; so that if there were not errors there would be
   more cause of suspicion; where all things run with a smooth and full
   consent, and were never questioned, then the strength and worth of them
   is not tried. But the words of the Lord are pure words, as silver tried
   in a furnace of earth, purified seven times: thou shalt keep them, O
   Lord, thou shalt preserve them from this generation,' Ps. xii. 6, 7.
   (4.) It is a ground of prayer in times of delusion: Lord, this was
   ordained by thee in wisdom, let us discern thy glory in it and by it
   more and more. The church argueth that there was not only Pilate's
   malice and Herod's malice, but God's hand and counsel,' in the
   crucifixion of Christ: Acts iv. 28, To do whatsoever thy hand and
   counsel determined be fore to be done: Lord, we know there is thy
   counsel in it, and thy counsel still tendeth to good, &c. God loveth to
   be owned in every providence, and to be entreated to fulfil his own
   decrees. (5.) It informeth us what a foolish madness it is to think
   that God seeth not the sin which we secretly commit: surely he seeth
   it, for he foresaw it before it was committed; yea, from all eternity.

   Obs. 6. So much for the first point, the next is, That from all
   eternity some were decreed by their sins to come unto judgment or
   condemnation. Because this is one of the texts which divines bring to
   prove the general doctrine of reprobation, I shall here take
   occasion--(1.) To open this doctrine; (2.) To prove it; (3.) To
   vindicate it; (4.) To apply it. In the first, you will understand the
   nature; in the second, the reasons; in the third, the righteousness; in
   the fourth, the profit, of this decree.

   1. I shall open the nature of it in several propositions. (1.) It is an
   eternal decree. God's internal acts are the same with his essence, and
   therefore before all time, as believers are elected before all worlds,'
   Eph. i. 4. So are sinners reprobated; they are both in time and order
   before ever the creature was: Rom. ix. 11, Before the children had done
   either good or evil, it was said, Jacob have I loved, and Esau have I
   hated.' Election and reprobation are not a thing of yesterday, and
   subsequent to the acts of the creature, but from all eternity. (2.)
   There is a decree and pre-ordination, not only a naked foresight of
   those that perish. Some Lutherans say that predestination is proper
   only to the elect; but as to the reprobate, there is only a prescience
   or naked foreknowledge: no pre-ordination, lest they should make God
   the author of the creatures' sin and ruin. But these men fear where no
   fear is; the scriptures show that the greatest evil that ever was did
   not only fall under the foreknowledge, but determinate counsel of God,'
   Acts ii. 23; it was not only foreknown, but unchangeably ordained and
   determined. (3.) This decree of God is founded in his own good-will and
   pleasure; for there being nothing higher and greater than God, it is a
   great error to suppose a cause of his will, either be fore it, above
   it, or without it. God's actions do all begin in himself, and his will
   is the supreme reason: Mat. xi. 26, Even so, Father; because it seemed
   good in thy sight.' Jesus Christ would give no other reason why the
   gospel was hidden from the wise and prudent, and revealed unto babes.'
   We are often disputing why, of two men that are equal in misery, the
   one should be taken, the other left; why the Lord will show mercy to
   some that are no less unworthy than others; but when we have all done,
   we must merely rest in the will and good pleasure of God: Even so,
   Father,' &c.; see Rom. ix. 18, He hath mercy on whom he will have
   mercy, and whom he will he hardeneth;' it is not from the foresight of
   our wills receiving or rejecting grace proposed, for then man's will
   would be made a superior cause to an act in God. (4.) In this matter of
   reprobation, preterition and pre-damnation must be carefully
   distinguished. Look, as in election, God hath decreed to bestow first
   grace and then glory; to to the decree of giving grace preterition is
   opposed, to the decree of giving glory, ordination unto judgment. Now
   God's preterition or passing by is merely and barely from the good
   pleasure of God. But pre-damnation presupposeth consideration of the
   creatures' sin; both these parts of the decree are clearly set down in
   the word--preterition, or passing by: Rev. xvii. 8, Whose names were
   not written in the book of life, from the foundation of the world;' so
   again Rev. xiii. 8. In other places you have pre-damnation expressed,
   as 1 Thes. v. 9, appointed unto wrath,' and here, ordained to this
   judgment,' (5.) Those who are passed by, or not written in God's book,
   never attain to saving grace; it is not given to them: Mat. xiii. 11,
   To you it is given to know the mysteries of the kingdom, but to them it
   is not given.' Yea, it is said to be hidden from them:' Mat. xi. 25;
   they may have common gifts, or be under such a common work of the
   Spirit as leaveth them without excuse; but because the Lord hath passed
   them by, effectual grace is not given to them, without which they
   cannot believe and be saved: John x. 26, Ye believe not, because ye are
   not of my sheep;' that is, not elected of my Father. Saving grace
   runneth in the channel of election; so Acts xiii. 48, As many as were
   ordained to eternal life believed.' God's special gifts are dispensed
   according to his decrees. (6.) Men being left of God, and destitute of
   saving grace, freely and of their own accord fall into such sins as
   render them obnoxious to the just wrath and vengeance of God: Rom. xi.
   7 The election hath obtained, and the rest were hardened;' freely and
   of their own accord they turned all things to their own judgment and
   ruin: so Rev. xiii. 8, The dwellers on earth did worship the whore,
   whose names were not written in the book of life;' that is, they turned
   aside to antichristian defilements and pollutions. (7.) God's decree
   concerning such persons is immutable; it is not rescinded and
   disannulled, but is fully executed and accomplished in the damnation of
   the sinner. The Lord's counsels are all unchangeable, both as to
   election, 2 Tim. ii. 19; Heb. vi. 17, and as to reprobation; no
   reprobate can be an elect person, nor an elect person a reprobate: Job
   xii. 14, He shutteth up a man, and there can be no opening;' and Job
   xxiii. 13, He is in one mind, who can turn him?' In God's books there
   is no putting in and crossing out of names; but as the number of the
   elect is definite and certain, they cannot be more, and they cannot be
   less; so also of the reprobate. (8.) This eternal, irrevocable purpose
   of God of leaving sinners to themselves, that by their sins they may
   come to judgment, is for God's glory: Rom. ix. 22, What if God, willing
   to show his wrath and to make his power known, endured with much
   long-suffering the vessels fitted to destruction?' All God's decrees,
   works, providences, tend to the further discovery of himself in the eye
   of the creatures.

   2. Let me prove that there is such a decree by scripture, for reason
   here hath no place. Take here three that are most full: the first is 1
   Thes. v. 9, God hath not appointed us to wrath, but to obtain salvation
   by Jesus Christ,' which plainly implieth that some are appointed unto
   wrath. The second is 1 Peter ii. 8, where the apostle speaketh of some
   that were disobedient and refused Christ, whereunto also they were
   appointed.' The third place is Prov. xvi. 4, God made all things for
   himself, and the wicked for the day of evil.' The drift of that place
   is to show that both creation and predestination were for God's glory,
   and he instanceth in that part of predestination which concerneth the
   wicked, because it is hardest to be digested and believed.

   But now for the reasons why God hath chosen some, and appointed others
   by sin to come unto judgment. I can only tell you that God's judgments
   are past finding out.' Rom. xi. 33. We must admire, we cannot search
   them to the bottom. So far as God hath revealed his will we may clearly
   judge that it is for the discovery of his justice and mercy, neither of
   which could have been discovered to the world with that advantage, had
   it not been for this double decree of God, to save some and leave
   others to their own ruin. If grace were given to all, how should the
   world know that God were free? Again, if all were pardoned, how should
   the world know that God were just? In election, God discovereth the
   freeness of his grace, Eph. i. 6. It is love that we enjoy grace,
   elective love that we enjoy it alone. In reprobation God discovereth
   his sovereignty, and by it the severity of his justice and power of his
   wrath, Rom. ix. 22. In choosing one and leaving another, there God
   discovereth his liberty, and that he doth not act out of servile
   necessity; and his severity in the eternal pains of them that perish in
   their sins.

   3. Let me vindicate this doctrine, which in the eyes of some seemeth to
   blemish the justice of God, to infringe the comfort of man, yea, to
   abolish the duty of man; therefore it needeth a little clearing. Reason
   cannot easily digest this strong meat, partly because we are apt to
   reprehend what we cannot comprehend; partly because this doctrine
   checketh carnal ease and security, which is usually fed with a general
   hope and presumption that the God that made us will save us, that he
   will not damn his creatures, but is merciful to all, &c.; now this
   awakeneth us, when we hear that grace floweth in a narrower channel;
   partly because aspiring man is loath to submit to this absolute lord
   ship and sovereignty of God, that he should dispose of his creatures
   according to his own pleasure: our ambition is to be autexou'sioi,
   lords of ourselves. Man, that would be as God, taketh it ill to be as a
   beast made to be taken and destroyed.' Upon all these prejudices man is
   loath to receive this doctrine, therefore it needeth to be cleared.

   [1.] In regard of God, that you may not pollute and stain his
   excellency with impure and prejudicial thoughts. You will say, Is God
   just, that only upon his will and pleasure ordaineth his creatures to
   condemnation? Have not the reprobate cause to complain, if he hath
   passed a decree upon which their condemnation doth infallibly follow? I
   answer--(1.) Our understandings are not the measure of God's justice,
   but his own will. Things may be just, though the reasons of them do not
   appear to us: human reason groweth giddy by peeping into the deep of
   God's decrees; our work is not to dispute, but wonder. God's freedom is
   a riddle to reason, because though we will not be bound to laws, yet we
   are willing God should be bound. God's actions must not be measured by
   any external rule; things are good because God willeth them, for his
   will is justice itself. (2.) The electing of some and passing by of
   others is not an act of justice, but dominion; for he doth not act here
   as a judge, but as a lord; it is a matter of favour, not of right and
   wrong. Condemnation of a man for sin, or punishing a man for sin, is an
   act of justice; but to have mercy, or not to have mercy, that dependeth
   merely upon God's will, otherwise it would follow that God were a
   debtor unto man. Justice supposeth debt, or something due; no wrong is
   done them in not giving grace: the elect can speak of undeserved grace,
   and the reprobate of deserved punishment. When we are not bound to do
   good, if we act according to pleasure there is no injury, as in
   invitations, preferments, and all acts of favour. We cannot endure that
   a right should be challenged. The good-man in the parable pleaded, I
   may do with mine own as it pleaseth me,' Mat. xx. 15. The Lord may
   justly challenge grace as his own, and therefore leave him to his
   pleasure in the distribution, for he is bound to none. (3.) God's not
   giving grace to the reprobate is not their sin, but their misery;
   preterition made them miserable, but not sinful: it doth not infer a
   coaction and compulsion to sin; sin followeth upon it not as an effect,
   but a consequent; as upon the absence of the sun darkness doth
   necessarily follow, and yet the sun is not the cause of darkness. In
   grace God purposeth, God worketh; in sin God ordereth the sin, and
   maketh use of it to the glory of his justice. But man sinneth freely:
   the water, while it runneth its own course, serveth the end of the lord
   of the soil, in driving mills, and bringing fish into his ponds, and
   overflowing his meadows, &c. So God causeth not sin in any, only
   permitteth it and endureth it, and serveth his righteous ends of it:
   Rom. ix. 22, He endureth with much long-suffering the vessels of wrath
   fitted for destruction.' He prepareth the vessels of mercy, as the
   apostle there expresseth, but endureth the vessels of wrath while they
   fit themselves for ruin. (4.) Sin is the cause of punishment, though
   God's will is the cause why they are passed by. They are not punished
   because not elected, but because not obedient: Wherefore doth a living
   man complain but for his sins?' Lam. iii. 39. It is here as it was in
   that case. David gave order to Solomon that Joab and Shimei should not
   die in peace,' 1 Kings ii. 6-9. Yet David's order was no cause of
   Joab's death, but his own treason, nor of Shimei's death, but his own
   flight. God never damneth the creature, or decreeth to damn it, without
   respect of sin. God's will is the cause of preterition, his justice is
   the cause of pre-damnation, for damnation is an act of punitive
   justice. God is so just that he doth not condemn any but for sin; so
   gracious, that he doth not condemn every man that doth sin. (5.) The
   formal and proper end of God in reprobation is not the eternal
   destruction of the creature, but the discovery of his own justice or
   glory, promoted or shining forth in and by that destruction. In
   election God desireth and effecteth the salvation of a sinner in a
   subordination to his own glory; but in preterition, God endureth a
   sinner with much long-suffering, till, by his own destruction, he
   bringeth to him the glory of his justice: Ezek. xxiii. 11, As I live,
   saith the Lord, I desire not the death of a sinner;' so Ezek. xviii.
   32, Have I any pleasure at all, that the wicked should die;' the
   meaning is, God doth not will these things with such a will as is
   terminated in the destruction of the creature, but only ordereth them
   in a subordination to his own glory; or, in plainer terms, God
   delighteth not in the destruction of a sinner, as it is the destruction
   of the creature, but as it is the execution of justice. In the
   execution of a malefactor there is a difference between punishment and
   destruction; his punishment is of the judge, his destruction is of
   himself; so in this case, Thy destruction is of thyself, O Israel,'
   Hosea xiii. 9.

   [2.] Concerning the second objection, whether it doth not infringe our
   comfort, and discourage men from looking after their salvation? If I am
   elected, I shall be saved, if I am not elected, I shall be damned: thus
   many men plead. They say, And how will you stir up the negligent and
   encourage the distressed, supposing that doctrine which you have laid
   down?

   I answer--(1.) This scruple is but affected, not offered, and therefore
   should be chidden, and not answered: a questioning God's secret will,
   when we know his revealed. God's secret will hath relation to his own
   actions, his revealed will to ours. We must not look to God's will in
   the depths of his counsel, but his precepts: not what God will do
   himself, but what he will have us do. God saith, Believe in Christ, and
   thou shalt be saved;' that is our rule. A physician offereth cure to
   all that will come; it were a madness to dispute away the opportunity,
   and say, I do not know whether he intendeth it to me. If men were ready
   to perish in the deep waters, and a boat should be offered to carry to
   land as many as would come in it, to be making scruples when we are
   ready to be drowned, whether this help be intended to us, yea or no,
   were a very fond thing: in such cases we would not wrangle, but
   thankfully take hold of what is offered. (2.) This doctrine can be no
   ground of despair to any, because reprobation is a sealed book; no man
   for the present can know his reprobation, nor is to believe himself to
   be a reprobate, but is called upon to use the means that he may be
   saved. He is no reprobate that falleth into sin, but he that
   persevereth in sin unto the end. Therefore it is no good conclusion, I
   am a sinner, therefore I am a reprobate; it is midnight, therefore it
   will never be day. This is a book sealed with seven seals; none but the
   Lamb can open it. (3.) The opposite opinion is encumbered with more
   difficulties and scruples. What comfort can a man have in universal
   redemption? A man can not have solid comfort in that which is common to
   good and bad, to those that shall be damned, and those which shall be
   saved; all comfort ariseth from a practical syllogism. Now make the
   practical syllogism according to the principles of universal grace:
   Christ died for all men; I am a man, therefore for me; where humanity,
   or being a man, is made the ground of claim and interest; and then,
   unless with Puccius and Huberus, we hold universal salvation, as well
   as universal redemption, the argument will yield no comfort. How can I,
   according to that opinion, comfort myself in the death of Christ, when
   men may be damned that have an interest in it? (4.) As to the other
   part of this objection, concerning the profit of this doctrine, and
   whether it doth not take off men from industry: so some have thought.
   But I answer--No; for (1st.) God hath enjoined the end and the means
   together: Except ye [97] abide in the ship, ye cannot be saved,' saith
   Paul to them that sailed with him: a decree was passed for their
   safety, that not a man of them should perish; yet they must abide in
   the ship. God doth infallibly stir up the elect to the use of means, as
   well as bring to such an end. (2d.) The right use of the doctrine of
   reprobation is to put us upon examination or diligence; upon
   examination whether we believe in Christ, or have truly repented, that
   we may make our calling and election sure,' 2 Peter i. 10, for by this
   means is the sealed fountain broken open. Or upon diligence; in case
   you find no fruits of elective love, pray, read, hear, meditate, wait,
   work out your salvation, &c. (3d.) The doctrine of election is of great
   use in the spiritual life; without it we cannot understand the freeness
   of God's love, which is the great means to quicken us to praise God,
   and to beget love to God again; for as fire kindleth fire, so doth love
   beget love. It is God's glory to be served out of love and free
   consent; the devil ruleth his slaves by a servile awe. Well, then, if
   love set love awork, and the best sight of God's love be in God's
   decree, let them say, if they dare, that the doctrine of God's decree
   is an unprofitable doctrine. Again, nothing taketh off carnal
   confidence and glorying in ourselves more than God's choice, according
   to his own pleasure; nothing is a greater support in afflictions,
   especially in distresses of conscience. In short, nothing is such a
   firm bond of love between believers as the consideration that they are
   all predestinated from all eternity to the everlasting enjoyment of the
   same inheritance; those obligations which last only for this world
   cannot be so firm a tie.

   [3.] The next objection is, How can God call upon them to believe whom
   he hath passed by in the counsels of his will, and intendeth never to
   give them grace, without which they cannot believe? I answer--God may
   require men to believe, though he never intended to give them faith;
   for there is a great deal of difference between his decree and his law:
   his law showeth what must be, his decree what shall be. God never said
   all shall believe, but he hath said the contrary, 2 Thes. iii. 2; but
   all must believe; that he hath said again and again. The gospel doth
   not signify this or that man shall be saved; but whosoever believeth
   shall be saved.' As truly as it can be said to John or Thomas, or any
   elect person, If you do not believe you shall be damned, so surely may
   it be said to a reprobate, to Judas, or any other, If you believe you
   shall be saved. If the reprobate have a like favour with the elect in
   the general offer of grace, they are left without excuse, the tender
   being so great, and so far the same unto both; though the elect's
   receiving be the effect of special grace, yet the reprobate's rejecting
   is without excuse, he voluntarily turning back upon his own mercies.

   So much briefly for the vindication of this doctrine.

   4. Let me now apply it.

   [1.] Let the elect so much the more admire God's love to them, because
   that some are passed by; your mercies are not every one's mercies.
   God's aim herein was to commend his mercy to the vessels of mercy.'
   Rom. ix. 23. If he had passed us by, we could not have blamed his love;
   if he had punished us eternally, we could not have blamed his justice.
   Consider God hath as much interest in them as in you: All souls are
   mine, saith the Lord,' Ezek. xviii. 4; he was their creator as well as
   yours, and we are all in our blood, involved in the same condemnation;'
   he saw as much of original sin in you as in them; we lay in the same
   polluted mass. Oh! that free grace should make such a difference. He
   had as much reason to choose Judas and Simon Magus as you: Was not Esau
   Jacob's brother?' Mal. i. 2, in all points alike, but only in God's
   choice. When men choose it is for worth. Who would choose crooked
   timber to make vessels of honour? Yet thus doth the Lord single out the
   worst and most depraved natures, to form them into a people for
   himself. How sensibly many times did God make a distinction between you
   and others in the same ordinance: One is taken and another left,' and
   one is taken to grace, and another left to perish in His own ways;
   others, it may be, were hardened by the same sermon by which you were
   converted. Oh! how ravishing is the sight of God's love in election,
   and the distinct courses of his providence.

   [2.] To press us to diligence to make our election sure, that we may be
   out of the fear of being in the number of reprobates. The great
   question that concerneth the comfort of thy soul is whether thou be
   ordained to eternal life or no? Now, if thou beest negligent and
   careless, and refusest to use the means of salvation, the case is
   decided, though little to thy comfort: Thou judgest thyself to be un
   worthy of eternal life,' Acts xiii. 46. A lazy, carnal, careless man
   doth but provide matter of despair for himself. There are some steps to
   the accomplishment of the decree of reprobation; as sottish obstinacy
   against the counsels of the word, a being given up to the spirit of
   error, a constant neglect of means, a hardening of ourselves in the
   abuse of grace, &c.; all these are black marks. A man may recover, but
   your soul is nigh to death; therefore beware lest thou be found one of
   them who by sin are ordained to come to judgment. Eli's sons hearkened
   not to the counsel of their father, because the Lord had a mind to slay
   them.

   Thirdly, We are now come to that part of the description, ungodly men,
   asebeis. The word signifieth without worship, and is sometimes applied
   to heathens and men that live without the knowledge and worship of the
   true God; at other times to wicked men, that acknowledge the true God,
   but walk unsuitably to their knowledge and profession. That we may find
   out who are these men, let us see what is ungodliness, a sin much
   spoken of, but little known. The word, as I said, signifieth without
   worship. Worship is the chiefest and most solemn respect of the
   creature to God, and therefore it is put for the whole subjection and
   obedience that we owe to him, and when any part of that service,
   respect, or honour is denied or withheld, we are guilty of ungodliness.

   That pagans and men out of the church are signified by the term
   ungodly, appeareth by 1 Peter iv. 18, If judgment begin at the house of
   God, where shall the wicked and ungodly appear?' where the ungodly are
   plainly opposed to the house of God. Again, the unjustified estate is
   expressed by ungodliness; as the apostle, when he speaketh of the
   justifying of Abraham and David, he gave the Lord this title, Rom. iv.
   5, God that justifieth the ungodly;' and so Christ is said to die for
   the ungodly.' Rom. v. 6. The reason of which expression is, because the
   people of the Jews were divided into three ranks or sorts: there were
   of oi' asebeis, the ungodly; of oi' di'kaioi, the just; and oi'
   a'gathoi, the good; or, to keep their own terms, there were reshagnim,
   the wicked or violent; and tsidikim, the just; and chasidim the good,
   or the bountiful. Now, saith the apostle, scarcely for a righteous man
   would one die;' that is, for a man of a rigid innocency; but for the
   good man,' that is, the bountiful, the useful, a man would even dare to
   die;' but Christ died for us when we were reshagnim, sinners, enemies,
   &c. Again, more especially, ungodliness implieth the transgression of
   the first table; as Rom. i. 18, where all sin is distinguished into
   ase'beian, ungodliness, and adiki'an, unrighteousness, ungodliness in
   respect of duty to God, and unrighteousness in respect of the duty to
   men; and also where sin is distinguished into ungodliness and worldly
   lusts,' Titus ii. 12. So that it chiefly signifieth that part of sin
   whereby we rob God of his honour, respect, and service, established by
   the first table, and it may be described to be a not giving God his
   right or due honour.

   To clear it further, let me tell you that there are four notions, which
   are the ground of all religion. (1.) That God is, and is one. (2.) That
   God is. none of those things that are seen, but something more
   excellent. (3.) That God hath a care of human affairs, and judgeth with
   equity. (4.) That the same God is maker of all things without himself.
   And to these four notions or principles are suited the four precepts of
   the first table. In the first we have God's unity; in the second, God's
   invisible nature, and therefore images are forbidden upon that ground,
   Deut. iv. 12; in the third, the knowledge of human affairs, even of
   men's thoughts, and that is the foundation of an oath; for the third
   commandment doth principally forbid perjury, and in an oath God is
   invoked as a witness, chiefly of the heart, in which his omnisciency is
   acknowledged, and appealed to as a judge and avenger, in which his
   justice and power is acknowledged. The next principle, that God is
   creator and governor of all things, is established by the fourth
   commandment; for the Sabbath at first was instituted for that purpose,
   to keep up the memorial of the creation in the world. Now, out of these
   speculative notions practical flow of their own accord, &c., that God
   is alone to be worshipped, obeyed, honoured, trusted; and as far as we
   set up other confidences, or are ignorant of his excellency, or deny
   God his worship and service, or serve him after an unworthy manner,
   superstitiously, carelessly, hypocritically, or have gross opinions of
   his essence, or exclude the dominion of his providence, or cease to
   invocate his name, so far we are guilty of ungodliness.

   More distinctly and closely yet, let me note that God is to be
   acknowledged as--(1.) The first cause; (2.) The chiefest good; (3.) As
   the supreme truth and authority; (4.) As the last end. God is to be
   honoured as the first cause, that giveth being to all things, and hath
   his being from none; and so if we do not trust in him, or can trust any
   creature rather than God, our estates rather than God, or do not
   observe him in his providence, the effects of his mercy, justice, and
   power, or do not acknowledge his dominion in all events, and sanctify
   the things which we use by asking his leave and blessing in prayer, we
   are guilty of ungodliness. Again, God is to be acknowledged as the
   chiefest good; and therefore, if we do not know him, often think of
   him, delight in communion with him, fear to offend him, care to please
   him, this neglect and contempt of God is ungodliness. Again, God is to
   be acknowledged as the supreme truth and authority; and therefore, if
   we are not moved with his promises, threats, counsels, as the Gentiles
   were moved with the oracles of their gods, as God's people of old, when
   that dispensation was in use, with a voice from heaven, and do not
   submit to him, reverence him in worship, subject our hearts and lives
   to his laws, it is ungodliness. Once more, God is the last end; and
   therefore, if in all acts, spiritual, moral, natural, even those of the
   lightest consequence, we do not aim at God's glory, still it is
   ungodliness.

   In this method I shall endeavour to open this argument. And first, Let
   us consider God as the first cause, and under that consideration:--

   1. Ignorance is a branch of ungodliness. I name it first, because it is
   the cause of all disorder in worship or conversation. [98] The apostle
   saith, 3 John 11, He that doth evil hath not seen God,' Right thoughts
   of God are the fuel which maintaineth the fire of religion, which
   otherwise would soon decay and be extinguished. Now generally people
   are ignorant of God; they know him as men born blind do fire; they can
   tell there is such a thing as fire, because it warmeth them, but what
   it is they cannot tell. So the whole world and conscience proclaimeth
   there is a God. The blindest man may see that, but they know little or
   nothing of his essence, as he hath revealed himself in his word. The
   Athenians had an altar, and the inscription was To the unknown God; and
   so do most Christians go on in a track of customary worship, and so
   worship an idol rather than God. So Christ telleth the Samaritans, John
   iv. 22, Ye worship ye know not what.' It is usual with men in a dark
   and blind superstition to conform to the worship of their place, not
   considering why, or whom it is they worship. Gross ignorance is a sign
   of no grace, for God hath no child so little but he knoweth his father:
   Jer. xxxi. 34, They shall all know me, from the least to the greatest.'
   Some have better education than others, greater helps and advantages of
   parts and instruction, but they all have a necessary knowledge of God.
   Again, gross ignorance is a pledge of future judgment: 2 Thes. i. 7,
   God will come in flaming fire, to render vengeance on them that know
   not God, and obey not the gospel.' Many poor ignorant creatures are
   harmless, they do no wrong. Oh! but they know not God, and that is
   wrong enough; God will avenge it. To be ignorant of God that made them,
   is a matter of sadder consequence than you are aware. By those that
   know not God in this place is meant pagans, for it is contradistinct to
   those that obey not the gospel. But if there be vengeance for pagans,
   who have no other apostles sent to them but those natural apostles of
   sun, moon, and stars, and have no other books wherein to study God but
   showers of rain and fruitful seasons, if there be vengeance for them
   because they did not see and own a first cause, what is there for those
   that shut their eyes against the light of the gospel? Surely to be
   ignorant now is a greater sin than we think of.

   2. When we do not depend upon him it is ungodliness. Trust and
   dependence is the ground of all commerce between us and God, and the
   greatest homage and respect which we yield to the Creator and first
   cause. Now when men trust any creature rather than God, their estates
   rather than God, they rob him of his peculiar honour. That there is
   such a sin appeareth by that, Job xxxi. 24;' if I had made gold my
   hope, or said to the fine gold, Thou art my confidence. If I rejoiced
   because my wealth is great, and my hand had gotten much,' &c. Job, to
   vindicate himself from hypocrisy, reckoneth up the usual sins of
   hypocrites; amongst the rest this is one, to make gold our confidence.
   Men are apt to think it the staff of their lives, and the stay of their
   posterity, and so their trust being intercepted, their hearts are
   diverted from God. It is a usual sin, though little thought of. The
   great danger of riches is by trusting in them, Mark x. 23, 24. When men
   are intrenched within an estate, they think they are safe, secured
   against whatever shall happen, and so God is laid aside. Let a man be
   intrenched within a promise, and yet he is full of fears and doubts;
   but wealth breedeth security, therefore covetousness' is called
   idolatry,' Col. iii. 5, and the covetous man an idolater, Eph. v. 5,
   not so much because of his love of money as his trust in money. The
   glutton loveth his belly, and the gratifications of the appetite, Phil.
   iii. 19, yet he doth not trust in his belly cheer he thinketh not to be
   protected by it; and, therefore, though he rob God of his love, yet he
   doth not, as the covetous, rob God of his trust: we are all apt to make
   such an idol of the creature. Poor men, if they had wealth, this were
   enough to make them happy, and therefore they trust in those which have
   it, which is idolatry upon idolatry. Whence it is said, Ps. lxii. 9,
   Men of low degree are vanity, and men of high degree a lie.' To
   appearance men of low degree are nothing; but men of high degree are
   wont to be trusted in, and therefore a lie, because by a righteous
   judgment of God they disappoint our trust. But chiefly is this secret
   idolatry incident to the rich; though they do not pray to their wealth,
   or offer sacrifice, but use it as familiarly as any other thing, yet if
   it intercept their trust they are guilty of idolatry. Many that smile
   at the vanity of Gentiles, that worshipped stocks and stones, and idols
   of gold and silver, do worse themselves, though more spiritually,
   whilst they build their happiness and security upon their estates. It
   may be they do not say to their riches, Ye shall deliver me, or to
   their gold, Thou art my confidence. They do not use such gross
   language; for covetous men may speak as basely of wealth as another
   man. They may say, I know it is but refined earth, &c., but their
   hearts make it their only refuge and stay, and their inward thoughts
   are that they and their children can not be happy without it, which is
   a great sin, a setting up another God, for by this means is their heart
   withdrawn from the true God to the world, and kept from good works,
   lest they part with that which is the staff and stay of their lives.

   3. When we do not observe his providence. The blind world sets up an
   idol called chance, and doth not acknowledge God at the other end of
   causes, as swaying all things by his wisdom and power. (1.) In
   afflictions. They think they come by chance and ill-luck, 1 Sam. vi. 9,
   and Isa. xxvi. 11; as if instruments and second causes did all, and the
   Lord were an idle spectator and looker-on, and had no hand in all that
   befalleth us. Job better, The Lord giveth, the Lord taketh.' He doth
   not look only to the Chaldean, the Sabean, the thief, but the Lord. In
   all afflictions we should look beyond the creature, and not complain of
   ill fortune and chance, or stars, or constellations, or anything on
   this side God. (2.) In mercies. It is ungodliness when we do not see
   God in all our mercies. Wicked men receive blessings, and never look
   up. They live upon God every moment. They have life and breath and
   motion,' and hourly maintenance from him, and yet God is not in all
   their thoughts.' As swine raven upon the acorns, and never look up to
   the oak from whence they fall, so they look no higher than the next
   hand; but God's children may be compared to chickens, that sip and look
   upwards. The Lord complaineth of Israel, Hosea ii. 8, She did not know
   that I gave her corn and wine and oil, and silver and gold.' There
   cannot be a greater sign of an ungodly spirit than this unthankful
   profaneness. This is that which God expecteth from reasonable
   creatures, by way of homage, that we should own him as author of all
   the good which we enjoy. Other creatures live upon God, but they are
   not capable of knowing the first cause as we are. Idolatry and atheism
   had never crept into the world if men had considered who it was that
   gave them fruitful seasons and showers of rain, and filled their hearts
   with food and gladness,' Acts xiv. 16, 17. And surely nothing feedeth
   piety, and maintaineth a constant awe of God, so much as thinking of
   God every time we eat and drink and enjoy any new mercy from him. But
   alas! usually we forget God when he remembereth us most. He is never so
   much dishonoured as in eating and drinking, and in the plentiful
   enjoyment of outward comforts.

   4. Another part of ungodliness is when we do not acknowledge his
   dominion over all events, sanctifying the things we use and under take
   by asking his leave and blessing. It is robbery, to use goods without
   the owner's leave, so to use any creature, food, or physic without
   sanctifying it by the word and prayer,' 1 Tim. iv. 3-5; that is,
   knowing our liberty and right from the word of promise, and asking
   God's leave and blessing in prayer; or to go about any business or
   journey, or fixing our abode without inquiring at the oracle; all this
   is ungodliness. It is our duty still to consult with God: Ye ought to
   say, If the Lord will,' &c., James iv. 15. It is a piece of religious
   manners. We forget to bid ourselves good speed when we do not
   acknowledge the dominion of God in all these cases: Prov. iii. 6, In
   all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths.' God's
   children dare not resolve upon any course till they have first
   consulted with God.

   Secondly, God will be acknowledged as the chiefest good, and so we are
   guilty of ungodliness:--

   1. If we do not often think of him. If we did not want hearts, we
   cannot want objects to put us in mind of God. ou makra`n, he is not far
   from every one of us,' Acts xvii. 27. But though God be not far from
   us, yet we are far from God. He that is everywhere is seldom found in
   our hearts. We are not so near to ourselves as God is near to us. Who
   can keep his breath in his body for a minute if God were not there? He
   is within us and round about us in the effects of his power and
   goodness, but we are at too great a distance from him in our mind and
   affections. How many trifles occupy our minds! But the Lord can seldom
   find any room there: God is not in all their thoughts,' Ps. x. 4. Yea,
   when thoughts of God rush into our minds, they are like unwelcome
   guests--we wish to be rid of them. Wicked men abhor their own thoughts
   of God, because the more they think of God the more they tremble, as
   the devils do. Therefore the apostle saith, They like not to retain God
   in their knowledge.' Rom. i. This is far from the temper of God's
   children. David saith, Ps. civ. 34, My meditation of him shall be
   sweet.' It is the spiritual feast and entertainment of a gracious soul
   to think of God. None deserveth our thoughts more than he, and we
   cannot put them to better use. He thought of us before the world was,
   and still great is the multitude of his thoughts to us-ward.' Therefore
   it is vile ingratitude not to think of him again. When we hate a person
   we cannot endure to look upon him, and the hatred of the mind is showed
   by the aversation and turning away of the thoughts.

   2. If we do not delight in communion with him, we do not honour him as
   the chiefest good. Friends love to be often in one another's company,
   and certainly it is good to draw nigh to God,' to preserve an
   acquaintance between him and us. He hath appointed his ordinances, the
   word and prayer, which are as it were a dialogue and interchangeable
   discourse between God and the creature. In the word he speaketh to us,
   and in prayer we speak unto him. He conveyeth his mind in the word, and
   we ask his grace in prayer. In prayer we make the request, and in the
   word we have God's answer. Well, then, when men neglect public or
   private prayer, or opportunities of hearing, they are guilty of
   ungodliness. So far they break off communion with God, especially if
   they neglect prayer, which is a duty to be done at all times--a sweet
   diversion which the soul enjoyeth with God in private, a duty which
   answereth to the daily sacrifice. Therefore the neglect of prayer is
   made to be a branch of atheism, Ps. xiv. 3, 4. When men are loath to
   come into God's presence, out of a love to ease and carnal pleasures,
   and care not if God and they grow strange, or seldom hear from one
   another, it is a great evil. Our comfort and peace dependeth much upon
   frequent access to God. So when family worship, when that is neglected,
   God is not honoured as the chiefest good: the heathens are described to
   be the families that call not on God's name,' Jer. x. 25. In many
   places from one end of the week to the other there is no prayer and
   worship in the family, and so the house, which should be a church, is
   made a stye. Not a swine about their houses but is attended morning and
   evening, and yet they can find no time for the solemn invocation of the
   name of God. What. are they better than heathens?

   3. If we do not fear to offend him. God will be served with every
   affection. Love is of use in the spiritual life, and so is fear: 2 Cor.
   vii. 1, Perfecting holiness in the fear of God,' Love sweeteneth
   duties, and fear maketh us watchful against sin: love is the doing
   grace, Gal. v. 6, and fear is the conserving grace, Jer. xxxii. 40. We
   have cause to walk in God's ways, because we are always under his eye.
   Love is necessary, that we may keep God always in our hearts; and fear,
   that we may keep him always in our eye: both of them are of great use;
   but fear we now speak of, which is the true internal root of all
   obedience and worship, Eccles. xii. 13. When there is such a settled
   disposition of heart as that we dare not grieve him nor affront him to
   his face--as Ahasuerus said, Will he force the queen before my
   face?'--God is much honoured. But now when we are secure and careless,
   and forget God, and can sin freely in thought and foully in act without
   remorse, it is ungodliness. Fear is a grace of continual use: we cannot
   be always praising God, worshipping God, and employed in acts of
   special communion with him, yet we must be always fearing God: Be thou
   in the fear of God all the day long,' Prov. xxiii. 17; and elsewhere,
   Blessed is he that feareth always,' Prov. xxviii. 14. A man hath done
   with his devotion in the morning, but he hath not done with God; we
   should think of him, and remember that his eye is upon us, all the day
   long: we must rise in the fear of God, walk in the fear of God, trade,
   eat, drink in the fear of God, Jude 12. Some graces are as the lungs,
   never out of use and exercise. More especially must fear be active when
   temptations and corruptions arise; we must argue as Joseph, Gen. xxxix.
   9.

   4. If we do not care to please him. An ungodly man thinketh of nothing
   less than pleasing God; he neither careth to know his ways, nor to walk
   in them; they are willingly ignorant,' 2 Peter iii, 5. They do not
   search, that they may not practise, and so err not in mind, but heart:
   We desire not the knowledge of thy ways,' Job xxi. 14. They have not a
   mind to know that which they have not a mind to do, [99] as those that
   would sleep shut the curtains to keep out the light. A godly man is
   always approving what is the will of God, Rom. xii. 2, and Eph. v.
   10-17; he practiseth what he knoweth, and is still searching that he
   may know more, as willing always to be more useful for God. What have I
   to do more?

   Thirdly, God will be acknowledged as the supreme truth and authority,
   and then, if we are not moved with promises, threats, counsels, as with
   the the words of the great God, if we do not yield him reverence in his
   worship, and subject our hearts and lives to his laws, it is
   ungodliness.

   1. We must receive the counsels of his word with all regard and
   reverence, for that is to receive it as the word of God,' 1 Thes. ii.
   13. Heathens received the oracles of their gods, and were much moved;
   we can drowsily hear of the great things of salvation, of heaven, and
   the death of Christ, and the covenant of grace, &c., and are not moved,
   no more moved than with a fable or dream. If a man should make another
   an offer of a thousand pounds for a trifle, and he should not accept
   it. you would not say it was because he prized the trifle more--that is
   improbable, but because he did not believe the offer; so when God
   offereth heaven upon such terms as he doth, we do not honour him as the
   eternal truth, but count him a liar, 1 John v. 10, or else we would not
   neglect the offer.

   2. We must yield him reverence in his worship. God is said, Ps. lxviii.
   35, to be terrible in the holy places:' he is not only terrible in the
   high places of the field, where he executeth his dreadful judgments, or
   in the depths of the sea, where the wonders of the Lord are seen, but
   terrible in the holy places, where his ordinances are dispensed,
   because there his holiness, which is the astonishing attribute, is most
   seen and remembered. We do not come to him as the supreme Majesty when
   we do not come with awful apprehensions: God is dreadful there where he
   is most comfortable: Deut. xxviii. 58, That thou mayest fear this
   glorious and fearful name, the Lord thy God.' To have God for our God
   is the ground of all our comfort and hope, and yet it is a glorious and
   fearful name. In Mal. i. 14, the Lord urgeth two arguments why we
   should worship him with reverence; one is, I am a great king, saith the
   Lord of hosts;' the other is, My name is dreadful among the heathen;'
   implying in the first, that care less and rude addresses to him are a
   kind of a lessening his majesty; they do not come to him as a great
   king, and do as much as in them lieth go about to persuade the world
   that he is not the God that he is taken to be, so great, so terrible,
   and glorious. The next argument is taken from his respect among the
   heathens, that know him by common providence; they that have but a
   glimpse of his glory, that know least of his glory, yet know enough to
   fear him and reverence him. Therefore take heed of serving him in a
   loose and perfunctory manner; you dishonour God exceedingly else, even
   then when you come to give honour to him.

   3. There must be a willing subjection of our hearts and lives to his
   laws. It must be a subjection of the heart; God's authority is never
   more undermined than by a mere form of godliness,' 2 Tim. iii. 5. It is
   the greatest ungodliness that can be, for you rob the Lord of his
   dominion over the conscience. Hypocrisy is a practical blasphemy: I
   know the blasphemy of them,' &c., Rev. ii. 9. The life also must be
   subject to God, by a conformity to his laws. Men hate God as a
   lawgiver, they love him as a giver of blessings. It is the disposition
   of all that they would live at large, and have no God to call them to
   an account. Thoughts that strike at the being of God, and doctrines of
   liberty, are welcome to a carnal heart; it is pleasing to think if
   there were no God, to hear that there is no law; no suggestions are
   more catching. The life must be conformed to God's laws, for he will be
   honoured in our conversations, as well as have his throne set up in our
   consciences. It is the glory of a commander to be obeyed: I say to one,
   Go, and he goeth, and to another, Come, and he cometh.' God looketh for
   glory from you in this kind; he will have all the world know that his
   servants are at his beck, that he hath called you to his foot,' Isa.
   xli. 2, the righteous from the east, he called him to his foot;' that
   is, to go to and fro at his command: if he say Go, they go; if he saith
   Come, they come; these are the people framed for his praise.' He can
   bid them do nothing but they are ready to do it with the loss of all.

   Fourthly, God will be honoured as the utmost end; and so if in all
   acts, natural, moral, spiritual, we do not aim at his glory, we are
   guilty of ungodliness. In acts natural, and matters of the least
   consequence, we must have a supernatural aim: 1 Cor. x. 31, Whether ye
   eat or drink, or whatsoever you do, do all to the glory of God.' If I
   take a meal, I must have an aim at God's glory in it; in civil acts,
   and duties of mutual commerce, [100] all must be done as in and to the
   Lord, Eph. v. 22; vi. 1, 5-7. We are to walk in our relations so as God
   may have honour. In spiritual acts of prayer, praise, and worship, yea,
   the whole ordination of the spiritual life must be unto God: I live
   unto God,' Gal. ii. 20. All the motions and tendencies of the soul look
   that way. This is the difference between holiness and godliness;
   holiness more properly implieth a conformity to the law, and godliness
   an aim of the soul to exalt God; and so they are propounded as
   distinct, 2 Peter iii. 11, What manner of persons ought we to be in all
   holiness and godliness of conversation?' Well, then, look to your aims;
   and in eating and drinking you set up Moloch, it is a meat-offering and
   drink-offering to appetite, if you do not aim at God's glory. So in
   traffic; if you merely regard wealth, you are a consecrated priest to
   mammon. In these ordinary actions of eating, drinking, trading, you may
   be guilty of idolatry before you are aware, and may set up the belly,
   Phil. iii. 19, or mammon, Mat. vi. 24, in God's stead; nay, in your
   very desires of grace your ultimate aim must not be self. We are
   accepted in the beloved, to the praise of his glorious grace,' Eph. i.
   6. And in actions most sacred it is dangerous to look a-squint; it is
   to put dung in God's own cup, when we make worship a stale to our own
   ends. In short, the Lord hath given many things to the creature, that
   only which he hath reserved to himself is his glory; therefore he
   taketh it ill to be robbed of that.

   Thus I have showed you the several kinds of ungodliness. Some are more
   refined, some more gross, but all naught. The worst sort is, when we do
   contemptuously slight his providence, and disobey his laws, hardening
   ourselves yet more and more,' as Ahaz did, though the Lord had
   exercised him with sharp afflictions, and living in open irreligion and
   despite of God, casting off yoke after yoke, till at length we have
   outgrown the heart of a man, fearing neither God nor men.

   Use. Well, then, if we would not be counted ungodly, let us take heed
   of all these sins.

   1. How else will ye look God in the face at the day of judgment? The
   ungodly shall not stand in judgment,' Ps. i. 5; that is, so as to be
   able to plead their cause, and lift up the head, though they shall rise
   again and receive their sentence; therefore ill rendered by the Vulgar,
   non resurgunt; yet they shall have no boldness, but hang their guilty
   heads for shame in that day; the day of judgment is appointed on
   purpose to take vengeance of ungodly persons,' see Jude 15. It is the
   day wherein God, that is now withdrawn within the curtain of the
   heavens, cometh forth to manifest himself to the terror of all ungodly
   ones.

   2. There were great judgments inflicted upon them in this world. The
   flood swept away the world of the ungodly,' 2 Peter ii. 5, and 1 Peter
   iv. 18, Where shall the sinner and the ungodly appear?' The Lord's
   jealousy for his honour is very great, and therefore none shall smart
   so sorely as the ungodly person. It is said, Isa, lix. 17, He putteth
   on jealousy as a cloak;' the cloak is man's upper garment, which is
   most visible; there is nothing so visible in God's providence as his
   jealousy for his honour; there is no sin robs God of his honour so much
   as ungodliness; so it is said, Exod. xxxiv. 14, that jealousy is his
   name.' The name of a thing is the note of distinction by which it is
   known and differenced from all other things either of the same or
   another kind; so God's jealousy against those that rob him of his
   honour differenceth him from all the gods of the world. The gods of the
   heathens were good-fellow gods, and could endure rivals and
   co-partners; but this the Lord doth severely punish; none have fallen
   under the weight of his vengeance so much as they that deny their
   respects to him, and go on whoring after another God.'

   3. It is the great aim of the gospel to prevent ungodliness, by
   discovering more of God than was known before, and by finding out a way
   how the notions of God might be kept inviolable, and how we might come
   to the enjoyment of God, and yet God suffer no loss of honour;
   therefore the gospel is called the mystery of godliness,' 1 Tim. iii.
   16, and a doctrine according to godliness,' 1 Tim. vi. 3. Men might be
   ungodly at a cheaper rate than now they can in these days of the
   gospel: now we have more means to know God, and more obligations to
   respect God, more clear and certain notions of his excellency and
   glory.

   4. Ungodliness is the root of all irregular courses. Abraham was afraid
   of himself in Gerar. Why? The fear of God is not in this place,' Gen.
   xx. 11. Godliness is the great bulwark of laws and all honest
   discipline; subjects are not afraid of princes, nor princes of
   subjects, where the fear of God prevaileth: there can be no true
   honesty without piety. The first part of the law provideth for respects
   to God, as being the proper foundation of the second, which containeth
   respects to our neighbour. Often it cometh to pass by God's just
   judgment that spiritual wickedness is punished with civil; see Hosea
   iv. 12, 13; and where men are not tender of God's interests they do
   also encroach upon civil rights and freedoms.

   Means and directions are these:--(1.) Purge the heart from principles
   of ungodliness. There are many gross maxims ingrafted in man's heart;
   as that it is folly to be precise; that it was better when there was
   less knowledge; that it is in vain to serve God; that thoughts are
   free; if we carry it fair before men we need trouble ourselves no
   further; when men do their best, petty sins are not to be stood upon;
   that religion is but a notion and fancy, the gospel a golden dream, &c.
   That such principles are within us appeareth by the sottishness of our
   practices and course of living; for actions are the best image of our
   thoughts, and these are purged away by waiting upon the word, which
   discovereth' them, Heb. iv. 12, and layeth in good principles, Ps.
   cxix. 9, by which means they are destroyed. (2.) Suppress all ungodly
   thoughts as soon as they do arise, as that there is no God,' Ps. xiv.
   1. Shame may lay a restraint upon the tongue, but the heart is ever
   casting up such a thought as this is: so that God is not so harsh but
   we may take a little liberty in sinning, see Ps. 1. 21; or that he
   taketh no notice of what we speak or do; he cannot see through the dark
   clouds,' Job xxii. 12, 13. When any such thoughts rush into your mind,
   check them and actually rebuke them, lest they settle into a rooted
   atheism. (3.) Mortify vile affections: the judgment is tainted by the
   contagion of lusts, as a foul stomach sendeth up fumes and gross
   vapours into the head; and so the principles of godliness do quickly
   suffer an eclipse: The pure in heart see most of God,' Mat. v. 8. In
   fenny countries the air is seldom clear; so in hearts that lie under
   the power of brutish lusts, there are seldom clear and distinct
   thoughts of God. (4.) Keep close to God's institutions; these keep up
   his presence and memorial in the world, and so are the best
   preservative of godliness; false worships are full of ceremonies which
   darken the nature of God. Images beget a gross opinion of God: no
   wonder if people grow blockish that worship God in a senseless stock or
   stone. Varro in Austin observed, that those that first invented images
   did but increase error, and take away all fear of religion. God knoweth
   what is best for himself, and how by his own institutions to keep up
   the repute of his nature and essence: when man presumeth to be wiser
   than God, and leaveth the certainty of God's institutions for additions
   and innovations of Our own, that please us better, because they have
   lo'gon sophi'as, A show of wisdom,' Col. ii. 22, 23, all religion goeth
   to wrack. (5.) Let us often exercise ourselves unto godliness,' 1 Tim.
   iv. 7. Delight to give to God the honour due to him, love, delight,
   fear; to worship him often, to do all things as aiming at his glory.

   Fourthly, The next clause in the description of these seducers is that,
   turning the grace of our God into wantonness. Where you may take
   notice--(1.) Of their filthiness and brutish course of life, implied in
   the word wantonness, in the original ase'lgeia, a word proper to luxury
   and the impurities of lust; it is derived from alpha, an augmentative
   particle, and Selga, the name of a town in Pisidia, saith Suidas, whose
   inhabitants were infamous for sodomy, and weakening nature by such
   prodigious filthiness as is not fit to be named among saints; and the
   persons here noted the school of Simon. The Nicolaitans, the Gnostics,
   and other impure heretics of that age were for promiscuous commixtures,
   and the free use of their fellow creatures (as some carnal wretches in
   our own age have learned to speak), without any respect to conjugal
   relation, and those restraints which God and nature and all civil
   nations have laid upon the lusts of man, as if men should use no more
   distinction and confinement than the beasts; yea, gave up themselves to
   all manner of unnatural lust, as in the process of this epistle we
   shall more fully discover. (2.) The occasion and encouragement of this
   wantonness, which doubleth the iniquity of it, is the grace of God, by
   which is meant the gospel, which is called the grace of God,' as Titus
   ii. 11, The grace of God hath appeared unto us, teaching us,' &c.; and
   in the gospel chiefly they abused the doctrine of Christian liberty and
   free justification by Christ; this is primarily intended. You may, by
   analogy, enlarge the expression to comprise all those other doctrines
   which libertines are apt to abuse; yea, those gracious providences
   which wicked men do convert into fuel and nourishment for their sins.
   (3.) The manner how so excellent a thing as the grace of God was made
   pliable to so vile a purpose, for a man would wonder that things at so
   great and infinite a distance as the grace of God and filthy lusts
   should ever be brought to cast an aspect upon one another. That is
   showed in the word turning, in the original metatithe'ntes, wresting,
   transferring from its proper use. They offered violence to the doctrine
   of grace, that it might be conscious to such a monstrous birth and
   production as filthy lusts and carnal pleasures. (4.) You have a hint
   of the reason why the apostle writeth against them with such a zealous
   indignation in that word our; as if he said, That grace, whose
   sweetness we have tasted, whose power we have felt; of that God who
   hath been so kind to us in Christ, whose glory we are bound to promote.
   Shall we see our God, and that grace upon which all our hopes stand, to
   be abused to such an unclean use?

   From the words thus opened I observe:--

   Obs. 1. That the gospel and grace of God in itself is not pliable to
   carnal purposes, yieldeth no carnal conclusions. They turn it, saith
   the apostle; there is no such thing gotten out of the gospel without
   wresting, and till the art of a deceiver hath passed upon it. I shall
   prove the point by three arguments.

   1. From the constitution of the gospel. It yieldeth no leave to sin,
   but liberty to serve God: this is the great design of it. Christ came
   not to reconcile God and our sins together, but God and our persons; to
   reconcile our persons and destroy our sins; not to free us from the
   law, but sin; to free us from the service of the devil, 1 John iii. 8,
   not from the service of God; in short, he came not to make the law less
   strict, or sin less odious, or us less holy; for perfection of the law
   was never so clearly known as since the coming of Christ, see Mat. v.,
   and sin was never so odious as since the abundance of grace. They under
   the law sinned at a cheaper rate than we can, because they did not sin
   against so much love and kindness, see Heb. ii. 2, 3; neither could
   Christ come to make us less holy, or to dispense with our care of
   holiness, for then he should come to deface the image of God, and make
   us more unlike God, which would not be a privilege but a burden to the
   new creature. Freedom from wrath and hell is a privilege, but freedom
   from duty and obedience is no privilege. In the gospel there is pardon
   for failings, but not to encourage us in our failings, but our duties.
   We were never so much obliged to duty as since the gospel, because now
   we have more help and more advantages, stronger motives and greater
   encouragements. If we look backward, we are bound in point of gratitude
   to serve the Lord, being redeemed hereunto by the blood of Jesus; if we
   look forward, we are encouraged by the hopes of eternal life. The law
   could not persuade by such arguments as the gospel doth; there is more
   of the rule known, more of the Spirit poured out to give us help to
   observe it. So that from this short abridgment of larger discourses, it
   appeareth that the great design of the gospel is to make us more like
   God, and to free us from the slavery of the devil, that we may be
   better servants and subjects to God.

   2. There are frequent and constant dissuasives from this perverting our
   liberty in Christ to the service of any fleshly design. The Spirit of
   God foresaw how corrupt nature in us would tempt us to abuse our
   privileges to an evil purpose; yea, many had already attempted it in
   the apostles' days, as the sect of the Nicolaitans, the school of
   Simon, and, after them, the Gnostics and Basilicans, who, under colour
   of evangelical liberty, gave up themselves to lawless and brutish
   practices (as before was hinted); therefore, by way of prevention,
   dissuasives are very frequent everywhere; as Rom. vi. 1, What shall we
   say then? Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound? God forbid.'
   As if he had said, You will not want such corrupt teachers, nay, your
   hearts will be marvellous apt to frame such kind of consequences and
   conclusions; but reject them with indignation. So Gal. v. 13, You are
   called to liberty; only use not your liberty as an occasion to the
   flesh.' Christ hath done his part, purchased glorious privileges for
   you; only take you heed that you do not abuse them; your base hearts
   are apt enough. So 1 Peter ii. 16, As free, but not using your liberty
   as a cloak of maliciousness.' Freedom by Christ will be an unfit cover
   and pretence for so vile a practice.

   3. Because in the gospel itself there are quite contrary inferences and
   conclusions from those which flesh and blood would draw from the
   gospel. As to instance, in anything wherein the gospel hath been
   abused, to three ends hath it been abused--to looseness, laziness,
   licentiousness. Now, you shall see the word carrieth things in a quite
   contrary way to what carnal men do. To looseness: men have been the
   more loose and careless, because grace hath abounded in the discoveries
   of the gospel; but the apostle disdaineth it, as a most abhor rent and
   strange conclusion from gospel principles: Rom. vi. 1, Shall we
   continue in sin that grace may abound? God forbid.' Me` ge'noito, do
   not cherish such a vile and unworthy thought; the gospel teacheth quite
   contrary; see Titus ii. 11, 12; not wantonness, but weanedness, 4 to
   deny ungodliness and worldly lusts.' So see Rom. vi. 16, and 2 Cor.
   vii. 1. A bee gathereth honey thence from whence a spider sucketh
   poison. Again, to laziness: men are apt to lie down upon the bed of
   ease, and say Christ must do all, and so exclude all use of means and
   the endeavour of the creature. This is a foul abuse; for the scripture
   inferreth thence the care and work of the creature, be cause God doth
   all, Phil. ii. 12, 13, Work out your salvation with fear and trembling,
   for it is God worketh in you both to will and to do.' We must the more
   humbly wait upon God in the use of ordinances, because all dependeth
   upon his assistance. Again, to licen tiousness: men have interpreted
   freedom by Christ in such a perverse sense as to cast off obedience to
   civil powers, either to masters in the family, or to magistrates in the
   commonwealth; whereas the word calleth for these duties upon this very
   ground, because we are made free by Christ, that is, more ready and apt
   to discharge the duty we owe to God and man: in this sense it is said,
   1 Cor. vii. 22, that a servant is the Lord's freeman;' and 1 Peter ii.
   16, Obey governors as free, but as servants of the Lord.' Christianity
   giveth us a greater aptness, layeth on us a greater engagement, the
   bond of conscience; so that there is, as Salvian speaketh, in maxima
   libertate minima licentia, a great deal of liberty by Christ, and yet
   the strongest engagement to service that may be.

   Let us now apply the point.

   Use 1. It serveth to inform us, in the first place, that carnal men are
   ill skilled in consequences; from the very gospel would they draw a
   liberty to sin, than which from such premises no conclusion can be more
   strange; it is well worth the observing to note the different arguings
   in scripture from the same principles, as see some instances; compare 1
   Cor. vii. 29 with 1 Cor. xv. 32: the principle in both places is, The
   time is short.' Now, the apostle in the former place draweth from it
   conclusions of strictness, temperance, and mortification: Let us use
   the world as if we used it not,' &c. But in the latter the dissolute
   epicure argueth quite otherwise, Let us eat and drink, for to-morrow we
   shall die;' a quite different conclusion from the same principle. So
   here, grace aboundeth; let us be much in duty, saith the spiritual man;
   let sin abound, saith the carnal. Again, compare 2 Sam. vii. 2 with
   Hag. i. 2: I dwell within a house of cedar,' saith David, but the ark
   of God dwelleth within curtains.' Surely I should have had more care of
   the ark of God, now God hath built me such a stately palace. But they
   in Haggai, we dwell in ceiled houses,' therefore the time to build the
   Lord's house is not come;' so they might live in pomp and ease, they
   little cared how matters went with God's house. Once more, 1 Sam.' iii.
   18, It is the Lord; let him do what seemeth him good:' he argueth from
   thence to meekness and a submissive patience. But now compare 2 Kings
   vi. 33, This evil is from the Lord; why should I wait upon him any
   longer?' From the same principle he argueth himself into a murmuring
   and fit of impatience. Thus carnal men are always out in their
   reasonings: A parable in a fool's mouth,' saith Solomon, is like a
   thorn in the hand of a drunkard,' Prov. xxvi. 9. When the spirits are
   disturbed by excess of drink, men have not an even touch, and so when
   they would use a thorn, or any sharp thing, they wound and gore
   themselves; so do wicked men, being besotted with lusts, argue falsely
   from the grace and the holy principles of the word to their own
   destruction.

   Use 2. Again, it serveth for caution; when you meet with such base
   inferences from evangelical principles, do not blame the gospel, or the
   ministry and dispensation of the gospel.

   1. Not the gospel, as if it were not clear enough, or faithful enough,
   or wary enough. Such thoughts are wont to haunt us when we see gross
   errors creeping under a shelter and pretence of scripture: foolish men
   would give laws to heaven; we think God should speak more plainly, as
   if the Lord should make a sun for them to see that shut their eyes:
   vain man will stumble in God's plainest ways; should things be never so
   clearly carried, a perverse apprehension would make them obscure.
   Parables (which are the liveliest and most sensible representations of
   things) hardened the Pharisees, Mark iv. 11, 12. If men ruin themselves
   by their own false logic, we should not therefore accuse God. They that
   have a mind to fall shall not want a stone of stumbling; they that will
   only be feasted with comforts, no wonder if they contract a spiritual
   sickness, and undo their souls by a misunderstood and misapplied
   gospel.

   2. Do not blame the ministry and dispensation of the gospel, because
   some abuse free grace, others cannot endure to hear it preached; but
   children must not be kept from their bread because dogs catch at it.
   Because some are drunk with wine,' and others eat to excess, shall the
   hungry man want his food? Shall hungry consciences lose their portion
   for others' abuse? No, no; if carnal men serve their lusts of these
   truths, we cannot help it; we are not in the place of God: we can only
   deliver the doctrine; we cannot give them gracious hearts to improve
   it. The Papists will not let the people have the scriptures upon this
   reason, for fear of abuses; and Gardiner would not have this gap of
   free grace opened to the people, &c: The devil hath ever maligned a
   gospel dispensation. Let not us withhold the truth for fear of
   inconvenience. Let us look to our commission, preach the gospel to
   every creature;' if men abuse it, we are clear, their destruction is
   just,' as the apostle speaketh to this very case: Rom. iii. 8, Some
   slanderously report that we say, Let us do evil that good may come
   thereof, whose damnation is just.' Some gave out that Paul taught that
   they might sin freely, that God might have the more glory in
   pardoning;' their damnation is just'; if they went away with such a
   vile conceit, saith he, they learned it not from me. Musculus
   complaineth in one of his books that no place was so profane and
   irreligious as those where the gospel had been preached; and Contzen,
   [101] a Jesuit, citing this passage, crieth out; See the fruit of
   Protestantism and their gospel preaching. Many are of his spirit; do
   even hate the publication of the doctrine of grace, as if these were
   the cause of men's miscarriage. If men abuse the truth, we cannot help
   it; however, visible mistakes must be prevented, lest men go away with
   a scorpion instead of fish, and a stone instead of bread.

   Obs. 2. The next point, that though grace itself be not pliable to such
   conclusions, yet wicked men are very apt to abuse it to the
   countenancing and cherishing of their sins and lusts. You see here the
   abuse of the doctrine of the gospel was very ancient; this spirit of
   error wrought betimes; the former days were no better than these,
   Eccles. vii. 10. In the apostles' days, vile hearts did abuse good
   doctrine; men were the same then which they are now, when such kind of
   errors have a second spring and revolution. Indeed, of all errors these
   seem to be very natural; we greedily drink in the poison of carnal
   liberty. But let me give you the reasons why ungodly men take liberty
   and occasion from the grace of God to serve their sinful lusts and
   pleasures.

   1. Because carnal hearts do assimilate all that they meet with, and
   turn it into the nourishment of their carnal lusts: as the salt sea
   turneth the fresh rivers and the sweet showers of heaven into salt
   waters, so do carnal men pervert the holy principles of the gospel; or
   as sweet liquors are soon soured in an unclean vessel, so do truths
   lose their use and efficacy when laid up in a carnal heart, and are
   quite turned to another purpose.

   2. Because they would fain sin securely, et cum privilegio, with a free
   dispensation from God, and therefore seek by all means to entitle God
   to the sin, and the sin to God. They would find a great deal of ease
   from gripes of conscience if they could make God the author, or at
   least the countenancer, of their evil practices; and therefore when
   they can rub their guilt upon the gospel, and pretend a liberty by
   Christ, the design is accomplished. Augustine often taketh notice that
   the heathens took the most liberty to sin, because their gods were
   represented as approvers and countenancers of such kind of actions. If
   men could once make God an approver of sin, and giving leave to satisfy
   our desires, the design of carnal nature were at an end, and they would
   be freed of that awe of a divine power which is only left in nature as
   the check and restraint of sin; and therefore because God hath revealed
   so much of his indulgence to the fallen creature in the gospel, they
   strive to draw all the passages of it that way, as if God had given
   leave to sin freely.

   3. Because man is obedient naturally no longer than when under
   impressions of awe and fear; the cords of a man,' Hosea xi. 4, work
   little with us; like beasts, we only put forward when we feel the goad.
   Violent means do more than gentle persuasions and the sweet strains of
   grace. Usually where we are dealt with in that kind, we wax wanton and
   kick with the heels,' Deut. xxxii. 15, as an ass-colt, being suckled
   and full, kicks her dam in the forehead.

   4. Because we all naturally desire liberty, carnal liberty, to be left
   to our own sway and bent, and therefore we catch at anything that
   tendeth that way. We would be as gods, lords of our own actions, and so
   are very apt to dream of an exemption from all kind of law but our own
   lusts: the seducer's bait was a promise of liberty,' 2 Peter ii. 19. We
   would all be above check and control, and have scope and room for our
   lusts: Ps. xii. 4, Our lips are our own, who is lord over us?' We would
   fain bring it to that, to be at our own dispose, to be answerable to
   none that should call us to an account. The tumult of the nations
   against Christ was about bonds and yokes, Ps. ii. 3. The pale or the
   yoke is grievous to us, see Job xi. 12; Jer. xxxi. 18. Now being so
   resolved to be free, we are willing to hear of liberty, and apt to
   abuse whatever sounds to that purpose.

   But now let us see how many ways the grace of God may be turned into
   wantonness; a right knowledge of the evil may be a means to prevent it.

   There is a grace dispensed in the way of God's providence, which may be
   called the grace of God, and is very liable to abuse: a word of that
   before I come to the main thing here intended. Thus we find the
   patience of God often abused; when the Lord keepeth silence in heaven,
   and doth not presently thunder down vengeance on the heads of sinners,
   Ps. xxxvi. 2; Zeph. i. 12, we wallow in ease and fleshly delights, and
   dream of a perpetual happiness, and think we shall do as well as the
   precisest of them all: Eccles. viii. 11, Because vengeance is not
   executed speedily, therefore the heart is set in them to do evil.' Thus
   doth man's venomous nature suck poison out of so sweet an attribute as
   God's patience. And as God's patience is abused, so is also his
   goodness and bounty. When we are full and enjoy plenty we grow wanton,
   and either despise our mercies, Mal. i. 2, Wherein hast thou loved us?'
   or, which is worse, despise God himself, turn back upon the mercy-seat,
   grow very negligent, cold, and careless in the worship of God; nay,
   many times the mind is efferated, and grown brutish and insolent both
   towards God and man: Hosea xiii. 6, According to their pasture so were
   they filled; they were filled and their heart was exalted, they have
   forgotten me.' Men have large pastures and strong lusts, and then God
   is forgotten; there is not that care of God, that sense of duty, that
   meekness of spirit; this is growing wanton with God's goodness. Once
   more, there is another grace of providence which is apt to be abused,
   and that is the vouchsafement of ordinances, or the means of grace, in
   great plenty; a mercy prized when it first cometh among a people, but
   within a little while they grow wanton: 1 Sam. iii. 1, The word of God
   was precious in those days, for there was no open vision.' Whilst
   visions are scarce they are highly prized, but when they are open and
   public, men begin to grow giddy, cannot be contented with the
   simplicity of God's ordinances, but must be fed with ungrounded
   subtleties and quintessential extracts; when spiritual appetite groweth
   wanton it is an ill sign, when plain truths will not down, and all
   things must be carried in an airy, subtle, and notional way; God will
   have a scourge for such a wanton people.

   But let us come closer to the matter in hand. This text speaketh of
   doctrinal discoveries of grace, of the abuse of the gospel, and the
   principles thereof. Now it were a hard task to give you an account of
   all the paralogisms and corrupt inferences which men draw from the
   gospel; there is no doctrine but, one way or another, a carnal heart is
   apt to abuse it. The most usual abuses are these:--

   1. The doctrine of election is abused; men say they may live as they
   list; if God hath elected them they shall be saved, and so allow
   themselves in their careless neglect of the means of salvation. Be not
   deceived; God, that decreeth the end, decreeth the means: God hath
   predestinated us to be conformed to the image of his Son.' Rom. viii.
   29; in grace here as well as in glory hereafter.

   2. The doctrine of the attributes of God's mercy and long-suffering.
   Men will say they are sinners, and so are others; but God is merciful,
   and so poor, ignorant drunkards, adulterers, and swearers, as they are,
   they die with this principle in their mouths, God is merciful. But be
   not deceived; neither fornicators nor adulterers, &c., shall enter into
   the kingdom of God,' 1 Cor. vi. 9; so Eph. v. 6, Let no man deceive you
   with vain words, for because of these things cometh the wrath of God.'
   Both these places show there were divers which had such deceitful
   thoughts, as if living and dying drunkards, adulterers, &c., they
   should go to heaven. Others abuse the long-suffering of God to their
   delaying and putting off their repentance, as if, after a long vicious
   life, provided they could be devote at the last gasp, they should at
   length be saved, and of a sudden from swine become saints. As many
   delayed their baptism heretofore, because they would have longer time
   to sin in, and to walk after their own lusts, and when they were warned
   of their licentious course, their answer was, Tunc demum a peccatis
   desistam cum baptizatus ero--when I am baptized I will live otherwise.
   Thou fool! besides the uncertainty of thy having time or grace to
   repent, this is a manifest abuse of God's patience, and will turn to
   thy greater ruin, Rom. ii. 4, 5.

   3. The doctrine of gospel grace is abused many ways. Sometimes to
   exclude the fear and reverence of God, as if fear were an antiquated
   grace, suiting only with a legal dispensation: whereas the children of
   God think the more grace the more fear: Ps. cxxx. 4, There is mercy
   with thee, therefore thou shouldst be feared;' and Hosea iii. 5, They
   shall fear the Lord and his goodness.' The goodness of God doth not
   make them presumptuous, but is the greater matter of reverence and holy
   trembling: fear is so far from being abolished in the gospel that it
   continueth in heaven, it being an essential and necessary respect from
   the creature to the creator. Again, it is abused to deny all
   humiliation and sorrow for sins, yea, all confession of sins, as if to
   be humbled for sins were legal; whereas repentance and all the acts of
   it is a mere gospel duty; the law knew no such thing, and the truest
   and most genuine sorrow ariseth from a sense of pardon: Zech. xii. 10,
   They shall look upon him whom they have pierced, and mourn;' so Luke
   vii. 47, that Christian Niobe loved much and wept much, and all be
   cause much was forgiven. John speaketh to believers, to them that
   walked in the light, to confess their sins, 1 John i. 9; we cannot have
   pardon in God's way till this be done: If we confess,' &c. It is a
   condition not for which, but without which, pardon is not obtained; it
   doth not show the cause, but the order of graces working. Again,
   sometimes it is abused to the neglecting of circumspection and heed in
   us. We are preserved in Christ, say they, and therefore we may be
   careless, and though we cast ourselves upon snares, temptations, and
   occasions to sin, be confident that God will keep us. The devil sets
   upon Christ with such a temptation: Mat. iv. 6, Cast thyself down, and
   he shall give his angels charge over thee,' Libertines scoff at the
   niceness and scrupulousness of former professors, that were willing to
   keep at such a distance from a t