/fluvr^ f- <(!V*^ SC5 *tl3^/ /, . hA/XJ^outZ. ^CS it!3^ THE TRIAL AND TRIUMPH OF FAITH SAMUEL RUTHERFORD, TROFESSOK OF DIVINITY IS THE UNIVERSITY OF ST. ANDREWS. And I ■•■ rim {that oxxrcometh) the morning star." — Rev ED BY THE COMMITTEE OF THE ?r..r.KAL ASSEMBLY OF THE FREE CHURCH OF SCOTLAND FOR THE PUBLICATION OF THE WORKS OF SCuTTISH REFORMEKS AND DIVINES. EDINBURGH: LiLNTED F il THE ASSEMBLY'S COMMITTEE. M.UCCC.XLV. GLAS cow : WILLIAM COLLINS AND CO., PBINTEBS TO THE RIGHT HONOURABLE THE LADY JANE CAMPBELL. VISCOUNTESS OF KENMURE : SISTER TO THE RIGHT NOBLE AND POTENT, THE MARQUIS OF .UiGYLE, grace and peace. Madam, I SHOULD complain of these much-disputing and over- writing times, if I were not thought to be as deep in the fault as those whom T accuse : but the truth is, while we endeavour to gain a grain-weight of truth, it is much if we lose not a talent-weight of goodness and Christian love. But, I am sure, though so much knowledge and light may conduce for our safe walking, in discerning the certain borders of di- vine truths from every false way; and suppose that searching into questions of the time were a use- ful and necessary evil only; yet the declining temper of the world's worst time, the old age of time, eternity now so near approaching, ealleth for more necessary good things at our hands. It is unhappy, if, in the nick of the first breaking of the morning sky, the night-watch fall fast asleep, when he hath watched all the night. It is now near the morning-dawning of the resurrection. Oh, how blessed are we, if we shall care for our one necessary thing ! It is worthy our thoughts, that an angel, (never created, as I conceive) standing in his own land, " his right foot upon the sea, and his left foot on the earth." hath determined by oath, a controversy moved by scotTers, (2 Peter, iii, 3;) "yea, and with his hand 4 DEDICATION. lifted up to heaven, sware by him that liveth for ever and ever, who created heaven, and the things that are therein, and the earth, and things that therein are,' and the sea, and things that are therein, that there should be time no longer." (Rev., x, 5, 6.) If eternity be concluded judicially by the oath of God, as a thing near to us, at the door, now about sixteen hundred years ago, it is high time to think of it ; what we shall do, when the clay house of this tabernacle, which is but our summer house, that can have us but the fourth part of a year, shall be dissolved. Time is but a short trance; 1 we are carried quickly through it : our rose withereth, ere it come to its vigour : our piece of this short-breathing shadow, the inch, the half-cubit, the poor span-length of time, fleeth away as swiftly as a weaver's shuttle, (Job, vii. G,) which leapeth over a thousand threads in a moment. How many hundred hours in one summer doth our breath- ing clay-post skip over, passing away as " the ships ef desire, and as the eagle that hasteth to the prey." (Job, ix, 25, 26.) If deaih were as far from our knowledge, as graves and coffins v, which to our eyes preach death) are near to our senses, even easting the smell of death upon our breath, so as we cannot but rub skins with corruption ; we should not believe either prophets or apostles, when they say, " All flesh is grass," and, " It is appointed for all to die."' Eternity is a great word, but the thing itself is greater: death, the point of our short line, teacheth us what we are, and what we shall be. Should Christ, the condition of affairs we are now in, the excellency of free grace, be seen in all their own lustre and dye, we should learn much wisdom from these three. Christ speedeth little in conquer- ' A narrow covered jiassa^e. dedica; 5 : because we have no at any time." we look not upon Christ, but upon the accidents that are beside Christ: and therefore. esteem Christ a rich pennyworth. But there is not a rose out of heaven, but there is a blot and thorn growing out of it. except that one only ros^ of SI i which blossometh out glory. Even- leaf of is a heaven, and serveth ' ; for the healing of ti nations ;" ever} 7 white and red in it. is incomparable glory ; even- act of breathing out its smell, from ever- lasting to everlasting, is spotless and unmixed ha ness. Christ is the outset, the master-flower, the uncreated garland of heaven, the love and joy of men and angels. But the fountain-love, the fount delight, the fountain-joy of men and angels is more: for out of it floweth all the seas, springs, rivers, and floods of love, delight, and joy. Imagine all the and dew. seas, fountains, and floods, since the creation. were in one cloud, and these multiplied in measi for number to many millions of millions, and then divided in drops of showers to an answerable num- ber of men . and angels : — this should be a created shower, and end in a certain period of time; and thi< huge cloud of so many rivers and drops, should dry up, and rain no more. But we cannot conceive so of Christ : for if we should imagine millions of men and angels to have a co-eternal dependent existence with Christ, and they eternally in the act of (i receiv- ing grace for grace out of his fulness." the flux issu^ of grace should be eternal, as Christ is. For Christ cannot tire or weary from eternity to be Christ ; and so. he must not, he cannot but be an infinite and eternal flowing sea, to diffuse and let out streams and floods of boundless err ace Sav that the rose were 6 DEDICATION. eternal; the sweet smell, the loveliness of greenness and colour must be eternal. Oh, what a happiness, for a soul to lose its excel- lency in His transcendent glory ! What a blessedness for the creature, to cast in his little all, in Christ's matchless all-sufficiency! Could all the streams re- tire into the fountain and first spring, they should be kept in a more sweet and firm possession of their being, in the bosom of their first cause, than in their borrowed channels that they now move in. Our neighbourhood, and retiring in, to dwell for ever and ever in the fountain-blessedness, Jesus Christ, with our borrowed goodness, is the firm and solid fruition of our eternal happy being. Christ is the sphere, the con-natural first spring and element of borrowed drops, and small pieces^ofcreate d grace^ The rose is surest in being, in beauty, on its own stalk and root: let life and sap be eternally in the stalk and root, and the rose keep its first union with the root, and it shall never wither, never cast its blossom nor greenness of beauty. It is violence for a gracious soul to be out of his stalk and root ; union here is life and happiness ; therefore the Church's last prayer in canonic Scrip- ture is for union, (Rev., xxii, 20.) "Amen: Even so, come : Lord Jesus." It shall not be well till the Father, and Christ the prime heir, and all the weep- ing children, be under one roof in the palace royal. It is a sort of mystical lameness, that the head wanteth an arm or a finger; and it is a violent and forced condition, for arm and finger to be sepa- rated from the head. The saints are little pieces of mystical Christ, sick of love for union. The Avife of youth, that wants her husband some years, and ex- pects he shall return to her from over-sea lands, is DEDICATION. 7 often on the shore; every ship coming near shore is her new joy; her heart loves the wind that shall bring him home. She asks at even- passenger news : " Oh ! saw ye my husband ? What is he doing ? When shall he come ? Is he shipped for a return ?" Every ship that carrieth not her husband, is the breaking of her heart. What desires hath the Spirit and Bride to hear, when the husband Christ shall say to the mighty angels, "Make you ready for the journey; let us go down and divide the skies, and bow the heaven : I will gather my prisoners of hope unto me ; I can want my Rachel and her weeping children no longer. Behold, I come quickly to judge the nations." The bride, the Lamb's wife, blesseth the feet of the messengers that preach such tidings, " Rejoice, Zion, put on thy beautiful garments; thy King is coming." Yea. she loveth that quarter of the sky, that being rent asunder and cloven, shall yield to her Husband, when he shall put through his glorious hand, and shall come riding on the rainbow and clouds to receive her to himself. The condition of the people of God in the three kingdoms calleth for this, that we now wisely con- sider what the Lord is doing. There is a language of the Lord's " fire in Zion." and " his furnace in Jerusalem," if we could understand the voice of the crying rod. The arrows of God flee beyond us, and beside us, but we see little of God in them : we sail. but we see not shore; we fight, but we have no vic- tory. The efficacy of second causes is the whole burden of the business, and this burden we lay upon creatures, (and it is more than they can bear.) and not upon the Lord. God is crying lameness on crea- tures and multitude, that his eminency of working S DEDICATION. may be more seen. 2. Many are friends to the suc- cess of reformation, not to reformation. Men's faith goes along with the promises, until providence seem to them to belie the promise. Through light at a key-hole many see God in these confusions in the three kingdoms; but they fall away, because their joining with the cause, was violent kindness to Christ. It is not a friend's visit, to be driven to a friend's house to be dry in a shower, and then occasionally to visit wife and children. Christ hath too many occa- sional friends ; but the ground of all is this, "I love Jesus Christ, but I have not the gift of burning quick for Christ." Oh, how securely should faith land us out of the gun-shot of the prevailing power of a black hour of darkness ! Faith can make us able to be willing, for Christ, to go through a quarter of hell's pain. Lord, give us not leave to be mad with worldly wisdom. 3. When the temptation sleepeth, the mad- man is wise, the harlot is chaste ; but when the vessel is pierced, out cometh that which is within, either wine or water : yet, if we should attentively lay our ears to hypocrites, we should hear, that their lute- strings do miserably jar; for hypocrisy is intelligible, and may be found out. Would Parliaments begin at Christ, we should not fear that which certainly we have cause to fear ; "One woe is past, and another woe cometh." The prophets in the three kingdoms have not repented of the super- stition, will-worship, idolatry, persecution, profanity, formality, which made them " vile before the people ;" and the judges and princes, who "turned judgment into gall and wormwood," are not humbled, because they were " a snare on Mizpah, and a net spread upon Tabor." No man repenteth, and "turneth from DEDICATION. 9 his evil way:'' no man "smiteth on his thigh, saying, what have I done?" It is but black Popery name being changed, not the thing), to think the by- past sins of the land are bypast, and a sort of reform- ation for time to come is satisfactory to God, by the deed done. 1 Tea. the divisions in the church are a heavier plague than the raging sword. These same sins against the first and second Table ; the reconcil- ing of us and Babylon, pride, bribing, extortion, filthiness and intemperance unpunished, blood touch- ing blood and not revenged, vanity of apparel, professed way of salvation by all kinds of religions whatsoever ; are now acted in another stage, by other persons, but they are the same sins. 2 If that Headship that flattering prelates took from Jesus Christ, and gave to the king, be yet taken from Christ, and given to men ; — if Christ's crown be pulled off his head, no matter whose head it warm : it is taken from Christ both ways. I shall pray, that the fatness of the "flesh of Jacob, for this, do not wax lean." (Is*., xvii. 4,) and that the warfare of Britain be accomplished. But if the faithful watch- men know what hour of the night it is now, there is but small appearance, that it is near to the dawning of Britain's deliverance, or that our sky shall clear in haste. Would God the year 1645 were with child, to bring forth the salvation of Br' tain ! L was once as incredible that the enemy >hould have entered "within the gates of Jerusalem." (Lam., iv. 12,) as it is now. that they can enter v.ithin the port- of London. Edinburgh, Dublin. I speak not tb encourage Cavaliers. 3 for certainly, Got] watcheth over them for vengeance ; but that we go not on fur- 1 Ex opere operate — Ruth. s Ali.i scoria, eadeni fabula. — Ruth. 3 P bo persecuted the Presbyterians 10 DEDICATION. ther to break with Christ. The weakness of new heads, devising new religions, and multiplying gods : (for two sundry and contrary religions, argue interpre- tatively two sundry gods,) " according to the number of our cities," must come from rottenness of our hearts. Oh, if we could be instructed "before the decree," that is with child, of plagues to the sinners in " Zion, bring forth a man-child ; and before the long shadows of the evening be stretched out on us !" But of this theme no more. Grace is the proposi- tion of this following treatise. When either grace is turned into painted, but rotten nature, as Arminians do, or into wantonness, as others do, the error to me is of a far other and higher elevation, than opinions touching church government. Tenacious adhering to Antinomian errors, with an obstinate and final persistance in them, both as touching faith to, and suitable practice of them, I shall think, cannot be fathered upon any of the regenerated ; for it is an opinion not in the margin and borders, but in the page and body, and too near the centre and vital parts of the gospel. If any are offended, I desire to anger them with good will to grace; I shall strive and study the revenge only of love and compassion to their souls. If some of these sermons came once to your Honour's ears ; and now, to your eyes, it may be, with more English language, I having staid possibly till the last grapes were somewhat riper ; I hope it shall be pardoned, that I am bold to borrow your name ; which truly I should not have done, if I had not known of your practical knowledge of this noble and excellent theme, the Free Grace of God. I could add more of this ; but I had rather commend grace, I ban gracious persons. I know that Jesus Christ, DEDICATION. 1 1 who perfumeth and floweretli heaven with his royal presence, and streweth the heaven of heavens to its utmost borders with glory, is commended that he was mil of grace, a vessel filled to the lip. (Psalm rh John. i. 16.) Yea. grace hath bought both our person and our service. (1 Pet., ii. 24, 2-5.^ even as he that buyeth a captive, gives money not only for his person, but for all the motion, toil, and labour of his . legs, and arms. And redeeming grace is so :t. that Satan hath power possibly to bid. but not to buy any of the redeemed, no more than a mer- chant can buy another man's bought goods without his consent. All our happiness that groweth here od the banks of Time, is but thin sown, as very strawberries on the sea-sands. "What good part- of nature we have without grace, are like a fair lily, but there is a worm at the root of it; it withereth : the root to the top. Gifts wither apace without grace : gifts neither break nor humble : grace can do I oth. Grace is so much the more precious and >weet. that though it be the result of sin. in the act of pardoning and curing sinful lameness ; yet it hail spring, but the boweLs of God stirred and rolled within him only by spotless and holy goodness. Grace i the king's house from heaven only ; the matter, sub- ject, or person it dwelleth in, contributed nothing for the creation of so noble a branch. Christ, for this cause especially, left the bosom of God. and was clothed with flesh and our nature, that he might be a mass, a sea. and boundless river of visible, living, and breathing grace, swelling up to the highest banks of not only the habitable world, but the sides also of the heaven of heavens, to over-water men and artels. bat Christ was. as it were, grace speaking, ^alm 12 DEDICATION. xlv, 2 ; Luke, iv, 22 ;) grace sighing, weeping, crying out of horror, dying, withering for sinners, living again, (Heb., ii, 9; John, iii, 16; Rom., viii, 32, 33;) and is now glorified grace, dropping down, raining floods of grace on his members, (Eph., iv, 11-16; John, xiv, 7, 13, 16, 17). Christ now interceding for us at the right hand of God, is these sixteen hundred years the great apple tree dropping down apples of life; for there hath been harvest ever since Christ's ascension to heaven, and the grapes of heaven are ripe ; all that falleth from the tree, leaves, apples, shadows, smell, blossoms, are but pieces of grace fallen down from Him who is the fulness of all, and hath filled all things. We shall never be blessed perfectly, till we all sit in an immediate union under the apple tree. This is a rare piece, by way of participation, of the divine nature. Christ passed an incomparable act of rich grace on the cross ; and doth now act, and ad- vocate for grace, and the applying of the grace of pro- pitiation, in heaven, (1 John, ii, 1, 2); and by an act of grace, hath all the elect and ransomed ones engraven as a seal on his heart : and Christ being the fellow of God, (Zee, xiii, 7,) the man that standeth straight opposite to his eye, the first opening of the eye-lids of God is terminated upon the breast of Christ, and on the engravening of free grace. All the glory of the glorified is, that they are both in the lower and higher house, even when they are the Estates and Peers of heaven, the everlasting tenants and freeholders of sjrace; so that a soul can desire no fairer inheritance, than the patrimony, lot, and heritage of free grace. Now, to this grace commending your spirit, as an heir of grace, I rest, — Your Honour's at all obliged respec- tiveness in the grace of God. S. R. COXIE. SERMOX L '. contents of the text, Pa^'e 23. Matthr Mark reconciled, 24. Properties of Christ's love, 25. What this was. 25. The art of the wise contexture of Divine Provid black and white, fair and foul, mixed in one, tor beauty's sake, 26. Two sides of Providence. 27. We err in looking on God's v. halves, a the black and sad side on- : -ERM05 IL Christ took a human will, that he might ^toop to Cod The strer. gth of corrupt will, 30. Two things in the will ; i . The frame of it — 2. The quality and goodness of it — There is a ne- y of renewing the will, 30. The dispensation of God. not Scripture, nor a rule of faith, 33. We trust po&session of CL. faith, more than we do right and law, through faith, 33. E BKMOS How Christ and his grace cannot be hid, in six particulars, 34. 1st, In hi> cause, 34. 2nd, In the good and evil condition spiritual of the . 3rd. In the joy of Christ's presence. 36. 4th, In a sine sre pro- En the bearing down the =urrings of a renewed con- science. 37. 6th, In desertions. 37. We are to be obsequious and yield- he breathings of the Spirit, 38. Our hearts are to be variously suitable to the various operations of the Spiiit. from four reasor falleth on few. 40. Grace, how rare and choice a j h i particulars. 40. Grace not universal and common to all, 41. objections of the Arminian and natural man, Answered. SERMON IV. • falleth often on the most graceless, 44. Grace inaketh a great change ; three reasons thereof, 44. There is a like reason lor Xiv CONTENTS. grace on our Lord's part, to the vilest of men, as to Moses, Daniel, Paul, 45. The same free grace that we have here, we have it in heaven in the state of glory, 46. In heaven we reign by grace, as by the same we war here, 46. The justified in Christ are corrected for sin, 47. The furnace of aflliction, the work-house of the grace of Christ; four grounds thereof, 47. Mr. Towne's assertion of grace, 50. How Antinomians judge sins to be corrected in the justified, 48. How Papists judge sins to be punished in the justified, 49. That God punisheth pardoned sins ; proved by seven arguments, 50. Rules to be observed in affliction, 55. A land or a nation must be longer in the fire than one particular person, 57. SERMON V. Satan worketh as a natural agent witl/;:t moderation, 58. Spiri- tual evils chase few men to Christ; three grounds thereof, 59. How men naturally love the devil, 59. Satan, how an unclean spirit, 60. It is true wisdom to know God savingly, 61. What hearing bringeth souls to Christ, 62. Four defects in hearing, 63. Hell coming to our senses in this life, should not cause us believe without effectual grace, 64. It is ?ood to border near to Christ, 65. SERMON VI. Crying in prayer necessary, 66. Five grounds thonsof, 66. Prayer sometimes wanteth words, so as groaning goeth for prayer, 68. How many other expressions beside vocal praying, go under the lieu of praying in God's account, 68. Eight objections removed, 68. Some affections greater than tears, 68. Looking up to heaven, pray- ing, 69. Breathing, praying, 70. That wherein the least of prayer consisteth, 70. Broken prayers are prayers, 71. The Lord know- eth nonsense in a broken spirit to be good sense, 72. SERMON VII. Why CLrist is called frequently the Son of David ; not so, the Son of Adam, of Abraham, 73. Christ a King by covenant, 74. What things be in the covenant of grace, 75. The parties of the covenant, 75. Christ hath a sevenfold relation to the covenant. 1st, He is the Covenant itself. 2nd, The Messenger. 3rd, The witness. 4th, The Sure- ty. 5th, The Mediator. 6th, The Testator. 7th, The principal party contractor, 76. Christ the Covenant itself, 76. Christ a Messenger of the Covenant in four particulars, 77. A Witness in four things. 78. A Surety in three. 70. A Mediator in three things. 1st, A Friend. 2nd, A Reconciler. 3rd, A Servant, 80. Christ a servant of God, and our CONTENTS. XV servant, 80. Christ confirmed and sealed the Testament, 81. the principal confederate party, 81. The covenant made with Christ personally, not mystically, proved from Gal., iii, 16. The contrary reasons answered, 81. A covenant between the Father and the Son proved, 82. Of the promises of the covenant, 84. Two sorts of pro- mises, 84. Christ took a new covenant-right to God, So. Five sorts of promises made to Christ, and by proportion to us, 85. SERMOX VIII. The condition of the covenant, >7. Libertines deny all conditions of the covenant, 87. The new covenant hath conditions to be per- formed by us, 88. Six objections removed. 87. A twofold dominion of gracious and supernatural acts, 87. We are not justified before we believe, proved by six arguments, 90. A condition taken in a three- fold notion, 92. It is not a proper condition by way of strict wage and work, when we are said to be justified, and saved upon condition of faith, 92. 1st, The Freedom ; 2nd, Eternity ; 3rd, Well-ordering of the covenant, — tbe three properties thereof, 92. The freedom of the covenant is seen, in regard, 1st, Of persons. 2nd. Of causes. 3rd, Of time. 4th, Of manner of dispensation, 94. Uses of the doctrine of the covenant SERMOX IX. Christ God and man, and our comfort therein, 98. Christ imme- diate in the act of redeeming us, and so sweeter, 99. Christ incom- parable, 99. Four other necessary uses, 99. To believers ail temporal favours' are spiritualised, and watered with mercv. Four grounds thereof, 103. By what reason our Father, as a father, giveth us spiritual things, by that same he giveth us all things, 104. Mercy originally in Christ, and how, 104. SERMON X. Parents' affection, their spiritual duty to children, 107. Thirteen practical rules in observing passages of Divine Providence, 108. 1st, We are neither to lead, nor to stint Providence, 108. 2nd, But to ob- serve God in his ways, and not to look to by-ways of providence, 10S. 3rd, Omnipotency not laid down in pawn in any means, 409. 4th, God walketh not in the way that we imagine. 109. 5th, Providence in its concatenation of decrees, actions, events, is one continued contexture, going along from Creation to the day of Christ's second cominjr, with- out one broken thread, 109. 6th, The spirit is to be in an indifferencv in all casts of providence. 111. 7th, Low desires best, 11 1. 8th, We are to lie under providence submissively in all, 111. 9th, Providence is a X.VI CONTENTS. mystery, 112. 10th, Walketk in uncertainties toward us, 112. l).th, Silence is better than disputing, 112. 12th, It is good to consider both what is iniiicted, and who, 112. 13th, God always ascenileth, even when second causes descend, 112. SERMON XI. Every temptation hath its taking power from the seeming goodness in it, 113. Reasons why this was a temptation to the woman, 114. The stupe of the temptation to make the tempted believe there is none like him, 115. The non-answering of Christ, is an answering, 1 15. Five reasons of the Lord's not hearing of prayer, 116. Seven ways prayers are answered, 117. Praying in faith always heard, even when the particular which we suit in prayer is denied, 117. ui o.!<_ and the same prayer, seeketh and knoeketh, and answer- eth, and o,»eneth to itself, 117. The light of saving faith, and the prophetical light of the pern men of the word of God, differ not in space «md nature, 118. The dearest not admitted unto God at the first knock, 119. SERMON XII. Natural men, and even the renewed in spirit, in so far as there remaineth some flesh in them, are ignorant of the mystery of an af- flicted spirit, 120. Peace of conscience is a work of creation, 121. A reason why it is so hard to convince the deserted, 121. Christ sweeter to the deserted than all the world, 122. Difference between God's trying and the creature's tempting, in three positions, 123. A creature cannot put a fellow-creature to act sin upon an intention of trying him, 123. In the actions of creatures we must know, 1st, Quis ; 2nd, Quid; 3rd, Quart. 1st, Who commandeth. 2nd, What. 3rd, And for what end. In God's actions, it is enough to know, Quis, Who, that it is Jehovah, 125. Four doubts of the tempted, 125. In the sending of " Christ to the lost sheep of the house of Israel," there be three things considerable: 1st, His designation; 2nd, Quaiiiica- tion ; 3rd, Commission, 127. The Son most fit to be Mediator, 127. How Christ is qualified, 128. His commission, 129. It is not pro- perly grace that we are born, it is grace that Christ is born, 129. God's hidden decree, and his revealed will opened, 129. A twofold intention in the promises, 130. How, and who are to believe the de- cree of reprobation concerning themselves, 131. SERMOK XT II. U is a privilege of mercy that Christ is sent to the Jews tirst, 132. Nine privileges of the Jews, 132. The honour and privileges of Bri- GONTEK1 XV h J J. The redeemed called sheep upon four grounds, e the redeemed are in the way to heaven, in five particul The saints most dependent creatures, 135. How we know the Scrip- ture to be the word of God ; two grounds, one in the subject, another in the object, 136. Fancy leadeth not the saints, but faith, 137. How the saints need a fresh supply of gTace from Christ, though they have a habit and stock of grace within them ; proved by six reasons. 137 Grace and glory but one continued thread, 139. Three con- siderations we are to have of Gods work, in leading us to heaven, 139. Faith is both active and passive, 139. Desertions have real advanc- ing in the way to heaven, in eleven particulars, 139. We are not freed from law directions, 140. Actual condemnation may be, and ia separated from the law, 140. Two objections removed, 140. How works of holiness conduce to salvation, three things herein to be dis- tinguished, 141. We are to do good works, both from the principle of law and love, 142. Other three objections removed, 143. Of the letter both of law and gospel ; divers errors of libertines touching the point, 143. The Scriptures are not to be condemned, because they profit not without the teaching of the Spirit, proved by three reasons, 145. Repentance different from faith, proved against libertines. 145. Repentance the same in the Old and New Testament, 145. SERMON XIV. In what sense Christ came to save the lost, 147. A twofold pre- paration for Christ to be considered, 148. Conversion is done by foregoing preparations, and successively proved by four reasons, 149. Sense of poverty fitteth for Christ, 150. The objectijns of Dr. Crispe removed. Sinners as sinners not fit to receive Christ, 151. now Christ belongeth to sinners under the notion of sinners, 152. How the Spirit acts most in the saints, when they endeavour least, 153. The marrow of libertinism to neglect sanctification, and to wallow in fleshly lusts, 153. Christ's death makethus active in duties of holiness, proved from three grounds, 154. How Christ keepeth us from sin. 154. SERMON XT. Eight necessary duties required of a believer under desertion : 1st, Patience. 2nd, Faith, etc., 156. Hope prophesieth glad tidings at midnight, 156. It is a blessed mark, when temptations chase not a soul from duties, illustrated in three cases, 160. It argueth three good things, to go on in duties under a temptation, 162. Antinomi- ans take men off duties, 163. Christ tempted cannot sin ; the saints tempted dare not sin, 164. Faith trafficketh with heaven in the sad- dest storms, 165. 2 B CONTENTS. SERMON XVI. National sins may occur to the conscience of the child of God, in his approach to God, 166. A subtle humble pride the disease of weak ones, who dare not apply the promises, 168. Sense of free- grace humbleth exceedingly , 169. How far forth conscience of wretch- edness hindereth any to come to Christ, 169. Whoever doubteth if God will save him, doubteth also if God can save him, 171. Sin keepeth not the door of Christ to hold out the sinner, 172. Sense of sin, and sense of the grace of Christ, may consist, 173. Holy walk- ing and Christ's excellency may both be felt by the believer. Holy walking considered, as, 1st, A duty. 2nd, A mean. 3rd, A thing promised in the covenant of grace, 173. How we may collect our state and condition from holy walking, 175. The error of Dr. Crispe and Antinomians herein, 175. Christ a great householder, 176. The privilege of the children of the house, 177. Christ the bread of life, 178. Communion between the children and the first heir, Christ, in five particulars, 177. The spirit of an heir and of a servant, 177. There is a seed of hope and comfort in the hardest desertions of the saints, in three particulars illustrated, 178. SERMON XVII. Grace maketh quickness and wittiness of heavenly reasoning, 180. Faith contradicteth Christ tempting, but humbly and modestly, 181. The saints may dispute their state with Christ, when they dare not dispute their actions, 181. We are to accept, humbly, and with pa- tience, of a wakened conscience, but not to seek a storming conscience, 182. True humility and its way, in seven particulars. — See the place, 182. How we are to esteem every man better than ourselves, 185. The proud man known afar off, 185. Grace's lowliness in tak- ing notice of sinners, 186. Causes of unthankfulness, 187. A justi- fied soul is to confess sin, proved by three arguments, 188. And to mourn for sin by divers reasons, 190. If we be not to mourn for sin committed, because it is pardoned, neither should our will be averse from the committing of it ; because before it be committed, it is also pardoned, as Antinomians teach, 192. Libertines conspire with Pa- pists, in the doctrine of justification, 194. SERMON XVIII. liow sins are removed in justification, how not, 195. There re- maineth sin formally in the justified, proved by six arguments, 195. How sin dwelleth in us after we are justified, 1 ( .»7. A twofold remo- val of sin, one moral or legal in justification, another physical in our sanctification, 200. The difference between the removal of sin m CONTENTS. XIX justification, and its removal in sanctification, 201. Seven grounds why sin dwelleth still in the justified person, 202. How sins past, present, and to come, are pardoned in justification, 209. There is a twofold consideration of justification, but not two justification- Sins in three divers respects are taken away, according to Scripture, 210. Christ's satisfaction performed on the cross for sin, is not for- mally justification, but only causatively, fundamentally, or meritori- ously, 210. There is a change in justification, 211. How aim not committed are remitted, 211. There is but one justification of a believer, illustrated by a comparison, 213. There is a difference be- tween pardon of sin, the justification of the person, and the repeated sense of the pardon, 214. Justifying faith is some other thing, than the sense of justification, 215. How fear, or hope, or reward of glory has influence in our hoiy walking. 213. Objections removed, 216. SERMOX XIX. The Lord Jesus is so made the sinner in suffering for sin, as there remaineth no sin in the sinner once pardoned, as Antinomians teach, especially Doctor Crispe, 21 S. Sin so laid on Christ as that it leav- eth not off to be our sin, 220. The guilt of sin, and sin itself, are not one and the same thing. 222. An inherent blot in sin, and the guilt and debt of sin, 222. Two things in debt, as in sin, 223. The blot of sin, two ways considered, 223. A twofold guilt in sin, one intrin- sical, and of the fault ; another of the punishment, and extrinsical, 225. Reasons why sin, and the guilt of sin cannot be the same. 22G. Christ not intrinsically the sinner, 429. Imputation of sin, no ima- gination, no lie, 230. Reasons proving that Christ was not intrinsi- cally and formally the sinner, 232. What righteousness of Christ is made ours, 235. The believer how righteous, and Christ how not, 235. Christ's bearing of our sins, by a frequent Hebraism in Scrip- ture, is to bear the punishment due to our sins, and not to bear the intrinsical blot of our sins, 239. How Christ is in our place, 24 1. How the debtor and the surety be one in law, and not intrinsically one, 243. A perplexed conscience in a good sense is lawfully consistent with a justified sinner's condition, 245. A conditional fear of eternal wrath required in the justified, but not an absolute fear, and yet trouble of mind for the indwelling of sin is required, 246. SERMOX XX. The conscience, in Christ, is freed from sin, that is, from actual condemnation, but not from incurring God's displeasure by the breach of a law, if the believer sin, 248. I am to believe the remission of these same very sins, which I am to confess with sorrow, 251. Hi w the conscience is freed from condemnation, and yet not from God's easure for sin. 251. Eight cases of conscience resolved lV< i XX CONTENTS. former doctrine, 251. To be justified is a state of happiness, most desirable, illustrated from the eternity of the debt of sin, 254. The smallest and worst things of Christ are incomparably above the most excellent things on earth, illustrated in six particulars, 257. What must Christ himself be, when the worst things of Christ are so desir- able ? 261 . The excellency of Christ further illustrated, and the foul- ness of our choice evidenced, 2G2. How to esteem Christ, illustrated, in four grounds, 263. Degrees of persons younger and older in grace, in our Lord's house, 265. Christ's family is a growing family, 207. God bringeth great and heavenly works out of the day of small things, 268. We are to deal tenderly with weak ones, upon six considera- tions, 271. SERMON XXI. The prevalency of instant prayer put forth upon God in eight acts, 272. Prayer raoveth and stirreth all wheels in heaven and earth, 272. Five things concerning faith, 278. There is a preparation goin^ before faith, 278. There is no necessary connection between preparations going before faith, and faith, 279. Affections going before faith, and following after, differ specifically, and not gradually only, 279. All are alike unfit for conversion, 280. Some nearer conversion than others, 281. Three grounds or motives of believing, 281. Glory, and Christ, the hope of glory, strong motives of believing, 282. Faith's object the marrow of God's attributes, to speak so, 2oJ. iraith a catholic grace required in all our actions natural and civil, as well as spiritual, 284. Christianity how an operous work, 285. The six ingredients of faith, 286. Faith turneth all our acts which are terminated on the creature, into half non-acts 283. Faith hath five notes of differ- ence in closing with the promise, 293. Literal knowledge workcth as a natural agent, 296. Warrant of applying set down in five posi- tions, 299. Eight ingredients of a counterfeit faith, 303. SERMON XXII. Thirteen works, or ingredients of a strong faith, and how to discern a weak faith, 306. Strong praying a note of strong faith, 306. 2nd, Instant pleading a note also, 307. Strength of grace required in be- lieving. 307. Christ rewardeth grace with grace, 308. How grace begiuueth all supernatural acts, 308. There is a promising of bowing andpredetcrminating grace made to supernatural acts, yet so as God reserveth his own liberty: 1st, IIow, 2nd, When, 3rd, In what measure he doth co-operate with the believer in these acts. 308. Four reasons why grace in the work of faith must begin, and so begin as we are guilty in not following, 311. Grace is on the saints, and to them, but glory is on them, but not to them, 312. Grace to an angel necessary to prevent possible sins, 313. 3rd, Note of a strong faith, Not to be bro- ken with temptations, 314. 4th, Faith staying on God without light •MENT*. X\i of comfort a strong faith, 315. The fewer externals that faith needeth, the stronger it is within, 315. Comforts are externals to faith, 317. Some cautions in this, that some believe strongly without the help of comforts, 3 1 7. Reasons why divers of God's children die without com- fort. 317. SERMON XXIII. The more of the word and the less of reason the stronger faith is, 318. Gth. A faith that can forego much for Christ is a strong faith, 820. 7th. It is a strong faith to pray and believe when God seemetli to forbid praying, 321 . 8th, Great boldness argueth great faith, 321. 8th, To rejoice in tribulation, 322. 10th, to wait on with long pa- tience, 322. 11th, A humble faith is a strong faith, 32 i. IS strong desire of a communion with Christ, 324. 13th. Strength of working by love, argueth a strong faith, 325. A great faith is not tree of doubtings, 327. Divers sorts of doubting opposite to faith. j'2". Some doubting a bad thing in itself, yet per accidens, and in regard of the person, and concomitants, a good sign, and arguetn sound grace, 32S. Of a weak faith, 320. Negative adherence to Christ not sufficient to saving faith, 329. A suffering faith a strong faith, 331. Faith in regard of intention weak, may be strong in re- gard of extension, in three relations, 332. The lowest ebb of a faint- ing faith. 333. What of Christ remaineth in the lowest ebb of a fainting faith, 334. SERMON XXIV. ck of grace is within the saints ; our grace is not all, and wholly in Christ though it be all from Christ, 337. The powers of the soul remain whole in conversion, 338. The stock of grace is to be warily kept, 333. Four things are to be done, to keep the stock without a craze, 339. The tenderness of Christ's heart, and strength of love toward sinners, 341. Christ strong in moral acts, and strongly mode- rate in natural acts: the contrary is in natural men, 341. Christ's motion offender mercy, as it were natural, 343. How mercy worketh eternally, and secretly, and under ground even under a bloody dispen- sation, 344. Judgment on the two kingdoms except they repent, 345. A rough dispensation consistent with tenderness of love in our Lord, 34G. Free love goeth before our redemption, 348. Chris! loveth the persons of the elect, but hateth their sins, 348. A t love of God, one of good will to the person, another of complacency to his own image in the person. 349. No new love in God, 350. Ob- jections of Mr. Denne the Awtinomian answered, 350. What it L- to be under the law, 352. How God loveth us before time, and how he now loveth us in time. 35 i. By faith and conversion our state is truly changed before God, 356. To be justified by faith, is not barely to come to the knowledge that we are justified before we believ< XX11 CONTENTS. Justification not eternal, SCO. Faith is not only given for oUr joy and consolation ; but also for our justification, both in our own soul and before God, 363. There is no warrant in Scripture for two reconcilia- tions ; one of man's reconciliation to God, and another of God's recon- ciliation to man, 366. Christ's merits, no cause, but an effect of God's eternal love, 366. What reconciliation is, 366. Joy without all sorrow for sin, no fruit of the kingdom of God, 367. The seeing of God, Ileb., xii, 14, and the kingdom, 1 Cor., vi, John, iii, 3, not the kingdom of grace, but of glory, 368. All acts of blood and rough dealing in God to his own acts of mercy, 368. SERMON XXV. Omnipotency hath influence, on, 1st, Satan. 2nd, Diseases. 3rd, Stark death. 4th, On life itself. 5th, Mother-nothing. 6th, On all creatures, 371. Obediential power in the creation, what it is, 372. Omnipotency is (as it were) a servant to faith, 374. We worship a dependent God, 375. We have need of the Devil and other temptations for our humiliation, 377. Immediate mercies, are the sweetest mercies; cleared, 1st, In Christ. 2nd, Grace. 3rd, Glory. 4th, Comfort. 5th, The rarest of God's works, 378. The deceitful- ness of our confidence, when God and the creature are joined in one work, 385. SERMON XXVI. Christ in four relations hath dominion over devils, 389. Satan goeth no where without a pass, 390. We often sign Satan's condi- 1 ional pass, 391 . A renewed will is a renewed man, 393. Eight posi- tions concerning the will and affections, 393. A civil will is not a sanctified will, 393. The yielding of the soul to God, and to his light, a special note of a renewed will, 393. Affections sanctified, especially desires, 395. The less mixture in the affections, the stronger are their operations, 395. Mind and affections do reciprocally vitiate one another, 396. Spiritual desires seek natural things, spiritually : Carnal desires seek spiritual things, naturally, 396. God submitteth his liberality of grace, to the measure of a sanctified will, in four con- siderations, 397. Our affections, in their acts and comprehension, are tar below spiritual objects, Christ and heaven, 397. More in Christ and heaven, than our faith can reach in this life, 398. SERMON XXVII. Satan not cast out of a land or a person, but by violence, both to Satan and the party ; amplified in four considerations, 400. False peace known, 402. A roaring and a raging devil, is better than a calm and a sleeping devil, 402. God's way of hardening, as it is mysteri- ous, so is it silent and invisible, 404. THE TEIAL AND TRIUMPH OF FAITH. 1 BEBMON I. " And from thence he arose, and u-ent into the borders of Tyrt and Sidon, and went into an house, and would that no man should know it: but he could not be hidy — Mark, vii, 24. " Then Jesus went from thence, and came into the coasts of Tyre and Sidon. And behold a woman of Canaan came out of the same coasts, and cried unto him, saying, Have mercy on me. O Lord, thou Son of David, for my daughter is grievously vexed with a devil." — ^Matthew, xv, 21, 22. ••For a certain woman whose young (little) daughter had an unclean spmt. heard of him, and came, and fell at Ins feet: (The woman was a Greek, a Syrophenician by nation : and she besought him, that he would cast forth the devil out of her daughter." — Mark, vii, 25, 26. THIS text being with child of free grace, holdeth forth to us a miracle of note : and because Christ is in the work in an eminent manner ; and there i.- here also much of Christ's new creation, and a flower planted and watered by Christ's own hand, a strong faith in a tried woman ; it requireth the bending of our heart to attention : for, to any seeking Jesus Christ, this text crieth, ' : Come and see. 5 ' The words for their scope, drive at the wakening of believers in 1 In the sermons and theological treatises of the seventeenth century, it was usual to introduce illustrations from the learned languages ; and Rutherford, himself an accomplished scholar, has followed the general rxample. But as Latin, Greek, and Hebrew phrases, are unsuited to the taste of the present age, and would only interrupt the generality of our readers, the critical remarks of this kind are thrown into the form of foot-notes (which have Rutherford's name appended, to distinguish them from the occasional illustrations of the Editor,) so that the entire text of our author is preserved. 24 THE TRIAL AND TRIUMPH OF FAITH. praying (when an answer is not given at the -first.) to a fixed and resolved lying and dying at Christ's door, by continuing in prayer till the King come out and open, and answer the desire of the hungry and poor. 2. For the subject, they are a history of a rare miracle wrought by Christ, in casting forth a devil out of the daughter of a woman of Canaan : and for Christ to throw the devil out of a Canaanite, was very like the white banner of Christ's love displayed to the nations, and the King's royal standard set up to gather in the heathen under his colours. The parts of the miracle are, I. The place where it was wTought. (Matt., xv 5 21.) II. The parties on whom ; the mother and the pos- sessed daughter : she is described by her nation. III. The impulsive cause: she hearing, came, and prayed to Jesus for her little daughter: in which, there is a dialogue between Christ and the woman, contain- ing, Firstly, Christ's trying of her, 1st, with no answer; 2nd, with a refusal ; 3rd, with the reproach of a dog. Secondly, Her instancy of faith, 1st, in crying till the disciples interposed themselves ; 2nd, her going on in adoring ; 3rd, praying ; 4th, arguing, by faith, with Christ, that she had some interest in Christ, though amongst the dogs ; yet withal, (as grace hath no evil eye) not envying, because the morning market of Christ, and the high table, was the Jews' due, as the King's children, so she might be amongst the dogs, to eat the crumbs under Christ's table ; knowing, that the very refuse of Christ, is more excellent than ten worlds. IV. The miracle itself, wrought by the woman's faith: in which, we have, 1. Christ's heightening of her faith; 2. The granting of her desire; 3. The measure of Christ's bounty, "As thou wilt;" 4. The healing of her daughter. Mark saith, that the woman came to Christ in a SERMOX I. 2d house. Matthew seemeth to say, that she came to him in the way, as these words do make good, " Send her away, for she crieth after us." Augustine thinketh, that the woman first came to Christ while he was in the house, and desired to be hid, either be- cause he did not (for offending the Jews) openly offer himself to the Gentiles, having forbidden his disciples to go to the Samaritans ; or, because he would have his glory hid for a time ; or rather, of purpose he did hide himself from the woman, that her faith might find him out : and then, refusing to answer the woman in the house, she still followeth him in the way, and crieth after him, as Matthew saith. For, 1. Christ's love is liberal, but yet it must be sued ; and Christ. though he sell not his love for the penny-worth of our sweating and pains, yet we must dig low, for such a gold mine as Christ. 2. Christ's love is wise : He holdeth us knocking, till our desire be love-sick for him, and knoweth that delays raise and heighten the market and rate of Christ. "We under-rate any- thing that is at our elbow. Should Christ throw himself in our bosom and lap, while we are in a morn- ing sleep, he should not have the marrow and flower of our esteem. It is good there be some fire in us meeting with water, while we seek after Christ. 3. His love must not only lead the heart, but also draw. Violence in love is most taking, and delay of enjoy- ing so lovely a thing as Christ, breedeth violence in our affections ; and suspension of presence oileth the wheels of love, desire, joy: want of Christ is a wing to the soul. Intepreters ask, what woman she was ? Matthew saith, a Canaanite, not of any gracious blood ; a Syro- phenician ; for Syrophcnicia was in the border be- 20 TIIE TRIAL AND TRIUMPH OF FAITH. tween Palestine and Syria, and it was now inhabited by the relics of the Canaanites ; a Greek; not by birth, but because of the Greek tongue, and rites brought thither by Alexander, and the succeeding kings of S}Tia. All the Gentiles go under the name of Greeks in Scripture language, as, Rom., i, 14; Gal., iii, 28 ; 1 Cor., i, 22, 24 : not because they are all Greeks by nation and blood ; but, because conquest, language, and customs, stand for blood and birth. However, it standeth as no blemish in Christ's account- book, who was your father, whether an Amorite, or an Hittite, so ye come to him : he asketh not whose you are, so you be his ; nor who is your father, so you will be his brother, and be of his house. " And from thence he arose, and went into the coasts of Tyre and Sidon." Mark, vii, 24. Christ wearied of Judea, had been grieved in spirit with the hypo- crisy of the Pharisees, and the provocation of that stiff-necked people. He was chased away to the pro- fane Pagans. The hardening of the Jews, maketh way to Christ's first and young love laid upon the Gentiles. Christ doth but draw aside a lap of the curtain of separation, and look through to one be- lieving heathen: the King openeth one little window, and holdeth out his face, in one glimpse, to the wo- man of Canaan. So, Christ's works of deep Provi- dence, are free mercy and pure justice interwoven, making one web. He departeth from the Jews, and setteth his face and heart on the Gentiles. Consider the art of Providence here: 1st, The devil sometimes shapeth, and our wise Lord seweth ; Babylon killeth, God maketh alive ; sin, hell, and death, are made a chariot to carry on the Lord's excellent work. 2nd, The Providence of God hath SERMON I. 2 4 two sides ; one black and sad, another white and joyful. Heresy taketh strength, and is green before the sun ; God's clearing of necessary and seasonable truths, is a fair side of that same providence. Adam's first sin, was the devil and hell digging a hole through the comely and beautiful frame of the creation of God; and that is the dark side of Providence : but the flower of Jesse springing up, to take away sin, and to paint out to men and angels the glory of a heaven, and a new world of free grace — that is a lightsome side of Providence. Christ scourged ; Christ in a case, that he cannot command a cup of water; Christ dying, shamed, forsaken, is black : but Christ, in that same work redeeming the captives of hell, opening to sinners . forfeited paradise, that is fair and white. Joseph, weeping in the prison for no fault, is foul and sad ; but Joseph brought out to reign as half a king, to keep alive the Church of God in great famine, is joyful and glorious. The apostles whipped, imprisoned, killed all the day long, are sad and heavy : but sewed with this, that God causeth them always to triumph, and show the savour of the knowledge of Christ; and Paul triumphing in his iron chains, and exalting Christ in the gospel, through the court of bloody Nero, — maketh up a fair and comely contexture of divine Provi- dence. 3rd, God, in all his works, now, when he raineth from heaven a sad shower of blood on the three kingdoms, hath his one foot on justice, that wrath may fill to the brim the cup of malignants. prelates, and papists; and his other foot on mercy. ' : to wash away the filth of the daughter of Zion, and to purge the blood of Jerusalem in the midst thereof, by the spirit of judgment, and by the spirit of burn- ing." And this is God's way and ordinary path-road. 28 THE THIAL AND TRIUMPH OF FAITH. (Psalm xxv, 10.) And in one and the same motion, God can walk both to the east and to the west, and to the north and the south. Use. — It is our fault, that we look upon God's ways and works by halves and pieces ; and so, we see often nothing but the black side, and the dark part of the moon. We mistake all, when we look upon men's works by parts; a house in the building, lying in an hundred pieces; here timber, here a rafter, there a spar, there a stone ; in another place, half a window, in another place, the side of a door: there is no beauty, no face of a house here. Have patience a little, and see them all by art compacted together in order, and you will see a fair building. When a painter draweth the half of a man ; the one side of ' his head, one eye, the left arm, shoulder, and leg, and hath not drawn the other side, nor filled up with colours all the members, parts, limbs, in its full pro- portion, it is not like a man. So do we look on God's works by halves or parts; and we see him bleeding his people, scattering parliaments, chasing away nobles and prelates, as not willing they should have a finger in laying one stone of his house : yet do we not see, that in this dispensation, the other half of God's work makes it a fair piece. God is washing away the blood and filth of his church, removing those from the work who would cross it. In bloody wars, malignant soldiers ripping up women with child, waste, spoil, kill; yet are they but purging Z ion's tin, brass, and lead, and such reprobate metal as themselves. Jesuits and false teachers are but God's snuffers, to occasion the clearing and snuffing of the lamps of the tabernacle, and make truth more naked and obvious. - SEBMON II. 11 And he went into a house, and would Uiat no man shoulu know it." 1 THIS will, according to which, it is said. ;i he would that no man should know it," was his human will, according to which, the Lord Jesus was a man as we are. yet without sin; which was not always fulfilled. For his divine will, being backed with omni- potency, can never be resisted; it overcometh all. and can be resisted by none. Consider what a Christ we have; one who. as God. hath a standing will that cannot fall. (Isa., xiv, 24.) •• He doth all his pleasure." His pleasure and his work are commensurable. (Isa.. xlvi, 10, 11; Psal. cxxxv. 6; Psal. cxv, 3.) Yet this Lord did stoop so low, a to take to himself man's will, to submit to God and law. And see how Christ, for our instruction, is con- tent that God should break his will, and lay it below providence, (Matt., xxvi, 39.) Oh! so little and low as great Jesus Christ is ! All is come to this, ;; my Father, remove the cup; nevertheless, not as I will, but as thou wilt." Christ and his Father have but one will between them both : ;; I seek not mine own will, but the will of the Father that sent me." (John, v. 30.) " For even Christ pleased not himself." (Rom., xv, 3.) It is a sign cf conformity with Christ, when we have a will so mortified, as it doth lie level with God's providence. Aaron's sons are killed, and that by God immediately from heaven with fire, a judgment very hell-like; (Lev., x, 3,) and Aaron held 30 THE TRIAL AND TRIUMPH OF FAITH. his peace. A will lying in the dust under God's feet, so as I can say, " Let his will, whose I am, enact to throw me in hell, he shall have my vote," is very like the mother-rule of all sanctified wills, even like Christ's pliable will. There is no iron sinew in Christ's will, it was easily broken; the tip of God's finger, with one touch, broke Christ's will: " Lo, I come to do thy will, God." (Heb., x, 9.) Oh, but there is a hard stone in our will: the stony heart is the stony will; hell cannot break the rock and the adamant, and the flint in our will: (1 Sam., viii, 19,) " Nay, but we will have a king," whether God will or no. God's will standeth in the people's way, bidding them return. They answer, "There is no hope, but we will walk after our own devices." (Jerem., xviii, 12.) Hell, vengeance, omnipotency, crossed Pharaoh's will, but it would neither bow nor break. "But the Lord hardened Pharaoh's heart, that he would not let the people go." (Exod., ix, 27.) There be two things in our will, 1. The natural frame and constitution of it. 2. The goodness of it. The will of angels and of sinless Adam is not essen- tially good, for then, angels could never have turned devils ; therefore, the constitution of the will needeth supervenient goodness, and confirming grace, even when will is at its best. Grace, grace now is the only oil to our wheels. Christ hath taken the castle, both in- works and out-works, when he hath taken the will, the proudest enemy that Christ hath out of hell. When Saul renders his will, he renders his weapon. This is mortification, when Christ runneth away with your will; as Christ was like a man that had not a man's will. So Saul, (Acts, ix, 6.) "trem- bling and astonished said, Lord, what wilt thou have ■SERMON II. 31 me to do ?" It is good when the Lord trampleth upon Ephraim's fair neck. (Hosea, x. 11.) There is no goodness in our will now. but what it hath from grace; and to turn the w-ill from evil to good, is no more nature's work, than we can turn the wind from the east to the west. "When the wheels of the clock are broken and rusted, it cannot When the bird's wing is broken, it cannot fly. When there is a stone in the sprent and in-work of the lock, the key cannot open the door. Christ must oil the wheels of mis-ordered will, and heal them, and re- move the stone, and infuse grace (which is wings Co the bird) : if not. the motions of will are all hell- war 1. "But he could not be hid, for a certain won* etc. Christ sometimes would be hid, because he hath a spirit above the people's windy air. and their ho- sanna. It is a spirit of straw, naughty and base, that is burnt up with that winch hindered Themistocles to sleep. 1 ;: Honour me before the people, ,, was cold comfort to Saul, when the prophet told him God had rejected him. But Christ desired not to be hid from this woman; he was seeking her, and yet he flieth from her. Christ, in this, is such a flier as would gladly have a pursuer. 2. Faith findeth Christ out when he is hid. " Ve- rily thou art a God that hidest thyself." (Isa., xlv. 15.) But faith seeth God under his mask, and through the cloud; and, therefore, faith addeth, "0 God of Israel, the Saviour P Thou hidest thyself, God, from Israel, but Israel findeth thee. (ver. 1 7. ) H Israel shall be saved in the Lord, with an everlast- ing salvation/' God casteth a cloud of anger about eta of Athens at mi