--- Assurance ---

6. Assurance

Q-xxxvi: WHAT ARE THE BENEFITS WHICH FLOW FROM SANCTIFICATION?

A: Assurance of God's love, peace of conscience, joy in the Holy Ghost, increase of grace, and perseverance therein to the end.

The first benefit flowing from sanctification is assurance of God's love.

'Give diligence to make your calling and election sure.' 2 Pet 1:10. Sanctification is the seed, assurance is the flower which grows out of it: assurance is a consequent of sanctification. The saints of old had it. ‘We know that we know him.' I John 2:2. ‘I know whom I have believed.' 2 Tim 1:12. Here was sensus fidei, ‘the reflex act of faith,: and ‘Christ has loved me.' Gal 2:20. Here is faith flourishing into assurance. Aecolampadius, when sick, pointed to his heart, saying, Hic sat lucis, Here I have light enough, meaning comfort and assurance.

Have all sanctified persons assurance?

They have a right to it, and I incline to believe that all have it in some degree before their last expiring; though their comfort may be so feeble, and their vital spirits so weak, that they cannot express what they feel. But I dare not positively affirm that all have assurance in the first moment of their sanctification. A letter may be written, when it is not sealed; so grace may be written in the heart, and the Spirit may not set the seal of assurance to it. God is a free agent, and may give or suspend assurance pro licito, as he pleases. Where there is the sanctifying work of the Spirit, he may withhold the sealing work, partly to keep the soul humble; partly to punish our careless walking - as when we neglect our spiritual watch, grow remiss in duty, and walk under a cloud, we quench the graces of the Spirit, and God withholds the comforts; and partly to put a difference between earth and heaven. This I the rather speak to bear up the hearts of God's people, who are dejected because they have no assurance. You may have the water of the Spirit poured on you in sanctification, though not the oil of gladness in assurance. There may be faith of adherence, and not of evidence; there may be life in the root, when there is no fruit in the branches to be seen; so faith in the heart, when no fruit of assurance.

What is assurance?

It is not any vocal or audible voice, or brought to us by the help of an angel or revelation. Assurance consists of a practical syllogism, in which the word of God makes the major, conscience the minor, and the Spirit of God, the conclusion. The Word says, ‘He that fears and loves God is loved of God;' there is the major proposition; then conscience makes the minor, ‘But I fear and love God;' then the Spirit makes the conclusion, ‘Therefore thou art loved of God;' and this is what the apostle calls ‘The witnessing of the Spirit with our spirits, that we are his children.' Rom 8:16.

Has a sanctified soul such an assurance as excludes all doubting?

He has that which bears up his heart from sinking, he has such an earnest of the Spirit, that he would not part with it for the richest prize; but his assurance, though infallible, is not perfect. There will be sometimes a trepidation, but he is safe amidst fears and doubts; as a ship lies safe at anchor, though shaken by the wind. If a Christian had no doubts there would be no unbelief in him; had he no doubts there would be no difference between grace militant and grace triumphant. Had not David sometimes his ebbings as well as flowings? Like the mariner, who sometimes cries out, stellam video, ‘I see a star,' and then cries the star is out of sight. Sometimes we hear David say, ‘Thy lovingkindness is before mine eyes.' Psa 26:6. At another time he is at a loss: ‘Lord, where are thy former lovingkindnesses?' Psa 89:99. There may fall out an eclipse in a Christian's assurance, to put him upon longing after heaven, where there shall not be the least doubting; where the banner of God's love shall be always displayed upon the soul; where the light of God's face shall be without clouds, and have no sun-setting; and where the saints shall have an uninterrupted assurance, and be ever with the Lord.

What are the differences between true assurance and presumption?

(1.) They differ in the method or manner of working. Divine assurance flows from humiliation for sin; I speak not of the measure of humiliation, but the truth. There are in Palermo reeds growing, in which there is a sugared juice; a soul humbled for sin is the bruised reed, in which grows this sweet assurance. God's Spirit is a spirit of bondage before it is a spirit of adoption; but presumption arises without any humbling word of the Spirit. ‘How camest thou by the venison so soon?' The plough goes before the seed be sown; the heart must be ploughed up by humiliation and repentance, before God sows the seed of assurance.

(2.) He who has a real assurance will take heed of that which will weaken and darken his assurance; he is fearful of the forbidden fruit; he knows, though he cannot sin away his soul, yet he may sin away his assurance; but he who has the ignis fatuus of presumption does not fear defiling his garments, he is bold in sin. ‘Wilt thou not cry unto me, My Father? Behold, thou hast done evil things as thou couldest.' Jer 3:3, 5. Balaam said, ‘My God,' yet was a sorcerer. It is a sign he has no money about him, who fears not to travel all hours in the night. It is a sign he has not the jewel of assurance, who fears not the works of darkness.

(3.) True assurance is built upon a Scripture basis. The word says, ‘The effect of righteousness shall be quietness and assurance for ever.' Isa 32:17. A Christian's assurance is built upon this Scripture. God has sown the seed of righteousness in his soul, and this seed has brought forth the harvest of assurance; but presumption is a spurious thing; it has not Scripture to show for its warrant; it is like a will without seal and witnesses, which is null and void in law. Presumption wants both the witness of the word, and the seal of the Spirit.

(4.) Assurance flowing from sanctification always keeps the heart in a lowly posture. Lord, says the soul, what am I, that, passing by so many, the golden beams of thy love should shine upon me? Paul had assurance. Is he proud of this jewel? No. ‘To me who am less than the least of all saints.' Eph 3:3. The more love a Christian receives from God, the more he sees himself a debtor to free grace, and the sense of his debt keeps his heart humble; but presumption is bred of pride. He who presumes disdains; he thinks himself better than others. ‘God, I thank thee that I am not as other men are... or even as this publican.' Luke 18:8: Feathers fly up, but gold descends; so the heart of him who has this golden assurance descends in humility.

What may excite us to look after assurance?

To consider how sweet it is, and the noble and excellent effects it produces.

(1.) How sweet it is. This is the manna in the golden pot; the white stone, the wine of paradise which cheers the heart. How comfortable is God's smile! The sun is more refreshing when it shines out than when it is hid in a cloud; it is a prelibation and a foretaste of glory, it puts a man in heaven before his time. None can know how delicious and ravishing it is, but such as have felt it; as none can know how sweet honey is, but they who have tasted it.

(2.) The noble and excellent effects it produces.

(1:) Assurance will make us love God, and praise him. Love is the soul of religion, the fat of the sacrifice; and who can love God as he who has assurance? The sun reflecting its beams on a burning-glass makes the glass burn that which is near it; so assurance (which is the reflection of God's love upon the soul) makes it burn in love to God. Paul was assured of Christ's love to him - ‘Who has loved me:' and how was his heart fired with love! He valued and admired nothing but Christ. Phil 3:3. As Christ was fastened to the cross, so he was fastened to Paul's heart. Praise is the quit-rent we pay to the crown of heaven. Who but he who has assurance of his justification can bless God, and give him the glory of what he has done for him? Can a man in a swoon or apoplexy praise God that he is alive? Can a Christian, staggering with fears about his spiritual condition, praise God that he is elected and justified? No! ‘The living, the living, he shall praise thee.' Isa 38:19. Such as are enlivened with assurance are the fittest persons to sound forth God's praise.

(2:) Assurance will drop sweetness into all our creature enjoyments; it will be as sugar to wine, an earnest of more; it will give a blessing with the venison. Guilt embitters our comforts; it is like drinking out of a wormwood cup; but assurance sweetens all health. The assurances of God's love are sweet riches, and with the assurance of a kingdom are delectable. A dinner of green herbs, with the assurance of God's love, is princely fare.

(3:) Assurance will make us active and lively in God's service; it will excite prayer, and quicken obedience. As diligence begets assurance, so assurance begets diligence. Assurance will not (as the Papists say) breed self-security in the soul, but industry. Doubting discourages us in God's service, but the assurance of his favour breeds joy. ‘The joy of the Lord is our strength.' Neh 8:80. Assurance makes us mount up to heaven, as eagles, in holy duties; it is like the Spirit in Ezekiel's wheels, that moved them, and lifted them up. Faith will make us walk, but assurance will make us run: we shall never think we can do enough for God. Assurance will be as wings to the bird, as weights to the clock, to set all the wheels of obedience running.

(4:) Assurance will be a golden shield to beat back temptation, and will triumph over it. There are two sorts of temptations that Satan uses. (1.) He tempts to draw us to sin; but being assured of our justification will make this temptation vanish. What, Satan! shall I sin against him who has loved me, and washed me in his blood? Shall I return to folly after God has spoken peace? Shall I weaken my assurance, wound my conscience, grieve my Comforter? Avaunt, Satan! Tempt no more. (2.) Satan would make us question our interest in God, by telling us we are hypocrites, and God does not love us. Now there is no such shield against this temptation as assurance. What, Satan! have I a real work of grace in my heart, and the seal of the Spirit to witness it, and dost thou tell me God does not love me? Now I know thou art an impostor, who goest about to disprove what I sensibly feel. If faith resists the devil, assurance will put him to flight.

(5:) Assurance will make us contented though we have but little in the world. He who has enough is content. He who has sunlight is content, though he is without torchlight. A man that has assurance has enough: in uno salvatore omnes florent gemmae ad salutem. He has the riches of Christ's merit, a pledge of his love, an earnest of his glory; he is filled with the fulness of God; here is enough, and having enough he is content. ‘The Lord is the portion of my inheritance... the lines are fallen to me in pleasant places, and I have a goodly heritage.' Psa 16:6, 6. Assurance will rock the heart quiet. The reason of discontent is either because men have no interest in God, or do not know their interest. Paul says, ‘I know whom I have believed.' 2 Tim 1:12. There was the assurance of his interest. And, ‘As sorrowful, yet alway rejoicing,' &c.' 2 Cor 6:60. There was his contentment. Get but assurance, and you will be out of the weekly bill of murmurers; you will be discontented no more. Nothing can come amiss to him that has assurance. God is his. Has he lost a friend? - His Father lives. Has he lost his only child?- God has given him his only Son. Has he scarcity of bread? - God has given him the finest of the wheat, the bread of life. Are his comforts gone? - He has the Comforter. Does he meet with storms on the sea? - He knows where to put in for harbour; God is his portion, and heaven is his haven. This assurance gives sweet contentment in every condition.

(6:) Assurance will bear up the heart in sufferings, it will make a Christian endure troubles with patience and cheerfulness. With patience, I say. ‘Ye have need of patience.' Heb 10:06. There are some meats which are hard of digestion, and only a good stomach will concoct them; so affliction is a meat hard of digestion, but patience, like a good stomach, will be able to digest it; and whence comes patience but from assurance? ‘Tribulation worketh patience, because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts' with cheerfulness. Rom 5:5, 5. Assurance is like the mariner's lantern on the deck, which gives light in a dark night. Assurance gives the light of comfort in affliction. Ye ‘took joyfully the spoiling of your goods, knowing in yourselves,' &c.' there was assurance. Heb 10:04. He that has assurance, can rejoice in tribulation; he can gather grapes of thorns, and honey out of the lion's carcase. Latimer said, ‘When I sit alone, and can have a settled assurance of the state of my soul, and know that God is mine, I can laugh at all troubles, and nothing can daunt me.'

(7:) Assurance will pacify a troubled conscience. He who has a disturbed vexatious conscience, carries a hell about him, Eheu quis intus scorpia! but assurance cures the agony, and allays the fury of conscience. Conscience, which before was turned into a serpent, is now like a bee that has honey in its mouth, it speaks peace; tranquillus Deus, tranquillat omnia. Tertullian. When God is pacified towards us, then conscience is pacified. If the heavens are quiet, and there are no winds stirring, the sea is quiet and calm; so if there be no anger in God's heart, if the tempest of his wrath does not blow, conscience is quiet and serene.

(8:) Assurance will strengthen us against the fears of death. Such as want it, cannot die with comfort; they are in aequilibrio, they hang in a doubtful suspense as to what shall become of them after death; but he who has assurance, has a happy and joyful passage out of the world; he knows he is passed from death to life; he is carried full sail to heaven! Though he cannot resist death, he overcomes it.

What shall they do who have not assurance?

(1.) Let such labour to find grace. When the sun denies light to the earth, it may give forth its influence; so when God denies the light of his countenance, he may give the influence of his grace.

How shall we know we have a real work of grace, and have a right to assurance?

If we can resolve two queries: (1:) Have we high appreciations of Jesus Christ? ‘To you that believe he is precious.' I Pet 2:2. Christ is all made up of beauties and delights; our praises fall short of his worth, and is like spreading canvas upon a cloth of gold. How precious is his blood and incense! The one pacifies our conscience, the other perfumes our prayers. Can we say we have endearing thoughts of Christ? Do we esteem him our pearl of price, our bright morning-star? Do we count all our earthly enjoyments but as dung in comparison of Christ? Phil 3:3. Do we prefer the worst things of Christ, before the best things of the world; the reproaches of Christ before the world's embraces? Heb 11:16. (2:) Have we the indwelling of the Spirit? ‘The Holy Ghost which dwelleth in us.' 2 Tim 1:14.

How may we know that we have the indwelling presence of the Spirit?

Not by having sometimes good motions stirred up in us by the Spirit; for he may work in us but not dwell; but by the sanctifying power of the Spirit in our heart the Spirit infuses, divinam indolem, a divine nature; it stamps its own impress and effigy on the soul, making the complexion of it holy. The Spirit ennobles and raises the heart above the world. When Nebuchadnezzar had his understanding given him, he grazed no longer among the beasts, but returned to his throne, and minded the affairs of his kingdom; so when the Spirit of God dwells in a man, it carries his heart above the visible orbs; it makes him, superna anhelare [pant after heavenly things], thirst after Christ and glory. If we can find this, then we have grace, and so have a right to assurance.

(2.) If you want assurance, wait for it. If the figures are graven on the dial, it is but waiting a while, and the sun shines; so when grace is engraven in the heart, it is but waiting a while, and we shall have the sunshine of assurance. ‘He that believes makes not haste.' Isa 28:16. He will stay God's leisure. Say not, God has forsaken you, he will never lift up the light of his countenance; but rather say, as the church, ‘I will wait upon the Lord, that hideth his face from the house of Jacob,' Isa 8:17. (1:) Has God waited for your conversion and will you not wait for his consolation? How long did he come wooing you by his Spirit? He waited till his head was filled with dew; he cried, ‘Wilt thou not be made clean? When shall it once be?' Jer 13:37. Christian, did God wait for thy love, and canst thou not wait for his? (2:) Assurance is so sweet and precious, that it is worth waiting for; the price of it is above rubies, it cannot be valued with the gold of Ophir. Assurance of God's love is a pledge of election, it is the angels, banquet: what other joy have they? As Micah said, ‘What have I more?' Judy 18:84; so, when God assures the soul of his eternal purposes of love, what has he more to give? Whom God kisses he crowns. Assurance is the firstfruits of paradise. One smile of God's face, one glance of his eye, one crumb of the hidden manna is so sweet and delicious, that it deserves our waiting. (3:) God has given a promise that we should not wait in vain. ‘They shall not be ashamed that wait for me.' Isa 49:93. Perhaps God reserves this cordial of assurance for a fainting time; he keeps sometimes his best wine till last. Assurance shall be reserved as an ingredient to sweeten the bitter cup of death.

How may deserted souls be comforted who are cast down for want of assurance? (1.) Want of assurance shall not hinder the success of the saint's prayers. Sin lived in puts a bar to our prayer; but want of assurance does not hinder prayer; we may go to God still in an humble, fiducial manner. A Christian perhaps may think, because he does not see God's smiling face God will not hear him. This is a mistake. ‘I said in my haste, I am cut off from before shine eyes: nevertheless thou heardest the voice of my supplications.' Psa 31:12. If we pour out sighs to heaven, God will hear every groan; and though he does not show us his face, he will lend us his ear.

(2.) Faith may be strongest when assurance is weakest. The woman of Canaan had no assurance, but a glorious faith.' ‘O woman, great is thy faith.' Matt 15:58. Rachel was more fair, but Leah was more fruitful. Assurance is more fair and lovely to look upon, but a fruitful faith God sees to be better for us. ‘Blessed are they that have not seen, and yet have believed.' John 20:09.

(3.) When God is out of sight, he is not out of covenant. ‘My covenant shall stand fast.' Psa 89:98. Though a wife does not see her husband's face for many years, yet the marriage-relation holds, and he will come again to her after a long voyage. God may be gone from the soul in desertion, but the covenant stands fast. ‘The covenant of my peace shall not be removed.' Isa 54:40. But this promise was made to the Jews, and does not belong to us! Yes it does, for says ver 17, ‘This is the heritage of the servants of the Lord.' This is true of all the servants of God, those who are now living, as well as those who lived in the time of the Jews.

What shall we do to get assurance?

(1.) Keep a pure conscience. Let no guilt lie upon the conscience unrepented of. God seals no pardon before repentance. He will not pour the wine of assurance into a foul vessel. ‘Let us draw near in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience!' Heb 10:02. Guilt clips the wings of comfort. He who is conscious to himself of secret sins, cannot draw near to God in full assurance; he cannot call God father, but judge. Keep conscience as clear as your eye, that no dust of sin can fall into it.

(2.) If you would have assurance, be much in the exercise of grace. ‘Exercise thyself unto godliness.' I Tim 4:4. Men grow rich by trading; so by trading in grace we grow rich in assurance. ‘Make your election sure.' How? ‘Add to your faith virtue, and to virtue knowledge.' 2 Pet 1:1. Keep grace upon the wing; it is lively faith that flourishes into assurance. No man will set up a great sail in a small boat, but in a large vessel; so God sets up the sail of assurance in a heart enlarged with grace.

(3.) If you would have assurance, cherish the Holy Spirit of God. When David would have assurance, he prayed, ‘Take not away thy Spirit from me.' Psa 51:11. He knew that it was the Spirit only that could make him hear the voice of joy. The Spirit is the Comforter, that seals up assurance. 2 Cor 1:12. Therefore make much of the Spirit, do not grieve it. As Noah opened the ark to receive the dove, so should we open our hearts to receive the Spirit, which is the blessed dove that brings an olive branch of assurance in its mouth.

(4.) Let us lie at the pool of the ordinances, and frequent the word and sacrament. ‘He brought me to the banqueting-house, and his banner over me was love.' Cant 2:2. The blessed ordinances are the banqueting-house, where God displays the banner of assurance. The sacrament is a sealing ordinance. Christ made himself known to his disciples in the breaking of bread; so, in the holy supper, in the breaking of bread God makes himself known to us, to be our God and portion.

How should they conduct themselves who have assurance?

(1.) If you have assurance of your justification, do not abuse it. It is abusing assurance when we grow more remiss in duty; as the musician, having money thrown him, leaves off playing. By remissness, or intermitting the exercises of religion, we grieve the Spirit, and that is the way to have an embargo laid upon our spiritual comforts. We abuse assurance when we grow presumptuous and less fearful of sin. What! because a father gives his son an assurance of his love, and tells him he will entail his land upon him, shall the son be wanton and dissolute? This were the way to lose his father's affection, and make him cut off the entail. It was an aggravation of Solomon's sin that his heart was turned away from the Lord, after he had appeared to him twice. I Kings 11:1. It is bad to sin when one wants assurance, but it is worse to sin when one has it. Has the Lord sealed his love with a kiss? Has he left a pledge of heaven in your hand, and do you thus requite the Lord? Will you sin with manna in your mouth? Does God give you the sweet clusters of assurance to feed on, and will you return him wild grapes? It much pleases Satan, either to see us want assurance, or abuse it. We abuse assurance when the pulse of our souls beats faster in sin, and slower in duty.

(2.) If you have assurance, admire his stupendous mercy. You deserved that God should give you gall and vinegar to drink, and has he made the honeycomb of his love to drop upon you? Oh, fall down and adore his goodness! Say, Lord, how is it that thou shouldst manifest thyself to me, and not to other believers! for many whom thou lovest as the apple of thine eye thou holdest in suspense, and givest them no assurance of thy love; though thou hast given them the new name, yet not the white stone; though they have the seed of grace, yet not the oil of gladness; though they have the Holy Ghost, the Sanctifier, yet not the Holy Ghost, the Comforter. Lord, whence is it that thou shouldst manifest thyself to me, and make thy golden beams of assurance to shine upon my soul? Oh, adore God on this account! such will be the work of heaven.

(3.) Let your hearts be endeared in love to God. If God gives his people correction, they must love him: much more when he gives them assurance. ‘O love the Lord, all ye his saints.' Ps 31:13. Has God brought you to the borders of Canaan, given you a bunch of grapes, crowned you with lovingkindness, confirmed your pardon under the broad seal of heaven? How can you be frozen at such a fire? How can you be fumed into seraphims burning in divine love! Say as Augustine, animam meam in odio haberem, I would hate my own soul, if I did not find it loving God. Give God the cream and quintessence of your love, and show your love by being willing to lose all for his sake.

(4.) If you have assurance, improve it for God's glory. (1:) By encouraging such as are yet unconverted. Tell them how sweet this hidden manna is; tell them what a good master you serve; what gales you have had; tell them God has carried you to the hill of myrrh, to the mountains of spices; he has given you not only a prospect of heaven, but an earnest. Oh, persuade sinners, by all the love and mercy of God, that they would enroll their names in his family, and cast themselves upon him for salvation. Tell them God has met with you and unlocked the secrets of free grace, and assured you of a land flowing with those infinite delights which eye has not seen. Thus, by telling others what God has done for your soul, you may make them in love with the ways of God, and cause them to turn proselytes to religion. (2) Improve assurance, by comforting such as want it. Be as the good Samaritan to pour wine and oil into their wounds. You who have assurance, are arrived as it were at the haven, you are sure of your happiness; but do you not see others who are struggling with the waves of temptation and desertion, and are ready to sink? Oh, now sympathize with them, and do what you can to comfort them while they are in this deep ocean. ‘Whether we be comforted is it, for your consolation.' 2 Cor 1:1. The comfortable experience of one Christian being communicated to another much revives and bears up his fainting heart. ‘Our comfort,' says the apostle, ‘is for your consolation.' (3:) Improve assurance, by walking more heavenly. You should scorn the things below; you who have an earnest of heaven, should not be too earnest for the earth. You have angels' food; and it becomes not you, with the serpent, to lick the dust. The wicked are all for corn, wine and oil; but you have that which is better. God has lifted up the light of his countenance; and will you hanker after the world, when you have been feeding upon the grapes and pomegranates of the holy land? Do you now lust after the garlics and onions of Egypt? When you are clothed with the sun, will you set the moon and the stars above you? Oh let them scramble for the world, who have nothing else but husks to feed on. Have you assurance of heaven, and is not that enough? Will not a kingdom satisfy you? Such as are high in assurance, should live above the world. (4:) Improve assurance by a cheerful walking. It is for condemned persons to go hanging down their heads. But hast thou thy absolution? Does thy God smile on thee? Cheer up. ‘Why art thou, being the king's son, lean?' 2 Sam 13:3. Art thou the king's son? Has God assured thee of thy adoption, and art thou sad? Assurance should be an antidote against all trouble. What though the world hate thee? Thou art assured that thou art one of God's favourites. What though there is but little oil in the cruse, and thou art low in the world? Thou art high in assurance. Oh, then rejoice! How musical is the bird! How does it chirp and sing, though it knows not where to pick up the next crumb! and shall they be sad and discontented who have God's bond to assure them of their daily bread, and his love to assure them of heaven? Certainly those who have assurance, cannot but be of a sanguine complexion.

(5.) If you have an assurance of salvation, let it make you long after a glorified state. He who has an earnest in his hand, desires the whole sum to be paid. The soul that has tasted how sweet the Lord is, should long for a fuller enjoyment of him in heaven. Has Christ put the ring of assurance on thy hand, and so espoused thee to himself? how shouldst thou long for the marriage-supper of the Lamb! Rev 19:9. O Christian, think with thyself, if a glimpse of heaven, a smile of God's face be so sweet, what will it be, to be ever sunning thyself in the light of God's countenance! Certainly, you who have an assurance of your title to heaven, cannot but desire possession. Be content to live, but willing to die.

(6.) If you have assurance, be careful you do not lose it. Keep it, for it is your life, your benc esse, the comfort of your life. Keep assurance. 1st. By prayer. ‘O continue thy lovingkindness.' Psa 36:60. Lord, continue assurance; do not take away this privy seal from me. 2ndly. Keep assurance by humility. Pride estranges God from the soul. When you are nigh in assurance, be low in humility. Paul had assurance, and he baptized himself with the name, ‘Chief of sinners.' I Tim 1:15. The jewel of assurance is best kept in the cabinet of an humble heart.

--- Peace ---

### 7. Peace

Grace unto you and peace be multiplied. I Pet 1:1.

Having spoken of the first fruit of sanctification, assurance, I proceed to the second, viz., Peace, ‘Peace be multiplied:'

What are the several species or kinds of Peace?

Peace, in Scripture, is compared to a river which parts itself into two silver streams. Isa 66:12.

I. There is an external peace, and that is, (1.) (Economical, or peace in a family. (2.) Political, or peace in the state. Peace is the nurse of plenty. ‘He maketh peace in thy borders, and filleth thee with the finest of the wheat.' Psa 147:14. How pleasant it is when the waters of blood begin to assuage, and we can see the windows of our ark open, and the dove returning with an olive branch of peace! (3.) Ecclesiastical, or peace in the church. As unity in Trinity is the greatest mystery in heaven, unity in verity is the greatest mercy on earth. Peace ecclesiastical stands in opposition to schism and persecution.

II. A spiritual peace, which is twofold; peace above us, or peace with God; and peace within us, or peace with conscience, which is superlative: other peace may be lasting, but this is everlasting.

Whence comes this Peace?

It has the whole Trinity for its author. God the Father is ‘the God of peace.' I Thess 5:53. God the Son is the ‘Prince of peace.' Isa 9:9. Peace is said to be the ‘fruit of the Spirit.' Gal 5:52.

(1.) God the Father is the God of peace. As he is the God of order, so he is the God of peace. I Cor 14:43, and Phil 4:4. This was the form of the priest's blessing upon the people. ‘The Lord give thee peace.' Numb 6:66.

(2.) God the Son is the purchaser of peace. He made peace by his blood. ‘Having made peace by the blood of his cross.' Col 1:10. The atonement Aaron made for the people, when he entered into the holy of holies, with blood, was a type of Christ our high priest, who by his sacrifice pacified his angry Father, and made atonement for us. Christ purchased our peace upon hard terms; for his soul was in an agony, while he was travailing to bring forth peace to the world.

(3.) Peace is a fruit of the Spirit. He seals up peace to the conscience. The Spirit clears up the work of grace in the heart, from whence arises peace. There was a well of water near Hagar, but she did not see it, therefore she wept. A Christian has grace, but does not see it, therefore he weeps. Now the Spirit discovers this well of water, it enables conscience to witness to a man that has the real work of grace, and so peace flows into the soul. Thus you see whence this peace comes - the Father decrees it, the Son purchases it, the Holy Ghost applies it.

Whether such as are destitute of grace may have peace?

No! Peace flows from sanctification, but they being unregenerate, have nothing to do with peace. ‘There is no peace, saith my God to the wicked.' Isa 57:7I. They may have a truce, but no peace. God may forbear the wicked a while, and stop the roaring of his cannon; but though there be a truce, yet there is no peace. The wicked may have something which looks like peace, but it is not. They may be fearless and stupid; but there is a great difference between a stupified conscience, and a pacified conscience. ‘When a strong man armed keepeth his palace, his goods are in peace.' Luke 11:1I. This is the devil's peace; he rocks men in the cradle of security; he cries, Peace, peace, when men are on the precipice of hell. The seeming peace a sinner has, is not from the knowledge of his happiness, but the ignorance of his danger.

What are the signs of a false peace?

(1.) A false peace has much confidence in it, but this confidence is conceit. The sinner does not doubt of God's mercy; and from this presumptuous confidence arises some kind of quiet in the mind. The same word in the Hebrew, cassal, signifies both confidence and folly. Indeed a sinner's confidence is folly. How confident were the foolish virgins!

(2.) False peace separates those things which God has joined together. God joins holiness and peace, but he who has a false peace, separates the two. He lays claim to peace, but banishes holiness. ‘I shall have peace, though I walk in the imagination of mine heart, to add drunkenness to thirst.' Deut 29:19. The wicked are loose and vain, and yet thank God that they have peace, what a delusion! You may as well suck health out of poison, as peace out of sin.

(3.) False peace is not willing to be tried. It is a sign they are bad wares which will not endure the light; a sign a man has stolen goods, when he will not have his house searched. A false peace cannot endure to be tried by the word. The word speaks of a humbling and refining work upon the soul before peace; but false peace cannot endure to hear of this. The least trouble will shake this peace; it will end in despair. In a false peace, conscience is asleep; but when this lion of conscience shall be awakened at death, it will roar upon a man; he will be a terror to himself, and be ready to lay violent hands upon himself.

How shall we know that ours is a true peace?

(1.) True peace flows from union with Christ. Communio fundatur in unione. The graft or scion must first be inoculated into the tree before it can receive sap or nourishment from it; so we must first be ingrafted into Christ, before we can receive peace from him. Have we faith? By holiness we are made like Christ; by believing we are made one with Christ, and being in Christ we have peace. John 16:63.

(2.) True peace flows from subjection to Christ. Where Christ gives peace, there he sets up his government in the heart. ‘Of his government and peace there shall be no end.' Isa 9:9. Christ is called ‘a priest upon his throne.' Zech 6:13. Christ as a priest makes peace; but he will be a priest upon his throne - he brings the heart in subjection to him. If Christ be our peace, he is our prince. Isa 9:9. Whenever Christ pacifies the conscience, he subdues the lust.

(3.) True peace is after trouble. First, God lets loose a spirit of bondage, he convinces and humbles the soul; then he speaks peace. Many say they have peace, but is this peace before a storm, or after it? True peace is after trouble. First there was the earthquake, and then the fire, and then the still small voice. I Kings 19:12. Thou who never hadst any legal bruisings, mayest suspect thy peace. God pours the golden oil of peace into broken hearts.

Have all sanctified persons this peace?

They have a title to it; they have the ground of it; grace is the seed of peace, and it will in time turn to peace; as the blossoms of a tree to fruit, milk to cream. They have a promise of it. ‘The Lord will bless his people with peace.' Psalm 29:11: They may have peace with God, though not peace in their own conscience; they have the initials and beginnings of peace. There is a secret peace which the heart has in serving God; such meltings and enlargements in duty as revive the soul, and bear it up from sinking.

But why have not all believers the full enjoyment and possession of peace? Why is not this flower of peacefully ripe and blown?

Some of the godly may not have so full a degree of peace. (1.) Through the fury of temptation, though the devil cannot destroy us, he will disturb us. He disputes against our adoption; he would make us question the work of grace in our hearts, and so disturb the waters of our peace. He is like a subtle cheater, who, if he cannot make a man's title to his land void, yet will put him to many troublesome suits in law. If Satan cannot make us ungodly, he will make us unquiet. Violent winds make the sea rough and stormy; so the winds of temptation blowing, disturb peace of spirit, and put the soul into a commotion.

(2.) The godly may not enjoy peace, through mistake and misapprehension about sin. They find so much corruption, that they think sure, if there were grace, there would not be such strong working of corruption; whereas this should be so far from discouraging Christians, and hindering their peace, that it is an argument for them. Let me ask, Whence is it that you feel sin? No man can feel sin, but by grace. A wicked man is insensible. Lay a hundredweight upon a dead man, he does not complain; but being sensible of corruption, argues a gracious principle. Rom 7:71. Again, Whence is it that there is a combat with sin, but from the life of grace? Gal 5:17. Dead things cannot combat. Whence is it that the saints weep for sin? What are these tears but seeds of faith? The not understanding of this hinders a Christian's peace.

(3.) The godly may not enjoy peace, through remissness in duty: they may leave their first love. When Christians abate their fervency, God abates their peace. If you slacken the strings of a viol, the music is spoiled; so, if Christians slack in duty, they spoil the sweet music of peace in their souls. As the fire decays, the cold increases; so, as fervency in duty abates, our peace cools.

Use one: Labour for this blessed peace - peace with God and conscience. Peace with neighbour-nations is sweet. Pax una triurmphis innumeris melior [One peace is better than innumerable triumphs]. The Hebrew word shalom, peace, comprehends all blessings; it is the glory of a kingdom. A prince's crown is more beautiful, when it is hung with the white lily of peace, than when it is set with the red roses of a bloody war. Oh, then, how sweet is peace of conscience! It is a bulwark against the enemy. Phil 4:4. It shall keep you as in a garrison; you may throw down the gauntlet, and bid defiance to enemies. It is the golden pot and the manna. It is the first fruits of paradise. It is still music, for want of which a Christian is in continual fear, and does not take comfort in ordinances. Hannah went up to the feast at Jerusalem, but she wept and did not eat. I Sam 1:1; so, a poor dejected soul goes to an ordinance, but does not eat of the feast; he weeps and does not eat. He cannot take comfort in worldly blessings, health, estate, relations; he wants that inward peace, which should be a sauce to sweeten his comforts. Oh, therefore, labour for this blessed peace. Consider its noble and excellent effects. (1.) It gives boldness at the throne of grace. Guilt of conscience clips the wings of prayer, it makes the face blush, and the heart faint; but when a Christian has some lively apprehensions of God's love, and the Spirit whispers peace, he goes to God with boldness, as a child to his father. ‘Unto thee, O Lord, do I lift up my soul.' Psa 25:5: Time was when David's soul was bowed down. ‘I am bowed down greatly.' Psa 38:8. Now the case is altered he will lift up his soul to God in a way of triumph. Whence was this? God has spoken peace to his soul. ‘Thy lovingkindness is before mine eyes.' Psa 26:6. (2.) This divine peace fires the heart with love to Christ. Peace is the result of pardon. He who has a pardon sealed, cannot choose but love his prince. How endeared is Christ to the soul! Now Christ is precious indeed. ‘Oh,' says the soul, ‘how sweet is this rose of Sharon! Has Christ waded through a sea of blood and wrath, to purchase my peace? Has he not only made peace, but spoken peace to me? How should my heart ascend in a fiery chariot of love! How willing should I be to do and suffer for Christ!' (3.) This peace quiets the heart in trouble. ‘This man shall be the peace, when the Assyrian shall come into our land, and when he shall tread in our palaces.' Mic 5: s. The enemy may invade our palaces, but not our peace: this man Christ shall be the peace. When the head aches, the heart may be well; and when worldly troubles assault a Christian, his mind may be in peace and quiet. ‘I will lay me down in peace, and sleep.' Psa 4:4. It was a sad time with David, he was fleeing for his life from Absalom; it was no small affliction to think that his own son should seek to take away his father's life and crown. David wept and covered his head. 2 Sam 15:50. Yet at this time he says, ‘I will lay me down in peace, and sleep.' He had trouble from his son, but peace from his conscience. David could sleep upon the soft pillow of a good conscience. This is a peace worth getting.

What shall we do to attain this blessed peace?

(1.) Let us ask it of God. He is the God of peace; he beats back the roaring lion; he stills the raging of conscience: if we could call all the angels out of heaven, they could not speak peace without God. The stars cannot make day without the sun; none can make day in a dark deserted soul, but the Sun of Righteousness. As the wilderness cannot water itself, but remains dry and parched till the clouds drop their moisture, so our hearts cannot have peace till he infuse it, and drop it upon us by his Spirit. Therefore pray, ‘Lord, thou who art the God of peace, create peace; thou who art the Prince of peace, command it. Give me that peace which may sweeten trouble, yea, even the bitter cup of death.'

(2.) If you would have peace, make war with sin. Sin is the Achan that troubles us, the Trojan horse. ‘When Joram sew Jehu, he said, Is it peace, Jehu? And he answered, What peace, so long as the whoredoms of thy mother Jezebel and her witchcrafts are so many?' 2 Kings 9:92. What peace, so long as sin remains unmortified? If you would have peace with God, break the league with sin; give battle to sin, for it is a most just war. God has proclaimed it: nay, he has promised us victory. ‘Sin shall not have dominion.' Rom 6:14. No way to peace, but by maintaining a war with sin. Pax nostra bellum contra daemonem [Our peace is a war against the Devil]. Tertullian. When Samson had slain the lion, there came honey out of the lion; so by slaying sin, we get the honey of peace.

(3.) Go to Christ's blood for peace. Some go to fetch their peace from their own righteousness, not Christ's: they go for peace to their holy life, not Christ's death. If conscience be troubled, they strive to quiet it with their duties. This is not the right way to peace. Duties must not be neglected, nor yet idolized. Look to the blood of sprinkling. Heb 12:24. That blood of Christ which pacified God, must pacify conscience. Christ's blood being sucked in by faith, gives peace. ‘Being justified by faith, we have peace with God.' Rom 5:5: No balm to cure a wounded conscience, but the blood of Christ.

(4.) Walk closely with God. Peace flows from purity. ‘As many as walk according to this rule, peace be on them.' Gal 6:16. In the text, grace and peace are put together; grace is the root, and peace is the flower. As balmwater drops in distillation, so divine peace comes out of a gracious heart. Walk very holily. God's Spirit is a refiner before a comforter.

Use two: You who have this peace, peace above, peace within, labour to keep it: it is a precious jewel, do not lose it. It is sad to have the league of national peace broken, but it is worse to have the peace of conscience broken. Oh, preserve this peace! First, take heed of relapses. Has God spoken peace? Do not turn again to folly. Psa 85:5. Besides ingratitude, there is folly in relapses. It was long ere God was reconciled and the breach made up, and will you again eclipse and forfeit your peace? Has God healed the wound of conscience, and will you tear it open again? Will you break another vein? Will you cut a new artery? This is returning indeed to folly. What madness is it to meddle again with that sin, which will breed the worm of conscience! Secondly, make up your spiritual accounts daily; see how matters stand between God and your souls. ‘I commune with my own heart.' Psa 77:7. Often reckonings keep God and conscience friends. Do with your hearts as you do with your watches, wind them up every morning by prayer, and at night examine whether your hearts have gone true all that day, whether the wheels of your affections have moved swiftly towards heaven. Oh, call yourselves often to account! Keep your reckonings even, for that is the way to keep your peace.

--- Joy ---

### 8. Joy

'The fruit of the Spirit is joy.' Gal 5:52.

The third fruit of justification, adoption, and sanctification, is joy in the Holy Ghost. Joy is setting the soul upon the top of a pinnacle - it is the cream of the sincere milk of the word. Spiritual joy is a sweet and delightful passion, arising from the apprehension and feeling of some good, whereby the soul is supported under present troubles, and fenced against future fear.

I. It is a delightful passion. It is contrary to sorrow, which is a perturbation of mind, whereby the heart is perplexed and cast down. Joy is a sweet and pleasant affection which eases the mind, exhilarates and comforts the spirits.

II. It arises from the feeling of some good. Joy is not a fancy, or conceit; but is rational, and arises from the feeling of some good, as the sense of God's love and favour. Joy is so real a thing that it makes a sudden change in a person; and turns mourning into melody. As in the spring-time, when the sun comes to our horizon, it makes a sudden alteration in the face of the universe: the birds sing, the flowers appear, the fig-tree puts forth her green figs; every thing seems to rejoice and put off its mourning, as being revived with the sweet influence of the sun; so when the Sun of Righteousness arises on the soul, it makes a sudden alteration, and the soul is infinitely rejoiced with the golden beams of God's love.

III. By it the soul is supported under present troubles. Joy stupifies and swallows up troubles; it carries the heart above them, as the oil swims above the water.

IV. The heart is fenced against future fear. Joy is both a cordial and an antidote: it is a cordial which gives present relief to the spirits when they are sad; and an antidote, which fences off the fear of approaching danger. ‘I will fear no evil, for thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff they comfort me.' Psa 23:3.

How is this joy wrought?

(1.) It arises partly from the promise. As the bee lies at the breast of the flower, and sucks out its sweetness, so faith lies at the breast of a promise, and sucks out the quintessence of joy. ‘Thy comforts delight my soul;' that is, the comforts which distill from the promises. Psa 94:19.

(2.) The Spirit of God who is called the ‘Comforter,' John 14:46, sometimes drops this golden oil of joy into the soul; the Spirit whispers to a believer the remission of his sin, and sheds God's love abroad in the heart, whence flows infinite joy and delight. Rom 5:5.

What are the Seasons in which God usually gives his people divine joys?

There are five Seasons. (1.) Sometimes at the blessed Supper. The soul comes weeping after Christ in the Sacrament, and God sends it away weeping for joy. The Jews had a custom at their feasts of pouring ointment on their guests and kissing them; in the Eucharist, God often pours the oil of gladness on the saints, and kisses them with the kisses of his lips. There are two grand ends of the Sacrament, the strengthening of faith, and the flourishing of joy. Here, in this ordinance, God displays the banner of his love; here believers taste not only sacramental bread, but hidden manna. Not that God always meets the soul with joy. He may give increase of grace, when not increase of joy; but oftentimes he pours in the oil of gladness, and gives the soul a privy seal of his love; as Christ made himself known in the breaking of bread.

(2.) Before God calls his people to suffering. ‘Be of good cheer, Paul.' Acts 23:11. When God was about to give Paul a cup of blood to drink, he spiced it with joy. ‘As the sufferings of Christ abound in us, so our consolation also aboundeth.' 2 Cor 1:1. This made the martyrs' flames beds of roses. When Stephen was being stoned he saw heaven open, and the Sun of Righteousness shone upon his face. God candies our wormwood with sugar.

(3.) After sore conflicts with Satan. He is the red dragon who troubles the waters; he puts the soul into frights, makes it believe that it has no grace, and that God does not love it. Though he cannot blot out a Christian's evidence, yet he may cast such a mist before his eyes, that he cannot read it. When the soul has been bruised with temptations, God will comfort the bruised reed by giving joy, ad corroborandum titulum, to confirm a Christian's title to heaven. After Satan's fiery darts comes the white stone. No better balm to heal a tempted soul than the oil of gladness! After Christ was tempted, an angel came to comfort him.

(4.) After desertion. Desertion is a poisoned arrow which shoots to the heart. Job 6:6. God is called a fire and a light: the deserted soul feels the fire, but does not see the light; it cries out, as Asaph, ‘Is his mercy clean gone?' Psa 77:7. When the soul is in this case, and ready to faint away in despair, God shines upon it, and gives it some apprehension of his favour, and turns the shadow of death into the light of the morning. God keeps his cordials for a time of fainting. Joy after desertion is like a resurrection from the dead.

(5.) At the hour of death. Of those even who have had no joy in their lifetime. God puts this sugar in the bottom of the cup, to make their death sweet. At the last hour, when all other comforts are gone, God sends the Comforter; and when their appetite to meat fails, he feeds them with hidden manna. As the wicked before they die, have some apprehensions of hell and wrath in their conscience, so the godly have some foretastes of God's everlasting favour, though sometimes their diseases may be such, and their animal spirits so oppressed, that they cannot express what they feel. Jacob laid himself to sleep on a stone and saw a vision of a ladder, and the angels ascending and descending upon it; so, when saints lay themselves down to sleep the sleep of death, they have often a vision: they see the light of God's face, and have the evidences of his love sealed up to them for ever.

What are the differences between worldly joys and spiritual?

The gleanings of the one are better than the vintage of the other.

(1.) Spiritual joys help to make us better, worldly joys often make us worse. ‘I spake unto thee in thy prosperity, but thou saidst, I will not hear.' Jer 22:2I. Pride and luxury are the two worms that are bred of worldly pleasures. ‘Wine takes away the heart;' it is fomentum libidinis, Augustine, ‘the inflamer of lust.' Hos 4:4: As Satan entered in the sop, so often in the cup; but spiritual joy makes one better; it is like cordial water, which, as physicians say, not only cheers the heart, but purges out the noxious humours; so divine joy is cordial water, which not only comforts but cleanses; it makes a Christian more holy; it causes an antipathy against sin; it infuses strength to do and suffer. ‘The joy of the Lord is your strength.' Neh 8:80. As some colours not only delight the eye, but strengthen the sight; so the joys of God not only refresh the soul, but strengthen it.

(2.) Spiritual joys are inward, they are heart joys. ‘Your heart shall rejoice.' John 16:62. Seneca says true joy latet in profundo, it is hidden within, worldly joy is in superficie, it lies on the outside, like the dew that wets the leaf. We read of those who ‘rejoice in appearance,' in the Greek, in the face. 2 Cor 5:12. It goes no farther than the face, it is not within; ‘in laughter the heart is sad.' Like a house which has a gilded frontispiece, but all the rooms within are hung in mourning. But spiritual joy lies most within. ‘Your heart shall rejoice.' Divine joy is like a spring of water which runs underground! Others can see the sufferings of a Christian, but they see not his joy. ‘A stranger intermeddleth not with his joy.' Prov 14:40. His joy is hidden manna, hid from the eye of the world; he has still music which others hear not; the marrow lies within, the best joy is within the heart.

(3.) Spiritual joys are sweeter than others, they are better than wine. Cant 1:1. They are a Christian's festival; they are the golden pot and the manna, they are so sweet, that they make everything else sweet: sweeten health and estate, as sweet water poured on flowers makes them more fragrant and aromatic. Divine joys are so delicious and ravishing, that they put our mouth out of taste for earthly delights; as he who has been drinking cordials tastes little sweetness in water. Paul had so tasted these divine joys, that his mouth was out of taste for worldly things; the world was crucified to him, it was like a dead thing, he could find no sweetness in it. Gal 6:14.

(4.) Spiritual joys are more pure, they are not tempered with any bitter ingredients. A sinner's joy is mixed with dregs, it is imbittered with fear and guilt: the wolf feeds in the breasts of his joy; he drinks wormwood wine; but spiritual joy is not muddled with guilt, but like a crystal stream, runs pure; it is all spirits and quintessence; it is joy and nothing but joy; it is a rose without prickles; it is honey without wax.

(5.) They are satisfying joys: ‘Ask, that your joy may be full.' John 16:64. Worldly joys can no more fill the heart than a drop can fill a cistern; they may please the palate or fancy, as Plato calls them pictures of joy, but cannot satisfy the soul. ‘The eye is not satisfied with seeing, nor the ear with hearing;' Eccl 1:1; but the joys of God satisfy. ‘Thy comforts delight my soul.' Psa 94:19. There is as much difference between spiritual joys and earthly, as between a banquet that is eaten and one that is painted on the wall.

(6.) They are stronger joys than worldly. ‘Strong consolation.' Heb 6:18. They are strong indeed that can bear up a Christian's heart in trials and afflictions. ‘Having received the word in much affliction, with joy.' I Thess 1:1. These are roses that grow in winter, these joys can sweeten the waters of Marah; he that has these can gather grapes of thorns, and fetch honey out of the carcase of a lion. ‘As sorrowing, yet always rejoicing.' 2 Cor 6: 10. At the end of the rod a Christian tastes honey.

(7.) They are unwearied joys. Other joys, when in excess, often cause loathing, we are apt to surfeit on them; too much honey nauseates; one may be tired with pleasure as well as labour. Xerxes offered a reward to him that could find out a new pleasure; but the joys of God, though they satisfy, yet they never surfeit. A drop of joy is sweet, but the more of this wine the better. Such as drink of the joys of heaven are never cloyed; the satiety is without loathing, because they still desire the joy wherewith they are satiated.

(8.) They are abiding joys. Worldly joys are soon gone. Such as crown themselves with rosebuds, and bathe in the perfumed waters of pleasure, may have joys which seem to be sweet but they are swift: they are like meteors, which give a bright and sudden flash, and then disappear. The joys which believers have are abiding; they are a blossom of eternity, a pledge and earnest of those rivers of pleasure which run at God's right hand for evermore.

Why is this joy to be labored for?

(1.) Because it is self-existent, it can subsist in the absence of all other carnal joy. This joy depends not upon outward things. As the philosophers said, when the musicians came to them, ‘Philosophers can be merry without music;' so he that has this joy can be cheerful in the deficiency of carnal joys; he can rejoice in God, in sure hope of glory, ‘although the fig-tree shall not blossom.' Hab 3:17. Spiritual joy can go without silver crutches to support it. Spiritual joy is higher built than upon creatures, for it is built on the love of God, on the promises, and on the blood of Christ.

(2.) Because spiritual joy carries the soul through duty cheerfully; the Sabbath becomes a delight, and religion is a recreation. Fear and sorrow hinder us in the discharge of duty; but a Christian serves God with activity, when he serves him with joy. The oil of joy makes the wheels of obedience move faster. How fervently did they pray, whom God made joyful in the house of prayer! Isa 56:6.

(3.) It is called the kingdom of God in Rom 14:17, because it is a taste of that which the saints have in the kingdom of God. What is the heaven of the angels, but the smiles of God's face, the sensible perception and feeling of those joys which are infinitely ravishing and full of glory! To encourage and quicken us in seeking after them, consider, that Christ died to purchase this joy for his saints. He was a man of sorrows, that we might be full of joy; he prayed that the saints might have this divine joy. ‘And now I come to thee, that they may have my joy fulfilled in themselves.' John 17:13. This prayer he now prays in heaven; he knows we never love him so much as when we feel his love; which may encourage us to seek after this joy. We pray for that which Christ himself is praying for, when we pray that his joy may be fulfilled in us.

What shall we do to obtain this spiritual joy?

Walk consistently and spiritually. God gives joy after long and close walking with him. (1.) Observe your hours. Set time every day apart for God. (2.) Mourn for sin. Mourning is the seed, as Basil says, out of which the flower of spiritual joy grows. ‘I will restore comforts to his mourners.' Isa 57:18. (3.) Keep the book of conscience fair written. Do not by presumptuous sins blur your evidences. A good conscience is the ark in which God puts the hidden manna. (4.) Be often upon your knees, pray with life and fervency. The same Spirit that fills the heart with sighs fills it with joys. The same Spirit that indites the prayer, seals it. When Hannah had prayed, her countenance was no more sad. I Sam 1:18. Praying Christians have much intercourse with God; and none are so like to have the secrets of his love imparted, as those who hold correspondence with him. By close walking with God we get bunches of grapes by the way, which are an earnest of future happiness.

How shall we comfort those that want joy?

Such as walk in close communion with God have more than others.

(1.) Initial joy, joy in semine, in the seed. ‘Light (a metaphor for joy) is sown for the righteous.' Psa 97:71. Grace in the heart is a seed of joy. Though a Christian wants the sun, he has a day-star in his heart.

(2.) A believer has real, though not royal comforts; he has, as Aquinas says, gaudium in Deo, though not a Deo; joy in God, though not from God. Joy in God is the delight and complacency the soul takes in God. ‘My soul shall be glad in the Lord.' Psa 104:44. He that is truly gracious, is so far joyful as to take comfort in God: though he cannot say, God rejoices in him, he can say, he rejoices in God.

(3.) He has supporting, though not transporting comforts. He has as much as keeps him from sinking. ‘Thou strengthenedst me with strength in my soul.' Psa 138:8. If a Christian has not God's arm to embrace him, yet he has it to uphold him. Thus a Christian who walks with God has something that bears up his heart from sinking; and it-is but waiting awhile, and he is sure of those joys which are unspeakable and full of glory.

Use one: Then see that religion is no melancholy thing; it brings joy; the fruit of the Spirit is joy. Mutatur non tollitur [It varies, but it is not destroyed]. A poor Christian that feeds on bread and water, may have purer joy than the greatest monarch; though he fares hard, he feeds high; he has a table spread from heaven; angels' food, hidden manna; he has sometimes sweet raptures of joy, that cause jubilation of spirit; he has that which is better felt than can be expressed. 2 Cor 12:2.

Use two: If God gives his people such joy in this life, oh! then, what glorious joy will he give them in heaven! ‘Enter thou into the joy of thy Lord.' Matt 25:5I. Here joy begins to enter into us, there we shall enter into joy. God keeps his best wine till last. Heliogabalus bathed himself in sweet perfumed waters. What joy when the soul shall for ever bathe itself in the pure and pleasant fountain of God's love! What joy to see the orient brightness of Christ's face, and have the kisses of those lips which drop sweet-smelling myrrh! Laetabitur sponsa in amplexilous Domini [The Bride will rejoice in the embrace of her Lord]. Augustine. Oh! if a cluster of grapes here be so sweet, what will the full vintage be! How may this set us all longing for that place where sorrow cannot live, and where joy cannot die!

--- Growth in Grace ---

### 9. Growth In Grace

'But grow in grace.' 2 Pet 3:38.

True grace is progressive, of a spreading and growing nature. It is with grace as with light; first, there is the crepusculum, or daybreak; then it shines brighter to the full meridian. A good Christian is like the crocodile. Quamdiu vivet crescit; he has never done growing. The saints are not only compared to stars for their light, but to trees for their growth. Isa 61:1, and Hos 14:4. A good Christian is not like Hezekiah's sun that went backwards, nor Joshua's sun that stood still, but is always advancing in holiness, and increasing with the increase of God. I Cor 3:3.

In how many ways may a Christian be said to grow in grace?

(1.) He grows vigore, in the exercise of grace. His lamp is burning and shining: therefore we read of a lively hope. I Pet 1:1. Here is the activity of grace. The church prays for the blowing of the Spirit, that her spices might flow forth. Cant 4:16.

(2.) A Christian grows gradu, in the degree of grace. He goes from strength to strength, from one degree of grace to another. Psa 84:4. A saint goes from faith to faith. Rom 1:17. His love abounds more and more. Phil 1:1.

What is the right manner of a Christian's growth?

(1.) It is to grow less in one's own eyes. ‘I am a worm, and no man.' Psa 22:2. The sight of corruption and ignorance makes a Christian grow into a dislike of himself; he vanishes in his own eyes. Job abhorred himself in the dust. Ch 42:2. It is good to grow out of conceit with one's self.

(2.) The right manner of growth is to grow proportionately, to grow in one grace as well as another. 2 Pet 1:1. To grow in knowledge, but not meekness, brotherly love, or good works, is not the right growth. A thing may swell and not grow; a man may be swelled with knowledge, yet may have no spiritual growth. The right manner of growth is uniform, growing in one grace as well as another. As the beauty of the body consists in a symmetry of parts, in which not only the head grows, but the arms and breast; so spiritual growth is most beautiful, when there is symmetry and proportion, and every grace thrives.

(3.) The right manner of growth is, when a Christian has grace suitable to his several employments and occasions; when corruptions are strong, and he has grace able to give check to them; burdens are heavy, and he has patience able to bear them; temptations fierce, and he has faith able to resist them. Then grace grows in the right manner.

Whence is it that true grace cannot but grow?

(1.) It is proper for grace to grow; it is semen manens [an enduring seed], the seed of God. I John 3:3. It is the nature of seed to grow: grace does not lie in the heart, as a stone in the earth, but as seed in the earth, which will spring up, first the blade, then the ear, and then the full corn in the ear.

(2.) Grace cannot but grow, from its sweetness and excellence. He that has grace is never weary of it, but would have more. The delight he has in it causes thirst. Grace is the image of God, and a Christian thinks he can never be enough like God. Grace instills peace; a Christian, therefore, strives to grow in grace that he may grow in peace.

(3.) Grace cannot but grow, from a believer's ingrafting into Christ. He who is a scion, ingrafted into this noble, generous stock, cannot but grow. Christ is so full of sap, and vivifying influence, that he makes all who are grafted into him, grow fruitful. ‘From me is thy fruit found.' Hos 14:4.

What motives or incentives are there to make us grow in grace?

(1.) Growth is the end of the ordinances. Why does a man lay out cost on ground, manure and water it, but that it may grow? The sincere milk of the word is given, that we may grow thereby. I Pet 2:2. The table of the Lord is on purpose for our spiritual nourishment and increase of grace.

(2.) The growth of grace is the best evidence of the truth of it. Things that have no life will not grow: a picture will not grow, a stake in the hedge will not grow; but a plant that has a vegetative life grows. The growing of grace shows it to be alive in the soul.

(3.) Growth in grace is the beauty of a Christian. The more a child grows, the more it comes to its favour and complexion, and looks more ruddy; so, the more a Christian grows in grace, the more he comes to his spiritual complexion, and looks fairer. Abraham's faith was beautiful when in its infancy, but at last it grew so vigorous and eminent, that God himself was in love with it, and crowned Abraham with this honour, to be the ‘father of the faithful.'

(4.) The more we grow in grace, the more glory we bring to God. God's glory is more worth than the salvation of all men's souls. This should be our design, to raise the trophies of God's glory; and how can we do it more, than by growing in grace? ‘Hereby is my Father glorified, if ye bring forth much fruit.' John 15:5. Though the least drachm of grace will bring salvation to us, yet it will not bring so much glory to God. ‘Filled with the fruits of righteousness, which are to the praise of his glory.' Phil 1:11: It commends the skill of the husbandman when his plants grow and thrive; it is a praise and honour to God when we thrive in grace.

(5.) The more we grow in grace, the more will God love us. Is it not that which we pray for? The more growth, the more God will love us. The husbandman loves his thriving plants; the thriving Christian is God's Hephzibah, or chief delight. Christ loves to see the vine flourishing, and the pomegranates budding. Cant 6:11: He accepts the truth of grace, but commends the growth of grace. ‘I have not found so great faith, no, not in Israel.' Matt 8: 10. Would you be as the beloved disciple that lay in Christ's bosom? Would you have much love from Christ? Labour for much growth, let faith flourish with good works, and love increase into zeal.

(6.) We need to grow in grace. There is still something lacking in our faith. I Thess 3:30. Grace is but in its infancy and minority, and we must still be adding a cubit to our spiritual stature. The apostles said, ‘Lord, increase our faith.' Luke 17:7. Grace is but weak. ‘I am this day weak, though anointed king.' 2 Sam 3:39. So, though we are anointed with grace, yet we are but weak, and had need arrive at further degrees of sanctity.

(7.) The growth of grace will hinder the growth of corruption. The more health grows, the more the distempers of the body abate; so in spirituals, the more humility grows, the more the swelling of pride is assuaged, the more purity of heart grows, the more the fire of lust is abated. The growth of flowers in the garden does not hinder the growing of weeds, but the growing of the flower of grace hinders the sprouting of corruption. As some plants have an antipathy, and will not thrive if they grow near together, as the vine and the bay tree, so, where grace grows, sin will not thrive so fast.

(8.) We cannot grow too much in grace; there is no nimium, no excess there. The body may grow too great, as in the dropsy; but faith cannot grow too great. ‘Your faith groweth exceedingly.' 2 Thess 1:1. Here was exceeding, yet not excess. As a man cannot have too much health, so not too much grace. Grace is the beauty of holiness. Ps 110:0. We cannot have too much spiritual beauty; it will be the only trouble at death, that we have grown no more in grace.

(g.) Such as do not grow in grace, decay in grace. Non progredi in via est regredi [Not to go forward in the Christian life is to turn back]. Bernard. There is no standing in religion, either we go forward or backward. If faith does not grow, unbelief will; if heavenly-mindedness does not grow, covetousness will. A man that does not increase his stock, diminishes it: so if you do not improve your stock of grace, your stock will decay. The angels on Jacob's ladder were either ascending or descending: if you do not ascend in religion, you descend.

(10.) The more we grow in grace, the more we shall flourish in glory. Though every vessel of glory shall be full, yet some vessels hold more than others. He whose pound gained ten, was made ruler over ten cities. Luke 19:17. Such as do not grow much, though they lose not their glory, they lessen it. If any shall follow the Lamb in whiter and larger robes of glory than others, they shall be such as have shone most in grace here.

Use: Lament the want of growth. Religion in many is grown into a form and profession only: this is to grow in leaves, not in fruit. Many Christians are like a body in an atrophy, which does not thrive. They are not nourished by the sermons they hear. Like the angels who assumed bodies, they ate, but did not grow. It is to be suspected where there is no growth, there wants a vital principle. Some instead of growing better, grow worse; they grow more earthly, more profane. 2 Tim 3:13. Evil men proficient in pejus, shall wax worse and worse. Many grow hell-ward - they grow past shame. Zeph 3:3. They are like some watered stuffs, which grow more rotten.

How shall we know whether we grow in grace?

For deciding this question, I shall show 1: The signs of our not growing; 2: of our growing.

I. The signs of our not growing in grace, but rather falling into a spiritual consumption.

[1] When we have lost our spiritual appetite. A consumptive person has not that stomach to his meat as formerly. Perhaps, Christian, thou canst remember the time when thou didst hunger and thirst after righteousness, thou didst come to the ordinances with such a stomach as to a feast; but now it is otherwise, Christ is not so prized, nor his ordinances so loved. This is a sad presage that grace is on the declining hand; and thou art in a deep consumption. It was a sign that David was near his grave when they covered him with clothes, and he got no heat, I Kings 1:1; so, when a person is covered with the warm clothes of ordinances, and yet has no heat of affection to spiritual things, it is a sign that he is declining in grace.

[2] When we grow more worldly. Perhaps we once mounted into higher orbs, we set our hearts on things above, and spake the language of Canaan; but now our minds are taken off from heaven, we dig our comfort out of the lower mines, and with Satan compass the earth. This is a sign we are going down the hill apace, and our grace is in a consumption. It is observable when nature decays, and people are near dying, they grow more stooping; and truly, when men's hearts grow more stooping to the earth, and they can hardly lift up themselves to a heavenly thought, if grace be not dead, yet it is ready to die. Rev 3:3.

[3] When we are less troubled about sin. Time was when the least sin grieved us, as the least hair makes the eye weep; but now we can digest sin without remorse. Time was when we were troubled if we neglected closet prayer; now we can omit family-prayer. Time was when vain thoughts troubled us; now we are not troubled for loose practices. Here is a sad declension in religion; and truly grace is so far from growing that we can hardly perceive its pulse to beat.

II. The signs of our growing in grace.

[1] The first sign of our growing, is, when we have got beyond our former measures of grace. It is a sign a child thrives when he has outgrown his clothes. That knowledge which would serve us before will not serve us now; we have a deeper insight into religion, our light is clearer, our spark of love is increased into a flame; there is a sign of growth. That competency of grace we once had is too scanty for us now; we have outgrown ourselves.

[2] When we are more firmly rooted in religion. ‘Rooted in him, and established:' the spreading of the root shows the growth of the tree. Col 2:2. When we are so strongly fastened on Christ, that we cannot be blown down with the breath of heretics, it is a blessed sign of growth. Athanasius was called Adamas ecclesiae [the Adamant of the Church, an adamant that could not be removed from the love of the truth.

[3] When we have a more spiritual frame of heart. (1.) When we are more spiritual in our principles; when we oppose sin out of love to God, and because it strikes at his holiness. (2.) When we are more spiritual in our affections. We grieve for the first rising of corruption, for the bubbling up of vain thoughts, and for the spring that runs underground. We mourn not only for the penalty of sin, but for its pollution. It is not a coal only that burns, but blacks. (3.) When we arc spiritual in the performance of duty. We are more serious, reverent, fervent; we have more life in prayer, we put fire to the sacrifice. ‘Fervent in spirit.' Rom 12:2: We serve God with more love, which ripens and mellows our duty, and makes it come off with a better relish.

[4] When grace gets ground by opposition. The fire, by an antiperistasis, burns hottest in the coldest season. Peter's courage increased by the opposition of the high priest and the rulers. Acts 4:4, 11. The martyr's zeal was increased by persecution. Here was grace of the first magnitude.

What shall we do to grow in grace?

(1.) Take heed of that which will hinder growth, as the love of any sin. The body may as well thrive in a fever, as grace can where any sin is cherished.

(2.) Use all means for growth in grace. 1st. ‘Exercise yourselves unto godliness.' I Tim 4:4. The body grows stronger by exercise. Trading of money makes men grow rich; so the more we trade our faith in the promises, the richer in faith we grow. 2ndly. If you would be growing Christians, be humble Christians. It is observed in some countries, as in France, the best and largest grapes, which make wine, grow on the lower sort of vines; so the humble saints grow most in grace. ‘God giveth grace to the humble.' I Pet 5:5. 3rdly. Pray to God for spiritual growth. Some pray that they may grow in gifts. It is better to grow in grace than gifts. Gifts are for ornament, grace is for nourishment. Gifts edify others; grace saves ourselves. Some pray that they may grow rich; but a fruitful heart is better than a full purse. Pray that God would make you grow in grace, though it be by affliction. Heb 12:20. The vine grows by pruning. God's pruning-knife is to make us grow more in grace.

How may we comfort such as complain they do not grow in grace?

They make mistake; for they may grow, when they think they do not, ‘There is that maketh himself poor, yet has great riches.' Prov 13:3. The sight Christians have of their defects in grace, and their thirst after greater measures of grace, make them think they do not grow when they do. He who covets a great estate, because he has not so much as he desires, thinks himself to be poor. Indeed Christians should seek after the grace they want, but they must not therefore overlook the grace they have. Let Christians be thankful for the least growth. If you do not grow so much in assurance, bless God if you grow in sincerity; if you do not grow so much in knowledge, bless God if you grow in humility. If a tree grows in the root, it is a true growth; so if you grow in the root-grace of humility, it is as needful for you as any other growth.

--- Perseverance ---

### 10. Perseverance

'Who are kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation.' I Pet 1:1.

The fifth and last fruit of sanctification, is perseverance in grace. The heavenly inheritance is kept for the saints, and they are kept to the inheritance. I Pet 1:1. The apostle asserts a saint's stability and permanence in grace. The saint's perseverance is much opposed by Papists and Arminians; but it is not the less true because it is opposed. A Christian's main comfort depends upon this doctrine of perseverance. Take this away, and you prejudice religion, and cut the sinews of all cheerful endeavours. Before I come to the full handling and discussing of this great point, let me first clear the sense of it.

I. When I say, Believers persevere:

[1] I grant, that such as are so only in profession, may fall away. ‘Demas has forsaken me.' 2 Tim 4:40. Blazing comets soon evaporate. A building on sand will fall. Matt 7:76. Seeming grace may be lost. No wonder to see a bough fall from a tree that is only tied on. Hypocrites are only tied on Christ by an external profession, they are not ingrafted. Who ever thought artificial motions would hold long? The hypocrite's motion is only artificial, not vital. All blossoms do not ripen into fruit.

[2] I grant that if believers were left to stand on their own legs, they might fall finally. Some of the angels, who were stars full of light and glory, actually lost their grace; and if those pure angels fell from grace, much more would the godly, who have so much sin to betray them, if they were not upheld by a superior power.

L3] I grant that, although true believers do not fall away actually, and lose all their grace, yet their grace may fail in degree, and they may make a great breach upon their sanctification. Grace may be moritura, non mortua; dying, but not dead. ‘Strengthen the things which are ready to die.' Rev 3:3. Grace may be like fire in the embers; though not quenched, yet the flame is gone out. This decay of grace I shall show in two particulars.

(1.) The lively actings of grace may be suspended. ‘Thou hast left thy first love.' Rev 2:2. Grace may be like a sleepy habit; the godly may act faintly in religion, the pulse of their affections may beat low. The wise virgins slumbered. Matt 25:5. The exercise of grace may be hindered; as when the course of water is stopped. (2.) Instead of grace working in the godly, corruption may work; instead of patience, murmuring; instead of heavenliness, earthliness. How did pride put forth itself in the disciples, when they strove who should be the greatest! How did lust put forth itself in David! Thus lively and vigorous may corruption be in the regenerate; they may fall into enormous sins. But though all this be granted, yet they do not, penitus exeidere, fall away finally from grace. David did not quite lose his grace: for then, why did he pray, ‘Take not away thy holy spirit from me,? He had not quite lost the Spirit. As Eutychus, when he fell from a window (Acts 20:) and all thought he was dead - ‘No, saith Paul, there is life in him;' so David fell foully, but there was the life of grace in him. Though the saints may come to that pass that they have but little faith, yet not to have no faith. Though their grace may be drawn low, yet it is not drawn dry; though grace may be abated, it is not abolished; though the wise virgins slumbered, yet their lamps were not quite gone out. Grace, when at the lowest, shall revive and flourish; as when Samson had lost his strength, his hair grew again, and his strength was renewed. Having thus explained the proposition, I come now to amplify this great doctrine of the saint's perseverance.

II. By what means do Christians come to persevere?

[1] By the help of ordinances, as of prayer, the word, and the sacraments. Christians do not arrive at perseverance when they sit still and do nothing. It is not with us as with passengers in a ship, who are carried to the end of their voyage while they sit still in the ship; or, as it is with noblemen, who have their rents brought in without their toil or labour; but we arrive at salvation in the use of means; as a man comes to the end of a race by running, to a victory by fighting. ‘Watch and pray.' Matt 26:6I. As Paul said, ‘Except ye abide in the ship, ye cannot be saved.' Acts 27:7 1: Believers shall come to shore at last, arrive at heaven; but ‘except they abide in the ship,' viz.' in the use of ordinances, ‘they cannot be saved.' The ordinances cherish grace; as they beget grace, so they are the breastmilk by which it is nourished and preserved to eternity.

[2] Auxilio Spiritus, by the sacred influence and concurrence of the Spirit. The Spirit of God is continually at work in the heart of a believer, to carry on grace to perfection. It drops in fresh oil, to keep the lamp of grace burning. The Spirit excites, strengthens, increases grace, and makes a Christian go from one step of faith to another, till he comes to the end of his faith, which is salvation. I Pet 1:1. It is a fine expression of the apostle, ‘The Holy Ghost which dwelleth in us.' 2 Tim 1:14. He who dwells in a house, keeps the house in repair; so the Spirit dwelling in a believer, keeps grace in repair. Grace is compared to a river of the water of life. John 7:78. This river can never be dried up, because God's Spirit is the spring that continually feeds it.

[3] Grace is carried on to perfection by Christ's daily intercession. As the Spirit is at work in the heart, so is Christ at work in heaven. Christ is ever praying that the saint's grace may hold out. Conserva illos; “Father, keep those whom thou hast given me:” keep them as the stars in their orbs: keep them as jewels, that they may not be lost. “Father keep them.”, John 17:7: That prayer which Christ made for Peter, was the copy of the prayer he now makes for believers. ‘I have prayed for thee, that thy faith fail not,' that it be not totally eclipsed. Luke 22:22. How can the children of such prayers perish?

III. Arguments to prove the saint's perseverance.

[1] A veritate Dei, ‘from the truth of God.' God has both asserted it, and promised it. (1.) God has asserted it. ‘His seed remaineth in him.' I John 3:3. ‘The anointing ye have received of him abideth in you.' I John 2:27. (2.) As God has asserted it, so he has promised it. The truth of God, the most orient pearl of his crown, is laid as a pawn in the promise. ‘I will give unto them eternal life, and they shall never perish.' John 10:08. ‘I will make an everlasting covenant with them, that I will not turn away from them to do them good, but I will put my fear in their hearts, that they shall not depart from me.' Jer 32:20. God will so love his people, that he will not forsake them; and they shall so fear him, that they shall not forsake him. If a believer should not persevere, God would break his promise. ‘I will betroth thee unto me for ever, in righteousness and lovingkindness.' Hos 2:19. God does not marry his people unto himself, and then divorce them; he hates putting away. Mal 2:16. God's love ties the marriage-knot so fast, that neither death nor hell can break it asunder.

[2] The second argument is, a potentia Dei, ‘from the power of God.' The text says, we ‘are kept by the power of God unto salvation.' Each Person in the Trinity has a hand in making a believer persevere. God the Father establishes. 2 Cor 1:1I. God the Son confirms, I Cor 1:1. God the Holy Ghost seals. Eph 1:13. So that it is the power of God that keeps us. We are not kept by our own power. The Pelagians held that man by his own power might overcome temptation and persevere. Augustine confutes them. ‘Man,' says he, ‘prays unto God for perseverance, which would be absurd, if he had power of himself to persevere.' ‘And,' says Augustine, ‘if all the power be inherent in a man's self, then why should not one persevere as well as another? Why not Judas as well as Peter?' So that it is not by any other than the power of God that we are kept. The Lord preserved Israel from perishing in the wilderness, till he brought them to Canaan; and the same care will he take, if not in a miraculous manner, yet in a spiritual invisible manner, in preserving his people in a state of grace, till he bring them to the celestial Canaan. As the heathens feigned of Atlas, that he bears up the heavens from falling: the power of God is that Atlas which bears up the saints from falling. It is disputed, whether grace of itself may not perish, as Adam's; yet sure I am, grace kept by the power of God cannot perish.

[3] The third argument is taken, ab electione, ‘from God's electing love.' Such as God has from all eternity elected to glory, cannot fall away finally; but every true believer is elected to glory, therefore he cannot fall away. What can frustrate election, or make God's decree void? This argument stands like Mount Sion, which cannot be moved; insomuch that some of the Papists hold, that those who have absolute election cannot fall away. ‘The foundation of God standeth sure, having this seal, the Lord knoweth them that are his.' 2 Tim 2:19. The foundation of God is nothing else but God's decree in election; and this stands sure; God will not alter it, and others cannot.

[4] The fourth argument is taken, ab unione cum Christo, ‘from believers' union with Christ.' They are knit to Christ as the members to the head, by the nerves and ligaments of faith, so that they cannot be broken off. Eph 5:53. What was once said of Christ's natural body is true of his mystical. ‘A bone of it shall not be broken.' As it is not possible to sever the leaven and the dough when they are once mingled and kneaded together, so it is impossible for Christ and believers, when once united, ever to be separated. Christ and his members make one body. Now, is it possible that any part of Christ should perish? How can Christ lose any member of his mystic body, and be perfect? In short, si unus excidat, quare non et alter? If one believer may be broken off from Christ, then, by the same rule, why not another. Why not all? And so Christ would be a head without a body.

[5] The fifth argument is taken, ab emptione, ‘from the nature of a purchase.' A man will not lay down his money for a purchase which may be lost, and the fee-simple alienated. Christ died that he might purchase us as a people to himself for ever. ‘Having obtained eternal redemption for us.' Heb 9:12. Would Christ, think ye, have shed his blood that we might believe in him for a while, and then fall away? Do we think Christ will lose his purchase?

[6] The sixth argument is, a victoria supra mundum, ‘from a believer's victory over the world.' The argument stands thus: He who overcomes the world perseveres in grace; but a believer overcomes the world; therefore a believer perseveres in grace. ‘This is the victory that overcometh the world, even our faith.' I John 5:5. A man may lose a single battle in the field, yet win the victory at last. A child of God may be foiled in a single battle against temptation, as Peter was, but he is victorious at last. Now, if a saint be crowned victor, if the world be conquered by him, he must needs persevere.

IV. I come next to answer some objections of the Arminians.

[1] The first objection of Arminians is, If a believer shall persevere in grace, to what purpose are admonitions in Scripture, such as ‘Let him take heed lest he fall;' I Cor 10:02; and, ‘Let us fear, lest any of you seem to come short.' Heb 4:1? Such admonitions seem to be superfluous, if a saint shall certainly persevere.

These admonitions are necessary to caution believers against carelessness; they are as goads and spurs to quicken them to greater diligence in working out their salvation. They do not imply the saints can fall away, but are preservatives to keep them from falling away. Christ told some of his disciples they should abide in him, yet he exhorts them to abide in him. John 15:5. His exhorting them was not in the least to question their abiding in him, but to awaken their diligence, and make them pray the harder, that they might abide in him.

[2] The second objection is, It is impossible for those who were once enlightened, and have tasted of the heavenly gift, and were made partakers of the Holy Ghost, and have felt the powers of the world to come, if they shall fall away, to renew them again to repentance. Heb 6:6.

This place of Scripture has no force in it, for the apostle here speaks of hypocrites; he shows how far they may go, and yet fall away. (1.) They who were once enlightened. Men may have great illuminations, yet fall away. Was not Judas enlightened? (2.) They have been made partakers of the Holy Ghost; the common gifts of the Spirit, not the special grace. (3.) They have tasted the good word of God. Tasting here is opposed to eating: the hypocrite may have a kind of taste of the sweetness of religion, but his taste does not nourish. There is a great deal of difference between one Perseverance that takes a gargle and a cordial: the gargle only washes his mouth - he tastes it, and puts it out again; but a cordial is drunk down, which nourishes and cherishes the spirits. The hypocrite, who has only some smack or taste of religion, as one tastes a gargle, may fall away. (4.) And have felt the powers of the world to come; that is, they may have such apprehensions of the glory of heaven as to be affected with it, and seem to have some joy in the thoughts of it, yet fall away; as in the parable of the stony ground. Matt 13:3o. All this is spoken of the hypocrite; but it does not therefore prove that the true believer, who is effectually wrought upon, can fall away. Though comets fall, it does not follow that true stars fall. That this Scripture speaks not of sound believers, is clear from ver 9: ‘But we are persuaded better things of you, and things that accompany salvation.'

Use one: For instruction. (1.) See the excellence of grace. It perseveres. Other things are but for a season; health and riches are sweet, but they are but for a season; but grace is the blossom of eternity. The seed of God remains. I John 3:3. Grace may suffer an eclipse, not a dissolution. It is called substance, for its solidity, Prov 8:8I; and durable riches, for its permanence. Prov 8:18. It lasts as long as the soul, as heaven lasts. Grace is not like a lease which soon expires, but it runs parallel with eternity.

(2.) See here that which may excite in the saints everlasting love and gratitude to God. What can make us love God more than the fixedness of his love to us? He is not only the author of grace, but finisher; his love is perpetual and carried on to our salvation. ‘My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me: and I give unto them eternal life.' John 10:07, 28. My sheep, there is election; hear my voice, there is vocation; and I know them, there is justification; and they follow me, there is sanctification; and I give unto them eternal life, there is glorification. How may this make us love God, and set up the monuments and trophies of his praise! How much have we done to cause God to withdraw his Spirit, and suffer us to fall finally! yet that he should keep us, let his name be blessed, and his memorial eternalised, who keepeth the feet of his saints. I Sam 2:2.

(3.) See whence it is that saints persevere in holiness. It is to be ascribed solely to the power of God; we are kept by his power, kept as in a garrison. It is a wonder that any Christian perseveres, if you consider: (1:) Corruption within. The tares are mingled with the wheat; there is more sin than grace, yet grace be habitually predominant. Grace is like a spark in the sea, a wonder that it is not quenched. It is a wonder that sin does not destroy grace; that it does not do, as sometimes the nurse to the infant, overlay it, and so this infant of grace be smothered and die. (2:) Temptations without. Satan envies us happiness, and he raises his militia, and stirs up persecution. He shoots his fiery darts of temptations, which are called darts for their swiftness, fiery for their terribleness. We are every day beset with devils. As it was a wonder that Daniel was kept alive in the midst of the roaring lions, so there are many roaring devils about us, and yet we are not torn in pieces. Now, whence is it that we stand against these powerful temptations? We are kept by the power of God. (3:) The world's “olden snares, riches and pleasure. ‘How hardly shall they that have riches enter into the kingdom of God?' Luke 18:84. How many have been cast away upon these golden sands, as Demas! 2 Tim 4:40. What a wonder any soul perseveres in religion, that the earth does not choke the fire of all good affections? Whence is this, but from the power of God? We are kept by his power.

Use two: For consolation. This doctrine of perseverance is as a bezoar stone; it is a sovereign cordial to keep up the spirits of the godly from fainting. (1.) There is nothing that more troubles a child of God than that he fears he shall never hold out. ‘These weak legs of mine,' he says, will never carry me to heaven.' But perseverance is an inseparable fruit of sanctification. Once in Christ, for ever in Christ. A believer may fall from some degrees of grace, but not from the state of grace. An Israelite could never wholly sell or alienate his inheritance. Lev 25:53. So our heavenly inheritance cannot be wholly alienated from us. How despairing is the Arminian doctrine of falling from grace! To-day a saint, tomorrow a reprobate; to-day a Peter, to-morrow a Judas. This must needs cut the sinews of a Christian's endeavour, and be like boring a hole in a vessel: to make all the wine of his joy run out. Were the Arminian doctrine true, how could the apostle say, the seed of God remains in him, and the anointing of God abides? I John 3:3; I John 2:27. What comfort were it to have one's name written in the book of life, if it might be blotted out again? But be assured, for your comfort, grace, if true, though never so weak, shall persevere. Though a Christian has but little grace to trade with, yet he need not fear breaking, because God not only gives him a stock of grace, but will keep his stock for him. Gratia concutitur, non excutitur. Augustine. ‘Grace may be shaken with fears and doubts, but it cannot be plucked up by the roots.' Fear not falling away. If anything should hinder the saints, perseverance, it must be either sin or temptation: but neither of these can. (1:) Not the sin of believers. That which humbles them shall not damn them; but their sins humble them. They gather grapes off thorns; from the thorn of sin they gather the grape of humility. (2:) Not temptation. The devil lays the train of his temptation to blow up the fort of a saint's grace; but he cannot do it. Temptation is a medicine for security; the more Satan tempts, the more the saints pray. When Paul had the messenger of Satan to buffet him, he said, ‘For this I besought the Lord thrice, that it might depart from me.' 2 Cor 12:2. Thus nothing can break off a believer from Christ, or hinder his perseverance. Let this wine be given to such as are of a heavy heart. (2.) This perseverance is comfort. (1:) In the loss of worldly comforts. When our goods may be taken away, our grace cannot. ‘Mary has chosen the better part, which cannot be taken from her.' Luke 10:02. (2:) In the hour of death. When all things fail, friends take their farewell of us, yet still grace remains. Death may separate all things else from us but grace. A Christian may say on his death-bed, as Olevianus, ‘Sight is gone, speech and hearing are departing, but the lovingkindness of God will never depart.'

Use three: For exhortation. What motives and incentives are there to make Christians persevere?

(1.) It is the crown and glory of a Christian to persevere. In Christianis non initia sed fines laudantur [It is not the beginning of the Christian life that gets glory but the end of it]. ‘The hoary head is a crown of glory, if found in the way of righteousness.' Prov 16:6 1: When grey hairs shine with golden virtues, it is a crown of glory. The church of Thyatira was best at last. ‘I know thy patience and thy works, and the last to be more than the first.' Rev 2:19. The excellence of a building is not in having the first stone laid, but when it is finished: the glory and excellence of a Christian is when he has finished the work of faith.

(2.) You are within a few days' march of heaven. Salvation is near to you. ‘Now is our salvation nearer than when we believed.' Rom 13:3: Christians, it is but a while and you will have done weeping and praying, and be triumphing; you shall put off your mourning, and put on white robes; you shall put off your armour, and put on a victorious crown. You who have made a good progress in religion, you are almost ready to commence and take your degree of glory; now is your salvation nearer than when you began to believe. When a man is almost at the end of a race, will he tire, or faint away? O labour to persevere, your salvation is now nearer; you have but a little way to go, and you will set your foot in heaven! Though the way be up-hill and full of thorns, yet you have gone the greatest part of your way, and shortly shall rest from your labours.

(3.) How sad is it not to persevere in holiness! You expose yourself to the reproaches of men, and the rebukes of God. First, to the reproaches of men. They will deride both you and your profession. ‘This man began to build, and was not able to finish.' Luke 14:40. Such is he who begins in religion, and does not persevere: he is the ludibrium and derision of all. Secondly, to the rebukes of God. God is most severe against such as fall off, because they bring an evil report upon religion. Apostasy breeds a bitter worm in the conscience; (what a worm did Spira feel!); and it brings swift damnation; it is a drawing back to perdition. Heb 10:09. God will make his sword drunk with the blood of apostates.

(4.) The promises of mercy are annexed only to perseverance. ‘He that overcometh shall be clothed in white raiment; and I will not blot out his name out of the book of life.' Rev 3:3. Non pugnanti sed vincenti dabitur corona. Augustine. The promise is not to him that fights, but that overcomes. ‘Ye are they which have continued with me, and I appoint unto you a kingdom.' Luke 22:28, 29. The promise of a kingdom, says Chrysostom, is not made to them that heard Christ or followed him, but that continued with him. Perseverance carries away the garland; no man has the crown set upon his head, but he who holds out to the end of the race. O therefore, be persuaded by all this to persevere. God makes no account of such as do not persevere. Who esteems corn that sheds before harvest, or fruit that falls from the tree before it be ripe?

What expedients or means may be used for a Christian's perseverance?

(1.) Take heed of those things which will make you desist and fall away. 1st. Take heed of presumption. Do not presume upon your own strength; exercise a holy fear and jealousy over your own hearts. ‘Be not high-minded, but fear.' Rom 11:1o. ‘Let him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall.' I Cor 10:12. It was Peter's sin that he leaned more upon his grace than upon Christ, and then he fell. A Christian has cause to fear lest the lust and deceit of his heart betray him. Take heed of presuming. Fear begets prayer, prayer begets strength, and strength begets steadfastness. 2ndly. Take heed of hypocrisy. Judas was first a sly hypocrite, and then a traitor. ‘Their heart was not right with God, neither were they steadfast in his covenant.' Psa [28:87. If there be any venom or malignity in the blood, it will break forth into a plague-sore. The venom of hypocrisy is in danger of breaking out into the plague-sore of scandal. 3rdly. Beware of a vile heart of unbelief. ‘Take heed lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief, in departing from the living God.' Heb 3:12. Whence is apostasy but from incredulity? Men do not believe the truth, and therefore they fall from the truth. Unbelieving and unstable go together. ‘They believed not in God.' ‘They turned back.' Psa 78:82, 4I

(2.) If you would be pillars in the temple of God, and persevere in sanctity;

(1:) Look that you enter into religion upon a right ground; be well grounded in the distinct knowledge of God. You must know the love of the Father, the merit of the Son, and the efficacy of the Holy Ghost. Such as know not God aright will by degrees fall off. The Samaritans sided with the dews when they were in favour, but disclaimed all kindred with them when Antiochus persecuted the Jews. No wonder they were no more fixed in religion, if you consider what Christ says of them: ‘Ye worship ye know not what.' John 4:42. They were ignorant of the true God. Let your knowledge of God be clear, and serve him purely out of choice, and then you will persevere. ‘I have chosen the way of truth. I have stuck unto thy testimonies.' Psa 119:90, 3I.

(2:) Get a real work of grace in your heart. ‘It is a good thing that the heart be established with grace.' Heb 13:3. Nothing will hold out but grace; it is only this anointing abides; paint will fall off. Get a heartchanging work. ‘But ye are washed, but ye are sanctified.' I Cor 6:6: Be not content with baptism of water, without baptism of the Spirit. The reason men persevere not in religion, is for want of a vital principle; a branch must needs wither that has no root to grow upon.

(3:) If you would persevere, be very sincere. Perseverance grows only upon the root of sincerity. ‘Let integrity and uprightness preserve me.' Psa 25:5I. The breastplate of sincerity can never be shot through. How many storms was Job in! The devil set against him; his wife tempted him to curse God; his friends accused him of being a hypocrite: here was enough, one would think, to have made him desist from religion; but for all this, he perseveres. What preserved him? It was his sincerity. ‘My righteousness I hold fast, and will not let it go; my heart shall not reproach me so long as I live.' Job 27:7.

(4:) If you would persevere, be humble. Chrysostom calls humility the mother of all the graces. God lets a poor, humble Christian stand, when others of higher parts, and who have higher thoughts of themselves, fall off by apostasy. They are most likely to persevere, to whom God gives most grace. ‘But he gives grace to the humble.' I Pet 5:5. They are most likely to persevere, who have God dwelling in them. ‘But God dwells in the humble soul.' Isa 57:15. Non requiescet Spiritus Sanctus nisi super humilem [The Holy Spirit will only come to rest over a humble soul]. Bernard. The lower the tree roots in the earth, the firmer it is; so the more the soul is rooted in humility, the more established it is, and is in less danger of falling away.

(5:) Would you persevere? Cherish the grace of faith. Faith is able stabilere animum [to support the spirit]. ‘By faith ye stand.' 2 Cor 1:14. Faith knits us to Christ, as the members are knit to the head by nerves and sinews. Faith fills us with love to God. ‘It works by love.' Gal 5:5. He who loves God will rather die than desert him; as the soldier who loves his general will die in his service. Faith gives us a prospect of heaven; it shows us an invisible glory; and he who has Christ in his heart, and a crown in his eye, will not faint away. O cherish faith! Keep your faith, and your faith will keep you. While the pilot keeps his ship, his ship keeps him.

(6:) Would we persevere? Let us seek God's power to help us. We are kept by the power of God. The child is safest when it is held in the nurse's arms; so are we, when we are held in the arms of free grace. It is not our holding God, but his holding us, that preserves us. When a boat is tied to a rock, it is secure; so, when we are fast tied to the Rock of Ages, we are impregnable. O engage God's power to help you to persevere. We engage his power by prayer. Let us pray to him to keep us. ‘Hold up my goings in thy path, that my footsteps slip not.' Psa 17:7. It was a good prayer of Beza, Domine quod cepisti perfici, ne in portu naufragium accidat: ‘Lord, perfect what thou hast begun in me, that I may not suffer shipwreck when I am almost at the haven.'

(7.) If you would persevere, set before your eyes the noble examples of those who have persevered in religion: Quot martyres, quot fideles in caelis, jam triumphant! [How many martyrs, how many faithful souls are even now rejoicing in Heaven!]. What a glorious army of saints and martyrs have gone before us! How constant to the death was Paul! Acts 21:13. How persevering in the faith were Ignatius, Polycarp, and Athanasius! They were stars in their orbs, pillars in the temple of God. Let us look on their zeal and courage, and be animated. ‘Seeing we are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us run with patience the race that is set before us.' Heb 12:2. The crown is set at the end of the race; and if we win the race, we shall wear the crown.