YALE UNIVERSITY
LIBRARY

THE I&IEV? W. B.OMAIIME . A.
FROM THE PAINTING B.Y" COTF.S

THE

WHOLE WORKS

THE LATE REVEREND

WILLIAM ROMAINE, A.M.,
RECTOR OF ST. ANOREW BY THE WARDROBE,
AND ST. ANN, BLACKFRIARS ;
AND LECTURER OP ST. Dl'NSTAN'S IN THE WF.ST, LONDON.

CAREFULLY EDITED,
AN D THE
ERRORS OF FORMER EDITIONS EXPUNGED.
\ 
COMPRISING TIIE
LIFE OF MR. ROMAINE, BY THE HON. AND REV. W. B. CADOUAV
niSC'OI'HSE.S ON THE LAW AND GOSPEL ;
TREATISES ON TIIE LIFE, WALK, AND TRIUMPH OF FAITH ;
COMMENTARY ON TIIE ONE HUNDRED AND .SEVENTH PSALM ;
LETTERS TO MR. CADOGAN AND MR. WILLS;
SEpMONS ON VARIOUS SUBJECTS AND OCCASIONS ;
ESSAY ON PSALMODY ;
&c. &c. &c.

LONDON:
B. BLAKE, 13. BELL YARD, TEMPLE BAR.

MDCCCXXXVII.

STBVBN3 AND PARDON, PRINTERS, 37, BELL YARD, TEMPLE BAR.

CONTENTS.

Life of the Rev. W. Romaine, by the Rev. W. B. Cadogan
Catalogue of Mr. Romaine's Works
Twelve Discourses on the Law and the Gospel
Treatise on the Life of Faith ....
Treatise on the Walk of Faith ....
Treatise on the Triumph of Faith
Comment on the 107th Psalm ....
Discourses on Solomon's Song ....
Letters from Mr. Romaine to various Persons
SERMONS.
The Divine Legation of Moses demonstrated
Future Rewards and Punishments proved to be the Sanction
the Mosaic Dispensation
No Justification by the Law of Nature
The Lord our Righteousness, Sermon I.
 Sermon II.
The Duty of Praying for others
The Knowledge of Salvation precious in the Hour of Death
The Blessedness of Living and Dying in the Lord
The Self-existence of Jesus Christ
Sermon on Psalm lxxxvii. 7
 Job xxxv. 1, 2
-^— — — Mark xvi. 15
 Exodus xxxi. 12 — 14
J An Invitation to spend an hour in Prayer
£_An Alarm to a Careless World
The Duty of Watchfulness enforced .
The Sure Foundation, Sermon I.
 Sermon II.

Pager 1
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325
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438 533

of

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762
776785791
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804817828838845
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857
864"871 879
886899

SERMONS— continued.

Page

A Prayer for Faith . . . . . .908
Jephthah's Vow fulfilled, and hi? Daughter not sacrificed . 909
Parable of the Dry Bones interpreted .... 915
A Method for Preventing Robberies and Murders . . 923
On the Benefit which the Holy Spirit is to Man . . .931
Sermon on 2 Cor. iv. 5. . . • • 939

The Scripture Doctrine of the Lord's Supper briefly stated . 947
A Seasonable Antidote against Popery . . . 954
An Essay on Psalmody ...... 963

THE LIFE

OF THE

REV. WILLIAM ROMAINE, A. M.

THE HON. AND REV. W. B. CADOGAN, A.M.

PREFACE.
The following Life of the Rev. William Romaine, was undertaken at the request
of his nearest relatives. It was promised to the public under the first impressions
made by his death, and under an idea that such documents might have been
collected from his own papers as would have furnished some of the best mate
rials for his biographers. But nothing of this sort was found, excepting one
memorandum upon his attaining the age of seventy years, which is given in the
course of this work, though it does not appear to have been designed for publi
cation. Great as is the loss of the survivors, it is much to the honour of the de
ceased, that though he had the pen of a ready writer, he employed it not upon
himself, but upon his Cod and Saviour. Upon whose word, and upon whose
salvation, he hath written largely with his own hand, and left considerable re
mains behind him.
Disappointed in my expectations of gleaning memoirs of his life from his own
manuscripts, -and having time to reflect upon an undertaking, in the execution
of which I was not likely to satisfy myself or others, I would fain have resigned
the task to those who were much better qualified for it than myself, as well by
their superior abilities, as by their longer acquaintance with Mr. Romaine. But
being pressed to it as to the performance of a promise, I could not resist the so
licitation. I have therefore done the best I could — sought information from
various quarters, and got it from others without seeking, for which I am thank
ful. I have given a detail of facts — a history, not a panegyric. Let Mr. Ro
maine be considered as having been a man ollike passions with others, liable to
mistakes, and compassed with infirmity. But let God be glorified in him
through Jesus Christ, and his end in living, and mine in writing his life, will be
fully answered. ^ B. C.
The Rev. William Romaine was born on the twenty-fifth day of September,
1714. The place of his birth was Hartlepool, a town in the county of Dur
ham, situated on a small promontory stretching into the German ocean, lt is
now a neat fishing town, with a very good pier and harbour, as %vell as a place
of resort for the purpose of bathing. It has risen from obscurity to eminence
in that part of England, through the bounty of the neighbouring nobility and
gentry, whose custom it has been to accept by turns the office of mayor, and to
subscribe upon that occasion one hundred pounds towards the improvoincnts of
the town, and particularly for supporting ana repairing the pier. The father ofthe
Rev. Mr. Romaine was among the French Protestants who took refuge in Eng
land upon the revocation of the edict of Nantes ; he settled in this place as a
merchant, and became a member of the corporation, which is a very ancient one.
B

2 THE Lur, ur i n^
He was a dealer in corn, and a man fearing God, and hating covetousness, of
which he gave a remarkable proof in the year 1741. This country was then at
war with Spain, and, whether from this circumstance, or from scarcity, there
was a considerable advance in the price of wheat, from six to fifteen shillings per
boll, the bushel of that county containing about two of the Winchester measure.
Upon this occasion the people rose, and came in great numbers, a formidable
mob, to Hartlepool. Mr. Romaine went out to meet them, asked them their
wants, and was answered that they wanted corn cheaper. He put an immediate
and an effectual stop to these riotous proceedings, first by promising to sell all
the corn that he had, at five shillings a bushel, and then by performing his pro
mise ; for he sold to all that came, while the other merchants refused to sell any..
Such traders, however singular, as he was, are no losers themselves in the
end, and great friends to the public in the mean time ; what is more, they are
ranked among the friends of God ; for, " There is that scattereth and yet in-
creaseth, and there is that withholdeth more than is meet, but it tendeth to po
verty. The liberal soul shall be made fat, and he that watereth shall be watered
also himself. He that withholdeth corn, the people shall curse him, but blessing
shall be upon the head of him that selleth it." Prov. xi. 24 — 26.
This scripture was strictly verified in Mr. Romaine of Hartlepool; for the
blessing of God and of the poor rested upon him. He brought up a family of
two sons and three daughters, who were all comfortably and respectably settled
in this world, and taught both by the precept and example of theirparents, to
look for permanent settlements, or mansions in the world to come. Their father
was a man of God, and consequently of strict morals ; a steady member of the
church of England, a constant attender upon her services, and so exact an ob
server of the sabbath-day, that he never suffered any of his family to go out
upon it, except to church, and spent the remainder of it with them in reading
the scriptures, and other devout exercises, at home. In this manner he lived to
the age of eighty-five, and to the year of our Lord 1757.*
The surviving widow and one unmarried daughter, continued in the business
at Hartlepool, muoh respected and beloved, being noted for their attention, not
only to the bodily wants, but to the spiritual concerns of their fellow-creatures ;
for it was their custom to read and explain the scriptures to their neighbours,
which by some was called preaching ; hut it was probably no more than domes
tic instruction, to which they admitted all who wished to partake of it, with a
view to the mutual comfort and edification of one another ; and such are de
servedly ranked among " those women who labour with us in the gospel, and
whose names are in the book of life." Phil. iv. 3.
The Rev. William Romaine, was the secondt son of these believing parents.!
Viewed perhaps with the eye of faith, and seen to be a proper child : that is, as
the original word signifies, possessed of a certain grace called urbanity, and, in
its sacred use, describing one of a fair aspect to God and his people, which indi
cates a formation for usefulness in the city of the great King. His early disco
veries of great talents, and an equal desire to improve them, induced his parents
to send him to the grammar school at Houghton le Spring, in the county of
Durham, founded by the celebrated rector of that parish, Bernard Gilpin.f A
' Jor this account ofthe birth and parentage ofthe Rev. Mr. Romaine, we are indebted
to Mr. Callendar, of Newcastle, who married one of his sisters.
t His elder and only brother was settled as a grocer in London, and died suddenly at the
Oeorge Inn, at Buckden, in the thir ieth year oi his age.
1 1 call jub parents believers by his own authority, finding the following expressions in a
lSttf.ri.t0 aT fn^d' dut??,iu!y 3?t,V 1784- " We hoPe next Monday to set out for the
.Worth. In all probability for the last time. 1 have three sisters alive, all in years as well
as myself and we are to have a family meeting, to take our leave, final as to this life. It

blessed people, And Jesus loved Martha and her sister, and Lazarus : and as thev lovprl
him again, so do we.
« See an account of this school in the life of Bernard Gilpin, in the second va1i>» . >
the Kev. Mr. Middleton's biography, p. 205, &c. ' c ut

REV. W. ROMAINE, A.M. 3
school which flourished much in the time of its founder ; nor <lid it lose its cre
dit after his decease, as a " seminary of sound learning and religious knowledge,
from which many have gone to our universities and proved great ornaments to
the church and nation " Among tliese surely may tie reckoned that eminent
person who is the subject of these memoirs : he was seven years at Houghton
school, and, having acquired all the learning which that institution afforded, was
sent to Oxford in the year 1730 or 1731. He was first entered at Heitford Col
lege, and thence removed to Christ Church. His tutor (a6 I think he has been
heard to say) was the Rev. Mr. Fifield Allen, who was afterwards chaplain to
Bishop Gibson, archdeacon of Middlesex, subdean ofthe chapel royal, a preben
dary of Bt. Paul's, and editor of the three Electrns used in Westminster school.
His proficiency under his tutor, whoever he was, may be inferred from his early
appearance as an author, and that not of the common sort, but as one who had
read much before he wrote any thing ; who had particularly studied the scrip
tures in their original tongues, as an essential preparative for that holy function
to which he was destined, and in which he afterwards excelled so much to the
edifying of the church.
As a proof of his employment in the seats of literature, and of the estimation
in which he was held by his superiors in them, we have a remarkable anecdote,
brought forward in the excellent sermon upon his death, preached and pub
lished by his late curate, and present successor in the church of Blackfriars :
" Dress was never his foible, his mind was superior to such borrowed orna
ments ; and, immersed in nobler pursuits of literature, hefore consecrated to a
still more exalted purpose, he paid but little attention to outward decorations.
Being observed to pass by rather negligently attired, a visitor inquired of his
friend, a master of one of the colleges, ' Who is that slovenly person w.th his
stockings down ?' The master replied, ' That slovenly person as you call him,
is one of the greatest geniuses of the age, and is likely to be one of the greatest
men in the kingdom.'"*
He resided principally at Oxford, till he took his degree of Master of Arts,
which he did on the fifteenth day of October, 1737, having been ordained a
deacon at Hereford a year before, by the then bishop of that see, Dr. Henry
Egerton ; whether by a nomination to a cure in his diocese, or by letters
dismisBory from some other bishop, is not certain. His first engagement, after
he was in orders, was the curacy of Loe Trenchard, near Lidford in Devon
shire. He went there upon a visit with one of his contemporaries at Oxford,
v. hose father lived at Lidford ; and upon the express condition, that his friend
would find him employment in the way of his profession. This employment
was accordingly found for him in the church aforementioned, which he served
for six months, most probably, of the year in which he took his master's degree.
In the year following, he was resident at Epsom, in Surrey, as appears T>y a
letter, dated from that place, October 4th, 1738, and written to Mr. Warburtor.,
upon the publication of his first volume of the Divine Legation of Moses ; of
which letter some notice shall be presently taken. And on the fifteenth day of
December, in the same year, he was ordained a priest by the then bishop of
Winchester, Dr. Benjamin Hoadly. His title for orders was most probably a
nomination to the church of Banstead, which he served for some years together
with that of Horton, in Middlesex, being curate to Mr. Edwards, who had both
these livings. At Banstead, he became acquainted with Sir Daqiel Lambert,
who had a country house in that parish, an alderman of the city of London,
and elected lord mayor in the year 1741. Mr. Romaine was appointed his
chaplain, and so had a door of utterance opened to him in the cathedral church
of St. Paul; where he delivered the second sermon that he printed on the 14th
and 15th verses of the second chapter of the Epistle to the Romans; in which
is to be found a critical and a Christian illustration of that difficult passage
Though we do not discover in this sermon the same fertile experience, use, an -i
application of the truth, as are to be found in his latter writings; yet n-e
discover the same truth itself by which he was then made free from the erroi s
• See Mr. ("mode's funeral sermon, and the authorities there rcf'rre I r0.
il 2

4 THE LIFE OF THE
of_ the day, and in the knowledge and enjoyment of which he lived and died .
We discover in it the reasoning of a logical head, the writing of a classical pen,
the religion of a believing heart, and the preaching of a sound divine. The
point evidently pursued in it is redemption from sin by the blood of Jesus, as
it was revealed from God to Adam, and through him to the patriarchs ; to Moses
and the prophets, and through them to the Israelites ; and as it was conveyed
to the Gentiles, before the preaching of the gospel among them, by tradition ;
which is the only probable cause of their sacrifices, or appeasing the Deity by
the shedding of blood, a custom so unnatural in itself, and yet so universally
prevalent among them. In short, the object of this discourse, is to P1-?^ that
a creature, whether upright or fallen, was never made to teach himself, but to
learn from his Maker; and to hold forth to men the only religion which is
suited to their fallen condition : not as the religion of nature, but as the reli
gion of grace ; not as a human device, but as. a diviite revelation. And let the
author of it be considered as having attained only to the age of twenty-seven
years, and he may be thought to have discovered in it a maturity of judgment,
a proficiency of reading, meditation, and doctrine, to which few in so early a
period of life have attained.
The truth is, he was a believer — possessed of that unfeigned faith which
dwelt in his father and his mother before him, and we are persuaded that it was
in him also. And that from a child he had known the scriptures, having studied
them with that proper faculty, by which alone they are able to make us wise
unto salvation, viz. faith which is in Christ Jesus. 2 Tim. i. 5; ii. 15.
The sermon which he printed prior to that just mentioned, was one preached
before the University of Oxford, March 4th, 1739, entitled; The Divine
Legation of Moses demonstrated, from his having made express mention of,
and insisted so much on, the doctrine of a future state : whereby Mr. War-
burton's Attempt to prove the Divine Legation of Moses from the Omission of
a Future State is proved to be absurd and destructive of all revelation.
This was followed above two years after by a second sermon upon the same
subject, and from the same text, entitled, " ISiture Rewards and Punishments,
proved to be the Sanctions of the Mosaic Dispensation." This sermon was
preached at St. Mary's in Oxford, in the end of the year 1741, and printed in
the beginning of the next year.
Whoever wishes to know more of this controversy between Mr. Romaine and
Mr. Warburton may get some information from the second volume of the
History of the Works of the Learned, for August, 1739, where are to be found
Mr. Romaine's original letter to Mr. Warburton, and a second to the editor of
the General Evening Post, occasioned by the publication of the first, with Mr.
Warburton's remarks in this paper.
There is nothing in them as to the main question then in agitation, but what
is to be found in the sermons upon the same subject, of which they appear to be
sketches. One of them was written in the spirit of irony and sarcasm, to a
person who knew the use of those weapons much better than Mr. Romaine, and
who needed them more in aid of his strange paradoxies than his opponent did
in support of sound doctrine. In this should appear, as a good judge hath
informed us, " incorruptness, gravity, sincerity, sound speech that cannot be
condemned ; that he who is of a contrary part may he ashamed, having no evil
thing to say of you," Tit. ii. 7, 8. These are weapons with which they who
are valiant for the truth may always contend lawfully. Nor is the. want of them
to be complained of in Mr. Romaine's sermons upon this controversy. Mr.
Warburton's complaints against him were, that he professed admiration for a
work and its author, which he did not mean, and put into the mouths of others,
in a private letter; what he afterwards published as his own arguments against
the plan of the Divine Legation. The whole account was inserted in the peri
odical history of letters before mentioned, at the Tequest of Mr. Warburton, by
his friend Mr. Birch, who was afterwards Dr. Birch, and librarian of the British
Museum ; and who has been pleased to enrich this famous repository with the
manuscript letters which occasioned the insertion of it. Neither the printed
account nor the manuscript letters will repay the trouble of reading them. The

REV. W. ROMAINE, A.M. 5
one is the representation of enemies, to whom Mr. Romaine laid himself open ;
the others are the most scurrilous effusions of malevolence, abusive language,
and opprobrious names in the flowing style of Mr. Warburton. Both parties
are dead, and their disputes forgotten. Nor could it answer any good purpose
to revive them ; unless this transient recollection of a period, in the life of
an eminent man, may operate as a caution to young men to be sober-minded,
to study godliness and a holy life, and to leave the arts of controversy till
the wit or .the warmth of youth have been corrected by the wisdom and temper
of age.
Mr. Romaine was at this time engaged in preparing for, the press a new
edition of the Hebrew Concordance and Lexicon of Marius de Calasio, a work
which employed him seven years, and the first volume of it was published in
the year 174?.
Whilst he is justly celebrated as the editor of Calasio, he is perhaps no less
justly censured for having omitted his author's account of the word which is
usually rendered God," and having substituted his own in the body of the work.
This is what no editor can have a right to do by any author. Had Mr. Romaine
left Calasio's exposition of the word in its place, and given his own in a note or
in the margin, he might have had the credit of having restored to light, without
the charge of having depreciated, one of the best and most useful works that
ever was published.
Though I agree with Mr. Romaine in the interpretation of the word, not only
as it is a plural noun describing a plurality of persons in the divine essence, but
as it is a derivative of a verb, which signifies to swear, and so describes those
persons under the obligation of an oath, yet I do not undertake his vindication
in this instance.
But he thought himself excusable, and made his own apology in an address
to the reader, which he prefixed to the work. His words are these : " I have
endeavoured to perform the office of a faithful editor ; you have Marius himself
not in the least diminished or added to, excepting only one place, and that of
such great consequence, that I should have thought it a crime if I had neg
lected to amend it. This I have done with the best intention, and only this
once ; I hope therefore that it may be pardoned."* To which he adds, that he
has marked this place with inverted commas, as he has many of his additions
under the particles.
He has therefore warned the reader of what he is to expect, and has made
his own excuse, by which he must stand or fall in the public opinion. He was
a man, and in common with all others, liable to err : he was a young man when
he was the editor of Marius, and still younger when he was the antagonist of
Mr. Warburton. In both instances he may have fallen into mistakes, which
days that should speak, and multitude of years that should speak wisdom,
might have corrected or prevented.
Veram ubi plura nitent  non ego paucis
Offendar maculis quas aut incuria fudit,
Aut humana parum cavit natura.
But where there are so many shining qualities in a character, and so many
excellencies in his life and writings, I will not take offence at a few blemishes,
which incaution may have scattered here and there, or against which human
nature is provided with no caution at all.
We leave, therefore, the controversial divine, and the laborious editor of the
Hebrew Lexicon and Concordance, and proceed to the contemplation of a man,
who, having acquired a degree of eminence from the fruits of his youthful
studies, became still more eminent as a minister of the church of England ;
who, for the space of forty-seven years, from that period, preached and adorned
the doctrine of God his Saviour, with a steadiness and consistency almost
• Fidi editoris officio fungi conatus sum ; Marium ipsum habes ne minimi quidem ex
parte vel imminutum vel e.xauctum, unum modo locum excipias, eumque tam ma(?ni
quidem momenti, ut criminU duxissem sane, si emendare neglexinem. Hoc Optimo feci
aulmo, nee plus vice simplici ; sporo igitur et iunoucendum.

0 THE LIFE OF THE
peculiar to himself; and who has left a testimony for the truth in his life and
writings, which ranks him among the noble army of witnesses, who, having
praised God upon earth, shall praise him for evermore in heaven.
It was certainly Mr. Romaine's plan, after he had finished his edition of tiie _
Concordahce and Lexicon of Marius de Calasio, to have returned into his
ndtrre county ; and he had actually packed up his trunk, and set it on ship
board With that view. But God had other plans for him. For as he himself
was going to the water-Side, in order to Secure his own passage, he was met by
a gentleman, a total stranger to him, who asked him if his name was not
Romaine. He replied that it was. The gentleman had formerly been acquainted
with his father, and observing a strong resemblance to him in his son, was
induced to make the inquiry. After some apologies for this abrupt address,
and some little conversation concerning his family and himself, the gentleman
told him that the lectureship for the united parishes of St. George's, Botolph
Lane, and St. Botolph's, Billingsgate, was then vacant ; and that, having some
interest In those.parishes, he would exert it in his behalf, ff he would become a
candidate for the lectureship. Mr. Romaine Consented, provided he should not
be obUged to canvass in person ; a custom which he always thought inconsistent
with the Character of a clergyman, and against which he openly protested many
years afterward, when he was Candidate for the living of BlaCkfriarS ; so that
his objection to canvass was not a hasty impression taken up in llis youth, but
a settled persuasion that continued with him : aud, as he was never backward
to acknowledge the obligation when received, so (as Mr. Goode justly Observes
in his funeral sermon) it " Was not pride, but principle."
It was in the year 1748 that he was chosen lecturer of St. Botolph's, and he
is mentioned among tbe preferred in the Gentleman's Magazine for November,
of that year, as the editor of Calasio's Dictionary.
It has been thought (and Inferred from some expressions of his own in one of
his letters published since his death) that his determination to leave London was
the result of disappointment attd disgust. That he had "come to the metropolis
" strongly intrenched in notions of his own exalted' abilities, and flattering him
self that he required no other recommendation to rapid preferment, where talent
was always admired, and justly estimated."* He is supposed to have alluded to
tome circumstances of this kind in a letter to an intimate friend, in which he
speaks of " having known a very vain proud young man, who knew almost every
thing but himself, and was therefore very fond of himself ; who met with many
disappointments to his pride, which only rtlade him prouder, till the Lord was
pleased 10 let him see and feel the plague of his own heart. That, upon the dis
covery of this he triid every method that can be tried to give peace, but found
none. In despair of all things else, he betook himself to JesuS, and was most
kindly received. He trusted to the Word of promise, and experienced the sweet
ness of promise. After this he went through various frames and trials of faith,
too many to mention." All this and much more Mr. Romaine writes concerning
himself, to illustrate by his own experience the truth of such sayings as these,
that, " the Holy Spirit will glorify nothing but Jesus. He will stain the pride of
all greatneis and of all goodness, excepting what is derived from the fulness of
the incarnate God."
I do not see how it can be inferred from hence, that pride of heart, issuing in
vain expectations of preferment, was the leading feature in Mr. Romaine's cha
racter. It is well known bow every Christian thinks, speaks, and writes of
himself, each claitning a title, which none but Paul would have given to Paul, Of
the chief of sfrrners. It is well known also, that even' young man is»naturally
conceited, and thinks more highly of himself than he ought to think, till he
leartis by experience to think otherwise. It was certainly with good reason that
St. Paul advised Timothy to " exhort young people to be sober-minded."
Mr. Romaine, no doubt, had this lesson to learn ; he had his share of pride
and vanity, hnd (according lo a common saying in the world) he had much to be
* See Memoii ""f the late Rev. William Romaine in th* Evangelical Magazine for
November, M*K-

REV. W. ROMAINE, A.M. 7
proud of; a good understanding — a good education — great excellency of speech,
and many enticing things of man's wisdom. He might raise from hence ideal
prospects of worldly greatness, and had reason to be thankful, if he was disap
pointed ; if, " walking by faith and not by sight, he could prefer the afflictions
of God's people to the pleasures of sin, and the reproach of Christ to the
treasures of Egypt." But as to being settled in the metropolis, many of his
friends have heard him say, that it was the thing of all others which he last
thought of, and to which he was the least inclined. It may be supposed, indeed,
that from the bent of his genius to the study of nature, of minerals, fossils, plants,
and the wonders of God in creation, that a country life, so favourable to these
pursuits, would have been chosen by him. But God chose otherwise for him ;
and by a circumstance as trivial to appearance, as it was accidental, but in reality
a turn of providence, such as decides the present condition of most men, called
him to the lectureship of St. Botolph's, and so detained him in London, where
he was kept to the end of his existence as a witness for Jesus Christ, with
abilities as much suited to this meridian, as those of the Apostle Paul to the
meridians of Ephesus, Corinth, or Rome.
In the year following, viz. 1749, he was chosen lecturer of St. Dunstan's in
the West. In the person of his predecessor* two lectureships were united, the
one endowed, and founded by Dr. White for the use of the benchers of the
temple ; the other a common parish lectureship, supported by voluntary contribu
tions. Mr. Romaine was elected to both, and continued some years in the quiet
exercise of his office, till the faithful discharge of it raised violent clamours and
opposition against him. The rector then thought fit to dispute his right to the
pulpit, and occupied it himself during the time of prayers, in order to exclude
him from it. Mr. Romaine appeared constantly in his place, to assert his claim
to the lectureship, as well as his readiness to perform the office. The affair was
at length carried into the court of King's Bench ; f the decision of which deprived
Mr. Romaine of the parish lectureship, but confirmed him in that founded by
Dr. White, and endowed with a salary of eighteen pounds * year. Lest this
should be removed from the parish, the use of the church was granted him ; but
as Lord Mansfield's decision was, that seven o'clock in the evening was a conve
nient time to preach the lecture, the churchwardens refused to open the church
till that hour, and to light it when there was occasion ; so that Mr. Romaine
frequently read prayers and preached by the light of a single candle, which he
held in his own hand. The church doors being shut until the precise moment
fixed for preaching the lecture, the congregation was usually assembled in the
street, ana there waiting for admission. The consequence was a concourse of
people, collected indeed without noise and tumult, but not without great incon
venience to those who passed that way, among whom happened to be one evening
the then bishop of London, Dr. Ternck who had been Mr. Romaine's predeces
sor in the lectureship. Observing the crowd, he inquired into the cause of it ;
and being told that it was Mr. rtomaine's audience in these circumstances, he
interfered with the rector and churchwardens in their behalf, expressed great
respect for Mr. Romaine, and obtained for him and his hearers, that the service
of the church should begin at six o'clock, that the doors should be opened in
proper time, and that lights should be provided for the winter season. From
this period Mr. Romaine was established in his ministry at St. Dunstan's, and
continued quietly in the exercise of it, to the edification of many, until the end
of his life. Here surely he might set up a way-mark in course of his pilgrimage,
and say, "My soul, wait thou only upon God, for my expectation is from Him.
He only is my rock and my salvation, my defence, I shall not be moved." Psal.
Ixii. 5, 6.
In the year 1750, Mr. Romaine was appointed assisting morning preacher in
the parish of St. George, Hanover square. This office has no settled establish
ment, but merely dependent on the will of the rector, and the person procured
by him at his own option and expense. The rector, who both called him to
* Dr. I errick, afterwards bishop of Peterborough and London.
t In the year 1762.

8 THE LI1E v? inc.
this office, and removed him from it, was Dr. Andrew Trebeck. The first act
originated not in personal friendship, but in the recommendation of his character ;
the latter arose from the popularity and plainness of his ministry. He preached
Christ crucified among those who are least disposed to receive him. The church
was filled with the poor, and forsaken by the rich ; and that which (as a nobleman
is said to have observed) was never complained of in a playhouse, was admitted
as a just cause of complaint in the house of. God. When notice was given him
that the crowd of people attending from different parts caused great inconveni
ence to the inhabitants, who could not safely get to their seats, he received it in
the most placid manner, and said, " he was willing to relinquish an office which
he had faithfully performed, hoping that his doctrine had Deen Christian, and
owning the inconvenience which had attended the parishioners." In this
instance, therefore, as well as in many others, he suffered as a Christian, and
had reason to rejoice : for the spirit of glory and of God rested upon him,
endowing him with the meekness and gentleness of his Master, and enabling
him to serve his cause by his conduct, when he could no longer do it by his
sermons.* Mr. Romaine entered upon this office in St. George's parish on the first of
April, 175C, and retired from it on the twenty-eighth day of September, 1755,
during which time he preached occasionally at Bow church, in exchange with
Dr. Newton, (afterwards bishop of Bristol) then rector of that parish, and lecturer
of St. George's, Hanover Square, and also at Curzon chapel, then called St.
George's chapei, Mayfair, in exchange with Dr. Trebeck himself, who was morn
ing preacher there.
The times in which he was called to the exercise of his ministry "in the west
end of the metropolis, were distinguished by'some signal judgments of Almighty
God ; such particularly as were the earthquakes by which Lisbon was destroyed,
and London threatened ; two shocks having been felt in it, and a third expected.
These judgments were preceded by great profligacy of manners, and its fruitful
parent, licentiousness of principle. " As to faith," says one who preached on
that occasion, " are not the doctrines of the Trinity, and divinity of our Lord
and Saviour, without which our redemption is absolutely void, and we are yet in
our sins, with the intolerable burden of the wrath of God lying upon us, blas
phemed and ridiculed openly in conversation and print ? Aa to unity of spirit,
are we not distracted and torn to pieces with schisms and separations 1 And as
to righteousness of life, are not the people of this land dead in trespasses and
sins, idleness, drunkenness, luxury, extravagance and debauchery ? For these
things cometh the wrath of God, and disordered nature proclaims the impending
distress and perplexity of nations. And O may we of this nation never read a
hand-writing upon the wall of heaven in the illuminated capitals of the Almighty,
Mene, Mene, Tekel, Uphaksin : God hath numbered the kingdom, and
finished it. Thou art weighed in the balances of heaven, and found wanting the
merits of a rejected Redeemer, and therefore thy kingdom is divided and given
away."t Mr. Romaine was not wanting upon the present occasion, as appears from two
sermons in print, entitled, " An Alarm to a Careless World," and " The Duty of
Watchfulness enforced ;" sermons which are not exceeded in any of his writings.
In both, and particularly in the preface to the former, there are some valuable
antidotes against the prevailing philosophy of the day, which ascribed every
* For information upon these circumstances in Mr. Romaine's life, 1 am indebted to the
present rector of St. George's, the bishop of Bristol, and to Ihe clerk in orders, Mr. Trebeck,
Dr. Trebeck's son, to whom his lordship was so good as to refer me. The latter, after
having given the above account of Mr-. Komaine's retirement from St. George's, adds the
following words : " I shall be always ready to attest his zeal, and in conversation' with him
during that time, and occasionally afterwards, 1 found him mild and friendly."
t See a sermon preached before the university of Oxford on Sunday, February 15th
1756 ; and at several other places, on occasion of the late earthquakes and public fast, by
George Home, M.A.and fellow of Magdalene college ; afterwards dean of Canterbury, and
bishop of Norwich.
it is a pity that this sermon was not reprinted among those which have been collected into
one volume since his death.

REV. W. ROMAINE, A.M. 9
thing to second causes, and almost denied the existence of the first, excluding
the God of nature from the works of nature, and refusing to acknowledge him
as the author of judgments, and sin, committed against his divine Majesty as the
cause of them. This, as he tells us in the preface before mentioned, was the
philosophy of the year 1750, when the " learned accounted for earthquakes,
by changing their name into airquakes, and then they were explained philo
sophically." Such was the state of religion and morals, when he was called to bear his
testimony in the fashionable world. Having received the ministry of light and
truth, he fainted not in the discharge of it, nor had recourse to the hidden
things of dishonesty to recommend it : but used great plainness of speech, that
by manifestation of the truth he might commend himself to every man's con
science in the sight of God. He spoke freely of the manners of the great, and
endeavoured to bring them to an acquaintance with their own heart, as the teat
and source of all iniquity, and with Jesus Christ, as the great purifier of the
heart through faith in his blood. With what judgment and clearness he brought
these truths to the ears of the wise after the flesh, the mighty and noble of this
world, may be seen in specimens of his preaching before them left in print,
such as a sermon entitled, " A Method for Preventing the Frequency of Robbe
ries and Murders ;" and another " Discourse on the Self-existence of Jesus
Christ ;" both delivered at St. George's, Hanover Square.
It was in this period of his life that Mr. Romaine was called to the professor
ship of astronomy in Gresham college. He had not the highest opinion of the
religion, morals, or wisdom of the age ; and in the discharge of his duty in this
new office he pursued a plan which ran counter to them all. He attempted to
prove that God was best acquainted with his own works, and had given the best
account of them in his own words. He disputed some part of the Newtonian
philosophy, with a boldness and banter which were not likely to be well received,
when derogating from the honour of a man who was held little less than divine.
And as he observed in the mathematics, astronomy, and geometry of the day,
" a difference in their demonstrations of no less than one hundred and twenty-
one millions of miles," so he spoke of the " modern divinity as bringing you no
nearer than one hundred and twenty-one millions of miles short of heaven."
The only traces that I have ever met with of his conduct, in this professorship,
are to be found in the Gentleman's Magazine for the month of March, 1752
The reader may have recourse to this account, if he pleases, and must judge for
himself how far it is just and impartial.
If Mr. Romaine quitted this office in enmity with the world, he quitted it no
doubt in friendship with God, for he had God's honour at heart, nowever he
might not have consulted his own; he had therefore God's promise in hand,
" They that honour me, I will honour." In proof of this, I cannot but observe,
that whatever credit he lost in the city of London, as professor of philosophy in
Gresham college, he' retrieved it an hundred-fold in a business of a very different
nature which happened about the same time ; I mean the famous Jew Bill. By
his opposition to which, both in preaching and print, he rose and increased in
favour with God and man. His reasonings upon this subject, and answers to
every thing that was attempted in vindication of a project so contrary to the de
crees and declarations of heaven, and so injurious to the religious, civil, and
commercial interests of this country-, were collected by himself in a pamphlet,
which was reprinted by the citizens of London in the year 1753, and it is a mas
terly performance, which will bear printing again.
Mr. Jones, in his life of Dr. Home, late Bishop of Norwich, with which he
lias just favoured the world, has a passage so much to our present purpose, that
1 have taken the liberty of transcribing it. " In the year when the Jew Bill was
depending, and after it had passed the house, he (Sir. Home) frequently em
ployed himself in sending to an evening paper of the time, certain communi
cations which were much noticed, while the author was totally unknown, except
among some of his nearest acquaintance. By the favour of a great lady, it was
my fortune (though then very young) to be at a table where some persons of the

10 THE LIFE OF Till',
first quality were assembled, and I heard one of them* very earnest on the
matter and style of some of these papers, of which I knew the secret history,
and was not a little diverted when I knew what passed about them. To the
author of these papers, the Jew Bill gave so much oftence (and the Marriage
Bill not much less), that he refused to dine at the table of a neighbouring gen
tleman, where he was much admired, only becattse the son-in-law of Mr. Pelham
was to be there ; he was therefore highly gratified by the part taken in that
E'lous business by the Rev. WiUiam Romaine, who opposed the considerations
ersed about the kingdom in defence of the Jew Bill with a degree of spirit
success, which reminded us of Swift's opposition to Wood's Halfpence in
his Drapier's Letters."
This honourable mention of one who is now literally a departed brother/p
reflects equal honour upon him that made it, nor can it fail of giving pleasure to
all lovers of peace and truth, as it brings two old friends and acquaintance
together, who pursued the same path of study, though they have been cast into
different habits of life, who have contended for the same faith, fought with the
same weapons, worshipped the same God, and steadily adhered to the same
communion. Why should a doubt be entertained of their happy meeting in

heaven, and of their rejoicing together, in the beatific vision of the Lord their
God 1 Why should such a doubt arise even from their last meeting upon earth ?
which was indeed extraordinary, but of which no notice might have been taken
in these memoirs, had it not made its first appearance in the Evangelical Ma
gazine, under the signature of T. H. as an anecdote of Mr. Romaine, ""more
characteristic of the man " (as this writer is pleased to say) " than might be
found in twenty lives of him." How far the trait, as he has drawn it, is lovely
in the character of a "venerable saint," every one must judge for himself, who
reads the extract from the Magazine for the month of March, as it is given ver
batim in the note below. J The truth, as I have it under the hand of one present
• Lord Temple.
t A name was given to Mr. Romaine by certain gentlemen, whose apology was so ably
written by one who rose to the bishopric of Norwich. They may all be ranked among the
brightest ornaments and best friends of the church of England. They differed from Mr.
Komaine only in the use, application, and enjoyment of the. truths they held, which he
. sought personally for himself, and in the boldness and fervent zeal with which he endea
voured to propagate them to others. This happy, or unhappy turn (as the world is pleased
to call it) led him into what some of his former friends called serious mistakes and irregu
larities. But the church of England had never a more dutiful, affectionate, and illustrious
son than William Romaine.
t " If twenty lives were written of Mr. Romaine, they will, I am confident, produce
nothing more characteristic of the man than the following anecdote. I insert the names,
perhaps you will prefer the initials. T. H.
" About three weeks before the last illness of that venerable patriarch, Mr. Romaine, ho
was walking in the city, and followed close by Dr. G. of Islington, and Mr. J. of Plu'ckley,
who had been formerly his intimate acquaintance, and, like many other old Hutchinsonian
friends, had long forsaken and shunned him. His friendship, they knew, was not the road
to Canterbuiy. " Niger est hunc tu Romane caveto.
" Dr. G. said, 'There goes Mr. Romaine just before us.' Mr. J. replied, * He is an old
acquaintance of mine,' and, in his facetious manner, whipped by Mr. Romaine, and turning
round, stopped him full ; just then Dr. G. was at his elbow : Mr. Romaine looked at him.
' Do not you know me, Mr. R. V said he. ' No,' said the venerable saint, ' nor my Master
neither;' and turning round on hi6 heel, crossed the way with contempt and indignation,
leaving them confounded at this unexpected reception."
Such is the famous anecdote which is to supply the place of twenty lives ! It impressed
the present rector of Blackfriais as sucl' a stigma upon his late venerable friend and pre
decessor, as well as such an undeserved reflection upon a great character now living that
he immediately sent to the editor of the Evangelical Magazine, the following letter : '
S"'~ ,I" v"ur Magazine for the last month 1 observed an anecdote of my late venerable
rector, Mr. Romaine, which, had it been true, I was at a loss to account for the reasons of
its insertion. If meant as a compliment, it has generally been understood as a reflection-
n-hile it casts an undeserved odium also ontwo characters that are very worthily respected'
But as the statement which has appeared is altogether erroneous, I have no doubt butyou
will be ready to counteract the effect which it has produced by publishing the circum
stances, as 1 received them from unquestionable authority, not long after they took plate"

REV. W. ROMAINE, A.M. 11
at the interview, was simply this. A little while before the death of Mr. Ptomaine,
Mr. Jones and Dr. Gaskin overtook him in Cheapside, and Mr. Jones very good-
naturedly proposed speaking to his old acquaintance, and on getting up to him,
he said with a cheerful countenance, " Mr. Romaine, I do not know whether
you recollect one William Jones, but I do know that I do not forget you." To
which Mr. Romaine made a laconic reply, which neither of the gentlemen dis
tinctly heard, but the words impressed upon them at the moment were, *' No,
nor my Master, I hope ;" and true it is, that Mr. Itomaine, after having made
this answer, turned upon his heel and crossed the street, leaving them not a
little astonished at this unexpected reception. It might be unexpected to them,
but it was not an uncommon reception for Mr. Romaine to give in the street to
his most intimate friends. He had a natural quickness, and sometimes rough
ness in his manner, which were often mistaken, when not meant, for anger and
rudeness. He was seldom in the street but upon business ; and being intent
upon his engagement, and as frugal of his time as he was prodigal of his labour,
he seldom saluted any man by the way, neither was it his custom to fall out by
the way. It is probable that he meant to cast no reflection upon his old friend,
but to stir Up his pure mind by way of remembrance, and to express a Christian
hope that, as he had recognised the servant, he had not forgotten his Lord and
Master. Nor is it likely that he should then treat one with contempt, with
whom he had formerly lived in habits of friendship, and of whom he had always
spoken to others with respect and affection. Mr. Jones could have had nothing
in view but good will and good manners ; and though he might have been hurt
at this sort of reception from an old acquaintance, there is no reason to think
that he is now ill-affected towards him, or that he designed any other than an
honourable mention of him, after his decease, when he introduced his name into
the life of Dr. Home.
Just, however, as the comparison may be between the spirit and success of
Dr. Jonathan Swift'and Mr. WiUiam Romaine, the causes in which they were
engaged will admit of no comparison. Permission to an individual to coin half
pence may be productive of mischief as injurious to trade, and as exciting to
envy ; but an attempt to naturalise the outcasts of heaven, who have filled up
the measure ol their iniquities in crucifying their King, was an attempt against
The Rev. Dr. G. and the Rev. Mr. J. were walking together in Cheapside, when the sight
of Mr. Romaine at a distance gave rise to the following conversation.
Jlli-. J. There is Mr. Romaine — do you know him?
Di'. G. No. I have no personal acquaintance with him.
Mr. J. Does he know you personally 1
Dr. G. 1 am not sure that he does ; have you any knowledge of him 1
Mr. J. Yes. Some years agq we were very intimate, and he has been at my house some
days together; I will speak to him.
As Mr. Romaine came near, he was addressed by Mr. J. in this manner—" How do you
do, Mr. Romaine 1 I do not know whether you forgot one William J. 1 do not forget you."
To which Mr. Romaine replied, " No, nor my Master neither, 1 hope." Without waiting
for a reply, ho crossed the street and passed on. In whatever way Mr. Romaine's answer
be understood, it implies no such reflection on Mr. J. as is so strongly marked in the state
ment you have given. I am rather inclined to think he meant it as a compliment, as I have
, heard him express himself in terrti9 of great respect, as to the person he then spoke to.
No idea of disrespect need be attached to his immediately passing from them, for it was
what Mi. Romaine would frequently do to his most intimate friends, as he had almost as
great an aversion to stop talking in the street, as in the church, in the latter of which he was
so remarkable, and so worthy of imitation. I conceive, sir, it is a justice due to all parties,
lo insert this, for the authenticity of which J an responsible. I am yours,
Blackfriars, March-23, 1796. William Goout.
Why was not this letter inserted, or at least acknowledged 1 Should not a work, called
" Kvangelical," be careful to speak evil of no man? Should it not, if it accuse falsely,
take the earliest opportunity of acknowledging its error? Is it fair to suppose that
Mr. J.'s intimacy with Mr. Romaine should have been discontinued from an idea that it
would obstruct his preferment in the world? Does not the character of Mr. J. as a scholar,
a clergyman, and a Christian, stand too high to be soiled by a paragraph in the Evangelical
Magazine? Oris it to be inferred, from the general tenor and tendency of his life and
writings, that the Judge of quick and dead will deny him at the great day, and include him
>n that awful sentence, " Depart from nie, 1 never knew you?"

L2 THE LIFE OF THE
the laws and authority of the Most High, no less daring than that of the apostate
emperor to rebuild Jerusalem, lt was an attempt which proved the infidelity ot
the times in which it was made, for had Moses and the prophets been consulted,
they had informed the world ages before, that the Jews should be a proverb,
an astonishment, and an hissing, among all nations, until their conversion to
God, and their acknowledgment of that same Jesus whom their fathers crucified,
as Lord and Christ. As no act of parliament can convert, so none can naturalise
them. It is surprising that the fulfilment of the Scriptures, in the dispersion
and disgrace of that extraordinary people, has not more effect than it seems to
have upon sceptical minds. The veracity of the Bible we cannot dispute, but
the contents of it we cannot receive, as long as we are influenced by the spirit ot.
the world ; nor will arguments or facts convince us, when our vices and in
clinations oppose them. . .
It has been the opinion of those who have been best acquainted 1 with divine
truth and human nature, that the enmity of the one against the other is not so
much in the head as in the heart of man. The apostle indeed represents the
heart as the seat of faith, and of infidelity ; for as he tells us in one place, that
" with the heart man believeth unto righteousness," so he guards us in another
against an " evil heart of unbelief, in departing from the living God." I have
been told (and I think by Mr. Romaine himself) that the late Rev. William
Grimshaw, minister of Haworth, in Yorkshire, used to be much with Lady
Huntingdon, when she was in that part of the country ; and had freguent argu
ments with her son, the late Lord Huntingdon, upon the subject of religion.
In one of them he said, " I perceive that your lordship's quarrel with religion is
not in your head, but in your heart." His lordship was so affected with the
remark, that he never encountered that antagonist again.
As this Mr. Grimshaw was an eminently pious and laborious clergyman*
(perhaps the most so for his own or any time), so he was among the particular
friends of Mr. Romaine. Soon after his death, which happened in the year
1763, Mr. Romaine preached at Haworth. His text was that well-chosen passage,
Acts xi. 23 : "Who, when he came, and had seen the grace of God, was glad,
and exhorted them all that with purpose of heart they would cleave unto the
Lord." The distress of the people for the loss of so valuable a man, and their
anxiety about a successor, were not to be described. The sermon was striking
and impressive, and had the good effect of putting them upon fervent and united
prayers for the continuance of their spiritual privileges, and the event answered
their utmost wishes. The clergyman who succeeded was the Rev. John
Richardson, a person of an excellent spirit, whose views of divine truth were
remarkably clear and evangelical, and whose unaffected piety and exemplary
conduct continued to be an ornament to the church of God, and a blessing to
that parish, till the year 1791, when he was called to his everlasting rest.f
In February 1 755, Mr. Romaine changed his condition by marrying Miss
Price, who now sits as a widow to lament the loss of a most faithful, affectionate,
and attentive husband ; and to whom I take this opportunity of expressing my
thanks for many authentic communications concerning him. Upon leaving his
situation in St. George's, Hanover Square, or soon after, he became curate and
morning preacher at St. Olave's Southwark, upon which office he entered in
the beginning of the year 1756, and continued in it to the year 1759; and to
this congregation he dedicated his sermon upon the parable of the dry bones in
Ezekiel, preached in their church, and published at their desire. He resided
the first year in the rectory house, and removed from hence into Walnut-tree
Walk, Lambeth. Here he had a delightful retreat, in which he spent some of
the happiest of his years. A little garden, which he dressed, kept, and planted ;
and as he viewed the productions of it with faith, and received them with thank-
• I am happy to hear that his life is coming before the public, from the pen of a well-
known, a most able and useful writer.
t We are indebted for this account to Mr. Whitaker, now of Ringway, in Cheshire, who
was born in the parish of Hawortn. " And though," says he, " I did not hear Mr Komaine
preaeh, and was too young to have made any observations, yet I have often heard the people
speak of it with the greatest satisfaction and thankfulness." r

REV. W. ROMAINE, A.M. 13
fulness, he converted it into another Eden. Here he received his friends, parti-
culaily serious candidates for orders, and his younger brethren in the ministry,
admitting thorn to his early breakfasts, arid feeding them with knowledge and
understanding. An interview of this sort, with a clergyman now living, has been
kindly communicated to me, and the following account of it drawn up by his
own hand. " I breakfasted one morning with Mr. Romaine, somewhere I think
in Lambeth parish, but it is now many years since. On taking the bread pre
pared, which I thought good, he mentioned the circumstance of the late Dr. John
Fothergill's having in some cases advised the not giving to sick people, and
especially to weakly ailing children, preparations from London bread, on account
' of the too frequent adulteration it underwent previous to baking.' I was then
a young clergyman, and shall not easily forget the manner (for I still feel the
impression) of his turning the subject to the ministeral administration of the
bread of life to the people. He touched Very clearly and forcibly on a variety of
modes by which the word of God was perverted, and the ill-leaven and other in
gredients too often mixed with that heaven -imparted sustenance, which was
intended to be meat indeed ; and this he did in such familiar, easy, and yet
pointed terms, and with that paternal benignity of look, as left me equally pleased,
and, I trust, improved by the interview. It rendered bread to me of more value,
both as a support and as a sign. I have yet cause to thank him for the dis
cussion it produced, and shall ever revere his memory for so well-timed and
happy an allusion.
"The same morning I remember well bis mentioning it as in his opinion a
fault, to preach censoriously, sarcastically, or harshly of brethren in the ministry,
or of others, however remote from ourselves in matters of sentiment and per
suasion. My friend, Mr. George Whitefield, said he, one day told me very
candidly, that there was a time in his life, when he thought he had never well
closed a sermon without a lash of the fat, downy doctors of the establishment.
At that period, said he, I was not lean myself, though much slenderer than
Bince. I went on, however, and seldom failed' to touch pretty smartly upon the
objects of my dissatisfaction, till one day, getting up into the pulpit in Tottenham-
court-road, I found the door apparently narrowed, and moved in obliquely.
The idea then struck me, that I was becoming at least in appearance, a downy
doctor myself; and from that time I never more made the downy doctors a
subject of castigation. He acted wisely, finding it much more comfortable to
himself, and more edifying to his hearers, to preach Christ, and let other things
and other people alone. "
Mr. Romaine, after .he left the cure of St. Olave's, was morning preacher for
near two years at St. Bartholomew the Great, near West Smithfield, and removed
from thence to Westminster chapel, where he had the same office for six month's,
till the dean and chapter withdrew their patronage and protection from it, and
refused him their nomination for a license to preach there. The place then fell into
other hands, and Mr. Romaine, who was immovably attached to the established
church, resigned that situation. Nor had he any stated employment in the
church, excepting the lectureship of St. Dunstan's in the West, till he was
chosen to the rectory of Blackfriars in 1 764, to which, owing to a dispute about
the election that was settled in the court of chancery, he was not admitted till
the year 1766.
During the time in which he bad no settled employment in the morning, he
preached charity sermons in many churches in Lonaon — sermons, which had
been the means not only of spreading the gospel, but of proving its efficacy ; for
whatever may be ignorantly said against it as inimical to good works, more good
has been done by it, and larger collections produced by the preaching of it, than
by all the mere essays upon charity put together. He preached often likewise
at the Lock Hospital upon the first institution of that charity, and the building
of the chapel. Being honoured also at Lambeth with the acquaintance of arch
bishop Seeker, he generally assisted in the parish church upon the first day of
the month, it being the custom of that Venerable prelate constantly to attend
and to administer the sacrament of the Lord's supper.
In Bpeaking of him as a preacher, we ought not to omit his frequent appear-

14 THE LIFE OF THE
ances in that character before the university of Oxford. He printed some of
his discourses delivered there, such as those upon the " Divine Legation of
Moses," upon "Jephthah's Vow,"" upon the "Sure Foundation," and upon
" the Lord our righteousness." This latter he sent to the press, as being the
last which he was permitted to preach, the pulpit being refused him in con
sequence of it, and he published it with the following dedication to the vice
chancellor :
" To the Rev. Dr. Randolph, Vice Chancellor of the University of Oaf ord, and
President of Corpus Christi College.
" When I delivered these discourses, I had no design to make them public ;
but I have been since compelled to it. I understand they gave great offence, espe
cially to you, and I was ih consequence thereof refused the university pulpit. In
justice, not to myself, for I desire to be out. of the question, but to the great
doctrine here treated of, namely, the righteousness of the Lord Jesus, as the
only ground of our acceptance and justification before God the Father, I have
sent to the press what was delivered from the pulpit. I leave the friends of our
church to judge, whether there be any thing herein advanced contrary to the
scriptures, and to the doctrines of the reformation. If not, I am safe. If there
be, you are bound to make it appear. You have a good pen, and you have great
leisure ; make u6e of them ; and I hope and pray you may make use of them for
your good and mine.
" I am, with my constant and hearty prayers for the university's prosperity,
" Mr. Vice Chancellor,
" Your humble servant in Christ,
" William Romaine."
While there is nothing in these sermons that can impeach his character as a
scholar, or as a divine, there is something in the dedication prefixed to them, thnt
doe6 him great honour as a gentleman and a Christian. "Whatever reasons the
university had for so stigmatizing a man, upon whose lips they had formerly
hung, charmed by his eloquence, and edified by his doctrine, it is plain that he
took the handsomest leave of them. He seems to have departed from them as
the apostles did " from the presence of tbe council, which commanded that they
should not speak in the name of Jesus, rejoicing that they were counted worthy
to suffer shame for his name." Acts v. 41, 42.
That Mr. Romaine neither committed mistakes, nor betrayed infirmities, is
what no writer of his life will affirm : nor would any reader of it believe : thiB
would be to affirm and believe that he was not a man. But of his steady and
uniform attachment to the doctrines and discipline of the church of England.'no
doubt can be entertained. It was an attachment which yielded to no discourage
ments on the one hand, to no allurements on the other ; for though preferment
was withheld from him in England, it was held out to him' in America, from
whence the most pressing invitations were sent to him to accept of St. Paul's
church in Philadelphia, with a salary of six hundred pounds a year ; and these
were seconded by the most urgent and repeated entreaties of his friend Mr.
Whitefield, who considered him as persecuted in one city, and therefore clearly
called to go unto another. But Mr. Romaine loved his church and his king ;
and though he felt and professed that affection for Mr. Whitefield which every
lover of Jesus Christ must feel for so able and faithful a preacher of his name,
so useful an instrument in the hand of God of reviving the doctrines of the
reformation in this country, yet he never could agree with him in any mode of
propagating the truth itself, which he thought inconsistent with the line of con
duct prescribed to a clergyman. As to America, where episcopacy was never
likely to be established, nor monarchy to be long endured, it was a soil by no
means genial to him; he expected therefore little from being transplanted into
it; and he lived to see many, who had fled to it, as a Utopia of religion and
liberty, return with no small delight to old England again.
As a proof of his unalterable regard for this church and nation, he first printed
in 1757. the year of his dismission from the university pulpit, "An Earnest In
vitation to the Friends of the Established Church to join with several of their

REV. W. ROMAINE, A.M. 15
Brethren, Clevgy and Laity, in London, in setting apart one hour of every week
for Prayer and Supplication during these troublesome Times." After having
mentioned the motives and calls to prayer, he proceeds to the matter of it, ami
invites us to "pray for the peace of our - established church, and for all orders
and degrees of its ministers, beseeching God to give them his grace and heavenly
benediction, that both by their life and doctrine they may set forth his glory,
and set forward the salvation of all men. And to the end.there may never be
wanting such persons in the church, let us pray for all seminaries of Christian
education, especially for the two universities," &c. As a proof of his good
wishes to all Christian people, he adds, " May the God of love dispose us also to
pray fervently for all the protestant dissenting congregations which love the
Lord Jesus in sincerity. May he shed that love abroad in all our souls, which
alone can effectually free us from party spirit," &c. This same tract he re
printed in the year 1779, and again in 1795, a few months before his death.
And it is to be hoped that being dead, he will yet speak in it to many, and ex
cite them to the practice of what he there recommends. If any additional argu
ments are wanting to enforce this good work upon Christians, besides those in
this useful little tract, they are to be found in a sermon published at the same
time with the first edition of it, entitled, " The Duty of Praying for others." It
was printed indeed without a name, but bore such indubitable marks of Mr.
Romaine's style and spirit, as to leave no doubt respecting its author, and indeed
it may be ranked among the best of his writings.
That which he recommended to others, he practised himself, and found so
much encouragement to pray always and not to faint, as to be induced a few
years afterwards to send a circular letter to every serious clergyman, whom he
knew, and whom he remembered at the throne of grace, inviting them to set
apart one hour in the week for calling upon God ; imploring his mercy upon the
established church, that he would .revive his work in it, and send forth more
labourers into this part of his harvest. This letter will appear in the printed
collection ; but as it will bear a second and a third reading, as the subject is im
portant in itself, and handled by Mr. Romaine in the choicest manner, as it is
a true specimen of his zealous affection in a good thing, as well as of his parti
cular love to this church and nation, as it shows his knowledge of himself, and con
tains much, godly experience, which may be useful to others ; it is here inserted
as forming no inconsiderable part of his history ; and may aU the benefits that
he wished, be the fruits of its publication.
My dear brother in our precious Jesus. — In the year 1756, a weekly hour of
prayer was agreed upon by several religious clergy and laity, in order to humble •
ourselves under the mighty hand of God, till he should be pleased to put a stop
to the calamities of that time. He did hear us, glory be to a prayer-hearing
God, and he turned our supplications into praises. About that period it began
to be laid very near my heart to pray earnestly and often for the prosperity of
our Zion, for which I never fail to make intercession in all my addresses to the
throne of grace. But once a week, on Friday, I have what is called the clergy's
litany. In which, after general petitions for the out-pouring of the Spirit upon
all the ministers of our church, I make mention by name of those my fellow-
labourers, whom God has highly honoured in making them faithful and useful
in the ministry. As I go over their names recommending them to the care, and
their people to the blessing of our glorious Head, it is my custom to ask parti
cularly for them, such things as I know or hear they want. Your name has
been long in my list, and you owe me many, many prayers, a lawful debt, which
now upon demand, I hope you will repay me. I ask it in justice due to myself.
I entreat it for the glory of our common Lord, and for the advancement of his
own cause and kingdom, and for your own soul's prosperity. O that I may
write any thing to stir you up to pray till you as far outstrip me herein, as to
make it a point of gratitude for me to pray more and more fervently for you. I
will mention some of the motives which moved me to this practice, and some of
the advantages which I have found in it, and I beg of the Ix>rd to make them
the means of inducing you to join with me in this delightful exercise of brotherly
love.

16 THE LIFE OF THE
1. One of the first things which put me upon it was the frequent use of the
hour of prayer, mentioned above. We are called upon in scripture to make
supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks for all men ; and we
are very often exhorted to pray for the Jiousehold of faith, and more particularly
for the ministers of it, agreed together m this land to worship the same Lord in
the same outward estabhshment, to which you and. I are very closely connected,
both in profession and principle. To us, as ministers, the command should be
of great force — "Pray for the peace of Jerusalem." — This peace depends upon
the Lord's sending and blessing his ambassadors of peace. They are his mi
nisters, attending continually for this very thing. He raises them up; he fits
them for the advancement of it ; he prospers them for the sake of the prospe
rity of his church, as he says, " I will clothe the priests in Zion with salvation,
and then her saints shall shout aloud for joy." For this reason we find St. Paul
in all his epistles desiring to be prayed for — "Pray for us "—for grace, for gifts,
for success. He puts the churches upon asking what their ministers wanted.
Although God has promised it, yet he will be entreated for it. The prayer of
faith never returns without a blessing, which I have remarked again and again
to the praise of him who says, " Ask, and ye shall have," and this has been a
2. Second argument very powerful with me. The command given to pray for
the peace of Jerusalem has a promise — " They shall prosper that love thee." —
This has been fulfilled. I have seen manifest sensible answers to this prayer-
clear displays of the faithfulness of the promise maker. He has vouchsafed to
give the desired mercy— not for the merits of our prayers, but for the sake of his
own great Name. He put it into our hearts to see what his church wanted : to
ask the supply of him, and now having received it, to ascribe all the glory to his
grace — " Worthy is the Lamb." His kindness hitherto is a mighty encourage
ment to go on, and is a
3. Motive for me to persevere, and for you to join with me. He says when
the work is great and the ministers but few — " Pray ye the Lord of the harvest,
that he would send forth labourers into his harvest field." This was our war
rant to ask, and asking in faith according to his will, we had confidence in him
that he would hear and answer ; and he has been as good as his word ; we have
tried it, and found it cannot be broken. For these last eleven years we have
been playing for more labourers, and every year he has sent forth some more
O that he may give tbe word, and greater still may be the company of the
preachers. Have we not all the reason in the world to expect it ? The promise
stands sure — his hand is not shortened — his love is not abated — prayer has not
lost its efficacy with him to engage his love and power to fulfil the promise.
Doubtless more, more labourers shall be sent out, if more of us join in fervent
prayers, nothing wavering. While we continue to pray, he will continue to an
swer. This is fixed as the throne of God — " I will not suffer my faithfulness to
fail." O how has my dependence on his unalterable word been strengthened, by
seeing it so constantly fulfilled ; and how has my attachment increased to our
established church, by his raising up more ministers among us ! Indeed he owns
our estabhshment at this day ; and thereby he encourages us to pray on ; and if
we du, we may hope to see greater things than these. May you and I find reason
to be asking the enlargement of Christ's kingdom in our land, until he remove
us into his kingdom of praise.
4. These arguments are continually enforced by the constraining love of Jesus,
which keeps the soul in a good frame to pray for the advancement of his honour
and glory. While I find a warm heart to him, I cannot help wishing that others
may be won over to the love of him. To set him forth, that they may behold
his matchless glory, is our office. Every gospel minister is raised up to sound
aloud the praises of the wonderful person, and of the infinitely perfect work of the
divine Saviour, in whom all the perfections of the Godhead shine out in the
richest display of their beauty, love, and power. The gospel-ministry was or
dained for this purpose, and it is blessed to this day to the hearts of poor sinners
by bringing them to see, to admire, and to enjoy the love of the Father through
the salvation of the Son, by the grace of the Spirit. This is the ministration
which exceedeth in glory. O what an honour is it that we should be called to

REV. W. ROMAINE, A.M. 17
partake of these blessings ourselves, and that by our means the Lord would, and
does, convey them to our people. The sense of this is constraining. Under the
influence of- it we cannot but pray for his ministers, that they may spread his
gospel and advance his fame. O, for more love to this precious Jesus ! and to
his cause in your heart ; it will be as a thousand arguments to put you upon
praying for an increase of labourers, and an increase of usefulness in those he has
already sent out : and, if you do pray thus, and continue to pray, it will be the
most likely means of your experiencing more of his love, for he cannot alter the
word that is gone out of his mouth. His promise to them that pray for the peace
of Jerusalem is, " They shall prosper who love thee," which is a
Fifth encouragement. It is good for our own souls. They prosper by it ;
while we are concerned for the honour of Jesus, for the advancement of his
gospel, we are taking the best care we can of our own interest. The soul that
watereth others, shall be watered itself; so it prospers. The prayer for bless
ings on our fellow-labourers brings a shower of blessings into our own bosom.
I should be very unthankful, yea, beyond measure, if I did not acknowledge it.
I have not prayed in vain for these eleven years. No. I have indeed prospered,
and have received many mercies ; some I will mention, not to set myself up for
any thing, who am the very sink of hell, and feel in me to this moment indwelling
corruptions enough to damn a thousand worlds ; but I mention them to the glory
of sovereign grace. There is in every one of us a desire to be great and esteemed,
a bitter root of pride, which works in abundance of vile tempers, all dishonour
able to Jesus and hurtful to our own souls ; I have found this praying for my
dear brethren, and always by name, has given many a blow at that bitter root,
and has checked several of its branches, such as envy at their success, shyness to
their persons, an evil eye at their gifts or their graces. That party spirit, under
the bondage of which, no one ever laboured more than myself, has been in a
good degree conquered ; and so has the unwillingness to bear reproof, very hard
to bear ; and the will given to be thought less than the least, the sole work of
almighty grace. And I ascribe it to my constantly praying for God's ministers,
that he has enabled me in any degree not only to get the better of those vile
tempers, but also to grow in brotherly love. I find my heart knit to those I
never saw, and am glad of their prosperity in mind, body, or estate. My very
soul rejoices in any good in them, or good done by them. Their present number
(may the Lord add to them an hundred fold,) their being almost of one mind,
and of one heart, their growth in grace, their usefulness among their own
people, and their writings for the pubhc benefit ; these are become sweet subjects
of thankfulness. My prayers are more in faith because 1 reap the fruit of them,
and can join praise with them. To every petition I can say, thanks be to the
Lord ; I nave good encouragement to pray on. Every year I see our Jerusalem
prosper, and tliey also prosper that love it. Are not these advantages, and
are they not sufficient to induce you to join your prayers with mine? As for me,
God forbid, my dear brother, that I should cease to pray for you. — May the
Lord the Spirit put it into your heart to pray for me, and for the rest of our fel
low-labourers, until you find more advantages from your prayers than I have
done. If you weigh these things with attention and God incline you to join us in
prayer, there is a scripture which warrants this, and which contains some gracious
promises to the practice of it ; the consideration of it has been with me a
Sixth motive. It is in Matt, xviii. 19, 20. " Again 1 say unto you, that if two
of you shall agree on earth." — We do agree to meet together in one place. —
Where is there a better than the throne of grace ? We do agree touching the
thing we are to ask, namely, the blessing of him that sitteth upon the throne on
his own ministers. What can be more pleasing to him, than to wish them well,
to whom he has done so well, as to call them to, fit them for, and prosper them
in his work ? O it is not to be described nor conceived, how his heart is set upon
this. To send out ministers to promote his glory through the salvation of his
people, is the ruling affection in the head of the church ; and when he intends
to send them out, he gives his people the spirit of prayer, to desire of him pastors
after his own heart; and to encourage them to ask, he promises, " Whatsoever ye
ask, shall be done for you of my Father, who is in heaven : for the Father hini-
c

18 THE LIFE OF THE
self loveth you, and will give you whatsoever you ask in my name : and when
any two of you agree to pray for more labourers, or for greater usefulness in
them who do labour in the word and doctrine, I will then be in the midst of you,
spiritually present, that you may have communion with me in prayer, and that
you may be satisfied I do hear, and will answer." How inviting, how persuasive
are these words ! surely they ought powerfully to influence you andme. What
may we not expect from meeting often in the presence of Jesus ? Try, my dear
brother. Be much in his company, and see what will come of it. *°Y .
will certainly be more knit to him, and he will knit you closer to his other mi
nisters in the unity of the Spirit. He will bring us to be of the same mind in the
Lord. This is as the three-fold cord which is not quickly broken, because it is a
bond of the Lord's own making, and of the Lord's own keeping. He maintains
it, and he ties it closer by giving us sweet fellowship in one another s prayers,
and by enabling us to act and live, according as we pray for the good of our bre
thren. Thus he makes it appear that we are taught of God to love one another,
for he only can teach us to love unfeignedly, and with a pure heart fervently.
This is the most blessed union upon earth, because it flows from our being one
with Christ, and proves that we hold the head, and are under him as livingmem-
bers in his body united together, having the same care one for another—Hereby
we know what the communion of saints is — we experience, and we rejoice in its
blessings. O how will this strengthen the hands of each other — it will make us
mighty through our God to do our work, to endure hardship, to fight our battles ;
yea, to the many antichrists of this our day, we shall become terrible, like an
army with banners. May the Lord make you a good soldier in this noble army ;
and he will, if you will join with us. Your prayers will not return void into
your own bosom. No, no. Every prayer for your brethren will bring down a
blessing upon yourself, and you will find more arguments daily than I have room
to mention. Only one thing more I must take notice of, which is my
Seventh motive, namely, the present necessity. Look round the island —
examine the state of it. You cannot help seeing how things are going on.
The prospect is alarming. Our national sins had been long crying aloud for
vengeance, but the long-suffering of our God has withheld it ; and to leave us,
a people without excuse, he sent mercy instead of judgment. He revived his
work — raised up ministers — sent them in his name to proclaim his grace in
Jesus, and to call sinners to repentance. What has been the effect ? O guilt,
beyond that of Sodom and Gomorrah ! The gospel is rejected. This one sin
is filling up the measure of our iniquity fast. Judgment slumbereth not. It
is abroad. The storm is gathering. A dark black cloud is hanging over us.
It has not burst yet, but God knows how soon it may. If it should, what have
we not to fear ? 'Ihe scripture character of the latter days is now fulfilled. We
are in the dregs of time. The damnable heresies, as foretold, are brought in.
Atheism, infidelity, and their poisonous fruits, harbingers of the great day, do
abound, and security marks it to be near at hand. Thanks be to God there is
a little light breaking through this dismal cloud, which affords us a ray of hope.
Jesus has not left himself without witness. He has still a cause, and ministers
to plead it, in our land. But how few are they ! Blessed be God for any. He,
who sent them, can send more, and he bids us pray for more. What he bids,
the times press and enforce upon us. When was there, when can there be,
greater need ? Does not every thing precious in time and in eternity call upon
us to pr^r for one another, and to pray, that the Lord may add to our number
daily? Is not his glory blasphemed openly, his mercy abused, his gospel
rejected, and therefore are not public and private virtues neglected, yea, despised?
What can stop the deserved ruin ? Only God, and he only in the way of his
own appointment. The gospel is his saving ordinance, and ministers are the
means which he uses to make the gospel the power of God unto salvation.
O let us pray then for more of them. To this let the love of dear Jesus con
strain us — the love of our king — and of our country — the love of our religious
and civil liberties — the love of our families and children — the love of our own
souls, and of our parishioners. O that God may put it into your heart by these
or any other motives, to join with us in praying him to send forth more labourers

I

REV. W. ROMAINE, A.M. 19
into his harvest. Amen, Amen, say I. Let all that love the Lord Jesus in
sincerity say, Amen.
My dear brother, if God should incline your heart to this work and labour of
love, there are two things earnestly recommended to you ; the
First is to meet us at a set hour ; that we may agree in our joint prayers, and
may have the divine promise to depend upon for the blessing we ask. We have
for some time met every Friday at noon, but it has been found inconvenient ;
and by consent it is now fixed from nine o'clock on Friday morning to ten. You
will then meet a great deal of good company at our court — several dear ministers
and fellow-labourers round the throne, besieging it with their prayers for each
other, and for the increase of their number. Whatever be the general issue, it
will be well with us supplicants. Our labour will not be in vain in the Lord.
If our prayers do not remove the affliction of Joseph, yet we, grieving for it,
have a promise of safety, when that affliction comes to be destructive, as you
may read at large in Ezekiel, chap. ix. A
Second thing is desired of you, namely, that you would pray for the brethren
byname. This is not a trifling matter. Indeed it is not. Make trial of it, and
you will find more advantages in it than I have mentioned above. It has been
exceeding profitable to my own soul for several years, and I doubt not but
experience will make it so to yours.
I leave all that 1 have said in the Lord's hand, that he may apply it to you,
as seemeth him good. Whether you join with us or not, I will not cease to
pray for you and yours, that the work of the Lord may prosper in you and
by you. Only remember the time is short. The work is great. The Lord
God bless you in it, that his harvest may be got in soon, and his labourers may
go to rest. In this happy number may you and I be found. When our prayers
are over may we continue our praises to Father, Son, and Spirit, three persons
in one Godhead, to whom we shall be giving equal glory, worship, and thanks,
through a long blessed sabbath. Hallelujah. Amen
Such an epistle will bear, and indeed it requires, frequent reading. The
business recommended in it should not be forgotten. A list might be circu
lated every year of such as call upon the Lord in every place, and labour in his
word and doctrine. To their names might be added any particular circum
stances, which call for praise or prayer. And an hour or more, might be well
spent in making mention of each severally before God, without vain repetitions.
An anniversary sermon might be preached, giving a short account of the pro
gress of the gospel in the kingdom, and published, as a history of the church,
for the benefit of the present and future generations. It was Mr. Romaine's
custom to preach a sermon of this sort every year upon the second day of
March, being the day of bis election to the living of Blackfriars. " In one of
these discourses be mentioned that himself and three others agreed to spend one
hour in the week, at a staled time, in prayer for the revival of the power of
godliness in the established church."" What an increase did he live to see !
from units to hundreds ! And what encouragement did he hold out to the
ministers and people of God, to devote a small portion of their time to prayer,
supplication, intercession, and giving of thanks, for the extension of the king
dom of Jesus Christ ! for the revival of that work of the Lord which shall stand
for ever in a people whom he forms for himself, and of whom it may be
observed, that in proportion as they are formed for the Lord in the next world,
they are formed for good in the present one ; the increase of them therefore is a
great public concern.
We have now followed the object of these memoirs through some of the
changes and chances of this mortal life, as well as through some of the trials
and tribulations of the Christian life, to his final settlement as to this world in
the rectory of St. Andrew Wardrobe, and St. Ann's, Blackfriars. Nor were the
leadings of Providence less wonderful in this circumstance of his life, than they
had been in most of the preceding ones. The right of presentation to this
• Sec Memoir of tne late Rev. William Romaine, in the Evangelical Mavazinc fer
November, 1795, p. 449. c 2

20 THE LIFE OF THE
living is vested in the crown and in the parishioners alternately. Mr. Romaine 9
predecessor was Mr. Henley, a nephew ofthe then Lord Chancellor Henley. He
enjoyed this preferment only about six years and a half, and died young, of a
putrid fever, in consequence of visiting one of his parishioners in that disorder.
He was a man of an excellent spirit, and of great piety, and promised to be
very useful in the church ; but it pleased God to remove him, and to incline the
hearts of some in the parish, upon his decease, to propose Mr. Romaine as his
successor. This was done without Mr. Romaine's knowledge or consent : the
first intimation which he received of it was from a newspaper, which he took up
by accident, when upon a journey. His friends, who first started the idea of
nominating him as a candidate for the living, entertained little or no hopes of
success ; but, upon sounding their fellow parishioners, they found that at least
two-thirds of them were in his favour. In order to check their progress, a
rumour was spread that he was above soliciting their votes and interest. But
upon the day being fixed for each candidate to preach his probation sermon,
Mr. Romaine was apprized of it, came immediately to London, and made his
appearance among them. The day appointed for his preaching was the 30th
of September, 1764, upon which occasion many absented themselves who had
been in the habit of hearing him, lest they should crowd the church, and
occupy the seats of the inhabitants ; and, by giving them offence, throw
obstacles in the way of his election. The sermon, which he preached upon this
occasion, does him infinite honour as a Christian preacher, and an honest man.
It contains truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, as it is in Jesus,
with a very plain and close application of it to each particular hearer. He
thought fit to assign his reasons in it for not having behaved towards them in
the common way of soliciting their favour. " Some have insinuated that it was
from pride that I would not go about the parish from house to house, canvassing
for votes ; but truly it was another motive, I could not see how this could
promote the glory of God. How can it be for the honour of Jesus, that his
ministers, who have renounced fame, riches, and ease, should be most anxious
and earnest in the pursuit of those very things which they have renounced ?
Surely this would be getting into a worldly spirit, as much as the spirit of
parliamenteering. And as this method of canvassing cannot be for Jesus' sake,
so neither is it for our honour : it is far beneath our function : nor is it for your
profit. What good is it to your souls ? What compliment to your under
standings ? What advantage to you in any shape, to be directed and applied to
by every person, with whom you have any connexion, or on whom you have any
dependence ? Is not this depriving you of the freedom of your choice ? Deter
mined by these motives, when my friends of their own accord put me up as a
candidate, to whom I have to this hour made no application, directly or indi
rectly, I left you to yourselves. If you choose me, I desire to be your servant for
Jesus' sake ; and if you do not, the will of the Lord be done."
This sermon operated greatly in his favour; it was well received by the
parishioners, and pubbshed at their request.
There were two other candidates for the living besides himself, and a scrutiny
was demanded in favour of each at the close of the first day's poll. This
scrutiny was entered into, but produced no decision, the proper qualifications
not being settled which entitled an inhabitant to vote at the election of a rector.
A second election was agreed upon by the friends of the several candidates,
which ended in favour of Mr. Romaine, who had a great majority of votes, and
was declared duly elected. But this did not satisfy the other candidates ; each
put in his claim, and the business was transferred into the court of chancery.
It continued there for more than a year, and, in the end of January, or begin
ning of February, 1766, a decree was given by Lord Chancellor Henley, in
favour of Mr. Romaine. He was instituted and inducted accordingly but was
observed to tremble much during the whole ceremony of his admission His
feelings have been expressed by himself in a letter which he wrote upon the
decision in chancer)-. " My friends are rejoicing all around me, and wishing me
that joy which I cannot take. It is my Master's -will, and I submit. He knows
what is best both for his own glory, and his people's good ; and I am certain he

RE.V. W. ROMAINE, A.M. 21
makes no mistakes in either of these points, but my head hangs down upon the
occasion, through the awful apprehensions which I ever had of the care of souls.
I am frightened to think of watching over two or three thousand when it is work
enough to watch over one. The plague of my own heart almost wearies me to
death ; what can I do with so vast a number ?"
Such were the methods by which he obtained the living of Blackfriars, and
such the views with which he entered upon it. His aims were directed to the
glory of God, the profit of his parishioners, and the edification of the church in
general. They cannot be better represented than they have been by himself in
two letters kindly communicated by a respectable clergyman, to whom he gave a
title for orders the year after his admission to the church of Blackfriars. As
these letters are not to make a part ofthe printed collection, they are here rescued
from oblivion ; and such parts of them produced, as express the writer's ideas of
his own situation, as well as of the duties incumbent upon a person who is offer
ing himself a candidate for holy orders. The expressions alluded to are the fol
lowing : — " In this whole affair I have desired 6imply to follow what was right,
and to aim at the divine glory ; and if I know my own heart, (which is not easily
known) my eye is single in your coming to me. I desire your good, and not
mine own ; your being with me may be the means of much edification to your
own soul, and may tend greatly to your future usefulness. I would have my
church a nursery, where such as you may grow, till you are fit to be planted out,
and when fit, I would not keep you a day, but rather use my interest to provide
some preferment for you. This is my plan, my title, and my pulpit, and what
I have in consequence of the Lord's sending me to Blackfriars. I have them for
the Lord, and I beg grace of him that I may employ them so as shall be most
for his glory. I shall receive you on this footing when you come. May the Lord
the Spirit unite your heart to me as mine is to you, and may we be taught of
God to love one another.
" I hope you will not forget me in your addresses to the throne of grace, and
if I may give my advice, it is needful for you at present to be much in prayei
for these graces :
" First, For the right knowledge of yourself — your vileness.
" Secondly, For the right knowledge of Jesus — his glory.
" Thirdly, For a single eye to his glory in your taking upon you to be his mi
nister and servant in holy things.
" Fourthly, For a love to souls ; when you know much of his love in saving
your soul, that will make you labour much for Jesus, in trying to set forward
the salvation of others. And,
" Lastly, You should beg of God, and be always begging as long as you live,
for an entire dependence upon the Lord to bless you in his work. We toil all
night and day, and catch nothing, till the Lord bless the gospel net. The Lord
bless it in you and by you, so prays your real friend and servant,
" William Romaine.
" Lambeth, August 4th, 1767."
This same gentleman expected to have been ordained upon Trinity Sunday,
but was disappointed. He gained by this loss a second letter from his friend
Mr. Romaine, equally expressive with the first of his views of the Christian
ministry. " Dear Mr.  . It was not without good reason that the Lord would not
suffer you to be ordained last Trinity. He had much to teach you in these
months, and I hope you have been a good scholar. He wanted to teach you
your absolute unfitness for the work of the ministry, and thereby to bring you
to an entire dependence upon him. You cannot love the work, nor be success
ful in it, nor, upon succeeding, give Him all the glory, but through his grace.
He laid you by a little to make you more perfect in this lesson. It is very hard
to learn, for I am still at it every day, and get but little ground. Self, proud
self, is such a dull scholar, and has such a bad memory, that though I am satis
fied to-day Christ must do aU for me, and aU in me, and all by me too, yet I
soon forget, and soon want to be something in the work myself; but I do know.

22 THE LIFE OF THrE
and blessed be the name of Jesus, I do experience that hi9 grace is sufficient for
rae chiefly in the pulling down of my pride, and in making me willing to be
nothing, that Christ may be ALL. May he pour out upon you and me more of
his Spirit to lay self very low, and to exalt the Saviour."
These letters speak for themselves, being the language of a person who had
determined to know nothing among his people, but Jesus Christ and him cru
cified. A determination which being generally made in the Spirit, is generally
pursued with steadiness ; at least it was in the instance before us unto the end
of his life. .
He entered upon his living not only in the faith and patience of Jesus Christ,
but also with a decided preference to the church of England, in which he was
called to preach his name. He therefore adhered to her discipline, and explained
her doctrines, with a view to enforce upon his hearers conformity to both, and
a regular continuance in her communion. In pursuance of this plan, he
declared his intention of preaching a course of sermons upon the thirty-nine
articles of religion, and in the process of this service he received from his
parishioners the following petition r
" To ihe Rev. William Romaine, Rector of the united parishes of St. Andrew by the
Wardrobe, and St. Ann, Blackfriars.
" Reverend Sir, As you have been pleased to intimate an intention of preaching
a course of sermons upon the thirty-nine articles of the church of England, and
have actually proceeded in a manner that has given general satisfaction — We,
the churchwardens, parishioners, and inhabitants ofthe above-mentioned parishes,
whose names are hereunto subscribed, reflecting how many Christians are un
happily deprived of reaping any benefit from them, owing to their being
confined within the narrow limits of a single church, do, for the interest of
religion in general, and for our benefit in particular, join in requesting you (if
agreeable to yourself) to print and publish the same ; and we are the more
prompted to make this requeBt, as we are informed that there is no work of the
kind now extant.
John Whinn William Trickets John Wilkinson
Roger Butcher John Holton ^0]i2 Bighton-
Thomas Hunter, Sen. Henry Collins ..^t Jomi "Hare }
James Hudson John Biddle Richard Hudson
William Slade Ann Wells M.Ramsay'
John Edrington R. Packer John Griffiths).
Harman Samler I. Hutchins Os. Olney }
Richard Smedley WilUam Cock W. Box >,
Thomas Hunter, Jun. Henry Adlidge John Mullis
Ann Rodbard William Montague Samuel Thomas."
This petition was found among Mr. Romaine's papers, but the request con
tained in it was not complied with.
Nor was he less attentive to the temporal than to the spiritual concerns of his
situation. He found the parBonage-house wholly unfit for the residence of a
pastor, it having been turned unto warehouses, and being wholly out of repair.
He took down the old premises, and built a handsome rectory-house close to the
church, for himself and his posterity. The church also when he took possession
of the living, was surrounded with a dead wall, and the avenues leading to it
very narrow. His parishioners, with whom he lived from the first in peace and
harmony, were prevailed upon to repair the church, and to erect a gallery at the
west end of it for the accommodation of his numerous hearers, to pull down the
high wall that inclosed it, so as to give it light and air, and to make all the
avenues to it wide and commodious ; by which means it is become one of the
tbest places of worship in London. Mr. Romaine, who never asked any favour
for himself, but always acknowledged the smallest, solicited his friends that at
tended the church to present the united parishes with a token of their gratitude.
This request was cheerfully complied with, and the sum collected towards de
fraying the expenses of erecting the gallery, and other improvements amounted

REV. W. ROMAINE, A.M. 23
to five hundred pounds, which the parishes have handsomely acknowledged by
an inscription over the west door.*
Whilst he promoted the improvement of the Lord's house, he laboured much
to obtain decent behaviour in those who came there to worship. He too justly
complained of that which with all his influence he was scarce able to remedy,
the disgusting and irreverent custom of coming into church during the time of
service — as if confession of sin — the praises of God in his own psalms — the
reading of his will in his own word — and prayers founded upon the scriptures,
and extracted from them, were a mere nothing : or as if we were to assemble
ourselves together for no other purpose than just to hear a sermon. What
ever excuses may be made for such conduct upon a week-day, none can be
made for it upon the Lord's day, the great business of which is his public wor
ship, and of course our gathering together in places where he has chosen to
put his name. If our place of residence is at a distance from our place of wor
ship, we should act in this case as we do in every other, and consider that the
further we have to go, the sooner we should set out. If we are to go to market,
or on a journey, or on any worldly business or pleasure, we can rise, we can
dress, we can set out in time, and think an apology necessary if we are not
punctual : but, as to church, it seems a matter of perfect indifference, when we
go, or whether we go there at all. But why are we more diligent in things
which are temporal, than in those which are eternal ? Why do we presume to
insult the Creator, in a way in which we would not insult a fellow-creature ? How
can we expect a blessing from one part of the service, when we have despised
and neglected the other ; or indeed, how can we expect a blessing from any part,
unless we have seriously and devoutly attended the whole ?
There is also another custom too prevalent in and about places of public wor
ship, which was peculiarly offensive to Mr. Romaine, and which was often re
proved by him in more ways than one. The custom alluded to is that of people's
conversing together either in the church, or churchyard, in a vestry, or in a
board-room, as soon as the service is over. He not only spoke against such
conversations from the pulpit, but frequently interrupted them, when he came
out, by tapping the shoulders of those who were engaged in them ; and once, if
not oftener, by knocking their heads together, when he found them particularly
close, and whispering in their ears, that they had forgot the " parable of the
sower." He himself studiously avoided every thing of the kind, being always
in church some time before service began, and retiring from it to his own house
as soon as the service was over, without ever speaking a word, except to his
curate, his clerk, or parish officers, upon necessary business in the vestry. A
woman, it is said, once saluted him, as he came down the pulpit stairs, by tell
ing him, that " he had been greater that night than ever." And he answered
her by saying, that " the devil had told him so before he left the pulpit." If
Mr. Romaine uttered these words, he took them out of the mouth of the cele
brated John Bunyan, who is supposed to have been their original author, and
to have uttered them upon a similar occasion. The zeal of the good woman,
which provoked this saying, seems to have been somewhat like that of another
in the company of our Lord, who cried out to him, " Blessed is the womb that
bare thee, and the paps which thou hast sucked." And the answer ofthe ser
vants might have been given in the spirit of their Master, " Yea, rather blessed
are they that hear the word of God and keep it."t These certainly are the
* This church was repaired and beautified anno domini 1774, at the expense of the
united parishes, and the generous contribution of the congregation.
The Rev. William Romaine, M.A. Rector

of St. Andrew by the Wardrobe.
CharlesGriffiths
Thomas Cook

Churchwardens.

of St. Ann's, Blackfriars.
John Holton
John Davis

Love as Brethren
free from that roughness and sever!'

t We cannot but admire the meekness and gentleness of Christ, as they were entirely
from that roughness and severity which often cleave to the expressions of the best

24 THE LIFE OF THE
great ends for which we assemble together, and were they kept always in view,
they would regulate our behaviour in the use of the means which lead to them.
Sir. Romaine was a great benefactor to his parishes in another respect, and
that is, as a promoter of charity. There was seldom any occasion of distress
on which he did not call upon his hearers to contribute to the relief of the suf
ferers ; and the sum raised was generally proportionate to the motive^ urged, viz.
the love of Christ constraining himself and those that heard him. The annual
collections for the schools in the ward, and the poor of the parish, made in the
church, at the weekly sacraments, which he instituted, and after the charity
sermons, which he preached, amounted on an average to three hundred pounds
a year. On his first coming to the living the pew-openers employed in the
church were two in number ; when he died, they were increased to eight, and
each capable of getting a comfortable livelihood from what was given them by
the congregation, without any assistance from the parish. When the dreadful
fire happened in Blackfriars in the year 1793, by which a number of houses were
consumed that had a poor family in each story, Mr. Romaine was an eye-witness
to the distressing scene. He called upon one of his parishioners at half-past
three in the morning during the time of the fire, and again at nine o'clock,
anxious to know what could be done for the poor sufferers. He commissioned
his friend to give them something for their immediate relief; and accordingly
two guineas were given to each sufferer, to the amount of about ninety guineas
in the whole. Mr. Romaine made himself responsible for this sum, and on the
mornings of the Sunday and Tuesday following he pleaded from the pulpit for
his poor parishioners, who had been burnt out of their houses, and lost their all.
The sum raised upon this occasion, added to a donation of fifty pounds from his
royal highness the Duke of York, amounted to upwards of three hundred pounds,
which, together with a collection made by the inhabitants of Ludgate-hill, ena
bled Mr. Romaine to distribute to the poor sufferers from ten to eighteen pounds
a piece. He was no less zealous for every good work which came in his way.
When the clergy were called upon to collect in their respective parishes for the
French emigrants, he was not a whit behind the chiefest of them in this busi
ness ; for which he had the honour of being noticed in an anonymous pam
phlet ; as if to reheve the distresses of a papist were to encourage the errors of
popery. We may surely, and ought to separate the mistakes from the miseries
of any man ; not perhaps as causes and effects, but as to their respective in
fluences upon our minds. We may be guarded against the one, without being
hardened against the other. We may remember how the papists persecuted us
in times past, but we have protested against them to very little purpose, unless
we have learned to " love our enemies, to bless them that curse us, and to pray
for them who despitefully use us and persecute us." And I cannot but think,
that the asylum afforded them in this country, in their present distress, is to be
ranked among the many acts of benevolence which reflect infinite honour upon
the English nation.
There are also many of the public charities which have lost a great friend and
benefactor in Mr. Romaine. None will miss him more than the Royal Humane
Society. From a conviction of the usefulness of this institution, he preached a
voluntary sermon for them at Blackfriars, in the year 1777. He observed that
not only the lives, but the souls of some of his parishioners had been saved by
the means of it ; that their miraculous recovery made them serious ; that their
seriousness brought them to church ; that the Lord of the church met them
there, and gave them the spirit of faith while they were hearing of his name.
Mr. Romaine preached annually for this society for seventeen years, latterly at
St. Dunstan's on the Sunday after his course of lectures was ended, and his
sermon generally procured thirty pounds, besides two or three new annual sub
scribers.* Christians. He does not treat this woman, as though she was a messenger of Satan, sent
cilher to flatter or to buffet him, but advises her to get more from his company than a mere
transient impression, which might be soon effaced without producing its effects in her reli
gious conduct.
•These anecdotes «ere communicated by Dr. Haves, register of the Humane Society.

REV. W. ROMAINE, A.M. 25
There is also another pious institution which has reason to regret in him the
loss of a valuable friend ; an institution known by the name of the Bible Society,
for the purpose of distributing bibles amongst his Majesty's forces, both sea and
land. Much good has been done by it, and Mr. Romaine had it much at heart;
he preached for it in his own and other churches in London, and in different
places in the country, during his summer excursions, by which means he was a
great benefactor to it every year. I am sorry to hear that it has been on the de
cline, and involved in debt ; but it is to be hoped that God will raise up advo
cates to plead its cause, and that there will be a revival of so good a work, at a
time when we not only want soldiers and sailors, but when we want them to
fight in the cause of God and truth, against the most daring spirit of error and
innovation that was ever yet in the world.
The life of Mr. Romaine upon earth was the course of a man who pursued
the even tenor of his way in the service of Christ, and in the ministry of the
church of England. It had little or no concern with the men, the politics, or
the fashions of this present evil world ; it had therefore no great variety as to
its outward appearances among men, except in his removals from one situation
to another, till he was established first in the lectureship of St. Dunstan's, and
afterwards in the living of Blackfriars. These were the theatres in which he
acted his part, and exerted his talents to the glory of God, and the good of men.
His time then was most regularly disposed of. He resided in London, or near
it, from the commencement of the law-term in November, until the long vacation
after Trinity-term, when he generally set out upon a summer excursion, which
was always into the north as long as his mother lived, and afterwards chiefly
into the west of England ; where he had many frieuds, who were always re
freshed by his company, and many churches open to him, which were always
benefited by his preaching. He seldom passed a silent sabbath, and never by
his own inclination ; being desirous, as he expressed it, to say a word for his
Master in every place. His Bible was his companion both in travel and at home,
and regularly read through every year. He lived more with God than with
men, and in order to know his real history, or the best part of it, it would be
requisite to know what passed between God and his own soul. Much of this
has been brought to light in his " Life, Walk, and Triumph of Faith ;" and
more will appear in his private letters, which are now collecting for the public
view, and which are to be received as the effusions of a good man, full of faith
and the Holy Ghost, and as a little history of heaven upon earth.
He was a man naturally close and reserved, irritable to a certain degree, short
and quick in his replies, but frequently mistaken as being rude and morose, where
he meant nothing of the kind. Had he paid more attention than he did to the
various distresses of soul and body, which were brought before him, he could
have had no time left for reading, for meditation^ for doctrine, for prayer, and,
in short, for what every man must attend to in private who would be useful in
pubhc. It was not uncommon for him to tell those who came to him with cases
of conscience, and questions of spiritual concern, that he said all that he had to
say in the pulpit. These people might be hurt for the moment by such a dis
mission, but they had only to attend upon his preaching the next opportunity,
and they found that their difficulties had impressed him as well as themselves,
that they had been submitted to God, and been the subjects of his very serious
and affectionate consideration. This circumstance contributed much to make
his sermons particularly useful ; as they were first explanations of the text, and
then particular and personal applications of it to the Case and condition of every
hearer. They were, without appearing to be, studied discourses ; not aiming at
excellency of speech or wisdom, but at that manifestation of the truth by which
he might commend himself to every man's conscience in the sight of God.
Not that he shunned conversation in its place and season, and the mutual in
tercourses of a steady and constant friendship, which he kept up with many for
a series of years. In company he was polite, affable, and instructive, without
wishing them to be made public, and thinking very justly, that it reflects no small honour
upon an institution which he has so much at heart, to have had its cause pleaded by so
good a man as Mr. Romaine.

2fi THE LIFE OF THE
affectation ; and in domestic fife, where the tempers of most men are tried and
discovered, he had none superior to him as a master, a father, and a husband.
So that he was a man who improved upon acquaintance, and they who knew
him best were they who most respected him.
As a family man he had his comforts and his trials. Of the latter none
more severe than the loss of his second eon, who died in the East Indies, of
which event he received the following account in a letter from his commanding
officer. " Sir, — It gives me great concern to be under the disagreeable necessity of
communicating to you a melancholy event, in which you are nearly interested.
Captain Romaine was seized about a fortnight ago with a disorder in his bowels,
which terminated in a flux. I am sorry to add that the consequences have been
fatal to him. Every attention has been paid to his memory which our situation
permitted. I will not add to the distress which this misfortune must occasion,
by describing how much he was beloved, and how mnch was expected from him
by every person in the regiment. ' I have the honour to be
" Sir,
" Your most obedient and very
" Faithful servant, &c.
"Trincomaley. June 4, 1782."  .,;
He received this letter upon a Thursday, and being much affected with it,
was pressed by Mrs. Romaine not to go to St. Dunstan's that evening • but he
answered that he must not leave his Master's concerns unattended to on that
account, and he went and preached as usual.
In nothing was Mr. Romaine more to be admired than in the management of
his time. His hour of breakfast was six in the morning, of dinner half-past one
at noon, and of supper seven in the evening. His family were assembled to
prayer at nine o'clock in the morning, and at the same hour at night. His par
ticular friends were admitted occasionally to his morning service, and found it a
most profitable and precious occasion : for his previous meditations had been
upon the Lord's word ; his Hebrew psalter was his constant companion at
breakfast, and he has been often heard to say, how much his first repast was
sanctified by the word of God and prayer. From ten o'clock to one he was
generally employed in visiting the sick and his friends : he retired to his study
after dinner, and sometimes resumed the exercise of walking, which he deferred
till after supper, in the height of summer. After the evening service in his family
he retired again to his study, and to his bed at the hour of ten. From this
mode of living he never deviated, except when he was a guest in the houses of his
friends, and then he breakfasted at seven, dined at two, and supped at eight. His
adherence to rule in this respect was never more strongly marked than in a cir
cumstance which befel him during the last years of his fife. He was invited by
a great dignitary in the church to dine with him at five o'clock ; he felt respect
for that person, and wished to show it ; instead therefore of sending a written
apology, he waited upon him himself, thanked him for his invitation, and ex
cused himself by pleading his long habits of early hours, his great age, and often
infirmities. Here was plain truth united, as it may be, with polished manners :
it rendered honour to whom honour was due, and it supported the character of
a man who walked by the same rule, who minded the same thing, and who lived
the life that he now lived in the flesh by the faith of the Son of God.
Mr. Romaine derived many advantages from this regular disposition of his
time : he redeemed it from many idle visits, much vain conversation, and from
all conformity to the world. His plan of life precluded all these things, and
great must have been his gain in a pilgrimage of fourscore years. His chief arts
of health were rule and temperance, and they were the means of preserving to
the end of his day6 the soundness of his mind, the health of his body, and the
prosperity of his soul.
His natural temper, like that of most other people, might have given him

REV. W. ROMAINE, A.M. 27
plague enough ; but it was subject to divine grace, and therefore furnished him
with matter of praise as well as humiliation. In his latter years it was scarce
discoverable ; and whatever defects of it had appeared in the former parts of
his life, he was not backward to acknowledge them. One proof of this may
supply the place of many — the anecdote is authentic — it may be useful to many —
it can be offensive to none ; for it reflects no little honour on the parties con
cerned in it, of whom our departed friend was one, and a dissenting minister,
now alive, the other. This minister had often attended Mr. Romaine's lectures
at St. Dunstan's, till hearing some very severe things thrown out against the
dissenters, and which he thought not justifiable, he determined to wait upon
Mr. Romaine for an explanation. He did so accordingly ; and having made
his observations and complaints, Mr. Romaine replied, " I do not want to have
any thing to say to you, sir." — " If you will hear me, sir," added the other, " I
will tell you my name ; I must, sir, acquaint you with my profession, I am a
Protestant dissenting minister." — " Sir," said Mr. Romaine, " I neither wish to
know your name nor your profession." Upon which Mr. Towle (who is the
gentleman here alluded to) bowed, and took his leave. Some time after Mr.
Romaine, to the great surprise of his hearer and reprover, returned his visit,
and after the usual salutation,- — " Well, Mr. Towle, I am not come to renounce
my principles, I have not changed my sentiments, I will not give up my pre
ference to the church of England, &c. ; but I am come as a Christian to make
some apology. I think my behaviour to you, sir, the other day, was not be
coming, nor such as it should have been," &c. They then shook hands, and
parted good friends. The substance of this relation, when it was made to me, I
immediately communicated to the surviving party concerned in it, requesting to
know the truth of it, with any additional circumstances he might recollect, as
well as his permission to make it public. The following is part of his very
handsome answer to my letter. " Without any hesitation, and with the greatest
cheerfulness, would I instantly comply with your request, but really, sir, it is
not in my power. I cannot recollect the particular circumstances of the affair
you refer to, or the particular expressions used by Mr. Romaine and myself in
our first interview, or afterwards by Mr. Romaine when he called on me. So
far do I remember the substance of what passed both at his house and mine,
that I am certain the account given in your letter contains the general outlines
of the whole matter. Although at the close of the last conversation Mr. Romaine
and I positively disavowed the least idea of renouncing our respective principles,
or being indifferent towards them ; united in our abhorrence of that temporising
which is too fashionable in our day, each expressed a sincere esteem for the
other, a friendly intercourse was kept up between him and myself to the day of
his death, and I have not the smallest suspicion but that, as long as I live, I
shaU remember him with veneration, as an eminently consistent and respectable
character." This testimony is true, and worth a thousand stories ; it neither discredits
the pen of the survivor, nor the memory of the deceasfd; nor ought it to be
without its use to the reader. We are prone to judge others, though we can
seldom do it without condemning ourselves ; and if we are partakers with one
another in faults and infirmities, we shall do well to be followers of those who
have shewed a consciousness, and made confession of them.
Among other friends and admirers of Mr. Romaine, was the unhappy Dr.
Dodd. When he began the world he was a zealous favourer of Hebrew learn
ing, and distinguished himself as a preacher. From a professed similitude in
studies and principles, he cultivated an acquaintance with Mr. Romaine ; but
when he forsook such companions, having loved this present world, he told Mr.
Romaine that he should be glad to see him at his house, but hoped not to be
acknowledged by him, if they should happen to meet in public company. AU
intercourse therefore ceased between them, till the love of the world, and the
things that are in it, brought its victim to prison. At this time a particular
friend of Dr. Dodd, who, much to his honour, stuck close to him in all his dis
grace and adversity, met Mr. Romaine, in his way from Newgate, at the bottom
of the Old Bailey. Their conversation naturally turned upon the unhappy

28 THE LIFE OF THE
person whom he had just left ; and after usual inquiries, Mr. Romaine said, he
was sorry to hear that Dr. Dodd in prison was visited by light and trifling com
pany. The doctor's friend was equally surprised and hurt at the report of such
an untruth ; and particularly that it should have been carried to one, of whom
Dr. Dodd had ever expressed a high opinion, and with whom in former years he
had lived in a degree of intimacy. He told Mr. Romaine that indeed he was
sadly misinformed ; that by himself he might fairly estimate the society of Dr.
Dodd's room ; that none resorted thither but they whose minds were duly and
deeply impressed like his own ; and that, even as to others, he conceived that
the surrounding circumstances of horror were sufficient to preclude all levity
and impertinence. Mr. Romaine expressed himself as glad to hear this, gave
up his authority upon which he made his former assertions, and promised to do
all in his power to set right so injurious a business. He then left Dr. Dodd's
friend at the door of St. Dunstan's, where he was going to preach his evening
lecture. Whether his prejudices were removed by this interview, or whether his pity
was excited by the circumstances of the prisoner himself, Mr. Romaine after
wards visited him at his particular request. A gentleman one day met him
there, and, wishing to know his sentiments, took care to leave Newgate at the
same time ; when, walking out together, he asked him if he, who knew so much
of the human heart, thought poor Dodd a real, sincere penitent. Mr. Romaine
answered, I hope he may be a real penitent, but there is a great difference be
tween saying and feeling, " God be merciful to me a sinner." This saying, as
the jady who communicated it justly observed, deserves to be written in letters
of gold. The same lady has favoured us with another anecdote of Mr. Romaine,
which equally proves his abhorrence of sin, and his pity for the sinner. He was
walking in the street with a gentleman, when he overheard a poor thoughtless
man solemnly calling upon Jehovah to damn him for ever to the bottomless pit.
Mr. Romaine stopped, took half-a- crown out of his pocket, and said, "My
friend, I will give you this, if you will repeat that oath again." The man started,
and said, "What, sir, do you think I will damn my soul for half-a-crown i"
Mr. Romaine mildly replied, " As you did it just now for nothing, I could not
suppose that you would refuse to do it for a reward." The poor creature, struck,
as Mr. Romaine meant he should be, replied, " God bless and reward you, sir,
whoever you are ; I believe you have saved my soul. I hope I shall never
swear again as long as I five."
It were to be wished, for the sake of posterity, that a man whose heart was so
whole with God, and whose very soul was in the work of Christ, had kept a
diary, or committed more of his thoughts and the occurrences of his life to
writing. But among all his papers only one of this sort has been found, en
titled, " An Old Man," and written on the day when he attained to the age of
threescore years and ten. A happier day was never spent upon earth. Take
the description of it in hia own words.
" Through the gracious hand of my God I have this day arrived at the age of
man ; I have therefore set it apart for meditation, prayer, and praise. May the
Holy Spirit help me to improve it, that I may spend the little of my remaining
time with more faith and unceasing gratitude. When I look back, I would be
all adoration. As a creature I worship the Creator. Once I was nothing, and He
brought me into being. O, what distinguishing favour to make me a rational
creature! And as I was a ruined man, a sinner guilty, helpless, miserable!
O, what sovereign grace to make me a new man ! Who can tell (I cannot) how
great the love was which provided a Saviour for such a rebel ! What patience,
how infinite ? To spare me through childhood, through youth, through roan-
hood, when every day, and every thing in the day, were calling aloud for
vengeance. I might have been many years ago in hell, and most justly ; and
now I adore the long-suffering of God, which kept me out of it. He had pur
poses of love toward me, which he made known in his own time and way. It
was sovereign love which brought me to know myself, and to know Jesus His
own holy Spirit begun and carried on the work. He opened mine eyes to
understand the scriptures. He gave me to believe their truth, and to feel theft

REV. W. ROMAINE, A.M. 2D
power ; and now I set my seal to every word in them ; finding God to be true
and faithful, true in the promise, faithful in the fulfilment. Rec. Christ— one
with him — live by him — live on him — worship him — do aR on earth as well as I
can, tidl he enable me to do it better in heaven.
" In this believing view of things, I acknowledge that I have lived to a blessed
tune. All that is worth enjoying has been freely given to me. By the quick
ening grace of the Spirit, brought into oneness with Jesus, and to partake of
u £l*tller's love in Him, all is mine. Glory be to Father, Son, and Spirit in
the highest, the covenanting 3ty.* is mine. These are the prospects which
faith, looking back, opens to the Christian with delight ; and thereby renders my
present condition a subject of praise and thankfulness. My time is almost ran
out, and what is short is now also but labour and sorrow. So says the Oracle.
And I feel it. The infirmities of age, the decay of the faculties of mind as well
as body, consequently usefulness in one's place and station dying daily, these are
always giving warning that the house made with hands must soon be taken
down. It begins to be very troublesome to keep it up. One prop falls after
another, and repeats the lesson— You must soon be turned out. Look after the
house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens. Blessed be God for giving
us the earnest of his Spirit, to enable us to look forward with a pleasing hope,
when mortality shall be swallowed up of life.
" It is by this same faith that God has reconciled my heart to his providence.
He is my Father, Jesus my portion, and my exceeding great reward ; my God,
and my Keeper. It is my privilege that he is to manage for me. He knows
what is best for me, and to him I leave it. To be richer or greater, in more
health, or in more honour, would be no addition to my happiness. I have
enough of this world's goods. I am content with my place and station, and ask
for nothing but more thankfulness for what I have. O what a calm does this
bring upon my mind ! Looking back I can see his gracious dealings with me
in all the events of my life. And he has brought me and settled me in the very
condition in which I ought to be. What has God done ? What has he not
done to make me satisfied ? Indeed I have all the reason that ever man had to
adore him for his providence, and to bless him for his dealings with the children
of men.
" This day such are my views of his goodness to me in the time past, both in
temporal, and also in spiritual mercies. All is well ; and blessings on his name,
the prospect before me, notwithstanding the infirmities of age, is comfortable.
The promises in the word afford exercise for faith, and never-ceasing dependence ;
not only general promises, but also particular, suited exactly to my present cir
cumstances. Our God has made gracious provision for old age, and has enabled
me to make use of it, that through patience and comfort of the scriptures, I
might now have hope. He has given me a general warrant for my security. I
have committed myself into his care and keeping ; and he has declared, " I will
never leave thee nor forsake thee." This is a continual cordial, and extends
its heart-felt influence to the special promises, such as Isaiah xlvi. 3, 4. This is
spoken to the whole Israel of God, who have not only the life of the body from
him, but chiefly the life of the soul. He creates them anew by the Spirit of life
in Christ Jesus. He is the Author — He is the carrier on — He brings that life to
its full perfection. It is every moment supported by his power, and blessed with
his paternal affection. Age may come, hoary hairs may appear, the vigour of
the faculties may decay, but his love is the same. He reveals it. He applies it.
The old man feels it, and he turns it into the prayer of faith. O my F'ather, I
do hearken unto thee ; Thou hast supported, Thou hast carried me from my
birth to this moment ; and I doubt not but now in mine old age, and in my
hoary hairs, Thou wilt still carry me and bear me, until Thou hast finally
delivered me. Amen — I believe, Lord, it shall be done unto me according to thy
word." The last years of his life seem to have taken their turn from this day. His
* The Trinity. In this instance, as well as in another, a few lines above, ri':. the abbre
viation /'cc f i - 1- receive, I thought it best to leave the expressions as 1 found them iu the
oiiyiinl nrtnusenpt.

30 THE LIFE OF THE
" hoary head was found in the way of righteousness, and it was indeed a crown
of glory." There appeared to be little but heaven in his sermons, and in his
life. He was " an example to believers in word, in conversation, in charity, in
spirit, in faith and purity." It has been observed to me of him, that he was a
diamond, rough often, but very pointed, and the more he was broken by years,
the more he appeared to shine. There was indeed a light upon his countenance,
and particularly when he preached, which appeared like the dawn, or the faint
resemblance of glory. If one met him by the way, and asked him how he did,
his general answer was, " As well as I can be out of heaven." He made this
reply a little before his death, to a friend and acquaintance older than himself,
and of a different communion ; and then added, " there is but one central point,
in which we must all meet, Jesus Christ and him crucified." This was the
object which he kept always in sight — this the subject which dwelt upon his
heart and tongue — the wonderful God-man, whom, according to his own expres
sions, he had taken for body and for soul, for time and for eternity, his present
and his everlasting all.
He has drawn his own character when describing the " Triumph of Faith"
over the infirmities of age. He was a cheerful pleasant old man. He walked in
the steps of the faith of Abraham, and "brought forth more fruit in his age till
he died an old man and full of days," satisfied with all that was past, all that was
present, and all that was before him. He pursued his ministerial labours, and
his summer excursions (which he frequently denominated his summer and winter
campaigns) to the last, keeping the field as a good soldier and servant of Jesus
Christ, till it pleased his Master to call him to an honourable retreat, and soon
to give him his final discharge. The decline of his mortal life was gentle in
itself, and rapid in its progress; but so protracted as to enable him to snow, that
the " Lord his strength was true, and that tliere was no unrighteousness in him."
The same faith, which employed him so well and so happily in his health and
life, was his support in sickness, and his joy in dissolution.
His fatal illness attacked him on the sixth day of June, and put a period to
his mortal life on the twenty-sixth day of July — a season of seven weeks, in
which he was exercised as a patient instead of a preacher. As the presence of
God had been with him in one state, so it did not leave him in the other. The
last sermon which he preached, was on the preceding Thursday evening at St.
Dunstan's ; it was an exposition of the eighteenth chapter of St. John's Gospel ;
he remarked to his curate, that he must get on as fast as he could, lest he should
not get through the Gospel, as it was his intention to do, before the lectures
were over. lie complained of languor after preaching, and returned to Mr.
Whitridge's house at Balaam-hill, beyond Clapham, where he was then upon a
visit. His concluding sermon at Blackfriars was on the preceding Tuesday
morning from the thirteenth verse of the hundred and third Psalm, " Like as a
father pitieth his children, so the Lord pitieth them that fear him." He was
going through the Psalm, and though he did not preach upon the following
verses, he practised them in a very remarkable manner, and left his dying testi
mony to the truth of them. " For he knoweth our frame, he remembereth that
we are but dust. As for man, his days are as grass : as a flower of the field, so
he flourisheth. For the wind passeth over it, and it is gone, and the place
thereof shall know it no more. But the mercy of the Lord is from everlasting
to everlasting, to them that fear him : and his righteousness unto children's
children. To such as keep his covenant, and to those that remember his com
mandments to do them." The mortality of man and the mercy of Jehovah here
so pathetically described, met together in the person of Mr. Romaine' and
formed a most delightful union. The one released him from all misery the
other introduced him to all happiness. But how sad is the case when these
things are separated ? What a wretch is one, subject to mortality, and not at
the same time an object of the mercy of the Lord ?
Mr. Romaine, from the moment that he was seized with his illness considered
it as his last; and though at intervals he had faint symptoms of a probable
recovery, yet he never attempted to resume his ministerial functions. He spoke
of himself as a dying man, but always in the language of one who was living

REV. W. ROMAINE. A.M. 31
and believing in Jesus. On the morning of his seizure he came down to break
fast at six o'clock as usual, presided in family devotion, and prayed most earnestly
to God, that " He would fit them for, and support them iu, their trials that day,
which might be many." Such they were to his friends, if not to himself; for
ne received his summons " to depart, and to be with Christ." He returned the
same day to London, and conversed most profitably and comfortably in the way,
on the approach of death, and near prospect of eternity. *' 0 ! how animating is
the view which I now have of death, and the hope laid up for me in heaven full
of glory and immortality !"
The next day was the sabbath, and he was expected to preach as usual. The
feelings of his congregation, when he did not appear among them, and the
painful office to which his fellow-servant in the ministry was called, when he
Stood up in his place and assigned the cause of his absence, are more easily con
ceived than described. Lamentations more sincere never were excited, and
prayers more fervent never ascended from earth to heaven.
He continued three weeks in London under medical advice, and made use of
the means which his physician thought fit to prescribe to him. " You are taking,"
said he, " much pains to prop up this feeble body : I thank you for it ; it will
not do now." His Hebrew psalter lay close by him, and out of it he frequently
read a verse or two, not being able to attend to more. The nature of his disorder
was such, that he could speak but little ; and being once asked if he would see
some of his friends, he replied, "he needed no better company than he enjoyed."
The Lord his God was with him, and so blessed him with faith and patience that
no one fretful or murmuring word ever escaped his lips.
Soon after he was seized, a friend called upon business, and took the oppor
tunity of saying, he hoped he was better, and happy in his views. " Yes," re
plied he, ¦" upon that point I have no doubt, for I have much of the presence of
Jesus with me." He sent a message by this person to his curate, being unable
to converse with him, to desire his prayers ; and that his friends, and aU the
congregation, would remember him at the throne of grace. This he frequently
afterwards repeated to his curate. At other times he said, " he had been in
the deep waters, but had enjoyed mucn support ; that he waited to enter into
the courts of the Lord ; that his soul was athirst for God, yea, even the living
God." On the twenty-sixth of June he left town, and went to a friend's house at
Tottenham, for a fortnight, where he was so much better, as to be able to walk
about the garden. Upon his return to town, he was again visited by his curate,
and thought to be a little revived. He said, that he had long laid at first in the
arms of death, and, if recovering, it was very slowly. " But this," says he, " is
but a poor dying life at best ; however, I am in his hands who will do the best
for me," and added with a peculiar energy, " I am sure of that. I have
lived to experience all I have spoken, and all I have written, and I bless God for
it." After much the same expressions he added to another friend, " I have the
peace of God in my conscience, and the love of God in my heart ; and that,
you know, is sound experience" — and again — " I knew before the doctrines I
preached to be truths, but now I experience them to be blessings." Thanking
another friend for a visit, he said, " that he had come to see a saved sinner "
This, he had often affirmed, should be his dying boast, and that he desired
to die with the language of the publican in his mouth, " God be merciful to
me a sinner."
In this frame of mind he continued a few days in London, and returned on
the thirteenth day of July to his friends at Balaam-hill, where he had been
originally seized. His strength from that time rapidly decayed. He had frequent
spasms at his heart, and shortness of breath, attended with degrees of pain and
convulsion ; but his faith and patience never failed him. He was frequently
saying, " O how good is God! What entertainments and comforts does he
give me : What a prospect do I see before me of glory and immortality ! He
is my God in life, in death, and throughout eternity." On the twenty-third
day of July, as he sat at breakfast, he said, " It is now near sixty years since
God opened my mouth to publish the everlasting sufficiency and eternal glory

32 THE LIFE OF THE
of the salvation of Christ Jesus ; and it has now pleased him to shut my mouth,
that my heart might feel and experience what my mouth hath so often spoken.
On the twenty-fourth day of July, after he had been helped down stairs, he said,
" O ! how good is God ! with what a night has he favoured me !" requesting, as
he had often done, that prayers without ceasing might be made for him, that
his faith and patience might not fail. He expressed exceeding great kindness
and affection for his partner Mrs. Romaine, and thanking her for all her care of
him, he said, " Come, my love, that I may bless you ; the Lord be with you a
covenant God for ever to save and bless you." He addressed himself with the
same tenderness and affection to his son; of whom also he spoke much and
oft during his illness, expressing his hope of him as a son in the faith as well as
the flesh. The lady who was cherishing in her house such a dying guest, upon
seeing and hearing him bless his wife, said, " Have you not a blessing for me,
sir ?" "Yes," he said, " 1 have ; I pray God to bless you," and so he said to every
one that came to him. On Saturday the twenty-fifth day of July, he was not
down stairs at all, but lay upon the couch all day, in great weakness of body,
but strong in faith, giving glory to God. — The power of Christ was- resting
upon him, and keeping him in the continual exercise of prayer and praise. This
was the last day spent upon earth, and in the close of it he was thought to have
said, "Yea, though 1 walk through the valley and shadow of death, I will fear
no evil, for thou art with me." About an hour before he died, his friend and
host went up to him, and said, "I hope, my dear sir, you now find the salvation
of Jesus Christ precious, dear, and valuable to you." His answer was, " He is
a precious Saviour to me now." These were the last words which he uttered to
man. To the Lord he said, " Holy, Holy, Holy ! Holy blessed Jesus, to thee be
endless praise 1" And in the first hour of the next day, which was the sabbath-
day, he resigned his spirit to God who gave it.
So lived and so died the Rev. WilUam Romaine.
It was the design of his surviving relations to restore his dust to the earth with
a plain and private burial ; but every intention of this sort was prevented by the
affection of his numerous friends, who were all importunate to show the last re
spect to his person, by attending his remains to the grave. On Monday, the
third day of August, 179 j, the corpse was removed from Mr. Whitridge's house,
at Balaam-hill, in order to be interred in the rectory-vault of Blackfriars church.
The funeral proceeded about eleven o'clock in the forenoon, and was joined on
Clapham-common, by nearly fifty coaches, filled with the lamenting followers of
their revered and beloved pastor. It was attended by many more on foot, who
surrounded the hearse, or followed it weeping. By the time that the procession
reached the Obelisk in St. George's Fields, the multitude collected was very
great indeed ; but silence, solemnity, and decorum, universally prevailed. At the
foot of Blackfriars bridge, the children of the charity-school, together with the
parish beadles, were waiting to attend. The city marshals on horseback with
their men, and with black silk scarfs, and hatbands, rode before the hearse to the
entrance of the church. These had been ordered out by the lord mayor, as his
token of respect to the memory of a man who had sustained so great and so
useful a character in the city of London. The constables of the ward also
attended to preserve order, lest any evil-minded people should take advantage
of such an opportunity to raise a disturbance ; but nothing of the kind appeared :
there seemed to be but one mind in the vast multitude, and but one impression
made by the loss of an able minister of the New Testament, and a faithful steward
of the mysteries of God.
Excepting the space left for the entrance of the corpse and its attendants, the
church was previously filled with people, who were clothed in black, and were
inwardly mourning over their departed minister. The funeral service was per
formed by the Rev. Mr. Goode to a very numerous and affected audience, weep
ing not for him who was at rest from his labours, but for themselves and for their
children, who had lost the benefit of them.
The church was hung in black, as was also the church at St. Dunstan's, and
three funeral sermons preached on the Lord's day following. The same tokens
of love and esteem were shown in different places of worship, and the same

REV. W. ROMAINE, A.M. 33
testimonies borne by different ministers to the excellencies of a man who deserved
so weU of them all. He lived and died in the communion of the English church,
and in most cordial fellowship with aU who love the Lord Jesus Christ in
sincerity. There remained to be paid but one tribute more, and that was a monument,
which is now erected in the church where his body is laid. A monument in
scribed, not with the virtues of a statesman or a hero, but with the heavenly
virtues of a man whom God " called out of darkness into his marvellous light,"
whom he permitted to shine for a season in his church upon earth, and has nov/
gathered to his people in heaven ; where " they that be wise shall shine as the
brightness of the firmament, and they that turn many to righteousness, as the
stars for ever and ever.

A Catalogue of the Writings ofthe Rev. William Romainr, A. Af.
published by him in his Life-time.
1739. The Divine Legation of Moses, demonstrated from his having made ex
press mention of, and insisted so much on the doctrine of a Future State r
whereby Mr. Warburton's attempt to prove the Divine Legation of Moses
from the Omission of a Future State is proved to be absurd, and destructive
of all Revelation; a Sermon preached before the University at St. Mary's, in
Oxford, March 4, 1739, from Mark xii. 24, 25, 2C, 27.
1741. No Justification by the Law of Nature: a Sermon preached before the
Lord Mayor at the cathedral church of St. Paul, September 2, from Rom. ii.
14, 15.
1742. Future Rewards and Punishments, proved to be the sanctions of the
Mosaic dispensation : a second Sermon, from Mark xii.' 26, 27, preached
before the University at St. Mary's in Oxford, December 6, 1741.
1742. Jephthah's Vow fulfilled, and his Daughter not sacrificed: a Sermon
preached before the University at St. Mary's, in Oxford, from Judges xi.
30, 31.
1747. Concordance and Lexicon of Marius de Calasio, 4 vols, folio, printed at
London.
1753. An answer to a Pamphlet entitled, Considerations on the Bill to pennit
Persons professing the Jewish ReUgion to be Naturalized. Motto, Acts xiv. 4.
Reprinted by the Citizens of London, 17 53.
1755. Nine Sermons on the 107th Psalm.
1755. A Discourse on the Benefit which the Holy Spirit of God is to a Man in
his Journey through Life ; preached at Christ Church in Newgate-Street, on
Whitsun-Monday, May 19, from Ezek xxxvi. 25, 26, 27.
1755. A Discourse upon the- Self-existence of Jesus Christ, preached at St.
George's, Hanover-square, and at St. Dunstan's in the West, from John
viii. 24.
1755. A Method for preventing the Frequency of Robberiee and Murders:
proposed in a Discourse delivered at St. George's, Hanover-square, St. Dun
stan's in the West, and at several other places in London, from Matt. xv.
19, 20. , , »,
1755. An Alarm to a Careless World: a Discourse preached ISovember 30, at
St. Dunstan's in the West, from Amos iv. 12.
1756. The Duty of Watchfulness enforced, in a Discourse preached December
14, 1755, from Matt. xxv. 13. ,,,,,„..,
1756. The Sure Foundation: two Discourses preached before the University of
Oxford, April 11, in the morning at St. Mary's, and in the afternoon at St.
Peter's, from 1 Cor. iii. 11.
1756. The Parable of the D17 Bones: interpreted in a Sermon preached at ht.
Wave's, Southwark, October 24, from Ezek. xxxvii. 4.
1757. The Lord our Righteousness: considered in two Discourses preached
before the University of Oxford, March 20, in the morning at St. Mary's, and
in the afternoon at St Peter's, from Isaiah xiv. 8.
D

34 LIFE OF THE REV. W. ROMAIN B.
1757. An Earnest Invitation to the Friends of the Established Church to join
with several of their Brethren, Clergy and Laity, in London, in setting apart
one Hour of every Week for Prayer and Supplication, during the present trou
blesome times. Motto, Psalm 1. 15.
1757. The Duty of Praying for Others : . a Sermon on Acts xii. 5.
1757. A Seasonable Antidote against Popery, in a Dialogue upon Justification.
1759. Twelve Sermons upon Solomon's Song.
1759. The Knowledge of Salvation precious m the Hour of Death : a Sermon
preached January 4, upon the death of the Rev. Mr. James Hervey, from Luke
ii. 29, 30.
1760. Twelve Discourses upon the Law and the Gospel.
1762. The Blessedness of Living and Dying in the Lord: a Sermon upon the
death of the Rev. Mr. Thomas Jones, chaplain of St. Saviour's, Southwark,
from Psalm cxvi. 15.
1763. The Life of Faith.
1764. A Sermon, preached at St. Ann's, Blackfriars, on Sunday, September
30th, upon his Nomination as a Candidate for the Rectory, from 2 Cor. iv. 6.
1765. The Scriptural Doctrine of the Sacrament of the Lord's Supper briefly
stated.
1771. 'Ihe Walk of Faith, 2 Vols, since in 1 Vol.
1775. An Essay on Psalmody, with a collection out of the Book of Psalms,
suited to every Sunday in the Year.
1795. The Triumph of Faith.
1795. A short Hebrew Grammar, 12mo.
This Catalogue is as exact as we can make it ; but we are not certain as to
the dates of some of the Pubhcations, not being able to get at the first Editions
of them.

TWELVE DISCOURSES ON
THE LAW AND THE GOSPEL
Preached at St. Dunstan's in the West, London.
PREFACE.
Many are the mistakes at present about rebgious matters; but none are more
destructive than those which concern the law and the gospel. The generality
of our people confound them, and put one in the place of the other. Some sup
pose they are to be accepted of God for their works, and that they can be justified
by the law in the sight of God. Others make their keeping of the law the con
dition of their receiving the blessings of the gospel, as if these were to be the
purchase and reward of their partial obedience. Some are persuaded they must
do all they can, and keep the law with all their might, and wherein they come
short of the perfect demands of the law, Christ will, out of his merits, atone for
their failings. And others again think that Christ has abated the rigour of the
law, and that the gospel is nothing more than a new law dispensation, in which
the Lord has been pleased to declare that he wiU accept of sincere obedience
instead of perfect. These and many more such like mistakes prevail in our times,
and they are exceedingly dangerous, tending to the utter ruin both of body and
soul. In the following discourses I have endeavoured to distinguish, and pre
cisely to settle the difference between the law and the gospel. Some of the
principles upon which I have proceeded are these :
1. The Lord God, the Almighty Creator of all things visible and invisible, has
an unalienable right to make laws for the government of his creatures. This
right is founded in his absolute dominion on and sovereignty over them. They
are his property, the work of his hands. He hath created and made them, and
not they themselves. Their life, and all things belonging to it are his, coming
from his gift, and continued by bis bounty : and therefore he has a most indis
putable claim to their obedience. What he requires, they must perform ; because
they are his creatures. The relation between the Creator and his creatures puts
them under a necessity of obeying his law and will, or else of suffering whatever
he shall threaten to inflict upon their disobedience.
2. The law of the Lord God, the almighty Creator, is unalterable. It changeth
not ; for it is the copy of God's most holy mind and will, in which there can be
no variableness, neither shadow of turning. If the mind and will of God were
to change, then God would be a changeable being, and whatever is changeable
is imperfect, but God is perfect, therefore his mind and wiU change not. His
word will he not break, nor alter the law that is gone out of his mouth. His
infinite wisdom, and his almighty power, stand engaged to maintain its dignity,
that it may be always an holy, just, and good law, which he will not break or
alter. 3. The moral law, which the Lord God revealed to Adam in Paradise, re
quired of him perfect uninterrupted obedience. The whole moral law is summed
up in one word, namely, love ; love to God for the blessings of creation and pro
vidence, and love to man for God's sake. This love was the indispensable
d 3

36 THE LAW AND THE GOSPEL.
homage due to the Creator. It could not be ahenated from him, and given to
any other object without idolatry : for which reason the moral law is unalterable.
If a man withdraw his love in the least from God, he breaks that law which
positively enjoins him to love the Lord his God with all his heart, with all his
sold, with all his mind, and with all his strength.
4. The law given to Adam being unalterable, all his descendants are bound to
keep it ; for they are all under the law, as God's creatures. His will is the in
dispensable rule of their obedience. He requires their love, and if they refuBe
to give it him, then their will is opposite to his, which is rebellion against their
sovereign Lord, and which must bring upon them swift destruction.
5. All mankind have sinned and hroken the moral law. The authority of
God's word is positive and express. "We have before proved," says the apostle,
" both Jews and Gentiles, that they are all under sin, as it is written, there is none
righteous, no not one. There is none that understandeth, there is none that
seeketh after God. They are all gone out of the way, they are altogether become
unprofitable ; there is none that doeth good, no not one." Rom. iii, 9, 10, &c.
And after the apostle has proved these truths from various arguments, he sums
up the evidence thus : " Now we know, that what things soever the law saith, it -
saith to them who are under the law ; that every mouth may be stopped, and that
all the world may become guilty before God ; therefore, by the deeds of the law,
there shall no flesh be justified in his sight." Rom. iii. 19, 20. It is evident
from these authorities, that all have sinned, and are transgressors of the law.
6. The law has made no provision for the pardon of the least transgression.
It requires perfect unsinning obedience in thought, word, and deed. This is its
just demand. And in case of the least failing, it immediately passes sentence
and condemns. It will not accept of sorrow or tears, of repentance or amend
ment, as any satisfaction ; but its language is, " Do this, or thou shalt die."
There is not a word said about sorrowing for what was past, and reforming for
the future, as if the style of the law was, " Be sorry for thy sin, and reform, and
then thou shalt not die:" but it is positive and express, " Keep the law,' and
thou shalt five ; transgress it, and thou shalt die : for cursed is every one) who
continueth not in all things, that are written in the book of the law to do them."
7- From these premises it follows, that the law being unalterable, and all men
having broken it, and there being no provision made in the law for the pardon of
the least transgression, but a punishment threatened to the least, they are there
fore guilty before God. The law brings them in guilty, and condemns them, and
divine justice is bound to inflict the deserved pains and penalties ; so that there
can be no possibility of justifying them by the law. By the works of the law
shall no flesh be justified : for the law is expressly called by the apostle, the mi
nistration of condemnation, and the ministration of death.
8. Since the law is thus unalterable, and punishment ie threatened to the least
breach of it, and since all men have broken it, and all the world is guilty before
God, and condemned by the law to death and hell, and without strength to do
any thing for their deliverance, it follows that there can be no salvation bv the
law. '
From these particulars we may be able to state the true nature of the moral
law. It is the revealed will of God discovering to his creatures what obedience
he requires of them, namely, perfect unsinning obedience, an absolute confonnity
to the law in thought, word, and deed. It is an unalterable law, founded on
God s unalterable will and therefore it requires this perfect obedience of all men,
and at all times. It has made no provision for partial obedience, or for sincere
obedience, but insists upon man s continuing to do all things that are written in
the book of the law, if he hope by the deeds of the law to be justified and saved
If this be the true state of the case, how widely do these men mistake the nature
and demands of the morallaw, who expect to be made righteous before God, by
their partial obedience. The law knows nothing of any righteousness, but what
is perfect. If you put your trial at God's bar upon this issue, that you have ken
the law in most instances, having faded only ,n some few, this is pleadin^S
It is owning .your transgression, and confessing that you have not such a riX£
ousness as the law demands : for a part is not the whole. And the law insist!

PREFACE. 37
upon the whole, and, in case of failure, passes sentence, and condemns you ; for
lt is written, " Cursed is every one, who continueth not in all things,'" &c.
But some may ask, Will not the law accept of sincere obedience? Nay. It
wiU abate nothing of its demands. It will have absolutely perfect obedience, if
by the works of it a man be justified before God. There is not one word in the
law about sincerity ; no, not a single hint, as if a man might be pardoned, who
t^w? laW sincerely> ^though imperfectly. The law says— Do all things
which God has commanded, and continue to do them with all thy heart, mind,
soul, and strength, and then thou shalt be justified by thy works ; but if thou
offend in one instance, thou comest under the curse ; for he that offendeth in
one point is guilty of all, and consequently sincere obedience failing in one point,
leaves a man guilty, and under the curses of the broken law.
It highly concerns those persons to consider this matter well, who fancy that
Christ came as a great lawgiver, to publish milder terms of acceptance than the
moral law had required. They have a notion of Christ, as if he were only the
publisher of some new remedial law, which abated something of the demands,
and mitigated some of the rigour of the moral law : whereas he came not to
publish any new law, but to save his people from their sins committed against
the old law. He came to be a Saviour, and not a lawgiver. Indeed, he preached
the law, but it was to bring men to the knowledge of sin, and to see and to feel
their want of his salvation. But he preached nothing new. He only enforced
the law in its spiritual nature, and in its full extent, showing the length and
breadth, the depth and height of the commandment. He would not have his
people so much as entertain a thought of his coming to make a change in the
moral law. " Think not," says he, " that I am come to destroy the law ; I am not
come to destroy, but to fulfil it:" and he did fulfil it; for he was born under
the law, and was obedient to it even unto death. The law was unalterable. It
could not change, unless God's most holy mind and will could change, which is
impossible, and therefore the law being broken, could not remit the deserved
punishment, unless some infinitely perfect obedience should be paid, and some
infinitely meritorious sufferings should be undergone in the sinner's stead, by
which the law might be magnified and made honourable. And the Lord Christ
undertook to do this. He vouchsafed to obey and to suffer for his people ; to
obey the precepts, and to suffer the pains and penalties of the law. The law had
indicted them, and found them guilty of disobedience. Christ came to obey for
them, as it is written, " By the obedience of one shall many be made righteous."
The law had put them under the curse, and he came to redeem them from the
curse of the law. The law threatened to punish them, and he came to bear their
sins, and the punishment due to them in his own body upon the tree. So that
Christ came not to publish a new remedial law, but to glorify the moral law, and
to demonstrate the unchangeable nature of it, since no obedience, and no suffer
ings, but his, which were absolutely perfect, divine and infinite, could work out
such a righteousness for any one sinner, as the law required, in order to his being
justified in the sight of God.
As these arguments show that the sinner cannot of himself attain the perfect
righteousness which the law demands, so do they prove that he cannot by any
means in his own power escape the punishment which the law threatens. The law
requires unsinning obedience, and enforces it upon those sanctions, — " Do this
and thou shalt live." " In the day that thou transgressest, dying thou shalt surely
die." These sanctions of the law are as much the mind and will of God, as the
rule of the law itself: and his wiU is unalterable; consequently upon transgres
sion the sanction took place, and the transgressor became subject to the first, and
to the second death, which justice was bound to see inflicted upon him. What
could he do in this case to deliver himself? Could he offer any thing to divine
justice, to save himself from recemng the wages of sin ? No. They are his
due, and he must receive them. Say, he is sorry for his sin, and weeps and
mourns bitterly. What does this avail ? This is only an open confession of his
guilt, and an acknowledgment that he deserves punishment. Suppose he
amends and reforms his life. What atonement is this for his former bad life ?
The law will not be satisfied with such partial obedience. But he promises never

I

SS THE LAW AND THE GOSPEL.
to sin for the future. If he could keep his promise, it would not satisfy the law ;
for what becomes of his past disobedience ? One single sin cuts him off for ever
from being saved by the law ; and since all have sinned, consequently by the
works of the broken law can no man living be justified.
This is the true state of all men by nature. They are all sinners, and they
cannot be saved by the moral law. It can neither altogether nor in part justify
them, and therefore it shuts them up under guilt, and leaves them without re
medy and without hope. As soon as man was fallen into this state, it pleased
God to reveal that rich plan of grace and mercy, which is contained in the gospel,
of which this is a short sketch.
1. The gospel is salvation from the law. It brings glad tidings for poor con
vinced sinners, discovering to them how their sins may be pardoned, and they
mav be redeemed from the curses of the broken law. It reveals to them what
Christ has done and suffered to satisfy the law, and how he endured the pains
and penalties of it, dying the death, to which the law had sentenced them. And
the gospel calls upon them to receive the benefit of what he did and suffered as
his free gift, proposing to them, without money and without price, all the graces
and blessings which the Saviour purchased with his life and death.
2. The gospel sets forth to the convinced sinner salvation from guilt and
unishment, by giving him freely as perfect a righteousness as the law demands.
t invites him to receive the righteousness of Christ, against which the utmost
rigour ofthe law can make no objection. Because it is the righteousness of God,
a divine, infinite, and absolutely perfect righteousness. When this righteousness
is imputed to the sinner, he is pardoned ; the law ceases to accuse ; conscience
no longer condemns : he has peace with God, and the love of God reigns in his
heart. 3. In order to receive this righteousness the gospel requires no previous quali
fication. The sinner is not regarded, as fit and meet to receive Christ's righteous
ness by any thing he himself can do. Christ freely wrought it out, and he freely
gives it. Ihe works of the law have no merit to purchase it : for it is written,
" We are justified freely by his grace, through the redemption that is in Christ
Jesus." And if it be by grace, then it cannot be by any works or qualifications.
4. But how is Christ's righteousness received, and the sinner made righteous
by it at God's bar ? By faith and not by works. " For to him that worketh not,
but believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly, his faith is counted for righteous
ness. Where is boasting then ? It is excluded. By what law ? Of works i
Nay, but by the law of faith. Therefore we conclude, that a man is justified by
faith without the deeds of the law."
5. With respect then to the sinner's acceptance and justification before God,
the law and the gospel ought to be distinguished in these as well as in other
respects. According to the law, salvation is by works, according to the gospel, it is by
grace. The law says, Do this ; but the gospel says, Believe this, and thou shalt be
saved. The law threatens to punish the sinner for the first offence, but the gospel
offers him pardon for many offences.
The law leaves him under guilt and condemnation, the gospel invites him to
receive pardon and salvation.
The law sentences him to death, the gospel offers him justification to life.
By the law he is a guilty sinner, by the gospel he may be made a glorious
saint. If he die under the guilt of the broken law, hell will he his everlasting por-
tion ; if he die a partaker of the grace of the gospel, heaven will be his eternal
inheritance. 6. But if the law and the gospel are distinct in these and several other re
spects, some persons may think the law is totally repealed by the gospel ; for
they cannot see wherefore serveth the law, unless it be to justify a sinner The
law is unalterable. It cannot change any more than God can change To this
day it stands in full force, and not one tittle of it is repealed. It is still the re-

DISCOURSE I. 39
velation of God's most holy mind and will, concerning the obedience which he
requires of his creatures. And if they disobey, the law immediately passes sen
tence and condemns them to death. While they continue careless and secure in
sin, they consider not the law as the ministration of death and condemnation ;
and none of them see it in this light, until the Holy Spirit awaken them. It is
by his preaching of the law to their consciences, that they are alarmed with fear
ful apprehensions of their guilt, and of their danger. He brings them to see the
exceeding sinfulness of sinning against the holy, just, and good law of God, and
convinces them that the broken law can never make them legaUy righteous.
This puts them upon seeking such a righteousness as the law requires, and dis
poses them to receive gladly the righteousness of the Lord Jesus Christ : for he
is now the end of the law for righteousness to every one that believeth.
7. Thus the Holy Spirit convinces sinners that the law is not repealed by the
gospel, and when he gives them the righteousness which is of Goof by faith, and
they have justification to life freely by grace, does he t6ach them to make void
the law by faith ? God forbid. Yea, they establish the law : for they consent
unto it that it is good. They delight in the law of God after the inward man,
and they keep it in their outward life and conversation. It is the rule of their
holy walking. They are free from the law as to its condemning, killing power,
but they are under the law to Christ. They know, that if the law had not been
unalterable, and of indispensable obligation, Christ had lived and died in vain.
And he did not come to give his people liberty to break the unalterable law ;
that would be a contradiction in terms. But he came to establish the law, by
restoring it to its honour and dignity, by bis obedience to its precepts, and by his
suffering its pains and penalties, and then by making it honourable in the con
fession of convinced sinners, and in the fives of his redeemed people .
These are some of the principal points treated of in the following discourses ;
in which I have endeavoured to follow scripture closely. This has been my
guide ; and I have constantly desired his teaching who inspired it. And I now
ray him to shine into the heart of every one who reads these discourses. May
_e always accompany the perusal of them with his divine grace and blessing ;
and if they be made useful to the church of Christ, may his be all the glory.
Give it him, reader ; for it is his due ; and pray for thy hearty well-wisher,
W. R.

I

DISCOURSE I.
THE NECESSITY OF DIVINE TEACHING.
It is written in the prophets, And they sltatt be all taught of God. — John vi. 45.
This is a sweet promise, full of comfort to the children of God. So soon as
he has given them a desire to be taught, the Lord has spoken it by the mouth of
his holy prophets, that they may come to him to receive instruction. He, the
all-wise God, will be their teacher.
He will open the eyes of their understanding clearly to discern spiritual
things, and will make them wise unto salvation. In the book of Psalms we find
frequent prayers for this divine teaching ; and among the high and honourable
titles of God, this is used to describe his goodness to the children of men —
" He that teacheth man knowledge;" and not man considered merely as igno
rant, but also as guilty. " Good and upright is the Lord ; therefore will he
teach sinners in the way," Psal. xxv. 8 ; which shows the wonderful conde
scension of our divine teacher. He vouchsafes to be the instructor of sinners,
in order to bring them out of darkness into light, and out of misery into happi
ness: "for blessed is the man," says the Psalmist (xciv. 12.), whom thou
tcachest out of thy law." He is blessed because he is taught of God, and
taught by hirn out of the law, to know his guilt and misery ; and taught also to
know the remedy provided for both. Blessed surely is he whom God thus
tf aches j nnd yet how few among us seek this blessedness ' Even among those

4,') THE LAW AND THE GOSPEL.
who profess their belief of it, its importance is not sufficiently valued, lue
privilege is great, inestimably great ; but they are too apt to neglect it ; wmie
others proudly fancy they can' teach themselves, w they think it no honour to
be taught of God; they disbeUeve the reality, or they neglect the importance ot
divine teaching. Some of these reasons prevail with the generality ol nominal
Christians, and hinder them from being convinced of the truth ot what is
written in the prophets -. " And they shall be all taught of dod. «nt ne mat
teacheth man knowledge can, and, glory be to his rich grace! he does, convince
him of the necessity of being taught of God. He does enlighten the darkest ; he
does humble the proudest mind, and bring it earnestly to pray for instruction—
" Lord, what I know not, that teach thou me." May this be the payer of all
\ our hearts, while I am explaining the nature of the promise in the text, and
may God fulfil it to you at this time, that you may he convinced,
First, Of tbe necessity of being taught of God !
Secondly, Of the manner in which God teaches his people ;
Thirdly, Of the proper disposition of mind which he gives them, in order to
their receiving and profiting from his divine teaching.
First. Divine teaching consists in opening the eyes of the understanding to
perceive spiritual and divine objects, and to see their value and importance m
disposing the will to choose them, and the heart to love them. The divine
teacher is the Holy Spirit. He prepares the mind to receive his instruction, and
then fills it with the knowledge of his will in all wisdom and spiritual under-
standing. The necessity of his doing this is founded in the present state and
circumstances of fallen men : for through sin all the faculties of the soul were
lost, and the understanding, which is the eye of the soul, waB left in the same
condition as the bodily eyes would be if they had no fight. Hence the Psalmist
declares, that there is none who understandeth the things of God ; and he repre
sents God as looking down from heaven to see if there were any who did under
stand and seek after God ; but he found none, no not one. They all had their
understanding darkened, being alienated from the life of God through the
ignorance that is in them, because of the blindness of their heart. The
prophets give us the same character, and speak of men as if they were all blind,
and describe the Messiah to be the sun of righteousness ; the light who was to
arise to lighten the Gentiles, and was to be the glory of his people Israel.
Thus Jehovah says of his beloved son, " I the Lord will give thee for a cove
nant of the people, for a fight of the Gentiles, to open the blind eyes," Isa.
xiii. 6, 7. And again — " I will also give thee for a light to the Gentiles, that thou
inayest be my salvation unto the ends of the earth," Isa. xlix. 6. How did our
Lord fulfil these prophecies ? He did not, while he was upon earth, open the
bodily eye of any bhnd person among the Gentiles, but he has fulfilled them,
and, glory be to his great name ! he is daily fulfilling them in the Gentile world,
by opening the blind eyes of our understandings to see and to discern the things
of God. In this sense the Psalmist, speaking both of Jews and Gentiles, says.
Psalm cxlvi, 8. "The Lord openeth the eyes of the blind," that is, the Lord
Christ: for we read, Isaiah xxxv. 4, 5. "Say unto thein thatare of a fearful
heart, Be strong, fear not ; your God will come and save you. Then the eyes of
the bhnd shall be opened : for in that day (Isa. xxix. 18,) shall the deaf hear the
words of the book, and the eyes of the bhnd see out of obscurity, and out of
darkness." All these scriptures had their happy accomplishment, when God,
who was to come and save us, spake with his own mouth, and said, " I am
come a fight into the world, that whosoever believeth on me should not abide in
darkness," John xii. 46.
From these authorities it is certain that fallen man is in darkness, and cannot
see the things of God. The eyes of his understanding are in the same con
dition as his bodily eyes would be without light. He caunot see any spiritual
objects ; and how, then, can he come to the knowledge of them, unless he he
taught them of God ? By what other way or means can he discern them ? Has
he any powers or faculties of his own, which can help to enlighten him ? No,
he has none : for since the eyes of his understanding are in darkness, all his
endeavours to enlighten them, without divine teaching, will he like those of a

DISCOURSE I. 4[
blind man, who only makes his blindness more manifest the more he labours and
strives to give an account of those objects which he never saw nor felt.
But cannot the arts and sciences enlighten his blind eyes ? No. They
cannot help him to discover one single spiritual idea. The arts and sciences
treat of the objects of sense ; to these they are confined, and cannot get beyond
the bounds of nature ; for it is a certain truth, and indeed it is at present a
received opinion, that all our ideas come from sense. We are not able to form
an idea of any thing, unless it fall under the observation of some of our senses.
If any one of the senses be destroyed, the man is not able to form an idea of
any object peculiar to that sense. A man born deaf has no idea of sounds, nor
a blind man of colours. Since, then, the arts and sciences treat entirely of the
objects of sense, how can they give us any ideas of thoBe things which are not
objects of sense ? for was it ever known that the stream rose higher than the
fountain head ?
From hence it appears, that if the understanding be ever so greatly refined and
enlarged with the knowledge of arts and sciences, yet it stands in as much need of
divine teaching as the most ignorant peasant does ; because the things of God
are not discoverable by the arts and sciences. Let matter of fact speak to this
point. Has there not been a total ignorance of divine things, whenever the fight
of revelation has been extinguished ? Look into the learned ages of Greece, and
you find the several sects of philosophers inquiring, What is the chief good of
men ? and none of them could discover what it was, and disputing about the
origin of evil, and never coming near the truth. Look into the times when Rome
was raised to its highest glory, and was as famous for its learning as for its con
quests, and you will not find one learned Roman who can tell you what God is.
Tully has -written a book upon the nature of the gods, and it is one of the most
valuable of his writings ; for therein he gives us the opinions of the philosophers
upon this subject, and shows his own and their exceeding great ignorance of it.
From these instances, not to mention others, it is evident that a man may have
all the knowledge which arts and scienceB can give him, and yet be totally igno
rant of God, and of the things of God.
This has appeared from undoubted matter of fact. We know from the expe
rience of the Greeks and Romans, that arts and sciences never did lead them to
the knowledge of any spiritual and divine objects ; and we are assured, from the
testimony of God's word, that they never can. Man, in his natural state, blinded
by sin, and under the power of it, cannot attain to any such knowledge. The
apostle has decided this point for ub. Speaking of the politest classical age of
Rome, he says of her great philosophers and celebrated authors, that they were
without understanding ; that they became vain in their imaginations ; and their
foolish hearts were darkened. What ! was Tully without understanding? Was the
imagination of Virgil vain, and the heart of Seneca foolish ? Yes, in the things
of God ; " for the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God ; for
they are foolishness unto him : neither can he know them, because they are spi
ritually discerned." 1 Cor. ii. 14. While he remains a natural man, it is abso
lutely impossible that he should know them ; " neither can he know them," be
cause he has no spiritual discernment, by which alone spiritual objects can be
discovered ; and therefore he must remain for ever ignorant of them, unless God
should open the eyes of his understanding, and bring him out of darkness into
his marvellous light.
This is a very humbling, but it is a real view of human nature, and I need not
to have gone to distant ages and countries for proof. We have it near enough
at home, if men's pride would but let them see it ; but their pride arises chiefly
from their ignorance of it, and helps to keep them ignorant. If they had but a
little humiUty, they would discover how imperfect their knowledge is, even ofthe
things about them, and they would therefore see the necessity of being taught of
God in these things, which were out of the reach of their senses : such are all
spiritual and divine things ; and in these they want divine teaching, and the pro-
raise is, concerning these, " All thy children shaU be taught of God." Now, God
never acts in vain. Unless his children wanted teaching, he need not be their
teacher : but in what belongs to the spiritual world they are entirely ignorant,

4-2 THE LAW AND THE GOSPEL.
and they have no means of discovering, unless they he taught of God, what state
they are in by nature, and if it be a state of guilt and misery, how are they to be
delivered from it. God has revealed in his holy word the knowledge of what
belongs to these two states ; but sin has so blinded men's understandings,
and depraved their judgments, that they will not assent to what is revealed, nor
be determined by it, until the Holy Spirit convince them what they are by
nature, and what they may be by grace. Accordingly, the scripture declares,
that the Holy Spirit is the inspirer of every good thought, and word, and work.
He enlightens the children of God with saving truth, and subdues the opposition
which was in their wills to it, and that enmity which was in their hearts. From
the first moment he awakens them, and opens the eyes of their understanding ;
until he bring them safe to glory; he is their teacher. He teaches them to look
upon sin, as it is in itself, exceeding sinful ; he alarms the conscience, and
makes it feel the guilt and danger of sin ; he leads the humbled and convinced
sinner to Christ for pardon ; he gives him faith, and hope, and love ; and, by
grafting him, like a living branch, into the true vine, enables him to bear much
fruit to the glory of God. And since every thing good in him comes from divine
teaching, is it not absolutely necessary that he should be taught of God ?
If you will consider all these authorities together, I hope they will convince
you, my brethren, that there is a necessity for your being taught of God : for
by nature you are ignorant of all spiritual and divine things ; and you cannot,
by any means in your own power, attain to the knowledge of them : the arts and
sciences can give you no assistance. It is a matter of fact, that they never did,
and the scriptures declare that they never can, help any man to discern the
things of the Spirit of God. The natural man, while he remains such, be he
ever so learned, cannot know them. And how, then, can he ever attain any ideas
of them, but by divine teaching i If this evidence has convinced you, you arc
prepared to follow me in my second inquiry, which relates to the manner in
which God teaches his people.
His established method is by the word, and by the Spirit. In all divine
teaching, these two go together ; the word, and the Spirit explaining and apply
ing the word. The word is the whole will of God, which he revealed to be
the means of bringing sinners from darkness to light, from sin to righteousness,
and from the power of Satan unto God, and unto the kingdom of his dear Son,
here in grace, and hereafter in glory. These great things are spoken of the
written word ; for it is able, according to the apostle, to make a man wise unto
salvation : but then the quickening Spirit must accompany the hearing, or
reading of it, or else you will never find in it this saving wisdom. It is only a
dead letter, unless the living Spirit animate it : for the letter killeth, but the
Spirit giveth life. The word is the means in the hand of the Spirit, of beginning,
carrying on, and perfecting, the life of God in the soul. When the Spint works
in it, and by it, he makes it effectual, through his mighty operation, to build up and
to perfect the man of God. He works in the word; for the Spirit is received in it, as
the apostle shows, 2 Cor. iii. 8, where he calls the preaching of the gospel, "the mi
nistration of the Spirit," that by which the Spirit was administered and given, and
he says to the Galatians, that, by this hearing of faith (which hearingwas of the word
of God) they received the Spirit ; Gal. iii. 2. And being received, he enlightened
their minds and opened their understandings, that they might understand the
scriptures ; and thereby he wrought that faith in them which cometh by hear
ing ; for faith is his gift. It is called, Gal. v. 22, " the fruit of the Spirit ; " one
of the fruits produced in the heart by his grace ; upon which account he is called
"the Spirit of faith;" 2 Cor. iv. 13. And when he has thus wrought in the
word, he then works by it, and helps the believer to act faith upon it. The
Holy Spirit puts it into his heart to desire the sincere milk of the word, that he
may grow thereby. And he does grow, and is nourished up, as Timothy was,
in the word 3 of faith, when he is enabled by the same Spint to act faith upon
the word ; for then the word preached profits him, when he can mix faith with
it — when faith and the word, like two fluids of the same properties, readily mix
together, and closely incorporate. Thus the word nourishes him in the inner
man, and he grows thereby. The Spirit applies it, and renders it effectual to

DISCOURSE I. 43
the promoting of every gracious purpose for which it was revealed : and by its
means he makes the man of God wise unto salvation, through faith, which is in
Jesus Christ.
_ This is the usual andcommon way in which God fulfils the text. He teaches
his children spiritual and divine things by bis word, as explained and applied by
his Spirit : which two cannot be put asunder. The word is the eye, and the
Holy Spirit is the light shining upon it. Now, a man cannot see without eyes ;
and, haying eyes, he cannot see without light. So, if you have the word without
the Spirit, you have eyes without light ; and if you have the Spirit without the
word, you have light, but no eyes to see it : the word and the Spirit, therefore,
must go together. To expect that the Spirit will teach you without the word,
is rank enthusiasm, as great madness as to hope to see without eyes : and to
expect that the word will teach you, without the Spirit, is as great an absurdity
as to pretend to see without light ; and if any man says, that the Spirit teaches
him to believe, or to do, what is contrary to the written word, he is a mad blas
phemer. God has joined the word and the Spirit ; and what God has joined
together, let no man put asunder.
Convinced of these things, have you, my brethren, reduced them to practice ?
Do you go with humility to the word of God to be taught ? And do you find that
instruction from it of which you stand in need ? Perhaps you say, you do read
it, but you find it very difficult : it is so hard to be understood, that it is for the
most part to you a sealed book. This is a very general complaint ; but what is
the cause of it ? Certain it is that this scripture cannot be broken — " All thy
children shall be taught of God." The fault is not in God, nor yet in his word.
Surely, then, it is in yourselves. Either you have not been deeply convinced of
your own blindness in spiritual things, and therefore are not practically per
suaded of the necessity of the word ; or you have not looked up to the Holy
Spirit for his divine teaching, praying him, in the prophet's words, " Lord, open
thou mine eyes, that I may see wondrous things out of thy law :" for until he
open your eyes and enlighten them, you cannot see any of the wonders con
tained in the book of God. Consider these points, then, and examine them closely.
Be faithful, my brethren, to your own souls, and be not afraid to discover the
trae ground of your complaint. Have you been led to read and to bear the word
of God under a strong sense of your darkness and blindness without it ? And
do you always seek the grace of the Holy Spirit to explain and to apply it ? The
first of these is absolutely necessary ; because you wiU not ask wisdom of God,
until you be convinced you lack it. And you will ask it with more or less
earnestness in proportion to the sense you have of your want of it ; so that,
when you are made deeply sensible of your great ignorance, then you will be
come very humble and teachable. This is the proper disposition of mind which
the Holy Spirit must work in you, both before and under divine teaching, and
the consideration of which was the third particular 1 proposed to speak to.
Divine teaching is absolutely necessary for the learning of divine things, and
God teaches his children by his word and by his Spirit. You may be convinced,
my brethren, of these truths in speculation, but it is very difficult to bring them
into practice. For such is the pride of the natural man, that he will not submit
to be taught ; no, not of God. He will exalt his own reasoning faculties above
the wisdom of God's word, and above the teaching of God's Spirit. Although
he has nothing to be proud of, being a creature made up of ignorance and sin, yet
he is excessively proud ; for pnde is interwoven in Mb very frame and constitu
tion. Our Lord says, pride proceeds from within, out of the heart, Mark vii. 21.
It comes from a corrupt principle that is within us, in the heart ; there it has
taken deep root, and grown luxuriant, bringing forth a vast crop of proud looks,
words, and works. Nothing but the almighty grace of God can pull down the
high opinion which this proud creature entertains of himself, and which he wiU
continue to entertain, until he be well disciplined into the knowledge of himself.
He must be brought to see his ignorance, and to feel his guilt and misery, before
he will be humble enough to apply to God for instruction. And this is the work
of tho Holy Spirit. It is through his gracious operation that the proud self-
sufficient sinner is made thoroughly acquainted with his ignorance and liis sinful-

44 THE LAW AND THE GOSPEL.
ness. The Holy Spirit gives him a view of himself in the glass of the law, anil
shows him, and makes him feel, the entire corruption of his nature, the blindness
of his understanding, the depravity of his will, and the rebellion of his heart. The
natural man is a bad scholar at this humbling lesson. He learns it very slowly,
and with great pain and difficulty. The practice of it is like plucking out a right
eye, or cutting off a right hand : for his inbred sins are as dear to him as any
member of his body. But the Holy Spirit so alarms him with his guilt, and with
his danger, that, by degrees, he is brought heartily to wish for deliverance from his
ignorance and from his sins ; and thus he is made teachable. He becomes
simple, and is willing to be taught of God. He is brought into * proper frame
of mind to sit with Mary at the master's feet, hearing his word, in order to be
enlightened with saving wisdom, and to he blessed with the comforts of saving
faith. To persons of this humble, teachable temper, the scripture has made
many sweet promises, both when they at first go to the school of Christ to learn
his will, and also when they afterwards sit at his feet hearing his words, that they
may do them. In general, it is said, that God giveth grace to the humble, and
particularly grace to learn his will, as Psalm xxv. 9 : " The meek will he guide in
judgment, and the meek will he teach his way." The meek are they who, with
an humble and lowly spirit, receive the word of God, according to the apostle
James, i. 21 : " Receive with meekness the ingrafted word, which is able to save
your souls." They shall be taught of God, whom he has disposed to receive his
word with meekness : he will ingraft it inwardly in their hearts, and will enable
them to bring forth the precious fruits of it in their lives; and thus he will teach
them his way. And then they will be able to keep up the words of Christ, grate
fully acknowledging what God has done for them — " We thank thee, O Father,
Lord of heaven and earth, because thou hast hid these things from the wise and
prudent, and hast revealed them unto babes." The things of God are still hid
irom the wise and prudent, from the wise and prudent ones of this world, who
seek the knowledge of them by mere human learning, which, without grace, only
puffs them up, and hinders them from seeing their want of divine teaching :
from all such he hides the knowledge of spiritual things ; but he reveals them
to those whom the Holy Spirit has made humble and teachable. When such
persons come with a meek temper to be taught of him, then he manifests to them
the secrets of his kingdom : for he reveals them unto babes : unto them that
blessed promise of the New Testament is fulfilled : " If any of you lack wisdom,
and is humbled under the sense of his want of it, let him ask it of God, who
giveth unto all askers liberally, and upbraideth not, and it shall be given him,"
James i. 5.
This, then, is the proper disposition of mind with which the Holy Spirit pre-
p ir -s the children of God for divine teaching, and by which he helps them to
profit under it. He makes them humble, meek, and lowly in their own eyes,
and desirous of being taught of God. To such persons he giveth grace to un
derstand the word, to apply it, and to be edified by it. To those whom he has
humbled he giveth his grace, because they will take no merit to themselves, but
will ascribe the glory of what they learn to their divine teacher, and use it to the
praise of the glory of his grace. You are, I hope, convinced of these great truths,
but perhaps some of you do not see clearly how you are to attain this humble,
teachable disposition. Are you convinced of your own want of it ? If you arc,
this is the work of the Holy Spirit. He has begun to make you sensible of your
ignorance ; and he must prepare you to receive instruction, as well as give it you.
The desire to be taught of God cometh from him, as' well as the teaching itself
He must work in you, both to will and to do : for it is written, Prov. xvi. 1 .
"The preparations of the heart in man are from the Lord." If there be any
preparations in your heart to be taught of God, this is not from yourself; it is
from the Lord, and is expressly ascribed to him, Gal. v. 23, where meekness is
mentioned among the other fruits ofthe Spirit : that meekness whereby we receive
the ingrafted word, is the fruit, of his grace in the heart. Apply to him for it,
aud he will make you an humble, teachable scholar in the school of Christ ;
and when he has thus disposed you to give him all the glory of teaching you,
then to you bis promise shall be fulfilled, and you shall be taught of God.

DISCOURSE f. 45
From what has been now offered, the doctrine of the text is, I hope, made
plain and clear: if scripture authority can convince, and if matter of fact can
determine the point, they give in full evidence for the necessity of divine teach
ing, which is further confirmed from the established method in which God teaches
his children. He revealed his word for their instruction ; and his Spirit still
accompanies the hearing or reading of it, and renders it effectual to the purposes
for which it was revealed. He still, by his grace, prepares the sinner's mind to
receive it, by convincing him of his ignorance of the things of God, by bringing
him with an humble, teachable temper to learn them from the word of God, and
then he works faith in the sinner's heart by the word, and helps the believer to
act faith upon the word of God's grace, which is able to build him up, and to
give him an inheritance among all them which are sanctified. These particulars
have been established upon express passages of holy scripture ; and what effect,
my brethren, has our present consideration of them had upon you ? Has it been
the means of showing any of you how much you stood in need of divine teaching ?
Has it stirred up fervent desires in any of you for the teachings of God's Spirit ?
If neither of these good effects followed, what is the cause which hindered ? If
you believe tbe scripture to be the word of God, you cannot deny the doctrine.
No words can be plainer than these written in the prophets : " They shall be
ALL taught of God." If all are not to be taught of God, how do you understand
the words ? Do you think they speak only of the apostles and primitive Christians,
to whom they were fulfilled, but we are not now to expect their accomplishment ?
This is the opinion of many persone, but it is quite unscriptural. The 54th
chapter of Isaiah, as explained by an infallible interpreter in the New Testament,
treats of the Gentile church in the last days, of which it is said, verse 13, " And
all thy children shall be taught of the Lord ;" ALL, without exception ; all God's
children among the Gentiles in ever)' age shall be taught of the Lord. To the
same purpose the prophet Jeremiah, chap, xxxi, speaking of the new covenant
which was to be established in the last days, declares, from the mouth of God,
ver. 34 : " And they shall teach no more every man his neighbour, and every
man his brother, saying, Know the Lord: for they shall all know me, from the
least of them to the greatest of them, saith the Lord." 'This promise belongs to
the new covenant, under which God himself engages to teach his people, and
they all, from the least to the greatest, shall know the Lord. And when our
blessed Saviour, in the text, referred to these and such-like promises, which are
written in the prophets, he made no limitation, but said, " they shall be all
taught of God;" — all, in every age of the church, who are made sensible of their
want of divine teaching, and look up to heaven for a divine teacher, shall be
taught of God. Certainly these passages cannot be so far wrested and tortured
as to make them speak for divine teaching in one age of the church only. How
can you, with any appearance of truth, fix a limited sense to these universal pro
positions — ALL thy children shall be taught of the Lord — they shall ALL know
me, from the least to the greatest; for they shall be ALL taught of God— All
were to be taught by him — all his children ; therefore his children now have the
same promise of divine teaching which the primitive Christians had; for the
promise is to us, and to our children, and to all that are afar off, even as many
as the Lord our God shall call.
Since, then, the scripture so clearly confutes this absurd and wicked opinion,
do you, my brethren, give it up, and acknowledge the necessity of divine
teaching? If not, what other objection have you against the doctnne? Have
you been used to think that it carried with it an air of enthusiasm ? I know
many persons look upon it in this fight. If any of you do, pray tell us what
you mean by enthusiasm ? For it seems to us only a bad name given to the
best thing. At this day the knowledge of vital and experimental religion is so
far lost, that whenever the generality of our people hear it spoken of, they do
not understand it ; and what they do not understand, they reject under the
odious name .of enthusiasm ; so that this name does not stand for any bad pro
perties in the thing to which they apply it, but only signifies their dislike of it.
And if they express their dislike by a hard name, what hurt can that do ? Can
it really turn the words of truth and soberness into enthusiasm ? Can that be

46 THE LAW AND THE GOSPEL.
enthusiasm, which beheves God to be a faithful promise-keeping God, and that
his word cannot be broken? What! is it enthusiasm to desire to be taught of
God, and to ask wisdom of him, after he has commanded his children to ask it,
and has engaged to teach it to them ? Surely, no. God's promises must be
fulfilled, and they who seek their accomplishment cannot be disappointed. He
hath spoken by the mouth of his holy prophets, that all his children shall be
taught of God ; and heaven and earth shall pass away, before one tittle of these
words shall fail. Men and brethren, what do you think now of this objection,
which wants to make God a liar, for promising to teach his children, and which
treats them as enthusiasts who expect to be taught of him ? Certainly you can
not defend such a blasphemous opinion. Well, then, the way is farther cleared
for a favourable reception of the doctrine ; and do you indeed receive it ? Per
haps you assent to it. But what sort of an assent do you give ? Is it active
and operative ? If not, what will it avail ? You will learn none of the things of
God, by simply believing that God does teach them to his children. You must
ask, if you would have : you must seek, if you would find that wisdom which
cometh from above. And you must ask with earnestness, and seek with diligence,
not as if you could thereby merit, but to express your wants and your humility.
The divine direction in this case is, Prov. ii. 3, 4, &c, " If thou criest after
knowledge, and liftest up thy voice for understanding;" not asking faintly, bnt
crying aloud, and lifting up the voice through the fervency of the desire after
wisdom; and " if thou seekest her as silver, and searchest for her as for hid trea
sures ;" seeking with as great pains, and searching with as constant application,
as ever worldly man took to enrich himself ; " then shalt thou understand the
fear of the Lord, and find the knowledge of God : for the Lord giveth wisdom :"
he giveth it to every one who seeks with humble diligence.
These are words of comfort to you who desire to be taught of God, and who
are seeking of him the knowledge of divine things. Seek, as he has directed
you, and you shall find. He will teach you, because he has made you teachable.
He has already taught you one lesson, which is, perhaps, the hardest you have to
learn. He has convinced you of your entire ignorance of divine things. You
no longer take up your rest in the fancied abilities of nature, but are consulting
the word of God, and praying for the teachings of the Spirit of God. This is
the appointed way to receive instruction. And if you wait in his way, he who
directed you to the way will meet you and instruct you in it. Only remember,
that his glory, being the motive and end of all his dealings with men, must be
your motive and end in learning divine things. You must have a single eye to
his glory in asking knowledge of him ; and what he gives, you must use to his
glory. His glory must be promoted by all that he teaches you : and therefore
you must come to learn of him humble, under a continual sense of your ignorance
and unworthiness, and meek, disposed like a new-born babe to receive the sincere
milk of the word, that you may grow thereby ; and you must be a diligent scholar;
you must read much, and pray more ; yea, you must watch in prayer with all
perseverance, and then the promise, which wisdom itself has made, shall be ful
filled to you, Prov. viii. 34 : " Blessed is the man that heareth me, watching
daily at my gates, waiting at the posts of my doors." He that watches and
waits thus, is blessed : for God, who commanded light to shine out of darkness,
will shine into his heart, to give the fight of the knowledge of the glory of God in
the face of Jesus Christ.
What thanks can we render unto God for his exceeding grace, who still shines
into the hearts of his children ? Glory be to his great name ! there are many
among us who have reason to praise him for his divine teaching. They have
found him faithful to fulfil his promises : for he has opened their blind eyes, and
has led them into the knowledge and belief of the truth. Daily are they magni
fying the riches of his infinite love, which has brought them out of darkness into
his marvellous light, and has translated them out of the kingdom of Satan into the
kingdom of his dear Son. These persons are witnesses for God, and can set to
their seal that he still teaches his children by his word, and by his Spirit : for
they have been illuminated with the true knowledge and understanding of his
word, and by their living they set it forth, and show it accordingly.

DISCOURSE I. 47
This is the happy state of so many of you as are real Christians. You have
experience of the truth of the text, and know it to be an undoubted matter of
fact. My Christian brethren, what return will you make to your divine teacher
for the comfortable lessons which he has taught you ? What less can you do,
than praise him with your lives, as weUas with your lips? Praise him for what
you have already leamt, and continue humbly to wait on him for your growth in
knowledge. Remember that the new man which you have put on is to be re
newed in knowledge day by day. The spirit of wisdom is to help you to grow
in grace, and in the knowledge of your Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. This is
your privilege ; and it is your interest to make a constant use of it. The wisest
of us know but little of what is to be known, therefore you should be diligent in
your attendance upon the means appointed of God for your teaching. Read the
word, and meditate in it day and night ; and when the Holy Spirit explains and
applies it, then it will be a lantern unto your feet, and a light unto your paths.
Pray over the word. Prayer wiU digest it ; and the prayer of faith, mixed with it,
will make it nourishing and strengthening to the inner man. And thus you will
grow in grace, and be renewed in knowledge; the understanding will be re
newed with still clearer views of spiritual things ; the heart, no longer prejudiced
against them, will be renewed with a more determinate choice of them ; and the
affections will be renewed with a more hearty love, and a fuJler enjoyment of
them. Hereby your sanctification will be carried on, and you will be renewed,
day by day, in true holiness, after the image of him that created you. — Having
therefore these privileges, dearly beloved brethren ; having such a teacher, and
such things to learn of him ; having the Spirit of the Most High God to teach
you all things, which belong to your present peace, and to your eternal glory ;
oh, what diligence should you use in attending upon the means, by which your
divine teacher has promised to instruct you ! In them be ye constantly found
waiting — waiting with humble, teachable tempers — and praying for the blessing
of God upon the use of his appointed means. And while you thus continue to
wait upon God, he will continue to teach you. He has promised it to his chil
dren : and he cannot lie. He will make you wise unto salvation.
Having thus exhorted you, my Christian brethren, to make a diligent use of
the great privilege of the new covenant, I have nothing further to offer, but my
prayers. May he that heareth prayer send down his blessing upon what has been
now spoken. May " the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, give
unto you the Spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of him, that, the
eyes of your understanding being enlightened, ye may know what is the hope of
his calhng, and what the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the saints, and
what is the exceeding greatness of his power to usward who believe." Oh may
our God manifest these great truths to your understandings, and give you the
sweet experience of them in your hearts, that you may be rilled with the know
ledge of his will in aU wisdom and spiritual understanding, and that ye may walk
worthy of the Lord unto all pleasing, being fruitful in every good work, and
increasing in the knowledge of God, until you see him face to face ; and then
shall you know, even as also you are known. To this perfect knowledge and
ever-blessed fruition of God may the Lord Jesus bring you all by the ministry
of his word, and by the teachings of his Spirit, that you may be for ever happy
in giving thanks and praise to the three divine persons in one Jehovah, to whom
the church in earth and heaven ascribes aU glory in time and in eternity. Amen,
and Amen.

48 THE LAW AND THE GOSPEL.
DISCOURSE II.
UPON THE MORAL LAW.
Wherefore the law is holy, and the commandment holy, just,
and good • — Romans vii. 12.
The great Creator and possessor of heaven and earth hath an indisputable
authority to make laws for the government of his creatures, and to require their
obedience. Since every thing that they have is received from his hands, and held
under him at his pleasure, it therefore behoves them to inquire upon what terms
they hold it. And if God has given them any laws, it is their duty to study
them, and their interest to obey them. If there be any sanctions to enforce these
laws, any rewards or punishments, they should inquire where these things are
to be known, and by what means discovered, that they may obtain the reward and
escape the punishment.
Whenever a serious unprejudiced person desires to be satisfied in these points,
which so nearly concern his present peace of conscience and his future happi
ness, he will soon be convinced that God has made a gracious provision for his
instruction. God has opened his mind and will in this matter. He has recorded
his laws, and published them. The sacred volume of divine statutes is in our
hands, and in our mother tongue. It is so very short, that none can want time
to peruse it ; and it is so very plain and intelligible, as to the rule of duty, that
none can plead ignorance. He that runs may read it, and the simple may un
derstand it, and learn knowledge ; for, upon a very cursory view of this divine
treatise, it will appear, that there are three distinct bodies of law mentioned in
it ; namely, the moral law, the ceremonial law, and the law of faith." We are all
highly concerned to inquire into the nature of these laws ; and therefore I pur
pose, through God's assistance, to inquire into the scope and design of each of
them. At present I shall confine myself to the moral law, which alone is spoken
of in my text. The apostle is treating of its usefulness to discover the sinfulness
of sin : " I had not known sin," says he, " but by the law ;" the law must first
lay down a rule before it can be known what sin is, which is the transgression
of that rule : " For I had not known lust," and that the very first rising and
motion of evil in the heart was a sin, " unless the law had said, thou shalt not
covet." This is the law of the tenth commandment : from whence it is very
evident that St. Paul is here treating of the moral law, which is of such perfect
purity, as to reach to the desires and coverings of the heart, and which, by re
straining them, makes them appear more sinful, and grow more outrageous.
" But sin, taking occasion by the commandment, wrought in me all manner of
concupiscence : for without the law sin was dead," although it be in us, yet it is
not perceived, until it be held before the holy spiritual law of God, and then it
begins to stir and rage : for as it follows, " I was once alive without the law,"
says the apostle ; when I knew not the law I thought myself alive, my conscience
never troubled me, nor did I apprehend the deadly nature of sin ; "'but when
the commandment came," when I began to understand the commandment in its
spiritual nature, and it came to my conscience, and was applied with a divine
power to my heart, " then sin revived, and I died ;" I found myself dead in tres
passes and sins : " for the same commandment which was ordained unto life
was found to be unto me unto death ; but sin took occasion by the commandment,"
not through any fault in the commandment, but entirely through my own
fault, " deceived me, and by it slew me. What shall we say, then ? Is the law
and the commandment sin ? God forbid. The law is holy," all the fault is in
us, who abuse the law, " and the commandment is holy, and just, and good."
The occasion of the words and the context, thus in part opened and explained,
may help us to determine,
First, What the moral is.
Secondly, Whether it be still in force.
Thirdly, Whether we have all kept it ; and if not,
Fourthly, What is the penalty due to tbe breach of it ; and then I shall draw

DISCOURSE II. 40
some practical inferences from these particulars. And may the Spirit of the
living God apply what shaU be spoken. May he enlighten all your under
standings with a clear view of the spiritual nature of the moral law, that by it
you may be brought to the knowledge of sin, and to see and to feel your want of
a Saviour. Under the teachings of this good Spirit let us consider,
First, What the moral law is. I define it to be the holy, just, and good will
of God made known and promulged to his creatures in all these particulars,
wherein he requires their perfect obedience, in order to their happiness. The
law is the discovery of his will : for the almighty Creator and sovereign Lord of
heaven and earth governs all his works and creatures according to the good
pleasure of his own will. His will is the absolutely perfect law of the natural
world. He hath given to the inanimate works of his hands a law which shall
not be broken. The active powers in nature shall work, and passive matter shall
obey by an unalterable rule, until the heavens be folded up like a scroll, and the
earth and all the works therein shall be burnt up. And his will is as absolute a
law to his rational creatures as to the natural agents ; because he can enact no
laws but what partake of his own adorable perfections. His law is his will
made known. It is a copy of his infinitely pure mind. It is a fair transcript of
his holiness, justice, goodness, and of every other divine attribute ; for by the
law he discovers to his creatures what it is his will they should be and do, in
order to preserve his favour. He would have them holy, just, and good, and
the law makes known to them the rule of their obedience ; by an exact con
formity to which they are holy, just, and good. The will of God revealed in the
law is holy, and conformity to it is holiness. Holiness, in the Old Testament
language, signifies a separation from impurity, and when applied to the divine
nature, it rather expresses what God is not, than what he is. It is a negative
idea, denoting an entire separation from every thing which can defile. Holiness
in God excludes all possibility of pollution. In him there neither is, nor can be,
the least impurity. He is of purer eyes than to behold the least iniquity. He
cannot even look upon any thing which is in the least unclean : for without
holiness no man shall see the Lord. Now, the law is an exact copy of God's
holiness. It is the outward discovery of his most holy mind and will, informing
his creatures how perfectly pure they must preserve themselves, if they would
preserve his favour. The law discovers to them what God is, and shows how
like him they ought to be in holiness. And since God cannot behold the least
impurity, consequently his law cannot, because it is his mind and will revealed
concerning this matter. He will not suffer any deviation from his law, no, not
m thought ; for the language of the law is positive and express out of the
mouth of the supreme lawgiver himself — " Be ye holy, for I am holy." And
are you, my brethren, thus holy ? This should be a matter of close examination.
Arc you what the law requires you to be ? Do you look upon the law as per
fectly, infinitely holy in itself, even as holy as God is ; and have you considered
sin as an offence against the holiness of God and of his law, even such an
unpardonable offence, that you could never make the least satisfaction for it ?
It is very evident these things are not well understood, because the practice of
mankind shows what low ideas they entertain of them. What makes sin appear
light and little, and some offences small ? Is it not because sinners are igno
rant of the absolutely perfect holiness of the law ? And after they have broken
it, how mean an opinion have they of its holiness, when they think that a little
sorrow, and some few tears, that repentance and amendment can make them
holy, and satisfy the demands of the broken law ? If any of you entertain these
unworthy ideas of God and of his law, you should consider that, although God
require you to be perfectly holy, yet he can require nothing of you but what is
just. The law is just, as well as holy ; just in all its demands, and just in the rule
of its process in rewarding obedience and punishing transgression. The senp-
ture word for justice is taken from human affairs, and from thence is applied to
divine. In the first ages of the world, money was paid and received by weight ;
and he who kept an even balance in paying and receiving was a just man. His
justice consisted in keeping the scales even, in weighing all things with an equal
balance, and in giving and taking only what was lawful and right. Now, the

50 THE LAW AND THE fftffiPEL.
law holds this balance of justice in its hands, that it may prove the Judge of
all the earth does right, and will be glorifiejj'in all that he requires of hw
creatures ; for the holy obedience which he demands of them is a just obedience.
He had a sovereign authority to require it, and he gave them power to pay it
him, and therefore they could not complain of any injustice, if he should inflict
the punishment threatened to the disobedient, any more than if he should
bestow the reward promised to the obedient. Thus the law is just. It is the
exact copy of God's justice, and is as perfectly just as God is. It can no more
require or do an unjust thing, than God can ; for the law only discovers what
is the infinitely just mind and will of God concerning the behaviour of his
creatures. The law Bays, " Do this, and thou shalt live. Transgress this, and
dying thou shalt surely die." This is the will of the supreme lawgiver, and
Vis justice is engaged to see the honour of his law maintained, as well in
punishing transgression with death, as in rewarding obedience with life. The
law caunot possibly do any injustice, because it is directed by the unerring will
of (Jod. God, and his will, aud his law, are alike just ; for it is written in the
law, Deut. xxxii. 4 : " The Lord's work is perfect ; for all his ways are judg
ment : a God of truth and without iniquity, just and right is he."
All his ways and dealings with the children of men are perfectly just, and
they are also good. His law is good. It partakes of the goodness of its divine
author, inasmuch as it tends to promote the welfare and happiness of his
creatures. The creature was made to show forth the glory of its great Creator,
and the law was the rule by which it was to walk, in order to promote his glory j
and in this holy walking there was all good to be met with. It was the way
of pleasantness, and the path of peace. It preserved the assurance of the
divine favour, afforded a perpetual feast of conscience, and gave sure and
certain hopes of a glorious immortality; for Moses thus describeth the righte
ousness which is of the law, that the man who doeth these things shall live by
them. If he do all the things written in the book of the law, he shall live unto
God, and shall live with God. He shall enjoy a life of happiness here in the
love and communion of God, and he shall enjoy an endless fife of glory.
Surely then the law is good ; since the keeping of it would have produced all
good, and since the transgressing of it has brought all the evil upon man which
he can suffer in time and in eternity. Consider, my brethren, how good the
law is from that deluge of evil which came in upon the breach of it. When the
Lord God, at the end of his six days' works, surveyed all that he had made,
behold it was very good. There was then no evil of any kind to afflict either
body or soul ; but by sin the body became subject to sickness, pain, and death,
and the soul to guilt and misery ; and in the next life, both body and soul were
subject to the worm that never dieth, and to the fire that never shall be
quenched. Such is the goodness of the law. It is the all-wise provision which God has
made for his own glory, and for the happiness of his creatures to whom he has
published it. He made it known to our first parents in paradise. It was their
rule of action, while they stood in the likeness and image of God. They had no
opposition, then, to his good and acceptable and perfect will ; but the under
standing had a clear view of it ; the will chose it, and the heart loved it, and
they were able to do it with all their mind, and with all their strength. And
when sin entered into the world, the will of God was not changed, nor his law
repealed. The law was in full force from Adam to Moses, in whose time the
Lord God recorded it with the most awful majesty on Mount Sinai, and
engraved it with his own hands upon two tables of stone. And it stands unre
pealed to this day ; promising life to obedience, and threatening death to trans
gression. Since, then, the law has been properly promulged, a holy, just, and good
law, that altereth not, let us hear what it requires. It is the will of the law
giver, that he who doeth the things written in the book of the law shall live by
them . But then he must do all things, without exception. He must not fail in
any one point. If he will enter into life, he must keep all the commandments.
He must be universally holy, just, and good, as the law is. If he ever receive

DISCOURSE II. 51
the promised reward, he must perform the condition ; that is, he must pay the
law perfect uninterrupted obedience with every faculty of soul and body, in their
utmost strength and vigour ; for it cannot suffer any transgression ; but for the
least inflicts the threatened punishment.
This is an essential property of the moral law. Upon the very first offence
it cuts the sinner off from all claim to the promised reward, and, as to any thing
that he can do, cuts him off for ever. It is not in his power to make himself
innocent again. Having once failed in his obedience, the law knows nothing of
mercy, cannot accept the greatest repentance, nor be satisfied with the deepest
sorrow for what is past ; but immediately passes sentence according to what is
written : " Cursed is every one that continueth not in all things which are written
in the book of the law to do them." If you fail in one single instance of
obedience, you do not continue to perform all things, but faU under the curse of
the broken law, and are as much liable to punishment, though not in the same
degree, as if you had failed in every instance. In which sense the words
of St. James are to be understood : " He that offendeth in one point, is guilty
of all."
I have now gone through the several parts of the definition before given of
the moral law, and it appears to be the holy, just, and good will of God made
known and promulged to his creatures in all those particulars wherein he
requires their perfect obedience, in order to their happiness. Since this is the
case, it highly concerns every one of us to inquire whether we be under an
obligation to keep this law ; which is the second particular I proposed to con
sider ; namely,
Whether the moral law be still in force, and still requires of them who
expect to be saved by it perfect unsinning obedience. And upon the first
proposal of this question, it would occur to every attentive person, that the law,
being as holy, just, and good as God is, can no more admit of any variableness,
or shadow of turning, than God himself can. He says, " I change not :" and
how, then, can hie law, which is the discovery of his mind and will, be change
able ? Man may change ; but the law is the same yesterday, to-day, and for
ever. It altereth not. If man does not keep it, it will lose none of its honour.
Justice will be glorified by supporting the holiness of the law, and by inflicting
the deserved punishment on the transgressors of it. But let us consult the
law and the testimony. The Psalmist says, Psalm cxi. 7, 8 : " All his com
mandments are sure : they stand fast for ever and ever, and are done in truth and
uprightness." ALL his commandments, not excepting one, are fixed upon a sure,
immovable foundation : for they stand fast for ever and ever in full force, esta
blished by the unchangeable will of God, and are ordained in perfect harmony with
all the divine attributes ; being done in truth, which cannot he, and uprightness
which cannot err. To the same purpose, he says in another psalm, cxix. 160, " Thy
wordis true from the beginning ; and everyoneof thyrighteous judgments endureth
for ever." These righteous judgments are the decrees of the moral law, and there
is not one of them that can be repealed ; but they shall all endure in full force for
ever. Our blessed Saviour has thrown great light upon this subject. The
whole moral law is summed up in'the ten commandments, which he has reduced
to these two — the love of God and the love of our neighbour : on these two
commandments, says he, hang all the law and the prophets ; for love is the
fulfilling of the law, and love never faileth ; consequently the law of love can
never fail, but its debt of gratitude will be paying, and happy is he who shall
be paying it to all eternity. — Thus the moral law stands established by the
authority of our divine teacher. In his sermon upon the mount he reforms the
abuses and false comments which the scribes and pharisees had put upon the
moral law; and lie begins with this remark, Matt. v. 17: "Think not that I
am come to destroy the law and the prophets : I am not come to destroy, but to
fulfil ;" to fulfil the law by paying it infinitely perfect obedience, and by bemg
obedient unto death, even the death of the cross : and by this active and passive
obedience he showed that it was easier for heaven and earth to pass away, than
that one tittle of the law should fail. If the law could have abated any thing of
its demands, there would have been no necessity for Christ's fulfilling it by his

52 THE LAW AND THE GOSPEL.
obedience and death. But the law was unalterable. It could not be satisfied
with any obedience, but what was absolutely holy, just, and good ; and as all
men had failed in paying it this obedience, they must therefore have been
punished in their own persons, unless God, out of the riches of his wisdom and
grace, had found out a way, by which the honour of his law might be advanced,
and ye t the sinner might be saved : and that was by sending his Son to fulfil
the law. He was equal to this work ; because he was God, equal with the
Father, and he took our nature, and God and man were united in one Christ,
that he might be capable of doing and suffering, and meriting in an infinite
degree. Accordingly, in the fulness of time, he stood up in the place of sinners,
and therefore he became liable to do and to suffer whatever law and justice
demanded, that, having magnified the law, by obeying its precepts, and made it
honourable by suffering its penalties, the righteousness of the iaw might be
fulfilled in them who should believe on him to everlasting life : but the law is
still in force to condemn every one who does not savingly believe on him, and
will be for ever in force to inflict the deserved punishment.
It is evident, then, that the moral law stands to this day unrepealed. Although
man may be changed from what he was at first, yet the law is not. It is still
the holy, just, and good will of God requiring perfect obedience. And when
the holiness of the law is violated, the justice of God is bound to see the
sanctions of the law executed upon the disobedient ; and the divine goodness
cannot plead an arrest of judgment, because it is a good law which is broken,
and therefore it is a good thing to see that the transgressors of it he paid the
wages of ein.
My brethren, are not these very alarming truths ? and ought they not to sug
gest to every one of you such reflections as these ? What, am I under the law,
bound to keep it with a perfect unsinning obedience ? Can the law abate no
thing of its demands, but must I love God always, and with all my mind, heart,
soul, and strength, and my neighbour as myself, if I hope to enter into fife bj
keeping the commandments ? Surely then I ought to examine, whethei I have
always loved God and my neighbour, as the law requires. If these be the
thoughts of your hearts, then you are prepared to follow me to a serious consider
ation of the third head of discourse, namely,
Whether we all have kept the moral law. Its demands are very great. It will
not accept of any obedience, unless it be continual. You must continue, without
the least interruption, to do all things that are written in the book of the law. And
have any of you walked with a steadfast course in the way ofthe commandments,
without once turning aside ? Consult conscience. Does it not accuse ? Con
sult scripture. Does it not say, " ALL we like sheep have gone astray, we have
turned every one to his own way ?" leaving the way of God's commandments.
The law also requires spiritual obedience. It reaches to the inmost thoughts and
intents ofthe heart. You must never have one sinful thought in you, if you expect
life from your keeping the law : for the law is spiritual. It searches the heart
and the reins, and strikes at the very first motion or rising of sin. One sinful
desire cuts you off from legal righteousness, as much as ten thousand sins :
for it is written, " Thou shalt not covet ;" and he that covets offends in one
point, and therefore is guilty of all.
Besides, the law is perfect, perfectly holy, just, and good : for it is the will
of God, and can no more suffer the least iniquity in its sight, than God him
self can. It will abate nothing of absolutely perfect obedience. All the
strength and all the mind, every faculty of soul and body is to be exerted, and with
their utmost vigour, in the observance of the law. The heart too is to love it, and
the affections are to be delighted with obeying it.
This is what the law demands of every one of you. It will have a continual,
a spiritual, and a perfect love of God, without one thought ever arising in op
position lo hie holy will ; and the love of your neighbour must be like the love of
yourself. And does any man or woman keep the law in this manner? Do any of
you? Certainly you cannot suppose that you have never broken the law, be
cause you have just now dedared the contrary out of your own mouths. You
have confessed, this day, and on your bended knees, before God "We have

DISCOURSE II. 53
offended against thy holy laws. We have left undone those things which we
ought to have done : and we have done those things which we ought not to
have done." And when you spake these words, did not your consciences
assure you that they were true? For have you not offended against the
holy law of God ? and have not you left undone what it required, and
done what it forbid ? Surely you did not prevaricate with God when, in an
other part of the service, you confessed that you had broken all the com
mandments. The rubric says : " Then shall the priest, turning to the people,
rehearse distinctly all the ten commandments : and the people, still kneeling,
shall, after every commandment, ask God mercy for their transgressions thereof
for the time past, and grace to keep the same for the time to come ;" and
accordingly, after every commandment you prayed God to have mercy upon
you for breaking it, and to incline your hearts to keep it. And have you not all
sinned, and come short of the glory of God, by robbing his law of its due obedience ?
What! would you make me a breaker of all the commandments ? says some
self-righteous formalist : I never murdered any body, nor committed adultery.
No ? Had you never one angry thought or word against your neighbour ? This
is murder. Or did not one impure and unclean thought ever arise in your
mind? This is sin, according to the spiritual law of God. You look at your
actions in the glass of man's law, and, because you have not outwardly offended,
you think you have kept the law of God. There is your mistake. Look at
Matt. v. 21, &c, and at 1 John iii. 15, and you will see that anger and hatred
are murder in the eye of God ; and read Matt. v. 27, 28, where our Lord
teaches you that one lustful look is heart-adultery. God regards the heart ;
and heart-sin is as much sin against his spiritual law as outward transgression :
and when the formalist sees his heart naked and open, as God sees it, he will
not pretend that he has not broken all the commandments, but will rather
desire God to have mercy upon him, and to incline his heart to keep his laws.
If any of you refuse to be determined by these authorities, hear what the
Lord God has declared concerning you ; and his decree will, I hope, be deci
sive. He is represented, in the 14th psalm, as looking down from heaven
upon the children of men, to see if there were any that did understand and
seek after God. But they were all gone out of the way ; they were altogether
become filthy ; there was none that did good, no, not one ; there was not one
of the children of men that did good and sinned not. We have, in the third
chapter of the Romans, the apostle's comment upon this psalm. After having
proved both Jews and Gentiles, that they are all under sin, and transgressors
of the law, as it is written, there is none righteous, no, not one, legally righte
ous, he says, ver. 19: "Now, we know that what things soever the law saith, it
saith to them who are under the law ; that every mouth may be stopped, and all
the world may become guilty before God." Thus God himself has declared
that you have not done good, that you are under sin, and in his sight guilty.
And what can you object to these scriptures ? Sirs, are not you greatly alarmed
at hearing them ? for they come home to every one's case, and ought to reach
every one's conscience. And what are the present apprehensions of your minds
concerning them ? Have you broken the holy law of God, and you know you have,
and do you not dread the consequence of your transgression ? What can tempt
you to hope that you shall escape the threatened penalty ? Has your sorrow for
breaking the law, or your repentance, or your amendment, merit enough so
far to undo the sin committed, as that law cannot demand, nor justice inflict
punishment for it? Or have you some blind notions of absolute mercy in God,
as if he would cease to be just, rather than not be merciful to you ? Men and
brethren, if any or all of these false notions tempt you to be secure under the
breach of the law, and under the wrath of the almighty lawgiver, let us bring
them to the standard of scripture, and inquire,
Fourthly, What is the penalty due to the breach of the moral law ?
When God published his law, he enforced it with proper sanctions. He pro
mised reward to the obedient — " Do this, and thou shalt five." And he threat
ened punishment to the disobedient — " In the day that thou transgressest, dying
thou shalt surely die." This is the rule of God's process. If you keep the law, you

51 THE LAW AND THE GOSPEL.
shall have the life promised. But if vou trangresr, you shall be alienated from the
life of God, and subject to death, to the first and to the second death, to a death
of nature, and to a death of grace ; for both these kinds of death are the punish
ment of sin : " For as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin, so
death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned." And besides this death of
the body, there is a death of the soul—" The soul that sinneth, it shall die,
Ezek. xviii. 4 : it shall be alienated from the life of God for ever and ever, and
shall suffer the vengeance of eternal fire; so that the broken law not only cuts
you off from the fountain of life, but also pours out its curses, and inflicts real tor
ments upon the unholy, the unjust, and the evil, according to the descnption in
Rev. xxi. 8 : " 'Ihe fearful and unbelieving, and the abominable, and mur
derers, and whoremongers, and sorcerers, and idolaters, and all liars, shall have
their part in the lake which burnetii with fire and brimstone : which is the second
These are the penalties which every transgressor of the law deserves, and these
God has threatened to inflict. His will herein is unchangeable. His truth re
quires the performance of his threatenings. His justice is bound to see them
inflicted. His holiness and goodness call upon justice for the immediate execu
tion of the penalties due to sin. And how can the sinner escape ? What can he
do to deliver himself ? He has nothing in his own power wherewith to satisfy
the demands of law and justice. Suppose him sorrowful for his sin ; that sor
row proves him guilty, and leaves him so. Say, lie tries to repent ; the law knows
nothing of repentance ; its language is, Do this, or thou shalt die. Grant, ha
amends his life for the future ; yet, what becomes of his past sins ? Is his doing
part of his duty any satisfaction for neglecting part of it ? The law makes no
provision for any such groundless pleas, but insists upon perfect obedience, and
for the least failure puts the sinner under the curse and under the wrath of God,
and there leaves him to suffer the just punishment of his sin.
But some persons, perhaps, may object, if this be the case, What fleBh can
be saved ? None ; no, not one can be saved by keeping the law ; for all have
sinned and transgressed the law of God : therefore, by the deeds of the law
there shall no flesh be justified in his sight.
But still some may ask, Why then do you preach the law ? Because it is a
schoolmaster to bring men to Christ. It teaches them the nature of sin, and
convinces them of their want of a Saviour. " By the law is the knowledge of
sin," Rom. iii. 20. and vii. 7. Men are secure and careless in sin until the law,
that worketh wrath, reach their consciences ; then they begin to know sin, and
to feel the exceeding sinfulness of it : for it is the ministration of condemnation,"
2 Cor. iii. 9. The law, spiritually understood and applied, convinces the sinner
that he is a condemned creature, shows him in God's word the sentence past
upon him, and makes him dread the execution of it. And thus it becomes to
him " the ministration of death," 2 Cor. iii. 7; proving him to be guilty of
sin, and to be deserving of death. The apostle's case is very common. I thought
myself alive, says he, without the law : he had no doubt but he was alive to
God, while he was a strict pharisee, but when the holy spiritual nature of the law
was made known to him, he found himself to be dead in trespasses and sins.
This, then, is the office of the law. It brings transgressors to the knowledge of
sin, condemns them for it, and puts them under the sentence of death; and when
the law has thus convinced them of their guilt and of their danger, they then find
their want of a Saviour. But without this work of the law, they would not have
been sensible that they stood in any need of him. If they were never sick, they
would never send for the physician. If they were never brought to the know-
ledge of sin, they would never desire the knowledge of a Saviour. If they never
found themselves under guilt and condemnation, they would never sue for his
pardon, and would never ask life of him, unless they found that they deservedto die
the first and the second death. For these reasons the law must be taught. It is the
schoolmaster appointed of God to bring sinners unto Christ ; and when the
schoolmaster comes in the name and power of the divine Spirit, and convinces
them of their distressed state and condition, and makes them sensible of their
guilt and of their misery, then he brings them to Christ, earnestly to ask and

DISCOURSE II. 55
humbly to receive mercy from him, who is the end of the law for righteousness to
every one that believeth.
And now, men and brethren, let us hear this schoolmaster, who is sent from
heaven to teach us a divine lesson. He speaks to you, ye careless and secure in
sin, and denounces the anger of the almighty lawgiver against you. Oh ! with
what a terrible voice does he reveal the wrath of God from heaven against all
your ungodliness and unrighteousness. There is nothing dreadful in earth or
hell, nothing to be feared in time or in eternity, but what is included in this most
awful sentence, " Cursed be he that confirmeth not all the words of this law
to do them," Deut. xxvii. 26. Have you done them ? Have you done ALL
that the law required ? and in the perfect manner required ? I dare appeal to
your consciences. You may try to stifle their evidence, but they will speak ; and
do they not at this very time charge you with sin ? You know that you have
not kept all the law; and what then is the consequence? Why, the law pro
nounces you cursed ; and it would make your ears tingle, and your heart melt
within you, if you were to consider what is to be under the curses of the law, and
to have the wrath of God abiding upon you for ever and ever. Have you no
sense of these things, and no fearful apprehensions about your present condition ?
Is not conscience alarmed at the greatness of your danger ? and do not the terrors
of the law stir you up to flee from the wrath to come ? If not, if all be quiet
therein, while you hear the law of the most high God, which ought to convince
you of your guilt, and to make you apprehensive of your misery, then you are
indeed sleeping the sleep of death. O may the God of all mercy take pity on
you, and awaken you ! lest you should sleep on until the curses of the law be
actually inflicted, and wrath come upon you to the uttermost.
Some persons may think it happy for them that they are not careless and
secure in sin ; for they endeavour to keep the law as well as they can; and God
is a merciful God ; he will forgive them when tbey do amiss. This is a common,
but it is a very dangerous mistake : for it supposes that the law can abate some
thing of its demands, and can accept of an imperfect obedience : whereas the
law 18 the holy, just, and good will of God, which altereth not. It requires per
fect and universal obedience, and, in case of the least transgression, condemns
the sinner and passes sentence. If be plead that he never offended but in this
particular instance, that is pleading guilty. If a man be indicted for murder,
and the fact be proved upon him, and he be found guilty, and the judge pass
sentence, what would it avail him if he should make this plea, that he had never
been guilty of high-treason? The judge would observe to him that he was not
accused of high-treason, but of murder, of which he was found guilty and con
demned, and his not being a traitor was no reason why he should not be executed
for being a murderer. So your not having broken this or that commandment
cannot save you from the just sentence of the law, if you have broken any of
them. Suppose you are not an adulterer, yet, if you are a murderer, you deserve
to die, and to receive the wages of sin : " For he that said, Do not commit adul
tery, said also, Do not kill. Now, if thou commit no adultery, yet if thou kill,
thou art become a transgressor ofthe law," James ii. 11.
But some wiU say, Shall we not be accepted, if we endeavour to keep the law
as well as we can ? No. The style of the law is, Do. It does not say, Endea
vour to keep the commandment, but it speaks with authority, Do it, and do
it perfectly, and in every point, and with all the mind, and with all the soul, and
with all the heart, and with all the strength. Here is no room left for good
resolutions, or good endeavours, but an actual performance of the whole law is
demanded. The least faihng or short-coming is a transgression, and therefore
is an absolute forfeiture of legal righteousness, and of every blessing promised
to the perfect keeping of the law.
Some persons go a little further than good endeavours, and think God will
accept them for their sincere obedience: whereas the law has nothing
to do with sincerity. When you come to be tried by the law, the only ques
tion will be, whether you have broken it, or not ? If not, tbe promised re
ward is yours. You may claim it as your due : for to him that worketh is the
reward not reckoned of grace, but of death. But if you have broken the law,

56 THE LAW AND THE GOSPEL.
your sincere obedience cannot be accepted in the place of perfect obedience;
because the law has made no provision for your case. It requires a continual
performance of all its commands, and in a perfect manner ; and if you fail, and
then plead your sincerity in your favour, that is owning your guilt, and is a con
fession of your not having continued in all things which are written in the book
of the law to do them ; and therefore, as your sincere obedience is not perfect, it
leaves you still under the curse of the law, and under the wrath of God.
There are other persons who think that there is some kind of absolute mercy in
God, and that, although they have sinned, yet he is ready to forgive. But this is
not the character of God as drawn in the law; for the law considers him as the
sovereign Lord of heaven and earth, having absolute authority to enact laws for
the government of his creatures, over whom he presides with unerring justice,
to see his laws carried into execution. Justice is the ruling attribute of the su
preme lawgiver. As his laws are just, so are its sanctions. It is equally just in
him to punish transgressors, as to reward the obedient ; for the judge of all the
earth cannot but do right, and distribute impartial justice. Whether he can show
mercy to the guilty, is not the question; but whether he has made any provision
in his law for showing them mercy : and he certainly has not. God is not de
scribed in the law as a God of mercy, but as a sovereign judge, whose wrath, and
not whose mercy, is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighte*
ousness of men.
But if the lawgiver has made no promise in his law, that he will show mercy
to sinners, yet wiU he not be prevailed on by their sorrow and tears, their repent
ance and amendment ? There is not one word in the law to encourage a sinner
to hope for mercy, because he is sorry for his sin. It is full of threatening;
against the least offence, and for the least cuts the offender off from all claim to
legal righteousness. When he is in this state, what merit is there in sorrow, that
it should change the laws of the most high God, or what efficacy in tears, that
they should cause him to be reputed innocent, who is in fact guilty ? He has
forfeited all right and title to the happiness which the law promised to obedience,
and when he sees this, he grows sorry for what he has done amiss. So does a
murderer, when found guilty, and condemned to suffer ; but does the judge par
don him because he is sorry for his crime ? By no means. But he gives signs
of true sorrow. He weeps bitterly. Suppose he does, yet the law demands obe
dience, and not tears for disobeying. These tears flow from a sense of guilt ; and
if there were rivers of them they could not wash the stain of guilt out of the con
science ; because the law has not ascribed any such virtue to them, as to accept of
many tears for having offended, instead of unsinning obedience. And, granting
he goes a step farther ; he repents and amends. But what becomes of the
broken law, and of the deserved penalty ? Can simple repentance undo the sin
committed ? or can amendment for the future avert the penalty already deserved ?
No, these are things impossible. The law will have obedience or punishment ;
and justice is engaged to see that the law be obeyed, and the threatened punish
ment inflicted ; and therefore, after you have disobeyed, the law can allow no
place for repentance, nor no way to escape punishment, although you seek it
carefully with tears.
But if the law cannot show the offender mercy, does it leave him without hope ?
Yes. It can show him no mercy, nor does it give him any hope. It convinces
him of sin, condemns him for it, and sentences him to the first and to the second
death. What ! must he despair, then ! Of being able to attain mercy by any means in
his own power, he must despair — despair of working out for himself such righte
ousness as the law demands — despair of escaping, by any sorrow or repentance oi
his, the punishment which justice is bound to inflict. And when he finds him
self in this guilty and helpless state, then will he be glad to hear of a Saviour.
Blessed be God, there is salvation for him who despairs of being saved by the
law. To him the gospel offers a free pardon. When he flies to the gospel, seek
ing to be saved by free grace, then there is mercy for him, and plenteous redemp
tion. When he cries out, O wretched man that I am ! who Bhall deliver me from
the curses of the broken law, and from the justice of an offended God ? The

DISCOURSE III. 57
gospel points out unto him the victorious Saviour, who hath redeemed his people
from the curse of the law, being made a curse for them, and hath satisfied all the
demands of his Father's justice, having made reconciliation for iniquity, and
brought in everlasting righteousness. And therefore he can save to the utter
most. If there be any of you whom the broken law accuses, and whom justice is
pursuing to inflict the threatened punishment, fly to this almighty Saviour, and
you will find in him a safe refuge. He can save you from the condemnation of
the law; for there is no condemnation to them that are in Christ Jesus. And he
can deliver you from the stroke of justice ; for who shall lay any thing to the
charge of God's elect, since it is God himself that justifieth them ?
This is the great salvation set before you, who despair of being saved by the
law. It is a free, full, and eternal salvation. He who has it to give, has gra
ciously convinced you of your want of it, and has made you willing to receive it
as a free gift. Ask it then of him, deeply sensible of your unworthiness, and of
your helplessness, and he will incline his ear unto your petitions : for he never
cast out the prayer of the poor destitute. Ask, and ye shall have the precious gift
of faith, and great joy and peace in believing that you are redeemed from ihe
curse of the law, and that you are enriched with the blessings of the gospel You
will be made the children of God, and will receive the adoption of sons through
faith in Christ Jesus, and if sons, then you will be heirs, heirs of God, and joint
heirs with Christ of an inheritance incorruptible and undefiled, and that fadeth
not away, reserved in heaven for you ; which may the Father reserve for you all,
for the sake of his beloved Son, through the effectual grace of the Holy Spirit,
that to the three persons in one Jehovah you may be happy in ascribing equal
honour and glory, and blessing, and praise, for ever and ever! Amen.

DISCOURSE III
UPON THE CEREMONIAL LAW
Until the day break, and the shadows flee away, I will get me to the mountain of
myrrh, and to the hill of frankincense. — Song of Solomon, iv. 6.
After man had broken the moral law, and had fallen into a helpless state of
guilt and misery, it pleased God to reveal the covenant of grace. As soon as the
way to salvation was stopped by the law, he opened a new and living way by the
gospel. The Messiah was promised, and the rites and ceremonies were instituted,
which were to represent what he was to be and to do for the salvation of men.
" Which things were a shadow, but the body, or substance, was Christ." They
were expressive figures and shadows of his actions and sufferings, and in them
the religion of the gospel was delineated to the senses of the believer. This law
of ceremonies was revealed upon the fall, and afterwards republished in writing
by Moses. It had God for its author, and was established by his divine authority,
and therefore it deserves our particular consideration.
In my last discourse I endeavoured to explain the scope and design of tho
moral law, and to prove that, by its works, no flesh can be justified in the sight of
God. The next body of law is the ceremonial, which preached salvation from the
pains and penalties incurred by the breach of the moral law. It held forth this
doctrine under a great variety of types and figures, and taught it in many plain
passages. The words which I have read contain the Messiah's own sentiments
of the subject. The commentators allow him to be the speaker, and he is ad
dressing himself to the believer, with whom he holds sweet and spiritual discourse
in this divine treatise. He particularly informs them where he vouchsafed his
presence, and would be found of them that sought him, so long as the ceremonial
law was in force. Until the day break, says he, until the day of my first coming
in the flesh shall dawn, and the shadows flee away (the types and shadows of the
law shall vanish), I will get me to the mountain of myrrh, and to the hill of frank-

3t( THE LAW AND THE GOSPEL.
incense, to the mountain of the Lord's house, even to the holy hill of Sion , and
there I will be spiritually present in the temple service ; I wul there give my
blessing to the ordinances, and wUl make them the means of grace : whatever
your wants may be, apply to me in these instituted means, and you wul find an
abundant supply : for, untU the day break, and the shadows flee away, &c.
The consideration of this passage wiU, I hope, by the assistance of God, heln us
to comprehend the scope and design of the ceremonial law. And may the Holy
Spirit, who inspired these words, accompany our present meditation upon them,
that we may,
First, Clearly understand their true sense and meaning ; and
Secondly, May be established in the doctrine which they contain.
There are many parts of the Song hard to be understood, especially by the un
learned and unstable, who wrest it, as they do also the other scriptures, to their
own destruction. But the passage which we have now before us is very easy.
There is no difficulty in it to persons who have a little acquaintance with the scrip
ture manner of writing, which constantly uses and accommodates natural things
to explain spiritual, suiting its instructions to man's present embodied state, in
which he cannot see the things of grace but through the glass of nature. The
language of the Old Testament is entirely of this kind. Every Hebrew word has a
literal sense, and stands for some sensible object, and thereby gives us a compa
rative idea of some spiritual object. As this is the nature of the language, so is
it also of the subject-matter of the book of Canticles. It is drawn up in the
manner of a dialogue, in which outward and material things are used to represent
inward and spiritual things. This way of writing is very abstruse to those who
have not the senses of their souls exercised to discern the things of God, but to
those who have, it is an easy book. He who runs may read it, if he has but a little
acquaintance with the scripture language, and some of that love in his heart, of
which this book treats : for it is a song of loves, setting forth the mutual affec
tion between Christ and the believer, who is united to fiim by saving faith. And
m the words of my text, Christ informs the believer where he might at all times
find his presence. He would be spiritually present in the services and ceremo
nies of the temple. By these he would convey grace and strength to his faithful
people, until his coming in the flesh.
Until the day break. The scripture mentions two days, by way of eminence,
and distinguishes them by two of the greatest events which the Redeemer's love
and power are to produce — the day of Christ's first coming, and the day of his
second coming. The day of his first coming in the flesh is here spoken of— the
day which Abraham earnestly desired to see, and which is often mentioned in
the prophets under the expressions "ofthe day of the Lord, or the day of our
God;" and sometimes it is very emphaticaUy styled " that day ;" that day's won
ders raising it above aU days from the beginning to the end of time. And, in
the New Testament, our Lord calls it my day, the day of my incarnation, when
I, Jehovah, should take a body of flesh, and God and man should be one Christ.
This day many prophets and kings desired to see ; for God manifest in the flesh
was the foundation of their faith and hopes. They longed to see this day break,
and to behold the sun of righteousness, with his saving and healing influences,
arising upon the earth ; and, when he did arise, we find those who were then
looking for redemption singing his praises with grateful hearts : " Blessed be the
Lord God of Israel, through whose tender mercy the day-spring from on high
hath visited us : " they blessed God, because the substance was now to take
place of the shadow, and aU the legal ceremonies were to be succeeded by gospel
realities. When the glorious day of Christ's appearance in the flesh was come,
and the fight of life was risen upon the earth, then
The shadows were to fee away. The legal ceremonies are called shadows in
scripture, because they were the outward and visible signs of inward and spi
ritual objects. St. Paul says, the ceremonial law " had the shadow of good
things to come," Heb. x. 1 ; of the good things which are now come to us by the
advent of Christ ; and it had the patterns and examples of heavenly things ; every
one of which had God for its author, and was instituted by him to be an apt
figure, and to raise a just idea of some spiritual object ; as Moses was admonished

DISCOURSE III. 59
of God, when he was about to make the tabernacle. " For see,'' saith he, " that
thou make all things according to the pattern showed to thee in the mount."
Every rite and ceremony was a pattern of some heavenly object, the real exist
ence of which the pattern proved, as a shadow proves the reality of the Bubstance
from which it is cast, and the resemblance and likeness of which is 6et before the
eyes, as the shadow of a body is a representation of it. The scripture has ex
pressly determined what aU these shadows were to represent : for the apostle,
speaking of them in Col. ii. 17, declares, "that they were the shadow of things
to come, but the body is of Christ." Christ is the reality of all the shadows of
the law ; he is the body, and the substance, of whom they are the pictures. If
you take away their reference to him, they cease to be examples and shadows of
heavenly things ; but if you suppose them to represent him and his actions, and
sufferings, &c. then they answered many noble purposes, until he came in the
flesh to fulfil them ; for then these shadows were to flee away ; one great end of
their institution being answered. The observance of them was to be no longer in
force ; but they were to be entirely repealed and abrogated. However, untd this
blessed day should break, and these legal shadows should thus flee away, the text
says, they were to serve a double purpose : they were, first, to be the outward
and visible signs of the inward and spiritual grace given unto us, and ordained
by Christ himself, to be, secondly, a means whereby we receive the same, and a
pledge to assure us thereof. This is plainly implied in the last words of the text,
in which Christ declares that, until the ceremonies were fulfilled by his coming
in the flesh, he would be spiritually present in them.
I will get me to the mountain of myrrh, and to the hill of frankincense. Where
was this mountain of myrrh ? Was it not the place in which the Lord was pre
sent, until the shadows were fled away ? And where was he present, but in the
services of the ceremonial law, which could not be performed any where, when
the text was spoken, but in the temple ? There the Lord had put his name, and
had sanctified the house by the presence of his glory. " I have chosen," says
the Lord, 2 Chron. vii. 16," and sanctified this house, that my name might be
there for ever, and mine eyes and mine heart shall be there perpetually : " there
will I receive the sacrifices which I have forbidden to be offered anywhere else ;
there will I accept of the prayers of the faithful offerer : and there wiU I dwell
between the cherubim, with visible tokens of my divine presence and glory. As
he chose the people of Israel, out of all the nations of tbe earth, to be his people,
so he chose his sanctuary in Judah, and the holy hill of Sion to be bis dwelling-
place, manifesting his presence there in such a manner as he did nowhere else
in the world ; and therefore we may infer that, when Christ says, I will get me to
the mountain of myrrh, until the shadows flee away, he certainly means the
mountain of the Lord's house. And the Hebrew word justifies this inference ;
for the word rendered myrrh is the very same root with Moriah, the mount upon
which the temple stood. I will get me, says Christ, to the mountain of Moriah,
and there will I dwell, because I have a delight therein. So that we have here a
plain testimony of Christ's presence in the ceremonial services performed upon
mount Moriah. In these he was to be found of them that sought him, until the
day of his manifestation in the flesh. And the meaning of the word seems to
me further to confirm this interpretation : for it signifies bitterness, what is bitter
to the taste, and bitter to the spirit, grievous and hard to be bome ; and what
was there to be seen or done upon mount Moriah to render this its proper
name ? Look at the chief part of the temple service, and then judge. It con
sisted in making gifts and sacrifices for sin, in which you may behold a striking
picture of the bitter sufferings ofthe Lamb of God. In the sacrifices were repre
sented, every day, things more bitter than death, the shedding of his blood, and
the taking away of his life. He made his soul an offering for sin, and to satisfy
the infinite demands of law and justice. His agony and bloody sweat, his cross
nnd passion, show what bitter things the Father had written against him. These
were represented in the roasting ofthe paschal lamb with fire, and in the eating it
with bitter herbs. And when Christ our passover was sacrificed for us, and
really underwent the fire ofthe Father's wrath, there never was any sorrow like

69 THE LAW AND THE GOSPEL.
unto that sorrow, which forced him to cry out, in the bitterness of his soul, " My
God ! my God ! why hast thou forsaken me!"
If all these circumstances be laid together, they will evidently determine the
place of Christ's presence, whUe the ceremonial law was in force. He was spi
ritually present in the temple service, to render the sacrifices, and the other
typical rites, the means of grace, and effectual to the ends for which they were
instituted : for after the moral law was broken, there was no way to salvation,
but faith in the promised Saviour; and the necessity of faith in him was taught by
the services of the ceremonial law, as it is written, " through faith they kept the
passover : " they acted faith upon Christ in the passover ; they slew and roasted
the paschal lamb with fire, and ate it with bitter herbs, knowing it to be a type of
the future sacrifice of the Lamb of God, of the benefits of whose death they were
then, through faith, partakers. They found llis spiritual presence strengthening
and refreshing their souls at the passover, as we do now at the Lord's supper ;
and they knew that, through his merits and mediation, their persons and wieir
services were accepted to God the Father, which is, I think, the sense of the last
words of the text,
J will get me to the hill of frankincense.
This is the same place mentioned before, only described by another name, to
express a different property. Incense was, by divine command, a chief part of
the temple service. As the sacrifices offered in the temple were to represent the
death of Christ, so the incense there offered was to represent the sweet savour of
llis meritorious death, which alone could reconcile God to sinners, and could
render them and their services weU-pleasing in his sight ; and therefore that rich
perfume, mentioned Exod. xxx, which was the type of the Bweet incense of
Christ's merits, was forbidden, on pain of death, to be used upon any other occa
sion than in the service of God, and in any other place than in the tabernacle, at
that time, and afterwards, in the temple. 'Ihe command is, ver. 36, " Thou shalt
put of it before the testimony, in the tabernacle of the congregation, where I will
meet with thee: it shall be unto you most holy :" ver. 58, "Whosoever shall make
like unto that, to smeU thereto, shall even be cut off from his people." This was
to show that God the Father is seen to be propitious to sinners, only through
the merits of his Son's sacrifice, and that he who seeks to be accepted in any
other way or means shall die in his sins. The incense then was a type of
Christ's meritorious death, and the hill of frankincense was the holy hill of Sion,
upon which incense used to be offered, and a pure offering. The offering was
that great sacrifice of the Lamb of God, shadowed out by aU the sacrifices slain
from the foundation of the world ; and the incense was to represent the efficacy
of his sacrifice. It is said of the typical offerings, that the Lord smelled a sweet
savour ; how much more was he pleased with the offering and sacrifice of Christ,
which was indeed a sweet-smelling savour, acceptable and well-pleasing unto
God ?
But how was Christ present in the offering up of the incense ? It was his in
stitution, and he was spiritually present to render it effectual to the ends for
which he instituted it. He appointed it to be one of the means of grace ; for he
taught believers, by this ceremony, that he could make them and theii services
acceptable to the offended Deity ; and, by his Spirit, he gave them the comfort
able knowledge of their acceptance. When, therefore, he mentions his presence
on the hill of frankincense, it is as if he had said, When the high priest enters
once every year, at the great feast of atonement, into the holy of holies, and there
fumes the incense before the cherubim of glory, and sprinkles the blood before
the mercy-seat, I wiU then enable believers to act faith upon my future fulfilling
and realizing of this service : for, after my sacrifice upon earth, I will enter into
the holy of holies, and wiU there plead my merits before the mercj'-seat in hea
ven, and, by my aU-prevailing intercession, wiU render the persons and the ser
vices of believers wefi-pleasmg unto God the Father. Thus Christ was present
upon the hill of frankincense ; and there the faithful expected to meet with him
for, while the pnest was offering up the incense in the temple, the people used *o
be at prayers without, hoping that the angel ofthe covenant, who had much in-

DISCOURSE III. 61
cense given to him to offer it up with the prayers of all the saints, upon the golden
altar which was before the throne, would make the smoke of the incense ascend
up with their prayers before God. In this hope we find the whole multitude of
the people (Luke i. 10.) praying without, at the time that Zacharias was burning
the incense in the temple of the Lord.
From the sense and meaning of the words, as thus in part opened and ex
plained, the following doctrine may be established. Upon the breach of the
moral law, the ceremonial law was instituted to prefigure the promised Messiah,
and his actions and sufferings, and to preach forgiveness of sins through him.
Until the day of his coming in the flesh, the ceremonies served as shadows to
raise ideas of him, and as means of grace to support the faith and hopes of his
people : they were outward and visible signs of inward and spiritual grace, in the
very same manner as the sacraments are at present, signing and sealing to be
lievers the benefits purchased by the obedience and sufferings of the Lamb of
God. This is the doctrine which I purposed, under my second general head, to
establish. The whole volume of scripture considers the ceremonial law in this same
point of view. It was the scope and design of the Old Testament to reveal to
sinners the covenant of grace, and to teach them how they might attain pardon
for their breach of the moral law. Upon the first breach of it, the Messiah was
promised, and the rites and services of the ceremonial law were instituted, to
keep up faith and hopes in him, until his coming in the flesh ; for they showed
what he was to be, and to do, and to suffer. The New Testament relates the
accomplishment of the Old, proving Jesus of Nazareth to be the promised Mes
siah, and declaring how he did and suffered every thing prefigured by the types,
and foretold by the prophets. Both Testaments, therefore, treat of one and the
same subject, namely, of the way and method by which the transgressors of the
moral law may be delivered from the guilt and punishment which they have in
curred. This is the opinion of our church, in her sixth article : " The Old Tes
tament is not contrary to the New; for both in the Old and New Testament ever
lasting life ia offered to mankind by Jesus Christ." The everlasting life forfeited by
the breach of the moral law is offered to mankind in the Old Testament as weU
as in the New, and offered by the same Saviour, Jesus Christ, and offered by
the same gospel of the grace of God : for unto us, says the apostle, Heb. iv. 2,
"was the gospel preached, as well as unto them." He i3 speaking of the Is
raelites, who, after their deliverance from Egypt, perished in the wilderness
through unbelief; and he says, that what is preached unto us, was preached unto
them. They had the same gospel which Paul preached ; and what it was he
thus informs the Corinthians : I declare unto you the gospel which I preached
unto you, how that Christ died for our sins, according to the scriptures, and that
he was buried, and that he rose again the third day, according to the scriptures.
This is our gospel, and it was theirs under the Old Testament dispensation.
Believers then had the same faith that we have, in the same Saviour. The
gospel preached to them the coming of Christ, his sufferings and death for their
sins, and his resurrection : they believed he would come, and we believe he is
come. In this single circumstance their gospel differs from ours. Our re
formers, in the second part of the homily upon faith, speaking of the fathers,
martyrs, and other holy men, mentioned Heb. xi, have these remarkable words :
" They did not only know God to be the Lord, maker, and governor of all men
in the world ; but also they had a special confidence and trust, that he was, and
would be, their God, their comforter, aider, helper, maintainer, and defender
This is the Christian faith which these holy men had, and which we also ought
to have, and although they were not named Christian men, yet was it a ( hristian
faith that they had.; for they looked for all the benefits of God the Father, through
the merits of his Son Jesus Christ, as we do now. This difference is between
them and us ; that they looked when Christ should come, and we be in the time
when he is come ; therefore, saith St. Augustine, the time is altered and changed,
but not the faith." Faith was always the same. Ever since the moral law was
first broken, there bas been but one gospel, which preached salvation by one
Lord, and one faith.

62 THE LAW AND THE GOSPEL.
If you ask, How was it preached to the holy men of old ? It was revealed to
them by many plain prophecies (" for the testimony of Jesus is the Spirit of
prophecy ") and by many significant types and expressive ceremonies ; under
which Christ was as clearly preached as he is under the sacraments of the New
Testament : for aU these were memorials, instituted on purpose to keep him in
memory; and they were patterns serving as copies to convey ideas of their
originals, according to what is written, Exod. xxv. 40. And look, says God to
Moses, that thou make them, namely, the tabernacle and all its vessels, after
their pattern, which was showed thee in the mount ; they were the patterns of
heavenly things, as St. Paul, reasoning upon this passage, has assured us, Heb.
viii. 5 : " Who serve unto the example and shadow of heavenly things, as Moses
was admonished of God, when he was about to make the tabernacle : for see,
saith he, that thou make all things according to the pattern showed to thee in
the mount." Here is a plain description of the scope and design of the cere
monial law. An infallible interpreter assures us, that it served for an example
and shadow of heavenly things. Its ceremonies were examples to set these
heavenly things before men's eyes, and to raise ideas of them ; and they were
shadows to delineate them, and to give an outward sketch of them; and they
were patterns like a good plan ot design, representing them clearly and dis
tinctly. This was the nature of the types : they were instituted to prefigure the
heavenly things which were to be in Christ, and which were to be derived from
him to believers.
In this sense, Christ was present upon Moriah. He was the types and ser
vices. These were his representatives. They stood for him, and acted in his name,
and by his authority were deputed to declare his gracious intentions towards
the transgressors of the moral law : for they aU preached Christ, and salvation
through his infinitely meritorious sacrifice. The whole temple-service repre
sented him in this light . for the temple itself was the type and figure of his
body. Our Lord himself calls it so. " Destroy this temple, and in three days
I will buUd it up," John ii. 19. But he spake, says St. John, of the temple of
his body, of the true tabernacle which the Lord pitched, and not man. And
herein he spake agreeably to the weu-known usage of scripture, which calls the
type and the thing typified by the same name. The temple was the type of his
body, and every part of its furniture was a type and figure of what was to be in
the humanity of the incarnate God. All its vessels were apt figures and beauti
ful pictures of those divine graces which were in him, and which believers were
to receive out of his fulness. The holy place represented what he was to do
upon earth : the holy of holies represented what he was to do in heaven for his
people. At the entrance of the holy place stood the laver, fiUed with water, with
which the priests were to wash, when they went in and came out of the temple.
This was to set forth the infinitely purifying virtue which was in Christ, and
with which he was to cleanse sinners from the pollution of sin, as he says in the
prophet : " Then will I sprinkle clean water upon you, and ye shall be clean :
from all your filthiness and from all your idols will 1 cleanse you," Ezek. xxxvi.
25. Next to the laver stood the altar of burnt-offering, on which the blood of
the sacrifice was offered ; hereby was represented the aU-meritorious blood of the
Lamb of God, which alone taketh away the guilt of sin. On one side of the holy
place stood the candlestick, with its lamps always burning to represent that
divine light which came into the world, that he who followeth it should not walk
in darkness, but should have the light of life. On the other side stood the table
of shew-bread, the figure of that bread of God, which came down from heaven,
and of which, if any man eat, he shaU live for ever. At the upper end of the
holy place, next the veil, stood the altar of incense, to represent the sweet-
smelling savour of Christ's sacrifice, through faith in which the transgressors of
the moral law are reconcUed to God the Father, and rendered acceptable and
well-pleasing in his sight.
The most holy place, or the holy of holies, was the figure of heaven; and what
was done in it, once a year, by the high priest, was to represent what our great
high priest does in heaven for us and for our salvation. This doctrine is very
clearly taught in several parts of the epistle to tbe Hebrews, Thus we read that,

DISCOURSE III. 63
into the second tabernacle went the high priest alone once every year, not
witnout blood, which he offered for himself, and for the errors of the people ;
the Holy Ghost thus signifying, that the way into the hohest of all was not yet
made manifest, while as the first tabernacle was not yet standing : which was a
figure for the time then present," Heb. ix. 7, 8, 9. And what the Holy Ghost sig
nified by this service could not but be known, while the tabernacle and temple
stood, because it was a figure for the time then present. The 9th chapter, and
great part of the 10th, treat entirely of this subject. The high priest was the
type of Christ, our great intercessor. His going in once a year into the holy of
holies, was the figure of Christ's appearing once in the end of the world, and
opening a new and living way for us into the holiest. His carrying blood to
sprinkle upon the mercy-seat, and incense to fume before the cherubim of
glory, was to represent Christ's pleading the merits of his blood at the throne of
grace, which was an odour of a sweet smell, a sacrifice well-pleasing and accept
able to the Holy Trinity. The high priests coming out of the holy of holies to
bless the people, was the figure of Christ's coming from the hohest to bless his
people with an everlasting blessing — " Come ye blessed of my Father, inherit
the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world."
It appears, then, from all these authorities, that the ceremonial law preached
Christ, and salvation through him, from the guilt and punishment incurred by
the breach of the moral law. All its services prefigured him, and were lively
and expressive pictures of what he was to be, and to do, and to suffer, in order
to make an atonement for sin. His sacrifice for this purpose was represented by
all the typical sacrifices : for without shedding of blood there was no remission ;
and it was not possible that the blood of bulls and of goats should take away
sins ; therefore believers hoped for remission through his most precious blood,
and sacrificed in faith, relying on the future offering of the Lamb of God : so
that it was plainly the scope and design of the ceremonial law to preach remis
sion of sins through the shedding of blood. When any person had offended,
and hia conscience accused him of sin, he was required to bring his sacrifice to
the priest, and to lay his hands upon its head, and to confess his sins over it :
after this its life was to be taken away, and its blood shed instead of the sinner's
life. And this was to be done, even when a person had offended through igno
rance. But in what did the merit of the sacrifice consist ? Did its blood take
away sin ? No. It was not possible the blood of bulls and of goats should do
that. The sacrifice was only a memorial instituted to bring the Messiah into
mind, as if he had said, Do this in remembrance of me ; remembering in every
sacrifice the future sacrifice of the Lamb of God ; and believers did remember
him. When they ate of the paschal lamb, by faith they discerned the Lord's
body, and enjoyed communion with Christ, our passover, as we do now at the
Lord's supper. They found him present in the ordinances, according to his
most true promise in the text. Until the day dawn, says he, the great day of
my appearing in the flesh, and the shadows flee away, the shadows of the cere
monial law be realized and fulfilled in my life, obedience, sufferings, death, re
surrection, and ascension ; until these things be, I will be spiritually present upon
mount Moriah, in the temple worship, and upon the hill of frankincense, to
render the persons and the services of my people well-pleasing and acceptable
unto God the Father.
Since, then, it was the scope and design of the ceremonial law to prefigure Christ
under its expressive types and shadows, do you, my brethren, look upon it in this
light ? Are you convinced that the Old Testament contains the gospel, and the evi
dence for its doctrines ? And have you read it carefully, in order to collect this
evidence, and to establish yourselves in your most holy faith ? Or, instead of
making this use of the Old Testament, have you greatly neglected it, supposing
it to contain a religion different from Christianity ? This is the opinion of too
many among us. But it is very unscriptural. The New Testament is so far
from being contrary to, that it is in perfect harmony with the Old. They both
preach one gospel, one Saviour, and one faith ; for, both in the Old and New
Testament, everlasting life is ottered to mankind by Jesus Christ. And this life
by him was preached by the ceremonies of the Old Testament, as well as by the

64 THE LAW AND THE GOSPEL.
sacraments of the New, with only this difference — the New ia the fulfilling of the
Old ; the Old Testament promises the Messiah should come and dwell among
men, and the New proves that he did come, and that God has been manifest in
the flesh. Consider what has been said at present in proof of this point. Weigh
it carefuUy ; and then I hope you wiU read the Old Testament with great plea
sure and profit, finding it testifying throughout of Christ, and of salvation
through him.
But what have we to do, may some say, with the Jewish types and cere
monies ? Are they not aU now repealed and abrogated ? Yes. Christ has ful
filled them, even to the least jot and tittle ; but they still stand upon the record,
to teach us what he was to fulfil. They stiU continue to bear evidence for
Christ, although the observance of them hath ceased ; therefore we are still con
cerned to search what witness they bear of him. " Search the Bcriptures," says
Christ; "for these are they which testify of me." There were no scriptures,
when he spake this, but the Old Testament ; and it testified of Christ. It did
bear witness of him, by its types ; for they were shadows of good things to come,
of which Christ is the body; and by its prophecies ; for the testimony of Jesus is
the spirit of prophecy, iiiis testimony it still bears, witnessing to us what
Christ was to be, and to do, and to suffer, as the New Testament witnesses to
us that Jesus of Nazareth was the promised Messiah ; for he was, and did, and
suffered what the Old Testament had foretold. Thus they mutually support
each other. The Old Testament looks forward to the accomplishment of its
ceremonies and prophecies, referring its readers to some person who was to
fulfil the law and the prophets, and the New Testament proves Jesus of Naza
reth to be the person ; and thus aU the scriptures testify of him.
If you ask in what particular respect does the ceremonial law testify of. him,
it considers him chiefly in this point of view. Ihe moral law being broken,
and the transgressors of it being under guilt and liable to punishment, Christ
was proposed to them by the types, as the sacrifice and atonement for their sins.
AU the sacrifices pointed at his sacrifice ; and the atonement made by them had
no merit but what was derived by faith from his aU-perfect atonement : for he
was the lamb fore-ordained to be slain by the covenant of the ever-blessed
Trinity, which was made before the foundation of the world ; and he was the
lamb typicaUy slain from the foundation of the world in all the sacrifices after
the fall, and slain really in the fulness of time, when he appeared to put away
sin by the sacrifice of himself. In this respect, all the sacrifices pointed to the
Lamb of God, referring the transgressors of the moral law to his most precious
blood, without the shedding of which there could be no remission : because it
was not possible that the blood of beasts could take away sin.
Upon this state of the doctrine there arises an important question, in which,
my brethren, you are aU nearly concerned, namely, Whether you look upon
Christ in the same light that the ceremonial law places him. AU the ceremonies
pointed to him ; and when any one had offended against the moral law, the cere
monial law required him to bring his sacrifice to make an atonement for his sin :
for without shedding of blood there was no remission ; and thus he was taught to
hope for remission only through the shedding of the blood of the Lamb of God.
Now, my brethren, Do you act as the ceremonial law enjoins ? Are you convinced
of your offences against the moral law, and sensible of your guilt, and apprehensive
of your danger ? Have you put your trust in the saenfice of the immaculate Lamb
of God ? Have you placed all your hopes of pardon on the merits of his most
precious blood ? If not, what besides can you rely upon ? You have sinned; and
the wages of sin is death. The almighty lawgiver has declared, that you shall
die — " The soul that sinneth, it shaU die." Under this sentence you fie, as to
anything you can do, either to respite it, or to revoke it, untU it be executed
upon you. Your life is forfeited, and you must die the death. And while
justice spares you, how do you resolve to act ? You hear there is a Saviour, and
redemption in his blood. He laid down his life, and died to purchase life for all
transgressors, who wiU come unto him for it : either, therefore, you must receive
life of him, or die. Consider then, seriously, which of these two is your choice.
Which would you have ? life or death ? If you refuse to come to Christ for life,

DISCOURSE IV. 65
you must die. Your blood must be shed, and your soul must perish ; for the
Lord God, who cannot he, hath spoken, that without shedding of blood there is
no remission : unless, therefore, you are saved by the blood of Christ, there is no
remission for you. You must die in your sins.
But if you seek to be saved by the blood of Christ, and desire the life pur
chased by his death, you have all possible encouragement to hope for his favour.
He has begun, and he must carry on the work. Wait upon him, then, for his
frace in the ways of his appointment, and you wiU find him stiU present in them.
eek his face in prayer. Hope to find his good Spirit in hearing and reading
his word, and continue thus in his service, and he will give you to experience
the truth of the doctrine preached by the ceremonial law. All its sacrifices
taught remission of sin through blood ; and all pointed to the bleeding Lamb of
God, and to his atonement ; and, by faith, believers of old received the benefit
of his atonement, as we do at present ; for by faith they kept the passover and
the sprinkling of blood, lest he that destroyed the first-born in Egypt should touch
them. Wait upon God, and he wiU enable you also to act faith upon Christ
your passover ; and when his blood has been sprinkled upon your heart, the
destroying angel cannot then touch you. This blood will keep you from death,
and from him that hath the power of death. Through faith in it, you wiU live
in the comfortable knowledge of what this scripture means: " He that believeth
in me," says Christ, " though he were dead, yet shall he live ; and whosoever
Iiveth and believeth in me, shall never die," John xi. 25, 26. Happy are they who
thus believe and live in him. They have redemption in his blood, even the for
giveness of sins ; and they are passed from death unto life. They know the
infinite value of his atonement, not only for the forgiveness of their past offences
against the moral law, but also for their present failings. They want the benefit
of his most precious blood every day : for all that these do wants to be cleansed
in the fountain which was opened for sin and for uncleanness. They are forced
to bring their very duties to be cleansed here, because these do not come up to
the perfect demands of the moral law. There are short comings in their most
holy things, for which they want an atonement. Oh how precious, then, must the
blood of Christ be to such persons ! With what love will their hearts burn to
wards him ! With what gratitude wiU they serve him ! How dear will the
ordinances be to them, since there they find their Lord spiritually present, com
forting, strengthening and establishing their hearts ! These persons want no
arguments to persuade them to a constant attendance upon the ordinances : for
they know that they shall in them find him whom their soul longeth for, and
shall in them enjoy a sweet communion with him, until the day of glory break,
and the earthly shadows flee away. Then they shall see him face to face, and
shaU be for ever happy with their Lord. Oh that this happiness may be yours
and mine ! Grant it, Holy Father, for thy dear Son's sake ; to whom, with the
eternal Spirit, three persons in one Jehovah, be equal honour and glory, praise
and worship, for ever and ever. Amon.

DISCOURSE IV.
UPON THE LAW OF FAITH.
Where is boasting then ? It is excluded. By what law ? Of works? Nay, but
by the law of faith. — Rom. iii. 27.
Having already considered the nature of the moral and of the ceremonial law,
I am now to treat of the law of faith, mentioned in my text. The moral law is
the holy, just, and good wul of God, to which he required, and does require,
perfect obedience : for his will is like himself, always one and the same, witho"*
variableness or shadow of turning : but there is no salvation now to be expected
from this law, because aU have sinned against it, and are liable to the threatened
F

66 THE LAW AND THE GOSPEL.
penalties. Upon the first breach of it, God was graciously pleased to reveal the
ceremonial law, the design and scope of which was to point out the promised
Messiah, and to be the means of grace to the people of God : for by its services,
which were shadows and types of Clirist, and of the good things to come through
him, the eye of faith was kept looking earnestly upon him, and waiting for the
happy time when the day should break, and the shadows flee away, and he
should come in the flesh, to deliver his people from the curses of the moral law.
At the end of 4000 years he came, and having fulfiUed the ceremonial law, and
accomplished every thing signified by its typical services, it was then repealed,
and the law of faith alone was established, by which believers have been saved
from the beginning, and are to be saved to the. end of the world.
If we take a short view of the apostle's reasoning in this chapter, we shall
easUy discover what this law of faith is. He is treating of the corruption of
mankind, of the Jews as weU as of the Gentiles, and he proves that they are all
under sin : for they have all broken the moral law, and are guilty in the sight of
God, and are thereby become absolutely incapable of ever attaining inherent legal
righteousness. After the moral law has been once broken, it can never afterwards
justify the sinner; because it requires perfect uninterrupted obedience, and
aUows of no failing, no, not in thought. Its style and language is — " Do this,
and thou shalt live." — " If thou transgress, dying thou shalt surely die." And
when any one transgresses, it knows nothing of mercy, nor has made any pro
vision for pardon, but caUs aloud for justice to inflict the deserved punishment.
And since aU men have transgressed, therefore the apostle concludes that by the
deeds of the law there shaU no flesh be justified in the sight of God. Thus every
mouth is stopped, and aU the world is become guilty before God. But now tiie
righteousness of God without the law is manifested in the covenant of grace, in
which the honour and dignity of the moral law is secured, and a wonderful way
is revealed, whereby the sinner may be pardoned, and infinite justice may be
florified in showing him mercy. The Lord Christ, being God equal with the
'ather, freely covenanted to take man's nature, and in it to act and suffer as his
representative, to pay the law perfect and infinitely meritorious obedience, and
to endure satisfactory and infinitely meritorious sufferings, yea, to bear the
wrath, and to die the death, which man deserved ; and thus he wrought out an
aU-perfect righteousness, even the righteousness of God, which is by faith of
Jesus Christ unto aU, and upon all them that believe. And this method of
justifying sinners by his being made sin for us, who knew no sin, that we might
be made the righteousness of God in him, is thus opened and explained by the
apostle in the words going before the text. AU have sinned, says he, and conle
short of the glory of God, being justified freely by his grace ; and if by grace,
then it is not by works, but is all a free gift through the redemption that is in
Christ Jesus, whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his
blood ; his blood made the propitiation, and faith applies and receives it, and
thereby declares the righteousness of God for the remission of sins that are past.
And in this way of justifying sinners, through the righteousness of the Lord
Christ, God the Father proves himself to be just, and the justifier of him who
is of the faith of Jesus. He vindicates his justice, and the' honour of his law;
and, these being secured, he can then justify him that is ungodly, if he believe
in Jesus : for then his faith wiU be imputed unto him for righteousness.
WTien the carnal man hears this doctrine, he is apt to take offence at it. He
has such a high opinion of himself, and of his own boasted abilities, that he can
not conceive how God should justify sinners by his free grace, without any of
their works and merit ; and he is ready to ask, What! must I do nothing toward>
my justification? No. You can do nothing; because, while your sins are un
pardoned, you are under sentence of death. You are dead in law, and you can
no more do any act that is good and valid in the court of heaven, than a con
demned criminal can do any act that is good and valid in one of our courts of
justice. What ! am I not to work out, says he, and to merit some part of ray
justification. >o, none at aU. The scripture gives aU the glory to God, that it
may cut off all boasting from man ; for if God justify sinners freely by faith, with
out any works, where is boasting then ? says the apostle. Man would have

DISCOURSE IV. 67
room to boast, if he was justified wholly by bis own works, or partly by faith,
and partly by his works : if Abraham were justified by works he hath whereof to
glory; but since he is justified entirely by free grace, through faith, in the
righteousness of another, aU boasting is excluded. By what law ? By the law
of works ? No, by the works of the law shaU no flesh be justified, and therefore
no flesh can boast : for how absurd would it be to boast of the works of that law
which brings sinners in guilty, and condemns them ? But all boasting is excluded
by the law of faith ; for faith receives justification freely from Jesus Christ,
without any merit or works of man, and therefore is obliged to give aU the glory
to God ; so that faith effectuaUy excludes boasting ; and the law of faith, the
obligation that a sinner is under to go out of himself for righteousness, and to
believe in the righteousness of another, in order to his being justified, stiU
further excludes boasting ; for the Lord God has made a decree, and heaven and
earth shaU pass away rather than it shall not be carried into execution, that a
sinner shall be justified no other way but by faith. This is the law of the most
high God, which he hath revealed from heaven, that ye believe in him whom
he hath sent, for righteousness. Under this law we now five, and by it only can
we be saved ; and may he, who teacheth man wisdom, teach you the nature
of it ! May he accompany with his grace and blessing what I shall observe from
the text,
First, Concerniiur the law of faith, and
Secondly, In defence of the apostle's doctrine, and
Thirdly, By way of application.
As to the first head, the apostle has thus explained the law of faith. The
moral law is still in force ; but there is no salvation by it, because it requires
perfect uninterrupted obedience, and wiU not aUow of the least failing, no, not in
thought. If you offend once, you have lost aU claim to legal righteousness for
ever ; so that by the works of the moral law no flesh can be justified, since all
have sinned, and come short of the glory of God. And as the moral law can
not save the sinner, neither can the ceremonial : for it is now repealed. Christ,
the substance, is come, and has fulfilled aU the legal types. These shadows of
good things are now fled away ; and to observe them at present would be deny
ing that Christ has been manifested in the flesh, and has completed them. And
therefore, since the moral law brings us aU in guilty, and condemns us for trans
gressing it, and the observance of the ceremonial law is now repealed, there re
mains only the law of faith, by which a guilty sinner can be saved. This way
of salvation by faith is established by law. The Lord God has made a decree,
and has enacted, by his sovereign authority, that he who with his heart believeth
unto righteousness shaU be saved. This is the great charter of heaven, by which
all the divine graces and blessings of time and of eternity are conveyed to trans
gressors. The law of faith says to them, you have broken the moral law, and
are under sentence of condemnation ; but behold the Lamb of God ! believe in
him, and you shall be justified. And thus the law of faith takes a poor sinner
off from working and striving to merit his justification, and requires him only to
believe what Christ has done and suffered for him, and in his stead. It com
mands him to rely entirely upon the righteousness of the Lord Christ for his
pardon and acceptance with God the Father. This is the only way of justifica
tion now established by law. All other ways are illegal, and are expressly for
bidden by a divine statute in this case made and provided, in which are these
words : " Therefore we conclude that a man is justified by faith without the
deeds of the law," either moral or ceremonial. The moral law is broken, and it
condemns him, and the ceremonial law is repealed ; therefore we conclude that
he cannot be justified but by the law of faith ; and by this he is obliged and
bound to accept justification by believing, and not by working ; so that, if he seek
to enter into fife, he must keep this commandment ; he must renounce aU merit
of his works, all righteousness of his own, and accept of the Saviour's righteous
ness as a free gift, and have it by faith, imputed to him for his justification. This
is the law of faith upon which the scripture is very full. The apostle has dis
cussed this point at large in his epistles to the Romans and to the Galatians. In

08 THE LAW* AND THE GOSPEL.
the third chapter of the Romans, he proves both Jews and licntiles, that they
are aU under sin and guilt, and cannot by any of their own works be justified
before God ; and then he speaks of the manner of their justification, which is
freely by grace, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God hath
set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood to declare his righteous
ness. In the fourth chapter, he proceeds to Ulustrate this doctrine from the
case of Abraham, who believed God, and it was imputed unto him for righteous
ness. Now, unto him that worketh, the reward is not reckoned of grace, but of
debt. But to him that worketh not, but believeth on him that justifieth the
ungodly, his faith is counted for righteousness ; and since it is entirely of grace,
then it is no more of works ; for it is a manifest contradiction to maintain that
we are justified freely by the grace of God ; and yet that the work of mania some
way needful to merit our justification. Is not this something like purchasing a
free gift? Equally inconsistent is the grace of God bestowing freely, and the
works of man meriting righteousness. Man has nothing to do but to believe ;
and this too is the gift of God's free grace ; for righteousness is imputed to him
who worketh not, but believeth, even as David also describeth the blessedness of
the man unto whom God imputeth righteousness without works, saying, Blessed
are they whose iniquities are forgiven, and whose sins are covered ; blessed is the
man to whom the Lord wiU not impute sin. In these scriptures, our justifica
tion before God is ascribed to faith without works. These two, faith and works,
cannot stand together. The righteousness of Christ, freely received by faith, is
inconsistent with man's working in hopes of attaining a righteousness of his own j
for he hopes to attain an impossibUity. The apostle, in his most exceUent sermon,
preached at Antioch, recorded Acts xiii. declares that we cannot be justified by
the works of the law. After he had finished the argumentative part of his
discourse, he makes this application : " Be it known unto you, therefore, men
and brethren, that through this man is preached unto you the forgiveness of sins,
and by him aU that believe are justified from aU things, from which ye could
not be justified by the law of Moses," neither by the works ofthe moral, nor yet
of the ceremonial law ; so that the whole of a sinner's justification'is put upon his
believing- — " AU that believe are justified."
I might bring many more passages of scripture to confirm this doctrine, but
they would be needless, because it is already abundantly confirmed by the
articles and homUies of our church. The title of the eleventh article is,
" Of the justification of man.
" We are accounted righteous before God ONLY for the merit pf our Lord
and Saviour Jesus Christ by faith, and not for our own works or deservings;
wherefore, that we are justified by faith ONLY is a most wholesome doctrine and
very full of comfort, as more largely is expressed in the homily of justification;" —
In which homUy we have these words :
"This saying, that we be justified by faith ONLY, freely, and without works,
is spoken for to take away clearly all merit of our own works, as being unable
to deserve our justification at God's hand, and thereby most plainly to express
the weakness of man, and the goodness of God, the great infirmity of our
selves, and the might and power of God, the imperfection of our own works,
and the most abundant grace of our Saviour Christ ; and therefore wholly to
ascribe the merit and deserving of our justification unto Christ ONLY, and his
most precious blood-shedding. This faith the holy scripture teacheth us is the
strong rock and foundation of the Christian religion ; this doctrine aU old and
ancient authors of Christ's church do approve ; this doctrine advanceth and
setteth forth the true glory of Christ, and beateth down the vain glory of man :
this whosoever denieth is not to be accounted for a Christian man, nor for a
setter forth of Christ's glory, but for an adversary to Christ and his gospel, and
for a setter forth of man's vain-glory." These remarkable words are in the
second part of the homily : in the third part we have this passage :
" The very true meaning of this proposition or saying, We be justified by
faith in Christ ONLY, is this : we put our faith in Christ, that we be justified
by him ONLY, that we be justified by God's free mercy, and the merits of our

DISCOURSE IV «J9
Saviour Christ ONLY, and by no virtue or good works of our own, that is in
us, or that we can be able to have, or to do, for to deserve the same ; Christ
himself ONLY being the cause meritorious thereof."
These authorities are very plain and very decisive. They declare that we are.
justified by faith ONLY, without any of our works or deservings. What words
can be more full to the point than these are ? " We put our faith in Christ, that
we be justified by him only, and by no virtue or good works of our own that is
in us, or that we can be able to have or to do for to deserve the same." And
are these the words of our established church ? Are they indeed part of one of
our homilies ? What ! does she teach that no good works, which we can be
able to do, deserve our justification ? Surely then, my brethren, the law of faith
is here with great plainness enforced, and you cannot, as good members of our
church, refuse your assent to this proposition, that, in the way of justifying a
sinner by faith in the righteousness of Christ, aU boasting is excluded.
The natural man cannot receive this proposition, although it comes recom
mended to him by the highest authority. His heart rises against it. To leave
him nothing to boast of, no work, no virtue to glory in, oh, it is too humbling
to be borne I Scripture may be plain, and our church's comment upon it is still
plainer, but he cannot aUow himself to be quite helpless. It appears strange to
him that he should have no hand or merit in justifying himself. His carnal
reason cannot conceive how this should be, and therefore, whenever he hears of
justification by faith only, he always fastens the idea of licentiousness to it, and
is ready to object, " If this doctrine be aUowed, what a wide door is here opened
for aU manner of wickedness ? At this rate, men may do just what they please ;
for if they are to be justified by faith only, without works, is not the moral law
hereby made void, and all obedience to it ? Can there be any necessity for their
obedience, unless they are to merit heaven by it ?" The apostle was aware of
this objection, and has answered it in this chapter : " Do we then make void the
law through faith ?" Do we repeal the moral law by showing that it cannot
justify a sinner ? Is this making it void ? God forbid. " Yea, we establish the
law." It stands established by faith, and by no other method, that has been
revealed from heaven, or can be contrived on earth, as I proposed to show
under my
Second general head, Wherein I was to prove the truth of the apostle's doctrine
in my text. The doctrine is this : In the way of pardoning and justifying a
sinner, God was willing to shut out aU boasting, that the whole glory might be
ascribed to his free grace, and therefore he chose the law of faith, which obliges
the sinner to acknowledge himself justly condemned for breaking the moral
law, and to rely upon the righteousness of the Lord Christ, as the only means of
his pardon and acceptance ; for if the sinner's justification had been altogether
of works.or partly of faith and partly of works, then he would have had whereof
to glory, because he would have done something whereby to merit it ; but now
that righteousness, which is the matter of his justification, being freely wrought
out for him, and given to him by sovereign grace as a free gift, and then appre
hended and received by faith only without works ; iu this case all boasting is
utterly excluded. This is the apostle's doctrine, which I wiU endeavour to
establish by the following arguments. And,
First, There has been no other way or method discovered of establishing the
moral law after it had been broken, and of repairing its honour and dignity, but
by the law of faith. The moral law is holy, just, and good. It is the will of the
most high God, and therefore partakes of the divine holiness, justice, and good
ness. Ft is as holy, just, and good as God is, and can no more behold the least
iniquity than he can ; so that when all flesh was become guilty before God, upon
account of the breach of the moral law, there could be no longer any salvation
expected from it ; for the decree is positive and absolute — " By the works of
the law shall no flesh be justified."
In what way then, or by what means, may they be justified whom the law-
condemns ? As all have sinned, and robbed the law of its glory, it pleased God,
of his infinite grace, to contrive a way whereby the sinner might be saved ; and
yet his law and justice might be maintained in their full honour and dignity.

70 THE LAW AND THE GOSPEL.
The Son of God, equal with his Father in every perfection and attribute, under
took to stand in the place of sinners, and, as their representative, to do and
suffer for them whatever law and justice demanded. The Father was well
pleased for his righteousness' sake, because he knew that his beloved Son would
magnify the law and bring honour to his justice. W hen the fulness of time
was come, and the word was made flesh, for us and for our salvation he
wrought out that righteousness, with which his Father was well pleased. His
obedience to the moral law was for sinners, that, by the obedience of one, many
might be made righteous ; and he kept the law in aU things, continually, per
fectly, in thought, word, and deed, in its spiritual nature, and in its utmost
extent. This obedience was such, that he chaUenged the enemy to find the least
failing in it, John xiv. 30 : " The prince of this world cometh, and hath nothing
in me." Yea, he could appeal to the aU-searching eye of infinite Justice for the
absolute perfection of his obedience. Just before his sufferings began, he said,
" Father, I have finished the work which thou gavest me to do," John xvii. 4.
The work of his active obedience being finished, he then undertook to suffer for
sinners the pains and penalties due to the breach of their moral law. He
suffered once for sin, the just for the unjust ; he took their griefs and carried
their sorrows ; he was wounded for their transgressions, and was bruised for
their iniquities, the chastisement of their peace was upon him, and by his stripes
they are healed. He bled, be was made a curse; he died, that, by his death,
they might live . for, he who did and suffered these things was God. He was
truly a divine and infinite person, self-existent, co-eternal, and co-equal with the
Father ; for, as our church well expresses it, " that which we believe of the
glory of the Father the same we believe of the Son, and of the Holy GhoBt,
without any difference or inequality." And since there is no difference or
inequality between the persons of the ever-blessed Trinity, consequently what
the Lord Christ did and suffered was as infinitely meritorious as if the Father
had done and suffered it. When the Lord our righteousness stood up to pay
the law obedience, the dignity of his person brought more honour to the law
than the obedience of aU created beings, angels and men, could possibly have
done ; because their obedience would have been only finite, whereas his was
divine and infinite, and they could only have wrought out a righteousness suffi
cient to save themselves ; whereas he has brought in an everlasting righteous
ness to save even the ungodly. The prophet Isaiah, speaking of this subject,
says, xiii. 21, "The Lord is weU pleased for his righteousness' sake, he will
magnify the law and make it honourable ;" and he did magnify it by completing ,
it. He paid it both an active and a passive obedience in the most perfect
degree, and established it in its highest honour and dignity ; by which means
even that justice, from which the sinner had most to fear, may now be glorified
in justifying him ; for God may now be just, and yet be the justifier of him that
believeth in Jesus.
The righteousness, which is the ground and matter of our justification, is
caUed in scripture, "the righteousness of faith," because faith receives and
applies it, and " the law of faith," because the sinner is obliged to accept of this
righteousness by faith only ; and the manner of his receiving it is by imputation.
As Christ took our sins upon him, and was a sinner by imputation, He was
made sin for us, who knew no sin ; so we are made the righteousness of God
IN HIM ; not righteous in ourselves inherently, but in him: we are righteous
only in him : his righteousness is imputed to us, and made ours by faith, even
as Abraham believed God, and it was imputed unto him for righteousness. And
in this way of justifying a sinner by imputed righteousness the moral law is so
far from being made void, that it is established, and the great end of it is
answered : for the apostle says, " Christ is the end of the law for righteousness
to every one that believeth." The end of the law was to justify those who keep
it : " Do this, and thou shalt live ;" but we attain not to this end, because,
through the corruption of our nature, we do not keep the law perfectly; but
Christ fulfiUed the law for aU those who believe in him, and thereby he became
the end of the law for righteousness to every t ne that believeth. By believing,

DISCOURSE IV. 71
we receive his righteousness, and then we answer the end of the law. Thus the
law of faith does infinite honour to the moral law, and the believer is continually
glorifying it ; for his language is this — I acknowledge the law of God, to be per
fectly holy, just, and good ; it requires nothing but what is for the glory of the
great Lawgiver, and for the good of his creatures ; and no satisfaction can be
made to its honour and dignity, after it has been once broken, but what is infi
nitely meritorious, which no sinner can possibly pay. But thanks be to God for
the unspeakable gift of Christ's righteousness, which by faith is mine. His
active and passive obedience are imputed unto me for righteousness ; and I can
now give glory to the moral law of God by acknowledging myself to be justly
condemned by it, and by placing my whole trust and confidence in Jesus Christ,
who of God is made unto me righteousness.
Thus the moral law is established. It was fulfilled in Christ, and the end of
it is answered in believers ; from whence it appears, that the law of faith has
provided a full security for the honour and dignity of the moral law, and has
magnified it and made it honourable, not only in the way of justifying sinners,
but also in their walk and conversation after they are justified ; which is the se
cond argument I shall bring in defence of the apostle's doctrine.
The law of faith absolutely excludes all boasting, and aU confidence in our
works, but it does not make void the moral law : for although Christ does deli
ver the sinfier, through faith in his righteousness, from the guilt and condem
nation of sin, and thereby justify him, yet he does not give him a discharge from
all obedience to the moral law, but, by many gracious motives, inclines and ena
bles him to keep it. He sends his good Spirit to enable the justified believer to
exercise all his faculties in paying a grateful obedience to the will of his God.
His understanding was before in darkness. He knew not the will of God, and
therefore formed a very wrong judgment of it ; but now the Holy Spirit en
lightens his understanding, and lets him see the goodness and equity of aU God'a
commandments. He used to think some sins were very little, and might be
easily pardoned, and in the commission of others he lived secure without any
remorse of conscience, hoping to make amends by repentance and reformation,
and some sorrow and tears. But now the case is altered. He sees the law in
its spiritual nature and extent, in its holiness and justice, and confesses that the
least breach of it deserves everlasting misery ; and although Christ has delivered
him from the curse of the law, yet with his understanding he assents to its being
for God's glory," and for his own interest, to walk in the law of the Lord.
And as the Holy Spirit enlightens his understanding to see what the law of
the Lord is, so he takes away the prejudices, and subdues the opposition, which
were in his heart against it. The commandments cease to be grievous unto
him. The love of God, being shed abroad in his heart, constrains him to love
God, and to love the will of God ; for God and his will are one. He that loves
God cannot hate God's will. Love cannot beget hatred. And therefore when
the Holy Spirit gives that faith which worketh by love, he then reconciles the
believer's will to God's will, and he can truly say — Lord, what love have I unto
thy law! I see the holiness, and goodness, and justice of it; my will approves
of it, and my affections love it ; yea, I love it above gold and precious stones.
Oh! give me strength that I may keep it with my whole heart. And the Holy
Spirit does wonderfully strengthen believers in keeping it. He makes them
strong in the Lord, and in the power of his might : for he sets their hearts at
liberty, and then they run in the way of the commandments. So far then is faith
from making void the moral law, that it establishes it as a rule of life for the
believer who endeavours, by his holy walking, to glorify it. As he has re
ceived Christ Jesus, the Lord, so he desires to walk in him unto aU pleasing :
And this he would do, not to procure himself a right and title to heaven ; for he
received that when the Redeemer's righteousness was imputed to him for his
justification ; and gratitude for this inestimable gift constrains him to love God
who so exceedingly loved him, and to evidence this love in the way which God
has required ; and that is in a grateful obedience, 'ihis love, which casteth out
all other fear, brings in a filial fear of displeasing his loving Father. He dreads
nothing so much as sin, because he knows nothing else can offend his Lord and

72 THE LAW AND THE GOSPEL.
his God ; and therefore he would resist unto blood striving against sin. He would
rather die than sin. This fear of offending God influences his whole life and
conversation, and keeps him continuaUy watcliful, that he may walk worthy of
God, who hath caUed him unto his kingdom and glory.
Upon these two arguments we may rest the truth of the apostle's doctrine in
my text. The law of faith excludes boasting, because it excludes all man's
works and merit in his justification. His keeping of the moral law cannot in the
least justify him before God, because, after he has once broken it, Jt becomes to
him the ministration of death and condemnation. In this state Christ finds the
sinner, guilty and condemned, under the curses of the broken law, miserable
and helpless. He takes pity on his distress, and determines to save him. With
a love truly divine and infinite, he comes from his eternal throne, appears in the
likeness of sinful flesh, and God and man are united in one Christ. This was
necessary in order to his working out in our nature a divine and infinite right
eousness, for believers, against which law and justice might have no exception.
He attained this righteousness by obeying the law, by suffering its pains and
penalties, even unto death, and by being put into the prison of the grave. Ho
was kept there three days, but it was not possible he should be holden any
longer. On the third day he rose triumphant from the dead, and thereby de
monstrated that law and justice had no further demands upon him : for Ihey
had certainly received full satisfaction when they released him out of prison.
The law was magnified infinitely by his obedience and sufferings, and it is made
honourable, whenever a sinner is brought to submit to be justified through the
righteousness of Christ ; because he then acknowledges the law to be holy, just,
and good, aUows himself to be justly condemned by it, and is convinced that
no nghteousness can save him, but what is infinitely perfect. Such is the
Redeemer's. The benefit of this he seeks, and when he receives it, and it ia
imputed unto him by faith, he then stands justified in the righteousness of
God which is by faith of Jesus Christ, and has the Spirit of yjhrist to guide,
strengthen, and sanctify him. This good Spirit enlightens him to understand
the law, to love it, and gives strength to keep it : and thus by his holy walking
the law gets honour : so that the law of faith does not make void the moral law,
but establishes it, both in the justification of a sinner, and also in the holy walk
and conversation of a believer.
It is evident, then, that ever since the moral law was broken, there has been
but one way in which a sinner could be saved ; and this was the law of faith,
which stands established by the sovereign decree of the most high God. He has
solemnly provided and enacted, that whoever would enter into fife must believe
in the name of the only begotten Son of God. Have you then, my brethren,
kept this commandment, and believed in him ? Apply this to your own hearts,
and examine them strictly. Do you believe the record which God hath given of
his Son ? If not, how do you expect to be saved ? Against God's will you cannot
be saved. You cannot resist omnipotence. And his wiU is, that you submit to
the law of faith, and with the heart believe unto righteousness. The moral law
condemns you to death for sinning against it, and no tears or sorrow, no repent.
ance or amendment, can repair the injury you have done it; and therefore by it
you cannot he saved. There remains, then, only the law of faith. This offers you
a free pardon, and obfiges you to accept of it upon pain of dying in your
sins. The offer is, " He that believeth shall be saved," but, oh ! how dreadful
is the sentence which foUows the kind offer, " He that believeth not shall be
damned !"
Perhaps some of you may be convinced of the necessity of believingj but you
cannot see how faith in the righteousness of another can gain acceptance with
God. You think that your works and Christ's must go together to your justifica
tion. This is the opinion of too many among us, who will not submit to the right
eousness of Christ, but wiU go about to establish their own righteousness along
with his. Their mistake arises from their ignorance of the moral law ; they
know not its infinite holiness, and what its demands are ; and from their ignorance
of the gospel, which by the law of faith obliges the sinner to accept of that right.
cousness as a free gift, which is to satisfy aU the demands of the moral law.

DISCOURSE iv. 73
Such a righteousness Christ has wrought out, and he offers it freely, and the
sinner by accepting it receives justification to life. He is made ahve to God, and
then can act and work in spiritual duties; but before this, he was dead legally
and spiritually, dead under the sentence of the law, and dead to aU motions and
acts of spiritual life. While he lies in this state, he can do no more than a dead
corpse can ; but by the gift of righteousness he is legally ahve. The sentence of
death is taken away, and he is freely pardoned ; and then he becomes spiritually
ahve, and can perform the offices of spiritual life. Being made alive at the root,
he produces the fair blossoms and brings forth the ripe fruits of righteousness.
But these fruits do not make him legally ahve ; they only evidence him to be so.
They are the proper effects and consequences of his beiug spiritually ahve, as
the bringing forth the blossoms and fruit prove the tree to have life, but do not
give it life. Oh ! beware then, my brethren, of the dangerous mistake of making
up a righteousness which is to be your justification to life, partly with your own
works, and partly with Christ's. These two cannot stand together in your jus
tification. The prophet separates them entirely : " I wiU make mention," says
he, " of thy righteousness, even thine only," Psalm lxxi. 16; and yet he had as
much righteousness to make mention of as any of the Old Testament saints.
And the apostle, whose praise is in the gospel for his labouring more abundantly
than all the apostles, yet prayed to be ." found in Christ, not having his own
righteousness which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ,
the righteousness which is of God by faith," Phil. iii. 9-
What ! shaU we not do good works, will some say ? Yes. Work from life, but
not for life. You cannot work any thing acceptably until you who were dead in
trespasses and sins be quickened ; and when you are made alive unto God,
through Jesus Christ our Lord, then you will study to walk worthy of the Lord
unto aU pleasing, being fruitful in every good word and work.
This careful walking, my Christian brethren, is in a more especial manner
incumbent on you. You are caUed unto liberty ; only use not your liberty for
an occasion of sin : for you are still under the law to Christ. Although you are
freed from its condemning power, yet it is still a rule for your life and conduct;
because it is the holy, just, and good wiU of God your reconciled Father, whom
you love, and whom you are exceedingly desirous of pleasing. And it is the
will of Christ, your Saviour, to whose image you seek to be conformed, and in
whose steps you would gladly tread. And it is the will of the Holy Spirit, who
is your guide, your sanctifler, and your strengthener : by him being led, you can
take up your cross daily, mortifying sin, resisting the world's aUurements, over
coming the temptations of Satan, and subduing the risings of your carnal minds
against the moral law. Under the teachings of this good Spirit you will be led
right, and under his influence you wiU be enabled to bring forth much fruit.
Oh that the Spirit of the Lord may rest upon you, the Spirit of wisdom and
understanding, the Spirit of counsel and might, the Spirit of knowledge and of
the fear of the Lord, that you may always walk worthy of the vocation where
with you are called. May he help you to adorn the doctrine of God your Sa
viour in all things, and so to walk before him as to demonstrate publicly that
you do not make void the law by faith, but do perfectly establish it in its full
force and vigour. Grant this, holy Father, for Jesus Christ his sake ! to whom
with thee, and the eternal Spirit, be equal honour, praise, and worship, for ever
and ever. Amen.

74 THE LAW AND THE GOSPEL.

DISCOURSE V.
UPON IMPUTED RIGHTEOUSNESS.
He hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin, that we might be made the
righteousness of God tn him. — 2 Cor. v. 21.
It is the great and merciful design of the gospel to acquaint a sinner, who is
gtulty and condemned by the holy law of God, how he may be pardoned and
justified. Every one of us is a sinner ; for aU have sinned, and therefore all of
us stand in need of pardon, and ought to receive it with thankful hearts as soon
as the gospel preaches it to us. But the greatest part of mankind are not sen
sible of their gmlt, nor apprehensive of their danger. Sin has nothing in it ter
rible to them. They love it, dream of happiness in the enjoyment of it, and
whUe this delusion continues, they see not their want of, and therefore have no
desire for, the gospel salvation. But when one of these persons awakes and
opens his eyes, he is then terrified at the sight of his present state. Sin appears
to him in a new light : he finds it to be exceeding sinful, and the wrath of God,
revealed from heaven against it, -to be beyond measure dreadful. His guilty con
science alarms him with an awful sense of his danger, and makes him feel some
of the punishment due to sin ; and then he cannot be easy until he know that
his sins may be pardoned, and he cannot be happy until he has some evidence
of their being pardoned. Now, Christianity Is the only religion which can give
such a person relief ; because it alone teaches him by what meanB he may be
pardoned and justified, and have peace with God. He may be pardoned freely
through the grace of God, and justified through the righteousness of Jesus
Christ, whom God the Father hath made sin for us, although he knew no sin in
himself, that we might be made the righteousness of God in him, and, being thus
justified by faith in him, we might have peace with God through our LordJesus
Christ. Although this doctrine be clearly taught throughout the scriptures, yet there
are at present two sorts of men who are great enemies to it, and who strive to
keep convinced sinners from the comfort of it : I mean the Papists, who go about
to establish their own righteousness, and the Pharisees, among us, who will not
submit to the righteousness of God. The notion of the Papists concerning
merit is the foundation of all their errors. They teach, that Christ merited the
grace for them, which is in them, and then this grace in them merits, their justi
fication ; and for this inherent grace God doth justify them. And thus they make
a Saviour of inherent grace, and put it in the place of Christ, and give his glory
to their own works. But if inherent grace be our righteousness before God, then
how does God justify the ungodly, who have no grace, or how can he justify a
man for those graces which are imperfect, and which want the benefit of Christ's
atonement ? Absurd as this opinion of theirs is, yet they must defend it. Their
cause rests upon it : for if you take away their doctrine of merit, down falls the
whole superstructure of their superstition, all their indulgences, pardons, pil
grimages, masses, fasts, penances, and the mighty Babel of man's inventions.
When this doctrine was grown to a monstrous height, it pleased God to raise up
Luther and the rest of the .reformers to preach against it. Their principal aim
and design was to overthrow the merit of works, and to establish justification by
faith only, and they succeeded. Several nations were converted from the errors
of Popery, and among the rest the inhabitants of this island. Our forefathers
threw off the Romish yoke, and received the pure doctrines of the gospel, which,
amidst our several changes and revolutions of government, have been happily
preserved, until there has been, of late years, a manifest departure from them.
Great multitudes of Protestants are going fast back again to Popery, and seem
ingly without knowing it ; for it is a received opinion in England, as much as in
France, that man's works are effectual and meritorious towards his justification
before God. This is the fundamental heresy of the Papists, and how many no
minal Protestants have fallen into it, our enemies can tell. They see, Math plea-

DISCOURSE V. 75
sure, that there is very little appearance of religion left amongst us, and that
some of our most decent professors are become Papists in that leading principle
which separates the Popish from the Protestant communion.
Things being in this unpromising state, the friends of the reformation should
bestir themselves. They should try to point out the old land-marks. This is
more especially incumbent upon the clergy. It is high time for them to hold
forth to their people the fundamental doctrines of the established church, and
to warn them against the errors of Popery and Pharisaism. With this view I
have chosen the words now read for your present meditation ; and may the Lord
give his blessing to what shall be spoken upon them ! Oh that he may accom
pany with the effectual working of his power, what shall be said,
First, Concerning Christ's unspotted innocence. He knew no sin. Yet,
Secondly, God made him to be sin for us, and,
Thirdly, For this reason, that we might be made the righteousness of God in
him. And first, our Lord's fitness to be made sin for us, is here set forth by his
knowing no sin. He knew it not in the scripture sense of the word. He had
no practical knowledge of sin, either in thought, word, or deed. Speculatively,
he knew it well ; but that could not defile him : for it was the sin of others
which he knew, and hated, and came to put away by the sacrifice of himself.
Christ was perfectly acquainted with the holy, just, and good law of God ; he
saw clearly into the purity and spirituality of it, which could not suffer the least
offence, being as holy, just, and good as God himself is, and being the copy of
his most perfect mind and will. In this view our Lord beheld the odious nature of
sin, and the exceeding sinfulness of it. He knew the hatred which the all-pure
God had to it, the punishment it deserved, and the everlasting fire which it had
kindled in the nethermost heU. No one ever understood these things so clearly
as Christ did. He saw the destructive effects of sin, what disorder it had brought
into the world, and to what temporal and eternal evils it had subjected the bodies
and the souls of men. He knew also that there was no help upon earth, and
that no creature in heaven, of the highest order of angels, could deliver any one
sinner from his distress, and much less a multitude ; therefore his eye pitied us,
and his compassion was moved at the sight of our lost and helpless state. Be
hold what manner of love he hath bestowed upon such sinners as you and me !
a love which led him to do greater wonders to save, than he had before done to
create us ; for he, the most nigh God, blessed for ever, humbled himself to be
made man. He, whom angels and archangels had been worshipping from the
moment of their creation, took upon him the form of a servant, and came to save
his people from their sins. Adore, my brethren, and praise this infinite condescen
sion of the incarnate God : for it was for you, who believe it by true faith, and
for your salvation, that the word was made flesh. He was equal to this great
work ; because he was perfect God and perfect man in one Christ, and as such
he was absolutely free from sin — " he knew no sin," he knew it not in practice.
No sin, no inclination, no motion or rising of sin ever entered into his heart,
and therefore he was pure from the least spot or stain of pollution.
The scripture is very plain upon this point. Christ was known in the times of
the Old Testament by the titles of the Holy Name, the Holy One, the Holy
One of Israel ; and the prophet Isaiah speaks of the Lord the Redeemer of
Israel and his Holy One ; and when the fulness of time was come, that this Holy
One should be made flesh, he was conceived and born without the least taint of
corruption, conceived of the Holy Spirit, and born of a pure virgin. Yea, the
angel Gabriel pronounced him to be holy before his birth, in the message to the
virgin, Luke i. 35 : " The Holy Ghost shaU come upon thee, and the power of
the Highest shall overshadow thee; therefore also that holy thing which shaU be
born of thee shall be called the Son of God." He was born holy ; and such was
the life of the holy child Jesus, as his birth had been. We may see clearly how
pure he came into this world, from the purity with which he lived in it. How
different was his life from ours ! he knew no sin, in thought, word, or deed. The
prophet says, " Ho had a clean heart," all his thoughts were clean; " He had
pure hands," all his affections were pure ; " and he had a mouth without guile,"

76 THE LAW AND THE GOSPEL.
no idle, false, or sinful word ever passed through his lips. He was altogether
holy, harmless, and undefiled, and separate from sinners. In the law of the
Lord was his study and his delight. He came to glorify it, and by keeping it in
its spiritual nature, and in its mU extent, with every faculty of soul and uody,
and at aU times, he made it honourable. He paid it that obedience which it
demanded, and continued in all things that were written in the book of the law
to do them. Thus in him was no sin ; sin being the transgression of the law.
And accordingly we find him chaUenging his bitterest enemies upon this point;
" Which of you," says he, (John viii. 46,) "convinces me of sin ?" Nay, he went
further and defied Satan himself, as weU as the Jews : " The prince of this world
cometh, and hath nothing in me," no sin of mine own to lay to my charge.
From these passages it plainly appears that Christ knew no sin. He was a
pure and spotless lamb, holy and without blemish ; and it was necessary he
should be so ; because, if he ever had any sin of his own, he could not have
obeyed and suffered for the sins of others. The infinite purity of God's law
can pass by no sin. Upon the least transgression, if it be but a thought or
motion in the heart, the law passes sentence and condemns : " Cursed is every
one who continueth not in aU things that are written in the book of the law to
do them :" and if you continue not to do them, justice caUs aloud for the
infliction of the threatened curse, and waits to see it fully executed ; therefore,
unless Christ had continued to do all things which are written in the book of
the law, he could not have obeyed and suffered for the sins of others ; because
he would then have suffered for his own, which must not be imagined. It
would be blasphemy to suppose any such thing. When the last scene of his
sufferings began, he was led like a lamb to the slaughter, a lamb without
blemish and without spot, such as the ceremonial law required. You know, my
brethren, that no creature could be offered in sacrifice to the Lord, if it had the
least blemish or deformity. By this type was prefigured the perfect sinless
purity, which was to be in the great sacrifice for sin. He wa9 to be a lamb
without blemish, without the least spot or stain of sin, either in his nature or in
his life, and such a one was the Lamb of God. The apostle eays expressly,
1 Pet. ii. 22, " He did NO sin." And St. John, 1 Eph. iii. 5, speaks to believ
ers, " Ye know, that he was manifested to take away our sins, and in him is no
sin :" this was a known and established truth, that in Christ there was NO sin.
If judgment was laid to the line, and righteousness to the plummet, there would
be found in him a perfect conformity to the law. And this his active obedience
was necessary to prepare him for his passive, that, having obeyed the law
actively, he might suffer passively whatever was due to our disobedience. Anil
that righteousness, by which we are accounted righteous before God, is the
effect of his being obedient unto death, of his obedience to the preceptive part
of the law, which was his fulfilling the righteousness of the law ; and of his
obedience to the vindictive part of the law, which was his bearing the curse of
it. His active obedience was absolutely perfect. He knew NO sin, and there
fore was every way fit and qualified to suffer for sin, " to be made sin for us,"
as the apostle expresses it in my text ; which words I am, in the second place, to
consider. Although Christ knew no sin, yet he was made sin. How could that be?
How could he he made sin, who knew no sin ? He was made sin, not practi
caUy, but by imputation. He had no sin inherently in him, but had sin imputed
to him, when the Lord laid upon him the iniquities of us all. In his own
person there was no inherent spot or stain of sin, or any such thing. He could
not touch the poUution of sin, nor could he practicaUy know its filthy defiling
nature. He was not a ch-unkard, a whoremonger, a thief, or whatever you call
a sinner, as such. He neither was a sinner practicaUy, nor had he ever the least
inclination to be so ; because his wiU was always in perfect harmony with the
will of God. From whence it appears that Christ was not made a poUuted
sinner, nor yet a gmlty sinner, as to the merit and desert of sin. In this
respect he was not capable of being made sin. He did not, as to himself,
deserve the punishment of sin, for which he suffered. Punishment is due to
transgressors, but Christ had not transgressed. Even when he suffered.

DISCOURSE v. 77
according to St. Peter, he was just and righteous in himself, (1 Pet. iii. 1 s,)
"Christ also hath once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust." He was
perfectly just, and therefore capable of undertaking to'suffer for the unjust, that,'
as no suffering was due to him, the merit of what he suffered might be imputed
unto them. And so it was. He freely entered into an obligation to stand in
the place of the unjust, and to undergo the punishment due to them ; and this,
with his own consent, the Lord laid upon him ; and in this sense he was made
sin for us. He was made sin in the same way that we are made righteous.
Now, the righteousness by which we are justified is not inherent in ourselves,
but it is in Christ, and is made ours through God's imputing it to us. In like
manner our sins were not inherent in Christ, but imputed to him and laid upon
him. He was willing to become our surety, and to answer for our sins, and to
have them imputed to him, so as to be obUged to bear the punishment of them,
even the wrath and curse, which, if he had not endured them, would have sunk
every one of us into the pit of hell. But Christ his own self bora them in his
own body upon the tree. As the surety of all that shall believe in him, he under
took to answer all the demands which law and justice had upon them. And he
was willing to have all their sins imputed to him, and placed to his account, that
he might satisfy for them. Accordingly we read that he was once offered to
bear the sins of naany, and that by his own blood he obtained eternal redemp
tion for them. When their iniquities were laid upon him, although he knew no
sin, yet he knew what it was to suffer for sin. He died the death and endured
the pains, which were in nature and proportion due to them for their sins, and
for the fuU satisfaction of law and justice.
In this sense ChriBt was made sin ; but what would this avail, if he was a
mere man ? He might be made sin, and might suffer, but not for us. The
apostle says, in my text, he was made sin for us. What was effectual to us,
must be more than human, and could be nothing short of divine. Christ's
undertakings were too great to be performed by any person less than the most
high God. And accordingly the scripture teaches us that Christ was Jehovah,
the true self-existent God, a co-equal and co-eternal person with the Father and
the Holy Spirit, and in his person God and man were united in one Christ. By
this personal union, what the manhood did and suffered partook of the infinite
merit of the Godhead. The manhood of Christ had no sin in it ; and therefore
what it suffered for the sin imputed to if was infinitely meritorious, because he
who suffered was God as well as man. This most wonderful method of bringing
many sons unto glory was contrived by the ever-blessed Trinity, and settled by
the covenant of grace. God the Son was pleased to become their surety, and
to stand up in their nature to act and to suffer for them ; and what he undertook
he could not fail of accomplishing ; for all things are alike possible to his
almighty power. When he acted for his people, he was God as well as man ;
his obedience was therefore divine and infinite, and by the merits of it shaU
many be made righteous. When he suffered for his people, his suffer
ings were of such infinite merit and efficacy, that by his stripes they are
healed and freed from suffering. He took their griefs and carried their sorrows,
that they might never feel them. When he died, and paid the debt to justice,
which they ought to have paid, he soon brought them a discharge ; for although
he was buried and descended into hell, yet on the third day he rose again from
the dead, and thereby demonstrated that all the ends were answered for which he
was made sin for them.
Here, my Christian brethren, let us stop and adore the free love and rich
mercy of our Divine Redeemer. He, the most high (Jod, blessed for ever,
condescended to be made man for us, and for our salvation. Oh wonderful
condescension ! that there should be any mercy for such enemies and rebels as
we have been ; and how did he magnify his compassion, that, when he might
in justice have destroyed us, yet he humbled himself and stooped down to save
us ! But how great was his humiliation in vouchsafing to take on him the form
of a servant, and to live in poverty and contempt ! Considering who it was
that became a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief, we see the greatest
wonder of all — the depth of his humiliation. He that was tbe lowest upon

78 THE LAW AND THE GOSPEL.
earth, was the highest in heaven. He came down to he made sin for us, to have
our sins imputed to him, and to answer for them to law and justice. Accord
ingly, they were laid upon him, and he bore them iu his own body on the cross,
and thereby saved us from our sins. Blessed, for ever blessed, be the name of
our dear Redeemer. Glory, and honour, and thanks never ceasing be to him,
who took aU our sufferings upon himself, because he could bear that which we
could not, and because he could satisfy for that, in a short time, which we could
not in eternity ; and who, having thus delivered us from sin and suffering, has
righteousness to impute unto us, in which we may stand blameless at the bar of
justice. Oh, let us praise him with our lips ana lives who was made sin for
us, that he might be made righteous to us ! — which is the third point I was to
consider. He was a spotless lamb, and therefore capable of being made sin for us, that
we might be made the righteousness of God in him. Righteousness is a perfect
conformity to the law and wiU of God ; and without this, no man shaU see the
Lord : " For the unrighteous shaU not inherit the kingdom of God," 1 Cor, vi.
9 : and we are aU unrighteous, because we have all sinned, and robbed God of
his glory. The question then is, In what way, or by what means, can we attain
righteousness ? Can we attain it by the works of the law ? No, it is impossible ;
because, if it were attainable by our own works, then we should be inherently
righteous, and should have such a righteousness as the law demands ; but the
law demands perfect, unsinning obedience, which we have not paid it : and upon
our failing to pay it, the law pronounces us guilty, passes sentence, and leaves
us, as to any thing we can do, for ever under the curse ; it being the irreversible
decree of the almighty lawgiver, that; since aU flesh has sinnea and broken the
law, therefore by the works of the law shall no flesh be justified.
But if sinners cannot be justified by any inherent righteousness, what
righteousness have they to plead at the bar of justice ? They have a righteous
ness absolutely perfect and complete, caUed, in scripture, the righteousness of
God, because the Lord our righteousness contrived and wrought it out. He
came into the world, and took flesh, in order to fulfil aU righteousness. By hi)
obedience and sufferings he satisfied aU the demands of law and justice, and
paid that immense debt which none of us could pay, and hereby he was made
of God unto us righteousness : God the Father constituted and ordained him
to be the perfect righteousness of believers. In him is their righteousness :
" Their righteousness is of me, saith the Lord," Isa. liv. 17. For Christ
is the end of the law for righteousness to every one that believeth.
If you ask, how the righteousness of another can be made yours ? It must
be in the same way that Christ was made sin. He had no Rin of his own, and
yet he was made sin by imputation ; and believers have no righteousness of their
own, and yet are made righteous by imputation. Christ had no inherent sin of
his own, nor have they any inherent nghteousness ; but he was made ein by
having their sins imputed to him, and they are made righteous by having his
righteousness imputed to them. The manner of God's proceeding is the same
in both cases. When the Psalmist says, " Blessed is the man to whom the
Lord imputeth not iniquity," how is this to be understood ? Has he no iniquity
in him ? Yes, he has original and inherent sin ; and if he says he has no sin,
he deceives himself; but he is a blessed man, because the Lord does not impute
sin to him, nor charge him with it. So when David describeth the blessedness
of the man to whom God imputeth righteousness ; has the man this righteous
ness in himself, and is he inherently righteous ? No ; but, by an act of grace,
God accounts him righteous, and imputes righteousness unto him ; and there
fore he is blessed. And thus God imputes righteousness to them who believe,
not for a righteousness which is in them, but for a righteousness which he
imputes unto them. As their iniquities were laid upon Christ, and satisfaction
for them required of him, as a debt is of the bondsman, although he had none of
the money ; so is the righteousness of Christ laid upon them. In like manner,
as their sins were made his, so is his righteousness made theirs. He is sin for
them, not inherently, but by imputation ; and they righteousness through him,
not inherently, but by imputation

DISCOURSE V. 79
ThisU the righteousness in which alone a sinner can stand acquitted at God's
bar. Ihere he must make mention of this righteousness, even of this only ; for
none but this can answer the demands of the law, and expiate the curse of it ;
and this righteousness can be made his by no other way than by God's imputing
it to him ; which, as it is the great truth held forth in my text, I will endeavour
more fully to explain and defend by the foUowing reasons : —
And first, the ceremonial law taught this doctrine very clearly. Whenever
a person had sinned, he was to bring his sacrifice to the priest, and to lay his
hands upon its head, confessing his sins over it, and then the guilt was trans
ferred to the sacrifice, and its blood was shed instead of his. This is mentioned
several times in Leviticus iv.
And of the scape-goat we read, Lev. xvi. 21. " Aaron shall lay both his hands
upon the head of the live goat, and confess over him aU the iniquities of the
children of ^Israel, and aU their transgressions in aU their sins, putting them
upon the head of the goat." All the sins of the children of Israel were passed
QVer to the goat ; but were they put into the goat, or were they inherent in
him ? No. This is too absurd to be supposed; but they were put upon the
goat. And this was a very expressive image of our sins being laid upon Christ;
for all the sacrifices represented him. As the scape-goat had imputed to him all
the people's iniquities, so had Christ all his people's iniquities imputed to him ;
and as the goat did bear upon him all their iniquities, so Christ did bear all
their sins in his own body upon the tree. What was prefigured by the type,
was fulfilled by the reality, when Christ suffered once for sin, the just for the
unjust : for then he was made sin for us, that we might be made the righteous
ness of God in him. Our righteousness is in him. This is a
Second argument : That righteousness, which is our justification before God,
is IN Christ : believers have it not in themselves ; they have not an inherent
righteousness, wrought out and attained by their own works, but their justifying
righteousness was wrought out by another, and it is in him. How, then, can it
be made theirs in any other way than by imputation ? Must it not be trans
ferred to them in the same way that their sins were transferred to him ? And
how were they transferred to him ? They were imputed, not inherent : they
were laid upon him, not into him. So his righteousness is in him, as their sins
were in them ; and it is imputed, not inherent ; it is not put into them, but
upon them. Their righteousness is in him, and he is the Lord their righteous
ness, and consequently that righteousness for which they are justified cannot be
in them ; but it is made theirs when God imputes it to them, and they by faith
receive it. The manner of receiving it, which is by faith, is the
Third argument I shall bring in support of the apostle's doctrine. Faith is the
only instrument which God is pleased to use in applying Christ's righteousness.
The apostle calls it the righteousness of faith, because faith alone is employed in
the application of this righteousness. It is never called the righteousness of any
other grace, but of faith. We never read of the righteousness of humility, meek
ness, or charity : these are of great price in the sight of God, but they have no
office in justifying a sinner. This belongs solely to faith : for to him that work
eth not, but believeth, is righteousness imputed. It is not by working, but by
believing, that sinners are justified When they are convinced of sin, find no
righteousness in themselves, hear the dreadful sentence of the law against the
unrighteous, and feel in their guilty consciences some of the miseries which they
deserve, then they are stirred up to seek for a righteousness in which they may
stand acquitted before the judgment-seat of God. The scripture offers to them
such a righteousness in Christ ; and when God enables them to rest and to rely
upon it for their justification, they then by faith have peace with God, through
Jesus Christ their Lord. Thus the convinced sinner is forced to seek a righteous
ness out of himself, and to rely upon the righteousness of another : and now can
this be made or accounted his in any other way than by imputation ? How can
he be made righteous in Christ, but by having Christ's righteousness imputed to
him? If these arguments be well considered, they wiU, I hope, establish tht doctrine
of the text : for they clearly prove, that God hath appointed the Lord Jesus

80 THE LAW AND THE GOSPEL.
Christ to be the only righteousness of his people. He was made sin for them ;
their sins being laid upon him, as the sins of the chfidren of Israel were laid upon
the scape-goat. And he was made of Cod unto them righteousness, and their
righteousness is in him, not an inherent, but an imputed righteousness, and re
ceived by faith, which submits to be justified by the righteousness of another,
and rests with fuU trust and confidence upon it. This is the fundamental doc
trine of Christianity ; and the direct contrary is the fundamental doctrine of
Popery. /
At the reformation, the Lord raised up faithful witnesses to bear their testi
mony against that reigning heresy of the Papists which places merit in man's
works ; yea, such merit as to justify a sinner before God ; yea, stiU greater merit ;
for they maintain that u. man can do more than the moral law requires, and can
perform works of supererogation, the merit of which may be imputed to another
person ; and yet, at the same time, they deny the imputation of Christ's merits.
The first reformers preached boldly against those blasphemies ; and that blessed
servant of God, Luther, was bold indeed. He knew weU the dangerouB tendency
of the doctrine of merit, and therefore he principaUy wrote and preached against
it ; and God gave him great success. A sinner made righteous by the righteous
ness of Christ, is, as he used to say, the doctrine upon which a church stands or
falls. Upon it our church was established, and has long stood ; but do we stand
upon it now ? Are we all champions for the Protestant doctrine, or are we in
general departed from it ? Alas ! our enemies can teU, with triumph they tell,
of the increase of the Popish interest among us. And why does it increase ?
Whence is it that they make so many converts ? Is it not because our people are
not weU established in this Protestant doctrine ? If it was taught and preached
more, our churches would not be so empty as they are, nor the mass-houses bo
full. Many of our people know not what it is to be a Protestant, and therefore
they become an easy prey to the Papists, who are so busy and successful in mak
ing converts, that they pretend they have on one Lord's day more communicants
at the mass-house in Lincoln's Inn Fields than we have on the same day at all
the churches in London. I fear this may be tnie ; but is it not greatly alarm
ing ? and ought it not to stir up the Protestant clergy to try to put a stop to the
spreading of Popery ? But how can they do this more effectually than by laying
the axe to the root, and striking at the doctrine of merit, which is the funda
mental error of the Papists ? Overthrow this, and Popery cannot stand. A man
cannot be a Papist, who believes that his justifying righteousness is in Christ ;
and whoever does not believe this, is not a Protestant. May the Lord raise us
up faithful and able men (for we greatly want them) to defend his righteousness
against them who have established a meritorious righteousness of their own, and
wul not submit to the righteousness of God ! ,
But, besides the Papists, we have other enemies to the doctrine in the text. The
careless sinner treats it with great contempt ; for he does not see its value, nor
his own want of it, and therefore he lives easy and secure in the practice of sin.
The scripture has revealed the wrath of heaven against all his unrighteousnesi, ,'
but he does not regard the revelation. The law brings him in guilty, and edifr \
demns him, but he gives himself no concern about the threatenings of the law.
The gospel offers him mercy, ahd its ministers entreat him to accept of it ; but
he stops his ears. Neither the grace of the gospel, nor the terrors of the law,
can prevail upon him. Although he has no righteousness of any kind, yet he
lives as if he were in no danger. Oh deluded man ! if thou didst but know thy
state, thou wouldst cry earnestly to the Redeemer, and seek to be accepted in hi
righteousness. May he take pity upon thee, and send his good Spirit to con
vince thee of sin, and to convince thee of righteousness !
The formaust is another enemy to the doctrine in the text. He wiU not re
ceive justification by imputed righteousness, but wiU have his own righteousness
seated on the throne along with Christ. He faUs into this great mistake fron
his ignorance of the perfect nature of God's law, which has made no provision
for any failing, but for the very first passes sentence, " Cursed is every one who
continueth not in ALL things," &c. ; and since aU have failed, consequently all
are under the curse, and can never be justified by that law which haa condenlned

them. And his mistake arises also from his ignorance of the -gospel. He takes
the gospel to be a proposal of terms and conditions, mitigating the rigour of the
law; and so he makes Christ only a milder lawgiver than Moses, requiring not
perfect but sincere obedience of his creatures : whereas Christ came to redeem us
from the curse of the law, by obeying its precepts, and by suffering its penalties ;
and our righteousness comes to us from him as the fulfiUer of the law, and is re
ceived by faith without any of our works or deservings.
If any of you, my brethren, have faUen into this mistake, weigh and consider
attentively what has been before said upon the moral law, and upon the law of
faith ; and if you are not convinced, can you ask God to direct you in the right
way ? If you can, he has promised to give you wisdom ; he will teach you the
true doctrine, and will enable you to submit to the righteousness of God. But if
you are convinced, are you waiting for the precious gift of faith, or have you re
ceived it ? If you are waiting for it, remember whose gift it is. The Holy
Spirit alone can work faith in your heart. It requires his power, even that al
mighty power, which raised up Jesus from the dead. The jscripture ascribes to
him the office of convincing sinners of Christ's righteousness, and of giving them
faith to rest upon it for their justification. Look up to him for this blessing.
Wait in his appointed ways, hoping for it. And when the Spirit shaU be poured
upon you from on high, then you will be justified by faith in Christ's righteous
ness, and the work of righteousness shall be peace, and the effect of righteous
ness, quietness, and assurance for ever.
Happy are you, my Christian brethren, who have received the righteousness
of faith, and knowing whom you have believed. Since Christ's righteousness is
yours, bring forth its proper fruits, and show publicly that there is an inseparable
connection between justifying faith and sanctifying grace. By justifying faith
the believer is united to Christ, and receives life from him, as a graft does from
the stock upon which it grows. By virtue of this union, Christ hveth in the be
liever, and enables him to put forth the proper acts of spiritual fife, as the stock
upon which the graft grows supplies it with sap and juices to put forth leaves,
and blossom, and fruit. This is the certain effect of the abiding of a branch in the
vine : it will bring forth fruit ; and if any one fancy himself to be a believer, and
neither brings forth, nor is seeking to bring forth, any fruit, he only deceives him
self, and the truth is not in him ; for whosoever has Christ for a Saviour, wiU
have the Holy Spirit for a sanctifler, and will bring forth fruit to the glory of
God. See, then, my Christian brethren, that ye value and prize this righteousness,
and gi,ve it its proper honour, both with your hearts and lives. While you are
bringing forth its peaceable fruits, you wiU continually find the comforts of it.
This righteousness is one of the pieces of Christian armour. It is called a breast
plate ; because it is the proper armour for the vital parts. Your life is always safe
while you have your breastplate on ; you need not fear the terror by night, nor
the arrow that nieth by day. Let thousands fall, you are safe. You are de
fended from outward attacks : for although many be the afflictions of the righte
ous, yet the Lord delivereth him out of them all ; and you are kept in inward
peace : for the work of righteousness is peace, and the effect of righteousness,
quietness and assurance for ever. In time of sickness this righteousness will be
a perpetual cordial. Tt will not suffer the heart to sink, although the body grows
weak and faint ; for this breastplate is not only proof against the pains of sick
ness, but also against the weapons of death. " Righteousness delivereth from
death," Prov. xi. 4; not by keeping' the justified person from dying, but by
keeping him from the fear of the first, and from the power of the second death.
The righteous man, armed with this invulnerable breastplate, can challenge all
his enemies. Who shall separate me from the love of Christ ? Shall tribulation
or distress, or persecution, or death ? Nay; clothed in the robe of Christ's righte
ousness, I shall not be afraid to go through the valley and shadow of death, nor
yet to stand at the awful bar of God's infinite justice. Why Bhould he fear to
stand there to be tried ? for who shall lay any thing to the charge of God's elect ?
It is God himself that justifieth. Who is he that condemneth ? It is Christ that
died, yea, rather, that is risen again for their justification ; and in his righteous-
o

82 THE LAW AND THE GOSPEL.
ness they ehsdl stand holy and unblamable and unreprovable before the judg
ment-seat of God. . .
Since these are some of the benefits of having on the breastplate of nghteoua-
nesa, let us, my Christian brethren, keep it always in use. Since we are fighting
under the Captain of our salvation, let us be ever armed with his nghteousness ;
and may we aU wear it upon our breasts, that neither mult within, nor troubles
without, may ever separate us from the love of Christ Jesus our Lord ; but may
we, in life and death, find the blessedness of this armour, by its protecting us
from the threatenings of the broken law, and from the vengeance of almighty
justice ; and may we, in time and in eternity, five to his glory, who humbled
himself to be made sin for us, that we might be made the righteousness of God in
him. Grant this, holy Father, for the sake of thy dear Son, Jesus Christ ! to
whom, with thee and the Holy Spirit, three persons in one Jehovah, be honour
and glory, and blessing and praise, for ever and ever. Amen.

DISCOURSE VI.
UPON BE1NC. RIGHTEOUS OVER-MUCH.
Be not righteous oner-much. — Eccles vii. 16.
The generality of men think it a very easy matter to get into heaven. They
have never tried in earnest to get in, and therefore they are not sensible of any
difficulty. Scripture may speak contrary to their opinion, but they wiU not hear
it. Plain matter of fact may be against them, but they will not regard it. They
ait down easy and unconcerned about their eternal state, resolved to enjoy the
present world, like the fool upon record, " Soul, take thine ease ; eat, drink, and
be merry ; " five joviaUy at present. Give thyself no trouble about religion ; and
let not one thought of death disturb thee. It wiU be time enough to prepare for
eternity at some future period. Thus they think and act. Nay, many nave ar
rived at auch an absolute indolence, that they are angry and provoked if any one
tella them they are certainly in the wrong ; and they wiU not bear it ; no, not from
their minister, whose office and duty it is to try to convince them of the neces
sity of striving to get into the kingdom of heaven. But if such careless crea
tures will not hear us, yet they ought to hear him who has the power of life and
death, and who says, " Strive to enter in at the strait gate .- for wide is the gate,
and broad is the way, that leadeth to destruction, and many there be who go in
thereat : because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, that leadeth to life ;
and few there be that find it," Matt. vii. 13, 14.
As soon as these great numbers, who are going through the wide gate and in
the broad way, see any of their acquaintance beginning to strive to enter in at the
strait gate, and to walk in the narrow way, immediately they are offended, and
tfiey try to stop them with urging the authority of the text, " Be not righteous
over-much." Why, say they, cannot you be content with the religion of your
forefathers ? You used to keep to your church, and you lived as good a life
as any of your neighbours, and you were righteous enough ; what occasion is
there then for so many prayers, and sermons, and sacraments? Indeed you
carry things too far ; and if you do not atop in time, you will quite ruin your
character. This is their manner of talking to every man who ia determined to save his
souk As aoon as he begins to live differently from his neighbours, and refuses
to join with them in their way of murdering their time, they mark him out for a
precise, godly feUow. They think he makes more ado about religion than need
be ; and i£, after many trials, they cannot laugh him out of his oddities, they
heartily despise him for an over-righteous fool.
But if the same man should be convinced of the great change which Chris-

DISCOURSE VI. 88
tianity ought to make in him ; if he begin to talk of the necessity of the new birth,
and of the Holy Spirit's beginning and carrying on a saving work of grace in his
heart, without which no man is a Christian, but in name ; then worldly men are
thoroughly provoked : they cannot bear this enthusiastic stuff. But if he insist
further upon the necessity of Christ's righteousness, without which no sinner can
be accepted and justified before God, and that his righteousness is imputed to
the sinner by faith only, without any previous good works ; although it be pro
ductive of all good works ; for they are aU the fruits of righteousness ; these
seem to worldly men the wild notions of a distempered brain. If he prove these
points, and enforce them from plain passages of scripture, they are ever ready to
object, What ! shall we not be accepted if we do ah the good we can ; if we do
not harm any one, but pay every one his own, and keep strict to our church, and
go to the sacrament, as often as we have time to prepare ? Is not this being righte
ous enough ? And although we fail sometimes, (as who does not ?) yet is not
God merciful, and will he not for Christ's sake forgive us ? These worldly men
know of no righteousness but what consists in outward duties, in a mere outside
conformity to some parts of the law. They forget that the law is spiritual, reach
ing to the very thoughts of the heart ; and perfect, allowing of no offence, nor
offering a pardon for the least, but pronouncing him guilty who offendet li in one
point, and under guilt he must lie for ever, as to any thing he can do, unless he
be justified freely by grace through the righteousness of the Lord Christ. Who
ever insists upon these things is sure to be reckoned in the number of the over-
righteous, and wiU certainly have this caution given him — " Be not righteous
over-much." It is certain, then, that the meaning of the text is generally mistaken. Na
tural men fancy it commands them not to take too much pains about saving
their souls, nor to be singularly religious, but to be content to live according to
the course and fashion of the world. More than this, is being righteous over
much. Besides, many serious persons do not understand the text, and there
fore have not an answer ready for their adversaries, who are at every turn mis-
•applying this scripture, and putting a wrong sense upon it. The doctrine which
it teaches ought also to be frequently inculcated and enforced, being one of the
fundamental articles of our most holy faith. For these reasons, I have deter
mined to give the passage a particular consideration; and will endeavour to
show, First, Negatively, what the words do not mean ;
Secondly, What is their positive and precise meaning ; and
Thirdly, I shall bring some arguments to prove the doctrine contained in them.
And while I am speaking to these points, may the Lord God open all your un
derstandings clearly to see his mind and will in this scripture, and prepare your
hearts to practise the duty which it enforces. May his good Spirit be with us
for these gracious purposes, while I am
First, Showing what the words dp not mean. They are generally understood
in a wrong sense. People fancy they contain a caution against attaining too
much of the righteousness which is of the law ; whereas, that is impossible. A
man cannot have too much legal righteousness. Let him keep the law always
and perfectly in its spiritual nature, and in its full extent, yet he can be but
righteous. He does not perform more than the law requires ; he only pays it its
just demands : for the love of God and the love of our neighbour comprehend
the whole law. On these two commandments hang aU the law and the prophets.
Now we cannot love God too much, nor yet our neighbour, since we are re
quired to love him as ourselves ; and therefore if we love God with all the heart
and soul, and mind and strength, and our neighbour as ourselves, yet we only
do our duty ; we do no more than is commanded us, and consequently we are
only righteous, but not righteous over-much. But
Secondly, The scripture declares, there is no man living who so perfectly
loveth God and his neighbour, as to attain the righteousness which is ofthe law.
All have sinned, and have thereby robbed God of that love, and his law of that
service, which are their due ; and aU are therefore unrighteous. The Psalmist
declares, Psal. liii. 1, " there is none that doeth good," which words tb* apostle
G 2

84 THE LAW AND THE GOSPEL.
cites in this manner, Rom. iii. 9, 10 .- " We have before proved both Jews and
GentUes, that they are all under sin ; as it is written, there is none righteous, no,
not one." Now, since there is none so righteous, and much less more righteous,
than the law requires, consequently, there can be none, no, not one, righteous
over-much. Thirdly, To this agree the words of our blessed Saviour, Luke xvii. 10 :
" When ye shaU have done all these things which are commanded you, say, We
are unprofitable servants ; we have done that which was our duty to do." Who
does aU those things which are commanded him ? Not one : for aU have sinned.
But supposing he did, yet he would be only as righteous as the law requires.
He would not be righteous over-much, because he would only do that which
was his duty to do.
A fourth argument may be taken from hence : That any man living can be
over righteous, and do more than the law requires, is a Popish tenet, exploded
by the whole Protestant church, and particularly by the church of England, in
her 14th article.
" Of Works of Supererogation. — Voluntary works, besides over and above
God's commandments, which they (the Papists) call works of supererogation,
cannot be taught without arrogancy and impiety ; for by them men do declare
that they do not only render unto God as much as they are bound to do, but
that they do more for his sake, than of bouuden duty is required ; whereas
Christ saith plainly, When ye have done aU that are commanded to you, say, we
are unprofitable servants." This article condemns the general interpretation
put upon the text, and declares that it cannot be maintained without arrogancy
and impiety. To these arguments I wiU here add a
Fifth, Taken from the character given in this verse, of the men who would be
over righteous, namely, that they thereby destroy themselves ; the righteousness
which they are seeking will bring upon them destruction. " Be not righteous
over-much : Why shouldest thou destroy thyself?" 'Ihis single circumstance
will help us to determine what kind of righteousneBB it cannot be : for it cannot
be the righteousness of the law. This promises life to him that keeps it — " Dq
this and thou shalt live," and therefore this cannot be a destroying righteous
ness. Indeed, if after a man has broken the law, he afterwards tnrns to it for
righteousness, and hopes, by his keeping of it, to be made righteous, then he
will destroy himself ; because the law promises life only to perfect obedience,
and threatens to put them, who offend in one point, under the curse : for he
that offendeth in one point is guilty of aU. This indeed is a destroying righte
ousness opposite to which is the righteousness of the gospel. It is to save
sinners from being destruyed by the law. It was wrought out for them by the <
God man, Christ Jesus, and is imputed unto them by faith ; and when they
with the heart believe in it, they are then saved from destruction. Of this saving
righteousness it is impossible a man should have too much. He must have all
that is needful for his justification, and more than he needs he cannot have.
He wants righteousness in an infinite degree, such as none can give him but
the Lord our righteousness ; and without this he cannot be saved.
It is evident, then, that the text speaks of a righteousness, to which if a man
trust, it wiU destroy him ; which cannot be the righteousness of the law ; for
this promises fife to them who keep it; nor yet the righteousness of the gospel;
for this promises pardon and life to them who have broken the law, butheheve
in the name of the only begotten Son of God. And since it is neither the
righteousness of the law, nor of the gospel, I come now, under my second
general head, to consider what is tiie positive precise meaning of the text, and
what is the false pretended righteousness of which it treats.
The context may lead us to the true meaning. In what sense a man is com
manded not to be righteous over-much, may appear from the foUowing words, .
" Neither make thyself over-wise." How can a man he over-wise ? Certainly
he cannot know too much. Knowledge is part of the image of God in the soul,
as tbe apostle teaches : " The new man is renewed in knowledge, after the image
of him' that created him," Col. iii. 10. A man cannot be too wise ; but he may
think and speak of hia own wisdom more highly than he oughl ; and that is

DISCOURSE VI. 85
making himself over-wise. In like manner, righteousness is part of the image
of God in the soul, Eph. iv. 24 : " And that they put on the new man, which.
after God is created in righteousness." A man cannot possibly be over
righteous ; he cannot do more than the law requires ; but he may think and
speak of his fancied righteousness more highly than he ought ; and that is
making himself over righteous. It is supposing him to be what he is not, which
is self-righteousness. In this sense Theodore Beza, one of the great fights
of the reformation, understood the passage ; for, in his note upon it, he says,
" Boast not too much of thine own righteousness and wisdom." He supposed
a man's boasting of his righteousness was making himself righteous over-much ;
and this is really the case. A man cannot possibly have too much righteousness ;
but he may fancy himself to be righteous when he is not ; and if he speak and
act according to his own fancy, then he is one of the over righteous. And
Secondly, The true sense of the word agrees with the context. Strictly ren
dered, they read thus, "Be not thou a great self-justifier ;" the original word,
which is translated righteous, is in the conjugation Hiphil, which in the Hebrew
tongue signifies to make righteous, or to justify; and being here used personaUy,
it stands for a justifier ; one who would make himself righteous ; and he does it
to excess ; he justifies himself over-much, pretending to a greater righteousness
than he has. This is the meaning of the text, " Be not thou a great self-
justifier :" for there is not a righteous man upon earth who doeth good and sin-
neth not, and consequently there is not one man upon earth righteous enough,
much less righteous over-much, except in his own proud conceit. And against
this self-righteousness the text cautions us, advising us not to think of ourselves
more highly than we ought to think. But, granting this to be the meaning ot
the text, some will say, What necessity was there for this caution ? My ansu-ei
to this is a
Third argument, by which the meaning of the words may be settled. It was
always necessary to give men this caution, because no man can be righteous
over-much ; and yet men have always been trying to make themselves so. It is
impossible to do more than the law requires, and it is impossible for fallen man
to do all that it requires, and yet his pride puts him upon trying impossi
bilities. There is a self-righteous spirit in him, which leads him to hope he
can, by his keeping of the law, attain to such a righteousness as God will
accept, and for it justify him. This appears from the history of the Jews in
the Old Testament. Moses often dissuades them from the opinion of their
own righteousness ; and the prophets enlarge upon this particular. The book
of Job treats entirely of it, being professedly to show that no man can be justified
before God by any righteousness of his own. Job insists upon it, in his debate
with his three friends, that his life and conversation had been such, that he could
maintain his own ways before God. " Let me be weighed in an even balance, that
God may know mine integrity; for till I die, I wiU not remove mine integrity from
me. My righteousness I hold fast, and will not let it go; my heart shaU not re
proach me so long as I live. I am clean, without transgression ; I am innocent ;
neither is there iniquity in me." But he soon changed his opinion after Elihu
had found a right indictment against him, and charged him with having said that
he was righteous, and should be found so, if God were to weigh him in an even
balance. Elihu's arguments brought down and humbled his proud self-righteous
spirit, and he confessed, " I have uttered what I understood not ; things too won
derful for me, which I knew not. Behold, I am vile ; I abhor myself, and repent
in dust and ashes." The Lord God knew the temper of the Jews4 and that they
would be always leaning to self-righteousness, and therefore he left this book
upon record, to silence all the pleas which they should ever make for the suffi
ciency of their works towards their justification at his bar. How necessary this
book was, we may see clearly from the great degree to which a self-righteous
spirit prevailed in our Lord's time ; for then the pharisees, and all that made a
great show of religion, knew of no righteousness but what they could attain by
their own works, and not so much by the works of the moral as of the ceremonial
law. They supposed the observance of the ceremonies to be meritorious, and
hoped to be made righteous by keeping them strictly. In consequence of th'.-

86 THE LAW AND THE GOSPEL.
opinion, the learned doctors, rabbies, and scribes, introduced a vast number of
traditions, and thought that by keeping them with the ceremonies, they should
be holier than others ; and 'they condemned our Lord, because he would not
practise the traditions of the elders, but opposed them, and said that they had
made the law of God of none effect by their traditions ; they had made the moral
law of none effect, because they thought to atone for their offences against it, by
keeping the ceremonial law, which also they rendered of none effect, because it
was instituted to point out the Messiah, who was to make an atonement for the
sins committed against the moral law. Our Lord often preached against the
scribes and pharisees, and he never spake such sharp words against any sorts of
sinners as against them ; for he says, they were farther from the kingdom of God
than publicans and harlots. In aU his ministry, he never made such a severe dis
course as in the 23rd chapter of St. Matthew, where he is exposing the errors of
the scribes and pharisees, and, notwithstanding their many long prayers, and
alms, and fastings, and pains to make proselytes, and frequent washings,
and many other such-like things, which they thought made them righteous,
yet he says to them, " Ye serpents, ye generation of vipers, how can ye
escape the damnation of heU ? " How necessary, then, was the caution in the
text to such persons, who thought themselves righteous, and despised others:
and is it not stiU necessary for those who, are seeking righteousness by the
works of the law? How many thousands and tens of thousands are there
now in the world, Protestants as weU as Papists, who place righteousness in
duties, in living up to the law as near as they can, in keeping clear of gross
sins, in going to church, and in hearing and reading the scripture ; and if
they do aU this, they then think themselves 6afe. But there are some more
strict than these, who enjoin themselves a round of duties, set forms of prayers
and times of fasting, and give many alms, and never miss the sacrament
once a month, and perhaps have some family worship ; upon which account
they think themselves very good, and can thank God that they are not like
other men. If any minister dare attack this false righteousness, they cry out
against him as the pharisees did against Christ. If he teU them that -he
does not speak against what they do, but against the motives upon which
they act, not against the thing done, but against the end they propose in
doing it, this provokes them more ; because it tends to lay open the rotten
ness of their hearts, which being not cleansed from sin, all their outward and
pretended righteousness is only like painting a sepulchre, or washing the
outside of a cup, while there is left within aU manner of uncleanness.
Since, then, a self-righteous spirit has prevailed, and still prevails in the
world, the wise man's caution has been, and is stiU necessary. He calls to
persons of this temper, who are seeking righteousness by the works of the law,
and says to them, Why wiU ye try to justify yourselves by your duties ? You
are attempting an impossibility ; for the law requires absolutely perfect obe
dience, which you have not paid. You have sinned and you are none of you
righteous, no, not one. There is not a righteous man upon earth that doeth
good and ainneth not, and coneequently there is not one who has that unsinning
righteousness which the law demands, and without which none can be justified
by it. Trust not, then, to your imperfect obedience. It can only destroy you ;
but seek a better righteousness, even the righteousness of God.
If these arguments be carefuUy considered, they will, I hope, lead you to the
true meaning of the text. The wise man is not speaking against the righteous
ness of the moral law, nor against the righteousness of the law of faith ; but he
is dissuading sinners from seeking righteousness by the works of that law which
they have broken, and which condemns them. But, trusting to this false righte
ousness, they must inevitably be destroyed; for it is the righteousness of a
sinner, which is a contradiction in terms. It is an unrighteous righteousness :
the law knows nothing of it. The righteousness of the law consists in perfect
obedience; and one single failing renders the sinner, ever after, absolutely
incapable of being made righteous by his keeping the law. This is the doctrine
of the text, which, because of the great opposition made to it, I proceed to
defend under my third general head. And I will only mention two arguments

DISCOURSE VI. 87
the first taken from the righteousness of the law, and the second from the righte
ousness of the gospel.
The righteousness of the law consists in paying it its due ; and that is un
sinning obedience. Whoever is legally righteous, must keep the law in its most
perfect degree, not offending even in a single thought. He must continue to do
aU things always and perfectly, as the law requires ; and then it will pronounce
him righteous, and give him the promised life. But who is thus righteous ? Not
one: for all have sinned. And how, then, can any one be righteous over
much ? So far from it, no one can be righteous at all by his keeping the law,
after he has once broken it ; because it immediately brings him in guilty, and
condemns him. Having offended in one point, he has thereby lost his claim to
the righteousness of the law, as much as if he had offended in all ; and therefore
he cannot be made righteous by the deeds of that law, which has passed sentence
upon him, and given him up into the hands of justice, to suffer the first and
second death. While he lies in this miserable helpless state, he can no more do
any act which is good and valid in law than a malefactor can under sentence of
death ; and yet he is so proud as to fancy that he can merit heaven by his dead
works. Poor vain creature ! he is so full of self as to think he can do all that
the law requires, although he has broken it, and although he can do nothing but
sin, until he be pardoned and believe in the name of the only begotten Son of
God: for whatsoever is not of faith, is sin. What great numbers are there
amongst us of this self-righteous spirit? who, because they are somewhat stricter
in their lives than others, and are more constant attenders upon ordinances,
therefore state to themselves, and expect you should give them place according
to their own fancied rank of merit ! They are still proclaiming, as the pharisees
used to do, Make way there ; stand by ; I am hoher than thou. Against this
mock-righteousness the text is levelled. The design of it is to strip the self-
righteous of all their borrowed plumes, and to convince them that, after they
have broken the law, they cannot be made righteous by a partial keeping of it.
The wise man would lead them to consider what the moral law is ; how far short
they come of the obedience it requires ; and how imperfect, yea sinful, their works
and duties are. And thus he would convince them of their want of a better
righteousness than their own. The Jews were exceedingly prone to trust to
their own righteousness, and therefore he trigdto beat them off from any reliance
upon it. When our Lord came, he found them under the influence of the same
self-righteous spirit ; and in ah his preaching he spake with great sharpness
against the pretended righteousness of the scribes and pharisees. We have
still men of the same spirit among us, whose righteousness does not exceed the
righteousness of the scribes and pharisees, and yet they hope to enter into the
kingdom of heaven. To all such persons the wise man directs his advice, and
counsels them not to trust to their works and duties for a righteousness in which
they may be justified before God — " Be not ye great self-justifiers. Why will ye
destroy yourselves ?" Your false righteousness wiU destroy you if you venture
to put your trial upon it at God's bar ; for he has already decreed that, since
all have sinned, therefore by the deeds of the broken law shaU no flesh be justi
fied in his sight.
It is certain, then, that thetext does not speak against the righteousness of
the law, nor yet, secondly, against the righteousness of faith. The law of God ia
as holy, just, and good as he is, and cannot pass by the least sin. It has made no
Erovision for a pardon, nor given any promise to repentance or to amendment,
ut requires absolutely perfect unsinning obedience; and upon the first offence it
puts the sinners under the curse, and leaves him in the hands of justice to inflict
upon him the threatened and deserved punishment. In this state the gospel
finds him, and offers him the righteousness of the Lord Christ ; but the proud
sinner will not submit to be justified by it, until the Holy Spirit preach the law
to his conscience, and convince him of its holy, spiritual, and perfect nature,
upon which he feels guilt, conscience accuses ana condemns him, and he sees no
righteousness in his fancied good works to rely upon, but finds he mustgo out of
himself for a righteousness, in which he may appear before God. Then the
Holy Spirit convinces him of Christ's righteousness, how infinitely perfect it is,

88 THE LAW AND THE GOSPEL.
and how safely he may trust to it, and gives him faith to apprehend it> and to
apply it to himself for his justification. And then he no longer goes about to
establish his own righteousness, but submits to the righteousness of God. Against
this me wise man cannot caution us. We aU want it ; and over-much of it we
cannot have. It is the righteousneas of God, as perfect as God is, and the divine
Person, who wrought it out by his obedience and sufferings, humbled himself
to be made sin for us, that we might be made the righteousness of God in him.
Believers are not only righteous in him, but righteousness, and that the righte
ousness of God too, against which law and justice cannot make any exception ;
therefore of this righteousness, though not of their own, may they boast aU tne day
long. The merits of it are their justification ; the fruits of it are their sanctifie \-
tion : and when they come to heaven, this righteousness wiU be their everlastin ,'
robe of glory ; and to sing his praises, who clothed them with it, will be their
employment and happiness for ever and ever. Surely, then, the wise man'i
caution in the text was not leveUed against this all-perfect and glorious righte
ousness ? No. He knew the inestimable value of it, and intended to recom
mend it by detecting that false righteousness, upon which sinners are apt to rest,
and see not their want of a better. This was his design, which having proved
and established by several arguments, I shall only add two or three practical
observations upon what has been said.
This greatly mistaken text is, I hope, now set right, and the meaning of it is
made plain and clear. The wise man did not intend to speak against the righte
ousness of the law, nor against the righteousness of faith, but against a false
righteousness, which was then, and is still, in the world. How many are there,
who, after they have broken the law, think of being justified by keeping it better,
and hope to make themselves very good, and righteous enough by their works and
duties? To every such person thewise man says, " Be not thou a great self-justifier.
Why shouldst thou destroy thyself?" But very few will take his advice. There is
a generation of men, proud, and self-righteous, who think their own works can re
commend them to God. Although they have sinned, yet they fancy that duties can
atone for sins. The Jews were much addicted to this error, and the apocryphal
books are fuU of it. In our Lord's time we find the religious among the Jews
placing righteousness in works. Our modern pharisees copy exactly after them,
and refuse to attend to the wise roan's caution in' the text. These over righte
ous ones make a saviour of their duties, and hope to merit heaven by their works ;
and yet, alas ! their works are but few, and these very imperfect. Their righte
ousness is chiefly negative, consisting in doing no harm, in not murdering, or
stealing, or getting drunk, or breaking the commandments, outwardly. Then
they are what you caU very good sort of people. But if they keep close to their '
church, and go to prayers on Wednesdays and Fridays, and on a saint's day, if '
they have nothing else to do ; and will not play at cards, or go to the play-house
on Saturday night before the sacrament, although they have no objection against
going on Monday after they received it ; oh, these are your mighty good people
indeed ! Who are righteous, if they are not ? But if they go to the sacrament
once a month, and use the new week's preparation, and foUow it strictly; or if
they miss any of the prayers through an engagement in the evening, they wifibe ,
sure to say them aU the next morning ; and if they have some new book of
devotion, out of which they say their formal task, morning and evening, like
the stupid Papists gabbling over the bead-roU of their Ave-Marias and Pater
nosters ; these are our great saints. 'Who shaU go to heaven, if they do not ?
These, like their predecessors of old, think themselves righteous, and despise
others. Their pride deceives them, and hinders them from submitting to the
righteousness of God. They are too proud to submit. The knowledge of the
law and the knowledge of themselves would humble them. But they are so
ignorant of the law, as to believe that by doing some of its duties they shall
be made righteous enough ; and they are so ignorant of the plague of then-
own hearts, as to see no necessity for an inward change. They cannot be per
suaded but they have very good hearts, and therefore they have no reason to pray
with the Psalmist, " Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit
within me." Without this clean heart and right spirit, they have only the form

DISCOURSE VI. 89
and outside of Christians. The life and power is wanting ; and Christ may say
to them, as he did to the church of Sardis, " I know thy works, that thou hast
a name ; that thou livest, and art dead."
But if this be the case, some wiU be apt to say, Why need we do any good
works, if they be not meritorious ? Why need we to go to church, and pray, and
hear and read the word, and go to the sacrament, and do good, if all this be no
part of our righteousness before God ? It certainly is not : " for by grace are ye
saved," says the apostle, " through faith : not of works, lest any man should
boast." And to this doctrine the whole Protestant church subscribes, and all
the Papists deny it. The reformers were called Protestants, because they pro
tested chiefly against this blasphemous tenet of Popery ; namely, that works
merit towards a sinner's justification before God. This is the grand distinction
between us and the Papists, and yet, alas ! this distinction is wearing out. What
great numbers have we among us, who trust to their own fancied good works
for acceptance with God ? In this point, and it is a very leading one, they are
perfectly agreed with the Papists. They are both great self-justifiers, having at
leasj; equal, if not superior, merit to Christ in the matter of their justification.
Hear the form of monkish absolution, in which the doctrine of merit is thus
taught ; — " God forgive thee, my brother, the merit of the passion of our Lord
Jesus Christ, and of the blessed saint Mary, always a virgin, and of aU the saints,
the merit of thine order, the strictness of thy religion, the humility of thy con
fession, and contrition of thy heart, the good works which thou hast done and
shalt do for the love of our Lord Jesus Christ, be unto thee available for the
remission of thy sins, the increase of desert and grace, and the reward of ever
lasting life. Amen."
What a deal of self-wrought stuff is here ; the merit of which, instead of the
merit of Christ alone, is said to be available for the remission of sins ! And is it
not the same with our half- Papist Protestants ? Are there, not multitudes of
them who think that the merit of their church-going, and the strictness of their
lives, and the merit of their prayers and alms, and other good works, wiU justify
them before God, or, if they dare not trust wholly to them, yet they hope Christ
wiU supply what is in them deficient ? But this is mixing grace and works,
which the scripture wiU not aUow to stand together : for if works, whoUy or in
part, merit our justification, then there would be room for boasting, which God,
in his way of justifying sinners by the righteousness of Christ, has absolutely
excluded, that no flesh might glory in his presence ; Christ being made of God
unto sinners all that they want ; even wisdom, righteousness, sanctification, and
eternal redemption ; that, according as it is written, He that glorieth, let him
glory in the Lord.
Since, then, Christ has made an atonement for sin, and brought in everlasting
righteousness, why wiU you glory in yourselves, rather than glory in the Lord ?
Why will you trust in your own fancied righteousness, since nothing but pride
could tempt you to glory in it? Your ignorance of Christ's righteousness
hinders your seeing how infinitely perfect it is ; and your own self-sufficiency
will not let you submit to be saved by it ; and therefore you go about to esta
blish your own righteousness. You may work for a time upon this plan, and
think yourselves safe ; you may lull conscience asleep, and deceive yourselves,
and deceive others with your fair outside ; but the cheat cannot last long :
God sees your hearts, and the corruption in them is naked and open to him,
although you study to hide it from yourselves. He has declared of you, although
you will not believe him, that you are not righteous : for there is none righteous
in himself; no, not one. This is his sovereign decree. Oh that your consciences
may submit to it, and seek for a righteousness which God will accept at his bar !
Dreadful will be the time, if you appear there without a complete and infinitely
perfect righteousness. Such there is in Christ, and in none else ; and it is
offered freely, even to you, ye self-righteous pharisees. You may receive the
free gift of his righteousness, if you will renounce your own. And what is your
own? What merit can there be in these duties which are done out of pride,
done in sin, and done in opposition to the word of God ? If you can rej.ct all
dependence upon these, the gn«pcl lifters > you freely the righleniisross of God

90 THE LAW AND THE GOSPEL.
for your justification. Oh, that he may dispose you to accept of it, that, being
justified by faith, you may have peace with God through Jesus Christ our Lord,
and may live in the comfortable sense and enjoyment of this peace, until you re
ceive a crown of righteousness, which fadeth not away ! Grant this, holy Fa
ther, for the all-perfect righteousness' sake of thy beloved Son, Jesus Christi ta
whom, with thee and the Holy Spirit, three persons in one Jehovah, be equal
praise, and glory, and dominion, and power, in time and in eternity. Amen and
Amen.

DISCOURSE VII.
UPON THE RIGHT KNOWLEDGE OP GOD.
And one of the scribes came, and having heard them reasoning together, and per
ceiving that he had answered them well, asked him, Which is the first command
ment of all ? And Jesus answered him, The first of all the commandments' is,
Hear, O Israel; the Lord our God is one Lord: and thou shalt love the Lord
thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and
with all thy strength .- this is the first commandment. And the second is like,
namely this, Thou shaU love thy neighbour as thyself. There is none other com
mandment greater than these. — Mark xii. 28 — 31 .
Our blessed Saviour had been disputing with the chief priests, and elders,
and the scribes ; and, after he had silenced them, they left him and went their
way. But they departed with enraged and malicious hearts, determined to take
the first opportunity to destroy him ; and they sent certain of the pharisees and
of the Herodians to catch him in his words. These hypocrites pretended to
believe him to be a faithful teacher of the way of God, and to come to him with
no other view than to desire his opinion upon a very difficult case ; namely,
Whether it was lawful to give tribute unto Caesar, or not ? Our Lord aolved this
difficult question in a manner that astonished his very adversaries ; for he, knowing
their wicked hearts, said unto them, Why tempt ye me ? Bring me a penny. And
when they had brought it, he said, Whose image and superscription is this upon
it ? And they answered, Caesar's. Then, said he, Render therefore to Caesar
the things that are Caesar's, and to God the things that are God's. As soon as
he had silenced them, certain of the sadducees came with a case out of the law,
which they thought he was not able to solve ; but he presently showed them,
that their error arose from their ignorance of scripture ; and he put them to silence.
While he was confuting them with the authority of Moses, the pharisees were
gathered together against him, and one of them, being a scribe, learned in the
law, having heard him reasoning with the chief priests, then with the Herodians,
and afterwards with the sadducees, and perceiving that he had answered them
well, was willing to try him with a question out of the law. The scribe asked
him, Which is the first commandment of all ? And Jesus answered him, The
first of aU the commandments is, Hear, O Israel : the Lord our God is one Lord,
and thou shalt love the Lord thy God, &c. And the scribe said unto him, Well,
master, thou hast said the truth ; for there ia one God, and there is none other
but he ; and to love him with all the heart, and with aU the understanding, and
with aU the soul, and with aU the strength, and to love his neighbour as himself,
is more than all whole burnt-offerings and sacrifices. And when Jesus saw that
he answered discreetly, he said unto him, Thou art not far from the kingdom ot
God. And no man after that durst ask him any question.
In this passage we have the sum and substance of vital and practical religion,
The first and greatest commandment is the love of God, arising from the right
knowledge of his essence and personality ; and the second is like unto H; namely,
the love of our neighbour, founded upon the true love of God. There is pone
other commandment greater than these ; for upon these two hang all the law
and the prophets : and since these two are the greatest, they therefore deserve

DISCOURSE VII. 91
our greatest attention. Our Lord demands it of us in the text. What he enjoins
for the two greatest commandments we ought to esteem such, and to study them
most, and tb practise them best. To that end, let us consider them carefully ;
and may his good Spirit open our understandings to comprehend them and dis
pose our hearts to love them, and give us grace and strength to practise them
agreeably to his holy will !
The first commandment consists of two parts — the knowledge of God, and the
love of God. The true knowledge of God is contained in these words : Hear,
O Israel, the Lord our God is one Lord. And the nature and degree of love to
God is thus described : Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart,
mind, soul, and strength. I shall confine myself at present to the first of these
particulars, purposing, through divine assistance, to explain and enforce what is
laid down in the text concerning the true knowledge of God, reserving the other
parts of the text for some future opportunity.
The first and chief point in our religious inquiries is, to discover what God is.
This is the fundamental article, upon which all tne rest depend. We must know the
nature and personality of God before we can serve and love him ; and therefore
our blessed Saviour very properly places the knowledge of God before the love
of him. We cannot love what we know nothing of. Ignorance of God cannot
possibly beget love of him. If there be very dark and confused ideas of him in
the understanding, there cannot be much true love of him in the heart : for
which reason the text determines and fixes the proper object of worship before
it requires the love and service which is to be paid him. Our Lord begins with
the knowledge of the true God, and does not purpose any thing new upon this
point, but goes to the law and to the testimony. He cites a passage from Deut.
vi. 4, in which the divine essence and personality are clearly stated : " Hear, O
Israel : the Lord our God is one Lord." This is a command to the whole Israel
of God, whether Jews or Gentiles, to hearken to what the Lord God says concern
ing himself. He calls to them, and requires them to hear him : " Hear, O
Israel!" by which means it becomes a matter of duty; and we are indispensably
bound to attend to this revelation of his will. He has not left us at liberty to
think what we please about his essence and his personality, because he has re
vealed what we are to believe about both. And it was necessary he should do
this, because there is no religion without a God, and no true religion without the
true God. How should we know what religious service to perform, if we were
ignorant of the proper object of worship ? It being absolutely necessary that
we should know God, the knowledge of him is therefore revealed, and settled, in
the first part of the greatest commandment. We are not left to reasoning about
the being of God from the light of nature, or from philosophy or metaphysics ;
but the scripture has fixed our creed, and we must abide by it ; otherwise we cannot
keep the following parts of the text : we cannot love God and our neighbour
aright, unless we first know what God is. Since this is a material point in our
present inquiry, and not thoroughly understood, I will endeavour to prove the
necessity of settling the proper object of worship, before the worship due to him
can be paid. It is very certain, there can be no salvation without belief in God.
An atheist cannot be saved. He that cometh to God must believe that he is ; but
the atheist denies his very being, denies that God is, and thereby withdraws all
allegiance from him. Now, if a man cannot be saved without believing in God,
consequently he cannot be saved without believing in the true God ; for a false
God is no God at all ; it is a mere idol, a nothing in the world. Whoever pays
his service and worship to this false god, is an idolater, and guilty of high
treason against the supreme majesty of heaven. If any of you, who owe your
allegiance to King George, were to go to Rome and pay it to the pretender ; in
what light would the law consider your proceeding ? Would not it try you for a
capital offence, and, if found guilty, would not it deprive you of your fortune and
life ? The law of the most high God treats those who withdraw their allegiance
from him in the same manner, having already passed sentence upon them, and
decreed that idolaters shall not inherit the kingdom of Christ, and of God.
Since then the true object of worship must first be known before we can wor
ship him aright, how are we to come to the knowledge of him ? This is the next

92 THE LAW AND THE GOSPEL,
step in our present inquiry. And who shaU determine this point for us ? What
authority shall we abide by ? ShaU scripture or reason decide ? If scripture
bejudge, its determination is clear. What words can be plainer than these are ?
" Canst thou by searching find out God ? Canst thou find out the Almighty
unto perfection ? No. It is as high as heaven ; what canst thou do ? deeper
than heU ; what canst thou know ? The measure thereof is longer than tiie.
earth, and broader than the sea," Job xi. 7, 8, 9 ; entirely out of the reach of our
faculties. The reason of this is assigned in Matt. xi. 27 : " No man knoweth the
Son but the Father ; neither knoweth any man the Father, save the Son, and he
to whomsoever the Son wiU reveal him :" no man, therefore, be he ever so wise
and learned, knoweth God the Father, but by the revelation of his Son. And to
this agree the words of the apostle, 1 Cor. 1. 21 : " The world by wisdom knew
not God." The world by such wisdom, as it could attain, was not able to dis
cover the true God.
If these testimonies of holy writ be not suffered to determine the point, it is
not because they are of doubtful interpretation (for words cannot speak plainer),
but because you would have the matter tried before some other judge. Well
then, let us hear what reason says : but we wiU not hearken to its proud boast
ings of what it can discover : wewiU examine matter of fact, and inquire what it
has discovered. Did reason ever find out God ? and did any reasoners ever find out
the almighty to perfection ? Who were the men ? When, where, did they live?
In the refined and enlightened ages of Greece ? Tell us, ye disputers of this
world, did your Aristotle, or any of his foUowers, with their subtle reasoning,
attain to the knowledge of God ? It is an undoubted truth, that they did not.
And did any of the other Greek philosophers succeed better in their inquiries ?
No; not one of them. Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools, and
fell into gross idolatry along with the ignorant vulgar : for they, changed the
glory of the incorruptible God into an image made like to corruptible man, and
to birds, and to four-footed beasts, and creeping things. But if the Greeks failed,
did not the learned Romans find out God ? No ; not one of them ever disco
vered what God was. The Roman phUosophers, aided and assisted with all the
discoveries of the Greeks, yet remained as ignorant of God as they had been.
TuUy has left us a curious treatise upon the nature of the gods, in which
he has demonstrated the apostle's proposition, that the world by wisdom
knew not God ; for in this volume there is not a conjecture or a hint about
the nature of the true God. After the fruitless inquiries of such a genius, I
need not bring any other arguments to prove that the Romans, with all their
learning and refinement, knew not God. Their reason was not equal to the task.
And where shaU we find greater reasoners ? Did any man ever make a better
use of his reasoning faculties than TuUy ? And yet, with aU his searching, he
could not find out God. In these instances we see the utmost stretch of reason,
and what it can discover. Indeed, it boasts great things, and pretends, by the
help of metaphysics, to discover the secrets of the spiritual world; but these are
vain boastings. Matter of fact disproves them : for there was not one reasoner in
Greece or Rome who discovered the true God. These men came the nearest to
the truth, who erected an altar to the unknown God ; by which they held forth
and exposed the weakness of human reason, since, in one of the most famous
universities of the heathen world, the philosophers worshipped an unknown God.
How weak and groundless, then, are the boastings of our modern unbelievers,
who pretend to discover what God is by the mere dint of reason ! What have our
Arians and deists discovered of him ? Do they know more of God than the
philosophers did ? No. They have indeed greater helps, but by rejecting thern
their pride is greater, and their ignorance appears more manifest ; for they have
left revelation, and have invented to themselves as empty an idol as any heathen
philosopher ever worshipped. They rejected the Godhead of Christ, and of tbe
Holy hpint, and have imagined to themselves a god existing in one person, in-
finitely extended, filling infinite space, and many other such like chimerical attri
butes. And this idol, this nothing in the world, is become the fashionable divinity
n[.°™ *}™es, ' °ut lts worshippers are all traitors : every act of worship paid to
this idol is high treason : for, by such act, men withdraw their allegiance from

DISCOURSE VII. 93
the true God, and pay it to what has no more divinity than stocks and stones
And ought not the servants of the most high God kindly to admonish their fel
low-creatures of their guilt, when they see them seduced by this dangerous
heresy ? And if the watchmen give them not warning, will they not be par
takers with them in their sins ? If we hold our peace, they wiU perish ; but
their blood wiU God require at our hands. So that, as weU for the sake of our
own souls, as of theirs, we ought to speak plainly upon this subject, and bring
it to a matter of self-examination. Eet each of us put these questions to him
self :— Is it so, then, that there can be no true worship or love of God, unless it
be paid to the true God ? Have i, then, the right object of worship for my God ?
How was I brought to the knowledge of him ? for this is the best way to dis
cover the certainty of what, I think, I know of him. Did I find him out by the
light of reason ? And did metaphysics help me to find him out to perfection ?
If I have taken this method, I have been deceiving myself ; for the world by its
reason never found out God. . Or was I brought to the knowledge of him in this
way ? Was I convinced of sin, and humbled under the sense of it ? and did I
then find myself fallen from God, and alienated from the life of God, so that I
had no means of discovering his nature and perfections, but as revealed by his
word and by his Spirit ? Did I read the word, and pray for the Holy Spirit to
open and to explain it, that I might come to the knowledge of the only true God
and of Jesus Christ, whom he hath sent ? And am I stiU in this humble, teachable
frame of mind, reading the word, and praying for the teachings of the Spirit of
God ? — If this be your case, happy are ye. God has promised, and his word can
not be broken. Ask and ye shall have. Ask and ye shaU have this great pro
mise of the new covenant fulfiUed to you, Jer. xxxi. 34 : " And they shaU no
more teach every man his neighbour, and every man his brother, saying, Know
the Lord : for they shall aU know me, from the least of them to the greatest of
them, saith the Lord." He wiU teach you the knowledge of himself, and will mani
fest to you his essence and his personality. You shall know him as he has been
pleased to reveal himself in the text, of which we have the whole of what is con
tained in the sacred volume ; for here he declares what his essence is ; he is one
Jehovah ; and what the persons in this one Jehovah are ; they are Alehim. Je
hovah our Alehim is one Jehovah. This proposition is one ofthe deep things of
God, which he hath revealed unto us by bis Spirit, and which contains more
than can be written in many volumes. Each word has a rich copiousness and
explains to us many treasures of divine truth. May that Lord and God, in
whom are laid up all the riches of grace and knowledge, open them to you at
this time, that you may understand the wiU and mind of the Lord in his great and
glorious name Jehovah.
The word translated Lord, is, in the original, Jehovah ; which signifies a man
ner of existence peculiar and proper to the most high God. He is the only self-
existent essence. AU other beings owe their existence to his wiU and pleasure,
and depend on him for life and breath, and aU things ; but he exists by a neces
sity of nature, and this necessary existence is the meaning of the word Jehovah.
We cannot fully comprehend the idea conveyed by this word, because we are
not acquainted with the manner of necessary existence. The wisest man upon
earth cannot describe in what manner any material object exists ; for the atoms,
of which bodies are composed, faU not under the observation of our senses. We
know that gold differs from water ; but we are ignorant of their constituent par
ticles, which make them differ, so that we confessedly know not the manner of
their existence ; and the plain reason is, gold and water do exist in a different
manner, but our senses cannot discover how their particles or atoms difl'er. And
since we know not the manner ofthe existence of the material bodies with which
ourselves are conversant, how absurd would it be for any man to pretend to know
the manner of the existence of a spiritual being!" How presumptuous, then,
would it be for any man to undertake to describe how Jehovah exists, and rashly
to affirm that he exists in a manner which excludes all personality, while this
very man does not know the manner of the existence of any one thing in the
world. And yet every little philosopher, who has but just learned to reason upon
the objects which are within his reach, pretends to reason about the nature and

94 THE LAW AND THE GOSPEL.
attributes of God ; and every imnute infidel undertakea to prove by meta
physics, and one of them, more proud and ignorant than the rest, thought he
could prove d priori, that Jehovah exists in one person, although Jehovah him
aelf declares he does not. If these men would attend to the meaning of the name
Jehovah, it might correct some of their mistakes. It signifies necessary exist
ence. Now, rrom whence shaU we form a perfect idea of this word ? We
have no idea but from our senses, and there ia no object within the reach of
our senses, which exists by a necessity of nature. AU these Jehovah had formed
and made ; consequently they can only give us ideas of dependent existence.
There is but one Jehovah, the text says, and he exists in a manner, of which no
other thing can give us a perfect idea ; and therefore we can have no reason to
reject the account which God has given us of the manner of his existence ; but
if we act consistently, we must receive and abide by the revealed account, whip!
teaches us that Jehovah is the self-existent essence, and that this essence Is
one — one Jehovah ; but the Alehim, the persons in Jehovah, are three. There
was no doubt in those ancient times about the personality : the scripture guards
most the unity of the essence ; and, whUe it affirms the Father, Son, ano Holy
Spirit to be of the self-existent essence, it, at the same time, teaches us that these
three are one — one in essence, but three in persons.
The personality in Jehovah is described in the text by the word Alehim, which
is in the plural number, and acknowledged, to be eo by the Jews aa weU as Chris
tians ; and if they had not owned it, yet the sense of the passage would lead
us to seek for a plural interpretation, because there was no need for a revelation
to teach us that Jehovah, our one Alehim, is one Jehovah,, which is no more than
that one is one. But the word Alehim being plural, the Father, Son, and Holy
Spirit, being Alehim, it was necessary to reveal to us the unity of the essence,
and to teach us that these three persons were one Jehovah, and therefore, being
of the self-existent essence, none is before or sifter other ; none is greater or less
than another ; but the whole three persons are coeternal together, and coequal
Each of the persons is Jehovah. The Father is Jehovah, as we read Isa. hriv. 8 :
" But now, O Jehovah, thou art our Father." The Son is Jehovah, lea. xiv. 21.
" Who hath declared this from ancient time ? Have not I Jehovah ? and there is
no god else beside me ; a just God and a Saviour :" here the Son, our Saviour,
is called Jehovah. And the Holy Spirit is Jehovah, Isaiah xi. 2 : " The Spirit
Jehovah shall rest upon him, the Spirit of wisdom and understanding," &c.
Each of the persons is called Alehim. The Father is so called, 1 Chron.
xxix. 10: "And David said, Blessed be thou Jehovah, Alehim of Israel, oui
Father, for ever and ever." The Son is Alehim, Isaiah xiv. 21 : " There is no
Alehim else beside me ; a just God and a Saviour." The Holy Spirit ia Alehim,
Exodus xxxi. 3 : " I have filled Bezaleel with the Spirit Alehim," not of the
Alehim ; the Hebrew i8 with the Spirit Alehim ; ao that the Spirit ia the Alehim.
These scriptures confirm the doctrine of the text ; namely, that Jehovah is one,
and that, in the unity of Jehovah, there are three Alehim ; which word does not
signify their manner of existence. Jehovah denotes that; but it isa relative
word, descriptive of the gracious offices of the eternal three in the economy ol
man's redemption. And neither the personality expressed by its being plural,
nor its meaning, are retained by our translators in the singular word God. God
is no more the sense of Alehim, than goodness is. And if the translators could
not find a proper word in our language, they should have given a definition of
it in the first place they met with it in the Bible, and then have retained the
Hebrew name ever afterwards. By their neglect, our people are kept in igno
rance of this gracious name, unjler which Jehovah would have himself to be
known. It belongs to the covenant of grace, and is descriptive of the acts and
offices of the eternal three in the glorious plan of man's salvation, and it signifies
the binding act ofthe covenant — the obligation entered into upon oath to fulfil it.
This is the sense of Aleh, the root from whence Alehim is derived ; and there is
no other root from whence it can be derived without offering great violence to
the established rules of the Hebrew tongue. The oath ofGod is often men
tioned in scripture, and the people's entering into it is beautifully described,
Deut. xxix. 10, 11, 12 : "Ye stand this day aU of you before tbe Lord your

DISCOURSE VII. 95
God ; your captains of your tribes, your elders, and your officers, with all the
men of Israel, your little ones, your wives, and thy stranger that is in thy camp,
from the hewer of thy wood unto the drawer of thy water ; that thou shouldegt
enter into covenant with the Lord thy God, and mto his oath." God is here
said to have made an oath, emphatically styled his oath, because it was the oath
of the covenant from whence the name Alehim is taken.
If you ask, when was this covenant made by oath, and by whom, and for
what end ? The scripture answers those points very clearly.
The covenant was made before the world began, as Titus i. 2 : " In hope of
eternal fife, which God, that cannot he, promised before tbe world began." Was
not this promise the oath of the covenant ? What else could it be ? God, who
cannot he, promised before the world began, and foreordained, as 1 Peter i. 20,
that Christ should be the Lamb, who should take away sin by the sacrifice of
himself. This was foreordained by an eternal purpose, which he purposed in
Christ Jesus our Lord, Eph. iii. 1 1. What is called, in the scripture, the purpose,
Eromise, and foreordination of God, was the covenant of grace which was made
efore the world began ; yea, by an eternal purpose, and from which the divine
persons who confirmed this covenant by an oath are called Alehim ; and as the
covenant was made before the world began, they therefore took their name from
it, and are described by it, before the creation, in the first chapter of Genesis.
They had done some act before, from which this name was taken. Now it
signifies to confirm any thing by oath ; therefore they had confirmed something
by oath before the world began ; and what it was these scriptures determine,
which speak of the purpose, counsel, promise, and foreordination of God made
before all worlds, to bring many sons unto glory by Jesus Christ. This was the
design of the purpose, counsel, &c, and the persons who designed this are the
three in Jehovah : for each of them is called Jehovah, and each of them is caUed
Alehim, because each person in Jehovah had a distinct office in the economy of
the covenant. The Father undertook to demand fuU satisfaction for sin ; there
fore he is called a jealous God and a consuming fire. Christ undertook to pay
this satisfaction, and is therefore called God the Saviour ; and the Holy Spirit
covenanted to apply and to render effectual the benefit of Christ's satisfaction
to believers, and therefore his constant name is Spirit, which word signifies the
air that we breathe, on which our animal life depends, as our spiritual life does
on his inspiration. Now, since the divine persons have entered into a covenant,
and do sustain those distinct offices in it, and since our salvation depends upon
the knowledge of these truths, was it not an act of infinite love and condescen
sion for the divine persons in Jehovah to take the gracious name of Alehim, and
to reveal themselves to us, as persons bound by the obligation of an oath to
carry the covenant of grace into execution ?
If you ask, what necessity there was for this oath ? It was necessary only on
our parts, and it was an act of astonishing mercy, and wiU demand our ever
lasting tribute of praise, that God would vouchsafe to give convinced sinners
such encouragement to hope for mercy, as to bind himself by two immutable
things to save them. The apostle, Heb. vi. 16, 17, 18, thus speaks of this
wonderful instance of God's love : " An oath for confirmation is among men an
end of all strife ; wherein God, willing more abundantly to show unto the heirs
of promise the immutability of his counsel, confirmed it by an oath ; that by two
immutable things, in which it was impossible for God to lie, we might have
strong consolation, who have fled for refuge to lay hold of the hope set before
us/' In this scripture the apostle describes the counsel, or the covenant of God
to save sinners ; and this was confirmed by an oath ; and the reason of the
oath was for the sake of the heirs of promise, that they might have two immu
table things to rest their faith upon ; namely, the immutable counsel and the
immutable oath of God ; and these ought to silence all doubts in the heirs of
promise, because it is impossible that either of them should be broken.
These authorities may Buffice to determine the meaning of the divine name
Alehim. It is expressive of the personality in Jehovah, and denotes what the
Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, the three Alehim, have covenanted upon oath to
do for the salvation of sinners. Alehim signifies the Trinity in covenant, and
particularly expresses the oath, which was the binding act of the covenant, and

Dti THE LAW AND THE GOSPEL.
thereby it denotes the most merciful relation in which divine love could manifest
itself; a relation productive of the richest blessings of time and of eternity.
Jehovah is a name of majesty and greatness. Alehim is a name of grace and
mercy. Jehovah expresses the self-existence of the Godhead, and the infinite
difference between his manner of existing and that of his dependent creatures;
and after they had sinned, it was to them a name of terror : whereas Alehim
expresses nothing but tender love and abundant mercy to returning sinners :
for the covenant was made for such, and it was confirmed by an oath, that they
might place their whole trust and confidence on what the Trinity had covenanted
to do for them and for their salvation : for the Father, although he be the
avenger of sin, yet has been satisfied with the obedience and sufferings of his
coequal and coeternal Son, and wiU be satisfied with aU those who submit to
be saved by his righteousness; and the Holy Spirit wiU influence them to
accept the righteousness of God for their justification, and he will work mightily
in them to enable them to bring forth the fruits of righteousness, until he bring
them safe to glory. — These are the mercies promised in the covenant of grace,
and expressed by the divine name Alehim. How greatly, then, Bhould this
name encourage convinced sinners to come and ask the covenant mercies ? And
what strong consolation does it give them, when they flee for refuge to Jesus
Christ, and to lay hold of the hope set before them in him ?
From what has been said, it appears that the first part of the commandment,
relating to God, is the right knowledge of him ; and what we are required to
believe concerning his essence and personality is described in these words:
" Hear, O Israel ; Jehovah our Alehim is one Jehovah." Jehovah, the self-
existent essence, who is our Alehim, our Trinity, bound by the oath of the
covenant to save sinners, these three in covenant, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit,
are not before nor after other, greater or less than another, but they are of one
and the same self-existent essence ; these three are one Jehovah ; the holy,
blessed, and glorious Trinity are one Jehovah.
This, my brethren, is the doctrine of the text, which the Lord God himself
calls upon you to hear : " Hear, O Israel." And have you heard him ? Have
you received his account of the divine essence and personality ? If not, why do
you reject it? Is not his command a law? and are you not bound to. believe
what the Lord has revealed concerning himself?
Perhaps you think the revealed account is not established upon sufficient
authority. This point does not come under consideration at present. We are
only treating of the doctrine ; and what can you object against it, as it haa been
now stated ? Why, say some, 1 stiU think, after all that you have said, the
doctrine is inconsistent ; for you are forced to maintain that three are one. Nay,
we maintain no such contradiction ; for the Trinity is not three and one in the
same respect, but three in person and one in essence. The air, which is reduced
to atoms in the action of fire, and the light which comes from it, and the gross
spirit of the air which feeds the fire — these three conditions of the air are one
in essence ; and is it any contradiction to say, these three are one ? No, surely.
Just so we speak of the essence as one, and of the persons in it as three.
Supposing this to be a good illustration of the doctrine, yet stiU we cannot
receive it, say some, because it is unintelligible. What is unintelligible ? The
proposition itself is plain : in the self-existent essence there are three persons.
You cannot object to the difficulty of the terms, or of your forming a clear idea
of what they convey. But you cannot conceive how there can be three persons
in one essence. And is this the cause of your unbelief ? If you wiU not believe
the doctrine of the Trinity until you comprehend the manner of the divine
existence, consider how absurdly you act : for do you know how a spirit exists ?
No. And yet you believe the existence of an immortal spirit within you. Can
you comprehend how an infinite Spirit exists ? No. You know not how your
own spirit exists ; and yet, while you are confessedly ignorant of a finite object,
you pretend to be so weU acquainted with the mode and manner of existence of
an infinite Spirit, as to reject what is revealed in scripture concerning it. Whether
this be not acting an absurd part, I leave it to yourselves to judge.
But stiU you cannot think the scripture doctrine of the Trinity is rational
if you go to try it by reason, you forget that the world by reason knew not God.-

DISCOURSE VII. 97
It did not know him formerly in the learned ageS of Greece and Rome. And if
then, this enlightened age has discovered how Jehovah exists, let our reasoning
infidels demonstrate that he exists in such a manner as absolutely excludes all
personality. But this they cannot demonstrate ; they know they cannot ; and
yet they pretend the scripture doctrine of the Trinity is not rational, although
they have no reason against it ; no good reason, however ; none that they dare
publicly own. The cause of their unbelief must be ascribed chiefly to their sins.
While they five in wilful sin, they cannot know God, because their minds are in
total blindness, and will continue so, as long as they continue alienated from the
life of God. They must be convinced of sin, and humbled under the sense of
it, and sue for mercy, and receive it, and then they wiU know the blessed Trinity
is Jehovah : for no man knoweth the Son but the Father ; neither knoweth any
man the Father but the Son, and he to whomsoever the Son wiU reveal him by
the teaching of his good Spirit. May he, who has the residue of the Spirit, send
him to take away ignorance from all unbelievers, hardness of heart and contempt
of his word, that they may be converted, and believe to the saving of their
souls. But, besides these more open deniers of the doctrine, we have several of our
own people who attend upon the ordinances of the church, and yet are ignorant
of this fundamental doctrine. For their sakes we ought to insist upon it, and
to explain it as taught in scripture, and in the liturgy of our church, with which
the state of the doctrine, as now laid down, is perfectly consistent. The first of
the thirty-nine articles treats of faith in the Holy Trinity, and says that in the
unity of the Godhead there be three persons of one substance, power, and
eternity — the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost : and the proper preface in the com
munion service for Trinity Sunday is more clear and determinate. " It is very
meet and right that we should give thanks to thee, who art one God, one
Lord ; not one only person, but three persons in one substance ; for that which
we believe of the glory of the Father, the same we believe of the Son, and of
the Holy Ghost, without ANY DIFFERENCE or INEQUALITY." These
are the testimonies of our church, and they are very full- in confirmation of the
doctrine which you have now heard. Consider them carefuUy, my brethren, and
beg of God to enlighten your understandings with the knowledge of the truth.
Oh that he may manifest it so clearly as that you may know the Father to be
your reconciled Father, the Son to be your Almighty Saviour, and the Holy
Spirit to be your counseUor and comforter, your strengthener and sanctifler
unto the end !
Happy are they who thus know God, or rather are known of God. You, my
Christian brethren, enjoy this happjness ; for you know in whom you have
believed. By faith you have come to God, believing that he is Jehovah, the
self-existent essence, and that he is a rewarder of them who diligently seek the
mercies of the covenant, which was made by the blessed three in Jehovah, and
which is expressed by the gracious name Alehim. You know Jehovah your
Alehim, and thus you keep the first part of the great commandment of all —
Hear, O Israel ; Jehovah our Alehim is one Jehovah. You believe in and
worship Jehovah, one in essence and three in person. You are thankful for
what is revealed concerning the personality and the merciful offices sustained by
the divine persons in the covenant of grace. With your lips and with your lives
you are ready to show forth the thankfulness of your hearts, and to fbUow me to
the next part of my text, which treats of the love of Jehovah Alehim. But
this I must reserve for the subject of another discourse, only desiring you at
present to look up to that Lord and God of whom we have been speaking, and
to beseech htm to render useful what has been said to aU of us. Oh that he
would enable us aU to make use of the words of our church upon the occasion,
and with the prayer of faith to say,
Almighty and everlasting God, who has given unto us, thy servants, grace by
the confession of a true faith to acknowledge the glory of tbe eternal Trinity,
and in the power of the divine majesty to worship the Unity ; we beseech thee,
that thou wouldest keep us steadfast in this faith, and evermore defend us from
all adversities, who livest and reignest one God, world without end. Amen.

98 THE LAW AND THE GOSPEL.
DISCOURSE VIII.
UPON THE RIGHT LOVE OF THE LORD GOD.
And one of the scribes came, and having heard them reasoning together, and per
ceiving that he had answered them well, asked him, Which is the first command
ment of all. And Jesus answered him, The first of all the commandments is,
Hear, 0 Israel;, the Lord our God is one Lord; and thou shalt love the Lord
thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and
with all thy strength. This is the first commandment ,- and the second is like;
namely this, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself There is none other
commandment greater than these. — Mark xii. 28 — 31.
Our blessed Saviour has delivered, in these words, four very important truths.
First, He teaches us the right knowledge of the Lord God.
Secondly, The right love of him.
Thirdly, The right love of our neighbour, arising from the right love of
God ; and
Fourthly, The greatness of these commandments : there is none other com
mandment greater than these.
The first of these particulars has been already treated of. It is contained in
these words : Hear, O Israel ; Jehovah, our Alehim, is one Jehovah. There are
three that have entered into covenant in heaven — Father, Son, and Holy Spirit ;
and these three are one — three persons of one essence. This is the revealed
account ; and this, my brethren, you are bound to receive, if you believe in
God : for if you withdraw your nUegiance from the three persons in one
Jehovah, and pay it to an absolute God existing in oneperaon, you are as guilty
of idolatry as if you had twenty thousand gods. This is the case of every
deist, who, by rejecting the scripture doctrine of the Trinity in unity, is in as
bad a state as the atheist : for what is the difference between him who has no
God, and him who has a false God ? They are both without the true God in
the world, both traitors against the majesty of Jehovah, and both have turned
away their ears from hearing his laws. He has commanded them to believe in
him as Jehovah Alehim, but they refuse to believe in him. The atheist says
there is no Jehovah, and the fool upon record, the deist, hath said in his heart,
there are no Alehim ; and how, then, can they escape his vengeance, since he
has threatened, that they who only forget him shall be punished in everlasting
fire ? " Tbe wicked shaU be turned into heU, and all the people that forget
God." Ihe crime is smaU to forget God, compared to theirs who deny his very
being, or who refuse to worship him as the true God. In either case, they are
guilty of high treason ; for the Lord God caUs upon them to hearken to him.
He is about to deliver the first and great commandment, and he requires his
people to attend and to receive the law from his mouth — Hear, O Israel ! Israel
signifies aU the people of God, in whatever age or country they live, whether
they be Jews or Gentiles. " Hear, O Israel; Jehovah, our Alehim, is one
Jehovah." Jehovah is but one ; but Alehim is plural, more than one ; namely,
the three in covenant — Father, Son, and Holy Spirit — who took this name
because the covenant was confirmed by an oath for the sake of the heirs of
promise, that they might have two immutable things to rest their faith upon,
The right knowledge of God, then, consists in believing, that in Jehovah, the
self-existent essence, there are three coequal and coeternal persons, between
whom there is no difference or inequality but what is made by the covenant of
grace. Their names, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, are not descriptive of their
nature, but of their offices : they are not to teach us in what manner they exist
in Jehovah ; but they are covenant names, belonging to the offices which the
divine persons sustain in the covenant. The scripture does not use these names
to teach us how the divine persons exist, but how they act ; how they stand
related to the heirs of promise, and not what they are in themselves, as persons
in Jehovah. This is a truth of great importance, which I have endeavoured to
defend, both from the pulpit and from the press ; and particularly in a printed

DISCOURSE VIII 99
discourse upon the self-existence of Jesus Christ. The true object of worship
then, to whom our obedience and love are due, is Jehovah Alehim, according to
what is said in the Creed : " the unity in Trinity and the Trinity in unity is to be
worshipped." And is this, my brethren, the object of your worship ? Do you
pay your allegiance to a God in one person, or to Jehovah in Trinity ? If you
have not been determined to worship Jehovah Alehim, but have broken this first
part of the great commandment of all, you cannot keep the other parts ; for the
love of God depends upon the knowledge of God. How should you love the
true God until you know him ? But if you know him as he has been pleased to
reveal himself to us in the text, as three persons in one essence, and are desirous
of paying him that tribute of love which he requires, then you wiU gladly follow
me to my second general head ; namely, to the consideration of the right love of
the Lord God. And may he be present with us, while we are treating of his
love ! Oh that he would send his good Spirit to stir up longings in their hearts,
who have as yet no desire to love the Lord God ; to shed his love abroad in their
hearts, who are hungering and thirsting for it ; and may both speaker and
hearers find their love to God increase from what shall be said upon these
words : " Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with aU thy heart, and with all thy
soul, and with aU thy mind, and with aU thy strength." In discoursing upon
which I shall
First, Show the nature of the love here commanded.
Secondly, I shall consider whether aU men keep this commandment.
Thirdly, If they do not, in what way the gospel directs us to attain the love of
God ; and then, in order to stir us up to attain it, I wiU lay before you,
Fourthly, Some of the exceeding great and precious promises to them who love .
God. First, The text treats of our love to the Lord God, requiring our love to arise
from the knowledge of him. When the understanding perceives what he is, the
heart ought to receive him for its chiefest good. As Jehovah, he is the fountain
of all good ; he is the self-existent essence, through whose power and goodness
all other beings exist, and therefore to him they aU owe their tribute of love and
obedience. As Jehovah Alehim, the Trinity in covenant, he has engaged to
bestow upon his redeemed people every grace and every blessing which they
stand in need of in time and in eternity, and on this account he has an undoubted
claim to their allegiance. When they view him in this fight, their hearts should
be determined to love him ; and when they partake Of the graces and blessings
of the covenant, they ought to love him out of gratitude. The debt of gratitude
is so immense, that they can never repay it, and therefore they are the more
obliged to make every possible acknowledgment of their thankfulness. They
ought to love Jehovah their Alehim with all their heart, with all their soul, with
all their mind, and with aU their strength : and yet, when they do love him in
this perfect manner, they can only acknowledge the debt ; for they leave it stiU
unpaid ; and it will be for ever unpaid, as to any return in kind that they can
make. They can only love (and what less can they do than love ?) the Lord their
God, for his infinitely rich blessings ; and this love he demands. As Jehovah,
he has a right to demand it of all his creatures ; and as Alehim he may claim it of
every one who partakes of the benefits of the covenant. They ought to love
him " With aU the heart." The heart is the seat of affection : aU the affections be
long to the heart ; and the Lord God here claims them aU : they are aU to centre
in him. He is to reign sole monarch of the heart ; and the affections are to be
his willing subjects, loving him above aU things, and in all things. Whatever
any of them desire as good, they are to desire it out of love to God ; and they
are not to give any object a place in their esteem, unless their love to it be a proof
of their love and obedience to God. My son, says he, give me thy heart, — all thy
heart, — and let me have no rival to share in thy affections. And as he thus de
mands the love of the immortal spirit within us, so does he, in the next words,
claim the affections of the human frame : " Thou shalt love the Lord thy God
" With all thy soul." The Hebrew word, here rendered soul, does not signify
the immaterial and immortal spirit, but is generally used in scripture for the parts
n 2

100 THE LAW AND THE GOSPEL.
concerned in carrying on the circulation of the blood, and in which the appetites
of the human frame are placed. These are to be regulated by tiie love of God,
and they are aU to be used in his service. The heart, being the commanding and
ruling faculty, ought to influence them at aU times to act upon a principle of love
to their infinitely kind Creator and Benefactor. Every desire and craving, every
instinct and passion of the animal faculties, should be brought into such a cheer
ful subjection to the Lord God, that to do his wUl should be their delight. There
should not be a motion or stirring of desire in any of the appetites but what took
its rise from love ; for all the soul, the whole human frame, was to be governed
and influenced by the perfect love of God. There should not be a desire in any
one instinct or appetite but what sprang from divine love ; and wheri carried into
act, and gratified, it ought to be invariably directed by the same prinbiple. And
the Lord God not only demands the service of aU the affections of the immortal
spirit, and of aU the appetites of the human frame, but the text goes on to claim
the service of aU the rational faculties ; for that is the sense of tne Greek word
which is rendered
" With aU thy mind." It denotes that power of the mind whereby it deduces
one thing from another : it is what the logicians call discursus, or the art of rea
soning, 'ihe mind having before received ideas by simple apprehension, and
formed a judgment of them, is then enabled to reason upon them; and this
faculty of reasoning is here meant : so that every thing which the mind can rea
son upon ought to lead it up to God, and to increase its love to God. Reason
with all its powers, shoidd be under the influence of divine love. And thus the
Lord God expects us to keep the first and great commandment : he requires all
the affections of body, soul, and spirit, and all the reasoning faculties to be inva
riably fixed upon him ; and he would not only have them to be influenced by his
love, but he would also have each of them to exert his whole strength in mani
festing their love in him :
" And with all thy strength." The love of God must be perfect in kind, in de
gree, in duration. Whatever strength there is in man, divine love should have
the command of it, and the continual use of it. All the powers of soul and body,
and of all their faculties, should be directed in every thought, and word, and
work, by the love of God ; and there should be no abating of their vigour in any
respect ; but they should be continuaUy carried out with their whole strength into
grateful acts of love and obedience.
This is the nature of the love required in the text ; and it is required by tho
Lord God, to whom we are aU under infinite obligations, and whom we are
bound, by innumerable ties, to love with aU the affections of the immortal spirit,
and of the human frame, with all our reasoning faculties, and with aU our
strength. This is the first and great commandment ; and whoever keeps it in
this perfect manner, fulfils the law of the first table. . lie cannot have any other
Uod as an object of love ur worship, neither can he set up any false worship, nor
dishonour the divine name, by taking it in vain, nor forget the time appointed
for enjoying communion with his God. How can he break any of these commands
whUe the love of God reigns in his heart and commands aU his affections ? But
if he breaks any one of them, does he not thereby withdraw his love and service
from God ? And if this be done only once, he has not kept the first and great
commandment, but is become a transgressor of the law, and liable to suffer the
punishment due to his transgression.
Here, then, there arises an important question, in which you are aU nearly Con
cerned ; and every one of you should ask his own heart, Have I kept this first
and great commandment ? The Lord God has au undoubted right to this tri
bute of perfect love : have I paid it him ? Whether you have or not shaU be
now inquired under my
Second general head : — and it was proposed to consider, whether all men kept
this commandment.
Let us examine these two faithful witnesses upon the point— scripture and
matter of fact ; and by their concurrent testimony let the truth be established.
Look around you, my brethren, and see what men's affections appear to be most
set upon. What are they coveting with aU their hearts, wishing for with all their

DISCOURSE VIII 101
Souls, and pursuing with aU their strength, and in the enjoyment of what do they
account themselves happy ? Is God in all their thoughts ? Is he the chief ob
ject of their love, and the great end of aU their pursuits ? Is gratitude to him the
ruling principle of their fives ? and do they think themselves most happy when
they love him most and serve him best ? A very little acquaintance with man
kind will soon convince you that God does not reign in their hearts, although his
hands have made them and fashioned them, and their life and breath, and aU
things come from his bounty, and the use of them depends upon his good plea
sure. They have forgotten aU his benefits, and turned traitor to their sovereign
Lord. They have taken up arms, and have entered into rebellion against his
lawful government. They nave enlisted freely in the service of sin, to fight under
the banner of Satan. Their love to sin has drawn them into this unnatural re
bellion, and their strong attachment to its pleasures has made them reject the
happiness which God offers them. While they are at war with him, he publishes
an act of grace, and out of his infinite mercy declares hi6 wiUingness to forgive
them, if they wiU throw down their arms : but they refuse to receive his free
pardon, being not only lovers of pleasure more than lovers of God, but also such
desperate lovers of pleasure, that they are haters of God. They hate him for de
nying them the sweet enjoyment of their beloved sins ; and they hate him the
more for threatening to punish them. And this hatred shows itself openly by
their hating his wiU, his ordinances, his people ; yea, by their hating every thing
that God loves.
Well might the prophet say, Lord, what is man ? What is he indeed ! What
a most wonderful creature is he, that he should not be afraid to fight against the
Almighty, and that he should dare to hate an infinitely perfect God ! Oh, surely
he is fallen ! fallen greatly from his higher state, since he is such a monster of in
gratitude as to hate his best friend and benefactor, even the God who gave him
those very faculties of body and soul, and who continues the use of them, al
though he makes them the instruments and weapons of rebellion, and with them
opposes God's lawful sovereignty over him.
But, perhaps, some wiU ask, What ! are aU men haters*of God ? Yes ; in their
natural state every one of them hates him : and this may be demonstrated from
their love of what God hates. All have sinned ; and what can tempt them aU to
sin, but the love of it ? All men love the world, and place their affections upon
the things of it : how could this be, if their hearts were placed upon God, and
their affections upon the things of God ? If they loved the God of infinite purity,
they could not at the same time love the world that lieth in wickedness ; because
this' is setting up their wiU in opposition to his holy wiU, in which aU enmity con
sists. ," If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him." These
two kinds of love cannot be in the same heart ; they are at irreconcilable enmity ;
and yet the love of the world is in the hearts of aU natural men : they are turned
from the love of God to the love of evil. The heart of the sons of men is fuUy set
in them to do evil. So says our ninth article : " FaUen man is of his own na
ture inclined to evil ;" his inclinations are turned from the love of God to the love
of evil ; yea, so entirely turned, that the imaginations of the thoughts of his heart
are not set upon God, but are set upon evU, and that continuaUy. And this love
of evil is deeply rooted in the very nature and frame of man, and has gotten such
entire possession of him, that it has made him hate God. This hatred chiefly
shows itself by its opposition to the wUl of God, which is, in fact, opposition to,
and hatred of, the person of God ; according to what is written by the prophet :
" Ye that love the Lord, hate evtt," Psalm xcvii. 10. To which agree the words
of our Lord, " If ye love me, keep my commandments ;" show your love to me
by your love and obedience to my will. Does any natural man show his love 114
this way ? No. His heart is in another interest. He hates the commandments
of God ; therefore he hates God. Tliere appears a settled fixed hatred in him to
the divine ordinances. How little does he read or know of the word of God!
Man)- large volumes he has perused, many novels and play-books he has treasured
up in his memory; but the sacred volume, in which God has revealed all the
treasures of wisdom and knowledge, is neglected. How many arc there of 11 •
who never nad the Bible through in our lives ! whereas, if wc loved God, wi

102 THE LAW AND THE GOSPEL.
should certainly read the sweet volume of his grace and love with care and dili
gence, and should be meditating in it day and night. No reading would be so
pleasant, as none would be more improving : but the devil's book is far more pe
rused than God's. We hear of very few parties that meet together to read the
scriptures : thank God, there are some ! but thousands meet together in this city
every evening to study the devU's book. How can these persons love tiie Lord
God with all their hearts, since they hate his revealed will, and can spend three or
four, or more, hours every day at a most stupid diversion, and at which God is not
in all their thoughts ? And as the natural man hates the word, so he hates
prayer : it is a vast burden to him. If you propose to him to be of a party, who
are going to spend an hour this evening in prayer, you wiU soon see he has no re
lish to the duty. He wiU try to get himself excused, if he can ; and if he cannot,
it will be to him a most miserable, long, dull hour ; and he wiU be very glad when
it is over. The reason is, he has no communion with God, and therefore does not-
love to converse with him. The things of time and sense please him more than
the things of God ; yea, so much more, as to render tedious and hateful all tho
exercises and ordinances of religion. The very table of the Lord is not pleasant
to him. God has been pleased to prepare a rich feast for his people ; but the na
tural man has no appetite for it. He has no faith to live upon Christ's broken
body, and blood shed ; and therefore, perhaps, never was at the Lord's table in
his life, unless for some prudential reasons, to please some relations, or to qua
lify for some good place. And as to the Lord's house, he never goes there hut
out of form and custom. If he is to see some favourite new play or entertain
ment, he goes with very exalted spirits to the devil's house ; but coming to church
is a burden ; and when he is there, the service is quite tiresome. He wishes it
was over, and the duU sermon was ended. Tbe Lord's day has nothing pleasing
to engage his heart. It breaks in upon his business and pleasures, and is the
most stupid day in the whole week. If he be a polite man, and of a plentiful
fortune, he wiU show how wearied he is with the divine appointment of this
portion of time, by his manner of spending it. The day being got over as
weU as he can, in visiting and company, he thinks the evening may be spent
at an innocent game of cards, or at a concert of music. Can these people
love God, who thus demonstrate their enmity to his will and to his ordi
nances ? And if any one reprove them, they will soon express then enmity
against him, and will make him feel it too, if they have it in their power. How
dweUeth the love of God in such persons ? Can love beget hatred ? If you
love any person, wiU you do every thing which you know he hates ? Cer
tainly this is the way in which hatred shows itself ; and therefore, since all men
love 6in, which God hateth, and love the world and the pleasures and enjoyments
of it, and neglect and hate the divine ordinances, it is evident that the love of God
is not in them.
This may be the case of the baser sort of men, some may say, but not of the
more civilized and polite. Yes, it is the case of all alike. Human learning does
not bring men to the knowledge of God, nor politeness to the love of him.
What people were more learned and polite than the Romans ? and yet they
were " haters of God," Rom. i. 30. They had attained to the highest refine
ment of classical learning, and nevertheless they continued to hate the' true
God. They were very polite and civilized in their manners to one another,
but in their religion no nation was ever more rude and barbarous. Their city
was fuU of idols, and yet they were without God in the world ; for his person
they rejected by their idolatry, and his most adorable attributes and perfec
tions they hated.
But some may ask, Is there no difference between us, who are born in a
Christian country, and others, who have no knowledge of Christ ? No ; none
but what is made by grace. You have many outward privileges in a Christian
country ; but you do not therefore partake of the love of God ; because you
partake of these privUeges. Is not this matter of fact ? Is there not as much
love of the world, of riches, pleasures, and honours among nominal Christians,
as among Jews or heathens? For in what does a nominal Christian differ
from a heathen, but in name ? He has, indeed, some outward privileges, but

DISCOURSE VIII. 103
these cannot of themselves change the inward frame and temper of his mind ;
because they operate, not mechanically or physicaUy, but by the divine influ
ence upon them j and where this is not present, although Paul should plant,
and A polios should water, yet there would be no increase either of the know
ledge or of the love of God.
Does this state of the case offend you, my brethren, because it gives you
Buch mean ideas of human nature ? Nay, be not offended at what scripture
plainly teaches, and experience demonstrates. Rather search your own hearts,
and see whether there be not in you a settled hatred of God. If you examine
yourselves by the rule laid down in the text, and if conscience does its duty,
vou will own yourselves to be guUty of the breach of the first and great com
mandment. But whether you own it or Hot, it is an infaUible truth. As cer
tainly as God hates sin, so certainly does the unpardoned sinner hate God •
for he that loves sin cannot love God. Whue he hates the mind and will of
God, how can he possibly love the person of God ? And such haters of God
have we aU been. We have aU loved sin, which is direct enmity against his
sovereign will. We have all committed sin, which is open rebeUion against
his government. Could we have acted in this manner if the love of God had
been perfected in us? No, surely. The love of God would never have led
us to break his holy laws, to insult his authority, and to provoke his justice ;
for hereby the wrath of God abideth upon us ; and did we indeed love him,
how could we bear to be under his wrath, or how could we think of its
abiding upon us for ever and ever ? These are undoubted proofs of our hav
ing failed in our love to God. We have aU broken the first and great com
mandment, and are thereby become transgressors of the law. We are all sub
ject to the pains and penalties threatened to transgression, and are unable to
do any thing to deliver ourselves. This is our guUty and helpless state. My
brethren, are you convinced of it ? This conviction is absolutely necessary :
for you can never be brought to love God until you have been made tho
roughly sensible that by nature you were haters of God. When the Holy
Spirit begins to turn your hearts from sin to righteousness, the first step he
takes is to convince you of your former hatred to God and to his will. Under
a sense of this, he humbles you, and makes you pray to God for the disco
very of his love. Finding yourselves miserable without it, you will earnestly
ask it of him who has it to give. But these points come now in order to be
considered under my
Third head — Under which I purposed to explain in what way the gospel
directs us to attain the love of God. One great design of Christianity was to
reform our love, by bringing it back to its proper object, and by fixing it there.
By sin we had withdrawn our hearts from God, and placed them upon the things
of time and sense ; whereby we had not only fallen into a state of guilt, but if we
had continued in it, we could not have been happy, no, not in heaven, because
we cannot be happy in what we hate. Our hatred would turn heaven itself into
a place of torment. Christianity was the gracious contrivance of God, by which
we might be brought to love what would make us really and eternally happy ;
and this it does by raising our affections from the love oi the creature to the love
of God. It begins this work by convincing us that we have faUed in all the
duties of the first table, and have broken the great commandment of love, which
includes them aU. He that is never convinced of this wiU never see his want of
divine love, and therefore will never ask it. Have you, then, been convinced, my
brethren, from what has been said, that in your natural state you neither do low-
God, nor can love him by any means in your own power ? If you arc not con
vinced, what I am going to offer will be of no service to you ; because it is in
vain to show you how to attain the love of God, if you see not the necessity of
attaining it. May the God of love himself convince you of this necessity, and
help you to foUow me with profit in this consideration of the several steps by
which the gospel directs sinners to the love of God, and these are three. The
First, Is a lively sense and conviction of their want of the love of God ;
Secondly, A clear discovery of what Christ did to manifest the love of the
Father, nnd to reconcile sinners to him ; and,

104 THE LAW AND THE GOSPEL
Thirdly, The work of the Holy Spirit in bringing them to the knowledge and
experience of the love of God.
The first step towards the attainment of divine love, is a lively sense of the
want of it. The Holy Spirit convinces the sinner of his guilt for having with
drawn his love and obedience from the Lord God, and for having thereby robbed
him of his due honour and service. The sinner upon this feels what it is to have
provoked an almighty God, and in his guilty conscience he has fearful apprehen
sions of God's anger, and of abiding under his wrath. He finds he should have
groveUed on in the sinful love of tiie creature, if the Holy Spirit had not thus
convinced him of his gtnit, and made hjm feel his misery. He now sees he has
broken all the first table, and is become a transgressor of the law, and therefore
is stirred up in earnest to seek for the sense of God's pardoning love.
This is the Lord's way, in which he brings him to know himself and to expe
rience the emptiness of all creature love ; and thus he puts him upon seeking
happiness in God. My brethren, have you been made sensible of your want of
it ? and are you seeking it in him ? If you are, you have great reason to be
thankful ; for you have already some tokens of his love. He has put it into your
hearts to seek his favour. May he draw you by the cords of his love until you
have a clear discovery of what Christ did to manifest the love of the Father, and
to reconcUe sinners to him ; which is the second step towards the attainment of
divine love.
We could never have attained it by any means in our own power, and no mere
creature could have attained it for us ; because, before the Father would mani
fest his love to us, he would have aU the demands of his law and justice fully
answered. WTiile the broken law stood out against us, and justice was concerned
to see its pains and penalties inflicted, we could have no peace with God. Dut
Christ undertook the work of reconciliation, by doing aU that his Jaw required,
and by suffering all that his justice demanded, and thereby making a full atone-
ment for our sins. The law he fuUy satisfied by his infinitely perfect obedience;
for by it he magnified the law, and made it honourable, insomuch, that " by the
obedience of one, many shall be made righteous," to make them righteous before
God, otherwise Christ obeyed in vain. Justice he fully satisfied by his infinitely
meritorious sufferings. It was decreed, that without shedding of blood there
should be no remission ; but it was not possible that the blood of buUs and of
goats should obtain remission ; wherefore, when he cometh into the world, he
eaith to his Father, Sacrifice and offering thou wouldst not, but a body hast thou
prepared me. In burnt-offerings and sacrifices for sin thou hast had no pleasure ;'
then said I, Lo, I come to do thy wiU, O God, by making myself an offering for
sin. This was the Father's wiU. He accepted the sufferings of the just for the
unjust ; and when the holy Lamb, through the eternal Spirit, offered himself
without spot to God, he was an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet smelling
savour. The Father is weU pleased with him, and is also weU pleased with them,
who have redemption through his blood, even the forgiveness of sins. For the
prophet, speaking of them, says. Psalm lxxxv. 2, 3, " Thou hast forgiven the
iniquity of thy people ; thou ha3t covered aU their sin. Selah. Thou hast taken
away aU thy wrath ; thou hast turned thyself from the fierceness of thine anger,"
This is the character of God in Christ. His wrath is turned away from his people.
For what reason ? Are they not sinners even as others ? Yes ; but he is well
pleased with them for Christ's righteousness' sake, through whom he has forgiven
their iniquity, and has covered aU their sin.
"When the sinner, convinced of his want of divine love, is thus satisfied that
Christ has paid the full price to obtain it, having answered aU the demanda of
law and justice, and that sinners may now be brought nigh to a reconciled Father,
and may taste and see how gracious he is, then he waits for this blessing, which
is the gift of the Holy Spirit. It ia his work and office to bring convinced sinners
to the knowledge and experience of the love of God : and. this is the third par
ticular I was to treat of.
The Holy Spirit directs the hearts of awakened and convinced sinners to the
love of God in this way and method. He makes them sensible of their wants,
and then shows them where they have a supply. He gives them evidence to

DISCOURSE- VIII. 105
beheve the aU-sufficiency of Christ, whose obedience and sufferings were divine
and infinitely meritorious, and made a full and perfect satisfaction for sin. God
the Father accepted them as such ; and, since his justice was weU pleased and
satisfied with them, the sinner thinks he may be satisfied with them also : for as
there is no objection against them in the court of heaven, so there ought to be
none in the court of his conscience. Then the Holy Spirit enables him to put
forth an act of faith, and to rely upon Christ as a tried foundation. He casts
himself upon Christ's power to save, believing him to be Jehovah, the Lord God
Almighty ; and, hearing and reading the gracious promises of Christ's readiness
to save aU that come to him, he sees there is no reason for him to doubt either
of Christ's power, or of Christ's love, to fulfil his promises : upon which he is
enabled thus to address the Lord Christ :
O almighty and most merciful Saviour, in whom the Father is reconciled to
returning sinners ; thou hast the residue of the Spirit with thee, by whom they
may be reconciled to God : I bless thee, I praise thee, and glorify thee, for the
inestimable gift of thy good Spirit, by whom I have been enabled to rest upon
thy promises, and to rely upon thy faithfulness to fulfil them, even to me, a
miserable, helpless sinner. O Lord, strengthen my faith by the grace of the same
Spirit ; that it may work by love, but having stiU more clear evidence of the
Father's being reconciled to me, I may love him with aU my heart and with aU my
soul. With such actings of faith in prayer, God is weU pleased ; for they are the
breathings of his own Spirit in the believer's heart; and he will answer them.
He strengthens faith, and increases love, according to what is written, Rom. v. 5 :
" The love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given
unto us." The Holy Spirit is given to the believer, to bear witness with his
Spirit that he is a child of God : and when the word of God and the Spirit of
God thus bear their joint testimony to his being beloved of the Father for Christ's
sake, then he is rooted and grounded in love, and is disposed, and mightily
strengthened in the inner man, to perform every work and labour of love.
Thus the gospel represents the whole Trinity as concerned in directing the
sinner's heart into the love of God. The Father forgives all his offences through
the atonement of his beloved Son, who did and suffered aU that was required by
law and justice ; and the Holy Spirit disposes the sinner to be reconcUed to God,
and to believe in his word ; and then gives them faith to apply the promises to
himself, and to love God, who first loved him. Our love to him arises from the
evidence we have of his love to us ; for without this evidence an awakened sin
ner cannot love God. While he looks upon God as the just avenger of his sins,
it is impossible that he should love him ; and so long as guilt remains in his
conscience, he cannot but fear and dread the justice of the Almighty, and these"
terrors will entirely shut out aU love ; for it is against nature to love pain : and
how, then, can the awakened sinner love that offended God, who is to inflict it
upon him ? He cannot love him, until he has some sense of God's pardoning
love, and of his interest in the covenant of grace. The text declares this truth :
"Thou shalt love the Lord thy God," thy covenant God, not an absolute God,
such as the deists worship, but a God related to thee in the covenant of grace.
Thy God is a relative term, implying the relation which God stood in to the
believer, and which is here expressed by the word Alehim — thy Alehim. The
Trinity, bound in covenant to redeem man, are thine, and stand related to thee
in aU their covenant offices : the Father is thy Father, the Son is thy Saviour,
the Holy Spirit is thy counsellor, guide, sanctifler, and strengthener : aU the graces
and blessings of the covenant are thine, in time and eternity ; therefore thou
shalt love Jehovah thy Aleheim for these inestimable mercies, with aU thy heart
and mind, and soul and streifgth.
My brethren, is this your experience ? You were once haters of God : have
you been brought to love him, and do you know him to be your reconciled
Father ? The gospel has revealed no other way of attaining his love, but seeking
it through Christ, and receiving it by the grace of his Spirit. Have you, then,
sought and received it in this way ? If you have, you will gladly foUow me
to my

106 THE LAW AND THE GOSPEL.
Fourth general head ; which was to treat of the promises made to them who
loved God. These promises are exceeding great, and exceeding precious, con
taining every covenant-blessing of grace and glory. The Lord has engaged to
preserve them that love him, Psalm cxlv. 20, and to keep covenant and mercy
with them that love him, Deut. vii. 9 ; yea, they that love the Lord shall be like
the sun, when he goeth forth in his might, Judges v. 31 ; nothing shall stop their
course ; afflictions, sickness, temptations, aU manner of trials, shall help them
forward ; for aU things shaU work together for good to them that love God,
Rom. viii. 28. But it is impossible to describe the great things which God hath
prepared for them that love him. If a man love - me, says Christ, he will keep
my words, and my Father wiU love him, and we wiU come and make our abode
with him, John xiv. 23. This feUowship with the Father and the Son, by the
bond of the Spirit, is the greatest happiness which can be enjoyed, next to the
crown of life, which God hath promised to them who love him, James i. 12, and
who shaU be for ever happy in the enjoyment of his love. Are not these promises
exceeding great and precious ? And on whom, my brethren, can you place your
affections, who has any such promises to make you ? Can the world bid so high
for your hearts ? Are its pleasures worthy to be compared with the pleasures
laid up at God's right hand for evermore ? Are its honours and riches like the
honour and riches which come from God ? What can sin offer you — what can
Satan purpose — what can the flesh covet — that can be put in competition with
the blessedness which God has promised to them who love him ? If they promise
more than God, they are liars ; and if you trust them, you will be deceived. But
God's promises are like himself, unchangeable. He is faithful and just to fulfil
them ; and he does fulfil them .daily : his people are witnesses for him : they
declare, that not one thingjiath faUed of all the good things which the Lord
hath promised in hia word to them that love him. AU are come to pass unto
them, and not one thing hath failed thereof. Oh; that you were all his witnesses,
and knew the happiness of his love ! May he shed it abroad in all your hearts
for his mercies' sake, and enrich you with the blessings of his love in time and
in eternity !
Having considered the nature of the first and great commandment, it behoves
us to apply what has been spoken, and make it useful to ourselves. My brethren,
have you found any use in it ? Are "your hearts placed upon the Lord God ? Ie
he the reigning object of your affections ? How were you brought to love him ?
Did you ever find yourselves miserable because you were at enmity with him !
Aud did you seek the Father's love through Christ, as the effect of his obedience
and sufferings, hoping that the Father was your Father for the righteousness'
sake of his beloved Son ? And did you continue in this way, seeking, until you
received the faith which worketh by love ? If this be your experience, bless God
for this unspeakable gift. It becometh you well to be thankful. Praise him
with your lips. Praise him with your lives, and give him every testimony of your
love, which he requires ; especially, give him your hearts, and let him reign in
them. There let Christ set up his kingdom, and by his sovereign power sub
due your enemies and his ; for, when Christ dwells in your hearts by faith, ye
shaU then be rooted and grounded in love, and shall be strengthened with might
in the inner man to do his wiU, and to suffer it. Then your constant language
wiU be, Who shaU separate us from the love of Christ? ShaU any trouble,
because painful ? ShaU any temptation, because strong ? Shall any duty, because
hard ? Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that
loved us.
Are there any of you, my brethren, who are not thus rejoicing in the love of
God, but are wishing and desiring to be in this happy state ? From whence
arise your desires ? Do they come from the conviajtion of your sin and misery ?
Du you feel the enmity of your wills, and the rebellion of your hearts against
God ? and do you therefore wish that, although you are now enemies, yet you
may be reconcded to God by the death of his Son ? Have not you been trying
to do something in part to make a reconciliation with God ? And what was the
event ? Have not aU your attempts failed ? and have not you been brought to
see the insufficiency of your works to make your peace with God ? And did

DISCOURSE VIII. 107
the sense of this send you, as helpless sinners, to the throne of grace, entreating
the Lord Christ to be your peace, and to make both one ? Is this your expe
rience ? If it be, thus far you have been directed aright into the love of God.
But who brought you thus far ? Is it not he who is to carry on, and to give
you the blessing for which you wait. It is the Holy Spirit who has convinced
you of your guilt and misery in turning your hearts from God, and who has
disposed you to seek his love, and who is also to shed it abroad in your hearts.
And this he wiU do, by giving you the faith which worketh by love. He wiU
enable you to trust God's faithful word, which cannot be broken, and to rely
upon his unchangeable promises, which cannot possibly fail of being fulfilled to
every one who comes and sues for mercy and favour through the righteousness
of the Lord Christ. Thus he wiU give you power to put forth and to act faith,
and to apply the promises to yourselves, whereby he will bring you to see that
Christ loved you, and gave himself for you, which wiU produce love in your
hearts, and the fruits of love in your lives. Wait, then, upon him for this
blessing. Wait under the word, hoping and praying that he would make it the
means of working faith in your hearts : and when it is given unto you to believe
in the name of the only begotten Son of God, then he wiU fulfil the work of
faith with power ; he wiU support the patience of hope, and he will carry on the
labour of love even unto the end.
Perhaps there may be some persons here, who have no desire to love God.
They have given up their hearts to other objects, and are pleased with their
choice. Oh ye sons of men ! how long will ye thus idolize the sinful creature,
and rebel against the almighty Creator? How long wiU ye love vanity, and
seek after happiness in the ways of sin ? Can these things make you happier
than God can ? Nay, know ye not, that at the end of your fancied pleasures
there is real misery for evermore ? And are you making a good bargain ? Is it
worth your while to give up aU hopes of heaven and glory for the sake of some
present joys ? And what are they ? Are they solid and lasting ? and do they make
you happy through life ? Have you no uneasy sensations when you are sometimes
alone, or when you are visited with sickness ? Does not a troublesome thought
then intrude, " What will become of me, if I should die ? If I were to be in
heaven, I could not be happy ; because I love nothing that is there. I have no
love for God, nor for his will, nor for his people. I find qo pleasure in praising
God here. How then could I rejoice in singing his praises hereafter?" If ever
your mind has been led to such reflections, how did you get rid of them ? Did
you try to drive them away by company or diversions ? And you succeeded ;
the melancholy fit wore off; and you thought it a great blessing you were easy
again. This single instance is sufficient to demonstrate that you are not happy;
and, indeed, it is impossible that you should be so. While your heart is turned
from God, it is set upon sin, and sin has no happiness to give. Its promises
are all lies, and its enjoyments are aU delusions ; for it undertakes to make you
happy in that to which the Almighty has threatened eternal misery, and the
practice of which will bring this misery upon you. Men and brethren ! are not
these things so ? And why, then, will you set your love upon sin ? Can it make
you perfectly happy ? Deal fairly with yourselves. Are you as happy as you
would wish to be ? You know you are not. I appeal to your own hearts. But
if any of you are so desperately deluded as to wish for no other happiness than
what the pleasures of sin can give you, yet did you ever consider what would
be the end of this delusion.? Oh think upon that; and may the sense of it
open your eyes ; for surely you are acting a most unnatural and wicked part, to
choose eternal misery rather than part with some sinful pleasure. May the God of
aU grace convince you of your want of his love, and bring you to know and expe
rience the happiness of it ! and oh that he may now put it into your hearts to
pray for it ! May he, the Lord and giver of every good gift, bless what has
been now spoken, and render it tbe means of increasing his love in the hearts of
all this congregation ! May he pardon our imperfect manner of thinking and
speaking of his divine and infinite love ; and may he shed it abroad abundantly
in all our hearts ! Oh that he would send us away inflamed with his love, and

108 THE LAW AND THE GOSPEL.
would give us grace to walk in love, continuaUy evidencing our unfeigned love
to him by our love to his commandments !
"Grant us these our requests, most holy Father, for the sake of Jesus Christ, our
Lord ; to whom with thee, and the eternal Spirit, three coequal and coeternal
persons in one Jehovah, we ascribe the kingdom, and the power, and the glory,
now and for ever. Amen

DISCOURSE IX.
UPON THE RIGHT LOVE OP OUR NEIGHBOUR
And one of the scribes came, and having heard them reasoning together, and per
ceiving that he had answered them well, asked him, Which is the first command
ment of all t And Jesus answered him, The first of all the commandments is,
Hear, O Israel ; the Lord our God is one Lord : and thou shalt love the Lord
thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and
with all thy strength. This is the first commandment. And tiie second is like;
namely this, Thou shalt love thy neighbour ai thyself. There is none other com
mandment greater than these. — Mark xii. 28 -31.
In these words our blessed Saviour has given us the sum and substance of all
practical religion. He has reduced it to two short rules, which are yet so full and
copious, that they comprehend aU the law and the prophets. The whole scrip-
ture was to lead us to the right knowledge of the Lord God, that we might pay
him the love and obedience which are his due, and might love our neighbour as
ourselves. .'
I have already discoursed of the two parts of the first commandment, and
have endeavoured to explain and to enforce the right knowledge and the right
love of the Lord God ; and I come now to the second commandment, which
is contained in these words of the text : " And the second is like, namely
this : Thou ahalt love thy neighbour as thyself." The second is like unto
the first, because it treats of the same subject, is enforced by the same au
thority, and ia enacted for the same wise and gracious purposes ; and the
second is further like, because it arises and branches out of the first ; since, if
any man has the true love of God in his heart, it will evidence and prove itself
to be there, by enabling him to love his neighbour aa himself'. The right love
of our neighbour is the fruit and effect of our love of God, and can spring from
no other -root, especially in the perfect degree here required — Thou shalt love
thy neighbour as thyself. This is an abridgment of the whole moral law, and
comprehends aU the duties of the second table. As he who loves God keeps
die first table, so he, who loves his neighbour as himself, keeps the second.
May the Lord incline aU our hearts to keep it ; and may his good Spirit render
useful and profitable what shaU be said,
First, Concerning the inseparable connexion between the two command
ments — the love of God and the love of our neighbour.
Secondly, Concerning the nature and extent of the second commandment —
Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.
Thirdly, Concerning the scripture method of enabling us to keep this com
mandment. And then,
Fourthly, I shall make some practical observations upon these particulars
As the first of these points, I lay this down for an evident truth ; that the man
can have no real love for his neighbour who has not first the love of God in his
heart ; such a true experimental sense of God's love to him in Christ Jesus, as
was treated of in the last discourse ; for the love of our neighbour stands upon
the love of God : it has no other foundation. Build it upon what you please
but this, you will find nothing else strong enough to act against the opposition

DISCOURSE IX. 109
of a man's own selfish heart. But as we have many pretended master-builders,
who lay another foundation than that is laid ; and as some of the most dangerous
mistakes in religion arise from building upon these men's foundation ; I wiU
therefore bring some arguments to prove the inseparable connexion between the
two commandments — The love of God and the love of our neighbour. And
First, a man cannot love his neighbour aright, until he be endued with the
love of God ; because he has no principle of love in his heart. Man, in his natural
state, or, as our church expresses it, man, before he receives the grace of Christ
and" the inspiration of his Spirit, has no holy, pure love of any kind. AU his
affections are placed upon wrong objects and directed to wrong ends. They are
turned from God, and placed upon those objects, the love of which he has for
bidden, and they are directed to the pleasing of self, and not to the glory of
God. This is the scripture character of faUen man. He has no brotherly love :
and how should he have any ? for he has no natural affection. He acts con
trary to those very instincts by which the brutes act invariably. With aU his
boasted reason, and dignified faculties, he is, in social life, lower than a brute ;
for are there not parents who have no love for their children, and children who
have no love for their parents ? Is it not a common thing to find a family
divided against itself, and Cain persecuting Abel unto death ? And what prin
ciple of love can he have in his heart, who is thus without natural affection ?
Natural affection ties men together with the strongest bonds of love ; but all
these he breaks asunder ; and therefore it is just as possible that any brotherly
love should be in him, as that a fountain should send forth at the same time sweet
water and bitter. But
Secondly, The natural man is not only without a principle of love, but is also
described by that God who created his heart, and knows it intimately, to be ac
tuated by a principle of hatred. Until he has some of the love of God shed
abroad in his heart, he cannot have any true love for his neighbour, because he
is absolutely under the influence of vicious self-love ; and while this reigns in
the heart, brotherly love can have no place ; nay, it wiU be absolutely shut out,
as the apostle shows, Titus iii. 3 : " We ourselves also (as well as others) some
times lived in malice and envy, hateful and hating one another." When did
he, as others, live in this malicious, envious, hateful state ? He was, he says, a
slave to these base tempers, until .the kindness and love of God our Saviour was
manifested to him ; and therefore, until this be manifested to any man, he must
be a slave to the same tempers. He cannot be delivered from them by any
human means. No knowledge, no power of philosophy, no system of morality,
no stretch of genius, nor refinements of polite life, can make a man less hateful
in himself, or less disposed to hate others. Had not the Romans all these ad
vantages ? and yet we have this character of them drawn by an infallible pen : —
They were fiUed with all unrighteousness, covetousness, maliciousness, full of
envy, murder, debate, deceit, malignity, whisperers, backbiters, haters of God,
despiteful, proud, boasters, disobedient to parents, covenant-breakers, without
natural affection, implacable, unmerciful. Thus were they hateful, and hating
one another : and such is every man before he receives the grace of Christ. He
has all these evil tempers in him which the Romans had.
But some perhaps may ask, What is the cause of this universal depravity of
man's affections? The corruption of 'his nature is the true cause: for aU our
evil tempers spring from the corrupt heart. The fountain is polluted, and there
fore the streams nin foul. Out of the heart, says our Lord, proceed evU thoughts,
murders, adulteries, with the other abominable deeds of the flesh, some of which
the apostle mentions by name, Gal. v. 20 ; such as hatred, variance, emulations,
wrath, strife, envyings. These aie in every heart ; for the imagination of the
thoughts of the heart is only evil, and that continuaUy, continuaUy evil, because
continuaUy set against the love of God, and against that love of our neighbour
which the will of God requires us to pay him. Surely, then, his heart must be
changed before brotherly love can enter into it. Grace must work upon its evil
tempers, and the Spirit of God must subdue them, that love and its sweet dis
positions may rule in the heart. Love first taken place in u6 when the Spirit of
God sheds it abroad and manifests to us the pardoning love of our God. Then a

110 THE LAW AND THE GOSPEL
new principle of love takes possession of the heart, which strives against and
conquers our selfish tempers. But, until this be done by the spirit of love, there
is nothing in any man but SELF. His views are all narrow and selfish. The
end of all his pursuits is self-seeking, and the end of aU his enjoyments is self.
pleasing. This is God's own account of his faUen creature, man. And what
says matter of fact ? Is this man's real character ? I BhaU endeavour to prove,
under my
Third argument, that it is. Experience demonstrates it. Look around you,
my brethren, and see what men are doing. Does love reign in every breast ?
Are they studying how to make each other happy, and rejoicing in each other's
happiness ? No. The contrary spirit prevails. Is there any little vfllage free
from disputes and quarrels ? Where is there any large business, or manufactory,
free from contention and envy among the various persons concerned in car
rying it on ? If they be aU of one mind and of one heart, is it not generally a
wicked combination to enrich themselves by oppressing others ? Is there any
trading city, whose merchants rejoice in the prosperity of others, as in their
own ? Is there any state free from parties ? Blessed be God for the lessening of
party-spirit among us. It has received a great blow, but it is not dead: it is
only waiting for some public misfortune to fjive.it a specious occasion of raising
fresh disturbance and confusion. And look into the present melancholy state of
Europe ; where do you find brotherly love ? Oh ! where can it subsist nmidst
the horrors of war ? It was not brotherly love which raised armies, ranged them
in order of battle, put them upon action, and made brethren lejoice in the
slaughter and death of each other. Brotherly love has not a more distressing
sight than when it surveys a field of battle, upon which there lie ten or twenty
thousand unhappy men slain in one day. These are awful proofs of the ascen
dency which hatred has in the human breast. It has got possession, has seized
the throne, and has entirely banished aU brotherly love. The fact is notorious;
for men are everywhere complaining of the miseries which they meet with in
social life ; and they do not complain without reason. The time is come when this
character is fulfiUed. " Men shaU be lovers of themselves, covetous, proud,
boasters, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, without na
tural affection, truce-breakers, false accusers, incontinent, fierce, despisers of
those that are good, traitors, heady, high-minded." Is not this a real picture
of mankind. Do we not find these unsociable tempers prevailing among them
at this day ? and do not these demonstrate that man is incapable of having any
true love for his neighbour, until he has the love of God in his heart.
But supposing that man, in his natural state, could do some seeming acts of
love to his neighbour ; yet, they would avail nothing without the love of God —
which is my fourth argument. Since fallen man has' not the love of God in his
heart by nature, nor is capable of attaining it by any means in his own power, the
great business of religion is to bring him to love God, and to keep the first and
great commandment, which the gospel alone can enable him to do. Moral phi
losophers have been trying, but they have always faUed. They make religion
consist in the duties of the second table, omitting the first ; which is the same
thing as if they laid the foundation in the air, and built the house downwards.
Morality has no foundation without the love of God. AU moral obligationa to
brotherly love faU in their motives, and in their end. Their motives are like so
many ropes of sand. They have no force to bind and to oblige the conscience.
We have many men who write and speak learnedly-about moral duties ; but here
they faU ; they can offer no obligation strong enough to overbalance the pro
pensity in the sinner's heart against those duties. His heart pleads more strongly
against them than they can plead for them. They may talk eloquently to him
of the beauty of virtue, and may argue with him closely upon the fitness of things,
and may try to persuade him by a fine chain of reasoning to act agreeably to the
nature of things and to the moral sense ; and they may recommend the whole
from the charms of universal benevolence. AU this looks very pretty in theory,
and may make a fine system of the religion of nature delineated : but bring it to
practice ; offer these motives when self-love has some favourite passion to gra
tify, or self-interest has some great prospect of advantage ; and what is the con-

DISCOURSE IX. HI
sequence ? The man is deaf to all your moral arguments : they cannot reach his
heart, nor open and enlarge it to receive brotherly love, but leave it stiU under
the power of its selfish tempers. These have too deep a root in nature to
be driven out by the mere dint of moral reasoning. Grace alone can subdue
them ; and when grace places the love of God in the heart, then it delivers the
affections from vicious self-love, and makes them act by a constant uniform prin
ciple of love to the brethren.
And as morality fails in its motives, so does it also in its end. It proposes a
wrong end. The glory of God should be the end of aU our actions, but moral
men seek their own glory by their works ; for they suppose that their works are
meritorious, and can procure them the love and favour of God by way of desert.
Thus they set aside faith ; without which no moral works can be acceptable.
Faith alone directs us to a right end, and proposes the right means to attain it ;
and every act and exercise of faith towards the attaining of it is weU-pleasing unto
God. But morality without faith cannot please God : for it is an adjudged case
in scripture, " that without faith it is impossible to please him ;" and it has been
determined by our church, in her thirteenth article, that works done before the
grace of Christ and the inspiration of his Spirit are not pleasant to God, foras
much as they spring not of faith in Jesus Christ. It is faith, working by love,
which renders those works pleasant to God, that, done upon any other motive,
would be highly displeasing to him.
Let these arguments suffice for the proof of the first point. It appears, from
their evidence, that the love of our neighbour arises from the love of God.
There is no other foundation for it. You must keep the duties of the first table
before you can keep those of the second. The connexion between them is inse
parable. Unless a man first has the love of God in his heart, he cannot have
any true love for his neighbour. He cannot love him at aU, and much less
in the perfect manner here required — "Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thy
self." And this leads me to speak of the nature and extent of the second com
mandment, under my second general head.
The text requires a very exalted and refined degree of brotherly love. It
commands us to love our neighbour as ourselves, with the same strength,
with the same constancy of affection ; for no man ever yet hated his own flesh,
Dut nourisheth it, and cherisheth it: so should he nourish and cherish his
neighbour in aU good things. Whatever good he wisheth to himself, the
same should he wish to his neighbour ; and whatever evU he would have kept
off from himself, the same should he endeavour to keep off from his neigh
bour ; and he should, in both these respects, exert himself for his neighbour
as much as for himself. But who are required thus to love their neighbour ?
The law reaches to aU men and to all cases. The same authority which enjoins
the perfect love of God, enjoins also the perfect love of our neighbour. And
can any faUenman keep these commandments? No; while he is in his natural
state, it is impossible. We have before proved that he can neither love God nor
his neighbour until his affections be changed, and vicious self-love be taken
out of his heart. But when gTace has made him a new creature, when his
understanding is enlightened, his wiU is rightly disposed, and his heart is
under the influence of divine love, then the text speaks to this man, and
says, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. The same graces which led
thee to love thyself aright wiU operate with equal force in the love of thy
neighbour, and will show itself in every work and labour of love.
U is evident, then, that the duty is of great extent. The object on whom
it is to be exercised is mankind in general ; for every one is our neighbour,
who stands related to us in the common bonds of humanity. If he be a
heathen, a Turk, or a Jew, be is nevertheless bone of our bone, and flesh of
our flesh. Nay, if he be our enemy, yet still he is our neighbour ; we are of
one family, and of one father ; and therefore his hatred to us should not stop
the current of our love to him ; as our Lord has taught us in the 10th chapter of
St. Luke. A certain lawyer asked him. Who is my neighbour ? Jesus answered
him in a parable. The Jews and the Samaritans were at such great variance,
that they would not even have any dealings with one another ; and a certain

112 THE LAW AND THE GOSPEL.
man, in going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, fell among thieves, who stripped
him of his raiment, and wounded him, and departed, leaving him half dead. A
priest and a Levite saw their countryman in this distress, but passed by without
giving him any help ; and afterwards a Samaritan came to the place where he was ;
and when he saw him he had compassion on him, and gave him all the assistance
in his power. Which now of these three, says Christ, was neighbour to him that
feU among thieves ? The lawyer answered, He that had mercy on him. Then
said Jesus unto him, Go, and do thou likewise. Go, and imitate this Samaritan.
Learn of him to look upon all men, even thine enemies, as thy neighbours, and
love them, and do good to them, as he did. Thus it is plain, from our Lord's
explanation of the word neighbour, that we ought to extend our love to all men,
and alsu to all cases. It is to reach to the inmost desires of the heart. The love
of God, being shed abroad there, wiU take the command of the affections;
and when love is on the throne, reigning in the heart, it wiU sweetly incline
and mightily enable the other faculties to obey its dictates. Love wiU not dwell
in the same heart with selfishness and hatred, but will oppose and subdue
them, in order to make, room for brotherly love ; and when this comes and
dweUs in the heart, the man is thereby always disposed to think, and speak,
and act, for the good of his neighbour. He has in him an abiding principle
of love, which, according to what is written, " thinketh no evil." Love works
first upon the thoughts of the heart, from whence all the words and actions
spring. It infuses its gracious influences into the root, that the sap and juices
communicated from thence may partake of its nature, and that whatever grows
upon this stem may be the fruit of love. That heart-love, which thinketh no
evil, wiU speak none ; for as out of the abundance of the heart the mouth
speaketh, so love, being in the heart, wiU show itself in the tongue, and will
not speak evil of its neighbour ; nor can love do him any harm. " Love work
eth no UI to his neighbour ; therefore love is the fulfilling of the law," Rom.
xiii. 10 ; to .ove our neighbour as ourselves is the fulfilling of the law ofthe second
table, which they that have the love of God in their hearts endeavour to keep,
not to merit heaven ; for that was the purchase of Christ's blood ; but they are kind
one to another, tender-hearted, forgiving one another, even as God, for Christ's
sake, hath forgiven them ; and they walk in love as Christ hath also loved them.
This is the nature and extent of brotherly love. It springB from the love of
God, and is guided and influenced by it. Whatever the law of God teaches a
man to do for his own good, brotherly love wiU put him upon doing the same
for the good of others, and not only of his particular friends and relations, but
also of mankind, yea, of his very enemies ; even for them brotherly love has its
good wishes and its good offices. It would not entertain an injurious thought of
its neighbour, nor speak a word to his prejudice, nor do any thing to his hurt.
Its constant breathings are. As I have opportunity, I would do good unto all
men. And is this, my brethren, the language of every one of your hearts ? Have
you a principle of brotherly, love actuating and influencing every, thought, and
word, and work ? Examine yourselves closely upon this point. It may help to
show you clearly the Btate of your souls : for this commandment have we from
him, that he who loveth God loves his brother also. If your love to God be
from a right motive, and to a right end, it wiU work in aU the kind offices of bro
therly love. If you fail in these, you certainly fail first in your love to God ; for
these are the streams which flow from the fountain, and they could not fail un
less the fountain ceased to supply them. There is a want of the love to God in
the heart when there is a want of any of the good offices of brotherly love in the
ilfe. Search, and see if this be not your case ; and if it be, look up to God and
entreat him to direct your hearts into his love, that you may hear with profit
what shall be said under my •
Third general head, Concerning the scripture method of enabling us to keep
this commandment. Man has no generous principle in him by nature. Vicious
8elf-love directs and governs aU his views and actions, and therefore he must be
changed and renewed in the spirit of his mind, before brotherly love can
have any place in his heart. The scripture treats largely of this great change,
and ascribes the whole of it to the Spirit of God. He enlightens the understand-

DISCOURSE IX. H3
ing, and convinces the sinner of his guilt and of his danger ! Then he attacks
the stubborn self-will, and makes the sinner feel that if he foUow his own will he
must unavoidably perish, and that everlastingly : and he also shows him the
horrid rebeUion of his heart, whose affections are aU apostates from God, having
set up the creature, and served it in the place of the Creator. The sinner be
comes deeply sensible of his guilt and of his misery, and is made earnestly to
wish and to pray for deliverance : and when the Lord has thoroughly humbled
him, and by various ways and means has convinced him of his own utter help
lessness, then he enables him to believe to the saving of his soul. He finds
himself at peace with God through the righteousness of the Lord Christ, on
which he can rely for his acceptance and pardon; and therefore he loves God.
who has first so exceedingly loved him ; and he proves, by his unfeigned love to
the brethren, that this love of God is in his heart : for, being there, it wUl produce
the kind dispositions, and wiU draw forth the good offices, of brotherly love. In
this way grace overcomes the selfishness of nature, and anger, wrath, malice,
hatred, and the other unsociable tempers of the old man are subdued, and the
new man puts on bowels of mercies, kindness, humbleness of mind, meekness,
long-suffering. These are sanctified affections in him, because they are the
genuine fruits of that faith which worketh by love.
This is the scripture method of attaining brotherly love. It cannot be attained
but by the grace of God : for the established rule is — " Ye are taught of God to
love one another." It is not from human, but from divine teaching. Brotherly
love is not learned in the schools of moral philosophy. The greatest professors
of ethics may write pretty systems, and read lectures upon them to their pupils,
and perhaps they may explain to them something of brotherly love ; but they
can place none of it in the heart. Christ alone can do that. He is the great
teacher of brotherly love ; and it is in his school only where men can learn it
practically. He teaches his disciples first the want of it ; and when he gives
them his love, and sheds it abroad in their hearts, then also he gives them the
love of the brethren, as it is written, 1 John iv. 7 : " Beloved, let us love one
another : for love is of God ; and every one that loveth, is born of God, and
knoweth God ;" he is a child of God, because he loveth his heavenly Father, and
loveth aU his Father's children : which doctrine the same apostle maintains in
these words, 1 John v. 1 . " Whosoever believeth that Jesus is the Christ, is
born of God ; and every one that loveth him that begat, loveth him also that is
begotten of him." Here the apostle discovers the tme cause from which arises"
our love to God and to man. It is through faith, apprehending and laying hold
of Christ, that we are made the children of God, and therefore we love the
Father of whom we are begotten, and the brethren who are begotten of him, and
who have obtained like precious faith with us. Believers, who are thus born
again of God, and adopted into his family, are closely connected and joined
together in the bonds of love. Love, flowing from the head into aU the members,
unites them in affection to their heavenly Father and in affection to all his
children; for, being members of the same body, they have the same care one
for another ; and if one member suffer, aU the members suffer with it ; or if one
member be honoured, all the members rejoice with it.
It is certain, then, from these scriptures, that no man can love his neighbour
as himself, unless he be taught it of God. There is something caUed universal
benevolence, and the moral sense, and the patriot spirit, which pretend to teach
brotherly love upon the principles of moral philosophy; but these are false,
bastard kinds of love, arising from selfish motives, and directed to selfish ends.
And let them appear ever so refined and exalted, yet they are not sanctified
affections, because they spring not from faith in Jesus Christ ; and without failh
in him it is impossible to please God. Works done before the grace of Christ
and the inspiration of his Spirit are not pleasant to God. You may do many
seeming acts of love ; you may be the foremost in all charitable subscriptions ;
you may be very kind to your needy relations, and very good to the poor ; nay,
you may build hospitals, and leave your estate to endow them ; yet, if these
things be not done in faith, they have in them the nature of sin, and are not
acts of brotherly love, but acts of your own proud, selfish spirit. God looks

114 THE LAW AND THE GOSPEL.
at your heart. He sees upon what principle you are working ; and if your
principle be wrong, your actions cannot be pleasing in his sight. Make the
tree good, and its fruit wUl be good ; but a corrupt tree cannot bring forth
good fruit. This is the main point, with respect to brotherly love ; and this
comes to be considered in the
Fourth place, Under the practical observations upon the doctrine of the
text. The doctrine is this : Whoever keeps the first table, wiU keep the secona.
If the love of God be in his heart, he wiU give proof and evidence of it by
his unfeigned love of his neighbour, and he wiU love him as himself, not with
that vicious self-love which influences the views and actions of all natural
men, but with that holy, sanctified affection, which springs from, and is guided
by, the love of God. If this brotherly love were in every heart, it would turn
the world into a paradise. If all men had true heart-love to their neighbour,
earth would be heaven : for, so much love as there is on earth, so much of heaven
is brought down upon it. The hateful and selfish tempers of mankind make
the world what it is : these are the cause of aU the miseries in society, and these
aie in all men by nature. Their love centres in self, and seeks not another's
good, but its own. One great design of Christianity was to reform their love,
by giving them that faith which worketh by love, by love to God for his inesti
mable mercies, and by love to men for the sake of God ; by which means the
old, selfish heart becomes a loving heart, and is ever prepared to do all the good it
can to the bodies and souls of men. This is the true character of a Christian.
He wishes weU to all men, speaks evil of no man, and is ready to every good
work. In thought, word, and deed, he is influenced by unfeigned love to his
neighbour, whether he be a stranger, a friend, or an enemy. Is this your
character, my brethren ? Have you the true love of your neighbour in your
hearts ? and are you constantly manifesting it in your lives ? How many persons
have we among us, that make great professions of brotherly love, even ol
universal benevolence, and yet they divide the two tables, and make religion
consist in keeping the duties of the Second. All our moralists act upon this
plan. They speak and write very prettily about moral duties ; but they lay the
foundation of them upon sand. Hiey neither build thorn upon the love of God,
nor upon faith in Christ Jesus ; and other foundation can no man lay for the
love of God, nor upon the grace of the Holy Spirit disposing and enabling them
to love God, and then to love their neighbour. Thus these men put asunder
what God hath joined together. The love of God and the love of men cannot
be separated : for there can be no true, brotherly love, but what springs from the
love of God. Let it spring from any other cause, there wUl be something in it
Belfish ; it will arise from private, narrow views, and wiU be directed to mean
ends ; and be it ever so refined and patriot-spirited, yet it will be unsanctifled ;
because, whatsoever is not of faith, is sin. Without faith the "sinner is under
guilt, and under sentence of death, and is as incapable of doing a single act which
is good and valid in the court of heaven as a condemned criminal is of doing
any legal act which would he aUowed to be valid in a court of justice. The law
of God has attainted him of high treason, and found him guilty ; upon which
justice has a right to inflict the deserved punishment, and to put the sentence
of the law in force against him ; but if he own the sentence to be just, and
sue for mercy, and seek it through Jesus Christ, relying, on his grace and
righteousness, then by faith he is pardoned ; his attainder is reversed, and he is
capable of doing acts weU-pleasing unto God, through Jesus Christ his Lord.
The moral works done by such a person are acceptable, because his person was
first accepted, and he was what they caU rectus in curia; but without faith it
was impossible that his moral works should please God : " for whatsoever is
not of faith, is sin."
But I need not enlarge upon this point. Perhaps there may be none of those
persons here. By our presence we declare ourselves to be professors of Christianity,
and as such we are nearly concerned in what has been now said. The scripture
has drawn our character before we receive the grace of Christ and the inspira
tion of his Spirit, and has painted in very expressive colours tbe inward linea
ments of our hearts. It not only describes every fallen man io be without any

DISCOURSE IX. U5
true love of God or of his neighbour, but also represents him to be at enmity
with God, and to be under the power of corrupt inclinations, which are opposite
to God's wiU, and of selfish views, which are destructive of brotherly love. But
while the scripture thus describes our malady, it offers us a remedy, which faith
receives, and then works by love to God and to man ; by love to God in loving
him and his wiU, and by unfeigned love to* the brethren, showing itself in every
good word and work. There are great complaints in the world of the want of
this brotherly love ; and indeed there is very little of it to be found anywhere.
But what is the reason ? Is it not because there is a great want of the love of
God ? For since brotherly love springs from this, as from its only fountain, how
can there be love abundant in the streams, if it fail in the fountain ? If love docs
not operate in your life, how can love be in your heart ? And if it be not there,
what are you ? not a Christian. What the sun would be without light, such is
a Christian without love. He has none of the life and spirit of Christ, and wants
the very mark and badge of Christ's disciples. " By this (says he) shaU all men
know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another." O Lord, where
are thy disciples at present ? Hast thou not said, Ye shaU know them by their
love to one another ? But upon whom is this mark found ? Upon all nominal
Christians ? No ; they are distinguished by a contrary temper. But is it not
among professors ? What professors ? We have professors of so many denomi
nations, and of so many different parties, that it is hard to say who has the
narrowest views, or the most party spirit ; but it is easy to see, at first sight,
that brotherly love is the peculiar character of few of them. Alas ! alas ! they
have lost their proper mark by which they were to be known to be Christ's dis
ciples ; and thus the scripture is fulfiUed, which saith, " In the latter days the
love of many shaU wax cold." It is cold, indeed, with many ; thank God, not
with all. There are some (although but few), perhaps, of every denomination,
who stiU have unfeigned love for the brethren. May the God of love increase
their numbers.
Since there is so little brotherly love in the world, let each of you, my brethren,
examine yourselves, and see whether you be Christ's disciples more than in
name and profession. Are you known to belong to the household of faith by
your love to one another ? Do you love your neighbour as yourself, with a well-
regulated, holy love, arising from a right motive, and directed to a right end ? If
you think you have this love, how did you attain it ? Wrere you taught it of God ?
Have you been humbled before him under a sense of your guilt, and have you felt
the misery of being enslaved to your own wicked and selfish tempers ? And did
you apply to Christ for deliverance ? Did he take guilt out of your conscience,
and give you that faith which worketh by love to your reconciled Father, and
by love to your brethren for his sake ? If you have been thus taught of God, you
wiU also be enabled of God to love one another. And this I pray, that your love
may abound yet more and more.
But if this be not your experience, then you cannot have the true brotherly
love ; and without it, what are you ? You are not a Christian ; for this com
mandment have we from Christ, that he who loveth God, love his brother also.
Your want of love to your brother demonstrates your want of love to God : and
consider what Btate you are in while you are not reconcUed to God, nor at peace
with him. You are under the guilt of all your sins, and liable to suffer the
deserved punishment of them. That God, whom you daily provoke, dafiy spares
you. He might get himself glory in punishing such a rebel ; but his long-
suffering bears with you : and what return do you make him for keeping you
out of heU ? Do you love him, and serve him with grateful obedience ? No, you
attack him with open, avowed rebellion, as if you had an arm like God, and was
not afraid of the fire of his wrath : and you carry on your war against him by
declared war against your neighbours, indulging the malicious, envious tempers,
and gratifying the unjust desires of your own selfish heart. Suppose God should
call you to his bar while you are in this state ! As you have no love for him,
you could have no happiness in beholding or enjoying him ; and as you have no
love for his famUy, you could not be happy in their company. You hated them
upon carth • and, tliey aro so much unlike yourself, you would hate them in
r i 2

116 THE LAW AND THE GOSPEL.
heaven. What, then, could you meet with at his bar, but what you are pre
pared to receive, even an eternal separation from the presence of the Lord, and
from the glory of his power ? And can you think of this without concern ?
Have you no fear lest the wrath of God should abide upon you for ever and ever >
What ! have you not one wish to flee from the wrath to come ? Oh dreadful state
of hardened sinners ! May the Lord take pity on you, and subdue your rebel
lious hearts by his almighty grace, that you may be brought to the right love of
God, and of your neighbour.
Perhaps, some of you may say, I thank God I am not in this state. I havo
been made to see and to feel my enmity against God and against man ; and I
heartily desire to love both. You have reason, indeed, to be thankful ; for this
desire is a sign and token of God's love to you. Wait upon him, that you may
know and experience his love. He has encouraged you to ask this grace of him,
and has promised to give it, upon your asking. It is his gift ; for God is love ;
and he is more wiUing to give than you are to ask. It is one of his choice gifts,
which he delights to bestow upon the children of men, and with the right use
of which he is well pleased. " If ye fulfil the royal law according to the scripture,
Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself, ye do well," James ii. 8. Ye do well
in presenting this odour of a sweet smell, a sacrifice acceptable, well-pleasing
unto God. Oh ! wait then upon him, and be found in the ways of his appoint
ment, not to merit his love ; it is a free gift, and it is inestimable ; the price of
it is above all the riches of earth and heaven, but wait humbly for the time of
his love; and when, out of his sovereign grace, he sheds it abroad in your heart,
then he will enable you to love your neighbour as yourself. Surely these bless
ings are worth your waiting for ; especially since you are encouraged by those
comfortable words, tbe truth of which many thousands now alive have found
by happy experience : "They shaU not be ashamed that wait for me, saith the
Lord." Isa. xlix. 23.
Thanks be to his rich and free love, which has fulfiUed this scripture to so
many in our days. You, my brethren, who know the love of God, should re
member, that as you love him who begat, so you ought to love them who are
begotten of him. The soundness of your love to God should be made evident
from your acts of love to your fellow-creatures ; for that faith, which brings you
to the knowledge of God's love to your soul, should work by love to them ; and
this work of love proves it — does not make it — but proves it to be a living faith.
While it lives, it loves. Love is the very breath of faith ; and whUelove breathes
in the believer, it disposes him to do aU the good he can to the bodies and to the
souls of his neighbours ; for his is heart-love. He cannot see any one sick,
poor.in prison, naked, or wounded, but love hastens to hie relief. It does not say,
Be ye'weU ; he yc relieved, &c. ; but it freely gives them such things as they
have need of. My Christian brethren, you know that these are the proper
offices of brotherly love. Oh ! be careful then in the practice of them. If you
would have your evidences kept clear for heaven, and your peace and comfort
abiding, let your faith be continually working. Exercise it upon Christ's dis
tressed members. Go about doing them good! Refuse no labour of love; for
he has commanded, and he has encouraged you to embrace every opportunity.
This is the commandment of God — that you should believe on the name of hu
only begotten Son Jesus Christ, and love one another, as he gave you command
ment : and the day is approaching, when you will hear him say,. ".Inasmuch
as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it
unto me." Keep your faith, then, working by love ; for they cannot be separated.
Faith is the root, and love is the fruit : if the root be alive, it will bear fruit, even
the abundant fruits of love and charity, to God's glory, and to man's profit.
And as the believer is kindly affectioned with brotherly love to relieve the bodily
wants of his neighbour, so is he influenced towards his spiritual Wants with more
affection, because the soul is more precious than the body ; at least, if he be not,
he ought, however, to be thus influenced. There is in men a strange remissness
and backwardness to the performance of the offices of love, relating to the souls
of their neighbours ; but grace makes them willing and able : it sweetly inclines
and mightily enables them to the spiritual acts of brotherly love ; but one cannot

DISCOURSE IX. 117
help lamenting how little gTace is exercised this way. While worldly people
are erecting magnificent hospitals, and doing princely acts of charity, oh !
how short of them do professors come in their works of charity? You are
a professor ; you caU yourself a Christian ; and do you not know one of your
neighbours who fives in open sin, and yet you never speak to him of it ? You
thought, indeed, sometimes of reproving him ; but then, fear, or shame, or
indolence prevented you. These passions were stronger in you than brotherly
love. And does not this convince you how unlike you are to your blessed
master ? Did he ever decline doing good for fear of some little inconvenience
which might attend it ? No, he went about doing good, although at the hazard
of his life ; and yet your love to Christ, and to precious souls, is so very cold,
that you can suffer your neighbour to live in sin, yea, perhaps to die in it,
without one kind reproof. And hast thou not, then, boasting professor, great
reason to examine thyself, whether thou be in the faith ? for how canst thou
prove it to be true and alive, since it does not work by love ? May this humble
thee, and put thee upon seeking more of the spirit and power of Jesus Christ.
Perhaps you are the master of a family : how do you show your love to your
servants? You see they do your work, and you take care to pay them their
wages : and what more do you than publicans and sinners ? But do you
watch over their souls, instructing and admonishing them with aU gentleness
and diligence ? Have you any family worship ? Do you pray constantly with
them, and for them? so that the Lord may justly say of you, as he did of the
father of the faithful, " I know Abraham, that he wiU command his children,
and his household after him, and they shall keep the way of the Lord, to do
justice and judgment." God knows, there are few heads of families who take
any care at all of the souls of their servants ; and few indeed do their duty by
them in brotherly love. The Lord pardon what is past, and reform us for the
future in this respect. Perhaps you may be a parent, and you take pains
enough to provide for the temporal welfare of your children: you rise up
early, and late take rest, and eat the bread of carefulness, that you may get
a great fortune for them : and what more do you for them than for your
beasts ? You provide for your children's weU-being in the world : and do you
not the same for your cattle ? Christian love would put you upon another
work, and would stir you up to catechize them, to teach them to know them
selves, to become early acquainted with their corrupt and sinful nature, and to
see the necessity of their salvation by Jesus Christ. This is your bounden
duty as a parent. The blessing upon the discharge of it is in God's hand ;
but he requires you to use the means ; and if love be alive and active in your
heart, you wUl strive more to have your children rich in grace, than rich in
those things which perish in the using. In whatever other station of life God
has placed you, do you perform the offices of brotherly love in it ? Do you
love your neighbour as yourself? Search diligently, and watch your heart
narrowly. If you have any tme love, pray for more of it ; and may the Lord
God Almighty help you to subdue self, and aU your selfish tempers, that love
may increase and abound in your soul. May you grow up unto him in all
things, who is the head, even Christ ; from whom the whole body fitly joined
together, and compacted by that which every joint supplieth, according to the
effectual working in the measure of every part, maketh increase of the body
unto the edifying of itself in love. Hear us, thou God of love, and answer;
and grant that all men may know us to be thy disciples by our edifying one
another in love. May no selfish temper, no bigotry or party spirit, hinder us
from relieving the spiritual or bodily wants of any of our distressed brethren ;
but unite all thy members closely among themselves. Make us, Lord, of one
mind and of one heart; and may aU that love thee in sincerity think and
speak the same things. O give us that love which never faileth. We ask it
for thy mercy's sake, to the honour of the holy, blessed, and glorious Trinity,
three persons in one Jehovah, whose is the kingdom, and the power, and the
glory, for ever and ever. Amen.

118 THE LAW AND THE GOSPEL.
DISCOURSE X.
LPON THE CLEANSING VIRTUE OV CHRIST'S BLOOD.
in that day there shall be a fountain opened to the house of David, and to the
inhabitants of Jerusalem, for sin and for uncleanness. — Zech. xiii. 1.
They that be whole need not a physician ; but the sick stand in need of
his advice and help. The persons who feel no malady of sin, see not their
want of a saviour. They are not in pain, and therefore they desire no remedy ;
but it is otherwise with the convinced sinner. He feels the misery of sin.
He suffers the torment of it in his guilty conscience, and earnestly seeks for
relief. No person in exquisite pain ever cried out for help with greater fer
vency than he does. He has heard of the almighty physician, and of his
great readiness to heal aU distressed objects who come unto him; and there
fore he earnestly implores his assistance. How comfortable to his afflicted
soul is auch a scripture as this, when explained and applied to him by the
Spirit of God : " In that day there shall he a fountain opened to the house of
David, and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem, for sin and for uncleanness," He
hears the words with joy, and blesses God for having opened a fountain for
such polluted sinners as he is, to wash in and he clean. He believes the
record that God gave of his Son, namely, that his blood cleanseth from all
sin ; and through faith he finds great joy and peace in receiving redemption
through the blood of Jesus, even the forgiveness of sins. But the case is
quite different with those who have never been in any concern about their souls.
They may give a kind of simple assent to such scriptures as this. Perhaps
ihey may be convinced that they shaU want to be cleansed from sin some
time or other ; but at present they see no absolute necessity for it. They
have no painful sense of the malady of sin, nor any apprehension of their
danger; and therefore they give themselves no uneasiness about the great
Physician of souls. But the less they are concerned for themselves, the more
ought we, who are sensible of their danger, to be concerned for them. We
ought to preach the law to them, by which ia the knowledge of sin, and to
set before them their poUution and their guilt, and the misery and punish
ment to which they are subject ; and we ought to look up to God for his
blessing, that he would set home and apply by his grace to their consciences,
what we speak to the outward ear. And when he has convinced them of the
dangerous state in which they live, before they are washed in the fountain of
Christ's blood, and they earnestly desire and pray to be washed in" it, then
we may safely preach to them the comforts of the gospe., and the infinite
riches of a Saviour's love; then we may exhort them to wash and be clean;
though their sins he as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow, when washed
in the fountain of the Redeemer's blood : though they be red like crimson,
they shall be as wool. May the Lord God, who opened this fountain, be with
us this day to apply its cleansing, healing virtue. May his good Spirit awaken
the careless and profane sinner to see his poUution and guUt ! nlay he increase
the desires and strengthen the longings of those who are waiting for the
blood of sprinkling ! and may he edify and comfort his own people by means"
of what shaU be said, in order to determine
First, What the fountain is, which is mentioned in the text.
Secondly, The time when it was opened ; here said to be a particular day.
Thirdly, The wonderful property of this fountain — it could cleanse and do
away the poUution of sins of the deepest dye ; and then,
Fourthly, By what means and in what way sinners receive and partake of its
cleansing property.
It wiU not require many words to determine what the fountain ia. There is a
circumstance mentioned in the text, which wiU easily settle this point. It is said
to be opened for sin and for uncleanness. Now, what fountain could it he which

DISCOURSE X 119
had the wonderful property of cleansing from sin ? The scripture has laid down
this infallible rule : without shedding of blood there is no remission : and the
shedding of what blood ever obtained remission ? Did the blood of the sacri
fices under the law ? No. " To what purpose is the multitude of your sacrifices
unto me ? saith the Lord : I delight not in the blood of buUocks, or of lambs, or
of he-goats," Isaiah i. 11. "For I desired mercy, and not sacrifice; and the
knowledge of God more than burnt-offerings," Hos. vi. 6. He commanded
sacrifice, but not in preference to mercy. Men were not to rest in the sacrifice,
as if its blood could atone, but to look with faith at the great sacrifice which
the mercy of God had provided, and which was to make a fuU atonement for
sin, and to bring in everlasting righteousness. This was the sacrifice of the
Lamb of God. No blood but his ever did or could atone. If aU the cattle
upon a thousand hills had been offered up, they could not have taken away the
least sin. If a man had given the fruit of his body for the sin of his soul,
stiU his sin would have remained. If he had repented, his repentance without
faith in the blood of Christ could not have obtained remission. There would be
occasion to repent of his repentance. If he were to shed rivers of tears, yea,
tears of blood, these very tears would want washing. Nothing can cleanse
and do away sin but some divine and infinitely precious blood ; and in whom is
there any such ? Not in a mere creature. A creature has blood ; but none that
has any virtue to cleanse a sinner from the poUution and guilt of sin. This is the
property of the Lamb of God, who, being both God and man in the person of
one Christ, did thereby give a divine and infinite virtue to the blood which he
shed, so that it can cleanse from aU sin. Here, then, is the fountain. It is the
most precious blood of Christ, which is always sending out its virtue, as a
fountain is always sending out water. Its cleansing streams have never stopped,
since there was sin to cleanse ; and they can never be exhausted. Whoever
washes therein shall be made clean, let him have been ever so defiled or poUuted.
The pool of Bethesda was a lively image of the fountain. After the angel
went down and troubled the water, then whosoever first stept in was made
Miholo of whatsoever disease he had. As this cured every bodily, so does the
blood of Christ cure every spiritual disease ; for it takes away sin, which is the
cause of all diseases, and obtains eternal redemption.
Are any of you, my brethren, thoroughly sensible of the defiling nature of
sin ? and do you find how offensive it makes you in the eyes of a holy God ?
Has the angel of the covenant come down and troubled your consciences ?
and are you convinced that nothing can cleanse you but the blood of Jesus
Christ ? Then believe his word and rely upon his promise, that if your pol
luted souls be washed in this fountain, how filthy and defiled soever they be,
they shall be made clean : for it can cleanse from aU sin. Are your poUutions
numerous, of a long continuance, and of the deepest dye ? The blood of Christ
can infaUibly cleanse them and make them as white as snow ; because it par
takes of the infinite and divine nature of the God-man Christ Jesus. He who
opened this fountain for sin, was God and man united in one Christ, whereby
the actions of the one nature may properly be ascribed to and predicated of the
other. The man Jesus had blood to shed ; but he who shed it was God as
well as man; and therefore it is caUed by St. Paul "the blood of God:"
for as the reasonable soul and flesh is one man, so God and man is one Christ.
The manhood suffered and bled ; the Godhead merited infinitely by those suf
ferings and by that blood-shedding, and so the one Christ, who suffered and
bled, merited infinitely, according to what the apostle John says, " That God
laid down his life for us;" and the ends and purposes for which God laid it
down could not possibly be defeated. Hear this, ye poor guilty sinners, whose
consciences are troubled with a sense of your many and great poUutions. 'llic
Lord God has opened a fountain foT such as you are, to wash in and be
clean ; and he has given to it a divine and almighty virtue to cleanse aU man
ner of sins. His power is present, to make it an aU-perfect cleanser. Oh
that God may enable you to make use of it! Is it not your heart's desire
that you may be made clean ? And here are the means. The fountain stands
open What hinders you then from washing in it, and having your con-

120 THE LAW AND THE GOSPEL.
sciences purged from dead works ? You cannot doubt of its virtue. Has it not
cleansed sinners who were once as black as heU ? — a Manasseh, a Mary Mag
dalen, a Saul ? Put it then to the trial. Believe the record which God hae
given of it. Apply it for the cleansing of your souls, and it wUl infallibly
take effect. All the sinners, from Adam to Christ, who have been admitted
into the presence and kingdom of God, were cleansed from every spot and
stain of sin in this fountain ; and all the sinners, from Christ to the end of
the world, must wash their robes in the same fountain, if they appear in spot-
less purity before God. But although this fountain has had its oil-cleansing
virtue ever since the fall, yet there was a fixed time in the councU of God,
called in the text, in that day, when the immaculate Lamb of God should
come into the world, and shed his blood, and put away sin by the sacrifice of
himself; and this brings me to my
Second head, — Under which I purposed to consider the time wfien this foun
tain was opened, here said to be a particular day. And this was certainly the
day when the Redeemer suffered and bled upon the cross, which being fixed
and unalterable in the decrees of the most high God, they who lived before
Christ gave himself an offering for sin, were saved by faith in him, as we are
since he was offered ; for the merits of his sacrifice looked backwards as well
as forward, and, like as the sun sends out light in every direction, so did the
efficacy of our Lord's sacrifice. It communicated its cleansing qualities, as well
to those who bled before, as to those who lived since, Christ made his soul an
offering for sin. But nevertheless there was a day, a precise determinate
time, for his offering. Christ was the lamb Blain from the foundation of the
world, slain typically in every sacrifice ; but in the fulness of time he came,
and was reaUy slnin, and the day of his sufferings was the day when the foun
tain for sin and for uncleanness was opened, which is clearly determined by
the context ; for in the foregoing chapter the prophet is speaking of an extra
ordinary morning in the land of Israel, and he introduces his description with
these words: "And I wiU pour upon the house of David, and upon the in
habitants of Jerusalem, the Spirit of grace and of supplications; and they shall
look upon me, whom they have pierced." These words are applied by an in
fallible expositor to our Lord's being pierced upon the cross : for St. John
says, " When the soldiers came to Jesus, and saw tfiat he was dead already,
they brake not his legs; but one of them, with a spear, pierced his side, and
forthwith came out blood and water:" for these things were done, that tho
scripture should be fulfiUed: "A bone of him shill not be broken." And
again another scripture saith, " They shaU look on him, whom they have pierced."
From hence it is evident that the fountain was opened on the day of Christ's
sufferings, here pointed out by this distinguishing mark; namely, the soldiers'
piercing his side, from whence there flowed blood and water. When this fixed
day was come, and Christ had suffered whatever the hand and counsel of God
had determined before should be done to him, then his blood had an all-
cleansing virtue. What he once shed was for ever meritorious. It was ao ab
solutely perfect, that he need not Bhed it any more. The sacrifice of that one
day was sufficient to satisfy all the demands of law and justice ; " so that Christ
need not offer himself often, as the high priest entered into the holy place every
year with the blood of others ; for then must he often have suffered since the
foundation of the world ; but now once in the end of the world hath he ap
peared to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself." Once, the just suffered for
the unjust, and the blood which he shed on that day had such an infinite
cleansing virtue as to make scarlet, crimson sins as white as snow. The ends
for which he bled could not possibly be defeated ; for he was God and man
united in one Christ ; and the one Christ merited infinitely by the shedding of
his most precious blood ; and it was indeed shed as abundantly as if it had
flowed from a fountain. From the time that his agony and bloody sweat be
gan in the garden, until he expired upon the cross, he was a bleeding victim,
wounded for our transgressions, and bruised for our iniquities. When he waa
buffeted and scourged ; when he was crowned with thorns, and their sharp
points were stuck into his head by the barbarous soldiers ; when the cross was

DISCOURSE X. 121
laid upon him, and the weight of it opened his wounds and made them bleed
afresh ; when the nails went through his hands and feet, and he hung for six
hours bleeding upon the cross ; then was the most precious blood shed, which is
the only fountain to wash away sin and uncleanness. Sinners, consider the
great need you have of this fountain, and the inestimable love of Christ, who
opened it for such as you are. He caUs upon you, he entreats you to view him,
as he hung bleeding upon the cross in his bitter passion — " Is it nothing to
you, aU ye that pass by ? behold, and see if there be any sorrow like unto my
sorrow, which is done unto me, wherewith the Lord hath afflicted me in the
day of his fierce anger." This is his earnest request to you who are passing
by and minding other things. He would have you to stop, to lay aside all
other concerns, and to employ your thoughts upon his unparaUeled sufferings.
Oh, hearken then unto him ! Look upon this man of sorrows. View him tor
mented, bleeding, dying, and then ask your heart, Why does the innocent
Lamb of God thus suffer ? Was it not that there might be a fountain opened
for sin and for uncleanness ? And how, then, are you affected with the shed
ding of that blood, which can cleanse from aU sin ? If grace be stirring in
your hearts, you will mourn with a godly sorrow for your sins which occa
sioned his bitter sufferings, as it is written in the chapter before the text : —
" I will pour upon the house of David, and upon the inhabitants of Jerusa
lem, the spirit of grace and supplications ; and they shaU look upon me whom
they have pierced, and they shah mourn for him, as one mourneth for his only
son, and shall be in bitterness for him as one that is in bitterness for his first
born." As tender parents are affected with the death of an only son and of a
first-born, so shall the holy mourners in Sion be affected with the wounding
and piercing of Christ. They shall be in bitterness, not only for his death, but
for the cause of it. Their sins were the betrayers and murderers of the Son of
God ; and it is their constant language — " My sins pierced Christ with a thou
sand sorrows in the day of his suffering, while he was wounded for my trans
gressions and bruised for mine iniquities ; and yet — tile, ungrateful wretch that
I am — daily am I piercing him with my sins, and making his wounds bleed
afresh." Whoever can speak these words feelingly, wiU mourn after a godly
sort, and will know how to value that precious blood which has merit and effi
cacy to save him from his base ingratitude, as weU as from his other sins. He
will look upon every one of our Lord's wounds as a fountain opened for the pu
rifying of sin and of uncleanness ; for every sin is of a poUuting nature, and
wants cleansing. Nothing can be so loathsome in the eyes of a holy God as
sin. A leper covered over with sores, and ulcers, is not more offensive in our
sight, than he that is defiled with the leprosy of sin is in the sight of God. He
is not only of purer eyes than to behold it, but he also rejects the sinner for it, as
filthy and abominable altogether ; and he will be rejected for ever, unless he be
convinced of the defiling nature of sin, and desire to be cleansed from its poUu
tion. When these desires come from the Holy Spirit, he will strengthen them,
until the sinner, being justified by the blood of Christ, be made clean and righte
ous altogether. But this point comes more particularly to be treated of in the
Third place, Under the consideration of the wonderful property of the fountain
mentioned in the text, it could cleanse and take away the poUution of sins of the
deepest dye. The fountain is the blood of Jesus Christ, which is able to cleanse
from sin by the divine ordinance and appointment. The ever-blessed Trinity
have given it an almighty power in order to its answering aU the purposes ot
cleansing ; and therefore it is called by the apostle " the blood of tne everlasting
covenant," because the eternal Three entered into a covenant, and by an eternal
purpose decreed to bring many sons unto glory through the obedience and
blood-shedding of Jesus Christ. He being a person in the Godhead coequal
and coeternal with the Father, undertook, as their representative, to obey the
law for them, and to suffer the penalties, to shed the blood, and to die the death
which they deserved, and thus to satisfy all the demands which his Father's jus-
lice had upon them. The Father accepted him as their substitute, and was weU-
plcascd with them for his sake, even before he came in the flesh ; and when he
did como in the fulness of time to put away sin by the infinitely perfect sacrifice

122 THE LAW AND THE GOSPEL.
of himself, and when he said upon the cross, " It is finished," then the blood of
the everlasting covenant made a fuU and perfect atonement for their sins. Of
this there can be no doubt, because he rose frqm the grave in a public character,
as the first fruit of the dead, and because he afterwards ascended up on high to
give gifts unto men, and, according to his most true promise", he gave his royal
gifts, even to the rebellious. He sent them the Holy Ghost the comforter, wIiobo
office in the covenant it was to awaken sinners, dead asleep in sin, to convince
them of their guilt and danger, and to bring them to the blood of sprinkling to
be made clean. When the Holy Spirit thus graciously stirs up and disposes
them to be cleansed in the fountain, which was opened for sin and for unclean
ness, why should not they instantly make use of' it ? The fountain can cleanse
them. It is almighty to cleanse from aU sin. The holy, blessed, and glorious
Trinity have covenanted to give an infinitely purifying virtue to it. Although
Jesus alone shed his blood, yet the Father covenanted to accept it, and the Holy
Spirit covenanted to apply it and to make it effectual to the sinner's heart; so
that the whole Trinity have appointed it to-be an infaUible cleanser. And let
troubled consciences remember, that the divine virtue and almighty power of the
Godhead wiU now work with the blood of the everlasting covenant to make it
effectual for every end and purpose for which it was shed ; yea, even the Father's
justice, from which they had moBt to fear, is as much bound to save those who
seek to be cleansed by the blood of Christ, as his mercy ; for infinite justice has
been satisfied with the shedding of this blood. All its demands have been fully
answered, and justice and mercy are now alike engaged to receive those sinners
who come to Jesus to be made clean. Think of this, thou afflicted soul, tossed
with doubts and fears, and not comforted. Why cannot that blood satisfy thy
conscience, which has satisfied the infinite justice of God ? The Lord deliver
thee from unbelief, and help thee to rely upon the blood of the everlasting cove
nant, until thou find every thing that is said of it in scripture to be infallibly true
by thine own experience.
The wonderful property, then, of this fountain comeB from hence, that there
is in it the most precious blood of Christ, which has a divine virtue and power
to cleanse, as the whole scripture bears testimony. Under the ceremonial dis
pensation, whenever any person had broken the law, he was pronounced unclean,
and was shut out of the camp, until he was cleansed by blood. He was to
bring his sacrifice to the priest, who was to slay it, and then to sprinkle the
blood of it upon the unclean, that he might be sanctified to the purifying of the
flesh. Thus the Mosaic ceremonies, which were figures of good things to come,
then taught the sinner, that as his sin shut him out of the congregation of the
Lord's people below, so would it shut him out of the congregation above, into
which nothing unclean can enter ; and then they further taught him the infinite
efficacy of Christ's blood to do away sin ; for if the blood of the sacrifices could
cleanse outwardly, how much more shaU the blood of Christ, who, through "the
eternal Spirit, offered himself, without spot, to God, purge the conscience from
dead works to eerve the living God
Thus the ceremonial law showed that blood could cleanse, and referred the
sinner to the blood of the Lamb of God, by faith in which he might be made
clean. The New Testament refers him to the same fountain, and haa given
such descriptions of it, as ought to sUence doubts and fears, and to enable every
convinced sinner to rely upon its virtue, and to wash and be clean. All that
Jesus bas purchased ; att that the Holy Spirit haa to apply ; aU the graces of
time, and all the bleasinga of eternity, are ascribed to the merit' of his most
precious blood-shedding. Thus the scriptures set forth its inestimable value.
By it the price of our redemption was paid. The debt was so immense, for
which justice had seized upon our persons and estates, that we could not he re
deemed with corruptible things, such as silver and gold, but with the precious
blood of Christ. The blood alone of that God-man was "sufficient to pay our
ransom, and he paid it to the utmost farthing, as these scriptures testify : " In
whom we have redemption through his blood," Eph. i. 7 ; Col. i. 14. And as
the redeemed of the Lord could thus say by faith, " we have redemption through
his blood ;" so we read, in Rev. v. that the redeemed of the Lord in heaven sang

DISCOURSE X. 123
a new song, when the sealed book was given to the lion of the tribe of Judah,
the root of David, who alone prevailed to open the book, and to loose the seals
thereof, saying, "Thou art worthy to take the book, and to open the seals
thereof; for thou wast slain, and hast redeemed us to God by thy blood."
Through his blood also we have remission and forgiveness of sins. Without
shedding of blood there is no remission, and no blood could merit remission
but his, as he says himself: " This is my blood of the New Testament, which is
shed for many for the remission of sins," Matt. xxvi. 28. And the apostle,
speaking of himself and of the Colossians, says, by it they had remission : " Iu
whom we have redemption through hie blood, even the forgiveness of sins,"
Col. i. 14. And the apostle John thus praises Christ for this blessing : " Unto
him that loved us, and washed us from our sins in his own blood, be glory and
dominion for ever and ever. Amen." Rev. i. 5, 6. And as believers have re
demption and remission of sins through the most precious blood of Christ, so
have they also through it another inestimable privilege, even free justification,
according to what is written, Rom. v. 8, 9. " While we were yet enemies, Christ
died for us. Much more, then, being now justified by his blood, we shaU be
saved from wrath through him." And we are thus justified and saved through
faith in his blood ; — for " we are justified freely by grace through the redemption
that is in Jesus Christ, whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through
faith in his blood," Rom. iii. 24, 25. And being thus justified by faith in his
blood, we have another privilege, greater than the world can give, and such as the
world cannot take away, even peace with God : " But now in Christ Jesus, ye
who sometimes were far oft', are made nigh by the blood of Christ : for he is our
peace," Eph. ii. 13, 14. He was constituted and appointed by the covenant
the Prince of peace, who was to reconcUe God and man : " for it pleased the
Father that in him should aU fulness dweU ; and having made peace through
the blood of his cross, by him to reconcile aU things unto himself; by him, I
say, whether they be things in earth, or things in heaven," Col. i. 19, 20. And
when the sinner is reconciled to the Father by faith in the blood of his Son, then
the sense of this peace wiU enable him to rejoice in God, through Jesus Christ
his Lord, by whom he hath now received the atonement. And when he is thus
redeemed, and his sins are forgiven, and person justified, and the peace of God
rules in his heart, then there is another blessed privilege received by the blood of
Christ, even sanctification. "The bodies of those beasts," says the apostle,
" whose blood is brought into the sanctuary by the high priest for sin, are burnt
without the camp : wherefore Jesus also, that he might sanctify the people with
his own blood, suffered without the gate," Heb. xiii. 11, 12. His people are de
livered from the dominion as weU as from the guilt of sin by the merit of his
blood : for he " gave himself for them, that he might redeem them from aU ini
quity, and purify unto himself a peculiar people zealous of good works," Titus
ii. 14. He gave himself to death for them, that he might redeem them from the
power of iniquity, as weU as from the guilt and punishment of it, as the apostle
witnesses, Col. i. 2 1, 22 : " And you, that were sometimes ahenated, and enemies
in your minds by wicked works, yet now hath he reconciled, in the body of his
flesh, through death, to present you holy and unblamable, and unreprovable in
his sight." And when believers are thus, through obedience and sprinkling of tbe
blood of Jesus Christ, renewed day by day in the spirits of their minds, then they
have another exceeding great and precious privilege, namely, liberty of approach
ing God, and access with confidence unto him, as their reconciled Father. Their
happiness in this respect is greater than can be expressed. They can cast aU
their care upon him, and thereby ease themselves of the burden, and they can
lay aU their wants and complaints before him, knowing that their God wiU supply
all their wants out of the riches of his glory in Christ Jesus. And this inestimable
Iirivilege comes to them through the blood of Christ, as the apostle has proved,
Heb. x. 19, 20, &c. : " Having therefore, brethren, boldness to enter into the
holiest by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way, which he hath conse
crated for us through the vail, that is to say, his flesh ; and having a high priest
over the house of God ; let us draw near with a tme heart, in full assurance ot
faith."

124 THE LAW AND THE GOSPEL.
These are some of the privileges which believers receive from the most precious
blood-shedding of Jesus Christ : and are not these sufficient to demonstrate the
infinitely cleansing virtue of the fountain of his blood ? For by it they are washed
from every poUution and defilement of sin, and are presented without spot or
blemish before God. Did sin bring them into captivity ? The blood of Christ
redeems them from all their enemies, who led them captive — from sin and Satan,
from death and hell. Did ein bring guUt into the conscience ? The sprinkling
of the blood of Jesus takes it out, and speaks pardon and forgiveness. Did sin
make us unrighteous, and condemn us at God's bar ? There is now no con
demnation to them, who are justified by the blood of Christ. Did sin provoke a
holy God, and arm his justice to execute the- pains and penalties of the broken law
upon the transgressors ? Christ has made peace by tiie blood of the cross, and
he gives them peace in their consciences, when they are justified by faith. Are
we by nature sold under sin, and under its power and dominion ? The blood of
Christ has merit and efficacy in it to purge our consciences from dead works to
serve the firing God. Did sin shut the door of mercy against us, so that God
would receive none of our prayers or services ? The blood of Christ has opened
a new and living way, and believers may with boldness enter into the holiest with
their petitions ; for whatever they ask of the Father in his Son's name, he will
give it them. Thus the blood of Christ saveB from all iniquity. Whatever pol
lution or guilt iniquity had brought upon the soul, all is done away in the fountain
of his blood. And these scriptures have so particularly described its virtue, that
convinced sinners might have strong encouragement to rely upon its power to
cleanse from aU sin : for the Lord God has appointed it for this purpose, and it
cannot fail of answering it, because he is almighty to render his own appointment
effectual. The blood of Christ cleanses by a divine virtue, which nothing can resist.
God has engaged and promised that his almighty power shall work in the appli
cation of this blood, and that not only in the present life, but also in the next.
He has given to it an infinite and eternal virtue. It can cleanse for ever. Oh I
doubt not then of any lesser virtue ascribed to it in scripture, since it has the
greatest that possibly can be. Surely it can cleanse in time, since it can cleanse
to eternity. " Christ by his own blood entered in once into the holy place, having
obtained eternal redemption for us," Hub. ix. 12. " For by one offering he hath
perfected for ever them that are sanctified," Heb. x. 14. And when the beloved
apostle saw in a vision the great multitude, whom no man could number, standing
before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed with white robes, and palms in
their hands, and one of the elders asked him, " What are these which are arrayed
in white robes ? and whence came they ? And I said unto him, Sir, thou knoweet.
And he said unto me, These are they which came out of great tribulation, and
have washed their robes, and made them white in the blood of the Lamb," Rev.
vii. 13, 14. These precious robes, in which they appear before God, and stand
confirmed for ever and ever in bliss, were washed and made white in the blood of
the Lamb ; and this gives them an eternal purity and endless glory.
Has not the fountain, then, which was opened for sin and for uncleanness, a
divine property, since believers receive from it all the blessings of time and all
tbe blessings of eternity ? Tbe scriptures which I have quoted ascribe to it the
wonderful power of cleansing from aU sin, and that for ever. Sins of the greatest
guilt, scarlet, crimson sins, whost deep dye cannot be taken out by any other
means, washed in the blood of the Lamb, become as white as snow : and the foun
tain which has this infinite virtue stands open, night and day. It cleanses freely,
without money and without price. Whosoever wiU, let him come and be made
clean. The Spirit and the bride invite him, and say, Come ; and let him that
heareth say, Come ; and let him that desires to be cleansed, come. Come, and
try its virtue, and it wiU infallibly succeed. Though- thousands, and ten thousand
times ten thousand sinnerehave washed in it, and been made clean, yet it has
lost none of its virtue. StiU it is almightyto do away 8in. Whosoever is washed
in the blood of Christ, ia made clean and pure to all eternity. My brethren, do
you believe thia? And do you desire to experience its cleanaing virtue? Have
you been convinced of the poUuting nature of sin, and how it has defiled your
souls, and rendered them in the sight of a holy God more filthy and abominable

DISCOURSE X. 125
than the most loathsome object is in our eyes? and would you be made clean freely
by the blood of the Lamb of God ? Is this the prayer of your heart ? "lam con
vinced that God is of purer eyes than to behold the least iniquity, and I am
nothing but iniquity." " Oh ! that the Lamb of God would take pity on me, and
out of his mere love and mercy cleanse my poUuted soul from every spot and
stain of sin. I believe nothing else can cleanse me but his most precious blood ;
and it cannot cleanse unless it be applied and received by faith. Lord, apply
it then for thy mercy's sake, and wash my soul in the fountain which was opened
for sin and for uncleanness." If these be your real desires, you will follow me,
profitably, to the consideration of the
Fourth particular I was to treat of; namely, By what means and in what way
sinners receive and partake of its cleansing property. Although Christ has shed
his blood, and although it can cleanse from all sin ; yet it cannot cleanse un
less it be applied. You can have no benefit from it unless it be sprinkled upon your
consciences. By the shedding of it he obtained merit to cleanse ; but the efficacy
of it in cleansing comes from the application. The law pointed out this in the
sprinkling of the blood of the sacrifices, and particularly in the cleansing of the
leper. When the priest had examined him, and found the plague ofthe leprosy
was healed, then the leper was to bring his sacrifice, and it was offered for him,
and its blood was shed ; but he was not pronounced legaUy clean until the blood
was Bprinkled upon him. The shedding of the blood did not cleanse without
the application. And these figures of the law are applied to Christ in the New
Testament. The apostle Paul speaks ofthe sprinkling of the heart from an evil
conscience; and the apostle l'eter shows what it is which is able thus to cleanse
the heart ; namely, the sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ. This speaketh
better things than that of Abel. Abel's blood cried for vengeance ; but Christ's
blood cries for mercy ; and when it is applied, it sprinkles the heart from an evil
conscience, and purges it from dead works to serve the living God.
This consideration brings us to meditate upon the offices of the Holy Spirit.
As Christ covenanted to shed his blood, so the Holy Spirit covenanted to apply
the merits of it, and to render it effectual to the sinner's heart. ThiB is his office-
character : he was to take of the things of Christ, and to show them unto us, to
show us our want of them, and then to show us our interest in them. And in the
present case he was to convince sinners that they wanted cleansing, and that there
was a fountain opened for uncleanness, and by his grace he enables them to wash
and be clean. As there can be no outward washing away of any pollution, but
by an outward application ; so there can be no inward cleansing, but by his spi
ritual application. If there were a bath famous for curing some particular disease,
you know it could not cure the diseased person unless he was bathed in it ; so
neither can this fountain. It was opened for use ; and whoever is cleansed by it
must be washed in it, inwardly and spiritually, by the Holy Spirit. He applies,
and faitli receives, the benefit of that blood, which cleanses from aU sin : for
the apostle, speaking of Christ, says, " Whom God hath set forth to be a propi-
. tiation through faith in his blood," Rom. iii. 25. The shedding of his blood
had merit to cleanse ; but faith apprehends it, and receives its cleansing virtue.
That faith which is the gift of the Holy Spirit, and is wrought in the heart by
his operation, relies upon the blood of Christ, and puts its whole trustand con
fidence in its power to cleanse, and then finds the heart sprinkled with it from an
evil conscience, guilt being taken out, and peace brought in, with love and joy,
and all the graces of the Spirit of God.
From what has been said, it appears, that there is a fountain open for sin
and for uncleanness, and that the blood of Jesus Christ can cleanse from all sin.
It had this virtue given it by the covenant of grace, when the holy, blessed, and
glorious Trinity agreed to give their power to it ; and nothing can resist the power
of the Godhead. He who shed it was God and man in one person. As God he
was coequal and coeternal with the Father, and when he took our nature, that
in it he might obey and suffer for sinners, nothing could be wanting to
render his obedience and sufferings absolutely complete : for all the works of
God are perfect ; nothing can be added -to them, or taken from them. When
Jesus shed his blood upon the cross, it was the will of the ever-blessed

126 THE LAW AND THE GOSPEL.
Trinity that this blood should be of infinite efficacy to take away 6in. It
cannot want power to cleanse, because the whole power of the Godhead is
engaged to make it effectual. It is the blood of the everlasting covenant,
The Son has shed it, and the Father has received it as a full satisfaction
and atonement for sin, and the application of it is now in the hand of the
eternal and almighty Spirit; and when he applies it, and gives the sinner faith
to rely upon it, what can then resist its power, or hinder its efficacy? My
brethren, how do you find your hearts affected with these great truths ? Do you
see the poUuting nature of sin, and do you desire to be cleansed from it in the
fountain of Christ's blood ? And do you therefore desire it, that you may be made
holy as weU as righteous ? Would you have the blood of Christ to save you by
its efficacy from the dominion of sin, aa weU as to save you by its merits from
the guUt of sin ? Sirs, what say your hearts to these things ? Do you really wish
to be cleansed from the power, as weU as from the poUution of sin ? If you do
not wish for it, what do you think of the text ? Is it true that there is a fountain
opened for sin and for uncleanness ? and has the blood of Christ the cleansing
virtue here ascribed to it ? Can it take out the guilt of sins of the deepest dye ?
Are scarlet, crimson sins washed in it as white as snow ? Surely they are ; for it
can cleanse from all sin. By the Bhedding of his blood, Christ obtained infinite
merit to cleanse sinners ; but in order to their being cleansed, it must be applied;
and the application is now made by the grace of the Holy Spirit. Has he then
applied it to you or not ? This is the main point. Have you been washed in this
fountain and been made clean ? What are you the better for its cleansing others,
if it never cleanse your souls? You can he benefited only from its application
to you in particular, and by your experiencing the power of it in your own
hearts. Let each of us, then, examine ourselves concerning this particular; and
may we do it, through the assistance of God, with profit and improvement !
1 It is not unlikely but there may be some persons hero who are not tho
roughly acquainted with the defiling nature of sin, and who never heartily de
sired to be cleansed from it. This is the case of all unawakened sinners. They
see not the poUution of their hearts, and fives, and therefore they are easy and
content in their present state, without ever desiring to be cleansed by tho blood
of Christ. Does any one's conscience speak to him at present, and say — " This
is my case ; I have not been cleansed from my sins ; nor do I desire it. My
Bins are so eweet and pleasing to me, that I should be very unhappy if I were
to part with them." But are they more sweet and pleasant than heaven? and
would you part with heaven rather than part with them ? Consider this matter
a little. You must part with one or the other ; for hear what God says of you
in his word. You are the objects of his hatred. " Thou, O God!" says the
Psalmist, " hatest all workers of iniquity," Psal. v. 5. Yea, bo great is his
hatred, that he cannot suffer you to appear before him. " Thou art of purer
eyes," says the prophet, " than to behold evil, and canst not look upon iniquity,"
Hab. i. 13. And if you die in your iniquity, without the blood of sprinkling,
you can never enter into heaven : " For no unclean person hath any inheritance
m the kingdom of Christ and of God," Eph. v. 5. To which agree the words
of St. John in his description of the heavenly Jerusalem, " there shall in no
wise enter into it any thing that defileth." This awful scripture will be fulfilled
in you. In nowise shaU you enter into the city of the living God, unless your
poUuted 80ul8 be washed in the Redeemer's blood. You wiU be shut out of his
presence and glory, and your eternal habitation wiU be with unclean spirits, in
the regions of torment and despair.
But, bad though your present state be, yet the gospel sets before you perfect
deliverance. You are invited to come and be made clean. The fountain is open;
and if you now find it in your heart to make use of it, you may he washed in it
without money and without price. All is free. Your sins shaU be freely par
doned, and your poUutions freely cleansed. Free grace shaU do aU for you, and
all in you. And this day you have an offer of all its blessings. Close in with
it, and they are aU yours. But if you now reject them, you cannot pretend that
you never heard of your danger ; for you have now been warned of it. You
cannot plead your ignorance of the merits of Christ's blood ; for you have now

DISCOURSE X. 127
heard what great things the scripture says of it. From it are received aU the
graces of time, and aU the blessings of eternity ; and you have been invited to
come, and to be cleansed freely in the fountain that was opened for sin and for
uncleanness. If, then, you still refuse to be washed in this fountain, you are
without excuse : for if you reject this wilfully, and harden your hearts against it,
there remaineth no more sacrifice for sin, but a certain fearful looking for of
judgment and fiery indignation, which shaU devour the adversaries. Meditate
upon this scripture. Think seriously what a fearful thing it is to fall into the
hands of the living God. And may the eternal Spirit set in with this conside
ration, and so effectuaUy convince you of the poUution and guilt of your sins,
that you may seek to be made clean, and may find the blood of Jesus Christ,
cleansing you from aU sin.
2. Are there any of you, my brethren, who are now desiring to be made clean,
and to be washed from all your sins ? For you the fountain stands open ; and
what should hinder you from making use of it ? Do you doubt of its power to
cleanse you ? Remember it is the blood of the everlasting covenant. It cleanses
in virtue of the covenant of the ever-blessed Trinity, and consequently by the
power of the Godhead. Father, Son, and Holy Spirit have agreed to make it
almighty to do away sin ; so that it cannot cleanse only in time, but it can also
cleanse for ever and ever. This is the plain doctrine of scripture, and if you
believe it, why do you not find great joy and peace in believing it ?
Perhaps you think it can cleanse, but you are afraid it is not appointed for
your cleansing. Nay, my brethren, reason not against your own comforts. I'm
whom was it appointed, if not for you, who see your want of it, and v. ho are
desirous of experiencing its divine power ? You have the warrant of God's
word, authorising you to wash and be clean. The text says, the fountain was for
the inhabitants of Jerusalem, for the professing members of the visible church ;
that, whenever any of them were convinced of their uncleanness, they might
make use of this fountain, and have their hearts cleansed from an evil conscience.
Oh ! reject not then the offered blessing. Take il upon the warrant and autho
rity of God's word, and doubt not but the fountain is open for you.
Why, then, are you not cleansed in it ? Are you afraid that your sins are so
many and so great that you cannot be made clean ? As to their number, it can
cleanse from aU sin ; and as to their greatness, it can take out the guilt of
scarlet, crimson sins — the greatest that possibly can be : therefore this is no
objection. You may come with aU your sins and be washed freely from aU in
the fountain of Christ's blood.
Come then — But you draw back ; you fear it would be presumption in such a
sinner as you are. What ! Is it presumption to believe in the word of God,
which cannot be broken, and to rely upon the pror/iises of God which are as
unchangeable as himself? No. It is glorifying God, and honouring his word :
whereas you make God a liar by your false modesty, as if he could break his
word to you, and as if you might be disappointed when you claimed the fulfil
ling of his promises. My brethren, these things cannot be. God's word and
promises are, like himself, without any variableness or shadow of turning ; and
whatever they offer you is yours, when you rely upon him for the receiving of it
from his free grace. And since you have the authority of God's word and
promises to suence your doubts and fears, are you resolved in the strength of
grace to rely upon them ? If you be, then they shaU be made good to you.
Heaven and earth shaU pass away, rather than one tittle of them shaU fail.
Your robes shall be washed in the blood of the Lamb ; and whatever graces and
blessings Jesus has to give his people, shaU be yours, in time and in eternity.
3. Perhaps some persons may inquire, Of what use is this fountain to be
lievers ? The uses of it are many and great. AU their graces flow from it ; all their
duties are to be washed in it ; and aU their comforts are maintained by it. Surely,
then, it js of great and infinite service to believers. Under the third head of this
discourse I considered the high character given in scripture of this fountain.
From it are received redemption, forgiveness of sins, justification, peace with God,
sanctification, freedom of access to God, as a reconciled Father, eternal redemp
tion, and the robe of everlasting righteousness, in which the saints stand con-

128 THE LAW AND THE GOSPEL.
finned in bliss. AU these graces and blessings flow from the fountain of Christ's
blood, and flow freely. They cost us nothing. They are the free gifts of our
loving Saviour, which, of his abundant mercy, he bestows upon his people ; and
this makes his blood very precious to them, that the gifts, which are inesti
mable, they receive from it freely ; and by their repeated trials of its worth
and value they grow in the knowledge and love of its preciousness : for they
find it not only necessary for their sins, but also for their duties. The holiest
duty, which was ever done by a mere man, wanted washing in this fountain. The

.  ,  j may
bear the iniquity of the holy things which the children of Israel shall hallow in
aU their holy gifts ; and it shall be always upon his forehead, that they may be
accepted before the Lord," Exod. xxviii. 38. Herein he represented the office of
the high priest of our profession, who bears the iniquity of our holy things • for
there is imperfection in every duty, in every act of obedience some short coming,
which requires the atoning blood of Christ, that it may be accepted before the
Lord. There is no believer who loves God in that perfect manner which the spi
rituality of the law requires. This appears very evidently from their failings in
the services which they pay him. When do they pray without some wandering
thoughts ? When do they hear the word as in the presence of God, and receive
it not as the word of men, but as it is in truth the word of God ? Do they not
sometimes hear with great dulness, and at other times are not able to mix faith
with what they hear ? Are they not negligent in searching the scriptures, and
negligent in praying for a blessing, when they do search them ? How little do
they treasure up in their memories ? and how little fruit does the engrafted word
bring forth in their lives ? When they go to the Lord's table, how often do they
complain of their want of devotion and gratitude ? And therefore their services,
yea, the very best of them, because of these imperfections and short comings,
would not be acceptable, unlesa they were washed in the fountain of Christ's
blood. Sensible of this they live by faith upon fresh applications of it, suing for
its merit and hoping for its efficacy in every thing they do. And as the accept
ance of their duties, so their comforts are derived from the blood of Christ. Their
love, their peace, their joy flow from this fountain. This is their continual matter
of rejoicing, that the blood of Christ was freely shed for them, and that he, who
gave his blood for them, wiU with it give them aU things. This bears them up
under trials, strengthens them against temptations, supports them in sickness,
and arms them against death. They know that aU these things are working to
gether, under God, for their good. Yea, they experience it, and that makes them
happy ; happy in time, and happy in eternity. What is now their crown of re
joicing below, wiU be much more eo above. Then their joy wiU be full, when
they shall join that innumerable company, whom no man can number, and
with them give honour and glory, and blessing and praise to him that waa
slain, and hath redeemed them unto God by his blood out of every kindred, and
tongue, and people, and nation, and hath made them kings and priests unto
God and his Father. Then they will know how to value that blood which brought
them to such perfect and eternal blessedness. O Lord ! help us to set a greater
value upon it than we commonly do. Teach us more of our want of it, and of
its worth. Supply us more abundantly with the graces and blesaings purchased
by its merit, and freely bestowed by its efficacy. And may the dear Lamb of
God give his blessing to what has been now spoken, although it has been in much
weakness, that, if it be his holy will, aU who hear mc this day may he brought to
see and to lament their spiritual uncleanness, and to apply for cleansing to the
blood of Jesus. Oh that the Lord God would direct you all to the fountain which
he has opened for sin and for uncleanness ; and may he give you faith to wash
in it and to be cleansed from aU sin, according to what we have been asking this
day in the exceUent words of our church.
" Grant, we beseech thee, merciful Lord, to thy faithful people, pardon and
peace ; that they may be cleansed from aU their sins, and serve thee with a quiet
mind through Jesus Christ our Lord." Amen.

129
DISCOURSE XI.
THE BALM OP GILEAD.
Is there no balm in Gilead ? is there no physician there ? Why then is not the
health of the daughter of my people recovered? — Jer. viii. 22.
•
All men love health. The desire of it is founded in nature. It is one of the
natural instincts which never leaves us. So long as we love pleasure and hate
pain, we cannot but love health, as the chief of aU outward blessings. Indeed,
lt is to be desired beyond them aU, because without it we can enjoy none of them ;
without it we are unfit for our worldly business and employment, and unfit for
the duties of religion. A good man would therefore wish for health with a view
to the concerns of a better life, as weU as to those of the present life. AU men
desire it upon a temporal account. But, alas ! how few have any real desire for
the health of the soul ! If the body be in great pain, with what haste do they
send for relief ! and how carefuUy do they foUow the physician's prescription !
But when their souls are wounded with sin, and they may endure the smart and
anguish of their wounds for ever (for these are by any human means incurable);
and when a divine remedy is proposed, and they hear of a loving and an almighty
physician, under whose hands no patient was ever lost ; yet they have not one
wish to be healed. What can be the reason of this ? Why are the very men who,
with an invariable affection, love bodily health, so far from desiring the health of
the soul, that when they have an offer of being healed of aU their spiritual
maladies, they neglect the remedy and despise the physician ? Is not this unac
countable conduct ? What can make the same men in the same case reason so
differently ? If they had an infaUible remedy for the recovery of bodUy health,
there is not one of them who would reject it ; but there is a sovereign remedy
for the recovery of the health of the soul ; there is a balm in Gilead, and a most
kind and able physician there to apply it ; and yet spiritual maladies abound.
Let us inquire into the cause of this inconsistent behaviour. It is an inquiry in
which we are all nearly concerned. Our welfare depends on our being healed
of the wounds of sin by this balm of Gilead. We can have no true peace of
conscience here, nor no true happiness hereafter, unless we lake this sovereign
medicine. May the Lord God dispose us aU to take it by means of what shall
be said in opening and explaining the text ; in which there is,
First, Some sickness referred to.
Secondly, A sovereign medicine : — there is balm in Gilead to heal it.
Thirdly, A great physician to apply it : and all the means of healing being
thus ready at hand, the question naturaUy foUows, in the
Fourth place, Why, then, is not the health of the daughter of my people re
covered ?
If we look back to the 17th verse, we shall find an account of the sickness
referred to in the text. The people were stung with serpents and cockatrices,
and of the most venomous and fiery sort, whose poison, once infused into the
blood, acts like the most raging fire, consuming and drying up the fluids of the
body, and in a short time bringing on certain death. " For behold, I wiU send
serpents, cockatrices, among you, which wiU not be charmed, and they shall bite
you, saith the Lord." This is a just picture of that more deadly poison which the
old serpent, the devil, infused into both body and soul ; the effects of which aU
the human race have felt ; for he drew us aU into sin, and the dreadful conse
quences of sin appear in that variety of diseases which bring down our bodies to
tne grave of deatn, and in that variety of corrupt and depraved appetites which
proves the soul to be alienated from the life of God, and to be incapable, unless
it be entirely changed, of enjoying God. It was sin which thus poisoned our
nature : for before sin entered into the world, all things were good. There was
no evil to afflict either body or soul. But when sin entered, then the sanction of
the law took place, " In the day that thou eatest of the forbidden ftjiir, dying

130 THE LAW AND THE GOSPEL.
thou shalt die." Gen. ii. 17. In that day thy body shall become mortal, and
liable to those pains and diseases, which in a course of years shall destroy its
animal life ; and thy soul shaU be separated from the fountain of spiritual fife,
and cut off from aU communion with God in this world ; and in the next it shall
be separated from him for ever ; which is the second death. O sin ! what hast
thou done ? Thou art the author of aU the evils which mankind ape capable of
suffering in earth and heU. Ihou broughtest them all upon us, thou enemy of
God and man. And wUt thou afterwards pretend to be our friend ? Wilt thou
coine to court us with promises of happiness, that, by deceiving us, thou mayest
more effectuaUy poison and destroy our bodies and souls ? Look upon this base
traitor, my brethren. Can he be a friend to your nature, who has subjected it
to aU the miseries of mortality ? If you have any true love for yourselves, how
can you love and cherish sin, which has made you liable to suffer the first and the
second death ? What ! is this a friend to he taken into your bosom ? one that
wiU murder your body, and bring both body and soul into heU ? Accustom
yourselves to view sin in this light, and it will help you to see the horrible de
structive nature of it. When you behold a dead corpse, think what a murderer
sin is : for that body woidd never have died, if sin had not pohioned it. And
then turn your eyes inwards, and let each man say to himself — This beloved
body of mine, upon which 1 spend so much time and care, was made mortal by
sin ; and all the pains and diseases which I can suffer came from the same cursed
cause ; yea, from it came all the miseries which I deserve to suffer with devils
and condemned spirits in the fire that never is to be quenched : and shaU Hove
and delight to serve such an enemy ? shaU I give up the members of my body as
instruments of unrighteousness unto Bin, and so work out mine own everlasting
destruction? God forbid. As sin is the author of all the evil, which I do or can
endure, I wUl therefore fight against it ; and may the Lord God save me from
the guilt, and deliver me from the dominion of it !
This is the language of every heart which is made sensible of the poisonous
qualities of sin. When the awakened sinner feels the malignant venom working
in his constitution, he wiU be led to abhor and to detest it, and the more so, when
the acripture discovers to him the execrable foe, who poisoned him with sin ; and
that was the old serpent. What theae serpents are aaid, in the 17th verse, to
have done to the body, in poisoning it, the 8ame did he both to body and soul ;
and as he did it at first in the aerpent, he has therefore been known and distin
guished by this name from the time that he deceived our first parents in the
subtle serpent. The apostle has given us a very alarming description of him,
Rev. xii. 9, where he is treating of the war which was in heaven between Michael
and his angels, and the dragon and his angels. " And the great dragon," he
says, " was cast out ; the old serpent, called the devil and Satan, who deceiveth
the whole world." Here he is called the serpent, aUuding to his crafty wiliness ;
and the old serpent, to denote his having employed aU his wiles to deceive and
ruin mankind. As soon as they were created, he plotted their destruction, and
he became Satan, then- sworn adversary, and the devil, their accuser, who sought
to destroy their precious lives with the rage of a dragon ; yea, with more rage
than common dragons have, even with the burning fury of the great dragon.
And, alas ! he was successful : for he deceiveth the whole world : he poisoned
the whole human race : he corrupted aU flesh, and we are now groaning under
the dreadful effects of our total corruption. The cursed venom of sin, which he
infused into our bodies, still works in them ; but its more cursed venom still
works, though lesB perceptibly, in our souls. The poison keeps working in the
body, until it bring on sickness and death, and reduce us to the dust, from
whence we were taken ; and it keeps working in the soul in every hateful and
unholy temper, which tends to stir up the wrath and indignation of God, and to
separate the soul for ever and ever from him, the fountain of life and glory.
This is the great and universal malady referred to in the text — the malady of
sin, with which the old serpent, the devil, has poisoned the whole world. When
he deceived our first parents, he then poisoned the fountain ; and aU the streams
which have been ever since flowing from it partake of the direful infection : for
the word of truth declares, " That as by one man sin entered into the world, and

DISCOURSE XI. 131
death by sin, so death passed upon aU men, in whom aU have sinned." Here
the entrance of sin is said to be the cause of the entrance of death, and we all
die in Adam, therefore we aU sinned in him ; for the wages of sin is death. Now
God, being infinitely just and righteous, would not pay the wages, unless there
were some sin to deserve them ; but infants receive the wages of sin, and con
sequently they are sinners ; they die in Adam, because in him they sinned. " For
by the offence of one, judgment came upon aU men to condemnation." Thus
was our whole nature, both body and soul, corrupted by the fall ; and there is
not a sound part or faculty in either of them. They are corrupt and abominable
altogether, and in nothing does this total corruption more evidently discover
itself than in their entire blindness and insensibility of their dangerous condition.
They are poisoned, and yet they know it not ; nay, they are so unwiUing to know
it, that when we inform them of it, they are highly offended. They cannot bear
to be told of it, no, not by the ministers of the gospel, whose office and duty it
is. We are sure to stir up their rage and hatred, if we discover to them the
workings of this poison in their hearts ; and if we appeal to the effects of it in
their lives, and refer them to the plentiful streams of iniquity, which are con
tinuaUy flowing from the corrupt fountain of the heart, then they cannot bear
us ; they are like the deaf adder, that stoppeth her ear, which wiU not hearken
to the voice of charmers, charming ever so wisely. They are resolved not to be
disturbed about their sins, and therefore they wiU not hear of their sickness or
of their danger. They had rather die of their malady than be made uneasy
about it. Let sin do its worst in the nextlife, in the present they wiU enjoy it ; and
in sweet security, too, if they can. Is not this an astonishing degree of infatua
tion ? Is it not one of the strongest delusions of the devU, that he should make
those very men insensible of their spiritual maladies, who are exquisitely sensible
of the least bodily malady, whose fears are aU alarmed at the thoughts of their
dying to this world, but who have not the least concern about their dying from
God and glory ? Are any of you, my brethren, in this case ? Are you easy about
the state of your souls, having never been in any distress about original and
actual sin ? Did you never feel yourselves so sick of both, that you were afraid
you should perish everlastingly ? If not, consider what it is which keeps you in
this fatal security. Are not you sinners ? For all have sinned. And has not sin
poisoned both body and soul ? And is not this one of the sad, stupifying effects
of its poison, that, while there is but a step between you and death, yet you have
no concern about your being healed ? Are these things so ? If they be, may
the almighty God awaken you to a sense of your danger. Oh that he may set
home and fix such a conviction of sin upon your consciences, that, feeling your
malady, you may earnestly seek the great physician's help, and may happily find
that there is balm in GUead ; which is the
Second particular I was to consider. Glory be to God, who hath not left us
without remedy. Our disease is dangerous, but there is bahn in GUead, which
can heal perfectly and eternally. The country of Gilead was famous for a precious
balm which grew tliere. " Go up to Gilead, and take balm," says the prophet
Jeremiah, xlvi. 11. Its healing virtue is described by him, chap. li. 8, where, speak
ing of the downfal of Babylon, he says, " Take bairn for herpain, if so be she may
be healed." This sovereign medicine, which then grew in Gilead, could assuage
the pain of wounds, and heal them, and thereby was a type of the gracious remedy
which God had provided for the heahng of the wounds of sin ; namely, the
most precious blood of the Lamb of God, applied and made effectual by the Holy
Spirit : for as this cleanses away all the pollutions, so it heals all the diseases of
sin. The scripture has treated largely of its heahng virtue ; but it is nowhere
more forcibly recommended than in the parable of the good Samaritan. Our
Lord says, *' A certain man went down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and feU
among thieves, who stripped him of his raiment, and wounded him, and departed,
leaving him half dead." This certain man was Adam, whose possession was in
a paradise of peace and rest ; and there he was, innocent, safe and happy : but
he left this blissful state of his own accord, contrary to God's express command
ment, and he feU among thieves — Satan and his angels — who drew him into sin,
stripped him of his raiment, and robbed him of hi« righteousness, in which his
K ¦:

132 THE LAW AND THE GOSPEL.
soul had hitherto appeared in immaculate purity before God. This spotless robe
they took away, and left poor faUen man naked and wounded. They wounded
his body with those pains and diseases which bring it down to the dust, from
whence it was taken ; and they wounded his soul in aU its faculties ; his under
standing with darkness ; his wttl with a vicious choice ; and his affections with
worldly-mindedness ; so that he placed his love upon the creature instead of the
Creator : they wounded his conscience with guilt, and with fear of death and of
heU. " And they departed, leaving him half dead ;" for his soul, the better
part, was separated from God, and already dead in trespasses and sins, and the
body was dying. When man was faUen into this helpless state, the patriarchal
dispensation took place from Adam to Moses, under which the firBt-born was
priest, and had a right to offer up the appointed sacrifices ; but these could not
give life to the sinner, and therefore the priest came and looked upon him, and
passed by on the one side, being unable to raise him up from the death of sin.
Next succeeded the Levities! dispensation from Moses to Christ : the Levite came
and looked upon him, and passed by on the other side, being unable, by any of
the legal rites and ceremonies, to raise fatten man to his former righteousness
and perfection. " But a certain Samaritan, as he journeyed, came where he was."
Samaritan signifies a keeper ; and it here stands for the keeper of Israel, whose
compassions fail not: "for when he saw him, he had compassion on him." His
love disposed him to use his power for the sinner's recovery. He was almighty,
and he resolved to use his almighty power to heal him. He went up to him,
and apphed the balm of Gilead — " he hound up his wounds, pouring in oil and
wine ; wine, the established type of the most precious blood of the Lamb of
God ; and oU, the known emblem of the salutary influence of the Holy Spirit.
Pour these into the deepest and most dangerous wounds of sin, and they will
infallibly work a perfect cure ; for the blood has a divine virtue to heal, being
appointed and ordained of God for that very purpose. It cleanseth ua, says one
who had experienced its virtue, and by cleansing healeth us from all sin. And
no wonder; because it is the blood of God. He who ahed it was God and man
united in one Christ, and therefore it had infinite and divine merit : and when
he stood in the place of sinners, obeyed and suffered for them, and was obedient
even unto death, his obedience and sufferings could want nothing to render them
as satisfactory as the law and justice of the Father could require ; because his
blood had virtue as a release to discharge believers from aU the pains and
penalties to which they were subjected for their sins, and as a purchase to put
them in possession of their forfeited estate. The apostle describes its operating
as a release, when he says of it, " that we have redemption through his blood,
even the forgiveness of sins ;" and aa a purchase, when he says, " that Christ,
having washed ua from our sins in hia own blood, hath made ua kings and
priests unto God and his Father."
Now, since the blood of Christ has this sovereign healing virtue, and since
we have through it redemption, even eternal redemption from aU the pains and
miseries of sin, surely, then, it is an essential ingredient in that precious balm of
Gilead, which has virtue to heal every sinner who takes it, let his case be ever so
dangerous. But then it must be taken. A sick man may have a very good
remedy at hand ; but if he never take it, it can never cure him. In like manner,
it is not enough that the blood of Christ can heal, but, in order to heal, it must
be applied. The application makes it effectual, and therefore we read of the
blood of sprinkling both in the Old Testament and in the New. The blood must
be sprinkled upon the conscience, in order to heal the wounds of sin ; and this
is the office of the Holy Spirit. He applies the blood of Christ : he brings this
healing balm to the wounded soul. And as oU was the emblem of his salutary
influence, therefore, in the good Samaritan's prescription, we -find the medicine
was made up of oil and wine ; of the blood of Christ ; and of the grace of his
Spirit ; which two, sweetly joined and tempered together, make up the healing
balm of GUead. There is not a wound of sin so deep, a disease of sin so despe
rate, but the blood of Christ, applied by the Holy Spirit, can heal them : for
God hereby healeth the broken in heart, and giveth this medicine to heal their
sickness. Although they be half dead, yet it can recover them ; because it ope-

DISCOURSE XI. 183
rates by a divine and almighty power. The blood of Christ can raise the
deadest soul to justification of life, and through sanctification of the Spirit
this life is renewed and strengthened, day by day, untU every spiritual malady
of sin be removed, and sorrow and sighing be done away for ever. Hear this,
ye mourners in Sion, and lift up your drooping heads. Looking into your
selves, you may have reason to grieve. Your sins are many and great. They
have wounded your consciences. You feel the smart, and your distress is
exquisite. But despair not. Lo ! there is balm in Gilead. The blood of Jesus
is an infallible remedy. The Holy Spirit is almighty to apply it ; and he has
already showed you your want of it. Oh that he may give you grace to wait
until he supply your wants, and you feel its sovereign virtue heahng your
wounded consciences ! And to encourage you to seek and wait until you find,
remember that there is not only bahn in Gilead, but also that there is a phy
sician there ; as I am, in the
Third place, to consider, Under whose hands you cannot fail of a perfect
recovery ; and he is no less a person than the great physician of souls, who is
also God over aU, blessed for ever. He who created aU things, visible and
invisible, and who supports them by the word of his power, vouchsafes to heal
his people of their sins ; so there can be no doubt of his power, because he is
almighty to heal. And can there be any doubt of his love ? Did not his love
bring him down from heaven to the lowest humiliation, even to veil his divine
glory under a covering of flesh ? and did not his love then lead him to put forth
his divine power to heal every one who apphed to him for a bodily cure ?
Whereby he demonstrated to us his readiness to exert the same power to heal
the spiritual infirmities of those who come to him for his assistance. The
eternal God, whom angels and archangels worship and adore, was pleased to be
manifested in the flesh ; so that God and man were one Christ, and the one
Christ, the God-man, stood up in the place of sinners, as their representative :
for them he obeyed the law, and suffered the pains and penalties due to the
breach of it, that by his stripes they might be healed : he was obedient, even
unto death, and then rising from the dead, as their representative, he wrought
out an all-perfect righteousness for them, which being imputed unto them by
faith, they thereby received justification to life, and all the deadly wounds of sin
are healed. Thus the great physician of souls has demonstrated his love. You
may read it in every action of his fife, and in every suffering unto death. You
may read it engraven in every wound of his crucified body. What were the
marks and scars which the crown of thorns made in his head, and the whips and
scourges made on his back, but visible signs and seals of his love ? The love
which led him to his agony and bloody sweat, to his bitter cross and passion,
was greater than that of the strongest instinct and natural affection in the human
breast: " For can a woman forget her sucking chdd, that she should not have
compassion upon the son of her womb ? Yea, they may forget, yet will not I
forget thee, saith the Lord: for I have graven thee upon the palms of my
hands." While he looks upon them, he cannot forget his people ; because on
the palms of his hands are the prints of the nails by which he was fastened to
the cross ; and these prints are the precious engravings of his wonderful love.
Look upon the crucified Jesus, my Christian brethren, as wounded for your
transgressions, and bruised for your iniquities, and see if ever there was love
like his. Every wound speaks forth his love ; every bruise loudly proclaims
the greatness of it. His death demonstrates his love to have been stronger than
death, and his pierced side showed that he had set his people as a seal upon
his heart ; for from thence there flowed blood and water ; water to cleanse the
poUution, and blood to heal the wounds of their 6ins. Surely, then, he who
shed his heart's blood for them cannot want love. Let this encourage poor
dejected souls to wait upon him. Why are ye so troubled, as if God had not
provided a medicine to heal the broken-hearted? Is there not bahn in Gilead?
Is there not a physician there ? Oh ! wait upon him, then, for his kind assist
ance, and you will certainly find that the fountain of his love is not dried up.
He is now indeed on the throne of glory, king of kings, and lord of lords ;
but he has the same tender heart which once bled to death upon the cross. Ap-

134 THE LAW AND THE GOSPEL.
ply to him for relief, and he wiU not cast you out. You can have no distemper bul
what he has power to heal ; for he is an almighty physician ; and no distemper
but what he has love to heal ; for God is love, and the Saviour, the Lord Christ,
is God. How great soever tiie wounds of sin may be, yet, if you faU low at his
footstool, crying for mercy, he wfil not reject your suit. What ! was it evei
known that he cast out the prayer of the poor destitute ? No. There never was,
and there never wiU be such an instance. When he was upon earth, he never
refused to hear any one who asked his help. He never sent one single person
away unrelieved, whatever his disease might be, or however unworthy he was to
he healed of it. He cured all that came to him ; nnd he did not half-cure them;
but it is written, " they were made perfectly whole." Perfectly does he heal all
the wounds of sin, and eternaUy. He heals for ever. His medicines restore his
patients to everlasting health. He forgiveth att their sins, and healeth all their
infirmities, and thus admits them into the city of the living God, the inhabitant
of which shall not say, I am sick ; for the people that dwell therein shall be for
given their iniquity, and so freely and fuUy forgiven, that God wiU remember it
no more. And is this indeed the character of the great physician of souls ? Is
his heart so fuU of love, that he is always disposed to use his power for the per
fect recovery of convinced and afflicted sinners ? Is he as willing as he is able
to heal them ? No doubt he is. Let such persons, then, seek his help, and look
up unto him for medicine to heal their wounded consciences. He hath wounded
you out of love, and he wiU heal. He hath convinced you of your wants, in order
that you might wait upon him to have them supplied. Wait, then, and he wul
give you abundant reason to admire and to praise the wonders which he wiU do
for you and for your salvation. He wiU pardon you freely, and wiU heal aU the
wounds which sin has made, and then he wiU enable you to declare upon your
own happy experience, that there is bahn in GUead, and a physician there.
Now, since this is the case, why do men labour under the maladies of sin (
Since the blood of Christ is the sovereign balm, and Christ ia the physician,
whose power and love are able and willing to heal the most desperate disease,
and the Holy Spirit is almighty to apply the heahng balm, may we not then rea
sonably inquire, Why is not the health of the daughter of my people recovered ?
And this is the
Fourth and last particular to be considered. Why are any men sick when
they have an offer of health ? Do they choose, do they love sickness ? Yes, The
same men, whose every pulse beats after bochly health, choose and love spiritual
sickness. They are alarmed at the least disorder which attacks the body, and
yet they have no concern about the soul, although it be wounded with sin, and
sick unto death, yea, just ready to perish. How absurd is this conduct ! Thus
to prefer the health of the meaner and baser part of their constitution to the more
noble and exalted part, ia a flagrant abaurdity. Nay, not to desire the health of
the soul, when it is offered them, is acting unnaturally against their own interest,
To reject it, when the great physician himself offers it in his word, is treating
him with vile ingratitude ; and not to receive this inestimable remedy at his
hands, when he sends out his ministers to invite sinners to take it, to spurn it
from them, as if it was a thing which they did not value, or did not want ; this
is the height of sin and wickedness ; for whosoever thus accounteth the blood of
the covenant an unholy thing, and thereby doth despite unto the spirit of grace,
for him there remaineth no more sacrifice for Bin, but a certain fearful looking-for
of judgment and fiery indignation.
This being the case, the question returns, What can be the reason that the
health of the daughter of my people is not recovered ? Here is the aU-healing
bahn of Gilead ; here is an all-wise and an almighty physician ; and why then,
my brethren, will you not for his sake, for your own sakee, receive the sovereign
medicine at his hands ? What other cause can be assigned, but that you love
your disease more than health. Sin, with all its infirmities, is dearer to you than
the full enjoyment of the pleasures of a perfect recovery. Sin, although you die
of it, is more precious than to receive life from the hands of our redeeming God.
Sin, although it send you to heU, is more desirable than health in heaven. Sin,
although it bring on you never-ending torments with devUs and condemned

DISCOURSE XI. 135
spirits, is sweeter to you than these eternal joys which are at God's right hand
for evermore. Oh ! what a wonderful delusion is there in sin, that it should thus
make men love it more than health and happiness ! How strong is the delusion,
since the same men reason in the things belonging to the body directly contrary
to what they do in things belonging to the soul ! Propose immediate relief to
any of them lyingin a severe fit'of the gout or stone, they embrace the proposal
with eager joy. Propose immediate relief from the pains and miseries of sin,
they wiU not hear of, much less take the remedy. There is balm in Gilead, a
physician is there, even the Lord Jesus, the sovereign physician of souls, and yet
they will not apply to him. Sick as they are, and ready to expire with the infir
mities of sin, yet they had rather perish than be beholden to him for a cure. AU
his attributes, his power, his wisdom, his goodness, cannot win them. All his
graces, his pardoning, justifying, sanctifying grace, have no influence. He may
be a God almighty to save, but the charms of sin, though but for a season, seem
to them preferable to the blessings of his present and eternal salvation.
But whence is it that sin should be capable of deluding men so far as to make
them prefer sickness to health ? The true cause is this : Sin blinds their eyes,
and hardens their hearts.. It stupifies and deadens the senses, so that they
feel not their spiritual in the same manner as they do their bodily diseases. The
understanding is in darkness ; they know not that it is diseased. When they
know it, the memory is short and soon forgets it. When they remember it, yet
conscience is fast asleep ; it neither checks the wiU in the choice, nor the affec
tions in the love and enjoyment of sin. Thus has sin impaired aU their faculties,
and they have no desire to be healed, because they are insensible of their malady.
When we endeavour to convince them of it, they wiU not believe us ; and because
they do not feel the immediate smart of their sins, they wUl not therefore give
credit to us when we declare, from the word of God, that they will smart for
them, and to eternity, unless they come to the physician of souls to be healed.
And this will be the case, so long as they are intent upon their present pursuits,
and live entirely to sense and to its enjoyments. All this time their own hearts
deceive them ; for it is one of the greatest delusions of sin, to keep men ignorant
of the true state of their souls, lt flatters them with peace, whUe the Almighty
is at war with them ; and it promises them happiness in the enjoyment of those
things which will bring on them eternal torments. And whUe it keeps them in
this state of carnal security, nothing can appear to them more absurd than to hear
that they are sick when they fancy themselves to be in perfect health.
1. My brethren, are any of you in this state ? Do you feel no pain, and do you
apprehend no danger from your sins ? Are you entirely secure, although your
sins be unpardoned, and God might glorify his justice by immediately inflicting
the deserved punishment ? Nay, do you not find part of sin's punishment already
inflicted ? and why, then, should you hope to escape the remaining part ? For
have you not suffered some of those pains and sicknesses which, in a course of
years, wul infallibly bring down your bodies to the grave, and inflict the sen
tence on them, " Dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return ?" The body
was not at first liable to this sentence, until sin poured its cursed poison into it,
and infected it with those painful maladies which no ait of physic can heal, and
which wear it down to the grave of death. Every pain which it feels ; every sick
ness which it labours under ; all the outward and inward dangers which threaten
its mortal fife ; are owing to sin : for the wages of sin is death. All the harbingers
of death, which afflict and weaken men's bodies, and thereby prepare the way
for his seizing on them, and carrying them prisoners to the dark and cold regions
of the grave, aU these derive their power over us from sin : for, as by one man
sin entered into the world, and death by sin, so death passed upon aU men ; for
that all have sinned. Sin has most undoubtedly wourded your bodies with
pains and sicknesses, with mortality and death : and what a madness, then, and
infatuation is it to think that sin has not wounded your souls as weU as your bo
dies ? For what says the scripture? " The soul that sinneth, it shall die." Is
not that a desperate wound? lt shall " die." How! Can the soul die? Yes. It
may be dead in trespasses and sin. Its death consists in being separated from
God, the fountain of life, and in having no communion with him, either in this

13<> THE LAW AND THE GOSPEL.
world or in the next. And is not this a greater punishment than the death
the body ? and is it not infinitely more painful too, thus to die from God ai
glory, and to be tormented with the worm that never dieth, and in the fire th
never shah be quenched ? What ! is not that a wound indeed which thus aliei
ated you from the life of God ? Yea, a most dreadful wound, the torment ar
anguish of which you may suffer for ever and ever ? Men and brethren, are thei
things so ? Examine the evidence, and determine. Is not sin the great murdere
who has wounded your bodies with pains, and diseases, and mortality, and hi
separated your souls from God, the fountain of life, and made you subject to ti
first and second death ? Is not the proof of these truths as complete and full i
the case wiU admit of ? Does it not amount even to a demonstration ? And 6
you not then stand in need of some sovereign balm to heal you ? and do you m
want a physician ? You certainly do, as much as ever dying men did. And wir
then, do you neglect the remedy, and slight the physician ?
But perhaps some persons may say, How can these things be ? Am not I i
perfecthealth ? and how then can 1 labour under those diseases which you ai
mentioning ? Yes, my brother, you may be in health, your body may be pei
fectly weU, but you have a miserable, sinful soul within you, which is infecte
with the piague and foul leprosy of original sin, and which has been wounde
with thousands of actual crimes. This is your case, and it is most deplorabli
AU the powers in nature can give you no relief. There is no remedy in heave
or earth, but the blood of Jesus Christ applied by the grace of his goo
Spirit ; and yet sin has such power over you as to persuade you. to neglei
that precious medicine, without which you must perish everlastingly !
What ! say you, Can I be in this desperate condition, and not know and fei
it ? Yes, you may. It is an undoubted matter of fact, that sin brought as man
diseases upon the soul, as it did upon the body. Indeed, it left the soul entirel
sick, and without any soundness in it, as we dafiy confess in the words of on
church — " there is no health in us." And if there be no health in you, aurel]
then, you are sick in every part ? And you have no sense of your malady, bi
cause sin has so impaired all your faculties, that you have no spiritual diBcerr
ment. You do not discern your case to be dangerous, which is one of the won
symptoms you could have. It proves you to be far gone in a spiritual lethargy
so that the less sense you have, the greater is your danger. And is not this a dar
gerous disease which makes the patient insensible ? Forhow can he avoid perishin
of it, while conscience, which ought to give the alarm, is seared with a hot iroi
and the other faculties of the soul are past feeling ? This is the scripture aceour
of your condition ; and if it has not convinced you, may the Lord God Almight
make you sensible of your malady, that you may apply to the great physician i
souls for the balm of Gilead, along with those convinced sinners who are no'
waiting upon him for the sovereign remedy.
2. When sinners are first brought to a sense of their guilt and of their dangei
and conscience begins to do its duty, they are apt to write bitter things againe
themselves, and through unbelief to reject the offered mercies of the gospel
They feel the wounde of sin more sharp and painful than ever its pleasures ha
been sweet and delightful. The law stirs up guUt, terrifies their consciences witl
its threatenings, seta God before their eyes as armed with almighty justice to in
flict the threatened punishment, and they see no way open to escape. Speak t
persons in this distress ofthe balm of Gilead, the remedy appointed of God fo
their disease, they cannot believe it is able to heal them ; or if they are brough
to believe this, yet they reject the comforts of the blessed medicine, for want o
faith to apply it to themselves.
Let us consider this case a little. My brethren, sin has wounded your bodie
and souls, and you are become sensible of the malady. You feel the anguisl
of it, and you desire to be healed. What objection have you to the remed;
which the Lord God had appointed for your recovery ? Has it not virtue to hea
your wounded conscience ? You know what the remedy is : It is the balm of Gi
lead, the most precious blood of the Lamb of God, applied by the eternal Spirit
and it heals not by any natural or physical qualities, but by a divine and spiritus
efficacy. The power of God is always present with it to heal. You cannot there

DISCOURSE XI. 137
fore object against medicine ; because God has provided it, and he, with his own
arm, renders it effectual for the cure of wounded consciences.
True, say you, I believe the remedy is infallible ; but how do I know that God
will apply it to my soul ? You are wounded, and it is bahn for wounded con
sciences, therefore for yours. God has awakened you ; he has brought you to
the knowledge of your disease, and you feel the pain of it. For what reason has
God done this ? but that the sense of your misery might send you to the phy
sician for his advice and assistance. When the enemy of souls sees you thus
escaping out of his hands, he would try to persuade you that the remedy is not
for you ; whereas you are the very persons to whom the gospel offers it. Christ
Bays, he came not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance ; and you are
sinners ; you feel the misery of sin ; and therefore Christ came to call you. Since
you are sick, he calls you, as much as if he had caUed you by name in the gospel,
to receive of him the balm of Gilead to heal aU your spiritual infirmities.
You think you should be happy, if you could believe this ; but you find so
many and such desperate wounds, so many soul-murdering sins, that you dare
not believe the remedy is for such as you. But why not ? Is not the medicine
for sin-sick souls ? And the more sick you are, the more you want the medicine ;
and be your case the worst that ever was, yet the virtue of the medicine is al
mighty. If, from the sole of the foot even to the crown of the head, there was
no soundness in you, but in every part wounds and bruises, and putrefying sores,
yet the balm of GUead can make a perfect cure ; yea, if you have ten thousand
more wounds than you have, it could heal them all. Consider, then, how greatly
you disparage and vilify the love and power of our divine physician by supposing
your sins more able to kiU than he is to heal. Is not he the Lord God Almighty?
and are not all things possible with him ? Oh! be not faithless, then, but be
lieving. But perhaps guilt suggests to you, My case is singular ; I have sinned against
light and conviction. Often did I resolve to leave my sins, but I as often broke
my resolutions ; and therefore I fear that I have sinned away my day of grace,
and that there is no mercy for me. Your case is bad, but not desperate.
Looking back on your past life, you should be humbled, but not despair ; for
are you not convinced of your want of the balm of Gilead ? and does it not, by a
divine virtue, heal all manner of sins ? Sins against fight, against many solemn
resolutions, and against many warnings of conscience, as well as other sins ?
The medicine certainly can heal them all ; because it is appointed of God for that
purpose, and by his almighty power he renders it effectual ; and therefore what
ever keeps you from relying upon its power to heal you, is an enemy to your soul.
Oh ! pray against unbelief ; for that is at the bottom of all your objections against
this sovereign medicine ; and may the Lord give you faith to be healed !
What! can it heal me, says some poor dejected broken-hearted sinner, who
sees nothing but sin in his heart and Ufe ? Yes ; it is appointed for you by name.
" He healeth the broken in heart, and bindeth up their wounds," Psalm cxlvii. 3.
The great physician has an especial regard for your case. He says, he was sent
to heal the broken-hearted. But not such as I am, says one ; my heart is worse
than broken ; it is dead to God and to the things of God. Be it so. Our phy
sician is famous for raising the dead. It is his office and his glory. In the para
ble of the good Samaritan, he healed the man who was half dead. His soul was
as dead to God as yours is. But the precious balm, which was applied to him,
made him alive to God. The same remedy can quicken you, although you have
been dead in trespasses and sins ; and as you are so far quickened as to see your
want of this remedy, may you soon experience its sovereign virtue, and receive
from it saving health.
After many doubts and fears have been sUenced, new ones stiU arise. Unbe
lief may perhaps have been suggesting to some of your hearts ; the medicine
certainly can heal all cases ; but I have nothing to recommend me to the phy
sician. Have you nothing? Then this is your best recommendation. He al
ways relieves poor distressed dying objects, who have nothing to bring him but
their sins and their miseries. He is therefore a physician, that he may relieve
such • for, by healing those whom none else can heal, he gets aU the glory ;

138 THE LAW AND THE GOSPEL.
and by healing them freely, he exalts his sovereign grace. Thus he acted in th
parable of the good Samaritan. What had the wounded traveller to recommem
him ? Was it not, that he was miserable and helpless ? This moved the Lord'
compassion, and he showed him mercy. " Go, and do thou likewise." Appl
to the great physician, because thou art sick, and canst not heal thyself, and tiiei
he will exalt his rich grace and love, by freely forgiving thee aU thy Bins, and b
pouring the balm of GUead into thy wounded conscience, to heal aU thine in
firmities. When this objection, which arises from pride and unbelief, is removed, am
we would persuade the convinced sinner to rely upon the promises of healtl
and salvation, which God has made in his word, he has still difficulties to ge
over. He is afraid it would be presumption in him to rely upon the promise!
and to take comfort from believing that he shaU have his share and interest i
them ; whereas he is the very person to whom the promises are made. His pai
ticular case is described in Luke iv. 18. Our Saviour says, The Spirit ofthe Lor
is upon me, because he hath anointed and commissioned me with full powers t
relieve every distressed object that shall apply to me for help. Are you a poc
afflicted sinner ? He has good news for you : he was ordained to preach th
gospel to the poor. Have you a broken, contrite heart ? He is sent to heal th
broken-hearted. Are you in bondage to sin and Satan ? He is sent to preach an
to give deliverance to the captives. Is your understanding blind and ignorant i
spiritual things ? He is aent to preach and to give recovery of sight to tli
blind. Are you fast bound with the chains of sin ? and has the iron entered int
your soul ? He is sent to aet at liberty them that are bruised. Here is your chi
racter : you are poor broken-hearted captives, bhnd and miserable. Here is yoi
promise : Christ is appointed of God, and has a divine commission to euppl
all your wants. Is it presumption, then, in you to apply this promise to youi
selves ? What 1 after God has graciously made it for the comfort of yoi
afflicted consciences, will you say, it would be presumption in us to take con
fort from it ? My brethren, the promise cannot be broken. By relying upo
it, it is yours. Your dependence upon it calls upon God's faithfulness to full
it to you. And it is no presumption ; it is a high act of faith, not to staggi
at the promise through unbelief, but to give glory to God, by relying upon i
May he enable you thus to give glory to him ! and you shall find that hie pn
mise is, like himself, unchangeable, and that his word cannot be broken.
Since, then, there is balm in Gilead for wounded consciences provided pu
posely for you, and since your objections against receiving it are groundles
why, my brethren, wiU you not apply to the almighty physician, and now ai
his help ? Oh ! that this may be the accepted time, and this the day of your st
vation ! FaU down at his feet, implore his assistance, and his tender hea
wiU melt with compassion towards you. If you are discouraged in your a
dresses to him, it is because you have not clear ideas of his power and lov
He is almighty. He can heal the most broken heart and the most woundl
conscience ; and his love never failed to influence his power to heal such casi
when they came before him. Keep not, then, poring upon your wounds ar
sores. By looking too much at them, you cherish your doubts and fear
Look unto Jesus ; remember his advice; " Look unto me, and be ye saved
You should look into yourselves, to see your want of salvation, and look unto hi:
for a supply of your wants ; and, that you may be supplied out of Mb mines
believe his promises. Rely upon his faithfulness to fulfil them to your soul
and thereby you engage his power to give you health and salvation.
3. Blessed be his holy name, for exerting his divine virtue at this day, at
for healing aU manner of spiritual sickness and aU manner of disease amor
the people ! Great numbers, now alive, are witnesses for him, that his hai
is not shortened. StiU he saves his people from sin, and from all the maladi
brought upon them by Bin. You, my Christian brethren, who have had exp
rience of his divine power and love, ought to show forth his praise. It b
cometh you weU to be thankful. Much has been forgiven you ; therefore yc
should love much. The sweet Paalmiat of Israel calls upon you by his exan
pie to a grateful acknowledgment of the Lord's mercies — " Bless the Lord, O n

DISCOURSE XII. 139
soul, and aU that is within me, bless his holy name. Bless the Lord, O my soul,
and forget not all his benefits ; who forgiveth all thine iniquities, who healeth aU
thine infirmities," Psalm ciii. 1 — 3. After you have received such great bene
fits, it wiU be your delight to praise him with your lips, and with your fives.
The health and strength which he has freely given you, you wiU use in his ser
vice and to his glory, until he take you to himself, and give you more happy
experience of his great salvation, by delivering your soul from every infirmity
and corruption ; and the time will not be long before he will raise your bodies from
the grave, and make them like his own glorious body. And then he wUl get
himself honour indeed, when he shall heal both body and soul of aU the wounds
of sin, and shaU heal them for ever and ever. That is the glory of our phy
sician : he heals to eternity : he makes the spirits of just men perfect ; and they
stand before the throne of God without any spot or stain of corruption. And
in the morning of the resurrection, this corruptible body shall put on incorrup-
tion, and this mortal shaU put on immortality. Thus he bestows eternal health
and salvation upon both body and soul. Where is there, nay, where can there
be, such a physician ? There is none like unto thee, O Lord ! glorious in ho
liness, fearful in praises, doing wonders. Still thou art displaying the wonders
of thy power and love, and administering thy sovereign balm for recovering
the health of the daughter of thy people. Oh that thou wouldst display thy
divine virtue among us this day! Arise, thou Sun of righteousness, upon all
this congregation, with heahng under thy beams, and save us from every ma
lady of sin, from the poUution, from the guilt, and from the power of it ; and save
us from the punishment of it with thine eternal salvation. Hear us, thou al
mighty Saviour, and answer us to the glory of the Father, and of the Holy
Spirit, three coequal and coeternal persons in one Jehovah, to whom we give
honour and worship, and blessing and praise, now and for ever. Amen and
Amen.

DISCOURSE XII.
UPON THE PROMISES OF GOD.
Whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises. — 2 Peter i. 4.
When the Lord God first published his law, in Paradise, he enforced it with
proper sanctions. He promised to our first parents the continuance of his
favour and immortal life, if they continued to keep the law ; but if they should
transgress it, he threatened them with the loss of his favour, and with the first
and the second death. Upon their transgression, the promises became null and
void. AU right and title to them was forfeited, and the sovereign lawgiver was
bound to inflict the threatened penalties. His truth, his justice, his holiness
called upon him to put the sanctions of the law in force : accordingly, the
offenders were arrested and brought to his bar ; and being examined, they con
fessed their crime, but studied to throw part of the blame upon their tempters.
The man could make no other defence, but that the woman offered him the
temptation ; and the woman had no plea to urge, but that the serpent beguiled
her. Upon this confession they were found guilty ; but the Lord God, whose
mercies are over all his works, was pleased to make a discovery to them of the
covenant of grace. He revealed to them his mind and will concerning the pardon
of their transgression, and promised them a Saviour, who should bruise the
serpent's head, and thereby destroy his power. The serpent's poison lies in his
head ; and when this is bruised, he can do no more mischief. The promised
seed was to undertake this work, and for this purpose was the Son of God to be
manifested, that he might destroythe works of the devtt. This first promise,
and aUthe'foUowing promises of grace and mercy centre in Jesus Christ : for
all the promises of God in him are Yea, and in him Amen, unto the glory of
God In him they are Yea ; he undertook to ratify and to make them good ;

140 THE LAW AND THE GOSPEL.
and in him they are Amen ; they are confirmed and fulfiUed to believers. E
promise made in Christ is an act of God's free grace, and which being m
his perfections bind him to fulfil ; for he has engaged, in the promise, to
the grace and blessing therein mentioned to those who believe in Jesus Ch
so that the believer's happiness consists in living by faith upon the prom
Faith apprehends and receives Christ as held forth in tiie promise, and the
gets possession of the promised blessing. WhUe faith is kept thus in act
exercise, the believer walks safely and comfortably : although he has many
mies, and is in the midst of many dangers, yet he haB a promise of God's '.
to support him in every estate and circumstance of life, and to carry him thro
aU trials and troubles. If he rely upon this promised help, he cannot be di
pointed ; for the promise cannot possibly faU. AU the perfections of God si
engaged to see it fulfiUed ; and when faith calls upon God, and relies on
for tbe fulfilling of it, he cannot deny himself, or break the word that is g
out of his mouth. Faith brings down his almighty power to make a way
the fulfilling of the promise, and thus the believer receives a support unde;
dangers, safety against aU enemies, and a cordial against aU troubles. Th:
his happiness. He staggers not at the promise of God through unbelief, bi
strong in faith, giving glory to God ; and God gives grace to him and mt
his faith stronger, by which he finds more of the sweetness and riches of
promises. My brethren, I wiah you were all in possession of this happint
and it is my present design to direct and to encourage you to Beek it. '
scripture which I have chosen for this purpose affords us some very powe
motives. May the Lord God render our present consideration of them ubi
and profitable to aU our soula, that we may know clearly,
First, The nature of the promises of God ;
Secondly, The character of those to whom the promisee belong ; and
Thirdly, Their exceeding greatness and preciousness. And while we are c
sidering those particulars, may we have the Lord's presence with us. We h
a promise of it: " Wherever two or three," says he, "are met together in
name, there am I in the midst of them." Oh that he may be present with
at this time ! May he send the Holy Spirit of promise into aU our heart!
teach us,
First, the nature of the promises of God. I define a promise to be an acl
God's free grace, whereby he has engaged, in his word, to bestow upon believ
all the blessings which come to them through the obedience and sufferings
Jesus Christ. The promise can spring from no other cause than from f
grace. God had no motive to induce him hut what arose from his own abund;
and unmerited love, and there was no power to compel him to make any prom
to fallen man. He had broken the law, and was subject to all the pains a
penalties threatened to transgression ; and if God had left him in this st
without any promise, he would have dragged on a miserable life under 1
terrors of his guilty conscience, until the executioner came to call him to Goi
awful bar, and being tried there, and found guilty, how could he escape (
damnation of heU? To faUen man, thus subject to the present and eten
punishment of sin, God was pleased to make a revelation of mercy. He to
compassion on him, and provided for his salvation, by the covenant of gra
which is a covenant of promises. Such is the exalted grace of God, that he l
made a free promise of deliverance from aU the miseries of sin ; and that co
vinced sinners might be enabled to rely upon the promise, and to find comfi
in it, God revealed it in his word, which cannot be broken. There it is writt
and entered upon record ; and what he has there engaged to bestow upon l
lievers, shatt be made good to them for ever and ever. To them he will free
give without money and without price, both in time and in eternity, aU t
blessings which are the fruit of the obedience and sufferings of Jesus Christ. '
them he gives freely what cost him an infinite sum. The merit of aU that '
did and suffered is made theirs by faith ; and faith is one of the blessings whii
he obtained among the rest ; for it is one of hie precious gifts which he bestoi
upon his people by the operation of his good Spirit, who works with and ai
mates the incorruptible seed of the word, rendering it the means of fonnii

DISCOURSE XII. 141
faith in their hearts. The word of promise begets faith in them, by the Holy
Spirit's enabling them first to rely upon it, and afterwards to experience its
sweetness and richness, and then they know the truth of the fore-mentioned de
finition, namely, that a promise is an act of God's free grace, whereby he has
engaged, in his- word, to bestow upon believers aU the blessings which come to
them through the obedience and sufferings of Jesus Christ.
Now since this is the nature of the promises, there is but one point to be
cleared up, and it is this — What security has God given for the fulfilling of the
promises ? The Lord knew what power unbelief had over careless sinners, and
how hard it was to bring convinced sinners to believe, and how believers would
be tempted by their remaining corruptions to entertain doubts and fears ; and
therefore he provided the most full and perfect evidence that the case wiU
admit of.
First, Every promise stands confirmed in his revealed word ; which word is
the mind and will of God made known to his creatures, and which is therefore
as perfect and unchangeable as God himself is. His word cannot be broken.
It is impossible to break it. What weapons would you use ? force of arms ?
What force can you use against the almighty God ? His mind cannot alter or
change, and thereby suffer his word to be broken ; for with God there is no
variableness or shadow of turning. And since nothing from without, and nothing
from within, can cause any variableness in him, his word therefore wiU stand fast
for ever and ever. God is not a man, that he should he ; neither the son of
man, that he should repent. Hath he said, and shall he not do it ? Or hath he
spoken, and shall he not make it good ? What should hinder him ? Is not his
hand almighty to fulfil what he hath spoken with his mouth ? Here, then, is
safe ground for faith to stand upon. You can rely upon one another's word.
When a man has a fair character, and is known to be of good principles, you can
trust him ; and you have a saying among yourselves, That an honest man's word
is as good as his bond. And may you not give better credit to God's word ? For
what suspicion can you entertain of its ever being broken ? He, who is truth
itself, has said, " Heaven and earth shaU pass away, but my words shall not
pass away ;" they shaU not pass away, because my almighty power shaU establish
them in time and in eternity. And is there not, then, sufficient reason to rely
upon those words which God declares shaU not pass away ? And is there not
abundant evidence to encourage the convinced sinner to trust to that word of
promise, which can never fail, but shaU stand fast, when heaven and earth shaU
pass away, and the place of them shall no more be found ? Even then, when
all things else fail, the promises wiU be receiving their full completion. Surely,
then, the word of God, which cannot be broken, is a good security for our rely
ing upon the promises.
But, secondly, God, who knoweth our hearts, out of tender compassion to
our infirmities, has been graciously pleased to confirm his promises, not only by
his word, but also by his oath. The oath was the obligation which the persons
of the ever-blessed Trinity entered into to fulfil their distinct parts and offices in
the covenant of grace ; and they entered into this obligation for the sake of
those who should flee to Christ for refuge, that they might see the immutability
of God s counsel to save them; because he had confirmed it by an oath, and had
thereby given them two immutable things to rely upon. The apostle has rea
soned thus upon the subject : " When God made promise to Abraham, because
he could swear by no greater, he sware by himself ; for men verily swear by the
greater : and an oath, for confirmation, is to them an end of aU strife. Wherein
God, willing more abundantly to show unto the heirs of promise the immutability
of his counsel, confirmed it by an oath, that, by two immutable things, in
which it was impossible for God to he, we might have a strong consolation, who
have fled for refuge to lay hold of the hope set before us." In which words we
have a clear account of the nature of the oath, " God sware by himself," and of
the persons for whose sakes he sware, namely, the heirs of promise, and the
design of his swearing, namely, to put an end to all strife in their consciences
concerning his faithfulness to fulfil his promises to them. And the apostle's ar
gument stands thus : when there is any dispute or strife among men, and the

14:2 THE LAW AND THE GOSPEL.
matter comes to be tried in a court of justice, the cause is finally determined b
examining the parties and their witnesses upon oath. And there being a strif
between God and sinners, on his part he proclaims hia grace, promising ther
fuU pardon, if they seek it through Christ, binds himself to give it, by his word
and confirms his word by his oath. And ought not this oath, for confirmatioi
of the word of promise, to put an end to aU strife in the sinner's conscience
For how can God's oath be broken ? Here are two immutable things, whicl
cannot possibly fatt — the counsel of God to save the heirs of promise, and th
oath of God to carry his counsel into execution. His counsel is what he decreei
in the covenant of grace, when aU his attributes determined to bring many son
unto glory by Jesus Christ. This divine counsel, revealed to his creatures ii
his word, was sufficient evidence, and ought to induce them to believe ; but In
was " willing more abundantly," more than was needful, if they had not beei
very faithless and unbelieving, to convince them, and therefore confirmed hii
counsel by an oath ; so that here are two immutable things, in which it is im
possible for God to lie, and which consequently ought to make the faith of tin
heirs of promise immutable. The foundation upon which faith stands can nevei
fail. It relies upon the unchangeable word of promise, and the promise is con
firmed by the counsel of God ; of which he says himself, " My counsel aha]
stand, and I wul do aU my pleasure," Isa. xlvi. 10. "Yea, the counsel of tin
Lord standeth for ever, and the thoughts of his heart to all generations," Psal
xxxiii. 1 1 ; and the promise is also confirmed by the oath of God, which is im
mutable and cannot be broken : "The Lord hath sworn, and will not repent.'
He wiU not repent of his oath, unless he could cease to be wise, or could b<
perjured, which to suppose possible, would be the higheBt blasphemy. Oh
what full security, then, has a gracious God given to the heirs of promise ? He
would not have them to doubt of his love, or of his power to save them, and
therefore he condescends to give them two immutable things for the support oi
their faith : but knowing whereof they were made, and how slow of heart they
were to believe, he has been pleased to exalt his free and sovereign grace b)
giving them a
Third immutable thing, to enable them to rely BtiU more steadfastly upon hii
promises ; and that is the unchangeable covenant. The ever-blessed Trinity,
moved by mere love and rich mercy, contrived the gracious plan of the sinner'f
redemption ; and each person was to get himself glory by sustaining a distinct
office in the economy of the covenant. The Father was to glorify the truth, jus
tice, and holiness of the Godhead, by demanding fuU satisfaction for sin. Hit
Son covenanted to pay it, and to gionfy the wisdom and love of the Godhead by
satisfying aU the demands of law and -justice. And the Holy Spirit was to glo
rify the power and grace of the Godhead by raising the dead in sin to life, and
quickening them together with Christ, and then enabling them to walk against
all opposition in his steps and after hia example, until they attain eternal life.
This is the covenant of promise. And what could induce the holy Trinity to
make it ? What, but the divine love and mercy ? And what can hinder the ful
filling of this covenant ? Can any thing reaist and defeat the wiU of the Al
mighty? No. Hia power wiU carry his wiU into execution. But may not the
wiU of God change ? That is impossible. The covenant is everlasting : and
how, then, can it change ? Though it be but a man'a covenant, yet, if it be con
firmed, no man disannuUeth or addeth thereto ; and since a human covenant ii
not liable to change, certainly the everlasting covenant is alike ordered in all
things, and sure : for he that cannot lie, hath said, " My covenant will I not
break, nor alter the thing that is gone out of my mouth," Psal. Ixxxix. 34. It
cannot be broken ; it cannot alter ; and how then can one tittle of it ever change
or fatt ? All things else ehaU paas away : " The mountains shaU depart, and the
bills be removed ; but my kindness shaU not depart from thee, neither shall the
covenant of my peace be removed, saith the Lord, that hath mercy on thee,"
Isa. liv. 10.
This is the security which God hath vouchsafed to give for the fulfilling of hii
promises, and it is the most fuU and complete evidence that any promise can
have : and what, then, can the heirs of promise desire more ? Has not God beer

DISCOURSE XII. 143
willing more abundantly to show them the immutability of his counsel ? For
he has given them his word to rely upon, which cannot be broken ; his oath, of
which he will not repent ; and his covenant, which he wiU not break or alter. It
is impossible any of these securities should fail, and why, then, should unbe
lieving doubts arise in their minds, and tempt them to think they could faU ?
My brethren, if you give way to those doubts, they will soon rob you of your
peace and comfort : for although you be heirs to a great estate, yet it is chiefly
in reversion. You have very little in possession at present but the promises.
You are heirs of promise : and if you lose your reliance upon the promises, you
lose eight of the evidence of your estate, and the comfortable hope of your inhe
riting it. Oh ! remember then how dishonourable this is to God, after he has
provided such immutable things for faith and hope to rest upon, and how hurtful
this is to your own interest ; and therefore, whenever doubts and fears begin to
tempt you, ask yourself, " What am I going to do ? ShaU I fancy that God can
lie, or be perjured, or be a covenant-breaker ? Would not this be blaspheming
his word, and his oath, and his covenant ? O Lord, keep thy servant from this
great wickedness, and strengthen my faith, that it fail not ! " And if you thus go
to the throne of grace for help, you shaU find it in time of need. God will
enable you not to stagger at his promises through unbelief, but will make you
strong in faith, relying steadfastly upon his fulfilling them all to your souls.
Some persons, perhaps, may be thinking, " God has provided fuU and com
plete evidence for the certainty of his fulfiUinghis promises; and I think I could
rest upon this security, if I did but know that I was an heir of promise." Rely
upon the promise, and it is yours. Live upon it, and you are undoubtedly an
heir of promise. But this point comes to be more particularly considered under
the scripture character of the persons to whom the promises belong, which is the
Second general head of my discourse. When our Lord gave his apostles a
commission to preach, it was in these words : " Go ye into aU the world, and
preach the gospel to every creature." The gospel brings the glad tidings of the
covenant of promise made in Christ, and full security for aU the promised bless
ings of the covenant. You have the gracious call this day. In my master's
name I stand up, and invite every unpardoned sinner to come and receive of him
free mercy and forgiveness. "And the Spirit and the bride say, Come; and let
him that heareth say, Come; and' let him that is athirst come." Ho! everyone
that thirsteth for redemption in the blood of Christ, even the forgiveness of sins,
come to the blood of sprinkling, that you may be made clean from all your sins.
And if you find it in your hearts to accept of this free invitation, let not the sense
of your unworthiness keep you back. Jesus is able to save you, be ye ever so
unworthy ; for he can save to the uttermost. AU is finished on his part. He is
able; he is also wiUing; and he engages to use his almighty power for you, if
you ask it. He freely caUs you, without money and without price, to take par
don, righteousness, hoUness, glory. He promises them in his word, binds it by
oath, and confirms it by covenant. All he has of blessedness and glory to give
his people shall be yours, if you wUl accept his caU, and rely upon his promise.
But you are thinking still with yourselves, tbe promises are indeed freely
offered to aU, but they belong to none, except to the heirs of promise. That is
very true ; and therefore it concerns you to be assured that you are an heir of
promise. Do you desire to be so ? Would you wiUingly be an heir to the un.
searchable riches of grace and glory ? Oh ! say you, from my heart I desire it :
what would not I give to know that the exceeding great and precious promises
in scripture belong to me ! But how came this desire into your heart ? Was it
from any uneasiness in your mind about your sins ? Have you been awakened
to see that aU the threatenings of the law belong to you, and that you have an
interest in none of the promises of the gospel ? and was it from hence that you
waited upon God for mercy, desiring to experience his promised grace and salva
tion ? And are you now waiting, deeply humbled under a sense of your sinful
ness and helplessness ? If this he your case, thus far you are right ; for this is
the first work of God's Spirit upon ah the heirs of promise. He begins with
convincing them of sin. They are lying in the same mass of corruption with
other men, under the law, under guilt for breaking it, subject to death and heU.

144 THE LAW AND THE GOSPEL.
The Holy Spirit makes them sensible of their being in this state, and apprehei
6ive of their danger, and puts them upon seeking deliverance. They seek, bi
cannot find, for want of faith. They hear and read in scripture of the love ar
power of Christ to save such sinners as they are ; but they have no faith to re!
upon the promises. This is not a comfortable state ; but it is the way to g
comfort : for none wiU ever ask faith of God, whose gift it is, until they kno
the want of it, and therefore the Holy Spirit convinces all the heirs of promii
that they have no faith, and they find that without faith they cannot take con
fort in any of the precious promises : upon which they look up to him, who, h
his mighty operation, is alone able to work faith in the heart. And let evei
one of you, who are thus waiting upon God, seek, and you shaU find. He thi
put the desire into your heart, wiU give you possession of the blessing desiret
The Spirit of God wiU enable you to rely upon the word of promise, and to appl
it to your own soul, and thereby he wiU speak peace and comfort to your cor
science. And by acting faith thus upon the word, you wiU be brought to th
knowledge of your union with Chirist. United to him by the bond of the Spir
on his part, and by faith on yours, you wttl be a member of his mystical bod]
and will derive influence and nourishment from him for the growth of your spi
ritual life. And being thus one with Christ, and Christ with you, you wiU hav
an interest in aU that he has. His grace shall be yours, his Spirit yours, and a
his promises shaU be yours ; for all things shaU be yours, whether the world, o
life, or death, or things present, or things to come, all shaU be yours, because y
are Christ's.
This is the experience of every heir of promise. The Spirit of God has con
vinced him of his sinfulness and of his misery. He has been brought to see hi
lost and helpless state ; and in his guilty conscience he was self-condemned
finding himself to be a child of wrath, and an inheritor of everlasting torment!
After the Holy Spirit had thus humbled him, he discovered to him the excel
lency of the Lord Christ, the infinite dignity of his person, and the infinite pet
fection of his righteousness ; and then, by the grace of the same good Spirit, h
was led to rely upon Christ for salvation, and to trust the word of promise, whicl
engages to give free and fuU and eternal salvation to every one who believeth ii
the name of the only begotten Son of God. And after the Holy Spirit ha
enabled the soul to believe, and to rely upon the word of God, he carries on hi
work, untd faith be grown exceedingly, even up to fuU assurance. This th
scripture caUs the seal of the Spirit, which he sets upon aU the heirs of promise
Sealing comes from believing, and is a fresh evidence in confirmation of il
" After that ye believed," says the apostle, " ye were sealed with the Spirit c
promise." First, he enables the soul to rest upon the promise, and to apply it i:
thia manner — He that believeth ahall be eaved : I believe therefore I shall b
saved : and then he confirms this with his own testimony, and seals it to th
heart ; so that the sealing is for the believer's aaaurance, and not for God's. Th
Lord knoweth them that are hia : their names are written in his book. H
knoweth their weakness, and how to strengthen them with might in the inne
man. And when temptations are strong, and trials great, then the Holy Spiri
commonly strengthens faith with hia inward witness. He honours faith with hi
own seal, bearing testimony with the believer's spirit, that he is a chUd of God
Every child of God has this seal set upon him some time or other. When it i
most for his advantage, and most for God's glory, then the Spirit gives him thi
earnest of his inheritance, until the redemption of the purchased possession.
But perhaps some person may inquire, How shall I know that I am sealed b;
the Spirit of God ? You may know it by these scripture marks. First, havi
you been deeply convinced of sin, and of Christ's power to save you from sin
Have you been convinced of your damnable estate without faith, and have yoi
been asking faith of God ? And has he enabled you to rely upon the word of pro
mise, which offers you free and fuU salvation ? and are you verily persuaded tha
God cannot break his word to you, who are relying upon it ? And have youheei
waiting for the seal of the Spirit, hoping he would give you the inward witnes
of your adoption ? AR this is right. This is the work of the Holy Spirit, h;
which he puts his seal upon the heir of promise ; and if this be your experience

DISCOURSE XII. 145
you need not doubt but the witness is from heaven, when the Spirit of God
beareth testimony with your spirits, that ye are the chUdren of God : for, se
condly, in the act of bearing witness with your spirits, he will give sufficient
evidence that it is his testimony, both for his own glory, and for the assur
ance of your faith. He comes to bear witness to a matter of fact, that there
may be no more doubt concerning it in the court of the believer's conscience.
The fact is this — " Thou art now a child of God through faith in Christ Jesus."
He seals this testimony upon the heart with his own seal, that it may be au
thentic and lasting, and then doubts ahd fears vanish, conscience is assured that
aU enmity is now slain, and that God is a loving reconcUed Father ; upon which
the soul is led out into acts of praise and thankfulness, and with a holy triumph
can say, " My beloved is mine, and 1 am his."
But some may think it is an easy matter to be deluded in this case. No ;
there wiU be no room for delusion, if your experience, by the testimony of the
Spirit, was such as I have been mentioning, and if you attend, thirdly, to what
foUows after it. Does the witness abide ? Is conscience at peace ? Is your
heart grateful ? Is your faith Uvely and active ? Not, perhaps, in so high a de
gree as when the Spirit did bear his testimony, but still in some good degree. In
this case there can be no delusion ; because that which has thus drawn your heart
up to God, did certainly come from God. If the seal had not been from the
Holy Spirit, how could this fruit of the Spirit have been produced ? The im
pression which is left demonstrates that it was made by a divine hand ; for when
the Holy Spirit seals the soul, he not only seals it for Christ's properly, but he
also stamps the image and likeness of Christ upon it, which appears outwardly by
its love to Christ, and by the acts of love. The soul is in love with the person,
and with the offices and exceUencies of Christ, and evidences this love by its love
to his life and to his example, foUowing and pressing close after them, and by its
love to his graces, desiring strength from God so to walk even as Christ walked.
'ihis constant love to Christ proves the soul to be sealed by his Spirit, and the
person thus sealed to be an heir of promise : for now he lives by faith upon
Christ, and believes that aU the promises made in Christ shaU be made good to
him. He has the earnest of their completion in his heart, and he has some of
them fulfiUed to him every day for a daUy pledge of the perfect completion of
the rest.
This is the character of the heirs of promise : and if any of you are thinking
with yourselves, some part of this character is agreeable to our experience, but
not the whole of it, and therefore we doubt whether we are heirs of promise or
not : you should remember that the heirs of promise grow up to this character
by several steps and degrees ; and if any part of it be yours, you ought to press
on to the attainment of the other parts. The fathers in Christ were once babes
in Christ. The Spirit begins his work with conviction of sin, which is necessary
to put the sinner upon seeking the promised mercies of the Gospel. If you are
seeking, that is another step towards your reliance upon God's word, and be
lieving him faithful to fulfil his promises to your soul. And if you can rely upon
his word, you have advanced one step farther towards the assurance of faith and
the seal of the Spirit. So that if any part of this character be yours, doubt not
but the rest wiU be yours also ; only press you on to the attainment of what is
yet before. Let what has been done in you encourage you to proceed. You
have some evidences of your inheritance ; endeavour to get more, looking up to
him who has begun, and praying him to carry on his own work, and fear not
but you shaU be brought to know that Christ is yours, and that aU the promises
made through him are yours also. And may this consideration stir you up to
press forward, that what you are seeking is of inestimable value, and the happy
possession of it wiU be eternal. When you are once heirs of promise, you will
be heirs of God, and joint heirs with Christ, born to inherit the riches of grace,
and the riches of glory. All the blessedness which God has promised to give his
children in time and in eternity is yours. You are heirs to the exceeding great
aud precious promises ; and this brings me to the
Third general head of discourse, under which I was to treat of their exceeding
greatness and preciousness. They are great in quantity, containing the greatest

146 THE LAW AND THE GOSPEL.
blessings which God has to give ; yea, exceeding great beyond aU description ;
and they are as good as great, they are exceeding precious, containing every
thing truly valuable in earth or heaven. The greatness of the promises might
be proved from many considerations. I shafl mention at present but three or
four. And the
First, is the state from which the promises offer to save man. He is fallen
into a most miserable and helpless bondage, and to the worst of enemies ; and
none but an almighty arm can deliver him. Before the promise is brought to
him, he is a transgressor of the law, under the curses of it, liable to be cut off
every moment, and to suffer them in everlasting torments. And when justice
comes to inflict the curses of the law upon him, what satisfaction can he make ?
What has he to plead, why sentence should not be immediately executed? He
is sflent. His mouth is stopped. He is self-condemned, and owns the sentence
to be just, which assigns him over to the tormentors, to suffer with them the
vengeance of eternal fire. This is the desert of every son and daughter of fallen
Adam. Sin has made them subject to all this misery, and has left them totally
helpless ; they can no more save themselves from the second death than they
can from the first. While the long-Buffering of God bears with them in this
mortal fife he sends them his promises ; in which he offers to save them from
guilt and misery, to cleanse them from the pollutions, and to heal them of the
wounds of sin. And are not these great promises, which engage to see such an
almighty work performed ? Surely they are exceeding great, since it requires
the arm of the Lord God omnipotent to fulfil them by saving poor, guilty, help
less man from sin and Satan, from death and heU. Must not that be an exceed
ing great promiBe, which engages to save man from exceeding great misery ?
And this greatness appears evidently, in the
2. Next place, from what the promisea offer to bestow upon the sinner. They
not only engage to save him from all evil, but also to bestow upon him all good.
They offer him a free pardon, that his sins may be forgiven, and he may be jus
tified by faith, and reconciled to God, and may have the love of God shed abroad
in hia heart, and may walk, as an adopted 8on of God, worthy of hia high calling
unto aU well-pleasing. And in this holy walking heavenwards, the Lord pro
mises him every grace and blessing which shall be needful for him ; yea, he has
engaged to make all things — sickness, reproach, persecution, trials, and troubles
of every kind — work together for hia good. Are not these great promises,
which engage to bestow pardon, justification, peace with God, adoption, sancti
fication, and grace to profit under every dispensation of providence ; yea, are not
these exceeding great promises, which bestow upon the sinner such exceeding
great blessings ? And bestow them upon him,
3. Upon the greatest motive that possibly can be, even the free grace of God.
Deliverance from the evils of sin, and the bestowing of the blessinga of salvation,
is all of grace, proceeding whoUy from the unmerited love and mercy of God.
He ia the sovereign Lord of heaven and earth. AU creatures are his, bound to
obey his holy wiU, and, in case of disobedience, bound to suffer the threatened
punishment; and when man had disobeyed, he had a right to nothing but
punishment ; and if it was remitted, yea, but for a day, this was an act of grace ;
but how much greater an act was it to pardon the sinner, to put honour upon
him, and to restore him to a better state than he was in before he feU. If a friend
bestow upon you a free gift, you acknowledge yourselves to be under a greater
obligation than if he were to pay you the same sum for a just debt. How much,
then, are you indebted to God ? For he had no motive, but mere love, to induce
him to make you any promise. Consider this motive ; consider the promises ;
consider from what a state of misery to what a state of happiness God offers to
raise you ; and then admire and praise the greatness of that love which led God
to make you 8uch great promises. Well might the apostle call upon us to behold
what manner of love it is : for it passeth knowledge, it is so exceeding great. The
blessings which his free grace has promised surpass all understanding. Even
the souls of just men made perfect, who are now inheriting the promisea, cannot
adequately set forth the greatness of them ; for they are eternal. And this is
another —

DISCOURSE XII. 147
4. Consideration, which exalts the greatness of the promises. They are of
everlasting duration, and can never fail. When nature itself shaU be dissolved,
and heaven and earth shaU pass away, then the promises shaU be established.
Not a tittle of them shall suffer in the universal conflagration ; but they shaU
be then in their fuU extent most gloriously fulfiUed. Many of them are reserved
for the wonders of that great day. The raising of the body, free from corruption
and mortality, admitting it to the vision of God, putting upon it and the soul
never-fading glory, a crown of righteousness, and palms of victory ; and then
bringing them to drink of those rivers of pleasure which are at God's right hand
for evermore ; these are some of the exceeding great promises which are to be
completed -at the Lord's coming to judgment. In that day the redeemed of the
Lord wiU find that his divine power wiU fulfil the greatest of his promises.
When the captain of their salvation has brought them to the heavenly Canaan,
the promised land of everlasting rest, then he wiU put them into the actual pos
session of aU the promises. Like as Joshua, when he had brought the people
into the promisea land, -caUed upon them to be witnesses for God, that every
- promise had been fulfiUed to them, so may our almighty Joshua say to his re
deemed people in the same words, " Ye know in aU your hearts and in aU your
souls, that not one thing hath faded of all the good things which the Lord vour
God spake concerning you : aU are come to pass unto you, and not one thing
hath faUed thereof," Josh, xxiii. 14.
Let these considerations suffice to set forth the greatness of the promises.
They are exceeding great in offering to deliver us from all evU, and to bestow
upon us aU good ; the motive for doing this is the infinite love and sovereign
grace of God, which advances the greatness of the promise by the freeness of
it, and still further advances it by what grace has promised to do for us in glory,
even to give us the actual possession and eternal enjoyment of aU the promises.
And are these things so ? If they be, who then would not wish to be an heir
of promise ? Are the promises thus exceeding great ? Why then do they not
appear so to every one of us ? What is the reason that the generality of men had
rather be heirs to any other estate than to the promises ? The text teUs us the
true cause ; they know not the preciousness of them. They are exceeding great
in themselves, but they are not apprehended to be so without faith. As the
apostle says of Christ, " to them that believe he is precious ;" so we may say of
the promises, to them that believe they are precious ; and therefore their greatness
doth not strike any man untU he by faith tastes something of their preciousness.
Christ is the sum and substance of aU the promises. Christ himself is the first
promise, and aU the rest are branches from that radical promise. They are all
made in Christ, and in him they are aU completed. God has no good to give
to sinners, but in relation to Christ, and all the promises of good are made
ih him, in consequence of his meritorious life and death, his resurrection
and ascension, yea, the Spirit of promise is given as the blessed fruit of Christ's
intercession. Now no man sees anything precious in Christ without faith; so
neither without it does he see any thing precious in the promises. Christ has no
form or comeliness that he should desire him, and the promises have no such
charms as to persuade him to live upon them. But faith gives a substance, a
substantial presence to the things hoped for in the promises, and gives evidence
of the believer's interest in the things not seen by the bodily eyes, and thus it
enables the soul to experience the reality, and to find something of the value of
the good things contained in the promises.
Perhaps you may be convinced of the necessity of faith to discover the pre
ciousness of the promises, but you do not clearly understand how faith acts upon
them when it first discovers and afterwards fives upon their preciousness. rhe
word of promise is the established means in the hand of the Spirit of begetting
faith, and of strengthening it : for a sinner can expect no good from God, unless
he vouchsafe to give him a free promise. The scripture is a revelation of God's
will, in which he engages, for Christ's sake, to bestow graces and blessings upon
his children ; but the unawakened sinner sees no want of those graces and bless
ings until the Holy Spirit convince him of sin, stir up guilt in his conscience, and
make him sensible of bis danger. Then he is glad to hear of a promise, and is
L 2

148 THE LAW AND THE GOSPEL.
asking, Who wiU show me any good ? The Lord God sends him the gospel with
a free title to all good, and out of his infinite grace to enrich him with the un
searchable riches of Christ. The Holy Spirit enables him to receive the gospel,
and to rely and to act faith upon the word of promise. Faith looks at the word,
sees what God has promised therein, rests and stays upon him for the fulfilling
of it, and by this dependence and reliance upon the word of promise the believer
calls upon and engages the divine power to fulfil it. And the fulfilling of it gives
it a peculiar sweetness and preciousness to the believer's soul. Every fresh
proof of God's faithfulness to fulfil it strengthens the believer's reliance and de
pendence upon it, and thereby it grows more precious to aU the faculties of his
soul. Ihe understanding sees and acknowledges the promises to be important
realities ; the wiU chooses them for its inheritance ; and the affections love them
and live upon them. Thus they become more and more precious. Tried pro
mises are precious promises. Every time the believer goes boldly to the throne
of grace, and asks, through Christ, the fulfilling of any promise, and receives it,
then hia faith grows, and as his faith grows exceedingly, so the promises grow
exceedingly precious.
But aU our experience here is only an earnest and foretaste of their future
preciousness. Ihe chief part of them is to be fulfilled beyond the grave, and
many of them at the last day ; and even then there wiU be no adequate de
scription of their preciousness. The saints in glory wiU be able only to set
forth half their praise, the promises being still completing through the endless
ages of eternity, so that it will require an eternity to show forth all their praise.
May it be your happiness, my brethren, now to experience, by faith, the great
ness and preciousness of the promises, and to have reason daily to praiso him,
m whom they -are made, and by whom they wiU be aU made good for ever and
ever. Such are the promises They are exceeding great and precious. They
are certainly so in themselves, but do they, my brethren, appear so to you at
present ? If they do not, consider a little what your state is before you are in
terested in the promises. You are transgressors of that law, which has decreed,
" The soul that sinneth, it shaU die." Under this sentence you live, subject to
whatever is meant by the soul's dying from God. You are liable to the wrath
and justice of the Almighty, and to those eternal torments which he has threat
ened to inflict upon sinners ; and was it not for his long-suffering, which of you
would have been spared to this hour ? And while the long-suffering of God is
waiting, he sends his ministers with the glad tidings of the gospel to call you to
a free pardon. They invite you in Christ's name, and in Christ's words. They
assure you of his readiness to receive you into his favour, and to forgive, and to
forget aU your offences. For your encouragement, they relate unto you his
promises, which cannot be broken. They earnestly press you to accept of them,
and to be happy in the enjoyment of them. But in vain. Their message is
ineffectual. \ ou had rather have the realities of sin, than the earnests of the
promises. And what is thia but absolute infidelity ? For if you knew what
sin ia, and believed the divine promises to be so great and pracioua as they
are, you would certainly prefer them to the delights of ein ; whereas you nei
ther believe the word, nor the oath, nor the covenant of God ; which ia really
practical atheism ; for you are without Christ ; you are strangers from the
covenant of promise ; you have no hope ; and you are without God, atheists
in the world. You may not, perhaps, deny the being of God ; but you live
without Christ, and without God in the world ; and therefore you are practical
atheists. WTule you are in this state, you cannot possibly have any true hap
piness ; not in time, because your sins are unpardoned ; not in eternity, because
then you wttl receive the punishment of unpardoned sin. And is this a true
description of your guilt and of your danger ? You know it is ; the word of
God wttl not suffer you to doubt of it, unless you deny its authority. And how
then do you determine to act ? What ! will you stiU eeek your happiness in the
ways of sin? God forbid. Turn ye, turn ye unto the Lord; certainly he bids
higher for your hearts than Satan can. His promises are greater than sin, or
the worid, can make. You know they are. And still his promises foUow you,
although you have often turned a deaf ear to them. Once more I call and in-

DISCOURSE XII 149
vite you in his name. Oh that he would speak to your hearts, and caU effectuaUy.
My brethren, ye are sinners ; God offers you pardon. You are guilty ; he offers
you free justification. He promises you his Son to be your Saviour, his Spirit
to be your sanctifler, his grace to be your strength, his glory to be your eternal
inheritance. He opens his treasury, and invites you to come, and to receive
freely of him unsearchable and inestimable riches. Come, then, at the invitation
of this gracious God, and hearken no longer to the lying promises of sin. If
the Lord has now put it into your hearts to seek the fulfilling of the great
things, which he has engaged to give his people, may he enable you to seek until
you find him faithful and just to fulfil aU his promises !
2. There are many of you seeking and waiting for the fulfiUing of them. You
are convinced of the sinfulness of your hearts and fives, and are humbled under a
sense ofyourvileness and helplessness, and youfind the necessity of being saved
from your sins, but you cannot rely with such confidence upon the word of God,
as to believe that you shall be heirs of promise. But why not ? To whom are
the promises made ? Are they not made to sinners ? and are they not discoveries
of God's gracious intentions towards them in the Son of his love ? And since
you are sinners, convinced of sin, and waiting for mercy, surely the promises
are made to you, and by relying on them they are yours.
But you are afraid to rely upon them. What ! are you afraid God will break
his promise ? Consider what has been before said of the security which God
has vouchsafed to give you, in order to sUence your doubts and fears, and to put
an end to all strife in your consciences. He has given you his word, and his oath,
and his covenant. These are immutable things ; and why, then, should you
fear to rely upon those things which cannot possibly change or fail ?
Perhaps you believe that the promises are immutable, and yet you are afraid
to rely upon them, because of the greatness of your sins. The greatness of
your sins should humble you, but not drive you to despair : for are there not
great promises for great sinners ? yea, exceeding great promises for exceeding
great sinners ? Is it not written, " Come now, and let us reason together, saith
the Lord; though your sins be as scarlet, they shaU be as white as snow; though
they be red like crimson, they shah be as wool ?"
But stiU you are afraid to rely upon the promises because you have got such
a wicked heart: you think there is not any person in the world, whose heart is
60 wholly set in them to do evil, as yours is Be it desperately wicked, yet can
you desire God to create in you a clean heart, and to renew a right spirit within
you ? If you can, then hear what he has promised : " A new heart also wiU I
give you, and a new spirit wiU I put within you."
Why then do you stagger at the promises of God through unbelief? Are you
complaining of your corruptions, and are they so many and strong, that they
tempt you to think there is no mercy for you ? Bring them to the blood of
sprinkling, and when you are cleansed from the guttt of sin, the Lord has pro
mised that his grace shaU be sufficient for you, and that sin shall not have do
minion over you. Your corruptions, be they ever so many, or ever so strong,
shall be subdued by his almighty grace.
What, then, still hinders you from relying on God's promises ? Can they ever
fail ? No. On God's part aU is fixed and immutable ; and whatever it be, on
your part, which makes you stagger at the promises, has itself a promise, that
you shall be delivered from it ; which renders your unbelief more inexcusable.
Whatever sin it be, or guilt, or corruption, or misery, the Lord has promised
you salvation from it. He will redeem you from aU evU ; from aU the evil of
ein, and from all the evil of punishment. He has given his word, and his word
cannot be broken. And why, then, cannot you rely upon it, especiaUy since
God has promised to deliver you from that very thing which hinders your re
liance upon his word ? Is this, indeed, the case ? And are you convinced of it ?
Why, then, do you make God a liar, by not believing the record which he hath
given of his Son ? Oh ! beg of him to enable you to give glory to his word of
promise by relying upon it, and by setting to your seal, that God is true ; and
then God wiU set to his seal, and the Spirit of promise will seal you to the day
of redemption.

150 THE LAW AND THE GOSPEL.
3. Blessed be his rich grace and love, who is daily fulfilling his promises.
Many of you have had happy experience of his faithfulness to fulfil them. You
ought always to remember, my Christian friends and brethren, that whatever
you enjoy of grace, or hope for in glory, is freely promised and freely given you
in Jesus Christ ; and let your gratitude bear some proportion to his mercies.
He has opened the treasury of his promises, and has put you in possession of his
unsearchable riches. Oh, what manner of love is this, that he should raise you
from the lowest beggary, to such an exceeding great and precious inheritance !
Every promise made to you in this life is a bank-note of heaven ; and when you
go to the throne of grace to demand the payment of it, he cannot send you away
with a denial. If you plead the promise, and desire the fulfiUing of it in the
name of your Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, he cannot deny the word that is
gone out of his mouth. His divine power wiU give you all things that pertain
to life and godliness. For when he gave you Christ, with him he gave you,aU
things. In Christ there is all that you can want treasured up for you : for it
pleased the Father that in him should all fulness dwell. There is a fulness of
wisdom to teach you the tme nature of the promises, and a fulness of salvation to
deliver you from every thing that hindered your relying upon them, and a ful
ness of power to put you into the eternal possession of them all. Having, then,
these promises, dearly beloved, let us live upon them, and we shall thereby live
to his glory, in whom they are aU made. Let us beg of him to act as our pro
phet for the enlightening of our understandings, that we may see the great pro
mises made through him, and as our priest, to pardon and to forgive us our
sins, that we may have by faith the earnest of our inheriting the promises, and
as our king to rule in us and over us, until he bring us safe to the promised in
heritance. In these three offices, Christ' has engaged to act for his people here
below. He was to be their wisdom, their righteousness, and their sanctification ;
and they find him faithful to fulfil his offices, and to perform his promisea. And
tbis experience keeps their minds Btayed upon him for the performance of what
remains as yet unaccomplished. They have no reason to doubt of hia love : for
they continuaUy find his power exerted in their behalf. Happy men, who have
the Lord for their God, a faithful promise-keeping God, who will he their God
for ever and ever. His covenant mercies shaU never faU. They shall be receiving
their perfect accomplishment hereafter, when time shaU he no more. May he,
in whom they are all made, and in whom they are aU established, now get him
self glory by enabling every one of us to rely upon his promises ; and may we at
thi8 time find the promise, which he haB made to us while We are here gathered
together, fulfilled to us aU! He haa said, "Wherever two or three are met
together in my name, there am I in the midst of you." Oh that we may all
find his spiritual presence ! If there be any poor deluded worldlings here, who
had rather have the possession of this world's goods than the riches of the pro
mises, may the Lord convince them this day of their guilt and of their danger,
and put them upon seeking the promised mercies of the gospel. And may he
be graciously pleased to vouchsafe his presence to those who are seeking him,
that they may no more by their unbelief dishonour his word, and his oath, and
his covenant. Put an end, blessed Lord, to all strife in their consciences, that they
may no longer stagger at thy promises. Enable them to believe to the saving of
their souls, that the promise by faith of Jesus Christ may be given to them that
believe. And accept of thanks and praises from thy redeemed people. Oh ! make
us more thankful for thy great and precious promises, and for faith to apply them,
and to live upon them. May they grow more precious to us every day. Fulfil,
Lord Jesus, what remains, that we may be receiving continuaUy, out of thy ful
ness, strength of faith, increase of grace, power over sin ; and may at last be
more than conquerors, through him that ioved us. Hear us ; for we ask those
things according to thy promise, and grant us them for thy great name's sake,
to the honour of the Father and of the eternal Spirit, the holy, blessed and
glorious Trinity in one Jehovah ; to whom be equal honour and glory, and bless
ing and praise, in earth and heaven, in time and in eternity. Amen and Amen.

A TREATISE ON
THE LIFE OF FAITH.

PREFACE.
The design of this httle treatise is to display the glory and all-sufficiency of the
Lord Jesus Christ, and to encourage weak believers to glorify him more by de
pending and living more upon his aU- sufficiency. Whatever grace he has pro
mised in his word, he is faithful and he is almighty to bestow ; and they may
receive it of him freely by the hand of faith. This is its use and office, as a
hand or instrument, having first received Christ, to be continuaUy receiving out
of Christ's fulnesB. The apostle caUs this living by faith; a life received and
continued, with all the strength, comforts, and blessings belonging to it, by
faith in the Son of God ; and he also mentions the work of faith, its working
effectuaUy in the hearts and fives of believers, through Christ strengthening
them, and ils growing in them, yea, growing exceedingly from faith to faith, by
the power of him who loveth them. Fhis is the subject ; and it properly belongs
to those only who have obtained the true faith, given them of God, and wrought
in their hearts by his word and Spirit. Such persons meet with many difficul
ties every day to try their faith, and to hinder them from depending continually
upon the Lord Christ for aU things belonging to life and godliness. By what
means these difficulties may be overcome, is plainly taught in scripture, is clearly
promised, and is attained by faith, which becomes daily more victorious, as it is
enabled to trust that he is faithful who promised. The strengthening of it I have
had aU along in view, hoping to be the means, under God, of leading the weak
believer by the hand, and of removing hinderances out of his way, until the Lord
thoroughly settle and establish him in the faith that is in Christ Jesus.
But I must admonish the reader, that I do not expect this merely from what
I have written. It is too high and great a work for any mere man. Faith is the
gift of God ; and he alone who gives it can increase it. The author of the faith
is also the finisher of it ; and we do not use the means to set the Lord of aU
means aside. No. We use them, that we may find him in them. It is his pre
sence which makes the use of them effectual. By this, and this only, can any
reader of this book be rendered stronger in faith. Being weU assured of this,
I have therefore looked up to him myself, and it wUl be for thy profit, also,
reader, to look up to him, in prayer, for his blessing. Entreat him of his grace
to countenance this feeble attempt to promote his glory and his people's good.
Beg of him to make thy reading of it the means of thy growth in faith, and to
accompany it with the supply of his Holy Spirit to every believer into whose
hands it may fall. And forget not in thy prayers and praises to remember the
author. I bless God, who has enabled me to revise the press, and to put my last
hand to the work, by making such additions and alterations as seemed to me
necessary to render the subject more plain to common readers. In this and m
aU things, I desire to approve myself to my Lord and Master, whose I am, and
whom I serve ; and whatever good I have or do, to him be aU the praise.
Blessed be bis name this day, henceforth, ane) through the day of eternity !

152
THE LIFE OF FAITH.
The just shall live by his faith. — Hab. ii. 4.
Th e persons for whose use this little tract is drawn up are supposed to be
practically acquainted with these foUowing truths : they have been convinced of
sin, and convinced of righteousness. The word of Goel has been made effectual
by the application of the Holy Spirit to teach them the nature of the divine
law ; and upon comparing their hearts and their fives with it, they have been
brought in guUty. They found themselves fallen creatures, and they felt the
sad consequences of the faU ; namely, total ignorance in the understanding of
God and his ways ; an open rebellion against him in the will ; and an entire
enmity in the heart; a life spent in the services of the .world, the flesh; and
the devil ; and, on all these accounts, guilty before God, and by nature chil
dren of wrath. When they were convinced of those truths in their judgments,
and the awakened conscience sought for ease and deliverance, then they found
they were helpless and without strength. They could take no step, nor do any
thing which could in the least save them from their sins. Whatever method
they thought of, it failed them upon trial, and left conscience more uneasy than
before. Did they purpose to repent ? They found such a repentance aa God
would be pleased with was the gift of Christ. He was exalted to be a prince
and a Saviour to give repentance. Suppose they thought of reforming their
lives ; yet what is to become of their old sins ? Will present obedience, if it
could be perfectly paid, make any atonement for past disobedience ? Will the
broken law take part of our duty for the whole ? No. It has determined that
whosoever shaU keep the whole law, and yet offend in one point, he is guilty of
aU. And let him be ever so careful in doing what the law requires, or in avoid
ing what the law forbids ; let him fast and pray and give alms, hear and read the
word, be early and late at ordinances ; yet the enlightened conscience cannot be
herewith satisfied ; because by these duties he cannot undo the sin committed
and because he wttl find so many failings in them, that they will be still adding
to his guilt and increasing hia misery.
What method, then, shall he take? The more he strivea to make himself
better, the worse he finds himself. He sees the pollution of ain greater : he dia-,
covers more of ita guilt : he finds in himself a want of all good, and an inclina
tion to aU evil : he is now convinced that the law is holy, juBt, and good ; but
when he would keep it, evil is present with him. This makes him deeply sen
sible of his guilty, helpless state, and shows him that by the works of the law he
cannot be saved. His heart, like a fountain, is continuaUy sending forth evU
thoughts ; yea, the very imaginations of it are only and altogether evil, and words
and works partake of the nature of that evil fountain from whence they flow : se
that after aU his efforts he cannot quiet his conscience nor attain peace with God.
The law having done its office, as a schoolmaster, by convincing him of these
truths, stops his mouth, that he has not a word to say why sentence should not
be passed upon hint. And there it leaves him, guuty and helpless. It can do
nothing more for him than show him that he ia a child of wrath, and that he de-
aerve8 to have the wrath of God abiding upon him for ever ; for by the law is the
knowledge of sin.
The gospel finds him in this condftion, as the good Samaritan did the wounded
traveUer, and brings him good news. It discovers to him the way of salvation
contrived in the covenant of grace, and manifests to him what the ever-blessed
Trinity had therein purposed, and what in the fulness of time was accomplished.
That att the perfections of the Godhead might be infinitely and everlastingly glo
rified, the Father covenanted to gain honour and dignity to hia law and justice,
to his faithfulness and holineaa, by insisting upon man's appearing at hia bar in
the perfect righteousness of the law : but man having nonsuch righteousness of
his own, aU having sinned, and there being none righteous — no, not one — how
can he be saved ? The Lord Christ, a person in the Godhead coequal and co-

THE LIfE OF FAITH. 153
eternal with the Father, undertook to be his Saviour. He covenanted to stand
up as the head and surety of his people in their nature, and, in their stead, to
obey for them, that by his infinitely precious obedience many might be made
righteous, and to suffer for them, that by his everlasting meritorious stripes they
might be healed. Accordingly, in the fulness of time he came into the world,
and was made flesh, and God and man being as truly united in one person, as
the reasonable soul and flesh is one man. This adorable person lived, and suf
fered, and died, as the representative of his people. The righteousness of his
life was to be their right and title to life, and the righteousness of his sufferings
and death was to save them from aU the sufferings due to their sins. And thus
the law and justice of the Father would be glorified in pardoning them, and his
faithfulness and holiness made honourable in saving them. He might be strictly
just, and yet the justifier of him who believeth in Jesus.
In this covenant the Holy Spirit, a person coequal and coeternal with the Fa
ther and the Son, undertook the gracious office of quickening and convincing
Binners in their consciences, how guilty they were, and how much they wanted
a Saviour, and in their judgments how able he was to save aU that come unto
God through him, and in their hearts to receive him, and to believe unto righte
ousness, and then in their walk and conversation to live upon his grace and
strength. His office is thus described by our blessed Lord in John xvi. 13, 14 :
" When the Spirit of truth is come, he shaU glorify me ; for he shaU take of
mine, and shall show it unto you;" that is, when he comes to convince sinners
of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment, he takes of the things of Christ,
and glorifies him by showing them what a fulness there is in him to save. He
leads them into all necessary truth in their judgments, both concerning their own
sinfulness, guilt, and helplessness, and also concerning the almighty power of
the God-man, and his lawful authority to make use of it for their salvation. He
opens their understandings to comprehend the covenant of grace, and the offices
of the eternal Trinity in this covenant, particularly the office of the sinner's surety,
the Lord Christ ; and he convinces them that there is righteousness and strength,
comfort and rejoicing, grace for grace, holiness and glory, yea, treasures infinite,
everlasting treasures of these in Christ, and hereby he draws out their affections '
after Christ, and enables them with the heart to believe in him unto righteousness.
And the Holy Spirit having thus brought them to the happy knowledge of their
union with Christ,- afterwards glorifies him in their walk and conversation, by
teaching them how to live by faith upon his fulness, and to be continuaUy re
ceiving out of it grace for grace, according to their continual needs.
The corruption of our nature by the fall, and our recovery through Jesus
Christ, are the two leading truths in the Christian religion ; and I suppose the
persons for whose sake this little tract is drawn up, not only to know them, but
also to be established in them, steadfastly to believe and deeply to experience
them. The necessity of their being weU grounded in them is very evident ; for
a sinner will never seek after nor desire Christ further than he feels his guilt and
his misery ; nor wiU he receive Christ by faith, tiU aU other methods of saving
himself fail ; nor will he live upon Christ's fulness further than he has an abid
ing sense of his own want of him. Reader ! How do these truths appear to
thee ? Has the law of God arraigned thee in thy conscience ? Hast thou been
there brought in guilty ? and has the Spirit of God deeply convinced thee by the
law of sin, and of unbelief, and of thy helplessness, so as to leave thee no false
resting-place short of Christ ? Has he swept away every refuge of lies ? and
thus put thee upon inquiring what thou must do to be saved. If not, may the
Lord the Spirit convince thee, and in his own good time bring thee to the
knowledge of thyself, and to the saving knowledge of and bebef in Christ Jesus,
without which this book can profit thee nothing ! But if thou hast been thus
convinced, and the Lord has shone into thy understanding, and enlightened it with
the knowledge of the way of salvation, then read on. May the Lord make what
thou readest profitable to thine establishment in the faith which is in Christ Jesus.
There are two things spoken of faith in scripture, which highly deserve the at
tention of every true believer. The first is the state of safety in which he is
placed by Christ, and is delivered from every evil and danger in time and in

154 x THE LIFE OF FAITH
eternity, to which sin had justly exposed him ; and the second is the happiness
of this state, consisting in an abundant supply of aU spiritual blessings freely
given to him in Christ, and received, as they are wanted, by the hand of faith out
of the fulness of Christ : by which means, whoever has obtained this precious
faith ought to have a quiet conacience at peace with God, and need not fear any
manner of evil, how much soever it be deserved ; and thereby he may at all times
come boldly to the throne of grace, to receive whatever is necessary for hia com
fortable walk heavenwards. Every grace, every blessing, promised in Bcripture,
i8 his, and he may and does enjoy them so far as he lives by faith upon the Son
of God : so far his life and conversation are weU ordered, and his walk is even,
his spiritual enemies are conquered, the old man is mortified with his affections
and lusts, and the new man is renewed, day by day, after the image of God in
righteousness and true holiness. And from what he already enjoys by faith, and
from the hopes of a speedy and perfect enjoyment, the scripture warrants him to
rejoice in the Lord with joy unspeakable and fuU of glory.
It is much to be lamented, that few live up to these. two privileges of faith.
Many persons, who are truly concerned about the salvation of their soula, live
for years together futt of doubts and fears, and are not established in the faith
that is in Christ Jesus ; and several who are in a good measure established, yet
do not walk happily in an even course, nor experience the continual blessedness
of receiving by faith a supply of every want out of the Saviour's fulness. These
things I have long observed ; and what I have been taught of them from tho
scripture, and from the good hand of God upon me, I have put together, and
throw it as a mite into the treasury. I am sure it waa never more wanted than
at present. May the good Lord accept the poor offering, and bless it to the
hearts of his dear people, to the praiae of the glory of his own grace.
For the clearer understanding of what shall be spoken upon the life of faith, it
wttl be needful to consider, first, what faith is : for a man must have faith before
he can make use of it. He must be in Christ before he can live upon Christ.
Now, faith signifies the believing the truth of the word of God : ao says Christ,
" Thy word is truth : " it relates to some word spoken or to some promise made
by him, and it expresses the belief which a person who hears it has of its being
true. He assents to it, relies upon it, and acts accordingly. This is faith, Ana
the whole word of God, which is the ground of faith, may he reduced to two
points, namely, to what the law reveals concerning the justification of a righteous
man, and to what the gospel reveals concerning the aalvation of a ainner. A
short examination of these points will discover to ub a great number of persons
who have no faith at all in tne word of God.
First, Every man in his natural state, before the grace of Christ, and the in
spiration of his Spirit, has no faith. The scripture says, God hath shut up all .
that are in this state in unbefief : and when the Holy Spirit awakens any one of
them, he convinces him of sin, and of unbelief in particular. When tiie Com
forter is come, says Christ, he ahaU convince the world of sin, becauae they be
lieve not in me.
Secondly, A man who live8 careless in sin has no faith. He does not believe
one word that God eay8 in hia law. Let it warn him of hi8 guUt, and ahow him
his great danger ; yet he seta at nought the terrors of the Lord. He acte aa if
there were no day of judgment, and no place of eternal torments. He haa no fear
of God before hia eyes. How can such a practical atheist as this have any faith?
Thirdly, The formalist has not true faith. He is content with the form of
godliness, and denies the power of it. The vail of unbelief is upon his heart,
and the pride of his own good workB and duties ie ever before hia eyes, that he
finds no want of the salvation of Jesus, and is averse to the grace of the gospel.
AU hia hopes arise from what he is in himaelf, and from what he is able to
do for himself. He neither believe8 God Bpeaking in the law nor in the gos
pel. If he believed his word in the law, it would convict him of sin, and forbid
him to go about to establish a righteousness of his own ; becauae by the works
of the law ahaU no fleah living he justified ; yet this he does not believe. If he
believed the word of God in the gospel, it would convince him of righteousness,
of an infinitely perfect righteousness wrought out by the God-man, Christ Jesus,

THE LIFE OF FAITH. 155
and imputed to the sinner without any works of his own : for unto him that
worketh not, but believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly, his faith is im
puted for righteousness. To this he dare not trust whoUy for his acceptance
before God ; therefore he has not true faith.
Fourthly, A man may be so far enlightened as to understand the way of sal
vation, and yet have not tme faith. This is a possible case. The apostle states
it, 1 Cor. xiii. 2 : " I'hough I understand all mysteries, and aU knowledge, yet I
may be nothing." And it is a dangerous case, as Heb. x. 26 : " If we sin wil
fully after that we have received the knowledge of the truth, there remaineth no
more sacrifice for sins." Here was such a knowledge of the truth, as left a man
to perish without the benefit of Christ's sacrifice ; therefore he wanted that faith,
which whosoever hath shaU be saved.
What great numbers are there under these delusions ! Reader ! art thou one
of them ? Examine closely ; for it is of eternal moment. Prove thine own self,
whether thou be in the faith. If thou askest how thou shalt know it, since
there are so many errors about it; hear what God's word says: Whoever be
lieves truly has been first convinced of unbefief. This our Lord teaches, John xvi.
8,9: " When the Comforter is come, he wiU convince the world of sin, because
they believe not on me." He convinces of sin, by enlightening the under
standing to know the exceeding sinfulness of it, and by quickening the con
science to feel the guilt of it. He shows the misery threatened, and leaves
sinners no false refuge to flee unto. He wUl not suffer them to sit down content
with some sorrow, or a little outward reformation, or any supposed righteous
ness, but makes them feel that, do whatever they will, or can, stiU their guilt re
mains. Thus he puts them upon seeking out for salvation, and by the gospel he
discovers it to them. He opens their understandings to know what they hear
and read concerning the covenant of the eternal Trinity, and concerning what
the God-man has done in the fulfilling of this covenant. The Holy Spirit
teaches them the nature of the adorable person of Christ, God manifest in the
flesh, and the infinitely precious and everlasting meritorious righteousness which
he has wrought out by the obedience of his life and death ; and he convinces
them that this righteousness is sufficient for theii salvation, and that nothing is
required, except faith, for its being imputed unto them ; and he works in them a
sense of their being helpless, and without strength to rely upon this righteous
ness, and through faith in it to have peace with God. He makes them see that
they cannot, by any power of their own, in the least depend upon it : for aU
their sufficiency is of God. It requires the same arm of the Lord, which
wrought out this righteousness, to enable them with the heart to believe in it.
They are made clearly sensible of this from the word and Spirit of God, and
from their own daily experience, and thereby they are disposed to receive their
whole salvation from the free grace of God, and to him to ascribe aU the glory
of it. These are the redeemed of the Lord, to whom it is given to believe. They
are quickened from a death in trespasses and sins ; their consciences are awak
ened ; their understandings are enlightened with the knowledge of Chri6t ; they
are enabled in their wiUs to choose him, and in their hearts to love him, and to
rejoice in his salvation. This is entirely the work of the Holy Spirit ; for faith
is his gift, Eph. ii. 8. Unto you it is given, says the apostle, Phil. i. 29, in the
behalf of Christ, to believe on him : none can give it but the Spirit of God ; be
cause it is the faith of the operation of God, and requires the same almighty
power to believe with the heart, as it did to raise Christ's body from the grave,
Eph. i. 20. And this power he puts forth in the preaching of the word, and
makes it the power of God unto salvation. The word is caUed, 2 Cor. iii. 8, the
ministration of the Spirit, because by it the Spirit ministers his grace and
strength. So Gal. iii. 2, " Received ye the Spirit by the works of the law, or by
the hearing of faith ? " It was by bearing faith preached, that they received the
Spirit : for faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God, which is
therefore called the word of faith. And thus the word is the means, in the hand
of the Spirit, to dispose the hearts of those who hear it, to receive and to embrace
Christ; whereby they retain the righteousness of faith, as Rom. x. 10: "With
the heart man believeth unto righteousness." The heart is the chief thing in be-

156 THE LIFE OF FAITH.
lieying ; . for intp it Christ is received, and in it he dweUa by faitii. The vital
union between Christ and the believer is manifested and made known in the heart,
and therein it is cemented and established. With joy can the believer say, " My
Beloved is mine, and I am his ; " happy for me, we are but one person in the
eye of the law, and our interests are but one. Blessed state this ! Christ gives
himself freely to the believer, who also gives himself up in faith to Christ ;
Christ, as the believer's surety, has taken his sins upon himself, and the believer
takes Christ's righteousness ; for Christ makes over aU that fie has to the be
liever, who by faith looks upon it and makes use of it as bis own; according to
that express warrant for his so doing, in 1 Cor. iii. 22, 23. AU things are yours,
because ye belong to Christ.
This vital union between Christ and the befiever is largely treated of in
scripture. Christ thus speaks of it in his prayer for his people, John xvii : " I
pray for them who shall believe on me through their word, that they all may be
one, as thou Father art in me, and I in thee, that they also may be one in us.
I in them, and thou in me, that they may be made perfect in one." And
in John vi. 56, he Bays, " He that eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood,
dweUeth in me, and I in him ;" and this in-dwelling is by faith, as Eph.
iii. 17 : " That Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith." And it is the.
office of the Holy Spirit to manifest this union to their hearts, as John xiv.
20: " At that day, when the Spirit of truth is come, ye shall know that I am
in my Father, and you in me, and I in you." And besides these and many
other plain words, this union is also represented by several striking images,
such as that of husband and wife, who are, in law, but one person ; the hus
band being answerable for the wife's debts, and the wife sharing in her husband's
honours and goods. It is set forth by the union between a building and the
foundation upon which it stands secure ; between a tree and its branches, which
live because they are in the tree, and grow by the sap which they receive from
it ; between the head and the members, which by holding under the head live
and grow, having a supply of nourishment administered to every part. Under
these beautiful images the scripture sets forth the reality and the blessed fruits of
this union. The Holy Spirit makes it known to the believer by enabling him to
rely on God's word as infallible truth, and to receive Christ's person as the al
mighty Saviour ; and he strengthens it by enabling the believer to make use of
Christ'a fulness, and to live by faith upon him in aU his offices, for the partak
ing of aU his promised graces and blessings.
That faith which is of the operation of God always produces the knowledge
.md the fruits of this blessed union, and enables the soul to give itself up to
Christ, that it may be one with him, not in a figurative, metaphorical way,
but as reaUy and truly as the building is one with the foundation ; as much
one in interest as husband and wife ; one in influence, as the root and the
branches, the head and tbe members. So that this is not an empty notion about
Christ, or some clear knowledge of him, or a mere approving of his way of sal
vation, but it is an actual receiving of him into the heart for righteousness to jus
tify, and to dweU and reign there to sanctify ; a receiving him as a perfect Sa
viour, and firing upon him and his fulness ; waiting upon him to be taught
daily ; trusting wholly for acceptance to his bood and righteousness ; resting,
relying, leaning, upon his promised strength to hold out unto the end; and
hoping for eternal life as the free gift of God through Jesus Christ our Lord.
The saving faith thus receives Christ, and thus lives.upon Christ.
Now, reader, examine and prove thyself, whether thou hast this faith, Dost
thou believe with thy heart unto righteousness ? Ihou canst not live upon Christ,
unless thou art first in Christ. Thou must be first persuaded of thine interest in
him, before thou canst make use of it, and improve it; and therefore the know
ledge of thy union with him must be clear and plain, before thou canst have a
free and open communion with him. There must be faith, before there can be
the fruits of faith ; and strong faith, before there can be much and ripe fruit.
Little faith will receive butlittle from Christ. The weak believer is fullof doubts and
fears ; and when he wants comfort or strength, or any other things which JJirist
has promised to give his people, he is questioning whether he has any right to

THE LIFE OF FAITH. 157
expect them ; and therefore he does not receive them ; because he has not bold
ness and access with confidence to God by faith in Christ Jesus. From hence ap
pears the necessity of being established in the faith. The believer must have
clear evidence of his interest in Christ, before he can live comfortable and happy
upon Christ : therefore he must look well to the foundation, and see there be no
doubts left about his being settled upon it. Christ being the sure foundation,
how can he safely build thereon aU his salvation, unless he be first satisfied
that he is upon it ? The peace with God in his conscience, every act of spiritual
life, and the whole walk and well ordering of his conversation, depend upon the
settling of this point. It ought to be finaUy determined, and brought to this
issue : " Christ is mine ; I know it from the word of God. I have the witness
of the Spirit of God, and Christ allows me, unworthy as I am, to make use of
him and of his fulness for the supply of aU my needs ; and I find I do make use
of him, and thereby I know, from daily experience, that I am in him, because I
live upon him." According as this point is settled, so in proportion wiU be the
life of faith. If the believer be thoroughly grounded in it without any doubt or
fear, then he may and wiU with confidence improve his interest in Christ ; but if
he still leave it in suspense, his faith can be but little, and therefore he will ob
tain little comfort or strength from Christ.
Reader ! art thou one of the weak in faith ? Dost thou feel it ? Dost thou
mourn for it ? and dost thou know from whence thy faith is to be strengthened ?
Who can increase it but he alone who gives it ? Oh ! pray, then, to the Lord
God to give thee the spirit of wisdom and revelation, that the eyes of thy under
standing may be enlightened to see the infinite sufficiency of Christ's person, as
God-man, and the everlasting merit of his life and death to save his people from
their sins. And whatever hinders thee from seeing the fulness of Christ's sal
vation, and resting comfortably by faith upon it, earnestly entreat the Lord to
remove it. If it be sin, beg of God to make thee more willing to part with it.
If it be guilt, pray him to ordain peace in thy conscience through the blood of
sprinkling. If it be much corruption, it cannot be subdued until it be first par
doned. If thou hast got under the spirit of bondage, look up to the Lord Christ
for that liberty, wherewith he makes his people free. Whatever it be, as soon as
it is discovered to thee, make use of prayer, believing God's word of faithful
ness, that what thou asketh thou shalt have, and that he wiU so establish thee
that thou shalt go on from faith to faith. May it be thy happy case ! Amen.
Reader ! if thou art an awakened man, convinced, of sin by the word and
Spirit of God, all thine enemies will try to keep thee from the clear knowledge
of thy union with Christ. The reason is plain ; because then thou wilt not be
able to depend upon Christ's promised strength, and to make use of it by faith,
which is almighty to defeat them all. Hearken not, therefore, to any sugges
tion, nor be afraid of any opposition, which would hinder thee from seeking to
be fuUy convinced of thine interest in Christ, and of thy being a branch in the
true vine. Satan will use all his wiles and fiery darts ; and ah carnal pro
fessors will be on his side ; and they will have close allies in thine own breast,
in thine unbelief, in thy legal spirit, and in thy lusts and corruptions. Consider,
why do these enemies fight so hard against thy being safely settled, and com
fortably grounded upon Christ by living faith ? Is it not because thou wilt
then lie an overmatch for them, through the strength of Jesus ? And does not
this plainly show thee the absolute necessity of knowing that Christ and thou are
one ? Till this be known, thou wilt be afraid to apply to him and to make use
of his strength ; and tiU thou dost use it, all thine enemies wiU triumph over
thee. Oh, beg of God then to increase thy faith, that thou mayest be fuUy con
vinced of thy union with Christ, and mayest live in him safe, and on him happy.
Hear and read his word, and pray for the effectual working of the Lord the Spirit
in it, and by it, that faith may come and grow by hearing, untU it be finaUy set
tled without doubt or wavering, that Christ is thine, and thou art his.
After the believer is thus grounded and established in the knowledge of his
union with Christ, it behoves him then to inquire what God has given him a
right to in consequence of this union ; and the scripture wiU inform him, that in
the covenant of grace it has pleased the Father that aU fulness should dwell in

158 THE LIFE OF FAITH.
his Son, as the head, for the use of his members. He has it to supply all then-
need. They cannot possibly want any thing, but it is treasured up for them in hia
infinite fulness : there they may have it, grace for grace, every moment, as their
occasions require ; and they have it in no other way, and by no other hand, than
faith, trusting the word of promise, and relying upon Christ's faithfulnesB and
power to fulfil it ; as it is written, " the just shaU live by his faith," Hab. ii. 3 :
having received justification to live by faith in the righteousness of Christ, he de
pends on Christ to keep him alive, ahd makes use of Christ's fulness for all the
wants of that spiritual life which he has given. He trusts him for them all, and
lives upon him by faith for the continual receiving of them aU ; ahd according to
his faith, so is it done unto him.
Let this be weU weighed and considered, that the justified person lives and
performs every act of spiritual life by faith. This is a very important lesson
and therefore it is taught in scripture as plainly as words can speak. Every
thing is promised to, and is received by, faith. Thus it is said, Ye are all the
children of God by faith in Christ Jesus ; and if children, then heirs according
to the promise, heirs of God, and joint heirs with Christ, who of God is made
unto us wisdom, righteousness, and holiness ; made for their use wisdom to teach
them, righteousness to justify them, and holiness to sanctify them ; yea, he has
aU things in his fulness for their use, as the free grant speaks, 1 Cor. iii. 21, &c.
" AU things are yours, whether Paul or ApoUos, or Cephas, or the world, or
life, or death, or things present, or things to come, aU are yours, and ye are
Christ's, and Christ is God's." Consider, believer, what a large estate this is :
thy title to it is good, and thou enterest into possession by faith. See, then, that
thou make uee of thine inheritance, and live topon it. Do not say, when thou
wantest any thing, I know not where to get it : for whatever the God-man has
of wisdom, righteousness, holiness, power and glory, he haa it, as the head of
the body for thee as one of his members, for thy use and benefit, and he haa
promised it to thee in his word. Make free with him, then. Go to him with
confidence. Thou canst not do him greater honour than to receive from him
what he has to give. That is glorifying him. It is putting the crown upon his
head, and confessing him to be a perfect, aU-sufficient Christ, when it pleasedi
thee, as it did his Father, that in him should all fulness dwell, and when thou art
content to live out of thyself upon his fulness for the supply of all thy needs, in
time and in eternity. To live thus upon him is his glory, and it is thy privilege, thy
interest, and thy happiness. In every state, spiritual and temporal, and in every
circumatance, thou canst poa8ibly be in, thou art commanded to look up to Christ,
that thou mayest receive out of his fulne88, and to depend upon him to save thee
from every evil, and to bestow upon thee every good. In thy walk heavenwards,
and in every thing thou meetest with by the way, put thy trust in Christ, and
expect from him the fulfilling of all his promises. He has all power in heaven
and earth for that very purpose. StiU rely upon him, and cast thy burdena on
him, when thou art tempted, when old corruptions arise, when the world and
the devil assault thee, when under a sense of weakness and dulnees in duty,
when in darkness and desertion, in persecution and trouble, in pain and poverty,
in sickness and death. This is the life of faith. Thou wilt live like a Christian
indeed, if, being in any of these cases, thou befievest that Christ is able, because
he is almighty, and willing, because he has promised, to supply thy wants, and
then canst trust in him for that supply. Depend upon it, thou shalt have it, and
it shall be done unto thee according to his word.
After the believer is become one with Chriat, and through him has a right to
aH the riches of grace, and may by faith make use of them as his own, why is he
so long in learning this lesson perfectly ? Being adopted into the heavenly fa
mily, and an heir of the heavenly inheritance, why does not he immediately live
up to his privilege and to his estate ? His title is good. The inheritance is sure.
AU things are become his ; for all fulnesa ia in Christ, and, by virtue of his
union with Christ, this fulness is his, and he may by faith be always receiving
out of it every grace and blessing which Christ has promised. Why, then, does
not he at once attain to this happy life of faith ? Sad experience proves that
young believers do not. They meet with so many difficulties, that they grow up

THE LIFE OF FAITH. 159
slowly into Christ in aU things. They do not attain to a solid estabhshment in
the faith in a day. Enemies without and within stop their progress, insomuch
that they often continue little chUdren for a long time. They have the same right
to Christ, the same privileges, and the same promised grace, which young men
and fathers in Christ have ; but they have not learned by experience how to im
prove their interest in him, and to make the most of it. The difficulties and
temptations which weaken their hold of Christ, and stop their growth in him,
are many ; some of the chief are these : —
1. They continue little children and weak in faith, because they do not pre
sently attain a solid acquaintance with the person of Christ, and are not tho
roughly satisfied how able he was and sufficient for every thing he undertook,
and how perfectly he has finished every part of his work.
2. This keeps them ignorant of many things in which the glory of his salva
tion consists : hence they have not clear believing views of its fulness, and of its
freeness. 3. By which means they labour under many doubts about the manner of their
receiving this salvation. A legal spirit working with their unbelief puts them upon
reasoning continuaUy against being saved freely by grace through faith ; and,
4. These legal unbelieving reasonings gain great power from their unskilfril-
neBs in their warfare between nature and grace, the old man and the new, the
flesh and the spirit ; and,
5. AU these difficulties are mightily strengthened from their hearkening to
sense, and trusting to its reports more than to the word of God. While believers
are under these difficulties, their faith meets with many checks in itB growth ;
and, until they be enabled to overcome them, they continue to be little children in
Christ. Their weak faith receives but little from Christ ; and it continues weak,
because they have but little dependence upon the effectual working of Christ's
mighty power. The exceeding greatness of his power is able to strengthen them,
and he has promised it, but they dare not trust him. Consider therefore, reader,
if thou art one of these babes, why thou dost not grow up faster into Christ.
The first thing that stops thee is the ignorance which is in thy mind about his
person, and the prejudice against him, which is in thy carnal heart. These are
in all men by nature ; and these Satan wiU work upon, in order to hinder the in
crease of thy faith. He wfil use all his cunning and his power to keep thee from
growing in that knowledge of Christ which is eternal life. He wiU inject
into thy heart blasphemous thoughts against his Godhead ; and when thou art
reading in scripture, or hearing about bis being God manifest in the flesh,
he wUl try to puzzle and perplex thy imagination with a How can these
things be ? He wiU represent the union of the two natures in Christ as a thing
not to be understood, and as if they, who believed it with the clearest evidence
of God's word and Spirit, had only some fancy about it. He has an old grudge
against Christ, and wiU not scrapie to teU any lies of him. He was a liar from
the beginning, and abode not in the truth. Regard him not. Mind what
the word of truth says, and pray thou mayest understand it : for the more thou
knowest of the Lord Christ, that blessed God-man, the more wUt thou be settled,
and established in him. It is written of him, first, that he is God, tme and very
God, in the holy, blessed, and glorious Trinity, a person coequal and coeternal
with the Father, and the Holy Spirit, Iaa. ix. 6. Unto us a child is bom, who
is the mighty God ; secondly, that he ia Jehovah, which signifies the self-existent
essence, Isa. xliii. 11. I, even I, am Jehovah; and beside me there is no Sa
viour : from whence it is evident that the Saviour is Jehovah, and that he exists
in a manner independent of, and distinct from, all other beings and things. St
Jude makes the opposition to this fundamental truth the condemning sin of cer
tain heretics, who denied Jesus Christ to be the only Lord God, and our Lord.
In the covenant of grace this divine Person undertook to be made man. He who
was true and very God was made true and very man ; he had a reasonable soul
and human flesh, and was in all points like other men, sin excepted. And as the
reasonable soul and flesh is one man, so God and man is one Christ. This is
the glorious Person, who undertook in the covenant of grace to be man's surety.
St. Paul calls him the surety of the New Testament : and what could there be

160 THE LIFE OF FAITH.
wanting in him for this high office ? He is every way qualified to be the surety
for man, who is himself true and very man, who is alao God as well as man, and
therefore has aU the perfections of Jehovah to render what he did and suffered,
as man's surety, infinitely and everlastingly meritorious.
This is the blessed object of faith — God and man united in one Christ. Consider
then, reader, what the scripture says of his wonderful person, in order that thy
faith in him may be established. That very self-existent God, who spake, and
aU things were made, who commanded, and they stand fast to thia very hour,
was made flesh. He came to be the surety for his people, to obey and suffer in
their stead. What could not his almighty power effect ? Ib any thing too hard
for the Lord God ? What obedience can his Father's law demand, which he ia
not infinitely able to pay ? What Bufferings can satisfy his Father's justice,
which he is not absolutely qualified to endure ? for he has every perfection and
attribute equal with the lather. On this truth thou must rest ; and is it not a
sure foundation ? In the certainty of it thou muet seek to be more grounded
every day ; because, as thou growest in the knowledge of his divine person, thou
wilt become more satisfied of hia infinite sufficiency to save ; and, fully con
vinced of this, thou wUt be enabled from scripture to answer and silence thine
own unbelieving thoughts, and reject the blasphemous suggestions of Satan
against the Lord Christ. Observe, then, that he is God, and that he is Jehovah.
Read and meditate on what the scripture says of his Godhead, and pray that
thou mayest be taught of God to understand lt : for no man can say that Jesus
is the Lord but by the Holy Ghost. . It is his office to glorify Jesus, by enabling
thee to believe him to be Lord and God, and to call him thy Lord and thy
God, and to prove he is ao, by thy humble dependence upon him for every bless
ing, both in time and in eternity.
It ia much to be lamented that believer8 in general take so little pains to get a
clear knowledge of the doctrine of the ever-bleesed Trinity ; for want of which
their faith is unsettled, and they are liable to many errors both in judgment and
practice. I would therefore most earnestly recommend it to all that are weak in
faith, to be diligent in hearing and reading what in scripture is revealed con
cerning the Trinity in unity, looking up always for the inward teaching of the
Holy Spirit ; and I would direct them to a form of sound worda in the common
prayer-book for Trinity Sunday, which contains the shortest and best account of
the subject that I ever saw. " It is very meet, right, and our bounden duty,
that we should at aU times, and in all places, give thanks unto thee, O Lord,
almighty, everlasting God : who art one God, one Lord, not one only person,
but three persons in one substance : for that which we believe of the glOry of the
Father, the same we believe of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost, without; any
difference or inequality." These are precious words. Meditate, reader, upon
them, and entreat the Holy Spirit to enlighten thine understanding with the
saving knowledge of them, that, being established in the doctrine of the ever-
blessed Trinity, and of the Godhead of the Lord Christ, thou mayest be enabled
to overcome the difficulties which arose.
Secondly, From thy not being weU acquainted with the nature of Christ's
salvation. Concerning which young believers are apt to have many doubts.
Carnal reason is strong in them. The spirit of bondage resists with many and
mighty arguments, and unbelief musters up aU its forces, and there ia a long
and obstinate fight against being saved freely and fully by the grace of Christ
Jesus. But the arguments which God has provided in hie word, when applied
by his Spirit, wiU prevail and overcome. Meditate upon them for the establish
ing of thy weak faith. Consider, first, the covenant. Salvation is not a thing
of chance, or left to man's wiU or power, but it was contrived by the blessed
Trinity in the covenant of grace, and every thing belonging to it waa perfecfly
settled. It is said to be (2 Sam. xxiii. 5.) an everlasting covenant ordered jn
all things and sure. O thou of little faith ! why then dost thou doubt ? WhaJ I
doubt of God's love? Here is a covenant springing from his mere love,
and from everlasting. Doubt of its being wett contrived! Infinite wisdom
orders it in ah things. Doubt of its being weU executed ! It ie in all things
sure ; sure as God's almighty power and faithfulness can make it. What mp-

THE LIFE OF FAITH. 161
tives are here for the strengthening of thy faith ! Muy the Lord render them
effectual !
Reflect, Secondly, upon the undertakings of the Lord Christ, the Surety of
this covenant. There was nothing left out of this covenant; it was ordered in
all things belonging to salvation, and Christ undertook to perform all things on
the part of his Father, that his law might be magnified, and his justice made
honourable and glorious ; and on the part of the sinner, that he might be saved
from aU evil, and entitled to aU good. And being God and man united in one
Christ, he was a proper surety to reconcile God to man, and to reconcile man to
God. May these things, then, sink deep into thy heart, that thy surety has un
dertaken the whole of thy salvation, to do aU for thee, and all in thee, and aU by
thee. What canst thou desire more for the settling of thy faith ?
3. Perhaps thou wilt say, His undertakings were great; but has he fulfilled
them ? Yes ; and so perfectly that he is able to save to the uttermost. He
was called Jesus because he was to save his people from their sins ; as their
surety he was to fulfil the law for them by his obedience, and to suffer the pains
and penalties of it by his death and passion. Accordingly, in the fulness of
time he was manifest in the flesh, and came to do the wiU of his Father. Of his
obedience to that will, he thus speaks : " I have finished the work, which thou
gavest me to do." Of his suffering that will he said with his last breath, " It is
finished." Observe, whatever he undertook to do in his life and death was
finished ; and it was demonstrated that, as man's surety, he had done and suf
fered every thing ordered in the covenant by his resurrection from the dead ;
for then did the Father declare him to be the Son of God with power. Will not
all this satisfy thee ? O thou of httle faith ! Here is one more cause of thy
doubting removed ; thou canst not deny but Christ has finished every thing he
undertook ; and in consequence thereof he has all power in heaven and earth to
bestow a fuU and finished salvation- What canst thou now object ?
4. Does a thought arise in thy heart ? It is finished ; but is it so freely given
that such an unworthy creature as I am may partake of it ? Yes ; it comes to
thee in the way of a free gift. Great, inestimable, and eternal, as it is, yet it is
all thine in receiving. Not he who worketh, but he who believeth, is jus
tified from all things. It is by faith that believers are justified and sanctified,
are strengthened and comforted in their walk ; by faith they fight against aU
their enemies ; and by faith they conquer, and lay hold of eternal life : and
therefore it is aU of faith, that it might be by grace. Salvation is wrought out
and finished by thy surety, given to thee freely, continued with aU its blessings
in time and through eternity; as a free gift, to the praise of the glory of free
grace. Why, therefore, art thou discouraged ? Hast thou nothing to buy with ?
Then obey the Lord's command : Come and buy free salvation, without money,
and without price. How should this motive still add to the establishment of
thy faith ! For there thou seest, whatever thou wantest is thine by believing
Thou mayest have it freely by grace : it is treasured up for thee in the fulness
of thy dear Saviour, and thou canst not honour him more than to make free use
of it. What dost thou say to this ? Hast thou anything to object ? Canst thou
find any fault with the covenant of grace, or with the undertakings of the God-
man in it ? No, certainly ; the covenant was weU ordered in all things, and
sure ; and what the Surety of the covenant undertook, he has perfectly ful
filled. Salvation is finished on his part : he has glorified the law by his infi
nitely perfect obedience ; he ha* made divine justice honourable by his suffer
ings and death ; he has brought in everlasting righteousness for his people ; and
will bring them to everlasting glory : for he has already taken possession of
it for them as the head of the body the church ; and he has aU power in heaven
and earth to save them day by day, until he make them partakers of his eternal
salvation. What can thy heart wish for more than such a Saviour, and such a
salvation. Oh ! be not faithless, then, but believing ; and if thou hast any
doubts left, endeavour to have them cleared up by reading and prayer, until
thy faith be perfectly settled on the divinity of God thy Saviour, and the infinite
sufficiency of his salvation. These two points lay at tiie very foundation of the
Christian religion: they must be supposed in all its principles, and built upoD in

162 THE LIFE OF FAITH.
aU its practice ; therefore, being of universal influence, if they be thoroughly
established, thy faith will be stedfast, and thy life weU ordered and comfortable.
Examine, then, and prove thyself here before thou readest any farther. Dost
thou believe Christ to be true and very God, in every perfection and attribute
equal with the Father ? and is his a fuU and a free salvation ? All the foUowing
directions depend upon, and can only profit thee ao far aa thou believest, these
two points. Look weU, then, to thy establishment in them. If it be strong,
the life of faith will be ateady and prosperous ; but if it be weak, thou wilt be
liable to be tost about continuaUy with errors, and overcome with temptations,
especially with thoae to which a legal spirit will expose thee, as I purposed to
show under the
Third general head ; in which is to be considered, how the little children in
Christ, for want of being established in the belief of his Godhead, and of hia
full and free salvation, labour under many doubts ; a legal spirit, working with
their unbelief, puts them upon reasoning continuaUy against being saved freely
by grace through faith.
He is of a legal spirit who ia under the law, and apprehenda him8elf bound to
keep it as the condition of life requiring of him, Do this, and thou shalt live.
In his understanding he sees this, and no other way, to life ; in his will he ia
continually inclined to it, and in his heart he loves it; because he fancies it in hia
own power to attain life in thiB way, and he can merit it by hia own works,
which mightily gratifies his self-love, and indulges his pride. The legal spirit
reigns over all men in their natural state, but does not diacover its tyranny until
it be opposed ; and then, so soon as the soul ia quickened from a death in tres
passes and sins, it begins to fight, trying to keep the poor sinner in bondage by
its legal workings and atrivinga, and putting him upon seeking for some good
disposition or qualification in himself, on account of which God should love
him. Thus the awakened soul, under the spirit of bondage, always seeks deli
verance by the worka of that law which can do nothing more than bring him to
the knowledge of sin, diacover to him the exceeding sinfulness of it, and the ex
ceeding great punishment which it de8erves; by which means it ia always nou
rishing the doubts and fears of unbelief. And after the Lord haa, in a measure,
removed them by a clear discovery of the salvation that ia in Jesus, and by the
gift of faith, yet still thia legal spirit will be trying to bring the soul into bond
age again to fear; and it too often prevails. Young believers find it the worst
enemy they have to deal with. It ia a aly, subtle foe, that seems to intend them
a kindness, while it is always on the aide of their greatest enemy. It would ap
pear to them to be actuated by a zeal for God, but it ia to eclipse the glory of
the Lord Christ, to take away the all-sufficiency of hia salvation, and to rob them
of their great joy and peace in believing.
If any one should ask how this legal spirit cornea to have euch power over
mankind ; the scripture informs ua,
First, that all men, being God's creatures, are under the law to him, bound to
keep it, or bound, if they transgress, to suffer the threatened pains and penalties.
In this state man was created, and in it aU men are by nature ; and therefore
there is in us all a continual leaning to the law, and a desire to attain righteous
ness by the works of it. We are wedded to this way of gaining God's favour.
The apostle says, there is a marriage union between us and the law, and it, like
a husband, has dominion over us aa long as it Iiveth ; eo that we cannot be
married to Christ until that be dead wherein we are held. You may see this in
the Jews. How does Moses labour to bring them off from an opinion of their
own righteousness ? And a greater than Moses has done the same in hia dis
courses against the scribes and pharisees ; yea, the apostles of our Lord were
forced to write and preach against this leaning to the law, it gave auch dis
turbance to the true diaciplea of Christ. And notwithstanding the scripture ar
guments against it, yet we have great numbers among us who seek for a justify
ing righteousness by the worka of the law. And they are put upon seeking this,
Secondly, from their ignorance of the law. They are not acquainted with ita
nature ; for it demands what they cannot pay. It 'insists upon an obedience,
spiritual, perfect, and uninterrupted : for the least offence, if but in thought, it

THE LIFE OF FAITH. 1G3
comes with its fearful sentence, " Cursed is every one who continueth not in all
things, that are written in the book of the law to do them." On him who does
DPt continue jn all things (and not one man ever did) this sentence takes place ;
aj)d if he were to live a thousand years, he could not do any thing to repeal it.
Tbe law will always be to hiip the ministration of condemnation, and the minis
tration of death ; and this is all it can do for him. It provides no remedy, and
giyes him no hope, but leaves him condemned to the first and to the second
death ; and yet,. such is the blindness of the sinner, that he will be still leaning
to the law, and afraid to trust wholly to the righteousness of Christ ; and this
arises, Thirdly, From his ignorance of Christ's righteousness, which is infinitely per
fect and wants no works of the law to be joined with it in the justifying of a
sinner, because it is the righteousness of God wrought out by the God-man for
his people, and it is the righteousness of faith ; they receive it by faith without
works ; so that it is directly opposite to the righteousness of a legal spirit.
Hence we have many among us — great professors too — who are ignorant of God's
righteousness : they have not been entirely brought off from a legal bottom, and
therefore they talk of being justified without a justifying righteousness, which, if
God were to do, he would be unrighteous, and which he has declared he will
not do, their fancied justification leaves them still in their sins. They dare not
put their whole trust and confidence in the righteousness of Christ imputed unto
sinners, and made theirs by faith. They have many fears about imputed righte
ousness, although the apostle has not scrupled to mention it eleven times in one
chapter, Rom. jv; and these fears make them read the scripture with such pre
judice, that they say they cannot find the expression, " faith in the righteous
ness of Christ, in aU the Bible. They may find the sense of the expression in
Moses, and in all the prophets, and the very words in 2 Pet. i. 1. Simon Peter,
a servant and an apostle of Jesus Christ to them who have obtained like precious
faith with us, in the Greek is Eis, in the righteousness of God, and our Saviour
Jesus Christ. Here is faith in the righteousness of Christ, with several glorious
titles to recommend it ; namely, it is the righteousness of God, of God our Sa
viour, of Jesus Christ. From whence can men's opposition to this way of justi
fication arise, but from their not being convinced by the Spirit of God of the ne
cessity of Christ's righteousness ? It is his peculiar office to convince of this
truth; No teaching but his can do it. Oh that he may do it in the hearts of
those who, out of a zeal for God, though not according to knowledge, eclipse the
glory of the Lord, and rob afflicted consciences of their comfort by opposing im
puted righteousness ! It is a righteousness of so high and heavenly a nature,
wrought out by another and so wonderful a Person, is bestowed as a free gift
upon the chief of sinners, whereby alone they obtain remission of their sins, and
are made partakers of the kingdom of heaven ; and they receive it by faith only
without works, which a legal spirit always wants to mix with it, that no one
could ever believe in it unless it were given him from above. . May it be given
to those professors who cannot yet submit to the righteousness of Christ to see
their want of it, and with the heart to believe in it unto salvation !
Reader ! hast thou not found what an enemy this legal spirit is to thy peace
and joy, and how it is always inclining thee to some self-righteousness, through
thy ignorance of the righteousness of the law, and of the righteousness of faith ?
And wouldst thou gladly be delivered from it ? Know, then, that nothing can
subdue it but the bringing into thy conscience a better hope from a better righte
ousness than that of the law ; and when thou art enabled to plead it there against
all the charges of sin and Satan, then thou wilt stand fast in the liberty where
with Christ hath made thee free. His is a better righteousness ; it is infinitely
perfect and everlasting ; oven the righteousness of God. By faith in this righte
ousness thou shalt be saved from the law, and shalt receive remission of sins ;
through it the Father doth accept thee and give thee the Spirit of his Son to lead,
and comfort, and sanctify thee ; he doth love thee and bless thee, as his dear
child, making aU things work together under him for thy good, and keeping
thee by his mighty power through faith unto salvation : so that, in and on ac
count of this righteousness, thou shalt be saved from all the evils of sin, and re-

164 THE LIFE OF FAITH.
ceive aU spiritual blessingsin earth and heaven. And this thou shalt hare freely,
without any merit, or work of the law ; for the righteousness comes whoUy by
grace, and is for thee a sinner as such, and is to justify thee from the con
demnation of the law, to turn its curses into blessings, and ita threatened pu
nishments into happiness. And this it can do for thee perfectly and everlast
ingly ; ao that, being found in this righteousness, there is no grace promised in
time, or glory in eternity, hut it shall be thine. The Lord God promises them
to thee in the fullest and freest manner ; to thee, without any exception or limi
tation, being a sinner and ungodly, though one of the vilest and baaeat ; yet to
thee, as such, is the word of this salvation sent. And it wiU be all thine in the
comfortable enjoyment of it, through believing. Thou art to bring nothing to
recommend thee, but that thou art a sensible sinner, and thy right and title to a
finished salvation is clear from the warrant of God's word, when thou believest
with thy heart in the righteousness of Christ. The divine command is, " Believe
on the Lord Jesus Christ :" the promise ia, " Whosoever believeth in him shall
not perish, shaU receive remission of sins, shall be justified from aU things, shall
have everlasting life." Why, then, dost thou lean to works, since Balvation is
by faith ? Why dost thou disquiet thyself about attaining the righteousness of
the law, and thereby suffer the law to disturb the peace of thy conscience, aince
thou haat a far better righteousness, which ought to reign there, even the righte
ousness which is of God by faith ? For thou art a believer, and although a weak
one, yet thou hast as good a title to Christ and hia righteousness as the strongest
believer in the world ; because thy right comes from the free grant of the worn of
grace, and is apprehended by faith, by which all thinga are become thine. Thou
art an heir of them aU by faith in Christ Jesus. O thou of little faith ! why,
then, dost thou doubt ? Remember, how highly thou dishonourest the infinite
love and free salvation of Jesus, and how much thou robbest thy own soul of its
peace and of ita own growth in grace by thy weak and little faith. Think upon
theae things, and entreat the Author and Finisher of the faith to atrengthen it
in thy soul.
But perhap8 thou wilt Bay, How shaU I so five upon Christ with my weak
faith that it may grow stronger, and I may get the better of my legal spirit ?
Here is the remedy : may it be to thee effectual ! The scripture directs thee to
look at Christ God-man as thy surety, who for thee has wrought out a finished
salvation, and whatever he has promised in his word relating to this salvation,
thou art to tni8t him for the making of it good, and to depend upon his faithful-
ne88 and power to make it good to thee. Whatever, therefore, he haa done and
suffered to save thee from the curse of the law, and from the spirit of bondage,
and to make thee free with theliberty of the chUdren of God, thou art to hve
upon him for these blessings, and by faith to be always receiving them from him
in the fullest and largest measure that he promises them to thee. Look not into
thyself, then, for any qualification ; but look unto Jesus, that thou mayest expe
rience more of that liberty wherewith he hath made thee free, and mayest be.no
longer a babe unskilful in the word of righteousness. Hear what he says : If the
Son shall make you free ye shall be free indeed, free from the law of sin and
death, free from condemnation at the bar of God, and, being freed from the bond
age of corruption, ye shall be brought into the glorious liberty of the chUdren of
God, heirs of God, and joint heirs with Christ. This is the freedom which God
promises thee : it ia very extensive, has many noble privileges, and vast blessings.
By faith aU is thine. See how perfectly believers have received aU; and may thy
faith be like theirs ! " Ye have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear,
but ye have received the Spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father.
The Spirit itself beareth witness to our spirit, that we are the chUdren of God;
and if chUdren, then heirs ; heirs of God, and joint heirs with Christ." Rom. viii.
1 5, &c. Observe what is here said of the believing Romans, and by faith thou
shalt experience the same, as perfectly as they did.
1. They were freed from the spirit of bondage, under which they once had
laboured :
2. They were so freed as to be under it no more ; they were not to fear again,
as heretofore • for,

THE LIFE OF FAITH. 166
3. They had received the Spirit of adoption, and he gave them the evidence of
their sonship. Upon which,
4. They believed God was their reconciled Father, and they had boldness and
access to him with confidence. And therefore,
ft. They lived in light and walked in love, like his children and heirs, who
were to abide in his house for ever.
See also what great freedom the Galatians had, chap. iv. 4, &c. : " God sent
forth his Son, made of a woman, made under the law, to redeem them that were
under the law, that we might receive the adoption of sons. And because ye are
sons, God hath sent forth the Spirit of his Son into your hearts, crying Abba,
Father : wherefore thou art no more a servant, but a son ; and if a son, then
an heir of God through Christ." Oh what treasures of grace and consolation
are there in this scripture, tending to subdue thy legal spirit ! Consider some of
them. 1. AU men having broken the law, and being under the curse of it, Christ
was made under the law, that the law might reach him as the surety of his peo
ple ; accordingly,
2. By his obedience to the precepts, and by his suffering the penalties of the
law, he redeemed his people, who were under the law ; so that,
3. They are no longer in bondage to it ; but being made free, and having re
ceived the adoption of sons,
4. They have the spirit of liberty, sent into their hearts to witness to them
that Christ fulfilled the law for them ; and,
5. That the Father loves them, as his dear chUdren, and they love him and
serve him without fear, crying to him, Abba, Father ;
6. Wherefore they are no longer servants in bondage to any one, but are made
free indeed, being now the sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus. And,
7. If sons, then heirs of God, and free to inherit whatever he has promised to
give his children in earth and heaven.
These and many more arguments are contained in this one scripture, tending
to subdue thy legal spirit, and to bring thee to live more comfortably by faith
upon Christ, who, as thy surety, has fuUy kept the law for thee in his hfe and
death. Thou art to consider thyself now, not under the law, but under grace,
and therefore absolutely free' from the condemning power of the law. This
thou must maintain against aU the carnal reasonings of thy legal spirit : " Christ
is ray law-fulfiller." And thou wilt glorify him for redeeming thee from under
the law, and wilt live in sweet peace in thine own conscience, while thou keepest
fast hold of this most blessed and eternaUy precious truth. May aU thy reading
and prayer, and the use of aU means help thee to grow in the knowledge and ex
perience of it !
There is a very strong bias and leaning in weak believers to a legal spirit,
which ought to make them read such promises as I have been mentioning over
and over again, that God may thereby encourage them to maintain the liberty
which he hath given them in Christ Jesus, and to stand fast in it against the
fresh attacks of the devil and unbelief. They should be always jealous over
themselves, and watchful against their enemies ; because, after they have in a
truly gospel and evangelical way, through grace, got their legal spirit sub
dued, yet if it be not in the same way kept subdued, it wiU break out with
more power than ever, and wiU be likely to bring them into bondage again
to fear. And this may, and I have known it, often happen : after they had ob
tained some great victories over it, and finding it not stir for some time, they
flattered themselves they should have but little trouble with it any more.
Thus they were drawn off their guard, which gave room to their legal spirit
to exert itself again with vigour. This surprised the weak believers, and put
them upon reasoning and doubting, whether aU had been right with them be
fore ; and bo, at tbe very time when they should have taken the shield of
faith, and should have been making use of it, they were questioning whether
they had any ; which left them unarmed in the midst of their enemies, an easy
prey to every temptation ; but an invisible power kept them safe, although they
were not comfortable in themselves.

166 THE LIFE OF FAITH.
For the encouragement of persons in this case, that they may presently recover
themselves out of the snare of the devil, they should observe,
First, What the scripture says of a legal spirit ; describing it to be one of the
members of their corrupt nature ; one of the affections of the flesh ; which will
never be quite dead while the breath is in their bodies. It is an enemy that will
be always fighting against the Holy Spirit ; for they are directly contrary the
one to the other ; and therefore believers must not dream of any such victory as
leaves no more fighting, but must expect sharp battles with their legal spirit as
long as ever they five. And,
Secondly, the same means, by which they formerly obtained victory, must be
made use of again. As often as the legal spirit is tempting, Christ s strength
must be opposed to it, and his strength must be brought into the soul by faith
in his righteousness ; as it is written, Isa. xiv. 24 : " Surely shall one say, in the
Lord have I righteousness and strength." Righteousness comes first, and is
estabhshed in the conscience, that it may be pleaded and maintained there against
all the charges and accusations of the law. And as often as these arise afresh,
stiU they must be answered and sUenced with this plea : — In the Lord Christ haVe
I righteousness ; he is ray law-fulfiUer; and I depend upon his promised strength
to make me stand fast in that liberty wherewith he hath made me free. And tbe
soul must not only thus quiet and stay itself by faith upon the righteousness
and strength of Christ for victory over the present temptation, but must also,
Thirdly, continually do this ; because there is in our nature a continual oppo
sition to it. The experience of which is the believer's safety. The abiding sense
of his being naturally inclined to lean to legal dependencies, and therefore his
want of Christ every moment to justify him by his righteousness, and to kefep
him by his strength, will be the surest way to prevent his falling into bondage ;
for this wttl keep him very jealous over himself, and wiU show him the necessity
of living out of himself for righteousness and strength; and while he Iiveth upon
Christ for these by faith, he ahaU not be overcome by any enemy.
The glory of the incarnate God, and his infinite aufliciency to aave, have not a
greater enemy than a legal spirit ; and therefore I have enlarged upon thia point,
that befievera might be convinced, from the word of God, they were saved from
the condemnation of the law. They will never live comfortably tUl they see the
law dead and buried, and then wittingly give up 'themselves to be espoused to
Christ, who wiU make them free indeed. And when they have learned of him to ,
enjoy and walk in their Christian liberty, then they wiU be better acquainted with
the warfare between nature and grace, the old man and the new, the flesh and
the spirit, which warfare ia the
Fourth great hindrance, that stops the growth of faith in weak believers. They
are unskilful in it, soon tired of it, and often likely to be defeated. They do not
enter into the hattie strong in the Lord, and in the power of his might, nor are
they certain, if they fall in battle, they BnaU be saved with an eternal salvation.
These are great discouragements, and, until these be removed, they cannot fight
the good fight of faith, like good aoldicrs of Christ Jeans.
The case is thus : — There is in every believer an old man, and a new man, na
ture and grace, flesh and spirit ; and these are opposite and contrary the one to
the other in their principles and actions ; they are always desiring different
things, and pursuing different ends, which occasions a continual war between
them. The flesh lusteth always against the spirit, and has many and mighty
allies on its aide, — armies of luata, the faculties of eoul and body to bring forth
sin, hosts of fatten angels, and att the world that layeth in wickedness. Bnt the
new man, renewed in the spirit of hie mind, has a reconciled God on hia side,
and therefore he need not fear what any enemy can do unto him, but may bravely
face the stoutest of them, even death itself, relying upon that sure word of pro
mise, " I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee." Here is the believer's encou
ragement to fight ; his God wiU never leave him. Here he obtains victory every
day : his God never forsakes him ; and after he has fought the good fight of faith,-
his God and Saviour wiU make him more than conqueror : he will send death
to kill sin. And then the believer wttl never more have teiriptation from it, nor
sorrow about it. But till that happy time come, he must be fighting against

THE LIFE OF FAITH. 167
his corrupt nature and aU its allies. No peace can be made with them, not
even a truce. He must expect no kind of favour from them ; because they
are God's irreconcilable enemies, and therefore, as long as he is in the world, he
must be fighting against the world ; as long as he has a body of flesh, he must
oppose it with its affections and lusts, because they war against the soul ; and as
lone as he is in the reach of temptation, he must oppose the tempter, be steadfast
in the faith, never putting off his armour until the Lord give him a discharge.
The believer's peace within, and victory without, are closely connected with
the clear understanding of this case ; and although I have stated it from the
word of God, and agreeably to the sense in which the church of God has al
ways interpreted it, yet, for its more full confirmation, some testimonies must
be brought, which speak to the very point : first, to the believer's having in him
an old man and a new ; secondly, that these two are at war ; and thirdly, that
they fight together tiU death.
First, the apostle says to the saints at Ephesus, Eph. iv. 22, &c, "put
off the old man, put on the new." Mind, the same persons had both in them
an old man, corrupt according to his deceitful lusts, daily to be put off, and a
new man to be put on, and renewed, day by day, in the spirit of his mind.
The old man is described to haye a body of sin with all his members, his affec
tions and his lusts ; these must not be obeyed, but mortified. " Let not sin reign
in your mortal body, that ye should obey it in the lusts thereof ; neither yield ye
your memhers as instruments of unrighteousness unto sin," Rom. vi. 12, 13.
The saints at Rome had sin in them ; and it wanted to reign, as it had done
heretofore, in the lusts hereof; but,
Secondly, They were not to obey them. There was in them a new man, who
was to fight against those fleshly lusts which war against the soul. " The flesh
lusteth against the spirit, and the spirit against the flesh : and these are contrary
the one to the other ; so that ye cannot do the things that ye would," Gal. v. 1 7.
Here is battle between two : the flesh, the whole nature ofthe old man ; and the
spirit of the new man, born again of the Spirit : the cause of it is, the one wiUs
what the other hates ; each wants to carry his own wiU into execution ; and these
being contrary the one to the other, they fight for mastery ; in the battle, the
flesh, the old man, is defeated, and the spirit working in the new man conquers ;
and this lusting and fighting is in one and the same person ; in him who is said
to be not under the law, to be led by the spirit, and to live and to walk in the
spirit. In Rom. viii. 7, the apostle calls the flesh " the carnal mind," and he
says, " It is enmity against God ; for it is not subject to the law of God, neither
indeed can be." Since it is enmity itself, there is no reconciling it ; it will not,
nay it cannot, obey God, but is ever lusting and rebelling against his law. The
nature of the battle is described at length in Rom. vii. The chapter consists of
three parts : first, the believer's liberty from the law to ver. 6 ; secondly, he
answers some objections made against the law from its nature and properties, and
that in his own person, because it had been the means of bringing him to the
right knowledge of sin, ver. 7 ; and sin being discovered by the law through the
corruption of nature, raged and rebelled the more in him, ver. 8 ; and the law had
made him sensible of God's anger against sin, and of his deserving death and hell
for it, ver. 9 to 14 ; and from thence to the end of the chapter he describes the
conflict between the old man and the new, the one consenting to the law, and the
other resisting the law. In this conflict there were sharp attacks : in the first he
found in himself two contrary principles of action always resisting each other ;
the old man fighting against the new, from ver. 14 to 18 ; secondly, when the
wiU of the new man was good through the opposition of the old man, it had not
the desired effect, ver. 19, 20 ; and thirdly, he felt in himself two contrary laws,
both requiring obedience ; the law of the members warring and rebelling against
the law of God written in the renewed mind : for no sooner did his mind, guided
by the Holy Spirit, set about any thing which God's law commanded, but he
found the law of the members making a strong resistance. This he groaned
under as a heavy burden, and was humbled for it before God, expecting pardon
from him, and victory every day, and perfect deliverance at last.
1 cannot enlarge upon this chapter. Turn to it and read it over upon the

168 THE LIFE OF FAITII.
plan which I have here laid down; remembering all along, that St. Paul is de
scribing himself. He ten times says, it is himself he is speaking of, from ver. 7
to ver. 14, where he is showing of what use the law had been to him when lie
was first convinced of sin ; and from thence to the end, he mentions himself
thirty-eight times. /, the apostle Paul, I myself, my very self, and not another;
/ myself am, now, at this present, at the very time of writing this ; J my$e{f,
whom tbe law of the spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made free from the law of
sin and death ; I myself, to whom now there is no condemnation, for I am in
Christ Jesus, and I walk after the Spirit, am stiU at war with ein that dweUeth
in me, with the old man, with the flesh, with the law of the members, with the
body of sin. Although I have a new nature, and God is on my side, yet it is a
hard and a sharp battle. I find it so. The length of it makes it still more pain
ful, and forces me to cry out, " O wretched man that I am ! who shaU deliver
me from the body of this death?" Paul was not out of God's favour, or ac
cursed ; but as the word rendered wretched means, he was weary and tired with
his continual fighting ; troubled with the filthy motions of sin rising and striving
and rebelling in him, and giving him no rest : this was such a hard warfare, that
he was ever looking out and praying, "Who shall deliver me?" He meant
wholly, perfectly, deliver me from this corruption. He sighed for it, not because
he doubted of an absolute deliverance, but because he had sure and certain hope
of it ; not because he was ignorant who his deliverer was, but because ho had
steadfast faith in him. " Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ." This com
forted him, and kept him fighting on with courage. He knew that he should
gain the victory, and through Christ, not through his own virtues or works, but
through faith in the life and death, in the blood and righteousness of Christ, he
should at last be more than conqueror.
Since this was the case with the apostle, who can expect a discharge from thia
warfare until death ? What ! says one, is it to continue so long ? Yes. The
scripture is very clear to this point, as I was, thirdly, to show,
The seat of the corruption of the old man, or of the flesh, is not only in our
nature, but is also our very nature itself. That which is born of tho fleBh is flesh, .
altogether carnal and corrupt. It is a filthy fountain, always sending forth inf.
pure streams ; and therefore, while the believer is in the body, he must either be
fighting against the flesh, or else be led captive by it. We that are, says Paul,
in this tabernacle of flesh, do groan, being burdened with sin and sorrow. And
when did they expect an end of their groaning, and rest from their burdens ?
Not till the tabernacle was dissolved by death. Ourselves, says he, who have
the first fruits of the spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting for
the adoption, to wit, the redemption of our body. The body will be redeemed'
from the grave, and raised like the glorious body of Jesus Christ : this is pro
mised, and this we wait for ; and untU death deliver us from this mortal corrup
tible body, we shall be groaning under the burden of it. This was St. Paul's
case. He had long sighed to be discharged from his warfare, and, like an old
weary tired soldier, he wished the hard tedious campaign was ended, that he
might enter into rest : but hear with what joy he at last cnes out, " I have fought
the good fight." Have fought it ? What ! is the battle over ? Yes, just over. —
"lam now ready to be offered, and the time of my departure is at hand — I have
finished my course : " — My battle and my life are finished together, and so must
thine, reader. Thou art to resist unto blood, striving against sin ; for thou art
called to fight the good fight of faith, until thou lay hold of eternal life. Since
thou art a believer, however weak, and hast a new man in thee, as weU as an
old, they wttl be fighting against each other till thou finish thy course. And if
this discourage thee, consider what God has spoken concerning this warfare, and
what exceeding great and precious promises he has made to them who are en
gaged in it. He has promised to pardon those corruptions of the old man, to
subdue them, and to deliver thee from the very being of them. Canst thou desire
more ? Mark weU what he says to thee, and be not faithless, but believing.
First, although the believer has an old man, corrupt according to the deceitful
lusts, always warring against the new man, yet the Lord God has promised a
free and a fuU pardon ; because he has imputed Bin, all thy sin, to the Son of

THE LIFE OF FAITH. 169
his love, who bore it in his own body upon the tree. After the apostle, in Rom.
vii. had described the battle between them, he makes this inference — "There is
therefore now no condemnation to them who are in Christ Jesus," — to them who
are in Christ, united by faith as members to him their head, and thereby par
takers of his righteousness, there is now, while they are fighting against their
corruptions, no condemnation ; " For," says he, " the law of the spirit of life in
Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and of death," Rom. viii. 2.
These words demonstrate, that Paul was speaking of himself in the seventh
chapter. Although he had the corruption of nature stiU in him, and was fight
ing against it, yet, being in Christ by faith, he was made free from the guilt and
punishment due to it ; therefore he had, and every believer shah have, a full
pardon. In consequence of which,
Secondly, He shaU subdue the corruptions of the old man. This is promised
and shaU be made good. The Lord encourages behevers to oppose the reign of
sin in their mortal body, and not to obey it in the lusts thereof; with this pro
mise : — " Sin shall not have dominion over you," Rom. v. 14. "Ye are under
grace, and grace is almighty to subdue sin ; because it is atoned for. In like
manner he says to the Gal. v. 1 6, " Walk in the spirit, and ye shall not fulfil
the lusts of the flesh." Ye shaU not fulfil them, either in word or deed. The
lusts of the flesh will be in you, but not one of them shall reign over you
the spirit of Jesus wUl teach you to resist and enable you to overcome them,
yea, to crucify and mortify them, day by day. And besides this the Lord has
promised, Thirdly, Deliverance from the very being of thy corruptions. Tbe time is
coming, when they shaU not exist in the believer, nor any more be suffered to
tempt him. He shall be made holy and blameless, without spot or wrinkle of
sin, or any such thing. In this perfect state the Father now sees him, and accepts
him in the beloved, and after death admits the soul into his presence, cleansed
with the blood, clothed with the righteousness, adorned with the graces of his
dear Son ; and body, soul and spirit, shaU be in this perfect state in the day
of our Lord Jesus Christ — they shall be unblamable in holiness before God,
even our father, at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ with aU his saints. It
doth not yet appear how great a perfection of holiness this wUl be, but we know
that when he shall appear we shaU then be like him ; for we shall see him as he is.
Such" are the divine promises. And dost thou not see from hence, reader,
what great things thou art to expect in thy present warfare? If thou sayest,
How Bhall I attain aU that is promised ? Know that it is to come to thee by
faith. Christ and all that he has is thine upon believing, and particularly a free
pardon for indwelling sin, as weU as for any other. Consider him as thy surety,
God-man taking thy sins and sufferings upon himself to save thee from them.
By his life and death he has obtained full salvation, which he gives to thee freely.
And thou hast received it. Thou canst not deny but thou art a believer, and it
is written, " All that believe are justified from all things," from the corruption
of their nature, as weU as the corruptions of their fives. Know, then, that there
is no condemnation to thee. The Judge himself says so. And when he acquits,
who shaU lay any thing to thy charge ? Here thou must hold through the power
of the Lord, if thou wouldst have the spiritual warfare successfully conducted.
Abide by the sentence of God, and keep condemnation out of thy conscience.
Have it ready to plead against all charges, from whatever quarter they come,
that Christ hath made me free from the law of sin and of death.
Here I must refer thee back to what has been said concerning Christ and his
finished salvation. Thou now seest how necessary it is thou shouldest be well
established in the belief of his Godhead, and the infinite sufficiency of his sal
vation ; so that he is both able and willing to save thee from aU thy sins, and aU
the miseries due to them, and to bestow upon thee eternal happiness, and to
bring thee by his almighty power safe to the enjoyment of it. AU this he wUl
give thee, not for working but in believing. I entreat thee therefore to read
again and again what has been before said upon these subjects ; and the good
Lord help theo to apply it to thy present case, that thou mayest be fully assured
thou art in Christ, and that there is no condemnation to thee.

170 THE LIFE OF FAITH.
But perhaps thou art ready to say — Stedfastly do I believe all this ; but I
do not find such rictory over my corruptions as I could wish ; nay I think, at
times, they rage more than ever. Here thou forgettest the Lord thy strength.
Thou dost not make use of him, and therefore thou. fattest. The woman with
the bloody issue grew worse and worse tiU she went to Christ : so wilt thou.
Why is it given thee to know Christ in the spirit, but that thou ahouldBt go
to him daily, and plead his promise — Lord, thou hast declared that sin shall
not have dominion over thy people. I believe this word of thine cannot be
broken ; and therefore, helpless in myaelf, I rely upon thy faithfulness to save
me from the dominion of euch and auch a sin (as then tempts thee). Put
forth thy power, O Lord Christ, and get thyself glory in subduing my flesh
with its affections and lusts. — And then trust him to make his word good, ane
wait the event. Sooner ShaU heaven and earth pass away, than sin, any sin
thua left with Christ to be subdued, shall reign over thee.
If thou sayest, I think I seek for victory over Bin in no other way, and yet I do
not attain it so completely as I deaire— Depend upon it thou art under some
mistake ; for Christ is almighty to fulfil every promise in its largest sense and
fuUest meaning, and there never was a befiever who could justly charge him
with the breach of his word. Perhaps thou dost believe that power to subdue
sin comes from Christ, and thou art expecting it from him j but hast thou not
some legal dependence, some notion of thy own working together with him i
Search and see. DoBt thou commit all to the Lord, who ia to do all and in
all ? Is the whole battle left to him — wiadom and courage, and armour, and
strength, and patience, and victory, are all from the Lord ? If thou art not
doing thia simply, thou art not living by faith upon Christ; hut thou art
fighting in thine own strength, and depending upon some inherent stock of
grace, or knowledge, or experience. While these proud, selfish motives put
thee upon asking hia help, he wiU not give it thee ; because thou doat not wholly
depend upon him for it.
Or perhaps Christ does not appear on thy side because thou art proposing
some wrong end. Thou art working and striving against sin to establish a
righteousness of thine own, which is to be some part of thine acceptance be
fore God, and thou hast been trying in thine own atrength to get thy corrup-
tions quite subdued, but they were too strong for thee, and therefore now
thou art glad to make U8e of Christ's help. And if he would do the work for
thee, then thou wouldst have confidence in the flesh, and this thy fancied holiness
would be the ground of thy rejoicing before God. Is it not eo ? If it be, thou
wilt never succeed upon this plan : Christ will not give his glory to another, nor
put the crown of his gospel-grace upon the head of thy legal dependence.
Or perhaps thou art expecting from Christ what he haa not promised — auch
a victory over thy corruptions, that they shall not fight again for some time, or
that they shall be quite dead and buried. And eo they shall be in the Lord's
appointed time. But now he calls upon thee to fight against them ; he provides
thee armour for that purpose, even the whole armour of God ; and he requires
thee to resist unto blood, striving against sin, promising thee daily victory. This
is thy present state of warfare. To this thou art now called ; and there is no
discharge in this war. Oh, beware then, as thou lovest thy soul, of a false peace I
Thou wilt be sadly deluded if thou ever supposest that thy fighting is over before
thy course be finished. The good fight of faith must continue till death ; for till
then, corruption being in thee, thou must oppose it, relying upon God for pro
mised victory over it. He ie able to save thee from the very being of it now, as
well as in heaven. But it is not his mind and wttl. Here he will have tnee to
live by faith, which is every moment to keep thee dependent upon Christ, or thou
wilt fatt. This is to exalt hia grace, and to subdue thy selfish legal spirit ; to
humble thy pride, to put thee upon prayer and watchfulness, to make ain mere
hateful, and heaven more desirable, and to securethe glory of every victory to him,
whose strength is perfected in thy weakness. These are some of hia gracious
purposes in keeping thee continually dependent upon hie strength ; and if he
has made thee willing to fight and conquer, to the praise of the glory of his
grace, then thou wilt experience that blessed promise — "sin shall not have domi-

THE LIFE OF FAITH. !?1
nion over thee." And it wiU not be long before sin shaU not have a being in
thee. Reader ! if thou hadst faUen into these or any other mistakes concerning the
subduing of thy corruptions, mind what is written, and what is promised.
Having first received, through faith in the blood of Christ, the pardon of thy
sin, then, as one of his good soldiers, thou art to fight against it all thy hfe. He,
being on thy side, promises to subdue sin for thee. Without him thou canst do
nothing in this warfare, and therefore thy faith resting on his promise is to wait
the fulfilling of it. He has given thee his word, that he will use his almighty
power for this purpose. To that word must thou look, believing that Christ
wiU bring thee victory ; continuaUy, if thy faith faU not ; greater, as thy faith
increases ; complete, when the good fight of faith shaU be ended, and thou shalt
rest from thy labours. AU this he stands engaged to do ; and his power is able
to fulfil his engagements ; and thy faith will bring thee happy experience of his
power. When corruptions rise, temptations are strong, enemies numerous,
dangers on every side ; that is the time to glorify Christ, by making use of his
promised strength. Then put thy trust in the Captain of thy salvation, and fear
not. Look unto Jesus, and look at nothing but him. The battle is his. He
will fight for thee, and thou shalt hold thy peace. Leave him to direct all, to do
all, and to finish all relating to it ; and then, as he can get all the glory, thou
shalt see what a salvation he wUl bring thee. Oh, that thy faith did but reach
to the extent of his promises ! How successful would be thy spiritual warfare 1
such victories over thine enemies ; corruptions so subdued ; the world so cruci
fied ; Satan so defeated ; as thou canst now scarce believe ! The Lord increase
thy faith. Look up to him for it : because, as thy faith increases, let the battle
grow hotter and hotter, thou wilt find thyself safer, and more reason to give
thanks to God through Jesus Christ thy Lord.
For want of attending to the important truths already considered, and of
bringing them into constant use and exercise, young behevers are liable to faU
into "another great mistake, which keeps their faith weak, and stops its growth;
namely, a hearkening to sense, and trusting to its reports ; which is the fifth
general head I purpose to consider.
They are seeking to be established, and they think that they should have no
doubt of their being true behevers, if they had but the testimony of sense, and
comfortable feelings to assure them of it. And being used to judge in this way
in other matters (for it is our strongest evidence in natural things), they are dis
posed to expect the same in spiritual ; and they are the rather disposed to it, be
cause sensible comforts are promised in scripture ; which, being very desirable and
pleasing to nature, they are apt to covet them too much, and, from not regarding
what the scripture says about them, they are apt to seek them in a wrong way
and for a wrong end. Sense judges from what it sees, and draws its inference
from what it feels ; so that its report to the conscience, either of a believer's
state, or of his growth in it, is not from unchangeable things, which would settle
the conscience in peace, but from changeable things which leave room for con
tinual doubting. Sense also looks at the fruits of faith more than at the object
of it ; and if the befiever has been misled, and taught to confound these two
together, he will be at great uncertainty in judging of his state ; for, instead of
making the word of God, he will make nis comforts, the ground of his faith ; and
as these are more or less, so will his faith be. When he has comfortable feelings,
then he will think himself a believer ; and when he has none, then he will think
himself an unbeliever, changing his judging of himself, as his feelings do, like
the wind, and varying as his comforts do, like the weather. This is a common
rase. I have seen the sad effects of it in the fives of many of my acquaintance,
who, from being taught thus to judge of themselves, were tossed about for
several years, up and down, now comforted, then doubting, and could not get
any solid establishment tiU the Word and Spirit of God convinced them that
sense was not to be the ground of their believing, nor the object to which they
were to look. Sense judges by feeling, and reports what it sees. Sense says.
Now I am in the favour of God ; for I feel it ; now he is my God ; for I
find Jiim so • I am comforted. Now he demonstrates it to me ; for I feel near-

172 THE LIFE OF FAITH.
ness to him in prayer, and sweet answers. Now I am sure my duties and aer-
vices are acceptable ; for I am quite fively in them, and I come from them with
warm affections. Now I cannot doubt ; for I feel the assurance of hia love to
me. And when sense has lost those comfortable feelings, then it draws con
trary inferences : — Now 1 am not in the favour of God ; for 1 do not feel it.
Now he is not my God ; for I do not find him so ; I am not comforted, &c.
What can be the issue of this, but continual wavering and changing ? For our
feelings are sometimes more, sometimes less, as every believer experiences.
What an unsettled state, then, must he be in, who has no way to judge of him
self but by those changeable things ! What room does he leave for continual
doubting ! and what trouble and misery does he thereby bring upon himself,
as weU as dishonour to the unchangeableness of God in his nature and promises !
If tiie poor weak believer should say, I am convinced of this, and I should be
glad to have my faith so fixed, that I might be freed from doubts and fears-
Then let it rest upon the word of God, which is the only ground of believing,
and is therefore called the word of faith, upon which faitii is built, and by which
it is nourished and grows up. The believer should receive and rely'upon what
God hath spoken, and because he hath spoken it ; for his word changeth not.
It abideth the same for ever : therefore what it truly reports, stands upon an
immovable rock. Sense and feeling may report things contrary to it, but the
believer can silence them with " God hath apoken it : " for his faith has evi
dence of things not seen, and he does not form his judgment by the things
which are seen, but by the things which are not seen. Generally speaking,
faith judges the. very contrary to what sense does, and will not believe what sense
perceives. Abraham, against hope, believed in hope ; ao do aU hia children.
They believe the pardon of 8in, victory over ain, and the death of sin, the im
mortality of the body, though crumbled to dust and atoms, the Becond coming
of Christ, and the eternal state of happiness or misery. Faith looks at God's
word, calling the thinga which be not as though they were, and is commonly
forced to contradict sense. Sense judges from what it sees — Faith from what God
says. Sense is governed by what appears — Faith by what God says shall be,
Sense looks inward — Faith looks outward. Faith can answer the seeming contra
dictions which sense opposes to it, from the word of God which cannot be broken,
And when sense is ready to despair, and aU its fine frames and feelings are gone,
then it is the believer's happy privilege still to trast in the Lord, and to have a
good hope because of the word of his grace.
But, perhaps, thou art ready to say. It is written, that there is great joy and
peace in believing, yea, joy unspeakable and fuU of glory. True ; these are what
faith produces, and not what it is. These are the fruits of faith, which it brings
forth in most abundance from the inexhaustible fulnesa of Jesus. The more
simple the believer is, the more he eyes Christ, the object of faith, and the word,
the ground of faith ; the more clear and distinct wiU the actings of his faith be ;
and consequently it wttl bring greater peace into the conscience, and more joy
into the affections. But stUl, theae fruits are not faith ; no more than the fruit
is the tree. The fruits do not go before faith, but follow it, and grow from it.
This is God's order. He gives us his word to be the ground of our believing,
and by believing, aU things promised in the word are made ours ; then we go
on comfortably, and are happy : but when sense is put in the place of the word,
then the consequence is, that weak believers have got a changeable rule to judge
of themselves by, which hinders them from being established in believing, and
from attaining the promised peace and joy.
Some may begin to object — What ! are you against all fively frames, and sen
sible comforts ? No ; God forbid ! I would have them spring from the right
cause, that they might be more pure and fixed than they commonly are. God's
word and promises are an unchangeable foundation to rest upon, even when
sensible feelings are gone ; because Christ, revealed in the word, and laid hold
of in the promises, changeth not. Therefore, reader, for thine own sake, and for
the glory of God, take heed what thou buildest thy faith upon. Beware of making
anything that sense reports to thee the ground of it ; but rest it upon that which
abideth for ever. The word of God is a sure foundation. It wiU never fail thee.

THE LIFE OF FAITH. 173
Thou mayest safely depend upon it, because it cannot be broken, and stedfastly
rely upon Christ to make its promises good to thee. There is thy object. Look
at him. And since he is thme, thy Saviour and thy God, make use of him as
such, and trust body and soul, and aU things belonging to them in his hands,
and among the rest, thy comforts. Be content he should give them to thee
as seemeth him good. Set not thy heart upon them, nor foUow him, as the
multitude did for the sake of his loaves and fishes, and the dainties that he gave
them, who, when these were withheld, soon forsook their kind Benefactor. Thou
art by faith to make up aU thy happiness in him, and in him only ; and he him
self, being thine, let him give thee or take away what he will besides, thou hast
enough. What! is not this comfort enough, that thou hast got the pearl of
great price — the infinitely rich, inestimably precious Jesus, who has the wisdom
of God to contrive what is best for thee, boundless love to dispose him, and
almighty power to enable him to give it thee ; and he has promised it : canst
thou desire more ? Walk, then, with him by faith, and not by sight. When the
word of- God is the ground of thy faith, which rests there, and is grown to a
fixed settlement, then thou wilt be enabled to go on comfortably, whatever thy
frames and feelings be ; yea, when these are at the lowest ebb, thou wilt not be
thereby discouraged. Suppose thou art walking in darkness, thou canst walk
by faith ; because thou hast a promise : " Who is among you that walketh in
darkness and hath no light ? Let him trust in the name of the Lord, and stay
upon his God," Isa. 1. 10. StiU let him trust and believe. Why ? Because God
is his God still. Mind that ; his God stiU : this blessed relation stiU subsists ;
and faith may draw comfort from it in the darkest hour. Suppose thou art
in heaviness, through manifold temptations, the word says to thee, " Heaviness
may endure for a night, but joy cometh in the morning : " here thou mayest
quiet thy heavy heart, and rest with confidence, tiU the Lord deliver thee out of
thy temptations. Suppose God hideth his face from thee, thou hast the example
of those in the same case : " I wiU wait for the Lord that hideth his face from the
house of Jacob, and wiU look for him," Isa. viii. 17. Wait in faith, looking for
him, and thou shalt seethe light of his countenance. Suppose aU other comforts
fail ; thou hast one stiU, worth more than aU — " This God is my God for ever and
ever. He will never leave me nor forsake me." This is the happiness of the
true believer ; he is enabled to maintain his confidence, when sensible feelings
are no more. And thou seest, reader, how this happiness is attained, and how it
is preserved. It is by trusting to things which change not ; the word of God, the
Son of God and his promises, aU which are in him, yea, made in him, and in
him, Amen, fulfilled by him. May the Lord help thee simply to trust his word,
and to live upon Christ for the fulfilling of it, and then thou wilt indeed get, what.
thou art now seeking in vain, a comfortable frame, and vrilt be enabled to main
tain it against aU the discouragements of sense. To that end, search the scrip
tures, which are able to make thee wise unto salvation ; and let it be thy daily
request to the Lord, to make thee strong in faith, that thou mayest not stagger
at nis promises through unbelief, but mayest, against hope, believe in hope. Beg
of him, when sense goes contrary to the word, to enable thee stiU to believe it, and
not to doubt of Christ's faithfulness to fulfil it — and ask for strength to walk
every moment by faith, and not by sight. Thus the Lord wiU carry thee on safely
and sweetly from faith to faith, tiU thou receive the end of thy faith, even the sal
vation of thy soul. May it be so ! Amen.
St. Paul has been my guide hitherto. He says, Heb. v. 13, that a babe in
Christ is one who is unskilful in the word of righteousness. To this determi
nation of his I have had an eye aU along, and have accordingly endeavoured to
remove those hindrances out of the way of young beginners, which chiefly
arise from their unskilfulness in the word of righteousness. Righteousness sig
nifies strict justice. With respect to God, it is paying him the full demands of
his holy law : in this sense there is none of us righteous, no, not one The God-
man, Christ Jesus, the surety of hispeople, came to work out such a righteousness
for them, and the word reveals it, sets it before them in its infinite freeness, and
in its infinite sufficiency to justify from all things. The word is also the means, in
the hand of the Spirit, of bringing them with Ihe heart to believe unto righteous •

174 THE LIFE OF FAITH.
ness, and therefore the scripture is caUed the word of righteousness ; and being
unskilful in it signifies want of experience in the management of it ; unskilful in
the knowledge of the person of the Lord our righteousness, who is true and
very God, as weU as true and very man; unskilful in the nature of hia righte
ousness, that it is absolutely perfect and everlastingly meritorioue, so that any
sinner by receiving it wttl be not only delivered from sin, and aU the miseries
due to sin, but wiU also be entitied to life and glory j unskilful in the gift of
righteousness, how freely God beatowa it, nothing being required to make it the
sinner's but receiving it, and therefore it is caUed the righteousness of faith ; be
cause by faith he trusts in it for salvation, and for all its blessings in earth and
heaven, and expects them as the fruits of righteousness ; unskilful in expe
rience, not knowing how to plead thia righteousness against the charges of the
law, of conscience, and ofthe accuser of the brethren, and therefore apt to fall
into a legal spirit, to be distressed in their warfare between the old man and the
new, and to covet and to rely more upon sensible feelings than upon the sure tes
timony of God in his word. These are some of the principal difficulties which
young believers meet with ; and they all arise from their unskilf illness in the
word of righteousness, and therefore I have particularly considered some scrip
ture motives for removing them out of the way. And after thou hast perused
these motives, have they been the means of settling thy judgment, comforting thy
conscience, and strengthening thy faith ? Dost thou see more of Christ's grace
and power to save thee a sinner than thou didst before, and therefore canat truet
him better, and in time of need make more uae of hia promised grace ? If thia
be thy case, give him the glory, and may he carry thee on from strength to
strength. But if thou hast received no improvement from reading thus far,
what is the reason ? Perhaps thou art under some of the temptations here de
scribed. Search, and see : and whatever it be, either in doctrine or experience,
which hinders the increase of thy faith, may the Lord discover it to thee, and
enable thee to overcome it, that thou mayeat be no longer a babe, unskilful in
the word of righteousness, but mayest grow up to be a young man etrong in the
Lord, and in the power of hia might!
The apostle Paul has directed me how to speak to the babes in Christ ; and
another apostle shows how they grow up to be young men, and thereby he
furnishes me with matter for the secona part of this treatise on the life of
faith : " I have written unto you, young men," saya he, " becauae ye are
strong, and the word of God abideth in you, and ye have overcome the wicked
one," 1 John ii. 14. Theae young men knew the principles of the doctrine of
Christ : they were established in the belief of hia Godhead, of the infinite suffi
ciency of his salvation, of the free gift of all ita graces and blessings promised to
him that worketh not, and received by faith only, and all treasured up for the be
liever's uae in the fulness of Christ Jesus, to whom he ia to bring nothing to
recommend him, but the promise ofthe grace which he then wants, and a de
pendence upon Christ to supply that want. These young men had attained to a
good degree of knowledge and experience in these truths. They began to be
able to keep the evidence of their union with Christ clear and distinct, and to
improve it by their communion with him in aU his offices. But notwithstanding
their establishment in theae pints, they had many temptations and great diffi
culties ; still they knew but in part — stiU they had a fleshly corrupt nature to
watch over, and to fight against, always inclining them to trust to the law, to
their feeling, to any thing but Christ, and always disposing them to yield to
the suggestions of the devil, and to the allurements of the world. This war
fare, instead of ceasing, grows hotter and hotter ; but they grow stronger. It is
the peculiar character of the young men in Christ to be strong ; they have learnt
where their strength lays, and they put it forth. They go down to battle, not
trusting in any power or might of their own, but strong in the Lord, and in the
power of his might. He is their atrength. When the enemy cometh in like a
flood, then to Jesus they look for safety and victory — " O our God 1 we have
no might against this great company that cometh against us, neither know
we what to do ; but our eyes are upon thee." The abiding sense of their
own weakness keeps them dependent upon him, so that the more they feel of

THE LIFE OF FAITH. 175
their helplessness, the stronger they grow ; because they live more upon Christ
for strength, which Ulustrates that seeming paradox of the apostle, " When I
am weak, then am I strong," — when I am most sensible of my own weakness,
then am I strongest in the Lord ; his strength is then perfected in me. And
his strength is put forth in the effectual working of it by beheving. It is not,
neither can it be, inherent in them, who without Christ can do nothing ; but it
is brought in by faith ; nor does faith bring it in to lodge it or lay it up in store
tUl it shaU be wanted : but when it is wanted, faith then regards the promise,
looks up to Christ to fulfil it, and receives strength out of his fulness. And being
his, freely promised, and freely given, it is therefore caUed the strength of grace :
" Thon therefore, my son," says Paul to Timothy, " be strong in the grace
that is in Christ JesuB." Strong faith gets strong grace from Christ, ac
cording as it is written : " AU things are possible to him that believeth ;" for
according to his faith it shah be done unto him. If his faith reach to
the fuU extent of the promises, he shall find aU things possible which God
hath promised, yea, he shall be able to do aU things through Christ strengthening
him. This is the life of these young men in Christ. They are strong in him, living
upon his promised strength, and by faith receiving it. They live not upon any
thing in themselves, but whatever they stand in need of, and whatever they
have a promise for, that they expect shah be given them by the power of God
their Saviour. They see themselves poor helpless creatures, full of continual
wants, and no means in their own power to supply them. The sense of this
empties them of self-greatness and self-dependence, and the abiding sense of
this keeps them humble and dependent upon Christ. Thus the Lord teaches
them how to live out of themselves, and to be always receiving out of the
Saviour's fulness grace for grace. They have his infinite store-house to repair to,
in which there is treasured up for them every thing that they can possibly want.
Happy for them, their God has promised to supply all their need out of the
riches of his grace in Christ Jesus ! and by faith they have an abundant supply,
to the praise of that God who keepeth his promise for ever.
In him they live — he is the Lord and giver of spiritual life ; as Paul says — " I
live, yet not I, but Christ Iiveth in me." They are made strong in him. " The
Lord is the strength of my life," says the Psalmist, Psal. xxvii. 1 ; that life which
I live by the faith of the Son of God has aU its strength from him.
And is continued by his power — " For none can keep ahve his own soul,"
Psal. xxii. 29. " It is God who holdeth our soul in life," Psal. lxvi. 9-
And is kept by faith — " Ye are kept by the power of God through faith,"
1 Pet. i. 5. Whatever strength the believer wants to enable him to bear hard
ship, endure the cross, fight his spiritual enemies, daUy gain victories over them,
he expects it from God, and through faith he receives it, and is kept — yea, so kept,
As to be confirmed unto the end. He that is able to keep believers from
falling, wiU keep them until they receive the end of their faith, even the sal
vation of their souls. Thus the life which Christ begins by his grace he con
tinues by his strength; and every act of this spiritual life is from him. The will,
the power is his ; for ho doeth aU, and in aU. These young men were so well
assured of this, that they lived upon Christ for strength, and they received it ;
they were strong in him. Their faith viewed him in his exalted state with all
power in heaven and earth, and engaged as their covenant head to use it for
them ; to make them, and to keep them, alive to God. On this power they de
pended. And whatever promise they had of its being used in their behalf, and
pleaded it out at the throne of grace, and trusted Christ with the fulfilling of it,
he never disappointed them. They were made strong, and stood fast in the Lord,
who never withdrew his supporting arm ; therefore they never ceased to put their
whole trust and confidence in him.
When the enemy sees them thus strong in the Lord through faith, it stirs up
his devilish malice, and makes him bum with envious rage. He leaves no temp
tation untried to draw them from Christ. He isweUskiUed in cunning wiles
and sly devices for this purpose. He does not begin with tempting them to
open sin ; that would at once discover his wicked design ; but he artfully tries to
sao the foundation, and to weaken their faith. If he can get them from their

176 THE LIFE OF FAITH.
dependence upon Christ, he carries his point ; and too, too often he succeeds
On ! beware, reader, of every tiling ; suspect it, let its appearance be ever bo fair
and good, which in the least tends to weaken thy fast hold of Christ. Cleave
to him with fuU purpose of heart, as long as ever thou livest ; for the enemy's
whole plan is to separate thee from liim. Formerly he tried to do this by dia-
tressing thee about thy sins — how they could be pardoned — whether being so
great, so many, the blood of Christ could cleanse from all : now thou hast,
through believing, received forgiveness of sins, he wttl try to do the same hy dis
tressing thee about thy duties. Sometimes he will try to bring guilt into thy
conscience by suggesting to thee thy many failings and short comings in them —
the disorder of thine imagination — thy wanderings in thy prayers — thy dulness
in hearing and reading the word — the little life and power thou findest in thino
attendance upon the ordinances — and the coldness of thy love to God and man.
If he can get thee to dweU upon these things so as to forget Christ, then he has
made way for this insinuation — How could it be thus with thee, and thou a
strong believer ? And if he can get thee to reason upon it, then he has thee fast ;
thou art caught in his snare.
But if the Lord has taught thee not to be ignorant of Satan's devices, as soon
as the thought arises, whether thou art in Christ, because of such failings, thou
wilt know from what quarter it comes, and wilt immediately resist it. So that
the temptation will make thee stand faster ; it will drive thee closer to Christ,
make thy dependence stronger on his blood and righteousness, put thee upon
making more use of him as thy intercessor and advocate with the Father, and
help thee to live more out of thyself by faith upon him. Thus Christ becomes
precious ; thou art more humble. The snare is broken, and thou art delivered.
When the enemy sees this, his implacable malice wttl soon tempt thee again.
He has another deep-laid stratagem relating to thy duties ; and that is from their
being unsuccessful. Thou hast had something laid much upon thy heart, and
thou hast carried it to God in prayer, and thou hast waited long, but no answer
comes. Upon this Satan takes occasion to suggest — Now you see God does not
give you what you ask, although he has promised, Ask and ye shall have ; the
fault cannot be in him, therefore it is plain you are not in his favour; his pro
mises do not belong to you. And if he can thus work a little upon thy im
patience, he will soon get thee into doubting and unbelief. Here thou
mayest see how all the wiles of Satan tend to one point ; namely, to separate
thee from Christ ; and how necessary then is it, that thou shouldcst have this
settled beyond all question, that Christ and thou are one ? If this be maintained
in thy conscience, then Satan's stratagem is defeated : for Christ being thine, ho
will give thee every thing that he has promised ; and although thou hast it not
just at the time thou hast fixed thyself, yet he knows best. Thou shalt cer
tainly have it, if his infinite wisdom sees it good for thee ; and if he does not Bee
it good, his love wttl give thee something better. Thy faith must wait God's time.
Strong faith can wait long. Having such a promise as this to depend upon — they
shaU not be " ashamed who wait for me," Isa. xfix. 23; thou mayest with confidence
wait, and be a foUower of them who through faith and patience inherit the pro
mises ; who by faith regarded the promises, by patience waited for the fulfilling
of them ; and although they waited long, yet they succeeded at last, and did in
herit every grace and blessing, for which with faith and patience they had been
waiting. Go, and do thou likewise.
Upon the failing of these temptations, the enemy has another ready. Since
he cannot get thee off thy guard by bringing thee into doubting and unbelief,
he wttl attack thy faith in another way. He wiU come like an angel of light,
and seem to be Christ's friend and thine. He will allow thee to be a child of
God, and to be strong in faith. The more clearly thou art satisfied of thy union
with Christ, the more will he improve, if thou art not aware, this thy certainty to
his own wicked purposes. He will try to keep thine eye upon thy great graces
and high gifts ; he will flatter thee exceedingly upon them, and will tempt
thee to view them with a secret delight ; every now and then insinuating, what
a great Christian thou art — how few there are hke thee — to what an exalted state
thouhast attained — what temptations thouhast overcome — what victories thou hast
gained over Satan— -and hcv safe thou art now, fast upon the rock ! And if he

THE LIFE OF FAITH 177
finds this pleasing bait is not instantly rejected with a Get thee behind me, Satan ;
then he wiU begin to work upon thy self-love, and to give thee many plausible
reasons for self-admiration, so that thou shalt first look pleasing at, then fondly
love, and at last sacrilegiously dote upon thy wondrous attainments. Thus he will
lift thee up with pride, and will try to draw thee into his own crime, and into bis
own condemnation. What a dangerous temptation is this ! How many have I
known who feU into it ! If thou sayest, By what means shall I escape it ? Mind
the first approach ; for it is coming upon thee, as soon as thou beginnest to think
of thyself more highly than thou oughtest to think. Thou art in thyself a poor,
miserable, helpless sinner, and to this very moment without Christ thou canst do
nothing. Thou canst not do one good thing, nor overcome the weakest enemy,
nor take one step in the way to heaven, without Christ : nay thou canst not think
one good thought without him. What hast thou, then, to be proud of, and to
stir up thy self-admiration ? Nothing but sin. The humble abiding sense of
this tends to thy safety : for while this is ever present with thee, " In me, that
is in my flesh, dweUeth no good thing," it wiU lead thee to live by faith upon
Christ for all good things. And being all his, and received every moment
from him as his free gift, thou wilt be glorifying and exalting him in aU and for
all, knowing that he resisteth the proud ; but he giveth grace unto the humble.
The Lord keep thee humble, and then thou wilt have grace to escape this cun
ning wile of the devil.
If thou shalt say, Alas ! I am fallen into it : how shaU I recover myself? Re
member his case who in his prosperity said he never should be moved ; the
favour of the Lord had made his mountain to stand so strong, Ps. xxx. vi. 7 .
He was too confident in himself, and was moved. How did he recover hia
standing ? "I cried unto the Lord, and unto the Lord I made my supplication.
Hear, O Lord, and have mercy upon me. Lord, be thou my helper." His
prayer was heard, he found mercy to pardon his offence, and help to raise him
up, and his mourning, he says, was turned into joy and gladness. Look up as
he did to the Lord Christ. Plead thy pardon through his promised mercy, and
beg of him to enable thee to walk more humbly with thy God. Then shall the
Psalmist's experience be thine, and thou shalt escape the snare which was laid
for thy precious fife.
These young men having thus overcome the devices which Satan had contrived
to weaken their faith, must expect a fresh attack from him. He wiU tempt
them concerning the ground of faith. He sees they are strong, because the
word of God abideth in them, therefore he will use aU his cunning and power to
weaken their trust in the word and promises of God. By the incorruptible seed
of the word faith is begotten, and by the same word it is nourished up, and
strengthening, growing exceedingly from faith to faith. The word, which is the
sole ground of faith, reveals the covenant made by the eternal Trinity for the
salvation of sinners, and makes many free promises of every covenant blessing
to him that believeth. These promises may most steadfastly be relied upon, be
cause of the unchangeable nature of God, who makes them. AU his perfections
are engaged for the fulfilling of his word : so that what he has spoken has an
actual being and existence. He says, and it is done — saying and doing are the
same with him. Let there be ever so great a distance of time between the word
spoken and the thing done, yet this is real as any thing now in being ; because
it exists in the mind and will of God, is revealed in his word, and by his faith
fulness and almighty power is to be established at the time appointed. How is
it possible, then, that this word should be broken ? There is no matter of fact
of more undoubted evidence, nothing in futurity, not even the rising of the sun
to-morrow, so fixed and certain as the accomplishment of God's promises to him
that believeth. These young men in Christ were most assuredly persuaded of
this truth — They knew that heaven and earth should pass away before one tittle
of God's promises should fail. They looked upon them all as made in Christ,
in him Yea and in him Amen, made in him, and fulfiUed to him, as the head of
the body of the church, and in him fulfiUed to aU his members. As certainly
as every one of them has been made good to him the head, so wUl they be made
good to his members. He haa aU power in heaven and earth committed to him
N

178 THE LIFE OF FAITH.
for that very purpose. Whoever by believing is joined to him, he has thereby a
right and title to every promise, and may boldly sue it out in time of need . and
then it is Christ's office and glory to fulfil the promise. If mountains of diffi-
cultiea stand in the way, the believer need not fear or donbt. Christ is upon
the throne. What are difficulties against his almighty power ? Besides, Christ
has already given him good security. He has put into his hands the pledges
and earnests of the promised inheritance, and how is it possible he should fail in
fulfilling hia cngagementa, and putting him in due time into actual possession?
Read what the apostle says of this subject. Turn to the passage ; tor it ia too
long to quote, Heb. vi. from verse 1 1 to the end of the chapter ; in which you
may observe these particulars.
1. The heirs of promise are apt to be full of doubt, and to have strife in their
consciences, about their right and title to all the graces and blessings of sal
vation :
2. God was willing out of hia infinite mercy to e8tabli8h their right and title to
them beyond diapute, and to put an end to all strife ;
3. Therefore he engaged by promise to give them all those graces and bless
ings; and
4. To show the unchangeableneae of hia wttl herein, he confirmed the promise
by an oath.
5. It is impossible that God should lie in his promise, or that he should he
perjured in his oath.
6. Therefore here are two immutable things to strengthen the faith and hopes
of the heirs of promise.
7. While their faith rests upon those immutable things, it will always bring
them strong consolation.
8. When enemies, dangers, and temptations attack them, they are safe, by
fleeing for refuge to lay hold of the hope set before them in God's immutable
promises. 9. This hope will be as useful to them at such times as an anchor to a ship.
By it they will ride ont all the storms of life, until Jesus their forerunner bring
them within the veil, where their anchor is now cast, and put them into eternal
possession of all the promises.
With what rich and copious matter does this scripture abound, tending to
8how the absolute safety of resting upon God's promises ! How strong are the
arguments to persuade the heirs of promiae to put their whole trust and confi
dence in the faithfulness of their God ! who, having provided an infinitely glo
rious and everlasting inheritance for them, waa willing to make it over to them
in the strongest manner of conveyance, and therefore he haa given them the pro
mise and the oath of God, which cannot possibly change or alter, that their faith
might never doubt or waver, and their hope might at aU times be sure and sted-
faet. And until he bring them to the inheritance itaelf, he has given them many
eweet and blessed promises of all things needful for their temporal and spiritual
estate, upon which he would have them not only to live comfortably at present,
but also to receive them aa part of the inheritance, allowed them for their mainte
nance, till they come to age and enter upon the possession of the whole. And
what God intended in his promise and oath, has ita effects in a good degree
among those who have the word of God abiding in them. They caat their anchor
where he commands them, and they are not only safe, but alao in time of the
greatest troubles and temptationa have strong consolation. When enemies come,
corruptiona arise, and difficultieB are in the way ; they have a promise, and a
promise-keeping God to depend upon. Whatever straita they are in, the word
abiding in them bringe some promise of support and deliverance : the promise
shows what God has engaged to do, and faith receives the fulfilling of his en
gagements. When they draw nigh to God in duties, in ordinances, they know
what he has promised to them that wait upon him, and they judge him faithful
who hath promised, and lo! he is present with them. In short, while they live
like themselves as the heirs of promise, they are presened from all evil, and want
no manner of thing that is good. This is their happy case ; thrice happy, be
cause the means uised to deprive them of their happiness are overruled of God for

THE LIFE OF FAITH. 179
the establishing it. The enemy rages against them, but in vain. He was a har
from the beginning. The word is truth, and he abode not in it, therefore he
hates it, and with a greater hatred because the Lord has made it the means of
strengthening those behevers. He knows that all his temptations wiU be fruit
less, whUe the word abideth in them. He fears no weapon formed against him,
like the sword of the Spirit : he has felt its sharpness and its power ; with it the
Captain of our salvation cut Rahab, and wounded the dragon ; and with it all
his good soldiers resist the devil, and make him flee from them. For these rea
sons he has a great variety of temptations to weaken the believer's trust in the
word, and his reliance upon the promises of God.
Sometimes he attacks them in a matter where his hopes are founded in their
ignorance : he is cunning to spy out the particular way in which they have been
led, and their readiness to maintain their ground by making use of the promises
suited to that way. He resolves therefore upon some new temptation, with
which they have never been exercised ; and he watches the favourable opportu
nity to inject it with aU his strength. Upon his doing it, the soul is put into a
great hurry, because it has no promise ready to apply to the present case ; for
want of which the understanding is confused, faith wavers, doubt enters, and
Satan carries his point. This demonstrates the necessity of searching the scrip
tures, and meditating upon them night and day. In them God has graciously
treasured up aU sorts of promises. There is not a possible case for a believer to
be in, of spiritual or temporal concern, but there is a promise suitable to it, which
he ought to have ready against the hour of temptation. If he has not, he neglects
the Lord's kind provision, and lays himself open to the enemy's attack. Reader !
if thou wouldst not be ignorant of Satan's devices, foUow Christ's counsel —
search the scriptures. Remember, they are able to make thee wise unto salva
tion, through faith in Christ Jesus : therefore, store up his promises ; pray him
to sanctify thy memory to retain them, and to enable thee to make use of them
in every time of need.
If this temptation fail, the enemy wiU soon have another ready. I have known
him often try, and often succeed in endeavouring to take off the attention from
the most easy parts of scripture, and to fix it upon those parts which are hard to
be understood. Upon those the befiever dweUs too much, and puzzles himself :
his head grows confused : he consults commentators, and they confuse him
more. And if he does not fall from hence into questioning the truth of scrip
ture, yet he certainly neglects the right use of it, forgetting it is the means of
building himself up in his most holy faith. Reader ! whenever thou art tempted
about difficult texts, look up to the incarnate Word, and pray him by his Spirit
to open thine understanding, that thou mayest know what thou readest ; and if
thou stiU dost not find the meaning of them made plain to thee, pass them by for
that time. Do not puzzle and distress thyself about them. Perhaps, when thou
meeteat with them again, they wiU appear easy, and Christ wiU give thee light to
see and to comprehend them.
If thou sayest, I do look up to him to teach me, but, nevertheless, I find many
hard and difficult texts. Remember thou knowest but in part, and therefore
thou standest in need of daUy teaching. These texts are profitable, if they hum
ble thee, and make thee five more upon the teaching of the divine prophet. The
humbler thou art, thou wilt be the more teachable. The lower thou sittest at
his feet to hear his words, thou wilt learn the most. The master himself has
declared, " Whosoever shall humble himself as a httle child, the same Is the
greatest in the kingdom of heaven." If these difficult texts thus humble thee,
and make thee live more upon Christ's inward teaching, they wiU be the means
of thy growth in saving knowledge. Thy hearing and reading the word, in a
constant dependence upon him, will keep thee from the dangerous errors and
heresies of the times. Most of those arise from unlearned and unstable men,
full of pride and self-conceit, whom God resisteth ; but he giveth grace to the
humble. If he has given thee grace to hold fast the form of sound words, which thou
hast learned and been assured of, the enemy wUl change his attack, and pursue
thee with new temptations. Envious of thy happiness, he wiU be often assault-
n 2

180 THE LIFE OF FAITH.
ing thee, and trying to move thee from thy steadfastness. He wiU at times in
sinuate every lie that he can raise against the word of God ; and he will not begin
with reason or argument, but by way of surprise, with sudden injections darting
into the mind doubts like these : How do I know the scripture ia inapired 2
What proof have I ? And if these be not immediately rejected, he wttl follow
them like lightning with others. How can that be inspired which ia full of con
tradictions, and full of doctrines above reason ? Who can defend the matters of
fact related in it ? The language is low and mean, unworthy of God ; the scrip
ture is false ; perhaps there is neither God nor devil.
These blasphemous thoughts sometimes put the believer into a hurry and con
fusion, and through the suddenness and violence of them greatly distress him.
The apostle calls these assaults " the fiery darts of the wicked one" — darts, be
cause he throws them with all his might against the soul, and fiery, because he
would have them to catch hold of and to inflame its corruptions and lusts. And
they do, if the shield of faith be not ready to stop their force and to quench their
fire. This is a piece of the armour of God prepared for the believer's safety at
auch times ; and the right use of it is this : The Lord having promised to be a
shield to them that put their trust in him, and to compass them about with his
favour as with a shield, the believer looks up when theae fiery darts are flying
thick about him, and says, — " O Lord God of hosts, who hast promised that thy
faithfulness and truth should be my shield and buckler, now establish thy word
unto thy servant. In thee, O my God, do I put my trust, save me in this hour
of temptation." Then the battle becomes the Lord's. He is engaged to put
forth hia atrength to shield thee from the enemy, 'thus thou ahalt conquer, and
ahalt happily experience what is written — " Resiat the devil, and he will flee
from you."
He wiU flee for a season, but wttl return again. He has other temptations, and
he wttl try them all to disparage the word of God, and to lessen the believer's
confidence in it. SometimeB he wttl insinuate, How can theae things be ? — in
what way or by what means can such a promise be fulfilled ? If you begin to
reason upon the point, he will get you from your Btronghold, and conquer you.
Beware of hie lies, and have always your answer ready — " It is written. What
God hath said, put your trust in, if all the world gainsay it ; for he is faithful who
hath promised, and all things are possible with him.
If this temptation does not succeed, and he cannot bring you to doubt of the
truth of the promisea, then he will try you about your right to them. When you
are in darkness, or walking heavily in eickness or any trouble, and you have been
praying for deliverance, but Christ does not presently answer you, then he haa a
favourable opportunity to suggest — Now you see the promises do not belong to
you ; Christ will not hear you ; and therefore you have been deceiving yourself
with a vain notion of faith. This is a common tempting, against which atill op
pose — " It is written." Thy case, be it what it wiU, has a promise, either of sup
port or deliverance. If thou art not delivered, yet if Chrhu support thee, ao that
thy faith and patience fail not, does not this show hia infinite goodness to thee t
He will have thy faith tried, and he wiU put it into the' fire, not to consume it,
but that it may come, like gold out of the furnace, purer and brighter. And
what if thou art in the fire a great while ? thou wilt see more of his tender mercies
in keeping thee there, and wilt thereby leam to live in a more simple dependence
upon him. Cast not away, therefore, thy confidence in the written word. The
promiaee in it 8tand faster than the strong mountains. If aU the powers inearth
and heU 8hould join, they cannot i-efeat one Bingle tittle of them. When the
world and all the works therein shall be burnt up, and the place of them shall be
no more found, then the promises shall stand fast aa the throne of God, and shall
receive their full and perfect accomplishment through the ages of eternity.
These are some of Satan's temptations againat the young men in Chriat, who
are strong, becauae the word of God abideth in them. Hia de8ign is to weaken
their reliance upon its promises. Till he can do this, he despairs of success ; and
therefore he tries every method which hia wicked cunning and rage can invent.
His busy, active spirit is night and day plotting against the word of God. See
a lively picture of his utter hatred to it in the parable of the sower While

THE LIFE OF FAITH 181
the good seed is sowing, the devil is indefatigable in picking it up. He exer
cises all his wttes to keep it out of the hearers' hearts, and he prevaUs with the
greater part to reject it : among those who seemingly receive it, he cheats three
out of four, so that the word does not take root, nor bear fruit to perfection .
Since Satan is thus successful, is it not absolutely necessary, reader, that thou
shouldst be well acquainted with his devices ? And the word abiding in thee —
the ingrafted word — wiU both make thee acquainted with them, and also strong
to resist them ; because then thou wttt be taught by Christ's wisdom, and
strengthened by his almighty power. As thou growest in the sense of thy want
of him, and livest in a closer dependence upon him, thou wilt understand more
of his word, and experience more of his power : by which means the enemy's
continual attacks, driving thee to Christ for the fulfilling of his promises, wiU
make thee continually safe. Let the roaring lion rage; what hast thou to fear?
Let him go about seeking whom be may devour ; the Lord is thy shield and
thy defence : in him is thy trust. Thou hast his promise that he wiU preserve
thee from all evil, and will make all things, even Satan's spite and rage against
thee, work together for thy good. How dear and precious, then, should the
word of God be to thee ! If thou art weak, because it is the means of thy
growing, and being nourished up ; and if thou art strong, because, by its
abiding in thee, thou wUt be established. May it be thy study and thy de
light; and may every reading of it bring thee to a better acquaintance with, and
a greater dependence upon, the adorable Jesus ! And if thou desirest thus to
profit from the scriptures, I would advise thee, reader, to observe two things,
which wUl be much for Christ's glory and for thy edification.
First, in thy frequent and careful perusal of the Bible (and mind, thou canst
not read it too much) take particular notice of the promises, which are most
united to thy age, state, and condition in life ; because these God has gra
ciously made for thy use ; and about these the enemy wttl be most busy with
thee. Treasure them up, then, in thy memory, and have them ready against the
time of need; looking up,
Secondly, to Christ for the fulfilling of them. All the promises are made in
him, and made good by him: thou art, therefore, in a humble dependence upon
his faithfulness and power, to expect whatever thou wantest and he has pro
mised. Trust him, and he will not fail thee. Stagger not at any of his pro
mises through the seeming impossibility of their being made good ; but depend
upon his almighty power, and thou wilt find him a faithful, promise-keeping
God, whose word standeth fast for ever and ever.
Thus thou shalt not only be safe, but shalt also overcome the wicked one,
which the apostle John makes the last part of their character who are strong in
the Lord. They overcome him by the strength of their faith ; they hold fast
their confidence in the Lord's promised strength ; and he fights for them. That
mighty arm, which bruised the serpent's head, brings them victory ; as it is
written of that noble army, mentioned Rev. xii. 1 1 : " They overcame the accuser
of the brethren by the blood of the Lamb, and by the word of their testimony."
Through faith in his blood they were pardoned and justified freely, and they knew
that in him they had righteousness and strength ; therefore they were at peace
with God, and the accuser ofthe brethren could not lay any thing to their charge.
Thus they were delivered from his power, and translated into the kingdom of
God's dear Son ; and they testified this by adhering to the word of tmth. They
believed that whatever Christ had therein promisea he would fulfil to them, and
they bore their testimony to their being safe in depending upon his word in the
most trying circumstances. They would not give it up, whatever they lost for
trusting to it ; nay, they stuck stedfastly to its truth, although it cost them
their lives for maintaining their testimony ; for it is said of them, " they loved
not their lives unto the death;" that is, they loved the truth more than life;
they were not afraid publicly to own that their trust and confidence was in the
blood of the Lamb, and tiity believed they should be infinite and everlasting
gamer 8 by holding fast the word of their testimony unto death. And the Lord
was with them, and mightily strengthened them, so that they joyfully sealed their
testimony with their blood, although hey died in flames, and in tbe most ex-

182 THE LIFE OF FAITH.
quisite torments. Thus they overcame Satan. A moat noble company of thoae
conquerors are now standing round the throne of the Lamb, enjoying hia ex
ceeding great and precious promises : he has crowned them with glory— he haa
clothed them with robes washed and made white in his own blood— he has wiped
away aU tears from their eyes, and taken all cause of sorrow from their hearts-
he has put palms into their hands, to show that they are eternal conquerors, and
that they 8hall stand confirmed in bliss for ever and ever. May thou and I,
reader, ere long, join them ; and until that happy time come, may our faith be
daily more established in the blood and righteousness of the Lamb of God, that
we may be growing in our love to him, and in our dependence upon him, until
he admit us to see him as he is.
Through much exercise and fighting; these young men, strong and mighty in
the scriptures, grow up to be fathers in Christ ; whose character is thus drawn
by the apostle John, 1 Epist. ii. 14 : "I have written unto you fathers, because
ye have known him that is from the beginning," namely, Jesus Christ, whose
style and title it is to be from the beginning, as he himself speaks in Prov. viii;
22, 23 : "The Lord possessed me in the beginning of his way, before his worka
of old. I waa set up from everlasting, from the beginning, or ever the earth
was." He was a person in the Godhead, coequal and coeternal with the Father,
but was 8et up in his office-character from everlasting to the beginning of the
ways and works of God. Upon account of what he waa to do nnd suffer in
man's nature according to the grace of the covenant of the ever-blesBed Trinity,
he was the Creator, and is the Preserver of the universe ; for by him were all
things created that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible ;
and by him all things subsist ; and he is the beginning, the first cause of all
things in nature, and also in grace, the head of the body the church. In the
same manner our Lord speaks of himself, Rev. i. 8 : "I am Alpha and Omega,
the beginning and the ending, saith the Lord, which is, and which was, and
which is to come, the Almighty." He is in and from the beginning, being the
first cause of att the divine works in creation, in providence, and in redemption,
the Author and the Finisher, the Firat and the Last in aU ; which shows the great
ropriety of describing him here by this name. The apostle is treating of the
ignest state of a believer, and he says it consiste in knowing that Jesus Christ
ia all and in all. Whatever good there is in hia kingdom of nature, from him

E

it had its beginning, and by him it is preserved : whatever good there is in his
kingdom of grace, he is the author of it ; by his power it is continued ; and
when brought to perfection, he ie the finisher. He ia the beginning, he is the
ending, of aU the counsels and of all the works of God. In this light these
fathers had learned to conaider the Lord Jesus : they knew that he waa to do all
for them, and in them, and by them ; they not only knew it speculatively, hut
had also experimental knowledge of it. " Ye have known him that is from the
beginning ; " have known him, and tried him, and found him to be what his name
signifies. And this is the right knowledge of Christ — not such aa the devil has ;
he could eay, I know thee who thou art, the Holy One of God — not such as too
many nominal Chriatians have, who profess that they know God, but in worka
they deny him — not such aa many profeesors attain, for whom it had been better
not to have known the way of righteousness than, after they had known it, to
turn from it. These fathers knew Christ by the inward teaching of hia Word
and Spirit, whereby he made himeelf known to them, as he does not to others.
For he fulfiUed to them the great promise of the new covenant—" I will give
them a heart to know me, that I am the Lord, and they shall be my people, and
I wttl be their God," Jer. xxiv. 7. The covenant is weU ordered in all things,
and sure, particularly with respect to the quickening of the soul from a death in
trespasses and sins, and to the renewing of its faculties, that they may be capable
of knowing God, and to the enlightening them, that the light of the gloriqua
gospel of Christ may shine unto them, even unto the heart, enlivening it with
holy and heavenly affection to the person, to the offices, and to the glories of the
blessed Immanuel. Whereby the believer, thus taught of God to know him
aright, can now trust him, hope in him, and love him ; which graces are
strengthened from the consideration of God's standing related to him as his cove-

THE LIFE OF FAITH. 183
nant God, and of his being one of God's redeemed people ; from which relations
he has a right to, and by faith may enjoy, every covenant mercy in time, and
shall be a partaker of them aU in eternity. This is the knowledge, concerning
which so many and such great things are spoken in scripture, and which St. John
says these fathers had received : they had attained by the Spirit of Wisdom and
revelation to that knowledge of Christ, which is life eternal ; and the same Spirit
enabled1 them to be continuaUy growing and increasing in the knowledge of
Christ. As he shines more clearly into their hearts, he discovers to them more
of their wants. He makes them better acquainted with themselves, and lets
them feel more of the workings of their corrupt nature, and of their own entire
helplessness. Thus by his light they see deeper into that mystery of iniquity
which is in them, and they grow in the sense and experience of it att their lives.
Day by day some failing, short-coming, infirmity, or temptation, leads them to
more lowly and humbling views of themselves, and brings them fresh discoveries
of their faUen and helpless state. While they attend to what is passing in their
own breasts, every moment something wiU be speaking for Christ — " Without
me ye can do nothing." It is this abiding sense of their wants, and faith in his
promises to supply them, which lead them to be constantly looking unto Jesus.
Many wants do not discourage them ; for his promises are as many as their
wants can be — nor great wants, for he has given them exceeding great promises —
nor continual wants, for he has promised them grace every moment. As they
grow in tbe knowledge of themselves, they see more need of living upon Christ
in the several offices which he sustains. The daily experience which they have
of their own ignorance, and sinfulness, and helplessness, endear to them their
divine Prophet, Priest, and King. The continual sense of their want of him
makes them glad to live in a settled, fixed dependence upon his fulness, and to
be always receiving out of it. They would not five otherwise if they could. They
know that their dear Saviour will manage better for them than they could for
themselves. He has taken their affairs, spiritual and temporal, into his hands,
and he can make no mistakes. His infinite love is guided by unerring wisdom,
and its blessings are bestowed by almighty power. Happy for them, they and
theirs are under the care of this best of friends. They know it, and are sensible
of their happiness. Daily experience brings them fresh proofs of the love and
power of Jesus ; which makes them wish for more, stiU more faith, that they
may glorify their blessed Saviour by trusting him more. However, in this they
are growing, increasing day by day, in their knowledge of the salvation, and
gaining a closer acquaintance and fellowship with the person of God their Sa
viour, until they come to see him as he is.
This is the character of those believers who are stedfast in the faith, and are
become fathers, able now to teach others also. They have attained to that know
ledge of Christ which is life eternal, and they are daily pressing forward. What
they already know of him increases their desire to know more. And by being
always conversant with him (for without him they can do nothing) they have con
tinual opportunities of making new discoveries. In him are laid up treasures of
every thing that is great and good. His riches are unsearchable, infinite, and
eternal. There is no coining to the end of them. Believers are persuaded of it,
and therefore they try to dig deep into this golden mine. It is all theirs. The
farther they go, the more is their faith strengthened, and the more precious
Christ becomes : for they find such an exceUency in the knowledge of Christ
Jesus their Lord, that their souls hunger and thirst to know more of him.
The more they attain, the more the appetite increases ; and nothing can per
fectly satisfy it but the full enjoyment of Christ in glory, when they shall know,
even as also they are known. TOI that blessed time come, they will be growing
in grace, and in the knowledge of God their Saviour.
This is the distinguishing mark of these fathers : — they are pressing forward ;
they have not yet attained to the perfect knowledge of ChriBt, but they are going
on to perfection ; and they make a happy progress. God meets them in, and
blesses, the means which he has appointed tor their daily growth. In those he
requires them to depend and to wait upon him ; and he gives them clearer dis
coveries ofthe adorable person, and ofthe gracious offices ofthe Lord Christ,

184 THE LIFE OF FAITH.
and thereby enables them to live more by faith upon him, for aU things belong
ing to their temporal, their spiritual, and their eternal concerns. These parti
culars wiU include the principal acts of the life of faith ; and, while we take a
short view of them, reader, may every page be made the means of increasing and
strengthening thy faith in the Lord Jesus !
First, they grow in the knowledge of his person, which is altogether wonder
ful ; ao that they can never come to the end of his perfections, nor, to eternity,
can they show forth all his praise ; for he is God and man in one Chriat — Jeho
vah incarnate — Immanuel, God with us. Thia is the great mystery of godliness,
God manifested in the fleah ; in which he came amongst us, that he might he
the second Adam, who is the Lord from heaven ; that as the first Adam by sin
had ruined all those who are bora of him after the fleah, eo the second Adam
might save all those who are born of him after the Spirit. And for this end he
has all power in heaven and earth committed to him ; he has all fulness, yea, the
fulness ofthe Godhead dwelling in him, that he might be the head ofthe body, the
church, and that out of his fulness his members might be receiving grace in time
and glory in eternity. Of this divine Person all the prophets have spoken since
the world began : and what they have spoken in many words the apoatle sums
up in a short description, Col. i. 15, &c, where he is treating of that Person in
the Godhead who covenanted to come into the world to save sinners : " who is
the image ofthe invisible God, the firat-bom of every creature ; for by him were
all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, vieible and invisible,
whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers : all thinga
were created by him and for him; and he is before all things, and by him all
things consist. And he is the Head of the body, the church ; who ia the begin
ning, the firat-born from the dead ; that in all things he might have the pre
eminence : for it pleased the Father that in him should all fulness dwell." In
which words these three glorious truths are declared of Christ Jesus : first,
that he created all things visible and invisible ; secondly, that he upholds
them all by the word of his power ; thirdly, that he has redeemed unto himself a
peculiar people' through his own blood, who are his church : and he is to them
what the head ia to the body, the head of authority, the first in rank and
dignity, and the head of influence, from whom life and motion and Bense are
communicated to all his members : for in him they live and move and have
their being. In all things he is firat, or has the pre-eminence; he is Jehovah
the Creator and the Preaerver of all things, Jehovah incarnate, the Head of
hi8 church, and the Saviour of the body. Ihis is the bleaaed object of faith :
and what can there be conceived beautiful, useful, or happy, what exceUency
is there or perfection, which is not in ita highest degree in this most adorable
God-man ? What can a believer want, what can his heart desire, which is not
here treasured up for his use? Here is a Burety perfectly qualified, as man
to act and suffer for man, as God to merit infinitely and eternally by what he did
and suffered, and as God-man he haa now aU fulness of wisdom, and righteous
ness, and hofinesa, and strength, and every thing needful for his people's hap
piness. Whither then should they go but to him, for every grace and bless
ing ? And to him they do repair, according to the command—" Look unto me
and be ye saved, all the ends of the earth," Isa. xiv. 22. The promise to them
who are looking unto him, ie very extensive—" My God shaU supply all your
need according to his riches in glory by Chnst Jesus," Phil. iv. 19. By
him they expect a continual supply of all temporal and spiritual needs, and
therefore on him they would have their eyes ever fixed, looking unto
Jesus. While by faith their eyes are kept steady upon him, they will be dis
covering something new in this wonderful God-man, and receiving something
out of his fulness, to strengthen their hopes, and to inflame their affections.
He will grow more lovely in their sight ; fresh beauties wttl diacover them
selves ; new worlds of delight will appear; for aU the glories of heaven and
earth shine in their fuUeat lustre in his person. The believer sees them at pre
sent ; for by faith he can see Him that is invisible ; and although he haa not auch
a perfect yision ae they have, who, standing round hia throne, see him face to
face yet he hopen to enjoy it soon ; and he has even now thia peculiar pleasure

THE LIFE OF FAITH. 185
in viewing the glories of his God and Saviour, that he can truly say of him,
" this is my Beloved, and my Friend ;" here I fix, and on him 1 rest ; I want to
look nowhere else for any good, since it aU meets and centres in one object : for
it hath pleased the Father and the eternal Spirit, that all fulness should dweU in
the Son of God, and he is my beloved Saviour, and my dearest Friend ; he is the
Chief among ten thousand in my affection, yea, he is altogether lovely. The
more I five by faith upon him, the more I love him ; for I experience such ten
der compassion in his heart, and such a kind concern for me and my interest,
that the love of Christ constrains me to love him again. He endears his person
to me by continual favours. I do love him, but not so much as he deserves. I
would increase, and abound more and more in love to him, as his mercies increase
and abound to me ; but a grateful sense of them, and love to him for them are
his own gifts, for which, as weU as for his mercies, I must be content to be in
debted to him for ever and ever. Lord, shed more of thy precious love abroad
in my heart ; enlarge it in true affection to thee, and make all that is within me
bless thy holy name.
Reader, stop a little here, and consider : Art thou one of these believers ? Hast
thou a warm heart for the person of Christ ? Dost thou see in him, and in its
highest degree, every thing that is lovely ? and art thou growing and abounding
in love to him ? If this be thy present happiness, thou wUt find many powerful
motives to increase it in the 45th and 42d Psalms. Read them, and see whether
thou canst so mix faith with what is said in them of the incarnate God, as to con
clude with David, " Whom have I in heaven, but thee ? and there is none upon
earth that I desire besides thee." If thy heart be thus enamoured with his love,
then thou hast got a key to the book of Canticles ; for thou art the spouse of
Christ. Mayest thou experience what is therein said of the glories of thy
heavenly Bridegroom, and mayest thou grow in love to his adorable Person,
by finding continual tokens of his love to thy soul in the several offices which he
sustains for the dispensing of his favours. In these offices he is always endear
ing himself to his people. And this is the
Second thing, whereby the fathers in Christ grow in the knowledge of him.
There is not a want which sin has brought upon believers, but there is an office
in Christ, where it may be supplied ; and the sense and feeling of that want
leading them to trust in him upon the warrant of his word and promise, wiU cer
tainly bring them a supply in the hour of need. His offices are many, but they
may be aU included in these five : — He is the Saviour, the Prophet, the Priest,
the King, and the Advocate of his people.
The Saviour, Jesus, a dear name, descriptive of his infinite grace, and sweetly
suited to the sinner's wants. Whatever poUution or guilt he has contracted,
whatever misery he deserves to suffer in time or in eternity, Jesus is Jehovah, al
mighty to save him : for he was called Jesus, because he was to save his people
from their sins. Whatever they stand in need of to make them happy — wisdom,
righteousness, holiness, comfort, or strength — it is aU in the fulness of Jesus,
freely promised, and by faith received ; as it is written, " Ye are saved freely by
grace through faith," and saved for ever : for Jesus is the Author of eternal sal
vation. The spirits of just men made perfect in glory are said to be crying with a
loud voice, " Salvation to our God, who sitteth upon the throne, and to the Lamb,
for ever and ever." So that the name Jesus is dear and precious to the saints
in heaven ; they are happily employed in ascribing the glory of their eternal sal
vation to the Lamb of God.- And the believer has at present a part of their hap
piness ; for Jesus is the Saviour. He can trust him for all the promised bless
ings of his salvation, and live by faith upon him for the receiving them. As,
every moment, some of them are wanted, so the Saviour's love in bestowing
them is more experienced ; faith in him is thereby strengthened, and love to him
increased : and these graces will be continuaUy growing, while the believer views
the state of guilt and misery from which Jesus has saved him, the state of safety
in which he has placed him, and the blessings which he has promised him in life
and death, and in eternity. Must not such a Saviour become more precious for
continuing day by day such free and unmerited benefits ? And who can receive
them, sensible of his unworthiness, without rejoicing in such a salvation, and

186 TH£ LIFE OF FAITH.
admiring and adoring the goodness of the Saviour ? O most blessed Jesus ! in
crease the faith of thy people, that they may glorify thee more by depending
upon thee for all the promised blessings of thy salvation. Teach them how to
do this as the great
Prophet of the house of God. This is another of hia gracious offices,
suited to the ignorance of his people : for when sin separated them from God,
they then lost the fight of life, and had no means left in their own power to
discover God and the things of God. Hear what two infaUible witnesaea aay to
this fact — " There is none that understandeth ; there is none that seeketh after
God." Mind ; here is no exception ; the prophet knew not one ; neither did
the apostle — " AU the Gentiles had the understanding darkened, being alien
ated from the life of God through the ignorance that is in them, because
ofthe blindness of their hearts." To man in this state of ignorance what could
be ao suitable as a prophet ? And what prophet like him, who, being God, is
possessed of infinite wisdom, and being God-man, has that infinite wisdom for
his people'a use ? He was made unto them wisdom, that by his divine teach
ing he might enlighten their understandings, and by leading them into all truth
might make them wise unto salvation. He begins his teaching with discover
ing to them their ignorance, which is a hard lesson to learn, but he uses such
mildness and gentleness with his authority, that by degrees he subdues their
pride and makes them willing to sit at his feet to hear his words. This ia the
humble po8ture of all his true disciples. They receive him by faith for their
teacher, convinced that without him they can learn nothing which belongs to
their peace, and having been for some time under his teaching, they grow more
sensible of their want of it. He discovers to them more of their ignorance, and
thereby brings them to a closer dependence upon him for wisdom. And that
ia the way they ri8e in hi8 school. Whoever is the most humble and teachable,
he is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven. The abiding sense of his stand
ing in need of the divine Prophet every moment makes him the highest
scholar. And the Lord keeps him in this dependent state, waiting upon him for
his continual instruction, in hearing and reading the word, and in prayer for the
enlightening Spirit to make the word effectual. The great Prophet could teach
without these means, but he haa commanded ua in the U8e of them to wait upon
him : for in them he haa promised to meet and bless his people, and for the ful
filling of thia promiae they wait. Christ's presence they look for in the use of
aU means ; and they find it. He teaches them how liable they are to err, how
little they know, how soon they forget ; and thua they grow in a dependence
upon, and in love to, their divine Teacher. And aa all the treasures of wisdom and
knowledge are in him, and they can know at present but in part, they therefore
will be waiting upon him for more, still more knowledge ; and he answers his
character ; he teaches them wisdom ; he shows them danger, diacovera to them
the devices of Satan, guards them against the errors and hereaiea of the day,
makes manifest the snares of the world, and in all respects fulfils to them tne
offices of an infallible prophet ; for he keeps them from resting upon any false
foundation, and enables them to build all their hopes of acceptance with God
upon the atonement made by the high
Priest of our profession Christ Jesus. This iB his chief office. He ia our
Prophet, to teach us our guilty, helpless state, and to bring ub to rely upon him
to save us from it, by being our Priest. We have aU sinned, and have incurred
the pains and penalties due to sin. We are aU justly liable to the sufferings and
death, to the curse, and to the separation from God, threatened in his law to trans
gressors ; and we have no means in our own power to escape them How fiill,
then, of grace and love was the heart of our blessed Immanuel, that he would
vouchsafe to be a priest to offer gifts and sacrifices for sin ? His gifta were infi
nitely precious : he gave himself for ua — the gift of hia eternal Godhead, the gift
of his immaculate manhood, body and soul, in which he obeyed perfectly, and
so magnified the law, that it may be eternally honourable in admitting those, who
have sinned, into heaven — the gift of his prevailing prayer for all that shall be
lieve in him to the end of the world — and the gift of hie body and aoul to be once
offered for sin, in the place and in the stead of sinners, aa it is written, " He

THE LIFE OF FAITH. 187
suffered once for sins, the just for the unjust, that he might bring us unto God —
He died for our sins according to the scriptures — He was made a curse for us,
that he might redeem us from the curse of the law, and that we who sometimes
were afar off might be made nigh by his blood, and might through him have
access by one Spirit unto the Father." In these most precious gifts, in this ever
lasting meritorious Sacrifice, consists the office of our divine priest ; and upon
him the believer rests. He is enabled upon this foundation to build aU his hopes
of acceptance. The great atonement made by Jesus' obedience unto death is
all his salvation, and aU his desire — aU his salvation ; for he looks no where
else, but to Jesus, and him crucified : he depends upon nothing else to save him
from suffering and death, from the curse of the law, and from being eternaUy
separated from God. And this is aU his desire — to get a closer acquaintance and
more intimate communion with the crucified Jesus. This is his one study and
delight : I have determined, says he, to know nothing but Jesus, by whom I have
now received the atonement. God forbid that I should glory, except in the cross
of my Lord Jesus Christ. I would look upon aU other things as dross and dung,
compared to the excellency of the knowledge of that one offering, by which he
hath perfected for ever them that are sanctified. In this his priestly office,
bleeding and dying for me, he is, beyond description, beyond conception, fuU of
grace and truth ; and daily he becomes more lovely in mine eyes. As I discover
more of the exceeding sinfulness of my heart and life, my meritorious Priest
growB more dear to me : I rest more safely on his atonement, satisfied of its in
finite sufficiency to bring me near to God. And finding my faith and hopes
established in it, and through it a free access to the Father, Jesus, the sacrificed
Lamb of God, becomes day by day more precious to my heart. His blood and
righteousness are the continual rejoicing of my soul. Oh ! how happy am I in
this my royal Priest ! for now, even now, have I redemption in his blood, the for
giveness of sins — I am safe from the destroying angel under the blood of sprink
ling, and I have also boldness to enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus.
Daily do I experience more of the riches of his grace, comforting, strengthening,
and sanctifying me through faith in his most precious blood. Through this he
saves me from hell ; through this he bestows upon me heaven ; and for this shall
be my song of everlasting praise. Unto him who hath thus exceedingly loved me,
and hath washed me from my sins in his own blood, and hath made me, the vilest
of sinners, a king and a priest (amazing grace!) unto God and his Father; to
him be glory and dominion for ever and ever. Amen.
These are the breathings of the believing soul, now become weU-grounded
upon the atonement, and living upon the priestly office of the Lord Jesus Christ
for peace and joy, and expecting to be established in them continuaUy by his
power, which makes another of his offices necessary ; for some corruption or
enemy, temptation or trouble, wiU be always trying to draw the eye of faith from
looking unto Jesus the High Priest of our profession : and such is the believer's
helplessness, that he could not be fixed a moment, were not Jesus a priest upon
his throne, almighty to make aU his enemies his footstool, and to rule in and over
his people as their
KING. In this relation he exceedingly endears himself to them : for they are
in themselves weak and helpless. They are without strength to resist the least
temptation, or to overcome the weakest enemy. They cannot of themselves sub
due one corruption, or get the victory over a single lust. Neither can they per
form one act of spiritual life. They cannot make nor keep themselves ahve to
God by any power of their own ; for without Christ they can do nothing. Most
mercifully, then, is his kingly office suited to their weakness. He is the great
king over all the earth, as God ; but he has a peculiar rule in and over behevers
as God-man, the Head of the body, the church ; to which he is connected by as
close and near a bond as the members of the body are with the head. He is the
first in dignity, as the head is, and in all things has the pre-eminence ; and what
the natural head is to its members, the same he is to the members of his spiritual
body : for he is the Head, from which aU the body, by joints and bands, having
nourishment ministered, and knit together, increaseth with the increase of God.
And for the ministering of proper nourishment and influence to his members, he

JS8 THE LIFE OF FAITH
has aU power in heaven and earth in his hand. He is the Lord God omni
potent, whose kingdom ruleth over att. It is not an outward thing, like the
kingdoms of the world ; but, says he, the kingdom of God is within you. He
sets it up within, in the hearts of his people, and there he sways the sceptre of
his grace, subduing all the evils within, and conquering all the enemies without,
by his almighty arm. He takes them and theirs under his royal protection, and
manages all their matters for them, until he bring them by his power unto eter
nal salvation. The power is his ; but by faith it becomes theirs. When they
find themselves helpless and without strength, then they look up to him to make
them strong in the Lord, and by faith rest upon his promised strength, and
thereby receive whatever degree of it is needful at that time. Thus they live by
faith upon their almighty king, and they glorify him by trusting in him for
strength. By daily experience they become more sensible of their weakness, and
learn to five more out of themselves upon him. They find the safety, the com
fort of this. They 6ee it is far better for them to be dependent upon Chriat, that
his power may rest upon them, than that they should be strong in themselves ;
and therefore they rejoice, they take pleasure in their own weakness, because it
illustrates and magnifies the power of Christ, who doea all for them, and in them.
Hear one of theae happy believers thus describing his case : I was caught up,
saya he, into the third heavens, into paradise : and I heard there unspeakable
words, which it ia not possible for a man to utter ; and, lest I should be exalted
above measure, through the abundance of the revelations, there was given to me
a thorn in the fleah, the messenger of Satan to buffet me, lest I should be exalted
above measure ; for this thing I besought the Lord thrice that he would tako
it away from me. And he said unto me, My grace is sufficient for thee :
my grace is sufficient to sanctify this cross, and to support thee under it ; it
will be for my glory and for thy good it should be continued ; because mv
strength is made perfect in weakness: — the weaker thou art, tbe more will
thy strength be magnified in bearing thee up, until faith and patience have
their perfect work. This divine answer from my Lord and king satisfied
me, and I have for fourteen years had sweet experience of the truth of it. 1
am a witness to the all-sufficiency of Jesus' pace ; but never have I found so
much of it, as when I have been the most helpless in myself; and therefore
most gladly will I glory in my infirmities and weaknesses, that the power of
Christ may rest upon me, that his power may he continually glorified by my
continually depending upon him for it ; and that I may have fresh evidence
of Christ's power working mightily in me. Since the Lord is thus become
my strength, I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in neceasitiea, in
persecutions, in distresses for Christ's sake, in whatever I suffer for him and
hia cause : for when I am weak, then am I Btrong — weak in myself, strong
in the Lord ; stronger in him the more sensible I am of my own weakness,
and then strongest of all, when, finding I can do nothing, I live by faith
upon him to do aU for me. In this state of weakness and dependence I glory ;
I take perfect pleasure in it ; because it honours the kingly office of my Lord
Chriat, and makes it plain to myself and others that he keeps me every mo
ment by hia mighty power : for since I can do nothing, the excettency of the
power which does all in me and by me appears evidently to be of God, and not
of man.
Reader, is not this a happy case ? Is not that man blessed whose strength
is in the Lord, and who can say in faith, Surely in the Lord have I strength ?
And what hinders thee from being as strong in the Lord aa Paul was ? Thou
hast the Bame promises, the same God and Saviour to fulfil them; and, for thy
greater encouragement to five upon him by faith, for the fulfilling of them to
thee, he haa another office, in which he condescends to be thy
ADVOCATE, freely to take thy cause in hand, and to 8ee it carried in the
court of heaven. In this character he would represent himaelf, as having un
dertaken to answer all charges against thee, from whatever quarter they come,
and to obtain for thee every blessing promised in his word, and for which thou
appliest to him by faith in the time of need. In this amiable fight he would
have to consider him a6 thy daysman, to whom, being thy Saviour and thy

THE LIFE OF FAITH. 189
Friend, thou mayest safely refer thy cause, as the Mediator between God and
man, who will transact all thy matters for thee with the Father, and as thy
Intercessor, who appears in the presence of God for thee, that every blessing
of his salvation may be thine. Under these names the scripture describes the
advocateship of the Lord Christ ; which office he sustains for thy sake, to
encourage thee to come with boldness to the throne of his grace. TI ou hast a
friend there, who is bound by his word, and also by his office, to see that thou
want no manner of thing which is good ; and although aU things seem to make
against thee, and thou canst find no human means of obtaining the promised
good, which thou wantest, then look up to the Lord Jesus. Thou wUt glorify
him at such a time, if thou canst trust in his intercession, and if the workings of
thy faith be such as these —
Although I am less than the least of God's mercies, a vUe sinner, and to this
moment an unprofitable servant, deserving for my very best works and duties
to be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord ; yet,
glory he to his infinite grace ! 1 have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ
the Righteous ; and he is the Propitiation for my sins. All the blessings which
he has promised to give his dear people, as their Saviour, their Prophet,
Priest, and King, he is my Advocate with the Father to obtain for me : — a
righteous Advocate, who asks nothing but what he has a right to, and who
never aeks in vain. It hath pleased the Father that aU fulness should dweU in
the Head of the body, the church; and it pleaseth him that the members
should, from the fulness of their Head, receive abundantly aU the influence
they want ; for the Father himself loveth them, and out of his infinite love gave
his Son to be their head, that he might fill all in aU of them. What, then,
may not I expect from such an Advocate with such a Father ? Already have I
received so much, that I know Jesus appears in the presence of God for me. I
can trust my cause in his hands. He has taught me to leave aU my matters
to his management, and I desire more simply to resign them up to him. I find
every thing goes on weU which is left to his direction, and nothing miscarries
but what I undertake without him. Oh for more faith! The Lord increase
it, that my precious Advocate may be more glorified by my trusting him more,
and that he may have aU the honour of conducting my affairs, spiritual and tempo
ral, in earth and heaven, in time and in eternity : Even so be it. Lord Jesus.
After the believer has been taught thus to trust the Lord Christ, and to ex
pect that grace which, in his several offices, he is engaged to give, then his
conversation will be well ordered : and as he daily grows in faith and de
pendence upon Christ, he wUl walk more in the comfort of the Holy Ghost :
his outward as weU as inward matters wiU come under the influence of grace,
and wiU be left to the direction and government of the Lord Jesus, which
is another exceUency of the life of faith, and which renders it infinitely prefer
able to any other way of living.
The state of the case is this : Christ has all power in heaven and earth
given unto him. As God-man he has a mediatorial kingdom, which ruleth
over aU created beings and things ; for they subsist by the word of his power,
and are upheld by his providence, so that whatever, in his infinite love and
wisdom, he sees best for his people, he is almighty to bestow it on them.
They can want no promised good, nor suffer any outward evil ; but he is able
to give the one, and to deliver from the other. Their wants are many, their suffer
ings great. Sin has brought disorder upon the whole creation. The outward state
of man in the world is full of misery, not only foUowing him, but also in him,
in his very frame and constitution ; pain, sickness, mortality in his body, emp
tiness in his enjoyments, disappointments, losses, worldly cares, something or
other, in body or estate, troubling him ; for man is bom to trouble. What
manner of love, then, is this, that God our Saviour would take these things
under his government, and manage them for the good of his people, whom he
would have to be happy in him in this world, as weU as in the next. He
has given them many gTeat and precious promises relating to the life that now
is, and he is faithful who hath promised to supply their earthly wants, to sanc
tify their sufferings, and to make all things work together under him for their

190 THE LIFE OF FAITH.
good He has kindly undertaken their temporal as weU as their spiritual con
cerns ; for nothing was left out of the covenant of grace. It was ordered in all
things. The outward state and condition of believers, their poverty or riches,
health or sickness, trials of every kind, how great they should he, how long they
should continue, are aU appointed and unalterably fixed ; nothing left for chance
to do. When the Lord God determined to bring many sons unto glory through
Christ Jesus, the means by which he intended to bring them unto that end were
in his purpose as weU as the end itself ; therefore all things were ordered and
made sure, even to the very hairs of their head ; for they are all numbered.
What a continual source of comfort is this to believers ! Their present happineaa
ia provided for, as well as their eternal, in the covenant of grace. God is become
their God, has made himself known to them in thia covenant-relation, and haa
thereby bound himself to give whatever he sees wttl be the best for them. But
because he knoweth their frame, and how apt they are, under hard and long
trials of faith, to be discouraged, he has therefore made them many sweet tem
poral promises for their support. Lest they should be weary and faint in their
minds, he haa engaged to defiver them from all evil : " Many are the afflictiona
of the righteous ; but the Lord delivereth them out of them all," Psal. xxxiv.
19. He delivers two ways, either by entirely removing the affliction, or by
changing its nature ; for he takes the curse out of it, and turns it into a real
blessing ; he makes it the means of increasing faith and patience, sweetens it
with a sense of his presence, and demonstrates that it cornea from love, by ita
increasing love to him in the heart of the righteous. This is the heat deliver
ance, as one of the greatest sufferers for Christ witneaaea, who, upon tho men
tion of hia afflictions, declares, " Out of them all the Lord delivered me," by sav
ing me from the evtt that was in them, and by making them yield the peaceable
fruit of righteousness.
The Lord has also engaged to bestow upon believers all good: "They that
seek the Lord shall not want any good thing," Paal. xxxiv . 10. Their loving
Shepherd wttl see that they lack nothing, no good thing will he withhold from
them. To the same purpose are the promiaea in the New Testament, Matt. vi.
33. " Seek ye first the kingdom of God and hia righteousneas, and aU theBe things,
food and raiment, and all necessaries, shall be added unto you." I your God and
Saviour give you my word for it ; trust me, and you shall never want. With
confidence did he believe it, who aaid to the Phifippians, iv. 19- " My God shall
aupply all your need, according to hia richeB in glory by Chriat Jesus." What
a powerful motive is here for the strengthening of our faith, that, be our wanta
ever 80 many, ever so great, our God has engaged to supply them all ! We may
boldly, then, cast all our care upon him, since he careth for ua, and may reat
assured of his managing our whole outward estate infinitely better than we could
for ourselves. What trouble, what burdens 8haU we be hereby eased of ! What
peace of mind shall we enjoy, when we can give up all our temporal concerns
into the Lord's hands, and by faith see them all conducted for our good, by his
infinite wisdom and almighty love ! Bleaeed surely is the man who thus putteth
his trust in the Lord his God. He is delivered from the anxious care of get
ting, and from the fear of losing what he hae got : he is easy about the pre
sent ; the future he leaves to the Lord : his conversation is without covetous
ness, and he is content with such things as he has, and thereby he escapes
thousands of the common troubles of life. In this eweet peace he enjoys hia
soul, because the Lord has aaid to him, " I will never leave thee nor forsake
thee," in any state, in any want, or in any distress ; I will be ever with thee,
to turn aU things, seem they ever so afflicting, into real bleesings. Trusting to
thia word, which cannot be broken, he may boldly aay, The Lord ie my helper,
and I wttl not fear what man shaU do unto me. Let the world persecute me, my
trade fett, poverty pinch me, sickness pain me, friends leave me, and all outward
comforts forsake me, nevertheless I am a happy man : the Lord Christ ia my
portion, my all-sufficient portion stttl ; and these things, being of his appoint
ment, are for the best. I find them so ; glory be to him ! He makes them the
means of weaning me from the world, deadening the old man of sin, bringing me
to a more intimate acquaintance with himself, and to a greater experience of his

THE LIFE OF FAITH. 191
goodness to my soul ; whereby he enables me to trust aU things for time and for
eternity in his hands, who hath said unto me (and faithful is he that hath spoken,
who also will do it), " I wiU never leave thee nor forsake thee."
But some may say, Are there any persons who five thus above the world,
freed from its cares, and fears, and troubles ? Yes, thanks be to God for his un
speakable gift. He has promised to make all things to work together for good
to them that love him, and he has had witnesses, in every age, of his faithfulness,
in fulfiUing his promises. Read that little book of martyrs, Hebrews xi., and you
wiU see how happy they were in God, not only in prosperity, but also when all
the world was against them. Great were the triumphs of their faith. They
chose to suffer affliction rather than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season ;
they esteemed the reproach of Christ, and set more value upon it than upon
riches and honours. And we have a great cloud of witnesses in the New Testa
ment, who rejoiced that they were accounted worthy to suffer shame for the
name of Christ, who blessed their revUers, prayed for their persecutors, and
took joyfuUy the spoiling of their goods. Hear one of them speaking the senti
ments of the rest : " I account aU things but loss, for the exceUency of the
knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of aU
things, and I do account them but dung, that I may win Christ." StiU
there are some among us of Paul's mind. The Lord hath not left himself
without witness. We have a few names, (may the Lord daily add to their num
ber !) who can trast aU their temporal affairs in the hands of Christ, and who
find the happiness of having them in his management. He does aU things well
for them : what would make them unhappy, he takes upon himself: " Cast thy
burden on the Lord," says he, " and he shaU sustain thee;" and he does sus
tain the weight of it, and thereby frees them from anxious care, and gives them
sweet content. They have enough, let them have ever so httle of outward things,
because they have got the Pearl of great price. Christ is theirs, and the Spirit
of Christ enables them to make up aU their happiness in him, and not in the
things which perish in the using. Christ, with bread and water, is worth ten
thousand worlds. Christ, with pain, is better than the highest pleasures of sin.
Christ, with aU outward sufferings, is matter of present and of eternal joy. Surely
these are the only happy people living. Reader, art thou not one of them ? Art
thou not a partaker of their happiness ? If thou art a believer, it is thy privilege ;
thy title to it is good, and thou enterest into possession by faith ; and if it be so
weak that thou art not so happy as they are, thou shouldst take shame to thyself
for dishonouring God thy Saviour, for robbing him of his glory before men, and
for injuring thine own soul, by not committing all thy outward matters unto bis
guidance. What could he do more, than he has done, to encourage thee to leave
them to him, that he might manage them for thee ? He has given thee argu
ment upon argument, promises in abundance, bonds which cannot be broken,
immutable things, in which it is impossible that God should lie, to convince thee
that thou mayest safely trust in him for all temporal things which he knows will
be for thy good. Oh ! pray then for more faith. Beg of the Lord to enable thee
to walk more by faith, and less by sense ; that thou mayest commit thy way en
tirely unto him, and he may direct aU thy paths. The more thou trustest in him,
the happier he wUl make thee. Therefore daily entreat him to deliver thee from
taking any anxious thought for thy hfe, what thou shalt eat, or what thou shalt
drink ; or yet for thy body, what thou shalt put on. Since he knoweth thou
hast need of all those things, and hast sent thee to the fowls of the air, and to
the grass of the field, to see what a rich provision he makes for them, art thou
not much better than they ? Oh ! pray stiU for the increase of faith ; that all
thy worldly matters being resigned, and given up into the hand of the Lord thy
God, thou mayest be eased of many weights and burdens, and mayest run with
more patience and joy the race that is set before thee.
As these fathers in Christ learn, by datty experience, to live more upon him
for the bread that perisheth, so do they for the bread that endureth unto ever
lasting life. They attain to a fixed, settled dependence upon Christ for the con
ducting of all things belonging to their state of grace, to their comfortable walk
in it, and to their finishing their course happUy. They grow in the knowledge

192 THE LIFE OF FAITH.
of those blessed truths, are more grounded and better established in them, and
these, being received and enjoyed by faith, do manifest the exceUency of living
by it above any other state, except that of glory.
First, they are pardoned and accepted in the Beloved — in him partakers of
every covenant-mercy ; for he was made of God unto them wisdom, righteous
ness, sanctification, and redemption. His whole salvation is theirs. And thiB is
their state of grace, into which he has brought them, and by faith put them into
the present enjoyment of it.
This waa largely treated of before, but cannot be too much insiated upon, both
because there is a growth in the knowledge of the covenant, and clearer evidence
daily to be had of the believer's interest in it, and also because the love and wis
dom and mercy in contriving, the power in executing, the grace in applying, the
blessings of the covenant, are all infinite. The height and depth, the length and
breadth of those divine perfections cannot he fully comprehended. They sur
pass knowledge ; so that if a believer knows a great deal of the way of salvation,
yet there is still more, far more to be known. So long as he lives he must be
learning, waiting upon the divine Prophet for his inward teaching, and he wttl
become more dependent upon him, the more he learns : for, the wiser he grows,
the clearer views wttl he have of his having attained as yet but little wisdom,
which makes him press forward. He believes that all the treasures of wisdom
and knowledge are laid up in Christ, and he longs for more knowledge of his
gracious undertakings, of his adorable person, and of his fuU and free salvation.
He follows on to know the Lord. He advances from one degree to another,
from faith to faith, and is not satisfied with any discovery until that which is in
part be done away, and he shall know even aa also he ia known.
The befiever, being thus satisfied that he ia in a aafe state, looks up to the
Lord to keep him, and to enable him to walk comfortably in it, which ia another
exceUency of the life of faith. AU things are wett ordered in the covenant for
every step he is to take : all treasured up in the fulness of Christ, and by faith
received out of it. The believer has many enemies opposing him in his way hea
venwards ; but in Chriat he haa strength sufficient to conquer them all ; and does
conquer them. His worst enemy, that gives him most uneasiness, is indwelling
Bin, which ia never at rest, like the troubled sea, always casting up some of its
filthy motions and corruptions ; bo that when he is in prayer, it is ever trying to
amuse and distract the mind with a thousand vain and idle thoughts, to weaken
faith by ita carnal reasonings and doubts, or, when he is in any holy duty, it is
ever present with him, to hinder him from doing it so perfectly iu he would.
Over this enemy there ia no victory but by faith. The old man of sin defies all
strength, except that which is almighty, and therefore thia the Lord hae pro
mised ; and these believers had experience of his faithfulness, whose iniquities
he had pardoned, and who declared, Micah vii. 19, " He will subdue our iniqui
ties." He will do it : he is engaged by promise, by office ; it is his glory to save
his people from the dominion of their sine. On him therefore they depend for
continual victory, and according to their faith so it is done unto them. While
they fight against sin, relying on the strength of their almighty King, they
always conquer : his arm subdues the strongest lust : but if they attack the
weakest without him, they are infallibly conquered. And this has so often hap
pened to those fathers that know him, that ia from the beginning, that now they
never dare go down to battle but with their eyes upon the Lord. He haa taught
them to depend wholly upon him for the crucifying of the old man of ain day by
day; and in the power of his might, armies of lusts are made to flee before them.
The captain of their salvation encourages them to fight on, not only by subduing
sin in them, but also by making this the earnest of their having in him an ab
solute mortification of sin. By faith they see it ; and hia victorioua grace will
never leave them until he put them into full possession of it. Thanks be to
God through Jesus Chriat their Lord, ere long they 8haU have perfect and ever
lasting victory over the whole body and being of am. And
Aa the old man is thus crucified, so ia the new man quickened by the power of
Jesus, received by faith, according to what is written, " The just shaU live by his
faith." 'ihe justified person, by his union with Christ, is a partaker of the grace

THE LIFE OF FAITH. 193
Of fife, and in virtue of this union he lives upon Christ as a member does in the
body ; and thereby he has communion with the Father, by the bond of the
Spirit ; and this spiritual life is begun and carried on by faith ; it is a life of
faith,- not as if faith quickened a dead sinner ; for Christ is our life ; but the
sense and comfort, and strength of that life which Christ gives, are received
by faith, and these are according as faith is. If faith be weak, so are they;
as it grows, so do they; which discovers to us another wonderful exceUency
of the hfe of faith, since by it we now partake of a spiritual and eternal life :
" For he that believeth hath everlasting hfe ;" hath it now, is already passed
from death unto life, and he looks up to the Lord and Giver of it for every
tiling needful, and expects it out of his fulness. Hear one of these happy be
hevers thus relating his case : — I am dead to the law, says he, yet alive to God ;
I am crucified with Christ, and am a partaker of the merit and power of his
cross, and by faith I have in him an absolute crucifixion of sin ; and although
the old man is thus crucified, yet the new man Iiveth : nevertheless I live, yet
not I- — I live a spiritual life, yet not I as a natural man, I did not quicken myself ;
I cannot keep myself ahve ; Christ Iiveth in me ; he is the Author of my life,
and on him I depend for the continuance of it in time and in eternity : for the
life which I now live in the flesh, whue I am in this body of sin and death, I live
by the faith of the Son of God : he is the Author, he is the object, of that faith,
by which I have received life from him : by an act of sovereign grace he quick
ened me from a death in trespasses and sins, and united me as a living member
into his mystical body, and I am kept alive through his living, acting, and work
ing in me by his Spirit : he dweUeth in my heart by faith ; and the more clearly
I see this, the more do I love and enjoy the Prince of hfe, my precious, above aU
expression, infinitely, eternaUy precious Jesus, who loved me and gave himself for
me, that by his death I might be dead to sin, and by his resurrection might live
to and with God for ever and ever. Thanks and praise be to thee without ceas
ing, thou dear Lamb of God, for thy love to me the chief of sinners ! Let aU
thy people say, Amen.
This is the happy case of those believers who are, like the blessed Paul, strong
in the Lord Christ. By his death they are dead to sin ; and because he Iiveth
they are alive to God ; for they who are joined to the Lord are one spirit : and
as their faith increases, they have more spiritual feUowship with Christ in his
death and resurrection, not only in the merit, but also in the efficacy of both.
They grow more dependent upon the Lord's strength, and he dauy mortifies in
them the old man of sin ; and as he grows weaker, their other enemies have less
power over them. By their lusts Satan tempts them ; the more these are mor
tified, the weaker wiU be his temptations. By their lusts, by the lusts of the
flesh, the lust of the eye, and the pride of life, the world tempts them ; as these
are subdued, they wiU be more crucified to the world. Christ living, dwelling,
and reigning in them by faith, wiU, day by day, weaken the strength of sin and
Satan and the world ; and by the power of his death and resurrection he will be
conforming them moie to his' own image and likeness : he wiU by faith enable
them to be growing up into him in aU things, as long as they live. They will
be going on from strength to strength, till sin and death be swaUowed up in
victory. Until that happy time come, he has appointed certain means, in the use of
which they are to wait for the continual receiving of grace from him to deaden
the old man, and for the growth of the new. And this grace they receive, not
merely because they use the means, but because they use them in faith, expect
ing his presence in, and blessing upon them. Believers set the Lord always
before them, and look through the means at him : for without him they are good
for nothing; but when observed, according to his mind and will, as acts of tmst
in his promise, and of dependence upon his faithfulness, then they answer the
end for which they were instituted, and become the means of spiritual commu
nion with him. And thus legal duties become christian privileges. One of
these means is attendance upon public worship ; the ground and reason for
which is Christ's promise, " Where two or three are gathered together in my
name, there am I in the midst of them." Two or three believers make a church,
o

194 THE LIFE OF FAITH.
when they are gathered together in the name ef Christ's divinity. By faith thej
expect the fulfilling of his promise, and his presence in the midst of them ; and
they are then most spiritual worshippers, when they are looking most untr
Jesus, and enjoying communion with him. What are their prayers but acts oi
faith and dependence ? " Whatever ye shall ask," says Christ, " in my name,
believing, ye shaU receive." Which words show us that prayer is nothing
worth, unless it be presented in Christ's name, and in faith relying on Christ's
promise to hear and answer. The object of prayer is the Godhead in three per
sons. The address to each is in their covenant-offices ; and the petitions to each
should be according as they stand related to sinners in those offices ; and the
communion with the divine persons is thus expressed : " Through Christ Jesus
we have access by one Spirit unto the Father :" and whatever we ask, believing,
we receive. What is believers' hearing tho word ? Is it not a continual de
pendence upon their divine Teacher to make his word spirit and life unto their
souls ? They expect his presence to enable them to mix faith with what they
hear, and then they grow thereby. What is their keeping the Lord's day ? Is
it not to express their behef of his being risen, and entered into his rest, and of
their having, by believing, entered into rest also ? and therefore they wait upon
Christ in the ordinances to keep them until he bring them to llis eternal sab
bath, to that rest which remaineth for the people of God. What is their attend
ance upon the Lord's supper ? Is it not the communion of the blood of Chriat,
and the communion of the body of Christ, a real partaking by faith of his broken
body, and of his precious blood-shedding, and of aU the benefits of his passion ?
In these and all other ways of God's appointment, they expect Christ's presence,
and therefore they go to them with gladness of heart to meet him. He is the
dear object of their love, and he grows more lovely by every day's experience.
They taste and see more how gracious he is, and therefore to converse with him
in prayer, and to be in his company in the ordinances, becomea more aweet and
delightful to them. Oh ! what happy moments do they therein spend ! AU the
great, rich, and pleasant things in the world are less than nothing compared to
this joy. Communion with Christ is heaven begun ; and by faith they enjoy it,
and nothing can rob them of it but ain ; which makes them careful in their life
and conversation to please their gracious Lord. They depend upon him to
teach them his wiU, and to give them strength to perform it, that they may walk
before him in all weU-pleasing. Whatever is opposite to his will they dread,
because it would deprive them of their greatest blessing, even communion with
their beat and bosom Friend. Sin, viewed in this light, ib blacker and viler than
aU the devils in heU. The love of Christ shows sin in ita exceeding sinfulness,
and faith working by love to Christ gains daily victory over it. He who has the
love of Christ in his heart will be thereby sweetly constrained to fight against
and powerfully enabled to conquer sin; so that it cannot separate him from
his beloved Saviour; nay, it shall make him live in closer and nearer con
nexion. The motions of ein within, and temptationa without, to which he is
continually liable, wttl show him the necessity of living in a settled depen
dence upon the grace and strength of the Captain of his salvation, who will
lead him on conquering and to conquer, until he make him at last more than
conqueror. The same faith, working by love, has gained the hearts and affections of be
lievers over to the interest of holineaa ; and the commandments now cease to
be grievous. Love to Christ, who is perfect righteousness and holiness, can
not consist with the hatred of either ; nay, they are renewed after his image in
both, and renewed in knowledge, that they might know his precious image, and
renewed in heart, that they might love it ; therefore, being thus created anew in
Christ Jesus, they wttl certainly, in the inner man, delight in righteousness
and true holiness. He has shed his love abroad in their hearts, haa won
them to himself, and now nothing is dearer to them than that everlasting
righteousness by which he justifies them, and that true holiness, of which they
are become partakers in him, which they evidence by a holy walk, and in
which he wttl present them holy and unblamable and unrebukable before the
Father. Thus he has perfectly secured the interest of holiness, and the glory

l'HE LIFE OF FAITH. 195
of the most holy God ; for they are his workmanship, created unto good works,
to love them, to do them, to walk in them as the way to the kingdom ; and
they five by faith upon Christ's strength for will and power to do them, and
upon his intercession for the acceptance of them, laying them aU upon the
golden altar that sanctifieth the guts. Thus their whole dependence is upon
Christ. He is all and in aU of their Christian walk. To him they look for
every thing needful, to enable them to glorify God in their lives, and to show
forth the virtues of him that hath called them ; on his grace they rely, that their
conversation may be as becometh the gospel of Christ, and that they may
adorn the doctrine of God their Saviour in all things ; and they find in him a
sufficiency of grace, yea they -can do all things, and suffer all things, through
Christ strengthening them. Whatever difficulties they meet with in the way of
duty, leaning upon their Beloved, he carries them through aU — Whatever
temptations ; I wiU be with thee, says he, in the hour of temptation ; look unto
me, and thou shalt be saved — Whatever enemies ; fear them not, says he, for I
am with thee ; be not dismayed, for I am'thy God ; I wiU strengthen thee ; yea,
I wiU help thee ; yea, I will uphold thee with the right hand of my righteous
ness — Whatever sorrows ; Your sorrows, says he, shall be turned into joy, and
your joy no man taketh from you — Whatever sickness ; I wUl strengthen thee
upon the bed of languishing, and I wiU make aU thy bed in thy sickness — What
ever poverty ; I wiU be a strength to the poor, a strength to the needy in his
distress — Whatever persecution ; Blessed are ye, says he, who are persecuted for
righteousness' sake ; I pronounce you, I will make you, blessed. Thus Christ
is with them, and none of the evils or miseries of fife can separate them from
him. He keeps them safe, and carries them through all their trials by his
mighty power, and they, trusting in him, find that he m kes aU things work
together for their good. What a blessed life is this ! Surely there is none like
it ; for the life of faith is glory begun. The privileges, the happiness of it, are
greater than can be described. The strongest believers upon earth may dady
know more, and may experience far more of the comfort of walking by faith, be
cause, as they grow more established in it, they will be receiving more power
over sin, and will walk nearer to God. Having but one object to look unto and
to live upon for all things, here they wiU be quietly settled. What can so effec
tually keep them from being tossed to and fro, as to have all fulness treasured
up for their use in Christ, and to be brought to a fixed dependence upon his ful
ness, and to five upon it for aU things belonging to life and godliness ? Hereby
sweet peace wiU be estabhshed within, and there will be a regular walk in the
outward conversation. The whole man wiU experience what the Lord has pro
mised to his redeemed people : " I wiU cause them to walk by the rivers of
waters, in a straight way, wherein they shall not stumble." He leads them by
his Spirit, and causes them to walk by the rivers of waters, where there are
abundant streams of grace continually flowing, and he guides them in a straight
way, that they shall not stumble or err therein ; but shaU be kept happily to the
end of their course, and shall finish it to their everlasting joy. And
This is another inestimable privilege of believers. Christ has engaged to keep
them unto the end ; and having begun a good work in them, he has promised
never to leave it until it be finished. What a atrengthening is this to their faith !
and what a glory does it put upon the whole life of faith, that it is a life which
cannot perish ! Believers have in them the immortal seed of eternal life. This
is the crown of aU ; for how wiU this bear them up under crosses, support them
in troubles, carry them on in their warfare against the flesh, the devil, and the
world, and make them defy aU dangers, yea death itself, since they are assured,
from the month of God their Saviour, that none shall pluck them out of his
hands. They do not trust themselves, or have any dependence upon grace re
ceived, but they rely upon the faithfulness and power of Jesus, who has given
them abundant evidence that he wiU water them with his grace every moment,
and hold them up by his strength, and they shall be safe. How confident were
believers of this in the Old Testament ! One of them, who had attained this as
surance of faith, says, " Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me aU the days
of my life ; " and he, with many others who had obtained like precious faith with
o 2

196 THE LIFE OF FAITH.
5il\dwClare8' "Tllis is our God for e^er; he wiU be our guide even unto
death : they were sure he would be their God, and would fottow them wilh
mercy, and guide them, and do them good in life and death. To the same pur-
pose our Lord has promised believers : " My sheep hear my voice, and I know
them, and they foUow me ; and I give unto them eternal life, and they shall
never perish, neither shaU any pluck them out of my hand." How confidently
did he trust in Christ for the fulfilling of this blessed promise, who said, " I am
fuUy persuaded that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor
powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any
other creature, shaU be able to separate us from the love of God which is in
Chriat Jesus our Lord." Oh 1 sweet words of comfort ! how happy was Paul ih
this assurance of faith ! It is thy privilege, believer, as well as his. Thou hast
the same promises that he had, the same God to fulfil them ; and thy faith ought
to be growing until thou be assured that no creature, not all the powers on earth,
nor the gates of heU, can separate thee from Christ. They may as Boon get into
heaven, and cut off Christ's right hand, which is impossible, as to cut off one of
the members of Christ's mystical body.
If thou art ready to say, I see clearly how I should glorify my dear Lord, and
how happy I should be if my faith was but like Paul's in this point ; but I am so
weak and liable to faU, and mine enemies so numerous and mighty, that I some
times fear I shall never be able to hold out unto the end. Because thou art such,
therefore the Lord has given thee his promise that he will hold thee up, and thou
shalt be safe. And this promise is part of the covenant which is ordered in all
things, and sure. Look at that, and not at thyself. Consider the Messenger of
the covenant, in whom it is all ordered, and by whom it is sure. When thy un
faithfulness would discourage thee, think of his faithfulness. Let thy weakness
remind thee of his strength. If, indeed, he leave thee a single moment, thou
wilt fall; hut he has promised, I will never leave thee. If the number and
strength of thine enemies make thee fear lest thou shouldst one day perish by
the hand of Saul, he says to thee, thou shalt be kept by the power of God through
faith unto salvation. But if thou art tempted to doubt, finding thy revolting
heart apt to turn from the Lord, " I will put my fear," eay8 he, " into thy heart,
that thou shalt not depart from me." Observe, it is his faithfulness and power,
and not thine, which is to keep thee, and has covenanted to do it ; and he haa all
power in heaven and earth, and he has given thee promise upon promise for the
establishment of thy faith, that thou mightest be certain he will love thee, and
keep thee unto the end. And when he has brought thee to a certainty of it, then
thy comfort will be full. Christ wttl be magnified in thee, now he has made thee
one of those fathers, who have known him that is from the beginning. He haa
taught thee bo to know him, as to trust him for all things and in aU times. This
is his crown and glory. He has enthroned himself in thy heart, as thy perfect
Saviour ; and his kingdom is within thee, even righteousness and peace, and
joy in the Holy Ghost. Now thy calling and thy election is sure. Thou
knowest that he is faithful who has promised to keep thee, who also will do it.
And having this assurance of faith, attended with the rejoicing of hope, and
being sealed by the blessed Spirit to the day of redemption, surely thou art a
happy man, thrice happy, whom the Lord haa thus highly favoured. How in
finitely indebted art thou to his grace ! Oh ! what thanks and praises dost thou
owe, more than thou canst ever pay, for what he has already done for thee !
And yet this is only the dawning of the perfect day. His present favours are
only earnests and pledges of what he wttl hereafter give thee. Therefore still
trust in him, and he wttl enlighten thee more by his Word and Spirit, he will
enliven, strengthen, and establish thee more. Thy faith will daily rest more
assuredly upon him, the joy of thy hope will increase, thy love wttl yet more
abound. He wttl guide thee by his counsel in an even course, and wttl receive
thee into glory.
Thus have I treated, as I was able, of the safety and happiness of living by
faith upon the Son of God, and have described the common hindrances which
stop its growth, and the victory over them, which the Lord gives his people.
I have been forced to be very short, and could only throw out some hints upon.

THE LIFE OF FAITH. 197
this copious subject. May the good Lord pardon what is amiss, and bless abun
dantly what is according to his mind and wiU. If thou hast foUowed me,
reader, 'in thy experience, and art indeed a happy believer, hving upon thy
blessed Jesus, for his promised heaven ; and for aU things promised to thee in
the way thither, think what a debt thou owest him ! how dear and precious
should he be to thy heart ! He has saved thee from all evil ; he wiU bless
thee with all good. As surely as thou hast the earnest, thou shalt have the
purchased possession. Oh! what a Saviour is this! he has already bestowed
upon thee the exceeding riches of his grace, but how great wttl be the riches
of the glory which he will give thee ? Thou wilt soon see him as he is, and
then thou shalt be like him. No tongue can teU how great that glory will be,
not aU the tongues in heaven, after the number ofthe elect shall be perfected, no
not after they have enjoyed it for millions of ages : never, never wiU they be able
to show forth aU his praise for making them like himself. Surely then, wrule thou
art waiting for this glory, which shall be revealed, thou wilt be going on from
faith to faith, that thy beloved Saviour may become more dear to thee ; and that
thou mayest have more close and intimate communion with him. Every day's
experience should bring thee to love his appearing more. Having tasted how
gracious he is, thou shouldst be longing for the marriage supper ofthe Lamb with
fervent desire. And being now a Father in*Christ, and strong in faith, thou wilt
be often looking up to him, and saying,
Make haste, my heloved, and take me to thyself: let me see thee face to face,
and enjoy thee, thou dearest Jesus, whom my soul longeth after. It is good to
live upon thee by faith, but to live with thee is best of aU. I have found one
day in thy courts, conversing sweetly with thee, better than a thousand; but
this has only whetted my appetite : the more communion I have with thee, I hunger
and thirst stiU for more. My soul panteth for nearer, still nearer communion with
thee. When shall I come to appear before the presence of God ? O thou Light
of my life, thou Joy of my heart, thou knowest how I wish for the end of my
faith, when I shall no longer see through a glass darkly, but with open face be
hold the glory of my Lord. Thou hast so endeared thyself to me, thou pre
cious Immanuel ! by ten thousand thousand kindnesses, that I cannot be en
tirely satisfied, until I have the full vision and complete enjoyment of thyself.
The day of our espousals has been a blessed time. Oh, for the marriage of the
Lamb, when I ahaU be presented as a chaste virgin to my heavenly Bridegroom !
How can I but long earnestly for this fuU enjoyment of thy everlasting love !
Come, Lord Jesus ; let me see thee as thou art. Come and make me like unto
thee. I do love thee ; I am now happy in thy love ; but not so as I hope to be.
I am often interrupted here, and never love thee so much as I desire ; but these
blessed spirits standing now round thy throne are perfected in love. Oh !
that I was once admitted to see, as they do, the glory of God in the face of Jesus
Christ ! Is not that the voice of my Beloved, which 1 hear answering, Surely
I come quickly! Amen, say I, even so come, Lord Jesus. Make haste, my Be
loved, and be thou like to a roe, or to a young hart, upon the mountains of
spices. Are not these, believer, the breathings of thy soul ? Since the time for them is
short, may they grow warmer and more affectionate every day ! Thou wilt
wait but a httle while before thou shalt see the King in his perfect beauty,
and thou shalt be a blessed partaker of hia eternal glory. And if he make these
few lines any means of bringing thee to see more of hie beauty at present, to live
more upon his fulness, and to be happier in him ; I hope thou and I shall, througn
his grace, meet him soon, and give him to eternity the glory of this and of all
his other mercies. To the Lord I commend thee, on whom thou hast believed.
May ho strengthen and establish thy faith daily, that it may grow exceedingly
untd he bring thee to the end of it, and admit thee into that innumerable
company, who are ascribing blessing, and honour, and glory, and power, to Him
that was slain, and hath redeemed them unto God by his blood: to whom, with
the Father, and the eternal Spirit, three Persons in one Jehovah, be equal and
everlasting praise. Amen.

A TREATISE •
UPON
THE WALK OF FAITH.

PREFACE.
Ever since the Life of Faith was published, I have been attending to the doc
trines therein advanced, and bringing them into experience. Their truth has
appeared to me from the word of God, and has been confirmed by their being
accompanied with the power of God. His divine influence attends his own doctrines
to this day ; and they have the promised effect upon the heart and fife of the
believer. They are mighty through God for aU the purposes of salvation. What
is said upon the subject in these volumes is chiefly in this experimental way.
My design is to bring the great and leading points of our religion into use
and practice, and to show how necessary the doctrines of grace are for the
weU governing of the Christian walk. Every thing needful is promised, and
by faith is received, which can make it even and regular, holy and nappy.
The apostle Paul complained of profeasora who walked not according to the
gospel. There haB been occasion for the same complaint ever since ; but never
more than at present. Many walk at this day, who make some profession of
Chriat, and yet never attain to any steadfastness, but are tossed to and fro, and
carried about with every wind of doctrine, and at last come to nothing.
Others, pretending to be better settled, attain to some form of godliness, but are
without the life and power of it : they appear to have some notions and opinions
about the way of righteousness, but not being tanght them of God, nor ever
brought under the mighty influence of them, their walk ia therefore very uneven
and irregular, and generally in the end brings great scandal upon the name and
cause of Christ.
We have also many at this day, who set out in the ways of religion, but never
felt the ruin of the fall, nor the plague of their own hearts : these are commonly
very confident and presumptuous ; they make a shining profession, and go on
with great parade, until they come to be tried, and then in tne time of temptation
they faU away.
There are others who are the real children of God, and yet do not walk as be
cometh their high rank and dignity. An even, holy, happy walk with their
reconciled God and Father is their privilege, and there ie grace sufficient pro
mised in Jesus, and to he received by his Spirit, to enable them to five up to it;
that they may walk worthy of the Lord unto all pleasing. Yea, the apostles call
upon them and encourage them to be going on and advancing in the right way
— " Furthermore then we beseech you and exhort you, brethren, by the Lord
Jesus Christ, that as ye have received of us how ye" ought to walk and to please
God, so ye would abound more and more," 1 Thess. iv. 1 . How few follow
this evangelical exhortation ! How very few attain and preserve in their con
sciences the sense of God's being perfectly at peace with them ! It ought to
rule there always and by all means : but for want of it, they afford continual
occasion for a legal and unbelieving spirit to rob them of their peace, and thereby
to distress them in their hearts. As guilt comes in, love goes out. What weakens
the cause must also weaken the effect. Love, with its fruits, must decrease in
proportion as the believer withdraws his heart-dependence from God. Then he
begins to walk uneven and uncomfortable ; he grows cold and indifferent about
spiritual things ; he gets into darkness and discontent ; he becomes quite un-

THE WALK OF FAITH. 199
happy in his frame, and unthankful in his affections : whatever was the cause of his
falling into this decay, it began at the root. His faith was attacked, and gave
way. As this yielded, the decay became general ; and it was found true, " If ye will
walk contrary unto me," saith God, " then will I also walk contrary unto you."
Reader, if thou hast the faith of God's elect, thou knowest that these things
are true. Thou findest it hard work to maintain peace with God: and if
this be not maintained, if the foundation give way, the building wttl certainly
totter. Look weU then to the ground-work. Is aU safe there? Dost thou
see the infinite glory of the Saviour's work, when he made peace by the blood
of the cross ? and does this sUence gmlt in thy conscience ? Canst thou at aU
times draw nigh in love to a reconciled God ? Does not the sense of thy failings
and remaining corruptions keep thee at a distance from him, and render thy walk
uncomfortable, especiaUy when without are fightings, within are fears ? If it be
very difficult under such trials to preserve a sense of God's loving kindness, yet it
should be remembered, there is a gracious provision made for the establishing of
the soul so safely in Jesus Christ, that the peace of God may rule in it always,
and by aU means. Is it not necessary then to inquire what this provision is ? how
it may be received ? and how it may be made use of? for if by daily practice it
may be experienced in its divine power, it wUl then have the same happy effect
which it had upon David : " I will run the way of thy commandments, when
thou hast set my heart at liberty." May thine heart, reader, and mine, enjoy
more of the liberty of the chUdren of God ! and then we shall not only go for
ward, but also run fast ; and may nothing stop us from pressing towards the mark,
tttl we win the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.
This has been my constant prayer during the writing of the foUowing treatise.
Itwas the fruit of reading, and meditating, and praying over those scriptures, which
speak of the walk of faith. Such reflections as used to occur to myself, I have
put down ; whether it was in searching my own heart, or in begging the bless
ing of God upon the text then under consideration. This seemed to me an easy
method, and very useful ; because the doctrine would lead to practice ; and frequent
and heart-searching meditations would tend, under the teaching ofthe Holy Ghost,
to an increase of faith. There are some sofiloquies, addressed to my own soul,
and some exercises of devotion, in prayer and thanksgiving. I would have
every believer to consider whether it be not his privUege to join me in them,
and to make my words his own. If he cannot foUow me in this experience
after the 5th chapter, I pray God to increase his faith, that this book and his ex
perience may go hand in hand ; and that he may attain to holy feUowship with
Gpd in aU duties, and to rejoice in God at all times, yea, under the cross itself,
and to go on conquering and to conquer, tttl the good fight of faith be over, and
he finish his course with joy.

THE WALK OF FAITH.
CHAPTER I.
Whoever walks with God, must be first acquainted with the way of peace.
It is the constant usage of scripture to represent spiritual things by material,
and to speak of the faculties and actions of the soul by terms borrowed from
those of the body. Walking is a bodUy action, and consists in moving and
going from one place to another ; hence it is apphed to the spiritual walk. The
soul, reconcUed to God and at peace with him, has an appointed way, in which
it is to walk, in order to enjoy the grace promised to them who are in Christ
Jesus. This is enjoyed by faith ; and therefore the scripture caUs the believer's
going on in his walk with God from strength to strength, The walk of faith.
" We walk by faith," says the apostle, " not by sight."
When man feU from God, he lost his way, and had neither wttl nor power to

200 THE WALK OF FAITH
return. The Old Testament church makes thia confession — " All we, like
sheep, have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way." Isa.
lui. G.
The apostle Peter reminds bebevers of this — " Ve are as sheep going astray ;
but are now returned to the Shepherd and Bishop of your souls," 1 Pet. ii. 25.
To which agree the words of his brother Paul : " There is none righteous, no,
not one ; there is none that understandeth, there is none that seeketh after God :
they are all gone out of the way," Rom. iii. 10, 11, 12. The whole human
race, says the oracles of truth, is gone astray, all of them are gone out of the
way ; they have left the way of God, and turned every one to his own way, they
are unable, like a poor lost sheep, the most unable of aU creatures, to return ;
yea, they are unwitting also ; for they walk not after the spirit, but after the
flesh — carnally minded, and in their carnal mind enmity itself against God and
his ways.
It pleased God, in the exceeding riches of his grace, to reveal to those wanderers
the way of salvation. He made it known to them upon the faU, and believers
from that lime forward saw it plainly, and went on in it comfortably. Enoch,
Noah, Abraham, &c. are said to have walked with God in the very same way,
afterwards marked out by the written word : which was a directory to the Jews,
showing them how they should walk in the steps of the faith of their father
Abraham. Age after age, God raised up the prophete to bring his people into
the King's highway, and to put them upon praying, that they might be kept in it.
By the mouth of his servant David, he gave them this promise : " Good and
upright is the Lord ; therefore will he teach sinners in the way — the meek will
he guide in judgment, and the meek will he teach his way." Encouraged by
this warrant from the word of God, sinners feeling their wants were led to pray,
•' Show me thy ways, O Lord ; teach me thy paths : lead me in thy truth and
teach me," Psalm xxv. 4. It is written in the prophets, They shaU be all taught
of God ; they shall all know me, from the least of them unto the greatest of
them, saith the Lord. If any of his children lack wisdom, and ask it of God, he
giveth to all his liberally, and upbraideth not. lie brings them by his word and
by his Holy Spirit to the knowledge of themselves and to the knowledge of the
true God.
Divine teaching ia necessary to make men acquainted with themselves. They
know not their state, nor fear their danger, until the Holy Spirit, according to
his office, proceed from the Father and the Son : then he convinces them of sin,
of the exceeding sinfulness of it, of the guilt thereby incurred, and of the wrath
deserved. He enlightens the understanding with a clear sight of those truths,
and he fastens the conviction of them upon the conscience. Then they find that
they had been blind and ignorant, rebels in their wills, and apostates in their
hearts from God. He makes them feel the corruption of their nature, and the
error of their ways, in which, if they had gone on, they must inevitably have
perished ; for they were without wiU, and without power, to return to God.
When they were made to see it right that they ought to return, and to repent,
yet it was not their choice to come to him in the way of believing. They found
they could not believe, unless it was given them from above. Faith is the gift
of God ; and cannot be received, but by the mighty operation of God. He
must put forth his divine power, or else the convinced sinner will remain utterly
helpless and hopeless, shut up in unbelief.
Thus the Lord teaches aU his children. He makes them acquainted with their
faUen state, and sensible of their guilt and of their misery. He brings them to
the right knowledge of the corruption of every faculty of soul and body, which
are always inclining to evil, and incapable of doing any thing truly good. A
corrupt tree can bring forth nothing but evil fruit. The judgment is enlightened
to see this, the conscience is awakened to feel this, and thereby the convinced
sinner is made willing to be taught the way of salvation. The Holy Spirit fulfils
his office by teaching him the knowledge of God.
Our blessed Saviour declares, no man knoweth the Son but the Father, neither
knoweth any man the Father save the Son, and he to whomsoever the Son will
reveal him ; and this he does by the Holy Spirit of wisdom and revelation, who

THE WALK OF FAITH. 201
ia therefore given to the chUdren of God, that they may know him and beheve
in him, as their reconciled Father in Christ Jesus. This saving . knowledge ia
hid from the worldly wise and prudent, but is revealed unto the unlearned,
whom the Holy Spirit has made simple and teachable people. To them he
reveals the things of God. He makes them acquainted with the
"Nature of the Godhead, which is one. There is one Jehovah, and there is
none other. And also with the
Personality in the Godhead, Father, Son and Spirit. These three exist in the
one Jehovah. They took those names, not to describe their manner of existing,
but their manner of acting ; not what they are in themselves, but how they stand
related to us in the economy of redemption : for the eternal Three entered into
covenant before aU worlds, and agreed to sustain certain covenant-offices, and
assume names, or characters, descriptive of their offices. Father is the title of
that divine person, who, out of his infinite grace, gave an innumerable company
of Binners to his Son, upon condition that he would be manifested in the flesh,
and would become their surety, to work out for them a righteousness in his hfe,
and to make an atonement for them by his death, and then he would be his
father and their father. A coequal and coeternal Person accepted the condition,
and covenanted to be made man, and to live and die for tbe many sons whom
he was to bring to glory ; therefore he took the name of Son, Son of God, Son
of Man, &c. Another coequal and coeternal Person covenanted to breathe life
into them, to be to them the Spirit, or breath of life, that they might be regene
rate from a death in trespasses and sins, and be made the children of God,
heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ : therefore he is called throughout the
scriptures the Spirit, or the breath of life. He makes them acquainted with the
covenant as he has promised. " The secret of the Lord is with them that fear
him ; and he will show them his covenant," Psalm xxv. 14, He will open to
them the nature and uncertainty of aU covenant engagements for the establish
ment and growth of their faith. The covenant wasordered in all things, and sure j
it was ordered by the counsel and purpose of the eternal Three concerning
the heirs of promise, whose salvation was settled by two immutable things, in
which it was impossible for God to he — his counsel, his oath. His counsel the
result of his infinite wisdom, confirmed by that sacred oath which cannot possibly
be broken. All his perfections stand engaged to see the sovereign decree, thus
solemnly ratified, carried into execution ; for what was ordered is sure — sure as
the throne of Jehovah, unchangeable as his nature, durable as his being. Though
it be but a man's covenant, yet, when it has been signed and sealed according
to law, none disannuUeth or addeth thereto. None can disannul God's covenant,
and he himself will not : " My covenant wiU I not break," says he, " nor alter
the thing that is gone out of my lips," Psalm Ixxxix. 34. I wUl not add thereto,
nor diminish from it; for I have ordered it in all things. I have not left one
single thing out, not the least circumstance : I have settled the whole plan by
mine unerring wisdom ; and I will fulfil every tittle of it by mine almighty power.
According to my wiU the course of nature and grace is infallibly directed, even
the most minute events. Every hair is numbered. Not a sparrow faUs but by
my divine decree.
How safely, then, may the heirs of promise depend upon a covenant God !
and whenever they flee to Jesus for refuge, what strong consolation may they
draw from hence, that their salvation is fixed by the immutable counsel and
inviolable oath of the blessed Trinity !
The same divine teacher, who enabled them to believe those truths for the
further establishment of their faith, led them to discover the freeness of aU
covenant mercies. They are promised as free gifts. They are bestowed to the
praise of the glory of free grace. They are not conferred upon the worthy, but
upon enemies, upon the ungodly, upon sinners as sinners. No conditions are
required, no pre-requisites are expected. The motives which determine God to
show mercy to sinners are not taken from any good in them, or foreseen to be
in them. Not for works of righteousness which they have done, or can do ; but
according to his mercy he saveth them. He does all to the magnifying of the
honours of his own mercy. His covenant was so contrived, carried into execu-

202 THE WALK OF FAITH
tion by the hfe and death of Jesus, applied by the Holy Spirit, that, according aa
it is written, He that glorieth, let him glory in tiie Lord. No flesh shaU glory in
his presence. Boasting is for ever excluded; because aU is of grace. Wisdom
to teach the sinner saving knowledge, righteousness to justify him, strength to
keep him, comforts to bless him, heaven to receive him, these are the free gifts
of covenant love ; for by grace is he saved through faith, and that not of himself,
it is the gift of God ; not of works, lest any man should boast. Thus would the
Lord hide pride from man, and would teach him practicaUy such scriptures na
thia — " Not for your sakea do I this, saith the Lord, be it known unto you ; but
for mine holy name's sake," Ezek. xxxvi. 32.
Closelv connected with this divine lesson is the fulness of covenant mercies.
Every thing needful for the salvation of the sinner is fuUy, as well as freely,
provided by the exceeding riches of grace, and is treasured up by the Father's
love in the fulness of the Son. To this the Spirit bears witness in the word of
truth, and seals his witness upon the believer's heart. It pleased the Father
that in the Word made flesh should all fulness dweU, and that out of his fulneBa
hia people should receive grace for grace. This is the infinite ocean. There ia
not a stream, not a drop of grace, to be had, but from hence. Jesus Christ, aa
God-man, haa it aUIn himself, and for the same end, as the head haa the senses
in itself. He haa ft to communicate to hia members, a fulness of light and fife,
of sense and understanding, of love and joy, yea of every spiritual blesaing. On
him, as the head of the body, the church, every believing member is directed to
live. On him must he depend at all times ; and to him must he go for all things.
If he seek pardon and peace, righteousness and holiness, a supply of his wants,
Btrength for his warfare, comforts under his miseries ; if he expect life in death,
and hfe eternal ; he must make continual use of the fulness of Jesus, for in him
dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily. It dweUeth in him, as in an
overflowing fountain. Ihe Father's love to his adopted children, the experience
of it by the grace of the Spirit, are entirely in and from the salvation of Jesus
Christ. Out of his fulness cornea every covenant mercy of the Godhead, and in
a rich abundant stream, always flowing with some bleBsing or other into the
believer's soul. The enjoyment of it on his part may not be always alike com
fortable; but it is always alike eure on God's part. Nothing can stop it.
Nothing can turn its course. Unto the place from whence the rivers come,
thither they return again. The river of the water of life proceeds out of the
throne of God and of the Lamb, and it will be running on tiU it come back into
ita own ocean. The water that I wttl give him, says Jesus, speaking of the
believer, shaU be in him a fountain of water springing up into everlasting life,
and bringing with it the fulness of joy and pleasures for evermore.
No man wttl Bee any reason to aet out in the way to heaven until he be made
acquainted with those truths. His judgment must be enlightened with the
knowledge of them. He will never think of changing his course until he be
made sensible of his own sinful and helpless state ; and when this is brought
home to his conscience, and he has nothing in himself left to trust in, then he
wttl be led to look abroad for help. The Spirit of God will teach him the
doctrines of grace, the nature of the Godhead, the persons in the Godhead, the
covenant of the divine persons, by which every grace and blessing was freely
and fuUy provided, given by the Father to the Son, in whose fulness they were
aU laid up for the use of his body the church, and communicated to every
member of it through the influence of the Holy Spirit. Thus he ia taught that
all is of grace, from first to last. Whatever good: a sinner receives on earth,- or
enjoys in heaven, is eo given as to exclude all boasting, and to lay every proud
and self-righteous principle in the dust, that grace alone may wear the crown
and have aU the glory.
Here, then, O my soul, is matter of close examination. Dost thou know thyself,
thy state and condition ? and hast thou fled from the wrath to come ? Haa the
light of God's word shone into thine understanding, and made thee to see that
thou art indeed set out in the way to heaven ? How was this discovered to thee ?
Did the Holy Spirit ever convince thee of sin, and that thou hast loat the image
and forfeited the favour of God ? Didst thou ever see thyself fatten in Adam, in

THE WALK OF FAITH. 203
him a chUd of wrath, a ruined miserable sinner ? Hast thou felt how utterly
unable thou art to atone for thy sins, or to make thyself holy ? And wast thou
brought to this after many legal trials and self-righteous efforts ? At last forced
to give up aU hope in thyself, and to look to 'the Lord who made heaven and
earth, from whom alone thy help could come ?
And hast thou been taught the true knowledge of the unity of the Godhead,
and of the persons in it, Father, Son, and Spirit ; the covenant of the ever-
blessed Three, and the absolute security of aU covenant mercies, promised by
the Father, and engaged to be given to the Son as the head of his body, the
church, who is now actuaUy as God-man in possession of them, and by his
Spirit he freely and fuUy bestows them upon his members ? for they wiU never
cease to be receiving out of his fulness grace for grace, until they receive out of
the same fulness glory for glory.
O my soul ! examine closely and prove thyself, by the standard of the divine
word.. Search and try what the conviction of thy lost estate has been. Was it
deep and practical ? Is it an abiding truth with thee, that there is no help or
hope in thyself ? And haBt thou fled for refuge to lay hold of the hope set before
thee in the Lord Jesus ? Is thy knowledge of the Godhead mere theory, or is it
brought into practice ? Dost thou enjoy the Father's love, through faith in the
finished Balvation of the Son, by the influence of the Holy Spirit ? This is the
saving knowledge of the Godhead. And is this thine ? Dost thou honour the
Divine Persons by acknowledging their immutable counsel, and immutable oath,
entered into for the security of the heirs of promise, that they might trust, and
not be afraid ? Dost thou see with any clearness the absolute safety of relying
upon the promises of God ? and dost thou expect to draw from hence comfort to
thy conscience, and joy to thy heart ?
If thou art indeed set out in the way to heaven, art thou settled in the know
ledge of thy faUen state ? Hast thou found thyself unable to do anything, but to
hasten on thy ruin ? And, from the sight and sense of this, hast thou been led to
see aU undertaken for thee, and secured to thee for time and eternity, in the
covenant of the ever-blessed Trinity. These truths lie at the very foundation of
aU comfortable walking with God. ¦ See that thou be weU grounded in them.
The knowledge of thyself is to bring thee to God : the knowledge of God is to
lead thee to walk with him. The one is to teach thee to renounce aU trust in
thyself; the other is to show thee that thou mayst safely place the confidence of
thy heart on thy reconcUed Father, thy Saviour, and thy guide. Look up to
him, then ! O my soul, and be often praying to him, and saying,
O Lord God ! that which I see not, teach thou me. Keep me an humble dis
ciple in the school of Christ. Let me be daily learning there what I am in
myself, a faUen, sinful creature, justly deserving everlasting destruction from thy
presence. Oh, let me never lose sight of my want of a Saviour, nor ever be
without the senBe of what is said—" Without me ye can do nothing." Teach
me this, thou eternal Spirit. Open thou mine understanding to understand the
Scriptures. What thou hast revealed in them concerning the Godhead, and
concerning the counsels and works of the ever-blessed Trinity, that reveal to my
soul. Thou hast declared that no man can say Jesus is the Lord but by the
Holy Ghost ; Oh shine, then, into my dark mind, and lead me into the saving
knowledge of the Lord Jesus. Make me acquainted with his covenants under
taken, and his perfect fulfilling of them, that, by resting on his finished salvation,
I may find the Father's love in the Son, his Father, my Father, and may be
brought, through thy blessed influence, to have feUowship with the Father and
the Son. Oh, lead me into aU truth, thou Spirit of wisdom and revelation 1
that I may know the things which belong to my peace, and may through thee be
made wise unto salvation. Amen.

204 THE WALK OF FAITH.

CHAPTER II.

The believer is reconciled to God, and has the peace of God ruling in his conscience ;
and they two walk together, because they are now agreed.
It is written in the prophets — " They shall be all taught of God." Every one
of his chUdren shaU be brought to the knowledge of the truth, and what they
have been taught in the understanding shaU be made practical, that it may have
ita proper effect upon the conscience. And this is answered, when it comes
under the authority and power of the word of God, and faithfully accuses or
condemns according to that unerring rule.
Conscience supposes the knowledge of some rule, and it consists in comparing
a man's state or actions with, that rule, in order to discover whether they agree
with it, or not.
The rule is the scripture, the whole revealed wttl of God, which is the unerring,
and the only standard of right and wrong ; for aU scripture is given by the
inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, to teach the man of God what
is truth, and to make him wise in it unto salvation. Fallen man has no means
of discovering the will of God, but as it is revealed to him. He has no innate
knowledge. He has no implanted principles. He is born as ignorant of God, and
of the tilings of God, as a wild asB's colt. His understanding ia darkened, being
alienated from the life of God through the ignorance that is in him, because of the
blindness of his heart. And he has no means in his ownpower of attaining any-
divine knowledge ; for he cannot by searching find out God. The world, by its
wisdom, never did find him out. The Hottentots know aa much of him as the
Greeks and Romana did : indeed, the natural man, let him be ever so wise,
knoweth not the things of the Spirit of God ; neither can he know them ; be
cause they are spiritually discerned.
The scripture, then, ia the only rule of right and wrong. Conscience has no
direction but this rule. Neither ethics nor metaphysics, no fancied light of dark
nature, no lawless law of rebel nature, no human science, whether pretended to
be implanted, or by the use of reason to be acquired, have any right to guide
the conscience. These are blind leaders of the blind. They undertake that for
which they are not only unfit, but that which they have no warrant for. A parcel
of felons in jail may think what they will of their state. They may take it upon
them to form a mock court, to try one another. They may acquit or condemn, .
as they please ; but the judge and the jury wttl pay no regard to their foolish
proceedings. There is a word which is to try us at the last day, and by that we
should try ourselves at present. It was revealed for thia purpo8e. And when
the revealed truth ie clearly understood, then conscience is acting aright if it
finds a true verdict for God, either accusing, or else excusing, according to the
direction of his unerring word.
And this is the work of the Holy Spirit.' He enlightened the judgment
with the knowledge of the truth, in order to make it practical ; which he effects
by bringing the conscience to submit to the sovereignty of God in the law, and
to submit to the righteousness of God in the gospel. Herein he displaya the
omnipotent power of his grace, according to the promise, John xvi. 8. He
carries with demonstration the conviction of guilt, and the conviction of
righteousness, to the conscience. By the former he gives the sinner a real
heartfelt sense of his sin and misery, and he acknowledges himself a convict of
the law, justly deserving aU its penalties in time and in eternity. By the latter he
sets open a door of hope, showing him the perfect righteousness of the God-man
wrought out for such guilty creatures as he is : he enables him to plead it before
the throne, and to trast in it for his acceptance-: by which means he finds relief
in his conscience, and comfort in his heart. Being justified by faith, he has
peace with God through Jesus Chriat our Lord.
What the Holy Spirit teaches haa life, as weU as light, in it. He accompanies
his doctrine with the power of God. What he has revealed concerning the state

THE WALK OF FAITH. 205
of mankind under the faU, he applies with divine evidence to the conscience.
Under his influence the sinner reads those scriptures, and feels the truth of
them. "As by one man sin entered into the world and death by sin, so that
death passed upon aU men, for that aU have sinned : through the offence of one,
judgment came upon aU men to condemnation ; for it is written, there is none
righteous, no not one ; there is none that understandeth ; there is none that
seeketh after God : they are aU gone out of the way ; they are together become
unprofitable ; there is none that doeth good, no not one. Now we know that
what things soever the law saith, it commands them who are under the law,
that every mouth may be stopped ; and aU the world may become guilty before
God." His mouth is stopped. He has no plea to make ; no excuse left.
What the law saith he subscribes to. The law brings him in gmlty before God,
and in his conscience he bears his testimony to the law. He acknowledges it to
be holy, just and good, even in its penalties, which he deserves to suffer.
Formerly he tried, in his own strength, and took great pains to escape them, but
now he gives over aU those self-righteous attempts. He found that he laboured
in vain to atone for his sins, or to make- himself holy. He groans, being
burdened under the ruins of the faU. His ignorance, rebellion, apostasy, his
corruption in every faculty of soul and body, render him unable to take one step
in his return to God. He owns it, and confesses that without Christ he can do
nothing. Oh, my soul ! consider whether God has taught thee this knowledge of thyself.
It is absolutely necessary to reconcile thee to him and to his ways. Thou wilt
never heartily agree to walk with him by faith, so long as thou hast any thing
of thine own to trust in, or to draw comfort from. Examine, then ; art thou
sensible of thy fall, and dost thou feel the sad effects of it ? Dost thou know
what it is to be alienated from the life of God ? What ! dost thou find to this day
the opposition of thy sinful nature to the holy law, the flesh lusting in thee
against the spirit ? Has God thus convinced thee of sin ? If he has, then in thy
conscience thou submittest to what the law says of thy state. Thy mouth is
stopped, and thou art guilty before God. Thou hast nothing of thine own to
urge in arrest of judgment. This is an enlightened conscience ; so far it speaks
for God, and is guided by his unerring word. Oh, pray to the Lord the Spirit,
and beg of him to guide thee into all truth, that he may bring thy conscience
to submit to the righteousness of Jesus, and to be a faithful witness for him.
This is hisproper work in the soul, and what he undertook in the everlasting
covenant. When he is come, says Christ, he shaU convince the world of
righteousness : he shaU testify of me, that I am made of God righteousness to
believers ; and he shaU glorify me as Jehovah their righteousness : thus he shaU
teach them my righteousness, with which the Father is satisfied ; and he shaU
" through faith apply it effectually to their consciences, and they shaU also be
satisfied with it. Being justified by faith, they shaU have peace with God through
their Lord Jesus Christ.
Righteousness is a perfect conformity to the law : if it be tried by the balance
of the sanctuary, it is full weight ; if by the standard, it is fuU measure ; if
judgment be laid to the line, and righteousness to the plummet, it is quite
upright. There is no defect in it of any kind. This is the righteousness of the
law — it must be perfect and continual, failing in no one point : for the un
righteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God. And it is an adjudged case
that there is none righteous, no not one. It is left upon record that all have
sinned, and come short of the glory of God ; therefore, by the deeds of the law,
there shaU no flesh be justified in his sight.
When the Holy Spirit has convinced a sinner of his being in this unrighteous
state, then it becomes an important inquiry — how can the Judge of aU the earth
over look upon and treat a sinner, as if he were a righteous person ? To which
the gospel answers directly — " God hath made Christ to be sin for us, who knew
no sin, that we might be made the righteousness of God in him." This was
agreed upon in tho covenant of the eternal Three. The Father undertook to
maintain tbe honour and dignity of his law and justice. His coequal Son
undertook for his people to come in their nature, and to stand in their place and

206 THE WALK 01 FAITH.
stead; to act for them, and to suffer for them. As their surety, he made himself
answerable for their debt of obedience, and for their debt of suffering. Accord
ingly, when the great law-fulfiUer cometh into the world he saith, Lo, I comb
to do thy will, O God. He did it in his infinitely holy life, in which he
magnified the precepts of the law, and made them everlastingly honourable. He
suffered it in his infinitely holy passion, bearing the sins and sorrows of his
people, their curse and wrath in his body and soul, upon the tree, until the
immense debt being paid, he cried out in the triumph of a conquering, though a
dying Jesus, It is finished : for through death he conquered death, and nim
that had the power of death, that is, the devil: he finished the transgression,
and made an end of sins, and made reconciliation for iniquity, and brought in
everlasting righteousness.
This is the great leading truth of the gospel in which the peace of conscience
is principally concerned. The justly offended God is here revealed under the
character of a reconcUed Father. He gave his Son to be a covenant of the
people, who was to fulfil all covenant engagements for them ; and he has fulfilled
them all. The end of his living and dying for them is answered. He has
finished the transgression, and has made peace by the blood of his cross. He
has brought in everlasting righteousness by his divine obedience, and the Lord
is weU pleased with him for his righteousness' sake, yea ho is well pleased also
with his body, the church. He looks upon all the members, as he looks upon
the head. He accepts them in the beloved. He beholda them in him with
perfect delight, and rests in his love. He is his Father, and their Father. He
is related to his whole family in heaven and earth in the cloBeat bonds of fatherly
affection, and he makes hia love known to them, and sheds it abroad in their
hearts by the Holy Gho6t. He would have all his children to address him
under his dear name, " Our Father which art in heaven," and to expect from
his fatherly love all spiritual blessings in Christ Jesus.
When this comfortable doctrine is received into the conscience, it silences
guilt, and produces peace with God. The gospel comes with full authority to
establish it in the conscience ; for it is therein revealed and proposed to our
.belief under the character of a divine record, made authentic and properly
cnroUed in the court of heaven. The witnesses are the eternal Three. Their
record is in the nature of a covenant, confirmed by their joint counsel, and
ratified by their joint oath — the two immutable things, in which it is impossible
for God to fie. He graciously vouchsafed to give the heirs of promise this perfect
security for their salvation, that after they had fled to JeBus for refuge, there
might be an end of aU strife in their consciences, and they might have strong
consolation. Accordingly we read, "There are Three that hear record in heaven
— the Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost — and these Three are One." A
record among men is an authentic testimony in writing, entered by authority in
one of the king's courts, in order to preserve the proceedinga had upon any auit.
Thia record contains the final determination of the judges in that cause, and in
their memorial of it, and therefore imports in itself such uncontrollable evidence,
as to admit of no proof to the contrary. The matter of the record ia never allowed
to be tried by a jury, but is of such credit as not to be questioned in any
instance. This is the nature of a record in law. And, if we receive the witnen
of men, certainly the witness of God is greater ; for this is the witness of God,
which he hath witnessed of hia Son ; namely, " He hath given to ub eternal life,
and this life is in his Son." To which the Spirit heareth witness ; because the
Spirit is truth. He has revealed the covenant of life and peace, which was
between the Father and the Son ; he has entered it upon record, and every word
of the record may be pleaded, for it is allowed to be good and valid in the court
of heaven . As a powerful advocate, he pleads the perfect fulfilling of all righteous
ness in the fife and death of the God-man, and the Father's perfect acceptance of
what he did and suffered, as the full redemption-price for all his people, and he
carries hia cause in the court of conscience. The awakened sinner is convinced
that the work of Jesus is a finished salvation, and that the divine record ia a
sufficient warrant for him to believe in it. Accordingly, he gives it credit, and
is enabled to plead it against guilt and fear ; upon which he finds peace with God.

THE WALK OF FAITH. 207
Trusting to the blood of sprinkling for pardon, and to the righteousness of Jesus
for acceptance, he then sees God reconciled to him, and that reconcUes him to
God, and by the spirit of adoption he cries Abba, Father.
But perhaps it may be said, I believe this, but I do not find peace in my
conscience. Nay, but you do not believe it ; if you did, it would certainly bring
present relief : for guilt comes from the broken law, and from the apprehension
of punishment deserved ; but the law has been restored to its dignity, and made
infinitely honourable by the righteousness of Jesus : how can you beheve this,
and yet be under gmlt? -The punishment was laid upon Jesus, and he suffered
aU that was due to his people, as their atoning sacrifice : how can you believe
this, and yet fear that justice wiU punish you?*A debtor would not fear to be
arrested, if his surety had paid the sum, and got him a fuU discharge. A felon
with the king's pardon in bis pocket would dishonour it greatly, if he were to
live in continual dread and terror of suffering for his crime. Examine carefuUy,
and pray for the right understanding of your case, and, depend upon it, you
will find that either you do not believe the matter of fact, or the record concern
ing it.
The matter of fact is the method provided for quieting the guilty conscience —
a provision of exceeding rich grace and of everlasting efficacy. The Father gave
the Son to be the surety for his people, and to live and to die for them, and in
their stead. The Son has finished the work which the Father gave him to do,
and is become the author of their eternal salvation.
The record of this fact is in the scripture. Father, Son, and Spirit, the three
witnesses in heaven, have Iry covenant and oath attested that there is life for
every one who believeth in Jesus. " God so loved the world, that he gave his
only-begotten Son, that, whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have
everlasting life."
Now consider ; of what do you doubt ? Has Jesus made full atonement for
sin, and brought in everlasting righteousness ? Has the Father demonstrated
again and again his perfect delight in his person, and his infinite satisfaction in
his work. Certainly you cannot question this doctrine, if you believe the scrip
ture to be a divine revelation. Do you doubt, then, of God's free promise, or of
his faithfulness to fulfil it ? What ! Can his word be broken ? Can his promise
fail ? His word and promise, ratified in the immutable covenant, and sealed with
the immutable oath of the eternal Three ? This is your warrant to believe. And
do you question the veracity of it ? " He that believeth not God, hath made him a
liar." Oh, what a dreadful sin to give the lie to the Holy Trinity ! The Father
says, whosoever cometh, the Son says aU that come unto me, shaU be saved ;
the Spirit says, come whosoever wUl, let him take of the water of life freely, and
be saved. Are not these faithful sayings worthy of aU credit, especiaUy as they
arc delivered with divine authority under the great seal of heaven ? If doubts
still remain, pray against them, and meditate upon the unreasonableness as well
as the wickedness of them, and continue to hear and to read the word (for faith
cometh, and groweth too, by hearing) that you may be enabled to put honour
upon it by venturing your soul upon the divine faithfulness to make it good
to you.
Perhaps you may believe the record which God hath given of his Son, but
you cannot do it with steadfastness. You can at times Btay your mind upon God
with sweet peace, but you are not able to maintain it ; yea, you lose it when you
want it most. How in this case shall the believer keep the peace of God ruling
always in his conscience ?
It is to be maintained in the same way by which it was first received. It came
bybefieving, and is thereby strengthened. By the shedding of tbe blood of
Jesus Christ, peace was made between God and man; by the sprinkling of his
blood, peace is made between man and God. When this is applied to the con
science by the Holy Spirit, and received by faith, there is a continual preservative
against guilt : " For the blood of Jesus Christ cleanseth from aU sin." Here is
the witness of God ; and it is always the same. This believed, wUl always bring
the same cleansing virtue, and keep the conscience purged from dead works. If
at any time guilt defile it, then unbelief bas entered, and has been denying,

THE WALK OF FAITH.
either that the blood of Christ does cleanse from aU sin, or that the divine testi
mony concerning it does deserve credit. Guilt cannot easily enter into the con
science but by one of these two ways. Examine, and see which it is. Do you
doubt of the virtue of Christ's blood, or of the truth of God's record concern
ing it?
You reply, I dare not question either of them, yet nevertheless I cannot with
any settled comfort maintain peace with God. But it is your privilege to maintain
it, confirmed to you by the royal charter of grace, and ratified in it by many express
promises. Jesus has made peace by the blood of his-cross ; and if you believe
what the God of truth says of it, peace should rule in your heart. always : for all
things are weU ordered for you and sure, in the everlasting covenant. On the
part of God, all is unalterably fixed and settled. What is it, then, which unsettles
you ? Is it something you find in yourself ? Is it from indwelling sin, remaining
corruption, a body of sin and death, or from the weakness of your faith and of
Jour other graces ? What ! have you forgotten that from all these the blood of
esus Christ cleanseth ? Is it from a suspicion that your peace is not right, be
cause it ebbs and flows ? This should humble, but not discourage you ; because
there is a gracious provision made to remove your suspicion. God has taken
the charge both of you and of your peace : he keeps both by his mighty power ;
as it is written, The peace of God which surpasses aU understanding shall keep
with a Bpfeguard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. You are as safe in the
hand of God, at the lowest ebb, as at the highest spring-tide of sensible comfort;
because your safeguard is almighty, and he is equally concerned about your peace,
whether you feel it or not. Your sense of it may vary, but he varies not. There
is in him no variableness, nor shadow of turning. How should tbe belief of this
stay your mind upon your God, and keep guilt out of tbe conscience, even when
you are walking in darkness, and have no hght !
O my soul ! meditate upon those precious truths. Give thyself wholly to them.
Consider how deeply they enter into the very being of thy peace. Unless they
be understood, thou canst not know the way of peace ; and unless they be received
by faith, thy conscience will not be purged from guilt and unbelief. And while
these defile it, thou canst not look upon God as reconciled, or delight thyself in
him or in his ways. Can two walk together, except they he agreed ? But when
they are agreed, and of one mind, then walking with God becomes pleasant, and
all nis paths are peace.
Search, then, and examine thyself, O my soul ! and that not lightly, nnd after
the manner of dissemblers with God, but closely and thoroughly by the light of
the divine word, and under the teaching of the divine Spirit. Dost thou under
stand what is revealed concerning the way of peace — what was covenanted in the
counsel of the eternal Three — and what has been done in consequence of it ?
Jesus Christ is the great peacemaker. He has made peace through the blood of
his cross. The Father sent him, gave him to be a covenant of the people, to fulfil
for them aU righteousness, and to be their atoning sacrifice. The Father has
seen the work which he gave him to do, and has accepted it ; is perfectly satisfied
with it, and therefore is infinitely delighted with him and with aU his. He would
now be known by the high style and title of theGoD of Peace. Fury is not in him
to those whom he sees in the beloved. He is a Father, fully, for ever reconciled
to aU his chUdren in Christ Jesus. He loves them, as he loves him, with every
kind feeling of the most tender parent. And he wttl bring every one of them to
partake with their glorified head of the blessings of his everlasting love. <
If thine understanding be enlightened with this knowledge of God, ia it
effectual in thy conscience ? Canst thou plead it there ? This is the principal thing.
Hast thou a good conscience, freed from guilt and condemnation, by believing
the record which God hath given of his Son ? He is weU pleased with him for his
righteousness' sake. His soul delighted in the sweet-smeUing savour of his Son's
sacrifice. Because he humbled himself and became obedient unto death, even
the death ofthe cross, therefore the Father hath highly exalted him. This is the
witness of God. Dost thou yield to it, and give it full credit ? What canst thou set
to thy seal that God is true, and that what satisfied him has perfectly satisfied thee,
and therefore the peace of God rules in thy conscience always and by all means ?

THE WALK OF FAITH 209
Remember, this is thy privilege. Thou art caUed to the enjoyment of it. The
evidence is as fuU as could be desired, for the ending of aU 6trife in thy con
science. The greatest honour thou canst put upon the divine witnesses, is so
to end it as to suffer no appeal to be made from their decree. Thy conscience
should join issue. It should say the same that God does. It should plead thy
discharge from guilt under the'broad seal of heaven ; and should stop the mouth
of unbelief with those w.ords written in golden letters in the royal charter of
grace — " There is no condemnation to them that are in Christ Jesus — they are
freely forgiven all trespasses"  "They are justified from all things." —
" Thy sins and iniquities," Bays God himself, " wiU I rememember no more."
These are the immutable words of truth. They cannot be broken. O my soul !
put honour upon them. Believe them without doubt or wavering. Why dost
thou draw back thy confidence ? Trust, and be not afraid. Thou mayst safely
venture to believe aU that the Lord hath spoken. He wfll make it good ; and
the more thou believest, the more will be made good. More faith wUl bring
thee in a richer revenue of peace. The Lord increase thy faith. May it entirely
influence thy conscience, that it may agree with God, neither questioning the
infinite value of the righteousness and atonement of Immanuel, nor yet the faith
fulness of his promise, under which thou claimest them — " Whosoever will,
may take them freely."
Let thy faith be ever so weU estabhshed, yet thou wilt meet with something
every day, to try it ; but remember, the foundation on which thou standest cannot
fail, and none, nothing, shall remove thee from it. The Lord brought thee to
build upon this foundation. He hath begun the good work, and he wiU not
leave his work unfinished. The top-stone shaU certainly be brought forth with
shouting grace — grace : for his love is like himself. His purposes, his word,
his workB change not. What if thou feel many things wrong in thyself; thou
art sometimes low in spirits ; thou canst not be pleased with thy corruption, and
thou art not pleased with thy duties ; thy graces are weak ; thy love not as it
should be ; thy best services unprofitable ; yet those very things, rightly under
stood and improved by the teaching of the Holy Spirit, will be the means of
establishing thy conscience in the peace of God : they wiU lead thee every day
to a greater dependence upon sovereign grace : for they wiU leave thee nothing
to trust in but the righteousness and the atonement of Immanuel ; nothing to
keep thee, but his faithfulness to his word and work; and nothing to bless thee but
llis free covenant mercy. Thus they wiU work together for thy good : trials wiU
settle thee : enemies will confirm thee in peace : troubles wiU bring thee nearer
to God. Amidst aU discouragements thou wUt have this promise to stay thy
bouI upon : " I wiU never leave thee nor forsake thee." His friendship is fixed :
it springs from the purpose and love of his own breast, and therefore was and is
always unchangeably the same in him. Whom he loveth, he loveth unto the end.
Well then, O my soul ! thou hast examined thyself. How is it with thee ?
Dost thou know the way of peace ? Art thou at peace with God, being justified
by faith ? Canst thou plead this peace, and maintain it in thy conscience ? Is it
a good conscience ? does it witness for God ? Is it a pure conscience, cleansed
from guUt and condemnation ? Is it satisfied that the Father is perfectly recon
ciled through the life and death of his Son ? and is it satisfied with the divine
record giving thee a free grant of the benefits of his life and death, and putting
thee into possession by believing ? Art thou of one heart and of one mind in
this matter with the Father, and now, being at peace with him, agreed to walk
in his way ? If indeed he has been thus gracious unto thee, bless the Lord, O
my soul ! and aU that is within me praise him for the exceeding riches of his
love ! What a mercy is it that he hath brought thee into the way of peace ! Oh,
go on ; fear not. Set out daily with a holy, humble boldness to walk with thy
God. And for the guiding of thy feet in his way, and that thy steps may not
decline from it, be diligent in hearing and reading the word of God. Study it.
Pray over it. Mind what encouragement it gives thee : " Having therefore, bre
thren, boldness to enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus, by that new and
living way, which he hath consecrated for us, through the vail, that is to say, his
flesh, and having an high priest over the house of God, let us draw near with a

210 THE WALK OF FAITH.
true heart, in fuU .assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil
conscience, and our bodies washed with pure water." Heb. x. 19, 20, &c. What
perfect peace is here proclaimed to the children of God ! Sin had separated' them
from him ; but there is access through Jesus. He is the way to the Father. He
is a new way, in opposition to the old way of works, which upon the%fall was shut
for ever. He is a living way : all that are alive to God live by the" faith of the
Son of God. He is a consecrated way ; every thing needful for their holy walk
being provided in him. And they are required to walk in this way with bold
ness : trusting to the blood of Jesus, and depending on the intercession of the
high priest over the house of God, they have access with confidence intothe ho
liest. It is their undoubted privilege to draw near with a true heart, not like a
double-minded man, wavering and unstable, but with full assurance of faith,
entirely satisfied that God in Christ has nothing in his breast but love towards
them ; therefore they should beheve in him, and serve him without fear, having
their hearts sprinkled from an evtt conscience, maintaining peace with God
through the continual application of the blood of Jesus, and having their bodies
washed with pure water ; body and soul being cleansed from the guilt and filth
of sin by the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Ghost.
Oh, may this be my happy experience ! May I ever have grace to draw near
to my reconciled Father with a good conscience ! Yea, Lord, this is my heart's
desire. I would walk with thee day by day in perfect peace. Oh, deny me not
the request of my lips. Glory be to thy free love, that through Jesus 1 am suffered
to have access into thy presence, and am commanded to come with boldness into
the holiest of all. Lo, I come before thee, holy Father ! to plead the blood-shed
ding and the righteousness of thy dear Son ; and I hope my plea will be admitted,
through the intercession of the high priest of the house of God. Oh, look, thou
God of peace, upon the face of thy lleloved ! See me in him. I desire to be
found in him. And for his sake let the faithful witness for thy love in Jesus
abide with me, that, in hearing and reading thy word, in prayer and medita
tion, he may increase my faith in thee and love to thee.
O God the Holy Ghost ! 1 beseech thee to make practical upon my heart what
thou hast revealed; in scripture of the Father's love. Deliver me from guilt and
condemnation by the sprinkling of the blood of Jesus. Apply it effectually.
Apply it continuaUy. Help me to believe wilh more comfort in my conscience,
and with more steadfastness in my walk, that his blood cleanaeth from all sin.
O blessed Spirit ! carry on thy work in my soul. Lead me from faith to faith,
that I may at aU times-have freedom to enter within the vail to a reconciled God
and Father, and may be able to maintain peace with him against doubts and fears,
against corruptions and enemies. Oh, teach me to draw near to him with a true
heart, steadfastly persuaded of his love, and in fuU assurance of faith. This is
thy gracious office : Oh, fulfil it in me, that my heart may be sprinkled from an
evil conacience, and my body washed with pure water. Let me find grace suf
ficient for me, for Jesus' sake ; to whom, with thee, O Father, and the eternal
Spirit, three Persons in one Jehovah, be equal honour and glory for ever and
ever. Amen.

CHAPTER 111.
The believer in his heart cleaves to'God, and walks wilh him in love.
This depends entirely upon a good conscience. There can be no love of God
unless there be first peace with God. No convinced sinner can love him until
he believes him to be reconcUed. While guilt remains in the conscience, en
mity will keep its place in the heart : for so long as he looks upon his sins
unpardoned, and God the just avenger of them, he must consider him as a jeal
ous God, and a consuming fire. In this view there is every thing that can in
crease his guilty fears ; and while these defile the conscience, instead of walking

THE WALK OF FAITH: 2H
with God, he would run away from him, and, like the first offenders, he would
foolishly try to hide himself from the presence of God.
But when the Holy Spirit has discovered the way of peace, and has enabled
the sinner to find peace, being pardoned and justified through faith in Christ
Jesus, then he looks upon God in another light. He can view him, according
as he has proclaimed himself — the Lord, the Lord God, merciful and gracious,
long-suffering, and abundant in goodness and truth, keeping mercy for thou
sands, forgiving iniquity, and transgression, and sin. Under this endearing
character, the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ is revealed in scrip
ture. Thus would he be considered in the covenant of grace — related in the
nearest bond of affection to all his children. He is their father, the father of
mercies, freely loving, freely forgiving, freely accepting them in the beloved.
The Holy Spirit convinces them of it, and sheds the Father's love to them abroad
in their hearts ; the sense of which sweetly inclines them to love him again
Love begets love. God has put on the tender bowels of an ever-loving parent,
and he gives them the affection of dutiful children. They love him because he
first loved them. Then it is the delight of their souls to cultivate and im
prove this love on their part, and it becomes their heaven upon earth to walk
with their God in the ways wherein he has appointed to meet them, to love them,
and to bless them.
The main point, then, in the Christian walk is to know how to maintain peace
in the conscience : because this is the powerful motive upon which the believer
first sets out, and it is the great spring which keeps them going on. "While his
conscience continues pure and undented, and the peace of God rules in it, all
is weU. He does not stop, he does not halt, in the way. But when guilt enters,
unbelief certainly follows close after it, and then there is a fresh controversy in
the court of conscience. Many doubts arise, and afford matter for strife and
debate. The sense of peace is not only disturbed, but is also, for a time, de
stroyed by such suspicions as these — " -Vm I freely pardoned ? — Is God fuUy
reconciled to me ? — Is he still my loving Father ? I _fear not. I have done so
and so — He is certainly displeased with me, and therefore I dare not approach
him, as I used to do, with love and confidence." This is an evil conscience. It
is not purged from dead works ; because guilt is still in it ; and this keeps the
soul at a distance from God. It begets a coldness and a shyness to him, and,
by shutting out the comfortable sense of his love, makes way for fear of wrath.
Then the motives to walk with God lose their influence, and an evil heart
of unbelief tempts the man to depart from the firing God.
Look well then, O my soul ! to this leading truth, which has such universal
influence over the Christian walk. Attend to the peace of thy conscience. See
it be true peace ; and mind it be weU settled. Learn to maintain it upon gos
pel motives. The heart foUows the determination of conscience ; and cleaves
to the Lord, or departs from him, according as the conscience excuses or ac
cuses. It is therefore absolutely necessary for our peace that we should know
how God has shown himself reconciled in Christ Jesus. The character of
him in the scriptures should be studied. Whoever has been enabled to caU
him, Abba, Father, should implore the assistance of the Holy Spirit for an
increase of faith, and should make use of all appointed means for his growth
in the knowledge of the love of his heavenly Father. The apostle ie upon this
subject in Romans v. — a chapter abounding with powerful arguments to esta,
blish the peace of God in thy conscience : in order that the love of God may
rale in the heart. He gives us this account of the privileges of a justified
man. He has peace with God through Jesus Christ — by whom he has a free
access to God — is in a state of grace — stands in it by the power of God — has
reason to rejoice (come what wiU) in hope of the glory to be revealed — and
whatever he meets with in the way to glory should increase the rejoicing of
his hope, and confirm his heart in the love of God to him. Observe how di
vinely the apostle speaks : " Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace
with God through our Lord Jesus Christ : by whom also we have access by
faith into this grace wherein we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God;
nnd not only so, but wc rejoice in tribulations also, knowing well that tribula-
p 2

212 THE WALK OF FAITH.
tion worketh patience, and patience experience, and experience hope, and hope
maketh not ashamed, because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by
the Holy Ghost, who is given unto us."
What privileges ! how many, how free, how blessed are here declared to be
the portions of the justified man, which he is to enjoy in his reconciled God 1
each of them tending to establish peace in his conscience, and love in his heart,
that he may delight himself in God and in his ways. The first and chief blessing
in experience, which draws after it aU the rest, is the Spirit. —
The Holy Ghost is given unto him to he a witness for Jesus, and to shed abroad
the Fathers love through him. He comes as the Spirit of life to quicken the
soul, which had been dead in trespasses and sins, and to bring it to the know
ledge of salvation, which he does, secondly, by the gift of faith.
Being justified by faith. He enables the sinner to believe in the finished work
of the God-man, and to trast to the free grant of it in the word of God : whereby
he sees himself fully justified ; through the atonement of Jesus freed from sin
and guilt ; through the righteousness of Jesus entitled to life and glory : and
therefore, thirdly, he has
Peace with God through Jesus Christ his Lord. He sees God is at peace with
him — perfectly and continually reconciled. The peace is everlasting which waa
made through the blood of the everlasting covenant. The belief of this quieta
and satisfies the sinner's conscience ; which being purged by the blood, ana jus
tified by the righteousness of Jesus Christ his Lord, is at peace, is freed from guilty
fears, and is reconciled to God, yea to the justice of God, who can now be just,
and yet the justifier of the ungodly. To what high honour is he then called !
He is admitted into friendship with God, and has,
Fourthly, Access by faith into this grace, wherein he stajids — access to a mercy,
seat, to which he is invited to come freely, as a beloved child to an affectionate
parent. Boldness and access with confidence are required and commanded,
" Let us come boldly to the throne of grace : having boldness to enter into the
holiest by the blood of Jesus," let us by faith make use of that new and living
way, which he hath opened for us. Oh, what a mercy is it thus to have access
to a gracious Father ! how much is the mercy increased by his settling his
children in it ! We stand in it, saya the apostle, denoting the being fixed in a
state of perfect acceptance, conferred by sovereign grace, brought into it by
unchangeable love, and kept in it by the power of a faithful God.- How strength
ening to faith ! how encouraging to hope ! for,
Fifthly, We rejoice in hope of the glory of God. Faith relies upon the truth
of what God hath promised, and hope waits for the enjoyment of the good in the
promise, but more especially for the glory which is to be revealed. Ihis hope
of glory is fuU of rejoicing ; because every thing which hope looks at, and draws
its joy from, depends on the truth and faithfulnees of a covenant God. Therg
can be no failing on his part ; and therefore, on the believer's, there can be no
disappointment. On thia ground hope casts its anchor, both sure and steadfast,
and finds all safe during the storms of life, yea, has many a sweet foretaste of
the promised glory, brought into the soul by these very storms : for,
Sixthly, We rejoice in tribulations also. These are so far from taking away
the joy of the justified man, that they tend greatly to increase it, and to make
it more holy, as weU as" more happy. Tribulations produce a plentiful harvest of
blessings, they bring forth
Patience, giving occasion to exercise the graces of the Spirit, to find the truth
and the power of them, and thereby working submission under the cross to the
wttl of God. " It ia good for me," says David, " that I have been afflicted ;" hie
troubles brought him to God — " Before I was afflicted, I went astray." His
troubles kept him near to God, dependent on the divine strength to bear them
with patience, and for a happy issue out of them. Whereby he learned
Experience; which follows suffering and patience. Tribulations teach us
what we are as sinners,, and what God is to hia reconciled children. They make
us sensible of our weakness, and of our being strong only in the Lord — of our
misery, and of his comforts — of what we deserve, and of what he eavea us from :
they bring us to live out of ourselves, upon the sure mercies of a covenant God ;

THE WALK OF FAITH. 213
whereby our hope in him being tried, and by trials confirmed, we discover his
love to us in suffering, and by daily experience become quite satisfied, that
our Heme is the grace of the Holy Spirit : for it answers the scripture character :
it rejoices in tribulation. It has good reason so to do : it experiences God's
faithfulness. Every thing promised being made good to us in time, we thereby
grow up into the full assurance of hope, that we shaU not faU of receiving the
promised glory. And this
Hope maketh not ashamed, because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts
by the Holy Ghost, who is given unto us. He is given to satisfy our hearts of the
love of God to us, and to lead us to study the nature and the perfections of his
love. Behold ! what manner of love, what a free, full, sovereign, and everlasting
love, the Father hath bestowed upon us. It is actually bestowed and enjoyed
by the power of the Holy Ghost. He shows us how the Father loved us, even
when we were without strength ; yea, herein God commendeth his love towards
us, in that, while we were sinners and enemies, he gave his Son to live and die
for us ; much more then, being now justified, we shaU be saved from wrath,
and brought to glory, through him. How does this commend and set off the
love of God ! It is the first cause of all the graces here mentioned, and it bestows
them upon the most unworthy. Faith, justification by faith, access to God,
standing in a justified state, rejoicing in hope of glory, and rejoicing in the way
to it even in tribulations, because they exercise and improve patience, and put
our graces to such trials, as convince us, that they are the true graces of the
Holy Spirit, and that we shaU never be ashamed of our hope in God. In this
golden chain of experience love is the uppermost link. It was the first, and
draws after it aU the rest. The free love of the Father gave his Son for us, and
with him gave us -all things. The same love has now given his Spirit to us,
and he has enabled us to know and to believe that we are justified, have access
to a reconciled God, stand accepted before him, &c. aud that he is our loving
God and Father in Jesus. The sense of this warms the heart, and sweetly
and powerfuUy influences the affections to delight in and to walk in love with
such an exceedingly gracious and merciful God.
In this delightful portion of scripture the Holy Spirit teaches us how he
brings sinners to know that God loves them. It is by believing in the
righteousness and atonement of the Son of God. Hence spring peace and
love — peace with God in the conscience, and love to God in the heart. There
is an inseparable connexion between those two graces : the one cannot exist
without the other. Whoever knows the God of peace, wiU find that God is love ;
for, being justified by faith, he wiU thereby see that God is at peace with him,
and himself in a state of free acceptance before him, in which he shaU stand and
be kept safe, until he receive the promised glory ; the hope of which wUl be
confirmed by his daily experience of God's faithfulness, making aU things, even
tribulations, work together for his good in the way to glory : thus wttl the Holy
Spirit satisfy him of the love of God to his soul. And the persuasion of his love
begets love ; it softens the hard heart ; it warms the cold heart ; it works kindly
upon aU the affections, and, by setting before them every possible good to be
enjoyed in their reconciled God, it mightily disposes them to seek their supreme
happiness in walking humbly and closely with him.
Attend then, O my soul ! to this scripture. Meditate upon the experience of
which it treats. Pray for it. Pray for more of it. And above aU, observe the
great truth here taught thee by the Holy Ghost, namely, that thou canst not
have any true love of God, but what arises from the sense of his being at peace
with thee in Jesus. Oh, beware of false teachers ! for there is great reason.
Many talk big of their loving God for his own inherent loveliness — a funda
mental mistake. Mystics, quakers, natural-religion-men, dreaming metaphy
sicians, and the motley tribe of moralists and deists, pretend to love an abso
lute God, without viewing him in the covenant of grace, or as he has re
vealed himself in the incarnation of his Son. There has been no love of this
kind in any heart upon earth for near six thousand years. Adam in paradise
might love him thus. But when driven out of paradise for sin, he could love

214 THE WALK OF FAITH.
him so no more. The promised seed of the woman, the word made flesh,
became then the object of his faith, and the only ground of his love. The
scripture has clearly determined this — " We love him, because he first loved us —
And in this was manifested the love of God towards us, because that God sent
his only-begotten Son into the world, that we might live through him." When
the Holy Ghost has taught this love of God to sinners, ana by believing has
manifested it to their hearts, then they love him upon Christian principles ; and
sinners cannot love him upon any other. They love him for that infinite mercy
which led him to send his only-begotten Son into the world to finish the salvation
of his people. They love him for sending tiie Holy Ghost to enable them to see
the everlasting sufficiency of this salvation, and to believe the record of God
concerning it ; whereby they come to experience how much the Father loved them,
This is heaven begun. The Father's love shed abroad in the heart by the Holy
Ghost is the foretaste of glory. W hoever enjoys it has found what is more to be
desired than gold, yea, than much fine gold ; sweeter also than honey and the
honeycomb. Oh, it is indeed heaven upon earth. To preserve it, to improve it, is
become the one study of the happy believer. The panting of his soul is after
more of this love. '1 he prayer of his faith is, O thou eternal Spirit ! help me so
to walk with my most loving lather, as that I may maintain peace with him in
my conscience, and a growing love to him in my heart, until thou bring me to
the enjoyment of everlasting peace and love !
The prayer of a righteous man prevaileth much, being offered with energy.
By the love of the Spirit it is answered. He not only preserves, but also in
creases, his own graces. He leads the believer to fresh discoveries of the
Father's love, and puts him into possession ofthe exceeding rich treasures of it.
He helps him to draw very strong arguments for the comfort of his heart from
the perfect fref.ness of divine love. Thus he reasons :
Although I am beset with temptations, and assaulted with corruptions, and
in a world of troubles, yet I need not fear but God wttl bring me safe through
all ; for I know he love8 me. It is plain he does : I could never have loved him
unless he had first freely loved me. My love is only the reflection of his. 1 had
been convinced of sin, but it was not from myself : the conviction was of God.
I have been convinced of righteousness ; and 1 put my whole trust in the
righteousness of Jesus. He is the only ground of my hope. I now rest my
soul upon the sure foundation which he hath laid. And thia faith is not of
myself. It is the gift of God. I ascribe it to his sovereign grace, that I have
been enabled to look upon the Father, as reconciled to me, pardoning me through
ihe blond-shedding of his Son, accounting me righteous through the obedience
of hi9 Son, and in him accepting, loving, and blessing me. How could 1 ex
perience these things but by the power of the Holy Ghost ? And for what did I
deserve to experience them ? The reason must be found in the riches of his own
free grace. Did the Father foresee any thing good in me for which he chose me
in bis Son ? Was it for any worthiness of mine, that the Son vouchsafed to take
flesh, and to live and to die for me ? Was it for any foreseen works, faithfulness,
or diligence in means, that the Holy Ghost caUed me to know, to believe, and to
enjoy the Father's love through the Son's salvation? Oh, no. Away with Buch
thoughts. 1 dare claim nothing for mine own but sin and shame. Not unto me,
Lord ! not unto me, but unto thee be all the glory. It was the good pleasure of
thine own wttl which chose me before the foundation of the world, and accepted
me in the beloved ; and now 1 know that thy counsels of old are faithfulness and
truth. I experience the happy fruit and effect of them. I am brought to believe
in thee, and to love my God and Father, which I am satisfied I could never have
done if thy free love had not first purposed to save me, and now carried thy
purposes into execution. To the praise of the glory of thy distinguishing grace,
1 am in possession of the things which accompany salvation. Oh, give me more
grace, that I may daily make a better use of them, and may return thee better
praise for thy free gifts of free grace.
It is free, and it is also covenant love. This is another of its divine pro
perties : God commendeth his love towards the heirs of promise by giving them
full security for ils unchangcableness : and this view the Holy Spirit opens to

THE WALK OF FAITH. 215
them for the support of their faith in times of trial. When they are walking in
darkness, and have no light, troubled on every side, without are fightings, within
are fears ; when in great heaviness through failings in duty, through risings of
corruption, or through manifold temptations, then he discovers to them the
treasures of covenant love, and enables them to draw rich consolation from that
heavenly store-house. An heir of promise under his teaching is often supported
in this way : It is true, I am in trouble, but not forsaken. What if every thing
I have and am in myself makes against me, yet God is on my side, a covenant
God : for I believe the eternal Three entered into covenant before aU worlds,
and with manifold wisdom ordered aU things relating to the heirs of promise.
For their sakes, and to end aU strife in their consciences about the certainty
of their salvation, it pleased the blessed Trinity to enter into covenant, and to
confirm their covenant by oath ; thus giving them two immutable things to
trust in, in which it is impossible for God to he. Oh, how strengthening to
faith is this view of the unchangeableness of covenant love ! If it be but a
man's covenant, being properly signed and sealed, no one disannulleth or addeth
thereto. And who shaU disannul or add to the covenant of the Trinity ? The
creature cannot. God wUl not. His purpose of bringing many sons to glory
is unalterably fixed in his own mind ; and in order to make it a sure ground
for their faith, he confirmed his immutable covenant by his immutable oath.
On this security I reBt ray soul. A covenant God has enabled me to trust in
his covenant engagements. Hence I see every thing relating to my salvation
absolutely certain in the counsel and covenant of God ; and I look upon my
faith to be one of the effects of my being in the covenant. And faith as a
covenant gift is an immutable gift. What a blessing is it that the gifts and
calling of God are without repentance ! It has been given me on the behalf of
Christ to believe. And is not this from covenant love ? What else could bring
me to trust in covenant faithfulness ? Therefore by beheving I have immutable
things to depend upon for the certainty of my salvation. Upon them would I
stay my soul, as weU I may, and fix my heart upon them. Oh, that I could
bring more glory to my covenant God by trusting him with unshaken confi
dence ! His love to me demands it at my hands. His love contrived the plan
of salvation. Love provided every thing needful to carry it into execution. The
evidence which he has given of this was from the overflowings of love. His
word of promise, ratified by covenant, confirmed by oath, the oath of the holy,
blessed, and glorious Trinity, made to satisfy the heirs of promise of the immu
tability of the divine wiU concerning them — Oh, what miracles of love are these !
And aU to assure them that the heart of Jehovah is invariably towards them for
good ! Yes, Lord ; this is the great love wherewith thou lovest me ; and this is
the evidence of thy love. Thou hast brought me to beheve it, and put some
honour upon it. 1 desire to trust to thy covenant engagements without wavering.
Establish, strengthen, settle my faith. Increase it from day to day, that I may
grow in the knowledge and experience of that love which passeth knowledge : for
It is a free, a covenant, and also an everlasting love. This is another of
its most glorious properties. His love knows neither beginning nor end. It is
without variableness or shadow of turning. The heart of God is always one
and the same towards his chosen people ; for he loveth them freely. Ihe motives
to it were all in and from his own hreast. The covenant was distinguishing
love, secured to the heirs of promise by the most solemn engagements. And this
crowns all. His love is of the same date with the covenant — not only before aU
worlds, but also from eternity. Therefore it is frequently caUed in scripture an
everlasting covenant, and covenant love is said to be according to the eternal
purpose, which he had purposed in Christ Jesus our Lord : whereby, before the
foundations of the world were laid, he hath constantly decreed by his counsel,
secret to us, to deliver from curse and damnation those whom he hath chosen
in Christ out of mankind, and to bring them by Christ to everlasting salvation,
ns vessels made to honour. Here is a never-faifing source of comfort to a believing
heart. Meditate, O my soul! upon it. Consider what God hath done for thee,
and give him the glory of his precious love. Has he not called thee by his Spirit,
working in thee in due season ? Hast thou not obeyed the caU ? Dost thou not

216 THE WALK OF FAITH.
depend upon the finished work of God thy Saviour ? Art thou not justified freely
by faith in him ? Art thou not seeking daily to mortify the works of the flesh
and thy earthly members, and that thy mind may be drawn up to high and
heavenly things ? Certainly these are good proofs ofthe purposes ofthe Father's
love towards thee ; because these are the happy effects of his purposes now
taking place in my aoul. Oh ! how great should this consideration establish and
confirm thy faith of eternal salvation to be enjoyed by Christ, and thereby kindle
thy love towards God ! He has indeed drawn thee by the sweet attraction of
his Spirit unto himself, and he has explained to thee the motive for Ms so doing
— " Yea, I have loved thee with an everlasting love ; therefore with loving kind
ness have I drawn thee." His love, discovered to thee in time, is the fruit of his
love before time ; for the one is the effect of the other. If love had not been
always in his heart towards thee, thy heart could never have been drawn in love
to him. But he has drawn it. And thou art seeking to have it drawn more
closely to him. Is it not thy daily wish, Oh for more love to my gracious
Father ! what a love has he shown to me ! — what a free, covenant everlasting
love ! And yet, alas ! what poor returns do I make him ! Holy Spirit of love,
raise and exalt my affections, and let the consideration of the wonderful love of
my heavenly Father to me increase mine to him ; and let mine abound yet
more and more iu knowledge and in aU sensible experience.
The Holy Spirit, who is the great teacher and manifester of the Father's love,
has revealed these properties of it in scripture for the establishment of tbe faith of
the children of God. He would have them to believe, assuredly, that God is
their father, not in name only, but in deed and in truth ; that he has the bowels of
the tenderest parent, and that he freely, fuUy, everlastingly loves them in his dear
Son. As he loves him, so he loves them. He embraces the head and the mem
bers with the same affection. And because they can hardly believe this in times
of trial and trouble, the Holy Spirit would therefore satisfy their hearts of it
by discovering to them the unchangeableness of their Father's love, as it has
been manifested in the divine covenant, and confirmed with the divine oath :
in both which the witness of the Father to his children is given in this man
ner : — I have freely loved you ; 1 have engaged to love you, and I will ever
be mindful of my covenant engagementa : — ae I live, aaith the Lord, I will love
you unto the end ; yea, I wttl bless you with aU spiritual and eternal blessings in
Christ Jesus ; what he, your elder brother, is now in glory, that will my love
make you : the mountains shall depart, and the hills shall be removed, but my
kindness shall not depart from you, neither shaU the covenant of my peace be re
moved, saith the Lord, that hath mercy on you.
These are faithful sayings, and worthy of all acceptation. O evil heart of un
belief ! what pretence hast thou to reason against the truth of them ? O ye of
little faith ! wherefore do - ye doubt of receiving the goodness of them ? Your
Father is not a man, that he should lie ; neither the Son of man, that he should
alter his purpose. Hath he said, and shall he not do it ? Or hath he spoken,
and shall he not make it good ? Yea, the purpose of hia heart, spoken with his
mouth, ahaU be made good with his arm : aU his perfections stand engaged to
establish his faithful word ; and therefore it is a safe ground to build and rest
upon. Trusting to it, the believer may boldly claim the promised blessings of
his Father's love, and, with a hope that will never make him ashamed, he may
expect a growing enjoyment of its free, covenant, and eternal blessings.
WeU then, O my soul ! thou hast considered the subject. What are thy sen
timents of the love of the Father ? Are they such as the Bcripture teaches ?
Take heed of error. A little mistake hep will have dreadful effects upon thy
walk. Dost thou believe that thou, coming to the Father through faith in the
life and death of his coequal Son, art pardoned and justified before him, and that
this thy coming to the Father through the Son is from the grace of the Spirit ?
Therefore, the Three that bear record in heaven do witness to thy being an object
of covenant love. Does this witness keep thy conscience quiet, and thy heart
happy ? Canst thou plead it against guilt and fear, and maintain the influence of
it in dark and trying times ? The love of thy heavenly Father is immutable :
dost thou experience it to be so ? It is everlasting. Canst thou depend upon

THE WALK OF FAITH. 217
it as such ? It has provided all blessings for thee in Jesus. Art thou receiving
them out of his fulness, grace for grace? It is proposed to thy faith in John
xvii. and in Eph. iii. as a never-failing spring of consolation. Read, and try
whether thou art practicaUy acquainted with what is there written. Examine the
character of the Father's love ; and, be assured, what is not agreeable to it, is not
the teaching of the Holy Spirit. His office in thy soul is to witness to what he
hath revealed in the scripture ; to explain it to thine understanding ; to make it
the ground of thy faith, and the enjoyment of thy heart. Dost thou then un
derstand, and believe, and enjoy the Father's love according to what the Holy
Spirit has testified of it ?
Perhaps thou art clear in thine understanding, but, through the weakness of
thy faith, hast but little enjoyment of the love of God. Why is thy faith weak ?
Search into the cause (depend on it, God is not the cause), and having discovered
it, inquire into the remedy. There is provision made in the covenant for all the
infirmities of thy faith ; for it was weU ordered in aU things and sure, and thy faith
was weU ordered and sure — infallible securities were provided in the covenant to
make it sure. That thou shouldst have it, that thou shouldst keep it, and keep
it too unto the end, the blessed Trinity have engaged by their immutable counsel
and their immutable oath. Therefore thou art now kept by the power of God
through faith unto salvation. The power of God, which is thy keeper, has given
thee faith, and keeps thy faith, that it fail not. Thou and it are well kept. A
covenant God has the charge of both. Almighty love watches over thee ; and
underneath are the everlasting arms. Till these fail, thy faith cannot fail. Oh
what powerful motives are these to induce thee to believe without wavering !
Consider them carefully : and may the Lord render them the means of strength
ening thy faith, and of thereby enabling thee to cleave more closely in love to
thy heavenly Father !
It may be thou art hindered from living by unshaken faith, because thou hast
so little love to God. He ought to have aU thy heart and soul, and mind and
strength ; but it grieves thee to observe what a small part he has of them. This
view is always humbling. Our love at best is not what it ought to be. It is not
constant: it ebbs and flows. It is not perfect : the flesh lusteth always contrary
to the Spirit. It is not what God deserves, as payment for love received : who
will compute the full value of his love to one redeemed sinner ? On earth it sur-
passeth knowledge : in heaven it surpasseth all returns of praise. The highest
love of glorified saints is only acknowledgment, but not payment. They are per
fectly humble, and therefore willing that God should have aU the glory of their
salvation. To him they ascribe it. The same mind in thee would refine thy
love, and make it something like theirs. When thou art considering thy love to
God, and ashamed at the sight of it, then look at his. Look especially at his
when thine is little. Believing views of his will increase thine. Thine has no
thing else to excite it, or to nourish it. Thou art not caUed upon to warm thyself
with the sparks of thy love to God, but with the pure constant flame of his love
to thee. His is to keep up thine. His is the first cause, and thine is but the
effect. The experience of his wiU heal aU the infirmities of thine. When thy
love is little, unsettled, cold, and duU, then study the divine properties of his :
theso rightly understood will increase, settle, warm, and actuate thine affections.
By believing meditation thou wilt find a pardon provided for thy little love : the
sense of it wiU comfort thy conscience. Thy heart will grow hot within thee :
while thou art musing, the fire wiU kindle : it wiU break out. Thou wilt speak
with thy tongue praise and thanksgiving to thy loving God and Father.
Thou art willing then, O my soul ! and ready to set out to foUow thy God.
Under the influence of the Holy Spirit thou hast chosen him for thy portion, and
in a constant dependence upon his grace thou hast taken his way for thy datty
walk. How great is the love, wherewith he loveth thee ! Surveyit. Measure,
if thou canst, the dimensions of it in thine own particular case. The more thou
art acquainted with it, the readier wttt thou be to give him aU the glory of it,
and to make such acknowledgments as these:
I speak the truth in Christ; I lie not; my conscience bearing me witness
in the Holy Ghost that, being justified by faith, I have found peace and free

218 THE WALK OF FAITH.
access to a reconciled God. 'We are agreed; and now I desire to walk with
ff' • VS ™y Fatller ™ Jesus; and I know he has bowels of the tenderest
affection for me. I ought not, it would be base in me, to question it, since
he has shed his love abroad in my heart by the Holy Ghost ; who has made
me of one mind, of one heart, and of one way with himself. His way is be
come mine : for he has reconcUed me to it by causing me to see that he
chose me freely, as an object of his electing love; that he gave his Son to
finish salvation work for me ; and that he has now given his Spirit to me,
who has called me, and given me ears to hear, who has bestowed on mo faith
and hope, and has enabled me to look upon tliese as fruits of the Father's co
venant grace and everlasting favour. Oh what exceeding riches of love are these !
If I would declare and speak of them, they aie more than can be numbered.
What am I, that I should be accepted in the beloved ? His Father, mine. He
sees me, loves me, yea blesses me in him. My title is clear to all spiritual bless
ings, because God, being my God in Jesus, aU things are mine. He wiU make
them aU work together for my good. He that withheld not his own Son, but
gave him for me, how shall he not with him freely give me all things ? Having
his free grant of them in the word of promise, and trusting to his faithful-
neaa, I have set out to walk with my divine Friend and Father, hoping to enjoy
his loving presence all the way to heaven. I would not aim at getting any new
title to his love, but to have new enjoyment. Every day I am seeking for more
knowledge, and for more experience of his abundant love to me in his beloved
Son. And for this end I would walk close with him in his way — not to buy his
love, it is inestimable —not to merit it, free grace and merit cannot stand together —
not that 1 may deserve it for my walk, but may freely receive it of him in my walk
— not that he may give it me for walking with him, but that in walking with him I
may enjoy what he has already given me. His love is a free gift. I would by
faith enjoy it in time, as I hope by sense to enjoy it in eternity. Whatever bless
ing, 8trength, victory, or comfort, I stand in need of, I look to the fulness which
he has laid up in Jesus, and from thence I receive it. I read my title to it, and
I take possession of it, for nothing done in me or by me, now or at any other
time, but only in or for the free grace of his Father and my Father. While I can
live thus by simple faith, I find I am enabled to go on well. The senBe of his
free, covenant, everlasting love, keeps my heart happy, and makes walking with
him my delight. Oh that he may enable me to press forward, that I may hold
my confidence, and the rejoicing of my hope steadfast unto the end ! And why
need- 1 doubt of it, since he has me in hia keeping ? His love has bound itself to
mc by covenant engagements, which are my full security for what he haa de-
claredl " I wttl never leave thee nor forsake thee."
These desires, I am persuaded, are from thee, O Father of mercies ! I could
never have sought my happiness in thy love, unless thou hadst first loved me.
Oh grant me then the desire of my heart ! What thy good Spirit has put me
upon seeking, let me by his grace find continuaUy. He has manifested to me
thy perfect reconciliation to thy people through the life and death of Jesus. It
has been given me on hia behalf to believe thia. I have therefore taken thee for
my God and my portion, and I would so walk with thee as to obtain a growing
knowledge and experience of thy love. For this cause I bow my knees unto
thee, holy Father. Oh, hear and answer the prayer of faith. Give me grace to
walk with thee in love aU the way to glory.- I ask it in the name of Jesus ; for
thou art the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, of whom the whole family in heaven
and earth is named : one Father, one family, one love. Thou receivest all thy
children, whether in heaven or earth, into the same near relation, and embracest,
them with the same dear affection in thy beloved Son. Oh what a mercy is thia-!
Blessed, for ever blessed be thy fatherly love, which chose me to be of thy family, .
and which has brought me to know that I am a child of God by faith in Christ
Jesus. I thank thee for giving me the desire to live as such, and. to walk worthy
of my high calling. Oh grant me then, according to the riches of thy glory
(out of thine infinite treasury of grace, and to the praise of the glory of thy grace)
to he strengthened with might by thy Spirit in the inner man. He is the promise
of the Father. All thy children have their new birth and every faculty of the

THE WALK OF FAITH. 219
new man from him ; and by the working of his -mighty power they are kept, as
weU as renewed, day by day : for without him they can do nothing. Of this he
has thoroughly convinced me. I know I cannot caU thee Father, nor believe in
thee, nor love thee, but by thy Spirit.
O my God ! strengthen me effectuaUy by his grace in the inner man, for
every purpose of spiritual life. Whatever he has engaged to do in thy chUdren,
let him do it in me, that through his presence and power Christ may dweU
in my heart by faith. Oh let him continuaUy discover to me mine interest
in Christ, and open to me the exceeding riches of thy love in him. Holy
Father, let thy good Spirit abide with me, that I may know for certain Christ
is one with me, and I am one with him, and may thereby be able to main
tain constaht feUowship with him — he dwelling in me, and I in him. Oh
may I thus live continuaUy by the faith of the Son of God, depending always for
acceptance with thee upon his atonement and his righteousness, and so may find
the happy fruit of his prayer to thee — " O righteous Father ! I have declared to
my disciples thy name, and wUl declare it, that the love, wherewith thou lovest
me, may be in them, and I in them." Thou didst hear; thou hast answered,
times out of number, the request of thy beloved Son. Lord God, answer it to
me. Let me rejoice in thy love, and find it to be the same to me, as to him.
Let thy good Spirit root me and ground me in the knowledge of thy love to me
in Jesus. Oh, grant me to be deeply rooted in the experience of it, that my
faith, working by love, may bring forth much fruit to thy glory, and I may be
come bo grounded in love, as to stand unshaken, like a house built upon a rock,
against every attack made upon thy love to me. O my God and Father ! my
heart is naked and open to thee. Thou knowest the secrets of it. Thou seest
how fervently I pray for the abiding presence of the Holy Spirit. My prayer
comes from a feeling sense of my want of him, and from a dependence on thy
promise to give the Spirit to them that ask him. Lord, I ask. Grant me to be
strengthened by him with every needful gift and grace in the inner man. Send
him to manifest plainer and plainer my union with Jesus, in order to my keeping
up communion with him ; that, having him dwelling in my heart by faith, I
may be so established in the experience of thy love to me in him, as to be able
to comprehend, with aU saints, what is the breadth, and length, and depth, and
height of thy love. All the saints comprehend it; but the saints below less than
they above : and some of them below comprehend more than others. I know
but little : O my God ! increase my knowledge of thy love in Jesus. Whereunto
I have attained, establish me; and keep me pressing forward for clearer disco
veries of it. Help me to survey it, so far as faith is able, in its most glorious
dimensions, and to praise thee for mine experience of its rich mercies. Holy
Father, teach me still more by thy Spirit of the boundless freeness, and of the
endless fulness of thy love — let me know thy love in Christ, which passeth know
ledge. Although I cannot know it, as it is, my limited understanding being in
capable of measuring the infinity of thy love, yet, for this very reason, let me be
daily studying to know more of it — growing up into Christ Jesus by faith —
abounding in hope by the power of the Holy Ghost — and increasing in the love
of (iod. Holy, blessed, and glorious Trinity ! let me thus partake of the fulness
of grace below, grace for grace, tiU I partake of the fulness of glory above — that
I may be fiUed with aU the fulness which is of God, with which thou hast pro
mised to fill thy children in earth and heaven. Oh magnify thy love towards me
according to its greatness, and not according to my deserts, or to my prayers. I
know thou canst do exceeding abundantly above aU that I can ask or think, ac
cording to the power that worketh effectuaUy in me. Thy power, engaged to
act for me, is the support of my faith, and mine encouragement in my prayer. It
is an infinite and almighty power, which has graciously begun, and has hitherto
prosperously carried on, the good work in my soul. To it aU things are possible.
?x>rd forbid I should doubt of thy granting the petitions, which I have been
offering up unto thee in thy Son's name. That which thou hast promised, thou
art able to perform. O my God and Father! set thy power to work more
effectually in me. Let the Spirit of might enlarge my thoughts of, and my faitii
in, thy precious love. Let mc experience daily how much more thou art able to

220 THE WALK OF FAITH.
do than I have yet obtained ; to give, than I have yet asked ; to increase, than I
have yet thought. And whatever increase thou givest, may it draw out mine
affections in greater love to thee, and to thy ways, and so be the means of bring
ing more glory to thee. For thy love in Jesus the whole family, in heaven and
carth, is ascribing honour and praise. Accept my thanks, holy Father, together
with theirs. To thee be glory in the church by Christ Jesus throughout all ages,
world without end. Amen.

CHAPTER IV.
TAe believer goes on successfully while he walks by faith in a constant dependence
upon his reconciled God and loving Father.
The leading principle upon which he sets out is this: God is my God and
Father. He is perfectly reconciled unto me ; and my conscience is at peace with
him through faith in his beloved Son. He loves me in him : he has manifested
it plainly to me ; and now my heart would cleave to him as my most tender
parent. I would rest in my love to him, as he rests in his love to me. It is
entirely through the grace of the eternal Spirit that I have been enabled thus to
believe in the finished work of Jesus, and to experience the Father's love in him :
by which means I have been satisfied of the love of the ever-blessed Trinity to
my soul. Father, Son, and Spirit, have covenanted to make me an heir of God,
and a joint heir with Christ. From my belief and experience of these truths I
have been enabled to choose God for my portion. His will is become mine.
His appointed way is my course. And now I desire so to walk with him as to
maintain in my conscience the peace of God, and in my heart the love of God.
I do not expect any new title to those inestimable graces : my claim is good and
valid under Christ. I would not disparage it by supposing that my close walk
with God was to make any atonement for my sins, or to be the least part of my
justifying righteousness : I have theae already, and perfectly too in Jesus. The
enjoyment of them is the thing I want. I am seeking for more of that peace
with, and love to, the Father, to which I am entitled in his Son. His fulness,
the fulnesa of him that fiUeth all in aU, is mine. A free grant of it has passed
in the court of heaven, has been revealed in the record of truth, and I, by believing,
have accepted the grant. I am in possession of its privileges, and am enjoying
its ble88ings. On the fulness of Jesus I five this day. Out of it I hope to be
receiving every grace, which I shall want for my safe and happy walk, with his
Father and my Father. Bless the Lord, O my soul ! for what thou knowest and
hast experienced of his abundant grace ; which haa enabled thee thua to resolve
to walk with thy reconciled God and loving Father. Thia day thou art called
upon to maintain peace with him in thy conscience, and love to him in thy heart ;
peace like his, flowing from the sense of being perfectly reconciled to thee— love
like his, the happy fruit of his unchangeable love to thee. Whatever thou
meetest with in thy work or warfare, ought not to lessen, but exercise and im
prove those graces. Never forget that he is thy God — the God of peace. He
stands related to thee in the deareat and moat indissoluble bond of love. He is
thy Father in Jesus. Keep the sense of this always fresh upon thy mind, and
thy steps wUl he ordered aright. Nothing wttl be able to stop thee in the way
to heaven, or to seduce thee out of it ; but every thing will bring thee forward.
Whilst thou canst maintain peace and love, thou wilt go on prosperously against
guilt and self-righteousness, against the wiles and assaults of thy spiritual foes,
against the world which lieth in wickedness, and against every inward and out
ward trial. The Lord being on thy side, all these ahattwork together under him
for thy good ;/and they shall be the means of making thee walk safely in the
way, and of bringing thee happily to the end of it. The apostle has given us the
whole plan in a few words — "We walk," says he, "by faith, and not by
sight." We direct our christian course by believing, and not by seeing. Faith
is to us the evidence of things not seeD, and the ground of our hoping to enjoy
them We believe, upon the authority of God's word, that they are what he

THE WALK OF FAITH. 221
describes them to be ; for faith, as a grace of the Spirit, consists in giving credit
to wjiat God says. If it be a truth proposed to the understanding, faith relies
upon the infaUible word : if it be a promise, faith depends upon the arm of God
to make it good. And whatever he has promised faith (when it is as it should
be) does not stagger at difficulties, but rests fully persuaded that what God hath
promised he is able also to perform. Faith looks at the word spoken, and over
looks seeming impossibilities: Thus saith the Lord — that is enough for
faith — fuU of satisfying evidence : for it knows, that to speak and to do are the
same thing with an unchangeable God.
How many errors in judgment, and consequent mistakes in practice, prevail
at this day, chiefly arising from confounding faith with its fruits ; and from our
distinguishing between the word of God believed and what will follow upon
believing it aright. Thus, some make assurance to be of the essence of faith,
others make appropriation, and many make it consist in an impression upon the
mind that Christ loved me, and gave himself for me. These are fruits : what
faith should produce, but not what it is. These are effects of faith working, and
not definitions of the nature of faith. A believer should be exhorted to make
his calling and election sure ; for it is his privilege. He ought to give aU dili
gence to attain assurance, to appropriate Christ with aU his blessings to himself,
and to be clearly persuaded that Christ loved him and gave himself for him.
These are blessed fruits of believing. May God give his people more of them !
But then the tree must be before the fruits, and the fruits grow upon the tree.
Faith is first ; and faith derives its being from believing the word of God ; and
all its fruits are continued acts of believing. And when you hear of believing,
do you not always think of something spoken ? You cannot separate these two
in your mind. Something has been said and proposed to you before your belief
can be called for. If nothing has been said, belief has no exercise. Faith and
the word of God therefore are related, as the effect and the cause ; because faith
cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God. What God hath spoken
in his word demands belief from all that hear it. When faith cometh by hearing
it, then we assent to the truth of what God has said, and we rely upon his faith
fulness to make good what he has promised. Assurance is this faith grown to
its full stature ; but we are not born six feet high. Appropriation is a very
comfortable acting of faith, when a man is persuaded of his interest in covenant
mercies, and, from what he then feels, can say, Christ loved me and gave himself
for me ; but he has not this comfort in times of heaviness ; he may be walking
in darkness and having no light, yea in the hidings of the Lord's countenance ;
and yet, even then, he may trust simply to what God hath spoken ; which is
true faith, and more exalted faith, than that which draws its evidence from its
appropriating acts and its present experience : the more a man trusts to sense,
the less he lives by faith ; for sensible feelings are not faith. Impressions are
not believing. I see the sun ; I hear a sound ; I feel an object : faith has no
place in these instances. Its essence is .believing and trusting what God hath
spoken. If his word be believed, and by believing the conscience find peace;
and the heart joy ; these are joy and peace in believing : they come from be
lieving ; are its effects ; and no more enter into the essence of faith than com
fortable feelings do into the essence of man. He is as tmly a man, when
miserable, as he is when comfortable.
These mistakes should be carefvdly guarded against, because they are chiefly
pernicious to the children of God ; who are kept by them from growing up into
assurance, into appropriation, and into the sensible experience of God's love to
them in Christ Jesus. They are puzzled — they are misled, by being told they
hnve no faith, if they have no assurance, &c. They examine themselves, but
cannot find any such faith. This discourages them. They are tempted to think
they have no true faith, because they have not what certain persons talk of.
But if they would adhere strictly to the word of God, and would take their ideas
from it, they would see how simple and plain a thing believing is, and would
soon be satisfied that they were true behevers : which conviction would have
many blessed effects, especiaUy these — it would put them upon seeking for an
increase of faith, and upon expecting the proper fruits of faith. What nourishes

222 THE WALK OF FAITH.
faith, ripens them ; for they cannot be produced so long as persons are doubting
whether they have any faith at all. They would see how desirable it is to believe,
without doubt or wavering ; what honour it puts upon God's word, what comfort
it brings to them : and they would be waiting in the appointed means for grace
to maintain, for grace to improve their faith, that they may be going on from
faith to faith. While" this was their end and aim, faitii in act and exercise,
maintained and improved, would bring in daily growing evidence of their being
indeed partakers of the faith of God's elect. Living by faith, walking by faith,
would demonstrate to them their spiritual life and walk, as plainly as natural
life and walk can be demonstrated by any outward actions.
Here is great need, O my soul ! to read the scripture, and to pray for the
Spirit of wisdom. Read ; pray much ; lest thou shouldst err concerning tho
faith. Every error will be a stumbling-block in the way of thy holy walk, and
make thee tired of it, or Beduce thee out of it. Let it be one of thy daily petitions
— Lord, save me from all mistakes concerning the faith of the Gospel ; and let
the word of God, by which faith cometh and groweth, be thy daily study. This
is thy present business. Now set out, trusting to what God hath spoken, and
relying on what he hath promised. On this principle proceed, as it is laid down
by the apostle, Col. ii. 6. " As ye have therefore received Christ Jesus the
Lord, so walk ye in him." He is expressing his joy at his beholding their
order, and the steadfastness of their faith in Christ, and he would teach them
how to maintain their faith throughout their Christian course. How did you
receive Christ at first ? Was it not by believing ? Receiving Christ and believing
in him, are, in John i. 12, supposed to mean the same thing, And in John xvii.
20, 21, our Lord says, that they who believe in him through the word are ono
with him. Christ, then, is received by faith ; and by the same faith, by the
belief of the same word of God, we walk in him, so as to be rooted and grounded
and established in the faith. , Our walk ia in him, not any thing distinct from
him, but is the effect of union with him. By him we live, in him we walk 
rooted in him, we grow as a branch in the vine — built up in hiin, we are fixed as
a building on a sure foundation, and thereby we become established and
strengthened in the faith. Every Btep we take is by faith, by the same faith,
wherewith Christ was received.
He must be received always as he was received once. There is no change of
object, and there must be no change of faith, hut the same continued trust on his
word, and the same dependence on his promised strength. We never set out to
walk with a reconciled God till we are one with Christ by faith, and know our union
with him ; and our walk is in consequence of this. If we go on at all, it is by com
munion with him. We can receive only out of his fulness grace for grace, to make
us willing and able to go forward: Our fellowship with him is in every part and in
every moment of our walk ; and this i s as necessary as our fellowship with the air
and elements of this world is to every thing that concerns our natural walk. Our
wisdom to guide our steps, our progress in the way, our courage and strength, our
warfare and victory, every grace and every blessing, ia received by faith, and is the
effect of our communion with Jehovah Jesus. We trust in hia word, we rely on
his arm, we wait on his faithfulness, and so go forward : for he makes good* what
he had promised to give us in our walk, which confirms the peace of God, estab
lishes our heart in the love of God, increases our faith, and thereby makes our
daily walk more comfortable to us, and.more glorious to him.
But if faith consist in believing and trusting the word of God, it may be re
quired, How shall we know the difference between true and false, between dead
and firing faith ? It may be known from the cause. The fruit of the Spirit ia'
faith. He produces it. It is his gift, bestowed by 'hie operation, continued by
his power, increased by his blessing, and carried on to the end, by his never
leaving nor forsaking his own work. And he makes it known to be his. He
gives eyes to see it, and hearts to acknowledge it. Therefore the apostle says of
them who have received the Spirit of God, that they know the things which are
freely given to them of God : by faith they both know the reality, and also taste
the sweetness of those free gifts of free grace.
It may be known from the effects. Dead faith brings forth nothing. Living

THE WALK OF FAITH. 223
faith is fruitful. It produces a hearty trust in the truth of what God hath
spoken, and a quiet reliance on the faithfulness of what God hath promised. It
gives him credit for the finished salvation of his Son, and puts honour upon his
record concerning it ; whereby peace is received into the conscience, and love
into the heart. Upon which there foUows a settled dependence upon this recon
ciled God and loving Father, for the fulfiUing of every promise ; and this is im
proved by daily experience. He that trusteth in the Lord is never confounded.
God is faithful His promises cannot faU. Blessed is the man that trusteth in
him. The Lord God wttl be a sun and shield unto him ; the Lord wiU give him
grace and glory.
As for the hypocrites, it is not so with them. The Holy Spirit was not the
author of their faith. It was a fancy of their own, formed in their heads without
any warrant from God. There was no life in it, and no hving effects from it.
There was the form, and nothing more. They made a profession, but never
came to any enjoyment. They had no vital union, and therefore they could not
have any real communion with Christ. They could not, as the apostle expresses
it, walk in him, and therefore in the hour of temptation they feU away, and came
to nothing. Take heed then, O my soul, of mistakes. Examine carefully of
what sort thy faith is. Bring it to the standard of scripture ; and see what went
before believing ; see whether thou dost now from thy heart believe what God
hath spoken : wait for the effects. Dost thou so trust his word as to take him
for thy God and thy portion ? Art thou walking with him ? and art thou de-
? ending on him to bestow the promised graces and blessings on thee in thy walk ?
f this be thine experience, thou art set out weU : go on. Remember where every
thing relating to thy walk is to be had. The Father's love has laid it aU up in the
Son's fulness ; and it is the office of the Holy Spirit to teach thee how to receive
out of it grace for grace. He teaches by his word. With this in thy hand, and
his light in thine understanding, read and study what he has promised thee for
thy safe, happy, and holy walk. Take no Btep without the direction of his word,
and expect at every step that he wttl make good to thee what he has promised.
Thou wilt very soon find the necessity of this dependence upon him ; for, ere
thou hast well begun thy walk, thou wilt be catted upon to exercise thy faith
and put it to trial. Thou wilt meet with many things in thee averse to this holy
walk, and many more to distress thee in it. The body of sin, the old man, the
flesh, with its affections and lusts, are stiU in thee. It is of their nature to be
lusting, and to be always putting forth some of their filthy motions, in order to
draw thee to walk after the flesh, and not after the Spirit. The tempter helps
them aU he can. He knows how to improve them to his own interest ; and, from
what is passing within thee, there be a sight and sense of sin that, if he can get
thee to look at it in his view, he wul act upon thy legal and self-righteous tem
pers, and wiU inject such vile insinuations as these against the Lord and against
his Christ :
How is it I am yet the subject of sin ? It is stiU in me. It cleaves to me, as
the flesh to my bones ; and it mixes so with my duties, that I cannot perform
them without it. I sometimes fear I am nothing but sin. When I attempt to
walk with God, ere I set out something evil arises within me, and stops me.
Some proud unbelieving thought, some sensual affection, some worldly dispo
sition, some corruption or other, is ever at hand to hinder my course. What,
then, must I think of myself? I scarce know what. Things, I see, do not grow
better. I have been long hoping for it ; but I find there stiU dweUeth no good
thing in me : so that I am almost ready to question the truth of my grace, and it
is with great difficulty I can keep up any peace in my conscience.
When the believer is attacked in this manner (and who is not at 'some time or
other), how is he to defend himself? WiU his skilfulness in the word of righte
ousness and his faith in the word of reconciliation keep him safe in the hour of
temptation ? Yea. By the grace of the Holy Spirit the lessons before learnt
wiU be enforced, and brought into use. This is the time to maintain faith in the
atonement, and in the righteousness ofthe God-man. Now it is to be tried in
the fire ; and it is put to the trial, that it may come out of it, like gold, proved to
be sterling metal, and refined from its dross — better in every respect for having

224 THE WALK OF FAITH.
gone through the fire. The trial of faith is far more precious than that of gold
- which perisheth. It is therefore put into the furnace, that the believer may know
the truth of it, and may experience the blessings of it. Faith conflicting with
unbelief is a good fight — sometimes sharp, but always profitable. The flesh may
be weak and ready to yield ; faith may be hard put to it ; but victory is certain.
During the battle, the warrior is invincible in the whole armour of God. He
takes to him the shield of faith, and holds it up against the fiery darta of Satan.
He draws out the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God, and with it he de
feats Satan. He consults or remembers a scripture suitable to his present case,
and thiB, being set home by the Holy Spirit, puts an end to the engagement, and
restores and settles sweet peace in the conscience. How often hashe applied the
foUowing passage, which the Lord speaks concerning his true Israelites, Jer.
xxxii. 38, 39, 40, 4] ? "They shall be my people, and I will be their God ;
and I wttl give them one heart, and one way, that they may fear me for ever,
for the good of them, and of their children after them ; and I wttl make an ever
lasting covenant for them, that I will not turn away from them to do them good ;
but I wttl put my fear into their hearts, that they snail not depart from me ; yea,
I wttl rejoice over them to do them good."
What strong consolation is there in this scripture ! Every sentence has an
argument in it, tending to establish peace with God, and to maintain it in the
midst of war. How quieting and satisfying to the troubled conscience in his co
venant purpose! "They shall be my people, and I will be their God."
They shaU, because I wttl. My wttl shaU make them willing. And in the day
of my power, when my purpose takes place, I wttl give them one heart, turned
to myself, and one way, to walk with me by faith, as obedient children with their
loving Father. This I wttl do for them that they may fear me for ever, that
the fear of offending me may rule alwayB and by all means in their hearts.
Oh, what promises are these ! What can weak faith require farther to silence
its doubts ? How great is the goodness of God to his children, who, knowing
their frame, and whereof they are made, for the good of them and of their chil
dren after them, has laid auch a foundation for their faith, that they may build on
it, and not be afraid ! yea, standing on it they may fight the good fight of faith,
assured of rictory.
I will make, says their God, an everlaating covenant for them ; a covenant or
dered in all things and sure, by the counsel and oath of the blessed Trinity, the
two immutable things, in which it is impossible God should lie : The mountaina
shaU depart and the httls 8haU be removed, but my kindnea8 shall not depart from
them ; neither shall the covenant of my peace he removed, saith the Lord, that
hath mercy on them. My covenant was made for them, and shall be made good
to them. Ab I live, saith the Lord, I will not turn away from them to do them
good. I will never change my purpose, nor alter the word that ia gone out
of my mouth. I mean nothing but good to them. My heart i8 fixed upon
it. And I will not leave the event to them. They ahaU not have the management
of my purposes, nor have any power to defeat them. My wttl to do them good
shaU not depend on their wttl, or on their faithfulness, or on any thing in them
selves. I have taken aU their concerns into mine own hands, and I will con
duct them aU to the praise of the glory of mine own grace. I will put my fear
into their hearts, that they shall not depart from me— they shall not depart
from me. They are not the cause of their not departing, but I am. I have
taken it upon myeelf. 1 will give them grace to walk cloae with me, and to
fear me always. I have covenanted for aU, the means as weU as the end, and
I wttl keep them by my almighty power till they receive the end of their faith,
even the saltation of their souls. "Yea, I wiU rejoice over them to do them

and always wttl be the joy of his heart, his crown and glory. He will not, be
cannot be deprived of his joy. Conaider thia, thou poor diBtressed soul, who art
in heaviness through manifold temptations, and ready to faint through the weak
ness of thy faith. Take courage. Thy salvation ia eafe. Thy Father, who ia m

THE WALK OF FAITH. 225
heaven, rejoices in it ; he wttl save ; he wttl rejoice over thee with joy ; he will
rest in his love ; he will joy over thee with singing. And his joy, too, shall be
thine. As sure as God is in Zion, thou shalt return and come to Zion with
gongs, and everlasting joy upon thy head ; thou shalt obtain joy and gladness ;
and sorrow and sighing shaU flee away for ever.
Oh what a discovery is here of the ever-loving heart of our heavenly Father !
What more could he promise in order to put an end to all strife in the con
sciences of his afflicted chUdren ! He has engaged in a covenant of peace to do
good, nothing but good, to them. He has undertaken the whole of the cove
nant — what was to be done in them, as weU as for them — to work out, to apply,
and to secure their salvation. It is his unchangeable purpose, not to depart from
them, and not to suffer them to depart from him, but he wiU rejoice in doing
them good, and that for ever. This scripture, when understood and applied by
the Holy Spirit, is received as full evidence of the unchangeable love of God to
his children, and then it quiets their troubled minds. They can beheve God to
be their God stiU in an unchangeable covenant, and they become satisfied that he
has made them, and wiU keep them his people for ever. When they can thus
mix faith with the promise, it then becomes the means of their resting on the
faithful arm of God in the hour of temptation, and of their finding him still a
God of peace : whereby peace is estabhshed in their consciences, and multiplied
in their hearts. They learn to put more trust in him, as their perfectly recon
ciled Father, and to approach him with more holy filial confidence. The trial of
their faith, sharp as it was, yet has done them great good. It has proved their
peace, and has confirmed it. They know now weU that it is the peace of God;
and they have been taught how to maintain it. War makes good soldiers. The
trials of their grace are for the improvement of grace. Their peace has been
therefore shaken, like a new planted tree, that it may take deeper and faster root.
Being thus strengthened in the faith, and having the peace of God ruling in their
hearts, they can meditate upon this scripture, and turn it into a subject of prayer
and praise.
O gracious God and Father ! pardon my thoughts of thy love to me in Jesus.
I was tempted, and ready to give way to unbelief; but the gracious provision
made in thy word was the means of keeping me in the hour of temptation. O
my God ! make the word, in which thou hast caused me to put my trust, more
precious to my soul. Open stiU more to me the fulness of it, and put me into
happier possession of its promised blessings. I praise thee, I worship thee, for re
vealing this promise by thy Spirit, and for applying it by his grace with comfort
to my heart. I now set to my seal, that it is true. It is a faithful saying, and
worthy of aU acceptation. Glory be to thee that I accept it,- and enjoy the good
promised in it ! 0 Father of mercies, what am I that I should be made one of
thy people, and should have thee for my God ? This love passeth knowledge.
Oh help me to understand more, give me to find more, of thy covenant love.
Make my heart one with thee. Lead me in thy one way, that I may fear thee
for ever. And when temptations come, such as I have been in, grant they may
bring me nearer to thee, and may be tbe means of my making use of what thou
hast provided for me in thy Son's fulness. Oh let thy good Spirit abide with me
to establish my faith in thine everlasting covenant, that I may believe thou wilt
never turn from me to do me good. Merciful God grant me this grace in every
hour of need. Thou hast given me thy word for it; and therein thou hast
enabled me to put my trust. On thy faithful promise I would depend, and on
nothing in myself. Thou hast shown me something of my heart, and I feel it is
revolting and ready always to rebel against God ; but thou hast undertaken to
put thy fear into it, that it shall not depart from thee : therefore into thy faithful
hands I commit it. Keep me, my God, by thy mighty power through faith unto
salvation. Amen, Amen.
¦ Happy trials ! which have so good a*n issue, and bring forth such peaceable
fruits. My brethren, account it aU joy when ye fall into divers temptations, if
they lead to the exercise of grace, and occasion fervent, effectual prayer. The
believer, thus tried, learns by practice the necessity, of being at peace with God,
and of maintaining it, in order to walk with God. He is put upon studying the
o

226 THE WALK OF FAITH.
nature of this peace. He reads and meditates upon the revealed account of it.
He sees it is a perfect, unchangeable peace, secured to him by the everlasting co
venant of the blessed Trinity, who have engaged to save him from all hia Bins
and miseries, and never to turn away from doing him good. To this he trusts.
He commits himself to the care of this covenant God ; and he finds the promise
true. In temptation he believes, and is delivered. In his warfare, out of weak
ness he is made strong. He fights the good fight of faith, and he conquers ail
hia enemies. He learns from trials to trust with more confidence. He not only
maintains, but improves, peace with God. He depends on what God has pro
mised to them who walk with him, and the promise is made good, and he learns
to go on more comfortably, and daily walks closer with his heavenly Father.
The enemy looka on him with malice. He envies his state. He once knew
the heaven of communion with God; but he was lifted up with pride, and fett.
It stirs up every infernal temper within him to see the happy believer who had
fallen, like him, restored to what he can never expect. Hence, either as a sly
serpent, or as a roaring lion, he never ceases to tempt. As soon as one wile fails,
he has another ready. He is, night and day, plotting and scheming, waiting for
an opportunity to make * seasonable attack. While conscience is at pence with
God, and lives under the protection of the blood of sprinkling, he tempts in vain :
but he does not despair of success. He knows he has an ally within us in fast
league with sin, and therefore he still hopes to draw him into sin by surprise or
assault ; in which he is indefatigable. He ia never tired. He ia always tempting
the believer, not so much to gross offences, as to spiritual wickedness. Sly in
jections, legal inainuationa, and self-righteous thoughts, are his most common
temptations. With these he tries to shake the peace of conscience ; and he forms
his attack generally in this manner :
How can you be a child of God, and yet be as you are ? There is nothing in
you for which God should look upon you and love you. What have you ? What
ceasing from evil, what learning to do well, to recommend you to him ? How
can God love any thing, unless it be agreeable to bis will? and what can he de
light in, unless it be conformable to his image ? But do you live up to his will ?
and is his image perfectly renewed in you ? Have you grace, and do you live up
to it ? Are you a Christian, and are you like Christ ? How are your duties ?
Just as they should be ? You know they are not ; and how can God be pleased
with them, when you are not pleased with them yourself? How is your walk?
Is it such as becometh your high calling — close with God, and at a vast distance
from sin, and the world ? How ia your warfare ? Is the whole armour of God
kept buckled on ? And are you always, in the strength of the Lord, a conqueror ?
Examine, and try yourself. Bring forth that one good thing for which God
should love you and bestow his blesaing upon you. You have no euch thing.
You have nothing to merit, yea, nothing to recommend you to the divine favour' :
and therefore, is it not great presumption to fancy that God will love auch a one,
ae you, whose just desert is wrath and everlasting destruction ?
These are some of the depths of Satan. He knows how strongly we are by
nature attached to the covenant of works, and that, if he can get the believer to
look off from J esu8, expecting to see something in himself, for which God should
love him, he shall then weaken his faith and .shake his peace. In this snare he
has caught many a child of God. The temptation is suitable to the workings of
our legal minds : it flatters our self-righteous hopes : and is vastly pleasing to the
pride of our carnal hearts. No wonder, then, bo long as there is flesh in ua as
well as spirit, this artful suggestion should be sometimes received in this man
ner : — Have I any thing for which God should esteem me and bless me ? I wish
I could discover some amiable temper, or some praiseworthy deed, which might
recommend me to the particular regard of God. Indeed, at present I have not
any such ; but I hope to attain it some time or other. If I do but use more dili
gence and watchfulness, and wait more constantly in the means of grace, per
haps I may attain it soon. However, there can be no harm in trying. I will
exert myself: and I hope the day will come, when I shaU be eome way deserv
ing of the divine favour.
Tiere the temptation has taken place. As the serpent beguiled Eve, through

THE WALK OF FAITH. 227
his subtilty, so is this man's mind corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ.
The subtile serpent has attacked the liberty of the chUd of God and has dark
ened his understanding, and obscured his view of gospel grace. His eye is not
now single : his heart is not now simple, in the finished salvation. He has been
deceived into a legal dependence, and is giving w^y to a spirit of bondage. If
he were left to himself, the enemy would lead hiin captive at his will. Satan
desires to have him, that he may sift hirr, as wheat ; but he is not suffered to
blow any thing away, except a little chaff : for the Holy Spirit, in whose keeping
he is, discovers and defeats the attempts of Satan. He brings to his mind, and
enables him to make use of, what he before knew of the doctrine of grace. The
present trial requires the practice, and affords occasion for the improvement of,
his former lessons. He had learnt from scripture truths very different from the
suggestions to which he was ready to yield. He was therein taught that the
Father's love to his chUdren does not suppose merit in them. Grace does not
follow works ; for then grace would be no more grace. Election is not of him .
that wiUeth, or of him that runneth, but of God, who showeth mercy. For we
are saved freely by grace through faith, and that not of ourselves ; it is the gift
of'God. The election of grace is from mere love and sovereign favour, and has
no motives to influence it but the good pleasure of the divine wttl. The objects
of it are not the worthy, but the unworthy — not innocent, but faUen man —
sinners, as such, no way conditioned or qualified — the lost, the helpless, the
ungodly — yea tbe chief of sinners — open enemies and rebels against God. They
are not saved by works of righteousness, which they have done or can do, lest
any of them should boast : for boasting is absolutely excluded. Salvation was
so contrived, was so wrought out, and is so applied, that he who glorieth shaU
have nothing left him to glory in but the Lord. No flesh can glory in his pre
sence ; for of him, and through him, and to him are aU things ; to whom be glory
for ever. Amen.
So soon as the spirit of God opens this view of the exceeding riches of divine
grace, the believer sees his mistake. He finds that he was departing from the
simplicity of the gospel by supposing that the love of God followed merit, and
that he should be loved more according as his walk recommended him. His
eyes are opened. The delusion vanishes. The perfect freeness and the absolute
sovereignty of the Father's love, as revealed in scripture, is manifested to him.
He reads, and mixes faith with what he reads, and so recovers himself out of the
snare of the devil. Some such passage as this is made the means of his de
liverance, Psal. ciii. 17 : " The mercy ofthe Lord is from everlasting to everlasting
upon them that fear him." Precious words ! fuU of rich consolation to those
who have been tempted to seek some qualifications in thelnselves, on account of
which they might be entitled to the love of God, and who have been distressed
upon their not finding it. The holy Spirit teaches such persons to look out of
themselves to an object exactly suitable to their case. He directs them to the
divine mercy — a never fatting spring of comfort — to that mercy which reacheth
from eternity to eternity; and which confers its richest favours, not for the
worthiness of the receiver, but to tbe praise of the grace of the giver. Here he
would have them fix their eyes, and expect relief to their hearts. Out of the
fulness of mercy they may always receive grace for grace ; for the mercy of the
Lord is from everlasting to everlasting upon them that fear him. Every word
is weighty. Meditate upon it, O my soul ! and may the consideration of each
lead thee to exalt that mercy of God which is over all his works.
Jehovah is the word here rendered Lord. It is the incommunicable name,
expressive of the incommunicable nature of the Godhead. It signifies the
peculiar manner ofthe divine existence, which is in, and of itself, underived, and
independent. Oh how happy is it for thee that there is mercy in the self-existent
Godhead, and that every perfection in it will be for ever exalted, even justice
itself, for the exercise of mercy ! May the Holy Spirit teach thee more of its
nature, and make thee daUy more acquainted in thine experience with its free
grace and free gifts !
Mercy is that perfection in Jehovah which disposes him to save miserable
sinners ; not a blind mercy, auch aa infidels dream of — but consistent with the

228 THE WALK OF FAITH.
honour of his law, and exercised to the glory of his holy precept and of ita juat
sanctions: therefore mercy and truth are so often mentioned together in scrip
ture. God wttl not show any mercy to sinners but sdch as tends to establish bis
truth. Not one of hia worcta can he broken, nor can one tittle of them ever fail.
He will be justified in all his sayings, and dear when he is judged. He will be
true and juat, whenever he ia merciful ; his mercies being all covenant-mercies,
and aU given in and through Christ Jesus. AU men are by nature children of
wrath, and only they who are chosen and caUed in Christ Jesus are saved from
wrath. Theae are veaaels of mercy. His mercy is to them the love of a tender
parent to his miserable chUdren. He pities them, and determines to save them
from their sins ; in due time he quickens them, gives them eyes to Bee, and
hearts to believe his love to them in Jesus, as the apostle witnesses — " God,
who is rich in mercy, for his great love wherewith he loved us, even when we
were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ."
But for what reason, and upon what account, is he merciful to them ? His
mercy has no motive but his own wttl. The objects of his mercy are corrupt,
fallen creatures, deserving hia wrath, even as others ; and therefore he does not
deal with them upon the footing of desert. If he showed them mercy for any fore
seen worka of theira, becauae he knew they would repent and believe the gospel,
and walk worthy of it, mercy would then be turned mto justice, and would lose
both its name and its nature : whereas he saith unto Moses, I will have mercy
on whom 1 wul have mercy, and I wiU have compassion on whom I will have
compassion. It is from mine own freedom and sovereignty that I have mercy
on any sinners. The cause is in myself, and not in them. I have compassion
on whom I wttl. It is from mine own mere love that I have determined to be
gracious to them ; and my love has determined to save them, and the way also
in which I wiU save them. I have appointed the end and the means at the same
time. Of mine own motion and good will I have resolved to give my Son for
them, and my spirit to them, that they may repent and believe the gospel, and
walk worthy of it ; and so I may bring them through my tender mercies' to
eternal salvation. If this was not the case, how could the description be true,
that mercy is from everlabtino to everlasting? The mercy of God
knows no variableness nor shadow of turning. It is always the same. HiB
fatherly heart bas entertained thoughts of mercy towards them : for when he
shows them mercy, it is said to be according to the eternal purpose, which he
had purposed in Christ Jesus — not for their merits, but for his mercies' sake—
not for what they have any claim to— but for his own name'e sake. He gives all
for mercy ; and he would have aU the glory returned to the mercy of the giver.
What he gives, that he continues, and according to covenant engagements.
Covenant mercies are sure mercieB. "I will make an everlasting covenant for
you, says he, even the sure mercies of the beloved." They have already been
made sure to him. He is now in fuU possession of every promised mercy. And
he has received them, not aa a private person, but as the head of the body, the
church. He keeps them for the uae of hia church members : and, as sure as
the crown is upon his head, so surely wiU it be upon every one of their heads j
for they are in the same covenant with him whose sure mercies reach from
eternity to eternity. Oh what a view ia here open to the eye of faith ! Mercy
always purposing, and in due time bestowing ita free blessings upon sinners —
mercy, without beginning, and without ending. The Holy Spirit often calla
upon us to behold it in this light ; for he has not celebrated any of ita divine
properties so much as this. It is frequently the noble subject of thanksgiving
in the Psalmist's hymns. He has dedicated the 136th entirely to the praise of
mercy; and, going through the works of nature, providence, and grace, be
ascribes them, one by one, to that mercy which endureth for ever. O happy,
thrice happy objects of it ! What was in the heart of the Father of mercies
towards you from everlasting, will be so to everla8ting. Hie sure merciea are
youra. Hi6 compasaions towards you fail not. Whatever you want for your
successful walk he has promised to give you. Be not discouraged then. He
will supply all your wants, not for your sakes, hut for hia merciea' aake. Are
you senaible of your unworthiness ? That's well. Mercy ie for euch. It can

THE WALK OF FAITH. 229
have no glory, but from such as you. Trust it, and be assured you will find
that it endureth for ever and ever.
If a doubt should arise in your mind — It is true, mercy in God cannot fail,
but the exercise of it towards me may fad : I may so walk as to deprive myself
of all claim and title to it. The Psalmist has given a direct answer to this ill-
grounded suspicion. He says, The mercy of the Lord is from everlasting to
everlasting Upon them that fear him. This is their character : they fear their God.
Once there was no fear of God before their eyes ; but now they know him to be
their Father. The Spirit of adoption has given them joy and peace in beheving
it. Hence a holy filial fear rules in their hearts, and influences their walk.
While it operates thus, and, as obedient chUdren, they fear to offend their loving
Father, and desire to please him in all things, what ground have they to suspect
that his mercy towards them should fail ?
But may they not cease to fear him, and then he wttl cease to be merciful to
them ? No ; blessed be God ! He has made ample provision in this case : " I
witt put my fear," says he, " into their hearts, and they shall not depart from
me." This fear is one of the fruits of the Spirit which he produces in aU the
children of God: and they have it from him as a covenant blessing, which is full
security for its continuance. It is one of the graces provided for them in Jesus
by the Father's immutable love. " I wUl give them," says he, " one heart, and
one way, that they may fear me for ever." The Holy Spirit is the guardian
of this never-faUing fear. It is his office to put it, and then to keep it, in their
hearts. He has the whole charge of it ; and therefore he has promised to abide
with them for ever, that they may fear the Lord aU the days of their fives.
How exactly suited is this scripture to the case of the tempted Christian !
What a fuU provision is there made in it for his safety and peace ! God has
mercy for him, and plenteous redemption — mercy reaching from everlasting to
everlasting — always kind to the miserable. Mercy and misery are related as sin
and salvation. There is not any thing, which a sinner can want, but mercy has
a supply for him — a promised, a covenant, a never-failing supply. It is a
Father's mercy, which wiU never leave his chUdren, and the same mercy will not
suffer them to leave him. His mind is fixed upon showing them mercy for ever
and ever : and therefore he gives them, his Spirit to abide with them, and to
dwell in them. He abides with them, and they live : he dweUs in them, and
they walk in the fear of God. And by the supply of the Spirit they go on till
they finish their course with joy.
By meditating upon this scripture the believer is set at liberty. Though his
faith staggered a little, yet the trial of it has done him good. He has learned a
useful lesson, and gained much experience by it. His reflections upon what has
passed in his mind are such as these :
Oh how foolish was I to forget the atonement and righteousness of my dearest
Immanuel, in whom alone I have pardon and acceptance! How base was I, and
ungrateful ! I was tempted to expect that in myself which I can have only in
him. Vtte legal creature that I am ! I abhor myself for behaving so UI to my
best friend. What good can I have, but what I first receive from him ? I agree
with the apostle, that in me, that is in my flesh, dweUeth no good thing. I am
n very sink of sin and of aU uncleanness. I deserve mercy no more than the
devil does : and yet I was looking out for some good quality in myself, on ac
count of which God might be merciful to me : whereas I am now satisfied he has
no mercy but in Jesus. All his mercies are covenant mercies ; given from mere
frace, and given to miserable sinners — not to make them self-admirers, but to
limbic them — not to lead them to think that they can bring God in debt to
them for his own gifts, or for the right use of them, which is a fresh gift — but he
gives all to the praise of the glory of his grace. He delighteth in mercy ; and
my case required mercy. It was such as his mercy could get aU the honour of
relieving. Therefore I ought in the hour of temptation to have trusted in his
mercy, to have hoped in his mercy in time of trouble, and to have loved him for
his mercy in time of misery. Here should my faith have directed its eye, and
not to any good which I have done, or can do. I should have remembered, how

230 THE WALK OF FAITH.
it was with the election of grace, and with the vessels of mercy. God has i
way of dealing with them aU. Not by works of righteousness which they hf
done, but according to his mercy he saveth them, freely, fully, eternaUy. ,
is from his own good wiU from first to last. Every motive, which inclines h
to do good to any sinner, is not excited by what the sinner does or is, but aris
from himself. And when he bestows any good, it never is deserved, but
entirely an act of sovereign grace, flowing from the Father's love, out of t
Son's fulness, by the influence of the Holy Spirit ; and is given and continued
magnify and exalt the mercy of the eternal Three. Oh how did I dishono
the divine perfections by giving way to legal hopea, and by supposing that tl
divine wiU would be governed by my more or less deservings ? Where should
be, if I had my deservings ? God forgive me. I see mine error. I am humbli
for it, and I repent with shame and sorrow. I hope my past misconduct w
prove a blessing to me : for it has certainly taught me to trust less to myself, ai
more to the word of God ; to depend less upon my own doings, and more upc
free grace promisea. To the word which cannot be broken, I would trast i
time of need. Whoever trusts in it shall never be confounded. This I kno
to be true by happy experience. I wttl therefore read, and hear, and study
night and day. By means of it the Lord wrought a great deliverance for in
My feet were almost gone, my treading* had well nigh slipped ; but he sent oi
his word and saved me. I read and believed, that the Father was not reconcile
to me for the goodness of my walk, but that reconciliation was planned in th
great covenant before aU worlds, and was carried into execution by the life an
death of Immanuel ; it was his peculiar, hia glorious, hia incommunicable work
it was his sole prerogative to make peace by the blood of his cross. Oh that
may be enabled to maintain it, the next time my faith is tried, and to put honou
and glory upon the divine record concerning it 1 I read and believed, that th
Father does not love me upon account of my walk, but for his mercy's sake
His mercy was towards me from everlasting. He loved me in his Son — chos
me — accepted me in the beloved — and all his dealings with me, since he callei
me by his grace, have come from the tender mercies of a covenant God am
Father. I would not henceforth have one doubt of his being reconciled to me
and of his loving me perfectly in Jesus. My faith herein has been confirmed b;
my late trials. 1 have learned by experience to rely upon what God haa spoken
for preserving his peace in my conscience, and his love in my heart. Depending
oh his faithful, word, and mighty arm, 1 would walk with him this day for thi
strengthening and increa8ing of those graces. This is the desire and prayer o
my soul.
O Father of merciea, , hear me for Jesus' sake ! I acknowledge my sinfulnes
and unworthiness, even in my closest walk with thee. I am less than the leas
of thy mercies ; yea, deserving the heaviest of thy vengeance. It is of the Lord'i
mercy, that it has not fallen upon me long ago ; and 1 trust in his word, that i
wUl never faU upon ine. Who is a God like unto thee, that pardoneth iniquity
and passeth by the transgression of the remnant of thine heritage ? Thou re
tainest not thine anger against them for ever ; because thou delightest in mercy
Glory be to thee for thine unspeakable mercies : for thou hast given me faith ir
the atonement of Jesus, by whom I have peace with thee, my reconciled God,
and by whom I have experienced thy great love to me. On thee, O my God, if
stiU my hope. 1 look up to thee, the giver of those gracea, for strength to maintain
them in my daily walk. I do believe in the sacrifice and righteousness of Im
manuel ; Lord, help mine unbelief! I find it hard to preserve in my practice,
what I believe to be true in doctrine ; and therefore on thy present help I must
continuaUy depend. Lord, strengthen me mightily by thy Spirit in the innei
man again&t temptations. I am daily and hourly called upon to exercise my
faith ; and when thy grace does not hold me up, I fall. The fiery darts of Satan
easily inflame me, when they are thrown at my legal hopes, false dependencies,
or self-righteous tempers. My shield, which should quench them, ia ready to drop
out of mine hand. I should fall a prey to the enemy and the fire would con
sume me, if thy mercy was not. over me for good. O my God and Father,
streriirthen my faith against the wiles and assaults of Satan, and against tin

THE WALK OF FAITH. 231
workings of mine own unbelief. When these trials come, keep me sensible of my
weakness, and dependent on thy promised strength, that I may meet them strong
in the Lord and in the power of thy might. Oh let every trial teach me more of
thy peace in my conscience, and more of thy love in my heart, that I may keep
on in a steady course, walking humbly with my God. This is the work of thy
good Spirit. I cannot preserve, nor improve his graces, unless he be every mo
ment present with mc. He is the giver, the continuer, the increaser of them all.
O God the Holy Ghost, I therefore beseech thee to water thy graces every mo
ment. Lest any hurt them, keep them, keep them night and day. Never leave
me, nor forsake me; but what thou hast graciously begun, that mightily carry
on, in my soul. Temptations are strong, and I am weak ; stand by me in the
hour of need. And if my faith be tried with fiery temptations, let it come out of
them like gold out of the fire. O thou almighty Spirit, confirm by trials, im
prove by experience, my trust in thy promised help. Let me go on from faith
to faith. Keep up the confidence of my rejoicing in my reconciled God and lov
ing Father, that I may walk humbly with him in sweet communion and holy
fellowship in the way everlasting. Grant me these mercies, gracious Father, for
thy dear Son's sake, by the influence of the eternal Spirit, three persons in one
Jenovah, to whom be equal praise for ever and ever. Amen.

CHAPrER V.
The believer orders his steps according to the word, walking with u free heart
in the king's highway of obedience.
Meditate, O my soul, upon the wonders which divine love hath wrought for
thee and for thy Balvation. Review the many, many mercies of thy past life ;
and consider, that thou art called upon to walk this day with thy God. What
a privilege is this ! He is thy God, and thou art his adopted Son. Oh what a
high honour has he conferred upon thee ! He has taken thee into the most noble
family, yea, into the divine household of faith. He has permitted thee to walk
with him as thy Father. He has appointed the way, promised to be with thee
in it, and every moment and at every step to be doing thee good. There can -be
no happiness superior to this on earth. Prize it ; for it is inestimable. Enjoy it ;
for it is heaven begun. Walking with God by faith is present enjoyment of him,
and will infallibly bring thee to the end of thy journey, to full and everlasting
enjoyment. Hold fast, then, the confidence of thy rejoicing. What thou hast been taught
by the Holy Spirit, depend upon him for confirming and establishing. He has
enabled thee to see the glory of the finished salvation of Jesus, and to believe
tho divine record concerning it. Thou hast renounced every thing for the par
don of thy sins, but the blood-shedding of the Lamb, and every thing for ac
ceptance, but the Lord our righteousness. Thy faith herein has been tried, and
the trial ended weU. Thy temptations were manifold and violent, but they have
done thee good. They have showed thee the necessity ot depending upon the
perfect work of the God-man — of rejoicing whoUy in Christ Jesus, and of having
no confidence in the flesh. They have also been the means of convincing thee
that thou standest by faith. Be not high-minded then, but fear. And let thy
fear of thyself lead thee to tmst more in God. Rely on his faithful arm to main
tain and to carry on his own work in thy soul. Remember he has promised it.
Thy sufficiency is of God, and he has engaged to give thee grace sufficient for
thee. He has undertaken, as a Father, to supply all thy wants, to deliver thee
from aU miseries, and to withhold from thee no manner of thing that is good.
Thy salvation is safe. It rests upon a sure foundation, as sure as the covenant
of the day and the covenant of the night. They succeed each other by the wiU
of their Creator, and have not been out of course, not one single moment. The

23*2 THE WALK OF FAITH.
ordinances of day and night are regular and certain. So certain ie thy aalvfttio
by the same unerring wttl. While the belief of thia rules in thy conscience an
m thy heart, thou wilt be able to resist temptations. None of them will ovei
come thee, unless they separate between thee and thy God. Nay they wi
work for thy good, if guilty fears do not wrest the shield of faith out of thin
hand. O beg of God to keep thee and thy faith in the hour of trial, that thoi
mayest experience his faithfulness to his word. If thou put honour upon it, ac
cording to thy faith so shall it be done unto thee. Give it credit, and th
steps wttl be ordered aright. Thou wilt walk in love this day, as God hatl
loved thee. He wiU be thy portion, and the way in which he is to be enioyei
wiU be thy delight. J '
Set out then in this faith, with peace in thy conscience, and love in thy hear
— trusting to thy God and Father. Look up to him, for strength to maintaii
and to increase these graces, and hope to receive it from his faithfulness. Nov
he haa put a new song in thy mouth, even praise unto thy God, go on thy wa
believing and rejoicing. Jesus is thine with all his fulness. And he haa pro
mised thee a constant supply of the Spirit, that thou mayest have grace forgrac
to enable thee to walk humbly with thy God.
Mind then, thy walk is to be ordered according to his revealed will, and in hi
appointed way of obedience to it ; for all rational creatures are bound to obe-
God. As soon as he makes known his wttl to them, it becomes their indispen
sable duty. His wttl is one, like himself, unchangeably the same, yeBterday, to
day, and for ever : for when revealed by the sovereign Creator, it becomes t
mankind a law, which altereth not. It hinds angels and men' every moment, ii
every point and circumstance. And ita obligation wiU never cease. For aU hi
commandments are sure ; they stand fast for ever and ever. What he has com
manded is as fixed as the sun before him. It shall be established for ever as th
moon, and as a faithful witness in heaven.
It pleased the sovereign Creator to enforce this holy, just, and good law b
proper sanctions. Out of his mere grace he has promised life to obedience
which man engaged to perform : and he threatened death to disobedience, ti
which penalty man aubmitted. Thereby thia law became a covenant of works
The promise was to him, who ahould continue obedient in all things : for Moae
deacribeth the righteousness which is of the law, that the man who fulfilleth thos
things shall live by them. But if he does not fulfil them perfectly, without on
failing, he then comes under the penalty, which God had threatened to disobe
dience — " Cursed is he who continueth not in all things that are written in th
book ofthe law to do them." This curse draws after it all the pains and penal
ties of the broken law in earth and in hell.
Under this law of works -Adam was placed, and under it all his deacendant
are born. He and they are bound to keep the law in their own persons, if the;
would receive the promise, or liable to suffer the penalty, if they transgress
Adam broke the law of works, and we aU in him : for in him all have 8inned
We were all in bis loins when he feU, and forfeited in his attainder. By th
offence of that one, judgment came upon aU men to condemnation. The righte
ous judge paaaed the sentence, and decreed, that by the law of worka in
flesh living should be saved : for he has proved, in hia word, both Jewa am
Gentiles to be under the law, and under sin, which is the transgression of it
whereby every mouth is stopped, and all the world ia become guilty befor
God : therefore by the deeds of the law, there shall no flesh be justified in -hi
sight. In the law of works there was no provision made for a surety ; but it did nc
absolutely exclude one : therefore it left room for the coVenant of grace, in whic
a provision was made in the person of Jesus Christ for securing the divin
honour of this holy law. He undertook to stand up in man's place and steac
to magnify the precepts of the law in hie life, and to glqrify the penalties of th
law in his death, that not one jot or tittle of it might fail till all was fulfilled
and as he was God over all, blessed for ever, his life and death put everlastin
honour upon the divine law. His obedience was of inestimable value, and ti
sufferings were infinitely sufficient to take away sin. Christ is now the end of tl

THE WALK OF FAITH. 233
law for righteousness. He answered the end of the law for his people by obeying
and suffering for them : and every one of them can now plead by faith a perfect
fulfiUing of aU the precepts, a perfect suffering of aU the penalties in the person
of their divine surety. God the Father is faithful and just to his word and en
gagements with his Son : he has made known his wttl in the immutable record
of grace, " that whosoever believeth in Jesus should not perish, but should have
everlasting life." How can he perish ? Jesus died for him. He shaU live with
God in everlasting life': because Jesus lived for him. And this is the declared
will of the Father concerning aU that believe in his only-begotten Son.
Remember then, O my soul, that thou art not under the law, but under grace.
Thou art saved from the law, under the form of a covenant of works. Thou art
not bound to keep its precepts, in order to have life for thy obedience, nor yet to
suffer its penalties for thy disobedience. Thy surety undertook to act and suffer
for thee. He was to answer the law in its commands and demands to every jot
and tittle. And he did. Whatever it required, whatever it threatened, was per
fectly fulfiUed in the person of thy God and Saviour : and he has absolutely dis
charged thee from it, as a law of works. Thou art to have nothing to do with it
in that view ; nay, he has forbidden thee to keep it, in hopes that thou mayest
live thereby. The irreversible decree entered in the records of heaven has enacted
— By the works of the law shall no flesh be justified. Thou art
now to look upon the law in the matter of justifying and giving life, as a woman
looks upofi her dead husband. She is freed from the marriage contract with
him, and may now give her heart and hand to another : so art thou freed from
the bond of the legal covenant. Thou art become dead to the law by the body
of Christ, who has espoused and betrothed thee to himself, that, serving him in
newness of spirit and not in the oldness of the letter, thou mayest bring forth
fruit unto God. This is thy high privilege. Thy first husband is dead : happy
for thee, thou art lawfuUy married to another — thy husband is thy maker ; Je
hovah of hosts is his name. The word made flesh has paid aU thy debts, suffered
thy punishment, wrought out a perfect righteousness, and won a crown of per
fect glory for thee. Oh what a divine honour has he put upon thee ! Thou art
now one with Immanuel in a bond of everlasting love. He has given himself to
thee, with all he has and aU he is; and it is thy happiness now, not to be thine
own, but the Lord's — not to follow thine own wiU, but his. The law of thy
Lord is liberty. As taught by his Spirit, and performed by faith, it is perfect
freedom. Whilst thou walkest with him with obedience to it, and leanest on thy
beloved every step, thou wilt find deliverance from aU spiritual tyranny and bond
age, and wilt enjoy the light of his countenance, and the love of his heart. When
the Son has thus made thee free, thou art free indeed — free now thy heart is set
at liberty to run with Jesus in the way of his commandments.
In this view, O my soul, thou canst look with delight at the most holy law.
Attend to it closely, and study it carefully. In order to obey, as a Christian,
these following considerations should be weU understood and digested : because
under the influence of them every step of thy walk is to be ordered. Oh pray
then for the spirit of wisdom to teach thee practicaUy,
First, that thy walk with God in the way of obedience is not to fulfil the law
as a covenant of works. Thou art not required to do this. Thou canst not do it.
Immanuel, thy divine surety, took it upon himself. Because it was impossible
for thee, a fallen creature, to keep the law, so as to be justified by it, he there
fore came in person to fulfil it. He honoured its precepts by his infinite obe
dience. He magnified its penalties by his inestimable sacrifice. And this is thy
justifying righteousness. Through faith in the life and death of the God-man,
thou art not only freed from guilt and condemnation, from curse and heU,
but art also entitled to life and glory. The law is now on thy side, and is be
come thy friend. It acquits thee. It justifies thee. It wttl give thee the reward
promised to obedience. The law in the hand of thy Saviour has nothing but
blessings to bestow upon thee. Thou art to receive it at his mouth, and to obey
him : but not from any legal hopes of heaven, or from any slavish fears of hell ;
for then thou wouldst come under the covenant of works again. Whereas thou
art not under the law, but under grace ; mind thy privilege, and pray for grace

234 THE WALK OF FAITH.
to five up to h. Thou art not under tiie law, bound to keep it perfectly in
thine own person, or. in case of fatting, condemned by it, and under its fearful
curse ; but thou art under grace, a state of grace, through faith in the obedience
and sufferings of thy blessed surety, and under the power of grace, sweetly in
clining thee to love, and mightily enabling thee to keep the law of the Lord
thy God. Live thus by grace, and sin shaU not have dominion over thee. Under
the reign of grace, the tyrant sin is always dethroned. Obey under grace,
as freely and fully saved by faith in Jesus, and this win make thy walk easy and
evangelical : thou wilt go on with a free spirit, and wilt delight thyself in the
ways of God, walking with him,
2. By faith, and not by sight. This is the great spring of all gospel obe
dience. Faith has an universal efficacy: for thus it is written — " Without faith it
is impossible to please God." He is not pleased with the thing done, but with
the principle on which it is done. He looks at the heart. Hearing the word, or
saying prayers, or giving alms, or doing any thing commanded, are not pleasing
in themselves ; but they must be performed upon a right motive, and to a right
end. And both these come from faith. The apostle mentions the motive which
had influenced every step of hie Christian course : " We walk by faith, and not
by sight " — we judge of our state by what God says of it, and we order our walk
accordingly. We give credit to his witness of our being pardoned and justified
freely by grace through faith ; and we depend for the truth of this not on what we
see, but on what we believe. We trust not on our good frames, or warm feelings,
or sensible comforts, or to any of the genuine fruits and effects of faith, hut we
trust what God Bays simply, as his record : and therefore we waUt in a constant
dependence on the truth of God in his word, and upon the faithfulness of God to
his word. Some promised grace we stand in need of at every step ; and we rely
upon his word, which cannot he broken, and upon his faithfulness, which cannot
fail. Thus we go on, and we find the promise made good, according to our
faith. Such was the apostle's walk. And is thine directed by the same motive ?
Search, O my soul, and examine upon what principle thou goest to duty. Is it
in the obedience of faith ? Dost thou take no step without the warrant of the
word of God ? Doat thou give full credit to what God aaya in it of thy state, as a
justified person ? And does this appear from thy dependence upon his faithful
ness to make good every thing promised to them who are in that state ? Blessed
art thou of the Lord, if thou art walking by this faith. Oh praise his holy name,
Who has thus highly favoured thee, and ascribe to him all the glory. So will thy
end be right, as weU as thy motive. True faith takes no honour to itself. It is
an emptying, humbling grace. Its spring-head is in covenant love, and it is given
from distinguishing favour and sovereign mercy. It has no foundation, when
given, but the word of God : nothing to reBt on, but the divine truth : no support,
but the divine power : and no growth but from the divine influence. What, then,
does it leave a man to glory in ? Whoever has it, has it aU from God ; and
while he is in his right mind, living by it, he wiU be disposed to give God all the
glory of it : even for common mercies, as well as spiritual, he will live by the
faith of the Son of God. Whether he eats or drinks, or whatever he does, he
does all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God and the Father by
him. And thus will he go on sweetly and happily, obeying, not from slavieh fears
or legal hopes, but
3. From holy love, which is the fruit and consequence of walking by faith.
Faith worketh love, ahd then worketh by love. The faith of the gospel, as a
grace of the Spirit, worketh chiefly by love to God, and to man for God's sake :
for the gospel discovers the way of salvation, contrived by the eternal Three,
fulfilled in the life and death of Immanuel, and applied to the sinner's heart
by the eternal Spirit. Whoever is enabled to believe the gospel, will Bee him-.
self an object of the covenant love of the blessed Trinity, and will therefore
love Father, Son, and Spirit : for we love him, says the apostle, because he first
loved us. And faith in his love to us wttl make us that we shaU neither be barren
nor unfruitful. Love ia very active. Obeying from love is very sweet. How
active, how sweet is obedience, when the love of God ia shed abroad in the heart

THE WALK OF FAITH. 235
by the Holy Ghost, who is given unto us ! He is an almighty agent. He over
comes the power of legal, unbelieving workings,' and puts a new spring to duty
into the heart. He manifests the love of God in Christ, his free distinguishing
love, the exceeding riches of it, and the numerous blessings flowing from it
through time and eternity. In the sense of these mercies he excites gratitude,
and puts it upon acting. This grace has a wonderful influence. " What return
shall I make unto the Lord ? " is the devout breathing of the grateful heart.
WhUe the love of Christ constraineth it, aU the affections foUow him, and the
soul delights itself in his ways. Then none of his commandments wttl be grievous.
Nay, his yoke itself becomes easy, and his burden light : O triumphant love !
How active, how sweet did he find it, who cried out — " I can do all things, I
can suffer aU things, I am more than conqueror, through him that loveth me."
And is not this, O my soul, thy happy case ? Oh prize thy privilege, and
adorn it in thy love. Walk in love with thy reconcUed God, and out of love to
him perform aU duties, and bear aU crosses. Remember, thou art not required
to obey, in order to be saved for thine obedience, but thou art already saved ;
and therefore, out of gratitude to thy dearest Saviour, thou art bound to love
him and to obey him. Thou canst not love his person, and yet hate his wiU.
" If ye love me," says he, "keep my commandments" — give this proof of it,
keep in my way, doing my commandments. But whatever ye do, let it come
from the heart. Obey me ; but see it be with a willing mind, and with a free
spirit. When aU springs from love, then my service wttl be perfect freedom. I
would have you to do my wttl, but without fear ; not for life, but from life ;
not that ye may live, but because ye five. Do it as sons, and not as slaves : the
slave abideth not in the house for ever, but the son abideth for ever. In this
free spirit of adoption serve me, as sons of God, heirs of God, and joint heirs
with me. Stand fast therefore in the liberty wherewith I have made you free,
and be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage.
To obey from life, and salvation received and enjoyed, is sweet liberty. To
obey, as the condition of life and salvation, is bitter slavery : it is an intolerable
yoke, because it is not possible any fallen man should so keep the law as to live
thereby. But the believer, freed from this condition by Christ's keeping the
law for him, is in liberty ; he is saved from the penalty annexed to the trans
gression ; he is entitled to the life promised to obedience, and thereby he is deli
vered from legal hopes, and from guilty fears. In this faith he walks on delight-
fuUy in the ways of obedience : for he is reconciled to the law through the grace
that is in Christ Jesus : he loves it. Oh what love, says he, have I unto thy
law ! because now I find it, according to promise, written upon my heart. And
this is a
4. Motive to gospel obedience. The new covenant runs thus: " I will put,"
• says God, " my law in their inward parts, and write it in their hearts, and I wttl
be their God, and they shall be my people : and they shaU teach no more every
man his neighbour, and every man his brother, saying, Know the Lord : for
they Bhall all know me from the least of them to the greatest of them." The
heart is by nature as hard as adamant. It is enmity itself against the holy law.
But the Lord here engages to take away the stony heart, and to give a heart of
fleah, upon which he wUl write the ten commandments ; not in tables of stone,
but in the fleshly tables of the heart. The Spirit of the living God wiU teach
all his children to know their Father ; he will manifest to them their adoption ;
he wiU reveal to them their Father's love in Jesus; and he will make their hearts
happy in the enjoyment of it. Then the holy fruits of this love will appear
towards man. It will work sweetly in benevolence, and effectually in beneficence.
The love of God will open the contracted heart, enlarge the selfish, warm the
cold, and bring liberality out of the covetous. 'When the Holy Spirit teaches
brotherly love, he overcomes aU opposition to it.'-, '.He says to his disciples, " Be
ye kind one io another, tender-hearted, forgiving one another, even as God for
Christ's sake hath forgiven you." And he makes them kind to one another:
tbey show it by every good word and work. Thus by manifesting to them the
Father reconciled in Jesus, and by enabling them to love man for his sake, he
writes upon their hearts the two great commandments, on which hang aU the law

236 THE WALK OF FAITH.
and the prophets. The love of God, says the apostle to the Romans, ia al
abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost ; and to the Thessalonians, Ye yo
selves are taught of God to love one another. Thus he engages the affection!
the soul to the holy law, and inclines the inner man to love obedience. It ceas
to be a yoke and a burden. How easy is it to do what one loves ! If you dea
love any person, what a pleasure is it to serve him ! What wttl not love put y
upon doing or suffering to oblige him 1 Let love rule in the heart to Goof and
man, his law wttl then become delightful, and obedience to it will be pleasa
ness. The soul wttl run, yea, inspired by love, it will mount up with wings
eagles, in the way of God's commandments.
Happy are the people that are in such a case ! And is it not, O my soul,
some measure thine ? Hast thou not been taught to love God and hia way
Since thou hast been acquainted with him as thy loving Father in Jesus, has i
thy faith been working by love to him, and to his will, and to his whole househi
and family ? Remember this is promised. AU the children of God are to
taught to know and to love their heavenly Father. This ia the very tenor of 1
covenant of grace, which the almighty Spirit haa undertaken to fulfil. And
cannot fail in his office. It is his crown and glory to make good his covem
engagements. Oh trust him then, and put honour upon his faithfulness. 1
has promised to guide thee with his counsel, and to strengthen thee with 1
might in the way of obedience to thy reconciled God. What is within thee,
without thee, to oppose thy walking in love with him, he will incline thee
resist, and he wttl enable thee to overcome. Oh what mayst thou not expi
from auch a divine friend, who is to abide with thee on purpose to keep l
heart right with God? What can he not do, what will he not do, for the
Such aa ia the love of the Father and of the Son, such is the love of the lit
Ghost, the same free, perfect, everlasting love. Read his promises of it. Mei
tate on them. Pray to him for increasing faith to mix with them; that,
dwelling in the temple of thy heart, thou mayst have fellowship tliere with t
Father and with the Son. Whatever in thee is pardoned through the Soi
atonement, pray the Holy Spirit to subdue, that it may not interrupt communii
with thy God. And whatever grace is to be received out of the fulness of Jes
in order to keep up and to promote that communion, intreat the Holy Spirit
give it thee with growing strength. But pray in faith, nothing wavering. !
shaU the love of God rule in thy heart. And then thou shalt be like the su
when it goeth forth in its might, Bhining clearer and clearer to the perfect da
Oh may thy courae be like his, as free, aa regular, as communicative of goo
that thy daily petition may be answered, and that the will of thy Father may 1
done in earth, as it is done in heaven.
When att these things concur, what can be wanting to make the way of ob
dience easy and pleasant ? It is not now a hard burden, impossible to be born
The Spirit of life which is in Christ JesuB, hath made it easy. He has reconcili
the believer to the law ; for he ahowa it to him in hia surety, magnified ai
made honourable — magnified infinitely in hiB life— made everlastingly honou
able in his death : sothat the Father can get the fullest glory to every divii
perfection, even to his juBtice, by saving sinners through faith in the nghteou
ness of his Son : he can be just, and yet the justifier of the ungodly. The b
liever, persuaded of this, is reconciled to God. Being no longer under the la
as a covenant of works, but under grace, he loves the law, and, walks with God
sweet obedience to it. He sets out, and goes on every step, in faith— trustir
to the acceptance of his person, and of his services in the beloved. He does n<
work now in order to be saved ; but he works because he is saved. And 1
ascribes all he does to the praise of the glory of free grace. He worka fro
gratitude, and the faith of God's elect always does. It never fails to show itse
by love. The Holy Spirit wins the heart by revealing to it the love of God, ar
thereby draws out the affections after him. When the commandment come
" My son, give me thy heart ;" the son is ready, " Lord, take it, and seal it thii
for ever." And whatever inbred enmity may remain against giving it to tl
Lord, the Holy Spirit has undertaken to subdue it. It is his office to take aws
the stony heart, and to create a heart of flesh, soft and wttfing to receive the in

THE WALK OF FAITH. 237
pression of this grace. With the same finger which once wrote the holy law upon
tables of stone, it is now written upon the fleshly tables of the heart. And then
the love of God and the love of man are clearly taught, and effectually enforced.
What a change does this make in obedience ! Hard things are now done with
ease. Rough ways are made smooth. Painful things become delightful. The
labour of love is sweet labour, because the heart is in it. The feet run, the hands
work, ah the faculties are ready to exert themselves, when love commands.
O my God, let it be thus with me. Thou hast given me an earnest desire to
walk with thee in thy ways ; guide me in them by thine almighty Spirit. Let
him abide with me, Holy Father, as the Spirit of adoption, that I may always
serve thee as thy reconciled child, not under the law, but under grace. I would
gladly walk with thee every step by faith, and that faith working by love to thee
and to my whole wiU. O God, give me grace sufficient for thy holy walk. Let
thy faithful promise be daily fulfilled : write thy law still plainer in mine inward
parte, and let it be more fairly copied out in my life. I want to love thee more,
as thou knowest. O my God, keep my heart sensible of the exceeding riches of
thy love to me, and let the growing sense of this increase mine to thee. In the
strength of thy good Spirit enable me to overcome inward and outward opposi
tion to my walking with thee in love. Let him strengthen me mightUy in the
inner man for every labour of love. From him cometh power to embrace and
to cleave with fuU purpose of heart unto the ways of God — to love what he loves —
and to hate what he hates. O thou blessed Spirit of the Father and of the Son,
make me wiUing, keep me able to enjoy the Father's love in his Son ; and let it
be a growing love, abounding yet more and more in knowledge, and in aU sen
sible feeling, that I may run and not be weary, may be going on to the end, and
not be faint. Even so let it be done unto thy servant, according to thy word,
wherein thou hast caused me to put my trust. Let me have feUowship with the
Father in his love, through the salvation of his Son, by thine influence upon my
heart, now, henceforth, and for ever. Amen.

CHAPTER VI.
The walk of the believer in the way of duty.
It is very hard to go on in a straight course, and for any length of time. The
hindrances are many. To understand the nature and obligations of duty, to
enter upon it with right motives, to perform it in a proper temper, to go through
it without backwardness or weariness, not by constraint, but willingly, and to
find the true end of doing it answered ; these are great difficulties, but they will
be removed in some measure out of the believer's walk, if he attend to what
was said before of obedience in general, and if he be enabled to bring it into
practice. It cannot be too often repeated, that the true believer is not under the law as a
covenant of works — bound to keep the precept for life, or liable to the penalty
of death. He is not under the law in this respect, but under grace. He is one
with Christ, who kept the precept, and suffered the penalty for him, as his surety,
and in his stead. He has put in his plea, and taken the benefit of Christ's sure
tyship. His plea has been admitted ; and therefore he is in a state of perfect
acceptance. He stands in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made him free.
Grace reigns in him, and over him, and renders his obedience perfect freedom.
He obeys ; but it is aU in faith. He works ; but it is from a sense of the
Father's love to him in his Son. Gratitude taught by the Holy Spirit influences
his heart and life. His heart has the love of God written upon it, and his life
manifests it. He serves God with a thankful mind, and without fear, and cheer
fully does aU the good he can to man for God's sake.
The believer will never get on in the way of duty, unless he learns to obey
upon these gospel principles. Ho will stand in need of their assistance at every
step : for he wiU meet with constant opposition to them. The flesh will not

238 THE WALK OF FAITH.
come under grace. The carnal mind is always legal. The old man of sin knt
nothing but working for life, and wiU not submit to any other way. Our air
nature is altogether for the covenant of works : Jews, Turks, heathens, and i
minal Christians, are aU upon one plan : they expect liod wUl be merciful
them for their doings. And the children of tind are exercised with this ai
righteous spirit, more or less, aU their days. Is it not, O my soul, thy grief a
burthen ? Art thou not daily plagued with it in thy duties ? And though t
principles be very evangelical, yet they too often fail thee in practice. Oh I
of God then, earnestly and often, that thou mayst be cast into the mould of 1
gospel, quite evangelized in thy mind, and mayst perform all duties upon bu
motives as he himself requires and approves.
Duty is a debt owing to God — due from the creature to the Creator. 1
obligation to it arises from the absolute dependence of the one upon the oth<
and it consists in acknowledging this in the appointed way by a perfect a
continual service of every faculty — the creature being entirely subject to t
wiU of the Creator, and living in a never-failing confonnity to it : for tho wttl
God doth bind all men on earth, and angels and glorified spirits in heaven.
is an unchangeable law, obliging for ever aU creatures to obedience, not only
account of the matter contained in it, but also with respect to the sovereign a
thority of the almighty lawgiver. And this obligation Christ in the gospel li
not in the least dissolved, but on all occasions has confirmed and strengthene
How decisive are these words 1 " Think not that I am come to destroy tho li
and the prophets ; 1 am not come to destroy, but to fulfil :" to fulfil the law
mine own person, as the surety for my people, and to put the love of it into tin
hearts, and to engage them and to enable them to practise it in their lives ; thoui
not for the same end for which 1 fulfilled it.
Duty is always one and the same — a debt always due to God. But tho de
of obedience being withheld, and the death of Buffering being incurred, the I
liever is taught to plead his discharge for suffering under Christ, and his fulfillii
of obedience in the righteousness of Christ. With this faith he has a dolightf
?rospect of duty. God is now at peace with him. God loves him in his So
t is his high privilege to enjoy the sense of those distinguiahing favours. For tl
end he is admitted to walk with his God. What an honour is this ! Havii
received the adoption of sons, he is blessed with hiB Father's love, and is tak
into near fellowship with him. What a happiness is this ? " Son, all that I ha
ia thine : it ia freely given to thee in Jesus, and thou art now called upon
enjoy me and mine in thy holy walk." Here duty becomes his privilege. It
exalted and 8piritualized into a gospel grace. He is bound to it, but it ia by tl
cords of love. The pleasing bonds of gratitude tie his heart to obedience, to
free, holy, evangelical obedience. He obeys, not as a slave, but aa a eon — n
for fear, but becauae Christ has set him at liberty— not that God may accej
pardon, and justify him, but because God has done all for him, and wttl do i
in him — not that he may have heaven for his obedience, but because heaven
reserved for him, and he for it. He therefore looks at duty, ae greatly refined 1
the gospel. Every act of it, done in faith, is an act of fellowship with the Fath
and with the Son ; and by the grace of the Spirit every act bringe the Fathei
love through the Son'a ealvatiori into experience. He haa communion with I
God in all he does. This ennobles duty. It is hereby raised to a divine honou
for it is hereby made, to them who are in Christ, the highest privilege they ci
have on this side of heaven.
When the Holy Spirit writes the law upon the heart, he then teaches tti
obedience of faith. He does not abolish duty, but he enforces it upon right m
tives, and directs it to a right end. The same duties remain in the gospel, but n
upon the same obligation. Law duties, as conditions of life, cannot be fulfille
The judge himself has decreed that by the works of the law there shaU no flei
be justified h\his sight : therefore the law as a covenant of works does not ent
into the believer's obedience. He obeys, because he is freed from this covenant
not freed from doing the same dutiea which this covenant required, but frei
from doing them upon law motives, neither expecting the promised life on accou
of keeping the precepte, nor fearing the threatened penalty on account of n

THE WALK OF FAITH. 239
keeping them. It is his privUege to obey, because he is saved. He works from
a free spirit, and with a thankful heart. He does aU his duties in faith. He is
spiritual in them, acting upon the endearing motive of God's love to him in Christ,
as it has been revealed to his heart by the Holy Spirit. He hopes for the ac
ceptance of them only through the intercession of Christ : and, after he has
done them ever so weU, he desires grace from Christ, to return him all his glory.
Thus in every duty he aims at feUowship with God in Christ through the Spirit,
and seeks to present an odour of a sweet smeU, a sacrifice acceptable, weU-
pleasing to God.
Whatever thou art required to do, remember, O my soul, that thou art under
grace, and it is thy privilege to do it in faith. View the two tables in the hand
of thy Saviour, and receive the ten commandments from his mouth. Happy
for thee, Jesus is thy lawgiver. His spirit wUl gospelize thine obedience. He
will bring thine heart into it. He wiU set thee in the chariot of love, and thou
shalt ride on prosperously. He wiU oil the wheels of duty, and they shaU run
easy and pleasant. Thou shalt be carried sweetly through duty, thy Beloved
being present and conversing with thee in it : yea thy faith, working by love to
him, wiU render fellowship with God, in all thou doest, the joy of thy heart and
the glory of thy life.
Oh beg of thy divine Teacher thus to spiritualize thine obedience ! From him
only canst thou learn the two great commandments, which are the sum and sub
stance of the wiU of thy God. In the first, his nature is revealed, and then- his
worship. He is the Lord thy God, Jehovah thy Alehim. Jehovah means the
self- existent Godhead, and Alehim, tbe persons in covenant, Father, Son, and
Spirit, partakers of the same self-existence, and divine glory, without any differ
ence or inequality. There can be no true religion without the true object of
worship ; and he cannot be worshipped unless he be known : therefore it is an
indispensable duty to know the Lord God. But how shaU faUen man attain to
this knowledge ? He loBt it by sin, and he cannot, by any reasoning faculty or
power of his own, recover it. It is a matter of fact, that no man did ever by
searching find out God ; and attested by infallible authority, that the world by
its wisdom knew not God. There is no true description of the Godhead but what is
revealed in scripture ; and it is altogether from the teaching of the Holy Spirit
that any one savingly understands what is revealed. He, the Spirit of wisdom
and revelation, opens the eyes of the mind, sets the object before them, and
§ives a clear idea of it. He takes of the things of God, and shows them to his
isciples. He does not lead them into abstracted reasonings about the divine
nature, or what the absolute Godhead is; but his lessons are useful and practical.
He teaches the knowledge of the persons in Jehovah as they are related to sinners
in the covenant of grace. Through him the Father is made known : " Ye have
received the Spirit of adoption, by which we cry, 'Abba, Father," Rom. viii. 15.
Through him the Son is believed in : for no man can say, that Jesus is the Lord,
but by the Holy Ghost. He .discovers the Father's love in the Son with its rich
graces and abundant blessings, as it is written : " We have received, not the
spirit of the world, but the Spirit which is of God, that we might know the
things that are freely given to us of God." He makes known the Giver, and the
gifts ; and he is received for that very purpose. He shines into the heart to
give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the person of Jesus Christ.
And this is saving acquaintance with the Father and with the Son ; for hereby
the understanding is restored to the image of God, and the new man is renewed
in knowledge after the image of him that created him.
Oh what a mercy is this ! What can caU for greater praise ? And this mercy,
O my soul, is thine. Unspeakably gracious has the Lord been to thee. He has
given thee the knowledge of himself. His image is upon thine understanding.
His light is shining upon it. Certainly, it is as great an act as when he first
commanded the fight to shine out of darkness : for hereby I believe in him, I
know him to be my Father. Oh precious name ! The love of his heart, and
it is infinite ; the blessings of his love, and they are numberless ; he has eaHed
me to enjoy, freely, of mere grace, of his own sovereign good wiU — called me to
the adoption of sons, to the noblest dignity, yea to everlasting honour, to be a

240 THE WALK OF FAITH.
son of the most high God— God is my Father— my new birth is from him— t
which is bora of the Spint is spirit, and has feUowship with the Father of anil
Beholdwhat manner of love this is ! No parent ever loved or can love a chili
my Father which is in heaven loves me. And 1 desire in the sense of this
love him, to cleave to him with full purpose of heart, and gratefully to devote
I have and am to his service and to his glory. 0 thou divine Revealer of I
love, enlighten mine understanding and influence my affections, that I mav gi
in the knowledge of my Father in Jeaus ! for
In him the Father only ia to be known. He- is his Father, as our coven
head, and therefore ours in him. God is not a Father to any, but in Chr
The name Father respects Christ, as the first-begotten, and then aU his seed
is the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, of whom the whole family in heaven i
earth is named, and depends for its adoption on the Father of their Lord Je
Christ. He undertook to be made man, to live, and to die for the many si
whom he was to bring to glory : and in consequence of hia- undertakings
pleased the Father to lay up aU fulness of grace for them in the God-man tli
covenant head. And it pleases the Spirit to witness of this fulness, and to .
able believers to receive 5ut of it grace for grace. Thus he reveals Immanuel
them. They know him, and are one with him. He is their Lord and their G
and by faith they live in him and upon him. Trusting to his atonement a
righteouaneas, they have peace with their reconciled Father, and they enjoy
love shed abroad in their hearts by the Holy Ghost. Waiting in the appoin
ways, they grow in the knowledge of the wonderful person God-Jesus. Tl
see more of the divine glory of his salvation work, and by depending on it dt
they enjoy more of the things which accompany salvation. Thrice happy
they whose acquaintance with Jesus is thus increasing. Their happiness hai
boundleea aubject. They may atudy on, and they will find in him new worlds
delights to all eternity. O ye highly favoured ! read and adore the wondera
ready wrought for you; among which these are not the least : "We know tl
the Son of God is come, and hath given us an understanding to know him tl
is true ; and we are in him that ia true, even in his Son Jesus Christ, who ia t
true God and eternal life." Blessed knowledge ! they have an underatandi
given them, and they are savingly acquainted with the Father and with the S
by the teaching of the Holy Gho8t. Jehovah is their Alehim. Thus they let
the first part of their duty, which leads them to the
Second ; namely, to love the personB in the Godhead, because they stand
thia most endearing relation to them. They love the Father, who is their Fatl
in Jesus. They have not only heard of and believed in, hut have also enjoyi
his precious love. It has been shed abroad in their hearts by the Holy Ghc
who has overcome all resistance to his love ; yea, haa made enmity itself yield
it. Having purified the conscience by faith, he then purifies the heart : he poi
into it a sense of that love which gave hia coequal Son for them, and all 1
blessings in earth and in heaven with him. Thereby he draws out the affectic
in holy deaires to be more united to the Father of mercies. It is the property
love to desire to be united to the beloved object. The Holy Spirit has diacovei
the object, and haa given the desire ; and he fulfils all the deaires of his o'
creating. He teaches aU the children of God to know their Father, and to <
perience his love to them in hia Son ; and then they cannot but love him. J
creates the new heart for this very purpose, and makes it aenaible that the Fathe
love ia all received through the Son ; and therefore the Father and the Son i
beloved with an undivided affection.
The Son is his office-name. It should never be heard without putting us
mind of the wonderful love of our God in his undertakings. He covenanted
be made fleah. What a miracle of love ia that ! He engaged with his Father
be the surety for his people, to do their work, to suffer their punishment ; a
then God and man, one Christ for ever, waa to have all fulness of covena
blessings to give his people. The Father has no love, the Spirit bestows
grace, but what comes through Christ. A believer ia therefore taught in eve
thing he doe8 to have feUowahip with Christ. His safety, his happineaa, hia hof
of happiness to-day and for ever, are blessings to be received out of Immanue

THE WALK OF FAITH. 241
fulness : for he is the head over aU things to the church, which is his body, the
fulness of him that fiUeth all in all : and while the member is receiving life and
sense and happiness from the fulness of the head, he will have fre^h motives to
love his divine Saviour. What can fix his affections, if gratitude to Jesus can
not ? He has every thing in him that can win the heart. He has beauty to en
gage love, blessings to increase love, glories to increase love to him for ever
more. He is beauty without a rival. Whatever is charming in any earthly
object is but a ray from him, and should lead to him ; it is but a beam to point
out the matchless graces of Immanuel. And so is the loveliness of heavenly
objects : saints and angelB have nothing beautiful but what the love of Jesus
has put upon them. He is the Lord and Giver of all their glory. How glorious
then must he be ! He is mine, says the believer, and my property in him makes
him indeed glorious in mine eyes. Once I saw no beauty in him, that I should
desire him ; but now he is my beloved and my friend. I can see every thing
truly lovely in my Lord and my God. Whatever else courts my heart, appears
to be but a shadow : the substance is my Jesus. He endears himself daily to
me by his numberless favours. I am always receiving out of his fulness some
blessing, which makes him the centre of my happiness. Every look of faitii
discovers in him some new exceUency, and brings from him some fresh kindness,
and thereby engages my heart stiU more to its precious Saviour. And when I
look forward to the glory to be revealed, when I shall see my dearest Jesus face
to face, and shall be like him, and shall enjoy him, and in him aU the blessings
of the eternal Three for ever, oh ! this is too big for present thought ; yet it con
strains me to give up my whole soul to this heavenly lover. Glorify him daily
in me, thou faithful witness for Jesus, and give me continual reason to love thee
with the same undivided affection wherewith thou hast enabled me to love the
Father and the Son.
The Holy Spirit is Jehovah, a person in the self-existent Godhead, equal with
the Father in every attribute, llis office-name is Spirit ; the idea is taken from
air, such as we breathe, to denote his being the breather or inspirer of spiritual
life. Every thing done by him in this character tends to holiness, and therefore
he is called the Holy Spirit. His office in the covenant, as well as his coequality
with the Father and the Son, entitle him to equal worship, and to equal love :
for he undertook to carry into execution the purposes of the Father's love in
Jesus. Their fulfilment depends entirely upon his grace. The Sun has been
incarnate . he has brought in everlasting righteousness, and made the atone
ment ol" sin : the Father is satisfied with his finished work, and has demonstrated
his acceptance of it : the God-man is now upon the throne of glory, with all
power in heaven and earth. To this the Holy Spirit bears witness. It is bis
divine office to apply the salvation of Jesus, and to make it effectual. He does
nil in the heirs of promise. The Father gave them to the Son ; the Son redeemed
them ; but they are in the common mass of corruption, dead in trespasses and
sitis, till the Spirit of life enter into them. They feel not their guilt nor their
i Linger till lie convince them. They are quite ignorant of God and of the things
oi' God till he make them wise unto salvation. They cannot believe in Jesus till
the Spirit of faith enable them. They cannot rejoice in the Father's love till the
Comforter makes them sensible of it. They are without strength until they be
strengthened with might by the Spirit in the inner man. They cannot go in their
'Christian course but by a constant supply of the Spirit. They cannot hold out
to the end but from his abiding with them fur ever. So that he is the Lord and
giver of life. He begins the good work, and he confirms it, until the day of
Jesus Christ. Every motion of spiritual life is from him ; and all those whom
he makes alive, he makes sensible of the debt which they owe him. He mani
fests his love to them, and thereby he engages their love to him. They expe
rience how great the love of the Spirit is. They are sensible of their obligations
to him, and desire to be thankful for them. Thus their affections return to the
proper object of love and worship. They receive daily the blessings of the Fa
ther's love, through faith in the Son's salvation, by the applying power of the
Holy Spirit ; and hereby they are reconciled to the first and great command
ment : it is become the delight of their si-uls to love the Lord God.
R

242 THE WALK OF FAITH.
Here consider, 0 my soul, whether thou art acting upon the principle of gra
titude to the good God. If thou art, then his yoke wttl be easy and his burden
light. Thou wilt not go to duty in bondage, hoping to gain his love by the de
sert of what thou doest, or fearing to be beaten with many stripea for not doing
it weU. Thy God, whom thou eerve8t, ia thy most loving friend and tenderest
father. He loved thee in Jesus freely by grace, not by wOrks done by thee, or
to be done. Immanuel is thy Saviour : his love to thee is made up of miracles.
No understanding of angels or of glorified spirits can conceive how great it ia :
for it passeth knowledge. Nevertheless, the Holy Spirit haa revealed it unto
thee. He loves thee, as the Father and the Son do, with the Baine divine affec
tion. Thy debt is equal ; thy gratitude should be the same to the blessed Tri
nity. In the sense of thine infinite obligations, thou art called upon to walk in
the way of duty. Love to the peraon whom thou art to serve will make aervice
pleasant. And thou dost love thy God. He has given himself with every co
venant blessing to be thine ; and these blessings are to be enjoyed in thy walk
with him. With this faith look at duty. It is the expression of gratitude to thy
dearest friend, and it is the way to enjoy his divine friendship. He requires it
out of love to thee, and would have thee to do it out of love to him. Oh how
exalted hia duty, when communion with God is carried on by it 1 He would have
thee keep cloBe to him, in order to maintain a sense of his gracious presence in
thy heart, and so to walk with him as to have his love to thee confirmed at every
step ; and therefore thou shouldst seek to preserve a constant nearnesB and holy
feUowship with him in every thing thou doest. This is the wttl of thy God. May
it be thine, O my soul ! Study this glorious way of gospel duty. Pray to he
taught it better, and to go on in it more spiritually every day. Bring it into all
thy affairs. In thy calling, as weU as in the means of grace ; in temporal, as
weU as in heavenly matters ; set the Lord always before thee ; and so live and
act in every thing as to keep up communion with thy God and Father in Jesus,
by the grace of the Holy Spirit.
When God is thus become the dear object of thy happy heart, then every way
wherein hie love is to be enjoyed wttl become delightful. The time, the place,
the means of meeting with him, will be greatly desired and much longed for.
Thy heart cannot but be where thy treasure ia. Thou wilt want no spur to duty,
no whip to drive thee to ordinances. It wttl be enough that the Lord ia there.
As when he said to David, Seek ye my face ; his heart replied, Thy face, Lord,
wttl I seek. His heart said it. His affection8 were aet upon God, and he was
ready to 8eek wherever God was to be found. No hunted hart ever panted
more after the water-brooka than hie soul did after God. Hie hope in doing
any thing was to have God's gracious presence with him. And his happiness
in it was to have communion with God. Thia is gospel duty. And what a glo
rious privilege is it ! Oh that it may be my happy experience thus to meet God in
all his waya, and to enjoy him in my daily walk. That thou mayat grow in thia
divine feUowahip, consider, O my soul, some of the duties of the first table, and
learn to practise them upon goapel principlea. The firet and chief ia prayer,
which conaiata in keeping up daily converse with thy God upon aU occasions.
This is the breathing of the new-born soul. It wants to draw the air of heaven,
and to live in ita own proper element. There is a way opened for it unto the
throne of glory, and the children of God may approach it with boldness ; for it
is a throne of grace, and he that sitteth upon it loves to hear and to answer their
petitions. He is their Father. " I go, says Jesus, to my Father and to your
Father ; my Father himself loveth you : ask what ye wttl of him in my name he
will do it." This is the beloved object of prayer — a reconciled Father in Jesus
— whose heart is full of tenderness to the complaints and miseries of hia family —
his promises are the declarations of his pure love — a dependence upon his fill-
fitting them does honour to his truth and faithfulness, and always brings down
the blessing. The Holy Spirit abides with the children of God to teach them
thus to pray in faith. He helps their infirmities in prayer, strengthens their
graces, and bestows on them their comforts. He enables them to come with
boldness, and have access with confidence. Whatever their Father baa freely
promised to give them in Jesus, they can ask in faith, nothing wavering ; for

THE WALK OF FAITH 243
they know his promises cannot fail : they find them daily fulfilled, whereby their
holy familiarity with their Father increases. He draws nearer to them, and they
draw nearer to him. This their mutual intercourse may be interrupted, but it
cannot be entirely broken off. God is always disposed to hear, although the
believer be not always able to pray rejoicing. It is stiU his privilege, although
he may not find any great delight in it; but if he continue to make constant use
of his privilege, his delight wiU return, and God will fulfil to him the gracious
promise — I wiU make them joyful in my house of prayer.
Thus the chUd of God learns to love prayer, yea, to pray without ceasing. He
lives under his Father's eye, and in a dependence on his Father's care for him
night and day. And he has hereby as true and lasting fellowship with the
things of God in his soul as he has with the things of this world in his body.
Oh what an exalted privilege is this ! How highly is prayer hereby ennobled !
It is not a law duty to an absolute God ; but a gracious intercourse with a cove
nant God : not practised that he may love us, but because he loves us ; not to
make us his chUdren, but because we are his chUdren. It should be performed
always in this faith. If there be infirmities in it, such as wandering, coldness, or
the like, we are to remember that we are not heard for the goodness of our
prayers, nor answered for the fervency of them. That which makes our persons
accepted, obtains acceptance for our services also. We, and aU we do, are only
accepted in the beloved : " For through Jesus Christ we have an access by one
Spirit unto the Father," Ephes. ii. 18; our access is through Jesus Christ.
Trusting to his finished salvation, we enter into the presence of the Father, and,
guided by the Holy Spirit, we pray in faith. Whatever we ask in the Son's name,
we know that we have the petitions which we desired of him. This spiritualizes
prayer, and puts glory upon it, because there is heavenly fellowship with God
in it, with the Father through the Son, by the one Spirit.
These are some of the privileges of Christian prayer. Thou goest, O my soul,
to meet thy God in it — to converse with thy Father — to caU on him for the ful
fiUing of his promises made in Jesus — to wait on him for his answers — and to
give him his glory. Oh what blessed seasons hast thou enjoyed in this com
munion with thy God ! How has he manifested his nearness to thee, and bounty
towards thee ! Hast thou not found his heart open, his ears open, and his hands
open, to grant thee the request of thy lips ? And when thou hast not found such
sweet feUowship with thy God in prayer, yet thy dependence on his faithful word
has been exercised and improved. Thou hast left thy petitions with thy friend
and advocate, trusting to that most glorious description of him in Rev. viii. 3, 4 :
" And another angel came and stood at the altar, having a golden censer ; and
there was given unto him much incense, that he should offer it with the prayers
of aU saints upon the golden altar, which was before the throne. And the smoke
of the incense, which came with the prayers ofthe saints, ascended up before God
out of the angel's hand." O thou great Angel of the covenant, thus present my
prayers ! They are nothing worth, but as perfumed with thy divine odours.
Let them ever ascend before God out of thy hand with the smoke of the incense
of thy sacrifice and intercession. Blessed Spirit of prayer, increase my faith,
that I may trust more to a prayer-hearing God and Father, who is always ready
to crranr* every good thing promised to his chUdren in Christ Jesus. Amen.
Praise and prayer go together. The prayer of faith wiU afford continual
matter for praise. The one is a dependence on God for every promised blessing ;
the other is the acknowledgement of his having bestowed it. Innocent man had
his heart in this sweet work. It was his happiness. Every breath in paradise
was praise. The redeemed man has more reason. His obligations are far greater
than Adam was under to his God — raised from his faU — saved from the guilt
and misery of it — chosen and called to this salvation by mere grace — through
faith a partaker of it — an heir of God, and a joint-heir with Christ. Oh what
motives are these, to continual thankfulness ! And these motives are effectual
when the Holy Spirit discovers the things that are freely given to us of God. He
makes us sensible of them and thankful for them ; for lie preserves in the soul a
blessed poverty of spirit, an humble, abiding sense of wants' and unworthinese ;
and thus he lays a sure foundation for thankfulness Every blessing is then re-

244 THE WALK OF FAITH.
ceived with a — Why me ? what am I, and what is my Father' s house, that God
should deal thus bountifuUy with me ? I must refer it all to the praise of the
glory of his own grace. Bleased be the God and Father of our Lord Jeaue
Christ, who hath bleased me with aU spiritual blessings in heavenly things in
Christ. AU these blessings flow from the Father's love in his Son ; and the Holy
Spirit has discovered to me that boundless ocean of love, and has often refreshed
me with its life-giving streams. He has made known to me the good pleasure
of the Father's wttl, which he had purposed in himself, to choose me by hia dis
tinguishing grace to be one of his children ; and through faith in Jesus Christ I
read my adoption, and take possession of the inheritance of children. Mine ex
perience of these blesaings cannot be questioned, while I am receiving out of the
fulnesa of Jesus grace foi grace. Oh now great is my debt ! It is equal to the
eternal Three : bo should my gratitude be. It is very meet, right, and my
bounden duty that I should, at aU times and in att places, give thanks unto thee,
O Lord, holy Father, almighty, everlasting God ; therefore with angels and arch
angels, and with all the company of heaven, I laud and magnify thy glorious
name, evermore praising thee, and saying, Holy, Holy, Holy, Lord, God of
hosts : heaven and earth are full of thy glory. Glory be to thee, O Lord most
high. Amen.
May such as this, O my soul, be thy daily tribute of thanks ! Consider what
thou owest to thy God ; how great are his favours, how many, how endless ; and
bestowed on the most unworthy. Review his goodness in giving thee being, and
in preserving it. Remember from how many dangers and pains he haa delivered
thee : what health and creature-comforts he haB vouchsafed of his mere bounty ;
and what a monument of his long suffering thou art. Oh what a miracle
that one like thee should be out of hell! Then put to the account spiritual
favours, what blessing thou hast received from the Father's love in Jesus ; what
blessinga thou art entitled to in him, not only in time, but also in eternity. Caat
up the mighty sum, and aay, How much it ia. Canst thou teU the numbers
thereof ? No. It is beyond the power of the greatest arithmetician. If thou
couldat write a figure upon every atom in the creation, thou wouldst want a new
world whereon to sum up the vast account ; for thy mercies reach to the heaven
of heavens, and they are also everlasting. Then consider to whom thou art thus
indebted. Is it not to a justly offended God, who might have glorified aU hie
perfections in punishing thee for thy sins ? Whereas in wonderful grace he has
chosen and called thee to the adoption of sons. He is thy Father. Thia ia the
8pring of all thy merciea. In love he gave his Son to finish thy salvation. Ane
his spirit has brought thee to believe in it, and to enjoy it. This is the source ol
all thy praise. The object of thanksgiving is thy covenant God, who is related t(
thee, in such a bond of love aa wiU bring thee under eternal obligations. Thoi
art therefore in aU thy praise to remember thy relation to Father, Son, and Spi
rit, thy debt to them for that most blessed relation, thy growing, ever-growinf
debt. Praise wiU pay none of it. The aaints in glory do but acknowledge it
While they are praising more, the sum is increasing. O my soul 1 beg of thj
God to give thee grace, that thine acknowledgments may be in some measure lik<
theirs. They are crying Holy, Holy, Holy, Lord God, giving glory for the Fa
ther's love in Jesus, and for their experience of it by the eternal Spint. May thii
subject be thine, more spiritual, more holy every day, till it be what theirs ia, per
feet and without intermission.
Since it is thy privilege, O my soul, to pray to thy covenant God, and to praise
him for covenant mercies, then thou wilt highly prize the Holy Scriptures
because without them thou canst not know what to pray for, nor what ia indeed i
mercy. Thy faith has nothing to stand upon but the word of God, and nothini
to praise him for hut mercies therein promised and by believing received. Ol
how dear, then, should his word he to thee ! how greatly studied, how difigenth
heard ! that by it thou mayest grow in every grace, which is needful for thy hoi;
walk with God. It is the appointed means by which the Holy Spirit acts. It i
his great instrument in beginning and carrying on spiritual life. He opens thi
understanding to know the scriptures ; he inclines the will and the affections ti
receive them in the love of the truth, and he influences the whole man to submi

THE WALK OF FAITH. 045
to live under the obedience of faith. Whatever strength, victory, comfort, or
blessing of any kind he bestows, it comes by obeying the truth through the
Spirit : so that thou canst not go on in thy walk with God but by constant and
believing use of the scriptures. They should be thy study night and day, heard
and read carefully, mixed with faith, treasured up in thy memory, received into
thy heart, and brought into thy life, and all by the teaching of the Holy Ghost,
in order to thine enjoyment of the promised blessings of the Father's love through
the Son's salvation. Thus the word wiU be the means of thy maintaining fel
lowship with the blessed Trinity. By mixing faith with it thou wUt be con
stantly receiving from them covenant mercies ; and so thou wUt go forward.
Thy steps wiU be ordered aright according to the word, and thy way wiU be
prosperous. Consider then, O my soul, whether thou art making this use of the scriptures.
Dost thou find the means of thy growth in divine knowledge, in faith and love ?
Do they reaUy promote thy communion with God, and on that account are they
datty more thy study and thy delight ? Never think of hearing or reading them
without praying for the teaching of the Holy Spirit, that they may be the means
of keeping up feUowship with thy Father in Jesus. For this end they were re
vealed ; and if this end be not answered, they profit thee nothing. Make it then
thy constant practice — before hearing, to pray for a spiritual appetite, that, as
new born babes desire milk, so thou mayst hunger and thirst for the good word
of life — in hearing, beg of God that thou mayst feed upon the word and digest it,
and thine inward man may be nourished up in the words of faith, and of good
doctrine — after hearing, pray for a sanctified memory to treasure up for use what
thou hast learnt, that, as occasion shaU serve, it may be realized and brought
into practice, thy life and conversation being cast into the mould of the word.
With the same dependence on thy divine Teacher, read, as well as hear, the
scriptures. Meditate on them. Converse about them, expecting to find them
able to make thee wise unto salvation through faith, which is in Christ Jesus, and,
as thy faith in him increases, able to bring in richer experience of thy Father's
love in him.
How sweet is prayer, how delightful is praise, how blessed is bearing and read
ing the word, when these are the means of meeting and conversing with God !
His presence puts the highest honour upon them, and exalts duty into a royal
privilege : for he is present as a Father with his children. Oh what a dignity is
it to have God for our Father ! What a happiness to have free feUowship with
him in this dearest relation ! In thy daUy hearing and reading his word, ob
serve, O my soul, what is spoken of this holy fellowship ; and seek to maintain
it, and to improve it in every appointed way, particularly in keeping the command
of thy dying friend —
Do this in remembrance of me. When his disciples meet together for this pur
pose, then place the whole dependence of thy heart upon thy crucified Saviour.
Considering the infinite and everlasting efficacy of the sacrifice of his body and
soul to take away sin, draw near in faith to feast upon it, for his flesh is meat in
deed, and his blood is drink indeed. Look weU to the end ofthe institution. It
was not only to remind thee of, but also to convey to thee, aU the blessings of
that one offering, which perfects for ever. It was to teach thee that thy spiritual
life, and every grace and comfort of it, are as dependent upon Christ crucified as
the life of thy hotly is upon the meat and drink of this world. Thy life comes
from his death. Thy life is nourished by feeding upon Christ thy passover, who
was sacrificed for thee. He intended by the bread to point out unto thee his body,
and by the wine, his blood — by eating and drinking them, thy taking and
firing upon him — by thy bodily support received from them, the nourish
ment of thy soul by eating his flesh and drinking his blood. He would have
thee to look through tbe signs to the things sanctified. Thou art not to rest in
the outward act, but to rest in the promise in the word of God. Thy faith is
not to be exercised about the Lord's Supper as a duty ; but it is to be exercised
upon his word ; and what he has therein promised to make it, that thou art to
expect in taking it. He appointed it to be the means of communicating with
him, and of thy enjoying feUowship with him in his sufferings. It is a spi-

246 THE WALK OF FAITH.
ritual believing act, in which thou art invited to partake of the paschal lamb. I
is the Lord's passover, and will certainly answer every purpose for which hi
instituted it. He appointed it to be the means of safety from the destroyer, o:
deliverance from bondage, of free and fuU forgiveness of aU sins, of ahappj
passage through the Red Sea, and of the everlasting possession of the promisee
inheritance. For these gracious purposes the Father's love gave his Son to bi
a lamb slain, and then a lamb feasted on : and the Holy Spirit makes it a feast
indeed. It is to the believing receiver, spiritually, whatever the passover was tc
the Jews on their coining out of Egypt. ¦ It is a communion with the bleasec
Trinity ; with the Father for providing such a banquet of love : with the Sor
for giving himself to be a lamb slain, and to be a spiritual repast to his people ir
earth and in heaven ; with the Holy Spirit for rendering the bread which ii
broken the communion of the body of Christ, and the cup of blessing the com.
munion of the blood of Christ : communion signifies union with — the believe]
united to Christ — one with Chriat — a member in his body — fives in him, and or
him, has communications of life, nourishment, strength, comfort, &c. as the mem
bers have from their union with the head. He has a real inward fellowship
with Jesus in his cross and passion, in hia resurrection and aacenaion, in his in.
tercession and sitting at the right hand of the Majesty on high. He commu
nicates now with Jeaus in all the blessings of his Father's love, and will com
municate with him in aU his Father's glory. Oh what a privilege ia the Lord's
Supper when it is thus the means of communion with the Son, and with his Fa
ther through the Spirit 1 What an honour is it to be admitted to a feast insti
tuted by the Lamb of God, and for the enjoyment of the love of God ! What t
blessing ia it to ait down now to the marriage aupper of the Lamb, and to partake
by faith of its spiritual realities and delights ! There is nothing beyond this upor
earth ; and it has sometimes been to the believing receiver a foretaste of heaven
Yes, blessed be God, it has .been, even to thee, O my soul, unworthy as thou arl
of one crumb from the Master's table, a feast of fat things, of wines kept, even ol
fat things foil of marrow, of wines kept, and weU refined. And when thou hast
not been so highly feasted, yet thou hast enjoyed solid communion. Partaking
of the bread and wine according to the Lord's institution, and depending on the
Lord's promise, thou hast been fed and nourished at hia table. The virtue o!
the Spirit has been put forth in thy heart, and thou hast as truly by faith eaten
the flesh and drunk the blood of the Son of man, aa thou didst eat the bread and
drink the wine. It was, strictly speaking, a communion .- being united to Christ.
thou wast a partaker of Chriat, and hadst fellowship with him in his life and
death. Oh pray for more of this. Beg of the Holy Spirit to increase thy com
munion with Jesua, that thou mayst live more in him and on him, and thereb)
enjoy more of the love of thy heavenly Father. Plead hia promi8e, and ex
pect the fulfilling of it : " He that eateth my flesh and drinketh my blood.
dwelleth in me, and I in him. A8 the living Father hath Bent me, and I live
by the Father, 80 he that eateth me, even he shatt live by me," John vi. 56, 57
Viewing the duties of the first table in this light, how exalted are they ane
spiritual ! What a glory does it put upon them that the believer has fellowahij
with the eternal Three, and in prayer, and praise, in hearing and reading the
word ; and at the Lord's Supper, he enjoys their covenant merciea, partaking
of them now as really by faith, as ever he will by sense in heaven ? The law
written and engraven in atone was glorious ; but the law thus written upon hif
heart exceUeth in glory. The two first tables of stone were broken ; the othei
two are lost ; but no time ahaU deface the writing of the Holy Spirit. The new
heart, turned in love to God, ahaU keep hia impression for ever. Faith should
rest securely upon this ; because he has undertaken to abide for ever with hif
own people, that the purpoae8 of the Father's love, and the blessings of the
Son'8 salvation, may be always enjoyed by them. In remembrance of this great
truth they keep the
Lord's-day. They rest on it from labour, declaring thereby their belief ol
the re8t which the eternal Three have provided in Jejeua — a rest jn their aouls—
given without their labour and pains — 8ecured to them by covenant— kept foi
them by almighty power — a sabbath remaining for the people of God, into which

THE WALK OF FAITH. 247
they shaU as certainly enter, as Jesus, their forerunner, is entered. Sabbath sig
nifies a day of rest. It was set apart in memory of God's finishing the works of
the first creation : and is observed now in memory of his finishing the works of
the new creation. The end for which the world was made will be answered
soon ; and then it, and all the works thereSn, shall be burnt up, and the place of
them found no more : but the glorious work of the God-man shah endure for
ever. In honour of this greatest work of God, we keep the Lord's-day. It is
his Sabbath — a day eternally famous for his finishing the work of salvation, and
entering into his rest. " And we who have believed, says the apostle, do enter
into rest." We do enter into it now by faith, and we share with him in his
Sabbath. The atonement which he made, the righteousness which he wrought
out, the victory which he obtained, the works which he perfected for ever, and
the glory which he now inherits, we enjoy at present by believing, and enter
upon the possession of them. According to our faith, such is our rest. He
that believes, without doubt or wavering, in the finished salvation of Jesus, he
wiU have the peace of God ruling in his conscience ; he wiU experience the
perfect love of God to him, which wiU make him rest in his love to God ; and
then he will delight himself in the ways of God. This is the Christian sabbath.
It consists in resting upon Jesus, and in depending upon his having finished
the works of redemption, and then in living upon them for our souls as much as
we do upon the works of creation for our bodies.
Sweet is the day of rest, spent in this holy employment ! Happy time ! set
apart for spiritual intercourse with God, and consecrated for keeping up feUow
ship with him in his fatherly love in Jesus, and for receiving from him com
munications of his graces and blessings. Thrice happy day ! in which this fel
lowship is kept up, and these graces and blessings are enjoyed. By this hea
venly converse the inward man is renewed with growing strength : his faculties
are enlarged ; and their happiness is increased : by which means he comes
nearer to the spiritual rest of the heavenly sabbath. He calls it his delight,
holy of the Lord, honourable ; because the end of its institution is answered to
him, and he has on it happy communion with his God. When he draws near
to God in his appointed ways, he finds God in them, and experiences his loving
kindness, which is better than life itself. Blessed is the man who is thus
highly favoured. He enters within the vail into the holiest by the blood of Jesus,
and finds a most loving Father upon a throne of grace. In every service on the
Lord's day he seeks a more intimate acquaintance and more spiritual feUowship
with him. His very heart is engaged in this work. His soul thirsteth, and his
very flesh longeth to meet God, as he has met him in the sanctuary. Therein he
has found communications of grace, which have rendered the ordinances delight
ful indeed. He rejoices in hopes of meeting God, and of drawing near to him in
prayer; of praising him stiU more and more for his abundant mercies; of hearing
the reviving sound of Gospel grace, and of everlasting love; and of receiving
it, not as the word of man, but, as it is in truth, the word of God ; and of sitting
down to the banquet of heaven in communion with Christ crucified, through him
partaking of the Father's love by the Spirit's influence. Blessed is he of the
Lord, who is thus spiritual in sabbath duties. By keeping up constant com
munion with God in them, his blessedness is increasing. He is already in
possession of the same things which his elder brethren are enjoying in heaven ;
and he will become more heavenly-minded while he maintains daily fellowship
with the eternal Three in their covenant offices and blessings.
Consider, O my soul, that these privileges are thine. Look well to thine
improvement of them. Remember, thou art already, by believing, entered into
rest. Thy sabbath is begun — a day whose sun shall never set — whose glory
shall shine brighter for evermore. May thine enjoyment of this rest, which is
so glorious, be growing, until thou attain to the eternal sabbath. Oh, pray thy
Lord to lift up the hght of his countenance upon thee, to vouchsafe thee more
of the love of his heart and more of the bounty of his hand, more communion
with him, and more communications from him, that thou mayst be growing up
into Jesus in all things, and be ready, whenever he calls thee, to enter in with
him into his perfect rest

248 THE WALK OF FAITII.
Thus the first table-duties are kept. By the teaching of the Holy Spirit they
become Gospel privileges. When he makes us new creatures in Christ Jesus,
then we take the Three in Jehovah to be our God. We know our Father in
Christ, believe in him, and love him. We wttl have no other gods but him.
W e give his honour to none, his name to none, our time and heart-serrice to
none, but him. His love made known to us, engages our affections, and puts
us upon seeking feUowship with him in aU appointed ways. Yea, the more we
know of his perfect love to us, the more we aie disposed to love him, and to
witness it in every thing we do. It becomes our study to walk before him in all
weU pleasing ; for we find it our happiness. Whether we eat or drink, rise up,
or lie down to rest, follow our worldly calling, or have any dealings with men,
we endeavour to do all in faith. This makes the common things of life spiritual
actions ; because in them we maintain intercourse with God. This is indeed the
heavenly temper of the children of the Most High. They seek the presence and
the blessings of their Father in Jesus in all they do. They are taught to live in
a simple dependence upon him. They acknowledge this dependence by looking
up to him for every thing needful, and having received it by giving him aU his
glory, then they are returned in heart and life to that God from whom they
had departed by unbelief.
Most blessed return ! For now the old sinful nature, with its affections and
lusts, is pardoned, and thereby they have lost their dominion. The)- have no
right to exercise their tyranny any longer. The base, selfish tempera which
rendered a man a plague to others, and often a burden to himself, are dethroned.
'Ihe pardoning them is subduing them. These always go together. They kept
the understanding in darkness; but now it is light in the Lord. They blinded
the conscience, and made it insensible ; but now it has seen its guilt, and has
found peace with God. The heart was engaged in their service; but now God
has set up his throne in it, and sweetly rules over the affections. Thus a free
pardon brings a man into liberty. He ceases to be a slave to his selfish tempers.
A full pardon brings him full victory over them ; for then he has the blood of
Jesus to cleanse him from aU sin, and the Spirit of Jesus to subdue all sin. He
is taken into the protection of Christ, and is his free-man. None shall make
him a slave. Tile Spirit of Christ rules in him, and makes him wiUing to live
under the reign of grace. He dwells and abides with him, to preserve in his
heart the love of God, and to produce in it the proper fruits of that love towards
men. Thus he brings the sinner to love the
Duties of the second table, which our Lord has Bummed up in one
sentence : " Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself." This love was lost at
the fall. Nothing is in mankind, by nature, but selfishness. He is a slave to
divers lusts and pleasures, living in malice and envy, hateful and hating one
another. Every age has felt this malady, and complained of it ; but no human
means have been able to remedy it. Fine systems of ethics, and beautiful plans
of natural religion, have been tried ; the aid of strong reasoning, assisted with
the force of logic and metaphysics, has been called in, but all in vain. SelfiBh
tempers broke through their cobweb arguments, and sported with their imaginary
bonds. Sometimes they polished the outside a little, and made a man a courtier:
he looked, and smiled, and seemed to love ; but they did not reach his heart.
This is the prerogative of the Lord God. He only, who made us creatures, can
make us new creatures. And until we are new born of God, we have every thing
in us opposite to brotherly love. But when we are horn of the Spirit, then we
are taught of him to love one another. He teaches it, and he enforces it. His
lessons are entirely practical. He not only informs the understanding, but also
influences the affections. Having disposed and enabled the heart to love God,
he evidences the power of this divine love by its genuine fruits towards men.
These are inseparable from their cause. Divine love is never without brotherly
love ; for, so far as the love of God is felt, it produces loving tempers : it opens
and enlarges the heart, as the warm beams of the sun open and expand the
flowers. The agency which performs this is almighty. The Holy Spirit, having
begotten the new nature, writes upon it the law of love. He keeps it willing to
resist, and makes it able to overcome, the selfish tempers of the old man. The

THE WALK OF FAITH. 249
apostle Peter has given us a delightful description of the manner of the divine
proceeding herein, 1 Pet. i. 21, 22, 23. " Christ was manifest in those last
times for you, who by him do believe in God, that raised him up from the dead,
and gave him glory, that your faith and hope might be in God : seeing ye have
purified your souls in obeying the truth through the Spirit unto unfeigned love
of the brethren, see that ye love one another with a pure heart fervently ; being
bom again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the word of God,
which Iiveth and abideth for ever." Ihe Christians, to whom he writes, were
partakers of the new birth : they were born again, not of corruptible seed, but of
incorruptible. The Holy Spirit was the author of their regeneration. The word
of truth was the means which he made use of : they obey the truth through the
Spirit. By believing it they were begotten again to a lively faith and hope in
God. They evidenced their love to him by their unfeigned love of the brethren :
they love him that begat, and loved those also that were begotten of him. From
whence it appears, that the love of the brethren is not in the heart by nature, but
is from the grace of the Holy Spirit. He giveB a new heart, and he sheds abroad
in it the love of God, which, by his influence, works mightily in opposing and
overcoming our selfish tempers, and in establishing the practice of second table-
duties. These spring from divine love. The Holy Spirit joins them together,
as the cause and the effect. He teaches no man to love God, without teaching
him also to love the brethren. He rains and shines upon the tree of love : under
his cultivation it thrives. He brings forth the sweet and loving tempers of the
new man, and they bear fruit abundantly. And blessed fruit it is ; for God has
great glory from it, and men much good. Love thinketh, speaketh, and doeth
no evil. Yea, it cannot be in the heart, without a desire to do good to aU men,
especially unto them that are of the household of faith — to do good to their bodies
and souls — to give honour to whom honour is due — to preserve their lives — their
property — their chastity — their good name — to bear no false witness, but always
to speak the truth of them — and to covet none of their blessings, either spiritual
or temporal. This is morality — christian morality — for it is learned nowhere but
in the school of Christ. What his Spirit teaches, he enables also to perform,
which moral persuasion cannot. Ile gives a wiU and a power to put off the selfish
tempers of the old man, and to put on the loving graces of the new man : these
graces he preserves by his almighty agency, and caUs them into datty practice,
through faith working by love — love to Goel from a sense of his infinite goodness
— and love to man for God's sake. Thu3 the second table-duties, when done
out of gratitude to God for his infinite mercies, help the believer on in his walk
heavenwards, and are the means of maintaining constant fellowship with his
God. Is this, O my soul, thy happy experience? Examine carefully. What are
thy tempers ? What is thy practice, with respect to loving thy neighbour as
thyself? There is great complaint in the world of the want of brotherly love.
And no wonder. It cannot be in them who are whoUy lovers of themselves.
But may not the same complaint be taken up of the household and family of
faith ? Are not the children of the same Father deficient in brotherly love ?
Yes, they are. Too, too often they live below their privilege, and thereby
bring great dishonour upon God, and give great offence to men. Be hum
bled, O my soul, for thine own failing. Remember, what reason thou hast to
mourn for the infirmities of thy love — how barren it is in its proper fruits —
how cold when it should be fervent — how poUuted when it should be pure —
how covetous when it should be liberal. Hast thou duly attended to the cause
of this ? and does it grieve thee to thy heart ? Wouldst thou be saved from
self-love, and increase in brotherly love, yet more and more ? Since this is thy
case, meditate carefuUy upon what is promised, and pray earnestly for what is
provided, for the subduing of those tempers which are enemies to brjtherly
love, and which, if not subdued, wiU hinder thee from enjoying the love of God
in thy walk with him.
First, Consider thy state. Thou art a pardoned sinner, not under the law.
but under grace — freely, fuUy saved from the guilt of aU thy sins. There is
Jione to condemn, God having justified thee. He sees thee in his Son, washed

250 THE WALK OF FAITH.
:n ^s bJ°?d' clothed in his righteousness ; and he embraces him and thee, the
nead and the members with the same affection.
Secondly, Consider what is promised to them who are in Christ, Sin shall
not have dominion over them. Pardoned sin shall not reign. It cannot ; for
it is dethroned. Thou art therefore free from its bondage. Stand fast in this
Uberty. Now the condemning power of sin is taken out of thy conscience, make
use of the grace provided in Jesus to deliver thine heart from the love of it, and
thy conversation from the slavish service of it. And remember, this grace is al
mighty. Trust in it, and thou shalt be saved from the tyranny of every sin.
Thirdly, Read the great charter of grace, and mark to what glorious privileges
thou art entitled. Being saved from the guilt of all sin, and having a promise of
being saved from the dominion of all sin, as the Lord's freeman, thou art by faith
to claim thy birthright and to enjoy it. Since Christ has given thee liberty, to
whom shouldst thou be a slave ? Put off therefore the old man with his lusts and
deeds ; serve him no longer : it is a blessed part of redemption to be saved from
his service. God be thanked, that he may be put off, as a garment which you
have done with, and wiU be put on no more. Away with it, it is filthy and abo
minable altogether. Yea, worse still : the plague is in it. Death and heU are
in it: for the old man, sinful nature, thus to he put off, is a body of sin;
and selfish tempers are his members; such as anger, wrath, malice, lies, in
ordinate affection, evil concupiscence, and covetousness, which is idolatry.
These must be put off, or they wttl be alwaya plotting and acting against bro
therly love. Therefore the new man, renewed in the spirit of his mind, op
poses them, and is mighty through God to mortify them. By the same
power he puts on, aa the elect of God, holy and beloved, bowela of mercies,
kindness, humbleness of mind, meekness, long suffering, forgiveness of injuriea :
even as Christ forgave him, so he forgives : and unto aU these graces he puta on
love, which is the complete binding of them together. What an amiable cha
racter is here of the new man ! He ia created anew in Christ Jesus, that he may
exercise every kind and benevolent temper to the brethren. He is renewed in
his heart to the unfeigned love of them ; and is enabled to manifest it by every
work and labour of love. And lest the vile tempera of the old man, still in
being, although dethroned, ehould get dominion again, he is strengthened
mightily by the Spirit in the inner man to crucify them day by day. Since this
ia hard work, consisting in continual and severe self-denial, no less than in cut
ting off right hand, and in plucking out right eye lusts, for thine encouragement
to persevere, consider,
Fourthly, that thou art in Chriat — a member in his body — and in him thou
hast perfect and eternal redemption from the old man of ain with his affections
and lu8ts. The more this ia beheved, the more will the fruita of it appear. Faith
in the abaolute and everlasting victory of thy glorified head will animate thee as
one of his members to reaiat thy vanquished foes, knowing thou art a partaker
of his victory, and in his strength and to his glory thou art fighting againat them.
In hhn thou hast already conquered. In him thou shalt be more than a con
queror. Reckon thyself, therefore, to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto
God tn Jesus Christ thy Lord And depend on him for the power of his death,
that he may put it forth in thee, and mortify sin, and for the power of hi8 resur
rection to quicken thee to newness of life. Thy communion with him in his
death and resurrection wttl be in proportion to thy faith. If thou befievest stead
fastly that thou art one with him, thou wilt find the effect of it in steadfast com
munion. Cleave then to him, aa a branch to the vine. Planted together in the
likeness of his death, thou wilt find virtue coming from him to crucify thy selfish
tempers. Planted together in the likeness of hia resurrection, thou wilt find virtue
coming from him to keep thee alive to God. To this fellowship with Jesua thou
art called. Thou hast a right to communicate with him in hie life and death.
And whilst thou art enjoying it by the faith of the Son of God, sin shall have no
more dominion over thee than it has over him. This being thy glorious birth
right, O my soul, put honour upon it. Enjoy it in the peace of thy conscience,
and in the love of thy heart. Read thy perfect redemption in Jesua from every

THE WALK OF FAITH. 251
thing opposite to brotherly love, and improve this thy experience. As there is
sufficient grace promised and provided for thee, see thou make use of it, and ma
nifest it openly in thy tempers and in thy walk ; for, consider,
Fifthly, Thy God and Father caUs upon thee to give glory to him for his love
to thee by exercising love towards the brethren : and thou art bound to this by
ten thousand ties. Has he loved thee freely ? dost thou know it ? and is the
grateful sense of it upon thy heart ? How then can it be bid ? It cannot ; it
wiU manifest itself, as light does. The Father has chosen thee in his Son, that
he might communicate to thee of his goodness ; and he has made thee a child of
light, that thou mightst reflect the rays of his goodness upon others. Thou art
to show forth the praises of him that hath called thee out of darkness into his
marveUous light. He hath called thee out of the deadness and blindness of thy
natural state, and hath enlightened thee with the light of life. How marveUous,
that it should ever shine upon thee ! MarveUous indeed, that thou shouldst
shine, as a light in the world ! Admire this grace. Let others admire it witb
thee by seeing the reality, and by feeling the comfort of it. As the sun not only
enlightens, but also enlivens with his fruitful rays the face ofthe earth, and cheers
every creature upon it, so let thy light shine before men. Give them clear proof
of thy love to God by thy love to them : let them feel the blessed fruits of it, that
they may see thy good works, and glorify thy Father who is in heaven. Love in
thy heart wiU show itself : it wttl communicate its gracious rays, and the Father
of lights wiU have the praise. This should be thine end, as it is his. He aims at
his own glory in all his mercies : this aim should be thine also. Thy Father calls
upon thee to do good to others, that he may be glorified thereby. Oh what a
high calling is thine ! What an honour does God put upon thee ! Thou art to
bring him glory from men — from his own chUdren : for their bowels are to be re
freshed by thee — and from others, that, whereas they would speak against thee as
an evil doer, they may, by thy good works, which they shall behold, glorify God in
the day of visitation. Aim at this. Look at no motive to do good to men below
the glory of God : and remember, thy doing it may be the means of his visiting
them, as he visited thee, with his great salvation. Oh blessed fmit of brotherly
love ! May it be the happy effect of thy light shining before men ! May God be
daily honoured by it, and the comfort, and, if it please him, the salvation, of his
people be thereby promoted ! Yea, Lord, this is my prayer. My heart says,
Amen. If thou findest it very difficult to live in the constant practice of brotherly love,
meditate, O my soul, upon the Gospel motives for an increase of faith, and seek
for the promised assistance to enable thee to love others as God hath loved thee.
Above aU, expect the effectual teaching of the Holy Ghost. He only can write
this delightful law upon the heart — the fair impression of it is kept by his power
— and the exercise of it in thy tempers and walk is the work of nis grace. Oh
pray then for a constant supply of the Spirit, that in aU thy dealings with man
kind it may appear thou hast been with Jesus. Set his most amiable life before
their eyes. Give them reason to honour his beneficence, from thy copying it
legibly after him. Let his love to thee be glorified from thy labour of love to
them. Study to show forth his praises, and go about doing good, as he did.
And hereby convince the world that Jesus Christ was the greatest moralist, and
that his disciples come the nearest to the perfect pattern of their master : as a
poet of our own observes —
Talk they of morals ? O tliou bleeding love !
Thou maker of new morals to mankind !
The grand morality is love of thee.
The love of Jesus teaches and enforces the love of the brethren. The spirit of
Jesus writes it upon the heart, and makes it practical in the life. And thus the
two tables are joined together : and love to him that begat, produces love to them
that are begotten of him. When the happy believer is walking in this love to his
Father and to his family, then he wttl five in the observance of the duties which
relate to himself ; for he was taught them when he returned in his heart to God.
And every step he walks with God is in the practice of them.

252 THE WALK OF FAITH.
The first temptation was an offer of independence — " Ye shall be as Goda" —
man was drawn away by it, and feU from his high estate. StiU this mother sin
is fruitful in fatten man. In great mercy there is a pardon provided, and in the
way of receiving the pardon, there is a remedy for it. The infinite wisdom of
God so contrived the way of our recovery, that without Christ we can do nothing.
His salvation undertaken and finished for us, his salvation applied to us, the
blessings of his salvation enjoyed by us in time and in eternity, are the free gifts
of hia free grace. He is the author. He is the finisher. He carries it on from first
to last. All our sufficiency- is of him. We cannot without him so much as think
a good thought. Therefore his redeemed people are brought off from all trust ih
any other object, and are taught to place their whole dependence for salvation, and
for every thing that accompanies it, upon the Lord Jesus Christ.
To this end, the Holy Spirit, the great convincer of Bin, had made them ac
quainted with themselves. He had awakened them to a right knowledge of their
state, of which they had not been sensible before ; and they found that they were
fallen and apostate creatures. He showed them sin in its exceeding sinfulness,
and they tasted some of the bitter fruits of it : they felt in what a dreadful con
dition their departure from God had left them — so ignorant that they could not by
any human means attain to the least saving knowledge of God — so guilty, that
let them do aU they could, stiU the condemning sentence of the law stood out
against them — so unholy, that soul and body were sold under sin, and ready to
every unholy word and work — so utterly helpless, that it was impossible they
should of themselves attain true happiness, or escape deserved misery. The
Holy Spirit taught them these lessons practicaUy. His conviction carried de
monstration with it. He, not only made them feel their guilt and their danger,
but he also opened a way for pardon and safety. He led them to Jesus, and in
him they found every thing needful for their salvation — treasured up for them
by the free covenant love of the Father, secured to them by the fulfilling of all
covenant conditions in the life and death of the God-man — and received by the
faith ofthe operation ofthe Holy Ghost; by whom they were made new creatures
in Christ Jesus — members under him their head — united as intimately as the
branches are to the vine — and living by, and in, and on him, every moment, and
for every thing. Thus the glorifier of Jesus teaches all his members to depend
upon the fulneas of their head, and he abides with them in order to keep them
in this dependence. He testifies to them of Jesus—" He is your whole salva
tion, your aU in aU ; you have not, you never will have, any thing to glory
in, but in the Lord — whatever good you receive comes from his grace —
whatever evil you escape, is from his blessing — and if ever you have eternal
fife, it wttl be the free gift of God in Christ Jesus. Your bodies alao are
dependent on him, as well as your souls : personal, family, national mercies,
are his royal favours, and bestowed out of his sovereign bounty." Thus he
teaches believers. He humbles them, that they may exalt the Saviour. He makes
them poor in spirit, that they may live upon hiB richee. He keeps them sensible
of their own emptiness, that they may be making constant use of the Saviour's
fulnesa, and living in an absolute dependence upon him for every thing. While
they five thus by the faith of the Son of God, every high thought is brought into
subjection to him. Pride is daily mortified. Self-complacency is abhorred.
Self-admiration is abominable. Humility ia become their clothing, and they
cannot put it off ; hecause every moment they are making uae of it. Sins, wants,
miseries, temptations, &c. are continuaUy reminding them of their vileneae, and
of God's goodnesa. And this truth, enforced by the Holy Spirit, makes them
willing to learn of Jesus to be meek and lowly. They become teachable scholars,
and sit very low at his feet, where they attain to true humility of heart. And
this influences their whole behaviour. In a deep and abiding sense of their entire
sinfulness and helplessness, they loathe themselves before God, and walk humbly
before men. They feel they are of themselves nothing but sin, and if left to
themselves, can be nothing but misery : therefore they put their whole trust
and confidence in a covenant God, and his free grace has from them all ita
What is thy knowledge, O my 60ul ? and what is thine experience of this

THE WALK OF FAITH. 253
christian poverty of spirit ? Art thou acquainted with it in the ground of thine
heart ? and is it in thy daUy practice ? Examine thyself, and with diligence : for
it is a most blessed grace, advanced to high honour in the court of Jesus. To it
he has made many exceeding great and precious promises. Oh ! pray to him
for this royal gift. Wait on thy divine Prophet, and hear his lessons. He teaches
as man cannot. He recommends, he gives, the grace of humility. He makes
his scholars truly humble in heart. Observe his abasing doctrine ; and may aU
within thee bow to the power of it !
Observe how he humbles the sinner. He convinces him of his sinful state, of
the corruption of his whole nature, and of the depravity of every faculty of soul
and body. The sinner is made to feel it and to live under the sense of it : and
in order to fasten the conviction, clearer discoveries are daily made of this cor
ruption : for it is a mystery of iniquity. There is no tracing to the bottom its
deep laid devices, and never ceasing workings. The heart is deceitful above aU
things, and desperately wicked. Who can know it ? There is not a man upon
earth who knows all that may be known of the exceeding sinfulness of sin, and
of his own sinfulness. When the Lord, who searcheth the heart, has laid open
some of its infinite evil, he continues to discover more. Every day brings to light
strange workings of corruption. The convinced sinner has deeper views of his
helplessness and of his unworthiness : and after many vain legal trials, he at
last finds it impossible for him to do anything for which God should pardon him
and save him. Thus he is laid low, with his mouth in the dust — Behold, 1 am
vile, filthy, and abominable altogether. I abhor myself, and repent in dust and
ashes. These are the humbling lessons which the Holy Spirit teaches. He convinces
the sinner that there is neither help nor hope in himself, and so leaves him
nothing to trust in but the salvation provided in Jesus by covenant love, and
given freely by grace. And the manner of receiving this salvation is such as
cuts off all occasion of boasting : for faith is the only means appointed of God ;
and faith is his gift ; not bestowed upon the worthy, but upon the Ungodly ; not
for any merit in them, or for any terms or conditions which they have performed
or ever will perform ; but by an act of absolute sovereignty to the praise of the
glory of his own grace. He wttl have mercy because he wttl have mercy. Oh
humbling consideration ! How low does it bring the sinner ! How must his
proud heart be abased, whUe he feels himself a debtor for every thing good to
the mere wiU and pleasure of God ! And so long as he enjoys those good things,
he is kept poor in spirit ; because he has none of them in himself. They are laid
up in the fulness of Jesus ; are to be had from thence only by faith, and are re
ceived as the sense of his wants leads the believer to make use of them Living
by faith is the death of self-importance. Then the loftiness of man is bowed down,
the haughtiness of man is made low, and the Lord alone is exalted.
Observe, O my soul, what an honour God has put upon this grace : " Before
honour is humility." Whom God honours, he humbles first. He giveth grace
to the humble : because the humble give him all his glory. The highest throne
which he has upon earth is in the humblest heart. To it he vouchsafes his con
stant presence, and makes the greatest communications of his love: "For thus
saith the high and lofty One that inhabiteth eternity, whose name is Holy : I
dweU in the high and holy place, with him also that is of a contrite and humble
spirit, to revive the spirit of the humble, and to revive the heart of the contrite
ones." Oh what an honour is here promised to the humble ! the greatest they
can have on this side of heaven. God wUl dweU with them ; and what a blessing !
and his temple shall be in the humble heart. The high and holy One passes by
what is in highest esteem among men. He stains the pride of human greatness
and goodness. He does not vouchsafe to set up his throne with the princes, nor
to give his honour to the learned, ofthe world : but he puts honour upon the con
trite and humble : he condescends to visit them ; yea, he delights to dweU with
them, and in them — the Highest above aU heavens in the lowest hearts. There
he communicates his choicest love and richest favours. O my God ! bestow upon
me this grace which in thy sight is so precious. Humble me, that I may be re
vived with thy presence, and refreshed daily with thy love. Give nie more

254 THE WALK OF FAITH.
humility, and fit me for nearer feUowahip with thee. Bring down every high
un°tothe humble1"6 " *"' **' G°d nlAsteth the proud' bu' 8iveth m°™ grace
Thus the true poverty of spirit is needful, not only to bring the sinner to Chriat,
but also to preserve the believer in communion with him : for so long as he walks
by taith, every thing wttl tend to promote this communion. In the daily sense of
his wants, he will go to his bountiful Saviour for a supply. In the feeling of hia
misery, he wttl depend on his loving Saviour for relief; whereby he wttl be led
to more intercourse with him. What he finds wrong in himself wiU bring him
to hve more by faith, and as faith increases, so wttl his delight in God ¦ he will
grow more sensible of his Weakness ; and that wttl make him stronger in the Lord
He wttl know more of his own heart, which wttl humble him, and keep him de
pendent on the grace of Jesus. He wttl see reason not to lean to his own under
standing, but ever to pray, Lord, guide me by thy good Spirit ! Viewing spots
and blemishes in his best doings, his triumph wttl be— " I will make mention of
thy righteousness, Lord Jesus, even of thine only." Thus everything will
humble him, and lead him to live more by faith ; by which means he will get
faster hold of Jesua, five in nearer feUowship, and be receiving out of hia fulness
grace for grace— two graces at once— the blessing needed, and thankfulness for
it. Hereby a sweet intercourse wttl be kept open. To the humble, God delights
to give grace ; and they delight to return him his glory. The more he gives,
the more glory would they gladly return. And he does give more, and he re
ceives it back again in thanks and praise. BlesBed grace ! by which thia holy
fellowahip is maintained. Happy humility ! by which the heart, being emptied
of self, is made capable of receiving the fulness which ia of God. Then ia the
promise fulfilled—-" Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of
heaven" — it is theirs now — not only in title, but also in possession : for the king
dom of God is within them. And they are partakers at present of its blessings
and glories, aa truly, though not ao perfectly, as they wttl be in heaven. Medi
tate, O my soul, upon this divine grace. Thou seest the necessity of it. Oh
pray earnestly for it, and for more of it. . The great idol self must be dethroned
where God reigns. Thou canst not walk with him unless thou art humble in
heart. And if thou hast been walking with him, thou wilt be taught to stop
whenever thou heginnest to look at thyself with admiration. Oh beg of the
Lord, then, to give thee the true gospel poverty of spirit. It iato he in constant
practice, and U8ed for every thing : for thou aeeat how it keeps up fellowship
with God, who makes the greatest communication e of himaelf to the humbleat.
And the reason is plain : because they return him all his glory. If therefore
thou wouldst have much grace in exercise, pray for much humility. O my God!
whatever thou giveat, give humility with it, that I may not seek aelf in it, but thine
honour ; nor lay it out upon myeelf, but to thy glory. Meek and lowly Jesus,
make me like thyself : keep me learning of thee titt I am perfectly like thee. I
would come always poor to thee to receive of thy richeB, and to receive with them
an humble heart to praise thee for them. Oh let thy glory be mine end and aim.
Let me and mine he thine — I humbled — thou exalted. Let thy graces and gifts
bring thee in a constant revenue of praise. And may thine increasing goodness
be joined with a constant increase of humility, that my heart and aU within me
may bless and praise thy holy name to-day and for ever, Amen. And,
Let this appear in my whole behaviour to others. This ia another blessed fruit
of humility. It has an influence over the believer's intercourse with mankind,
and renders his tempers and manners loving and amiable. Pride was not made
for man ; and yet it is in aU men, and is the chief parent of human woe. It seta
people above their place, and makes them think that they could support the
greatest fortunes, and are able to manage the most difficult affairs. Others, as
proud as they, deny them their fancied superiority. Hence come wars and
fightings, public and private. The sweet grace of humility ia aent from heaven
to relieve thoae distresses : for into whatever bosom it enters, it renders men kind
to one another, tender-hearted, ready to every good word and work. Thus runs
the divine exhortation : " Be ye kindly affectioned one to another with brotherly
love, in honour preferring one another." This is heart-humility, which the

THE WALK OF FAITH. 255
Holy Spirit requires, and which he bestows. He brings his disciples into
humble subjection to God, and then to one another ; which has the most happy
effects upon public, social, and private happiness. How would these flourish
if aU men were of a meek and quiet spirit ! But there is none of this among the
unconverted, and, alas ! how little is there among behevers ! How often are they
found, in the proud spirit of the world, acting contrary to the lowly spirit of
Jesus ! And yet it is not for want of precept, nor for want of promised help ;
but it is because they are not walking by faith, as becometh the gospel, nor out
of love to God's glory studying to recommend humility by their practice. Ob
serve, O my soul, the remedy provided of God for the subduing of aU selfish
tempers ; and pray that it may be effectual in thy life and conversation. " Do
ye think that the scripture saith in vain, The spirit that dweUeth in us lusteth to
envy ? But God giveth more grace ; wherefore he saith, God resisteth the proud,
but giveth grace unto the humble." This scripture cannot speak in vain ; for
faUen man is certainly such as he is here described. The spirit that dwelleth in
him, in his own nature, lusted to envy — a passion made up of pride and discon
tent — offended with God — and displeased with the blessings which he bestows
upon men. It is an enemy to the love both of God and man, and transgresses the
law of both tables. Pride brought it into heaven, and the fallen angels brought
it into this world. Ever since it entered by sin, natural corruption breaks out
very much in envy. But God giveth more grace, to conquer this passion, than
sinful nature has to put it forth. He not only gives grace to pardon it, but also
more grace to subdue it ; so that envy loses its dominion in the reign of grace.
We cannot subdue, any more than we can pardon, envy, pride, and such passions ;
but grace is almighty. Want ever so much, use ever so much, God has still
more for you. And he gives more when the creature is humbled enough to take
it out of the hands of his mercy. Thus he overcomes envy : " for he resisteth
the proud ; " he is at open war with them, and they with him. Pride lifts up
the creature against the Creator, and puts it upon seeking happiness out of God :
this is resisting his sovereignty, attacking his providence, and opposing his law.
He is concerned to pull such rebels down, and he says their pride goeth before
destruction : " But he giveth grace unto the humble," he gives them grace to
humble them, and being emptied, he delights to fill them ; for then they are dis
posed to receive his grace, and to value it. Whatever God gives, the humble
give it back again to him. They have the blessing ; he has the praise : which
is the just tribute due to him for his gifts. And he gives more grace where he
can get more glory. Thus he subdues self-conceit, with its various proud work
ings. And as grace reigns over them, humility prevails ; which has a friendly
aspect towards mankind. It keeps brotherly love in the heart, and tends
mightily to the practice of every social virtue. Humility suffereth long, and is
kind; humility envieth not ; humility vaunteth not itself; iB not puffed up ; doth
not behave itself unseemly ; sceketh not her own ; is not easily provoked ;
thinketh no evil.
Consider, O my soul, those motives to a holy walk. Put them altogether
Weigh them carefully again and again. Do it faithfuUy, as in the presence of
God. And then try whether thou art walking in the way of duty with a free
spirit. Dost thou proceed upon evangelical or upon legal principles ? Dost thou
serve God for wages, or for love ? Examine thy heart. God looks chiefly at it.
How is it in duty ? Is thine obedience to justify thee in the least ? or does it
spring from a sense of thy being justified freely and fully ? Art thou going about
to establish thine own righteousness ? Or dost thou submit to the righteousness
of God ? Art thou working from life or for life ? I require thee to examine dili
gently, by the light of the word and by the teaching of the Holy Spirit, what thy
motives are ; for there ia no acceptable obedience but what is done in faith.
Whatsoever is not of faith, is sin. If thou art acting aright, the love of Christ
is constraining thee to obedience. Thou art firing under the influence of free
grace. Thy conscience is at peace with God. Thou hast sweet liberty to serve
him without fear. Thy heart delights in his service ; and love makes his ways
the joy of thy soul. Thou knowest what Jacob felt when he served seven years
for Rachel, and they seemed unto him but a few days for the love he had to ber

256 THE WALK OF FAITH.
A Gospel spirit does the same to God— love makes long service short— and hard
service easy. Nothing is pain, which love does. And this is gospel obedience.
It is faith, working by love, which refines duty into a grace : the command
ments are exalted into privileges : the ordinances become happy means of feUow
ship with God. The believer meets God in them, and by free converse he exer
cises and improves his love. He draws near to God, and God draws near to
h™ "J prayer, in praise, in hearing the word, at the Lord's supper, and in all
sabbath duties. In these ways God manifests his gracious presence, and the
believer rejoices in it. God communicates his grace, and the befiever receives
it with thankfulness. O my soul, pray before duty for much of this commu
nion with God in it. Seek it as the one great end of aU duty. And if thou findest
it, blesa and praise the goodness of thy God. But still seek to be more spiritual
and evangelical, that the fruits of thy fellowship with God may appear in thy
practice of the duties ofthe second table. Love to God wttl manifest itself by
love to men : for the Holy Spirit teaches all his disciples to love one another :
and he teaches effectually. He not only makes them understand what brotherly
love is, but he also gives it. They become partakers of the grace, and are
enabled to practise it. Thus he recommends and enforces his lessons. He
renders his scholars kind to one another, and tender-hearted. He puts forth
hia mighty power, and subdues the vile, selfish tempers of the old man, and brings
into use the benevolent tempers of the new man. While he carries on tho
gracious work, his disciples grow more acquainted with themselves, and learn
heart humility. He makes them feel their fallen state, their sinfulness and their
danger: in the sense of their guilt and of their distance from God, they aro
willing to receive Christ for their whole salvation, and then to enjoy in him all
the blessings of the Father's love in earth and heayen.
If thou findest it difficult, O my soul, to walk "according to this rule : if to
obey from love to God — to love men for God's sake — and m tho sense of thine
own vileness to be humbled to the dust — if these be hard lessons, consider what
makes them so. Where is the difficulty? Is it not in thyself? And is it not
chiefly in thy not using and not bringing into practice the principles advanced
in the former chapters. Duty must be hard if the spring of obedience be not in
motion ; but if this act freely, then all will go on well.
Thy whole conduct through life depends upon the nature of the salvation of
which thou art a partaker by grace. Consider it attentively. The growing
knowledge of it wttl engage thine affections to a willing obedience. Is it not a
complete salvation — an absolutely perfect work — yea, the greatest work of God ?
Because all the rest come from it, and lead to it. Is it not the infinitely wise
contrivance of the eternal Three, for which everlasting glory is to be given to
every divine attribute ? When every other work of God Bnall cease, for this all
heaven will to eternity be ascribing honour, and blessing, and praise, to Father,
Son, and Spirit. Attend, O my soul, to the scripture account of thia salvation.
Review the glory of it. Read again and again the revealed descriptions of it, till
thy heart be satisfied that this salvation is as perfect and complete as the Lord
God Almighty could make it. This is its character. Hast thou studied it well ?
and art thou weU grounded and established in the belief of it ? Mind ! this is the
foundation. If this totter, so will aU the superstructure. Oh, pray then, and
be earnest in prayer, that God would enlarge thy views of the infinitely glorious
and everlastingly perfect salvation which is in Christ Jesus.
As thou growest more acquainted with it, thou wilt see less reason to be dis
couraged at the experience of what thou art in thyself. It is a salvation for
sinners — such as thou art — and no way differing from thee. Only when they
are called to the knowledge of the truth, they are acquainted with their fallen
state, are made sensible of their helplessness and of their misery, but are made
willing to cast their souls at God's command upon the Lord Jesua, trusting to
the peace which he made by the blood of the cross. And art not thou in the
happy number of these redeemed sinners ? Dost not thou believe the record
which God hath given of his Son, and look upon it as thy lawful warrant — to
make use of what is laid up in the fulness of Jesus — thine to take freely — thine
to use fully — the more the better — thine for receiving, without any condition or

THE WALK OF FAITH. 257
any qualification ? He loves to give, and without money or money's worth. He
thinks himself honoured by the pensioners of his grace, who bring nothing to
recommend themselves but their sins and miseries, and yet trust in his promised
relief. Herein he glories. When they come to him believing, he bestows his
royal gifts upon every one of them : and so far as they believe, he withholds
nothing that is needful for their holy walk in the way of duty.
These are the principles which thou art to bring into practice. Carry them,
O my soul, into every act of obedience. Go to prayer and every duty with this
faith, that thou art in Christ, and in him a partaker of his finished salvation.
Then the Father's love to thee wiU be manifest, and thou wilt have sweet feUow
ship with him in aU thine approaches to the throne. Whatever thou undertakest,
forget not this leading truth. If thou lose sight of it, thou wilt get into dark
ness : if thou art not influenced by it, thou wilt be brought into bondage. Upon
this absolutely perfect salvation thou art to live by faith upon earth, and thou
wUt have nothing else to live upon by sense in heaven. Trusting to the com
plete work of Jesus, thou art to walk with thy God in time, as thou wilt foUow
the Lamb in eternity, receiving all out of his fulness. Oh view him in this light,
and it wiU have the happiest effects upon thy datty walk. WhUe thou art re
ceiving from him grace for grace, thou wilt live with him in sweet friendship ;
duty wUl be the way and means of enjoying the love of thy divine friend ; and
the more thou art in his company, the more delightful wiU be the way of his
commandments, These are the privileges. Read the promises concerning them.
CaU to mind what thy Father in Jesus has engaged to give his children. Has
he not provided grace sufficient for them ? And is it not for his honour, as weU as
thy profit, that he should give both the will and the power to walk humbly with
him ? Oh plead his promises. Bind him with his faithfulness. Be importu
nate with him ; and pray without ceasing. Let this be thy daily plea : —
O my God ! order my walk according to thy holy word. It is thy mind and
will that I should love thee with all my heart, and soul, and mind, and strength,
and my neighbour as myself : but I am not sufficient for these things. There
is no pure love in my soul by nature. Every affection in me is turned from the
Creator to the creature. I am in bondage, a slave to lust, sold under sin. I
cannot love thee, infinitely lovely as thou art, until thou break my bonds asunder,
and set my soul at liberty. But being now redeemed from guilt and fear, I am
become thy freeman ; and for the unspeakable redemption that is in Jesus, thou
wouldst have me to serve thee. Blessed be thy holy name for requiring mine
obedience upon this sweet motive, — " I am the Lord your God, who brought
you out of tne land of Egypt, and out of the house of bondage." On this ac
count, obey ine ; because I am the Lord your God, and I stand related to you,
as your Redeemer from slavery. 0 my gracious God and Father ! I desire upon
this motive to keep thy commandments. I believe thou art my God in Jesus,
and through him I have redemption from bondage to my sins and enemies.
With this free spirit would I always go to duty : but I cannot walk in this liberty,
any more than I could at first attain it, without thy grace. O my God ! let the
spirit of adoption abide with me, that he may draw me nearer to thee in thy ways
and ordinances, and I may in them enjoy more of thy presence, and of the light
of thy countenance. Thee I seek in them. Thou art the end of aU ways and
means ; and if they lead me not to thee, I go empty away. Gracious God, make
thy commandments the joy of my heart, and let them be the means of keeping
up holy intercourse and happy fellowship with thee. This my heart pants after.
Duty without this is nothing worth. I wait in thine appointed ways for the visits
of thy grace, hoping to grow in knowledge and faith, in hope and love. The
communion which I have enjoyed has increased my longing. My soul is athirst
for God, praying to be more with thee, and more like thee. And is not thia
what thou requirest, and what thou bast promised to do for me ? Grant me then,
my gracious Cod, the prayer of my heart. In aU my duties let me enjoy thy
presence and communications of thy love. Let me do them in faith, and with
a single eye to thy glory. Let me be thus spriritual and heavenly-minded in
them, that I may grow up into Christ Jesus in aU things.
And I desire. Holy Father, to grow in love to thee, that I may manifest the
s

25S THE WALK OF FAITH.
fruits of it by my love to mankind. Pardon every selfish temper, which is oppo
site to the love of the brethren : and teach me to love them, as thou hnst loved
me. , Whatever thou hast promised, fulfil in me. Make me, O thou Spirit' of
love, like the loving Jesus. Give me his benevolent tempers, and help me to
imitate his beneficent actions. Let his love to me be the pattern of my love to
them. Since thou hast in much mercy made rae a child of light, Oh let me
shine before men, that they may see and feel my good works, and may glorify
thee for them. And the more thou doest in me, and by me, humble me still
more, O my God. Keep me meek and lowly, always ready to give the glory
of all my mercies to the Three in Jehovah, Father, Son, and Spirit, to whom
be equal honour and praise for ever and ever. Amen.

CHAPTER VII.
TAe believer goes on his way rejoicing to God.
Happy is the man to whom it is given on the behalf of Christ to believe. He
haa the blessing of peace. He is reconciled to God through faith in the blood
of Jesus : and he is freely justified through faith in the righteousness of Jesus.
The Father has accepted him in his beloved Son ; and it is the joy of his soul to
know it : therefore he loves God, because God first loved him. In the en
joyment of this love he finds his heaven begun. By the same Spirit who
manifested it, and shed it abroad in his heart, he is kept seeking for more
discoveries of it. In every appointed means he waits. As the hart panted
after the water-brooks, so panteth his soul after more of the presence of God, and
of the hght of his loving countenance. Having a command— seek ye my face —
he obeys it from his heart: but hia chief view in obedience is to behold the face of
the Lord turned to him in love. He wants fellowship with God in duty, which
highly ennobles and also endears it to him. He performs it in faith, and in a free
spirit. He goes to it as a beloved child to a most loving parent ; and his heavenly
Father meets him in it, receives him graciously, speaks to his heart, and makes
him senaible that he can deny him no manner of thing which is good. Hence the
ways of duty becomeways of pleasantness. The farther he advances in them, and
the more spiritual he grows in the performance of them, he findB clear communi
cations of his Father's grace and love, which still increase his joy, and afford him
surer earnests and happier foretastes of joy unspeakable and full of glory.
As for the ungodly, it is not so with them. They are always seeking after
joy. They are busy, and weary themselves in the pursuit of it ; but they can
not find it. While they are turned in heart from the Lord, they look down
wards for it, where it is not. They expect it will spring out of the ground :
and if they cannot discover it upon the surface, they will dig into the bowels
of the earth for treasures of hidden joy. But they disquiet themselves in vain.
It is the sovereign decree of the Almighty that nothing can make a sinner truly
happy but God in Christ. This they wiU not believe ; and therefore they go from
creature to creature, from object to object, inquiring, Where is the best joy to be
found ? Each promises them — It is in me. But each disappoints them. And
yet they go on, seeking it to-day in that very thing which deluded them yes
terday. Yea, their foolish hearts are wittingly deluded. They love to be pur
suing what it is impossible they should attain. If, after many trials, they find
the emptiness of one creature comfort, then they turn to another : and they
wttl try the whole compass of beings and things, and will at last die in the trial, ra
ther than seek for joy where it is holy, perfect, and everlasting.
The believer is saved from this vain pursuit. He has been convinced of
the insufficiency of the creature to make him happy. He has seen an end of
aU perfection in it. He can say with the royal preacher, " Vanity of vanities,
all is vanity" — aU is changeable and imperfect under the sun ; for the whole

THE WALK OF FAITH. 259
world lieth in wickedness and under the curse. Deeply sensible of his error
in having sought for joy in the way of destruction, he now seeks it in the hv
ing God. Here he comes to the supreme good, the spring-head of true joy :
and the streams which he receives from thence are always in proportion to his
faith. If this be strong, there is great joy in the soul. If this be weak, joy is
at a low ebb. The effect is according to the cause which produces it. Joy
in God is the effect of faith ; according to the apostle's prayer, " Now the
God of hope fill you with aU joy in believing." There is a present fidness of
joy, which we have by believing, as there is a future fulness of joy, which we
shall have by sense. So that joy rises as believing does — fulness of believing
brings in all joy — present enjoyment increasing as the title to fulness is
clear. The present is the divine pledge of the future, and is therefore given
us, that by believing we may now rejoice in the Lord, and be glad in the
God of our salvation.
From hence it appears how necessary it is to the believer's walking in joy
that his understanding should be clearly enlightened with the knowledge of
the doctrines of grace, and that his heart should be established in the belief of
them. Thou canst not, O my soul, review them too much, nor meditate upon
them too long ; for they enter into the very essence of aU true joy. Study the
Gospel method of making reconciliation for iniquity, which was the work of
Immanuel, and of reconciling man to God, which is the work of the Holy Spi
rit. Has he done this in thee ? and art thou reconciled to God ? Is thy con
science at peace ? Is thine heart happy through faith in the atonement and
righteousness of thy Saviour ? Art thou satisfied of thy perfect acceptance in
the beloved? Dost thou therefore obey thy Father out of gratitude, and go
to duty to meet him, and to have feUowship with him in his love, and to
glorify him for it? Dost thou find his presence? Is he with thee in all
means ? and art thou seeking in them for nearer and more intimate commu
nion with him ? Since this is thy case, what return wilt thou make for such
inestimable favours? Surely thou wilt be glad in the Lord, and wilt rejoice
in the God of thy salvation. Being at peace with him, and a partaker of his
love — waiting for the establishing of this peace and love in the way of obe
dience, and expecting more communion with thy God in the way of duty,
who can have greater reason to rejoice ? A saved sinner, delivered by mere
frace from wrath and hell, entitled to aU spiritual blessings from Christ
esus, and already admitted to partake of them, may sing and make melody in
his heart aU the way to heaven. And yet, alas ! how often art thou, O my
soul, in heaviness, walking in distress and cast down, as if thy hope of re
joicing was in vain! And this is not thy case alone: it is too common. How
many of God's children spend their days in a mournful frame, and seem to
forget their high calling and undoubted title to the fulness of joy. Meditate a
little upon the ingratitude of this behaviour ; and may the Gospel motives to re
joice in the Lord always be the means of saving thee from an unthankful and
mournful temper.
First observe, he requires it of thee. The Scripture speaks much of the holy
joy of behevers, and calls for it. They are in duty bound to be glad in their God,
as much as to pray to him : for he is always bestowing mercies upon them, which
demand their everlasting tribute of thanks : and they cannot be thankful without
being joyful. How closely were these two united in the holy Psalmist ! None ever
was more famous for praising God, or for rejoicing in God. What he felt him
self he often exhorts the redeemed to experience : " Rejoice in the Lord, O ye
righteous ; for praise is comely for the upright : light is sown for the righteous,
and gladness for the upright in heart : rejoice in the Lord, ye righteous, and give
thanks at the remembrance of his holiness." Remember his righteousness and
holiness, how great they are, and how great the grace is which has found out a
way to make you righteous and holy. Remember those blessings with faith, and
your hearts will be glad, and your mouth will praise God with joyful lips. What
a sense had the prophet of those blessings, when he broke forth into this ac
knowledgment ! " I will greatly rejoice in the Lord ! my soul shall be joyful in
my God : for he hath clothed me with the garments of salvation ; he hath co-
s 2

260 THE WALK OF FAITH.
vered me with the robe of righteousness, as a bridegroom decketh himself with
ornaments, and as a bride adorneth herself with her jewels." These are the wed
ding garments with which the heavenly bridegroom adorns his church, and in
which he introduces her to the eternal banquet of love. Blessed are they who
are caUed to the marriage supper of the Lamb. Blessed are they indeed : for
they are arrayed in royal robes ; their souls are aU glorious with the beauties of
Immanuel, with his divine righteousness and matchless graces. They have rea
son now to rejoice greatly : for they shall soon come to Sion with songs, and
everlasting joy upon their heads : they shaU obtain joy and gladness, and sorrow
and sighing shall flee away for ever. These Scriptures prove evidently, that be
lievers are called upon to rejoice. It is their bounden duty to be glad in their
God ; for they are not living like his children, and making up their happiness in
their Father's love, unless they are rejoicing in his rich and everlasting blessings :
for Secondly, Joy arises from the sense of some good. Joy in God arises from
the sense of his being our chief good, and of our interest in him. And this is
the joy of faith : which is not in the least like the light frothy joy of the sen
sualist, nor the wanton mirth of the unthinking multitude. It is not drawn, as
worldly joy is, from vain perishing things, but from the word of l iod, which
standeth fast for ever. It springs from the revelation of grace and mercy in Je
sus, and from giving credit to it. Whoever honours its testimony as the truth of
God, wttl be convinced that he, trusting to the atonement of Jesus, shall never
perish, and trusting to the righteousness of Jesua, Bhall have everlasting life.
Hence come joy and peace in believing. The conscience is reconciled to God,
and is at peace. The heart is made sensible of the love of God, and rejoices in
him. This wa9 the experience of the sweet singer of Israel in the 33rd Psalm :
"Our heart shall rejoice in the Lord, because we have trusted in his holy
name." This is a good reason. Whoever trusts in God will certainly rejoice in
God : for by trusting in his word, and by depending upon his faithfulness, he
cannot be disappointed of the good things which God has promised. We have
an instance of this in a trembling, despairing sinner, who had drawn his dagger,
and was plunging it into his heart. In that moment he heard of Jesus. It was
given him to feel his want of a Saviour. Sirs, says he to Paul and Silas, what
must 1 do to be saved ? And they said, Believe in the name of the Lord JeBus
Christ, and thou shalt be saved, and thy house. And they preached unto him
the word of the Lord, and to aU that were in his house. And he took them the
same hour of the night, and washed their stripes, and was baptized, he and all his
straightway. And when he had brought them into his house, be set meat before
them, and rejoiced, believing. Oh what a happy change was here, and
made by believing ! The Belf-murderer forgets his bloody design, and drops his
dagger: hears of a pardon, and believes. His black despair gives way to
sweet peace in God. His misery ends in the knowledge of a joyful salvation.
How blessed are they that believe ! God has pronounced them, and God will
make them, blessed. There is no misery deserved, but by faith they are saved
from it ; and no good promised, but by faith they may now enjoy it. They have
therefore all the reason to rejoice that any person can have on this side of hea
ven : for, , .
Thirdly, This joy is distinguished from the vain joy of the world by its author.
It is the gift of God. It is one of the graces of the Spirit of God. St. Paul aaya,
" The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy," &c— love to God, and then rejoicing in
God. When the Spirit of adoption enters into any heart, he manifesta by be
lieving the love of the Father, and thereby excites it into holy joy. He cornea to
make the soul happy in its return to God. It is the very end for which he is sent
from the Father and the Son, and therefore it is called the joy of the Holy Ghost.
It is his fruit, produced by his influence, and kept by his power. It is like himself,
of a spiritual and heavenly nature— a pure affection— in aU goodness, and righte
ousness, and truth. He refines it from creature-delight, and exalta it above aen-
sual pleasure ; for it is the result of nearness to God, and the effect of fellowship
with him : which is, . , . , , ,. T , „ , , •
Fourthly, another blessed mgTedient in the joy of behevers. It haa Uod for iu

THE WALK OF FAITH. 261
object. It is joy in God as their God, their supreme good, known, believed in,
and enjoyed. The Holy Spirit has consecrated their hearts for fellowship with
him. He has brought a free pardon for past apostacy, and full power to dethrone
creature-love. And he abides in their hearts to subdue it. He enhghtens their
understandings to see the vanity of the creature, and the fulness of God, and he
enables them to reject every thing that promises them happiness, if they cannot
enjoy God in it. Thus he keeps their hearts chaste, and fixed upon God. Their
joy becomes simple, as their faith is : for this looks at the finished salvation, and,
resting entirely upon it, sees God perfectly reconcUed : thereby it lays a sure foun
dation for their joy in God ; because they now know him by faith to be their God,
and can see their interest in aU the blessings of his love in Jesus. This is the
fountain head of joy, from whence flow rivers of pleasure for evermore. The
nearer they live to the fountain head, the more communion they have with God :
their hearts become purer and holier, and their joys are more spiritual and hea
venly. This is the only remedy for the miseries with which the world abounds. Men
are uneasy, seek for joy, and cannot find it, because they seek where it is not.
They go to broken cisterns, which cannot hold it. They are disappointed, and
wonder ; but still go on, spending their days in this vain pursuit. They do not
attain any true joy: it flies from them, and at last they he down in sorrow. What
thanks then, O my soul, art thou bound to return unto thy God who has saved
thee from this delusion ! What a mercy it is that thou hast been led to the foun
tain of joy ! Oh, live near it ; and from it derive aU thy streams. Seek them all
in God, and seek them in faith, upon the warrant of the divine promise. He has
said, " The meek shall increase their joy in the Lord : they shaU have it and
increase it." The more meek and lowly thou art, the more wilt thou be joyful
in God. l'ray, then, for growing humility, that thou mayest experience the
sweetness of this Scripture — " Rejoice in the Lord always, and. again I say,
rejoice" — there is always a matter of joy in the Lord. What a fulness did he
find who testifies of it thus — " My joy shaU be in the Lord — God is the gladness
of my joy — all my springs are in thee — for thou art my exceeding joy." Happy
{irince ! AU his springs came from God, and led him to God. He did not draw
lis happiness from the brooks, but from the fountain. 'The brooks dry up, but
the fountain cannot. He did not rejoice in his crown and dignity, in his victories
and treasures, or in any worldly good. He enjoyed God in them, who was the
joy of his heart. He only valued the gifts for the sake of the giver: for he made
use of them by faith ; and then they were the means of bringing him near to
God, and of keeping up communion with God. Whatever does this, is a great
blessing : and every thing should do this to a believer. While he lives like a
child of God, he exercises his faith for spirituals and temporals; and his heavenly
Father blesses him according to his word, wherein he hath caused him to put
hia trust, and gives him continual matter for joy and thankfulness.
This is the portion of the Lord's people. He has entailed it on them. It
comes to them by inheritance. And thou art bound, O my soul, to make use
of it. Thy duty and interest call upon thee to enjoy much of it. Thy gratitude
for the exceeding great mercies of the Father's love cannot be so properly shown
as by rejoicing in him ; for the thankful heart cannot but be joyful. It feels
happy in God. My meditation of him, says a grateful soul, shaU be sweet: I
will be glad in the Lord. This is a just tribute, which the Father expects, and
which the Holy Spirit enables his children to return him. " Blessed is the
people that know the joyful sound : they shaU walk, O Lord, in the light of thy
countenance: in thy name shaU they rejoice aU the day; and in thy righteous
ness shall they be exalted." Tliese are great privileges, which God has promised
and does bestow upon his people. It is true they do not aU alike rejoice with great
joy ; but they aU ought. When their faith is weak, their joy is little. But they
have the same right to believe, and to rejoice in beheving. There is the same
provision made for the whole famUy and household of faith. They are interested
in the same covenant, have the same promises, and the same faithfulness to
make them good. They have perfect security given them, that they may trust
and not be afraid. The people who know the joyful sound of a free grace sal-

2 THE WALK OF FAITH.
ion have good reason to believe without doubt or wavering. By such a faitii
y wttl see God perfectly reconciled to them, and will behold the light of his
intenance shining on them in love. A blessed sight ! to see it clearly is glory
fun; to walk in it is glory increasing. What is it but heaven, to rejoice att
day long! But then it must be in thy name, in the incarnate word, in
lovah Jesus ; by faith in whose righteousness they shaU be exalted, as high as
reature can be — being justified freely and fully they have access into this
feet grace wherein they stand, and they rejoice in hope of the glory of God ;
1 not only so, but they rejoice in the way to glory, in tribulations also, know-
: that aU things are working together for their present and for their eternal
oyment of God.
For their encouragement thus to rejoice in the Lord, he has promised them
it the joy which he gives shaU not be taken away, which ia
Fifthly, Another great privilege. True joy is the gift of God. Is a grace of
1 Spint of God. It has God for its author, and God for its object : and it has
s prerogative annexed to it, that no one can destroy this gift of grace. The
rd Christ declares that he wttl not suffer any creature to take away what he
stows. What a rich cordial was this to his dejected apostles ! They were
mrning upon account of his leaving them, and were sadly cast down, as men
thout hope. But he revives their drooping hearta with a promise — " 1 will
: you again, and your heart ahaU rejoice, and your joy no one taketh from
u." This is indeed strong consolation : for it is one of the streams which
iketh glad the city of God — a stream that never fails . it runs out of the ocean
free grace ; and none can stop its running back into it. Not as the world
reth, give I unto you, says Jesus. The world giveth empty joys, continueth
em by an uncertain tenure, at last takea away all its gifts, and leaves its deluded
tary to suffer the vengeance of eternal fire : whereas Christ gives what is truly
od, solid and lasting. His gifts are without repentance. He is of one mind
continuing, as weU as in giving; for his motives are in and of himself, and
vays the same. His own mere love, his free grace, and the good pleasure of
s own wiU, dispose him to give and to continue his favours ; and his one end
his own glory. Therefore he will not take away the joy which he has given,
d he will suffer no one to take it away. He secures by his power what ho
,-es by his love. Such is the believer's right to rejoice in the Lord always.
is title is indefeasible. God has freely given him in Christ all the good that
n make him happy : and he enjoys it, and ia happy, bo far as he lives by faith.
hile he goes on from faith to faith, hia joya increase. Growing faith brings
n in a richer harvest of joy : and he is commanded still to proceed, until his
r be full ; which is a ,,.,,,¦
Sixth privilege, peculiar to joy in God. Other spnngs fail : they are often
y- and when they run the fullest, he that drinks of their water thirsts the
M-e But joy in God has a satisfying fulnese. The fountain ib always full,
a is always running over ; and all the streams bring happy peace, and holy
i The more a man drinks thereof, the more sober and spiritual he becomes ;
-whatever flows out of this fountain ia grace, sanctifying grace : ihe more we
rtake of it, we grow more like it. There is in it the divine property of con-
-ming and assimilating us to itself; for it weakens the corraption of nature,
d strengthens the faculties of the new man; and as these grow stronger, they
¦ave closer to God, and have more feUowship with him. By which means
By partake more of hia joy. A happy partaker of it declares-" In thy presence
the fulness of joy." And therefore he prays-" Make me fuU of joy with thy
untenance"— the presence of God with me, and his loving countenance shining
on me, is the fullest joy upon earth. And this comes from the grace of the
jly Spirit and is received by faith. Our Lord says to his disciples— Ineee
nes have I spoken unto you, that my joy might remain m you, and that your
r might be fuU." His end in speaking was to give them good reason to re-
ce and to continue rejoicing; and if they received what he spake with full
nirance, as they ought to do, it would produce in them a fulness of joy. And
s would be so much to his honour and to their profit, that he commands them
ask it of the Father in his name—" Ask, and ye shall receive, that your joy

THE WALK OF FAITH. 263
may be fiitt." To the same purpose the apostle John, treating of the person of
God incarnate, through whom we have feUowship with the Father, in aU the
blessings of his love, says, " These things write we unto you, that your joy may
be fuU." His design in writing was to lead them to nearer feUowship with the
blessed Trinity, and to stir them up to seek in it their fulness of joy : and they
have it full who, satisfied of their title to the Father's blessings, are receiving
them freely out of the Son's fulness by the grace of the Spirit, lt becometh them
weU to rejoice ; for in the same blessings there is fulness of joy for evermore — joy
unspeakable, and full of glory.
Put all these considerations together, and then see, O my soul, what a rich
provision thy God has made for the joy of thy heart. Admire and adore him for
his great salvation, for delivering thee from sin and sorrow, and for the free gift
of righteousness and life eternal. To pardon, to justify, to glorify such a one
as thou art, oh, what divine and infinite grace ! What wilt thou return him for
manifesting his love to thee, and for engaging thy love to him ? How great is thy
debt for admitting thee to feUowship with him, as thy God and Father, and for
the gracious communications of his love to thee in Jesus ! What a subject is
here before thee for delightful praise ! Look at it in any true light ; thou hast
reason to be glad with exceeding great joy. God, the infinite fountain of good,
is thy God. He rejoices in thee ; therefore thou shouldest rejoice in him. He
has loved thee freely. How canst thou be sensible of this without loving him ?
His love has blessed thee with aU spiritual blessings in Christ Jesus. WhUst
thou art receiving them out of his fulness, how canst thou refuse to thank him
with joyful lips ? He says that he rejoices over thee to do thee good : the belief
of this should fiU thy heart with joy and gladness. Indeed, there is nothing
in God but what should be to thee matter of rejoicing. His faithfulness and
justice are on thy side, as weU as his never-failing compassions ; for he is thy
God, thy covenant God; he has given his Son for thee and his Spirit to thee:
by his grace thou hast been called to enjoy feUowship with the Father and
the Son, and to partake of their covenant blessings. It is thy privilege to be
improving this feUowship, and even upon earth to be tasting of the joys of
heaven. May thy faith bring thee in a rich feast, yea, a fulness of joy, till thy
•cup run over with the rivers of pleasure which are at God's right hand for
evermore. Remember, O my soul, it is thy duty and thy privilege thus to rejoice in God.
It is thine interest and thy happiness. Thy God requires it of thee as the grateful
acknowledgment of his favours : they are aU of grace, inestimably rich and
everlasting. He would have thee to honour him for the gifts by rejoicing in
the giver. Joy is the sense of his goodness to thee. And canst thou receive the
present, and live in hopes of the eternal blessings of his goodness, and yet be
without a joyful sense of them ? Examine weU, and try thyself. How is thy
heart ? Is it happy in God ? Is it happy in nothing but God ? Whatever a
man puts his trust in, from that he expects his happiness. In what then dost
thou trust ? Certainly thou wilt say, my trust is in the mercy of God for ever
and ever. And should not he be the only matter of thy joy, who is the only
ground of thy faith ? If he be, then why art thou so often cast down, O my soul,
and why art thou so disquieted within me ? How many dejections, what great
sorrows, and what frequent heaviness dost thou experience ! From whence come
they ? Joy is sown for thee. The sower is the Son of man. The Father has
promised it, and bestowed it on thee for thy portion : thou hast been caUed by
grace, and the joy in believing is thy birthright. What is the reason thou art
not happy in thy God, and rejoicing in him always ? Search dttigently for the
cause. Depend upon it, there is a great mistake somewhere. The Scriptures
cannot be broken, which treat of continual joy in God. The promises cannot
fail : the promiser is faithful : and yet thou art not always a partaker of the
promised grace. How is this ? Oh, try to come to the bottom of this error.
Muy the spirit of wisdom lay it open to thee, and may thy sorrow be turned into
j°y- Perhaps thou art seeking for some reason to rejoice in thyself. This rejoicing
is not good, although it be very common. It has a bad motive: it comes from

'¦&>* THE WALK OF FAITH.
arirld^inTheT,e°driS i^ 'tis L° <txalt and "gg™n°ize selp, which was man's am
ImJ ^ r J 'S fo^ldden >n Scripture-He that reioiceth, let him rejoice in the
L.ora. If thou couldst find something in thyself to he pleased with, thou wouldst
tnen rejoice in thy pride. Sorrow for not finding it may bring thee right;
because it may be the means of showing thee that thou hast nothing of thine
own to look at with self-complacency. What hast thou, that thou bast not
received ? And if thou hast received it, why wouldst thou glory, as if thou
hadst nut received it? Hast thou any thing of thine own but sin? Who rave
thee grace, and made thee to differ from others? Was it not God? Did not
all come from the good pleasure of his own wttl ? He saw nothing good in thee
at first to move him to be gracious ; and what he continues is to the praise of the
glory of his own grace. If thou hast lost the sight of these truths, no wonder
thou shouldst go mourning. God will not vouchsafe his joy to them who
saenfice to their own net, and burn incense to their own drag. He humbles and
fills the humble with good things, but he sendeth the rich empty away. The
neh rob him of his glory, and he refuses them his grace. Watch, therefore,
over thy proud legal heart. Be jealous over it with a godly jealousy ; and
entreat the Holy Spirit to bring down every high thought in it, that thou mayest
exalt God, and he may exalt thee. Remember the promise—" The meek shall
increase their jey in the Lord :" Beek ye the fulfilling of this : for joy in him is
the death of self-seeking and self-pleasing. Oh, beg of God then to keep thee
meek and lowly, that thou mayest be willing to live upon Jesus by faith, and to
receive all the joy of his fulness of joy.
Perhaps thou art mourning under a sense of thy sinful nature, and groaning
under the burden of indweUing sin, as holy Paul did, and as all the dear children
of God do, when they are in their right mind, This is godly sorrow, which
worketh repentance not to be repented of. It is tbe true poverty of spirit, to
which the Lord hath promised his blessing. Indeed, every one that has it, ia
blessed ; because it is not only consistent with the truest joy, but also is tho
very proper temper of mind, in which it is preserved and increased. They that
sow in tears shall reap in joy. Self-knowledge is the breaking up of the fallow
ground, and is the ploughing and harrowing of it; thereby making it fit for
the good seed, and to receive the enlivening influence of the heavens. The more
any man knows of himself, tbe greater reason will he have to seek the harvest
of his joys in God ; and, seeking by faith, he will find them. If he be in the
deepest humiliation, he will be then best disposed to rejoice in God. This holy
joy generally rises highest when self is lowest; as the highest tide is always after
the lowest ebb. Remember this, 0 my soul, in the most abasing views of thy
fallen nature, and it wttl lead thee to seek, and in beheving to find, that in God
which thou hast not in thyself. The empty, and none but the empty, may be
filled with his joy. Let every discovery of thine emptiness lead thee to trust
more in the salvation of God, and to enjoy more of its blessings. And then
thou mayest be, with Paul, always sorrowful, yet always rejoicing. Sorrow for
self is the greatest friend to joy in God. Self-loathing is accompanied with the
sweetest delight in God. May the apostle's experience herein be thine — " We
are of the circumcision, who worship God in the spirit, and rejoice in Christ
Jesus, and have no confidence in the flesh." O pray for the same grace, and
thou wilt find that the less confidence there is in the fleah, the more rejoicing
there wttl be in Christ Jesus.
Perhaps thou hast been tempted to feel for joy in some creature-comfort, and
hast not received it as the gift of God, nor enjoyed it by faith, nor returned him
his glory. Thou wast looking below God for happiness, and expecting it from
some other object. The world had herein ensnared thy heart. There is not a
greater enemy to the chttdren of God; because it has objects suited to their
senses, and capable of gratifying them ; by which the world, is always trying to
engage their affections, and always succeeds, when they are not living by the
faith of the Son of God ; for this is the only victory that overcometh the world,
even our faith. See, whether thy sorrow did not spring from some worldly
disappointment. Thou hadst dropped thy shield, and wast falling asleep in
Delilah's lap ; but, awaking, didst find the pleasure turned into pain. This pain

THE WALK OF FAITH. 265
may be very profitable. It should convince thee of thy dreadful mistake in
leaving God for the world, and should stop up thy way for the future. Now
thou seest the need of being cautioned — Love not the world, neither the things
that are in the world : for all things, out of Christ, are under the curse : there
can be no blessedness in them. The whole world lieth in wickedness ; it cannot
make thee happy, any more than hell can. But it is thy privilege to be de
livered from this present evU world, and to be saved from the love of it. This
is a blessed part of thy salvation. Expect it by faith. The victory is obtained ;
seek thy share in it. " I have overcome the world," says Jesus. Almighty Lord,
overcome it in me, as thou hast overcome it for me.
But remember, O my soul, whatever be the real cause of thy sorrowing, there
is joy in God, and for thee ; because he is thy God ; in whom there is nothing to
make thee sorrowful, but every thing which can possibly give thee true joy.
The blessed Trinity are in covenant for thee and for thy salvation. And it is thy
bounden duty, trusting to the finished work of the Son, to rejoice in the love of
the Father. In the peace of thy conscience, and in the love of thy heart, thou
art required to have feUowship with the Father and the Son, and to be always
giving thanks to the Holy Spirit for this feUowship. Every enjoyment of their
covenant blessings in earth is a foretaste of heaven, and a pledge of joy unspeak
able. What thou hast now by faith, thou shalt certainly have in everlasting
possession : for there is a sure foundation laid in the covenant for thee to buttd
thy hopes upon of rejoicing evermore. Thy Father has chosen thee and accepted
thee in his Son. He has set his heart upon doing thee good, and he changeth
not. llis loving kindness is like himself. He has drawn thee by his Spirit to
believe in his love, and he has promised to love thee unto the end. He has freely
given thee all spiritual blessings in Christ Jesus, and he reserves the full enjoy
ment of them for heaven. Nothing can rob thee of them; because he keeps them
by his power for thee, and thee for them. How should this help to fill up the
measure of thy joys ! The Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of
mercies, and the God of all comfort, is thine, with all that his love can do to
make thee happy. What canst thou want, but more faith ? The Lord increase
it, that thy heart and conversation may be more with him. As thine affections
are set more on things above, the temptations to the love of the things below
wiU be weakened. The sweetness of heavenly communion will deaden thee to
the charms of the world ; yea, the world wiU be to thee as nothing, while God
is all. And is he not all in all to thee ? Consider his nature, his personality,
his covenant, his works, his graces and his blessings — view them in their great
ness and goodness — thou hast an interest in them all. His wisdom contrives
for thee — his providence watches over thee — his love waits to be gracious to thee
— his holiness and justice and truth are thy friends — aU his attributes have en
gaged his power to bring thee to glory. The perfect salvation of Jesus is thine.
His Father is thy Father in him, and has nothing in his heart but love to thee.
'Ihe Holy Spirit has manifested it to thee in believing to be a perfect, unchange
able, and everlasting love. Whatever the Godhead has promised to give of hap
piness, is promised to thee : and thou dost believe it, although thou art some
times in heaviness through manifold temptations. But even then there is joy
laid up for thee in God : joy enough in the fountain. It is always fuU: only
thy faith draws out of it sparingly. Enough in God to turn thy sorrow into joy,
if faith did its perfect work. Oh for more faith, that thou mayst have more joy
in believing.From whatever cause, then, O my soul, thy sorrow arose, it certainly did not
spring from any thing which faith discovered to be in God. Be assured of this :
and learn to improve thy sorrow about other things, so as to see thy need of
trusting more and of rejoicing more in God. If thy sorrow be lawful, coming
from a sight and sense of thy sinfulness, there is good reason thou shouldst
abhor thyself and repent in dust and ashes : but this is also good reason for joy
in thy Goil ; because the Lord is nigh unto them that are of a broken heart,
and saveth such as be of a contrite spirit. He gives to them the knowledge of
salvation, and makes them glad with the joy of his countenance. Thus he de
livers them from their sins and sorrows. He continues his loving kindness

266 THE WALK OF FAITH.
surely his goodness and mercy shaU foUow them all the days of their lives 1
When they are under temptations to seek for joy in other things, he hedges up
their way, that they cannot attain the expected good ; or if they do, he embitters
the enjoyment, and wiU not let them find any thing in the creature, hut vanity
and vexation : by which means he would teach them to derive all their joys from
him, and from nothing but him. Wait, O my soul, and read, and hear, and
pray ; be diligent in all means for thine improvement in this divine lesson. Seek
the presence of God, wherever thou art. Expect his blessing upon aU that thou
doest. Account his love thy chief happiness ; and be sure, nothing can make thee
happy in which thou canst not enjoy his love. If riches increase, the world
smiles; health be granted thee, relations are kind, and aU things go weU: set not
thy heart upon them. Look at the bountiful hand which gives, and depend on
the grace which sanctifies those things. They are not worth having, but as they
come from and lead to God, and so may be spiritually improved. If thou canst
live by faith, and enjoy God in them, then they are real blessings ; for then thou
wilt receive them as his gifts, and use them to his praise ; thou wilt eye his good
ness in them, and admire him for them. And while he continues them, thou
wilt be dependent on his grace to keep thy heart from idolatry, that thou mayst
love the gifts only for the sake of the giver. Whatever thou art going to do,
ask thyself — How can this be the means of my rejoicing in God? if it' cannot,
avoid it. If it come with all the world's flatteries, andmake thee the greatest offers
of joy, fly from it. There is deadly poison under its gilded outside. Lay it down
as an invariable rule of thy walk, that nothing can do thee good but what thou
canst enjoy God in. He is the only source of good : and every thing is to thee
what he makes it ; not what it is in itself : as such, all ia vanity. But it is good
when God makes it so. True joy is from him, and in him. It is the gift of his
grace, and docs not stop at any of the streams, but goes up to the fountain head,
from whence they flow, and there finds its comforts. O my God 1 teach me thus
to seek my joys in thee, and to make thee my crown of rejoicing.
For thine encouragement, consider, O my soul, what he did to the travellers
gone before thee in the way to Sion ; how he comforted them and made them
glad with the joy of his countenance. He led them indeed through the valley of
Baca, of mourning — the only highway to the kingdom ; but they found a well
in it — a fountain of firing waters : they went on sorrowing for their departure
from God, but were made glad at their hearts in being brought back by his grace :
therefore they wept, rejoicing. Happy mourners ! And hast thou not the same
reason as they had to sorrow for thyBelf, and yet to be exceeding glad in God ?
Is not this also the case with all thy fellow travellers now upon the road ? Their
hearts are with God. He is their portion. His heaven is their home. They
would not make up their happineaa in the accommodations by the way, but in
God, their treasure, their supreme good, and their everlasting joy. Neither
would they be stopped by the inconveniences which they may meet with ¦
these, improved by faith, wiU tend to make them long more to he at home
for these wiU lead them to feel more of the true joy there is in God, and will
thereby inspire them with higher strains of praise and thankfulness : so that
every thing they meet with on the road will be sanctified to them, and will
dispose them to make melody in their hearts unto the Lord. Their Father
and our Father, out of the riches of his grace, has not only given them mat
ter of thanks, but has also provided the very words to be used by them.
Many a weary traveller has found them a rich cordial. His spirits have been
raised, his soul and all within made happy, while he was singing the sweet
and heavenly hymn. The gospel prophet, who had seen the glory of Immanuel,
and who was the honoured penman of this divine poem, has left us a direction,
when any one has a right to Bing it, and to make it his own, Isaiah xii. 1. And
in that day thou shalt say. By looking at the context the time here mentioned
appears to be the day of the Lord's power, and when the Spirit of life entera
into the sinner, and he is quickened from a death in trespasees and aina. A
happy, etemaUy happy day. The same Spirit will be his comforter, wttl bring him
to the knowledge of his salvation through faith in the gloriously complete work
of Immanuel, by which he shall find himself freed from guilt and fear, and

THE WALK OF FAITH. 267
in Jesus made a partaker of grace and glory. Then the joy of the Holy Ghost
is felt in his soul, and his heart is in tune to bless the Lord his God — O Lord
I will praise thee, though thou wast angry with me ; thine anger is turned away,
and thou comfortedst me. Behold, God is my salvation .- I will trust and not be
afraid ; for the Lord Jehovah is my strength and my song ; he also is become
my salvation .- therefore with joy shall ye draw water out of the wells of salva
tion. These weUs are the fountains of grace, from which the heavenly travellers
draw their holy comforts, and with which refreshed they go on from strength to
strength, praising Jehovah and ascribing to him aU the glory of their salvation.
He was angry with them, and justly. The fire of his wrath might have burnt to
the lowest heU ; and his law, his justice, his holiness, and his truth, would have
been glorified for ever in their destruction. But, admired be his mercy, adored
be his sovereign grace, he himself found out a way to magnify every divine at
tribute in their salvation. This was the wonderful contrivance of the Three in
covenant. The Father accepted his coequal Son in the place of his people, and
his obedience unto death in their stead : he is now perfectly reconciled unto
them in Jesus : his anger is turned away from them. And when it is given unto
them to know it : and they receive the comfort of it, when they have joy and
peace in believing, oh what a day of light and glory then breaks in upon their
souls ! — a day sometimes clouded with the rising mists and vapours of the body
of sin, but often so bright and serene, that the warm beams of the sun of righte
ousness shine directly into their hearts. These are times of great refreshing
from the presence of the Lord. The communications of his love are then felt
with pure delight : and the soul is made sensible that it is in Jesus a happy par
taker of the fulness of joy. The man cannot contain his mighty bliss ; but
breaks out aloud into thanks, and caUs upon the bystanders to admire the mar
vellous goodness of God. Behold ! see here a miracle of grace ! — God is my
salvation — wonder with me at the exceeding riches of this love — Why me!
What am I, that the most high God should be my Saviour ? I am sure he never
set his love upon one more unworthy, nor plucked any brand out of the burning
that was fitter fuel for hell fire. 0 help me then, angels and men, to praise
and adore that infinite mercy, which contrived, wrought out, and has now ap
plied to me this salvation with all its blessings. My debt increases, and I want
to praise hirn more : for in that unspeakable gift of his Son he gave me all things,
and he has now given me faith, and has put me into possession. I have his word
for it, and I believe it — a word of infaUible truth, confirmed by promise, ratified
by the covenant oath of the blessed Trinity. These engagements cannot be
broken, therefore I will trust and not be afraid. On the part of the divine cove
nanters all is sure. They have given me the fuUest security that can be ; and I
may take the comfort of it. They will never leave me nor forsake me, and my
faith shaU not faU. Blessed promise ! I shall be kept by the power of God
through faith unto salvation. Glory be to the Lord Jehovah, who is my strength
— his almighty arm holds me up, and therefore he is my song — the same arm wiU
carry me safe to the end ; therefore my heart rejoiced in him, and with my song
wiU I praise him. I wiU make my boast of his strength : aU the day long wiU I
be telling of his salvation. How can I mention too often these infinite mercies
of my God ? I love to dwell on the delightful theme. It warms my heart, it
enflames mine affections, and raises my soul to heaven. My joys are all in this
one — He also is become my salvation. He is my present salvation; for he has
opened the fountain, and has opened my heart to receive the life-giving streams.
How can I but bless and adore his holy name, while I am with joy drawing watet
out of the wells of salvation ?
O ye blessed of the Lord, who have received the same salvation out of the in
finite fountain of divine grace, assist me to praise. Your rejoicing with me will
increase my joys, and improve my thankfulness. So it foUows in the prophet —
In that day shall YE say — ye, not one only as before; but the many par
takers of the same mercies will sing in chorus. They wiU join in social wor
ship, and with one heart unite in the common tribute of praise. Praise ye the
Lord; call upon his name; declare his doings among the people ; make mention

268 THE WALK OF FAITH.
that his name is exalted: sing unto the Lord, for he hath done excellent things ;
this is known in all the earth. Cry out and shout, thou inhabitant of Sion ; for
great is the Holy One of Israel in the midst of thee. Great he is indeed, infi
nitely — everlastingly great in himself — and to be admired for his excellent great
ness in saving sinners. This is his greatest work, and it demands of them their
highest praise ; and they are glad to give it him. Happy are they now, when,
humble and poor in spirit, they can exalt their Saviour God : but who can tell
how happy they shaU be, when he shall exalt them and make them partakers
of his own happiness ! Eternal salvation wiU demand the tribute of their eter
nal praise ; and they will be most blessedly employed in paying it when they
shaU return to Sion with songs, and everlasting joy shaU be upon their heads.
Crowned heads may well sing : for their coronation day will last for ever, and
the king of kings wttl put such honour upon his royal friends, that aU heaven
will ring with his praises. They will with one heart and one voice adore God
the Lamb ; whose gracious hand wiped away all tears from their eyes, and
made sorrow and sighing flee away for ever ; and who gave them his joy and
gladness, such as are even in heaven inexpressible, and will be to eternity fuU
of glory !
O my God ! accept of my poor mite. 1 desire to join aU the redeemed in
earth and heaven in blessing and praising thee at all times. I would give thee
praise continuaUy with my heart and with my mouth : 1 would rejoice in thee,
and in nothing but thee ; for thou art my God, my supreme good, and mine
everlasting portion. Let me then, for thy mercies' sake, glory in praising theo
henceforth and for ever. I ascribe it to thee now with a glad heart, rejoicing in
hope that my praise will be better ere long, and never ceasing. Thou art worthy
of all that angels and men can pay : to thee, holy Father, with the Son and
Spirit, the Three in one Jehovah, be equal and endless praise. To this I giro
my hearty Amen.

CHAPTER VIII.
The Believer walks humbly with God, bearing Ids cross.
Th e happy believer is now advanced a great way in his journey. He has been
brought to the saving knowledge of God— has received faith in his reconciled
God in Jesus— has been taught by the Spirit to love his God — and has found the
blessedness of holy communion with him in the way of obedience and duty,
which makes him go on rejoicing ; then it is become fit and proper that hia faitii
and love should be tried. He must expect it. It is to the honour of God, to the
good of others, and to the establishing of those graces, that proof should be made
of them, and that they should be put, like gold, into the furnace. This is only a
refiner's fire. If the furnace be very hot, one seven times more than it was wont
to be heated, the gold wttl lose nothing. Sterling grace is purer and brighter for
every fiery trial. Its enemies, who blow the flame, have no intention to refine
it, and sometimes the believer himself cannot see how the means wttl answer the
end : but God overrules every trial for his glory and the believer's good, and
makes it more precious than that of gold which perisheth. Troubles, opposition
from within and from without, att the difficulties he can meet with, only serve
to purge out his dross, and to render him more fit for his heavenly walk. Herein
the grace of God is most marveUous. Such a power as brought light out of
darkness, is continually directing and sanctifying tne crosses of the believer, ao
that not one of them can stop him ; nay, the greatest of them help him for
ward in bis journey, and bring him not only more safely, but also more hap
pily, to the end of it. Adored for ever be the Father's love, which makes all
things work together for his cnildren's good.

THE WALK OF FAITH. 269
When man was in paradise, there was nothing in him but what was conformed
to the image of God. His wiU was one with the wiU of God. In this state there
was no cross. Harmony ruled in the innocent breast; and God looked on his
favourite man with delight. They were perfectly agreed ; and they walked to
gether in holy and happy friendship. But when man fell, then sin brought in
sorrow, in the ten thousand miseries which the body suffers, and in the entire
corruption of the faculties of the soul, particularly of the will, now at enmity with
the wiU of God. Hence our crosses. Sin is their fruitful parent ; and whUe we
are in a body of sin and death, we cannot be exempt from suffering ; for man is
born to trouble, as naturally as the sparks fly upwards : but the unregenerate
man does not feel the cause of this. He has no spiritual senses. He is dead to
God. He does not know why he suffers, and he is not sensible of what he de
serves to suffer ; therefore he goes on merrily, laughing and singing under a
load of gmlt enough to ruin a thousand worlds. But when the spirit of life en
ters into him, and he is made to see his state, to feel his guilt, and to fear his
danger, then he begins to groan under the cross. Every day he discovers how
totally he had faUen, and departed in heart from the firing God. He now tastes
the bitterness of sin, and finds the deadly fruits of it. Although there be a re
medy provided to bring the wanderers home, and he is made acquainted with it,
yet he is without strength to apply it. He cannot by believing take the comfort
of it. When it is given him to believe, he stiU has sin and suffering to exercise
his faith. Against his corruptions and temptations he must be continuaUy fight
ing the good fight of faith. From this warfare he can have no discharge but by
death. He must take to himself the whole armour of God, and be under arms
night and day, or he wiU never be able to resist the assaults of evil spirits, or to
overcome the opposition of evil men. This is the heritage of all the servants of
the Lord. AU that wiU live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution. If
they be on the Lord's side, aU his enemies wiU certainly be theirs ; so that if they
enter into his kingdom, it must be through much tribulation. The King himself
went this way to the crown, bearing his cross ; and he has assured us there is no
other way — " Whosoever doth not bear his cross, and come after me, cannot be
my disciple" — he must deny himself what by nature he loves, and must love what
by nature he hates : unless he live in this state of self-denial, which is to be his
daily cross, he cannot live in communion with me, as one of my disciples. If he
be one of the highest of them, yet he must carry his cross ; for he has stiU a
faUen nature, and its senses and appetites are always lusting against the will of
God ; and it is like plucking out a right eye to deny them their gratifications, and
to refuse them their much coveted pleasures. He is in a body of sin and death,
and must carry his cross to his grave, being liable to aU the sufferings which
mortality is heir to, and all the way mortified under them, because he cannot
bear them without faith, nor hold out without patience ; and these graces are not
of himself, but are the gift of God. He is also forced to carry another cross all
his days, even the corruption of his nature, depraved in every faculty, and always
inclined to evil. This is the burden and grief of the children of God, under
which they all groan. Anil a sore and heavy burden it is, heavier for being con
tinual, and for its always working against the grace and glory of the Lord Christ :
for this infection of nature doth remain, yea, in them that are regenerated, and
appears in nothing more than in their adulterous love to their own righteous
ness, of which they are so dotingly fond, that, after the Holy Spirit has divorced
them from it, and their Maker is become their husband, even the Lord their
righteousness, yet still an unlawful attachment to their own righteousness re
mains, and is the cause of the greatest crosses and of the heaviest trials they
meet with in their way to heaven.
Hence the cross becomes necessary for the whole nature of faUen man, for
body and soul. The sensual appetites are continually seeking their gratification
in unlawful things, and the spiritual faculties are fuU of blind pride, and self-
righteousness, and know no way to the divine favour but by their own works and
goodness. The cross is indispensably needful to mortify the flesh with its affec
tions and lusts, and to crucify the vanity of the mind, that, when it would glory,

270 THE WALK OF FAITH.
it would have nothing left to glory in but the Lord. In this fightlet us consider
the infinite love, which appointed the outward cross for the outward man, and
the inward cross for the inward man ; and let us see, how by each of them com
munion with God is preserved, and the believer is helped forward in his bleased
lnnrupv

journey.

CHAPTER IX.
The believer exercised with the outward cross, carries it with patience, and finds it
a great help to him in his walk heavenwards.
We call that a cross which opposes our wttl. This opposition renders it pain
ful and grievous. A very little matter, the least trifle, becomes a great cross
when our wttl is set much against it. How, then, can the believer rejoice with a
heavy cross upon his back ? or bow can he rejoice all his days if he muat carry it
to hia grave ? The blessed gospel discovers how this may be, and the blessed
Spirit gives the experience of it ; for he continues to teach the doctrines of grace,
and under the cross he enforces them. What has been treated of in the former
chapters, he now applies with life and power. The doctrines are put to the trial,
and it appears that they are of God : for none could produce the effects which
foUow upon believing them, but an almighty arm. Faith is tried in the fire, nnd
the believer is convinced it is in the faith of God's elect : for the promise is made
good — " When thou walkeat through the very fire thou shalt not be burnt, nei
ther shaU the flame kindle upon thee." His love to hia reconciled God ia put
into the fiery furnace, and it comes out, like the three children, sensible their God
had been with them in the furnace, and their God had brought them out ; for
which marvellous instances of his love to them, their love was increased to him.
This is God's way. He gives grace, and then tries it. When he haa enabled the
sinner by believing to find peace and love, then he would improve those graces
by daily exercise ; and if the exercise of them be very sharp and afflicting, it is
only to eatablish the trust of his heart, and to confirm the affection of his soul
more perfectly in his God. His God. Mind that. His God still. The cross
is not sent to weaken that relation. He is the same tender Father to his chil
dren, when he puts it upon them, as when he takes it off : and he would have
them by faith to experience it. While they depend on his being perfectly recon
ciled to them through the obedience and sacrifice of Immanuel, they will see the
same paternal affection invariably set upon them, and always disposed to do them
good. His love changeth not. The happy objects of it have given this glorious
testimony, even when under his crosB — " We know that all things work toge
ther for good" — they found it so. Whatever he sent to them came with a mes
sage of his love. " Hear ye the rod, and him that sent it." They hear what he
says by it, for it speaks of the Father's love ; and the belief of thiaquietB their
minds under the stroke of his rod. Thus it answers his purpose — This cometh
not forth of the dust, but is appointed for me : my Father sent it, not in anger
for the punishment of my sins, but in the tenderness of his affection. — He ia not
dealing with me as the supreme disposer of all events, who may afflict, and justly,
his rebel creatures according to his sovereign will ; but he has sent me this afflic
tion with a message of grace and peace — I know it is well ordered — I kiss the
rod, and I bless him that sent it.
The apostle Paul uses this argument to the suffering Hebrews. They had en
dured a long and great fight of afflictions. They had need of patience : he there
fore gives them in the 11th chapter a short history of the Lord's favourites, and
shows that they all carried his cross, and that he supported them all under it ;
yea gave them strength to run their race, till every one of them won the prize :
then he requires them to look to Jesus, the greatest sufferer, out of whose fulness

THE WALK OF FAITH. 271
they might receive faith to run, and patience happUy to finish the same race.
And, lest they should be weary through suffering long, or faint in their minds
under hard suffering, he reminds them of the character of their heavenly Father,
who out of the tenderest love appointed their crosses : — " Have ye forgotten the
exhortation," says the apostle, " in which your Father speaketh unto you as unto
children ? My Son, despise not thou the chastening of the Lord, nor faint when
thou art rebuked of him : for whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth, and scourgeth
every son whom he receiveth. If ye endure chastening, God dealeth with you as
with sons : for what son is he whom the Father chasteneth not ? But if ye be
without chastisement, whereof all are partakers, then are ye bastards, and not
sons." Oh what a blessed exhortation ! How fuU of love — the love of God the
Father — love to his child, who wants correction — love that would not touch him
with the rod tiU he had most tenderly informed him of his gracious purpose :
My Son, my beloved, this chastening is from thy Father. It was determined
for thee by covenant love, and settled upon thee for thy portion in the great
charter of heaven. All thy crosses were then mercifuUy appointed — their weight
and measure — how long — how great — how many — what strength was needful
to bear them — what comforts under them — and what holy fruits should be pro
duced by them — all was fixed by love, is now given in love, and is to bring
thee to greater enjoyment of my love. My dear child, despise not then my
chastening, nor faint when I rebuke thee. Be assured it is for thy good. There
is a needs must. It is so necessary, that I cannot love thee without chastening
thee, nor receive thee among mine adopted without scourging thee. See, then,
how thou takest my correction. Look at thy temper and behaviour under it.
Examine. Art thou patient? Not suffering merely, but suffering quietly is
the proof of thine adoption — If ye endure chastening — If, when I afflict, thou
canst possess thy soul in patience under mine afflicting hand, then I deal with
thee as with sons — I give thee thy portion of suffering, and I give thee thy
portion of grace to bear it. AU my chUdren want correcting, and they all
have it : for what son is he whom the Father chasteneth not ? They are all
sufferers. Mine only-begotten was the greatest. None of you can suffer as he
did : but whoever is foUowing him must share with him in his cross, and bear
it after him. If any be without my chastisement, whereof aU mine are par
takers ; if they cannot bear it, have not faith to receive my loving correction,
and therefore no patience to wait the blessed issue of it, such do not belong
to my famtty; they are none of mine; they are bastards, and not sons.
How should the argument in this scripture reconcile the believer to suffer
ing ! How easy, yea, how happy, should it make him under the cross ! He
suffers, but it is from his Father, who in most perfect love and infinite wis
dom appointed the cross, and appointed also the precious fruits, which it
should produce. O my soul ! keep this in mind. Remember whose cross thou
art carrying. Thy Father contrived it. He sent and continues it, that it may
work under him for the best. It is the chastening of his richest love. Receive
it then patiently, thankfuUy at his hands, and thou wilt find it fuU of blessings.
But take heed how thou consultest sense or carnal reason. These are always
enemies to the cross : for they judge of it only by feeling, and always refuse to be
lieve what God says concerning it. Adhere to the truth ; and reject every sug
gestion, which would insinuate to thee, that there is any thing but love in the chas
tening of the Lord. He is thy Father. He never loves thee more than when he
chastens thee. There is no hatred in his heart — no vengeance in his hand.
He assures thee of this, from the infaUible word of his mouth. Here may thy
faith be settled : beheve in him — he is doing thee good — he is promoting thy
best interest. Cast not away this confidence, and then the cross wiU be the
means of bringing thee to the nearest and holiest communion which thou canst
have with thy Father on this side heaven.
In this amiable light look upon thy Father and thy friend. Never forget it, O
my soul ! but keep it in the faith of thy heart, especiaUy when he chasteneth
thee. Then expect from his love patience under his stroke, and after it the
peaceable fruits of righteousness. These wiU grow abundantly upon the cross.
They grow no where else so rich and ripe. Survey the promises, which he has

272 THE WALK OF FAITH.
made to hia suffering children, and wait in faith for a joyful harvest. In due
season thou shalt reap, if thou faint not. And the cross is intended to keep thee
from fainting ; because thy Father sends it for the increase and for the strength
ening of thy faith. Read and study what he says to thee upon this point. Learn
and inwardly digest it. In time of trouble thou wilt find great comfort from
depending upon the promise of the Father to give thee a happy issue. Meditate,
then, upon the scriptures, in which he has declared his gracious purposes in
afflicting his children, namely,
First, it is for the trial of faith. God gives it, and then tries it, that it may appear
to be his grace, that men may see it, and honour him for it, and that it may
grow by use, which is as necessary to spiritual, as exercise is to bodily growth.
Trial shows the truth, and brings forth the power of grace, and is thereby a
matter of great joy ; as the apostle Jaines testifies, writing to the twelve tribes in
their dispersion and affliction : " My brethren, count it all joy, when ye fall
into divers temptations ; knowing this, that the trying of your faitii worketh
patience : but let patience have its perfect work, that ye may be perfect, and
entire, wanting nothing." God be thanked for this word of strong consolation.
What a precious scripture is it ! How fuU of encouragement to the believer to
look with delight at temptations ! — not temptations to sin, but trials, sent from
God to keep from sin. When he faUs into them by providence, and meets them
in the way of duty, then he should judge of them, not from sense, which can
feel nothing but sorrow in afflictions, but he should take account of them from
the declared purpose of God in sending them, and he should wait in faith for the
blessings which they are to produce. God Bays, that they are matter of joy, of
all Joy, of all true spiritual joy — they are not only such in his account, but he
also makes them such to the believer. Accordingly we read in Bcripture of many
who did rejoice in trials. The Hebrews did: for they took joyfully the
spoiling of their goods. Paul did : 1 am comforted, says he, I am exceeding
joyful in all our tribulations. Nay, he went farther — We glory in tribulations.
He leaped with joy with the cross upon his back. He boasted and triumphed
under it. What the world accounted his worst, he made his very crown of
rejoicing ; for he knew and found that the trial of faith worketh patience : faith
receives the cross from the Father's love, and learns to bear it after Jesus : by
the grace of the Spirit, the bearing of it, as it exercises, so it improves patience.
The befiever becomes more acquainted with it. Use, we say, makes perfect. He
learns where the strength to bear is — from whence his comforts are to flow — and
from whose hand the blessed issue is to be received. He waits therefore with
sweet submission to his Father's wiU, that patience may have its perfect work,
that by trials it may be exercised, by sharper trials it may be improved, and by
daily trials it may appear to be the genuine grace of the Spirit, perfect and entire,
lacking nothing. This the believer aims at. He would haye every thing that
belongs to true patience, and growth in it ; he would have it refined by every
fiery trial, and made purer and brighter, that it may hold out, tiU it have done
its perfect work. The apostle Peter gives the same encouragement to the same
afflicted Hebrews : he exhorts them to faith and patience under their sufferings
in these words : " Ye are kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation,
ready to he revealed in the last time ; wherein ye greatly rejoice, though now for
a season, if need be, ye are in heaviness through manifold temptations ; that the
trial of your faith being much more precious than of gold that perisheth, though
it be tried with fire, might be found unto praise and honour and glory at the
appearing of Jesus Christ." What treasures of love are laid open in this scrip
ture! Read, O my soul ! and adore the exceeding riches of thy Father's grace.
He knew how needful afflictions were, both for the flesh and for the spirit, and
therefore he appointed thee thy portion^and he has in mercy informed thee of
his design in them. He has revealed His wiU for the ground of thy faith, that
what he sends them, thou mightest experience the blessings promised to hia
suffering chttdren. The behef of hia love in contriving and in proportioning
them to the ability given thee to bear them would administer matter of joy in
sorrow, and by trusting to his faithfulness thou wouldst greatly rejoice ; thy joy
would so far exceed thy sorrow. The heavines8 is but for a aeaaon — the joy for

THE WALK OF FAITH. 273
ever. The heaviness only during the trial of faith — the joy increased by that
very trial. The trial was only to prove the truth of faith, and to evidence the
power of it — not to weaken, but to strengthen it — not to destroy, but to refine it.
The refiner does not intend to lose one atom of his gold, but puts it into the fire
to purge away the dross. So does God. When he hath tried me, says Job, I
shaU come forth as gold. He was tried in the fire, and his faith was found unto
praise and honour and glory. Therefore he is set forth for an example of
Buffering affliction and of patience. Behold, we account them happy, not who
suffer, but who endure suffering. Ye have heard ofthe patience of Job, and have
seen the end of the Lord ; that the Lord abounds in compassion, and is of
tender mercy. O my soul ! wait upon the same Lord, and he wiU bring aU thy
trials to the same blessed end. He has the same pity and mercy to thee as he
had to Job. Thou hast the same reason to believe it, as he had. Thy faith is
tried in the fire, as he was, that it may come out of it like gold. The trial was
appointed in perfect love, and is to produce the greatest blessings of love. Thy
God has most gracious designs towards thee in putting thee into the fire. It is
to try thy faith ; whether thou canst trust him there. It is to improve thy faith
by the trial, that thou mayest trust him more. If thou hast trusting faith, it is
to teach thee patient faith. It is a hard lesson to learn to trust against sense and
carnal reason, and to say, This cross is good for me : I desire to submit, and to
take it patiently at the hand of God. O, it is very hard to believe that there is
nothing but love in every suffering, and it is harder to find it so, while suffering.
And yet the Spirit of God declares there is nothing but love in it, and by be
lieving thou wilt certainly find it. May every trial of thy faith establish it, and
thereby bring forth,
Secondly, the blessed fruit of patience. The cross does good to faith ; because
by it God teaches his children to bear up, and to hold out, trusting to his pro
mises, and waiting in hope for his fulfilling them, and thus it exercises patience.
Which is a grace of the Spirit, learned only in the 6chool of Christ, and therefore
the giver of it among his other high titles is caUed the God of patience. He
first enables his afflicted children to beheve what he has said of his love in
afflicting them, and then to wait for the experience of his love under their affliction.
Thus waiting quietly, without giving way to sense, or unbelief, is patience.
Faith is tried, and stands the trial. Tribulation comes, faith is exercised with it,
but holds fast its confidence in the word of God, and thereby has fuU proof of the
faithfulness of God. This worketh patience — a quiet submission to the divine wiU
— and a holy subjection to the divine rod. The flesh murmurs, self-wiU repines,
self-indulgence rebels ; but faith looks up for the promised strength, and by it
conquers them. It stops their mouths with a Hush — be still and know that he
is God — he is my sovereign and my Father — this affliction indeed is not for the
present joyous, but rather grievous — nevertheless it comes from his love, love
guides his hand, love wiU bring good out of it — O that aU within me may submit
to his will, and bless his name !
But the cross is hard and painful : flesh and blood cannot bear it. True ; but
grace can. To endure is the proper work of patience. It endures by trusting to the
word of God, and by receiving from him the promised strength. What cannot
such a grace endure ? When God oays, " Fear not, I wiU be with thee, when thou
goest through the fire ;" the believer is hereby forewarned of the fire ; and when
he is caUed to go through it, he expects the presence of his God, that if the bush
burn, it may not be consumed. How comfortably does the apostle Peter speak
ofthistothe suffering Hebrews ! "Beloved, think it not strange concerning the
fiery tri:d, which is to try you, as though some strange thing had come unto
you ; but rejoice, inasmuch as ye are partakers of Christ's sufferings, that when
his glory shaU be revealed, ye may be glad also with exceeding joy." He would
have them to be accustomed to the cross, it being the only way to the crown.
Tliere is nothing new or strange in it. All the crowned heads in heaven carried
it, while they were upon earth ; yea the king of saints went bearing it before
them, 'lhere never was sorrow like unto his sorrow : and yet for the joy that
was set before him, he endured the cross, and despised the shame. Take up thy
cross, O my soul ! and foUow him. Look unto Jesus. He wUl give thee
T

274 THE WALK OF FAITH.
strength. He has taken the curse and wrath out of thy suffering. Thou wilt
see : it the fruit of his love to thee, and it wttl be the means of engaging thy love
to him. What if it be a burning fiery furnace : is it not almighty love which
calls thee to go into it ? Not to hurt thee, but to try thee, to give thee happy
Proof of the soundness of thy faith, and ofthe power of thy patience. He would
would have thee to know that thy patience trusting to his tried word ia invincible ;
that no blow can beat it, no fire can burn it : from Christ. He would bring
to experience what the prophet did, when he said, "Thy word is tried to the
uttermost, and thy servant loveth it." The good word of God was tried, as far
as it could be, and the trial proved its truth, and therefore he had fresh reason
to love it. The trial increased his confidence in the truth, and his experience in
the sweetness of its promisea ; thereby his patience was confirmed, and he could
rejoice, inasmuch as he was a partaker of Christ's sufferings, both of their infi
nite sufficiency, and also of their mighty efficacy to save. By enjoying these
blessings under the cross, his heart was happy in the joy set before him. He
had the earnest and the foretaste of heaven : for he knew that, when the glory
of Jesus should be revealed, he should be glad with exceeding joy.
But the carnal mind is ready to complain — This would be true, if the suffering
was short ; but it ia long, as well as hard— I have borne up a great while, but
now my patience is quite .tired out — I am ready to give aU up, being weary of
my life with the length of my trials. How many have f known in this melan
choly case 1 Fair blossoms in the mild and gentle Bpring. In fine weather and
smiling sunshine they looked beautiful, and gave hopes of their being in the tree
of life, and of their growing and ripening upon it. But, alas! a trying time
came, a bleak cold north wind, and a very sharp piercing frost — like leaves in
autumn, down fell the promising hloom. My heart has mourned again and
again at the fall of one and another, and mourns while 1 am writing this, over
several now living, who have forsaken God and his ways for the world and its
delighta. They met with trouble, and it was too much for them. They were
tempted, and they had not strength to resist. The reason is thus assigned : " He
that received seed into stony places, the same ia he that heareth the word, and
anon with joy receiveth it ; yet hath he not root in himself, but endureth for a
while : for when tribulation or persecution ariaeth because of the word, by and
by he i8 offended." He is offended and faffs away, because he had no root : and
they who have root, are too often tempted to be offended at the cross. They
find it very difficult to bear up under it. Natural infirmity, remaining corrup
tion, and strength of temptation make pain and suffering grievous to the flesh:
yea, when they are forced to bear the cross long, and it is very heavy, they are
apt to murmur and fret, grow discontented, are tempted to unbelief, and, if they
give way to it, to despair. How necessary is it, then, that they should be enabled
to possess their souls in patience under their great and many trials ! To which
end nothing can contribute more effectually, than a settled faith in the word and
promise of a reconciled God. This wiU stay and quiet the soul, when trouble
comes. It is the chastening of my Lord, says the believer — my loving Father
sends it for good. He is only trying my faith and patience, and the trial witt end
weU — it is grievous indeed at present, and I go on my way weeping, but I have
my supports now, and I shaU soon reap a joyful harvest. I have a faithful pro
mise for it, which is a constant cordial, and keeps up my spirits. My God will
be with me as long as the trial lasts — he says he will. I believe him, and
therefore expect his promised presence and strength, tttl faith and patience have
their perfect work. Such a cordial the apostle James gives to the Hebrews. They
wanted it much. They were greatly oppressed by the rich, and some of them
were persecuted even unto death. " Be, patient therefore, brethren," says he,
"unto the coming of the Lord : behold the husbandman waiteth for the precious
fruit of the earth, and hath long patience for it, until he receive the early and
the latter rain : be ye also patient ; establish your hearts ; for the coming of
the Lord draweth nigh." He pute great stress upon the Lord'a coming : Yet
a very little whUe and your Lord will come to appear for you : it is true yon are
in a fiery trial, but your God calls you to it ; and it may seem to you a long
trial, but he has promised you grace sufficient to bear it : trust him, then, and

THE WALK OF FAITH. 275
he will keep you patient. He knows your frame and temper, and bids you look
about you. See how the husbandman waits, having only a general promise, that
seed time and harvest shall not fail ; and it is not more reasonable that you should
wait with patience the end of the Lord. He sows his seed and leaves it. It
endures much hard weather, frost and snow, rough winds, and wintry storms.
Summer comes, but he must stiU wait: his corn is in ear, yet is fiable to
suffer from long drought and from blights, and to be beat down with heavy
thunder-showers ; but he has long patience. At last he is not disappointed
of his hope. He reaps the precious fruit of the earth, and gathers in his
joyful harvest. Behold, O my soul ! and imitate. How strong is his faith !
Is thine like his ? God has only said, that the seasons shall not fail : he has not
said, that the harvest in every field and country shaU not faU, yet the fanner sows
in faith, and waits in patience. But the promise is sure to thee — " He that
believeth shall never be confounded," and dost thou believe this with a hope
that maketh not ashamed ? He has long patience ; how is thine ? Art thou not
weary and faint in thy mind, especiaUy when the course of providence seems to
run counter to thy hope ? Canst thou hold thee stiU in the Lord, and abide
patiently upon him, when he chastises thee, and seems in anger to cast thee
off? He waits long for an harvest of perishing things ; and canst not thou wait
to have thy fruit unto holiness, and the end everlasting life ? Oh what need
hast thou of patience ! Seek it, pray for it, beg of thy God to establish thy
heart, that thou mayst be rooted and grounded in faith : and if troubles come
great and heavy, thou mayst possess thy soul in patience, so long as the Lord
shaU please to exercise thee with them. And never forget that he will certainly
come, and quickly. Let this promise keep thee from fainting. He wiU come in
with his supports ; he wiU administer his comforts under the cross ; he will
remove it in due season. What can be required for the establishing of thy heart,
which is not promised to thee in this scripture ? " Cast not away therefore your
confidence, which hath great recompense of reward : For ye have need of
patience, that after ye have done the wiU of God, ye might receive the promise :
for it is but a very little whtte, and he that shall come wiU come, and wUl not
tarry. Wait then on the Lord, O my soul ! be of good courage, and he shall
strengthen thine heart : Wait, I say, on the Lord."
Perhaps thou art ready to reply — I have waited long, but am stiU to learn :
for my trials are so various, that as soon as I have been weU exercised with one
sort, presently it is changed, and another comes, to which I was not accustomed
— And this continuaUy, like Job's messengers, one after another, and still the
last brings a sadder message than the former. Hard and long trials I have
endured, but this constant change of them wearies me out ; they come so unex
pected, they find me so unprepared, they so harass my troubled mind, that I am
ready to sink under them — frequently I am tempted to think, that if God loved
me, he would not delight in afflicting me in this manner.
Thus the carnal mind is apt to reason against God and his ways : but when the
believer goes into the sanctuary and consults the oracle, he receives an answer
of grace and peace, and is satisfied that this change of trials is nothing new with
God. It is his usual method of training up his child,-en in faith and patience.
He appoints troubles for the exercise, and all sorts of troubles for the improve
ment of their graces. The Captain of their salvation was made perfect through
sufferings : So are all the soldiers of Christ Jesus. It was the remark of one
of his champions. — Many are the troubles of the righteous. The apostle James
speaking of the persecuted Hebrews, says they had divers temptations,
different one from another : and his brother Peter tries to comfort them under
their manifold afflictions, many in number, succeeding as fast as wave foUows
after wave, and of many kinds ; some distressed them in their bodies, others in
their minds, in their character, in their substance, in their families, in every way
that affliction could be felt. Patience is the grace suited to all these trials ; be
cause it bears them in the strength of God : for it consists in trusting to his sure
word of promise, and believing it against sense and feehng, Faith says, this
present trial comes from the love of my covenant God : Patience says, then I
will bear it, till he bring it to a good issue. Whatever the trial be, patience has

276 THE WALK OF FAITH.
the same promise, and the same promise-keeping God to trust in. If he send
variety of trials, it is only to give a variety of proofs that he is faithful who
hath promised. He knows we have divers diseases, which must have divers
remedies to heal them. We have manifold evils in us, which require manifold
afflictions to subdue them. And our God intends to give us many blesaings,
and he appoints many troubles to bring us to the enjoyment of them. AU these
are gracious dispensations, mercifully contrived, and seasonably administered,
that patience may learn to bear, ana may learn to persevere in bearing. God
changes the trial. Patience has a new lesson, and a new opportunity of im
provement. A good teacher brings his scholars forward ; ana when they are
gone through one book and are weU grounded in it, then he advances them to
another : when they have learned Latin, he puts them into Greek ; but he
does not change their studies out of ttl-wiU or hatred to his scholars. They had
rather be at play, than minding their books ; and they had rather get but one
lesaon, and be saying it over from day to day ; but the master knows what is
best for them, and he keeps them to their work. God trains up his scholars in
various exercises, hut aU for their improvement. He does not consult what would
please them, but he changes the lesson, as he sees needful. He knows when
their faith wants confirming, when their patience needs establishing, and therefore
in much mercy he sends a new trial for the growth of those graces. Lest they
should mistake his meaning in varying trials so often, he gives them this
general rule — " There hath no temptation taken you, but such as is common to
man : but God is faithful, who wiU not suffer you to be tempted above that ye
are able, but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be
able to bear it." The Father wiU exercise his chttdren with no trial, but such as
ia common to man ; and he will enable them to bear it ; and will make a way for
them to escape. How should these considerations silence their murmuringa I
If the trial be new to them, yet it i8 common to man. If it be hard to bear, yet
grace is almighty to strengthen patience. If it laBt long, yet it shall end well.
How convincing are these reasons ! How patiently should believers, influenced
by them, submit to the chastening of the Lord ! And yet there is still unbefief
in them, which will be urging fresh complaintB, and stirring up impatience.
The poor sufferer, feeling his smart, is apt to think — Any cross but mine
would be tolerable — I should not say one word against God, if he tried me with
any other : but this cuts me to the heart — Oh, it ia a very agony both to my
flesh and spirit — there is nothing like it— it is so exactly calculated to cross my
temper, to hurt me in the tenderest part, and to rob me of my most beloved gra
tification, that it is the very thing in the world, from which I could have wished to
be exempted — Any cross, Lord, but this.
Nay but, O man ! who art thou that repliest thus against God ? Hold thy
tongue as it were with a bridle. Let not self-wiU murmur, and foUy apeak
againat the chastening of the Lord. He says that he is dealing with thee as
with sons. Where is thy faith then, that sense and feeling should be per
mitted to plead, and to be heard against the witness of God in his word? Where
ia thy patience, that thou canst not bear the present cross, but wouldst take up
any other ? Alas ! alas ! mistaken man— what canst thou bear in thine own
strength ? Thou feelest the smart of thy present cross, and it makes thee pee
vish and fretful .- the smart of any other would have the very same effect. A
less than this, the least thing in the world, that opposes thy wUl, would stir up
thine impatience. Observe thy temper, how it catches fire at any little opposi
tion from men. The same temper will be inflamed, and rage, when God chas
tises thee, if thou refuse to receive his correction. Thy rebel will is the cause
of thy pain, and makes thy cross so bitter : For if God's will and thine were one,
there could be no cross ; but his wiU is almighty, and yet thou resistest it. God
puts his yoke upon thee, and thou art like a stubborn beast, which only hurta
and galls itself by striving and kicking against its work. He tries thee with
one cross, and thou art dissatisfied ; thou couldst contrive a better for thyself.
Thou wouldst be thine own lord and governor. Self-will, they say, is a sure
grade to self-destruction. Beware, then, of thine own will. When God calla
thee to take up any cross, do not wish for another. He sends this, and to it he

THE WALK OF FAITH. 277
requires thy submission. It is thy duty, and thine interest to receive it, for the
exercise and for the improvement of tby patience ; but instead of taking it up
quietly, and waiting for the good fruit of it, thou art quarreUing with it, and op
posing the wiU of God. Oh, take heed of this vain attempt. It is a snare laid
for thee ; a fatal trap, into which the love of independence, seduced the first
man, and which ever since eastty ensnares his posterity. When thou art tempted
to murmur at thy present cross — consider what it is — meditate a moment upon
thy Father's love, who most mercifidly appointed, who most seasonably sent it —
and if it be nothing strange, but common to man, then do not try to shift it off,
but seek the promised grace to bear it. There is not a cross that he will lay
upon thee, but he has laid it before upon others, and it wUl tend greatly to the
peace of thy mind, and to the restraining of thine own will, to observe how he
dealt with them. Take notice, then, how he in love exercised them with every
cross that can be laid upon thee, how he supported them under it, and what
blessed fruit they reaped from it.
This is the kingdom of the cross ; and it is the Lord's wUl that every dis
ciple in it should be as his master. He has chosen them to suffer with him, as
weU as to reign with him. And therefore, intending to caU forth his gifts and
graces into daily exercise, he has honoured them with the daUy cross. He sees
it needful often to change it, and he has informed them of his gracious designs
herein. There is scarce any kind of suffering, but some or other of his people
have been tried with it, and he has left promises in scripture of his support, of
his coming in with comfort, and in due time with dehverance. So that, what
ever thy cross be, it is not sent, O my soul ! to hinder, but to promote commu
nion with thy God, and to help thee forward in the heavenly way.
Art thou pinched with poverty — a believer, but in distressed circumstances ?
Blessed art thou of the Lord. " Hearken, my beloved brother, hath not God
chosen the poor of this world rich in faith and heirs of the kingdom, which he
hath promised to them that love him ?" What a mercy is it to have thine out
ward estate thus appointed for thee by the choice of thy heavenly Father ! And
the same estate which he chose for his best beloved. In the exceeding riches of
his love he decreed that thou shouldst be poor in this world, as Jesus was. — He
knew it was best for thee-r-and he chose thee rich in faith — outward poverty
was to be the means of thine improvement in spiritual riches — thy want of tem
porals was to bring thee to live more by faith upon eternal things. Oh, how
good is thy God ! He sent thee poverty to enrich thee. It is to bring thee near
to God, to keep thee near to him, and to afford thee daily proof of his precious
love. These are some of the blessings of rich faith, and these are worth more
than all the treasures of the world. Be content then — thy God wiU supply all
thy need. Be thankful thou art an heir of the kingdom. Bless thy God — no
creature out of heaven has more reason to bless him than thou hast — He is thine
— AU things are thine.
Perhaps thou art tried with bodily pain and sickness : These are hard trials .
To endure them is the very crown of patience : but strength to endure them is
promised, and in waiting upon the Lord will be received ; so that outward pains
shaU produce inward joy. Thus we read : " The Lord wUl strengthen him
upon the bed of languishing, thou wttt make aU his bed in his sickness." He
is weak ; God strengthens him. He is sick; God comforts him. He is in pain ;
God smooths his bed, and he lies patient. Sickness cannot be pleasant in itself;
but is profitable for its fruits. It is the appointment of God, and teaches sub
mission to his sovereign wiU. It comes to the believer with a message of pre
cious love — Thia bitter cup is sent from thy heavenly Father, who has many gra
cious purposes to answer by thy taking it — He would humble thee, and let thee
feel what thou art, and what thou deservest — he would mortify the life of sense
— He would give occasion to increase faith and to advance patience — Drink it
up ! — There is a rich cordial at the bottom — The taste of it wttl draw out thy"
heart in love to God. Happy sickness! which promotes spiritual health
Blessed pain ! which the kind physician often makes the way to pleasure, yea, to
the sweetest communications of his love.

278 THE WALK OF FAITH.
¦Art thou in the fire of persecution ? Are thy friends and relations all in anna
against thee for leaving them to foUow Christ ? Is thy dependence upon them,
and art thou greatly tempted to make some compliances, lest they should cast
thee out, and thou shouldst come to poverty ? This may he a fiery trial ; but it
is a blessed one. He wttl make it so, who says, " Blessed are ye when men
shall revile you, and persecute you, and shaU say aU manner of evtt against you
falsely for my sake. Rejoice, and be exceeding glad : because great is your
reward in heaven : for so persecuted they the prophets who were before you."
This persecution wttl be so far from stopping thee in thy way, that it wiU both
help thee forward, and will also make thy journey pleasant. Thy friends revile
thee : look up to him, who when he was reviled, reviled not again : he will turn
their reproach into a blessing. They persecute thee : the goodly feUowship of the
prophets carried the same cross, and found it no hinderance to their spiritual
joy. They say aU manner of evil of thee : take heed that they say it falsely, and
for Christ's sake ; and if thou suffer for him, and art evil spoken of for thine at
tachment to him, then rejoice, and be exceeding glad : for great is thy reward
in heaven. Thou art a sufferer with him, and thou shalt also reign with him.
Look forward to the promised kingdom. Expect it in faith, .and the prospect
will give thee at every step joy unspeakable and full of glory.
Perhaps this persecution may be carried on to acts of injustice, even to the
depriving thee of thy property : thou mayst suffer tbe loss of aU thy worldly
goods for Christ's Bake. When God calla thee to this trial, he will give thee
strength to bear it, and thou shalt be a great gainer by thy loss. So Paul found
it — " I have suffered the loss of all things, and 1 do account them but dung that
I may win Christ." So it was with the Hebrews — "They took joyfully the
spotting of their goods, knowing in themselves that they had in heaven a better
and an enduring substance." What love was here ! God was their portion,
and their great reward. He had made them happy in the sense of hia love ; and
to manifest the reality, and to demonstrate tbe power of it, what great things
love can do for his name's sake, he took away all their earthly delights. Let
them go, says Paul ; I part with them as freely, as I would with so much dung ;
for I have experienced that the loss of them has brought me to nearer fellowship
with my precious, most precious Jesus. Happy parting 1 say the Hebrews ;
farewell goods and chattels— we rejoice at the spotting of our goods ; because we
have got faster hold of the substance by the losa of the shadow— outward com
forts are gone, but inwardly, rich supply their place— we are robbed of our
earthly possesaiona, thank God we cannot he robbed of our better and enduring
substance ; for it is reserved in heaven for ua, where no moth or rust can cor
rupt, and where no thieves can break through or steal : in this faith wo find our
hearts free and fight and happy in running the race that ia Bet before ua.
Thy trial may be something still nearer. It may be the losa of thy dearest
relationa The wife of thy bosom ia taken from thee. Thy favourite child ia
dead perhapa drowned, or burned, or kiUed at a atroke : the delight of thine
eyea'is gone, and thine heart is ready to break. AU sorrow ia not forbidden, but
sorrowing even as others who haye no hope. Tears may flow ; but Christian
hope keeps them within their proper hounds : it restrains and sanctifies them.
Thy wife is dead : thy child ia dead. The Lord gave, and the Lord hath taken
away He requirea thee to forsake loving wife and children, be they ever ao
dear if love of them cannot he enjoyed without forfeiting his love. And there
were great multitudes with Christ, and he turned and said unto them, if any
man come unto me, and hate not his father and mother, and wife and children,
and brethren and sisters, he cannot be my disciple." The disciple gives up
himself to the master's disposal, to learn of him, to beheve m him and to love
him " My son," says he, " give me thy heart." He haa a right to it ; and he
will admit of no rival. It is hia temple and hia throne, in which he alone will
be worshipped and honoured. He is a jealoua God; and if any love hinder loye
to him, it must be torn from the heart. O disciple ! read thia scripture ; study
•it carefully ; and it may be the meana of showing thee the true cauae of thy great
sorrow about worldly relations : it is because thou hast so little love to thy best

THE WALK OF FAITH. 279
relation and friend, Jesus Christ. If thy love to him was what it should be,
thy heart would not be so grieved at those losses ; but would in patient submis
sion acknowledge — It is the Lord : let him do what seemeth him good.
Perhaps thou art mourning for the loss of hving friends. They have forsaken
thee. Old connexions, as dear to thee as thine own soul, are broken. Persons,
whom thou hadst known from thy childhood, and with whom thou hadst grown
up in strict friendship, are now thine enemies, and become so without any offence
or fault of thine. They hate thee because thou art a real Christian, and their
hatred is harder to bear because the world joins them in it, and thy name is
every where cast out with contempt.
It must be so. The decree cannot be altered — I will put enmity between
the seed of the woman, and the seed of the serpent. God put it, and put it for ever.
The enmity broke out as soon as there were two born into the world. Cain hated
Abel, and slew him. Ever since, he that was born after the flesh persecuted him
that was born after the Spirit. There has been one, and but one perfect man upon
the earth since the faU ; and the enmity of the world foUowed him unto death. Lest
we should marvel at its foUowing us, he has forewarned us — " If the world hate
you, ye know that it hated me before it hated you : if ye were of the world, the
world would love its own ; but because ye are not of the world, but I have chosen
you out of the world, therefore the world hateth you." What a strange reason
is this ! Because I love you, therefore the world hates you. What God chooses,
the world rejects. Why then, O my soul, dost thou court its smues or fear its
frowns ? The world, which lieth in wickedness, cannot love thee, and its enmity
cannot hurt thee. Remember the words of Jesus — " These things have I spoken
unto you, that in me ye might have peace : in the world ye shall have tribula
tion ; but be of good courage ; I have overcome the world." I have overcome
it for you, and I will overcome it in you : tribulation from it shall not hurt your
peace in me, but shaU increase it : I will make my love the sweeter for its enmity :
troubles from it shaU be weU repaid with my joys : and when it quite casts
you out, then wiU I take you into my bo60m, and let you know what the affec
tion of the heavenly bridegroom is.
Why then, O my soul, art thou afraid of such an exchange ? Is it not for
thy profit to part with the world for Christ, and to give up its joys for his ?
What greater gain canst thou expect than to win Christ, and by him to be
crucified to this present evil world ? Dying to it, thou wilt be more alive to
him, and therefore happier in him. As other ties are dissolved, thy heart
wiU be knit closer to thy divine lover. Warmed with his precious love,
" clothed with the sun, and the moon under thy feet" thou wilt hasten thy
steps heavenwards ; yea, thou wilt be ready to take wings, and to fly to the
embraces of thy dear, ever infinitely dear Jesus. Thou wilt want no com
ment upon the words of the bride, the Lamb's wife, but wiU gladly use them
lifter her — " Make haste, my beloved, and be thou like to a roe, or to a
young hart upon the mountains of spices."
In former ages the chUdren of God were often deprived of their liberty, cast
into prisons, and bound in chains. This seems to us a heavy cross. To be
shut up in a dark dungeon, put into fetters, and deprived of every worldly
comfort, requires great patience : but even this did not stop them in their
way to heaven, nor in the enjoyment of God by' the way. Paul, the prisoner
of the Lord, oftens mentions it among his highest honours, that he was ac
counted worthy to suffer for the name of Christ. He and Silas were crueUy
beaten with many stripes at Philippi ; were put into the inner prison, and their
feet fastened in the stocks ; but the Lord was with them, and he turned their
prison into a paradise ; his joy made them forget their wounds and pains :
for at midnight Paul and Sdas prayed, and sang praises unto God. This
has often been the case since their time : the Lord has often visited his pri
soners, and the light of his countenance has made them happy in their bonds.
Indeed we are not called to this kind of suffering at present — thanks be to
his grace ! This is a day of such uncommon mercies, that we have more to
fear from our want of thankfulness than from our want of liberty. I pray
God we may not glow licentious, and abuse our great privUeges, but may he

280 THE WALK OF FAITH.
enable us so to value them and live up to them, that he may be honoured for
continuing them to us and our posterity.
In former times, also, believers were often forced to seal the testimony of Je
sus with their blood. And even this did not stop them in their walk, nor hinder
their communion with God. Hear one of his martyrs — "The Holy Ghost wit-
nesseth that bonds and afflictions wait for me in every city : but none of these
things move me, neither account I my life dear unto myself, so that I may finish
my course with joy, and the ministry which I have received of the Lord Jesus."
This was not a vain brag. He spake it in humble faith, depending upon his
master's promise that he would stand by him when his blood should be shed,
and would make him a happy conqueror in the hour of death. And he was more
than conqueror ; but the grace which made him so was not peculiar to, or the
privilege of, an apostie : the same was given to a noble army of martyrs, who
overcame Satan by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony ;
and they loved not their lives unto the death. What a triumph of patience was
tins ! They were enabled to bear any thing, even the loss of life, rather than
suffer the loss of their Lord's favour. Examine, O my soul, whether thy faitii be
like theirs. Canst thou endure as they did ? How is thy patience under the
cross ? Read what they went through, who are well reported of by the Holy
Ghost for their faith, and remember the same grace is promised to thee to carry
thee patiently through aU thy sufferings. — " They had trials of cruel mockings
and scourgings, yea, moreover of bonds and imprisonments : they were stoned,
they were sawn asunder, were tempted, were slain with the sword; they wan
dered about in sheep-skins and goat-skins, being destitute, afflicted, tormented ;
of whom the world was not worthy ; they wandered in deserts and in mountains,
and in dens and in caves of the earth, and these all obtained a good report through
faith." They are celebrated by the Holy Spirit for having patiently endured till
they had run their race, and finished their course with joy. He aets their ex
ample before thee, that thou shouldst not be slothful in running the same race,
but a foUower of them, who through faith and patience inherit the promises.
Meditate seriously, O my soul, and reflect again and again upon the great need
thou hast of patience. Remember, the cross lies in thy way to the crown, and
thou canst not avoid it. The Lord has appointed it to be thy portion, and it is
entailed upon thee as much as the kingdom is. When he exercises and tries
thee with it, he does not act merely as a sovereign, but as a Father. He deals
with thee as with sons. His children want, and his chttdren have correction.
None are without it. But they find it hard to bear. The will of the flesh is im
patient under the cross. Self-love hates it. Carnal reason cannot be reconciled
to it If it be thus with sons, what must it be with bastards? The natural man,
when he is brought into great trouble, is like a mad beast. If hia pama be sharp
and acute, he rages, storms, and blasphemes: if they be also lasting, having no
God to go to, he often gives way to despair, and despatches himself with a pistol,
running to hell for relief. O my soul, marvel not at thia. If God had left thee
to thyself, the same trials might have brought thee to the same unhappy end.
How necessary then is patience ! Without it thou canst not bear the crosa, nor
hold on thy way under it, nor profit from it. And how neceasary are the doc
trines before insisted on for the practice of patience 1 No one can submit to bear
the cross unless he be first persuaded that God is reconciled tc i him and loves
him in hb Son. When he is satisfied of this, he will see all things (the cross
among the rest) weU ordered for him in the covenant, and aU working together
for th! best. The cross ia mercifully sent to make a trial of theae doctrines : by
it God would manifest the truth and bring forth the power of them, that it may
appear they were not learned, as notions, but experienced by his almighty grace.
His end is answered. The trial of faith establiahea the peace of God in the con
science, and confirms the love of God in the heart, and thereby keeps patience
waiting for strength to hold out, and for a blessed issue. The believer, made
strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus, endures patiently. He knows from
whom his crois comes. It is the appointment of his Father, who does not send
it in hatred He never afflicts his children but in perfect love. He never puts
a heavy cross upon them to break the hack of their patience, but to strengthen it.

THE WALK OF FAITH. 281
and to train them up to bear greater burdens. He would teach them their weak
ness and his strength, their wants and their supphes : he would caU forth their
faith for the honour of his word, and their patience for the glory of his faithful
ness. Lord, teach me these lessons ! I want the experience of them every day.
O my God, make me an humble disciple in the school of Christ. There only
can I learn to suffer thy will : to thee I come for this grace. Assist me, O thou
Spirit of wisdom and revelation, in reading thy word, that, through patience and
comfort of the scriptures, I may have hope. Enable me to meditate night and
day on the doctrines of grace revealed in them, and to mix faith with them, that
I may be strong in the patience of hope. O merciful God and Father ! I desire
to be strengthened mighttty by thy Spirit in the inner man to bear thy cross. I
would live in a continual dependence upon thine arm to carry me through every
trial. O thou God of patience and consolation, enable me to bear thy cross datty
to the praise of the glory of thy grace, and to bear it patiently to the end, that I
may finish my course with joy. Be it unto thy servant according to thy word,
wherein thou hast caused me to put my trust. Amen, so be it Lord, Amen.
To receive benefit from afflictions is a great blessing. To suffer them with a re
signed will, yea, to rejoice in them, as if aU the joy in the world was to come to us,
is contrary to sense and feeling ; to carnal reason and to human phttosophy ; there
fore our heavenly Father has graciously informed his chUdren of his love in afflict
ing them. These informations are the ground of their faith, and were given to si
lence murmuring in their hearts, and to keep them waiting patiently for the pro
mised fruits of suffering. Among which this is a
Third, and not the least ; namely, the crucifying of the flesh, and the deaden
ing of it ih those affections and lusts which, if not daily mortified, would stop
the believer in his walk, and would hinder his holy communion with God. When
faith has been tried, and is come out of the fire, proved to be the faith of God's
elect ; and when patience has gone through the fiery furnace and has found no
harm ; then it is the Father's wiU to advance and to improve his children in the
doctrine of the cross. They have a carnal mind still, which is enmity against
God — a body of sin — an old man of sin — the flesh in them lusting against the
spirit. This their fleshly nature, which doth remain, yea, in them that are rege
nerated, is the greatest enemy to their holy walk with God in constant peace and
growing love ; because it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be.
The life of sense in them is always opposing the life of God. Hence the conti
nual war between nature and grace, which if a man does not find in himself, he
may depend on it he either never was alive to God, or else at that time he is
dead to God. If he be living by the faith of the Son of God, he will also be
fighting the good fight of faith against all the enemies of his salvation. He wiU
never think of putting off the whole armour of God untU he put off the body of
sin and of death : and until that day come, he wiU be striving for the mastery
over his body, that he may keep it under, and bring it into subjection. How ab
solutely necessary this striving is, appears from the tender compassion of our God
and Father, who has appointed and decreed in covenant love aU the crosses which
were to be laid upon our rebel nature, and which were to be kept upon it, tiU
death. It is his holy will hereby to restrain its affections, to mortify its lust, to
hedge up its way by thorns and afflictions ; and by these means he would weaken
ita power. Is not this mercy unspeakable ? And what more likely method could
he contrive, thus to crucify the flesh, than to put it and to keep it upon the cross ?
For as the sinful nature is deadened, the new man is renewed day by day. The
one grows more alive by the mortification ofthe other. The subduing of unbe
lief, pride, and self-seeking, is the strengthening of faith, humUity, and glorifying
God. This command therefore is frequently given to believers — Put off the old
man — put on the new — mortify your members which are upon the earth — crucify
the flesh with its affections and lusts. And this is spoken to believers high in
grace, as high as ever any went, or can go. The Spirit of God says to the saints
at Rome — " Let not sin reign in your mortal body, that ye should obey it in the
lusts thereof; neither yield ye your members as instruments of unrighteousness
unto sin." The infaUible Spirit speaks to the saints at Ephesus — "Put off
concerning the former conversation the old man, which is corrupt according to the

282 THE WALK OF FAITH.
deceitful lusts ; and put- on the new man." The same precept is given by the
same Spirit to the saints at Colosse — " Mortify your members which are upon the
earth." This is a holy war ; and all the saints of God are engaged in it. They are
fighting against every thing sinful, but more particularly watching under arma
against their own corrupt nature, which is their hardest warfare, because there is
no release from it, and.it is carried on by continual self-denial, by resisting the af
fections and lusts of the old man, and by opposing his giving up the members of
his body as instruments of unrighteousness unto sin. But as good aoldiera of
Christ Jesus they resist unto blood, striving against sin. The Captain of their sal
vation ia always on their side to encourage them with his promisea, and to help
them with his strength. He intends to lead them on conquering and to conquer,
therefore he lays the cross upon their corruptions, as the most effectual means of
subduing them ; and to reconcile them to it, he speaks unto fliem, aa unto
children —
My son, despise not thou the chastening of the Lord. I do not afflict thee in
hatred, but in covenant love. My design is to mortify the body of ain, and therefore
I give thee this wholesome physic. Thou hast many bad humours and corruptions,
for which I have appointed this sovereign medicine. TraBt my akill — believe my
love — depend upon mine arm — and thou wilt infallibly find it profitable to the spi
rit, however painful to the fle8h. Wait ; and the end ahall be blessed.
To this truth the prophet Isaiah bears a clear testimony. He explains the Lord's
design in afflicting bis people, and teUs them, it was to purge them from their ini
quity, to keep them from the love of Bin, and to restrain the practice of it. He
afflicted them in mercy : but he afflicted their enemies in justicet Hath he smit
ten Israel as he smote those that smote him ? No, he has not. Or is he slain
according to the slaughter of them that are slain by him ? No : he chastises
his in love ; he has appointed the measure, the time, the degree of their correc
tion. " In measure, when it shooteth forth, thou wttt debate with it ; he atayeth
his rough wind in the day of hia eaat wind : by this (moderate affliction) therefore
shall the iniquity of Jacob be purged ; and this is aU the fruit to take away hia
sin" — to keep him back from sin in general, and from the sin of idolatry in par
ticular, as it foUows in the prophet — " When he maketh all the stones of the altar
like chalk-stones that are beaten in sunder, then the groves and images shall not
stand up." The altar, at which they offered their idol-worship, shall be broken
down, like stones burnt in pieces for lime, and the groves and images shall not
stand up, but shaU be broken down also. Theae happy effects shaU be brought
about by sanctified affliction — iniquity shaU be purged — ain ahaU be restrained —
idolatry shall be thrown down. And God aaya, thia ahall be all the fruit and
end of his chastening. He tells his people of hia deaign, that they might know
their affliction would bring forth good fruit, and. that they might wait patiently
for the fulfilling of his promise. Blessed are aU they that wait for him ; they
6hall never be disappointed of their hope.
How gracious is God in his dealings with hia children ! He provides the heat
for them, informs them of it, and because they have a fallen nature opposite to his
holy mind and will, an enemy to hia glory and to their own peace, he acquaint
them with his design in subduing it. He appoints affliction for this end. It is
the chastening of the Lord. He promises them strength to bear it, and comfort
under it. Nothing but good shall flow from it. Iniquity, their worst enemy,
shall be crucified; actual sin, springing from the iniquity of their nature, shall -be
mortified : the heart shall be deadened to its old idols, and as it dies to them it
shall be happier in the love of God. O blessed cross ! what mercies doet thou
bring with thee ! Is not that blessed indeed, which under God produces euch
unspeakable mercies ? Take it up, then, O my soul, bear it patiently, and expect
the choicest-blessings of the Father's love from it. Why dost thou refuse ? It
is heavy. ' It is^painful. True : but what makes it so? The burden ia from thy
rebel will. The pain comes from thy corruption, unwilling to be mortified.
Take it up in faith, ahd thou wilt find strength enough to bear it, and bleaaings
enough to make it a matter of all joy. Lord God, reconcile me to my daily cross.
May thy wiU in it be done. Mortify sin, weaken its power, deaden its affections
and luats. Only Lord, whatever cross thou sendest, give grace with it, that I ,

THE WALK OF FAITH. 283
may bear it patiently, and may wait for its promised fruit. Thou knowest what
would stop me in my heavenly journey : if it be my bosom favourite, the dearest
object of my love; O tear it from my heart ! Thou hast given me a desire to
have every rival dethroned. O come, and reign alone in me, almighty Jesus !
and subdue whatever opposes thy lawful government. My Saviour and my God,
make all within me feel the power of thy cross. Crucify the body of sin. Spare
nothing that would hinder my walking with thee, or would deprive me of thy
friendship and favours. I bless thee, I worship thee, I glorify thee for this infi
nite grace, that thou hast made me willing to have aU mine idols pulled down. On
thee I depend every moment for keeping them down. O my loving Jesus ! carry
on thy work, and in thine own way subdue sin in me : let me be planted together
in the likeness of thy death, that I may be also in the likeness of thy resurrec
tion — dead to sin, but ahve to God. I ask this for thy great name's sake. Let
it be thy good pleasure to hear and answer. I beheve thou wilt. I have thy
word for it. There I rest. Amen and Amen.
With this faith review thy mercies. Consider, O my soul, what a good God
has done for thee, and what greater things he has stiU in store. He has in some
measure reconciled thee to his cross. Thou art convinced it is thy Father's ap
pointment, contrived for the best by his infinite love, and settled on thee for thy
richest portion in time. He sends it for the trial of thy faith, that it may be
found unto praise and honour and glory for the exercise and for the improvement
of thy patience — for the mortifying of the body of sin, and for the deadening of
the life of sense. This is the wiU of thy most loving and tender Father. He
sends the cross to be the means of these blessings. Certainly, then, it cannot
hinder thy walk with him, but in aU these respects wUl tend to keep thee in the
way, and to help thee forward in it, and thus
Fourthly, It wiU assist and promote thy holy feUowship and communion with
God. This is the principal thing in religion. We feU from God by sin ; and it
is the greatest mercy to be brought back to him again. In this point all reli
gions fatt but the Christian. Christ is the way. No one cometh to the Father
but by him ; for tliere is salvation in no other. He only can forgive sin : he
only can justify sinners. And this way was contrived in the covenant of the Tri
nity for the highest display of their divine perfections, which begin to be mani
fested when the Spirit of life enters into the sinner, and quickens him ; when the
Spirit of adoption enables him to trust in the atonement and obedience of Im
manuel, and thereby to see God reconciled, and to caU him, Abba, F'ather. With
this faith in Jesus he expects from the Father's love aU his promised mercies.
Thus he haa feUowship with the Father and the Son by the Holy Spirit. He
stands related to the eternal Three in their covenant offices, and he receives freely
in believing the covenant blessings of each.
Among these blessings the cross is not the least : for it is mercifuUy appointed
to be the means of bringing sinners to this divine feUowship. They go on stub
bornly after their own hearts, and in the error of their own ways until the Lord
send some trouble to stop them. They look wishfuUy at the gilded cup of plea
sure, and drink greedily of its sweets, without any fear of the deadly poison
mixed up with it. But when God convinces of sin, then comes sorrow: they
feel the poison working in a sense of guilt, and dread of punishment, which teach
the want of a Saviour, and are a good schoolmaster, to bring them unto Christ.
So God dealt with the chief of the Old Testament sinners — a giant in iniquity,
who surpassed aU that were before him in Jerusalem for idolatry and blood-
shedding. The Lord sent his prophets to warn him of his guilt, but he would
not hearken. He hardened his heart tiU the Lord brought upon him the captains
of the host of the king of Assyria, who took Manasseh among the thorns, and
hound him with fetters, and carried him to Babylon .- and when he was in afflic
tion, he besought the Lord his God, and humbled himself greatly before the God
of his fathers, and prayed unto him, and he was intreated of him, and heard his
supplication, and brought him again to Jerusalem into his kingdom : then Manas
seh know that the Lord he was God. His case was not singular. It is a common
thing with the Lord to send affliction to make sin bitter, that he may lead his
people to true sorrow for it, and that they may seek until they find salvation.

284 THE WALK OF FAITH.
^r* "i16.? tlaey taw found il' he 8tal uses the cross t0 keeP tllem near unt0 him-
self. Indeed, the cross alone has not this effect, but rather the contrary. The
natural man has his fretfolness stirred up by suffering, and cannot help murmur
ing at the wiU of God. But grace sanctifies suffering. God makes it a blessing
if Sj^ ** ky it; he exercises their faith in such general promises as tliese.
If God sent great and many troubles, they shall not separate believers from
him ; because he wttl then be with them ; as he spake unto Israel—" Fear not to
go down into Egypt ; for 1 will there make of thee a great nation : I wttl go down
with thee into Egypt." It was the house of bondage, in which the taskmasters
heavily afflicted his descendants with their burdens ; but the more they afflicted
them, the more they multiplied and grew. So it was with the Israel of God.
They need not fear any affliction ; for their God has promised to be them in it,
and by it to make them great Christians : tbe more they are afflicted, the more
shall their graces multiply and grow — " 1 wiU be with thee in trouble, says God—
f wiU redeem, I will save thee from all thy troubles— many are the troubles of
the righteous ; but I will defiver thee out of them all — yea, when thou passest
through the water, and through the fire, I will be with thee, and will preserve thee
from all evil— I wiU make all these things work together for thy good." These
promises are a great support to faith : for God engages to be with his children in
every affliction. He does not intend that any should separate them from him,
but that aU should keep them near to himself. He says he wiU be with them :
they therefore expect his presence; and if their afflictions be very great, they
may, on good grounds, wait for his time of deliverance. And as his word can
not be broken, their trust in it wttl be confirmed, and their hearts will be OBta-
bliahed in waiting upon the Lord. If their afflictions continue long, he ia wiih
them all the time, making them 8ensible of their own weakness, and putting
forth his promised strength, both that they may endure, and may also persevere
in enduring: thus he improves their patience. And because they have still a
carnal nature, which cannot bear the cross, God therefore keeps it upon them, in
order to crucify the fleah with ita affections and lusts, that as they die unto sin
they may five unto righteousness. Such is the declared purpose of God in
afflicting his children : he would hereby cherish theae gracea in them, by which
communion with him ia kept up ; and aa theae grow, communion with him wttl
grow in proportion. Faith wttl look more at the truth, and live more upon tho
faithfulness of God. Patience wttl depend more on hia arm, and the less happi
ness the believer can find in the creature, he will seek and will find the more in
his God. The mortifying of the old man will of course make the new man more
alive : for aa the power of the croaa of Chriat ia laid upon the former, the power
of the life of Christ wttl be experienced in the latter.
But 8uch ia the goodneas of God to hia children under the croaa, that he haa
given them several very particular and express promises, in order to strengthen
their faith and patience. He has shown them what fellowship they are to expect
with the eternal Three in their covenant offices ; for promoting which he most
mercifuUy provided the cross. O my soul 1 attend to thia : carefully survey thia
rich contrivance of divine love, and when the cross is sent, take it up in faith, and
expect to be a partaker of its covenant blessings.
Remember, it is laid upon thee to promote communion with thy God and
Saviour. The appointed trial comes. It is to give thee proof of the soundness
of thy faith in Jesus, and to let thee see by experience that thou hast not believed
in vain. Thou hast fled to him for refuge, from ain and guilt, from wrath and
heU : He took thee into his protection ; and now thy safety in him ia to be
attacked. It wiU be seen that the foundation upon which thou standeat will bear
thee up in an hour of temptation. If thou hast indeed feUowship with him in his
glorious salvation, it will now be made manifest to thy great profit. • The cross is
laid upon thee — a heavy, a bitter cross : it deprives thee of aU sensible comfort,
and is kept upon thee till thou hast no prospect of any. Hope in creature-com
fort has failed. Ihis is a sweet season for spiritual communion with thy Jeeus.
He has deadened the enjoyment of other things, that thy heart might be happier
in him ; therefore, now thou art to bring the principles laid down in the former
chapters into practice. Here is a fair opportunity to make use of them ; for

THE WALK OF FAITH. 285
without them a man must sink under such a cross ; but through faith in the
righteousness of thy God and Saviour thou wUt not only have powerful argu
ments, but wilt also have powerful grace to bear thy sufferings, patient under
them, and thankful for them :
Under them thou wttt be tried — Is it good ground, upon which I have bruit
my hope of salvation ? Is it the rock of ages ? Does it bear me up safe, and keep
me unshaken in this time of trouble ? Yes ; blessings, eternal blessings on my pre
cious Jesus ! I have fled to him for refuge, and he has set my feet upon a rock,
that can never be moved : Christ, my passover, is sacrificed for me : in the blood
of sprinkling I have put my trust, and I am safe from the destroyer : he is my
propitiation, in whom I have redemption through faith in his blood : he is mine
advocate also with the Father, standing in his presence as my surety : while the
Father sees him and loves him, he will see me in him and love me with the same
love : Jesus is mine atonement with him, my righteousness, and my sanctification,
and my full redemption. O thou most lovely loving J esus ! I have often been
happy in the sense of mine interest in thee, but never so happy as now. This
cross is sanctified indeed ; for it has removed what hindered my communion with
thee, and has brought me to seek thy presence, and to enjoy thy supports, and
thy comforts. I was foolish enough to wash it might pass from me ; but this was
mine infirmity. Pardon it, my sweet Jesus, and accept mine unfeigned thanks
for thy late mercies. Never in my life did I find the virtue of thy sacrifice in the
peace of my conscience, nor had I such intimate communion with thee in thy
finished salvation as I have had under this cross. It tried me indeed ; but the
trial was to thy glory, and to my profit. I am now more satisfied than ever that
thy salvation is infinitely perfect, and that I have my share in it : I have it indeed
now ; for I am a partaker of the things which accompany salvation. I am making
use of them — I find their reality — I enjoy their sweetness — blessing and thanks
and praise without ceasing be unto thee, my adorable God and Saviour.
Is it not, O my soul, thy fervent prayer that thou mayst live in holy friendship
with Jesus ? Why, then, dost thou fear his cross, which is his appointed way and
means of improving thine intimacy with him, and likeness to him ? Oh study
the discovery of his love in the scriptures ; and take particular notice of the pro
mises which he has made to his suffering brethren. Read, mark them, mix faith
with them, that they may be fulfilled in thine experience. Remember, thou
canst not suffer but by his wiU, to which he expects submission : he sends the
cross to teach thee this lesson. It cannot hurt thee if thou dost not quarrel with
it ; but if thy wiU be resigned to his, herein thou wttt have feUowship with him ;
and thou wilt have reason constantly to be praying to him — Not my wUl, Lord,
but thine be done !
Consider, for the improvement of this feUowship, that thy Lord himself was
exercised with the cross. He has" gone before thee, bearing it. He has taken
the curse and wrath out of it, and has sanctified it to aU his foUowers. In faith
they must take it up, and in patience carry it, or they will not come to the king
dom. Certainly, then, their crucified Lord wttl be with them ; yea, he has pro
mised — " I will be with thee in trouble " — seek his presence, O my soul, under
the cross — wait for communion with him — he has said he wiU be with thee :
expect therefore the light of his countenance, which is better than life. Do not
fear the cross, since it is to bring thee such a blessing : it is to be the means of
thy feUowship with Jesus in his sensible support, and heavenly comfort ; take it
up then. Suppose it removes aU thine earthly joy ; let it go : the pain of its loss
is not to be compared with the joy of thy spirit. Jesus will give thee pure holy
joy, and by his divine art wiU extract it out of pain. He afflicts, that he may com
fort. He takes away sensual, that he may give spiritual pleasure. He removes
CTeature-love, that he may communicate more of this happy love. In mercy he
chastises. He sees there is need to mortify sin. He sends the cross for this pur
pose, and blesses what he sends. It works like wholesome physic. But, oh ; it
is bitter ; it is nauseous to the taste. Why do you chew it then ? SwaUow the
pill. The benerit is not to be found in the mouth, but in the stomach. Tliere it
will purge bad humours. The sovereign physician intends it should operate upon
every evil temper, which would hinder your blessed communion with him, and

286 THE WALK OF FAITH.
should be the means of exercising those gracea by which that communion is main
tained, and may be unproved.
Such ia the cross of Christ.: taken up in faith, and carried in patience, it pro
motes daily fellowship with him ; which is the greatest blessing upon earth • there
ia no greater in heaven ; only, they enjoy it by sense, and we by faith : but we
have the same feUowship with them in Jesua, and the same communion with them
in the graces of his salvation. And for these he makes way by bis cross He
deadens the soul to the life of sense, that it may feel more of happiness in him
When he has withdrawn other joys, he often shines into the heart with joy
unspeakable. He generaUy vouchsafes these his love tokens to his suffering bre
thren, and gives his richest cordials in their deepest distress. Each of such happy
souls can say— It is good for me to suffer with Jesus. Yes, Lord ; I am thy wit
ness : thy cross is good : it has been the means of my greatest good ; for thou
hast brought me by it forsake communion with other objects, and to enjoy com

- my , 
almighty ! I bless thee and adore thee for the distinguishing grace vouchsafed to
me under the cross. It was entirely from thee, and the effect of thy love, that 1 had
any patience or any feUowship with thee in the way of suffering. It was thy doing ;
and I glorify thee for enabhng me to maintain peace with the Father through
faith in thine obedience unto death, and for satisfying me that my crosses
were appointed and sent by covenant iove. Thou art the giver of these blessings ;
and on thee I wait for the continuance of them. Whatever thou calleat upon me to
Buffer, order it and me as aeemeth beat to thy godly wiadom ; but leave me not to
my8elf. Be always with me, my good Lord ! that I may bear thy cross, and carry
it patiently and profitably : thou sustaining both me and it every step of my way
to heaven. Hear me, my Jesus, and answer; for without thee 1 can do nothing ; but
strengthened by thee I Bhall be able to bear aU things, and my daily cross will keep
me in daily communion with thee to my profit and to thine eternal praise. Amen.
Thus the cross of Christ is sanctified, and keeps up communion with him in
the ble8einga of his salvation : 80 it doea with the Father in his love. In the
covenant, his name is expressive of hia office. He ia a Father, who has every
holy affection and feeling of love. He embraces in the bowels of the tenderest
parent all hia family — Chriat the head, and aU the members of hia body, the
church. With one undivided love hi8 heart is set upon Christ and them. And
with the same bountiful hand he blesses him and them. What Christ is, they
shall be. In this most gracious relation he atanda to the whole household of faith.
He ie their Father who lovea and accepts them, pardons, justifies, sanctifies, and
blesseB them with all spiritual and eternal bleasings in Chriat Jesus.
It is hard to believe thia under the cross. • To cleave to him in love, as our
Father, when hia hand is lifted up to smite, yea, when we amart under his rod,
then to see love in his heart and love guiding his hand, ia faith very triumphant.
We are apt to look upon our sufferinga as coming from the wrath of God. We
think he must be displeased, or else he would not delight to put ua to pain : upon
this account we are not reconciled to the cross, but would shake it off, if we could.
The scripture give U8 a different view of thia matter, and repreaenta God in a
more amiable fight, even in the severest chastisement of his children. He ia
their Father, and they are his 8ons. This relation cannot subsist without his
chastening them. He informs them of the necessity of it ; he declares to them
hia purpose and grace before the chastening, and he assigns the motives and ends
of bis proceeding. He has always the same Father's love, and is always dealing
with them a8 with eons. His cross is one of the chief marks of it. He sends it
with a message of love, and it comes to them big with mercies. When the Fa
ther intends an abundant communication of his love, he generaUy makes way for
it by some heavy cross ; and when he would continue, or increase his favours,
he keeps the cross upon them. It is his appointed means of promoting fellow- ,
ship with him in the graces and blessings of his fatherly love ; and it answers
his end, when it is received by faith, and carried by patience ; for then the be
liever, resting on the sure foundation laid for him in the holy life and death of

THE WALK OF FAITH. 287
Immanuel, sees the Father reconciled, and expects every promised blessing
from his love. Whatever cross comes, he receives it from his Father in Jesus.
He holds fast this truth — God is my God — he loves me perfectly in his Son, and
therefore I shaU find some proof of his fatherly love in this affliction. But if his
faith be weak, if he forget or forsake for a time his foundation, then the
cross wiU become intolerable. Murmuring wiU arise. The flesh wttl hearken
to unbelief. FretfulnesB will take place, and thus God wiU be robbed of his
glory, and the believer of his comfort. It has pleased God therefore, in order to
strengthen his children's faith against these attacks, to give them many plain
declarations of his invariable intention to do them good in aU their afflictions.
The Son is a witness for him : he was in the bosom of the Father, and knew aU
the purposes of his heart. He has given us a most delightful account of the
Father's design in afflicting his children — " I am," says he to his disciples, " the
true vine, and my Father is the husbandman : every branch that beareth not
fruit in me, he taketh away ; and every branch that beareth fruit, he purgeth
it, that it may bring forth more fruit." The Father looks upon all
his children as one with Christ ; as much united to him, and in him, as the
branches are in the vine ; therefore, as a wise husbandman, he takes the special
charge and care of them. Every branch that does not bear fruit in Christ — it is
not as we read it, every branch in me, but every branch that does uot bear fruit
in me — whatever it may seem to be — in profession a branch — in show a fruitful
branch ; yet it has no life : it was never cut off from the old dead stock, nor
grafted into me, the life-giving vine. The husbandman knows this weU. Every
plant which my heavenly Father hath not planted shaU be rooted up. He does
this in an hour of trial. Then it appears that such branches were only in appear
ance united to the vine ; for if he had made them part of it, he would no doubt
have continued them in it ; but he took them away, that they might be manifest
that they were not one with the vine. This is a great part of the vine-dresser's
business — he suffers no rotten branches upon his vine. He goes over his charge,
and attends to every branch. If any seem to men or to themselves to be in the
vine (for hypocrites are great self-deceivers, and the self-righteous love to be
deceived, and proud nature is fond of growing into Christ by something of its
own) the vine-dresser in due time discovers their mistake, and manifests to the
world that they were not branches of his grafting ; for he taketh them away ; but
every branch, says Christ, that beareth fruit by its communion with me he purgeth .-
by his divine husbandry, he removes every thing, which would stop its growth
and hinder its fruitfulness. The branches of the vine are so weak, that they
always want a prop — he supports them They often run very luxuriant — he cuts
them with his pruning knife. They have many bad humours and juices in them
— those he corrects. He purges every noxious quality, and whatever is contrary
to the holy nature of the heavenly vine, he subdues. Most merciful is his pur
pose herein. He would have the branches of his own grafting to be lively and
flourishing, like the stock upon which they grow. " I am the vine," says Christ ;
'' ye are the branches." God's husbandry is to make the branches like the vine ;
therefore he purgeth them, in order that they may bring forth much fruit. And
is this his design ? Does lie afflict them entirely for their good ? Does he send
every trial and trouble to purge their corruptions and to quicken their graces ?
Has the Lord Jesus given us such a pleasing new of his Father's love, assuring
us that aU crosses are sent by him to make us more fively and more fruitful ?
Since this is the case, what great reason hast thou, O my soul, to expect these bless
ings from the cross ? H ere is a promise for thy faith to rest on : a promise which
discovers the heart of thy Father and his abundant love in afflicting thee. He
would have thee not only to believe in his love, but also to enjoy it. He afflicts
thee ; but it is in order to thy keeping up communion with him under the cross ;
and he knows it is the best means of keeping it up and of promoting it. O seek
then by faith for the promised fruit. Expect in patience the rich harvest. And
that thou mayest quietly submit to the Father's will in purging them, as a
branch, observe how exactly the apostle Paul agrees with his blessed Master —
" Furthermore we have had fathers of our flesh, who corrected us, and we gave
them reverence : shaU we not much rather be in subjection unto the Father

288 THE WALK OF FAITH.
¦IST4** w PV For the7 verUy for a few d»ys corrected us, after their own
&6 :TW6 f°r 0Ur Pr°^ ** we mi»ht he ^Rtakers'of his hom"
to ™?VW 7 T • a rever.ence d"e t0 earthly P^enta ; and children are required
to submit to their correction; although herein they often consult their own will
tofew T'6 ^-fr" C^:''e Pr0fit- And is not B»*« "veVeTc one
H. v 5 -°f °-"r tpmt? " and shaU not we 8ubmit t0 ^ corrections, eapeciaUy
npe?„fi i!^mtheinia toProTte the gi-eatesrtlignityand highest happi
ness of his children, even to make them partakers of his holiness ? for to partake
£££ °t I Tu Ae? a *$£ £• but "l80 10 8ive them P°8session of, to commu-
^? V ,_ , feUowshlP wiA him, to share with him, in his AoKneas. Holiness
is the Father s image in his chttdren, by which he makes them like him, and
™ u ti M}0yllg ^ ,H? Ch?,se them in Christ before the foundation of tiie
world that they should be holy. He chose them in Christ, and made Christ their
sanctification. In him they partake, as branches in the vine, of his holy nature
1 hey are one with him in righteousness and true holiness. He is the divine root,
from which aU the branches, by the influence of the holy Spirit, derive their
nourishment and growth. From him is their fruit found. And the heavenly hus
bandman, purposing to make the branches very fruitful, has provided effectual
means : among which the chief is, his fatherly correction. Thia he senda to all
his children, and in the tenderest love. He would have them to bring forth much
fruit, that herein he may be glorified— holy fruit, produced by his care and cul
ture, and ripened by daily communications of his grace. Therefore he appointB
many heavy trials and crosses, by which he designs to bring them not only to
believe in his love, but also to a growing enjoyment of it. He would communi
cate to them an increase of ita bleasinga. He would have them nearer to himeelf
and more like to himself— holy as he is holy— not in degree, but in likeness.
He would teach them more submission to his will, for which he wisely and merci
fully suits the cross. He would improve their love to him, which he does by mani
festing his to them : therefore he sends his cross to deaden their hearts to other
love, that he may give them a happier sense of his. And his children have found
suffering times blessed times. They never had such nearness to their Father,
such holy freedom with him, and such heavenly refreahmenta from him, aa
under the croaa. It only took away what atopped the increase of this happi
ness, which thereby was made more spiritual and exalted. The cross, thus
sanctified, ie the greatest blessing on this side of heaven : because by it the
Father keeps his children in the closest communion, that they have with him
upon earth ; by it he purges them, makes them fruitful, and partakers of his ho
liness ; by it he crucifies the life of sense, deadens them to the world, mortifies
their lusts and passions ; and by it, aa the outward man perieheth, the inward
man i8 renewed day by day. Most blessed renewal! Daily the Father commu
nicates, and by means of the cross, new life, new strength, and new comfort to
the inward man. By the right spirit renewed within him he learns the necessity
of the daily cross — he sees the merciful appointment of it to teach resignation to the
Father's holy will, to work a confonnity to the first-born among many brethren,
both in suffering and by suffering, to bring in sensible experience of the Father^
support and comfort. What blessings are these ! how great ! how precious ! to
be branches in the vine, and to have the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ the
husbandman, who grafts them into him — Oh what an infinite mercy is this \ and
to be under his special care, faithfully watched over, in order to remove every
thing hurtful, and! to bestow every thing useful, this love passeth understand
ing : and to have this love to feast upon in the absence of other comforts, to
have them taken away only to make room for this, to enjoy this most plentifully,
even under troubles and afflictions, and to be only purged by them in order to
bring forth much fruit ; these are triumphs of divine love. O my God and Fa
ther ! I confess and deplore my frequent mistaking thy dealings with me. I did
not see they were aU in love. Through mine ignorance and self-wiU 1 thought
thy cross was a punishment, and I used wickedly to despise the chastening of
the Lord. Pardon thy servant concerning this thing. Forgive mine opposition
to thy cross, and subdue mine impatient desire to shake it off. Holy Father,
mortify my wttl, and make it bow to thine. Thy will be done in me, and by me.

THE WALK OF FAITH. 289
Purge me, and make me fruitful under the cross. Chasten me, that I may be
a partaker of thy holiness. I bless thee, O my God, for the desire which I have to
keep up communion with thee in my sufferings : I beheve thou art my perfectly
reconciled Father in Jesus, and therefore, trusting to thy love in him, I would
take up thy cross and expect under it thy covenant blessings. Yes, Lord. This
is of grace. Thine be the praise for showing me the need of suffering, and of
renewing me by it in the inward man to a conformity to thy holy will. I now
see thy love herein. It is as much love to crucify the outward man as to renew
the inward man. I beheve it in my judgment : O blessed God, let me expe
rience it in my heart and walk. Order aU my crosses, that they may work toge
ther under thee for thy glory and for my good : and if afflictions abound, let
consolations abound also. I have thy promise, and I rely upon it. Let it be
fulfilled unto thy servant for thy dear Son's sake. Amen, and Amen.
This blessed communion with the Father and the Son, which the sanctified
use of the cross is made the means of promoting, is maintained by the Holy
Spirit. He is a person in the Godhead coequal and coeternal with the Father and
with the Son. It is his office to apply and to make effectual all covenant bless
ings. Faith in the Son ; and through him love to the Father, are from his in
fluence. He is the Lord and giver of aU spiritual life, and of every spiritual
enjoyment : for so the apostle teaches in his prayer for the Corinthians — The
grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God the Father, and the commu
nion of the Holy Ghost be with you all. This communion of the Holy Ghost
consisted in partaking by his means with the Lord Jesus Christ in bis grace, and
with the Father in his love. The Holy Ghost made the application : he quick
ened the soul, and inspired the breath of life into it, and on him it depends for
every spiritual act, as much as the life of the body does on its breathing.
Whoever steadfastly believes in Jesus under the cross, and experiences under
it the Father's love has this feUowship with the Father and the Son by the ope
ration of the Holy Spirit : therefore that sweet grace, which bears up with faith
in Jesus, and with patience under the Father's rod, is said to be from him —
" The fruit ofthe Spirit is long-suffering " — He enables the soul to wait quietly.
And if the time be long, and the suffering hard, he gives long patience. He
does not take away the sense of pain, but he bestows strength to bear it ;
and by it he produces a plentiful harvest of graces and blessings. Thus he
teaches us himself — " Now no chastening for the present seemeth to be joyous,
but grievous : nevertheless, afterward, it yieldeth the peaceable fruits of righte
ousness unto them who are exercised thereby." These are the fruits of the Spirit :
they are aU of his producing. And they are fruits of righteousness, which
none' can produce but those who are one with Christ ; and in him righteous be
fore God. Although sense cannot perceive how they should grow or ripen upon
the cross of Christ, yet faitii can. The promise is sure. And waiting faith,
exercised with suffering, finds many promised fruits. O my soul, consider this
precious scripture, and with close attention. Study it. Treasure it up in
thy heart. It contains a rich cordial for the afflicted. Observe, there is love
in sending the cross ; love to be manifested by it, and heavenly fruits of love
to grow upon it. Why, then, is suffering so hard ? Why art thou so little
profited by it. Is it not generally barren, because thou art not looking to
the word of promise, and depending upon the Holy Spirit to give thee the pro
mised fruit ? Ask thyself therefore, especiaUy in the hour of suffering, Am
I now expecting the communion of the Holy Ghost, that by his grace I may
partake with the Son in his salvation, and with the Father in his love ? Is this
my present experience ? Tliere is no bearing the cross without it. Art thou
then, O my soul, trusting to him for this happy fellowship, and hoping, that, as
thou art a branch in the vine, and the husbandman is now purging thee, thou
mayest bring forth much fruit? And observe, what kind of fruit it is. All the
effects of being in union with Christ, and of having communion with him, are
called fruits of righteousness. Christ is the vine. The branch must be one
with him before it can live and grow — one with him in his life and death — a
partaker of his divine righteousness — and then the branch abiding in him by
the influence of the Holy Spirit will be made fruitful in love, joy, peace, long-
u

290 THE WALK OF FAITH.
suffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance: for the fruit of
the Spirit is in all goodness, and righteousness, and truth. He brings forth all
the fruit that is to the glory of God — and it is all peaceable fruit ; for it is pro
duced by him in consequence of covenant-love, by which the Father is revealed
as the God of peace, and the Son as the great peace-maker; and when the Holy
Spirit enables the poor sinner to beheve this, then he gives him joy and peace
in believing: being justified by faith, he has peace with God through Jesus
Christ. The cross soon comes after this — not to destroy, but to try tins faith —
not to take away, but to confirm this peace : it is sent to give proof of the sound
ness of faith, and to manifest the sweetness of divine love ; for it comes from
the God of peace, and aU the fruits which he intends to produce by it are peace
able, such as should increase the happy sense of peace in the minds of his children.
And for this purpose the Holy Spu-it abides with them. He has revealed the
Father's love in scripture, and he is a faithful witness of it to their hearts. He
sheds it abroad, and satisfies them of it : yea, he gives them sensible experience
and enjoyment of it under the cross. This produces a quiet submission to his
wttl, and an humble dependence upon his power: which are manifested by
waiting upon God in all ways and means for the grace promised to his afflicted
chUdren. The cross requires great grace, and therefore caUs forth touch prayer.
Suffering times are praying times. The cross brings sinners upon their knees :
Manasseh in affliction entreated the Lord : so did Paid — " Behold, he prayeth."
keeps believers upon their knees, as the prophet witnesses — " Lord, in trouble
have they visited thee ; they poured out a prayer when thy chastening was
upon them." The Lord himself declares the same — " I will go anil return to
my place till they acknowledge their offence, anil seek my face ; in their afflic
tion they wul seek me early." Accordingly they did seek him — " Come," say
they, " and let us return unto the Lord ; for he hath torn and he will heal ub ;
he hath smitten, and he wttl bind us up." Oh bleeaed fruit of affliction 1 when
eanctified by the Spirit it teaches the children of God to pray fervently, and to
continue instant in prayer : it discovers the weakness of the flesh, and the re
bellion of the will, and shows the necessity of drawing near to God for strength
and patience. It keeps the mind in a praying frame, expecting by the grace of
the Spirit communion with the Father and the Son. The cross makes this com
munion necessary. It cannot be endured without a belief of the Father's love
in Jesus, and therefore the Spirit of prayer keeps this belief in exercise, anil
enables the soul to plead the promise of strength to endure patiently, and to
bring forth much fruit. The promise cannot fail. They who trust, in it cannot
be disappointed, but shall find grace to help in time of need. As prayer is thus
necesaary, eo the Holy Spirit generally makes it aweet under the croes. Is any
afflicted among you ? Let him pray. Prayer is the appointed means of his
comfort. If affliction send him to God, God will meet him and make him joyful
in his house of prayer. How encouraging are these words !— " Draw nigh to
God, and he will draw nigh to you." In every case of distress, draw nigh in
faith to God : he is a very preaent help. Seek his face, and you will find him
near unto you : for the Lord ia nigh unto aU that caU upon him, nigh to hear,
to answer, and to comfort. Thus his promise runs—" Then shalt thou call, and
the Lord shall answer : thou Bhalt cry, and he shall say, Here 1 am."— What ia
your burden ? I am preaent to give strength to bear it. What is your grief?
Here are my comforts— Do your tribulations abound? Here are my conaolationa
abounding also. Here I am— Ask what you wttl believing, and it ahall be done
unto you Oh what timea of refreehing are these ? The Holy Ghost sensibly
comforts the afflicted. When they draw nigh to God, he ia preaent to make
their hearte joyful. He dispela their darkness with the light of Mb countenance,
and turns their mourning into joy. And thus they have not only communion
with God in prayer, but also euch communications of hie heavenly love, that
they can often say, It ia good for us that we have been in trouble.
In times of trouble the word also is generally eweet. All people in diatress
look out for some comfort: and the Holy Spirit directa believers to the Scrip
tures. " Whatsoever things were written aforetime, were written for our learn
ing that we through patience and comfort of the scriptures might have hope."

THE WALK OF FAITH. 291
The afflicted feel their want of patience and comfort, which puts them upon
careful hearing and reading of the good word of God. They want to know what
it says of their case ; and when they meet a suitable promise, then they have a
ground of hope. Their present trials require them to seek for something more
than the truth of the promise. This being credited, they therefore expect the
promised blessing. When the famine was in Canaan, Jacob and his family
could not have been kept alive by believing there was corn in Egypt : they must
either fetch it or die. Trouble caUs for the experience of the promised blessings,
and when they are received at such a time, they are sweet indeed. They feel
as ease doth after pain. When the Holy Spirit applies the comfort, the promise
by which he appUes it is precious. It is like a reviving cordial to a fainting
heart- Oh how sweet are thy words unto my taste ; yea, sweeter than honey
unto my mouth. Honey is sweet ; but the word is sweeter. When through
patience and comfort of the scriptures the afflicted believer enjoys the good
of the promise, then he can say — Now I know, O Lord, that thy judgments are
right, and that thou in faithfulness hast afflicted me ; let, I pray thee, thy mer
ciful kindness be for my comfort according to thy word unto thy servant.
Sweet is the comfort which the afflicted receive from God the Comforter
under the cross ; not only in suffering but also after it. Afterward also
" it yieldeth the peaceable fruits of righteousness." He who carries the cross of
Christ does not labour in vain and spend his strength for nought ; but he is
bearing forth good seed. If he sow it in tears, yet he shaU reap in joy. The
Lord looks at the fruit, and intends to bring forth much of it by the cross. We
are apt to look at the suffering, and forget the fruit. He has the end in view
in the use of all means ; and the Holy Spirit has revealed this clearly, that
we might depend upon him for receiving the proper fruit of affliction. The
Lord says, he led his people through the great and terrible wilderness, wherein
were flying fiery serpents and scorpions, and drought, that he might humble
them, and that he might prove them, to do them good at the latter end.
He intended to do them good. This was first in his heart. Then the way in
which he would do it : he would lead them through many afflictions ; by which
they should find at the latter end how good God was to them. The promise of
this was their encouragement to bear the cross tui they reaped the fruit. In
like manner the Lord says to the afflicted Jews — " I know the thoughts that I
think toward you, saith the Lord ; thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give
you an expected end" — such an end as you would wish, and having my
promise, such as you may safely hope for — my thoughts indeed are not as your
thoughts — you think I have cast you off, and that your present cross is to crush
you : now I mean to do you good by it ; and so the end will prove. Wait a
little in faith, and aU wiU come to a happy issue.
Are these scriptures the truth of God ? Has the eternal Spirit promised in them
that, although the bearing of the cross be very painful, yet it is very profitable ?
Will he afterwards cause them to bring forth much fruit who have been exercised
with it ? Art thou then waiting, O my soul, under aU thy troubles for the pro
mised end ? Dost thou expect it, and in patience tarry the Lord's leisure ? Canst
thou look back, and see how merciful the dealings of thy God have been — how
gracious his rod — how loving his correction ? Canst thou look forward under
every cross, persuaded that God will do thee good at the latter end ? that he wttl
cause many peaceable fruits to grow upon this seemingly barren tree ? yea, that
these light afflictions, which are but for a moment, shall work for thee an eternal
weight of glory, far more exceUent than can be conceived ? O God the Holy
Ghost ! I do believe it : I would not doubt of the. truth of the promise in thy
word, nor of the truth of thy grace in my heart. I therefore beseech thee, O
thou Spirit Jehovah, to enable me to keep up communion with thee in aU my
trials, that I may bring forth those peaceable fruits of righteousness. Thou art
the giver of every grace. I acknowledge thee to be the author of my spiritual
fife : I was dead in trespasses and sins, and thou hast quickened me. It is of
thy mere gift that I have any faith, and that upon the trial it was found to be true
faith. I bless thee lor this grace, and humbly pray for the continuance and for
the increase of it. Meet me in the use of all means, and enable me to grow in
u 2

292 THE WALK OF FAITH.
faith, rooted and grounded in Christ Jesus, that I may also grow in love to hia
Father and to my Father. O thou divine revealer of his heavenly love I shed it
abroad more abundantly in my heart, that I may learn more resignation to hia
will, more subjection to hia authority, and more submission to his rod I ac
knowledge thee, O holy-making Spirit, to be the teacher of patience ; and what
I have learned was thy revelation. It was in thy strength that I waa enabled to
go on with any quietness bearing my cross. Thy grace made me willing, and
nothing else can keep me willing, to have the flesh crucified with its affections
and lusts. O God, put forth thine almighty power, and enable me to part with
every thing which would hinder my fellowship with the Father and the Son. I
desire so to walk this day as to have growing fellowship with the eternal Three •
and I desire it through thine influence. O God the Holy Ghost, carry on thy
work. Exalt and punfy my faith and patience, and every grace : if it lie thy will
to do this under the cross, oh make me willing and able to bear it. Let every
cross bring forth richer and riper fruit, until thou give rae an exceeding great
and eternal harvest of glory. I ask this in the name of Jesus, and I expect an
answer of grace through the Father'a love in him, to whom with thee, O blessed
Spirit, three persons in one Godhead, be equal glory, worahip, and praiae, now
and for ever. Amen.
Meditate, O my aoul, with aeriouaness upon thia great subject. Study tho
scripture account of the croaa. The knowledge of it enters into the very essence
of the peace and comfort of thy walk. Thou canst not run away from the cross ;
thou canst not cast it off: remember, if thou wilt be Christ's disciple, thou must
take it up daily and foUow him. If it be very heavy and very grievous, yet it
wttl not hinder thee from foUowing him. He carried the heaviest part for thee
— he endured the curse and punishment due to thy sins — he left no wrath for
thee to suffer. Blessed be his love, the cross has no curse in it now — thy Buffer
ings are all aent from love— and hia love wiU help thee to bear them and to profit
by them ; for he haa promised to bless and sanctify them to his people. And
he makes them a blessing indeed. Never on this aide of heaven doea he give
them 8uch near and happy communion with himaelf aa under the cross. Oh
read then, and study what is revealed in scripture concerning it. Go over it
again and again. Learn weU, and inwardly digest the doctrine of the cross of
Christ — the necessity — the benefit — the blessings of it. Meditate and feed upon
the sweet promises relating to it : mix faith with them, that they may nourish
and strengthen thee in time of need. But never forget that thy cross, be it what
it will, is appointed for thee in covenant love. It ia the portion aUotted thee by
thy heavenly Father — decreed in weight and measure to an atom. Ihou ahalt
not bear it one moment longer than he haa determined ; and many precious
fruits it ahall produce. Thou wilt find Buffering times growing timee — growth
in faith and patience, in mortification to Bin, and in feUowahip with the ever-
blessed Trinity. The author of thy faith puts it to the trial : it comes out of the
lion's den unhurt : it comes out of the fiery furnace refined. God ia glorified
hereby, and thou art atrengthened. He 8enda the croas to teach thee patience,
and he continue8 it for the exercise and for the improvement of the same grace.
He intenda by hia chastening to crucify the fleah, and to mortify thy members
which are upon the earth. In love he takes away sensual, that he may give
thee spiritual joys. He does not hate thee ; but love guides every stroke of hia
chastening. He is only weakening thine attachment to earthly things, that he
may increase thv communion with Father, Son, and Spirit. Oh what blessings
are these ! Meditate, O my soul, much and often upon them. Pray for the
experience of them in time of need ; and be assured with aU theae helps, the
cross wttl be exercise hard enough for thy patience. Thou canst carry it only
in the strength of almighty grace. May the Lord strengthen thee from day to
day to run the race set before thee, tttl thou win the prize of the high calling of
God in Christ Jesus.

THE WALK OF FAITH. 293

CHAPTER X.

The believer exercised with the inward cross, learns to walk more humbly with his
God.
The outward cross is not always a burden alike heavy. God gives his chil
dren a httle respite. After they have been long tried, he sometimes removes
their trouble, and gives them ease and outward prosperity. Their sun arises as
it doth in nature. After many cold and dark days, a fine season comes — finer
for coming after them. The sky grows clear and serene ; the air is soft and
refreshing ; the sun shines with warm and enlivening rays ; every thing looks
pleasant, and smiles around you. So it is in the kingdom of grace. The be
liever may not be always in heaviness through manifold afflictions. He has his
times of refreshing from the presence of the Lord. He prospers and is in health.
The blessing of God, is upon his substance. Every thing that he takes in hand
succeeds. He is happy in his circumstances, and happy in his famtiy. He sees
the goodness of God iri these mercies, and he is thankful. But if the heavenly
Father sometimes indulge his children with the removal of the outward cross,
yet he never does with the inward. They carry it aU their days ; and a heavy
burden it is. So long as they are in the body, while they are in this tabernacle,
they do groan, being burdened : for
The inwakd cross is the fault and corruption of sinful nature, which doth
remain in the regenerate, and is their continual grief and plague ; because it is
always opposing their holy and happy walk with God. It is called in scripture
The flesh; the whole man being carnal, and fuU of lusting against the
Spirit ;
The old man ; being the first in us, before the new man is created by the
Spirit of regeneration ;
A body of sin ; made up completely of members and appetites, in which
there is not only an absence of all good, but also a propensity to aU evU, inso
much that nothing can move or stir in this body, but what is sinful;
The law of sin ; because sin rules and governs the natural man ;
Indwelling sin; because it dweUs in the whole man, both in soul and
body; Concupiscence, or lust; which the apostle says, he should not have
known to be sin unless the law had said — Thou shalt not covet or lust.
This fallen nature is also said to be corrupt according to the deceitful lusts,
to be contrary to the Spirit, to rebel against the law of God and not to be sub
ject to it, neither indeed can be. " This corruption of nature doth remain, ac
cording to our reformers," Art. 9 — "Yea in them that are regenerated, whereby
the lust of the fleshy" caUed in Greek, froneema sarkos, which some do expound,
" the wisdom," some " sensuality," some " the affection," some " the desire of
the flesh," is not subject to the law of God : and although there is no condem
nation for them that believe and are baptized, yet the apostle doth confess that
" concupiscence and lust hath of itself the nature of sin." And in the l$th Art.
of Christ alone without sin, they say, " that all we the rest, although baptized and
born again in Christ, yet offend in many things : and if we say we have no sin,
we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us."
The compilers of our articles were holy men, and taught of God. They spake
his mind and wttl according to the oracles of truth. And it will be a great com
fort to a poor soldier, wearied with fighting against those lusts, which war against
the soul, to find that the best Christians in every age have been engaged in the
same holy war. This will mightily encourage him to take to him the whole
armour of God, that he may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having
done aU to stand.
Attend then, O my soul, to the law and to the testimony. Pray for the spirit
of wisdom and revelation. Desire grace to submit to the truth of God, that,
whatever he teaches plainly and expressly in his word, thou mayst believe it,
and abide by it. Head and pray, till thou art satisfied, and the conviction of

294 THE WALK OF FAITH.
mind influence thy heart and walk. Art thou to carry the inward cross all the
way to heaven ? Is there no discharge in this war ? no truce to be made ? not
even a cessation of arms ? But art thou to be fighting on the good fight of faith
tttl the captain of thy salvation take thee out of the field of battle ? On hard ser
vice ! to be night and day — at home and abroad — in the closet and in the
church — at hearing the word and meditating upon it — fasting and praying — at
the shop and at the exchange — every where and at aU times — forced to be in
arms against the assaults of indwelling sin ! This is a warfare terrible indeed to
flesh and blood. The length of it — never ended so long as breath is in the body;
the painfulness of it — consisting in being at war with a man's self, and in resist
ing his bosom sins and strongest appetites — What discouragements are these
from entering into, and from continuing in this battle ! Why should it be won
dered, then, that some persons, who only follow tiie camp, and are not of it,
should repent when they see this war, and return to Egypt ? or that others, pre
tending to be on Christ's side, but never one with him, should dream of shaking
off this cross, and of Bitting down here in a land of perfect peace ? Thia ia the
coward's paradise. They want to rest quiet on this side of Jordan, and would not
go over with Jesua to fight for the promi8ed land. O dear Saviour, keep thy no
ble army from this delusion of Satan ! So long as they are in the body of sin and
death, make them good soldiers of Christ Jesus, reeiating unto blood, striving
against sin ; for so long must we be in this hot battle. It ie decreed by the sove
reign wiU of God — and he is alwaya of one mind. He haa revealed it in hia
word of truth, that the corruption of nature doth remain in his regenerate chil
dren ; they have an old man and a new ; they have flesh and spirit ; they havo
nature and grace ; and he has described the combat which is to last through
fife between these two. The beloved apostle bears a clear testimony. He ie
speaking of those whom the blood of Jesus Christ cleanseth from all sin, and
who had feUowship with the Father and with the Son, and who proved the
truth of this by their walking in the light. He puts himself among them, and
declares — " If we say, that we have no sin now, wo deceive ourselvea, and tho
truth is not in us"— If w i: say— he Saith not, If thou aay, as if he apake of
some particular person ; nor if ye say, as if he intended ordinary Christiana
alone — but if we apostles, or whatever we be, 8ay so ; if any of ua, if I, for in
stance, should think I had no sin now, who am a saint of a hundred years olct,
because I was a great favourite of the Lord Christ, and have been a great suf
ferer for him, or because I have lived blameless before men, and have been a
witness for the truth in my writings, and am ready to seal it with my blood ;
if, upon account of any thing done by me, or in me, of any real exceUency.
or attainment, I should fancy myself in a state of sinlese perfection ; the
Holy Ghost chargea me with self-deceit. A dreadful delusion ! arising from
the pride of my heart and its rebellion against God, and discovering the moat
gross ignorance of God's righteousness in the holy law, and of Chriat s nghte-
ouanesa in the glorious gospel : but if 1 was to say, as weU aa to think it; if 1
should teU any body, Now I have no sin ; I am perfect ; now, at this time, I
have received perfect purity of heart ; for ever since I have received it, 1 have
had nothing stirring in me for one year, for two, twenty, fqrty years, but love,
pure love to God; God is in aU my thoughts, and nothing but God; I do hia
wiU on earth, as it is done in heaven; if I should say so, I should tell a great
lie —for I should deceive myself, and the truth would not be in me.
Are these indeed the very words of the apostle ? " If we say that we have no
sin now, we deceive oureelvee, and the truth is not in ub. Can no other
sense be fairly put upon them, but that the holy John had sin in him at every
given moment of his fife? Is this the plain literal meaning of the passage?
As it certainly is. observe then, O my soul, the decisive evidence given here
by the Holy Ghost concerning the inward cross. Pray for his teaching that
thou mayst understand, and pray for his grace, that thou mayst profit from,
this scripture. Here is his infallible record concerning St. John and all »»¦•¦¦'
J _ .. ii . il .j ,1  a!  ~f iLn!„ liirao in

favoured believers— He asserts, that there was no time of their lives in which
they were free from indwelling sin : God forbid, then, that I should think I have
no sin ' He avers that if they should say they had none, they were deceived

THE WALK OF FAITH. 395
and that if they should stand to it, as popish mystics, and protestant perfection
ists do, the searcher of hearts declares that they lie, and do not tell the truth—
the truth is not in them : for the father of lies has flattered them and drawn thein
into self-idolatry, with a wicked design to corrupt their minds from the simpli
city that is in Christ. Beware, O my soul, of this deceit ! The Holy Ghost has
warned thee of it. He foresaw how the first sin would break out in after times,
and pride would persuade men that they were perfect in the flesh ; he therefore
bo guarded this scripture, that none can mistake it but such as turn away their
ears from the truth. He put aU the words in the present tense, lest any should
think he was speaking of time past, or of what men were before the blood of
Christ had cleansed them. If we now say — We, who now have feUowship
with the blessed Trinity, and are walking in the light of their countenance — say
that we have no sin, nor had any formerly, he is not speaking of that : If he
were, the Holy Ghost understands grammar, and can make no mistake in ex
pressing himself ; he would certainly have used the past tense, but he uses the
present, now have no sin, so as not to want the cleansing blood of Jesus this
moment as much as ever — If we have any such thoughts, we now deceive
ourselves, and the truth is not now in us. How forcible and strong
is this testimony from the mouth of John ! And the sense as weU as the gram
mar shows that he is speaking of believers, and that there is sin in them ; for
throughout the chapter he treats of the very same persons, and describes not
what they were before, but what they are since they received the grace of God.
They were cleansed from all sin by the blood of the Lamb, were admitted into
communion with the Father and the Son by the Spirit, and they enjoyed this
communion, walking in the light, as God is in the light. These are the persons
here mentioned ; of whom God says, they had sin stiU in them, indwelling sin ;
the fault and corruption of nature stiU remained in them; and if they fancied it
did not, they would be sadly deceived ; they would entirely mistake the cove
nant of grace, which was to bring sinners sensible of their wants and miseries to
live out of themselves upon the fulness of the Gud-man; they would forget their
own character, under which alone they can be saved, salvation being only for
sinners ; they would fall into the crime of the devU, by pride exalting themselves
against the person and work of the incarnate God ; and they would quite pervert
the law and the gospel ; for, in order to maintain their inherent perfection, they
are forced to legalize the gospel, and to make it consist of certain terms and con
ditions, upon the performance of which sinners shall be saved ; and then, in
order to comfort themselves with their having performed these terms and con
ditions, they are forced to turn rank Antinomians : they lessen the evil of sin,
they excuse it in themselves, and make just nothing of it : they call it by several
pretty soft names, such as infirmity, frailty, excrescence, and at last they get
quite rid of it by laying it upon the devil, and by terming it an injection of old
Satan. And thus they deceive themselves into perfection, and insist upon it that
thev have no sin, although they have enough in them to damn the whole world.
O God ! open the eyes of these self-deceivers ! and bring them into the way of
truth. Such is the clear evidence of the Holy Spirit. , He asserts that the greatest be
lievers, while in the body, have sin in them. Dost thou yield, O my soul, to
his testimony ? Art thou fuUy convinced of it from the work of his grace, as
well as from the word of his truth ? Dost thou feel indweUing sin ? Is it the
plague of thy heart, and the burden of thy life ? When thou art willing to walk
humbly with thy God, is it continually in thy way, raising objections, putting
difficulties, and suggesting hindrances ? Is it like a heavy weight pressing thee
down in thy race, that thou canst not run so long, or so fast, as thou couldst
wish ? Since this is indeed thy daily cross, and the bearing of it the hardest part
of thy warfare, oh read with diligence the scripture account of it. Take notice
of the Lord's champions, how they felt under this burden, from whence they de
rived strength to bear it, and had comfort under it. Hear the man after God's
own heart crying out — " Mine iniquities are gone over my head, as a heavy
burden ; they are too heavy for me." 1 >a\ id had a heavy load : he was ready to
sink, and he could not cast it off: he could not go into his closet or to the house

296 THE WALK OF FAITH.
of God : he could not sit upon his throne, or go in and out before his family ;
but this grievous cross so bowed him down greatly, that he went mourning all
the day long. The burden of it was intolerable, and would have crashed hira
under it, if he had not learned how to cast it on the Lord — " Make haste," saya
he, "to help me, O Lord God of my salvation!" Here he found relief : the
prayer of faith was heard, and God was the strength of his salvation.
Under the same burden a New Testament saint went groaning all his daya.
He had a hard conflict between the flesh and the spirit, and he has left the ac
count of it upon record. Blessed be God for the seventh chapter of the Romans !
We there read of the inward cross, with which all the children of God are exer
cised. In the very same Paul there was delight in the law of God after the
inward man ; but he found another law in his members, rebelling against the law
of God : the flesh, in which dweUeth no good thing, never ceased to assault tho
spirit with its vile thoughts, legal workings, and rebellious inclinations .- when he
had a will to do good, he could not do it so perfectly, as he desired : his best
moments were never free from the inroads of indwelbng sin : therefore, in the
bitterness of his soul he cried out, — "Oh! wretched man that 1 am! " — Oh!
that sigh came from the bottom of his heart — I know what he felt — he groaned,
being hurdened — weary and tired with this continual conflict, he looked out
for deliverance — " Who shaU deliver me from the body of this death ? " He saw
by faith his almighty Saviour, and in him expecting everlasting victory — " I
thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord." He rested upon Christ in tbehattie,
and through him waited for deliverance, knowing that one day he should be made
more than conqueror.
WeU, then, O my soul, here is comfort. If the corruption of nature be thy
cross, so it was to David, and so it was to Paul. Thy case is not singular. It ia
common to every soldier who is fighting under the banner of Chriat. Thia cross
is unavoidable ; because it is in thy bosom. It is thine inmost self—thy whole
nature — which is corrupt according to the deceitful lusts. Thou hast not an atom
of thy body, nor the least motion or stirring of any faculty in thy soul, but ain
is in it ; and therefore it is capable of being a plague to the new man. The Holy
Ghost speaks thus of the inward warfare—" This I aay then : Walk in the spirit,
and ye shaU not fulfil the lusts of the flesh : for the flesh lusteth against the spirit,
and the spirit against the flesh, and these are contrary the one to the other, ao
that ye cannot do the tbinga that ye would." These words are addressed to the
Galatians, who were behevers, and called into the liberty of the gospel ; but by
false teaching they were under a great temptation. They had begun in the Bpirit,
but they thought of being perfected in the flesh. They Bet out with ealvation by
faith, but expected aalvation at last by worka. Among other arguments to con
vince them of their mistake, here is one unanswerable ; namely, No worka of
ours can save a sinner but euch as are perfect; no works of ours arc perfect;
therefore they cannot aave a sinner. And that none of them are perfect, is cer
tain becauee in every one of them there ie something of the fleah of corrupt
nature as weU as something of the spirit and of spiritual nature. These two are
contrary as life and death, and they are always in action, every moment the one
lusting against the other ; so that no believer can do the things which he would,
so perfectly as the holy law requires.
How grievous must this inward cross be to a real believer! For it consists
in the opposition which he finds within him to God and to the things of God.
The flesh ever lusteth against the spirit— the old man against the new. fhere is
a continual war between these contrary powers. The flesh is a complete body of
sin armed with every member and instrument of rebeUion that can resist the
motions and actions of the new man. There is darkness in the understanding,
always clouding the light of the glorious gospel; and therefore we know but in
part The wttl of the flesh always opposes the holy will of God. There is enmity
m the heart working against the love of God and of his will. There ia pnde to
weaken humility— anger to oppose meekness— the carnal mind to fight against
SDiritual mindedness. When the spirit is wining, the flesh is weak. When you
draw near to God in prayer, the imagination will not be confined : it will wander
after a thousand vain objects When you are hearing the word, it will disturb

THE WALK OF FAITH. 297
your attention with its unaccountable excursions. It is so sportive and flighty,
that you cannot keep it within any bounds. Is it not so, O my soul ? Art thou
not sensible of this heavy cross ? Dost thou not find something in thee always
resisting and weakening the exercise of thy graces ? and is not this the great
plague of thy life ? Can there be a greater, than to carry about with thee a sin
ful nature, daily trying to hinder thee in thy holy walk and happy communion
with God ? On how much does it concern thee, then, to be weU skilled in bearing
this cross, and behaving under it as a good soldier of Christ Jesus ! And to
this end the principles before laid down are absolutely necessary. Without them
thou canst not rightly understand the nature of indwelling sin, and canst not
possibly gain victory over it. Only the doctrines of grace received into thy heart
can enable thee to walk with God under this cross. CaU to mind, then, what
was agreed on in the covenant of the Trinity, and was fulfiUed in the person and
work of Immanuel for thy peace with the Father, and for thy returning to him in
love, and has been apphed to thee by the Holy Spirit, who has given thee faith in
Jesus, and has manifested the love of the Father in him : thou art therefore now
one with thy covenant-head ; in him complete and perfect, although thou art in
thyself still a sinner. Thou hast a body of sin, through the lusting of which
thou art not able to keep the holy law according to its fuU demand in any one
instance. But thou art, before thy Father, what thy surety is. He sees thee in
him, without spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing — accepted as he is — beloved
with the same love — looked upon with the same joy — and blessed with aU spiri
tual blessings in him. Thy surety lived for thee : thou hast the righteousness
of God for thy justification. Thy surety died for thee : in him thou art as truly
dead unto sin as Christ himself is. Thy surety rose again, and took possession of
spiritual and eternal life for thee. He was delivered for thine offences, and raised
again for thy justification. Thou shalt reign with him, as certainly as he has now
the crown upon his own head. Such is the perfect salvation which is for thee ;
although thou art still the subject of sin : for thy pardon is without exception or
reverse — all trespasses are freely forgiven. Thy justification to life is absolute ;
for it is God himself that justifieth. He chose thee in Jesus, that thou shouldst
be holy and without blame before him — and so thou art. As a member in his
body, thou art without blemish. Here is thy relief, under the inward cross. The
Father chose thee in hia Son, looks upon thee in him, and deals with thee accord
ing to covenant love ; there is therefore now no condemnation to thee, who art
in Christ Jesus. With the sweet sense of this upon thy conscience, persuaded
that God is at peace with thee, take up the inward cross. In this delightful view
see the curse removed. Thou hast no reason to fear wrath, or death, or heU.
Victory over all sins and enemies is certain. Daily, eternal victory is promised.
In this faith follow the noble army, who carried this cross to their graves. Fight
as they did, looking unto Jesus. Sin is in thee: it was in them; but they looked
upon it as a vanquished foe, slain, and put to death when Jesus died for sin once.
Likewise reckon thou also thyself to be in him dead unto sin — freed from the
dreadful stroke of justice by his death — freed as truly as he is — and therefore
thou art no more liable than he is to be condemned and punished. And for
the strengthening of this faith, seek for feUowship with him in his death. It is
thy privilege, as thou art planted in the likeness of his death to derive power and
efficacy from it daily to put sin to death. The more steadfastly thou believest
that thou art one with him in his death, the more wttt thou find thy sinful nature
crucified with him. Communion is always according to the faith of union with
Christ. The strongest faith must have the strongest hold of him, and thereby
draw the most virtue from him. It is true, as our faith increases we become more
spiritual ; and we see corruption more as we see motes in the sun beams. The
senses of the new man by exercise gain a quicker perception of sin — we become
all over tender as the eye — jealous of the motions, yea, of the appearance of
evil. This is real growth. Sin is more felt, in order that the power of Jesus may
be put forth to make us hate it, resist it, and overcome it more. As believers
arc inure sensible of their sinfulness in the li ist Adam, so they grow up into the
second Adam, the Lord from heaven : they bear the cross of the corruption of
the first, which leads them to constant fellowship with the second —in his death.

298 THE WALK OF FAITH.
for the pardon of their corruption — in the power of his death to mortify ain, that
it may not have dominion over them.
Corruption i8 in thee, and it wiU arrive for dominion. Thy sins will soinetimea
fiercely assault. Their aUies, the world and the devil, wiU join them with strata
gems and force : when the hattie is hot, and thou art weak, then it behoves theo
to live by faith upon Jesus as thy surety, now acting for thee in heaven, as he
acted for thee upon earth. He is gone up, as thy high priest, to carry thy name
within the veil. He bears it upon the ephod on his shoulders, and upon the
breast-plate on hia heart : fiis power and hia love are engaged for thee, now he is
in glory. He etanda in the preaence of God, aa thy representative. The Father
sees thee in him : and thou art in his sight what thy forerunner is. As he stands
there, so dost thou stand — righteous as he is righteous — holy aa he ia holy — be
loved as he is beloved — and shalt be blessed as he ia blessed. View by faith thy
nature in him, exalted and glorified, and for the joy set before thee in him take
up thy cross. It is a heavy burden — it is a hard warfare. True. But consider,
who shall lay any thing to thy charge for indweUing ein ? It is God that justi-
tieth thee from it, who is he that condemneth i It is Christ that died, yea rather
that is risen again, who is even at the right hand of God, who also maketh in
tercession for thee. He appears in the presence of God for thee, as thine inter
cessor. He is always in court to represent thy person, and to carry thy cause,
especially as to what concerns sin. " If any of us sin," says the beloved disciple,
" we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous ; and he is the
propitiation for our sins;" in this office he is skilful, and faithful, und compas
sionate. He has thine interest at heart — thy safety, thy comfort, under thiB
cross, and thy victory over it. His very glory is so interwoven with thine, that
they are one ; yea, the advocate and his clients form but one spiritual body, of
which every member ie what the head is. O my God and Saviour ! I blcBs thee
and worship thee for acting for me as mine advocate and intercessor in heaven.
Increase, 1 beseech thee, my faith, that I may see more of the glory of thine
office, and may make more use of it, in the bearing of mine inward cross. Oh
let thy faithful witness abide with me to enable me, without doubt or wavering,
to trust in what thou hast done for me upon earth, and to draw comfort from
what thou art now doing for me in heaven. Into thy hands I desire to commit
my cause. Lord, undertake for me. Be surety for thy servant for good, and
guide me with thy counsel, till thou bring me to thy glory. I ask this for thy
mercies' sake. Amen. Is this the true state of the case ? Ie it certain from the
word of God ? Is it confirmed from matter of fact ? Did the highest believer
upon earth experience this inward cross ? When his conscience summoned him
to -the bar of God, and put him upon inquiring what he would plead there for
his justification, had he any thing to urge but the sacrifice and righteousness of
the ever-blessed Immanuel? And is not this thy plea, O my soul? Dost not
thou find so much weakness and infirmity in thy holy things, that thou wouldet
seek atonement for the iniquity of them through the intercession of the great
high priest ? And thou wouldst not think of standing before the throne to claim
eternal life as the reward due to thine own holiness. I s not this thine experience !
If it be, then take up thy cross in this faith. It is thy grief that sin is in thee.
The motions and lustings of it are thy burden. 'Ihe resisting and opposing them
is thy continual warfare. And thou hast no prospect before thee of enjoying per
fect deliverance from this heavy cross, until death release thee. Blessed be Ood
for the salvation that is in Christ Jesus 1 There is a provision made in the cove
nant of grace for the pardon of indweUing sin, for victory over it daily, and for
the eternal destruction of the whole body of sin: it shall have no existence in
the membere, any more than it has in their glorified head. Here is a comfort lor
thee O my soul! of God's own providing and of God's own applying. When
it is applied to the heart, the cross will be easy. Observe carefully what is re
vealed concerning the being of sin in the beet Chriatians, and concerning the
pardon of it. The Holy Ghost declares it dwells in them, but they are forgiven
all trespasses— they are in Christ without spot or wrinkle, or any such thing— in
the first Adam they are heirs of sin, death, and heU— in the aecond Adam, the
Lord from heaven, they are heire of righteousness, life, and glory. He is their

THE WALK OF FAITH. 299
covenant head : and they are before God, what he is. This is the record of truth
— Yb are complete in him. Abide by it, O my soul. Give it frill credit,
and boldly plead it against att the charges of guilt, and fears of wrath. —
" It is true, I have sin in me, but it is pardoned. God has forgiven me all
trespasses. I stand before him in my surety, who undertook for me, and I am
perfect in him. The Father chose me in his Son : he looks upon the face of his
beloved, and sees me in him. In him he is weU pleased ; so he is with me. As
he loves him, so he loves me. This is the glorious privilege, which by faith I
now enjoy. I deny sight and sense ; and I stick to the word of God. I adhere
strictly to its testimony concerning me, believing myself to be dead indeed unto
sin in Christ, and in him absolutely freed from guUt and condemnation. The
Father'is at peace with me, and he loves me in his Son, and with the same love
with which he loves him — His Father and my Father. With this persuasion I
go to war with my corruptions. I see their traitorous designs. They are fight
ing against every thing that is dear and precious to my soul. But having the
promised grace of the almighty Saviour for my help, I desire to set upon them
in his name. I know he has them among mine other enemies under his feet,
and I have his word for it that he wUl put them under mine. Yea, Lord, I believe,
and on thy faithful promise I trust, this day. Although I must carry my cross,
yet I bless thee and worship thee for removing curse and wrrath from it: I can
now take it up as thy soldier, and fight against it in thy strength, expecting vic
tory from thee, and to thy glory. O my God, save me from indwelling sin. Let
me feel it my burden. Glorify thy grace -in me, and by me, that, being endued
with power from on high, I may hold out resisting and conquering it till thou
give me everlasting victory."
If this, O my soul, be thy constant dependence, then the cross wiU become
light. Guilt makes it heavy. The curse in it makes it intolerable ; but by faith
thou canst see guilt and curse removed : then it wttl be no hindrance to thee in
thy heavenly walk, but will daily caU forth into use and exercise those graces
which wiU help thee forward, and especiaUy
Patience. Here is great need of patience — a continual war — and within
thee — thine own bosom the seat of it — and thine own lusts carrying it on and
maintaining it. The more spiritual thou art, the more wttt thou feel this inward
conflict. 'The more thou growest into Christ, the more wiU thy corruptions stir
and move : they will be thy continual plague ; so that thou wilt not he able to
draw any comfort from what thou art in thyself. Here is exercise for patience.
F.very where indwelling sin is present with thee : upon every temptation ready
with its flatteries to entice, and with its power to break out into act and deed.
The opposing it is like cutting off a right hand and plucking out a right eye —
as contrary to nature, as painful. The hand and the eye cannot be destroyed
Iwico ; but inbred lusts, overcome a thousand times, are not in the least dis
couraged from waning against the soul. Like the troubled sea, never at rest,
they are always casting up some sinful mire and dirt. What canst thou do with
out faith in the Redeemer's blood, without patience to wait for the Redeemer's
strength. Every moment there is need of faith and patience, and every moment,
if these graces he exercised, they will be improved. The bearing of the cross
continually, and the fighting under it on the side of God, wiU also be the means
of teaching thee
The true spiritual mortification, which does not consist in sin not
being in thee, nor in its being put upon the cross daily, nor yet in its being
kept upon it. There must be something more to establish perfect peace in thy
conscience ; and that is the testimony of God concerning the body of sin. He
lias provided for thy perfect deliverance from it in Christ. Every thing needful
tor this purpose was finished by him upon the cross. He was thy surety. Ile
suffered for thee. Thy sins were crucified with him, and nailed to his cross.
Tliey were put to death when he died : for he was thy covenant head, and thou,
as a member of his body, wast legally represented by him, and art indeed dead
to sin by bis dying to sin once. The law has now no more right to condemn
line, ,i believer, than it has to condemn him. Justice is bound to deal wilh thee
as it has with thy risen and ascended Sitviour. If thou dost not thus sec

300 THE WALK OF FAITH.
thy complete mortification in him, sin will reign in thee. No sin can be crucified,
either in heart or fife, unless it be first pardoned in conscience ; because there
wiU be want of faith to receive the strength of Jesus, by whom alone it can be
crucified. If it be not mortified in its guilt, it cannot be subdued in its power.
If the believer does not see his perfect deadness to sin in Jesua, he will open n
wide door to unbefief; and if he be not persuaded of his completeness in Ctirist,
he gives room for the attacks 6f self-righteous and legal tempers. If Christ be
not all in all, self must stiU be looked upon as something great, and there will be
food left for the pride of self-importance and self-sufficiency ; so that he cannot
grow unto the death of Christ in sensible experience, farther than he believes him
self' to be dead to sin in Christ. The more clearly and steadfastly he believes this,
as the apostle did —
I am crucified with Christ — in proportion will he cleave to Christ, and
receive from him greater power to crucify sin. This beheving view of his
absolute mortification in Christ ia the true gospel method of mortifying ain in
our persons.
Examine then, O my soul, the mistakes which thou hast made, and the
temptations which thou art under, concerning this leading truth in thy walk.
Pray to thy God for his wisdom to guide thee. Without it thou wilt be afraid,
where no lear is. Thou wilt be inclined to think this doctrine rather encourag
ing to sin, because it seems to carnal reason to take off thy mind from watchful
ness against it, and from praying for victory over it. But be assured this is a
great error. If thou art not complete in Christ, thou never canst be complete.
Seek for the death of sin where thou wilt, it is not to be found but in his death.
Try to conquer it upon any other principle than faith in his death, the very
attempt i6 sinful, and prove8 thee to be under the law. Unless thou art one with
him in his death, there can be no pardon of sin, and consequently no victory
over it. Oh, fear not then to lay the whole weight of thy aalvatfon upon Jesua !
Depend on him, as dying to sin for thee, and look at thyself dead to sin in him —
as completely dead to it aa he is. Read the testimony of the Holy Spirit.
Study the infinite, the everlasting sufficiency of his death for thine absolute
freedom from guilt and condemnation. Truat without wavering : be not afraid
to view the everlasting perfection of thy deliverance in Jesus : and this will
weaken the tyranny, and crucify the power of ain. This will, and nothing else
can. Read the sixth of the Romans, and pray for the Spirit of revelation to open
it to thee. There thou wilt discover the true way to mortify sin. It is by
believing that thou art planted together with Christ in his death : from thence
only thy pardon flows ; from thence thy daily victory is received, and from
thence thy eternal victory will be perfected. Fight on ; soon thou shalt be
what Christ now is. The member shall be perfectly like the head. Oh glorious
prospect ! Thou ehalt be with him and like him— spotless and fair, as Jeaue,
righteous and holy, happy in body and soul. Thou ehalt eee him as he is, and,
awakening after his likeness, thou shalt be satisfied with it. Take up thy cross
for the ioy here set before thee. Bear it in faith: it will be light and easy to thy par
doned conscience : yea the carrying of it in patience wiU bring forth many peace
able fruits of righteousness : Among the rest there is one, which in the eight of
God is of great price, and which is daily improved by the inward cross ; namely.
Humility, which consiste in the right knowledge of ourselves, not only of
what we have been, but also of .what we now are. The best and hohest man
upon earth hae a corrupt fallen nature : he hae flesh still, which is always lusting
against the spirit. While he ie alive to God, he feels it He ie eenaible of the
inward conflict. Dead men indeed feel nothing. A dead corpse haa no aense of
the wonne which are eating it up. He that haa these luate in him, and warring
against his soul, and yet does not feel them, cannot be spiritually ahve. A natural
man has no sense of them, because they are in him as worma in a dead body:
iust so is it with the perfectionist. But so soon, and so long, as he lives to IjoiI,
he wttl perceive them. If he be in happy communion with God, indwelling am
is uresent to interrupt the enjoyment. If he exercise any grace, this besetting
sin tries to weaken its actings. If he set about any duty, it will hinder him from
doing it so perfectly as God requires, and as be could wish. The abiding Benae

THE WALK OF FAITH. 301
of these truths wUl keep down pride. The befiever will see nothing of his own
to trust in ; no faith, or hope, or love ; no faithfulness to grace ; no holy
obedience ; all is stained and poUuted. He is forced to cry out, of his best
duties : Unclean, unclean .' In this school the disciple learns to walk humbly with
his God. The more he knows of himself, the more humble he becomes. And
he grows in this heavenly grace, the more he is acquainted with the mercy of
God in Jesus. This, learned by divine teaching, keeps the believer meek and
lowly in his own eyes. Nothing softens and melts the soul into holy tender
ness like the sense of God's mercy. A man who feels the plague of his own
heart, is never truly humbled untU he be pardoned. But when he is justified
from all things in Christ, in him a partaker of aU spiritual blessings in earth and
heaven ; when he sees aU his salvation of grace, of free sovereign grace, flowing
from the absolute favour of electing love, and bestowed upon him, as unworthy
an object as ever did or can partake of it ; then he becomes truly broken-hearted.
These truths, taught of God, bring every high thought into subjection to Christ
Jesus. The soul bows before him, lies low at his feet, prostrates itself before the
throne of his grace, and desires to be kept wUling to take aU its blessings out of
his hands, and to use them to his glory. This is gospel humility, the true abase
ment of spirit, with which a man, sensible that he is saved by mere mercy,
loathes himself. And while the experience of indweUing sin humbles him down
to the dust, it produces, through God's grace, the happiest effects ; for it keeps
him in his strong tower and sanctuary, in which alone he is
Safe. It is ever reminding him of his need ofthe blood of sprinkling — ever
showing him his want of a perfect righteousness — and ever preaching to him the
necessity of his being kept by the power of God. And while he hearkens to
these lessons, trusting to Jesus, he will stand fast and be established. The arm
of the Lord God Almighty wttl hold him up, and he shaU be safe. While he lives
thus out of himself, the sense of indweUing sin wiU lead him to his true
Happiness, which is all in the fulness of the God-man, He wiU enjoy the
more of this, the less he finds in himself. When he cannot draw comfort from
any thing of his own, he wiU seek it more in God. When aU the streams are
dried up, he wiU get nearer to the fountain head, and live more upon it. This
is the portion of the Lord's people, and the inheritance of aU his saints. And
in this view indweUing sin is made the means of promoting their
Holiness. They see their continual need of Christ. They can do nothing
without him : but, believing their oneness with him, they desire to improve it
in experience. Every thing they do keeps them sensible of their sins and wants,
and shows them the necessity of living by the faith of the Son of God. This is
true humility. The more they are humbled, the more they receive out of the
fulness of Jesus : for he giveth more grace — more to produce nearer feUowship
with him in his death, whereby sin wiU be more dead, and in his resurrection,
whereby the soul will be more alive to God : so that the humblest believer is the
nearest to God, and is the safest, happiest, and holiest of aU the men upon earth ;
because he has most feUowship with God. He dweUs in God, and God in him.
Meditate, O my soul, upon this use of the cross. Is sin in thee ? Dost thou
feel it ? and art thou fighting against it ? And does not this humble thee ? Art
thou freely forgiven aU trespasses, indwelling sin among the rest ? Dost thou
know that thou art a saved sinner — a brand plucked out of heU ? -And does not
this humble thee ? I see reason enough to be humbled : but I feel pride in me
lusting against humility. O my precious Jesus ! humble me under thy mighty
hand. To thee I look for all my salvation. Lord, save me from pride. Thou
hast made me wUling to be taught of thee to be meek and lowly, and I come to
thee praying that the disciple may be as his master. Oh let me drink deep into
thy Spirit. In every day's warfare against my corruptions, enable me to renounce
myself, that I may find thou art carrying both me and my cross. Keep me
humbled at thy feet, that thou mayest exalt me in due time. I pray to thee, my
precious Saviour, for this grace, to mine eternal humbling, and to thine eternal
exaltation. In hfe and death, and for evermore, I hope to glory only in the Lord,
and to triumph in the God of my salvation.
Thus the heliever learns to walk humbly under the inward cross. He is

302 THE WALK OF FAITH.
nf™*!!? h<tn° * vS If '? j?" Sa™ur*s hand- Daily he discovers more of the ruin
If ta ^tad^iW 1Um '? fr«sh discoveries J the perfect salvation j™ '
ll*Z ™ ? 5 / ,S paSS"^ ln tls own br*ast- hc finds his need of a Savioui
every moment and for every flung, by which means he grows in grace, and in th
excellency of the knowledge of drist Jesus hia Lord. 8Heleari?a to put no con
fidence ,n the fleah bu to rejoice only in his completeneea in Jeaus, from whon
aU his comforts and victories are received. Thus, while self is laid low, the
isavieur is exalted, and his perfect work is more depended on. The believer b\
hope and love attains more delightful communion with his God. Indwelling sir
is hia cross; but he bears it, looking unto Jesus; from whom he receive*
strength to go on yea, to run the race set before him. By faith he sees in Jeaus
the corruption of his nature condemned and dead in law : he beholds himself freed
from this as weU aa from hia other sina. Guilt is the most galling part of thia
cross ; but when guilt is thus removed from the conscience, then the cross grows
hght. When taken up in faith, and carried in love to the almighty Saviour then
it does not stop the believer in his feUowship with Jesus or in his liappy'walk
with him. Glory be to thee, my Lord! of this I have some experience. Yes
precious Jesus, I know the infinite value of that sacrifice which put away ein I
bless thee for that offering which perfects for ever. Interested in it, I would not
distrust my completeness in thee. Through thy holy nature 1 expect to be
renewed after thy likeness. The fountain for cleanaing from the filth of sin
atands open : in it I daily waah my Bpotted soul. In thy divine righteousness
1 see the law and justice of the Father infinitely honoured by justifying me, and
dealing with me, as perfectly righteou8. Complete in thee I am. In thy work
finished upon earth I am perfect, and am represented aa such by thee in heaven.
I believe thou appearest there as my divine intercessor, bearing my name upon
thy shoulders and upon thy breast with a glory beyond all the precious atones in
the world, O my blessed Jesus ! increase thia faith. Lead ino from faitii tn
faith ; that while I am travelling heavenwardB, mine eye and my heart may be
more aimply fixed upon thee. Come, thou glorifier of the Saviour, and discover
to me more of the 8infulness of ain and of my need of his salvation. Holy Spirit,
teach me, in the deepest aense of indwelling ein, to trust wholly to the offering of
the body of Jesus. Oh lead me to hia cross, there to eee all my sin8 nailed,
crucified with him, dead in hia death, buried in his grave: in thia faith strengthen
me mightily to resist and to conquer my corruptions. Enable me to experience
the power of his cross, that I may fee) ein weakened in the love and in tho
practice of it. Almighty Spirit ! in my daily warfare I find no etrength less than
thine can make me conqueror : and therein thou hast caused me to put my trust.
Awake, awake, put on etrength, O arm of the Lord ; awake as in the ancient
days, in the generations of old ! Art thou not it that cut the pride of nature to
pieces, and wounded fhe old dragon ? O my God, magnify thine arm in subduing
every ein. Thou seest my naked heart, and its sighings are not hid from thee.
My corruptions are indeed my cross ; and they would have been a sore burden,
too heavy for me to bear, if the curse had not been taken out of them. But still,
pardoned as they are, yet in this tabernacle I do groan, being burdened. I
believe the day ie coming when I ehaU have perfect and eternal freedom from
sin and sorrow. The first fruits of this only make me long the more for the
blessed harvest. But I desire to wait in hope, bearing my cross, till thy will be
done. O Lord, make me willing to resist ; give me power to overcome indwell
ing sin tttl the day of redemption, and mortality he swallowed up of life. Hear
me, my good God, and answer me for thy name's eake, to the glory of Father,
Son, and Spirit, the three in one Jehovah, to whom my heart now bows in wor
ship, and my soul hopea eoon to join the aong of never-ceasing praise. Amen
and Amen.

THE WALK OF FAITH. 303

CHAPTER XI.

The believer fights the good fight of faith, and goes forth conquering and to conquer.
When the believer has been disciplined under the cross, and has learned to
bear it with patience, the Captain of his salvation has other exercises for him.
He has chosen him to be a soldier, and he intends to teach him to endure hard
ness. His life in Christ is one continued battle, not only against flesh and
blood, but also against principalities and powers of earth and heU. He cannot
discover their stratagems, nor overcome their assaults, but by being strong in
the grace that is in Christ Jesus. His warfare is therefore to be carried on en
tirely by faith. The principles before laid down must be brought into use.
What the spirit of God had discovered to him of his salvation in Jesus is to be
tried in every battle, and if it be maintained, it wiU be improved. If he hold fast
the confidence of his faith, he will behave like a good soldier. If he always take
up arms in absolute dependence on the divine General to give him courage, to
order him how to attack his enemies, to bestow strength upon him daily to re
sist them, then victory will be certain : yea, he will be invincible, while he stands
strong in the Lord and in the power of his might. He wiU meditate upon the
principles, which he had been taught of God, and wttl find peace in his own con
science, and joy in his heart, by bringing them into datty experience. His be
lieving views of the warfare to which he is called wiU be such as these —
I am, through sovereign grace, called to fight under the banner of Jesus. He
has not left me to fight as uncertainly ; but he has conquered all mine enemies
for me, and he has undertaken to conquer them aU in me. It is true, I am weak ;
but my Redeemer is strong : the Lord of hosts is his name. He has saved me
from my sins, from the shame and pain of them, from the wicked one and the
wicked world, from the curse of the law, and from the wTath of God. He has
given me a divine righteousness for my justification, and in it I ara accepted
before the throne. He has put it upon me for ornament and defence — it is a
garment of salvation, which cannot be lost upon earth, and which will shine with
never-fading beauty in heaven. The Father is perfectly reconciled, and loves me
with a love that passes knowledge. I believe it .- God is on my side': I need not
fear what any enemy can do unto me. He has taken me into his protection. By
his aU-wise counsel I am guided ; by his almighty arm I am defended. My
battles are the Lord's. Indeed my enemies are many, and they are too cunning
and too mighty for me. But why do they now fight against me ? Is it not be
cause God is my friend ? They hate me because he loves me. While I lived in
friendship with them, and was at war with God, they were always trying to make
me happy. But, ever since I fled to Jesus for refuge, and sought redemption in
his blood, they have taken up arms against me : and they have raged more fu
riously since I was enabled to believe in him. But I have no reason to fear their
opposition. With them is an arm of flesh ; but with me is the Lord my God, to
hah) me and to fight my battles. I may therefore go to my daUy warfare in
faitn, regarding the commands, waiting for the fulfiUing of the promises of my
God, and relying upon the provision which he has made for my present and for
mine eternal rictory.
Are thy meditations, O my soul, like these upon the Christian warfare ?
Examine thyself. If thou art at peace with God, thou must expect war. It is
unavoidable. If it be in thy heart to please him who hath chosen thee to be a
soldier, then aU the powers of wickedness will be in arms. Night and day, with
never ceasing rage, they will pursue thee. Deep-laid plans wiU be formed, and
fierce assaults will be made against thy true happiness. They will be attempting,
so long as thou art in the world, by some cunning or force to draw thee from thy
God. Thy life from henceforth is to be one continued battle. Thy victory de
pends every moment upon holding fast thy confidence in God ; and therefore
thou must bring the principles of the doctrine of Christ into exercise. Thou
hast seen how necessary they are for every step of thy walk, and thou wilt find

304 THE WALK OF FAITII.
them equally necessary for every part of thy warfare. Thu is a leading truth—
thine enemies are God's enemies. Once thou didst join with them, nnd wast on
their side, fighting against God ; but he has saved thee from the guilt of thy re-

has been given thee on the behalf of Christ to believe. The Lord the Spirit haa
satisfied thy conscience, and. has comforted thy heart with the knowledge of thia
perfect salvation. The Father is thy Father in Jesus — thine by his own free
gift — thine by his own unchangeable purpose ; and how thine by thy free choice.
He has made thee willing, in the day of his power, to take him for thy God. He
is perfectly reconciled unto thee in his Son : and should not thia perfectly recon
cile thee to him ? Hia love to thee ia wonderful in all its properties, in ita riao
and origin, and in its free and fuU communication of every covenant blessing.
And does not the belief of this engage thy heart in love to God ? Dost thou not
love him for his love to thee ? and is it not thy daily prayer that thy love may
abound yet more and more ? Has not the sense of this peace and love been im
proved in thy daily walk with him ? Hast thou not found the truth, and enjoyed
the comfort, of these graces in thine experience ? Oh fear not then, 8ince God
ia on thy side ; fear not, O my soul, to go to war with any enemy who would rob
thee of the peace of God in thy conscience, or of the love of God in thy heart.
This is the design of all those who fight against thee. They want to ehake thy
confidence in God, and so to draw thee from him. They know they cannot suc
ceed while thou standest strong in the Lord, trusting to his being tliy reconciled
God and loving Father. Oh keep thie trust in him aa the apple of thine eye ;
bind it continually to thy heart in love; and fight for it aa for thy precious life.
Be assured, no enemies can prevail against thee until they have first overcome
thy faith ; because, while thou makest God thy refuge and strength, his almighty
arm will be thy defence. Be not afraid, saya he ; I am with thee, and I will keep
thee by my power through faith unto aalvation.
In this warfare it is the chief business of the believer to have respect to tbe
orders given him. He is entirely to depend on the Captain of his salvation.
What ha8 he Baid, O my eoul, to encourage thee to go to battle without fear ?
Mind hia description — it is the good fight of faith, in which thou art en
gaged. By faith thou art to attack thy foes ; by faith alone thou canst conquer
them ; and faith must have his
Commands ; or else it can have no lawful warrant to fight, and no juat ground
to expect victory. Indeed if he had apoken nothing, there could have been no
faith; for his word comes first— it is spoken— it is beard— and then faith comes
byheanng. Look well, then, to hiB word. Study it carefufiy. If thou obey it
aright, thou art absolutely safe in the hottest battle, and thy victory ia as certain
aa if the crown were already upon thy head. These are hia Btanding ordera :—
" Fear thou not ; for I am with thee : be not afraid ; for 1 am thy God : I will
Btrengthen thee, yea, 1 will help thee, yea, 1 wiU uphold thee with the right hand
of my righteousness. Behold, all they that were incensed against thee shall be
ashamed and confounded : they shall be as nothing, and they that strive with
thee shall perish. Thou shalt seek them, and shalt not find them, even them that
contended with thee : they that war against thee shall be as nothing, and as a

IM'rU'l • J. Will II BID """-j u***»»* •-.— 
Israel " Are these indeed the words of God ? Does he command poor worms,
weak and defenceless, to go to war without fear ? Does hs encourage them to
look up to his arm, promising to be on their side ? Yes ; the Lord of host*
fights for them : all their enemies are his, and therefore they may safely mint,
and not be afraid. O my soul, read carefully ; read again and again ; mark an;
inwardly digest every word of this divine command : and in obedience to it
expect his help. Face thine enemies, whoever they be, with holy boldness ; for
God is with thee. He has undertaken to fight thy battles. Look at this serw-
ture Canst thou meditate on it, and yet be afraid ? Of whom, or of what ? Oh

THE WALK OF FAITH. 305
vile unbelieving fear ! Beg of God to save thee from it. Honour the Captain of
thy salvation. Trust him. Doubt not but thou art as safe, obeying his orders,
and expecting his help, as almighty power can make thee. Observe the courage
of one of thy fellow soldiers. Observe his victory — " When I cry unto thee, then
shall mine enemies be turned back : this I know ; for God is on my side. In
God will I praise his word ; in the Lord wttl I praise his word : in God have I
put my trust ; I will not be afraid what man can do unto me." The enemies of
David came to swallow him up, but he encouraged himself in the Lord his God.
He attended to his orders. He considered the word which was spoken to him.
He depended upon it, and had reason to praise God for his faithfulness ; for God
fulfiUed it unto him. There was in it a
Promise, as weU as a command— Do this, and I wiU be with thee. The pro
mise is always made good to them who keep the command in faith. The one is
our divine warrant to fight ; the other is our encouragement to fight in certain
hopes of victory. Attend, O my soul, to the promise ; and fear not the accom
plishment of it — " In righteousness shalt thou be established : thou shalt be far
from oppression, for thou shalt not fear ; and from terror, for it shaU not come
near thee. Behold, they shall surely gather together, but not by me ; whosoever
shaU gather together against thee, shall fall for thy sake. Behold, I have created
the smith that bloweth the coals in the fire, and that bringeth forth an instrument
for his work ; and I have created the waster to destroy. No weapon that is formed
against thee shall prosper ; and every tongue that shaU rise in judgment against
thee thou shalt condemn. This is the heritage of the sen-ants of the Lord ; end
their righteousness is of me saith the Lord." Thou art here forewarned of thine
enemies : they shall gather against thee : but the Lord is not with them. He is
thy defender and mighty deliverer, and he wiU bring aU opposition to nought for
thy sake. However numerous their hosts may be, yet they shaU fall. Whatever
weapons of war they may form, yet none of them shaU prosper. This is the cer
tain heritage of all believers. Their righteousness and their strength is of me,
saith the Lord : I will fight their battles, and I will never leave them nor forsake
them: I will make them daily conquerors, and behold the days come, saith the
Lord, that I will perform that good thing which I have promised them : I wttl
make them more than conquerors.
Is this, O my soul, the infaUible word of promise ? Has the Lord of Hosts
undertaken to stand by his people ? Has he engaged to lead them out to war by
his wisdom, to defend them in battle by his power, and to give them eternal vic
tory to the praise of his own grace ? Oh ! what motives are these to strengthen
thy heart and thy hands ! What hast thou reason to fear, since the Almighty is
on thy side ? The battle is his. If hosts of enemies oppose, yet foUowing his
orders, and trusting to his strength, thy victory is infallibly sure : for then thou
wilt fight against them strong in the Lord, and in the power of his might, and
thou wilt be invincible
In the whole armour of God. This armour is the provision which God
has made for the safety of his soldiers. He puts it on them, and he keeps it on
them. It is a whole armour ; a complete defence from head to foot. In great
mercy their God, who provided it, has revealed to them the use of every part.
In the sixth of the Ephesians the apostle has described it at large. He supposes
thtm to be acquainted with the Christian doctrines, and to have walked in the
comfort of them ; and he calls upon them to bring them into practice in their
daily warfare. " It only remains, my brethren," says he, " that ye be strong in
the Lord ;" for no strength less than his can keep you, " and in the might of
what he is able to do" — by faith relying upon his promise, and trusting to his
power, " putting on the whole armour of God," that, being strengthened
mightily by his Spirit in the inner man, ye may be preserved dependent upon
the Lord, and enabled to engage in his strength, and to conquer to his glory.
Unless you thus rely upon his word and arm, you will not be able to stand
against the wiles of the devil ; for we wrestle not only against flesh and blood,
but also against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness
of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places ; therefore, take unto
you the whole armour of God, that ye may be enabled to stand in the evil day
x

3CG THE WALK OF FAITH.
against the combined legions of earth and heU, and after ye have done aU to stand
conquerors in the field of battle, when your enemies are driven out of it. Stand,
therefore, having your loins girt about with truth — this is the first grace in use —
Saving knowledge; what the Holy Spirit teaches. He guides believers
into aU truth necessary for their salvation. As the military girdle went round
the loins, and bound all the armour together, so the knowledge of the truth as it
is in Jesus, binds togetiier aU the graces. It is of the essence of every one of
them : it is light in the understanding, to discover what they are, that they may
be received into the heart in love, and that, in obeying the truth, their influence
may operate upon the life and conversation. When a man is thus taught of God,
then he sees his need of the breastplate of righteousness, and he puts it on ;
namely, the
Imputed righteousness ofthe God-man. The breastplate was armour for
the vital parts— so is the righteousness of Christ — it is a perfect protection from
every stroke of every enemy. He that wears it upon his heart, believing in the
life and death of Immanuel, is armour proof against aU weapons. If the strength
of his adversaries could be coUected into one arm, which was to strike one miglity
blow, his breastplate would ward it off: the armour of God could not be hurt.
The soldier, with it on, cannot perish, but shall have everlasting life. Therefore,
covered with this invincible breastplate, he may face the stoutest foes, and attack
them without fear. He may inarch on undaunted, " having his feet shod with
the preparation of the gospel of peace."
Peace with God, through Jesus ChriBt, is another grace of the Spirit which
mightily strengthens the inner man. Whoever sees the truth of the gospel, and
believes it, will discover God to be at peace with him, perfectly reconciled to him
in Jesus, and who, out of his fatherly love, will overrule all things for his good.
In the sense of thia he may go on with holy boldneaa, as the soldier did with his
greaves on. When his feet and legs were armed with them, he was not afraid of
thorns or briers, of rough roads or sharp spikes. In like manner the peace which
the gospel brings carries the Christian soldier fearleBS through difficulties : ho
wiU inarch on conquering, if he keep on hia greavee. If he maintain peace with
God, through Jesus Christ, he wiU not be stopped by war, or trouble, or tempta
tion. But he must remember, that to every piece of armour faith is essentially
necessary — the girdle ia good for nothing without the belief of the truth — the
breaetplate ia no defence without faith in the righteousness of God our Saviour —
the greaves are no more than if the feet were covered with a bit of thin gauze —
unless faith be mixed with the gospel : " therefore toallthf.se take the shield
of faith, wherewith ye shaU be able to quench all the fiery darta of the wicked
one." What excellent things are here spoken of
Faith, as a grace of the Holy Spirit ! When they used to fight with bowe and
arrows, the soldier could hold up his shield and keep himself safe : so the Chris
tian soldier, if the fiery darts of Satan fly thick about him, by faith will quench
them aU. He has much combustible within him ; and one spark would set him
in a flame if he had not his shield : but, armed with it, and oppoeing it to the
arrowe of the wicked one, he may lift up hie head with joy ; for he has the helmet
of salvation upon it. The grabe here meant is
Hope, and it is fitly compared to a helmet, which was armour for the head,
and a defence for aU the senses which are seated in the head. It is caUed. the
helmet of salvation, because it always saves. It never can be destroyed :
none of the senses of the spiritual man can perish in this warfare : and therefore
it is a hope that maketh not ashamed. Hope, with his helmet on, fears no blows;
It can truly say, I am commanded to be strong and of good courage ; not to be
afraid or dismayed : for the Lord my God is with me, whithersoever I go. Trust-,
ing to thia command, hope is in wars and fightings fuU of glory and. immortality<
The Lord'e ordere to march forward are the ground of hope : and this eupplie»
him with a weapon which none of his enemiee can withstand, even the sword of
the Spirit, " which is the
Word of God." The scripture is called a eword — (an offeneive weapon — and
it is the only one which the Christian soldier has — all the rest being for hie de
fence) because it is mighty through the Spirit working by it to cut off aU oppose™.

THE WALK OF FAITH. 307
Our Lord, in combat with the old serpent, defeated him with this sword : and
the noble army of his foUowers, now crowned in glory, overcame him by the
blood of the Lamb, and by the word of their testimony : they held fast their con
fidence in the word, and with it, as with a two-edged sword, they slew the old
dragon, and gained eternal victory over him. Fight against him, O my soul,
with the same weapon. Keep the sword in thy hand. Thou wilt stand in need
of it every moment against that subtle foe. rhe Word is the means of over
coming the devil, and it is mighty through God, when heard and read in faith,
and inwardly digested by prayer. The best soldier in the Lord's army is best
acquainted with the necessity of prayer : he not only believes what God says of
his armour, but he also depends upon him for the daily experience of it ; and
therefore, when he has put his armour on, in the
Prayer of Fai-Th he caUs upon the Captain of his salvation for orders,
courage, strength, victory, and every thing needful — " Praying always with all
prayer and supplication in the Spirit, and watching thereunto with all perse
verance." O my God, teach me thus to pray. I would depend" on thee, and
express my dependence without ceasing : for I am sensible that without thee I
can do nothing. Although thou hast chosen me to be a soldier, yet I have nei
ther counsel nor strength for war. My foolish heart loves ease : it would have
the crown ; but it would be excused striving lawfully for it. I find nothing in
myself that disposes me to endure the hardship of the Christian warfare. My
whole trust therefore is in thee, Jesus, my Lord and my God. Thou hast caUed
me to the battle : thou must fit me for it, keep me in it, and make me conqueror.
All is of thee. The whole armour of God, which I have received, the saving
knowledge, the righteousness, and the peace, that precious faith and glorious
hope, that sure word, wherein thou hast caused me to put my trust — these are
the gifts of thy grace ; and on thee, my Jesus, I entirely depend for the right use
of them. Thou must stiU cover my head in the day of battle. Mine eyes are
lifted up to thee ; my hopes centre in thee, from whom alone cometh aU my sal
vation. O Lord of Hosts, keep me in this simple dependence upon thy word
and arm, that I may exercise thy graces in fighting thy battles ; and if thou art
pleased to give me daily victory, 1 may be willing to return thee aU glory. O
faithful promise-keeping God ! stand by me, and enable me to hold out, till I
finish my course with joy, and, my warfare being ended, I may bless thee for
evermore for that peace which passeth aU understanding. Oh, grant me this for
thy mercies' sake ! Amen.
If this be thy dependence, if thou art standing in the Lord's strength, and
trusting entirely to his armour, then consider, O my soul, thy safety in every
battle. If thou go to war, calling upon thy God to be with thee, and to give thee
victory, then victory is certain. Thou canst not be conquered, if thou fight in
faith, relying upon the orders of thy General, expecting his promised help, and
waiting for it in prayer, trusting to the armour which he has put upon thee. Is
this, then, thy defence ? Dost thou pray always ? Begin the good fight ; carry it
on ; and end it with the prayer of faith ? Blessed be bis holy name, since this
is in some measure thy case ! Go on in his strength, and fear not to fight his
battles who hath chosen thee to be a soldier. Be of good courage, and he shaU
strengthen thy heart. The more bold thou art in thy faith, the stronger shalt
thouTje in thy warfare; for whatever thou hast courage to do at his command
thou shalt perform in his strength. And why should a doubt arise ? Hast thou
forgotten that the great decisive battle has been fought and won? Immanuel
stood up, the great champion for his people. The almighty warrior entered the
lists with their enemies, and he conquered aU their hosts. He triumphed over
Satan and the world, over sin and death ; and he led captivity captive. Remem
ber, he calls upon thee to share in his victory, by faith to partake with him of the
spoils, and to keep the vanquished enemies daily under thy feet. He has made
them his footstool ; and he will make them thine. This is thy warfare. And what
hast thou to fear in it ? What hurt can a dead man do thee ? If he has a gun
charged in his hand, he cannot fire it. He is not able to stir a finger. No more
able ie any adversary to destroy thee. Whilst thou art trusting to the complete
victory of Jesue, thou wilt daily share with him in it. And the more simple
X2

308 THE WALK OF FAITII.
thy trust is in him, the greater conquest will he give thee, because he will then
receive from thee greater glory. How should this consideration inspire thee with
courage ! — it is for his glory that thou shouldst conquer. Thy God commands
thee to fight on his side, promises to assist thee, has provided invincible armour,
and has in his own person engaged and defeated every enemy against whom thou
art to fight ; and therefore he requires thee, in obedience to his orders, depending
on his promises and armour, to bring him glory by conquering in his strength.
O my soul ! hast thou not a zeal to promote the honour of thy Saviour ? Ib not
his fame and renown very near thy heart ? Dost thou not think it a privilege to
be any ways instrumental in exalting his great name ? Yes, Lord ; thou hast made
me willing to glorify thee. Thou art my lawful king, and I desire to honour thee
by following thine orders, fighting thy battles, and relying entirely upon thy pro
mises. I would not question thy faithfulness to them, nor fear any enemy against
whom thou hast commanded me to fight. I would not doubt of thy strength to
carry me through the battle, or to give me the promised victory. In this faith I
conduct my warfare, and I would have all my success to bring fresh glory to thee.
I know that the courage which I have in the field of battle is not from nature, but
from grace. It arises from the belief that I am armed with the whole armour of
God, and that the enemies against whom I fight are his as weU as mine — his whom
he conquered for me — and is now conquering in me — and all to his own praise.
From hence, Lord, arises my sure and certain hope of victory. I ground it on
thy word. I fight in faith. I trust to thy complete victory ; and now I am sharing
in it. My daily victories are only the fruit and effect of thine. O my almighty
Jesus, give me grace to ascribe all the glory to thee. It is thy due. Make me
willing to.give it thee for the victories obtained for me, and in me. Oh, keep me
by thine almighty power through faith, till I have fought the good fight and won
the prize. Grant me thia, blessed King of saints, to thine eternal honour and
glory. Amen.

CHAPTER XII.
The believer marches on fighting the good fight of faith, and daily gains victory
over the world.

The world signifies the visible frame of nature; not the earth only, but also
the present constitution of the universe of animate and inanimate beings : all
which were created good at firat, but, through the sin of man and the just sen
tence of God, are now subject to vanity.
The world is become a great enemy to fallen man ; because it is always pre
senting something to his Benses, which is a temptation to sin. It keeps him from
God by its flatteries, promising to make him happy in its enjoyments. It seta them
before him He looks, and loves. He gives his heart a willing sacrifice to the
world and suffers himself to be entirely influenced by its hopes and feara.
While man was innocent, every object raised in him some spiritual idea, and
thereby led him to contemplate and adore the great Creator in his works: but,
upon the fall, he lost this use of natural objects: they did not, as they struck
upon the aenses, excite correspondent ideas in the mind; because the man waa
ahenated from the life of God through the ignorance that was in him. His,
underetanding was in darkneas : he could not see the things of the spint of God ;
neither indeed could he know them for want of spiritual discernment. Being.
thus deprived of the image and likeness of God in knowledge, having no Willi
but the wttl of the flesh, and his heart being at enmity with God, he sinks into'
communion with the creature. His very mind is carnal: his affections are
earthly • his pursuits are after temporal things : his enjoyments are in the de
lights of sense. In this state he lives a mere animal life, without God in the
W Indeed he has within him an immortal soul ; but it is apostate. It is fallen
from God, and has no more communion with him by nature than the devil haa.

THE WALK OF FAITH. 309
The law has condemned it to death — The soul that sinneth shaU die : and it is
already spirituaUy dead to God, being as incapable of quickening itself as a dead
corpse is : therefore it cannot attain, of itself, any tme knowledge of God, or
have any real fellowship with the things of God. While fallen man is in this
state, his earthly and sensual appetites take the lead ; and aU the light in his
mind, and the desires of his heart, only dispose him to seek for their present
gratification. Outward objects offer themselves to him : they make an impres
sion upon his senses, and sometimes act upon them very forcibly, soliciting and
enticing to the enjoyment of some fancied good ; and so long as he continues
an unregenerate man, those temptations prevail, and keep him from God. He
does not see God in outward objects. He does not love God for them. He
does not enjoy them to the glory of God. God is not in all his thoughts.
Man has been called a microcosm. He is so wonderfuUy made, that the whole
creation comes under the observation of some of his senses. His eye, by means
of light, can discover the form, the surface of aU objects. The ear takes in
aU sounds. The nose perceives aU vapours and smells. The palate tastes all
sorts of fluids. All sorts of solids come under the sense of feeling, which is in
every part of the body, for the benefit and preservation of the whole. Thus every
object in the universe is fitted to act upon some of the senses, and was intended
by the Creator to excite some spiritual idea. But this use was lost by the faU.
The impression made by outward objects does not raise up the mind to God, and
excite adoration and praise, but keeps the heart from him, and affords a continual
temptation to live to the world, and to the things of it. Whatever is presented
to the eye, to the ear, &c. can stir up and bring forth evU ; and actuaUy does,
according to the scripture : for " the whole world (as fallen from God) both in
wickedness," and is at enmity with him ; and therefore believers are commanded
— " Love ye not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man
love the world, the love of the Father is not in him : for aU that is in the world,
the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the
Father, but is of the world." Mind, all that is in the world is the means of
feeding some lust: for which reason the apostle caUs it — " this present evil world"
— evil because of sin, and because of its temptations to keep the heart in love
with it, and to shut out the love of the Father.
I low awfuUy solemn are these scriptures ? What strict examination, O my
soul, should they put thee upon ! Search and try thyself by them ; and see
whether thou art saved from the love of the world. It is a blessed part of
redemption ; and it is one of the brightest jewels in the Redeemer's crown.
1 low infinitely glorious is this character ! — " Jesus Christ gave himself for our
sins, that he might deliver us from this present evil world." This deliverance
is worthy of God. We had sinned by loring this present evil world, and he
came to save us from our sins ; it ruled over our hearts and lives, and kept us
under its tyranny ; and he came to deliver us from the love and from the power
of it. Thrice happy are they for whom he thus gave himself. O my soul, read
and study the everlasting honours of this great victory, and see whether thou art
indeed a partaker of them. Jehovah was made flesh for his people, and, as their
divine surety, came to conquer their enemies — the world among the rest. He
was in their nature to enter into open war with it, and to overcome every
temptation, by which it had drawn Adam or any of his descendants from God.
Thus he was to conquer the world for them ; and then by his Spirit he was
to conquer it in them. He began the battle with his first breath,- and every
moment of his life he was victorious. The world has its snares for every
age and state ; but he feU into none of them : his hands were clean : his
heart was pure. He never lifted up his soul to vanity. He was in his infancy the
holy child Jesus : and he grew in wisdom and stature. When he was twelve
years old, he was wiser than his teachers ; for he sat in the midst of the doctors,
both hearing them and asking them questions : and aU that heard him were
astonished at his understanding and answers. His delight was in the law of the
Lord ; and in his law did he meditate day and night. He saw things as they are
there described in their true nature. The world could not impose upon him.
He lived above its offers of good : and he feared not the worst of its threatened

310 THE WALK OF FAITH.
erils. When he began his ministry, he fought a pitched battle and be
came an eternal conqueror. The prince of this world was permitted to try
every object by which the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, or the pride of
life, had seduced mankind. They were presented to Christ in their richest
dress. The beauty, the pleasure, the honour, and the riches of the world were
set before him in all their glory. But they made no impression. They did not
darken his understanding, nor influence his heart, nor provoke any sensual ap
petite. He rejected every pleasing offer : he withstood every flattering aUure-
ment. Thus he conquered the world ; but not for himself. His victory over
aU its temptations was for his people. He accounted their enemies hie. He
fought their battles. He conquered, ae a king for hie subjects. And he gives
them to share with him in his triumph, when they befieve in him ; for thus he
encourages them — " Tliese things have 1 spoken unto you, that in me ye might
have peace : in the world ye shall have tribulation : but he of good courage ; I
have overcome the world." The world is your enemy. It had you in
bondage, and you could not free yourselves ; therefore I came in your nature,
God manifest in the flesh, to conquer it for you : and I have obtained a perfect
conquest. When I have proclaimed it to your consciences, and pardoned your
idolatrous attachment to the world — when in me ye have found peace — yet stiU
the world wUl be your enemy. Because I have chosen you out of it, therefore
it wttl hate you. My peace wttl occasion and increase your tribulation in it ;
but fear not. Remember, it is a vanquished foe. Attack it in my strength, as
partakers of my victory. Fight against it, and treat it as under my feet and
made my footstool. Whenever it tempts you, depend absolutely upon my con
quest, and you wttl find my grace almighty to crucify the world to you, and you
to it.
How animating are these worda ! With what courage ehould they inspire the
Christian soldier ! Although the world be his enemy, yet it cannot conquer him,
and rob him of his crown. The main battle haa been fought, the victory ia
gained, and the conqueror ia already crowned in the name and person of aU the
redeemed. By faith he givea them their ahare in thia victory, aa it i8 written —
" Whateoever ie born of God, overcometh the world : and thia ia the victory
that overcometh the world — even our faith." Every person who is born again
by the Spirit, has a new nature, spiritual and heavenly, and has new senses to
exercise about spiritual things. Hia renewed faculties are formed for heavenly
thinga, aa hia bodily sen8ea are for material. By faith he aees a better world
than this, and surveys its beauties and glories. He has eara to hear the joyful
sound of gospel grace, and to receive it. When that name, which is dear and
precious above every name, is preached, it ia to him aa ointment poured forth •
the sweet smelling savour refreshes his heart and exhilarates his spirit8. Then
he tastes that the Lord is gracious— foretastes his heavenly love, and as truly
lays hold of and enjoys ita apiritual blea8inga aa he ever did of any thing material.
He iB created anew in Christ JeBus, not only that he may know theae tilings, hut
may also partake of them — as truly now by faith, aa he ever will by eenBe : and
the more he knows, and the more he partakes of them, the more wttl he be de
livered from this present evtt world ; " For this is the victory that overcometh
the world — even our faith." By faith we see the victory of Christ, and rest
upon it ; and the more safely we put our trust and confidence in it, the more
fellowship we shall have with him in his fruita— more wiedom to aee the vanity
of the world, as he saw it — more grace to deliver us from the love of it— and
more strength to subdue its temptations. These are some of the happy effecta
of his conquests, which he left us to enjoy here, as pledges of our being one
day what he now ia. He is more than conqueror ; so shall we be through him
that loveth us. As our faith increases, we shall share more with him, and
triumph more over the amttes and frowns of the world. Since this ie the only
way to conquer the world, art thou, O my eoul, conquering it in thie way ? and
hast thou faith in the victory of Jesus ? Dost thou depend on him for the pardon
of thy former love of the world, and for the crucifying the love of it in thy heart ?
Art thou relying upon his victorious grace to make thee a daily conqueror over
att ite temptations ? Examine thy warfare, and see whether it be carried on ac-

THE WALK OF FAITH. 311
cording to the scripture rule, and with the promised success. Look at some of
the Lord's champions. Survey the triumphs of Moses, and remember, the
Lord's hand is not shortened — " By faith Moses, when he was come to years,
refused to be -called the son of Pharaoh's daughter ; choosing rather to suffer
affliction with the people of God than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season ;
esteeming the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures of Egypt : for
he had respect unto the recompense of the reward." How great was this
faith ! how glorious its victories ! It was a divine grace, and exercised by a
divine operation — mighty through God. By it Moses saw the reality of heavenly
things : by it he tasted their sweetness, enjoyed their blessedness, and had a
hope fuil of glory and immortality. The world made him its highest offers ; but
he rejected them. His eye was kept single, his heart chaste, towards his God.
The honour of Pharaoh's alliance he despised. He preferred affliction with the
people of God to the pleasures of sin. He embraced reproach when it came on
him for foUowing Christ ; and he esteemed it beyond aU the treasures of Egypt.
He saw the vanity and emptiness of earthly enjoyments, and he trampled upon
them, having respect to the recompense of reward. Thus he was crucified to
the world. What an exalted character ! There is no such hero in the records of
profane history ; but, thank God ! there are great numbers in sacred, who
followed the steps of his faith. Every soldier of Christ Jesus is caUed to war
against the world ; and every good soldier is a daily conqueror. The world is
always present, and has its temptations ready to stop him ; but he meets them
strong in the Lord, and in the power of his might, trusting to the whole
armour of God. Then victory is certain. And in order that the Lord may
have aU the glory, he wiU keep him fighting and praying in this manner : —
This world is not my portion. My happiness does not consist in loving and
enjoying the things of it. It is an evil world ; it lieth in wickedness ; Satan has
his seat and throne in it ; and it is condemned to fire. Thank God ! mine eyes
are opened to see a better world than this ; and I am traveUing to it. I believe
it was the purpose and will of the Eternal Three to choose me to be an heir of the
world to come. Glory be to the Father for his free choice, and for aU the
blessings of his love ! Glory be to the coequal Son for his complete and ever
lastingly perfect salvation ! Glory be to the Eternal Spirit to whom I am in
debted for what I believe of the Son's salvation, and for what I have experienced
of tho Father's love. On thee, O God the Holy Ghost, I place my dependence
for carrying on the work which thou hast begun. I would be guided by thy
counsel every step of my walk, and strengthened by thee for every part of my
warfare. Keep me in the right way ; and make me conqueror over all the enemies
who would stop me in it, or turn me out of it : especiaUy, deliver me from this
present evil world. While I am going through it to a better, preserve my heart
from the love of it. O my God ! give me a stranger's temper, and a pilgrim's
frame. Let me live as a sojourner here below, that the good things I meet with
on my journey may not tempt me to make this my rest, and the evU things I
meet with may not lead me to fret and murmur, as if God was not my Father,
and his heaven my home. O thou divine Teacher ! show me daily the glory
of my Saviour's victory over the world, that I may share with him in it ; and
enable me to go forth conquering and to conquer in his strength, and to his
praise. Help me to look upon the world, and to treat it, as he did, that, feeling
the emptiness of its offered happiness, I may with a single heart cleave to my
Father in Jesus, and may be saved from the spirit of the world. Keep me
waiting for my appointed time, sitting quite loose and free to the things about
me — and let heavenly and eternal things be always present to my faith, in their
reality and blessedness, that I may grow more ahve to them, and more dead to
every thing else. Preserve my heart, O my gracious God ! that it may be
simple with thee when I ain in my worldly business. Enable me to cast aU my
cares and burdens on thee, believing thou carest for me. Oh, daily crucify the
world to me, and ine to it, that, when its offers stand in competition with thy
love, 1 may have grace lo reject them. In this holy war, carry me on glorifying
him who hath called me to be a soldier Graut me this for Jesus' sake. Amen
and Amen.

312 THE WALK OF FAITH.

CHAPTER XIII.

The believer marches on resisting and overcoming the wiles and the assaults of the
tempter.
Satan is a continual adversary. He reheUed against the sovereign will of
the Most High in heaven, and was cast out. As soon as man was formed, he
began to tempt him to rebel against God, and he succeeded. Ever since the
revelation was made of the divine purpose to redeem sinners, he has set himself
up against it, and with impotent rage opposed it. He is always trying to hinder
sinners from coming to the Saviour, and, when they are come to him, to hinder
them from living by faith upon his fulness. On the side of Satan are princi
palities and powers, combined armiea and united legions of apostate spirits, —
formidable to man for their number — more so for their subtlety and cunning; —
they have stratagems and wiles, depths of skill to deceive — in. which they are so
successful that they have deceived the whole world. Their courage is desperate.
They fear nothing ; for they were mad enough to take up arms against the
Almighty. No wonder, then, that they should he unwearied in their attacks
against man. They are always upon the watch — ready, as one temptation failB,
to present another. Their etrength ie very great — they are called principalities
ana powers — rulers and princes — yea, the god of this world ; because they work
as they please in the children of disobedience, whom they keep so fast bound in
the chains of sin, that no human arm can break them asunder. And it is the
only joy they know — the joy of hell — to rivet the chains of sin upon these poor
captives, till they bind them in everlasting chains of darkness.
These, O my soul, are thine enemies. They had drawn thee into their re-
beUion, and they are still trying to draw thee into their torments. They have
free access to thy faUen nature. They know how to make use of the objects in
the world to work upon thy senses, and to stir up evtt thoughts. They haye
fiery darta always at hand to throw at thy faith, and reet not, night and day, in
attacking thy peace and happiness in Jesus.
Bless the Lord, O my soul 1 and aU that is within me, bless hia holy name,
for undertaking to save thee from those enemies. The love of the Father
gave his Son to he the woman's seed — Jehovah incarnate — for his people. In
their nature he was to bruise the head of the serpent : his cunning, his poison,
and all his power to hurt, fie in his head : when this is bruised, he ia defeated ;
the battle to be fought was foretold, and the victory to be won was promised to
Adam : and by faith in it he and aU the redeemed in the Old Testament con
quered Satan. In the fulnesB of time-God wa8 manifest in the fleeh : he came
to deetroy the worka of the devil. Sin ie his great work : by it he drew man
from God, and by it he keepa man from God. Immanuel begun the deatruction
of the work8 of the devil by taking human nature. Hia manhood was perfectly
holy — it had not, it could not have, any sin ; because God was in Christ.
There was every thing in his holy life which the law could require. He
obeyed aU its precepts with uninterrupted conformity, and being coequal and
coeternal with the Father, hia obedience was therefore divine, absolutely com
plete, and infinitely sufficient to justify for ever. He was tempted indeed, but
he overcame every temptation. He defeated Satan in aU his attempts, insomuch
that when he was entering upon the last scene of his life, he could declare—" fhe
prince of thia world cometh, and hath nothing in me." He did come, and
the great pitched hattie was fought, which was to decide for ever, whether the
seed of the woman or the serpent, should be crowned conqueror. The battle
began in the garden of Gethsemane, and was finished upon Mount Calvary.
Every stratagem of infernal policy was then tried ; every aaaault of devilish
malice was exerted against the Captain of our ealvation ; but he conquered them
all as it was foretold — " Thou shalt tread upon the lion and adder : the young
lion and the dragon shalt thou trample under thy feet." He trod upon the
serpent's head, and crushed it, but at the same time the serpent bit hia heel.

' THE WALK OF FAITH 313
The heel is the lowest part, his body — this feU in the conflict, but he completed
his victory by the loss of his life. The apostle speaks of the cross, upon which
he bled and died, as the great scene of this engagement, and on which he van
quished and triumphed for ever over the powers of heU : having spotted princi
palities and powers, and taken away all their armour wherein they trusted, he
made a show of them openly, triumphing oyer them upon the cross, leading
them as you would captives in chains ; rebels stiU, but unable to rob the Lord
Christ of the glory of any part of his conquest. Thus through death he con
quered death, and him that had the power of death, that is the devil. O blessed
and Almighty Jesus ! eternal thanks are due to thee for this most glorious
victory. Satan is now a vanquished foe. He is under thy feet, thou highly-
exalted head of the redeemed. Thou hast for them, and in their stead, overcome
all his wiles and assaults. He may tempt, but he cannot conquer them. He
has no right to accuse them— thou hast made an end of sin. He has no power
to torment them — thou hast brought in everlasting righteousness. He cannot
pluck them out of thy hands — they are dear to thee, and kept as the apple of
thine eye. Glory be to thee ! thou wilt soon bring them out of the reach of his
temptations, and thou wilt be to them an eternal and infinitely perfect Saviour.
In this faith, O my soul, thou art caUed upon to take up arms against the old
serpent. Thou art to fight against him under the banner of Jesus — a name
terrible to the devil and his angels. Trusting to the victory of Jesus for thee,
and to the strength of Jesus working in thee, thou art daily to bring him honour
and renown. How safe, bow blessed is such a warfare ! Thou hast the wisdom
of thy God and Saviour to discover to thee the wiles of Satan. Trust to it, O
my soul. Leave thyself simply to his direction ; and although Satan be subtle
and cunning — although he has depths of policy, and plans out of number, yet
thou shalt not be ignorant of his devices. Thy aU-knowing Saviour will detect
his plots, and turn the counsel of that Ahitophel into folly. And if he attack
thee as a roaring lion, yet fear him not. Thy Redeemer is strong. He has
bruised the serpent's head ; resist him in faith, and thou shalt bruise it also. Lean
on the arm of thy Jesus ; depend on his promised strength ; foUow his orders,
and thou shalt tread Satan under thy feet daily.
But, above all, remember that thou canst only conquer him by faith — by faith
in the victory of Jesus, built upon thy faith in the word of Jesus : for thus the
scripture testifies of the conquerors now round the throne, " that they overcame
the devil by the blood of the Lamb, and by the word of their testimony" — they
overcame him by depending upon the atoning blood, and by trusting to what the
word says of its all-sufficiency to save ; and they found by experience the pro
mised victory. To the same effect the apostle Peter stirs up believers to a sobriety
in the use of all creature comforts, and to a continual watchfulness against their
enemies, in order that they might daily conquer — " Besober.be ligilant, because
your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may
devour; whomresist steadfast in the faith." This brings victory. The
believer resists the devU, and stands against him steadfastly in the power of Christ
This power is almighty, and therefore faith, relying upon it, infaUibly secures
victory. The devil may throw his fiery darts thick and fast, but the shield of faith
is proof against them. It is able, through God, to quench them ; so that tbe
fire of temptation shall not inflame the soul. How precious are these scrip
tures ! How encouraging to the Christian soldier ! they promise him every thing
needful for the battle, and for victory. Why, then, shouldst thou doubt, O my
soul, of the promised blessings ? Take courage ; fight under the banner of
Jesus ; keep close to his colours ; follow strictly his orders ; and he wiU keep
Satan under thy feet to-day, and thou shalt be more than conqueror over him for
ever. Considering thy war with Satan in this light, what is there in it, O my soul,
to stop thee in thy way to heaven ? Ihou art called upon to fight against him ;
but then it is in the Lord's strength, and as a partaker of his conquest. He
made all thine enemies his. He fought thy battles. His triumph is thine.
Thou mayst therefore sing of victory before every battle. Ihou dost not fight
to gain the pardon of thy sins or to make thyself righteous, but to oppose thine

3 4 THE WALK OF FAITH.
adversary, who would draw thee into sin, anil, if he could, would rob thee o
thy righteousness. He hates thee becauae Christ loves thee. But his hatred ii
in vara. Thy Saviour has conquered him for thee, and by faith will conquer hin
in thee: for thou art kept by his almighty power. Trusting to this, go forti
strong in the Lord. While thou art living in communion with him, thy warfari
wttl be successful. If thou attend to his word, and foUow his orders, he will en
courage thy heart and strengthen thy hands with such promises as theso : —
I have chosen thee to be a soldier ; and I send thee out to fight against all the
enemies of thy peace. But thou dost not go to this warfare at thine owr
charges, nor carry it on doubtful of victory. I have provided every thing
needful for maintaining the battle, and for bringing thee off conqueror. Thoi
shalt find much profit in this holy war. It wttl be the means of keeping up con
stant feUowship with me. Thou shalt see thy need of coining to me for courage
for orders, for strength ; and by faith thou wilt receive sensible experience of mj
being present with thee, and on thy side. Only trust me, and thou shalt fine:
me faithful to my promise of help and victory. Go forth, then, to thy daily
warfare, and boldly face Satan. Fear him not in the least; for that woulo
betray a doubt of my having him under my feet, or of my putting him undei
thine. Give not place to him ; no, not for a moment : but resist him, and con
tinue to resist him, steadfast in faith and prayer — trusting to my promise and
depending on mine arm. — Be eober; be vigilant. Thus oppoae the devil, and
'thou wilt certainly conquer him. And having conquered, fight on. In the fight,
look to me for victory ; having obtained it, expect a fre6h battle, and look stiU to
me for victory : and thus go on conquering and to conquer. Thy crown is in
my keeping. As sure as I have it on my head, it Bhall be on thine. Thou shall
soon sit down with me on my throne, a crowned conqueror for evermore.
Glory be to thee, my precious Jesus, for these faithful promises, in which
thou hast caused me to put my trust ! and now. Lord, let the thing that thou
hast spoken concerning thy servant be established, and do as thou hast said.
Thou hast put it into my heart to desire to be a good soldier, and to fight thy
battles against all the enemies of thy crown and dignity. O thou glorioua
Captain of ray 8alvation 1 arm me for my daily warfare with Satan. He is too
ounning for me : O my God ! teach me hia devices. He ia too mighty for me ;
but the aeed of the woman hath bruised hia head. YeB, almighty Jeaus, thou
hast destroyed the devil and his works. I believe in thy victory. Oh let
me partake of its fruits, and daily bring thee honour and renown by my victories.
Make me etrong in the grace that ie in Chriat Jeaus, that I may not fear Satan.
Send me out against him armed with thine invincible armour. Strengthen me,
O my God, that I faint not through the length or sharpness of the battle,
but enable me to persevere tiU thou discharge me from the war. Thus in a con
stant dependence upon thee, would 1 fight the good fight of faith, keeping up
communion with thee in every battle, and growing more acquainted with my
wants, and more thankful for every supply. O my loving Jesus ! increase my
feUowship with thee. I desire to war a good warfare ; and every thing needful
for it is from thee. From thy fulness I expect it ; and when I receive it, I would
use it to thy glory. Hear, Lord, and answer me for thy mercies' sake, Amen
and Amen.

CHAPTER XIV.
The believer, kept by the power of God, perseveres in his holy walk and victorious
warfare.
After the believer has made a great progress in his walk, and has been very
successful in his warfare, yet he ia not out of the reach of any temptation. He ia
still liable to be stopped in the way of duty. Hia enemie8 may cheat him by
some stratagem, or gain some advantage over him by open force. While he ia

THE WALK OF FAITH. 315
attending to these things, as they come before him in his daily experience, a
thought will often arise —
I am afraid my profession will at last come to nothing, and I shaU be a cast
away. I feel so much cormption working in my duties, and my heart is so
ready to revolt and to turn from the Lord in every battle, that I cannot help
being uneasy about my final state. How can I ? It is not in me to hold out
and persevere against so much opposition from within and without? What sig
nifies my resolution to walk forward, or to fight for an uncertain crown ? I think
I gain no ground. Mine own carnal will plagues me, and I love ease and
quiet as much as ever. My corruptions seem as many, and mine enemies as
strong, as they were. One day I fear I shaU perish by their hands. My heart
faints at the thought. My courage fails me. Oh ! wretched man that I am !
where — to whom — shaU I look for strength to enable me to hold out unto the
end? No befiever is absolutely free from such an attack ; and there are seasons
very favourable to it. If his mind be in heaviness through manifold tempta
tions, and be reasoning legaUy upon them ; if he be under the hidings of the
Lord's countenance, or in a time of desertion ; if he be fallen into any great sin,
perhaps his old besetting sin ; if the guilt of it be upon his conscience, and the
indignation of God be heavy upon him ; then such thoughts find easy ad
mittance ; and, if they be indulged, they greatly distress the believer ; for they
directly assault his faith, and strike at the very being of his hope. As these
graces are weakened, he moves slowly ; and if unbelief prevail, there is a
stem put to his progress in the heavenly road.
Blessed be the Lord God of Israel ! who has made ample provision for victory
over this temptation. The principles before insisted on are now to be brought
into practice. Here is a fresh occasion to try their power and influence,
and to make it appear, that in • these distressing circumstances the Father has
given his children good ground to rely upon his unchangeable love. He has
revealed to them the immutability of his counsel and of his oath, that when they
have fled to Jesus for refuge, they may comfort their hearts and say : — I have
been afraid of falling away ; but it is without reason ; for I have stttl immutable
things to trust in : — although, to my sense and feeling, every thing seems to
make against me, yet God has promised not to leave me nor foreake me. Oh
that I may honour his promise, and, without doubting, rely upon his faithful arm
to make it good.
Consider, then, O my soul, the principles of the doctrine of Christ. Review
them carefuUy. Thou seest what influence they have upon every step of thy
walk, and how mighty they are through God to carry thee through aU thy diffi
culties. Oh study then the perfect freeness and the absolute sufficiency of the
salvation of Jesus. Read and mark the bonds and securities which a faithful
God has given thee to trust in, and not to be afraid. The time to honour them
most is to believe them when thou hast the least sensible evidence ; for that is the
strongest faith. If thou canst believe upon his bare word, and it is a very good
warrant, thy feet shall stand firm upon the rock, and thy goings shaU be weU
ordered : and that thou mayst believe this in the hardest trials, God informs thee
that thy continuance in grace does not depend on thyself. " Thou standest by
faith;" and faith should direct thee to what God has undertaken and has pro
mised to do for thee. He would have thee to place the confidence of thy heart
upon his tried word, which is a never failing foundation ; and if thou wast to build
all thy hopes of persevering upon it, it would quiet thy fears, and comfort thy
heart. Thou wouldst then see that God has not left thee to thyself to stand or
fall, but has engaged never to leave thee nor forsake thee. He has declared, he
will not turn away from thee to do thee good, and he will put his fear into thy
heart, and thou shalt not turn away from him. View thy case in this comfortable
light, and while thou art considering the safety of thy persevering, as revealed
in scripture for the ground of thy faith, may every promise lead thee to trust
more in God, and to trust less to thyself, and then the snare which was laid for
thee wiU be broken, and thou wilt be delivered.
But take heed of carrying thine opinions to scripture, and of forcing it to

316 THE WALK OF FAITH.
speak for them. Beware of that common mistake : and beware of human sys
tems. Pay no regard to men or names. Simply attend to the promises of God
concerning thy persevering. Thy present trial has convinced thee that thou
canst not depend on thy own faithfulness : this therefore is the time to learn prac
ticaUy the faithfulness of God, and to improve thy faith in it from such Scripture
arguments as these : — <
First — the nature of the divine covenant ; which is not only the unchangeable
wttl of the Eternal Three, but is also their agreement, confirmed by oath, con
cerning the heirs of promise.
The Father loved them as his children, freely, with an everlasting love : he
chose them, and gave them to his Son : he engaged to keep them by his power
through faith unto salvation.
The Son accepted them, and wrote all their names in his book (not one of them
therefore can be lost) : he undertook to be made man, and to live and die for
them ; to rise from the dead, to ascend, and to intercede for them ; nnd he sitteth
as king mediator upon the throne tiU every one of them be brought to glory.
The Holy Spirit covenanted to carry into execution the purposes of the Father a.
love, and to apply the blessings of the Son's salvation. He undertook to quicken
the heirs of promise, to call them effectually, to guide, to strengthen, to sanctify,
and to comfort them ; yea he is not to leave them tiU the number of the elect be
perfected: therefore H£ abides with them for ever.
In this covenant the Eternal Three have undertaken for every heir of promise
— to do all for him, and all in him — for the means, and for the end— so that not
one of them can perish : for faithfulness to the covenant is one of the highest
honours of the Godhead : " I am Jehovah your Alehim, which keepeth covenant :
I will ever be mindful of my covenant — My covenant will I not break, nor alter
the thing that is gone out of my mouth." What strong consolation is there in
these words ! Study them, O my soul, that by them thy faith may be established,
and they may do thee good, like a medicine.
Thou art afraid of falling away: but the blessed Trinity have undertaken to
hold thee up ; and their covenant engagements are to be Ihe ground of thy
beheving that they will fulfil what they have promised. Observe and adore the
goodness of God : see how he meets thy eloubts and answers thine objections :
" An oath for confirmation is, among men, an end of all Btrife : wherein God,
willing more abundantly to show to the heirs of promise the immutability of hia
counsel, confirmed it by an oath : that by two immutable things, in which it waa
impo8aible for God to lie, we might have a strong consolation, who have fled for
refuge" to Jesus. Thy faith should run parallel with this promise, and Bhould
safely trust as far as it warrants thee : now it gives thee sufficient reason to con
clude that thy atate before God is immutable, and that he has determined thou
ahalt not fall away and periah : for observe,
Secondly, hi8 deaign in tbe covenant. He knew thy frame, thine infirmities,
and thy temptations, and therefore he provided the covenant, and promised
the blessings of it upon oath,/or thy sake— to end all strife in thy conscience—
and to give thee strong consolation. This was his mind and wttl. He revealed
it for thee, to settle thy heart in believing, and to administer to thee great comfort.
Weigh attentively each of these particulars, and then say what more could have
been done to satisfy thee of thine immutable persevering.
But thou thinkest, " Such trials as thine are uncommon, and perhaps not pro
vided for in the covenant, and therefore it can be no disparagement to the divine
faithfulness if thou shouldest fall away." How can this be eince the everlasting
covenant ie ordered in allthingb, and on the part of God is absolutely
sues ? — nothing that concerns thee is left out of it — not a single hair of thy
head— thy trials are all appointed and ordered, and the end also which they are to
answer. Perhaps, from the clear evidence of the divine record, thou art convinced of
the covenant of God to save the heirs of promise, and of hia engaging to keep
them that they 8ha!l never perish ; but thou art afraid thou art not in the cove
nant, nor an heir of promise. From whence arise thy fears ? From scripture ?
No. ' AU scripture is on thy side. Hast thou nrft fled, as a poor einner, to Jeaus

THE WALK OF FAITH. 317
for refuge ? Hast thou not acknowledged his divine nature, and his all-sufficient
work ? And though thou art now tempted to doubt, yet some faith is still fight
ing against unbelief ? These are covenant blessings. Oh look up then to Jesus !
— why not thy Jesus ? But, however, look to him — keep looking on — and he
wUl give thee reason to be ashamed of thy doubts and fears.
But the Lord hides himself from me, and therefore I fear I am not in his
favour. This objection is answered in the charter of grace — I will not turn
away from doing thee good. He has hid his face, and thou art troubled :
this trouble is for good. It should put thee upon inquiring into the reason of
God's hiding himself. It should humble thee, and should exercise thy faith upon
such a scripture as this — " For the iniquity of his covetousness was I wroth, and
smote him : I hid me, and was wroth, and he went on frowardly in the way of his
heart : I have seen his ways and will heal him : I wiU lead him also, and will
restore comforts to him and to his mourners." Although he hid himself, yet he
had love to his people — although he smote them, yet it was a fatherly correction.
But, Thou fearest, God not only hides his face, but has also quite forsaken thee.
He may, as to thy sense and feeling, but not as to his own purpose, which chang
eth not. Hear how he speaks to thee, and silences thy doubts — " For a smaU
moment have I forsaken thee ; but with great mercies will I gather thee : in a
little wrath 1 hid my face from thee for a moment, but with everlasting kindness
will I have mercy on thee, saith the Lord thy Redeemer." How gracious is thy
God ! What infinite mercy is it, that he should give thee such promises, so suited
to the trials of thy faith, to preserve thee under them, and to bring thee out of
them ! Read carefully, over and over again, these promises ; and may every
reading of them disperse the cloud of unbelief until thy soul be enlivened with the
hght ofthe Lord's loving countenance.
But perhaps thou art in a worse case, as to thine own apprehension : " thou
thinkest God is incensed against me, and justly — he has cast me off, and I can
expect no more favour at his hand : once, indeed, I thought he loved me ; but I
have fallen into a great sin — an old, besetting sin : my conscience accuses me
of committing it against light and conviction : it is a foul black spot, such as is
not to be found upon the children of God."
Thou art fallen : and wilt thou lie there, and not be raised up again ? Thou
art under guilt : and wilt thou nurse it, and add sin to sin ? Aggravate the sin
fulness of thy faU as much as thou wilt, yet thou canst not be truly humbled for
it, but by returning to God, and by trusting in the plenteous redemption that is
in Christ Jesus. Then thy heart will be softened and melted into love ; for
grace wiU have its due honour, and thou wilt see what the scripture says of thy
case in its divine truth and majesty. 'Thou wilt feel thyself exactly what the
word of God says of thee — a fallen sinful creature — in thee (that is in thy flesh)
dweUeth no good thing — so that there is not any sin, but thou art capable of
falling into it through the strength of temptation. So long as thou art in the
body, the flesh lusteth against the spirit, and the spirit against the flesh ; in this
conflict thou mayst fall ; but the covenant secures thee from perishing. Abra
ham, the father of the faithful, feU : the friend of God feU into the same sin again
and again. Moses feU : so did David. Peter, forewarned, feU : so did all the
apostles. Yet they were believers, and they did recover themselves out of the
snare of the devil : for whatever sin thou art faUen into may be pardoned, as
theirs was. " The blood of Jesus Christ cleanseth from aU sin" — there is in it
an infinite virtue to wash away every spot and stain : it is a public fountain — it
stands open for daily use, that believers may wash and be clean — it is always,
at every given moment, effectual — it cleanseth, in the present tense, now —
to-day, while it is called to-day : for there is nothing new to be suffered on the
part of Christ, in order to take away sin. He put it away by the sacrifice of
nimself : the Father accepted it ; and thus proclaims the free forgiveness of all
the trespasses for which the atonement was made — " I wiU be merciful to their
unrighteousness ; and their sins and their iniquities wttl I remember no more."
Why dost thou reject the comfort of this promise ? It is suited to thy present
distress, and it is the remedy for it. Thou art faUen into unrighteousness — God

318 THE WALK OF FAITH.
saya I wttl be merciful to it. Thou art faUen into sins and iniquities : he saya,
I wttl remember them no more. Thou mayst remember thy fatt ; but let it bo
in order to rise from it by faith. It should teach thee thy need of the blood of
the Lamb. It should bring thee to sprinkle it afresh upon thy conscience, and
to live safe and happy under the protection of it. Thus apply it to thy fall, and
thou wilt repent aright ; thou wilt he truly humbled and made more watchful.
Thou wttt five more by faith in thy-covenant God, wilt glorify more the infi
nitely perfect salvation of Jesus, and wilt be more dependent upon the grace and
keeping of the eternal Spirit.
Consider then, O my soul, the rich abounding, superabounding grace of thy
pod in making such a provision for raising thee up, when fallen into ain. He
intended the promises in the covenant should be the means of thy recovery, as
they give thee good ground still to trust in a covenant God, and in his immutable
counsel and oath. Oh lie not then in guilt. Rest not in unbelief. Give not
place to the devil. The Lord has put words into thy mouth : may he help thee iu
the faith of thy heart to take them up and say — " Rejoice not against me, 0 mino
enemy ! when I fall, I shaU arise ; when I ait in darkness, the Lord shall be
a fight unto me : I wiU bear the indignation of the Lord, because I have sinned
against him, until he plead my cauae, and execute judgment for me : he will
bring me forth to the light, and I shall behold his righteousness." If the Lord
open to thee the rich treasury of his grace in thia Scripture, and enable thee to
depend on the ample aecurity here given for raising thee from thy fall, then
consider, in the
Third place, the express promises made in the covenant — that the believer
ahall not periah, but ahall have everlasting life. These promiseB are not con
ditional, made to the believer upon certain termB, aa if upon doing hia part Goil
would do his also ; for he does not stand by his own will, or strength, or faith
fulness — he does not hold out to the end by his own diligence and watchfulness
in means — or receive the crown of glory as the merited reward of any worka of
righteouenea8 done by him. The promises are all of free grace, not dependent
on man's will, but on God's : not yea and nay, but of absolutely certain fulfil
ment. They were all made in the covenant to Chri8t the head, and are already
made good to Chriat, as the head, for the uae of hia membera — " For all the
promi8ee of God are in him, yea, and in him, Amen." He waa given for the
covenant of hia people, and, a8 such, he undertook to do all their works for them,
and in them ; and therefore all the promiaed bleB8inga of the covenant are laid
up in hia fulneae — " in him they are yea"— and laid up, as the head has the ful-
nesBofthesensea, for the U8e of his membera — "in him they are, Amen." He com
municatee the promieed bleaBings freely, not conditionally ; by believing, and not
for working ; " Therefore," eaya the apoatle, 8peaking of Chriet'B righteousness,
" it is of faith, that it might he by grace, to the end the promise might be sure to
all the seed."
In this sovereign manner and style runs the covenant, and every promise in
it  I will be their God, of mine own mere motion and grace, and according
to the good pleasure of mine own will— and they shall be my people — my
will shaU make them willing in the day of my power; for I will work in thera
both to will and to do : yea, I will be a Father unto them, and they shall be my
sons and daughters, saith the Lord Almighty. The word Father relates to
hi8 chUdren, and expreases the unchangeable love of his heart towarda them : it
is a dear covenant name, and denotes the inseparable connexion between him and
his children. Whenever they hear it, it should always excite in them an idea of
his everlasting affection. He loves his family as a Father, and loves every one of
them with the same almighty love. He cannot change. He cannot cease to be
a Father, and they cannot cease to he his children. His name is a security to
them, that they cannot perish; for if one of them could, they aU might. And
then his covenant purpose, to bring many sons unto glory, would be defeated—
his relation to them as their Father would be broken— he would be a Father
without children— he would deny them the promised blessings— he would forget
to be gracious to them — his will concerning them would change, or would be
overruled by some opposite will — and his great plan in the covenant would come

THE WALK OF FAITH. 319
to nothing. But these things cannot possibly be. He is the Father of his chil
dren, and he has engaged by promise and oath, to love, to bless, and to keep
them for ever. Out of perfect love he gave them to his Son, who undertook to
be their Saviour : he came, and was made man, Jehovah incarnate, to live and
die for them. He was so delighted with them (for he has aU their names written
in his book) and with the work, that he was straitened tiU it was accomplished.
Blessings on him for ever ! it is finished : the royal Saviour is upon the throne,
almighty to save his dear redeemed. He would lose his name, which is above every
name — the honours of his salvation would fade away upon his head, and the
glories of his offices would come to nothing — if one whom Jesus lived and died to
save should perish. But it is not possible. Whom he loves, he loves unto the end.
" I give unto them," says he, " eternal life, and they shall never perish, neither
shall any pluck them out of my hand." They are his seed — and it was cove
nanted that he should see his seed. They are the travail of his soul — and he
shaU see of the travail of his soul, and shall be satisfied. How can he be satis
fied if any one of them should be lost ? He prayed — " Holy Father, keep,
through thine own name, those whom thou hast given me, that they may be one,
as we are one." And the Father always heard him. He prayed that they might
be with him where he is, to see his glory : and the Holy Spirit covenanted to
bring them to it — he undertook, as his name Spirit imports, to breathe life unto
them, to caU, to convert them, to keep them, and to give them every thing need
ful for their spiritual life. How can they fail of coming to glory, being thus
kept for it by the power of God ? The Holy Spirit would lose his name Spirit
or breath of life, and his office, which is to abide with and to dwell for ever in
the elect people of God, if any one of them should die from God, and perish.
Thus there is fuU security given by the names and offices of the Trinity, that be
lievers shaU be kept from faUing away. The Father cannot be without his chil
dren. Ihe glory of Jesus would fade away if one of his redeemed was plucked
out of his hand. The divine honours of the Spirit of life would be eclipsed if he
was to forsake his charge and to suffer any of the redeemed to faU into heU. But
these things cannot be. The wiU of the Father, Son, and Spirit, is the same con
cerning the salvation of the elect, which is as secure as covenant-bonds and oaths
can make it.
Art thou then, O my soul, estabhshed in this great truth ? Dost thou yield
to the power of the evidence which the blessed Trinity haye vouchsafed to give
th»e ? Meditate carefully upon it for the growth of thy faith. Search the Scrip
tures, and observe how clearly God declares his fixed purpose to keep his people,
and to hold them up unto the end. The great preacher of the gospel, in the Old
Testament church, speaks thus of the unchangeable wiU of a covenant God —
" The mountains shall depart, and the hiUs be removed, but my kindness shall
not depart from thee, neither shall the covenant of my peace be removed, saith
the Lord that hath mercy on thee." A great preacher in the New Testament
church, has confirmed the same precious truth. He is treating of the golden
chain of salvation, and showing how inseparable every link of it is ; and in this
prospect he triumphs — " Who shah lay any thing to the charge of God's elect ?
It is God that justifieth : who is he that condemneth ? It is Christ that died,
yea rather that is risen again, who is even at the right hand of God, who also
maketh intercession for us : who shaU separate us from the love of Christ ? ShaU
tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or sword ? Nay,
in all these things we are more than conquerors, through him that loveth us."
By the mouth of these two infallible witnesses the truth is established. They de
pose that the covenant is immutable, and that nothing can separate believers from
the love wherewith God loves them in his Son. Oh, most comfortable doctrine 1
How encouraging is it, in any undertaking, to set about it with certain hope of
Buccess ! How animating in our Christian walk, how reviving in the dark and
difficult paths of it, to have God's promise that he will keep us and bring us to a
happy end ! How pleasing is it to go on by faith in our warfare, casting aU our
care upon him, who careth for us! How delightful is it to trust his promise,
and daily to find it made good I — " Ye are kept by the power of God through
faith unto eternal salvation." Here, O my soul, thou art to seek for strong con-

320 THE WALK OF FAITH.
eolation amidst the trials and difficulties of thy walk. Thou art afraid of falling ;
God has engaged to hold thee up. Thou hast been tempted to think thou shouldst
fall quite away and come to nothing. But God says, thou art preserved in
Christ Jesus : his covenant and oath are made to confirm the faith of thy perse
vering. Thou standest by faith ; and thy faith ahould lead thee to rest aafely on
what God says about thy standing : and for thy faith itself, its continuing, its in
creasing, thou hast his infallible faithfulness to depend upon. Thou art weak,
but he keeps thee by his power. Thine enemies are strong, but none of thera
shall pluck thee out of his hand. Thou art wiUing to join them and to depart
from the living God ; but he has promised to put his fear into, thy heart, and
thou ahalt not depart from him. He meets with thy doubts, and answers all
thine objections in a word; for he hath said, I will never leave thee
NOR FORSAKE THEE.
Be of good courage then, O my soul, and go forward, strong in the Lord, and
in the power of his might, and he will bring thee safe to the end of thy journey.
He has promised it. Put thyself into his hands, and give him the glory of keep
ing thee. He wttl hold up thy goings in hia paths, that thy footatep8 Blip not.
The Lord shall preserve thee from all evil. Tne Lord shall preserve thy going
out and'thy coming in from thia time forth, and even for evermore. How, then,
canst thou miscarry, safe under his guidance and keeping ? Commit thy ways
unto the Lord. Do it simply. Look up by faith to his promise, and then Icon
on hia arm. Thus going on, thou mayst rejoice at every step in the Lord thy
God. He has left thee a sweet hymn upon the subject ; with which the weary
traveUers to Sion have often refreshed their spirits. Take it up, and sing it after
them. Study it. Mix faith with it : and with perfect reliance on what God, who
cannot lie, has promised in it to do for thee, sing and make melody with it in thy •
heart unto the Lord : —
" In that day sing ye unto her, A vineyard of red wine : I the Lord, do keep
it : I will water it every moment : Lest any hurt it, 1 will keep it night and day :
Fury is not in rae : Who would set tbe briers and thorns against me in battle ?
I would go through them ; 1 would burn them together. Or will he take hold of
my strength, that he may make peace with me, then he shaU make peace with
me. He shaU cause them that come of Jacob to take root : Israel shall blossom
and bud, and shaU fill the face of the world with fruit."
O my good God and faithful keeper ! 1 do believe these precious promises :
help mine unbelief; forgive my distrusting thy faithfulness ; and enable me stead
fastly to rely upon it for the future. What return can I make unto thee for
grafting me into the true vine ! O Lord ! this love surpaaeeth knowledge. I
was fit for nothing but the fire ; and thou haat brought me into the vineyard of
red wine, and haat enabled me to trust in that blood of the Lamb, which cheereth
God and man. On this my soul lives and ia refreehed. And being through
trrace tn him, and living upon him, I bleae thee, holy Father, for thy faithful pro
mise to keep me unto the end. I am etttl an eaay prey to aU those who seek the
hurt of my soul ; but thou haat given me thy word that, leet any hurt me, thou
wilt keep me night and day. 1 confess, gracious God, that I have dishonoured
thee by doubting of thy love, and by questioning ita unchangeableness ; but now
I befieve that fury ia not in thee to any one branch of the true yine. Ihere ia
love and nothing but love, in aU thy dealinge with ChriBt, and with his. Forgive
mv Iruiltv fears and euepicions of thy forsaking me, arising from my weakness,
and from the strength of mine enemies : I now see that thou canst as easily con
sume them as fire can briers and thorns. Lord, increase my faith in thy promised
strength, that I may lay hold of it for peace, and may keep fast hold of it for
maintaining peace with thee always and by all means. Oh grant me this, my
eood God, that my faith may work more by love. Let me take deeper root in
Jeaus and grow up more into him, blossoming and budding, and flourishing in
his vineyard. I depend upon thee to keep me a branch in him, and to make me
a fruitful branch, bringing forth plentifuUy the fruitBof righteousness, which are
by Christ Jesus, to the glory and praise of God. I believe the work is thine-
thou hast begun it— and thou wilt carry it on unto the day of the Lord Jesus.
Thou art faithful to thy word and work. In dependence upon thy faithfulness 1

THE WALK OF FAITH. 321
hope to persevere. Let it be done unto me according to thy promises, wherein
thou hast caused me to put my trust. Hear, Lord, aud answer for thy mercies'
sake in Jesus, to whom with thee and the eternal Spirit, three persons in one
Godhead, be equal glory and praise for ever and ever. Amen.

CHAPTER XV.
The believer finishes his course, and enters into rest.
The believer is now happily arrived at the verge of life. Goodness and mercy
have foUowed him aU his days, and wttl not lose their glory by forsaking him at
the close of them. It is appointed unto all men once to die ; and his fixed time
is at hand. The body is returning to dust ; and the spirit must appear before
the throne of Goel. In this trying hour he trusts to the principles which had car
ried him through life ; and he finds them a perfect preservative from the fear and
from the power of death. The same faith in a reconciled God and loving Father
keeps peace in his conscience, and love in his heart. He depends upon the atone
ment of Immanuel, and is safe ; he wraps himself up in the robe of Immanuel's
righteousness, and is happy. He knows he shaU be found in Jesus when he
stands before God, and therefore looks upon death as his friend, and meets it with
a hope full of glory and immortality.
This is the privilege of believers in Jesus. They die in peace. Their princi
ples are mighty, through God, to support and comfort them in the hour of death.
Reader ! are these principles thine ? Examine carefully. Come to a point in
this matter ; for it is of infinite and eternal moment. What is thy state ? Art
thou prepared to die ? Perhaps thou art openly profane. And what wttt thou
do upon thy death-bed, when the divine law accuses thee, justice condemns thee,
and the terrors of heU take hold of thee ? The stings of guilt at such a time
wiU be worse ih the conscience than aU the tortures that thy sick body can pos
sibly feel. But if thy conscience be asleep — Oh, what a dreadful death, if thou
go out of the world with thine eyes shut, and open them not till thou find the
flames of heU about thee !
Perhaps thou art not afraid, because thou haat a decent outside : Oh ! take
care of trusting in thyself, lest thou shouldst have thy portion with the openly
profane. If thou make what thou art, or hast any ground of thy hope before
God ; if thou depend on thy duties or righteousness, or join them with the work
of Christ, and meet death in this confidence ; how dreadful wiU be thy mistake !
how inevitable thy min ! Such false hopes are thus described — " Behold, aU ye
that kindle a fire and compass yourselves about with sparks, walk in the light of
your fire, and in the sparks that ye have kindled." — But mind the end — thus
saith the Lord — " This shall ye have of mine hand ; ye shaU lie down in sorrow."
And together with them will the open enemy of God and his Christ lie down.
A denier of revelation is brought to the bed of languishing — a slow lingering
distemper is carrying him off — the physician has given him over — his disease is
mortal, and he is convinced of it. But, alas ! he has no preparation for death
and judgment. He has some Christian friends, and they talk freely to him about
his eternal state ; but he will hear nothing of his guilt or of his^want of a Saviour.
They get a minister of Christ to visit him ; and he speaks to him of sin, which is
the transgression of the holy law, and of the justice of God which is engaged to
give transgressors their due, and of the impossibility of his finding mercy at the
judgment-seat until every demand be satisfied which law and justice have upon
him : he tries to persuade the dying man of the Godhead of Jesus, and of the
divine work of Jesus, but in vain : he sets at nought the minister's advice, and
with a hardened and impenitent heart replies — Be it as it will with me in eter
nity, I will have nothing to do with your Christ. So he died. We need not
follow him to the judgment-seat to know what became of his soul. The infalli
ble record bas declared what will be the portion of the unbelieving. Their misery

322 THE WALK OF FAITH.
is as certain as the truth of God. O reader, examine thyself: for he that be
lieveth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of
the only-begotten Son of God.
Perhaps thou art in name a Christian: but what thinkest thou of Christ?
The grand heresy of this day is about his person ; and if thou art fallen into it,
there is no hope in thy death. Is he Jehovah ? Oh, leave not thia matter unde
termined. The truth of his word, and the glory of Ins work, depend entirely
upon this one point : so does thy peace and comfort : for if thou believe him to
be any thing but the self-existent God, thou shalt die in thy sins. Hia Bufferings
cannot avail for thy pardon, nor his obedience for thy righteousneBa, unleaa he
be Jehovah. Without faith in him, aa the self-existent Saviour, death wttl find
thee under guilt, and judgment wttl leave thee among the enemies of God and
hia Christ.
Whatever evil there ia in death to terrify, whatever pain to hurt, the blesBed
Jesua by the grace of God tasted it for aU hia. The grace of the Father gave
him to be the aurety for his people unto death. He died for them, and as truly
tasted death, as ever the nicest palate tasted meat or drink. But it waa like a
taste — of short duration— it waa not possible that he 8hould be holden long under
the bands of death. He rose again on the third day : and because ho lives,
believers in him shall live also. 1 hey are partakers of his rictory over death, and
share in all its blesainge. The sentence of the broken law ia repealed. They do
not die to hear the punishment of ein. Christ sustained that. The pains and
agonies of death feU upon him — " The aorrowe of death (says he) compaaaed me,
and the pains of heU gat hold upon me." He was a just man, who had no
reason to fear death, but, being found in the place of hia people with their eina
upon him, he was to bear every thing that was dreadful in death. Hence his
agoniea at the approach of it — " My heart," eays he, " ia aore pained within me,
and the terrors of death are fallen upon me. Fearfulnesa and trembling are come
upon me ; and horror hath overwhelmed me." He endured thoee inconceivable
horrore to defiver them, who, through fear of death, had been all their lifetime
aubject to bondage. But the bondage is at an end when they believe in his vic
tory. Their fears are dispeUed when they see the glory of the battle which he
fought and won — how, by dying, he took away ein, aatiafied juatice, removed the
curse, conquered death, broke ite sceptre, took out its ating, and left nothing in
it but what ia friendly to them. In the8e believing viewe they can meet death
with confidence ; for they cannot taste that in death which Chriat taeted. He felt
it, that they might not feel it : he died in agoniea that they might die in peace.
O my moat loving and precious Jeaus, I believe thia ; let not any unbelief in me
dishonour thy complete conqueBt over all that ia fearful or painful in dying. My
timee are in thy hand : when thou art pleased to bring them to an end, let rae
find death awallowed up in victory. Oh that I may then triumph with thy
redeemed ! What can separate ua from the love of Christ ? — ahaU the ating of
death, or the fear of death, or of Satan, or of heU ? No ; thanks be to God!— ¦
the8e were aU conquered when Jeaus died ; subdued for ever when he rose again.
And he has left us many precious promises that we, trusting in him, ahall ahare
in his victory, and find the bleaaingB of it in the hour of death.
Attend then, O my souk to what he has engaged to bestow upon hie dying dis
ciples, as the fruit of his death ; and give him credit, not doubting but he will
make it good. Live now in the comfort of hia promiaea, and fear not. The
almighty Jesus wttl be with thee, and thou shalt conquer with him in the hour of
death. Observe hia word, which cannot be broken—" I wttl ranaom them from
the power of the grave; I wttl redeem them from death : O death, I wttl be thy
plague ; O grave, I wiU be thy deatruction : repentance Bhall be hid from mine
eyes." The raneom which be here engagea to pay for hie, he paid as their surety,
and he daily applies it to them as their Saviour. Upon quoting thia promise,
and finding by faith the happy fulfilment of it, mark how the apostle rejoices
with the Corinthians in the near view of death—" O death, where is thy ating?
O grave, where is thy victory ? The ating of death is 8in, and the etrength of
sin is the law : but thanks be to God who giveth us the victory through Jeaus
Chri8t our Lord." O thou mo8t glorious conqueror 1 almighty Jeaua ! eternal

THE WALK OF FAITH. 323
thanks be to thee, that the law cannot accuse, sin cannot condemn, death cannot
sting thy redeemed. Thou hast promised to make them happy in death, and
faithful is thy word. The beloved John is one of thy witnesses — " I heard a voice
from heaven, saying unto me, Write, blessed are the dead which die in the Lord :"
Write it for the use of my disciples, that it may be the ground of their faith when
they come to die : I promise to make them blessed in their death : being in me —
members under me — their head, and hving in the Lord — they shah die in the
Lord : they shaU have union with me, and communion too, when they are dying :
the hour of death, the time of their dissolution, shaU be a season of great blessed
ness : they shall have my presence in the last moments : I wttl walk with them
through the vaUey of the shadow of death, and they shall fear no evU : my rod
and my staff shaU then comfort them. O my God, make thy word good. Sweet
Jesus, write this promise upon my heart. Oh help me to mix faith with it, that
when mine appointed time is come, I may experience the blessedness of dying in
the Lord. I wait for the time : it is not far off. Oh keep me, Jesus, tiU that hour.
Keep me, Jesus, in that hour. Save me through life and death, and bless me
with thine eternal salvation. Hear, and answer for thy mercies' sake. Amen.
Meditate, O my soul, upon these blessings. Consider, how great, how many
they are. Consider also thine unworthiness : thou art less than the least of them.
And yet God has set his love upon thee, and has given thee the greatest of them.
He has caUed thee to the knowledge of his love in Jesus, and has shed it abroad
in thy heart. He has set thee in the way that leads to the eternal enjoyment of
his love, has promised to keep thee all the way, and to bless thee at the end of it.
He wiU make thee blessed in death, and blessed for evermore. Hitherto thou
hast found him faithful. Not one good thing has failed which thou didst ask in
faith, and wait for at his hands. Review aU his dealings with thee, and see what
infinite mercy there was in them. He made thy walk prosperous, thy warfare
successful, thy crosses sanctified. Thou hast not taken a false step but when thou
wast not living by the faith of the Son of God. Oh trust him then, and be not
afraid. His love has brought thee thus far : he has led thee in the right way to
the verge of life ; and he declares he wiU not leave thee nor forsake thee in the
hour of death. Fear not to look down ; fear not to go down with Jesus into the
grave. He has promised — " I wiU be with thee ;" and wherever he is, there is
heaven. He is with his dying friends, and they are blessed indeed. They die in
faith — they live by faith in death — and as soon as faith ceases, they live with their
God for ever. The body falls asleep, and rests safely tiU the morning of the resur
rection. The soul in a moment enters into the joy of its Lord — a joy like his —
pure and holy — a fulness of joy — and is satisfied for ever. Oh what wiU the heart
feel in this blessedness ! What acknowledgments wttl it make to God and the
Lamb ! To praise him for the wonders of his grace in bringing to that glory will
be the happy employment of eternity. To see him as he is, in his divine majesty,
is heaven. For how great communications of his love, the being ever with him,
and ever like him, will make the soul capable of, we cannot perfectly conceive.
These things are at present too high and heavenly even for our thoughts. By
faith we sometimes have a little glimpse of the glory to be revealed ; and it eclipses
all the grandeur of die world. There are happy moments when we are permitted
to behold the king in his beauty, when he discovers his matchless loveliness, and
gives us a taste of the heavenly feast : at such blessed seasons the soul is bowed
down and humbled to the dust, adoring the infinite mercy and goodness of God.
If there be so much of heaven in these manifestations of divine love, what must
the full enjoyment be ? We may suppose a happy soul, entered into rest, thus
meditating upon the grace which brought it to that glory : —
Blessing and thanks without ceasing be unto Father, Son, and Spirit, through
whose sovereign grace I was chosen to this blessedness, and am now brought to the
perfect and everlasting enjoyment of it. This communication with the Godhead,
through Jesus, is as far beyond my former thoughts of it as the heaven is above
the earth. How great is his goodness, and how great is his beauty, that the
moat high and holy One would thus communicate his love unto sinful creatures !
Glory be to thee, holy Father, for predestinating me to the adoption of children,
and for the free gift of the heavenly inheritance. Glory be to thee, incarnate
Y 2

324 THE WALK OF FAITH.
Jehovah, for the covenant undertakings for me, for thy fife, death, and complete
salvation. I worship thee, I glorify thee, O God the Holy Ghost, for quicken
ing me, for teaching me and enabling me, through believing in Jesus, to expe
rience the love of the Father, and for bringing me to enjoy his endless blessings
burely the goodness and mercy ofthe holy Trinity have foUowed me att the days
of my hfe, were with me when I walked through the vattey of the shadow of
death, and are now my moat bleaBed portion in the houae of the Lord. I am
made a pttlar in the temple of ray Goel, and am to go no more out. Oh what
exceeding richea of grace are these ! What has God done for me ! Angela and
brethren, help rae to praise. My debt is immenae. No aaved ainner can owe
him more. It ia growing every moment. My praieee pay none of it. With
my thankful heart, and it ie all thankfulness, I only acknowledge his infinite
goodness, and own myself his eternal debtor. Blessing, and honour, and glory,
and power be unto him that sitteth upon the throne, and to the Lamb for ever.
Reader ! art thou in the way which leads to this glory ? If not, may the Lord
be merciful unto thee, and bring thee unto it.
If thou art seeking to be set right in it, remember Jesus ia the way. May
his good Spirit enable thee to befieve in his word, and to tmat in it, tttl thou
attain the ealvation of thy eoul.
If thou art in the way, and hast communion with the Father through faith in

conflicts, canst thou nevertheless find joy and peace in believing ? Dost thou
march on, victorious in thy warfare, keeping up communion with God against
aU opposition of thy spiritual enemies ? And is thy faith established upon the
faithfulness of God, that he will carry on hie own work in thee unto the day of the
Lord Jesus ? In this faith doet thou hope to die ? Has God indeed done these
wonders for thee ? Oh bless him then with me, and let us magnify hia name
together. Be thou exalted, Lord, in ua, and by us. Every day we would grow
up into nearer and holier communion with thee. We desire to be more like
thee, and to show forth more of thy lovely image before men. Oh help ua to
praiae thee better with our lipa and fives. By the communion of the Holy Ghoat
we would communicate more by faith with the Son in hia ealvation, and with the
Father in hia love. O holy, bleeeed, and glorioue Trinity! in thia divine feUow
ahip we hope to find our heaven upon earth : let it be growing and increas
ing, helped forward by all means, and, if it pleaae thee, by these volumes.
Make them, Lord, the instrument under thee of leading thy people into the
right way, and of eatabliahing them in it. Accompany the reading of them
with the teaching of thy Spirit, and to the advancement of thy glory. I present
the booka unto thee, ever glorioue Jesus, and lay them at thy feet. Thou know-
est my heart : accept them graciously, as a public acknowledgment for inesti
mable mercies. In thy great compassion overlook the faultB in them : what ia
agreeable to the ecripture is thine own. Make use of it to thy praise. I devote
myself, my body and soul, my tongue and pen, aU I have and am, to thy ser
vice. I would not look upon myself ae any longer mine own, but being bought
with a price, I would glorify thee in the use of aU thy gifts and graces. With
thee I desire to walk through life. In thine arms I hope to die. Through thee
I expect soon to enjoy perfect communion with the Father, and the Spirit.
Therefore into thy hands I commend myself. Keep me in the right way. Guide
me to the end of it, that I may finish my course with joy, and join thy redeemed
in giving to thee, with the Father and the Spirit, the three in one Jehovah, equal
and everlasting praise. Hear, Lord, and answer. Amen.

THE
TRIUMPH OF FAITH.
PREFACE
The present treatise is a continuation of some remarks formerly published con
cerning the experience of a true Christian, who, quickened by the spirit of life
in Christ Jesus, lives by faith, and who is enabled to go forward in his walk by
the faith of the Son of God. There was one volume upon this subject, entitled,
" The Life of Faith," and some years after, two volumes on " The Walk of
Faith :" in which the divine helps and supports were considered great and many,
not only for the establishment of believers in the way, but also for their happi-
nesB in every step of it, that they might rejoice in the Lord always, yea, with
such a fulness of joy as to make them triumph in the God of their salvation.
This is the grand Gospel privilege, which is granted to believers, as believers,
and promised to them in the freest nnd fullest manner that any grant can be
conveyed ; springing from sovereign grace in the giver, and received, not from
any qualification in themselves, but entirely from his own bounty, continued
and increased with aU the rich and ripe fruits of faith, to the praise of the glory
of the grace of God.
It has been long observed, and much lamented, that there are very few
of these happy believers who give such a perfect credit to the promises of
God in Christ, as to rest their hearts upon his faithfulness, without any doubt
or wavering : they do not trust so far as the promises warrant them ; which
stops the exercise of faith and hinders the growth of the spiritual life. Weak
faith has little fruit. Strong faith improves love to God, loving obedience,
patient suffering, persevering warfare, and the other fruits of the Spirit : indeed,
for this very purpose it is commanded that we might trust and not be afraid :
and there are promises made to them who obey the command ; and aU things
promised are possible to them who believe : for there is strength sufficient in the
promiser to make faith grow, yea to make it grow exceedingly : and he has done
it, giving us a happy instance in the church of the Thessalonians, in which per
secution raged, but faith was victorious, and patience triumphant. It has
pleased Goel to give us in the scriptures many encouragements for the growth of
faith, which are in the following treatise set before the reader, that we may ho
nour his word, and trust in it at all times, especially when appearances make against
their being fulfiUed. Then it is high worship, against hope to believe in hope,
as the father of the faithful did : and they are his children, and foUow the steps
of his faith, who, when sin is felt in its defilement, in its guilt, in the sense of
inward corruptions, and of strong temptations, in the many troubles of hfe, in
the infirmities of age, and in the approach of death, put their whole trust anil
confidence in the promises of God. Nothing else is appointed, either to bring
in the peace of God to the conscience, or to keep it in. God only in such trials
can be a safe refuge, and a sure defence ; and faith, looking at what he has
engaged to give, secures the promised help to the glory of God. Under these
several heads something is here offered from the scriptures of truth to encourage a
more steadfast reliance on the divine faithfulness than one commonly meets
with. And what is said upon each head is here set before the reader, on the
authority of God's word, and is also followed with fervent prayer, that the end

326 THE TRIUMPH OF FAITH.

of publishing this treatise may be answered, even, that the scriptural faith may
be hereby increased, that it may abound yet more and more, and in such a great
degree as may bring the highest glory to God, the truest holiness to the heart,
and the happiest experience in the life, and in the warfare of the Christian. May
the gracious Lord, who is the author and finisher of the faith, accompany it with
his Spirit to the advancement of his own praise, and to the edification of his own
people ! To him who keepeth promise for ever, be glory in the church, through
I .hv-ict I..,-,,.- ,,..,,-1.1 i>-,,l>.,.,, ..,,.1 i . .

r-fjj.u . iw uim ,*uu ziccjjcui UJUJJJJSC JU
Christ Jesus, world without end. Amen.

THE TRIUMPH OF FAITH.

CHAPTER I.
Introduction.
Where there has been war, a triumph suppoaea a battle to have been fought
a victory to have been obtained, and the great rejoicinga ofthe conquerors upon this
occasion. The Christian has his matter of triumph ; but it is spiritual lt ia
alwaya in Christ, the Captain of his ealvation. So it is written—" Thanks be to
God, who alwaya cauaeth ua to triumph in ChriBt." The apostle ia speaking
of his preaching the Gospel. He carried the sweet savour of Jesus' name from
place to place : but it waa not always received as a joyful sound, nor welcomed
as it deserved. He met with great opposition. The Holy Ghost witnessed!
that in every city bonda and afflictiona awaited him. Aa these abounded,
grace did much more abound. For he was carried on through persecutione, im
prisonment, stoning, whipping, perils of various kinds, suffered for Chriat, and
Christ made him victorious over them all. He not only enabled Paul to conquer,
but also made him more than conqueror — he was the blesaed instrument of
pulling down the etrong holde of sin and Satan, and of eetting up in the
world, that kingdom of Jeaus, which is flourishing to this day, and which
will triumph to eternity. A poor weak man had all the Roman empire against
him ; but he did wonders. Through Christ strengthening him, he went on con
quering and to conquer : and to Christ he givea all the glory ; acknowledging
that the Gospel, his preaching it, and the eucceas of it, was of God ; the excel
lency of the power wa8 of God. " Thanke be unto God, who always cauaeth ua
to triumph in Christ." He, for us men, and for our ealvation, came down from
heaven, and waa incarnate, that aa our aurety he might live and die and conquer
for ua. It waa to the everlasting honour of his grace and mercy that he would
engage in this war, and undertake to deliver hie people from the tyranny of their
enemies. They were in bondage to sin — sold under ein — enslaved to divers
lusts and pleasures — living according to the course of this world — according to
the prince of the power of the air, the wicked spirit, who now worketh effectually
in the children of disobedience. These tyrants were leading them captive
at their wttl, hoping soon to have them delivered over to death, and then to
everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord, and from the glory
of his power. In this miserable state, under sin — under condemnation we
aU were — guilty and helpless — not only without any means of deliverance in our
own power, but without any deeire of it, being tempted to dream of liberty while
we were tied and bound with the chain of our sins, and fancying that we
were free, even while our enemies were waiting to exercise their utmost
malice against us, by binding us with chains of everlasting darkness. Oh what
mercies — what compassions are in our God — in our Jesue. He remembered us
in this our low estate, and manifested the exceeding riches of hia grace, in
coming from heaven to aave hie people from their sins. To this end Jehovah
was manifested in the flesh, as it is written, Jer. 1. 33, 34 : " The children of Israel
and the children of Judah were oppressed together, and all that took them cap
tives held them fast, and refused to let them go; but their Redeemer is strong;

THE TRIUMPH OF FAITH. 327
the Lord of hosts is his name : he shaU thoroughly plead their cause." He made
aU our enemies his own, and fought our battles against them. He obeyed, that
the broken law, which stood against us, might be magnified by his obedience.
The penalties of it he endured when the Lord laid upon him the iniquities of us
aU. His cross was his triumphal chariot, on which he vanquished aU our foes,
Col. ii. '14, 15. He blotted out the handwriting of ordinances that was against
us, which was contrary to us, and he took it out of the way, nailing it to his
cross ; and, having spoUed principalities and powers, he made a show of them
openly, triumphing over them in that same cross. By dying on it, he put away
sin by the sacrifice of himself; and by his rising from the dead on the third day,
according to the scriptures, he overcame death and him that had the power of
death, that is the devil. And now as God-man in one Christ, the almighty
Saviour of his redeemed, he is seated upon his throne of grace : aU his enemies
being made his footstool, he is able to save to the uttermost aU that come unto
God by him. Such was the battle which the Redeemer fought. Such was the
victory which he obtained. The important news of it is the substance of that
blessed gospel, which he ordered his apostles to preach to every creature, and
which he promised to assist them in, and to be with them for that purpose to the
end of the world. He is as good as his word to this day. Still faith cometh by
hearing it. The Holy Spirit witnesses to it, that it is the truth of God — and he
applies it, and makes it the power of God unto salvation. He enables the
hearers to mix such faith with it, that they receive, and enjoy the happy fruits of
Christ's victory. Once they were dead in trespasses and sins, but now Christ
hath quickened them. They were guilty, and bound over to condemnation, but
the law ofthe spirit of life in Christ jesus hath freed them from the law of sin and
of death. Once they walked after the course of this world; but now they walk
with God. Their old enemies are stiU fighting against them, and watching for
their destruction ; but they are enabled to gain daily victory over them, over the
world, the flesh, and the devil, through the strength of Jesus, and through the
power of his might. Their wants are many, and they are datty made more sen
sible of them ; but they have an abundant supply of every thing that pertains to
life and godliness, out of the infinite fulness of God their Saviour.
Thus far the three volumes went, which were formerly published upon this
subject, entitled " The Life of Faith," and " The Walk of Faith." The present
treatise relates to the improvement of the former doctrines, considering the
scripture motives and encouragements for the beUever's rejoicing always in the
Lord, and triumphing in the God of his salvation. The groundof his triumph
is the work of Christ : his warrant to depend upon it, is the word of Christ :
and his actual dependence is the work of the Spirit of Christ. Building upon
these principles, he is commanded to go on from faith to faith, stiU pressing
forward, that he may see more clearly the glory of the person, and the glory
of the work of Christ — what he is to trast in for his title to salvation, and for the
things which accompany salvation, and may, by every day|s experience, be grow
ing into a more settled dependence upon the word of Christ, and upon his faith
fulness to fulfil it, and thereby may be learning to expect constant supplies, and
according as his faith increases, receiving greater supplies of the power of the
Spirit of Christ — that the God of hope may fiU him with aU joy and peace in
believing ; that he may abound in hope by the power of the Holy Ghost : and
we have an encouraging example in the Thessalonians, who had great trials, and
met them with great faith. The apostle commended it highly ; but by practice
it had so improved, that, having occasion to mention it some time afterwards, he
says — " We are bound to thank God always for you, brethren, as it is meet,
because that your faith groweth exceedingly." We have the same promises and
the same helps as they had — promises exceeding great, and exceeding precious,
containing a free grant in Christ of all spiritual blessings — a full warrant to
make use of them for life and godliness, with commands and encouragements to
tmat and not be afraid of any enemies, or of any dangers : because he is faithful
who has promised to be with them — to guide them with his counsel — to keep
them safe by his power — to bless them with his love — and never to leave them
nor forsake them : so that, in aU difficulties and troubles, they may go on their

328 THE TRIUMPH OF FAITH.
way rejoicmg, until faith and patience have done their perfect work. To this
purpose, a divine, whose praise is in all the churches, hae given his testimony ;
¦U is an everlasting spring of comfort, and encouragement unto the people of
bod, both in prayer, and unto prayer ; they pray to him, who is mighty, mighty
to do what they pray for. Ihe Lord's promises are our richest inheritances.
and that not only because he hath promised greater and better things than are
in the compass of any man's power to make good, or in the compass of any
man's understanding to comprehend, but because he will certainly be as good
in performance as he hath been in promise : for he is in one mind concerning
all that he hath promised : he wttl he merciful as he hath promised, and pardon
sin as he hath promised, and sanctify all our troubles as he hath promised : he
wiU give us his Spirit as he hath promised, and save us eternaUy as he hath
promised." A great layman thus confirms the same truth—" Were God but
believed in what he says, all the temptations of Satan and the doubtings of our
unbelieving hearts would be silenced and brought to nothing. What exceeding
foUy is it in our hearts, that God who never deceived any that trusted in him,
should be distmsted by any, and not believed by all. He ia the God of truth :
so is his word the word of truth. And not any bouI, that ever tried God by
trusting him upon his -nord, but found him so. Oh, then, take God's word,
and our hearts wttl be quiet. Though the heathen do rage, yet they imagine
but a vain thing. In this glorious doctrine, free grace in God is the fountain,
full satisfaction to divine justice the way, but perfect ealvation and redemption
to all his elect body in Christ the end. And truly when a soul can say, My
beloved ie mine, and I am hie, he hath spoken all at once. I know no other
light, nor rule, but the word and Spirit to make out any thing of God to any
soul. The glory of the great day will be — God is mine, and I am his."

CHAPTER II.
Some scripture encouragements for the triumph of faith.
All the Old Testament words which we translate triumph, signify great joy
felt in the heart, and expressed outwardly in word or deed ; a jubilee of joy,
even joy in the highest, as near as it can be to the joy of heaven. In the New
Testament the word ia used but twice ; First, for what Christ engaged to do for
us ; and eecondly, for what Christ engaged to do in ua : for as he undertook to
fight our battles against aU our enemies — sin, the world, Satan, death, and hell :
and the Captain of our salvation haa gained a complete victory, and had a most
glorious triumph over them in his own person — when he blotted out the hand
writing of ordinances that was against us, which was contrary to ub, and he took
it out of the way, nailing it to his cross ; and having spoiled principalities and
powers, he made a show of them openly, triumphing over them in that same
cross. And he still goes on conquering and to conquer ; by the preaching of hia
cross and passion, his resurrection and ascension, he ia to thia very day exalting
the honours of his victory and triumph in the hearts and Uvea of hia redeemed,
giving them such a share in his conquests, that they ought to be ever praising
him with joyful lips. Now, thanka be unto God, who alwaya causeth ua to
triumph in Christ. Thia was the apostle's happy experience, He found
that the Gospel, and his preaching it, and the great succeee which attended it,
were the fruits of Christ's presence with him, and blessing upon him : there
fore to him he gave all the glory. So do we stiU. We see the triumphs of
the cross spread far and wide, and we praise him for our day of Gospel
grace. The crucified Saviour in hie majesty rides on prosperously in the
chariots of salvation, and his enemies fall under him. In the day of his power
he makes them a willing people. They submit to his sceptre, and acknowledge
him to be their Lord and their God. Under his banner they fight the good
fight of faith, and tbey daily conquer, yea, they are more than conquerors

THE TRIUMPH OF FAITH. 329
through him who loveth them — crowned conquerors in glory everlasting. Thus
it appears that the triumph of the Head includes the triumph of its members.
The fountain from whence springs their present and their eternal joy is God —
God in Christ. They glory in the victories of the God-man ; because of his
commandment ; because of his free promise, which is a perfect warrant for the
fullest confidence, and because of his goodness, truth, and power, which are
bound to fulfil aU his engagements. Looking to these infallible securities, the
believer's heart is estabhshed, trusting in the Lord. Being of the true circum
cision, he would put no confidence in the flesh, but would be datty crucifying it
with its affections and lusts, and bringing aU high thoughts of self to the obedience
of Christ. If he has been long standing in the faith — an old Christian — if he has
received much consolation from his Lord, or has been very active and successful
in his service, his trust is never in himself. The ground of his believing is always
one and the same. He has no new doctrine to learn. No new warrant to
encourage him to believe. The word of God : "Thus saith the Lord" is always
sufficient, and ought to draw forth the fuUest credit, that can possibly be given
to the testimony of the God of truth. What was advanced before in " The Life
of Faith" and in " The Walk of Faith," is taken for granted in the present treatise.
Here is no new doctrine. Salvation is in Christ Jesus, and in no other : I am, says
he, the truth, the one saving truth, like himself, the same yesterday, to-day, and
for ever — one Lord, one faith, one salvation. And whoever believes this aright
is in a safe state, in which there is no change with respect to God ; no variableness
or shadow of turning. Whatever his own apprehensions may be, the word of the
Lord endureth for ever. He may be tempted in a legal hour to cast away his
confidence, but the counsel of the Lord shall stand. He may change, but I,
saith God, change not. For the gracious gifts and calling of God are without
repentance — they are such that it cannot repent him of bestowing them, or
of continuing them, when once bestowed. As the believer has no new truth to
learn, only to improve the principles of the doctrine of Christ ; so he has no new
title to expect. Under the free grant and gift of God, salvation comes to him of
grace in the most sovereign way that can be conceived : and his warrant to
receive it is the divine command : and when he has been enabled to receive it by
the obedience of faith, the divine promise assures him that he shaU not perish for
his sins, but that he shaU have everlasting hfe. Believing the promise, is the
best title that possibly can be to this salvation ; for we are saved freely by grace
through faith, and that not of ourselves, neither salvation nor faith; both are
the gifts of God ; and under the title all the blessings which accompany salvation
are included, all the things which are freely given to us of God — a sufficiency of
present grace, and the fuU possession of eternal glory. This is the good old foun-
elation, upon which the heirs of promise have always built their faith and hope.
They knew that aU fulness was in Christ for their use and enjoyment ; and they
were persuaded that they should honour him most by believing this with the
strongest certainty. They could not trust too soon, nor too much, to his faith
fulness. And therefore they come boldly to the throne of grace, that they may
receive out of his fulness at aU times, for all things, for body and soul, for
earth and heaven, what they wanted, and what he had promised. The more
they live thus by faith, they will experience more occasion to rejoice in the Lord ;
anrl to find that his arm to fulfil wiU always go as far as his promise, even to bless
the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with aU
spiritual blessings in heavenly things in Christ. This indeed is strong faith ;
but it is the gift of a strong God : it does not depend in the least on what the
believer can do for himself, but on what the Almighty has engaged to do for
him, and in him, and by him ; for he requires and commands it in this high
degree : there is grace sufficient to bring it into use and practice, as far as the
commands go ; all things promised being possible to him that believeth ; and
they who have trusted most to the faithfulness of God, who, against hope, believed
in hope, have experienced that God did never leave them nor forsake them. He
magnified his word above aU his name. There he has made his name to shine
forth, and aU his attributes are magnified in their greatest perfection ; the believers
on earth, and the saints in heaven, praise God for his word, because it is the

330 THE TRIUMPH OF FAITH.
instrument of his Spirit, by which he bestows grace, and according to which he
gives glory. The fulfilling of his word runs through time, and will run through
eternity. Blessed be God for his word of promise ! Blessed be the Lord, that
it wttl be fulfilling for ever and ever. This being the case, it becomes necesaary
to inquire into the dirine records, and to see what a full warrant God has given ua
to trust and not he afraid : and this to every believer, there being the aame ground
to believe with the strongest faith, as to believe at all.
This inquiry is the more necessary because of the place which faith holds
in our rehgion. It reaches to the whole of it ; so that nothing ia good before
God, however fair and epecious it may appear to men without it. The con
science, the heart, and its affections, are purified only by faith. All duties,
for their right motive, and for their acceptance, depend upon it. Without
faith it ia impossible to please God. No trials and afflictiona can be pa
tiently and profitably endured, unless faith be in exercise. Our whole warfare
is carried on, and can be, by our being strong in the Lord, and fighting
in the power of his might, finished victoriously only by faith. Indeed it
enters so much into every thing wherein we have to do with God, that the
strengthening of it is the strengthening of every other grace, which are weak
or vigorous according as more or less faith enters into them. And therefore
the scripture encouragements for our growth in faith should be weU weighed
with much prayer, frequent "meditation, and thanksgiving, that they may have
their proper effect upon the believer's heart and life. And as this can he done
only by power from on high, assistance must ever be sought from thence, and
depended upon. The Holy Spirit is the very breath of spiritual life and of
aU spiritual activity. Every godly motion of the heart is from hia holy inspira
tion. So the scripture teaches, 2 Cor. iii. 5 : " Not that we (even apoatlea) are
eufficient of ourselves to think any thing as of ourselvea, but our aufficiency ia of
God." So we are taught to pray :— 0 Lord, from whom all good things do come,
grant to ua, thy humble servants, that by thy holy inspiration we may think
those things that be good, and by thy merciful guiding may perform the same,
through our Lord Jeeua Chriat. Amen. (Fifth Sunday after Eaater.) And again
(the Nineteenth Sunday after Trinity) :— O God 1 forasmuch ae without thee
we are not able to please thee, mercifuUy grant that thy Holy Spirit may in
all thinga direct and rule our hearts, through Jeaua Chriat our Lord. Amen.
A great divine haa thua expreased the aame aentimenta : —
" In those who are truly converted, all earing trutha are tranacribed out ofthe
ecripture into their hearte. They are taught of God ; eo aa they find all trutha,
both concerning the eatate, and the gracious and happy estate of man, in them
selves They carry a body of divinity in them, and about them ; ao aa from
a saving feeling they can speak of conversion, of grace, ofthe Spirit, &c. and
from this acquaintance are ready to yield and give up themBelvea to truth re
vealed, and to God apeaking by it. And thua a man may know hia es ate before
God, by his relish for the word. There is a heavenly and divine relish i in the
word of God; as for inetance-Take the doctrine of hie providence, that al
things shaU work together for the best to them that love God What a ewee
wore! ie this ! A whole kingdom ie not worth this promise-That whatever befals
Christian in this world, there is an overruling Providence to eway all to

red as scarlet they shaU be ae white ae wool, wnat Kinu oi imrieijiu.o ¦»<«*-
nells folhese to'a heart that is prepared for these comforts ! ™* f ™ |
reconciliation, of adoption, of glory to come, of the offices of Christ, and such
like how sweet are they ! They relish wonderfully to a sanctified eoul. 1 hese
truths that come out of the mouth of Christ, and out of the ministry concerning
Chriat they are moat sweet of all. Oh, how eweet were these worde to the poor
man- Thu sins are forgiven thee. Do you think they went not to hia heart?
The best discovery of a true affection to Christ, and of a true state in grace, is
from our affection to the word of Christ. Wherever there is an intereat m Chnat,
there is a high respect to the word.

THE TRIUMPH OF FAITH. 331
A believer trusting to these helps, and making a diligent use of these means
in reading the charter of grace, will find such a faith frequently described and
required, as rehes on the truth of God without doubt or wavering, as depends
on his faithfulness to his promises, with the fuUest confidence of the heart, and
waits on his fulfilling them, steadfastly persuaded that he has spoken nothing
with his mouth but what he will infallibly make good with his arm.
AU the gifts and graces of God come to us in his promises, and cannot be
received or enjoyed but in the way of beheving. What, then, can be a greater
encouragement not to stagger at any promise through unbelief, than that God has
declared it is a service weU pleasing and acceptable to him. It is high worship
to be strong in faith, giving glory to God ; for it is a gift of his love, and a grace
of his Spirit, and his own special work in the hearts of his people. In the day
of his power he makes them willing, and he enables them to set to their seal,
that God is true. So we read — " By faith in Christ Enoch walked with God,
and he had this testimony, that he pleased God ; but without faith it is impos
sible to please him :" therefore Enoch's state, and his walk, and his translation,
were aU by faith. Now, we know that the judgment of God is according to
truth ; and that he has declared in the word of truth that whatsoever is
not of faith is sin : so that it is impossible it should please a most holy
God, who has magnified his word above aU his name, and who delights to see
his people do the same, magnifying it, by giving it the fuUest credit of their
hearts, and the most perfect dependence of their lives.
He has also required this by his express command : — This is his com
mandment, that we should believe on the name of his Son Jesus Christ, who
has said, " Ye believe in God ; believe also in me " — with the same faith and
with the same worship : and when the gaoler inquired of Paul and Silas — Sirs,
what must I do to be saved ? they answered — Believe on the Lord Jesus
Christ, and thou shalt be saved. And this belief is commanded in very try
ing circumstances, when the outward supports of faith seem to fail, and the
inward comforts are at a very low ebb : " Who is among you that feareth the
Lord, that obeyeth the voice of his servant, that walketh in darkness, and
hath no light ; let him trust in the name of the Lord, and stay upon his God,"
— his God still. That relation is always the same ; and so are the blessings
which are inclueled in it, and which he cannot faU to bestow on those who
honour his word in such trials of their faith, that, against hope they beheve
in hope ; for blessed are aU they who put their trust in him.
For the farther confirmation of their faith, he has strengthened his com
mands with the most encouraging promises of grace to help in every time
of need. Ask, and ye shall have; for he giveth to aU askers liberaUy, and
upbraideth not, come they ever so often, or ask ever so much ; yea, our hea
venly Father will give the Holy Spirit to them that ask him : and his influence
goes as far as any promise ; for he is the mighty power of God unto salvation to
every one that believeth. Whatever is promised, he is almighty to fulfil. So
we read, when our Lord cursed the barren fig-tree, the apostles marveUed that it
presently withered away. Jesus answered and said unto them, Verily I say unto
you, if ye have faith and doubt not, ye shaU not only do this which is done to
the fig-tree, but also, if ye shall say unto this mountain, be thou removed, and
be thou cast into the sea ; it shah be done. And all things whatso, ver ye shaU
ask in prayer, believing, ye shaU receive ; for believing honours the truth of
the promiser ; and asking in prayer for the fulfiUing of it, engages and secures
the promised grace. The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth
much ; so much, that the prayer of faith hath opened and shut heaven. It has
done wonders in removing mountains of difficulties, and conquering hosts of
foes, which rendered it seemingly impossible that the word of God should be
established. But faitii gained the victory, and triumphed gloriously.
It has pleased God also to confirm ail these arguments by revealing the
motive on which he made the promises. It was love. They are all free-grace pro
mises. In his counsels, in the revealing them, in the fulfilling them, love directs
the whole. They are discoveries of what is in the Father's heart to his children, and
are the means of conveying his fatherly blessings, especially such a persuasion of

332 THE TRIUMPH OF FAITH.
his love to them as wttl work love to him, and they work by love. For we love
him because he first loved us : therefore he speaks to them comfortably, address
ing himself to them in the tenderest compassion, and calling them by the dearest
names: — his chosen — his beloved — his adopted — his chttdren — his friends —
heirs, heirs of God — joint heirs with Christ, who is Lord of all — his peculiar
treasure — his portion. These, and many other endearing names, are intended
to convince them of his love, to win and engage their hearts in love to him, that,
when it is given thera to believe the troth of his promisea, they might be cer
tain of their fulfilment. God is love : he defighteth in hia people. His heart
ia ao set upon them, that, in his dealings with them, love has the appointing, the
directing, and the blessing of all. His love to them had no beginning ; and it
wttl have no end. It bestows on the happy objects of it grace, and it secures
to thera glory. Love has crowned their Head ; and love will crown all hia
members : for out of his fulness they are most freely invited to come, and take
all epiritual bleeeinge ae the earnest of eternal. Behold what manner of love
the Father hath bestowed upon them ! Who can believe it, and not love him
again ?
It hae pleased God also to give ua eome examples of his eingular favour to
them who acted strong faith, and to whom he therefore administered strong con
solation. Ihe apostle says, " That whatsoever things were written aforetime,
were written for our learning, that we, through patience and comfort of the
scriptures, might have hope." And then he prays, " Now the God of hope fill
you with all joy and peace in believing, that ye may abound in hope, by the
power of the Holy Ghost." And when the Holy Ghost givea it thia blesaed
effect, he always fills the heart with gratitude and thankfulness. Thua it ope
rated in the day when tbe believer waa enabled to Bay, " O Lord, I will praiao
thee : though thou wast angry with me, thine anger ie turned away, and thou
hast comforted me. Behold, God ia my 8alvation : I wUl truet and not be
afraid : for the Lord Jehovah ie my etrength and my song ; he alao is become
my ealvation. Therefore with joy ehall ye thaw water out of the fountain of
ealvation." Oh what reviving cordiale did the father of the faithful draw out
of it, who, againet hope, believed in hope, that he ahould become the father
of many natione, according to that which was spoken : " So ahall thy aeed be :
and being not weak in faith, he conaidered not his own body now dead, nei
ther yet the deadness of Sarah's womb : he staggered not at the promise of
God through unbelief, but was strong in faith, giving glory to God :" and
being fully persuaded that what be had promised he waa able also to perform.
For this heroic faith he is celebrated in scripture, and proposed to ub for an
example One of his children was enabled to follow closely the atepe of hia faith,
through a life of continual and great sufferings,; and to triumph in the proapect
of a violent death: " I am now ready to be offered up ; and the time of my
departure ia at hand : I have fought a good fight ; I have finished my course; I
have kept the faith : henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness,
which the Lord, the righteoua judge, will give me in that day ; and not to me
onlv but unto all them that love hia appearing."
We have another example given ue in the fifty-sixth Psalm. On whatever
occasion the prophet indited it, the Spirit of prophecy teaches ua to .apply it
to the Son of DaVid, who is Chriat the Lord It deBcnbea hia great tnals and
continual persecutiona, and his invincible faith by which he was carried through
them? when all the world was against him. Ihe who te Paahn , .a a prayer made
up of the most perfect trust and confidence in the faithfulneaa of God to his
word • and he assures himself that heaven and earth shall pass away, before one
Z or' ttole of it could fail. He had enemies, many, mighty, cunning cruel,
united together to destroy him, Acta iv. 27; but U heart was estabhshed,
Ousting in the Lord. He 'read, he knew he beheved ^,P«^
and without doubt or wavering, he waited for the fulfiUing of them Thus ta
viewed the Father's covenant engagements, who had declared : Hrae stuth bod
the Lord, he that created the he?vens, and stretched them out ; he that spred
forth the earth, and that which cometh out of it ; he that giveth breath unto the
people upon i? and spirit to them that walk therein : I the Lord have caUed thee

THE TRIUMPH OF FAITH. 333
in righteousness : and I wiU hold thy hand, and I wiU keep thee, and I wUl give
thee for a covenant of the people," &c. On this rock he built his faith, and could
not be moved : " The Lord God," says he, " hath opened mine ear, and I was
not rebellious, neither turned away back : I gave my back to the smiters, and
my cheeks to them that plucked off the hair ! I hid not my face from shame and
spitting : for the Lord God will help me ; therefore shaU I not be confounded ;
therefore have I set my face like a flint, and I know that I shah not be ashamed :
he is near that justifieth me. Who will contend with me ? Let us stand toge
ther. Who is mine adversary ? Let him come near to me. Behold, the Lord
God will help me. Who is he that shall condemn me ? Lo, they aU shall wax
old as a garment : the moth shaU eat them up." What an undaunted courage
is here manifested ! In this spirit of faith he prays —
" Be gracious unto me, O God, because faUen man would devour me : aU the
day long he is fighting against me, and oppressing me ; all the day long mine
enemies would devour me ; for they are many who fight against me, 0 thou
Most High. In the day, when I might have reason to fear, I will put my trust
in thee : I shaU praise God because of his word : in God I have put my trust ;
I wttl not fear what flesh can do unto me : aU the day long they torture my
words : aU their devices are against me for evil : they assemble together ; they
hide themselves ; they watch my steps as if they were waiting for my life. Shall
they escape for their wickedness ? In thine anger, O God, thou wUt bring these
people under : thou numberest my wanderings ; thou hast put my tears into
thy bottle : are they not recorded in thy register ? In the day when I shaU pray
unto thee, then shaU mine enemies be driven back : this have I known for
certain, because God is on my side : I wiU praise God, because of his word : I
wiU praise Jehovah, because of his word : In God have I trusted ; I wiU not fear
what man can do unto me. Thy vows are upon me, O God. I wttl pay my
thanksgivings unto thee ; for thou hast delivered my life from death. WUt thou
not also keep my feet from falling, that I may be able to walk in the presence of
God, in the light of life everlasting ? "
Oh what a perfect trust and confidence is this ! And how loudly does it caU
upon us to look to his example, that God would give us grace to foUow the steps
of his faith ! Observe, O my soul, and consider the pattern set before thee : — He
had God on his side — the promises — the power — the providences of the Almighty.
He knew that every step was marked, every tear noticed, and that God had them
in the book of his remembrance. In this faith he met his trials, and came off
triumphant. Notwithstanding his many weary steps, and his strong crying and
tears under that sorrow, which never had its like, yet he knew that he should be
heard — and he was heard : his enemies feU before him : but they rose and
returned to the combat. Upon the word he casts his anchor again. He trusts to
it ; and he finds it firm and sure stiU. The storm is great ; it continues ; it
increases ; all thy waves and storms, says he to his God, are gone over me. But,
my soul, trust thou still in the Lord : for my hope is in him. His word is my
stay. It cannot be broken. I praise him for it; again I praise him for it.
Trusting in it, now my fears are gone. God is my helper, and I wiU not fear
what man can do unto me. Oh what a pattern is here set for us ! May the
meditation upon it be useful. May the gracious Lord, who is the author and the
finisher of the faith, bless the means of his appointing, for the strengthening of
it. And in the use of them, looking up for the constant supplies of his Spirit,
may he enable us to go on from strength to strength, keeping this example always
in view, until he bring us in peace unto the end of our faith.
These are some of the scripture grounds upon which the triumph of faith is
built. It stands upon the almighty power of God, as engaged to fulfil his word :
for hia word is his deed. To take him at his word is the proper exercise of faith.
He hath promised, and it is done. To rest thus upon it, as what cannot possibly
fail, is the foundation of Christian worship : and when it is established^ in the
heart, in the love of the truth, it constitutes the chief of that service which is
perfect freedom ; for God has declared himself weU pleased with our trusting to
his truth and faithfulness. He has commanded us to do it without doubt or
wavering; he has promised grace sufficient to enable us thus to believe; and

334 THE TRIUMPH OF FAITH.
we cannot put too much trust and confidence in hia arm and power. And he
has also given us examples of those who honoured him with the fuUest refiance
of their hearts, and had reason to rejoice in the Lord, who keepeth promise for
ever. Glory be to him for euch encouragements of our faith ! Oh that they may
have their proper effect. May the Holy Ghost apply thera by hie grace, and
give ue euch a faith as may be weU pleasing unto God ; such a faith as he
has commanded, and for the full exercise of which he has made exceeding
great promises. Help us, O God of aU grace, to trust and not be afraid : for
thou art faithful : thy word and thy promises give us fuU security to trust in
the Lord at att timeB ; because in the Lord Jehovah is everlasting strength : and
blessed are all they who put their trust in him.
But by what ways and means shall these arguments and encouragements have
their fuU effect ? This is the main point ; and it is settled beyond dispute upon
scripture authority. The same Spirit, who revealed the promisea, ie aleo the
fulfiller of them : and he is almighty. The blessing on the use of the means ia
entirely from him : it is he who teacheth man knowledge : and from him we are
to eeek it in prayer. With all our reading, hearing, etudying, meditating upon
the ecripturee, we muet look up to him for hie divine teaching. If any of you,
believers, lack wiedom, let him ask it of God, who giveth to all askera liberally,
and upbraideth not, and it shall be given him ; but let him ask in faith. Here
ia a command and a promise. When we lack wisdom, which wc alwaya do, aa
much aa we want breath, we are to aak it of the Spirit of wiedom, and it shall be
given us. He wttl make us wiae unto salvation. He wttl keep ua in the use of
meane dependent on hie leading ua into aU useful truth, and of his revealing to
us the thinga which are freely given to ua of God, to ahow them to us aa realities,
and to put us into the enjoyment of them as blessings. In this dependence on
him, we live, and move, and have our being. Our spiritual fife and facultiee, and
the exerciee of them, and the improvement of them, are entirely from his in
fluence. For the apoetle, mentioning the several gifts and grncea of the Holy
Spirit, Baye, " AU these worketh that one, and the Belf-same Spirit, dividing to
every man hie own gifta according to hia own will." To him, then, we are to
look up for every good gift and every perfect gift. Whenever we open the
Bible, we ehould ask his light and hia teaching. Ho is the chief commentator.
He only can put the scriptures into our inward parts, and write them upon our
hearts, bo that we may experience them to be the power of God unto our own sal
vation. Our first reformers were of this Bentiment, exhorting us to pray, that by
the holy inspiration of God's Spirit we may think those things that be good,
and by his merciful guiding may perform the same. Grant to us, Lord, we be-
seech thee, the Spirit to think and do always such things as be rightful, that we,
who cannot do any thing that is good without thee, may by thee be enabled to
live according to thy will, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. (Ninth
Sunday after Trinity.) ,
As they prayed, ao they sang : for we meet with two hymns, inserted by the
reformers in the Common Prayer Book, appointed to be sung at the ordaining
of priests, and at the consecration of biahope. The first begins with these
words — Come Holy Ghost! our souls inspire,
And lighten with celestial fire, &c.
Out of the second I quote some verses, not for any excellency of the poetry,
but for the soundness ofthe divinity expressed in these linea :—
Come, Holy Ghost ! eternal God !
Proceeding from above.
Both from the Father and the Son,
The God of peace and love.
Visit our minds, and into us
Thy heavenly grace inspire,
That in all truth and godliness
We may have true desire.

THE TRIUMPH OF FAITH. 335
Thou in thy gift art manifold,
Whereby Christ's church doth stand.
In faithful hearts writing thy law,
The finger of God's hand.
According to thy promise made.
Thou invest speech of grace,
That through thy help, the praise of God
May stand in every place.
O Holy Ghost ! into our souls
Send down thy heavenly light ;
Kindle our hearts with fervent love,
To serve God day and night.
Strengthen and 'stablish our weakness,
So feeble and so frail,
That neither devil, world, norflesh.
Against us may prevail.
Grant ub, O Lord, through thee to know
The Father most of might,
That of his dear beloved Son
We may attain the sight.
And that with perfect faith also
We may acknowledge thee,
The Spirit of them both always,
One God, in persons three.
From these authorities it appears to be the doctrine of the scriptures, and of
our reformers in harmony with them, that spiritual life and knowledge, and faith
in Christ, and hope in him, that maketh not ashamed, and holy love, with every
godly motion of the heart, come from the holy inspiration of God the Spirit. It
is from him that we understand the scriptures in the mind of the Spirit : it is
from his grace that we grow in scripture knowledge, and persevere in the use of
means, and at the same time in a constant dependence on his presence in them,
for the furtherance and joy of our faith. He begins, he carries on, and he per
fects our learning in his revealed word and will. Oh that he may make us, and
keep us good scholars, in abiding sense of the necessity of his divine teaching !
that the Spirit and the word may go together in our Bible studies, and our
Bible experience : so that this may be the daily prayer of our faith : —
O thou Spirit of wisdom and revelation, who has taught us that secret things
belong to the Lord our God, but those things which are revealed belong to us,
and to our children for ever ; open the eyes of our understanding to understand
what is revealed in the scriptures for our use. Dispose us to hear them, read
them, and meditate on them, with profit. And help us to mix more faith with
them, that they may become more precious. In every day's reading, grant that
we may find them to be the engrafted word, and that we are really branches
grafteei into the tree of life, and by the rain, and shining of heaven, enabled to
bring forth the fruits of the Spirit abundantly. For aU these blessings keep ub
ever dependent on thy divine teaching, that our fruits may grow richer and
riper, we may be more humble in our hearts, and more thankful in our lives :
and so we who can learn nothing as we ought without thee, may by thy grace
be made wise unto eternal salvation, through faith, which is in Christ Jesus — to
whom with thee, O F'ather, and thee, O Holy Spirit, be equal honour and glory,
now and for ever. Amen.

CHAPTER III.
TJie believer's triumph in the Lord his righteousness.
Thk object of his rejoicing is always one and the same, yesterday, to-day, and
for ever, without any variableness or shadow of turning. It is Christ, God in

336 THE TRIUMPH OF FAITH.
Christ, concerning whom the commandment runs — Rejoice in the Lord Jesus
alwaya, and again I 8ay, rejoice ; there being in him a fountain of joy springing
up into everlasting fife. What he is in his own wonderful person — what is
revealed of his gracious works and ways in his dealings with the sinners of man
kind — what he did for them in the days of his flesh — what he does in them by
his Spirit in time — what he has promised to give them in eternity : in every
possible view that can be taken of him, a believer may and ought to rejoice
always, and that with a fulness of joy ; for thus the apostie offers up his praise —
" Now thanke be to God, who alwaye causeth us to triumph in Christ." For he
has in his person every possible subject of triumphant joy. He ia true and very
God : and he is true and very man — God and man in one Christ. The prophet
Isaiah foretold this marveUous union, and gloried in the proepect: For ue
men, and our ealvation, a child is bom, and a son is given : and hie name
shall be caUed Wonderful, because the child is the mighty God, and the Son
ia the everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace. Thia is the great mystery of
godliness, of which the sainta in the Old Testament sang with tho sweeteat
melody in their hearta unto the Lord, aa the prophet doea in the one hundred
and forty-eighth Psalm, calling upon aU in heaven and earth, with all their in
habitants, to join him in the praises of Immanuel i because his name alone is
excellent, and his praise above heaven and earth. So that New Testament
saint felt it, who declared, that he accounted all things but losa, for the ex
ceUency of the knowledge of Chriat Jeaue my Lord : For whom I have Buffered
the lose of all thinge, and I do account them hut dung, that 1 may win Christ,
and be found in him — found so united to him as to be one with him : for he
was united to our nature, in order to bring about another moat bleaeed union —
He taking our nature, that we might take his — He made the Son of man, that
we might be made the aona of God — He having the power of an endleaa life,
that he might give epiritual and eternal life to all believera : for they, in the
day of hia power, are joined to the Lord by one Spirit — the eame Spirit in the
members ae in the Head — that through him, their Head, they might be able
to aay, truly our feUowahip ia with the Father, and with hia Son Jeaua Christ,
by the bond of hie Spirit. It ie not poBaible for man to conceive higher thinga
than our Lord has prayed for in these words : " Neither pray I for these alone,
but for them also who ahall believe on me through their word : that they all
may be one ; as thou Father art in me, and I in thee, that they also may be one
in us, that the world may befieve that thou hast sent me : and the glory which
thou gaveet me, I have given them, that they may be one, even aa we are one."
By virtue of thie union with Chriet, who ie the head over aU thing8 to the
church, hia membere have feUowehip with him in hie holy life : he ia the Lord
Jehovah their righteoueneea : For then he became subject to the law, and
obedient to ita precepts, born of a woman, and made under the law, that through
his obedience many might be made righteous. Lo, I come, saya he, to no thy
wttl O God • and he did it by fulfilling aU righteouaneae. Ae the aurety for his
people what he did, when he magnified the law and made it infinitely honourable
in aU its demanda, was for them, and for their justification, that it might be im
puted unto them for righteousneaB, and they might be dealt with aa righteous
at the judgment-seat of God. In this the father of the faithM made hia boast,
and gloried all the day long : for we read that he believed in God, and God im
puted to him righteousneaa, loving him aa hia friend, and bleaeing him in all
thinge Now it was not written for his sake alone, that it was imputed to him ;
but for us also, to whom it shaU be imputed, if we believe on him that raised up
Jeeus our Lord from the dead : for the children of believing Abraham are freely
made heirs, as he was, of the righteousneee which ie by the faith of Jeaus Chriet.
Hear with what heart-felt joy one of them celebratea hia triumphant atate in Chriet :
_  . ,,.11  111  :  4.Un- —.*»-,. nr,A -nnr-a  mi, fYimitll flhjlll

show i
ti^ofethy"i^teousnesB,''even of thine only." He found the bleesinga flowing
from it numberleaB, and endleea : eo that it was all he wanted for hia iuatification
to fife and for his title to glory— it only. In the same Psalm, admiring and

THE TRIUMPH OF FAITH. 337
adoring the wonders of the gift of grace, he breaks out : " Thy righteousness,
O God, is very high, who hast done great things. O God, who is like unto
thee ?" He was so complete in this righteousness of Christ, that he would mix
nothing with it for his free access to God, or for his fuU acceptance before God.
He knew that his righteousness of faith was appointed of God, was the gift of
his grace, and was all-sufficient, being an everlasting righteousness : and there
fore it effectually removed the consciousness of sin from his heart, and enabled
him to come boldly to the throne of grace, where he stood perfectly justified in
Jesus. And' in the same spirit we hear a New Testament saint resolving to
exclude aU glorying, except in Christ, and in his righteousness, " in whom God
can be just, and yet the justifier of him who believeth in Jesus. Where is boasting,
then ? It is excluded. By what law ? By the law of works ? Nay ; but by the
law of faith. Therefore we conclude that a man is justified by faith without
the deeds of the law, and that Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to
every one that believeth." This was the apostle's highest ambition — to be found
in his precious Saviour. Oh that I may rejoice in him through life, and may
be found in him at the hour of death, and in the day of judgment — found in him,
not having mine own righteousness, which is of the law, but that which is
through the faith of Christ — the righteousness which is of God by faith
Blessed testimony for Jesus ! Encouraging example to place our whole trust
and confidence in the Lord our righteousness, and our strength ! For he is the
same to us as he was to the apostle Paul ; and we have as good reason to triumph
as ho had, because it is written, " I wttl greatly rejoice in the Lord ; my soul
shall bo joyful in my God : for he hath clothed me with the garments of salva
tion; he hath covered me with the robe of righteousness, as a bridegroom
decketh himself with ornaments, and a bride adorneth herself with her jewels : for
as the earth bringeth forth its bud, and as the garden causeth the things that are
sown in it to spring forth, so the Lord God wiU cause righteousness and praise
to spring before aU the nations." This is the righteousness of faith, and these
are the fruits of it, which abound to the glory of God, even peace with him, joy in
him, a holy walk with him, and a victorious warfare by him. In the Lord shall
aU the seed of Israel be justified, and shall glory. Herein to glory is the believer's
bounden duty. He is caUed to it as his gospel privilege, and according to his
faith he does triumph in it as his present happiness, and as a good ground
for his hope of eternal joy. Wonderful blessings are promised to this faith and
hope ; and they are truly experienced at this day. Bless the Lord, O my soul,
for his providing such a garment for glory and beauty. He has warranted thee
to put it on ; and having through it free access into his presence, he has com
manded thee to join that great multitude whom no one can number, who are
standing before the throne, and before the Lamb, clothed in white robes,
and palms in their hands, and who cry with a loud voice, saying, " Salvation to
our God who sitteth upon the throne, and to the Lamb for ever ! " Their robes
are as white as the light, being washed clean in the blood of the Lamb ; and
through him they have conquered, as the palms in their hands denote ; yea, are
more than conquerors ; having crowns of righteousness upon their heads, which
can never fade away ; for grace reigns through righteousness unto eternal life by
Jesus Christ our Lord. Oh! what matter of triumph is here ! A righteousness
absolutely perfect and everlasting ! This greatly enhances aU our high joys in
Christ, that there is fuU security for their continuance. It depends on the faith
fulness of God to his word and promise, fixed in his eternal counsels, and
established upon immutable things. " Their righteousness is of me, saith the
Lord, and mine is an everlasting righteousness. Lift up your eyes to the
heavens, and look upon the earth beneath : for the heavens shaU vanish away
like smoke, and the earth shaU wax old like a garment, and they that dwell
therein shall die in like manner ; but my salvation shall be for ever, and my
righteousness shall not be abolished." The state of a believer is always one and
the same on God's part. He may vary in his apprehension of his state ; but
with God there is no variableness or shadow of turning. He may be a befiever
walking in darkness — tempted to doubt ; he may pay too much attention to sense
and feeling — may get into ;i legal spirit — his eridenccs may be clouded : when
z

338 THE TRIUMPH OF FAITH.
outward things and providences seem to make against him, his faitii may be sore
tried, and he may stagger at the promises of God through some fit of unbelief;
the man changeth, but God changeth not ; his mercies are sure mercies ; they
cannot fatt ; for they spring from the ocean of grace, and are streams which no
created power can cut off; but they shall infaUibly return to it again, and eholl
bring with them all the happy objects of his love. The Father chose them, and
gave them to his Son, who has all their names written in the Lamb's book of
life : for them he lived and died : and when he presents them at the last day to
the Father — " Behold, I and the children whom thou hast given rae ; " not one
of them shaU be wanting ; for the Holy Spirit is, by his office, the Lord and giver
of life to them, and in the day of his power he enables them to receive Jesus, and
to live by faith upon him, as members united to, and in feUowship with, their
glorified Head. This covenant of the blessed Trinity is unalterable, being
ordered in all things and sure. AU the subjects of its grace shall infallibly bo
saved, according to our Lord's promise, and according to our Lord's prayer, viz.
" My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me, and I give
unto them eternal life ; and they shall never perish, neither shaU any pluck them
out of my hand." Trusting to these immutable securities, the heirs of promise
are commanded to draw Btrong consolation, even to rejoice in Jesue with a
fulness of joy, in darkness as weU as walking in hght — in winter ae well as in
summer — in adversity as weU as in prosperity — in death as well as in life —
because he haa all power in heaven and earth to molte good to them every
covenant engagement : and he will do it ; for the ransomed of the Lord ahall
return, and ahall come to Sion with songs, and everlasting joy upon their heads :
they ahall obtain joy and gladness ; and sorrow and sighing ahaU flee away for
ever. O thou mo8t hleeeed God and Saviour ! thou art the Lord our righteouenesa
and our Btrength. I believe that the whole Israel of God ehall bejuetified only by
thee, and in thee only ehall they glory. Oh ! let thy Spirit abide with me to
increase in me thia faith, that by freeh euppliea of hia grace I may be kept from
going about to e8tablish my own righteousness, and may constantly submit
myself to the righteousneee of God. And by the eame grace help me to bring forth
the fruit8 of righteoueneas abundantly unto the glory and praiee of God, magni
fying thine atonement in the peace of my conBcience, exalting thy righteousncHB
in the love of my heart, and in my walk and warfare glorifying thy fulncea : so
that out of it I may receive a sufficiency of grace, by which I am now enabled to
blese thee for the hope of glory. To thee, almighty Jesua, for the work of righte
ousness, which is peace— and for the effect of righteouenees, which ia epiietnesB
and assurance for ever — to thee be everlasting praise. Amen and Amen.

CHAPTER IV.
The believer's triumph in Jesus under a sense of the defilement of sm.
It is in virtue of this feUowship with Jesua that helievera are freely forgiven
all their iniquities. Hia atonement wae the work of our great High Prieat, who
waa made Bin for us, although he knew no sin, that we might be made the
righteousness of God in him. God is of purer eyes than to look upon the least
iniquity : and there is a defilement in sin, which makeB it exceeding filthy and
abominable in hia eight. He showed his utter abhorrence of it by .estabhahing
in the Old Teatament such an abundance of legal poUutions as might exhibit to
sense the defiling nature of sin, and might keep it ever before their eyes, and
fresh upon their minds : and by making it necessary that the worshippers should
be purified from theee poUutions, and by establiehing the means of their purifi
cation, and by forbidding every other, he would lead them to exerciae faith in the
great purifier, whose office it was to purge their consciences before they could
offer unto the Lord an offering in righteousness. And it was a fixed law, that,
if any one legaUy unclean neglected or refused the appointed meane of being

THE TRIUMPH OF FAITH. 339
cleansed, he was to bear his iniquity ; for an unpardoned sinner can have no com
munion with a most holy God.
Unto the pure all things are pure ; but unto them that are defiled and unbe
lieving is nothing pure ; but even their mind and conscience is defiled. The
mind is the fountain from whence aU the streams flow. Out of the heart proceed
evU thoughts, murders, adulteries, &c. — these are the things which defile the man.
An enlightened conscience is made sensible of this, and feels the necessity of being
purified from aU filthiness of flesh and spirit, in order to approach God and to
have boldness and access with confidence to the throne of grace. His meditations
at such times are like these : —
The more I know of myself, the more I am led to loathe myself, and to repent
in dust and ashes ; for I am a sinner, filthy and abominable altogether ; by nature
as vile as sin can render a fallen creature, and datty polluting myself in heart and
life with fresh impurities. I have no means of cleansing myself; no hope that
any thing in the creation can do it for me. Deep in my very constitution the
stain remains. And I am forced to be crying out — Unclean ! unclean ! My
case would be quite desperate if God himself had not provided a remedy, the
report of which has come to mine ears in the gospel. Oh ! it is blessed news —
I welcome it to my heart — that God has opened a fountain which cleanseth from
all sin. He has recommended it to me as having infinite virtue and everlasting
efficacy to cleanse. And I have a command from heaven, vUe and filthy as I
am, to make use of it -. for thus it is written — " In that day there shaU be a foun
tain opened to the house of David, and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem, for sin
and for uncleanness."- When the Holy Spirit enables the sinner to believe the
report, and to mix faith with it, then he has a warrant thus to pray — " Purge me
with hyssop, and I shall be clean ; wash me, and I shaU be whiter than snow —
Hide thy face from my sins, and blot out aU mine iniquities — Create in me a
clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me." And the Lord hears
and answers the prayer in these words — " I wUl sprinkle clean water upon you,
and ye shaU be clean ; from all your filthiness and from all your idols wiU I cleanse
you. A new heart also will 1 give you, and a new spirit will I put within you ;
and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I wttl give you a heart
of flesh ; and I wiU put my spirit within you, and I will cause you to walk in my
statutes, and ye shall keep my judgments and do them : I wttl also save you
from all your uncleannesses." The sacrifices from the beginning preached this
blessed doctrine : their blood could sanctify by thy divine appointment to the
purifying of the flesh : how much more shaU the blood of Christ, who, through
the eternal Spirit, offered himself without spot to God, to purify the conscience
from dead works to serve the living God ! Blessed, for ever blessed, be his grace,
who by his offering hath opened a fountain for sin and for uncleanness, in which
the most poUuted may wash and be clean : for Christ so loved the church, as to
give himself for it, that he might sanctify and cleanse it with washing of water
by the word ; that he might present it to himself a glorious church, not having
spot or wrinkle or any such thing ; but that it might be holy and without blemish :
for his blood has infinite virtue to purify the foulest sinner, even so to cleanse
him, that he may be perfect for ever : and the great use of faith is to receive it,
and to apply it, even as God himself has recommended it ; and it has lost none
of its virtue. To this very day it purifies as perfectly as ever it did, and
believers now in life, and in the hour of death, feel its divine efficacy as truly as
the martyred Stephen did. I find a dying Christian thus proclaiming his faith
and hope in it, wnen' heart and flesh were failing him : " Am not I, my friends,
a monument of God's rich free grace, of his boundless love and mercy in Christ ?
Oh! most extensive is the efficacy of his precious blood; for it has reached to
me, one of the vilest of sinners : Oh! here is boundless goodness, unfathomable
love : this blood has washed clean my soul, the seat of defilement, that was as black
as hell ; purified my conscience, that was darker than the grave, and made it
brighter than the light : in a word, this blood wiU make me, who was rile, mot
vile, a child of heU, an heir of wrath, holy before God, and fit to live with God
and the Lamb, with angels and the spirits of good men made perfect, to all
eternity; and in a few minutes my soul shaU be made perfect also. Oh! blessed,

340 THE TRIUMPH OF FAITH.
for ever blessed, be God my Saviour, eternal praises be rendered unto thee.
This is true faith, and high honour put upon tiie blood of Jesus, to seal Cod
testimony concerning it. He hath set forth Jesus Christ to be a propitintio
through faith in his blood. Trusting to it, the foulest sins are washed as whit
as enow, and crimson sins as the purest wool. So the beloved says to his churc
— " Behold, thou art fair, my love ; behold, thou art all fair ; there is no spot i
thee: thou art all glorious within." No angel can 'be whiter or purer, n
stand more accepted before God, than he does who is washed in the blood of th
Lamb. O blessed man, who hast obtained redemption by it ! thou art com
manded to enter with boldness into the holiest by the blood of Jesus — the way i
open; thou art called to draw near with a true heart, in full assurance of faitii
having thy heart sprinkled from an evil conscience, and thy body washed wit]
pure water, that thou mayst hold thy profession of faitii without wavering, n
that great multitude did, who washed their robes, and made them white in th
blood of the Lamb : they are now crying with a louil voice, " Salvation to ou
God, who sitteth upon the throne, and unto the Lamb for ever." They triump]
indeed ; and so mayst thou. Thou hast the same reason as they have. Th
aame fountain, which washed their robes, cleanses thine — the same promise
that it will — and thou shalt Btand before (!od without spot of sin unto eterna
salvation, as perfect as they. Jesus ia thy Saviour, as truly as ho is theirs
even to-day, thy con8cience purged from guilt and thy heart purified by faith
thou mayst enter within the vail, and make sweet melody in thy heart unto th
Lord thy God. Our elder brethren round hia throne are employed in the sam
delightful work : we do it here as well as we can ; they in heaven, and we 01
earth — the same subject in the church below, as well as above, and the sam
employment. We try to sing the praises of the worthy slaughtered Lamb in a
high a note as they do. And when we fail, we try again, praying the Hoi
Spirit to enable us to keep in tune with them, that our eonga may daily be mor
epiritual and heavenly. A poet of our own, feeling-something of this harmony
would have us to celebrate the triumphs of the Lamb of God in theae worda .-—
There is a fountain fill'd with blood,
Drawn from lmmanuers veins,
And sinDers plunged lieneath that flood
Lose all their guilty stains.
The dying thief rejoiced to see
That fountain in his day ;
And there have I, as vile as he,
Wash'd all my sins away.
Dear dying Lamb ! thy precious blood
Shall never lose its power.
Till all the ransom'd church of God
Be saved to sin no more.
E'er since by faith I saw the stream
Thy flowing wounds supply,
Redeeming love has been my theme,
And shall be till 1 die.
Then in a nobler, sweeter song
I'll sing thy power to save,
When this poor lisping stamm'ring tongue
Lies silent in the grave.
The song of heaven ia upon thia same subject. The Holy Ghost has taugl
ua the very worda of their divine hymn, and what ie the harmony of all tt
redeemed round the throne with one heart and one voice, blesBing bod and tt
Lamb Oh that he may tune our hearts to join the chorus, and fit us now to Bin
in as high a strain as we can, and every day to aim higher, tttl we come to th
completion of the heavenly vision thus described by the apostle :—
"After this I beheld, and lo, a great multitude, whom no one could numbei
of aU nations, and kindreds, and people, and tongues, stood before the thron
and before the Lamb, clothed with white robes, and palms in their hands : thee
are they who came out of great tribulation, and have washed their robes, and mael

THE TRIUMPH OF FAITH. 341
them white in the blood of the Lamb : therefore are they before the throne of
God, and serve him day and night in his temple ; and he that sitteth upon the
throne shaU dweU among them. They shaU hunger no more, neither tliirst
any more, neither shaU the sun light on them, nor any heat ; for the Lamb who
is in the midst of the throne, shaU feed them, and shaU lead them unto living
fountains of water, and shall wipe away aU tears from their eyes. And they
sang with a loud voice, saying, Salvation to our God, who sitteth upon the
throne, and unto the Lamb for ever ! — Unto him that loved us, and washed us
from our sins in his own blood, and hath made us kings and priests unto God
and his Father, to him be glory and dominion, for ever and ever. Amen. "

CHAPTER V.
The believer's triumph over sin in its guilt.
The forgiveness of sins is the grand doctrine of salvation, on which peace
with God is built. Sin is present with the believer, but pardoned. Sin is felt,
but ceases to condemn. This is the chief difficulty in experience< How the
truth of God, and his holiness, and his threatenings, and the honour of his law
enn be maintained, and yet he can be faithful and just to forgive us our sins.
The believer may be often shaken in his mind, and troubled with legal fears and
workings, if he be not so well established by the Spirit and word of God as to
submit in his conscience to God's way of pardoning sin : it was always one and
the same, contrived and appointed in the everlasting councils of the blessed
Trinity, and revealed upon the entrance of sin ; vi:. that a person in Jehovah
would become incarnate, and take away sin by the sacrifice of himself. To him
Moses and all the prophets gave witness that, through his name, whosoever
believeth in him shall receive remission of sins. Ihe proclamation of grace holds
it out most clearly. When Moses was permitted to see his glory, the Lord
passed by before him, and proclaimed, "The Lord, the Lord God, merciful and
gracious, long-suffering, and abundant in goodness and truth ; keeping mercy
for thousands, forgiving iniquity, and transgression, and sin." Every sacrifice
preached this same truth visibly, showing the death which the sinner deserved,
and the divine method of pardoning it, through faith, in th". Lamb slain from
the foundation of the world ; for Jesus is the very paschal Lamb who was sacri
ficed for us : and the deliverance which they experienced in Egypt, through the
sprinkling of his blood, we feel the same in our hearts unto this day : through
faith they kept the passover, and the sprinkling of blood, lest he that destroyed
the first-born should touch them : through the same faith we keep the same
feast, and having found redemption through his blood, even the forgiveness of
sins, we live safe out of the reach of the destroyer. We know our danger
as they did, and we look to the Lamb of God for safety. It is the Holy Spirit
who convinceth both of sin and of pardon. His conviction of sin makes an im
pression upon the conscience of its infinite evil. He stops the sinner's mouth,
and makes him subscribe to all that is said in scripture of his guilt and of his
danger. Looking at himself under the law, and under sin, which is the trans
gression of the law, he is made to submit to the sentence of condemnation, and
has nothing of his own to plead in arrest of judgment. Thus he is taught to
think of the law, as God does, both of its precepts and penalties. He sees infi
nite justice, and holiness, and truth armed against him, and the desert of his
sins to be everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord, which he has
no power to resist, and no means to escape. When the Holy Spirit convinces
him of righteousness, and manifests the grace of God, in the tree forgiveness of
his sins, yet still he feels the exceeding wickedness of them. He loathes and abhors
himself, as the subject of them, and groans, being burthened with the abiiling
sense of his corruptions. At his very best it is — O wTetched man ! who shaU
deliver me, &c. — but at the same time he can rejoice in God his Snviour — I
thank God through Jesus Clirist — lie is the propitiation for my sins, and 1 have

312 THE TRIUMPH OF FAITH.
found peace with God through faith in his blood. Thus the Holy Spirit glorifies
Jesus. He gives a faith steadfast in the atonement of Jesus, and settles such a
peace in the conscience, as answers aU charges from sin and from unbelief. And
hereby he fulfils the proclamation of grace in the New Testament, which agrees
exactly with the sentiments of the Old. When our Lord sent out his apostles
to preach the gospel to every creature, his commission to them runs in these
words : " And Jesus said unto them, Thus it is written, and thus it behoved
Christ to suffer, and to rise from the dead on the third day ; and that repentance
and remission of sins should be preached in his name among aU nations." They
were to warn sinners of their danger, and to caU upon them to look to Jesus,
and to him only, for salvation. For he who commandeth all men every where
to repent hath exalted Jesus to be a Prince and a Saviour, to give repentance
unto his people, and forgiveness of their sins. It is a gift of his royal grace —
one of the high honours of his exaltation — that he can freely forgive every
iniquity, and transgression, and ain, be they ever so many, or ever So great.
For Jesus can take away all iniquity, and receive the sinner graciously. — We,
says Peter, are witnesses of these things : and so also is the Holy Ghost ; whom
God hath given to them that obey him— that come at his caU in the gospel, and
obey it : the Holy Ghost, turning them from self to Christ, from sin to righteous
ness, from a life of sense to a life of faith, thereby witnesses their true conversion,
which is a continual work of his grace in that repentance which is not to be
repented of; and when he enables them to glorify God for this mercy, he gives
great joy and peace in believing the -forgiveness of their sine, according to the
commission which our Lord gave to St. Paul at his conversion : " I send thee
to the Gentiles, to open their eyes, and to turn them from darkness to light,
and from the power of Satan unto God, that they may receive forgiveness of
sins, and an inheritance among them that are sanctified by faith that is in me."
When this commission is opened to a sinner in his name, and credited by the
power of his Spirit, then the conscience is purged from guilt, by that one
offering which perfecteth for ever. The believer in it has a clean heart given
him. It ie sanctified, and made a temple for the worship of the tme God. To
this the word witnesses — And the Holy Ghost is also a witness to him, that he
may now enter with boldness into the holiest of all by the blood of Jesus — Every
possible hindrance being removed, he may have access with confidence to the
throne of grace — to a Father of mercies, loving him, and blessing him with aU
spiritual blessings in Christ Jesus. When he lives up to these privileges, then
he feels as he ought to do. His faith relying ateadfaetly upon the divine pro
mises, and giving fuU credit to a faithful God, he has a good conscience purged
from dead works to serve the living God, and, his heart consecrated for this
service, he may sing of pardon and peace in as high a note of praise, and with
as much spiritual joy, as ever any believer experienced. They had much in the
Old Testament, when they sang the triumphs of the Lamb of God, in the
twentieth Pealm : the argument of which is thua given ua in Biahop Horne'8
Comment. " 1 — 4. The church prayeth for the prosperity of King Mesaiah
going forth to the hattie as her champion and deliverer, for his acceptance by the
Father, and for the accomplishment of his will ; — 5, 6, 7. She declareth her fuU
assurance of faith, and her resolution to trust in him alone, and not in the arm
of flesh ; — 8. She foreseeth the faU of her enemies, and her own exaltation ; and
9. concludeth with a prayer to the God of her strength." As long as the temple
stood, and the service of God was regularly carried on in it, the true worship
pers had every day a solemn commemoration of that sacrifice which was to put
away their sins. They were taught to look to that precious blood of Chriet, as
of a lamb without blemish and without spot, who venly was fore-ordained before
the foundation of the world, whom God hath set forth in every sacrifice to be
the great propitiation and atonement, through which alone they were to expect
pardon and peace. While the lamb was burning on the altar, every morning
and evening, they celebrated hie praises with the choicest instruments of music,
and with the sweetest voices, making also melody in their hearts at the same
time unto the Lord. Among other hymns given by inspiration of God for tine
joyful occasion, they used to sing the twentieth Psalm, in which they triumphed

THE TRIUMPH OF FAITH. 343
in the God of their salvation, and declared their faith and hope in him in fuU
concert, after this manner : —
" Jehovah will hear thee : in the day of trouble the name of the God of Jacob
wiU defend thee : he wUl send thee help from his sanctuary, and he wttl
strengthen thee out of Sion : he wiU grant thee according to thy heart, and he
will fulfil all thy purposes : then we shaU shout for joy in thy salvation, and in
the name of our God we shaU set up our banners, when Jehovah shah fulfil aU
thy requests. Now I have known that Jehovah wiU help the Messiah, his
Christ, and wiU answer him from his sanctuary with the mighty power of the
right hand of Jesus. Some put their trast in chariots, and others in horses ; but
we wttl cause the name of Jehovah our Alehim (the Trinity in covenant) to be
remembered : they are brought down and fatten ;, but we are risen, and made
still to stand safe ; for the king (Jesus) will put forth his power to save us : he
will answer us in the day when we pray unto him."
These are the words of the hymn, in which they express their faith in the
future triumphs of the Lamb of God, and their hope in that one offering of his
which was to perfect them for ever. The divine appointment, the divine ac
ceptance, the divine application of his sacrifice, is the most noble subject that
could be sung upon earth : indeed it is the subject of heaven, and wiU be the
harmony and concert of eternity. May the Holy Ghost put our hearts in tune
to join in' it, and to adore and bless the Lamb that was slain, setting up our
banners as they did, Rom. viii. 31, 32, 33, 34, conquerors over Bin and Satan,
and aU their enemies. We have the same Jesus to rejoice in, and as good
reason as ever believers had to rejoice in him with a fulness of joy. When the
heart feels as happy as it can be here in God the Saviour, these are some of the
delightful exercises of faith in his blood : —
Oh what am I, that such a sinner as I am should be thus highly favoured?
A child of wrath by nature, even as others, and by practice — having sinned long
with greediness — against light and conviction — sinning and sorrowing — sorrow
ing and sinning from year to year — a slave to the lust of the flesh, to the lust of
the eyes, and to the pride of life, every moment fit and ripe for heU. Oh what
a monument of infinite patience and long-suffering! — spared from day to day,
and at last caUed to the saving knowledge of Jesus. Oh what exceeding riches
of grace are these — that the Father would choose me in the Beloved, and give
him to save me from sin and misery, that he would send his Spirit to quicken
me, and to enable me to believe that there was mercy in Jesus for me, even for
me, and plenteous redemption ! What sinners can be more indebted than I am
for Buch miracles of grace ? Glory be to God in the highest ! My Lord Jesus,
the great God and my Saviour, gave himself for me, that he might redeem me
from aU iniquity, and might cleanse me from aU sin : trusting to his atonement,
and to his righteousness, I am led to admire the Father's fuU absolution : " Thy
sins and thine iniquities I will remember no more." Thanks be to him for this
unspeakable gift. He has pronounced them blessed, and he has caused me to
feel some of their blessedness, whose iniquities he has forgiven, and whose sin he
has covered ; and therefore I look fonvard with thankfulness to the great day of
redemption, when Jesus will present me to himself, holy and without blemish,
as if I had never sinned. In this hope of salvation I triumph before God. Now
I see the felicity of thy chosen — I rejoice in the gladness of thy people — and I
glory with thine inheritance. Unto him who chose me in his Son — unto him
who loved rae and washed me from my sins in his own blooel — unto him who gave
mc this faitii and keeps me in it, for this fellowship with the eternal Three — be
eternal praise. Amen.

CHAPTER VI.
The believer's victory over the dominion of sin.
We have heard from scripture some of the victories of faith over sin in its
pollution and in its guilt; but there is stiU a hard warfare to be maintained

344 THE TRIUMPH OF FAITH.
against its dominion ; for it reigneth absolutely in the children of disobedience,
and it never ceaseth to strive for mastery in the children of God, who have an
evtt nature still — an old man, who is corrupt according to the deceitful lusts, and
who is to be put off every day — denied in his desires — mortified in his affections,
and crucified in his appetites. Thus the commandment runs : " Mortify there
fore your members which are upon earth." And the new man, who is called to
this warfare, is ordered to make use of Christ's fulness for promised courage, and
strength, and victory ; for without Christ he can do nothing. Sin is himself —
he is a body of sin — and he has not only to fight against himself, but also against
principalities and powers, hosts of foes, united under the banner of the god of
this world, trying all their cunning, and all their force to bring the believer back
into the bondage of corruption ; and what he has of his own is on their side. His
worst foe is his indwelling sin, which has a complete body with all its members
and lusts, always enticing to something unlawful, and tempting to the commis
sion of it. Every faculty is ready to become an instrument of unrighteousness
unto sin. It is an absolute tyrant, who rules his slaves with the most cruel
rigour, keeping them captive to his wiU, although nothing but destruction and
misery be in their ways.
Thus original sin is described in the ninth article of our church — it is the fault
and cormption of every man born of Adam ; and notwithstanding it stiU remain
eth in the regenerate, yet there ie a promise of daily and of complete victory over
the tyrant. Thus it ie written, " Sin shall not have dominion over you, because
ye are not under the law, but under grace." Once sin had full dominion, but it
is taken away by the Spirit of Christ ; not entirely destroyed, as to its being, but
as to its ruling power— dethroned in the judgment ; there seen as it is, exceeding
Binful, exceeding dangerous — dethroned in the conscience ; the believer no longer
under the law, but under grace, ia freed from condemnation — dethroned in the
wiU ; not my will, Lord, but thine be done — dethroned in the heart ; I hate all
evil thoughta, but thy law do I love ! oh what love have I unto thy law ; —
dethroned in the life ; crucified with its affections and lustB, by the power of the
cross of Jesue. It ie not quite dead, but it ia put to a lingering death, kept upon
the cross, dying daily. And thus the sin which is pardoned through the blood
of Christ is conquered by the arm of Clirist, as it is written, " He will subdue
our iniquities ;" and faith in his promised help keepB them under, subdues them
effectually, so that they do not reign in the mortal body to obey them in the lusts
thereof. Take an inetance of this triumphant faith. Whatever the natural man
can set his heart upon, or seek his happiness in — the lust of the flesh, the lust of
the eyes, or the pride of life — Moses was enabled by the Spirit of Chriat to over
come : " By faith, Moses, when he was come to years, refused to he called the son
of Pharaoh's daughter; choosing rather to suffer affliction with the people of
God than to enjoy the pleasures of Bin for a season, esteeming the reproach of
Christ greater riches than the treasures of Egypt; for he had respect unto the
recompense of the reward." What but almighty grace could have given him
such a complete rictory ? He gained entire dominion over sin, even when it
came to tempt him with all the pleasures, and riches, and honours of the world.
He was made strong in faith : Chriat, ruling in his heart, brought every high
thought into subjection to himself: so that MoseB not only resigned all his tem
poral advantagea for Christ's sake, but what natural men account a great paradox,
he chose "reproach, poverty, misery, rather than give up hia intereat in Christ.
This is the victory which still overcometh the world, even our faith ; for the New
Testament furnishes us with such another instance of Christian heroism in the
apostle of the Gentiles : his giving an account of hie own experience, and by what
means he was now no longer under the law but under grace — a sinner eaved from
the sentence of the broken law, and from all hope of being made righteous by his
own personal keeping of it — " I, through that law," says he, " am dead to the
law, that I might live unto God," &c. Once he was alive without the law —
when he thought proudly of his own good life, that, concerning the law he was
blameless  but when the commandment came in the power of the Spirit, then it
el"w him, and kiUed aU bis former legal hopes. Whafhe had trueted in before
for life he now found to be unto death ; and Christ, faith in Christ, was the only

THE TRIUMPH OF FAITH. 345
means by which he saw he could five unto God, by his grace and to his glory.
By this faith he then experienced the power of the crucified and risen Jesus : I
am in Christ, says he, crucified with him, truly and spirituaUy dead to sin, to self,
to the world, by the virtue of his cross : nevertheless, by the same faith in the
same Jesus, I live ; the Spirit of fife in him has quickened my spirit : he has given
me a new birth into the spiritual world, and has brought me to live upon the
fulness of Jesus, as reaUy now by faith, as I hope to live upon him by sense in
heaven ; "Yet not I ;" I neither had it of myself, nor do I continue it by any
act of my own, " but Christ Iiveth in me : and although I seem to live outwardly
like other men, yet the life which I now five in the flesh, I Uve by the faith of the
Son of God," depending upon him every moment for fresh supplies of his Spirit,
to keep me in union and communion with the Father and the Son ; and thereby
he gives me to feel in my heart some of the blessings of that love of God in
Christ which surpasseth knowledge. It is this that purifies my soul, and sancti
fies my life : blessed, for ever blessed be his name, who thus loved me, and gave
himself for me.
Such were the heroes of Christianity : they fought the Lord's battles, and in
the power of his might they subdued sin : they obtained dominion over it through
faith in Jesus. And the same faith in the same Jesus is still mighty through him
to obtain as great victories. The truth of his promise, the faithfulness of the pro
miser, the strength of his arm to fulfil his promise ; these did not fatt Moses, nor
Paul — never did, never can, fail any believer. Thus speaketh the Lord unto
them : Sin shall not have dominion over you; having pardoned it by my blood.
I will subdue it by my Spirit : trust me, you shaU find strong faith an over
match for strong sin ; because it fights in the strength of Jesus, to whom aU
things are possible, and who must reign tiU he hath put all his enemies under
his feet. And sin and death shaU lie no more. Say, it is a besetting sin : this
only gives more employment for faith, and for the power of Jesus. It may be a
sin of constitution, breaking out into wrath and passion, that the man has no
government of himself; but the Spirit of Christ can make him a new creature,
and can enable him to put off the old man with his deeds, and to put on the new
man, which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness. It may be a
long habit of sin : but is any thing too hard for the Lord ? Has he not promised
— " A new heart will I give you, and I wttl put my Spirit within you, and I will
cause you to walk in my statutes, and ye shaU keep my commandments and
practise them." Wherever grace reigns, this scripture is fulfiUed. The armies
of the Lord of Hosts fight under his banner, and no weapon formed against them
can prosper : kept by his mighty power, they are daily more than conquerors,
marching on triumphant over aU opposition ; for he enables them to hold fast the
confidence and the rejoicing of hope firm unto the end. Thus they were com
manded to pray : " Order my steps, O Lord, according to thy word, and let not
any iniquity have dominion over me." They looked to his word, and to his arm,
for the right ordering of their steps, believing that he would keep the steps of his
saints, and sin should not have dominion over them; now they were no longer
under the law, but under the kingdom of his grace. The victory which he had
promised, they expected ; and he did put forth his power, according to that good
word wherein he had caused them to place their trust. They found his grace
sufficient to subdue the tyranny of iniquity ; yea, where sin had abounded, grace
did much more abound in daily victory over its wUes, and its assaults : and the
power of Christ resting upon them, they were kept in this spirit of prayer.
O thou God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ ! strengthen me mightily by
thy Spirit in the inner man, that Christ may dweU in my heart by faith, and I
may have his strength to set against the power of my sins and mine enemies.
For orders, for courage, for perseverance, for rictory, for eternal triumph, I look
unto thee for all. Blessed be thy name, that thou hast chosen me to be a soldier,
and to fight under the banner of Jesus. I wiU sing unto the Lord, for he hath
triumphed gloriously. He made aU mine enemies his own; and they are now
under his feet ; and I believe, according to thy good word, that thou wilt put
them under mine. Thou hast conquered them for me, and hast engaged to
conquer them in me, und by me. It is of thy mere grace, almighty Jesus, that

346 THE TRIUMPH OF FAITH.
I am enabled to deny myself, to take up my cross, and to foUow thee in this holy
war. All my sufficiency is from the fresh supplies of thy Spirit. Oh grant nie
then abundantly to the increase of my faith, and to the praise of thy promised help.
Cause me to depend every moment upon it ; let me experience that when I am
weakest in myself, I may be made strongest in the Lord. And when I have
nothing left me to glory in of mine own, then my soul may magnify the Lord,
and my spirit may rejoice in God my Saviour. . Behold, God is my salvation : I
will trust and not be afraid, because the Lord Jehovah is my strength and my
song : He aleo is become my salvation. To his grace and power be all the glory
for ever and ever. Amen and Amen.

CHAPTER VII
The believer's triumph over his troubles.
After sin is pardoned, and the pardoned sinner is enabled to fight the good
fight of faith against it, yet there is another enemy assaulting him to the last
moment of his life. Fallen man is born to trouble. The man in Christ is so far
from being exempt, that many are the troubles of the righteous. He is, in com
mon with otherB, liable to pain and poverty, and to afflictions of every kind : He
is by his very profession exposed to some of the most trying nature — hie owning
Chriet — his foUowing Christ— his conformity to Christ— give offence, provoke
the malice of wicked men, and the rage of wicked epirite. Wave does not follow
wave more certainly than every day bringe its fresh troubles, and, forces the
believer to aeek for aide and coraforte out of himself. Thia ie a Bore fight of afflic
tions. To bear up under them with any patience, and to reap profit from them,
is a task above the power of mere man. Every little pain stira up murmuring
and impatience ; and thiB rebeUion again8t God's will ia the parent of a thousand
fretful tempera : and theae, exerciaed by sharp suffering, render the man truly
miserable. If his suffering continues long, increases much, it often drives the
poor einner to despair; and if he has no Saviour to flee unto, he is sometimes
guilty of self-murder, and dies in the act of sin, rushing headlong into ever
lasting destruction — the wisdom of man, of Cato himself, furnishing no better
remedy againet the numerous evils of human life.
To man thus exposed to suffering, and helplesa under it, hia Buffering remain
ing as long as sin remains, how necessary must be the grace of our Lord Jesus
Christ ! He has vouchsafed to give us hia promiaee of help, suited to every
posBible case of distress. When it is his will that any of his people ehould be
tried, he engages to make the trial of their faith much more precious than that
of gold, which perisheth. He is with them, present with his divine supportB and
holy comforts. " CaU upon me," saya he, " in the day of trouble, I wiU deliver
thee, and thou ehalt glorify me : Many are the troublee of the righteous ; but out
of them all the Lord dehvereth them." They acknowledge it with gratitude;
" God was our refuge and strength ; we have found him a very present help in
trouble ;" helping us to bear up under the heaviest pressures, keeping his ever
lasting arms underneath us, as long as we suffer, and, if the sufferings increase,
increasing our faith and patience until they have done their perfect work.
When, through the aids of his Spirit, these promises have their fuU credit,
through his inward peace, which he alone can give, and which the world cannot
take away — when he makes the heart to feel happy in God, enjoying the peculiar
supports of the gospel, and living up to its privileges — then the believer finds
the apoatle's experience to be true — " always sorrowful, yet always rejoicing,"
and sometimes with a fulness of joy, according to what is written : " But now,
thus saith the Lord, that created thee, O Jacob, and he that formed thee, 0
Israel, Fear not; for I have redeemed thee; I have caUed thee by thy name;
thou art mine. When thou passest through the waters, I wiU be with thee, and
through the rivers, they shall not overflow thee .- when thou walkest through

THE TRIUMPH OF FAITH. 347
the fire, thou shalt not be burnt, neither shall the flames kindle upon thee : for
I am the Lord thy God, the Holy One of Israel, thy Saviour : Fear not .- for I
am with thee," to support, to dehver. This is spoken to the redeemed, who are
God's property, and whom he bought with a gTeat price. . What could the Lord
God engage to do for them more than is here promised, in order to still aU their
guilty fears, and to quiet aU their natural fears ? Trusting to the redemption
that is in the blood of the Lamb', they are under his keeping ; they go out in his
strength to meet their trials and their enemies. Jesus is with them on their
side ; and therefore, beheving in him, they need not fear any suffering. Jeho
vah is their Alehim, their covenant God in Trinity, their sworn allies, engaged
by his almighty arm to save them from aU evU, and to give them all possible
good. " I the Lord," says he, " do keep thee — I wiU water thee with the dew
of heaven every moment — lest any hurt thee, I wiU keep thee night and day."
Having, such great and exceeding precious promises, with what holy courage
should the believer look up to a faithful God ! and what strong consolation
should they afford him when he is to go through the fire or through the water !
He may sing with Jonah, " I wiU sacrifice unto thee with the voice of thanks
giving — salvation is of the Lord." Or with the triumphant faith of the three
children who were not afraid to go into the furnace, heated seven times hotter
than usual, fully persuaded that, whether they lived or died, Jesus would be
with them. Threatened with the burning fiery furnace if they refused to wor
ship Nebuchadnezzar's image, " They said, O king, we are not careful to an
swer thee in this matter ; if it be so, our God whom we serve is able to deliver
us from the burning fiery furnace, and he wiU defiver us out of thy hand, O
king." And he did ; he went with them into the fire, and they walked in the
midst of the flames unhurt. The same Jesus is daily repeating the same miracle.
He has approved himself in aU ages to be the mend of his afflicted people.
Whatever he sends to them, he sends it with his blessing. So they testify —
" We know that all things work together for good to them that love God."
They knew it by his promise, and they felt it by experience : it is good for us
that we have been in trouble : we have gone through many seas and storms of
afflictions, and through the raging fire of persecution, not only unhurt, but bene
fited : for Christ was with us. As the sufferings of Christ abounded, so our
consolation abounded by Christ : he feels for them as his members, and has
bowels of the tenderest compassion. In aU their affliction he is afflicted. He
brings in his supports, and comes with his deliverance in the best time. He
leaves no accusation of sin in the conscience, but gives and maintains a sweet
peace with God. Oh what matter of triumph is it, when this peace rules in the
heart ! always, and by aU means testifying—" Since God is for us, who can be
against us ? He that spared not his own Son, but delivered him up for us all,
how shah he not with him also freely give us all things ? Who shaU lay any
thing to the charge of God's elect ? It is God that justifieth : who is he that
condemneth ? It is Christ that died, yea, rather that is risen again ; who is
even at the right hand of God, who also maketh intercession for us." Thanks
without ceasing be to Jesus, the Lamb that was slain, for this complete and eter
nal victory over sin. The apostle carries on his praises, Rom. viii., that through
Jesus aU outward opposition shaU fall before us — " Who shall separate us from
Christ's love to us? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or
nakedness, or peril, or sword ? As it is written, for thy sake we are kiUed aU
the day long, we are accounted as sheep for the slaughter : nay, in aU these things
we are more than conquerors through him that hath loved us." His love is in
them all — appoints them, sends them, proportions them ; and they conquer them
aU in his strength ; not only conquer, but are more than conquerors : they are
great gainers : they gain, what is better than aU the world, fresh proof of his
love; they gain experience of it: for they find that nothing can hurt them
now he has taken them under his protection. For this his divine support we
are taught to pray daily, asking it as a matter of mere favour, and expecting
it only through the grace and intercession of our great High Priest : —
We humbly beseech thee, O Father, mercifully to look upon our infirmi
ties, and for the glory of thy name turn from us aU those evils which we most

348 THE TRIUMPH OF FAITH.
righteously have deserved ; and grant that in all our troubles we may put our
whole trust and confidence in thy mercy, and evermore serve thee in holiness and
pureness of firing, to thy honour and glory, through our only mediator and
advocate Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
When this is the prayer of faith, outward trials become inward mercies : for
the Holy Spirit keeps the heart settled with its whole trust and confidence
upon his promised help ; so that if the trials increase, he makes them redouhd
to the glory of God. If the outward man be a greater sufferer, even ready
to perish, he renews tbe inward man day by day. He brings in abundant
grace to sanctify abundant sufferings : whereby he satisfies the hearts of the
sufferers, that these light afflictions, which are but for a moment, wttl work for
them a far more exceUent and eternal weight of glory < The hope of thia keeps'
them patient and thankful. By the power of the Holy Ghost they know this
eternal triumph will be soon, "i et a very, very little while they will be favoured
with the eight of the King in his beauty : they shaU sit down with him in his
throne, and shall reign with him for ever and ever.
For the further confirmation of our faith, he has set before us a cloud of wit
nesses, who testify, with one voice, that he sanctified all their troubles, and
turned them into covenant blessings. So one of them said — " I wiU bless the
Lord at aU times ; his praise shall continually be in my mouth : my soul shall
make her boast in the Lord ; the humble shall hear thereof and be glad : O
magnify the Lord with me, and let ua exalt his namo together : I sought the
Lord, and he heard and delivered me from all my fears. The righteous cry, and
the Lord heareth, and delivereth them out of all their troubles." Their very
troubles become matter of triumph. He shut them up in the ark, and they were
saved, when he drowned the world of the ungodly. Peter, speaking from expe
rience, says, the Lord knoweth how to deliver the godly out of their troubles,
as he did righteous Lot, when he overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah. The more
the Egyptians oppressed his people, the more they multiplied and grew. Behold,
the bush burned with fire, and the bush was not consumed. The fire of perse
cution raged against the church, but the blood of the martyrs waa fruitful, and
increased it both in number and in grace. The seed of the wicked one have been
at enmity with the children of the promise from the beginning ; but these trusted
in the Captain of their salvation, and he led them on conquering and to conquer :
" Through faith they aubdued kingdoma, wrought righteousness, obtained pro-
mieee, stopped the mouths of lions, quenched the violence of fire, escaped the
edge of t\he sword, out of weakness were made atrong, waxed valiant in fight,
turned to flight the armiea of the alienB, women received their dead raiaed to life
again, and others were tortured, not accepting deliverance, that they might obtain
a better resurrection." 'lhese and the other worthies mentioned, Hebrews,
chap. xi. did wonders through Christ, who etrengthened them : they loved not
their lives unto death, fully persuaded that when he should call them to it he
would be with them, and would enable them to finish their course with joy : and
he did ; for they all obtained a good report through faith, leaving us an example
to foUow the steps of their faith, and encouraging us to do it with holy boldness,
whatever troubles we meet with in our way. We may, we ought to rejoice in
tribulation ; for we have the same Jesus to look unto, the author and the finisher
of their faith and ours, the same promises of his support, the same almighty arm
to make them good, and the same matter of triumph, which they experienced,
whom he led on from strength to strength, until every one of them in Sion
appeared before God. This is the certain heritage of the servante of the Lord;
and their righteousneee and salvation is of me, saith the Lord.
Of the same sentiments were our reformers, which they give us in these remark
able words in one of their prayers : O God, who art the author of peace and lover
of concord, in knowledge of whom standeth our eternal life, whose service is per
fect freedom, defend us thy humble servants in all assaults of our enemies, that
we, 6urely trusting in thy defence, may not fear the power of any adversaries,
through the might of Jeaus Christ our Lord. Amen.
And to the same purpose, in one of their homilies, they thus express them
selves : AU correction which God sendeth us, in this present time, seemeth to

THE TRIUMPH OF FAITH. 349
have no joy and comfort, but sorrow and pain ; yet it bringeth with it a taste of
God's mercy, and goodness towards them that be so corrected, and a sure hope
of God's everlasting consolation in heaven. If, then, these sorrows, diseases,
and sicknesses, and also death itself, be nothing else but our heavenly Father's
rod, whereby he certifieth us of his love and gracious favour, whereby he trieth
and purifieth us, whereby he giveth unto us holiness and certifieth us that we be
his children, and he our merciful Father ; shaU we not, then, with aU humfiity,
as obedient and loving children, joyfuUy kiss our heavenly Father's rod, and ever
say in our heart, with our Saviour Jesus Christ, " Father, if this anguish and
sorrow which I feel, and death which I see approach, may not pass, but that thy
wiU is that I must suffer them, thy. will be done."
O thou hope of Israel ! the Saviour thereof in the time of trouble ! I acknow
ledge my reluctance to take up thy cross, and my weakness in bearing it : hold
thou me up by fresh supplies of thy Spirit, that I may be safe : let thy strength
be perfected in my weakness. Thy promises of help are exceeding great :
through thee I do believe the truth of them ; and I pray for grace to make a
right use of them. Enable me in patience to possess my soul, that when it is
thy wiU to try my faith, I may live up to my privUeges, and may find it better to
suffer with Christ than to reign with the world. O Lord, thou hast showed this
favour to Moses : and thou hast done more than this — thou hast made, thy wit
nesses glorify thee in the fires — they have marched on, fighting thy battles
against hosts of foes, and they did not account their fives dear to themselves,
so they might finish their course with joy, and die in faith, blessing and praising
thy holy name. O thou faithful God ! thou art the same to us now, as thou
wast to them. Lead me on, then, in thy strength, trusting in thy word, and
leaning on thine arm. Thou hast promised thy flock; and I hope I am one of
them — " My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and -they foUow me, and
I give unto them eternal fife, and they shaU never perish, neither shaU any pluck
them out of my hand." O thou good Shepherd ! let me trust in thy love, and
feel thy supports, that, whatever lies before me to be done or suffered, I may be
enabled to do it and to suffer it by the continual supphes of thy Spirit. And by his
influence help me to persevere, till I win the prize of my high calling, and be admitted
to join that great company whom no one can number, who stand before the throne
of God and the Lamb, clothed with white robes, and palms in their hands : these
are they who came out of great tribulation, and have washed their robes, and
made them white in the blood ofthe Lamb : therefore are they before the throne
of God, and serve him day and night in his temple : and he that sitteth upon the
throne shaU dwell among them ; they shaU hunger no more, neither thirst any
more, neither shall the sun smite them, nor any heat : for the Lamb who is in
the midst'of the throne shaU feed them, and shall lead them into hving fountains
of water ; and God shaU wipe away all tears from their eyes. O my Jesus ! I
bless thee for this most glorious prospect : it is of thy mere grace that I am in
any measure enabled to join that great company : it is entirely of thy special
favour that I. have any good hope to come to their glory : for this, and for all thy
mercies, to thee, with the Father, and the eternal Spirit, the three in one Jeho
vah, I give honour, and glory, and thanks, to-day, and I hope to do it without
ceasing for ever and ever. Amen and Amen.

CHAPTER VIII.
The believer's triumph over the infirmities of old age.
It is appointed unto aU men once to die. The time is fixed by an immutable
decree. The days of our years are threescore years and ten, and if by reason of
strength they be fourscore 'years, yet is their strength labour and sorrow ; for it is
soon cut off, and we fly away. If some be permitted to live longer, yet the infirmities

350 THE TRIUMPH OF FAITH.
of old age must arrive, bringing with them labour and Borrow, the foremnners
of death ; circulation wttl become languid ; the senses of the body wiU grow dull
and heavy ; the faculties of the mind wttl be impaired, and will discover it by
not remembering proper names. In this decline of life believers are subject
to the same infirmities with other men : they have no exemption from pain,
or sickness, or death ; but they have that which keeps up their spirits, and
makes them patient and joyful. The consolations of God are then most needed :
and he has promised them, and he is faithful: he never failed thera who
trusted in him. He has suited his promises to all the infirmities of age. He
knows our frame perfectly, and has described it with an unerring pen, Eccle-
siastes, chap, xii., that when we feel the signs of old age, we may apply to
him for grace to profit by them. The symptoms there given are infallibly
true and just, and are as so many monitors, warning the man that the vigour
of fife is declining, and that the body is returning to the earth from whence it
came. Happy is he who takes this warning, and remembers his Creator in tho
days of hie youth, before the wearieome days come, of weakness and pain.
He has fled to Jesus for refuge — and finds and experiences what he has
engaged to do for his people, when heart and flesh begin to fail them.
Blessed be his grace for the abundant provision which he has made for
their faith and patience : he says to them, " I will be with you ; I will
never leave you, nor forsake you : bo that you may boldly aay, The Lord
is our helper, and we need not fear what the infirmities of age can do
unto us." One of them, the Christian hero, thus encouraged himaelf in, the Lord
hia God — "Thou art my hope, O Lord God ; thou art my truat even from my
youth : by thee have I been holden up from the womb : thou art he that took
me out of my mother's bowels : my praise shall be continuaUy of thee — I am a
wonder unto many ; hut thou art my strong refuge." This was his trust : and
God did not forsake him. He remembered his word unto hia servant, wherein
he had cauaed him to depend. There failed not aught of any good thing which
the Lord had apoken unto him. O what great encouragement have believers to
follow the etep8 of his faith ! for hia God i8 their God ; the same yesterday, to
day, and for ever, to young and old, who put their trast in him. His promise
to the Israel of God cannot be broken. Thus he pledgee his word of truth to
them, giving them a warrant to pray unto him — " My mouth ahall be filled with
thy prai8e, and with thy honour aU the day long : for thou wilt not caat me off
in the time of old age ; thou wilt not foraake me when my etrength faileth." To
this prayer the Lord inclined his ear, and vouchaofed this gracious anawer :
" Hearken unto me, O house of Jacob, and all the remnant of the houae of
Israel, which are bome by me from the belly, which are carried from the womb,
and even to your old age, I am he, and even to hoary hairs will 1 carry you ; I
have made and I wttl bear you; even I wiU carry, and I wiU deliver you."
These are some of his rich cordials for the aged : he provided them in his love,
and he ia sensibly touched with the feeling of their infirmities, in adminietering
them ; for he himself took our infirmities, and bare our sicknesses. His com
passions bind him to comfort and relieve hia old diaciplea : and when they apply
to him in the time of need, he is ever preaent to grant them his promiaed help ;
yea, eo suited to their case, as to make them grow in grace, as they grow in years.
They bring forth fruit in their old age, the rich fruit of humility, and the ripe
fruit of thankfulness— frait that endureth unto everlasting life. We have a
happy instance of this in God's goodness to an ancient believer, who lived to he
a hundred and seventy-five years old. He was. the friend of God, who had
blessed Abraham through life, and that in aU things, and who even to hoary
hairs loaded him with blessings. For God had promised him, "Thou shalt go
to thy fathers in peace ; thou shalt be buried in a good old age : " and the sacred
historian, relating the fulfilling of the promise, says, " He gave up the ghost,
and died in a good old age, an old man, and fuU of years, and waa gathered to hie
people." Hia old age was good, in body and soul. Whatever infirmities he
had, they were intended for good, and actually did him good. He was a very
cheerful, pleasant old man. The peace of hia mind had a sweet influence on hia
temper and behaviour. It kept him from being fretful and peevish in hia family.

THE TRIUMPH OF FAITH. 351
He was loving to his children, and kind to his servants ; God himself being wit
ness. He was also happy in his last years ; for he spent them in faith ; and
when they came to an end, he died in peace ; with his last breath he committed
his spirit into the hands of him who had redeemed it, full of years : it is in the
original one word — he was satisfied: so it is rendered, Psalm xvii. 15, "As for
me, I shaU behold thy face in righteousness : I shall be satisfied when I awake
up after thy likeness." He was satisfied with what he had enjoyed of the favour
and friendship of his God ; who had been his shield to defend him from all sins
and enemies, and also had promised to be his exceeding great reward : this he
obtained, when he was gathered to his people, to the general assembly and
church of the first-born, and to the most blissful communion of the Three in
Jehovah. AU the children of faithful Abraham, treading in the steps of his faith,
have the same God to deal with, who keepeth promise for ever. It is recorded
of Isaac, the heir of the same promise with his father, that he died in the same
faith, an old man. He was tried with many infirmities ; but we read of no com
plaints, though he was a hundred and eighty years of age. He expired in
praise and thankfulness, satisfied with life, and happy in the prospect beyond
death. And his son Jacob, a hundred and forty-seven years old, when he was
dying, declared that he had waited for the salvation of God : waiting faith is
strong faith : and after he had blessed his children, and had given command
ment concerning his bones, he quietly, as if he had been going to sleep, gathered
up his feet into the bed, and died in peace, an old man, and satisfied. All these
lived in the world, strangers and pilgrims, looking for a city that hath founda
tions, whose builder and maker is God : and they were not disappointed of their
hope — they aU died in faith — in an act of faith ; and were gathered to their
people — to the general assembly and church ofthe first-born. When they came
to the end of their faith, they came to heaven. The moment they expired, they
entered the city which God had prepared for them : and their bodies, sleeping in
the dust, are in the covenant of life, and shaU be raised and glorified in the morn
ing of the resurrection : for our Lord proves that the dead shall rise, from this
very circumstance : he says to the Jews — " Have ye not read in the book of
Moses, how in the bush God spake unto him, saying, I am the God of Abraham,
and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob ? He is not the God of the dead,
but the God of the hving." In this faith the patriarchs died : being children of
the resurrection, they left their bodies in the hand and care of a covenant God,
weU assured that he would raise them up to glory and life everlasting, according
to that good word wherein he had caused them to put their trust.
These examples of the loving-kindness of God to his aged servants were
recorded for our learning, that believers, if God by his providence should bring
them to old age, might be encouraged to trust in the God of Abraham, Isaac,
and Jacob, with such a confidence of their hearts as not to doubt of the divine
truth, or of the divine power. Whatever he was to them, he is the same to us —
our God as weU as theirs — our covenant God engaged to glorify both body and
soul ; on whom we are commanded to cast aU our cares and concerns in extreme
old age. If what is of nature be failing, what is of grace cannot. If the hfe of
6ense be dying, the life of faith should flourish the more : it is a life that cannot
die ; for the branches thrive and brinjjf forth fruit in their old age, not of them
selves, but because they are ingrafted into the heavenly vine, in which they live
for ever. " I am the vine," says Jesus, " ye are the branches ; he that abideth
in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit : for without me ye can
do nothing." But, through my Spirit strengthening you, he wiU make you bud
and flourish, and fiU the face of the world with fruit. He will so fill you with
the fruits of righteousness, which are through Christ Jesus, to the glory and
praise of God, that your last days shaU be your best days.
In this view of old age, it may become a favourable time for exercising and
improving faith ; because the activity of the life of sense is abating, and thereby
many things are removed, which before obstructed the growth of the spiritual
life. Now is the time to learn to walk by faith, and not by sense. A believer,
toung in years and young in experience, is often tempted to judge of himself by
lis feelings more than by the word of God. In a good frame, he is a good

Th

352 THE TRIUMPH OF FAITH.
believer. Then all is weU with him. But when he is walking in darkness, he ta
very apt to question his state — If all be right with me, why am I thus ? My
present frame is very duU and uncomfortable — I am not so lively as I used to be
in prayer or in ordinances — my delight in God, and the things of God, is far short
of what it was formerly — perhaps I have been deceiving myself, and crying Peace,
peace, when there was no peace for me.
From this temptation age itself is a sort of deliverance : self-activity is weak
ened, and thereby, through grace, self-dependence. The believer, if he be a
good scholar, wttl now learn to walk more by faith, and less by sight. The
vigour of liis senses is decaying. The high spirits of youth are abating. Hia
present lesson is very plain and simple ; and while he attends to what is passing
in him, and about him, he has a thousand monitors, caUing upon him now to
learn and practise a perfect dependence on those things which are always one and
the same, without any variableness, or the least shadow of turning. One record
of God. One Saviour. One Spirit. One faith, of which the Saviour is the
author and the finisher. This faith is made to grow and flourish, as there is leas
dependence on other things : and as age itself tends to weaken this dependence,
it becomes, in the hand of the Holy Spirit, a favourable time to live less upon the
things which are seen, and more upon the things which are not seen. Lesa of
sense, more of faith. One scale rises aa the other falla. The outward man
dying, the inward man grows more lively — yea, growe up into Christ Jeeua, and
that in all thinga. O blessed old man ! thou haat lived to a good time when
this is thy experience ; when in the prayer of faith thou canst cast all thy burdens
on thy Saviour : " Lord, keep me, a poor helpless creature — now 1 feel that, of
myself, I can do nothing as I ought, or as I wish to do — Glorify thy grace in me,
and strengthen me mightily by thy Spirit in the inner man, that I may bless thee
for thy salvation, and for things which accompany aalvation. Into thy faithful
hands, for life and death, I commit myself and all my concerns ; for thou haat
redeemed me, O Lord, thou God of truth."
But it must be remembered, that old age doea not produce these happy effect8
of itaelf. It ia not of nature, but entirely of gVace, that any one is able to gain
auch spiritual profit from bodily infirmitieB. 'Ihe mere natural man, fortify him
with all hia boaeted aide of reaaon and philoeophy, yet he cannot help murmur
ing when age bringe wcakneae, and sickness brings pains. He becomea peeviah
and fretful. Having no friendship with God, he cannot look up for divine sup
ports when aU human begin to fail him. Under a severe fit of the stone, or a
long fit of the gout, he is often out of all patience. Uneasy in himaelf, he ia out
of humour with every body and every thing. How different ia the believer in
the same circumatancea ! Hia body feela pain aa othere do ; but hia mind ia
comfortable and at eaae. Happy in God, he haa patience given him to bear hia
auffcringB, and grace to profit from them ; yea, the peace of God rules in his
heart alwaye, and by aU meanB. ,, ' . . , .
An old man with this peace, which surpaeseth aU understanding, ruling in his
heart, witt be ao far from complaining, that he haa every thing to be thankful for
which can render him bleased of the Lord. He is provided with an infallible
antidote against aU that old age can try him with :— It is true, I have an infirm
body but? thank God, I have a Bound mind: age haa brought upon me great
weakness ; but this makes more room for the power of God, that it may be per
fected in my weakness. I have many pains, but not so many as he has comforts
to give me: in the worat of them he keeps me patient.- Father, thy wttl be
done— I have an afflicted body, but I have a happy heart : although the outward
man be periahing, yet I faint not, becauae the inward man ia renewed day by
day— My supports are great, the consolations of God not a few— I feel the symp
toms of old age warning me daily of my approaching dissolution ; through grace
I take the warning— they find me living, and I hope they will find me dying, in
the faith of the Son of God. The earthly tabernacle is taking down ; but he does
it with much tenderness and love, and asaures me that he haa prepared for me a
house not made with hands, eternal in the heavena. May he who keepa it for
me and me for it, never leave me nor foraake me, till I be with him, where he is,
and be like him, and enjoy him for ever and ever ! Yet a very, very little while

THE TRIUMPH OF FAITH. 353
— hold on faith and patience, and I shall see Jesus in his glory, which is the
heaven of heavens.
O thou merciful and faithful high priest, Jesus Christ, I bless thee for thy kind
promises to the aged. Thou hast suited them in great mercy to aU their infir
mities, and thou art always with them to help in time of need. I begin to feel
the sad effects of sin in my body, weakening it, and tending to bring it down to
its appointed end. To thee I look, almighty Jesus ! for thy promised grace.
Oh grant me constant supplies of thy Spirit, that I may profit by my infirmities,
may exercise and improve my faitii in thee, that they may keep me humble, and
I may pray more in faith, and keep me thankful, that I may be more in praise.
Thine arm is not shortened, nor can thy compassion fail. Stand by-me then,
and hold me up according to thy word. Make me strong in thy strength, that I
may daily put more honour upon thy love and thy power. In the decline of life,
let me not doubt of thy faithfulness to support, and, when thou seest it best, to
comfort me. Vouchsafe me the consolations of God, when my heart an4 my
flesh fail me : then be thou the Btrength of my heart, and my portion for ever.
When I am weakest in myself, then make me strongest in the Lord ; and if it be
thy holy wttl that I should become quite helpless, an infant again, make me lie
quiet in thy hand, without murmuring or repining, but believing that thou art
all my salvation, and enjoying in thee all my desire. Grant me this, Lord
Jesus ; for thy mercies' sake,- let me die in faith. Amen and Amen.

CHAPTER IX.
The believer's triumph over death.
Man consists of two parts — a body and a soul. The bodily life is dependent
on the light and air of this world, and on the circulation which they maintain
and carry on. When this connexion is broken, the body expires, it loses aU
sense and motion, and is dead. So the life of the soul is dependent on the hght
and air of the spiritual world. Jehovah in Trinity is the Creator, the only foun
tain of being ; and there can be nothing independent of him : Christ is the hght,
and the Holy Spirit is the breath or air of all spiritual life ; and when this con
nexion is broken, although the soul may exist, yet its happiness in God is
broken, and at an end. Sin, that great murderer, sin, brought death upon body
and soul : " For as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin, so
death passed upon all men, for that ail have sinned:" and we read, The soul
that sinneth, it shall die ; sin separating it from its union, and thereby cutting it
off from its communion with the Father of spirits. In the moment that Adam
sinned, the spiritual death took place ; for he had lost the spirit of life, and was
dead in trespasses and sins : and that same moment his body became mortal,
although he lived nine hundred years after. Thus we have sin, and death, and
misery, entailed upon all his descendants, from the first Adam, who is of the
earth, earthy. Oh how precious to a sinner in these circumstances should be the
second Adam, the Lord from heaven, who stands at the head of thy spiritual
world, that he may give his" righteousness, and his life, and his happiness, to aU
that believe in him ! He comes Jehovah of hosts in our nature, as our champion
to fight our battles, and to conquer aU our foes. Immanuel was made sin for us,
and lie died for our sins according to the scriptures, when the Lord laid upon
him the iniquity of us all, and was buried and rose again the third day, according
to the scriptures. We read therein of his noble chaUenge to death and the grave :
" I will ransom my people from the power of the grave ; I will redeem them from
death — O death, I will be thy plague — O grave, I will be thy destruction; re
pentance shall be hid from mine eyes." It was the Captain of our salvation, the
Lord of hosts is his name, who purposed this in the everlasting councils, and in
due time fulfilled it by his almighty power. " Because the chttdren were par-

354 THE TRIUMPH OF FAITH.
takers of flesh and blood, he also himself likewise took part of the same, that
through death he might destroy him who had the power of death, that is the
devd, and might deliver them, who through fear of death were aU their life
time subject to bondage." Oh what infinite condescension is this ! what love,
surpassing all knowledge ! tiie most high God is manifest in the flesh, that, as
trod in our nature, he might be our surety to act and suffer for us men, and for
our salvation. Accordingly he takes our sins upon himself, bears the guilt and
punishment of them in bis own body and soul upon the tree, gives his own life a
ransom for ours, that by his death we might live. He was buried, but he rose
again the third day, having loosed the bonds of death, because it was not posaible
that he should be holden of it. In this conflict with death and the grave, repent
ance was hid from his eyes. He knew what he was to go through, more than
any of us can conceive of pain and agony, yet he would not change his purpose
of grace, although he was to become obedient unto death, the most tormenting,
the most shameful, even the death of the cross. His enemies having brought
hirn to the grave and the aealed aepulchre, seemed then to have him in their
power. So they thought-: but here Jesus made his complete and eternal
triumph. By his resurrection he BwaUowed up death in victory ; for he did not
rise as a private person, but as tbe firet-fruite of the dead, drawing the joyful
harveet after him. The Lord is risen indeed, the head of the body, the church,
and has the power of an endless life to quicken all his members. In which inoat
glorioua prospect, the apostle, quoting the passage above mentioned, breaks out
into these raptures of joy, seeing all his enemies vanquished, artd nothing but
bliss and glory before him—" O death, where ia thy sting ? O grave, where ia
thy victory ? The sting of death ia sin, and the strength of ein ia the law." Tho
law armed death with its sting, as the just wages of the transgression of the law :
but Jesus, our surety, magnified the law by hia holy life in aU ita precepts, and
by hi8 death in all its penalties. He died for our sins, and by his rising from the
dead, he demonstrated that he had taken out ita sting, and had disarmed it of its
power to hurt ; nay, had done much more — he had changed death unto life.
" I am the resurrection and the life," saith the Lord ; " he that believeth in me,
though he were dead, yet shall he live ; and whosoever Iiveth and believeth in
me, ehall never die." By faith in him we ehare in the triumph and glory of hie
resurrection, and have a new song put into our moutha, with which we may
make the 8weeteet melody in our hearta, even when our breath ia failing ua :
" Thanks be to God, who giveth ua the victory, through Jeaua Chriat our Lord."
These are 8cripture view8 of the almighty JesuB. Out of his infinite compaa-
aion he undertook to eave hie people from sin and death, the worke of the devil.
And he has done it. It is finished. He has put away sin by his sacrifice, and
he completed his conqueet of death by hie reeurrection ; and haa had witneases
of these gospel truths in all ages, whom he sent to preach repentance and remis
sion of sins, in hia name, when it ia the good pleasure of his own will to
accompany the meaaage with power from on high, then he bleaae8 it by making
it the mini8tration of righteoueneaa and of life : as it is written, " Verily, verily,
I say unto you, he that heareth my word, and believeth in him that sent me, hath
everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation, but is passed from death
unto life," already. The Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath freed the believer
from the law of sm and of death, and has also created in him a new hfe : he has
given him a new birth into the spiritual world, and spiritual seneee to fit him for
spiritual enjoyments : for he is actuaUy passed frorh death unto life. By the
Holy Spirit as the agent, and by faith ae the instrument, he is made a child of
God, united to Christ, one with him, interested in him, and ao cloaely joined to
him, as the members are to the head, as to be a real partaker of aU that he did
upon earth, and of aU that he is now doing for hie redeemed in heaven. He haa
a good warrant ; for he ie not only permitted, but also commanded, to apply to
himself all the privileges and bleeeinge which are contained in thie large charter
of grace. " Ye are complete in Chriet, who ie the head of aU principality and
power; in whom also ye are circumcieed with the circumcision made without
hands, in putting off the body of the sine of the fleah by the circumcision of
Christ, buried with him in baptism, wherein also ye are riaen with him, through

THE TRIUMPH OF FAITH. 355
the faith of the operation of God, who hath raised him from the dead : and you.
being dead in your sins, and tbe uncircumcision of your flesh, hath he quickened
together with him, having forgiven you all trespasses, blotting out the hand
writing of ordinances, that was against us, which was contrary to us ; and he took
it out of the way, nailing it to his cross, and having spoUed principalities and
powers, he made a show of them openly, triumphing over them in that same
cross." In this view of the almighty conqueror of all our enemies, and of his
enabling us also by faith to come after him, conquering and to conquer, what
thanks and praises should be given unto him ! There is no possible eril but he
has removeei it from us — and no possible good but he has obtained the right, and
gives the possession. We are complete in him, our head — completely circum
cised in heart by his circumcision, so as to put off the body of sin, and risen
indeed with him by tbe faith of his own operation : through which we have the
first resurrection from the grave of sin, and shaU have the resurrection of the
body from the grave of death. He now gives the first as a sure earnest of the
second. He raises us from the grave of sin, and quickens us to newness of hfe,
and thereby gives ub a lively hope that we shaU one day be with him and like him.
In this hope the redeemed of the Lord have thus expressed their joys — We will
rejoice in thy salvation, and in the name of our God we wiU set up our banners,
in defiance of all our enemies — we need not fear sin, nor Satan, nor death, nor
heU. Our Redeemer is strong : the Lord of Hosts is his name. He for us men,
and for our salvation, was manifested to destroy the works of the devU. And he has
destroyed them. He died for our sine, and rose again for our justification. His
victory was complete, and in him we conquer. We come after him only to gather-
up the spoils of his triumph. Through faith in him, the sting of death is taken
out of the conscience, and thereby the fear of it out of the heart — A believer ought
to say, and when he is in his right mind he says with joy and gratitude — " The
Lord is my light and my salvation ; what then shaU I fear ? The Lord is the
strength of my life, of whom then shall I be afraid ? Yea, though I walk through
the vaUey and shadow of death, I wiU fear no evU — I need not fear any, because
thou, my Lord and Saviour, hast promised to be with me ; thy rod anei thy staff,
they shall comfort me." What an infaUible antidote has our Jesus here provided
against all guilty fears, and against aU natural fears ! These promises to his
dying foUowers cannot fail. He who made them is almighty to fulfil them, And
almighty to enable us to believe that he will both support and comfort. Jesus,
wonderful in his person, wonderful in aU his works and ways — he has changed the
very nature of death. He has turned it into life. Whosoever believeth in him
shaU never die, but is passed already from death unto life. The Holy Spirit has
Sut him into present possession of a hfe laid up with Christ, out of the reach of
eath. So that when his body expires, it falls asleep in the Lord, and his spirit
enters upon an eternal triumph of life and glory, among the spirits of just men
made perfect.
Oh what a deliverance is this from the bondage of sin, and the terrors of the
grave ! It is the peculiar blessedness of believers in Jesus : for the natural man
cannot but fear death, and look upon it as his enemy. He has no prospects but
what are bounded by time. His whole happiness is in the present world, and in
the enjoyment of what he calls the blessings of it. He was laying fine plans, .
and hoping to live to execute them — heaping up riches — living in the unrestrained
liberty of sensual enjoyments — murdering his time — mispending his talents —
without any concern about eternal things — when lo ! an enemy comes, and puts
an end to all his schemes. He dies. Perhaps he may be a sceptic, doubting of
the certainty of a future state : he may wish there was none, but he can have no
evidence : and if he continue to wish it, even to the last, oh what a scene will
open when he meets a just and an angry God ! He may be a materialist, and please
himself with fancying that what we caU his soul wiU vanish at his death into soft
air ; but the God of truth says, That when the dust shaU return to the earth as
it was, the spirit shall return to God who gave it : and in the morning of the
resurrection Christ wttl re-animate the dust, and body and soul shall be united to
five for ever. He may be one of the. careless, quite unprepared ; but when the
messenger arrests him, he must go with him, and that in a moment. Perhaps he
a a 2

356 THE TRIUMPH OF FAITH.
may he a morafist, trusting to his own goodness ; he may fortify himself with
arguments taken from Seneca ; but these will furnish him with no armour, proof
against the guttt of sin, or the sting of death. He may seek aid from philosophy,
falsely so called ; hut its votaries professing themselves to be wise, in the hour of
death found that they were fools. Every human help has fatted, when most
wanted. " But blessed is he who hath the God of Jacob for his help, and whose
hope is in the Lord his God : who made heaven and earth, and all that therein is ;
who keepeth his promise for ever." Here is the Christian's never-failing support.
God, even his covenant God, has promised to be with him, and to be hie Saviour
in death. God Jesus, almighty to keep his promise for ever, is his one hope,
living and dying : and he is his gain, both in life and death. If he has won
Christ, be has lived to a blessed time, and, whenever he dies, Christ will make
death his friend, and will reconcile him to his going to the Lord, which ia best of
all. To look upon death as an enemy, to fear it, as if it could take from us any
thing worth keeping, or as if it did not put us into the eternal possession of every
thing worth enjoying ; these are views of the resurrection of Jesus, very dis
honourable to liis victories, and very injurious to our interest in him. He under
took to conquer death for us, as our surety. He has done it. He has swallowed
up death in victory. He has made it our friend and our benefactor : for he has
engaged to support us in our last moments. He never did, he never can, fail any
who put their trust in him. Experience has confirmed his faithfulness in aU ages.
His soldiers, whom he made valiant in fight, a goodly company whom no one can
number, have triumphed gloriously — before death — in death — and after death.
Before death he prepared them to meet it in faith : for the great design of his
gospel is to arm them against the guilt of sin and the terrors of death. And they
are good soldiers of Chriet Jesus who put on this armour, who have learned their
exercise, and who by their daily battles keep their arma abining and bright :
Looking to Jeaus, the Captain of their 8alvation, for orders, for. courage, for
strength, for rictory, all opposition falls before them. He enables thera to fight
the good fight of faith, and the more they conquer sin, the less they have to fear
from death ; for Christ ia to them the whole armour of God, and the pieceB of
this armour are the graces of his Spirit. For with these the apostlo eay8, in
Epheeiana, chap, vi., that Christ has perfectly equipped the armies of the Lord.
They have the truth of ChriBt, the righteouaneaa of Christ, the peace of God in
Chriat, faith in Christ, the word of Christ, hope in Christ, and prayer to Chriat
for fresh 8upplies of hia Spirit, that he would enable them to make euch a uae of
their armour, that they might get the victory over ain and death, and he might
get all the praise. In this holy war He ie every thing to them, and they find in
him, and receive out of hie fulnesa, whatever they want for the peace of their
conscience, and for the happineaa of their hearta. Sin ia pardoned. Death ie
conquered. They experience the power of hi8 reaurrection, and, being paaaed
from death unto life, they have believing viewa of their own diasolution. We
read of their deliverance from the fear of death, and we have examplea of thoBe
who were more afraid of ein than of death, yea, who choee to go into a burning
fiery furnace rather than offend their God : hear how they triumphed—" Our
God ie able to defiver ue ; but if he does not, be it known unto thee, 0 king, that
we wttl not serve thy gods, nor worship the golden image which thou hast Bet up."
Hear the witness of another Christian hero, how he was enabled to look upon
death—" The Holy Ghoet witnesseth in every city, Baying, that bonds and afflic
tions abide me ; hut none of theae thinge move me, neither count 1 my life dear
to myself, so that I might finish my course with joy, and the ministry which I
have received of the Lord Jesua, to teetify the gospel of the grace of God." This
was a great victory ; but the case is not singular : in the same faith died the noble
army of martyrs, of whom we read — " That they overcame the accuser of the
brethren by the blood of the Lamb, and by the word of their testimony, and they
loved not their livee unto the death.," And to thie day, the Holy Spirit witneeaea
to the same truth, and Beals it upon tiie conscience of believers in the hour of
death. I call one evidence,: a great dignitary in our church, a man of- great
learning, and never suspected, of enthusiasm : being near his death, he thus
expressed himself — " I cannot plead innocency of life, especially of my youth ;

THE TRIUMPH OF FAITH. 357
but I am to be judged by a merciful God, who 13 not willing to see what I have
done amiss ; andthough of myself I have nothing to present to him but sins and
misery, yet I know he looks not upon me now as I am of myself, but as I am in
my Saviour, and hath given me, even at this time, some testimonies by his Holy
Spirit, that I am of the number of his elect : I am therefore fuU of joy, and shall
die in peace."
Thus the precious Jesus was in the prospect of death more desirable than
life itself. So he was to them in dying. AU these died in faith. They were
his witnesses, that he kept every thing hurtful from them, and brought them in
triumph to the end of their fives. That great company round his throne, who
are crowned conquerors, testify for him that he did not leave them nor forsake
them one moment. He kept his word with them ; he smoothed their bed in
their sickness ; he was tender over them, and wiped away aU tears from their
eyes. When fainting, he gave them strong consolation ; when he caUed them
to meet death in aU its terrors, to suffer in flames of fire, to be torn Jo pieces by
wUd beasts, to be tormented in every way that malice could invent, or the power
of tyrants could inflict, he was with them — their Saviour and their God— the
tender care of his heart, and the mighty power of his arm, were never more felt
than when most wanted. He kept his peace ruling in their consciences always
and by aU means, and gave them to feel that bodily pain could not lessen his love to
them, nor abate or stop their love to him. I might bring a cloud of witnesses to
prove the compassion of Jesus to his redeemed in their dying hours ; but let
these two suffice : Ur. Thomas Goodwin was upon his death-bed, when his friend
Mr. Collins came to visit him, and to pray with him ; to whom he said,
" He rejoiced that he was dying, and going to have a fuU and uninterrupted
communion with God."
" I am going," said he, " to the Three Persons, with whom I have had commu
nion : they have taken me ; I did not take them. I shall be changed in the twink
ling of an eye : all my lusts and corruptions I shall be rid of, which could
not be here."
After mentioning those great examples of faith, Hebrews, chap, xi., he said,
•" All these died in faith : 1 could not have imagined I should ever have such a
measure of faith as I have in this hour. My bow abides in strength. Is Christ
divided ? No. I have the whole of his righteousness. I am found in him, not
in my own righteousness, which is of the law, but in the righteousness which is
of God, which is by faith of Jesus Christ, who loved me and gave himself for me :
Christ cannot love me better than he does, and I think I cannot love Christ
better than I do : 1 am swaUowed up in God."
The historian remarks, That with this assurance of faith and fulness of joy,
his soul left this world, and went to see and to enjoy the reality of that blessed
state of glory, of which, in a discourse on that subject, he had given a very lively
description. I may be permitted to call another witness to this blessed truth ; a believer,
who, just before his death, addressed himself to his friends in these words — " My
brethren, is not this very amazing to you. When I contemplate the holiness of
God, I cannot but cry out that I myself am vile, most vile: and then, when I consider
the justice of God, could any one imagine but that I should be struck with most
dreadful apprehensions of approaching judgment and deserved wrath ? Instead
of that, I am under no fear of the latter, and much desire the former. I long to
appear before this holy, just God ; I have a righteousness to plead that is perfect.
'Fhe holy Jesus is my security : and I cannot be disappointed : in Christ the
justice of God is as much my security as his mercy ; here is a holiness that
transcends that of aU the angelic host. There is no charging my Redeemer with
possible folly : Oh, I know f am pardoned for the sake of Jesus Christ, my only
Lord and mediator ; I am sure of it : I am fuUy, freely pardoned : I shall soon
be thoroughly sanctified and fitted for glory : Oh, I want words to express
my gratitude, to tell my joy : adored be God, my Lord, my Saviour : this is the
work of God alone : On unfathomable love ! infinite condescension ! unmerited,
unbounded grace to a vile offender ! I deserve heU ; I enjoy heaven."
Oh thou that readest this honourable mention of the love of Jesus to his dying

358 THE TRIUMPH OF FAITH.
foUowers, may it be given thee to find him near to thee in that time of need 1 If
thy faith be in him, doubt not. Take courage, and live up to thy privileges.
Regard his promise. Observe his faithfulness to it. Depend upon hia arm.
Trust in him and be not afraid. Since he has overcome death, why shouldst thou
fear that it wttl overcome thee ? Is not his victory thine ? Whatever thou feelest in
thyself, if nature shrink, and thou hast many uneasy thoughts about thy dissolu
tion, remember that all thy salvation is in, and from him, and he has made thee a
free gift of salvation, and of aU the things which accompany salvation — he under
took it aU — he has finished it aU — he has put away sin by the sacrifice of himself
— he haa conquered death. It ia now a vanquished foe. In his hand it is the
royal way to the kingdom — the only way. Trust him, he will not suffer it to
hurt thee. Trust in him, and thou wilt find there ia nothing in it that ought to
frighten thee. Breath may be failing thee ; but Jesus will not fail thee. He
has pronounced them blessed ; he will infallibly make them blessed, who die in
the Lord. Only believe, and thou wilt experience that he has dying consolations
for his dying friends. They live in death. He makes them blessed in dying ;
yea, sometimes to encourage the faith of others, and to recommend bis own
grace, he has vouchsafed to give them, at the time of their death, a foretaste of
the giory which was just going to be revealed. In this faith they leave the world,
costing all their care for time and for eternity, for body and aoul, upon him who
careth for them. Je8us, into thy hand I commend my spirit ; for thou bast
redeemed me, O Lord, thou God of truth. I believe in the resurrection of the
body : thou hast promised it, and I hope it shall be done unto me according to
thy word. Christ is the first-fruita, and afterwarda they that aro Christ's at hia
coming, when he will bring the joyful harvest with him ; therefore into hia faith
ful hands 1 commit my body. I take my leave of it in faith. It is not possible
that the grave should hold me in any more than it could him : and I not only hope
to be raised from the grave, but I shall, be brought out of it in triumph, on that
day of wonders, when Jesua Chriat, the great God and our Saviour, shall change
this my vile body, and shall make it Hke unto his own moat glorious body. Oh what
a change ! Oh what a miracle ! Thia very body, which ie now einful duet, shall be
like the Son of God, who is the etandard of all perfection — even thia body of.
mine shall be conformed to his most glorious body; although it be now a house,
so infected with the leprosy of sin, that it must be taken down ; yet, out of its
ruins wttl the Lord raise it a monument to his eternal praise, even a habitation of
God by his Spirit. Come, then, thou bleased of the Lord, Oh welcome, welcome
death ! Thou art the Bmiling messenger from my Jesus, bringing with thee glad
tiding8 of great joy— of a salvation aecured from all possible evil, and the enjoy
ment of all possible good. In eure and certain hope of this complete and eternal
salvation, I resign my body into thy hands, thou Lord of hfe, and giver of glory
— I intrust it with thee to be kept against that day, when all that sleep in Jesua
will God bring with him. For this proBpect, for believing viewe of it, for the
earneet, and for aome httle foretaBte of it, to the Eternal Three be eternal praiae.
Amen. .
Such are the hopea of a real Chrietian,- which he ia warranted, which he ia
commanded, to entertain in the hour of death, which God in hia infinite grace
actually favours hia people with, to the atrengthening of their faith, and to tho
ettencing of unhefievere. Never did he dieplay hie faithfulness more signally
than in our times. Many instances might be given, but I select one, who thus
expressed himself to his friends surrounding his death-bed.
" My soul is abundantly comforted and refreshed : my body is dying, but
my mind is still rigorous and alive : I feel the cold hand of death is actuaUy upon
me ; and you may feel it too, if you touch my feet and. lega ; they are once more
clay. Blessed be God, death is no king of terrors to me. He ia.a welcome mea-
8enger, because sent by my heavenly Father. Here I am, O Lord, waiting thy
pleasure ; ready to obey the summons : thy will, O Lord, be done. Blessed be
God, that the attack is made below : my head is as yet very clear and untouched,
and, till my heart feels the damp, I hope to be engaged in work euitable to a
death-bed : it ie not to me a bed of languishing or wasting : thia poor remainder
of a body ia hardly capable of any greater decay till it moulders in the grave ; and

THE TRIUMPH OF FAITH. 359
there let it moulder. Who would not part with it as it is ? It is now my burden,
my bar to happiness, and hindrance to a lively spiritual communion with God.
But, O my friends ! it is united to Christ, and shah therefore one day become a
glorious body. This corruption shaU put on incorruption, and shaU be for ever
with the Lord." Thanks be to God for such a witness — may my latter end be
like his.

CHAPTER X.
The character of the persons who have most reason to triumph in Christ.
They are such as know most of themselves, and have seen the deepest
into the mystery of iniquity. The Holy Spirit has convinced them of sin
— of original sin, the fountain from which aU the streams flow of actual sin,
in thought, word, and deed. In this conviction he has put life and power : it is
far more than a moral persuasion — he makes it practical and abiding : for the
Spirit of life in Christ Jesus quickens the dead sinner, and making him free
from the law of sin, and of death, gives him the faith of God's elect : and by the
daily use and exercise of thatfaith makes him more sensible of his obligations
to Jesus. In every act of faitii he leads the believer out of self to the Saviour —
humbles him that he may exalt Christ — empties himself of self, that he may fiU
him with the good things of Christ — casts down, and keeps down every high
thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and brings into captivity
every thought to the obedience of Christ. In his hand, and by his blessings,
this work prospers. TKe loftiness of man is humbled, and the haughtiness of
man is bowed down, and Jehovah alone is exalted in that day — according to the
oracle of truth — " He shaU glorify me" — which is the office of the Holy Spirit
to testify of Christ, and to glorify Christ, by taking of the things of Christ, and
by putting the believer into the possession of them.
In this school of humility every view that can be taken of self is abasing : and
as the lesson becomes more and better experienced, sin more discovered in ils
exceeding wickedness, and more felt in its exceeding great danger, the befiever
is enabled to rejoice more in Christ Jesus, as he has less confidence in the flesh ;
and when he attains to the highest of his triumph, which he can have in Christ
in this world, he is then the lowest in his own eyes —
When he looks back and surveys what he was by nature and practice —
When he considers what he is now, although he be renewed by grace —
And when he looks forward to what he hopes to be at the appearing of our
Lord Jesus Christ —
Every thing in the scripture doctrine, and every thing in scripture experience,
leads him to. conclude — Behold, I am vUe, I abhor myself, and repent in dust
and ashes : so that whenever he is tempted to glory, he has nothing left him to
glory in but the Lord : self always abased, that Christ alone may be exalted.
When he looks back to what he was by nature and practice, the more he
knows, he wiU be the more deeply humbled for what he was when under the law
and under sin, and for what he stiU feels of a body of sin and of death. He was
the creature of God's power, made out of nothing — distinguished by his being
in the image of God, and by being capable of communion with him in aU the
graces and blessings of his love. He was under the best law that could be given
him for promoting God's glory and his own happiness. He was bound to per
fect and continual obedience to it, and was left to his own will and power, that
he should not offend in any one point : but upon his transgression he became
liable to suffer the threatened pains and penalties of the broken law. Every
right view of himself in this state ought to humble and to abase the sinner ;
and it effectually does when the conviction is from God. He then finds that his
nature was earthly, sensual, and, having not the Spirit, it was alienated from the
life of God. All his thoughts and actions were not only irregidar, but also
contrary tu the holy law. His very imagination was evtt, only evil, and that

360 THE TRIUMPH OF FAITH.
continually. His understanding was not only ignorant of spiritual things, but
was darkness itself. His will was a rebel. His affections apostate, ever at
enmity with God. Misery and destruction were in his ways : of the way of
peace he had no knowledge, neither was there any fear of God before his eyes :
for" although death and heU were threatened, and were ready to give him the
just wages of his iniquity, yet he was quite careless and secure. Like the
atheists of old, when warned of their approaching destruction by the prophet—
" Let us eat and drink," say they, " for to-morrow we die."
This true knowledge of the exceeding evil of sin and the right humiliation for
it, come by believing, and are the genuine fruits and effects of it. Legal con
viction has guilt and bondage, in it, and worketh sorrow unto death. But the
conviction of the Holy Spirit reveals the remedy along with the disease, and
produces such a repentance as is not to be repented of— turning from sin to
Christ — teaching us practicaUy and daily what we are in ourselves, and how
much we want such an almighty Saviour to teach us how" to trust in him as our
great high-priest, and to five happy and holy under his government, which ia
perfect freedom. Every act of this faith is humbling. The befiever is made to
feel hia need of that in hiin8elf which he is commanded to trust in Christ for.
And the more he is enabled to depend upon Chriat, he will certainly have the
less in hirnself. And when his whole dependence ia ae it ought to be, fixed
upon Christ, he will come to the apostle'e experience, even so to rejoice in
Christ Jesus, as to put no confidence in the flesh. Herein consists the triumph
of the Christian. In every step of his walk and warfare he is led from eelf to
Christ — kept humbled in hie own eyes, that he may exalt the Saviour — emptied
of aelf, that he may live upon the fulnesa of Jesu8, and may thereby be taught
to rest hia heart in him at all times, and for aU thinga.
With reapect to sin, which is his daily burden, under which he ia always
sorrowing, yet in Christ he can always rejoice. The more he knowa of the
exceeding wickedness of ein, the more precioue ia Jeaus, and the more he does
value the blood of the Lamb of God, which cleanseth from oU ain. In hia con
science purged from guilt, he can triumph with exceeding great joy, that there
is now no condemnation to them who are in Christ Jeeua: for where ein
abounded, grace does much more abound : that as ain hath reigned unto death,
even eo might grace reign through righteousnces unto eternal life by Jesus
Christ our Lord. His grateful acknowledgments are Buch aa theae : —
I waa even as others once — by nature a child of wrath, and an heir of misery
— I .was going on in the broad way of destruction — careleee and eecure — and I
am quite astonished lo see the danger that I waa in — I tremble to behold the
precipice which I was ready to fall over when JeauB opened mine eyea, and by
the fight of hia word and Spirit, ehowed me my guilt and my danger, and put it
into my heart to flee from the wrath to come. Oh, what a moat merciful eacape !
I cannot think of it without adoring the compasaionate Saviour, who remembered
me in my low cBtate ; for hia mercy endureth for ever : and hath redeemed me
from the hand of aU mine enemies ; for hia mercy endureth for ever. Not unto
me, not unto me in the least, but to the superabounding grace of my God be all
the glory. That the Father would make me an object of hia choice and love
— that Jesus Immanuel would humble himself to he manifest in the flesh, and be
obedient unto death, for me and for my salvation — that the Holy Ghost would
give me a new birth into the spiritual world, and would quicken me into union
with Jesus, and to the enjoyment of the Father's love in him, — adored for ever
and ever be the holy, blessed, and glorious Trinity. That auch a filthy 8inner
should be cleaneed from aU sin — that such an ungodly creature ehould be freely
juetified by grace — that such a miserable sinner should be hleaaed with all
spiritual blessings — that such a weak creature should be strengthened mightily
by the Spirit in the inner man, and when weakest in myself, then to be strongeat
in the Lord — Oh what riches ! What unsearchable riches of grace are theae !
Abide with me, O thou Spirit of the Father and the Son, and keep.me eonatantly
dependent on the fresh supplies of thy divine influence. By thy daily teaching
keep open to me the depth and mystery of iniquity, the exceeding wickedness of
sin— of my sin, that by thy holy inspiration I may live more by faith, and

THE TRIUMPH OF FAITH. 361
nothing may be suffered to hinder my growing feUowship with the Father, and
the Son, until I am admitted to fuU and eternal fellowship. Amen.
Thus reflecting with self-abhorrence upon what he was by nature, when he
was under the law, and under sin, which is the transgression of the law, alive to
sin, but dead to God — He is led to consider,
What he is now, although he be renewed by grace, a believer and a man in
Christ : how he feels himself, after much and sound experience of his title to
salvation, and of his enjoyment of the things which accompany salvation. Every
day, and in every thing, he has fresh matter for the deepest humiliation. He
finds that he is still a man in Adam — still he carries about him a sinful nature,
an old man as weU as a new, a body of sin with all its members : he has spirit,
but he has also flesh ; and that which is born of the flesh is flesh, nothing but
corruption, as that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. The old man has flesh stiU,
with aU its appetites and lusts : the new man is by the Spirit of life, that is in
Christ Jesus, alive to God. In the same person sin dwelleth, as we read,
" When we were in the flesh, the motions of sin, which were by the law, did
work in our members to bring forth fruit unto death. And the new man Iiveth,
who after God is created in righteousness and true holiness." Ihe apostle in
Romans, chap. vii. not only confesses that he had nature and grace in him at the
same time, but also describes it at fuU length. IndweUing sin was his continual
grief, and his heavy burden : an apostle in Christ ; and yet he felt the plague
of his own heart : and it was his daily cross, which he was forced to bear — and
his constant enemy, against which he was always at war — no peace, no truce
could be made. Ihe flesh was ever lusting against the spirit, and the spirit
against the flesh, and these two with such unceasing opposition, night and day,
that he could not do the things that he would, either so continually or so per
fectly. He describes this battle as it was carried on in his own experience, the
two combatants striving in him for mastery. He was a good soldier of Jesus
Christ, and as weU instructed and armed as ever any befiever was for this
warfare ; having on the whole armour of God, and yet wearied with this daily
conflict, he is forced to cry out, " O wretched man that I am ! who shall
deliver me from the body of this death?" He had no deliverance in or
from himself ; it was against himself that he fought, and of himself he was led
to despair. But, looking to Jesus, he takes courage, assuring himself of a com
plete victory, and of an everlasting triumph in the Captain of his salvation — I
thank God, through Jesus Christ our Lord. So then, (this is the conclusion of
the whole matter) so then with the mind I myself serve the law of God, but with
the flesh the law of sin.
' This ia still the experience of every tme believer, at all times, and upon aU
occasions : he has a practical comment upon the seventh chapter of the Romans
in his own bosom : he has heartfelt experience of the warfare between the flesh
and the spirit : he finds jt hard fighting ; harder, because it is continual — it
will never cease so long as flesh is flesh ; that is, so long as the befiever lives
in the body and in the present world. IndweUing sin never rests — it is like
the troubled sea, always casting up its filthy motions, and then the most trouble
some when he woulel be the freest from them. Oh what humbling lessons
doth he learn in all his approaches to God ! he knows his privileges, and he
wishes to live up to them ; out he cannot. When he would draw near to God
in the prayer of faith, the spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak. On his bended
knees desiring to confess his sins, and to humble himself under the mighty hand of
God, imploring pardon through the redemption that is in the blood of the
Lamb, and expecting it freely, as the most sovereign mercy that a poor sinner
can receive. Alas ! alas ! even then shame and confusion cover his face. He
desires to keep his thoughts from wandering ; he would have his whole heart
engaged in the duty ; but he cannot : his imagination is not to be restrained.
When he would be uniting all his affections in fervent and effectual prayer, vain,
foolish thoughts force themselves upon him : he drives them away as Abraham
did the birds which came down upon the sacrifice ; but they wttl return. He
mourns, as well he may, for these distractions of his mind, and is deeply
convinced that a most holy God might justly condemn him for his very beet

362 THE TRIUMPH OF FAITH.
devotions. He is therefore led to put them into the hands of the Mediator
ttat he may perfume them with much of his incense for their acceptance ¦ and
through his intercession, and through that only, he. mny obtain an answer of
grace. Neither can he trust in his praises any more than in his prayera. Let him
praise ever 80 much, and ever so weU, yet he can make no suitable acknowledg
ments for the bleaaing of creation. Once he was nothing : for his being at all—
for such a being, rather than any other— for being made a man, and at fust
Jughly favoured with the image and friendship of God— who can expreas the
noble acts of the Lord, Or 8how forth all his praise for the mirade of creation ?
But who can conceive how great, how endleBS, are the blessinga of the new crea
tion? Fe>r they are all gifts of God's grace — distinguishing and sovereign-
given to einnere ae sinners — to the chief of sinners — continued to the unworthy
—increased to the unthankful— how great in their nature!— how invaluable the
stun of them ! The befiever, deeply impressed with these sentiments, acknow
ledges that he ie less than the least of all God's mercies ; yea, he is sensible that
he deserves the heaviest of the divine vengeance : eo that hie prayer, God be mer
ciful to me a sinner ! lays the foundation of his very best praises, lie who haa
most forgiven wttl love most. He who feels what he really is among the chief
of einnere, wttl be among the chief of those worshippere who ascribe all their
salvation to God and the Lamb. The humhleet amonget them will feel that they
have most reason to be thankful : but stiU their praises are no payment. They
must receive fresh grace to praise with, and more grace to praiae better. The
debt increases by the addition of fresh gifts of grace, and leaves the beljevcr no
thing to glory in but the Lord — to be saved — to feel it— to enjoy it by faith— to
be made and to be kept thankful, giving all the glory where it ia due : these are
among the mercie8 which endure for ever.
In thia school of self-abasement he ie taught to be humbled for hie short
attainmente in the ecriptures, read, or preached, or meditated on. How seldom
does he attend the word, as that congregation did ! — " Behold wo are all here
present before God, to hear aU things that are commanded thee of God." This
preparation of heart was from the Lord. He disponed Corneliua' and his family
to receive the word aright, and hia bleaeing came upon them in hearing it : for
while Peter wa8 8peaking, the Holy Ghost feU on all them that heard the word.
And it would be so still, if there were the same dependence on hia grace, and the
prayer of faith for hia teaching along with the word. How little ia thia depended
upon under hearing, although the profit be entirely from him ! how seldom is
the mixing faith with it received and acknowledged ! therefore the memory keeps
little impression of the word, and in heart it is not fruitful aa it ought to be. On
aU these accounts the believer mourns and is humbled before Goel. He feelB it
to be true, " 1 know that in me, that is in my fleah, dweUeth no good thing : for
to wiH is preaent with me ; but how to perform that which is good, 1 find not."
He 18 eeneible of these failings and distractions, even when he labours to be most
free from them. He is going to the Lord's table to be fed and feasted, hoping
that he is one with Christ, and Christ is one with him. He would gladly par
take of the fruits and blessings of this union by communion with Christ, by
receiving the bread of life, and the cup of salvation, according to Christ's holy
institution. He comes in faith to eat the flesh of Christ, and to drink his blood,
in grateful remembrance of him — according as he hath been taught : the body
and blood of our Lord Jesus Christ, which was given for me, preserve my body
and soul unto eternal life. — I take and I eat this bread, and I take and I drink
this cup, in remembrance that Christ died for me ; and 1 desire to feed on him
in my heart by faith with thanksgiving. In this service he would have his whole
soul engaged, that nothing might interrupt hjs communion with his Beloved.
But vain thoughts, which lodge within him, will break out. They intrude,
although most unwelcome guests, into thie banquet of love : ao that he is con
strained to cry out, Lord Jesus, pardon the failings of my holy things ! I come
to the throne of thy grace, that Imay obtain mercy, and may find more grace to
help me in every time of need.
' When he is led to consider what is the cause of all these failings, oh what an

THE TRIUMPH OF FAITH. 363
abiding lesson of humility has he to learn ! He sees that they all spring from the
bitter root of unbelief, and are the fruits of remaining corruption, which can only
be kept down and conquered as the strength of Christ, apprehended by faith,
prevails over them. Self, pride, legality, nurse them : they have their being,
their activity, their power, from those fleshly lusts which war against the soul,
and render the whole life of the believer one continued act of self-denial. He
has stiU a body of sin, with aU its members, mixing with every duty, so that he
cannot ground his faith and hope upon the best of them. The work of Jesus
upon earth, the intercession of Jesus in heaven, are the sole ground of his confi
dence towards God. His motive is good ; he aims at pleasing God in aU things ;
he would do his wiU, and suffer his wiU, as it is his bounden duty, with faith and
patience. His end isgood : he would gladly keep the glory of God in his eye,
and direct all he does to it, as his elder brethren do in heaven ; but he cannot.
When the spirit is willing, the flesh is weak. Yet he is not so discouraged as
to give over and cease his approaches to God, because of his infirmities. Hav
ing obtained help of God, he fights on the good fight of faith. He does not
leave off praying because he is not so spiritual as he desires to be ; but he is
rather more earnest and fervent. The Spirit, helping his infirmities, keeps him
in a humble dependence upon Jesus, waiting on him for a due sense of his
wants, for the acceptance of his prayers, for a supply of them, for pardoning
the failings of them, for nfore faith in them, and for enabling him to continue
instant in prayer, according to the divine command, that men ought always
to pray and not to faint ; which supposes them to be kept in a praying frame, and
to use the means which Saint Jude recommends for the obtaining of these
blessings : " But, ye beloved, budding up yourselves on your most holy faith,
praying in the Holy Ghost, keep yourselves in the love of God, looking for the
mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal hfe."
As he is not weary of his prayers, because they are not so spiritual as he could
wish, so neither is he weary of his praises, although they fall far short of what such
a Saviour deserves, and of what he would acknowledge with aU possible grati
tude : because he faUs short, he aims higher. He feels himself under infinite
obligations to the Father for his love, to the Son for his salvation, and by the
supply of the Spirit's grace he is made sensible that he is not only less than the
least of divine mercies, but, if he had his just deserts, he should have judg
ment without mercy. This lays the foundation for his highest praises. The
• faithful witness for Jesus makes the befiever willing to be beholden to him for
every mercy ; yea, to glory in being a pensioner upon his fulness : from
which he receives grace for grace, that in all things he may be giving of
thanks ; according to the Lord's favour to his people, informing them to take
with them words, and turn to the Lord, and say unto him, " Take away aU
iniquity, and receive us graciously, so wiU we render the calves of our
lips," which is the sacrifice of the New Testament worshippers, who through
Jesus the Mediator offer the sacrifice of praise continually ; that is, the fruit
of their lips, giving thanks to his name, wishing, praying to do it with some
of the praises of heaven, as one said, " I wttl hope continually, and I will yet
praise thee more and more."
As. these prayers and praises are grounded upon faith in the divine pro
mises, this makes the behever a diligent reader of the scriptures. He does not
neglect his Bible, because he has not yet attained the perfect knowledge of every
part of it. For that very reason he studies it more ; he prays more over it, grows
more thankful for the divine power which stiU accompanies it, and studies and
nrays that he may experience more of this power : it has been the means of mak
ing him wise unto salvation, through faith which is in Christ Jesus. He finds
it also to be the food of this faith — it nourishes him, and he grows thereby, lie
hears, reads, meditates, and keeps on praying to the Holy Ghost to write the
scriptures upon his heart, and to make his Ufe a fair copy of them. And what
he thus learns preserves him in a settled dependence upon the faithfulness of
God to his word and promise. And he is not disappointed : he finds all the
scripture which was given by the inspiration of God is stttl profitable for doc
trine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, that the mm

364 THE TRIUMPH OF FAITH.
of God may be perfect, thoroughly furnished unto all good works. This bless
ing he has in his Bible. The more he can mix faith with it, the more precious
it becomes. His Bible is his library. The etudy therein makes him wise fur
eternity; which is the superlative exceUency of Bible knowledge, of which Jesus
thua speaks : " Blessed is the man that heareth me, watching daily at my gates,
waiting at the posts of my doors ; for whoso findeth rae findeth life, and shall
obtain favour of the Lord."
Thus in the use of means he is kept humble and dependent, exercising the true
gospel poverty of spirit in self-abasement ; and ao far from being stopped, he
rather glories and triumphs in his infirmities. The opposition which they give
helps him forward ; they are always driving him out of self to Christ, teaching
him the necessity of the supplies of the Spirit, making him more dttigent, ana
keeping him more humble in the use of the means ; and thus he leama to live more
by faith upon Chriat, and to seek more cloee communion with him and his ful-
neaa, especially at his table. He does not abeent himeelf from it, because he haa
not tiie feUowahip there, eo cloee, intimate, and abiding, aa he could wish, or
becauae, the last time he was there, he waa not ao fively ae he used to be, or
because he was unworthy, and fuU of complaints. He has tasted that the Lord
ia gracioua : and this taste has increased hie hunger and thirst ; the food which he
wants he does not carry with him, but he goee to receive it. . When he hears his
Lord's command — Take, eat thie bread— drink this cup — Do ye thia in remem
brance of me — he obeys, believing the promise : Thie ie my body given for you :
thie ie my blood Bhed for you. The more faith in the promise, there will be the
more appetite and the more nouriahment received from the 8piritual food ; for
then the Holy Spirit puts hia influence into the elemente, and the communicant
eats the flesh of Chriat indeed, and drinks hia blood indeed, having by faith
communion with him in the bread and wine. At thia table -the believer ia- fed,
nourished, and feasted with the bread that cometh down from heaven, even
angel's food ; for he that eateth of this bread ehall five for ever ,- according to the
Lord'e own promise, " Whoso eateth my fleeh, and drinketh ray blood, hath
eternal life ; and I wtU raise him up at the laat day." Ihe believer hae this in
his eye, both in what the banquet is now, and in what it is the pledge and ear-
nest of,' when it ahall be realized. Faith gives a subatance to the things promised
and hoped for. It has the earnest and tne pledge of them: aa certainly as we
have the one, ao certainly shall we have the other. A faithful God gives us this
security— Whoeo ia one by faifh with Jesua shall ait down at the marriage aupper J
of the Lamb : whoeo eateth and drinketh at his table here in faith, shall infaUibly
eat and drink with him at hia table in his kingdom of glory. The sure and cer
tain hope of this makes our present feast at the Lord'a supper a happy foretaste
of that eternal banquet, when he will vouchsafe to admit us to the honours of hia
table and of hia kingdom. Oh, bleaaed, most bleaaed time ! The proapect ie
animating ; it brightens the darkest day of affliction, refreshes the spirits under
the heavieet trials, and ia a rich cordial under the deepeat feeling of indwelling
Bin. Where Chriat is, aU is bleased. Union with him ie heaven begun ; and
thie the believer is called to enjoy ; even to enjoy communion with him in all he
is and has : Christ ia one with him : Chriat witt not leave him nor forsake him :
nothing ia able to eeparate the membera from the Head. He who haa begun the
good work has given the fuUest security that he wttl not leave it unfinished He
wttl carry it on unto the end ; for he ie faithful who hath promised. And the
aoostle applies the words spoken to Joshua, and saya that they were apoken aleo
to us that we might trust and not be afraid : " This book of the law ahaU not
depart out of thy mouth, but thou shalt meditate therein day and night, that
thou mayest observe to do according to aU that ia written therein : for then thou
shalt make thy way prosperous, and then thou shalt have good euccees. Have
not I commanded thee ? Be strong and of a good courage : be not afraid : nei
ther be thou dismayed ; for the Lord thy God is with thee, whithersoever thou
ffoest " And he went out strong in the Lord, and in the power of hia might.
He fought the Lord'a battles, and prospered until the whole land was subdued
before ffim There fatted not aught of any good thing which the Lord had spoken
to the house of Israel. AU came to pass. Even so ahaU it be to the whole Iarael

THE TRIUMPH OF FAITH. 365
of God. Every good soldier of Christ Jesus shaU be kept safe by his almighty
power, and under his banner shall fight the good fight of faith, unttt he attain the
promised inheritance, which is incorruptible and undefiled, and that fadeth not
away, reserved in heaven for them. He has taken possession of it in their name,
as their surety ; and not one of them can perish; for he keeps the inheritance
for them, and them for it; yea, the day is hastening on, when he wiU present aU
his redeemed unto the Father : " Of those whom thou hast given me have I lost
none". Behold, I and the children whom thou hast given me."
On all these accounts it is evident that a believer every day, and in every thing,
finds matter for the deepest humiliation. He has stiU a body of sin, remaining
corruptions, daily infirmities, and short comings. AU that he has of his own
abases him in his own eyes ; so that his triumph is never in himself. His salva
tion, with all its graces and blessings, depends entirely upon what he is in Christ.
On this foundation he may rest safely always, notwithstanding he has nothing of
his own to glory in. Most of his mistakes and miseries come from his seeking to
be independent of Christ — hoping to find that in himself, or in the world, which
is only in Christ. Self-love is uWUling to be beholden to Christ for every good
thing : it is always trying to put some confidence in the flesh : but the believer
is commanded, and is taught to deny self — to put it upon the cross — and to
cmcify it daily with its affections and lusts. As Christ is exalted, self goes
down. As Christ is beloved, self is not only denied, but is also abhorred. The
prophet Ezekiel, in the thirty-sixth chapter, describes the very height of the
experience of a great befiever, who is blest with the abundant graces of the Holy
Spirit : the result of which is — " Then shall ye remember your own evil ways,
and your doings that were not good ; and ye shaU loathe yourselves in your own
sight for your iniquities, and for your abominations : not for your sakes do I
this, saith the Lord God, be it known unto you ; be ashamed and confounded for
your own ways, O house of Israel." Such is the genuine working of tme grace
— it lays the sinner low at the Saviour's feet, abased and humbled to the dust —
Behold I am vile — I abhor myself, and I repent in dust and ashes. The sense
of God's distinguishing and sovereign mercy brings aU high thoughts of self
into subjection to Christ Jesus, and teaches the believer to walk humbly with
his God, ascribing all his salvation to the praise of the glory of the exceeding
riches of God's grace in his kindness towards us, through Christ Jesus ; that,
according as it is written, " He that glorieth let him glory in the Lord."
Thus it is evident that when the believer looks back upon what he was by
nature, or considers what he is now by grace, he has nothing of his own to
boast of; yet even in this continual warfare between the flesh and tbe spirit,
in Christ Jesus he may rejoice even to a triumph, a jubilee of joy. But the
grand triumph is yet to come. The best glorying in the Lord here is only a pre
lude to it. Now we have the espousals with our heavenly bridegroom ; but then
the marriage will be consummated. Now we are kept waiting in hope for the
crown of righteousness ; but that will be our coronation day. What a day wUl
it be ! What wonders and miracles ! The promises, exceeding great and exceed
ing precious, wiU then have their fuU and everlasting accomplishment by a faith
ful God, when he shall come to be glorified in his saints, and to be admired in
aU them who have believed — when they shah see him face to face — shaU be with
him where he is — shaU be like him, and made capable of enjoying the honours,
and riches, and pleasures of his kingdom, in their fulness of blessedness for ever
more.

CHAPTER XI.
The eternal triumph.
This is the great lesson which the behever is learning, tiU he comes to the
end of his faith — what is promised him, and what he hopes to be at the appear
ing of our Lord Jesus Christ. This is the centre to which all his experience

866 THE TRIUMPH OF FAITH.
tends : and, while he keeps it in view, it so enlivens and animates his proapect,
that, come what may, he goes on his way rejoicing in hope of the glory of God!
•Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man,
the things which God hath prepared for them that love him. But God hath
revealed them unto us by his Spirit.". And by his holy inspiration he opens the
eyes of the understanding, both to understand what is revealed, and also to know
the things that are freely given to us of God : for, great as they are, endless as they
are, the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God : neither can
he know them, because they are spiritually discerned : but he that is spiritual
has apiritual senses given him to exercise upon spiritual things — he is made cer
tain of their reality— hia faith givea a aubstance to the thinga hoped for, and
evidence to the things not seen — a hope that never maketh ashamed — an evi
dence very clear and satisfying. Sometimes he can triumph in hope of the glory
of God, when the Holy Spirit aheds abroad in his heart the Father's love, and
bestows great joy and peace in believing. But he who is thus taught of God
knowe only in port. An apostle knew no more.. The beBt of our preeent enjoy
ment is only a foretaste of the heavenly banquet. But even this little ia of such
a nature, and haa Buch efficacy, that, when it is truly believed, it influences the
whole man, while he looks not at the things which are Been, but at the thinga
which are not 8een : for the thinga which are seen are temporal, but the things
which are not seen are eternal. They are not seen by the eye of the body,
but are visible by the eye of faith ; so we read, " Come, taste and see how
gracious the Lord ia." By thia eye of faith Moaea Baw him that ia inviaiblfl :
and thia 8ight so affected him, and had auch an influence upon his heart and life,
that he lived above the world with all its temptations. Thia ia the victory that
overcame the world ; even hie faith. The same sight still works the same effect
— producing a real value for spiritual and eternal things, and forming the heart
to love and to practise the apo8tle'a rule — My conversation is in heaven, from
whence also I look for the Saviour, the Lord Jesus Chriat, by whom the world is
crucified unto me, and I unto the world.
In the acripture view of our rictory in Christ there are two great points, which
wttl take in all that ia revealed of our eternal triumph ; namely, the complete
conquest of all our enemies — and the fuU and eternal enjoyment of att posaible
good. The8e two truth8 come now under our consideration ; and if we can medi
tate upon them under the influence of the Holy Spirit, and mix faith with his
revelation, we shall have a good warrant to begin those praises, which will never
end, and to 8ing in harmony with all the redeemed our everlasting jubilee.
When we come to the end of our faith, even the eternal ealvation of our eoula,
our victory is described to be a perfect deliverance from aU evil — from sin, from
suffering. Sin has brought all pain into the world — miseries upon the body —
miseries upon the soul — spiritual wickedness — numerous hoata of foea — mighty
Srindpalities and powers : it has armed thousands, yea millions of them for our
eatruction — made us our own enemies by enslaving ua to "divera luats and
passions, making us the prey to earthly, sensual, devilish tempers — and, as if
there was not suffering enough in the world, filling ua with many imaginary
feara, which occasion real suffering. At last comes the wagea of 8in — death with
ita terrors — heU with its torments. Oh what a deliverer ! what a deliverance !
Not one enemy left. They are aU brought under, and subdued, to rise no more.
The Captain of our 8alvation haa vanquished them for ua. His victory is the
earnest of ours. Hia waa complete ; so ie oure. No Bin, no suffering can come
near the habitation of hia holineae. Indeed, he suffered once for Bin ; but he put
it away by that sacrifice of himself. By faith we have the benefit of his suffer
ing — a conscience purged from guilt — no condemnation left — no charge from
any enemy. God himself justifies, God himself Bee8 ua, accepts us, glorifies us,
in and with his Son ; for in that day he wttl present us to his Father without
spot of ein unto eternal ealvation.
Of this bleseed and complete victory over all ein, and aU suffering, the prophet
Isaiah had a delightful prospect ; speaking of it in these worda : " And the ran
somed of the Lord shall return, and ahatt come to Sion with songs, and everlast
ing joy upon their heads : they shall obtain joy and gladnese, and sorrow and

THE TRIUMPH OF FAITH. 367
sighing shatt flee away." Oh give thanks unto the Lord Jehovah ; for he is
good ; for his mercy endureth for ever : let the redeemed of the Lord say so,
whom he hath redeemed from the hand of the enemy : they have as much to
thank their Redeemer for as any creature possibly can have : his ransomed were
under sin, helpless, miserable, dying sinners : from this slavery he bought them
with an inestimable price, and they are become his property, his peculiar people,
who have through him liberty to return to God, and to serve him without fear
on earth, and to bless him for giving them freedom to come to Zion, to the city of
the living God, with songs of gratitude and praise : they have everlasting joy
upon their heads — crowned conquerors ; they have the joys of heaven, ana the
gladness of eternity in their hearts, which exclude aU pain, and all sorrow : no
fear can enter there — not one sigh. The Lord himself is their portion ; and they
shall reign with him for ever and ever.
The beloved John was favoured with a view of the same eternal conquest
which the ransomed of the Lord shall have over aU thei renemies, and he speaks
of it thus : " And I heard a great voice out of heaven, saying, Behold the taber
nacle of God is with men, and he will dweU with them, and they shaU be his
people, and God himself shall be with them, and be their God : and God shall
wipe away aU tears from their eyes ; and there shall be no more curse, and there
shall be no more death, neither sorrow nor crying ; neither shaU there be any
more pain : for the former things are passed away ; and he that sat upon the
throne aaid, Behold I make aU things new." This is Jesus, the King of kings,
and the Lord of lords, who reigneth the Lord God omnipotent for this very pur
pose, that this scripture may be fulfilled to the uttermost, and to eternity. He was
the word made flesh, who tabernacled amongst us, being that most holy temple
which God pitched, and not man : out of whose fulness believers receive all grace,
and all glory : the compassions of Jesus are like himself, infinite and endless. He
loves his redeemed too weU to let either sin or sorrow come near them. They
might have been holy mourners in their pilgrimage, when they went through
the vaUey of Baca ; but now he has wiped away their tears, aU tears from their
eyes. The curse that caused them he has removed. That death, the wages of
which they deserved, he has changed into Ufe. The pillars in his house, which
are to get out no more, are thereby defivercd from sorrow and crying, and from
every pain : all the former things are passed away — sin is no more — pain is no
more. Into the kingdom of Jesus nothing of the old man is suffered to enter ;
for he creates aU things new. The Lord from heaven makes aU his people like
himself, conformed to his own image in righteousness and tme holiness. A more
perfect victory cannot be imagined than to have enemies so vanquished, — -aU
enemies, — that they shaU never have entrance into the kingdom of God, and his
Christ. When believers shaU come to the end of their faith, they shall not only
be thus saved from all possible evil, but who can conceive what their actual enjoy
ments will then be ? To be saved from all sin, from aU the effects of sin, is a
great mercy ; yet it is only a part of our salvation. But, looking at the world
lying in wickedness, beholding the variety of pains and miseries in it, from which
no one is exempt — no state of life free from them — the palace as fuU of them as
tiie cottage — kingdoms convulsed — infidelity spreading' its poisonous influence,
and attempting to destroy aU good order and government — old age bringing its
infirmities, and death hastening — it is certainly a great deliverance that none of
those evils can approach us any more. Blessed be God the Saviour for this great
mercy. It is through his grace that his kingdom of glory will be kept in perfect
peace : no evil, no fear of evil, shaU for one moment interrupt the happiness of
nis subjects. But what is this compared _to the actual enjoyment of all possible
good ? Who is able to declare fuUy what" this wttl be at the appearing of Jesus
the great God ? We must wait for the fuU manifestation of the sons of God :
but yet there is a great deal revealed, which belongs to us and to our chUdren : and
if we can read it in faith, with prayer, and with a continual dependence upon the
teaching nnd application of the Holy Spirit, he wUl give us to form our hearts
and lives upon the certainty of what he has revealed : for our conversation will
then be in heaven, and we shall have both the knowledge and also the experience

368 THE TRIUMPH OF FAITH.
of heavenly things, growing according to our faith. The word revelation signi-
Jiee taking off the veil or covering from any thing, that it may be seen clearly
in the scripture sense, it is removing the veil from heavenly things, which is the
work of the Holy Spirit, creating apiritual senses to exercise upon those heavenly
things ; of which the natural man can have no just ideas ; for he cannot under
stand nor receive the things that are freely given to ua of God: but he that ia
taught of God haa evidence given him of the reality and of the bleasedneea of
thoae thinga which are revealed, and by faith enjoyed. When audi a one reada
what God aaid to Abraham : " After these things, the word of the Lord came
to Abram in a vision, saying, Fear not, Abram, I am thy ehield and thy
exceeding great reward." He reads it for himself; he makes the promise his
own, and trusts in it as steadfastly aa if God had 8poken it to him by a voice
from heaven ; for ao ia he warranted to apply it by the apostle. Now, it was
not written for his soke alone, but for ua also; no acripture being of any private
interpretation. The gift of grace to Abraham waa nothing short of an infinite
good ; for it was God himself: I wttl be thy God. What ia meant by thia rela
tion haa been largely treated of in the former volumes. It ia only needful to add,
that it denotes the relation in which the Holy Trinity stand to believers, and the
covenant engagements to them. God ia theira— He ia their Father ; the Son i8
their Saviour ; the Spirit of life haa enabled them to receive the Son : and they
are one with him. He dwelling in their heart8 by faith, and through him they
are one with hia Father : aa the Lord Baid in hia prayer — " Neither pray I for
these alone — the apoBtles — but for them alao who ehall believe on ine through
their word, that they all may be one, ae thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee,
that they also may be one in us." This prayer was for all the chosen of the
Father, given to the Son, redeemed by him, and in due time quickened by the
Spirit, and brought into the same covenant relation, and partakers of the same
covenant bleasings, ae Abraham waa. What was promised to him, was promised
to all that walk in the atepe of his faith, — the whole family and household of
faith. It is as if God had said, Fear not, believer : I myself, Jehovah in Trinity,
will be your preeent ealvation to shield you from all eine and enemies, and I
myself wiU be your exceeding great reward. Who can tell what the believer
shall then be, when this promise shall be fulfilled, when he shall be brought as
near to the Godhead aa a creature can poasibly be, joined to the Lord Jesus by
the Holy Spirit, an habitation of God through the Spirit, and through Jeaua
unto the Father, and in this holy and bleBBed communion, finding an eternal
heaven of happinesa, an exceeding great reward ? when it ia received in thia ita
folneee, it is a reward, but of grace — a gift of sovereign mercy — great — aomething
worthy of the great God — like himaelf — exceeding great, eternally great. 0
Holy Ghost, keep the hope of it lively : Oh make it every day more lively, till,
through thy blessing, 1 come to know it as it is.
The Psalmiet, speaking of this happiness, suite hie description to our present
method of understanding spiritual things as they are imagined to ue by material.
The pleosuree of our sensee are made uae of to give ua ideae of that happiness
which is to be found in God : for it is att in him ; ne ia heaven. The enjoyment
of him in glory i8 the heaven of heavens. " Aa for me, 1 wttl behold thy face in
righteousneae ; I ahall be aatiafied when I wake with thy likenea8 ; for thou
wttt ahow me the path of life : in thy presence is the fulness of joy, and at thy
right hand there are pleasurea for evermore." AU this, great and endless as it iB,
belongs to them who have God for their God : for when they are admitted into
his pre8ence, they Bhall be made like him — Oh marvellous change ! — capable of
enjoying him, ao as to be quite satiefied — finding in him a fulness of joy — plea
sures divinely great, abundant, — a river of pleasures — yea, a fountain of pleasures
springing up into everlasting life. Every sense ahall be gratified to tne utter
most, ana that for evermore. Blessed be God for this unspeakable gift ! and haa he
not herein vouchaafed ue matter of triumph ? May not the believer, ought he not,
to rejoice with exceeding great joy, who haa this prospect before him ? Who that
is out of heaven can have more reason than he has ? Survey it, O my soul ! take
a narrow review of it. Examine over and over again the Pealmiet'e description

THE TRIUMPH OF FAITH. 369
of it, and see what can be added to make it absolutely perfect. If nothing can,
if it be as full as God can make it, may my heart grow in holy desires after the
glory that is to be revealed, and triumph in the God of my salvation.
Our Lord gives us the same description in these words, speaking to his
apostles : " I appoint unto you a kingdom, as my Father hath appointed unto me
(in the surest, fullest manner that it can be conveyed), that ye may eat and drink
at my table in my kingdom, and sit upon thrones, judging the twelve tribes of
Israel." The king of this holy land is Immanuel — God Jesus : he is the King
of kings, the LorcT creator of aU worlds, and the government of them all is upon
his shoulders, and the names of his redeemed are written upon his heart. For
them he has made abundant provision, that they may fea. t with him at his
table, and may be receiving out of his fulness every grace that can make them
completely and eternaUy blessed : for they shah sit down with him upon his
throne, and shaU share with him in aU his royalties, blessing and adoring him
in their everlasting songs of triumph. " Unto him that loved us, and washed
us from our sins in his own blood, and hath made us kings and priests unto
God and his Father; to him be glory and dominion for ever and ever Amen."
The apostle John caUs upon us now to begin the heavenly song : and he would
have us to do it with the sweetest melody in our hearts, praising our sovereign
Lord, who has taken our nature into union with himself, in order that by his
Spirit we might be joined to him our glorified Head, and might by faith partake
of his holy and heavenly nature. No words can describe more fuUy the dignity
to which, by virtue of this union, we shall be exalted : nay, it is not to be con
ceived at present how great it wiU be. " Behold what manner of love the
Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be caUed the sons of God : there
fore the world knoweth us not, because it knew him not. Beloved, now are
we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be ; but we know
that when he shall appear, we shall be like him ; for we shaU see him as he is :
and every man that hath this hope in him, purifieth himself even as he is pure."
Oh what a dignity is this ! what upon earth is to be compared for one moment
to it ? — Sons of God — Sons of Adam, who have borne the image of the earthly,
advanced to bear the image of the heavenly ! This is a glory which surpasseth
all understanding. It did not yet appear as it is to the beloved John ; he knew
as much of it as perhaps ever man did ; but it was far greater than his know
ledge. He knew it but in part : he was indeed sealed with the Holy Spirit of
promise, who is the earnest of our inheritance until the redemption of the pur
chased possession ; but the earnest is not the inheritance itself. It is only a
pledge and a security, that, at the appearing of Jesus Christ, the great God and
our Saviour, we shall be put into full possession. At present we have it in the
promise of the God of truth : and faith in its promise begets a hope that will
never make us ashamed ; because it will keep us patiently waiting for the mani
festation of the sons of God, when we shall come to the eternal enjoyment of aU
the riches, and pleasures, and honours of our sonship with Christ our glorified
Head. Ihe apostle would lead us also to consider the fountain from whence all this
blessedness springs — from the Father — what manner of love the Father hath
bestowed upon us. The love expressed by this name, Father, has no paraUel.
It had no beginning, and it will have no ending. It is from everlasting to ever
lasting — bringing with it out of its infinite ocean all the streams of grace which
make glad the city of God, and never stopping till it return with all the happy
objects of his love to the same great ocean ;\gaiu. The apostle would have us
to behold and to admire the miracles of the lather's love, which he purposed
and wrought out, and bestowed upon us, who are sinners even as others, and
yet to the everlasting praise and glory of his grace — chosen — called — effectually
brought into the family and household of faith by the Spirit of adoption, and
ennobled — sons of God. What an exaltation ! What a blessedness ! Made the
children of God, heirs of God, and joint heirs with Christ — with him who is
Lorel of all — admitted to share with him in his kingdom, his crown, his glories;
according to his own prayer — " Father, I will that they also whom thou hast
given me be with me, where I nm, that they may behold my glory, may be with
n n

370 THE TRIUMPH OF FAITH.
me, may be fike me." Oh what an animating view is here for the highest
rejoicing of faith and hope ! Christ, by taking our nature into union with him
self, has advanced it into the greatest dignity of which it is capable ; for it is
heaven to be with him, where he is in his glory ; like him, conformed to that
standard of all perfection in body and soul, perfectly and eternally. What a
hope ahould thia beget and cherish ! even a hope full of glory and immortality ;
especiaUy as all this honour is according to the Father's covenant purposes; for
whom he did foreknow, them he also did predestinate to be conformed to the
image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren : more
over, whom he did predestinate, them he also called ; and whom he called, them
he also justified ; and whom he justified, thera he also glorified. What shaU we
say to these thinga ? Can there be greater grace ahown from the God of all
grace ? Can there be higher honour conferred, than to be so exalted from the
depth of sin and misery, as to be raised to the honours of sonship, even to a
conformity to the Son of God ? Oh what sentiments had thnt blessed man of it,
when he said, " As for me, I wiU behold thy face in righteousneas ; 1 shall be
satisfied when I awake after thy likeness ; for thou wilt show me the path
of life : in thy presence is the fiilneBs of joy, and at thy right hand there are
pleasures for evermore !" Conformity to Jesus brings with it this fulness of joy ;
and the hope of it is an active and a livdy grace : for every one that hath this
hope in him purifieth himself even as Chriat ia pure. Thia is the mark at which
the believer aims : he wishee to be like Christ, and to be more like him : be
would feel more of the power of the croaa of Christ to crucify in him tbe body
of sin, and more of the power ofthe risen Jesus, that there may be a real growth
into him ; and that in all things : thus he purifies hia heart and life by that faith
in Jesus, of which the apostle thus speaks : " Brethren, I have not yet attained
what I am striving for ; but this one thing I do, forgetting those things which
are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before, I preaa
toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jeans.
The8e are some of the 8cripture authoritiea, from which thia concision may
be fairly drawn, that a believer, whatever view he may take of himself, either
from what he waa, when dead in treapaeeea and sine, or from what he now ia,
quickened by the Spirit of Chriat, and living by faith, yet crying out under a
sense of his corruptions, O wretched man that I am ! who shall deliver me ? yet
he may thank God through Jesus Chriat hia Lord ; for he ia wan-anted, he ia
commanded, to rejoice in the Lord alway8, and to triumph in the God of his
ealvation. And he hae enough given him in hand to exercise that strong faith,
which will administer etrong consolation, even great, very great joy and peace
in believing : for the word of God cannot be broken ; his promises cannot fail ;
his covenant engagements are immutable, given as infallible security to tho
believer, that his faith may not stagger at any difficulty, but, looking to a
faithful God, he may go on his way rejoicing in hope of the glory of God.
These are some of the blessed effects of looking to Jesu8, and living by faith
upon him and his fulness. In thia way there ia continual matter of triumph.
Let the believer look back on what he waa by nature, or on what he ia now in
his renewed state by grace, or looking fonvard to the glory that is to be revealed
at the appearing of his Saviour, when he shaU be with him in the kingdom
which cannot be moved, and ahall be like him, aU his membera conformed to
their moat glorious Head, and partaking of his divine riches, and honours, and
pleasures. What upon earth can exceed such a prospect ! What can adminiater
greater happineaa than to have the evidence of it kept clear and open ? What can
make life more comfortable, and the end of our faith more desirable, than such
great and blessed things, promised and given most freely in time, yea, in the
fuUest manner that almighty love can bestow them in eternity ?
For such mercies, bless the Lord, O my soul ; and all that ib within me, bless
O thou beginning and ending, the firat and the la8t, the author and the fraiaher of
the faith, Jehovah Jesus ! I have been looking up to thee for thy dirine teaching,
and I am stiU looking up to thee for thy divine blessing on this my offering.
It is a poor mite, which I would cast into thy treasury, as my dying teatimony

THE TRIUMPH OF FAITH. 371
for the truth and for the power of thy gospel.. Be pleased to accept it out of
thine infinite condescension. Thou knowest the heart of thy servant : whatever
is right in it is thine own, the work of thine own grace. Failings there are, and
they are mine : of thy mercy pardon them ; and make use of this httle treatise,
as it shaU seem best to thy godly wisdom, for the increase of faith in thy church,
and for the advancement of thine own fame and glory ; that more honour may
be put upon thy word, more dependence exercised upon thy faithfulness, and
there may be a growing conformity to it in the hearts and fives of thy people.
Be pleased, merciful Saviour, to accompany the reading of it with thy Spirit for
these purposes, and I shaU be amply rewarded. May thy grace, the grace of
our Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the communion of the Holy
Ghost, be with us aU. Amen.

B B 3

A PRACTICAL COMMENT

HUNDRED AND SEVENTH PSALM.

PREFACE.
The foUowing comment was not drawn up with any view to its publication. It
was only intended for the pulpit, at tbe Thursday's lecture in St. Dunstan's,
and after it had been preached would have been thrown aBide ; for the author is
obliged to make a sermon every week, besides the leeture ; and he had no
thoughts of sending such hasty compositions to the presa. He knowB that they
want every qualification necessary to make them admired in this polite ago :
their manner ie unfaahionably plain and simple ; they have nothing studied or
brilliant in their style, nor delicately nice in the method ; no pretty turns of wit,
nor striking antitheses to entertain the reader. And the matter is as opposite to
the established taste as the manner of them. They are not in the least indebted
to the boasted light of nature ; they borrow no ornaments from the celebrated
religion of nature ; nor do they receive any aide from the moral echeme ; bnt
they are the plain honeat truths of acripture, of the Christian church, and of
the church of England. And yet these great authorities are not sufficient to
protect them from contempt, nor excuse the author from the charge of novelty.
He is very aenaible of it. He has been long enough acquainted with the
received opinions of the age ; and he cannot expect any kind of applause (and ho
thanks God he does not de8ire it) from the present set of great and learned men.
If you are doing right, you wiU certainly be censured ; anil if you resolve to do
right, you must learn to neglect censure. I have been prevailed on to neglect it
by the earnest and daily repeated importunity of the hearera of theBe lectureB, by
whom I was determined to make them public. They are here laid before the
.world, as they were preached, without any alteration ; and if it please God to
make them the instruments of doing some eervice to the eouls of mankind, my
loss of reputation as an author wiU be fully repaid. If but one single person
should find reason to bless God for theee lecturee, I ehaU not lose my end; although
I hope they will be useful to many. And I pray the almighty God and Saviour
of the world to send them out in his grace and strength, and to accompany them
abundantly with his divine power, and then his glory wiU be the more displayed,
if any mighty effects should be produced by such weak instruments.
Every minister of the gospel who has any zeal for hia master'a honour, or love
for the souls of men, ought to exert himself in these days of reproach and
blasphemy ; for we are sunk into the very dregs of the latter times, in which it
was foretold that iniquity should abound. And does it not now abound ? haa
not his majesty (King George the Second) complained more than once from the
throne of its abounding? Has not the convocation, at last (in the year 1755),
seen it, and publicly confessed the abounding of iniquity ? and is it not obvioue
to every unprejudiced 8pectator that our people, high and low, are totally corrupt,
not only in moral8, but also in principles ? For it is too erident a truth to be
denied, that we are departed from the doctrines of the reformation, and yet we
keep up our subscriptions to the articles and homilies then established, which
are entirely founded upon the certainty of the fall of mankind in Adam, and of

PREFACE. 373
their recovery in Jesus Christ. We were wholly ruined by the one, and we are
wholly saved by the other. The sin of the one was imputed to us, as the
righteousness of the other is imputed to us. All the scripture is built upon
tliese two truths, as weU as the church of England. But no sooner does a clergy
man venture to speak out upon these points, than he is immediately branded
with the name of enthusiast, although he has declared, in the most solemn
manner before God, his assent and consent to every thing contained in the
articles and homilies upon the fall and redemption of mankind, and although
the very persons who abuse him have done the same. Urge the plainest passages
of scripture, appeal to your subscription, call upon reason, and summon matter
of fact to bear testimony to the soberness of your faith, yet you cannot avoid a
hard name. If you think of avoiding it because you do not deserve it, you wUl
find yourself mistaken. I made the same mistake, and fancied myself quite safe,
while I had the scripture, and the church on my side, unttt I found that a strong
suspicion had gone out among some ministerial clergy, as if I was leaning a
little matter, anel inclining, as it were, something towards enthusiasm. And they
suspected this because 1 did not lean and incline towards them or their doctrines
and practices ; which most certainly I did not. Instead of defending the Jew-
bill, and the marriage-biU, I rather insisted upon the total cormption of mankind
by the faU, and the freeness and fulness of redemption through Jesus Christ, and
the necessity of the grace of the Holy Spirit, to change and renew our corrupt
hearts, in order to dispose them to receive the benefits of Christ's redemption,
and to enable thern to live a holy and a Christian life. These doctrines are now
dressed up by our great men in a bear-skin, and baited under the odious nick
name of enthusiasm; and our people begin to join the cry, and to fancy that a
man must be a little tinctured with enthusiasm, before he wiU make himself so
ridiculous as to defend these exploded doctrines. But if others fear a nick-name
from this quarter, 1 do not. The ministerial clergy are welcome to caU me what
they please. I honour their reproach ; for I find myself in the best of company
by leaving theirs. The whole church of God, in the Old Testament and the
iNcw, believed and acted upon the truth ofthe doctrines before mentioned. All
the primitive fathers embraced them. The martjTS died, and sealed the belief of
them with their blood. The protestant church has with one voice maintained
thera. And the church of England has made the acknowledgment of them
absolutely necessary for every one of her ministers, and therefore, if it be
enthusiasm to acknowledge what she has made necessary, then the church of
England is turned enthusiast, and her best sons are the strongest enthusiasts.
And what then are we to think of those court divines who expose their brethren
and ridicule them under the disgraceful name of Enthusiasts, for no other reason
but because we make a conscience of our oaths and subscriptions, and dare not
risk our eternal salvation for any present honour or preferment.
The generality of readers may not, perhaps, be acquainted with the true 6tate
of the case, and therefore it may be useful to them to show upon w hat footing
these doctrines stand, which are now exploded under the odious name of
enthusiasm. I will carry my inquiry no higher up than the reformation of the
church of England, and will endeavour to convince the reader that if we are
enthusiasts for abiding by the doctrines of the reformation, then these persons
must be something much worse, who have subscribed to those doctrines, and yet
have departed from them.
The fall of mankind in Adam, their cormption, their forfeiture through and
in him, are now openly denied. But hear what our church says upon these
points. In the office for public baptism, we have these words, " Forasmuch as
all men are conceived and bom in sin, and that our Saviour Christ saith, none
can enter into the kingdom of God, except he be regenerate and born anew of
water and ofthe Holy Ghost." Mind, we are conceived in sin, and then born in
sin, and it is necessary to be born anew of the Holy Spirit. The ninth article
explains the matter thus : —
" Original sin standeth not in the foUowing of Adam (as the Pelagians do vainly
talk;, but it is the fault and corruption of the nature of every man that naturally
is engendered of the offspring of Adam, whereby man is very far gone from

374 THE HUNDRED AND SEVENTH PSALM.
original righteousness, and is of his own nature inclined to evil ; so that the
flesh lusteth always contrary to spirit."
The homilies are full of the same doctrine. Ihe second part of the sermon
on the misery of man has these words : " Thus we have heard, how evil we
be of ourselves, who of ourselves, and by ourselves, we have no goodness,
help, or salvation, but contrariwise, sin, damnation, and death everlasting ; which,
if we deeply weigh and conaider, we shall the better understand the great mercy
of God, and how our salvation cometh only by Christ : for in ourselves (aa of
ourselves) we find nothing whereby we may be delivered from this miserable
captivity into the which we are cast through the envy of the devil, by breaking
God's commandment in our first parent Adam. We are all become unclean;
but we aU are not able to cleanse ourselves, nor make one another of ua clean.
We are by nature the children of God's wrath ; but we are not able to make
ourselves the children and inheritors of God's glory. We are sheep that run
astray ; but we cannot of our own power come again to the sheepfold, bo great
a our imperfection and weakneae."
Theae word8 want no comment : they describe our natural corruption by the
fall in such dear and express terma, that aU the art of sophistry cannot explain
them away. I wttl confirm their teatimony by two bishops of our church, that
by the mouth of two witneaaea the troth may be established. Bishop Wilkins,
on Prayer, has these words : —
" AU the pravity and baseness which fills up every part and power about ua,
are but diffusions of our original corruptions. What a world of mischief is there
in our eeveral parte — our wttla, affections, our tonguee, eyes 1 and yet all theae
are but as little rivulets ; the fountain, or rather the sea, that feeds them, ia our
corrupt nature."
Bishop Beveridge shall be ray other authority. The title of the fourth article
of his Private Thoughta i8 this : —
" I befieve that I waa conceived in ein, and brought forth in iniquity ; and
that, ever aince, I have been continually conceiving miechief and bringing forth
vanity." " This article of ray faith I must of neces8ity believe, whether I wiU or no ;
for if I could not believe it to be true, I 8hould therefore have the more cauae to
believe it to be so ; because, unless my heart was naturally very ainful and cor
rupt, it would be impossible for me not to beheve that which I have bo much
cauae continually to bewail ; or, if I do not bewail it, I have still the more cause to
befieve it, and therefore am so much the more persuaded of it by how much the
leae I find myaelf affected with it : for, certainly, 1 rauat be a hard-hearted
wretch indeed, steeped in ain, and fraught with cormption to the higheBt, if I
know myaelf 80 oft to have incensed the wrath of the most high God against
me, as I do, and yet not be eensible of my natural corruption, nor acknowledge
myself to be by nature a child of wrath, as well aa othera. For I verily beheve
that the want of auch a due eenae of my8elf argueB as much original corruption
as murder and whoredom do actual poUution : and I shaU ever auapect thoae to
be the most under the power of that cormption that labour most, by argumente,
to diveet it of its power.
" And therefore, for my own part, I am resolved, by the grace of bod, never to
go about to confute that, by wilful arguments, which I find ao true by wofitt
experience If there be not a bitter root in my heart, whence proceeds ao much
bitter fruit in my life and convereation ? .Alas ! I can neither set ray head nor
heart about any thing, but I atttl ahow myself to be the ainful offapring of einfiil
parents, by being the sinful parent of a ainful offspring; nay, I do not only
betray the inbred venom of my heart, by poisoning my common actions, but
even my most religious performances also with ain. I cannot pray, but I Bin ; I
cannot hear, or preach a aermon, but I ein ; I cannot give an alma, or receive the
aacrament, but I ein ; nay, I cannot eo much as confess my sine, hut my very
confesaion's are stiU aggravationa of them ; my repentance needa to be repented
of my tears want washing, and the very washing of my tears neede etill to be
washed over again with the blood of my Redeemer. Thus, not only the worst
of ray sins, but even the best of my duties, apeak me a child of Adam. Inso-

PREFACE. 375
much, that whensoever I reflect upon my past actions, methinks I cannot but
look upon my whole life, from the time of my conception to this very moment,
to be but as one continued act of sin
" And whence can such a continued stream of corruption flow from, but from
the corrupt cistern of my heart ? And whence can that corrupt cistern of my
heart be filled, but from the corrupt fountain of my nature ? Cease, therefore,
O my soul, to gainsay the power of original sin within thee, and labour now to
subdue it under thee. But why do I speak of my subduing this sin myself ?
Surely this would be both an argument of it and an addition to it. It is to thee,
0 my God, who art both the searcher and cleanser of hearts, that I desire to
make my moan : it is to thee I cry out in the bitterness of my soul. Oh,
wretcheel man that I am ! who shall deliver me from the body of this death ?
Who shall ? Oh ! who can do it but thyself? Arise thou, therefore, O my God,
and show thyself as infinitely merciful in the pardoning, as thou art infinitely
powerful in the purging away my sins."
These words so clearly describe the great truth which I have endeavoured to
establish in the foUowing lectures, that I could not avoid citing them at full
length. And now, if the reader will sum up the evidence, and impartiaUy review
what our articles, and homilies, and our bishops have taught concerning the cor
rupt fatten state of mankind, he wiU certainly acquit us of the charge of enthu
siasm, who say nothing more than they have said, and who are obliged by our
subscriptions to Bay all that they have said.
The second doctrine of Christianity, which is now ridiculed under the name
of enthusiasm, is the free and full redemption of mankind through Jesus Christ,
by whom we are justified from all the sinfulness and miseries of the faU.
The thirteenth article absolutely excludes every work of ours from having any
hand in justifying us, and states the case thus : " Works done before the grace
of Christ, anel the inspiration of his Spirit, are not pleasant to God, forasmuch
as they spring not of faith in Jesus Christ, neither do they make men meet to
receive, or, as the school authors say, deserve grace of congruity ; yea, rather,
for that they are not done as God hath wttled and commanded them to be done,
we doubt not but they have the nature of sin."
The title of the second homily is this : " A sermon on the salvation of man
kind by only Christ our Saviour from sin and death everlasting." This
homily is divided into three parts : the last begins with these words : " It hath
been manifestly declared unto you, that no man can fulfil the law of God ; and
therefore by the law aU men are condemned ; whereupon it foUoweth necessarily
that some other thing should be required for our salvation than the law ; and that
is a true and lively faith in Christ bringing forth good works, and a life according
to God's commandments. And also you heard the ancient fathers' minds of
this saying — faith in Christ only justifieth man — so plainly declared, that you
see that the very true meaning of this proposition or saying — we be justified by
faith in Christ only — (according to the meaning of the old ancient authors) is
thia : we put our faith in Christ, that we be justified by him only, that we be
justified by God's free mercy, and the merits of our Saviour Christ only, and by
no virtue or good works of our own, that is in us, or that we can be able to have,
or to do, for to deserve the same. Christ himself only being the cause meri
torious thereof."
Bishop Reynolds has explained the doctrine in the same manner in the folio
edition of his works, printed 1658, p. 251.
" Justification that is by faith is of mere grace and favour ; no way of work
or merit : for the act whereby faith justifies is an act of humility, and Belf-dere-
liction, and holy despair of any thing in ourselves, and a going to Christ, a
receiving, a looking towards him, and his all-sufficiency ; so that, as Mary said
of herself, so we may say of faith — the Lord hath respect unto the lowliness of
his grace — which is so far from looking inward for matter of justification, that
itself, as it is a work of the heart, to credere, doth not justify, but only as it is an
apprehension or taking hold of Christ. For as the hand in the very receiring of
a thing must needs first make itself empty, (if it be full before, it must let aU that

376 THE HUNDRED AND SEVENTH PSALM.
go ere it can take hold on any other thing,) so faith, being a receiving of Christ,
r?1" 12, must needs suppose an emptiness in the soul before."
My good Bishop Beveridge is of the same opinion. In the dghth artide of his
fnvate Thoughts he has these words : —
" It is a matter of admiration to me, how any one that pretends to the use of
his reason can imagine that he shaUbe accepted before God for what comes from
himself: for how is it possible that I should be justified by good works when 1
can do no good works at aU before I be justified ? My works cannot be accepted
as good until my person be so ; nor can my person be accepted by God till first
engrafted into Christ ; before which engrafting into the true vine it ia impossible
I 8hould bring forth good fruit ; for the plowing of the wicked ia sin, says Solo
mon, Prov. xxi. 4. Yea, the sacrifices of the wicked are an abomination to the
Lord, chap. xv. 8, and if both the civil and spiritual actions of the wicked be sin,
which of all their actions shall have the honour to justify them before God ? I
know not how it is with others : but, for my own part, I do not remember, neither
do I believe, that 1 ever prayed in all my lifetime with that reverence, or heard
with that attention, or received the sacrament with that faith, or did any other
work whatsoever with that pure heart and single eye, as I ought to have done.
Insomuch, that I look upon aU my righteousnesses but as filthy rags ; and it is
in the robes only of the righteousness ofthe Son of God that I dare appear before
the majesty of heaven."
I leave the reader to make his own remarks upon these authorities ; for if he
should deny the truth of the doctrine which they maintain, yet he cannot possibly
deny that they do maintain it ; and therefore, if we are enthusiasts for insisting
upon the free and full redemption of mankind through Jesus Clirist, by whom
we are justified from all the miseries of the fall, then our articles and homilies,
and the most pious and learned of our bishops, have not only led the way into this
enthusiasm, but have also compeUed us to walk in it ; and therefore the hard
name should fall upon them, and not upon us.
There ia another doctrine which ie mightily ridiculed at present ; and that is,
the necessity of the grace of the Holy Spirit to change and renew our corrupt
nature in order to dispose us to receive the benefita of Chri8t'a redemption, and to
enable ua to live a holy and a Chriatian life. Thia is at present the very touch
stone of enthusiasm. If you seem but to favour this opinion, you are immediately
suspected of being a little brainsick ; and the moment you speak out, you are aup-
posed to be fit for Bedlam. And grave, sober mora!iat8, nay, large, aolemn
divines, give you over for a ruined man ; and your very friends begin to be afraid
that you wttl lose your usefulness. Thia treatment is unaccountable, and I believe
wttl appear so to the candid reader, if he wiU but impartially consider the tenth
article of our church : —
"The condition of man after the fall is such, that he cannot turn and prepare
himself by hie own natural strength and good worka to faith, and caUing upon
God without the grace of God by Chri8t preventing ue, that we may have a good
wiU and working with us when we have that good will."
The firet part ofthe homily for Whitsunday haa these words : —
" It is the Holy Ghost, and no other thing, that doth quicken the minds of men,
stirring up good and godly motions in their hearts, which are agreeable to the will
and commandment of God, such as otherwise, of their own crooked and perverse
nature, they should never have. That which is horn of the Spirit is Spirit ; as
who should say, Man of his own nature is fleshly and carnal, corrupt and naught,
sinful and disobedient to God, without any spark of goodness in him, without any
virtuous or godly motion, only given to evil thoughts and wicked deeds. As for
the works of the Spirit, the fruits of faith, charitable and godly motions, if he
have any at aU in him, they proceed only of the Holy Ghost, who is the ONLY
worker of our sanctification, and maketh us new men in Christ Jesus."
To the same effect, Bishop Reynolds, in his Sinfulness of Sin, p. 140 : —
" Look into your hearts, and you shaU find a very heU of uncleanness, full of
deep and unsearchable deceit and wickedness, full of hardness : no sine, no judg
ments, no mercies, no allurements, no hopes, no fears, no promisee, no instruc-

PREFACE. 877
tions, able to startle, to awaken, to melt or shape it to a better image, without the
immediate omnipotency of that God which melts the mountains, and turns stones
into sons of Abraham."
In the same strain, Bishop Beveridge, whom I admire so much, because he was
as great an enthusiast as myself, says : —
Resolution III.
" I am resolved, that as I am not able to think or do any thing that is good,
without the influence of the divine grace ; so I wiU not pretend to merit any
favour from God, upon account of any thing I do for his glory and service.
" And indeed I may very weU put this resolution among the rest ; for should
I resolve to perform my resolutions by mine own strength, I might as well
resolve never to perform them at aU : for tmth itself, and mine own woful expe
rience, hath convinced me that I am not able of myself so much as to think a
good thought : and how then shall I be able, of myself, to resolve upon rules of
holiness, according to the word of God, or to order my conversation according to
these resolutions, without the concurrence ofthe divine grace."
If the reader will weigh these authorities carefully and impartially, I am very
certain that he will acquit me of the charge of enthusiasm ; for upon their
evidence every minister of the church of England is bound to befieve that all
men fell in Adam, and that free and full redemption is offered to aU men in Jesus
Christ, by whose good Spirit our faUen nature is to be restored, and we may have
grace and power to live a holy and a Christian life. This is my faith. In this I
hope to live and die. And if our court brethren reckon me an enthusiast for
embracing it, are they not dissenters for rejecting it ? For do they not dissent
from the articles and homilies of their own church, and from their own subscrip
tions ? And an enthusiast, dress him up in ever so ridiculous a light, is a more
amiable character than a dissenter of this stamp, who sets his hand to one thing
and his heart to another, who subscribes to what he does not believe, and who
has most solemnly engaged before God to build up those very doctrines which
he is trying to preach down. An enthusiast, with aU his mistakes, may be an
honest man ; but such persons are — what shall I caU them ? Surely not honest
men. Reader, give them their proper name. Suppose the church of England had
forced us to subscribe to enthusiastic doctrines, and we were enthusiasts enough
to beliove them ; certainly we are less blameable than these persons who do not
believe them, and yet do subscribe to them, rather than not be candidates for the
high honours and revenues of the church. If they despise me, I shaU not envy
them. Let me be poor with a good conscience, and let them be rich. Let me
be a despised enthusiast, and let them be highly honoured. May God make me
thankful for what I hope for in the other world, and let them enjoy as much as
they can get in this 1
And now, reader, let me ask thee one plain question ; and 1 beg of thee to
answer it impartiaUy. After what has been said, dost thou really take me to be
an enthusiast ? If thou dost, only consider that what thou caUest enthusiasm in
me is the doctrine of scripture, and of the articles and homilies of the church of
England, and of her soundest bishops and ministers in her better days. But if
thou givest me this hard name, because my brethren do not preach up the same
doctrines which I do, how is that my fault? If they pay no regard to their sub
scriptions, why shouldst thou load me with reproach for their crime ? If they
dissent from the church, is that any reason why thou shouldst dissent from it, or
why thou shouldst think the worse of me for not dissenting ? But if thou wilt,
nevertheless, call me an enthusiast, without any reason, nay against aU reason,
then I will learn to bear it. And may God forgiie thee, as I do, from my
heart ; but I pray thee read no farther ; stop here ; throw the book into the fire ;
and it will save thee a good deal of vexation ; and when thou art more open to
conviction, perhaps I may lay something before thee that may be of sen-ice. In
the mean time farewell !
But, reader, if thou dost not take me to be an enthusiast, I thank thee for
thy good opinion. Pcruao the following lectures, and compare them with the

378 THE HUNDRED AND SEVENTH PSALM.
doctrines of scripture and of the reformation, and I doubt not but thou wilt be
fully convinced of the antiquity and soundness of what ie here advanced.
Only let me give thee a friendly caution against being misled by a set of infi-
dd writers, who pretend to give characters of books which they never read,
in a thing called Ihe Monthly Review, in which I have seen every sound
doctrine of Christianity ridiculed and blasphemed, and every damnable heresy
openly defended and maintained. I expect no favour from these men. I desire
none. To be spoken of well by them would be indeed reproach ; their abuses
wttl do me service : and they may load me with enthusiasm ; I will carry it
patiently, and would suffer any infamy or torment upon earth rather than be
answerable for their horrid blasphemies against Jehovah and his Christ. And
I hope, reader, that the evidence which I have laid before thee wttl prevail against
the scandal of these monthly reviewers. If thou art as indifferent about what
they Bay of me as I am, it will not move thee at all ; but thou wilt think
the better of me, the more I am abused by them. And whenever thou seest
an author degraded and vilified by them, if thou wttt take my advice, buy the
book ; depend upon it there is something very exceUent in it ; and I dare pro
mise thou wttt never be disappointed.
I have nothing more, kind reader, to offer thee at present, but to commend
thee to the grace and bleaeing of almighty God, who wttl, I hope, accompany
thee in the reading of theae lecturee, and render them the meane of making
thee more thankful to Jesua ChriBt. And if thou doat indeed receive any
benefit from them, give him all the glory. I expect no reward but to be remem
bered in thy prayera. And if thou wilt alwaya mention me in thy addreaeea
to the throne of grace, then I ahall be bound to pray for thee. And may
God hear ua both, and enrich thee and me with all hia graces and blessings
in heavenly things, through Jesus Chriat.

A PRACTICAL COMMENT
ON THE
HUNDRED AND SEVENTH PSALM.
SERMON I.
Psalm cvii. 1, 2, 3.
0 give thanks unto the Lord, for he is good : for his mercy endureth for ever.
Let the redeemed of the Lord say so, whom he hath redeemed from the hand of
the enemy, and gathered them out of the lands, from the east and from the west,
from the north and from the south.
The book of Psalms is a treasury of divine knowledge. It contains a complete
coUection of sacred hymns, which were composed in praise of the bleseed Jesus,
whoae miraculoua birth, whoee life and actione, Bufferings and death, resurrection
and ascension, and investiture and supreme power on the throne of glory — hie
gathering the church out of att lands, and protecting it to the end of the world
against its enemies, and then putting it in possession of eternal glory — are the
subjects here treated of : and they are the most noble and elevated subjects in
themselves, and, besides, they are the most interesting to every believer : every
part of them is fuU of wonder and miracle, which deserve hie greater attention
and esteem, because each of them waa done for hia ealvation. And the author,
who undertook to write upon theee subjects has not fallen below their dignity :
he has recommended them to us by aU the graces of language and the sublimity
of sentiment. Hia poetry ia worthy of himself, and riaea up to the merits of

SERMON I. 379
that adorable person whom it celebrates : for it came from heaven. The Psalms
were not the composition of King David, or the flights of his poetical imagina
tion ; he was only the scribe, who copied them from the dictates of the aU-wise
Spirit : they are indeed the inspiration of the Almighty, whose the matter is, and
from whom the words themselves proceeded. And if any persons doubt of it,
let them take any one description of nature out of the Psalms and compare it with
what the best heathen authors have said on the same subject, and they will see
reason enough to be abashed and confounded at the abject poverty of the human
genius, when put in competition with the infinite perfection of the inspired
volume. And how should it be otherwise ? The heathens had no such subject,
nor no such inspirer. They were ignorant of the person and exceUencies of the
great Deliverer -of mankind ; and how then could they sing his praises? Or if
they had known of him, yet they had no infinitely wise author, no eternal Spirit,
to dictate to them : their highest poetry was but the work of men, and of very igno
rant men too : but this coUection of hymns was indeed the work of God : and,
coming from him, it is as much superior to any human composition, as the infinite
Author is superior to his creatures. On this account it deserves our greatest
esteem and veneration ; and we cannot value it too much, since we have here a
richer treasury of heavenly knowledge than is any where else to be met with.
And may we look upon it in this hght, and treat it accordingly. May it be our
continual study and delight until we enter into the spirit of these divine hymns,
and reap all the instruction and profit from them, which God intended they
should be the means of administering to his church !
And I hope the same Spirit who recorded this particular hymn which I purpose
to explain in the course of these lectures wiU be graciously pleased to accompany
us in the explanation of it, and to give us his blessing. He left it upon record,
as a lesson of gratitude, to inspire us with thanksgiving and praise to our blessed
Saviour ; and we always want to be stirred up to the practice of this duty. Our
hearts are strangely averse to it ; they are by nature unholy and unthankful ;
and, whatever we may talk of our fancied moral rectitude, and how pleasing a
thing it is to be grateful to one another, yet, with respect to God, we are not, nor
is it pleasing to us to endeavour to be, grateful : for we are always, every moment
of our lives, receiving mercies from God ; but how few moments do we spend in
making proper acknowledgments for them ! And they who endeavour the most
to be sincerely thankful, yet often find their affections cold and languid, and want
fresh motives to warm and inflame them : and even they, who have the greatest
knowledge of the abundant mercies of God their Creator and Redeemer, and
have a grateful sense of them, yet freely confess that they are not so grateful as
they could wish ; and it grieves them to find that they do not love God in so
perfect a degree as they ought to love him : and therefore the subject of this
Psalm will be useful to us all : we aU stand in need of every assistance which can
help us to render proper thanksgiving and praise to our sovereign Lord and
Saviour. And the Holy Spirit here offers us his assistance : he left us this
hymn to be the means of inspiring us with grateful hearts, and he wiU doubt
less accompany his own means with his own grace. May he help us to meditate
upon it with devout and humble tempers, that He, who is now in the midst of
us, and from whom no secrets are hid, may dispose us to make a right use of his
sacred word, and may pour down his grace plentifully upon us, filling our souls
with praise and gratitude to the God of our salvation.
Before I enter upon the distinct consideration of the several parts of the
Psalm, I judge it wiU be useful to lay before you a general plan of the whole,
that you may afterwards more readily foUow me when I come to particulars.
And this shall be my present subject. Upon the first reading of the Psalm,
every believer will observe the principal scope and design of it, which are con
tained under these four points : —
First, We nre caUed upon to be thankful for redemption, in the three first
verses. Secondly, From the 4th verse to the 33rd, the reasons for our thankfulness are
assigned, which are taken from God's redeeming us from the lowest state of sin
and misery. And,

380 THE HUNDRED AND SEVENTH PSALM.
Thirdly, From his manner of protecting us after we are redeemed and brought
into his church, from the 34th to the 42nd verse. And,
Fourthly, In the two last verses, we have the application, exhorting us to
study and to understand those mercies of redemption, that we may be full of
thanksgiving and praise for them.
This is the general plan. The Author is the Holy Spirit. The subject is
thanksgiving to Christ the Redeemer. The motives here urged, to incite us to
practise this duty, ore taken from the many great and inestimable blessings of
redemption. In order to give us clear and just ideas of this redemption, the
Holy Spirit has selected four images from nature to represent the exquisite
distress and misery of man in his natural state : they are the most striking imagea
which he who knows our hearts could set before us, and they are so highly
finished that they want no grace or ornament which infinite wisdom itself was
able to give them. He compares us, while we lay in our natural fallen state,
first, to men who have lost their way in a desolate wilderness and are ready to
perish with hunger ; secondly, to men, who are fallen into the pit of darkness
and the shadow of death, where they lay bound in misery and iron ; thirdly,
to men who have such a weak and vitiated appetite, that they loathe even tho
smell of wholesome meat ; and fourthly, to men who in the utmost distress
at sea in a violent storm. These four images, put together, make a complete
picture of our miserable fallen condition ; and the persons who are in thia
condition are supposed in the Psalm to be brought to a deep sense of ita
misery ; they feel their own guilt, and dread its punishment ; conscience ia
awakened and alarmed ; and the amart and anguish of it grow insupportable.
This seems very afflicting; but it is the work of God. lie makes tnein feel
their misery, that the sense of it may force them to seek relief where only it
ia to be found ; for no sooner do they aend up their petitions to the throne
of grace, than the almighty Saviour instantly sends them deliverance, aa it is
remarked in each of these four instances, that when they cried unto the Lord
in their trouble, then he delivered them out of their distress, lie was dis
posed to grant them help long before they were willing to receive it. And such
was hia redeeming love, ao abundant were the richee of hia mercy to those
distressed objects, that he not only delivered them, but also bestowed upon
them every manner of thing that ia good. Although he had freely lifted tnem
up from the lowest state of sin and misery, yet he never once upbraided
them with their former wretchedness, never withheld hia loving-kindneaa, nor
8topped the current of hia favoura; but pardoned them, and justified them,
ana stiU went on aanctifying them, until he placed the crown of eternal glory
upon their heade. Oh ! what a love was this ! What infinite mercy waa it to
take these miserable 8innera from the vileat sink of cormption, and to exalt
them to be the most glorious saints in heaven ! Doea not this call aloud for
your gratitude ? Is not this the highest instance of God'B redeeming mercy —
of that very mercy which is said to be over all his works ? for it ia to us sin
ners, above them aU in degree, and beyond them all in duration. And how then
can we refrain from that just tribute of praise which the Holy Spirit calls upon us,
under each of these four instances, to pay to our great Deliverer. Oh that men
would therefore praise the Lord for hia goodness, and declare the wonders that
be doth for the children of men ! After these four instances of man'B exquisite
distress and misery by nature, and of his full and perfect recovery by grace, the
Psalmist goes on to describe the flourishing state of the Gentile church, when
the Jewish should be cast off and rejected. And this part of the Paalm ia like
the preceding, elevated and sublime. From the 32nd to the 39th verae, the Chris-
tian church is represented under the image of a well-watered country, where the
face of nature is aU verdant and blooming ; where the earth produces its grain,
the trees their fruit in great abundance ; where you see plenty smiling around
you, and peace securing the possession, and grace giving a relish to the enjoy
ment of this happy scene. God thus turneth the wilderness into a standing
water, and the dry ground into water-springs ; and there he maketh the hungry
to dwell, that they may sow the field, and plant vineyards, which may yield
them fruits of increase • he blesseth them also, &c. Such is the Gentile church ;

SERMON I. 381
but the Jewish, now cast off and rejected, is compared to a desolate wilderness,
where there is neither standing water nor water-springs, where you see nothing
growing, not the least verdure appears ; there is not one single field sown with
grain ; not one flourishing tree lifts up its fruitful head ; neither the olive nor
the vine take root in this barren soU : so that there is neither wine to make glad
the heart of man, nor oU to make him of a cheerful countenance. The whole
prospect is one dry desolate wUderness.
And this part of the Psalm is fulfiUed. The Christian church has been in this
flourishing condition, and the Jewish church is now like a sandy wUderness —
neither refreshed with the dew of heaven, nor made fertile by the streams of
divine grace : and for want of their genial influence it is so parched and burnt
up, that nothing grows either for use or ornament.
And-the same gracious Governor and Saviour of the world, who rejected the Jews,
and cast them into this barren wUderness, because they rejected him, and cast him
off from being Lord over them, can and will also humble us in the same manner, if
we be guilty of the same crime. The present wretched state of the Jews is a
standing lesson to those persons who wttl not receive Jesus for their God : and may
his grace dispose them to make a right use of this lesson, lest it should soon be ex
emplified in their own destruction! for we of this church and kingdom have much
to fear from our national infidelity. Several churches and kingdoms have been
destroyed for this crime ; and the Holy Spirit, in the 39th and 40th verses of this
Psalm, declares that this is the common method of our Lord's providence.
Whenever a people, after various caUs and admonitions from heaven (and we have
had many such lately), still remain incorrigible in their deistical opinions about
Christ's divinity, and their treasonable practices against him, then his good spirit
no longer strives with them, but gives them over to a reprobate mind. And
again, they are diminished and brought low, through oppression, affliction, and
sorrow. The Christians are certainly diminished and brought low ; they are
Jiminished in number, and brought low in circumstances, insomuch that we have
ireat reason to apprehend our candlestick may be soon removed, and the light of
the pure gospel may shine no more among us. Were it not that our God is
good, we might expect to be finaUy cut off: but the mercies of Jesus are infinite :
he has borne with us long. Oh that his long-suffering may not be wearied out,
but may have the desired effect, and lead us to repentance : so iniquity shaU not
be our ruin. Blessed Jesus ! spare us a little ; and let our people have one more
offer of thy grace and mercy before the destroying angel be sent to visit us and
cut us off.
After this striking account of the various states and revolutions of the church,
there follows, in the 41st verse, a most sweet promise to the few poor foUowers
of the Redeemer : — Yet setteth he the poor on high from affliction — the poor in
spirit he removes out of the reach of affliction — the God, in whom they trust,
will protect and keep them safe amidst public calamities. No evil shall come
nigh to hurt them. When a nation is visited for their infidelity, and is
scourged with the sharp rod of war or pestilence, then the destroying angel shall
have no power over them. Their almighty God and Saviour will encamp around
them ; and then, says the prophet, " Though a host of men were set against me,
yet would not my heart be afraid ; and though there rose up war against me, yet
wiU I put my trust in him." He trusted in God's promises ; and he had good
reason ; for he has engaged to be an impregnable waU of brass around his faithful
people when they are threatened with persecution or distress : and must not
these persons be quite out of the reach of eril, who are surrounded with a brazen
wall, and the Almighty himself guards and defends it ? And this was his promise
to Jeremiah, and, through him, to every believer in the same circumstances,
Jer. xv. 20 : " And I," says God, " wUl make thee unto this people a fenced brazen
wall : and they shaU fight against thee, but they shall not prevaU against thee :
for I am with thee to save thee, and to deliver thee, saith the Lord." He
wiU save and deliver his people, and they shaU be at peace, while the rest of the
world is at war : for he setteth the poor on high, out of the reach of affliction ;
and then it foUows, he maketh him households, fike a flock of sheep. No shep
herd can watch over his flock with a more tender care, or provide better for their

382 THE HUNDRED AND SEVENTH PSALM.
welfare, than the great Shepherd and Bishop of souls provides for, his flock:
under his most affectionate and almighty protection, each of them is so completdy
happy, that he can truly declare, "The Lord is my shepherd, therefore can I
lack nothing." And having thus experienced the love and care of the chief
Shepherd, how can they withhold from him that just tribute of praise and grati
tude which he demands ?
These are such great and weighty points, and we are so nearly concerned in
them, that we ought not to pass them by unnoticed ; for our present and eternal
salvation depend on our interest in them, and therefore they should be constantly
in our thoughts, that, by meditating upon them properly, they may be the
means of inspiring us with continual gratitude. And the Holy Spirit recorded
them in this Psalm for this very purpose, and every believer applies them to the
same end. His redemption — the guilt and misery from which lie was redeemed
— the free grace of the Redeemer — the great and endless blessings which he
purchased for us freely, and which he bestows without money and without price
— blessings truly inestimable — in this world the greatest we are capable of
receiving— in the next world the highest he has to give, and of the same duration
with himself, even infinite and eternal blessings. Who can think on these
blessings without thanksgiving ? For what must your hearts be if there be any
little dirty groveling object upon thia earth which engages your thoughte, and
fixea your affections, in preference to theae infinite and eternal blessings ? Oh 1
what low creatures are we, notwithstanding our boasted dignity, and fancied
rectitude ! How abjectly base are we, to prefer shadows to substance, and time
to eternity ! to spend our lives in the concerns of thia perishing world, and to
have no thought or care about the busineee of the eternal world ! Thie is so irra
tional and absurd, and ao monstrously wicked, that it is indeed sinking ourselves
below the beasts that perish. And although never did more men act this low part
than at present, yet was there never more boasting of the dignity of human
nature. And, what is the worst of aU, our moral rectitude and our other high
metaphysical notions are ao far from setting ua right, that they indiapoae ub to
receive the only remedy which can cure ub. Where nature fails, what can come in
to our aid, but grace ? — and the grace of God is now an exploded opinion. To
talk of it is mere enthusiasm, and to urge the scriptures, which speak of it, and
which maintain ita necessity, this is called religious rant and madness : for the
metaphysician wants none of the aide of grace to lead him into all truth, nor
does the moralist want any aeeietance from grace to enable him to practiae the
whole duty of man. And it can be to little purpo8e to perauade peraona under
these strong delusions to think seriously about their redemption, and to take a
view of their misery without it ; for they are prejudiced. They love and cherish
the opposite opinions : and to work upon men of these tempers requires some
power superior to human. God alone is equal to it. And may he open the eyes
of this deluded generation, that they may be disposed to hear the comfortable
doctrines delivered in this Psalm, and to receive them in such a manner, that
they may see the wonderful merciea of God in redemption, and may, together
with the righteous, rejoice and give thanks. And when this great and happy
event shall be brought about (may our almighty God and Saviour effect it soon),
then it followe, in the 42nd verse, All iniquity shall stop her mouth. The adver
sary shall be silenced. The enemies of our Lord, seeing his tender care and
watchful providence over his people, and finding aU their attempts against them
unsuccessful, shall hold their peace. They shall be silenced, if not convinced.
They shall be confounded at the wonders, which the Lord shaU work for the
salvation of men, and shaU have no power to object, either to the Redeemer or
to his redeemed people — aU iniquity ehaU stop her mouth.
Oh ! that will be a happy day. When shaU we see it ? When ehaU iniquity be
etruck dumb ? We hear it daily in our etreets uttering hard speeches against the
Lord and against his Christ — against them, although our Lord's divinity be
secured by the fundamental laws of this land, yet we have volumee upon volumes
published ; against them the more polite part of the world retail the daring
blasphemies of these volumes ; and against them the common people begin to
suck in greedily the blasphemies of their superiors. When shall we see an end

SERMON I. 383
of these impieties? O God, let it be soon. Let iniquity soon stop her mouth,
and let it never be opened again, to object to those wise and gracious methods
by which thou hast decreed to bring many sons unto glory through Jesus
Christ. I am now come to the 43rd verse, where the Holy Spirit calls upon every reader
to meditate upon the great subjects treated of in this Psalm, " Whoso is wise
wiU observe these things" — whoever has a true taste and relish for spiritual mat
ters, and is blessed with the true wisdom that is from above, he wiU observe
these things : he wiU make his remarks upon them with judgment : he will
meditate upon them often, study them much, and delight himself in them greatly :
and therefore, having this Psalm and the other scriptures for his direction,
whereby he may investigate and trace out the ways of providence, it will be the
whole bent of his soul to attain this wisdom. And there is no part of the subject
which afforels more curious, and at the same time more interesting, meditations
than the view of the wonders which God hath done for the redemption of man.
Every time they are judiciously reviewed, we see fresh matter for adoration and
praise. Our hearts grow warm with the sense of them, our affections kindle, and
our love to our most blessed Redeemer is inflamed. Whoso is wise wiU meditate
thus to his profit, and he will so observe, so remark, what he hears and reads, as to
grow the wiser for hearing, and the better for reading. And would to God every one
of us were wise to observe the great points of our redemption 1 The Holy Spirit calls
upon us to remark them ; and he declares that we are not wise unless we observe
them. Whoso is wise, will observe these things. If this be the only wisdom,
oh how few of us are wise indeed ! — how very few are wise in the judgment of
the Holy Spirit ! Most of us are wise enough in other matters, and are deeply
read in what does not concern us ; but in this great point we are very babes :
we have not learned our first rudiments. And certainly we have been too long
children in understanding : it is now high time to seek for wisdom ; and there is
no wisdom worth seeking but that which is here mentioned ; viz. such wisdom
as enables us to understand the wonderful works of God in our redemption, and
then disposes us to practise what we understand, and further gives us the power,
as weU as the will, to live up to it. And does wisdom, true and perfect wisdom
like this, grow upon our earth ? Hear what a venerable patriarch thought of
this matter : " But where shaU wisdom be found ? And where is the place of
understanding ? Man knoweth not the price thereof; neither is it found in the
land of the living," Job xxviii. 12. This was Job's opinion. If you refuse to
subscribe to it, teU us where the true wisdom is to be found. Is it taught in any
of the schools of modern philosophy ? Can the metaphysician soar high enough
to the regions of this wisdom, and bring it down to mortal view ? Or can the
professors of ethics teach it us among the rules of their morality ? Alas ! alas !
it is far above the reach of their highest attainments even to discover it, and
much more to practise it ; for the subjects on which it is exercised are the high
and deep things of God, of which philosophy can know nothing. The great
apostle gives this reason, 1 Cor. ii. 14 : " But the natural man (and would to
God philosophers were not such ! ) receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God ;
for they are foolishness unto him : neither can he know them, because they are
spiritually discerned." And this spiritual discernment is the wisdom that is from
above. It is not a learned attainment, but it is the gift of the Holy Spirit; and
the proud philosopher so much disdains to seek it from his grace, that he calls it
extravagant enthusiasm even to suppose that the Holy Spirit will give it.
But if this be enthusiasm, the scripture is fuU of it. " The Lord," says Solomon,
"giveth wisdom: out of his mouth cometh knowledge and understanding,"
Prov. ii. 6 ; and it is written in the prophets," And they shaU be a'l taught of
God." And again, in the New Testament : " If any of you lack wisdom" —
what shall we do ? — go and study systems of ethics, and read volumes of
morality ? No. We must take a method that is now reckoned the highest
madness of enthusiasm. " If any of you lack wisdom," says St. James, " let
him ask it of God." How strangely this sounds ! Ask it of God ! What! is he
the only giver of this wisdom ? He is : for he giveth to aU men, who ask it in
faith, liberally, and upbraideth not. Let these men, who Me wise above what is

384 THE HUNDRED AND SEVENTH PSALM.
written, caU it what they please, to ask wisdom of God : yet these promises are
clear and full, and the humble Christian rests upon them, and knows them to be
infallible ; for he has experienced their truth. And may the almighty Spirit sn
bring down and humble our natural pride, that we may all have this happy
experience, and may find the last words of the I'salm verified in ourselves —
Whoso is wise wttl observe these things, and they shaU understand the loving-
kindness of the Lord, i. e. they shaU know it clearly and fuUy, and they shall
have a lively sense of it upon their hearts : for they had before made their
remarks upon it, and had laid together thdr observations, and had applied them
to use, ana then the knowledge became experimental. And the original word,
as wdl as the meaning of the passage, justifies this construction ; for the verb
which we render, and they shall understand, is in the conjugation hithpael,
which is peculiar to the sacred tongue, and which is used here to denote that
they ahould build themselves up by this understanding ; it should produce its
proper effects upon themselves, and the end of knowing it should be fully an
swered. By which meana it could not be a matter of mere science or dry specu
lation, but would produce many great and blessed consequences, enabling them
to taste and see that the Lord was merciful, and filling their hearts with thanks
giving and praise for aU his mercies.
I have now laid before you the general plan of the whole Psalm. You see,
the great 8ubject here treated of ia redemption ; and the proper disposition of
mind with which we are to consider it, is a thankful heart : and the Holy Spirit
recorded this Bacred hymn to be the meana of exciting in ua thankfulness. And
may his grace and ble8eing go along with these lectures upon it, and bring them
home with such power and evidence to your hearts, that his gracious intentions
in recording it may he fully answered ! And if it be the eincere desire of your
souls — if you indeed wish to find profit from these lecturea — then I will only
detain you while I give, you two or three abort exhortation8 relating to the
general plan which I have laid before you.
The first is an exhortation to the reading of the Psalm, which I hope you will
frequently do in private. It ie an abstract of the whole Bible : for the two great
subjects of the Old Testament and the New are man'B ain and miaery by nature,
andnis recovery by grace ; and theae are here clearly, though briefly, diacuased.
You will therefore greatly profit from reading it, if you remember the four chief
parte of what it consiste ; vi:.
Firet, An exhortation to thankegiving, in the three first veraea, for redemp
tion. Secondly, The reaaons for our thankegiving, from the 4th to the 33rd verae,
relating to man'e mieery before redemption. And,
Thirdly, Reasons relating to Christ's manner of governing the church after it
ia redeemed, from the 34th to the 42nd verae. And,
Fourthly, The application, exhorting ua to study and to understand these
mercies of redemption, that our thankegiving may flow from a grateful heart.
The more you read the Psalm in thia view, the better you wiU underatand it,
and the more reason you wttl find to admire ita excellenciea. And,
Secondly, I would not only exhort you to read it much, but aiao to pray for
that humble, teachable temper, which alone can render the reading of it profitable
to your eouls. It is the word of God ; it is the instruction which the all-wise
Spirit has provided in order to inspire you with love and thankfulness to your
most adorable Saviour. And when he vouchsafes to instruct you, hear with all '
humility, and learn of him the words of eternal fife. Let his wiU be yours— his
commandments your delight. But
Thirdly, Let it be chiefly remembered from whence the bleseing of aU ie to
come : for neither can the humble frame of mind, nor the benefit arising from
it, be attained by our own abilities. They must both come from one and the aame
Spirit. God must first teach us the grace of humility, and then enable us to
reap profit from it : for he is the giver of every good and spiritual gift. So that
whenever, you begin to read this or any other portion of scripture, if you desire
it should be profitable to your souls, always look up to the Holy Spirit, and
desire his gradous assistance. This was the prophet'a method : " Lord, open thou

SERMON II. 385
mine eyes, that I may behold wondrous things out of thy law." And these
wondrous things we may also behold if we read the law of God, as he did, with
humility and prayer. And if you desire to see the wonderful wisdom of God in
the plan of your redemption, you must use the prophet's words — Lord, open
thou mine eyes to see it : for you could no more see this wisdom unless the
day-star was arisen and shone bright in your hearts, than you could see those
outward objects unless the light of the sun shone in your eyes. And therefore,
convinced of this, let so many of us as lack wisdom now ask it of God : and I
know of no words more significant and expressive, nor yet more devout and
pious, than these of our own church, which I shaU apply to the present occa
sion. O almighty and eternal Spirit, who hast caused this sacred hymn to be written
for our learning, send down thy blessing upon our studies in it ; and grant that
we may in such wise hear it, read it, mark, learn, and inwardly digest it, that, by
patience and comfort of thy holy word, we may embrace, and ever hold fast, the
blessed hope of everlasting life, which thou hast given us in our Saviour Jesus
Christ. Amen.

SERMON II.
Psalm cvii. 1, 2, 3.
0 give thanks unto the Lord, for he is good .- for his mercy endureth for ever. Let
the redeemed of the Lord say so, whom he hath redeemed from the hand of the
enemy ; and gathered them out of the lands, from the east and from the west,
from the north and from the south.
In the last lecture I laid before you the general plan of this sacred hymn. The
great subject of it is thanksgiving. The motives to induce us to be thankful are
taken from the mercies of God. We are bound to bless aud praise his holy
name for every instance of his goodness, but above all for that inestimable
instance of his love, in redeeming us from the lowest state of sin and misery,
and then freely bestowing upon us pardon and peace in this world, and eternal
life and glory in the next. The Holy Spirit insists chiefly upon this instance,
trying to awaken in us some sense of gratitude for these blessings of redemption.
His arguments are the most likely to work upon our hearts ; and therefore I
wiU endeavour to open and explain them, trusting to his guidance, and hoping
for his blessing.
And may he now take aU our hearts into his protection, and drive away every
vain intruding thought which would either dissipate our attention or distract
our affections ; and give us, O Holy Spirit, the hearing ear, to know what it is
to be thankful, and the understanding heart, to be able to practise it, that, when
we finish our present meditations, we may be the better for them, and may be
the more disposed to join in praise and thanksgiving to Jesus Christ, our most
adorable God and Saviour.
The Holy Spirit has set the blessings of redemption before us in so clear
and striking a light, that they who are not affected with the view of them in this
Psalm, must be dead to aU sense of gratitude. But I would hope there are
not many such among you. Every one of you may not, perhaps, be actuated
by the most fively and warm sentiments of- thanks to your blessed Redeemer ;
but you have no objection against having your hearts more inflamed with his
love : rather, you wish your hearts were more his than they are, and that your
affections were placed and fixed upon him with more delight. Come, then, ye
who are thus disposed, and hear how many powerful motives the Holy Spirit
has used to inspire you with sincere gratitude to the God of your salvation.
"O give thanks unto the Lord, for he is good; for his mercy endureth for
ever." Thus he begins the Psalm, caUing upon you to practise the sweet
duty of thanksgiving, which arises from our experience of the Redeemer's
me-cics ; and therefore we cannot but- receive great delight whenever we so
c c

386 THE HUNDRED AND SEVENTH PSALM
remember his mercies as to find still stronger motives to bleaa and praise him for
them. And this is what we are caUed upon to practise in the first words — O
give thanks — and the duty may be thus defined : Thanksgiving is a grateful
expression of praise, arising from a heart sensible of the mercies of redemption.
Because I shall always use the word in this sense, I must desire you to re
member that by thanksgiving I mean a grateful expresaion of praiae, &c. It ia
auch a grateful expression of praise as comes from the heart : for no man will
praise God unttt he has some sense and perception of God'e mercy ; and praise
ia not a lip-service ; it does not consist in uttering a set of thankfid words ; it
ia not the praise of the mouth, but of the heart. Religious praise is the service
of the affections, and flows from true and hearty love to that object which
we praise ; for we are always ready enough to praise the thing that we delight
in. Whatever is the dear object of our affections, on it we are lavish enough of
our praisea. The heart will command aU the faculties to be where ita treaaure
is — attending upon it with their tribute of praise. And if Jesus the Redeemer be
our treasure, then we ehall constantly attend upon him with the praises of a
grateful heart : but he cannot be our treasure until we desire to have some
interest in him ; and therefore 1 add, in the last words of the definition, that
the heart must be sensible of the merciee of redemption ; for it ia certain we
cannot be disposed to thank God for mercies of which we have no desire to
taste, neither indeed wiU we thank him, unless we have a lively perception,
and are perfectly senaible of hia mercies : consequently, our thankegiving will
be according to our sense of them. If we find him bestowing upon us great
and numerous and unmerited favours, then our thanks will rise in proportion
to what we experience. But still, he who has no sense of God's mercies, can
have no motive to offer him any thanks ; becauae thanksgiving is only expressing
with the mouth, and the other faculties, what the heart feels ; and therefore, if
the heart, which is the spring, be not moved, it is impossible the other faculties
ahould have any motion. The Psalmist Bays, " O praise the Lord : for it is a
good thing to eing praieea unto our God ; yea, a joyful and pleaeant thing it is
to be thankful." Here he supposes that we must first rejoice in the mercies of
God before we can find it a joyful and pleasant thing to be thankful for them ;
because we cannot return him praiaes with joy for that in which we have found
no joy. It ia as impossible for ub to rejoice in that thing, of which we have
not an affectionate sense and perception, as it would be for a dead man to
rejoice : and therefore thanksgiving can ariae only from a grateful heart, which
ia sensible of the blessings of redemption.
This is the nature of the duty : the reasons for practising it follow— O give
thanks unto the Lord, for he is good. He is essential goodnees; being the
origin and fountain from whence all created goodnesa flowed. Goodneee in
the Deity denote8 that disposition whereby he is inclined to communicate
happineaa. It waa owing to thia beneficent attribute that he created the beautiful
ayetem of the world out of nothing, and made aU the living creatureB in it to
ehare and partake of his goodness: and therefore, after he had finished the
works of creation and formation, he pronounced them aU to be very good. And
they were good, and they continued so, unttt Bin corrupted them : for sin brought
in all evil which is the opposite to goodness, and then the remembrance of God's
former goodness only aggravated our guilt, and made our evil more inexcusable :
and before our guUty consciences could be set at rest, we must have a firm
reliance upon some more amiable attribute than goodness, which we sinners
had offended against, and which does not imply any dispoeition to forgive the
offence. God had been good to the innocent ; but he muet be juat to ainnera.
If he had freely exerciaed hia goodneee to ue whUe innocent, yet, when we
offended, we put ourselves out of the reach of his goodneee, and then juetice
took place : and when juetice wae extreme, to mark what we had done amise,
what could sinful wretched man hope for ? Nothing from goodneee ; becauae
ite former favoure had been abueed and repaid with ingratitude : therefore guilt
and misery must have been our portion for ever, unlese some more grarioua
attribute than goodness should be revealed to us ; and therefore the Holy Spirit
makes mercy, even eternal mercy, wait upon goodneee, that it may become a

SERMON II. 387
proper subject of thanksgiving : " O give thanks unto the Lord, for he is good ;
for his mercy endureth for ever." Goodness was shown to the innocent — mercy is
for the guilty : and we can thank God for the goodness of creation when we
have experienced the mercies of redemption. Mercy is that disposition in the
Deity, whereby he is inclinable to relieve the miserable : it is the attribute of pity
and compassion, which can be exercised only upon those who are in distress.
Mercy has for its object sin, with aU its miserable consequences ; and it is
exercised in removing them ; and the person by whom it is exercised is our most
compassionate high priest, Christ Jesus, to whose mercy it is owing that we
were not consumed ; for when goodness could no longer employ its kind offices
for us, then our merciful God was pleased to bring into execution that gracious
plan of redemption which had been contrived before all worlds, and by which
many sons were to be brought into glory. The holy, blessed, and glorious
Trinity, out of infinite love and compassion, were pleased to agree upon this
plan, and to sustain distinct offices in the economy of it ; and as their persons
are equally infinite, their economical actions must consequently be equally infi
nite. God the Father covenanted to demand perfect satisfaction for sin, and to
accept the perfect satisfaction made by the obedience and sufferings of God the
Son, which he covenanted to make in our stead, and as our representative
in the human nature : and God the Holy Spirit covenanted to render the
obedience and sufferings of Christ effectual to believers, and by his grace
to carry on the whole work of redemption in their hearts. St. Paul assures
us that the covenant of grace, which is the fountain of aU mercy, was made
before the foundation of the world; and this he repeats in several of his
Epistles. The Psalmist teaches the same doctrine, and frequently caUs upon us
to thank God, because his mercy is for ever and ever — because his mercy is
everlasting — and, in the next text, because his mercy endureth for ever. The
word endureth is inserted by the translators ; for there is no verb in the original ;
neither, in strictness of speech, could there be any : because there was no time
wherein this mercy was not exercised, neither will there be any time when the
exercise of it wttl fail. It was begun before aU worlds, when the covenant of
grace was made ; and it wiU continue to the ages of eternity, after this world is
destroyed. So that mercy was, and is, and wiU be, for ever; and sinful,
miserable man, may always find relief from thia eternal mercy, whenever the
sense of his misery disposes him to seek for it. And does not this motive
loudly caU upon us to give thanks, because there is mercy with God — mercy to
pity tne miserable — and even to relieve them — although they do not deserve
it ; for mercy is aU free grace and unmerited love. Oh ! how adorable then and
gracious is this attribute ! How sweet is it, and full of consolation to the guilty !
May God bring aU the comforts of it to your hearts ; and if you desire, if you
would know, what these comforts are, ask the redeemed of the Lord, and they
wiU teU you, that his mercies are great beyond description. They can say, upon
their own experience, that they have found the mercies of redemption to be in
number, in value, and in duration, more and greater than they can express :
and to their experience the Holy Spirit refers you in the 2nd verse : The redeemed
of the Lord shah say so — they shall say that he is good, and that his mercies
are eternal. What, then, is this redemption of which they speak in such high
terms ? And why do they make it the chief subject of their thanksgiving ?
The reason foUows — because he redeemed them from the hand of the enemy.
Moses has given us, in the law, a clear and fuU idea of what we are to under
stand by the word gal, here rendered redeemed. If any person was either sold
for a slave, or carried away for a captive, then his kinsman who was nearest to
him in blood had the right and equity of redemption. But no other person was
suffered to redeem. And such a kinsman is called the redeemer, when he paid
down the price for which his relation was sold to be a slave, or paid the ransom
for which he was led captive. And there is another remarkable instance in the
law, wherein it was provided, that, in case any person was found murdered, then
the nearest to him in blood was to prosecute the murderer, and to bring him to
justice ; and this nearest relation, thus avenging the murder, is catted by the
same name — a redeemer. And how beautifuUy is the office of our great Re-
c c 2

388 THE HUNDRED AND SEVENTH PSALM.
deemer represented under these three instances ! He was to us such a redeemer
ra spirituals, as these were in temporals : for sin had brought aU mankind into
slavery and captivity, and had murdered us. We are slaves to sin, and captives
to »atan. St. Paul confesses both : sold under sin, says he, and led away captive
under the law of sin. And in this state of bondage and captivity we had a
moat cruel tyrant to reign over us ; even he who waa a murderer from the
beginning, and who employed ua in those slavish servicee, where we could find
no peace in tune, nor any rest to eternity : for he gave us no wages but death-
death of the body in this world, and death of the eoul from God in the next
world for ever. O miserable man ! who shaU deliver thee ? who shaU redeem
thee from the body of this death ? Thou art entirely, eternaUy miserable in
thyself; but thou mayst thank God, through Christ our Lord, that there is a
Redeemer who is able to save thee. He has every qualification which the law
required in a redeemer; and he is besidea almighty; for he ia tme and very
God, equal in all things with the Father and the Holy Spirit : and aa soon as
sin was in the world, he entered upon hie gracious office of redeemer ; for he
was the Lamb slain in type and figure from the foundation of the world. And
when he had a body prepared for him, wherein he was to be slain indeed, and
was made flesh of our flesh, then he completed the legal character of a redeemer.
When he was pleased to unite our human nature to hia dirine, then he waa
nearest of kin to us. By thia wonderful union he became our brother, ond
next to us in blood : and thus he was perfectly able to fulfil the law of our
redemption, which suffered none to have the right and equity of redeeming,
except the nearest kinsman. And to this our God condescended. Oh, amazing
instance of his divine love ! that God should be united to man, and partake of
our human nature, that we might partake of his divine ! this is the great mystery
of godliness. We can never adore, never praise him enough for it, becuuse by
it we receive full redemption. This most high God, who waa alao man, united in
one Christ, came into the world to redeem ua. And the same person, being
both God and man, must merit for us, ae God, in what he did for us aa man.
Accordingly, by the merits of hia obedience and sufferings, he paid the price of
our redemption, and we were no longer the servants of sin ; and by his most
precious blood shed upon the croaa, by his death and resurrection, he overcame
both death and him who had the power of death : and by delivering ua in thia
manner from alavery and captivity, he fulfilled the third part of the Redeemcr'e
office : for Satan wae the murderer from the beginning, who had given both
body and eoul a mortd wound of ein, which waa certain death and eternal
miaery. And the Redeemer came to avenge the murder. He took our cauee
in hand, as being our nearest kinsman ; and it cost him Mb own life to avenge
oura. He shed his own blood upon the cross to avenge our blood; and he died,
that we might be brought back to life ; and then he roBe again, to demonstrate
hia rictory over the infernal murderer. And he haa now all power in heaven
and earth, that he may effectuaUy redeem every one who deaires to he freed
from the slavery of 8in, from the captivity of Satan, and the power of death.
Such ie our all-sufficient Redeemer! and when we know and taste of hia
redeeming love, how can we then forbear to be thankful ? Since he haa redeemed
ua from the hand of the enemy, we cannot be ailent in hie praiees : we muat
epeak of them. He haB been ao good and gracioua to ue, that it would be
acting against our own sense and feeling if we did not praise his holy name :
for we were in vile alavery to 8in, and he redeemed us : we were in cruel captivity
to Satan, and he redeemed us : we were under the power of death, temporal and
eternal, and he redeemed us. And can we possibly forget how miserable we
were in ourselves, and yet how happy we are become in the Redeemer ? And
while we remember this, what must we be, if ever we cease to give him thanks
and praises ? He waa to us a most blessed and most loving Redeemer : for that
he, whom all the heavenly host adore, would vouchsafe to look down with pity
upon our wretched state, and would descend from the throne of his eternal
glory to visit us vile sinners — slaves — and captives — nay, would become our
brother, our nearest kinsman, that he might be our lawful Redeeraer — nay more,
would come to suffer and to die for his own rebeUious creatures ! — this was the

SERMON II. 389
most wonderful condescension of our Lord Jesus. And ought it not to endear
him to us exceedingly ? Should not our hearts overflow with gratitude, and our
tongues incessantly break forth into praise, for such unmerited love ? Oh may
he raise our hearts, and exalt our affections from every lower object to the
contemplation of his infinite love ! There never was, nor is to be, any love fike
our Redeemer's to us. Happy are we ; if there be no love in our breasts like
what we bear to him ! The love of our God coming from heaVen, taking our
nature, obeying and suffering in it, bleeding and dying upon the cross to
redeem us — us miserable vile sinners — here is all that we can admire ; here is
aU that we can adore. Jesus, our Lord, claims our highest admiration, our
lowest adoration ; so that his praises are a subject which can never be exhausted :
for they are to be our employment and happiness for ever, and we become fitted
for them, indeed we begin them, by our present thankfulness. O thou almighty
Saviour ! make us daily more and more thankful, that, by the continual exercise
of thanksgiving upon earth, we may be prepared to sing the praises of our
redeeming God for ever and ever.
The next motive, mentioned in the third verse, is peculiar to us heathen
nations ; viz. that Christ " hath redeemed us and gathered us out of aU lands,
from the east and from the west, from the north and from the south." If any
thing can inspire us with gratitude, this motive should prevail, because we
cannot but feel the force of it, as it reminds us of that misery from which we in
particular were redeemed. The Gentiles had wandered from God, and were so
lost and bewildered in the mazes of error and superstition, that nothing but the
almighty love of our Lord Jesus could have gathered them together into one
church. All the heathen world lay in darkness and in the shadow of death,
until the Sun of righteousness arose upon them with the bright beams of the
gospel : they were ignorant, immoral, idolatrous ; and because they had no desire
to retain God in their memory, he therefore gave them over to a reprobate mind ;
and then, being utterly forsaken of him, they ran greedily into every kind of
impurity and abominable uncleanness. St. Paul has given us a melancholy
account of the Roman morals, at a time when we have been taught that polite
learning flourished among them in its highest perfection. Read his first chapter
to the Romans, and you will find that they were monsters of impiety, although
they could write with all the elegance and beauty of classical learning. And
the rest of the heathen nations were not indeed so corrupt, but they were sunk
as low in ignorance and superstition as the Romans, and particularly our ances
tors in this island, who were poor blind idolaters ; they used to worship stocks
and stones, and to fall down before trees and groves. And when the face of the
whole earth was thus covered with the dark night of idolatry and immorality,
then it pleased God to send the day-spring from on high to visit us. Our blessed
Redeemer came to call us out of darkness into his marveUous light, and to gather
us into the mystical body of his church, out of aU lands, from the east and from
the west, from the north and from the south. His church is the mystical body,
of which he is the head ; and whoever partakes of his redemption must be
gathered from the world into this mystical body, and must be so united as to
become a true living member of it. It was foretold by Moses, that unto Clirist
should the gathering of the people be ; he was to gather the dispersed into one body.
And the prophet Isaiah declares — " The Lord God which gathereth the outcasts
of Israel saith, Yet wiU I gather others to him : for I will gather all nations and
tongues, and they shall come and see my glory." Happy for us, these prophecies
are now fulfilled. The love of our gracious Redeemer hath gathered some out
of aU nations and tongues ; and blessed be his holy name for that he is daily
gathering more, who come to Christ, and see his glory, and arc thankful. Oh
that more of the people were daily gathered unto him! We ought to pray
earnestly for it, because there is no salvation for them who are not gathered into
his mystical body, and united as closely to it as the branches of a vine are to the
stock upon which they grow: for I am the vine, says the Redeemer himself; ve
are the branches : abide in me, and I in you ; as the branch cannot bear fmit of
itself except it abide in the vine, no more can ye, except ye abide in me.
From hence it is evident that our blessed Redeemer has a mystical body, into

390 THE HUNDRED AND SEVENTH PSALM.
which aU the redeemed are gathered, and in which they are living members
united to their sovereign head, enlivened by his grace ; and actuated and
influenced by his good Spirit ; and where the Spirit of Christ is, there is liberty
—a liberty from error— a liberty from sin and Satan— a liberty from death and
the grave ; so that in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free, there is
Till] finjl » *1 .,*-. *......».-. —_ . 1 ...  — A.1 -  4 1 m **._-"_

¦ sense
..ul retain
this Uvely sense so long as they remember from whence he redeemed them
When they lay dispersed, he gathered them. When they lay in ignorance, he
enlightened them. When they were in the grossest idolatry, he converted them
to the worship of the tme God. When they were in the sink of sin and
immorality, he brought them into the ways of righteousness, pardoning their past
offences by his merits, and enabling them by hia grace to proceed in the work
of aanetification. And having thua gathered them together, he united them to
himself, and made theni living membera of his mystical body ; and in thie happy
union, how many spiritual comforts and blessings must they find 1 Their hearts
wttl certainly overflow with love and gratitude to their moat adorable Redeeraer :
and it wttl be to them indeed a joyful and pleaaant thing to be thankful : for he
claims all their affections — they would live only to him — and therefore it would
he reaUy offering them violence to hinder them from speaking of him with the
mouth, what the heart feela. He ie eo much the delight of their Boula, that they
had rather cea8e to breathe than cea8e to be thankful to their deareet Lord and
Saviour. Daily wttl they be telling the wondera of hia redemption, and giving
thanka and honour unto him, ao long as they have any being. And
May God enable every one of ua to join our hearta and voicea with theire in
giving praise and honour to our redeeming Lord ! And having finished the
paraphrase upon the three vereee of the text, I come now to call upon you to
join your thankegiving with all the other membera of Chriat'8 myetical body.
You have heard what the duty ie : it consists in the service of a grateful heart,
which is perfectly sensible of the divine love — having not only experienced God's
goodneaa, but alao hia mercy, even the eternal mercy of the covenant of grace —
being redeemed from the alavery of ain, from the captivity of Satan, and from
the power of death : and theae redeemed of the Lord cannot but apeak with
gratitude of what he has done for their souls, especially euch of the redeemed
who were gathered out of all lands, who were scattered and alienated from God
by ain, were in heathen idolatrous countries, out of the covenant of promise, and
without hope in the world. When euch pereona are made to partake of the
bleaaings of redemption, how wttl their hearta burn within them ! How will
their affectione be fired ! and with what a pure flame will the sweet incense of
their thankagiring aacend up before God! Certainly, their Bense of thia
redemption wttl fill their souls with love and praise : for they wiU find themselves
so happy in giving thanka to the God of all mercies, that the bent of their minda
wUl alwaye turn to this duty. It wttl become their perfect delight and joy to be
employed in this part of devotion, which is by far the sweetest : for when a heart
fuU of praise and gratitude pours out ite adoration and thanke to ite God and
Saviour, oh how delightful must this devotion be ! And when grace heightens
it, and firea and inflames our hearta with the ardour of divine love, oh how
heavenly must this devotion be ! It is indeed the highest to which we can arise
while we arc in the body; and it muet certainly be the moet pleasing and
grateful, because it is the devotion of heaven itself. It is the very service of
that innumerable company of eainte and angels who stand around the Redeemer's
throne, and join their hearts and voices in heavenly harmony, giving thanke and
honour and praise unto him that sitteth upon the throne, and unto the Lamb for
ever and ever. And must not this be a most eweet and delightful duty, which
makes up a great part of the enjoyment and happiness of the blessed in heaven ?
Doubtless it must, even here, be exceedingly sweet to those persons who hope
to find themselvea happy for ever in the practice of it. So that whoever haa the
true Chriatian temper wtU be always giving thanks to his redeeming Lord, and
will always, in so doing, find something of that pure delight and joy which the

SERMON II. 391
glorified spirits in heaven find while they sing the praises of their redeeming
God. Oh let us then lift up our hearts, and join our voices with theirs ! May we
catch some of those heavenly strains with which they incessantly celebrate Jesus
their most adorable Redeemer ! And if we can catch some of their fire, we shall
then feel what kind of joy it is to be truly and sincerely thankful lo our blessed
Lord. Oh may the Spirit of grace elevate and exalt our affections, and raise
them to that high pitch of thanksgiving which may endear the duty to us, and
make us in love with it, so long as we live. God grant he may! that my
application may come with more power to your hearts : and I shall address it to
two different sorts of persons. And,
First, There may perhaps be some among you who allow thanksgiving to be
a pleasant duty; but yet you find in yourselves no disposition to practise it.
After what has been said of the Redeemer's love to men, oh, it is a cutting
reflection to hear that any of you should be in this cold, dead state. Would to
God there were not one man upon earth, much less any one in this place, so
insensible of our Lord's mercy ! But if such there be, the Holy Spirit calls upon
them, in the text, attentively to view what Christ has done for his people. The
blessings of his redemption are sufficient, not only to awake them that are asleep,
but also to raise up the dead in sin : for consider ; he redeemed them from those
enemies who had them in vile subjection and bondage. They were sold in sin,
in slavery to their own natural lusts and appetites — captives to Satan, who
treated them cruelly, putting them upon those miserable labours wherein they
could work out nothing but their own damnation — and sin and Satan had delivered
them over to it, putting them in the power of death, temporal aud eternal. Such
was their wretched condition. And do you beheve it, or not ? If you do not,
you oppose God and his holy word, and every day's experience. If you do
believe it, why are you not thankful for redemption? There can be but one
reason ; and that is, you have as yet no share in the mercies of the Redeemer.
You know not your interest in him : for if you did, it would be as natural to offer
him thanksgiving as it is to breathe : and so long as you withhold it from him,
you are indeed in slavery and captivity, although you may not feel enough of
your misery to make you wish for redemption. Sin and Satan have so deluded
you, that you choose to continue slaves and captives to them rather than to be
set at liberty by Jesus Christ. And having no desire to find an interest in his
redemption, you have therefore no disposition to be thankful to him for it. This
is a most dangerous state : and may the eternal Spirit open your eyes, and show
you the danger of it, that you may flee for your life to the God of all mercy and
forgiveness, and may find abundant reason to be thankful for his redeeming
love !
But I would hope there are very few of you thus indisposed to the practice of
thanksgiving, and therefore I turn myself with joy to those who are disposed and
willing to be thankful. You have heard, my Christian brethren, of the infinite
love and mercy of our blessed Saviour, and how by his free grace he redeemed
you from the hand of the enemy, and gathered you out of all lands into his mys
tical body. When you were sold slaves to sin, captives to Satan, and given over
to the power of death, then your God vouchsafed to become man to redeem you :
he took your flesh ; for the law required that the next relation, and he only,
should be the redeemer : he was made nearest to you in blood, that he might
fulfil the character of a lawful redeemer. The almighty God, the Creator of aU
things, became your brother. Oh astonishing condescension ! and he paid down
the fuU price for your redemption, and he paid it with joy, although he bled and
laid down his life for payment. But such was the infinite value and merit of his
most precious blood, that it redeemed us from slavery, redeemed us from capti
vity, redeemed us from the power of death. It obtained for us the most full and
plenteous redemption — redemption from aU the evUs of sin in this world, and
redemption to all the joys of the next world, for ever and ever. And finding
yourselves thus redeemed from the present evils of sin, and entitled to the
future joys of heaven, how can yuu forbear to give thanks to this most blessed
Redeemer ? While you find his graces and comforts in your souls, you cannot

392 THE HUNDRED AND SEVENTH PSALM
cease praising him. I hope your praises will never cease ; but it wttl be your joy
and delight in time, as it is to be your happiness to eternity, to give honour and
glory to the Lamb who was 8lain, and has redeemed you unto God by hia blood.
it has been the subject and design of this discouree to bring you into thie thank
ful frame and temper of mind. And if you are thankful, if you do but deeire to
be thankful, you wttl readily join your hearts with mine in our requests to God,
to make us more thankful, saying,
O most adorable God and Saviour, we beseech thee to send thy ble8Bing upon
what we have heard thia day out of thy holy word. Endue it with thy power
and efficacy, that it may reach our hearta, and may be the meana of making ua
more thankful to thee. And give us grace, blessed Lord, to grow and improve
ra thankfulness ; and let thy praisea become more 'and more our delight. And
to that end, be pleaaed to let ue know our intereet in thy great redemption, that
we aU may now praise thee with joyful lips, and may join our thankegiving with
angels and archangels, and with aU the company of heaven, to laud and magnify
thy glorious name, evermore praising thee and saying, Holy, holy, holy, Lord
God of hosts, heaven and earth are full of the glory of thy redemption. Glory
he to thee for it, O Jesua Christ, with the Father and the Holy Spirit, to whom
be equal honour, worship, and praise, for ever and ever. Amen.

SERMON III.
Psalm cvii. 4 — 10.
They wandered in the wilderness in a solitary way : they found no city to dwell in.
Hungry and thirsty, their soul fainted in them. Then they oried unto the Lord
in their trouble, and he delivered them out of their distresses. And he led them
forth by the right way, that they might go to a city of habitation. Oh that men
would praise the Lord for his goodness, and for his wonderful works to the chil
dren of men ; for he satisfieth the longing soul, and filleth the hungry soul with
goodness.The general subject of this sacred hymn ia thanksgiving: the motives to induce
ua to be thankful are taken from the mercies of redemption. And this redemption
is here considered in several views, according to the several distreBeea from which
we are redeemed ; and each of theae ia used ae a fresh motive to heighten our
gratitude, and to inspire us with more praiee to Jesus, our most adorable God
and Redeemer.
In the last lecture I considered the three first verses ; from which it appeared
that the redeemed of the Lord were the persons here called upon to be thankful :
they were redeemed from the hand of the enemy, and gathered out of the lands
from the east and from the west, from the north and from the aouth ; and while
they had any sense of these great blessings, they would never be silent in
his praises who had been to them an almighty Deliverer. The Holy Spirit,
speaking of the same persons in the same circumstances, offers them another
motive for thankfulnesa in the word8 which I have read. It ie a clear and con
vincing argument ; and I hope the inepirer of it will carry it with conviction to
your hearts. He knew what was the most proper method to aff'ect ua ; and he
wttl certainly accompany hi8 own methods with his own grace : and therefore
every one of you may expect to reap that profit from thia ecripture, which the
Holy Spirit intended it ehould be the means of conveying to the faithful, if you
put yourselves under his guidance and seek his blessing, while I am,
First, Going through a paraphrase upon the words, and then,
Secondly, Applying them as a motive to inspire you with thankfulness.
And first, The words relate to the redeemed, and deecribe the state which they
were in before they partook of the blessings of redemption. Before they were
gathered together out of aU lands, and admitted into the flock of the great ehep-

SERMON III. 393
herd and bishop of souls, they wandered in the wUderness, where they were
neither fed in green pastures nor led forth beside the waters of comfort.
Their spiritual state was so much like the natural condition of a dry barren
wilderness, that the scriptures commonly describe it by this name. Ezekiel
caUs it, the wUderness of the people — the desolate state of the heathen people
— and not of the country : and the prophet Isaiah foretels the happy change
of this desolated state of the heathen people, when the Holy Spirit should be
poured upon them, xxxii. 15: "until the Spirit be poured upon us from
on high, and the wilderness be a fruitful field." When the abundant streams
of his grace should descend upon the heathen world, then the wilder
ness and the solitary place should be glad, and the desert should rejoice
and blossom as the rose — it should blossom abundantly, and rejoice even
with joy and singing. But before this blessed change was made, we were
all in a waste howling wUderness, where, the Psalmist says, we wandered
in a solitary way ; for by sin we had lost the way to heaven. All flesh — the whole
human nature — says Meises, had corrupted his way upon earth : and this cor
mption soon discovers itself, and breaks out very early in life ; for the prophet
declares, that as soon as they are born, "they go astray ; and when they grow up,
they have no power to return into the right way, but are like lost sheep, which
can never of themselves find the way back again into the fold after they have once
strayed from it. And therefore, in the 53rd of Isaiah, our wretched condition is
represented by this image : All we — not one of us excepted — aU we, like sheep,
have gone astray : we had wandered from the fold of the church, had strayed
from the true shepherd, and got out of his pleasant and fruitful pastures into the
desolate wilderness, where we had lost ourselves, and could find no way out of it,
and no food in it : for, while aU the heathen world wandered in this solitary wil
derness, they were hungry and thirsty, even to such a degree, that their soul
fainted in them : for want of food, their strength began to fatt them, and they
were even hard at death's door.
Now, if you consider the propriety of this image only in its natural light, it is
very striking, though it be very familiar. Suppose a person to be travelling
through some desolate uninhabited country, like the deserts of Arabia, and
unhappily lose his way, and after wandering for some days, aU his provision
being gone, his spirits and his strength fatt him, hunger and thirst begin to prey
upon his vitals, and, no hope of deliverance from any human means appearing,
his soul reaUy faints in him, and he gives himself up to despair. Is not this a scene
of exquisite distress, and such as a person of the least tenderness cannot behold
without being greatly moved with pity? for this miserable traveUer cannot
support himself much longer; his dissolution is drawing nigh; he already
sinks under the fatigues of mind and body; and famine wiU soon put an end to
his wretched life. And if you should happen to be passing by this way, soon
after the breath was gone out of his body, and should see his ghastly appear
ance, how pale and emaciated and frightful his dead corpse looked, then your
heart would melt over him, and you could not avoid shedding one compassionate
tear. But how much more sensibly would his death affect you, if you began to
be apprehensive of this same danger, if you had also lost your way, were without
food, your spirits and strength faihng, and scarce any hopes left of your finding
the right way again ? When you thus made his case your own, your concern
would be double, and you would be in the utmost distress for your own safety,
seeing before your eyes an unhappy feUow-creature, who perished in the same
circumstances. Now if this case, which is only a temporal calamity, and to which death will
put an end, would naturaUy move our pity, and excite our compassion, how
much more should the same case in spirituals affect us, because here the calamity
is endless, and death does not finish, but rather is an entrance and opening into
eternal distress ? So that if the case in common life moved you greatly, then
thia, in spiritual life, should move you infinitely more. CaU up, then, the softest
emotions of your tenderness and compassion, and mourn over that unhappy
person whose spiritual misery is painted out and represented by the lost, starring,
and dying traveller in the wilderness. You may sec, from what his body suffers,

394 THE HUNDRED AND SEVENTH PSAI.M.
how much the soul of the poor helpless sinner is to suffer, who has lost hie way
to heaven, and who wanders in search of it without any guide or direction, and,
after aU his labour and pains to find it out, wearied and hungry, and fainting for
thirst, he is forced to give over the search : his soul is ready to perish, for want
of the dirine support, and of the streams of divine grace, which Christ and the
Holy Spirit only can give, and which are as necessary to the life of the soul aa
meat and drink are to the life of the body. And if none be aoon sent to thia
loat sinner, he diea, not only to this world, but he also dies from Cod, and from
aU the glories of the heavenly kingdom — he is eternaUy ruined and undone.
Here then is an object a thousand times more miserable than the poor traveller
who perished in the wilderness. And can you behold ; how is it.posaible for you,
my brethren, to think of thie infinitely more miserable object, and not to be infi
nitely more affected with it ? Doubtieaa, every one among you who can feel for
othere, and has any bowels of compassion in him, must mourn over this unhappy
man, who is just falling into torments, which know no intermission — no enu.
Oh ! it ia a dreadful case — beyond description distressful. God grant you may
never know what it is to be tormented for ever and ever in the names of heU !
And if you can thus pity another person in thia diatreas, oh, Bhut not up the
bowels of your compaasion ngainBt your own selves ; for this is indeed your own
caee. You are this very lost ruined sinner. Every one of you is, every son of
Adam is, in thia wilderness : in it you havo lost your way to heaven, and with
the best of your natural abilities and reasoning powers, you cannot fincl it again ;
or if you could find it, yet you are not able to walk in it, because you arc dying
of hunger and thirst, whether you fed it or not : for you have no food from
Clirist, who say8, I am the bread of life, to support your sinful soula, and there
fore you muat periah with hunger ; and you have no grace from the Holy Spirit,
which ia the water of life, and therefore you mu8t periah with thirst. Thia is,
by nature, the condition of every man who cometh into the world : and whoever
thou art, who hast not seen thyaelf in this condition, thou art still in the waste
and howling wildernesa. Although the body may lodge in a palace, yet thy poor
soul ia in a deaert : for if thou haat not yet found thy loat estate, thou haat not
yet taken one 8tep toward thy recovery. If thou haet not seen and felt thy
misery — that thou haet loat thy way to heaven, and haat no merit to support thee,
no grace to sanctify thee — if thou hast not seen this, O miserable man 1 thou art
blind indeed : thou art under the strongest delusion of sin, which shows ita
power over thee, by thu8 obscuring and darkening all the faculties of the aoul.
But if it 8hould please God to open thine eyes, thou wouldst, to thy amazement,
see nothing around thee but a waste barren wilderness, where thou now fanciest
nature to be nourishing and fruitful. And may his good Spirit indeed enlighten
your understandings, and ahow you evidently your miserable state, that there
may be raised in your hearta a strong cry for deliverance. And if you find any
prayer, if it be but a desire, rising in your minds, to accept of full and free
redemption through Jeaue Christ, hear how comfortably the Holy Spirit exhorts
you to apply to him in your diatrees, as it foUows in the sixth verae : " Then
they cried unto the Lord in their trouble, and he delivered them out of their dis
tresses." They were in the wilderness, had lost their way, had no food, were
perishing, they could only cry unto the Lord ; they had no help or hope left but
throwing themselves upon his mercy to pray him to interpose in their behalf,
When misery brings us thus to know and feel our wretchedness, then our deli
verance draweth nigh ; for God ia alwaya more ready to help than we are to pray
to him for help. And we cannot have a happier proof of his readiness to help
than in his sending us those troubles which send us to him, and which thereby
bring us deliverance. And we have great reason to be thankful unto him, and
to kiss the rod, whenever its chastisements dispose us to seek his face. " I will
go and return to my place," says the God of all mercy, in the prophet Hosea,
v. 15, "tttl they acknowledge their offence, and seek ray face : in their affliction
they will eeek me early." How fuU is thia paaeage of the moot tender love and
affection ! You 8ee our God aends afflictions, even to hia enemies, with a design
to do them good : he suffers them to fall into diatresaes, from which the arm of
flesh cannot deliver them, that they may be brought to acknowledge their

SERMON III. 395
offence, and to seek his face who is almighty to deliver. And whenever outward
sufferings produce this inward humiliation, then the design of them is answered ;
for then the mind is rightly disposed to look up to heaven, from whence only
cometh help in time of need. And they cried unto the Lord in their trouble ;
they saw the misery of their faUen state ; they felt their guilt and wretchedness ;
they found no help in the wilderness of this world ; and, deeply abased, and
thoroughly humbled with the sense of their sinfulness, they cried unto the Lord
for help : and Jesus heard them. The God of love heard the first sigh of their
broken hearts, and, before they cried unto him, he was at hand to save. He is
an almighty Saviour, whose love is as infinite as his power ; he is always ready
to save unto the uttermost. Whoever seeks, shall find his grace, either to show
him his guilt and misery, or effectuaUy to remove them. And if any of you are
now sensible of giult and misery, make a trial of his redeeming love. Go to him
with the sincere desires of your hearts to be pardoned and saved, and he will as
soon cease to be God as he wiU reject you. He wiU not cast you out. He shed
his blood for you on the cross ; he loved you more than his own life ! he even
died to save you ; and he cannot cast you out. If you desire him to save you,
you are saved : for they cried unto the Lord Jesus, and he delivered them out of
their distresses ; they had nothing to offer him but prayers and entreaties ; they
could only cry for pardon and mercy. This is all that they could do, and all that
he wants ; for, so soon as they cried for salvation, he saved them : his free grace
led them forth by the right way, that they might go to a city of habitation. They
could not help themselves : they could only cry for help ; and, so soon as they
cried to him, his free grace brought them a complete deliverance ; for, whereas
they had lost their way, he brought them forth by the right way : his good Spirit
led them out of the wilderness unto him who calls himself the way, the truth,
and the life ; and in him they found an abiding city, whose builder and maker is
God. This city is the church, which Christ hath purchased with his own blood ;
and whoever is admitted into it, and is a true living member of it, can want no
manner of thing that is good : for Jesus Christ the Redeemer, the Head of the
church, has provided every thing that can make his members happy in time and
to eternity. In time, they have his good Spirit to enlighten them, and to show
them the way out of the wilderness, his merits to justify them, his grace to sanc
tify them : they are holy and happy, and in eternity they will enjoy these heavenly
blessings to which they have already a sure right and title by the merits and free
grace of Jesus Christ. And
When such persons remember what they formerly were in themselves, and
what they are now made in him, how can they forbear to be thankful ? How can
the redeemed of the Lord be silent in the praises ofthe Redeemer, when they con
sider out of what a desolate wUderness he brought them when they were lost and
bewildered in it, were so hungry and thirsty that their soul fainted in them ?
Must not the very remembrance of these blessings inspire them with thankfulness ?
When nothing but death and endless ruin lay before them, he was pleased of his
own free grace to hear the very first cry which they sent up to him for deliverance ;
and he came with aU the tender mercies of our God to save them. He turned
the wilderness into a paradise ; he put his revealed directions into their hands,
and sent his good Spirit into their hearts to enlighten them, and to lead them into
the right way ; he gave them the bread of life to allay their hunger, and the waters
of grace and comfort to quench their thirst ; and, having thus blessed them with
all spiritual blessings, how can they — how is it possible they should — be sttent in
his praises ? While their hearts are full of gratitude to him, shaU they not be
telling with their mouths of the wonders which he hath done for their salvation ?
Doubtless, they wttl be speaking of their most adorable Redeemer aU the day
long ; for this is so just a tribute of praise, it is so easy and pleasant a return ; and
besides, it is the only return we can make for his inestimable blessings, that this
will and must make him. And this is the grateful return which the Holy Spirit
caUs upon us, in the next words, to make to our redeeming God — " Oh that men
would therefore praise the Lord for his goodness, and for his wonderful works to
the chUdren of men." He has done wonders indeed — he never failed in the
miraculous blessings of his free grace. Oh that we may never fail in thankful-

396 THE HUNDRED AND SEVENTH PSALM
neae for them ! But certain it is, that we have aU failed ; and the best of ua lament
our failing the most ; for thankful, as he deserves, none of us are. It ia a rule of
common life, that thankfulness should be proportioned to the benefits received ;
and whoever doee not act up to this rule, is reckoned basely ungrateful among
men. In religion, the same rule is just and equitable. But because Christ haa
been so infinitdy merciful, that our thankfulness cannot be proportioned to the
merits received, yet we are therefore more inexcusable if we are not as grateful as
it is possible for us to be : for to whom men give much, of thera they always
require the more ; and to whom Christ has forgiven much, of them he requires
the more love and praise. The more we receive, the greater ia our debt ; and to
consider that we can never repay it, ahould moat effectuaUy stir ua up to be
thankful. Oh how earneatiy should we pray for, how inceeaantly should we be
seeking, the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, to enable us to rise to higher degrees
of gratitude. His merite wiU bo still above our praiaea, let us rise ever so high :
but let ua not atop until the heart be fuU of thankfulness, and every faculty of tiie
mind and body be ready to give honour and glory to their redeeming God. " Oh
that men would therefore praise the Lord Je8ua for hia mercies, and declare the
wonders which he hath done for the salvation of men : for he satiefieth the
longing eoul, and fiUeth the hungry eoul with goodneee." In theee laet worda
you aec how the prophet exalts the free grace of Cod, in order to raise and exalt
your gratitude : for these ainful loat travellera in tbe wilderneae could do nothing
to dehver themsdvee : they had tried every thing in their power, and could not
eucceed : they were helpleaa, faint, and miserable: they have only spirits enow
left to cry unto God. And what haete doea mercy make 1 for the moment they
cry, Jesus was at hand to save. The God of love came with aU the blesainga of
hia redeeming grace, and poured them plentifully upon theae poor einnera, when
he had made them eeneible of their want of them, and they applied to him for
relief. For he aatisfielh the longing eoul — the longing eoul is that which finds
itself empty — which is convinced ot ita nothingnes8 and wretchednesa, and, ao
soon aa it can confess itself to be quite deetitute. of every earing grace — doea
indeed hunger and thirst after the gracea of Jesus Clirist — then he never faila to
satisfy this empty soul, and to fttl thia hungry aoul with goodneaa. Such ia
Jesua, the God of our aalvation ; and thu8 wonderful is he in hie merciea to the
children of men. Oh that they would therefore praise him for hie infinite, hia
eternal mercies ! and grant, O bleeeed Jeaua, that many peraons who hear me this
day may havo reason to praise thee. Bring them by thy grace, O almighty
Reeleemer, out of the wilderness of sin and error, and let this scripture be fulfilled
in every one of us, that we may join in giving thanks to thy holy name, now and
for ever. . . .
Thua much for the paraphrase upon the words : they contmn a brief history of
man'a fall and miaery, and of hia restoration through Jesus Christ: which are
described under theee particulara : —
Firat, Ihe lost state of men by nature.
Secondly, They are brought to a right seuse of it, and cry to tbe Lord Jesus
for deliverance. „„,.,. . .
Thirdly, He hears them, and delivers them out of all their dietresses. And
Fourthly, The tribute of thanka due to him for thie great deliverance.
To each of theee pointe I will speak, aa briefly aa I can, by way of epiritual use
and application. And firat, The loat state of men by nature is here represented
under the striking images of persons who have lost their way in a barren wilder
ness, where they are ready to perish with fatigue and famine. -Now, my
brethren, let me put thia plain queation to you ; and may Cod put it to your
hearta ! Have you ever seen yourselves in thia loet etate ? If you have, give
glory and thanks to Jesua your almighty Redeemer. If you have not, you are in
the utmoat danger ; and yet you live eecure : you are stttl in your sins, with all
the giult of them about you, and deetraction lies before you : you are on the
very precipice : in one moment you may fall into eternity, where nothing but end
less torments can be your portion. And what a strong delusion of sin ia it, that
you, who fear and dread a little bodily pain in thia life, ahould not be under the
least apprehension about the endless pains of body and soul in the next life? What

SERMON III. 397
is able thus to infatuate you against your own reason and your senses ? You
have not, surely, persuaded yourselves that the account which the Psalmist gives
of your sinful miserable state is not matter of fact ! If you have faUen into
this delusion, hear what the word of God, and the voice of reason, and the
sad experience of every day, loudly bear witness. The scripture is clear, that
aU we — every son of Adam — aU we, like sheep, have gone astray; we have
strayed from the paradise of God into the wilderness of this sinful world ; and fur
ther, the scripture teaches that they are aU gone out of the way — aU — not one
excepted ; " they are all gone out of the way ; they are altogether become
abominable ; there is also none that doeth good, no not one." And the con
sequence of our wandering is thus described : — " Destruction and misery are
in their ways, and the way of peace have they not known." The sense and
meaning of these passages you will not dispute; their authority you do not
deny : and how, then, can you resist their evidence, since the reason of man
kind, Jews, Heathens, and Christians, confirms it, and every day's melan
choly experience renders it more clear and self-evident ? If you wttl not be
lieve this cloud of witnesses, you must believe nothing : for you may as weU
doubt whether there are any such beings as men, as whether they be fatten
sinful beings. The one is an object of sense as much as the other : and
therefore, unless you have taken your rest in absolute scepticism, and are quite
settled upon the lees and dregs of infidelity, you must aUow that mankind
are sinful and miserable. Sin is the parent of aU their misery ; for it separates
them from God, who is the parent of aU good. It separates them in this world
from his grace, and it wiU separate them in the next world from his glory for ever
and ever. And now, my brethren, being convinced of your lost state and sinful
condition, what do you resolve to do in consequence of this conviction ? Will
you go away from hence with this conviction upon your minds, and sin on as
securely as you did before ? God forbid. Your guilt would then be increased ;
your case would grow more desperate ; you would tben choose misery — even
eternal misery — with your eyes open. Oh what a dreadful infatuation would this
be ! May the Lord Jesus keep you from it ; and may his heavenly grace second
my entreaties that you may now — this very moment, see your lost state by
nature, and cry out unto him in the anguish of your souls for his grace ! And
if it be but a deep sigh from the heart, or a short prayer, Lord Jesus save, or else
we perish ! This the God of love will hear and answer. For it foUows, in the
next words of the text, " When they cried unto the Lord in their trouble, then
he delivered them out of their distresses." They could do no more to deliver
themselves than you can do : they could only cry to him in prayer to save them,
and according to the greatness of his mercies he freely gave them full redemp
tion. This is the established method of his proceeding. So soon as he sent his
grace to show them their wretchedness, and to dispose them to cry to him for
deliverance, b.6 was ready and able to save them to the uttermost ; and he is now
aa ready and as able to deal thus graciously with you. If you cry unto him for
help, he wiU save. How sweetly does he invite, how powerfully does he persuade
you now to cry aloud for his redeeming grace ! " CaU upon me," says he, " in
the day of trouble, so will I hear thee, and thou shalt praise me." Therefore
now call upon him : let the sense of your guilt and misery now make you earnest
and importunate in your requests : caU upon him in the day of trouble : and
what an encouragement does he give you to persevere ! So I wttl hear thee ; I
ahed my blood for thy guilt, and my grace is almighty to remove thy misery :
only seek them in prayer, and I wiU hear and answer, and thou shalt praise me ;
thou ahalt have reason to praise me for the abundant mercies of my free and full
redemption. Oh that men would therefore praise the Lord Jesus ! &c.
I have been very short upon the three last particulars in the text ; viz. the
sense which these sinners had of their misery, their crying for deliverance, and the
tribute of thanks due to Christ for delivering them, because I shaU have frequent
occasion to speak upon them in the foUowing parts of the Psalm. But enough,
I hope, has been said to lay open this most sweet and comfortable portion of
scripture, and to warm your hearts with the consideration of it. You see that
the mercies of our God are above our misery. Though by nature we wander like

398 THE HUNDRED AND SEVENTH PSALM.
sheep in the barren wilderness of this world, yet we have a moat tender shep
herd, who is always seeking to bring us back into the fmitful pastures of lus
church. Though in this wilderness we can find no abiding city, yet within the
fold and pale of his church we may find rest unto our soula. Though we
have no spiritual support in ourselves, yet his flesh is meat indeed, and his blood
is drink indeed ; and when his good Spirit applies the merits of them to our
hearts, then we have true spiritual life abiding in us. Though our soula fainted
within ua while we wandered in the wilderness, yet Jeaue, the God of all conso
lation, will refresh the fainting soul with his reviving grace, and will supply it
with every manner of thing that is good, through the ages of eternity, ao that
he is more merciful than we are miserable ; and in this respect hia mercies are
over aU hia worka ; for that he only waits until we have seen our misery, and
are humbled enough to cry to him for relief, and then he showa he ia at
hand, a God to save. Oh that you may aU thia day experience his almighty
power, and have fresh proof of his redeeming love ! and every one of you who
desires it wttl readily join with me in requesting his blesBing on what you have
now heard.
O most mighty God and Saviour ! we acknowledge and confese our loet eetate
by nature : for all men have wandered in the wilderneaa out of the way, and have
found no abiding dty : they could find no way out of the wttderneas, no place to
re8t, and no food to support them in it ; hungry and thirBty, their souls fainted
in them ; but so soon as the sense of their misery disposed them to cry to thee,
blessed Jesus, thou wast ready to deliver them out of all their diatresses. Now,
almighty Lord, deliver ue, and extend the eame mercies to thie whole congre
gation ; and let not one person among them leave this place without being first
convinced of his own misery, and then of thy aU-sufficiency to redeem him from
it. Bring what haa been eaid upon theee truthe home to all our hearta, and
carry it with thy dirine power and efficacy to our con8ciences, that we may now
cry to thee with one voice — Lord Jeaue aave, or else we perish. Hear us, thou
God of love, and be unto us an almighty Saviour, that we may bless thee with
grateful hearta for having brought ua up thia day out of the wilderneaa of the
world, here to the house of the Lord, where we have found reaaon to be thank
ful as long as we five, and to declare the wonders which thou haBt done for our
salvation. Grant this, O moat adorable Jeeue, to the glory of God the Father,
and by the influence of the Holy Spirit upon all our hearta, now and for ever.
Amen and Amen.

SERMON IV.
Psalm cvii. 10 — 17.
Such as sit in darkness, and in the shadow of death, being bound in affliction and
iron : because they rebelled against the words of God, and contemned the counsel
of the Most High .- therefore he brought down their heart with labour ; they fell
down and there was none to helm. Then they cried unto the Lord in their trou
ble and he saved them out of their distresses : he brought them out of darkness
and out ofthe shadow of death, and brake their bands in sunder. Oh that men
would therefore praise the Lord for his goodness, and for his wonderful works to
the children of men ! for he hath broken the gates of brass, and cut the bars of
iron in sunder.
The Holy Spirit sets before ua in these worda a second image of our misery by
nature. He has called upon the redeemed of the Lord to be thankful to Jesus,
the God of their redemption ; and, in order to exalt and raise their thankfulneBii
the more, he gives them four images, in which the misery of fallen man ie placed
in elifferent views. In the firet, he is repreeented aa loet in a wilderneee, where,
after much wandering and wearineee, fainting with hunger and thirst, he ia just
ready to perish : but finding no help upon earth, and being brought to a deep

SERMON IV. 399
sense of his distress, he cries unto the Lord in his trouble, and Jesus was at hand
to save : for so soon as the sinner was disposed to accept, the Saviour was will
ing to bestow free and full redemption. This was the subject of the last lecture.
We have in the words before us a second image of man's fallen condition, in
which the distresses of it are greatly heightened, and if I were able to paint the
exquisite misery of it, so that you might see it in a strong fight, it could not faU
of having a great influence upon every unconverted person. I wiU therefore
endeavour to set it before your eyes, in as striking colours as I am able ; and I
hope the same good Spirit who inspired this passage will be pleased to accom
pany us this day in the consideration of it, and to supply the imperfections of my
discourse by his divine grace in your hearts. O eternal Spirit, now preside over
us, and show thyself to be a God, by applying the doctrine with power and energy
to every one of our consciences, while I am,
First, Laying open the sense and meaning of the words ; and
Secondly, Considering their spiritual use and application.
It must be remembered that the words belong to the redeemed of the Lord ;
they are the persons caUed upon to be thankful; and the motives to excite their
thankfulness are taken from a review of their miseries and distresses before they
obtained redemption : and these miseries and distresses were of so many various
kinds, and so very numerous, that they could not be represented to the life in
one picture. In order to set them before our eyes in full proportion, it was
necessary to draw them in different scenes ; and therefore the Holy Spirit has
given us, in these four paintings, a perfect description of man's sinful and mise
rable condition by nature. In the first he is represented as having lost the way
to heaven, and wandering in a wilderness, weary with fatigue, faint with famine,
ready to perish : in the second, his distress is heightened ; for he faUs into a pit
of darkness and the shadow of death, where the enemy finds him, and puts him
into close confinement, binding him with the heavy chains of affliction and iron.
The scripture and every day's experience confirm this description ; for the first
words, "such as sit in darknes8,"are true of every son of Adam in his natural state.
Sin cut off all communication between God and us, and thereby rendered us
quite ignorant and blind in aU spiritual knowledge : for if the eye of the mind
have no light from the eternal Sun of righteousness, it is in the same state with
the eye of the body, if it have no light from the created sun in the heavens : so
that aU the spiritual world was covered with gross darkness and blindness until
the light of life arose ; for thus saith the Lord God, speaking of Christ : " I have
given thee for a light to the Gentiles, to open the bhnd eyes, to bring out the pri
soners from the prison, and them that sit in darkness out of the prison-house."
Now it is certain that the Gentiles, to whom Christ was given for a light, were
not literally bhnd : they had good eyes, and could see outward objects clear
enough ; but the eye of the soul was entirely bhnd, insomuch that Christ came
down from heaven miraculously to open it. And he sent out his apostles for the
same purpose ; and when he called Paul to the apostleship, he gave him his com
mission in these words : " I send thee now unto the Gentiles, to open their eyes,
and to turn them from darkness to light." You cannot suppose that aU the
Gentiles were blind, to whom St. Paul was sent ; and yet they had eyes which
were not open until the gospel enlightened them ; and these were the eyes of the
mind : for when the Gentiles were turned from dar.kness to light, then was ful.
fitted that which is written by the prophet Isaiah : ' The eyes of the blind shaU
see out of obscurity, and out of darkness :" — the Sun of righteousness arose upon
their obscurity and darkness, and so enlightened the eyes of the spiritually
blind, that they clearly discovered the right way to heaven. And the Jews, as
wett as the Gentiles, were by nature in this blind state : Zacharias, in the gospel,
confesses it, " The day-spring (i. e. Christ) from on high hath visited us, to give
light to them that sit in darkness and the shadow of death :" — aU mankind, with
out Christ — Jews and Gentiles — not only sit in darkness, but also in the shadow
of death. Such is the blind and miserable condition of sinners ! Sin has subjected
them to temporal and to eternal death ; but because the death of the soul, when it
perishes eternally from God, is not an object of sense, the Holy Spirit was there
fore pleased to give us a shadow of it, by the death of the body ; when it perishes

400 THE HUNDRED AND SEVENTH PSALM.
to this world. And both these kinds of death entered intothe world by ain;
and what the body suffers by dying to this world, is indeed but a shadow of what
the soul suffers when it dies from God in the next world. And yet, it ie a very
just and expreseive shadow ; for as the body, when it dies, has no longer any
sense of perception of the outward objects of this life, but totally perishes from
the fight and spirit of the animal world, and from all the joys and comforts which
they administer, so the soul, when it dies from God, has no longer any sense or
perception of the inward objects of its life, but totally periahes from the eternal
light and spirit of the heavenly world, and from all the joya and comforts which
they administer. Thus bodtty death is a shadow of spiritual— and temporal of
eternal. I might trace the likeness in more particulars : but this may suffice to
explain what the Psalmist means by the shadow of death. He supposes the
mortality of the body to be a shadow ofthe sad estate into which sin brought the
soul. All mankind is subject to thie mortality, which ie but the shadow of death ;
for in the death of the body we have a mournful picture of the more miaerable
death of the aoul, which is the substance of death : this is the reality and sub
stance of what the other is but a shadow. Oh what a diBtresaful scene then is
this ! Here is nothing but darkneee and the 6hadow of death — a body mortal
and perishing, and, while it lives, is in bondage and the fear of death, terrified at
the very approach of the shadow — and how much more in dread of the substance !
And yet this distress is stiU heightened : for these poor aufferera are bo chained
down, that they cannot escape from the power of their enemieB ; they cannot etir
one atep out of thia darkness and ahadow of death ; because they are faet bound
in affliction and iron. Sin brought ua into thiB darkneaa and ahadow of death,
and then chained ua down to these miaerieB. The acripture frequently spoaka of
the bonds of sin, and describes man, in his fallen state, to be us much a slave to
sin as if he were really chained down. And indeed a chain of the hardest iron,
or of the toughest steel, ia more easily broken than a long habit of sin ; for the
eoul ie then fettered, and bound as much as if the man were chained to the galleye ;
and yet he endurea it willingly, although no galley alave ie put to harder service,
or has a more cruel and inexorable tyrant over him. Ought not thia woman,
aay8 Christ, whom Satan hath bound, lo, these eighteen years, to be loosed from
this bond? And Satan hath bound the whole human race, aa weU as thia
woman : for of whom a man ia overcome, of the aame ia he brought into bond
age ; and he overcame ue all by ein, and then bound ua with the etrong chains of
it, which no human power can looee. He only, who overcame Satan, ia able to
release hia priaonere. And the PaahniBt, in the 68th Paalm, enumerating
some of our Lord'a great deliverances, says, in the 6th verse, " He bringeth
out those which are bound with chaina ;" and the prophet Ieaiah declaree,
" that he should open the prison to them that are bound." The scripturea
are to be apirituaUy appfied : for Chriet never releaeed any prieonera by breaking
open the priaon-doore and anapping their bandB asunder. We meet with
nothing of this kind in his life : but we read frequently of hia delivering men
from the bonda of their ains, and freeing them from Satan and death. From
whence it foUowa, that unless our great Redeemer had come to break off our
chaine, we muet have lain bound in affliction and iron for thie life ; and then
have been reeerved in everlaating chains under darkneae in the next.
Thi8 ia the tme image and portraiture of every son of Adam. While he
remains in his natural faUen state, he ia in darkneae and the ehadow of death,
fast bound in mieery and iron. And how terrible io thie eituation !— to live in
darkneaa, without one ray of dirine light and comfort!— to be under the dismal
gloom and shadow of death, and to be bound down to this mieery by Satan,
with hie etrongest fetters and chains ! Certainly this ie a ecene of deep dis
tress : and the view of it should lead us to inquire how the gracious Author
of our being should suffer mankind to become eubject to it ; for he cannot
be the cause of our misery : ao that it rauat have been eome great and heinous
offence, by which we brought ourselvea into these distreaaes. And let the
Paalmist relate the reason : " They eat in darkneae and in the ehadow of death,
being bound in affliction and iron ; becauee they rebelled againet the worda of
God." " Becauae they rebeUed." Thia was the grand rebellion for which the

SERMON IV. 401
head of the family was attainted ; and his attainder corrupted the blood of all
his children. Our first parents took up arms against the supreme majesty of
heaven, and vainly imagined that they could find knowledge and happiness
contrary to his declared wUl, and in opposition to his almighty power; and
they carried this vain imagination into act : they listed themselves under the
devil's banner, and set themselves in battle array against God, defying his
threatenings and his vengeance. In comparison of this great rebellion, all others
have been only weak plots and conspiracies : for this was the highest crime man
could commit; because, to whom much is given, it isjust and equitable of them
to require the more. And God had given to Adam greater gifts and abilities,
with innocence to enable him to use them aright, than to any of his descendants,
and had with the most tender affection counseUed him against that very temp
tation, by which he was most liable to be seduced : therefore, when he rebeUed
against God, and contemned the counsel of the Most High, it was the most hor
rid rebeUion that a creature could commit against its Creator. And it was far
from cruelty in God : it was an act of justice, without severity, to suffer him to
fall into the pit which he had dug for himself, and there to be taken by the
enemy, and committed a prisoner to darkness and the shadow of death, and to be
fast bound with misery and iron. But it may be inquired, Why are we subject
to his misery ? Because we could not but be involved in his guilt. His treason
corrupted his blood ; and being corrupt in the fountain.it could not but be
corrupt in the streams which issue from it. We see a standing instance of this
in the book of nature : a corrupt tree cannot bring forth good fruit. And we
have a clear evidence of it in the book of God, which declares, that coming from
a corrupt stock, we are altogether corrupt and abominable, being by nature chil
dren of wrath. And we have incontestible proof from the equity of our own
laws, which not only punish treason with the loss of life in the traitor himself,
but also with the loss of honours and estate in his descendants, to the latest pos
terity. Now, to deny that we are corrupt by nature against these evident proofs,
is a full demonstration of our corruption. And he is fallen the lowest who
thinks he is not fallen at all ; for he who lives and acts as if he were not a fallen
creature, must be farthest from recovery, and consequently must be most mise
rable. It is stiU rebeUion to think to be happy in opposition to the revealed will
of God ; and every infidel, because he attempts this, is a rebel ; he is a traitor
convict ; and every infidel society is an army of rebels united under the banner
of their chief, who tempts, deludes, infatuates them, and hurries them on, some
times even against conviction, untU the long-suffering of God be wearied out
with their rebeUions, and he suffers them to faU into the hands of the enemy,
who binds them with everlasting chains under darkness. Oh may the God of
mercy open their eyes before they perish ! Blessed Jesus, show them their guilt,
and humble them under the sense of it ; that, finding their misery, they may
fly to thee for succour : for this is the usual method by which our Lord reclaims
the unconverted and the infidel ; as it foUows in the Psalm : " Therefore he
brought down their hearts with labour : they feU down, and there was none to
help." He brought down their rebeUious. hearts by labour ; he visited them
with outward afflictions, under the weight of which they feU down, and there was
none to help ; they could not find any help upon earth ; aU worldly comforters
failed them : and then they began to see their wretched condition. Their out
ward misery made them feel their inward. They found themselves in darkness,
which no ray of science, nor the brightest beams of human learning, were able
to dispel. They found themselves in the shadow of death ; from the terrors of
which all the moral and civil virtues put together could not deliver them. They
found themselves fast bound in misery and iron ; and aU the powers in the earth
could not break their chains. Finding their distress, and seeing no creature able
to help, they were thereby disposed to humble themselves under the mighty
hand of God. And indeed, their proud hearts were so thoroughly brought down
and abased, that they were led to cry unto the Lord in their trouble, and he
saved them out of their distresses. Tbe Psalmist, in the 13th verse, makes this
the happy effect of their affliction : it disposed them to seek God's favour ;
and he is always found of them who seek him. So soon as they cried unto
D D

402 THE HUNDRED AND SEVENTH PSALM.
the Lord in their trouble, he was at hand to save them from their distresses.
11 he ataughty Saviour came and brought them out of darkness and the ahatlow
of death, and brake their bonds in sunder. And thus he gave them complete
redemption. Darkness fled at the approach of tiie eternal light, and the shadow
of death was turned mto the light of life at the appearance of the living God :
and the bonds brake in sunder when Chriet came and prodaimed liberty to
them that were bound ; and being thua enlightened and set free from the
bonds of sin and Satan, and delivered from the shadow of death, after they
have obtained so free and full a redemption, how can they be silent in the
Redeemer s praise ? They then have a livdy sense of his redeeming love in their
hearts ; and it would be acting against their own eense and feeling if they made
him no return of gratitude. It would be unnatural. Nay, it is indeed impossi
ble for men to partake of the bleseinge of redemption, and not to be thankful
to their Redeemer. " Oh that men would therefore praiee the Lord for his
goodness, and declare the wonders which he hath done for the salvation of
men !" Wonders indeed ! for he brought them from darknesB to fight, from
the ehadow of death to the life eternal, and from the bonds of mieery to a crown
of immortality. And Bhall they not praise him for these wonders ? Shall they
not epeak with their tonguee what their hearta feel ? DoubtleaB they wiU be
teUing of his salvation all the day long ; and, leat they ahould ever forget it,
the Paalmiat once more reminda them of their great deliverance : for he hath
broken the gates of brase, Baye he, and cut the bare of iron in sunder. Remember
from whence ye were redeemed, and he thankful. Were ye not in prison that
was fortified with gates of braaa and bars of iron ; and were ye not chained down
in the most dark and loathsome dungeon of this prison ? Do you not recoUect
what horror you were in when you found yourselvea in thie dietreea, and had none
upon earth to help you ? And yet, you no sooner cried to Jeaue for help,
than he heard your criea, and came : he brake open the gatea of brasa, and
8napped the bare of iron in sunder ; your chains fell off; and he brought you
out of the prison-house, and set you at liberty. And, certainly, you do not
want to be persuaded to be thankful for auch a deliverance, or to be grateful
to euch a deliverer ! Your praieea should flow with aa much eaae, and aa natu
rally, as your breath. Goo grant the one may endure as long as the other,
eo that of hie praieee there may be no end.
I have now finished the paraphrase upon the words ; and I come, 2ndly, to the
epiritual uae and application of them. The doctrine which they contain ia thia :
Every eon of Adam, in hie natural etate, before he ie redeemed, ie in darkneea
and the ehadow of death, and ie fast bound with the chaine of ein and mieery ;
and there ia no help for him upon earth : the almighty God and Saviour alone
ia able to deliver him. Thia ia the doctrine which I have aupported from other
passages of Bcripture, and from experience. And now, my brethren, let ua
examine our8elves upon it, and try to make it useful and profitable to our eoule.
The proper steps to this end seem to me, let, to believe the doctrine — 2ndly, to
deeire to experience the truth of it— and 3rdly, to find the happy experience of it
in our eoule — and then we ehaU have reaeon indeed to be thankful.
And first— The belief of the doctrine ie the chief point in the Chrietian
religion : for we must be made sensible of our faUen etate by nature before we
can think of its being renewed by grace. The eick only want a physician : the
sinner only wants a Saviour : and therefore we can have no motive to apply to
him for his salvation until we find ourselves mined and undone by sin: bo that
thia must be first, and above aU thinge, eettled in our minde. The doctrine of
our redemption etande upon our befief of the faU ; and if man, in hie fallen
state, was not in darkness, then we want no Saviour to enlighten us : if he was
not in the shadow of death, then we want no Saviour to deliver us from death :
if he was not fast bound with chains by sin and Satan and death, then we want
no Saviour to break our bonds aeunder. We muet firet believe ourselveB to be
in these diatresaee, before we can eeek for redemption. And therefore, my
brethren, do you indeed befieve that you are in your faUen state! — in the dis
tresses here described by the Pealmiet — or do you not believe it ? Do you aee no
darkness in the human mind ? Do you know none who live in the fear of death ?

SERMON IV. 403
And were you never tied to some favourite bosom-sin, which you found it
harder to break off than it could be to break the strongest chains of iron ?
Certainly you must have remarked something of this kind. And if you have,
how can you account for it otherwise than upon the Psalmist's principles ? If
mankind did not lose the divine light and life by sin, how came all this spiritual
darkness into their minds ? If they did not lose the love and favoUr of God by
sin, how came they to be subject to death, and to five all their lives in fear of it ?
If they have not contracted a proneness to evU, how happens it to be so difficult
to break the bonds of sin ? No satisfactory account can be given of these things
but what is taken from the scripture history of the fall ; and therefore why
should you not believe the scripture history ? If you consult the infidels, they
have nothing to offer upon these points ; their advocates are silent. The
heathens have written much, and reasoned more, upon the subject, but without
success. Their best writers own that they were not able to clear it up. But
upon the Christian plan, the difficulties vanish at once. The scripture account
is rational and consistent. And why then, my brethren, do you not believe it ?
You have the word of God, and the voice of reason, and melancholy experience,
attesting the depravity and corruption of mankind. You cannot deny but that
they are depraved and corrupt. This is a self-evident truth. And what remedy
is there for it ? Can God look upon such sinful, polluted creatures with appro
bation ? No : he cannot. The infinite purity of his nature will not suffer it.
And he will not. He has declared, that without holiness no man shall see the
Lord ; and he who has once sinned can never make himself holy, and conse
quently he can never see the Lord ; unless there be a Redeemer, who has holiness
to give : for God's purity and sin's impurity set God and the Binner at an infinite
distance. And how shall he ever approach to God unless there be a Redeemer
who has infinite righteousness to impute to the sinner, and thereby enable him
to draw near to God ? Here is our only remedy. The Redeemer, and he alone,
is able to repair aU the evU effects of sin. Our souls must have remained for
ever in darkness unless the divine rays of the Sun of righteousness had enlight
ened them. Our bodies would have lived here in the shadow of death unless
the Redeemer had brought life and immortality to light. And both body and
soul would have been bound with the chains of am, here and for ever, unless our
almighty Deliverer had set us at liberty. Oh let us receive him, then, for our
Redeemer and our God ! Finding and feeling our misery and distress without
him, let there be raised in the heart a strong cry for his salvation. Let us
imitate those in the text, who cried unto the Lord in their trouble. And this
desire to experience his power to redeem us was the second head of application.
If you believe what has been said of your faUen state, and yet have no desire
to be redeemed from it, how do you quiet your consciences as to this absurd
conduct ? You do believe that man is by nature sinful and miserable, and yet
you have no desire to be redeemed from sin and misery. How inconsistent and
contradictory is this proceeding ! Do you choose, then, to be in darkness rather
than fight ? Is death preferable to life, or bonds to liberty ? O miserable deluded
man, whom sin thus infatuates ! whoever thou art, thou art self-condemned ;
because thou hast seen thyself fatten, and yet hast no desire to be raised up.
By what arguments, what entreaties, shall I prevaU with thee ? How shaU I
touch thy heart, and win thy affections, to make thee desire what thou knowest
already thou must desire, before thou canst be happy ? Blessed Jesus ! this is a
work above my power. Take it, Lord, into thine own hand, and send thine
almighty grace unto the hearts of all my hearers who are in this dreadful
situation, that they may be disposed to seek pardon and peace of thee, with
strong crying and tears, until thou save them from their distresses. Our Re
deemer is a God of love : he cannot reject any person who seeks for his redemp
tion. Seek, therefore, and ye shah find : desire, and your desires shall be
granted : for they cried unto the Lord Jesus in their trouble — they only cried
unto him, and he saved them out of their distresses. So will he save you, if you
cry unto him for salvation. This is your encouragement : desire and pray until
you happUy experience his redeeming grace ; — which is the third and last point
I purposed to consider. The word experience, in these days of blasphemy and

404 THE HUNDRED AND SEVENTH PSALM.
reproach, conveys an odd idea to some persons ; and I know that they cannot
separate it from enthusiasm : but I have remarked that they who ridicide the
word are entire strangers to the thing : for we mean nothing more by experience
than the knowledge of what God has done for our souls, which may be as
certainly perceived as any external object can be : for can faith be given, and
the heart be changed, and aU its affections altered — is it possible this should be
done — and yet the man who suffers this great and total change should not
know it ? Can he be brought out of darkness into light, and not be sensible of
it ? Can he be delivered from the fear of death, and not find that his fears are
gone ? Can his bonds and chains be broken off, and shall he not feel that he is
at liberty ? Surely he must — he must know and feel it. He must have as clear
an idea of it as a poor condemned prisoner would have of liberty, if he were
brought out of the dark dungeon, and his chains and fetters knocked oft'. If
you allow him to experience his deliverance, then you cannot deny the same
experience to the redeemed of the Lord, whom he has brought out of darkness,
and whose chains he has broken asunder. For, doubtless the soul may have its
experience as well as the body ; and the knowledge will be as certain in one
case as in the other. And it highly concerns all formal nominal Christians ; and
I call upon them to observe this. And I would inquire of them, how they
know that they have been redeemed, if they have had no experience of redemp
tion ? Wttl they pretend that they were born in a Christian country, and were
baptized, and have lived ever eince in the communion of some reformed church ?
Be it so. But all this entitles them no more to redemption than if they had
been born among the Heathens or Mahometans ; for a man born in England
wants conversion as much as one born in Turkey : the same change of heart is
necessary for both ; and it is certain, being baptized does not change the heart ;
because, as chttdren grow up, we see the seeds of vice sprouting up apace ; and
nothing can check them but being baptized with the Holy Ghost, of which
water-baptism was the instituted emblem and figure : and whoever ia baptized
with the Holy Ghost, must aa certainly experience the change it makes in him
aa he can see or feel any outward object. He was before in darkness ; now he
is in light : before, he waa afraid of death ; now hi8 fears are gone : before, he
was chained down in a loathsome prison ; now he ie at liberty. How can thie
be, and the man not know it ? Is it possible to open the eyes of a blind man,
and he not know it ? Can he be reatored to sight, and not eee it ? Certainly you
cannot befieve any thing so abaurd ; and yet you do believe a greater abaurdity,
if you think yourselves to be the redeemed of the Lord, and yet have experienced
nothing of his redeeming power. Without this experience you are only nominal
Christians ; and I beseech you, my brethren, not to rest in the mere name
of Christianity. If you have no knowledge of what Christ has done in your
souls, you are only ChriBtiana in profea8ion — you are Christiana without any
sense or feeling of Chriatianity — in8enaible Christians. What mere nothings
are theee in religion ! You fancy you live to Chriet, and yet you have no percep
tion of thie life ! What can be more abeurd ? Therefore be not any longer
content with the mere shadow of Christianity, nor think you have redemption,
because you keep some of its outward services. Theae are weU ; but something
more is necessary. God is to do the great work in your souls. Jt is all his.
You can do nothing to it. You have only to desire and pray for his redemption.
And his grace, which dispoaea you to deaire and pray, will alao do all the rest ;
for it ia he who worketh in you, both to will and to do : therefore cry unto him
unttt he work in you both to wttl and to do. If you cry, he will hear and
answer : he wiU bring you from darkneas to light, from the shadow of death to
life eternal, and from the bonda of 8in and Satan into the perfect liberty of the
sons of God. And may the bleseed Jesus give you the experience of these great
changes, that you may find him almighty to perfect your redemption ! and then
you wttl be thankful. Sensible of your own misery by nature, and of the
blessings of his free grace, you wttl not be silent in your Redeemer's praise.
Your grateful hearts wttl overflow with expressions of thankfulness, and you
wttl five eternaUy to him who now Iiveth in you. And so many as are in this
happy state, who have tasted how good and gradous our Redeemer ia, will now

SERMON V. 405
draw near unto him, and send up their earnest request to him for his blessing
upon what you have heard. And
We beseech thee, O most adorable God and Saviour ! to make this discourse
Hseful and profitable to our souls. We confess that we were by nature in dark
ness and in the shadow of death, and were fast bound with the chains of misery
and sin. Thus low were we fallen, and there was none to help. But as soon
as we cried unto thee, blessed Jesus ! thou wast at hand to save, and didst
deliver us from all our distresses. We praise and glorify thee for thy free and
fuU redemption. And grant, O Lord, to this whole congregation the same
happy experience. Send thy good Spirit into aU their hearts, and so entirely
change them from sin to righteousness, that they, finding thee to be also their
Redeemer and their God, may join with us in praising thee for thy goodness,
and in declaring the wonders which thou hast done for our salvation. O thou
God of love ! let no one leave this place without a blessing : but hear and
answer according to the riches of thy mercy, to the glory of the Father and of
the eternal Spirit, three persons of equal power, majesty, and dominion ; to
whom be ascribed equal honour and worship, now and for ever. Amen.

SERMON V.
Psalm cvii. 17 — 23.
Fools because of their transgression and because of their iniquities, are afflicted.
Their soul abhorreth all manner of meat ; and they draw near unto the gates
of death. Then they cry unto the Lord in their trouble, and he saveth them
out of their distresses. He sent his word and healed them, and delivered
them front their destructions. Oh that men would therefore praise the Lord
fbr his goodness, and for his wonderful works to the children of men J And
let them sacrifice the sacrifices of thanksgiving, and declare his works with
rejoicing.The subject of this Psalm is thanksgiving: the motives by which the Holy
Spirit tries to stir us up to be thankful are taken from redemption ; which is
the greatest mercy God has bestowed upon mankind, and therefore it justly
demands the greatest thankfulness. But because the all-wise Inspirer of this
divine hymn knew the abominable corruption of our hearts, and that we were
by nature unholy and unthankful, he has therefore used several arguments to
convince us. He is earnest and importunate with us. He caUs aloud to us
again and again, solicits, presses us, to open our eyes, and to behold the wonders
which God hath done for our redemption. And to give an edge to these
repeated entreaties, and to make them pierce the deeper, he has adorned them
with the ornaments of language and the graces of sentiment. The very com
position has every thing beautiful and sublime that can recommend it to our
esteem ; and he who knows the heart, and what is most likely to make an
impression upon it, has still farther heightened the subject by four paintings from
nature, which he has drawn in the most lively and striking colours. The design
of each of these pieces is to represent our faUen state in the most affecting point
of view ; that seeing and feeling the exquisite distress of it, we may be induced
to cry unto the Lord Jesus for deliverance, who never shutteth out the cry of
the poor destitute, but hears and comes, with aU the haste that almighty love
can make, to deliver and to save. The subject of the first painting is laid in a
wilderness : faUen man is like a traveUer, lost and bewildered in a desert, weary
and faint, and ready to perish with famine. In the second piece, his distress
increases ; for he falls into a pit of darkness and the shadow of death, where the
enemy finds him, and puts him in chains, binding him with misery and iron.
In the third, which we are going to view at present, you wttl see him laying in
ii scene of still greater distress. Behold him here, quite worn down by sickness.
See how pale and feeble and emaciated he looks — his strength gone — hie appetite

4(1(> THE HUNDRED AND SEVENTH PSALM.
lost—his breath fatting— he draws near to the gates of death. This is the
affecting scene on which we are now to fix our eyes. And I hope you will
attend to the Psalmist's account of the causes and symptoms of our disordere, of
the proper remedy, and of the mean8 to avoid diaeases for the future. 1 know
you all value health : nothing is dearer to you : for without it life itself is a burden ;
therefore hear what the Psalmist has to offer upon these points ; and let this
awaken your closest attention, that he doea not borrow hia rulea from booke, or
from the experience of the ablest physicians, hut he received them from the
author of our being. The all-wise God revealed them to him, and through him
to us : and may he guide our hearts, that we may receive by his grace all that
profit from this ecripture which he intended it should be the meana of adminis
tering to the faithful. May his good Spirit sanctify our hearts while we are
viewing the three chief parts of this highly-finished painting.
First, 'Ihe distress of the sick.
Secondly, Their cure by the great physician. And,
Thirdly, Their grateful behaviour to him.
As to the first particular, the cause of their sickness ie thus described :
" Foolish men, by a course of sin and wickedness, are afflicted and brought low."
Sin was the fruitful parent of all their disorders ; and though they knew it,
though they saw daily sad experience of it, yet they were auch fools as still to ain
on, and to persevere obstinately at the expense of their own health and life.
What a strong delusion was this ! They found themselves weakened and enfeebled,
quite worn down with labouring in the waye of Bin, and yet they were so infa
tuated ae to persist. Might not the Pealmiet with good reaeon call such men fools ?
What could be greater folly than to continue in a habit of ainning until it had
brought them 80 low " that their soul abhorred aU manner of meat, and they
drew nigh to the gates of death ?" A courBe of sin was the cause of their dis
order ; and in theae worda the Psalmist gives us the dangerous symptoms of it :
food is necessary to our being; the desire of it is a natural appetite; but when
nature loaea the desire for that which ia neceeeary to its very being, it must be
then greatly disordered. The stomach must have been much injured, and the
organs dangerously impaired ; indeed the whole body muet be in a very had habit,
before all appetite could be lost. But how much more dangerous are the symp
toms when nature doesnot only cease to desire, butcannot even bearthe moot inno
cent food ? When the stomach is become so weak and tender, that it cannot digest
the lightest meat, the case ia then growing deaperate, and there seems to be no
hopea left when it cornea to the laat atage here described ; viz. to loathe and abhor
aU manner of meat. The stomach turoa at the aight of it. And the man hae thia
loathing and abhorrence of all manner of meat. What he most loved, and had
the best appetite for, ie now become so very offensive, that, at the smell of it, he
grows aick, and fainte away. Nature cannot support itself long under thie dis
order. If thia I088 of appetite and loathing even the araeU of the moet simple
food continue, it must wear the patient out : indeed it is not always a mortal
distemper ; there may be an entire loathing of food, and even fainting away at
the smell of it, and the patient may aometimee recover. But in the preeent case,
the distemper had continued so long, and was grown ao inveterate, that therev
were no hopea, for they draw nigh, the Paalmist says, to the gates of death — theae
gates of brass, and bars of iron, with which death locks up his prisoners in the
grave ; and you may judge how great must be the strength of these gates and
Bars, aince only one person was ever able to break through them ; and if he had not
been more than man, he could never have broken theae gatee d? bra88, nor cut
these bars of iron in sunder.
This is the striking image in the text ; and in order to see it in the most affect
ing point of view, you should visit a person in this distress. Go to his sick-bed,
and behold him in this languishing condition ; lying weak and feeble, and wear
ing away apace through loes of appetite : you see aU the organs of the body, for
want of natural supplies, begin to be unable to perform their proper offices.
And as the bodtty strength decays, the faculties of the mind also are impaired :
his memory is short : he is scarcely able to distinguish one object from another.
If you continue for some time by hia bedside, and examine all the symptoms of

SERMON V. 407
his disorder, it must greatly move your compassion to see him in such pain and
misery. You cannot but feel tenderly for him ; and the more if you recoUect
that this case may soon be your own. And if you thus bring it home, and apply
it to yourselves, it may be natural to give a vent to your pity, and to shed one
compassionate tear over your distressed feUow-creature. But if the person who
is in this disorder should happen to be dear to you — a relation, a friend, as near
as the wife of your bosom — you could not behold them in these agonies without
suffering along with them. And I ask every tender, humane person among you,
whether he does not think sorrow would become him on such an occasion ? You
see how naturally tears flow at the sight of a painted scene in a deep tragedy ; and
what, then, would the world say of a husband who could see his wife languish
ing under the loss of appetite, and yet stand by her unconcerned, even after the
physician had pronounced her case desperate ? A man of the least compassion
would be greatly affected ; and I appeal to every one of you, whether you would
not approve of his tender concern for so dear and intimate a relation. I know
you would think yourselves inhuman and brutish if you felt no sentiments of
pity for the sufferings of your bosom friend. And
What can be dearer to you than your own souls ? Have pity therefore upon
yourselves ; for you are the men. This is your own picture, painted from nature,
and by the eternal Spirit of God. You are these very persons labouring under
this loss of appetite. Every one of you, by the faU, is in this dreadful case.
Oh ! therefore, turn your compassion upon yourselves, and if the sight of the
bodily disease in others made you suffer, let your suffering be doubled at the
sight of your own inward disease. Can you mourn over these outward ma
ladies, and can you spare no tears for your poor distempered souls ? ShaU
they be sick unto death, and shall not the bowels of your compassion be
moved ?
But you do not find them sick : you feel no pains for the loss of appetite.
This is the worst symptom : for sin, which was the cause of the disorder, has now
deluded you into the last stage of it. You are dying ; and yet the delusion of
sin is so strong, that you have no concern for your own death, your eternal death.
Oh, my brethren, for the love of God, and aU that is dear and valuable to you in
time and eternity, rouse up your tenderness and pity. The Lord grant you may
shake off this spiritual lethargy, which makes you so insensible of the distressed
state of your souls. May he awaken you from the dead sleep of sin, and open
your eyes to see your danger : for indeed we are all in this distress. Sin has
robbed us of ah appetite for our spiritual food. We have no desire, no relish
for it ; nay, while we continue in sin, we abhor it, we loathe it, our stomachs
turn against it, and we cannot help showing our resentment against them
who persuade us, and earnestly entreat us to take it, and live.
That all men are by nature in this situation, whether they see it or not, will be
proved in the sequel : indeed, it is plain enough from the text ; for the Psalmist
teaches us that sin is the cause of this disorder ; consequently, aU who have
sinned must be thus disordered : and are we not all sinners ? and are not these
sinners in the greatest danger who do not see that sin has brought them into
this disorder ? for, by not feeling their distress, they have no motive to cry out
for help : but if it should please God to open their eyes, and to show them their
spiritual malady, at the very sight of their extreme danger they would be moved
to implore deliverance. And the first sigh that comes from an awakened heart
pierces the ears of our gracious God : the Lord Jesus hears it, and he comes
with all the haste almighty love can make to answer it : for it foUows, in the 19th
verse, " Then they cry unto the Lord in their trouble, and he saveth them out of
their distresses :" as soon as they cried for salvation, the great physician was
sent to save them — " Jehovah sent his word and healed them, and they were
ddivered from their destructions." His word, who healed them, was his essen
tial word — even the second person in the Godhead, our Lord Jesus Christ — the
word who was made flesh and dwelt among us : of this divine word it was foretold,
in the Old Testament, that he should arise with the glory ofthe morning sun,
bringing heahng in his wings for aU our maladies : and accordingly the New
Testament relates that Jesus went about aU Galilee,, preaching the gospel of the

408 THE HUNDRED AND SEVENTH PSALM.
kingdom, and healing all manner of sickness, and all manner of disease
among the people. He healed the bodily diseases miraculously, to prove that he
was the almighty physician of the soul. And it is remarkable that he never
rejected any person who applied to him for an outward cure, to demonstrate to
us that he would never cast out any person who should apply to him for a spiri
tual cure. You hear, in the text, that so soon as they cried to him, he was at
hand to save, and they had happy experience of the Psalmist's description of him
— " He giveth them medicine to heal their sickness" — He gave them a medirine
which presently restored to them a good appetite. He sent his divine grace into
their hearts, which took off their loathing and abhorrence of food, and then raised
in them a hungering and thirsting after Chri8t's righteousness : and this appetite
for it will always he satisfied ; for blessed are they, says the almighty physician
himself, blessed are they that hunger now, for they shaU be filled ; they Bhall
have more grace, who have a epiritual appetite, a hungering for more ; they ehall
be even fitted with grace : for he hath fitted the hungry with good thinge, with
grace to justify, and with grace to aanctify : theae are good things including every
thing that is good, short of glory.
And after the free love and mercy of our moat adorable phyaician has raised
us from the death of sin, and given us a new life, with new faculties and new
appetites, and our spiritual food is now grown pleasant and deairable to our eoula,
eo that we taste it and relish it with joy ; how, then, can we forbear breaking out
into his praises who has been so exceedingly gracious unto ua ? We cannot
refrain. It would be offering violence in ua to enjoin ailence. We muet be
telling of what our dearest Lord haa done for our recovery ; and sorry we are
from our hearta that we cannot honour him aa we could wiah. Our beet obla
tions, our highest praises, what are they ? How poor and unworthy a return for
hia inestimable love ! But thou hast required them, blessed Jesua ; and we present
them before thee, knowing that we etand in need of thy meritB to pardon our
imperfect praises. Oh make them such as God the Father may accept : for we
now praise thee for thy goodneee, and we declare to all the world that thou hast
done wonders of mercy for our salvation. And when the prophet inquired,
" What shall I render unto the Lord for aU his benefits done unto me ?" he was
led by the Holy Spirit to make this resolution : " I wttl take the cup of ealvation,
and caU upon the name of the Lord :" he went to the bleaeed sacrament, there
to offer hia aacrifice of thanksgiving ; and there the Holy Spirit directs the
redeemed of the Lord to go, in the last verse of the text : " And they eacrificed
the eacrificea of thankegiving, and declared hie worka with rejoicing." Thia waa
the sacrifice of the Eucharist, to which the persons who have been healed of their
spiritual maladies go, in grateful remembrance of the numerous and endless
blessings derived to them from the body and blood of Jeaus Christ ; of which
the sacrifices of thanksgiving under the law were expressive memorials : for at
every auch aacrifice the blood of aome pure, clean animal waa shed, and there
were offered with it unleavened cakes mingled with oil, and unleavened wafers
anointed with oil, and the fleah of the sacrifice was to he eaten the same day it
was offered. In like manner, at our sacrifice of thanksgiving, where theae
figures are realized, we have the sacramental blood of the moBt clean and
unspotted Lamb of God, with which we have bread that is verily and indeed the
flesh of Christ to the faithful, when it is, like these wafers and cakes, anointed
with the holy unction of the blessed Spirit. When he accompanies the outward
elements with hie divine grace and bleaeing, than we partake of the body and
blood of Christ : and his body is meat indeed, and hie blood is drink indeed
— the only meat and drink which can 8upport the eoul : for without them we
have no life, no epiritual divine life, abiding in U8. And after Christ has healed
our infirmities, and restored our lost appetite, where should we go for food but
to our Lord's table ? Where can we receive, but from his body and blood, sup
port to our souls, and growth in grace ? He has instituted these outward signa to
aignify his inward grace, and has assured us that he wttl do the same thing to
the soul which the elements do to the body. Upon this promiee the redeemed
rest. They go to the holy aacrament, both to offer their sacrifices of thanks
giving for what their Saviour hath done for their souls, and aise to receive freeh

SERMON V. 409
pledges of his love and bounty. And whoever approaches the Lord's table with
this faith, wttl always find occasion, when he comes from it, to declare the
works of Christ with rejoicing. God grant this whole scripture may be fulfiUed
in every one who hears me, that, seeing your natural sickness by sin, you
may be disposed to fly to the great physician, and may receive such a perfect
cure, that his praises may be your delight and joy for ever and ever.
I have now gone through the paraphrase upon the words. You have heard
the sense and meaning of them laid open. They contain a most affecting image
of the misery and distress of our fallen nature, which we wiU briefly review by
way of spiritual application in these three particulars, under which it was before
considered in the paraphrase.
First, The distress of the sick.
Secondly, Their cure by the great physician. And,
Thirdly, Their grateful behavioui to him.
And first, As to the distress of the sick, you have seen it drawn by the Holy
Spirit in the strongest colours : and his painting has a universal likeness, lt
does not represent this or that man, but every man ; every son of faUen Adam
is here painted to the life : for before he is redeemed, he lies languishing and
pining away in a course of sin : his soul is in such a bad habit as his body is in
when it has lost aU appetite for food ; and not only does not desire it, but even
loathes it, and continues in this weak feeble condition until it draws near to the
gates of death. Now, Christ is the only support and food of the sinful soul ;
and yet it has no appetite for him ; not only does not desire him, but even loathes
and abhors him, while it is drawing near to the gates of death ; and it wiU be the
Lord's mercy if the gates be not soon shut upon it.
And now, my brethren, let me bring this point home to you. Do you indeed
believe that this is a true picture of human nature, and of every one of you in
your sinful state, before you have redemption through faith in the blood of
Jesus ? The Holy Spirit who drew it, declares it is. And why should you not
believe him ? for it is founded upon a plain matter of fact, which you cannot
deny ; and that is, the universal corruption of mankind. If they be all sinners
by nature, which is as certain as that they are men by nature, then they are all
sick, and this picture is a true likeness of them all : for sin brings the soul low,
and weakens its faculties, as sickness does the body and its faculties : and as
sickness takes away the appetite of the body, and creates an aversion to food,
so does sin take away the appetite of the soul, and creates an aversion to its
food. This is plain matter of fact ; and it is scripture too : for sin is the cause
of this spiritual malady, and, since aU men have sinned, aU men therefore are
spirituaUy diseased with the pains and miseries of sin. And there is no remedy
upon earth, no human means, either by simple repentance or by morality, to
heal this dangerous sickness. The divine and almighty physician is the only
healer of the nations ; but the moralist and the infidel want him not — the whole
want no physician, but they that are sick : but they who see and feel the evU
effects of sin earnestly seek and implore his help ; and for them he has healing
in his wings, as the Evangelist has remarked — " Jesus healed aU that were sick,
that it might be fulfiUed which was spoken by Esaias the prophet, saying,
Himself took our infirmities, and bare our sicknesses." And when took he our
infirmities, and bare our sicknesses ? Was it not when he bare our sins in his
own body upon the tree ? For by his stripes we are healed. When he took
away our sins, he then had power to heal us, and consequently, if he had not
taken our sins away, we could not have been healed; but we must have remained
in the foul leprosy of our transgressions, and in such a fike condition as the
prophet Isaiah has described : " Ah ! sinful nation ! a people laden with iniquity,
a seed of evil doers, chUdren of corrupters — the whole head is sick, and the whole
heart is faint — from the sole of the foot, even unto the head; there is no
soundness in it, but wounds, and bruises, and putrefying sores." This is a
true description of aU sinful people, and of every sinner in particular. And the
image is just and expressive, if you apply to the soul what is here said of the
body ? for sin makes the whole head sick, and the whole heart faint. Sin
disorders all the faculties of the soul, so that, from the sole of the foot even unto

410 THE HUNDRED AND SEVENTH PSALM.
the head, there is no soundness : they are aU corrupt : and the corruption will
aa certainly end in the destruction of the soul as a like total cormption in the
body would end in its destruction.
But I have heard persons inquiring how can this be ? Can I be thus sick,
even unto death, and not know it, and not feel it ? Moat undoubtedly you may.
Your caae may be dangerous, even desperate, and yet you may have no senee of
it : for thie is a spiritual disease, and the cause of it is sin, and every sin obscures
and blinds the eyes of the soul, and makes its other senses gross and thick, and
a habit of sin deadens them entirely — what St. Paul, speaking of the unregene-
rate, calls being past aU feeling. So that you may be sick unto death, and yet
he past aU feeling. The body in the meanwhile may be in health, and the soul
may be dying. The body may be as strong as Samson, and yet the poor soul
may be languishing and fainting, and drawing near to the gates of death ; and
it is the nearer the less apprehensive you are of it. If sin has so blinded and
deluded you, that you neither see your guilt nor feel your danger, your case I
pronounce to be at present desperate. You stand on the precipice. You are on
the very brink of ruin : one step more, and behold, the pit is open. You fall.
You are lost for ever. Eternal destruction is your portion. Men and brethren,
take warning. I entreat you by the tender mercies of our Lord Jesus Christ to
stop and to consider your case. Unlesa you are in love with pain and misery,
be persuaded to request of our God to open your eyes. Let me beg of you (for
I see your extreme danger), and out of love to your aoula I importune you, to
deaire God to 8how your true etate. And wttl you not vouchsafe to send up one
desire to him for yourselves ? But are you fully determined to keep your eyes
shut against your danger, and to go on in your sins ? Would to God I knew
the proper motives to awaken your consciences, and to make you sensible that
your sickness is unto death ! If I did, you should not eleep a moment longer
upon the brink of eternal deetmction : for there indeed you lie, whether you
Bee your danger or not. And can none of my exhortations, none of my friendly
entreaties, prevail with you to rouee up and to look into your own hearta, and to
examine your atate and condition ? Cannot I prevail ? If you still turn a deaf
ear to me, O blessed Jesua, I wttl then turn to thee. Thou God of love, Bend
thy good Spirit upon every peraon here present, on whom my arguments have
made no impression, and show them the dangerous malady of ain ; that, feeling
the pain and mieery of it, there may be raiaed in their hearts a strong cry for thy
Balvation. And may our moat adorable God now work in you thia happy change,
that youmaybediaposedto apply for your cure to the great physician ol souls ; —
Which is the second remark. You have heard how he treated the sick persons
in the text. So soon aa they cried to him for help, he came, and, by a remedy
which never failed, reatored them to perfect health: and he treata all his
patients with the same love and mercy : he only waita till they be made to Bee
their misery and to cry unto him for deliverance : and if it be but one deep sigh,
but one short prayer—" Lord Jesus, be merciful unto me a sinner !" — if it come
from the heart, he wttl be merciful : for his readiness to relieve the distreaaed
is the second part of this beautiful painting—" Then they cried unto the Lord,"
says the Psalmist, " in their trouble, and he delivered them from their distresses
—he sent his word and healed them." The Lord Jeaus himself came. Ihe
great healer of the nations heard their cries ; the bowels of his compassion were
moved at the sight of their misery, and that tender heart, which bled for them
on the cross, now melted into pity ; for he desireth not the death of einnere, but
rather that they ehould repent and five. He died to give them life ; and, now
they are asking for it, how can he refuse it ? Can he who came down from
heaven, and left his eternal throne, and laid aside his dirine glory for a tune-
can he who went through the world poor and despised, hungry and thirsty, and
weary — can he he without love ? Did not he submit to this low abasement, and
to these miseries, in order that he might be the sovereign physician of sinnere ?
And now he has laid them prostrate at his feet, humbly imploring his free grace
to raise them up, is it not imposeible that he ehould deny to heal them ? The
crucified Saviour cannot want love ; the almighty God cannot want power ; and
therefore whosoever cometh unto him for cure he wiU in nowise cast out.

SERMON V. 4U
Such is Jesus, our most adorable physician : and are you not in love with his
amiable character ? How should it endear him to us that he is always disposed
freely to heal, and that there is no spiritual disease so dangerous and inveterate
but he has skill to heal it, nor any so offensive or odious in his sight but he has
mercy to heal it ? He neither wants will nor power. And can you believe this ?
Are you verily persuaded that the God of love is ready to heal you of aU your
maladies ? And wttl you not come to him for a cure ? When the blessed Jesus
invites, when he presses you to accept health and salvation at his hands, what
can tempt you to reject his gracious offer ? I now stand up in his name, and by
his authority now proclaim these tidings of great joy — " I wiU heal their back-
slidings ; I wttl love them freely." These are our Lord's own words in the
prophet Hosea, xiv. 4. And because he loves sinners freely, therefore he heals
them freely. He requires no previous condition, but that they see and feel their
sickness ; and this he makes them sensible of, and then his free grace restores
them to perfect health. And to such a physician who would not apply ? To a
physician who is almighty to heal, and whose love refuses none that apply to
him, be they ever so sick and sinful — and who does all this freely. Free grace
is his only motive. And upon hearing of such a physician, and knowing that
you are sinners and want his help, will any of you think of leaving the church,
without applying to him for relief ? God forbid. I hope none of you will be
such enemies to yourselves. What ! will you prefer sickness to health, and pain
to pleasure ? Can you be thus infatuated by sin ? Is there any of you stiU under
this strong delusion ? If you are, may the almighty physician take your case into
his own hands, and out of his infinite love and compassion first dispose you to
seek health from him, and then freely bestow il upon you. Blessed Jesus ! let
thy divine power be now present to heal every one of us, that we may aU join in
giving thanks and glory to thy name ; which is the Psalmist's third remark in
the text.
I shaU speak very briefly to this particular, because it concerns only those
persons who have experienced the skUl of the great physician. They alone
are here caUed upon to offer their sacrifice of thanksgiving. None can be
thankful to Christ but they who have tasted of his redeeming love ; because
thankfulness arises from our sense of his mercy. We must first cry unto him
to save us from the mortal disease of sin, and afterwards have received salvation,
before our minds are rightly disposed to be thankful. And when the almighty
healer has thus graciously restored us, we can no more, with this experience of
his love, refrain from his praises than we can refrain from breathing: the
redeemed of the Lord praise him as freely as they breathe : for praise is as
much the breath of a redeemed soul, as air is of his body. The redeemed cannot
be silent. It is their delight and joy ; and they are never more happy than
when they are praising the Lord Jesus for his goodness, and declaring the
wonders which he hath done for their salvation. Oh may the number of the
redeemed of the Lord increase daily! May the honour and praise of our
almighty physician spread and be celebrated with more tongues and with more
grateful hearts ! O thou sovereign healer of every sinful malady, let thy fame
be more known in the earth, and thy saving health among all nations. Manifest
thy power to heal all the diseases of sin ; but more especiaUy manifest it to this
congregation. O thou God of love, let thy power now be present to heal. We
caU upon thee, blessed Jesus, we earnestly entreat thee, to hear us, and grant
that no one person may leave this place until they either desire to find, or do
indeed find, that thou art a most loving God, almighty to heal the greatest of
sinners : and for these our prayers we desire acceptance through thine infinite
merits, that thou mayst answer them to the glory of God the Father, and to the
honour of the Holy Spirit, the Trinity in unity, whom we worship and adore,
now and for ever. Amen.

412 THE HUNDRED AND SEVENTH PSALM.
SERMON VI.
Psalm cvii. 23 — 33.
They that go down to the sea in ships, that do business in great waters ; these see
the works of the Lord, and his wonders in the deep. For he commandeth, and
raiseth the stormy wind, which lifteth up the waves thereof. They mount up to
¦ the heaven .- they go down again to the depths .- their soul is melted, because of
trouble. They reel to and fro, and stagger like a drunken man, and are at their
wits' end. Then they cry unto the Lord in their trouble, and he bringeth them out
of their distresses. He maketh the storm a calm, so that the waves thereof are
still. Then are they glad, because they be quiet; so he bringeth them unto their
desired haren. Oh that men would therefore praise the Lord for his goodness,
and for his wonderful works to the children of men ! Let them exalt him also in
the congregation of the people, and praise him in the assembly of the elders.
The Psalmist, in this divine hymn, calls upon ub to be thankful for the bless
ings of redemption ; and in order to inspire us with the greater thankfulness, he
sets before us a perfect representation of man's misery before he is redeemed.
The three firat parta of thia eacred painting have been already conaidered. We
have seen that man, in his natural fallen Btate, ie ae much at a loss to find out
the way to heaven ae a traveUer would be in eome vaat deeert, where he ie quite
loet and ready to periah. He is as much unable to walk in the way, even if he
were directed aright ; being fast bound with the chains of ain, aa a priaoner
would be, who ie ehut up in a dungeon, and there bound with miaery and iron.
And if hi8 chains were knocked off, and the prieon-doore thrown open, yet he ie
in euch a weak, languishing condition, that he cannot stir one Btep. He hae so
weakened and impaired his faculties by a course of ein, which haa brought on
him a total loes of appetite, and haa eo worn him away, that he is now near to the
gates of death. Theee are the three beautiful images, under which the Holy
Spirit has drawn the picture of our fallen nature. The fourth, which pute a
finishing hand to the performance, ie contained in the worda now read ; wherein
our diatreee is stiU heightened, and our danger is painted in more strong colour
ing. The subject of this last piece is a storm at sea : and I befieve there is not
in the universe an object more great and striking ; nor ie it possible to represent
it in words more clear, or in descriptions more affecting, than what the Holy
Spirit has here used. May he dispose your hearts to receive the instruction
which they hold out to you, that every one of you may reap the profit from them,
for which he inepired them and left them upon record. And to this end you
will look up to him for his grace and blessing, while I am,
First, Laying before you a paraphrase upon the words ; and then,
Secondly, Applying the doctrine contained in them to your spiritual benefit
and improvement. And,
First, The Holy Spirit has here given ua the representation of a atorm at aea ;
which ia ao expressive and sublime, that the bare reading of it is sufficient to
humble the pride of human genius. If one of the best heathen poeta had under
taken to write upon the subject, he would probably have given us a volume upon
it : whereas this eacred drawing, though it be ehort, ie nevertheleae abaolutely
complete. The deecription rises up to the greatnes8 of the eubject, and every
circumstance, in the order it is mentioned, heightens what went before, and
makes the whole so fuU and perfect, that they who have been in a storm at aea,
and in danger of being cast away, cannot but tremble at this relation of it.
" They who go down to the sea in ships, and occupy their business in great
waters ; these men see the works of the Lord, and hia wonders in the deep."
We see his wonders everywhere : the creation is full of them. In every place,
in every condition of life, we may behold evident marke of almighty power and
infinite wisdom ; but they who live a seafaring life have more evident marks than

SERMON VI. 418
any other persons ; for they see the most wonderful display of the divine attri
butes. Upon the land, we can scarce form an idea of what they feel and endure
at sea, when, at the word of God, " the stormy wind ariseth, which lifteth up the
waves thereof." The accidents of the storm, and the causes on which they
depend, are here bo justly represented, that it is not possible to see a more affect
ing picture. You may here behold distinctly, and in beautiful order, the com
mand of God — the action of the wind — the rage of the waves — and the distress
of the mariners. God commands the wind to arise — the wind raises and lifts up
the waves of the sea — the waves beat furiously against the vessel — put her in
danger — and this danger raises another tempest in the souls of the poor mari
ners. In this chain of causes and effects God holds the first place ; for he com-
mandeth the stormy wind, and then the wind lifteth the waves of the deep.
Although the wind be nothing but air in motion, yet there is no agent in nature
capable of acting with greater force and violence. The sea, in a perfect calm,
appears to be one beautiful and even plain, smooth as the polished marble ; but
the wind no sooner begins to blow, than it is ruffled and agitated. And when it
blows with might and fury, it tosses up the waves, and beats them one against
another with such impetuosity, that the noise is incessant, and as loud as
thunder. And then, heaping wave upon wave, they here sweU into lofty moun
tains, and there sink down into deep and horrible vaUeys. The natural weight
of the water carries it down, and the violence of the storm raises it up ; and by
the opposition of these two jarring elements there is formed the most dreadful
conflict which is to be seen in the universe ; even on the shore, where you are
safe, yet you cannot behold it without horror. But what must be their situation
who are in the midst of the storm, and over whose heads the raging bttlows are
breaking every moment ! How great must be their distress when they find
their vessel become the sport of the winds and waves, and sometimes carried up
to heaven, up high into the air, and presently down again into the deep ! And
to give us a strong image of the confusion of the mariners, the Holy Spirit adds,
that they reel to and fro, and stagger like a drunken man, tossed from one side to
the other, thrown up and down, and reeling about, as unable to walk upright in
the ship, as a drunken man is upon the land. In this distress they find the
rudder, and the sails, and the oars, of no use. The fury of the wind and storm
carry the vessel where they please, and the waves, beating against her with all
their might, in different parts, and in different directions, shake her strongest
timbers, and make such wide leaks, into which the sea comes pouring in, that
the affrighted mariners are at their wits' end. AU their wisdom is swaUowed up.
The light of reason cannot suggest to them any expedient, or if it could, yet the
strength and arm of flesh are not able to carry it into execution. All hope of
being saved is now taken away, and their souls are in the utmost fear and dread,
and melt away because of the trouble, as it is here expressed — no stability is left,
no courage remains. Their minds are agitated like the ocean, and in as much
confusion : for besides the loss of the vessel, and of the goods, on which they
set but too great a value, they can turn their eyes no way, but they see the waves
ready to swaUow them up, and death awaiting them on every side. No desired
shore, no favourable haven appears. On earth there is no prospect of deliverance.
This is a short sketch of the Holy Spirit's description, which, how briefly soever
I may have represented it, is nevertheless perfectly expressive and sublime in
itself, and wttl appear more so to them who have seen a storm in its highest rage
and fury : for if you have never seen one, you can form but very faint ideas of it.
I judge thus from my own experience : for I have seen many storms from the
shore, and thought I could have given a good description of them ; but when I
was afterwards really in one, and in danger, I then found that my former know
ledge was very imperfect. To be in a storm at sea is as different from seeing it
from the shore, as a painted storm differs from a real one. It felt very differently
to me from what it had ever done before, when I was in the midst of the waveB,
and was tossed up to heaven, and then down again to the deep. The sea ran so
high that I weU remember, when our ship was down in the deep, between two
waves, I could not see the top of the mast of a large vessel which came very near

414 THE HUNDRED AND SEVENTH PSALM.
ns during the storm. You may judge what a situation we were then in. I
befieve the stoutest heart among you would have trembled upon this occasion.
If you would know how you should have behaved, put yourselves in the same
situation we were in. Suppose yoursdves to have been several days in a trou
bled sea, tossed with winds and tempests, and at last aU hopes of being saved
began to fatt. What do you think would be your eentiraente, if the storm should
still continue, the vessel should grow leaky and ready to sink, and instant death
was before your eyes ? If you could reaUy suppose yourselves to be in thia
situation, you would want none of my arguments to persuade you to seek help
from God in euch a time of need. Would not you pray, and entreat him with
strong crying and tears to come to your assiatonce ? Oh with what eornestneae
would your soule implore and beg him to stretch out his merciful hand, and
save you from perishing ! Let there, then, be raised in your hearts the same
strong crying and tears that you may be delivered from a more dreadful storm
than what we have been considering. Thia tempeat in the natural world ia but
a faint image of a much greater which ain has occasioned in the spiritual world.
The one is hut a painted storm compared to the other. And to this more ter
rible storm you are aU subject. Every son of Adam, being a sinner, is embarked
on a troubled sea, where the winds and waves are contrary : for it mu8t he re
membered, that thia description cannot he peculiar to sailors, because the whole
Psalm is spiritual ; it belongs to the redeemed of the Lord ; and aU his redeemed
people do not literaUy go down to the sea in ships, nor do they meet with storms
from the rage of winds and waves ; and yet they are all caUed upon to be thankful
for being delivered from some storm ; consequently they were all in this atorm
before they were redeemed, and they were thrown into it by the aame cause
which made them lose themselves in the wilderne88 — fall into the pit — aicken
and pine away for want of appetite. Sin wa8 the fmitful parent of all theae
miseries. And the storm which sin raises in the eoul ia a spiritual tempest, of
which the natural is a picture. The Holy Spirit intended the one ehould be a
natural repreeentation of the other. He gave ue the outward image, that we
might in it eee the likeneee of an inward etorm. And he himself, in his own
word, has applied the outward image to represent theee inward objects, and
therefore we nave his own infallible application of the text, wherein he suppoaea
ua all to be embarked upon a voyage to the haven of eternal reat. And we
Bailed thither on a emooth unruffled sea unttt sin entered into the world, and
raised the winds, and made the waves beat against us, and a furious atorm
darkened the face of the eky, and hid the desired haven from our eight. And
here the Holy Spirit begine hie deecription : " They who go down to the eea,
into the ever moving, busy, agitated world, which sin has made like the troubled
sea, " in shipe," in worldly eocietiee, opposed to the ark of the church, which is
but one, " and do bueineee in great waters," and are occupied in worldly busi-
ne88 among the crowd, and in the bu8tle of worldly men ; " these see the worka
of the Lord, and hia wondera in the deep : "—they aee a fuU display of hia won
derful worka in hia manner of bringing theee worldly people into dietresB : for
he commandeth ; aU afflictiona come by hie order and appointment ; this espe-
ciaUy, which raiseth the etormy wind, which moveth the epirit of the world to
oppose ita own people, and lifteth up the waveB thereof to distress them.
Worldly men meet with a sea of troubles ; for the wicked are like the troubled
sea when it cannot rest : waves after waves beat against them, and sweU and lift
up themselves stttl higher and higher, until the raging httlowe break over their
heade. And when theee afflictione come, they are eo diBtresaed, their minda are
so tossed and agitated, that they can find no rest. Sometimes they mount up
to heaven, carried up and swoln with spiritual pride ; then again they go down
to the depths, sunk with distrust and despair — their eoul melteth away, and haa
no atability or courage left, becauae of the trouble. The trouble ie so great, that
the fight of reason is put out. The boasted moral sense refusee to take the helm,
and the rectitude and dignity of human nature dare not direct. The religion of
nature, and the fitneaa of thinga, aided with aU the gracea and ornamenta of the
arts and ariences, and aet off with the lustre of classical learning, cannot hinder

SERMON VI. 415
them from reefing to and fro, and staggering like a drunken man. Nay, with
aU these learned and polite accomplishments, they are at their wits' end, quite
unable to find out any expedient to extricate them from their distress.
This is a true picture of man in his natural state. It is drawn by the Spirit of
God, and is the likeness of every son of Adam ; for sin has thrown them upon
this boisterous sea, and raised this furious storm against them, and the spirit of
the world and the deril keep it up in all its fury, and drive its mighty billows
over their heads. And they can do nothing to escape perishing in the deep
waters. Nothing but death is before them. Oh may the God of mercy open
your eyes to see your danger, that finding no help upon earth, you may be dis
posed to look up to him, from whom alone can your salvation come ! And being
thus disposed, then you wiU foUow them in the text — " who cried unto the Lord
in their trouble, and he delivered them out of their distresses."
This is the second part of the beautiful painting in the text. Happy was the
affliction which made them seek help from God : for while the world smUed on
them, they were apt to forget heaven. But when affliction pressed sore upon
them, and no human relief offered, the most stupid and hardened sinners were
then ready to ask reUef from God, and to seek him in their distress, although
they had forgotten and despised him in their prosperity. But no affliction works
this happy effect more certainly than the dangers of the sea, which are so great,
and in a storm so far out of the reach of any succour, that there are very few, in
euch a case, who do not cry unto God for help. And hence comes the common
saying — " that they who know not how to pray should go to sea to learn." A
storm is an exceUent teacher : it forces men to pray ; it makes the most profane
and irreligious look up to heaven ; and if they once look up with the prayer of
the heart, our God, out of his infinite love, immediately hears and answers.
" CaU upon me," says he, " in the day of trouble ; so will I hear thee. And it
shaU come to pass, that before they caU I will answer ; and while they are yet
speaking, I will hear." Thus prayer engages the Almighty on their side, and
then nothing is impossible to it. Prayer commands the elements — changes the
seasons — stops the sun in its course — quenches the violence of fire — and calms
the most tempestuous sea. You saw these poor mariners in distress : they had
exerted aU their skttl, and toiled so long as their strength lasted, but to no pur
pose ; the storm stiU raged, and grew more violent ; so that, aU efforts being in
vain, they give up their vessel to the fury of the winds and waves, and then, at
last, betake themselves to their prayers : and the prayer of faith did for them
what the united skiU and strength of aU the men in the world could never have
effected. It calmed the wind, it quieted the waves, it smoothed the sea, and car
ried the shattered vessel safe to the desired haven : for upon their crying to him,
" he maketh the storm a calm, so that the waves thereof are stttl : then are they
glad, because they be quiet ; and so he bringeth them unto their desired haven."
And this deliverance is to them a matter of great gladness : the past danger
enhances the present safety ; the storm which they have escaped now increases
their enjoyment of the desired haven : for, it is certain, we relish prosperity better
after adversity, peace after war, and health after sickness. A calm is never so
pleasant as after a storm. And while we are tasting the pleasures of it, how can
we avoid acknowledging our deliverance with gratitude ?
This is the third part of the painting in the text. So soon as these mariners
are delivered, they instantly offer up their sacrifice of thanksgiving : " Oh that
men would therefore praise the Lord for his goodness, and declare the wonders
that he doeth for the children of men !" The wonders which he had wrought
deserved their best thanks, not only in private, but also in public ; not only in the
closet, but also in the great congregation. And the Holy Spirit, in the last
words, caUs upon them to exalt their deliverer in the congregation of the people,
and to praise him in the assembly of the elders, (that is, openly, in the face of
the church,) and if they should neglect this, I appeal unto you all, whether such
ungrateful wretches did not deserve to have perished unregarded in the storm.
1 have now considered the paraphrase upon the words, and have set before
you the lively painting of our natural state, which they contain : and I come,
secondly, to tne spiritual use and application of them.

416 THE HUNDRED AND SEVENTH PSALM.
The image is this. Mankind, before they are redeemed, are like a ship in a
stormy sea, agitated with passions, tossed up and down with cares, and so blown
about with various temptations, that they are never at rest. This is their calmest
state in the smiling day of smooth prosperity : but afflictions will come, the
afflictions of sin, and Satan, and the world, will raise a violent storm, which all
the wit and strength of man cannot escape. He will soon be swallowed up of the
devouring waves unlese that same God who created the sea, speak to it—" Peace ;
he still." We are aU in the same situation the apostles were when they were
alone, in the evening, in the midst of the sea, and the wind and the waves were
contrary ; against which they toiled, rowing in vain, until Christ came to them,
walking upon the sea, and commanded the winds to cease, and the waves to be
still. Upon which, there was a great calm : for they knew hia voice who had
apoken them into being, and they obeyed. His word is almighty to compose
and stttl the raging war of the most furioue elementa. And he is as almighty
in the spiritual world as he is in the natural. Into whatever eoul he enters, ho
commande all the jarring paa8iona to be still, and tliere is indeed a blessed calm.
Oh may the almighty Saviour speak thus unto you aU, that you may eail on a
emooth unruffled eea until you arrive safe at the desired haven of eternal rest !
And now, my brethren, after what has been said in this and the preceding lec
tures of man's faUen state, let me ask what opinion you entertain of it ? Do you
reaUy think that the image which the Holy Spirit haa 8et before you thia day ia
true, and drawn from nature ? Do you indeed believe that ein hae thrown you
upon the wide and furioue ocean, that the spirit of the world and the deril have
raised a tempest against you, that you are every moment in danger of being swal
lowed up By the mercilese wavee, and that there is no deliverer, in heaven or
earth, but the Lord Jesua ? If you do not believe thia truth, upon what prin
ciples do you deny it ? Not upon scripture principle ; for it ia very common in
scripture to describe the sinful Btate of man under this image. The book of
Psalma is full of it. In the 18th, Christ, complaining of his enemies, says, "The
flooda of ungodly men made me afraid ; but God took me : he drew me out of
many waters ; he delivered me from ray strong eneuiiea." Here the many
waters and the strong enemies stand for the same persons. The 09th Psalm
begins thus : " Save me, O God ! for the watera are come in unto my eoul. I
am come into deep waters, where the floods overflow me;" and then, in the 14th
verse, Christ prays for deliverance in these worde : " Let me be delivered from
thera that hate me, and out of the deep watera." The aame ungodly men who
hated him are also called deep watere. He praye again, in the HMh Paolra,
verse 7 = " Send thine hand from above ; rid me and deliver me out of the great
waters, and from the hand of strange children." And theae strange children are
compared to troubled watera throughout the prophets, and even to the end of
the New Testament. St. James likens the inconstant wavering man to a wave
of the eea, driven with the wind, and toeeed ; and St. Jude calle the ungodly
infidels, raging waves of the sea, foaming out their own Bhame. And St. John,
in the 17th chapter of the Revelation, has given ua a key to open aU theae ecrip-
tureB : he waa ehown, in a vieion, the judgment of the great whore that sitteth
upon many waters : and in the 15th verse, the angel explains the viaion, and Bays,
" The watera which thou aaweat, where the whore 8itteth, are peoples, and raul-
titudes, and nations, and tongues :" — aU the unconverted race of mankind, of
every nation and tongue.
These scriptures are plain and express ; and the meaning of them cannot be
mistaken. If you deny the evidence which they give, you must deny the
plainest matter of fact in the world : for if you look upon the troubled face of
the sea, and then look into the working of your own eoule, you muetobeerve the
moet etriking fikeneee. The mind is as seldom serene and calm, as the face of
the ocean is : varioue paeeions, succeeding one another in perpetual fluctuation,
forbid it to reet — they are alwaye agitating and toseing it — opiniona are con
tinuaUy changing, temper8 ever fluctuating, a8 wave foUows wave — fashions are
never at a stand, not only in dress, but also in learning — one system still
pushing out another, ebbing and flowing, like the tide — and even the moral
relations, and the moral fitness of things, notwithstanding their metaphysical

SERMON VI. 417
eternity, are always fluctuating and changing, and yet always restless. And
it cannot be otherwise; because the mind of fallen man is the very picture
of the troubled sea when it cannot rest, whose waters cast up mire and dirt,
troubled like the sea, like it cannot rest, like it casting up the mire of corrup
tion and the dirt of sensuality ; consequently there is no peace, saith my God, to
the wicked. And is not this altogether the perfect likeness of the changeable
inconstant world, whose tempers, passions, pursuits, and vices, are like the
waves of the sea, succeeding one another in perpetual fluctuation and disorder ?
Thus experience confirms the testimony of scripture, and by the mouth of
these two witnesses the truth ought to be established. And what farther objec
tion wiU you make to it ? You will not say that you do not find it to be a matter
of fact by your own experience. Would to God none of you made this objection !
for it does not prove that you are not in a storm, but only that you are eeized
with a sinful lethargy ; and you doze and sleep on while the vessel is sinking.
Oh, my brethren, this is the strongest delusion of sin ! and for the love of God and
your own souls, awake! You are indeed perishing : see! the waves are break
ing in upon you ; death is at hand, and wUl not your own safety induce you to
shake off this lethargy ? What a wonderful delusion is this ! Satan and the world
have been crying unto you, Peace ! peace ! when there is no peace ; they have
lulled conscience asleep, and probably have seared it with a hot iron, and
rendered it past feeling. In this case you will not feel your danger, although you
are just sinking ; the waves will soon swaUow you up ; and then you wiU find a
storm, when the wrath of the Almighty faUs upon you, of which the greatest fury
of winds and waves can give but a very faint and imperfect image. God grant
you may escape it ! and may his grace awaken all your consciences, who sleep
in sin ! May the infinite love of the blessed Jesus open your eyes, and show
you your danger, that you may be led to cry unto him for deliverance ! which is
the Second remark I have to make. And this relates to those persons among you
who find they are in a storm, and are witting to come to Christ, as these
redeemed of the Lord did in the text, that he may command the winds and the
waves, and there may be a calm. If you can but once see your danger, you are
safe : for your distress cannot be greater than the Redeemer's mercy. Although
you find yourselves sinking in the mighty waters, yet you have only to cry with
Peter, on the same occasion, Lord, save me ! and Jesus will certainly stretch
forth his almighty arm, and you shaU be saved. If you do but see your danger,
and, out of the deep sense of it cry unto him for help, he will not cast out your
prayer : for he is a God of love, and his love is almighty to save. Be your sins
ever so great, ever so numerous, your danger from them ever so imminent, fly
but to the altar of his mercy, and take hold of the merits of that most precious
blood which was shed upon it,-and then you are safe : for the blood of the Lamb
of God was shed for sinners, and no sinner ever sought aright to partake of the
merits of it, and was cast out. I came not, says the blessed Jesus, I came not
to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance. Sinners alone want a Saviour,
and our God was therefore caUed Jesus, because he was to save his people from
their sins ; and he has promised, in the text, that as soon as they cry unto him out
of the deep sense of their distress, he wiU hear and answer : for he is always
more ready to save than they are to cry unto him for salvation. And may these
considerations hasten you to seek this help : into whatever distress sin may have
thrown you, if it has exposed you to aU the storms and tempests of the world, yet
here is an almighty deliverer. The winds and the waves know his voice; and
when he commands, they obey. At his word the jarring elements are silent in
the natural world ; and they will be the same in the spiritual. If he speak
peace unto your souls, there will be a calm indeed. The rage of conscience,
agitated by the dark blasts of guilt, and by the horrible waves of misery, will
presently subside, all the inconstant tempers and ruffled passions will be com
posed, and a serenity but little short of heaven wiU ensue.
Such is the God of our salvation. Whoever among you, then, sees your
danger, and wishes for deliverance, come to our God, and he will save you.
Come to the Lord Jesus with strong crying and tears, and you have his word
B B

418 THE HUNDRED AND SEVENTH PSALM.
for it, that you shall find in him an almighty deliverer. Oh ye poor distressed
souls, whom consrience and guilt torment, here is your only remedy. Look up
to your redeeming God; for his mercy is above vour distresses. Your offences
may be great against him ; but they cannot be so' great as you will find, by faith,
hia love is to you. He loved you even when you left him : how much more
will he love you now you are returning ? Remember what he suffered for you :
for your sins he sweat drops of blood ; for your eins he endured the torments of
his bitter passion ; for your sins he bled on the cross ; and for your sins he
died : hia love to you was stronger than death : and therefore be not dis
couraged at the sight of your own wickedness. He will receive you, be ye ever
so Binful : he will not shut you out, if ye have been ever so ungrateful. Only
come to him thia day, and let there be raiaed in your hearts a strong cry for his
salvation. Now try the truth of what you have heard. Seek him with your
most fervent deaires and earnest prayers, and see whether he be not the almighty
Saviour of sinners. And if you come believing, as these redeemed of the Lord
did, in the text, who, when they saw no way left to escape, at last looked up to
him, then he will as certainly save you aa he did them. Oh may hi8 bleaaed
Spirit put it into aU your hearta to eeek hie love, unttt he bring you to the
haven where you would be ; first to the holy haven of the church militant, and
then to the happy haven of the church triumphant 1 And
After you have received his mighty deliverance — after he haa brought you
eafe from the atorma of the world, and has calmed the winds, and composed the
waves which opposed your voyage to the desired haven— has made you a juat
and holy member of the ark of hia church, and has placed you eecurely in it —
after he haa done these wonders for you, is it poaaible for you to be silent in
your deliverer'a praiee ? While you have a grateful sense of his benefits fresh in
mind, you wiU certainly be celebrating them. Vou cannot refrain from the just
tribute of thanks. And this is the third and last part of the beautiful painting
in the text : " Oh that men would therefore praise the Lord for hia goodneee,
and for hia wonderful works to the children of men." And they who have been in
danger, and they who have been delivered, and now live in safety and joy, they
must be telling of hie salvation all the day long. Their hearte overflow with grati
tude and praiee. Redemption is their favourite subject ; and the very name of
their Redeeraer iadear and precious. JESUS ie a word that sounds exceeding
sweet and pleasant in their ears : they find continual delight in apeaking of their
redeeming God, and in declaring the wondera which he hath done for their
redemption. And they praiee him with the gratitude of the heart, and with the
thankfulness of all the affections, not only in private, but aleo in public ; not only
with their lips but with their livee : for the praiaes of a pure and holy life are the
beat 8acrificea of thankegiving which we can now offer. And may our almighty
God and Saviour grant that every one of you may thus praise him 1 O blesaed
Jeaus ! let thia acriptuTe be fulfiUed to-day in thie whole congregation ! Let not
one of them depart until they see upon what a stormy ocean they are aU em
barked, and what dreadful winds and waves sin, and Satan, and the world, have
raised against them. Showthem their danger, that they may fly unto thee for help.
And the moment they cry unto thee, be at hand, O God ot love ! to hear and
answer ; and bring them safe by thy good Spirit from the storms and tempests of
this world unto the desired haven. Blessed Jesus ! say unto our troubled senile,
Peace, be etiU ! Let thy grace calm all our paeeione, and so smooth att our ruffled
tempera, that every one of us may go out of the church in perfect love with thee,
and with one another. Hear us, most adorable Saviour, and answer us to the
glory of the Father and to the honour of the eternal Spirit, three persons of one
undivided Essence ; whom we worship and adore now and for ever. Amen.

419
SERMON VII.
Psalm cvii. 33 — 39.
He turneth rivers into a wilderness, and the water-springs into dry ground; a
fruitful land into barrenness,for the wickedness of them that dwell therein .- he turn -
eth the wilderness into a standing water, and dry ground into water-springs. And
there lie maketh the hungry to dwell, that they may prepare a city for habita
tion ; and sow the fields, and plant vineyards, which may yield fruits of increase.
He blesseth them also, so that they are multiplied greatly ; und suffereth not their
cattle to decrease.
In the former parts of this divine hymn we have seen the misery and distress
of mankind in their faUen state, from which, so soon as they were made
thoroughly sensible of it, and humbled under it, our gracious Redeemer deli
vered them. He came upon their first cry; and his almighty arm brought
salvation. And his love was equal to his power : for he not only saved them
from their misery and distress, which was indeed a most adorable act of free
and unmerited grace, but he also enriched them with his dirine and heavenly
blessings, which, since they could never merit, they could therefore have no
reason ever to expect. But mercy is the distinguishing attribute of our Lord
Jesus. He is free to pardon — free to give. Whosoever cometh unto him, he
wiU in nowise cast out, neither out of his love here, nor his glory hereafter.
And shall not they, who have tasted of his redeeming love, comply with the
prophet's request in this psalm ? ShaU not they be thankful ? Consider from
what a depth of misery his free grace has raised them, and then judge how it is
possible for them to refuse their due tribute of thankfulness ? You saw them
first in the wUderness, lost and starving traveUers, ready to perish : you behelil
them fallirtg into the pit, where the enemy found them, and put them in chains
of misery and iron: and how greatly were you moved at the sight of their
sickness, when they lay pining away through a total loss of appetite, and were
grown so weak and feeble, that death was ready to take them into the prison of
the grave, and to shut its gates upon them ! and, what was the worst of all, the
soul was never at rest ; sin, which brought them into these miseries, made them
StiU more miserable under them. Guilt would not suffer any of the faculties to
be composed, and conscience never knew what it was to be in a calm. Indeed,
the whole man, body and soul, were in such a continual ferment, and so distressed
foi fear of perishing every moment, that nothing in nature could so perfectly
represent their situation as the distress of mariners at sea in a violent storm.
These are the dark scenes in which the unconverted and unregenerate lay : you
have beheld the shady part of their picture : now you are to look upon a more
agreeable and pleasing prospect. Under the image which we are to view at
present, the Holy Spirit has given us a beautiful painting of their deliverance ;
and we see the same persons who lay in the most exquisite distress, here placed
in the most delightful and happy circumstances. They are brought out of the
wilderness, and out of the pit, and are healed of all their infirmities ; and their
consciences are composed and calm — they are pardoned freely — made just and
holy — admitted into the one tme church of Christ — and blessed in it by him with
all true, spiritual graces. Oh what an entire and happy change is this! God
grant that every unconverted person here present may experience it ! May he
turn the wilderness into a standing water, and dry ground into water-springs, &c.
May the love of our almighty Deliverer exert his power this day, and fulfil every
word of what is here said ofthe Gentile church in this whole congregation ! while
I am First, Laying before you a comment upon the words, and
Secondly, Bringing the doctrine contained in them home to your hearts, by
way of spiritual application.
'ihe Holy Spirit begins with a description of tbe rejecting of the Jewish church,
and of the transferring of its privileges and graces to the Gentiles. " He turneth
rivers into a wilderness, and the water-springs into dry ground." This passage
E e 2

420 THE HUNDRED AND SEVENTH PSALM.
is here applied in a spiritual sense ; it relates to redemption : and nothing more
is necessary to the understanding of it than to remember that water is, in scrip
ture, the known and established emblem of the Holy Spirit. What the one does
in nature, the other does in grace. St. John puts the matter beyond aU doubt,
in his comment upon Christ's words, who had been speaking ofthe waters which
should flow from behevers : But this, says he, he spake of the Spirit. And the
other scriptures speak of the Spirit under the same image. A cnurch enriched
with the graces of heaven is compared by the prophets to a weU-watered garden,
Isaiah lviii. 11, Jer. xxxi. 12, to the paradise of God, watered with its four
fmitful rivers : for, as every thing useful and ornamental in the vegetable
world is raised up by water, so is every thing in the spiritual world raised
up by the Holy Spirit. And in the Jewish church he had caused every virtue
abundantly to grow : it was nourished with the streams of his divine grace,
enriched with the dew of heaven, and blessed with rivers of comfort, insomuch,
that it wanted no manner of thing that is good. St. Paul thus enumerates the
blessings of the Israelites : " To whom pertaineth the adoption, and the glory,
and the covenants, and the giving of the law, and the service of God, and the
promises ; whose are the fathers, and of whom as concerning the flesh Chriet
came," Rom. ix. 4. And when he came, this once favourite church would not
receive him for the promised Messiah, but rejected and murdered him. For which
crime the greatest part of the Jewish nation waa cut off, and the reat, according
to their own prophecieB, were dispersed over the face of the earth, and they will
continue dispersed, until they receive Jesus of Nazareth for their Saviour and
their God. While they justify the horrid rebellion of their forefathers, who cru
cified the Lord of life, the veil must remain upon their hearta : and it ia remark
ably upon thera at present ; for they are tbe most stupidly infatuated of all people,
firing without either civil or ecclesiastical polity, without a temple, without a
priest, without sacrifices, without an atonement, and, indeed, they are now without
a God ; because they have rejected the true God, the blessed Trinity of their fathers,
and worship they know not what. They have eet up some arrange kind of an infi
nitely extended metaphyaical being, whom they call the one supreme God, and who
never had any existence but what the enemies of Chrietianity have been pleaaed to
give him. Thus they have turned the once fruitful church into a wilderness
And the Holy Spirit here describes them in this eituation. The church of God,
which he had bleeeed with hia promises, and with his prophets, and had enriched
with the continual stream8 of his grace, waa now made barren. When it rejected
that God and Saviour, on whom its whole economy waa founded, then he took
away all its privileges and blessings, and it has been ever since a poor, dead,
barren wilderness. Deprived of his grace, it was reduced to the Bame etate
which the moet fmitful country would soon be in if it should be deprived of the
rain and dew of heaven : for then nothing could grow. It would become a barren
desert. Apply this to the present state of the Jews, and you eee how God turn
eth rivers into a wilderness, and the water-epringe into dry ground— and, ae it
follows in the 34th verae, " He turneth a fmitful land into barrenness for the
wickedness of them that dweU therein." This scripture is now fulfilled literaUy
as well as spirituaUy. The Holy Land has been as remarkable for its fruitful-
ness, as it is now for its barrenness ; for it waa once the mo8t fmitful country
in the world. The 8acred writers mention the particular bleasinga with which it
was enriched. Moses speaks of it in these worde : " The country which thou
goest to possess is a land which the Lord tby God careth for ; the eyes of the
Lord thy God are always upon it, from the beginning of the year, even unto the
end of the year ; and therefore it is a good land ; a land of brooks of water, of
fountains, and depths that spring out of vaUeys and hills ; a land of wheat and
barley, and vines, and fig-trees, and pomegranates ; aland of olive oil and honey; a
land wherein thou shalt eat bread without scarceness : thou shalt not lack any thing
in it." And it fully answered this description. It was once dressed and culti
vated, and flourished like a fruitful vineyard ; but at present it lays desolate and
waste. The vineyard of the Lord of hosts was the house of Israel ; and becauae,
after all his cultivation, they brought forth no fruit, therefore he declares, " I
wiU take away the hedge thereof, and it shaU be eaten up ; and break down the

SERMON VII 421
wall thereof, and it shall be trodden down. And I will lay it waste : it shall not
be pruned nor digged, but there shaU come up briers and thorns. I will also
command the clouds that they rain no more upon it," Isaiah v. 5, 6. 'Ihis pro
phecy is now fulfilled. Judea is one entire wilderness, overrun with briers and
thorns, as historians relate, and modern traveUers testify. And the fruitful land was
turned into barrenness for the wickedness of them who dwelt therein. Wickedness
was the cause of its desolation. The prophets had foretold them of their utter
extirpation from the promised land, if they should reject the Messiah when he
came. And he came to his own, but his own received him not ; they opposed,
blasphemed, and crucified him, and therefore, according to his own predictions,
they were cut off and dispersed over the face of the earth ; and the fruitfulness
of their country was taken from it, and given to the Gentiles, as it follows in the
35th verse : " He turneth the wilderness into a standing water, and dry ground
into water-springs." The heathen nations gladly received Jesus for their Saviour
and their God, and therefore their wilderness was turned into a standing water,
and their dry ground into water-springs ; and this happened when the Spirit was
poured upon them from on high : for then the wilderness became a fruitful
field, and the desert rejoiced and blossomed like the rose ; it blossomed abun
dantly, and rejoiced even with joy and singing. And he enriched the heathens
thus abundantly with the streams of divine grace, after he had made them thirsty,
and had disposed them to receive the water of life with thankfulness ; " for when
the poor and needy seek water, and there is none, and their tongue faileth for
thirst, I the Lord will bear them; I the God of Israel will not forsake them ; I
wiU pour water upon him that is thirsty, and floods upon the dry ground — I will
pour my Spirit upon thy seed, and my blessing upon thine offspring ; and they
shaU spring up as among the grass, as willows by the water courses." The pro
phet Isaiah is full of these images : he frequently compares the heathens, before
they received the gospel, to a desolate wUderness ; but, after they embraced it,
to a cultivated garden, enriched with beautiful flowers and useful fruits, covered
at firat with the most fragrant blossoms, and afterwards abounding with the
richest products ; and it received all its fruitfulness from the rain and dew of
heaven. The grace ofthe Holy Spirit was the cause of their flourishing and bring
ing forth fruit under the gospel. His gracious operation is as necessary in the
spiritual world as the genial influences of warm showers are in the natural. He
does the same in grace which they do in vegetation.
The scripture teaches us to take our ideas of his operation from this image ;
and it is very familiar and well understood. You aU know what are the effects
of soft gentle rain : you have seen it cover the earth in a short time with a most
agreeable verdure, after it had been parched and burnt up with a long drought.
\ ou have seen what plentiful harvests foUowed a mild dropping season ; so that
it might be said, without a figure, " the clouds drop fatness." And you may
see the influence of the Holy Spint equally fruitful in his province. Look into
the early ages of the Christian church, and you wiU see how he blessed and
enriched the first converts from heathenism : they put forth every blossom that
is fair and fragrant, and were fruitful also in every good word and work : they had
been like barren trees in a wilderness, without leaves, or blossom, or fruit; but,
so soon as they were transplanted into the church, they began to flourish abun
dantly, and, watered with the continual streams of divine grace, they brought
forth fruit unto eternal life. And thus the wilderness was turned into a standing
water, and the dry ground into water-springs, verse 36 ; " and there he maketh
the hungry to dweU, that they may prepare a city for habitation." And in this
fruitful soil he placeth the hungTy. They wander no more, as they did in the
wilderness ; they are no more lost and ready to perish ; but they here find an
abiding city, and are securely settled within the pale ofthe church. " And they
sow their lands," verse 37. Our blessed Lord has explained these words. The
seed, he says, is the word — sowing the seed in the lands is sowing the word in
the hearts of the hearers. And this was the office of the apostles, and of the suc
ceeding ministers of the gospel. Indeed, the apostles were most eminent and
Wesson in this great work : for they carried the good seed into all lands, and
their words unto the ends of the world. They converted whole provinces and

4-2"2 THE HUNDRED AND SEVENTH PSALM.
kjuS <joms to the faith, and they went on sowing the word without ceasing, until
they had planted it in every wilderness upon the face of the earth, and had there
watered it with the dew of heaven. Oh that our Almighty Lord would raise up
in this our day an army of apostolical ministere, who, like their predecessore,
have the good aeed sown abundantly in their own hearts, and are therefore best
able to aow it in the hearts of others ! And by the success of such men in sowing
their lands, may many " vineyards be planted !" A vineyard is, in scripture, the
established emblem of the church, where the tme vine grows and flourishes. The
Psalmist and the wise king apply it in this sense ; and the prophet Iaaiah puts it
beyond doubt in the 5th chapter, where, explaining the parable of the vineyard,
he says, " the vineyard of the Lord of hosta is the houae of Israel." And our
blessed Saviour makes this application of the same parable ; indeed, the Jews
themselvea make it : for when he asked them what he ahould do to those hus
bandmen who had injured some, and slain othera of the aervants of the Lord of
the vineyard, and at la8t murdered his own eon, they reply, " He wttl mise-
rably destroy these wicked men, and wttl let out his vineyarel unto other husband
men." Accordingly, he let it out to us. When he destroyed the wicked men
of the Jewish church, he then let out his vineyard to us Gentiles. The apostles
came and planted churchea among ua, and the almighty arm of our God ha8 thus
far protected them. Oh may Mb grace and favour continue, that we " may bring
forth fruits of increase," as the churches first brought out of the wildemees did!
They brought forth all the fair bloesoms of a holy life ; and they were not like
some early buds, which are apt to be cut off by cold winds nnd sharp frosts, but
they had grace to withstand the severest storms of temptation, and both to set
and to ripen their fruit — fmit of increase — growing still in grace — increasing
from one degree to another — and persevering until they reaped the crown of
eternal glory. And thua the la8t part of the beautiful image in the text waa com
pleted — He bleaaed them ao that they are multiplied greatly, and auffereth not
the cattle to decrease. By the particular blesaing of the almighty God and
Saviour, they multiplied greatly ; the Lord adding to the church daily euch as
ahould be eaved. His grace went out along with the firet preachers of the goepe),
a8 he stiU does with all his faithful miniatera ; and he gave them a fortitude,
which no danger could intimidate, and a power of utterance, which the adversary
could not withstand : insomuch, that when the poor fishermen had been toiling
all the night and had taken nothing, yet, when the Lord gave the word, and
accompanied it with hia blessing, they enclosed a great number of fiehea, even
enough to fUl both the 8hip8 — both the ark of the Jewiah and the ark of the Gen
tile church. Then waa hia promiae fulfilled : " I will make you fiahera of men :"
for they caught thoueande at once. The firat time they let down the net, they took
three thousand, and the second time, five thousand. So mightily grew the worcl
of God, and prevailed. And though thia be a day of email thinga, yet the Lord'a
hand is not shortened : he can still bless us, ana make ue multiply exceedingly.
We see some happy instances of it ; sufficient to convince ub that if we had more
apostolical ministere, who had a single eye to the glory of their adorable master,
and were inflamed with a fervent love to the eouls of men, he would still bless
our labours abundantly. O almighty Jesus 1 we are here waiting for thy bless
ing : now blese ub ; and, aince thou haat promiaed that the very cattle of thy
household, the church, should not decrease, enable us, Lord, so to increase, that
every part of this scripture may be fulfilled to-day in this whole congregation.
And may his divine grace influence aU your hearts, while I am endeavouring to
speak unto them under the
Second general head, Which was to apply what has been said.
The words contain a new argument for thankfulness, taken from the loving-
kindness of our most gracious Redeemer, who found ua in the dry barren deeerts
of heathenism, blind in ignorance, sunk in vice, and yet, wretched aa we were,
his mercy was moved at the sight of our misery, and hie grace flew to our relief.
When the Jewish church rejected him, and persecuted hia apoatlea and follower!,
then he sent the Romans to destroy it. Upon which we were taken into hia love
and favour. We poor heathens, who lay in darkneaa and the ehadow of death ;
we were admitted into hie church, watered with his grace, enriched with hia

SERMON VIL 423
blessings, and protected by his almighty arm unto this very day. And ought
we not to be thankful for such inestimable and eternal mercies ? Should we not
speak forth the praises of this most loving Redeemer, and endeavour to inspire
all the world with gratitude to him ? Certainly, this is a duty most right and
equitable ; and therefore I will make some short remarks upon the distinct
parts of it, in the order they are placed in the text. And
First, The Holy Spirit here teaches us what a situation we were in before
God turned away the streams of his grace from the Jewish church, and directed
them to us. W e were in a barren wilderness — barren of every thing spiritual
and divine. Although the heathens flourished in arts and sciences, were polite
and classical ; although they could form the accomplished gentleman, and
finish the character of the good moral man ; although they had exceUent sys
tems of ethics, and knew all the moral and civil virtues ; yet, if the word of
God be true, they were in a wUderness. The most refined classical scholars,
with aU their knowledge, were in a vast desert ; for they knew not Jesus
Christ. And without him the most polished genius is no nearer salvation than
the most barbarous savage ; because, without him, they neitlier know the way to
heaven nor, if known, can they take one step in it. There was a total ignorance
among them concerning the divine nature, and concerning the atonement for
sin : and our ancestors in this island were sunk as low in ignorance and vice as
any of the heathens. They were in a wilderness, where no saving truth grew ;
but superstition and idolatry flourished. That we are not still in this situation
is entirely owing to the free mercy of our blessed Redeemer, who sent the streams
of his grace into our barren hearts. This is the
Second point remarkable in the text. The Psalmist says, he sent waters into
the wilderness to change its nature ; that is, he sent his grace into our hearts
to change their nature, to show them their dead and barren state, to make
them sensible of it, distressed under it, and then cry to him for deliverance.
And when grace has thus far disposed the heart aright, and it can pray for more
grace, then will our Lord enrich it with abundant streams ; for he is always
disposed to give in the measure we are disposed to receive : and if we hunger
and thirst for much, he has promised that we shall be filled. There is no doc
trine of Christianity more opposed than this, nor any at present more ridiculed.
And until men desire to have their barren hearts changed, it must sound
strange to them to talk of the necessity of doing what they have no desire to
do. They have found nothing of this barrenness in their own souls ; they do
not believe what wc say of it ; and therefore it appears to them like talking of
a sixth sense. But the more insensible they are, the greater is their danger.
And if there be any of you in this state, thus dozing and sleeping away your
lives in carnal security, be assured that you are yet in the wilderness, and, the
less you see it, the more barren you are. If you see not your hearts covered with
sin and desolation, oh what blindness, what infatuation, has seized you ! for
until you Bee your natural barrenness, you will find no want of grace to amend
und enrich the soil ; and without grace nothing can grow. It is equaUy neces
sary towards changing and reforming the soul, as water is to change and
ufiiiin the desolate wilderness. And as in its hot dry sand no vegetable can
grow without moisture, so in your barren hearts no good thing can grow with
out the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ: "for without me," says he, "ye can
do nothing." And therefore, my brethren, if you refuse to believe this doc
trine, you must act against the evidence of your senses. And it will greatly
increi se your condemnation that the scriptures have set in so clear a light the
necessity of grace ; and yet you would not be convinced, but would stttl obsti
nately live and perish in your barren state, unfruitful and dead to every good
word and work. May God show you, since argument cannot, your sinfulness
Mid guilt ! Oh that his blessed Spirit would now let you see your own hearts,
that there may be raised in them a strong crying for grace! And if he does
bring you to desire it, the love of our blessed God, who has it to give, cannot
withhold it : he wiU bless and enrich you to such a degree, that you shall
bring forth fruits of increase. This is the
Thiid doctrinal point in the text. Tbe streams of divine grace were there-

4U THE HUNDRED AND SEVENTH PSALM
fore aent into the wilderneae, that ite nature might be changed, and might
bring forth fruita of increase. And into whatever heart grace enters, it makes
an entire change and reformation. A wilderness improved into a regular and
beautiful garden is not so great a change : for grace makes the man a new
creature. The dead faculties of his soul revive, the barren grow and shoot
forth, the understanding beara the fairest blossoms, and the wttl and affections
ripen and perfect the sweeteat fruit. Under the genial influence of grace, the
whole man is like a tree planted by the water side, always green and flourishing,
that will bring forth its fruit in due season. And whatever fruit is brought to
maturity by the mUd and gentle operation of this dirine agent, wiU be acceptable
to God the Father. Good works, put forth and perfected by grace, are well pleas
ing to him. When grace has changed our barren hearts, and reformed them,
by justifying us through the merit of our Lord Jesus Christ, then ore we
enabled to proceed in the work of sanctification ; but not before : because an
unjust person cannot bring forth justifying fruit, no more than a corrupt tree
can bring forth good fmit. Our persons must be just and right before our
worka can be ; and the acripture is positive, that we aie created in Christ Jesus
unto good works. Good works belong to a new creation ; and before we can
do them, we must be created anew ; we must become new creatures in Christ
Jeaus, and be grafted into him by the living principle of grace, and draw our
nourishment from him as much as a branch does from its stock, before we can
bear the fruit of any one good work. Thia is scripture. This is the doctrine
of our church. And whatever some proud self-righteous Pharisees may fancy,
thia ia the doctrine of philosophy and nature. We have senaible demonstration
of it. Take a branch oft' from the etock on which it grew, and let it lie in the
open air ; what wttl it produce ? You see, it withere and diea. If any man
be cut off from Chriat, the etock upon which we muet oil grow or periah,
for ever, what wttl he produce ? Hear our Lord'a judgment : " As the
branch cannot bear fmit of itself, except it abide in the vine, no more can ye,
except ye abide in me. 1 am the vine ; ye arc the branchoe. He that abideth
in me and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit : for without me ye can
do nothing." ThiB ia the determination of our infallible God ; and if you refuse
to aubmit to it, after it hae been confirmed by our church, and indeed by the whole
Christian church, and by matter of fact, and sensible demonstration ; if all this
evidence cannot convince you, what will you object to the experience of all living
Christiana, who -declare with one voice : " Not unto us, O Lord, not unto ua,
but unto thy free grace be all the praiae." This ia the language of every tme
believer ; who confeaaea that he cannot ao much as think a good thought without
the influence of the Holy Spirit : for it is he who worketh in us, both to will and
to do. If this still cannot convince you, may that grace which you oppose work
upon your hearts, and convince you effectuaUy ! May the giver of aU grace show
you your barrenness without it, and dispose you to seek until you find a thorough
change and reformation ! and then you wttl join your grateful hearts with ours in
returning praise and thanks to -our God, who has so bleBaed us with hia grace as
to enable us to bring forth fruits of increase.
And this is the fourth and laet remark, which belongs to believers who know
by happy experience the truth of the scripture which we have been considering ¦
for the love of our Lord Jesua Chriat ha8 brought them out of the wildernee8,
changed their barrenneee by hi8 grace, planted them in his church, watered them
with the dew of heaven, and enriched them with aU the sweet fruits of a holy
life. In you, my Christian brethren, this scripture is fulfilled. And therefore
you cannot but be thankful. To our dearest Redeemer you offer up your praises
with joy and delight. When you consider what wonders Jesus hath done for
your salvation, you cannot be silent in his praise ; but, big with a lively sense of
the numerous and eternal ble8einge of hie free grace, you speak of him with the
highest strains of gratitude, and yet you find you cannot put forth aU his praise.
You are unable to declare, in words, what your hearte feel ; and therefore you let
your lives epeak forth his praise, as well as your lips. Oh may his blessed Spirit
keep you alwaya in thi8 thankful temper 1 and may our gracious and most adorable
Jesus increase daily the number of the thankful ! May hie grace change and

SERMON VIII. 425
reform the wilderness of sinners' hearts, that the good seed of the word may be
sown in them, and they may grow and flourish in the vineyard of the Lord's
church, there bringing forth abundantly the fruits of increase ! O almighty
Saviour, if there be any in this congregation still in the wilderness, now bring
them out of it ; now water their hearts with the plentiful streams of thy grace,
and grant, most loving God, that some — oh ! if it be but one soul — may be added
this day to thy httle flock ; that, finding thy blessing and thy power present
among us, we may go on multiplying exceedingly, until the earth be full of the
grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, as the waters cover the sea : and may aU redound
to the glory of God the Father, and to the honour of the eternal Spirit, the
Trinity in unity, whom we worship and adore now and for ever ! Amen.

SERMON VIII.
Psalm cvii. 39—41.
Again, they are minished and brought low through oppression, affliction, and sor
row. He poureth contempt upon princes, and causeth them to wander in the
wilderness, where there is no way. Yet setteth he the poor on high from afflic
tion, and maketh him families like a flock.
We left the redeemed of the Lord in the most flourishing situation. After
they had been brought out of the wilderness, and delivered from the pit, and
healed of their infirmities, and saved from the storms of vice, they were placed
under the tender care of their most loving Redeemer: and, upon the rejection of
the Jewish church, he sent into the wilderness the abundant streams of his grace,
and there he planted the Gentile church, watering it with his good Spirit, and
cherishing it with the genial warmth of the light of life ; by whose influence it
grew and spread, and was so enriched and blessed, that it multiplied exceedingly,
and became like a well cultivated and fertile country, where they sow their lands
and plant vineyards, which yield them fruits of increase, some a hundred fold,
some sixty fold, and some thirty fold. And this experience of their Redeemer's
love is certainly sufficient to make every one of them thankful, and to excite in
their hearts the warmest sentiments of praise and gratitude.
In the words which I have read, we have a new motive for thankfulness, taken
from the decline and decay of the Christian church. Its fruitfulness is now
turned into barrenness. The same country which you saw before adorned with
the sweetest blossoms, bringing forth the richest fruits, and covered all over with
plenty, is now degenerated again into a wilderness. Nothing grows in it but
thorns and thistles, the fruits of the curse. This is a melancholy change of the
church, and it should move us greatly to see it fall back again into the same
desolate and wretched state, from which it had been raised. But it has been
the invariable rule of the Redeemer's providence. He watera the church with
hia grace, and blesses it with the light of his fruitful rays, so long as men will
receive their kind influence. But when they reject them, either by refusing to
make any use of them, or by perverting them to a wrong use, then he withholds
his blessings ; he withdraws his grace and the light of his countenance : upon
which, the same darkness and deadness ensue in the church as would be in the
world if the sun were to withdraw his comfortable light and heat, and to arise
no more with his reviving beams upon the earth. Thus he turned the fruitful
land of the Jewish church into a wilderness for the wickedness of them who
dweUed therein ; and he transferred their fruitfulness to the wilderness of the Gen
tiles. And again, he turns our fruitful country into a wilderness for the wickedness
of them who dweU in it. He began to fulfil this scripture by removing the grace
and light of the gospel from the seven churches in Asia ; and he has left us, in this
treatment of them, a terrible example of his just vengeance upon every wicked
infidel church. And he has since taken vengeance upon several other churches.
When they refused tu walk by the light of his gospel, he then removed the candle
stick from them ; and, deprived of his light, they could produce nothing but the

426 THE HUNDRED AND SEVENTH PSALM.
works of darkneae, and would certainly be sentenced to that outward darkness,
where there ie weeping and gnashing of teeth for ever. Our church haa longrefused
to walk by the light of the gospel. God grant our candlestick may not be entirdy
removed 1 We do indeed deserve it. Our crying national sins, and our open
insolent infidelity, call aloud for judgment. Oh ! what mercy must dwell in hia
breast who hears daily multitudes of traitors plotting the destruction of hia divi
nity, and yet, after repeated acts of treason, for any one of which, against the
king's person, they would have been justiy put to death, neverthdeee apares them,
and withholds the deserved punishment ! But although he he a God of mercy,
yet his Spirit may be grieved, and his long-suffering may be wearied out. Re
member how he destroyed the seven churches ; and behold in what a wilderness
they now Ue : and we shall perish after their example, unless we repent. And I
hope the consideration of tbe scripture now before us may, by hia bleaaing, be the
means of persuading those among you, who ore hia enemies, now to sue to him
for pardon, and to confirm those who have placed their whole trust and confi
dence in his merits. As to the former, their dreadful situation ia de8cribed in
tliese word8 : " Again they are miniehed and brought low, through oppreBsion,
affliction, and sorrow," &c. And aa to the latter, they have a 8weet promise of
hi8 lovin g protection, even in the greatest corruption of the church : " Yet setteth
he the poor humble Chrietian on high from affliction, and maketh him familiee
like a flock." While the rest of the world sits in darkness and in the ehadow of
death, the people of God have light in all their dwettiuge. While othera are
visited with his plagues and judgments, he sets his own people on high, out of
the reach of affliction ; and in the worst of times he watches over them with the
care of the most tender shepherd, and makes them familiee like a flock. And these
are the persons here called upon to be thankful : and if they, after such mercies,
should be silent, the very stonee would cry out, and caU them ungrateful.
Let us then meditate upon these interesting words,
Firat, By considering their Bense and meaning, and
Secondly, By applying the doctrine contained in them to our spiritual uae and
improvement. And may the bleaaed Spirit go along with U8, and enable us to reap all the profit
from this scripture, which he intended for the faithful by recording it ! Let us,
then, inquire into his guidance, by what means the church, which we saw before
flourishing andfruitful, ehouldnow become adeeolate wilderneaa, and were brought,
out of it, and placed in the fruitful garden of the church, are again diminished
and brought aa low as they were at first. They decrease in number, and are
depressed in condition. They who multiplied exceedingly are again diminished,
and they who were high in every respect are brought low. The faithful are dimi •
nished from among the children of men. Oh! dreadful change! to be turned
from fruitfulnesB into barrennese— from a flourishing church into a deaolate wil
derness— from being cherished with the comfortable rays of divine light, am!
watered with the fertile dew of heaven, now to be deprived of both— are the
greatest calamities which can befal a people in this world. To be thus driven
into the wUderness again, is worse than to have been in at first ; becauae, after
God had visited them with the grace of hie goepel, and has now withdrawn him-
self in displeasure, there is no reason to think that he will return in mercy to a
people who have abused his grace and insulted his gospel. After he has long
waited to reclaim them, and they stiU reject the offers of his pardoning love,
and stand out against all his entreaties, obstinately rebellious, then it wiU be but
juat and equitable if he euffer them to be again diminiehed and brought low
through oppression, affliction, and sorrow. These three are the causes of the
decay of the Christian church ; and they contain a ehort hietory of that mys
tery of iniquity which now worketh in the children of dieobedience. The first
cause is, the oppressor; the second is, the evil of ein, into which he bringi
them ; and the third i8, the evtt of sorrow and misery. And it is impossible
that any church or society ahould flouriah which ia under the vile bondage
ofthe cruel oppreasor, and sin and misery. Under these tyrants it must be dimi
nished and brought low.
The first, we render Oppression ; but as there must be an agent to perform

SERMON VIII. 427
the action, I therefore chose to give him his term of office, and to call him the
oppressor. Such a one was Pharaoh, who oppressed the children of God, and
by his hard bondage tried to diminish them and to bring them low : and he holds
forth to us, in his manner of treating the Israelites, a hvely portraiture of a
more cruel oppressor, who is a declared enemy to aU the people of God, and who
has been trying to murder them from the beginning. The oppression of this
great adversary was represented in Pharaoh's bondage : for it was by his insti
gation that Pharaoh was such a tyrant over the bodies of the Israelites as he is
over the souls of aU his deluded foUowers. So that the oppressor is a just and
expressive title of the great tyrant, the devU. Is not he the oppressor of God's
people, who brought us all into slavery by the original transgression, and who
leaves no temptation untried to keep us his slaves ? Although he deals in nothing
but lies and murder, yet he keeps the multitude under his infernal bondage, and
oppresses them with the most heavy yoke of sin and misery. And when they
begin to be uneasy, and to be gaUe d with the yoke, he tempts and deceives them
on with lies, using all his cunning wiles, and laying every bewitching snare for
their destruction. And although they are assured that he has no wages to give
them, but death, temporal and eternal, yet he deludes and leads them on,
until he gets them fast bound with the chains of sin and misery. And is he not
an oppressor ? Is not such a lawless tyrant, who has an absolute dominion over
sinners, and who executes it with hellish malice, is not he the great oppressor ?
And so far as his tyranny reaches, the church must be diminished and brought
low. He keeps it under by means of evil, which is the second cause of its decline.
We render the word Affliction, but it signifies evil, and, properly, the evil of sin.
The evils of affliction and misery, which foUow sin, are expressed in the third cause
of the church's decay. The great oppressor overthrows the most flourishing
church by sin. This is the successful battery he raises against it ; by which he
first gained and still keeps his dominion : for sin cuts off all the supplies of grace
which the soul might receive from heaven, strips it of its armour, and leaves it
quite naked and defenceless against the oppressor's stratagems ; and a course of
Bin reconciles men to it : and although they know it must end in their eternal
destruction, yet they never seek, nay they are offended when we press them to
Beek, that divine grace which alone can set them free. And is it not the strongest
of all delusions, that the oppressor should make men choose eternal destruction,
and should force them to work and labour for it — to take more pains to obtain a
place in heU than are necessary to gain heaven ? What bondage can be harder ?
Must it not wear them down and bring them low ? For sin is the cause of all evil ;
und that which subjects us to aU — evil of all kinds — certainly must be the vilest
oppression. And it is impossible that any church should be in a flourishing con
dition which is under the bondage of Satan and sin, and thereby subject to sorrow,
which is the third cause of the decay of the Christian church. The word Sorrow
includes all the evtt effects of sin upon the body and the soul, in time and to
eternity : for no good can come wherever sin is. The prophet Isaiah gives the
reason, bx. 1, 2 : " Behold, the Lord's hand is not shortened, that it cannot
Bave, neither his ear heavy, that it cannot hear : but your iniquities have sepa
rated between you and your God, and your sins have hid his face from you, that
he wttl not hear." Evil is the cause of God's withholding good : " for your
iniquities," says he, " have turned away these things, and your sins have with-
holtlen good things from you." And when the good things which God has to
give are withholden, what can the sinner find but misery and sorrow ? And must
not misery and sorrow wear him down, and bring him low ? WiU they not affect
his soul, as sickness does his body, bringing it first down to the grave, and then
to the lowest place of the infernal pit? And thus the church decays. By these
three causes it declines. Christ made it flourish — the oppressor makes it
diminish. Grace rendered it fruitful — sin renders it desolate. Through Christ
and his grace, it was happy — by the oppressor and sin, it is miserable. And it
ia one of the strongest proofs and evidences of its present low estate, that the
offices of the church, which were formerly respectable, are now become con
temptible — " he poureth contempt upon princes." The head of the church
fulfils his promise — " them that honour me, 1 will honour : but they that

428 THE HUNDRED AND SEVENTH PSALM.
despise me shall be lightly esteemed." Be their rank and station ever so great,
yet, if they despise me and my laws, I will make thera despicable ; their highest
honours shall not keep them from the lowest contempt, but shall expose thein the
more to it, and bring it upon them the sooner : for they were therefore raised to
be princes, that they might have it in their power to prevent the decline of the
church. Their great offices gave them authority, and their great revenues gave
them interest, which they ought to have employed for the honour of their
maeter ; but as they suffered him to become contemptible, he therefore poured
contempt upon them. " The priests' lips," says God, in the prophet Malachi,
"ehould preserve knowledge, and they should seek the law at his month : for he
is the messenger of the Lord of hosts : but ye have departed out of the way : ye
have caused many to stumble at the law ; therefore have I also made you con
temptible and base before all the people." So long as the priest's lips preserve
knowledge, he is respectable. So long as he has a zeal for his master's honour,
he is in nigh esteem. But when he forgets whose servant he is, and pursues
any one thing in preference to the salvation of men's souls, then God suffera him
to fall in the opinion and esteem of mankind ; for his sovereign Lord and Master
pouretb contempt upon him, and " causeth him to wander in the wilderness,
where there is no way." He, who should teach others the right way, wundera
from it ; and even the princea are turned into the wilderness, where the gospel at
first found them. And when the shepherds are thus loat and bewildered, what
must become of their poor flocks ? Can the teachers show the sheep how to keep
out of that wilderness into which they themselves are fallen ? How ahould it be
that the blind 8hould lead the blind, and yet neither of them should go astray ?
Doubtlees the sheep must he unhappy, which have a blind shepherd over them :
for the wolf may prey upon them unmolested, whenever he pleases, and may
devour and disperse the whole flock.
This is a faithful account of the general decay of the Christian church. Sad
experience proves the tmth of it. The once flourishing church ia now turned
into a wilderneaa. We see it. The whole face of Christendom, compared to its
former fruitfulness, is now a desert. The light of the gospel is almost extinguished
for the wickedness of those men who take upon them the name of Christianity,
but deny the power of it ; for tbe European churches, Protestant and Roman,
are already diminished and brought low by the great oppresaor, and by ain, and
by miaery : they are ao low that the princea have loat the respect due to their
high office8, and are become contemptible, and are now got into that very
wilderness from whence the gospel delivered them. In these times of general
cormption, the Redeemer might in justice take away our candlestick, as he hath
done from other churchea. But here i8 the Bubject of praise and thanksgiving —
that he still continues the light of the gospel to ua. He ia infinitely merciful to
them who trast to him ; and be they ever so few, ever so poor and mean, yet he
has given them a most sweet and comfortable promise, that when he comes to
visit a wicked infidel church, he will watch over them with the care of the most
tender shepherd, and they shaU lack nothing. Yet eetteth he the poor on high
from affliction — the poor — the poor in spirit— the humble Christian— he setteth
on high. He wiU exalt thera of low degree, according to bis invariable rule :
He that humbleth himself shaU be exalted. " And he will make them families
like a flock :" — no flock can be more safe within the fold than they ehall be :
regarded by his infinite love, watched over by his all-seeing eye, and defended by
his almighty arm, they shaU be set on high, out of the reach of danger. Though
they be few, yet they are as dear to their God as the apple of his eye. Though
the world despise them, yet the Lord Jesus loves them. Though they be the
scorn and ridicule of an infidel age, yet he eateema them more thanhi8 own life;
for he shed bis blood upon the cross to save them. Though they be the off-
scouring of the earth, yet they are the riches of heaven. And when their Lord
comes a^ain in ah hia glory, he wttl take them into hie family, and will admit
them into the eternal joye of his heavenly kingdom. How happy then must
these Christians be, who are thus blessed in those worst times of tbe church !
And oh bow thankful should they be, that they were not carried away with the
torrent of rice and infidelity ! The more wicked the age is the more are they

SERMON VIII. 42<
indebted to the grace of their God, which kept them from the prevailing corrup
tion. And seeing nothing but open profaneness around them, how can they
refrain from the praises of their dearest Lord, who preserved them from it ?
Certainly they cannot avoid giving him thanks for this great blessing while
their hearts feel it ; and they will do aU that hes in their power to make others
partake of the same blessing, that they may join with us in the same thanks. Oh
that men would therefore praise the Lord for his goodness, and for the wonders
that he hath done for the redemption of men !
This is, I think, the sense and meaning of the text : and it is a very awakening
scripture, and ought to rouse up your particular attention : for it offers to your
consideration a most interesting truth; viz. that the Christian church would
decline from its flourishing fruitful state, and degenerate again into the wilder
ness, from whence the Redeemer had taken it. And has this scripture been
fulfilled ? Has the Christian church been, or is it at present, in a wilderness ?
Let us consider these points under the second general head, and endeavour to
improve them to our spiritual use and benefit. And first, the flourishing church
was to be diminished and brought low by the cruel oppressor, and by sin, and by
misery. And, God knows, it is diminished and brought low indeed ; so very low
that it is of the Lord's mercy we are not consumed ! And I hope his goodness in
sparing us may be the means of converting some, and confirming others ; if we
take a short view of our present unhappy state, with respect to immorality and
infidelity, and to consider how httle we deserved to be spared.
Aa to morals, our people are entirely corrupt. They are, beyond the example
of former ages, dissolute and dishonest ; insomuch, that his majesty has more
than once recommended it to the parliament to try to put a stop to the spreading
of immorality. But nothing has been done. Nay the want of morals is so
evident and glaring, that even the teachers of dry morality begin to find it, and
have lately complained in public, that, after aU their moral preaching for near a
hundred years, the people are not in the least more moral. And is it not time,
then, to have done with mere morality, since we have had so much preaching of
it, that now we have no morality left ? This moral preaching has made our people
so immoral, that they are got to a pitch of wickedness beyond what the very
heathens ever attained : for to boast of having no virtue or honesty, to make it
a matter of merit to be able to act upon no principle, and to be guided by nothing
but interest; these are the peculiar characteristics of the present age. And
when men thus avow open and barefaced corruption, and, throwing off the very
mask of honesty, dare appear publicly the rotten advocates for vice, then
certainly the church can never be diminished and brought lower, as to morals.
And it might reasonably be expected, that the common people would be thus
unmoral, since the great have set them the example, and have entirely cast off
Christianity. Men of rank and politeness are become too refined and delicate in
their notions to believe in Jesus Christ. And they have taken away all neces
sity of believing in him by utterly exploding his divinity : and yet they keep up
the name of Christianity, which is the most stupid ancl idolatrous religion that
ever was invented, if the author of it be not the true God. It rests entirely
upon the divinity of Christ : this is its foundation. Nothing can stand without
it. But where shall we find great and learned men who believe that Jesus Christ
ia self-existent, and equal with the Father in every perfection and attribute ?
Publicly from the press, privately in conversation, you hear this fundamental
doctrine of Christianity ridiculed and insulted ; and the disbelief has spread,
and poisoned all orders and degrees of men; insomuch, that we have societie*
erected upon the principle of blasphemy, with liberty of free debate, as
they caU it ; that is, with liberty to blaspheme the Godhead of Jesus Christ.
And, what is the most melancholy point of all, the church and state look on
unconcerned, while that God, whose servants they are, is treated with more
insolent blasphemy in this city than the very Jews offered to him at his
crucifixion. And are these things really so? Do immorality and infidelity
flourish thus abundantly among us ? If they do, immorality will soon pull
down our church, and infidelity wiU dig up the very foundations of it; and
then, certainly, it will be diminished and brought low. God grant it may

430 THE HUNDRED AND SEVENTH PSALM.
not faU lower than it is ; but that the few names which are left in it may bo
kept- from falling, and others may daily be added to them ! And thia we
pray for the more earnestly, that Christ may not pour contempt upon princes ;
which ia the aecond remark.
The church must be1 fallen very low when its princes are become contemptible :
for they were raised to great dignity, that they might etop the torrent of profane
ness and unbelief. Their honours and revenues were to give them weight and
influence in the support of their Master's cause : and when it was sinking and
like to fall intodiegrace, it was certainly their interest then to maintain it with all
their might ; because, if it feU, their disgrace would not be long after it. But
they sat still and quiet, enjoying themselves, warm and snug in their opulent
stations, while their Master was wounded with immorality and crucified afresh
by unbelief. Although they eat of his bread, yet they saw him robbed of hia
divine glory, and neither used their tonguee nor their pena in his defence :
therefore justly did he pour contempt upon Buch princes. He made them base
and mean in the eyes of tbe people. He took away the reaped due to their
high offices, and, becauae they refused to defend hie divine honour, though they
were weU paid for it, he therefore made them diehonourAble : for them that
despise me, says our God, whatever their station be, shall be lightly esteemed.
And has not this happened ? Look around Christendom, and eee in what
church the princes of it are reapectable. The biahop of Rome — how low ia he
8unk ! and his brethren are falling fast into diBgrace ; and the latter part of thie
veree is fulfilling — " He causeth them to wander in the wilderness, where there
is no way." Chrietianity at firat found them in a wilderness, and brought them
out of it ; but now, by rejecting Christ, they are got into it again : for every
church without him ia deeolation. The finest ayatem of religion, that the wit of
man can dresa up and delineate, ia a wilderneaa without Chriet. Let it be ever
bo artfully put together, yet, unleaa it begin and end with him, it is but a mere
deaert. Lay the foundation of it ever ao deep in the religion of nature, build it
up ever eo etrong with morality, and adorn it ever ao richly with metaphysics,
yet it will be a mere delueive phantom, and of no uae but to feed learned pride.
Aa Chriet ie not in it, furnieh it with what you please, it will want all the
treaaures of wiadom and knowledge, of which the Christian church ia full : for
it is a building made of God ; the foundation of it ia laid upon the rock of
ages, even upon Jesus Christ, and in him alone it is built up and supported. And
it shall etantf for ever, and be ae beautiful ae the paradise of God, when all human
syetems shall be in rains ; for this shall aurvive the flamea of the great day, and all
ita members, with Chriat at their head, ahallaacend into the church triumphant with
eternal glory. And then they who built a religion without ChriBt wiU be turned
away into a wilderness indeed— even the wilderneaa of mere moraliata, of the pro
fane, and the infidel, unto the placeappointedfortheireternalreception and torment.
Ob what a melancholy and terrible etate of thinge is thie ! And now let ua
conaider, thirdly, how the proapect of it ought to affect ua. And whatever our
condition be, 1 think it rauat affect ua greatly : for what grief of heart must it
be to every true believer to aee the church which once flourished and multiplied
exceedingly, now thua diminiahed and brought low— to behold the interest of
their sovereign Lord lost, and his princea contemptible; how afflicting ia the
thought ' But it ia indeed diatreasful when the danger cornea nearer to ua,
and we eee the once fruitful church become a wilderneaa Such aa the poor
ignorant heathens were before Christ came, such are we like to be, with this
heavy circumatence to add to our misery, that they wished and longed for what
we reject They saw their want of a Saviour, and embraced the good tidinge of
the gospel with great joy. But we want no Saviour. Natural rehgion . u>
enough for ua. And the goepel, in any other light than ae a eyetem of morality,
is absolutely rejected. Thus we are in a worse condition, by refusing Lhnsf a
offers of mercy, than the poor heathens were ; and consequently our wilderness
wttl be more dismal and melancholy than theirs. And how soon our church
may be turned into this wilderness, God only knows : but of this I am certain ;
that we deserve it, and we have lately had many loud calla to prepare us for it,
and some of hie judgments are etttl heavy upon us ; and unless they lead us to

SERMON IX. 431
repentance, we must perish. Our destruction is at hand. And whUe our
national sins are crying aloud for vengeance, oh let every one of you, who have
any interest in the Saviour of the world, caU aloud unto him for mercy. Let us
pray without ceasing for the continuance of his blessed gospel among us. And
let this consideration inflame our hearts, and add zeal to our devotion, that
our Lord has promised to set the poor Christians on high, out of the reach of
affliction. This is the fourth and last remark, which belongs only to believers who are
of Christ's family and flock. Let the times be ever so bad and corrupt, they
shall be safe ; let the times be ever so tempestuous, they shaU be set on high,
out of the reach of the storm. His grace shall keep them from corruption, and
his almighty power shaU defend them from the distresses of the times. What a
Bweet promise is this ! and how fuU is it of consolation ! God grant you may all
taste the comforts of it, and then you wiU be thankful indeed. You will see
how gracious a Master we serve ; and you will have reason to bless his holy
name. He wiU pour down upon you, not contempt, but the riches of his free
and unmerited graces ; by which you will find that, though the Christians be few
and poor and mean, though the church be diminished low, yet the head of it is still
the almighty God, Jesus has all power in heaven and earth ; and he can give
his foUowers, however the world may despise them, such joys as the world has
not to give, and such (thanks be to him for it) as the world cannot take away.
And these joyB he here promises to them who are of his family and flock. And
we know that he is faithful who hath promised. We have experienced his faith
fulness. God grant you may all experience it this day ! that you may happily
begin the new year ! And though the weather be dull and cloudy, like the state
of the church, and the sun has not appeared for many days, oh may the day-star
arise, and supply his place in all your hearts with a better light ! and then you
will go away thankful. And may the mercy of our most adorable Saviour be
extended to this whole church and kingdom, as weU as to this congregation !
Oh may he send out his grace to reform the morals, and his good Spirit to stop
the infidelity, of our people ! Blessed Jesus, spare them a little. Now the
sound of the Gospel is heard in our land, be pleased to accompany it with thy
blessing. And if they, to whose ears it is brought, still reject it, then indeed
they wiU deserve destruction. But, in thy wrath, oh think upon mercy ! Spare
thy people, O Lord, spare them, and turn not thy once fruitful heritage entirely
and finaUy into the wilderness. Hear us, thou God of love, and answer our
prayers to the glory of the Father, and the eternal Spirit — the Trinity in unity —
to whom be equal honour, and worship, and praise, for ever and ever. Amen.

SERMON IX.
Psalm cvii. 42, 43.
The righteous shall see it, and rejoice : and all iniquity shall stop her mouth. Whoso
is wise, and will observe these things, even they shall understand the loving-
kindness of the Lord.
The Holy Spirit finishes this divine hymn with these words. He here sums
up the argument, and makes the application. His subject is thanksgiving. 'Ihe
argument used to inspire us with thankfulness is taken from redemption. And,
since redemption is the greatest blessing which the Almighty has to bestow
upon his creatures, it is consequently the strongest argument for their thankful
ness. In order to show the greatness of the blessing, the aU-wise Author of this
psalm has painted, under several images, the exquisite distress and misery of
mankind, before tbey were redeemed. And these images are just and expressive.
They are founded in nature, and drawn to the fife. And aU the redeemed of
the Lord have seen their lost estate by sin, which is represented under these
images, and can bear their testimony to the truth of the representation : they

432 THE HUNDRED AND SEVENTH PSALM.
remember when they wandered in the wilderness out of the way — when they
fell into the bondage and prison of sin— and were there sore diaeaaed with its
plagues — and always uneasy and disturbed, like the troubled sea when it cannot
rest, tossed and agitated with the storms of vice. The retrospect of these
miseries now makes them thankful to thdr Redeemer, who allowed them the
way out of the wUderness, by enlightening their understanding ; who delivered
them from the prison and bondage of sin by justifying them with his most
precious blood ; and he sent his word, and healed them of aU their plagues, by
sanctifying them with the holy anointing of his good Spirit; and thus he
calmed and compoeed all the storms of rice which had threatened their destruc
tion. And then he placed them in the secure haven of the church, where they
flourished and multiplied exceedingly. In the early ages of Christianity, this
part of the psalm was fulfiUed — when the first preachera carried the aound of
the goapel into aU landa, and their words unto the ends of the world. But in
these latter days, the church is again diminished and brought low by the cruel
oppressor, and by sin, and by misery. These are the three causes of its decay ;
ana they have now reduced it into the same wretched etate in which it lay
before it had the knowledge of redemption. But in these times of reproach and
blasphemy, the Redeemer has stiU a small flock left, over whom he watcheB
with the care and affection of the most tender shepherd. And when he comes
to destroy a wicked infidel church, he will set theae poor humble Chriatians on
high, out of the reach of affliction, and wiU make them famttiea like a flock.
" The righteous shall see it and rejoice, and all iniquity Bhall atop her mouth.
Whoso is wise, and will observe those things, even they shall understand the
loving-kindness of the Lord." God grant that every one of ua may be wise to
observe those things, and that we may have the true experimental understanding
of the loving-kindneas of the Lord ! and then we ahall be able to join our
thankful hearts and voices with the church militant and triumphant, and to
ascribe praise, and honour, and glory to Jesua, our redeeming God. And may
the eternal Spirit now be present among ue, and direct our hearta by hia grace,
enabling us to finish our meditations upon thia paalm, with that thankfulness
and gratitude, with which he intended it ehould inspire us. And may thia be
the happy effect of our considering,
First, The sense and meaning of the words, which contain the application of
the whole psalm. Ihe righteous shall see it. The word, here rendered
righteous, is not what the scripture commonly uses to signify righteous or
ju8tified persona ; but it ia another word, and conveya another idea. It signifies
to direct — to set right ; and the righteous here mentioned are they who are
directed in the right way, and walk, ae Enoch did, with God in hie way, and
not in the way of the world. Aud theee Bhall see the goodness and mercy of
God'a dealings with the fallen race of men. They shall have eyes to eee the
waye of hie providence. The eame grace which set them right wttl manifeat
to them the reasonableness of the plan of redemption. They shall see and
admire, and be thankful for, the wonders of his redeeming love, which are
recorded in this dirine hymn. While they read it, their own hearta wiU bear
teatimony to ita truth ; for it ia a lively picture of their own state and condition.
They well remember the time when ain mialed them, held them in bondage, and
subjected them to all its diaeaaea and atorma : but ao aoon aa they had a deep
sense of their misery, and were disposed to seek the Redeemer's mercy, he waa
at hand— a God to save. When they cried unto the Lord Jesus in their trouble,
he delivered them out of their distresses, and gave them a free and fuU redemp
tion. Finding aU thia fulfiUed in their own eoulB, have they not great reaaon
to rejoice? The righteoue ehaU eee it, and rejoice. It ahall be to them a matter
of aolid lasting joy ; not like the crackling of thorne under a pot— a flaehy
transitory joy, which arisee from a light vain mind, and which the world can
give and take away — but the Chrietian joy ie the fruit of the Spirit, produced by
hie gracious working upon the heart, showing it the dangers which it has
escaped, and the happy state into which it is brought ; from whence springs
what the scripture caUs joy in the Holy Ghost ; because it is entirely his gift.
Nothing but his grace can enable sinners to rejoice in the Lord always ; which

SERMON IX. 433
we find they can : for this is the happy state of every pardoned sinner— that he
can rejoice in God. So soon as he is admitted into Christ's kingdom, he is
fiUed with peace and joy in the Holy Ghost. The sense of Christ's redeeming
love administers to him joy unspeakable and fuU of glory; as he told his
apostles, " Ye shaU be sorrowful ; but your sorrow shall be turned into joy, and
your heart shall rejoice, and your joy no man taketh from you." Every believer
has found the truth of this scripture. After they had seen their lost estate by
nature, and their souls were filled with anguish and bitterness at the sight of
their guilt and misery, they cried unto the Lord Jesus for deUverance, and he
came. His infinite love brought him with haste to save them, and he turned
their sorrow into joy, giving them reason to rejoice with a gladness of heart,
which no man can take from them. Oh may the love of the almighty Jesus
bestow this joy upon every one of you ! and he will not withhold it from you if
you seek it. If you can but desire it, you will find him more ready to give
than you are to ask it. He shed his blood to purchase it for you : he bought it
with an inestimable price ; and the same love which disposed him to die, rather
than you should be without this joy, stiU disposes him to bestow it. Go,
therefore, to the throne of his grace. Ask, and ye shah have. And will you not
go to him for it? Will you not receive it upon these easy terms ? Have you no
desire to attain that joy which Christ alone can give ? no desire to be pardoned,
to be made just and holy, and to be fiUed with the fruits of the Spirit — love,
joy, and peace ? If any one of you are in this wretched condition, stop — reflect a
moment — and consider what enemies you are to your own enjoyments ; for you
cannot live without joy. And what is your constant subject of rejoicing? Ifit
be any thing in this world, it is imperfect in its kind : you know it by experience.
And it endures but a short time ; and then it perishes, and you with it. And
will you prefer this empty destructive joy to that fulness and perfection of joy
which Jesus Christ has to give? Be ye assured, there is no true cause of rejoicing
but in him, and nothing that deserves the name of joy but in the knowledge of
what he hath done for our souls. And would to God I could inform you
perfectly of this knowledge ! for if you had clear ideas of it, you could not avoid
seeking and praying for it : but it is indeed beyond description. Joy in the
Holy Ghost is an earnest and a foretaste of heaven. Oh may you seek until you
find it; and may the blessed Spirit bring you into the happy number of the
righteous, who see the wonders which the Redeemer has done for their salvation,
and therefore rejoice ! And when their joy is full, then all iniquity shall stop
her mouth : the ridiculer and the blasphemer shall be silent. They shall be
struck dumb, and not able to open their mouths against the Lord and against
his Christ. They wiU no longer be able to object to that gracious plan of redemp
tion, by which our God decreed to bring many sons unto glory : but all iniquity
— all — without exception — every infidel champion, every treasonable society,
every congregation of rebels, shall atop their mouths. Lord, when are we to
see this much desired day ? Oh when shall the hlasphemers of Jesus be silent ?
when shall it be no longer said, that God our Saviour is not self-existent, and
equal in every perfection and attribute with the Father ? When shaU the infidel
cease to tread under foot our most adorable God, and the wicked cease to
crucify him afresh ? Not, I fear, tiU the end : for while there are evil men, there
wiU be railing and blasphemy. But there wiU be a day when iniquity shaU stop
her mouth; and it is not far off: when our Lord shaU come again in aU his
glory, then they shall look upon him whom they have pierced, and they shaU
see that the crucified Jesus is a God indeed ; the lustre of his divine glory,
infinitely beyond the brightness of the sun, will be to them insufferable; and
confounded, abashed, silenced, they shaU lay their hands upon their mouths.
And when he pronounces the dreadful sentence upon them, never, never to
be reversed, " Go ye cursed into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and
his angels ;" then they shall not have one word to object — all iniquity shall stop
her mouth.
Until this great day come, it is every Christian's part and duty to defend his
Redeemer's cause : but it is more particularly incumbent upon us, who have
taken his commission, and are his ministers, to exert ourselves in his defence.
F F

434 THE HUNDRED AND SEVENTH PSALM.
Actuated by zeal for his honour, and by love to these precious souls for whom
he died, we should be unwearied in our labours. Every talent and gift with
which we are blessed ought to be devoted to the promoting of his interest ; and
we ehould etrive to bring as many as we possibly can over to it. And every
person we gain ia stopping one of the tongues of iniquity. And if we gain but
few, yet we may bring auch arguments in defence of the plan of redemption,
that we may silence many. I hope the arguments in this psalm will silence
some. If they were weU considered, they would silence all. And therefore we
must call upon men, aud press them to consider what is here said : for the Holy
Spirit, in the last words, requires it of us : " Whoso is wise, and will observe
those things, even they shall understand the loving-kindness of the Lord."
" Whoso is wise," has the tme wisdom that is from above, " will observe those
things," wttl carefuUy note and remark what is here said of the fall and recovery
of mankind, of our etate by nature and by grace. True wisdom consists in
observing these two things — what we are in ourselves, and what we are in
Christ — in a deep sense of our misery by sin, stirring us up to seek our remedy
in the Redeemer. Thia ia wisdom. And whoaoever ia thua wise unto ealvation
" ahaU understand the loring-kindneaa of the Lord," 8holl be able to apply what
he understands of it to his own private use and benefit. The verb, in the original
rendered " shall underatand," is, in the conjugation, called Hithpael, which
8ignifiee " to act upon itself." Whoever observes those things properly, finda
hia own intereat in them. He makea the understanding of them useful to
himself. He does not study them as a science or theory, but aa interesting
pointa, in which he ia nearly concerned, and which he therefore tries to bring
home for his own private advantage. When he hears of the mercieB of the Lord
Jesus, recorded in this p8alm, he deaires to partake of them. When be hears of
the great deliverances vouchsafed to sinful ruined man, he studies to have hia
own ehare in them. What ia said of these persons, who wandered out of the
way in the wUderness, and fell into the bondage of ain, and were afflicted with
its diseases, and troubled like a stormy sea with its continual tempeete — all thie
he knows was his own case; and therefore what foUowe, of their flourishing
etate after Chriet delivered them, may be bis aleo, if he cry unto the Lord,
as they did, for help. And he never ceases praying and aeeking until the
bleaaed Jesus bring him to the haven of the church, where he would be. And
if he find the church diminished and brought low, he is not discouraged,
but reliee on the promieea of hia God, who wttl set him on high out of the reach
of pubhc calamity, when he comes to deatroy an infidel church. He observes
what ie eaid in thie pealm concerning those things, and he knows it to be tree,
by hie own experience : and therefore the loving-kindness of the Lord, here
recorded, ie to him a eubject of exceeding great joy, because he has taated of it.
Whoeo ia wi8e, wttl bring hie knowledge of this pealm home to hie own heart,
and he ehall understand the loring-kindneaa of the Lord — he ahall be able to
apply what he underatande to hia own benefit, and ahall therefore be continually
praising the Lord for hia goodneee, and declaring the wondere which he hath
done for the salvation of men.
And here the Holy Spirit ends, recommending to us the observation of those
things as the only wiedom, and exhorting ue to apply what we underetand of
them to our own particular benefit, aa the only use we can make of them. And
if we can but observe and understand unttt we find our interest in them, then
his design in recording thi8 psalm wttl be answered, and' we shall be thankful
indeed : for thankfulness is only expressing with the mouth what the heart feele ;
and if the heart feels itself entitled to the bleeeinge of redemption, it will be
impossible to restrain the tongue from praising the almighty God and Redeemer
of the world. The redeemed soul can no more forbear to praise its Redeemer,
than the body can forbear to breathe so long as there is any life in it.
You may remember that I set out at first with a general plan of the whole
Esalm ; and I need not here repeat it. You have heard each part explained, and
ave been shown how each tends to carry on the general plan. You have seen
how regular and beautiful it is altogether, how important the subject, how strong
and striking the arguments. It is indeed a masterly painting of our lost estate

SERMON IX. 435
by sin, which is here represented in various lights, the more forcibly to affect us,
that, finding our distress, and being disposed to cry out for deliverance, we may
be the more thankful to the Redeemer when he comes and brings us free and
fuU redemption. For this end the Holy Spirit inspired the psalm, and for the
same good purpose we have been considering it. God grant we may not have
considered it in vain ! It is a very weighty and solemn scripture, and contains
the most powerful motives, which infinite Wisdom itself could propose, both to
convince us of our misery without a Redeemer and also of our happiness in him :
and these most powerful motives ought certainly to produce the greatest effects :
they ought to fill our hearts with gratitude, and to raise us to the highest pitch
of thankfulness ; but if we have no better dispositions to be thankful to our
blessed Redeemer than we have had before we heard these motives, there must
be some very bad cause in our own hearts. What it is, I will endeavour to find
out by applying myself,
First, To them who disbelieve the state of the case, as it is laid down in this
psalm. The subject is thanksgiving. The motives used to excite in us a thankful
temper are taken from the distressed estate of mankind by nature, and from
their perfect recovery by grace. And no man can be unthankful who has seen
himself in this lost condition, out of which he was brought by the free grace and
mercy of the Redeemer. Such a person, 1 say, cannot be unthankful : because,
while he retains the sense of his former misery, and of his present happiness, his
mind is always in a thankful temper, and he must lose this sense before he can
be indisposed to give thanks and praise to his redeeming God. This is the clear
and plain state of the case. And the Holy Spirit supposes that the proper
consideration of it would be sufficient to inspire us all with thankfulness ; for
when he comes to sum up the argument, he says, " Whoso is wise," whosoever
has the true wisdom, " will observe these things," will observe the great points
treated of in this divine composition, and wiU endeavour to understand them in
a practical way, by applying what he knows of them to the state of his own
soul. And whenever he is thus wise, and haB this right understanding, then he
will be fuU of thanks and praise to the God of his salvation. Now, there are
men among us who disbelieve aU this, who deny the lost and faUen estate of
mankind, and who talk of, I know not what, fancied dignity and rectitude in
poor sinful worms : and although they see the whole face of the earth covered
with sin, yet they wiU not aUow that man is sinful. And thus they deny the
very evidence of their senses when it makes against infidelity, and are therefore
greater enthusiasts than mistaken religion ever did produce. A poor creature
who believes without evidence is indeed an enthusiast; but the infidel, who
disbelieves against evidence, is got to the very top of enthusiasm. AU deists are
rank enthusiasts, and of the worst kind, because they can refuse to believe their
own senses when they give evidence for Christianity. If there be any of them
in this place, I must call upon them to observe those things which are recorded
in this psalm. Consider why you disbelieve them. What reason, what motive,
have you ? If you would submit to the authority of scripture, it has determined
that we are altogether corrupt and abominable, and that there is none of us
righteous — no, not one. And if the experience of all ages had any weight with
you, it comes in confirmation of the scripture authority. If plain matter of fact
would convince, if reason was heard, you could not deny the corruption and
depravity of human nature : for nothing is more certain than that the man fives
not who never sinned. And if you see not that you yourselves are sinners, you
are in great darkness. The eyes of your understanding are as yet blind. For
what else can be the cause why you should have no eyes to see those things
which are certain, yea, eelf-evident, to every Christian ? You have no desire to
find the truth of them. I appeal to your own hearts whether this be not the
true cause. It is not want of evidence to convince, but want of desire in you
to be convinced. Though the sun shine ever so bright and clear, yet it can give
no light to them who shut their eyes against it. None are more blind than they
who wiU not see. Nothing is more difficult than to persuade a man to believe
what he is unwilling to believe. Reason and argument are seldom successful
against such strong prejudices, especially when tliese prejudices faU in with our
f r 2

436 THE HUNDRED AND SEVENTH PSALM.
natural corruptions, and flatter our sinful pride, and pay their court to the dignity
of our base nature. In such a cose something more powerful than reasoning is
neceseary. To convince such persons is a work too great for any agent but the
grace of God ; and if, after aU that has been said, there are stiU men among us
who see not sin and misery enough in their own hearts to want a Redeemer, may
his good Spirit open their eyes before it be too late, and show them the truth of
this psalm, and bring the doctrines contained in it home with power to their hearts,
that they may find their lost estate by sin, and their perfect redemption through
Jesus Christ. And, with my fervent prayers for them to our gracious God, I
conclude for the present, and turn myself, in the
Second place, to thera who believe what the Holy Spirit has here recorded
concerning the faU of man, and who desire to experience the truth of what is
here said concerning hia recovery. Go on, my beloved brethren, you have set
out weU ; persevere in your desires and prayers ; for you are not far from the
kingdom of heaven : it is God who hath begun a good work in you ; let him
finish it. And as the proper means thereto, wait upon God in aU his holy
ordinances, and particularly observe those things : remark the great points
treated of in this dirine hymn : study to understand them, and to apply them
to your own hearts : labour to find your interest in them, and be assured that
God wiU accompany the devout meditation of this scripture with hie grace and
blessing. Whoso is wise, will observe those thingB, says the Holy Spirit ;
therefore, if you would be wise, obeerve them. Mark, learn, and inwardly digest
them. Try to find in them spiritual nourishment and support; and if you
consider them with humility and prayer, they will be greatly blessed unto your
soule. Wait and persevere in these holy exercises, and in God'a own good time
you wttl find reason to join with all his redeemed people, and to declare that he
is loring to every man — to you in particular — and that hia mercy endureth for
ever. And these are the happy persons to whom I address my
Third and last remark. You, my Christian brethren, are prepared to join
with me in offering up our tribute of thanka. You know what the Redeemer
has done for your salvation, and you are grateful ; but you are not grateful
enough ; neither can you be ! Our most adorable God condescended to do such
miracles for your redemption, that he deserves far more thanks than you can
pay. Your best service— what a poor return is it for the riches of his love ! and
your highest straina of praise— how far do they faU below his infinite deserts !
Alas ! what can we do in the way of return, since all we have ia hiB free gift, and
aU we hope for come8 from hie free grace. The ineetimable richee of earth and
heaven, while they proclaim the love of Jesus to us, yet prove that we cannot
praise him enough for them. And, indeed, we never praise him ao well aa when
we atrive to do the best we can ; but yet find how little it ia we can do, how empty
and worthleae our best praisea are. God knows, our present adoration and
praise in their utmost fervour, are very imperfect. And the Redeemer is so great
and infinite and so eternal are the blessings which he hae freely conferred upon
us that our praises must be infinite and eternal if they nse up to his merit : for
eternity itself will acknowledge that Jesus is above aU blessing and praise; and
therefore we are to praise him for ever. And how, then, can we nBe up to the
greatness of his merit in time, since there is to he no end of giving him thanks ?
But though our praisea be imperfect, yet our Lord requires them, and we must
return bim the best we can : and when we know his love, and taste of his mercy,
the heart wttl feel more than the tongue can utter, and then our praiaee will be
acceptable, and hie grace wttl render them sweet and delightful to ua, and we
shaU esteem these moments to be the pleasantest in our lives which we spend in
giring thanks to the blessed Jeaus, the author of all our joys. And thiB kind ol
prais? is something like the praiaee of heaven. It has their sincerity, but not
their perfection. May God enable us to increase in both ! Oh that we could
raise our hearts, and exalt our affections, to that heavenly frame with which the
glorified spirits are now praising the Lamb who sitteth upon the throne. The
Holy Spirit can tune our hearts to join in harmony with theira, though in a
humbler 8train : and let ue now Seek hie gracioue influence, and beg of him to
blees these lectures upon thankfulness, and to make them the means of ren-

SERMON IX. 437
dering every one of us more thankful to our most adorable Redeemer. The
means may be weak ; but he who is to give them his blessing is almighty : and
if we ask and seek it of him in humble prayer, he will supply all their defects by
his grace. Let us, then, agree to request him to send his good Spirit into our
hearts, that we may reap aU the profit from the consideration of this divine hymn,
which he intended it should administer to the faithful. And I know of no words
more truly devout and pious, nor more proper wherewith to conclude these
lectures, than the general thanksgiving of our church.
Almighty God, Father of all mercies, we thine unworthy servants do give thee
most humble and hearty thanks for aU thy goodness and loving-kindness to us
and to aU men. We bless thee for our creation, preservation, and all the
blessings of this life ; but above aU for thine inestimable love, in the redemption
of the world by our Lord Jesus Christ, for the means of grace through him, and
for the hope of glory. And we beseech thee, give us that due sense of aU thy
mercies, that our hearts may be unfeignedly thankful ; and that we may show
forth thy praise, not only with our lips, but in our lives, by giving up ourselves
to thy service, and by walking before thee in holiness and righteousness aU our
days, through Jesus Christ our Lord ; to whom, with thee and the Holy Ghost,
be aU honour and glory, world without end. Amen.

DISCOURSES UPON
SOLOMON'S SONG.

DEDICATION.
To the Parishioners of St. Dunstan's in the West.
My dear Brethren,— I take this opportunity of acknowledging the many and
great favours which I have received from you. My gratitude cannot better
appear than in labouring, to the beat of my power, in that station to which you
have called me. Ever since you were pleased unanimously to choose me your
Lecturer, I have endeavoured to discharge my duty aa one who muet give an
account ; and in what manner I diecharge it, let theee Sermone, which I now
dedicate unto you, bear witneae. There ia a great and awful day at hand, in
which the righteoua ecarcely ahall be aaved : and where then ehall the wicked
and ungodly appear ? On thie day, at the bar of the almighty Judge, I muat
stand, to give an account of my ministry among you : knowing therefore the
terror of the Lord, I have not shunned to declare unto you the whole counsel of
God. He knoweth my heart ; and he haa aeen how honestly I have preached
the word, and how earneet I have been with him in prayer for a bleaBing upon
it. Oh that I may deliver my own eoul 1 And God grant you may deliver
yours. You have heard me for some yeare, and chiefly upon the same subject.
I hope you are not tired of hearing of the love of Jeeue to poor helpless sinners :
I am sure I am not tired of speaking upon it. The first sermon I preachod
among you waa upon thi8 text, 1 Cor. ii. 1, 2 : " And I, brethren, when I came
to you, came not with exceUency of speech, or of wiedom, declaring unto you the
testimony of God : for I determined not to know any thing among you, save Jeeua
ChriBt, and him crucified." What I then determined in God'e etrength, I have
thus far been enabled to perform. The great subject of aU my preaching, as ye
know, is Christ Jesua the Lord, inviting and calling careleas ainnera from tne
error of their way8, and presaing them to come to Chriat for the pardon of their
aina, for etrength to eubdue ain, and for grace to do good worka, pleaaant and
acceptable unto God. Thia pardon, etrength, and grace, are not to be had but
from Chriat. He alone has them to give ; and that you might see the necessity
of applying to him for them, I have been continually setting forth the misery of
fallen man unttt he receivee Chriat Jesus the Lord for hie Saviour and hie God,
and the complete happinesa he enjoya after he has received him. With what
success I have preached, you must give an account at the same awful bar at
which I am to be tried, and before a Judge who is no respecter of persona. Oh
that I may not appear againat any of you in that great day ! I have good reaaon
to befieve that many of you wttl then be (1 pray God you may aU then he !) my
joy and crown of rejoicing. Happy will it be for you and me if I ehould see the
Judge place you aU on hia right hand. And whether you were brought to thia
blessedness by my ministry, or not, if you do but enjoy it, I shall have cause to
glorify God on your behalf.

PREFACE. 439
My brethren, the time is short. Work while it is day : for the night cometh,
in which no man can work. It is but a short day in which you have to finish the
work of eternity ; therefore give aU diligence to make your caUing and election
sure. Get possession and enjoyment of the present graces of salvation, without
which you cannot have any well-grounded hope of eternal salvation. Jesus must
save you from the guttt and save you from the dominion of sin ; he must justify
you by his righteousness, and sanctify you by his Spirit, before you can see the
face of God with joy in his kingdom of glory. And have you then received these
graces from him ? This, my beloved brethren, is the most interesting question
you can put to yourselves. Upon the decision of it depends an eternity of happi
ness or misery. Have you received these graces, or not ? May he that teacheth
man wisdom teach you to answer it to yourselves as you wiU answer it to him.
May he lead you into all truth, save you from aU sin, enable you to live to his
glory, and make you happy in his love here, in time and in eternity !
God knoweth that this is the prayer of my heart. When that solemn day shaU
come, in which all secrets shall be laid open, then it will be known with what
view I have written this Dedication. God grant my design in it may be answered !
and may it then appear that you have reaped the profit from it which I most
heartily desired ! Having taken this occasion of thanking you for all temporal
favours, my love to your souls would not let me lose an opportunity of speaking
a word for Christ, although it was out of the pulpit. He has unsearchable, ines
timable, and eternal riches in his power : and to persuade you to seek them has
been and shall be the labour, and to entreat him to bestow them upon you shaU
be the prayer, of Your faithful minister and servant in the Lord Jesus,
William Romaine.

PREFACE TO THE DISCOURSES.
Reader, — I here offer thee a volume of sermons upon some part of the Song
of Songs. They were composed and preached at a time when I had some thoughts
of treating the whole book in a plain practical way ; but that design being laid
aside, I have made some of the sermons public, hoping they may be the means of
removing men's prejudices, and of reconciling their minds to this sweet portion of
God's holy word.
It is a certain, but a melancholy matter of fact, that there has been more ridicule
wasted upon the Song than upon any other portion of God's word. And we need
not marvel at it. The devil has a particular spite against this book : he hates the
subject, and he hates the composition. He rannot bear to hear of man's being
restored to that fellowship and communion with God which himself once had, but
can never hope for again : and therefore this treatise upon it is the object of his
most devilish malice, and he is always stirring up his agents tu write and to speak
contemptibly of it. And be has been too successful in his temptation. Many
persons feU into it because it flattered their pride. They set up themselves for
judges of all subjects, divine as well as human, and made their reason the crite
rion of all truth. They tried this book by their reason, aud they did not under
stand it ; therefore they thought nobody did. Upon the force of this conclusion
they took a general license to ridicule it ; but the conclusion is not logical : for
certainly the book may be intelligible, although they do not understand it.
Modest reason would incline them to be of this opinion, because many learned
men, in every age, have thought it inteUigible, and many good men, without
much learning, have understood it. The true cause of which was this : they
understood the subject treated of in this book, which the enemies of it did not.

44<> SOLOMON'S SONG.
A deaf man is as good a judge of a fine piece of music, as a man who has no real
I^ffi, u- °u a treatl8e upon "le love of God > {or- as he h™ °<> know-
leage ot the subject, how can he understand what is written upon it ? If a
lffnOrant Of mnthpmnlip« n'ora frt t.,1  w:_ I  XT  *_.» t* V

man

^wi. maiJ1?maJ1cs were to take up Sir Isaac Newton's Principia, and to cry
out, What stuff is this ? Who can make any thing of these strange linea and
ngurea, and these A a and B'a ? a great mathematician atanding bv would pity
the poor man a ignorance. In fike manner, when any person takes up a book
upon communion with God, and either doea not believe there ia auch a thing or
baa had no experience of it, how can he understand what is written ? It muet
appear to him mere jargon and gibberieh ; and if he has a talent at ridicule, here
ia a tempting occasion for him to display it : whereae the fault ie not in the book,
but in the man who reade it. It may be a perfect compoaition ; and he may be
no judge of it. The book ia plain enough to them who are properly qualified to
read it. If you underatand the true geniua of the tongue in which it was written,
and have aome inaight into the aubject of which it treata, it will then be aa intel
ligible aa any other portion of ecripture; but the enemies of thia book under
stand neither of these particulars. They are not qualified to judge, and yet they
venture to condemn it : for
First, They are not acquainted with the nature ofthe Hebrew tongue, without
which no man should pretend to be a critic upon the writings of the Old Testa
ment. If any person ahould write professedly against Homer, and try to prove
there wae no geniue, invention, or eublimity in hia poema, with what contempt
would the learned treat his performance, especially if they knew that thiB igno
ramus did not understand one word of Greek, no nor one letter. If such an
attack upon Homer appears ridiculous to men of learning, how much more ridi
culous should an attack of the aame nature appear upon a treatise in Hebrew !
because the Hebrew is more difficult to be translated, word for word, than any
Greek author can be. It has aome peculiar propertiea and idioma, which no
other language haa, with which every critic ehould be acquainted, leet he ehould
raiae objectiona that would only betray hia own ignorance. The Hebrew is a
fixed language. It ia not, like ours, arbitrary and changeable. We are con
tinually gaining aome new word, or dropping aome obaolete one, or affixing aome
new idea to a word, which we have done remarkably in the word charity. When
our Liturgy waa compiled, and afterwarda, when the present translation of the
Bible was made, charity signified love ; but now we use it for nothing but giving
of alms. If you were to use it in ite ancient eenae, and to talk of the charity of
God, you would not be underatood. But the Hebrew is free from these imper
fections. It is fixed in nature, and cannot change, unless nature Bhould. Every
word stands for some material and sensible object, which God created to repre
sent and to give us ideas of some correspondent and spiritual object. Like aa in
parables there is an outward and literal sense, by which an inward and spiritual
meaning ia conveyed, so is it in every Hebrew word. And a critic ahould under
atand Hebrew upon this plan. He ahould be acquainted with the geniua of the
Hebrew tongue, and with ita manner of expreaaing epiritual thinge under their
appointed images in nature. And it ia more neceeBary he ehould have thie know
ledge, in order to underatand this book, becauBe it is the worst translated of all
scripture. Our translators have not failed more in any part of the Old Testa
ment than they have here. Instead of giving us the spiritual meaning of the
words, they have seldom given us any thing but the literal eenee ; and eometimes
they have given us the Hebrew word without any translation at aU. If they had
translated the prophecy of Isaiah in the same injudicioua manner, it would have
been as abstruse as this book ie. I hope to see it made ae intelligible aa the
prophecy of laaiah. There are several person8, at preeent in our church, of
great leisure, and great abilities ; and it is much to be wished they would employ
them in explaining this book. Tbe most proper method they could take seems
to me to settle, first, the true literal sense of every word in the Song, and then,
as it is entirely a spiritual book, treating of communion with God, to fix the
spiritual idea to each word ; and where we have not a proper word in English to
express the full sense of a Hebrew word, they might give it in a ahort paraphrase.

PREFACE. 441
Whenever this is done, the mouths of our ignorant mockers will be stopped, and
it will appear that all their objections arose from their ignorance.
Thus the enemies of this book are ignorant of the true genius of the Hebrew
tongue, in which it is written ; and they borrow their arguments against it, not
from the faults of the book itself, but from the faults in the translation ; and
they are also ignorant of the subject upon which it treats. It is one of the deep
things of God, which the natural man cannot understand. He has none of this
love to God which is here described ; nor can he attain it by any means in his
own power. It is a love that comes down from God. He is the giver of it ;
and it is shed abroad in the heart by the Holy Spirit, who bestows the comforts
of it upon them that are pardoned and reconciled to the Father in the Son of his
love, and that can therefore truly say, with the apostle John, " We know and
have believed the love that God hath to us." Whoever sits down to read this
Book, be he ever so learned in other matters, yet, if he has no knowledge of
God's love to him, he cannot understand what he reads. The objectors of this
Book are so far from pretending to have any of this experimental love of God,
that they laugh at it, and ridicule it ; whereby they plainly declare that they are
not judges of the subject upon which this Book treats, and therefore they are
not fit to sit in judgment upon it,
These are the two principal reasons why this Book is so httle understood and
60 much ridiculed. I need not enlarge upon them here, because they are often
taken notice of in the sermons ; to which I refer the reader. When I first
thought of making them public, I did not foresee how seasonable they would
be. It appears to me quite providential that these sermons on the love of God
should be published just at this time, when 1 am furiously attacked by a name
less writer, and charged with preaching nothing but heU and damnation. It
would have been as true a charge if he had said 1 always preached in Hebrew.
This volume shall answer for me. Here my doctrine is, Believe, and thou shalt
be saved : love God, and thou shalt be happy. May He who has this saving
belief, and this happy love to give, for his mercy's sake, bestow them upon this
my bitter enemy and open persecutor !
I have nothing more to add, but to entreat the Blesser of aU nations to accom
pany the reading of these sermons with his blessing. May he water them with
the dew of his heavenly grace, and render them useful and profitable to every
person into whose hands they may fall. Reader, if thou findest any unction from
the Holy One in them, and reapest any benefit from them, give God the glory,
and pray for the author. Thou canst not do me any service which I more want or
value, than thy prayers. Pray that the grace of Christ may do more in me, and
that I may do more for Christ : and in return I will pray for thee, that the Spirit
of the living God may enable thee to understand this divine Song, and to expe
rience the comforts of its doctrine ; and then thou wilt be in possession of the
greatest happiness thou canst enjoy on this side of heaven.
Upon revising these sheets for a new edition of the foUowing sermons, I had
great reason to bless the Lord God that my views of this subject were the same
as they were several years ago — only confirmed by long experience. It is a good
thing to be established in the truth, and by Constant use to get into holy and
happy practice. When the believer has received Christ, it is his privUege to be
growing up into him in aU things — flourishing like a palm-tree, and mounting up
like the cedar in Lebanon. Certain doctrines are then not to be disputed. The
essential glory of Immanuel — The absolute perfection of his saving work — The
effectual application of it to the consciences, to the hearts, and to the lives of
believers by the Holy Spirit — in these it is good and right that there should be
no variableness nor shadow of turning. Jesus Christ, and his work, and his
Spirit, and his fulness, being the same, yesterday, to-day, and for ever.
Much has been written and spoken against these sermons, as if I had therein
made too much of Christ. I think it impossible. His person is above all bless
ing and praise. His salvation is infinitely perfect, and contains an eternal
fulness of all graces and glories. His promises are exceeding great and exceed
ing precious — already made good to him, as the head, and by him made good to
ull his people. When the Spirit of life that is in him sets them free from the law

442 SOLOMON'S SONG.
of ein and of death, they are pardoned, and righteous, and holy, and blessed in
tne Beloved. Which of them can come up to tbe greatness of such a subject J
"ho can show forth all the praises of such a Jesus? I cannot. Instead of
thinking that I have spoken too highly of him, I am very senaible of my many
and great failings. May the Glorifier of Jesus enable me to speak more wor
thily of him in earth and heaven !

Discourse i.
Chat. i. verse 1.
TAe Song of Songs, which is Solomon's.
God is love. The whole scripture is a history of the wonders which hia
love has done for the children of men. It was love which firat gave being to
tne univerae. The same continued love haa preserved it. But die deacription
of the worka of creation and preeervation takes up a small part of the eacred
volume. The great subject of it is redeeming love. In this Bweet and amiable
light God has proposed himself to our consideration. When hie justice waa
offended at the tranagreBaion of hi8 holy law, hie love contrived how to get glory
to every divine attribute, by pardoning and earing the transgressor. He haa
provided the covenant of grace, in which was the richest display of hia infinite
love. In this covenant he glories. He setB it forth and recommends it aa the
greateat work of God, and haa revealed the Old Teetament and the New to de
monstrate to sinners, that our redeeming God is love. When Moaea desired to
see hie glory, he did not refer him to the works of the creation, or to the in8tancea
which he had seen of hia almighty power ; but he eent him to tho merciee of
redemption, in which he might have the atrongeat evidences of God'a glory. He
proclaimed himself aa the Old Teetament God, under the etyle and title of —
" The Lord, the Lord God, merciful and gracious, long-suffering, and abundant
in goodneee and tmth, keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity, and
tranagreeeion, and sin." Exod. xxxiv. 6, ". This deacription waa fulfilled when
the brightneas of dirine glory was revealed in the peraon of Jesus Christ. When
he came into the world to aave men from their sine, then hia diaciplea beheld his
glory, and believed that God wae love ; then they eaw the completion of what
was written in aU the ecripturee, more especiaUy in the Song of Songe, concern
ing the greatness of redeeming love : for though all scripture treate largely of it,
yet thie is an entire treatise upon the subject. It contains a lively description of
the perfect love which our redeeming God has for returning sinners, and of the
grateful affection which his love atira up in them. He relatee what graces and
blessings he would bestow upon them ; and they expresB their happineeB in the
enjoyment of his graces and hlesainga. He trade thera black and deformed ain-
nera ; and he preaente them fair and without spot in the eight of God ; and they,
knowing him to be their Beloved and their Friend, see him altogether lovely.
Upon this subject they discourse, setting forth the happinese of their mutual
love. The Jews caU this book " the Holy of Holies ;" and so it is to every one who
has the love of God shed abroad in his heart. Here he converaee with the most
holy persons and thinge, and hae a foretaste of thoae pleasures which are at God's
right hand for evermore. But here the carnal and unregenerate man reads at the
peril of his own soul. He enters as it were into the holy of holies, which was
death by the law. He is ignorant of God's being in thia place. He puts not off
hie shoe, although it be holy ground. He puts not off, concerning his former
conversation, the old man, who is corrupt according to the deceitful lusts, and
who neither does understand the things of God treated of in thia book, nor can
underatand them, for want of a epiritual diecernment. He cannot know them,
says the word of truth, because they are spiritually discerned ; and therefore, if
he meddle with them, he muet profane them. The more sacred tbey are, the
more contrary are they to his nature. The more wholesome they ore to the

DISCOURSE I. 443
spiritual man, the more poison wttl the natural man extract from them; and
that which is a savour of life proves to him a savour of death.
Away, then, ye profane. Come not near to the holy of holies, nor presume to
look into it, lest ye die. You are no more fit to read this book than you are
to partake of the sacred elements at the Lord's table. With your carnal unre-
generate hearts you wiU read the one and partake of the other, to your greater
condemnation. Oh 1 keep back then, and presume not to look into, or to judge
of the sacred mysteries of this divine Song. But if you wiU venture to read it,
and to ridicule it, remember that it is one of the treasures of divine wisdom ;
and though you may level your wit against a Song of Solomon's, yet it falls
upon the almighty God who inspired it. And are you arrived at such desperate
wit, as to break jests upon God, and to make sport with his omnipotence?
Oh ! fear and tremble for yourselves, lest, while you are shooting up your arrows,
even your bitter words against heaven, God should send them back upon your
own heads with a swift destruction. May his grace show you your danger, and
dispose you to leave your sins ! and whenever you are stirred up to seek par
don and peace in Christ Jesus, then you wttl begin to understand this book ;
and when you have any experience of God's love to you, then you wiU find com
fort and profit in reading it.
I propose, through God's assistance, to treat of some parts of it in a practical
way : and to make our future consideration of these particular passages more
plain and easy, I shall at present lay before you a general plan of the book. And
this we have in the words now read. They are the title prefixed to it by its divine
Author, and serve as a short comment to explain its principal use. I shall there
fore endeavour,
First, To settle the true sense and meaning of the words — from whence we
may gather,
Secondly, That the scope and design of this sweet portion of scripture is to
describe the mutual love of Christ and his church.
Thirdly, I shall bring some arguments to prove that this is the scope and de
sign of it : and,
Lastly, I wiU reduce these truths to practice, and make some useful inferences
from them.
And first, The words now read are the title, which the Holy Spirit prefixed to
the book, that they might serve as a key to open its scope and design. The
Song of Songs which is concerning Solomon, which treats of Solomon. A song,
in the scripture usage of the term, consists in setting forth the praises of God. It
is a hymn to his honour and glory. The spiritual songs of scripture have no other
object but the God of love, and no other end but to raise and exalt our ideas of him
and of his works, especially of his works of grace, whereby he brings lost sinners
to a happy sense and 6weet experience of his love. St. Paul has given us a
ahort, but it is a very full, comment upon the scripture songs, Col. iii. 16 :
" Let the word of Christ dweU in you richly in all wisdom, teaching and ad
monishing one another in psalms, and hymns, and spiritual songs, singing
with grace in your hearts unto the Lord." Hence we learn the nature of these
songs ; they are the words of Christ, revealed by him and concerning him ;
and in them we are to teach and to admonish one another, to the end that the
word of Christ may dweU in us richly in all wisdom ; for they are spiritual
songs ; and he that sings them must nave grace in his heart : without this
qualification he wiU sing the song of fools ; and he must also sing " to the
Lord," to the glory and honour of his holy name. After this apostolical rule,
we may explain this song. It is the word of Christ, revealed by him, and con
cerning him, and we are to teach and to admonish one another in the things of
Christ out of this song. We have the apostle's command to do it, with this
encouragement, that the word of Christ may dweU in us richly in all wisdom :
for this song is of a spiritual nature, treating of spiritual persons and thiugs, and
cannot be sung aright unless grace be in the heart, nor will profit unless we have
an eye to the Lord in every word of it. If we look off from him to any lower
object, we not only lose sight of its scope and design, but we also form a judg-

444 SOLOMON'S SONG.
aWele'reTnf^ * w JUdgUlent °!^e Ha' SPirit' wh° has exal"'J thia
" 'rke w£ « he »r,I?^re SOngS' and l,as diSnified it with the high title of
em1n™» gK ngJS'- lhere are manJ' divine sonKs i bu» th" >s. by way of
S of thi'"1 !? tCK°Plousness couiprehenda, them all. It is the sum and
eve^n?riW sn ' the point to which they tend. God ie the subject of
SSl7 : ^ T- atuan T find in 6od which caUs for l0,'de'' so»«s
„H! ,£ ¦ I '0Ve Whl^ ,1S.above ^ his works ? which was bef°re them, for it
ta .1! £ Ji" g : Wi"ch ls Wlth them t0 Preserve !t ! and "ill be with them
dJ™. TT^T ^f.Vf eiernlty; cSurely a hymn uP°n this exalted subject
teem, the t.tle of •• The Song of Songs ;" especially when the dirine peraon,
fLZ a i.reatVs conaidered m it under his most amiable character, and set
forth under the style and title of the Prince of Peace ; for this is the meaning of
the word Solomon in Hebrew. The Song of Songa, which is Solomon's, our
translation reads ; but the Hebrew particle, put before Solomon, ia the sign, not
ot the genitive, but of the dative case, and is frequently rendered, concerning or
touching such a person or thing. Thus, laaiah v. 1, " Now wiU I sing to ray
weU-beloved a eong of my beloved, touching hie vineyard." And again, Paalm
xiv. 1, •' I apeak ofthe thinga which 1 have made, touching the king." It ia
also several times rendered concerning, as Gen. xix. 21, " 1 have accepted thee
concerning thia thing; and in Jer. xlix. it ia frequently translated concerning
In this sense it is here used. The Song of Songs which is concerning Solo
mon— not King Solomon, but the Prince of Peace, Jeaua Chriat, of whom Solo
mon waa a type and figure, aa it appeara from Paalm lxxii., which haa tho
aame title aa the Song. It is inscribed to Solomon, ia concerning him, and
treats of him ; but aeveral passages of it can be applied to none but Jeaua,
the Pnnce of Peace, of whom only it could be truly eaid, that he had domi
nion from one end ofthe carth to the other; that all kings ahould fall down
before hiin, and all nationa ahould aerve him ; that he ehould eave the eoule of
the needy, and ehould redeem their soula; and that prayer should be made unto
him continually, and all nations ahould caU him bleBaed. These thinga cannot
be apoken of King Solomon ; but they are atrictly true of the Prince of Peace,
Jeaua, the Lord of life and Redeemer of 8inners. Therefore the title of Paalm
lxxii. has the same meaning as the title of the Song ; and when the Holy Spirit
8ay8, " The Song of Songs, which ia concerning the Lord and giver of peace,"
he would plainly point out to us the principal uee of this scripture. It ia a trea-
tiae concerning the God of love, under the character of the Prince of Peace,
describing how happy we are in Chriet Jeaua, when we, who aomelimee were
far off, are made nigh by the blood of Christ : for he ia our peace. And thia
leads me to consider,
Secondly, The scope and design of thie eweet portion of ecripture. It ia to
describe the peace which Chriet haa given to the faithful soul, and 8ete forth
the happiness of the eoul in the enjoyment of it. Chrietian peace ie the fruit
of that love which the Holy Spirit hae manifeeted to einnera, and flowa from a
sense of their reconciliation with God, through Jeaus Christ their Lord; of
which the apostle thus epeake : " Being justified by faith, we have peace with
God, through our Lord Jesus ChriBt, and rejoice in hope ofthe glory of God."
And when we have thus tasted how gracious the Lord ia, then we cannot but
love him who firat loved ua ; and the aenae of thia love fille the miod with joy
and peace. In thie order St. Paul haa placed theae gracea : " The fruit of the
Spirit ia love, joy, peace." Our love ie by nature placed upon a wrong object.
Sin alienated our hearts from God. Our affections are turned from him, and
seek for happiness in creature-comforts. And although daily disappointed, yet
they continue to seek it, until the Holy Spirit convince them that they are seek
ing happiness in a vain shadow, and disquieting themselvee in vain. And when
he has shown them that nevertheless they may be completely happy in God
the Saviour, and has stirred them up earnestly to desire his salvation, then he
has prepared them to read this divine treatise with profit ; the scope and de
sign of which ia to eet before us Jesus Christ aa the only excellent and lovely
object of our affections : and when we, by the eye of faith, behold him, and by the

DISCOURSE I. 445
power of faith are united to him, then we know what the apostle meant when
he said, " To them that believe, Jesus is precious ;" and we can take up the
words of the believer in the Song, and declare that he is altogether lovely — the
chiefest among ten thousand. And thus every other object wiU fade away in
our esteem, and grow mean and worthless in comparison of God our Saviour ;
whereby we shall be able to enter into the spirit of the Song. We shall know
something of that spiritual fellowship and communion of which it treats : for it
dwells largely upon the mutual joys and mutual praises of Christ and the behev
ing soul, describing the complete happiness which they have in each other. This
is the general plan of the book, which is very weU expressed in the argument
put before it, in the Bible that was in use in Queen Elizabeth's time : " In this
Song, Solomon, by most sweet and comfortable allegories and parables, describeth
the perfect love of Jesus Christ, the true Solomon and King of Peace, and the
faithful of his church, which he hath sanctified, and appointed to be his spouse,
holy, chaste, and without reprehension : so that here is declared the singular love
of the bridegroom toward the bride, and his great and exceUent benefits where
with he doth enrich her, of his pure bounty and grace, without any of her de
servings. Also the earnest affection of the church, which is inflamed with the
love of Christ, desiring to be more and more joined to him in love, and not to be
forsaken for any spot or blemish that is in her."
This was the judgment of our reformers : anel they were not singular in it, as
I purpose to show under my third head, which was to bring some arguments to
prove that this is the scope and design of the book.
The first argument, which would occur to every serious person, is, the univer
sal consent of expositors. AU the Jewish writers suppose it to treat of the spi
ritual union between Christ and the believer. AU Christian writers understand
it in the same sense. And the unanimous opinion of all learned and good men
ought certainly to have great weight with us : for the scope and design of the
book must be very plain and clear, since there never was any dispute about it in
the church of God. This, then, being the received sense, I may proceed to exa
mine upon what principles it came to be so universally received. I suppose men
were led to consider it in this light from the established method of explaining
scripture : and this is the second argument I shaU use.
Ine scriptures are suited to man in his present state. Whtte he is here in the
body, he cannot converse immediately with spiritual objects : he can only see
them comparatively, as compared to and illustrated by material and sensible
objects. The scriptures take this method of instruction. They teach us spiritual
and heavenly things, under their expressive images of nature. Whoever consi
dered the scriptures in this light, could not rest in the literal sense of the Song.
He knew that aU scripture had a spiritual sense ; and therefore, in reading
the Song, he would consider what the spiritual sense could be ; and he could
not easily mistake it when he recollected what was the one great end and aim
of all scripture. Every part of it was to lead men to some knowledge of Christ ;
which is tne third argument tending to open to us the scope and design of this
ilivine book.
Search the scriptures, says he of whom they write ; for these are they which
testify of me. The Song is part of these scriptures ; and therefore it testifies
of Christ. And what other testimony does it bear of him than in setting forth
the love which he has for his faithful people ?
The testimony of Jesus, says St. John, is the spirit of prophecy. If you under
stand the prophetical spirit of this book, you will read it in the testimony of
Jesus : therefore, if you do not see how it bears testimony to him, you have no
insight into its prophetical spirit.
Again we read, " That the holy scriptures are able to make a man wise unto
salvation, through faith which is in Christ Jesus : for aU scripture is given by
inspiration of God." 2 Tim. iii. 15, lfi. From whence I infer that the Song,
being pari of scripture, is given by inspiration of God, and was therefore given
that it might make the man of God wise unto salvation ; and this it does by
establishing him in the faith which is in Christ Jesus.
Another proof may be taken from the forty-fifth Psalm, which is a song of loves.

446 SOLOMON'S SONG.
The subject and tbe manner of the composition are the same with thia dirine
hook. They treat of the love of Chriat to his church, and after the manner of a
dialogue ; and the forty-fifth Psalm ia applied to Christ by an infallible interpreter.
fit. Paul, in the 1st of the Hebrews, and the Sth verse, say8, that it waa written
of God the Son : from whence we may conclude that the Song, being upon the
same subject, and drawn up in the Bame manner, treats also of the love of God
tiie Son to hia faithful people. And to confirm the interpretation of these more
general proofe, I may mention a fourtii argument, taken from thoee places of
scripture wherein Chriet ia spoken of in the very terms uaed in the Song. 'Ihe
scripture often speaks of him under the character of the bridegroom. In the
25th of St. Matthew we have the parable of the ten virgins who went out to
meet the bridegroom, who, in the 13th verse, is catted the son of man. In
the Sth of the Kpheaiane, St. Paul ie treating of the love and union between
husbands and wives ; and in the 32nd verse he saya, " Thie ia a great myatery ;
but I speak concerning Christ and his church," in the same manner, and with
the aame expressions, which are used in the Song, and which are carried on
through the New Testament : for time we read, in one of the laat acenes of the
Revdation of St. John, that the multitude of the heavenly hoat cried aloud, aa the
voice of mighty thunderinga, Baying, Hallelujah 1 for the Lord God omnipotent
reigneth : Let us be glad and rejoice, and give honour unto him : for the mar
riage of the Lamb is come, and hia wife bath made herself ready. And in the
¦21st chapter St. John informa us who tbe bride, the Lamb's wife, is — the church,
the Jerusalem that is above, which ie the spiritual mother of ue all, even of every
one of us who shall be bo happy as to be called to the marriage-supper of the
Lamb. From these authoritiee it appears to me undeniably evident that it ia com
mon in scripture to apeak of Chriat in the very aame manner that he ia spoken
of in the Song : and therefore, Bumming up all these argumente together, conai-
dering that the expositors, Jews and Chriatiane, are agreed about the plan and
design of it, and that the received eenso ie agreeable to the general rule for inter
preting ecripture, and ia founded upon dear reasoning from many particular
paaaages, and more eapeciaUy from thoBe paeeagee wherein expreee mention ia
made of Chri8t'8 love to the faithful, under the very imagee ueed to represent it
in the Song, we may certainly from hence conclude that the ecope and deeign of
thie eweet portion of scripture is to set forth in the moat lively and affecting
manner the mutual joye and mutual praisee of Chriet and the faithful.
Having thus far endeavoured to settle and eatabliah the principal uae of thia
eacred book, I come, in the fourth and laat place, to reduce what haa been aaid
into practice, and to draw Bome useful inferences from it.
Ihe Song, aa you have heard, ia of the nature of a parable, wherein spiritual
thinga are deecribed by material. It ia one of the officea of the wiedom that ia
from above, to underatand a parable and the interpretation thereof. I have endea
voured to give you the interpretation of one of the Bweetest of all the divine
parables. And are there any of you, my brethren, who, after what has been aaid,
are not yet reconciled to thia book ? Do you think that it had better have been
left out of the sacred volume? Conaider, that your opinion weigha nothing
aeainst the unanimoue consent of the church of God, and your opinion w founded
upon your ignorance of the thinga of God. If you underatand thia book, you
could not think meanly of it ; but, in order to underatand it, you muet have aome
experience of that love of which it treate: having never tasted of it you cannot
enter into the spirit of the description of it here made by Chriet and by the
faithful. Instead, then, of looking into the book for matter of censure, look into
your own hearts, and beg of God to show you how much you stand in need of
having the love of Chriet shed abroad in thera ; and whenever he enables you to
say with the apostle, Jeeue Chriet loved me and gave himself for me, then you
will taste and aee how exceedingly eweet every image and deecription ia in this
"hyou cannot be persuaded to deaire the love of God may be ahed abroad in
your hearts, you wttl entertain a mean opinion of thia treatiae upon it. But for
tiie sake of your dear and immortal souls, suffer not yourselves to speak ineve-

DISCOURSE I. 447
rently of it. If God ever revealed himself to man, this is part of his revelation.
Ihe holy and eternal Spirit, who inspired all scripture, spake this by his unening
wisilom. He is the author ; and the subject is the deep things of God. 'Let not
then a disrespectful word come out of your mouths against it. But if you will
suffer your wit to ran into licentiousness, remember that you ridicule this book at
the peril of your souls. You are guilty of blasphemy against the Most High.
, And how can you think it safe to jest upon the Almighty, and to make sport with
his omnipotence ? Why wiU you set God at defiance, and addfresh fuel to his wrath,
as if aU your other sins would not sink you deep enough into the pit of destruction ?
If you have any love left for your eternal interests, forbear this desperate wit ;
and beg of God to enlighten the darkness of your understandings, that you may
see the scope and design of this sacred Song. And to those persons who desire
this, I make my second remark.
You do not cleaiiy comprehend the things written in this book, but you desire
to comprehend them. If this desire be from God, it wttl put you upon praying
for the experience of that love which is here treated of. You may possibly come
at the meaning of some things in it, but you cannot know them practically nor
profitably, until you are taught them of God. You cannot teU what the love of
God is unttt it be shed abroad in your heart. No description can make you
acquainted with it : and therefore look up to God, who has it to give. Ask him,
out of the riches of his grace, to bestow it upon you : and when he gives you the
comfortable sense of it, then you will have the best key to open the mysteries of
this divine Song. And for your encouragement in seeking, remember that this
love is free. Though it be inestimable, yet it is to be had without money and
without price. God had no motive to show it to sinners but bis own inherent
mercy, and he waits for no merit or qualification in them : for it is to supply the
want of all merit and qualification : and he has already begun to bestow the riches
of this free love upon you by making you sensible of your want of it, and by
putting you upon seeking for it. Wait upon him, then, in the ways of his
ordinances, and he will finish what he has begun. He wiU enable you to love
him, because he first loved you. Ask this out of a due sense of your unworthiness,
and the Father, for the sake of his Son, wiU shed abroad his love in your hearts
by the Holy Ghost. And thus he wiU bring you into the happy number of those
believers, to whom I make my third and last inference.
You, my Christian brethren, can read this sweet portion of scripture with
delight and profit. You know it to be true by your own experience. You look
upon Jesus Christ in the light here described : for he is your peace, and you find
his dealings with your souls are the very same which the Song mentions. For
what the Song says of the church in general must be true of every individual who
ia a member of it : for the church is nothing more than a congregation of behevers
united by faith, and by the bond of the Spirit to Christ, the head of the spiritual
body, and by love to one another. United to him, as the members are to the head,
and united to one another, as the members are in the same body. What, therefore,
is spoken in the Song of the whole church, as the spouse of Christ, is true of
every particular Christian. And what is said of the church is briefly this : in the
first chapter, the church expresses a strong desire for nearer communion with
Christ ; and then there foUows some declining of her affection. After this,
we have her recovery — a regaining of her first love : and yet she afterwards
declines again in her affection, her love grows cold, and she faUs into a state of
desertion. Christ hides his presence from her more than he did in her former
coldness ; and this continues until, perceiving Christ's constant affection to her,
notwithstanding her unkind treatment of him, she recovers, and foUows him more
closely, and with a more constant love than before.
These passages agree with the experience of the best Christians in the course
of their own lives ; and therefore the Song is not a dark unintelligible book to
them. They find it to be an experimental treatise upon the love of Jesus Christ
to hia people. And aU of you, my Christian brethren, understand it in this light.
You have read it with care, praying the holy inspirer of it to enlighten your
underatandings, that you may see its true sense and spiritual meaning ; and he
has opened to you the truth of its descriptions. The Holy Spirit has drawn you

448 SOLOMON'S SONG.
to Christ, and has made you happy in the sense of his love, and thus he haa given
you the best comment upon the Song. The more he enables you to taste of this
love, the more clearly wttl you underatand the Song. You will have the greater
insight into it, the nearer access you have to the Father, with confidence through
the faith that is in Christ : for what is written concerning communion with God
must certainly be best understood by thoae who live in do8e communion with
him. Thia ia your privilege. Remember how great and high it ia, and act worthy
of it. You have feUowahip with the Father and with hia Son Jesua Chriat. The
Holy Spirit is the bond of this -communion, and therefore it is called the " com
munion of the Holy Ghost." Oh beware ! then, of every thing that would grieve
or offend him. As his is a holy office, entirely relating to holiness, nothing can
displease this Holy Spirit so much as sin. He ia of purer eyea than to behold the
least iniquity. The least thought of ein offends him : for it is sin that pollutes his
sacred residence, and defiles the temple of the heart. Sin makes him withdraw
and hide the light of his countenance, and withhold the sweet sense of hie com
fortable presence. Oh ! beware, then, aa you love your own peace of mind, aa you
love your God and his glory, as you iove Jesus Christ and his Balvation, beware of
the least approach to sin. Pray, watch, strive against it. Resist unto blood striving
against sin. Wait upon God in aU his ordinances to get power over it. And
the more you are dead to sin and alive unto God, the nearer fellowship wttl you
have with the Father, and with hia Son Jesus Chriat; and aa this feUowahip ia
the eubject of the Song, you wttl therefore underatand it the better, and expe
rience more of ita sweetness.
My Christian brethren, you have tasted of its sweetness. You know the loving-
kindness of the Lord ; and if you would have the constant abiding Benae of it,
earne8tly beseech the Holy Spirit to keep you from offending hiin in thought,
word, and deed. Entreat hiin to give you grace never to grieve him. Stand in
awe, and ain not. Sin ia your great enemy. Nothing makea God hide hia face
from you, but ain. All the darkness, and blindness, and depravity that are in the
soul, concerning the thingB of God, come from sin : from it camo all misery. Oh,
watch then, and pray always agoinat it. Pray that you may be kept from the
worka of darkneae, and from every error and vice which would cloud the under-
atanding, and hinder your reading tins portion of acripture with profit. Look up
to the Spirit of wiadom, and entreat him to open to you the tme senae and meaning
of the Song, and to give you the happy experience and comforta of ita doctrinea.
And that we may aU receive the benefita from it which he intended it ehould admi
nister to his people, let us humbly oak it of him in the words of our church,
which hath taught us to pray, 8aying,
Bleaeed Lord, who hast caused all holy scriptures (and thia portion of them
in particular which we have been considering) to be written for our learning ;
grant that we may in such wise hear them, read, mark, learn, and inwardly
digest them, that by patience and comfort of thy holy word we may embrace
and ever hold fast the bleseed hope of everlaeting life, which thou haat given
U8 in our Saviour Jesus Chriet. Amen.

DISCOURSE II.
, Chap. i. ver. 4.
Draw me : we will run after thee.
The Saviour of einnere ie God and man united in one Christ. Aa God, lie
haa all the perfection of heaven; and as man he has all the beauties of toii
earth He has every grace of time, and every blessing of eternity, which ought
to draw and to attract our love. But while men are in their natural unregeherate
state they see none of his perfections and beauties. They behold no form no!
comeliness in him that they should deaire him. The world and the thinga of it
appear more desirable than he does. The base periahing joya of eenae have the

DISCOURSE II. 44<)
entire possession of their affections. Sin is more lovely in their eyes than God
the Saviour ; and they give up their hearts lo its enjoyments, in preference to
him and his heaven. While they continue to place their love on such unworthy
objects, they are incapable of judging of this divine Song : for they are not only
strangers, but also enemies to that love of which it treats ; and how, then, can
they see the beauties of its composition, or judge of the justness of its senti
ments? So long as they love sin, they cannot love Jesus Christ; and therefore
they cannot love the sweet descriptions in this poem, which set forth the happi
ness of loving him above aU things. But when their eyes are opened to see
the exceeding sinfulness of sin, and their hearts are once drawn from the love of
sin, when they have found that it cannot make them happy, then they are glad
to hear of a Saviour ; and when they have tasted of his love, then they begin
to understand and to admire the beauties of this divine Song ; and the more
they love hiin, the greater beauties do they find in it.
The subject of it is the union betwixt Christ and the faithful soul. In this,
all the expositors of scripture, ancient and modern, are agreed. It is a spiritual
Song, composed in the manner of a dialogue. The speakers are Clirist and the
believer. The inspirer of it is the holy and eternal Spirit, who delivered it by
the mouth of Solomon. He knew it to be tnie by his own experience, as every
believer does to this day. After he had left God, he sought for happiness in
the creatures, but was disappointed. He turned from one object to another,
tried the whole circle of worldly enjoyments, and, as he passed on, he wrote
upon each, vanity and vexation of spirit. It pleased God to show him his error,
and to make use of him as a proper person to warn others from setting their
hearts upon any object but God : for if Solomon could not find happiness in the
world, what can the man do that cometh after the king ? This is the subject oi
the book of Ecclesiastes. After Solomon had turned from these worldly vanities,
to serve the living God, he wrote this divine Song, to show what true happiness
he had found, and every believer will find, in being united to Christ in the
bonds of love and affection. The 11 ily Spirit had drawn his heart from the love
of all inferior objects to God the Redeemer, and had given him faith to see his own
interest in what the Redeemer was to do and suffer for him. By these bonds
the union waB formed and perfected. The Holy Spirit, on Christ's part, and
faith on the believer's, united them to each other. And the believer here
describes what happy effects flowed to him from this union ; and Christ describes
the delight he had in it. The descriptions of their mutual love and happiness
run through this Song of Loves.
'Ihe awakened soul begins with expressing its desire to receive some sensible
tokens of Christ's love, in the second verse ; setting forth the excellency of it in
the third ; and at the same time its own utter inability and insufficiency to
attain it, unless Christ would be pleased to draw the afl'ections from all other
objects unto himself : " Draw me," as it follows in the fourth verse, "and we
will run after thee." Draw me, Lord Jesus, from the love of the world, and the
things of it. Draw me from the love of sin and self. I feel my bondage ; I
find that 1 am a slave, and am without strength to deliver myself. Oh draw ine,
then, by the sweet impulse of thy good Spirit from my bondage and slavery.
And when thou art pleased to set my feet at liberty, then we will run after thee
— we, in the plural number : for when the heart is once drawn after Christ, it
commands all the faculties ; and they which could not stir before, now run ;
they which bad no strength now run against all opposition ; they which were
enemies to Christ now run after him with joy in the ways of his commandments.
Draw me by thy grace, and we, every faculty of soul anil body, will obey, we
will follow the divine attraction, and thou shalt be our God and king ruling over
us, and getting thyself glory by setting up thy kingdom within us. May these
be the desires of all your hearts, while we are here met together! May the
Lord Jesus draw your thoughts from every vain and sinful object, and keep
them fixed upon this subject! Oh that he may send his good Spirit to open
your understandings clearly to see, and to influence your affections readily to
receive,

450 SOLOMON'S SONG.
First, The reasons which induced the awakened sinner to desire Clirist would
draw him.
Seconelly, The scripture method of drawing the soul unto Clirist.
Thirdly, The certain effects which foUow upon ite being drawn. And
then, Fourthly, I wUl reduce these particulars to practice, and wttl apply them
closely, as God shaU enable me, to every one of your consciences.
And First, We need not look farther then the text for the reasons which
induced the awakened sinner to desire Christ would draw him. He found lie
could not run after Christ unless he was drawn : for although God be the
fountain of all good to his creatures, and the God-man Christ Jesus be the
fountain of all good to his sinful creatures, yet they are not willing to go and
receive good at his hands. Sin has corrupted aU the faculties of the soul, and
has turned and alienated them from God ; insomuch that they leave God to
seek good in the creature, and idolize it by placing their happineee in it. The
God of this world, and hia richee and honours, and pleaeuree, have possession of
their hearta ; and the God of heaven, who promi8ee them heavenly riches, and
honoure, and pleasures, has none of their affections ; nay they hate him. While
they love present and seneual gratificationa, they are hatere of God. They hate
him because their sinful nature is opposite to his perfect holiness, and becauae
he haa forbidden them these gratificationa, which they are determined to enjoy ;
and they hate him the more, becauae he has threatened to puniah them, and
conacience informa them that they deeerve the threatened puniehment. This is
the state of all men by nature. They are lovers of ain, and hatera of God,
Rom. i. 30. And until thia hatred be conquered, how can they come to God with
any kind of love ? Their affectiona wttl lead them farther from him every step they
take : and how can they return unleea he draw them to himself f If they can but be
convinced of the vanity and emptineaa of all these creature-comforta, upon which
they have eet their hearts, and can eee reason to think that Gbd will he reconciled,
and love them notwithstanding their former opposition to him, then they will
be disposed to seek his love ; but until they be convinced of these two truths,
they cannot be drawn to seek happinese in God.
Thia is the plain doctrine of ecripture. Our dirine Lord and Maater thua
inatmcts his disciples, John vi. 44 : " No man can come unto me, except the
Father, which hath sent rae, draw him." No man, be he ever eo moral, civil, and
learned, let him have ever eo many natural gifts and acquired accomplishments,
can come, has either wiU or power to come, unto me for the graces and blesainga
which 1 have to give, unless the Father which hath eent me draw him by the
sweet attraction of hi8 good Spirit.
Our church teachea the eame doctrine, in her tenth article ; Ihe condition
of man after the fall of Adam, ib auch, that he cannot turn and prepare
himeelf'by hie own natural etrength and good worke to faith and caUingupon
God • wherefore we have no power to do good works, pleasant and acceptable
to God, without the grace of God by Chriat preventing us, that we may
have a good will, and working with us when we have that good wttl. Here
we are taught that man by his fall is turned away from God, and haa no etrength
to return, unless the grace of Christ go before to gw him a good wul and
then work with him when he has that good wttl. fie has no strength in any
of hia faculties: they are all turned from God; and the grace of Chriat a on
is able to draw thera back again. The underatanding ha8 no light. It ia
entirely in darkneaa, as to the thinga of God Eph. iv. 18, and the eye of the
mind can no more enlighten itself, than the eye of the body can en ghten
itself without light. When the first ray of grace breaks in upon ua, it finds
us as^t did the heathens at the coming of Chriat, sitting in Sarkneaa and in
the shadow of death. And unless the rays of his grace shine into the under-
standing, it cannot be enlightened. Christ is the only light of he world lie
is in the kingdom of grace, what the sun is in nature. Stop the influence of
his briaht beams, and the understanding wttl never Bee any reason to follow
him, nor can the wiU chooee him. The wttl of the natural man ie depraved.

DISCOURSE II. 451
It has a wrong bias, and is directly opposite to the will of God, and never can
desire to be reconciled, unless the Holy Spirit draw it.
But does not the Holy Spirit's thus drawing it destroy our free wttl ? By no
means : for it cannot destroy what is not. Fallen man has no free will but to
Bin : if that may be called free, " which is tied and bound with the chains of
sin," as our church expresses it. The scripture is absolutely positive upon
this point, declaring, Rom. viii. 7, " that the carnal mind," the will of our
corrupt nature, " is enmity against God : for it is not subject to the law of God,
neither indeed can be," until it be delivered from the bondage and slavery of sin.
It cannot be subject to the wttl of God unless his grace draw it to himself: for
by nature it is drawn to sin. " The flesh always lusteth against the spirit,"
says the scripture. " FaUen man is of his own nature inclined to evil," as our
ninth article teaches. We run fast enough into evil. We want nothing to draw
us. Sin strikes upon our nature, and catches like a spark upon gunpowder.
Surely we can aU remember with what different tempers we used to go to the
playhouse and to the church ; how much greater delight we took in spending an
evening over the devil's books, at an innocent game of cards, as his chUdren call
it, than in reading the word of God. And are there none of you who now find
more joy in many things than you do in prayer ? These are evident proofs that
you are still governed by the wiU of the flesh, which, the scripture says, lusteth
always against the spirit : and therefore how can a desire ever arise in it after
God, or the things of God, unless Christ draw it to himself ? But the worst part
of our corruption consists in the depravity of our affections : for they are also
governed by the wiU ofthe flesh, and are, according to the apostle, to be crucified,
Gal. v. 24 : " And they that are Christ's have crucified the flesh with the affec
tions and lusts." And they that are not Christ's are stttl under the power of
the affections and lusts of the flesh. The heart, which is the commanding faculty,
is in them shut against God ; but is open to receive sin, loves it, dotes upon it,
yea, is so enamoured of it, as to prefer its short and empty joys to the solid
felicity of an eternal heaven. And what power is able to break these chains ?
Who can set our hearts at liberty, and turn them from sin to righteousness ?
Who but the same God that created our hearts at first ? He alone can draw
the affections from the love of the world, and from the love of sin and self, up
to the things above, where Christ sitteth at the right hand of God.
Upon all these accounts it appears that man is incapable even of going to
Christ, and much more of running after him, unless he be drawn. The scrip
ture is express : " No man can come unto Christ, except the Father draw him."
Our church is clear in her opinion : " Such is the condition of faUen man, that
he cannot turn himself to God unless the grace of Christ go before, to give him
a good will, and then work with him when he has that good wiU." And this is
also evident from matter of fact, and from experience. We find that all men, by
nature, instead of turning themselves to Christ, who is the fountain of every
good, turn to sin, which is the source of every evil. Among learned and polite
nations, professing Christianity, there is the same ignorance of the things of God
as among the darkest heathens ; the same depravity of the will, the same corrup
tion in the heart and the affections ; which are clear and full proofs of our
inability ever to go to Christ, unless he draw us to himself. The speaker, in the
text, saw these proofs in a strong light. He found his want of a Saviour, and
he felt how unable he was to do any tiling towards attaining or meriting the
Saviour's love : he was quite helpless, and without strength ; therefore he begs
the grace of Christ would draw him. My brethren, are you in this state ? Do
yuu see the reasons which I have now laid before you in a clear and convincing
light ? If not, may the ever-blessed God, of whom we are speaking, draw you
by his grace unto himself : but if you are convinced, then you will gladly follow
me to the consideration of the scripture method of drawing the soul to Christ :
and this is the second point upun which I was to speak.
lt is evident, fallen man wants draw ing to Christ, because the scripture has
taught us tbe established method by which he draws us. The several steps of it
are there particularly marked out for our instruction, that we might be certain
how the work of grace advances in our own souls. The word of God is the out-
G G 2

4">2 SOLOMON'S SONG.
ward means of drawing us. The Holy Spirit applying the word is tbe inward
means. He begins his application by awakening the careless secure sinner, and
by convincing him deeply and thoroughly of his being a sinful helpless creature.
He shows him how entirely he is departed from God, and how unable he is to
return ; and then he makes him deeply sensible of his misery until he doea
return. By which means the awakened sinner finds his want of a Saviour ;
and it is the daily prayer of his heart that he may find pardon and peace through
the blood of the Lamb of God ; but at the same time he feels so much of his
corruption, that he knows these prayers could never have arisen in his heart
unless the Holy Spirit had begun to draw him unto Christ. He who could
before boast of the light of nature, and of the great stretch of his reasoning
faculties, now finds nothing but blindness and darkness in his understanding.
He who used to think highly of the dignity of human nature, and of man's rec
titude, and of the moral sense, &c. now sees that his will is by nature inclined to
evil, and that our dignity and rectitude, and moral sense, are the mere chimeras
of metaphysical dreamers. Now he feels himself to be a poor lost sinner, whose
heart and afl'ections are so far turned from God, that, unless the Holy Spirit
create in him a new heart, he can never return. Being thus convinced of his
sinfulness and misery, and of his own helplessness to take one step towards his
deliverance, he is prepared for the next work of grace, which is to clraw him and
to unite him to Christ by faith. If the Holy Spirit had never convinced him of
sin, he would never have found any want of a Saviour; and if he had never seen
his own helplessness, he would not have seen any necessity for being drawn to
Chriat by hia grace : but being now convinced that he is both a sinner and also
a helpleea sinner, the desires of his soul are drawn out after God, and he is in a
right temper to wait upon God unttt he be gracious unto him. And it is the
office of the Holy Spirit to keep him waiting in the waya of the ordinances, until,
in God'a due time, he is sent to convince him of righteousnesa, and to bear wit-
neaa with his spirit that the Father has accepted him and pardoned him through
the merits of hia beloved Son. Hereby he receivea a well-grounded faith in the
obedience and sufferings of Jesua Chriat. He can aafely apply the merit8 of them
to himself, and has great joy and peace in believing that they are imputed unto
him for righteousness. He haa the eure witneee of thie in himself, even the
witnes8 of the Holy Spirit, bearing teatimony that Chri8t ia hie Saviour, and that
God ie hie reconciled Father. Thia spirit of adoption enables him to cry, Abba,
Father, and to go to God with filial love and confidence. He now lovea God,
because he knows that God first loved him ; and thus he is drawn to God by the
corda of a man, by the banda of love, and i8 ready, through grace, to give outward
evidence of the reality of the inward work, by running after Christ in the way of
his commandments.
Thus the Holy Spirit is the convincer of ain and the convincer of righteoua-
ness ; and by these two convictions he draws the sinner, and unites him unto
Chriat. He 8howe him that he wants a Saviour, and then he shows him his
interest in the Saviour. He firet makes him feel that he is a lost sinner in him
self, and then that be is saved by the righteousness of Jesus Christ. This is the
established method in which the Holy Spirit draws the sinner unto the Saviour ;
and this is a further proof of its being necessary he should be drawn ; since the
scripture haa informed ub both ofthe agent by whom, and also of the method by
which, he is drawn unto Christ
My brethren, have you experienced this ? Has the Holy Spirit drawn you
from the love of sin and self ? Have you left the world, and all that is called
great and happy in it, to foUow Christ ? Is no object more desirable than he is
in your eyee ? Can you take up the croas, and run after him with joy, although
reproach, ridicule, and oppOBition, meet you at every atep ? Examine your own
hearts, and try them by the certain effect8 which foUow upon the Holy Spirit'a
drawing the soul to Christ ; and this is the third particular in the text : " Draw
me, and we wttl run after thee."
'Ihe natural man cannot foUow Christ, because his heart and his affections are
in another interest. He loves to follow the world and its pleasures. And if he
was convinced it was right to foUow Christ, he would meet with many insuperable

DISCOURSE II. 453
el'imcultiei before he could set out and run after him. But when the Holy Spirit
draws him, he then removes that unwillingness which made the way appear so
difficult; and when he renews the faculties, he then gives them strength to over
come every difficulty. By his grace the inbred opposition is subdued : the under
standing is enlightened, and sees the way clearly ; the wiU foUows it readily ; the
heart and the affections pursue it cheerfuUy. They foUow their Lord and Saviour
whithersoever he goeth. They run after him with ease in the way that was before
difficult ; with pleasure in the way that was before painful ; and with continuance
in the way wherein before they could not take a step. When the Holy Spirit has
drawn the sinner to Christ, and really united him by faith to the head ofthe mys
tical body, he is then a new creature ; old things are passed away ; behold, all
things are become new, both in his state and actions. The branch of the wild
olive-tree is grafted in, and partakes of the root and fatness of the good olive-
tree, whereby its nature is changed. There is a-real and an entire change made,
which appears evidently to the common observer by the outward change in a
man's hfe and conversation. He acts upon different motives from what he did
before. He pursues different ends, and by different means. Before, he ran after
the world, now he runs after Christ. Christ is now become aU his treasure, and
the heart will be where its treasure is ; and where the heart is, the other faculties
will foUow. No opposition shaU discourage them. Let them be drawn and
united to Christ, and none of his commandments wttl be grievous. Even self-
denial, the hardest commandment, wiU be easy. Place the love of Christ in the
heart, and the man who before shrank from and trembled at reproach is nothing
moved at it. He that was afraid of having his name cast out with contempt, now
can rejoice in being despised for Christ's sake : he can give up his character : he
was once reckoned a learned and a good man : but now he can bear to be called
a madman and a fool. He takes up his cross daily, and runs on rejoicing. The
contempt of the world hastens his steps. It spurs him on. It drives him nearer
to his Saviour, and makes him live in closer communion with him. If worldly
men knew what infinite service they do us by their opposition, they would alter
their behaviour ; for they are Our real friends, though they do not intend us any
kindness. They make us sit looser and freer from the world than we otherwise
should do ; and when we are willing sometimes to take a little rest, and our love
and zeal begin to abate something of their ardour, then they stir us up, and make
us mend our pace homewards. Thus the Holy Spirit causes aU things to work
together for our good : even outward opposition, sanctified by his grace, helps us
forward, and enables us to mn the faster after Christ. And I hope there are
many of us who can say with the apostle, that nothing shaU separate us from
our blessed Lord and Saviour. " I am persuaded," says he, " that neither tribu
lation nor distress, persecution, famine, nakedness, peril, or sword, shall be able
to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord."
My brethren, if you have been drawn to Christ, have these effects followed ?
Are you running after him in the ways of his commandments, and running with
delight, as after the greatest happiness you can enjoy in time and in eternity ?
If this be your state, then in you ia this scripture fulfiUed. May he keep you by
his almighty grace, and lead you on safely, until he draw you up to himself, and
make you blessed with him for ever and ever. But if this be not your state, then
it is incumbent upon me to warn you of your guilt and of your danger, and to
caU upon you, by every thing that is dear and valuable, to reflect seriously upon
the situation you are in. And this brings me to the fourth and last particular
upon which I was to speak. While I am applying it as closely as God shaU
enable me, oh, may he second my application by bis grace, and carry it with his
effectual working to every one of your consciences !
And first, in the spirit of love, I address myself to those persons whose
affections are not drawn out after Christ by the sweet influence of his Spirit.
Although Christ has every beauty, every perfection, in himself, and is witting to
communicate to us of his fulness, grace for grace, yet, alas ! few persons desire
him, and fewer run after him. You may eastty draw them to a play, to a concert,
or to a baU ; but to the God of aU grace and glory, what arguments, what motives,
can draw them ? Propose to them a fair opportunity of getting a great fortune ;

454 SOLOMON'S SONG.
show them the way to honour and grandeur ; their hearts meet the proposal with
raptures : but change the discourse, and offer to them the inestimable riches of
Jesus Christ, and the eternal honours and grandeur which he has to give ; they
feel no emotion. What can be the cause of this strange inconsistency ? Whence
is it that men who love pleasure should nevertheless be so absurd as to prefer
sensual to spiritual, and temporal to eternal, pleasures ; ' nay, so monstrously and
wickedly absurd as to let the love of the world shut out the love of that God who
made it, and who wttl soon destroy it ? What can be the reason of thie ? But
that man is a corrupt, faUen creature, depraved in every faculty of soul and body ;
insomuch that, in spiritual matters, he is as incapable of acting aright, ns a dead
man is of acting at all : for he is dead in trespasses and sine. Before he can
move or stir a step, he must be awakened and convinced of his own helplessness.
Then he wttl have reason to wait upon God for hie help. But if he never finds
himself sick, he wiU never send for the physician. If he be never convinced that
he cannot go to Christ unleee he be drawn, he wttl never desire the Holy Spirit
to draw him. And if any of you be in thiB case, awake, thou that sleepest in
death ! Oh ! awake ! awake ! open thine eyes, and consider thy guilt. Whither
can ein draw thee, but to hell ? Consider thy danger — how near thou art to it !
Thy heart and affections have never been drawn after Christ ; but they are still
placed upon those objects which draw the love of all natural men unto themselves.
Either monoy or pleasure or ambition are their favourite pursuits, ao far as to
exclude Jesus Christ, yea, the very hungering or thirsting after him. You have
not even a desire to experience hie love : and therefore you may be assured that
you have no work of grace in you. Vou are still in your natural state ; at an
infinite distance from God. You have the guilt of your nature and the guilt of
your lives to answer for at his great tribunal. His holy law has already condemned
you, and has passed sentence upon you, threatening to pour out all its curses
upon your guilty heads. The righteous Judge is bound to see them executed
upon you. And you know not how soon he may call you to judgment. Oh !
may God rouse up your fears, my brethren, and alarm you at the sight of your
danger ! ShaU you, who fly with eager haste from temporal danger, be easy and
careless while the almighty God is your enemy, and he may this moment come
and get glory to aU his attributes by your everlasting destruction ? Can you
think your8elves secure in this case while there is only this little light vapour in
your nostrils between you and hell? Lord Jeaue, forbid it ! If any person hear
me this day, who came hither without any intention to be made uneasy about
the atate of hia eoul, oh let him now feel the iniBery of being separated from
thee, the fountain of good, and draw him to thyself. Dear Lord, now draw hia
heart from 8in and Satan, from the world and the things of it, that he may
foUow me with profit, and be edified and comforted from what I have to apply,
Secondly, To thoae pereons whoae deaires the Holy Spirit has begun to draw
unto Christ. I hope many of you are brought thua far, and can truly aay,
" Draw me ; and we will nin after thee." If you can desire thia aincerely, then
the Holy Spirit has already begun to set your hearta at liberty. Wait upon him,
and he wttl enable you to follow ChriBt with delight, whitheraoever he caUeth
you. He wttl let you eee eo much of your want of Christ, and of his all-
sufficiency to supply your wants, that you wttl resolve to give up all for him :
you wiU see nothing more worthy of your pursuit than the knowledge of your
interest in Jeeus. There is indeed nothing else worth your pursuit. Unless you
are found in him, God the Father ie your enemy, as you are a sinner in yourself ;
but when he sees you in the Son of hia love, a living member of hie body, aU
his blessings are yours, in time and eternity. Oh, then, be earnest, be unwearied
at the throne of grace, until you are drawn effectually to Chriet, and by faith
united to him. Whatever keepe you from him, pray that it may be removed.
And be it ever eo dear an object — a right hand, or a right eye — look up to him,
and he wttl give grace eufficient for you. If it be ein ; he ia almighty to aave
you from it. If it be great sin ; his merits and righteousnees are infinite. If
they be many sins ; what proportion do they bear to infinity ? Are you a poor
lost sinner ? Did not he come to seek and to save that which was lost ? Are
your sins of a deep dye .' Ihe greatest have been pardoned. But none, you

DISCOURSE II. 455
think, were ever so great as yours. How can that be ? Is it not written, Jesus
Christ came into the world to save sinners, of whom I, says Paul, am chief. But
still the sense of your great unworthiness fills you with doubts and fears. You
forget that Christ is the Saviour of tbe unworthy ; and when he gives you Paul's
faith, and you can say with him, JeSus Christ loved me, and gave himself for
me, then your doubts and fears will fly before it. Whatever keeps you from
closing in with Christ is an enemy to your soul. Pray, therefore, against it.
Entreat the Holy Spirit to remove it, that you may be drawn to the loving Saviour
of sinners and united to him by living faith. And until he produce this grace
in you, seek him diligently in aU his ordinances. They are the instituted means
by which he draws sinners to himself, and more closely unites believers. The
word is the ordinance which he chiefly uses to the awakening of sinners. Glory
be to him for that attractive virtue and powerful efficacy which still accompanies
the preaching of it. By his blessing it is daUy effectual to the convincing and
converting of careless sinners, and to the building up and establishing of
believers. Wait, then, under it, and look up to God for the quickening Spirit
to enable you to mix faith with what you hear. Be much in prayer. Pray to
have your affections drawn from the world, and fixed upon God. Seek his
presence in every ordinance ; and when you find him in it, he will give you that
grace which he intended it should convey. And thus persevere in the use of
the means unttt he bring you to the end. You shall find him whom your soul
seeketh. He will draw you to himself ; and then you will be able to run after
him to whatever he caUs you to do or to suffer. I hope there are several of you
in this happy condition : and to you, my Christian brethren, I address myself in
the third and last place.
You know the truth of this scripture by your own experience. Having been
convinced that you could not come unto Christ except the Father had drawn you
by his good Spirit, you waited upon him, until he gave you faith, and united
you to Jesus Christ. Being united to the Lord and Giver of grace and glory,
all things are become yours. You are now the sons of God ; and your heavenly
Father will make all things work together for your good. You are heirs of God,
and joint heirs with Christ. Oh, remember then your privileges, and walk as chil
dren and sons of the most high God. Keep near to your reconciled Father, and be
ever looking to Jesus, your dear Redeemer, and seek to be drawn nearer to him
daily by waiting upon him in his ordinances, that you may have more of his life
and love. And let the great things he hath done for your souls be manifested
by your outward walking. Show that you have nearneBs to God the Father
through the Son of his love, and access with confidence through the faith that is
in him. Let this appear by your hving upon Christ's fulness, and receiving from
thence grace for grace. And the more grace you receive, in the strength of it run
the faster after Christ for more grace. Run in the ways of his commandments.
FoUow his example. Press close after him in his steps. And, be assured, the
closer you foUow him upon earth, the nearer will you come to him in heaven.
The more you are conformed to him in holiness, the more shaU you be like him
in glory.
Happy are you, my Christian brethren, who have been thus drawn to Christ,
and are thus running after him. Hold on your course, determined in God's
strength not to stop upon account of what he shah either caU you to do or to
suffer. Pursue the way of duty, in which Christ walked, whatever difficulties
you may meet with ; and fear not but he will give you strength to go on con
quering and to conquer. Whatever his will is concerning you, rely upon him,
and he wUl make you more than conquerors. You know where your strength
is. God is your refuge and strength. Go to him in every hour of temptation,
and he will give you grace sufficient for you. Ask, and you shall have. The
Father witt give whatever you ask in his Son's name. 'Ihis is your great privi
lege ; and God grant you may ever make use of it in time of need. Let us now
use it to crave a blessing upon what we have heard. And the whole of this
discourse is exceUently summed up in the coUect of our church for this
day : —
" Grant to us Lord, we beseech thee, the Spirit to think and do always such

4.3G SOLOMON'S SONG.
things as be rightful, that we, who cannot do any thing that is good without
thee, may by thee be enabled to live according to thy wiU, through Jesus Clirist
our Lord." Amen.

DISCOURSE III.
Chap. i. ver. 4.
The upright love thee.
The first part of thie verse has been already considered. The person who
speaks it, perceiving the form and comeliness of Christ, and finding a sweeter
savour in his name than in the most fragrant ointment poured forth, was
desirous of close union and spiritual feUowship with him : but, being sensible of
his own helplessness to come to Christ, had therefore prayed he might be drawn :
" Draw me ; and we wiU run after thee." The prayer was heard and answered.
Chriat drew the soul by the cords of love unto himself, and, as the foUowing
words show, he brought it nigh, and gave it free access with confidence, through
the faith that is in him. He shed his love abroad in the heart which drew it out
in love to him. The believer found himself enriched with ao many gracea, and
enjoyed such sweet communion with Christ, that he rejoiced in him always,
and declared that nothing but sin and ignorance could hinder men from
seeing and admiring the exceUencies of Jesus Christ. If they were not in a
fatten corrupt state, they would certainly admire and love him : for the upright
love him.
If you were to ask the generality of men, who call themselvea Christians,
whether they loved Chriat ; they would answer, What ! do you think we do not
love our Saviour ? Most certainly we do : for who can help loving him i We are
taught to pray to him, and to love him from our very infancy, and we always have
loved him.
but if you inquire upon what account they love Christ ; what knowledge they
have of him ana of his salvation ; and what proof they can give of their love to
him ; they are then at a loss ; they can only tell you that their parents had them
baptized, and brought them up in the church of England, and that they keep
constant to their church, and have done their duty, as well as they could, they
never wronged any body ; no one is without faults ; and they have theirs. This
is the religion of the greatest part of our people : but how far short is this of the
Bcripture character of one that lovea Chriet ! A man may do all this, and much
more, without one grain of love. He may practi8e many dutiee in hie natural
faUen etate from several other motives than a sense of love to Christ, and
a single eye to his glory. These are the Christian motives to obedience, by
which no natural man can be influenced. The Holy Spirit must have convinced
him of his fallen state, must have raised him from it, muet have opened hia eyea
to see what Jesus has done for his salvation, and must have shed abroad in hia
heart the love of God, before he can come up to the acripture character of them
that love Chriat -. for they are upright who love him.
That we may haye a clear and full view of the doctrine in the text, it will be
proper to consider,
First, What is the scripture idea of the word Upright.
Secondly, That man is not upright by nature.
Thirdly, That he must be made upright before he can love Chriet.
Fourthly, That being made upright, he wttl ehow hie love to Christ by walking
in love ; and in the
Last place, I wiU draw aome practical inferences from the whole. And may
the Spirit of grace accompany and bles8 our meditations upon these particulara.
May he direct our hearts into the love of Christ, and render what shall now be
spoken upon it the means of increasing it in aU our souls. Under his guidance
let us consider,
I'irat, What is the scripture idea of uprightness.

DISCOURSE III. 457
The Hebrew word which is here translated, upright, is in the plural number.
As a verb, it is rendered, to make straight, Isaiah xl. 3, 4, " to direct in the
way," Isaiah xiv. 13, " and to walk straight in it," as 1 Sam. vi. 12, " And
the kine took the straight way to the way of Bethshemesh, and went along the
highway, lowing as they went, and turned not aside to the right hand or to the
left." This is its received sense in the lexicons ; and from this idea the noun
substantive is used for a directory, whatever guides in the right way ; and the
plural masculine denotes those persons who are in the right way, and who walk
straight in it, whom we properly term upright men ; aUuding to their having been
once in a fallen state and having lost the right way, but, being now raised up,
they are brought into it again, and made upright.
" Made upright !" say our moralists, " How absurd is this expression ! What
necessity is there for making us upright ? Are we not so by nature ? Have not
we aU a moral rectitude ? Have we not in ourselves the rule of right, and obliga
tions to foUow it ? We are moral agents, and upright : why, then, do you talk
of making men what they already are ? "
This is the language of modern reasoners, who would be wise above what is
written : " For the soul that is lifted up," saith God, " is not upright in him "
Hab. ii. 4. And yet the pride of their hearts loves flattering compliments, be they
ever so false ; and they are fond of being told of the dignity and rectitude of
their nature, although these are mere metaphysical chimeras. They are contrary
to matter of fact, and to every day's experience, and contrary to the express
word of God, which proves that man is not upright by nature, as I am to show
under my second head.
The whole volume of Revelation gives us this character of mankind : " They
have all sinned, and come short of the glory of God." And what can be the
dignity of a poor lost sinner who has robbed God of his glory ? And where is
the rectitude of fallen man, of whom " there is none righteous ; no not one ? "
The scripture strikes at the very root of our fancied dignity and rectitude when
it declares, Mic. vii. 2, " there is none upright among men," no, not one is
there in the rectitude of nature, in which man was at first created ; for " God
hath made man upright," saith another scripture ; " but they have sought out
many inventions," sinful asweUas foolish, which prove that they are not upright
as they first came out of the hand of God. And indeed the scripture speaks so
much of the fall and corruption of nature, as if it left man without any power or
strength to recover himself. The prophet Jeremiah, praying to God, says, x. 23,
" O Lord, I know that the way of man is not in himself: it is not in man that
walketh to direct his steps." To which agree the words of the apostle, Rom. iii.
9, &c. . " We have before proved, both Jews and Gentiles, that they are all under
sin : as it is written, there is none righteous, no not one, there is none that
understandeth, there is none that seeketh after God, they are aU gone out of the
way :" so that there is no uprightness in any of them. FaUen man is gone out
of the right way, and he does not understand how to return into it, nay, he does
not so much as seek after God, that he may be set right. His desires and his
affections are turned from God : they are set upon sin, as our church expresses
it, in the ninth article : " Original sin is the fault and corruption of the nature
of every man — whereby man is very far gone from original righteousness, and
is of his own nature inclined to evil, so that the flesh lusteth always contrary to
the spirit." How can man, under the guilt of original sin, have any moral recti
tude ? Can he be upright who is very far gone from original righteousness ? Can
he be in the right way, who is very far gone out of it ? And how can he be
inclined to love Christ, who, by the fault and corruption of his nature, is always
inclined to eril ? While there is no fear of God before his eye, how can there
possibly be any love of God in his heart ? The love of Christ is absolutely incon
sistent with the blindness and depravity of fallen man, who is in love with sin.
Sin and Christ are as opposite as heaven and heU, to which they lead. And as
faUen men are inclined to sin, and love it, the fleah lusting always contrary to
the spirit; consequently, whUe they continue in this state, they cannot love
Christ- for none out the upright, who are raised rrom their fallen state, love
him.

458 SOLOMON'S SONG.
Men and brethren, examine these authorities. Do they appear to you dear
and decisive ? Here are the express words of scripture, and the determination of
our church upon this very point ; declaring that man, in his natural state, is not
upright. I would infer, from your presence here, that you do beheve this truth ;
and if you do, may it be a practical belief. Act under the senae of it. As you
are convinced that you are not upright by nature, certainly you will seek to bo
made upright, and will therefore gladly foUow me to the third point I was to
consider ; vi:. that you must be made upright before you can love Christ.
There is no other method but what the gospel proposes. You would not go to
the law, and set about keeping it more carefuUy for the future, in order to recover
your rectitude ; because the law allows of no failing. Upon the first offence it
puts you under the curse, and condemns you. And as all have Binned, and come
ahort of the glory of God, therefore by the works of the law shall no flesh be
justified in his sight. The law is a ministration of condemnation ; it is useful to
show sinners that they are not upright ; but it can afford them no hope ; neither
doth it offer them any remedy. It can only scourge and wound the conscience
with the sense of transgression, and send the guilty to the gospel for the recovery
of their uprightness. And the gospel discovers to them the rich plan of grace —
the covenant of the Eternal Three — with the distinct offices of each person in the
economy of man's recovery. The Father's justice requires and receives ; the
Son's love pays, the Holy Spirit's grace applies, the atonement. Ihe applica
tion is in the hand of the Spirit Jehovah. It ia the work of hia grace to apply to
fallen man the benefita of the atonement, and to unite him by saving faith to
Jesus Christ, whereby he ia made upright.
The scripture has laid down, and all the upright have experienced, the method
which the Holy Spirit pursues in bringing fallen man into a state ofuprightnesa.
First he shows the sinner his guilt and hie danger, and lets him see that he is not
upright. When the Holy Ghost the Comforter is come, says our Lord, he will
convince the world of ein. When he comes to the natural man, he finds him
secure and unconcerned about the state of his soul or the pardon of his eins : for
the whole world lieth asleep, yea dead, in trespasses antl sina, until awakened
and quickened by the power of God's Spirit. He that can be heard even by the
dead, calls, " Awake thou that aleepest and arise from the dead, and Chriat
shaU give thee life." Thi8 awakene and alarms the conscience. The sinner ia
made eeneible of hie guilt and condemnation, and, convinced of Iub helplessness,
and thus humbled under the sense of his want of uprightness, he iB enabled to
follow that divine teaching which is to convince him where hia wanta may be
eupplied. He heare the report of the goepel, that aU Burners who are sensible of their
wants may have thera supplied out of the exceeding riches of Christ's grace,
who hae every thing to give that they can Btand in need of. They may receive,
out of hie fulness, grace for grace. Are they ignorant of the thinga of God ?
He ie an all- wise prophet to enlighten their underatandinge. Are they under the
pollution and guilt of sin, and under the condemnation of the law r He is an all-
meritorious priest, whose blood can cleanse them from the poUution and guilt of
sin, and by whose righteousne8s sinners are freed from the condemnation of the
broken law, and stand accepted in the sight of the holy God. Are they enslaved
and in bondage to their spiritual enemies ? He is an almighty king, who can
subdue in them the dominion of sin. When the awakened sinner heare theee
thinge out of the goepel, he assents to them as truths, and the Holy Spirit draws
hie desires out after the experience of them. As he is made to feel hia wants, so
doth he wish for a supply from Christ's fulness. He pants with fervent desire,
and earnest breathings of eoul, to know hie union with Jeeue by faith, and would
gladly receive him in aU hie offices as a king to subdue sin in him, aa weU as a
prophet and a priest to free him from the guilt and deliver him from the puniah-
njent of sin. The Holy Spirit cherishes and etrengthen8 these good desires, and
in his own good time he completes them ; which is the third step in the work of
experience. He convinces the awakened sinner of righteouenesa by giving him faith to
believe that the righteoueneaa of Christ i8 imputed unto him for justification to

DISCOURSE III. 459
life. The scripture says expressly that it is his office to convince men of
righteousness, and thereby to give them peace in beheving that God the Father
is reconciled unto them through the righteousness of his Son : " for being justi
fied by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ." Rom.
v. 1. And when the mind is at peace with God upon account of its being jus
tified by faith, then it is made upright, and the evidence of justifying faith is an
upright walking. He that is in a justified state, is upright ; and in consequence
theredf he will, in his life and conversation, walk uprightly. As he has received
Christ Jesus the Lord, so he walks in him, and desires to live to the glory of his
divine Saviour. He would have every thought and word and work a testimony
of his gratitude. It is the prayer of his heart that he may walk worthy of the
Lord unto aU pleasing, and may show forth the praises of his God by being fruit
ful in every good work : for " this is the love of God, that we keep his com
mandments ; and (to the upright who keep them out of love) his commandments
are not grievous."
My beloved brethren, consider these things, and weigh them attentively.
Have you been made to see the exceeding sinfulness of sin ? that it has robbed
you of your innocence and uprightness ? that you are thereby exposed to the
condemnation of the law, antl to the wrath of infinite justice ? Have you fled
for refuge to Jesus ? Do you perceive that he is the end of the law for righteous
ness unto you ? And therefore, knowing yourself upright in him, can you say,
Christ is precious ; he hath made me upright, therefore I love him ; it is the
grief of my soul to offend him ; it is the greatest joy and delight of my heart to
live and walk so as to please him ? If you are as yet strangers to this happy know
ledge, deceive yourselves no longer : do not think you have a sincere love to
Christ : for you know not the power of Christ's love to you. But if you have
been thoroughly humbled, and convinced of your lost, helpless state, and have
received Christ and his righteousness with love, joy, and peace, then, being
made upright, it is incumbent upon you to walk uprightly. It is your bounden
duty to have a heart fuU of gratitude to God ; and it is your privilege and hap
piness to be able to express your gratitude in your life and conversation. In
them let it appear that you love Christ. Let the world see it in your Christian
walking, and give them continual occasion to glorify God on your account.
And this brings me to the fourth particular I was to consider; namely, that,
being made upright, you wiU show your love to Christ by walking in love.
When love is in the heart it wttl appear outwardly. It will have its proper
works. It will manifest itself, like light, and spread abroad its sweet influence.
Light cannot propagate darkness, nor can the love of Christ produce hatred to
his will : it is the doctrine of one apostle to his Colossians, chap. ii. 6 : "As you
have therefore received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk ye in him ;" and of
another apostle : " If any man saith he abideth in Christ, he ought himself also
to walk, even as Christ walked." 1 John >i. 6. He is to prove that he abideth
in Christ by foUowing Christ's example, and by walking in his steps : for as
Christ has made him upright, he will enable him to walk uprightly, because his
outward walking is to bring glory to God and good to mankind. The love of
Christ in the heart is that practical love which the apostle says is the fulfilling
of the law : for it operates in the love of God and in the love of our neighbour,
and on these two commandments hang aU the law and the prophets.
The upright man has a lively sense of God the Father's being reconciled to
him in Christ. Without this he could not love God : for a sinner, conscious of
his having offended God, and broken his holy law, can never be brought to love
God until he be convinced that God loves him. He may as soon love pain
and torments as love an offended God, whose almighty justice is to get itself
glory by his destruction : but when he is persuaded that God is reconciled to
nim, then he has with joy and delight received the word of reconciliation; for
" we love him," not abstractedly, or metaphysically, but experimentaUv, " because
he first loved us." And when the Holy Spirit sheds abroad the love of God in
our hearts, and reveals to them God's first loving us, then we see God in a new
light. We look upon him as our reconctted Father, and in this character he
appears altogether amiable and lovely. Having tasted how good and gracious

4G0 SOLOMON'S SONG.
he is, we desire from our hearts to please him ; and this desire will certainly
operate in the two great commandments — the love of God, and the love of our
neighbour. The upright man loves God and walks with God. Love attracts and unites,
and thereby produces communion. The believer has communion with the
Father and the Son by the bond of the Spirit ; from whence are derived to him
att the graces and blessings of the gospel, which he receives with a thankful
heart, and showe his gratitude by loving what God loves. We know what God
loves, from his revealed will. This is the copy of his mind. And when the
same mind is in us that was in Christ, then each of us shall be able to say, " I
delight to do thy will, O my God." The will of the upright man is reconcUed
to God's will ; and therefore the way of the commandments becomes pleasant.
There may be difficulties in it ; but his love rejoices to overcome them. Hia
epiritual enemies may tempt him out of the way ; but love sets him above their
temptations. When the world tries to share his heart with Coil, he rejects ita
offers with scorn ; for he remembers that, if any man love the world, the love
of the Father is not in him. Does it offer him pleasure? llis love has
found other kinds of pleasure than tbe world has to give, even pleasures laid
up at God's right hand for evermore. Does it offer him monoy ? His affections
are placed upon the unsearchable riches of Clirist. There is his heart, and there
is his treasure. Does it tempt him with honour ? He desires only the honour
that is of God. And thus, love arms him against the temptations which try to
make lu8 will act differently from God's will, llis love being sincere, he haa
upright intentions, hae a straight view of thinga, sees them with a single eye,
and therefore is not easily drawn aside. God's glory is his one great end and
aim. He has respect to it in every thing he does, and is as careful of avoiding
whatever tends to injure it as if it were wounding the apple of hia own eye.
And thu8 the upright man shows his love to God agreeably to what is written :
" If ye love me, keep ray commandments."
And hia love to God not only enablea him to do all thinga, but also to Buffer all
thinga. Thi8 ia a very hard leason to fleah and blood ; but love make8 it easy, livery
disciple of Christ is called to foUow him in the way of suffering. The cross ia our
portion. Self, indeed, would be gladly excueed in the taking it up ; but love to
Christ enables U8 to deny self, and to take up the crosa daily : " For love
endureth all thinga." 1 Cor. xiii. 7. Love can endure the 8harpeat cross ; and
Christians have rejoiced and been exceeding glad in bearing it. They have
had trials of cruel mockings and acourgings; yea, moreover of bonds and
imprisonment. They were atoned ; they were sawn asunder ; were tempted ;
were 6lain with the eword. They wandered about in deeerta and mountains, in
dens and caves of the earth, destitute, afflicted, tormented ; and yet they were
happy under aU their sufferinge. Many watere could not quench their love, nor
could the floods drown it : for they loved not their lives unto the death. In
the very flames they triumphed in their love to Christ ; and in whatever shape
eleath came, they rejoiced in it, becauae it would bring them to their beloved
Lord and Sariour Jeau8 Chri8t. And, thank God 1 we have still some, men of
the same spirit, who know in whom they have believed. Christ is dearer to
them than life ; and if he should call them to give proof of it, his strength
would be perfected in them, and he would enable them to aay with the apoatle,
" Who shall separate us from the love of Christ ? Shall tribulation, or distress,
or pereecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or eword ? Nay, in aU theae
things we are more than conquerors, through him that loved ua : for 1 am
persuaded that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers,
nor things present, nor things to come, nor height nor depth, nor any other
creature, shaU be able to separate ua from the love of God which ie in Christ
Jesua our Lord."
And after the upright roan ha8 thua learned to do and to 8uffer all thinge out
of love to Chriat, he wttl certainly keep the second great commandment, which
is like unto the first, and love his neighbour as himself. There is no brotherly
love in the natural man. He may talk and write about it, but he cannot prac
tise it sincerely and disinterestedly ; because his views are narrow and 8elfish

DISCOURSE III. 461
St. Paul's character of the Romans, chap, i., is true of aU natural men ; they
had every temper that waB hateful, and they were haters of God ; and hating
one another. But how, then, is brotherly love to be attained ? It is from above,
from whence cometh every good and perfect gift. The apostle Paul says, We
must be taught it of God, 1 Thess. iv. 9 : and another apostle says, " Let us
love one another ; for love is of God ; and every one that loveth is born of God,
and knoweth God." From these scriptures it is evident that God teaches us
brotherly love ; and when we are born of God, are made his adopted children in
Christ, and know him to be our loving Father, then have we that faith which
worketh by love to God and to man. This working love prays for, and labours
to serve, both their souls and bodies. It goes about doing them good, seeking
opportunities and willingly neglecting none. This is the upright man's walking
with respect to his neighbour. He is knit to him in love, and shows it by the
labour of love, by doing every kind and good office that is in his power. And
thus he walks in love ; as Christ hath loved him ; which is the highest degree
of brotherly love : for it is our Lord's new and great commandment, that we
should " love one another as he hath loved us."
Judge, now, whether there be not good reason for the assertion in the text —
"The upright love thee?" Can sinners be sensible of Jesus's having done
such great things for them ? Can they experience such a happy work wrought
in them by the Divine Spirit and not love God ? It is impossible. They have
been made thoroughly sensible of their being by nature estranged from God, and
wanderers from the right way, and of their having no power in themselves to
return into it again. They found that they had no uprightness in them ; for
they loved what God hated ; yea, they hated God himself, because he is the just
avenger of sin. But upon hearing the report of the gospel, that Christ will
receive all sinners who come unto him, they were stirred up to come. And
they waited upon Christ until the Holy Spirit brought them good tidings of
great joy. He shed abroad the love of God in their hearts, bearing testimony
with their spirits that God was their reconciled Father, and they were his
adopted children in Christ. And being thus made upright before God, in the
strength of the Lord they walk uprightly. In their lives and conversations
they make the two commandments, upon which hang aU the law and the pro
phets, the rule of their actions ; loving the Lord their God with all their hearts,
and with all their souls, and with all their strength, and their neighbour as
themselves. And thus they give evidence of their love to Christ. This is the
doctrine from which, in the fifth and last place, I am to draw some practical
inferences. And is what you have now heard agreeable, my brethren, to your experience ?
If it be, you are safe and happy. If it be not, I beseech you suffer the word of
exhortation. It is an awful and a solemn word : and may God accompany it
with the effectual working of his power ! If you were upright, you would love
Christ : but as you do not love him, hear and tremble, if you have any love left
for your poor souls : '* If any man love not the Lord Jesus Clirist, let him be
Anathema Maran-atha." 1 Cor. xvi. 22. Consider what it is to be under an
anathema ! to be cursed of God, cursed by bis holy law, and to be finaUy excom
municated by that sentence which is never to be reversed, " Go, ye cursed, into
everlasting fire!" If you make light of this at present, yet, unless you repent,
a time will come when you will wish you had never been born rather than have
died under the anathema of God. Oh may he now touch the hearts of those
ungrateful men who love not the Lord Jesus Christ ! and may he, of his grace
and bounty, give them to taste of that love which passeth knowledge. May
he that heareth prayer hear and answer, while I am speaking a word to the
formalist who has something of the show, but no more of the power of dirine
love than the careless sinner.
The formalist is rather decent in his outward behaviour -. he attends regularly
upon the ordinances, goes a great way in outward matters, and has the air
and appearance of a Christian. If you ask him whether he loves Christ ; he is
very confident he does, and is somewhat offended that you should suspect his
'o\e. But bring it to the test of scripture, and it will not stand the trinl ; for

462 SOLOMON'S SONG.
the formalist not only has not that tme love of God, of which the scriptnre
treats, but he is also an enemy to it. He is the first to cry out enthusiasm, if he
hear that the love of God arises from the knowledge of our being reconciled to
him in Christ. It is with him the very mark of this new religious madness for
any man to say that he loves God from a sense of his having freely forgiven him
all trespasses. So that the formalist, with all his outward decency and profes
sion, is rather farther from the true love of God than tbe careless sinner : for
the one has it not ; but the other thinks it enthusiasm and madness to pretend to
have it. And yet the scripture is full of this enthusiasm. It has thus assigned the
grounds and reasons of our love to God : " We love him because he first
loved us." Here we are taught that our love to him arises from his first loving
us : but how can we know he first loves us unless he manifest it and shed it
abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost ? And in this way he does manifest it.
He sends his good Spirit into our hearts to let us know that he first loves us.
Hear, ye formalists, the expresB teatimony of God's word ; " The love of God
ia shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost, which is given unto us."
Rom. v. 5. And until the Holy Ghost give you this love, be ye ever so decent,
in your outward walking, you have none of the life and power of religion, but
are dead in your sina. 'Ihis is the opinion of our church concerning you : for
thus she teaches you to pray : O Lord, who hast taught us that all our doing8
without charity (or love) are nothing worth, send thy Holy Ghost, and pour
into our hearts that most excellent gift of charity (or love), the very bond of
peace and of ail virtue8, without which, whosoever Iiveth is counted dead before
thee, &c. (Collect for Quinquagesima.) Charity eignifiee nothing more than love.
And in thia coUect the 8enae, ae weU ae the epietle to which it refers, determine
it to be the love of God : and if you have not thi8 love poured into your heart by
the Holy Ghoet, let whataoever elae be in your heart, you are counted dead
before God. Oh that he may bring you out of that dead, lifeless state, in which
you are at present, and raiae you up to newnesa of life, and place you among the
upright who love Christ. And
Whatever others may do, the upright wttl love Christ. Though other men
may see no form nor comelineaa in him, that they Bhould desire him, yet, in their
eyes, he ia altogether lovely. They love him for making them upright ; and they
give evidence of their love by walking uprightly. Hia will ia theirs. They lovo
what he loves. Hia revealed will i8 the copy of hia mind, and therefore it is the
rale of their conversations. Being made upright, and the same mind being in
them that was in Christ, there will be the eame outward walking. They will
follow hia example, and tread in hia 8tepe : for how can their love to Chriat act
against ita own nature, ao aa to hate thie will ? Certainly, therefore, their love
to him wttl ehow itself in love to his commandments. And if a man eay, I love
Christ, and hateth his commandments, he is a liar ; for he that loveth not tbe
will of God, how can he love God ? And this commandment have we from him,
that he who loveth God loveth his commandments also.
Ia thi8 your experience, my brethren ? inquire strictly, and entreat the Holy
Spirit to help you in inquiry, whether Christ has made you upright, and you
therefore love him and his commandments. I have put you upon this inquiry,
hecauee the ecripture pute you upon it, and becauae there it, a general miatake
concerning it. The scripture has expressly mentioned the effects which will
flow from the love of Christ in the heart : tlieBe effecta we deaire you to manife8t
in your lives. We do not send convinced sinners to the law, and tell them, If ye
would enter into fife, keep the commandments. No. We send them to Chriat,
because they have broken the commandments, and they must be pardoned, and
receive justification to fife from him, before they can keep any one command
ment weU-pleasing to God. But when the Holy Spirit gives them the know
ledge of their pardon and justification, then they receive a faith that worketh by
love — a faith that proves itself to be from God by working in love to what God
loves. These workings of faith by love to God and man are the marks and
evidences we desire to see in your lives and conversations. We are authorised
from God's word to call upon you for them ; not as if they were your salvation,
but as the certain effects of your being in a state of salvation. Ihe aun canno*

DISCOURSE IV. 463
be without sending out light : so love cannot be without producing its proper
works — works as certainly flowing from it as light does from the sun. If works
flow not out, we are certain there is no love in the heart ; for there is no cause,
if there be no effects. Examine, then, I beseech you, the nature of the love
which you think you have to Christ : see if it has the scripture marks of true
love. Happy is he who looking into his own breast, is able to say, " Lord, thou
knowest all things : thou knowest that I love thee. Whom have I in heaven
but thee ? and there is none upon earth I desire in comparison of thee." My
brethren, can you take up these words and repeat them with praise and thank
fulness ? If you can, may you go on rejoicing, daily receiving larger measures
of divine love, and bringing forth richer and riper fruits to the glory of God.
But if you cannot, do you see your want of love to Christ ? and are you hungering
and thirsting after it ? If you are, look up, and ask it of the God of love. Pray
him to bestow it upon you out of the riches of his free grace. And let us all,
with one heart and one voice, entreat him, in the words of our church, to give us
the experience of what has been now said, praying as she hath taught us — " O
almighty God, who alone canst order the unruly wills and affections of sinful
men, grant unto thy people that they may love the thing which thou commandest,
and desire that which thou dost promise; that so, among the sundry and
manifold changes of the world, our hearts may surely there be fixed where true
oys are to be found ; through Jesus Christ our Lord." Amen.

DISCOURSE IV,
Chap. i. ver. 7.
Tell me, 0 thou whom my soul loveth, where thou feedest, where thou makest
thy flock to rest at noon.
These words are part of a prayer which the faithful offer up to the great and
good shepherd. Ile had drawn them to himself, had pardoned aU their wan
derings, and had shed his love abroad in their hearts ; which made them pray for his
Bupport and defence. They stiU found that they had many wants, for which
they expected a supply out of his fulness, and many infirmities, from which they
desired deliverance in his strength. His grace was needful every moment.
That spiritual and divine life which he had begun in their souls could not be
carried on without his continual help. They wanted the bread that cometh
down from heaven, and which is the life of the spirits of men, as much as they
want the bread which is the life of the body. And in time of trouble they
wanted divine strength. When assaulted with powerful temptations from
within and from without, they durst not think of attacking them, and much less
of overcoming them with the arm of flesh ; but they sought to be strong in the
Lord and in the power of his might. 'Ihis is the subject of the words now read ;
in which the faithful pray tbe great and good shepherd to teU them where he
feeds his flock, and where he shelters them from the scorching heat of the sun at
noon : " Tell me, O thou whom my soul loveth, where thou feedest, where thou
makest thy flock to rest at noon." Here we have
First, The amiableness of Christ's pastoral office : every faithful soul can say
to the good shepherd, " O thou whom my soul loveth."
Secondly, The reason assigned for loving him : he feedeth his flock like a shep
herd. And
Thirdly, He gives them comfort and strength in the time of great trials : he
makes his Hock to rest in the burning heat at noon. And
Fourthly, He saves his flock from the great trial of aU — from death.
And while I am speaking to these particulars, may the Spirit ofthe living God
apply them to all your hearts. May he convince you practically of the amiable-

4!>4 SOLOMONS SONG.
ness of Christ's pastoral office, that you mav be able to say from your own expe
rience, " O thou whom my soul loveth." 'Christ is the good shepherd ; nnd
in this character he is altogether lovely. It is one of the sweetest relations that
he stands into his people ; and is to them the fuUest of comfort : but then they
must derive their comfort from knowing him to be their shepherd, and them
selves to be his people and the sheep of his pasture. Without this knowledge,
speaking of his loveliness would be like talking in an unknown tongue : for what
excellency can sinners see in him, that they should desire him, if they were never
convinced that they were lost sheep, who must for ever perish, unless the good
shepherd bring them back again into his fold ? They see no form or comeliness
in him until they begin to find their want of him ; and therefore, when grace
comes, its first work is to convince them of their wants. The first step it sets
them in their way to God is, to make them sensible of their having wandered
from him. And aU of you, my brethren, whatever your state may be at present,
had wandered from God. You had gone every man after the error of his own
ways ; and in the maze of tliese errors you had wandered so long, that you were
quite lost. You could not discover the way back again to God; or, if any one
was to show it you, you had neither will nor power to take one step in it. Sin
had impaired, yea had deadened, the faculties of the bouI. It left the under
standing in darkneaa, the wttl corrupt and always inclined to evil, and the heart
and affections at enmity with God. In this lost and helpless state (and this is
the state of every man by nature) you were like sheep that have wandered from
the fold. This is a common image in scripture. Fallen man is there compared
to a lost sheep ; and this is a just and beautiful picture of him ; for sheep, as yon
aU know, are simple weak creatures, who have neither force to resist their ene
mies, nor wisdom to avoid them : they want sagacity to find out the beet pastures,
to defend themselves from the inclemency of the weather, and to find the way
back again to the fold after they have once strayed from it. There is not a crea
ture in the world more helpless than a lost sheep. It must perish unless tho
ehepherd aeek it out and bring it back. Now, all the sons of Adam are in thia
loat and helpless condition : and the first step towards their deliverance is a con
viction of their not being able to do any thing towards delivering themselves.
Whether they be learned or unlearned, rich or poor, they are alike wanderers
from God, and alike unable in their own strength to return. It is exceeding
difficult to convince natural men of this truth ; and yet the gospel can do them
no good until they be convinced. They must aee that they are poor loat cheep
before they wttl eeek after the ealvation which the great Bhepherd hae purehaaed
for them : and becauae it waa necessary they should see themselves in thia etate,
God hae therefore been pleaeed to give them abundant proof of their being in it.
The prophet David Bays, Psalm cxix. 176, " 1 have gone astray like a lost sheep ;
seek thy servant." But lest thia ehould be thought hie own particular case, God,
by the mouth of another prophet, declares that it is the case of us all : " All we like
sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way." Isaiah liii. 0.
Here aU men, without exception, are said to have gone astray like sheep, and to
have turned from the way of God to their own ways ; and naturaUy they are like
lost sheep, helpless and unable to return. The people of the Jews were certainly
in this condition : for our Lord says, he was sent to the loet cheep of the house
of Israel, and not to them only, as if they alone were lost : for " other sheep,"
says he, " 1 have, which are not of this fold : them also 1 must bring " back again
to God from their wanderings : therefore they were lost sheep as weU as the Jews,
" and there shaU be one fold and one shepherd."
If the sense of these scriptures were not clear, and their authority decisive, I
might bring more proofs ; but I hope these are sufficient. They must be satis
factory to the members of our church, because this is her established doctrine,
both in her articles and homilies. The homibes on the misery of man are written
entirely upon this subject; and the tenth article says, that such is the condition
of man after the faU, that he cannot turn or prepare himself to any good unless
the grace of Christ go before, to give him a good wiU, and then work with him*
when he has that good wttl. If you never found yourself unable to do any good
unless Christ should give you both the wttl and the power, you may call your-

DISCOURSE IV. 465
self a member of our church ; but you are indeed a stranger to her constitution.
And though you attend upon her ordinances, and take her words in your mouth,
yet you deny them in your heart. What a mockery is it of God, for a man to
come to church and upon his bended knees, in the presence of an all-seeing God,
to declare (which you have aU done this day), " Almighty and most merciful
Father, we have erred and strayed from thy ways like lost sheep," and afterwards
to confess " There is no health in us." Is not this mocking God to his face if a
man does not beheve or does not experience what he says ? Let every person
who would be thought a member of our church weigh the force of these words,
and, if he cannot subscribe to his being a wanderer from God, and as unable to
return as a lost sheep, never more let him join with us in our church's confession
untU he can say from his heart, that he has erred and strayed from God's ways
like a lost sheep, and has no health in himself, or strength to return.
It is, then, a plain matter of fact, that fallen man is in a lost helpless condition.
He is in it ; but the worst part of his faU consists in his being insensible of his
danger. He is lost ; but he does not know it. He is helpless ; but his pride
gives him high ideas of his own strength. While he continues in this sinful secu
rity, he sees no want of a shepherd ; and though he never sends up one wish or
prayer for help, yet the great and good shepherd does not forget his own. He is
Jehovah, the true self-existing God, the Creator of all things visible and invi
sible ; and this almighty and eternal Being vouchsafes to reveal himself to his
people under the sweet and amiable character of a shepherd. Whatever is lovely
in an earthly shepherd is to be found spirituaUy in our incarnate God. Is it
expected of a shepherd, that if he lose any of his flock, be should seek diligently
until he find it ? Is he to spare no pains, to refuse no difficulty or danger, in
search of it ? Herein we have a beautiful image of our Lord's pastoral love. He
looked down from heaven upon the children of men, and saw them wandering
every one after the error of their own ways : he saw that destruction and misery
were in their ways : he saw the enemy of their souls, like a roaring lion, going
about and seeking whom he might devour. His eye pitied them. At the sight
of their lost and helpless condition, the bowels of his tenderest compassion were
moved. He could not see them perish : and therefore he came down from his
eternal throne, veiled the brightness of divine glory under a tabernacle of flesh,
humbled himself to the lowest abasement, to be bora a servant under the law,
to suffer, to die, yea the accursed death of the cross. To this infinite condescen
sion he stooped in order to save his lost sheep. This he expressly declares was
the gracious purpose for which he came into the world : " The Son of man is
come to seek and to save that which was lost." Even they whom he has sought
and saved were lost as weU as others, and as helpless as lost sheep. They had
no desire, and much less power, to return to God ; but were pleasing themselves
with the errors of their own ways when the Lord Jesus stopped them. He caUed
to them, and gave them ears to hear : he spake, and gave them hearts to obey.
He drew them to himself, and saved them with a great salvation. And thus he
was found of them that sought him not. And whoever thou art, whom he has
sought, thou hast been made to see thy wanderings. If thou art indeed brought
home to God, thou hast been deeply humbled for thy turning away from him ;
and thou art convinced that, if Jesus Christ had not come down from heaven to
seek thee, thou must have been lost for ever and ever. But now being sought
out by his tender care, and found, thou canst teU of the love of this good shep
herd, who has not only brought thee home to God, but has also pardoned thee,
washed thee clean in his own blood, and justified thee with his infinite righteous
ness. Thou art now admitted into his fold; and the sense of what he has already
done for thee wiU enable thee to go to him continually with faith, and say,
" TeU me, O thou whom my soul loveth, where thou feedest. From what I have
already experienced of thy love, I doubt not but thou wilt feed me with the
bread that endureth unto everlasting hfe." And this leads me, secondly, to con
sider a reason here assigned for loving him, namely, that he feedeth his flock
like a shepherd.
The earthly shepherd is not only to bring back the lost sheep ; but it is also a
part of his pastoral office to provide for its future support. He is to see that it
H II

466 SOLOMON'S SONG.
lack nothing, but is to feed it in green pastures, and to lead it beside the still
watera. And herein we have a lively picture of our Lord'a pa8toral love. When
mankind left God, and turned into tne ways of sin, they lost that divine support
which is the happiness of the soul, and they were separated from the fountain of
fife. The apoatle aaye, They were alienated from the life of God. And they had
no meana to recover it, nor indeed any aense of tiidr want of it. They were
lying dead in treepasses and sins when the Lord Jesus brought it down for us
from heaven, and they are etttl in this dead state when he sends his good Spirit,
first to convince them how much they want it, and then fredy to bestow it
upon them : " For the bread of God (that bread which supporte the life of God
in the eoul) is he, which cometh down from heaven, and giveth life unto the
world." This ia our Lord's account of himself. He came down from heaven to
give this bread of God unto a world dead in sin ; and whenever a sinner receives
it of him, then he begina to live unto God. This bread is the support received
from Christ'8 body and blood, from the merita of hiB obedience and Bufferings,
which are applied to the sinner by the Holy Spirit, and made effectual by the
Teviring streams of his grace. And this method of feeding his flock ie beauti
fully painted in the 23rd Pealm ; the truth of which every believer experiences as
well as David, and can therefore truly say, " The Lord is my ahepherd ; there
fore can I lack nothing. He ahaU feed me in green paaturee, and ehaU lead me
forth beside the waters of comfort. He shall convert my soul, and lead me in
the patha of righteouene8B for hie name'e eake." The eheep of the Lord'e paB-
ture lack nothing : for he eupporte them with all thinge that pertain to life and
godlineee ; and when they find themeelves thua aupported, they will be full of
love to their good ahepherd, and they wttl love themeaiiB which he has appointed
to convey nourishment to his flock. In these means they have grown in grace,
their love has increased, and their hearta have been more inflamed with pure
affection to their dirine ahepherd ; and therefore they can always join with the
behevera in the text, in desiring to be led by hia grace to the placee and meana
in which he feede hia flock : " Tell me, O thou whom my aoul loveth, where
thou feedeet thy people and the eheep of thy paeture."
My brethren, can you join with them ? Is the good ahepherd altogether lovely
in your eyea for giving you the bread of God which cometh down from heaven ?
Have you received it from him ? Do you find it etrengthening your hearts,
enabling you to die more to ein and to live more to God, to get power over inward
cormption and outward oppo8ition. Happy are ye if this he your case ; for you
need not fear his comfort and strength in time of great trials and troubles, as it
foUow8 in the third part of my text, he witt make hia flock to reat in the burning
heat at noon.
The heat of the sun at noon is, in Judca, very violent and scorching. The
faithful shepherd wttl take care to drive hia flock during these sultry hours to
some cool shade. There he wttl defend them from their enemies ; for they are
weak and defenceless themselves. All the beaste of prey can with eaee devour
them ; and in hot countriee, where the beaata of prey abound, the shepherd ia
forced to watch his flock in the cold of the night aa weU ae in the heat of the
day : for time we find Jacob describing his care of Laban's flock : " I waa in the
day consumed with heat, and with frost in the night ; and my sleep departed
from mine eyes." And in the New Testament we read that in the depth of win
ter, when our Lord was bom, there were ehepherde in the open field watching
over their flocke by night. How beautifuUy ia our Lord'a paetoral care hereby
repreeented ! For the ehepherd of Ierael never elumbere nor aleepa, watching
over his flock continually night and day, and he suffers no enemy to come near
to hurt them. He himself is a shadow in the day-time from the heat, and a safe
refuge from the power of aU their enemies. They have a formidable holt to
contend with. Sin, and Satan, and the world, and the temptations and troubles
in it have taken captive the loat sheep, and law and justice allowed them to be kept
n bondage until death should seize upon them and deliver them over to the place
of torments, where the worm dieth not, and the fire is not quenched. From theae
enemies the Lord Jesus came to save his flock. He subdued all theee enemies
in his own person, and does subdue them by the grace of his almighty Spirit in

DISCOURSE IV. 467
all his people. When he has sought them, and brought them back to God, and
fed them with the bread of hfe, then, in the strength of this bread he enables
them to fight against their enemies, who are also his ; and it is for his glory
that they get the victory over them. The weaker they are, the more does his
strength appear, which worketh mightily in them and by them. And to encou
rage them to fear nothing but sin, he thus exhorts them : " Fear not, little flock ;
for it is your Father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom ;" and as it is his
good pleasure to give you the kingdom itself, he wUl certainly support you in the
way to it. You may be poor and weak sheep ; but your shepherd is the Lord
God omnipotent. You may have many infirmities ; but he knows them, and is
touched with the feeling of them. You may have many temptations ; but he will
not suffer you to be tempted above what he will enable you to bear. Your trou
bles may be great ; but he says, " Fear not : for I am with thee : I wiU be with
thee in trouble ; yea, I wiU deliver thee, and bring thee to honour." Who can
doubt of his pastoral love that reads this sweet description of it in Isaiah ? " He
shaU feed hie flock like a shepherd : he shaU gather the lambs with his arm, and
carry them in his bosom, and shaU gently lead those that are with young." In
what a tender and affecting manner is our Lord's pastoral love here repre
sented ! He feeds all his flock, so that they lack nothing. If any of them
wander from the fold, he gathers them with his arm. Those that are with
young, he leads gently : and those that cannot go at all, he carries in his
bosom, and lays near his heart. Oh what a wonderful love is this ! Certainly
there never was greater love, except what our Lord showed when he laid
down his life for the sheep : in which instance of his love he is unrivalled.
Other shepherds may have such care for their flock as to seek the lost sheep,
to feed them aU, to watch over them, and to defend them from their enemies :
and nothing farther is expected of them. But our Lord showed his greatest
love where theirs end. They feed and fatten the flock, that they may feed
and clothe themselves with it. They five upon the flock ; but he laid down
his life for the helpless lost sheep. He died to give them life ; for the good
shepherd giveth his life for the sheep : which leads me to the fourth parti
cular I was to consider ; namely, That Christ saves his flock from the great
trial of aU — from death.
The faithful in the text certainly included this when they prayed for a resting-
place from trials and troubles. The raging heat at noon properly expresses the
sharpest trial with the laBt enemy, when sin and Satan try their utmost efforts,
and set the king of terrors to attack and alarm the conscience. And they succeed
with aU natural men. To unpardoned sinners, how fearful is death ! The
approach of it is to them the beginning of endless sorrows. But our Lord's pas
toral love has engaged to deliver the sheep of his pasture from the power and
from the fear of death. And here his divine affection for them shines forth in a
wonderful manner, which can no more be described than it can be imitated : for
if all the holy angels in heaven, and all the creatures in the universe, were to lay
down their lives to save one lost sheep, it would be in vain. The Lord Jesus
alone was equal to this great work : for he was God and man united in one Christ,
and therefore his death was of inestimable and infinite value. By it he made a
full, perfect, and sufficient sacrifice, oblation, and satisfaction for sin. St. Paul
teUs the Corinthians, " I delivered unto you first of aU that which I also received,
how that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures." The scriptures
of the Old Testament showed, in the sacrifices of the law, that he was to die and
to shed his blood for sin. One prophet says that Christ should swallow up death
in victory, Isaiah xxv. 8. And in another, Christ himself says, " I wttl ransom
them from the power of the grave : I wiU redeem them from death. O death, I
will be thy plagues : O grave, I will be thy destruction," Hosea xiii. 14. And
the New Testament shows how he fulfilled these scriptures. By the one sacri
fice of himself he abolished death ; so that it has no longer any power over the
chttdren of God.
But do not the chUdren of God die as well as other men ? Yes. It is ap
pointed unto aU men once to die ; but death has no power to hurt God's chU
dren ; and they know, by faith, that it has not. Here is their comfort. Each of
h h 2

468 SOLOMON'S SONG.
them can say, with Paul, Jesus Christ loved me, and gave himself for me. By
his death I five. I know him and the power of his resurrection : for I havo
experienced this power raising me up from the grave of sin to newness of life,
and therefore, when I go through the shadow of death, I wttl fear no evil ; for
thou, my almighty shepherd, shalt be there with me ; and thy rod and thy staff
shall then comfort me.
Ahd thus Christ has delivered the sheep of his pasture from the power of
death ; and thanks be to God who gives us the victory over the fear of it through
Jesus Christ our Lord. He came to deliver those who through fear of death
had been all their lifetime subject to bondage. And he does deliver them. We
see many happy instances of his power to deliver. And if there be any of you,
my brethren, whose hearts tell you that you are not delivered, consider what is
the reason. Why do you, who call yourselves Chriatians, fear to die ? What ia
there terrible in death to a true believer ? And yet it is terrible to you. If it
should come this day, it would surprise you. Nay the very thought of it is
painful. You put it aside, and wish to forget it. All this proves that you have
nothing more of Chrietianity than the name. You have experienced none of the
life and power of it : for your ains are not pardoned. You fear death, becauae
the sense of guilt ia not taken out of the conacience : " For the sting of death is
sin, and the strength of sin is the law." While sin stings the conscience, and
the broken law gives strength to sin, so that it stings the deeper, you must fear
death. And this is tbe reason eo many people, called Chriatiane, are afraid to
die. They do not know that their aina ore pardoned, and that all the demanda of
the law upon them are aatiafied, by their good ahepherd'a laying down hia life
for them. Nay, they are bo far from knowing thie, that they never deeired, and
perhapa many of them think it preaumption and madnesa to pretend to know it.
My brethren, if theae be your thought8, you may be aseured you can never meet
death with joy until faith give you a clear view of your intereat in Chriat : but
when it enablea you to eee him, obeying, Buffering, and dying for your aina, and
aa your all-prevatting interceaeor pleading your cauae before God, then the ating
of death will be taken away : you wttl have nothing to fear : for then you will
know that all thinga are youre, whether life, or death, or thinga preaent, or things
to come, all are yours, and ye are Chriet'e, and Chriat ia God'e.
If we Bum up, and lay together what has been said, it will appear that Christ
is altogether lovely in the character of the shepherd and bishop of our 80uls.
What more could be done than he has done for the Bheep of hia paeture i He
has brought them back to God from the error of their ways, hae aupported them
when they were brought back, haa defended them in their trial8 and troubles, and
has given to them eternal fife as the purchase of his death. These, with all the
other benefits of the gospel, were obtained by the good shepherd's laying down
his life for the sheep, and are now freely bestowed by his grace, and thankfuUy
received by faith. At present it is the great privilege of aU Christ's sheep to
know by faith that they belong to his fold, and that they have an interest in the
blessings which he has to give. These faith receives and enjoys : for we are in
possession of none of them unttt they be applied ; and it is faith that makes the
application. When we receive faith from the operation of God, then we know
that aU the benefits which the good shepherd has to bestow are ours : for the
language of faith is this : " The Lord is my shepherd ; therefore can I lack
nothing. He shaU feed me in a green pasture, and shaU lead me forth beside
the waters of comfort. Yea, though I walk through the vaUey of the ehadow
of death, I wttl fear no evil." When faith feare no evtt, no not even death, then
hope can rest itself upon the care of the good shepherd, and the senee of his love
wttl produce love and grateful obedience. Thus the gracea of the Spirit, faith,
hope, and love, are produced in the heart8 of all that belong to Chriet'e flock, and
are the eheep of his pasture. They know their good shepherd, and are known of
him. They know his voice, and follow him, yea, they foUow him with joy, whe
ther he calls them to do or to auffer for his name's eake.
If any of you think thie ie not to be clearly known, your denial doea not prove
that God has not promised to give this faith, nor that he does not give it, but
only that he has not given it to you : for the scripture haa expressly promised it ;

DISCOURSE IV. 469
and it is a certain matter of fact, that God is daily fulfilling his promises. And
when they are fulfiUed to any person, he cannot but know it. He had been all
his life a lost sheep, wandering from God without any desire to return. Does not
he know, when he began to pray earnestly, that God would heal his wanderings,
and bring him home again ? How can he possibly be ignorant of so great a
change in his own mind ? When his desires take a new turn, he that sought for
happiness in the world, now Beeks it in Christ, and has turned his back upon aU
that worldly men caU rich and honourable, desiring only the riches of grace and
the honours of eternity. How can the man himself not know this, when every
body about him sees it ? When God has given him these desires, and he is
resolved by the help of divine grace to seek unttt he find by faith that Christ is his
Saviour and his God; when his constant discourse is, "Nothing but Christ,
nothing but Christ ; " does not the man know aU this time what he is speaking
and doing ? It is certain he does, because his neighbours know it and ridicule
him for it ; and when they canuot laugh him out of his religious notions, they
leave him for an incorrigible enthusiast. But if he does not leave seeking God,
God will convince him, by many undoubted proofs, that he is one of the sheep of
Christ's pasture. God wiU enable him to know that he is a partaker of aU the
exceeding great and precious promises of the gospel by means of his union with
Jesus Christ through faith, and he will send the spirit of adoption into his heart,
bearing testimony with his spirit that he is a child of God. This testimony
cannot possibly be a delusion, because it is followed by a change which the
Almighty alone is able to effect : for, being united to Jesus by faith, he is made
partaker of a new nature, with a new heart and renewed affections : he is a new
creature : the old things of his former state and conversation are done away, and,
behold, aU things are become new. His soul is filled with love to his God and
Saviour for doing these great things for him, and shows its love by love to his
commandments. When all this is done, may not the man confidently say with
the prophet, "The Lord is my shepherd : I am one of his people, and one of the
sheep of his pasture ?"
Since, then, believers may be as certain of Christ's being their shepherd as they
were in the text, and can truly say with them, " TeU me, O thou whom my soul
loveth, where thou feedest thy flock, where thou makest them to rest in the raging
heat of noon." I have now brought the discourse to the point I aimed at;
which was, to prepare the way for this question : and may God enable you to
answer it to yourselves honestly and fairly ! " Is Christ your shepherd ?" Let
every one of you ask his own heart, " Is my soul under the pastoral care of this
good shepherd ?" If you know, by the marks before laid down, that he is yours,
and you are the sheep of his pasture, you wiU love him and serve him, without
fear, in holiness and righteousness before him all the days of your hfe. But if
you know it not, or are not seeking it, it is incumbent upon me to warn you of
your guilt and of your danger. You know not as yet that you have any right to
use the words of the text. You cannot say to the great and good shepherd, from
a sense of what he has done for you, " 0 thou whom my soul loveth." You
know not that he feeds you with the bread of God, which endureth unto ever
lasting life, nor that he is your defender in danger, your refuge in time of trouble,
your ready helper in an hour of temptation, and your almighty supporter under
persecution. Nay, perhaps you may think these things cannot be known. From
hence it is certain that you are not at present a part of Christ's flock, and there
fore you have none of the blessings or privileges which belong to it — no pardon
of sin, no sense of justification to life : you have none of the life which Christ
came to give to sinners— no grace, no holiness, no happiness. God the Father is
your enemy ; his law haa condemned you ; his justice is concerned to see the
sentence ofthe law executed upon you ; and the judge himself has given you an
awful description of its execution in the 25th of St. Matthew. Consider these
things, my brethren. Weigh the importance of them ; and see whether you have
not reason to look up to the great and good shepherd, and to entreat him to bring
you back to God from the error of your ways. May the Spirit of the living God
show you the danger of your present state, and stir up desires in your hearts for
deliverance I May he enable you to seek it as his free gift, and in the ways of his

470 SOLOMON'S SONG.
ordinances, until you experience the sweet and comfortatie doctrine in the text,
and can join in gratitude and praise with the Lord's people, and the sheep of his
pasture ! to whom I shall, in the last place, make a short application.
My Christian brethren, you have experienced the love of the divine shepherd,
and therefore you love him, and can with fuU trust and confidence address him
in the words of the text : " O thou whom my soul loveth." In the sense of this
love you are happy. Knowing that the incarnate God stands related to you as
your all-loving shepherd, you can cast aU your care upon him ; for he careth for
you. He has engaged, and your faith can rest itself upon his promises, that you
shall lack nothing. All things are yours : for they are in the hand of your kind
shepherd and loring Sariour, who witt make them all work together for your
good. He knows what is best for you; and he will give it you. And you know
it to be best : be it sickneea or health, poverty or riches, they are alike sanctified
visitations. You taste of God's love in them, and you love him for them.
Nothing can hurt you but sin ; and you need fear nothing but it : for aU things
but sin shall do you good. Outward trials and troubles shall be real blessings.
They will drive you nearer to Christ, and keep you in closer communion with
him ; and thereby you wttl not only be a conqueror over them, but also make
great advances in the divine life. " What shall separate us from the love of
Chriet?" says the apoatle, "ahall tribulation, or distresa, or pei-8ecution, or
famine, or nakednees, or peril, or sword? Nay, in aU these things we are
more than conquerors through him that loved us."
Now, is not this a state greatly to be desired ? If something did not blind
men's eyes and pervert their judgment, would not they all, out of self-love, seek
the happy knowledge of their being the aheep of the Lord'epaeture, who lack
nothing, and who have all manner of thinga that are good ? The great ahepherd
and biahop of souls watches over them by his almighty power, suffering nothing
to hurt them in their real interest, but ordering all things for their benefit. His
very judgments upon the wicked are mercies to them. And since he can thus
make outward calamities work for their good, what must hia acts of grace and
love he ? Who con teU how bleaaed the man ia whoae iniquiticB are forgiven,
and whose Bins are covered; who haa joy and peace in believing that he ia
pardoned and juetilied ; who hae the Bpint of adoption in hia heart, enabling him
to cry, Abba ! Father ! and abiding with him to etrengthen, to comfort, and to
sanctify him, shedding daily more and more of the love of God abroad in hia
heart, and making him fit and meet for glory ? Muat not auch a man be bleaaed
indeed ? Can you conceive a more happy Btate on this aide of heaven ? And
do you not then desire it ? If you do, oh, come, taste, and see what happiness
this great and good ehepherd does bestow ; pray to him for the experience of his
love and power, and let ub join in caUing upon him, and saying,
O Lord Jesus Chriet, the great ehepherd of the eheep, who haat redeemed
them by the blood of the everlasting covenant, look down upon thie congregation,
and he gracious to thoee who have no deeire to know thee to be the shepherd
and bi8hop of their aoula. Show them their guilt, convince them of their
danger, and enable them, with those who are now seeking, to wait upon thee
unttt thou bring them into thy fold ; and there feed them with the bread of God,
and support them in all troubles and trials, until death be swallowed up in
victory. O blessed and adorable Jesus, give this whole congregation the sweet
experience of the doctrine we have been considering ; and although we have all
been as sheep going astray, yet grant we may all return to the ehepherd and
bishop of our souls, and be happy with him m time and in eternity. So be it,
to the honour and glory of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, three persons in one
Jehovah : to whom be equal praise and worship, now and for ever. Amen and
Amen.

471
DISCOURSE V
Chap. i. ver. 8.
If thou know not, 0 thou fairest among women, go thy way forth by the footsteps
of the flock, and feed thy kids beside the shepherds' tents.
These words are in answer to the prayer which the behevers had offered up
in the preceding verse. They had tasted of the love of the great and good
shepherd, and knew they belonged to his flock, and therefore they entreated him
to feed them with the bread of God — Give us this day our daily bread — and to
lead them in time of trouble and temptation to a place of refuge and safety.
Each of them could thus pray for himself : " Tell me, O thou whom my soul
loveth, where thou feedest, where thou makest thy flock to rest at noon : for
why should I be as one that turneth aside by the flocks of thy companions ?"
Why should I be misled by them ? If he foUowed the flocks of these companions,
he would be turned aside, and consequently they were not true sincere companions
of Christ, but only in name and pretence.
In the words which I have now read we have the success of this prayer. They
contain a gracious answer from our Lord Jesus, the great shepherd and bishop
of souls. The prayer consisted of two parts ; and he makes a reply to each :
" If thou know not," says he, " O thou fairest among women, go thy way forth
by the footsteps of the flock :" there you wttl find food, " and feed thy kids
beside the shepherds' tents ;" there you will find safety. May his good Spirit
enlighten aU your understandings clearly to see the sense of these words ; and
may he enable us to experience the power of them, if it be his good pleasure, by
means of what shaU be spoken,
First, In a short paraphrase upon them, and
Secondly, In the practical use and application I shall make of them.
Our blessed Saviour is the great and good shepherd of souls. His greatness
makes his goodness more desirable ; for he is almighty to give whatever he sees
his people want. Whatever they ask of him, he is able and witting to grant it ;
for he is a God hearing prayer ; his ears are always open to receive ; his love is
always disposed to answer the prayer of faith. So soon as the faithful, in the
text, had sent up their petitions to the great shepherd and bishop of souls, the
answer came down. Yea, he himself brought it. He that spake, and aU things
were made ; he that commanded, and they still obey his commandments and
hearken unto the voice of his words ; he, the God and king of heaven and earth
says, " If thou know not, if thou doest not clearly and fuUy know, but comest
to me for direction and assistance, O thou fairest among women." The soul is
here spoken of, as the church often is, under the similitude of a woman, and said
to be fair, fair even in the eyes of Christ, the bridegroom of the church. Ajid
by what means was she made thus lovely in his sight ? In herself she was black
and sinful ; and there is nothing so filthy and abominable in the sight of the
all-pure God as sin. He cannot behold the least iniquity; and mankind is
conceived and born in iniquity, and by nature subject to the wrath of God : how
then, can he behold it with approbation ? Not until it be cleansed from all sin
in the blood of the Lamb. When it is justified by his righteousness, anil clothed
with his graces, then it wiU be indeed fair and beautiful, yea, perfect, through
my comeliness, which I had put upon thee, saith the Lord God. When Christ
has thus presented the soul to himself, not having spot or wrinkle, or any such
thing, but holy and without blemish, then he speaks to her as perfect in beauty •
" If thou know not, O thou fairest among women, go thy way forth by the
footsteps of the flock." The great shepherd has but one flock. Although it
consists of a great multitude, which no man could number, yet they have but
one spirit in them all — but one Lord, one faith, and one baptism. They are of
one heart, and of one mind ; they walk by the same rule, and mind the same
thing. Though part of them be already entered into rest, and others are still in

472 SOLOMON'S SONG.
the world, yet they have sweet feUowship and communion with each other in the
unity of the Spirit ; and ere long they wttl be aU gathered into one place. 'Ihere
wttl be but one fold and one shepherd : for, in the dispensation of the fulness of
time, God wttl gather together in one aU things in Christ, both which ore in
heaven and which are on earth, even in him.
And as the flock is one, so is the way. There never was but one way in which
the Lord's flock walked. In the same good old way they that are gone before
and we that are foUowing after them must walk. Many disputes, indeed, have
been raised about it by men who are gone out of the way. The philosophera of
Greece and Rome Bought by the fight of nature, but could not find it ; and our
modern reasoners are seeking it by the same light, and stttl miss it : but believers
are at no los8, becauee their Lord ended aU diepute8 about it, when he declared,
" I am the way." He is the only way ; because no sinner can come to the
Father but by him. You must walk with him in his way if ever you be recon
ciled to the Father and see his face with joy. And what ia it that brings U8 into
his way ? Faith, the one faith, which unites the believer to Christ, and which is
justifying faith, because there is no saving faith but this. You may divide faith
into many branches, according to its several offices, and may give it several names ;
but if it be earing faith, it ia that which ju8tifies, which, by uniting us to Christ,
sets us in the right way, and keeps us in it. And this faith all believers had,
under the Old Teetament diepeneation, as certainly as we have it under the New.
They proved that they had the one faitii by the actings of their faith, as St. Paul
has taught ua at large in the 1 1th chapter to the Hebrewa ; wherein he sets before
ue the moet celebrated personages in scripture, and ehowe what great things their
faith enabled them to do and to suffer, in order to encourage us to foUow the
steps of their faith.
Some perhaps may inquire whether the faith that justified and saved thera was
the same that we have now : the apostle replies, that there ie but one faith : and
if theire was not the one faith, how could he propose their faith to us, and exhort
ue to foUow them, looking, ae they did, unto Jeeus, the author and finisher of
faith ? Our reformer8 have considered the I lth chapter to the Hebrews in the
eecond part of their homily upon faith, and they eum it up in theae worth : —
" Thi8 is the Christian faith, which these holy men had, and we also ought to
have. And although they were not named Chrietian men, yet waa it a Chriatian
faith that they had ; for they looked for aU benefita of God the Father, through
the merits of hia Son Jeeue Chriet, ae we now do. Thie difference ie between
them and ua, that they looked when Chri8t ehould come ; and we be in the time
when he ie come : therefore, eaith St. Auguetine, the time ie altered and changed,
but not the faith." In effect, they and we be aU one ; we have the eame faith
that they had, and they the same that we have, and therefore, in the text, we are
directed to foUow their faith, and more especiaUy the actinge of their faith :
" Go thy way forth by the footetepe of the flock." You may eee in what way
they Walked by the marke and printB of their feet, which they have left behind
them. Obeerve thoee, and tread in their steps. See what great things, how
imposeible to fleah and blood, their faith enabled them to perform, and go and
do thou likewiee. St. Paul has determined that thia i8 the meaning of treading
in their steps, in Rom. iv. 12, where he ie speaking of Abraham's being the father
of all those who tread in the steps of that faith which he had, being yet uncir-
cumcised — He is the father of aU those who can tread in the steps of his faith,
who follow him in the actings of his faith, and can give such marks of its
sincerity as he did.
Try, yourselves then, my brethren, in this point, and examine whether you are
foUowing the footsteps of the flock. Can you tread in the steps of Abraham's
faith ? When God caUed Abraham to leave hia country and hia father'e houae,
he obeyed, and he went out, not knowing whither he went. God doea call you
to leave the world, and the thinga of it, and to eet your affectione on things
above : and can you, have you, obeyed ? Do you live in the world, like Abraham,
a 8tranger, and a pilgrim, knowing that here ia not your home, but that you have
a better country ; namely, a heavenly, provided for you ? Can you live upon the
promisea of God, as Abraham did, when aU things make against you, and rely

DISCOURSE V. 473
with full trust and confidence upon the divine faithfulness and truth ? Can you
give up the dearest object of your heart, be it an only chUd, if the God of aU
grace and love should think proper to take it from you ? Are you thus strong
in faith, giving glory to God ? Can you copy after these actings of Abraham's
faith ? If you cannot foUow his steps, consider what is the reason. Do you
desire it ? If you do, have you not the promise of the same grace which Abraham
had, to enable you to walk by faith, and not by sight ? Are not aU things possible
to him that beheveth ? Why, then, are you behind Abraham ? Oh hasten your
steps, and get to the head of the flock. Let none be before you. You have the
very same help that the father of the faithful had ; therefore cast aside every
weight, and the sin which does so easily beset you (it is sin that stops your
course), and press toward the mark for the prize of the high caUing of God in
Christ Jesus.
But, perhaps, some person may ask, Where shaU I meet with the footsteps of
the flock of Christ ? Where are there any marks of them to be found ? That
you might not be at a loss, God has been pleased to leave a lively and exact print
of them in the scripture. There you have an impression of aU the footsteps
which you are to follow ; for the word is a lantern unto our feet, and a light
unto our paths, to guide our feet into the way of peace, and then to order our
steps in it. St. Paul, 1 Cor. x., having drawn the great outlines of the Jewish
history, says, " That aU these things happened unto them for examples, and they
are written for our admonition." And having, Heb. xi., described the actings of
the faith of the Old Testament saints, he applies them to us for our example,
exhorting us to follow their faith ; and he also proposes himself for a pattern to
the Corinthians : " Be ye foUowers of me, even as I also am of Christ :" — foUow
my steps so far as I foUow Christ's. In this light we are to consider the footsteps
of the flock. Christ is at the head, and goes before his flock ; they foUow him
and tread in his steps, and we who come after tread in theirs, foUowing them in
the way wherein they foUowed Christ. And all this is recorded for our use in
Bcripture. We are to take no step unless we see some marks of the flock's
having gone before and taken that very step ; and when we are united by faith
to Christ, and under the guidance of his good Spirit, we shall then see directions
left in scripture for every step we are to take. And thus, though it be not in
man that walketh to direct his steps, yet the Lord wttl hold up our goings in his
paths, that our footsteps slip not : for the steps of a good man are ordered by the
Lord ; and he maketh his way acceptable to himself.
This is, I think, the sense of the first part of my text ; namely, of treading in
the footsteps of the flock : the next words have very little difficulty — " and feeel
thy kids beside the shepherds' tents." These shepherds are the servants of the
chief Bhepherd, whose own the sheep are. The ministers of the Lord who have
the care and charge of his flock are, throughout the scriptures, caUed pastors, or
shepherds : and their tents, here mentioned, are not such tents as earthly shepherds
pitch when they are watching their flocks, but certain stated fixed dweUings,
wherein they officiated as spiritual pastors and shepherds. The original wore! is
not what our translators commonly render tents, but another, which always
signifies, to dwell or to inhabit, and which is of the same root with Shechinah,
the habitation of the divine glory in the tabernacle and temple. The first time
it occurs ia in the third of Geneais, where the use and design of the cherubim is
mentioned : " And God drove out the man, and he ' placed,' he dwelt in, or
inhabited, the cherubim." We read of God's appearing in the most holy place
of the tabernacle and temple, over the cherubim ; for which reason St. Paul calls
them the cherubim of glory. And the whole tabernacle and temple, including
the holy as weU as the most holy place, with aU their eacred vessels and apparatus,
are generaUy caUed by the same word that is in my text ; viz. " the dwelling."
Indeed, it is commonly translated tabernacle; but it signifies the dwelling-place
of the God of Israel ; the place where he had put his name to dwell there. And
accordingly, when the tabernacle and temple were reared up, the glory of the
Lord, that glorious and divine person who was the reality of all their types and
ceremonies, came and fiUed them. And it was upon account of his presence in
them that the faithful could say, " Lord, I have loved the habitation of thine

474 SOLOMON'S SONG.
house, and the place where thy glory dwelleth." These circumstances may lead
us to consider the dweUings mentioned in my text as places appropriated to a
religious use ; dwellings sacred rather than civil ; such as the shepherds dwdt in
when they were acting in their office as pastors over the flock of Christ. In
these dwellings they resided in order to dispense the word and the sacraments,
and to administer tne ordinances to the Lord's people, and to the sheep of his
pasture : for here they were to feed the kids. Tne original word is used for the
young of the sheep as weU as of the goats, for which the chief shepherd had a
particular love and tenderness. He carries them in his bosom. And they lay
near the heart of aU the Lord's faithful pastors, who watch with the greatest care
over the young and weak part of their flock, using every likdy means to preserve
and etrengthen them, and withal etriring much for them with God in prayer.
No tender parent can he more concerned for the health of a weak and sickly child
than they are for the weak in the faith. Knowing to what temptatioiiB they are
expoeed, and what difficultiee they have to encounter, they labour earnestly to
keep thera near the shepherds' dweUings, in close attendance upon the ordi
nances ; for here they will be safe from danger, and wttl find food to strengthen
their hearts and to enable them to grow in grace.
I hope it now appears, from what has been said, that the Lord'e answer is
direct and full to his people's prayer. They had desired to learn where he had
fed his flock, and where he had made them rest in times of great trials and
troublee. He repliee, with lipe fuU of grace, If thou art nt a Iobb, O my beloved,
whom 1 have purchased with mine own hiood, and made fair and lovely with
mine own righteouenees, go thy way forth by the footsteps of the flock ; soe in
what way they have always walked ; mark the actings of their faith ; imitate them ;
and you will find, the more you act faith, the stronger it will grow. If tempta
tions are powerful, and troubles many and heavy, and the heat of persecution
rages, and faith ia ready to 8hrink back, and to give way, then keep near the
shepherds' dwellings. There are the ordinancea upon which, in time of danger,
young and weak believers should attend closely, fhe more they wait upon tho
Lord with the pastors of his flock, the more food they will get for their soula,
and the greater eafety and strength wttl they find : for where can the believer
hope to grow stronger in grace than under the means of grace ? Theae are the
instituted meana of making believers Btrong in the Lord, and, in the power of
hia might, able to withstandin the evtt day ; and having done all to stand, resiet-
ingunto blood, atriving against ein.
Thie ia the doctrine of the text in which there are two ralea laid down for the
conduct of believers. At all timeB they are to tread in the footBtepe of the flock,
and to foUow ihe actings of their faith ; and in troublesome times they are to
keep near the ahepherds' dwellings, that they may receive comfort and strength
from the use of the ordinances. These are Chriet'e own directions to them that
are in the faith. As to those persona who have never Been their want of faith,
and are not seeking it, they are not concerned in what has been said. They have
no lot nor share with us in this matter : for how should they foUow the footsteps
of the flock who are not yet got into the way in which the flock walks ? All men, by
nature, have turned aside from the right way ; they have erred and strayed from
the waya of God like lost sheep, and have neither wttl nor power to turn into it.
WhUe they are in this state, they do not belong to Christ's flock ; and therefore,
how should they follow the actings of their faith who themselves have no faith?
Mybrethren, areany of you in this etate ? Do you know nothing of yourhaving
received faith from God as his gift, and wrought in your heart by the operation of
hia Spirit ? Then you should fear and tremble for your guilt and your danger.
Consider your guilt. You have all your sins, original and actual, to answer for,
and before a God who is of purer eyes than to behold the least iniquity. Consider
your danger. Have you not read, " He that believeth not, shaU be damned ?"
and are you not afraid of damnation ? for while your sins are unpardoned, every
step you take tends to heU beneath. And what is there between you and it i
Think how near you are to it. There is nothing but this thin partition of fleah,
and thie little vapour of life, thie light air that you breathe ; nothing else keeps
you out of everlasting burnings. And if God was to take away your breath this

DISCOURSE V. 475
moment, oh ! where would your poor soul be ? Meditate on an eternity of tor
ments, and, while there is a moment left, use it, and flee from the wrath to come.
Flee to Jesus, the great and good shepherd, and try whether he will not save thee :
for there is salvation in none other. If thou art sensible of thy guilt and of thy
danger, fear not. Apply to him, and he wiU get himself glory in bringing thee
home to God, and in making thee one of the sheep of his pasture.
Although the ehrections in the text relate only to the faithful, yet I could not
help speaking a word to those who neither have, nor are seeking the true saving
faith. I pray God to make it useful to their souls ! And I now come to apply
the first rule here laid down. It is an answer to the prayer of the faithful. They
had entreated Christ to inform them where he fed his flock. His answer is, Go
thy way forth by the footsteps of the flock ; see in what way they were led and
supported, and what prints and marks they left behind them : these follow, and
you will be carried safe through, as they were. Christ himself is the way : faith
sets behevers in it by uniting them to Christ : the footsteps are the actings of
faith recorded in scripture — the great things which, by faith, the saints of old
were enabled to perform — and these things the scripture holds out to us for our
example and admonition. Now, my brethren, when you read of the power of
faith in former times, do you find it as powerful in you ? Faith is the same : for
there is but one faith, and one Lord who gives it : he changeth not : he is the
Bame yesterday, to-day, and for ever. His promises are, like himself, truth itself,
and unchangeable. Why, then, is not faith as mighty in operation as it ever
was ? Why does it not perform the same wonders now which it did formerly J
In the 1 1th of the Hebrews, we read of many signal victories, which the old
saints obtained by the power of faith ; and our church says (second part of the
homily upon faith), " St. Paul so much extoUeth their faith, because we should
not less, but rather more, give ourselves whoUy unto Christ, both in profession
and living, now when Christ is come, than the old fathers did before his coming.
And by aU the declarations of St. Paul it is erident that the true, lively, and
Christian faith is no dead, vain, or unfruitful thing, but a thing of perfect virtue,
of wonderful operation or working and strength, bringing forth aU good motions
and good works." When you read of the actings of faith in former times, try
yourselves, my beloved brethren, and see whether it has the same wonderful
operation and working in you. Try whether you can foUow the footsteps of the
flock. The victories of their faith are marked out for your example. Can you,
then, with them, triumph over all the enemies of faith — over sin and Satan, the
world and the flesh, death and the grave ? These are the enemies with whom
you are to fight the good fight of faith ; and these the faithful have defeated,
Their faith conquered sin by apprehending and applying Christ's righteousness
for pardon and justification, and by drawing from his fulness grace for grace, to
subdue the dominion of sin. And are you growing in grace, and so strong in
faith, that, when sin puts on its most alluring dress, you can, with Joseph and
Moses, nobly reject its flattering pleasures ? When the devil throws his fiery
darts at you, have you the shield of faith ready to hold up in your defence,
against which the rage and force of his darts is quenched and spent, so that you
can say with Paul, I have fought the good fight ; I have finished my course , I
have kept the faith ? When the world invites you with its riches and honours,
can you, with Abraham and his descendants, live a wanderer and a sojourner
upon earth, knowing that God is your God, and that he hath provided for you a
city not made with hands, eternal in the heavens ? This is living by faith, and
not by sight ; and this is the victory that overcometh the world, even our faith.
Do you know that the wttl of the flesh is enmity to the will of God, and there
fore, can your faith submit to suffer the wiU of God, and, with Job, bear it
patiently ? In short, can you, with Paul, rejoice alike in poverty and riches, in
pleasure and pain, in honour and disgrace ? yea, can you with him do aU things
through Christ that strengtheneth you ? That is a great word — all things ! — I
can do all things I And yet faith can speak it without presumption : for all
things are possible to him that believeth. It is possible, with David, to fear no
evil, no, not when you are going through the valley anei shadow of death • yea,

476 SOLOMON'S SONG.
faith can, with the blessed Paul, give thanks to God for giving it the victory over
death through Jesus Christ our Lord.
These are some of the victories of faith, which it has already attained, and
which are recorded in scripture for your imitation. And if you find any of them
too hard for you, it is not because faith has lost any of its virtue and efficacy, but
because you do not put faith upon acting. Faith is still almighty. Set it to
work, and try its power, and you wttl find it can do whatever it has done. And
why ehould you doubt of ite doing what God hae promised it shall do ? Surely
the Lord's hand is not shortened. He can still make faith as victorious as it
ever was : for he left these great exploits of faith upon record for your use. These
footsteps of the flock were left on purpo8e for your encouragement, that you
might eee how possible it was to conquer sin and Satan, the world and the flesh,
death and the grave. These are your Lord's enemies, as weU as youra. It ia for
hie honour that you ehould conquer them. And he promiaea you hia help, the
same help which he gave to these faithful eoldiers, who, having fought the good
fight of faith, now etand confirmed in bliea, with crowns of eternal glory upon
their heads, and palms of victory in their handa. 18 it not a privilege to be
enabled to tread in their steps ? Can there be a greater privilege? Can there be
greater happiness than to conquer and to be crowned with them ? Oh disparage
not, then, your Lord, nor his gifts, by doubting of the power of faith. Fear not :
only believe. Bring your behef into act. Oppose it to your enemies, and see
whether it wttl not make you more than conquerors over them. Whatever God
has promised faith should do in you, and for you, is he not almighty to perform ?
Doubt not, then, whenever you are following the footatepe of the flock, but his
omnipotence wttl be present with you to fulfil his promiaes, and you will find that
all things are possible to him that believeth.
These victories indeed may be attained by them that are strong in faith : but
perhaps some of you may fancy, I am wealc in the faith — I must not aspire to
such great things. Why not ? Faith is the gift of God : and it ia mighty by hia
operation. Faitii doe8 not work in the strength of nature, but in the omnipotence
of grace. And grace is free — as free for you who are a weak believer aa for
the etrongest ! so that you may aspire to great thinga. Put your faith upon
acting, and aee whether it will not make you equal to the greatest thinga : for.
Allowing you are weak at preaent, yet it ia not God's intention that you ahould
continue bo. He has appointed the means of grace for your growth in grace.
Attend upon the ordinances ; keep near the ahepherda' dwellings ; and there you
wttl find youraelvea atrengthened and eetabliehed : for there ia food for your aoul.
God has promised that his quickening Spirit ehall be in the ordinancea, and that
he will render them effectual for the ende for which they were inetituted. It ie
hie grace that animates and enlivens them : for without it they are hut dead lettere,
mere carnal ordinancea, which profit nothing to the edifying of the aoul : but
when he quickens them with hie divine presence, then they build up and strengthen
the believer, and are the means of hiB growing in grace.
If, then, any of you are seneible of your having hut weak faith, wait upon God
for the etrengthening of it ; and wait in the waye of his ordinancea. In them he
haa promised to be foiind of thoee that seek him. You will find his Spirit preaent
in the word, in prayer, and in the Bacrament ofthe Lord'a aupper. Keep near to
them, and God will give you food for your souls, enabling you in the etrength of it
to get more power over sin, and to be more alive unto God.
Ihe word is expressly said to be the means of epiritual life, Pealm cxix. 50 : thy
word hath quickened me : and it is also the means of the growth of thie epiritual
life, according to the apostle : " As new-bom babes desire the sincere milk of the
word, that ye may grow thereby." But then, in order that we may thus grow by
the word, faith must be mixed with it. St. Paul teUe the Theeealoniane, 1 Epistle,
ii. 13, "When ye received the word of God which ye heard of us, ye received
it not as the word of men, but (as it is in tmth) the word of God, which effectually
worketh also in you that befieve." .Faith makee it work effectually ; and unleaa
faith be mixed and incorporated, as it were, with it, it does not profit: for we are
assured that the ancient Jews had the same gospel preached unto them that we

DISCOURSE V. 477
have ; but the word preached did not profit them, not being mixed with faith
in them that heard it.
If you cannot mix faith with the word preached, so as to find yourself growing
in grace and strength, can you pray ? Prayer is the appointed means of receiving
a supply of all your wants from the fulness of Christ Jesus. Ask, and ye
shah have aU that he has purchased and aU that he has to give : for his promise
is very extensive, Matt. xxi. 22 : " AU things," without any exception, " what
soever ye shah ask in prayer, believing," if faith has any ground in the word of
promise to believe, that it shaU receive what it asks, " ye shaU receive it."
Encouraged by this promise, ask humbly whatever God had promised to give.
Do you find yourself unable to foUow the footsteps of the flock ? Cannot you
keep near the shepherds' tents ? But are you drawn away from attending upon
the ordinances by the manifold temptations of sin and Satan, of the world and
the flesh ? Pray for power to fight against these enemies, and Christ wttl make
you more than conqueror. The more you pray, the stronger you wttl grow. Out
of weakness you shaU be made strong. And by waiting constantly upon the
Lord, you shall renew your strength — strength to mortify sin, and strength to
be alive unto God ; yea, by waiting upon God, you wiU receive the fulness of
joy : for thus has the God that heareth prayer encouraged you to pray always
and not to faint : " Ask, and you shaU receive, that your joy may be full." And
Where should we wait upon God for the renewing of our strength and for the
fulness of joy, but at his own table ? Has not the Lord appointed that his body
should be meat indeed, and that his blood should be drink indeed, being the true
spiritual food and strengthening of our souls ? Our reformers certainly looked
upon the Lord's supper in this light ; for to the question in the Catechism,
" What are the benefits whereof we are partakers thereby ?" they have given this
answer : " The strengthening and refreshing of our souls by the body and blood
of Christ, as our bodies are by the bread and wine." The elements are the insti
tuted signs of that life which Christ purchased by the offering of his body and
by the shedding of his blood. They are signs to all who understand their
meaning ; but seals to those persons only who are united to Christ by faith,
and grafted as branches into the true vine. Wait upon him then, my brethren,
in the appointed means for the continuance and growth of this divine life. Be
found obedient to his command, Eat this bread, and drink of this cup — Do this
in remembrance of me — and you will receive something more at the Lord's
table than mere signs. In the bread you will, by faith, partake of the body,
and in the cup you will partake of the blood of Christ, administering to your
soul that divine life which he begins here in grace, and carries on for ever and
ever in glory.
These are the instituted means in which the weak in faith ought to wait upon
the Lord : and he has encouraged them to wait upon him in these means with
a promise that he wiU therein be found of them that seek him, and wiU strengthen
and establish their hearts in the faith. We are his witnesses, that he is faithful
and just to fulfil his promises. We attest this upon our own experience. We
found ourselves growing in grace by attendance upon the ordinances. We expected
to receive freely what God had freely promisee!, and we are not disappointed of
our hope. Ana this wiU be your happy experience, my brethren, who are now
endeavouring to foUow the footsteps of the flock. Keep near the shepherds'
tents. Attend close upon the ordinances, and you wttl grow strong in the Lord,
and in the power of his might. And when you are strong, beware of spiritual
pride. Beware of being drawn away from the ordinances, as if they were not as
necessary for you now as they were formerly. Remember that you stand in the
Lord's strength, and he expects you should wait upon him for the continuance
of it. And if you leave off attending upon the ordinances, because you think you
are strong in faith, it is just as if a strong man should fancy he had no occasion
to eat any more, because of his great strength. Our souls want continual sup
plies of grace, as our bodies stand in need of daUy bread. And God has pro
mised to make the ordinances food for his chUdren, and he daily fulfils bis
promises to them. They find the quickening Spirit in the ordinances, commu-

478 SOLOMON'S SONG.
nicating to them life, and comfort, and strength, according to their several wants
and necessities.
And, as if these were not suffident motives to encourage you to wait upon God
in the way of his ordinances, he has promised to do more for those who wait
therein than they can either ask or think : "For since the beginning of the world,
men have not heard, nor perceived by the ear, neither hath the eye seen, O God,
beside thee, what he hath prepared for him that waiteth for him. Thou meetest
him that rejoiceth, and worketh righteousness, those that remember thee in thy
ways." Isaiah lxiv. 4, 5. Let us then remember God in his ways, and in these
ways he wttl meet us with a blessing. Whatever he has promised, he will cer
tainly fulfil. Wait upon him, and you ehall not he ashamed. FoUow the flock,
and you shall be safe. FoUow them, as they foUowed Chriat, and you wttl he
kept as they were. And let us look up to him for his gracious help to enable ub
to foUow the steps of their faith, humbly praying to him in the words of our
church, and saying,
" O Almighty God, who hast knit together thine elect in one communion and
feUowship in the mystical body of thy Son Chriat our Lord, grant us grace so to
follow thy blessed saints in all virtuous and godly living, that we may come to
those unspeakable joys which thou hast prepared for them that unfeignedly love
thee, through Jesus Christ our Lord." Amen^ (CoUect for All Saints' Day.)

DISCOURSE VI.
Chap. iv. ver. 10.
Awake, 0 north wind ; and come thou south ; blow upon my garden, that the
spices thereof may flow out.
In the foregoing chapter, the believing aoul had been in a dull heavy frame,
but, being concerned and uneasy about it, had deaired the quickening influencea
of Chriet'e grace. Christ here answers these eleaireB. He caUa for the wind to
come and blow upon hia garden. The wind is the scripture emblem and repre
sentative of the Holy Spirit. When he descended upon the disciples, on the day
of Pentecost, he came in this his known emblem, in a rushing mighty wind, and
it foUowe, " they were all fiUed with the Holy Ghoet:" fitted with hie giftB and
graces. For the eame good purpose hie influence ie here required. He ia to
blow upon the garden with his aeveral operatione, to quicken thoee thinga that
were ready to die, and to bring forth the aweet perfumea of the gracea of hie
own planting. " Awake, O north wind ; and come thou Bouth ; blow upon my
garden, that the 8picee thereof may flow out." May the enlivening Spirit bring
the sweet experience of these words to all your hearta. As he ia the omnipresent
God, he is here with us : Oh that he may he present in these hia gracious offices.
Like the sharp penetrating north wind, may he awaken conviction, and then come,
fike the mild and soft south wind, with his comforts, that he may plant his gracea
in U8, and cause the epice8 of them to flow out. God grant theae may be the
happy effecta of our coneidering,
First, The sense and meaning of the words.
Secondly, Of our defending the doctrine contained in them. And
Thirdly, Of our applying them to our spiritual use and benefit.
And first, Let us consider the sense of the words. Christ is the speaker. He
had been comparing the church to a garden which he had inclosed from the wil
derness of the world. He had taken it in for his own use, and had set in it
trees of righteousness, which he had moved out of the common waste, where
they grew wild by nature, and had traneplanted them into his garden. The
faithful are the trees, which the heavenly husbandman sets in his own para
dise : and by his cultivation, by being watered with his grace, and by clear
shining after rain, from being wild and barren by nature, they are changed,

DISCOURSE VI. 479
and they become trees of righteousness, the planting of the Lord, that he may
be glorified : " for herein," says the blessed Jesus, " is my Father glorified ;
that ye bring forth much fruit." The Lord has no barren trees in his para
dise. Before he transplanted them, they were a seminary of all evil weeds ;
they brought forth nothing that was good : but when once set in his garden,
they had a new spirit put into them, from whence come the seeds ofaU graces.
For thus Christ, in this chapter, describes his garden. Its plants are an orchard
of pomegranates, with pleasant fruits, camphire with spikenard ; spikenard and
saffron, calamus and cinnamon, with aU trees of frankincense, myrrh and
aloes, with all the chief spices. Upon this garden, thus enriched like the
paradise of God, he caUs the wind to blow, that it may bring forth the fra-
grancy of aU its chief spices. The wind is the agent that was to make them
flow out. And wind is air in motion — air in action. This was the first mover
in the formation of the world : and it is stttl the principal mover in the forma
tion and growth of every tree and plant. Natural historians have lately demon
strated, by undoubted experiments, that none of them can live without air.
They want it as much as animals do. By it the odoriferous kind diffuse their
fragrancy. The air is the cause that first draws out, and then spreads abroad,
their sweet perfumes. And by it the fruit-bearing kind wiU soon be adorned
with beautiful blossoms, and in their season with rich and ripe fruit. Their
vegetable life, with aU the operations of it, depends upon the air, in like man
ner as our spiritual life, with aU the operations of it, depends upon the Holy
Spirit, of whom the air was the instituted type. In our present embodied state
we cannot see spiritual but through the glass of material objects. We are
confined to sense. And therefore God has been pleased to make use of
sensible things in nature to represent the spiritual things in grace. He
has drawn a just and perfect paraUel. In the works of creation he has
given us an expressive image of every spiritual object with which he
saw it needful for us to be acquainted. Of himself, of his essence, of his per
sonality, and of the offices of the divine persons in the economy of the covenant,
he has set before our eyes, in the agency of nature, a lively picture : for the
grand agent in nature is the air, which is one in essence, whether it be rarefied
to its smallest parts in the action of fire at the orb of the sun, or sent
out in light, or returned in gross air to maintain and carry on this action of
fire at the orb of the sun : in which soever of these three distinct operations it
be employed, it is still air ; and accordingly, this unity of its essence, and dis
tinction of its threefold agency, is declared in scripture to be the instituted type
in which we are to read the unity ofthe divine essence and tbe offices erf the three
divine persons. The Psalmist, referring to the created image, says, " The hea
vens declare the glory of God." The heavens are not empty space, for that could
declare nothing, but they are the air in its three distinct offices, each of which
is a record of God's glory. For, as the apostle explains the point, " Ihe invi
sible things of God are clearly seen from the creation of the world :" the invisible
things themselves cannot be seen ; but they may be seen by the creation, " and
understood by the things that are made ; even his eternal power and Godhead."
So that there is a picture in the things which are made, whereby we may under
stand the things of God which are not made. And this picture, so far as I am
concerned to explain it at present, is the threefold agency of the air, in which are
represented the offices of the three divine agents in carrying on the work of sal
vation. The covenant itself, and the distinct offices of the persons, were for the
equal glory of each. It pleased the Father to get glory to the dirine justice and
hobness by demanding full satisfaction for sin. He was the avenger of 6iu, and
therefore air, in the action of fire, is his emblem : he is caUed in scripture a
consuming, a devouring fire, and a jealous God. It pleased the Son to get glory
to the divine love and mercy by paying this satisfaction ; and therefore his con
stant name in scripture is light, which is the life of the material world as he is
the life of the spiritual world. And it pleased the eternal Spirit to get glory to
all the divine attributes by inspiring dead sinners with a desire to be raised to
newness of life, and then by breathing it into their souls, and carrying it on
through the life of grace until he bring them to the hfe of glory ; and therefore

480 SOLOMON'S SONG.
he knows no other name in ecripture than Spirit, or air in motion. The very same
word that stands for the breath we breathe, both in the Hebrew and Greek, sig
nifies the Holy Spirit. Why was this usage of scripture f Was it from the
poverty of these languages ? No. It was to show us the perfect likeness and
resemblance there is between what air does to the body and what the Holy Spirit
does to the soul. He is the breath of its life. Our souls can no more live to
God without his grace than our bodies can without air. And after we have re
ceived his grace, are quickened and made alive by it, we want ita influence every
moment to support and to carry on the life which he has given, in fike manner as
we want breath every moment to support and to carry on our animal life : with
out it the body can do no work : without his grace the soul can do none. The
necessity of his continuaUy breathing into our souls the breath of life ia beau
tifully repreaented in the text. He ie there described under his known emblem,
wind or air in motion ; and what air is to the trees of the garden, that is he
to the spirits of men. Both are alike neceseary. Nothing can grow in the gar
den without air, neither can any grace grow in our soula unleaa the Holy Spirit
act in theee hie two officce. " Awake, O north wind ; and come thou eouth
wind." The aun i8 never in the northern point of the heavens ; and there
fore the north wind is cold, sharp, and piercing : but the sun ia alwaya in the
south ; and therefore the south wind is of a contrary quality, being warm,
soft, and comforting. The influences of both are necessary : the north wind
waa to awake : it waa to be the firet mover : the Holy Spirit wae to begin in this
office : for all men lay in the dead sleep of ein, without the least motion of spiri
tual life, unttt the Holy Spirit awaken them. And hia general method of awaken
ing sinners is to inspire them with conviction of ein. He opena their eyea,
ehowe them their guilt, and lets them eee their danger. And this ie very painful
and diatresaing ; and therefore it ia compared to the north wind, which, in the
first work of grace, awakens and acts with aU the sharpness of conviction upon
the einner'e heart. Here Christ calls it to act upon the faithful members of his
church ; not to bring them into the deep distress which persons under conviction
of sin are commonly in, but to preserve in them a lively aenae of their own insuf
ficiency, and of their dependence upon him. This ia neceeeary to keep them
alwaye humble, and to make them alwaye ready to aecribe the glory of what God
haa done in them to the riches of hia free grace. And therefore we find that the
Holy Spirit worka thia temper in all the faithful. None have euch clear hum-
bling viewe of themeelvee aa they have, which empty them of self, and dispoee
them to receive more and more of the eweet influences of the Holy Spirit. And
these are here described under the character of the eouth wind — gentle, and
mild, and comforting. It is obaervable, that the south wind waB not to awake,
but to come — the ainner muat be awakened, and convinced of hie guilt and dan
ger before he is comforted. ThiB is God's method of acting. His good Spirit
first makes men feel how miserable they are without a Saviour, and then he gives
them the comfort of knowing their interest in him. He awakes and blows upon
them like the sharpest blasts of the pinching north wind, and then he comes
with the comfortable breathings of the gentle south. Both theae are necessary :
for Christ calls for both to blow upon his garden. The original word, here ren
dered to blow, is translated, in the 2nd chapter of Genesis, to breathe, when
spoken of God's infusing an immortal spirit into the body of Adam : And the
Lord God formed the man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nos
trils a soul of life." Elihu ascribes this to the Holy Spint, as an economical act
of his office, Job xxxiii. 4. " The Spirit of God hath made me, and the breath of
the Almichty hath given me life." In the very same manner our Lord repre
sented the operation of the Holy Spirit, John xx. 22. " He breathed on his die-
dples, and said, Receive ye the Holy Ghost :" he breathed on them to denote,
by this outward and visible sign, the inward and spiritual breathing of the Holy
Spirit, which he then gave them. Our eoule are not ahve to God until he
infuse into them thie divine breath, ae you may read at large in the parable of
the dry bones, Ezek. xxxrii. And Mb continual breathing upon the faithful
soul is as necessary as this first act ; and therefore it is spoken of in the text
by the same word : " Breathe with every gracious influence, O divine Spirit,

DISCOURSE VI. 481
upon my faithful people, that the spices in them may flow out." The spices are
certainly the graces of Christ, which he freely bestows upon us who are united
to him tbe head of life and influence, and which are quickened and exercised
by his good Spirit. And when he enables us to bring them into continual use
and practice, then they become an odour of a sweet smeU, a sacrifice accept
able, weU pleasing unto God.
'•he words thus explained offer these particulars to our serious consideration.
First, We are here reminded ofthe state in which aU men are whUe they continue
in the barren desolate wilderness of nature. Secondly, We learn by what means
Christ's people are transplanted out of the wilderness into the garden of the
church, where they grow and flourish ; and, Thirdly, the cause is described, that
makes the spices in them to flow out, and enables them to bring forth fruit unto
everlasting life. These are the great truths contained in the text, which I am
under my second general head to defend, from the authority of God's word.
And First — Our state by nature is not a state of grace. We are not born in the
garden of the church, but in the wUderness of the world, in a dry barren land,
where no water is — no dew nor rain, no kindly influence of heaven, to make us
grow in grace. In this barren soil we are fike the wild olive-tree ; we bear no
fruit until the heavenly husbandman move us and graft us, contrary to nature,
in the good olive-tree : for you know it is contrary to nature to graft a wild
scion upon a good stock ; it is against the common practice in all other trees
but the olive. And therefore the apostle, Rom. xi., uses this instance to represent
the takirtg of the Gentiles into the church of God. The wild olive, fike man in
his natural state, bears no fmit but when he is grafted like the wild scion upon
the good olive ; then he bears forth fruit abundantly. He can bear no fruit of
himself; for our blessed Saviour, speaking of the branches not bearing fruit
except they abide in the stock upon which they were grafted, declares, No more
can ye, except ye abide in me ; for without me ye can do nothing. In yourselves
you are like the ground, which was cursed for your sakes, and which naturally
brings forth nothing but thorns and thistles.
When the Holy Spirit first begins to move in our hearts, he convinces us
of these truths. He lets us see how barren we are by nature, and unfruitful.
He shows us, that in us dweUeth no good thing, and that we have nothing but
sin in ourselves. He makes us feel the burden of our sins. It presseth us sore, and
forceth us to cry earnestly for deliverance. When he has thus, like the north
wind, pierced us with the sharpness of conviction, then is he ready to administer
comfort by transplanting us out ofthe wilderness into the garden of his church,
where, under his mild influence, we may grow and flourish : and this is the
second doctrinal point in the text worthy of our consideration.
We cannot transplant ourselves any more than a tree in a bad soil can trans
plant itself into a good one. But aU the faithful are the trees of the Lord's
planting. They are taken out of the wUderness, and removed into the paradise
of God, where they are set, that they may be called trees of righteousness — the
planting of the Lord — that he may be glorified in their bearing much fruit. The
whole work of bringing, us from a barren to a fruitful state, from a bad soil to a
good one, is the Lord's. It is he who maketh us to be like a tree planted by the
water-side, that wiU bring forth his fruit in due season : his leaf also shaU not
wither, and, look ! whatsoever he doth it shall prosper. As it is the action of
the air which first begins and afterwards carries on the vegetable life in every
tree and plant, so is it the action of the Spirit which first begins and afterwards
carries on spiritual life. We should not even have a desire for it unless he put
it into our hearts ; and the carrying of it on is the continuance of his work, as
much as the life of a tree depends on the continuance of the action of the air
upon it : for we are helpless and without strength either to begin or to carry on
spiritual life but as we are endued with power from on high. AU the work is
the Lord's : for it is he who worketh in us both to will and to do.
Now, it is the same hand which first plants us that afterwards waters us with
the dew of his heavenly grace, and makes us fruitful. This is the third doctrinal
point in the text. AU our graces come from the Holy Spirit. He first plants
them in us, and then makes the spices of them to flow out. We cannot doubt

482 SOLOMON'S SONG.
of these tmths, because we have often assented to them when we repeated the
Nicene Creed. I wish we had aU experienced the truth of the words : " I beliei o
in the Holy Ghost, the Lord and giver of life :" he is the Lord and giver of all
spiritual and divine life. The fife itself, whereby we live unto God, and all the
offices of it, work in us that one and the self-same Spirit, dividing unto every
man his own gifts, as he wiU. His own gifts are all the graces of the Christian
life. Faith, hope, love, with every sweet and heavenly temper, are his gifts : for
they are caUed the fruits of the Spirit. Sin is our own. Our soil bears nothing
else. It grows weeds, thorns and thistles, without any cultivation. Our earth
is a mother to them ; but a step-mother to every grace. Whatever there is in
us, besides weeds, is the free gift of the Holy Spirit. Every good thought, and
word, and work, every step we take in our Christian life, is from him. And when
he has inspired any thing good into us, he does not leave us to ourselves to
improve it. No. It is God that giveth the increase. He worketh in us both
to wttl and to do, according to the Psalmist's prayer, " Stablish the thing, O
God, that thou hast wrought in us." He stirs up bis own gifts and graces,
keeps them in exercise, and makes the spiceB of them to flow out. When we
work in hia 8trength, we work what is weU-pleasing. God the Father seea us
in his Son, partakers of righteousness, and led by his Spirit ; and then the sweet
odour of our services ascends wilh acceptance to the throne of hia grace. St.
John has given ua a beautiful image of the manner in which our very best ser
vices, even the prayers and praiseB of God's own people, become acceptable. It
ia not for any merit in them. It ia not becauBO they flow from fervent affectiona,
that they are Bet before God as incense, and that the lifting up of our' handa ie
an evening sacrifice. But it is through Christ that our very prayers are pleasing
unto the Father : for thus we read, Rev. viii. 2 : • " The angel of the covenant,
our Lord Jesus Chriat, came and atood at the altar, having a golden censer ; and
there was given unto him much incense, that he should offer it with the prayers
of all saints upon the golden altar which was before the throne. And the smoke
of the incense; which came with the prayera of the sainta, ascended up with
acceptance before God out of the angel's hand." Here we see that our beet
prayers are nothing worth unlese presented before God by the Redeemer, and per
fumed with the sweet incense of hie merits. When he presents them before the
throne of grace, they then become his prayers, and how can the Father deny the
requests of his beloved Son ? He wttl answer them, either by giving ub what
we ask, or something else, that he Bees will be much better for ub. If, then, we
wduld profit and be fmitful under the means of grace ; if we would have the
spices of our prayers and praises, and our other religious aervicee, to aacend with
acceptance before God, let ua look up to the Holy Spirit, and entreat him to
enable ua to apply what has been aaid to our own hearte. And may he blow
upon ua with hia gracioua inspiration, while I am, in the
Third place, Drawing some practical inferences from what has been said.
Ihe church ia here compared to a garden ; the faithful to tree8 of righteous
ness which the Lord hath planted ; the Holy Spirit to wind, which ia to blow
upon the trees, and which makes the spices thereof to flow out, as the Holy
Spirit brings forth into uae and exerciae the gracea of the faithful. This ia the
doctrine : and, that we may improve by it, let ub examine ourselvea, whether we
are as gardens and trees, whom the Lord hath planted, and in whom he ia glo
rified. Have we been taken out of the wilderneaa and tranaplanted into the
paradise of God ? Haa the Holy Spirit awakened the north wind to convince ua
of sin, and come with the south wind to comfort ue ? Has he united us to Chriat,
engrafted us. into the true vine, and do our tender grapes give a pleasant emell ?
Does he call forth the graces which he haa given ua, and let the spiceB of them
flow out in daily exerri8e, eo that men, seeing our fraitfulnese, glorify our
Father which is in heaven ? Happy are they who thus flourish like a palm-tree,
and grow like a cedar in Libamis. If you be time happy, my brethren, you can
not but know it, and feel it, and be thankful to God for it ; and to thoee amonget
you who are not in thia happy case, I wiU make my first application. May the
Spirit of the living God open your understandings to profit from what I have to
say!

DISCOURSE VI. 483
If you be not united to Christ by faith on your part, and by the bond of the
Spirit on Christ's part, and thereby enabled to bring forth fruit unto everlasting
life, consider how dangerous your situation is. There are two spirits, which
divide the world between them : you must be led by one or the other, by the
Holy Spirit, or by the eril spirit. And you cannot be at a loss to know under
whose influence you are. By their fruits ye may know them. This is an infal
lible mark, which the apostle has largely insisted upon in the fifth chapter ofthe
Galatians, where he has given us a description at length of the fruits of the
Spirit, and of the abominable deeds of the flesh, which are tbe fruits of the devU.
Read the description, and then judge to whom you belong. What flows out of
your hearts ? What do your tongues delight to be talking of, and your hands to
handle, and your feet to run into ? What appears in your fives and conversa
tions ? Surely you cannot be at a loss to know what sort of fruit you bear. You
cannot be ignorant whether you five to the flesh, or to the Spirit. If you abound
in the fruits of righteousness, and the spices thereof are continually flowing out,
a sweet smelling savour acceptable to God and to all around you ; if thus, through
the Spirit, you bear your fruit unto holiness ; then the end will be everlasting
life : but if ye live to the flesh, says God, ye shall die — die from God and glory
— ye shall die both the first and the second death.
While you are in this dangerous state, how do you keep your consciences quiet ?
Have you persuaded yourselves that the doctrine is not true ? Do you think
there is no necessity for bringing forth the fruits of the Spirit ? But remember
that you must be Winging forth some fruit : and which would you bring
forth ? Whether what is pleasing to God, or what is displeasing ? Certainly
what is pleasing. And by whose power and might can you bring it forth ? Not
by your own. You are by nature helpless and without strength to bring forth
any acceptable fruit : for Christ himself, speaking on this very subject, says,
" Without me ye can do nothing." Be persuaded, then, to apply to him for faith,
that ye may be ingrafted into him the true vine, and may bear much and ripe fruit
to the glory of God.
But stiU the doctrine does not appear to you in a clear hght. What is the
reason ? It is because you are in the flesh and in your natural state, and the motions
of sin which are by the law do work in your members to bring forth fruit unto death.
Sin has such power over you that you love its dead works, and you hate holiness.
You would thank God for making you holy just when you are dying: at the
last hour you would fike well enough to bring fruit unto God, and to have your
spices flowing out : but you cannot bear the thoughts of living a holy life. Is
not tliis your case ? If it be, is not your faith a dead faith ? And how, then, can
you be a living member of Christ ? for you were never ingrafted into him the
true vine. And if you should be cut off in this state, read your sentence : the
God who is to judge you has already declared, " If a man abide not in me, he is
cast forth as a branch, drld is withered ; and men gather them, and cast them into
the fire, and they are burned." May the Holy Spirit set this scripture home
with full conviction upon your consdences, that you may foUow me with profit
in my
Second application to those who are seeking to be united to Christ, and are
desirous of glorifying him by bringing forth much fruit. Examine carefully,
my brethren, whether you seek aright. Have you a single eye to God's glory ?
And do you indeed pray that his wttl may be done in you ? Woul.l you receive
Christ in all his offices ? Do you desire him as your king ? and would you
have his kingdom set up within you to destroy in you the reign of sin, as well
na your prophet and priest to save you from the guilt and punishment of sin ?
Are you willing he should make you holy as weU as happy ? If it be the sincere
desire of your heart to have the dominion of sin destroyed in your mortal body,
then you may take courage. And if you are also set upon attaining the graces
of Christ, and would have them in use and exercise, the sweet spices of them
continually flowing out, then seek, and you shall find. You have the promise
of God to rely upon ; and he cannot deny himself. Seek him with humility in
the ways wherein he has promised to be found of them that seek him. Attend
upon hiin in the ways of the ordinances. In them wait, and be assured that
I I 2

481 SOLOMON'S SONG.
when it wiU be for God's glory and your comfort, the Holy Spirit, who haa
already awakened the north wind to convince you of ain, will also come with
the mttd aouth wind to refreah and comfort your hearts, and to unite you to
Jesus Christ, in whom you may bring forth much fruit. And to those who aro
in this happy state I make my third and last inference.
The faithful, in the text, desired the Holy Spirit would make them more
lively and fruitful. And the faithful still have the same desires, which are at
this time more fervent and earnest, because they hear it objected to their most
holy faith, that it makes no change in men's lives and conversations : for which
reason they pray for more grace, and to have it more in use and exercise, that
they may adom the doctrine of God their Saviour in all things. They would
have all men who see their lives to behold the great change that the Holy Spirit
has wrought in them. While they grew in the wilderness, they were like other
wild barren trees ; hut being removed into the garden of the church of Christ,
and become trees of the Lord's planting, they now bear much fruit. And, like
aa the air draws forth the rich fragrancy of the aromatic flowers, and diffuses
their sweet odours all around, so the Holy Spirit keeps in action the gracea of
the faithful, and makea the spicea thereof to flow out to the glory of God, and
to the delight and good of mankind.
Pray, then, my Christian frienda and brethren, for the continual influences of
the Holy Spirit : these are as necessary for the growth of grace in your soul
aa the blowing of the air ia to the growth of the fruita of tho garden. Con
vinced of this great truth (and you are convinced of it by happy experience),
apply to the Holy Spirit for what you stand in need of every moment ; and pray
him to awaken the north wind whenever its Bharp influences are necessary, either
to awaken secure sinners, or to quicken and Btir up the graces of the faithful, and
then to come, like the south wind, with his mild and comforting influences,
blowing upon the garden, upon the believer, and making the apices thereof, the
graces in him, to now out. And thus may the Holy Spirit enable'you and me to
experience this scripture in its fuUest sense to the glory of God and to the good
of others, and to the comfort of our own bouIs. May the blesaed and adorable
Jesua send his good Spirit to lead us aU to, and to graft ue aU into him, the true
vine, that we may live unto God, and flourieh and be fmitful. Grant, O gracioua
Sariour, that every branch in thee which beareth fruit may be purged, and may
bring forth more fruit, even rich and ripe fruit, which endureth unto everlasting
life, to the honour of the holy, bleseed, and glorious Trinity, three self-existent
persons in one Jehovah; to whom we give equal praise, majesty, and dominion,
now and for ever. Amen.

DISCOURSE VII.
Chap. v. ver. 16.
Yea, he is altogether hvely.
The Holy Spirit puts these words into the mouth of the befiever. He has
been drawing a character of his beloved Jeeue, and hae compared him to the
moet uaeful and noble objects in the creation, in order to set forth his due praise.
But upon reviewing the character he finds it fall ahort of the perfection of his
divine Saviour. It did not come up to the idea which he himaelf had formed of
him, and therefore he finiahee in one word : " Yea, he ie altogether lovely." He
ia aU lovelinea8. Whatever is lovely and desirable upon earth, whatever ie lovely
and deeirable in heaven — aU the graces of time, and aU the blessings of eternity-
centre in him aa their proper aource, and flow from him aa their proper fountain.
Whatever can be propoeed to the understanding as exceUent ; whatever the will,
rightly disposed, can deeire ; whatever the heart and the affectione can be set
upon and find happiness in ; all this is to be met with in the Lord Jeaus, and
nowhere else : for, " he is altogether lovely," all beauty, all excellency in him-

DISCOURSE VII. 485
self. And this consideration should endear to us his inherent exceUencies, that
he is willing to communicate them. This should give a new grace to each, and
make it more valuable in our eyes. He is not only altogether lovely, but will
also make vUe and abominable sinners, when they apply to him for his righteous
ness, altogether lovely in the sight of God. He will wash them clean from aU
their sins in his most predous blood, and wiU clothe them with his aU-perfect
righteousness, in which they shall appear at the bar of justice without spot of
sin unto salvation.
Now, since the Lord Jesus is all loveliness, what can be the reason that he
does not appear altogether lovely in the eyes of men ? The generality of them
see nothing lovely in him. What was formerly said upon the occasion is stiU
true : " Lord, who hath believed our report ?" The word of God reports him to
be altogether lovely ; and the ministers of God preach his loveliness as testified
by scripture and their own experience ; but worldly men see no form nor come
liness in him, that they should desire him. They see more loveliness in sin, in
pleasure, in money, in diversions, than they hope to find in our Lord and
Saviour. This dangerous mistake arises either from the judgment or the affec
tions. Either they do not see how perfectly lovely Jesus Christ is, or else the
affections are prejudiced against him : but, wherever the mistake lies, I wttl offer
some scripture arguments to remove it ; and may God accompany them with the
effectual working of his power, while I am setting before you,
First, What Jesus Christ is, as man.
Secondly, What he is, as God. And
Thirdly, What he is, as the incarnate God — as God and man united in one
person. And in each of these respects I hope the Holy Spirit wttl convince you
that Jesus Christ is altogether lovely.
And first. Let ua view him as man. I mention not his person, though the
Psalmist says he was fairer than the children of men. The exceUencies and
endowments of his mind were so great and uncommon, that 1 need not insist on
a less important part of the subject. For consider, what is it that you admire
and love in any person ? Do extraordinary gifts or graces draw your esteem ?
Great abilities or great virtues ? Behold, every thing that can adorn or dignify
the human nature meets in the man Christ Jesus. If true wisdom and learning
be your admiration, it is written, that " in him were laid up aU the treasures of
wisdom and knowledge." Do you think that learning never appears so graceful
as when it is set off with the charms of virtue? Then look upon Jesus. In him
you see not this or that particular virtue only, but virtue itself in a body of flesh ;
and therefore made flesh, that he might let his graces shine before men, and
communicate their sweet influence. He was goodness itself ; and he went about
doing good to the souls and to the bodies of men, teaching and enlightening the
ignorance of their understanding, and regulating the depravity of the wiU and
affections, and healing all manner of sickness, and all manner of bodily infirmi-
ties. There was not a malady which sin had brought upon soul or body but
what he proved himseU' almighty to heal. Was there ever such a character as
this f So universally amiable and lovely ? Here is a person of all the sons of
men the greatest and happiest in himself, and capable of making us great and
happy ; yea therefore made man, that he might communicate to us his greatness
and happiness. And shall any of us be so far lost to all sense of what is great
and happy as not to admire this character ? ShaU men adore and idolize the
tme patnot whose breast burns with love for his country, and who freely hazards
bis all to save it ? And shall the very same men be wanting in esteem for the
great patriot of the whole world? How absurd, how inconsistent would
thia be !
What a contradiction is it to throw away aU our admiration upon lesser excel
lencies, and to have none to spare for him who had every exceUency that can
adorn the human nature, either for beauty or use, and who consequently had
every thing that could make him altogether lovely !
If I should stop here, enough has been said to place the man Jesus high above
the sons of men : but I have mentioned the least and lowest part of his character.
He was not only great and good, but had also one thing peculiar to himself—

486 SOLOMON'S SONG.
that no sinful frailty or weakness ever sullied his greatness or his goodness
He was a perfect man. You will not find any other character without its spota
and blemishes, because there is no man living without sin ; our nature itself
oemg sinful, and sin is the cause of all our imperfections. The darkneaa of the
understanding m the things of God comes from sin ; and the weakness of the
memory and the continual inclinations of the will to evil, and the strong and
unlawful attachment of the heart to the world and to the thinge of it, aprinir
trom the same fountain of sin. But the holy Jesus had no sin, and consequently
none of the imperfections which sin has brought upon us. When a truth was
proposed to his understanding, there was no obstruction in the faculty; he com-
prehended it clearly and fully, llis will was in harmony with God's witt : " I
delight, says he, " to do thy wttl, O my God ;" and he did it with all hie heart,
always and perfectly. And accordingly we read of him in the Psalma, that " he
spake the truth in his heart;" his tongue and his heart always went together;
he had clean hands," not once defiled with any sinful pollution, "and a pure
heart ; ' not one evil thought bad ever arisen in it ; nay, " his mind had never
been lift up unto vanity ;" not one vain thought had ever pasaed through hia mind.
Judge then how perfectly immaculate he must have been ! for who i8 tliere
among ua that has not had a thousand, yea ten thousand, vain and wandering
thoughts ? Who does not find them passing through hia mind against hia will,
and intruding into hia hours of devotion, from which he had ehut them out, and
haunting him even at the Lord'a table ? But Chriat's pure and spotlesa mind
never admitted one vain thought. He waa the very image of God, in which the
first Adam was made ; and he did not deface it, aa the firat Adam did, but he
kept it holy and undefiled. The scripture assures ua of it : " He waa made ain
for us who knew no sin." He asserts it of himself : " Ihe prince of this world
cometh, and hath nothing in me/' _ Happy for ua, Satan could find in him no
part of our fallen image, and therefore the aceuaer of the brethren could lay no
charge against his person, nor consequently against the merit of those actions
and sufferings whereby we, who have by nature borne the image of the earthy,
may, through grace, bear the image of the heavenly Adam, who ia the Lord from
heaven. My brethren, weigh and con8ider this part of our Lord'a character. Ia he not

will not withhold from him his tribute of praiBe. If your, praiee foUow excel
lency, behold, here ie a man not only the chief among ten thousand, but also the
chief of the human race. A man that never had hia fellow — a perfect man. He
has every good gift, and every grace that can be in man. And will you not
admire and esteem auch a character ? Doee he not appear to you altogether
amiable ? If you see any thing wanting in him, it is an argument of your own
imperfection : for he, whose all-searching eye trieth the very hearta and reina,
8aw no way of wickedne88 in him. He pronounced him to be hia beloved Son,
in whom he was weU pleased ; and he honoured him with a wonderful glory,
never communicated to any creature hut to the man Jesus : he waa united to God
the Son in so close and intimate a union, that God and man were one Chriet as
much as the reasonable soul and flesh are one man. Oh how great is the mystery
of godliness ! — God manifest in the flesh ! How can we sufficiently admire and
adore it ! And how greatly should it endear to us the humanity of our Lord,
that it was the sacred temple of the Godhead, inhabited by God the Son, and
honoured with the more immediate presence of the Father and the Holy Spirit !
for it pleased the Father that in him should aU fulness dweU, even the fulnesa of
the Godhead bodtty. Surely, then, the man Jesus was altogether lovely, aince
he was lovely in the eyes of the eternal Trinity, who voucheafed to dwell and to
make their abode in him. Oh, bluah then and be ashamed, ye sinful worms,
who eee nothing lovely in Jesus Christ, eince the most blessed God sees him
altogether lovely. Can ye find no comeliness in him, of whom the Father hath
said, " This is my beloved Son, in whom I am weU pleased." And are not ye
weU pleased with him, ye ungrateful men, for whom he was made man ? Pardon,

DISCOURSE VII. 487
Lord Jesus, our low opinion of the dignity of thy human nature. Let thy good
Spirit teach ub to form more exalted ideas of thee, while I am
Secondly, Speaking of the glory of thy divine nature.
All loveliness is certainly in God, inherent in him as the fountain, from whence
flows whatever is lovely in the creation. And if Jesus Christ be the true God,
then he must have every attribute and perfection that can endear him to his crea
tures, and make him altogether lovely in their eyes : and that he is the true God
is as certain as that there is a God. The scripture has given him the names and
the attributes of God, and has ascribed to him the works which none but the
almighty Creator and the aU-wise Preserver of the world could perform. He is
caUed Jehovah, the incommunicable name of the Dirine Essence, and Immanuel,
which being interpreted is, God with us. He is said to be omniscient and omni
present, to have created all things, and to uphold thtm by the word of his power :
lie came in the flesh to redeem them ; and there is a day at hand when he will
come to judge them. And witt any man say that these are the attribute^ and
works of a creature ? Do they not evidently belong to the blessed and only
potentate, the King of kings, and Lord of lords, of whom the Old Testament
says that he is God, the Saviour, and that there is none other, as Isaiah xiv. 21,
22 : "There is no God else beside me, a just God and a Sariour : there is none
beside me — Look unto me, and be ye saved, aU the ends of the earth : for I am
God, and there is none else." The apostle teaches the same doctrine in the New
Testament, where he says, Rom. ix. 5, " That Christ is over all, God blessed for
ever." Amen.
In these two passages (not to mention others) the Saviour is expressly said to
be God — God over all, and consequently he must be altogether lovely ; for every
perfection which has any claim to our love is inherent in him; and whatever we
see of loveliness in the works of nature owes its being to his divine wisdom, and
power, and goodness ; so that, whenever you see any thing worthy of your
admiration, it should lead your thoughts up to Jesus Christ, the almighty
Creator and Preserver of it. If you stop short of him, you rob him of his
honour ; because its loveliness is his. And what, then, must he be, how per
fectly lovely and amiable, who is the great parent and author of all loveliness ?
Whatever sweetness and exceUency you find in the creatures, is but a faint ray
of the Creator's perfections, and was reflected from him upon them, to give you
an idea of his loveliness. Admire him therefore in it. In aU the beauties of
nature you may trace the beauties of Jesus Christ the God of nature, who is the
first cause from whom they aU flow, and who is the last end, into whom they
will be all finally resolved.
But I need not enlarge upon this point. God has certainly every perfection
in himself. He is altogether lovely. But in what respects does he appear so to
sinners ? While they are under guilt, and sensible of their danger, they have no
reason to love God : for, being transgressors of his holy law, condemned by its
just sentence, which conscience owns to be just, subject to present death, and to
eternal misery, how can they see any thing lovely in that God who may get glory
to all his attributes by their destruction ? In this view they must see every
thing that can make God terrible, but nothing to render him lovely. Until they
know that he wiU be reconciled unto them, and forgive them aU their sins, they
can have no reason to love him. The gospel alone can set forth to them the
loveliness of God ; which it does, by revealing unto us an incarnate God, God
and man united in one Christ, who is altogether lovely in the eyes of his redeemed
people, as I purposed in the third place to consider.
All our hopes of heaven are founded upon this truth, that God was in Christ
reconciling the world unto himself : for if the man Jesus was not united to the
most bleaaed God, our religion is the grossest idolatry, and Christians are, of all
men, most miserable. But the scripture has left no room to doubt of the union
of the two natures in one Christ. The word was God, and the word was made
flesh, says St. John ; so that God the word was made flesh and incarnate. God
was manifest in the flesh, says the beloved apostle Paul. And the reason was,
he was manifested for our salvation. And it was expedient that the Saviour
should be both God and man, because he was to obey and to suffer for us as

488 SOLOMON'S SONG.
man, and to merit by his obedience and sufferings as God, and thereby to be a
complete Saviour. Accordingly, he who thought it no robbery to be equal with
God the Father, took upon him the form of a servant, and was made man. He
obeyed, he suffered, he became obedient unto death, even the death of the croaa ;
and when aU the enda for which he obeyed, suffered, and died, were answered,
then it was not possible that he should he holden any longer of death. Justice
released him on the third day from the prison of the grave ; and he rose again
triumphant from the dead; whereby believers had full evidence given them, that
aU the demands of the law were satisfied, that Christ's sufferings had made a full
atonement for what they should have suffered ; that he had taken out the sting
of death, and had opened unto them the gate of everlasting life ; for, as he stood
in their place as their great representative, aU his victories are theirs, and, by
faith they know and are assured of their interest in them. And through him,
who loved them and gave himself for them, they shall be saved from ain, and
Satan, from Buffering and death, from heU and everlaeting tonnente. And they
ehall not only he aaved through him from theee their epiritual enemiee, hut they
ehall also recdve joys unspeakable and fuU of glory, a happineaa greater than
tongue can utter, or heart conceive, a crown incorruptible and undefiled, and that
fadeth not away : for they ahall be made kings and prieete unto God and the
Father, and they ehaU reign for ever and ever in fulneee of joy, both in body and
in soul : and all this shall be the free gift of God, through Jesua Christ our
Lord. Thus the Lord Jesus, under the character of the incarnate God, is altogether
lovely. He has every grace and perfection that can render hiin amiable in the
eyes of believers ; for to them that befieve he is precious. And he haa every
thing that can recommend him to the eBteem of awakened and convinced sinnera.
He ie juat auch a Sariour aa they want. He haa every thing to give that they
8tand in need of. The God-man has an inexhaustible fountain of grace, which
alwaya etands open for the relief of weary and heavy laden sinners, who eomo
unto him seeking reet unto their eouls. He dalle unto them with thiB sweet
voice : Ho ! every one that thirsteth, come ye to the vaters of comfort and sal
vation. Lo ! here is pardon and peace, righteousnesB and holineaa. All the
gracea that can make you lovely in the Bight of God the Father— all the gloriee
that can make you happy with him in eternity, are in my power to give. I pur-
cha6ed them for euch sinners as you are, and I give them freely. Ask, and ye
Bhall have ; seek, and ye shaU find. And what ahould hinder them from answcr-
ing him ? Yea, they will answer. Thia ia the very language of their hearte :
Lord JeBua, help our unbelief. We are convinced that aU the gracea of time and
aU the gloriea of eternity are thy free gift ; and we bleee and praiee thy holy
name for putting it into our hearte to aeek for the enjoyment of thoBe graceB and
gloriee. All the loveliness of this lower world, all the lovelineea of heaven itself
is thine centrea in thy person, as the incarnate God, andflowa from thee, aa God
made man on purpoae to make ue, filthy and abominable einnere, lovely in the
eieht of thy heavenly Father. Oh that we may eee clearly our interest in thee,
and may know the incarnate God to be our Lord and our Sariour ; and then our
faith will behold thee altogether lovely, and ehaU admire no lovelineBe unleBS it
bear thy fair image, and whatleada ns, through ita beauties, to adore and praiae
And if Christ appear in this amiable light to those who are only seeking and
desiring to experience his love and mercy, what thoughts must believers enter
tain of him ' How must they value him ? Certainly, he is with them altogether
lovely And haye they not good reason to think him eo ? for what lovehneea ia
there in heaven or earth but his ? Ia there not in hia manhood every grace that
can adorn the human nature ? Ie there not in hie Godhead every infinite and
eternal perfection ? And do not theee perfectiona flow through the manhood of
the incarnate God, to render vile and poUuted 8inners altogether amiable and
lovely ? God and man were united in one Chriet in order to eave them from
their sins ; and he puts them into perfect possession of many of the benefits of
his salvation, as pledges and earnests of his bestowing more : for he now awakens
them and raises them from the death of sin to newness of life ; he pardons their

DISCOURSE VII. 489
past rebellions, sends his good Spirit into their hearts to shed abroad in them
the comforts of his pardoning love, to fill them with joy and peace in believing,
to enable them to mortify the body of sin, and to put on the new man which,
after the image of God, is created in righteousness and true holiness. AU this ia
present salvation ; the happiness of which is great beyond description. Oh !
come then, my brethren, taste and see what the Lord Jesus has to give. What
ever your state and circumstances are, he can make you completely happy : for
he has engaged that aU things, adverse as well as prosperous, shaU work together
for good, for present and eternal good, to them that love him. And when you
can love him, because he first loved you, then you will find that he is able to do
exceeding abundantly for you, above aU that you can either ask or think.
Upon this short view of our Lord's character, it appears that he is altogether
lovely. He certainly has, as man, as God, and as the incarnate God, every per
fection of heaven and earth. All that is amiable in itself, or ought to appear
amiable to us.imeets in him ; and therefore, if we love what is amiable in itself,
or what is good to us, we ought to give the first place in our hearts to the Lord
Jesus. And does he, then, reign in them ? Is he the sole Lord of your affec
tions ? Do you, my brethren, love him in sincerity, with a pure incorrupt love,
and with all your hearts, and with aU your minds, and with aU your strength ?
Is his kingdom set up within you ? and is it your delight to do the wiU of your
Lord and of your God ? Grace be with all them who thus love the Lord Jesus.
But, alas ! their number is but smaU : for melancholy it is to see how little the
generality of men, caUed Christians, love him who is altogether lovely. The
transient perishing objects of sense, the vanities, the follies of life, appear more
lovely, and have more of their hearts, than that God whose servants and wor
shippers they profess themselves to be. Nay, the abominable deformity and
horrid ugliness of sin seem to them more lovely. What can be the reason
that men professing Christianity should be so inconsistent, and should make
such a wrong judgment in so plain a case ? Surely they must lay under some
great delusion : for not to love him whom they call their Gbd, and who is alto
gether lovely, ia both a disgrace to their boasted reason, and is also acting
against their own present and eternal interest. Sin is the cause of this mon
strous delusion : it blinds the sinner's understanding, that he does not see his
want of a Saviour, and consequently he cannot judge of the Saviour's worth.
While he thinks himself whole, he sees no occasion for the physician. But so
soon as conscience awakes, and he is made sensible of his guilt, and feels his
misery, then he wiU desire the assistance of the great physician of souls, and will
begin to value him. The more deeply he is convinced of sin, the more earnestly
will he apply to the Lord Jesus who is able to save him from his sins. And as
he partakes of the graces and blessings of salvation, the Saviour wiU grow more
and more lovely in his eyes. And when conscience ceases to accuse, when the
law no longer condemns, but he finds joy and peace in believing, then the
Saviour will be altogether lovely. The believer will fonrt higher ideas of him
than he can find words to express : yea, he knows that his ideas of him cannot
rise up to the greatness of his Lord's merits. As man he is far exalted above the
children of men ; as God, he is over all blessed for ever ; and as God incar
nate, he is the continual joy of the believer's heart, and the sweet subject of
his praise here in time ; and the song of the glorified spirits in heaven wiU
be upon the riches of his grace ; and they will never be able to exhaust the
subject, or to search it to the bottom, because the riches of Christ are un
searchable, and infinite, and eternal.
Here, then, we are come to the root of the matter. Jesus is altogether lovely :
but why do not aU men who profess to worship him think him so ? Because
they do not find their want of him. They are under no concern about their sins,
ant! have no desire to know the pardon of them, and therefore they see no
reason to esteem the Sariour of sinners. They are ignorant of their own wants,
and therefore they know not his worth ; but basely, wickedly prefer the worth
less things of thia life to the Lord and giver of life and glory. Is not this the
aad state of the generality of our people ? And does not this evidently prove
that they are Christians only in name ? They have none of the spirit and power

490 SOLOMON'S SONG.
of their religion, but in their lives dishonour that holy name by which they are
called. My brethren, are any of you in this state ? Look up to God, and beg of him
to show you the true state of your souls, that you may see how much you are
concerned in what has been said. Are you indeed lovera of the Lord Jeaus ?
Is he in your eyea altogether lovely ? When the objects of aenae flatter, and pre-
eent themselves to your choice in the most alluring dress, then do you see your
beloved Sariour the chief among ten thousand ? Can you give up ten thousand
of them for him i For him can you reject with disdain all that the world calls
great and honourable, and looking upon Jesue to be all and in aU? If you are
not in this state, be assured that your hearts are not right with God ; and if you
neither see the perfect loveliness of Jesus Christ, nor desire to see it, then you
are stttl under the power of sin, deluded and blinded by it ; and, if God doee not
open your eyes to see the ddusion, death wttl soon open them to your everlasting
confusion. But if God has convinced you of sin, and you find'your want of a
Saviour, wait upon him, and he will give you many happy proofs of his perfect
loveliness. You wiU experience his love in pardoning your Bins, in justifying
you from the guilt of them in making you tne children of God, and in fitting
you for his heavenly kingdom. Daily, as you find your interest more cloarly in
his redeeming love, you wttl partake more and more of his exceeding great and
precious promises, whereby your love to him will increase, and you wiU find him
more lovely. Faith wttl open to you the riches of his love, and show you how
precioua he is ; for, to them that believe, he is precious ; he ia precious indeed to
the believer. And he is not precious to all men, because they do not see their
want of him, nor know what his free grace can do for them : for he haa invited
all weary and heavy-laden ainners to come and experience how happy he can
make them. Whatever their wants may be, he ia willing and able to eupply
them. If ye be but senaible of them, ask, ray brethren, and he will relieve you. Be
ye ever so black in youraelve8, he can make you comely. Be your sins ever eo
many, ever eo heihous, in hie righteoueness you may he preeented before God
the Father without spot of ein unto salvation. Have you thought ever ao meanly
of him, hi8 good Spirit can give you reaaon to entertain more noble sentimente.
Your ingratitude, your very blaephemiea againat him, may be pardoned, and
much ingratitude, and many blasphemiee are no bar to hie free grace. Thia ia
the sweetest part of our Lord's character, and ought, above all, to endear him
unto those who see their want of hia help. Let them come ever ao late, ever ao
guilty, the arm8 of hiB mercy are open to receive them. If you see nothing but
sin in yourselves, yet go to him. Hie blood clean8eth from all sin. Implore his
mercy, and see whether he wiU cast you out. Be not diacouraged by looking
into yourselves ; you may be deformed enough ; but remember that he ia alto
gether lovely, and by faith you wiU know his lovelineae iB yours. He wttl wash
you clean from every etain of sin in his moet precioua blood, and will present you
before his Father in epotleea purity. Be ye ever bo defiled with uncleanneaa ;
have lust, dmnkennese, or gluttony polluted the body ; and the love of the
world and of the thinga of the world atilbmore polluted the eoul; yet the foun
tain ia open Go, waah, and be clean. Sins deep as scarlet shall be as white
as snow- sins like crimson ehaU be aa wool. They that are washed in the
Redeemer's blood stand before God's tribunal as white as enow, without spot of
sin unto salvation.
My dearly beloved brethren, can ye beheve these things ? do ye aaaent to
them > and yet are ye not determined to apply to Jeaus Chriet for hia gracea
and bieasings? He invitea you to come to him; and wiU you not come? Be
ye ever so unworthy, he wttl make you worthy. Be ye ever so abominable in
the sight of God, he wttl make you lovely. All your wants he ia able and
willing to eupply. Why, then, do you chooee to live without hie gracea and
bleeeings? They may he had freely. Ask, and ye shall have. Only express
your wants. Beg a supply from hie bounty, anel he that has done all for you
wttl do all in you. Go, then, with your wante, whatever they be, to the
throne of grace, and the incarnate God wiU eupply them. He ie more ready
to give than you can be to ask. His heart is large and open. It ie the same

DISCOURSE VII. 491
tender heart which once bled to death for sinners : it cannot want love. And he
is now on the throne of glory : he cannot want power. Apply to this loving
God and Saviour of sinners, and he wttl convince you of your wants and of
his worth. He wiU bestow upon you, out of his fulness, grace for grace,
until you acknowledge with thankful hearts that the Lord Jesus is altogether
lovely. My Christian brethren, you can bear me witness that I have spoken but a
small part of the Redeemer's praise : for you believe him to be a true and very
man, and true and very God, united in one Christ ; and you know, by sure
scripture marks and evidences, that the one Christ is your Saviour ; whereby
you are interested in aU that he did and suffered as man, and merited as Got),
and has now, as king-mediator, to bestow. Being thus enabled to say, " My
beloved is mine, and I am his," you are convinced that your beloved is above all
blessing and praise. You cannot reach the greatness of his merits. The poverty
of language, the weakness of the human understanding, the coldness of your
affections, are so many hindrances to your speaking of your God and Saviour as
he deserves. And when you try to get over these obstacles, and have some hopes
of success, yet then you find the corruptible body so presseth down the soul, and
the earthly tabernacle so weigheth down the mind, that praise dies away upon
your lips. But you hope there is a time at hand, when your praiseB wiU be
more perfect. When you shaU be freed from aU the frailties of this mortal life,
you wiU then be better able to discover, and more constantly disposed to celebrate,
the loveliness of your redeeming God. But even you will not be equal to the
subject. Your praises will be but finite, and the adorable Redeemer is infinite.
Ihere is no proportion between them ; no more than between time and eternity :
and suppose you continue your praises to eternity, yet your happiness, your
crowns of glory nnd palms of victory, your standing confirmed in bliss, are the
free gifts of God in Jesus Christ our Lord. And how, then, can you worthily
extol the riches of his free grace ? How can you pay the debt that you owe to
free grace ? When you have praised him for millions of years, Jesus is stttl as
lovely, your praise as much due, your joy in offering it as great, as when you
began. There is still the same majesty in -the brightness of that glory which
shines in the face of Jesus Christ. He is the hght of the heavenly Jerusalem ;
and light, you know, is sweet ; yea, a pleasant thing it is to behold the sun. Oh
how sweet, how pleasant, then, must it be to see the sun of righteousness shining
in his glory ! Surely he will then appear altogether lovely. Blessed are the eyes
that shall then see the king in his beauty ; and happy, for ever happy, are they
who shall then praise him ; but even then the highest strain of praise of angels
and men united wiU not come up to the greatness of his merit. He wiU be more
lovely than aU the tongues of aU the heavenly host wttl be able to express. And
if the glorified spirits thus fail,
O thou incarnate God ! whose glory the heaven and heaven of heavens cannot
contain, pardon the low opinion we entertain of thine infinite exceUencies ; pardon
the imperfect manner in which we have been speaking and thinking of thee.
Thou knowest, Lord, that we desire to know thee more, and to praise thee
better. Arise then, 0 thou bright and morning star, and shine into our hearts,
dispeUing the darkness of our understandings, and taking away the depravity of
our wills and affections, that we may see thy loveliness, and our interest in it ;
and enable us daily to love thee more and more, unttt we behold thee face to face,
and then we shall know that our Saviour and our God is altogether lovely. O
thou adorable Jesus ! admit us aU to this blessed vision and fruition of thy God
head. May aU this congregation be in the happy number of thy redeemed
people, who are to praise and admire thine infinite loveliness for ever and ever.
So be it, to the honour and glory of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, three persons
in one Divine Essence, to whom be equal praise and worship in heaven and
earth, in time and in eternity. Amen and Amen.

492
DISCOURSE VIII.
Chap. v. ver. 16.
This is my Beloved, and this is my Friend. ¦
In the last discourse I endeavoured to recommend to you some of the love
liness of Jesus Christ. It was only some part of his loveliness : for we know it
at present but in part. It is infinite, and surpasseth all understanding. The
most enlightened mind cannot fuUy comprehend it, no not in heaven. We sholl
not be able in eternity to discover all the perfections of our incarnate God : and
how then can we think or speak worthily of them at preaent ) Wc muat fall
below the majesty of the subject; hut that is no reason we ehould not treat of
it. It is our duty and interest to think and to speak of our blessed Sariour in
the most sublime ideas, and in the highest expreseione, because we cannot exceed
the greatneaa of hia merita. He is above all bleaaing and praiae : and 80 you will
beheve when you know him to be your Saviour. When the Spirit of wiadom
and revelation enlightens the eyes of your understanding, then you will behold
some of Christ's loveliness ; and when you are enabled to say with true faith,
" This is my beloved, and this is my friend," then his loveliness will appear to
you with a new grace and exceUency, becauae you will then aee your interest
in it.
Thia ia the particular view in which I ehall consider our Lord'a lovelinesa nt
present. The believer knows him to be his beloved, and the perfections of Christ
appear with u peculiar beauty through this endearing relation, because he can
truly aay, He that haa theee perfectione is my beloved and my friend ; he has
them for me; I have a Bure interest in them, in time and in eternity. My
brethren, do the perfections of Christ appear to you in thia light? Can you
take up the worda of the text and repeat them from your own experience ? I
fear there are not many of ua who can : for the generality of men, called Chria-
tians, chooae other belovede and other friende than Jeeus Chriat. Many of them
have no love for him ; or, if he haa any place at all, yet he has not the firat place
in their hearts and affectionB, no, not even in theirs, to whom he haa been moat
bountiful. Where hia favoura have been great, there one might expect great
returaa of love ; but we find no euch thing in fact : not many worldly-wiae and
learned, not many rich and noble, repay his favoura with thankfulneaa. Though
Chriet be altogether lovely, and ought to appear eo to them, yet few of them love
him. What can be the reaeon that men of geniua, whom Chriet hae bleaaed
with great gifts and talents, should make him no suitable returns of gratitude ?
and that men, who profess themselves to be hia worahippera, ahould have no love
for their God ? The true cause ie, they are in love with Bin, and it blinds them.
Christ is all beauty, but they have no eyea to aee it ; no, not even a desire to aee
it, until they begin to find the exceeding 8infulneee of ein. When conacience is
uneasy about the pardon of their eine, and they feel theirwant of a Sariour, then
they wttl begin to desire his salvation, and God wttl hear their desiree, and will
open their eyes to see a precious Chriet, and will give them faith to believe in
him to the saving of the soul. Faith makes Chriet appear precious : for it ie the
proper office of faith to enable us to behold Christ's excellencies ; and it is the
proper work of that faith which worketh by love to let ua know our interest in
them, by which every exceUency appears to ua more lovely. And the text describei
this office, and also this work of faith. The believer first declares that Chriat ia
altogether lovely, and then, that he knew Christ's lovelineBa wae his. " This ii
my beloved, and thia i8 my friend." He is my beloved, on whom my heart and
mine affections are entirely placed ; because he first loved me, and gave hiipself
for me. He has shed abroad his love in my heart ; and I know that my beloved
is mine, and I am his. He is mine — my friend — who has my welfare at heart,
and who wiU deny me nothing that can make me happy in time and in eternity.
May the Spirit of the Lord Jesus open aU your understandinge to eee, and all

DISCOURSE VIII. 493
your hearts to receive, these comfortable truths, whUe I am discoursing upon the
words, and opening the sweet doctrine contained in them, by showing
First, What Christ has done to make himself the beloved and the friend of
every believer.
Secondly, The believer's knowledge of his interest in it before he could say,
This is my beloved,. and this is my friend.
Thirdly, From whence arose the certainty of his knowledge.
Fourthly, The happiness he had in knowing certainly that Christ was his
beloved and his friend. And then I wiU apply the whole, as God shaU enable me,
to your consciences.
And First, I am to show what Christ has done to make himself the beloved,
and the friend of every behever.
If men foUowed the common instincts of nature, and had no bias to turn
them from their own interest, he would be the beloved friend of the whole world ;
for is there a more natural or stronger instinct than the love of pleasure and the
hatred of pain ? We are subject to innumerable pains, both in body and soul,
in this world and in the next ; and we have very few enjoyments that can be
caUed real pleasures. Sin was the cause of aU our misery. It robbed us of our
pleasures, and brought upon us our pains. AU was good untU sin entered into
the world ; but when it entered, aU evil entered with it ; the evil of pain to tor
ment our -bodies and bring them down to the grave of death ; the evtt of guilt to
torment our consciences ; and the evil of punishment beyond the grave, where
soul and body were to receive the wages of sin. Fom these evils the Lord Jesus
came into the world to save his people. And he took our nature, that in it he
might bear our griefs and carry our sorrows. The holy law of God accused us
of transgression ; and he came to answer the demands of the law; which he did
by paying it a full and perfect obedience : and this obedience, being the act of a
divine and infinite person, had therefore a divine and infinite merit to atone and
satisfy for sin. For transgressing the holy law of God we were liable to suffer
the threatened pains and penalties. Christ, in our nature, suffered them for us,
taking our sins upon him, and bearing the griefs and sorrows and death due to
them : for the scripture declares that he was made sin for us, who knew no sin,
and that he bare our sins in his own body upon the tree, and that by his stripes
we are healed. And he demonstrated that these sufferings were infinitely meri
torious w lien he rose from the dead for our justification. And thus, by his active
and passive obedience, he wrought out an all-perfect righteousness for us : and
when the Holy Spirit enables us to lay hold of it by the hand of faithj then, being
thus apphed and made ours, we aie not only freed from condemnation and
redeemed from the curse of the broken law, and from aU the pains and penalties
due to the breach of it, but do also receive a right and title to the present graces
and to the eternal blessings purchased for us by the obedience and sufferings of
our most blessed Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.
Now, let us examine how the forementioned instinct operates in the present
case. We all love pleasure, and hate pain. This is a universal principle inhuman
nature. And here is a Saviour who promises to deliver us from the present and
eterna] pains to which sin had subjected us, and to give us of his spiritual and
heavenly pleasures here in time anil in eternity. He is able to fulfil his promise;
for he is tne almighty God. He is willing ; for, as his power is, so is his love :
both are alike infinite. And indeed he is daily fulfilling his promise unto all
true believers. But are all men seeking freedom from pain and enjoyment of
pleasure at his hands ? Do their desires, their affections, move to him with the
same natural instinct with which they would fly from sickness and pursue health?
Let matter of fact speak. How are men found to act with respect to Jesus Christ,
who has present salvation to give them from sin and its effects in his kingdom
of grace, and the pleasures of eternal salvation to bestow in his kingdom of
glory ? Alas ! he is despised and rejected of men : although he became a man
of sorrows on purpose to carry our sorrows, and acquainted with grief that he
might bear otir griefs, yet they hiele, as it were, their faces from him. The haters
of pain choose sin, with aU its miseries, rather than accept of the great salvation
of our God ; and the lovers of pleasure prefer the empty perishing joys of sense

494 SOLOMON'S SONG.
to the solid and everlasting joys of his heaven. In what relates to the soul, they
act against that very instinct by which they are invariably guided in what relates
to the body. What can be the reason that the same men should act so inconsia-
tently in a case exactiy parallel ? Sin is the true cause. Sin has destroyed the
use of the intellectual faculties in all spiritual matters, and, by cutting off aU
communion with God, who is the fountain of spiritual life, has left the soul in a
state of death, even dead in trespasses and sins. The soul of every natural man
is represented in scripture to be as dead to all motions of grace, as dead to God
and to the thinga of God, as a lifeless corpse is to the things of this world. Talk
to it of its wants ; it feels them not. Recommend to it the Redeemer's sweet
gracee and divine excellencies ; it haa no deaire to find an interest in them ;
because it feels not its wants of them. To persons in thia state Jesus Christ
cannot appear lovely. Notwithstanding all that he has done and suffered to
endear himself to sinners, yet, while they see an engaging form and comelinesa
in sin, they can see no form or comeliness in the Saviour, that they should
desire him.
But when one of these persons is awakened from the dead sleep of ain ; when
his eyes are opened to aee himaelf ; when he has a clear view given him of his
sinful heart and of his wicked life, and the Spirit of God Beta home the con
viction of sin upon his conscience, and makes him sensible of his guilt
and of his danger ; then he will find his want of a Saviour, and will see a
peculiar 8uitableness and fitness in Jesus Christ to supply all his wants. Ile has
every office and every qualification that an awakened sinner could wish. Ile is
juat such a Sariour as his heart could deaire : and when he begins to aee Christ
in this light, then he will begin to appear lovely in hia eyes, And when, out of
the riches of his grace, he begins to supply the sinner'a wants, then ho will be
come more lovely : for the more any man knows of Christ, the more he will love
him. But when the pardoned sinner taatea the aweetness of redeeming love,
and finda joy and peace ahed abroad in his heart by the Holy Spirit; when he
can eay Jeeua 'Chriat loved me and gave himaelf for me; then the beloved
Saviour appeara altogether lovely ; because he seea bis intereat in the obedience
and sufferinga of the God-man. He can take up the worda of the text, and apeak
them upon hia own experience, which leada me,
Secondly, to consider the believer's knowledge of his interest in Chriat before
he could eay, " Thie is my beloved, and thia ia my friend." Here he appliea to
himself what Chriet had done for Binners, aa the ground of hia love and fnendahip
to him. He had been made to see his wanta. The 80ul, being awakened, had
found the burden of sin intolerable, and had gone weary and heavy laden to
Jesus Christ ; and he had given it reet. The soul, being convinced of ain, felt
the torments of a guilty conscience, which nothing could quiet and comfort but
the atoning blood of the Lamb of God : and when thia waa sprinkled upon the
conBdence, it felt the aovereign healing virtue : for the blood of Jeeua quenched
the heU within, and brought down heaven into the eoul. The Holy Spirit bore
his inward witness that thia was the work of God ; and he continued the heavenly
joy of hia firat teatimony by enabling the believer to ehow the reality of the in
ward work by the outward evidence of his life and converaation, by bringing forth
the rich and ripe fruit8 ofthe Spirit to the glory of- God. And thua hejiad good
evidence of hie being intereeted in the obedience and atonement, in therighteoua-
neea and sanctifying grace of Jesus Christ, and lived in eure and certain hope of
inheriting through him immortality and endlesa glory.
The sinner must experience these things before he can say of the Redeemer,
" This is my beloved and my friend." He must find in himself theBe proofe of
Christ's love and friendship which he was to show to sinners. He had wiedom
and pardon, righteousness and holiness, and eternal redemption to give them :
but my gratitude and love cannot arise from his having them to give to sinners
in general, but to me in particular. I must have reason to call them mine : he
must enable me to apply and to appropriate them to myeelf before I can aee hia
loveliness in giving them ; because it ia not what he does to others, hut what he
does to my soul, that makes him my beloved and my friend. And hence came
the wise remark, which was so often made by our first reformers, " That an un-

DISCOURSE VIII. 495
applied Christ is no Christ." AU that he has done and suffered for sinners
must be applied to me before I can caU him mine. He is the wisdom and the
light of his people : but how can he appear to me altogether lovely in this
character if I am stiU in ignorance and darkness ? How can I love him for being
made unto me wisdom until he has enlightened me with saving truth ? He has
pardon to give to the greatest sinners : but if it be never made out to me, I can
nave none of the comforts of it : and how, then, can I love him for being the par
doner of sin " unless I feel my conscience at peace with God, through the remis
sion of my sin," as our church expresses it, in the thud part of the homtty for Ro
gation week ? He has the robe of perfect righteousness to bestow : but if I know
nothing of my being clothed with it, the law wiU stttl condemn, and my con
science will be full of guilt and horror : and how then is it possible for me to
love him for being the righteousness of the saints if I never find joy and peace
in beheving that his righteousness is imputed unto me for my justification ? He
is the believer's holiness and sanctification ; but how is he mine while I find my
self enslaved to sin and kept under its dominion ? How can I love Christ for
being the sanctification of his people whUe I am under the absolute power of sin r
Christ is also made unto the believer redemption : but if I know nothing of my
haying received redemption through his blood, even the forgiveness of sins, how
can I lift up my head with joy when the almighty Judge is coming in the clouds,
aR knowing that my redemption then draweth nigh ? In like manner aU Christ's
gifts and graces are matter of joy to the pardoned sinner, so far as he receives
them, and knows by faith his interest in them : without this knowledge, of what
benefit can they be, or what comfort can they administer to any person ? For if
you be sick, and have an excellent remedy that would cure you, yet it can do
you no service unless you take it. Suppose you are perishing of hunger and
thirst ; setting meat and drink before you wiU not save your life unless you use
them. If you are naked and like to be frozen to death, will those clothes warm
you, and save your life, which you never put on ? So Christ is the medicine of
the sin-sick soul : but if Christ's virtue be not applied to heal, if the medicine be
not taken, how can it work a cure ? So he is the bread of fife : but unless he be
taken, and verily and indeed received, as spiritual food, how can he support the
life of God in the soul of man ? So Christ is the clothing of his people : but how
can he be their clothing if they never put him on ? How can they appear before
God in spotless purity if they have never put on Christ Jesus the Lord ? Surely,
then, there is great judgment in that wise saying, which our reformers had so
often in their mouths, " An unapplied Christ is no Christ " — he is no Christ to
that sinner to whom he is not applied, and therefore he is not his beloved nor his
friend. From hence appears the manner and kind of knowledge on which the believer
grounded the worda of the text. He was able to apply to himself all that Christ
had done and suffered for sinners. He knew it experimentally. He had the
comforts of it in his own heart ; and, seeing clearly his interest in Christ, he there
fore saw him altogether lovely.
Hut perhaps some one may ask, Can I apply the merits of Christ's obedience
and sufferings so clearly and safely to myself, that I may be sure I am not de
luded ? This is a very important inquiry, which I shall pursue under my third head,
wherein I was to consider what certainty I can have of Christ's being my beloved
and my friend. The scripture promises us full and complete evidence ; and it is
the office of faith to enable us to rest upon it. Our certainty arises from our
faith, and from what faitii shows us of our own particular interest in God's pro
mises. The word of promise and the Holy Spirit applying the word must go
together : for the word is but a dead letter unless the Holy Spirit animate and
quicken it, by working faith in the heart, to apply it savingly. Faith is a divine
grace, given us by the Spirit of God on purpose to convince us of our interest
in Jesus Christ, and to enable us to apply the promises to ourselves : for it is
expressly said to be " the gift of God," and to be wrought in us by " the operation
of God." By his almighty operation he works in my heart a clear conviction of
my being accepted at the bar of justice as just and righteous, through the righte
ousness of Jesus Christ. When the Holy Spirit has given the believer this

496 SOLOMON'S SONG.
clear conviction, then he haa divine authority, both from the word of tmth and
the hpint of power, to caU the Sariour hia beloved and hia friend. The Holy
bpint rauat enable him to do this : " for no man can say that Jeaua is the Lord
but by the Holy Ghost:" and therefore without the Holy Ghost, how can any
man say that Jesua ia my Lord '-Indeed he wttl be ao far from earing it, that he
wttl question whether it can be said with certainty. The natural man, who has
not the divine grace of faith, ia always reasoning against it, and concludes
with himself that it ia altogether preaumption. He cannot see how it works full
assurance in the mind. And how should he ? As he ia a 8tranger to the thing,
how ahould he judge of the nature of the evidence which it givea ? He ia a more
improper judge than a blind man is of colours : for until he receive faith from
God aa his gift, and by the operation of God as the work of his Spirit, he can
form no idea of the nature of the certainty which it produces in the mind. The
scripture teaches hirp that faith is the evidence of things not Been, even such
evidence a8 gives them a present Bubstance and reality ; bo that the whole man
and every faculty of soul and body rest upon the certainty of them with full assur
ance, and direct every word and work towarda the attainment of them ; but the
natural man receiveth not these things. How the eye of faith should be open,
to Bee what ia to the natural man invisible, seema to him a great myatary. And
so it will be until God open his eyes. He only can do it ; yea, he only con con
vince him that he ie now blind. Oh that the enlightening Spirit may open the
eyes of every person here present who haa no certainty of hia intereBt in Christ,
that he may not only be convinced auch a thing is to be attained, but may also
be led to aeek until he find all the comfortB of it ! Which comforts I proposed, in
the fourth place, to consider.
The comforts which I here speak of are realities, promised in God'e infallible
word, bestowed by his Spirit and received by faith. They no more depend
upon fancy and imagination than the objects do which we see with our eyes and
handle with our hands. The soul has aa tme a perception of them aa the bodily
eenees can have of any solid eubetance. And you may as well aay we are '
deluded at our common meolB, when we ore eating or drinking, or when we are
hearing a fine piece of music, ae euppoae righteouaneaa, and peace, and joy in
the Holy Ghoat to be a deluaion. Thank God the believer knows, and ia nappy
in knowing, the reality of thoae thinga. When he can eay with the apostle,
Jeeue Chriet loved me, and gave himaelf for me ; and with the faithful in the
text, he ie ray beloved, and he ie my friend ; then he haa the preaent poescaaion
of the gracea and bleeeinge purchaeed by the Redeemer'a obedience and euffer-
inga, and the eternal poeseeeion ie eecured to him under the seal of two infaUible
witneaseB ; viz. the word and the Spirit of God. The comforte which he enjoye
in thie etate can 'ho more be deecribed than the joye of heaven. He has a love
which passeth knowledge, a peace which surpaeaeth all underatanding, a joy
which ia unepeakable and fuU of glory. In one word, the Comforter ia hie.
The eternal Spirit, whose name, whose office, whose glory, it is to be the com
forter of God's people, is his. He is the applier of all comfort, and he dwells in
the heart to apply it. What comfort, then, can be wanting ? He ie the sinner's
comforter : for he comee to give him faith, and to assure him of hia pardon and
acceptance. He ie the believer'e comforter in all timee and etatee, etrengthening
and eetablishing him, shedding abroad in his heart that love which makes
proeperity eafe and advereity eweet, and which renders even the Way of the
commandments delightful. And this dirine comforter ie the deareet pledge of
our Lord'e love ; " for he shaU take of mine," says the bleeeed Jesus, " and ehall
show it unto you," even to all hia disciples and foUowers, to the end ofthe world.
He shaU take of my graces and bleeeinge, and ehall ehow them unto you, shall
manifest them and your intereet in them to your hearta. I will send him for
this purpose. In this one gift he sent you all ; because he sent you that Spirit
who lets you know your interest in all. Knowing this, you are happy, yea,
happier than tongue of men or angels can describe. Your loftieBt descriptions
faU short of the happiness which the Lord Jesus gives by his Spirit in the present
life : and they who taste of it find that he is altogether lovely, and are assured
that he ie their beloved and their friend. May the God of all mercy and conao

DISCOURSE VIII. 497
lation assure every one of you of your interest in the Redeemer's friendship,
that you may receive many happy proofs of it in time and in eternity !
And now let us look into ourselves, and apply what has been 6aid to our own
hearts. You have heard what the Lord Jesus did and suffered to make himself
the beloved and the friend of aU believers, and what knowledge he gives them of
their interest in his obedience and sufferings ; nay what certainty they have by
faith of their interest in him, from whence flows a continual source of pure and
spiritual comfort. Since these things are so, the matter is now brought to a
point; and that is — Can you, my brethren, take up the words of the text, and
upon the clear evidence of your own experience declare, Jesus Christ is my
beloved and my friend — He is mine, and I am his — His good Spirit bears testi
mony of it in my heart — The word of God bears testimony of it in my hfe j for
I am become a new creature, and live a new life in Christ Jesus. If you can
say this with truth, then you are happy. But if you cannot, you want the
tme foundation of gospel comfort, which is laid in Christ Jesus, and in the
evidence I have of my interest in him.
But perhaps some of you may think that there is no knowing for certain, and
others may think it presumption for a man to declare, that he knows so much
of the state of his soul as to be certain that Christ is his beloved and his friend.
Hear what the scripture says : " Jesus Christ," says the blessed apostie Paul,
" loved me, and gave himself for me." Certainly this was not presumption in
Paul, nor yet in the beloved John, when he said, " The Son of God hath given
us an understanding, that we may know him that is true : and we are in him
that is true, even in his Son Jesus Christ." He did not think it any presumption
to declare that he was in Christ — rooted and built up in him.
But these apostles, some will say, were inspired : they knew this by inspira
tion : but is it the commonprivilege of aU believers to know it ? It is. Every
true believer knows that Christ Jesus is his Saviour and his God. Faith
manifests it to him ; and faith is wrought in him by the operation of the Holy
Spirit for this very purpose. So says our church, in the third part of the
homily of salvation : " The true faith is a sure trust and confidence in God,
that by the merits of Christ my sins be forgiven, and I am reconciled to the
favour of God, and am partaker of the kingdom of heaven by Christ." And in
the third part of the homily for Rogation week, our church says, " that a man
may feel his conscience at peace with God through remission of his sin." So
say the living members of our church.- They can use her words without pre
sumption, and declare that they have a sure tmst and confidence in God, that
by the merits of Christ, their sins are forgiven, and they are reconciled to the
favour of God, and are partakers of the kingdom of heaven by Christ, and that
they feel their conscience at peace with God, through remission of their sin.
What can you object to these authorities ? The Liturgy wttl not suffer any
member of our church to make the least objection : for, in the prayer after the
communion service, we are taught, "That God does assure them, who have duly
received these holy mysteries, of his favour and goodness towards them ; nay
more, assures them that they are very members incorporate into the mystical
body of his Son, and also assures them that they are heirs through the hope of
his everlasting kingdom." Here our church plainly teaches that a behever may
know Christ to be nis beloved and his friend : for lie may have assurance of
God's favour and goodness towards him — the assurance of his being united to
Christ, and incorporated into his mystical body — and the assurance of his being
an heir of Christ's everlasting kingdom. ITie warmest contenders for the
assurance of faith could not have expressed their opinion in stronger terms than
our church uses in this prayer. And now, my brethren of the church of
England, what do you think of these authorities? Are they not clear and
decisive ? And wiU you not be determined by them ? Here you have the word
of God, and the Spirit of God, and the people of God, with one voice declaring
that a man not only may know, but that it is the very office and work of saving
faith to let him know, and to assure him of, the favour and goodness of God
towards him, and that he is a member of Christ, aud an heir of glory. Do
not then, my brethren, deny a fact so weU attested. Y'our denial of it will only
K Iv

I

498 SOLOMON'S SONG.
prove your want of tme saving faith : and it is a very strong proof to othera.
Would to God you saw your want of it yourselves 1 At present you dispute
against the certainty which faith gives, because you have not received it, nor
have any desire for it. Is not this the case ? Thia shows your want of that
faith, which is the operation of God. When faitii is the work of hia grace, it
brings absolute certainty. According to the apoatle, it gives aubetance to the
things hoped for, and evidence to the things not seen. If you have not this
kind of faith, do not dispute against it, lest you should be found disputing
against God. Rather beg of God to give it you. Ask him, if it be the privilege
of believers to know Jesus Christ to be your beloved and your friend, to give
rou this knowledge. Ask it for the sake of your preaent and eternal peace.
f you desire a calm, serene conscience, free from the guilt of sin, and saved
from the power and dominion of it, beg you may know your interest in the Lord
Jesus : for until you know it, you cannot live upon the promises nor enjoy the
comforts of the gospel. You cannot live upon the promises but by faith — by
that faith which makes the things hoped for eubetantially preaent, and realizes
the thinga not eeen, and thus enjoys the comforts of the goapel. But aa you
have not this faith, you five without Christ in the world : and if you should
come to die without any hope in him, oh 1 think what your condition would
then be ! All your sins would stand unatoned against you. Conscience would
accuse. The broken law would condemn you. Juetice must give you your
due: and what but the wages of sin! even eternal destruction of soul and
body ! Are not these very interesting and alarming considerations ? 1 pray
God to give them their proper weight and influenco upon your minds. May
he convince you of your want of faith, and stir you up to Bcek it aa the free
gift, and aa the work and operation of the almighty Spirit. Thua seek, and
you shall find. Continue seeking with humility in the waya of the ordi
nances, and you witt be brought to the knowledge of a loving Saviour, who
will give you many reasons to Call him your beloved and your friend.
If then you are convinced of sin, and see your guilt and your danger, what
should hinder you from accepting the blesainga of Christ's love ? Ia it the
senae of your unworthiness ? He is the Saviour of the unworthy. Arc you
afraid he wttl not receive you, because you ore great sinners ? He came to^ save
the greatest. But you have been high and long in rebellion against hiin. Then
you stand in greater need of pardon. Make more haate to obtain it, and
apply more earneatly for it. But you find so much weakness and backwardness
in yourself, that you are at a loss how to take one Btep. Thia is another motive
for applying to him. Read, for your encouragement, that eweet scripture,
" The Son of man ia come to aeek and to Bave that which was lost." Go,
then to him such as you are : go as poor loat ainners : for auch he came to
aeek and to eave. He is the beloved Saviour and friend of einnere. Hie love
to them brought him down from heaven— carried him through a blaspheming
persecuting world— nailed him to the cross— and laid him in the grave Can he
want love for sinners, who did so much, who bled to death for them ? What can
he withhold from them, who is now their advocate, pleading their cause, and
interceding for them at the bar of justice ? Oh, sinner, consider what a bleaaing
it is to hive an advocate with the Father, Jeaus Chnst the righteous, who ia
willing and able to supply all thy wants. Make them known to him. Open
thy heart before him, and acknowledge thy great and numerous sins. Confeai
them, and they wttl be no bar to his fove anl friendship. He wttl do honour to
his free grace by making thee out a full pardon. The Holy Spint will be aen
to bear hia testiiiony of it in thy heart : he wiU give thee loveand joy in behevrag : s
he wttl clothe thee. with the perfect righteousness of Jeaue Chnet : he wiU enrich
thy iustified soul with his sanctifying graces, mortifying sin in thee, and making
thee alive to God; and he wttl make thee happy in having the most high Irtd
and Saviour for thy beloved and thy friend here in time and in eternity.
All this, and more than this,- the Lord Jeeua wttl do for every unpareloned
sinner who wiU apply to him. No tongue can relate the greatness and number
of the (traces and blessings which he bas to give to sinners. Faith has a preaent
taste of them, and hope now enjoys them ; and, though imperfectly, yet no

DISCOURSE IX. 499
description can come up to what the believer feels. And who, then, is able to
describe how great they will be when faith and hope shall cease, and the soul
shaU be fiUed with the love of God ? Oh what happiness, what a heaven will it
be to see our Saviour in the brightness of divine glory ! to behold him face to
face — and then to be able to say of him whom aU the host of heaven worship —
of the eternal and almighty God whom aU the redeemed adore — This is my
beloved, and this is my friend ! That wttl be joy unspeakable. Oh, how lovely,
how altogether lovely, wttl this blessed God then appear in the eyes of sinners,
when his love and friendship shaU have brought them safe to the enjoyment
of his eternal glory! How wiU they then admire and praise the wonders
of his redeeming love ! What subject of joy, and gratitude, and thanks wiU
their consideration of his free grace afford them, which raised them from the
lowest state of wretchedness to the highest happiness of his heaven ! Certainly,
this blessedness surpasseth all understanding. No tongue can utter, or heart
conceive, how great it is. And yet, sinner, aU this may be thine. The Lord
Jesus promises it freely. Come, then, and accept of it. Unless thou thinkest thy
sins can make thee happier than God can, return to them no more. Now close
in with the invitation that is made thee. Take Jesus for thy God. Go this day,
this hour, to the throne of his grace. Commit thyself into his hands, sinful as
thou art, and he will send his good Spirit into thy heart, to give thee present
comforts of salvation, and to prepare thee for the eternal salvation of thy Lord
and thy God.
And now, what wait we for, O thou most blessed God and most loving Saviour !
but that we may aU experience the truth of this scripture. Write it, Lord Jesus,
in aU our hearts. Send us away with warm impressions of it upon our minds.
Oh that every soul here present had reason to say, Yea, he is altogether lovely —
Whatever is lovely in heaven and earth meets in the incarnate God ; and this
incarnate (Jod is my beloved and this is my friend. May the grace of the
eternal Three, of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, manifest to your souls the
perfect loveliness of Jesus Christ, and keep him your beloved and your friend in
time, until you see him face to face in his eternal glory. Amen and ^mrn

DISCOURSE IX.
Chap. ri. ver. 1.
Whither is thy beloved gone, O thou fairest among women? whither is thy beloved
turned aside ? that we may seek him with thee.
I n the beginning of the fifth chapter, we find the believer faUen into a spiritual
slumber. After much sweet communion with Christ, and long walking in the
light of his countenance, he grew negligent. While the bridegroom tarried, he
slumbered and slept. He left off stirring up the gift of God that was in him,
and ceased to be watchful and to strengthen the things which remain. And thus
he forgot the rule laid down for the conduct of believers — " Let us not sleep as
others do ; but let us watch and be sober."
Christ is represented as coming to the soul sleeping in this security; but it
was not a total, universal sleep, like the dead sleep of sin : for he found the heart
awake, and capable of distinguishing it to be his voice that knocked at the door
of the heart for admittance, and said, " Open to me, my sister.my love, my dove,
my undefiled ; for I have been waiting till my head is fiUed with dew, and my
locks with the drops of the night." The soul, willing to enjoy its indolent
slumber, excuses itself from rising to let him in. Upon which he withdrew him
self, and hid his face. He took away the sensible feeling of his comforts, but at
the aame time left something in the heart which made it sensible of its past
iinkindness, nnd put it upon endeavourjpg earnestly to recover its former com
munion and sweet fellowship with Christ. The sold is restless until they be
recovered — goes out to seek for Christ, but cannot find him — caUs, but he gives
no answer — meets with reproach and persecution in the search, and yet gives it
K K 2

500 SOLOMON'S SONG.
not over— turns to the daughters of Jerusalem, the outward members of th
church and charges them, if they found her beloved, to tell him that she wa
sick of love; she had enjoyed the sweetness of his presence, and now ao dis
tinctly discerned his absence as to be sick and in pain for the return of his love
Instead of answering directly, they inquire, " What is thy beloved, more thai
another beloved, O thou fairest among women ? What is thy beloved more thai
another bdoved, that thou so chargest us i" This question gave occaeion to thi
befiever to descnbe his beloved. He draws a character of Christ, and paints hit
exceUencies under the most sublime images nature could afford ; but finds all toe
mean to express Christ's worth, and his value for it. He therefore sums it ui
in theae worda : " Yea, he is altogether lovely— Thia is my beloved, and thia ie
ray friend, 0 daughtera of Jeraaalem."— Although he has withdrawn himself,
yet etill he is altogether lovely in my eyes : for I know that I am interested in
him ; and this gives a new grace to his every excellency; Still he ie my beloved,
and I am hie ; stiU he ia my friend, and I am hia. Although he ha8 for a time
hid his face from me, yet I befieve that, ere long, I shall again walk in the light
of his countenance. Thia enlivened description of Christ fired the daughtera oi
Jeraaalem. They now saw there was something more in this beloved than in
another beloved ; and they had good desires stirred up in their hearta— earneat
and fervent deaires — to share in his love, and to partake of his graces and bless-
inga : for thus they now reply, in a very different temper from what they showed
before : " Whither is thy beloved gone, 0 thou fairest among women ? whithei
is thy beloved turned aside ? that we may seek him with thee." May the Holy
Spirit, by his gracious influence, dispose every one of ub to seek, as they did,
until we find an interest in the blessed Jesus. And to thia end may he accom
pany with his grace and blessing what shall now be offered,
First, Concerning the character of the persons who speak the worda of the
text. Secondly, Concerning the Bubject-matter of their apeech. And
Thirdly, Concerning the U8e we are to make of it.
Anl first, The peraona who speak in the text are oalled " The daughtera of
Jerusalem." Jerusalem is the church. The scripture applies the word both to
the congregation of the faithful here below, and aleo to the heavenly Jerusalem
that is above. The daughters of the church are its members, who are bred and
educated in it. They lived in her communion, and partook of her ordinances.
And yet they eeem to have had no experience of that sweet and apiritual union
which the believer enjoyed with his beloved Saviour : for they inquire what he
saw in Christ more than in any other beloved, and, being made acquainted with
his graces and excellencies, then they deaire to aeek him along with the believer.
These circumatancee plainly prove that they were not intimately and vitally
united to Chri8tby faith. They were not joined to him as the head of the mys
tical body, nor, as his living member8, were they drawing nourishment and
etrength from him for the eupport and carrying on their spiritual life. They were
not as living branches grafted into the tme vine, and bearing much fruit by theil
union with him ; but they contented themselves with living within the pale ol
the vieihle church, and thought themeelvee safe and happy in church member
ship. They were the chUdren of Abraham, admitted into the covenant on thi
eighth day, lived among God's chosen people, who had the law and promises, ane
they were strict in the observance of the instituted' rites and ceremonies. Easy
ancl secure in this state, none of them inquired — AU these have I kept : whai
lack I yet ? One thing thou lackest — epiritual communion with Christ— without
which church privilegee and outward ordinancee do not answer the end of theii
appointment. It is the Spirit that quickeneth : the flesh profiteth nothing. Thi
flesh, the outward service, profiteth nothing unless the quickening Spirit g(
along with it ; and the quickening Spirit has not gone along with it until he hai
begun to draw the soul to.Chrat, and to unite it to him by faith.
If we look among the members of our church, we shaU find too many follower
of these daughters of Jerusalem. We have some who, becauae they live in thi
communion of a sound apostolic church, therefore think themselves safe, whili
their livee give open scandal and off*"": to aU good men. Their opinion abou

DISCOURSE IX 501
good mother church is very much like the opinion of the Papists, who think the
living in the church can save them, although they five in their sins. And we
have others who make the greatest boast of their love to our church, and speak
of her in the highest terms, who are only outward members of her communion.
They will contend with aU their might for the purity of her rites and ceremonies,
and wiU draw their swords to defend the divine institution of episcopacy, and to
cut off from aU communion with Christ those vile schismatics who will not five in
the communion of the church of England ; while they have not a word to say for
the necessity of being United to the head of the catholic church, and of being
joined to him by living faith. Nay, perhaps, when they hear that, unless the
Holy Spirit be the bond on Christ's part, uniting him to the believer, and faith
on his part, uniting him to Christ, it will be of very little consequence in what
outward communion a man lives : when they hear this, it is too hard a saying ;
they cannot bear it. They think that a sound church, with a good liturgy, scrip
ture articles and homilies, and a regular discipline, are the main things. Doubt
less they are good things. God forbid our church should be without them ; and
God forbid any member of our church should rest in them ; for in this commu
nion, exceUent as it is, a man believing it to be exceUent may yet live without the
grace of Christ, and perish from glory for ever. The church is not a Saviour.
We Protestants have one Saviour, even Christ Jesus our Lord. The Papists
indeed make a Saviour of the church, and a far greater Sariour than Christ : for
the holy mother church can save a man who dies in his sins unrepented of, which
Christ has nowhere in scripture promised to do. And our high churchmen, in
the heat of their party zeal, speak and act in the very spirit of Popery. By laying
so much stress, nay, laying all the stress, as some of them do, upon outward com
munion, they omit the weightier matter of inward communion with the head of
the church, without which, of whatever refonned church or Protestant congrega
tion a man be a member, he is no member of the true church of Christ. He has
not the spirit of Christ uniting him to the head of the mystical body ; and
without the spirit of Christ he is none of his. Rest not, then, I beseech you, my
brethren, in outward membership, to this or that communion. Do not place your
religion in externals. You may live in the best communion upon earth, and
Buch indeed I take the church of England to be, and yet you may be out of
Christ's kingdom. Outward things, of themselves, will not avaU : for the king
dom of God does not consist in meat and drink, nor in any thing external, but in
righteousness, and peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost. His kingdom is a spi
ritual thing. It is formed within us in the heart. There Christ must rule and
govern. Seek then to have his kingdom set up within you by an inward work
of his grace. Beg of God to show you your want of it. And when it shaU please
him to convince you that no outward things can avail, not even his own institu
tions, unless his quickening Spirit be in them, then he wiU bring you into a
proper frame and temper of mind to join with the daughters of Jerusalem in the
text in seeking the knowledge of your interest in Christ ; which is the second
particular to be considered.
The believer had described the excellencies and perfections of his beloved
Jesus, and had spoken feelingly of his own interest in them. The description
stirred up the daughters of Jerusalem, who wondered, at first, what he saw in his
Jesus to be so enamoured with him, to desire that they might have the same
happy experience. And they who could inquire before what there was in him
more than in another beloved, now ask, " Whither is thy beloved gone, O thou
fairest among women ?" Christ had before called her the fairest among women.
She had no beauty in herself. Defiled and deformed with natural and actual
guilt, she was cast out to the loathing of her person. He that is of purer eyes
than to behold the least iniquity coulef not see any thing in her but ugliness and
sinful deformity : and yet the love of the Lord Jesus^has cleansed her from every
spot and stain of sin. In the 16th chapter of Ezekiel we have a sweet descrip
tion of his free grace and love. " When I passed by thee," says he, " and saw
thee poUuted in thine own blood, I said unto thee when thou wast in thy blood,
live ; yea, I said unto thee when thou wast in thy blood, Live." — And after
describing the several steps which he took to raise her up, to ornament her, and

502 SOLOMON'S SONG.
b0eaTv°bforl,Ttw:,?Cl,3rrP,y T0™ Went forth ««•»« the heathen for thy
«-iih7l,' T i ^aI >?er&ct throu?h mT comeliness, which I had Out upon thee '
™ ness {% nS h r^ f°^ ^i T' *" UnSPotted robeOfhl oivn rig e!
AU nTr'^lT^ perfeCtthr<?Ugh, his eomeliness which he put upon her.
iTLTir, "™ c°™sts m what Christ puts upon us, and in what he
works in us. V bile man was innocent, he wanted no clothing ; but when he
bod vt CS? ? ?' * I6" SW and Sin made dothin« »«*•«*• ^ rinfo
Si P° '2 ,heuereatur« to bon-ow a covering from them; and the
soul has no covenng but what comes from the Head of the church. The moon
thP bPnr£ f 1 Wlf lh6 T"?* fr0m the eun' The 8Pouse °f O'rirt *inea in
the beams of her husband. Covered and, ornamentecfwith his righteousness.
and crunched with die graces of his Spirit, she is the fairest among women , fair
m the sight of an infinitely holy God, in the eye of the perfect law she appeara to
be without spot oi -wrinkle, or any such thing, holy and without blemish. In
this amiable light she now appears to the daughters of Jeraaalem. They aeo and
acknowledge her perfect beauty, and earneatly desire to partake of her Lord's
love. ^ hither, say they, is thy beloved, whose love was able to clothe thee wilh
this immaculate robe of righteousness, and wfcose spirit has enriched thee with so
many divine graces, whither is he gone ? They knew he had withdrawn himself
irom the behever; but it is plain, from this question, that they did not think
U.nst had quite forsaken him ; they supposed he still knew Christ, and was able
to inform them whither he waa gone. The worda immediately following the
text show that he was acquainted where Christ then vouchsafed hia presence,
though he had hid his face from him : " My beloved," says he, " ia gone down
into his garden." He is still in the garden of his church. There he was to bo
found. He waa still present by hia Spirit in the ordinances ; and in them ho
was determined to wait until he found his beloved. Chriat had taken away the
light of his countenance, not only to chaatiae hia former Bleepy aecurity, nnd to
make him more earnest in seeking hia Lord, and to make him more thankful
when lie ehould find him, but aleo to render him the means, aa it hero proved,

may eeek him with thee." How wonderfully does grace appear to work 6y the
growth of theae good desirea in the daughters pf Jerusalem! And how ready
should we be to speak a word for Christ, since such may be the happy effecte 1
How induetrioue ought we to be to seek occaaiona ! how careful to neglect none !
As we know not which word ia to prosper, either thia or that, let ua take every
opportunity of eaying something for Christ. Let ue inform men what he is, and
what we know of him ; and who can tell but a very imperfect, yet well-meant
description may receive a blessing, Have we not great encouragement in the
morning to sow our eeed, and in the evening not to withhold our hand from the
success mentioned in the text ? When the daughters of Jerusalem heard the
believer enlarge upon the exceUenciea of Chriat, and 8et forth hi8 own share and
interest in them, and saw that no discouragements could cool the ardour of his
love, they were hereby etirred up ; theee were the meane, under God, of putting
them upon deeiring a nearer and more cloee. acquaintance with Clirist. They
knew him before by profession ; but now they wanted the posseeaion of him.
They wanted to know Chriat to be theira. At firat, they saw no form nor come
liness in him, that they ehould deeire him. But now the deairea of their hearta
are after him. They aee their want of him ; they are convinced of his all-suffi
ciency to eupply their wants ; they befieve he is able, and they hope he is willing ;
they neither doubt of his power or of his love to save, and therefore they resolve
to seek him unttt they have experienced the tmth of the character which they
had heard of him, and can caU him their beloved and their friend.
Considering the worda in thia light, they hold out to ua one plain lesson.
When the daughtera of Jerusalem heard of the beauties and exceUenciea of God
the Sariour, it wrought upon their hearta, and kindled fervent and earnest
desires to know their interest in fiim. StiU God works in the same manner.
When Chriat i8 set forth in his divine gracea and attributea and offices, the Holy

DISCOURSE IX. 503
Spirit thereby stirs up desires in the hearts of sinners to seek Christ and his sal
vation, and he also excites holy affections in behevers to foUow Christ more
closely. Has he, my brethren, wrought thus in any of your hearts ? How have
you been affected with these discourses upon the .loveliness and perfections of
Jesus Christ ? Have they made any good impression upon you ? Have you
had stronger desires after Christ ? and have you seen him more lovely than you
ever did before ? These effects ought to have foUowed : for his " name is as
ointment poured forth ;" the preaching of his name is like opening a box of the
richest perfume : it diffuses its fragrancy all around ; so that the house is fitted
with the grateful odour of the ointment. Did you perceive none of it poured
forth ? none of this unction from the holy one descending upon you this day ?
Hid you find no sweet savour of grace working in your hearts whUe I was
attempting to draw a short character of the loveliness of Jesus ? Did he appear
to you altogether lovely, as man, as God, as God-man united in one Saviour ? and
was it the prayer of your soul that you might find him your beloved and your
friend i li the Holy Spirit accompanied the word, these effects have foUowed :
if they have, give the glory to God, and be thankful; and if they have not, oh
that he may now enable me to speak a word to your, consciences under my third
and last head ; which was to make a proper use and application of what has
been said.
The believer, though under spiritual desertion, could see nothing worth seek
ing after but his beloved Saviour. He seeks him though he cannot find ; calls,
though he has no answer ; continues seeking and caUing, though he meets with
disgrace and persecution. The pleasing remembrance of their love would not
suffer him to rest until it was renewed. His love grew with seeking. Oppo
sition made it burn the brighter. He went on, nothing discouraged, until he found
the daughters of Jerusalem, and made them acquainted with his ca6e. They ask
what he found in this Jesus that he was so distressed at his withdrawing himself
from him. This gave him occasion to draw the character of his beloved ; which he
docs in a very enlivened description, setting forth, in the most beautiful colours,
what ho was in himself, and what he was to him, the perfect loveliness of Christ,
and his interest in it. Upon this the daughters of Jerusalem take fire. They
become also in love with Christ, and desire to share in those perfections, the
account of which had touched their hearts and inflamed their affection.
Now, if the Spirit of God be moving in your hearts, this is, my brethren, the
case with you. You are convinced of your own spiritual wants, and of Christ's
being an aU-sufficient and a loving Saviour ; and while I have been describing
him, you have sent up many a wish to heaven, praying him to reveal himself to
you, and to manifest his love to your soul. This is always the consequence of
preaching Christ Jesus the Lord, when God effectuaUy worlcs with the word
preached. When the Holy Spirit accompanies it with his divine grace, it is then
the power of God unto salvation. But,
If this has not been the effect, if you have had no desires awakened in your
minds after Christ, consider, I beseech you, what a state of guilt and danger you
are in. Jesus Christ has aU the exceUencies of heaven and earth — every thing
that ought to gain your esteem in his human nature — every thing that can
demand your love in bis divine nature— and, as God-man united in one Saviour,
be has every grace and every blessing to give that can make you happy in time
and in eternity. And yet, though he has every thing valuable that can win the
understanding, though he has everything desirable that can gain the will, though
he has every thing lovely that can influence the heart and the affections, you can
hear of him without any emotion. You see no form nor comeliness in him that
you should desire him. Without an interest in him you must be miserable for
e\er. Ile alone can save you from the just punishment due to your sins; and
yoi, your hopes nnd fears, your own interest, your love of pleasure and hatred' of
pain, cannot prevail with you to love and esteem the God of our salvation. What is
the reason of this? "Why are aU the faculties ofthe soul thus strongly biassed
against their own interest? Propose to them any sensual pleasure, they eagerly
deaire and ardently pursue it ; and with the same propensity they fly from sen
sual pain. But in matters relating to the soul, they act directly contrary

504 SOLOMON'S SONG.
ilTonV18': i5?ing *u Sa™Ur, of thew°>-W, has every spiritual pleasure to
give, and yet they neither eagerly desire nor ardently pursue it. Without an
% Tl'D \T: »i?dy aDd S°U^ be in blasting pVn ; and yet they do no^
?lL 'hthn ^may -aV0id il' Whence is il that men «* thn. aLurdly
tacultiea of soul and body, and has got dominion over them. It has blinded the
understanding which is dark yea darkness itself, the apoatle aaya, not only
without the actual knowledge of God and of the things of God, but alao without
the potential knowledge of them : " for the natural man perceiveth not the thinga
of the Spint of God." FVom whence we learn his actual want of knowledge in
the things of God. But lest some ahould ascribe this to his neglect of them, or
to his not being acquainted with metaphysics or moral reasoning, the apbstle
adda, • neither can he know them," let .him study them ever so much- from
hence we learn hia want of power to know them ; and thia is the reason •
because they are apiritually diacemed : "— an evident proof that the faculties
of the natural man are aa much under the power of am, as a dead corpae ia
under the power of death. In aU spiritual matters he is like a dead man, without
any spintual discernment. He cannot turnhia mind to think, his will to deaire, or
hia affectiona to love them. Sin has absolute dominion over hiin, and forceB him
to serve it with all the powers of soul and body, even to their own destruction.
In this state, dreadful ae it ie, you are at preaent. If the deairea of your heart bo
not after Chriet; if you do not at thia time wiah from youi aouls that you
may have an interest in the loveliness and excellencies of Chriet, and may know
him to be your Saviour and your God ; then be assured that you are still under
the power of ain : it has entirely blinded you : and I ehould bo an enemy to my
bleased master, and an enemy to your happineaa, if I did not apeak to you freely
and openly, and warn you ot your danger. Out of love to your aouls I cannot
be ailent j and) whether you will hear or whether you will forbear, I muet deliver
my own aoul.
1 auppose, my brethren, you profesa youreelvee Chrietiana, and you believe that
Jeaus Christ is a perfect and complete Sariour ; and you believe, further, that
you shall, Bome time or other, stand in need of his salvation; but you have no
deaire to experience it at present. You do not want present salvation from ain :
you cannot but wi8h to be freed from the guilt and puniBhment of it : but then
you have no wiaheB to be freed from ita dominion. Ia it not evident therefore
that it still has dominion over you ? and being ao, you are children of God'a
wrath, under the curees of hia holy law : sentenced by it, and condemned to ever
lasting torments, death wttl eoon come, and inflict the curses of the law upon
you, even the moat terrible and dreadful of them. How awful and Btriking are
these worda : who but a man dead in ain could atand out againBt the force of
them ! " If any man love not the Lord Jeaue Chriet, let him be Anathema
Maran-atha." You are here put under the heaviest and bitterest of divine curaea,
not only if you hate or oppoae Jeeus Chriet, but alao if you do not love him.
Oh consider, then, and weigh this scripture carefully, if you have not some love
for the Lord Jesus, and are not seeking to love him more. I leave it upon your
minds (and may God write it upon all your hearts), that you may fly from thia
Anathema and Maran-atha to the arms of that loving Saviour, who alone can
deliver you from it. Flee, then, from ein. Flee, then, from Satan. Flee, from
all the enemiee of your eoula to this loring God, who ie almighty to eave. And
to thoee who are flying to him for ealvation, and whose hearts have been stirred
up to eeek him along with theee daughtere of Jerusalem, I make my second
practical remark.
My brethren, you have great reason to be thankful for theae firat motions of
grace. God haa begun to draw you to himaelf : follow and run after him. Seek
him while he may be found. And, for your encouragement, remember how
many aweet promises God has made in scripture to them that aeek him : " Thoie
that seek me early, says wisdom, shall find me." Prov. viii. 17. Chriat, who ia
made unto us wisdom, here declares that he witt be found of them that eeek him.
And again he says, " Seek, and ye ehaUfind: for every one that eeeketh,
findeth." These are the words of the God of truth; and they shall stand

DISCOURSE IX. 505
fast for ever and ever. His almighty power will, against aU opposition, fulfill
his promises. And his faithful people find them fulfilled. They have the com
fortable experience of them. One of his people, a man after his own heart,
has declared, " Thou, Lord, hast never failed them that seek thee." No, never,
at no time has he disappointed them. If they sought happiness in him, they
infallibly found it. And this is the experience of all God's people. They can
take up the prophet's words, and with one voice declare, " Thou, Lord, hast never
failed them that seek thee." Here is comfort for them that seek the Lord Jesus.
¦ How happy would worldly men think themselves, if they were upon this
footing ! if they were sure of finding what they seek ! Let them not rise up in
judgment against you, my brethren, and condemn you for not seeking what you
could not but have found if you hael sought aright ; Christ is to be found in his
own ordinances. He is to be met with, not in the wilderness of the world, but in
the inclosed garden of the church. Thither he still comesd own, and manifests
himself to them that seek him. In the assemblies of his people he wiU be made
known by animating and quickening the word, and by rendering it effectual to
awaken sinners from the dead sleep of sin, to encourage seekers to go on until they
find, and to build up and strengthen them that have found. He wUl prove himself
to be the God who heareth prayer, by hearing and answering their petitions for
themselves, and their supplications for aU men. He wiU make himself known to
them by breaking of bread, and by feeding and strengthening their souls with his
body and blood at his own table. He BtiU comes down with his gracious presence
into these ordinances, and animates and enlivens them. We are his witnesses :
for we find his good Spirit in them. Oh continue, then, seeking, and continue
in the ways of his -own appointing ; and when it will be most for his glory, and
for your comfort and salvation, you have his word of promise, "you shaU find."
And sooner shall heaven and earth pass away than the least tittle of any of his
Iiromises shall fail ; " Seek, and ye shall find." And to them who have found, I
lave a word of exhortation, in the third and last place.
My Christian brethren ! since you know Christ to be altogether lovely, and to
be your beloved and your friend, pray daily for more and more of his love.
Beseech the I Ioly Spirit to shed it abroad abundantly in your hearts, that you
may honour him more in your lives, and praise him more with your lips. How
meanly soever men may think of him, be not ye ashamed to own what he has
done for your souls. Publish his praises. Proclaim to aU about you what a
loving Saviour you have found. If you, after what you have experienced, were
silent, surely the very stones wiU cry out. Speak out, then, and teU of his
matchless excellencies and infinite perfections, and try to stir up others to seek.
Press them to leave sin, and to come to him ; for nothing but sin can keep them
from him. Persuade them to leave the poor unsatisfying joys of sin, and to seek
his heavenly pleasures. Among your acquaintance and friends, in your family,
in aU companies, speak a word for your dear Saviour. He sometimes blesses a
well-meant speech, if it be neither learned nor elegant. But if it should not be
a blessing to others, yet it wiU certainly be one to yourself: for he hath promised
— them that honour me, I will honour.
The scope and design of what 1 have said was to persuade you all to seek
he knowledge of your interest in Christ's love, as the only means of making
you happy. Knowing your interest in him is the ground of your love : for if
you had no knowledge or experience of his love, how could you love him
because he first loved you ? Your love is only the reflex act of his love. And
vou must know that he loves you before you can be truly happy j and you must
be happy in him before you can have any motive to sing his praises from your
heart. It is the blessed employment of the faithful upon earth, and of the
glorified saints in heaven, to give honour and blessing and praise to the Lamb
that was slain, and hath redeemed them unto God by his blood. Can you, my
brethren, join your hearts and voices with theirs ? Are you able to praise the
Lord for his goodness, and to declare the wonders that he hath done for yuor
soul ? to be teUing of his salvation from day to day, every day, and aU the day ?
If you have not reason enough to be always giving of thanks, you may be
assured you are not a real member of the church of Christ. If you were, you

506 SOLOMON'S SONG
WeifithevwillbUtl,,0f tUS SCriPtl're:," ?'fssed »™ they that dwell in ,l,y
eW i ? n" 'e ^ways praising thee." This is the sweet employment of
riZlSS IKK11 llle hUSe °, G°d' in the church here below.' 1,'isi^et
ngnt and then- bounden duty, that they should at all times and in all nlaees
Srir *£" Th1'166' °, L°^' ^ Father' "^Whty everlasting (iod. 7
•ft « i'^and ?iey reckon it their privilege; and sorry they are when they
either find themselves interrupted by the necessary affaire of. this life, or, throuuh
coldness of their affections, are indisposed for the delightful exercise of thanks
giving. But thanks be to God, who wiU soon ddiver us from both tliese
hindrances! Ere long, we shall join the glorified spirits who are now standing
round the throne, singing the praises of God and the Lamb. This is their
constant and happy employment : and his infinite, adorable perfections will find
them freah matter of praiee to all eternity.' Suppose anv of you were to go out
of the world in love with ein, and void of the love of Christ, you could m* join
them, nor would it be any pleasure to you to hear them ascribe blessing and
honour and glory and power to, him that sitteth on the throne, and to the Lamb.

you cannot deny it ; then ask yourselves, Would you choose to die unfit for
the joys of heaven? Surdy you would not. Why, then, do you live unfit for
them ? If ever you relish them, you muet begin to taste their aweetneae here.
In this life tiie praisea of Chriat inuat be your delight if they ever be in the next.
Weigh theee motivea, and give them the attention which they deserve. ( 'unsitler
them under the influence of the Holy Spirit. Pray for his grace. And may he
dispose you to seek the knowledge of your intereat in Chriet, and enable you to
wait until his love be shed abroad in your hearts : and then you will have
reaeon to rejoice in your redeeming God in time and in eternity. And that
this may be your happy experience, let us pray for it 1 May he who sitteth upon
the throne hear and answer!
Look down with mercy, O thou almighty and loving Saviour, upon tbiN
whole congregation. All hearta are open, all deairea known, and no aecrets are
hid from thee. Oh cleanse the thoughts of our hearts by the inepiration of thy
Holy Spirit, and enable every one of ue to form a right judgment of what we
have heard. Stir up, we pray thee, thy power, and come among ub ; and with
great might convince thoee peraon8 of their guilt and of their danger, who arc
seeking Kappine8B in the world, and put it into their hearts to seek it in thee.
Teach them, bleased Lord, that there ia no true happinees to be found in a
world which fieth in sin. Let them experience the delusion of all worldly joys,
that they may seek for those joys which thine almighty love haa to beatow. Anil
to those whom thou hast given grace to seek, give more grace. Confirm and
etrengthen the good deeirea of those who are waiting for thy ealvation. Keep
them by thy power until thou eave them from their eins. And save us all, 0
thou Lord God omnipotent, save us from the power of ain. Deliver ua more
aud more from ita dominion. May aU the Lord's people serve him, out of a
pure heart, and with love unfeigned : and may they go on rejoicing to do or to
suffer his will, until he who got himself glory by them upon carth ehall be
glorified in them in heaven, by bestowing upon them an exceeding and eternal
weight of glory. And when he cometh thus to be glorified in his eaints (and
we know not how near the day of hia coming may be), oh may it be your happi
neaa and mine then to be found at hia right hand, to hear the almighty Judge
pronounce us bleaeed, and to enter into the joy of our Lord, there to praise
Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, three eelf-exietent persona in one Jehovah, to
whom be honour and glory, dominion and power, thankegiving and worahip,
now, and for ever and ever. Amen

507
DISCOURSE X.
Chap.' viii. ver. 5.
Who is tliis that cometh up from the wilderness, leaning upon her beloved ?
We have in these words a beautiful representation of our Lord's love to his
people. In whatever li^tht we consider him, he is amiable and altogether lovely.
He is not only great and good, but has also every thing that is great and good
united in him, whereby he is able and wilhng to save poor sinners unto the
uttermost. They can want nothing but what he has to give. And, happy for
them, his heart is large and open. He is not straitened in his bowels. He gave
proof of it in the days of his flesh, when he never refused any person that came
to ask his help. And no weary heavy-laden sinner, who comes to him for his
promised rest, has ever since been cast out. He is free to pardon and to cleanse
them from all their sins, and to bring them into a slate of acceptance with God ;
and then he is able to keep them through faith unto salvation. 'This is a sweet
part of our Lord's character — he is able to keep them from falling. They are
weak in themselves ; but he is strong ; and by faith his strength becomes theirs.
They are engaged in a dangerous warfare, and have many powerful enemies ;
but the captain of their salvation has conquered them, and has promised to make
them ako more than conquerors. They have many troubles from within and
from without ; but he knows how to make them all work together for their
good. He is able to carry them safely and Bweetly through all dangers. In
this amiable light he is considered in the text. He is here drawn with every
grace which can recommend and endear him to the affections of his people : for
he does not leave them to find their way through the wilderness, nor to overcome
the difficulties of their passage through it, nor to get subsistence in it ; but he
conducts and carries them safe through all, while they lean upon him for strength :
for he is here supporting the church wmle she is journeying through the wilder
ness of this world to the promised land of everlasting rest. And the church is,
every believing soul. Thou makest part of it, whoever thou art, who canst place
thy trust and confidence upon Jesus Christ. Thou seest the perfect beauty of
this image, and knowest what it means, for the church to come from the wilder
ness, leaning upon her beloved. Oh that the eternal Spirit may teach you all
what it means ! He can open your eyes to see the sense of it, and can open
your hearts to feel its sweetness. The experience of it trill make it sweet indeed :
and God grant you may now experience it, and may be able to lean upon Jesus
Chriat for his grace and blessing on what you hear, whUe I shall
First, Take the words in the same order they lie in the text, and endeavour to
give the sense of them ; and then,
Secondly, ' While I shaU apply the doctrine to your epiritual benefit and
improvement. The, person celebrated in this divine song is Jesus Christ ; and his graces and
infinite perfections are here described under the most sublime and affecting
images. His love to the church ; that is, to every believing soul, is the grand
deaign of this highly-finished painting. The manner of the composition is in
the way of dialogue. 'Ihe principal speakers are Christ and the church, and
twice or thrice the daughters of Jerusalem, or some standers by, are introduced, in
order to ask some leading questions which would give occasion to the answerer to
open the subject more fuUy. These persons are, I suppose, the speakers in the
text, and make the inquiry, " Who is this that cometh up from the wilderness,
leaning on her beloved ? " Who is this? 'Ihe answer is, it is the church, of whose
love- to Christ this divine poem treats. And the church is neither the Jewish
nor the Gentile, ndther the Protestant nor the Papist, neither the Calvinist nor
the Lutheran : for the multitude in aU outward churches is the same. A
man in his natural unregenerate state is just the same, whether he be a
Papist or a Protestant ; but the few in tliese outward churches who live and
walk in the spirit and power of Christ, they are the church. Every believing
aoul is a part of it ; for of numbers of them the church is composed Whoever

508 SOLOMON'S SONG.
ia united by faith to Jeaus Christ, who is the head ofthe church, he is n living
member of it. AU the rest are dead, formal professors, of whom, God knows,
we have too many. The generality of our people content themaelves with a
foolish notion of their belonging to tiie church of England, and of thdr being
members of the established church, although they seldom eee the inside of a
church. They live in ignorance of her doctrinea and in di8obedience to her
diedpline. But may not the persons who frequent her services, and constantly
attend upon the outward ordinances, think themselves mighty good churchmen ?
They may, if they be united by earing faith to the head of the church ; but
without this union, a parcel of loose stones thrown together in a heap would
make just such a church as they are : whereas the spiritual building, of which
Christ is the chief corner-stone, is fitly joined together and compacted in every
part ; and the cement or bond of union, which keeps aU the lively stones of this
spiritual houeehold in their proper place and etation, is faith, as the apostle has
taught us, Heb. iii. 6 : " Christ is a son over his own house, whose houae we
are, if we hold fast the confidence of faitii and the rejoicing of hope firm unto
the end." If you attend ever ao much upon the outward ordinancea, yet, if
you have not thia confidence of faith, and thia rejoicing of hope, you make no
part of the church of Chriat ; you want the proper cement of thia epiritual
building : you are but looae atones, and therefore neither united to it, nor any
part of it. You come to prayers ; you attend twice a day on Sundaye ; you go
once a month to the eacrament : AU thie ia very weU, and you may go thua far,
nay much farther, and yet be no member of Chriat's my8tical body. For theee
outward services profit nothing unless the heart be rightly diapoBed : and the
heart ie then rightly disposed when we go to these eervicea in faith, hoping to
meet God in them, and to receive Buch suppliea of grace from him 88 we stand
in need of. But when men uae the ordinancea in hopes of making themselves
good, and of attaining aome aelf-righteouenees, then they abuae them, and the
stricteat attendere upon the ordinances with this view are the worst churchmen ;
becauae they moat effectudly cut themeelvee off from all union with the head of
the church. By going about to eetabliah their own righteousneaa, they entirely
deprive themBelvee of that righteoueneaa of Jeaus Chriat, without which no man
ehall eee the Lord. If the aelf-righteous could be made to conBider thia, they
would not reat in forma and ordinancea, which are only the beggarly elemente
of religion when rested in, but would seek the grace of God, which is the life
and spirit of the ordinances ; and then, as they are hia appointed means, he
would certainly be found in them. And whoever finde him in them, and
thereby receivee continual supplies of grace for the advancement of hia 8pintual
life, he ie a member of the tme church of Chriet. .,„...
Our reformere have given ue an exceUent deecription of the church in the 19th
article ¦ " The vieible church of Chriet ia a congregation of faithful men, in the
which the pure word of God ia preached, and the aacramente be duly adminia-
tered according to Chriet'e ordinance." Here they allow none to be members,
no, not even of the vieible church, unless they be faithful men : faith uniting them
to Jesus Christ ia that which makea them good churchmen, aa it will evidently
appear from a further consideration of thia eenpture: for the condition of the
church is the next particular: " She is coming up from the wilderneaa from
the waste howling wttderneaa of thie world, and travelling on towarde the pro-
mieed land of everlasting rest. , ,
When man waa firat created, he waa placed in a paradiae of dehght where
God had provided every thing necesaary for the support both of aoul and body.
But when he transgressed the just and holy law of God, he was driven out of
paiadiae, and turnelinto the vride barren world, where hia body was force I to
labour for the bread that perieheth, and to earn it by the eweat of hie i brow, and
his eoul was banished from God and from aU sweet communion with b,m *h.ch
had made paradiae eo much fike heaven ; and the remembrance of ita »weetneM
would make the pleasantest spot upon the earth appear like a deeolate wiWer-
""..-> , ._*li__ i:r.  A 1.;. „M=o^^o 5a flip banninBna. of the SOUL What

DISCOURSE X. 509
world is indeed a place of banishment to every son of fallen Adam. What will
you call it but a wilderness, where not a morsel of bread grows without human
labour and cultivation ? And is not this a just picture of the state of the soul,
which has no divine or saving knowledge of itself, and can receive none from any
of the arts anil sciences ? Ihis barren earth cannot produce one single ray of
heavenly truth. It must aU come down from above, as manna did upon the
Israelites in the wilderness ; otherwise our souls will perish for lack of know
ledge, as their bodies would have perished for want of bread. And since this is
our condition, how shaU we obtain deliverance ? We are here in bondage. Sin
has chained us down in this wilderness. Satan watches us, and tempts us to
love our chains ; the vain world smiles upon us, and would make us befieve that
we are stttl in paradise : and, God knows, there are too many poor siUy creatures
who take this world for their only paradise. They are 60 dotingly fond of it,
that nothing can .break the enchantment. Though pains and miseries come one
upon the back of another, like wave after wave, yet stttl they cannot entertain
one hard thought of this dear world. They love it wilh aU their hearts, and
with aU their souls, notwithstanding the briers and thorns which tear and scratch
their flesh, and the disappointments and vexation they daily meet with. This
fatal delusion is the worst part of their case ; because, to be in such a wUderness
is a great calamity ; but, to be in love with it, is a greater. It is a great misfor
tune to be sick ; but to be in love with sickness, is worse than the distemper,
and much harder to be cured. And how, then, can the soul recover her liberty?
She is enslaved and chained down to this wUderness, and her enemies have her
absolutely in their power. She cannot stir one step in her own might. Indeed,
she would not desire to stir. She loves her bondage. And since she has neither
the will nor the power, how can she escape out of this wUderness ? God be
praised, there is a way open ; and this is, through Jesus, who has declared of
himaelf, " I am the way ;" and all that fly to him escape from the miseries of
this wilderness, and are coming up from it, though not in their own strength.
The first desire to leave it was from Jesus Christ ; he enabled the soul to seek
deliverance, and then gave her strength to break loose from the chains where
with she was bound ; and in his might she is now traveUing on. He has given
her a prospect of a better country, and for it she has left off seeking happiness in
the wilderness. The honours, riches, and pleasures there to be found, have lost
their former value. She has turned her back upon them, and has set out upon
her journey heavenwards. And, see ! aU the way she is coming up from the
wilderness she
" Leans upon her beloved." He supports every step. This is the chief part
of the beautiful image in the text. We here see the work of faith painted before
our eyes in the most beautiful colours. There could not be a finer picture of the
believer's reliance upon Christ for grace to support every step, and for strength
to carry him on in the Christian life, than to draw the church leaning upon her
beloved. To lean and rest the body upon any thing is the perfect representation
of faith leaning and resting itself upon Christ. An able expositor upon the pas
sage has these words : " She is leaning on her beloved ; that is, as they who are
weak make use of a staff in climbing of a strait and steep ground, or ease them-
Belves by leaning upon one that is strong, and especially one whom they love,
for helping them in. their way; so the believer is said to come up from the wil
derness, ' leaning on her beloved ;' because she, being weak in herself, and unfit
for euch a difficult journey, by faith rests on Christ for helping her in the way,
whereby she is sustained and carried through in the duties of a holy walk, and
the difficulties in her way, tiU she come through the wUderness into the land of
rest." Every step she takes, spiritually, by faith and love, she cleaves to and relies
upon Christ. There is a sufficiency and efficacy in Christ to save to the utter
most, to begin, and to carry on, and to perfect the whole work of salvation :
he is the wisdom, righteousness, sanctification, and redemption of behevers ;
and therefore they would not only by faith be united to him, and lean upon him
for the pardon of their sins by his righteousness, hut they would also by faith
depend upon him for their sanctification, for their dying to sin, and being alivo

510 SOLOMON'S SONG.
unto God. And thus, by the exercise of faith, they fulfil the commandment.
¦ » ,m I e Ll°nl Wlth aU thlne heart i and lean not to thine own understand
ing. If they overcome the world, the victory is from trusting in the Lord by
Jaith, from the power of Christ apprehended and applied by faith. If sin be
dying m them it is by the efficacy of his death apprehended and applied bv
faith. ) If they be ahve imto God, " It is not I," saya Paul, " but Chriat Iiveth
in me. ' It is by exercising faitii on Chriat that I receive etrength to get for-
ward in the way of duty, and to make a progress in holiness. I derive con
tinual support from him ; and the more I can depend and lean upon him by
faith, the faster I go, and tbe farther I advance in the way : for leaning on hiin
and coming up, are joined together in the text. If you gain any ground, it
must be by leaning upon the beloved Jesus for his support and strength : for
he is "the beloved" here spoken of— the beloved Son of the Father, in
whom he declared he was well pleased ; and he i8 become the beloved of the
believing aoul, which is now awakened by hia Spirit, and Btirred up by his power,
to leave this barren Wilderness, and to aeek a better country ; that is, a hea
venly. His love began the first desire, and still carries it on. His Spirit
opened the eyes of faith to see a better country, and supports every step to
wards it: and the believer, leaning and relying upon his beloved Jesus, goes
on sweetly and aafely. He beholds infinite excellencies, and daily discovers new
worlds of delight in him ; and the sense of his own interest in them increases
the delight. He can call all these his own : and to have a properly in them
makes them still more valuable. In thia dirine Song he frequently laya a great
stress upon this particular, especially in the fifth chapter, where be has been
drawing a picture of his Lord; and he puts the finishing stroke to it in these
words : " This ia my beloved ; and thie is my friend." All his excellencies
appear with a double grace to me, because I can call them mine. Thia is the
happy experience of every faithful eoul. May the Holy Spirit bestow it upon
you, giving you a view of the Redeemer's excellencies, and convincing you of
your interest in thcin, while I am,
Secondly, Applying the doctrine contained in the text to your spiritual benefit.
and improvement. " Who is thia that cometh up from the wilderness ?" It is
the behever, whoae affections are now raised above all earthly things ; and he is
coming up from the world leaning, every step he takes in the way towards hea
ven, upon hia beloved Jesus. The befievef-'s heavenly mindedncss is here repre
sented by hie coming up or aecending from the wilderness, wherein he sojourned
in hie way to heaven, as the laraelitee did in the wilderneaa, while they were on
their journey to the promised land. The believer looks upon the pleasantest and
best cultivated spot of thia earth aa a mere wilderneaa, becauae there ia no true
comfort or perfect rest for the soul in any of the good thinga of it. He has left
off 8eeking happiness in the enjoyment of them, being convinced that aU worldly
joys are empty and unaatiafying, and therefore he has turned his back upon
them. He remembera Lot'8 wife. He would not caet one wishful look after
them. He keeps walking on with an unwearied course, becauae he hae an
almighty eupport. He leans upon one who is able to bear up every step, whe
can strengthen the weak hands, and confirm the feeble kneee. Chriat ie hia sup
port in his walk heavenwards. He takes Christ for hia sanctification as well as
for hia justification. Chri8t must do all in him, aa weU as for him. Christ must
enable him to do the works proper to a state of acceptance, ae well as bring him
into it : for the believer knowa of no power whereby he may be enabled to die
unto sin, and to live unto God, but his power only, who ia almighty to save hia
people from their eina. This is the doctrine. From the firat moment our backi
are turned upon the world, and we begin to leave the wilderneas of ain anil
misery, unttt we come to the promised land of everlasting rest, we must lean, all
the way, upon Christ. He must be our atay and support. Faith must rely upon
him for the euccees of every thing we undertake ; and by thie reliance it secures
success. The greatest part of our misfortunes and disappointmente in onr tem
poral as well as religious affairs come from the ignorance of this doctrine. We
know not how to trust aU in the hands' of our loving Sariour. Worldly prudence
wttl be managing its temporal matters without resigning aU to him : and men's

DISCOURSE X. 511
pride and self-sufficiency cannot bear to be stripped of aU merit, and to rely
entirely for acceptance upon the merits of another. It is too low and degrading
an idea ofthe dignity of man to suppose him to be in a state of condemnation
until Christ justify him, and to be unable to take one step in his Christian course
unless the Spirit of Christ assist and support him. These truths are too morti
fying to be generally received s but believers know them to be truths by happy
experience. They are assured that there is no other way to walk contentedly
and cheerfuUy homeward but to lean and rest all the way upon him who is both
their guide and their strength, who has them and aU their concerns in his gra
cious hands. Although this be the only way to true happiness, yet it is
extremely difficult to convince sinners of it. Every error leads them away from it ;
and error is infinite. I will endeavour, through God's help, to correct some of
the most common errors. And
First, I shall speak of those which aU careless sinners fall into. Sin cuts off
aU communion with, and reliance upon, God ; and whoever lives in his natural
unregenerate state cannot rely upon him for any good : the sinner leans upon
some worldly enjoyment for happiness ; and the careless sinner is secure in this
worldly enjoyment. He has no thoughts for seeking happiness in Jesus Christ,
and therefore has no desire to lean with faith upon him. The danger of this is
evident ; because every man in it is under condemnation, and is a child of
wrath ; and it is wonderfuLthat the devil should be so far able to delude sinners
as to make them sit easy under it: for, did they but know and feel their con
dition, as it really is, sinful and dangerous, they would then acknowledge them
selves to be miserable sinners ; and were they convinced of their want of
salvation, and that there is no Sariour but Jesus Christ, then would they in
earnest seek salvation through him, and, not as they do, labour to deprive them
selves of it with all their might : for they are daily adding to their sin, and to
their guilt, and to their misery. When they read, " There is salvation in none
other than Jesus Christ," they are deluded into a false peace, although they are
not assured they have salvation in him. When God declares, "that without
holiness no man shaU see him," they know they are not holy, and yet they
never consider what eternal misery it will be not to see God. Thus these
careless sinners being out of a state of salvation, are in danger of perishing every
moment. Jesus Clirist alone can save them, and yet they prefer sin to him and
his eternal salvation. The guilt of this is so monstrous, that men could not fall
into it unless they were under a strong delusion. And yet the extreme folly of
this conduct is equal to the guilt of it. Men who have no rest nor stay upon
Christ cannot be happy in the present world. They are not upon the foundation,
the rock of ages. Their happiness is built upon sand, against which, when the
rains deacend, and the floods come, and the winds blow, it will faU. When the
evil day comes, these careless sinners have nothing to rest upon. When
affliction presses hard upon them, they sink under it. When sickness seizes
them, down fall their high spirits, the approach of death is most dreadful, and
they sometimes die for fear of dying. Or if they meet with heavy troubles,
they are often so miserable, that life is quite a burden; and if natural
conscience should at this time begin to torment them with its horrors, thtfse,
added to their other distresses, would overset them. Having none of the
comforts of the goapel to support them under this complicated misery, they often
seek relief in self-murder. This is frequently the cause of that dreadful crime
which can never be- repented of. And thus these poor miserable cowards
murder themselves rather than five in pain, and fly to hell for refuge from the
miaeriea of life. Are not these evident proofs that there is no solid happiness
out of Christ, and that whatever men lean upon for happiness but him, are
nothing better than so many broken reeds ? Do w-e not see these proofs cohfirmed
by daily experience ? When God sends any pubhc calamity, the sword, or the
pestilence, or famine, sinners receive them as judgments, and are terrified but
not reformed. If he arise, to shake terribly the earth, their hearts tremble more
than the ground does under their feet; they fear lest it should open every
moment and swallow them up. If it should, their consciences teU them they
cannot escape the pit of destruction. This is the miserable condition of careless

512 SOLOiMON'S SONG.
sinners, who have no trast and confidence in Jesus Clirist. They arc an easy
prey to every enemy, and they are made miserable by the fears and terrors of
their own consciences. And is it not the foolishness of folly to be always tossed
upon such a tempestuous sea when you may be saved from all the storms of
life ? Who would choose to have his peace of mind lie at the mercy of every
wind and wave ? Is this pmdent, is this safe, when he that eommandeth the
winds and the waves has only to say, " Peace, be still," and there will be a
great calm ? Thy tempestuous soul wiU be composed. Thou wilt find a peace
of mind that passeth aU understanding. O unpardoned sinner! hast thou no
desire, hast thou no wish now rising in thy mind for the enjoyment of this
peace of God ? May he, without whom thou canst not so much as think a good
thought, put it into thy heart to seek it. And when thou art once made sensible
of thy sore disease, here is thy remedy. Christ is the infallible physician of the
soul, and he has a sovereign balm to heal every malady of Bin. Does thy
conscience accuse and torment ? The sprinkling of the blood of Jeaue can take
out the sense of guilt, and give thee joy and peace in believing. Dost thou
begin to be weary of thy Bins and thy sufferings ? Ask JesuB Chriat to take off
thy burden. Come to him, who bore all thy 8ina, and he will eaae thee of thy load,
and thou Bhalt find peace and rest unto thy eoul. He hos promised it to every
returning ainner ; and he ia a God of tmth. " Ca8t thy burden upon the Loref,
and he wttl euetain thee." This ie hia promiae, and he daily fulfila it. Look
among believere, and thou wilt eee it literdly fulfilled. Thou canet not deny
but that, being justified by faith, they have peace with God, and are happy in
the sense of his love to them through Jesua Chriat their Lord ; whereby they
are aupported and comforted under all God'a dealings with them, knowing thnt
he will make all thinga work together for their good. And accordingly, we
read in acripture of llis having never failed them, who leaned upon him for help.
When they were visited with eicknese, or poverty, or any other affliction, he
enabled them to bear hie fatherly correction without murmuring or repining.
When ein cries aloud for vengeance, and justice draws the eword, and cute off
the inhabitants of the earth with a ewift deetmction, then believers happily
experience that their gracioue God, in the midst of wrath, remembera mercy.
Hie judgments upon his enemies are mercies to them. When the earth quakes
and trembles under their, feet, their eoul does not melt away becauae of tbe
trouble The rock upon which they etand cannot be moved, and therefore, in
the midst of the earthquake, they can triumphantly eay, " God ia our refuge
and atrength ; a very preaent help in trouble : therefore wiU not wc fear,
though the earth be removed, and though the mountaine be carried into the
midat of the aea." Would not you think youraelvea happy if thie was your eaae ?
And yet, believers have still a greater happiness. When death itself approaches,
it ie welcome ; for the eting of death ie taken out, and they have no fearleft
about any thing but ain. They are more afraid of em than of poieon. They
would not live in ain to gain the world ; and in the etrength of their beloved
Saviour, on whom they lean and rely, they can, and do, conquer era ! bo that it
does not reign in their mortal bodi'ee. What do you think of the aafety and
happiness of those persons who are afraid of nothing but of offending their
reconciled Father? Certainly they are the happiest men upon earth ; and every
sinner would envy them if the devil had not propagated an opinion that they are
aU under a delusion. If any of you, my brethren.lave entertained thia opinion,
weieh the matter carefully, and you wiU find thia makea nothing for your eaae.
ForwhS %Z euppoae to Deadelueion is a sweet and comfortable state of mind
promised in the word of God, and bestowed upon the children of God. And
Le™hev deluded, think ye, who eay they have received nothing more than
what God had promieed to^ve ? Tliat faitii by which ye euppoee ue deluded
does certainly free ub from the commission of many sine and from many -of the
nfiseries of the present life, and it deludes ue into a kind of fortitude that not
SSTeSLhta ue to bear reproach, contempt, injuries, and afflictiona, but alee .to
reioice under them, when we meet them for following Chnst. Oh happy
delueion! We are deluded into a atrong belief that God lovea ua in W*"*»
aid therefore we are confident that whatever he appointe for ue is the beat. Be

DISCOURSE X. 513
it poverty, or sickness, or any outward evil, we can resign ourselves contentedly
to his holy will, being assured that our loving Father would send us nothing
but what will be for our good. Is all this a delusion ? Can a man be deluded
into such real solid happiness ? Glory be to God, I have tasted a little of it ;
and I would not part with the blessing for a thousand worlds. Upon this
earth there is no happiness like it. Heaven only exceeds it. Therefore you
gain nothing by giving credit to the devil's lie. He would have you to believe
that all God's people arc under a delusion, and that they only fancy they' are
safe and happy by leaning upon Jesus Christ. And can you believe this bare
faced lie ? Who but the father of lies could raise such an evil report upon the
good land ? and who but his children would give any credit to it .' for the Spirit
of truth speaks a different language. Hear what he has promised, and then
judge whether we are deluded who say, he has fulfilled his promise to us :
"Thou wilt keep him in" perfect peace whose mind is stayed on thee, because he
trusteth in thee. Trust ye in the Lord for ever : for in tbe Lord Jehovah is
everlasting strength." Here he engages to keep those persons in perfect peace,
by his everlasting strength, whose minds are stayed upon him. Fear -then,
careless sinner, to call this perfect peace a delusion : for thereby thou wouldst
ascribe to the devil the glory of God's work ; but rather ask God to show thee
thy guilt and wretchedness, that thou mayst find thy want of that peace which
God has to give. Hast thou no desire to ask ? If thou canst not send up one
wish for it, may his good Spirit now put it into thy heart. Oh that thou
couldst pray to be in the happy state of the faithful soul, " Coming up from
the wildernesB, leaning upon her beloved." And to every one who desires to
be in this state I make my second remark.
I suppose you begin to find the heavy burden of sin ; and it is growing
intolerable : then look to Christ, that lie may take it upon him, and ease you.
He can sustain it ; for he hath borne the weight of the sins of the world ; and
he will ease you of your burden whenever you can cast it upon the Lord. But
if you are discouraged from trusting in hiin, and find your sins to be so many
and so great that you fear he will not receive you, fear not. Be your sins evei
ao heinous, if you are sensible of them, and can ask mercy, he will be merciful
He never shut any one out of mercy because he was a great sinner. The
greatest have fount! mercy, and so may you, if you go as one of the greatest to
aek it. Ask, and ye shall have. Pray to Jesus for his help, and he will raise
you up. Pray for faith, and he will enable you lo lean upon him for wisdom,
and righteousness, and holiness, and eternal redemption.
But you have, you say, been praying and waiting upon hiin, and yet you find
nothing but coldness and deadness in your heart. You make no progress.
Though you desire to lean upon Christ evety step, yet you cannot put youi
whole trust anil confidence in him ; your mind is full of so many doubts and
fears. Several persons, when they first set out in the ways of religion, get into
thia temper. They are always disputing and doubting whether this step be
right, and that service accepted, looking too much into their own hearts, and
looking too little at Clirist; and so they puzzle and perplex themselves, and can
gain no ground. If you would be freed from these difficulties, follow the light
which God gives, and make use of the help which he offers. And that is the
way to receive more. You, my brethren, are seeking his promised salvation
Inquire what you are to trust to and to rest upon at present. If God has made
a provision for your case, it ought to be your support. And has he not left you
the word of promise to rely upon ? He has commanded you; and it is your
bounden duty to believe the report which Goel has given of his Son. You are
required to take him at his word, and to believe that Christ is, as the scripture
hath set him forth, a Saviour willing and able to save every sinner who comes
unto him. This is the scripture character of Christ; and if you do not believe
\vlmt it says concerning him, you make God a liar. And you wiU caU in question
bolh the faithfulness and the goodness of God if you think that he has promised
any thing to them that seek which he will not fulfil to you who are seeking.
Heaven and earth shall pass away ; but not one tittle of God's promises shaU
pass away until all be fulhlled.

ti4 SOLOMON'S SONG.
rbri<!r!nt!}iSi,-then',m^bretliren'thel10int wherei» you fail? You nre eeekimr
„™1 w S£dvatlon ' hut 7™ want something more than tl^rd J,
promise before you rest upon it in the manner God requires. Vou dTshe a
particular apphcation of the promises, and want the experience of hem before
you can wholly rely upon the faithfulness and truth of God who made them
the Trd "JfoS Y^ n0t "le CaSe = I8',"1 if ,iJ be' COnsider how )-u diacred"!
the word of God. You are commanded to believe it; and, unless you think
God isa har, you may safely rely upon it. It is your duty to receive C r ae
rffW1 if f°rt> aDd u'° ,Vait for ,the ,vitness «* *« Sl»"t i" the lp,S,m
of Chriet when and in what manner he shall think proper to giro it you. And
suppose your behef of lus word of promise, your faith' of reliance may be very
IL ™li } Ver' ""? " ',nt° act' Let " °',erate' Lean UP°" J«*.,s Chriat
as well as you are enabled anil you will certainly go on, lamely perhaps nt first ;
but, however, hd on, and believe that he pitieS you, and lay the care of bringin«
you aafely through upon him. Do not lie complaining and arguing ; but believe
hie word, and act faith upon the word of promise ; and the Lord shall be with
you. And the weaker you find yourself, you have the more need to rely upon
Lhnst. Look more at him, and less nt youraelf, and wait humbly upon him,
anil you will not long want his promised comfort. He will give you joy and
peace in believing, and show you that you are in the happy number' of the
redeemed of the Lord, to whom I make my third and laat remark.
My Christian brethren, you have experienced the truth of the doctrine in the
text, and you know the happiness of leaning with faith upon Christ. You are
enabled to tmat the whole of your Balvation on him. In all your duties, you
lean upon him. You hear and read the word, and pray, and give alms, am
attend at the Lord's table, not to make youreelvee righteou8 in tho sight of God
This is not your motive. You know that he who made your persona righteous,
muat also make your duties acceptable. He that justified you is the earns alao
that muat sanctify you. Nothing can make you holy but hia good Spirit. To
this you tni8t. And aa he haa promi8ed that hie grace shall at all timea be
eufficient for you, you can therefore lean upon Jeaua in the worst of timea and
the sorest trials. The more you are afflicted, the more do you rely upon him,
and cleave the closer to him, and therefore the Btronger you grow. Sicknesa
cannot weaken your hold ; death itself cannot break it off: " for when I walk
through the valley of the ahadow of death," eaya the Psalmist, " then thou art my
support; then thy rod and thy staff comfort me : " leaning upon thee, I neither
fear death nor him that hath the power of death.
The text, thus explained and applied, teaches ua one of the moat useful
lessons for the conduct of life. All men are seeking happineaa, but few find it ;
because they seek it where it is not. It haa been a general inquiry among
thinking men, how they might be able to bear up under afflictiona ; how they
might keep the mind easy, when the body waa in pain and sickness ; and how
they might be happy in all circumatancea : but upon the principles of moral
philosophy they could never fortify the mind against the evils of life.. Various
remedies were proposed ; but they all failed when they were brought to the
trial. But the great Secret is revealed in my text. If you would lie alwaye
happy, lean upon ChriBt : take off all truet and confidence from every other
object, and place them upon Christ : it ia a command : " Caet aU your care upon
him," he will bear it for you : but, in order to do this, you must know by faith
that " he careth for you : " for how can you tmat youraelf and all your affaire
in his handa, unleae you have some evidence of his love to you? But when
you receive faith from the gift, and from the operation of God, and thereby
know your interest in the promisee made through Chriet, and, aa our church
expresses it, are assured of the favour and goodness of God towards you, then
you can lean upon him for his promised help. And thie faith can carry you
safely through all troubles and temptations, be they ever ao great, becauae it is
almighty. Faith does not attack them in the strength of nature, but in the
omnipotence of grace. It reliee upon the promiee of God, and believes that it
shall be done according to his word. When faith can thua plead the promises,
and lean upon Chri8t for the fulfilling them, it will certainly receive whatever it

DISCOURSE XI 515
promised — power to subdue sin — power to live unto God — grace sufficient to
resist temptations — comfort under afflictions — strength in the inner man when
the body is in pain and sickness — and victory over the last enemy, death : " for
all things are possible to him that believeth."
Here, then, is the infallible scripture remedy for the evils of life. May the
Lord God dispose aU your hearts to take it ! If you would be safe and happy,
lean upon Christ. But if there be any of you, my brethren, who are still deter
mined to lean upon some other thing for happiness, be assured it vriU deceive you
in the end. You may seem to go on smoothly and merrily for a while, but there
is a day coming when you wttl see the falseness of your confidence. In the day
of sickness, in the day of death, and much more in the great day of judgment,
you will have nothing to support you unless you lean upon Jesus Christ. Be
persuaded, then, in time to put your whole trust and confidence in him. If you
see your want of a Saviour, go to him, and he wiU supply all your wants. Ask
and seek the precious gift of faith until you are able to turn your backs upon aU
worldly happiness and to come up from the wUderness leaning upon your beloved
Jesus. And whenever the grace of God brings you into this happy state, you
wiU then go in your Christian course sweetly and cheerfuUy. You will find the
presence of your God with you every step, and, being mightily strengthened with
fiis Spirit in the inner man, the work of salvation will prosper in your souls.
Oh that we may be all strong in the Lord, and in the power of his might, to travel
on in his strength. May every one of you who has come up from the wUderness
of the world to the house of the Lord this day be enabled to lean and rely upon
Christ for his promised help ; and may receive out of his fulness grace for grace.
If you have never yet been united to him by saving faith, God grant his good
Spirit may bless this discourse, and make it the means of uniting you to Jesus
Christ. And if you be now united, oh may you find the bond of union growing
Btronger and stronger every day, until death perfect it and eternity continue it in
endless bliss and glory. We look up unto thee, O most gracious God, for
these blessings ; and we ask thera in that exceUent form of prayer which our
church has taught us to use this day. Enable us to pray in faith, while we say.
" O Lord, we beseech thee to keep thy church and household continually in
thy true religion ; that they who do lean only upon the hope of thy heavenly
grace may evermore be defended by thy mighty power, through Jesus Christ
our Lord Amen " (Fifth Sunday after Epiphany.)

DISCOURSE XI.
Chap. viii. ver. 6, 7.
Set me as a seal upon thine heart, as a seal upon thine arm .- for love is strong as
death ; jealousy is cruel as the grave : the coals thereof are coals of fire,
which hath a most vehement flume. Many waters cannot quench love, neither can
the floods drown it : if a man would give all the substance of his house for love,
it would utterly be contemned.
This Song of loves, which treats of the pure and spiritual affection between
Christ nnd the believer, is very little understood. Worldly and sensual men
read it with worldly and sensual tempers, and therefore find nothing divine in it. It
i s to such persons of all scripture the most exceptionable ; and no wonder. St. Paul
gives us the reason : " The natural man," says he, " discerneth not the things of the
Spirit of God, neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned :"
for want of this spiritual discernment, he cannot see the things of the Spirit of
God treated of in this divine song. But it is nevertheless a fine painting,
although tliese blind men cannot judge of it. The subject is the union of Christ
with the believer. He that is not a believer does not know what it is to be united
to Christ ; and therefore he is as incapable of judging of this poem as a blind
man is of the expression of a beautiful picture. But he that has the love of
l l 2

51G SOLOMON'S SONG
Christ in his heart, who is one with Christ and Christ with him, he knows what
the believer means when, speaking to Christ, in the text, he says, " Set me as a
seal upon thine heart, as a seal upon thine arm : for love is strong as death ;
jealousy is cruel as the grave : the coals thereof aie coals of fire, which hath a
most vehement flame. Many waters cannot quench love, neither can the floods
drown it : if a man would give aU the substance of his house for love, it would
utterly be contemned." This is the believer's prayer. He has tasted of the loving-
kindness of his Lord. The Holy Ghost had shed abroad the love of Christ in
hia heart, and he could truly say, " 1 love him, because he first loved me." He
was happy in the enjoyment of his Lord's love : but he wanted more, as every
one does who has tasted of it. He hungered and thirsted for more fuU expe
rience of it, and earnestly prayed to be rooted and grounded in love, that he might
be able to comprehend what is the breadth, and length, and depth, and height,
and to know the love of Christ that passeth knowledge. The believer knew it
was hi» interest to study thia love, and to try to take some dimensions of it,
although it surpass all human understanding, yea, the understanding of all saints,
of angds and glorified spirit8, to comprehend it fully ; but the more he did com
prehend, the happier he found himself When he considered the wonders of
Christ's love, in his humiliation, in his life, in his sufferings, in his death, in his
resurrection and aacension, and in the glorieB of hie mediatorial kingdom, he found
particular eweetnesa in this consideration — that he had an interest in all the good
offices of this love. He knew that whatever it did for 8inners waa done for nim.
And would not thia greatly recommend the study of Christ's love above all

He prays for a more full and perfect enjoyment of Christ'a love, and urgea hia
petition by several motives taken from what Christ did and suffered for sinners.
He takes a view of the triumphs of his love in the greatness of his actions and
sufferings, and then by them pleads with him for a more abundant measure of
love. May the divine Spirit enable every one of you to put up the aame prayer.
M ay he shed abroad in your hearts that love which wiU make your consider
ation of this scripture useful and profitable. Under his guidance, then, let us
inquire, First, Into the sense and meaning of the words ; and
Secondly, Into the practical use we can make of them.
This divine Song is drawn up in the manner of a dialogue. The apeakers are
Christ and the church. The church is every faithful soul which is united to
Chri8t as the membera are to the body, or the branchea to the vine. When
some men hear the word church, they are apt to apply it to national or congre
gational assemblies ; but the scripture applies it to believers, and to them only,
allowing none to be tme membera, not even of any Chriatian communion, unleBB
they be membera of Chriet'e mystical body: and our reformers, in the 19th
article, give us this definition of the visible church : " It is a congregation of
faithful men, in which the pure word of God and the sacraments be duly adminis
tered." One of these faithful men (for of numbers of them the church is
compo8ed) is here expreseing the fervent prayer of hie heart, to have more fuU
experience of Christ's love. He had no doubt of the favour and goodness of
God towards him in Chriet. He had received many clear proofs of it. He had
the scripture marks and evidences in his own soul of Christ's being his beloved
and his friend ; and he was happy in knowing this. The eenae of Chriet'e love
to him had enabled him to love Chriet in return, and therefore he was led to
pray for the continuance and for the increase of Christ's love : " Set me as a
seal upon thine heart ;" and convey to me, under thy seal, all the graces and
blessings which thy love has to give ': for the foundation of God standeth eure,
having thie seal, Ihe Lord knoweth them that are his : he knoweth them that
have his seal upon them. Oh, seal me, then, for thine ! When a man eets hia
hand and 8eal to a wttl or to a deed of gift, it is ae if he should declare, This ia
my laat will and teetament : thia ia my act and deed. So, when Chriet eete the
believer as a seal upon his heart, it is ae if he ehould declare, I seal this person

DISCOURSE XI. 517
for mine, and give unto him freely aU the benefits of the New Testament in
my blood ; and this is properly attested by my word and by my Spirit. The
word is the outward witness; the Spirit, applying the word, is the inward
witness. The scripture very clearly assigns to him the office of sealing believers,
as Eph. i. 13 : " After that ye believed in Christ, ye were sealed with the Holy
Spirit of promise :" and, chap. iv. 30, " Grieve not the Holy Spirit of God, by
whom ye are sealed unto the day of redemption." Christ redeemed both our
real and personal estate ; but we are not in possession of either until it be con
veyed to us under the seal of the Holy Spirit. Christ's redemption without the
Holy Spirit's application is like a deed without a seal, which you know can legally
convey nothing. It is the signing and sealing that makes it good in law. And
when the Holy Spirit seals the believer, then he receives the earnest of his inhe
ritance. The believer in the text had this earnest in himself, and therefore he
prayed fervently for a greater measure of Christ's love, and he prayed tbe more
fervently, as well from the lively remembrance he had of his former misery,
while he was without ChriBt in the world, as from the pleasing sense of his
present happiness. AU the time his heart had been set upon the world, he
remembered in what a vain shadow he had been walking, and how he had dis
quieted himself in vain. From whatever he sought happiness, he was disap
pointed ; and therefore, convinced of the emptiness of every creature-comfort
and of the sinfulness of resting in them — having found the best of them unable
to fill the desires of his soul — he had turned from the creature to God. God
had every thing to give that could make him completely happy ; and God the
Saviour was willing to give it. As his power is, so is his love ; they are alike
infinite. The speaker in the text had happy experience of Christ's love, and did
not doubt of his power to save. With a grateful sense of what Christ had already
done, he prayed that the Holy Spirit would make him increase and abound in
love. My brethren, is this your prayer? Do you know so much of his love to
you as to pray for more love to him ? If you are not seeking happiness in his
love, in what have you been seeking it aU your hfe, or in what are you now seek
ing it ? Out of Christ you could seek it in nothing but in the sinful love of the
creature. And now ask yourselves what you have found. If you deal honestlywith
your souls, you must confess that you have met with continual disappointments.
And why, then, wiU you not be wise from experience ? Are you tired and weary
of the duU round of worldly joys ? Then pray the Holy Spirit to turn your
affections from these deluding objects to the Lord Jesus ; and when your hearts
are set upon him, he will then make you perfectly, eternally blessed. Blessed
ness is his to give. The world has it not. Oh, turn then from it to our loving
God, and beg you may know so much of his love as to be able to pray with the
believer, in the text, that Christ would " set you as a seal upon his heart," and
let you know your interest in his love. When you are sealed for his, and find
his affections are placed upon you, then you wiU have the comfortable enjoyment
of his present graces and sure and certain hope of your inheriting the promises
of eternal life : for then he wiU also " set you as a seal upon his arm." His arm
is his power. The hand is the active part of the body, by which the strength of
it is exerted. We labour and work with our hands ; and when the scripture
speaks of the arm of the Lord, it means his active power, which the faithful soul
here desires may be exercised continually for its salvation. To be as a seal upon
his heart would be of no use without the seal upon his arm. His love would not
be a blessing unless it was an active, operative love. But it is therefore desirable
to partake of Christ's love, because it will always awake the arm of the Lord, and
will bring salvation. His love and his power are never separated ; his heart and
his arm act together ; and therefore the believing soul does not put them asunder,
but prays, in the text, that the beloved Saviour would give her experience of
both : — Oh, set me as a seal upon thy heart, that whatever thy love disposes thee
to do for sinners, I may share and partake in it ! Oh set ine also as a seal upon
thine arm ! Let me also, blessed Jesus, be engraven on the palms of thy hands,
that in aU thy works thou mayst remember me with mercy ! Let thy love engage
thy power to make aU things work together for my good.
fhese are the desires of the faithful in the text ; and they are the fervent desires

518 SOLOMON'S SONG.
of every tme believer. And if there be any of you who are not convinced that
these are the breathings of tme faith, then you are ignorant of the nature of
Christ's love. You know it not, because you have had no experience of it. If
you had ever found your wont of his love, and had ever tasted of it, you would
bear your testimony to the tmth of the foUowing description : viz. That his love
is strong as death ; the ardour of it is harder than the grave : the coals thereof
are coals of fire, which hath a most vehement flame, burning with such an
inextinguishable affection, that many waters could not quench it, neither could
the floods drown it ; and of so inestimable a price, that if a man should think of
buying it, or of meriting it, and would give all the substance of his house for it,
it would utterly be despised. These are the excellencies of Christ's love, for
which the faithful soul so earnestly desired further experience of it, and for which
you wttl desire it with the same earnestness, as soon as you are made sensible of
your wants. When you find the misery of sin, and the wretched slavery of
serving Satan and the world and the flesh, who have no wages to give you but
death, then you wttl wish your souls under the protection of that love which is
" strong as death." The love of Christ was stronger than death : for he con
quered death, and took out its sting. And the sting of death will be taken out
of your conscience when it is sprinkled with his atoning blood. His love brought
him down from heaven, and he took a body of flesh, in which he might obey,
and suffer, and die. Accordingly, he became obedient, obedient unto death, even
the death of the cross. He died the painful, ignominious, and accuraed death of
the cross. Greater love hath no man than thi6 — that a man lay down his life
for his friends : but how far does the love of Jesus exceed thia inatance ? He
laid down hia life, not for frienda, but for ainnera, for enemies, the bitterest
enemies, who persecuted him even unto death — he died for his persecutors.
Greater love than this there cannot be : for as he died to save his enemies from
death, so he rose again, that they might rise to a newneas of life, whereby he
showed " his love to he stronger than the grave." Our translation reads,
" jealousy is cruel as the grave." The word rendered jealousy denotes the ardour
and intenseness of Chriars love ; not what he thought of the love of othera to him,
but the nature of his love to them — the great degree, the flaming ardour and
intenseness of it, which made him submit, not only to death, but also to go down
to the grave. In the prison of the grave, the bodies of aU the dead were shut up.
The prison was secured with bars and gates, and guarded by him that had the
power of death ; and he had Buffered not one prisoner, for four thousand years,
to escape. To this prison the Lord Jesus went down ; and he was detained in
it for three days : but it was not possible that he should be holden any longer. On
the third day he broke through the gate of death, and demonstrated that his love was
stronger than the grave. And when he is describing his victory to the beloved
apostle, he represents it under a very beautiful image : " I am he that Iiveth,"
says he, " and was dead, and, behold, I am alive for evermore, Amen, and have
the keys of heU and of death." My brethren, are any of you afraid to die ? Has
death still a sting, and the grave victory over you ? If they have, did you ever
consider what was the reason ? Is it not because you either do not believe that
Christ has the keys of death and the grave in his hands, or else you have no cer
tainty that he wttl use them for your interest ? You have no knowledge of Christ's
love to you. The Holy Ghost never shed it abroad in your heart. Perhaps you
never desired it : and therefore you are ignorant of his having died and risen
from the grave for your ealvation. If you knew your intereet in his death, and
had experienced the power of his resurrection, you would no longer fear death
and the grave ; for then faith would enable you to triumph over both. You
would have nothing to fear, but every thing blessed to hope for from them, after
you knew that Christ had set you as a seal upon his heart, and aa a seal upon hie
arm ; for then death and the grave, inetead of separating you from the love of
God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord, would bring you to the more fuU and
eternal enjoyment of it.
My brethren, if you have not this love, do you desire it ? Can you pray for it ?
If the Holy Spirit has discovered to you your want of it, and has put you upon
asking, ask, and he wttl grant you your heart's desire. You ehall know Christ and

DISCOURSE XI. 519
the power of his resurrection — know him to be your Saviour and your God.
And this experience of his love to you will open to your understanding the next
words in the description ; viz. that the ardour of Christ's love is like coals of fire,
burning clear and bright with a most vehement flame, " such as many waters
could not quench." These many waters are the many troubles he met with ;
and they were so many that they would have quenched any love but his. He
went through a sea of troubles from the manger to the cross ; but his love burned
aU the time with such a vehement flame that the many waters he waded through
could not quench it. Herod persecuted him whtte a child, and forced him to flee
Jlis country, but his love to his enemies brought him back. His very humiliation,
untU he entered on his public ministry, was a great trial. As God he was the
highest in heaven ; as man he was one of the lowest on earth ; that was conse
quently the highest love which stooped the lowest to save sinners. You may read
in the gospels the history of the many troubles he went through. His public fife
was one continued scene of opposition. Trouble came, like wave after wave,
raging and lifting up their heads on high ; but the ardour of his love mounted
and flamed above them aU. You know that nothing cools love so much as meet
ing with hatred : he was hated even for doing good, and yet he loved his enemies.
They poured cold water upon his love, by ratting at his doctrine, blaspheming
his person, blaspheming his miracles ; but his love, being of an uncommon
nature, burned the brighter — he went on doing good to his revilers and his blas
phemers. And though the rulers and nation of the Jews, a few poor people
excepted, would not receive him for the promised Messiah, yet these many waters
could not quench his love : it burned with a pure flame, which neither the ingra
titude nor the vUe treatment of mankind, could in the least damp or abate. And
we need not wonder that many waters could not quench, " for the floods could
not drown the love of Christ." It still kept its ardour when the overflowing flood
broke over his head. When the floods of ungodly men rose up against him, and
tried his love with every pain and reproach which is distressing to human nature,
they only served to make his love shine out the purer and brighter. In his last
sufferings these floods tried to drown his love ; but it mounted up triumphant
above all. In the garden, on the eve of the passion, he had a prospect of what
he was to undergo ; and as there was no other way for man to be saved but for
him to drink the bitter cup, he therefore resolved to take it and to drink it up to
the very dregs. No sooner had he spoken the words, " Father thy wttl be done,"
but the cup was instantly put into his hands. He is apprehended, and all his
disciples forsake him. Not one, not Peter himself, durst own him. As a male
factor he is brought before the high priest ; accused for saying he was the Son of
God ; shamefully iU-treated and spit upon ; blindfolded, by way of insult on his pro
phetical office, and struck upon the face ; led to Pilate ; tried and acquitted, and yet
whipped and scourged ; crowned with thorns, by way of insult on his regal office,
and tne thorns driven into his head by the barbarous soldiers unttt the blood ran
down his temples ; and then, innocent, and pronounced so by his judge, never-
thdess given up to the rage of the people — to the floods of ungodly men that went
about to devour him. They thirsted for his blood, and shed it as if it had been
water. Having gotten him into their power, they led him out, marking the way
as he went with his blood; and having reached mount Calvary, there they prepare
their instruments of death. They drive the nails through his hands and feet,
fastening his body to the cross, and then, lifting up the cross, they stand by to
insult and blaspheme him. O love divine! how triumphantly didst thou rise
above aU these floods of opposition, when that sweet prayer came out of thy dying
mouth, "Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do!" But he had
another flood of opposition to withstand, infinitely more dreadful than the former :
he had the wrath and justice of his Father to sustain, who, finding aU our sins
upon him, took full satisfaction, even to the uttermost farthing. His Father had
before declared, by a voice from heaven, " This is my beloved Son, in whom I am
well pleased :" but now his justice draws the sword in wrath upon his beloved
Son. Whence was this? ^ hat ! is there any variableness or shadow of turning
in God ? No. He was stiU the beloved Son of the Father ; but he was made sin
for us, who knew no sin : he was wounded for our transgressions, and was bruised

520 SOLOMON'S SONG.
for our iniquities : he bore our griefs, and carried our sorrows, from the time he
sweat, as it were, great drops of blood in the garden, unttt he expired upon the
cross. And what he endured while that scripture waa fulfilling—" Awake,
O sword, against my shepherd, and against the man that is my fellow, saith the
k01"" "—and justice was taking futt and perfect aatiBfaction for sin upon hira— no
tongue can teU ; no imagination can conceive. He says himself, " AU thy waves
and atorms are gone over me." They broke upon his head, and with so much
fury, that he complains, in the 88th Psalm, ver. 7, " Thine indignation fieth hard
upon me, and thou hast vexed me with aU thy storms." When aU the waves and
atorms of the Father's wrath, which should have fallen upon us, vexed him, he,,
might weU say, " Was there ever sorrow fike unto my sorrow, wherewith the Lord*
hath afflicted me in the day of his fierce anger }" There never was any sorrow
like that which occasioned this lamentation : " My God, my God, why haat thou
forsaken me?" AU the powers in heaven and earth heard this cry, and were
affected with it : the sun hid his face ; there was darkness over the whole earth ;
the rocks were rent ; the graves opened ; the dead arose ; the veil of the temple
was rent from the top to the bottom. What the bleeding Lamb of God suffered
at this time surpaeeeth human underatanding. But, however, in thia day of the
Lord's fierce anger, the floods of divine wrath did not drown our Lord's love. He
bore up under all, until love heard the happy worda, " It is finished," and then
he bowed his head and gave up the ghost. But his love did not die. No. It
gained the greatest victory in death. We read of Samson, that the dead whom
he slew at his death were more than those whom he slew in his life : which was a
type and figure of the great rictory which Christ obtained by his death ; fdr, he
then vanquished aU the enemies of our peace. His love waa stronger than death ;
becauae, through death he overcame death and him that had the power of death.
It was stronger than the grave ; for he redeemed hia own body before it had seen
cormption. And he aroae from the grave aa the firat fruita of the dead ; and,
behold, he haa in hia hands the keys of heU and of death ; so that neither death
nor heU shaU have any power over them that believe in him. And being risen
from the dead, and ascended into heaven, he is eeated upon the throne of glory ;
and he neither wants love nor power to bestow upon them that believe in him
every grace and every blessing which can make them happy in time and in
eternity. Surely, then, the love of Christ is beyond all value. What price can you set
upon it ? Might not the faithful, with good reaaon, eay of it in the text, " If a
man would give aU the subatance of hia house for thia love, it would utterly be
deapised ?" for it ia a free love ; it cannot be bought. It i8 inestimable ; and the
riches of it are uneearchable. With what can you think of purchasing it ? With
the substance of a man's house ? Why it is one of the free gifts of thie love :
and can you then think of meriting or buying it with ite own gifts ? This love
created all things that are in heaven anil that are in earth; so that you have
nothing to offer it but what is already its own. And if you are one of the Lord's
people, it redeemed you from the bondage of sin and Satan, of death and the
grave, and you have only to receive its blessinga, and to be thankful : for you
youraelf, and aU that you have, are not your own. You are bought with a price.
And what can you offer the Lord but what ia already his own ? His by right of
creation ; by right of redemption doubly his. And muat he not then utterly
despise fioth you and your gifts if you think that the subatance of your houae i8
to be compared with his love ? He will despise you, and you wttl feel his resent
ment through the ages of eternity, if you disparage his love so much as to think
that any thing in the world, yea, the whole world itself, ought to he put in com
petition with his love. They who have tasted of it know it to be invaluable.
The least experience of it is worth thouaande of worlda. And oh that He who
has it to give may now ehed it abroad in all your hearte, that you may feel the
happiness of it ! May this be the desire of every soul here present — Set me,
Lord Jesus, as a seal upon thine heart ; set me as a seal upon thine arm : for thy
love to sinners is strong as death ; the ardour of it is mightier than the grave ,
it bumed like bright cods of fire, which hath a most vehement flame. Many
waters could not quench thy love, nor could the floods drown it. If a man would

DISCOURSE XI. 521
give all the substanee of his house to purchase thy love, he and his gifts would be
utterly despised.
My brethren, can you make use of this prayer ? Are these the pious breath
ings of your souls ? You have heard, from the sense of the words, that these
were the pious breathings of the faithful under the Old Testament ; and they
must be yours under the New, if you would experience the comforts of the doc
trine in the text : and to stir you up to seek them is the subject of my second
general head ; under which I shaU make two or three short practical inferences.
The first relates to the manner in which the words are drawn up. They are
in the form of a prayer, founded upon past experience of Christ's love, and ear
nestly desiring a larger share of it. And is this your heart's desire ? Can you
wttlingly and heartily pray to have the love of other objects shut out of your
¦ Hearts, and to find your happiness in the love of Christ, and in being sealed for
his ? If you can pray thus, may you daUy find more reason to love Jesus Christ-
But if you cannot, is it not expedient that you should consider what is the reason ?
For has not Jesus Christ every perfection in himself, and every grace and blessing
to give, which ought to draw the affections of miserable sinners unto himself ?
And yet you have no love for him. What is the cause which makes you act so
directly against your own interest ? Is it not an unlawful attachment to the
world, or to some object in it, which you set up against Christ ? You prefer it to
him. You think it can make you happier than he can ; and so you give up your
hearts to its service. Herein you are guilty of a monstrous absurdity ; because
you prefer creature comforts to God ; and you are guilty of monstrouswickedness ;
because you leave God to idolize the creature. And though, after daily expe
rience, you find that the creature cannot make you happy, yet still you idolize it.
What prodigious power must sin have over a man ; how entirely must it have
blindeel his understanding, when it can make him act against the clearest evidence
even of his own senses ! for upon whatever object you place your hearts, in pre
ference or in opposition to Christ, it cannot make you happy ; for this plain rea
son — because you sin in giving that love to it which is due to him. " My son,"
says he, " give ME thy heart." I will make thee happy by taking guilt out of
thy conscience, by pardoning thee freely, and shedding the love of God abroad
in thy heart. Until this be done, no creature can make you happy. While sin
is unpardoned, while guilt is in the conscience, and while the broken law con
demns, what can money, what can pleasure, what can honour give of happiness ?
They may for a time soothe the uneasiness of the mind, but they cannot remove
it. Nothing can remove it but Jesus Christ. He has perfect peace to give.
And if ever you obtain it, you must receive it from bis free love and bounty.
My brethren, do you give your assent to these truths ? How do they appear
to you? Do they not carry conviction along with them? Certainly they do,
unless men be entirely blinded with sin. If they have convinced you, and you
begin to desire to know the love of Christ, then turn from seeking happiness in
creature comforts, where it cannot be found, and seek it in Jesus Christ, and you
will find in him true solid bliss when he sets you as a seal upon his heart and as
a seal upon his arm. But if you have not been convinced from what has been
said, then turn to the world, and get its seal upon your hearts. If the world can
make you happier than God can, idolize it. Serve it, as too many do, with every
faculty of soul and body, and pay it that obedience which is due to God only. But
did you ever consider who is the god of this world that ruleth in the children of
disobedience ? Is it not that old serpent, called the devti and Satan, who
deceiveth the whole world. ? And what ! would you be found, when you come
to die, with the devil's seal upon you ? Do you now deliberately choose to be
marked for his, and to have your portion with him in the lake that burnetii with
fire and brimstone for ever and ever ? If there be any of you thus far deluded and
infatuated, let me entreat you to read the ninth chapter of Ezekiel. You wttl
there find a lively image of your present state. I pray God to make it the means
of showing you your danger. The Lord gives a command to slay young and old,
and to destroy the whole city : but first, one clothed in linen goes to set a mark
upon the Lord's people ; and they only were to be saved. You have not the

522 SOLOMON'S SONG.
Lord's mark upon you ; therefore, in the day of his fierce anger, his eye wUl not
spare, neither will he have pity. Whenever the deetroying angel ia eent out, he
has no power to hurt the servants of God, who are aeded; as you may read,
Rev. vii. Four angels bad a commission to hurt the earth and the sea ; but they
were not to execute it unttt the Lord's people were sealed : then they were to
destroy, and spare not. Are not tliese awful scriptures ? Have not they made
you sensible of your present danger ? May the Spirit of the living God apply
them ! Oh, may his grace now begin to work upon your hearts ! Now may he
put it into your minds, from a due sense of your wants, to seek a supply from the
love of Christ, that you may receive profit from what I have to remark upon the
second part of the text ; viz. — The greatness of Christ's love.
But of this you can form no judgment unless you have seen your guilt and
your misery, and found how much you stood in need of his love. It wiU appear
great in proportion aa you find your want of it, and greater as you experience it.
In itself, it is divine and infinite. It partakes of the nature of its author. It ia,
like him, above aU ble8eing and praise. If you try to take the dimensions of it,
you wiU conclude with the apostie, that it surpaeseth knowledge, yea, the know
ledge of angela aa weU as of men : the height, the depth, the length, the breadth
of it cannot be measured by any created being. Oh the hdght and depth of that
love! which brought our divine Lord from the highest heavens to, the lowest
humiliation! Oh the length of that love 1 which reaches as far as the eaat is
from the west ; for so far hath he set our sins from ua. Oh the breadth of it 1
which includea a great multitude, that no man could number, of all nations, and
kindreds, and people, and tonguea. But dthough Chriat'a love be time unepeak-
ably great, and inconceivably divine, yet, until you feel the misery of sin, you
wiU not think of applying to Christ for his love. But when guilt tormente,
death terrifiee, the grave and heU appear to you in all their horrore, then you wttl
think it a bleaeing indeed, if you could have that love in your hearta, which ia
able to cast out these fears. And the knowledge of Chriat'a love to you caateth
out all fear : for hia love haa conquered all your enemiea, and ie now almighty
to conquer them in you. For sin he has made an atonement, death he haa sub
dued, and him that had the power of death : he ia riaen from the grave aa the
firBt fruita of the dead, and haa opened the gate of everlasting life. Oh, beaeecb
him, then, to let you 8hare in that love which was stronger than death, mightier
than the grave — whereby all hia conque8ta ehall be youre 1 When you are united
to him in the bonde of love, he will make you more than conqueror. He will
make your love triumphant, like hie. He will eo etrengthen it, that many watere
shall not be able to quench it, neither shall the floods be able to drown it. Neither
dietresB nor persecution, neither life nor death, neither the pleasures of the world
nor the temptations of the devtt, shaU be able to separate you from the love of
Christ Jesus your Lord.
If you see your want of this love, seek, and you Bhall find it. The promise ie,
" They that 6eek me early shall find me." And if any of you have been seeking,
and have not found, you may conclude that you have been seeking wrong ; and
have not foUowed the last part of the text ; viz. eeeking it as a free gift, which,
with all your endeavours and pains, you cannot merit : for such is the free and
inestimable love of Christ, that ifa man would give all the substance of his house
for this love, it would utterly be despised. If you had millions of worlde to give,
they would be counted ae nothing. He would reject you and your worthless
bribes, as one said upon a fike occasion, " Thy money perish with thee, because
thou hast thought that the free gift of God was to he purchased with money."
Not only aU that thou hast, but also aU that thou canst desire, is not to be com
pared with the love of Christ. Whatever can make the sinner happy ,in time,
whatever can make him blessed in eternity, Christ's love is able to bestow, and
does bestow, upon those who find their want of it, and who come, humbled under
a sense of their wants, to ask it as a matter of free grace and bounty. It ie to
the glory of his love that he bestowe it upon the unworthy. And if his good
Spirit has enabled you to eeeyour want of it, and you can aek it as an unworthy
sinner, you will receive it. This ie your only qualification— to acknowledge that

DISCOURSE XI. 523
you do not deserve it. Go to the throne of his grace with this humble temper,
hungering and thirsting after righteousness, and the Lord Jesus will send you
away fiUed with good things.
It is evident, then, from what has been said, that there is perfect happiness to
be found in the love of our redeeming God. All that caU themselves Christians
profess their belief of this truth ; but the generality of them act in direct oppo
sition to their belief, and are seeking happiness where God has decreed it shaU
not be found. They try to find it in the world, but are disappointed ; and, after
many disappointments, they wttl not give over the search. Their great love for
the world wiU not suffer them to turn their backs upon it, although it has
deceived them so often. They are quite enamoured with its fancy goods, and
place their whole hearts and affections upon its money, its pleasures, and its
honours : these they pursue eagerly, and perhaps attain them : they have their
heart's desire, and yet they are unhappy. , What is the reason ? Because these
things cannot satisfy the wants of a sinful soul. Sin separated the soul from
God : not only set them at a distance from each other, but also occasioned enmity
between them. The law and justice of God are of purer eyes than to behold the
least sin, and therefore he revealed his wrath from heaven against aU unrighteous
ness and ungodliness of men. And until his law and justice receive full satisfac
tion, God the Father will not appear reconciled, nor pardon the sinner, who
cannot return to God with any love or confidence, and find happiness in him,
unttt he believe that God is reconciled, and has pardoned him. Now, Jesus
Christ is the only Saviour who has pardon of sin to give. His good Spirit can
give the sinner the knowledge of the pardon of sin, and shed abroad in his heart
aU the comforts of God's pardoning love. Then he will know the truth of the
description in the text. Christ's love will appear to him as it is there described.
He will be able to take up the words, and to use them with the same spirit, with
which they were spoken in the Song : for he is happy in the love of Christ, and
can truly say, " I love him, because he first loved me, and gave himself for me."
Since theee things are so, surely, my beloved brethren, you wiU not go away
resolved stttl to seek happiness in the love of creature comforts. You cannot
suppose that the world can make you happier than its almighty Creator and
Saviour can. If you had it aU in your possession, yet there are times when it
could be of no service. What pleasure could it give you in sickness ? How
could it remove the torments of a guttty conscience ? How could it keep off
death, or take out its sting ? How could it bring you any comfort, if your
poor soul should appear with aU its sins unpardoned at the judgment-seat of
Christ ? Alas ! in these circumstances the world and the things of it cannot give
relief. You know they cannot. And why, then, wttl you pursue them, since
there is no happiness to be found in them, and the more you pursue them, the
farther will they lead you from tme happiness : Oh, turn from the world, then,
leave it ; follow its vain shadows no longer ; nor disquiet yourselves in vain.
No man was ever happy in the love of the world ; but every man is happier than
the world can make him who has only accepted the invitation, " Oh come, taste,
and see how gracious the Lord Jesus is : " but he that has tasted, and seen, and
is under the care and protection of Christ's love, he is completely happy, even
in times of trial and trouble ; because Christ is almighty to deliver ; and when he
doea not deliver from affliction, he is able to sanctify it, and to make it work
-together for good to them that love him. And is not this a happy state?
What sinner would not desire it, and what afflicted person would not pray for it ?
May He who is able to bring you into it, put it into aU your hearts to seek it.
Oh that he may send his good Spirit, and give every one of you earnest desires
to have this scripture fulfilled in your own souls ! May this be the language of
every soul here present — Set me, blessed Saviour, as a seal upon thine heart,
and as a seal upon thine arm. Let thy love and thy power act together for my
ealvation : for thy love is mightier than death, and stronger than the grave. Oh
that I might share in these victories of thy love, the vehement ardour of which
many waters could not quench, neither could the floods drown it. If a man
would give aU the substance of his house to buy this love, it would utterly be

524 SOLOMON'S SONG.
contemned. I have nothing to purchase it with. Give it to me, Lord, as a free
gift, and to the glory of the giver.
Odear Redeemer, send us away with these good desires in aU our hearta, and
cherish them, until we know that love of thine which passeth knowledge, which
exceeds aU that can be said of it upon earth, and wiU exceed aU that can be Said
of it in heaven. There wttl be no end of singing its praises through eternity.
Oh may it be your joy and happiness here in time to sing with grateful hearts
the praises of redeeming love unttt Jesus take you to himself and put more love
into your hearts, and fiU your mouths with louder songs of praise to Father, Son,
ind Holy Spirit, the adorable Trinity in Unity ; to whom may we aU ascribe
equal honour and glory, majesty and dominion, now, henceforth, and for ever
more. Amen and Amen.

DISCOURSE XII.
Chap. viii. ver. 14.
Make haste, my beloved, and be thou like to a roe, or to a young hart
upon the mountains of spices.
The church makes this her last request. She deBirea her beloved to haaten
his coming, which under the Old Teetament dispensation, referred to hia coming in
the flesh, as under the New it refers to his second coming. But the church of
God, both in the Old Testament and the New, expected another coining of Christ ;
viz. his coming in grace. Ihe believers knew that he was to come, and to
abide with them, and not as a sojourner, but as nn inhabitant, to elwell in their
hearts by faith. This was promised them, and thia they have alwaya ex
perienced. The worda may with great propriety treat of the three advents of
our Lord. And I wiU endeavour,
First, to explain them in their full sense, and then,
Secondly, To draw some practical observations from them.
The words were spoken before the coming of Chriat in the flesh ; and
supposing they refer to it, they imply great haste and apeed. The faithful
would have Christ to hasten his coming in the swiftest manner ; whereby they
express the holy impatience of their affections, which could not endure delay.
They longed to see the deaire of all natione. incarnate. It was their continual
wish and prayer that they might eee the day of Chriet. Therefore upon the
conclusion of the Song, they break off as it were abruptly, with this their last
request, upon which their hearts were principally set, — "Make haete, my beloved."
Ihis was the continual prayer of believers under the Old Teetament, which
they made, not from any doubt of God's faithfulneee and truth, but? from their
earnest desire after the Saviour of the world. They were sensibly convinced of
their great want of him. They found ein in themselvee ; . they read in the law
of the puniehment due to ein, which the law had threatened, and juetice wae
bound to inflict ; and they knew that they could do nothing to make an atone
ment to law and justice : therefore they ardently prayed for the coming of the
promised Lamb of God who was to take away ein by the sacrifice of himBelf, and
to answer aU the demands of law and justice. The first prophecy was sufficiently
clear to be a ground for their prayers. God had declared that the seed of the
woman — one born of a woman — should bruise the serpent'a head, in which his
poiaon lay, and thereby destroy the power which he had usurped over mankind.
The typee and eervicea then inBtituted, which are in suln and 8ubetance the aame
that were afterward8 recorded in the written law, tended to explain the gret
prophecy, and to keep it continually in remembrance. They served as a achool-
master to lead men to Christ. From them it was certain that the Saviour would
come and be made a sacrifice for ein ; but the preciee time of his coming waa
not made known in the firat agea of the world. This gave men occasion to
expect hi™ in every age, unttt the fixed time of his coining was reveded. And,
accordingly, we find the patriarchs before, and the prophete under, the law,

DISCOURSE XII. 525
waiting with eager desires for his coming : As our Lord assured his apostles,
Matt. xiii. 17 : " Verily I say unto you, Many prophets and righteous men have
desired to see these things which ye see, and have not seen them ; and to hear
these things which ye hear, and have not heard them." There were many
prophets and righteous men in the church of God, eis weU before the written
law as since, who desired to see God incarnate, and to hear the gracious words
that should proceed out of his mouth. Jacob was one of these prophets and
righteous men ; and he expresses aU their desires in his own : " I have
waited for thy salvation, O Lord." Gen. xlix. 18. And the prophet Isaiah,
speaking in his own name, and in the name of the faithful, says, — " In the way
of thy judgments, O Lord, have we waited for thee : the desire of our soul is to
thy name, and to the remembrance of thee." And there were always in the
church some waiting for the promised consolation of Israel, and especiaUy at
the time of his appearing in the flesh ; such as the just and devout Simeon,
who, when the holy chttd Jesus was brought into the temple, took him up in
his arms, and blessed God, and said, " Lord, now lettest thou thy servant depart
in peace ; for mine eyes have seen thy salvation." And this, my brethren, wiU
be your happy case when your eyes see the salvation of God. When faith gives
you a clear view of your interest in the salvation of Jesus Christ, then, whenever
you die, you wiU depart in peace.
Thus the Old Testament saints desired Christ to hasten his coming in the
flesh. They wanted to behold his day. They longed to see the great mystery
of godliness opened and explained — God manifest in the flesh. In the fulness
of time, according to their desires, he came. He visited us in great humility,
anel in the form of a servant; but he thought it not robbery to be equal with
God j for he required the same faith in himself as in the Father : "Ye believe in
God; believe also in me." John xiv. 1. He commanded the same divine
honour to be paid to him: "All men should honour the Son, even as they
honour the Father;" John v. 23, for he is Jehovah, the self-existent God;
John A' iii. 24, which whoever does not believe shaU die in his sins. He sup
ported these high claims by appealing to his miracles, which were God's
testimony to the truth of his words. Hear his own argument upon this very
subject. The Jews were going to stone him for saying that he was God. " If
I do not the works of my Father, believe me not ; but if I do, though ye
believe not me, believe the works ; that ye may know and believe that the
Father is in me, and I in him." John x. 37, 38. He did all the works which
the prophets had foretold the promised Immanuel should perform. And after
he had fulfilled the scriptures of the Old Testament, had suffered aU that law
and justice required, and had completed the great work of salvation, he ascended
into heaven, and sat down at the right hand of the majesty on high. And we
are now, according to his most true promise, waiting for his second coming.
Ihere is a great day, and not far off, when every eye shaU see him coming
in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory. God had revealed this
very early to his servants, the prophets : for Enoch, the seventh from Adam,
prophesied of it ; saying, " Beholel, the Lord cometh with ten thousand of his
saints to execute judgment upon all, and to convince aU that are ungodly among
them of aU their ungodly deeds which they have ungodly committed, and of aU
their hard speeches which ungodly sinners have spoken against him." In the
New Testament we have the manner of our Lord's coming to execute judgment,
with the process of the last day very particularly described. And it is the wish
and prayer of every faithful soul that he would hasten this his glorious appearing,
and accomplish the great things which are to go before it. When the blessed
Jesus closes the volume of Revelation with this promise, " Surely I come quickly,"
the faithful reply, " Amen. Even so, come Lord Jesus." And daUy is it in
their prayers — -Thy kingdom come. And they have good reason to desire it ;
because aU that their Lord and Saviour has to do upon the earth will then be
completed. The number of the elect will be perfected, and be will be admired
in them. His enemies will be finaUy subdued. An end will be put to the
reign of sin and Satan. There wttl be no more death. Whatever robbed our
redeeming God of his glory will be destroyed. Oh how greatly, then, is this

526 SOLOMON'S SONG.
second coming of our Lord to be desired by aU his faithful foUowers and
servants, who are described in scripture by this character — that they love hia
appearing. They love it first for hie sake, because he will then be glorified in
his saints, he will then be glorified for the great glory which he wiU bestow
upon them ; and they love it dso for their own enkeB, because then all then-
wishes ajid desires wttl be fulfilled, when they shaU see their bdoved Sariour
face to face. They wttl have no more prayers or requests to make. When
that great day is come, there wttl be no more compldnts, no more wonts or
necessities, sorrow and sighing wiU flee away for ever. Our warfare wttl be
ended, our rictory completed. Our crowns shaU shine upon our heads with
never-fading lustre; our palms of victory shall be ever green. How exceedingly
great this happiness wttl be we cannot fuUy comprehend at present. However
this one circumstance heightens every thing said of it in scripture ; namely, that
it will be eternd. When we have ascended from judgment with our Lord, he
wttl admit us into his kingdom of glory. After this meeting we shall part no
more ; but shaU ever be with the Lord, praising and adoring his perfections, and
being happy in the enjoyment of them to all eternity. And is not all this
happiness earnestly to he desired by them who have received through faitii the
earneat of their inheritance ? And will it not be much upon their heartB to pray
him to hasten hia coming ? And will not they who love his appearing pray for
it with great fervency ? Our clrarch is very earneat in her prayera : for 8he
teachea U8, in the Burial Service, to be contirraaUy praying to hiih, " that it
would please him, of his gracious goodness, shortly to accomplish the number
of his elect, and to hasten his kingdom." And he has promised to hear and to
anawer these prayers : for when he is describing, in St. Matthew, the tribulation
of the laat days, which ahall be greater than any since the beginning of the
world to that time, he saya that " for the electa' sake theae days shall be short
ened." Amen. So be it, Lord Jeeua.
My brethren, when you hear of our Lord's second coming, how doea it affect
you ? Do you love to think of the day of his great glory ? Do you wish and pray
for it ? Does the solemnity of it strike no terror into your coneciencee ? Ib all
peace and joy within when you hear of the euddenneas of hia coming, and of the
generd eurpriee it will be to a carde88 world ? Do you now find no fear if the
last trump ahould thie moment Bound, and you ehould lift up your eyea, and
aee the God of glory coming in the clouds of heaven, attended with all his holy
angels? Could you look up with joy, knowing that your redemption draweth
nigh ? Is your conscience bo purged from dead worka, that it would not be
darmed if the dr that we breathe, being on fire, ahould be dissolved, and the
elemente ehould melt with fervent heat, and the earth aleo, and the worke that
are therein, ehould be burnt up ? Are you prepared to draw near the judgment
Beat with a tme heart, in fuU assurance of fdth, having your hearts sprinkled from
an evil conscience ? When you meditate upon the solemn process of the last day
as described by the Judge himself, can you suppose yourself to be in the midst
of this awful scene, and your state ready to be determined to aU eternity ? and
have you no fearful apprehensions about your sdvation? If you have none, may
he who delivered you from them strengthen and establish your faith, that you
may daUy love our Lord, and love his appearing more and more. But if guilty
fear does arise in your heart when you think of the glorious appearing of the
great God and our Saviour at the last day, thieprovee that all is not right in your
own soul. There is a coming- of Chriet in grace which you have not yet expe
rienced*: for if you had, it would have given you that love which caeteth out all
tormenting fear. If Christ had come, and manifested himself to you as your
Saviour ; if he had awakened you, had pardoned you freely, and given you the wit
ness of the Spirit in your heart, enabling you to look upon God as your recon
ctted Father, Christ as your Saviour, and the Holy Spirit as your guide and com
forter, then you could have no reason to fear. And this coming of Christ ie the
moet to be desired, becauae without this you do not receive the graces and blesa-
ings of hie furst coming in the flesh, and therefore are not prepared for hie second
coming to judgment. What he did and suffered in the flesh is not imputed unto
us for righteousness until it be applied and appropriated. The Holy Spirit

DISCOURSE XII. 527
must come and show us our interest in it ; he must give us present salvation from
the poUution, and the guilt, and the dominion of sin ; and we must know and
experience this by true faith before the fear of Christ's coining to judgment can
be taken out of the conscience. But when Christ thus dwells in the heart by
fdth, then, being interested in aU the graces of his first coming, we may wait
for the blessings of his second coming with hopes fuU of immortality. Therefore,
My brethren, above aU things seek the experience of Christ's coming to you in
grace : for when you once know and love him as your Saviour, you cannot fear
him as your judge : but from the sense of his love to you, you vrill be able, with
the faithful in the text, to caU him your beloved, and to pray for his speedy com
ing, that he may put all his enemies under his feet. When they say, " Make
haste, my beloved," this implies that there was mutual love between them. The
eoul was made sensible of Christ's love to it : " For we love him," says the
apostle John, " because he first loved us." And when you have scripture evidence
of his first loving you, then you can with true faith take up the church's words,
and say, " My beloved is mine, and I am his." To know that he is yours, is the
same thing as to know whatever he has is yours : for, by being interested in him,
you haye a property in all his promises, graces, and blessings, in time and in
eternity. This is the blessed state of believers. And do you not desire, my
brethren, to be in it ? Is it not happiness indeed to be freed from the fear of
death and judgment — nay more, to be able to pray for the coming of Christ, and
' to love his appearing ? What can be more desirable than to know that the
almighty Judge is your loving Saviour, who, when he comes at the last day, will
make you completely blessed, both in body and soul ? May God put it into aU
your hearts to desire this ; and may he give you faith to pray, in the words of the
text, " Make haste, my beloved, and be thou like to a roe or a young hart,"—
like them in swiftness and speed, for which they are remarkable. It is said of
Aaahel the son of Zeruiah, that he was as light of foot as a wild roe; and the
Gadites who came to David at Ziklag, are celebrated for being as swift as roes
upon the mountains. With aU this speed would the faithful have Christ to
hasten his coming. They had no stronger idea of the greatest speed than what
they took from the swiftness of a vrild roe ; and therefore by this they express
the fervent desires of their souls after his speedy coming. He heard their prayers,
and he will answer them. He gave them many promises in the Old Testa
ment of his coming in glory to judge the world, and many more in the New.
In his last words, with which be shuts up the volume of Revelation, he leaves us
this sweet and comfortable promise — " Surely I come quickly." Here we have
his promise : he trill come quickly ; and confirmed by a solemn asseveration :
surely, and surely what his tmth hath promised, nothing shaU be able to hinder
hia omnipotence from fulfilling : for, yet a httle whUe, and he that shaU come
will come, and will not tarry. And because he seems to tarry, therefore the
unbeliever takes occasion to reflect upon the faithfulness of God, and the careless
sinner sinks deeper into carnal security ; but both these sorts of persons may
read their condemnation in the third chapter of the second epistle of Beter, in
which he foretels that there should come, in the last days, scoffers, walking after
their own lusts, and saying, Where is the promise of his coming ? We see no
signs of it : for since the fathers fell asleep, aU things go on as they did from the
beginning of the creation. To this the apostle replies, first, by saying, It is wilful
ignorance to maintain that the world has suffered no change since the creation :
for'was it not once destroyed by a deluge of water ? And, secondly he answers,
that the Lord is not slack concerning his promise as some men count slackness,
but is long suffering to usward, not wiUing that any should perish, but that all
should come to repentance. What these men caU slackness, is an act of mercy.
The judge only waits tttl the time fixed in the counsel of God be finished, till the
number of the elect be perfected : and then shaU the end come. His delay may
seem long to us, who measure time by days, and months, and years ; but with
the Lord, a thousand years are but as one day. There is no time in eternity.
What seems long to us, who are but of yesterday, is with the Lord speedy : for
he that is truth, and cannot lie, says, Surely I come quickly. The longer he has
delayed, the sooner he will come : and therefore, my brethren, you should be the

528 SOLOMON'S SONG.
more prepared. If you think his delay long, this should hasten you in your pre
paration : because every moment brings his coming nearer. No one dare affirm
that he shall not five to see the Son of Man coming in the clouds of heaven with
power and great glory. If this may be, and every one of us may live to see it
come to pass, oh what manner of persons ought we to be in aU holy conversation
and godliness ! What diligence should we give to make our caUing and election
sure ! Ought we not to have a clear knowledge of our interest in the Judge, and
to be assured by faith of his being our Sariour, that we may love his appearing,
and pray for it, as the faithful did in the text ? They finished their prayer, and
closed the book, with entreating him to come speedily, and to give them more
experience of his love : they desired to have, ddly, more proofa of hia being-their
complete Sariour, by hia acting in each of hia anointed offices for them, and for
their advation, as their prophet, their prieat, and their king. Thia is, I think, the
meaning of the last words — " Upon the mountdns of spices.'.' In our language,
we apply the word raountdn to the highest hills, and we generaUy fix the idea of
barrenness to it : but the scripture applies it to httls of no great height, and to
the most fruitful httle, euch as Carmel, and Sharon, and Gilead, upon which grew
the spicee here mentioned. In the 30th of Exodue, we have a particular deacrip
tion of these aromatic spicea. Moaea waa commanded to take myrrh, cinnamon,
eweet calamue, and cassia, and to mix them up with olive oil, to make a compo
sition that would diffuse ita fragrant odoura without the help of fire. The UBe of
this holy ointment was to anoint the tabernacle itself and aU ita vessela, that
they might be holy unto the Lord : and it waa able to coneecrate the high
prieet, that he might miniBter in holy things : and it waa strictly forbidden
in the law to use it to any other purpose, upon the penalty of death. This holy
anointing waa to repreaent what waa to he in Chriat, and what waa to flow
to ua from him. It wa8 the type and figure of the anointing of the Holy
Spirit, which waa poured upon him without meaaure, to consecrate him to the
high offices of prophet, prieat, and king over the people of God. He is their
prophet, to enlighten the blindneae of their understanding, and to lead them into
aU earing truth ; their prieet, to take away the poUution and guilt of Bin ; and
their king to destroy in them the dominion of ein, and to carry on the divine life
in their souls, here in grace, and hereafter in glory. The faithful in the Old
Testament expected him in these gracious offices, for which he was to be qualified
by the unction from the Holy One ; and therefore they made it a matter of their
prayera that he would ha8ten hie coming in hie three office characters, which
they expre88 by that holy anointing, whereby he waa conatituted and ordained to
these officea.
The meaning of the worda, from what haa been aaid, appeara to be thia. The
faithful finieh thie eweet portion of ecripture with a prayer. They had expe
rienced so much of Christ's love, that their hearts were entirely eet upon further
communion ; and therefore they beg of him to haaten hia coming. In the Old
Testament they mean hia coming in the fleah ; in the New we mean hie coming
to judgment : but, both to them and ua, tliere ia another coming. Chriat mu8t
come and dweU in our hearts by faith, that we may receive the benefits of his
first coming in the flesh, and be prepared for hia aecond coming in glory : for
until we have by faith a dear view of our interest in him, how can we take up the
words ofthe text and eay, Make haete, O thou beloved JeBue, and for the electe'
sake shorten these days of sin and blasphemy. Why is thy chariot so long in
coming ? Why tarry the wfieele of thy chariot ? Oh ! come with dl the ewiftneaa
of the fleeteet roe, or wild deer, to fulfil whatever remaine of scripture not com
pleted ; especiaUy, come to fulfil what is written of the sacred offices to which
thou wast anointed, and by which thou art to make us an odour of a sweet Bmell,
a sacrifice acceptable, weU-pleasing unto God. Thus come, Lord Jeeua, aa our
prophet and prieat, and eet up thy kingdom of grace in every one of our
' hearts, that we may love thy appearing, and pray thee to hasten thy kingdom of
glory. Upon this state of the doctrine there are two practical truths offered to our
eerioue consideration.
First, the prayer for Christ's coming. And

DISCOURSE XII. 529
Secondly, the reason upon which the prayer was grounded.
And First, As to his coming at the last day, it is as certain as that he came in
the flesh in the fulness of time. From the certainty of the fact, the faithful were
led to pray for it. And can you, my brethren, join in their prayer ? Do you
desire from your hearts that Christ should soon come in aU his glory to judgment ?
Are you preparing and looking out for it as an event that may not be far off ? If
you are, then you are safe. But if you are not, examine carefully what is the
reason. Why cannot you pray along with the faithful for Christ's speedy coming
to judgment ? Surely you do not doubt of the fact ? That he wiU come to judge
the world, is as certain as that he did come, at the fixed time, to judge the Jewish
nation : " For we must aU appear before the judgment seat of Christ." The
matter of fact, upon scripture principles, is undeniably clear and certain. Why,
then, are you not so prepared for it as to make it the subject of your prayers ? Is
it because you put it at a great distance, and therefore think yourselves safe ?
Consider attentively what the scripture says upon this point. Our Lord has
given us several marks and signs of bis coming, by which we might know as
certainly when it was at hand as we could know, when the fig-tree puts forth her
gTeen figs, that summer is nigh. There were to be wars and rumours of wars,
pestilences, earthquakes in divers places, very httle true faith left upon the earth,
and yet as great security among careless sinners as there was in the days of Noah,
when the flood came and swept them all away. Do you think these cannot be
the forerunners of our Lord's speedy coming, because there dways have been
such things In the world ? But when all these signs are at once upon the earth,
and in a manner they never were before, then they become loud caUs to an
immediate preparation. Were there ever greater wars, or more rumours of wars ?
Has not an uncommon pestilence raged among the cattle for several years ir
this and in other countries ? Were there ever such earthquakes, so universal, and
of so long continuance, as have been for some years past ? And does not the
present state of the world, as to religion, greatly resemble our Lord's description
of the men upon whom that day shaU come unawares as a thief in the night ?
And when could the account which St. Paul gives us in several of his epistles,
of the men of the latter times, be more true than it is at present ? Have they not
the name and form of Christianity without the power of it ? Are they not worldly-
minded, sunk into carnal security, and so entirely influenced by the love of
pleasure, that the love of God, ancl of the things of God, is not only waxed cold,
but quite frozen up ? Was there ever any age wherein our Lord's words could be
more strictly fulfiUed ? " When the Son of man cometh, shall he find faith upon
the earth ?" By these signs our Lord is alarming a sinful world with notices of
his speedy coming ; and if sinners are not at all alarmed, but continue stiU
secure in their sins, this iB a scripture proof that he will soon come as a thief in
the night and surprise them : for when they shall say, " Peace and safety, then
sudden destruction shaU come upon them, and they shaU not escape."
But still you do not see the signs of his coming so clearly as to be convinced
ofthe necessity of being immediately prepared. If it be at all necessary to be
prepared, it is certainly necessary to be prepared immediately : for you cannot
be sure, at any time, that he will not come ; and therefore you should be at all
times ready for his coming. Suppose he should come in a day that ye look not
for him; what would your eternal condition be ? What if he should surprise
you in your sins ; have you no apprehension about your danger ? Who amongst
you could dwell with the devouring fire ? Who amongst you could dweU with the
everlasting burnings ? And suppose he should not come ; yet, if he send death
to surprise you, it is the same thing. If you die unpardoned, you are lost for
ever : for it is written, " The wicked shaU be turned into heU, and aU the people
that forget God." So that, put our Lord's coming as far off as you please, yet
you cannot put death off. And there is the same preparation necessary for the
one ae for the other. You must be turned from darkness to light, and from the
power of Satan unto God ; you must be justified and sanctified, before you are fit
either to meet death or judgment. And if you have no knowledge of Christ's being
your Saviour, it is the same thing to you as if there was no Saviour : for if you
"e not united by faith to Christ, he is no Christ to you, according to the saving
M M

530 SOLOMON'S SONG.
of the first reformers, that "An unapplied Christ is no Christ." Thnefore, my
bdoved brethren, if you have any red love for your own aouls, if you indeed prefer
everlasting joys to endless torments, seek for pardon and peace from the bands
of Jesus Christ, who has them to give ; that, having received them from him,
you may be able with tme fdth to use the prayer in the text, and for the same
reason the faithful here used it ; namely, from your experience of your interest
in Christ; which is the second practiced point in the text I was to apply.
They pray to Christ to hasten his coming ; which they earnestly requested,
because they had clear evidence of his being their loving Saviour. He first loved
them, and made them sensible of his love ; therefore they loved him. And having
a sure interest in the present graces of his sdvation (for they were in possession,
and had actual enjoyment of them) they knew that they should at his second
coming share in the blesaings of hie eternd kingdom : for which reaeon they
offered up to him the prayer of fdth, requesting him to come quickly — Make
haste, my beloved, and may we soon see thee manifest in the flesh, making an
atonement for sin and bringing in everlasting righteousness : and when thouhast.
by obeying, suffering, dying, and rising agdn, fulfiUed the law and the prophets.
oh hasten thy second coming. Let all things be forwarded that are to go before
it. Finish the number of thine elect, Jews and Gentiles, and then como in the
clouds of heaven with power and great glory. Now, my brethren, do you pray
thus for Christ's second coming ? Can you make it, do you make it, the ddly
Bubject of your prayere ? Being assured that Jesus is your Saviour, have you no
fear of him as your Judg» ? Are you so entirely delivered from fear, that you
love his appearing, as the day of the Lord's great glory, when he will be glorified
in the destruction of all his enemies, and glorified much more in the eternal
sdvation of att his saints ?
Perhaps some of you may think that it savours of enthusiasm for a mon to
pretend to be bo certain of Christ's love as to pray for hia coming to judgment.
Let us hear, then, what the acripture saya. The faithful in the text deBire Chriat
to make haete ; and upon thie motive they ground their prayer, that he was their
beloved : but they could not have urged him to make haate for thia reason, unlee8
they had been certain of their intereet in him. If he had not been their beloved,
they could not have made their hopee of meeting him eoon the subject of their
prayere ; but every one could eay for himself, " My beloved is mine, and I am
hia :" and knowing that they were hi8, and belonged to him — knowing thie from
the work of grace which waB in them, from the abiding witness of the Spirit, and
from the long and aweet communion which they had enjoyed with their beloved
Jeeua — they therefore prayed him to make haate — to hasten his first and second
coming. And if thiebeenthueiaem.itie not peculiar to thie portion of ecripture. It
runs through the whole volume as weU ae through the Song. All the patriarchs,
as weU as Abraham, desired to see Chriat'a day. Moaes prayed earneatly for it,
and wae honoured with the eight of it, aa Abraham waa. God ahowed it to them
in a virion ; but he did not voucheafe the same to many prophete, and kinge,
and righteous men, dthough they earnestly desired to aee it. The Pedroa and
the propheticd writinge are fuU of petitions to Christ, praying him to come to

 1 subject e^
event for them. Daily are they looking up to him, and praying, " thy kingdom
come," and beseeching him, in the words of our church, " shortly to accompkah
the number of his elect, and to hasten hie kingdom."
Thus, it is so far from being enthusiasm to love Christ's appearing, that it n
one of the pldn truths of ecripture, clearly taught and etrongly enforced in
numerous paseages both of the Old Testament and of the New; and it is a
doctrine received by our church, and made use of in her liturgy. And certainly,
my brethren, you wttl not oppose a tmth confirmed by so many proofB ! Thia
would be acting a very irrational part, and would be a clear sign of your being
under great guilt : for it would prove you to be without the least senBe of that
love which you oppoee. If you had ever seen your want of that love, had tyer
been seeking it, or had ever tasted of it, you could not deny there ie Buch a thing

DISCOURSE XII. 531
as loving Chnst, because he first loved you. This is a received truth in scripture.
In the Song it is taken for granted throughout ; and in the New- Testament it is
expressly asserted ; " We have known, say some, the love that God hath to us."
And another declares, " Jesus Christ loved me, and gave himself for me." And
we may still know this by the very same means by which they knew it ; riz. by
the Holy Ghost's shedding abroad the love of God in our hearts. Unttt he shed
it abroad in your hearts you cannot join the faithful in the text, and pray with
them for Christ's coming; because, if you love him not, how can you love his
appearing ? You cannot call him your beloved ; aud therefore you have no
interest in him. Consider and examine whether this be a desirable state to five
in, and to die in. What is it to be without Christ ? Is it not to be aliens from
the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers from the covenants of promise, to have
no hope, and to be without God in the world ? This is the scripture account of
your dangerous condition. And does not it alarm you ? If it does, fly to Christ,
and he will give you to taste of his pardoning love. If it does not, may he send
his good Spirit to convince you what it is to be without Christ, that you may
feel the misery of it in time, and therefore may seek to be happy with him in
eternity. If, then, the same spirit be in you which was in the faithful in the text, you will
be able to take up their words, and to speak them with their faith. You will have
such a clear view of your interest in the beloved Jesus, that the thoughts of his
coming soon to judgment will be matter of joy and delight ; and this will furnish
you with the best comment upon the Song. The experience of Christ's love
makes it plain and easy : for he that has this love in his heart will not be much at
a loss to understand what is here written of it. He is not like a novice, who
begins to learn the first principles of some art or science; but he is a great pro
ficient. He has been taught of God, and has receivetl a practical and experi
mental knowledge of the subject of this book. It treats of the believer's happi
ness in being united to Christ ; and he is united to Christ, and finels himself
happy in that union : for he knows the love which Christ has to his soul; and
he has received many clear scripture marks and evidences of it. The Holy Spirit
has shed abroad the love of Christ in his heart ; and he loves Christ, because he
knows Christ first loved him. He loves God the Father, who is now his reconr
ciled Father, and he loves and delights to do bis will. He loves the Lord's day,
his ordinances, his people, and, in short, he loves every thing that God loves,.
He has indeed in his heart that love of which this book treats ; and his own
experience daily opens and explains it so clearly, as if it had been written for his
particular use, and was a copy of God's dealings with his soul. He finds that
nearness to God which is here described. He has much sweet communion with
hiin in prayer. In time of temptation, or affliction, he can go boldly to the
throne of grace. Faith gives him boldness and access with confidence : for he
is assured that, whatever he asks in his Saviour's name, he shall receive. When
he hears or reads the word, he can mix faith with it ; and he is enabled to grow
thereby. And when he goes to the Lord's supper, he finds that Christ is stiU
present at his own table, and makes himself known in breaking of bread. He
finds a nearness to Christ, and enjoys sweet feUowship with hiin in all the ordi
nances. He lives in his presence, is led by his Spirit, and partakes of his comforts.
In short, he is united to Christ intimately and vitally, as a member of the body
is to the head, or as the branches are to the vine, or as the bread is to the eater,
or as the building is to the foundation : for under these, and several such like
images, the scripture describes the union there is between Christ and the believer.
Our church, speaking of it, says, That believers are one with Christ, and he with
them ; that they dwell in Christ, and Christ in them. Surely, then, they that
are thus closely united to Christ wiU know the most of this book, and wiU be the
best commentators on it : for it is not a sealed book to them. The subject-matter
is to them plain and open. Daily experience gives them clearer views of its
sweetness and fidness ; and every step they advance in the divine life affords them
fresh occassion to bless and praise God for this comfortable portion of his holy
word. My brethren, if you are united to Christ in the bonds of love, you know that
m m 2

532 SOLOMON'S SONG.
tliese things are tme : but if you have not his love in your heart, nor desire it, you
are not fit to read the Song : for you cannot understand it. A deaf man is as
g°°d a judge of a fine piece of music as you are of a treatise upon that love of
which you never had a taste. The Song is a book of experience, describing
Christ's love to his people, and the happiness they have in the Bense of his love :
but if you have no sense of it, how can you understand what is here written
concerning it ? If you should take it up and read it, having never had any
fellowship with the Father nor the Son by the bond of the Spirit, it will appear
to you an unintelligible piece of jargon. The English translation would be aa
dark and mysterious as the origind Hebrew, which you do not understand : for
it is a seded book until the Holy Spirit open its meaning ; but dl becomes plain
and clear when he sheds abroad in the heart that love of which it treats ; and the
more he gives you to taste of the love of Christ, the plainer and sweeter will the
book grow in your esteem.
My Christian friends and brethren, you know these thinga to be tme from
your owrn experience. You aet a great value upon thia aweet portion of scripture,
and deaire to 8ee the depthe and heighte of it : they will open more fully to your
view if you pray for more love and nearer communion with Christ. And if any
of you, my brethren, have been prevailed upon to seek for tho happy experience
of Christ's love, you are ready to join your hearts with mine to pray to him for
a bleaaing on these diacourBes. And.as to you who have not been Blirred up to
seek, you stand in great need of our prayers ; and we wiU offer them up for you.
May he that heareth prayer hear and answer !
We humbly beseech thee, O thou God of love, to bring into the way of truth
dl those who have erred and are deceived concerning this portion of thy divine
word. Remove all their prejudices. Show the natural man, the ridicuier, and
the unbeliever, that they want the love of which it treats. Convince them, blessed
Jeaus, that thy love can make them happy," and nothing dae can. Let them feel
their guilt and their danger, while the love of earthly and aenaual enjoymenta
binders their seeking for thy spiritud and heavenly joys. And may thy good
Spirit shed abroad the love of God in the hearta of all those who are aeeking it,
that they may find thia portion of scripture verified in their own eoule, and daily
fulfilled in their own experience. Oh that we may all know more of the love of
God, and taste and see how gracious the Lord is. May we enjoy that fellowship
and communion with the Father and his Son Jesua Chriat which will explain to
our underetandinge and apply to our hearta all the comforts of this divine treatise/
So be it, Lord Jesus, to the prdse of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, three
pereon8 in one Jehovah ; to whom the church militant and triumphant givea
equd honour, and worahip, and glory, now and for ever. Amen and Amen.

LETTERS

WRITTEN BY THE

REV. WILLIAM ROM A IKE, A.M.
TO THE HON. AND REV. W. B. C.

LETTER I.
June 15, 1782.
My dear Friend. — Our Lord has been showing you some tokens of his
singular regard for you. Whom he loveth, he takes pains with. He has been
trying you with his rod : the trial on his part was altogether love, and graciously
intended for your improvement : " I wiU feed them, says the gooel shepherd, with
the rod." — Strange food to reason and sense, but rendered truly nourishing to
faith. It learns to feel what sin, exceeding sinful sin, is. The smart says, " Sin
deserves ten thousand times more than this ;" the smart continues, " Jesus, Lord,
thy wiU be done ; only let faith and patience have their perfect work, that I may
love thee for mortifying the hfe of sen^e:" the disorder abates — " O dear Saviour,
keep me humble and thankful, that I may so cleave to thee with fuU purpose of
heart, as to be dying daily to other objects, and be more ahve to thee. As the
pain drove me to thee, may the removing it keep me nearer to thee, so that I may
practicaUy learn to set the Lord always before me." These and many other im
provements, I hope, foUowed your late visitation. It was sent to yield you the
peaceable fruits of righteousness ; yea, a harvest of blessings. May they be rich
and ripe to the glory of the Giver !
These sentiments were upon my mind, and I could not help sending them to
ou, dthough my writing was upon another occasion. A friend of mine offered,
ast year, to bring me to R  ; but, as we did not return to London, we refused
his favour : this year we accept it. I am thankful for your great assistance to
the Bible Society. If it be quite agreeable to you that I should once more recom
mend that blessed book in your pulpit, I am ready. We wait for your answer,
and for your fixing a Sunday : the sooner the better for us, if convenient for you.
Mrs. R. desires kind remembrance. I am, with brotherly love in our common
Lord, your friend and servant,
W. Romaine.
LETTER II.
Brislington, Sept. 3, 1783.
Dear Friend and Brother. — Mrs. Romaine desired me to convey the
enclosed to you, with her respects to Mrs. C. ; with which I very gladly complied,
that I might have an opportunity of acknowledging your great kindness to me
during the long visit which 1 paid you at R  . You may continue the favour,

I

534 LETTERS WRITTEN BY
though we be absent, by ddly remembrance of me in your prayers. I have
nothing beyond these to ask of any one ; and I am particularly happy in be
lieving that I have many (Mr. C. among them) who interest themadvee for me
in this way. Do your best ; be fervent ; continue instant ; persevere : you will
not soon get out of my debt.
I have just finished my reading of the Bible for 1783. It has been a season of
great teaching. I never went through it with more delight or with more profit
My soul has found it more precious than gold, and it is really sweeter than
honey. But stttl I see much before me to be learned and to be experienced. I
do not doubt of the promise being fulfiUed to me, Jer. xxxi. 33, 34 ; but I am
seeking and wdting for its being engraven deeper in my heart, and more fdrly
copied out in my life. Oh that the Lord, the Spirit, may cast you and me into
the mould of the word, that we may take the impression of every truth, and
receive it in the love of it. I have put down my observations on this year's
reading, and perhaps you may see them the next time we meet.
Mrs. R. with cordial respects to you and Mrs. C. and to our common friend
Mrs. T. joins
W. Romaine.

LETTER III.
Nov. 29, 1783.
My dear Friend.— I have been out of town this week, and could not take
earlier notice of your letter. If I may advise, I would by no meana employ any
body out of R Many, many, reaaone offer themaelvee to me. As it ie quite
necessary to enlarge the church, begin in faith and in the prayer of faith. As
to the money, it is forthcoming. 1 have not had an opportunity to mention it to
any body, but you need not doubt of its being raised. Get your plan and your
eetimate, and then communicate it to your friende. Do me the Honour to put
me down for one of your subacribera and coUectora ; and, when the gallery ia
finiahed, eend for me, and I wttl coneecrate it for you. At preeent, I will follow
your design with my prayers, that the great head of the church would approve
of it apd bless it. Every good wish to you and your partner. Remember us
to our old friend Mrs. 1'., whose heart rejoices with mine' to see St.  ao
highly favoured. I am, with great truth, youra, in the beat bonde,
W. Romaine.

LETTER IV.
Dec. 5, 1783.
My uear Friend. — With this comes Mr. L. ; euch a. man ae you want —
able and faithful : 1 have proved him. When you prove him, you will eay the
eame. I do not recommend him for an experienced Christian ; but he ia worth
a thousand of the professors of this day. Go on and prosper in thia and in all
your other worka. We did not forget you yeeterday morning, noon, or night.
There is a union which eanctifies all othere. As the head quickens dl the
members, so our Head puts his life into aU our enjoyments, and he makes our
sweets sweeter, and our bitter sweet ; only we do not love the taste, or else he
would make the bitterest sweetest. When we leave him out of any thing, it ia
weU if we feel it empty or displeasing ; and so for wife, children, servants,
parish, indeed for every thing, we must put him in, if we get any good out of it.
My congratulations have been made to him, and my prayers also, that he
would bless your connexion, and turn your water into wine. You know what
that is : and it is his standing miracle.
Our true love, Mrs. Romaine's and mine, to Mrs. C and yourself. Remember
us to Mrs. T. She is a wonderful monument of mercy. To dine at the vicarage !
WeU — what cannot our God do ? Pray for
W. Romaine.

THE REV. W. ROMAINE. A.M. 535
LETTER V.
Blackfriars, Dec. 23, 1783
Dear Sir.- — By favour of Mr. Neucatre, I send my hearty wishes for your
meeting the birth of Christ with the spirit of the angels. It was the triumph of
their joy that Christ the Lord was borii ; and yet he was not so nearly related to
them as to you and me. But they thought according to God's thoughts ; and,
as far as they understood them, they admired and adored his inestimable love in
taking our nature into union with himself. What a miracle of philanthropy !
" WiU God in very deed dweU with men" on the earth ? O yes ! though it
puzzled Solomon : yet God's counsels of old are now faithfulness and truth.
The Word is incarnate. Glory be to God in the highest ! the Peacemaker is
come to the earth, and has demonstrated the delight of his Father towards men.
Blessed be his witness — that you believe it: blessed be his grace — that you
enjoy it : thanks be to his holy name — that you preach it. May your meditations
upon it, and your present preaching of it, warm your heart with more than
angel's joy. Try to get a note above them ; I am sure you ought, notwith
standing they were iv ttyio-Tois-. I am aiming at it this Christmas, but have not
yet attained. And this makes up 6ome of my best praise — what he is to me —
and what I am to him. I see and am under such infinite obligations, that I am
willing to be in his debt for ever and ever. Even then I shaU pay him nothing ;
or if it be worth any thing, it will be aU his own. AU my fresh springs of glory,
as weU as grace, shaU be in him.
I could not stop my pen ; for he is precious. I hope and pray for his favour
on the design, and his blessing on the use of the intended gallery. You must
have a faculty — The order of vestry must be sent to Salisbury — Mind, a unani
mous vestry. I shall not move in the subscription till matters are settled. But
think it not a doubtful point ; the money may be easily raised. God bless Mrs.
C. this Christinas with his light and his love. I do not forget your neighbour,
Mrs. T. I shall not, while she is in the reach of prayer : and when that is
done I shall praise him for ever I entreat you to remember me in your best
moments. When the King smttes on you, ask a favour for
W. Romaine.

LETTER VI.
March 5, 178-1.
My very dear Friend. — I have two letters of yours before me; one
relating to the gallery, which I have much at heart, and shall not be less earnest
in collecting for it, although I have at the onset met with two repulses. How
ever, these things only make me the more earnest to do what I can. On some
good day, when the Lord smiles, I wiU go out in his name, and I hope his work
wiU prosper in my hands.
Mr. H. may wait on me whenever he gets the seals : I shaU think it an honour
to frank him on your recommendation. L  is a favoured place, in which
the Lord delightetn to dwell. He has made himself known there for more than
thirty years, to my knowledge. Mr. C. S. was there, and Mr. W. L. was curate
there before he came to me. The good seed was sown, and took root. May
Mr. II. be a successful labourer, and the Lord's harvest prosper in his hands !
Wo have begun our hour of prayer from eight to nine on Sunday evenings.
I dread what is coming upon this land : I have long read it in the word, and
now I see it about to take effect. If nobody stand in the gap, vengeance will
find its way. We have pleaded and prevailed. If we cannot this time, and the
measure of our iniquities be full, it will however be well with them who are on
the side of the Lord and his Christ. Ezekiel ix. None of them who had the
mark perished. May we mourn and pray for our sins and others — sigh for the
dishonour offered to our almighty Jesus, and to the Spirit Jehovah, and to the

536 LETTERS WRITTEN BY
word of his grace. Let us do what we can in the way of prayer : and may He
who sitteth^ upon the throne hear and answer my prayers for you and yours
especially. Remember ' «- * , j
W. Romaine.

LETTER VII.
July 30, 1784.
My very dear Friend.— I reeeived yours by the hand of Mr. L. My
service was ready to assist you at the Lock, Aug. 1 : the disappointment was
not owing to me. Whenever the gaUery opens, I hope our Lord will be there
to fill it with his glory.
I wish you joy of a troublesome job, from which the Bishop has delivered you.
Should it not put your parish in mind of a new church ?
"\\ e purpose on Monday to set out for the North ; in dl probability for the
last time. I have three sisters dive, all in years as well as myself; and we are
to have a family meeting, to take our leave, final as to this life. It has brought
a great solemnity upon my spirit ; and it would be too much for my feelings if
I had not dl the reason in the wprld to believe that our next meeting will be in
glory. Mr. Whitfield used often to put me in mind how singularly favoured 1
was. He had none of his family converted ; and my father, and mother, and
three sisters were like those bleased people — " And Jesus loved Martha, and lier
sister, and Lazarus ; " and, as they loved him again, so do we. 1 hope to
return about the middle of September, and to visit you aoon after.
I am, with Mrs. Romaine's, and my best wishes to Mrs. C, your friend and
brother, in our common Lord,
W. Romaine.
The Prince of Peace was very much honoured in this city yesterday. I scarce
ever felt so mnch of his presence in ordinances any day of my life. Tliere was
also great outward reverence paid by, all, except Quakers.

LETTER VIII. Monday Evening, Dec. 13, 1784.
My dear Friend. — I have beenwdting a long time for newe outof York
shire relating to the Sunday-Bchools. I can give you now a fuU and aatiefactory
account of them. They have been chiefly useful in the trading parts, where
there are great numbers of the manufacturers' children employed, as soon aa
they can do anything, aU the week, but let looae to mischief and wickedness
aU the Lord's day. It was with a view to. prevent this, and also to instruct
them in the way of sdvation, for their own sakea, and for their parenta, and
for the public, that several persons, laity as weU as clergy, tried to get them
together, and teach them to read, write, and learn the catechism. Ine Lord
God has marvellously favoured the plan. He has inclined vast numbers of
children to come ; the parenta in general are thankful ; and the schoolmaatera
and mistresses have given great satisfaction. 1 know not of any thing more
promising for the rising generation, especiaUy as it is made an indispensable
part of their Sunday's employment, that they attend the church regularly with
their masters and mistresses. Mr. T. informa me of one good effect ; that it
has been the happy occasion of many conversions, by bringing poor people to
see their children at church, who never before came to any place of worship.
Othere have dso been won over to let their children attend by the little presents
made to the neighbours' children, and by seeing their improvement in reading
and writing. If you are disposed to do something in this way, you have my
prayers for success.
I hear you stay Christmas at R. May it be a season of much thankfulness
as they sang " glad tidings of great joy." This Advent has brought forth

THE REV. W. ROMAINE, A.M. 537
(Isaiah xl. 1, 2, 3, &c.) verses, to my unspeakable joy. I have trod upon John
the Baptist's heels, and have been favoured with some of his views of the Lamb
of God. It is a most delightful portion of God's word. Yesterday we had verses
9, 10 : " God incarnate, almighty to save." Our next subject is, verse 11. " God
incarnate, the good Shepherd, whose love is almighty to bless them." Our
kindest respects to Mrs. C. and to yourself. Remember us to Mrs. T. Do not,
I charge you, do not cease to pray for
W. Romaine.

LETTER IX.
Nov. 26, 1785.
My very dear Friend. — Methinks I heard a voice, saying. " Weep not for
me ; but weep for yourselves." However, I could not tielp weeping for our loss,
dthough we are certain she is entered into rest. The church and people in
R  have a great loss, and none more than yourself; for she really was a
mother to you in love, in every good office, and in continual prayer for your
person and for your labours. The poor will feel their loss. Her long experience
made her wise in the things of God, by which she could teach the ignorant with
a meekness quite her own. Her natural temper, sanctified by grace, enabled her
frequently to check the spreading of furious zeal and wild separations ; both which
have had their day, but, I thank God, seem to be dying away at R  . Though
we know not the effect of her prayers, yet her Lord is our Lord : he still
reigneth ; and to him I will make my supplication. He wttl hear me often before
his throne on the same errand. For many years his interest at St. G  's has
been upon my heart. Still I feel it warm : and I hope it witt be warmer. When
you speak in public upon the occasion of her death, I wiU be praying him to
make it the means of giving life to many dead sinners. The Lord Jesus bless
your preaching that day to all who hear it ! My feelings are such, that I am sure
I could not be able to speak upon the subject. My eyes are running down with
tears while I am writing ; I do not resist his will : Oh no ; I kiss the rod, but I
do feel the smart, and shall for some time. God sanctify it ; may the Comforter
take ofthe things of Jesus, and with them help us to improve this visitation.
May Mrs. C  profit much, and all of us learn that there is no blessing upon
earth but living in the Lord ; and then great wttl be our blessedness when we
come to die in tbe Lord. Mrs. R  very heartily joins, and begs to be remem
bered with Yours,
W. Romaine.

LETTER X.
Jan. 19, 1795.
My good Friend and Brother. — Y'ou will please to accept this little book
aa a smdl token of my great love for you. If any thing in it appear wrong, or
that might be improved, it would be a favour to me if you would mark it ; and,
if what is right agrees with your experience, thank our divine teacher the Holy
Spirit for leading me into the truth, and for keeping me in it, through such a
lung life, and for the most blessed prospect opened to me when this life shall be
ended. May he be with you, and bless you in all your labours, for his glory,
according to the warmest wishes of the heart of
W. Romaine.
Our love to Mrs. C.

538 LETTERS WRITTEN BY
LETTER XI.
Feb. 14, 1795.
My very dear Friexd. — 1 have8ent a parcel of two hundred invitationa,
one for yourself and the other for the printing-office : and I foUow them with my
prayers that they may be the means of bringing some to pray who do not use it,
and some who do, to pray with more fdth. The cloud over us is very dark ; but
prayer can pierce through it, and enter into the ears of the Lord of Hosta. If
any good ia done, I must thank you for it ; because it was from your mentioning
it to my son that I set about it.
I am really obliged to you for the offer of your assistance. If you sleep in
London, and would preach at St. Dunstan'a, Thursday, the '2Gth, it would be a
great favour. If inconvenient then, might I expect you at ray own church, on
the 24th. I cannot desire both. Please to let rae know.
I thank my God ; for of him cometh our harmony of sentiments and expe
rience. May he confirm us and e8tablish us yet more and more, that our preach
ing and living may spread the fame of our Jesus : and you may be blessed in
doing both — after he has discharged me. Our respects to Mrs. C., and with
great truth, I am, your friend in the Lord,
W. Romaine.

LETrERXlI.
To Sir R. H., Bart. Nov. 18, 1791.
Honoured Sir. — I do not know that you are returned to England : but if you
are, I am sure you have seen enough abroad to endear your native country to
you more than ever. It is at present the favourite of Heaven. Our privilegea
as free men, and as Christians, Eet us far above the nations of the earth. It is my
office to plead with the Lord and Governor of church and state, that we may not
be Buffered to sin away our distinguishing bleseings. I have aome intereat with
a very great Prince, and I am often mentioning you to him, and recommending
your eaae : for he delighteth in mercy. May you know him more than I do,
and love him, and delight in him, and every day find him a more, still more,
precioua Jesus. Oh how marvellous ahould he be in your eyes — youra are not
common favours — that he ehould vouchsafe to ,caU one of your fortune and
rank, ehould admit you into hie friendship, which, I am sure, is heaven upon
earth. Oh blese him for what he hae done, and pray for greater thingB yet.
Holding the truth in love, may you grow up into him in aU thinge. May your
Bister and brother partake of the same blessinga, is the ddly requeat of your friend
and servant in the Lord Christ,
W. Romaine.

LETTER XIII.
Dec. 3, 1791.
My very dear Friend. — I have a long letter from H. full of complaints. I
know one whose very eoul ie delighted with hearing euch complaints : for they
are the breathings of his own Spirit in the heart of his redeemed, and therefore
Bent, that Christ may be more necessary, and more predoua : but indeed, my
friend, you legalize them, and make thoee thinge elietreeeing which were only in
tended to be humbfing. The cauee of every poeeible complaint ie in you, whether
you feel it or not. You have an aby88 of corruption : so have I, and perhaps
felt it deeper than ever you have or wrttl feel it. But 1 have a teacher who makes
this whole body of sin profitable, and to the increase of my faith, and to the mag
nifying the grace of my dmighty Saviour. My ddly leaaon ia to carry my

THE REV. W. ROMAINE, A.M. 539
burden to him, and he carries both me and it : and while we thus go on lovingly
together, he often lets me look into the heU within ; but he keeps my conscience
sprinkled with his atoning blood ; and even then I do feel its sovereign virtue to
cleanse me from all my sins, if they were ten miUion times more and greater than
they are. Thus believing, yet groaning, under my dreadful load, I hear the
Father's testimony, and I honour it: "Thy sins and iniquities will I remember
no more."
You met an old saint at Sandwell ; and you wished to be in his case. I do
not. I suppose you mean F. C. I know him well. I dare not unchristian him.
But I thank my God for his leading, I think in a more gospel way, and, I am
sure, a safer. Carrying about me a body of sin and death, I groan under it,
being burdened ; it is my continual plague night and day ; it makes me loathe
myself, and repent in dust and ashes. Hereby I am kept sensible of my wants,
my unworthiness, my helplessness, my vileness : and through grace these things
are made useful to bind me closer to my beloved. They render him absolutely
necessary to my desperate case, and preach that self-abhorrence which makes
Christ very precious. This should be the happy improvement of aU the bitter
things you write against yourself : in my judgment and experience they make for
you. Under the law, they speak guilt and misery. Under the gospel, they
magnify the grace and salvation of our God. I observe also that you attend too
much, ny far, to what others (perhaps professors) say of you : and it brings distress
upon you, and hurts your spirits. But they are not your judges ; neither are they
competent. Thua I read — Brethren, let every man, wherein he is caUed, therein
abide with God. God can be with you. God can help you to glorify hkn by
your abiding in your calling. He has promised it. In a cottage in Wales you
would be out of your place and duty. You would carry yourself there. Retire
ment in will-worship would make you feel more the plague of your own heart ;
and your cottage wonlil be a very hell upon earth ; because you had left the
station wherein God, and his help, and his comforts, were to be found. Indeed,
Sir R. you have no justifiable ground of distress, either from God or man.
You know the truth of what I say ; but stttl the effect remains. Your heart is
not perfectly settled in the gospel rest. He that settled me, he done can
settle you. Tliere comes in another part of Christian friendship, which I do
exercise and am diligent in. The prayer of faith avaUeth much — to keep you, as
you are, stttl full of complaints, but improving them in a free spirit to the glory
of the Saviour ; a child of Adam, deserting hell ; a believer in Jesus ; an heir
of heaven. May he keep you by his almighty power tttl he bring you safe to
his promised heaven. Thanks for your many favours, and the love that sends
them. Our red love to your sister, brother B., and to the household of fdth.
Mrs. R. joins W. Romaine.

LETTER XIV. Tiverton, Sept. 5, 1794.
My dear Friend. — The wiU of the Lord be done! He does aU things for
the best; and he is teaching you, not only to say it, but dso to feel it. I
know it ; for his compassions fail not. And he wUl make you sensible that
all his dedings with you are in loving-kindness and great tenderness. Look
back ; see and admire in what a gracious way he has led hitherto all your
steps. Oh what distinguishing favours — to call you by his grace — to make you
obedient to his call — to teach you his gospel, in a manner vouchsafed to very few
— to keep you by his own power for so many years, that you have not faUen, nor
disgraced your profession of our most holy faith, and that to this hour he pre
serves you, wdting for the mercy of our Lord Jesus unto eternal life ! Indeed,
my dear sir, these are sovereign blessings ; and I verily believe that you are
well taught how to apply them on the present occasion : nay, thanks be to him,
I have it under your own hand, that he has enabled you to submit to bis wttl.
He hus taken away a sister; but she is with him. You have lost a friend ; but

540 LETTERS WRITTEN BY
he has found her. She is dead ; but she Iiveth. Oh most blessed change 1 She
is gone from sin and suffering to five with God for ever. I am ready to say, not
withstanding she witt be ao much miaaed in your family, from my very heart I
praise and worship him, that he has taken her mto his heaven and glory. He did
it too in a way which was singularly kind to her surviving relations. I mean those
hidings of the Lord's loving countenance, and those desertions and darkness, of
which she complained.* You cannot think what a great refreshment this wae
to my spirits, and what a testimony it was of the soundnesa of her fdth and of
her experience. On dl these accounts, let your sorrow be turned into joy.
Survey your mercies, persond : look at your family : where can you show me ao
many chosen, and called? Let B. speak. Let Mrs. T. speak. Let all that
love H. speak, and say, He is good to them indeed; for his mercy to them en
dureth for ever. Blessings on him ! he is good in what he givea. He ie good, yea
Meet of dl, in what he takes away. Strew her hearse with prai8C8 ; and if a tear-
be shed, let sorrow be turned into joy ; for, what we deposit of her, we commit
into his care and keeping, who wttl make it one day shine like his own moat glo
rious body.
I thank him, therefore, for the good newa which you sent me : and with my
thanka I join my prayere for your profiting from thie providence. It warne you to
be ready. You are in the laat etage of your journey. He can make it the beet.
He hae promiaed it ; and he cannot break hia word. He hae a marvelloue skill,
and an equdly marvellous love, in making the infirmities of age bo many motives
to trust him more. Less of sense, more of fdth. Less of self, more of Christ.
An infirm body, a sound mind. Nature failing, grace reigning, and that unto
eternd life, through Jesua Chriat our Lord. May you find every day, and for
every thing, that he is with you, keeping your conscience in his peace, your heart
in his love, your life in hia handa, and your hope in hia glory. Whatever in
terest I have in him, is yours, and I truat he will make the prayer of faith, which
ia fervent for you, effectud alao. Your letter of Auguat 26th did not coine to
my hands tttl September 5th. We are in Devonshire, at my wife's sister's, from
whence we remove next week to Mr. Ireland's, Bristol, for the remainder of thie
month. Mre. R. ia not behind me in beat wiahea for you and B. and Mr. and
MrB. T., if with you. It is no smdl part of myhappineea, that brotherly love
continues. I thank him who gave it, who keepe it, who will keep it unto the
end. May he bless you with the choicest of hia bleaaings, and give you to pray
for
W. Romaine.

LETTER XV. Clapham, Sept. 30.
My good Friend. — I was made to believe that 1 ehould have tbe pleaeure
of seeing you to-day ; but I am sadly disappointed. I wanted to thank you for
past favours of thia year, aa weU aa- many before.
I wanted dso to inform you, that no person living ever heard me epeaic a word
agdn8t M.'a doctrine. As far as I know, he is sound in the fdth ; and I esteem
him for the truth's sake.
It would have been a red favour done me if I. had an opportunity personally of
wiahing you a good journey. The 121et Pealm be your viaticum, fulfilled in
every day'a travel, and the laat verae made good to you aa long as you are upon
fdth's ground, and then for ever. My love to my dear brother B. I hope he
has aHebrew Bible, and will translate thepsdm. I setout after church to Clapham.
To-morrow we go to Southampton. God be with you, and guide and keep you.
So prays
W. Romaine,
* After this season of darkness she was enabled to rejoice id God our Savioui. and de
parted in full assurance of faith.

THE REV. W. ROMAINE, A.M. 541
LETTER XVI.
Feb. 7, 1795.
Dear Sir. — In some former wars this treatise met with your approbation ;
and it pleased God to own it, and to bless it. At the desire of my friends, I have
reprinted it, in hopes it may, through the divine favour, bring his people agdn
upon their knees. You know weU that prayer has dispersed blacker clouds than
the present : and if we are humbled under his mighty hand, God is never at a
loss for ways and means to grant us our requests. Please to communicate this
to my brother B., and teU him that I believe he will meet some of the best com
pany in the kingdom, at eight o'clock, on Sunday evening. I am, with great
respect, your friend and servant in the Lord,
W. Romaine.
LETTER XVII.
To A. S. Esq.* March 14, 1774.
Dear Sir. — I want no argument to convince you of the friendship of Mr. S.
to W. R. or vice versd. I believe it is of his making who ties eternd bonds.
Whenever I think of you, I have only one thing to blame myself for ; which I am
to try to make amends for, the first opportunity I have, in person.
Your letter has warmed my heart with a fresh proof of your friendship. I
do not think it right to take any steps in it myself, but leave it to the great
Lord. Poor R. I It is the worst day that town ever saw. But remember, my good
friend, neither you nor I love Christ's flock, nor can love them, as he does. I
am afraid, the cdled are called — and the caUed shaU be weU taken care of. They
cannot perish. Mrs. T. is amazingly supported. But I am running on I know
not whither ; and Sunday evening people are coming in : my work begins.
Adieu ! Yours in our dear, common dear Lord,
W. Romaine.
My blessing on your children.

LETTER XVIII. Tunbridge Wells, July 1, 1774.
My very dear Friend. — I am forced to make my apology for not coming
to appointment. I shaU not be in town till the 10th instant. God witting, I
shdl cdl at K. on the I'Vth, and shaU be happy to meet with you. Do not forget
to pray for
W. Romaine
— * —
LETTER XIX
May 5, 1777.
My very dear Friend. — The great breadth ofthe Atlantic Ocean, nor long
distance, nor my not hearing from you, can keep you and me asunder What
* This Correspondent first heard Mr. Romaine on Luke i. 74, 75, in March 1762 ; but
their personal acquaintance did not commence till late in the year 1764. From this period,
to the year 1774, both living in or near London, there was no occasion for epistolary com
munication. Upon the departure of th'19 Correspondent from the metropolis to America.
anil then on his return to the country, the letters which follow, among others, were written
to liim by the author.

542 LETTERS WRITTEN BY
a wonderful attraction is there in Christian love ! I have fellowship with yu ra
spirit, though for absent in body : and in such a bond as no nearness of flesh can
tie. Your concerns are mine. 1 feel them. I rejoice with you. I mourn with you.
I pray with you. I meet you at one throne. Our mutud requests are poured

into one bosom. His eyes, his heart, are upon us both. He sends my prayere
for you back with increasing love to you, ana to him for it. Such a friend ie our
Jesus! Who is fike him.' By his magneticd virtue, two persone, dietant thousande
of miles, can have a fellow-feeling. And by meana of their common interest in
him, they can do one another the very beat aervices : for hia Spirit actuates all
his members ; who, by their oneness with the head, are sensible of their mutud
pains and pleasures, as our members in the body are. The nerves all over in
contact : and if one member be affected with pdn or pleasure, dl the membera
feel with it. I reckoned this my privilege. Among the number (and I trust it
is not small) who are wishing you all blessings, 1 have the honour to be among
the foremost, and will yield only to one. My thoughts often turn upon your
present situation : distant from your wife and children, far from your frienda,
separate from your worldly connexions ; these do not excite pleaeing eeneations.
But I am chieflyaffected for your dietance from the ark and ordinances. Does this
grieve you ? There was one in the wilderness of Judah in your case. Happy
should I be, if his sentimenta ahould be your8. Excuse my jealousy over you
for indeed it is a godly jedousy. Turn to the 63rd Psdm : and may the breath
ing of your heart be like hia !
I meet with many people who say, they never saw such a need of thiB petition
as at present. Grant us peace in our time, O Lord. 1 keep on praying ; but
the cloud does not diaperee. It ia still thick, black, and lowering. The storm
fathers, and threatene a wide-spread ruin. This makes me pray more earneBtly
would be found among the holy mourners, deeply concemed, not only for mine
own sinq, but for theire al80 which have brought down the juBt wrath of
heaven. Sin ie the cause of our preeent Buffering. Judgment ia gone forth ;
and if there be no turning from ein, judgment will continue : yea* if there be
hardnees in ein under judgment, it is not only the forerunner of greater misery,
but ia dao a part of the aentence executed. Oh what a proBpect does thia give
me of American mi8ery ! What can be woree than they he, left as they are to
themselves ; God seems to let them alone. He has done with them. Hence
they are given up to blindness and hardness. They eee not, they fear not, their
certdn ruin. There is not a word in dl the book bo fearful in my view aa what
I see now fulfilling — Ephraim is joined to idola : let him alone.
Thua dark ia the proepect, looking at America: but, thank God ! we have a
brighter acene. The great King over all the earth ia manifeeting wondrous care
for Englana, in which we rejoice. Hia church flourishes — many young minister*
come out — more coming — a great awakening still, aU over our land — some
succesBful attempts towards a general reformation — much prayer and aupplica-
tion for our turning, as a people, to the Lord— signs of the good-will of God to
his church and people, and earneata, I hope, of better thinga provided for us.
I could not avoid this opportunity of teatifying my regard for you ; Mra. S.
having promised to enclose this note in her packet. It comes with aU prayer for
you, and i8 loaded with a ehip-load of good wiahea from me and mine. You
will give me credit, and believe me to be, in the beet bonde, youra, W. Romaine.

LETTER XX.
Bradford, Wilts, Oct. 20, 1777.
My good Friend. — I do not forget you, nor yourB. 1 have you on my heart
in prayer, and have been recommending Mra. S. in her time of need. Let me
hope she is the living mother of a living child, and one of our kingdom, which
is the only thing worth being born for. Our excursion8 are over for thia year;
and we purpose to dine with Mrs. Talbot next Tuesday The Bight of you wodd

THE REV. W. ROMAINE, A.M. 543
add much to the entertainment, if it could be, and convenient. If we may not
expect that favour, I should be glad to hear from you. It is a great prize to
meet with a real friend, and a greater stttl to meet with an approved one. A
"fiend of Christ's making is better still ; because he makes everlasting friends.
I am stttl on my knees before him. He does not cast out my petition : but
we are not yet fit for victory and success. His end in chastising is in a great
measure answered in his own famUy. They are humbled. They own the rod
is righteous. But he wiU smite harder, till sinners feel it. The lofty looks of
this nature wttl be humbled. If it be but as Ahab, it will bring Ahab's mercy.
However, I pray on, and I do not, I cannot, despdr. Common means fail :
then is God's time. TiU it come, may we wdt and trust.
Our love to your dear partner — and my blessing on aU your offspring. Do
not forget, in your best moments,
W. Romaine.

LETTER XXI.
Dec. 22, 1779-
My dear Friend. — I need not tell you that I have you always upon my
heart. At this time I am praying for you, that you may be kept very hungry
and thirsty after Christ — among them whom he pronounces blessed, and whom
he wiU make blessed. It is a sign of health to have a good appetite. There is
no better evidence of our having tasted that the Lord is gracious than stttl to be
waiting on him for the bread of life and for the water of life. And he does truly
nourish us when we feel the manna sweet, and the Spirit refreshes our hearts
with it. Then that meat is not light bread, but a delightful feast ; and the cup
of sdvation is full, yea runneth over with blessings. May these be the choicest
of your Christmas fare ! and to make you more willing than ever to sit down
with the Lord at his royd table, may the ear of faith hear him speak to you aU
the twelve days of the feast, yea aU the twelve months of the year ! Eat, my
friend ; drink, yea, drink abundantly, my beloved. None more welcome than
Mr. and Mrs. S. He would have you to be free, and to take your fiU. The
meat is from heaven, and feeds the heavenly life. The drink sobers. The more
you take of it, the more it wiU deaden your senses to earthly joys; and it will
render spiritual joys more spiritud : for it comes from heaven, and tastes of
heaven ; and it is indeed a fountain of water springing up into everlasting life.
In his name I invite you this Christmas ; and out of some of his love I wish you
to share with us in those blessings. If not present in person, I hope you will
be with us in spirit at our banquet : and so to live upon Christ, with his
redeemed, as to say with them — He is a feast of fat things — dl delights in one.
Blessed be our matchless Immanuel, the God of Israel, who only doeth won
drous things : and blessed is his glorious name, not only at Christmas, but for
ever : and the whole earth shdl be fiUed with his glory. Amen and Amen.
I send you some of my remarks on the year 1779, as they occur in my
memorandum book. If you can add to them any fresh matter of praise in your
observations, it will be a very acceptable present at Blackfriars.
Answers to prayer in the year 1779-
Encouragements to pray on in the year 1780.
Providences appear in favour of England.
I. A very plentiful harvest, and fine weather to get it in, all over the kingdom.
II. Delightful season in Autumn — fruitful in grass, and favourable for the
seed-time.
III. 'Ihe camps remarkably healthy, even to their time of breaking up, dthough
it was late in the year.
IV. Invasions threatened, and attempted, at Guernsey, at Plymouth, but without
success.
V. All our fleets brought safe home.
VI. The enemies either taken by us, dispersed and destroyed by storms, or
rendered useless by sickness.

544 LETTERS WRITTEN BY
VII The enemies at home as violent as ever, but restrained by him who eet
bounds to the raging of the sea.
VIII The blessing of God on our arms in Asia ; so great, that not one enemy
left ra the East Indies. '
IX. Providences against France. 1st. They neglected their trade. 2nd. Im
prisoned all their sdlors on board their ships of war. 3rd. Crowded them
also with soldiers. 4th. Hence our great success in privateering. 5th. The
hand of God agdnst the French, in visiting their fleets. And Gth. Armiea
with sickness, by which more have died than many battles could have
destroyed. And 7th. Agdnst them in the hurricane at Martinico.
X. Providences agdnst Spdn. 1st. Infatuated by French councils to act against
their own interest. 2nd. Against every Christian principle in favouring the
American rebellion. 3rd. Suffer for it in their miscarrying in their attempt
to take our eight Indiameu. 4th. In their Biege of Gibrdtar. 5th. And
in the loss of many rich ships And 6th. In the loss of Omoa, as reported
in the Saturday's Gazette.
XI. Providences agdnst America. 1st. In their attempt ogainst Penobscot.
2nd. In their public dietreeseB. 3rd. In their dieBensiona. 4th. In their
paper currency. 5th. In their loee of dl ritd religion. And 6th. In their
preaent deepair on the victory over the French arma and fleet.
N. B. I have a brighter view etill to give of God'8 answer to prayer in
spirituds ; but my paper fatta. Surely God ia on our aide, lie ha8 done great
thinge for U8, without our fleets and armies. To him be dl the glory. Prayer
and prdae muat go together the next year. Much prayer will aftord matter for
much prdae. Remember in both W. Romaine.

LETTER XXII. March 18, 1780.
My very dear Friend. — I do not follow impulses, as you very well
know ; but I cannot reBist the preBent : night and day, it is upon my mind :
my heart runa upon it ; and when 1 would have other thoughta, this will intrude
and come uppermoat. It will be 8ome relief to me to give it vent, and pcr-
haps answer aU my wishe8 in communicating it to you ; for 1 muat inform you
that you are the peraon concerned, and it ia in your power to grant me my heart'a
deaire. Ought you not to write up over your door, Deus nobis hac ohaferit ?
and ahould it not engage your moat eerious attention ? How Bhall I empldy
these hora solitariat most and best to the glory of my God, and, aa far as he
pleases, to enable me to promote the interest of hie dear people ? 1 think you
was not sent to M — for nothing. Outward causes we look beyond. Hie hand
hath certainly done it. WeU, then, come forward. When you know your cdl,
be ready. # Here I am : send me -. what is the will of my Lord f He has given
me leisure : my capacity, be it what it may, is hia sovereign gift. "And the
right uee of it ie aleo of his- sovereign grace. What would my Lord have me
to do, in order to show forth hia prai8e ? "
I can answer for you, that these are your eentiraente — I am certain they are.
And wiU you give me ieave to point out what appears to me a most profitable
and a most seasonable improvement of this gracious opportunity ? I surtpose
you are now and then thanking that great and good Sariour, who had led you
to glorify his name and his offices, and had enabled you to bear a noble testi
mony for his Godhead in this day of blasphemy. In auch seaaone of gratitude,
does it not sometimes occur to you, that you were aaaisted in this work by him
who leadeth into aU truth ? Indeed, Sir, you are under marvellous obligations —
the greatest which can possibly be — to the Lord God, the Holy Ghost. You
owe him more than you can ever repay — more than you can ever count up.
Your returns, the most grateful, are but acknowledgments ; and these are deo
his gifts. What, if you was to sit down and try to estimate your debt — conaider
who he ia — what he doea in the spiritud world — what he has done for you and

THE REV. W. ROMAINE, A.M. 545
in you — wttl do as long as you have your being — resolve aU this in your mind —
pray him to impress it deep upon your heart : the consequence, I verily befieve,
will be, that the blessings deriveei from him are infinite, and your obligations
such as demand everlasting prdse. With a heart warmed with these views, you
could 'not be able to resist the dictates of gratitude. You would look up and
say, May the Spirit of wisdom and revelation assist me to treat of his true and
essential divinity — His scripture names, Holy Spirit — Jehovah, Lord, God,
Almighty — Attributes — Works — OflBces — Spirit of Life — Lord and Giver of
life — Continuer of it — Giver of aU grace, faith, hope, love, loving obedience,
patient suffering — Leader into aU truth- — A Witness for Jesus — Glorifier of Jesus
— Sanctifler of all the elect people of God, who abideth with them for ever —
The Comforter — The Advocate — The Strengthener — The taker of the things of
Jesus, who &i>dyyc\ei, makes them clear and plain.
Here is work for you ! May he fit you for it with good wiU and power ! My
rayers shaU follow my advice. And may he put it into your heart, as I trust
e has into mine. The blessing of the Blesser of aU nations be with you and
with Mrs. S. and aU your chUdren. I entreat you never to forget
W. Romaine.

I

LETTER XXIII.
June 13, 1780
My very dear Friend. — The only design of my writing to you is, to
fulfil my promise. The first visit we pdd this summer was to be in  . The
time is come, if agreeable to you, next week, on Monday or Tuesday : your
answer, early, will be a great favour. Having many, many things to say afresh
on the old subject — the evil of sin, and the blessedness of grace, they must be
reserved to our wdks in your retirement. Pray for us. We want your prayers
more than ever. I do not forget Mrs. S. and all yours. Remember me and
mine, who are in bonds of red love, your true servants, W. ROMAINE.

LETTER XXIV. June 19, 1780
Dear Sir. — O how uncertain are human hopes ! I was to have been in 
at the time lam writing thia ; but I could not attain my wish. The effects of the
late troubles begin to be felt ; Mrs. P. died of the mob last Saturday. I am obliged,
at her request, to stay to preach her funerd sermon. Perhaps somebody may
soon preach mine; my house and life are both threatened ; but my Lord ruleth
over all. I desire to live and die by the fdth of the Son of God. How he pleases
to dismiss me, when, and where ; not my will, Lord, but thine be done ! If I
ara permitted to see you in the flesh, I can teU you of persons and things, at
which both your ears wiU tingle. If I cannot get to you soon, I would gladly
convey your manuscript, with my imprimatur, if I knew of any conveyance. I
am redly with you in the Spirit. Every blessing of the covenant be with Mrs.
S. Remember me, catted at last, to the hardest service. Pray for
W. Romaine.

LETTER XXV. Blackfriars, Aug. 30, 1780. .
My dear Friend. — I hope this will reach you to-morrow morning, Aug. 31,
to be my harbinger. God willing, I shall foUow it to your house on Wednesday,
and, if all things favour, be with you before two o'clock. I am still at prayers,

546 LETTERS WRITTEN BY
waiting .for a favourable answer, which I expect soon. My comfort ia, amidst
aU confusions— The Lord rdgneth: the government is on his shoulders, and
well managed. He has but one simple plan : he intends hie own glory, and
makesdl things work together under him to promote it; with which his
people'e good is inseparably connected. I have many things to eay, but trust
to get time to teU you how much I am in the beat bonds, yours for Jesus' sake,
W. Romaine.

LETTER XXVI.
Sept. 18, 1780
My dear Friend.— I long to see you face to face, and, if you have no other
engagements, the time is near : we hope to dine with-you at two o'clock this day
se'nmght, 25th instant. If all be agreeable, give us a line to put us in spirits :
not that I want them about any thing, except our rido. In such atorme, we must
repose ourselves in our pilot's skiU and power : his ark is safe, and aU embarked
in it wttl get to their desired port. But I feel for them who are at present toaaeil
with us in the atorm, but not in the aame keeping of hia dmighty love. To them
I preach. For thera I pray. Oh that they may aee their danger, and get into
the ark, before they periah : but I reaerve the8e thinga for conversation. Mrs.
R. joins in every good prayer to Mra. S. and youraelf, with your very much
obliged, and faithful friend,
W. Romaine.

LE1TER XXVII,
Nov. 3, 1780.
My good Friend. — We have a 8ort of correspondence; but it ia through
othera, and a good ded in eigne and dumb ehow: and yet we discover one
another's mind, but not clearly and di8tinctly. When we are at Mr. S.'s, he haa
a daughter who waa once dumb, and ie etill deaf; but ehe haa learned to apeak,
and converses with us : sometimes she cannot underatand U8, and then we are
forced to write our mind to her. I am in the eame eituation at preaent.
Your present atudies are much upon my heart. May that ever bleaaed peraon
to whom they relate deign to favour and smile upon thera. Among hia other
high styles and titles, there is one divinely glorioun, which haa greatly employed
my thoughta, and affected my heart of late ; viz. " the Spirit of adoption :"
the received meaning of which is, taking a stranger into the family, and giving
him the privilege of a son. This ie, among men, a matter of pure fayour : and it
increases in value according to the greatness of the estate hereby conveyed. When
the Adopter has thus raised a poor beggar, he may enrich him with a princely
fortune ; but he cannot give him the temper and affection of a dutiful child.
The adopted may prove ungrateful ; he may abuse the favour, mis-spend the for
tune, and be worse for the adoption. But it ia quite otherwiee when God givea
his Spirit : he, at the eame time,, creates spiritual life in the adopted eon, unites
him by his almighty power to Jesus, and thereby enables him to live by fdth, in
and on Jesu8 ; through whom he knows and finds the Father's love : thus ho
forms the son for the family. He lives as ChriBt does — has the mind of Christ —
judges of things as Christ does, Eph. i. — has the eame affections, as 1 John v. 1,
2, 3. — has the same relations with Christ, as John xvii. — has the aame inheritance,
Rom. viii. — and for the eame duration, Acte xxvi. 17, 18. Eph. i. 14. In thie
view, the Spirit of adoption beetowe the higheet dignity a creature can poeeibly
receive — united by one Spirit to Immanuel, and in him united to the Father, ana
thereby capable of enjoying the greatest happiness of which any creature can
possibly partake, even to be a partaker ofthe divine nature.
In meditating upon thia subject, may our sentiments be the same with the
apostle, 1 John iii. 1, 2, 3, and our experience like his.

THE REV. W. ROMAINE, A.M. 547
I desire to be remembered by you on all propitious occasions. When prayer
ie fervent, and brotherly love active, recommend to the King's especid favour and
grace
W. Romaine,
And aU his.

LETTER XXVIII. Blackfriars, Jan. 31,1781.
Dear Sir. — My silence has been owing to a sore finger, which has for some
months hindered me from writing at aU ; at present it is with pdn. I have seen
the outside of Mr. H.'s publication ; but haye no desire to take one view within.
I wish to keep to my motto — Homo sum unius libri; of which, the more I read,
the more I long to read: itlsdways new, always'instructing, dways delightful.
In books I converse with men ; in the Bible I converse with God. That most
blessed Spirit, of whom you are writing, speaks with the word to my heart ; and
then I look up, and entreat him to get himself glory from you and your labours.
In this sweet intercourse 1 am often present at  . I pay you frequent visits
in your study, and rejoice in beholding the advancement of the work. When I
see you hard and industrious in your writing, I cannot help praying the Holy
Ghost to inspire your thoughts, and to give you the pen of a ready writer. What,
if you are laid aside for a little while, and kept out of your line of life ; may it not
be of mercy, that you may have leisure to improve in self-knowledge ? O blessed
retirement, if it prove the means of leading you to devote your time and talents
to the service of that God, who has conferred such favours upon you ! He has
given you life— life from the dead. What is that mercy? Who can teU? It
passeth knowledge.' He has given you the Spirit of life, who has beeateaching
you to live upon the fulness of Immanuel. He has been testifying of that fulness
to you, and, I hope, enabling you to glorify it in word and in deed. His gracious
office herein is one of the most interesting views which we can take of his and of
the Saviour's love as represented, John xvi. 14, 15 — a favourite text of mine,
on which I have preached many times. If you look to the Greek, you wttl con
sider the word (WyyeAiTi, translated to show a very gross mistake : it belongs to
the ear, and not to the eye — not to seeing, but to speaking — to the word which,
preached clearly, begets faith, and which, believed, nourishes faith, and, as faith
increases, glorifies stiU more that fulness of Jesus, out of which comes every
grace and blessing. Hence the word is often used in the New Testament for
preaching the gospel, by which the testimony of the Spirit is received, and the
fulness of Jesus glorified and made use of. I would render the word — He shall
clearly declare or preach, and so manifest the things of Christ, that they shdl
become the object of faith, and hope, and love. I could write a volume on this
most gracious office of the Spirit. May you see it in my light, or rather in his
own light ; and let it shine before men. The winter is retiring. Already the
aconite proclaims the genid influence ofthe returning light. And yet I have not
visited, as it was intended, Reading friends, and St. GUes's pulpit : but it has not
been in my power, as you shaU hear by and by. A new member, I trust, born of
your family into ours. God bless him ! My love and Mrs. R.'s to the mother.
My finger aches ; and when you see where the sore has been, and is stiU, you wiU
wonder how I can write at all. Farewell, and pi-ay for
W. Romaine.

LETTER XXIX.
June 2, 1781.
My dear Friend. — I am not master of my time, nor of myself: London is
my prison ; for I cannot do what I would. When I have set me down to read
your papers, presently a knock : " Sir, you are wanted :" and this, agdn and agdn.
At last, I resolved to get a little way out of town ; which I did this week, and,

548 LETTERS WRITTEN BY
being quite done, I have had leisure to go through thera My remarks upon
them are so many, and so materid, that what I have put down can be of little
use unless I can be with you two or three days. My lectures finish July 1 : —
my fife may before. God sparing it, I would make my first excursion to  .
I Bend you so long notice, that, when it is fixed, nothing may hinder our meeting.
Let us know as soon as you convemently can, that we may order our matters
accordingly. Time is short : working time for God shorter stttl. May we do
his will in our places, glorify him in word and deed ; and, when activity ceases,
glorify him in simple dependence. It is but right you should leave a testimony
under your own hand of his unspeakable love to you, and more so in this blaa-
phemoue generation. After I have communicated my thoughts to you, I ehall
gladly give my imprimatur to the bleeeed truths which you have written. Mrs.
R's love to our old friend Mre. S. . My bleaaing on your children. I am ju8t
got home ; and have much to do for to-morrow'B message. Pray for
W. Romaine.
This day, last year, the riota began. The thermometer i8 agdn at riot-heat.
Grant ue peace in our time, O Lord ! He haa atopped — He does atop — He will
atop the madneB8 of the people.

LETTER XXX. Reading, March 5, 1782.
Here I am, in my way Sion-ward — Sdutes to fellow-lraveUers at Heckfiold —
Go forward — Your time shortena fa8t — The journey wttl soon be over — Let
nothing atop you — He who aet you in the way haa provided every thing needful
to keep you in it aafe from the mdice and power of dl your er.emiea. Look to
Jeaua. May you never loae Bight of him by fdth tiUyou be admitted to tbe open
vision of our God. I have many thinga to teU you of him — all good — and acarce
any thing good of any one elae. You wttl favour me with a visit when convenient,
and continue to pray for
W. Romaine,
Who never forget8 you, or youre.
— * —
LETTER XXXI. Southampton, Sept. 29, 1782.
My dear Friend — My heart leaped for joy at the reading of your letter : I
have much and long wished to visit you at Heckfield, and thie would have been
the opportunity ; but 1 am here for health, and have only bathed twice : after
about five or eix time8 more, I muat hurry to London, to a wedding— the partie8
being waiting impatiently for my arrivd ; none elee must do it ; both being ray
children, whom I cannot refuse. Now I know I may come, it wiU be no difficulty
to find my way another time. Indeed, I should have been glad to have assisted
at the dedication of your new house ; but you begin, and we finish ; eo it will be weU
conaecrated in time. Let me entreat you not to lay aside the reried of your
papers : my heart is much set upon their publication. I flatter myself that I shaU
find your last hand put to them ; and my prayers for a blessing on writing will
be turned into prayers for a blessing on printing. May the Holy Ghost be sent
down from heaven upon it, and may he accompany it with hie effectud grace.
Mrs. R. joine in every good wieh to you and to Mrs. S. My hleSBing on your
children. Aa I have you by name in my Love'e Litany, which I uee to-night, do
not, I entreat you, forget to pray for
W. Romaine.

THE REV. W. ROMAINE, A.M. 54«>
LETTER XXXII. Tuesday, July 1, 1783.
My very dear Friend. — I am looking forward with pleasure to the day,
when I shall see Heckfield friends ; my preaching at Reading is fixed for the
20th instant. If it be quite agreeable to you, we wiU make our journey that way,
and be with you the Loth. I understand that you have a revise now with you.
If this comes time enough, you will favour me with a line, that we may be certain
about our route. You can receive no visiters more truly attached to your best
interests. I have you much on my heart, and in my prayers. It is my privilege,
and I feel it my happiness, to be in the best bonds, your friend and servant,
W. Romaine.
Mrs. R. joins in every good wish, as does my son, who is with us, to you and
yours.

LETTER XXXIII.
My very dear Friend. — A sure foundation is a great mercy: so I learn
eldly : my Lord, and He only, is that foundation. — What more fixed than given
under my hand ? — " On the 16th, I shaU be at Heckfield." But Mr. C  has
overturned my plan. He thought it not right to have the society sermon on the
day of the confirmation : he wrote to me about it : I acquiesced. It is to be
Sunday the 27th ; but, intending to finish my summer campaign to-morrow, it
seemed a favourable opportunity to go to see my son for some days. We pur
pose to stay with him till Friday next, and hope to be at Reading, at the Crown,
early in the afternoon, so as to eat our bread and cheese at Heckfield. We very
thankfully accept the offer of your chaise on Friday next, and shah be glad to see
it at the 6aid Crown ; excuse this yea and nay work, in which I am quite patient ;
and believe me to be, on other grounds, yours,
W. Romaine.

LETTER XXXIV. Reading, Aug. 2, 1783.
My very dear in the Lord. — We are in continud danger; our friends,
our enemies lay snares for us — smUes may hurt, as weU as frowns. But where
we love God in our friends, he gives us a spiritud use of their love. Our con
versation, and every mutual intercourse of kindness, is sanctified. He makes us
a blessing to one another, and thereby gets glory to his grace. I am sure he did
from me at Heckfield ; and I never felt his goodness more in aU my life, than in
worshipping him at my Oratory : there I set up my Ebenezer afresh. The bench,
and the oak, and the heath, and the spring, can all witness for God, that he is
good, and that his mercy endureth for ever. Through his kind hand over us, we
purpose to be ready Monday morning to make use of your offered favour ; Mrs.
R. will be prepared about eleven : God give us a profitable meeting ! I am ador
ing his bounty for such a harvest — such weather — and with my praises, joining
prayers for a spiritud harvest, that his labourers may get it in fast, and the
Lord's garner be soon full. Lord hasten that most glorious day, and keep you
and me hastening to it ! Our love to Mrs. S. : my blessing on all your children.
Do not forget, I beseech you, W. Romaine.
— • —
LETTER XXXV. Southampton, Oci". 14, 1783.
My hear Friend. — Having an opportunity of conveying a line to you, by
means of Mrs. C  , I glatlly embrace it. I write from Southampton, where

550 LETTERS WRITTEN BY
we are to stay tttl the 21st or 22nd instant; it is not determined yet what road
we take— but it is absolutely fixed that we shdl be at home by the 26th. Mr.
and Mra. C  press hard to make Reading in the way : if they prevail, it
will only be for the Thursday evening's lecture : and perhaps our seeing you
face to face may incline us to prefer the Basingstoke road.
I have good news to teU you from a far country, as refreshing as cold water
to a thirsty soul. God has spared me to read over my Bible once more : 0 what
a treasure — what unsearchable riches are there in this golden mine ! I never dug
deeper, nor found more precious jewds, than upon this last perusd. You know
it is my constant custom, as soon as St. Dunstan's lectures are over, to begin
the Bible, and without stopping or interruption, to go on from Genesis to the
end of the Revelation ; thia exercise ia dway8 begun with prayer, and carried on
with a settled dependence on the Spirit of prayer ; and I am dways wishing to
ascribe dl tbe profit (and it haa been very, very great) to the praise of the glory
of his grace. At present, I am not reading my Bibie in order to find out some
new truth, but to be established in what I do know, and to attain more confir
mation of it. Thia 1 wodd chiefly eeek for, that I may get growing experience
of the wisdom of God, and of the power of God in his word, and may thereby
enjoy the bleeeinge of hie love promised in it. With this view, I send you some
of my observations on the reading of the Bible in the year 83. I am happy in
believing that your heart harmorazes with me in thera. One of the first things
to be noticed and expected is, the actud fulfiUing of the promises to thia day,
namely, that the Holy Spirit ia 8tttl in the word : he worke in it, and by it. He
makea it at present, as much aa he ever did, the great ordinance of God unto
salvation, aa you may observe in Isaiah fix. 20, 21. Hence it iB cdled the minia-
tration of the Spirit ; becauae in it he holda forth Jeaus Christ to be the Al
mighty Sariour : and whomsoever he calla by it to come to the Saviour, he makea
hie call to them effectud. They receive the Spirit, by the hearing of the word,
as Gd. iii. 2.
This, my good friend, ie what you and I should above all things eeek. Wo
should be dways praying for the Spirit to accompany hia own word. It is our
duty to hear and read— but we should dways do it with the fixed dependence of
our hearts upon his dirine teaching; without which, the word itself will profit ua
nothing, as we read Heb. iv. 2 : " The word preached did not profit them, not
being mixed with faith in them who heard it." May the good Spirit keep un in
the use of means, but entirely dependent upon him in the uae of them. Thanke
be to him, that in this frame of mind I have once more gone through his word-
settled and grounded more steadfastly than ever before, that the word of Hod can
be made usefol to me, only by the Spirit of God. The next thing that engaged
my attention was the dirine and infallible truth of the holy Scriptures, of which
I have been convinced with aU the richee of the full assurance of underetanding.
Our Lord eaid in hia last prayer—" Father, thy word is truth." And 1 aay the
eame I have set my eed to it on thie last reading : every line, every word, ie
according to the mind of the infinitely wiae God. It ia hia reveded will; and it
diacovers to us objects in God's light, as he aees them— Whereby the Holy Spint
renews us in true knowledge, after the image of him that created ua : he bnnga
our underetanding to eubmit to be informed by his unerring word. Whatever it
reveds of Jehovah, of the three peraona in Jehovah, of the God-man, of hie eal
vation of the way of receiving the benefit of it in time and in eternity ; he lias
made tne willing to live in entire Bubjection to ita teaching. My conetant inquiry
is— What it reveals ; not, Why ? I atudy to know it, not ae a metaphysician, .but
as a Christian. I seek, not ao much to comprehend it, aa to believe it. Nothing
appeara to me more reasonable, than that my reason ehould submit to God e rea
son : and therefore I am kept praying for divine grace, to make his word, like
the light of the sun, clear in my head, and fruitful in my heart.
My dear friend, let me recommend to you thia method of reading your Bible.
Ever take it up as the oracles of God— the infallible standard of truth. The
abiding persuasion of this will save you a great deal of trouble, and will bring you
in vast profit. You wiU not have much occasion to consult authors, or to spend
vour time in perusing many books. If you take up your Bible with a settled

THE REV. W. ROMAINE, A.M. 551
conviction that it is the truth of God, and that it has the stamp of divine autho
rity, this will be the means of your understanding more of the Scriptures, than
all the comments in the world could give you": because your mind, having re
ceived the impression of cfivine truth, is now disposed to receive the impression
of divine power ; which is another matchless excellency of the word of God.
The Spirit of God sttil works in it, and by it ; as in the first creation, so in the
new creation — He does aU by his Almighty fiat. He speaks, and it is done : he
commands, and is obeyed. His is a creating word : he caUs, and the dead hear.
It is a life-giving wo»d : he foUows the caU, and the quickened sinner believes —
faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God ; and this fdth is as
great a demonstration of divine power, as rdsing Christ from the dead was ; as
you may see, Eph. i. 19, 20, &c. Then he puts his word into the inward parts,
and the believer is enabled to feed upon it, and to be nourished thereby, even Up
unto life everlasting : so that he often says to his Lord — " Jesus, to whom should
I go ? Thou only hast the words of eternd life." This divine efficacy of the
Scriptures is the principal thing by which God magnifies his word above all
bis name. He has made it his ordinance, like the fixed laws of nature — by which
he stiU keeps up intercourse and communion between himself and his people,
and gives them to see and to enjoy his perfections. His Spirit makes it
effectual to begin and to carry on feUowship with the Father and the Son.
And thus he is daily magnifying it, by redizing the promises, and putting be
lievers into possession of the graces and blessings promised in it. So that it
is to this hour the mighty power of God, as truly as when le spake the
world into being ; as effectual as when be sdd, " Lazarus, come forth." My
dear friend, may you and I feel it more, stiU more : may we live happy par-
tdeers of its influence — and whenever we hear it, read it, or meditate upon it,
may we get fresh experience of the power of God in his word ; which wiU
bring us another blessing peculiar to the Scriptures : by acknowledging them
to be the truth of God, and finding them to be the power of God, we shall come
to experience their divine sweetness.
It is by continual dependence on the teaching of the Spirit, in and by the
word, and by mixing faith with it, that we come to find its value and to taste
its pleasures : for it then opens a new world to us, a spiritual and eternal
world — it reveds to us the God of that world — our Father, loving us in his
Son — it makes known the Son's wonderful person, and his heavenly work in
ealvation, with all the blessings of it, which faith brings into preaent enjoyment
'i ue believer is made dive to him, and then has his spiritual senses exercised
upon them — and each sense has its proper object and its peculiar delight, as we
read — O come taste, and see, how gracious the Lord is— hear his voice for it is
sweet — smell the good odour of his perfume, for his name is an ointment poured
forth— come and handle the word of God. What a paradise is here ! as real,
but more blessed, than Adam's. Believe me, sir ; I know you do. In my last
reading God has thus blessed me; what the word reports, the Spirit has rea
lized. In the way of believing the promises, I have found the fulfiUing of them.
I speak for God, and his glorious word. Away, self! The Holy Ghost the com
forter, does by it at this day make good his name and his office ; he shall take
of mine, says Jesus, and shah show it, manifest it, unto you, the spiritual world,
all the graces, all the glories of it — he wiU not only manifest them to you clearly ;
but he will dso enable you to believe them with a pleasing earnest, and to enjoy
them with many a sweet foretaste of the glory that is to be revealed.
There is a very delightful account of this in the 1 9th Psdm. What if I
should set my seal to it, anil say, that I know what is spoken in the first, part
concerning the hght of this world to be matter of fact, as well as what is
spoken in the second part concerning the light of the spiritud world ? Would not
you allow me, sir, to be a competent judge of both ? And when the same prophet
adds — " O, what love have I unto thy law ! I rejoice in it, as one that findeth
great spoils ! Yea, it is dearer to me than thousands of gold and silver ;" —
blessed be God, I find it so. Indeed, upon every reading of the Bible, it grows
more urecious to mc, as it did to David ; because it is not only the discovery, but
il is become dso the conveyance of the unsearchable riches of Christ — these

552 LETTERS WRITTEN BY
are reveded in the word, and appfied by the word. Fdth is tiie lawful key, which
opens the infinite treasury, and hears the proclamation of grace — " O ye that ore
seeking durable riches — these, all these are yours — come, take dl you want — use
dl you wish— you cannot do the free giver a greater favour, than to enrich
yoursdves daily out of his boundless store — Read hi8 promises, how exceeding
great, how exceeding precious they are — read his fdthfulness to them— Only
trust — take — nee — all that is in the promises shall be yours in time — yea, yours
in eternity." This proclamation of grace I have heard. I believe it Blessed
be a promise-keeping God, I enjoy it. And I can assure you, sir, there is more
to be had out of Christ's fulness, than any one upon earth has yet enjoyed. For
he not only giveth fresh grace, but dso more grace. I have never been more
thoroughly convinced of this, than upon my last reading. God has humbled me,
and has made me feel more of mine own poverty, and has thereby led me to live
more upon Chriet'e everlasting treasury. Vou do not suapect me of boasting ; O
no. I would glorify the word and work of the Almighty. A beggar would
not be reckoned proud for eaying — " When I was just starving, I met with a
charitable person, who not only fed rae, but dso feasted me; and then most gene
rously provided for me dl the rest of my days." Should not such an one acknow
ledge his benefactor, and bless him i So do I. Thanks be to him, who realized
to me his word — who opened mine eyes to see wondrous things out of his law —
who often made me to look up and eay — " O how sweet are thy worda unto my
taste ; yea, Bweeter than honey unto my mouth." — BlesBe'd be God for hia good
word — it ia really manna — it ia angela' food — it cornea from heaven — it taatea of
heaven. When I eat down to write, I little thought my pen would run so faat, or that
it would hold out 80 long. Will you excuse this long scribble ? You will. I
am writing to a friend, who knows that I have atttl much more to eay of my laet
reading. I beepeak your candour, while I ara mentioning one thing more — and
that ie, the great end and design of the Scripture, which ia, to conform ua to it.
This is the completing work of God the Spirit by hia word ; all the reet were led
to this. When the word ie understood, and believed, and lived upon, then he
makes it the means of conforming the whole man to it. The believer is cast
into the mould of it, he takea the impreasion — every feature. It ia bo assimi
lating, every tint ia to be seen upon him. He Uvea the word — it ia to be read in
his looks — riaible in his wdk — manifest in his tempers. See him — study him —
he is the lively picture of a Bible-Christian : let your converaation he as becometh
the goapel of Clirist. By this rule he ordera it ; he aeeks to be a pattern of the
truth ae it ie in Jeeus, and doea not eeek in vain. The Spirit by faith makea
Jeaus very precious. The heart lovee him, loves to be like him ; much fellow
ship with him endeare him more to the heart ; and it becomeB true liberty — it i8
real happiness to have conetant communion with him, eepeciaUy to feel the influ
ence of his crose and the power of hie reeurrection.
My much beloved, may thie be your experience. Outetrip me ae far as you
can : may your eentimente, your affectionB, your life and conduct, all of them be
conformed to the rule of God's word. I ahaU pray for it, for you and for youra,
that you may live by go8pel motives, and do aU to gospel ends. And may the
Bible be made good and fulfiUed to you in earth and in heaven.
I atop ; but not because my subject ia exhauated : I have ddly freBh matter of
prdse. Stttl I am reading and admiring. New beauties apring up. Yearly,
daily, I ahaU have prdses to give for this most bleased book : and if I live to wdk
with you on Heckfield Heath, I may continue the subject. May your Lord and
mine open our understandings, that we may underatand the scriptures.
Mrs. R.'s with my red love to Mrs. S. My blessing on att your chttdren. Do
not cease to pray for
W. Romaine.

THE REV. W. ROMAINE, A.M. 553
LETTER XXXVI.
Dec. 7, 1783.
My very dear Sir. — Having an opportunity of sending you a fine by a
friend coming to Reading, dthough I am very busy, yet I could not help telling
you that I rejoice with them that do rejoice. I congratulate you on the birth of
your son ; and I thank him who has been so kind as to spare mother and child,
both, I hope, for his own kingdom and glory. I have a heart-felt pleasure,
Which I never heard any body mention of themselves ; namely, when I hear of
the birth of any person : it rejoices me to think that there is one more born into
our family, and one more voice added to the grand concert. Among them let us
number our little John — I don't mean that his name should be caUed Jobn, but
that he may be a gracious child, as that word signifies ; and a significant name,
and a scripture name too, I think is best. I have a custom in Lent to catechise
the children ; and at every fresh time of standing up, I ask a new person, What
is your name ? And I tell them what it means, and beg of them to remember it.
If they do not live up to it, not only I wiU witness, but dso their very name wttl
rise up against them. John, for instance ; your name says that you have grace.
Now if you teU hes, and are angry, and fight your brothers and sisters, or disobey
your parents, then you are graceless John. This often strikes chttdren, and
others also ; for I knew a woman who came in on a Friday into our church, and
God made this simple way (the speaking to the children) the means of her con
version. On the birth of the infant, be his name what it may, only let it be a
scripture name, I will send you a birth-day ode, of a very ancient date, but on the
greatest occasion that ever was or will be recorded; on which you and I must
place all our hopes. It is cdled, " A Psdm to be sung by the Sons of faUen
Man ;" and among them my soul is now singing it, and I am making melody in
my heart unto the Lord. They first took it up and sung it :
1 . When they ldd the foundation (of the temple) on the mountains of the Holy
One. 2. (Then it appeared that) Jehovah loved the gates of Sion more than all
the dweUings of Jacob. 3. For the most glorious things had been foretold of
thee, thou city of the Alehim : Selah (weigh this weU). 4. I wttl cause it to be
mentioned to them who shaU know me, at Rahab and Babylon ; yea, behold to
them dso of Philistia and of Tyre, 'This name shaU be born (God incarnate).
5. And to Sion it shaU be said, A person and a person (God and man) shaU be
born in her ; and he himself (the God-man) shaU establish her (the church Sion).
0. Jehovah has recorded it, when he was registering the people (of his church),
that this name shall be born. 7 . (And then aU his people,) the singers, as well
as the performers on instruments, shdl say, " All my fresh springs are in thee."
All, all the springs of grace, all the springs of glory, arise from the incarnate God.
1 feel, eternd blessings on him, a little stream of this grace ; and I do most
heartily join the whole choir, who are now giving glory to God and the Lamb.
I know you wiU say, Amen.
Here ia an ode for you. Sing it on your son's birth. In the light I view it, it
is one of the greatest compositions in the word. Indeed, it is the sum of aU.
Jehovah incarnate includes the whole of our faith and practice, and the expe
rience of it is our blessedness in earth and in heaven. May it be our cTown of
rejoicing. How I write on 1 it was to be a note — and see, how it grows into a
long letter ! But I must stop — the bearer is come. Adieu. God be with you
and yours. Pray for
W. Romaine.

LETTER XXXVII.
Dec. 23, 1783.
Dear Sir.— Mr. N. hjst nowteUs me he is coming to Reading to-morrow to
assist Mr. Cadogan, and will wdt while I write my thanks for your last by Mr. M.
We can get out of debt with one another by our acknowledgments ; but we grow

554 LETTERS WRITTEN BY
more in debt, the better we acknowledge our great debt. In my preaent view of
things, I would not be an Arraiman for the world ; because I am not only wilfing,
but happy, in getting more and more into Christ's debt. They are only pension
ers in heaven ; they take aU from him in use, and carry all back to him in prdae.
God teach ua this heavedy lesson. Although I have learned but little, yet I
would not be saved in any other way than by sovereign grace ; for only by this can
I find employment in oneness with God, or happiness in God — All is grace, all ia
debt. The eenae of this keeps one humble, and thereby willing to acknowledge
favours received from one another. I feel it towards you. May the Bame be
yours this Christmas — thankfulness on your heart — blessing God, that he would
dwell in man, that man might dwell in God. Glory be to him tv ityurroij for thia
infinite mercy. You eay, and I eay, Amen
But N. waite, and muet go. I stop my pen — My heart is the same. May you
never forget, in your best moments,
W. Romaine.
And when you have the lOng'a ear, ask a favour for me. God be with oil youre.

LETTER XXXVIII. March 5, 1784.
My very dear Friend. — Mr. N. just now informed me that he waa coming
down to Reading, and would wdt while I wrote two or three linea. I am first to
acknowledge your obliging letter of Feb. 23, and am thankful for that gracious
assistance which has been vouchsafed unto you, to begin, to carry on, and now to
complete your testimony for the honour ofthe eternd Spirit. He will make what
use of it he pleases : success ie hia; we cannot command it; but we have been
seeking to him for it ; my prayere have been ae conetant as yours. Besides tbe
truth, we want the power; this I have been asking, entreating him to eet his seal
to the work, and then it will anawer your purpose and mine. Aud for thia dso I
ahall continue to make request.
I have much to eay, but want time. Our hearty love to your dear partner.
My bleesing on the children. Remember
W. Romaine.

LETTER XXXIX.
June 14, 1784.
My dear Friend. — I have thia moment received your letter. I aay nothing
of the contentB, for He doeB all things weU -. ao you witt find it, the longer you
know him and the more you trust him. I am at present hie prisoner, aa well aa
you. But aickneeB with Jesus ia paradise ; and he will give you at Bath the
water of life which proceeds from the throne of God and the Lamb— an antidote
against the fear as well as the sting of death. You propose too short a time to
give the waters a fair trial ; six weeks iB the general allowance : hut you will
judge as you find thera agree. You are to lodge and board at MrB. S.'e, on the
Parade. Every body knowe her. SJ)e wttl make your stay as agreeable a8 ahe
can. Make uae of my name. You will Boon find she is a bigot to  ; but, I
trust, a red Christian notwithstanding. I am not afraid of her making you a
bigot that way.
As to my visit at Heckfield, it is 80 far off that I cannot even guese at the time :
it cannot be tttl September, if then ; my couree lies quite another way.
May God be with you ; your guide on the way, give virtue to the watera, and
bring you home in health, pro8pering in body and mind. I can only add our real
love to your dear partner. My bleeeing on all the children. May you never
forget, in your best moments, your friend in our common Lord,
W. Romaine.

THE REV. W. ROMAINE, A.M. 555
Oh, that 85th Psalm has made me much sweet melody in the house of my pil
grimage ; for I know a little of that holy longing which the blessed man felt m his
heart, and which made the presence of God in his house and ordinances so
delightful to him.
Mrs. R. joins me in dl my good wishes to you and to yours, Mrs. S. and family.

LETTER XL. January 7, 1*85.
My very dear Friend. — I have been living upon promises, but sadly disap
pointed — promises of men. Mr. M. said you were to be in town in November.
Then I heard you were to bring your son to Mr. Clarke's. After, you were to
come early in the year. I have waited, and lo ! dumb  came. Nothing to be
depended on still. WeU, although I have nothing new to send, yet the old repeated
wishes of a happy new year. And I wUl speak of the  , if nobody else will,
and declare it is very good : indeed, according to Mr. Locke, it was eloquent, for
it spake in actions from whence it came : it tastes of Heckfield. Our motto this
year was, " Go forward." All in a wrong way till set right. He who sets us in
the right way has provided every thing needful to keep us going, pressing on, till
he bring us to the end of our journey ; to which he encourages us by promises,
by examples, by setting before ub the shortness of the journey, and what awaits
us at the end of it. I wish you had been with us in person ; as that could not be,
I rejoice in your company as a fellow-traveUer ; and I am happy in believing that
I have your prayers, as you have mine, for our persevering — going forward, tiU we
finish our course with joy. I am in the last stage ; and for the prospect of safety
and happiness through life and death, blessed, most blessed, be the name of my
Jesus !
I have many things to say, which I cannot enlarge upon in this note. As, first,
you should consider of a new edition of the first volume ; there is a great demancl
for it : while the second is on sde, the first wttl be dways asked for ; and as' it is
not to be had, it stops the sale of the second. The method of publication should
be considered. I do not propose any thing, but could wish you to add what would
make it about the size of the second ; and to be at no expense. I am sure book
sellers could be found who would print it. Pray, sir, weigh this matter — ask our
Great CounseUor his advice, and favour me with a visit soon. I would come to
you, but my Lord's work will not suffer ; and I assure you, under my hand,
although it has been this Christmas almost too much for me, yet he made it the
best Christmas in my life. Oh, he is indeed a very bountiful Master ! His work
is wages. To be weary in his service is a cordial. Eternal thanks be to him for
his most undeserved favours to such a poor creature. I adore him for you — your
testimony — Hora Solitaria. Tell Mrs. S. I love her, and make interest often for
her to my good Lord. May he take care of aU the family at home and abroad,
and, as they grow up, make them his.
W. Romaine.

LETTER XLI.
April 16, 1785.
Dear S. — I have not many things to wish to live for ; but this is one. It is
on my heart to see the new edition, with additions, of the first volume of Hora
Solituriir. I have been much mortified in my application to the booksellers.
We must use the world and the people of it for our Lord's honour. If you see
nothing foreign to that in the present proposd, you wiU please to let me know.
Rather than it should not be published, 1 will stand between you and him, and
aavc you some uneasy feelings I was in such a hurry to communicate this intel-

556 LETTERS WRITTEN BY
ligcnce, that I do not delay a moment. I am often at Heckfield, and visit my
bench. Come as often to Blackfriars, and pray without ceasing for
W. Romaine,
And all his, as he doea for you and yours.

LETTER XLII. Saturday, Two o'Clock.
My dear Friend. — We could not caU on you yeeterday : we met with many
disappointments, and got to Reading late. But our great journey is prosperous —
mine is nearly at an end. Backward, forward, looking to the present — dl is
well — the greatest miracle of grace that ever was or wiU be. To-morrow I hope
to see you, and to tell you aomething of his love and of my love. The little flame
of nrine kindled by his, and kept alive by it — His kindled ours also. May it
evince itself day by day, tttl it be swdlowed up in his love for ever and ever. Our
kindest wishes to Mrs. S., and my blessing on all your children. Remember, I
believe you do, but continue to remember,
W. Romaine.

LETTER XLIII.
July 22, 1785.
My very dear Friend. — We must thank you very much for the offer of
your chdse ; but dthough I purpoae to be with you the 16th, yet I cannot fix any
hour or place. God wiU direct our way to you. I believe our meeting ia aa
much under hi8 eye, and wttl be as truly with hia blessing, as the good old father
met hia son in Egypt. May he fit ua for his favoura aa weU aa his trida, and make
both work together for good. If, through hie providence, I codd be certain of
time and place, 1 wttl let you know ; if I cannot, expect us not till you see ua.
Our love to Mr8. S., and my bleBsing on all your children. I am, very aincerely,
yours in our good Lord, who ie the bond of all holy union,
W. Romaine.

LETTER XL1V.
October, 1785.
Dear Sir. — We ore aU dieappointed at not seeing you, and actiuieace only in
HiB will, who knows how to tum all our dieappointmente into good. All Hia will
requires' fdth in exercise — may your trials improve it. You are on my heart
dways, you and yours. Mrs. Talbot continues in a weak, and, aa I think, a dying
state ; but is safe, and in good hands. I do not forget Mrs. S. Pray still for
W. Romaine.
We return home on Friday for our winter campaign.
LETTER XLV. Nov. 21, 1785,
Mv dear Friend. — I have taken great pains to get aome of your aort of
potatoes. Last year I employed Mr. Thatcher, seedeman, in Fleet Street, and
this year Mr. Robson, in Holborn, who apoke to Mr. Howard, the pereon who
firet brought them into England He is the writer of the history of all the gaols

THE REV. W. ROMAINE, A.M. 557
in Europe, which he has visited. He is now gone to see the state of the Cda-
brias since the earthquakes ; from thence to the Barbary coast, to inquire into
the present method of treating the plague, and what can be done to stop or to
cure the infection. He is a man of great fortune and of great charity ; and says
that he grows none at present but what he gives away to the poor ; therefore I
must come at last to you, through necessity. My real friend, Mr. Wdter Taylor,
of Southampton, is very pressing with me to get him some against the next
season. If you would let me have them in my own way, it would be a great
favour. I want enow to plant two acres ; but if you wiU not let me pay for them,
I would be beholden to you for a smaU quantity for him to begin with.
Mr. Howard says he plants twenty bushels to an acre, which, on his light land,
(near Bedford,) in a wet season, produce an amazing increase. Enclosed you
witt receive a present of my own Hebrew Bible, (not a bribe, but a token of Chris
tian love,) that, remembering me as often as you see it, you may pray for me
while I live, and bless God for me when I die. It is truly a precious book.
Every day it grows more precious ; not only from it fresh light, and life, and
comfort, but also more. Many years' studies, with God's blessing upon them,
have favoured me with an insight into the meaning of Col. ii. 2. Eternd thanks
be to a divine teacher for opening aU the riches of the fuU assurance of under
standing ! O what, what a happiness is it to be quite satisfied that objects in the
Spiritud world are exactly as they are described in the Bible ! for by being thus
taught, one gets ready hold of the spiritud parts of scripture instruction, and
fastens at once upon the enjoyment of them by fdth. This is truly a present
heaven. I wish you more than I have of it ; though I have my share in its
chartered graces and blessings ; which I have now entered upon by holding the
truth in love, and am thereby growing up into Him in aU things, who is the head,
even Christ. In this view the Bible is inestimable. It is not only a perfect map
of the spiritual world ; but the believer, surveying its riches, and beauties, and
pleasures, has a good warrant to say, AU these are mine — for God is mine. I
cannot tell you how great the happiness is, when the eternal Spirit opens, and
applies, and puts the behever into the present enjoyment ofthe graces here pro
mised, as so many earnests of the glory that is to ' be reveded. You know
enough to make you join me in blessing and adoring our Sovereign Lord and
God, who has given us in it, and by it, to taste how gracious he is. I have no
words to describe the value of these mercies. My thoughts are quite lost in the
survey of them. Why me? What was I ? What am I ? that this great charter
of grace, with all its privileges and honours, should be by infinite mercy granted
unto me. I ddly sit me down in admiration, content witn my Lord's own medi
tation upon the subject. Matt. xi. 25, 26, 27.
Mrs. It. sends her best wishes to Mrs. S. I remember her present case and
wants. My Lord trdn up your chttdren. May he give you to pray for
W. Romaine.

LETTER XLVI
March 4, 17,sb. .
My dear Friend.— I am often with you at Heckfield, in the spirit of that
good man who found himself happy in the happiness of others — " 'Though I be
absent in the flesh, yet am I with you in the spirit, joying and beholding your
order, and the steadfastness of your faith in Christ." I sdute you, brother, and
the church in your house. I have feUowship with you in our common Head. I
feel the same spirit breathe through us, even the Spirit of our glorified Jesus, very
remarkably giving us the same judgment, forming our hearts to the same affec
tions, and influencing us to wdk in the same way. Blessings on him for this
great grace ! As I see it, great it is indeed ; for yet a little, very little while, it
wttl grow to full perfection. And we shaU have the same Spirit uniting us sen
sibly to the same Head, and giving us to receive out of his infinite fulness glory
for glory : and this is the charity, love to the Head, and thereby love lo the

558 LETTERS WRITTEN BY
members, which never fatteth. It is waxing cold on the eartl., aa it waa fore
told ; bnt they who live near to the eun etttl receive some of tho8e enlivening
beama which make the everlasting day. I have felt their influence, as you have
done in your solitary hours ; and I rejoice in hope that they wiU abound yet more
and more in knowledge and sensible experience afo-flij<r«. I sat down to thank
you for your love and for its fruits. But I cannot help it — at once I am led by
the streams to the Fountdn-head. And I look upon it to be no injury to the
streams, to say, they flow from such a fountain as covenant love. All the honey
in the world could not sweeten my tea this morning, as receiving it from my
Lord's grace, and using it to my Lord's glory— and the Morning Psalms wonder.
fully enriched the feast, 19, 20, 21, — three psdms in prdse of his matchless
beauty and infimte love. Truly, sir, there is something of heaven in the spiritud
enjoyment of our creature comforts. Put Christ into them, and they are mar
vellously refined and exdted. I look at him in>your gifts — the motive and the
effect. You generously offer me a Waggon load of potatoes. I thank you :. but
I have got two buahels from Mr. Howard, who firat brought them to England,
and have sent them to Mr. Taylor. When the season comes, I shall neverthdeBS
accept your 8ix Backfills, cut and prepared. Before that time 1 live in hopes of
seeing you face to face. Yet 1 may not forget another kindness; for which
Mrs. R. desires we may join in thanking you.
I am become a great admirer of Phil. ii. 1 — 12. The dark ground seta off
this delightful picture. O what times do we live in ! Parties, dieputee, quarrels,
contentione, who ahdl be the greateat — yea, almoat hatred itself in the family of
love. We have much hearing, and little doing. The apoetle Jamee would be
frightened to 8ee the profe8sora of the day, dl ears, without hands or feet —
nothing about them active, but a gossiping tongue. For these thinga I mourn,
and preach, and pray ; not without aome profit. I aee aome love the goapel ; and
those that profess it make ub live more at home — you at Heckfield, and I in
London ; yet I am as private aa you. I very seldom go into any company ; and
when I do, I return to my study bleaeing God that I am once more done : anil
this makes the haven, of which I have the prospect just before me, a very
delightful appearance ; because there, and only there, the wicked, ay, and wicked
ness, cease from troubling.

stormyinto tli. ..
knows beBt: and I am certrin wttl do the beat. Help me all you can, and
approve youraelf like Him who loveth unto the end. Mra. R. deairee kind
remembrancee to your partner. My blessing on aU your children. The Lord
be with you all ; the fervent prayer of " m
1 W. Romaine.

LETTER XLVII. May 11, 1787.
My dear Friend.— Mies P. dined with ue yeaterday, and made me quite
aehamed of myself. A book, called " The Christian Remembrancer," was lying
on the table. Upon her taking it up, ehe edd she believed it was yours, of ^
which I had no hint before. What! thought I, doea Mr. S. write books faster
than I can read them. I have not read Hora Solitaria yet, and I did not intend
to write tttl I had gone through it, and could thank you for the second edition, ae
heartily or more than I did for the firet. But I can refrdn no longer : dthough
I am indeed, sir, almoet worn out, and good for nothing. My frame and my
present feelings, the infirmities of mind and body, keep me very close to my last
lesson Every thing, within and without me, preaches to my heart the necessity
of being saved freely and whoUy by grace ; and the blessedness of this lesson ia
by long experience become very precioua. What could I do now, if it were
otherwise ? ' I cannot look back : no comfort there. Activity, vigour in working,
livelinees, are over. It's true, 1 keep on public exercises ; but they grow too

THE REV. W. ROMAINE, A.M. 559
much for me. When I am quite jaded after a hard day — " It's time to spare
yourself," say my friends. " What ! still four times a week, and often five. Oh,
it's not required of you !" No, it is not ; but His love constrdns me : it is as a
thousand arguments, inspiring me with courage not to stop in showing forth his
praises before men, which I hope soon to take up before saints and angels. Let
the flesh complain — I owe it no favours — If it be tired with the prdses of my
Jesus — shame upon it, that it should ever be weary with the joys and glories of
heaven. But weary it is — even now, the writing of this letter is a burden. I
have dropped all my correspondents ; and keep the httle spirits that remain for
public preaching. Nobody knows what I feel this morning ; what uphill work
it is, even to take up my pen, as I am in duty bound, and to acknowledge that I
owe you so much, that, like a man over head and ears in debt, I am ashamed to
meet my creditor. A letter from Heckfield, if not two. A very acceptable pre
sent from the farm. Six volumes of Horm Solitarim. Six volumes of The Chris
tian Remembrancer (ifit be yours). And what sum shaU I put to that brotherly
love, which was the fountain from whence these friendly streams flowed ? May
they flow on, and never, never stop ! I believe they trill not : they cannot. It
is at this moment a blessed prospect, " Unto the place from whence the rivers
come, thither they return again." They aU come from him ; " All my fresh
springs are in thee." Our love, with aU its comforts, in thankfulness to him and
kindness to one another, is from his infinite grace. To Him be all the glory of
Heckfield favours. I am sure, the more we thank Him, the better we BhaU
thank one another. Pray for me. Before I write agdn, I have two books to
read, and cannot take them up tiU J une the 25th. Perhaps I may see you before.
The Master of the house bless the chUdren ; send you servants after his own
heart ; and fulfil dl his purposes of grace to Mrs. S. and yourself. Mrs. R. joins
with yours in every holy bond,
W. Romaine.

LETTER XLVIII.
Jan. 26, 1788.
My dear Friend. — A. this week caUed, and dines with us to-day. He
brought me nothing under your hand of your good wishes for the new year : but
I give you full credit under my hand, that I am remembered by you, as I ought
to be, and that my best wishes are not spared in prayer for you and yours. I am
stiU " looking to Jesus ;" our word for the year 1788. A present look to him will
make this year much better entitled to annus mirabilis, than either the victory over
the Spanish Armada, or the Revolution. They are gone and past ; but ours is
dtogether wonderful : in its duration, an endless year ; and in its blessings, more
and greater than any heart can conceive — and heightened by the motive from
which dl comes— the eternd grace ofthe eternal Three. Proud Arminians may
laugh at — Why me ? But they in whom Jesus will be admired, can now see no
reason in themselves: their true Spirit is self-loathing and self-abhorrence.
Their one song is — *' Worthy is the Lamb, &c." May this be sweeter melody in
your heart every day — yea, may every look to Jesus throughout the year be more
humbling to you and me, that we may be getting into a higher note of praise.
And truly, Bir, I can sing a little bit of G. Sol re ut in dt.
We are in great want of " The Christian Remembrancer." My sde of it has been
very large— insomuch that Mrs. Trapp wonders what I do with them : it is a nice
book to give or sell. It suits modern reading. If I had known the new edition
was so fonvard, I would have proposed a new chapter ; but it is too late. In my
journeys through England last summer, I disposed of great numbers— and had
frequent opportunities of reading it myself. Go on ; and the Lord prosper you !
Having an opportunity of sending a parcel to my son this morning, f enclosed
thia little note, with my respects to M rs. S. Am thankful our good Lord appeared
again for her. Oh He is good, and doeth good. Desire her to look back, and see,

560 LETTERS WRITTEN BY
observe how he has led her hitherto. May she trust and no; bo afraid of hia
future guidance. To him I commend you dl, and pray you to remember
W. Romaine.

LETTER XLIX.
March 8, 1788.
My dear Sir. — I know one that sdd, "It is more blesaed to give than
to receive ;" and I know his reason. He that sdd it is the giver of all blessings,
even of liberality to give, and of thankfdneaa too for it, both in the giver and in
the receiver. In nothing are we more like him than in heatowing, aa he does,
most freely and bountifully. Much fdth in Him dways works love to Him and
to Hia. I feel, while 1 am writing, that I want a more thankful acknowledgment
of Heckfield favours. Let me set some of them down, to brush up ray memory.
Mr. S.'e lettere. Mre. S.'s kind note. Six ofthe second edition of " The Christian
Remembrancer." Mr. Matthews sent me " The Deep Things of God," &c. I
cannot tell who I am to thank for it, but ex pede Herculem. AU this is friendly
enough ; but the motive (of which I do not judge doubtfully) enhancea every
thing. I verily believe our intercourae i8 carried on by the Lord ; and though you
have got above me in some things, you have more to give : yet I may not yield to
you in others. I have an infinite fulness to go to, to make and to keep me trdy
thonkfol. This I get as I want it : the prayer of fdth brings in the grace, and ia
pleading for you and youra — that you may be the bleeeed of the Lord.
I mentioned a subject which I greatly deaire to see treated by your pen. It is
"on the profitable hearing of the word;" and should come in after the 36th
chapter, p. 188. I need not teU you my reason. A creature, "all ear," haa
ceased to be a monater. Give them a word in aeaeon. Certdnly the goapel is
heard for better purpoaee, when it ie mixed with faith, than to be only the
pleaaant voice of a aweet singer, which neither administers food, nor nourish
ment, nor growth. Do, 8ir, oblige me with a little chapter there, on the
character of a profitable hearer of the gospel. If I do not Bee you before, I
hope to have the pleaeure of meeting you in AprU. In the mean time pray for
W. Romaine.
Mre. R. saye, I have not expreesed her thankfulneaa so strong as I ought. I
mention this at her request.

LETTER L. June 12, 1788.
My dear Friend.— Our time is fixed for coming into your neighbourhood ;
of which I acquaint you early, in hopea it may auit you to admit ub under your
roof. But you wiU be quite free to teU ua of your engagemente, that we may
not break in upon any of them. We expect to be at Reading about the latter
end of this month, and wttl inform you of the day when I hear from you. Our
Lord is exceeding gracious to me in aU things, in hand and in promiae : he
makea me admire hie infinite bounty, giving me to repeat David'a worde, with
some of David's spirit, Pedm xxxiv. 1, 2, 3.
Pray for me, ae I do for you and youre, that we may aU hold on our way
rejoicing. I am, in our deareet Jeeue, your friend and eervant, W. Romaine.

LETTER LI. Dec. 22, 1788
My dear Friend. — I have your Remembrancer by me, and I aend you
mine for the next year. Accept it, and uae it, that it may help the exercise of

THE REV. W. ROMAINE, A.M. 5fjl
brotherly love. It has been long my Vade Mecum .- for in the blank memo
randum part I record the memorables, temporal and spiritud, of the day. I find
the review dways humbles, dways exalts, God's mercies ; and as to the present
time, it is certainly good to try to fasten something to the flying moments,
which may hinder them from running to waste, especiaUy when they have
almost done their flight, as they have with me. What should I do now without
Christ 1 Much time to redeem — every earthly help failing — and these few days
are in all respects evil — private — public — church — state. Oh what Kanta ! as
our Lord calls it. Happy for us, he is on the throne, and ruleth right. Our
word for 1789 is to be, " The Lord reigneth," Jehovah Jesus, over dl worlds
and over all creatures ; and to him every knee shall, willingly or unwillingly,
bow. My dear friend, remember me in an especial manner on New-year's day,
that when I speak of the character of our Royal Sovereign, the King of kings,
of the nature of his government, and of the peculiar happiness of his subjects,
I may be enabled to speak, in some measure, suitable to his fame and high
renown. You know one who saw a great ileal more of him' than any one of us
do, and who spoke with admiration — " Who can utter the mighty acts of the
Lord ? Who can shew forth aU his praise ?" Because he could not, he did not
give over praising. Oh no ! he never stopped ; he is at it still : through the
ages of eternity he wttl be blessing God and the Lamb. I am living in hopes
it wttl not be long before I shall join him ; and his subject of praise, which is
mine now, will be mine then. The prospect is big with blessings. I am desired
to return thanks to Mrs. S. for her kind present. Christmas mercies be hers,
and yours, and aU your children's. In the present ferment, I find a sweet
retreat in my study, and much refreshment in conversing with my best friend.
All my politics are with him. Psalm cix. 4. The words cannot be translated,
as you know. The more I get into the spirit and practice of them, the more I
shrill be your friend and servant, in Jehovah Jesus, \V. Romaine.

LETTER LII. Reading, June, 1789.
Dear Sir. — All the family present thanks ; we took a great deal of pains
to bring them ourselves, but could not succeed : my son was all the morning
trying to get a chaise, but could not. I am forced to acknowledge your bounty
to us to-day, by favour of Lawrence, and by whom I inform you that we are
still in hopes to come and take our leave of the favoured Heckfidd, where I
have spent many days very pleasantly, and with whose inhabitants I hope to
spend many more, even more than can be told by multiplication. The good
Lord has called you to another place. It is his will : it is his work you are to
do. lie has given you talents ; I am to pray for his blessing upon the use of
them ; that the public, yourself, your family, your friends, may be profited by
your present station ; and among the rest,
W. Romaine.

LETTER LIII.
Dec. 18, 1789.
My dear Friend. — I think it right to acknowledge the receipt of twelve
books from Mr. Trapp, by your order; and also to thank you for your good
advice lo the growing generation, which was never more wanted than at this day.
The spirit of the times runs strong against all subordination ; even the first
commandment with promise, " Honour thy father and thy mother," &c. is
losing its authority daily. I have great need to follow your book with my
prayers ; and 1 do. May it please our soverdgn Lord to accompany the reading
of it with his effectud power. May the young learn subjection to dl their

5tl2 LETTERS WRITTEN BY
superiors, in the family, in the state, and in the church ; so tnat the timee may
be quieter in our land than I fear they wttl be.
\ ou are wdting : it ia not lost time : I have found it very teaching, and very
profitable. Put the Lord in, and it will be blessed wdting. " My soul, wait
thou only upon the Lord," &c. May this be your present Heckfield lesson ;
and, as to the event of what you wait for, it is in his hands who can make no
mistakes : subjection to his will is heaven.
Mrs. R. remembers you and all yours, especially Mrs. S., with affection ; so
does
W. Romaine.

LETTER LIV.
April 12, 1790.
My very dear Friend. — I was thinking this morning what excuse I could
make for not acknowledging a very acceptable present, and for not answering a
friendly note with it, long ago. Like most of us, very glad to receive favours,
but tardy in giving of thanks, I waa for laying it upon more bii8ineaB than I waB
become equal to, having very nearly attained that late period of life, in which
Moses says (and I feel it), Psal. xc. 10, our utmost efforts are pain and wearincaa,
both of mind and body. Our strength ia really to ait still. And a blessed lea-
eon it ia, when, human efforts ceasing, we are led to make the works of Jeaue all
our salvation, and to find by happy experience that it is become all our deeire.
Oh what a good time has he lived to, whether he he young or old, who ie dying
in this faith 1
But when I had written this excuse down, and read it, I was quite ashamed of
it, because it confuted itself. It savoured a good deal of their practice (Gen. iii.),
who sought to lay the blame upon any thing rather than tbcmeclvee ; for, indeed,
moat excuses are lies. An indolent temper, when what must be done of necessary
preparation for public preaching was over, unwilling to aet about other thinga ;
wanting to relax ; and too often easing the mind by that epirit by which many
trespass upon God's goodness ; delaying from day to day ; I will write to-morrow ;
or, what signifies it when I do write ; I shall say nothing that will be worth post
age. All my former excuaes failed me thie morning, April 12th ; and 1 now
cry Peccavi. I have got to the true cau8e : forgive me this wrong. I am to
thank you for a Christian Remembrancer of thia laat edition, finely hound, for
Mrs. Romaine. Better late than never to repent and amend. In these trouble
some timea 1 find it good to follow Habakkuk's example, which ia all the politics
I wish to know: he prayed, he got into hia watch-tower, and waited for an
answer ; and he received it, and praised God for it. I am doing the same for the
public — at prayers for the church, groaning under an oppression harder than the
Chddean bondage. I pray on; but am still in my watch-tower — I can get no
anewer— one can eee no end of the present trouhlee — the cauee ia not removeei :
therefore they continue ; they increaae, ae if eo many fiende of hell were let looee,
and Buffered to do aU the mischief which Satan himaelf could wieh. We know
where to lay the blame : unbelief ie the provoking sin ; it has brought ruin upon
many great kingdoms ; eo that we can trace the vengeance of heaven againet it
from age to age, down to the present miseries of Europe. Infidelity led the way
— S' -We will not have this man to reign over us : " then he left them to them
selves ; upon which Antichrist, that is, Apollion, brought out hia legion8 and armiea
to destroy ; and they have destroyed all law, order, property, religion ; insomuch,
that the earth is made by them like another hell. I tremble ; for who takes
warning ? Oh ! my country, my "country ! I fear for England. We are not
much unlike the kingdom of France — very near her in her ein, and may not be far
from her in her punishment. Therefore I keep me in my watch-tower, praying
and pleading for mercy, begging our Lord to spare ue for hie own name'e sake.
This is my only plea. Are we better than they f It is of the Lord's mercies that
we are not consumed, because his compa8sions fail not. May theae move him to

THE REV. W. ROMAINE, A.M. 563
pour upon Us a spirit of prayer and supplication, that, as a nation, we may with
national repentance keep the 1 9th instant, humbled under his mighty hand. This
is such a fast as he hath chosen f^and for his own glory may he work a general
reformation, that iniquity may not be our ruin. I hope you will keep me com
pany in my watch-tower ; then especially ; but at aU times there to plead for you
and yours
W. Romaine.

LETTER LV.
July 8, 1790.
My dearly Beloved. — Let brotherly love continue and increase. I have
to congratulate Mrs. S. and you on the success of the Rev. Mr.  . He rejoices
me in hearing of his present situation, and in hope of his success in it. We
hope to set out from London soon after the 18th instant ; and, if it be quite
agreeable, we purpose to visit friends at Heckfield in the course of that week.
If no objection be made, we shall be at Reading, and will make our time and cir
cumstances known unto you. The favour of a line to Blackfriars wiU be an addi-
tiond obligation to the multitude dready conferred on your true friend, and
humble servant in Christ,
W. Romaine.

LETTER LVI.
Dec. 15, 1790.
Dear Sir. — My son has been coming down for a long time, but he has been.
detained. I waited to send my acknowledgments by him, not thinking they
were worth postage. You know we then do the best when Jesus gets all the
prdse. I hope in your leisure hours, in 6ome of these wet days, you have him
still in your eye, and are putting down some of your thoughts concerning Him
and His. * I have a hand in them, as far as prayer can go ; and that with him is
a great way. James v. 16. Mrs. R. is not behind in our love to Mrs. S. and
in respects to the family. Truly yours in Him,
W. Romaine.

LETTER LVII.
Saturday, 2 o'clock.
My dear Friend. — We are at prayers for the sick of your family. My
Doctor is the best, because he cures infallibly and etemdly. To his care I am
commending Mrs. S. and Miss Ann, and hoping he wiU prosper R.'s advice and
medicine, as he did to Mary, in whose recovery we all rejoice and are thankful.
I am the scribe, because I would request, for Christ his sake, a constant remem
brance in your prayers for myself, that I may finish my course with joy — and my
farther testimony for Jesus, in my Triumph of Fdth, may be to his glory ; whose
I am, and whom I serve. Yours in Him, W. Romaine.

LETTER LVIII. Southampton, Oct. 18, 1791.
My very dear Friend. — I have a great desire to take sweet counsel with
you concerning my present studies ; and thankfully accept of your kind invitation
• Alluding to a book, entitled, The Church of God.
0 0 2

564 LETTERS WRITTEN BY
to spend a day or two with you for that purpoee. We hope to be able to get to
Heckfield the 25th inatant, in the evening, but do not wish to trouble you for
your chdse : it will be more convenient, on many accounts, to take a chaise at
Baeingstoke. The family here desire to he, with due respect, remembered to
you : Mrs. R. joins me in my best wiehee to you, and to Mre. S. and to dl the
family. My Lord has been teaching me some of my last lesson. He ie taking
down this earthly tabernacle ; but he does it like hiinsdf— gently— lovingly
— with no more pain than aa he enablea me to say — all is weU. May he vouchsafe
ua a happy meeting by the way— and the best at laat : eo praye
W. Romaine.

LETTER LIX.
Jan. 14, 1792.
My dear Friend. — You wiU give me credit, farther than you have heard or
seen, that I have not forgot your kindneaa. I dao thank One for the fuU con
viction that it was a love of hie teaching which inspiree your heart and mine,
and that it will not end when faith and hope have done their perfect work, (ilory
be to him in the highest !
I am spending two or three days at Tottenham, and ao get time to acknowledge
my debts, which I never can get in London. What with much preaching, and
many works of charity, I live there for the public ; and I do not regret it, because
my time ia short, and I wodd labour while it ia day. I have reached the 11 th
chapterof the Revelation, with much comfort to myself : I dare not say, that I have
given the whole mind of the Holy Spirit ; but, according to ray light, I have de
livered nothing contrary to it • the moBt difficult parta of the book are to come ;
but I am looking up for hia teaching who can lead me into all truth : he ia my
commentator ; for all the rest have fdled me. Help me in your prayera, aa
weU aa with your hinta (which I vdue much), that thia my laet preaching may be
the beet.
Our word, for thie year, wae — Grow in grace — what grace is — favour, free
favour — a cool breeze after a eultry day, aa refreehing ae the dew upon herbe —
for to theae favour ia compared.
What growth ie — an increoee of the favour of God, by the increaeing know
ledge of our Lord and Saviour Jceue Chriet : eo I read the worde — grow in the
grace, and in the knowledge, &c. by the Spirit, through fdth in the word ; prayer
over it ; more dependence on the faithfulneee and power of God to fulfil it. In
thia view I wished my people and you a growing year. May much of the
rain and shining of heaven upon the good Beed make it bring forth a hundred
fold, in London and Heckfield, to the praise of the aower, who ia the Son of
man. Black clouds and gTeat Btorme are gathering : but nothing but a fuU pereua-
sion of thia could make ue lift up our heads with joy. He has told us that these
latter days would be the worst. So it is . infidelity triumphs : the fancied rights
of men usurp the rights of God : republicanism throws off subjection to God's
ordinance ; and every unbeliever is a king, sui juris. Happy for us, the govern
ment is upon his ehodders, who can and wttl get himaelf glory by fulfiUing Peal.
lxriii. 1, 2. Read the Hebrew : the verbe are in the future tense : v. 3, ie our
support and stay in these tempests. You will not fatt to pray for me, that I may
be kept by his mighty power, through faith, tttl I come to the bleeaed end — to aee
my Jeeue face to face. To him I commend you and youre, with Mrs. R.'e
Christian love, being in this one respect, without guile, your friend and eervant,
W. Romaine.

THE REV. W. ROMAINE, A.M. 565
LETTER LX. Reading, Jan. 19, 1792.
My very dear Friend. — I sit down only to teU you that I feel for you. I
remember Mrs. H., a friend of ours, had a room full of the pictures of infants
Mrs. R. asked her one day, as they had been all her chUdren, and all dead, why
she let them hang there. She answered, " It is the same thing between our
Saviour and me, whether he has them, or I have them." 'This is a great saying ;
yet, it is in fart no more than we are daUy praying for — " Thy wiU be done !" It
is soon sdd : but when the wiU of the flesh is opposed, it is not so soon practised.
Indeed, submission to God's wttl is an almighty work, which you know as weU as
I do, and perhaps feel more of it at this time. But through the Spirit of Jesus,
when we feel this rebeUion, we are commanded to look to " Our Father which art
in heaven." In Christ he is ours — his fatherly love is ours — and he can do
nothing but what is for our good. And his opportunity of manifesting it, is chiefly
when his will goes one way, and our wttl goes another. Then we are forced to
look up for his promised strength, and, we generaUy find, he appears most for us.
He tries faith, purifies it in the furnace, continues it in the fire, that patience may
bring fresh experience ; and experience improves that hope which never makes
the believer ashamed. See these truths most beautifuUy illustrated in the case of
David : I never read it without getting some good from it ; for there one sees
before one's eyes that faith and patience may have their perfect work. Mrs. R. is
concerned with you for the loss of her dear god-daughter Jane ; she was God's gift.
He aUowed you to enjoy it for above twelve years. He hath taken her to himself ;
and he hath done what is right, what is best, for you and for her : to his name be
aU the glory. Mrs. R. joins in affectionate remembrance to Mrs. S. with
W. Romaine.

LETTER LXI.
SOUTHAMPTON, Oct. 6, 1792.
My dear Friend and Brother. — I am desired by severd friends who
have read the inclosed, to beg the favour of you to let them reprint it. But, as
there was something local in the first publication, they thought it best, and so do
I, that it should be submitted to you, whether you would give them leave ; and
if you did, whether some things might not be omitted, to make it so small as to
be cheaper, and spread abroad more. It is their purpose to have it printed at
Bath by Mr. Hazard, and to be sold, if they can, for two-pence, or, at most,
for three-pence. In my judgment only one thing is wanting to make it as full
as one would wish on this subject *«»••»». I know you can answer this, and
to satisfaction. Mr. T., my host, sdutes you, and so does Mrs. R., who, thank
God, is at present in perfect hedth.
And let us know particularly how Mrs. S. and aU the fanuly are at present. I
have enjoyed some of the choicest blessings this summer in my meditations on
the Triumph of Fdth. Experience prospers, dthough the written part goes on
slowly. Much preaching, wherever I have been, has kept it back. And it is
the same thing whether he be exdted in the preached, or in the printed gospel,
so his Spirit do but favour the work. Fresh supplies of his grace are as needful
us fresh breath. May his blessed inspiration guide you, and bless you in all
things. So prays,
W. Romaine.

506 LETTERS WRITTEN BY
LETTER LXII.
„ Nov. 19, 1792.
My very dear Friend.— I remember you and your family, recominendinir
you all to my Doctor, whose hand is not ehortened : he still cures all manner of
sicknesa ; and his praise is above heaven and earth for standing rairades of
mercy. Can there be greater than you and I f Oh magnify the Lord with me •
and let ua exdt hia name together. The hooka which come with thie, and
which I promised you, wttl, I hope, hdp to show you freah wondera of hia grace
They are the only copies I have, and shall be glad to have them returned, but not
in haste. Since I came home, bo many engagementa, that I rather live tho
rnumph of Faith than write it : but still he ia kept in hia right place, and he
makea dl within me to epeak of hie glory. To him I commend you and youra,
being by him and in him your friend and eervant,
W. Romaine.
LETTER LXII1.
Reading, Tuesday Morning.
My dear Friend. — We accept of your kind invitation to beloved Heckfield,
and wish to 6ee your chdse on Monday next at twelve o'clock : next week being
the only time we have to apare thia year ; and, my great journey being almost
over, it may be my la8t vieit.
Oh how fdthful is he who keepeth for ue the appointed weeke of harveet !
Bleesinga on him, that ordinances are our conatant preachera, encouraging ua
to truat and not be afrdd. May hia choicest favours be on you and yours,
Mre. S. &c, and on your reverend gueet. So praye one and aU of this family,
ae weU aa W. Romaine.

LETTER LXIV. Jan. 10, 1794.
My dear Friend. — Having an opportunity of aending thanks byaparcel to
my son, I embrace it gladly, although I have only time to mention your laat
book, handaomely bound, to Mrs. R. and myself, accompanied with a letter more
worth than all the rest. Thank you for aU the reet, and for brotherly love. The
report of Mr. I. is very false ; he has sent me extracts of sermons lately preached,
and I have given it under my hand, that he ia not an Arian nor a Socinian. It
ia much to be lamented that such vile slanders should be raised and apread.
Our motto ie, "The God of Hope," Rom. xv. 13. I have preeerved the aub-
atance of the 8ermon, and wttl send it you in due time. It was only a comment
on the verae. My prayere for all the family. Pray for W. Romaine.

LETTER LXV.
Letters to J  I  Esq. with several to Mrs. I  .
Oct. 19, 1782.
My dear Sir. — Our common friend Mr. A. ie coming to meet you. I
could not neglect the opportumty by him of acknowledging your last favour,
with tbe inclosed Address to the Freeholders of Somerset. It is aeaaonable and
weU- judged ; becoming a true lover of his country. I wiah eucceeB may crown
your endeavours ; but I have no reason to expect it. There are but two epirita

THE REV. W. ROMAINE, A.M. 567
that divide the world. One is predominant in our land and day, insomuch that
the love of the pubhc is lost. Self is the great idol, self-interest is the ruling
principle, and self-enjoyment the universd end ; of which our mock patriots have
given us dreadful proof. From them nothing can be hoped for, whether in or
out, but mischief : the corruption of their prinriples in religion can lead them to
nothing in practice but what is ruinous in church and state. But bad as the
prospect is, we must not be discouraged in doing our duty : you in your station,
and I in mine, should take the more pains. Whatever may be the event to others,
we shall both be better for our endeavours; and perhaps you may succeed with
your feUow-subjects And I have some reason to wdt for success from my
friend — He is the great Patriot — He teaches — He gives patriotism. The whole
world cannot make a public-spirited man without him. In this light I view him
as the sun in the firmament — the greatest friend that mankind could possibly
have. He is the Saviour — He makes private persons, as weU as states, happy —
He saves from aU kinds of miseries what the sinner may suffer in himself, and
what he may make others suffer. To him I am looking in the use of means, as
you are for nationd deliverance from our open enemies, and from our sham
patriots. From him dso I expect the revivd of public spirit : he done can save
from self and selfishness. On that he may put forth his power ! unless he do,
you wiU not get twelve counties to build twelve ships of war. We are asleep,
though in a storm — in danger, but insensible — by quarrels at home, strengthen
ing the hands of our enemies abroad. A wide field of lamentation is before, me ; —
hut I stop : he shall hear the remdnder who can 6ave a sinking land.
W. Romaine.
I have a fresh confirmation of an old promise, " Thou shdt visit thy tabernacle,
and shdt find nothing amiss." Oh, he is a good, a precious Jesus.

LETTER LXVI. Dec. 14, 1782.
My good Friend. — I never was more obUged to you than for your Christian
sympathy with us in this time of need. It is a great trial : but it is the Lord who
has a right to do what he wiU with his own. It is my Lord, my old Friend, who
changeth not in his love : he has acted for his own glory, and has done the best.
What would I more ? Nothing, but his grace to make me submit to his sove
reign wiU ; and that, blessings on him ! he does now freely vouchsafe ; for I feel
a will of my own quite opposite to his. I could wish he would have spared my
son : my soul delighted in him : he was a sweet youth. The remembrance of his
person and manners and behaviour ; his dutifulness (for he never offended me
but once in his life) ; his conduct since he was in the army — these draw tears
from mine eyes while I am writing. I do feel as a parent. I am no stoic, but,
thanks be to my good God, his grace conquers nature. The struggle is hard ;
but God is with me ; and through him I conquer myself : he forces me to go to
him every moment for his support and his comforts. I have no stock of resig
nation. It is out of myself, laid up in the fulness of Jesus ; and while I live
upon him for it, he helps me to kiss the rod. He keeps under my rebel wiU, and
teaches me to say from my heart, " Not my wiU, Lord, but thine, be done." Such
is the kindness of my Jesus ; for which I adore and worship him.
My poor wife has exquisite feefings on this occasion. It is her constant prayer
not to be suffered to displease our Lord by her murmurings. However willing
the spirit may be to kiss the rod, yet the flesh is weak. The tender bowels of the
mother rise, and struggle ; but the power of grace prevaUs. In the midst of her
greatest floods of tears, she would cry out — " Lord, keep me ! Lord save me from
thinking or speaking any thing contrary to thy holy wttl." And he was very
good to her, her fdth was supported.
I have many things to write, but have not leisure ; only to add once more, that

568 LETTERS WRITTEN BY
we are, from our very hearts, sensible of your remembrance of us. May the good
Lord sanctify to you aU he gives, and all he takes away, and bless you abundantly
for your kindness to
W. Romaine.

LETTER LXVII.
Feb. 1, 178S.
My very dear Friend. — I take the first opportunity of answering your
friendly letter. You have full credit for aU your professions of mourning with
those that mourn : we believe your Bympathy, and we bless God for it. The
prayere of our friends for ue have been heard and answered. Mra. R., considering
her feelinge, has been very graciously dedt with ; kept at the worst from mur
muring, and generaUy cdm and compoeed. We had friende many, and from
them prayers many : but you know that when two 8tringe of an inetrument Btrike
a unison, they are in concord. Just ao waa it with Mre. l.'s letter : it waa then,
and is still, in uniaon with Mra. R.'b spirit. It sounded a concord ; it met the
very sentimenta of her heart, and became, not a preemption, but an effectud
medicine to her wound. It was not a letter about the bdm of Gilead ; but it
brought and administered the heding virtue. It does not at aU leBeen Mre. I.'b
red friendship, but more endeare it, that God gave to her worde ao great a bleaa
ing : they came from love ; they have increased love ; and to thie moment
Mra. R. never 8peake of them without great thankfulne8s I am commisaioned
from her to bless Mrs. I. for her kindness.
You are very obliging in wiahing ua at Brislington ; but my circumBtancea are
such, and my helpa in preaching eo very few, that I cannot think of so long a
journey. My work is great ; and the night wiU aoon come when it wiU be over :
I wiah to be fdthful and 8uccesaful these few hours of the evening which are left.
If I aee you not face to face, I am still, in office, your constant orator .- my Lord
wttl hear much of you, and I wttl please myeelf with the pereuaeion that I shall
often meet you at hia throne. I invite Mr. T. to give me a meeting there ; the
oftener the better.
Our word for thie year waa, Judges ri. 24, " Jehovah Shdom," Jehovah ie our
peace. It waa eomething remarkable that it ehould eo eoon have a literal accom
plishment. Peace being broken between God and man, the breach was made up
by our great Peace-maker. The gospel ia the open proclamation of it, inviting
sinners to be reconcUed to God, and to enjoy the benefita of a free trade between
heaven and earth. They who are juatified by faith are reconciled, and find thia
peace with God : and, as far aa they believe, they enjoy the benefita of an open
intercourse with God in Christ ; which benefita are dl the graces of time, and
all the glories of eternity. I have only to wi8h that the outward peace may
promote the inward, and the Peace-maker himeelf may get the glory of this
and of all hie goodness to the children of men.
My blessing on your dear chttdren. May they be kept for you, and you
for them ! Mrs. I. e great attention to them is her duty ; and being paid in
the Lord is her privilege. Prayer for eucceee ie the chief thing : he only, yea,
he only, can bless instruction. May the parente and their friends plead much
and prevail.
W. Romaine

LETTER LXVIII.
June 28, 1783.
My dear Friend. — I have yours before me of the 23rd inetant. You are
atiU; and your concern8 are on my mind, and on my heart. I feel with you,
and rejoice with you. When you pro8per, it is better with me. I get a fresh
eubject of praise, and find it » pleasant thing to carry your thanka to my

THE REV. W. ROMAINE, A.M. 569
Master. May he be with you aU at Lyme, and bless means for the good of
the body. When we meet, may he consecrate your house afresh, and make
it such a church as AquUa and Priscilla had in their house. It has been, and
I hope wiU be. We have no plan about our summer journey ; but think it
wUl not be quite convenient for us to travel westward till the latter end of
August. Mrs. R. is at present very much out of order — feverish — a sore
throat. Saturday morning : I am writing at six o'clock — and will go no farther
till the doctor comes.
He is come, and says he hopes there is no danger ; but symptoms are not so
good as he could wish. He is the Lord of life and death — in his hands we
trust our all. He commands us also to do it at all times. I am learning this
lesson, and recommending it much. What I know of it, practicdly, puts one
into a red paradise : because it puts one, and keeps one, in God s wiU. He
graciously appointed it to be a sovereign antidote against all evil, and to be his
ordinance for conveying aU blessings : for which reason, I write and preach so
much about it. The fulness is in Christ ; but there is no hand that can receive
any thing from him but faith : and fdth should go as far as the promise : it
should trust for life — the life that now is, and whatever belongs to it, as weU
as for the next. Oh, my dear friend, let me intreat you to read this attentively
and as the subject requires. I wish you dways happy, in all things happy:
Christ is the only way to this ; and you can get nothing from him without
faith ; and faith is not doing what it should do, if it does not save you from
guilty fears, and from natural fears. Mind the promise — " I will save you from
all your sins" — no fear from this quarter: so again — "Lest any hurt you
(person or thing), I wttl keep you night and day." No fear from this quarter :
almighty love has promised, come what may, it shaU not hurt. I harp so
much upon this string, because I know you have fears, and they do give you
uneasiness ; which I earnestly wish to cure. My friendship wants you to be
so happy as to be always rejoicing in the Lord. And yet mine is but a ray
of his friendship. Surely, then, you may trust him, and not be afraid of any
thing. Yea, you may, and you ought, to sing, " God is our hope and strength :
we have found him a very present help in trouble." I would go on, but I
must tdte notice of your letter. When I come, I am ready to do any body's
duty — to relieve Mr. G. and Mr. T. My love to them both.
Poor Mr. B. ! I pity every man who foUows his own wttl; for then the blind
lead the blind : now he has got into the ditch, may it be sanctified. He has great
reason now to follow my Lord's wiU ; and if he does, he will have ample matter
of repentance both before God and man. I pray this may be given him.
Have you taken notice of an uncommon phenomenon ? It was never once so
in my life. Since last Monday, we have had a continual foggy air — the sun shining,
but not able to disperse the vapour, mist, or whatever it was. The sun appears
like a red-hot piece of iron. No wind. I thought, at first, it had been our smoke :
but a gentleman from Buckingham, informs me it was the same there. On this
occasion, there are many fears abroad ; but my Lord spake to the point, and I
give him perfect credit. Thus sdth the Lord, " Learn not the way of the heathen,
and be not dismayed at the signs of heaven ; for the heathen are dismayed at them ;
for the customs of the people are vain." I thank him for this cordid : for, I
assure you, the appearances of the sky are very darming : but blessed are they
who put their trust in him. May he keep you and Mrs. I. and your beloved
children, not only from aU evil, but also from the fear of it. This is a part of
his sdvation. May we receive it by fdth, and use it to his glory ! To him, &c.
W. Romaine.

LETTER LXIX. Tiverton, Aug. 20, 1783.
My very dear Friend.— We arrived here, through the good hand of my
God, in safety : by which means I have learned something more of my first lesson ;

570 LETTERS WRITTEN BY
that is, to trust, and not be afrdd. What has he to fear who has cast dl his ears
upon an Almighty friend ? And has done it at his bidding, and on the warrant
of his promise F Every step of our journey spoke doud — Now you see he is
faithful — He edd, I wttl keep your going out, and your coining in — And blessings
on him, he has kept us from aU evil. Mr. I., no one has a better title than you
have — to trust at aU times, to trust for all things. May you live up to your
estate, and find your fdth working such a love to God on your heart as will cast
out aU fear that hath torment.
In myjolirney, I have dso met with nothing but what has increased thankful
ness. The fine weather, the fruits ofthe earth, very rich, and ripe, and abundant,
and the harvest very near over — these are specid mercies, caUing tiloud for praise.
The poor and the rich should alike join ; for both are benefited by the present
plenty. Wheat, lately nine shillings at this market, was yesterday, the best, sold
at five shillinge and eix-pence. Glory be to God 1
I have a magnifying glaea, through which I view these mercies, and they
appear great indeed. Looking upon them in a spiritual light — oh what an im
provement! He that has kept my body in safety has the care of my soul: he
has undertaken it : his love, his power, his wisdom, are all engaged. And he
says to me what David did to Ahiathar, " Abide thou with me : fear not ; for he
that seeks to destroy thy life must destroy mine first : but with me thou ehalt be
in safeguard." Corruptions, temptations, dangers, pdna, may attack and
threaten ; but fdth aaye, Fear not ; his word is passed — it cannot be broken — I
will preserve thee from all evtt — yea, I wttl preserve thy soul j I wttl perfect that
which concerneth thee.
When this is believed aa it ought to be, what a subject of praiee 1 Many, many
blessings I have in hand ; but they increase by use, and they are but earnests :
God givea them aa hia pledgee. Take this, and expect greater — the greatest —
aU my love in Christ — all my heaven. This is but the first fruits : the harvest
ehdl follow. When preaent mercie8 are viewed in this fight, oh how they increase
— how they magnify 1 May every day, as it adds to their number, add dso to
their value ; that, in dl things, you and I may be giving of thanks ; of which
heavenly employment nothing can hinder us but unbelief. Take heed of that
bitter root, and set Christ upon it. Mind ; he must pardon it, and subdue it, or
else it wiU shoot up and flourish.
Mr. G. informa me that he would wish to be releaeed before the 31st instant ;
to which 1 heartily conaent, ody reminding you of my parting request, that he
would occupy my pulpit aa long as he staye in town. My brotherly love to him ;
and my prayere follow him for euccese in dl that he takee in hand. 1 hope to
revisit you in the Lord on the 29th or 30th inatant : we have had aome cold
morninga, which made me think in earneet of the sea-8ide. Our joint love, with
every good wieh of it, to your dear children. Although I am out of office,
yet it is stttl my privilege to keep on praying for you and Mrs. I. I desire to tlo
it more, and better. And I am thankful to my best friend, who hitherto has
heard and anawered. I am in the Lord, your red friend and servant, W. Romaine.

LETTER LXX. Blackfriars, March 26, 1784.
My dear Friend. — I am thankful for the good news which you sent me from
a far country. Next to the gospel, it was welcome. Mr8. I. and the children
and yourself preserved in health, is a great mercy. Adored be his goodneaa. I
gave you an account of the weather with ua, till a little before the aoletice : then
the frost set in severe, and, excepting a day or two, we have had snow and cold,
till the equinox ; and even now the wind is in the north-east, and ae cold a March
as ever I remember. Scarce any appearance of spring yet : my crocusea are but
ju8t blowing. Your letter of the 11th of February is before me. I am obliged

THE REV. W. ROMAINE, A. M. 571
to you for your intelligence concerning the old preacher. It is good to do all that
we can for Christ : but nothing is good which is not done in faith, in his
etrength, and to his glory.
I hope this wiU find you before you leave Montpellier, and ease your mind about
your hot-house. Mrs. R. joins me in wishing you all a prosperous journey, under
the guidance of my Lord, and a happy meeting in London. Trust him. He-
says, " Lest any hurt you, I wiU keep you night and day." To his keeping 1
commend you and yours, and am in him truly yours, VV. Romaine.
I have no news to send you : our politics are fike the wind : we are ever chang
ing. The effects of matendism begin to be felt. They are the same in states as
in private persons. Self reigneth ; and then God and his Christ are dethroned.
My system begins with " the Lord reigneth." Il goes on, every step, with " the
Lord reigneth." And whatever opposes it, must come down; for he has all
power in heaven and in earth : " The Lord God omnipotent reigneth for ever and
ever." In such times as the present, nothing can quiet the spirit, or settle the
mind in perfect peace, but that this Lord is my Lord : under his care he has me
and mine. Come what may, aU is safe in his hands. A poor helpless sinner,
who has committed himself to the Saviour's keeping, may, and ought, to sing
that reviving hymn, Isdah xxvi. 1, 2, 3, 4, in aU troubles, and in the hour of
death. To him again I commend you and yours.

LETTER LXXI. Blackfriars, Sept. 14, 1784.
My very dear Friend. — I received your kind remembrance of us just
before we set out for the North ; and attended to your request of hearing from
me on the journey ; but my yearly engagement would not dlow me leisure till
this day. I have made it a long time my practice, as soon as St. Dunstan's
lecture is over, to begin reading my Bible ; and I let nothing take me off tiU I
have read it through. Yesterday, I finished my delightful task ; and having
blessed my God for his precious word, 1 take up my pen to write first to you.
The impressions left upon my heart in this last perusal are so warm and lively,
that I cannot help communicating them to you, and wishing that you and Mrs. I.
may feel the same. My admiration has been increasing of the uniformity ofthe
scripture plan. It is the great charter of grace ; and aU the parts perfectly
harmonize : and when one compares them together, each illustrates and beautifies
the whole.
'The reading of 1784 has dso given me a fresh confirmation of the truth of
scripture. I am not more certdn of any thing than that it is the word of God,
and the revelation of the Most High : and of this I am convinced, by finding the
power of God accompany it. As in the first, so in the new creation — He speaks,
and it is done : his word is almighty. I know of no power beyond that which
he has put forth in your heart and mine. Of his own wttl begat he us with the
word of truth. Our new birth is a new creation ; and, blessings on him ! I feel
the effects of this every time I take up my Bible : I find it to be more than the
word of man. It is in truth the word of Goel ; because it effectuaUy worketh to
this day in them that believe. Its influence in the heart and life is beyond aU
created power : and the experience of God's red presence in and by his word has
made, it to me very precious. On this last reading, my love for it has grown
much in taste and value — in taste, sweeter than honey — in vdue, more than gold,
yea, than much fine gold. As I dig deeper, the mine becomes rich, and the
treasures of grace are greatly enhanced by their being the earnests of glory. Oh
what a book is this ! What ! is any way like it ? I cannot get enough of it.
You know, it is a good sign of hedth when people long for their meds ; so it is
in the mind. I have but just done reading, and yet I want to begin agdn : my
appetite is keener. Feeding upon the word is not like the gross meat and drink

572 LETTERS WRITTEN BY
of. this world — nothing cloying in it : but when mixed with faith it refinea the
facultiea, and exhilarates the spirits. The man says, " O what love have I unto
thy law ! AU the day long is my study and my delight in it."
AU these considerations have received great confirmation in my last searching
of the scriptures ; because I have got one year nearer to the fuU accomplishment
of dl God's promises. This vastly enhances their vdue. Yet a very, very little
while— and perfection and eternity will.be put to their fulfilment. The word will
be completed — perfectly in aU its promises — eterndly in dl its glories. Oh what
a day wttl that be 1 What Joshua said, wiUbe matter of fact: Josh. xxi. 25;
xxiii. 14, 15. AU things in this world, when near, look great. As you go from
them, they appear less. It is the property of true faitii to bring the promises
near : as fdth grows by hearing and reading, the promises appear nearer and
greater. The home prospect familiarizes them, and presents them to our view
with freBh beauties. Believe me, Sir, this is matter of fact. The eye affects the
heart, and all its affections taste and enjoy the good things of Immanuel's land :
which, though they be at present in promise and hope, yet the promises of them,
exceeding great and exceeding precious, mixed with suitable faith, excite a hope
fuU of glory and immortdity.
This view of the Bible is inexpressibly glorious. It reveds ; it realizes ; it
brings into present enjoyment eternal things. It is my constant prayer for B.
friends, that they may be bible Christians. AU besides is vanity.
I told you the design of my journey. It was answered. God is unspeakably
good to me and to mine. Our meeting was in hia name and fear : we profited.
And we parted in love, juat aa they did (Acts xx. 36, 37, 38), to meet again in a
better country.
The harvest is fine. He reserveth for ub the appointed weeke, &c. He is good.
I am going to keep my harvest-home, and for one to bless his bounty. Our
feast is Sept. 25. Remember us on that day. Mrs. I., Miss Louisa — none of our
Bristol friends shaU be left out. Mr. T. not pasaed by. My dear partner will join.
I have many letters to write ; but youra, being firet, ia not the least, neither in
love nor size. Every bible blessing be yours,
W. Romaine.

LETTER LXXII.
Nov. 30, 1784.
My dear Friend. — I am to thank you for your constant kind remembrance
of us ; for which giving you perfect credit, you will not he offended that I look
higher in my thankB. We ought not to live upon the streams ; but they ehould
lead us up to the fountdn-head from whence they flow. The bountiful giver
should be acknowledged in all his gifts, whether they come immediately from
himself or from his creatures. And this iB his way, both to aanctify friendahip
and to 8ecure it. Moet friendships are ropes of sand : they love to-day, and
hate to-morrow ; because they leave God out. But bringing him into all our
connexions with one another, he renders them holy, and thereby lasting.
Indeed^ thie ie the life I am wiehing and trying to make some daily progress
in : and truly nothing else is worth living for. You may safely write vanity
on aU worldly comforts, if they be not spiritudized. But God in them exalte,
ennobles them, and turns their cold water into rich wine. To his praise be
it spoken. I have supped in Mrs. N.'s room on bread and cheese and cider ;
and it waa fulfilled, " So man did eat angela' food." Your ground8 are pleasant.
Walking done, to converae with God, they have been turned into a paradiae. How
many, many times has it been with me as with Isaac. He went out to pray in the
field at the even-tide ; and while he prayed, he lift up his eyes and saw Rebecca :
he asked, and had. How infinitely gracious his promise ! How infallibly faithful
his performance ! Before they call, I will answer ; and while they are yet speak
ing, I will hear. My dear friend Mr. I., this is really something of heaven: a
blessedness that I wish God may add to all your other enjoyments. It will
multiply them : you wttl have two in one — and what no estate, no relations, no

THE REV. W. ROMAINE, A. M. 573
comforts can give. This will do you good at your latter end, when they must all
fail. One, from whom I wish to learn this lesson, reduces it to this point — I have
set the Lord always before me : dways at home, or abroad — in company, or done
— writing letters, or reading them — eating or drinking, sleeping or walking, sick
or well — sick unto death, yea, dying — I would stiU be looking to Jesus. It is
my safety, my privilege, my happiness, to do dl in his presence. So his example
teaches. So his Spirit wiU enable you and me to foUow his steps. As behevers,
we sbdlbe aiming at it, and trying daUy to do it better : for when we are reconcUed
to the Father, and at friendship with him in his Son, we ought then to exercise
our faith and hope in him on all occasions. AVhat do we trust our souls for in
his hands if we do not trust our bodies ? How do we cast all our care upon him
if we do not live in perfect dependence on him for our chUdren and families ?
He has the government of church and state upon his heart and upon his shoulders.
Oh why, then, do we doubt of his managing both for the best ? He has under
taken the care of seed-time and harvest. How injurious is it to him to burthen
ourselves with his own proper business ; especially when he says, Cast thy burden
on the Lord ! But it is bad weather. He appoints cloudy days, as well as sun
shine : I quiet myself in his will, be it wet orfdr; and thereby enjoy a sweet cdm,
when the face of the sky is tempestuous, and the wind stormy ; although, of late,
he has been so gracious in his providence as to give us such fine weather as no
man living remembers in October and November ; saying, as it were, Trust, and
be not afraid : if you have a wet cold summer, I wiU give you summer weather
in winter. I reckon twenty-four fine days in October, and twenty-two in
November. What a God ! I admire his goodness to a set of people who are at
every turn murmuring at and affronting him for his management of the weather.
This present autumn should sUence all such compldnts. And when the winter
comes in earnest — cold, and frost, and snow, and north-east winds — they dl fulfil
his word. Thereby they exercise faith, and improve thankfulness. Lord, lift
thou but up the light of thy countenance, and it is Midsummer. I can assure
you, Sir, that these are not only redities, but dso blessings to be enjoyed : and I
wish you to partake richly of them. The Lord's presence wiU brighter- your fair
days, and wiU enlighten your darkness. Troubles come — he will make them big
with mercies ; death comes — he wiU be with you ; and dying, by his grace,
Bhall only be the entrance, safe, pleasant entrance, into hfe everlasting. O my
Jesus ! teach Mr. I., teach Mrs. I., this blessed lesson. Lead them from faith
to faith, that, every day, and in every thing, they may have a growing depen
dence on their God and their Saviour. Tliere is something so blessed in this view,
that I know not where to stop, or how to end ; and should not, but I am called
upon to remind Mrs. I. that Mrs. R. sent the things some time ago, and hopes
what was for Louisa, and the chain, answered. She pdd for them, aU but the
carriage. Take notice of this in your next, for her satisfaction. They talk of
peace ; but we are not ripe for it. Great trade would overset us, and prove a
natural intoxication. I heard the bishop of Worcester, a Christian bishop,
preach at Bow church, and he cdled it " the insatiable spirit of trade." So I
think. A Christian with food and rdment is a happy man. Having many
things to say, I must leave some to the next opportunity. I shall forget my
right hand when I forget you and yours. Bad news from India. Pray for us,
espeoafiy for .,
W. Romaine.

LETTER LXXIII.
Aug. 30, 1785.
My dear Friend. — Through a kind Providence, we arrived yesterday at our
journey's end, safe at Birmingham. All the way, nothing but death sounded in
my ears, caUing my faith to remember, " How blessed are the dead who die in the
Ixird ! " A friend separated from us by death is like a limb cut off; one cannot
help feeling it ; and I have lost so many of late, that I seem to have nothing left
but a stump. One of the most successful preachers of this day, my intimate for

574 LETTERS WRITTEN BY
thirty-five years, curate of Greaton, Northamptonshire, is just gone to rest — the
Rev. Abraham Maddocks : so is my very, very old acquaintance in the Lord,
Richard Wilson, of Frome. I have long known Sampson, the dissenting minister
at Truro, who is just gone to rest, while his wife was in labour of a sixteenth
child ; eleven of whom are alive, and left in great distress : — and I must soon
follow. Oh it is a wonderful blessing to be ready ! It spreads a cdm and peace
through life, and dl its enjoyments, and is a never-failing cordid to cheer our
hearts under all their distresses. Strong faith administers strong cordids : this
makes me cultivate so much in myself, and recommend so warmly to others, the
life of faith. Blessed are they now who live in the Lord : they shdl be also blessed
when they die in the Lord. Oh that the precious Lord Jesus may give you to
know and feel that you have a life in him out of the reach of death ! For this I pray
absent, but not forgetful of you nor of yours : your best interest lies ever near to my
heart ; and I verily believe Christ put it there, and keeps it there. May brotherly
love continue ; and, as the time of exercising it shortens every moment, may ita
bleased effects increase and abound ! We have found the country along the Severn in
general sickly — many dead at Upton, particularly Shipman, a good man, and died
in the Lord. At Worcester the same. Also at Knigntwiclt, where we staid some
days with our tried friends Mr. and Mrs. S. We had the same accolint at Brooms-
grove yesterday. The first symptom is a cold, which brings on a fever, and
commonly putrid. Our whole journey has preached death to me ; and, thank
God, it has made me more lively and more thankful.
1 am, and have also great reason to be, in the best bonds, your obliged friend,
and faithful servant in the Lord,
W. Romaine.

LETTER LXXIV.
Jan. 1786.
My dear Friend. — I am often with you at Montpellier. I behold your
clear sky and bright sun ; and I can feel some of your bracing air and your con
stant fine weather. I do rejoice in them, because you do ; but truly, Sir, I do
not wish myself in your place. Although I am happy in your happiness, yet
there is something even here at Blackfriars far beyond the south of France ; for
we are not without our enjoyments. I live in an element ; and when my sky is
clear, and my sun shinea bright, and I feel aome of ita warm beama, and I breathe
ita pure a?ther — these are real blessings ; they come down from the Father of
lights — gifts like himself. He gives his Spirit to enlighten and to enliven our
spirits, that, being one with his Son, we may live upon his fulnesa in earth and
heaven. And when thia spiritual life is enjoyed, there is a failing somewhere if
its influence does not extend to the body and make the whole man better. My
physician prescribea for both : he apeaks a peace and a calm to the inward man,
which reaches the springs of animal life, and makes them move with delight : the
nerves feel it ; they are brisk and active : he puta joy into the heart, which doea
good, like a medicine. No doctor like mine, Mr. I. : you have made use of him
for your soul ; but I would recommend him to you for the life that perisheth.
What if you ehould leave off physic, and forget your skill in it, and live more by
faith for the present life : I could infaUibly insure the success. There is a some
thing, not to be described, that he gives, which operates according to promise,
and by a divine power ; witness Rom. xv. 13, &c. &c. Take a little specimen of
our testimony for him in the year 1786. Ourmotto has been generaUy Hebrew:
the present was, " I am Alpha and Omega :" Alpha is the first, Omega is the last,
letter of the Greek alphabet. So Christ is the beginning and ending, and all
between from first to last. He is all in all, Rev. i. 8, eaith the Lord himself,
the God of truth, who is, and who was, and who is to come, the great I AM,
from everlasting to everlasting, the Almighty, Jesus the God of nature, the God
of grace, the God of providence, the God of glory. He is the first author of all

THE REV. W. ROMAINE. A.M. 575
the divine works in creation and in providence; the first cause of all the
dirine works in grace and in glory : he is the beginning and the ending . aU things
are made by him and for him.
Blessed are they who have begun the new year looking to Jesus : they wiU
find in him every thing they can wish to save them from dn and misery, and to
make them truly holy and eternally happy ; for blessed are aU they that put their
trust in him. We are come together this morning to devote ourselves afresh to
his service, and to begin tbe year as we hope to end it, in the faith of the Son of
God. He is our Alpha and Omega ; and yours, I hope, and Mrs. I's. I wiU give
the heads of our subject : the rest your own meditation wttl supply.
1. He is Alpha, the God of nature, who created all things in heaven and in
earth : see Col. i 16, 17, 18, 19; Psalm cii. 25, &c. Every thing that exis*f
(excepting sin) owes its being to Jehovah Jesus ; for he is of the same essence,
has the same attributes and perfections with the Father. This truth stands upon
a rock, and is the foundation of our fdth ; namely, that Immanuel, the God-man
Christ JesuB, is the Alpha and the Omega of our sdvation.
2. The God of grace. For as he is the Lord God Almighty, what could be want
ing in his hfe to make his obedience for us an infinite righteousness ; or in his
death, to render it a full, perfect, and sufficient sacrifice for sin ? And the benefit
of his life and death can come to you and me in no other way than as an act ofthe
freest grace : and we cannot receive it by any other means than by believing the
Father's testimony concerning his Son. Are we wise unto sdvation ? It is the
teaching of our great prophet Jesus ; he is the Author and the Finisher too of
that faith by which we reap the fruit of his atonement and of his righteousness,
and by which also we enjoy all the graces of the Spirit in earth and in heaven ;
as John i. 16 ; and, amongst the rest, a life of sweet dependence on him for dl
temporal things : for he is
3. The God of providence. When he has taught us the safety and happiness
of trusting our souls in his hands, he caUs for the exercise of this, by leaving our
bodies, and all their concerns, with him. He calls for it : " Cast all your care upon
me for meat, and drink, and clothing : I will provide. Trust ; and be not afraid :
1 will manage your health and comforts ; yea, I wttl make sickness and troubles
real blessings. Ob, Sir, this is paradise ; it is the believer's present heaven.
He lives by faith at aii times, and for aU things, bad and good, sick and weU, poor
as weU as rich ; in aU, he has fellowship with Jesus, who satisfies his heart that he
luves him too well to try him with any thing but what is for his good. This is a
sovereign antidote against all temporal distresses, and really turns them into
spiritual blessings. It is our philosopher's stone. I pray God you may find it,
and thereby enrich yourself with aU you want, as weU as aU you have ; yea, with
the unsearchable riches of Christ : for ie is
4. The God of glory; lengthening his grace into eternity. For this he gave
himself unto death : it was to purchase for us eternd life, as you may see, John
xvii. 20, to the 25th verse. In this prayer I wish you and the family an interest.
Pray for yours, in our dear Lord,
W. Romaine.

LETTER LXXV.
July a, 1787
My dear Friend. — I could not answer your letter till the lectures were
over at St. Dunstan's : then we settled our plan. My sisters have pressed me
sore to pay them another visit ; to which we have complied ; and we purpose, God
willing, to set out next Tuesday, July 10 ; of which I give you as early notice as
I could, lest your summer plan should be deranged by not hearing from me.
When we shall return, I cannot determine — perhaps time enough to meet you
hurrying away out of our blessed country. However, be assured of this, that I
shaU be much with you, very much, under my favourite elm, sitting and survey
ing the house and premises, and praying for the blessing of the God of heaven

57G LETTERS WRITTEN BY
upon the master, and dlhis. Indeed, Sir, you have a most bountiful benefactor,
who has loaded you with benefits ; and he is never weary of giving : the greatest
of his gifts he bestoweth liberally; even faith, rich fdth, that you may take his
Christ, live doser, nearer still unto him, and may be safer by him, and happier in
him. This prosperity is rauch upon my heart: I wish it truly; I ask it
fervently. AU other things prosper about you : may your eoul prosper ! As
your red friend, studious of your best interest, let me just put down what
would have been sdd — If the haU lectures had been delivered at Brislington,
1787, by W. Romaine, Chapldn in ordinary, morning and evening — How often
have you heard me say, " Make sure of Christ : " he is the one thing needful, dl
besides is nothing worth. Pursue what ycu will of this world, attain too, ever so
much, you only get a great estate ; vanity at its best — in the enjoyment, vexa
tion of spirit — and in its duration passing so fast away as not to be worth one
farthing when compared with Christ and the eternity of his heaven.
You should be often reading your warrant in scripture, and your encourage
ments from thence to take him, and make sure of him for your own. The
Father's revealed will and command, 1 John iii. 23 ; the Son's express declara
tion of his wttlingnesB and power to eave all that come unto him, John x. 27,
28, 29, 30 ; and the testimony of the Spirit runs thus : Heb. x. 15 — 24 ; a won
derful passage ; full of strong arguments to silence dl your guilty fears, and to
encourage you to live and die in peace with God, through Jesus Christ our
Lord. Then cornea the security of this evidence — Christ is mine. I have taken him
at God's bidding— I depend on God's warrant — I make use of him, as I am com
manded. The Father hath given him to be a teacher. When I read the word,
I look up for his Spirit, that he may make me wise unto sdvation. When I feel
guilt, I quiet my conscience with the sprinkling of the blood of Jesus. When
temptations meet with corruptions, he gives me courage to oppose, and etrength
to overcome them. When the mieeriee of sin are pre8ent, the love of God in
Christ turns them into bleaeings. In my walk, in my warfare, in my duties, in
my friendBhipa, in every thing, I live by the faith of the Son of God ; whereby a
man may be ae certdn that he ie alive to God in Chriet ae that he ie alive to
thie world. Mr. I., there is no freehold like this, both for the certainty of its
evidence and dso for the blessedness which it brings with it. Make sure of
Christ, and all is yours. Faith in him pleada a lawful diacharge, under the
broad aeal of heaven, from aU aine and from all miseriee. Here ie the warrant :
see the judge's own hand : — I will remember them no more. And with this
there dso comes a full conveyance, by deed of gift, of all possible good in time
and in eternity. The title is infdiible : the earnest i8 preaent poasesaion — even
the Spirit ; and fdth, which ia the fruit of the Spirit ; and the fruite of the
Spirit, which are abundant through faith in Chriet Jesus. Grace is yours — glory
is youra ; for the God of grace and glory, God in Trinity, ia youra, and will be
yours, with all his fulness, for ever. May theae be your summer enjoyments ;
even feUowship with the Father and the Son by the Spirit. Mrs. I. and her
beloved children, Mrs. G. and family, Mra. B. and family ; and honeat T. Mary-
port i8 not forgot. May Christ himself preach, whoever stands up. These are
my present sentiments. And I have not said, I shall not proclaim them in my
place, in your haU, before the year 88. When we return, we shaU hear of your
state and circumstances — where you are — how you are — when poor Old England
must take its fareweU of you. TiU then, without fee or reward, I am the fore
most of all your friends be they who they may. Pray for W. Romaine.
Mr8. R. joine in best wishes— Buy "The Christian Remembrancer" at my
recommendation ; you wiU thank me when we meet.

THE REV. W. ROMAINE, A.M.

LETTER LXXVI. Blackfriars, June 9, 1788.
My good Friend. — You and your famUy are welcome to England. I
rejoice in your safe return, and my joy was increased by your being so sensible
of the gracious Providence which kept your going out and your coming in. May
you learn more of his tender love to you during this visit to your native country,
than you have ever found before. Your letter warmed my heart with the sense
which you expressed in it, of this greatest of all blessings, and put me into my
proper element of prayer and praise — Prayer that you might now experience a
paradise at B. The place, the country, no creature, has this to give : you know
that weU : but our Jesus has : he can make you quite happy in the love of his
Father ; and this is paradise restored : he can dso make you a blessing to aU
about you ; for his influence is like the sun's. Mrs. I. shall be happier in your
happiness. She will have a blessed summer if she feel aU 1 wish her. The
young ladies wiU enjoy the cheerful rays of that sweet sunshine which warms and
influences their parents' hearts and lives. May my God thus bless you • and,
dear T., join and say, " Oh ! we are happy here — truly happy here at B. Jesus
shines with the hght of his loving countenance, and we have the joy of his salva
tion :" and I, W. R., add — may he shine on clearer and clearer to the perfect
day. I acknowledge your very obliging invitation to spend part of the summer
with you. I have delayed writing, in hopes I should be able to give you a direct
answer ; but I cannot. I have two engagements, one of two years standing,
and I cannot fulfil them tttl about the middle of September : about which time,
you wiU begin to think of taking your flight with the birds of passage. Go
where you will, or do what you trill, you wttl be borne on my heart. Let bro
therly love continue ; yea, increase. Your mother is where she should be :
blessed be the name of the Lord ! he gave ; he took away. Mr. G. and his are
not forgotten. I felt much for him at the time. Oh ! it is a sore trial. Mrs. R.,
with most hearty affection, joins me in every good wish to Mrs. I. and yourself,
and in my hearty prayers for our young friends. Remember us to Mr. G. and
family, and to Mrs. G. Tell T. to try to get out of my debt : he is in my Litany
by name, and ought never to pray without mentioning me : nor should you ;
for it is my privilege to be your constant friend at the throne of grace. May it
be yours to plead as constantly for
W. Romaine.

LETTER LXXVII.
Jan. 31, 1789.
My dear Friend. — The pleasure which I received from your letter, calls
upon me to acknowledge it ; which I sit down to do with much thankfulness. I
get good from your good ; and I am wishing you may return to us as much
better as possible. Wc have had cold weather ; but it was very healthful, and
to me very pleasant. Our air was very putrid in autumn ; but the frost has taken
away every thing infectious : our skies are now as sdutary as yours in France ;
anil we want nothing in England but to be more sensible of our privileges, and
more thankful for them.
You know me well. I am a man of one book, and of one sentiment. The
word of God, and fdth in his word, make up aU my learning, and enter into dl
my life, private anil public. The practice of these principles for the year 89 was
taken from Psalm xcvii. 1, "The Lord reigneth" — my Lord Jesus, whose
kingdom is of such a nature, that England, and the multitude of its isles, may
be glad thereof: because he is almighty — the Creator of all worlds. He did but
speak, and his word brought them into being ; he did but command, and they are
upheld by the word of his power ; for aU things serve him to this day ; and he is
the almighty Jesus, the Lord of the spiritud and new creation, in which his word
p p

578 LETTERS WRITTEN BY
is dways doing wonders. Behold, says he, I create aU things new :_I give the
Spirit of life to the dead sinner, to enable him to believe in me, that he may never
perish for his sins, but may have, by my free gift, eternd fife ; and I will keep
him by my mighty power, through fdth, tttl I bring him safe to the fulness of
my joys. This is the great king, who has aU power in heaven and earth — the
God-man Jesus : and the exercise of this power is peculiar to himself. He
makes and keeps the new world as he did the old. He governs by his word.
The gospel is the sceptre of his sovereign authority. He sent it out from Sion,
as Psalm ex. 2 ; and the rebel nations were made willing to submit to him : and
to this day he gathers in his subjects by the same means. When his Spirit
puts life and power into the gospel, the sinner hears his caU, and comes, and
bows the knee before Jesus : he believes, and is pardoned and saved ; henceforth
he lives by and upon the fulness of the Saviour. This is the way in which he
peoples his kingdom ; and whenever he brings any one to be his willing subject,
he promises them such blessinga, under his government, as the world haa not to
give, and the world, I can witness for him, is not able to take away. Faith givea
him credit. And, according to our fdth, he fulfila hie promiees, and mokes ua
really blessed. Here you see, Sir, I get upon my own ground — living by faith —
the only happy life — an emperor has nothing to be compared with it— whether
you look at the blessedness of our king's subjects, aa they relate to spiritud, to
tempord, or to eternd things.
His name, hia office, his character, of old, waa, the Bleaeer of all nations : ao
that his subjecte are ae bleBsed in him as Abraham was to whom the promise
was made. The blesser himself is theire ; his life is their righteousness ; his
death is their atonement ; his resurrection ia their justification to life ; hie ascen
sion is their hope of being with him, and sitting with him on his throne. Oh
what do they feel when, from their hearts, they con say, Bleaaed be the God and
Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with aU epiritual blessinga I
May this be sweet music at Montpellier.
And then, as to temporals, though he be so great a king, yet he ia not above
looking to the least concerns of his subjects. The very nairs of their head he
numbers : " Ifin the least he be so true,
What won't he in the greatest do? '.'.
He has redeemed the body, aa weU as the soul ; and he says, Cast all the care
of that upon me. But I am 8ick. " Fear not, I am your physician — I can bring
hedth out of aickne8a. As to food and raiment, family, chttdren, aubatance —
Truat them all in my handa — If you leave them to my management — come what
may — I wttl make it work under me for your good : and if one thing be better
than another in this life, you shall have it : for I have said, I wiU never leave
thee, nor forsake thee."
He who says these things is King of kings, and Lord of lords : I believe his
royd words — and I am as happy about all temporale, ae I. can be out of heaven,
May he make my dear friend aa happy ; that, looking forward, when we shall
see the king in his beauty, we may one day meet, and caet our crowna together
down at hia feet. So be it. May he reign aole monarch of our hearta till that
blessed day.
I hear nothing of Adey nor Jones. I am a stranger in Athens. I only know
my king governs dl kings, and aU kingdoms, and he does all things weU. He
has the care of your family : they are well, I hear. If you come through Lon
don, look upon us, and make us more thankful. AU good wishes to my friend
Wdter ; may he come home without hurt to his principles, and better in hia
hedth : death has got into their family ; and he ia aeldom content with one.
Happy they who are bleesed with a life out of his reach — So are believers.
Mrs. R. joins in all.
W. Romaine.

THE REV. W. ROMAINE, A.M. 579
LETTER LXXVIII. Plymouth, Aug. 20, 1789.
Dear Friend. — I promised to acquaint you with our motions. We inquired
after you at Bridport, but could get no intelligence ; if we had, we should pro
bably have refreshed ourselves with a short visit. But we must wdt a little
longer for that pleasure. September wUl soon approach. Our visit here is over
next Monday. On Tuesday we purpose to set out for Tiverton if the king (God
bless him 1) does not lay an embargo upon us. The whole neighbourhood of
CornwaU and Devon crowd in to see the royal family ; and I am forced to send to
Tiverton for a chdse to take us from this place. We hope to get there on Wed
nesday next, and to hear from you concerning the state of yourfamiiy — how you
all do — whether settled yet at B. Our kindest respects to your dear partner.
Being in the midst of such a hurry — cannonading — crowding — processioning —
beU-ringing — ship-fights, &c. &c, I feel my privilege : — " His rest shall be glo
rious." Quiet at home — the bustle around me makes my rest more sensible and
more happy. From my heart I wish you more and more of that calm of soul
which is truly paradise restored. Our love to Miss I., and kind remembrance to
aU our friends, especiaUy brother T — . Lady HiU and Mr. Barham lying dead
at the same time. Oh what a lesson of mortality to the survivors ! preaching
" Be ye dso ready — Live by faith, that ye may die in fdth." May this be yours.
So prays
W Romaine.

LETTER LXXIX. Tiverton, Sept. 1, 1789.
My dear Madam. — I should have mourned and wept at the contents of your
letter, were it not for the consolations of God, which are never smatt, nor few, to
them who trust in him. This sickness is not unto death ; but for the glory of
God to purify — not to destroy. It comes with a plain lesson, and ought to be a
good teacher. Its text is taken out of Prov. iii. 11, 12. And the 6ermon preached
from it, by a most able divine, is recorded Heb. xii. 1 to 14. Our Lord is too
good to afflict His willingly. He has gracious purposes in every chastisement.
He would have Mr. I. to read what he says, and to trust his faithfulness. Faith,
exercised, gets hedth and establishment. So it works love, and by love. The
heart grows satisfied of his love, and loves him more — cleaves to him the faster,
and finds that it is good to be with Jesus anywhere, even in a fiery furnace. May
my dear friend find it so ! I pray it may be a fruitful season ; and I thank God
that I hope it will. We purpose, through our Almighty guide, to set out on
Monday next, and, as we travel with the same horses, to he at Bridgewater, and to
be with you on Tuesday evening. May our meeting be for good, to his praise, and
to our profit — that he may cement our hearts more closely to himself — and may
give us fresh reasons to love one another as his disciples. Mrs. R. is perfectly well,
and desires to be most kindly remembered to you. I shall not cease to pray for you
and yours tttl we meet, being in every holy bond, your friend and servant,
W. Romaine

LETTER LXXX.
Portswood Green, Oct. 19, 1789.
My very dear Friend. — I cannot forget you while I remember any thing.
I can give you full credit for your professions of friendship : I wish I could rely
with as much confidence on Him, who speaks, and it is done. His word and
deed go togethei>— and true fdth unites them, and finds them one. The promise,
and the blessing in the promise, are the same with Him ; only our foolish hearts
pp 2

580 LETTERS WRITTEN BY
separate them : and so, what God hath joined together, we make two ; by which
means we rob Him of his glory, and ourselves of the blessing. Oh for more
faith — settied and established while you are an English believer, and your constant
viaticum, go where you may ! I have your family at heart, as well as yourself.
Mrs. I. wants nothing — God has been very bountiful to her — only more establish
ment in the faith. There is her safety — there is her happiness. And my Friend
cannot only give it, but wishes her to take it — commands her, and would account
it the greatest honour she can do him, to cast aU her cares and burdens upon his
shoulders. Do it in the prayer of fdth, and, come what may, the issue wiU be
to you prosperous.
You say nothing of France : perhaps we may see or hear of you the next week,
when we hope to get home. Your remembrances of this family were very
acceptable to Mr. T., Wdter and Samuel, for which they dl desire I would thank
yon. See the fruit of Voltdre's principles — now they are operating. Show me
an egg, and I will tell you what it wttl hatch. May God keep old England from
their bdefol influence ! He ody can do it. Even among us they prevail too
much. May he stop the spreading of the cause, and the effect dso.
W. Romaine.

LETTER LXXXI. May 12, 1790,
Dear Friend. — Your letter from MontpeUier, April 7th, did not come to my
hands tttl May 7th. It found me at Reading, very glad and very thankful for
the abundance of good newa which you eent me. My time is up to-morrow ;
being obliged to attend my church on Ascension-day, one of my great festivals,
when we have preaching and the sacrament, according to the rubric of the
church of England. We cannot return agdn so soon as the 18th instant, and
therefore shah not be able to meet you at Reading. But, if we mise the eight of
you in London, we wttl foUow you with our prayers ; especially that excellent
petition of Job, " Thou shdt visit thy habitation, and shdt find nothing amiae."
May England appear to you, as it does to me, the peculiar favourite of heaven :
and may you come home to enjoy afresh our special privileges. Mra. R. and my
hearty affection to Mr8. I. Whatever can do good to our young frienda, may
they ehare abundantly with your friend and servant in the Lord Chriat,
W. Romaine.

LETTER LXXXII. Oct. 10, 1791.
My dear Friend. — Mr. T. told me he should send a frank to-morrow, and
this paper was to be filled with matter : but this moment coming from the mill,
he .says, he must send it to-night. I have, therefore, only time (now it is past
six) to thank you for many long-continued favours — the cause of them I hope to
retain as long as I have my being. As I am convinced of the neceaaity of your
journey, I can the more earnestly pray that God would make it answer your most
sanguine wishes ; and if we are to meet together in this world, it may be with
renewed hedth, and renewed hearts : I am myself, at present, very poorly, with
my usud autumn complaint, but by no means left to myself to murmur or
complain. It is good. It is for the best. I acknowledge it. I feel it. I thank
my God for his supports and comforts. It is not improbable but we may meet,
about the latter end of the month, at Reading ; and it wttl be a cordial to aee you
set out tolerably well. Our red love to Mr8. 1. — I hope it wttl be made a pleasing
service to her to attend you in theae long journeys. We are very much obliged
to Mi88 I. for her late obliging attentione to ue. You wttl please to remember
us to aU our friends, as the ShrapneUs dso do from Bradford, and wish some

THE REV. W. ROMAINE, A.M. 581
providence might throw you in their way. Oh that blessed old disciple, Richard
Pearce ! he thanks you for your thinking of him : he is just ripe for glory. I saw
Mr. Spencer, tfiat good man, who dso wishes to be remembered to you. The
young man yqu sefit to him is likely to do well.
Mr. Serle's " Christian Remembrancer" is a most proper book for a iourney---it
is so well divided : chapters so short, and yet very experimentd, that I could
wish it to be your companion. I do not find that I can read it often enough.
May you have the same key to open it, and the aame spirit to apply it.
I need say nothing about this famUy, as Mr. T. writes himself. Mr. T. has
two daughters now at the Hot Wells — to-day a poor account of them both. May
you keep yours to your joy. Our love to Miss Louisa, and what love dictates —
red wishes, further improvement in useful knowledge, and saving grace. So
prays yours in our common Lord,
W. Romaine.

LETTER LXXXI1I.
Feb. 8, 1792.
My good Friend. — We have consecrated a day of thanksgiving to the keeper
of Israel, who kept your going out safe ; and thank you for informing us of it.
We hope, before the sun gets out of Aries, he wttl favour us with another holy
day, for bringing you back in peace. Tttl that happy time arrive, I reckon it my
privilege to be daily with you in spirit, and to be keeping up the communion
of saints, which is as real a blessing upon earth as it will be in heaven ; for
behevers are all united to one head, have one spirit breathing through them, and
enabling them by one faith to cleave close to their head, and, as far as they do,
he disposes, and enables them to cleave close in brotherly love to one another. I
have you as much upon my heart, while you are at MontpeUier, as when I sleep
under your roof at Brislington. Prayer for every possible good to you and yours,
and praise for the blessings you have received, are truly my present employment ;
I find it also delightful to remember you before my Lord. May he make it as
pleasant to you to read, as it is to me to inform you, of our religious engage
ments here in the present year. Our word was — Grow in grace. Growth is
the end and design of receiving it ; and the only purpose of living another year
is, that we may get grace in it, and use it. If we have it not, that we may seek
until we find it : and, if we have it, that we may improve it ; for it is as necessary
as breath to the body. The scripture compares it to a cool breeze after a hot
sultry day, and dso to the dew upon herbs — grace is as refreshing as dew, and
as strengthening and bracing as the cool dr is in hot weather. When it is saving,
it is the favour of the blessed Trinity to sinners who are quickened by the Spirit
of grace, and brought by him to believe in the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ,
and thereby to the enjoyment of the Father's grace and love. In the Trinity it
is dways the same, and also in the scriptures ; but as to our sense and expe
rience, there is a growth, by more dependence on God's faithfulness to his pro
mises, and more dependence on the supplies of the Spirit, in applying and making
the promises good. Thus he who grows in grace this year (as it foUows in the
text) will grow in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ : the
more he knows of him, the more he will trust him ; and he who trusts him most
will certainly love him best ; and he who loves him best will be using aU the
means of grace, that he may grow in the sense of his favour ; the love of Christ
will constrain him powerfully to do what Christ loves, to bear patiently Christ's
cross, and to persevere in fighting Christ's battles ; dways remembering that if
we have ever so much, Christ giveth more grace.
This was the sum. Reflecting on the past year, the believer should be greatly
humbled at his little growth. On the present, setting out in Christ's strength
to get forward — more dead to nature, and more dive to grace. Our activity,
usefulness, holiness, happiness, depend on our growing into Christ, and daily
making such a progress that we may get more grace to return him more glory.
This is my ddly prayer for aU the family, Mrs. I. and Miss, and your English

582 LETTERS WRITTEN BY
friends, in which my dear partner most heartily joins. I heard of you at Paris
— a friend saw you at Mr. Maronne's church, and was pleased to see you so
much affected by his discourse : truly, so was I : my heart rejoices that the gospel
is known, fdt, and in its red blessinga enjoyed in your heart. I had an offer to
go and preach at Mr. Maronne's, and my expenses pdd ; but it is too late in life :
yet I am trying to get some lively gospd minister to go to Paris. The winter has
been at times severe, but never long. My crocuses were in blossom, and fine,
last Friday, Feb. 3, and at present our spring delightful ; I wish you were with
us, that you might experience some of our good days. I have no correspondence
in Bristol to inform me of any thing going on there. As you return, let us look
at you, and be thankful that once more you vouchsafe to visit your own country
and friends. Pray for W. Romaine.

LETTER LXXXIV. Southampton, Oct. 25, 1792.
My dear Friend. — We have waited with patience for your visit from day
to day, but no Mr. I.: Mr. Samuel T. expected you, and was very much disap
pointed ; as he told me, last night, that he wanted to consult you. We set out
for Reading to-morrow, in our way home ; and shdl be glad to hear how Provi
dence may direct you to dispose of yourself this winter Go, or stay, I shall be
with you; but I ahould fike to know your determinations, that I may ask of my
bountiful Lord what wttl be 8uitable to your case. He is dways at hand, and
never at a lo8s for grace sufficient; and he dieplaye his marvellous skill the moat
when all the foundations of the earth are out of course. It is at thia time a
8trangely disordered world ; but his plan ia carrying on, and hia kingdom 8haU
stand for ever and ever. May he keep you his subject where (come what may)
all is eafe, and all i6 happy.
We have had prayer-meetings for fair weather, which the Lord has heard.
May he direct you aright every etep you take, to the city of habitation. Ever
your8 in him,
W. Romaine.

LETTER LXXXV.
Dec. 12, 1792.
My dear Madam. — I feel for your preaent aituation, and I know how much
you want the con8olatione of God. May theee abound when others fail. Thia
ia the superior exceUency of our most holy faith, that it affords not only
supports, but also comforts in the worst of times. I am a living witness of thia,
and I hope and pray you may join me in attesting that God ia very good in all hia
dealings with his children. When Mr. I. waa in town, he was kind to give us a
great ded of his company ; and he promised to write us word of his safe arrival
in France, and how his ward fared. Our anxiety is great in not hearing from
him. It wttl be a great favour to me and Mrs. Romaine, if you will oblige ub with
an account of his safety. With much thankfulness do I bless my God for hie
mercy to Miss I., who will be a red comfort to you during thie loneeome winter.
I am not without hopes of Mies L. : ehe ie in my book. From my country all ia
good news : this world— poor France has none — without Christ— My heart bleeds
for the dismd tragedies of the day. Accept our best wishes, and befieve me to
be, in bonds never to be broken, your red friend — in our common Lord.
W. Romaine

THE REV. W. ROMAINE, A. M. 583
LETTER LXXXVI.
Jan. 23, 1793.
My dear Madam. — I am much beholden to you for your speedy answer to
my inquiries, and for good news, and for much concerning our friend abroad,
and fnends at home, very dear to you by natural bonds, but much more by that
nearest of aU relations, the bond of the Spirit. I acknowledge with thankfulness
the many favours of God to you, and am at prayers for the continuance of them
— that he who has begun a good work may carry it on to perfection in your
sister, brother, and aU your children. Where there are fair buds and blossoms,
may they not be blighted, but bear rich and ripe fruit, that wiU endure unto ever
lasting life.
In return for your good news, I am happy that I can send you some of mine —
indeed some of the best which ever came from heaven. It relates to a person caUed
Melchisedek, which was our word for this year, of whom great things are spoken,
GeH. xiv. and Psd. ex.; such as can belong to none but the Lord God; and, now
they are talking of putting down aU kings, I thought it high time to look after a
kingdom that cannot be moved : and such I have found in this name, as the
apostle haB explained it at large, and given us a whole chapter upon it, Hebrews
vii. He says it means the king of righteousness — king Jesus, who is King of
kings, and Lord of lords, and has dl power in heaven and earth, to make his
subjects righteous. He is the Lord their righteousness — Almighty to pardon
their sins, almighty to subdue their sins, and aU their enemies, and dmighty to
give them fdth to trust him for sdvation, and for aU the things which accompany
salvation. Happy subjects, who, being justified by fdth, have peace with God,
and who live under his government safe and happy. They do not live up to
their privileges if either guilty fears or naturd fears distress them. When king
doms are convulsed, states are overthrown, and the civil world turned upside
down, the'feet having got into the place of the head — then he says to the weakest
of his subjects, " Fear not, lest any hurt you : I wttl keep you night and day :
under my protection you are as safe as if you were in heaven." '
There was a great ded sdd of this most blessed Melchisedek, which I need
not repeat ; you have heard his praises celebrated so often by me, and long before
in the word of God, Psalm xlvi., and in that famous hymn, Isaiah xii. We only
want more fdth to make him more precious, and ourselves more happy. Let
thia be our study ; and on him may our hearts be fixed through the present year.
The government is upon his shoulders — the greatest concerns, and the least.
May our King (for his eyes and care are every where) look on our travelling
friend, and keep him tttl we meet in peace. May you and yours find it a faithful
saying, recorded of his subjects, Psdm cxii. 7, 8, and then you wiU prize and
love Melchisedek.
Mrs. R. has a very bad cold, but it is mending ; so is mine. I find inward
hedth a great promoter of bodily hedth ; and I would recommend my Doctor as
the ody giver of eternd hedth. Our red love in him to Miss I. and our best
wishes to Louisa. When you see our friends at Stoney Httl, or at Clifton, be
so good as to recommend us to them in christian affection ; and to Mr. T. and
Mr. B. Agdn I thank you for your very obliging letter, and am in our dearest
Lord, and in his bonds, your friend and servant,
W. Romaine.

LETTER LXXXVI I
April 2i, 1793.
My dear Madam. — I have to thank you for your kind remembrance of us,
and for acquainting us with your present uneasiness : it is ours, as weU as yours.

584 LETTERS WRITTEN BY
We often converse about it, and do truly feel for you. My only reason for not
writing before was from a fear that our sentiments would not give you the relief
we wished. I thought it would only increase your suspicions of Mr. l.'s Bafety.
He has been very much lately upon my heart, and I have been led, without know
ing his situation tttl you informed me, to pray for him. My Lord, I trust, has
him in his keeping, and his tender mercies ore over him for good : he can pre
serve him safe in the den of lions, and give you to see his face with joy. If he
hear my prayers, and I once more behold him on English ground, it will make ray
heart truly thankful and happy. God hasten the time!
You see, my good friend, the truth of my doctrine, which I am dways incul
cating, because I experience the blessedness of it ; that is, I am trying to persuade
every body to live by fdth, trusting their dearest comforts in the hand, and
leaving them to the management of the Lord Christ, even life itsdf . A true Ch ristian
holds all by grace, which is the best and the safest tenure in the world. What we
have from the sovereign bounty of the giver, we honour him by suffering him to
keep it for us, and us for it ; and then dl wiU be well, come what may. You
have heard of a man who lost nine children at a stroke, and yet he was enabled
to kiss this sharp rod, and to say, " The Lord gave, and the Lord hath taken away :
blessed be the name of the Lord." In this patience may he enable you also to possess
your soul till he be pleased to turn our present prayers into thanksgiving. And
when that happy day arrives (Oh may it be soon, very soon !) you will make
Mra. R. and me very happy in giving ua occasion to join our praises with youra.
TiU that time I ahall be in my watch-tower, waiting on my Lord, and expecting
his gracious answer; of which I ain very seldom disappointed. Youra,
W. Romaine.

LETTER LXXXVIII.
June 7, 17Q3.
My dear Madam. — We had begun our thankegiving onTueeday morning.
Mr. I. cdled at my son's, at Reading, and though only the servant was up, yet,
from aU circumstances, they concluded it was our friend. My eon knew how
anxious we were about his safety and his arrival, and therefore sent us word
directly by the coach. Oh it was a joyful meaaage indeed : it brought forth
warm praises to Him who is good, and doeth good to the chttdren of men— who
kept oUr friend's going out and coming in. Perhaps nobody felt more gratitude
than myself, excepting Mrs. I. and her daughters : with you I may not compare.
But, after many prayers and much waiting, such a gracious answer made us
keep a day of thanksgiving with uncommon joy. May my Lord consecrate your
heart to give him aU the glory ; and may hia return prove a red bleaeing to hia
children and friend8. I ain interested in his recovery ; and he who can restore
him and soon ehall hear often from me, until prayer for heajth be turned info the
voice of rejoicing, and he himself shall say, " I am now weU, both in body and
sold, thanks be to Him whose mercy endureth for ever."
While we, his friends, are thus striving who of us shaU be moat thankfol for
this special providence, I would hope and pray that Mr. I. himself, for whom we
are praising, may feel more than any of ub. It is God's goodness to him for
which we are so much affected. Oh what mercies have foUowed him all the daya
of hie life! and none greater than those of the present year and journey. May
a record of them be written deep upon his heart ; and when these are added to
the vast sum of mercies already received, and to the greatest of all still in hope,
may he be enabled in aU thinge to be giving of thanke. While he ie kept in thie
happy frame, he wiU feel as if he was got into paradise, and had reaUy entered
into the joy of his Lord.
Be assured, my partner, standing by me, is impressed with the same sentiments
as myself. We have often joined in prayer for what now occasions our mutual
thanksgivings. May this be the happiest meeting in your lives. Oh that the

THE REV. W. ROMAINE, A. M. 585
voice of joy and hedth may sound loudly in the dwellings of the righteous, and
every breath be praise. So prays an old friend, and a true friend,
W. Romaine,
For aU his friends at Brislington.

LETTER LXXXIX. June 11, 1793.
My dear Friend. — You refreshed my spirit, and I am thankful. What has
been done to you has been God's way of old — " many are the troubles of the
righteous ; but out of them all the Lord delivereth him :" so he wttl go on with
you. And yet a little while he wiU come and give you an everlasting deliverance.
I am better pleased that you did not stop in London : the magnet ought to
point to your own family. There was the chief attraction. Their pleasure at
the sight of you was ours also : and I hope and pray that our mutual pleasure
may continue and increase by your gdning strength and spirits every day.
This is a preaching day ; but I would not neglect giving you an account of
our engagements. I never can get out of town tiU about the end of July, and
stopping, as I must, at Reading, and at Mr. S.'s, I could not by any means
reach B. till about the end of August : you wUl settle whether that can be made
convenient for your return from Beminster : it is the earliest we can think of
quite leaving London. You wiU please, to Mrs. I., to present my grateful acknow
ledgments for her last latter. Oh how good is our God to your children!
May his abundant grace and blessing rest upon them. I see no end of these
wars and distresses of nations. The cause remdns — rather increases : so must
the effects. " If you wdk contrary to me, I wiU walk contrary to you :" this he
has proved to be his way in aU ages ; and I pray, but with trembling, for our
own land, lest nationd iniquity should be nationally punished. Pray for
W. Romaine.

LETTER XC. Reading, Aug. 3, 1793.
My dear Friend. — I was just going to write, when your letter came this
morning, Aug. 3d. We had agreeel to set out for B. Tuesday the 27th, and
hope to be with you the next day. I wish to live under an abiding sense of the
certainty of death, and of preparation for it. Thank God, I feel the truth of your
reflections, and I know in whom I have believed. Just on the verge of eternity,
oh it is a blessed prospect to be able to look forward with a hope full of glory and
immortality ! It makes age, with its numerous infirmities, not only tolerable,
but truly blessed. To live in the Lord is heaven upon earth — to die in the Lord
is the heaven of heavens. I am a -witness for Jesus. How happy it is to live by
fdth in him ! And Jesus himself is a witness how happy it is to die in faith : so he
assures us — " Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord." He who spake it with
a voice from heaven has never broken his word to one dying believer ; and he will
not to you : trust, and be not afrdd. Cordially yours,
W. Romaine.

LETTER XCI. Bradford, Oct. 8, 1793.
My very dear Mr. I. — I saw Mr. E. M. on Sunday, who told me you was
Btill at B. Peace be with you there, and every where, you and yours ; he can
make your home a paradise, and Beminster the door of heaven If it be his holy

586 LETTERS WRITTEN BY
wttl, for which I pray, he can make a winter in England as hedthful as the eouth
of France, or the be6t of Spain . we are fuUy persuaded of it, who live by fdth ;
for he says to us, " Cast all your care upon me : for I care for you — Come what
may, I wttl make it work for the best." Do, Sir, try him. Take him at his
word, and let him manage for you this winter : depend upon it, he wiU look to
att your matters, and will take it kindly of you that you trust them in hie hands :
he is faithful — I am a witness for him — He has done for me better than I could
either ask or think ; and he vouchsafed to give me the honour ofpleading with
him, that he would do as much for you. Oh that he may make an English winter
as profitable as a French ; and may give you as much, yea, more occasion to thank
him for home mercies than for foreign. And may God's favourite land be your
favourite. We have Mrs. I. and dl your concerns upon our hearta, being, with
true Chriatian love, in our dearest Lord, your friends and servants,
W. Romaine

LETTER XCII
Jan. 4, 1794.
My dear Friend. — When I saw your red wafer, before I opened your letter,
my heart leaped for joy ; but, when I read the contenta, I bleBBed his holy name,
and gave him aU the glory. It is his own doing; and, indeed, it ought to be
marvellous in our eyes. The more he makes it eo, we will join prayer to prdee,
and beg of him, that whatever waB his gracioua purpoae, in hia late visitation, it
may be completely answered, and Mrs. l.'s body and soul may be better for it.
Oh what a Jeeua do we aerve ! with what confidence may we timet him, who
bringeth down to the grave, and bringeth up ! And he givee us full warrant.
Truet in him at all timea, ye people : pour out your hearta before him in the
prayer of fdth. God will be a eure refuge for you in the distreaeee of life, and
in the hour of death. In thia delightfol exerciae, methink8, I hear our friend :
What return shall I make unto the Lord for all the benefits that he hath done
unto me ? — I will offer the sacrifice of thankegiving, and will call upon the name
of the Lord. Oh that I may anewer his gracious purpose in rrising me up again,
that I may grow in grace, and in the knowledge and love of my Lord and Saviour
Jesus Christ: to him be glory, both now and for ever. Mr. I. stands by, and
saya, Amen ; for I know his feelings : he ia blessing his God, who has favoured
him with euch a gift, and has now, as it were, redoubled it, by continuing it : he
ie praying to be made, and to be kept thankful, that every sight of Mrs. I. may
stir up gratitude and praiee in hie heart to a bountiful Jesus. Oh I if ever I take
ray seat in the hdl, to worship again, may our meeting he something of heaven,
and our praises like theirs above. What mercies 1 now great — how many 1 I
believe Mies I. knows how to value, perhaps muchbetter than I can, such a parent
restored to her: ehe ie sensible ofthe signal favour r and I pray with the aame
warm heart Mies L. may thank her God— I would hear her do it. Oh what a
blessing to me that my dear mother, who loves me as her own eoul, and ie the
eafe guide of my youth, should be raised from euch a bed of eicknese, and epared
to rae, and to my eieter ? I wi sh to praise the Lord for this hie goodneee, and to
show him my thankfulness in word and in deed. So be it.
You have friends to join you : I know some who are giving glory where it ie
due, and begging of God that the family and relations, and dl your connexions,
may be profited by thie vieitation. May increasing health inapire increasing
gratitude. I hope my Lord will take especid care of your own health, and be the
guardian and defender of our country. I am at prayere — My chief concern in
the timee is with God : let him do what he wttl, believers will be safe, as in the
ark, as in going through the Red Sea, Yea, they may sing the 46th Pealm, ae I
do this day. Your friend in the Lord,
W. Romaine.

THE REV. W. ROMAINE, A. M 587
LETTER XCIII.
Feb. 1,1794.
My dear Madam. — I have many reasons to rejoice with you, and join my
prdses to him who hath done such great things for you, and will do greater
still. He has restored your life from destruction — hedtb is returning — and
spiritual hedth is returned. Oh how did my heart rejoice ! Far more than for
any thing outward, when I read of God's abundant gtace to you in giving you a
thankful spirit ! For this is spiritual liveliness, and spiritud growth. I could not
help taking up these holy words — " I wUl bless the Lord at aU times : his prdse
shah continually be in my mouth. My soul shdl make her boast in the Lord :
the humble shall hear thereof, and be glad. Oh magnify the Lord with me ; and
let us exdt his name together. We sought the Lord, and he heard us, and
delivered us from aU our fears. Blessed, blessed, most blessed, be bis holy
name." Do I not hear you say, Amen ?
I have observed the public mind too much agitated about the signs of the times :
and my own friends rather uneasy about what was coming upon the earth.
Come what may, I have always an infdlible antidote : and I gave for the word of
this year, "The God of hope," Rom. xv. 13. This is one of his high styles and
titles. The God from whom believers in Christ may hope for aU possible good,
and to be saved from aU possible evil. Such are his promises — and faith looks
at the truth of them, and hope wdts for the fulfilling them, not doubting but
that God is faithful. This is his character — '* a promise-keeping God." And
may he render this year famous for the exercise of Christian hope — weU grounded
, — sure and certain — built upon immutable things — and bringing the words
before us into happy experience ; even that the God of hope may fiU us with all
joy and peace in believing, that we may abound in hope by the power of the Holy
Ghost. This hope is his gift — a grace of his power — the fruit of believing. Whatever
God has promised, be it ever so great, ever so much, he enables the behever to
hope for its accomplishment, and to wdt God's time. If it be for sin — being
justified by faith, he gives peace with God through Jesus Christ our Lord — peace
in the sense of pardon, and peace in the sense of favour, that he has brought us
into a state of favour, and that we stand in it with the fullest security of the
word, promise, covenant, and oath of the Holy Trinity, that we shall be kept unto
the end. This is the hope which never maketh ashamed. All worldly hopes
may disappoint, but this cannot. Rom. v. 5. The believer looks at sin, and
triumphs, Rom. viii. 31, 32, 33, 34, looks at the troubles arising from sin; for
they all come from it, and he carries on his triumph, Rom. viii. 35, to the end.
He looks at death, and stiU is happy ; for he has hope in his death. Prov. xiv. 32.
1 le looks, beyond death, to a God of hope. He looks for the mercy of our Lord
Jesus Christ unto eternd life, with a hope full of glory and immortdity. Psalm
xlviii. 14 ; Titus i. 1, 2, 3 ; Jude 20, 21, 24, 25. This is the sum and substance,
of which you can make the application. The word and Spirit of God encourage
us to trust and not be afraid : for he is faithful who promised. Is this my hope ?
Have I begun the year with wdting thus upon God ? It is very high worship,
and the most honourable that can be to God's promises. Oh for many, many
such worshippers ! they need not fear the raging storm, threatening destruction
to the earth. They have embarked aU their hopes with their Almighty Jesus ;
nnd he has engaged to bring them safe to the haven where they would be, as you
read, Heb. vi. 16, 17, 18, 19, 20. The prayer that ended the sermon com'es down
to Brislington ; and Mrs R.'s love, with mine, to you all.
W. Romaine.

588 LETTERS WRITTEN BY
LETTER XCIV. April 19, 1794.
My dear Friend. — I was made to believe that I should have Been you, face
to face, long before this, and your last letter gave me some hopes of it ; but I wait
no longer. You cannot think how much I was flattered by your account of your
self ; because it was a demonstration of the truth of my principles, which you have
eo often heard from my mouth, and have so often under ray hand. You see, he can
keep you any where, every where, when duty colls you. He can make England a
very paradise : so.it is to me— all but heaven. How weU has our God carried
you through the winter — found you work — fitted you for it — given you health
and strength; and, what is better stttl, spiritud hedth and etrength, to thank
him, and bless hia dear name. Oh may every heart in your family, and every
tongue in it, ascribe to him with gratitude Mra. L'a recovery, and your own
particular mercies, and the dutifulnesa of your children ! May HE have all the
glory ! It is from him that the voice of joy and hedth is in the dwellings of the
righteous ; and to him 1 look with thanksgiving for making you a witnesa for my
old doctrine. Oh ! it is a blessed thing to trust him. He promisea, and he will
make his word good. Trust in him at oU times, ye people, and in aU places.
They shall want no manner of thing that ia good. But, now I have got upon
this 8ubject, I muat atop ; for there ia no end of it • the triumph of faith ia the
everlasting joy of heaven. 1 hear Mr. T. has undertaken great tilings this Easter
I wieh his strength may be equd to hia courage. Both mine continue, very
marveUously in mine own eyes. I labour more than ever ; sometimes to the
weariness of the fleah ; but my friend givea rae rich cordids, and I go on, aiming,
as he helps me, to magnify and exdt God-Jesus. He haa poured out a very
remarkable spirit of prayer ; and multitudes, multitudes, through the land, are
on their bended knees, lifting up holy hande, crying for mercy. I hope be will
hear, and answer by granting us a nationd reformation, that iniquity and infidelity
may not be our ruin. Mr. WiUiam Jones haB just printed a sermon on the Man
of Sin. It is very interesting. I wish you to read it.
The times are stiU tempestuous, and the poor church tossed on the waves, like
Noah'a ark : but not one embarked with Chriat ahall ever periah. They may
suffer 8hipwreck ; but, aa it waa, Acte xxvii., they all got eafe to land. I am in
the ark, and hope it wttl eoon be so with me. To this most blessed Pilot 1 com
mit you and youra. Do not forget in your best moments your friend and servant
in the Lord, W. Romaine

LETTER XCV. Reading, June 20, 1794.
My good Friend. — If I did not hear oftener of you than from you, I ehould
be not a little grieved. Ae it is, 1 have been much led out in my meditations on
the present state of your family, and the trids of your faith. If they should be
greater than they are, there ia a rich eupply provided, ready for U8e, for your
suitable improvement. He who sitteth upon the throne haa grace sufficient to
help in every time of need ; and he courts you to take it. You do him a favour
by coming to his fulness for a quiet and patient spirit. He loves to be liberal,
and would haye you to trust him, ae far as hie promises go. Your daughter ia
in his hands, and he wttl be kind and tender over her. Your prayers for her will
soon be turned into praise8 : mine are begun ; so are my dear partner's, who feels
much for Mre. I. on thie occasion. Many bleaaings will be given to you if any
of your famtty will give us one line, directed to me at Dr. R.'s, Reading. Your
kind invitation has been respected ; and we hope, in the courae of the aummer,
to viait our Brialington friends. Your convenience wiU be studied, that our
coming may neither interfere with business nor pleasure. It cannot be, on our
part, till some time in August ; but of that more hereafter. You say nothing of

THE REV. W. ROMAINE, A.M. 589
Mr. Jones's Sermon on the Man of Sin, which I recommended. It is all I have
to say on the present distress of nations. My sanctuary grows every day more
safe and precious, because I find aU that is sdd of it to be true in Isaiah xxvi. 1,
2, 3, 4, 5, &c. Pray for
W. Romaine.

LETTER XCVI.
Aug. 9, 1794.
My very dear Friend. — We were in Buckinghamshire for a fortnight, and
did not receive your letter of the 25th July till August 6th : nothing else could have
hindered me from not answering it sooner, especiaUy as your motions depend so
much upon it. We set out for the West (Tiverton) on Wednesday next, 13th
instant, and hope to get there by Saturday. Staying and resting a little, we intend
to visit the sea-coast, perhaps at Teignmouth. And after our return to Tiverton,
which cannot be tiU about the first week in September, we will give you as early
notice as we can of our meeting, on a day fixed, at Brislington. I look forward
with prayer, that it may be made a happy meeting to us all. " As iron sharp-
eneth iron, so," &c. We want much encouragement from the warnings given
us of our uncertain stay here : age preaches, " Be ready :" infirmities seconel the
lesson : the state of the world cries doud — wars, tumults, cruelties never heard of
before. The state of the church also is darming, more than any thing else —
Philosophy with "its vain deceits — Infidelity, with its naturd children — a swarm
of most profane practices, destroying aU subordination to God's ministers and to
God's magistrates, whom he has set over us, that we might lead a quiet and
peaceable life in dl godliness and honesty. These evils are growing worse and
worse, especiaUy as none can teU when they will stop, or how. How earnestly
should we endeavour to strengthen one another's hearts and hands in the good
ways of God when we see aU these things come upon the earth ! I keep in my
watch-tower, looking to him for his gift of repentance and reformation to a guUty
land, that iniquity may not be our ruin ; and thanking him for his special favour,
that there is a sanctuary out ofthe reach of aU dangers, and that we, of his mere
grace, are in it ; described Isaiah xxvi. 1, 2, 3, 4. Do not cease to pray for your
old friend, and the Lord's old disciple, W. Romaine.

LETTER XCVII. Tiverton, Aug. 27, 1794.
My good Friend, old Friend.— The time is approaching when I hope to
meet you at B. ; and I wish it for the strengthening of one another's hearts in
the ways of God : and I wish it the more, because my time ia short. I published'
a book upon Ecclesiastes 12th, some years ago, written by a Dr. Smith, physician
to King Charles II. I then thought I understood every symptom of old age :
but now I find a better comment, since I feel them in my own person. And
though my tabernacle be taken down, yet it is done with so much tender com
passion, and so gently, that I am enabled to put old age among my blessings,
and thank my God that I have so few infirmities. We purpose, God wilhng, to
leave this place Sept. 9th, Tuesday, and to be with you Wednesday or Thursday
in that week: may Mrs. I. and your daughters receive from our meeting all the
good we wish : and Mrs. Romaine says, she hopes it wUl not be httle. I am, in
my dearest Lord, your fa'thful servant,
W. Romaine.

590 LETTERS WRITTEN BY
LETTER XCVIII.
Oct. 9, 1794.
My dear Friend. — Yeaterday we got safe to Portswood, through the kind
hand of our God. Mrs. R. in good health, and desiring with rae to be remem
bered in love to Mrs. I. and to your daughters. In the midst of this great storm,
which rages through Europe with unabating fury, what a blessing to enjoy a
calm within ! a quiet conscience — a happy heart — a true paradise ! Let the hur
ricane spread, and threaten to carry all before it ; yet you can recoUect what is
sdd of a righteous man : " He shall not be afraid of evil tidings : his heart ia
fixed, truating in the Lord : hia heart is estabhshed : he shall not be afraid."
This ie the haven of peace, into which he has entered, and is safe, whose anchor
is Christ : aU with him is sure and steadfast. Come what may upon the earth,
even the great day of the Lord, instead of fearing any thing that can hurt him,
he may, he wUl, lift up his head with joy, and triumph in the God of his sdva
tion. May this be your portion when most wanted.
Our stay here will be snort. We pdd you the longest visit we have made thia
summer. It ia continudly Bounding in mine eai-a -. " They Borrowed moet of dl
because they should see his face no more," &c* It is certdn, at my time of
life, we cannot promise oureelves on any good ground a yearly visit to our friends.
Our meetings muat he before God — in the prayer of faitii for them — which is the
communion of saints — and prdse to him for brotherly love with its heavenly
fruits. I hope to visit you with my last and dying testimony of fdth. I go to
town sooner than usud, that I may put my " Triumph of Fdth " to the press :
and then, ray good God favouring me, you will read, and I trust will be a wit
ness, that " BleBeed are they who live — and mo8t bies8ed are they who die in
Jesua." To him I commend you and Mra. I., Miss I. and dear Louisa, with the
blessings of Jeaua on you all. I am, with hearty love, your friend and servant
in our dearest Jesus,
W. Romaine.
— •—

LETTER XCIX.
Nov. 14, 1794.
Yes ; poor L. is dead ; and he gives us warning. One generation pasaeth
away, and another generation cometh. The aun also arieetii, and the sun goeth
down, and haateth to the place where he arose. His sun ia gone down. Youra
and mine are aetting. What a comfort ! our day'e work ie done ; we are wdking
ae children in the light, and wdting to be eent for, whenever our Lord pleases.
It need not be a violent death. It muat be Boon — in the courae of nature. It
may be in a moment. Come ever 80 Boon, it will be a bleased time. When —
and where — and how — aU is settled by him who says to you and to me, " Fear
not ; I witt be with you," &c. As to what you mention of his funeral, I have
taken care of that : but I understand from Mr. N., the curate, that there are
some little expenses attending his illness, apothecary's bttl, &c. which Mr. C. has
agreed to help me to diecharge : and if any thing ehould remain after hia debts
at W. are discharged, ont of respect to Mr. L. we would make Mra. L. a present
of it, dthough I have informed her already that our 8ubscription is now closed,
and that she cannot any longer look to us for her support.
1 have nothing to do with the timea but in the way of prayer. Grant ua peace
in our time, O Lord. So I ask, and keep on asking, although it seems to be
farther and farther out of sight. Thus the prophet prayed : " O thou sword of
the Lord, how long wttl it be ere thou be quiet ? Put up thyaelf into thy ecab-
bard ; reet, and be etttl." To whom it wae anewered, " How can it be quiet,
seeing the Lord hath given it a charge to take vengeance, and there is no repent-
• Mr. Romaine visited no more the fnends and country here alluded to being called to
his rest in tbe ensuing summer.

THE REV. W. ROMAINE, A.M. 591
ance nor turning from their crying sins." The Lord grant iniquity may not be
our ruin ! I have time to pray for Louisa. I hope he wiU hear and answer, who
is my friend and yours. Mrs. I. and Miss have much occasion for faith and
patience : I pray for them, that they may find grace to help them in every time of
need. Very soon, yet a very little while, and faith and patience wiU be no more
wanted : till that time, may they do their perfect work. I am very busy printing
my dying testimony for the truth of the gospel of Jesus, and for the power of it.
If you live to see it, you wiU know somewhat more of his unspeakable grace and
favour to
W. Romaine.
— ?—
LETTER C.
Dec. 19, 1794.
My dear Madam. — None of your friends can sympathise with you more on
thie melancholy occasion than we do. I have written to your brother by this
day's post, directing him where to look for supports and comforts. When I
was in the same situation, by the loss of a son in the East Indies, I found the
consolations of God not a few, nor smaU. I hope and pray that he may find the
same, and in patience possess his soul. A parent (and Mr. G. had much of a
parent's feeling) cannot but grieve at the loss of an only son : yet there is grace
promised sufficient to help to bear quietly, yea, to profit from this affliction, as
you read in Job's case, and in Hebrews xii. The same God, and who keepeth
promise for ever, can do, and does as great things, for them who trust in him, as
he ever did. And the prayer of faith availeth much to sanctify aU our afflictions.
Mine are very great at present : Mrs. Romaine has been very UI for three weeks,
and is stttl confined : we hope she is mending ; but it is very slow. I must there
fore beg your prayers for me and her. Mine for yourself and family do not fail :
and for a profit by this loss, I am pleading with the God of aU consolation. May
he sanctify it to aU his relations : and make up an abundant blessing for your
Bpiritud improvement by this his afflicting providence. I am, with great truth,
your obliged friend and servant in the Lord,
W. Romaine.

LETTER CI.
Jan. 29, 1795.
Hon. Madam. — I received your letter yesterday, and though I am very busy,
yet I answer it immediately, thanking God that we have learned to rejoice with
them that do rejoice. Mrs. R. is singularly obliged to you, because she was very
much interested about these young men, and blessed God, who gave them such a
great deliverance. I heartily wish they themselves may be made very sensible
of it. Mrs. R. is very weU in hedth, and has no complaint but a weakness in
her ankles, which makes it painful to walk : and as to myself, I have suffered
greatly from a cough, and do suffer still ; but, dtogether, I am a miracle of God's
goodness. As to what he is doing in the earth, I take no part, but in prayer.
Matters are never so bad but he can set them right ; and I know that the fervent
effectual prayer of a righteous man avaUeth much. From this knowledge I have
been encouraged to reprint a little tract ; many thousands of which were printed
in the two last wars, and owned of God, and blessed. As soon as printed, I will
send some of them to Mr. Hazard's, where they may be had for one penny a
piece. Your not hearing from us so long, was owing to Mr. I., who is in my debt in
the, way of correspondence.
You will receive soon my " Triumph of Fdth." I have an opportunity of send
ing it by a friend, who will deliver it to you : in which you will see my present
views. I hope they wiU answer your experience, and establish your heart in
believing, come what may upon this wicked world.

5!»2 LETTERS WRITTEN BY
I thank you for your account of your family. I rejoice in your joy ; and I pray
for Mies Louisa, that her hedth may be perfectly restored, and she and her dear
sister may be great domestic bleseings to their parents.
I desire to be remembered to Mrs. B. and to my good brother T., when you
see or hear of them : and I would thank Mr. G. for his kind letter, which I
cannot get leisure to answer,
You wttl favour me with your interest at my master's throne, who can make
these, my last days, my best days. May he do the same for you and for Mr. I
With great truth, I am, your fdthful friend, and humble servant, W. Romaine.

LETTER CII.
To Mrs. B.
Brighthelmstone, Oct. 14, 1764.
Grace be with you, my dear friend, and with youra. — Upon hearing of tiie
late mercy which you have received, I found my heart rejoice in the Lord, and
ray fdth in him strengthened. Surely hia compassione fatt not. Ile is dl faith
fulness and truth. The mercy which he has promised, he wiU fulfil to a thou
sand generations, and none who trusted in his promised mercy ever were or
ever will be confounded. I had no doubt of thiB in myeelf, through his good
hand upon me; but by hia dealings with you and youra I am more confirmed,
and learn to tru8t him more. May Mb great kindneBB to you have tbe same
effect. May it bring you to see more clearly that you are in Chriat, and, aa you
learn to truat and to depend more upon him, you wiU thereby get more out of
hia fulneae. And thie seems to me to be the end and purpose for which a believer
lives. He ie in Christ, and he ie Buffered to live a longer time, that every new
day may bring him lo a more eettled dependence upon Chriat. Hia fdth ia to
be dwaye growing and getting 8ome freeh eetabliehment in Christ. So we read
of the Thessdonians, in the firat epi8tle. Their fdth was bo famoue, that it waa
spoken of throughout the world ; and yet, afterwarda, in the aecond epiatle, it ie
edd, Their fdth had grown exceedingly. It was not only kept alive, or at a
stand, but dso increased, being renewed day by day by the word and Spirit of
God ; under whose teaching the believer attains more large views of the covenant
of grace, of the unchangeable fdthfulness of the Eternal Three in their covenant
officea, and of his aafely in relying upon their making good to him every cove
nant mercy. Thu8, seeing dl things weU ordered and eure in the covenant for
his ac eptance, through the Crashed work of Jeeue, and for hie holy and happy
wdk through the almighty grace of Je8ue — whatever could bring him to Goel,
and keep him near to God, aU provided, and aU made over to him by two
unchangeable things, in which it is imposeible that God ahould lie. On thia
foundation resting his soul, his conscience is at peace, and he grows daily more
sensible of his being in the favour and love of Father, Son, and Holy GhoBt, in
their covenant officee, and gets more comfortable evidence of their acting in each for
his good. And as his faith thus grows, whatever opposee him in hia walk becomea,
more easy to overcome ; because he sees aU fulness of grace and power treasured
up in his dearest Saviour, and he knows it is there for his use, and he there goes
for every thing he wants ; and, by daily eweet experience, finding the faithful
ness of Jesus, he grows bolder, and hae more freedom to go to him. He learns
not to be diecouraged by what he feels in himaelf, be it what it will ; but he
carries it to the Lord. And when he makea uae of Christ's promised strength,
and reliee whoUy on it, to subdue corruptions, to conquer enemies, to overcome
difficulties, to deny self, and to bear the croaa, then aU thing8 go well. So long
as he trusts in the Lord, the Lord makes him to prosper. The devil cannot come
at such a person, hut by attacking his faith, and he cannot conquer him till faith
give way ; and his fdth will not shrink, becauee God keepe it, and with him he
trusts fdth and all, looking up to the Lord to keep him by the power of his might.

THE REV. W. ROMAINE, A.M. 593
Oh ! happy man this ; to whom the Lord sdth, " I wttl preserve thee from all
evil;" and he saith, " Lord, I believe thy word; and on thy power done do I
depend to preserve me : " to whom the Lord saith again, " 1 will bless thee, and
thou shdt lack no manner of thing that is good."
True, Lord ; so I find it. What good thing lack I yet, now thou art mine and
I am thine ? Thou hast taken aU my evil upon thyself, and thou hast given me
aU thy good. In havingthee, I have aU things: only I want more faith. Oh
that I may glorify thee more ! by putting more trust and confidence in thee !
Still, Lord, increase ; stttl, day by day, let it be growing — a growing faith increas
ing exceedingly, until I receive the end of my fdth, even the sdvation of my
soul. I kept writing on, thinking these things, which are the joy of my heart, may,
in these retired hours, rejoice yours dso. May the Lord convey them to you
with that life and power which I feel now I am writing. I am a poor creature
— the poorest of all. Yet Jesus is mine. In his love, and by his sweet constrain
ing grace, I am yours, W. ROMAINE.

LETTER CIII. Brighton, Sept. 30, 1795.
Dear Mrs. B.'s servant salutes her in his wife's name, being appointed to
answer her letter. — You want to receive something from us, which breathes the
rir of Canaan. Is not Jesus Canaan itself? Is he not the breath, the light of
life; the bread, the water of life ; the garments of sdvation ; the everlasting feast
of joy and gladness of that blessed country ? While we talk of him by the way, as
we are travelling to it, we not only breathe the air, but also enjoy the good things
of Canaan itself: for when Jesus dweUs in our hearts by faith, we then have pos
session of the promised inheritance. Our Jesus is aU of it to us. Having him,
we have it dl. Canaan is a wilderness without him. The finest place you CE.n
conceive would be no heaven if Jesus was not there. And wherever he is, there
heaven is ; as the court is, where the king is. " Whom have I even in heaven,
but thee ?" said blessed David : and one, full of the same Spirit, placed his
utmost wishes in being present with the Lord, which he knew was best of all.
Our heaven, you know, my friend, is not the place, nor the fine things in it, gold
and silver, and precious stones; but it is Jesus, our matchless, loving, lovely
Saviour. His presence is to us the fulness of joy.
The common notion of heaven is very much like the Turks' paradise.
Writers and preachers generally make it a most glorious place, fuU of the richest
things ; and they take care to teU us, there is no pain there, but aU pleasure.
So it is. But what sort of pleasure ? Why, to be with the Lord Christ ; to see
him face to face ; to see him as he is ; to behold the glory of God in the person of
Christ Jesus, according to our Lord's prayer, " Father, I will that they dso, whom
thou hast given me, be with me, where I am ; that they may behold my glory.''
This is the highest enjoyment — to behold his glory. They have nothing above
this in heaven ; and of this fdth has some very sweet foretastes below. When
the Spirit has drawn our hearts to Jesus, then he gives us daily, by our fellow
ship with him, happy earnests of the glory which shaU be reveded ; and we can
not rest tttl with open face we behold it. AU he gives us here only whets the
appetite, and makes us wish more for full and perfect enjoyment ; as one sweetly
sings of the beatific vision, which is the sight of Jesus,
What we here taste of thy lich grace
Makes us long more to see thy face ;
We hunger more, and tliirst to see
Theheav'n of heavens, Loid, in thee.
If this be the language of your heart, you are indeed breathing the air of
Canaan, and partaking, according to your present capacity, of the good things of
it. The heir of that promised land is your Saviour, and with him you are an
Q u

594 LETTERS WRITTEN BY
heir of God, and a co-heir with Chnst: Your Hebrew verse proves evidently
that you are one of these happy co-heirs ; because you are longing for more
sweet breathings and heavenly gales of grace, coming from, and drawing you to,
Jesus, and thereby assuring you more of the promised inheritance. 'There are cer
tain means appointed for these purposes, of which, while we make use, may their
end be answered in your soul and mine. And
The first is, the word, which is the ministration of righteousness, that exceed-
eth in glory, being the righteousness not of a creature only, but dso of God :
for therein is this righteousness reveded from faith to fdth. The word is a reve
lation of the glory of this righteousness of God, in the person of Jeeue Christ,
discovering to us the Father's grace and love, in placing the fulness of thia righte
ousness, with all ita fruits, in hia co-equd Son ; and the Spirit's grace and love
in testifying and glorifying of this fulness, and in bringing the believer to rest
safe, and five happy upon it. This is the subject of both testaments, which we
ehall be studying night and day, and meditating on it with love in our hearte,
until we get within tiie veil, and want no more love-tokene and kind promises
from ourheavenly lover — he being then ours, with all his glory, in fuU and never-
ending fruition. Here I take shame to myBelf for reading so little of thia pre
cious treasure which breathes throughout the perfumed air of Canaan. Learn,
my friend, from my sad experience : and when you read more than I have done,
mind, Secondly, that you read in a constant dependence upon the inward teaching of
the Spirit of Jesus. The word is the ministration of the Spirit, by which he ia
administered, and with which he acts ; for he is to the word what light is to the
eyes. Let a man have ever auch good eyes, he cannot see any thing with
them, unless he have light: so the word must have light shining upon it,
to make us see it in its clearness and feel it in its power. When he opens
the eyes of our underetanding, and enlightens them to understand the scrip
ture, one cannot help admiring and adoring what light he throws upon thein
and what bfe he puts into them ; for he renders them the power of God unto
sdvation. Then one gets up to Piegah's top ; and not only fine prospects of
Canaan's fruitfol hills appear, but dso her spicy odours perfume the air, and
bring us rich foretastes of that good and gracious land. Oh ! for more of this
Spirit in you and me ! He ia the very breath of life, to quicken the word. With
it in your hand, and him in your heart, you wttl have the inapiration of the Al
mighty, and your present knowledge will be but like infancy compared to that
maturity to which he will bring you : for,
Thirdly, the word of God, thua expldned by the Spirit, wttl make thie material
world breathe the air of the spiritud world. The things that are made were
therefore made what they are, on purpose to represent and to convey ideaa of
the invisible thinga of God. Every outward object ia a picture of aome inward
object : for none of them were made for themaelvee, but were to reflect and give
ideas of something else ; namely, of Jesus, and of his epiritual world. Here the
scripture philosophy becomes a vast help to a spiritud mind : it repreeenta the
world, and aU thinge in it, aa mere shadows, and informs us what the true object
is which each of them stands for ; so that the philosophic mind looks through the
sign to the thing signified. Thus aU nature preaches grace. Every object epeaks
something of Jesua ; and you cannot open your eyea without being told something
Many are the advantages of viewing things in this light. Such as a continual
increase of knowledge. The underetanding improvee by every object, aa it learns
to spiritualise every one of them ; and it is kept cloee to the truth : for whatever
presents itself to the eye carries its right instruction to the eye of the eoul, and
thereby becomes profitable to our spiritual arid eternal interest.
Temptationa are kept out : for they aU come from not eeeing objects in a true
light. The enemy misrepresents, and thereby deceives. Whether he tempts the
eye or the heart, he cannot cheat them but by false colours and lies.
The world is kept out ; for the spiritud man cannot faU in love with shadows,
which all things here are. The whole creation is but a picture : the body and
substance is Jesus and hia kingdom.

THE REV. W. ROMAINE, A.M. 595
The principal advantage is, conversing and having feUowship with Jesus in
every object of which we know the time, nature, and use. When we sit down or
walk by the way, eat or drink, or rest, see heaven above with its furniture of sun,
moon, &c, or the earth beneath, with its creatures, its products, &c, every thing
has a tongue, and reads a lecture concerning Jesus. This the spiritual Psalmist
heard when he calls upon aU things, animate and inanimate, to join him in
praising his Jesus — and a blessed concert they make. My heart has been ravished
with hearing the heavens declare the glory of God, and the earth, and all that
therein is, echoing back again loud prdses to his glory. I cannot walk into the
garden but flowers and fruits teU me to praise my Jesus. In the fields I am
told of him, and that not fancifuUy, as a sportive imagination may make some
thing out of nothing ; but the scripture informs me what such an object repre
sents, and the sight of it raises, the spiritual idea. So that, whatever I rightly un
derstand, it speaks to me of Jesus, and reminds me of something relating to Jesus
and to his kingdom. Then, my dear friend, Canaan is kept in view, and we d-
ways breathe its pure air. And that incomparably glorious Jesus, who makes
Canaan what it is, grows better known, and more beloved. He is become my
one study; but I am a very duU scholar. What I have learned is but just
enough to make me count aU but dross for him ; so much remains stiU to be
learnt ; he being an infinite and an everlasting good that I am pressing on. Oh
how my heart longs for more of the exceUency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus
my Lord ! And as I get some httle advance, fresh views of his glory sink me to
the dust. My vileness is most felt in his clear light. The more precious he
grows, the more humbling views I get of myself. As Christ rises, self falls.
May you find it eo : and the more you do find it, so much the more wiU you
breathe the air of Canaan. I know not how to stop, but my paper, against my
wiU, will not let me go any farther. I am yours, very sincerely,
W. Romaine.

LETTER CIV. Lambeth, Jan. 26, 1768.
My dear Fhif.nd. — I received your letter of the 8th instant; in which
there was the state of your case. I see nothing singular in it. Scarce a day
happens, but I meet some or other in. your condition, with exactly the same
complaints arising from the very same cause. And I have convinced many a
one, through the divine blessing, of their interest in Jesus, from the very argu
ments they made use of to doubt and question it. Were I to draw the true cha
racter of a believer, I would put. into it every single circumstance that you men
tion in your letter ; and I would undertake to prove that it made strongly for
you, and nothing of it against you. It is the very frame and temper of a real
Christian. Just as you describe yourself, is every one that is born of God — feels
the very things you do, and is never right when he does not feel them ; it being
the proper work of the Spirit of Jesus to bring aU that are under his teaching to
be content, to be exactly what you find yourself, that you may be led to live out
of yourself upon the fulness of God-Jesus. He is teaching you this lesson, that
he may glorify the Sariour in you. But you are a bad scholar, fike me, slow to
learn, ready to forget, and, what is worse, apt to pervert tbe divine instruction.
You misapply, and put vile constructions upon, the teaching of the Spirit of
God, and give a legal turn and cast to his lesson. I can see, as if written with a
sunbeam, the disposition of your mind herein, and can trace from my own expe
rience dl the turnings and close windings of your present temptations.
I observe what 'you say of your judgment. You are enlightened to see that
Jesus is all in salvation work. The covenant ordered in aU things and sure —
this is dl my sdvation, and as far as I know my own heart, this is aU my desire.
^ ou unsay these words in the same breath you say them : for, because you are
not always satisfied with this sdvation, or dways dike comforted with it, or with
equal happiness enjoying the glorious fruits of it, you therefore doubt and reason
aa 2

5rl;5 LETTERS WRITTEN BY
about its being yours. Thus you argue : " My judgment is clearly convinced,
and my heart desires to be cast wholly upon the Lord Jesus Christ for sdvation ;
but in the act of doing this, I dways fail." What reasoning is here ! How
directly contrary to the spirit of the gospel ! For you are looking not at the
object of faith, at Jesus, but at your fdth. You would draw your comfort, not
from him, but from your faith ; and, because your faith is not quite perfect, you
are as much discouraged as if Jesus was not a quite perfect Saviour. My dear
friend, how sadly does the sly spirit of bondage deceive you ! For what is your
act of believing ? Is it to save you ? Are you to be saved for believing ? If so,
then you put acta and works in the place ofthe Saviour. And faith, as an act, is
in your view part of your salvation. The free grace of the covenant you turn into
a work ; and how well that work is done becomes the ground of your hope.
What a dreadful mistake is this, since sdvation is not to him that worketh, but
to him that believeth.
But besides this mistake, I can 8ee one of the greateat ains in your way of rea
soning, and yet finely cloaked under a very specious covering. I pulled it off,
and, behold, there was rank treason under it against the crown and majesty of my
Lord and God ; for you are kept looking at your act of believing. What is this
for ? Why, certainly, that you may be satisfied with your faith ; and, being satis
fied with it, what then > No doubt, you will then rest in it, and upon it, satisfied
now that Christ is yours, because you are satisfied with your faith. This is
making a Jesus of it, and is in effect taking tho crown oif crowns from hia
head, and placing it upon the head of your faith. Lord grant you may never do
this any more.
I observe, thirdly, how, by this mistake, and by this great sin, the sin of eina,
you are robbed of the eweet enjoyment of the God of all comfort. You lose what
you seek, and lose it in your way of seeking. You want comfort ; and you look
to your faith for it. If faith could speak, it would say, 1 have none to give you :
look unto Jesus ; it ia all in him. Indeed, my friend, it is. The Holy Ghost the
Comforter will not glorify your faith. He will not give it the honour of comfort
ing you. He takea nothing to comfort with but the thinga of ChriBt — and his
thinge, not as uaed by you, but as given from him, who is all yours. This lesaon,
I think, he is teaching you, although you pervert it. He is bringing you off
from looking legdly at your faith. He intends you should not regard, aa you
have done, how you believe, but to settle you in believing. I have been long at this,
and have learned but very little. I can say my lesson ; but when I come to prac
tise, I find I am a dull scholar. The Spirit of Jeeii8 haa been teaching me to
draw my comforta, not from how well I believe, but from Jeaue, in whom I
believe ; not from there being no failing in my act of faith, but that 1 do act faitii
on Jesus, though fdlingly. My salvation ia quite a distinct thing from any act of
mine : it depends on the divine purpose and covenant ; is absolutely and eternally
fixed in the dirine will : and thia ia made known to me by faith. I receive the
evidence of it by believing ; and eo take poasession. Faith is not the cau8e, but
the effect. The cause is the act and grace of the Trinity, what the Father, out of
sovereign love, gave ; what the Son bought with an inestimable price ; and what
the Holy Spirit proves to a sinner to be a price every way fully sufficient ; and eo
bringe him to depend upon it for hie redemption. You eee, then, that in couee-
quence- of the Father's giving Christ for me, the Holy Spirit brings me to ChriBt,
and enables me to trust and rely upon hiin. This is aU that faith has to do in the
matter. It is the fruit and evidence of the covenant grace of the Trinity. At
best, it is but an open empty hand, stretched forth at God's bidding, and at God'a
enabling, to lay hold of Christ : but Christ, so laid hold of, is my edvation. It is
not faith, but Christ. It is not my hand, but the thing received into ray hand,
that saves me. I grant you, and I know it weU, that much faith brings much
comfort from Christ, and carries much glory to him : but the way to get much
fdth, is not to look at it as you do, but at the Sariour ; not to look at your hand,
but at Jesus ; not how you hold him, but that he is yours, and holds you, and
your faith too ; and therefore you shall never perish, but ehaU have everlasting
life. After I had observed these errors in your looking at the act of faith, I did not

THE REV. W. ROMAINE, A.M. 597
wonder at the following parts of your letter ; such as, your not being pleased with
your faith, and therefore not pleased with your state, nor your graces, nor
your attainments, nor your own righteousness ; but you thought every thing
made agdnst you. This is stiU the same teaching of the Spirit; but you
pervert it. Have you nothing to look at but Jesus ? That 's right. Then
look unto him, and be saved. What ! can you see nothing to rest on of your
own ? Are you forced to renounce the goodness of your faith, as an act ?
and do you experience that you cannot be saved for it ? Very well : hold fast
there. Stick to this : no grace, as acted by you, can save : follow this blessed
teaching, and cleave with fuU purpose of heart unto the Lord Jesus. You
must learn to make him dl in your salvation. He must save you from your
faith, a-i well as from your unbelief; faith, as you act it, being full of sin. If
the highest and best act of your faith were to be weighed in the balance of
the sanctuary, you would deserve a thousand deaths for it. So much corrup
tion would De found in it, that you could not escape the damnation of hell.
Turn about, then ; take your eyes off from your acts of faith : look at Jesus.
Expect to be received as a poor helpless sinner, not for great and high beheving.
Come to be saved from your faith, as an act. FoUow, as aU your sdvation is
laid up in him, foUow him ; take comfort from him ; see yourself in him, not for
any thing in you ; trust him, not yourself, not your acts, and learn to discern
spirits, to know divine teaching, by this mark — that what tends to humble you,
is from the glorifier of the Saviour.
Since I sat down to write, I have been many times interrupted ; but I was
resolved not to be stopped in writing to-day, that you might at least know what
could be sdd of your case. It is a very common one — common to aU who are
taught of God : so peculiar to them, that, as I sdd before, if I were to draw the
character of a true child of God, I could not leave out one, not a single one, of the
circumstances which you bring against yourself. Indeed, Mrs. B., they are aU
on your side, and- witnesses for Christ. Oh do not then stifle, pervert, nor dis
pute their evidence. Allow what they eay — Your fdth is not perfect — Your acts
fail — All things fail you. Good, very good. Then away with them. Cast off
all looking at, all dependence on them. Betake yourself to Jesus; trust him ;
use him ; grow into him ; and let nothing separate you from him. So be it,
Lord Jesua.
W. Romaine.

LETTER CV. Blackfriars, Nov. 19, 1768.
Dear Madam. — Youra came safe to hand. It is Mr. Foster's day to preach
his lecture at Duke's Place, and witt not auit ua, nor him, to be absent that day,
Sunday 27th. We have no objection against coming to spend a day or two with
you, Monday 28th : and, if we hear nothing to the contrary, shaU expect your
coach any hour agreeable to you on Monday.
Your account of yourself I was suffered to read; and greatly pleased was I
with it. You are just brought to the very spot upon which aU are saved to whom
Jesua is become dear. It is sdd of him, "He heareth the needy when he crieth;
the poor dso, and him (her too) that hath no helper." Have you no
helper — nothing in yourself— nothing within your reach — to help you ? Then,
behold, there is a Helner — an Almighty Friend — your Friend because you have
no other. My dear Mrs. B., your outward state is the very teacher one would
wish— weak, burdened, incapable of attention to spiritud or even to temporal
matters. How strongly does all this say, and, while you feel it, continue
saying— You are now fit to magnify Jesus ; he is the Saviour of the poor desti
tute — the helpless : he pities you ; feels tenderly for you ; he knows what you
want : be has undertaken to Supply your needs. While it is best to be helpless,
you ahall have his help, which is infinitely better than to feel well. Are you bur
dened? Cannot you carry it ? What does that signify ? " I will carry it for

598 LETTERS WRITTEN BY
vou, says Jesus : cast it on me, I will carry it, and you too." Welcome, then, say
I, welcome hdplessness, since it is the means of more acqudntance with the
help which Jesus gives to his dear afflicted ones. I am certdn dl is well ; I
know dl wttl be weU with you. Your help is in Jesua : he cannot fdl you.
Our respects to Mr. B. and aU friends. We are, in great love in Jesua, youra,
W. Romaine.

LETTER CVI. Blackfriars, Aug. 12, 1769.
My dear Friend. — We had a letter from your sister, giving an account of
your journey (thanks be to hiin who kept your going out and your coming in !)
and of your present situation and trials, in which I can aee nothing singular.
The lesson which the Lord is now teaching you, is pldn. His way of teaching
it has nothing new : it ia the eatabliehed method in hie school ; and your averse
ness to learn it occasion8 all your uneasineae. When he haa made you a good
scholar, you wttl then find relief in your soul, whatever befd your poor crazy
body. I take it for granted that you are acquainted with the doctrines of free grace
nnd finished edvation : you are not Buffered to doubt of their truth ; but you
cannot receive comfort from them at thie time. Your conscience drawe freeh
httle of indictment against you. You do not see your interest in your divine
Advocate ; and therefore you cannot answer them, as you ueed to do. Hence
you are puzzled and mourn ; are become impatient and fretful ; fear thia and the
other ; and are left to youraelf, to your ainkings and dejectiopa, and groundlees
apprehensions ; fancied mieeriee are felt ae real, and fancied fears of dying are as
bad ae death, yea, worse than death will ever be to you. This ia aomething like
your eaae. Ib it not ? And what is to be done ? Where ia the remedy ? Cer
tainly oUr AU-wise physician has left some prescription for it ; and he can make
it, bad as it is, work under him for good. But how ? Why, he would teach
you now one of hie highest lessons, and you are brought into circumstances
most exactly suited for your being a proficient in it. He intends in thie (as in
aU thinge) to promote bis own glory as the Alpha and Omega of your salvation ;
not only in working of it out, for he has eatisfiedyou of thie, but deo in the
security of it ; he must have all the honour of the safe-keeping of it — it for you,
- and you for it. He is the Keeper of Israel, who keeps all the Israel of God by
the power of God ; and you cannot glorify him, in thia hia great covenant office,
but by giving up your body and soul, you and yours, abaolutely to his keeping.
And how could you be taught this in a shorter or better way than by being
brought into your present diatresa ? For you now find that you can no more
secure and keep than you could work out your aalvation : he must do it aU —
begin, carry on, and finiah. This ia your leason. Finding yourself, then, in
this situation, utterly helpless, without any thing good in you— a poor, dejected,
fearful, destitute creature — commit the keeping of your soul to Jesus : you will
thereby bring him a richer revenue of honour than aU the rejoicing Christiana in
the world. You will glorify hia faithfulne88 to hia word and work by venturing
upon that arm of the Lord which ia engaged to do dl for you, and all in you.
Mind one of hia sublime styles and titles : — He ie the Saviour of him that hath
no helper. What ! have you no help r Do you feel it ? Then the Spirit eaya,
he is your Saviour. Mra. B., he is yours, as surely as he ever saved anyone
who had no helper.
But, daa! how weak ie my faith! My dear friend, do not look at the how;
that wttl only puzzle you ; it wttl make believing to be a work, and wttl tempt
you to be comforted when you believe well, and to be dejected when you are
displeased with your believing. You know it is not the degree or the joy of
fdth that saves ; but it is Jesua who saves ; and your safety arises from trusting
to the work of God- Jeaus, and your comfort ahould spring from taking it to
yourself upon the warrant of God's free offer to sinners like you ; not to qualified

THE REV. W. ROMAINE, A.M. 599
sinners, but to coming sinners — " Whosoever cometh unto Jesus : " it matters
not how he comes, nor who he be, nor what he has been ; to him coming, God
gives his word, and pledges his honour "Thou shdt never, never perish; but
shalt have everlasting life." Whether he come fdnting, five fainting, or die
fainting, it is the same; the word cannot be broken, but standeth fast for ever
and ever. Mrs. B. fainting, dejected, without spirits or liveliness, comes; she
Bhall never, never perish, says God ; she shaU have everlasting life.
But what signifies the truth of this to me, while I find no comfort in believing ?
Your case does not admit of comfort ; the Master is carrying you up into a more
exalted state of believing, wherein we are to get above baby comforts. You
could not learn the present lessons of his love in a comfortable frame : he there
fore brings you into the vdley of Baca, to teach you what. Jesus is in himself,
and that aU your sdvation is in him undertaken, fulfilled, applied ; and that,
after aU your knowledge, and aU your experience, you have nothing, to this
moment, to depend on but his faithful arm and watchful care. This is his last
lesson : nothing is beyond it but heaven. You are left to your present distresses
on purpose to learn this. Your dear Jesus lets you feel how utterly helpless you
are, that you may find how faithful he is to his promised help. He is as exactly
suited to your case as light is to your eyes ; and your relief does not consist in
getting comfort again, but in getting nearer to Jesus, and in seeing what he is to
such as you, and thereby growing up more into hiin. Your present frame is to
bring you to commit the keeping of yourself and of all your concerns to him.
You nnd you can do nothing — quite lifeless, heartless, comfortless. Very
weU : but Jesus has undertaken to keep such ; and be is now making you wiUing
that he should be your keeper. Oh that you would not reason and puzzle
your poor heart, but follow his teaching : and now, simply leave it to him, to do
what he wiU : your sdvation will then be as safe in his hands as if you were in
heaven. And why should not you simply trust him ? Consider, you cannot honour
his office as your keeper ; you cannot bring him more glory than others do but
by coming as the weeakest of aU creatures. You find you are so. Why, then,
let his strength be perfected in your weakness. You see you can do nothing ;
let him, then, haye the crown of doing all. What sad work would you make,
if your graces or comforts were left to your own keeping ! You are learning
now to put no confidence in the flesh. Oh that you may yield to the Spirit's
leading, and may be wiUing to be just what your God would have you to be !
But how can you do this under these faintings, sinkings, &c. ? These are
your schoolmasters. You could not learn without them your absolute depend
ence upon God-Jesns : and you experience these on purpose that you may find
how careful Jesus is over you. He has the same love to your soul, the same
fdthfulness to his own work, when you have no strength, as at other times. He
says so—" I change not" — I am the same yesterday, to-day, and for ever — the
same to the fdnting as to the rejoicing befiever. Oh faU then fainting into
his arms : venture — cast yourself upon him ; for he is a very present help in
every time of trouble.
You see I have no more room. I follow my advice with my prayers. I pity
you much for what you suffer : but I wish Goel may let you see it as I do. Still
all is weU. May you say so ! Our love to the whole family. We set out on
Tuesday : in about three weeks hope to be at Mr. Owen's, jun. at Tiverton,
Devon, where a fine trill find us, and a good account make us thankful. Mrs. B.,
I ara as certdn as I live of the Lord's design, as mentioned above. Read as
you can bear it, and pray for light to know, and faith to folic w the Lord's leading.
It is a dark night, and a long night ; but the morning cometh, and you shall
rejoice with the gladness of his people. Farewell.
W. Romaine.

<iOO LETTERS WRITTEN 13 Y

LETTER CVII.

Berwick, near SiiREwsnuRY, Sqsr. 9, 1769-
Dear Madam. — We were setting out upon our journey when we received
Miss M.'s letter, and have scarce had any resting time since. No opportunity
orlered, tiU the present, of sitting down to inform you of my constant remem
brance of you in my prayers. My ddly petition is, that Goel may bring you to
submit to his will, and to make you lie in his hands just what you are — a lump
of sinful day — that in his own way he may mould you, and form you, a vessel
of honour. Oh, this is hard 1 — to flesh and blood it is impossible. To have
been, like you, in light, but now in darkness ; to have wdked in comfort, but now
every ray of it gone ; to suffer the disease, but no feeling of the remedy. Who
can bear up under such trids f None can of themselves : but I can do all thinga,
through Christ strengthemng me. So he said, who rejoiced to be what you are :
he was not only content to be a pensioner, living on the mere grace of Jesua, but
he dso gloried in his infirmities, that the power of Christ might rest upon him.
Every infirmity brought him to feel more what you now feel yourself to be : but
this did not keep him from Christ, as it does you ; nay, rather, it brought him to
greater experience of the power of Christ, in so managing his infirmities, aa to
make them the means of nearer communion and more intimate fellowship.
My dear friend, I must repeat it— dthough you tell me my last was a probe,
rather than an healing medicine — your preaent frame ia neceasary ; you really
want to learn the le8eon which it ie eent to teach you. Without it, how could
our great prophet bring you to live entirely out of self upon hia fulnese, which,
when he ie teaching, how do you murmur and repine ? Whatever you knew of
thie before, it is plain you haci it but in theory ; for the practice has quite overeet
you. You cannot believe, dthough the ground of believing etand good, unices
you have the comfort of believing : for, now you are left to yourself, you think
you are lost, because you are suffered to feel what a poor miserable creature you
are : not consideriug that, bad as your condition is, yet there is a remedy for it,
hope under it, and a good end to be answered by it. There ia a remedy infallible,
which you overlook at thia time, dthough it be aa exactly auited to your eaae, as
meat ia to the hungry. What ! have you forgotten the covenant of the eternal
Three — the Father's everlasting appointment concerning those whom he gave to
his Son ? None of them can be lost. The Son's accepting them ae the Father'e
gift, undertaking for them, writing their names in his book, becoming man, living
and dying for them : and, by these his relations to them, he is their head, and
they are his members, one with him, and he one with them, in a bond which
nothing can break ; and the Holy Spirit given to them and dwelling in them, to
work dl their workB for them and in them, and to keep them safe by his mighty
power, till they be received into glory. Thia is the covenant of the blesBed
Trinity ; in which it ia enacted and provided, that nothing ehould befal you but
what ia for your good ; yea, that the very state you are in, which is one of the sad
fruits of the corruption of your nature, shaU be so overruled ae, in the end, to
promote the gracioue plan of your ealvation. Do you not know, Mre. B. ; do
you not befieve aU thie ? You do — I am certain you do — in theory. I pray
you, then, what ie it that obetructs your practice ? How ie it that your present
trids, which are working for your good, which muat do you good, being
appointed and sent for this, very purpose, are ao miataken and miaapplied ? You
are left to reaaon againat God'8 covenant purposes, and to pervert (as far as you
can) God's gracious design. You may go on indulging this strange temper ;
but know, assuredly, my good friend, that God wttl not only eave you, notwith
standing your rile reasonings against him, but will also make you one day
acknowledge that it was good for you you had been in this trouble ; for still there
is hope. Hope is grounded upon eome promiee ; and God hae not left you
without a word of promise to trust in. His covenant, made for you, is ordered
in all thinge, and sure. Thie dark, dead frame is ordered ; aU your nervous
feelings, faintings, &c. are ordered ; aU things — how much you should Buffer—

THE REV. W. ROMAINE, A.M. 601
how long — till you should be forced to acknowledge God just in his deahnga
with you. And though you may try to break his covenant, reason against it,
indulge your own absurd reasonings, give place to unbelief ; yet, his covenant
he will not break for the sake of your peevishness. No, he will not. It is sure
in aU things — as sure to one walking in darkness as to one walking in light —
always dike sure on God's part, though to your feeling it may look as if he was
going to alter it. Could this blessed truth break in upon your soul, and shine
in its divine glory, then you would be made to see that your present frame is
most mercifuUy intended to teach you in experience the faithfulness of God's
covenant : for now you find you can do nothing. What more seasonable, what
more comfortable, than to be satisfied that your sdvation is in safe hands, and
that God is managing it so weU, that it cannot possibly miscarry ? Thus would
hope revive, and soon be able to bring in strong consolation ; for you would dis
cover many gracious ends answered by your having gone through this dark, aud
duU, and helpless state. Depend upon it, good wiU come out of your distrustful
murmurings and unbelieving repimngs. God wiU get a rich revenue of glory,
when, he has brought you to experience that aU your salvation was out of your
self, and to be wiUing to take it, and to enjoy it, as the free gift of free grace, in
every comfort, in every blessing, both in earth and in heaven. You are put to
Bchool to learn this, and to trust God simply ; and sad work you make of your
lesson — you read it backward. He would teach you that salvation itself, and
every thing belonging to it, is at his absolute disposd ; and therefore he keeps
you at school, and under sharp discipline too, because you are so dull at your
book. Oh that you may be made to feci dl is weU ! David was once in your
case ; and he had a blessed issue. So will you have. Read the 130th Psalm,
and mark where he began. He was in the depths, and he ended in the heights.
After the dark and black night, the morning wiU arise — a morning without
clouds — and your soul shaU be glad and rejoice in the sdvation of our God
Much, much glory wiU then accrue to him from your present visitation.
Perhaps, you say, these things may be true, but how can I take any comfort
from them while I am in my present distress ? Why not ? They are the remedies
prescribed of God for your very case, to give you a good ground of hope at
present, and to produce the most blessed effects in future. 'The Lord the Spirit
aeal these things upon your heart ; and may it please him to do it soon. His
time is best ; but, for your sake, I would plead with him, lest you should quite
faint. But that wiU not be. You know I do not foUow impressions unwarranted
by the word. I give little credit to any thing of that kind. But here I have the
word on my Bide — that God wiU not leave you nor forsake you ; and I am per
suaded, you wttl soon know you are not left. To my apprehension, the clouds
are breaking; the storm is dispersing fast; the day-star is dawning; and your
own Jesua is rising with the light of life upon your soul — never, never to set
again. It is but a very, very little while, and you shaU see the King in his beauty,
as you never saw him before. So be it. Amen.

LETTER CVI1I. Blackfriars, Feb. 22, 1770.
Grace and peace be multiplied to our dear friends at S. — Mrs. B., take the
light of the word, and behold what manner of love the Father hath bestowed
upon you! what were his purposes of grace in giving you to his Son (admire
and adore them !) in revealing them to you by his Spirit, and in bringing you to
know your Father, which is in heaven — what! but that you might come to enjoy
him who is your supreme happiness. You do enjoy him — glory be to his sovereign
grace ! but pray mind, you enjoy him now as a fallen creature. You are brought
back to the Father, through the Son, by the Spirit. The Son was your surety;
tbe Father accepted him in your stead ; the Spirit has enabled you to believe
that the Father loves you perfectly in his Son : thus you come to the enjoyment

(.02 LETTERS WRITTEN BY
of the Eternal Three ; but not such as you will have in heaven. Tbe manner
of enjoying God is different. Here it ia by fdth ; thero by aense : here by hard
righting ; there by constant peace : here sensud are dways opposing and lessening
spiritud enjoyments; there dl are spiritud : here the enjoyment of God is at
best imperfect ; there it is absolutely perfect. Here, as you are made up of flesh
and spirit, sensible enjoyments must be withdrawn, in order to mdte room for
spiritud; the absence of sensible is necessary for the growth of spiritud. On which
j'ccount.I cannot but bless God for you, who takes so much pains with you. He
has chosen you to better things than the world has to give. Your portion is not
bore below. God himself is your portion; and all his dedings with you are to
bring you to enjoy him as such. He ploughs and harrows, and takes every
method to get a good crop. He rdns and shines, sends winds and storms, frost
and snow ; but all fulfilling his word. His frowns and his smiles have one lesson.
Sickness in yourself, in your family, in your other self, are covenant visita
tions, and speak doud, " Mra. B., you are the Lord'8, and he will not let you
done, he will not Buffer you to settle upon your lees ; you must be kept Btirring
— dl peace and quiet would be your ruin : therefore God, even your God, has, in
his richest love, weighed out every grain of suffering, needful to keep you near
to God."
But why have I got preaching f You do find it true — I know you do — that
the time of living by the faith of the Son of God haa always moat sweetneaa when
the life of sense is lowest in its enjoyments. Lord grant you may daily make up
your happiness in God, your covenant God and Father, and in those things
which improve in the using when all other happinese fails. Amen.
I am with great reepect, in the only bond of true love, j'oure in Jesue,
W. Romaine.

LETTER CIX Blackfriars, Aug. 3, 1772.
My dear Friend. — I have been taught to feel your case, and to have com
passion. We have a eympathiaing God, who dso iB touched with the feeling oi
your infirmities ; and he wante you to know the tenderneea of hia heart. He
would give you proof of it, and fre8h experience. Thie ie hie graciouB lesson. If
he take away more creature comforta than he ever did before, it is, that he may
make room for more of hia heavenly comforta. He thwarta your will, that he
may make you resigned to his. He ia aiming at your good, and taking the shorteat
anil the beat way to promote it. He afflicts your children, removes your friends,
gives you Teal trouble, and threatens to give greater ; but all ia love. He knowa
it expedient for you to deny youraelf, to take up your cross daily, and to foUow
him in the way he went to glory. 1 have seen a wonderful beauty in 1 Cor. vii.
29, 30, 31, as applicable to your present circumetancee. Read and etudy the
passage. Pray you may be enabled to practise what is there recommended;
ri:. " That having husband, children, &c. you may live ae though you had
none," &c.
It may give you some pleasure to hear that we do not go from home till next
week. In the mean time, should be glad of one line to know your etate and con
dition, and bow aU the family do, Considering our dear Lord's past kindnew
to you, I have no doubt of his continuing it. I heartily pray him, in which ray
wife joins, to convince you of his unchangeable love, and to manifest it to your
heart in time of need. I am (with respect to Mr. B.) yours, in our precioua and
covenant head,
W. Romaine.

THE REV. W. ROMAINE, A.M. 603
LETTER CX.
Jan. 26, 1775.
My good Friend. — Indeed, it is a great whUe eince we met; and I often
think of it. At no time or place do I forget you. But am more mindful when
I hear of you, especidly of your wants : I believe you cannot do without them ;
and I feel my heart, as Christ is, most affected to you when you are poor and
needy, and haye no helper. As such, in your present case, I spread your needs
before my Lord and your Lord. He knows what is best for you, and wttl do it,
although you may be apt to quarrel with him for it. But he wiU not mind that ;
he wttl pardon it, and wttl go on doing you good — in his own way.
Next Monday is the 30th of January : I always preach in the afternoon,
before the Leather SeUers' company : the Monday after, we are at your service :
we hope to be ready to come down and dine with you in very good time.
What changes in six months time — born, married, dead ! what patience ex
ercised to us ! we are spared. What grace ! spared to five, in, upon, and to
Jesus. Oh most blessed long suffering ! And what now wdt we for ? Why
truly, being as ready to die as ever we shall be, that, come what wiU this new
year, we may be found in Jesus. In this hope I go on my way rejoicing. So
may you.
My partner is pretty well : desires every kind remembrance to you. Our
christian love to Mr. B. I carry aU your family to court with me, and recom-
menel them to my King. I hope he has a regard for them. I am sure of it.
If you forget to pray for me, you wttl not be a friend to yourself. I am, very
sincerely, your friend and servant, in our common Lord,
W. Romaine.

LETTER CXI. London, March 7, 1778.
Mrs. C. presented me, in your name, with the brethren's daily words for
1778 : for which I thank you, and through it, may be often put in good re
membrance of you and yours this year. In return, I send you my word.
Messiah is one of the high titles of the Redeemer, which being interpreted in
the Greek, is, The Christ, and in the English, is, The Anointed. Oil was the
instituted emblem of the grace of the Holy Spirit, and anointing with oil was the
outward and visible sign of his inward and spiritual grace. We meet with the
inatitution, Exodus xxx. 22, to the end. This holy ointment was to be used in
consecrating the tabernacle and dl its vessels, and in setting apart certain persons
for some great offices. It was unlawful to use it upon any other occasion : who
soever did, was to be cut off from the people. Tnis consecrating unction was
used to the tabernacle, which was a type of the body of Christ, and to every vessel
of the tabernacle, to show thatjChrist, and every thing of Christ, was under the
sanctifying influence of the Holy Spirit ; and it was used to set apart the Prophet,
Priest, and King, because he was to sustain those offices. He was the anointed
Saviour. His human nature was conceived and formed by the Holy Ghost.
Every thought of his mind, every motion of his body, was under influence, and
that every moment : for he had the Spirit without measure. He had infinite
Brace to obey, to suffer, to conquer. Nothing could possibly be wanting to render
nis obedience, sufferings, ana victories absolutely complete and everlastingly
perfect. We have a demonstration of their full vdue and acceptance. He died ;
but rose from the dead. He sitteth at the right hand of the majesty on high,
infinitely replenished with the graces and gifts ofthe eternd Spirit: yea, in him
dwelleth the fulness of the Godhead bodily.
Here is the fountain of all blessings. His name shows not only that he is thus
anointed, but means one who has the power to give the unction of the Holy One.
He, as beetd. has it for his members, which is beautifuUy described, Psalm cxxxiii.

P04 LETTERS WRITTEN BY
The precious ointment, poured upon the head of the high priest, flowed down to
the skirts of his garments : so does the spiritud anointing. On Christ it was
poured without measure. From him it descends to the lowest member. Every
believer has his share of its divine influence. The Spirit of Christ ia given to
quicken the dead. He urates the soul to Clirist : he enables it to livo by fdth
upon Christ, and to five to the glory of Christ : and therefore this anointing ie
absolutely necessary : without it, no man can be a member of Chriet : for if any
man have not tbe Spirit of Christ, he ia none of his. A Christian means, one
who has received the unction from Christ. The same spirit which is in the head
is also in the member : for he that is joined to the Lord is one Spirit, and ia aa
intimately united, yea, I think more, than the body and 80ul in one peraon.
This constitutes the Christian. He has actudly the Spirit of Christ; whereby
he is one with Christ, and Christ with him. Christ dwelleth in him, and he in
Christ : or, as the apostle expresses it, I am crucified with Christ ; nevertheless,
I live ; yet not I, but Christ Iiveth in me. Clirist was his life, as truly as any
member lives by its union with the head, as evidently as a branch is nourished.
by the sap received from the stock upon which it grows. 'The anointing which
he receives from Clirist makes and constitutes him a real Christian, as certainly
as the member lives by its oneness with the head, or the branch with the vine.
Our Lord's name, the Messiah, leads us to consider hiin in this view, not only
anointed himself, but dso the- giver of the same grace ; he having received it on
purpose that he might give it to his people. By his own command it was first
used at Antioch ; and it has been ever since the peculiar title of those who profess
faith in him and influence from him.
Many, indeed, have the name without the thing ; as a man may be called ricli
who is very poor. But such are not Christians. They haje a name to live,
while they are dead. But he who ia truly ao called haa actual fellowship with
Christ by his Spirit. What waa on Chriat, without meaaure, ia on him according
to the meaaure of the gift of ChriBt. He partakes of the divine anointing. Ho
is caUed, after Christ, a Christian : for he ia made alive, and fives, and acta, by
the same spirit that is in Christ, who is head over all things to his church, which
is his body — the fulness of him that fiUeth all in all. ,
But if it be thus certdn that the head and the members have the same unction,
how can any one know it ? Should it not be Very clear, as it is the thing which
make8 the Christian .' Certdnly it should. And the scripture leaves no doubt
concerning the way and meana in whieh.it is to be known.
Known by believing ; ye have an unction from the Holy One, and ye know all
tilings. The word is the minietration of the Spirit. We are begotten by it,
nourished by it : holding the truth in love, we grow up into Chriat in all thinge.
How ie thie unction enjoyed i In the same way aa known. The influence of
the Spirit of Chriat keeps up, through faith, communion with the head and
members, testifying of Christ, glorifying of Christ.
How ia it improved ? By daily uae we get more faith, more hope', more love
to Chriet, more happiness, in the Father's love in Chriat, whereby we learn more
eubjection to his witt and ways.
' In thia new year, I wieh you new grace, fre8h unction ; yea, may you he
every day anointed with fresh oil — much feUowship with. him — your guide — your
keeper, your Saviour. I have only time to pray for you and youra. Mra. R.,
with real love, wiahes you the same unction. Farewell. Pray for
W. Romaine.

LETTER CXII.
My good Friend. — I was at the dedication of your new house, and conse
crated it. May my prayers be answered — your house a Bethel — your heart alao
a temple — and aU your family temples of the Holy Ghost ! I send you, inclosed,
a little book upon prayer, in order to stir you up to it ; for yourself aa your
privilege, and for the public aa your duty. I wish you much sweet communion

THE REV. W. ROMAINE, A.M. 605
in conversing with your God, and much freedom in pleading with him for this
guilty land. When you have read the tract, and Mr. B., please to lend it to Mr.
H. with my love.
Tiie weather is very hot. I am tired of London. Next week I hope to leave
it for some time. Our course is to Birmingham and the neighbourhood. We
fully purpose, God trilling, to see you, eye to eye, before the winter.
I esteem it my blessing to be interested in all your concerns. Our right spirit
is to rejoice with our rejoicing members. And to be any way well, in so great
a family as yours, is matter of daily thankfulness and joy. Learn, at the white
side of God's dealings, to admire them. See how many mercies, how great, as
well as how many trials : though trials rightly improved are mercies. 1 will not
cease to ask for what your Lord knows to be sufficient grace. Mrs. R. is well,
and sends every kind remembrance to you and to yours. I am, with true christian
love, your obliged friend and servant, in our common Lord,
W. Romaine.
N. B. We have several praying societies already set up ; and, next Sunday,
if you have my letter in time, and can meet us, you wttl have the best company
in England with you at the throne of grace. My heart rejoices in the prospect :
so be it.

LETTER CXIII. Weymouth, Oct. 11
Dear Madam. — I have an opportunity of sending you some good news,
which I wish may affect your heart, as it has mine. I left you UI, and grew
worse, tiU we got to Weymouth. The air, bathing, rest, have been greatly useful
in restoring health, spirits, and thankfulness.
Out of the twenty good days in October, we have ten altogether. Ever since
we left Bristol, fine weather and serene skies, and most refreshing sea breezes.
How faithful is our God ! He is crowning the year 1777 with his goodness.
Indeed, he is dways the same — love itself — but we change : and for want of
continual trusting, we lose many tokens of his favour. Could you, for instance,
dways build upon this rock, thus sdth the Lord, how fixed would your state be,
hanging on his unchangeable wiU ! how numerous your comforts, depending
on hia infallible word ! His wttl is only known from his word ; and his word
tbideth for ever. As he has said, " Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my
word shdl not pass away." Your dejections, sinkings, alter nothing in God —
nor in his will, or word. And they come to teach you this. May you learn to
renounce leaning to self, good or bad ; and may you ever build on the rock that
is higher than you. For it is Christ, the rock of ages ; the same yesterday,
to-day, and for ever. We say, when the sun revisits Virgo, then we shaU revisit
you : but a thousand unforeseen things, besides death, may hinder U3 from
meeting any more upon earth. Our visits are short. They disappoint us. We
are apt to expect from them what is only to be found in Him. We bear the pain
of parting, in hopes of meeting again. When he visits once, it is for ever : not
with continud comforts, or abiding presence, but with a promise — " I will never
leave thee, nor forsake thee." The fdth of this wiU make your mountdn sure
when every thing else says, it will be cast into the midst of the sea. Only
believe. Having a little of that faith which worketh by love, I can
feel how the members, under the same head, sympathise. Distance makes
no difference. The head is in heaven ; the members on earth : yet, one Spirit
breathing through both, they rejoice anil mourn together ; which is heavenly
friendship. Oh for more of it in human hearts ! I am not without it to Mr. B.
and every one of your family. If it be right, I could wish you a sky fike ours,
without a cloud — a voyage through hfe like ours, a sea like glass, without a
ruffle : but, be it as it may to-day, to-morrow — a sky without a vapour, a sea like
glass, smooth for ever and ever, will be your happy lot. There we shaU meet,

606 LETTERS WRITTEN BY
and bless the kind hand of our Jesus for mutud as well as for personal salvation .
\ou know there is nothing good you wish yourself, or yours, which Mrs. R. does
not wish you as weU aa W. Romaine.

LETTER CX1V. Blackfriars, March 30..1778.
My dear Friend. — -1 am glad the Lord wttl not let you done. He is very
kind to you, and takes a deal of pdns to make you a great proficient in his school.
lie has put you into the upper form, and you have but one lesson to get; and
that he will teach you himself. You must have no under-master. He will not
suffer it. Not only because they are incapable of teaching this hard lesson, but
dso because he will have dl the glory of it. " If any man wiU be my disciple,
let hiui take up hia cross daily, and follow rae." The cross is the liadge and
honour of disci pleship. He puts it on. Ile instructs in the true way to take it
up— in the right method of bearing it — and he gives all the profit which cornea
from it. 1 have prayed him to teach you how to foUow him : and, as he has you
now in his hands, prayer for his bleaaing ia worth dl the fine leaeone in the world.
Indeed, they are apt to do hurt ; because they take the eye off from his hand and
his rod, and incline us to hearken to reason more than to faith. It ia one great
design of the cross, to bring us to have nothing to do with any person or thing,
but with Chriat done : he aenda it to wean ub from the world, reason, sense, and
self. O bleaaed croas ! which deaden8 us to them, and makea ua more eilive to
Jeaua. May every croaa have thia effect upon you ! Remember, just so many
comforta as you have, so many croaaee may you have. The croas growa out of
the comfort. The dearer the comfort, the bitterer the cross. What a large pro
vision have you for suffering ! — husband — children — subetance — friends — farms
—servants, &c. &c. The good Master sees how desirous youare to go to heaven
with this and the other comfort. You think, he might very well spare it to you,
being such an infinitely loving Jesus : you might keep it, and yet keep his love.
But he knows better than you do what is good for you ; he lovea you, far better
than you do yourself ; and he wiU mamfeet it to you : yea, you Bhall feel in your
heart that hie almighty love can bring you good out of evil, and pleasure out of
pain. Now he wanta to communicate thia. At thia very time he ia training you
up for it. He ie going to beetow upon you eorae of hie choiceet favoure : and
he has such a certain fixed way of giving them, that I know his mind and will as
plainly here at London as if I was at S., and you were to tell me all your thoughte :
for indeed I find him very communicative to hie friende. He keeps nothing from
them. And the Lord said, " Shdl I hide from Abraham the thing which I do,
&c. No ; Abraham ie of my court ; and I wttl make him of my cabinet. The
eame Lord has sdd to you and rae, henceforth I caU you not servants, but friends,"
&c. John xv. Our dirine teacher etill makea known to ua what he doeth. It ia
your buainess and your happiness to wdt on him for the discovery of his will in
his present dealings with you, that you may be able to do it, or patient to Buffer
it. This he expects of you. And may all within you 8ay, from a feeling submis
sion, " Lord Christ ! not my wttl, but thine, be done."
I am thankful for the grace given to Mr. B. May it increase and abound yet
more and more. I am yours, in our ever dear and lovely Jesus,
W. Romaine.

THE REV. W. ROMAINE, A.M. 607
LETTER CXV.
To the Rev. Mr. K. AprilW, 17S9.
My dear Brother. — The famous Dr. Johnson declares, " that a man of
genius may force himself to write whenever he pleases." If he found it so, I do
not. I cannot even write aletter when I will : if I could, Mr. K. would have re
ceived an answer before this time. Indeed, I do not wish to be of the doctor's mind ;
for I find the activity of our nature is a perpetual temptation to look upon our
selves as something. It seems to me safer and better to feel that ever)- exertion of
mind and body depends upon the grace of another — life, and breath, and aU
things. Say, Here is a fine garden ; but who planted it ? Say, There are fra
grant flowers ; but unless the north wind awake, and the south come, what is
there to make the sweet spices thereof to flow out ? The soul is as much depen
dent on the fresh supplies of the Spirit as the body is upon breath : so that the
feeling of my poverty is my only riches, and the sense of my weakness is my
only strength. If I write a letter, if any good accompany it, I wish ever to ascribe
the praise to Him, without whom, " we," says a blessed man, " even we, are not
sufficient of ourselves so much as to think one good thought." AVhat possibly
can be more humbling ? And what can be more opposite to the doctor's spirit ?
Let him, and such, plume themselves upon their self-exertions ; but we have
learned Christ better. In his school we know that the humblest is the highest ;
and he does most for Christ, or rather Christ does most in him, who is sensible
that, without Christ, he can do nothing. This is the Christian principle of all
our activity ; because, through Christ strengthening us, we can do aU things.
Upon this ground I thank you for your letter, as I have already thanked him
who enabled you to write such a letter. And upon the same ground I compli
ment you on your Sermon,* which is the first in time; and, without being a
prophet, I foretel that it will be the first in many other senses. Blessed be his
noly name! who sent us such a cordid from S. Indeed, it greatly refreshed my
spirits ; and my partner desires me to tell you, that she partook of my joy. We
also rejoiced together in the account you gave of yourself and family. How great,
how many mercies — mercies upon mercies — in what you have, and what you
have not ! God himself being your portion. II is wiU becomes yours : not yours ;
as it is the will of the flesh. This is still the same, and wiU be as long as you
breathe : but he makes the flesh bow to the spirit, and enables the renewed heart
to say, and truly, " Father, this is a sharp stroke ; but I know it was sent in love :
as such I kisa the rod — Thy will be done." Glory be to him who gives grace
sufficient to bear with patience, yea, to improve with profit, our greatest trials,
even to sacrifice our Isaacs. Oh ! he is fdthful, as you can witness, to that sweet
abridgment of his gospel, when rejecting tbe outward ceremonies as nothing
availing, unless mixed with fdth, Psdm 1. 14, 15 ; and a little lower, " Whoso
offereth me prdae, glorifieth me."
Your letter just come up to my wishes for its being so very particular with re
spect to your own family and to the T.'s. It is a great favour to me, who am now
only a chamber counsellor, to know the circumstances of my friends, their chil
dren, and families, that I may advise, and pray for suitable grace. You give me
fresh matter to aak for yourself — Success to the preached gospel at Southamp
ton. May he help you dways to give your people good food, and to bless them
with an appetite, that they may be nourished, and grow thereby up into Christ
Jesus, and that in all things. Our kindest love to the T.'s. Mr. and Mrs. will
hear from me as soon as I can. This is with us a season of much preaching :
anil, although it be the very joy of my heart to be telling of his sab/ation, yet the
flesh fails, and lags sadly behind. Pray for me and mine,
W. Romaine.
* A um-t excellent sermon on the kind's recover)-.

608 LETTERS WRITTEN BY
LETTER CXVI. April 20, 1791.
DearSir. — I think myself very much beholden to you for two very obliging
letters. The first was darming ; it stirred up many fears, and made me give
myself unto prayer. Your second relieved us from our apprehensions, but not
from our prayers. We ore still before him who hears and answers. When we
have done this in faith, we must leave it with him ; and then, whatever he does,
I ara sure it cannot be done better. May SaUy be a teneler object of his care
and love, as well as her poor afflicted mother ! She is scarce ever out of my
mind, knowing what she feels on this occasion. But what are our real and bcBt
feelings for one another compared to the compassions of our Jesus i May he
refresh her heart with some of his choicest consolations ! Mrs. R. says, Amen.
Tell Mr. T. he should keep a feast of thanksgiving, not one day, but as many
days as he has to live. Oh what a monument is he of the distinguishing favours
of our God ! Every breath should be praise. I hope he is trying, and I pray
for him, that more grace may be given, and, under such a load of benefits, he
may walk more humbly with his God.
1 know S. and you are on ray heart. May the work of the Lord prosper in
your hands !
If Mr. T. does not write, one line to Batiafy ua how you go on, and what is
SaUy'a atate, will be a very great treat to rae and my partner, who moat conlidly
n' ns in the prayer of faitii for the T.'s, K.'s, with your friend and labourer in the
rd'a vineyard, W. Romaine.

LETTER CXVII. Jan. 15, 1795.
My dear Sir. — Thia 18 one of your children,* whom you waa inatrumental
in bringing to light. I put it into your hands, hoping you will continue to nurse
it with your prayers for its success, and with thanka to the author of every good
and perfect gift, who has enabled me to leave behind me thia teatimony of hia
saving grace and power. Oh bleas him and praise him for hia great goodness to
your friend and servant in him, W. Romaine.

LETTER CXVIII.
To A**** D****, Esq.
My dear Friends, — for so you are in the Lord; in that bond which he tiea
and none can untie. Thanke to Mr. T. for hia letter, and for hia kind remem
brance of ua. We are, aa to outward things, just as you left ua — but, 1 hope
not at a 8tand in spirituda — moving atiU, and getting on, halting, and creeping,
slowly, but surely. How this is to be done, in what way, means, and method,
would save you a deal of time and trouble, if you were quite satisfied. I will give
you a little plan of what I caU Aifti«M>, DAILY WALK.
I had observed, a great ded of my time was 8pent — and most of it quite loat.
A very, very little was left. I saw the necessity of husbanding it well, and of
making the most of it. This led me to settle and determine a fixed rde of
• This letter was accompanied with a copy of the Triumph of Faith.

THE REV. W. ROMAINE, A.M. G09
Irving. " Here is a new day. What lies before me to be done ? What do I live
for to-day ? What am I now to propose to myself, as the end and aim of aU my
actions ? This matter was brought to a point : and I was made to see that
these, and these only, were the things I was to do.
First, I was to look to my conscience ; that the peace of God might rule in it
dways, and by all means.
Seconelly, I was to look to my heart ; that it might be happy in the love of
God ; and,
Thirdly, I was to watch over my tempers, my walk, and my conversation ;
that I might enjoy the peace and the love of God.
I saw my main business concerned my conscience ; how guilt, fear, and
unbelief might be kept out of it, and the peace of God might be mdntained in it.
If conscience be good, aU is good : and that is a good conscience which witnesses
to the truth, as it is in Jesus. Conscience is that faculty of the soul which
compares my heart and life with the holy law of God, brings me in guilty for
transgressing its precepts, and leaves me to suffer its just pendties, under guilt
and condemnation. The gospel offers a perfect righteousness to satisfy the
precepts, and an infinitely vduable atonement — the sacrifice of God — to satisfy
the penalties of the law. By believing in this righteousness, and in this atone
ment, the conscience is saved from guilt and condemnation, yea, acquits and
justifies the sinner, and brings in a true verdict for him. It says what God does,
pleads its discharge under the broad seal of heaven, and stops the mouth of guttt
and unbelief, with these words written in golden letters in the royd charter of
grace : " Thou art forgiven all trespasses — Thou art justified from aU things —
Thou art a son of my love and an heir of my glory, through faith in Jesus, my
beloved." Here, Mr. D., I triumph. I believe these words on the divine
teatimony. My conscience bears witness to their truth. It is a good conscience :
it agrees with God, and looks upon him as reconctted perfectly. It fears to
dishonour him by caUing in question the infinite vdue of Christ's righteousness
and atonement, or doubting of their being mme, while they are freely offered to
me, and while I find my want of them, and have any dependence upon them.
Thus the peace of God rules, takes the lead in the conscience, rules always, the
offer being dways the same, the righteousness and atonement of Jesus always
the same, my want of them dways the same, and mine interest in them always
the same : which 1 ddly learn to maintain by aU means, against aU corruptio.is,
enemies, and temptations, from every quarter. TeU Mrs. D. from me, that this
is her first lesson in the school of Christ. When she feels any thing wrong, she
is low, her sins displease, her duties cannot please her; teU her that these very
things, if rightly managed, wttl establish her conscience in the peace of God.
Every new day she lives to learn that she has nothing to trust to but the atonement
and righteousness of Jesus, and therefore to depend on God's being in friendship
with her — an unchangeable friendship through Jesus Christ her Lord. Oh that
her heart may be sprinkled from an evil conscience and mind ! That is evil,
which refuses to build its peace on the life and death of our Immanuel ; and that
is a good conscience which has peace with God through faith in Jesus, and
expects dl the love of God freely in him. This is my second work, to keep my
heart happy. And this I constantly experience when the conscience is on Christ's
side, and testifies aright for him. God is reconciled. He is my God. We are
agreed, and now we walk together. He bids me caU him Father. He has bowels
of love and fatherly affection for me. He sees me in Jesus — loves me — yea,
blesses me in him. My title is clear to aU spiritud blessings, because God,
being my God in Jesus, all things are mine. My happy wdk is in the belief of
this, ana in the enjoyment of it. I do not aim at getting any new title to my
heavenly Father's love, but new enjoyment. AU is mine in title ; but I want
more and more possession. Every aay I am seeking to know more, to enjoy
more of the riches ofthe Father's love in Jesus ; and I find no way to come at
them but faith, and no way to increase fdth so effectudly as to keep the peace
of God ruling in the conscience dways, and by all means.
Observe, sir — When you want to enjoy the love of God, and in the enjoyment
R R

(JIO LETTERS WRITTEN BY
of it to find your heart happy, look at nothing to bring it you but Jeaua ; read
your share in it ; take possession of it ; for nothing done in you, or by you, now,
or at any time, but only for and in Jesus ; his atonement, his righteousness,
being your constant title to the love of his Father and of your Father. 'Thua
wdk with a reconciled God. Christ ia your way. Christ your end. Go on ;
leaning on Christ every step for strength ; relying on I brist for victory over
corruptions and enemies, whatever within or without would try to stop you in
your way ; trusting Christ for blessings, whatever con keep you safe and make
you happy all your way ; making his company and presence your heaven here, as
well as in glory. Thus the true believer walks with God ; and the seiiBe of hia
being a child of God, and the experience of bis Father's precious love, makes
him happy. And this mortifies tbe carnal heart, crucifies worldly tempers,
subdues creature love : God in Christ enjoyed being the death of every selfish
affection. Pray tell Mra. D. of this. If she would ddly wdk with a happy heart, ahe
must learn to make up all her happiness in the love which God has for her in
hia dear Son. She must look quite away from her graces, her gifts, her right
eousness, her duties. God does not love her for tliese : be loves ber in his Son ;
and she, in believing this, is to lind dl her sdvation, and to enjoy all her happi
ness. I know her temptations, and therefore go on to the
Third and last thing which enters deep into my daily walk: and that is — How
ray tempers are to be regulated, and my converaation ordered, that I may night
and day enjoy the peace and the love of my reconciled God and Father. 1 find
this very hard work, because it is so hard to keep peace in the conscience and
the love of God in the heart ruling always. But God's Spirit is dmighty to
teach this lesson, and to give power to practise it. And I cannot deny him his
honour. What I have learned of him has been chiefly from this scripture : Walk
humbly with thy God. He iB my God : I wdk humbly with him in Chriat, aa
mine ; bo his sweet peace is enjoyed, his happy love possessed : while these rule
in the conscience, and in tne heart, the power of the Spirit maintains his
influence over the tempere and over the life and converaation, and he keeps all
in subjection to God-Jesus. The conscience says, I will have nothing to do
with any thing for ealvation but the righteoueneaa of Jehovah Jesua and hia
atonement on the tree. The heart says, This is dl my deaire. Hope Bays, I
have cast my anchor on Jeeus, I cannot be disappointed. Fear saya, I would
not for the world offend my God and Father. Then the whole man bowe in
subjection to Father, Son, and Spirit, and saya, Lord God, rdc in me, rule over
me ; guide, keep, ble8s me and mine all the way to heaven. You aee, my good
friend, from whence I draw my aafety and my happiness. Not from self— oh,
no !— but from Goel in Christ : I look not at, depend not on, not in the least,
myself ; but wholly on my God. Whatever is of mine own, and cornea from
myself, shows me the necessity of walking humbly with my God. Self consists,
a? 1 feel to thie hour, of wants, miseries, temptations. These do not stop me,
but help me to walk more humbly with my God. They show me my constant
want of edvation, and keep me conatantly dependent on it. No failinje in duty,
no sense of indwelling ain, keep me from my reconciled God and Father, but
bring we to walk in nearer feUowahip with him. And aeeing that aU is of his
grace, and mere aovereign love, pride is hid, every high thought is brought down,
and the Lord Jesus done gets dl— it is his due— dl the glory. This is my daily
walk — a little sketch of it; — but enough to let you see, that I have to do with
nothing for the peace of my conscience, the happiness of my heart, the con-

Ui UAy wain jo iiui, wj gel, il\jv w jjiuvui^ a. ni..*. w, mmv w »uu.»w 6~~~ «  ^ — V v
my title to, his love in Jesus. I learn and am learning t o look at him— look
unto Jeeus. May you do it more than me, and then you witt get on faster than
me to heaven.
Dear friend8, I have written till I am tired : but, upon reading it over, I like
it, and set my sed to the truth of it. God the Spirit seal it upon your hearta !

THE IlEV. W. ROMAINE, A.M. (ii 1
I was to have written to Mr. T. I am vastly in his debt ; but have no time. I
do not, cannot forget his and Mrs. T.'s love to our Master and his cause. 'The
Lord bless them both — and you both. So prays, &c.
W. Romaine.

LETTER CXIX.
To Mrs. P. Blackfriars, Feb. 10, 1773.
My very hon. Friend. — I thought myself greatly favoured by your long
and kind letter. Many circunstances concurred to make metbankGod and you for
it. Your acknowledgments to me are over payment ; especidly as they prove
that the great pains which the Lord had taken with you were not in vain. In-
eleed, I believe they were not. Your trid was sharp and long ; very, very grievous
to the. flesh : and only he who bringeth down to the grave, and bringeth up — only
he could have carried you through it. His almighty grace supplied you with pa
tience ; suffering and bearing was then your exercise. Now this is over, profiting is
yourlesson : anditmustbethesamegracethatproduces theblessedfruitsthat grow
upon the cross. Oh for a rich and plentiful harvest of them in your soul ! I would
set my wishes before you for the improvement of a recovery from sickness ; not
from dry precept, but from a winning example. It is not the worse for being
ancient, but mellower and riper. I had it from the east, and set a great value upon
the manuscript. The author is yet unknown. I have the original, both in
Hebrew and Greek. If critics were to form learned conjectures, and to rdse ar
guments from the style, they would very likely give it to John Chrysostom ; be
cause he was a sickly man, and it is so very much in his manner of writing.
But, however, the sentiments are so agreeable to the canonicd scriptures, that it
has been put, although apocryphal, at the end of the Hebrews, and entitled the 14th
chapter ; because, I suppose, the noble army of sufferers, mentioned in the former
chapters, were of this spirit, and made just such an improvement of sickness as is
here described. For my own part, I can only say that it is perfectly agreeable to the
views which I have of a believer rising from a sick bed ; and such as I wish to find
in experience, if ever I should be so tried. Upon reading it over just now, it
warmed my heart, and drew tears of joy from mine eyes ; for I am weU persuaded,
the dear Physician, life-giving Jesus, is exactly such as he is here described.
Oh, Mrs. P., I can wish you nothing better than more accjudntance with your best
friend. Do not, madam, pray do not, be shy of his company. He loves famUiarity.
Be free, be intimate with him : nothing can please him so much. Converse with
him as you would with your own husband, and be assured he will tell you no
lies. You may safely believe every word he says. You may venture your soul
upon it; for it is all gospel. It is the truth of God, infallible, unchangeable. It
is for want of knowing him that you now and then are tempted to think that he
says more than he will make good. Oh, no. He is truth itself, and also the
Lord God Almighty. Believe, only believe, and you wiU certainly find a perform
ance erf those things which have been spoken by the Lord, and by us his ser
vants to you. You are within the reach of my prayers ; and I woulei not wish to
forget you in them : as long as you and I are upon praying ground, I would be ever
making request for you. The inclosed was copied out for your perusd, with many
supplications. God hear them for you, and make you what he would have you —
that ia, an humble, happy behever ! My wife joins heartily in wishing you this and
every other blessing together with your faithful servant in Jesus,
W. Romaine.
The 43d Chapter of Job, in the Apocrypha.
1. Thus you heard of the patience of Job, and you have seen the end of the
l-orel ; that the Lord is very full of pity, and of tender mercy.

612 LETTERS WRITTEN BY
2. He never afflicteth willingly : he has infaUible wisdom to contrive, and the
heart of a parent to send every chastisement to his chUdren.
3. He well knows what sin wants purging ; and there is a needs-must for strong
physic. 4. He has seen where the fear of man got the better of the fear of God ; and
he takes his sharp rod, not in anger, but in love ; not to punish, but to correct.
5. If the world creep into the heart of any of his chUdren, he is very jedous,
and wttl not be rivaUed : he is guided by the tenderest affection when he embit
ters worldly joy, and by sickness makes that a pdn in which hia child fooliahly
sought happiness.
6. If he send great and heavy affliction, and it come in a way which makea it
to the flesh the greatest and heaviest, yet he has his everlasting arms underneath,
to support, even when little fdth can scarce perceive thera.
7. And he not ody supports, but dso often vouchsafes a gracious visit, breaks
in with his sweet presence and sensible comfort to the heart, and the poor, sick,
fainting child is made to say, " Oh let me suffer any thing, so 1 may but have such
visits from my God ! A sick bed with theee cordials ia heaven upon earth."
8. But the Lord's end is answered ; he abates the sickness, and hedth returns :
the Father throws away the rod as soon as the child haa learned to kiss it, and
to be thankful for it :
' 9. Then he makes it appear that he kept the rod ao long for the child'a good, in
order to teach leseone which could not be learned in any other way.
10. He intended to make the child's wttl bow to hia ; and it doea : Holy Father,
thy will be done ; thy wttl be suffered : 1 desire " to lie as clay in the hand of
the potter."
11. He designed to produce many peaceful fruite of righteousness, which grow
upon no tree but the cross ; and therefore he continued the croaB a long time,
only to make the fruit8 richer and riper.
12. Hear the great crowd of witnesses. Behold what manner of love the Father
hath bestowed upon us. In love he chose ua in hia Son, and caUed ua by hia
Spirit ; in love he corrected us ; in love he aupported ua under the correction ;
in love he removed it, the moment hi8 gracious purpose was answered.
13. Oh may a senee of his goodness grow with hedth, and the soul prosper as
the body does.
14. ^lay every peaceful fruit flourish to the praise of the glory of our Father's
exceeding rich grace.
15. May there be more faith in the great peace-maker, and more resignation to
the Father'e will in him ; a mind more reconciled to the croaa, and profiting more
under it ; a heart daily more dead to the world, and more engaged about and
pleased with heavedy thinge ; a converaation eo weU ordered as to maintain
peace with God through life, and at last to die in the peace of JeeuB that paaeeth
all underetanding. Hebrews xiv. Apocrypha.
1. Bless the Lord, O my eoul; and aU that ie within me bless his holy
name. 2. Bless the Lord, O my soul ; and forget not all hie benefite.
3. Who forgiveth dl thine.iniquitiee ; who healeth dl thy dieeaBee.
4. Who redeemeth thy life from deetruction ; who crowneth thee with loring
kindness and tender mercies.
5. I had reason to think, in my sickness, " I ehdl go to the gates of the grave.
1 am deprived of the residue of my years.
6. " I shaU not see the Lord, even the Lord in the land of the living. I shall
behold man no more with the inhabitants of the world.
7. " Mine age is departed, and ia removed from me a8 a ehepherel's tent. My
beauty is turned in me into corruption, and I shall he cut off with pining sick
ness." 8. But when I cried unto the Lord, he heard my voice out of hia holy temple :
he delivered my soul from death, mine eyes from teare, and my feet from fall
ing

THE REV. W. ROMAINE, A.M. t 13
9. My recovery was the Lord's doing — his, and his only — and it is indeed
marvellous in mine eyes.
10. Oh how gooel is my God ! What return shaU I make unto him for this
never to be forgotten mercy as weU as for his other benefits, with which he
loadeth me daily.
1 1 . I haye nothing to return him but what is his own, and nothing but what
I wish may be his own : myself I give up and devote to the Lord of my life and
health, wishing dl I have and am may be his for ever.
12. O my God, and my Jesus, make me better for this affliction. Now thou
hast raised me from a sick bed, let me recover in my soul as fast as I do in my body,
and both prosper dike.
13. Let thy end, Lord, in this chastening, be answered; and let it yield the
peaceable fruits of righteousness now I have been exercised thereby.
14. Since thou hast favoured me with sickness, how can I enough adore thy
matchless love, which supported me under it, and brought me through it ? Now,
Lord, give me thy blessing on it.
15. How mightily should a review of thy gracious dealings with me encourage
me to trust thee for the future ! Oh grant me more steadily to believe the pro
mises, and to rely on thy fulfilling them to me : Lord, increase my fdth.
16. As thou hast shown ine how uncertdn every creature-comfort is — all are
perishing — health, on which their enjoyment depends — life, on which they have
their very being — Oh my God, raisemy hopes above them, tothe better comforts of
a better world :
17- And there fix my poor wavering heart: set it free from its old sins, and
from its favourite pursuits, that every affection may be henceforward where my
treasure is, even where thou, my Jesus, art sitting at the right hand of God.
18. Oh for more of these graces, that my best friend, who has dedt so boun
tifully with me, may be every day of my life more beloved, and better served.
19. My dear Jesus, I want to be more dead to worldly hopes and fears, which
have too much governed my heart, and influenced my conduct. Subdue in me
these base-born passions; so that, for the future, my hopes may aU centre in thy
love, and I may fear nothing but the displeasing thee.
20. While thy mercies are fresh upon my mind, let me find growing zed to
thy lovely name and precious cause, that I may never be ashamed of thee before
men. 21. Mine own wiU has been my plague. Oh, my Lord, subdue it. and make
it bow to thine : let thy revealed will be my study, thy ways my delight ; and
let my whole life, so kindly lent me, be one continued sacrifice of prdse.
23. If thou art pleased to lend me more time, help me, Jesus, to redeem it :
if I have hedth, add to it a thankful heart. Whatever blessings thou givest,
give me grace to receive them from thy bounty, and to use them to thy glory.
23. Whenever thou shalt be pleased to put me into the furnace (it may be soon),
Lord, enable me to go into it with strong faith, and to stay in it thy time, with
humble patience. Oh never let me want thy good Spirit ! that through him,
not in word only, but in deed and in truth, I may say, 'Thy will be done
24. Yet a very little, little time, and the days of my pilgrimage will be ended ;
and then I shaU see thee face to face. Oh ! what a sight will that be ! My God
and Saviour, let the faith of it warm my heart, and the hope of it influence my
life, that, whenever thou cdlest, I may be ready, and may have nothing to do
but to go up into the mount, and to die in the arms of Jesus. Amen.

LETTER CXX London, Feb. 4, 1786.
Mu. S. — I was very thankful for your letter: it was a volunteer, and worth a
hundred pressed men. It revived the pleasing remembrance of our K. visit, for
which I iiave often thanked our common friend ; especiaUy because he made it
an earnest of a much better meeting. The year 1786 has some pleasing presages

G14 LETTERS WRITTEN BY
of that event. You know, new-year's-dav is a great festivd at our church. I
used to have a Hebrew motto; but this was Greek: I ain Alpha and Omega.
As this is a standing dish for aU our entertdnments through the year, I will send
you some of it, that you may feast with us, and give your dear wife some of the
banquet; and perhaps the crums from the master's'table may prove also very
palatable to brother N. We are come together this morning to devote ourselves
afresh to the service, and to begin the year, ag we hope to end it, in the faith and
fear of the Son of God ; for he is our Alpha and Omega. And he is aU between
the beginning and the ending. He is the self-existent Jehovah, who was, and
is, and will be, the first cause, and the last end, of all beings and things : for he
is the Lord God Almighty ; and as such we take him this new year to be our
Immanuel, that we may live by hiin, and on him, every moment, and for every
thing : for he is the God of nature — the God of graces — the Cod of providence —
the God of glory. First, He is the Creator of dl worlds, Pedm cii. 25, 2(i, 27,
explained; Heb. i. 10; as dso Cor. i. l(j, 17- He ha8 the same essence, the
same attributes with tbe Father, Isaiah xliv. C, 7, 8 ; and, by taking our nature,
God and man in one Clirist. He has every perfection to fit him to be, secondly,
the Cod of grace; a proper surety to act for us, by completing all his covenant
engagements with the Father ; and having, by hia most holy life, wrought out
our righteousness, and, by his infinitely precious death, made a fuU and perfect
satisfaction for sin, he is the Almighty giver of all his grace. He haa it all in
his fulness : a prophet to teach the ignorant ; a priest to pardon the guilty : a
king to govern the helpless : and, sitting on a throne of grace, he is able to bless
the miserable even with all spiritual, yea, and with dl eternal bleaaing8. May
he be more glorified this year than ever ! He is the God of all grace, and we
ought to grow in grace, by our settled dependence upon him for the concerns of
this life, as weU as for a better. It is our privilege, and we ahould find it our
happiness, after we have trusted our 80uls in his hands, to trust our bodiea, and
all that belongs to them, in his hands also : for he is, thirdly, the God of provi
dence, lie has the ordering and directing of every peraon anil every event. Not
a sparrow fdla without his notice. Not a hair of our heads, but he numbers
them. He interests himself in the very least as well as tho greatest concorns of
his people. And on this account, believers should exercise their faitii in every
action of life, and they would find that, by trusting in him for all things, they
would have a spiritud use of, and profit from, temporal things. 1 have left my
dl to the care and providence of my Almighty friend : he will manage for me
better than I could for myself. My health, my circumstancea, my family, chil
dren, and servants are dl under his government. I may therefore trust, and not
be afraid. He is Almighty to fulfil his offices, and all hia promises. Almighty
to protect his from dl enemies, miseries, sin, Satan, death, and hell. And, como
what will, he ie Almighty to make all thinge produce good, ae he eaid, Gen. xv. 1 .
My dear brother, you know something of thia bleased life ; but there ia more
than you have yet learned. Let Mrs. S. bring her case, and leave it with the
Lord : aU wiU be weU — only, truet. Pray for more trust : for, a8 faith increaBes,
it wiU open to you most bleased riews of an Omega, who is, fourthly, the God of
glory. He givea it : for he ia the author of eternal ealvation. Read John xvii. ;
mind what he there praya for ; and he has all power in heaven and earth to
bestow it. The whole company around the throne are ascribing to him aU their
glory, as you 6ee, Rev. v. 9, to the end. 1 join them. So do you. Thanka be
to him for hia unspeakable grace. Through the year, trust our Alpha and
Omega. Begin and end with him. Preach him. Live him. Let him be
your companion at K. ; your friend at W. ; your God through life and death.
Mrs. S. has my prayers : I know her want8 ; and I will recommend her to the
King : he wttl be her help in every time of need. I often mention your children ;
and he ha8 been their keeper hitherto. Now remember me : 1 am in want of a
curate. The great head of the church will send me one of his ordaining. I
wait for such a one. Mrs. Romaine joins me in the best wishes to Mra. S. I
charge you never to forget, in your beet momente, your real friend and brother,
W. Romaine.

THE REV. W. ROMAINE, A.M. 616

LETTER CXXI.
Many, many thanks to Mr. and to Mrs. T. for their remembrance of us this
year. I am ashamed I have not acknowledged your favour sooner ; but truly,
sir, I grow very lazy and good for nothing. It is high time I was turned out of
the vineyard, and any other master but mine would have had nothing to do with
me long ago. I loathe myself, and stand wondering daily at his kindness.
Never was self lower, and his loveliness higher, than in this new year. Though
we are but just entered on it, yet he has already vouchsafed us some delightful
Pisgah views. It has been for many years a custom with rae to have a text, a
sort of a watch-word, something very short, easy to be remembered, and which
may serve the believer to feast upon for a twelvemonth. I have found this very
useful to myself ; and so have others. Our text for this year, 1772, was " Christ
is all :" he has dl the fulness of salvation in him, as God-man ; and he has it to
the glory of the Father, and of the Holy Spirit. For it pleased the Father that
in him should aU fulness dweU, as the head for the use of his members ; and it
pleased the Holy Spirit to testify of his fulness in the scripture; and it pleases
him, by his grace, to bring believers to use it, and to five upon it. This is the
true saving work of grace. All other experience is not worth a farthing The
Holy Ghost comes to pull down self and to exalt Chnst ; and this he does
effectually. He enlightens the understanding, and convinces it that Christ is
the one Sun of the spiritual world. He sends his scholars to Christ, and to
none liul Clirist, to be taught the things of God. He brings them humbled to
the Saviour's leet, where they sit to hear his words. Thus he glorifies their
divine prophet : and in the matter of teaching he makes Christ dl. The Bible,
and ministers, and means, are only to lead to Christ, that out of his fulness they
may receive lesson upon lesson, line upon line.
Methinks I hear Mrs. T. ask, But how shaU I know that I am one of Christ's
Bcholars, and that he is my teacher ? My dear friend, you are to know it from
what you have learned. You cannot be certain of it any other way : and he
would have you to look at his truth, and to try yourself by it. When you think
of your fallen state, in which you inherit a corrupt nature, and can in it do
nothing but sin ; when guilt is in your conscience, and fear in your heart ; what
is it that brings you any relief ? to what do you look for pardon ? and from
whence do you expect peace with God ? Your answer will show that the Lord
God our prophet has been teaching you.
Methinks I hear you reply (for 1 have heard you say it), Why, to be sure, I
have no hope but iu that sacrifice of the Lamb of God which perfecteth for ever,
and in that righteousness of his which justifieth from all things. This is the
true object of sdvation. This, and nothing else. Christ is aU. There is no
pardon but in his blood ; no justification but in his obedience ; no heaven but
what is the free gift of God, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Christ is all.
Thus far till is weU. But the comfort of this, the comfort to know it, is mine.
There Mrs. T. has her objection ready. My dear madam, show me the text
which says, "He that is comforted shall be saved"— -or, that faith consists in
knowing that sdvation is mine. You are cdled upon to tiust the work of Clirist,
and to trust for yourself upon the free warrant of God's faithful word. Rest
here, giving credit to God's promise of salvation to all that wiU receive it, and, I
will lay my life of it, you will never want comforting, and soon be satisfied you
are a saved sinner. If you rest not here, get comfort, it wiU not be true nor
lasting ; and your application to yourself will be only the act of your own mind,
and wttl prove as changeable as the wind.
But you would not have me to go on in a dark uncomfortable way, not know
ing whither I am going. No, Mrs. T. : I want to lead you to light and comfort
in the direct road. Christ is the way: look more at him, and less at yourself:
trust more to him, and less to your fdth. Be dways thinking of your empti
ness, and of his fulness. Meditate on him; pray to him. You cannot be thus
employed about the Sun without being enlightened by his rays and cherished

610 LETTERS WRITTEN 1SY
with his warm beams. When people are very cold within doors, and eee the
sun shining sweetly, they do not ask, Is it my sun ? May I go out and walk in
this noon-day brightness, and get myself warm with this delightful sunshine ?
Is it for me? \es : for you. Whoever wttl, may take Christ for their pardon,
Chnst tor their righteousness, Clirist for heaven, and for aU they want tiU they
come there. You are willing ; therefore Christ, and aU he has, is yours. Now,
Mrs. I ., what do you say to this ? Why, say you, To be sure, I do build upon
this foundation ; but I stiU lack many things. Very well ; I am glad you do •
the more the better. Whatever you "lack, it is in Christ's fulness, and he has it
for you : so that here wiU be a blessed intercourse between you and Christ, and
a holy friendship, in giving and receiving. Every moment you want something :
Chnst says, here it is; come to me for it; I can deny you nothing; he it for
temporals, Psalm xxxiv. 10, or for spirituds, Eph. i. 3, or for eternds, Rom. vi
23 : dl is yours. This is living by the fdth of the Son of God ; and it is the
best way to live : for you cannot be thus receiring every moment out of Christ's
fulness but you muet experience that he is yours ; which will make your faitii
practied and certdn. You trill then have done disputing about your interest in
Christ. While you are making use of him, you can no more question hia being
yours than you can whether the meat is yours which you have been eating
Thus, you see, Christ is All in time, and All in eternity. May he have hia
honour in little H. Do but truBt him, and you wiU see what miracles he wiU do
for you. My wife joins me in this advice.
W. Romaine.

LETTER CXXII.
April 17, 1764.
Dear Madam. — I have you in remembrance before the throne of grace,
thanking God for his unspeakable gift to you, praying you may increase stiU and
abound in the knowledge of those things which are freely given to you of God ;
among which, Christ is the chiefest .- for with him the Father givea hie children
all thing8, and they know it to their comfort, when by faith they are enabled to
believe him for their perfect Saviour, and to five upon hie fulness for every grace
and blessing. Taught by his word, and guided by hia Spirit, they have but one
object to look unto, even Jesus, and but one way to get any thing from him, and
that is by fdth, which, having first evidenced to the aoul ite union with Chriat,
afterwards improvee it by con8tant communion with him. What little, by the
good hand of God upon me, I have learned of thia bleaeed subject, I have laid
before the public. My Bingle design in living, in preaching, in writing, ia to exalt
and glorify our divine Sariour ; and in thiB I would have none above me. I
deeire to give him the pre-eminence in aU thinge ; for not one upon earth ie more
indebted to him than I am. When I think of what I owe him, the immenee
debt makes him exceedingly dear and precious. I would not have it a farthing
less ; because then I should want a motive to exalt his blood and righteousnesa.
1 would not be without one want which I now have ; becauae it is his very crown
and glory to supply, and wttl be, aU the needB of his people. Just as I am,
ignorant, sinful, and helpless, he is most exactly suited to my case ; and therefore
my heart most sweetly enjoys and rejoices in hia finished ealvation. I have much
forgiven, and therefore love him much. Dear friend, I have often found you
happy in your own eoul by building aU upon Jeaue, that eure foundation. Hold
fast there, and leave aU nice distinctions and curious points to others : the tme
solid matter is plain enough. In Jesus there ie free, and full, and eternd sdva
tion ; and it is dl yours by believing.
Look unto him, and you shaU be saved. This is the truth, which, if the Lord
please, he can make my little * book, the means of establishing you in. I most
* Life of Faith.

THE REV. W. ROMAINE, A.M. 617
heartily wish it, and beg of Jesus to bless you as much in reading as he did me
in writing it. May the wisdom of Jesus guide, and the arm of Jesus strengthen,
you in every good work, and be with you in every one of his gracious offices, and
make you quite happy in himself. I am, truly for his sake, your friend,
VvT. Romaine.

LETTER CXXIII.
Extract of a Letter from the Rev. Mr. Romaine.
"You may depend upon this as one of the sweetest axioms in divinity: —
Whatever it is which makes you pleased with yourself, is not true grace ; and
whatever makes you displeased with yourself, is not true gracp, unless it brings
you humbly to Christ, and makes you put more tmst and confidence in him.
The good Lord teach you these things practicaUy. I have learned them by long
experience, though I know but little of them ; yet, I am getting on in the school
of Christ, and hope soon to be on the lowest form, for there we learn most, and
fastest. We there depend entirely on the teachings of our divine Master, who
reveds the secrets of his kingdom to none but babes. As a new-born babe
depends entirely on the care of its parents, so must we on God our prophet and
teacher : and when we are brought thus humble, he will make known to us what
he hideth from the wise and prudent. I would therefore wish you to be the
humblest man upon earth, not only that you might know most, but also that you
might love most. He that feels his sins and miseries, his vileness and unprofit
ableness, with the deepest loathings of them, is in the fittest way to love Christ.
If he be an experienced believer, the feelings of those sins, miseries, &c. wttl make
Christ more precious : the more he finds of the exceeding sinfulness of sin, he
will trust the more in Christ. The more misery he knows he deserves, salvation
from it will make Jesus more dear and lovely. His vileness sets forth Christ's
grace : his unworthiness, the worthiness of the Lamb : his unprofitableness, the
sufficiency of Jesus, who is all in aU.
When you are going to measure Christ's high grace, do not get upon a moun
tain, but go down into a vdley ; lower stttl, to the depth from which David cried;
lower still, to the belly of hell, from which Jonah cried ; and from thence take
the heights of Jesus' grace ; and from thence see how iovely he is. When the
Spirit of Jesus is humbling you, showing you your deceitful wicked heart, laying
open your ruined nature in aU its abominable workings, has not this often dis
couraged you, my friend ? Instead of trusting Christ, and loving Christ more,
did it not weaken your faith, and so lessen your love, and thereby counteract the
gracious purposes of Jesus' Spirit? May he teach you better; that every future
senso of sin may greatly endear to you the Lamb of God, whose blood cleanseth
from dl sin. Depend upon it, that only is the true humbling for sin that makes
his blood more precious."

LETTER CXXIV. Lambeth, Dec. 3, 1707.
Dear Sir. — Mr. F. informed me of your commission to buy the Law and
Gospel. 1 make you a present of the Lite of Fdth. I have dso sent you a book
of inestimable value, which I was inclined to do, because it affords me an oppor
tunity to introduce myself to you, and give you a word of advice on your going
into orders. It is a great undertaking, and I wttl speak freely to jou upon it, as,
were I in your circumstances, I should have wished some one would have dedt
with me. The I/onl God make it a blessing to you.
First, I would have you, sir, to consider one qualification for the ministry
indispensably necessary, and that is, the knowledge of yourself; you cannot teach

018 LETTERS WRITTEN BY
this tttl you have been taught, nor farther than you have been taught it. Con
sider what is your state. Is not sin, misery, helplessness, your condition in Adam ?
Are not you by-nature a child of wrath ? Mr. M., do you know this ? Have you ever
felt the plague of your heart ? Have you ever seen the legion of lusts within you—
every one of them ready to take up arms and rebel agdnst God ? Are you sen
sible how often they have drawn you into actud rebellion ? And do you know
what wttl he the end of this state without a Saviour ? Think, sir : how can you
preach these things if you have never felt them ? Oh beg of God, then, to make you
sensible how much you want a Saviour, that you may know how to address your
self to othera upon the same subject.
Secondly, Another indispensable qudification is the knowledge of Christ— to
know his person — God-man — his work, in his life and death, as our whole sdva
tion, made ours whenever his Spirit enables us to receive it, and enjoyed as ours
so far as by fdth we dare believe in him. This ia the doctrine to be preached.
How can a man preach it who doea not know it, or who does not believe it ? Try
yourself here, Mr. M. Is he, in whose name, and to preach whom, you are
ordained— ia he true and very God— the self-existent Jehovah ? Is tliere sdva
tion in none other person or thing f God help you not to be deceived in that most
essentid doctrine !
A third thing ia absolutely necessary ; namely, the knowledge of God's word.
I Bend you this little blessed book, in reading which you will learn yourself.
Here is your true picture; and here is the revelation of Jesus Christ, whom to
know is life eternd. In reading and hearing the scriptures, the Spirit sets in
with the word, and shows the sinner himself, and then shows him the Saviour,
and enables him to believe unto salvation. All the teaching of God'a Spirit ia in
and by the word : he accompanies nothing but hia own truth with his own bleBS-
ing ; and that he doea eo bless, that faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the
word of Cod. Are theee things so ? Is the Bible tbe word of God? Hoes it
make the believer wise unto salvation ? Is it profitable for doctrine, for reproof,
&c. Oh ! Sir, what areyou doing, that other hooks are so much read, and the
Bible so neglected ? WiU you learn from a poor penitent ? Indeed I repent,
and God forgive my mis-spent time in sciences and classics. I saw my folly two
and twenty years ago, and have since studied nothing but the Bible ; and I assure
you, sir, I ain got but a Httle way. I aee auch thinge before me, which I know but
in part, that I am pressing on ; and I irieh for some of my loet time to spend in
thia bleaeed study. Take warning. Prize ray little preaent : read it over and
over : it i8 vduable as coining from my heart's love ; but infinitely more bo aa the
copy of Chriat'a love. You cannot read it too much : wearitout in reading; and
I promiae you a rauch neater and finer edition : but the finest is that which the
Spirit writes upon the heart. Oh that he may write a very fair copy upon youra !
Fourthly, Your next thing ia to know your office. To what are you orddned ?
If you know not youraelf, and know not Jeaue, nor hie word, how can you poeaibly
discharge your office ? In theee thinge the chief part of it consists. A minister,
unacquainted with himself, can never show his people what they are in themselves.
What can he say of Christ, who is not acquainted with him ? Or how can he
preach the word, who never studied it, or who never had his understanding opened
to understand the scriptures ? Think of these thinga, sir, and meditate much
upon them. Weigh weU your office ; examine well your call to it. Are you
enabled faithfully to declare the whole conneel of God : with boldneBa to tell
sinners their guilt and danger, which wttl make aU the unconverted your bitter
enemiea — with clearneea to set forth the way of sdvation, through our surety,
God-Jesus — with evidence to show the work of the Spirit in convincing of ain ;
in working fdth in Jeaue' word ; to rely upon hie blood and righteousness ; and
enabliug the believer to live upon the fulnees of Jeeua' grace, receiring out of it
grace for grace every moment, for aU the purpoees of apiritud fife ? And that
you may do thia auccessfuUy, in spite of all opposition, are you made willing to
practise what you are to preach ? That is the best sermon which the minister
preaches aU the week. Nothing is so powerful as example. Blessed ia he who
lives, out of the pulpit, what he says in it, and know8 his doctrine to be truly
experience : so may it be with you. I had a great ded more to say to you upoo

THE REV. W. ROMAINE, A.M. 611)
your success in your office, or on your discouragements, &c. ; but Mr. B., who-
sits by me, is in a hurry, and I can add no more, being forced to scribble what !¦
have written. What I leave out in my letter, I wttl put into my prayers for you
— for your going into orders — and for your being fitted for the work of the
ministry — and for your saving your own soul, as well as theirs who hear you.
Remember me in your prayers. I very heartily wish you weU in the Lord ; being
in him, and for his sake, yours, very sincerely,
W. Romaine.

LETTER CXXV.
To Mrs. C. Dec. 17, 1778.
Madam. — I herewith send you the Bible of which I was speaking to you — a
book of inestimable value, containing the great charter of grace, by which the
Lord God has granted you, under his hand and seal, a full discharge from sin
and misery, and a full title to life eternal. These blessings he has given to you
in his Son ; and therefore the record of God, concerning his Son, is the chief
subject of the book. What he is in his person as God-man — what he has done
—what he has suffered — his complete Redemption — his prevailing intercession —
are largely treated of. And, because we cannot understand these things, nor
believe them, nor make use of them of ourselves ; therefore the Spirit who
inspired the book stiU accompanies the hearing of it, and renders it the means of
knowing Jesus, of believing in Him, and of enjoying the Father's love in Him.
Would you grow in this knowledge, in this faith, in this love, here is the ordi
nance of God. His Almighty power is still in the word. Here read, meditate,
pray over it, and you wiU find it able to make you wise unto sdvation ; and that
is as wise as you need be. 2 Tim. iii. 14, 15.
Il is my privilege to be any ways useful to you in this most noble design :
and whatever prayer can do (and what cannot the prayer of faith do ?) I shaU not
cease to use for you, imploring the teaching of the Spirit upon aU your hearing
and reading the word of God. May you find it profitable, every day more pro
fitable, for those gracious purposes for which it was revealed. Yet a very little
while, and it shall be perfectly fulfilled, and more than you conceive fulfilled in
your everlasting glory. In the bonds of Christian love, I am yours heartUy,
W. Romaine.

LETTER CXXVI.
To Mrs. D. Aug. 17, 1777.
My good Friend. — I write unto you because I hear you are still very poorly
in your health, and I am desirous you should improve this providence. You are
kept low for very good reasons. He who gave his Son for you, and his Spirit
to enable you to receive him by fdth, has your best interest in view, and never
loses sight of it. ( 'ould you look into his loving heart, as it is opened in the
scriptures, you would see the tenderest mercy in all your sufferings : yea, you
would believe and rejoice under them. I know you often want this blessed view
of your heavenly lather, and therefore, I will send you a looking-glass, which
will dways set him before you in the same most amiable light. In his Son, he is
dtogcther lovely — love itself — an infinite ocean of everlasting love — a heavenly
Father to dl who come to him through Jesus and are led to acknowledge his per
fections as they shine forth in their fuUest glory in Immanuel. 'The word reports

620 LETTERS WRITTEN BY
this. Fdth receives it. Fdth looks to the person of Clirist, the incarnate Je
hovah—looks and loves. Fdth builds all its hopes upon his wonderful work,
trusting to that offering which done perfects for ever, and to that obedience
which done brings in everlasting righteousness, and to that intercession from
which done we obtdn dl needful grace and aU possible glory : and thus, whoBoever
believeth ie eaved freely by grace, through fdth.
I know your mind well. You are thinking, This is true : but is Jesus mine >
Yes, Mrs. D. ; certdnly he is yours ; not ody by free gift, but dso by erident
application. Has not the Spirit of Jesus quickened you ? Have not you received
the truth through his teaching, and believed it ? I apped to yourself for what
God has done in you, many years ago. You have been brought to know your
self. You do feel what a poor creature you are. You have been enabled to Bee
what a complete Saviour Jesus is ; and you are wishing daily to believe more in
him : you are grieved to the heart that you love him so little. These are, with
rae, certain marks of the work of God. Oh do not dishonour his word and work.
Set to your sed, without wavering, that God i8 true ; and wait the event : be
assured not a tittle of what he hath spoken shaU fail. Read Luke i. 45.
In your weak atate of body, and frequent complainta, here ia your only
medicine. If rightly used, it wiU keep up your epirits, and will prove a continud
cordid. God ia youra : he has given you an undoubted warrant to call him your
Father in Jesii8. His love to you is like himself — unchangeable. He loved you
in his Son before time, yea from everlasting. Of thia he would convince you, by
hia dealing8 with you, aa well aa by hi8 promises to you. There ia the aame
ground for both, and may you believe both alike ! He haa given you faith : and
he would have you to be aatiafied it ia eterling, true faith, of hie own operation.
How is he to do this ? Why, in infinite love he puta faith to the trial. He keepa
you low in body : this i8 the furnace in which your gold is to be found genuine.
He tries your faith, not for his own sake, but for yours. He tells you hie deBign,
Zech. xiii., last veree. He sits as a refiner over the proceee. The furnace shall
not be a bit too hot. The gold shaU not lose an atom : but the believer BhaU
cdl upon the Lord in the fire, and he shall say, — "Thou art one of my people,"
and each ahall Bay, "The Lord i8 our God."
Happy trid ! You shall not only know your faith real, but it ahaU be refined.
The furnace ahdl evidence the power, as weU as the truth of it. The trial is to
prove this. It is to bring you experience of God's arm being your support. For
in the trid, fdth renounces ita own etrength, that the Lord'e etrength may be
perfected in ita weakneee. Genuine fdth ie dtogether self-denial. And now
can you learn this but when your own strength is totally given up, and you are
then made to feel that the Lord'a own arma are underneath you. And ia not thie
a mercy ? What greater, than to give you faith, and then to bring you to find
that it elands in the power of God. - I pray much for this improvement of your
present poor atate of hedth. If the Lord pleaae to Bettle your heart in believing, ao
that you clearly 8ee the truth of your faith, and come to feel the power of faith ;
then you wttl find a harvest of blessings from your fdth. You may gather them
up one by one, in the various promisee made to the afflicted believer. Chiefly
let me recommend two : — Rom. v. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 ; 1 Pet. i. 5, 6, 7, 8. These are
what your heavenly Father intende to beBtow. The croes is big with them. He
wants to do his child good, and therefore makes way for his favoura in the soul
by removing outward favoura. May the maeter teach you himBelf, and make up
in your heart my pioue wiehes for you.
If you are tolerably well, and at leisure, we would come down and eee you next
week. If you are at leisure, I must teU you, we come three. WiUiam ie now
my pupil ; and I cannot spare him from me.
Mr. D. must apply what I say of your weakneee to his rheumatism, and it will
do him as much good. Pray for us, as we do for you. I am, with Mrs. R. and
son, yours, in bonds not to be broken,
W. Romaine."

THE REV. W. ROMAINE, A.M. 621
LETTER CXXVII.
Letters to W. T. Esq. Oct. 10, 1781.
My dear Mr.  . Through the good hand of my God, being returned safe
to my house and charge, I cannot sit down without thanking him and you. My
Southampton mercies were great and many. The very hospitable reception
which I found at Mr.  's deserves to be acknowledged; and I take up my
pen to own it with gratitude. I have been flattering myself, there was something
more in your kindness to us than mere friendship. It is said, " that we are
taught of God to love one another." Hospitdity becomes a dirine grace when
we love men for God's sake : for it is then the fruit of our union with Christ, and,
being united by one Spirit under one head, we live as members, and love as
brethren, wishing and promoting each other's happiness. This is a very pleasing
thought, as every thing is, that endears Christ ; and it has added much to the
favours received at Southampton. They are magnified greatly by being viewed,
as the effect of Christ's love to you, and as manifesting to me your love to him :
because this is a stream from the ocean of his grace, and will not stop tiU it run
into it again. And I thank God on my part, dthough I was a receiver, yet I
found, all the time I was under your roof, what the Communion of Saints means.
F'or I practised it, paying you in my way. You got spirituds for temporals.
You have, and justly, gained an interest in my prayers, more than you had.
And, I hope, whenever I am in his company who does not forget a cup of cold
water given in his name, I shaU not forget to recommend to him Mr.  , his
wife, and family. Do the same by me and mine : and get out of my debt as fast
as you can. Mrs. Romdne is not behindhand in thanks to Mrs. T. She spent
no such time this summer as those six days at Southampton. You may give
her credit that her professions are sincere, and that she is truly sensible of your
kindness. If we live tttl the primroses adorn the earth in the next spring, you
may expect to hear more from me, and perhaps I may come and teU you some
more good news. But this is in God's hand. And it is too far off to promise
any thing, especiaUy for me, who have not an hour I can call my own.
My blessing on your children ; and the favour of heaven on dl your connexions
My brotherly love to Mr.  : much success to him in public and private, in
preaching and teaching. If he would take my advice, it would be better to lay
aside those meetings which provoke disputations. The self-righteous spirit of
Arminianism is fond of wrangling and dtercation. Prayer will do more good in
opposing it than a thousand arguments. And when the cause is removed in
God's way and time, things may return to their old establishment. In the mean
season a prayer meeting seems to be the best and most seasonable meeting. I
am, very sincerely, in our common Lord, your obliged friend and servant,
W. Romaine.

LETTER CXXVIII. Feb. 20, 1784. •
My very dear Friend. — You made up by its rich contents, when it came,
for the long time your letter was in coming. I am much beholden to vou for
its companions, — both tasting of brotherly love, which completes the banquet;
thanks be to God and to you. Be not offended that I put him first ; because I
owe to him the knowledge of you, the love of you, and from him proceeds aU
intercourse of love between us. While we keep him in sight in our friendship,
it wiU be a mutual blessing. For this I am praying ; and, you know, our God
is famous for hearing and for answering prayer. Indeed, what he hears and
answers is first his own ; for he gives us the spirit of prayer ; we know not of
ourselves what to ask ; and when we do know, we cannot ask anght; but he

022 LETTERS WRITTEN BY
enables us to feel our wants, to ask a supply of them in faith, and he helps our
infirmities in asking: when we have done our best, he teaches us to present our
petitions for acceptance into the bands of our great Mediator. As they coine
from us, they are nothing worth ; but when Christ makes them his prayers,
then they go up with much incense, and come down with abundant blessings.
Was it not so, the morning you were at prayer ? You wapted a family Bible.
It was only ask and have. Here it is — God's gift. And mind, you may have
any thing of him as cheap as this : for he giveth liberally to all askera. I wish
you may be as humble an asker as he is a hberd giver. I have complied with
your request in writing your name and mine in the Bible — in which, alBO, you
desired me " to write some directions how to read it." This I have not done ;
because the subject of prayer is the whole Bible. AU the volume is to be prayed
over as you read it ; and then I muet have transcribed it. But though I cannot,
need not, do this, yet I wiU lay open my heart unto you, and wiU let you into
ray own practice. Something like this is my constant prayer ; and, as far as
you beheve, it will be yours. May you use it with more faitii than I ever did.
Oh thou spirit of wisdom and revelation, be with me, whenever 1 read thy holy
word : testify to me in it, and by it, of Chriat Jesus, who be is, and what he is
to me ; and glorify the Father's love in him. Open thou mine eyea to see the
wondrous things reveded in it upon the8e subjects, that 1 may underatand them
in thy light, and that my judgment of them may be the aame with thine : I
beseech thee dso to enable me to mix faith with what I do understand ; anil
what, through thy teaching, I am enabled to believe aright, that help me to
receive in the love of the truth. Oh God, fulfil thy promise : put thy blessed
word into my inward ports : write it upon my heart. And what I am taught to
love, grant rae power to practise ; that thy new covenant promise may in me havo
its full effect, and I may be in heart and life cast into the mould and form of thy
word — thus becoming a red living edition of the Bible. Make it my daily
study. Render it my constant delight Let my meditation of it be always sweet.
Oh thou holy and eternd Spirit, witness thus to thine own record ; and let mc
experience it to be the power of God, aa well aa the truth of God. In thia de
pendence upon thee in the uae of it, let me bo daily growing until, by the will of
God, 1 ehaU have served mine own generation ; and then let it be Ihe laat act of
my life, to sed' the truth of thy testimony concerning Jesus. Let me find thy
witneBs true in the hour of death, and beyond death all the promises made good
to me, through Jesua Christ, in life everlaating. Amen and Amen.
Thie ia the aubetance of my prayera. I never confine myaelf to these very
worda. They are not a form, but a directory : and 1 think they contain every
thing which you and I are warranted to ask of God, concerning the profit which
he haa promiaed to them who mix faith with hia word.
For thia profit on the family Bible I have prayed. It ia a conBecrated book.
May you ever find it all 1 wish to you. And may the Almighty Spirit speak by
it as often as it is read to children, and servants, and etrangers. "Whenever it is
put into ray hands, may I dways use it with the prayer of faith. It ia now my
stay : " I know in whom I have believed." My heart is at rest about the event.
All besides is disquieting. Look at the etate of the church. Survey the king
dom. Examine parties. What profitable good can come from any of them.
See the evil within you. Feel it. And then tell me whether there be any
certain prospect of 8olid happineaa but what i8 promised and found in our Shiloh,
the giver of quietness. May he continue to blese you. W. Romain k

LETTER CXXIX. March 19, 1784.
My dear Friend. — I have read of a certain love-charm, which has pleased
me ever since I heard of it — " If you would be beloved — love."

THE REV. W. ROMAINE, A. M. 623
It was the saying of an old philosopher : I admire it, and I set my sed to it.
Probalum est .- for it is true gospel. It is the very way in which God commendeth
his love to us, and which is the means of teaching us to love one another. I have
in my heart brotherly love : and what is it worth if it does not prevent the very
wishes of my friends, and by trying to do them good, even when they are asleep,
or when they know nothing of it ? Mr.  , I teU you nothing but tbe truth,
that I am often thinking of you and yours, and am contriving every possible way
of showing my affection, wherever I have interest, especiaUy with my King, and
with such of his royal gifts as you may never hear of in this world. Present
things are only the evidence ; and I cannot help giving you some proof of my
good wishes.
Your consecrated Bible is in your hand every day. May he of whom it treats
be ever with you in reading it. May he open it to you, as he did to his apostles,
and give you to mix faith with it. We have got a great way into the study of it
when we feel our need of David's prayer, and are constantly using it — "Lord,
open thou mine eyes, that I may see wondrous things in thy word :" — especially
see, admire, and adore the wondrous love of God our Saviour. May he grow
every day more dear and precious unto your heart.
You seem at a loss about the present system of politics. I am not so at dl.
Leaders of parties differ not an atom. Two men of the world think, speak, act
on motives of self-interest. Potsherds of the earth, in their contest, may knock
one against each other, and break both to pieces. Truly, sir, they will not, they
cannot do you, or me, or our cause, any good, nor indeed hurt, unless we trouble
ourselves about them. Our Lord reigneth. 'This is my first principle in politics:
the next is, the eame Lord reigneth : and so on, even to the end. The last is,
the Lord reigneth. Blessings on him, King of kings, and Lord of lords! My
King and my Lord. Here my heart rests, and is happy, come what may. He
ruleth the raging of the sea. He ruleth the madness of the people. All things,
creatures, devils, are in his power ; and he makes them work under him for my
good, and for his own glory. To his charge and care I commit you and yours ;
Mrs.  especially. I pray that my dearest Jesus may be very near her heart,
and comfort her spirit with his divine cordials.
Mr. W. T. shall not escape out of my hands, as he intends. Give my love to
him, and tell him we will make one more effort at the Hebrew. Who knows
what study and prayer may do ?
I wish to eye and foUow the blessed pattern of all perfection. To him I am
infinitely indebted. " He has made me rich by making me a beggar. So
wonderful is his love, that the poorer I am, the more he gives." And you, and I,
and all my friends, are better for his gifts : he makes me loving, communicative,
benevolent, beneficent, yea, whatever is counted moral. Oh, Mr.  , I wish
you perfectly acquainted with my Jesus. I know a little of him, and it is a
blessed knowledge. Believe me, it is something of paradise. Read the word ;
there is his character : pray over it ; there you wttl meet his Spirit : live on it by
faith ; there you will have graces and comforts : and go on ; your time is short :
improve it all you can. Grow ever so fast, and much, in the knowledge of Jesus,
yet stiU there are worlds of science and experience before you. May you grow in
grace, and in the knowledge and love of God-Jesus. As you do, I am sure he
will put it into your heart to pray for
W. Romaine.

LETTER CXXX.
July 30, 1784.
My real Friend. — I have many subjects of thanks this morning. When I
look at you, your wife, your children — your tempord blessings, how many, how
great ; your spiritud blessings, how exceeding great, passing aU understanding.
in their sovereign rise and fountdn, in their reaching to your conscience and

624 LETTERS WRITTEN BY
heart and life, in their streams of grace ; and how soon they wttl nin, and you
with them, into the ocean of eternity — 1 cannot help adoring and praising your
most generous benefactor. Blessed be the Lord God for his unspeakable
mercies to you. Indeed, my friend, he has loaded you with benefita, which are
conatantly calling on you to give him the glory due unto his name. Your skill
in your business, your success in it, are the gifts of God. Prosper ever eo much
in it ; build as fine a house as in H — e ; live to see all your children grown up,
settied, and prospering in the world ; none of these things wttl be any hurt to
you while you live in an abiding sense that God is a freegiver ; nay, they will do
you good while you see his hand and taste his love in them. I admire that
sentence, " I have set the Lord dways before me." Oh how much is it my daily
prayer for you. In the niorning, I scarce ever drink a dish of tea, but the
cracknel, standing on the table, reminds me of my S. friende, and gete a petition
put up to my royal Maeter. May he who givee me, through them, the bread
that perisheth, give unto them daily the bread that endureth unto everlasting
life. He himself is that bread. And I want you, in your heart, to feed upon
him, feast upon him, I ahould 8ay ; and you are doing it, if he give you for the
moment to feel your dependence, and bestow an atom more of thankfulness
upon you. Oh that I could bring Jeaus Christ and you aa near together aa he
wishes you. He ia not ehy nor reserved. He knowa not what it ia to keep state
and distance.
Your sins and your complaints, rightly managed, would endear you to him ;
and your mi8eries, felt or feared, would make him more precious. He haB war
ranted you to live with him in such intimacy, that every thing should set him
before your eyes, and keep your heart warm with hia heavenly love. He would
have nothing to hinder. If good come, he i8 the giver: if bad come, he can,
and he only can, make it work for good. Thi8 ia the happy life, which you do
know eoraething of, as weU as I; but truly, sir, I am but a learner, and a dull
one : yet I have learned eo much ae to be convinced there ie nothing upon earth
to be compared with it. May your experience get far beyond mine. I will help
you as I can, and foUow you with my constant prayera. See how one wanders from
the point, and gets upon what is uppermoat. I took my pen to thank you for
cracknels, and, lo, I have digressed to my old subject. Excuse rae, air; for in
truth, 1 would give the whole world, if it were mine, to obtain for you a little
more faith in the word, and a little more attachment to the person of my beloved
Jesus. I thank him for the account of your family. I rejoice in your welfare.
It ia reaUy mine own. Brotherly love makea it ao. Bleased be God for hia
merciea to Mra.  . I thought my request waa so reasonable, she would have
gratified me. I did not wish a letter from her, but only an acknowledgment of
my kindnees in one line. I think, in my last, I dictated the wordB ; but I lay no
stress upon that. Leave me out; and thank God. I am praying for little John —
God blea8 him. It will do me good, ae I truly am hie friend, to bear particularly
of hie welfare. I hope to take him up in my arma and bleas him. You wiah to
know my route : we go north, God willing, next Monday, ae far ae Newcaatle-
upon-Tyne. I have three sisters living, and am going to take my final leave of
them. They are old ; so am I : and we shaU not, in aU probability, meet any
more on this aide of the grave.
The occasion of this journey haa brought a great eolemnity upon my spirits.
There is something in this laat meeting which would be too much for my feelings
if I had not dl the reaeone in the world to believe that our next meeting will be
in glory. Mr. Whitfield used often to say to me, " how highly favoured I wae,
that whereas, none of his family were believers, dl mine were like those bleased
people Jesus loved — Martha, and her sister, and Lazarus." My father and
mother, and my three sisters, share in his love. Glory be to him in the highest.
My intention is to return about the middle of September. After some little stay
at home, to go to my son's, at Reading, from thence to Heckfield, and so on to
you at S.
I hope to find a letter on my table at my coming home, saying, Our house,
our hearts are open : come and visit us in the name of the Lord. I have a pro-
i osd to brother K. Lately, I preached about a dozen sermone on Phil. iii. 1

THE REV. W. ROMAINE, A.M. 625
treated it as a body of divinity, doctrinal and practical. Let him try to see my
plan: — if not, I will open it to him, as God shall help me. It is a wonderful
portion of God's word • I admire it ; I bless God for it. I could not do without
it. T'ill Sept. 15, 1 take my leave. Let there be a letter then on my table, and
you shaU hear from me. Mrs. R. is not behind in best wishes to you and
Mrs.  . My blessing on aU the children. Love to brother K., wife and
family, and connexions. Pray for
W. Romaine

LETTER CXXXI.
Mr. W. T. is come at last. By him I send my love, real, hearty, and what
have just now been expressing to God for you and yours, especidly for Mrs.  ,
whose chaplain I am till she is abroad again.
¦ It is now my preaching morning; and I am preparing for the delightful work :
yet, I cannot help writing a line or two. My thoughts are turned to-day upon
recommending Christ to my people. I have a sweet subject from John iv. 10 ;
in which our Lord lays open the love of his heart in a most attracting manner.
1 1 e must needs go through Samaria, because there was a very wicked creature,
whom he would save. His manner of teaching her is peculiar to himself. He
does it in the kindest way that almighty love could inspire — and 1 can witness
for him that he is not changed — in convincing her, opening her eyes, making
himself known, and giving her to believe in him : he is repeating these wonders
every day, if thou knewest the gift of God. It is ignorance that keeps sinners
from Christ. When he is teaching and drawing them, it is ignorant pride that
hinders them from receiving sdvation as the gift of God : it is for want of know
ing who Christ is, and who it is that saith to thee, Give me to drink. If his true
character were understood — who he is, and what he came into the world for —
convinced sinners would not lie under guilt and unbelief as they do. They would
come and ask of him (for he gives to dl askers) his spirit ; which is the water
of life. So the promise runs, Luke xi. 13 : " Ask, and ye shaU have," is the one
grand truth that runs through the gospel. And, especially, the receiving, not
for, but upon asking, the Holy Spirit, as John vii. 37, &c. He is the water
mentioned John iv. 10; not living, as our translation hath it, but the water of
life, as the old translations, or quickening water, as the French hath it, in verse 14.
It shdl be in him a fountain, not a well, springing up into everlasting life. Lord,
give us this water of life ! I sat down to write as soon as prayers were over, and
Air. W. and Mrs. R. went to breakfast. The beU rings to take away. W. is
going. The Lord Jesus Christ bless you and yours, brother K. and family, and
school. Excuse the little sermon. My mind was so taken up with it, that I
could think of nothing else. Oh how often, how much, do I wish and pray that
Christ and you were better acqudnted. My dear friend, give him more employ
ment ; make more use of him ; trust him better : he wants your confidence, and
would have you live in perfect friendship with him. He deserves it at your
hands. Indeed, air, he would have you trust, and not be afrdd. You cannot
think what a heaven it is to be intimate with him. W. does not take his hat .-
ao I write on, and so I will.
Jesu, on thine each syllable
A thousand sweet Arabias dwell ;
Mountains of myrrh, anil beds of api-es -,
And ten, ten thousand Paradises.
Ay, niore than all this— millions more.
W. Romaine

OL'fi LETTERS WRITTEN BY
LETTKR CXXXII. Se;it. 15, 1784.
My very dear Friend. — Your letter met us returned in safety. We went
out in his name, and came hack to give him praise : for we set our seal to the
promise, *' I wttl keep thy going out and thy coming in, from thia time forth,
and even foi evermore." And it was done unto us according to that word,
wherein he had caused us to put our trust, lu this same faith we hope to sir-
out next week for Reading, not doubting but that in believing the truih of the
promise, and relying on the promiser's faithfulness, we shall have tbe promised
blessing, accompanying us as far as  . The day we cannot fix ; but we will
take care to let you know it as soon as we know it ourselves. I have just finished
my delightful task, and read through my Bible once more : tho impressions
which it has left on ray heart, in this last perusal, are eo warm and lively, that 1
cannot help communicating them to you, and wishing that you and Mrs. 
may feel the same.
The scripture plan has in it all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge, in
theory and experience. It will be the study and the admiration of eternity. Oh
what a mercy to have a renewed mind— to be of the same judgment with God —
and to be made to see things in the light of his revelation. I bless him for the
great charter of grace, and that, in my last reading of it, he has much revived
my bean with observing how aU the parts perfectly harmonise, and, when com
pared together, each illustrates and beautifies the. whole.
I wish you to feel, for I cannot express, how great confirmation I have received
of the tmth of God's word, "and of hia power still accompanying it. I am not
more certain of any thing than of the divine authority of the scriptures. Every
verse has spirit, and has life in it. When one finds it come to the heart, and
written upon the inward parts, it nourishes, it feasts : no cordial beyond it. 'This
influence is promised; and it is indeed almighty.
Can you think, sir, of any power beyond that which God bas put forth in yom
heart and mine ? " Of his own will begat be us with the word of truth." Our
new birth is a new creation — and he did it by bis word ,- which be made the
ministration of his Spirit. Bleseinga on him ! I feci the effects of this every
time 1 take up my Bible : I set my seal to it, that it is more, much more, than
the word of man. It ie in truth the word of God ; becauae it effectually worketh
to this very day in them that believe. Its influence on the heart and life, to form
them to the pattern of the word, is certainly far beyond all created power.
Indeed it iB a standing miracle. Now, finding this experience of God's power
in and with his word, it has been made to me in this reading very precious. My
love for it grew as I went on, both for its taste and its value. It was in taste
sweeter than honey to the mouth — in value, above gold, " yea, than much fine
gold." And aU this was greatly enhanced by believing that the feast, sweet as it
was, was only a foretaste, and the golden mine, though very rich, was ody an
earnest of unsearchable riches. Oh, what a book is this ! Judge whether there
be any thing like it. Truly, my friend, I cannot get enough of it. You know it
ib a good sign of hedth when people long for their meals. So it is in the ihind.
I have just done reading ; and I want to begin again. My appetite ia become
keener. Thia feeding upon the word ia not like the groee meat and drink of the
body. No. There is nothing cloying in it. But when mixed with faith, it
sobers the senaee, it refines the faculties, and exhilarates the spirits. The believer
says, " Oh what love have I unto thy word 1 AU day long is my study and
delight in it." Lord make it, every reading, more precious. All theae consi
derations have received great confirmation in this last reading ; because -I have
got one year nearer to the fuU accomplishment of aU the Bible promisea. 'Thia
has vastly increased their value. I see them near. Yet a little, a very little
while, and perfection and eternity will be put to their fulfilment. The word will
be completed perfectly in aU its promises — eternally in all their glories. Oh,
what a day wul that be ! What Joehua said of Canaan, xxi. 25 ; xxiii. 14, 15;
will be true of heaven. Fdth realises it. Faith brings into some present enjoy-

THE REV. W. ROMAINE, A.M. 627
ment. All things in the world look great when they are near. As you go from
them, they appear less.
Now it is the property of faith, in the exercise, to bring the promises near.
As faith grows by hearing and reading, it brings the promises nearer, and thereby
makes them look greater. The home-prospect familiarises them, and presents
them to our view with growing charms. Believe me, sir, this is a matter of
fact. The eye affects the heart, and puts new beauty on the good things of Imma-
nuel's land, which, though they be at present in promise and hope, yet faith has
1 magnifying glass, which can open such a prospect as is full of glory and immor
tality. This view of the Bible is inexpressibly glorious. It reveals, it realises ;
it brings into present enjoyment eternal things. It is my constant prayer for S.
friends, that tney may be these sort of Bible-Christians. May you live more up
to it than I do. I was going on ; and my paper said, stop. Take a line to thank
Mrs.  for her letter, lt was a cordid. God bless her for it. Thank Mr. 
for love expressed — and proofs of it many ; for which Mr. R. will come with
returns of love for love. Mrs. R. joins in every good wish to you and to the
family. My beBt wishes to brother K. What if he were to give the Lord of the
harvest the honour of 1784 ? He giveth us rain from heaven, and fruitful sea
sons, filling our hearts with food and gladness. He giveth us the Spirit to sow
the seed. He rains upon it. He shines upon it. It ripens. It is gathered in.
It is used. And whenever the believer fiUs his belly, his heart is full of gladness.
He gets the food : God gets the praise. May my brother magnify the Lord of
the harvest, and pray for W. R. and aU his.
W. Romaine.

LETTER CXXXIII. Reading, Oct. 27, 1784.
My dear Friend. — I have scarce ever lost sight of you since I left S. And
I hope to have you in remembrance, and on my heart, until I take my leave of
this dying world. Your kindness to me and to mine is such, that I esteem it my
privilege to make mention of you dw-ays in my prayers : and it is my happiness
to believe that death itself wiU not part our friendship. It is from the Lord, and
in the Lord : thanks be to him, I do feel myself interested in your interest — your
children — connexions — minister — and in whatever is for your good. And I
trust it is the same with you.
I only take up my pen to inform you of what you expressed a great desire to
be acqudnted with. Our common friend took care of us. We got safe and
soon to Winchester. I acknowledge Mr. T.'s favour, and add one more to the
long list. We arrived in good time, about sun-set, at Reading — found our chil
dren and their children well — the little babe rather better, but stiU in a weak con
dition. Since I got here, I have been arrested, and cannot be suffered to go
home till next Tuesday.
Mrs. R. sends every good wish to you that our God has to give : Mr. and
Mrs. C. join. Nothing short of dl this is expressed by my son and daughter.
This comes to you by the Waggon, which sets out from hence this day.
Mr. T. — He who is your God and guide has led you hitherto, and done won
ders for you. Go on trusting, and fear not. He has prospered you. He has
blessed you. Commit your way unto him, and he will give you your heart's
desire, and wife, children, &c. &c. aU shdl be blessings
Mrs. T.— May the giver of faith increase yours, that as a wife, mother, and
mistress, you may adorn your profession.
Miss T. — I have been courting for you a husband, and got his consent. Give
him your heart and your hand. Take him, and try him. No evil can befal you
while hie; dl possible good wttl become yours. Herein I tread in his steps,
2 Cor. xi. 1, i. May he be yours for ever, even my Jesus.
Miss Esther. — The world's a cheat. It flatters you. Your senses join, and
s s 2

628 LETTERS WRITTEN ISY
without Christ they trill make a fool of you. Your si-ter has made a good
choice. Follow her example, and Godwill give you infinitely better things than
you part with for him.
Mr. 'W . T. — Take my advice. I wish you well. It rejoices my heart to see
you dutiful and diligent -. this is from God : but do not stop here. There is an
infinitely greater estate to be got than dl S. Ask, and it. is yours : believe, and
you get possession. Seek it by believing, and you shaU have it. My wish for
you is unbounded— even the unsearchable riches of Christ.
Mr. S. T. — Mind your business. Pray over it. Prayer is as needful as all
outward means. I will do my part. May God command his blessing on your
person, and on your trade, that both may prosper.
I have much to say to my nameaake, and to Tommy and Sally, and to inv own
John : but I must wait a little. It ia ao cold, that I can scarce hold my pen:
and aU so badly written, that I can but just read it myself. We go to town on
Tuesday next, God wiUing. I shaU have occasion to write to Mr. T. soon; so
that I can only say to him and to you at present, that 1 do love you, and hope
to show it in word and deed, as long as I can write. W. Rom a ink.

LETTER CXXXIV. Blackfriars, April 21, 1786.
My dear Mr.  . — Last night we heard from  by the penny poet. All
weU. Oh, how good i8 our God ! I delayed not. According to request, a short
answer. First, that Mr.  did not use you well. He might have tdten down
the books, and ray account of them; which is, that the "Life of Faith," as I
have revised and corrected it, comee out ae my dying testimony for Christ. He
has an infinite fulness, not only to be looked at, not only to be believed in, but
also to be made use of. Herein most professora of the preaent day fail Badly.
May P. be out of the number ! He has, under the care and management of his
providence and grace, att things that belong to body and soul : and he allows us,
commands us, to trust all in hia hands — to undertake nothing without his direc
tion — to carry it on without looking up for his blessing ; and, when ended well,
without giving him thanks. Here only the soul gets rest, and, by living thus,
maintdna it, notwithatanding the life we live in the flesh is in constant oppoaition :
but he who ia on the Bide of faith ia Almighty. And he 8aya to Mr.  " Trust ,
and be not afraid what fleah can do unto you." May he apeak that to your heart
a thousand timee while you are reading the "Life of Faith!" Though tho
epring be backward, yet our epiritual Bpring has been very fruitful, full of life
and power. It has been a fruitfal Easter. The resurrection of plants and trees,
at this eeaeon of the year, puts us in mind of our spiritual resurrection, and daily
saya, Are you alive ? Are you growing ? If alive, you must grow. Give my
love to Mr.  , and teU him that I wonder how he manages so much business,
and so weU. I have hut one ; and it is too much for me. Suppose he gets upon
my shoulders, he wttl eee ae far, if not farther, than I do. Well ; for once I
witt let him get up. Our Eaater text wae Rev. xx. 6, " Blessed and holy," &c.
1. What ie the firet reaurrection ? The eoul raised from the grave of sin.
2. The necessity of it. By nature dead to God, and the epiritual world.
Eph. ii. 1, 2; Col. ii. 13; John iii. 7- A man must be born into this world
before he can live in it. So into that.
3. The meana by which the soul is raised from the grave of sin. 1 . The
Spirit, John iii. 5. 2. The word, James i. 17, 18. 3. Faith, John i. 12.
4. Evidences. Spiritud senses — exercised. Spiritud thinge — enjoyed.
The senses exercised on Christ, d1 spiritud things in him : in him dead to ain,
the world, the fleah ; in him blessed and holy ; blessed by making ua holy. The
senses see, and hear, and feel, &c. what they live on. Alive as branches in the
vine, as members in the body, one with the head — the same Spirit in them as in
him, same life, holiness, blessedness.

THE REV. W. ROMAINE, A.M. 629
TeU Mr.  ¦ that I have given him a subject so copious, that he may mind
his boys more, and study less. My love to him, and perhaps he may not have
done till I hear him. Our love to our old friend Mrs.  . My blessing on
her dear children, not forgetting any of yours. Pray for W. Romaine.

LETTER CXXXV.
My good Friend.— As I was going to church last night, Mr.  told
me, that he had a parcel to send to-day for Mrs.  . I took the hint, and
this morning embraced the opportunity of writing a note to inform you of the
publication of Mr. Adam's volumes, which I mentioned to you, and for which
you said you would subscribe. The price is hdf a guinea. I owe more to this
man (saving the honour of grace) than to all the world. May you read, as I
did, to my first comfort, his lectures on the church catechism. These books I
have not yet perused ; but I know the man weU ; and I expect for myself, and I
pray for you, Mrs.  , and brother  , that every page may warm your hearts,
and keep us thankful to the God of our sdvation. I subscribed for twenty-five
sets ; so that if you know of any persons who would prize such a treasure, 1
should be glad to dispose of some of mine to them. You seem to be anxious after
my observations on the perusal of the Bible in 86. I had made several remarks
in reading, and had put down more after I had finished. I believe I had the
paper somewhere in safe custody ; but I cannot lay my hand on it now. When I
meet with it, and have a leisure morning, perhaps it may travel down to  ;
but it will not be of present use to you, if you had it. 1 read for myself, chiefly
for mine own state and age : I wanted to gather together in one view the promises
made to old people : for the Bible is of universal use, suited to aU persons in aU
circumstances ; insomuch that you cannot place a behever in any possible situa
tion but the scripture has amply provided for his case, matter of instruction,
support, and comfort. When I came to put the passages together, I could not
help blessing my God for his great grace in taking such particular notice of the
aged and the infirm of his family, and in promising them his help according to
their needs. This has been to me, and is still, a standing cordial : so that I am
a witness for God. I set to my sed that God is true ; and I subscribe with my
heart and hand, that he is faithful to every promise made to old age.
Signed and seded this 17th day of November, 1786. W. Romaine.
You do not want at present, and you may never live to want, this collection,
which I made for the aged and infirm. But I have a paper by me, which may
be of ddly use to you, on which I set a great value, because it was written about
twenty years ago, and sent in a letter to my dear friend Mr. Powys of Sdop,
now with God. He esteemed it so greatly, that he had it printed, and used to
have one of them pasted on the inside of every Bible which he either used him
aelf, or gave away. It is so short, that I can transcribe it : and I send it with
my prayers, that it may be verified in your heart and life.
" Sir, I herewith send you the Bible, which I had been recommending to you —
n book of inestimable value — contdning the great charter of grace, by which
tbe Lord God, Jehovah Alehim, has granted under his hand and seal, by his
covenant and oath, a full discharge from sin and misery, and a perfect title to fife
and glory everlasting. 'These blessings he has given in his Son ; and he applies
them by his Spirit: therefore the record of God concerning his Son is the
subject of the whole book. — What he was to be in his person, Immanuel, and
what he actually was, God manifest in the flesh. — What he was to do and has
done. — What he was to suffer and has suffered. — His resuiTection. — His complete
redemption. — His prevailing intercessic:..— And what he wiU do for his people
in glory. 'These points are treated of at large. And because we are dead to

(KO LETTERS WRITTEN BY
ihese truths, we cannot understand nor believe them, nor make the proper use
of them by any power of our own : therefore God the Spirit, who inspired the
book, still accompanies the hearing of it, and renders it the effectual means of
quickening the dead, of working the saving knowledge of Jesus, and, through
faith in him, of manifesting the love of the Father. Would you grow in this
knowledge, in this faith, in this love ? Here is the ordinance of God. His almighty
power still accompanies his own word ; still he works in it and by it as truly as
when he spake, and tbe world was made — when he commanded, and aU things
subsist. Hear, read, study, meditate, mix fdth with it, pray over it ; and you
wiU find it able to make you wise unto sdvation — and that is as wise as you need
to be. -2 Tim. iii. 14, 15, lti, 17. What think you of this, Mr.  ? Is not
the Bible truly inestimable ? May you find it more precious every day ! I wish
the inspirer may write out a fair edition in the heart of Mrs.  ; that she may
know and feel for herself what is the meaning of Jer. xxxi. 33, 34."
My good wishes follow Mrs.  , &c. The blessing of the Lord my God ho
with them all ! 1 inclose a little tract, which you have seen and read. I beg of
you to read it agdn for my sake. There were so many shabby editions, and one
by  , not to the author's honour, that I thought it right to let it come out in
its primitive dress. Here it is. Read— admire— and bless God for it, with
W. RoMAlNli.

LETTER CXXXVI, May 23, 1787.
What through infirmity, business, and the King's too, preaching four times
every week, and often five, visiting the sick from Hyde-park corner to Mile-end,
and a fixed dislike to writing letters — indeed, to almost every thing but preaching
—once more 1 take up my pen, this 12th day of May, 1787, to acknowledge my
self so much in your debt, that I am like a man, who owes such a sum, that he
is afraid to meet hia creditor. Thia arises from being ashamed of myself, and
not from a fear of being arrested. An honest man's word is hia bond.
I believe you have it under my hand, that I would aend you some hints of our
new year's sermon. Such as 1 can remember, you shall have. 'They were taken
from the life of an extraordinary person, Enoch, the wonder of his time. " Enoch
wdked with God." It is a custom with you thia day, to wish one another ft
happy new year. There ia but one true happineae ; without which the wiah ia
but an empty compliment. 'To be in Chriat, ae Enoch was, ia the only thing
which can make a sinner happy : and to live and walk by faith in Christ, is the
only way to enjoy that happineaa. Thia from my heart I wiah you all. May you
know it now in the beginning of the year, and find it increaaing unto the end of
it. With this view, let us consider the history of Enoch, and the uae we ought
to make of it. Let ua look for God's bleasing ! (a short prayer). Ever since the
fall, there haa been one way in which the naturd man has walked, being " earthly,
sensud, and having not the Spirit ;" he foUows his own carnal will. He is quite
dead to God ; but very much alive to sense. Dead in trespaaaes and sine, there
fore he wdks according to the course of this world — following the luat of the
flesh — the luat of the eye — and the pride of life— a courae directly contrary to the
law of God, and to that perfect love of God which his law requires. What strong
proof of this does matter of fact give us ? The searcher of hearts declares, Gen.
vi. 5, 11, 12, 13, that aU flesh had corrupted itaelf, and that therefore he de
stroyed the earth, that then was, with a deluge of water. And, from that time to
this, the history of the world, and especially the infallible history of scripture,
assures that men have turned every one to his own way, erring and straying from
the way of God. Thue speaks the Oracle : " And you hath Christ quickened,"
&c. Eph. ii. 1, 2, 3.
Men are still by nature the same — ignorant, foolish, disobedient, &c. Titus ii.
3, 4, &c. And they wiU grow worse and worse till the world, which once periehed
for its sin by water, will be utterly destroyed by fire : so that, from the beginning

THE REV. W. ROMAINE, A.M. C3V
to the end of time, there has been one way in which mankind have walked ; and
that was directly contrary to the way of God. How came Enoch to.be singular ?
He took a different course from his companions. While they all went down the
stream, he swam against it. Upon what motive did he act? He had received
the Spirit of life, who had opened his eyes, and made him see his guilt and feel
his danger. He was enabled to believe the promise of a Redeemer who should
save him from his sins and his miseries. He rested on the faithfulness of the
promiser, and, having found joy and peace in believing, he set out to walk with
God. He left the course of the world, that he might enjoy his friendship, who
had said to him — " I am the way." That this a true state of the case appears
from Enoch's conduct with respect to God. Two cannot walk together except
they be agreed. 'The spirit of the world is opposite to the Spirit of God : yea, these
two are at such enmity, that nothing can make them love one another : but
Enoch was saved from a worldly spirit : he was reconciled to God, and walked
with him as his loving father through fdth : so says the apostle,~Heb. xi. 5, 6
He was a sound believer, and he witnessed it in word andueed — going on in
the walk of faith, just as many (365) years, as there are days in the year — pleased
all the way with God, and God with him ; and then he took him to himself
This dso appears from his conduct with respect to the world. He preached
against them. Ile was the seventh from Adam in the holy line, a preacher of the
righteousness which is of God by faith, lie lived agdnst them. He wdked
with God, demonstrating the soundness of his principles by a holy wdk. His
actions declared that he had found pardon and peace in being reconciled to God
through Christ, whose friendship was dearer to him than dl the joys of the
world ; and lie prophesied against them. The Holy Spirit had revealed to him
the punishment that was going to be inflicted for the universd corruption of faith
and morals ; from which nothing could save the world but repentance and turn
ing to God. And he was a true prophet ; his words came to pass, as you may
read, Jude 14, 15. The judgment which he foretold was executed; and God
brought a flood upon the world of the ungodly. Moreover, the Lord gave his
own testimony to the goodness of Enoch's hfe, to the truth of his preaching, to
the infallibility of his prophecy, by a miracle, as you may read in Genesis, and in
Heb. xi. Ile took him to heaven without dying; hereby giving a demonstration
that Enoch was right with God, and that whoever should walk in the steps of
his faith, although he might not be translated to heaven in such a miraculous
manner, yet he should most certainly follow him to life and bliss everlasting.
My promise is at last fulfilled. These are the outlines, as weU as I can remember
them. 'The application on the subject of the day was chiefly in the way of ex
hortation — calling my people to remember Enoch, as I call upon you. The same
conviction of sin and danger, the same fdth, the same wdk of fdth, wiU bring you
to the same end.
May Enoch preach to you ever)- day ! follow him, and then the year will be
lmjipy. To brother  's case I am no counsellor. My judgment is singular perhaps :
I am married to my parish: cdled by Providence; fixed; I do not look out,
" should I be better off — more useful, — would it not be of God, if the king should
semi and offer me the bishopric of London 1" I have nothing to do with prefer
ment : it is my honour, my profit, my pleasure, to preach at Blackfriars as long
in I do pi each. Here the head of the church placed me, keeps me: it ia my
charge. He can do much or little, as it is his holy will, by me: and the being
in bis will is ray paradise. But I quarrel with nobody who thinks differently
from me. Mrs. R. has Mrs.  's letter; anil I wish her inquiries may be suc
cessful ; her love and mine to Mrs.  . The wet morning has kept me free
from visitors, and given me a long-wished opportunity of assuring you that I
daily remember you in ihe best moments, and recommend you to our best friend.
llu not cease to pray for
W. Romaine.

632 LETTERS WRITTEN BY
LETTER CXXXVII
Letters to W. T. Esq. Monday, Nov, 12, 1787.
My good Friend. — Having an opportunity, by favour of Mrs. Romaine, to
send my respects, I do it with pleasure. The remembrance of ray time spent
with you affords me many pleasing reflections. It is the most profitable part of
the year for myself. I am most done. I cannot get any such seasons for medi
tation as you afford me. This visit was greatly blessed, and produced one thing,
which, as Proridence favours, I am now carrying into execution : it is my last
testimony for Jesus. What be is — how he feels — what he has attained— who has
been long an experienced believer — and in his own views is near death, and
quite prepared to meet his God. I have kept it back for severd years, that I
might see and try whether any thing new could be suggested on the subject from
scripture or from my own life. But I am satisfied with what I had written, and 1
am now revising my papers. I beg you would help me with your prayers, that I
may keep the ark steady, and hold forth nothing but what wiU tend to establish
believers in their most holy faith.
I had a commission for you for some of Mr. Adam's works ; but I fear they
are not to be had. Prize what you have, and make much of your present set. If
1 can get you any, I wiU lay myaelf out for you. I believe the other books may
be had.
Inclosed, to encourage you to pray for me, and for my present work, 1 send
you a little tract (which you never saw before) printed by me, as a companion to
an " Earnest Invitation," &c, as you see at the end. It is the only copy I have.
Pray lock it up safe till called for. I sold upwards of 50,000 of them. 1 intended
to write till Mrs. R. sent for my letter. I may not add any more, but that if you
are not as happy at — : — as God can make you, it ia not the fault of your true
friend in Jesus, W. Romaine.

LETTER CXXXVIII. March 5, 1788.
My dear Friend.— I am in your debt for Jan. 1st, 1788. It haa never been
out of my mind ; but I have really too much buaineee for my age and growing
infirmitiea ; yet, whenever I think of lesBening my work, Luke ix. 62 frightens
me, and I 8et out afreah to get on, aa my Lord shall help me. Our word for this
year is preaching day and night to my inmost soul— I am " Looking to Jeaue"—
a sight that wodd do an angel good—and much more a sinner ; for his name is
Wonderful. There is none like him in heaven or earth. Consider hie nature,
his essential glory, or his offices, his mediatorial glory— from what he saveB ua
freely, and to what he brings us perfectly, even to life eternd : aurely he ia a
matchless Jesus ; and he wants only to be known, that he may win our hearta,
and we may admire and adore him. Why is not he, then, universaUy admired >
If man had no fatting in his faculties, he could not help fdling in love with auch
infinite beauty. But he is blind— yea, truly he is dead. He has lost not this or
that thing, but the very Spirit of hfe, and thereby aU communion with the spi
ritual world ; he is actudly dead in trespasses and sins. And, when the Spint
of life that is in Christ Jesus frees him from the law of sin and of death, then he
receives spirited senses, and is able to see him by faith, who was before invisible.
Hia first look is generally for heding. He beholds the Lamb that was slain, and
finds peace through his cleansing blood. The Spirit gives him to sed the teati
mony of the Father concerning the Son. He believe8, and the more simply, the
more virtue flows from Jesus, to purify and to rejoice the heart. He beUevei
on reads the faithful word, hears it, prays over it, and the Spirit applies it,

THE REV. W. ROMAINE, A.M. 633
making Jesus still more precious. . Every fresh look to him confirms the redity,
and increases the blessedness of living by faith upon him : and thus ddly com
munion with him nourishes spiritual life, and renders it more easy, and more
delightful. These were some of the outlines of our new year's sermon — How
we get eyes to see Jesus — and how fresh sights make our eyes stronger. The
eye-sdve of his word and Spirit clears the mentd organ, anil enables it to behold
more wonderful things than Adam saw in paradise. May the prospect brighten
upon you ; and the more beautiful it is, may he speak to your heart, and say,
" AU this is yours."
My friend, we proceeded thus : If this be your faith, now try it. The trial is
God's way of improving it. Jesus being the author and the continuer of faith,
he expects that we look up to him constantly for our
1. Safety, as 1 Pet. i. 5. " We are kept," &c.
2. Growth ; being ahve by him, we grow by cleaving to him, as the branch to
the vine, Eph. iv. 15. " But holding the truth in love," &c.
3. All spiritud blessinga flow from him, Eph. i. 3. " Blessed be," &c.
4. All temporal blessings, holy use of troublesrburdens, wants, sickness, trust, as
Isa. xxvii. 1, 2, and they wiU be profitable; and hedth, and money, and lands,
and all good things in life, shaU be sanctified by the word of God and prayer.
5. Come what may — Trust on, look to JesuB ; and Rom. viii. 28, shaU be infal
lible truth.
6. " But he may lose sight and be blind for ever." 1 Cor. i. 7, 8, 9, cannot be
broken. He ahdl see the King in his beauty.
7. " But he may fall and be lost." Oh, no. Christ's prayer, John xvii. is as
elii-ctual as ever. Heb. ii. 13.
s. " But he must die." WeU, a dying man, looking to Jesus, may hear him
spy — " Fear not; I am with thee," Psal. xxiii. 4. He has a good warrant to
be comforted as long as the breath is in his body — and then, " dl these died in
faith." !). Oh ! what will this man find when he opens his eyes, and sees Jesus in his
glory. The Lord the Spirit prepare us for that sight, and keep us looking to
Jesua by fdth till we see him by sense.
Thus I have fulfilled my promise. You have a little sketch of the business of
1788. God make it prosper in your hands. Mr. M. has been here twice : he
suffers, but profits. We had a great ded of conversation,. and much to my
profit. I cannot get him Adams. " Wealey 's at Southampton" — do not trouble
yourself about them. I was a great horseman when youngs and when riding
through a village, it was not worth while to stop, though I had a long lash whip,
to stay and beat every cur that came out. My dear brother, I hope, will let them
done — and preach Jesus. My love to him, and to aU the family. FareweU, and
pray for
W. Romaine.
Love to dl at Hanover Buildings — God prosper whatever they have in hand I

LETTER CXXXIX. May 3, 1788.
My good Fru-.nd. — I am fuUy satisfied you do not forget the Master, nor
his eervant. I please myself with thinking that you are living what 1 teach, and
that our word for 178s, " Looking to Jesus," is redised at  . I believe he
has opened your eyes. You do see him— a true Jesus— but not in dl his glory.
The object is too great for the eye of fdth, and too bright when we come near it.
But if you will humbly ask for some of his eye-sdve, it will marveUously
strengthen the nerves, insomuch that you may see him who is invisible — enough
of him to win aU your afl'ections. Such sights bring applications. He is match
less beauty, and mine. He is dl perfection, and 1 am perfect in him. The
wonder of Heaven, and soon I shdl see hiin face to face. 'This hope makes

034 LETTERS WRITTEN BY
studying the word, believing, growing up into him, very sweet and improving.
Every fresh view of his heavenly person begets some conformity to him, and
wishes for more.
So far I had written, when I found the glass must come : and I was not willing
to send so much blank paper with it : therefore 1 kept it by me, till some favour
able opportunity should let me go on with this Looking to Jesus — to a red, a
believed in, a precious Jesus. So he is, this May the 3d. 1 have been consulting
one who was quite enraptured with bis Lord's beauty, who had seen him in his
glory ; and he gave me great encouragement to proceed in thia divine study :
for he s..id to me, " After twenty -three years' happy experience of what he ia to
me, besides the visions and revelations which I had of him iu paradise, still I
know hiin but in part : yet, what I do know has such a powerful influence upon
my heart and life, that I am stttl pressing forward, and I trill, God helping me,
until I know even as also I am known." Oh this was sweet advice ! You cannot
think what good it did me ; for I found my case and the apostle's were much
dike : I do, blessings on him, I do know my Jesus truly, and savingly; yet it is
but little ; I am not Batisfied with my attdnmenta : more, far more remains to
be known of this infinite object ; and therefore it ia not enjoyed : a sense of this
keeps alive a constant appetite for fresh discoveries ; and this hungering and
thirsting is not in vdn : it ia the vigour of spiritud fife in the kingdom of faith.
The hedth of the 8oul is more seen in its desires than in its enjoyments ; for we
havo flesh and blood ; and they let us feel we are not at home. We have dao
many mighty and cunning enemies, who are dways attacking and often robbing
us of our sensible enjoyments ; and yet faith can live and thrive amidst all : it
con break through every obstacle that stands between it and ita beloved ; trusting
to what God haa promised, and waiting patiently for his fulfiUing it. If he hide
his favourable countenance, yea, if he appear as an enemy, the believer trusts,
and is not afrdd. These are some of the workings of faith, by which ita truth,
its efficacy, and ita blessedness, appear. May the witness for Jesus keep them
very strong upon our heart ! It is hie office, while we are absent from our
dearest friend, to preserve longings after him in our soda — warm breathings
(such as Psdm lxiii. throughout), fervent deaires, not to be satisfied till they get
fuU enjoyment ; and in this way the Holy Spirit glorifies the Saviour. What he
manifests to us createa such an appetite for him, aa only God-Jesus himaelf in
glory can fill. All the grace we now get out of his fulness is but a whet of what
we hope to get out of the same fulnesa in glory. Now, this is living and thriving
faith. The more I have, the better I am ; and you too are better for my better-
ness. It makes me wish the best thing for you : dthough you do not alwaye
treat me aa 1 could wish. You would do me a great favour to employ me more.
You have a wedding in hand. 1 expected to be invited to it : not down to
Southampton, but up to my Lord. His presence I would have intreated : and
he is as famous now as he was at Cana of Galilee for turning cold water into
generous wine. My love to them, and my prayers for them, that he may every
day repeat the miracle at  . God bless you aU. And remember to pray for
W. Romaine.

LETTER CXL. June 12,1788
My dear Friend. — Your last letter brought me down upon my knees. 
Poor W.! I feel for you. I pray you may have a right use of thie rieitation.
It can only be sanctified by the Spirit of God and prayer. May you meet it in
faith, and improve it by patience! A child — a pleasant child — of fair hopes — I
have lost euch a one ; and I well remember it gave me occasion to exergjse all
the grace I could get. I found an infinite fulness; and there is -the same foi
you to go to. And now your children are growing up, they will make ypu very
miserable, or else they will compel you to be daily learning, Heb. iv. 16. Read
it. Meditate weU upon it. Pray over it. It is a lesson of constant practice. If

THE REV. W. ROMAINE, A.M. 635
your children live ; if they prosper ; if they get on in spiritud success, as weU
as temporal ; if they be sick ; if they should die : aU wttl try your faith, and make
you feel that your whole dependence for yourself and family is on the Lord who
made heaven and earth. Whatever may be the event of W.'s complaint, we
know not. But our Lord has taught us to live in subjection to his holy wiU,
whatever he may please to send. Mr. T., you are not to learn this, at your time
of day, in theory : but how to practise it is the point ; and therein most of us
fail. We none of us carry our subjection so far as he warrants us : his rule is
" If any man be my disciple, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and
follow me." This carries the terms of discipleship very high. A man must
deny all that he has and is, as a chUd of Adam — himself — as being under the
law, under sin, and under condemnation. No possible hope in himself. And
then he takes up the cross, which was the instrument of death, and to which the
curse of the broken law was annexed, and executed too, on Adam, and aU his
descendants. He pleads guUty ; owns the sentence just ; carries about with him
an abiding conviction that he deserves the curse and death, due to sin, as his
wages. He puts the life of Adam,-what he lives in the flesh, upon the cross, and
henceforward lives by the fdth of the Son of God — redly dead to aU hopes —
except what Christ is to him. It is a great trid to have your son sick : it wiU
be a greater if God should take him from you. But such a trid does not come
up to our Lord's meaning. We caU every thing that goes contrary to our will,
a cross ; but this is far short of the matter. Christ's disciple must not only
deny the trill of the flesh, but himself : not only aU trust in the flesh, but life
itself. If he has come aright to Christ, he has come with a haleer about his
neck : ay, and has it on still — owning, that the cross and curse, due to sin, are
due to him. He submits to the pendty ; and, moreover, waits with faith and
patience for the execution. It is thus the Spirit of God makes Christ his one
nope — breaking oft' all connexion with Adam s world, and with the life we derive
from Adam. He quickens us into Christ, and into Christ's world. This is a
totd resignation : not only the will, but the whole man, is crucified with Christ.
The greatest thing we have — life itself — is resigned to him. And thus the dis
ciple is taught submission in aU other things. It becomes easy then to say — ay,
and to practise too — " Take away what thou pleasest, Lord : not my will, but
thine, be done!" Duties are dl dike easy, trials aU alike tolerable, when we
meet them in the strength of Christ ; but when we would do them, or bear any
part of them ourselves, then we find our perfect weakness. A disciple feels his
resistance, and lays the burden upon Christ ; who says to him, " I wiU sustain
thee." Ills almighty power fulfils his word ; and through him faith and patience
do their perfect worlc. This is following Christ. May you at this time, and at
all times, be one of his happy disciples, denying yourself, taking up your cross
daily, and foUowing the Lamb whithersoever he leads you.
It will not be unseasonable to remind you that you cannot lay in a stock of'
grace, and thereby keep your heart in any preparation to submit cheerfuUy to
God's will, especially when it is much contrary to your own. No past experience
can enable you to bear a present trid. You must have fresh grace for the moment,
as you breathe, Isaiah xxvii. 3; so is the spiritud life : it is not from yourself,
any more than your animal life : we fetch both from without us. Your genial
warmth is light in every part of solids and fluids, as electrical experiments
demonstrate. And it is the action of the air, by which you breathe, and move,
and have your being. The life and liveliness of your soul depends entirely on
Christ, the light of life, and on the Holy Spirit, the breath of life; and you can
only receive, and can only enjoy, these influences from Christ and the Spirit, as
you are living every moment by fdth. This is the holy art of believing: by it a
beggar is enriched, a sinner pardoned, the weak strong in tile Lord, the mise
rable blessed, the dying disciple lives for ever. May you practise this holy art,
and become the happiest believers in the island. W. has a friend in need to pray
for the good effect of the waters. When you write, remember me to him ana his
companion. I charge you to pray for
W. Romaine.

636 LETTERS WRITTEN BY
LETTER CXLI.
Aug. 13, 1781.
My dear Friend.— I have not been at aU well since I left you : a giddiness
foUows me constantly, and sometimes I am ready to fall. I am aware of the
consequences ; and, thank God, 1 have nothing to fear, come what may. Nay,
though it be a fair warning that the house is growing ruinous, yet I have a pros
pect of another braiding — a house of ImmanueTs making— out of the reach of
death and misery — tit for ImmanueTs land, which is a country far, far better
than Paradise. It is made so to me by free gift, the grant accepted by faith, and
the earnest of the Spirit enjoyed. In the grant ia death — a covenant mercy —
by which we receive all covenant blessings. And for aU in hand and in promise,
I am kept looking to Jesus. I am afraid to say much of myself, lest I should fall
into a mistake which I have often noticed and blamed in Mrs. Rowe, that she
tdked too much in raptures, and ehot too high — far above common Chrietians'
heads. However, let him have his glory. He won the crown : let him wear it.
Keep him in sight in all hie gifts — in all his gracea — everything will then go
well. Thia ia my old lesson, and my new les8on daily. Pray, I charge you to
pray for
W. Romaine.

LETTER CXLII. Blackfriars, Nov. 8, 1788.
Friday Morning, Nov.", 1788. I ait down to write to my good friend W.T.,
intending to fill up thie paper to-day, if I am able. I owe you for a very friendly
note : tbe contenta were all matter of prdae. How thankful ahould you feel,
how humbly ahould you walk, Under a senae of such mercies! And even for
this, there is an ample provision made. Grace from which all good comes, ia
ready to make you truly thankful, and to keep you humble ; and if you uee ever
so much grace to increase humble thankfdneaa, yet, always remember the cha
racter of our Jesus. He giveth more grace.
1 got no further yesterday — called off by businesa, vieita, &c. Saturday morn
ing. I am looking at that moat bleaaed Giver of more. He is like the aunwbich
is never weary of 8ending out more light : nor is our eun of sending out more
grace — fre8h — dwaya adding — more in quantity — moro in quality — better and
better — and the laat the be8t — even eternal grace — the crown of all. Mr. T.,
I teU you a great secret ; and it is all I have learned in a very long experience.
By putting thia word to every thing, it makea a miraculous change ; it really
turns evil unto good. Miaery with grace can feel happy ; pain is sweet ; gracious
fioverty makea rich ; a weak believer, out of weakneee, becomee strong — weak in
liraself, therefore strong in the grace that is in Christ Jeaue. Nay, no diapensa-
tion can hurt where grace ia exerciaed ; indeed, nothing can hurt, not even sin
itself: for where sin abounded, grace did much more abound, &c. Rom. v. 20, 21.
Read these two verses, and St. Paul's comment upon them, Epheaiane, chap. i.
and ii., and then tell me whether the grace of our Jeaue ought not to have, and
from me it ehall have, constant use and employment as long as I have any being.
May you, and youre, do the same : and then you will find showers of bleaeings
coming down daily upon you.
All was good in your letter, except what related to Mrs. K.; and even that,
put grace to it, wttl also be good. Grace can extract rauch spiritud health out
of bodily aicknese. I hope and pray ehe may be better'for her present complaint,
and find under it grace sufficient to make her say, from her heart, and her good
man to join her, " Thy wttl be done!" But mind, this must be preaent grace,
received moment after moment, out of the fulnese of the God-man. We have no
stock in hand : and when faith lives as it should do, it finds the benefit of receiv
ing all, just as it is wanted, even fresh grace to thank Jesus for his grace.
I had written a long letter to W. on his going abroad ; but I did not send it.
Mr. I. and I cannot agree about the subject. I can live by faith, under a special

THE REV. W. ROMAINE, A.M. 637
providence, and do as well, even for my hedth, in this smoky and dirty city, as
they can do at MontpeUier. Happier they cannot be. However, I wish them
weU. May they come home better in soul and body. Your daughter is going
to be married. She has my prayers. May it be such a connexion as my Lord
may approve ; and then he wiU bless it. Mr. N. teUs me much of your frequent
visits, in which I truly rejoice. We have been darmed at our good king's
danger. To-day I hear the distemper has taken a favourable turn ; and he is
much better. Lorel, preserve his precious life ! Pray for him ; speak to brother
K. in public and in private to plead, fike the poor widow. Mrs. R. is very hearty
in her Bdutes to Mrs. T., as you know. I could not write from Reading, being
quite taken up with visiting and with preaching ; and now I do write, what does
it amount to, hut only a cypher, unless you please to put some numbers to it ?
I trust you will; and believe me to be, not in word only, but in deed and in truth,
your real and fast friend, and faithful servant, in the Lord Christ,
W. Romaine.

LETTER CXLIII.
Dec. 20, 1788.
Mr. T. — Mrs. K. is sick; yet her sickness is not unto death. Oh what a
mercy that her aoul is dive — to God — in Christ. United to him, she is one with
tbe fountain of life, and cannot be cut off: see John xi. 25, 26. Blessed are the
dead who die in the Lord. May her partner, and all the family, knowing what it
is to be in the Lord, when they sorrow, yet sorrow not as others who have no hope.
You seem to be much affected with the complexion of the times. So am I :
and your support is mine also. The Lord reigneth — the Lord Jesus ; and blessed
are all they who put their trust in him. His subjects have nothing to fear in
the worst of times ; for their king is Almighty — Almighty to save them from aU
their sins — Almighty to save them from all their miseries — Almighty to give them
aU spiritud blessings — yea, Almighty to command the blessing, even life for ever
more. Oh what a king is this ! Oh what subjects are these ! Who is a God like
unto thee, God-Jesus, who pardoneth rebels, and makest them kings and priests
unto God and the Father, and then adviseth them to sit down with thee upon thy
throne of glory ? The Lord reigneth in his kingdom of grace, by his word, and
by his Spirit, conquering rebels daily, and making them his willing subjects, tiU
they be all brought safe to the kingdom of his glory. Now, what makes these
blessed views of Jesus, the King of kings, so quieting and comforting to my heart,
is, that he is ray King. This crowns aU. He is my Almighty Saviour — my
Blesser — my Keeper. His providence is over me for good, and he says to me,
" Lest any hurt thee, I trill keep thee night and day." And as to what concerns
life and godliness, he says, " Cast aU thy care upon me ; for I care for thee." Jesus,
Lord, I believe thee — the government is upon thy shoulders — under thy protection
I am safe and happy. I know thou canst get thyself honour and renown in the
darkest days, and the most stormy weather. Let the tempest rage ever so much,
my pilot is Almighty. He says to the winds " Be sttil," and to the waves " Cease,"
and the stormy winds and waves fulfil his word.
Mr. T.,here is my rest. I use means, as weU as you. I am at my prayers.
But Jeaue is my only hope. The present prospect may appear to you very dark —
a black cloud gathering : you fear what may come when it bursts in all its venge
ance. My good sir, this is the time for fdth, to exercise it — ay, to improve it.
What of fair weather, and sunshining faith ? How can one-teU whether it be true
or genuine ? But to put to sea in our little boat, in the midst of a storm, the waves
dashing over our heads, and threatening to swaUow us up every moment ; then
to be able to say and feel — my Christ is with me in the boat, therefore I will trust
and not be afraid ; this is the proper working of the fdth of God's elect. For
thus the command runs : " Trust ye in Jehovah for ever — because in Jah, Jehovah
ia everlasting strength." Let brother K. turn to his Hebrew Bible, and teU you
why I thus render the text.

(J38 LETTERS WRITTEN BY
I have been so much pleased with your thought " the Lord reigneth," thnt if
God spare life and health, I trill preach upon it new year's day, and make it my
watch-word for the year 1789, giving the character of the person of the King — of
the nature of his government, anil what a peculiar sort of people his subjects are
— saved, pardoned, justified, heirs of God, and joint heirs with Christ — how they
live — and how they die — and how they live to tiie no, more Pray for ine, that l
may be so enabled to set forth his prdses, that he may be glorified in me, and by
ine, then, and for ever.
W. Romaine.

LETTER CXLIV
Jan. 10, 1789.
Saturday morning. It is so cold, I can scarce hold my pen ; but 1 cannot
nelp writing to you my present thoughts. Pardon fdlings ; as il is written, " Havo
fervent love among yourselves ; for this love shdl cover the multitude of offences,"
1 Pet. iv. 8. I expected ddly to hear of Mrs. K. ; and I thank God for her.
Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord ; for they lived in him by his Spirit, the
Spirit of life, who had given them faith to receive Christ, by which they were
united to him, and had grown up as members under him their head — living upon
him as weU as by him. Oh blessed fife ! for it is out ofthe reach of death, as Jeeua
said to Martha, " I am the resurrection and the life : he that believeth in me,
dthough he had been dead, yet shdl he be made alive ; and whosoever Iiveth and
believeth in me shaU never die. Believest thou this f" So says he to you : he
speaks what is as true to-day as it was then. Believe him, and dry up your tears.
Mourn not as they do who have no such hope. Mrs. K. was in the Lord. She
is in him now. She is with him now ; and like him-^like that standard of all
perfection. Upon the ground of this faith, you ought to have a family meeting,
and join in thanksgiving to our dearest Jesus, that he haB vouchsafed to admit
one of you to his presence, and into his glory : and then to improve the provi
dence in prayer, that God would make you oU ready. You will soon follbw her —
8ooner than some of you think. Take warning. You have nothing to do here,
that signifies any thing, but to prepare for death. God help you to live, by faith,
that the next of you who goes after her may be found in the Lord, and may live
with him for ever.
Mrs. T., we have been at prayers for you. The beet thing we can do. I know
weU the tenderness of your heart, and how you have felt your preaentloaa . I believe
vou go for comfort where I wonld have you. He who haa won your heart, ia
wdting to be gracious to you. He can supply with his presence your eieter'e
abeenee. Whatever good you had from her wae bis gift ; and now he takes it
away, he can make up your temporal loss abundantly by hie spiritual blessings.
May you five near to him, and mdte so much use of him at this time, that you
may now find him a precious Jesus ; for, " Bleseed are aUthey who put their trust
in him." You know thia weU aa a truth, but I wiah you to feel ita power. May
you enjoy the preaence and the love of our matchleaB Jesua, which ia bleasednesa
in the aupreme. May he whisper to your heart — " I have made your sister as
happy as my dmighty love can. Wait a little, and I wiU do ae much for you."
Mr. K., I truet we have one spirit, and feel aa brethren for one another. I am
sure I do for you. Where to go, and how to go for comfort, you know as well
as I, even to the God of aU comfort. He, and he done, can give it you at this
time. We, iyour friends, can only pray that you may make good use of, and
receive much profit from, your present dispensation. You are sensible that wis
dom to do this must come from above ; and it is such a wisdom as produces
miraculoue effects to this, as truly as in the day when James wrote ch. i. 1 , 2,3,
4, 5, 6. Probatum est.
Miss K., weep not as those who have no hope. I am praying for grace to teach
you submission to the will of our Lord. She was your mother : but remember

THE REV. W. ROMAINE, A.M. GQ9
how she lived, how she died, and where she is now. Dry up your tears. You
have work to do for the Lord. You are to fiU up, for a time, your mother's place
in the family. May my God give you gTace, and prudence, and diligence, care-
fuUy to follow her steps. I shaU not forget your brothers and sisters.
Mr. T., I am to thank you for your information concerning your guest. You
have gladdened my very heart with your good account of my old friend. May
it prove better than you mention. I am sure that Christ, and Christ only, can
make him tndy and completely happy. AU is vanity besides. I wish he enjoyed
what I have little of, and it would make me happier if he had aU I wish him.
You see I can scarce hold my pen. It is cold, very cold ; but I do not murmur.
Frost, and snow, and stormy wind, fulfil his word ; and in that word I trust, let
the weather be what it may. His wUl be done. " Remember Blackfriars. Here
live two of your friends. Pray for them and theirs.
W. Romaine.

LETTER CXLV.
April 27, 1789.
My good Friend. — Having the favour of seeing Sir Richard, I immediately
thought of you ; and although Monday is a day in which I am seldom fit for any
sort of attention, yet, this opportunity of telling you that brotherly love continues
makes me glad to Bit down and write as long as I am able. I congratulate you
on our late national mercies, which all the people have felt — those ofthe world in
their way, and we in ours — in prayer anil in prdse, bringing God into our joys,
and looking up to him, that he would give us fresh reason to rejoice in his holy
name. I beheve you and I are in unison ; and perhaps I may strike an octave :
the touching upon my joy may affect anel increase yours. Never was I more
disappointed, nor more agreeably, than on the 23d. I expected to be left alone,
and to preach to stone watts ; but, behold, we had a full church, and a blessed
congregation of serious worshippers. Our subject was the 122d Psalm — a short
paraphrase on it, with seasonable applications. As I take no notes, I can only
give you some of the outlines. May they warm your heart as much as they did
mine : for I had some of the prophet's joy, which he felt when he said, " I was
glad when they sdd unto me, Let us go into the house of the Lord." They were
going up to Jerusalem, as you know they did three times a-year. It was a pleasant
occasion to the true worshippers who had received the Holy Spirit, by whom
they had living fdth in Jesus, and thereby believed and enjoyed the Father's love
in him. They went up to the festivds to confirm and to increase their joy ; for
they knew weU that the temple was the type of Christ's body, and all the public
services there had relation to him. When they sdd, " Our feet shall stand within
thy gates, O Jerusalem," they then felt that true joy and peace in believing, which
any of us now feel in reading — Rom. v. 1, 2; for the very word Jerusalem, which
means the inheritance of peace, led them to look up to him who only is our peace,
who only makes us heirs of God, and joint heirs with Christ ; see Gd. iv. 22, to
the end ; Heb. xii. 22 ; Rev. xxi. throughout. And when they came to Jerusdem,
how did it add to their joy — v. 3. All worshipping in one place, one object, one
faith, anel one uniformity of rites and services — v. 4. When the tribes went up,
even the tribes of the Lord, they had the same testimonies, i. e. ordinances, as we
have, dl referring directly to the Messiah. The temple, its vessels, the holy place,
the most holy, preached Christ as pldnly as I can ; for " they went up to give
thanks unto the name Jehovah :" he was a person — the name Jehovah, as Exod.
xxiii. 21 ; Isa. xxx. 27 — that person who was to be God incarnate,, Jehovah Jesus,
through whom prayer, praise, duties, aU we do is made acceptable, and through
him only. In this faith, wherever a Jew was when he prayed, he turned his face
towards the temple, acknowledging that the God worshipped at Jerusdem was
his God. In this view they might weU rejoice when they went up with one heart

640 LETTERS WRITTEN BY
and one voice to bless the name Jehovah ; because to him they ascribe, as in v. 5,
their civil as weU as religious prosperity. Under him they enjoyed full security
for life and property. A good government, according to the word of God, is a
great mercy. This they enjoyed : they had a King sitting on the throne of judg
ment, ruling in the fear of God. Sensible of their blessings, and thankful for
them, they exhort one another : v. 6. " Oh pray for the peace of Jerusalem — our
church and state." They love Christ, who pray so ; who feel for their brethren
and their prosperity, and who know and vdue the house of the Lord our God,
they wttl be much in prayer for the continuance of these inestimable blessings.
'These meditations brought us home to England ; and to inquire, whether we
had not aa much reason to rejoice to-day as they ever had on any festivd at
Jerusdem : we have the same religious, the same civil merciea, as they had, and
we come behind them in nothing, unleaa we fdl to-day, in our nationd praiaes ¦
for our privilegea ore uncommonly great, and call for singular acknowledgments.
We have religion in its purity — God's word in our hands — men sent of God to
open and to explain it — and they are owned of him in their labours. No where
in the world is the gospel in its truth, and in its power, as it is with us. Oh
what rich incense of praise should go up to the throne of grace from us this day !
Oh what superlative thankfulness do these favours of God require of British
believers, of you, and me ! The gospd runs and is glorified, and yet the times
are quiet. The government is on the side of our most holy faith. Our king,
God bless him, ie bimeelf a defender of it. May he, by whom kings reign, look
down upon him with a gracious eye this day. When he prostrates himself before
his God, may the great Angel ofthe covenant take his prayers, and praises, and
perfume them with much of his heavenly incense. Loro God, speak to his
heart, and let him feel some of that joy and -peace which surpass dl under
etanding. You can easttyadd what came in here concerning the day. It was only to call
upon the people to thank the Lord our God, and to give him the glory due unto
his great name for public mercies, family merciea, peraond merciea. How high
ought our praiaee to iiee, sinners as we are, helpless, unworthy, yea, unthankful
and unprofitable 1 Oh what a God have we to ded with, who loadeth auch
creaturea with such benefits ! What a mercy, that such poor thanka, and these
his own gifts of grace, should be accepted at our handa ! Holy Ghost, asaiat ua
in our prayers ; help our infirmities in our praises, and teach us, with increasing
gratitude, to adore the Son for his salvation, and to worship the Father for hia
love in Jesus. To the eternd Three be eternal praise.
What a scribble ! But I could not stop. It waB a glorious day, ever to be
remembered in the annals of British hietory. Mr. K. got the lead : he will keep
it. I have eold great numbers of his sermon, and should have Bold the whole
impression but for "price one ebiUing," that kept it out of -nany hande. My
true love to your dear partner. My blessing on the whole family. Add to all
good providences, what ia really miraculous — Thursday's crowds, Friday's ex
ceeding the day before, and nobody hurt Glory be to him in the highest 1
W. Romaine.

LETTER CXLVI. Blackfriars, Nur. 11, 1789.
My dear Friend. — I sit down, as your monitor, to thank our physician
that you all keep eo weU, and that I hear Mre. D. is a great deal better. If you
would foUow his recipes, aU would mend. He prescribes one simple remedy ;
and that infallibly cures aU dieeasea. Only believe. AU that ever tried it, found
ita virtue never fail — no, not when life itaelf failed : the experience of every age
hos eet its seal — Probatum est. And yet we have among us many pretenders to
skill, who cry it down as a quack nostrum. Our learned doctors have shut it

THE REV. W. ROMAINE, A.M. G41
out of the new London and Birmingham dispensaries ; and they treat us as rank
enthusiasts, who try to keep it still in practice. You know, sir, as weU as I,
what the great men of the day think of Jesus Christ, and of his remedy : but
their opinion does not hurt you or me. We trust to matter of fact. A wounded
conscience set at peace — a broken heart healed — a miserable sinner made happy
— a dying sinner rejoicing in the prospect of death. Millions of such, who now
see his face, and we, who now feel his virtue, are witnesses of his almighty power,
and that he stiU saveth freely by grace through faith. To this truth I set my
hand and sed, this eleventh day of November, A. D. 1789. It is dl my sdvation,
and, God be thanked ! it is aU my desire. You have my hving and dying testimony
in a volume of sermons, which I have revised and just published. You will
please to accept them as a token of brotherly love ; and when you read them,
may you feel red feUowship with your divine Jesus ; as much, more if it please
him, than he has most graciously vouchsafed unto me. Perhaps I may seem too
warm (a little enthusiastic) in speaking of this happiness to some. Even believers
are too apt to rest in the truth : but is it not therefore received that it may
produce its proper effects ? such as great joy and peace in believing ; the un
searchable riches of Christ. What are they, if nobody is to be enriched out of
his treasury ? " Thine eyes shall see the long in his beauty." — Yes, I have had
a glimpse of him, and I long to see more of his matchless charms. He hath
promised, " they shall hear my words ; for they are sweet." — Yes, Lord, I
hear the joyful sound; and it is heavenly melody in my ears. "Thy name is
as ointment poured forth." I feel its perfume, the smeU of thine ointment is to
me much better than all spices. " Come, taste, and see how gracious the Lord
is." I have come, Lord, and thy fruit is indeed sweet unto my taste. " As
many as touched him were made perfectly whole." Glory be to him who enables
us stiU to handle the word of life. These are the five senses of the spiritud man:
and each of them finds in Christ the proper exercise of its faculty. The bodtty
senses take in dl the objects of nature : the spiritud senses take in all the
fulness of Christ : and in him they have their employment, and wttl have their
happiness for ever. The belief of this, and some enjoyment of it, make me wish
that I myself, and you, my Christian friends, may have our senses more exercised
in our own proper world, that we may get faster hold of Christ, may find him
more precious, and every day may be growing up into him, and that in aU things.
You have great reason to pray for
W. Romaine.

LETTER CXLVII.
My very good Friend. — You know our custom. We begin the yeat
dways with a motto. Ours for 1790 is — " Trust in him at aU times." A year
of especid fdth. I would have it famous for believing — our bodies, and souls,
and families, the church, the state, at home, abroad, call for much trust in our
God. The word trust means to lean upon any thing which you think wttl
support you, and you wiU do it with more or less confidence, as you are per
suaded it is able to keep you from faihng. This is a beautiful idea of fdth, as
it respects the word of God — our ground to lean upon. What has he said in
his promise of sdvation, and what security have I in leaning upon it, that I shdl
be a saved sinner ? You have the word of truth, which cannot lie — the promise
of a fdthful God, who keepeth his promise for ever — his covenant, secured by
the oath of the eternd Three, and dl these guaranteed by the name which tbe
Trinity have taken ; namely, to be Alehim, engaged upon oath to be on the side
of his people, their sworn allies, to defend them from all evil, and to give them
all good in earth and in heaven. Notwithstanding the foundation of our faith i9
thua immutably Idd, so as to render unbelief without excuse ; yet, so it is, that
they only believe to whom it is given. The Holy Spirit done can convince of
T T

642 LETTERS WRITTEN BY
Sin, its guilt, its danger ; how near the poor creature is to death and hell : lie
makes the conviction felt and effectud ; and the man is in earnest to flee from
the wrath to come. Then the divine warrant and the command to believe gdn
credit, and the truth of the promiae ia received, and thereby the blessing in the
promise comes to be enjoyed. He is made to see that he naa good ground to
lean upon God's word ; and he finds it safe trusting to such evidence, and
thereby he experiences how blessed they are who put their trust in such a God,
ae P8dm ii. 12; because there is great joy and peace in believing.
It may be done safely — it may be done happily, at dl times. What more can
be sdd to recommend this leaning upon God's word ? No case so desperate, of
sin or misery, but the word reaches it with a promise ; and faith, mixed with the
promise, brings deliverance from all sin, Rom. viii. 1, 2, 3 ; from dl misery — if
it continues, it does good, Rora. viii. 28 ; and in the best time, a happy i8sue, as
Zech. xiii. 9. Oh what a blessing is there in this passage of Ze'chariah ! You
have been tried lately in this fire, and you wttl agdn, and soon. Read it over
and over; digest it; you wttl find it a sovereign cordid in an hour of need.
God give you to see it in my light, and to get all the nourishment out of it of
which it is full. Is it so, then, that no guilt, no trouble, should hinder a man
from trusting in God : nay more, if these be the specid times of trusting, let
us consider what encouragement we have to make this year famouB for believing,
come what may.
First, for salvation, as verae 7. Fallen man ie under the law — under sin,
therefore dying and without any help or hope in himself; for there is ealvation
in no other than Jesus Christ. But, whenever any one believea in Jeeua, he is
Baved freely by grace. The law no longer condemns — the lawgiver justifies.
AU iniquities are freely forgiven, and the peace of God rules (should rule) in the
conscience always, and by aU means. Heath ia changed into life, aa John xi.
25, 26, even a life that cannot die.
Secondly, Oh what a glorious subject of rejoicing ia here, cdled, verae 7,
glory — God himself is our sdvation. Here faith may triumph aU the year : a
paraphrase on leaiah, chap, xii., especidly on verse 3, rendered weU ; but Mr.
K. can tell you that it is the fountdn of salvation, which cannot, fike a well, be
drawn dry.
As edvation is for sinners, joy for the miserable, so the next word, verse 7,
strength, is amted to the weak. The weakest believer haa an almighty arm to
lean upon in every trial, trouble, or temptation: he cannot fall, unleae hie faith
fails. A paraphrase on that sweet hymn, Isaiah xxvi. 1, 2, &c, and on that blessed
experience recorded 2 Cor. xii. 7, 8, 9, 10. Strong in faith — strong in all. Thua,
for all the poa8ible eventa of the year, we have, a8 verae 7, God for our
refuge, in the moat desperate case that can be. Our Jesus is able to save to the
uttermost : you may cast safely aU your sins, and aU your carea, upon God-Jesus
His almighty power ie with you, and for you. He eaid once, and, blesBinge on
hiin ! we find it true to this day — Fear not : I am thy shield, and thy exceeding
great reward. — Who can teU the full meaning of thia promiae. However, lean
ing upon it, we may go with confidence through dl the troubles of fife, yea,
through tbe vdley of the ahadow of death, apd fear no evtt.
Oh what a year would thia be, if we could dways bring these principles into
practice, without doubt or wavering ! For you see that, in aU cases, in all time8,
we are commanded to trust God in Christ ; and in trusting we shall find, 1. Sd
vation ; 2. the joys of it ; and 3. the security of it : the Lord's strength being
our keeper and our sure refuge in life and death from aU possible evtt.
These are some of our encouiagements to 8et out in thiSneW year with fresh
spirits, that we may hold out, and go on from faith to faith. There ie no tempta
tion, enemy, danger, or corruption, which ehould etop us. Nay, these are ao
many motives for depending on God's promised help ; so that neither what we
feel within, nor fear without, should make us withdraw our confidence.
Then came the application, 1. To professors who have not faith; 2. To weak
believers, who are so because they make not use of Christ's strength ; for, under
the teaching of his Spirit, the weakest is the strongest ; and 3. To sound be
lievers. The motives from this Psdm — a paraphrase wsa given upon it— then de-

THE REV. W. ROMAINE, A. M. 643
siring them to read it at home, to get it off by heart, that in the shop, in the clo
set, in the exchange, wherever they were, or whatever they were doing, they
might five by the faith of the Son of God ; so that it might be a most famous
year for the increase of faith.
Thus I have given the outlines of the religious history of the year 1790 —
Annus Mirabilis. May my character of it be fully verified at  , in your heart,
in Mrs. T., in your children and family — brother K. and his famUy, in his church,
and in the heart and life of
W. Romaine

LETTER CXLVIII.
May 3, 1790.
My dear Friend. — I sit down with pleasure to answer two letters. Youload
us with favours, which 1 acknowledge in my way ; with prayer and praise. Every
morning of my life, to these I have a monitor, who reminds me whose honey it
is that Bweetens my tea. I stand up to beg the blessing of God on the gifts and
on the giver. Mr.  delivered into my own hands Mrs. T.'s presents. I had
but short time to tdk with him, though he found me done, and very much dis
posed to converse with hiin of' the very best things : be put it off till we should
meet. Many thanks to my generous friend ; but Mrs. Romaine is quite overcome
with your kindness. She says, I cannot put her feelings into proper words, nor
express to Mrs. T. the grateful sentiments of her heart. So you bind Us to you
with the sweet cords of love. I send you, in return, some of my good things —
a word in season, which was our subject yesterday — and if the Lord please to
rain and shine upon it, you wiU taste some of the rich fruit of the tree of life,
which groweth in the midst of the paradise of God. The words were Psd. lxv.
10 : " Thou blessest the springing thereof." He is speaking of the beauty of
this season, when nature revives from the dark, dead winter, and the grass, and
corn, and trees, grow and shoot forth. How verdant are the meadows ! how flou
rishing the corn ! what fair blossoms on the trees ! promising us, through God's
blessing, a fruitful year. Are we only to look at this delightful scene ? and is it
all to end in admiration ? Oh no ! A very important lesson is held forth, and
made quite sensible. Nature in this, as in all other things, preaches and confirms
the doctrines of grace — not by comparison or metaphor ; but the God of nature
so formed his works, that they should be standing records, outward and visible
signs, to give us true ideas of spiritud objects. In the present case we have a
fine spring season What is the cause of it ? The earth itself is inert matter —
acts only as acted upon. What pushes forward the grass, and corn, and trees ?
An unerring philosopher gives this account, 2 Sam. xxiii. 4 : " He (Christ) shall
be like the light of the morning when the sun riseth; even a morning without
clouds, as the tender grass springeth out of the earth by clear shining after rain."
Here has been a fine shower : after it the sun rises without a cloud : and this
makes the grass spring out of the earth : the clear shining thins, rarities the rdn,
impels it into the tubes of the plant or tree, drives it dong as sap and nourish
ment : so all things grow. Look at Deut. xxxiii. 13, &c, which is a philoso
phical description of vegetation : " How the light pushes forth the sap, and
makes all the precious fruits of the earth to ripen." This is the picture, created
on purpose to give an idea of a spiritud spring. Christ is the hght ; his Spirit
ii the water of life : all men, by nature, are like winter, tttl Christ enlighten, anil, by
his Spirit, revive them : He breaks up their fallow ground, and fits it for the seed,
which is the word of God. When the sower, who is the Son of man, puts his
Spirit into the seed, then it has life, it grows, it bears fruit, a hundred fold, even
fruit unto life everlasting. This answers a grand inquiry in the spiritual hfe :
How shaU I know that I have had a spring time and that any of the good seed
has been sown in my heart ? Answer, I feel fwant it ; my heart is faUow ground ;
and I wdt on the sower, as Deut. xxxii. 2. " That he would put in the good seed,
and give it the early and the latter rdn."
t t2

644 LETTERS WRITTEN BY
But how shall I know that mine is really a true spring ? By depending more
on spiritual influences. Nothing grows in nature without rdn and sunshine :
so, in grace, nothing grows witiiout Christ and his Spirit. A conviction of this
wiU lead to the experience of Isa. lviii. 1 1 .
But I do not grow as I could wish. It is a great growth to feel this. I want
more showers. Oh, what am I, when the influence of heaven is withdrawn ?
Then I feel my dependence ; then I see it good to wait for the showers of heaven ;
then I expect gentle rdn, dropping, that it may soak in, and come down fike
dew, unfelt, unseen, only in its blessed effects.
But how shaU I he certain that if 1 have a spring, I have the blessing of God
upon it ? Truly, thanks be to the Son of man, I have got some of the harvest —
I bless him for fulfilling Hos. xiv. 5, 6, 7, 8. And I dso rejoice in my God, the
giver of my life, and of my liveliness. Pad. iv. 7 is my present state, and that
moat beautiful apring, mentioned Cant . ii. 1 0, 1 1 , 1 2, 1 3, ie what I am seeking and
praying for. I wish I had room to give you my ideas of that sublime description.
Cdl upon me for it, if ever I see you, and I give it you under my hand, that
you shall know dl that I know of it. The seed sown, growing, thriving, wttl
ripen into a glorious harvest. Great joy and peace in believing is the firat fruits.
Oh how should they adore and worship him who have the foretaste of that eternd
spring. It wiU be the same there as here, ody more perfect, and" more lasting.
May the sun shine and the clouds drop down their influence upon Mr. and Mrs.
 , upon my dear John, upon every branch of your family, that wc may dl feel
his life, his liveliness, and our growth by him into fife eternal.
I have read the letter over. I am quite displeased with myself : it is very un
like what I see in nature's spring. Pardon it : and if it lead you to trust less to
yourself, and more to the influence of Heaven, 1 ahdl be thankful for euch a
poor essay. Next Sunday I shall be nearer to you, aud shall preach the sum of
this letter in Reading, and hope to spend aome time with my old friend, Mr. S.
God bleea you all, and pray for W. Romaine.

LETTER CXLIX.
My dear Friend. — How much I am indebted to you for eo long a letter,
I cannot eay. I esteem it highly, and you for it. Knowing your great hurry of
business, I could not expect it. But you are good, and I am thankful. At
present I am dso busy about my Bible ; being suffered to live to read it over
once more. Two things have occurred to me in the present perusal : in both
which I am enabled to triumph. The one ia a deeper diBCovery of the horrible
state I am in through sin ; so that, as a child of Adam, 1 feel nothing in myaelf
but the working of corruption — by and under the law dead to God, but dl are
alive to sin — every faculty at work to bring it forth — the mind — the heart — the
senses — yea, the very imagination, in prayer disturbing, dietracting, quite
lawleas — 1 can do nothing but cry out, Rom. vii. 24. Reading verse 25, 1 get
my second lesson, and find employment for my Jeaue. A body of ein and death,
like mine, wanta an dmighty Saviour, and I am learning to put more honour
upon hi8 word and work daily. I find more need of him than ever ; and it ia
some true joy that he is most exactly suited to my desperate caee ; having no
hope but in hie blood ; not one ray but in hie righteousness ; no etrength but in
hie arm ; no happiness but out of his fulness. I am led even to triumph in what
he is to me. I would lay myself at hie feet, and would bless his dear name; that
he is become all my sdvation '; and glory in him, that he is now aU my deaire. It
is the best reading that ever I had. Self was never so brought down, and eo
crucified ddly : nor did I ever eee eo much reason to magnify the pereon of
God-Jesus. In this spiritual crucifixion of self and sin — in this true growing up
out of self into Christ — may the Holy Spirit teach you to profit ddly. Pray for
yours, in our common Lord,
W. Romaine

THE REV. W. ROMAINE, A.M. 645
LETTER CL.
Nov. 10, 1790.
Mr. and Mrs. T. — Thanks — thanks for P  mercies — for me and mine.
I am told, it is a good thing to be giving of thanks ; because it is the right im
provement of past mercies, and the best way to secure a rich supply for the future.
It keeps the eye where it should be, fixed upon the fulness of Jesus. He gave —
he continues to give — and he will continue. All come from him. A mercy —
the feeling it a mercy — and the prdsing him for it — this is grace for grace. It
is his way, yea, his delight, to give thus liberaUy when he gets aU the glory of
his gifts. In this holy merchandise you may be as rich as you wiU. My friends,
he wUl withhold no favour from you if you carry him back all his praise. Re
ceiving his gifts, and thanking him for them, is the true spirit of the gospel, and
is the practical improvement of it both in earth and in heaven. This is my lesson
for the year 1790. I have just finished another reading of my Bible, and, as I
told you, my profiting has been in a deeper discovery of the exceeding wickedness
of sin, and of mine own heart-sin, deceitful above aU things, and desperately
wicked. If I had been only in the school of Moses to learn, I should, with such
views of sin, have hanged myself long ago ;' but in the school <?f Christ, his Spirit
enables us to feel daily more of the mystery of iniquity, that we may have occa.
sion to know more of, and to trust more in, that offering of Jesus which perfecteth
for ever. 'Thus things go quite right when Christ is exalted — and self is brought
down, and kept down This seems to bring our religion into a very little com
pass ; but the practice of this one doctrine is universd, reaching to aU times of
life, and to aU things in life ; keeping us ever dependent on the Spirit of Christ
to teach, and on his [lower to enable us to live out of aelf upon the fulness of God
our Saviour. Mr.  , he can make you a better scholar than I am. -For
which blessing may my prayer be heard for you in the fuU sense of the promise
— " Blessed are the poor in spirit ; for theirs is the kingdom of heaven."
I am for peace, in the church, in the state, in the famtty, in the conscience, in
life and death — peace everlasting : aU this Christ is to his people. Mr. N. is stiU
tilive — that is all ; he is greatly supported. Pray for him. I am doing the same.
Mr. John Thornton gone to heaven ! Oh what a loss to the earth ! After
taking a most affecting leave of dl his children, the Rev. Mr. C. asked him, " If
he was happy."- — " Yes," says he, "in Jesus." Oh! may our eyes never lose
sight of him — still looking to Jesus till we see him face to face. Pray for
W. Romaine.

LETTER CLI.
Dear Friend. — I can only inform you, by the bearer, that we are weU. My
Lord finds me constant work, and fits me for it. I am now prdsing him for
letting me speak of his most glorious name, five times this week : and am going
at it again twice more. Oh ! he is a good Lord to me, who does me the honour
to employ me still in the service. What are most people good for at my time of
hfe ? Yet he gives me a tongue to recommend him to my feUow sinners, and a
heart to triumph in his sdvation. My best preaching, my best prdses, are gifts
of hia grace. Not unto me, but unto him, be dl the glory. Upon his imperid
head there are many crowns , and when I am hoping he has one for me, I am
quite lost in admiration of such sovereign and supreme mercy. Some of yours
are this moment got above me in a higher note of prdse ; but I shdl soon come
up with them ; and I expect to see you join us, and sing as loud as any of us the
glories of Immanuel. I am sure you have as much reason : the door of mercy
will not be shut agdnst Mrs. T. May God fit her, and aU hers, for that most
blessed meeting. I hope and pray that John will be a good boy, and brought to
love our Sariour, that he may be where his brother and sister are, in glory. Tel|
hiin what that means.

C1G LETTERS WRITTEN BY
H  T  , Esq. M. P. ldd the plan of the indosed. The execution by
Mr. S. is by no means equd to the plan. What a pity such a bright star should
set, and so little notice taken of it.
W. Romaine.

LETTER CLII. May 5, 1792.
My dear Friend. — I thank you for the good account you send me of my
doctor. I knew he would not fail you. Thanks be to him for blessing the means
for Mrs. T.'a recovery. 1 hope for his further help. He can still do greater
things ; for he does nothing by hdves : all his words and works are, fike himself,
perfect. If he undertake, he wUl infallibly complete the cure. So we read of his
patients : however desperate their cases, they were dl made perfectly whole.
His hand is not shortened. He can remove every spiritud disease, and restore
present and eternd hedth. Such mirades are not ceased. More fdth in him
wodd multiply them in number — more faitii woura increase them in experience
— more faith would then bring him more praise : for thus we read of a healed
einner — " BleBa the Lord, O my soul ; and all within me bless hie holy name.
Bless the Lord, O my soul ; and forget not all his benefits : who forgiveth all
thine iniquities, who hedeth dl thy diseases." By this spiritud hedth, he, works
a wonderful effect upon the body. It is better than any medicine ; not for keeping
off diseases, but for bringing in the supports of patience, and the comforts of
fdth ; by which a man, even in bodily pain, can be kept happy in his aoul ; yea,
so happy, as scarce to feel the pain, for the greatness of hie inward joy. Thus
epeaks the word — "My brethren, count it alljoywhenye fall into divers trials."
And the noble army of martyrs confirmed the »word : they met death rejoicing
that they were accounted worthy to suffer for their precious Jesus. I want Mrs.
T. to come from Bath perfectly cured, aa well aa he thinks proper in her body,
but in the highest hedth that can be, in her soul. She knows a good ded of his
fame : but a great ded more remains to be known. He is not only a most
wonderful physician for healing dl the diseases of sin, but dso for giving his
patiente every faculty which can fit thera to receive, and to enjoy, the blessings of
spiritud hedth. Oh what a Jesus ! — what a Jesus ! — He creates ears to hear
the words of eternd life — eyes to see the King in hia beauty, and to be enamoured
with hia matchleaa charma : and then to taste and aee, what a most sweet Jesus
he is ! — Oh what a fragrancy ! When the Goapel recommenda hia love, and the
Spirit make8 hi8 name like the aweeteat ointment poured forth, then the believer
can, with hia hands, handle the word of life : he hears, and seee, and tastes, and
smells, and feels that his beloved ie infinitely more than aU other beloveds. Thus
he gives spiritud senses and spiritud enjoyments to the inward man, and, come
what may to the outward, he maintains joy and peace in believing, which the
world cannot take away. Oh that you and Mrs, T. may go away from Bath,
admiring and adoring his wonder-working love, healed in body, healed in soul,
happy in both. You never, never can trust him enough, nor praise him as he
deserves. His name done is exceUent, and his praise above heaven and earth.
May he become dearer to you every day : eo he wifi, if you use him more. Let
him be your companion in your journey. Take him to  . Make much of
him. Be intimate with him in your own room. Go not to W. without him. Uo
nothing without him. Living by fdth upon him at aU times, and for aU things,
whatever you take in hand ahall proeper. He will bleas your substance, your
table, your children, your bed, your servants : he will load you with his benefita ;
and he will do you good aU the days of your life ; and when they come to an
end, he witt give you to depart in peace. After that, he will do greater thinga
than I can teU you. My prayers, my letters, my life, are directed to him, that lie
would vouchsafe to make me any way instrumentd in recommending him to you ;
that you, and Mre. T., brother K., and aU his and yours, may grow in grace and
in the knowledge and love of our dearest Jesus. So prays my partner, who ii

THE REV. W. ROMAINE, A.M. 647
rather better, thanks be to our adorable physician. I am happy in beheving
that you have a brotherly remembrance of
W. Romaine.

LETTER CLIII.
Nov. 14, 1792.
My good Friend. — You wttl receive from Mr. M. a parcel,
1. Containing 100 pamphlets, on the Baptists, which I have for two-pence
a-piece ; at which price you may have as many more as you please tiU the new
edition be printed ;
2. " Horae Solitariae," two volumes ;
3. A parcel from me, in which are the three keys — a volume on the book of
nature ;
The experience of Mrs. G. ; and
'The experience of .M.'s daughter.
He has not the " Christian Parent" bound, but will soon send you a quarter of
a hundred, at one shilling and nine-pence. I have dso inclosed a little ode of
Dr. Home's, made several years ago : it is very pretty, and very seasonable ; and
the two last stanzas carry such a sweet lesson with them, that I have often made
use of them in the pulpit at this season.
I am very thankful for your account of brother K.'s sermon. There is great
need of such sound doctrine, and also of much prayer to our God, that he would
be pleased to bless it ; for the times are very feverish : but he can, and he only
can, cool and quiet the inflamed spirits ; and he only can keep us from the infec
tion. I am therefore of his party, and of no other : and though we be but a little
army, yet we shall prove in the end the strongest side ; yea, come what may upon
this distracted world, he wiU keep us safe from aU evil. The persuasion of this
makes us love him — gives us a zed for his glory — and a holy sympathy with
believers, and for unbelievers. In aU which I have received great confirmation
from Ezek. ix. ; in which I find a fixed purpose to destroy the city, for the abo
minations committed by priests and people. The execution is ordered, and the
destroyers have their commission ; but they are not suffered to act till the Lord
Christ sets his mark upon his own people, of whom not one was to be hurt.
They were his seded : his Spirit had set on them the sed, and faith received the
impression. Their character as believers is beautifuUy drawn, v. 4. They were
humbled, and mourning for unhumbled sinners, and crying and praying to the
Lord for mercy for themselves, and for a guilty land. In their number may I
be found — and herein exercising my whole system of Christian politics — grieved
for my Lord's glory — grieved for those who rob him of it, and praying earnestly
to him, that he would grant them repentance unto life; — blessing at the same
time his dear name for the distinguishing mark of his love, that he has enabled
ine to set to my sed that God is true. Oh my friend, we are as bad, as ripe for
destruction, as Jerusdem was: we have great reason to mourn before the Lord,
and to pray that he would spare this guilty land. Whatever he is going to do
with us in the way of judgment, I know not ; but I have infinite reason to thank
him that the destroying angel cannot hurt one on whom is the mark. I verily
believe, without doubting, that he has seded you also for his own ; and I can
Bee the impression very legible on Mrs. T. May the Spirit who made it render
it every day more plain and more practicd — especially by the blessed fruits men
tioned verse 4, of the holy mourners — that they may abound in a great harvest
at  , is the hearty prayer of
W. Romaine.

64S LETTERS WRITTEN BY
LETTER CLIV.
New. 27, 1792.
My good Friend. — I am still hard at work, hoping to get my hook done
before my life be, that I may leave my dying testimony for my Jeaus. I find in
him a aweet rest, whUe these storms and hurricanes are frightening my poor
neighbours ; and I sing the 46th Psalm with mdody in my heart, giving him
the glory due unto his dear name. Pray for
W. Romaine.

LETTER CLV.
Dec. 1, 1792.
My dear Friend. — ... So much for this affair : now for another ; in
which more than you and me are concerned. I fear children yet unborn. It is
the evil, infinite evil, everlasting evil of sin ; on which dl the charges are to be
laid of nationd, public, family, and persond suffering. God is angry' at nothing
but sin : his wrath against it is reveded from heaven — dl sin, my Bin. It is
charged upon me ; and 1 have fled to the city of refuge, sheltered by the sprinkled
blood and by the mighty arm of my Jesus. When I live most upon him, he
teache8 me the true humbling of heart, for myself ; and seeing from what he
has saved rae, my bowels melt over the Bins and Bufferings of others. Then he
makes me plead with him for my feUow-ainners, and very thankful, more than I
am, or can be, for myaelf. Thia is the only concern I have with the timea. He
i8 ruling by his proridence, punishing sin, and warning ainnera to take heed
now he has his iron rod in hi8 hand. Oh 1 spare Great Britain. Lord spare us,
and give not thine heritage over to confusion. I have a long catalogue of
nationd sins to pray over; as long as the prophet had, Ezek. ix. ; and, I hope,
with some of hiB faith. I told you before what a great honour it ia to he among
those holy mourners on whom God had eet hie mark : for they were not to be
touched by the destroyer. How precious is that chapter to me in these times I
What fuU security does it give believers, that God will take special care of them,
whatever deetruction he may send upon unbelievers. I pray him to eet his
mark upon you ; that is, faith : that when men's hearts are failing them for fear,
and for looking after those things which are coming upon the earth, you may
not be afraid of any evil tidings, but your heart may be established, trusting in
the Lord. The God of peace grant you peace dwaye, and by aU means ! So
prays moat cordiaUy
W. Romaine.

LETTER CLVI.
Feb. 2, 1793.
My Friend Mr. T. — Mr. N. told me you waa expected in town ; but I hear
nothing of your arrivd, and therefore I aend my meaeenger to inquire how you
all do. Busy you are, Iknow, and to some purpose. As far as I can help you
on, that this great hurry may not stop you, either in the seeking, or in the enjoy
ing of the best of things, I am in my watch-tower, looking up to the keeper of
Israel, for you and yours; for the public prosperity; for ourking; and, above
all, that our Lord would be pleased to revive his work in our land and day. This
is much upon my heart, and keeps me watchful and wdting for what the Lord
will answer. As hia interpreter, reading hia wttl in his present diapeneatione, I
am to plead in his name for sinners, and to give them warning. He is angry at
nothing but sin : and his anger has broke out. Hia arm is lifted up to strike,
and his glittering sword has given a fearful blow, as you may read, Ezek. xxi.,
from ver. 8 to 18 ; and yet, it has more to slay before it be put up into the ecab-
Irird. No repentance yet; no turning to him who smiteth them. I see daily

THE REV. W. ROMAINE, A.M. 649
greater necessity for keeping in my watch-tower, as it is my office to be found,
wdting upon God, humbled for my own sins, and praying and pleading for those
who camiot read Mb present judgments agdnst sin, and against the greatest of
aU sins — unbelief. In times as bad as the present, Habakkuk prayed, and kept
on praying in his watch-tower until he got a gracious hearing, and a favourable
answer. A good example for aU who foUow the steps of his fdth : humbling
themsdves before God for sin, they will find his mercy for themselves ; and it
may be such a gracious answer as he obtdned. This is my present office, in
which I am now wdting — in which I hope to meet you often, as a Christian, a
minister, a subject. I go no farther in politics than to be found in that blessed
exercise of the prayer of faith, described in Psd. cxxii., paraphrased, from begin
ning to end, in our sermon, Jan. 30 ; when one of my parish left thirty shillings
for the minister, to recommend " brotherly love and charity" — a far better sub
ject than whig or tory.
I am at present pretty weU. So weU as to preach Sunday last twice, Tuesday,
Wednesday, Thursday, and hope to be at it twice to-morrow. TeU Mr. K. of
my watch-tower : and pray him to preach with earnestness and perseverance.
I wiU give him a text, seasonable always, but now more so. Three Sundays
have I been upon it, Isa. fix., last three verses. May he be made very successful
in stopping the deluge of sin and unbelief, more than I have been \ Pray for
your obliged friend and servant in the Lord,
W. Romaine.

LETTER CLVII.
May 17, 1793.
Mr. T. — I may be ashamed of myself. A man of your great business, and
E resent hurry, answered me within two or three days ; and your letter has ldn
y me as many weeks. But, if I forget to write, I do not forget to pray. It
is my privilege and my happiness to have you on my mind and in my heart —
you and yours. I am stttl in my watch-tower, looking out for the discovery of
the Lord's mind and tvttl in his present dispensations. Indeed they are alarm
ing : to me more so ; because they do not alarm. The pubhc is still thought
less and secure, as if no storm was abroad, and no danger near them ; though,
for certain, some of the heaviest judgments of God are in the earth, calling
doud for repentance. And the professing few, with whom I converse, are
not humbled, and pleading earnestly with God for mercy, as the necessity of
the times require. And truly it is my own grief that I do not grieve as I
ought to do for the affliction of Joseph. Great distresses caU for great com
passion. We ought to feel very tenderly for the sufferers in these wars — to
relieve where we can — and where we cannot, to make our constant requests
known to God for them. I lament' before him that I have not so much as I
could wish of that christian sympathy, which the members ought to have for
one another. However, this feeling does me good; for it keeps me in my
watch-tower, still wdting upon God, in the prayer of faith : and because I
cannot see the appointed time for the end of the vision, I therefore cannot get
off my knees. Things grow darker and darker. The way of Providence is
stiU in the deep. What he is doing, we see : but his motives and his ends
are out of my Bight. How his own glory — how his people's good — how his
church's increase — are to be brought about and promoted by these wars, and
this distress of nations, must be left to him to unravel. I am forced, which
ever way I look, stiU to be humbled in prayer; in which I hope to be instant,
and without ceasing, as long as these troubles continue : and it is not unlikely
but they may continue as long as I live : for I have got far, many years, beyond
the age of man, and am wdting for the fulfilling of Gen. xxv. 8.
W. Romaine.

65J LETTERS WRITTEN BY

LETTER CLVIII.
March 20, 1794
My dear Sir. — There was certdnly something of intrinsic vdue, which
made the widow's mite more than a pound. Some of that magnifying virtue, I
verily befieve, accompanied your late letter and the present of wine, which came
safe. God be prdsed that brotherly love continues. May it increase and abound
yet more and more. If my prayer be heard, you will feel my Lord nearer and
nearer to you, and he himself wttl speak to your heart — " Fear not : I am thy
shield, trad thy exceeding great reward." This will be a perfect antidote agdnst
devils as weU as French. Fear them not. Why wttl not brother K. give ua the
pleasure of 8eeing his discourse i My love to him ; and try for me once more,
what you can do.
I preached two sermons on 2 Chron. xxix. The firat was a preparation for the
fast, on the first four versea, on the Tueeday, Feb. 25. The occaeion, in Jeho
shaphat' s time, was nearly the same as ours. We are called upon to make uae of
the same means : and have, from his example, encouragement to hope, through
the favour and blessing of God, the same success. Not for our faeting — no, no
— nor for our red humiliation : this is not our act and deed ; for it ia a gift of
the Spirit — hia specid gift — to know ouraelves ; to feel what we are aa einnere,
what we deeerve for ein, and, being saved sinnera, to be enabled to give grace all
its glory. This is the experience which goes before, and in, a fast. It ia God's
preparation — the genuine working of faith; ao that the buainesa of the. day lies
upon believers, whom God has humbled under his mighty hand ; who for them
selves, and for other unhumbled sinnera, are warranted to seek the Lord, and to
plead with him, as Jehoshaphat and hia people did — and they prevailed. So
may we.
Then we came to the faat-day, considering the other part of the history, from
ver. 5 to 14, their behaviour on that day, and oura on this day. All of us, who
are in our right mind, do as they did. A goodly company of penitent sinners
are pro8trate at one and the same time before our God. Our petition ia for
mercy erad help. Looking at our enemiea, and at our dangers, we uae meane :
but we do not truat in our fleeta or arraiee — our help ia in the name of the Lord
our God, aa ver. 12, 13.
Read what follows, and repent, and pray, and hope on. Their fist-day waa
turned into a festival. So was ours. We joined in thanks for past, for preaent
mercie8, so often bestowed upon this favoured land : and from his loving kindness
in Jesus, and for tbe glory of his own great name, we begged for the continuance
of them. And though the 28th of February be over, yet, the fast ia not. I am
still keeping it daily on my knees, not so much in praying against the French
(poor things !) as against ein, mine own, the nation'e ein — infidelity — with all ite
infernd fruits ; imploring, for mercy's sake, that God, our God, would not suffer
iniquity to be our ruin. And for my own part, 1 am rejoicing ; comparing the
word and the providences of God together, I fear no evil. ChaatisemcntB may
come ; but they shall be for correction, and not destruction.
W. Romaine.

LETTER CLIX.
Jan. 8, 1795.
My dear Friend. — In a long life — fifty-nine years preaching — I waa never
ldd by so much as this winter, with a severe cough, which is better ; but I
cannot expect it to be cured while this severe weather continues, if then. But
all his dealings with me are well. His goodnesB and mercy have followed me all

THE REV. W. ROMAINE, A.M. 651
the days of my life ; and I give him full credit that he wiU not leave nor forsake
me in this last stage of my journey. You may read his dealings with me, in
time past, in the " Life of Fdth," and then in the " Walk of Fdth." And now
my present experience in the " Triumph of Faith."
May my God be with you, according to our motto for 1795. It was, " God
with us."' You will meditate on it ; and it is fuU of marrow. If you can come
at it, you will find that, whatever you take in hand this year, God will make it to
prosper. So prays
W. Romaine.

LETTER CLX.
March 6, 1795.
Mr. and Mrs. T. — You are one : therefore I put you together in my letter of
thanks for a very kind and friendly acknowledgment, in your last, for the present
of the " Triumph of Fdth." I wish I could give you the grace as weU as the book :
but it is an inestimable gift, and in better hands than mine. One is the author
and the finisher ; and with him I am pleading for the increase of faith in both
your hearts. The more he gives you, your appetite wiU increase, and you will
wait in the means of his appointing for datty growth. With this waiting faith,
I hope, I am getting on : and, as I am nearer every moment to the end of my
fdth, I thank my God that he vouchsafes me very comfortable and beheving
views of what lies before me : and I doubt not but he wiU make me a dying
witness for Jesus and his love. Do not cease to recommend me to his mercy,
as I trust he wiU enable me to plead for you to the last.
I have received a very obliging letter from brother K., for which I own myself
indebted to him ; and am repaying him, as fast as I can, with my prayers, both
for himself and for his congregation. If he has good times in his pulpit-work,
and sinners hear and repent, and if his church-members grow in number and
grace, I am helping him as my Lord enables me ; and with him I am more
earnest, because we live now in troublesome times, when a refuge from the
storm, and a sure covert from danger, should be much sought after and highly
valued. My love particularly to Mrs. T. ; and I hope she has some of the experience,
as well as the knowledge, of the great doctrines in which the Christian triumphs.
Because of her stomach's sake, and her often infirmities, I wish her spirits may
be kept up by the reviving cordials of the gospel, and she may never want joy,
great joy anel peace in believing.
My God be with you! a very precious Jesus to parents, children, Misses H.,
K., &c. &c. So prays
W. Romaine.

LETTER CLXI.
Dec. 13, 1782.
My good Friend. — I have read in a certain book — "As cold water to a
thirsty soul, so is good news from a far country." You know this is the gospel.
Many, thank God ! very many times, it has been good news to you and me.
And while the blessed sound is joyful in our hearts, it makes aU other good news
better. So it improved your letter. I received it as one of my covenant blessings.
You have your thanks ; and God has had his. I am certdn, you trill not be
offended that he had the first and best. The contents of the letter were dso
every one of them cordids — " As a cup of cold water to a thirsty soul." What

65-2 LETTERS WRITTEN BY
struck me first was your noble collection." Indeed it was great — in itself
valuable — but more so from the motive : I believe Mr.  gives, and teaches
to give from faith. Christian charity springs from Christ received, works by
Christ's grace, expects acceptance through Christ's intercession, and, done ever
so much, or ever so weU, refers all to Christ's glory. Sp agdn I come to my
point. The good minister and the good congregation have my warmest thanka :
but to the Lord Chriat be all their praise. Please to communicate this to Mr.
K., and farther inform him how much he and his congregation are laid in my
heart since I have fuUy discovered the present state of  . Oh, what deplor
able blindness is there in ministers and people ! What a fearful opposition are
they carrying on agdnst the Lord and his Christ ! What have I told thera, what
had Mr.  to tell them, but of the Almighty power, of the infinite wisdom as
influenced by the sovereign love of God-Jesus, to save aU that come to him, to
save them from aU their sins and from dl their miseries, and dso to give them
dl possible good in earth and in heaven ? This is the kindest message of the
gospel ; and it is sweetly recommended by putting the sinner into the present
enjoyment of sdvation, as the sure earnest of eternal enjoyment. Mr.  Bays,
This shdl not be preached in my pulpit, because my congregation are offended
at it. Lord God, open their eyes ! In this view, Mr.  , you eee the important
stand which your brother ought to make. The good newe ehall not be Buffered to
be proclaimed in churches. Not even Mr.  , among his friends and relatione,
ehall enter the pulpit. In euch circumstances, surely, very much dependa upon
Mr.  . How earnest should he be in his work ! How faithful in preaching-!
How careful in his walk ! How fervent in closet prayer ! How constantly
dependent on Christ for the euccesa of his ministry ! May the Spirit of the
living God keep him — his eye single, hia heart chaste, his whole aoul engaged in
magnifying the person and the work of God our Saviour! I shall be often
remembering him and you when I am at Court. The King of kings is extremely
gracious to me, and admits rae into his presence, and sometimes into his cabinet.
When he vouchsafes me such a favourable audience, I will not fail to present a
petition for poor S. Let me recommend it to you to do the same at your
prayer-meetings. God bless them, and be much with you in that hour. May
your pleadings for your ignorant neighbours bring down, both on them and on
you, showers of blessings.
Your letter was like the aforeadd cordid, because it brought a welcome account
of your family. We had been often saying, I wonder we do not hear from  .
What can be the matter ? I am afraid they are not aU weU. At last cornea good
newa from your family and frienda ; for which I am very thankful. My bleaeed
Master is very kind in taking care of you. He has followed you with loving
kindnesa all your daye. And I pray him, I doubt not but he will, keep you to the
end. I had another eubject of thankfulness from your letters : they came juat
time enough to inform me of opening the brewhouse. I waa preeent on the
occasion, and I am a witness it was consecrated in form. The trade thereof was
dedicated to the Lord ; and I trust he wttl have the whole management of it.
Please to teU — that 1 shdl continue my fervent prayers for their auccese. I hope
our God wiU bleaa them in better things than these, and wiU give them the
upper as weU as the nether springs ; and then my joy concerning them will be
foil- . . .
When you have read thus far, you will begin to think that I write in good
spirits : and yet I am under the rod ; and it is a very sharp one. Mrs. 
called on Tuesday, and my wife could not see her : indeed, she hae Been nobody
since we heard the melancholy new8 of my son'a death. It has been to us both
a very heavy affliction. He was cut off by a violent flux, at Trincomdee, in the
island of Ceylon. I feel as a parent : I am not a stone : but grace has got the
better of nature. God supports. God comforts. I have a wiU of mine own ;
and by it I would have gladly kept my son ; for he was a sweet youth. But I
can, from my heart, say, " Not my will, Lord, but thine, be done," whereby I
• For the Bible Society

THE REV. W. ROMAINE, A. M. 653
have the advantage of finding that my faith, being put into the furnace, is true
gold. It is, glory be to grace, proved, and improved. When I first saw the
letter which brought us the account, I knew the general's sed to it, and, fearing
the contents, I looked up for the presence and for the support of my good Master
and my old Friend ; and he answered me in the words of a great befiever, " The
Lord gave, and the Lord hath taken away." He has a right to do what he wttl
with his own : then he enabled me to reply, " Blessed be the name of the Lord -."
and I do praise him for giving me some of Job's resignation, that I could use his
words with the same spirit. My poor wife has exquisite feelings on this occasion.
She wishes not to murmur, nor to displease our good Lord by any hard thoughts
of him. But the tenderness ofthe parent, and to a chUd who never offended her
in his life, occasions risings of grief. The spirit is willing to kiss the rod ; but
the flesh is weak. In the main, she behaves as I could wish. Her faith is sup
ported ; her mind grows quiet and calm ; and I doubt not but God will soon
bring in his comforts, as weU as supports. Pray for us, that we may both profit
by our loss.
Again and again I beseech you to pray for W. Romaine, and family.

LETTER CLXII. Reading, July 30, 1783
My very dear Friend. — Grace with you — and with yours. I very agree
ably met with your son in Cheapside. It was a short visit, dthough sweet. He
fave me a good account of you, and of Mrs. T., with her offspring : from whence
got fresh matter of thankfulness to my bountiful Master. He is good, and
doeth good. I never think of you without prdsing him. His favours to you,
and to your children, are singular — such as he only can give, and such as even
he gives to none but his peculiar. Whenever I look at you, it is with gratitude
to him. I have only to wish that he may keep you humble, and you may never
rob him of the glory of his distinguishing mercies : and then he giveth more grace.
Indeed, he will deny you nothing, if you return him aU his praise. I am on a
preaching party at Reading, and next Sunday at Wallingford ; from whence we
go for some days to Mr. S.'s, at Heckfield, near Basingstoke — from thence to my
sister Owen's, at Tiverton. Aug. 30, at Mr. Ireland's Brislington, near Bristol ;
where I am engaged to do duty aU the month of September. Whenever we turn
homeward in October, Southampton lies in our way : and if it did not, I would
take some pains to teU you, in person, how much I am bound to love you, and to
bless you. I only write this short note, in answer to your kind inquiry, when
it was likely you might see us. Tell my dear brother K. that an cud friend of
mine had given him very particular directions in every point relating to his
ministry. When he and I meet, we may strengthen one another's hands by
reading his epistles together. My love to his wife. -WUl you remember me to
Mrs. T., your mother. I have her upon my heart. May my Father be a father
to your children — my God their God. And then, but not tiU then, they wiU have
enough.
W. Romaine.

LETTER CLXIII.
Bath, Sept. 22, 1783.
My dbak Friend.— Our good Lord would not have you not to feel for your
loss— but to mourn as one that hath hope. We cannot doubt but your mother
in with the Lord. And though she had a legd heart to struggle with, and had
legd connexions, which cherished a sort of staggering at the promises, yet she

654 LETTERS WRITTEN BY
was in Christ. All is safe in his hand. I have heard her agdn and again com
mit herself into his keeping : and I am a witness, that her confidence was placed
on the right object, on which God himself had commanded her to rest her soul.
Sorrow not, therefore, so much for her, as to hinder your gratitude to God for
his specid kindness to her firing and dying. You have lost a mother, a good
mother, and I have lost a friend : but neither you nor I would wish her back
again. Blessed be God, we are foUowing her — very fast I am — Blessed be his
holy name, he supported her faith to the last — so he wUl ours. Let ua improve
this providence, aa much as we can, to be dways ready — that living and dying we
may be the Lord's.
I write this from Bath, in our way to Bradford : then for a few days to Frome
—from thence to Westgate — the day is uncertdn ; it may be Oct. 4th, if not, it
wttl certddy be the 6th or 7th. God give us a happy meeting. May he bless
you with much of his gracious presence in these trying seasons. I feel much,
and pray much for Mrs. T. The Lord give her hia supports and comforts.
My Christian love to brother K. and family— to Wdter, Sam, &c. &c. ; friend
Wingrove's love to you all, with Mra. R. and W. Romaine's.
Our kindest love to Mr. and Mrs. Cadogan. I hope he is suffered in public
to extol the praisea of our Jesus, and to let me hear them.

LETTER CLXIV. Jan. 21, 1784.
Mb. T. — I am forced — but it is a wiUing violence — to be Mra. R's secretary.
And having a cover to you, I thought it best to inclose hers, and to take the
opportunity of addressing two or three lines to youraelf. You are in my debt ;
bnt I don't atand upon that. Much of our Lord's love saves us from that traffick
ing spirit, which returns only what it had received — " Love me, and 1 wiU love
you ; give me a pound, and I will give you a pound again." Oh, no. He teaches
us his free love, and that makes ua like him. I love you in him — for hie eake 1
and the more I know of you, the more I admire his grace and goodness to you.
I have now upon my table a precioua token of hia love — the Magna Charta of
hie moet precioua gifts in which he would aeeure you and me, how he intends to
ded with us in another world, and what we have to hope and fear from him.
We never could have known this wonderful eecret, unlees ne had reveded it ; and
being of inestimable vdue, we cannot prize it enough, now it is reveded. I have
devoted it to the use of your intended dwelling. Let it be the first piece of furniture ;
as indeed it is the best : and for my eake, let it be the family Bible. If it be hie
sovereign wiU — I may be your occasional chaplain, and may have it for my
morning and evening lecture. It ie Beza's edition, and has the beat notea that I
ever read : I keep it, tiU I can conveniently aend it. I have great faith in the
communion of saints — I wish you had as much — you would be oftener than you
are, teUing me of your wiahes and wanta. I have not had any thing for a long
time to ask for, when I have been at Court, but about a sick child. My Lord lovea
children. It is his delight to hear parents dedicate, and friends recommend them
to him. I hope he haa been gracioue to my prayere for your infant — and Mre.
T. says, "AHisweU."
The times are threatening. What a fearful earthquake in Sicily and Itdy !
what an alarming one in the politicd state of England ! how has God confounded
the wisdom of the wise ! the French wanted all the trade of America from us ;
they have loet all their trade by it. The Dutch foUowed their steps, and have
ruined themselves. Mr. I. thus writes me from France : " We went through
Cherburgh — Caen — Toura — Poiters — Angouleme — to Botirdeanx; through all
the places we passed, the commercial people are tired of the people of the thirteen

THE REV. W. ROMAINE, A.M 655
stripes. All that have dedt with them are bankrupts, and they are every where
disliked : one only is left at Bourdeaux, and he is not worth a shilling. People's
eyes are now open ; and they prove my words true, dthough they expected to
enrich themselves by their commerce with these people. It is impossible to
describe the aversion of the French to the people of the thirteen stripes. Now
you wttl have them with you ; as no credit is to be had elsewhere. I wish they
may not complete our ruin. Bankruptcies are here in dl parts ; no less than
135 at Bourdeaux, in eight months past. Trade is very dull every where ; and
specie none to be had." Oh what a happiness in such a storm to be safe in the
ark! he need not be afraid of any evU tidings, who has embarked his aU with
Christ. Noah went through such a storm, as never was before nor since, and
he feared not ; because the Lord shut him in. May that same Lord take you
into his care, and keep you and yours, by his mighty power, through faith unto
salvation. I need not teU you, that I am, with usud good wishes, your friend and servant,
in our common Lord,
W. Romaine.

LETTER CLXV.
July 9, 1784.
Mr. T. — I have got a very good letter carrier in some things, but not in all.
He very seldom gives me proper notice of his departure. He came to dinner to
day, and sdd he should go to-morrow morning by the diligence : so that I am
only left a little of the afternoon to teU you, what I shaU not go through in months
anel years. — How much brotherly love increases, and ripens by experience. He
that teaches it, has made it my request, that it may grow on, untU it be perfected
in his own world. And I ask in fdth, nothing wavering. May you feel the
heavenly influence, aa I do.
I do not forget my promise. The creed which I mentioned is prepared. Every
article is settled, and you shall have it in due time. Only give me patience.
I am now reading my Bible through from beginning to end. When this is
finished, I hope for some leisure, and Mr. T. shall have his share of it. You have
a demand on me, and you shaU have your due.
1 would gladly serve Mr. MitcheU, but Mr. Serie is now at Bath. If Mr.
MitcheU goes that way, he wttl find Mr. Serie at Mrs. Shaw's on the Parade :
who I am Bure will do any thing for him that he can, if not by a direct application,
yet he can put him in a way. God give success.
We are to have a thanksgiving for the peace. On this occasion I rejoice ; for
I am not a politician. Lord S. I know not, and I shaU say nothing about him.
My subject shall be about the peace-maker — Jesus Christ. — How he made peace
between God and man. — How he keeps it, and carries it on, tiU it be peace ever
lasting. — And how he makes peace between man and God, and reconciles them
perfectly by his Spirit through the belief of his gospel. And then he reconciles
man to man, and enables them to live at peace with one another. TeU brother
K. these are the outlines of my sermon on Eph. ii. 14. He is our peace. On
which subject he cannot speak too highly of Christ Jesus, the peace-maker, nor
yet of the proclamation upon the word — in which aU the articles of it are fully
settled— nor yet of the security of believing these articles upon the warrant,
authority, and commandment of God, and of living in peace trith God, when the
Lord the Spirit expldns and applies them. May it be a great day of thanks
giving trith you !
I do not wish to be releaaed from my chapldnship, or from the duties of it.
Mrs. T.'s hedth restored, and getting about again, wiU keep me stiU looking up
to my good Lord for her — and for her dear John — his name means one that has
found grace, may lie be acquainted with his name and enjoy the thing. Tell me
— how she does — and how my John thrives.
Admiral M. brings this trith many inquiries. We have seen much of him in

656 LETTERS WRITTEN BY
his present journey ; and he has given me great satisfaction, as to the reality of
his fdth, and to the growth of it : he is indeed one after my own heart.
1 commend myself and Mrs. R. to your prayers. We desire very cordidly to
be remembered lo Mrs. T. I long to see Mr. MitcheU. When wiU he return 1
Get out of my debt as fast as you can ; and pray for W. Romaine, and dl his.

LETTER CLXVI. Tuesday, Jan. 23.
My dear Mr. T. — I thank you much — I was prepared — my sacrifice of praise
was ready — and I offered it up— blessing that gracious, most gracious Lord, who
delighteth in mercy. He is, like himself, good, to father and mother, children
and friends. Oh caU upon aU you know, to give him the honour due unto his
name. We kept a jubilee last night. Our joyful thanks went up with accept
ance. Our supplications for the mother, for the babe, we left with him who,
we are certdn, wiU do dl for the best. Surely, Mr. T., God's dealings with you
have something of peculiar mercy, and caUfor singular acknowledgments — your
person, your wife, your chttdren, your prosperity, in this world, in a better. —
Oh what sort of a man should you be, whom God thus loadeth with benefits I
I scarce ever think of you, and how whatever you take in hand, the Lord maketh
it to prosper, without praying at the same time that be would crown dl hie
favoura with true poverty of spirit, and you may walk humbly trith your God.
Amen, Amen. My beloved partner was very hearty in our prayers and praises.
She begs every thing kind and friendly may be presented to Mrs. T. from her,
eis I aleo do from me. She deaires her reepects to Sdly ; wishes her much joy
of her little si8ter ; and hopee she will take a great deal of care of her. This is
the way to show that ehe ie a good girl, and loves her father and mother.
Thia ie preaching morning ; but I atole this time from reading and prayer, to
write these few lines. God make them acceptable.
W. Romaine.

LETTER CLXVII.
Sept. 26, 1785.
My dear Friend. — Our last lettera met upon the road ; but no angry words
passed between them. AU was peace. I kept my answer to youra, unttt I Bhould
eettle my affairs at home, and, taking my autumn ride, I should 8ee you face to

a good look up for Mre. T. And he takes notice of me, who can make her the
living mother of a living child : he has answered prayer on the same occasion,
and I do not doubt of hia good wttl or power. We who pray now shall praise
eoon. I hope to see the mother, and to ble88 the babe. If God send you a aon,
wiU you do rae the favour to let me give him a name, expreaeive of our devoting
him to our common Lord? We have eeen a great deal of the admird and
Mre. M., who inform ine that my John is a fine boy. God bleBB him. He laye
him upon my heart, bo that I have him in special remembrance. He is really
a favourite. And I show it in my way. He is a child of many prayers, which I
truat wttl bring down upon him many bleeeinge. When I am often thinking of
your great busineea, your great family, your many connexione, your active spirit
seems a peculiar mercy. The Bath quaker is not of my mind. He wanta to
quiet and atttl you ; aa if aU religion conaieted in a calm. But man i8 not made
for stttl life, nor can the christian man, in your family, and business, and mani
fold concerns, be ofthe quaker spirit. I remember he sdd once to you, " I wiah
I could stop that activity of youra." I did not take him up ; but I have often

THE REV. W. ROMAINE, A.M. 657
since admired the wisdom of God in fitting you for your place and station. See
him in aU ; and aU wttl be well : be not slothful in business ; but begin it and
end it with the Lord : then success wttl foUow. You are a witness for this : so
am I in my way. I am in my spirit as active as you can be ; but I set the Lord
dways before me. I take him with me to my reading ; visiting the sick ; public,
rivate ministrations ; and it is wonderful what he enables a man to do, when
e works for God. For when we carry him all the glory, he stiU sends us away
with more grace. Go on. Be busy. Do all you can for your famUy ; but
sanctify aU by the word of God and prayer. I believe you do. God knit aU our
hearts — brother K. — Mrs. — your famUy — in one bond, never, never to be broken ;
no, not by death, that great bond-breaker. So prays your red friend, and con
stant orator to him,
W. Romaine.

I

LETTER CLXVIII.
Friday Morning.
My dear Friend. — Although I have not time to write as I could wish, yet
I could not neglect the opportunity ; if it was only to let you see, that the doc
trines of grace are not unfriendly to good works. Though, by the by, the first
good work a man can do, is to receive them, and the next, and so on, is to make
use of them. When I would tell you of my good workB, it is not great I : — Oh
no ! It is the sun that makes fruitfulness ; so does my Sun, my fight and my
life. He enables me to wish to be like him ; and to be doing what he did, and
aa he did it : on the 8ame motive and to the same end. My love to you is truly
his gift. And what if I should say I show proof it, expecting nothing agdn ? I
write, and I write, and write agdn. This is No. 4 since I left S. I take every
occasion to mention you and yours to my gracious Lord, and he is pleased to hear
me. The very privilege is its own blessedness. It will only receive some addition,
when friend T. BhaU say, " I am doing the same for you and yours." I believe you
are doing it. But do it more, and better, and get out of my debt as fast as you
can. It will be a good while first; but if you wiU let me give you a hint, it
may be improved for your sake and mine. Make a conscience of remembering
me as often as you are going to  . Pray one for another — so runs the com
mand — mind how faithful he is to his word. Daniel's three friends went to
prayer — they besought God with him, to give Daniel the understanding of
Nebuchadnezzar's dream, and the interpretation : while they prayed, the answer
came. In like manner, when Peter was in prison, and to be executed the next
day, the church was at prayers aU night for his deliverance, and while they were
praying, Peter came and told them, " How God had delivered him." Peter
spoke very feelingly afterwards, when he said, " The Lord knoweth how to
deliver them that are his." Indeed, sir, I want your prayers. I ask them. I
have some right to them ; and I beheve they wiU do me good. My blessing on
laU the children. Peace be trith you. Amen.
Mr. K. is in my Litany for gospel ministers, when I weekly recommend them
by name to the Lord of the harvest. I wish he may do the same for me.
W. Romaine.

LETTER CLXIX.
Jan. 9, 1786.
Mr. T. — I begin with thanks. Blessed be his name, who has spared us
another year, and is still magnifying his mercy to us and to ours. He is good,
and doeth good ; for his mercy endureth for ever. And to whom ? Who are the
objects of his mercy ? Wonderful to consider : dl, aU of them are rebels — and
when pardoned, for their best services deserve nothing but heU : and yet he
glorifies his grace in such — giving, increasing, multiplying his mercies, both to
their bodies and souls — yea, he loadeth them with his benefits. My friend, take

658 LETTERS WRITTEN BY
an estimate of them ; you have leisure, more than you had at S. I am a bad
accountant ; but you are weU acqudnted with figures — try what you can do in
casting up this sum — " What has God done for you — When did lus purposes of
doing you good begin — How many mercies have foUowed you all tne days of
your life. And when wiU they stop." Psdmciii. 17. I believe it will puzzle all
your skiU in arithmetic, to give the sum totd. A better man than you tried, but
he failed ; and be thought it his wisest part to end the trial with fresh praise, as
you may read, Psdm cvi. 1, 2. It is the right working of divine grace to be
wUling to ascribe dl to grace. And instead of getting out of debt by praises, we
are more indebted for our praises, and should be more thankful for more thank
fulness. When I have acknowledged your Christmas present, it is no payment. It
is ody saying Mr. T. is very kind to his friends, and I am among them, much
beholden to him ; that with you is enough : so it is with our God.
I am much indebted to your faithful partner — tell her so f will acknowledge
her letter, when I get time. At present I have more work than I can well get
through. My curate is leaving me — and 1 am not yet provided ; so that the
parochial duty lies heavy on me. But I serve a good master, and I do not com
plain. He makes my service perfect freedom.
Mr. Serie wttl by no means hear of money; and I cannot think of accepting
so large a quantity for nothing : you will therefore give me leave to make you a
free-will offering. I will take care you shall have the half dozen sackfuls in due
time — cut ready and prepared for planting hdf an acre : which in one year will
yield you a sufficient quantity for a very great farm. The Lord of the harvest
bless the plough.
I have much to say to you about this new year — but my excuse to Mre. Tayloi
muet dso plead with you. When leisure is vouchsafed unto me, I shall look
towards P. G. and often before pray my Lord to look there, and to take you and
youra under his specid care. So prays my good partner, joining heartily with
W. Romaine.

LETTER CLXX.
Saturday Morning .
My dear Friend. — Put your mercies and your afflictions together — what
comparison between them — how many more mercies than afflictions — and how
many mercies in afflictions. Oh for a loud, a louder Btill, song of praise. Who is
a God like unto our God, that maketh affliction do us good and bring himself
glory? Let songs of triumph be sounded by all your family, that you have no dark
side in God's providences and dealings with you. Let your children and friends
join with me in adoring him for what he has clone, and praying him not to slacken
his hand. In this sweet employment I shaU be engaged tiU Tuesday, the day we
hope to see you face to face. It must be a short visit — hut let us meet and part
good friends, expecting that whatever befalls ua, the day wttl come, when we ahall
meet and part no more. My beloved partner has a share in aU my good wishes
to Mrs. T. and family, not forgetting my John. Pray for W. Romaine

LETTER CLXXI. Sunderland, August 1, 1791.
My dear Friend. — I promised that I would write unto you when I came to
the end of my journey : and I do not take up my pen to. fulfil that promise, but
to teU you, that Mrs. T.'s letter came to us yesterday, forwarded by my son from
London, and that the contente occasioned great joy and thankfulness in both our
hearts. We were very anxious for Mrs. D., and led to pray much for her, and
now our prayers are turned into praises ; as he said, " What return shall I make

THE REV. W. ROMAINE, A.M. 659
unto the Lord for all the benefits which he hath done unto me ;" what he has
done for you, is for me also. He has given me to share in your good ; for which
I bless his holy name. I shaU keep looking up to him for the mother and her
son—- for the mother, that she may feel how much she is indebted to the loving
kindness of her good Lord Jesus — and for the son, that, whether it fives or dies,
it may be the Lord's. Mrs. R. desires to thank Mrs. T. for the good news : it
was really so, and helped us greatly to increase the thanks of yesterday. I was
favoured with an opportunity of recommending my dearest Jesus in the oldest
church in England, called Monk Weremouth, which belonged to the venerable
Bede, a very favourite pulpit of mine, and from which his precious name has
been often, like ointment, poured forth. When I remove from this place to
Northumberland, and get a sight of Chevy Chace Hills, which bound England
and Scotland, I shall be reminded of an engagement with Mr. T. Till it be ful
fiUed, I shaU be recommending you, Mrs. T. and all yours, to the care and
keeping of my Jesus : so will Mrs. R., who begs, whenever you write to Mrs. D.,
to be most affectionately remembered to her, as does also
W. Romaine.

LETTER CLXXII. Brislington, Sept. 24, 1791.
My dear Friend. — Although I dways look upon you as one highly favoured,
yet I could mention a person who has been as graciously dedt with as yourself;
and who perhaps may surpas8 you in the greatness, the number, and the con
tinuance, of divine mercies. I hope to discourse with you upon this subject, and
to try which of us can best magnify the specid goodness of our God. He sur
rounds me here with hiB loving kindness — the family — the place— the weather —
Bristol friends — Bristol congregations. I have not a moment, but some of them
are saying to me — Here, here is fresh matter of praise. God make me thankful.
I wish to bring such a spirit, as I now feel, to P. We leave our friends here
Oct. 3d, and staying two days at Bradford, we expect to be at Sdisbury the 6th,
on Thursday, and meeting your chdse, to arrive Friday, by two o'clock, at P.
The Lord Jesus vouchsafe us a happy meeting, that we may help one another
forward in our great journey.
My paper wttl not hold the number of respects and remembrances to Mrs. T.
from Mrs. R. accompanied with the sdutations of the l.'s, trith my own particular
good wishes and prayers for every branch of your family. You are aU upon my
heart, the sick and the weU. My Lord, to whom I recommend you, makes his
people happy in aU conditions ; and he often lets them be sick to make them
happier. He has a wonderful way of his own, in curing desperate diseases ; yea,
even of turning death into life. Blessed, blessed for ever, are aU they who foUow
his prescription. Mr. T. you have tried him — go on — trust and be not afraid.
If your faith could go as far as his promises, you would find heaven upon earth
— the work of fdth with power is heaven. May he keep you in it, who is the
author and the finisher of the fdth. My love to brother K. and famUy, and to
your visitors, if any whom I know. Pray for
W. Romaine.

LETTER CLXXIII.
Jan. 4, 1792.
First letter of this year.
Mr. T. — We have taken our leave of the last year : fareweU 1791, thou wilt
return no more. Welcome 1792. Our business now is, to try to profit from the
past, and to improve the coming time. When a Christian looks back, every
thing cdls for his praise. And looking forward, every thing calls for prayer, the
u r 2

6G0 LETTERS WRITTEN BY
prayer of faith. On these subjects we employed ourselves on New Year's Day.
^ ou know it is one of my festivds. We had a great meeting ; and, I tru8t, many
true worahippera. Our motto for thia year, and our employment through all
our years, ia, " Grow in grace." 1 Pet. iii. 18. Take the outiinea. Grace means
favour, free. In our present circumstances, it is the favour of God to the sin
ners of mankind ; said to come from Jehovah, very, very gracious — from the
Father, from the Son frequently, and from the Spirit of grace, to teach us, that
in the blessed Trinity, dl their purposes, words, and works, are favour, nothing
but red favour, to believers. To them who feel guttt and wrath in their con-
aciencea, it cornea like a cool breeze after a sultry day : and it is dso compared
to dew, which, in hot countries, is very necessary to dl the fruits of the earth, and
comes upon them most freely, as you may see, Mic. v. 7.
Hence the necessity of it was shown. It is to the soul what breath is to the
body. What the dew, and rain, and the shining of the heavens, are to eveiy
thing that grows out of the earth; so is grace, as the apostle proves at large,
Eph. ii. And thie leads us to consider the objects of grace, not so much in the
purpose of the Trinity, as in the discovery of it. They are quickened by the Spirit
of life, enabled to receive Jesus for their Sariour and their God, and then to live
upon his fulness by faith, where they find all grace for spiritud life, growth, and
activity ; moment after moment, grace for grace.
To learn this le8aon in practice is the sound experience of a true believer-
grace to pardon, aa 1 Tim. i. 14. Grace to Bubdue ain — grace to purify the heart
— grace to regulate the life ; the8e in use are the exercise and the improvement
of the grace of Jesus. He takes aU from Christ as mere favour, and wiehee to
grow up into him in dl things. May thie proBper in your heart. God ie teaching
it you, aa 1 obaerve from your last letter; and I aee a legal turn in you that would
pervert hia teaching. Mr. T. the feeling of what you are should not keep you
from Christ, but make you live more on his grace, and endear him to you, as the
ody refuge for your case. If you grow in self-knowledge, it should be your
schoolmaster to teach you more of Christ ; because the more you know him, the
more you will trust him. He will everyday give you more reason to do it; and
mind, the more you trust him, the more you will love hiin. His Spirit will make
him to your bettering heart a precious Jesus ; and the constraining love of Chriat
will lead you to a diligent uae of all the appointed meana, in which he has pro
mised to meet, and to bless his people. This is our mordity; and all this ia
favour. He giveth grace, and he giveth glory. Sainte and angels are, and will
be to eternity, worshippers of our Immanuel : so eaye Peter, " To him be glory
now, and through the day of eternity, Amen." My application waa, 1. To the
gracelees. 2. Toaeekera. 3. To the weak in faith. 4. To the atrong. All ia
from Christ. May thia year be a growing year — downward8 and upwards — out
of self into Christ — from all creature-dependence to more perfect in and on God,
his word and Spirit, as a witness to the fulnesa of Jeaua. Oh, Mr. T., thie ia fine

talking; but, believe me, you may aa soon create a world, as learn this leBBon
without almighty grace. Pray, pray for divine teaching. Pray for a growth in
grace, that you may loathe and abhor youraelf; and, repenting in duet and ashes,

may adore the God of all grace. I am on my watch-tower for you, and for Mrs.
T. and for aU your family, that they may get it, and use it.
Mr. K. wttl not be offended at my wishing him more grace in hia heart, and in
hia pulpit, and in his family. W. Romaine.

LETTER CLXXIV. Brislington, Sept. 13, 1792.
My very dear Friend. — We have aettled our plan, and immediately com-
mumcate it to your friends at P. When you were at Plymouth, it would have been
a little variety, and not at all out of your way, to have come by Tavistock and
Crediton to Tiverton, — a charming road. We came from Plymouth that way

THE REV. W. ROMAINE, A.M. 661
A nd after refreshing us with the sight of you all, you would have got into your
road at Honiton again without loss of time. We purpose, God willing, to be at
Salisbury on Tuesday evening, Oct. 2d, where you will kindly engage to send for
us. It will give us a very great entertainment to have it under your hand, that
you are aU weU, got home safe, have been remembering that dearest friend, who
kept your going out and your coming in. We are here at Brislington with our
friends, who talk stiU of returning to France, notwithstanding the great ApoUyon
reigns there paramount. The seeds have been long sowing, and now they are
manifest in their fruits, marked with savage, more than savage, bloodshedding
and cruelty. What can Dr. Priestley say now ? Here is infidelity with its natu
ral effects. God keep old England ! We have too much, by far, of the French
principles ; only the Almighty can stop their dreadful effects. May we repent
and be spared. I am praying, and preaching, and exhorting all I can, to stop
the madness of the times. This is a solemn season also with me on my own ac
count. More than hdf a century ago, I was ordained to be a witness for Christ
in this month of September. Looking backward, every thing I can remember
covers me with shame. Doing so httle for such a Jesus — grudging to be ldd
out and spent for him — and, when he did vouchsafe to make use of me, so ready
to take his glory to myself. I verily stand amazed at his infinite patience and
kindness in all bis dealings with me. I feel I must lie at his footstool, and be con
tent (but he must make me so) to be in his debt for aU things that belong to life
and godliness : according to Mr. Jones's dying triumph, " A sinner saved, a sin
ner saved."
AU here salute you. Mrs. R. in a particular manner to Mrs. T. and yourself,
with your fdthful friend in our dearest Lord,
W. Romaine.

LETTER CLXXV.
My dear Friend. — I have had to preach twelve times in fourteen days 
and rather not well, till preaching comes, and then I get better. No master like
mine. His service is perfect freedom. Our meditation concerning him on new
year's day, was on one of his names, namely, Melchisedec. From comparing
what is sdd of him in Genesis, and in the 1 10th Psalm, with St. Paul's comment
upon both these passages in Hebrews vii, it seems to me most certdn that Jesus
Clirist is the person spoken of in the Old Testament. The apostle has explained
the word for us, and says it means, " the King of righteousness." Oh what a
blessed name ! There being none righteous, no, not one, he vouchsafed to be
" the Lord our righteousness." He wrought it out for us, and applies it in us.
He sends his Spint to convince us that we want it, and to enable us to trust in
his — to plead it in the conscience, and to rejoice in it in the heart, and to be fiU
ed with the blessed fruits (as Phil. i. 11) of it in our lives. Consider, he is the
King of this saving righteousness — a great King — Jehovah — King of kings — the
Creator of heaven and earth — the God of providence, who upholdeth dl things by
tiie word of his power — the God of the fathers, worshipped under the tabernacle
and temple dispensation — and the God whom Christians worship, it being their
distinguishing character, to call upon the name of the Lord, as you may see
Acte ix. 14 ; 1 Cor. i. 2 ; 2 Tim. ii. 22. May he reved himself all the year to you
as your righteousness : and this is the proper work and office of faith — with all
the confidence of your heart to depend upon him, so as to enjoy peace with God
— love to God — and loving obedience. Remember, this year wiU cdl for much
fdth : and you wtil not exercise it as far as he warrants you. He bids you cast
dl your care upon him : for Mrs. T. — for children — for business — for death — for
eternity : you cannot lay too much upon him — the government of aU worlds is
upon hia shoulders. O precious faith ! He is my King. He rules in my heart
He has set up there a throne of grace. He keeps under the rebels, and keeps me
trilling to follow him wheresoever his providence leads. Mr. T\, 1 beg for von,
and beg yourself, for more trust in the Lord our righteousness. Th; you

662 LETTERS WRITTEN BY
may so grow in grace, as to thank God, who dways causeth you to triumph in
Christ Pray for
W. Romaine.

LETTER CLXXVI.
Dec. 5, 1793.
My Friend. — A goodly company of you met together. Peace be with you,
family and guests. You say, I am in your debt — so I wish to be ; and bo I
must be for some time. I have set down in earnest to finish the " Triumph of
Fdth ; " and am now transcribing it for the press. It has grown so voluminous,
haying been in hand ever since 1771, that I have resolved to throw aaide all my
papers, and write only just what I myself am at preaent, an old believer. I ara
in haste to get it finished, before I finish my course, which is very near run out.
Soon I shall enter on my 80th year, and 80on be no more here. I therefore
leave my experience in the former volumes of the " Life of Fdth " and of the " Wdk
of Faith" in this concluding treatise, which contains what I am stttl learning and
living. Some years ago, I published a volume of Dr. Smith's portraiture of old
age, explduing the 12th of Ecclesiaates. Now am made to feel the symptoms
therein described ; which is practicd knowledge, and the truest comment upon
the Hible when the Holy Spirit writes it on the heart, and brings it into uae and
experience in the life. Now I have told you my preaent state— -I am as busy, in
ray way, as you can be in youra. The preparing for the prees ia not the whole
of my employment. I would be found much in prayer for direction, for assist
ance, &c. ; and, above all, for a bleaaing from God : without which, the book may
as well be burnt as see the light. Herein you, and my friends with you, can
help me much ; and you wttl, if brotherly love continue. I beg, for my Lord's aake,
that you would plead with him for hie direction — his assistance — his blessing, on
my poor attempt to spread his matchless fame, and to encourage believers to
trust him more and better.
Take this excu8e : for it is a true one. Oh that your account of Mr. T. may
be matter of fact : I rejoice and am thankful.
May you take Mrs. T. home aa weU aa I wiah her. M., I find, is to learn a
little longer in our Lord's school : may he prove a good scholar till faith and
patience have done their perfect work. My love to Mr I. He ie in my debt,
and can get out of it when he will. I wieh him one of your blessed gospel-winters.
Mrs. I and her dear chUdren are in my litany : bo are youra. If you have any
regard for rae— remember my " Triumph of Faith." Pray that I may live it, and, in
due time, die it. So wishes my good partner, to you, and yours, and dl your
guesta. In the holy bonds of Christian love, I am, truly, your friend and
servant,
W. Romaine.

LETTER CLXXVII
Jan. 1794.
My dear Friend. — May this be the happiest year of your life, and Mra. T.
and aU your children. He can make it bo, ill whose hands are your time. And
he can do it in a marvellous way. He can bring in comforts, by taking away
comforts, and 1 hope he does. Mr. I sdd in a letter, " You have heard of the
melancholy death of Mr. D." I had a letter from S. about a fortnight after,
which made no mention of it ; so that I did notknowfor certain how it was, till I met
Mr. B. who showed me a letter from you, giving an account of it. You eee
here is another breach in your family — a loud warning to you all, young and old,
to be ready ; that ia, take care that ye be found in Christ, living and dying.
Our motto was thia year " The God of hope." Rom. xv. 13. I purpoee to give
you the substance of my observations some other time. Last week I was ena.

THE REV. W. ROMAINE, A.M. 663
bled to preach right sermons — and this week seven. It is better to burn out than
to rust out. If Mr. K. does not preach so often, may he do it more fervently, and
with more success. I can wish you nothing greater, than the continud experience
of Rom. xv. 13. May the power of the Holy Ghost show what great thing, ex
ceeding great, you have to hope for from God in Christ, and put you by faith into
the present enjoyment, Mrs. T. and aU your chUdren. So prays
W. Romaine.

LETTER CLXXVIII
My good Friend. — I give you the earliest intelligence of our motions, in
which you are pleased to interest yourself. It is our year to visit my sister at
Tiverton, to whom we go the beginning of July ; afterwards, I have taken the
care of Mary Portchurch, in Bristol, for four Sundays. After which, I hope God
will open a way for us to see our friends at P., and to help one another forward in
the best things — which wiU be (if all things favour) in October, and of which I shdl
inform you again and again in the course of the summer. May our hearts meet
often in the centre of union.
Your late sickness had a voice — it spake — and you heard it say — " In the midst
of life we are in death." How short is hfe — how uncertdn ! How certdn, infal
libly certain, is death ! How necessary is preparation for it ! How dangerous the
least delay ! How comfortable a weU-grounded hope of safety in death, and of joy
beyond it. Mr. T. you know tliese things — Oh, for more practical knowledge, and
lively experience. T here is an antidote against the sting, ay, and agdnst the fear of
death — an infallible cure — true faitii believes, and takes it. The conscience feels
the sovereign virtue — the blood of the Lamb cleanses it frofn dl sin : and when
guilt is gone, the heart is saved from every enemy it had reason to fear, and is
entitled to every blessing that God has promised. It is upon the ground of this
warrant, and nothing else, (pray mind that,) that any man can look forward to
death and judgment, with a hope full of glory and immortdity. What said the
blessed company of Old Testament martyrs ? All these died in faith : to whom
the New Testament church in perfect unison replies — Thanks be to God, who
giveth us also the victory over the law, over sin, and over death, through Jesus
Christ our Lord . Mr. T., you have their faith — God help you to make good use of it ! If
you live long, you must expect trids : the prospect which faith opens into the other
world, will marvellously support and comfort you under them. God has given
you many, many temporal blessings ; this faith wiU improve them, and exalt them
into spiritual and heavenly mercies : it will teach you to sit loose to them — God
in them, and not they alone, will be your portion. You wttl taste his goodness in
them ; and when he cdls you to leave them, you wiU be — he will make you — as
ready to leave them, as a poor beggar would be to fall asleep, if the Almighty had pro
mised that he should awake a great emperor : our Jesus is this Almighty — He has
promised to be our shepherd through life and death. May he magnify his tender
care over you, by making you feci happy in him, as happy as the 23d Psalm pro
mises he will make you.
1 know you will excuse my long sermon : but truly I am so sensible of the
importance of preparation — the dreadful danger of delay — that I could not help
thanking my Goel, who had spared you. This sickness, I trust, was for his glory
in your good — as Lazarus' was ; but Lazarus died afterwards. May you live to
die as Lazarus, and be where he is now. I assure you, the christian hope has its
present harvest of blessings. May you enjoy them abundantly, through hfe, and
for ever and ever.
Mrs. T. is in my eye, and in my heart. What I wish you, I dso wish her.
She carries about with her a constant monitor, a weak and crazy body ; and he
says to her, " Be ye also ready." I know she believes : and whatever bad nerves
may suggest, and they are terrible enemies to the comforts of Christ, yet be is on
her siile ; and he wttl prove himself, in every time of need, to be her Saviour and

6C4 LETTERS WRITTEN BY
her God. She is persuaded I make use of my interest with him for her, and for
dl she loves, especiaUy my John, whom God bless. B. K. gave me yesterday
a good account of his father — 1 was in prayer for him — and have now been giving
of thanks: may he be preserved, for the sake of his church, his famUy, and his
friends. Mrs. R desires the kindest things may be Bdd for her to Mrs. T. and
all true and red. We join in constant prayer for you, and hope to join soon with
you ; and it warms my very heart and soul with feelings inexpressibly blessed,
that I hope, ere long, to join aU my P. friends, in the prdses of God and the
Lamb, which will never, never end, but grow better and better to dl eternity.
W. Romaine.

7b Mrs. T.
LETTER CLXXIX. Noti. 28, 1785.
My dear Friend, Mrs. T.— I was interested greatly in the birth of John —
and, if I remember weU, I sent you on that occasion, some reflections to Btir up
ycrar gratitude. My heart haa been with you on the preaent mercy, for which I
Joined in prayer, and now join in thanksgiving. You will not be offended, that
send you what haa been upon my mind lately, and what I tmat haa been dso
upon youra — may he, who commands the blessing, make it the meana of exciting
and increasing the praieee of your heart. I euppoae you in your closet, and in the
presence of God.
Oh, how many are my mercies : and theee new mercies are caUing for a new
song of praise.
Bless the Lord, Oh my aoul, and aU that ia within me, bless hie holy name .
Bleee the Lord, Oh my eoul, and forget not dl his benefits :
For surely his mercy and goodnesa have followed me all the daya of my life.
Oh what waa I, that God ehould aet hie love upon me before time, and in time
caU me to the saving knowledge of his Son, whom to know aright is life eternal ?
And what am I even now, since I have felt something of the power of hia pre
cious gospel ?
Why me, Lord ? what was I, what am I, that I should be chosen, and cdled, and
accepted in the Beloved ? Not unto me, in the least, not unto me, but unto thy
sovereign grace be all the praise.
Oh help mo to ascribe unto thee, the glory due unto thy great name : for I am
surrounded, I am loaded with thy benefita.
AU thy deafinga with me ahow forth thy loring kindne8s ; an i in temporala, aa
well as spiritud8, I am singularly favoured.
I cannot count my many, many outward bleeeinge, nor can I be thankful enough
for a spiritud use of them.
When I survey my situation in life, my kind relations, my friends and sub-
stance, my house and servants, they all proclaim the bounty of heaven to my
soul. Thanks be to thee, thou that delightest to do good I I aee thy hand, I taste
eomething of thy love in all my enjoymente.
I thank thee for thy gifts — I use them by thy grace— and I bless thee, that
they are in any measure sanctified by the word of God and prayer.
Oh how are my mercies increasing ! they abound in number — in quality they
grow more exceUent ; for I get two in one — firat a mercy, and then a thankful
heart to acknowledge it, which is grace for grace.
Let me, deeply impreseed, lift up my heart to ble88 the Lord God, for my husband,
my children, and especiaUy for my new-born son — whom I devote to thee, and to
thyservice. Oh, be with him through life! Thou knowest my heart ana the feelings
of a mother : let the bowels of thy tender mercies in Christ be towards him. I oak
nothing more for him — and thou wouldst not have me aak any thing leas — than
that thou mayest be his portion, and his exceeding great reward.

THE REV. W. ROMAINE, A. M 665
And now, Father of my mercies, who hast been the guide of my youth, into thy
care and keeping I commit me and mine.
Here I am at P  , a miracle of thy goodness : let me live here a hfe of
praise — and whatever blessings thou givest, crown them with a humble and a
thankful heart.
O let me never be suffered to rob thee of thy glory ; but help me to give it aU,
where it is due, in life, and death, and to dl eternity — to Father, Son, and Holy
Ghost. Amen.
When this shaU be completed, W. R. hopes to be in company, and to join in
an everlasting HaUelujah.
Ay, and before too : the weU-grounded expectation of this feeds and nourishes
our gratitude at present. Already I feel some of its heavenly influence, and my
design in writing, is to suggest something which may give you a new relish of it.
Though we cannot enjoy so much, nor prdse so weU, as our elder brethren, who
are now round the throne, yet surely we may taste and see, as well as they, how
gracious our Lord is ; and dthough they are banqueting at the marriage
supper, yet we, the friends of the bridegroom, are invited to rejoice in our Lord
as weU as theirs, and we are commanded, too, to rejoice in him dways : and again
I say, rejoice.
My dear Mrs. T., I know your weak frame, and your poor nerves — I make
aUowances for your bodily infirmities ; yet it is upon account of these very things
that I would try to stir you up the more. You want fresh encouragements to
believe, and by believing not only to go on your way, but dso to be able to go
on rejoicing. Happy am I, if my good master pleases to bless any thing I write
to the increasing of your faith and of your joy in him. Be assured, the more
you trust him, the greater reason you wiU find to trust still more : and when you
are quite satisfied that you are safe in his hands, as he warrants you to be, then
wttl your love to him abound ; for fdth first worketh love, and then worketh by
love, keeping the heart warm, in its grateful attachment to a precious, precious
Jesus. May this be your portion I So prays
W. Romaine.

LETTER CLXXX.
May 12, 1788.
Mrs. T. — Tuesday, one o'clock— just come from church. This is my day for
preaching to young people : we harl a congregation of at least two thousand
children ; anel, what made me wish I had seen dl your dears before me, was
that my Lord might have laid his hands upon them, and blessed them ; for he
was with us of a truth. He repeated Mark x. 13. Our text was Psdm cxix. 9.
Our nature is defiled — the fountdn is poUution; so are the streams. Thoughts
vain — play foolish — tempers rebellious and headstrong — end is destruction. Our
JesiiB is almighty to save us. He can teach the ignorant, wash the filthy, pardon
the guilty — subdue every bad temper, and set in, and keep in, the way of life and
sdvation. He invites young people to come to him: promises to give them
better things than play or pleasure : makes his promises good — gives exceeding
great and precious things, and these for ever. Many intreaties were used, ana
much prayer for success, that the work of the day might prosper. He did his
own wiU : to him be all the glory.
My kind love to Mr. T., and thanks for his kind letter. God has prospered,
God does prosper, God will prosper, him. So prays
W. Romaine, for him and his.

666 LETTERS WRITTEN BY

LETTER CLXXXI.

Mrs. T. — You gave me great pleasure in your last letter. I am much beholden
to you. I speak hot after the manner of men, but frora my heart. I feel thank
fulness : It is no bad wish to pray you may feel as much : for I am sure you
have as much, if not more, reason. You have a friend who has done wonders
for you, and who expects nothing in return, but an humble acknowledgment :
and that dso he must give you. I often think of his goodness, and bless hira for
you. If he took away a parent, he was better than a father. He himself brought
you up, and made your guardians so careful of you, and so kind to you. He sent
you your husband, and put you into such circumstances, that your heart cannot
wish for more. Look back, Mra. T., look round, and see whetlier our God hath
not dealt bountifuUy trith you. May aU his temporal mercies stir up and
increase gratitude in your soul. But what aie these, though they be great, and
many, and uneleserved, compared to his special favours ? I knew he loved you :
but I am happy to have it under jour hand. Whatever Almighty love can do,
he wiU perform. Ob what a debt do you owe him — for his unspeakable gifts —
himself — What a sum is that ! His Spirit, to unite your spirit to Jesus — Oh what
an infinite mercy ! And to abide with you, to keep you in union, and to establish
communion with God your Saviour ; that in hia fulness you may find and onjoy
all the bleaaings of the Father's love — his Father, and in Jeaua your Father. Ily
what gracioue providencea has he led you to thia experience ! Your relations,
friends, acqudntance, and education, all kindly overruled by him to train you up
in the good old way. Your present settlement, the family you are in, the
ministry you sit under, ( )h what mercies 1 The Bible opened to you — the pro
mises credited, put in suit, applied. Prayer a delight, in some measure — praise
at timee very encouraging — a humble walk, ae I can witneee. My dear friend,
raise up your heart, anel bless his holy name. If your heart be cold, like the
weather, warm it at his love : for all his gifts are but a little earnest in hand.
At present, your best is but a foretaste. Look forward, and see what an estate
you have in reversion. True, it is only in promise ; but that credited ia aa good
as any freehold. Truat, trust him, be not afraid. It ia vet but a little, very
little while, and he wttl put you into full poaBesaion. And I hope to aee it, and
join your eternd song of praiae to God and the Lamb. Your fnends die. The
year is just dead. I am tottering over the grave : but he eaye to me, and he
keeps up my spirite, " Because I live, ye ahaU live alao." In thia confidence,
come what may, I go on my way rejoicing. Prav for
W. Romaine.

To one of his Sisters, Sec.
LETTER CLXXXII.
My dear Sibter. — I dways loved you as my sister, now I iove you much
more than ever. I trust in God you will soon stand related to me by a more
closer and dearer bond than nature can tie. Only go on, and you wiU be happy.
God has begun his work, let him finish it. AU ray prayere ehdl he offered for
your speedy experience of hia pardoning love ; and, unttt you ta8te of it, let me
entreat you to be earneBt in the careful uee of aU the means of grace : be much in
prayer, in reading, and meditating on the word of God ; but then take care that
you build not on these dutiee. You are not to fancy, that any thing you can do,
is able to justify you in the eight of God. Your justification ie a free act of
God's grace without works.
W. Romaine

THE REV W ROMAINE, A.M. 667

LETTER CLXXXIII.
My dear Sister. — I saw Mr. R. last Sunday, who gave me a very pleasing
account of your growth in grace. It was said formerly, that the distinguishing
love of God chose two of a city, and one of a family ; but now what reason have
we to magnify and to exdt the love of our God, who has been bo exceedingly
gracious to our family ? I trust, he has greater blessings for us all, even in this
life, than we have yet received. Only do you wait upon him, and be found in
those ways wherein he meets his people, and he will carry you on safely and
sweetly to the end of your journey : it is but a little way, and a short time, and
we shaU be at home ; so that we ought every moment to be pressing forward ;
and may God keep you from being weary or fdnt in your mind ! You have
afflictions and troubles in the way, and so have aU God's chUdren. You have
them, because you want them. You could not grow in grace without them.
How could you take up your cross, and deny yourself ddly, if you had not daily
troubles ? And it is the exercise of faith to bear them, and to beheve that God
deals them out by number, weight, and measure. You have not one pain more
than you stand in need of. And farther, " our light affliction, which is but for
a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternd weight of glory."
If we do but attain to this glory, it signifies very little by what way we come to
the attainment of it. Think on these things, and, through the blessing of God,
they may help to make you see and feel, that the way of suffering is the royal
way to the kingdom.
My tenderest duty waits upon my dear mother. I hope God will finish his
work in her, before she goes hence. I trust we shall meet once more in this
world ; and I doubt not but we shall meet, where we shaU part no more. I send
inclosed, a little piece of Mr. Mason's. I hope God will bless it at this time,
as it comes seasonably, and particularly to my sister M., who wiU, I expect, be
able to read it with profit, about the time it reaches you.
Why do you want so much to have texts, and pieces of sermons ? Have you
not the Bible ? One word of it is worth a volume Read and pray much ; and
God wiU do more for you than aU his ministers can.
I commend you to God, and to the riches of his grace, praying him to do for
you all exceeding abundantly above aU that you can ask or think. I remain,
your loving brother,
W. Romaine.

LETTER CLXXXIV
July 18, 1758.
My dear Sister. — I can now acquaint you, with great thankfulness to my
good God, that my wife is brought to hed ; she had a pretty good time, and has
a boy likely to live. In a little time, I hope to be able to get my churches pro
vided for, and then I shaU inform you when I shall set out for the north. In
the mean time, pray for us, and especiaUy for me, that I may ctnne unto you,
with the demonstration of the spirit, and of power : and if God opens a door for
rae, it certdnly shell be so. There seems to be a great hungering and thirsting
after the word in most parts of the country ; I pray God some persons may be
sent to break the bread of life, and to distribute the waters of comfort to them.
The work of God still prospers in this city, which is the only token we have for
good — for it shows that God, in the midst of wrath, remembers mercy ; and if
llis wrath should increase, may the work of God prosper in your soul and mine,
that if he should come to punish, and to destroy this sinful nation, he may find
do sins in us to punish, all being covered with the Redeemer's blood..

668 LETTERS WRITTEN BY
I hope to find my mother better, to whom give my duty, anel my love to my
sisters. May you aU grow in grace, and in the knowledge of our Lord and
Sariour Jesus Christ : so prayetn your friend and brother,
W. Romaine.

LETTER CLXXXV.
My dear Sister. — I thank you for your kind letter. I think since I left
St. Olave's I have more business than before : dways some call to visit the sick
or other duty ; but not so much taken up, as to hmder me from wilting every
post, if I thought it would be any comfort to my mother. If ehe is wdting on
God, he wttl not leave her. If she is desiring the fulfilment of the promises,
God cannot deny himself : his word cannot be broken : he will give her her
heart's deaire, even himself to be her God, and her everlasting reward. My wife
has been very ill ; thank God, she is now pretty weU recovered, and sends her
duty to my mother, and her love to yon aU. The chttdren are well.
W. Romaine.

LETTER CLXXXVI.
I can say nothing yet about coming down. I have had sad troubles at
St. Duns tan 'a with the new vicar. He wttl let none preach for me without a
license, which puta rae to great inconvenience : but aU ia governed by One, who
knowe what ie beet, and doea what is beat, for hia own glory and hia people's
good. I desire to be more and more thankful to God, for hia mercies both to
me and to you. How can we thank him enough, for that so many of us are
seeking happines8 in eternd thinge, while so many are content with the happi
ness of time and sense ? How can we do too much to show our gratitude ? Oh,
let ub do, or suffer any thing our God calls us to ! Surely, the time is short, and
this short suffering ie the way to an eternal weight of glory, &c. W Romaine.

LETTER CLXXXVII.
My dear Sister. — I am glad to eee your handwriting. I received your
bill, and have sent you two hooks stitched in blue paper. You know, I suppoae,
why we did not all come ae we intended ; my wife ie poorly : ae eoon ae ehe ie
any thing better, I hope to eee you. I send you incloeed two lettera of Mra. Love's,
the moat extraordinary I ever 8aw — Her faith wa8 ae etrong ae Abraham'e, in
offering up hia only son. May God give you and rae the same faith! And I
doubt not but he will, if he calla ue to the like trials ; for I am certain, I find it
by experience, that he gives his people strength for their day. Religion is in a
very flourishing state among us. We have great additions of people, and several
ministere lately come out. Thia is indeed a day which the Lord hath made.
Oh that I may find him preaent with hia dirine efficacy, when I come down !
Help me with your prayers, both before and when 1 am there, that the work of
the Lord may prosper in my hands. Youra most affectionately, W. Romaine.

LETTER CLXXXVIII.
My dear Sister. — I have been very poorly a long time, but, thank God, I
find eickneee better for me than health ; and I am aure, when the Lord sees best,

THE REV. W. ROMAINE, A. M. 66L-;-
I shall be restored to my former state. The main thing is to be secure of our
eternal hedth ; of that I have no doubt. Blessed be God for his unspeakable
gift. I believe not one tittle of the word can be broken, but that to the utter
most it shaU be fulfiUed, even to me. This gives a relish to every thing God
sends ; because, whatever comes from him, comes dways sanctified, and gene
rally sweetened. What the enemy attempts against our peace, God overrules
to the establishing of it ; and his temptations against our graces are made to
strengthen them. This is my experience ; I hope it is yours. Rejoice in having
an Almighty friend. Be comforted in him. What signifies aU that Satan, or the
world, or our own hearts, can do against his power? We are his. That is
enough. He wttl keep us. He wUl strengthen us. He wttl justify us. He
wUl sanctify and glorify us. Yea, he wtil do this for such as we are. Oh let us
then fear nothing but displeasing him ; and while this holy fear is in our hearts,
we shdl go on safely and sweetly homewards. There may we meet, even in our
Father's kingdom, and inherit all that Jesus purchased for us !
My best respectB, and duty, and prayers, attend my dear mother. I have not
the least uneasy thought about her. She has God's promise. This she shall
find. The Lord keep you and aU friends.
W. Romaine

LETTER CLXXXIX.
Dear Sister. — Your letter gave me greater joy than I can express. I hope
aU will soon be well with your soul. You may examine yourself by these foUow
ing rules, and I hope God wttl give his blessing to them.
First, look back and see from whence your conviction of sin arose. The scrip
ture says, true conviction must come from the Holy Spirit ; and when he is come,
says Christ, he wiU convince the world of sin. It is his business and his office ;
and, when he acts in it, conviction has these properties different from the convic
tion of natural conscience. It respects not so much acts of sin, as the sin of our
nature ; that entire poUution and depravity of the faculties of soul and body,
which render us by nature chUdren of wrath. Again, it is deep; it goes to the
bottom of the heart, and lays open aU the lurking places of sin. Further, it is
lasting, it continues its hatred and opposition to aU sin, until it be not only seen
in the heart, but also driven out of it.
Secondly, if, after examining your conviction by these rules, you find it right,
and peace and joy begin to arise in your conscience ; if it be the peace and joy of
the Holy Spirit, it will make you continue to hate sin, and every thing sinful. It
will leave you more in love with God than it found you. You will love prayer
more, and will have a freedom and liberty in it which you had not before. You
will love God's word more, and wiU understand more of it, being enabled, by his
grace, to find instruciton in it, suitable to aU your spiritud wants. My meaning
in all this is, if the convictions have brought you to Jesus Christ, you will know
it by its fruits. You will find yourself grow in grace, and more in earnest about
the sdvation of your soul.
Thirdly, examine your growth in grace by this rule. We remember the sin
which did so easily beset us ; look at that ; see whether you hate it entirely, and
whether you have entirely got the mastery over it. God has promised that you
shdl have grace to help in time of need. Apply to God for the fulfilling of thiB
promise ; and be more concerned about this grace, which you dways want in
time of need, than about sensible comforts ; because, in the one you may be
deceived, but in the other you cannot. My dear sister, you have chosen the
better part. The kingdom of heaven is worth millions of worlds. May God
enable you to seek until you attain it. My prayers attend you. — Remember me
to ray sister. — My duty to my dear mother. Adieu.
W. Romaine.

$70 LETTERS WRITTEN BY

LETTER CXC.

Grace be with you, my dear sister, and trith my dearest mother ; thanka for
your kind letter. I am glad to observe the spirit of it. While Christ ia dear
and precious, aU wttl be weU. Lay him as the foundation, and build aU upon
him ; then foundation and building will never, never faU. Oh, my dear siater,
you cannot make too much of him. Fdth, resting on him, finds it free, fuU,
eternd pardon for aU ain ; and faith, living upon him, finds power over ain, deli
verance from temptationa and enemiea ; and, by and by, ain ahaU be no more,
but only heaven and glory, the purchase of the Saviour's blood. The believer's
motto is, "Chriat aU, I nothing.-" For he cannot live upon Christ, unless he
feel his wont of him. More wants, more faith, As they increase, so muat faith,
that the believer may get a supply, and the Saviour may get the glory. May
that precious Saviour, eterndly, infinitely precious, be your keeper! May you
love hira more than I do ; live more upon hint than I ! May my dear mother
get. established in him 1 Jeaue keep you ! Jesus bless you 1 My dear 8iater,
youra in him, W. Romaine.

; LETTER CXC I.
My dear Sister. — I have been waiting to anawer your kind letter, with
something Batiefactory ahout my outward affairs ; but, not being able as yet to
do it, I could not put off my writing any longer. You tell me good news indeed ;
which makea my heart glad and thankful. Oh, what rea8on have I to bless the
good and gracious Lord, who iB still infinitely loving to me and mine ! He hath
Drought me once more to St. Dunstan's, and through many miracles of mercy
which I have experienced both in my body and soul for these last eix montha.
Now I can eit down, and, looking back, adore and bleaa hie rich grace ; in all
things, and for dl things, I can give him thanks. Nothing have I to mention all
the day long, but mercy upon mercy ; great measure, preaeed down, and running
over. Every moment bringe eome increase of merciea to body, or aoul, or children,
or friends, or subetance ; and leads me to magnify the goodness of my dearest
Lord. He hath showed himself, by numberless acts of grace, so entirely my
friend, that he has enabled me to trust aU my mercies in his hands. He knowa
what i8 beet for me ; and I am eure he will give it me. Thua he ia glorified, and I
am happy. You have heard of ray being a candidate for a church in the city.
My frienda put me up ; and I am as if I were not a candidate, for I have Bcarce a
thought about it. One wieh 1 am sure I have not but that Chriat'a will may be
done. Would he employ me in a larger field than I have at preaent, " Here am
I, Lord, send me." If he would have me to stay, and work where I am, I am
content. Be thou, Lord, but with me, then I shall be and do what thou pleasest.
Thus have I cast aU my care for this and aU other things upon the Lord, knowing
that he careth for me. You wttl suppose, then, that I am happy : and so I am ;
very, very happy. I have got the pearl; let them take the field that wttl. For
one end and purpose only do I now live. I eee in this pearl of great price, the
infinitely rich Jesus, far more wisdom, righteousness, holiness, etrength, and
blessedness, than I have yet attained ; and I hunger and thirst for more, still more.
I know it is all mine ; and therefore I keep pressing forward. In what method,
and on what motives, I do this, I wttl teU you.
1 . As to myself, I find, that to this moment, I never go to Christ for any thing,
until I feel the want of it : so that, the more wants I have, the more I make uae of
him ; for which reason I am not afraid to discover what is in myself, be it what it
wttl, because it does not drive me from Chriat, but leads me to him. By thia
meana eelfis kept down, and Chriet ie exdted. For,
2. Ae to Christ, I grow in the knowledge of him by finding every day more,
that without him I can do nothing. Hereby my faith is increased, and I live in

THE REV. W. ROMAINE, A.M. <**&-.!
a more settled dependence upon him. My hopes are enlarged, and laid up with
him within the veil, which is the death of worldly hopes and fears : and my love
to him abounds from daily experience of his rich love to my soul, which crucifies
and kills the creature-love.
For these two things I am pressing forward, desiring to be more emptied of
self, and to live more out of self ; that I may be fiUed more with Christ, and live
more upon his fulness ; and this I am sure is the way to be holy and happy. Now
at Christmas, I would wish to feel in myself what a lost and etemdly miserable
creature I should have been without Christ. Here hes the ground of dependence
on him, and thankfulness to him. That believer wUl spend the best Christmas,
who is most experimentdly acquainted with his own ruined nature, and thereby
knows what a mercy it is, that God should take our nature, to save us from all
the sins and miseries of it ; and, being thus saved, what wttl he be doing aU the
Christmas, but praising and blessing that dear Jesus, to whom he is infinitely,
and wttl be eternaUy, indebted ? May nothing but prdse come from your lips,
and mine, and my dear mother's I May she know that Jesus was born for her,
and be glad now in his sdvation. I am, yours in everlasting bonds, W. Romaine.

LETTER CXCII. Lambeth, July 7, 1764.
Grace and peace be with you dways, my dear sister, and always increasing ;
this I heartily Wish and pray for, both for you and myself — Indeed, it is all we
want, to partake of the grace of God, and to have peace, the sweet sense of it,
ever upon our minds. This ruling in our souls is heaven upon earth ; and this
promised is enjoyed by believers. "The peace of God rules in their hearts,
dway, by dl means." Of this I am a witness for God. Glory be to sovereign
grace. I am obliged to go down to Brighthelmstone before I come into the
North, so that I shaU not be with you, until the first week in August ; but you
shaU hear from me agdn, before I come down.
I asked your curate to accept of some of Lady Buchan's legacy — he seemed
wiUing, and dthough I have not received the money, yet you may pay him ten
guineas ; and inform him, that it is part of what I intend him of this legacy.
Other matters I refer tiU I come. You need take no receipt of him, only pay him
(the first opportunity) the money. — I am but poorly in hedth : the weather is so
hot, and our congregations so large, that I am quite fdnt ; but to-morrow is my
last day. A little air and exercise wttl, I hope, set me up again : but it matters
not ; Christ is mine, and he knows how to order my affairs. He can bless sick
ness as weU as hedth ; nay, he does bless aU things to his people. So I find.
I have nothing to fear on his part, though every thing on my own. I am going
into a den of Sons. Pray for me, and pray for my journey down, that it may be
to God's glory. My wife and children join with me in duty to my dear mother,
aud love to you. I am, for that precious Jesus' Bake, your loving friend, and
affectionate brother, W. Romaine.

LETTER CXCIII. Lambeth, Sept. 29, 1764.
My dear Sister must not accuse me of neglect. I have been about my
Master's business, preaching at Bath, at Bradford, at Powsey, &c. and being now
returned to London, to preach three times to-morrow, I could ne>t help giving you
an account of my matters, and of my dear Jesus' great goodness to me. He has
travelled with me, and been with me of a truth. Oh what have I experienced of
his love, since I left you : he has not only let me taste that he is precious, but he
has made me also live upon his grace. He lets me haye nothing but love, free,

5?2 LETTERS WRITTEN BY
rich love, and my very physic is given by, and tastes of, hia love, and dways worka
greater love in me to him ; so that Jesus is become exceeding dear to me. His
cross endears him, as weU as his crown. Indeed his cross is full of diamonds
within, as his daughter (that is, every true believer) is all glorious within. But
why do I speak thus to you ? Is not that precious Immanud lovdy in your eyes i
Yes, I know he is ; and I speak of him to you, to encourage you stiH to go on
expecting to receive every day of hia folness more than you received yesterday.
Do not stop ; do not think you have attdned dl he has to give ; but keep pressing
on — stttl there is more wisdom ; you know but in part ; still more growth in
knowledge of Christ's righteousness, it is infinite and everlasting ; stiU more
holiness in Jesus' fulness than any one living has yet received, because not one on
earth loves aa they do in heaven ; stttl more Btrength, because every day is to
bring us more sensible of our weakness, that we may be strengthened more by
him, and that his strength may be perfected in our weakness. The Lord give
you his mind and Spirit, that you may be growing up into him in aU things.
You have great reason to hleea the Lord Chriat, for hia goodneaa to you in tiie
North ; but he has * dear people, and a numerous one too, in the West, and
growing. It will be a vast multitude when they dl get together ; and that putB
mein mind of my dear mother, who, I am sure, will not be wanting, when the
Lord counteth his jewels. Mine and my wife's duty to her. The chttdren are
weU, we hear. Remember us kindly to Mr. and Mrs. CaUender, and Mr. and Mrs.
Parker. Jesus be with you all. I am, for his sake, yours most affectionately,
W. Romaine.

LETTER CXCIV. Lambeth, Nov. 6, 1765.
My dear Sister, whom I love in the Lord, peace be with yon ! Although
I have nothing particular to communicate, yet I could not help writing on the old
subject, which will never be exhausted.
While there are angels to sing, and saints to shout, to shout doud for joy, they
wUl be telling of the love of Jesus to dl ages. How great is his goodness ! how
great is his beauty 1 matchlesa both ; aa I can witneaa for one. I am loaded with
hia benefite. If I ehould begin to number them, they are more than I am able to
expreee. To my body, my eubatance, my chUdren, my 80ul, aU, aU is mercy ;
and mercy, too, thatiendureth for ever. May the God of all mercy aecure to himself,
from me, all the glory that ie hie due. You aek about Blackfriars ; the cause
stands still : it was to have been heard the first day of this term ; but the lawyers
were not ready. They begged for more time, and. my Lord ChanceUor granted it
to them. When it will come on now, I cannot tell. But I canteU much of Jeaua'a
goodness to me. He does not let aU this waiting time be lost. He is teaching
me to make up aU ray happiness in himself, and is kindly cutting off one and
another view of rest, short of him, who is our only rest. And because I am a
very dull scholar, and the master is meek and lowly, he therefore bears with me,
and takes a great ded of pains to instruct me in my lesson. I think this is one
great end and aim in dl his dealings with his dear people. He would have them
to trust him, to live on him, and to love him, always. But how can he do this eo
effectuaUy, as by bringing them off from trusting to, living on, and loving, other
thinga ? He would take theae out of the heart, in order to make room for himself.
He is a jealous God. He wttl not sit on the same throne with idols. If there be
one atttl in the heart, it muat come down.
The more we cleave to it, he wttl put forth the more of hia strength to divorce
us from it. While he is in much mercy doing this, the foolish heart thinks
Christ is hurting it, and intending it evil, when he means nothing but good, and
ia taking the beat meana to bestow good. He ie removing the ehadow, to make
way for the substance. He ia deadening the soul to sensual enjoyments, that it
may be thereby more alive to God, and fitter for closer communion with him.
Graciously is he teaching me these blessed lessons. What he takes most from

THE REV. W. ROMAINE, A.M. 673
me, I gain most by. For I am an immense, yea, an eternd gainer, when he fills up
with himself the want of that which he takes away. Whatever brings me this
blessing, I can welcome it. Welcome the loss of Blackfriars. Welcome every
cross which brings me nearer to my Jesus, and makes me live in stricter feUow
ship with him; and then I can say, and feel it too, fareweU fine world, farewell
aU thy fine things, fareweU for ever ! when they would keep me one moment from
the enjoyment of my greatest good, and from the love of my best and eternd
friend, my Jesus. I have not one uneasy thought about my mother. I have
seen the Lord's love to her, and I know he changeth not ; what he hath begun he
wiU carry on. I can only, pray, she may be as much satisfied in her own heart
as I am about her. Sweet Jesus bless you in body, and soul, and substance.
Give me an interest in your prayers, who am, your most affectionate brother,
W. Romaine.

LETTER CXCV. Brighthelmstone, Oct. 8, 1765.
My dear Sister. — I have been waiting for an opportunity to write unto you,
and it is now come. You love to hear, and I love to write, about our common
friend, that matchlesB, loving, lovely Jesus, a subject one is never tired of; the
more we dwell on it, the sweeter it grows ; the longer we enjoy its sweetness,
the more of heaven will come down to us, tiU we get up into heaven itself. To
see Jesus in heaven and to enjoy him is the bliss of heaven. Thanks be to him,
he is the joy of your heart and mine. Although we do know him, and rejoice in
him, yet we know but little of what is to be known ; for he is an infinite subject,
and we can but know him in part — but let us press on to know more. And, as
we grow more humble and teachable, he wiU show us more of the excellency of
his knowledge. Pray earnestly for more deep heart-humility. Mind — what he
hideth from the worldly wise, he revedeth unto babes, unto them who are child
like, and simple- The Lord make us more so daily, that we may know him
aright ; and then we shaU dways see our salvation from sin, and hell, and
our title to heaven and glory, in him. We cannot know him truly without
believing in him. When we understand his power, God-man — his errand into
the world, to save sinners — his Almighty arm, and the love of his bleeding
heart to save them; and what an innumerable company he has plucked out
of hell's mouth, and raised up to his heaven; the more we know of these
things, the more we can trust him. He says to aU sinners, " Come to me, and
I will save you." Oh what grace is in these lips — that you and I have heard
his voice, and have come, and are saved. We do believe — Lord, increase our
faith ! let us pray much for it ; because, as our faith in him increases, so will
our love to him. I cannot believe he has finished salvation's work for me, and
ddly experience miracles of his love, without loving him in return ; and as his
miracles increase, I would love him more and more. Oh for more love to this
best and dearest of friends ! I am sure your heart says, Amen. Now the way
to have his love both growing and increasing, so as to abound in us, is to be
continudly making use of him. He has aU good in him ; and he has it for you
and me. He has the fulness in him of a fountdn, to communicate of it. Of
this fulness he would have us to make free ; he invites us, commands us, to come
with strong faith, and much love, that, by receiving from him great grace, he
may get much glory from us, whUe we get much happiness from him. His
generous offer is, " Come with boldness — all I have is for you." Fdth replies,
" Lo ! I come, sweet Jesus, at thy bidding, every moment, for every thing, for
grace and glory ; I am content to receive all at thy hands, and to be indebted to
thee for aU, and that for ever and ever." While you live thus, my dear sister, in
constant feUowship with your Saviour, he will give you continud reason to love
him, and to bless him. He wiU so treat you, so comfort you, so strengthen you,
wttl make you in him so holy and so happy, that every day he wiU enable you
to trust him more and to love him better. Thus vou wUl come to eniov more

674 LETTERS WRITTEN RY
of him, you wttl delight more in his company, you will get greater intimacy with
him, and wttl walk in close communion trith him, which is heaven upon earth.
This growing feUowship with him will increase the joys of your preaent sdvation .
So that, when doubt of his love, sense of indwelling sin, earth or hell, would
tempt you from Jesus, he wiU speak in Iris word, and wUl speak to your heart,
by his Spirit — " I ara thine, fear not. I will guide thee with my counsel, and,
after that, wttl receive thee into glory." You will believe steadfastly what he
says, and wUl thereby resist and overcome the temptation. He will leeep you ;
and you shall hold out unto the end, and shall know it too, and prdse him for
persevering grace. He will bless you in death ; and the happiest time you ever
knew will be, when he lays your body in a sweet sleep, and your spirit, with open
face, shdl see Jesus in the highest glory. To be with him for ever is the highest
bliss. To this, 1 trust, he will bring you and me, that we may praise tbe riches
of his grace, and get more in his debt for ever and ever. He is now teaching us
this heavenly employment. You can, and 1 can, take the crown of all our graces,
and throw it at his feet. Soon, very soon, we shall do the same with the crown
of glory. O what a thought is that ! The good Lord is preparing my mother to
do the same. I heartily pray for her establishment in the faitii ; and am, with my
wife's duty and love, your faithful friend, and affectionate brother, in our precious,
most precious, eternally precioue Jeeue, W. Romaine.

LETTER CXCVI. Lambeth, Dec. 27, 1763.
A.ll the joy of thie good eeason be with my dear sister, and my kind prayere
for my motner'e rejoicing also on this occasion. 1 thank you for your last letter,
and would have answered it sooner, but have been busy from morning to night
in transcribing my book for the preaa, which will come out with convenient apeed ;
but I may not hurry. It is a deep aubject, and dependB much on experience ; I
therefore let it be read by my friends. Mr. Madan has read it, and approves of
it. I send it to-morrow to Mr. Mason ; and then 1 Bhall let it go. May the Lord
Christ go out with it ! Pray, my dear sieter, for a blessing on the publication.
I have been very iU, but am, through the goodnesa of my maater, much better.
I have not been once kept frora duty, although I have got a little chapel, at which
I preach twice on Sunday, and a third time, at night, at St. Dunetan'a. I com
mend you and my dear mother to the mercy of Jeaue ; and may hie grace be
with you living and dying. My wife and my children, both at home and well,
deeire their duty to my mother, and love to you. I am, with great reepect and
love, your affectionate brother, W. Romaine.

LETTER CXCVII. Aug. 20, 1765.
My dear Sibter, to whom I wieh an increase of grace and peace.— 1 could
not withetand the persuasion I had to come to London ; and, following it, I found
my wife had been given over for some days. But God had mercy on her, and
on me dso. Dr. Griffith prescribed something which the Lord bleased, and eht
grew eo fast better, that ehe herself insieted on my going to  , from whence
I returned last night. No time could I get to teU you of all this tttl to-day. My
wife wae and is better ; my journey was prosperous in the Lord's mattere, and I
find aU things weU at home. " The Lord shall preserve thy going out and thy
coming in." So he promised — eo he fulfils — as I can witne8e. I want nothing
but more faith, to truet aU with him, who, I am eure, freely loveth and bleeseth
me. The Lord increase my faith and yours ! My duty to my dear mother ; ehe
is safe. Not only I say eo, but bo Baye the word of God. Die ae she is, she

THE REV. W. ROMAINE, A.M. 675
cannot perish — only she wants the present comforts of our salvation. She dares,
she does, venture her soul in the hands of Jesus, who mer did, nor can, lose
any thing committed to his care. With him she is safe. Under his care, she
is ; — and, rejoicing in him, she wttl be, whenever she is able to separate believing
from the fruits of believing. The Lord teach her, and do the good pleasure of
his will in her with power !
Remember me to Mr. and Mrs. Thomas Parker, and to Mr. and Mrs. Cdlender.
The good Lord bless them aU ! May you enjoy much of his presence, and be
guided tiU bis Spirit bring you to the vision of Jesus !
W. Romaine.

LETTER CXCV1II. Lambeth, April 14.
The Lord enrich you with aU spiritud blessings, and keep you rejoicing in his
frecious love. He has let a little glimpse of his glory pass before me ; and what
have seen, that I declare unto you. Next week, I hope to send you an hundred
of my experiences, entitled, " The Life of Faith," where you wiU see how the Lord
has taught me. When you read the book, I beg of the Lord to shine upon it,
that you may have a right understanding in aU things. Our kind love and duty
to our dear mother, and hope her soul prospers in the knowledge and faith of
the Lord. I wish to hear of it. Pray for your loving friend and brother in
Christ,
W. Romaine.

LETTER CXCTX. Lambeth, March 3, 1764.
Grace and peace be with my dear sister, and with my mother. I thank you
for your note by the penny post. Our God is good. Oh, he is good indeed to us !
Not a family perhaps in England so blessed of the Lord as we are. Why us ;
why us? Grace, grace has done it. Grace, grace must have the praise for ever.
The time is at hand. The Lord hath spoken, " They that wait upon me shall
never be ashamed." My mother is waiting. She trusts the Lord, but has not
the comfort of believing. She shaU not be ashamed. God wttl appear for her,
and she shall rejoice in his salvation. I believe it, as much as if I now heard her in
the " 'Triumph of Faith." My little book is almost printed off. Please to send me
word how to send them, and what number. My dear sister, pray for it. Let it
be a book of many prayers. Beg it may be a means of increasing faith in the
hearts of aU that shaU read it.
I have got more preferment ; God be thanked I am turned out of my little
chapel. Rejoice trith me, that I am counted worthy to suffer shame for his dear,
dear, dearest of aU names, Jesus. I do love him more for this mark of his love.
Tis worth more than a thousand a-year. I find to lose for Christ is vast gdn.
Who would not part with farthings for guineas ; oh, I cannot teU you, words
fail, how he has made up this loss to me, and how he has won my very heart by
it, and endeared himself beyond measure to me. Let me entreat you to press
on. Look at nothing but the way of duty. Go on in that, and there, by faith,
all things will work together for your good. Beheve me, it is so. I find he
makes aU things, what the flesh hates most, do good. Fear nothing, then, but
ein. And let the world rail, persecute, it matters not. You are safe in Jesus'
love, and happy. I am rich. My heart, too, is open. I desire nobody may
want, whUe my purse is fuU. My wife is weU, and the children. We join in
duty to my dear mother, and in love to yourself. I am, in the closest bonds of
brotherly love, yours, for that dear Lamb's sake,
W. Romaine.

«i76 LETTERS WRITTEN BY

LETTER CC. 1705.
My dear Sister. — Hating two or three minutes to spore, I could not avoid
informing you of the Lord's great goodness to me and mine. Indeed, it is mar
veUous. flow many blessings have I which numbers want ! Aud how many
have I, in not desiring what I do want ! Whichever way I turn myself, bless
ings meet me, and yet I know not why I am so highly favoured, unless it be
that God may be highly honoured. For none can be more unworthy, and
therefore from none can grace get 80 much glory. My election is not ended
about Blackfriars. Law goes on. But I am quite out of it. My mind ia at
peace. Thanks be to the dear, ever dear Jesus. It is my one desire to please
him ; but how or where is not my business. He must look to that. All his
flock is infimtely precious ; and none of them ahaU periah for lack of knowledge,
If he want me to feed hia aheep at Blackfriars, 1 shdl go. If he does not, 1 trust
I shdl not go from him. Forbid it, Lord! and if his presence does but go with
rae, wherever I am, then I shdl be tliere doing hia will. So be it, sweet Jesus !
Your last account of my mother waa very reviving to me. 1 hope 1 ahaU see
her once more on this earth, (I have no doubt of seeing her in heaven,) and
rejoice with her in the goodness of the Lord to her soul. When it wiU be I
cannot teU, on account of thiB lawsuit But, God willing, nothing shall hinder
my calling upon you some time this summer. Yours,
W. Romaine.

LETTER CCI.
My dear Sister. — I thank you for your kind letter, and for your care of the
enclosed. It was the last sheet of my sermons. I used to think I should never
live to firaah them ; and yet God haa lengthened my life, and thia part of my
work i8 done. Theee are eome of my last tboughte ; what I now think about
religion; the thoughte which eupport me in the near viewa of death and
judgment. I am wholly now for magnifying the grace and love of our dear
Redeemer. He deaervee more of me than I ahdl pay him to eternity ; and
therefore I would desire with Paul to know nothing but Jeaus Clirist, and him
crucified. To know him as crucified for me, and to feel the power and efficacy
of his oblation on the croae, crucifying ein in me — to know this, is enough.
Nothing more need be known. AU besides iB vanity, and wiU be vexation of
spirit. Believe me, my dear sister, I have tried all that you can try out of him;
and it is now grief to my heart. I not only renounce it, but also renounce it
with sorrow, and that I should set up any thing against my precioua Sariour,
and leave him to seek for any elsewhere. He is all in dl. What would ye more i
For, " it pleased the Father, that in him should all fulness dwell." May you
and I dweU where aU fulness is! I would have wrote sooner, but Mr. Grimshaw
promieed to send you a letter as soon as poeeible he could after we parted.
Blessed be God, I bore my journey well. Nothing happened of what Mr. G.
told, tiU I got home. I found my family well. A8 to myself, I am neither weU
nor ill : but it is best to be as God would have us to be. His wttl be done! I
hope my dear mother wttl soon receive him, whom her soul longeth after. I do
not doubt it. He has promised, and he cannot break his word. " He filleth
the hungry with good things." My love to my sisters. I wttl send you eome
sermone eoon. Pray for your brother in the atrongeat bonda,
W. Romaine.

THE REV. W. ROMAINE, A.M. 677
LETTER CCII. Lambeth, April 23.
Grace and peace be to my dear sister, from that ever, ever blessed Jesus.
Glory be to him. What wonders is he now doing in the earth! What miracles
of love! Can there be greater than that you and I, such poor sinners, should
have daily reason to prdse and to bless him, and that we should have so many
reasons to believe he wUl let us prdse and bless him to aU eternity. Oh! sister,
is not thia astonishing goodness ? In sin dead, and liable to the second death,
from hence he has raised us to a state of grace, and ere long wiU raise us to a state
of glory. Bless the Lord, O my soul, and aU that is within me bless his holy
name. He that is so infinitely kind to private persons, is the very same to his church ;
for that is only a congregation of private persons. What seems to hurt some of
them is for the good of aU. For the government of aU is upon his shoulders,
and he looks to the least as weU as to the greatest of his matters. Not a hair faUs,
and much less a minister, without his appointment. I dare not therefore think
one hard thought of his taking dear Mr. Grimshaw to himself. His work was
done. The Lord took him to rest ; and, as to his people, they wiU be weU looked
after. Their Shepherd wttl see to it, that they lack nothing. " But where," say
you, " shall they go now, to find green pastures and the waters of comfort ? "
Why let them go to the great Shepherd and Bishop of souls. Himself wUl feed
them, as Psdm xxiii. " But he does it by means." That is true ; and is not he
the Lord of means ? Cannot he find out means, when we are at a loss, if we
look up with faith to him ? I verily beheve that Mr. Grimshaw's death will be as
useful as his life ; and the work is not yet come to its height in Yorkshire. No,
it will spread farther, and deeper stttl ; ministers' removds, yea, the most useful
of us, shall tend to spread it. For aU things work together, under God, for his
glory and his people's good.
The more I think and preach about the infinitely rich Jesus, and his love, the
greater stiU does he appear. My heart grows warmer to him. His cause
grows more amiable ; and nothing gives me pain, but that I do so little for him,
and apeak so poorly of him, and that this lazy body is so soon tired in his work.
But I would do better, and shdl too, by and by. — Ay, that is my comfort. I
shall not dways live at this poor rate. When I see him, I shall be like him.
FareweU, then, to sin and sorrow. Temptations, farewell. Corruption is no more.
Oh blessed time ! Lord Jesus Christ fit you and me for the sight and enjoyment
of himself!
W. Romaine.

LETTER CCIII.
Grace and peace be to my dear sister. — I can thank the God of aU grace for
what he has dready done for my mother ; and I have no doubt but that he, who
has begun the good work, wiU perfect it in her. She shaU have peace : not
because I say so, but God. He has promised it to her. She is seeking ; she shaU
find. Trusting to this word, which cannot be broken, I am as easy about her as
if I saw her in heaven. Which of us shdl be there first, I know not ; but 1 am
wdting, not knowing when my Lord will come. On him I rest to carry me through
life, through death ; believing that, when he cdls me hence, I shdl see him face
to face, to my eternd joy. And in his presence I shaU find my dear mother, and
you ; yes, you, my sister. Only hold fast the fdth, and soon you wUl win the
crown. The devil has a vast spite agdnst you. He begins to despair of drawing
you from Christ, and then his mdice puts him upon plaguing you. He wUl make
your way as troublesome as he can. One of his grand engines agdnst believers
is error. If he can get the judgment wrong, he hopes thereby to prejudice the
will, and so gdn upon the heart. Thus he has always been undermining the

G78 LETTERS WRITTEN BY
church. Oh! beware of this temptation. He commonly introduces it thus;
" You are in Christ, and you are a believer ; but you want light in such a doc
trine." He allows the doctrine, but draws a false inference from it, under a
pretence of ttlustrating the doctrine. Would you, my dear sister, not be ignorant
of his devices ? pray to be humble. Much humility is better than much know
ledge. Many knowing persons have been lost ; but none truly humble. The
Lord Jesus keep you, and make you, in him, complete and happy. I have not
forgot the Catechism, but I have not settled since! left you. I am at Brigbt-
helmstone, in Sussex, and shaU not be gone till November. The Lord haa been
wonderfully with us here, and many souls arc awakened. Some walking rejoic
ing in the Lord, and vast congregations. 1 am, with great truth, your loving
brother, W. Romaine.

LETTER CC1V. Lambeth, Aug. 12, 1762.
Grace and peace to my dear mother, and to my sister. — Thanka be to the
Lord for your kindness to me. I am much in your debt for many favoura ; but
especidly for sparing me in the article of writing. I am intleed a bad corres
pondent. Truth cannot be denied. When 1 shdl mend, I know not. But,
surely, between this and my next visit, I ahaU write more than four times.
Matter enough I have to write about. My last journey gives ine a large subject,
but I forbear at this time, excepting what relates to my dear mother, of whose
salvation I have no more doubt than of mine own. Her evidences were good to
me, though they cannot be comfortable to her, till the Lord please to make them
eo. Such a conviction of sin, such humiliation for sin, could not be, but by the
grace and Spirit of God. From him, dso, is that reliance which she has, and will
not let go, upon the word and promise of the Lord Christ. By and by he will
seal them to her heart. I am, your truly loving brother, in the Lord,
W, Rom a ink.

LETTER CCV.
My dear Sister, to whom I wiah an increoee of grace. — I could delay
no longer to thank you for your kind preeent, which came eafe, and for your
kinder letter. Your good wishes and prayers are the beBt present. Let me still
share in them. I never wanted them more. My affair at Blackfriars ia not
settled ; and I have strong applications to go to America, to a church in the city
of Philadelphia. The Lord muat determine. I would not have one wiah against
his wiU. Being bought with an infinite price, aU I have and am shoulcl be at
his service. He has a clear right to all. " Take it, Lord. Let it be thine for
ever." But 1 shaU not be in any hurry. Waiting is good — on the Lord. 1
will tarry his leisure, and look at his providence8. My friende, in general, arc
for my etaying in London; and eo am I in my own, mind. But I dare not
chooee, tui my choice is made plain to me. Perhape, the Lord may fix me at
Blackfriars ; and then the matter will be ended at once.
My hearty prayers are for my dear mother, that this year may be the happiest
ehe ever saw. May she find Christ in it. He has sought her out, and found
her; but she has not, in comfortable enjoyment, found him. That I wish and
pray for, not doubting of the event ; because I have hie word that I shaU suc
ceed. " Seek and ye ehaU find," says he. His word is infallible. May she soon
experience it in the joy of his sdvation !
W. Romaine.

THE REV. W. ROMAINE, A.M. 679
LETTER CCVI Lambeth, Jan. 7, 1776.
My dear Sister. — Although I am greatly hurried, yet I could not help
informing you, that this day my cause, about Blackfriars, was finally determined,
and in my favour. I have retired and been alone this afternoon to abase
myself. This is to me an amazing event. That such an one should be made a
pastor ; one that is plagued to death with his own heart, to make him a watchman
over others ! What is the Lord doing ? With the most utter abhorrence of myself,
and of my being unfit to be minister of a great parish, in the midst of this great
city — I have been forced to leave it to the Lord.
I have heard, in my heart, a voice say, " Whom shall I send ?" And I have
been compeUed to say, " Here I am, send me." Trusting, then, sweet Jesus,
to thy grace and power, depending upon thine arm and blessing, out I go, not
only unfit, but dso averse to the work. It is thine, Lord, " to work in me both
to wiU and to do."
I believe you love me ; indeed, I do not doubt of it ; and therefore I give you
this notice, to pray your Master and my Master, to fit me for this new work.
He knows my heart : I never had one desire for this new work but that I might
have more room to glorify my Jesus. I would not look at any thing but at his
glory and at my humility. Will you intreat him, then, thus to set forth his
praise ? Beg of him to help me to exdt him, and to keep me down. Your affec
tionate brother,
W. Romaine.

LETTER CCVII.
My dear Sister. — I have longed for a little time to write you a few lines —
to thank you for your last letter, and for your kind remembrance of me at our
court. Pray continue me that favour. And, when the King smiles upon you,
and you have freedom to approach, and have access with confidence into his
royd presence, then make request for your brother. He knows, for he sent me
upon, my present work. I find myself as unfit for it as a dog that cannot bark,
and therefore for grace, for gifts, for success, I am forced to depend upon him.
Most gladly would I live as a minister, in the same way that I live as a Christian,
" by the fdth of the Son of God," trusting in him to do all forme. There is my
own safety. As a sinner, I have no confidence in any thing, but the finished
sdvation, the blood and righteousness of the Lamb of God. 'This being a sure
foundation for a sinner to rest upon, and having myself found how sure it is
I can, therefore, write freely, ana mighttty encourage aU that hear, be they who
they will, to venture upon this foundation, which God hath ldd ; leaving the
success (but oh that it may be abundant !) to him, from whom done it
cometh. Being safely built upon this foundation, I find continud matter of rejoicing.
Whichever way I look, comfort presents itself. To be saved from what I was
once, brought to what I am now, the God of all consolation become my God. his
Son my Saviour, his Spirit my leader to Heaven, his promises mine ; all, di
mine, now enjoyed by faitii ; for ever, in fuU possession ! What divine comforts
are these ? ¦ With these I would encourage the miserable to come to Jesus ; that,
having trusted themselves with them, he might have the glory of making them
happy. Oh that I may prevdl ! Say, I want for this " Grace every moment."
I cdl, and he, in whom all fulness dwells, says to me, " I wttl water thee every
moment." I believe it— I experience it. Grace has made me wilhng to live out
of myself— upon the fulness of Jesus. In him 1 have what I want ; yea, from
him I gdn by my wants. 1 grow richer by my poverty, and happier by my

G8fJ LETTERS WRITTEN BY
misery. Whatever it be, that brings me to live more upon bis grace, is the means
of my getting more grace, and thereby proves to me a real blessing. As I have
freely received this grace, so I freely make the publication of it with all its
benefits. I can tell ray people, and boldly, that we are saved by grace ; kept by
grace; comforted by grace; sanctified by grace; and, dthough this be the
doctrine against which the wicked one, the wicked world, and above all, tbe
self-righteous world, fight with all their might: yet I am not discouraged,
because Jesus is my strength. On him I depend for counsel to set about the
work, for success in it, for a blessing upon it. If opposition arise — and it cannot
but be that he who is born after the flesh ehould persecute him that is born of
the Spirit — to my dmighty King 1 fly, and on his promised help I trust. Oppose
what wttl, Jesus is on the throne. AU power in heaven and earth is his. By
fdth, strong in the Lord, and in the power of his might, I have seen the most
formidable opposition faU before me. Therefore, let us go on, walking straight
forward to Jesus, whatever may stand to stop us in the way. If war arise, hot,
fierce, and long battles ; many enemies, mighty and strong, oil the hosts of earth
and heU; then Jesus is my rictory. lie arms me for the battle with the whole
armour of God : clad in which, he teacheth my hands to war and my fingers to
fight ; strengthena the heart to hold out in long battlea ; diacovera plots and
wiles of subtle foes ; gives courage to meet the roaring lion ; brings the soldier
off conqueror day by day, and more than conqueror at last, his enemies all eter-
ndly vanquished ; he then sits down upon a throne crowned with everlasting
glory and honour. It is blessed fighting through Jesus our captain : Oh ! what
will it be to reign with Jesus our King ! Heaven it is upon earth to enjoy
him ; and there is heaven in every thing which brings me to more enjoyment of
him. This the apostle bad in his eye, and he had a great ded of it in hia heart,
when he called upon hia Epheaians, to grow up into him in aU things, who ia
the Head, even Chriat. Mind, all thinga, while we live by faith, ehaU make us
grow up into Christ more closely and intimately; finding you want him daily
more and more, for life and godliness, for body and soul, for time and eternity :
so that, without him you can do nothing. The abiding aenae of thia will keep
you in your right place, as a poor helpless creature, hanging on the arm, living
on the bounty, of the infinitely rich Jesus. This is the believer's growth. He
grows more up into Christ. Taught by the Spirit of Jesus, he sees and feels bis
want of every good ; and he is made to see and feel this continually, that he may
not live upon self, upon any creature, upon worldly happineaa ; but that, finding
hi8 need of Jesus every moment, he may be receiving, every moment, grace for
grace out of Jesua' fulnea8. Oh for more of the teaching of that Spirit, to humble
us, and to glorify Jeaue ! Oh for more fellowehip with him in hia fulneae of grace!
Heaven ie nothing more than feUowship with him in his fulness of glory. May
my dear mother know him thus! I cease not to remember her at his throne.
Her case is eafe. I only wiah her more happy in believing it. AU here are well,
and deaire to be remembered to you, with your truly affectionate brother,
W. Romaine.

LETTER CCVIII. 1766.
My dear Sister, grace be with you. — I begin to think it long since I
heard from Hartlepool ; but suppoaing you make nothing of the note which I Bent
from Helmsley, I must therefore write firat, which I gladly do, embracing
this and all occasions to teU of Jesus' love. His mercies have followed me all
the days of my life — most free and undeserved — to body and soul. Surely a greater
monument lives not. He brought me home safe — keeps me in health — giveB me
enough and to spare of this world's good ; and I taste the love of the giver in
his every gift. What would I more ? Why, truly, nothing in thie world. But,
if I am thus indebted for temporal blessings, where shdl I begin to eet forth

THE REV. W. ROMAINE, A. M. 681
his infinite grace in spirituds ? I amthat brand, such as the like is not, plucked
by Almighty love out of the burning. I might have been in it forty, ay, fifty
years ago, and in it for ever. Oh what patience was there in the Lamb ! But he
was resolved to have aU the glory : and indeed he richly deserves it — both for
saving me out of heU, and for giving himself to me to be a Saviour ; and for giving
his Spirit to bring me to know myself, and to know him, whom to know is life
eternal. AU the angels, aU the sdnts, could not tell how great his love already
experienced is to me. How far short must I myself faU ! I am content he
ehould have the crown. It weU becomes the head of King Jesus. I pay him
wUling homage, and am glad to take a free pardon, a perfect title to heaven, at
his royd hands. Indebted to him for heaven, makes the thoughts of it sweet. I
would not be out of his debt if I could.
Are not you glad ? I know you are, that to me Jesus has been so exceedingly
kind in all things. Yea, to mine, my famUy, and relations. What grace has been
shown ! How much are we bound to acknowledge his bounty ! Oh let us with
our lips and lives show forth his praise ! and let my mother join. I am sure she
ought. Blessings on her from the best of friends. So prays yours and hers
in a precious, ever precious Saviour,
W. Romaine.

LETTER CCIX. Lambeth, 1767.
My dear Sister. — I was in hopes you would have disposed of my charity
before this, and would have let me know to whom I am to pay the money. I am
thankful you had ray commission, for I think it can never be more wanted. The
good Lord secure to himself aU the glory of this, and of every act of kindness to
his afflicted members. I ara praying for my dear mother, Jesus hear me ' that
this may be the grand year of her life, when she wuT say, — " Bless the Lord, 0
my soul, and all that is within me bless his holy name, for he hath forgiven thee
all thy sins. He himself is become thy salvation." Oh what a journey should I
have to Hartlepool, if I was to come and hear this voice of joy and thanksgiving.
Well, I do not doubt of it. All is now safe. All wiU be comfortable, when the
Lord pleases. Let him do what seemeth him good. A happy, happy year, to
her and to you !
Through mercy, I am going on very weU. I want nothing but more capacity
to praise and to enjoy Jesus. He is very near to me, and he makes himself very
dear. He etiU smiles on our meetings, and is in the midst of us. Blackfriars is
owned by him. He has set to his sed that God is there. Oh for more of his
presence to fiU the ordinances with hfe and power. Pray for us, my dear sister,
and you will not lose any thing by our having much of Christ with us. We will
pray for you in return. To him I commend you, whose love is truly heaven,
even upon earth. May you never want it tttl you enjoy aU its fulness, together
with your loring brother,
W. Romaine.

LETTER CCX.
Feb. 21, 1767
All spiritud blessings be with my dear sister. — I thank you for your last favour,
and for being my dmoner. I hope you wiU write to me soon, and let me know
how my mother does. As she is in the Lord's hands, aU will be weU. Before
ehe goes hence, he will open her mouth to speak for Jesus. I go on with my
prayers, that the Lord's good pleasure may be done in her. Here is good news
of the increasing kingdom of Jesus. More ministers, especiaUy, are raised up.
We have more awakenings among us. More refreshing times Things wear a

682 LETTERS WRITTEN BY
very promising aspect. Thanks for these blessings ! May they bring down more I
Oh praise the Lord with us, and let us magnify his name together ! May we
join to thank him for poor Hartlepool sinners! I charge you not to forget
me, or Blackfriars, in your prayers. I cannot forget you. The precious Lord
Jesus be your comparaon and guide unto death. I am, very heartily, yours
in him, W. Romaine.

LETTER CCXI. Lambeth, June 27, 1767.
My dear Sister. — I have been wdting for a long time to write to you, that
I might fix the time of seeing you, but have been prevented hitherto, by my
being disappointed of three curatea. At preBent I am without one ; and I know
not when I 8haU get one to my mind. I am obliged to stay till I do. Your letter
thi8 morning would not let me delay any longer. Aa to the contenta, having
received no hint from any quarter, I wa8 indeed eurpriaed at  'a affair ; and,
as to your own connexions, you are of age, and the beat judge. Whatever you
do, my prayers and best wishes shall attend you, married or unmarried.
If any thing can bring me down aoon, it will be your account of my mother.
I know ehe is safe aa to her etate, but ie puzzled about the evidence of it ; which
robs her of her present peace, but cannot hurt her sdvation. Of this I have no
doubt. I have conversed with her for several years upon thia point, and am
perfectly acquainted with her atate. All here join in prayere for her, aa long aa
we know her to be within the reach of prayer ; and, if God permit, I will come
and pray with her. — I commend you and her to the care of our dear Jesus, and
am, very heartily in him, your friend, and loving brother, W. Romaine.

LETTER CCXH. Blackfriars, June 28, 1768.
My dear Sister. — I purpose, through God's blessing, to be at NorthaUerton,
Monday next, Jdy 4th, and desire my old fellow-traveller may meet me there
with horses the eame day, time enough for me to get to Yarum that night, ii
we cannot reach Hartlepool. I hope to be at Northallerton about noon, or soon
after. Once more, the Lord in great mercy wttl bring ua together, and will, I
trust, accompany our meeting with hia bleaeing. If it be agreeable, I wiU be
either at Hartlepool or Strantum, on Sunday, July 10th. Remember me, with
my beet prayers for my dear mother ; my love to brother Healup. 1 am, with
great truth and love, your affectionate friend and brother, W. Romaine

LETTER CCXIH. Blackfriars, Nov 19, 1768.
My dear Sister. — I thank you very much for your laat letter, and for the
contenta of it — particularly for the good account of my mother'8 welfare. The
Lord prosper her stttl more and more. I am stttl praying for her life. If the
people at Hartlepool knew how much depended on it, they would do the same.
You teU me good news of poor sinners converted, and of believers settled and
established in their moet holy faith. My heart rejoices to hear of any increase of
Jesus' glory. He is the prince of the kings of the earth — to whom aU bleaaing

THE REV. W. ROMAINE, A.M. 683
is due. — Yea, he is above all blessing and praise, and that for evermore ; because
he humbled himself, God was made man ; Oh wonderful humihation l — He went
lower; humbled himself to become obedient — obedient unto death — even the
death of the cross — therefore he is highly exdted. — King of kings — crowned —
many crowns upon his head. Oh how I triumph in my inmost soul in his love !
— He loved me — I pay him homage — aU within me, all without me, blesses his
holy name. He is my king — my royal Saviour — I pay him my aUegiance with
heart and hand. Not that he may be away — Away with that proud thought ! —
But because he is mine : — therefore I would walk before him, without fear, in
holiness and righteousness dl the days of my life.
My kind love to Mr. Heslup, and desire him to exdt Jesus. He cannot set
him too high. He cannot think of him |o high as he is ; so high as he deserves.
The higher he is exdted, the more will every thing, sin especiaUy, bow before
him. When you write to Sunderland or Newcastle, pray remember me to my sisters,
their husbands, and to their famUies. I desire and beg for an interest in your
prayers, and am, with my duty to my dear mother, and prayers for her, your
affectionate friend and brother,
W. Romaine

LETTER CCXIV.
Nob. 7, 1769.
My dear Sister, grace and peace be multiplied unto you. — May you be
growing and increasing in the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, and have a sweet
and abiding sense of it in your heart, enjoying daily more of that peace of God,
which is heaven begun. I pray you not to rest or stop in any attdnments. Keep
going on. Be pressing fonvard. Faith should grow. We read of going from
faith to faith, from one degree to another. There should be a progress, both in
the knowledge of your interest in Jesus, and in the enjoyment of the good
things, in which you are interested. If faith must grow, then hope must also ;
for hope is the daughter of fdth. By faith we trust the word of God, by hope
we wait, till we receive the promises in his word. Hope is never disappointed,
nor does it ever make ashamed. It gets many a pledge, and brings in sweet
foretastes of the things hoped for. A true believer therefore never says, I have
enough. No, no ; his hunger and thirst increases by tastes and crumbs of glory :
what falls from his Lord's table whets his appetite for the marriage supper. So
the apostle prays for the believing Romans — " May the God of hope fiU you with
dl joy and peace in believing, that ye may abound in hope by the Holy Ghost."
Now in proportion as faith and hope grow, so does love. — We love God, because
we believe he first loved us ; and this love increases, as faith gives a more sub-
stantid presence to the things hoped for. Love is now in its infancy — the greatest
love upon earth is but one ray of the morning dawn, compared to the shining of
the perfect day. Oh my dear sister, never think you have attdned perfect love,
till you get into a perfect heaven. Be still going oi. growing in grace, and in the
knowledge and love of God your Saviour. There is room enough for this, both
on Jesua' part and on yours dso. He can give more ; you can receive more.
And, as faith enlarges your vessel, you will hold more. As hope increases, you
will enjoy more. And this I pray heartily, that your love may abound yet more
and more in knowledge, and in all sensible feeling, that you may walk in love,
till faith and hope leave you in fuU possession of the love of God in hfe ever
lasting. I write thus, because I am jedous over you with a godly jedousy. I am afraid
you should stop by the way. Many do. They set out weU, but faU asleep, and
dream of being in heaven, while their welfare is carrying on upon earth. They
fancy to themselves a triumphant state, while they are militant. A sad delusion !

684 LETTERS WRITTEN BY
Because it tempts them to rest, when they should be fighting ; and to ait still,
when they should be pressing forward. Are you a believer ? Yes. Well then,
the gospel says, — " Forget the things which ore behind, and reach forth unto the
things which are before." How long must 1 do this ? Till you have laid hold of
eternd fife. Fdlh should be growing, hope shodd be increasing, and love
abounding, unto death ; or, as the Apostle has it, 1 Thess. i. 3, fdth should be
at its work, love at its labour, hope at its patience, wdting on patiently, till we have
finished our course with joy. I pray God you may be thus employed, when
death calls you to judgment.
Remember me, with all duty, to my dear mother. 1 bless God for his great
grace to her, and doubt not but he hears prayer for its continuance. My love
to Mr. Heslup, and let him read the former part of the letter, and study it. I
would have him not grown up (till he is dead), but growing up into Christ Jesus
in dl things.
I have been trying to spread the fame of our precious Jesus in various parts of
England — a journey of near eight hundred miles.
I rejoice with you in the spreading of the gospel in your parts. It is the Lord's
doing ; and it should be marvellous in our eyes.
You must not forget me in your prayers. I want them much. At preaent, I
am in a great difficulty. My lecturer is gone, and I am forced to do the duty my
self — for fear a fdse prophet should get in. I did not seek it; but I hope the
Lord, now he has cdletl me to it, wiU give me will and power, and if it please him,
succesa. Desire your friends to pray for rae.
My wife travelled with me. We found the children well. 1 have nothing to
tell of but mercies — May the giver add one to them all — even a heart to praiee,
and to ble8a hie goodnea8. Amen. I am, with great truth, your loving brother,
W. Romaine.

LETTER CCXV.
My dear Sister, it is the Lord; let him do what seemeth him good. — So
says fdth : so 8hould you and I aay. My thoughta upon thia occasion have not
been improved, as I could wish, through great bodily pain and indisposition ; but
such reflections as these have greatly tended to quiet my mind, and to produce a
willing submission :
First, My mother's true conversion to the Lord. She knew in whom she had
believed ; and she was in Christ, Christ was her gain, both in life and death.
Glory be to him for thie great grace.
Secondly, She died in faith : Oh what a mercy, to finieh all weU 1 What are we
deeiring for ouraelves, as Christiana, but the same mercy, that we may hold out
to the end, and finish our course with joy ? Therefore,
Thirdly, We are not to mourn as those who have no hope. Our dearest friend
ia with her Lord, with whom we expect to be soon. We have only parted a
moment, that we may meet for ever. It looks to me, in my near view of death,
ody like my taking leave of my dear mother, to go yearly to London. I shall go
to her — blessed, truly blessed prospect ! and I do not wish her to come back to
me : — because —
Fourthly, I do indeed find, that the Lord supplies the want of aU creature com
forts with his own presence. When he takes them away, it ia to make more room
for himself in the heart. A sweet exchange ! we live upon the fountain, when
the streams are dried up. He dries them up to make us come nearer to the
fountain, and that the absence of tempord mercies might be supplied with an
happy enjoyment and communion with God himself.
She had lived to a blessed time — even speaking after the manner of men — she
died in a good old age, fuU of years — and was gathered to her people ; to whom
I am going. Now it is my turn. I know of nothing worth living for one day.

THE REV. W. ROMAINE, A. M. 685
We are now traveUers ; and what traveUer does not trish to be at rest ? We are
now absent from our Lord ; and home is home. What soldier, after a hard
campaign, does not wish for winter quarters ? What man in love, does not wish
the moments to fly swiftly, to bring on his wedding day ? Oh for that blessed
consummation which will last for ever and ever to all eternity.
I shah love you, my sister, as long as I live, for your attention to my dear
mother. You have done your part. May you do aU as weU as this ! I thank you
for my part, and honour you greatly. My kind love to Mr. Heslup. He has
been tried with his attention to my mother ; the good Lord repay his kindness a
thousand fold. Mine eyes overflow with tears, while I am thinking of both your
goodness to her — God bless you both — God bless you. My kind love to my
sisters, and their husbands.
Poor Hartlepool ! few know this loss. It is the greatest the town could have.
W. Romaine.

LETTER CCXVL Blackfriars, Sept. 6, 1771.
Grace be with you and your yoke feUow. I know we are in a dying world —
I see it, and feel it. It is my heart's desire to live under the constant impression
of this truth ; there is but a step between me and death, but a step between me
and the full enjoyment of what I have now by faith. It is not that I love you not
— God knoweth my love to you is double — you are twice my sister, born, and
new-born. And I truly esteem you both in the flesh and in the spirit. But I
could not come and tell you this face to face, but I shaU come, God willing, and
tell it you, and the reasons too, that you may be satisfied. Only wait patiently,
and see how good the Lord will be to us in this, and in aU other things that we
wait upon him for. It is my fixed purpose to visit you, as early as I can in the
spring ; but the great Disposer of aU our purposes has us in his hands. Our will
must bow to his sovereign wiU ; and, in submission to it, we dways speak of to
morrow, not knotting what a day may bring forth.
I can very well supply my absence. There is no want of preaching ; we have
enough of that, and too much in the preacher's strength. We want prayer greatly
—a dependence on the almighty Head to bless preaching to his people. This
seems to be wanting both in preachers and hearers. I can do something towards
the supply of this want : and am trying at it. Oh that fervent effectual prayer
was but ascending more and oftener to the throne of grace ; we should have
more showers of blessings coming down. I beg not to be forgotten by you at any
time before the throne. May I never forget you nor yours.
Errors and heresies are rampant. God keep you ! I beg of Mr. Heslup to be
much at his Bible ; he reads other books too much. I am sure, God the Holy
Ghost is the best writer ; and I find him the best expositor upon his own writings.
Tell Mr. Heslup so. I repent of years wasted in fruitless study, and am, just as
my studies are over, got to be right in them. I wish he may improve by my
mistakes, and now in earnest resolve to be a Bible-student, and^Bible-christian.
FareweU, my dear sister. May dl the rich covenant mercies of our Jesus be
youra. My wife joins in every christian wish. The children are well. I am
for his sake, very sincerely, your loving brother,
W. Romaine.

LETTER CCXV1I. Blackfriars, Oct. 27, 1771.
My dear Sister, often remembered, and interest made for you at our
court. I have been upon the King's business, travelling from place to place, to
exalt and honour him, for near three months. He has been pleased to bring me

686 LETTERS WRITTEN BY
safe home for the winter, and I sit down the first opportunity to thank you for dl
your kindness to me at Hartlepool. I did not doubt of your love, but my visit
this year confirmed me in it. Your whole behaviour convinced me, that I was a
welcome guest, and has kept a warm desire upon my mind to see you agdn.
Thankfol am I, for what I met with of the same kind, both at Newcastle and
Sunderland, especiaUy at the latter, as 1 was never so highly honoured before, as
to be suffered to speak for my glorious Jesus. Although things were not eo
pleasing at Yanun, yet I forgive from my very heart Mr. O.'s treatment ; for I
believe G. M. is a dear child of God, and was misled by his partner, who misre-
f resented me. People wttl quarrd ; I would hinder them, if I could ; hut quarrel
wttl not : no, not with Mr. O. Thanks be to the Prince of peace — he has
taught me better thinga. I know him God-man ; I believe in hia work — it is the
greatest work of God — a complete, an eternd salvation. Oh, marvellous grace,
I enjoy it. While others diepute about it, I am posaesaing it. They buay them-
Belvea about ehadowa, and I ain rejoicing in the aubetance. Would to God Mr.
O. had the same feUowahip with Jeaus. Poor man ! he would not tdk of himself
before the Lord God, and plead his own doings — he would not urge this plea ;
" Lord, my works last July were very meritorious, for 1 stood and tried to stop
dl I codd from going to Yarum church, to hear that heretic Romdne, who was
going to teach them, that they were to be saved wholly and solely for what you
had done and suffered, and aU glory as well as aU grace by the way, was to be
had entirely out of your fulness." But enough of this : Mr. W. forgives him ;
80 do I : Chriat forgive him.
My motto has long been, " Cease ye from man." AU my experience leads
me to truat man lesa, and God more. My Bible i8 my study, and the Holy Ghost
my commentator. I have done with namee — great authorities — and living
popes — for we have an English pope. In opposition to whom, I am a proteetant.
I protest against the merit of works, and all its long train of errors ; but I will
not dispute with any pope : I wttl rather pray for him, as I do. God open
his eyes, and turn him from darkneae to light, from blind popery into goapel
liberty. My love to Mr. Heslup. I fear for him, leBt these times should take him off
from Christ, and get him into disputing. Desire him, from me, to read hia Bible
more, and not buay himaelf about opinions. What haa he or I to do with Mr.
Weeley ? Let him go on in hie way ; and let us go on in ours. But let us be as
diligent as him — our lives as exemplary — our good works as many. And let us
beat him aU to nothing in charity. If he revile, let ua pray. If he be dogma-
tied, let ua be meek and lowly. I cannot give any account for my writing about
him, for I do not love to have anything to do with him ; but it came upon my
mind — and I let it etand. I should rejoice to hear from you. We are all well.
I am youre and Mr. Heelup's very heartily,
W. Romaine.

LETTER CCXVIH.
Nov. 9, 177)
My dear Sister. — I wrote to you some time ago, and hearing Mr. Paraer
was ill, I got a frank to Mr. CaUender, in which I sent a long letter to hira, and
another to Mr. Parker. None of you have thought it worth while to send mean
answer, at which I am a good ded surprised. I therefore beg the favour of you,
upon the receipt of this, to give me some account of my sisters, and their hus
bands, and families : and also how you go on at Hartlepool. You must not
think me indifferent to the cause and interest of God anywhere ; but surely not
among our own relations, and least of all among relations hitherto so kind and
obliging to me. I send you my written sermons, when I cannot come to preach
in person, but I am wdting in hope, when I shall confirm my doctrine by word
of mouth, erad find a proper time to bear my testimony again to the dirine glory
of the person of Jesus, and to his absolutely perfect salvation. Be assured, my

THE REV. W. ROMAINE, A.M. 687
dear sister, it is complete, lacking nothing. We carry nothing to him, but re
ceive aU from him. We have, from his fulness, change of state, of tempers, of life.
He is the author of dl our good thoughts, words, and works. If these have any
merit, it must be put to his account, and not to ours ; for he worketh aU for us
and all in us. And he wUl and must have all the glory too. Oh that you may
be willing to give it him ! That is true holy humility. You cannot think what
grace he gives to them, who are wUling to return him aU his glory. Try, pray
for a growing sense of your own unworthiness, and the lower and viler you are
in your own eyes, the more wiU he be honoured for his grace, and therefore he
wiU give you more ; for he giveth grace unto the humble. Nothing stops the
current of his favours so much as pride : he resisteth the proud ; he is at war
with them. A sad war ! a proud sinner fighting agdnst an holy God. Who,
think ye, wiU conquer ? And how low wiU the proud be laid ? Oh beware of all
high thoughts. Take heed of admiring your own greatness or goodness. Self-
delight is a very pleasing Bin, but more odious to a jealous God than the gross
sins of the flesh. I see those, who faU in love with themselves, do not think
with me about my heavenly lover : I am sure, the more we love him, the less we
shaU admire ourselves. The Pharisee, full of self-complacency, remained in his
guilt ; the poor publican, who loathed himself, went home justified : so must we
go to heaven, pleading dl the way, and pleading there, too, mercy of God through
Jesus Christ, and nothing else.
You will say, what is aU this to me ? Why, truly, sister, you want it. There
is no perfect humility but in heaven. TiU we get there, we should be learning,
and every day seeking for more grace to humble us — learning of our master to be
meekly and lowly. May God make you and me better scholars, and Mr. Heslup ;
for he wants much to keep him down. My kind love to aU friends. Do not
fail me in writing the first post. I commend you to Jesus' care and love, being
truly yours in him,
W. Romaine.

LETTER CCXIX.
Dec. 22, 1772.
My dear Sister. — Although I have not heard from you for some time, yet I
cannot help wishing you every Christmas blessing. And what these are, how
many, how great, none can teU. It is the great mystery of godliness — God
manifest in the flesh — God born for us in the flesh — born in us by the Spirit.
Then we keep our Christmas, when we are new born, the chUdren of God by faith
in Christ Jesus. This new birth of Christ, formed in us, and dweUing in our
hearts by faith, appears, as our birth into this world does. The new-born babe
enters the world with crying : so they who have received the Spirit of adoption
cry, " Abba, Father." They are the brethren of Christ, one with him ; and his
Father is their Father. Oh inestimable privilege : what a blessing to believe it !
What blessings come from enjoying it ! How many soever they be, I wish them
yours. When the infant is born, it cries for food ; in like manner, believers, as
new born-babes, desire the sincere milk of the word, that they may grow thereby.
In Christ their souls five, as their bodies do in this world : on him dso they
live, and by feeding on his word, and mixing prayer and praise, they grow up
into him in aU things — doing nothing, either temporal or spiritual, but by the
faith of the Son of God. For ever blessed are they who keep such a Christmas
— who can cdl Christ their brother, his Father their Father, by the indwelling
Spirit ; and who can evidence this to themselves and others, by a conversation
directed to the glory of God.
Thus would I live, thus may you live ! — in Christ, and on Christ, and to Christ.
If we receive much from him, let us not rob him of his honour. If we do much
for him, we have nothing to boast of ; for he worketh in us both to wttl and to do.
1 am for good works, as much as any of them ; but I would do them to a right
end, and upon a right motive ; and, after aU, having done the best that can be

688 LETTERS WRITTEN BY
done, I would not lay the weight of the least tittle of my sdvation — no, not one
atom of it, upon them. It aU rests on Christ — he is my only foundation — he is
my topstone : and all the building, ldd on him, groweth up into a holy temple
in the Lord. He has done all for me. He does dl in me. He does dl by me :
to him be dl the glory for ever and ever. Amen.
Times are very hard : but the best things are the cheapest. You may have
Christ for nothing: and the more freely you receive, the more freely you will
honour him with his gifts. So I feel it. Remember me to your poor : 1 beg
their prayers ; for I want them much.
My kind love to Mr. Heslup. I wish Christ and he were better acquainted.
I am sure the more he knows of Christ, the more he wiU love him, and his word
and ways, because of Christ himself reveded in them. Farewell, my dear sister ;
and I charge you not to forget, in your ddly prayers, your tme friend and
brother,
W. Romaine.

LETTER CCXX.
June 26, 1773.
My dear Sister.— I am obliged to you for your last favour. You would
have received my acknowledgment sooner ; but I was waiting to Bee how my
way could be directed thia summer. 1 have waited so long, that I am quite
ashamed to be silent any longer ; and, therefore, take my pen to tell you, that
there ia at present nothing determined about my travela. I hope to be whore
the Lord pleasee, and to be found doing hia work. Then all will be well, where-
ever I am.
My thoughte often run about poor Hartlepool. I believe the Lord haa a people
among you, and I wiah he may honour Mr. Heslup, by making him useful to
gather them together, and to build them up in their most holy faith. My prayers
are not wanting for him and them ; particularly 1 desire the Prince of peace to
keep him from a disputing spirit. 1 do not know that he is given to it, but I
know many who are : whose principles, as weU as tempers, incline them to be of
a self-righteous, and therefore of a censorious and wrangling spirit. I have
Buffered more from such than from dl the world beside. Bid Mr. Heslup take
warning from me. I advise him to avoid controversy, aa he would the plague.
And, if he wodd be kept entirely, I will teU him how I am kept. The doetrine8
which othera are dieputing about, I am living upon. They nave ceased to be
with me matters of controversy. I have brought them into experience. By
which meana, I not only am certdn of their truth, but also receive frora it great
profit. Doubting and disputing are at an end ; for what room can there Be to
question any doctrine, while it ia really practicd, and bringe in a great revenue ?
Thus a man gets to be settled. Others quarrel about the shell, he feede upon the
kernel ; and often feasts upon it.
My wife ie in good hedth. We aU deeire to be kindly remembered to you
and to Mr. Heslup, especially, your loving brother, W. Romaine.

LETTER CCXXI. May 24, 1777.
My dear Sister. — As to the particulars about houBe and land — I write
nothing. Hope to see you in June, as I promised, and Bee nothing at present to
stop rae. If I keep my word, will not God .' And what is faith but taking him
at his word ? What is aU religion but trusting to his faithfulneee ? Ie not this
the highest service of the heart ? and if it be red there, the service also of the
life ? For the obedience of faith is the obedience of the whole man. What
honour does this put upon God ! His wisdom in contriving such a salvation —
his love in reveding it — his power in working it out — hie promises of giving it

THE REV. W. ROMAINE, A.M. 689
freely — and his fulfilling them perfectly — these, and aU his attributes, are glori
fied in believing : for then we set to our sed, that God is true. We are of one
mind with him ; of one wul with him : and, if we can trust simply what he says —
yea, trust, when difficulties be in the way of his fulfilhng his word ; then we
show that our faith is strong : but, if we can trust against seeming impossibilities,
agdnst hope beheve in hope, then we prove ourselves the children of believing
Abraham. I can assure you, sister, that my highest lesson is this ; and I learn it
slowly. I want to honour God in his word, by believing agdnst sense — some
times it is weU with me — but presently I stagger. Yet I aim at stronger standing
in fdth daily. Pray for me. My love to Mr. Heslup. I have no advice to
give him tiU I see him ; only I wish he may not move, tiU the cloud moves.
Mr. M. breakfasted with me to-day, who is stttl misinformed, and fives at a very
low rate in believing.
Mrs. Petre must send me another receipt for ten pounds — her sdary is so
much this year — signed as before, only the sum altered. You may pay her, if
she wants it much. My love to our friends at Newcastle and Sunderland. I
am, very sincerely, yours, in otlr common Lord,
W. Romaine

LETTER CCXXII.
Aug. 5, 1769.
' My dear Mother. — This is the first letter that I have had time to write
since I left Hartlepool, and as you have a right to my daily remembrance, I
begin my correspondence where it is first due. My journey was very pleasant,
not hot, nor dusty. AU quiet and happy within. The Lord's countenance shin
ing in an unclouded sky. Mercies upon mercies — heaped up and running over.
It seems as if I was singled out to be a witness for my God, that his mercies are
above all his works. I arrived safe, and visited my house, and found fresh matter
of praise and thanksgiving. AU glory be to free grace !
When I look back to Hartlepool, and review the dealings of a precious Jesus
with you and with yours, my debt increases : and when I consider his goodness
to Hartlepool sinners, and Bishopric sinners — how many of them he has caUed
from darkness to light. Oh what a tribute of prdse ought we to be continuaUy
paying to the Saviour of the North Country ! And, if we particularly consider
our relations, one by one, whom it has pleased our good God to work upon by
his Holy Spirit, we should caU upon all within us to bless his holy name, and
all without us to join in showing forth his prdse. This, for my own part, I
would most gladly do, having seen so much in my last journey, both of his pre
sence with me, and of his grace working by me, that I am ready to join dl that
are praising our good God, and to crown our royal Lord and Saviour, the free
giver of aU blessings both in earth and in heaven. 
I have had a good time at the assizes, and preached to a vast congregation.
The seed was sown ; but the great Sower is the Son of man himself — unless
he rain and shine upon the word, man's ploughing, and harrowing, and sow
ing, will come to nothing. I would therefore preach as weU as live, in a con
stant dependence upon the blessing of Jesus. After mentioning the loving-
kindness of the Lord, we should remember our want of it stiU, and how we
are to receive the supply of our continual wants. W'e have a prayer-hearing
God. He has answered aU our petitions for you ; whereby he has encouraged
ua to conic agdn without doubt or wavering. This I hope to do for you, my dear
mother, as long as you or I are within the reach of prayer. He has let you live
to a good time. You know him ; you believe in him, as your Jesus. He is your
Lord and your God. It is our part and duty to beg of him, that you may be
every day growing in grace, and in the exceUency of the knowledge of Christ
Jesus ; and that, whenever he shdl be pleased to take you to himself, you may
witness a good confession, and confirm the truth by your death, as you do by your
life. I beg my love to Mr. and Mrs. Heslup. Pray teU them that I never had so

C.!0 LETTERS WRITTEN BY
] leasant a journey in aU my life, so many gracious providences, anil so many
outward merries, besides the peace in my own soul ; — encouragements these not
to neglect coming another summer. Oh that, whenever I do come, it may be to
the praise of the glory of rich free grace ; and, if 1 stay longer than I used to do,
which all appearances seem to favour, may the good Lord overrule a longer stay
for greater good.
And, as I hope there are severdin Hartlepool who have nearness to the throne
of grace, I desire you would, one by one, desire them to make use of their inter
ests for rae. If you see my brother Parker and wife, or CaUender and wife,
intreat the same favour of them : I ask it of none but those who are dready in
my debt, and who ought to get out of it as fast as they can. I am, with my
duty to you, and my love and respect to dl friends, your affectionate eon, and
most obedient servant, -yy Romaine.

LETTER CCXXIII. July 26, 1793,
My good Brother. — I was very glad to see your testimony, at last, con
cerning my siater — and thank you for it. She was the Lord's ; she lived to him
and on him — and she is with him — where I hope you and I shall soon be with
hiin, and fike him for evermore. Till that happy day, you are called upon to be
a pubhc witnesa for him. May you preach hira in his glorious fulness, and may
the Holy Ghost come down from heaven upon your preaching, that Northum
berland sinners may hear and live. Do your best. Exdt hiin with dl your
might in your pulpit and in your living, you will do but little. I am an old
preacher, and have seen enough of his glory to be ashamed of myself ; I repro
bate aU my services ; and, if I were to begin again, I would try to shoot higher —
and I do. Blessinge on him ! lie is above all blessing and praise. Perhaps,
before 1 see you I may see him face to face, when he will enable me, without one
selfish thought, to give him aU the glory : to him I commend you. May he
supply my sister's place. You tviU miss her more every day. Your lesson is
to pray him to fiU up her absence with his presence. Pray for it. So doea
W. Romaine.

7b a Friend, on the most important Subjects, during a Correspondence of Twenty
Years.*
LETTER CCXXIV. Dec. 28, 1762.
My df.au Friend. — I do not forget you nor your laat favour. TiU memory
fatt me, I hope in a grateful mind to retain a sweet sense of your kindneae to me.
Blessed be his name! 1 have a deaire put into my heart by my heavenly lover
to spread his fame and glory as far aa my tongue can reach : and for what else
do I take up my pen but to make mention of him, even of hira only ? — The
favourite theme of hia redeemed on earth ; the triumph of the same redeemed,
when they come to Sion with everlasting joy upon their heads and in their
hearts. My meditation of him is now sweet : in one single point of view I am
beholding him, and in that he is aU glorious. Oh that the faithful witness for
him may give you to feel what I have felt of his incarnate love! May the Spirit
glorify in your soul that greatest, that standing miracle of Jehovah's everlasting
grace, by letting you know, that, for you a child was born, for you a son was
given, even Immanuel himself — God with us, and God for us. I will try to lead
you, by the light of revelation, into some of the wonders of this transaction, as
they have been manifested with life and power unto my own heart.
The scripture is a fuU description of the purposes of the dirine witt from
eternity to eternity. Therein we find a council held, before all worlds, between
' Published from the original manuscript, by Thomas Wills, A.B., minister of Silver-
street chapel, and formerly of Magdalen-hall, Oxford.

THE REV. W. ROMAINE, A.M. 691
the Holy Trinity, and the decrees of this council, confirmed by the covenant and
oath of each of the divine persons. This was the great contrivance of heaven,
and it lay in the bosom of Jehovah with infinite delight. He viewed it as the
richest display of aU his divine perfections, in which, and for which, his glory
would be admired and enjoyed by his creatures for ever and for ever. Immanuel
was the centre of this covenant — his becoming surety for his people — taking flesh
for them — living and dying, that the divine honours of the holiness, and truth,
and justice of the Godhead might shine forth in fuU-orbed glory, for showing
mercy to poor sinners. This was, this is, this will be the eternal subject of praise.
Hear how the Father triumphs in the Son of his love : Behold my servant, whom
I uphold : mine elect, in whom my soul delighteth. And agdn, with a voice from
heaven, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am weU pleased. AU the counsels,
decrees, and works of Jehovah terminate, yea begin and end, in this blessed
Immanuel; and, therefore, when the angels were created, the purpose of Jehovah's
taking flesh was manifested to them ; and proclamation was made : Let aU the
angels of God worship him. Pride arose in the heart of Lucifer and his compa
nions : their will opposed the wiU of the eternal 'Three in this matter, for which
they were cast out of heaven, and have opposed Christ and his people ever
since. Then this world was created for the carrying into execution the purposes of the
everlasting covenant. Man, the object of the Deity's delight, as made in the
image of God — part of two worlds : a body of earth, an immortal spirit— by the
one connected to matter and sense ; by the other to God, the father of spirits.
The enemy of Jesus attacked Eve, and beguiled her through his subtlety. Adarn
was not deceived, but fell by listening to his material and sensual part. He pre
ferred his wife to God, and so lost his image, knowledge, righteousness, and
holiness. Upon this the revelation of the covenant was made, and the incarnation of
Jehovah was made known, as the ground of faitii and hope, and of return again
to God in the way of love and gratitude. As clear as words can speak and signs
ileclare, the promised seed of the woman was to attack Satan, and was to bruise
his head, where his poison lies, and thereby to deliver his people. For this
purpose the Father sent him into the world, that he might deliver us from the
power of darkness, and translate us into the kingdom of his dear Son. I believe,
from the evidence of scripture, that Adam, and aU believers downwards, had as
clear u view of the incarnation of Jehovah, and of the reasons for his taking flesh,
as you and I have ; and with as warm hearts as we can, have they rejoiced in the
God of their sdvation. Hear one of them, how he stands amazed at this miracle
of mercy : " But will God indeed dweU with men on the earth ? " And mind the
pious breathings of his holy father — how he longed for Christmas! " Oh that
the sdvation was come unto Israel out of Zion! Oh that the Lord would deliver
hia people out of captivity 1 Then shdl Jacob rejoice, and Israel shaU be glad."
That he would come, was the ground of hope to aU believers in every age ; and
there were many of them waiting when he came, who blessed God for letting
them sec with their eyes his great salvation. At the fixed moment, when the
fulness of time was come, there was a chosen vessel most graciously fitted and
humbled for this miraculous conception. She was highly favoured, high in
grace, meek, and lowly in heart ; and of her, by the power of the Holy Ghost,
was that holy child conceived ; of her, the virgin mother, was he born ; a babe,
helpless as we are. Here is love! Oh what a miracle — God incarnate! And yet
like us in all things — an infant. Be astonished, ye heavens ! and adore, thou
earth! thia miracle of miracles '
He is bom among us; gjows up as we do : a child, a youth, a man — true and
very man. But, oh the rapturous thought ! he is Jehovah. Think, oh think
what that blessed woman felt when she broke out into this sweet hymn : My soul
doth magnify the Lord, and my spirit hath rejoiced in God my Saviour. There
is my honour : not that he is my son, but that he is God, my Saviour. He took
my nature, that I might take his: he Uved for me, that by his obedience I might
be made righteous : he suffered my punishment, that I might never suffer it : he
bore my curse, to redeem me from the curse of the law : be was forsaken of God his
Y Y 2

C>'1'2 LETTERS WRITTEN BY
Father, that I might never be forsaken : he died to give me life : he rose again,
to take possession of life for me : he ascended in our nature, and is glorified in
it. What he has, 1 shall have : his honours, his crown and dignity, his fulness
of joy and bliss— all, dl are mine. What he is, what he was, is for me : for he
is God, my Saviour. Happy, thrice happy, Mary, virgin mother! Yea, happy,
thrice happy too, Mrs.  . Is not the new-born King your King ? Is not
the child Jesus your God ? He is, he is ; you cannot deny it. Oh, come then,
my dear friend, let us prdse his precious name, and let us magnify his love
together. Soon, yet a very little while, and we shdl be with him ; we shdl be
like him. Oh, what a thought is that — like him ! Yes, when we come where he is,
the glory of that sun of righteousness will shine upon us, yea, will shine into ua,
and he wiU make ua what he is. We shall then be happy partakers of all that
was with delight in the breast of Jehovah from eternity ; dl trill be fulfilled.
The Father's richest love, the most exdted grace of the Spirit, will flow, through
the infinitely blessed Immanuel, into dl his glorified members. This is the
accomplishment of the everlasting covenant. In this the eternal Three wiU take
eternd delight. Jehovah will rest in his love. And through that God-man will
the Godhead have fuU, perfect, and everlasting glory, honour, worship, blessing,
and praise, from the full choir. You trill sing doud, in as high a key as any one
of them aU. Compldn you may, and of yourself you ought; but then it will be
all prdse — dl wonder— that you should be chosen, elect of God, partdter of his
covenant-love: this distinguishing grace wiU make you a happy, wiUing debtor to
Immanuel, for ever and ever.
'Thus, looking backward or forward, I see aU the purposes and worka of God
bearing respect to this wonderful person. He was set up from everlasting as
the Alpha, and he will be to everlasting the Omega; for in aU thinga he must
have the pre-eminence. He has it above. Oh that we may ascribe more of it
to him below : and you wiU, if you can pierce with the eagle eye of faitii within
the veil. There you wiU behold Immanuel enthroned, and all the host of heaven
worshipping at his feet, admiring and adoring, because sharing in, his divine
excellencies. The beauty of this sight makes an eternal heaven. Then, if your
faith has any ears to hear, listen. Oh what melody do they make! — what notes
do these golden harps strike! — what voices accompany them! — what a har
mony! The words I understand: they are singing salvation to our God, who
sitteth upon the throne, and to the Lamb, for ever. But their manner of singing
is peculiar to the place. The air can form no such sounds : they can be only
in the element of heaven. When your faith comes down from this high flight,
and it is not capable of being long there, then look around you ; and whatever
object your eyes first fix upon, if they be spiritually exercised, you will see eome,
ray of our ImmanueTs glory. The book of nature ia the outward record of hia
fame. Some of his great achievements are engraved in every part of the crea
tion. The sun, moon, and stars, the earth, with all its productions, in full
concert join the choir above, and in perfect unison sound forth the glory of our
Immanuel. And suppose I direct your eye to an object which I know you do
not like to look at — yourself, even there I can find (Oh! that you may,) as
great a proof of the Redeemer's glory ae any where elee upon earth : for, what
are you ? Are you not a poor, mieerable, helplese einner ? His crown depends
upon his saving such. What do you feel within you ? Tell aU your complaints.
These just fit you to live upon the Saviour's fulness. Look at your outward
estate : teU me that part of it which does not display the Saviour's glory. What
does fortune say, and hedth, and friends ? (I put myself in.) Let rae be their
mouth : — We are all the gifts of Jesus' rich love — love him for bestowing us upon
you ; and the more you have, love him more. And, mind, you cannot, you nevei
wiU, love him too much. Try, put forth aU your strength; he will BtiU be above
your affection, the best, the utmost of it. I wish you much of hie company this
Christmas : many a eweet vieit from him. When you are very familiar, put a word
in for me. - Oh, how I long to be more intimate with him. But he is kind indeed ;
exceedingly kind. Dearest, dearest Jisus! May he never leave you without
some token of his love! — Paper fails. — FareweU.
W. Romaine.

THE REV. W. ROMAINE, A.M. 693
LETTER CCXXV. Lambeth, Jan. 18, 1763.
My dear Friend. — I often remember you in the best place, and for the best
purposes, but cannot bring myself to love writing of letters ; yet I have agdn
taken up my pen, to wish you every spiritud blessing purchased by the hfe and
death of our incarnate God, and that will make you as happy as you can be on
this Bide of heaven. In this new year, may you grow in the knowledge of the
exceUency of his most adorable person, of his complete finished sdvation, and of
your own particular interest in it ; and, having these believing views, may you
glorify him by living happily upon his fulness ! I know a little of these matters,
and but httle ; yet I am sitting, abashed at my ignorance, at my Master's feet.
He has made me wiUing to hear his words ; and Ifind his lips so full of grace,
that I cannot spare a moment for my Homer or Virgil, my favourite Tully or
Demosthenes. Adieu for ever to aU the classics. I see a heavenly life, as weU
as a matchless beauty, in my Lord's words ; and though 1 etm a dull scholar, yet
he is a blessed master. He keeps me waiting upon him day by day, trusting
nothing to my own understanding, but listening continuaUy to his instruction ;
eo he gets dl the glory of making me wise unto sdvation. To this great prophet
may you repair for instruction aU this year! He teaches, as never man taught. His
doctrine is with power and demonstration of the Spirit. He can so humble
your pride, that you shall be as dependent upon him as a new-born babe; and
then having emptied you of your own carnal reason and false wisdom, he wiU
enlighten you, by his word and Spirit, with. saving truth. Here the humblest
Hcholar learns the most ; indeed he has learnt the most ; for our highest lesson
is to learn how to live upon him, who was made of God unto us wisdom ; and
he who relies most upon him for that wisdom wttl certainly be the wisest. If
the whole world was mine, and I could purchase what I would with it, I would
give it all to be a scholar made poor in spirit at Christ's feet. And what then
can I wish my dear friend better than to be one of his httle children, whom he
teaches his mind and wiU ? Only I could wish you more humbled, that you may
may more perfectly learn the two blessed truths which he is exalted to teach his
people; namely, to beheve in his blood and righteousness, and to five upon his
grace and power.
His prophetical office is to teach us how to be always safe by believing in him,
and dways happy by living upon him. He has the residue of the Spirit with
him, and he sends him into the believer's heart, to be always preaching this
most comfortable doctrine, that whatever he wants for his acceptance at the bar
of justice, it is perfectly to be had, and freely in the fulness ofthe Lord Christ.
Sins as red as scarlet, sins as numerous as the stars, or as the sand upon the sea
shore innumerable, and nature as black as hell, a heart as wicked as the devil,
the divine and eternally precious blood of Jesus can so cleanse and purify, that
not one spot shaU remdn ; for he is Almighty. He has dl power in heaven and
earth to pardon sin. If I had been guilty of dl the sins of Adam and Eve, and
of aU their descendants to this day, yet believing in him I should be safe,
because his blood cleanseth from aU sin. And in Christ the believer has a belter
righteousness than that of the angels ; theirs is finite, his is infinite : — a better
righteousness than that of our first parents in paradise ; theirs was the righte-
ousness of a creature, and they lost it; this is the righteousness of God, and it is
an everlasting righteousness, never to be lost. It is the righteousness in which
the saints stand before God for ever and ever. When the Holy Spirit takes of
these things of Christ, and preaches them to the heart, oh, what a sweet peace
follows ! — for the believer then finds himself saved from aU the miseries of sin
and entitled to all the blessings of eternd glory ; and, being thus persuaded of
his safety by believing in the atoning blood of our great High Priest, then the
Holy Spirit teaches him how to five upon Christ, and how to make use of
Christ's fulness. On our learning this lesson depends our comfortable wdk
heaven-wards : for Christ does not give us a stock of grace, and expect us to
improve it by being faithful to grace given. No, no ; that is not his way. Oui

694 LETTERS WRITTEN BY
souls muat depend Upon him, as our bodies do upon the elements of this world.
Every moment we must live by fdth upon his fulness, and be every moment
receiving out of it grace for grace. And this is our happiness — to have all in
Christ. A beggar in myself, Dut rich with unsearchable, eternal riches in him.
Ignorant stttl in myself, but led and taught by his unerring wisdom. A sinner
still, but believing in his blood and righteousness. Weak and helpless still, but
kept by his almighty love. Nothing but sorrow in myself, nothing but joy in
him. Oh, this is a blessed life. No tongue can teU what a heaven it is, thus to
live by faith upon the Son of God. Thanke be to him, I know a little of it ; and
I cannot but heartily pray that you may know more of it this year than you ever
did. Surdy I Could not have thought, some years ago, that tliere was such an
heaven upon earth as I now find. Blessings for ever on the Lamb ! May you
find it more and more ! Sweet Jesus keep you, my dear friend ! Yours,
W. Romaine

LETTER CCXXVI. Lambeth, March 26, 1763.
Thanks to my dear friend for her kind letter thia morning. The aubject
inquired after, ia what I have been long exerciaed about, both in my own aoul
and in my miniatry : and for the sake of weak believers, and to save myself great
trouble in continudly conversing with these persons, 1 resolved to write a little
treatise upon the subject. I trust my time and strength, what I have and am, ie
now the Lord's. 1 wiah he may use me as he pleases, for hia own glory. My
writinge are to eet forth hia prdae, and to exdt his salvation. The inclosed plan
will show you what I propose : and, to make it more easy to be understood, I
shaU relate it by way of experience, giving an account of the " Life of Faith," aa
it was begun in one of my acquaintance, and carried on to thia day, he being
now a father in Christ ; and I snail make remarks upon it as I go on. The aub
ject ia but little known. I pray you, my dear friend, forget not me, nor my
book. Beg of the Lord Chnst to bless it. If he smile upon it, it wttl be useful
to his people. That is my highest wieh. May it be profitable and useful to
your eoul !
I have many lettere to write to-night, and yet I could not help acknowledging
the receipt of youre. To a precious Jesua I commend you. To hie love and to
his power leave aU your matters. What cannot, what will not he do for you, if
you do but trust him ? Are they not all happy in heaven ? It is hie happiness.
They have it from him. Trust him, and he will not only bring you safe there,
but also make you happy by the way. Oh, what a savour is there in his name !
I did hut just mention him, and I can scarce stop my pen, his love so warms my
heart. Dear precious Jesus ! thou art above all bleaaing and praiae ; fill my
friend'8 heart with thy love, and make her rejoice in thy finished sdvation. My
kind respects to Miss  : and pray tell her she cannot possibly think too
highly of Christ, nor love him too much, nor live too much by faith upon
him. His salvation is infinite and eternal : the love of him for his sdvation
is heaven upon earth ; and living by fdth upon him, for the present graces
and the future gloriee of this salvation, is getting every moment fresh tokens
of his love to us, and exciting fresh love to him. In short, I wish she may
be married to Chriat ; and then, hie person being hers, his honours, his estate,
and aU he has, wttl be hers also. Once more, to that deareat of aU namea,
Jesus, I commend you ; and am yours unfeignedly for hia sake,
W. Romaine.

THE REV. W. ROMAINE, A.M. 695
LETTER CCXXVII. Lambeth, May 14, 1763.
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed
you with so many blessings already, and who, having begun, will not cease to
bless you in life and death, and for evermore ! Your letter of May 2nd puts
me in mind of his goodness, as I wish aU things may. It rejoices my very
heart to see him displaying the glories of his grace far and wide. From Lon
don through Europe, from Europe to America, yea, as far as the sun travels,
his fame is spread. And does he not deserve it ? Oh, my friend, what have
we to teU of but the loving-kindness of Jesus ; and what to praise, but his won
ders in saving such as we are, and in saving so many of us .' Blessings for ever
on the Lamb ! May we glorify him by resting upon him for righteousness and
strength, and by hying whoUy upon him for grace and glory. Then aU goes
weU, when On all besides his precious blood,
On all besides the Son of God,
We trample boldly, and disclaim
All other saviours but the Lamb.
As to what you write about, I know not what to say. It is in the best hands.
He knows what to do. Let him done. Remember he is the Head of the
church, and he wiU look after his own matters, and weU too. At present I see
not my way clearly from London. Here my Master fixes me, and here I must
stay tttl he caU me to some other place. When he would have me to move, he
will let me know his wUl. Besides, what am I ? What does it signify where I
am f A poor dumb dog, the vilest, the basest, of dl the servants of my Lord.
If you could see what is passing for any one hour in my heart, you would not
think any thing of me ; you would only admire and extol the riches of Jesus'
love. Wonderful it is that he should set his heart upon such a very incarnate
devil, and humble me so as to make me trilling to be saved by his sovereign
grace ; and that he should send such an one to preach his gospel, and bless it,
too, to many, many souls (while every sermon covers me with shame and confu-
Bion.) Oh, this is wonderful, wonderful, eternally to be admired grace ! AVhat
cannot he do, who can form a preacher out of such a dry rotten stick, fit for
nothing but the fire of heU ? Glory, glory be to him done, and for ever, and for
evermore. AU the tongues in heaven and in earth, men and angels, throughout
eternity, cannot praise him enough for what he has already done for my soul,
and therefore I am, and I am content to be, a poor broken bankrupt debtor for
ever. Hereby I BhaU be enabled for ever to exalt him, and to put the crown
upon his head, and that is all I want, lt wiU be heaven enough to join that
bleBscd company, who are crying, " Worthy is the Lamb (but none else) to
receive blessing and glory," &c. Nothing is mentioned among them but
Jesus' goodness, and he does not leave himself without witness among us poor
sinners. lie has been doing miracles of mercy for Lady H  ; and as she
herself says, " In the midst of judgment he remembered mercy." You have
heard, I suppose, of Lady S  's iUness. She had a violent fever for about
seventeen days, and the physicians did not apprehend she was in any great
danger, although she was near her end. On Thursday morning, about four
o'clock, the Lord took her to himself. " Oh, what a stroke was that," say you, " to
Lady H  ! " No, indeed, it was aU mercy, aU love, fike the rest of Jesus' gra
cious dedings with his people. During her iUness, Lady H  had every day
many promises given her of God's kindness to her daughter ; aU which she inter
preted in a carnal sense, like the Jews, and thought her daughter would recover,
and do well again. By this means she was wonderfully supported, and her
spirits were kept up to the last. And when the Lord let her see things were
otherwise intended than she thought, then he had prepared for her a fresh fund
of comfort. For snch was Lady S  's behaviour, and such her speeches, from
the beginning of her illness, that there is no doubt but she died happy in tiie

696 LETTERS WRITTEN BY
arms of Jesus. My dear friend, if I had time to teU you dl the particulars of
her death, your soul would abundantly rejoice, and all that is within you would
r j u* • °{ y0Ur salvation- To him sue committed herself, trusted him,
found him faithful, and declared, over and over agdn, that in him she was happy.
Her last words to her mother, when she took her leave were these : Lady H 
had add, "My dearest child, how do you fed your heart? Are you happy?"
— She answered, lifting up her head from the pttlow, which she had not done
for several days, "lam happy, exceedingly happy in Jesus "—then she kissed
Lady H  , and presently went home. Although my lady bears thia loae eo
weU, yet ehe feels it. She is but a woman, and though a gracious one, yet grace
does not destroy nature. She is a parent, and at present incapable of writing.
I am yours in Jesus,
W. Romaine.

LETTER CCXXVIII.
My dear Madam. — I cannot resist the opportunity, though I can write but
two or three Unes, to thank you for your laat letter, and for your kindneas to me
expreaaed in it, I thank God for the contente. What you eay of yourself is to
me very comfortable, because I see how the Spirit of God is leading you. lie is
taking you up into the higheat form in the school of Chriat, and ia teaching you
an experience which is not ody next to glory, but is dso glory begun. T his
being the hardest to learn, no wonder you should complain. I take notice of your
account of your present state, of your trialB, and of the excrciaes of your faith.
A great part of your letter is upon theae pointa, describing your self-abasement
and loathing at the sight and sense of what you are in yourself, and wondering
that such an one as you should be brought to know, to believe in, and to love our
Jesus. Now, my good friend, I must teU you, if you had written to me, and desired me
to give you the character of a true Christian, I should have copied it from your
letter. I could not have left one circumstance out. All that you mention of
your being tried, afflicted in body and mind, brought low, and kept low ; some
times mourning at the strength of corruption, and at the weakness of your graces ;
at your love to earthly relatione, and at your love to our Jeau8 — one so strong,
the other so weak ; your trids on these, and many other such like accounte, are
auch as no true di8ciple of Chriet, in your circumstances, could be without. My
answer should have been, " He ia exactly what Mrs.  says she is." For in
reading the scripture I can find but these two things spoken of the office of
the Holy Spirit : he first enables the sinner to receive Christ by fdth ; and then
to live upon him, so received, for aU things. If you examine these two rules
carefuUy, you will see that aU the teachings of the Holy Spirit may be reduced to
them ; and if you examine yourself by the light of the word, you will have no
doubt but that you are among them to whom the promise waa made : all thy
children shall be taught of God. For, have you not renounced your righteous
ness as weU as your sin8 ? Have you no more dependence on your good worka
than on your bad worka ? Ia not the holy nature of our Immanuel, hi8 infinitely
holy life, his everlastingly precious death — is not this complete work of hia the
only ground of your hope ? " O yea," say you, " on this rock I lay my founda
tion ; I bdld aU on it for time and for eternity." Very well ! then certain it is,
the Holy Spirit has done his first work in you. He has enabled you to receive
Christ ; now he is carrying on his work, the second part of the aame lesaon,
which ia enabling you to five upon Chriet received. Thie is-very hard to learn ;
it is agdnst nature ; against our naturd love for law and works, our legd lookinga
at self, our foolish hope. If I live longer I shdl be better. Oh it ia hard, I find
it to this hour, fike leaping overboard in a storm, to cast myself simply on JeBUs
for every thing; but it mu8t be done. The Spirit abidee with you for this
purpose — " that he may take of the things of Christ, and show them to you, and

THE REV. W. ROMAINE, A.M. 697
so glorify him." When he is teaching this heavenly truth, we kick against it,
we pervert it. When we go on the best, we think we are at the worst. But
he abides, to conquer our opposition, to set right what we pervert, and to con
vince us all is and shaU be weU. May he thus bless a word spoken to the
Saviour's glory !
My dear friend, you know it pleased the Father that dl fulness should dweU in
our Jesus : it pleases the Spirit to witness of it, and to glorify it. How ? in what
way ? — why, just as he is teaching you. He is bringing you to live out of your
self upon the fulness of Jesus. Mind how he does it. fie shows you first that
you want such a thing ; then that you cannot get it any where but from Jesus,
and then he leads you to think, that, trusting to his faithful word, you may
experience how ready his heart, how able his hand, is to supply all your need.
This is a beggar's hfe ; here is nothing but dms. We do not like it. We want
some stock ; if we could get it, we should like an indipendent fortune. But it
cannot be. The Spirit of Jesus witt witness of nothing, and glorify nothing but
the Saviour's dl-sufficient grace ; and therefore he sets himself against dl our
greatness and goodness — that he who glorieth may glory only in the Lord Christ.
And when he is bringing us to this true glorifying of the Lord, we mistake, we
pervert his lessons; I know I do, and I think you do. We both fail in our
our experience, as your letter clearly proves to me.
If you ask me, how you may become a better scholar ? as I have been taught,
I would gladly inform you.
Read and pray for more self-knowledge : God's word and Spirit wiU teach you
nothing about yourself, but what will humble you to the dust, and keep you
there. Read and pray for more knowledge of Jesus, of his person God-man —
his salvation-work infinitely and everlastingly perfect : he is yours, now he is
received, and dl he has, and dl he is, as Jesus, yours in title, and, so far as you
believe, yours now in possession.
Read and pray for more faith, that what you have a title to, you may take
possession of, and so make constant use of it. Your estate is great, immensely
great. Use it and live up to it : as you do in temporals, so do in spirituds.
Your money, your land, your air, your light, your meat and drink, and house
and clothing, tliese you use : but you have not them in you ; only, being yours,
they are used by you. So do by Christ. When the Spirit would glorify Jesus,
he humbles you. When he would glorify his fulness, he makes you feel your
emptiness. When he would bring you to rely on his strength, he convinces you
of your weakness. When he would magnify the comforts of Jesus, he makes you
sensible of your misery. When he would fix your heart on his heaven, he makes
you feel you deserved heU. When he would exalt his righteousness, you find
you are a poor miserable sinner. Can you, my friend, practise this ? let nothing
keep you from Jesus. Whatever you need, whatever you feel wrong, may it
bring you to the Saviour's fulness ! Oh that aU things may help forward your
acquaintance with him ! I except nothing, neither sin nor sorrow ; I would
carry dl to him, as one great lump of sin, and receive dl good from him, as the
only storehouse of good for wretched sinners. In this communion I desire to
grow ; for this I desire to live. Oh that |you and I may learn it more, and get
every day nearer fellowship with our sweet Jesus — growing up into him in aU
things. See how my pen runs on as fast I can write. My very heart and soul are
enamoured with him ! I love his name ; I adore his person : he is my heaven.
Oh what treasures are there in our Jesus ! May his glorious Spirit witness for
him to your heart. Believe me your very sincere friend, a well-wisher in that
matchless lover of sinners, and of the chief of them,
W. Romaine.

698 LETTERS WRITTEN BY

LETTER CCXXIX. Briqhthelmstone, Sept. l, 1763.
I have at last got a spare hour to write to my deal- friends at  , and to
teU them how much I trish all spiritud blessinga in Clirist Jesus may be theirs.
Since 1 left you, aU has been hurry, travefiing from place to place, till kind
providence has brought me to Brighthelmatone, where I hope for a little rest —
not so much to my soul ; blessed be the grace of sweet Jesus, I have that — but
rest from dietraction, hurry, dust, heat, and want of sleep. This is a kind of
haven after a storm. Not that I expect a continud calm here : it would be a sad
place indeed if tliere were no enemies, no warfare, no trids and troubles in it.
Tliese I must have wherever I go ; because they grow in my constitution, and
are nourished in the body of sin ; and because without them I should not know
how to prize Clirist. But I find my retired and private times are the best for my
own soul, as more public times are for others : and yet that sweetest blessed
Jesus, when I am in his work, takes care of me; and when I am watering others,
he doea not leave me unwatered myaelf. I am a witneas for him. I have been
preaching of hia 8dvation many yeara in the midat of a crowd, living aU the time
in a great hurry ; and yet I gdn every year some fresh knowledge of myself,
some more knowledge of my incarnate God, and some steadier trust and depend
ence upon him ; and I can eay it is good for me that I have been a poor deapiaed
preacher of Christ Jesus.
Now, what can I wish my dear friend more for her peace and blessedness, than
that the dear Saviour may do for her what he haa done for me, only in a greater
degree ? For I am eure it is a growing thing. In the knowledge of ourselves
we may certainly increase. There ia a myatery of iniquity in us, which we shall
not perfectly comprehend so long as we live. But as we make freeh discoveries
of it, we shall see our want more of Christ, and thereby get more knowledges of
the great mystery of godliness. The sense of our manifold wants, wttl magnify
the riches of his grace in supplying them. So, the lower man is abased, the
higher is the Sariour exdted. And this wiU of course bring ua to make more
uae of him, to truat him more, and to live more upon him, which is the bleased-
nea8 of faith. When I feel the depth of my distress and wants, and the infinite
riches of Jesus' grace to supply them, then faith does its office aright, when it ia
not diecouroged by a sense of many increasing wants, but is thereby made to
cleave closer to Jesus, and to prize him more. This is ray present state ; and in
it I have at times a pleasure which cannot be described. The height of Jesua'
grace ia so exactly smted to the depth of my dietreBS, that 1 am ready to glory in
it. I would not be without one aingle want. My wants are my happineae.
'They make Christ so exceedingly desirable, that fresh wants add to him in my
eye8 fresh beauty. It is a plea8ure to be in his debt — yea, tbe greatest I know
of. I would not have inherent righteousness, if I could get it for nothing. I
wodd not be rich, and increase in goods, and have need of nothing from him, if
it was possible. His glory is my heart's delight ; and therefore I love to glorify
him, by firing upon his fulness. I nothing — he all in aU. When it is thus with
me, I am safe and happy. I am the greatest fool that ever lived — I feel it ! and
that makes his wisdom eo precious. I am the chief of sinners — I find it daily ;
and that makes his blood and righteousness my continual delight, I have ae
many evil tempera as the devil : Oh, how they stir, and fight against the Spirit !
But Jesus is my sanctification. He has given them their death's wound 1 and
by and by they wttl expire and be no more. In myself 1 deserve heU every moment;
but Jesus is my redemption, my eternal redemption. Oh, how my heart loves him !
He knows it weU. And if I am ever vouchsafed (why should I doubt it ?) to see
him face to face, I wiU acknowledge him to be aU in aU, and rejoice to acknow
ledge it for ever. And it will be the very heaven of heavens (truly I taste
something of heaven in thinking of it) to give him the glory of my crown, and to
lay it low at his feet. — Worthy is Ihe Lamb. Thanks be to him,T can sing this

THE REV. W. ROMAINE, A.M. 699
song now, but in a poor strain to what I hope to do soon. Sweet Jesus bring
you anel me safe to the eternal enjoyment of him and his glory.
I am sorry to stop, to teU you of two parcels I left at  , one for you, and
another for Mr.  , I hope they are come safe to hand. Inclosed in yours was
a Field's Bible, the best present I could think of for your kindness to me, and
another little pocket Bible for dear  . One favour would I beg, if you would
grant it me ; and that is, for you both to read the Bible over once in these little
keepsakes. I have many reasons for asking this favour ; but one is peculiar to
myself, namely, that it wiU often put you in mind of your faithful friend in the
bond of the Spirit,
W. Romaine.

LETTER CCXXX.
Brighthelmstone, Sept. 26, 1763.
Th e presence of dear Jesus be with my dear friend — that presence which turns
darkness into light, sin into righteousness, misery into heaven. What can you
want, if he be trith you ? He has such a miraculous virtue, that he can turn your
weakness into strength, your mourning into joy, your death into life ; so that tliere
is not in you any evil effect of sin, but his almighty grace can make it work under
him for his glory and for your good. Oh ! may this presence be trith you as long
as you are in this state of weakness, and mourning, and death. Sweet Jesus keep
you; nay, I know he will. His tender, loring heart, loves to the end. Oh, my
friend, what a Saviour is he ! Oh, how I love him ! He knows I do ; and yet I
am ashamed to think how far below his deserts. By and by I shall do better, when
you and I meet before his throne ; then, then  But I stop.
" Would  be worthy my acceptance?" 'The worth of it does not come before
me, but what my Master expects of me. His will must be my rule ; and it has been
a long time as plain to me as that two and two make four. I am stationed by
myself. I am alone in London : and while he keeps me there, I dare not move;
as, when he has a mind to remove me, my way tviU be as plain from London as
it is now to abide in it. If I hearkened to self, and wanted to run away from
the cross, I know of no place so snug as  ; but would you have me such
a coward as to fly, and such an one to stand by me — one who has kept me in
many battles, and one who, I trust, will presently make me more than con
queror. I have not time lo answer your letter in other points. Only be assured of my
prayers (such as they are) for your reading the Bible. Remember again, Christ
is the sum and substance of it aU. May his Spirit breathe upon it as you read,
anel lead you beyond the letter to the life-giving sense.
I have great faitii about  . You will be taken care of. Do not doubt it.
The government is on Christ's shouldera, and he does all things weU. Leave it
to him. But he does use means ; therefore pray write as soon as you have fixed
on a proper person. My kind love to dear Mr.  . I wish him as happy as
my master can make hiin, and then he will be one of the happiest men in this
world. Our friends with you have my hearty good wishes for their better
acquaintance with tbe precious Lord Jesus, and more fdth to get more out of
bis fulness. 'To hiin I commend you all, and your present case at  ; and
am, with my wife's respects, for his sake, your faithful friend and servant,
W. Romaine.
LETTER CCXXX1. Lambeth, April 17, 1764
My ukaii Friknu.— I have just now received your letter, and thank you for
tho kindness you express in it to me. I am pretty weU in health, and loaded

700 LETTERS WRITTEN BY
with benefits — nothing but mercy, rich mercy every day. AU the dedings of my
most precious Jesus with my soul are grace and love. He not only promises, and
by fdth makes me rely upon him for heaven, but now, even now, I am as it were
in heaven; for I live upon his heavenly blesainga. Vile and base as 1 am, yet he
lets me approach him, and converse trith hira fredy. lie vouchsafes to admit me
into feUowship with him, and he opens his treasures, and says, " AU these are
thine ; I bought them for thee with the price of my blood, but I give them to thee
as a free gift. Take this for the earnest — accept this for the pledge of aU the rest;
and aU mine are thine." Yes, Lord, I believe it : on thy word do I trust, and
I rely upon thy faithfulness to make it good to me. I desire to glorify thee
amidst all my wants, and sins, and miseries, by living out of myself upon thine
infinite fulness. Empty me stttl more, blessed Lord ! be ddly emptying rae more,
that I may be capable of holding more of thy good things. What do you think
of this ? is it not heaven begun ? What is heaven, but the perfection of this life
of grace? Believers now live with Clirist; they now live upon Christ. Christ is
their aU ; for the life which they now live in the flesh, they live by the faitii of
the Son of God : and what a blessed life this is I have in some small degree expe
rienced ; and what the Lord has taught me I have endeavoured to set forth, and
make public, for his glory, and the comfort of weak believers. The little book
is finished. May my ever dear Jesus shine upon every page as you read it, and
strengthen your faith, and warm your heart with his heavenly love. I beg your
prayers for a blessing on this book : I beseech you do not forget it, for your own
8akes and mine, and all the household of faith. To Jeaus' love I commend you
and Mr.  ; and am, by many ties, your servant in the gospel,
W. Romaink.

LETTER CCXXXII.
July 3, 1764.
I have my dear friend's letter of the 19th of June by me, and thank you for it.
You may be eure I am glad to hear the little book agrees with what God has
taught you : not glad for the author's sake, but for Christ's sake, and for yours
— for Christ's sake, because I live, and preach, and write, to exdt that royal
Sariour : oh ! how my heart longs to see him crowned in your soul, when you
wiU go forth as the command ia, and eee king Solomon with the crown of grace
and glory on his head, wherewith his mother crowned him in the day of his
espousd8, and in the day of the gladnesa of his heart ; then all within you wiU
gladly bow to hie sceptre. And/or your sake, becauee he hae begun to be crowned,
eince you eay you have experienced some of the thinge in this little book. 1 wish
I may help you, God helping me, to experience more of the glorious majesty of
our King of kings, when I come down and preach at  upon that text ; and
when I am setting forth that sovereign Prince and Saviour, may his Spirit then
crown him in your conscience, and enthrone him in your heart. But I cannot
come the day you mention, because it is my last Sunday at St. Dunstan's; and
the week after, I go down to Brighthelmstone, and shaU be there for a fort
night, and then set out for your place.
Tttl that time come, I will be wiahing you what I am dways desiring for my
self, a stronger sense and clearer feeling of my wants, and more faith to live upon
Jesus for the supply of them. When you have nothing in yourself to be pleased
with, all wretchedness and helplessness, then Bhould jesus be most precious —
he being the Almighty Saviour of such a wretched helpless creature. A man
that has a plentiful table thinks it a happiness that he sits down hungry and
thirsty — so shodd you, when every thing within you ie saying — " Here you can
do nothing, there you can do nothing, without Christ." Then fdth shodd say,
It is true, I cannot ; but he has in him that very thing which I want, and he haa
promised to give it me, and on him I depend for it. Such a dependence is heaven
upon earth. I find it so : nor would I have it otherwise. What would become
of me, if I was rich and increased with goods, and found no need of any thing ?
Why, then I should not feel my want of Chriat ; I could not live upon bim, and

TIIE REV. W. ROMAINE, A.M. 701
so snould become comfortless. My dear friend, believe me, I have been trying
all ways to happiness, but aU have failed me, tiU this one — and here I am settled.
1 want nothing but Christ. People teU me, I must submit to this ordinance, and
be joined to such a church, and come under church discipUne, and must be
dipped, &c. &c. I have Christ— I want no more. This is making Christ of
him. And this saves us from ten thousand thousand snares and troubles in life.
I assure you, it has brought me such peace, as I scarce thought it possible to have
in this world. Excuse me, then, when I wish you poorer and poorer every day,
that you may be richer in Christ. I shaU not cease to remember you as above,
tttl your hear farther from yours in that most sweet and lovely Christ, the fairest,
yea, the very beauty itself, of aU the fair. Oh ! how I love him, and he loves a
poor wretch.
W. Romaine.

LETTER CCXXXIIL Haktlepool, Aug. 7, 1704.
I received my dear friend's letter, and think she overlooks our ever adorable
Jesus, in setting any value upon a poor dirty worm. If his grace raise it from a
dunghill, and set it upon a throne with his princes, who shall have the glory, —
the worm, or Jesus ? Shall any of his due praise be given to it ? God forbid !
There ought to be an holy jealousy in you and me, that we rob not our God of
his glory. If we do rob him of ever so little, he wttl wither all our comforts and
graces ; but if we give him aU the glory, which we cannot do unless he be dl
and we be nothing, then every thing wUl go weU trith us. We get exdted as
we are humbled. The lowest is the highest; which makes me fear to look at any
good in myself, unless the kind hand which gave it me be seen at the same time ;
and afraid to hear of any thing good in myself, unless I am sure my Master has
all the praise. The plan upon which I act herein, is this : (long experience and
many humblings have brought me to it.) I have grieved to see how much of my
lime ran to waste, partly for want of knowing what to do, and partly through
perplexity about what was done, lest it was not done aright ; and therefore I was
led to endeavour to bring the business of every day into a little compass, that, at
one view, I might satisfy myself whether I had answered the end of living, anotl er
day. There is no doubt left about my belonging to Christ ; so that this matter is
not to be brought into court again. It has been tried and determined, and is
now a settled point. What have I then to do ? What is the work of every day ?
Why, it is to be living stiU in a constant dependence upon the Lord Christ, and to
be growing every day in the knowledge and experience of that dependence.
'Tbe dependence is thus expressed, " The just shaU live by his faith:" being jus
tified, or made just, he shaU not live by any works, by any stock of grace, 1 y
being faithful to any talents received, but he shdl live upon the Lord Jesus Christ
by faith, receiving from him continudly grace for grace
The believer's growth in this his dependence is thus spoken of ; *' Growin grace,
and in the knowledge and love of God our Saviour." Grace is the free love of Gi (1
to poor sinners in the whole plan of sdvation — from first to last, aU is of grace ;
anel in the knowledge and experience of this there is a growth. The believer
learns more clearly that all is of grace, and that he has no hand in saving him
self, but an empty receiving hand. Grace comes to pull him down, and to s.-t
Christ up. When the heart is established with grace, the creature is stripped
quite bare, without a rag to put on, or money to buy any, or wisdom to know
where to get it. Grace pulls down aU high things, levels aU distinctions, and
leaves the poor creature nothing at aU to trust in, or to boast of, but to live upon
(iirist's alms: so that the sense of our lost, guilty, helpless state, is the only
thing which can make us willing to receive a whole Christ, and the abiding sense
of this will keep ua willing to live upon a whole Christ. And whUe a believer
lives thus, how can he grow in grace, if he be not discovering every day more of

702 LETTERS WRITTEN BY
the depth of iniqmty which is in hint? Grace cannot be magnified, unless nature
be humbled. Jesus Christ cannot become more precious, unless self becomea
more vile. Aa the believer sinks in his own eyes, Christ rises in his esteem.
And this, in my opinion, is growing in grace. Growing in the sense of our
weakness, magnifies Christ's strength — our sinfulness his righteousness — our
folly his trisdom — our misery his happiness — our outward sorrowful state, his
inward peace and joy. Thus the growth in the knowledge of Christ ia closely
connected with the knowledge of sdf. And that makes me afraid of any thing
which tends to weaken this view of tilings; because it would weaken my
dependence upon Christ. I should not see nor feel my want of him so much,
which would stop the working of fdth, and thereby eclipse the glory of Jesus.
You see my jealousy. And indeed 1 have great reason for it. After all ray
experience, which you have read in the " Life of Faith," I have a revolting heart.
Still I would turn from and live without Christ, if I could. Prjde puts me upon
it. Oh, it is the very devtt, that pride ; it attacks not the heel, but the heart of
Christ, and wants to rob him of his crown. And I have so smarted for it, that
the most distant approach is terrible to me. Think what you will of me, but
never mention me without mentioning the grace of my dearest Lord, who has
made me all that I ever shall be, but sin and misery.
My sweet Jesus hath contrived so much work for me in these parts, and he is
so evidently and powerfully with ub, that I cannot leave my neighbours, who crowd
to hear, far more than ever, and they are to me as my own soul. We are beyond
dl description happy in our loving, lovely Lord. Such meetings I never knew —
and twice a day — and many churches open. Oh ! that I could but stay — I am
so knit in heart to my neighbours, and the most of them come and sit quietly to
hear, that I know not how to leave thera. But it must be. Adieu, my friend ;
remember youra in our preciou8 Immanuel,
W. Romaine.

LETTER CCXXXIV.
Dec. 29, 1764.
All the bleaaings of thie good eeaeon be with my dear friend. That man, for
whom Chriet was born, is the greatest, richest prince upon earth — his revenues,
his honours, his mighty allies, hie everlaeting kingdom, are beyond dl conception.
Compared to what he is and has, crowns and empires are but playthings for
little children. And he comes to dl his dignity by Jehovah's taking flesh, through
which wonderful event he can be made one spirit with him : he took our tleah
that we might take his spirit — he was born on earth, that we might have a new
birth from heaven — he took our sins, that we might take his righteousness —
and our miseries, that we- might be heirs with him of hia happiness. Oh, what
an astonishing transaction is this ! How full of the richest grace, flowing over
with everlasting love ! This great and blesBed event lay in the breast of Jehovah
in eternity. He ever had it in hi8 heart ; it was hia beloved plan and purpoee
that he would take flesh, and display aU the glories of his Godhead in the person
of Jesus Christ. This was his gracious will and everlasting counsel, to which all
his works have tended, and for the executing of which in its fuU perfection all
things are now working together. When the fulness of time was come, oh,
what joy was there in heaven among the angels, who kept their first estate ! They
thought it a very high honour to be the meaeengers of it, even to poor ehepherda,
with whom they could rejoice, that their God and our God was become incar
nate. — " Behold I bring you gfad tidings of great joy," — glad tidings, indeed ; for
they include aU the good which infinite mercy has to give, and the sinner can
receive. Hereby light comee to them who are Bitting in darkness, and life to
them who are in the shadow of death, pardon to the guilty, comfort to the
mourning, liberty to the captives, strength to the helpless, and heaven to the
miserable. How blessed a change do they experience, when bv faith thev know

THE REV. W. ROMAINE, A. M. 703
and can say, " Unto us a chUd is born, unto us a Son is given !" For this is the
saving truth, Jesus is the Christ, the man is Jehovah, God and man in one
Christ, the child born is the mighty God, and the Son given is the everlasting
Father — the Virgin's Son is Immanuel, God with us, and her infant babe is her
eternd Saviour. Except she had believed this, she could not have been saved,
nor can we ; and yet it is a truth so far out of the reach of man's understanding,
that he never could have thought of it, unless it had been reveded ; nor can he
now comprehend it, unless he be taught it of God, for no man can say that Jesus
is* the Lord, is Jehovah, but by the Holy Ghost. Here, then, my dear friend,
is matter of thankfulness to you and me, that we are taught this of God. Happy
Christmas to ub, since we have lived to hear and understand the great mystery
of godliness — God manifest in the flesh. Happier still, that we believe it ; for
whomsoever the Holy Ghost enhghtens with the knowledge of this saving truth,
he dso gives faith to receive it, to trust in Christ as God, to depend upon him as
the Almighty Saviour, to rely upon his finished work, and to lay no other foun
dation for any grace or glory, but the life and death of this ever blessed God-
man. This is the way in which the Holy Ghost glorifies Jesus, he gives the
behever such views of the infinite fulness and everlasting sufficiency of Immanuel,
that he is quite satisfied with him. His conscience is brought into sweet peace
through the sprinkling of the blood of the Lamb of God ; and when guilt would
arise, and unbelieving fears disturb, he is enabled through faith in Jesus to main
tain his peace : because whatever rendered him hateful to God, he sees it removed
by his adorable surety ; and whatever God could love him for, he finds himself
interested in it through the infinitely precious obedience ofthe Lord our righteous
ness. Thus he enters into the promised rest ; thus he mdntains himself in it.
He can desire nothing, but the Saviour has it ; and when he asks, he receives it
from him : eo that the Sariour more than fills up aU his wants — for he satisfies all
his wishes : he says, by sweet experience — " This is aU my salvation, and aU my
desire." And what greatly adds still to this happiness is, that it is ever, ever growing —
may you and I find it so ! As the believer is made to see his absolute safety in
Jesus, so does he partake more of his graces and blessings. In hearing and
reading the descriptions of the Lord Christ in his divine person, and in his most
gracious offices, the Holy Spirit sets in trith those descriptions, and presents the
inestimably glorious Saviour before the eye of faith with the most attracting love
liness. All the sweets, and beauties, and joys scattered throughout the universe
are only little drops out of the ocean of Jesus' fulness. There is not any object
made to gratify any sense, but the Holy Spirit shows the believer that very thing
in its highest perfection in the infinitely rich Saviour, and gives him a delightful
earnest, and by faith a foretaste of it. By which means his whole heart and soul
grow entirely in love with that beauty of all beauties, and he says, and it is heaven
to feel it, " This is my beloved, and this is my friend."
I have more, far more to say, but  is waiting. Pray, my dear friend, leave
for ever out of your mind and writing " if I knew — if I believe." Oh, why do you
doubt ? The good Lord keep you and yours. I am, in bonds which cannot be
broken, yours in Jesus,
W. Romaine.

LETTER CCXXXV.
Feb. 14, 1765.
My dear Friend. — I shaU be fitting up this paper with — First, Thanking
my dear master for his great kindness to you. From my heart I praise him
— may you and yours give him the whole glory of his tempord and spiritual
blessings. Secondly, I pray him to continue his kindness to you — a thankful temper
dways has fresh matter for thankfulness. To prdse him for the past, is the
eure way to secure future mercies. Prayer and praise live and die together.

704 LETTERS WRITTEN BY
Thirdly, I tell you of his goodness to me. I ara nothing but a miracle of his
goodness — the most astonishing that ever was 1 AU, dl, from my first breath to
this 1 am now drawing, is mere mercy and grace, and so it wiU be for ever and
for ever. My ministry is wonderful, that such a dumb dog should speak — such
a very devil in flesh should feel what he says of that eternally precious Jesus, and
be the means of making others fed it, and should have no doubt of feeling it
blessedly to eternity. Oh, what delightful views do these things give me of my
sweetest Lord and dearest Jesus ! He seems wUling I should preach more, and
have a church in the city : but he will not let it come too easily, lest we should
have whereof to glory. We are at law about it, and are like to be a great while,
but in tiie mean time he is doing aU things weU. The very moment all things are
ready, the church will be opened : and if it never is, he does not want me there,
with which I am satisfied.
Fourthly, Does aU this teach you and me to trust this dear Lamb of God ? It
should teach us ; 1 hope it does. How safely may we truat his faithfalness ; how
happily rest upon his dmighty love. AU things for the good of soul and body
are promised to him that believeth. Oh, that the Lord may increase your faith
and mine ! In an hour of need may vou find him very, very near to your heart,
and filling you with joy and peace in believing.
To Jesus I commend you and yours most heartily, being tied to you in him
by the bonds of his everlasting love. J esus bless you. Amen.
W. Romaine.

LETTER CCXXXVI.
May 25, 1765.
My dear Friend. — Having an opportunity of sending a note by dear Mr.
 , I could not withhold my pen. What thanka ought we to give to our gracious
Lord for his mercies to you ? What ought you yourself to give ? Can you look
brck upon any part of your life, eapecidly the laet part of it, and ie there any
thing upon which you cannot write, " thia ia mercy ?" Oh, it ia all, from first to
last, to them who are choaen, and caUed, and befieve, and live by faith of the Son
of God, mercy —from everlasting to everlasting ! A mercy before time, a mercy
in time, a mercy beyond time ! Where is the fountdn-head, the spring of thia
mercy ? In the covenant of the eternal Three. What give8 rise to it ? Nothing
but the mere grace and free love of the divine persons. A motive cannot rise
but in the purpoee and breast of God himeelf. But on whom do the etreams of
this fountain flow with their quickening, comforting, eanctifying, glorifying
streams ? On the miserable, and none else ; for none else are the objects of
mercy. On such as you and me. Mercy haa made a rich provision to supply
afl our wants, to pardon all our sins, to save us from aU misery, to entitle us to
dl glory. And what ? ia mercy chiefly glorioua in reserving all ita bleasinga to
another world ? the greateBt it doea, but not all. All are now enjoyed in rever
sion by fdth ; and aU things are working together in Jeeua' hands to bring about
the fuU and find enjoyment— that the mercy which is above dl the worka of God
may have for ever and ever dl the glory.
So far I wrote on Saturday night, on Mr.  Bending me word he should go
on Monday. Sunday Morning.
What a mercy does this day call to our remembrance 1 The Saviour, risen and
ascending, sende down the dirine and faithful witnees for himself — " He shall tes
tify of me" — bear witness to my person, to my work, that they are both divine —
my person, Jehovah self-existent — my work aa perfect a8 Jehovah codd make it.
He shdl testify of my grace, how free it is, how full it is, and shaU enable the
sinner, any poor wretch, however vile in his own eyes, to trust his soul in the
hands of Jeaus. And having enabled the sinner to do this, then he wiU testify of
Jesus, that he has received him, that he is safe in the arms, and may Je happy

THE REV. W. ROMAINE, A. M. 705
in the enjoyment of Jesus' love. Thus he will make the soul enamoured with
Jesus ; there wUl appear such consummate beauty, such infinite loveliness in his
precious person, as will eclipse the glory of dl other lovers. There will appear
such true happiness in fellowship with him, as wiU quite dethrone the former
idols. And when the foolish heart would depart, he will not let it. Then will he
testify of Jesus, "To whom wouldst thou go ? Who has eternal life to give, but
him ? Turn, turn again to thy rest, oh, my soul."
If the bouI is mourning ? He will testify of the joy that is in Jesus. If the
soul be burdened ? Cast the burden, says he, on thy Lord. If the soul has lost
any creature-comfort ? Let it go, says he : Jesus is stiU thy sdvation, and thy
great reward. If the soul be grieved with indweUing sin ? It is pardoned, says
he ; and the Spirit of life, which is in Christ Jesus, hath made thee free from the
law of sin and of death.
Whatever the wants of the believer are, the Spirit's office is to testify of Jesus,
there is the thing you want, and to glorify Jesus — there you have it freely.
My friend, what mercy is this ! The Spirit Jehovah abides with you, to testify
of Jesus, and his perfect salvation ; and to glorify Jesus, by enabling you to five
safe and blessed upon him, making him not only all, but dso aU in all. And
when he has taught you thus to glorify Jesus, he wiU keep you (oh, that is sweet!)
by his almighty power, tiU he bring you to the heaven of heavens — the sight and
enjoyment of dear Jesus, eternaUy dear and lovely Jrsus.
Is it indeed so? Why, then commit yourself to this glorious Immanuel. Wait
for the Spirit's teaching you aU his ways, and showing you aU are weU. Re
member, he has lent you your chief earthly comfort, only just so long as he
pleases. When he takes it, hush, not a sigh : " Be still and know that I am God,
a sovereign" — This commands resignation : but the Lamb's voice is aU love.
I take it away, that you may love me more, and be happier in my love. Let it
be so, my dear Lord ; be thou but present, aU is well. The Lord bless you and
yours, W. Romaine.

LETTER CCXXXVII. Lambeth, July 13, 1765
My dear Friend. — I could not answer your kind letter till this day; my
cause has been to be heard from day to day, before my lord chanceUor, but put off,
and, yesterday, was put off tothe next term : so that I have, through the good wiU
of my God, an opportunity of seeing you once more, and to talk together by the way
of our ever lovely, infinitely precious Jesus, who has so won my heart, that I have
no relish (like one in love) to talk of any thing but my Beloved. Tuesday morn
ing I purpose to set out, and hope to be at  about noon, Wednesday next,
where I shaU be glad to meet (at the old house) some of my dear feUow-traveUers
from  . Oh, that our meeting may be to Jesus' glory. I am, in the best of
bonds, of Jesus' own tying, youra, W. Romaine.

LETTER CCXXXVHI. Lambeth, Aug. 20, 1765.
My dear Friend, in our common Lord — of whose mercies I am an amazing
monument — what can I say to you of me and mine, but write upon aU — grace —
grace. I will give you an account of my life some weeks past, and you wUl see
the goodness of my kind Jesus in aU his dealings trith me. When I was at
Hartlepool, I heard from London that Dr. Griffith thought my wife was sick unto
death, and he hail no hopes of her recovery. This darmed me : and I set out
immediately, and stopped not tiU I got to London, where I found things as bad as

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706 LETTERS WRITTEN BY
1 had been made to believe : but Dr. Grifiitii gave her something, to tvhich the
Lord gave his blessing ; and it abated tiie fory of her distemper, God having
mercy on her, and on me dso. Lady H  pressing me stiU to come down to  ,
my wife gave leave for me to go, and I went down to Derby Saturday se'nnight.
We had there a most refreshing time — Fifteen pulpits were open — Showers of
grace came down — Sinners in great numbers awakened, and believers comforted. .
Mrs.  was taken iU, and was ordered to Bath, which broke up the family.
They went away two days after I got down : but I stdd to preach aU the week,
and especially on Sunday last at Derby, where I was much opposed by the mayor
and the churchwardens, and the Arian party ; but the Lord stood by me, and I
was in the morning at the great church, and the afternoon at St. Werburgh's. In
the evemng I got into the fly done (»» good company) ; and upon coming home
last night, I found my wife had relapsed, and was agdn in danger; but again the
great physician had interposed, and we are in hopes dl wiU he weU again soon.
Mercy, mercy is above dl hie works.
In these proceedings of Divine Providence, I admire severd thinga ; such as —
First, how odd it appears, that friends so dear and beloved as you at  should
be passed by. When I went through  , it was night : and thinks I, who would
have thought I shodd have gone by Lady M  's door without cdling ? It ia
the Lord's doing. As to you, I ody sent my prayers for you, of which I hope
you had the benefit.
Secondly, Here is a plain lesson for you — Did you not expect me ? Did not
you buttd upon my coming ? You were disappointed. Why ? That you might
cease from man. Oh ! it is good to be weaned from creature propa and depend-
encies . Whatever doea thia, ia a great bleaBing. If therefore, my not coming
has made you come nearer to Christ, I would therein rejoice ; yea, and therein 1
do rejoice. What of me ? Down with me, and up with Christ. But,
Thirdly, I can assure you my heart was divided. I wanted to be at home and
I wanted to stay. Duty and affection called me one way ; in Bpirit 1 was and am
with you, and hope ever so to be. I am, with great respect, your obliged friend
and servant, W< Romaine.

LETTER CCXXXIX. Nov 1, 1765.
My dear Friend. — Your letter of Sept. 9th would not have lain so long
without an answer, but it was at my house at Lambeth, to which I expected daily
to go from Brighthelmstone to Bath. But Lady H  having excused my at
tendance at the dedication of her new chapel, I therefore.sent to town for my lettera,
and, among the reat, found youra : for which what Bhall I eay ? What am I, the
very vilest of the vile, that any of the Lord's people should look on me ? But to
think of hia looking on me, whose eyes are a flame of fire, and yet to look with
love ; Oh what an humbling thought ia that ! I declare, the more I daily learn
of myaelf, I grow more amazed how Jeeus ahodd love 8uch an one. But he is
all grace, or rather grace is Jesu8 — not aomething diatinct from him, but he him
self — his name, because it is his nature. Unto him be the praise of your kindness
to one who has not a single thing to recommend him to your regard but what
Jesus' free grace has most marvellously bestowed upon hira. Let him have the
glory ; for he richly deserves it aU. Whatever good I receive in this world, spiri
tud or temporal, I am indebted for it to his mere bounty — I crown him for it,
take it off my head, and put it upon his. This ie heaven below ; for they are
doing the eame in heaven above. Ab we throw the crown of grace at hie feet, so
do they the crown of glory. Thue through him I thank you for your letter, and
for dl your favoure.
As to what you write about my not cdling on you in my journey, your dieap-
pointment was not, could not, be greater than mine. 1 learned frora it a good
lesson. It is very profitable to take notice of what providences say : they have

THE REV. W. ROMAINE, A.M. 707
a tongue, and speak loudly; and the spiritual ear hears, and receives instruction.
You see what man is, and what dependence is to be laid upon him. As I was
going along the road, I heard a voice saying, Cease ye from man, from yourself,
from others ; put no confidence in them, in your own good, in their good, or in
any good to be received from them. The command is, Put not your trust in
princes, nor in any child of man, be he wise, or great, or esteemed good. Nay,
look not at them, but with a single eye look unto Jesus. In him you tvttl see
every thing to put your confidence in — Grace, matchless grace in his heart and
lips, beauty beyond compare, riches unsearchable, honour infinite, righteousness
everlasting, holiness holy making, and that for ever. And aU these he has to
give, freely to give, to the unworthy. Look at him, beheving, and he is yours,
and aU he has and is. The sight wiU change you into his image. As the sun
shining puts his glory upon every object, so does Jesus. Oh cease then from
man — look not at blind man, dark and benighted — look not at this heavy thick
earth, nor at any of its glittering toys : they shine only as shined upon. Cease
from them aU, and look to Jesus. The good Spirit direct and fix your eyes and
mine upon him, till we see heaven in his face.
£he same voice still pursuing me I perceived that I was not only to cease
from looking to man and aU human things, but also to cease from depending on
them. I was not to live upon them. I could, as it were, hear a voice, Live not
¦upon us, but live upon the Prince of Life. He is a never-failing fountain of life.
He speaks, and the dead live. His voice makes and keeps ahve. We live by him,
and live on him, and in him. AU other persons and things but him concern only
the perishing, dying life of the body ; but the fife which he gives is his own
spiritud, divine, eternd life. I cannot wish you a greater blessing than to hear
with power, and to find what I did in my journey — Cease ye from living upon
man, and live upon me. So we do, Lord Christ ; the life which we now live in the
flesh, we live by the faith ofthe Son of God.
From hence I waa led to see the necessity of ceasing to hope for happiness
from all these things about us. They have it not to give. It grows not out of
that earth which layeth in wickedness, nor can it be increased by any good under
the sun ; because it is one of the perfect gifts which cometh down from the Father
of Lights. And when it is given by his grace, and received by faith, then this>
tme philosophers' stone turns aU things into gold. Faith living upon Jesus can
turn those things into happiness, which, in their own nature, could produce no
thing but misery. Wonderful transmutation ! it changes darkness into light,
death into life, weakness into strength, sin into righteousness, mourning into
joy, hell into heaven. By this faith we have Christ in us, the hope of glory,
Christ dweUing in the heart ; and where he is, there all he has is. AU things are
ours, salvation from all evil, a title to the love of God, and to the glory of God,
and a fitness also and meetness for the eternal enjoyment of God in his love and
glory. Cease ye from man, then, and aU is yours. Oh may you and I learn
to cease from all schemes of happiness in any object but in Jesus. 'The more
we live to him, the more dead he will make us to every thing else. He will let
you love your relations, nay, he commands you to love them ; but then you must
take them from him as his bounty, and use them as his gifts, dependent on his
sovereign will, free to give, free to take away, when and what he pleases. When
your will can be made thus really resigned to his wiU, then he wiU make you
happy, and you wiU feel something of their blessed oneness with him, who have no
trill but his, and therefore foUow the Lamb whithersoever he goeth. I mark
what you say upon that point. A resigned will is, not where there is no rising of
the flesh against God's will, but where there is victory over the will of the flesh.
Pray take notice of this ; and try whether you have not this evidence of your
adoption, that you desire the Father's wiU, and not yours, may be done.
I ara labouring at Brighthelmstone among a sweet people, with whom I am ex
ceedingly happy. The work of dear Jesus prospers among us. His person
grows more beloved, his work more precious, feUowship with him more close
anel intimate, and therefore more happy. Our hearts, warmed with his love, are
warm with brotherly love ; stirring up one another to press forward for the prize
of our high calling, that is, to win Clirist, and be found in him at the hour of death,
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708 LETTERS WRITTEN BY
and at the day of judgment. May the same Lord Christ grow dearer to you and
yours every day.
I am dways bound to pray for your welfare, being by many ties yours,
W. Romain it.

LETTER CCXL.
All spiritud blessings be on my dear friend ! whatever the tender heart, or
the dmighty arm of the loving Jesus has to bestow, may it be dl yours ! You
made rae promise to inform you of my motions, which 1 now fulfiU.
God willing, I shall be next Sunday at Mr. C.'s ; on Monday morning in Y  ;
from thence I shall make the best of my way to T  , and if 1 hear nothing of
you there, I Bhall proceed to A  . My time is short, so that I can but just
stay to take my leave of my friends. What a life is this! hurry, hurry, hurry,
from place to place, from this object to that ; — weary with seeking, but never
finding rest. — Happy Christian who is fixed to a point ! — Go where he will one
object is his all. The crucified Sariour is his happiness ; his perfect, everlasting
happineee ; and thie heaven he carries about with him. No time, no place, no
circumstances, make any change. He has one Lord, one faith, the same yeater-
day, to-day, and for ever. Come pain, aickneas, poverty, death, the Saviour'a
love and power bear him up. Come temptatione of all kinds, 1 will be with thee
in the hour of temptation, Baye the Lord God. Where he is, nothing need be
feared, because nothing can hurt. Oh, my friend, the true knowledge of Jeaua
Christ is an infaUible cure for all the miseries which come into the world by sin.
There is no evil of mind or body, tempord or eternd, but our precioua dear Lord
is by office engaged to remove it. And shall not you and I value and love
him ? What can we set our hearts upon ; what can bid so high for them as this
adorable Saviour? May he enable ua to give them to him, and then he will
8anctify all their inferior loves ; will let us love them as flowing from hia grace ; so
that this love wttl make us love, him more. This love is heaven. All joy and giory
is in it. And as for the happiness of his redeemed people, we shall never know
how great it is till we join the church above. It will be a glorious meeting. Jesue
bless you ! Amen. Amen. I am, for bis Bake, your faithful friend,
W. Romaine.

LETTER CCXLI.
Nov. 25, 17C5.
My dear Friend. — I have much to tell you of that ever dear and precioua
Lover — your best friend and mine. I had a token of his goodness in your last,
for which I thank Lady M  1, but, above aU, her Lord and mine. I have a
tde to relate of his free and kind heart, which will last longer than this world.
It ie reaUy heaven to be relating it, and I cannot hold my tongue. He makea
himaelf ao lovely by continual favoura, that my heart ia quite won, and by hia
sweet constraint is now fixed upon him. I would turn to other lovers, but sweet
Jesus will not let me. Oh, the boundless grace of his most amiable breast !
Finite nature cannot teU (how should it ?) his infinite love. But as we get
emptied of self, we know and experience more of his love. This I wish you, and
my very dear Miss  ; growth in grace, that is, self-abasement, and growth in
the knowledge of God our Sariour. May he empty you of eelf, and ful you with
more of his good things. We have very much of his preaenee and glory in. our
assemblies this winter, more than ever. Hi8 work revives amongst ue : and,
cold and frosty as the weather is, our hearts burn within us. Laat night
St. Dunstan's was a very Bethel ; it was like the dedication of the Temple,

THE REV. W. ROMAINE, A.M. 709
when the glory of Jehovah came dotvn and filled the house. I was preaching
on these words — " My meditation of him shaU be sweet " And so it was, indeed.
When I was setting forth his undertakings, his suitableness to fulfil them as
God-man, his actual fulfiUing of them, his power to apply and to make them
effectual ; how he does this by his word preached, in the hand of the Spirit
made the means of working faith in the heart, and of producing the fruits of faith
in fellowship with Jesus and his fulness, by which Jesus grows sweeter and
sweeter, and so brings us to the end of our meditation, the sweetest of aU even of
divine sweets, the enjoyment of Jesus in his kingdom of glory ; oh, what a sed
did he set to this preached gospel ! He made it the power of God. The medi
tation of his goodness yesterday has stttl 'a relish and delightful savour ! To-day
it is sweet, very, very sweet indeed. Pray mind I do not make this my sdvation.
No, but these sweet streams lead me to the fountain. I do not rest in them ;
but, if these be so sweet, what must the fountain be ? If httle faith finds Jesus
so precious, what must precious Jesus be, when faith yields to sight and sense ?
My dear, dear friend, prize this pearl, it is inestimable. Two things I would
beg your notice of; I know you have received him. The
First is, press for more knowledge — read, pray, hear, to be made more teach
able and humble, that Jesus may have the glory of such discoveries as he makes
of his person and of his work. And do not stop ; press on, as long as you live,
Bit very low, very low at Christ's feet, to hear his words. The
Second is, make use of his fulness ; you are welcome ; you cannot use it too
much. Hence comes sweet feUowship, and by it aU things wUl do you good.
Carry them to that best friend, pour them out into his loving bosom. He
delights in familiarity. You have beenUl; that is the best for you; live by
faith, and Jesus wiU make it plain to you. Yours, in that incomparable Lover,
W. Romaine

LETTER CCXLII. Lambeth, Jan. 16, 1766.
My dear Friend. — I have severd reasons for writing to you at this time.
The first is, that ever so long ago I wrote you a huge scribble ; to which, having
received no answer, I thought it was high time I should get a httle out of your
debt, and pay off some of my old score with these scraps of paper. I hope you
wiU take them, according to the American phrase, for paper currency. Put
every letter to account, and, having rated them just what you please, make me
creditor for it.
My second reason for writing is to inquire after you. How can I help being
concerned for those whom I love, especiaUy in the Lord ? Such friends I have
at  . It would be a red pleasure to me, and a profit to yourself, if I knew
what to ask for you, when I go to Court. How is your bodily hedth ? I know
you are generaUy weak and low, and I know it is good for you, yea, the best of
all for you. The Physician who never mistook a case prescribes to your tender
constitution. His prescription is perfect love. He could not bring about his
gracious designs any other way j he wants to wean you from a life of sense,
therefore in infinite mercy he takes away sensible enjoyments. He would have
you to go on from faith to fdth : but how could faith grow so fast, aa by keeping
you from those things which are its very bane and destruction ? He is bringing
you to more feUowship with him than you have had, therefore you must have
leas feUowship with the world. Fewer outward comforts wttl certdnly make you
experience more spiritud comforts. This is our Physician's fixed parctice— he
never varies from it, not in one instance : mind one of his favourite patients,
thy rod and thy staff comfort me: the afflicting rod could not comfort, pain could
not be pleasure, no chastening can be in itself joyous ; but the staff, the being
supported under the rod, and the feeling of that support, he found faith and
patience bear him up under the rod, which brought him to such close commu
nion with his gracious Saviour, that he was comforted under the cross. This is

710 LETTERS WRITTEN BY
also the experience of one highly favoured, as you may read, Rom. v. 3, 4, 5.
Let me know, then, how your soul prospereth untler Jesus' care.
I have dso a third reason for writing, which is to wish you a happy new year,
the happiest of aU you ever saw, and therefore I wish you more, still more enjoy
ment of our infinitely rich, everlastingly precious Jesus. You wiU live to a
blessed purpose, if every day of this new year you get more out of self, and live
more tn and on Jesus. We have had a most remarkable time this Christmas of
his grace and love. I have scarce an acqiidntance who has not been favoured
with blessed visits from him. Oh how great is his goodness 1 how great is his
beauty ! Incomparable both ! May your dear heart, my friend, feel what I did
at the Lock on Innoceuts' day, when I was preaching on these words of
Psd. lxxxrii. " All ray springs are in thee." I gave them first a translation of the
psdm, then a paraphrase, then application ; the substance of the two first I send
you : the psdm literdly rendered runs thus : Title is,
" For the sons of miserable man a psalm to be sung."
Ver. l. He is to be estabhshed in the raountdna of his holy one. Mind, how
eweetly the Holy Spirit begins ; he mentions not who thie He that was to be
eetabliahed ie, for all who are under hia teaching know.
2. Jehovah loveth the gates of Zion more than dl the dwellings of Jacob.
3. Weighty things are spoken of thee, thou city of Alehim. Selah, attend to
this. What this love in v. 2 was for, what these weighty things in v. 3 were,
the next words show, where God the Father ia introduced apedung :
4. I will cause it ta be remembered by them who knew me in Rahab and
Babylon, behold Philistia and Tyre, the people of Ethiopia — here was the name
bom — born in Zion, to be the Sariour of Rahab and Babylon, Philistia and Tyre,
and Ethiopia, even as many as the Lord our God ahall call in theae countriea.
David speaking by the Holy Ghost, adds in verse
5. And of Zion it shdl be said, a person and a person (God and man) Bhall be
born in her, and he himself the Must High shall perfectly establiah her. (Namely,
the church founded upon the incarnate God, against which, he eaye himself, the
gates of hell shdl not prevail.)
6. Jehovah shall record it, when he ia deacribing the people, that here was the
name born ; that divine name in which done there is aalvation, and from which
aU true joy both in heaven and earth arieeth, ae the eaints sung in the Old
Testament, as the angels sung at his birth, and as the redeemed of the Lord will
sing for ever.
7. And the singers, as well as the players on instruments, ahall aay, all my
springs are in thee (aU, aU the springs of grace, of glory, all arise frora Jehovah
manifest in the flesh.) Oh that such a spring as we had at the opening of these
words may flow into and refresh your heart quite through the wilderneee till you
come to the fountdn-head ; may you still drink of the water which Aowb through
the rock Christ, tttl you drink of that which flows from the throne of the Lamb.
And so it wttl be : the Rock will follow you, and you will have the comfort of it,
if you keep in mind that little word in, dl my springs are in thee, not only from
thee, through thee (which is true), but in thee. If fdth fix here, all witt be well.
For if at any time the stream fail, then you may go up to the fountain-head,
making up your happiness in Jesus, get you whatever it be, little or much,
in present comfort out of his fulness. Yet still he, and dl he is and has, is
yours. My paper grows short, and my fingers are 60 cold 1 can scarce write ; yet I
have a fourth reason for writing — upon Mr. Alexander Cole's death. I wrote to
Newcastle for his papers, especiaUy for a book in manuscript, after the manner
of the Pilgrim'a Progreas ; my brother Bent me word, his daughter at  had
been over, and carried away all her father's papers. I wish you could get thie
book and read it, and aend me your opinion of it.  perhaps could help you,
to whom give my kind love.
One thing more, and I have done. Yesterday I dined with Mr. Berridge. He
was making great complaint of his debts, contracted by his keeping, out of hie
own living, two preachers and their horses, and several local preachers, and for
the rents of several barns, in which they preach. He sees it was wrong to run

THE REV. W. ROMAINE, A.M. 7ll
in debt, and wiU be more careful. But it is done. My application is to Lady
Margaret. WiU you stand my friend with her, and teU her Berridge's case ? If
she pleases to assist him, I should be glad to convey her charity to him. You will
be the judge whether this be proper or not to mention to her. I beg my kind
love to ber, Nothing is yet done at Blackfriars : but Jesus does all things weU,
he times all things for the best ; I am sure of it ; therefore I wait my Lord's time,
and blesBed wdting it is. — May he bless you and yours in body and soul, and that
for ever and ever : so prays,
W. Romaine.

LETTER CCXLIII. Lambeth, Feb. 4, 1766.
All the blessings of Jesus' love be with dear  . I was not in a hurry to
answer your letter, because Mr. Berridge promised to make his acknowledgments
to  : and because the time was at hand when my lord chanceUor declared he
would end the affair of Blackfriars. You have heard of the event. My friends
are rejoicing aU around me, and wishing me that joy which I cannot take. It is
my Master's will, and I submit. He knows what is best, both for his own glory,
and his people's good. And I am certain he makes no mistake in either of these
points. But my head hangs down upon the occasion, through the awful appre
hensions which I ever had of the cure of souls. I am frightened to think of
watching over two or three thousand, when it is work enough to watch over
one. The plague of my own heart almost wearies me to death ; what can I do
with such a vast number ? Besides, I had promised myself a httle rest and
retirement in the evening of life, and had already sat down with a " soul, take
thine ease." And lo ! my fine plan is broken all to pieces. I am caUed into a
public station, and to the sharpest engagement, just as I had got into winter
quarters — an engagement, too, for life. I can see nothing before me, so long as
the breath is in my body, but war — and that with unreasonable men — a divided
pariah, an angry clergy, a wicked Sodom, and a wicked world ; aU to be resisted
and overcome : besides all these, a sworn enemy, subtle and cruel, with whom I
can make no peace, no, not a moment's truce, night and day, with aU his children
and his host, is aiming at my destruction. When I take counsel of the flesh, I
begin to faint. But when I go to the sanctuary, I see my cause good, and my
Master is almighty — a tried friend; and then he makes my courage revive.
Although I am no way fit for the work, yet he caUed me to it, and on him I
depend for strength to do it, and for success to crown it. I utterly despair of
doing any thing as of myself, and therefore the more I have to do, I shaU be
forced to live more by faith upon him. In this view I hope to get a great income
by my living. I shall want my Jesus more, and shall get closer to him. As he
has made my application to him more necessary and more constant, he has given
me stronger tokens of his love. Methinks I can hear his sweet voice, — " Come
closer, come closer, soul ; nearer yet ; I will bring you into circumstances that
you cannot do one moment without me." Oh that you could dways hear that
voice, it would be your heaven ! and indeed it is his language — nothing but love
is on- his tongue ; but the noise of the flesh sometimes drowns his smaU still
voice. — Comfort would flow into your heart, like a river, if the ears of faith were
but open to attend to the endearments of Jesus. " Soul, thou shdt not five at a
distance from me ; 1 bought thee with a great price ; thou art mine. When I
afflict, it is to bring thee nearer to myself; to make thee glad in me ; to bring
thy heart to me. Thou shdt not make up thy comforts in the streams ; come,
come up nearer, nearer still, to the fountain-head. To make thee, to force thee to
live happy in my fulness, I wttl dry up the streams, and so will I teach thee to
make me dl in all." The infinitely lovely Lamb of God teach you this lesson !
All bis word preaches it, all his providences procldm it. Every cross says— Go

712 LETTERS WRITTEN BY
to Jesus, live near his bleeding heart, or dse I shaU break the back of your
patience. Every difficulty says, Go to Jesus, and he wttl make you strong in the
power of his might to overcome. The world, and all the things in it, say, and
the believer has ears to hear, Go to Jesus, there is no good in us — it is all in hira.
Whatever comes, I go to Jesus with it, and all is weU — his smiles are humbling,
his rod is sanctifying ; in dl his dealings he is good, and doeth good.
I know these things as well in theory, as I see the words upon the paper. But
to practise them is indeed hard, except in his strength, to whom all things are
possible ; in it and by it aU the things we meet with will not only bring us to live
more upon Christ, but will dso bring ua to live more to Chri8t. By doing the
one we do the other. He that makes him all, shows forth most of his praise.
What can glorify Christ fike that believer who attempts nothing without consdt-
ing hira, undertakes no work or duty but in his strength, rejoices in nothing but
in Jesus, and in his sdvation ? Oh that you may learn, my deal- friend, thus to
exdt King Jesus ! I would have you to be ever bringing some honour to him,
by making him your all in deed and in truth. Praise his fulness by living dways
upon it, and then he will make you dways happy. Let him be all your salvation,
and aU your desire — dl your sdvation, as to tne merit of it ; dl your deBire, as to
the efficacy of it ; dl your sdvation in purchase ; dl your desire in enjoyment.
So he is in heaven : Oh that we could make him so upon earth 1
I have one favoui to beg of you. Do not refuse me. Y'ou see my station :
you hear my difficulties. WUl you remember me to him, who calleth the tilings
that be not as though they were. He can send to war at his coat, and for hia
glory. If you love ine, make mention of me when you go to Court. Pray for
U8efulnesa and for humility. I ceaae not to mention you.
I have received Lady B  's money, and have been much in gaols of late.
I am confined to church people ; and when I see a prisoner, a disaenter, and
cannot relieve him, trith a wife and aeveral children, it makes my very heart
ache. So I thought your gift was from heaven. I have made one family happy,
and shaU make others, and by and by will send you the particulars. W. Romaine.

LETTER CCXL1V. July 22, 1766.
My very dear Friend. — I am wishing for your proeperity in body and
eoul ; but above edl, that your soul may prosper : and it ia in the moet thriving
state when you are lowest and vilest in your own eyes, and Jeaus done ia eyed
and eateemed. Thia is growth. And self ia kept down, ao Jeaua ia exalted.
Oh, what views have I of thia manner of growing in grace! Let me tdk to you
freely of it at our next meeting, a8 I have learned it not from books, but from
God's word, and God'a teaching.
I am learning, though dittl, now to eye him in aU things : as it ia my privi
lege, eo I find it my happiness ; but, alas ! alae ! I am a raieerable learner.
However, I eet out afresh, and resolve not to give over aiming at my lesson.
Do ever ao well, I would do better, for I 8ee in him worlda of beauty and glory,
which wttl take up a long eternity to etudy, and, what i» beet of all, to enjoy.
To my dear, dearest Jesus, I commend you and all yours. I am, very sincerely,
yours in our common Lord, W. Romaine.

LETTER CCXLV. Lambeth, Sept. 30, 1766.
My dear Friend. — I have been carrying here and there the sweet savour of
Jesus' dear name ever since I left you. I was in Sussex for a month, and have
heard, since my return, a better account of your hedth, for which 1 am thankful.
The Lord having appointed you for his heavenly kingdom, has also appointed

THE REV. W. ROMAINE, A.M.. 713
all the steps which are to lead you thither. Every pdn is in the covenant. Your
confinement, your miscarriages, your fdntings, your disappointments, not one
thing that thwarts your will, but it is in God's wiU. Nothing can befal you but
what is ordered, contrived for you by wisdom, brought upon you by love. Oh
for eyes to see, for a heart to receive, aU God's dealings with you, in this cove
nant view! How sweet would be your many trids, if you found them all
appointed and managed for you by the best of friends. Learn to receive them
thus. I am going to Bath, and hope for a httle leisure there to write to you a long
letter. My subject is ready. After you receive it, I shdl be glad to hear how
your sentiments and mine agree. Pray remember me trith many thanks to  .
I am in debt more than I can acknowledge. My best respects to her. Pray for
a poor worm,
W. Romaine.

LETTER CCXLVI Lambeth, Nov. 15, 1766.
I am indebted much to my dear friend, but, among other things, I owe you a
note of hand, which I am now ready to pay. I wanted to tdk with you at 
upon the temper and disposition of a true believer ; but, being prevented there,
I promised to send you my thoughts upon this subject, which I am the more
ready to do to-day, because the reason of my making the promise not only still
subsists, but is also increasing. A temper directly contrary to the Christian is
spreading among professors. I see the delusion grow, and I am a witness to
the baneful effects of it. How many have you and I heard of, who want to be
something in themselves, and, rather than not be so, will be beholden to Christ
to set them up with a stock of grace ? They would gladly receive a tdent from
him, that, by being faithful to grace given, and trading weU with it, they may
look with delight on their improvements, and thereby hope to get more grace
and more glory. This is the Popish plan, the Arminian, the Baxterian, the
Wesleyan : very flattering to nature, exceedingly pleasing to self-righteousness,
very exdting, yea, it is crowning/ree will, and debasing King Jesus. I would
he more jealous than I am over you in this matter, if I had not seen herw the
Lord teaches you, and warns you of this rock Your frequent indispositions
are his sweet lessons, by tvhich he would bring you to the true gospel frame of
spirit, which is this : — It is the proper work of the grace of Jesus, to humble
the proud sinner, to make him and to keep him sensible of his wants, continced
dways that he has not any good of his own, and cannot possibly of himself
obtdn any, either in earth or heaven, but what he must be receiving every moment
out of the fulness of Jesus.
The devil feU by pride, and he drew man into the same crime. He promised
him independence, and he still persuades deceived man to eet up for himself.
That is tne scheme of dl unawakened men : they are resolved to be happy in
spite of God. The Spirit of Jesus is sent to humble this proud sinner, which he
does by giving him a view of God's holy nature and God's holy law. This makes
Bin, and consequently the sinner, hateful ; discovers bis guilt and his danger :
if he attempts to do any thing to make God love him, the Holy Spirit humbles
him for that very thing, by showing him the sinfulness of his motive, and the
imperfection of the action. Whatever he seeks to rest in, the Spirit of Jesus
detects the false foundation, tiU he leaves him no resource but to believe in the
only begotten Son of God ; so that when he comes to Jesus, he is stripped of aU,
quite naked and bhnd, moneyless and friendless, empty of good as the deril and
Bin could make him. This is aU the fitness and preparation for Christ which I
know of. And when Christ is thus received, the same Spirit which would let
him, the sinner, bring nothing to Christ, wttl now make him bring aU from
Christ, and so keep him sensible of his wants. He wUl teach the behever more,
ddly, of his poverty, weakness, unworthinesB, vileness, ignorance, &c. that he
may be kept tiumble, without any good but what he is forced to fetch out of the

714 LETTERS WRITTEN BY
fulness of Jesus. And when he would go any where else for comfort, to duties,
frames, gifts, and graces (for pride wttl live, and thrive too, upon any thing but
Jesus,) his Spirit makes them dry and lean, and wiU not let him stop short of
the fountain-head of aU true comfort : in short, he wttl glorify nothing but Jesus.
He wttl stain the pride of aU greatness, and of all goodness, excepting what is
derived from the fulness of the incarnate God.
I know one who learned this very slowly, but has had much pains taken with
him ; and to make what I have been saying more pldn, I would iUustrate it by
his experience. He was a very, very vain, proud young man : knew dmost every
thing but himself, and therefore was mighty fond of himself. He met with many
disappointments to his pride, which only made him prouder, till the Lord was
pleased to let him see and feel the plague of his own heart. At this time my
acqudntance with him began. He tried every method that can be tried to get
peace, but found none. In his despair of aU things else, he betook himself to
Jesus, and was most kindly received. He trusted the word of promise, and
experienced the sweetness in the promise. After this, he went through various
frames and trids of faith, too many to mention, and he ia now got, where may
Mrs.  , your dear sister, get, and as far beyond it as you can.
First, he has been brought to a clear conviction, that all fulness of good is in
Jesus, as clear, as that dl the sap in the branch is from the stock on which it
grows, as that dl the nourishment in the member is from the body. • What has
the branch or the member, except what they receive ? Now this continual
receiring from Jesus every thing, saying, " You must go to him, you must go
to him," i8 a moat humbling les80n. And my friend Bays, it is nothing hut thia
which crucifies his pride ; he has been attempting for many years to be some
thing, to do something of himself, but codd not succeed : disappointed again
and agdn, yet he would not give it up, tiU God made him feel, in him, that is,
in his flesh, dweUed no good thing: anel now he writes folly, weakness, sin, on all
that is his own; not only clearly convinced that aU fulnesa of good is in Jeaus,
but is dso, in the second place, content it ahould be in him. It pleased the
Father that in him should all fulness dweU. It pleases the Holy Spirit to testify
of hie fulness, and to glorify nothing but it : and by his teaching, it pleases the
believer. He is made quite satisfied that dl fulness should dwell in that dear
God-man : content to have nothing but what he must go to him for ; yea, happy
to go to Jesus for those very things of which he himself is empty, and which he
cannot have any where else. My friend's heart glows, and hia very countenance
brightena up, and one catchea fire at hia worda, when he ia talking upon this Biib-
ject. " Oh," eaya he, " that you did but know what I experience in living upon
the fulness of Jesua! God'a will and mine are one in thie matter : this subjection
to his wttl is heaven regained; so I find it. I rest perfectly on the fulness, and
I enjoy most sweetly, what God has ldd up in it for my use. My conscience
has a peace, that passeth all understanding, through faith in the blood of the
Lamb. I eee myself in him perfectly accepted, perfectly justified, perfectly
comely in his comeliness, perfectly happy in his love : dl the desirea of the eoul
satisfied with Jesus' person and Jesus' work. This, this is the death of pride.
Here free-will, self-righteousness, a legal spirit cannot work. The Spirit and
power of Jesus in this his glory makes them hide their heads."
Thia is living like a Christian. It is a life, in one respect, only below an
angel'e ; and yet, great and blessed as it is, I have heard my friend talk in a very
uncommon strain upon a state even beyond this, which he calls heaven enjoyed,
and that ia,
Thirdly, he is thankful that aU fulness dwells in Jesus — not only is convinced
of it, and content with it, but also blessee God for ite being in Jesus. Thia ia all
they do in the higheet heaven, and he has most of heaven who doea thiB moet
like them. My friend describes hie meaning time : " I live out of myself — I
nothing have, I nothing am, but foUy and ain — Je8us is_my life ; in him ia the
fulness of its being, and of its comforts : whatever I want, I find it in him. I
experience day by day the kindness of his heart, and the bounty of his hand.
Blessings on him, my heart enjoys what no tongue can describe. Whatever I
go to him for, he dways sends me away with matter of thankfilineee. Constant

T HE REV W. ROMAINE, A.M. 715
fellowship with him endears to me his person more and more. Communion
with him in his offices makes him infinitely lovely. Partaking of his overflowing
love, makes it everlastingly precious. And hving upon the fulness of these, is
the fulness of joy. Glory, glory be to God-Jesus for ever and ever : Heaven and
earth say with my heart, Amen."
Thus does my friend illustrate the definition which I give you of the true
gospel- frame of spirit. I hope we shall five to talk of it, and five to enjoy it
more. Nothing else is worth living for. All means of grace are only useful as
they help us to live thus. AU providences, sicknesses, losses, successes, are only
so far blessings, as they lead us more out of ourselves into the fulness of Jesus.
My dear Mrs.  , I can write to-day upon nothing else. I hope I write sea
sonably. When you open this letter, you wttl want this lesson. I am sure you
wiU, and God bless it to you ; I foUow it with my prayers, and fccan do no more ;
but our common Lord wiU hear, I know he wiU ; and wiU accompany my poor
words trith his presence. To the care of his dear loving heart I commend you
you and yours. Wonder not I have not written before ; I have been in a more
preaching way this summer than I ever was in my life, and traveUed much more,
and have had with me a sweet savour of Jesus' dear name. Oh he is precious to
my soul : how much, even now, I shall want time in eternity to teU : so precious,
that I think I have not long to be here, or else the matchless lover wiU make this
earth a very heaven. But I say, I, the vUest worm that ever crawled or escaped
hell, not to set me up, but him, the high exdted worthy Saviour. Again to him
I commend you. Yours truly in him, W. Romaine.

LETTER CCXLVII. Lambeth, Jan. 24, 1767.
My very dear Friend. — I have wdted till I am quite wearied out. Many
a look and prayer have I sent  ward, hut aU in vain. No tidings could I get
till Mr.  told me of your state. And on his information I am encouraged to
inquire after you and yours, and after a very, very long letter, which I wrote
upon my coming home from Bath. Pray give me some account, for indeed I
long to know about these matters. The letter was upon a subject that I scarce
ever mentioned before to any body ; it was my own experience ; and I would not
have it lost for a great deal. I have been trying it by scripture, and I could give
you infaUible proofs of its being agreeable to the word of God ; and perhaps may,
when I hear from you next. It will be some satisfaction to me (as I never take
copies of any thing) to read my own history at  . Before that time I may
have got a little lower, and have drank deeper into the knowledge of Jesus. That
seems to be the end of living, to have self abased, and Jesus exdted ; and these
two are inseparable. As self sinks in esteem, Jesus rises. When self is nothing
but sin, then Jesus is a glorified Saviour. When self is nothing but misery,
then Jesus is all heaven. I have been led to take particular notice of this lately
from these views :
First, the person of Jesus ; he was Jehovah. AU the glory of the Godhead
was in the man Jesus. And what was his appearance ! mean, to the last degree.
A worm, and no man, the very scorn of men, and the outcast of the people. What
was his form i a servant, a poor servant. What were his tempers ? meek and
lowly, yea, meekness and lowliness itself; a perfect origind, of whom aU his
disciplea may learn to be meek and lowly. His way to glory was humility ; so
is ours. His glory, indeed, was his humility ; so is ours. " He that humbleth
himself shall be exdted," was true of the head as well as of the members. Oh that
you and I may be in this conformed to him ! because herein,
Secondly, our fellowship with him consists. Whatever a man sees in himself
great or good, is an absolute hindrance to the enjoyment of Jesus. Whatever
e sees tile and wicked ; therein (if he has fdth) he will enjoy the Saviour. Tbe
more he sees, the more enjoyment : for that which humbles the sinner brings him

716 LETTERS WRITTEN BY
nearer to the Sariour. The humblest sinner is capable of the closest communion,
and is thereby fitted for the largest communications of Jesus' love. The emptiest
hold the most, and the emptiest receive the most. Oh for daily emptying ! Thia
self, this fuU self, what reasonings, what legdity, what self-righteousnese has it,
and all to keep us from being fitted with the fulness of Christ ; this is your grand
enemy, that idol self. The Lord crucify it by his own almighty grace ! and to
induce you to apply to him for this power, I would recommend it to you.
Thirdly, in reading the Bible, take notice of the persons to whom the promises
are made. Their chetracter is always one and the same : the poor in spirit ; the
contrite and broken in heart ; the hungry ; the thiraty ; the meek and lowly. Take
this general promise as an instance, God giveth grace to the humble, and with
grace he gives all things. See how I get writing on without intending it ; I only
sat down to inquire about you, and aU our dear friends ; Miss  at the head
of them. Lo ! here is a long scroll started up. -In love remember me to dl friends,
and, if you please, with my hearty prayers for their welfare at  . Mine eyes
have tears for them. Dear Jesus reved himsdf ao to you in his glory, as to
ecfipse all created good, and yourseff eapecidly. So praye a poor 8inner.
W. Romaine.

LETTER CCXLVIII.
March 21, 1767.
My dear Friend. — I would not have let your long and kind epi8tle be ao
careleealy passed by, but that I am at preaent left to myself without a curate.
All my time ia taken up with pariah duty ; a great ded of it very unprofitably
spent. But I am cdleel to it, and 1 must, and do, submit. I have sat down, and
I wttl write on tttl I am interrupted. And I begin with telling you how your laat
refreshed me. It was a seasonable feast ; for I was in a sad taking about the
account which I had sent you of myself, having never found any freedom to do
it to any body living before ; and I feared either it should be lost, or faU into any
other person's hand. I am glad it is in yours. Now you know whereabouts I
am, and what my present state is, it may be of some uae to you to be informed
how I was brought unto it. God's dealings with me have been wonderful, not
only for the royal sovereignty of hia richeat grace, but aleo for the manner of his
teaching, on which 1 cannot look back without adoring my meek and lowly pro
phet. He would have aU the honour (and he well deserves it) of working out
and also of applying hia glorioua ealvation. When I waa in trouble and eoul-
concern he would not let me learn of man. I went everywhere to hear, but
nobody was Buffered to speak to my case. 'The reaaon of thia I could not tell
then, but I know it now. The Arminian methodiete flocked about me, and
courted my acqudntance, which became a great anare unto me. By their meana
I waa brought into a difficulty, which diBtressed me aeveral years. " I was made
to believe that part of my title to sdvation was to be inherent — something called
holiness in myself, which the grace of God waa to help me to. And I waa to get
it by watchfulne8s, prayer, fasting, hearing, reading, sacraments, &c. : so that after
much and long attendance in tho8e means, I might be able to look inward, and
be pleased with my own improvement, finding I was grown in grace, a great
ded holier, and more deserving of heaven than I had been." I do not wonder
now that I received this doctrine. It was sweet food to a proud heart. I
feasted on it, and to work I went. It was bard labour and sad bondage, but
the hopes of having something to glory in of my own kept up my spirits. I went
on, day after day, striving, agonizing (as they caUed it) ; but still I found myself
not a bit better. I thought this was the fault, or that, which being amended, I
should certainly succeed ; and therefore set out afresh, but stiU came to the same
place. No galley slave worked harder, or to less purpose. Sometimes I was
quite discouraged, and ready to give aU up ; but the discovery of some supposed
hindrance set me to work again. Then Iwouldredoublemydiligence andexertall
my strength. StiU I got no ground This made me often wonder; and still

TIIE REV. W. ROMAINE, A.M. 717
more, when I found, at last, that I was going backward. Methought I grew
worse. I saw more sin in myself, instead of more holiness, which made my
bondage very hard, and my heart very heavy. The thing I wanted, the more I pur
sued it, flew farther and farther from me. I had no notion that this was divine
teaching, and that God was delivering me from my mistake in this way : so that
the discoveries of my growing worse were dreadful arguments agdnst myself,
until now and then a little light would break in and show me something of the
glory of Jesus ; but it was a glimpse only — gone in a moment. As I saw more
of my heart, and began to feel more of my corrupt nature, I got clearer views of
gospel-grace ; and in proportion as I came to know myself, I advanced in the
knowledge of Christ Jesus. But this was very slow work : the old leaven of self-
righteousness, new christened holiness, stuck close to me stiU, and made me a
very duU scholar in the school of Christ. But I kept on, making a little progress ;
and as I was forced to give up one thing, and another, on which I had some
dependence, I was left, at last, stripped of aU, and neither had, nor could see where
I could have, aught to rest my hopes, that I could caU my own. This made way
for blessed views of Jesus. Being now led to very deep discoveries of my own legal
heart, of the dishonour which I had put upon the Saviour, of the despite I
had done to the Spirit of his grace, by resisting and perverting the workings
of his love ; these things humbled me. I became very vile in mine own eyes, I
gave over striving : the pride of free-will, the boast of mine own works, were laid
low. And as self was debased, the scriptures became an open book, and every
page presented the Saviour in new glory. Then were explained to me these
truths, which are now the very joy and hfe of my soul. Such as,
First, the plan of sdvation, contrived by the wisdom of Jehovah Alehim, ful
filled in the divine person and work of Jesus, and applied by the Spirit of Jesus.
The whole was so ordered, from first to last, that all the glory of it might be
secured to the persons in Jehovah. The devil fell by pride ; he tempted and
seduced man into pride : therefore the Lord, to hide pride from man, has so con
trived his sdvation that he who glorieth should have nothing to glory in but the
Lord. Secondly, The benefits of sdvation are aU the free gifts of free grace, conferred
without any regard to what the receiver of them is ; nothing being looked at by
the Giver but his own sovereign glory. Therefore the receivers are the ungodly,
the worst of them, the unworthy, the chief of sinners ; such are saved freely by
grace through fdth, and that not of themselves : it (namely, sdvation by faith) is
the gift of God, not of works, lest any man should boast.
Thirdly, When I considered these benefits one by one, it was the very death
of self-righteousness and self-complacency; for when I looked at the empty
hand which fdth puts forth to receive them ; whence was the hand emptied —
whence came faith — whence the power to put forth the empty hand — and whence
the benefits received upon putting it forth ? AU is of God ; he humbles us, that
we may be willing to receive Christ; he keeps us humble, that we may be
wiUing to five by faith upon Christ received : and as it is a great benefit to have
this fdth, so it is,
Fourthly, A great, inestimably great benefit to live by faith ; for this is a hfe in
every act of it dependent upon another. Self is renounced, so far as Christ is
lived upon. And fdth is the most emptying, pulling down grace ; most emptying,
because it says, and proves it too. In me, that is, in my flesh, dwelleth no good
thing, and therefore it wiU not let a man see aught good in himself, but pulls down
every high thought, and lays it low in subjection to Jesus. It is called the faith
of the Son qf God, because he is the author and the finisher of it ; he gives it ;
he gives to live by it ; he gives the benefits received by it ; he gives the glory ldd
up for it ; so that if I live to God, and in any act have living communion with
God, it is by nothing in myself, but whoUy by the fdth of the Son of God.
When I wanted to do any thing commanded, (what they caU duties), I found,
Fifthly, A continud matter of humiliation. I was forced to be dependent' for
the will and for the power, and, having done my best, I could not present it to
God but upon the golden dtar that sanctifieth the gifts ; not the worthiness, not
the goodness of the gifts, but the sanctifying grace ofthe great High Priest alone

71S. LETTERS WRITTEN BY
can make them holy and acceptable. How low did this lay the pride of good
tvorks ; since, after aU, they were viler than dung, unless perfumed with the
sweet incense of Jesus' blood and righteousness ! Here I learnt to eye him in
all my works and duties, the Alpha and Omega of them ; the life and spirit of all
my prayere, and sermons, and hearing, and reading, and ordinances ; they are
all dead works, unless done in and by faith of the Son of God. Against this
blessed truth, of which I am as certdn as that I am dive, I find my nature kick.
To this hour, a legd heart wttl be creeping into duties, to get between me and
my dear Jesus, whom I go to meet in them. But he soon recovers me from the
temptation, makes me loathe myself for it, and gets fresh glory to his sovereign
grace ; and as all the great and good things ever done in the world were done by
fdth, so all the crosses ever endured with patience were from the same cause
which is,
Sixthly, Another humbling lesson. I find to this moment so much unbelief
and impatience in myself, that if God was to leave me to be tried with any thing
that crossed my will, ifit was but a feather.it would break my back. Nothing tends
to keep me vile in my own eyes, like this fretting, and murmuring, and heart
burning, when the will of God in the least thwarts my wiU. 1 read, the trial qf
your faith worketh patience ; the trid of mine, the direct contrary. Instead of
patient subraisaion, I want to have mine own way, to take very little phyaic, and
that very eweet: eo the flesh lusteth. But the physician knows better. He
knows when and what to prescribe ; may every potion purge out this impa
tient, proud, unbelieving temper, so that fdth may render hedthful to the sod
what is pdnfal to the flesh. And as no croaa can be endured without the faith of
the Son of God, ao,
Seventhly, andlaetly, There is no comfortable view of leaving the world, but by
the same faith. These all, who had obtained a good report in every age, died
in faith. On their death-bed they did not look for present peace and future glory,
but to the Lamb of God. Their great works, their eminent services, their various
sufferings, all were cast behind their backs, and they died as they lived, looking
at nothing but Jesus. He was their antidote against the fear and against the
power of death. They feared not the cold death-sweat ; Jesus' bloody sweat waa
their dependence. The dart lost its force on Jesus' side. The sting was loet in
hie corpse. Death stung itself to death, when it kiUed him. There is life in its
highest exdtation and glory, in not breathing the air of this world.' This life,
through death, Jesus entered on, and we enter on it now by faith ; and when our
breath is stopped, we have this life, as hehasit,pure,epiritual,anddivine. Because
he lives it, we shall live it dso. Yee, my dear friend, we, and you, and I, after
we have lived a little longer, to empty us more, to bring us more out of ourselvea,
that we may be humbled, and Jesus exalted more, we shaU fall asleep in Jeaua,
not die, but sleep ; not see, not taate death, so he promises us ; but in bis dear
arms sweetly go to rest in our weary bodies, when our souls shaU be with the
Lord. Anel then we shaU be perfect in that lesson, which we learn so very Blow
io this preaent world, namely, that from him, and of him, and to him, are dl thinga :
to whom be all the glory, for ever and ever, Amen.
Theae are the things which God himself has taught me. Man had no hand
at aU in it. No person in the world, not I myself; for I fought against them as
long as 1 could : so that my present possession of them, with all the rich bless-
ings which they contain, ia from my heavenly -teacher done. And I have not
learned them, as we do mathematics, to keep them in memory, and to make use
of them when I please : no, I find in me, to this moment, an opposition to every
gospel truth, both to the belief of it in my head, and to the comfort of it in my
heart. I am stiU a poor dependent creature, sitting very low at the feet of my
dear Teacher, and learning to admire that iove of his, which brought me down
and keeps me down at his feet. There be my seat, till I learn my lesson per
fectly. That wiU soon be. There is nothing in hie presence but what is like
himself. In heaven aU is perfection. The sdnts are as humble as they are happy
Clothed with glory and clothed with humility, with one heart and one voice they
cry, " Worthy is the Lamb." They look not at, they praise not one another ; but
the Lamb is glorified in his saints, and will have from them never-ending praise

THE REV. W. ROMAINE, A.M. 719
and glory for the glory which his sovereign grace has bestowed upon them. In
a measure I now feel what they do. My heart is in tune, and 1 can join that
blessed hymn ; looking at him as the giver of grace (and grace is glory begun,
nota bene) as they look at him the giveT of glory. I can take the crown, most
gladly, from the head of all my graces, as they do from the head of their glory,
and cast it down at his loving feet. " Worthy is the Lamb." He is — he is—
blessings on him for ever and ever!
Ought not I to say so, indebted as I am to that precious Lamb of God ? You
see how he has dealt with me : the kindness, the gentleness of his ways, his royd
bounty, the magnificence of his love. Adore and prdse him with me and for
me. And learn, my dear friend, from what I have here related, to trust him more.
When he shows you your vile heart, your poor works, when dreadful corruptions
stir, and are ready to break out, go to him freely, boldly ; stop not a moment to
reason with your own proud spirit, but faU down at his footstool. TeU him just
what you feel. He loves to hear our complaints poured with confidence into his
bosom. And never, never on earth, will you get such fellowship with him, so
close, so blessed, as when you converse with him in this poverty of spirit. Let
nothing keep you from him ; whatever you meet with, let it drive you to him ;
for aU good iB from him, and aU evil is turned into good by him. Oh wondrous
Saviour! Here I was going on, and I hope in this theme never to stop; but
the Rev. Mr.  is come in — one just ordained. I do not leave Jesus to tdk
to him, but I am going to talk to him of sweet Jesus. To him I commend you
and yours. Believe me very truly yours in that most lovely Lord Christ, most
precious Jesus,
W. Romaine.

LETTER CCXLIX. Lambeth, Sept. 27, 1767-
My very dear Friend. — I have been waiting for good news, but in vain. I
wanted some satisfactory answer to your last, and though I can give you none,
yet I take up my pen to make an apology for the great Leird (who wiU not send
you a minister) leat you should begin to think hardly of him, and of me too, his
poor servant. I would have you to remember, that the government is upon his
ahodders — the government of heaven and earth. His church is the object of
his specid government. It is his body — bought with his blood — quickened by
his Spirit— kept by his power — blest with his love. All its concerns are upon
his heart : his eyes are upon  : he sees his people there with perfect com
placency ; and they shdl want nothing that he has to give. Among the rest he
beholds you and yours, and is managing aU for your good. AU shaU be blest to you,
your relations, your house, your substance, your state of body and of mind, your life
and death, things temporal and spiritud. He will turn aU things into blessings ; for
he does aU things weU. He does not, he cannot make one mistake in his govern
ment ; no, not the least. He is wisdom, he is love, he is power itself. Infinite
wisdom directs his love, and sets it to work ; and, being dmighty, he makes all
thinga work together for the best to his dear people. You are as dear to him at
 , as we are at London. When he knows it to be right, he wiU send you a
pastor after his own heart : and when he does not want one there, you cannot get
one. When it is right you should be comforted, you shaU be humbled, and then
your consolations shall abound : and when it is right you should be low and
mourning, he tvill bring good, yea, joy out of heaviness. Think of all that his
P0™" c»n 'lo i h's love disposes, his covenant binds him, to do it for his people.
Oh, blessed Mrs.  ! What a happy woman are you ! Jesus is yours. All
he is, dl he has (and mind, he is Lord of dl things) is yours. Who is like
unto your Jesus ? None, none in heaven or earth : for your Friend has aU power
m heaven and earth, and he wiU use it for your good, to keep you, to guide you,
to give yqu what is best, what he knows to be best ; and has, as such, appointed
for you in his wise counsel and purpose of grace. Leave yourself, then, to his
care and management ; yourself and yours. Trust him for a pastor. Faith is

720 LETTERS WRITTEN BY
the best way to get one. Ask of him, bdieving, and Mr.  , or some you
never heard of, shdl be sent. Befieve for your mercies, and you cannot want
your mercies. If you take notice of God's dedings, you will find that God
never takes away what you are enjoying by faith. All things are possible, both
to get and to keep to him that believeth. And when belief goes, all goes. And
well it is so : for that which is not enjoyed by fdth, is not worth enjoying. It
can bring no red good to us, and no glory to God ; therefore we had better be
without it. In this holy art of believing for our blessings, I trish you most
heartily u great proficient. Fdth done makes the difference. I would have
you daily to practise it for every earthly good tiling you enjoy ; then shdl it pro
duce a gladness of heart — but without fdth it will not be to your true solid com
fort, because not sanctified. You see how open I write, my very heart appears.
For I know your weak side. There I fear for you : and my fear is an holy fear.
I fear for God's glory, in the use of a comfort so near your very soul, and I know
of no way but what I now teU you. Believe for your mercies. That will secure
God's honour, and your comfort. To the sweet arms of your dirine lover, I
commend you and yours, that he would give you grace to trust aU your earthly
comforta ddly in the Saviour's care. This I shall entreat for you, being very
heartily yours in that lovelie8t of all loves. W. Romaine.

LETTER CCL. Blackfriars, Ocr. 27, 1769.
My dear Friend. — Finding the cover of thia letter yesterday, it put me in
mind of our past correspondence, and brought back into pleasing reflection
many agreeable interviews with you and yours. I was reaolved therefore to make
uae of this cover, Proridence, I thought, had put in my way. It is to be Bent
as directed, to be a witness for me of my constant attachment to you and your
family, as of my uninterrupted affection. Go, letter, and eay so. Assure therrt
that I am still tne same in heart, in deed, wishing and praying to approve myaelf
to be unfeignedly theirs. And teU them my reason ; it ie becauee,"- through
grace, I am the same in heart, in deed, to my spiritual friend ; wishing and praj*-
ing to approve myself to be unfeignediy his in all things. Upon better acquaint
ance I am become settled in ray iove, and rest in it. I have some little intimacy
with the friend of sinners, and what he manifests to me of himself increases affec
tion. He teaches me to loathe myself ; every day he lets me see and feel the
totd ruin of thia body of 6in and death, and will not let me look at any thing in
or of myaelf from whence I may draw one moment'a comfort. Thua he makes
himaelf more lovely. Self-loathing rendere him preciouB. The more we get out
of eelf, the more we grow into Jesus. Tired of our works and duties, we learn
to value bis righteousness. Feeling we cannot keep ourselves, we know how to
trast his faithfulness, who hath undertaken to keep his people unto the end. Oh
what a friend is this ! whose love is like himself; the same yesterday, to-day, and
for ever. This sense of his love makes his people loving. And his love to
them is the bond of all their holy love to one another. Having put on Chri8t,
they put on with him kindness, brotherly love, bowels of mercies, &c. Some of
these, but I do not boast, I feel to you, and my dear friends with you. May our
love be mutud, increasing continuaUy in every sweet and holy affection. The
love of Christ wttl constrain to this ; it spreads like leaven. Every act not only
brings forth, but also diffuses, its sweet influence. Whenever I remember you,
and make mention of you at our Court, the King not only hears, but approves, and
makee the love expreesed to be love abounding. 'The holy flame spreads ae it
burns ; so that every affection, as it increases in its attachment to our glorious
head, makes us more truly loving to aU his members.
My dear friend, I wish you was raore intimate with this loving Jesus. And

THE REV. W. ROMAINE, A. M. 721
why not ? what has he done to make you shy of him ? aU your complaints about
yourself are no bar : they are so many ties and bonds constraining you to love
him ; yea, he wiU love to hear them from you, as matters of faith. Whatever
you are, or feel of sin, misery, helplessness, &c. if rightly managed, should in
crease your knowledge of and dependence on the Lord Jesus Christ. Indeed,
aU that you meet with, tiU you meet him face to face, should bring you into
more experience of his perfect sdvation, and of his free love to bestow it on such
as you. By which means you would be growing daily in the excellency of the
knowledge of your Lord, and would be more conformed to his image and exam
ple. May you and I increase daily in this heavenly friendship, and love him in
our measure, as he loved us. I am just returned from a journey of seven hundred
miles ; ashamed and confounded at his mercies to me and mine ; and yet to pour
my praises to his grace, so mean my services in his own work, that I am forced
to cry for mercy on my best sermons and labours. I am returned home self-
abased, carrying this truth written on my heart, and desiring to manifest it in
outward conversation. Let him that glorieth, glory only in the Lord Jesus. I
saw Lady H  , who was pure and well, and preached at her chapel at Bath :
she had not received satisfactory, or I think she said no answer at all from the
lord chancellor ; but he must give such an answer as our Lord ChanceUor
pleases : that is our comfort. My love to Mr.  : I am going to pray for him.
All covenant blessings be with you and yours. The Lord spare  for
his mercies sake ! I do not know what you would aU do, if he who gave him
was to take him away ; and, remember, he has a right to do it when he will. Fare
well, fareweU. I am yours in our dear Lord and Keeper,
W. Romaine.

LETTER CCLI. May, 1768.
Thank you, my good friend, for remembering me. I begun to have some
hard thoughts of you, but they are gone : time bas taught me that old friends
ewe better than new, and grace has improved this experience ; for friends in
Christ will be so for ever. We may part, but only to meet again. Love can
reach from London to  ; yes, a great way farther. I feel my heart just now
united to  , and reioice from my soul that' Jesus has taken her up to himself:
i hanks be to him for the grace she had, and the glory she had received out of his
lulness. Blessings on him, that we are going the same way, to meet our best
friend, and all our friends ; and to be with hiin our heaven-making Jesus, and to
lie with them for evermore. I was led from reading your letter to a very com
fortable view of the Prince of Life. I thought 1 saw him in that character, exceed
ingly amiable and glorious : and the more I considered it, the more lovely it
grew to the eye of fdth. For it seemed to me that sin and death came into the
world with aU their train of evils, that the Son of God might be glorified thereby.
(I onderful is his name, who can bring righteousness out of sin. What a miracle-
working Jesus is he, who can make life out of death ! Indeed, aU he does is in
this strange way, peculiar to himself, that his might be the crown of crowns.
As a Jesus, he not only saves from the evil of sin and death — this is the least
port of his matchless work— but he dso, in the free gift of his sovereignty, be-
Btowa righteousness and hfe ; and, to the everlasting praise of his sovereignty,
I'tstows them on the most unrighteous, and on the most dead in sin. In this
praise, how glorious is our Jesus I My heart is now captivated with this inimitable
loveliness, dthough I see him through a glass darkly : what must he be in full
and open view, when the display of his beauty wiU make an eternd heaven ! I
knew one, who was admitted as that happy soul was, Cant. ii. 9, to see the
divine lover looking forth at the window, and showing himself, or, as it is in tbe
margin, flourishing, open and expanding like a flower his beauties and fragrance
3 A

722 LETTERS WK1TTKM Hi
through the lattice window. It was a ravishing sight. If the eye and senses of
fdth can be thus highly delighted, what will it be to sec him face to face, and to
enjoy his fulness of glory ? since he thus by the death of our friends can let us
behold some fresh discovering of his life-giving charms. What — oh what will it
be to us, when mortality shall he swdlowed up of life ? Yet a little, a very little
while, and this shall be. In the mean time, may you and I be growing in the
knowledge and love ofthe Prince of Life. I got a good advancement by the death
of Lady M  1, and was led into a sweet path of meditation, in which I went on
meditating and contemplating, tttl my heart burned within me. Methought he
had given a noble display of the riches of grace in his dedings with her, and had
made her a happy partaker of that life tvhich he came to give unto his world.
Vou can witness that he had repeded the sentence of death. She was freed from
condemnation, and was passed from death unto fife. He gave her to know it,
to enjoy it. Many a time my spirit has been refreshed with hearing her relate
simply and feelingly how Jesus was her life. And in consequence of this, hav
ing peace with God, through Jesus Christ her Lord, she had an attachment to his
person. You can teU, better than I can, how she showed this. She was cer
tainly spiritually dive, and he who made her so kept her so, to as great manifest
ing of his power as if he had preserved the burning bush in Horeb in flames, and
yet unhurt, from Moaea to thia day. This spiritud life bodily death cannot touch,
becauae it ia rooted and grounded into the divine life. And the keeping of it is
ldd up with Chriet in God, safe, happy, out of the reach of atorms and enemies.
What did I say, bodily death cannot touch it ? I retract that word : bodily death
dees what the angel did to Peter in prison ; knocks off his fetters, and sets
him at liberty ; the angel of life takes down the mortal, that he may perfect
the immortd life, and so we die to live ; — die to the world, to live with him ;
die to time, to live for ever ; yea, die in faith, that this body of death, which
we leave behind us, shall soon be raised to life and immortdity. Is death
our enemy ? What has he done to hurt ? — Only fulfiUed the kind will of Jesus
who wanted her company, and would have her with him, to live ae he doee in
his life of glory. Bleased death, heavenly comforter, thou art a loving friend
indeed to Jesus' friends ! Your letter waB the means of ray entering on this
meditation, and blessed it was. Oh what a sight and sense had I of the incom
parable grace of life-giving Jesus ! WhUe 1 am writiing, he makes himself, be
yond what any words can describe, lovely to my eyes, and precious to my heart.
He is ray life. I find it, enjoy it, in him ; and let me apeak, my dear friend,
a word for him to you ; for him, aa I am in duty bound — to you, aa love con-
strdns me. For him I speak, a most complete, absolutely and eterndly perfect
Sariour. His person, hia work, posseaaed of all the gloriee of the Godhead.
What he did and suffered, in order that he might save to the uttermost, admits
of no addition. It was once done and perfected for ever. My .friend, have you
the benefit of this ? Do you enjoy it in your conscience ; and there read, and there
mdntdn, a fuU and everlasting reped from the sentence of death ? ThiB ia the
honour Je8us cldras of you, and it ia the highest you can pay him. You can do
him no greater homage, no more acceptable worahip, than to put your entire
dependence, without any the lea8t drawing back, or wavering, on hie life and
death, ae your whole deliverance from ein and death, as your clear title to heaven
and glory. When fdth shows you the divine majesty of Mary's Son, and the
everlasting honours of his obedience unto death, then wttl the peace of God rule
in your heart, and thereby you wttl glorify the blood and the righteousness of the
Redeemer, more than any angel, more than any happy spirit around his throne.
The enemy long, too — too long, kept me from that enjoyment, by wiles and
snares, chiefly legd views and self-righteous plane. StiU he now and then gets
an advantage of me. But I beg, my friend, you would beware of his devices.
Are you resting upon Jeaue ? and do you find the eentence of death ie no longer
in force agdnst you ? Read, study your Bible, pray and beg for an increase of
faith. Thie ie the uee of aU meane. May the Lord the Spirit bless them to you !
Fdth is your shield against the accuser of the brethren, and against your own
legd workings. If you grow in this experience, you wttl grow more and more

THE REV. W. ROMAINE, A.M. 723
alive to God ; you will believe, and find more of the love of a reconcUed Father. T'he
more you rest on the finished sdvation, you wiU certdnly abound more in the
blessed fruits of it : such as, seeing yourself perfectly saved, your hopes wiU aU
cast anchor within the vett ; your affections wiU get fixed on their everlasting
object, and you wiU come under the sweet government of King Jesus. Thus
living in him, you will live to him, which is not only spiritual life, but is also,
indeed, spiritual liveliness. And if you ever find this decay after you once had
it, mind and attend to the cause of its decay, and you wiU see this was the only
cause ; namely, your faith was therefore not hvely, because you were not resting
perfectly upon Jesus, as your Saviour from the sentence of death. This was the
worm which eat into the gourd, and made it wither. Keep this out ; it wUl
flourish and grow as long as you have any need of faith for protection, or for
happiness : and when the time comes that fdth is to be no more, what is dying ?
Is it not in the hand of Jesus ? Does not he appoint it, fix it, send it ? has not
he promised to be with you in the hour of death, to keep you from the fear and
from the power of it ? is not he faithful, dmighty, aU-loving ? His love wants no
power to make his promises good to his dying friends ; yea, he does make them
good every day. He will to you, doubt it not. I have written tiU my time is up.
You are sure my subject is not exhausted ; no, never wiU be. But I am forced
to stop. My dear friend, pray for me. You know my profession of love for your
soul. God knows my heart. Adieu.
W. Romaine.

LETTER CCLII.
June 1 1 .
Thanks to my dear friend for her last. It was a great refreshment to inc.
Oh, how does my spirit rejoice to see the blessed Jesus crowned and exalteb in
your soul, and no other name mentioned in your lips, no dependence upon any
being or thing in your heart or life, but that God-Man. This is the point. Here
may we fix. But, das ! dthough I would fix, and never so much as turn my eye
from hence, I find so many enemies within and without, that it is hard keeping
our hold, and never letting it go. In this warfare the flesh and the Spirit fight
without ceasing ; the flesh agdnst Christ's sufficiency, and the Spirit for hiin.
But, thanks be to his grace, the Spirit is dmighty, and he has given the flesh in
dl believers a mortal wound, of which it will ere long bleed to death. And then,
oh, blessed prospect, we shaUtsee the Captain of our sdvation, through whom
we conquered, face to face ! That is enough. There is heaven. May you and
I, tiU we get there, learn daily to make more use of Christ. Our dear fellow soldier,
Lady H  n, fights bravely. She went to Brighthehnstone this day se'nnight.
I had a sweet letter from her this morning. She is happy in the adorable Im
manuel, and lives to him and for him. Her only view in Sussex is to carry his
glad tidings to a wretched, ignorant people. He has hitherto prospered her
design, and while he smiles upon it, I befieve she will not give it up.
God willing, I shaU leave London on the 20th of this month ; but am not yet
determined how I shaU travel. In hopes of the pleasure of meeting you, I wttl
trouble you with a line, as soon as I know whether I ride, or come in the coach,
or in a poBt chdse. My dear, ever, ever dear Lord and Master keep you ! To
his sweet and tender heart I commend you, and am, for his precious name's sake,
your faithful friend and servant,
W. Romaine.

LETTER CCLIII Blackfriars, May 2, 1769.
I wrote to my good friend at Christmas, and got an answer at Easter. Indeed,
I began to think you had dropped me ; for I make myself sure of nothing, but

3a 2

724 LETTERS WRITT1SN lil
of my dear Lord's unchangeable love. Yet I corrected myself for thinking so of
you : but I was tempted, and I have combustible enough to feed any, yea, every
temptation. The Lord keep me from others, as he did from this.
You ask my opinion of inoculation. People, who reason upon worldly motives,
may do as they please. To others I would relate the case of a great doctor in
divinity, and a great Christian, who had on only son. His wife was for, the
doctor was agdnst, inoculation. They had many disputea about it. The
doctor sdd he codd not do it in faith — the wife said she could do it, because
she believed it to be for the best. Neither side would yield : so they agreed to
put it off tttl the one or the other should give up their opinion, and both be of one
mind. The child was thus left in God's hand — he got the smaU-pox in the
natural way, and did well.
I attend to your compldnts of yourself. They are true. You might make a
thousand more, and dike true. But, my dear friend, what of all thia ? Ia not
J esus the Saviour of auch sinners aa you are ? Pray, take heed of getting into
n compldning temper, and contracting a habit of it ; for there is no greater enemy
to Jesus, to the growth of your communion with him, and to the liveliness of your
•part towards him. I would have you sensible of all your causes of compldnt,
n it satisfied under them, and wiUing to be just what you are. In this poverty of
spirit, needy, sinful, helples8, dependent temper, consists the very life of faith :
for while you feel thus, every thing in you and about you says, " You must go to
Jesus — you can do nothing without him — he must counsel, and strengthen, and
comfort — he must save — he must be a Jesus to you every moment, and in every
thing." What reply does the believer make ? " It is true, without him I can do
nothing — I am helpless, and his strength is perfected in my utter weakness ; most
gladly, therefore, do I glory in my weakness, that the strength of Christ may
rest upon me." Oh, for more of Paul's happy experience 1 He had no such
gladness as that which arose from communion with Jesua, and he gloried in that,
which helped him to this communion, by making it abaolutely necessary for him.
He did not commit sin on purpose ; but, being a sinner, tie did not wish to
be one in himself; it was his joy, yea, his crown of rejoicing that God-Jeaus and
sinful Paul were one. Here he found his heaven ; JeBus wa8 united to the ainner,
as meat is to the hungry ; and Paul lived upon him, feasted on hira, enjoyed
Jesus, as the hungry do their meat. It was such a feast, that Paul would not
wish to have no appetite, but rather to have it enlarged, that he might.live more
upon the bread of God, and grow up more into Christ Jesus.
What ! must I dways be this poor needy sinner ? Yea ; dways, till you get
into heaven. And then you will be perfectly humbled, and have nothing within
you to rob Jesus of any part of his glory. All your salvation, from the councils
of eternity to the eternal fulfilment of them, will then be made plain ; you wiU see,
confess, and be happy in confessing, that sovereign grace did dl for you, and iii
you. And in the perfect sense of this you will triumph in being a sinner saved,
and in this you will triumph as long as heaven is heaven.
But thus you keep on complaining — " I find myself too often poring over my
own inward sinfulness and misery, and consequently giving way to unbelief,
whenever my poor reason tells me, I should be rejoicing in the God of my salva
tion." And what, then, unbelief is in you, felt or not ; and unbelief given way
to, is your burden — this makes for you. And it only proves that you are still
at school, learning your second lesson, and that is, how the God of your sdvation,
being received, is to be enjoyed. You own he is received. You cdl him, the
God of my salvation. Observe, my dear friend, now this Jesus is yours, all
is yours. You have an undoubted right and title to Him, and to His — improve
it, then, and make use of his fulness. Your estate is clear and boundless ; you
have only to receive the income of it in grace, as well eis in glory. I pray you, my
dear friend, to study this le8aon, and if the Lord the Spirit help you to learn it
well, it wttl save you from many an aching heart. Observe, Jesua ia youra :
after thia, you are not to 8eek for any new title to any part of sdvation. This ia
deo eecured ; but you are cdled upon to enjoy the purchased ealvation, and
to be a happy receiver out of the Sariour'a fulnese. Suppoee you live thua ever
so weU, receive ever so much, what you enjoy in Chriat is no part of your title

THE REV. W. ROMAINE, A.M. 725
to Christ ; what you receive from Christ is not your title to pardon, to righteous
ness, or to holiness. He is received for these purposes. He, Christ himself ;
and your enjoying him for these purposes is not your title to pardon, &c. What
Christ doeB for you, or in you, or by you, is not to be looked at so as not to look
still simply at Christ himself. What he is, and what he did for you, here is aU
your sdvation. What he does in you, or by you, here is the enjoyment of this
salvation in its fruits and effects : but these fruits and effects do not make you
holy ; — oh, no, the poor beggars who are fed at our king's table wiU never say —
we pay the king for our meat by eating a great ded ; or, his meat feeds us, and
therefore we make ourselves strong ; — or, his grace nourishes us, and therefore,
we make ourselves holy. No, no; they are taught better. 'They wUl dways
acknowledge — the more we receive out of the fulness of Jesus, we find ourselves
more happy, and the fruits of our interest in him are more abundant to our com
fort, and to his glory, but our debt increases ; and the better we are fed and
clothed, and kept up with his roydbounty, he leaves us nothing to glory in, except
his overflowing grace. In this spirit his people hear, and read, and pray, and
attend means and ordinances ; they do not seek holiness in these — not to be
made holy by them — but they do attend in faith, sanctified first by the faith that
is in Jesus, and in that faith enjoying him in aU they do. Christ is my sancti
fication before I can do any thing aright, and what I do aright does not make
me holy, but shows that I am holy. Every living branch is ingrafted into the
root and stock of holiness, andits leaves and fruit do not make it to be in the vine,
but only prove that it is in it. A member is not made living by doing its office.
The eye does not live by seeing, but it is a living eye, and therefore sees. You
must be a living member in the mysticd body before you can do your office in
it. Doing your office does not make you, but only shows that you are a living
member. My dear friend, weigh these things well. I verily believe the Holy
Spirit is now teaching you this lesson ; for I see you cannot be content with
yourself, nor your graces, nor gifts : improve this divine teaching, and learn to
build all your hopes of holiness on Christ, made of God sanctification for you.
And the more clearly you believe this, you wiU love the God of your sdvation
more ; your spiritud enemies wttl be more subdued, and in heart and life you
will be more devoted to God, to his ways and wiU. I give you this advice from
my own knowledge. Give me credit, and try, and you will soon find cause to
give God his glory.
I hope to look upon you, and say on this subject more than I can on paper
Remember me in love and respect. The good tviU of your unchangeable Friend
be with you and yours, and me and mine.
W. Romaine.

LETTER CCLIV. Brightmelmstone, July 21).
Jesus be yours, all he is, and dl he has ! Then you will be as rich as an arch
angel. I hope he wiU be my guide, and bring me to  on Friday next,
between one and two. I am not sure, because I have not taken a place in the
stage, nor shaU, till I go to London, which wttl be on Tuesday next. If I cannot
come in the stage, perhaps 1 may see you before. We go on sweetly in this place.
Christ is indeed exdted, and reigns glorious in many a heart, as I wish he may
in yours. He does — but not as you could wish. May he captivate you more
with his infinite beauty, and enable you to live more blessed upon his infinite
fulness, that he may keep his royd court in your soul ! The more you are
acqudnted with him, you tviU grow in love : for he is dtogether lovely ; an
'inmense ocean of everlasting love. The whole world is but a drop of his love —
•vhat must heaven be, where his love is to be glorified and enjoyed for ever ?
There we shdl see him : oh, for that day ! But even, by the way, as he wdks
with ua, he makes our hearts burn within us. These sweet foretastes of his love
draw us on, and whet an appetite A few more of these, and we shall get to the

726 LETTERS WRITTEN BY
fountain-head, and drink rivers of pleasure for evermore. To his precious dear
heart's love I commend you and yours, and am, for his sake, your friend and
servant,
W. Romaine.

LETTER CCLV.
Sweet Jesus be with my dear friend ! I promised you a note aa Boon aa I
wa8 determined what way I ahould travel. It ia now fixed for the  Btage,
in which, God willing, I shall reach  on Friday, the 24th of this month, about
12 o'clock at noon, where I hope to see some faces from  to rejoice my heart,
with whom to talk a little of our time away about that dear, dearest of dl dears ;
the only one worth talking about. I know not of any good use the tongue is at
preaent, but to be teUing of hia salvation from day to day, in the prdse of which
sdvation it wiU be employed for ever and ever. May your heart and mine be
ever warm with his love, and then our tongues cannot help telling of what our
hearts feel. To his precious love I commend you and youra, emd am, for the
sake of that dear man of sorrowa, your friend and aervant,
W. Romaine. ;
P. S. — Strange doinga at  ! A party for me, another agdnst rae. Violent
on both aidea. Alas, alas ! what ia all thia about ? I sent word I ahould preach
there on Sunday, the 26th ; I know not whether they will let me : if they do, I
hope you wttl mount rae on that very quiet mare I heard of laat year. But more
of theae thinga when we meet. Jeaus be with you. Amen, Amen.

LETTER CCLVI. Blackfriars, March 5, 1770.
My very dear Friend. — I waited on  , and he told me he was to caU
at  in his way home. I codd not reaiet the opportunity of 8ending in
writing my thanks for your last kind letter. My heart rejoices, and ie thankful for
many things which you say in it, of your dependence on the finished salvation of
Jesus, and of your desire to experience more of his graces and bleseings. I see
what stops you ; the very same that stops me. And I would lay before you the
gospel motives and encouragements to get on, revealed in the word, and I hope
in some measure made useful to me by the Spirit of God.
I have remarked in conversing with you, and in all your lettera, the workinga
of a legal and aelf-righteoue temper, apt to nurse guilty feare, and to cheriBh
misgivings and suspicions of your interest in the great salvation. The same are
daily disturbing my peace, and are the very plague of my life. The only remedy
against them ia to look weU to the conecience, where they have their riee, and to
uee all appointed meana for eatablishing it in the peace of God. Thia ia the main
point. A holy walk, and successful warfare, depend entirely on the testimony
of conscience. The believer's chief business is to learn to reaiat and to overcome
guilt, fear, and unbelief, that, thesebeingkeptout of hia conscience, the peace of God
may rule there dways, and by aU means. Then it will be what the Scripture calla
" a good conscience." And when thie is good, aUgoee on well. Now, that ia a good
conscience which witnesses to the truth aa it ia in Jeaus. Conscience, I suppose,
ia that faculty of the 80ul which, under the teaching of the Holy Ghost, comparee
the 8inner's heart and life with the holy law of God, brings hira in guilty for
transgresaing ita precepte, and leaves him under guilt and condemnation, to Buffer
its just pendties. The gospel Bete forth to him an infinitely perfect righteousness
to satisfy the precepts ; and an everlastingly sufficient atonement, even the sacrifice
of Jehovah Jesus, to satisfy the pendties of the law. When he. ,is enabled to

THE REV. W. ROMAINE, A.M. 727
beheve in this righteousness, and in this atonement, his conscience is saved from
guilt and condemnation ; yea, it acquits and justifies the sinner, and brings in
a true verdict for him. It says the same that God himself does : pleads its dis
charge from the express words of the great charter of grace, under the broad sed
of heaven. With the royd grants and immunities therein graciously vouchsafed,
it stops the mouth of unbefief. " Thou art freely forgiven aU trespasses ; thou
art justified from all things ; thou art a son of my love, and shaU be an heir of
my glory ; I, even I, the Lord Gods am thine, and thou shdt be mine for ever."
Here the believer triumphs ; and why may not you and I too ? I do, thanks be
to infinite grace. I befieve these words on the testimony of God, as spoken to
me. My conscience bears witness to the truth of the divine record. It is now
a good conscience : it agrees with God, and looks upon him as reconcUed per
fectly ; it fears to dishonour him, by calling in question the infinite vdue of
Christ's righteousness and atonement, or by doubting of their being mine, while
I feel my want of them, and have any dependence upon them. Thus the peace
of God rules, takes the lead in the conscience, and subdues guilty fears ; rules
always. The covenant is like the divine Covenanters in the Godhead, dways the
same ; the free grant of the righteousness and atonement of Immanuel dways the
same ; my want of them always the same ; and mine interest, though not in my
sense, yet in God's purpose, dways the same. These gospel motives should teach
you and me to maintain this peace dways, and by dl means. Every thing should
help to promote it. Corruptions, enemies, temptations from every quarter,
should, by all means, establish our hearts in the peace of God : we should be
trying at it, fighting for it ; and, as it is our privilege, we should never yield, but
fight hard to keep a conscience void of offence. This is warring a good warfare,
when we hold the mystery of faith in a pure conscience.
Believe me, my dear friend, the management of your conscience is the first and
great lesson in the school of Christ. And your chief mistakes and faUs come
from its not being governed by the Word and Spirit of God. Look to it, then,
and hear, and read, and pray, and walk ; that the testimony of your conscience
may be agreeable to the truth, as it is in Jesus. Insomuch, that, when you feel
any thing wrong, when you are low in spirits, yow sins displease, your duties
cannot please you, you should remember that these very things, rightly managed,
wiU establish your conscience in the peace of God ; because they will bring you
to live entirely by the fdth of the Son of God. Every new day you five to learn
from them, that you have nothing to trust to but the righteousness and the
atonement of Jesus ; and, therefore, depending on this sure foundation, you may
•safely build your hopes of God's being in friendship with you, yea, in an un
changeable and everlasting friendship. Oh that your heart may be sprinkled
from an evil conscience ; and mind, that is an evU one, which, through unbelief,
refuses to build its peace upon the life and death of Immanuel. And that is a
food conscience, which has peace with God through faith in Jesus Christ our
ord, and expects dl the love of the Father to come freely through his Son. This
ie the 6econd lesson in the school of Christ — " How shall the heart be made and
kept happy in the love of God ?" I answer, by beheving that he is perfectly
reconciled, and loves you. While there is guilt in the conscience, and you look
upon the law broken, the punishment deserved, and the almighty Judge engaged
to inflict it, you can no more love God than you can love pdn. But when you
hear the Gospel preaching peace by Jesus Christ, and can mix faith with it, then
God is discovered as related to you in the closest bond of love, even your dearest
Friend, your most loving Father ; which wiU draw out the affections of your heart
to him : " For we love him, because he first loved us." His love is first, yours
is second : his is the cause, vours is the effect. He enables you to believe his
love to you, and that excites your love to him.
Yon see, then, how much depends upon the testimony of the conscience.
When this is on Christ's side, and bears a faithful witness for him, then your
heart wiU be happy ; you wttl have joy and peace in believing, " God is recon
ciled to me ; he is my God ; we are agreed, and now we wdk together. He bids
ine eaU him Father; and I know he has bowels of love and fatherly affection for
mc : he sees me, accepts me in Jesus, and rests in his love to me. My title is

728 LETTERS WRITTEN BY
clear to aU spiritud blessings ; because, God being my God and Father, all
things are mine."
If you live like a Christian, these should be the constant breathings of your
heart. Your happy walk depends entirely on the belief of God's being perfectly
reconcUed to you in his Son. And, therefore, you should not be aiming at
getting any new title to your heavenly Father's love, but at new enjoyment.
All is yours in titie ; but you are to seek for more, still more possession ; every
day you should be seeking to believe more, to enjoy more of the riches of your
Father's love in Jesus. And nothing wttl stop your growing enjoyment, if the
peace of God rule in your heart dways, and by all means.
My dear friend, attend closely to this : for want of it, oh, what sad mistakes
have 1 made ! You will dways find, when your heart departs from the Lord,
that there has been some guilt laying upon the conscience, and representing God
to you in aome other light than aa your moBt loring Father. But, pray mind,
he has dways the affection, as well as the name. He changeth not in hia love.
He is to all his children ever of one mind. And, therefore, when you desire to
enjoy his love, and in the enjoyment of it to find your heart happy, look at nothing
to bring you to the Father but the Son. Read your share in his love ; take poa-
session of it ; for nothing done in you, or by you, now, or at any time, but only
in and for the sdvation of Jesua, in whom hia Father is your Father. Thus
walk with him ; making Chri8t your way, and Chriat your end. Keep walking
on, leaning upon Chriat every atep for atrength, for victory over dl corruptions
and over all enemiea, which would try to atop you from the enjoyment of your
Father'e love. Trust in Christ for all the bleaeings of it, for every thing that can
keep you safe, and make you happy all your way : and depend upon it, through
Christ, you will find the company and presence of your God and Father a very
heaven here, as weU as in glory.
Mrs.  , would you daily wdk with a happy heart ? Then you must learn
to make up all your happiness in the love which the Father bears to you in his
dear Son. This is to be all your sdvation, and aU your desire. You must, look
quite away from your graces, your gifts, your duties. God does not love you
for these : he loves you in his Son ; and you in believing this are to exercise
your graces and gifts, and to be found in the way of duty, that you may have
feUowship with him in his love.
This ia the hardest task of all. I find it so to this day, and I know your
temptations : therefore, I would finish this long scrawl with an account of the
influence of the former truths. Get a ready answer to this question — " How are
my tempera to be regulated, and my converaation to be ao ordered, that I may
night and day enjoy the peace and the love of my reconciled God and Father i
The way ia, to walk humbly with your God. Do not diaown what the Holy
Spirit hae taught you : give him the honour of hie own grace : he has, indeed
be has, learnt you to say, Abba, Father, God is your Father in Jeaus. Walk
humbly with him, as euch : eo will you enjoy his sweet peace, and partake of his
happy love. While theae rule in the conecience and in the heart, the tempera
opposite to them wiU be resisted and overcome. The Divine Teacher wiU dis
cover the secret workings of guilt and unbelief, and keep them from destroying
the peace of conecience By hie almighty grace he will mortify carnal affections,
and crucify every idol love : he will preserve the heart, as a chaste virgin, for its
heavenly Lover. Rebel nature will resist, yea, always ; but it cannot overcome
the Lord God omnipotent ; he will bring dl things into subjection to himself.
He will; nay, let me say he has. I appeal to yourself. Speak out for God.
Does not your conscience eay, " I will have nothing to do with any pretensions
to be my own Saviour ; the righteousness of Jesus and his atonement on the
tree, are aU my sdvation." Does not your heart say, (I am eure I have heard
you say) " This is dl my desire." Do not your hopes say, "We have cast our
anchor upon Jeeue ; thank God, we can never be disappointed." Do not your
fears eay, " I would not for the world do any thing to diepleaee my God and
Father. Blessed Spirit, rule in me, rule over me, mortify the old man, and
quicken the new man day by day "
Since God has done aU this f<\ ^ 0„t on, do not dishonour his work by hearken-

THE REV. W. ROMAINE, A.M. 729
ing to proud self, the old man of sin, who is ever reasoning within you agdnst
the glory of Divine grace. He would have you to look at yourself, and to draw
your safety and happiness from some pleasing views of your own goodness. He
wttl be dways tempting you to this : but remember, that you are not to look at,
Or to depend in the least upon, yourself, but wholly upon God reconcUed in Jesus.
Whatever is your own, and comes from self, is to show you the necessity of
walking humbly with your God. Do not you feel to this hour, that self is made
up of sinfulness, wants, temptations, and miseries ? None of these should stop
you, but each should help to make you walk more humbly with your God. They
are to show you your constant need of sdvation, and to keep you dways depen
dent on God for it. No failings in duty, no sense of indwelling sin, no weak
ness, no opposition should separate you in conscience or heart from your recon
ciled God, but should bring you to wdk in nearer feUowship with him : by
which alone you will enjoy more conformity to him. Pride wiU be hid from you.
Every high thought will be brought down : grace, sovereign grace, wiU reign.
And the Lord wiU receive all, I am sure it is his due, all the glory.
Here is a wide field before me : but I stop. When you send me ward that
you have learnt so to manage the weapons of your warfare as to be able to
maintain peace in your conscience, and happiness in your heart, and victory in
your tempers and walk, then I wiU take up the subject where I leave off, and go
on with it. In the mean time, remember this great truth — God is your Father
in Jesus ; you know it by fdth ; yea, you enjoy the comforts of it ; and, there
fore, the end of your walk is not to procure a title to your Father's love, but to
maintdn the enjoyment of it. May the Lord the Spirit make you a happy par
taker of it every aay more abundantly.
I hear of the goodness of our dear Lord to  . I bless him from my heart
for her. May she never want hia rich cordids to comfort her soul as long as she
has a body of sin and death to struggle with. My respects to all that family.
May God sanctify the present dispensation to every one of them.
My kind love to Mr.  , and to Mr. John, and every good wish for that
favourite child. He grows a fine boy, and says many pretty things. Take care,
my friends, of your hearts ; he has rather too much room in them. Grow in
love to the Giver, as you grow in love to him, and all will be weU.
Recommend me to Mr. B  y ; beg him for Jesus' sake to put up prayers
for a cumberer of the ground. I am sure I do not forget him. May he never
forget me before a throne ofgrace.
See how I scribble on ! Throw a veil of love over aU, and believe me to be in
bonds never to be broken, tied by the hand of Jesus, your friend and servant,
W. Romaine.

LETTER CCLVII.
My good Friend. — I have many reasons to remember your being last ^oi-
at Bath. Among other things I sent you down the first lesson, which the great
and good Master teaches dl his scholars. I cannot. teU how well you learned
it. But I understand he is very kind to you, and is taking a great ded of pdns
to make you a proficient. He sees how desirous you are of going to heaven,
with this and the other comfort by the way : you are apt to think, as J do, that
being such an infinitely loving Lord, he might very well spare it you — you
might keep it, and yet keep his love. But herein we form a wrong judgment of
him. For he does all things weU— yea, he intends to do better for you, far better
than you can even imagine. He loves you more than you can possibly love
yourself ; and he will send you nothing but what is for your red and best interest,
and he will let you find it so. His love is almighty, and it is unchangeable.
What cannot he do, what will he not do, when his heart is set upon blessing his
people ? It is a common thing with him to bring spiritud good out of temporal
evil : he can extract pleasure out of pdn ; yea, he can enrich by impoverishing,

730 LETTERS WRITTEN BY
and turn lossee into gdn. Unto you it is now given, as a matter of his choice
favour, not only to believe on him, but dso to be conformed to hira by bearing
Ais cross. This he is dming at. He is going to advance you to great honour,
and to make you comforted on every side. At this very time he is training you
up for it. He is now going to confer some of his specid mercies, some of the
greatest blessinga he hae to give on earth ; which he bestows in so certain and
fixed a way, that I know his mind and wiU concerning you, as pldnly here in
London as if I was with you at  , and you were to tell me att your thoughts :
for, indeed, our Jesus is very communicative. He keeps nothing from his
friends — " And the Lord said, Shall I hide from Abraham that thing which I
do?" &c. Gen. xviii. 17, 18, &c. No: He i8 of my court, and I will make
him of my cabinet; Abraham shaU be my privy counseUor. And the same
Lord has raised you and rae to the same dignity. Thus our patent runs :
" Henceforth I caU you not servants : for the servant knoweth not what his
"Lord doeth: but I have called you friends, therefore all things which 1 have
heard of my Father I have made known unto you." Our dirine teacher still
makea known to ua what he doeth. He reveds his will, and lays open his
heart. And according to what I have discovered of it, your second lesson is
this. May he breathe upon it by his Spirit, and bless to your bouI every
line you read. Oh that aU within you may aay from a feeling aubmiaaion to
hia loving correction — " Lord Jesua Chriat, not my will, but thine be done."
The second lesson of the cross — or the exercise qf faith in suffering.
1 . They that have their portion in this life prosper in the world, they increase
in riches, they come into no misfortune like other folk, neither are they plagued
like other men
2. But whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom
he receiveth.
3. He dedeth with them as with sons, having chosen them aU in the sama
election of grace, prepared for them the eame inheritance, and decreed that they
should go the same way to it.
4. He wttl not exempt one of them, no, not his only begotten Son, who went
to Ins crown carrying his cross; and whom the Father did foreknow, thera be
dao did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son.
5. Of this he has graciously forewarned them, that they might not think it
strange concerning the fiery trid which is to try them, as though some strange
thing had befallen them : he has also promised to be with them, when they
walk through the fire, and they shaU not be burnt, neither ehaU the flamee kindle
upon them. And,
6. When they come out of the furnace, they ehaU find many bleeaed fruita
of righteousnesa, which could not have grown or been ripened by any other
means. 7. Art thou, then, oh my soul, expecting the crose ae thy portion, prepared to
take it up ae the honourable badge of thy diecipleship, and ready to carry it daily,
foUowing Jeaus ?
8. Canst thou take it up in fdth ? Is thie the right frame of thy heart,
" God is my God, my Father in Jesus. He loves me with an unchangeable
.ove, which influences aU his dealings with me, and especiaUy his present dis
pensation : for,
9. He not only loves me with an everlasting love, but he is dso now waiting
to commttmeate it to me : my present cross ia hia way and means of bringing it
to my heart, and of bestowing on me some of ite richest bleeeinge."
10. True it is painful to the fle8h : but the flesh fighteth dways against the
spirit, and ie not eubject to the law of God, neither indeed can be ; and therefore
the croee muat be laid and muat be kept upon it, in order to weaken its power,
and dso to strengthen the new man day by day.
11. There is a needs must for the daily crose to keep down pride, and to bring
every high thought of self into subjection to Christ Jesus, that we may be dways
learning of him to be meek and lowly.
12. Looking at the cross in this light, as the loring appointment of the

THE REV. W. ROMAINE, A. M. 731
Father's will, and as the means of improting faith in the Son's sdvation, through
the grace of the eternal Spirit, how dost thou, oh my soul, find it when it
comes ?
13. How is it with thee when the cross is upon thy back, and thou art carrying
a heavy painful load after Jesus ?
14. Dost thou see Him before thee, who went in the same way ? and dost thou
honour his promises, and rely upon his fdthfulness to carry both thee and thy
cross ?
15. When thou art chastised, and sharply, canst thou kiss the rod, and bless
the kind hand which takes such pains to purge out thy corruptions ?
16. And when the smart continues from day to day, dost thou so far profit from
it, as to be able to say from thy very heart, Father, thy will be done ? Happy
soul ! for then thou art a partaker of his holiness.
17. When it is the wiU of the Father to spare the child, what profit has ap
peared, after he has removed the cross for a time ?
18. Are there any peaceable fruits of righteousness growing or ripening in the
heart ? Is there more joy and peace in the Son's salvation, and more happy en
joyment of the Father's love ?
19. Has the Holy Spirit deadened the life of sense, by putting the cross upon
it, and thereby produced more liveliness to spiritud and to eternal things ?
20. Say, is the harvest good and plentiful ? Do the graces flourish ? Have
faith and patience been in exercise, and improved ? Has resignation to the
divine will been in practice, and the good of submitting to it learned by experi
ence ?
21. Thrice happy soul to whom the cross is thus sanctified! yet a very little
while, and fdth and patience having done their perfect work, the cross will' be no
more, but the crown will be for ever.
My very dear friend, this is my present lesson ; and though I am a dull scholar,
yet I get on a little. I wish you may get before me ; for I am told the Master
takes great pains with you ; and I believe it. I am very certain you must carry
your cross all the way through this vdley of Baca. And what can I trish you
(letter than that you may find the rdn filling the pools, and you may go from
strength to strength ? When the Lord strikes at your comforts (and mind, your
cross grows out of your comforts), oh that your heart may then feel submission,
whatever nature feels ! may aU within you, guided and strengthened by grace, be
able to aay. Lord, take away what thou wilt, only take not away the light of thy
loving countenance. When thou removest any of my comforts, let me not forget
they were thine : thy free gift, lent me by thy love, and kept long for me by thy
bounty. And now thou art pleased to require them, Lord, make thy will mine,
and fill up the place which they had in my heart with thy precious love. So be
it. Lord Jesus. Amen.
W. Romaine.

LETTER CCLVIII.
Nov. 13, 1770.
My very dear Friend. — Since last Thursday I have been in your service,
heartily in it. I cannot charge myself with any neglect : and I went on more
cheerfuUy, because I thought it was my dear Master's work, which made it
pleasant. But when I heard the living was last night given to a Mr.  , judge
what a blow this was ; I felt exceedingly for you. I thought of Mr. M  , and
the poor people at K  , deprived of the greatest blessing short of heaven. ' Oh
my friend ! indeed I was grieved sore, and began to compkun and murmur—
" Why could not the Lord have given his people a pastor after his own heart ?
Would it not have been for his glory ? Are there not many precious souls in and
about K  who wiU now want their daUy bread ?" Thus my heart was grieved ;
and it went even through my reins ; so foolish was I, and ignorant. But I am
recovered, and got into my right mind. Now I confess the Lord reigneth. He
can make no mistake in his government. He does all things well, both for his

732 LETTERS WRITTEN BY
own glory, and for his people's good. Mr. B — 's removd, a poor dead stick in
his room, the joyfal sound heard no more in K  , the mourners going about
wringing their hands in the streets, &c. &c. &c. ; put as many more complaints
as you please, yet every one of them shall be made to work together for good.
He has sdd it, and shdl he not do it ? yes, he wiU do it ; and you shall know it,
too. This very visitation shaU be overruled to bring about many gracious pur
poses, perhaps such as these ;
First, a submission to his sovereign will ; that you may say, " All is weU."
Secondly, self-examination : was it not for my fault, my not vduing, not being
thankful for, not improving the blessed gospel, that the Lord has removed our
candlestick ?
Thirdly, living upon Jesus more. When the streams dry up, then people are
forced to go to the fountain-head : so the means failing, his people must live upon
the Lord of all means.
Fourthly, living more upon the word. If it cannot be heard, blessed be God,
it may be read ; prize it, meditate on it, lay it near your heart. May it be aa
aweet aa honey, and as precioua aa gold, yea, aa much fine gold. One single
sermon to an hungry aoul wttl be ae bleaeed as ten thousand to one who has no
appetite. Fifthly, trust the Lord for making an opening for the gospel, even at K  ,
in hia own way. You cannot eee how ; why, then, that ia the time to trust, pray,
befieve, wdt. For,
Sixthly, if the shepherd has any of his flock at K  , which I cannot doubt,
then they cannot perish for lack of knowledge. He will either send the gospel
to them, or them to it.
I own it is a trying time. If I was in your circumstances, I should want all
that can he sdd to make me think the Lord was doing right ; and therefore, my
dear friend, I would lead you to some comfortable view of this matter. The blessed
God enable you to give it up to him, and in patience to possess your aoul ! If
your private loas be very distressing, try to divert the grief, and look at the public
loss. Oh what has the church suffered in the setting of that bright star which
has shone so gloriously in our hemisphere ! Mr. Whitfield's preaching is over :
now he is prdsing. We have none left to succeed him : none of his gifts, none
any thing fike him in usefulnese. But the same glorious Jesus, who gave him to
us, has taken him away. If he wants another such, he can make him out of a
stone. WeU, then, let us submit ; let him done, let him done. Hia interest at
K  , hia interest in England, is as dear to him aa the apple of his eye. He ia
managing aU for the be8t. May you and I bow the knee, and say, " Thy will
be done."
I have no more time but to foUow this letter with my prayers, that the great
Head of the church may teach you practically what I have been mentioning.
And, depend upon it, a day wUl come when you wiU see this was right. Only
wdt ; blessed are they that wait for him. FareweU, my good friend, and believe
me to be yours in that dearest, sweetest Jesus, W. Romaine.

LETTER CCLIX. Nov. 27, 1770.
Dear Friend. — I hope we are not going to try our skill at saying fine
things in the way of complimenting : I confess myself to be a malevolent creature,
and have no good, and do no good, bnt from mere grace. Let it haveaU the glory.
It is true, my heart is in the affair of K  , hut 1 need not teU you, at thia
time of day, how rauch I am interested in the welfare of you and of youra. At
present, it wears a promising aspect. This morning I breakfasted with my
L rd C  r S  , and lady. They do not see you have the least reason to
doubt but in a short time Mr, B  will be vicar of K — — , and they said many

THE REV. W. ROMAINE, A.M. 733
Kind things of you and your family. I long for the day when my letter is to be
directed to the Rev Mr. B  , vicar of K  . It cannot be far off, if the
commissioners' calculation be true, that they have had a hving vacant every fort
night and two days.
You cannot think how much I felt myself obliged to Mr.  for his very kind
letter. I know he does not love writing, which made it more acceptable. I beg
my sincere respects to him. The matter must rest as it is, tttl there be a vacancy.
The Lord witt give you waiting faith ; it is the strongest faith of aU ! And you will
have this, and every thing needful, if you continue asking in that dear name,
which carries all causes in the court of heaven. Oh keep on praying. I do love
these meetings of prayer. The living of K  was actually given away, the
presentation was signed, and yet Mr. S  cannot get it. Your prayers
have prevailed. If ever there was an answer to prayer, this is. Oh that God
may make it an encouragement to aU of you to pray without ceasing ! I am
sure it has done me good, and opened mine eyes to see more of the glory of a
prayer-hearing God.
Excuse my going on ; my time is not mine own ; I have lent it to the
public, till this book of the " Walk of Fdth" comes out. It was to have
been about the Bize of the "Life of Faith;" but is already got much larger.
My friends, who have seen it, wiU not let me abridge it, but say I must add
a little more, and it will be two smdl volumes. My dear frienel, pray for it.
May God make it a sweet savour of his adorable name ! It is a book of
many prayers, and is the life and character of yours, in Jesus,
W. Romaine.
My wife thanks Miss B  for her polite letter. The civilities she received
were very hearty and sincere. Ab my wife was but poorly aU the time they
were in town, it is very kind in Miss B  to look upon them in so favour
able a light.
My love to the Rev. Mr. B  : I am dso overpaid by his note ; so we
need say no more of that. I desire to share in his prayers : and do very par
ticularly beg him to ask for a blessing upon my httle books ; they have been
very much blessed to the author : may the same blessing attend dl that read
them. Mr. M  is in my prayers. My love to Miss W  . I desire to be
remembered to Mr. John, and to aU the M  s. My blessing on that dear
boy ! God bless him !

LETTER CCLX. Dec. 13, 1770.
My dear Friend. — I have been offering up my thanks and praise to the
loving Head of the church for bringing this matter to an happy issue. Glory be
to him ; his delays were not denials. He only wanted us to take it from his
hands, as his gift, and therefore he ldd difficulties in the way. When fdth was
tried, he removed them. Every thing is at last ended favourably. The presen
tation is sealed, and is safe in my study. Although I have been more than a
little hurt by dancing attendance here and there, yet now I seem ready to do a
thousand times more to oblige such dear friends. You have it in your power to
reward me a thousand fold. Lay out your thanks and prayers for me and mine,
and especidly for my little book, which is swelled now into two volumes. It is
a child of many prayers ; I scarce ever sit dotvn to write, without asking a bless
ing upon every line. Beg it may come out with the unction of the Spirit, and
carry, wherever it goes, a sweet savour of the precious name of my Lord and
my God.
I would rejoice with Mr. M  , and inform him, that he must not fail to write
n Bhort letter of thanks to my Lord C  r B  , expressing his great obliga
tions to him for keeping the living of K  vacant, tttl the Rev. Mr. S  was
provided for ; acknowledging how much he is beholden to him ; and desiring to

734 " LETTERS WRITTEN BY
express it on aU occasions. I mentioned, in my letter of yesterday, the necessity
of writing to my Lord C  r S  .
My kind love to my dear brother, the vicar of K  : I wish be may lie low
in the dust, as unworthy, utterly unworthy, of this great trust committed to him.
But there is grace sufficient in Jesus ; I wish he may live on that, and do aU in
his parish in a settied dependence on the assistance of the great Head of the
church. My prayer is for the family of the B  s, that this may be a favourable pro
vidence for them dl ; may the Miss M  s enjoy present and eternal sdvation
by means of it. But why do I leave out Mr. I  ? Why, indeed ? May his
heart leap for joy at the good news out of Mr. B  's mouth, and children yet
unborn bless God for this happy event I
My dear Miss W  r wttl be among the foremost ! Oh let him have his
glory 1 pray let there be a public thanksgiving. If I was at K  , I would
preach on the occasion, and recommend prdse to a prayer-answering God. I wish
you a warm Christmas, and warm hearts ; I am Bure they ought to be so ; and
may you and yours rejoice in the glad tidings of the birth of our dearest Imma
nuel ! Continue your prayere for your eervant in Jeaua.
The Lord keep Mr.  , and be his Jesus in the evening of his life, and his
8trengthin age, and his comfort in weaknea8. So prays
W. Romaine.

LETTER CCLXI. Blackfriars, Dec. 27, 1770.
My dear Friend. — Having an opportunity of sending a line in Mr. B  's
frank, which I had out of Mr. Whitfield's atudy, I could not help wishing you a
happy new year. Happy in Jeaus ; happy in growing intimacy with him. I
have enjoyed a little of it, and it is, indeed, heaven upon earth. Oh for more of
it at K  in seventy-one than ever before 1
Acquaint dear Mr. I  m, that, at last, with great difficulty, 1 hfifte settled
this affair. Christmas is a casting up time with bookseUers. The whole of
what I have paid ie only a small sum.
Expect peace ody a little while. You eee, leBt you should he lifted up above
measure, thorns grow with rosea. One, two, three trials come along tyith the
good news of Bucceae about K  ¦ It ie not your reat. Thank God it ia not.
You are not at home. Get ready to go when your1 Father calla for you. Some
body mu8t foUow Mi88 B  . Who can tell, but God, whether it ia you, or
aome of her siatere? Oh, be prepared ! The door ie open, etep into the ark ;
there death cannot hurt or frighten. St. Dunstan cdls — fareweU. Blessinga
on you and yours. Thank Mr. M  for all his kind expressions. I give them
their vdue. Pray for youra, in Jesus,
W. Romaine.

LETTER CCLXIL
March 30, 1771.
My dear Friend. — Although I have but time to write a line, yet I could
not longer forbear acknowledging your favour. My whole time haa been
employed this Lent with preaching and printing. My firat volume ia finiehed,
and I hope to send you one by Mr. I  m, who ia in town. The report you
heard of my mother's death is true ; ehe is gone a little before, and I shaU soon
follow. The goodness of God to her was very great aU her life, but extraordinary
to the moment of her death -. so that we sorrow rejoicing. I reaUy thank you
for interesting yourself in any of my concerns. As to my usual summer journeys,
one great motive has ceased ; I can say nothing at this distance of time. I leave

THE REV. W. ROMAINE, A.M. 735
the Lord to plan for me : and I wish to follow no will but his. Where I shall go
next summer, I have not so much as a hint yet.
My kind love to your vicar. I hear good of him. The Lord bless him in aU
his designs for the glory of Jesus. I desire to be remembered by you in aU your
prayers. Every good wish I heartily offer for Mr. M  . I am vours, in
Jesus,
W. Romaine.

-*-

LETTER CCLXIII.
Aug. 20, 1771-
My dear Friend. — I have sent you in a parcel, directed to your brother
I  , three volumes of the second part of the " Wdk of Fdth," as before,
unbound, with one set bound for yourself, another for Miss W  r, a third for
the Rev. Mr. B  : they come to K  with many prayers. I have prayed it
over in writing ; and I am daily begging the free Giver of every good and perfect
gift that he would go out with it, and own it to the hearts of his dear people. M y
design in writing the book was for his glory, and their good. 'The plan is simple.
It was to show, that Christian principles are sufficient for aU the purposes of
Christian practice ; so that whenever we fail in practice, we have first fdled in
principle. How should it be otherwise, since the principles are mighty through
God ? 'The same grace which teaches them, as the truth of God, gives dso the
experience of them, as the power of God. If, therefore, peace rules in the con
science and love in the heart, the effect wttl foUow, as light does wheu the sun is
risen. There wiU be a dependence on the promised power of God to do and to
suffer his wttl ; and this power wttl as certainly be put forth as God is true ; so
long as peace and love are maintdned. Try yourself. Observe narrowly how it
is that you fail in practice ; and you wiU dways see your faith gave way, and you
were not living up to your privileges. I know not how I have succeeded in describ
ing this grand mistake in the Christian walk, or in rectifying it : but this I know
well, that the sdvation of Jesus is absolutely, infinitely, everlastingly perfect in
every part, and at the very given moment, and the belief of it wiU produce an even,
holy, happy wdk ; and if this belief was perfect, (as it should be) an enjoyment of
this sdvation would be upon earth what it is in heaven. I pray God to carry
ou and me on from faith to faith, that we may daily bring greater honour to
ia word and to his work.
If any light or love, or joy, warm your heart in reading, remember me. My
trials are very great. I have the old burden very heavy indeed— a vast body of
sin, under which 1 groan, and great bodily pdn, bard to bear. I have been to
the sea for relief; but my Lord thinks proper to refuse it. When I had other
trials he spared me, and never let me know what bodtty pdn was : but, now out
ward trids are in a great measure removed, this is my cross. He is merciful in
all his dedings ; blessings on him for his kind rod ! You wttl find in the second
volume a chapter on the outward cross, and another on the inward : they are the
longest chapters, because I felt what I wrote, and because aU God's children
carry these two crosses to the grave. I beg your attention to the inward cross,
and when you have read the chapter, be so good as to teU me how you like it.
'To manage it weU, is the greatest lesson in the school of Christ. Oh that he may
teach you, as you read, and be your prophet, to enable you to five upon him as
your priest !
Many years ago I chose my motto — Cease ye from man. You see how needful
it is. Place your happiness on any thing but the heavenly Lover, it makes itself
wings and flies away. How many sweet hours (the remembrance is sweet) have
I spent at K  ! Yearly visits, pleasing and profitable ; but I am debarred
this enjoyment. 1 must learn my motto in an instance of hard self-denid.
Happy for you and for me if every such disappointment lead us nearer to God.
1 beg your daily remembrance, as you are in mine. Every good wish to Miss
W  r, and desire her acceptance of a bound set. My kind respects to
Mr. M  I tvMi Mr. J  may walk with us in our way, and aU his sisters.

li

736 LETTERS WRITTEN BY
I wish that little dear, dear boy does not get some of Christ's place in your
heart : God bles8 him, and make him a comfort to you ! Write my motto upon
his forehead, and remember it whenever you look at him. My love to Mr. I  in.
May every blessing of the everlasting covenant be yours on eeirth and heaven 1
So prays yours in Jesus,
W. Romaine.

LETTER CCLXIV.
Feb. 1772.
My dear friend has been thinking — " WeU, I could not have expected such
neglect ; a letter sent in October, and not answered in January ; I am surprised
what can be the meaning of it !" I answer, to my shame, that I am grown very
lazy, and good for nothing. It is high time I was dismiaaed from the vineyard ;
and any other master but mine would have had nothing to do with me long ago.
I cannot but loathe myself, and stand wondering daily at hia kindneaa. Never waa
aelf lower, and his loveliness higher, than in this new year. Worthless as I am,
beyond ail conception, yet he begun the year trith vouchsafing me some delightful
Pisgah views. You must know it ha8 been a custom with me for many yeara to
have a eermon on the New Year"8 Day, and to have the text of a sort of watch
word, something very abort and atriking, and which may Berve the believers to
feast upon a twelvemonth. I have found thia very useful to myeelf, and so have
others. Our text for 1772 waa, " Chriet ie all." I send you some remarks,
beheving you will have fellowship with us in them, as you certainly have in that
adorable person of whom they treat.
Chriet hae all the fdneee of edvation in him, as God-man ; and he has it to
the glory of the Father, and of the eternal Spirit : for it pleaBed the Father that
in him ahould all fulness dwell, as in the head for the uae of hia members. And
it pleased the Holy Spirit to testify of his fulness in the scripture ; and it pleasea
hiin by hia grace to bring believera to uee it, and to live upon it ; and then they
are truly converted. All other experience ia not worth one farthing. The great
work of the Holy Ghoat ia to puU down setf, and to exalt Christ. Thie he doea
effectuaUy, and thia he hae done in you. Think what your debt ia ; try to caet it
up ; and eend me the sum totd. Say, how much do you owe to the Holy Spirit
for enlightening your understanding, and convincing you that Chriat is the one
6un of the spiritual world. What a moat blessed change has he wrought upon
your mind ! He has stripped you of the knowledge that puffeth up ; and has sent
you to Chriet, and to none but Chriet, to be taught the thinga of God. He haa
brought you humbled to the Saviour'e feet, where you are Bitting among hia
lowest scholars (and that is the beat place) to hear his words. Thus he hae glori
fied your dirine Prophet in you ; and in the matter of teaching ne has made
Christ your all. The Bible, and ministers, and means, have now got their right
place; they are subservient to Christ's teaching. He is exdtedby your uee
of thera : for you do not go to them, but to him in them, to receive leeaon upon
leeeon, and line upon line. Thue may you and I be found waiting upon our
great Lord and Master through the year eeventy-two. And when we thus put
honour upon hie office, and give glory to hie teaching, we may expect to learn
much of him : he will guide our feet in the way of peace ; he wttl enlarge our
facultiea to know more of the wondera of hi8 grace ; and he wttl enable ue to
enjoy more of the heavedy eweetnees of his precious love. Yes, Lord, we have
great expectations from thee : thou canst teach ue far raore than we have yet
learned. Oh make us every day humbler scholare, that, whatever we learn, the
praise of it may be thine, and our growth in saving knowledge may add to thy
fame and renown !
Methinks I hear you ask, " But how ehaU I know for certain that I am one of
Christ's scholars, and that he has indeed taken me into his tuition and teach
ing ? " My dear madam, you are to know it frora what you have learned of hira.
You cannot be certdn of it any other way. He would have you to look at his
revealed truth, and to try yourself by it. Has he not made you wise in it unto

TIU! REV. W. ROMAINE, A.M. 737
sdvation ? Oh do, pray do, acknowledge what he has done for your soul. When
you were sensible of your fallen state, in which you inherit a corrupt nature, and
felt that in it you could do nothing but sin ; when gmlt was in your conscience,
and fear was in your heart, what was it which brought you relief ? To what did
you look for pardon, and from whence did you expect peace with God ? Your
answer wiU show whether you are Christ's scholar, and how far you have advanced
in his school.
I can make you reply (for I have heard you say as much), " Why, to be sure,
I have no hope but in that offering which perfecteth for ever, and in that righte
ousness which justifieth from dl things. This is my sdvation — this, and nothing
else — Christ is all : I expect no pardon but in his blood ; no justification but in
his obedience ; no safety but in his keeping me ; no happiness but in his love ;
no heaven but in the enjoyment of Immanuel."
Very weU ! this is a good confession. But who taught it you ? Was it not
Jesus, he who alone teacheth man saving knowledge ? Has not he opened your
eyes to see, and your heart to receive those most blessed truths ? Yes, he has.
Aud do you prdse him as he deserves ? Oh no. A thought often comes into
your head, "If I had learned those things of Christ, how could it be that I am
ao little and so seldom comforted by them ? They are full of aU consolation, and
I am sometimes quite empty : how can this be ?" I wttl teU you, my good friend.
The very same thought comes into my head, and plagues -me. But I get the
better of it. Consider where it is written, " He that is comforted shall be
saved !" You are cdled upon to trust the work of Christ, and to trust it for
yourself upon the word of Christ. His work is your whole sdvation ; his word,
and nothing in yourself. (Here I should stop. This is the end of my paper
But I cannot get done ; you must let me finish my sentence, dthough it be to
your cost. WeU, you will forgive me, I proceed.) His word, and nothing in
yourself, is to be your lawful warrant to caU this sdvation your own, and to use
it for your own. Rest here, giving credit to the free promise of sdvation to aU
that trill receive it, and I trill lay my life of it you tviU not want comfort long.
You wiU have God's faithfulness for your security that you are a saved sinner ;
and the belief of this cannot but bring peace and joy into your heart. According
to your faith, so will your comfort be. But if you rest not here, get comfort
where you will, it wiU not be true ; it cannot be lasting. NottVue.,- because aU1
comfort dweUs in Christ ; every thing else is emptiness and vanity. Not lasting;
because frames, feelings, habits, graces, joys, &c &c. ebb and flow. Only Christ
abideth the same for ever, and only his unchangeable word can fix your comfort.
Trust it ; make it your constant warrant to go to Christ for comfort, and he can
not deny his word : according to your faith, so wiU he give unto you.
Do not think, my good friend, I would have you to walk mourning and
melancholy. No. There is nothing in Christ to make you so. He is dl light,
and life, and love, and joy, and that without ceasing ; an infinite- and everlasting
fulness of all blessings. I would lead you to him in the direct road, which is to
lead you out of self entirely. Christ is the way : look more at him, and less at
self; trust more to him, and less to your fdth or comforts ; live upon nothing in
yourself, but five every moment upon him ; do not eye his gifts so much ; fix
your heart upon the Giver ; be dways thinking of his fulness whenever you feel
your own emptiness : whatever you are, or do, or suffer, let dl things bring you
to make (forgive me, I must go on : I take up another half-sheet, and I beseech
you, agdn and again, let aU things bring you to make) use of Christ. Rea u
about him. Go to your closet to converse with him. Go to church to meet
him. Make him your companion. Accustom your mind to meditate upor. him
Pray without ceasing to him as your bosom friend. Do not be shy of him ; he
hates shyness. Draw near; he bids you come trith boldness, vtte, unthankful,
unprofitable, as you are : his dear heart is dways open to hear your complaints,
and to relieve your distresses, be they what they will. Remember, he is the Sun
of our world, and you cannot be thus dways in his presence without being
enlightened by his rays, and cherished with his warm beams. When any are
very cold within doors, and see the sun shining sweetly, they do not use to ask,
" Is it my sun ? May I go out to walk in this noon-day brightness, and get
3 H

7:38 LETTERS WRITTEN BY
myself warm in this delightful sunshine? Is it for me ?" Yes, make use of it,
who wttl ; it shines for you ; Christ is as freely yours as that sunshine. You
may walk in his fight, and enjoy his comforts. You may take him for your
righteousness, and your holiness ; you may live on him for grace and glory.
He is yours, and dl he has is yours also, and for your use, to-day and for ever.
Thus you see, my good friend, how we intend to live in Lonelon through the
year 1772. Christ is our all, not only in our title to salvation, but also in our
present enjoyment of its blessings. — We expect a great income, and- all from
Christ. Our faith in hiin is not an empty notion (as the world thinks), but it is
a redity. Christ is the substance ; all besides is shadow ; anil by faith we now
take possession of the substance. We live by him, and we live on him. We
need envy nobody. What are princes to us ? our estate is vastly beyond theirs ;
the inheritance is sure ; the riches unsearchable ; and the income — ask and have ,-
and that increasing through eternity. Oh blessed, most blessed, inheritance ¦
The prospect is not like that of Moses. He only saw the country, but we go over
Jordan. We, who have believed, elo enter into rest. We are living in the land
which floweth with milk and honey, which ia the glory of all landa. An heir of
thia country may live in the poorest cottage at K  , and yet be richer than a
king. If he live thia year, as he should do, by the faith of the Son of God, what
are the riches of emperors compared to his ? He can look into his title-deeds,
and there read two clauses, tvhich make hiin rich, even beyond conception : " All
things are yours — and youra for ever."
I know what you will think, as well aa if I heard you tell me your thoughts.
I am acquainted trith the vile eugge8tion8 of the enemy. He may tempt you to
doubt of these truths on account of your having still so many wants. But, my
friend, the more the better. We should glory in our wants. They make us rich :
for we can want nothing but it is in Christ's fulness, and laid up there for us.
This makes way for a constant intercourse between you and Christ, and keeps
up a holy friendship in giving and receiving. By this means a sweet familiarity
will be maintdned, and a growing intimacy cherished. Christ requires you
would be free trith him, and draw largely upon his bank. Every moment you
want aomething, Chriat aays, " Here it is ; come to me for it. I can deny
you nothing." Oh go to him at his bidding, and put honour upon his love.
Your many, your great wante, will only give him an occaeion to show how much
be loveth you. He has for you bowels of the tenderest compassion. He feels
for you more than you can think. Bles8ed is that want, look at it by faith and you
will find it so, which brings you to Christ for a supply.
" Do you want Temporals, read my grant, Matt. vi. 32 ; or Spirituals, trust my
promise, Eph. i. 3 ; or Eternals, look at my gift in Rom. vi. 23 ; and he assured
I will withhold from you no manner of thing that is good." Stand upon this
ground, and here survey your wants ; be they what they will, trust Christ for a
supply. Live like a Christian, by the faith of the Son of God, for temporals,
spirituals, and eternals : this is living. This is holy living ; for you cannot be
thus receiving every moment out of Christ's fulness, but you must feel eome
gratitude to your dirine friend, and a growing willingneas to be his debtor for
grace, and to be one of his pensioners for glory. This is high living ; for then
has the Holy Spirit magnified Jesus in you upon earth, when you make him all
and in all; and then he has given you the certain earnest that he will bring you
to heaven, where you wttl find Jesua all, and in all, for ever and ever.
This is a little touch of our new year's gift. Pray tell Miss W  r it is our
standing dish for 1772 : I wish her a good stomach to feast on it trith ua; it ia
food and physic : I know she likes it. I do not donbt but in a very little time
she and I shall sit down at the King's own table, and feast with hira, and on
him, and bless him, as long as we have our being. Pray tell them at next door,
Christ is all. And tell my dear little vicar, to whom my heart is knit, to exalt
Christ. Up with him, Mr. B  ; come, try ; up with him a little higher. Pray,
and preach, and live : that Christ be exalted. God bless the lifting up of Christ
in K  pulpit! Amen.
There is nothing I wish myself of good, but I wish it to Mr. M  . I really
love my K  friends, and often think of that precious child. Oh Lord, keep

-rn IS KEY. W. ROMAINE, A. M. 739
him ! Jesus, save him ! may death never part mother and son. I wish my prayers
may be heard for him. Hie portion with us is worth a thousand K  s. May
he find with us Christ his all I
W. Romaine.

LETTER CCLXV. Blackfriars, May 6, 1772.
My dear Friend. — Indeed you serve me right : it is good to settle an even
account with me. I was so many months in writing ; so wUl you be, to a day.
This is rather a too hard and strict way of learning me to write oftener. I could
have wished you to write again and again, and to set me an example of what I
ought to do. But I submit to your judgment, and stand corrected in your way.
Hearing of Mr. I — — n's coming to town, I did think of some little note ; such
as, " We are much hurried ; time taken up greatly ; so many interruptions, that
when I have proposed to sit down to ask my good friend how he does, I am called
away." Nothing came, however ; I am resolved to grow better. My acquaintance are
stiU much upon my mind and heart. Distance of time and place have made no
change. I love them in the Lord, and for the Lord's sake, Oh, he is kind
to you. How many singular blessings have you! How highly favoured in
temporals ! Try to number them, if you can. How most highly favoured in
spirituals, which are inestimable and eternal blessings ! I feel thankfulness for
you, and pray for the continuance of aU your mercies, with a growing sense of
your unworthiness of the least of them. Mr. I  n presses me much to say
that I wUl come into the north this summer ; but I cannot answer him directly.
If I do, it wiU not be without spending some time at your house. He gives me a
good account of Miss W  r, to whom I desire to be remembered, with my best
wishes. All manner of blessings rest upon Mr. M  : may the Lord take that
Isaac of yours in his arms, and lay his hands on him and bless him. Good success
to my friend the vicar : teU him the king has appointed Mr. I. S. a prebendary
of W  r. The hearts of kings are in the hands of our Jesus : if he be ours
he wttl make aU things ours. Remember in your prayers a friend to you and
K  .
W. Romaine.

LETTER CCLXVI.
Nov. 23, 1773.
My dear Friend. — As I have not been permitted to talk to you face to
face this summer, why should not I converse with you in another way ? I think
it right to teU you my present feelings, and how I stand affected towards you.
I befieve that all the true love in the world comes from the infinite fulness of
Jesus. It has no other source : and he has (eternd blessings on him !) warmed
niy cold heart with some of his precious love. I feel a ray of it drawing my
affections to my dear friend. Its sweet influence is from above : its origin is divine :
it ia indeed of heavenly extraction and birth. No thanks to me that it partakes
of some of the gracious properties of the fountain from whence it springs : for
some of them it has, my conscience bearing me witness. And these, I confess,
are not natives of mine own soil ; not being planted in it, am I able to make
them grow and flourish ? Oh no ! The God of aU grace is the free giver : he is the
mighty continuer : without him they would have never been ; without him they
would have died at their birth, and gone out like a spark in the ocean. But 1 do
really find some of the image and likeness of my loving Lord upon my heart, and
that towards you. There can be no true friendship without an union of spirit. In
oiiler to be pure and steadfast, it must be refined from selfish views and carnd
3 b2

740 LETTERS WRITTKN BY
motives : it must spring from no outward attachment, but from a real agreement
and harmony of soul : such is the nature of Christian friendship. It is beyond
aU Plato's rules and Seneca's morals. They had no idea of it. Reason, the
most refined, could never understand our doctrine. He that is joined to the
Lord is one spirit ; a most wonderful union ; big with blessings, temporal and
eternal. Among its temporal blessings, it is not the least that he reforms the
heart and makes it loving like his own ; capable of receiring his heavenly friend
ship, and capable of showing it to his prdse by especid love to his brethren and
our brethren.
In whatever view I am considering our divine friend, there is always some
thing which gives him, and most justly, the pre-eminence. He is, and will be
for ever, the most blessed head, which communicates life, and breath, and all
things, to every member. In the character now before us, oh how exalted, how .
glorious is he! Yes, he is beyond dl blessing and praise, for being a present
Sariour to his people ; as he mightily delivers them from the tyranny of their
rile tempers, and renders them happy in one another. It is from his grace that
they put on, as the elect of God, holy and beloved, bowels of mercies, kindness,
humbleness of mind, meekness, &c. He plants those virtues in the heart ; he
waters them trith the rain of heaven ; he shines upon them ; and he makes them
flourish in spite of all the opposition of Belfieh passions and inbred lusts ; indeed
he doea. There are persons in the world who are infinitely indebted to Jesus
Christ for that brotherly love which is the bond of perfectness, and who, in some
measure, wdk in love, according to his teaching. But they mourn, I know they
do, because they find so little gratitude to him, and so little conformity to his
example. Yet some likeness there i8, and they are striving every day for more,
still setting out dresh : not content with any past attainment, they study both to
love him more, and to draw more virtue from him, that they may love others, as
Christ also loved them.
Methinks I see one of his disciples warm and eager in thia pursuit. I stop
him, and ask, " Sir, upon what principle is it that your heart ia ao eet upon
being like Chriet ? You are quite unwearied in having your own hateful tempers
subdued, and in putting on the sweet dispositions of the meek and lowly Jesus."
His answer, I am sure, would be, " The love of Christ constraineth me: Oh,
how 1 feel the blesaed effect of being one with my Lord! He has taught me in
my very heart to love God, and man for God's sake • to this dearest Jesus I am
indebted for my paradise restored; and I am never happier than when 1 am
sensible of my vast debt ; for then I love him best, and am moat enabled to manifeat
it to men. Beyond deacription, beyond conception of any, yea, aU the glorified
saints, is the love of Immanuel to my soul : it is, like himself, infinite and bound
less ; it is quite free, given to the unworthiest and to the moat unthankful ; a
perfect love, nothing but love, such aa excludea dl ahyneee and coldness, prevents
misconBtructiona and quarrela, yea, removea the very cause and ground of them.
A communicative love, moet generouely bestowing a right and title to all bless
inga upon the beloved ; for thus the grant of the great charter runs ; ' all mine
are thine;' and, to crown the whole, it ia a laating love, yea, everlasting, reaching
from eternity to eternity. The more I study and experience of this heavenly
love, tbe more I find my heart affected with it, and the more I wish that aU my
friendships may reflect some image of, and bring some glory to, the friendship
of my Jesus."
Having read this passage over carefuUy, I can, if caUed upon, set my hand and
sed to it. " AU thia I know to be true. W. R." Some little apark of this holy
flame (but, though little, inestimable,) haa long ago thawed my frozen heart,
and has kept a warmth of affection in it, which he that kindled often hears of, in
prayer and praise for you, and of which they who know you, and come in my
way, hear alao. Some kind providence will, I doubt not, ere long, let you hear
it with your own eare. With pleasing hope I look forward to a preeent, becauae

THE REV. W. ROMAINE, A.M. 741
and none else can, break : so that we may sing, in humble confidence, aU our
way to Zion, The love divine
That made us thine, .
Shall keep us thine fbr ever.
Tell Mr. B  he is in my debt, and I wish him to get out of it ; but he must
pray a good deal for me before he does ; so must you. Pray the more for me.
Ply the throne. Mrs. Romaine joins in aU.
W. Romaine.

LETTER CCLXVII
Grace and peace be abundantly multiplied to my dear friend from the Lord
Christ ; may all whom she loves partake of his love ! I have been kept from
tvriting to you, and acknowledging your many favours to me and to mine, by my
Master's business. As soon as I came home, I was invited to preach in Buck
inghamshire, where we have had the Lord with us of a truth. Oh, what am I,
that mine eyes should see such things as I see ? I, who am the veriest filthy
dunghill sinner that ever God suffei'ed to live ; that I, even I, should partake of
llis grace, as weU as preach it. Oh, it is astonishing ! Surely, if ever I get to
heaven (and I must not doubt of getting thither) I shaU beat Mary Magdalen,
and Paul, and Peter, and Manasseh, aU to nothing. They had not half to pardon
that I have ; and yet, glory, glory, glory be to Jesus, I am among his pardoned
ones. Who, then, shall sing his praises in such a high note as I can ? None,
no, not one of them aU. I am the most indebted to free grace of aU that ever
were saved out of heU. May my experience tend to the strengthening of your
faith !
Dear madam, you almost overcome me with kindness. I shaU be afraid to call
and see you, lest you make me proud ; for what have I good in me ? Nothing.
What good do I ? None at aU. Whatever good is in man, whatever good
is done upon earth, the Lord doeth it himself. Down, then, with man : lay low
his lofty looks, and up with Christ. Exdt him — toO high we cannot raise
him, too low we cannot humble the sinner. I would have you, therefore, not to
look at me, but at my precious, dear Master. Look unto him, and you shall be
saved. Look unto me for any thing, and you ehall infallibly be disappointed.
Present my hearty love in the bowels of Christ Jesus to your sister W  r.
I find great fellowship with her as a member of the same body, and actuated by
the same Spirit : and tell her from me, that " she cannot make too much use of
Christ." The more she uses him in aU things, the happier witt she be. To this
I can set my seal ; Probatum est.
I fail not to remember Mr. M  , when I am near, and have freedom with my
precious Master. May you never want his presence ! My wife joins in thanks,
and is, with me, yours in tbe I ord Jesus,
W. Romaine

LETTER CCLXVIII.
Oct. 28, 1773.
My good Friend. — Hating an opportunity of sending my hearty lo/e to
you by Mr. I  n, I could not avoid embracing it. You are often on my mind,
and in my prayers. Redly, my dear madam, you are one of them by whom I
find the truth of what I believe concerning the communion of saints. I expe
rience it in its comfort ; for I feel with you, rejoicing in your joys, and taking
part in your sorrows. I hnve a good account of your hedth, a great blessing
(may it continue) anil of your spiritud hedth, which is a greater ; may thai

742 LETTERS WRITTEN BY
increase! and it will, as you live more in, on, and to Christ Jesus: coining ddly
as a poor sinner to live on a rich Saviour. This is the great secret of the gospel.
Nothing shodd keep you from Christ. However you feel, whatever you have
done, at aU times, in aU places and frames, go to Jesus. I have been at thia
lesson a great while, eind though very duU and stupid, yet, through marvellous
grace, I have learned something. When things go wdl, we are apt to rest in
them : I do not. My Jesus makes them weU ; I thank him, and rest in him,
and not in his gifts : I enjoy him in them ; and when things go badly, inward or
outward, I would not stay from him to compldn or murmur one moment, but
rejecting myself entirely, take him for my whole complete happiness. Let things
go as they will, 1 look at Jesus through them, and would make use of them to
lead me to live more upon him. This eeema ea8y; but try it. I wish you a
better scholar at it than I am. I hear you had a warning to be ready at tlje next
door. I pray for its good effect. When the messenger comes, may every M 
lift up his and her head with joy !
I grow old, and find marks of the tabernacle's wearing out fast ; but I know
m whom I have believed. To him I commend you and youra. Mra. R. joina in
every good wish to all yours and you. Do not fail to pray for W. Romaine.

\

LETTER CCLXIX. Blackfriars, June 24, 1777.
My very good Friend. — Our journey is settled for Thursday morning next ;
we move slowly. Hope to be with you on Saturday, perhaps to dinner. Will
ou desire Mr. B  to give me leave to speak to his people, Sunday morning.
shall take it as a favour. I have seen poor D  : he is a very great penitent.
The Lord has brought him through the fire, a miracle of mercy. Before this
reach you, it ia likely he will he adoring the love of a triune God. My journey
has been with much prayer. He that makea men to be of one mind in a house,
will, I hope, unite ua to him8elf by his loring Spirit, and render us useful to each
other, as iron sharpenetb iron. I do not, I cannot forget your family, Mr. M  ,
and your beloved Isaac. I often have them on my mind. I am, with great
respect, in our common Lord, yours,
W. Romaine.

LETTER CCLXX.
Aug. 2, 1779.
My dear Friend. — We remembered you and yours very particularly on the
7th of May last. Blessings on the birth of that day ! I know raore about it in
79 than I did before ; and more reason to honour and esteem you. I send you
inclosed a little token of respect. You had it in the last war, and it is now again
expedient, yea, necessary. I hope for your helping hand in this good work.
Some must fight, and others must pray. One is as much wanted aa the other.
If Moses doea not pray, Joshua does not conquer. Prayers gained the victory.
Asa has a great army of one mttlion one hundred thousand good aoldiera ; but
he doea not tru8t so much to them, nor conquer so much by them, aa by hia
prayers. Jehoshaphat's prayer of faith vanquished a vast host without fighting
Read 1 Chron. v. from the 18th to the 23rd verse. On this account I beg of you,
my dear friend, to join us. You have some praying people at K  : caU upon
them to unite on this occasion. ' Remember, " the effectual fervent prayer of a

mis KEY. W. ROMAINE, A.M. 743
you growing communion trith your God ; more delight daily in approaching the
throne of his grace, and more blessings coming from him on you and yours. We
have dready many hands lifted up to engage the Lord of Hosts on our side.
Mine are engaged, and I trust will not hang down till peace return.
Mrs. Romdne is with me, and well. With her and my best wishes, I am, in
our dear Lord, your friend and obliged servant,
W. Romaine.

LETTER CCLXXI. Black friars, Nov. 30, 1779.
My good Eriend. — I have been taught to weep with them that weep. They
cannot but feel with and for one another, who are joined to the Lord in one Spirit.
'That you suffer seems grievous to the flesh. I sympathize with you ; but 1. dso
find the Lord is with you, supports you, yea, he comforts you : therein i do rejoice.
My prayer is for much patience under his hand, and much profit from his rod.
Let me direct your attention to Heb. xii. from the 5th verse to the 14th. The
whole matter turns upon the character of the Person who afflicts. Is it in wrath
or in love ? Does he punish as a judge, or correct as a father ? Mind how the
sentence begins — my son ; keep this upon your heart ; you have fled to Jesus,
you have taken the benefit of his atonement and of his righteousness ; you are
therefore the adopted child of the most high God. And you must not think he
changes his love when he changes his dispensations. He is always your Father ;
and say, his rod is for the present not joyous, but grievous; yet mind, ver. 11, it
only seemeth : the flesh seems to be hurt, but reaUy it is not ; it is only in appear
ance ; look nearer ; you may eastty see love sending, love inflicting ; and wait a
little, you will have reason to thank your Father for the blessed fruits of his love.
If you live, you wiU find them very rich and ripe. If he spare life, my first journey
shdl be to k  . I have great feUowship trith the afflicted. I shall hope and
pray for your support and comforts ; my God has promised both. May they bt
abundant ! This summer has given me great occasion to learn the same lesson
with you ; and I can set to my seal that God is good, and doeth goodj nothing
but gooel, to his children : to his tender care I commend you and yours. Look
above, live above, both your joys and sorrows ; make Jesus, at least you wish to
make Jesus, your all. I shaU be thankful for a line when convenient, to tell
rae more of his dedings with you ; and am, in him, your faithful dear friend and
servant,
W. Romaine

LETTER CCLXXII.
Saturday, March 29.
My good Friend. — I have an opportuuity of sending my respects to you
by Mr. I  n: but I chose to give them to you under mine own hand
Although I do not see you, yet you nave a place in my heart, and in and for the
Lord's sake, who changeth not. I remember K  in my best times, you and
tours. One proof of it I hope to give this summer, if I am spared. Age is
coming on fast ; infirmities many and great ; travelling is a burden. But before
I go hence, I purpose once more to visit my Y  re friends ; I feel towards
them some of that grace mentioned Rom. i. 11, 12, which grows by giving and
receiving; as, ineleed, dlthe gifts of Christ do : the more you use, the more you
have : you become richer for what you lay out. Such a wonderful fulness flows
from Christ, that he who spends most for him, gets most from him. Oh that
my journey may be of this kind : to your profit and mine, and to Christ's glory !
I know not what time it will be ; but will not wait on you without first acqudnt-
ing you, and knowing what time wiU be to you the most agreeable.

744 LETTERS WRITTEN BY
Your dear boy is often on my mind. I am sure you do not wish him better
than I do. AU my advice is turned into prayer. You will give my love to
Mr. B  y, of whom I hear good things. Mrs. R. desires her kind love to you
and family. We had yesterday such a soleran time as I never expected to see in
London. It was very truly a good Friday. My hopes revive for this guttty
land ; for, thera that honour me, says God.T will honour : I am sure he was
honoured yesterday. Let me, my good friend, not in compliment I ask, be
remembered by you in prayer. My time is short. Pray that I may be kept
humble and thankful. I am, with true Christian affection, in and for my dear
Lord's sake, your friend and servant, W. Romaine.

LETTER CCLXXIII. Nov. 16, 1780.
My dear Friend. — Wave after wave — trouble after trouble— no ceaaing till
we get into the haven. I do not wish you out of them, but to profit by them.
The furnace is to refine gold ; so faith ; proved, improved, yea, perfected by trials.
Mind what the great Refiner says — " I wttl bring the third part through the fire,
and I wttl refine them as silver is refined, and I will try them as gold is tried.
They shall caU on my name, and I will hear them. I will say, It is my people,
and they shall say, The Lord is my God." O bleaaed furnace ! — What ! ia thia
the effect of being put into it ? does the Son of God appear for and with his suf
fering membera ? — Does he keep off the evil of suffering — give patience under
it, profit from it — deaden the lite of senBe — quicken the life of fdth — and thus
bring more red good to his people from their trids than from dl the coinforta
that ever they had ? Say — It ia great, an uncommon great trial : the furnace ia
heated seven timea raore than it waa wont to be heated StiU, thia ia not to
deatroy faith, but to refine and exdt it. The pldn le8son from hence to be learnt
i8, we muat now truat more to the Lord, and le88 to self. His strength must be
our safety, and not our weakness. His blessings must be our happineaa. I
write theae thinga, becauae I ara praying for them. It is not so much advice as
prayer. I know my Lord can, I believe my Lord will, help you in thia time of
need. Whatever intereat I have with him ia youra. None feel for you, or can
raore than I do.
I am thankful, however, for the grace of God given unto you at this trying
time. The furnace is intended, in the Father's hand, to prove faith, and to
improve it. He puts it into the fire fike gold, that, upon trial, it may appear sterl
ing ; emd that, losing nothing but dross, we may iearn to truat him better. You
now aee and know that hia triala of faith are acta of love. The burning bush, ao far
from being consumed in the flamee, ie cheriehed by them, and growe. Bleeaed
be the name of our God ! I find the miracle repeated in our riaitatione. In
faith and patience you posness your eoul ; yea, the smell of fire does not pass upon
you. Where could you have learnt what God has been teaching you ao Boon, or
eo weU ? All ie weU. May you eee more of his love in every dispensation ! Trust
him. Go on trusting, without doubt or wavering, and he will grant you your
heart's desire. I commend myself very earnestly to your remembrance in the
best place. Mention me to your divine and almighty Friend, in whom I am, with
my very best wishes, your obliged servant, W. Romaine.
P. S. Our text to-morrow is — " We are the true circumcision," &c. PhiL iii.
3. God fulfil it, and give us this communion with.the Trinity !

THE REV. W. ROMAINE, A.M. 745
LETTER CCLXXIV. May 16, 1782.
My very dear Friend. — I could not neglect this opportunity of assuring
you how much I remember you in the best pface. Our Lord knows the needs
must of suffering. He loves you too weU to deprive you of your portion. He
himself went, and all his go, the same way to glory. They drink of the brook
in the way ; and they drink it out of the cup of sdvation. True, it is bitter. I
find it very bitter ; as unpalatable as you can find it. But I am praying it may
prove more salutary to you and to me ; and this it cannot do while we murmur
and compldn. It is sent to stop this working of self-wiU. The flesh is impatient,
and frets; the spirit stops its rebellion, and says — Not my will, Lord, but thine
be done. Amen ! May this be the end of all your trials ! May you come out of
them like gold out of the fire.
I hear you have a present exercise ; viz. your young and beloved Isaac to be
parted from you. There is grace sufficient even for this. You do not love your
son more than I did mine ; it cannot cross your will more than it did mine :
but my son went into the army, and I do not repent ; it was his choice. He has
been kept, as far as I know, from army-sins ; and the same good God may also
keep your son. Trust him in his loving and careful guidance ; and the Lord
will do what is best both for him and for you.
 Your one business is to trust your all in the hands of Christ ; hav
ing received him, then to live upon him. Remember, he is to answer every pur
pose, body and soul ; you and yours ; earth and heaven. You are not firing up
to your privilege, if there be any person or thing that you keep back from Christ,
and do not leave to his absolute management. The command runs — " Trust in
him at all times, ye people." Pray him to make you wiUing to part with your
son, as he did Abraham. Pray him to give you more fdth to trust him in the
Lord's hand : and then foUow him with your daily prayers that the good
Lord may keep him from aU evil. When you have done this, the rest
must be left. The Lord will do what seemeth him good : yea, he will enable
you to say, Come what may, all is weU.
In a bond never to be broken, I am yours in Christ. My blessing on your
dear son, and prayers for him !
W. Romaine.

THE DIVINE LEGATION OF MOSES
DEMONSTRATED FROM niS DAVINO MADE EXPRESS MENTION OF, AND INSISTED 80 MUCH
ON, THE DOCTRINE OF A FUTURE STATE : WHEREBY HH, WARBURTON*S ATTEMPT
.TO DEMONSTRATE THE DIVINE LEGATION OF MOSES FROM HIS 0MIS8I0N OF A FUTURE
STATE IS PROVED TO DE ABSURD AND DESTRUCTIVE OF ALL REVELATION.

A SERMON
PREACHED before the university op oxford, AT ST. mary's,
MARCH 4, 1739.

The foundations of all religion lie in two thinga j that there is a God who rules the world,
and that the souls of men are capable of subsisting after death : for ho that comes unto God
must believe that he is, and that he is a rewardor of them that eeek him ; so that if these
things be not supposed as most agreeable to human reason, wecannot imagine upon what
grounds mankind should embrace any way of religion at all. — Stillingfleeve Orig. Sacra,
b. 3, ch. 1, sect. 1

And Jesus answering said unto them, Do ye not therefore err, because ye know not
the scriptures, neither the power of God ? For when they shall rise from the
dead, they neither marry nor are given in marriage, but are as the angels which
are in heaven. And as touching the dead that they rise, have ye not read in the
book of Moses, how in the bush God spake unto him, saying, I am the God of
Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob r He is not the God of
the dead, but the God of the living : ye therefore do greatly err. — Mark xii. 24,
25, 26, 27.
The New Testament is fuU of paaeagea in which it is asserted, that Moses hath
directly treated of the state in which man was at first created ; — of the laws which
his Creator gave him ; — of hia violation of tho8e laws ; — and of hia forfeiting
thereby life here, and happiness hereafter ; — of the method of his being restored
and again enabled to attain that happiness ; — and of his having instituted many
types and figures expressive of the sufferings, death, and resurrection of that
person who was to restore man to happiness. Though these truths frequently
occur in the New Testament, yet many persona have been at a lo8S where to find
them in Moses' writings ; and there hath not been a more common and popular
objection against thera, than what hath been drawn from hence, viz. " That the
Deity could have no other end in the creation but to communicate happiness,
that therefore, whenever he reveals his will to his creatures, this revelation ought to
contain aome meana to attain happineas : because if it doth not in fact promote the
happiness of his creatures, then it must either be made in vain, or to promote
misery, both which are ends unworthy ofthe Deity, and inconsiatentwith his moral
perfections. But the law by Moses doth not contain any means to promote the
happiness of God's creatures : because there is no mention made in it of that
happiness for which man was created : and because man could not answer the
end of his creation, if he was ignorant of that end. The law therefore by Moses
could not be a revelation from God ; for God never acte in vain, and could never
be the author of misery in keeping men ignorant of that great truth, which it was
of the utmost importance to their happiness to be acquainted with."

DIVINE LEGATION 01 MOSES. 747
It cannot be concealed, that the answers hitherto made, have given httle satis
faction to the objectors. A late performance indeed promised to clear up this
point, and to demonstrate the divine legation of Moses from his omission of a
future state, even upon the very principles of those who rejected his authority.
But this design can never answer the end, but must rather promote that very
cause which it pretends ,to overthrow : because it strengthens and confirms the
objection, and because the very foundation upon which it is biult is weak and
false : for it is a matter of fact, that a future state is mentioned in Moses' writings,
and is so far from not being to be found there, that it makes, if not the whole,
yet a very great part of those writings, it being deUvered there in such plain,
literal terms, that he who can barely read, may read and find it there. To those
modern Sadducees who wiU not see it there, one may safely say upon Christ's
authority in the text, what he said upon the very same occasion, " Do ye not
therefore err because ye know not the scriptures," (and therefore if they had
known the scriptures, they would not have erred, so that the doctrine they deny,
must be contained in the scriptures) "neither the power of God :" " for have ye
not read in the book of Moses," (in that part of the scriptures in particular,) "how
in the bush God spake unto him saying, I am the God of Abraham, and the God
of Isaac, and the God of Jacob ?" (their God after they had departed this life,
and therefore they existed in a future state, because) "he is not the God ofthe
dead, but the God of the living ; ye therefore do greatly err." If we may take it
for granted that our Saviour hath here made a just inference; then Moses will be
found not only to teach a future state, but a resurrection also of the body. " And
as touching the dead," says Christ, " that they rise, have ye not read in the book
of Moses, how in the bush God spake unto him, saying, I am the God of Abraham?"
Now if saying ihe Lord was God of Abraham, was saying that Abraham was to
rise from the dead, it foUows that the Jews, if they understood their own lan
guage when Moses wrote, must have known that this doctrine was taught in his
writings. And if calling the Lord the God of Abraham proves his resurrection,
then caUing hiin the God of the Israelites must prove theirs : so that they must
have known that they also were to rise from the dead. This conclusion cannot
but be just, because Christ hath made it : and they who aUow it to be just, must
own that there are numerous arguments in the Pentateuch for the doctrine of a
future state.
I might here show wherein the justness of our Saviour's inference consists,
but that trill be more properly considered in another place ; however, it must be
sufficient to a Christian audience, and if Christ hath said that a future state is to
be found in Moses, I am satisfied every one here present wiU conclude that it
actually is there.
But our adversaries require other proofs : their ignorance hinders them from
seeing wherein the force of our argument hes, so that they are not convinced by
it ; but send us to Moses himself, and desire we would show them some plain
texts in his writings, where a future state is expressly mentioned.
" As it was the doctrine of the reformation, and is still of the Church of Eng
land in her articles and homilies, that Moses hath treated of a future state : —
as this is a subject that wiU give us an opportumty of clearing up the design of
some part of Moses' writings : — as truth, the glory of God, the honour of Moses,
anil the revelation by him are concerned in this inquiry : — and as we must be
forced to give up Christianity, if we cannot show where a future state is mentioned
in the law, because it is all throughout the New Testament said to be there ; so
are we forbid by these reasons to be unconcerned in this point ; they call upon us
to use our utmost diligence, and require the most careful study of every Christian
to find out the places where it is directly mentioned, and to give hght to those
wnere it is taken for granted and hinted at."
It would be needless to prove that there shaU be a future state. This others,
assisted by revelation, have sufficiently done. It wttl abundantly answer our
purpose and fully convince every reasonable man, if we can prove the truth oi
these three propositions.
First, 'That if the doctrine of a future state could not be directly found in the

748 DIVINE LEGATION OF MOSES.
law of Moses, yet there are many strong and unanswerable arguments, which
suppose that it is, and prove that it ought to be there.
Secondly, That tbe doctrine of a future 8tate actually is to be found in, and
doth make a very great part of, the writings of Moses, the obligation to observe
every law, rite, and ceremony, being enforced upon the sanctions of future re
wards and punishments.
Thirdly, That therefore the divine legation of Moses may be truly and properly
demonstrated upon these principles.
If these propositions could be fairly proved, there would be no room to impeach
the moral perfections of God, or to accuse Moses of imposture. The very sup
position upon wliich these accusations are grounded would appear false and
absurd : and it would be seen, that they, who could not find the doctrine of a
future state in the writings of Moses, did not understand those writings : that
he, who pretended to give some reasons why Moses did not mention a future state,
could neither do Moses nor religion any service by such a false representation of
the case : and that they who believe this to be the case, are either enemies to
Moses or to truth ; though in the point before us he must be an enemy to both,
who is so to either of them.
There will appear reason enough for these and many more such like observa
tions when it is proved.
First, That if the doctrine of a future state could not be directly found in tbe
law of Moses, yet there are many strong and unanswerable argumenta, which
suppoae that it is, and prove that it ought to be there.
Thia -will appear from argumenta drawn from reason or the nature of the thing,
and from the acripturee of the New Testament. And, firat, from the reaaon of
the thing. A future atate ought to make part of the law, because, upon the aup-
poaition, that God intended man for happineaa, it ia inconaiatent with hie attributes
to make a revelation of his will, and to omit such a doctrine in it. God hath all
perfections originally in himself; among the rest infinite wisdom, because that is
a perfection : as, therefore, he must know the value of every thing, both aa
omniscient, and as he made every thing, it follows that he can never form a wrong
judgment, and being also infinitely good, can never prefer a lesaer good to a
greater , for nothing can appear to ua with greater certainty, than, that he who
hath all perfections, cannot be imperfect ; or, that he who is omniacient, cannot
but know, that eternal happiness is a much greater good than temporal ; or that
he who is infinitely good, cannot but be concerned to promote thia greater good
in opposition to the lesa. So that the supposition of the revelation by Moses
coming from God, and yet omitting a future state, hath these manifest absurdities
chained to it, that God must either not have seen the Jews' greater good, their
eternal welfare, or if he did see it, could not have been concerned to promote it,"
i. e. he is either not infinitely wise, or not infinitely good; both which are infinite
contradictions. And, therefore, if eternal happiness be a much greater good
than temporal, and if the Deity be infinitely wise and good, and, of course, muat
know and prefer this greater good in oppoaition to the leaser, it i8 almoat a
demonstration, that, whenever God reveala hia will to his creaturea, he must act
conaiatently with tho8e attributes, and that therefore the revelation by Moses
ought almost entirely to treat of — however, to contain something concerning— a
future state. If Got! indeed could promote the Jews' eternal happinesa more
effectually by keeping them ignorant of it, then this argument would not be
conclusive ; but this, it will soon appear, he neither could nor did intend to do.
Secondly, But farther God actually did see this greater good and did promote it,
because he gave man freedom of will. For what was the intention of the Deity
in creating man ? Was it not to make hira a free agent ? To give him certain
laws ? To place hiin in a state of trial, where he was to giveproof of the right
use of his free agency by observing those laws, and after a sufficient time.of pro
bation to admit him to his favour and endlea8 happineaa ? That this waa the ori
ginal intention wttl be readily aUowed by most persons. Was man then created
• Stillingfteet's OriginesSacrai, 153,1.21.

DIVINE LEGATION OF MOSES. 740
for such ends, and was not he to know the end of his creation ? If he did not
know it, how could he answer it ? Being ignorant of the end for which he was
created, it was impossible he could know the true reason why those laws were
given him, which were designed to answer that end. So that he could not have
any reason to foUow those faws which were the right means to attain the end, if
he knew not that there was any end, or that the means tended not to it; because
if he was ignorant of the true intention of the laws, no motive could be drawn
from hence to enforce his observance of them, and because it is a contradiction
to assert, that a reasonable being acts without some motives, or evidence, i. e.
without a reason ; and it must cease to be reasonable, when it acts where it hath
no end in view, or where it proposes nothing by acting : for there can be nothing
to determine a reasonable being to perform any action, which he cannot discover
hath any consequences, or what he cannot propose any end in doing, i. e. what he
hath no reason to determine him to do. Man then being a free agent, could not
be treated as such, unless he knew the end, that he night judge whether it was
worthy of his choice, and would be a sufficient over-balance to the disadvantages
which attended the practice of the means.* As he was to choose for himself, the
case ought to have been fairly and fully stated to him : but what room was there
to choose, if he was suffereel to know only one side of the case, and yet it was
expected of him, that he should determine upon both, and in favour of that side
for tvhich no evidence appeared ; than which nothing can be more absurd and
impossible. These thinga then being neither known nor offered to man's choice,
man was made a free agent, and yet had no opportunity of giving any proofs of
the right use of his free agency, in that point for which only he was made a free
agent. To affirm therefore, that there is no mention of a future state in the
revelation by Moses, is upon these accounts absurd, viz. That it supposes God
created man a free agent for certain ends, and yet that he was not concerned to
promote those ends, or to let man know that there tvas any end at all ; and that
he who made man did not know that he made him a free agent, or after he had
made him, did not think fit to treat him as such ; created him a being endued
with a soul, an immaterial principle, equal to the angels ; and yet used him as if
he had (riven him only a body, equal to the brutes ; thus preferring the lesser
good to the greater, which the deity cannot do. And therefore it is a necessary
consequence, that if God made man a free agent for certain ends, and yet did not
reveal those ends in the revelation by Moses, he could not have treated the Jews
as free agents, which he certainly did intend to do by making them such, or have
promoted the greater eternal, in opposition to temporal happiness, which he always
must and wiU do.
But in another view. Man was made a free agent, and had certain laws
given him. But why was he to be punished eternally for breaking those laws ?
'The justice of this proceeding was founded no doubt upon his knowing the con
sequences of breaking them ; for it cannot be consistent with the justice of God to
puniah men for those crimes which they did not know deserved to be punished,
«. e. did not know to be crimes. If men found it right to do certain actions, saw
plainly that they would promote their temporal happiness, and had no other to
promote, what can there be criminal in such actions ? Where virtue often ex
poses men to dangers and hardships in this life, and vice often seduces by promises
of temporal welfare ; in such cases it must be fit and right that they, who have no
notion of a future state, should be obUged to consult their happiness in this.
Strict justice certainly cannot censure such a conduct, or punish men for doing
what, according to the best light God hath given them, seems to be their duty to do.
And how is it that human lawgivers f proceed ? Do they not promulgate the
laws and their sanctions together ? Knowing that is not a law but a matter of
prudence, which they recommend to the practice of others without any sanctions.
And tvas is not always reckoned the highest injustice to make punishments
bear no proportion to crimes, to require obedience in certain points, to conceal
the intention of requiring this obedience, thereby to punish the offenders not
riccordingto any prior law, but the present absolute wiU of the judge. Thisproceed-
• Locke's Hum. 1'nders. vol. i. p. 216, sects. 51, 52.
t Locke's Hum I'nders. book 2, ch. 28, p. 325, sect. 6

750 DIVINE LEUATIUN Uf MVSJSO.
ing can only answer the ends of the most arbitrary government. A just law
giver pubUshes his laws, shotvs men the reasonableness of observing, and the
penalties they incur by breaking, them ; thus he sets before them life and death,
so that when they transgress, they know the consequences, and when they suffer,
can blame none but their own sinful selves. Had not the penalties been known,
the action had been indifferent, and it would have been extreme injustice to have ¦
punished, i. e. to have made that criminal afterwards, which tvas indifferent when
it was done. But when the laws are fit and right in themselves, when the sanc
tions are known, and free agents have it in their power to choose, if in such cir
cumstances they transgreas, then and then only punishments are accounted rea
sonable and necessary.
And ahall mankind act with eo much wisdom, justice, and goodness i And shall
not the Judge of aU the earth do right ? ShaU he alone promulgate his laws; and
not show hia eervanta the reasonableness of observing them, or the conaequencea
of breaking thera i Blind obedience, as it is not a matter of choice, can never be
required by, or recommend ua to, the Searcher of heart8. This is our merit in his
eyes, if we have any merit in ourselves, to know our duty and the consequences
of it, to be tempted by present advantages to neglect it, to prefer future expecta
tions to those advantages, and so to resist the temptation. God himself * in
scripture hath every where approved of this motive, hath mentioned the hopes
of another life as the atronge8t motive to obedience, and therefore it cannot be
consistent with the divine justice to require universal obedience, and yet to refuse
men the strongest motive to it ; or consistent with infinite goodness, not to com
municate what infinite trisdom hath approved. If God does not afford this mo
tive, how can he punish men for not attending to it ? They are to be treated
hereafter according to the choice they have made here ; but if they could not
think that a bad choice, which they could not discover had any had consequences,
why were they to be punished for not having more knowledge than their
Creator was pleased to afford them means of attaining f Is it not cruelty that he
who did not treat men as free agents here, should yet treat them as such here
after ? And what proceeding can be more unmerciful, more barbarous, than to
condemn those to eternal misery, who could not know that their actions would
lead them to it, and who might have been influenced to a contrary practice, by
being informed that they might thereby have avoided that misery, and obtained
happiness ? For if happiness and misery were not offered to their choice, how
could it be known which they would choose ? Or if they did choose the meana
that led to misery, what more extreme injustice than to punish them for a choice
occasioned by involuntary ignorance ? If God then made man a free agent, put
it in hia power to make a wrong choice, and did not let him know the conae
quencea of it, waa not thia, aa it were, enanaring him into misery, and intending
him for deatruction f f But this is the business of that being, who ia the very
reverse of the Deity. And therefore if the Jews were free agents, if God was
concerned to treat them as auch, and if without he revealed to them a future etate
he could not treat them as sueh here or hereafter, we may fairly conclude from
the reason of the thing, that the law by Moaea ought to contain something con
cerning a future state.
Butto advance one step farther. The ignorance of a future state tended directly
lo destroy the practice of the means that lead to happiness, so that man, being a
free agent, could neither be treated as such, nor attain the happiness he waa in
tended for, without the knowledge of a future state. To this purpose, revealed
reason will inform us, that the Deity ia chiefly concerned to propagate wiedom
and goodness : for aa trisdom is the knowledge of what ia right and fit in every
case, and as goodness ia the practice of such wisdom, theae must be the chief
objects of the divine care, the great points about which man's free-will waa to be
employed, and must comprehend the means to aU human happinesa. And the
•Matth. v. 12; vi. 33 ; Col. iii. 1,2. 1 Cor. ix. 24, 25 ; 2 Cor. iv. 17, 18; Heb. xiii. 2.
Stilliogfleet's Orig. Sac. p. 615, 616, sect. 8. par. 5. Bp. Wilkins' Sermons, 8vo. Serm. 1st,
on Heb. xi. 26, where he proves that it is necessary for the most eminent saints to strengthen
and support themselves in their difficulties, by a special and particular regard to the recom-
pence of reward.
t Stillingfleet's Origines Sacra?, p. 610, 618, p. 11, c. 11.

DIVINE LEGATION OF MOSES. 751
same reason wiU also tell us, that if the law contained nothing about a future
state, it could make the Jews neither wiser nor better, and therefore could not
treat them as free agents ; so that the end the Deity proposed, by making man a
free agent was, defeated by himself, and the law, a divine revelation, by the very
nature of it, promoted misery. But wiser this great silence about a future state
could not make the Jews ; because it fixed aU their views on this life ; it made only
the good things of this world the centre of their joys, and therefore shut out every
thought of that happiness for the enjoyment of which man was created. And
this must have led them to the grossest ignorance of their duty. God every
where in the Scriptures claims the heart and affections of man. He cannot suffer
any rival in our esteem. He expects that aU our faculties should be at all times
consecrated to his service : for as he alone deserves our praise and worship, he
therefore expects they should be paid to him alone : hence the necessary duty of
setting our hearts entirely on things above, of directing aU our actions to an hea
venly country, and disengaging our affections from the world. But how can
man give God his whole heart and affections, and withdraw himself from the
things of this life, attentive to those of another, and how can God in justice ex
pect those duties, if he doth not reveal to man that he doth expect them ? For is
it not impossible that men should be more conversant with those subjects which
they have no notion of, than with those of which they are masters ? Was it ever
expected that men should be professbrs of any science before they were instructed
in it, or could be perfect before they had begun to learn ? Is not this to require
men to see without eyes, and to hear without ears ? The Jews therefore could not
possibly have been made triser by being ignorant of a future state, but must
have entertained these absurd notions of the law, have taken the means to be the
end, or that there were means which led to no end ; or that man was made for
some either end than he reaUy was ; or made for no noble end at all, made only fof
this world to get provisions, to propagate, to die, to rot.
If then we may be aUowed to suppose, that God could not make the Jews
wiser by keeping them in ignorance about a future state ; and indeed there is
something very paradoxical in imagining, that men may be made wiser by being
kept in ignorance of that end, about which all their wisdom was to be employed,
we may proceed to inquire, whether this ignorance could make them better ? *
And here one might insist on the necessity of adding knowledge to virtue, lest
men should err by following a false rule of duty, or by acting upon wrong motives.
One may show, that it is of the essence of every good action, that it should be
free and matter of choice, and that it cannot be so in the present case, f And
farther, that the Jews must have wanted the most powerful motive to the prac
tice of virtue, that which takes strongest hold of the conscience, hath the greatest
command over our hopes and fears, influences our thoughts as weU as actions,
and which alone can be an adequate foundation of universal obedience. But it
will be sufficient to observe that virtue, or to act conformably to the known laws
of God, supposes that free agents either know why they act so, or not. If the
Jews had reasons which induced them to act virtuously, then it must be either
the love of the law itself (but this it could not be, because they thought it was a
real pain, yoke, bondage, slavery, and caUed it by almost every name that denotes
an unwiUingness of mind, and an uneasiness of body to observe it) ; or the love
of its consequences ; that future reward which they might hope for ; but this
they are supposed to be ignorant of, therefore they had no reason to be
virtuous; and consequently, as they were free agents, they could not be virtuous at
all. J
But it hath been said, that we are to practise virtue because God commands
us. We may perhaps in our circumstances : but if God's laws had made us
miserable here, and we had no expectations from him hereafter, what was todeter-
mine us to observe his laws ? We are told that gratitude would, and that this
• Stillingflcet'a Origines Sacrie, b. 3, ch. 1, p. 361, 362.
t Locke's Hum. Undere. vol. i. ch. 21, p. 221, sect. 60,and p. 228, sect. 70. Stilling-
Beet's Oiig. Sac. -171,472.
t Law's preliminary Dissertation to King's Orig.of Evil, p. 62, 66.

752 DIVINE LEGATION OF MOSES.
calls upon us to make all possible returns of thankfulness to our benefactors.
But if gratitude be a just sense and acknowledgment of favours received, it can
not be expressed to any being who makes us miserable. If our pleasures lie
within a small compass, if there be ever something that embitters them and dulla
their rehsh, if indulgence in them creates real pain, and if even a great part of
those we are capable of receiving are forbidden, what room is there for thanks
and praises ? If our pains exceed our pleasures, it is absurd to be grateful : be
cause to be pleased with painis a contradiction interms : and therefore, setting aside
all hopes of an hereafter, there could be no room for gratitude, when we are
made miserable by being brought into being. But if God should give us all the
good things of this life, and make us really happy in this world, would not this
be a sufficient motive to obedience without the knowledge of a future atate ?
Neither could this of itself possibly answer the end proposed, becauae if men
were absolutely free frora wants, there could be no temptation, consequently no
state of trial, and therefore no room for voluntary obedience.
Thie great silence about a future atate, then, could not make the obaervers of
the law either wiser or better. Every one will draw the inference, what there
fore it did make them. And shall we suffer men to say that the law had auch a
design ? That a revelation from God proposed such an unworthy end f That tho
moral perfections of the deity could authorize such immoral proceedings f Let
us remove such unjust aspersions from the Supreme Being, and suppose a
preaent that if we could not find out and prove that a future atate does make part
of the law, that however the perfectiona of the Deity, the end of man's creation,
and the neces8ity of anawering that end require that it ought to be there, and that
our not seeing it immediately might perhapa beowing to our oivn ignorance, to our
little inaight into the customs, manners, and ceremonies of the Jews, the genius of
their language, and the received opinions of the time when Moses wrote : to theae
and many other reasons a good man would be inclined to attribute hia not
discovering it immediately, before he would impeach the wisdom and goodneS8
of God, and make him an imperfect being rather than own himself to be such
an one.
But farther, the revelation by Moses could not come from God, without the
doctrine of a future state tvas contained in it : for though it he true in fact, that
God did see and prefer man's eternal happiness to temporal, though he made
him a free agent, and he also might see and prefer it, anel actuaUy taught hira the
means to prefer and thereby attain it ; yet man preferred an imaginary to a real
good, made a wrong use of his free agency, neglected the means that lead to hap
piness, and chose the means to misery. Ae a conaequence of this, God could not
reveal hia will to him whilst he waa in this etate, because as a sinner he was an
object of the divine vengeance, of that justice which he had provoked, and of that
punishment which he deserved.* If God had only left man in thie etate to him
aelf, he would have been sufficiently tormented with his own terrors and despair.
But that God did afterwards converse with him is a demonstration that his justice
was appeased, that something had interposed to satiafy and avert the divine
vengeance, and toreatore man to favour and happineaa. And that therefore the
law by Mo8es, being given to those who had sinned and forfeited happineaa,
ought to contain the condition upon which they might again attain it, and con
sequently not only the knowledge of a future state, but also the meana of attain
ing an happy one.f For if Mo8e8 hath aaid, that man ainned, offended juetice,
could not of himaelf satisfy it, and that nevertheless God revealed his will to this
ainful creature, ie it not certain that juetice was satisfied, and man again restored
to favour f Otherwise what could have induced the Jews to the obaervance of
the law, ifit had not taught thera some means of marking this satisfaction, of re
conciling them to God, and restoring them to happineaa and heaven ? For if
they knew that God waa offended with them, they muat firet be aaaured the
service they paid would render them acceptable to hira, before they could pay it :
unless we can auppo8e them so stupid as to worship God without any reason, or
• Thirty-nine Articles, Art. 9, on Original Sin ; and Art. 10, on Free-will; Art. 13.
» Stillingfleet's Origines Saciee, p. 600, 601, 602.

DIVINE LEGATION OF MOSES. 753
served him to offend and provoke him more. If, then, we can prove that the law
came from God, and that the Jews ever observed it as such, it must certainly
follow that it ought to be full of the doctrine of a future state.
There is an objection, which too much affects what hath been already observed
and is too common not to be taken notice of, that many and repeated promises
everywhere occur in the law, which relate only to the good things of this life j
and this hath staggered even those persons who have been influenced by argu
ments drawn from the nature of the thing, to own that a future state ought to
have made part of the law. It is indeed true in fact, that many of the rewards
and punishments in the law are temporal ; but then let it be remembered that
the very ground and reason of insisting so much upon these was, that it was
known there tvas also eternal. For I would observe, that at the time when Moses
wrote, the greatest part of mankind had corrupted themselves, had withdrawn
their aUegiance from the true God, and set up the work of his hands in op
position to him. Most of those ancient idolaters (as it might easUy be proved
from numerous * authorities both of sacred and profane history,) worshipped the
heavens, to tvhich they attributed very great and extraordinary powers. It is
very obvious to every one who is but superficially read in the Eastern histories, or
the scriptures, that the host of heaven, the queen of heaven, the sun, the light,
the moon, and stars, are everywhere represented to be the objects of their wor
ship. In consequence of this we find they asserted, that the heavens were the
givers of aU temporal happiness, the causes of motion, of hght, of heat, of the
earth's motions, of the seasons, of vegetation, the flux and reflux of the sea, the
supporters of the animal economy, and of every operation in matter. But they
did not stop here, they supposed them also to be independent, thought that they,
whom they saw the chief rulers in this system, had this power originaUy in
themselves. They who set up false gods, setup at the same time false redeemers,
and therefore can have no benefit from the true. If then God was at all times
concerned to prevent this false worship from becoming universal, lest the grand
scheme of redemption should be defeated (for universal corruption must have
brought on a universal destruction), then he must have been particularly con
cerned to keep the Jews from this crime, not only because they were the sole
people upon the earth to whom he at that time chose to reveal his wUl; but also
because it was determined that the Messiah should descend from a branch of
this nation. And what was the most likely method to keep the Jews from this
idolatry? If God had indeed given to the objects that were worshipped, a
delegated power, he could not take it from them without destroying the system.
But if he could prove himself superior to those his rivals, and demonstrate
that they were absolutely dependent on him ; if he could support his foUowers
without their assistance, and destroy those who expected protection from them,
this method wiU certainly preserve them from the false worship, and attach
them to the true God : and there would be no fear of success, if God would
grant the Jews all the temporal blessings tvhich lus rivals were supposed to
give, and defend them in the possession of those blessings which though the
false worshippers expected, yet could they not receive from their gods. And this
indulgent method the Deity was pleased to take. Did his rivals pour down all
temporal blessings on their worshippers ? So did he on his. Were they the
known causes that a land flowed with inilk and honey ? The God of Israel was
infinitely liberal to the Jews of those favours. Were they the givers of wine and
oil, and bread ? Jehovah was to give these even by a miracle rather than the
Jews should want. Were they imagined to be able to avert distempers from their
foUowers ? Every obedient Jew had an assurance that he shoulef never experi
ence sickness or pain. Did they make their foUowers prosperous, give them
.K " Ti.B0,ulduC' je iS^i68,'" anl? ^ geo ' 28'' &c-„ The Cneva'ier Ramsay's Discourse on
the Theology and Mythology of the Pagans, p. 2, parag. 2. T. Goodwin's Civil and
Lcclea.astical Rues of the Hebrews, d. 142, 143, 144, 145, 160, 161, 162, 163 An Essav to
a Natural History of the Bible, by John Hutchinson. Acts vii. 42, 43. Dioeenes Laert d*
Viua Phil, cd. II. Stephen, 1593, p. 7. Stillingfleet's Origines Sacra,, 42 43 44 L 21
1 he worship of the sun as far as we can learn, was the great and most early idolatry of
the eastern countries, &c. p. 219, 220. J. Bossuet, Discours sur THistoire Univereelle
3 c

754 DIVINE LEGATION OF MOSES
fruitful seasons, great increase of flocks and herda, rain to refreah and enrich
the thirsty ground, and whatever fiUeth the heart of man with joy and glad
ness? The worshippers of the true God of heaven were indulged even to luxury
in those blessings. Were they the givers of long life, of a niiinerous issue, of
victory over enemies, of success in every undertaking, or whatever advantages
the false worshippers expected? Those Jehovah was pleased to engage his
omnipotence to secure to the Jews. And to prove his superiority in every respect,
he by many unquestionable miracles (suited to this end) delivered his servants
from the alavery of one land, and put them in possession of another, where lus
rivals being worshipped and overcome, made it almost impossible for any thinking
Jew to doubt whether they had any power in themselves independent of Jehovah
the God (Elohim) of Israel. So that this truth was fully demonstrated, that there
were no other gods to whom the worship and service of man was due, but the
Lord alone. This was one reason (among many others) why the good things of
thia life are so often promised in the law. The Deity could not have made a
more glorious display of infinite wisdom, mercy, anel power, than by such a cun-
descension to the circumstances of mankind, unless by the scheme of redemption,
to which this also related and was preparatory : he could not otherwise have
demonstrated hia 8uperiority, or brought about hia gracious deaigns. If thia
then be one undeniable reason why God insisted so much on temporal blessinga,
it i8 manifest that a future state must have been taken for * granted both by the
Jews and idolaters, otherwise the end of being ao very much concerned about
thera is lost, and the scripture must be false tvhich asaerta that God chiefly granted
them with an higher view, with reapect to eternal blessinga.
Many authorities wttl be produced frora Moses to prove this point, but let the
argument in the text 8uffice at present. Thua (Exod. xx. 2.) "I am the Lord
thy God, thou ahalt have none other," implies they were to worship the Lord
alone, becauae he was their God ; then the sanction of thiB commandment, which
forbids idolatry, is not present happiness, but future ; or, as Christ hath inferred,
the resurrection of the body. So that the blessings of heaven itself, aa well as of
this world, were promised to be the rewarda of those who kept themselves free
from idolatry. And that the idolaters also expected a future state ia certain, be
cauae they all did something for their dead, f eacrificed to make their gods pro-
p tiouB to their departed friends, anointed their bodies with what tvas consecrated
toi, and descriptive of what waa to entitle them to the favour of, the goda, and
afterwarde carefully laid up their bodies in monumenta representative of those
powers which they thought their goda had to raiae them from the dead. Thua
much we find they did even in tbe time of Mosea. A future atate then seems to
have been known both by the Jews and idolaters, and therefore if the general object
ofthe heathens' worship were the heavens; if God waa concerned to prevent this
false worship from becoming univereal, to effect the greateat and most merciful
design, the redemption of man ; and if the method he took was the beat and
wisest, viz. to grant the Jewa aU those bleeeinge which the idolaters expected, anel
to secure the enjoyment of them which he alone could do, what can be more plain
than that a future state ought to make a great part of the law : because tve can
give a rational account why God insisted ao much on temporal bleaaing8 ; and
because it hath appeared that even theae were founded upon a supposition that
it was known there were also eternal ; ao that the objection, that temporal pro
mises and threatenings everywhere occur in the law, need not now be a stum
bling block to any of Moses' friends. It ia a sufficient anatver (even if we could
give no better), that the Deity was with no other view ao mueh concerned about
the temporal happineaa of the Jewa, but as it was founded upon and tended to
promote their eternal; | that he was indulgent of the good things of this life, to
* See Stillingfleet's reasons of Moses insisting so little on this doctrine, book 3, ch. I,
page 363, &c. sect. 2.
t Deut. xxvi. 14 ; Psalm cvi. 28; Deut. xiv. 1. T. Goodwin's Civil and Ecclesiastical
Rites of the Hebrews, p. 243, parag. 3.
J Wolletiii Compend. Theol. Christianae, p. 60. Promissiones terrenas ccelestium return
sunt syrobola , falso igitur Servetani et Anabaptists somniant, promissiones ilia* tantum
terrenas es^e. Terrenas ccelestes includunt. StillingHeet's Orig. Saciae, p. 221, &c. sect.

DIVINE LEGATION OF MOSES. 755
engage their affections to him, and the good things of another ; and that if he
had not been pleased to proceed in this merciful manner, neither they nor we (if
the vices of mankind can defeat the gracious intentions of the Deity towards them)
could have had any happiness here or hereafter.
Let it be sufficient to have observed thus much from reason, or the nature of
the thing, that the doctrine of a future state ought to have made part of the law
by Moses. We are now to inquire what proofs there are in the New Testament
that Moses hath wrote about a future state : but before we proceed to this inquiry,
it will be proper to show what weight such proofs ought to have with us.
1. Then the Old and the New Testaments contain two dependent parts of one
grand dispensation, viz. Christianity. This wiU not be disputed by any one who
allows that they both came from God after the faU, and that " Christ was the end
of the law," Rom. x. 4.
2. Aa they came from God, and proposed the same end, they must therefore
be true and infaUible : for God cannot deceive or be deceived, and the same end
cannot be attained by contrary means.
3. Having the same end in view, and being both of them infaUible, they must
therefore confirm and strengthen each other's evidence : for they are both meana
to attain one and the same end, and one truth cannot overthrow or destroy
another truth.
4. And therefore if they should contradict one another, this is a sufficient
proof that they could not be two dependent parts of one grand dispensation, nor
come from God, and that therefore one of them, if not both, are false and forged :
because if they be false in any one point, it cannot be proved that they are infal
lible in all, and because the same proposition cannot be both true and false at the
same time.
6. If then it cannot be asserted in the New Testament, that the doctrine of a
future state is delivered in the Old, without destroying its own authority, if it be
not in it, and if notwithstanding this, it is directly asserted in the New Testa
ment that it is in the Old, and yet is not, as some men think, in fact to be found
there, is it not a plain consequence that they who maintain this are inconsistent
with themselves, if they do not deny and give up the authority of one of the Testa
ments ? There cannot be a more effectual method taken to overthrow revelation
than this, and I wish it may not be the cause that the author of the Dirine Lega
tion and his followers would support : they cannot be ignorant that they are
labouring to set one Testament against the other, thereby to overthrow the autho
rity of both. We grant them, indeed, that if either of the Testaments contradict
each other, they cannot both be the word of God : but then we insist that they
nowhere contradict themselves, and that in the present case the doctrine of a
future state (as wttl hereafter appear) is as plainly delivered by Moses in the Old
Testament, as it is asserted to be there by Christ and his apostles in the New.
From these promises it may be justly concluded, that it is an infaUible proof to
us, who hold the divine authority of both Testaments, that Moses hath treated of
a future state in the law, if it be affirmed in the gospel that he hath treated of it
there : for these are obvious and certain truths, that God cannot contradict him
self, that infinite wisdom cannot be deceived, that infinite power need not, and
goodness will not, deceive, and that therefore there must be a perfect harmony
and agreement of all the revelations from God.
The passages in the New Testament, in which it is asserted that Moses hath
treated of a future state, are so many and plain that their meaning cannot be
disputed. The parable of the rich man and the beggar is a remarkable instance
of this truth. (Luke xvi.) Dives, being in heU, entreats Abraham to send
lanwus to his father's house, to testify to his brethren, lest they also should
come into that place of torments. This certainty was to let his brethren know
that there was a future state of rewards and punishments, The answer is, " That
if they bpkeve not Moses and the prophets, neither would they be persuaded
though one rose from the dead." Then there is greater evidence for this truth
2 Calvin, Instil. Christ. Relig. Gen. Foi. from p 82 to 87. And all the writers against
ihe Anabaptists and Antinotnians. 3 C 2

756 DIVINE Ll'.LiAl'IU.N UI' MUSliS.
in the writings of Moses and the prophets than even a mesaage from the other
world would be.* This inference is eo direct, that whilst the words have any
meaning, it will be impossible to elude the force of them, or to explain them
away. Agreeably to this place we find St. Paul preached a future state and resurrec
tion ofthe body upon Moses' authority, (Acts xxvi. 22, 23,) " I continue unto
this day witnessing both to small and great, saying uone other things than those
which the prophets and Moses did say should come : that Christ should suffer,
and that he should be the first (which necessarily implies that others aflcr him
were also) to arise from the dead." Doth Moses, then, say that Christ tvas to suffer
and to arise from the dead? And doth St. Paul affirm that he doth say soi
And can any Christian after this doubt whether such doctrines are really taught
by Moses ? It is almost a demonstration, that if St. Paul was inspired, of course
infaUible, and therefore could not possibly be ignorant of what was contained in
Moses' writings ; and that if he hath said a future state was mentioned there, that
therefore it must be there.
But let us hear Christ himaelf preaching the same doctrines from Moses that
St. Paul did. AU hia disciples after his death doubted of his resurrection, and
yet before they could preach this fundamental article to othera, they were to be
convinced of it themselves. To this end in his conversation trith two of them,
who were going to Emmaus, he reproves their slowness in believing that he
ought to have suffered, died, and rose from the dead, as Mosee and the prophets
had foretold. The words are these, (Luke xxiv. 25, &c.) "Then he aaid unto
them, O foola, and slow of heart to believe all that the prophete have epoken 1
Ought not Christ to have suffered these things, and to enter into his glory ?
And beginning at Moses and all the prophets he expounded unto them in all the
scriptures the thinga concerning himaelf," viz. what Moees and the prophets
had wrote about hia Bufferings and resurrection.f In the following part of the
chapter this truth is more fully expressed — "These," says Christ to nie disciples,. ,
" are the worda which I spake unto you while I was yet with you, that all things
muat be fulfilled which we're written in the law of Moeee, and in the prophets,
and in the Paalrae concerning me. Then opened he their understanding, that
they might understand the scriptures, and said unto them, thus it is written, and
thus it behoved Christ to suffer, and to rise from the dead the third day." Doth
Christ then affirm that it was written in the law of Moses, that he was to suffer,
and to arise from the dead ? And shall there be a Christian prieat Buffered in a
Chriatian country with equal impudence and blasphemy to contradict Chriat, and
to maintain that auch doctrines are not written in the law of Mosea ? Hath
Chriat aaid that thoae persona " do greatly 'err, and do not know the scriptures,"
who affirm that Moses hath not mentioned a future atate, and ia it possible that
man can beheve Chriat to be God, who poaitively declares, that he " neither
doth err, nor ia ignorant of the scriptures," whilst he directly writes against the
true literal meaning of Chriet'e worua ? And how doth it alleviate hia crime to
tell ue, that he intenda to etrengthen the evidence of revelation by hia ayetem.
Doth it not require too rauch credulity and ignorance for any man in hia sen8ea
to beheve that those persons are supporting the superstructure, who are remov
ing and taking away the foundation ? Christianity hath no support if Chriat
should fall, and either he or Moaea muat fall, if he affirms, that Moses hath wrote
about certain subjects, and it could not be made appear that he hath once men
tioned thera.
But there is a passage in St. John, (v. 39, &c.) where, if words have any
meaning, it ia asaerted, not only that Moees wrote about a future state, but that
the Jewa al80 knew he had. " Search the scriptures," says Christ, " for in them ,
ye think ye have eternal life, and they are they which testify of me." All the
• Whitby on the New Test. vol. 1, p. 398. D. Stellte in Lucam Comm. tom. 2, p. 302.
Martinus Bucerus in Quart. Evang. p. 216. J. Lindsay on the New Test. Lond. 1736,
p. 216. Marlorati Biblioth. Expositionum in Nov. Test. 333. J. Tirinus in Nov. TeBt.
p. 999.
t Grotii, Op. Theol. vol. 2, p. 465. F. Gaspari, a Melo Comm. in Lucam, p. 1145,
1146, &c. D. Stella; in Lucam Comment. Lugd. 1592, tom. 2, p. 516, 517. Acts xvii. 2, 3.

DIVINE LEGATION OF MOSES. 757
scriptures testify of Christ, and Moses in a particular manner; for, as he adds,
" i'H.d ye believed Moses, ye would have believed me, for he wrote of me."* So
the Jews had, or however thought they had, eternal life in Moses' writings.-)-
Muses, then, did write about eternal life, if Clirist knew what he wrote about, and
if the Jews all along believed that he had. And this sense, and this only, the
argument will bear. \ There is evidence, says Christ, in Moses, that the Messiah
waa to entitle you to eternal life ; you think that you have this evidence in Moses,
and yet you act inconsistently with yourselves by not beheving in me, the Messiah,
and hfe eternal. I will not therefore accuse you hereafter, because you did not
believe my words or miracles. Moses shaU accuse you, because you have not
made the right use of that evidence which he gave you, and which ought to have
determined you to accept me as the Messiah; and thereby that life eternal,
which you think you have, and which you cannot otherwise have, in his
writings. 'That the Jews had such a belief and hope founded upon Moses' writings,
St. Paul wiU abundantly convince us : in his vindication of himself to the gover
nor Felix, he makes this confession, " After the way which they (the Jews) caU
heresy, so worship 1 the God of my fathers, believing aU things which are written
in the law and the prophets, and have hope towards God, which they themselves
also allow, that there shall be a resurrection of the dead, both of the just and
unjust." (Acts xxiv. 14, 15.) Then St. Paul was induced from his belief of
what was written in the law of Moses and the prophets to have hope, which hope
from the same behef the Jews also had, and allowed they had, that there was to
bo a resurrection of the dead both of the just and unjust. And therefore both
St. Paul nnd the Jews must have thought that there was in Moses sufficient evi
dence to determine them to believe, that there was to be a future state of rewards
and punishments. Some part of this evidence St. Paul himself hath explained to
us, (Heb. ix. 7, 8, &c.) " But into the second (tabernacle) went the high priest
alone once every year, not without blood, the Holy Ghost this signifying, that
the way into the holiest of all was not yet made manifest, while, as the first taber
nacle was yet standing ; which was a figure for the time then present." Then it
was signified to the Jews who had that tabernacle, and by Moses who constituted
it, that there tvas to be a way made manifest into the hohest of aU. The apostle
ia here talking of the Jetrish times, and of the ceremonies appointed by Moses,
and aays that he made those ceremonies figures to them of something farther ;
that the high priest going into the holy of holies was a figure to them, and there
fore of course understood by them, that there was to be " another high priest
who should carry other blood, (ver. 24), not into the holy places made with hands,
the figures of the true holy places, but into heaven itself." This chapter, and
indeed thia whole epistle, deserves to be seriously considered by every infidel Sad-
ducee : for if Moses hath by expressive actions or figures described the Jews'
hope in a future state, and in Christ who is life eternal, and if St. Paul asserts
that he hath, and that the Jews knew he had, and if we still find those very figures
in the law, can any thing be more plain than that a future state ought to have
made a great part of the writings of Moses ? For why doth the apostle assert
that the law was spiritual, was intended to keep up the Jews' faith and hopes in
Chriat ? Why doth he recapitulate the chief part of tbe religious ceremonies of
the Jews, and apply them to Christ and his actions ? CaU them figures for the
time then present. Figures of the true things— The example and shadow of hea
venly things— The shadow of the good things to come— and from hence prove
that a true notion of the law must of course lead men to the gospel, if either
those ceremonies had not that meaning, or if the Jews did not aUow that they
• Poli Synopsis Cr. vol. 4, p. 1217, 1218. Critici Sacri, vol. 6, p. 1626. Notee Cameron
m v.,89. Hammond on the New Test. p. 280. J. Piscator in Nov. Test, vol, 3d 323'
.Jik . T 0n<!KEew Test" p-,2?6- Assembly's Annot. on the Old and New Test, vol 2
and Notes on 39, 40, &c. ver. ofthe 5th chap, of John. '
t J. le Clerc, sur le Neuf Test. p. 281 ''Moise auquel vous esperej; par la doctrine
iluquel vous ctperez d obtenir la vie eternelle.
i Frasn.i Paraph, in Nov. Test. p. 339. M. Buccrus in Quart. Evang. 257 J To'r-r,
iuLtanB. Johannis Comm. Cologne, 1611, p. 503. " '''

758 DIVINE LEGATION Ol JIOSEb.
But those happy effects which flowed from not taking the ceremonies of the
law in a Uteral sense, and the consequent hopes of future happiness, are so fuUy
described in the 11th chapter ofthe Hebrews, that every Christian must behevs
the patriarchs and Jews did not rest upon the temporal promises, but were aa
weU acquainted with a future atate as we are at present. The connexion between
the knowledge of Christ and a future state is ao inseparable, that we need not
lose time to prove it : and that the faith here so much insisted on ia faith in
Christ, the definition in the first verse fully proves ; because no other can teach
us the substance of what we are to hope for, or give us evidence of the things
we have not seen ; and because this faith waa able to effect the salvation of the
soul, which none but the Christian faith can do. (Heb. x. 38, 39, and Acta iv. 12.)
And certainly when " Moses esteemed the reproach of Christ greater riches than
the treasures of Egypt," (ver. 26,) this could be nothing but faith in Chriat, by
whoae merits he had learned " to have respect to the recompense of reward :
and so all the other instances of faith in the mercies of God, which only are
to be obtained through faitii in Chriat. Let St. Peter convince ua what thia faith
is. " Now, therefore," (saya he to the apostles and eldera, who were met to
consider whether it was necessary for Christiana to obaerve the law,) " why
tempt ye God to put a yoke upon the neck of the dieciplee, which neither our
fathers nor we were able to bear ? But we believe that through the grace of our
Lord Jesus Christ we ahall be 8aved, even as they," (Acta xv. 10, 11.) Then the
fathers were saved by a belief in Jesua Chriat, and therefore had not only faith
in hira, but knew that ealvation also which he was to purchase for thera. And
if it be faith in Chriat, every instance expresses their belief of a future state.*
Thus Abraham certainly believed a future state, when he accounted that God
was able to raise him up Isaac even from the dead. Thus the women who received
their dead raised to life again ; and they who did not desire deliverance from their
tortures here, hoping they might obtain a better resurrection hereafter, " they
who confessed they were atrangera on the earth and sought after a heavenly
country; they of whom thia world waa not worthy ;" and they who, notwith
standing aU their present sufferings for the Bake of religion, beUeved that God
" was a rewarder of them who diligently seek him;" and such, St. Paul aaya,
they all believed hira to be : aU theae muat have had a perfect knowledge and
strong hopes of a happy immortality. For, aa he obaervea, " these aU died in
faith," ao had faith in their death, and therefore did not confine their view8 to
this hfe : because he justly adds, though they had not received the promiaes,
t r. had not eeen the completion of them, yet they eaw them afar off, and were
perauaded of them : Acta xiii. 32, 33, fully prove, that it waa the demonatration
of a reaurrection given ua in the actual raising of Christ's body which they had
not received.f Not that they had not been told of, or had not received promises,
that their own bodies were to be raised. " The promise" (eays St. Paul) " which
• Hammond on the lllh chapter of Heb. p. 754, &c. Theophylact. in Epist. 991 to
1008. Whitby on the New Testament, vol.2, from p. 536 to 544. J. Lindsay on the New
Test. 778 to 783. Critici Sacri, vol. 7, page 4325. Drusii Not. Bishop Wilkins, Serm.
8vo.p. 16. "Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence or things not seen."
" Where among the things hoped for and not seen, are clearly meant the happiness and
salvation we expect hereafter, the rewards of a better life, which faith doth as really discern
in the promises, a< if they were actually present to the sense. Hence it is that salvation ia
said to be the end of faith, ' receiving the end of your faith, even the salvation of your souls.'
1 Pet.i. 9. So, then, if all religious actions be derived from faith, as the main root and prin
ciple of them, and if faith doth chiefly refer to the rewards hoped for and not seen, then it
must follow that it is as necessary for a believer to have a principal aim at the rewards, as it
is for him to live by faith ; and that he may as well pretend to be above the life of faith, as
lobe above the help of those encouragements ofthe rewards and promises proposed in scrip
ture ; and so far as faith hath an influence upon our religious actions, so far must we respect
the recompense of reward ." See the whole discourse.
t Grotii Op. Theol. vol. 3, p. 658. Poli Synopsis Cr. vol. 4, p. 1607. Hammond on
the New Test p. 429. Acts xxvi. 6 "And accordingly now I am accused for asserting the
resurrection of the dead, which as it is a doctrine acknowledged by the Pharisees, so is it
the fundamental promise made of old." Whitby on the New Test. vol. 1, p. 708, 709. Titus
i. 2. " In hope of eternal life, which God, that cannot lie, promised before tbe world began."
See the absurdity of the translation, from Acts iii. 21 : 2 Tim. i. 9; and Horn. xvi. 25.
Critici Sacii, vol. 7, p. 2432. Clarii Notas, Acts xxvi. 6.

DIVINE LEGATION OF iMOSES. 759
was made unto the fathers, God hath fulfilled the same unto us their children,
in that he has raised up Jesus again." In Acts xxvi. 6, 7, and 8th verses, and
in many other places, the same expression occurs. Then it appears that God
had promised the fathers he would raise up Jestis from the dead, though the
fathers did not hve to see and receive the actual completion of that promise, but
yet, as above cited, " saw it from afar, were persuaded of it," and, fuUy believing
it would be performed in due time, embraced it. Thus in the resurrection of
Jesus was a demonstration given of life and immortality, tbe promise made to
the fathers fulfiUed, and in this sense " Life and immortality were brought to
light by the gospel." Though in any other sense it could not have been first
discovered by the personal preaching of Christ and his apostles ; because, if the
gospel brought it to hght, then the Jews must have been acquainted with it -
" for unto them, as well as unto us, was the gospel preached," Heb. iv. 2.
But if the author of the Divine Legation should take up the arms with which
the infidels have all along assaulted Moses, and it is certain he can have no other
to defend his unchristian cause but the often foiled weapons of Sadducees,
Infidels, and Atheists ; and if he should object in their words, " That supposing a
future state was typified under the law, yet it had no better effect than if it had
not, because it was so hidden and obscure that the Jews did not see it." But if
St. Paul hath showed us some of the types that were intended to point out a
future state, and if he hath said that the Jews knew this, that they looked beyond
the types, and if it be nowhere said that they did not see and beheve a future
state, then one may presume that the authority of Christ and his apostles, who
affirm that the Jews did see it, wiU convince every Christian that they actually
did.* The apostle of the Gentiles forbids us to doubt of this point. " The law,"
says he, " was our schoolmaster unto Christ;" was to teach us first the letters,
the types of which the service of the law consisted, which is the first business of
a schoolmaster ; and afterwards the meaning of them, what they represented, and
what ideas they were designed to convey, Of what persons, what objects, what
actions. This is the next business of a schoolmaster, and indeed the chief.
And, therefore, if the Jewish service consisted of such types, the Jews must have
seen the meaning of them, not only because they could not be types to them
unless understood, but also because it was the business of the law to be their
schoolmaster to teach them how to understand them. And, consequently, if
St. Paul hath said that there were certain types in the law, which were designed
to point out a future state, and that the law. was a schoolmaster to teach what
they did point out, it foUows that it could not but teach the Jews a future state:
unless St. Paul should not have known the design of the law, or the law itself
should prove a bad schoolmaster. But hear the same apostle on this subject.
After he had told us, (Heb. ix. 19, 20, &c.) " That almost aU things by the law
are purged with blood, and that without shedding of blood there is no remis
sion," he adds, " It was, therefore, necessary that the patterns of things in the
heavens," things that demonstrated, pointed out, viz. the ceremonies of the law,
under which the heavenly things were demonstrated : so spoke a language very
iuteUigible to every thinking Jew who had a soul to be saved, and which could
not be saved but by knowing and believing that they were only the types and
figures of the heavenly things, which types it was necessary should be purified
with these things that were also types. It was necessary that the law should
contain such external objects to describe the person, actions, and sufferings of
Christ, and convey the benefits of them, to purify. Christ was at a distance : it
was, therefore, necessary that the wrath he had engaged to undergo, and all
the circumstances eif his sufferings, should be, on many accounts, pointed out and
demonstrated continuaUy tui he came. The external action, the type, was neces
sary, because the Jews had bodies : and faith, or an insight into the spiritual
sense, was necessary, because they had souls which only can be purified through
• See Bishop Bull's Sermons, vol. 2, p. 574. Where he strongly proves, throughout this
whole discourse, that ihe Jewa, even before llie law, understood and believed that they
should bu rewarded after tins life. Stillingrleet's Origines Sacra?, p. 174 175 176 sect. 8
Acisiii. 21.24, &c.

7C0 DIVINE LEGATION OF MOSKS.
faith, hope, and charity.* And thus it was necessary there should be material
objects to demonstrate the heavenly things, because the eye of the soul sees only
through the eye of the body : but the heavenly things themselves (which these
demonstrated) by better sacrifices than these ; it was necessary to the nature of the
soul, that there should be faith, that it should be purified by the originals themselves,
by looking at the real blood of that person, which the blood of the beasts demon
strated. All the types pud ceremonies were demonstrations of something they
pointed at ; material representations of something spiritual, which could com
municate no virtue but when carried up from the literal to a higher meaning :
because those things which the law demonstrated, as remission by blood, &c.
were to be rightly apprehended before effectual. The beast, till Christ came,
was to be slain, his blood to be poured out, some parts to be burnt, &c. But
then the benefit the sacrificer was taught to expect was from a better sacrifice
than this : he was, if St. Paul may be believed, to look upon it in no other view,
than as it demonstrated the great sacrifice of Clirist, who was in effect " the Lamb
slain from the foundation of the world." And, therefore, if the law did reaUy
explain its types and ceremoniea, and if St. Paul 8ays it waa neceaaary it should
do this, should contain demonatrationa of heavenly tbingB, waa it not bIbo
neceasary the Jewa 8hould know it ? f Else how could it demonstrate what waa
not aeen, or why was it a pattern, unless they could observe aome comparison ?
But if it should be aaid, as it often hath been, that if the Jewa were alwaya
capable of thia spiritual sense, what occasion for a carnal one r The reason of
instituting the types hath been hinted at above, and wttl be more fully conaidered
under my secona proposition. But let it suffice to observe at preaent, that though
the Egyptian rehgion was hieroglyphical, yet it was not therefore uninteUigible :
did not the Greeks travel thither for knowledge, and setup for philosophers with
the small atoek they had got from the Egyptian prieats ? Ann if aU our know
ledge come in originally by our aensea, ia it not absolutely necesaary that we
should have some outward and visible signe of what is absent and inviaible ? Are
not the Chriatian sacramenta 8uch, and are they not more useful, the more plain
and expressive they are ? And if they had not been inteUigible and adapted to
the meanest capacities, with what justice could God have so often reproved the
Jews by his prophets for re8ting on the letter of the law ? or where would be the
crime of the apostate author of the Plain Account to degrade and sink one of
the Christian sacramenta into a common meal r The Jewish aa well as the
Chri8tian religion waa intentled to. make men wiae unto ealvation, and therefore
whether or no they knew that salvation, yet certainly the meana ought to have
been plain and obviou8, otherwiae it could not have been criminal to have had a
wTong notion of the means, when they were ignorant of the end. There waa
this occasion, then, for the carnal 8en8e, that the apiritual could not have eubaisted
without it, and that we mu8t have auch helps, whilat we go through thie etate of
trial to the regions of vision and happineaa,
I have mentioned but a smaU part of the evidence which the New Testament
affords to prove that a future etate ought to have made part of the law by Moaes,
However, enough hath been aaid to convince every Christian that such a doctrine
actuaUy ia there, becauae Chri8t and his apostles have asserted that it ie — have
produced texte from Moses to prove the certainty of it — have said that he wrote
about Christ's resurrection and ours — that the ceremonies instituted by him were
intended to describe the Jews' hope in a future state— that the whole law was
apiritual — wa8 a shadow of the good thinga to come— of the true thingB — an
example and shadow of heavenly things — and a figure to the time then present.
So it was in Moses' writings whether the Jews 6aw it or no ; but numbers are
mentioned who did see it, who saw the promises afar off; were persuaded of
them, and in consequence thereof expected a happy reeurrection.
But we need not reat the point here. If it hath appeared from plain argu
menta drawn from the reason of the thing, and from positive texts of scripture,
that the doctrine of a future state ought to be found in the law, may we not
fairly conclude that it is there, that it ia actually to be found in and doth make
• Horn, ii 28, 29. Deut. x. 16 ; viii. 3. Horn. iii. 30, 31 ; *.5, 6. 1 Cor. *, to ver. 13.
t Sillingflct-rs Oiis- Sacra;, y,2'..i, 224, sect. 12.

DIVINE LEGATION OF MOSES. 761
a very great part of the writings of Moses. One might easUy show the force of
this conclusion, if we had no better proofs : but when we shah have proved our
second proposition " that the doctrine of a future state actuaUy is to be found in
and doth make a very great part of the writings of Moses ; the obUgation to
observe every law, rite, and ceremony being enforced upon the sanctions of future
rewards and punishments," this wttl more fully clear up the point. The time
wiU not permit me to prove and enlarge upon it at present. I wttl only trespass
upon your patience whilst I mention one thing, which comes particularly recom
mended to the serious attention of every one in this place, viz. that the articles
and homilies of the church of England expressly assert, that Moses hath treated
of a future state. The 7th article begins thus :
" The Old Testament is not contrary to the New : for both in the Old and
New Testament everlasting hfe is offered to mankind by Christ, who is the only
mediator between God and man, being both God and man. Whereof they are
not to be heard, which feign that the old fathers did look only for transitory
promises." The words of the second part of the honrily on faith are these : " This is the
Christian faith, which these holy men (of whom St. Paul speaks in the eleventh
chapter of the Hebrews) had, and we also ought to have. And although they
were not named Christian men, yet was it a Christian faith that they had, for
they looked for all benefits of God the Father, through the merits of his Son
Jesus Christ, as we do now.* And in effect they and we be aU one. We have
the same faith that they had in God, and they the same that we have. And St.
Paul so much extoUeth their faith, because we should not less, but rather more,
give ourselves wholly unto Christ, both in profession and hving, now when
Christ is come, as the old fathers did before his coming. And by all the decla
rations of St. Paul it is evident, that the true, hvely, and Christian faith is no
dead, vain, or unfruitful thing, but a thing of perfect virtue, of wonderful opera
tion, of working and strength, bringing forth all good motions and good works."
If then the articles and homilies of the Church of England assert, that the
fathers of the Jewish nation expected a future state of eternal happiness through
the merits of Christ, we, who have subscribed to those articles and homilies, must
believe thia doctrine. And if men may disbeUeve the articles and homilies, and
yet subscribe to them — and after that subscription write directly against those
very doctrines to which they have subscribed — and if they should be encouraged
and countenanced by numbers who also have subscribed to them — and if that
very church, tvhich requires this subscription, should not censure such a mani
fest breach of her laws, which she maintains are founded upon the laws of God ;
this would be a most melancholy state of religion ; and from such persons and
buch proceedings wttl all Christians pray, — " Good Lord deliver us."
• 1 John v. 11. " God hath given ua eternal life, and that life is in his Son ;" therefore if
they knew the Son (Christ) they mustknow eternal life- Life and immortality were lost and
forfeited in Adam, and restored to us again by Jesus Christ, and how then could there be
faith in Christ, unless there was an assurance that he would give them the eternal life for
feited I Can that be faitii in Christ, which hath no regard to what he was to do and suffer
for ua, or to what end he was to suffer! But if it was the same faith as we have, then the
homily means, that they expected all the same advantages as we do here and hereafter, from
our common Redeemer, and our common faith in him. Heb.vi. 1, 2. Acts iv . 2. Bom,
vi. 23.

7(J2 FU'iuitu iiis w Aiti-is

FUTURE REWARDS AND PUNISHMENTS PROVED TO BE
THE SANCTIONS OF THE MOSAIC DISPENSATION.

A SECOND SERMON
PREACHED BEFORE THE UNIVERBITY OP OXFORD, AT ST. MARy's,
DECEMBER 6, 1741.

And Jesus answering, said unto them, Do ye not therefore err, because ye know not
the scriptures, neither the power of God ? For when they shall arise from the
dead, they neither marry nor are given in marriage ; but are as the angels which
are in heaven. And as touching the dead, that they rise, have ye not read in tite
book of Moses, how in the bush God spake unto him, saying, I am the God of '
Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob ? He is not the God of
the dead, but the God of the living : ye therefore do greatly err. — Mark xii. 24, '
25, &c. fD
In a former discourse upon these words, I proposed to prove, " That future '
rewarde and puniahmenta were the aanctiona of the Moaaic diapenaation ;" and
it waa ahown in the firat place, " from the reason of the tiling," and from the
8criptures of the New Teataraent, that the doctrine of a future atate waa taught
by Moses, and known by the Jewa. The eecond point then laid down, which ia
the matter of our preaent inquiry, ia this — '
" That the eloctrine of a future atate actuaUy is to be found in, and doth make j
a very great part of, the writinga of Moees ; the obligation to obeerve every law, ¦
rite, and ceremony, being enforced upon the sanctions of future rewarde and '
punishments." I
I. And here two things are asserted, viz. " that the doctrine of a future state I
actuaUy ia to be found in, and doth make a very great part of, the writings of
Moses." And thia I shall prove by producing these texts frora Moses wherein
he expressly mentiona it.
II. The other thing asserted is, " that the obligation to observe every law, rite,
and ceremony, is enforced by Moses upon the aanctiona of future rewards and
punishments." And this I shall prove from theae texta wherein he expressly
declares, that these were the sanctions of all his laws.
And in order to clear up the truth of these two assertions, no other method can
be taken but to mention the very words of Moeee, and to show what they expresa
intelligibly, and without a figure: for the view in which I shall conaider the
passage8 cited from him is this : " The rites and servicee of the Moaaic law, pre
figured what Chriat waa to do and suffer for the salvation of mankind." This
i8 a point which cannot be debated among Christians, but that the Jewa under
stood them in this sense hath been denied. In what manner, then, a future state
was contained under the types, wttl not be the subject of our present inquiry ;
not because arguments drawn from thence would be inconclusive, but because
it would be more 8atiafactory and to the purpose to prove, " that there are auch
plain and express passages in Moses, which treat of a future state, and of future
rewards and punishments, that no Jew, who understood Moses' writings, could
possibly be ignorant of these doctrines." With this view, then, let ua conault the
living oraclea of God. And,
I. The fh-Bt text I shaU produce is from * Gen. ii. 7, " And the Lord God
formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his noetrile the breath
* Percrii Com. in Gen. Lugd. 1599, p. 425.

AND PUNISHMENTS. 763
of hfe; and man became a living soul." Here the Holy Spirit hath purposely
treated of the nature and union of soul and body — " He hath revealed that man
waa made up of two parts — he hath described the original of each — and the
essential attributes in which they differed." The original of the body of Adam is
said to be of the dust of the ground ; the soul bad a different original, and tvas
created by the Father of spirits — the one was formed out of matter, and was a
living animal — the other, which the Lord God breathed or infused into Adam,
was produced by his immediate creative act, and was an immaterial and immortal
soul. Now these two attributes distinguish the soul from the body, the distinc
tion between them consisting chiefly in these two things — that the soul is not
material, and is not mortal. And how could the Holy Spirit, when he purposely
described the different nature of soul and body, make the distinction without
mentioning the attributes of difference ? As the reason of the thing proves this
could not be done, so neither was it done. For
II. The immortality of the soul, is in this text expressly revealed. By immor
tality I mean, " that the soul doth not cease to exist with the body ; but when
the animal frame is dissolved, it continues stiU in the full enjoyment of all its
faculties, and as susceptible of pleasure and pain in a future state, as it was in
the present." And this immortality is here plainly expressed : for the word
rendered life, is in the original * plural, 0"rt [Kiim], and used here by the Holy
Spirit, not merely for the idiom of the language ; because, whatever be the idiom
of other languages, it is the undoubted idiom of the sacred language to represent
things as they are, which it cannot do, if it were to express an attribute of unity
by a word carrying in it the idea of plurality ; and not used for want of a singular
noun, because it frequently occurs in the f singular number : but it is here used
to express an attribute which distinguished the soul from the body ; for the text
Bays, that the body had but life, or was hving, in distinction to the soul which
had lives. Now the soul which hath lives must of necessity have more than
one — the present hfe can be but one — therefore the soul hath another life — and
another hfe being not the present, must of necessity be a future — and a future
life, or the soul's continuing to exist after the dissolution of the body, being what
is meant by the immortaUty of the soul ; in this text, therefore, it is, as expressly
as words can speak, revealed, that the soul of man is immortal. And how could
the Holy Spirit have laid this doctrine open to the Jews in a plainer manner than
by revealing, that the soul which the Lord God breathed or infused into the body
oi Adam, was not made up of frail materials, and liable to be dissolved : but did
continue to exist after its separation ? And whUst the Jews understood their
own language, how could they be ignorant of a doctrine laid open to them in so
plain a manner ? And
III. Besides this reasoning drawn from the meaning of the words, there is an
infaUible authority which hath fixed their meaning, and thereby unanswerably
proved, that the reasoning drawn from them is just. St, Peter speaking by the
aame Spirit of God which spake in Moses hath proved, that David foretold the
resurrection of Christ, when he said "Thou shalt not leave my soul in hell, nei
ther shalt thou suffer thy holy one to see corruption." And then it immediately
foUows, "Thou shalt show me the path of lives." % Now in consequence of
Christ's not seeing corruption, he was to be shown the path of lives ; and there
fore the word " lives" here manifestly includes that life which Christ entered upon
when he rose from the dead — and this was certainly an immortal life : " For they
who are accounted worthy to obtain a future world and the resurrection of the
dead, cannot die any more." And consequently this is an infaUible proof, that
the word Kiim is expressive of immortality.
IV. But further, the expression doth not only declare that there is another
state besides this, in which the soul wttl exist ; but it also justifies the latter part
of the definition, " that the soul wiU be as susceptible of pleasure and pain in a
future state as it was in the present : " for certainly to have life in the proper
• Gen. xxiii. 1. $ Crit. Sacr. tom. i. p. 36. Fagius.
t Gen. i. 20, 30. Sxlii. 15, 16. i Lev. xiii. 10, &c.
{ Lorinus in Act. Apost. p. 96. Act. iv. v. 28.

764 FUTUKJS KEVVAKUS
sense of the word, is to have what always attends life — sensation. Life and sen
sation are ideas inseparably united ; so that whatever being the one is predicated
of, the other is of necessity implied— and whatever hath sensation raust also have
either pleasure or pain ; for pleasure and pain are only words which stand for
our ideas of certain sensations. The Holy Spirit then asserts that the soul lives
when separated from the body. Now it is absurd to suppose the soul living,
and yet neither sensible of pleasure nor pain ; and therefore, he hath by this
assertion expressly revealed, that the soul exists in a future state of pleasure and
pain, i. e. of rewards and punishments.
From these reasons, then, it is evident, that the Holy Spirit hath, in this text,
expressly revealed the immortality of the soul and a future state : and this is
abundantly confirmed from what is afterwards revealed concerning immortality.
Among the other institutions in Eden, (Gen. ii. 9,) the Spirit of God hath men
tioned the tree of lives, " which was a sacrament instituted to be the earnest and
pledge of eternal hfe." — * It was a sacrament : because the virtue attributed to
it could not be naturally inherent in it, but must have depended aolely on the
power of the institutor. And it was " instituted to be the earnest and pledge of
eternal life ; " because the words assert that it was a tree of lives, or immortality ;
and also because, when man had by his sin forfeited thia sacrament of immor
tality, and was taught to expect salvation only through faith in Christ, that sal
vation through faith in him is stiU called by the same name as the firat aacrainent
of immortality was, viz. the tree of lives — " To him that overcometh," saith tho
Spirit, " will I give to eat of the tree of life, that is in the midst of the Paradise
of God ; " (Rev. ii. 7;) and in another place, " Blessed are they that do the com
mandments of Clirist, that they may have right to the tree of life." (Rev. xxii. 1 4.)
Here the New Testament borrows an expression from the Old, to describe the
life and immortality brought to light by Christ ; and therefore the expression
used in the New Testament to convey ideaB of a happy immortality, muat cer
tainly have inteUigibly deacribed that immortality in the Old ; for the words are
the same in both Testaments, and consequently the ideas which they convey in
both must be the same : so that Chriat ia now, to fallen man, what the tree of
immortality was to innocent Adam — the virtue attributed to the one, being what
is also attributed to the other — Chriat is really to fallen man the fountain of ever
lasting hfe ; therefore such sacramentally waa the tree of immortality to innocent
Adam : for it would be very abaurd, if Chriat should be made to atand in8tead of
the tree of immortality, ana yet that tree waa not instituted to effect for the inno
cent what he hath now effected for sinnera ; becauae then the eubatitution would
be deatroyed, and the ideaa conveyed by the one or the other would be false.
The tree of Uvea therefore waa, and waa known to be, becauae the Holy Spirit
expreealy declares it to have been, a sacrament of immortality ; so that he hath
not only revealed that the aoul is immortal, but hath also revealed what was insti
tuted to be the pledge and earneat of eternal life. And in both theae pa8sages he
hath, as plainly as words can speak, expreaaly revealed a future state,
And though these texts be not contained in (what ie called) the body of the
law, yet are they nevertheless conclusive ; because every Jew who read the one
of them, must know that he had an immortal soul ; and because, though he read
that the first sacrament of immortality was forfeited, yet he could not avoid
reading in the law itself, that there was another instituted : for the law taught
him, not only by expreseive actione, but aleo by the plainest word8, though he
was a sinner, yet there waa a way atill open for him to future happiness ; particu
larly, in the foUowing passage he wae taught thia literally, and without a figure :
God prohibits the eating of blood upon the penalty of death ; and he give8 a
reason for the prohibition — " For the hfe of the flesh is in the blood, and I have
given it to you upon the altar, to make an atonement for your souls ; for it ia
the blood that maketh an atonement for the aoul." (Lev. xvii. 11.) Now, if we
take the word here rendered " 80ul" to denote the epiritual part of man, this would
be a 8elf-erident proof, that eacrifices were known to have a spiritual effect, and
as such the atonement they made to regard a future life. But if we take the
• Copelli Comm p. 320.

AND PUNISHMENTS. 765
word to denote what is always used in scripture to signify the aninial frame, in
what sense could the blood make an atonement for it ? The end of making an
atonement is to protect and secure a criminal from justice ; and when this atone
ment is accepted, justice is satisfied. Now the present life was known to have
been forfeited by sin, and how then could the Jews be so slow of heart as to
imagine that this blood was to atone for the temporal hfe of the body ? Blood
could not possibly have any such virtue of its own ; and it was daily demonstrated
that it had no such virtue imputed to it : " For as by one man sin entered into
the world, and death by sin ; so death passed upon all men, because all have
sinned." And surely two thousand years' experience had sufficiently convinced
the Jews of thia truth, and demonstrated to them, that they were aU to go down
to the grave, and that the pit was to shut its mouth upon them. Against this
demonstration, then, they could never imagine that blood was to atone for the
temporal hfe of the body ; and therefore they had a demonstration that there
was some other life forfeited, besides the present, for which blood was to atone.
Now Moses* had taught them, in this text and elsewhere, to look upon sacri
fice in a spiritual sense — that spiritual sense was the relation it bore to a
Redeemer — and the blessings derived to mankind by that Redeemer were not
temporal. However, an exemption from temporal death was not one of these
blessings ; and yet the blood which was known to typify the blood of the
Redeemer, did preserve the body from some kind of death ; which, being not
from temporal, must of necessity be from eternal death : for, if only the present
life had been forfeited by sin, the debt was always paid ; and why then was not
justice satisfied, but when this punishment was sure to be inflicted, it still
required a further atonement ? And as this atonement reached further than the
present hfe, of necessity there was another life, which was forfeited, and for which
the atonement to divine justice was made.
And can there be a plainer description of a future state than this ? when the
offerer, who hath by sin forfeited all title to hfe, brings his sacrifice before the
Lord with hopes that some more perfect sacrifice would restore him to life ; and
with these hopes sheds the blood of the creature. This blood God absolutely
forbids him to eat ; and the reason of the prohibition is thus expressed — " I have
instituted sacrifice to be a type of the Redeemer — the blood in which is the hfe
of the flesh to be a type of his precious blood ; which he wiU shed to redeem the
life of man ; and upon that account I have set apart blood for this use — f it is to
be put upon the altar to represent his blood who is to make the real atonement
for your life : for all the creatures in the whole earth are mine, and their blood
can have no merit with me — the blood of the Redeemer alone can make an atone
ment for the hfe of man ; and that life for which his blood is to atone, cannot
be present — You wiU tall be gathered to your fathers and see corruption ; and
therefore his blood is to atone for your future hfe ; and as the benefits promised
you through him are spiritual, you will then feel the effects of his atonement,
when your bodies shall be raised from the dead ; and ye who have believed and
obeyed me, shall by virtue of his atonement be entitled to eternal life."
And this construction, it was proved, the words admit of ; and it could not be
mistaken by the Jews, because they could never imagine that the blood was to
atone for temporal life ; and therefore they did know from this text, in which it
is so expressly and intelligibly revealed, that man will exist in a future state.
I shaU select but one passage more from the body of the law, the meaning of
which is bo remarkably clear and obvious, that whoever cannot here see the
doctrine of a future state, must indeed put a veil over his face in reading the Old
Testament. The Holy Spirit, in reciting what God had done for his people, thus
explains the intent of some ofthe miracles: "The Lord thy God humbled thee,
* Exod. xxiv. 8, proved by St. Paul, Heb. ix.20, 21, &c. to signify the blood of Christ.
i II. Lamyde Tabcrnaculo Feed. Par. 1720, p. 475.
t Ciitici Sacri, Lon. 1660, p. 817. Sam. Clark, A. M. Annotations on the Old and New
Testaments, 1690, Note on Lev. xvii. 11. Itis the blood, vix. of the sacrifice sacramentally
and typically, and of Christ that makes atonement really. Rom. iii. 25. Col. i. 20. Heb.
ix. 12. and \Villet's2nd vol. Hexapla on Lev. p. 409. $ H. Maiusde jEcon. Temp. Vet.
Test. p. 387.

766 FUTURE REWARDS
and suffered thee to hunger, and fed thee with manna (which thou knewest not,
neither did thy fathers know) that he might make thee know, that man* doth not
hve by bread only, but by every [word] that proceedeth out of the mouth of the
Lord doth man hve." Deut. viii. 3. And it is afterwards added — " who fed thee
with manna, that he might humble thee, and that he might prove thee, to do
thee good at thy latter end." Deut. viii. 16. In these words the Holy Spirit
declares, " God had made the Jews know that they could not subsist upon tem
poral support" — that as they consisted of two parts, they could not hve by bread
only, but raust have some support for the spiritual hfe of the eoul as well as the
body : for though he had delivered them from Egypt " by signs and wonders,
and a etretched-out arm," and had miraculoualy fed them in the wilderneaa with
the bread of heaven ; yet this temporal deliverance and support were not what
man chiefly wanted, or what was to be his sole subsistence. Whilst the Almighty
" opened the doors of heaven, and rained down meat upon them to the full," at
the same time he told them, this was not the support they were to hve by ; for they
were not to rest on the outside, and feed on the husks of hia manifestations.
God had regard to the soul in all that he did for the Jewa; but the natural effects
of bread cannot reach the aoul : which requires aome other than temporal sup
port. But what then is the support required i for if God made them know what
they could not hve by, certainly he also made them know by what man doth live.
" Man shall not live by bread only, but by every word that proceedeth out of the
mouth of the Lord ehaU man live." Therefore, whatever be the meaning of
" proceeding out of the mouth of the Lord," this doubtless was what man was to
Uve by. Now, after sin had entered into the world, and mankind became subject
to temporal and eternal death, Christ, by the all-sufficient satisfaction he paid to
the divine justice, redeemed them from eternal death, and thereby became the
sole fountain of apiritual and everlasting life. And the words directly relate
to him, under the character of the giver of life ; for " all that proceeds from the
mouth of Jehovah," ie an expression used for the perfect manifestation of God
in the flesh. It is used in this sense in the Old Testament (Deut. i. 26. § vii. 9.
Joa. ix. 14. 1 Sam. xii. 14, 15. Ia. lxii. 2.) and ia eo explained by Christ in the
New : for when he is treating of the aame subject, (viz. manna,) he uses a parallel
expreasion, and calls himself the true bread of life, which cometh down from heaven,
and giveth life unto the world : and raore directly he aay8 of himself (John viii.
42.) " I proceeded forth, and came from God ;" and besides, his application of
the words to the tempter, in Mat. iv. 4, Luke iv. 4, demonstrates, that they are
significative of the divinity that was in him, and of that spiritual life which flowed
from thence.
In thia passage, therefore, the Holy Spirit hath expressly revealed — that the
Jewa were taught not to rest upon the types — God, he says, intended that they
should, nay, he wrought miracles in order that they might look beyond them : for
he taught them, that man could not subsist upon bread only — his aoul required
some subsistence as weU as his body — and that the types rested in could not
give ; there being no other fountain of spiritual life but what flowed from a per
son of the Deity, who in the fulness of time waa made fleah, and gave everlast
ing life unto the world.
And thie interpretation doth not reet solely on the direct meaning of the words,
though thia indeed would be sufficient for conviction ; but there is also another
authority, the meaning of the words settled by that very person of the Deity,
whose coming they foretold ; for, upon the Jews telling Christ, John vi. 31, tic.
" their fathers did eat manna in the desert, ae it ie written, he gave them bread
from heaven " — Jesus answers " Moses gave you not that bread from heaven,
but my Father giveth you the true bread from heaven ; for the bread of God is he
which cometh down from heaven, and giveth hfe unto the world. I am the bread
of life."
* The future tense, "Man shall not live by bread only." But bread will support the
present life; therefore there ia a life which bread will not support, and that life must of
necessity be either a spiritual or a future life; either of which proves the truth of what I am
now contending for, viz. that this text is a demonstration that Moses hath expressly men
tioned a future state.

AND PUNISHMENTS. 767
Now, as Jesus' answer, and what the Jews questioned him about, must relate
to the same subject; so the truths which they estabUsh are these: 1. That
manna was a type of Christ ; because by it God taught the Jews, that they
wanted some principle of spiritual life, and there is no other but Christ ; because
our Saviour proves, that he had in him aU the real effects which were attributed
to manna aa a type ; and also because he calls himself the true bread ; which
word is used to denote the real, the very thing or person typified, the antitype,
in opposition to the type, or what was a sign of that person or thing. 2. And it
was known to be a type of Christ, because God made the Jews know what was the
principle of spiritual life; and as he did this by giving them manna, then they did
know that it was a type of Christ. 3. And this also proves, that they knew what
was meant by "proceeding from the mouth of Jehovah." — For if manna was
typical of Christ the giver of life — and known by the Jews to be typical — and
known from this expression : and when our Saviour, speaking of his being the
true bread of hfe in opposition to manna, says, "that he came down from
heaven, came from the Father to give life to the world ;" then these words of
the New Testament must be of the same import with those of the Old : for in
both they are used upon the same subject, to describe the same person, con
sidered in the same respect, as the giver of life, and therefore this is a proof from
the reason of the thing, that the meaning of the words was before faithfully
rendered ; and the conclusion from them, as they stand now explained, is this :
Moses lays down a proposition, and positively asserts, that God had made
the Jews understand it — Christ explains this proposition, and shows how it ought
to be understood. — Now he could not explain it in a different sense from what
the Jews understood it in, because God made the Jews understand it in a spiri
tual sense, and in that sense Christ explained it ; and therefore it is evident, from
the testimony of two infaUible witnesses, that the Jews knew Christ was to come
down from heaven, and give spiritual life unto the world. And this is an express
and a literal proof, that the doctrine of a future state was contained in, and was
known to be contained in, the writings of Moses.
From the authority of these few texts, which have been at present considered,
there is sufficient reason to conclude, that the doctrine of a future state is ex
pressly mentioned in the writings of Moses. I pass on therefore to the second
thing asserted, tvhich indeed hath been in part already proved : for when God
revealed a future state to the Jews, and the conditions upon which they were to
be entitled to happiness in that state, certainly every Jew who desired and aimed
at happiness, was laid under an indispensable obUgation to observe the conditions,
sb the sole means to attain it ; and that happiness, which laid him under this obUga
tion, was an enforcement to observe the conditions — and an enforcement to
observance is what properly constitutes a sanction.
II. But not to insist upon this — I proceed more particularly to prove, "That
the obligation to observe every law, rite, and ceremony is enforced by Moses
upon the sanctions of future rewards and punishments."
Now, in reading the books of Moses, it cannot but be observed, that there is
nne sanction which runs throughout the body of the law ; and there is no cere
mony, not the moat minute rite, but what is enforced upon that sanction : to a
great part of the laws it is particularly added, and not to all of them in general,
that the obligation to do this, or avoid that, waa founded upon the Lord's being
their God. The Jews are required in particular to keep the * ten command
ments, the passover f, the jubilee, the feasts, and aU the other weightier matters
of the law, because the Lord was their God ; and upon the same sanction they
are required in general to keep t all the commandments, and all the statutes,
to do all the judgments, and walk therein. This is so frequently insisted
upon, that there can be no doubt of its being the sanction of all the Mosaic laws-
The only inquiry then is, what is the meaning of this sanction ? under what
* Exod. xx. 2. § Deut. v. 6. $ J. H. Maiusde .Economic! Vet. Test. p. 415.
t l.ev. xniii. 43. $ xxv. 17,
; Lev. xi- 44. $ xviii. 3, 4. $ xx. 7, Numb. xv. 40,41. §Deut. iv. 34— 41. $ xxvi. 16,
17. $ xxviii. 58. <; 2 Chron. xx. 20.

768 FUTURE REWARDS
character is God here to be considered ? or what is the ground of obUgation i Doth
God's claiming obedience of the Jewa, because he Jehovah was their God, relate
to some temporal character which God supported among the Jews, and to the
temporal rewards and punishments which he under that character distributed r or
is this properly, and in its primary sense, the sanction of future i Future rewards
and punishments will appear to be what God intended, and what the Jewa under
stood, for the foUowing reasons —
1 . And the first is, That the word Jehovah is not supposed to carry in it any
'sense of relation ; and yet some relation is certainly implied in this sanction. Aa
it denotes that eaaence wliich hath existence and all perfections in and of itself,
it hath no respect to mankind either as created or redeemed. 'The essence, indeed,
and the persons in it, respect us in both these relations, but then there nre other
words to describe them ; and Jehovah is never used in scripture and it cannot be
used, because the idea ofthe word is absolute, with relative pronouns, as it might
be if the word expressed either of theae relationa. It ia a term of di8tinction,
signifying the different manner in which the divine essence exists from all othet
essences. Now, a terra used to distinguish God from other beings and thinga,
cannot be descriptive of the relation he stood in to the Jews under tbe theocracy :
for a term which doth not imply in it any relation, cannot be used in a relative
sense ; and therefore it is not expressive of God as head of the Jewish etate,
nor consequently of the temporal sanctions, which he as head of that atate waa
engaged to execute.
2. And besides, the sanction now mentioned is not thus worded, " I demand
your obedience, because I am Jehovah : but, because I Jehovah am your God :"
ao the obligation ariaea from, and ia enforced upon, that relation, in which Jehovah
waa to be considered. He was to be considered under the character of their God,
and upon that account obeyed ; and therefore the sanction ia expreaeed in that
term of relation, and not in the word Jehovah.
3. And though the word God (or Elohim) be certainly a term of relation, as
the " relative pronouna frequently joined with it demonetrate, and muet therefore
expresa aome beneficent character which God aupporta, yet it cannot poaaibly be
that relation which he atood in to the Jewa under the theocracy : for if the word
stands for this relation, how can he in that sense be said to be the God or Elohim
of the whole earth ? (Isa. liv. 5.) The God of the whole earth could not bea local
tutelary Deity : for that would be a contradiction in terms — what is local being
limited and confined, and what ia limited and confined being not univeraal : bo
that as theocracy was a form of government peculiar to the Jews, if this term of
relation respected God as head of that government, how could it be applied to
him in a universal sense ? None of the nations were under euch a government,
and yet aU the natione stood in that relation to God (whatever relation it be)
which this word expressea ; and therefore the word cannot be aolely applied to
the character which God austained under the theocracy, or any relation in which
God waa to be conaidered aa head of that particular form of government : and
by consequence we ehall not come at the true idea of the word, unleee we con-
aider the God of the whole earth under some other relation than that of a local
tutelary Deity.
4. And besides, how could a word, used from the foundation of the world,
carrying in it the idea of a universal relation, denote a particular one, which did
not exist tttl after two thousand years? From the beginning, the Deity was known
and worshipped under this name ; and after the theocracy ceased, it waa atttl his
appellation as weU as before, (1 Sam. viii. 7, &c.) It cannot then carry in it any
particular designation of God's being placed at the head of the Jewish common
wealth, because it is not appropriated to him in that respect ; and therefore, what
ever sanctiona it includes, tney certainly were not those temporal sanctions which
were solely appropriated to the theocratic government, and which God waa then
engaged to execute.
5. And farther, it cannot be used to express that relation in which God atood to
the Jetvs as their deliverer from Egypt, because the nations who had received no
* My — thy — our— your— their Klohim, inc.

AND PUNISHMENTS. 769
such dehverance, did yet worship God under this name ; and because the heads
of the Jewish people, though not related in this sense, did yet caU Jehovah their
God: nay, even before it was foretold that their seed should go down into Egypt,
and should be brought into bondage ; but should be delivered by signs and
wonders, and a stretched-out arm : even before this was revealed, the patriarchs
knew and worshipped God under this relation ; and therefore it cannot be the
particular designation of God considered as the deliverer of the Jews from Egypt,
or as their Redeemer from the house of bondage.
6. And in the next pface, as the word God or Elohim is certainly expressive
of some beneficent relation in which God stands to all his creatures ; so must it,
therefore, denote either the universal relation he stands in to them as their
Creator, or Redeemer: for, under these two, all the relatione he stands in to
mankind in general are included. As to the character of Governor of the world,
that since the faU could not have been a beneficent relation to sinners without a
Redeemer ; and yet the relation expressed by the word Elohim is indisputably
a beneficent one. And, besides, the same person is now both the Redeemer and
Governor of the world : " aU power in heaven and earth being committed to
Christ;" and therefore that relation, which is but a consequence of redemption,
ought not, and indeed cannot, be considered separately from it. And as to the
universal character God sustains as Creator, the word cannot be descriptive of
this relation : for as a verb or a noun, it is never used in any such sense ; and
there is but one word used throughout the scriptures to denote the single and
omnipotent act of creation ; and, also, because it is used as a name of God in the
participle passive where it cannot be apphed to him in the sense of creation ; for
it would be blasphemy to say of God, it undeifies him to say, " He who was
created." It is manifest then, from the reason of the thing, that the word carries
in it some idea of God considered as our Redeemer, and is expressive of that
universal and * most beneficent relation.
7. Now, it is the belief of every Christian, that the Deity foresaw the faU of
man ; and, before it happened, had provided a suitable remedy. This remedy
was the redemption purchased by Christ ; and the scriptures have represented
each person of the Deity as covenanting to perform a certain part in the economy
of that redemption. God the Father is here represented as demanding satisfac
tion for sin, and covenanting, upon a fuU satisfaction made, to pardon sinners :
God the Son, as covenanting to make that fuU satisfaction to the Father, and
thereby redeem mankind : and God the Holy Ghost, as covenanting to make
that satisfaction effectual to the ends proposed, as sanctifying believers. That
the ever- blessed Trinity did make this covenant, and actually have performed it,
is the foundation of our faith and hopes ; and that fallen man might never want
evidence for these truths, and might therefore always have powerful motives
to make proper returns of love and obedience, the Divine Persons were merci
fully pleased to represent themselves to sinners under the idea of persons who
had made such a covenant to redeem them ; which idea the word Elohim conveys
For, 8. The term + (Elah), in human affairs, is certainly used to express that con
ditional penalty which they who have entered into a covenant upon oath have
laid themselves under. And why may not this be the idea in divine affairs ?
There is no other word in the language but this from whence it can be derived ;
and if this be its certain derivation, then it must have the same idea as the word
from whence it is derived : for it is an invariable rule in the sacred language,
that aU words of the same letters, and consequently of the same root, must have
the same idea. So that, if entering into such a covenant be an action which we
can predicate of God, then the divine name may, without offence, aUude to that
covenant. Now the scriptures frequently predicate this action of God : he is
eaid to " swear by himself," Gen. xxii. 16. " To have sworn to Abraham ; and
to have made an oath unto Isaac, that in their seed aU the nations of the earth
should be blessed," 1 Chron. xvi. 16. And if, without derogating from the
•Deut. vii. 9. Psal. lxii. 1, 6. 7, 8. $ Ixxxv. 5. § xiii. 6. {xcviii.3. Isa. Iii. 10.
In these and ninny other places, salvation is manifestly included iu the word Kloliim.
t dun. xxiv. 41. $ xxw.28. Deut. xxix. 13, 18, 20
3 U

770 FUTURE REWARDS
dirine perfections, he made thia oath concerning Christ the universal blessing to
theae particular persons, why might not the same be made for the general good
of all men ? But it was made to particulars, to induce a fuU trust and reliance
on what God had sworn to perform ; and with the same view God made it unto
aU men : " For, being willing more abundantly to show to the heirs of promise
the immutability of his counsel (to redeem man) he confirmed it by an oath, that
man might have two immutable things to trust to, in either of which it was
impossible for God to lie," Heb. ri. 17, 18. This is a proof that the action
implies no imperfection in it, and therefore the name implies none. " It is
impossible God should he." This is an imperfection he cannot be liable to :
but why, then, have the scriptures 80 worded the manner of the Divine Persons
entering into the Christian covenant ? St. Paul saya they 80 worded it to " give
man the atrongeat assurance of the immutability of God's counael to redeem
him." This was the reason why they represented themselves as entering into
such a covenant, and as aseuming the name from thence of persona who had
laid themselves under an obUgation to perform it. And, therefore, as the word
Elah is expressive of a certain action, and as the Elohim are represented in
scripture to be the agents or doera of that action, certainly it can he no dimi
nution of the dirine perfections, for God to be called by a name expressive of that
action, for the name only expreaaes, what all the acriptures bear witness of, that he
had done. And aa the action wae an inetance of the greateBt mercy which God
could show to hie fatten creatureB, surely that mercy was heightened by revealing
himself to them under that merciful name.
It being, then, conBiatent with the divine perfections to enter into a covenant,
and he under an obligation to the performance of it ; and there being but one
verb in the language from whence the word Elohim can be derived, and the
certain meaning of that verb being, to lie under the obligation of an oath to the
performance of some covenant ; therefore it is evident, this ia the idea of the
word : and that the covenant which it expresses, was the gospel-covenant is
manifest, from the reason of the thing, which proved the relation expressed by
thia word, could be no other but that of redemption ; * and from the ueage of the
word iu scripture, where it is frequently confined to this sense ;f and from there
being no mention in scripture, that any other but the gospel-covenant waa
revealed since the fatt of man : and, therefore, when the word is applied to the
persona of the dirine easence, it repreaenta them aa under an obligation, which
they voluntarily entered into, to perform the goapel-covenant, and eave their
fallen, depraved creatures ; and, upon thia aense of the word, the sanctions of
temporal rewards and punishments could be established : for, when God pro-
mulgea his laws, and requires obedience of the Jews upon thia sanction, becauae
I, Jehovah, am your God, the obligation expreased in these words is this :
" That system of laws which I have given you, ye are to remember to keep
and obey; for your all dependa upon your obedience: it ia obedience which
secures you of my protection here. But what the system of laws I have now
given you chiefly aims at is, my protection hereafter ; and, therefore, in order to
gain your obedience, I have enforced my lawa upon thia atronger aanction — 1
have made your title to the benefita of redemption depend on your believing and
obeying what I have required. You are convinced that the peraons of the
divine essence have covenanted to redeem you from sin and death : this they
cannot do for you here. These spiritual benefits of redemption must be con
ferred in a future state ; and you will not receive any of these benefits in that
atate, unleaa you believe, and do in thia, what I have required."
9- And this interpretation, which ie drawn from the reaeon of the thing and
the express meaning of the words, is fuUy justified by Christ's argument in the
text. Our Sariour there asaerte, that the term Elohim (for this ie the word in
• Psalm lxxviii. 22. Isa. xiv. 21. Hos. xiii. 4. $ vi. 6. Judges x. 14. Jer. ii. 28.
t To save, to redeem, deliver, being generally attributed to the Elohim, Psalm iii. 3,
" many say of my soul, there is no salvation for it in the Elohim, Selah," mind this. Heb.
xi. 16, " Wherefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, because he hath prepared
for them an (heavenly) city." Here the reason given why God called himself their God,
demonstrates that the word 1-lohim relates to, and is expressive of, the gospel-covenant.

AND PUNISHMENTS. 77J
the text he quotes, Eiod.iii. 6,) is a term of relation ; and it is expressive of some
beneficent relation, because he says it respects God, " not the God of the dead,
but as the God of the hving." Now the living, whom this word respects, cannot
oe the persons who hve in the present world, because God stiU stood in that benefi-
rent relation to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, when they were dead ; from whence
our Saviour infers, that the covenant expressed by this word, and the blessings
flowing from it, must respect a future life ; for if, in consequence of this cove
nant, the bodies of these patriarchs were to be raised from the dead, then the
covenant must relate to a future life. But in consequence of this covenant, the
bodies of these patriarchs were to be raised from the dead, because God is not the
God (the Elohim) of the dead, but of the hving ; and, consequently, as the cove
nant relates to the resurrection of the dead, so must the sanction founded upon
that covenant.
But since our Saviour hath produced an authority from Moses, to prove that
he taught the resurrection of the dead, upon which very authority Moses hath
enforced the sanctions of aU his laws ; this, therefore, being such an infallible
proof, what these sanctions were, demands a more particular consideration ; and
the state of the case is this :
The Sadducees, which say there is no resurrection, come to Christ ; they pro
pose a difficulty to him from the law of Moses, which they could not solve upon
the supposition of a resurrection, and they desire that Christ, who preached the
doctrine of the resurrection, and said he came to fulfil the law of Moses, would
reconcile this difficulty with that doctrine. Christ's answer consists of two parts :
first, a solution of the difficulty; and then a proof, that the difficulty they pro
posed was founded on a great error, viz. that Moses had not treated of the resur
rection of the dead ; and this proof he introduces in a very remarkable manner.
" Ye Sadducees deny that there is any resurrection ; but concerning the resur
rection of the dead, that they rise," I can give you a satisfactory proof out of
your own prophet : " for have ye not read in the book of Moses, and hath not
ne showed you, that the dead are to be raised, when he caUeth the Lord, the God
of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob ? For he is not the
God of the dead, but the God of the hving ; ye, therefore, do greatly err." And
the sacred historian remarks upon this answer, " that when the multitude heard
it, they were astonished at his doctrine ; and that the Sadducees, the deniers of
the resurrection, were put to silence."
From this fair and impartial state of the case, then, it is evident, that Christ
did intend to prove from the text he quotes, that Moses had treated of the resur
rection of the dead. The difficulty which the Sadducees proposed, was an
objection against the resurrection ; and as Christ's answer cannot but be to the
purpose, it must be an argument for the truth of this doctrine. Now the exor
dium to this proof sets forth, that the resurrection was taught in the book of
Moses — the proof is a text from that book of Moses, wherein it was taught —
and therefore the exordium must directly refer to this proof, and nothing else.*
And what can be a direct introduction to a proof, if this be not ? Have ye not
read concerning the resurrection of the dead in the book of Moses ? And then
immediately follows the proof which they might have read concerning the
resurrection. Can any words more plainly declare, that the resurrection of the
dead waa taught in the books of Moses, and that this particular text was a proof
of it ?
But if the design of Christ's argument was to prove, that Moses had showed
the dead were to be raised, wherein lies the conclusiveness of it ? To be the God
or Elohim of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, it was before proved, tvas to stand
relateel to them under the character of Redeemer, and particularly to be under a
covenant to redeem them from sin and death ; for redemption could not regard
fallen man in any other respect than as a sinner, and as liable to the punishment of
ain. Now it was impossible that God, who had represented himself to them, as
under a covenant, should he ; and yet aU these patriarchs suffered death, the
• Corn, a Lapide, Lugd. 1638, 1 vol. p. 400, 410. {Dr. Stanhope's Kp. & Gosp. 3rd vol.
p. 426. " The force of ihis argument there is no room to doubt, after our blessed Lord
himself hath made use of it to confute the Sadducees'error, and to prove a resurrection."
3 D 2

772 FUTURE REWARDS
punishment of sin : and whilst their bodies continued in the grave, they bad not
received the benefit of God's being under such a covenant, because by that
covenant man was to be redeemed from sin and death ; but whilst death reigned
over the patriarchs, they had not received that redemption : and therefore, since
that redemption was not effected and completed in this world, of necessity
there must be another world, in which their bodies will be raised to life and
immortality. *
And besides, even when these patriarchs were dead, God still stood in that
beneficent relation to them which the word Elohim expresses. Now that bene
ficent relation doth not respect mankind as dead, but as living : God ia not the
God ofthe dead — He is not the Elohim of those who are to lie for ever under the
power of death — He cannot be said to stand in any beneficent relation to them ;
for a beneficent relation regards thera who are sensible of God ; but they cannot
be eenaible of it over whom death reigneth for ever. The living, the living only,
are sensible of good, and God is the God of the living ; and yet, if the patriarchs
be dead for ever, he cannot be the God of the living. Whilst their bodies con
tinue in the grave, they are dead : but he hath covenanted not to be the God of
the dead ; their bodies therefore must rise from the dead before he can fulfil the
goapel covenant — He must raise them up into a future life, before he can be what
his name Elohim imports : for he cannot act up to, and complete, that beneficent
relation which he stands in to them, until their bodies be raised from tho dead.
Then ehall they be of the number of those happy living, who will praise him
indeed, when feeling the blessed effects of that beneficent relation, they shall
have a conviction from aenae, which we now can have only from faith — that God
ia not the God of the dead, but ofthe living.
Chri8t, then, who is an infallible interpreter of Moses, asaerts, that Moses hath.
treated ofthe resurrection of the dead ; he brings an argument from Moses to
prove it. The argument ia — God says unto Moaea, that he waa neverthelesa the
Elohim of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, though they were dead — being their Elohim
even, then, Christ declares, is a proof that he still stood in some beneficent relation
to them. But he could not stand in any beneficent relation to those who were cleael
for ever, because he is not the God of the dead ; therefore that beneficent relation
regards them as living, and they cannot be living tiU raised from the dead. Now
all the laws of Moses are enforced upon this sanction, Ye ehaU obey me, becauee I
Jehovah am your Elohim ; and Chriat hath purpoaely demonstrated, that the
resurrection of the dead is a part of this sanction : consequently, I infer from the
infallible interpretation of Jeeua Chriat — that the obligation to observe every
law, rite, and ceremony is enforced under tbe Mosaic dispensation, upon the sanc
tions of future rewarde and punishments.
And though this conclusion be drawn from the express meaning of Moses'
words, and that meaning be confirmed by the unanswerable authority of Christ,
either of which would be abundantly sufficient to evince what were the Mosaic
sanctions ; yet I shall add to them another passage, wherein it is expressly and
literally asserted, not only that future rewards and punishments were the sanctions
of the whole law ; but also that God had taught the Jews, and they knew — that his
laws were establiehed upon theae Banction8. And the paaeage ie thia —
" For thi8 commandment, which I command thee this day, it is not hidden from
thee, neither is it far off." Deut. xxx. 11. So that whatever be the meaning of
this commandment, the Jews did understand it : if it was not hidden from, of
necessity it must be known unto, them ; for not to hide is to discover, and to
discover is to know. Now St. Paul, speaking by the aame Spirit which apake
in Mo8es, saya, that thie commandment, the meaning of which the Jews knew,
treats of Justification by faith in Christ. The worda themselves indeed do clearly
and fuUy describe that justification ; but since an infallible interpreter hath ex
plained them, and Moaea hath declared that the Jewa understood them in the
sense thus explained, the argument therefore will be equally conclusive, without
particularly proving what is the sense of the words from the text itself; for the
Jews did certainly understand them in the true sense, and St. Paul could not ex-
* Th. Cartwright, Harmonia Evang. Lugd. 1647, p. 799. || F. Illyrici Gloss, in Quat. Evang
Basle, 1570, p. 97.

AND PUNISHMENTS. 773
plain them in any other. And his interpretation is this ; " When Moses speak-
eth on this wise, concerning the justification which is of faith, say not in thine
heart, who shall ascend into heaven?" Deut. xxx. 12. St. Paul say, the Jews
knew that this meant to bring Christ from above. Rom. x. 16. And when Moses
says, " Who shaU descend into the deep, and bring the word unto us, that we
may hear it and do it ?" the apostle declares the Jews knew that this meant to
bring up Christ again from the dead. And when Moses teUs the Jews, " the
word is nigh thee, even in thy mouth and in thy heart ;" the apostle asserts they
hereby understood, that same word of faith which he preached. St. Paul
then hath informed us what the Jews understood — they knew that Christ was to
come down from heaven — was to die — and rise again from the dead — and they
also knew that word of faith which the apostle preached, viz. " That if they
should confess with their mouth the Lord Jesus, and beheve that God would
raise him from the dead, they should be saved."
And after Moses hath thus revealed that man is to be justified by faith in
Christ, he proceeds to show what was the consequence of his revealing this doc
trine ; and it followed from thence, that he had thereby offered to, and Bet before,
the believing Jews, the means to tt happy immortality ; and to the unbelieving,
death. " See," says he, " I have set before thee this day, fives and good, and death
and evil." Deut. xxx. 15. The word "fives," it was before proved, was, in its
literal and primary sense, expressive of a future life and immortality ; and the
reason of the thing here demonstrates, that this is the sense of the word : for the
life which Moses in this text set before them, could not be a temporal one — it
tvas such a life as should flow from their being justified — but by being accounted
just and righteous in the Bight of God through the merits of Christ, they could
not thereupon be entitled to temporal rewards. AU the blessings derived to
mankind from Clirist are of a spiritual nature ; and justification by him being
spiritual, cannot regard the present life ; for the present life was forfeited by sin ;
and if men were to be accounted just and righteous before God through the merits
of Christ, with respect to the present life, then the present fife ought not to
be taken away from them who are so justified. But length of days is found to
be no consequence of justification. We are aU in a constant succession removed
from off the stage of the world ; and how then can our justification in any sense
respect the present Ufe, since the virtue flowing from it cannot be received till we
have passed through the grave and gate of death ? It is evident, then, from the
reason of the thing, as weU as from the meaning of the words, that the lives
Moses here set before the Jews, included a future and immortal hfe .- for that is the
consequence of justification. And as the sense of the text was not hidden from
them, it foUows, they knew they were to be justified before God through faith
in Christ, in order to their obtaining a happy immortality.
And that this immortality was the sanction upon which Moses enforced obe
dience to aU his laws, is evident from the following verse — * " See," says he, " I
have set before thee this day a future life of happiness and misery ; in that I
command thee to love the Lord thy God, to walk in his ways, and to keep his
commandments, and his statutes, and his judgments," Deut. xxx. 16. Now,
under the expressions of walking in the ways of God and keeping his com
mandments, statutes, and judgments, are included aU the rites and services of
the law: and by commanding the Jews to keep these rites and services, Moses
says he had set before them a future Ufe of happiness and misery ; and if he
commanded them to keep the law, and to them who kept it he offered future
happiness, then this future happiness tvas proposed to them as a motive to obe
dience, and whatever tvas proposed to them as a motive to obey the law was of
necessity a sanction to enforce that obedience ; because, so far aa it was a motive,
it obliged — and obligation is what constitutes a sanction. And, therefore, as
Moses had taught the Jews (in the words before) that they were to be justified
by faith in Christ, and that a happy immortality was the consequence of this
justification : so he here makes obedience to the whole law an absolutely necessary
condition to attain that immortality ; and thereby he makes the immortality,
• 2 Ked. vii. 69, a.seil- thai the life Moses mentions in this verse, was an immortal oue.

774 FUTURE REWARDS
which was consequent on justification, the sanction upon which he enforces obe
dience ; and of course he gives us further reason to conclude, that the obligation
to observe every law, rite, and ceremony, is enforced under the Mosaic dispensa
tion, upon the sanctions of future rewards and punishments.
These indeed are but a smaU number of those texts from whence this conclu
sion might be supported ; but, however, these will be sufficient at present, because
if a future state, and future rewards and punishments be taught in those now
produced, then the two propositions at first laid down are fully justified ; and
nothing remains but to give a general view of the subject, and to show how it
ought to have been treated, and how it came to be misunderstood. And the
texts already and hereafter to be cited upon thia aubject, wiU have their
due weight when it i8 observed, that the law by Mosea, and the gospel by
Chriat, are but two parts of one and the same dispensation ; the gospel-covenant
runa through and constitutes the essence of both : for aince the fall of Adam
that covenant wa8 the same to Chriat, and from him it will be the same to
the end of the world — "There wa8 never any other name given among men,
whereby sinner8 might be saved, but that of Jesus Chriat." Now the promises
annexed to the gospel-covenant, as such, were always the same ; for that covenant
regarded men as sinners. It promised them remission of Bine. The benefit
of having their sins remitted is nota temporal one — because ains are therefore
remitted, that ainners may e8cape the punishment which waa their due ; but
under the gospel-covenant, as such, the punishment due to sinnera is not in
flicted in this world ; for remission of sins through a mediator, and the divine
favour, and a title to happinesa, are the privileges of the gospel-covenant ; and
all these privileges are of a spiritual nature, and regard sinnera not merely
aa hving in thi8 world, but aa candidates for another. And theae privi
leges of the goapel-covenant are delivered by Mosea in the Old Teatament,
as weU as by Clirist in the New : for both in the Old and New Teatamente
everlasting life ie offered to einners by Jesus Christ. Indeed, this gospel- cove
nant was administered in a diff'erent manner before our Saviour came, from
what it hath been since ; and it is for want of attending to what would of
necessity follow from such different adminiatration, that the end and meaning
of the MobbIc law hath been ao greatly mistaken : for if men had weU underatood
the reasons of that different administration, they could never have fallen into these
two dangerous errors, which laid the foundation of an opinion, that Moaea had
not treated of future rewards and punishments. And the
1. First error arose from mistaking the end and significancy of the typee.
Now a type is an outward and visible eign, inetituted by God to repreeent some
spiritual person or object. That the outward and visible sign waa instituted to
this end, ia erident from hence, that the gospel-covenant was revealed upon the
fall, and the typee were inetituted at the same time, to create and preserve faitii
and hopes in what was promised by that covenant. The time of their inatitution
appeara from AbeTa offering aacrifice ; and the end of their inatitution from hi8
offering through faith in Chri8t. Now faith in Chriet being a qualification for
receiving the benefita of the goapel-covenant, and aacrifice being the typical rite
by which Abel expre88ed that faith, this typical rite therefore niU8t have been
instituted to this end, because without such inatitution it waa contrary to all
principlea of reason, that there should be any connexion between the ideas of
faith in Christ and sacrifice. This typical rite, then, which ie the sum and sub
stance of the law, and which with the sacrificial rites makes up a great part of it,
was instituted upon the fall along with the gospel-covenant. And it appeara
from this one in8tance (to omit others) for what end the types were instituted.
Now, if the end of instituting thera waa to preaerve faith and hopee in what the
goapel-covenant promiaed, then they muet have been significant of what waa
promised. To be able to preserve faith and hopes is not the attribute of an inaig-
nificant rite ; before it could be able to do thia, it raust have spoken an inteUigible
language : for when God revealed to fallen man the promise of life and immor
tality, and instituted an outward action to keep in mind what he had promised,
certainly that action waa expre8aive of thia promise ; and what it expresaed was
as well understood by the Jews, who knew the gospel-covenant, as it ia by us ;

AND PUNISHMENTS. 77,3
for the whole of this covenant is spiritual ; and wherever the covenant was known,
there it was also certainly known that the types were spiritual, because the cove
nant was always a sure key to decypher the types. And why then might not a
sacrifice speak the same thing as intelligibly to a Jew, as the holy communion
doth to a Christian ? Since, though the one looked forward to what should be
done, and the other looks backward to what hath been done, yet they both regard
the same part of the gospel-covenant — the death and satisfaction of Christ.
This, then, was the end and significancy of the types. The gospel-covenant was
revealed upon the faU, and the types were then instituted, to the end that they
might preserve faith and hopes in what was promised by that covenant : the
immortality which fallen man had forfeited, was therein promised to be restored
him through a Redeemer ; and the infinite wisdom of God so contrived the types
as they might in the most inteUigible manner (that material objects can describe
spiritual) signify the Redeemer, and immortality through him. And as this
gospel-covenant was always known to some believers ; from hence therefore it is
certain, that at all times, from the first institution of the types tttl their comple
tion by Christ, behevers understood the types in a spiritual sense, and knew that
they related to the Redeemer and immortality through him, which were promised
by the gospel-covenant.
2. And from mistaking the end and significancy of the types, a second error
took its rise, viz. " That because the types could not give, therefore they did not
teach eternal life ;" which error hath been already exploded : for the law was
founded upon the gospel-covenant, and the types were instituted to teach men
what was promised through him who was to fulfil that covenant ; so that though
the types of themselves could not save, yet the gospel-covenant certainly could,
on which they were founded, and to which they referred. But then, before
Christ came, the salvation to which men were entitled by that covenant, must of
necessity have been differently worded from what it is since. Before he came, there
coidd be no institution which could actuaUy give or confer eternal life. It might
indeed be offered and set before men ; anel it was ; the types pointed at Christ,
and through him to eternal life — but then Christ was the middle term, and without
him there could be no possible connexion between the types and eternal life ;
therefore, before Christ came, eternal life could only be offered, set before, and
promised to mankind. To give and to confer life is the attribute of our Re
deemer ; and when he came into the world, he assured his disciples and the
Jewa, " that he came down from heaven to give eternal Ufe unto the world." Of
necessity, then, the Old Testament must be worded different from the New in this
respect. But nevertheless it will not follow, " that because eternal life is now
given us by Christ, therefore it was not promised by Moses." It will rather fol
low, that the New Testament being the completion of the Old, whatever is ful
filled by the one, was promised under the other. And as eternal hfe was pro
mised under the law by the gospel-covenant, then certainly that promise was a
sufficient sanction to enforce obedience upon : for, before Christ had done and
suffered what was foretold, the happiness promised through what he was to do and
suffer, was then the strongest obligation to obedience ; and so far as it was an
obbgation.it was also a sanction to enforce that obedience. NowtheNewTestament
is very express, that eternal life was promised through Christ under the law 
the articles and the homilies of our church assert the same — and texts have been
now produced from Moses, wherein he secures obedience to his laws upon mo
tives drawn from the gospel-covenant, and enforces it upon the sanctions of
these rewards and punishments which that covenant offered ; and therefore it
can be no objection to these sanctions — that eternal life could not be had by the
law, since it was promised under the law ; and upon that promise of eternal life"
the sanctions of the Mosaic dispensation are estabhshed.
From the time of the fall, then, there hath been but one way open to heaven,
and that was through Christ ; and aU believers, before and under the law, hoped"
for pardon of sin and salvation through him. In hopes of that pardon and salva
tion they observed the typical services. It was upon that account they believed
and obeyed. And when God made faith and obedience absolutely necessary
conditions to attain these ends, certainly he thereby made pardon of sin and sal-

T7G NO JUSTIFICATION BY
vation the sanctions upon which he enforced faitii and obedience. By the gospel-
covenant therefore from Adam to Christ, the divine laws were established upon
the sanctions of future rewards and punishments, and they will be the same frora
him to the end of the world ; for the benefits of the gospel-covenant are euch, ae
wiU induce all considerate men to believe and obey in hopes of receiving them.
Whttst they go through this vale of misery, they will endure the cross for the
joy that is set before them. Whilst they run their course, they will keep their
eyes fixed on the prize of their high calling. Heb. xii. 2. And they wiU follow
the example of the great apostle, who, because there was to be a resurrection
of the dead, both of the just and unjust, did for that reason exercise himself to
keep a conscience void of offence, both towards God, and towards men. Acts
xxiv. 15, 16.

NO JUSTIFICATION BY THE LAW OF NATURE,
PROVED FROM ROMANS ii. 14, 15;
IN
A SERMON
PRKACHEO BEFORE THE RIGHT HONOURABLE THE LORO MAYOR, THE
ALDERMEN, AND CITIZEN8 OP LONDON, AT THE CATHEDRAL CHURCH
OF BT. PAUL, ON THE SECOND DAY OF SEPTEMBER, 1741.

For when the Gentiles, which have not the law, do by nature the things contained in
the law, these having not the law, are a law unto themselves. Which show the
works qf the law written in their hearts, their conscience also bearing witness, and
their thoughts the meanwhile accusing, or else excusing one another. — Romans
ii. 14, 15.
This passage of scripture hath been generally misinterpreted. The apoatle hath
here been underatood to favour certain opiniona about the light and law of nature,
as of themselvea sufficient to discover and perform the terms of our justification :
hia worda have been so represented aa if he should say, that the Gentiles, who
had no Tevealed law, could from the bare reasoning of their own minds, and
from attending to the dictates of their own consciences, come at the knowledge
of what state they were in, and what duties God required of persons in such a
state ; and that he should affirm in the words of the text, " 'That every one may
find within himself the rule of right, and obligationa to foUow it." Now theae
opinions being destructive of the Christian faith, which acknowledges but one
means of justification ; being so much cried up and countenanced in the preaent
times, wherein such religioua paradoxeB have but too many advocatea ; and being
alao ao strongly espoused by the loose thinkers and actors (a numerous body in
this metropolis) who maintain euch opinione for the sake of their consequences.
For those reasons the subject in the text wiU be every way proper for the present
occasion ; and, therefore, without further preface, I shall proceed to show the
senae and meaning of the apostle'a worda. Now the etate of the eaae waa thia .
aome of the Jew8 who had reeeived the faith of Christ, were yet very zealoue of
the law, and the Moaaical rites ; they had a strong opinion, that it was neceesary
stiU to obeerve them ; and they maintained that the Gentiie converta ought firat
to become proaelytee of the Jewieh covenant of circumciaion, and aubmit to the
whole law, before they could enjoy the benefita of the gospel.
To prevent the dangeroue effects of this doctrine, ia the chief end propoaed in
the epistle to the Romans, and in the worda now read, tbe apostle particularly
apphes himself to the reasoning of those Jewish Christians, and proves that it
was not necessary for the Gentile converts to submit to the whole law. " For,"
says he, " when the Gentiles," &c. And,

THE LAW OF NATURE. 777
In order to show the force of the apostle's argument contained in these
words, and to prove that they do not treat of the hght or law of nature, it wttl
be proper,
First, To define and settle the meaning of the terms here used. And then,
Secondly, To show that the meaning put upon them is founded on scripture,
and matter of fact.
By Gentiles are here meant any persons who were not of the Jewish nation,
and yet did the things contained in the law. And this
Law, which the Gentiles observed, was that same by which St. Paul says,*
"The Jews knew the will of God. In which they rested, and of which they
made their boast, out of which they were instructed, from which they learned
to approve what was excellent, and by which, if they transgressed it, they were to
be judged. Circumcision was a part of it. And the Jews by breaking it dis
honoured God." From those passages which occur in this chapter, to omit
others, it is evident that by the law is here meant, as in most other places of scrip
ture, the written law of Moses : and indeed the generality of commentators,
though greatly mistaken in the apostle's argument, do yet agree, that this is the
law of which he speaks in the first part of the verse, and that he means no more
by the Gentiles not having it, than their not hating it in tvriting among them.
The Gentiles, then, who had not the law of Moses in writing, are said to do by
nature the things contained in it. Nature cannot here mean the light of nature :
for how could the light of nature lead the Gentiles to do the things contained in
the law of Moses ? It cannot signify the religion of nature, both because the
things contained in that law, — viz. the necessity of our redemption by Christ,
and purification by blood, make no part of this rehgion ; and also because our
naturalists have attempted to show, that the Mosaical rites are directly contrary
to the nature of things. To do what was contained in the law by nature, was not
to do it by any innate or implanted principles ; for such we have none. — It is not
by intuitive knowledge, for that we cannot have ; or by knowledge without means,
for that is the attribute of God alone. In none of these free-thinking senses can
St. Paul use the word in the text : for he is not treating of the method by which
the Gentiles came to the knowledge of the law, but their reason for observing it ¦
he doth not say, they learned, but they did, by nature, the things of the law ; so
that nature tvas not that which discovered the action, but it was the motive to
act ; it was the authority upon which the Gentiles did, and not the faculty or
power by which they learned, the things of the law. And this distinction shows,
that theapoBtle neither means the light, nor the law of nature; but he uses the
word, as indeed its derivation (from c&uw, nascor, &c.) imports, for that which
grows up with us, our frame and constitution, and such habit or custom is, even
to a proverb : and in this sense it is always used either for nature, as the frame
and constitution of any thing ; or what by habit becomes such. And in this last
sense (if it be a different sense) the apostle uses the word in the text. The Jews
had indeed another authority, viz. the institution of Moses ; but the other nations
had only custom for it ; that was their authority, (as it wiU hereafter appear,) they
received the things contained in the law by a traditional account from their
parents, and for that reason observed them. This then being the sense of the
word, it is used with great propriety in the text ; as it is also demonstratively
true in fact that the Gentiles did observe from custom or habit (which is the
second nature) the rites and ceremonies of the Mosaic law.
The apoatle then says, that custom was the motive or reason by which the
Gentiles did the things contained in the law of Moses ; but how then were they,
by doing those things, what he next declares they were, " a law unto themselves f "+
Could tney find within themselves the rule of right, and obligations to foUow it ?
* Rom. ii. 17. 18, 23, 25.
t Bishop Butler's Sermons, First and Second, on Rom. ii. 14, 15, page 32. " Every
one may find within himself the rule of right, and obligations to follow it. This St. Paul
affirms in the words of the text." Pelagiua on Horn. ii. 14, 15, speaksof some sort of justice,
which man could obtain by his own power, without the help of grace, only by following the
light of nature. So Calmet and Whitby talk of the light of nature and conscience as a inle,
and moral works as terms of justification. Not so St. Paul.

778 NO JUSTIFICATION BY
If they could, then they might find within themselves the terms upon which they,
though sinners, were to be saved ; and they who can discover those terms by a
proper exercise of their inteUectual faculties stand in no need at aU of a revela
tion ; so that this position will make the Christian revelation needless : for its
very being depends upon the certainty of this truth, " That fallen man could
not from any conclusions of his own reason, either discover or perform the terms
upon which he might be saved," And is it not erasing the foundations of this
truth, for a man to pretend that he hath a director within him, by which he,
though a sinner (and who is not ?) can find out the rule of right, and obligations
to follow it, and can discover the terms of salvation without the assistance of
what is revealed i AU such pretences to inward light and self-sufficiency are
mere enthusiasm : for such inward light is needless, if revelation be our guide ;
and if that inward hght be our guide, revelation is needless. God doubtless
would not give us two sufficient guides, because one of them must be given in
vain ; and therefore if God hath given us directions, if those directions are
recorded in the scriptures, and if the scriptures be an outward rule, to wliich it
is our duty to conform our thoughts and actions ; from hence it is evident, that a
law unto themselves can never mean, that mankind hath an inward rule of right
within himself, and obligations to foUow it.
But of what law ia St. Paul here speaking t He hath three timeB before in
this very verse used the word for the law of Moses ; and is it not absurd to
auppose he means any other law, when continuing to speak of the same persons
considered in the very same respect, he says, " That the Gentiles, by doing the
thinga contained in the law of Mosea, were the law unto- themselves ?" Doth he
not here plainly affirm, that they were the law of Moses unto themselves ? But
in what sense, then ? It must be remembered, that the persons here treated of,
did the thinga contained in the law of Mosea ; now, though they had not that
law in writing, yet by doing the thinga contained therein, though their motive
for doing them was different from that of the Jews, it was the same thing to
themaelves, as if they had the written law : for their customary observance waa
that authority to them, which the law of Moses was to the Jews. The Gentiles
having not the institution of Moaea, are yet an inatitution to tliemaelvea, and do
themaelvea eupply the place or defect of that inatitution ; they are their own
authority, or they are an authority to themaelves — evidence againat themselves
that they were Burners — wanted redemption — and that blood was neceeaary to
purify them, and make thera fit for admiasion into the preaenee of God. So that
these Gentilea, who had not the law of Moses written in letters, were the law to
themselves, not by having the rule in themselves, b it as they, by the customary
observance of the Mosaic ritea, answered the end of the written law, and did the
same religioua action8 as the believing Jews, and with the same view, only their
motives were different.
These Gentiles, then, who did the things contained in the law of Moses, thereby
showed that the work of the law, that which the law was to work, and those
effects which it was given to produce among the Jews, were written in their heart8.
To write in the heart is certainly a figurative expression : for nothing can in
any other sense be written there, than by its making an impression, and being
recorded there. Now what was written was what the law was to work, viz.
" Behef in the necessity of our redemption by Christ, and purification by blood."
And St. Paul saya, the Gentttes observed those religious ceremonies, which
showed they were convinced of these doctrines by nature ; and surely the rehgion
of nature could not convince them of these doctrines ; they make no part of that
rehgion : which is a further proof, that by nature cannot be meant the religion
of nature in the text. For St. Paul is not showing how the Gentiles came to the
knowledge of the doctrines, but what disposition of mind such persona muat be
in, who performed the typical services contained in the law ? which performance,
he saya, showed, that they were convinced of the truth of the doctrines wliich
those services were to exhibit. How they came to be written in the heart, he is
not inquiring ; he only asserts, that the Gentiles showed by their actions, that
they were written there ; they did the things contained in the law of Moses ; they
showed by doing thera, that what theae things were intended to work and effect,

THE LAW OF NATURE. 779
was imprinted upon their minds. So that their showing that they had such an
impression on their minds, is here mentioned as a consequence of certain actions.
The impression did not lead them to do the actions, but the actions showed that
there was such an impression. For as the heart is the spring of action, and as we
act according to what is in our thoughts or in our hearts, so by doing the things
contained in the law of Moses, the Gentiles showed, and that by the plainest proof
which could be given, that what the law was to work, was to them a principle of
action, and had made a deep impression upon their minds. Now this which was
written in their hearts was the substance of what the law was to work, and not
the rehgion of nature : it was not implanted or written there by innate ideas,
because nothing was written but what had been revealed ; and what occasion was
there to reveal what was before innate ? And how can any thing be inferred from
hence in favour of any light or law of nature, which should contain truths written
in the heart without a revelation, when the apostle is treating only of revealed
truths, and the impression they had made upon the mind ?
Of those Gentiles, then, who were doers of the law, St. Paul proceeds to declare,
that their consciences bare them witness. " Now conscience is that act of the
mind which compares the conformity or obliquity of our actions with some right
rule." T'he rule in the present case is the law ; for the GentUes are here consi
dered in no other Ught than as doers of it. And their thoughts or reasonings
between this rule and their actions bare them witness, and led them to accuse
those actions which erred from, and to excuse those which conformed to, this
rule ; and thereby, whttst this faculty was thus exercised on its proper rule, these
ends which the law was to effect were answered among the Gentiles. They kept
faitii and a good conscience, and were to be justified before God in the day when
he shaU judge the secrets of men by Jesus Christ. So that conscience in this
place being exercised about the law as a rule, and the actions of the Gentttes as
conforming to, or erring from it, natural conscience therefore cannot be here
meant : because the apostle is speaking only of what was revealed. The conscience
was exercised about what the law was to work, and that made no part of the rehgion
of nature ; it was exercised only about revelation, therefore it cannot be inferred
from hence, that it is any law of our nature to foUow the dictates of our conscience
without attending to what is revealed:* And what authority then is there from
this text to prove the natural supremacy, or prerogative of conscience 1 — A revela
tion is made — the Gentiles (so far as they know it) consider it as a rule of action
— by looking upon it in this hght, they see that it is their duty to conform to it —
and when they do, their conscience reflecting on the rule and the action approves
what is done, and of course disapproves what doth not conform. Here is nothing
said in this case about the natural supremacy of conscience, or about our judgments
of right and wrong, without the knowledge of some revealed rule ; and therefore
il is certain, that the conscience here treated of, was exercised only about the
tilings contained in the law of Moses as a revealed rule of action.
The apostle's argument, then, in the words of the text as they have been now
explained, stands thus. A dangerous error had prevailed among the Jewish
Christians : they held it to be necessary, that the GentUe converts should be
circumcised, and submit to the whole law before they could enjoy the benefits of
the gospel. The apostle strenuously opposes this error, and among other argu
ments uses this in the text to overthrow it. For, says he, when the Gentttes
who have not the written law of Moses, do the same actions as the Jews, do the
things contained in the law, and with the same view, only upon a different
motive, the one by custom or habit, the other by the institution of Moses ;
these Gentiles, though they have not the law in writing among them, yet by
doing the things contained in it, they are the law to themselves ; supplying, so
far as they do those things, the place of the written law, or the want of the
Mosaic institution : being doers therefore of the law, they are as properly
qualified to be admitted into the privileges of the gospel, as the Jews themselves
who were its hearers ; for as they showed by their actions, that what the Mosaic
* S«e KiMiop Hulki's l-'n-t Kiid Second Sirnnons, entitled " Upon the natural Supremacy
ol't'oiiMriouce."

780 NO JUSTIFICATION BY
law tvas to work and effect was written in their hearts, and that they had that
same right disposition of mind, which it was to work and effect in the Jews,* and
for which the Jews were to be justified ; frora hence the consequence is direct
:;nd logical, that euch Gentiles were as fonvard in Christianity as the Jewa
themselves, and there could be no necessity for their submitting to the Mosaic
law, when they had already attained the principal end which that law was given
lo attain ; and therefore they need not now submit to the law, aa the means.
They had attained the end, eo the means were needless, and of course they
might, being equally qualified with the Jews, be admitted to the privileges of the
gospel without being circumcised and submitting to the whole ceremonial law.
This argument, then, of St. Paul's not only doth not relate to, but entirely
destroys that free-thinking notion, of man's being justified by the law of nature;
and the force of it is not to be evaded if the chief thing supposed in it can be
proved, ri:., Thnt there were Gentiles who did observe the things contained in
the law of Moses ; and this 1 am to consider under my second general bead,
tvhich was to prove,
Secondly, That the meaning put upon the words of the text is founded on
scripture and matter of fact. And this will appear,
1st, From scripture, by proving what it was the law pointed out. And
2ndly, Trom matter of fact, by showing that the Gentiles did observe that
which it pointed out.
Now what the law pointed out waa the necessity of our redemption by Chriat,
and purification by blood. At first view it presents to ua a system of religious
eervices, made up of types and emblems ; and that theee typical eervices had a
meaning weU understood,-)- Moses himself aeaurea ua. And had he not, the
reason of the thing would speak aloud for itself; for if the bodily action had
been all that was required, then the action of the mind, which is the essence of
every religious eerrice, would have been wanting ; there would be no oppor
tunity to give God, what he chiefly requiree, the heart and the affections;! and
the Jewa could not have acted ae pereons who had souls to be saved. But it is
certain, that each part of man is to do its duty in thie 6tate of trial, and where
God requires the performance of certain outward actions, as the types before,
and the sacraments since, Christ came, he thereby treata man according to his
constitution and his state, by instituting certain sensible objects to give him the
nearest ideas of those objects which are apiritual : for if such be the constitution
and state of man, that, as a creature he cannot have, and aa a free agent he
ought not to have, any ideas inherent or innate, then the reason is evident why
God should take 6uch a method ; and when be teaches men spiritual objects by
the types and the sacraments, that being the only method we can now be taught
them, is therefore agreeable to the nature of thinge, and the atate of man. And
not only Mo8e8, and the reaeon of the thing, but later parte of scripture explain
the principal types ; they show that Christ was the person whom they pointed at,
and that in him they were all fulfilled.
He 18 said to be " the end of the law," (Rom. x. 4.) " Of him Moses wrote —
of him the scriptures teatified," (John v. 39, 46.) " The fathera were aaved,
even ae we by the grace of our Lord Jeaus Christ," (Acts xv. 11.) T'he Goepel of
God " concerning hia Son Jesus was preached by the prophets in the holy scrip
tures," (Rom. i. 1, 2.) " And to him gave all the prophets witness, that through
his name, whosoever believeth in him shall receive remission of eine," (Acts x.
43.) The scripturea then plainly declare, that Christ waa pointed out by the
typical rites and services of the law. But
* Rom. ii. 26- ''The uncircumcised (Gentiles) could keep those points of the law
which were to justify." And ver. 27. "They could fulfil (answer the end of) the law ;"
these two passages demonstrate that 1 have fairly stated the apostle's argument.
t In these passages, e 1. Of sacrifices, Exod. xxx. 15, 16; Lev. ix. 15; xvii. 11 ; Num,
xxviii. 22 ; Deut. xxxiit. 19. 6 2. Of circumcision, Lev. xxvi. 41 ; Deut. x. 12, 16; xxx,
6- 1 3. Of ablution. Lev. xiv. 6, 7, &c. ; xvii. 15, 16 ; Num. viii. 6, 7, &c. ; xix. 19, 20.
i Of meditating on the law, Deut. yi. 6, &c. viii. 5, 15, 16 ; xii. 28, &c, he mentions the
spiritual sense, and that expressly, literally, and without a figure.
. J Rom. vii. 14 ; viii. 6. "To be carnally minded is death, but to be spiritually minded
is life and peace." 2 Cor. iii. 6. " The letter (of the law) killeth, but the spirit giveth life '

THE LAW OF NATURE. 781
That which was the highest act of religion among the Jews, and among the
Gentiles also, whereby he was prefigured and pointed out, was sacrifice :" for
he was the lamb rirtuaUy slain from the foundation of the world," (Rev. xiii. 8.)
" By faith in him Abel offered a more exceUent sacrifice than Cain," (Heb. xi.
4.) " And by the same faith Moses kept the passover and the sprinkUng of
blood," (Heb. xi. 28.) " Christ being our passover who was sacrificed for us,"
(1 Cor. v. 7.) And "who hath now put away sin by the sacrifice of himself,"
(Heb. ix. 26.) Christ therefore was pointed out by sacrifices ; they were types
instituted to keep up and preserve the knowledge of what he has to do and suffer;
and means to lay hold of, by the hand of faith, the merits of his future death
and sufferings : for they not only pointed him out in a general view, but they
also showed the principal end of his coming into the world, to effect our re
demption by the offering of the body of Jesus once for aU.
It is one of the first in order of revealed truths, that without shedding the
blood of Christ there is no remission : — for if God required sacrifices as abso
lutely necessary for the remission of sin, this proved that the sacrifice of Christ
waB absolutely necesBary to attain that remission. The necessity of the types
proved the necessity of the antitype : for if it be the essence of a type, that it
be an outward and visible sign instituted by God to represent some spiritual
person or object ; and if sacrifice was inetituted to be the outward and visible
sign of Christ, then God's requiring sacrifice as absolutely necessary to atone for
sin, was requiring, and that in the strongest manner, the necessity of Christ's
making the atonement. The type was only an outward sign to keep in mind
what was signified thereby, so that if God required the outward sign, he must of
necessity require the thing signified : because he instituted the one in order to
attain the other : and by such institution, he made the relation between them as
certain as between the means and the end. Sacrifice therefore being a type,
could not be instituted for its own sake — the merit of the action lay in con
sidering what it signified ; for it was not the bare offering, but the intention, the
faith of the offerer, which made the sacrifice a sweet-smelling savour unto God.
It was the duty of every offerer to look upon it as what it was — it was a type :
he waa not then merely to offer — to rest in the offering would be denying things
to be what they are ; but it was his duty also to consider what was typified, and
was intended to be kept up by the outward act of offering ; Christ, and what he
was to do and Buffer for us, were the things intended to be kept up by the out
ward act ; and therefore these were the things, which it was the duty of every
peraon to look at when he offered.
This it was, then, to sacrifice worthily ; not to rest in the outward act, but to
look by the eye of faith beyond it : for when the sinner brought a clean perfect
creature to be sacrificed, laid his hand on its head, and shed the blood, the life,
of the creature — this indeed was doing what he was commanded, but not aU.
The service of the mind was also required, and that was to regard the intent of
the action — to confess, that the death the creature suffered was what he deserved,
that he had forfeited his life, that it was not in his own power to restore it,
and that it could not be restored, but by the merits of that great sacrifice, which
he hoped in, and believed would, in the fulness of time, be offered up for his sins.
This was making a truly Christian confession of his faith ; and this confession
all worthy offerers did make ; and therefore did conclude from the necessity of
the type to make an atonement for sin, that the antitype muBt be much more
necessary. The law, therefore, by requiring sacrifices as absolutely necessary for the
remission of sins, did plainly point out and prove, that there could be no re
demption without the sacrifice of Christ : for remission of sins must be previous
to redemption ; and if there could be no remission without shedding of blood,
then certainly without it there coidd be no redemption. St. Paul applies tbe
typical services to Christ, and the redemption under the first Testament, to the
completion of our redemption by him, when he says, " TTiat Christ being become
an high priest of good things to come, not by the blood of the sacrifices, but by
hia own blood, entered once into the holy place, having obtained eternal re
demption for us." This was perfecting and fulfilhng what was typified under

782 NO JUSTIFICATION BY
the law : for wheh the apostle represents Christ as our great high priest — ag
shedding his blood for us, and offering himself without spot to God — aa
entering into the holy of holies, and appearing before the mercy seat, in the
presence of God — there presenting to the Father the sweet-smelling sacrifice of
his Son ; doth he not, by representing in this manner what Chriat really com
pleted, prove, that what the high priest did, prefigured what he was to do ? All
the ideas in this description are borrowed from the typical services, and Christ
is said to have fulfiUed what they signified. What he fulfilled tvas our redemp
tion by his death and sufferings ; and therefore it is evident, that the typical
senices did signify our redemption by Clirist. For when the apostlea speak of
Christ " putting away sin by the sacrifice of himself — of hia redeeming ua by
his blood — of his being the Lamb of God who taketh away the sins of the world
— and of the offering himself, and thereby perfecting for ever them that are
sanctified . " by using these expressions to describe the completion of our
redemption by Christ, do they not prove, that the sacrifices were types of that
redemption } For, if they had not pointed out and foretold something, how
could they describe what was fulfiUed ? The relation then between the ideas of
sacrifice and Chriet must have been weU understood before the same terms could
have been descriptive of them both ; and, indeed, without that relation, our
redemption by Christ, being a spiritual effect, would not easily have been under
stood ; for the sufferinirs of Christ, his shedding hie blood, and hia death, were
hut the visible parts of hie atonement. The chief of thia great action lay between
God and himself, invisible to all othera. And this part a man can no more con
ceive or express, than he could have Btiatained it. The weight Christ sustained
was infinite, and the action waa epiritual ; and we have no words, for we con
verse with no objects from whence we take them, which can give ua adequate
ideas of what is infinite, or of those actiona which are purely spiritual. In all
such cases, the best teacher is God ; and the scripture ideas are the perfectest tve
can have ; and if our redemption by Christ be there described by ideas taken
from the sacrifices, it will follow not only that the sacrifices did point out our
redemption by Christ, but also that they (when rightly understood) wttl give ua
the beat ideas, and, of course, the clearest evidence of that redemption.
The law of Moses, then, it appears, did point out something by ite typee and
embleme. It pointed out by them the pereon of Chriat. Particularly it pointed
him out by 8acrificea, which typified what he waa to do and Buffer for us. The
necessity of these aacrifices proved the neceaaity of Chriat's sacrifice. And God's
requiring them as neceseary for redemption, proved aleo the neceaaity of our
redemption by Chri8t ; and therefore it is evident, that the law pointed out and
proved the necessity of our redemption by Christ, and purification by blood.
The only thing, then, remaining to be proved ia,
Secondly, To ahow from matter of fact, that the Gentiles did observe what the
law pointed out. And
This the apostle declares in the words of the text ; he says, " They did the
things contained in the law of Mosee, and showed by so doing, that what the law
was to work and effect was written in their hearts ; and thereby they gave proof
that they believed thoae doctrines which the law was principally intended to
point out. The text, then, ie a full and clear argument for the truth of thie pro
position, and upon that footing I might rest the matter, were there not other
parts of scripture which incontestably prove this matter of fact, by ehowing in
what manner the Gentiles became acquainted with the things contained in the
law of Moses.
Now upon the fall, Moses informs us that a revelation was made of the new
terms of salvation, and that aU the typical service8 which were to give and pre
serve the knowledge of this revelation were instituted ; sacrifice in particular took
its rise from hence : for at the end of the days, i. e. at some stated time, Abel ia
said to have offered through faith. Now, it being impoaaible that the blood of
bulls and of goats should take away sin by any virtue of its own, it was not likely
that any means, which had no apparent connexion with the end proposed, should
be of human invention to atone for sin. And there being so soon after the fall,
B stated time of sacrificing, it is not probable that the time of the action should

THE LAW OF NATURE. 783
have any more of human invention in it than the action itself. And there being
also faith joined to the offering, it is certain the offering had a relation to some
spiritual object, and as such could have nothing of human invention in it at all :
for faith being the substance of things hoped for, and the evidence of things not
seen, if the things hoped for and not seen cannot be attained without faith in
Christ, and faith in Christ cannot be attained without a revelation, then it is
certain Abel's offering was of divine institution ; because there could be no faith
in Christ where there was no revelation. The doctrine of remission of sins,
through faith in his blood, could not have been discovered by unassisted reason ;
and yet Abel had that faith, and through it he offered. Therefore, in direct con
sequence from each other, there were revelation — faith — offering; revelation,
without which there could be no faith — faith, without which there could be no
acceptable offering — and an offering founded on faith, which is founded on
revelation ; and, therefore, offering sacrifice was revealed upon the faU, and as
such, was of divine institution.
And as in all other chief points of the law, so especiaUy in this, it is no more
than a renewal, and committing to writing, the same terms of salvation, which
had been revealed upon the faU : for the chief things contained in it are men
tioned long before the written law was given from Sinai. Offering sacrifice, which
was the highest act of religion among mankind, was in use from the faU down
wards. The patriarchs aU sacrificed. Thus did Job continuaUy. And besides
the sacrifice, all its appendages and the sacrificial rites were instituted together :
for later scriptures lay nearly as much stress upon them as upon the sacrifice
itself; so that by parity of reason, what was a necessary part of every sacrifice
had an institution coeval with the sacrifices : because if God would not accept
sacrifices without some particular rites, then these rites were a part of them which
he did accept. And he accepted the sacrifices of Abel, of Noah, and Abraham,
before they offered there ; for these rites were instituted, and, of course, before
the written law ; for it is mentioned before the written law that there was a priest
who had a right to offer. His habits were appointed. A distinction of clean and
unclean creatures was made. An altar was raised. And there was a stated
time, at which sacrifice, trith all its rites, was to be performed. These points,
then, being previous to God's accepting the sacrifice, and thereupon pardoning
the sinner, must have had an institution prior to the offering the sacrifice, and
that institution was the revelation made upon the fall.
Here, then, the scripture gives us a rational account, by what means the
Gentiles became acquainted with and did the things contained in the law of
Moses : for the law being but a renewal of what had been before revealed, and
waa now committed to writing, must be known to aU those who were descended
from them who had revelation. Adam had that revelation. Noah and his sons
had it, and consequently their children could not but learn from them those rites
and ceremonies which they saw their parents practise, and in the performance of
which they themselves were assistants : and if the Gentiles knew this revelation,
they might do the things contained in the law of Moses, without having that law
in writing ; they need not surely be referred to the written law to • learn the
typical services, when there had been an institution of them prior to that, and a
period before when they were observed by aU mankind.
In process of time, indeed, after the era of the law, men began to lose sight of
the reason and end of these institutions, and by elegrees strangely corrupted
what had been revealed. But yet what strongly confirms the apostle's argument
is, that they still observed the outward part ; the religious ceremonies were (as
far as we know) for some ages after the law, universal ; for the higher we go in
antiquity, they are found to be more uniform, and consistent with the history of
Moses. Even so low down as the heathen writings now remaining, we find the
primitive emblems made use of, and there is but httle variation in the minute
rites relating to sacrifice. The historians and the poets abound with descrip
tions of sacrifices — of the great efficacy of blood — of the hopes they had that God
would be placated and appeased by it— and of the holocausts whose smell they
represent as grateful to the Deity. And from those descriptions a paraUel might
he drawn between them and the Jewish ceremonies ; but it would be here a

784 NO JUSTIFICATION BY THE LAW OF NATURE
needless work, several learned men have already done it, and every one's reading
wttl supply him with instances enough. It is sufficient for my purpose at pre
sent to allege, what is a known and uncontested matter of fact, that all nations of
the world offered sacrifices, and for some ages after the law, with the aame ritea
as are there instituted, and whoever offered sacrifice out of a right principle, as
St. Paul declares the Gentttes in the text did, he certainly observed what the law
pointed out.
As, then, there was a revelation of the Christian religion made upon the fall,
the predictive part of the evidence of which is in the Old Testament, and the
completion in the New ; and as this revelation was once known unto all man
kind, and was corrupted by their own wanton imaginations ; so from hence we
have satisfactory answers to those boasted objections of modem infidels, — why
was the Jewish religion confined to, and hidden in, types and mysteries ? Why
waa the Christian revelation made so late ? How shall they be saved who perhaps
never heard of it i And why ia it not now the religion of all mankind ? Tliese
objections, it hath appeared, are aU founded (as I apprehend all infidelity is) in
ignorance ; in ignorance of the evidence for, of the deaign, and of the meaning
tif acripture ; for the text, as now explained, is a clear answer to these and many
more such like objections, and fuUy proves that they ure made in direct opposition
to matter of fact. But
These I cannot now enlarge upon ; I 8hall only obaerve, that it ie evident
from the plain literal eense of the words, from scripture, and from matter of
fact, that St. Paul doth not treat in this passage of, nay, therein overthrowa all
pretencea to, man's being justified by the law of nature. The persons he men
tions, were such only as did the things contained in the law of Mosee, and surely
the religion of nature wa8 not delineated in the law of Moses 1 This exhibits to
us one great truth, " That without Bhedding the blood of Christ there is no
remiasion," and doth the religion of nature treat of any 8uch doctrine ? Are not
reraiaaion of sine in general, and remission of sins by blood, points which make
no part of that religion ? And yet the Gentilea in the text were convinced of
euch remission ; they allowed by their actiona that they wanted it, and they
performed all theee typical services, which kept up their faith and hopes in the
Redeemer of the world ; and, therefore, they neitlier learnt from their own
reason, from the hght of nature, or from the fitness of things ; but from revela
tion only did they learn to do the things contained in the law of Moeee — that
was their rule — to that they conformed — and by their customary observance of
it were justified. And can we be justified by any other means ? Have we dis
covered that the light of nature ia eafer than the light of heaven ; or that it ie a
duty to follow the fitnes8 of thinga, rather than the lawa of the Creator of all
thinge? Will metaphysics guide us better than scripture, or reason than God?
If such pretences to direct and save ouraelveB will not bear to be heard among
Christians, why then have such methods of justification been supported from
thia text ? They have, in fact, no foundation here, or anywhere else in scripture,
and they are aa opposite to our excellent church as to scripture itself: for the
first reformers have protested againet euch doctrines, and I shaU prove the truth
of what hath been now said, and shall choose to pass my ceneure upon all pre
tencea to man's being justified by the law of nature, by morality alone, and such
like, in their words rather than my own, which are, that
" They also are to be had accursed that presume to 8ay, that every man shall
be saveel by the law or sect which he professeth, so that he be diligent to frame
his hfe according to that law, and the light of nature ; for holy scripture doth
set out unto us only the name of Jesus Christ, whereby men must be aaved."

785

THE LORD OUR RIGHTEOUSNESS :
CONSIDERED IN TWO DISCOURSES, PREACHED BEFORE THE UNIVERSITY
OF OXFORD, MARCH 20,1757; IN THE MORNING AT ST, MARY'S,
AND IN THE AFTERNOON AT ST. PETER'S.

Their righteousness is of me, saith the Lord. — Isaiah liv. 17.

REV. DR. RANDOLPH,

Vice-chancellor of the University of Oxford, and President of Corpus Christi
College.
When I delivered these discourses, I had no design to make them pubhc ;
but I have been since compeUed to it. I understand they gave great offence,
eapeciaUy to you, and I was in consequence thereof refused the university pulpit.
In justice, not to myself, for I desire to be out of the question, but to the great
doctrine here treated of, namely, the righteousness of the Lord Jesus, as the
only ground of our acceptance and justification before God the Father, I have
sent to the press what was dehvered from the pulpit. I leave the friends of
our church to judge whether there be anything herein advanced contrary to
scripture, and to the doctrines of the reformation. If not, I am safe. If there
be, you are bound to make it appear. You have a good pen, and you have great
leisure. Make use of them ; and I hope and pray you may use them for your
good and mine.
I am, with my constant and hearty prayers for the university's prosperity, Mr.
Vice-Chancellor, your humble servant in Christ,
William Romaine.

SERMON I
Drop down ye heavens from above, and let the skies pour down righteousness ; let
the earth open, and let them bring forth salvation, and let righteousness spring;
up together. I the Lord have created it. — Isaiah xiv. 8.
While man is in the body he must receive his instruction from the bodily
Benses. He cannot of himself form an idea of any thing spiritual, but as it is
compared to, and illustrated by, some material object. And this method of in
struction God has followed in the scripture, both in the language, and in the com
position. The language is entirely suited to man in his present state, every Hebrew
word signifying first some material object, and thereby conveying the idea of some
correspondent spiritual object. And the soripture composition abounds with
images and illustrations of divine things taken from nature. The evangelical pro
phet is a remarkable instance of this kind of writing. He represents the various
parts ofthe kingdom of grace under their expressive and familiar pictures in nature.
He sets spiritual things as it were before our eyes, under the images which God
had established in his created works, in order to bring them down to our under
standings. And every illustration of this kind, being God's own application of
natural things, must be considered as infallible truth. The spiritual application
is as certain as the outward fact from which it is taken. God would not use the
3 E

786 THE LORD OUR RIGHTEOUSNESS.
hook of nature to iUustrate the book of grace, unless the iUustration was just and
instructive : for it is not consistent with his perfections to propose to his creatures
for truth what would deceive, or to reveal what did not tend to edify them.
In this hght, let us consider the beautiful image in the text. God is here re
commending to us the fundamental doctrine of the gospel. He proposes it in
clear and plain terms ; and to convince our understandings, and to win our affec
tions, he sets it before our eyes under a very affecting picture. He represents
the doctrine under one of the most common and familiar occurrences in nature.
Thither he sends us for instruction in righteousness — and may the Spirit of the
Lord enable every one of you to apply the instruction for the good of your souls,
while I ara
First, Opening the true sense and meaning of the words. And then,
Secondly, Making some practical remarks upon them.
And first, The words are a scripture image and application of a well-known
fact in nature. The earth is supposed to be deprived of the rain of heaven. It
has no refreshing showers, no enlivening dew to saturate the thirsty soil ; and
for want of their fruitful influence the earth is entirely barren. It produces
nothing either for use or ornament. While it waa lying in this 8tate, God gave
the word, and the clouda deecended, and the earth opened to receive tbe fruitful
dropa of rain, which they poured down, and by their prolific virtue euch effects
followed, as the Psalmist has beautifully described in these words, " He watereth
the hiUa from above, whereby the earth ie filled wilh the fmit of thy works. He
causeth the grass to grow for the cattle, and herb for the service of man, that he
may bring forth food out of the earth, and wine that maketh glad the heart of
man, and oil to make his face to shine, and bread which strengtheneth man's
heart. The high trees are satisfied, even the ce_dars of Libanus, which he hath
planted." These are the certain consequences of warm and gentle showera.
When they are animated with the light of the sun in the spring seaBon of the
year, they never fail to bring forth rich producta of the earth, from the lowest
herb to the highest cedar on Libanus. Under this plain and familiar image God
intends to teach ua the moat important truth of Christianity. Because it is the
most necessary to he believed, he has therefore made it the most easy to be un
derstood. The principal point of view in which he would have ub to consider the
image in the text is this : The earth without rain lies barren and desolate, the
rain deecends from heaven, and is dropped down from the clouds, and when it ¦
comes in plentiful showers, and there is clear shining after it, then it always pro
duces fruitfulnesB. Hither the Holy Spirit sends us for instruction in righte
ousness. Righteousness is to the soul, what the rain and dew are to the thirsty
ground. The heavens were to drop this righteoueneee from above, and the ekies
were to pour it down, while man'a heart being opened thankfuUy receives the
heavenly gift. He has no hand, no merit in procuring the gift, but has only to
accept it, as the dry parched ground does the enlivening drops of rain, which
change its withered barren face into pleasing verdure and rich fruitfulneaa. In
order to understand clearly, what the all-wise Spjrit would teach ue under this
sweet image, we should have a perfect idea of the word righteousness, upon which
the whole stress of tne passage turns. In the Old Testament it is a mercantile
terra, taken from the method of trading in the early ages of the world, when
busineas was carried on, and money paid and received by weight. The fair trader
kept an even balance in paying and receiving, therefore he was a just or righteoua
man. And hence justice, which ia the emblem of this fair trading, ia alwaya
painted with an even balance in her hand. When the ecripture epeaks of human
affairs, this is always the sense of the word righteousneaa ; for thua it is used
Lev. xix. 36. " Juat balance8, just weights, a juat ephah, and a juet hin shaU ye
have." The same word iB here four times rendered just, which in the text is ren
dered righteousness. And in like manner in Deut. xxv. 14, 15, the command
runs, " Thou shalt not have in thine house diverse measures, a great and a small,
but thou Bhalt have a perfect and just weight, a perfect and ju8t meaaure ehalt
thou have." So again Ezek. xiv. 9, 10. " Take away your exactions from my
people saith the Lord God, Ye shall have juat balances, and a juat ephah, and a
iust bath." In these passages, not to mention any more, the same word tvhich is

SERMON I. 787
translated righteousness in the text, is undoubtedly apphed to tne evenness of
the balance, and to strict justice in weights and measures. When the scripture
speaks of dealings between man and man, this is the established sense of the
word; and if we spiritualize this sense we shaU understand the usage of the word
in religious affairs. AH that we are, and aU that we hope for, is God's free gift ;
and therefore as the Lord and giver of all, he has an unalienable right to our con
tinual service. And he demanded it. He gave us a holy, just, and good law, to
which he required the perfect, uninterrupted obedience of every faculty of soul
and body. If man had paid it him in thought, word, and deed, then he would
have been just — he would have dealt uprightly with God, and the dirine law
and justice would have had no demands upon him. But if we pay it not, then
we are unjust : and the law for the first offence pronounces its curses upon us :
for it is written, " Cursed is every one who continueth not in aU things that
are written in the book of the law." If we continue not in aU things, if we fail
but in one point, then we rob God of his due. We become his debtors, and law
and justice may seize upon us, and cast us into prison, until the uttermost
farthing be paid; which it is impossible we should ever pay, because the obedi
ence of millions of years could make no satisfaction for one single transgression
against the infinitely perfect law of God. One transgression having infinite
demerit in it, would weigh down the scale infinitely, and therefore eternally :
unless some infinitely perfect obedience, which no finite creature can pay, be put
into the opposite scale. •
Upon this state of the case it appears, that righteousness signifies the most
strict and unerring justice in our dealings with God. The law of God, tvhich is
his revealed will, and the rule of our obedience, is holy as God is holy, yea, per
fectly, infinitely holy. It cannot behold the least iniquity, any more than God
can behold it, and therefore it cutB the sinner off from aU right and title to legal
righteousness for the very first offence, puts him under the curse, and subjects
him to aU its pains and penalties : and upon whom the law pronounces its curses,
God the righteous Judge will pour down the vials of his wrath. Upon the un
righteous he wiU rain snares, fire, and brimstone, storm, and tempest: this shall
be their portion to drink for ever and ever.
Are you then, my brethren, in the number of the righteous, or of the unright
eous ? Is it not of infinite consequence to know what state you are in ? For
certainly if it should appear that you are unrighteous, you would not act so con
trary to your own interest, as to choose to be subject to the curses of God's holy
law, and to suffer the threatened punishment, if there be a way left to escape.
Uo you see then, how necessary it is we should inquire, whether we have acted
righteously with God or not. To the infaUible word therefore, and to the testi
mony, let us repair. The oracles of truth inform us, that, after God had finished
his six days' work, he looked down from heaven, and behold aU things were
good. There was no disorder in the natural world, and no evU in the spiritual
world. But he is soon after represented looking down from heaven upon the
chttdren of men, and behold all things were evil. " And God saw that the
wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the
thoughts of his heart was only evU continually." (Gen. ri. 5.) Whence was the
origin of this universal evil ? Mankind had gone out of the way of righteous
ness, they had broken the law, and had made themselves altogether corrupt,
and were become abominable, there was none of them righteous, no, not one.
What ! Not one righteous man left upon earth ? No. God declares by the mouth
of his holy prophet, that there tvas not one. They had all sinned, and come short
of the glory of God. They were by nature children of his wrath through one
man's disobedience, and they were ten times more the children of wrath by
actual guilt ; and being sinners against God's law, both by nature and by life, he
hath shut them all up under sin, in a state of condemnation, reserving them to
the judgment of the great day.
This is our condition, We are all unrighteous : and we are without strength
to attain any righteousness of our own : because we are poor, broken debtors,
who have nothing to pay. One offence attaints our blood, and renders us inca
pable of doing any act that will be deemed good and valid in the court of heaven,
3 b 2

788 THE LORD OUR RIGHTEOUSNESS.
for this irreversible decree stands against us in the divine records : " The
unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God."
From hence arises a question, the most important and interesting that can
engage a sinner's attention, upon which every person concerned about his eternal
welfare, would reason in this manner. " 1 acknowledge the law of God to be
holy and good, but I have broken it, and have robbed God of his glory, and the
law of its honour. I am unrighteous. As such, heaven is shut against me, and
wttl be shut for ever, unless 1 can be made righteous. But how or by what
means can this be done ? God's law is immutable. His truth that threatened
to punish tranagression is inflexible. His justice is infinite, and must have
satisfaction for the broken law ; yea, full and perfect satisfaction, suitable to tbe
infinite purity and holiness of the divine nature. But alas! what satisfaction
can I make it ? Nay, what satisfaction could all the holy angels and the highest
order of beings, if they would lay down their lives for me, make to that justice,
which is infinite, and to wliich I am an infinite debtor. Nothing can save me,
but some divine and infinite righteousness wrought out for me, and in my stead,
and God alone can work out such a righteousness ; but how can I hope that he
wttl, since he is the very person whom 1 have offended by my sin ? "
In this manner, every person concerned about eternity would reason. When
he is convinced of his own unrighteousness, he wttl look out for some means to
be made righteous, and he will soon find that there are no human meana.
Righteouanesa grows not upon this earth. It fled to heaven, when all the world
was brought in guilty before God ; and it cannot return to earth unttt all the
offended attributes of God be satisfied. But what created being can make a
satisfaction equal to the offence ? All hope, humanly speaking, is cut off: for
no finite creature can do an infinite action. Oh 1 what glad tidings then does
the prophet here bring to a guilty world. He seea the heavens from above
dropping down righteousness, anel the earth opening and receiring it. T'he
blessing is 80 unmerited, eo irieBtimable, that one would be tempted to ask, —
How God could be 60 gracious ? How can he exercise such mercy consistent
with his other perfections? How can he suffer the guttty to be accounted
righteous, until the demands of law and justice be fuUy satiafied ? But where
ia the aatisfaction equal to their infinite demands ? And until euch a satiefaction-
be made, how can hie all-pure holinesa look upon the impure ainner, or how can
his inflexible truth, which threatened puniahment, remit it ? Glory be to hia
free grace, which hath found out a righteouanesa for U8, against which law and
justice cannot make the lea8t exception, and which hath preeerved the glory of'
all hi8 attributea inviolate ; and that is the nghteousnesa of the God-man Christ
Jesus. We are taught by the Christian verity, that in the divine eseence there are
three peraona of equal glory and maje8ty ; none ie before or after other, none ia
greater or leee than another. Between these divine Persone the covenant of
grace was ordered in aU things and sure ; and from this covenant the co-equal
and co-eternal Three took the names of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Son ia a
name of office, descriptive ofthe wonderful humttiation of the Messiah, who took
our nature, and was made a Son for our salvation — God and man being united
in one Christ, as much as the reasonable soul and flesh is one man. Tne God-
man undertakes in our nature to pay perfect satisfaction to his Father's justice.
Accordingly he paid the law an infinitely perfect obedience. And he thereby
magnified it, and made it more honourable than the obedience of all created
beings could have done. Then he suffered what was due to our breach of the
law, and paid the death which we deserved. And justice demonstrated, that it had
no raore demands upon hira, when it released him from the prison of the grave.
And by this obedience and these sufferings he wrought out an infinitely perfect
righteousness, which being imputed to the unrighteous, and laid hold of by the
hand of faith, renders them perfectly rightepus at the bar of justice. '
This is the righteousness of God to which every sinner must submit, if he be
ever discharged from condemnation. He must receive it from God as hia free
gift, without the least merit or deserving. And he must trust whoUy to it, never
presuming to add anything of his own to it, as a condition of justification. Theee

SERMON I. 789
are hard lessons to the pride of our corrupt hearts. Indeed it is the hardest
lesson of grace to humble us so far, that we can give up the merit of aU our
fancied good works, and take the righteousness of God as a free gift. As if God's
righteousness was not perfect enough, we are always thinking to add something
of our own to it. Our fallen nature is ever tempting us to this absurdity, anel
the Holy' Spirit has not offered us a more forcible argument throughout the
scripture, than the striking image in the text. Our guilty souls are compared
to the dry withered ground, which has been long deprived of the fruitful rain
and dew of heaven. When they were lying parched and burnt up with drought,
it pleased God to command the heavens to distil the refreshing drops of dew, and
the clouds to pour down their genial and enlivening showers, which the earth
opening its mouth thankfully received. Now the righteousness of Christ is be
stowed, as these sweet influences of heaven are, freely — the earth has no hand,
no merit in bringing down the dew or the rain; nor have we any in bringing down
the righteousness of Christ. And the fruits, which the rain and dew enable the
earth to bring forth, are produced by their prolific virtue, animated with the
genial warmth of the 6un : for the earth is entirely passive and inactive, and only
acts as it is acted upon. In like manner every good gift and grace is from above ;
they are the fruits of righteousness, which could never have grown in our barren
hearts, unless Christ had sent his Spirit from on high to plant and to water them
with the continual dew of his blessing. When he withholds his influence',
they immediately wither and die. When he rains and shines upon them, then
they flourish. 'This is the beautiful Ulustration in the text. Let the heavens
drop down the righteousness of Christ from above, like the dew, and let the skies
pour it down, like fruitful showers upon a thirsty ground — " Let the earth open,
let man open his heart, and then they shah bring forth, salvation;" they, i. e. the
righteousness which is from above, poured dotvn upon and received into man's
heart, shaU therein take root, and shaU enable it to bring forth fruit abundantly,
even present and eternal salvation. Salvation is not of man. It belongeth unto
the Lord. It is one of the infinitely perfect works of God : for there is no
Saviour besides him — none that can deliver man from the enemies of his peace,
but the same Almighty Being who created the heavens and the earth, and who
stiU supports them by the word of his power. And when he, by whom aU things
were made, for us men and for our salvation, came down from heaven, and was
incarnate by the Holy Ghost of the Virgin Mary, and was made man, then his
name was called Jesus, because he was to save his people from their sins. Sal
vation on his part was finished, when, having fuUy satisfied the demands of law
and justice by his obedience and sufferings, anel thereby wrought out an all-
perfect righteousness for us, he ascended with great glory to his kingdom in
heaven. But he did not leave us comfortless. The Holy Ghost the Comforter
has now the conducting of the work of salvation. And when he humbles the
sinner under a sense of his unrighteousness by nature and hfe, and enables him
to wait at the throne of grace for a free pardon, when God the Father accepts
him through the merits of his Son, and justifies him, then it is the office of the-
Holy Spirit to bear his testimony with the sinner's spirit that he is a child of
God. With the act of justification thus evidenced and apphed, he receives
justifying faith, and is brought into a state of salvation ; for the salvation of the
righteous is of the Lord. There is no salvation without righteousness, and it is
ofthe Lord's free grace that he is received as righteous, through the righteous-
neaa of Christ imputed to him by faith. Christ's righteousness can be made ours
only by imputation. As our sins were actuaUy imputed to him, so his righte
ousness is actuaUy imputed to us. The Lord laid upon him the iniquity of us
all, and therefore he was wounded for our transgressions, and was bruised for
our iniquities. As he thus took our sins upon himself, so we by faith take his
righteousness upon us, and by it are saved.
And when the heavens have dropped down righteousness, and the harren heart
of ainful man has opened and received it, and with it salvation, then together
trith salvation, the prophet says, " righteousness shaU spring up together."
Until righteousness and salvation be in the soul, nothing good springs up : it pro
duces no good works, any more than the earth brings forth fruit without the rain

7<MJ THE LORD OUR RIGHTEOUSNESS
and dew of heaven ; but when righteousness comes from above, it manifests itself
by its effects, as rain does. It does not remain in the man, as an inactive bar
ren principle ; but it is mighty in operation, to enable him to bring forth fruit.
As soon as it is poured down from on high, and received into the heart, it takes
root and springs up with every fair blossom, and produces all the ripe fruits of
holiness. He that before tvas dead to God, and to the things of God, having re
ceived justification to life, hereby glorifies his heavenly Father, that he bears much
fruit. Righteousness changes him, as rauch as rain does the dry barren ground.
As it makes the wilderness and the solitary place to rejoice, and to blossom like
the rose, to blossom abundantly, and to rejoice even with joy and singing, so doea
righteousness act in the barren wilderness of the sinner's heart, bringing with it
the reviving streams of grace, and causing every sweet and holy temper to spring
up. The grace, wliich flows from righteousness, renews and sanctifies the heart,
makes it dead to sin, and alive unto God, This grace enables us to put off the
old man of sin with his corrupt deeds, and to put on the new man, which after
God is created in righteousness and true holiness. This new man is created in
Christ JeSus unto good works, and he produces them daily more in number, and
of a richer kind — watered with the fruitful dew of heaven, they are continually
springing up, and growing to the glory of God, and to the good of men, and they
are continuaUy administering that comfort to the justified soul, which the pro
phet has described in these sweet expressions — " The work of righteousness shall
be peace, and the effect of righteousneas quietness and assurance for ever,"
(Isaiah xxxii. 17.) If any man has peace with God it must arise from righteousness,
from being justified by faith ; and if any man has quietness and asaurauce for
ever, it muat be the effect of that righteouaness which God ha8 created. It mii8t
not arise from going about to establish our own righteousness, but from submit
ting ourselves to the righteousness of God, of which he says in the laBt words of
the text, " I the Lord havo created it." 1 Jehovah, who created all thinga, have
created thia righteou8nes8 for the unrighteous and the ungodly. It is anew crea
tion. And to create is my incommunicable attribute. You may as soon create
a world out of nothing, as create that righteouaneae, with which einnere must he
clothed, if ever they etand before rae without spot of sin unto salvation. No
righteousneas but what is of my creation can present you unblameable and unre-
proveable in my sight. This is the immutable decree of Jehovah. He that can
not change in himself, nor alter the thing that ia gone out of hia mouth, has de
termined, that the righteouaneae by which we are accounted just before him, is
not our own righteouanesa, but the righteouaness of God. It ia a righteouaness
which cornea from heaven, and doea not grow out of thia earth. It is the free
gift of G od, and not attained by the work of man. It is a righteousness of God's
own creation, an infinitely perfect and unspotted righteouanesa. When a man
i8 able to create a planetary system, then he may create such arighteouaneaa for
himself. If the one would be the height of presumption and blasphemy, ao i8 the
other. That man never eaw the corruption and plague of hia own heart, who
dreama of working out for himaelf a righteousneas, in which he may appear fault
less at the bar of justice. Sin and pride have eo hlinded hie eyes, that he knows
not himself. He eees not how corrupt hia nature nor how corrupt his life is, nor
yet how corrupt his very best duties are. He is also ignorant of the perfect
nature of God's law, which is as holy as God is holy, and which will not receive
sincere for uninterrupted obedience, but cuts off aU claim to legal righteousness
for one single offence, even in thought ; and he is not acquainted with the gospel
method of salvation, which diacover8 to U8, how sinnera, corrupt in nature and
hfe, and under condemnation, may be pardoned and justified by the righteouanees
of the God-man Jesus Christ, imputed unto them by faith. If scripture autho
rity could convince, and ecripture images could explain thi8 important doctrine,
one might hope the text would leave no doubt in any aerious mind.
I Bhall endeavour to remove the common difficulties concerning the doctrine
under my second general head, wherein I proposed to make some practical re
marks upon the worda of the text : but the time will not permit me to enlarge
upon them at present. And therefore leaving them for the aubject of another
• discourse, I would only observe how beautifully these great truths of the gospel
are ttlustrated in the text.

SERMON II. 791
First, weread that the righteousness of Christ is an heavenly gift. "Drop down
ye heavens from above, and let the skies pour down righteousness." And then the
sinner has only to receive it as a free gift, he has no merit in bringing it down.
" Let the earth open" and receive the heavenly gift. And when this righteousness
ia received by faith, then it brings the sinner into a state of salvation — " and let
them bring forth salvation." And when he is placed in this state, then he wiU
bring forth the fruits of the Spirit in all goodness, and righteousness, and
truth — " And let righteousness spring up together. I the Lord have created it "
to justify the unrighteous, that being made free from sin, and become servants to
God, they might have their fruit unto holiness, and the end everlasting life.

SERMON II.
Drop down ye heavens from above, and let the skies pour down righteousness; let
the earth open, and let them bring forth salvation, and let righteousness spring up
togetiier. I the Lord have created it. — Isaiah xiv. 8.
In a former discourse upon these words it was proposed to consider, First,
Their true sense and meaning ; and Secondly, To make some practical remarks
upon them. Having gone through the first particular, and estabhshed the doc
trine, I come now to reduce it to practice, and this I shah do, by making some re
marks upon the words in the order they he in the text.
The first remark that would occur to an attentive reader, is the state of man before
righteousness is poured down upon him from on high. He is like the dry
ground, which for want of rain is desolate and barren. So is man in a state of
nature; destitute of the heavenly influence of Christ's righteousness, he has no
good thing springing up in him. Before he is made righteous, he is altogether
unrighteous. Being unjust, he is an object of divine justice. The law of God
looks upon him as a transgressor, and considers him in a 6tate of condemnation.
The sovereign judge regards him as a child of his wrath, and has passed the just
decree, that the unrighteous shah not inherit the kingdom of God.
This is the condition of all men by nature, they are unrighteous, and condemned
for their unrighteousness : and they are also helpless and without strength to
attain any righteousness for themselves. And yet there is in their faUen nature
a cursed pride, which never brake out with greater violence than at present, and
which wttl not submit to the righteousness of God. That we have no righteous
ness in ourselves, and can attain none by any power or working of our own, is
the plain doctrine of God's word, is the very fundamental article of our established
church, and it is evident from daily and melancholy experience, and it is the first
practical truth in Christianity ; for untU we be deeply convinced of our sinfulness
and helpessness, we shaU see no reason to apply to Christ for his righteousness.
Men must find themselves sick before they wttl send for the physician. Our
want of righteousness is the cause of aU our spiritual sickness and maladies, and
the scripture speaks plainly of our want of righteousness. " We have before
proved, says the apostle, " both Jews andGentiles, that they are aU under sin, as it
is written, Tliere is none righteous, no not one." So says our ninth article :
" By original sin, man is very far gone from original righteousness, and by it
every person born into the world deserveth God's wrath and damnation." And
concerning our helplessness in this state, our reformers in the second part of the
homily, " On the misery of man," speak the sense of scripture in these words :
" Thus we have heard, how evil we be of ourselves, how of ourselves, and by
ourselves, we have no goodness, help, or salvation, but contrariwise, sin, damna
tion, and death everlasting : which if we deeply weigh and consider, we shall the
better understand the great mercy of God, and how our salvation cometh only
by Christ : for in ourselves (as of ourselves) we find nothing wherebv tve may be

792 THE LORD OUR RIGHTEOUSNESS.
dehvered from this miserable captivity, into the which we are cast, through the
envy of the devtt by breaking of God's commandment, in our first parent Adam.
We are aU become unclean, but we all are not able to cleanse ourselves, nor make
one another of us clean. We are by nature the children of God's wrath, but we
are not able to make ourselves the chttdren and inheritors of God's glory. We
are sheep that run astray, but we cannot of our own power come again to the
sheep-fold : so great is our imperfection and weakness. In ourselves therefore
may we not glory, which of ourselves are nothing but sinful ; neither may wc
rejoice in any works that we do, aU which be so imperfect and impure, that they
are not "able to stand before the righteous judgment-seat of God, as the holy
prophet David saith, ' Enter not into judgment trith thy servant, O Lord, for no
man that Iiveth shaU be found righteous in thy sight.' To God therefore must
we flee, or else shall we never find peace, rest, and quietness of conscience in our
hearts." Thua far our reformers. To the truth of their words we have aU set our
hands, and may God set our hearts to act agreeably to our subscriptions.
Though they were our own act and deed, yet it is a matter of fact, which cannot
be concealed, nor too much lamented, that many persons act directly contrary to
their most solemn engagements : for how seldom do we hear any thing from the
pulpit about original sin, or about there being none righteous, no not one. In
stead of this antiquated doctrine, what is more common than to hear declama-
tiona upon the sufficiency of human reason in matters of religion, upon the dig
nity of human nature, and upon moral rectitude ? And is it not the general
scope of young preaching to recommend practical duties, aa neceasary terma and
conditiona of our justification before God ? fa this the case, my brethren, or ie it
not? Certainly you know it ia. Have you. not heard rea8on extolled aa a Buffi-
cient guide in matters of rehgion, contrary to the express word of God, which
declares that the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God, nor
while he continues a natural man can he know them, let him pretend to reason
ever so much about them ? Have you not heard men laviBh in the praiaes of the
dignity of human nature, which, if God'a account of human nature be true, ie an
unrighteous dignity ? What is a more common topic, than to cry up moral rec
titude, which, if scripture be true, is an unrighteous rectitude, and to recom
mend practical duties as terms of justification, which is setting them up in the
place of Chriat'a righteousness, and teaching men an unrighteous obedience ?
Upon whatever footing thia be done, it ie an unrighteous attempt ; whether it be
upon the principles of natural rehgion, or morality, or any other fashionable
system, it is equally unrighteoue, becauae it is going about to establish a righte
ousness' of man's own, and not submitting to the righteousness of God ; and
whoever does this, neither knows his own want of righteousness, nor his inability
to attain any by human means ; nor doe8 he know that there is no righteousneas
to be had, but what must qome down from heaven, but what the heavens muat
drop down from above, and the skies must pour out : the application of which
truth is my second remark.
'The text clearly teaches us, that righteousness comes from above, as the rain
does. It does not spring or grow out of the earth, for there is none upon earth
righteous, no, not one ; but God sends it down from heaven. In like manner as
the dry parched ground has not the rain in itself, but receives it from the fruitful
influence of the heavens, so the barren wilderness of man's heart has no righte-
0U8neeB unttt the Holy Spirit bring it from above : for it is hie office to convince
the einner of his unrighteousness, and then to convince him of righteousness, by
giving him faith to apply to himself that divine righteousness which Chriat wrought
out for hia juetification and salvation.
If any member of our church thinks this doctrine wanting in point of evidence,
let him consult the articles and homilies ; words cannot be plainer than those
are in the beginning of the sermon, " On the salvation of mankind by only Christ
our Saviour, from Sin and Death everlasting." " Because aU men be sinnera,
and offenders against God, and breakers of hie law and commandments, there
fore can no man by his own acts, works, and deeds (seem they never ao good)
be justified, and made righteous before God : but every man of necessity ia con-

SERMON II. 793
strained to seek for another righteousness of justification, to be received at God's
own hands, that is to say, the forgiveness of his sins and trespasses, in such
things as he hath offended. And this justification or righteousness, which we so
receive of God's mercy and Christ's merits, embraced by faith, is taken, accepted,
and allowed of God for our perfect and full justification : for" as it foUows in the
latter part of the same homily "aU the good works that we can do be imperfect,
and therefore .not able to deserve our justification ; but our justification doth
come freely by the mere mercy of God ; and of so great and free mercy, that
whereas aU the world was not able of themselves to pay any part towards their
ransom, it pleased our heavenly Father of his infinite mercy, without any our desert
or deserving, to prepare for us the most precious jewels of Christ's body and
blood, whereby our ransom might be fully paid, the law fulfiUed, and his justice
fully satisfied. So that Christ is now the righteousness of aU them that truly do
believe in him."
This is the doctrine of our reformers, and if any person refuse to abide by
their authority, let him consult the oracles of truth, where he may read that the
righteousness by which we are justified, is not man's, but God's : and that Christ
the God-man is the end of the law for righteousness to every one that believeth ;
and if he stttl refuse to make mention of his righteousness, even his only, the
Holy Spirit refers him to the fair volume of nature for further evidence. He
teacnes us that fallen man without the righteousness of Christ, is Uke the earth
without rain. Look, then, upon the face of the earth after there has been no
rain for two or three summer months, and see with your own eyes the necessity
of having righteousness rained down from heaven. You see the earth hath lost
•its verdure. The more tender vegetables are quite dead. The more robust hang
their heads and droop. This is the true picture of the natural man destitute of
Christ's righteousness. No grace can grow, no virtue can flourish in him. His
heart is a parched up wUderness, in which nothing good can spring, until Christ's
righteousness be rained upon it. If the fact be true in nature, this doctrine must
be equally true in grace. If nothing can grow without the rain and dew of
heaven, then nothing can grow without the righteousness of Christ . for he who
cannot deceive uses this illustration, to teach us the necessity of Christ's righte
ousness. " Ye heavens drop down the dew," says he, " and let the skies pour
out righteousness." Its original is from heaven, and it comes to us from thence
to overthrow the pride of natural religion, and morality, and whatever ascribes
to faUen man the will and the power of making himself righteous before God.
That which makes us righteous is not in any faculty of nature, but is entirely the
free gift of grace. And it is owing to men's vain glory and pride, which, of all
vices, is most universally grafted in aU mankind, that men know not themselves,
and wiU not look up to heaven'for that righteousness which they want. Hence
it is that we hear so mueh about natural and moral reUgion, which pay their
court to the pride of our faUen nature, and hence comes that execrable position
upon which they are buUt, viz. " That man has in himself the rule of right and
obligations to follow it." Is not this insulting God to his face ? He says, that
all men are gone out of the right way ; the moralist gives him the lie, and says,
"No, I have still in myself the rule of right." What rule of right has he in
himself, whom God has pronounced unrighteous and abominable altogether ?
Has the unrighteous man the rule of righteousness in himself ? What sort of a
rule is it by which an unrighteous man walks ? And what obligations has he in
himself to foUow the rule of right, of whom, God says, there is none that doeth
good, no, not one ? Can he have at the same time in himself, obligations to
FoUow the rule of right, the thoughts of the imaginations of whose heart are only
evil continuaUy ? It is impossible. Until Christ's righteousness be poured
dotvn upon him from heaven, he is blind and dark in the things of God, ne has
no rule of right, and he has obligations, and strong ones, to follow the rule of
wrong, but none to foUow what is right. This is God's account of faUen man.
How different is it from the flattering tiew in which our moral teachers love to
paint and dress the fancied dignity of their nature. Pride, ignorant of itself,
makea them believe that they are still great and noble beings ; and they cannot
bear the just character which our church has drawn of them in the conclusion of

794 THE LORD OUR RIGHTEOUSNESS.
the honuly on the misery of man. " Hitherto we have heard what we are of
ourselves, very sinful, wretched, and damnable. Again, we have heard, how that
of ourselves, and by ourselves, we ure not able either to think a good thought, or
work a good deed, so that tve can find in ourselves no hope of salvation, but rather
whatsoever maketh unto our destruction." We must have this humbling view
of ourselves, if ever we see reason to seek righteousness from heaven. May God
humble us aU, and convince us deeply of our want of righteousness, that we may
apply to him for it. Knowing where it may be had, we shaU apply for it properly,
which leads me to consider,
Thirdly, How it is to be attained.
w The place of its growth may point out unto us the true method of attaining it.
It is of heavenly extraction. You cannot ascend to heaven to bring it down.
But may not your prayers and good works ascend to merit it ? No, they cannot.
Until Christ's righteousness be imputed to you by faith, your prayers are an
7 abomination, and your fancied good works are nothing but sin. So says the
ecripture, " Whataoever ia not of faitii ia 8in." So says our church in her articles,
" Works done before the grace of Chriat, and the inspiration of hie Spirit, are
not pleasant to God, neither do they make men meet to receive grace ; yea,
rather, for that they are not done, as God hath wiUed and commanded them to
be done, we doubt not but they have the nature of sin." We doubt not but the
best of them are only so many splendid Bins. They may adorn a man's outward
conversation, may gain him the honour of men, but in the eyea of God they are
of no price ;- becauae they flow from an unregenerate heart. So that tvorkB done
before we receive Chriat'a righteousness can do nothing towards meriting it, and
works done after receiring it can add nothing to it. It is a free gift, therefore*
tvorks done before camiot merit it. It waits far no qualification, no condition in
the receiver, because it ia given to the moat unworthy, and is given to supply
the want of aU qualifications and conditiona ; it ia given to the unrighteous and
to the ungodly. And it wants no works done after receiving to add to it, because
it ia infinitely perfect. It is the righteousness of Goel, and wttl prove itself to
be from God by ita fruits, which fruits evidence us to be righteous, hut do nut
make ua ao ; for if they were to make ua righteoua, but in part, that would be
going about to estabUsh our own righteousness, and not submitting to the righte
ouanesa of God.
Thie is the doctrine of scripture. After the apostle had establiahed it by varioua
proofs, he thus sums them all up ; " therefore we conclude that a man is justified
by faith without the works of the law." Our church has made the same conclu
sion in her 11th article, where she teaches, " That we are accounted righteoua
before God only for the merit of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ by faith, and
not for our own worke or deservings. Wherefofe that we are justified by faith
only, is a most wholesome doctrine, and very full of comfort, as more largely is
expreseed in the homily of justification." In which homily we have these»worde :
" Justification is not the office of man, but of God : for man cannot make himaelf
righteoua by his own worke, neither in part nor in the whole, for that were
the greateat arrogancy and pre8umption of man, that antichri8t could set up
against God, to, affirm, that a man might, by his own works, take away and purge
his own sins, and so justify himaelf. But justification is the office of God only,
and is not a thing which we render unto him, but which we receive of him ; not
which |we give to him, but which we. take of him by hiB free mercy, and by
the only merits of hia moet dearly beloved Son, our only redeemer, eaviour, and
justifier, Jesus Christ."
In the following part of the same homily are these words :
" The very true meaning of this proposition or saying, ' We be justified by faith
in Christ only,' is this, we put our faith in Christ, that we be justified by him
only, that we be justified by God's free mercy, and the merits of our Saviour
Christ only, and by no virtue or good works of our own, that is in us, or that we
can be able, to have or to do, for to deserve the same : Christ himself only being
the cause meritorious thereof."
If then all working and boasting be thus excluded, both by Bcripture and by
the authority of our own church, how is this righteousness to be attained i The

SERMON II. 795
prophet teaches us in the text. We receive it as the thirsty -ground does the rain.
Can we do any thing towards bringing down the gentle dew, or the fruitful rain
of heaven ? When the earth is parched and burnt up, can we command the
clouds above to descend and saturate the thirsty soil ? No. We are not equal to
these things : any more than we can bring down the righteousness of Christ
when we please. It is God's to give, ours to receive, as the dry ground does the
rain. When God pours down from on high abundance of righteousness, what
can we do but receive it as a free gift, and be thankful ? This is the main point,
and much stress should be laid upon it. We aU want righteousness alike, being
all alike sinners. Christ has infinite and perfect righteousness to give, and when
we desire it, we should be sure to seek it in the way wherein God has appointed
to bestow it. Now he always bestows it freely — not upon those who merit it,
for then it would not be free — merit and free grace are opposites ; but he bestows
it upon the unrighteous and ungoeuy. He bestows it upon them who want it
most, and who are sensible they can do the least to attain it. If then you desire
righteousness, go as unrighteous and ungodly to the Lord Jesus, and he wiU
clothe you with his aU-perfect righteousness. He requires no qualification but
to acknowledge* that you have none. If you are sensible of your wants, that is a
prevailing motive enough with him to supply them. To find that you want
righteousness, is the proper way and means to attain it. Hear what your God
promises you: "BleBsed are they who hunger and thirst after righteousness ;
for they shatt be fiUed " — ye shall be filled with it, because ye hunger and thirst
after it, not because ye deserve it, and have merited it by your good works, but
because you are made sensible that you cannot deserve or merit it. This is the
established method of God's acting — "for he fiUeth tbe hungry with good things,"
but the rich Pharisees he sendeth empty away : he fiUeth them who hunger and
Chirst after righteousness with the good things of grace, and with the best things
of glory ; but he sendeth him, who says, I am rich, and increased with goods,
and have need of nothing — such a proud Pharisee he sendeth empty away.
It is exceedingly difficult to convince men that this is the gospel method of
ealvation. Their pride will not submit to it — no, not to be saved — by the righte
ousness of God : they wiU try, even after they are convinced ofthe necessity of
God's righteousness, to add something of their own to it. Their fond conceit
of themselves wiU not let them see how entirely their nature is corrupted, and how
corrupt their best works are. Vicious self-love raises a thousand objections
against free justification through Christ's righteousness: but there has been
one made by men of corrupt minds in every age, and which they are stiU making,
though God himself has vouchsafed to give it an answer. They object to this
Bcripture doctrine, That it makes void the law, and renders art holy life needless;
To which calumny God answers in the text. When he sends down a shower
of righteousness from above, he says, let the earth open, and receive the heavenly
blessing. But to what end ? That it may continue as barren and unfruitful as
before Wo, but that such effects may follow in the spiritual world, as always
do in the natural, when reviving showers descend upon the dry thirsty ground.
Do not they always make the earth fruitful? So does the righteousness of
Christ, as I proposed to show under my fourth anJ last remark, which was to
prove what are the constant fruits of it.
" I Jehovah have created it," says God in the text. The righteousness of God
is a new creation. And why are we created anew in Christ Jesus ? That we may
live still to the flesh and its corrupt appetites ? No : for then we should be created
anew in the devil, and not in Christ Jesus : but we are created anew unto good
works. 'The righteousness of Christ is to deliver us from our sinful nature, and
not to encourage us to hve in it : for this is the will of God, even our sanctifica
tion. lie gives us righteousness from heaven, that it may raise us up to heaven:
for as it comes from God, it will carry us up to God. It tvttl not remain in us as
a dead and barren principle, but wiU make us fruitful in good works, even that
tve may be filled with the fruits of righteousness, which are by Jesus Christ unto
the glory and praise of God the Father. This is the scripture account of the
doctrine, and it is also the doctrine of our church. We read in the first part of
the homily upon faith, "'That as the light cannot be hid, but will show forth

796 THE LORD OUR RIGHTEOUSNESS.
itself at one place or another : so a true faith cannot be kept secret, but when
occasion is offered, it wttl break out, and show itself by good works. And as the
living body of a man ever exerciseth such things as belong to a natm-al and hving
body, for nourishment and preservation of the same, as it hath need, opportunity,
and occasion, even so the soul, that hath a hvely faith in it, will be doing always
some good work, which shall declare that it is living, and will not be unoccupied.
Therefore when men hear in the scripture so high commendations of faith, that
it maketh us to please God, to hve with God, and to be the children of God : if
then they fancy, that they he set at liberty from doing all good works, and may
live as they list, they trifle trith God and deceive themselves. And it is a manifest
token, that they be far from having the true and lively faith, and also far frora
knowing what true faith meaneth. "
These are the words of our reformers — they speak of the true justifying faith
agreeably to the sense of scripture, describing it to be an active operative grace,
producing all the fair and ripe fruits of an holy life — these flow as constantly from
it, as hght does from the sun. If any man says he hath this faith, and does not
make it manifest by these fruits, he deceiveth himself, and the truth is not in him.
His faith is dead. It is no better than what the devils have, ana unless it please
God to open his eyes and to undeceive him, he will 60on have his portion amongst
them, who beheve and tremble.
I have now finished the practical remarks which the text offered to our con
sideration, and 1 hope, my brethren, they have appeared to you with convincing
evidence. The present and the eternal welfare of your own soula, ae well aa of
theirs which are committed to your care, require you to meditate seriously upon
thia fundamental doctrine of . Christianity. Our whole religion stands upon this
great truth, that the righteousness for which we sinners are accepted as righteous
at the bar of justice ie not our own, but Christ's — whoUy wrought out for us by
hia obedience and Bufferings, and received of us by faitii without any of our works
or deservings. St. Paul has written two epistles in defence of this doctrine. If
any man can read them without being convinced of the truth of it, he is out of
the reach of argument. When the church of Rome denied the truth of it, and
was fatten into the damnable doctrine of works being meritorious towards our
justification, which is the ground-work of all their gross heresies and superatitione,
it plea8ed God to raiee up the reformere, who laboured chiefly to overthrow this
fundamental error, and he bleeeed their labours with succeee. By their means, the
knowledge of the pure goepel of Jeeue Christ waa apread abroad, and reached
unto this land. Our church was happily reformed, as from all the errors of
popery, so from the doctrine of the merit of works in particular. Long it stood
upon the principles of the reformation, and theae principlea, glory be to God'a
good providence, are stttl in our articles, and homilies, and littlrgy. But^where
else shall we find them ? Who maintains them ? Who writes; who preaches in
their defence ? Alaa ! they who ahould be their friend8, betray them : for iB there
a more generaUy received opinion than that good worke are the terms* of our
acceptance with God ? Is not natural rehgion founded upon this opinion ? And
so far as men build upon it, they depart from the great doctrine of the reforma
tion, and return back to popery. Ia thia our religiouB situation, or is it not ? Let
matter of fact speak. Are the celebrated books, in which youth are now lectured,
written in the protestant spirit against the merit of worka, and tending to establish
the righteousness of Christ ? Is this also the general scope of our preaching ?
Is it our righteousne88, or God's that we eeek to establieh ? Let experience answer.
And it answer8 loud enough — We hear man's righteousness echoed from the
pulpit and from the prese ; and in thie protestant church, in this sound and best
constituted church upon earth, too many of her sona have learned to reject the
fundamental doctrine upon which 8he wa8 eatabliahed. When we are thua depart
ing and falling away from our firat principles, it seemed to me necessary to call
upon you, as christian men to'embrace, and as members of our church to defend,
them. Whoever amongst us seeks justification through Christ's righteousneaa
cannot be offended at what I have said — and I would offend those who seek for
justification without Christ's righteousness. I would gladly stir them up and
provoke them to examine their principles, and to try whether tbey can trust their

SERMON II. 797
eternity upon them. If they trust to their own righteousness, they are lost for
ever. If there be truth in God — if there be any reliance upon his word, there is
no righteousness but Christ's, wherein sinners can appear without spot of sin at
the bar of justice. This is the only clothing which can hide all their original and
actual pollution. Trust to it, and God the Father wttl see you perfect in beauty,
through the comehness which Christ will put upon you. . Reject it, and think of
appearing before him with the least stain of sin, he is of purer eyes than to be
hold you. The least stain makes you unrighteous ; and it is decreed, that the
unrighteous shaU not inherit the kingdom of God. Oh that his good Spirit
may practically convince every one who hears me this day, of his want of some
better righteousness than his own ; and may he enable us to wait upon the Lord
our righteousness, until the text be fulfiUed in us — may he command the heavens
from above to drop down, and the skies to pour forth righteousness — and may
he command the earth, even our earthly sensual hearts, to open and to receive
it, that salvation and righteousness may spring up together, with aU their fair
and ripe fruits. Grant this, blessed God and Father, to this whole congregation,
through the aU-perfect righteousness of thy Son Jesus Christ, and by the influence
of the Holy Spirit upon our hearts, turning us from sin to righteousness, that
the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit may be glorified in ns, and by us, in time
and in eternity. Amen and Amen.

THE DUTY OF PRAYING FOR" OTHERS :
enforced by some arguments taken from the success of those
prayers which the church made for st. peter's
deliverance from prison.

The effectual lei vent prayer of a righteous man availelh much.— James v. 16.

Peter therrfore was kept in prison, but prayer was made without ceasing of the
church unto God for him. — Acts xii. 5.
IIebou, a persecutor of the church, stretched forth his hand to vex some of
its membera, and he killed James, the brother of John, with the sword ; and be
cause he saw that it pleased the Jews, he proceeded farther to take Peter also.
He committed him to prison, chained him to two other persons, and gave him in
change to sixteen soldiers, who were, four at a time, night and day, to be keeping
watch over him. And after Easter he intended to have put him to death ; but
on the very night before his execution, Peter is wonderfuUy delivered, contrary to
Herod's purpose, the prisoner's hopes, and the keeper's intentions. By what
means was this brought about ? By the church's prayers. From the time Peter
was apprehended, prayers were made without ceasing for him ; and when the
faithful knew his execution was fixed for the next day, they were resolved to
wrestle all night with God in prayer for him. Accordingly they besiege the
throne of grace with their earnest and hearty requests for Peter's dehverance, and
they are heard. WhUe they are praying, God gives in the prisoner among them,
as an answer to their prayers.
Upon this fact 1 will make some practical remarks for the use of God's people
at this time. What I shall offer at present relates only to true behevers, and I hope
God will put it unto their hearts to hear me with profit and improvement fo their
souls. My brethren, you see the distressed state of our affairs. AU Europe is in
confusion, our affairs are unsettled at home, and we are at war abroad, and with
enemies who boast themselves in their victories and conquests. Bnt the dearest
thing to us is in the most danger. The protestant rehgion is ready to be dc-

798 THE DUTY OF
stroyed, and the Lord seems to have given us up to our bloody persecutors. Look
around you, you see no prospect of dehverance by any human means : what
course then shall we take ? Whither shaU we go for help ? God must be our only
refuge. If we can trust in him for dehverance, he will deliver us : and if we have
any trust in him, we shaU certainly express it in prayer. And for our encourage
ment to pray, and to expect a blessing upon our prayers, let us meditate upon the
history before us : and may God so direct me to speak, and you to hear, that tve
may pray without ceasing, as they did in the text, until our success be like theirs.
Oh that God would pour down upon us the spirit of prayer and supplication, and
make ua a praying people, until he deliver ue from aU our enemies, and make us
an happy people. To this end, let us consider some of the chief practical uses to
be made of the text. And
First, we may remark, That whenever the faithful are in any great danger or
trouble, if God intends to deliver them, he puts it into their hearts to pray for
deliverance. We have many examples of this in scripture, and many express
passages, whereon to ground thi8 doctrine. We are never able to pray aright
without God'a assistance. It is the office of the " Holy Spirit to help our infir
mities ; for we know not," says the apostle, " what we should pray for as tve ought,
but the Spirit itself maketh intercession for us." (Rom. viu. 20.) He helpeth
our infirmities before we pray, by letting us see our wants ; and he helpeth ua in
praying, by enabling U8 to pray with faith, anel to ask what he knows our
heavenly Father wiU grant ua. ThU8 he puts it into their hearts to pray without
ceasing for Peter's deliverance. If he had not helped their infirmities, every
circumstance made so much against them, that they could have had no hopes
from their prayere. But he etrengthened their faith, and they looked beyond
all difficulties. They saw a way open for Peter to escape, notwithstanding
Herod's cruelty, tbe strictneBB and number of the gUard, the closeneas of the
prison, and the nearnesa of Peter'a death. They knew God was able, and they
believed it would be for his glory, to deliver him, and therefore they prayed with
out ceasing.
My brethren, do you find youraelves stirred up much to prayer in the present
troublesome times ? Are your hearts greatly disposed to pray, that God would
put an end to these troublea, and to preserve to us the bleseings of the protestant
religion ? Do you spend much time with God, dp you wreatle with him in prayer,
resolved " not to let him go," until he hear and answer ? If thie be the caee, we
shall certainly be preserved. If the Lord'a people be led out into fervent and
earnest prayer, if they pray often alone, and often with one another, for the peace
of our Jerusalem, then we need not despair. Though aU thinge make against us,
aa they did in Peter'a ca8e, yet if God put it into our hearte to pray for deliverance,
a8 he did into the hearte of the faithful, then we may promiee oureelveB the like
blessed answer to our prayers, which they met with.
And thia ia my second practical remark. The prayer of faith never returns
without a blessing. Peter is kept chained in prison, his enemies many, hie
friende few — his enemiea have aU earthly power in their hands to destroy him —
bis friends have only God to apply to for his dehverance, and to him they go.
His enemies plot — his friends pray. Their plot against Peter's Ufe, humanly
speaking, could not be defeated— to-morrow he must die ; but prayer brought
down God to his assistance. The prison doors were safely shut, but prayer opened
the doors of heaven : and God, to let us see the power of prayer, sent him to hie
friends while they were praying : aa if God had said — There (since you will take
no denial) there he is ;• thus plainly pointing out the means of hia dehverance.
The prayer of Elijah had the 8ame 8ucceae. He could open and shut heaven.
And if the prayer of one righteous man could avail so much, what could not the
joint prayer of many righteous men do ? It wttl bear down aU before it, and
prevail in heaven and earth. It would reach up to God, and lie before the throne
of his grace, and never depart without its answer ; and when answered, it would
come down with authority, and force all human power to submit. The ecripture
every where speake of the efficacy of prayer. The promiee of God to it is very
encouraging. " CaU upon me in the time of trouble, eo wiU I hear thee, and
thou shalt praise me." I will give thee reason to praise me, by delivering thee

PRAYING FOR OTHERS. 799
from thy trouble. And God has ever fulfilled this promise. There is not an
instance in scripture of the church's joining in a common petition to God, but he
always heard and answered it. And indeed how should it fail of success, being
indited by the Holy Spirit, and presented by Jesus Christ, and perfumed with the
Btveet incense of his merits ? It then becomes the prayer of Jesus Christ himself.
He presents it as his own, and how can God the Father reject the prayer of his
beloved Son ? So far from rejecting it, he represents it to be as delightful to him
as the most fragrant odours are to us. For thus St. John, speaking of our Lord
under the character of the angel of the covenant, says, Rev. viii. " There was
given unto him much incense, that he should offer it with the prayers of the saints
upon the golden altar, which was before the throne, and the smoke of the incense
which came with the prayers of the saints ascended up (with acceptance) before
God out of the angel's hand." Let your prayers ascend up with the sweet-smelling
savour of his merits, and you have his word of promise, that whatever you shaU
ask the Father in his name, you shah receive.
Now, my Christian friends and brethren (for to such only I am now speaking),
since you are convinced of these truths, are you careful to practise them ? Let us
look back, and each of us examine our own consciences. How much time have
we spent of this day in prayer for the distresses of our feUow-creatures ? Many
are in prison, have we prayed for them ? . Several Christians are in distress, our
reformed brethren persecuted in France, our brethren, in blood as weU as in faith,
Buffering in America, the Christian world in war and confusion, and the Protestant
interest nearly destroyed ; have we been earnest with God this day in prayer, that
he would put an end to all these calamities 1 How justly may God leave us des
titute of his help, if we have not been pleading with him for help for others ? And
if there be any one of us whose conscience now informs him that he has not
sympathized and suffered this day with aU the suffering members of Christ, let
such a man now humble himself apd say, Oh Lord, do not excommunicate me
out of the hearts of thine, for my coldness towards them : how shall I expect help
from others' prayers, who have been wanting in my prayers for them ? Where
waa my fervent brotherly love, that I would not do that for a brother, which
I owe to an enemy, viz. to pray for him. Oh Lord forgive the offence of
thy servant, and pour down upon me the spirit of prayer and supplication. 'This
done, resolve not to close your eyes this night, until you have improved your
interest in God. You have a key that wiU open any lock, let no Christians lie
in chains by you, either in bodily or spiritual chains. If he be sick, pray him
into health. If poor, pray him rich. If troubled in mind, pray him into comfort.
It is for want of our prayers that men Ue so long under their burdens. If we
would jointly commend them unto God, he would either deliver them, or, what
ia the aame, he would sanctify and sweeten the affliction, and make it as great a
blessing as a dehverance. If you can do nothing else, pray for your brethren.
You may not have other means of helping them, hut the poorest Christian has.
an interest with God, and if he use it in prayer, it wiU do them and him a real
service : for prayer in this case for others, is a clearer evidence of grace, than
prayer for ourselves.
Since the times then so loudly caU upon us, let us join in prayer for aU those
that are troubled in mind, body, or estate ; and that we may appear as the mem
bers of one body, actuated by the same spirit under one head, let us aU agree, at
whatever distance we may happen to be, at one and the same hour to meet together
at the throne of grace. And what hour can we pitch upon more proper for this
sacred employment, and more free from worldly avocations, than from eight
o'clock to nine on the Lord's Day evening ? The attendance upon the pubhc
offices of the day is then over. The mind is coUected and serious. By what
more' likely means can we hope to keep it in the same sweet frame, than to close
the day with an act of devotion ? If God's people would enter into an holy league,
and oblige themselves to spend this part of the day in their several closets during
these troublesome times, they would infallibly succeed in their petitions. Tell
rae, whenever the church's joint prayers did miscarry, in what place, in what
case, or for what people ? There is not an instance wherein they failed. Prayers
have been made for men in the church (good men and bad") and for men out of

800 THE DUTY OF
the church — and they have succeeded. Prayers have been made by land and
upon the sea, and with success — they have prevailed above-ground, under-ground,
in dens, and caves, and dungeons. Prayers have reheved dying men, poor men,
prisoners, and captives ; they have been made for men against temptations and
sorrows, against the rage of persecutors and derils, and they have prevailed ;
and why should not prayer be as omnipotent now, as it has been formerly ? Sup
pose our national sins cry aloud for vengeance, let our prayers cry louder for
mercy. When one Elijah stood up for stiff-necked Israel, and one Amos for
rebellious Judah, God showed mercy ; and Elijah and Amos were men of like
passions with us : encouraged by their success, let us be importunate at the throne
of grace, while God aUowe us an hour for prayer. And let none of ua be dis-
couraged as if it was too late ; our danger indeed is great, but while God calls in
hia word, it ia not too late to call to him in prayer. He often Bees men sinking,
before he comes to their help. Our extremity is his opportunity. When Peter
is within a few hours of death, then is God's time to deliver him.
But perhaps some of you may say, I have been praying and waiting long, and
yet see no success. So did the church. They pray for Peter week after week,
without ceasing night or day, and still the prison is shut and hia chain8 are on.
And now they nave but one night more to wait, and they wait and pray, unttt
Peter cornea in among them. If then we have but one day, or one hour more to
apend, let ua epend it in prayer, not doubting but the God that heareth prayer
will anatver. lleliverance will come, be it at the last hour, if the prayer of faith
wait for it. Experience, and the word of God, prove it ever wae eo, and it ever
ehall. Diepute not then, only believe. Go and open thy wante to God aa thy
reconciled Father, aak a eupply of Chriat God-man, thy Saviour and Mediator,
through God the Holy Ghoat aa the inditer of thy prayere. Set thy faith to work.
Before thou begin , say with the prophet, I wiU call, and the Lord will answer ;
and when thou hast finished, believe that in due time and manner thou shalt be
answered. Thus pray, let faith enter into thy suit, and end, and subscribe it,
and God wiU as soon deny himself, as deny thee thy heart's desire.
But this point deserves farther consideration. Many serious, well-meaning
persona are very apt to be diacouraged at God's delay in granting their requesta.
Let U8 go to the history before ua for light into this particular, and let this be
the third practical uae to be made of the text. The church had been long at
prayer8, but God did not anatver till the laet hour. That wae his time, which is
alwaya the beat. If he doea not anawer immediately, he delay8 for wise and good
reasons. He would remind us of our former behaviour to him. How often did
he call by mercies, by judgments, and by hia word, but we would not hear. He
prayed ua again and again to leave our eins, and come to him, but we would not
answer, therefore it ia a ju8t reproof, that we should call, and not be heard. God
seems not to hear, to 8pur us on to pray the more earnestly. He seems deaf,
that we might speak out, and alow, that we might be earneat. Thus Daniel
interprets it in the ninth chapter. God defers anel delays, says he, but it is only
to try me : therefore he prays with more warmth and fervour, " Oh Lord, hear ;
oh"Lord, forgive ; oh Lord, hearken and do ; defer not, for thine own sake, oh my
God." And he goes on praying with ao much vehemence, that while hewa8 yet
speaking the angel Gabriel is sent unto him with an answer. Though God delay,
yet he will an8wer. And if his delays begin to discourage ue, let ue study the
course of his providence, and be comforted to wait on. Behold how the
husbandman waits. He does not think of sowing and reaping the same day
But his corn lies buried for some time, and dies, yea it grows downward, before
it shoots upward ; and when it is up, it receives many a check : yet stiU he waits,
because he hath experience. So must we. When we have sown our seed, and
our prayere eeem to be buried and dead, and aU thinge appear woree with us after
prayer than they were before, yet we should wait, and learn experience from our
own and other men's success. Never was the seed of prayer sown, but there was
a crop, although it was a late harvest.
I wish the harvest was come, says one, I have been praying long, and without
success. How long have you prayed? Abraham prayed thirty years for a
child ; Isaac prayed twenty : but their prayers were heart! at last. How long did

PRAYING FOR OTHERS. 801
tbe faithful pray for the incarnation of the Lord of life ? — four thousand years
before he came. And yet he did come ; therefore pray on.
But you hate used all means, prayed yourself, got others to pray for you, and
yet you have no answer. And might not Peter have said the same ? There tvas
not a Christian in Jerusalem but had been praying for him, and yet still he is in
prison. But you think matters go worse trith you, the more 3rou piay : the more you
pray for faith, the less you have ; the more you pray against temptations, the
more they beset you. Is not this as tve said, the corn must go backward before
it comes forward ? Was it not so trith Abraham and Sarah ? The longer they
prayed the older they grew.
But you think your sins grow stronger by prayer. No! this cannot be. Only
you feel sin more than you did before. It is not because sin is stronger, but
because you are sounder : for these motions of sin are not motions of hfe, but
symptoms of death. Take comfort: the pangs of death are now upon your
lusts ; they are struggling for Ufe. Keep on your prayers, and soon you trill
have a happy deliverance.
But you say, your comforts come too late, I am quite wearied out. Never say
it is too late, so long as God bids you pray, and you can pray, and God's people
have hearts to pray for you. If Peter be delivered by midnight or by daybreak,
it is as well as if he had been out a month before. God does not delay, because
he will not grant, but because he would quicken you, and stir you up to ask
with greater earnestness. If your petition be not according to his will, never
make it ; but if it be, never leave it. Keep on praying, as they did in the text,
until Peter came in among them. Remember the poor widow, and learn from
her not to be faint or weary in your prayers — she had to deal with a judge, and
not a father — a hard rigorous judge, and she tvas alone, a simple orator, and yet
she carried her suit by her importunity. If a judge, that neither feared God nor
regarded man, could thus be won, shaU not God avenge his own elect, who cry
day and night unto him, although he bear long with them? What an encourage
ment is this to continuance in prayer, though God should delay long! We here
see that his delays are not denials. Oh Lord! help our faith, that having precept,
promise, God's servants, God's own blessed Son, on our side, we may never be
put oft' with any delay ; but may have strength to keep on our suit, so long as
an hour or a minute is left. Let us pray with faith and patience, not doubting
hut God will bring about our dehverance, not only after delays, but after all
human means fail : which is the fourth circumstance in the history before us
worthy of our attention.
Many persons are apt to be stumbled when they see no outward means of
deliverance. Although they have the word of promise in their hands, yet they
are tempted to think their case desperate, when they see no way open to escape.
And when this comes after many and long delays, it is often discouraging. But
we should consider that the Lord never wants means. St. Peter had good
reason to say from his own experience, " The Lord knoweth how to deliver his
people." — He is never at a loss. If they know how to pray, he always knows
how to deliver. His wisdom is infinite to find out means, his power is almighty
to carry them into execution, nay, if need be, to create them. He is the Lorel of
boats: all creatures and all elements obey him. If we want his help at land or
aea, he is Lord of all. If we be in prison, he can open any jail. He can make
strangers and enemies, yea all things, work together for our good. Look not
then at the want of means, but at his promise, who can work without means and
against means. Cast thy care upon God, and he wiU care for thee. Is thy
burden poverty ? Cast it upon him, and he wttl help thee. Is it sin or sorrow ?
Whatever it be, he can bear it, and discharge thee.
But stiU thou art afraid, thou seest no means. Suppose they had reasoned,
in Peter's case, as thou dost ? If we had a friend at court to use his interest
with Herod, or if we had a. friend in the watch whom we could bribe, or if the
jailor would suffer us to come at Peter, then we might have some hopes ; but
now all human means fail us, why need we pray any longer ? They had more
faith than to reason in this manner. They knew that God had means out of
3 F

802 TUE DUTY OF
our reach. If men could not deliver Peter, an angel should. If thou bejieveat,
he wttl find or create means to deUver thee. All things are possible to him that
believeth. But thou eeeat so many difficulties in the way, that thy ease seems desperate,
and it is not posaible to help thee. What are difficulties to hira, who speaks the
word, and aU nature obeys ? His power is shut out of no place, and is every
where almighty, Does thy case require more power than Peter's did ? Go to
the prison, there ia a atrong guard. Paas the guard, there ia a door. Pasa it,
there is a chain. Get through it, there is an iron gate — and come at last to
Peter, he is chained fast to two men. What do all these avail against God ? If
Peter's friends can break through all theee discouragements to prayer, God wiU
break through tliese and a thousand more to their comfort.
"Oh, but," says weak faith, "God works no wonders at present." No? What,
is not his name still the wonderful God? Ia not hie power and hie wisdom as great
as ever ? Are not his promisee as good ? Is not his love, and our want of it,
as much as ever ? Have we not still the same loring Saviour, and the eame
interest in him? All things stand as they did before. And if we uee the
former means, we shall infallibly find the former euccese, and God will do
exceeding abundantly above all that we can either bbIc or think. We have the
Lord's promise for this, and our own experience. What man is there any way
acquainted with God and this holy duty, who ever found his prayers unauc-
ceasful? When didet thou ever apeak to thy heavenly Father, but he anawered
thee with 8ome ease or some comfort ? When didst thou ever pray, but thy
heart was somewhat refreshed? Fear not then but the Lord will still do
wonder8. Is any thing too hard for God ? Haa he made any promiae that he
cannot perform ? No, certainly. Faith find8 no variableness in him nor
shadow of turning, but experiences him to he the God that heareth prayer, the
same yesterday, to-day, and for ever.
The history would afford many more practical remarks, but here I stop. Let
these four suffice. Firet, when God intends to deliver his people out of any
trouble, he puts it into their hearts to pray for deliverance. Secondly, their
prayers are always succeeaful — although, thirdly, God delaya to give them an
answer for eome time. And fourthly, when he doea answer, he wants no meana
to bring about his gracious purposes. My Christian brethren, consider theee
particulars with attention, and eee whether there be not great reason for you to
beg of God that he would give you at thia time the spirit of prayer and expli
cation. If he does not make us a praying people, it may be feared that he will
give ua over to de8truction ; for look around you. See the troublea of Europe.
Does not your heart bleed for the shedding of bo much Christian blood?
Examine the state of the Christian churches. What coldness and deadneee ie
there in some ? .And how greatly are they, who have a little hfe, opposed and
persecuted ? Consider the danger that threatens the Protestant interest. Are
not these so many loud calls upon you to use your interest with God, that he
would put a stop to these general calamities. And then look around thia
kingdom, and see whether it doea not stand in need of your prayers ; ia there
any corner of the island, wherein rice does not abound? And does not the
number of awearers and curaers far exceed the number of thoae who mourn and
pray ; yea, so far, that 1 fear for one prayer, there are a thousand oatha and
profane euraea ? And though God has been punishing us, yet we are neither
reformed nor humbled. We neither deny oureelvee our diversiona nor our ains.
Long have ive been declining, and now our frienda abroad and at home are
encompassed with sins eo provoking, with enemiee eb numeroue and mighty,
that we are brought to this extremity, we muet either make our way through aU
by prayer, or else we perish. The imagination of man cannot devise how we
ahould long subeiat under our pressing evils, unless we Call in mercy and help
from heaven. Let us then make God our refuge and strength, and we shan'find
him a very present help in trouble. Let so many of ua aa know what our
interest is in God, and what the power of prayer is, now in earneat address
oureelvea to this duty. And we need not fear, but since God allows us a time
for prayer, he will also find a time for our deliverance from all our troublea.

PRAYING FOR OTHERS. 803
But here is our greatest danger — the Lord's people are not stirred up to be
hearty and earnest in praying to see an end of these troubles. There seems to
be among them a great coolness and backwardness to the duty. This is the
worst sign of the times. We have but one remedy, and that we do not take.
My Christian friends and brethren, if this be your case, beg of God to give you
the spirit of prayer and supplication. I have been urging you by several motives
to do your duty in these troublesome times ; you see and know what it is, now go
and practise it. Youi; weapon is prayer, may God give you grace to use it. If
you use it with faith, it wiU prevaU, yea, it will be almighty, in heaven and earth.
Whatever you want, prayer can supply you. Do you want your corruptions
abated ? Pray against thera. Woulei you have your graces increased ? Pray
for thera. Would you have the afflicted churches comforted, and our own
church and kingdom restored to peace and tranejuillity ? You may relieve them
by prayer. If God intends to-try us with greater troubles and persecutions,
prayer is necessary, that you may be fitted for them. On aU these accounts you
cannot but see that there is great need of prayer, and if you do pray, that there
are great hopes of success. Oh, then, let us lay aside all trifling matters, and
altend strictly to this. Let us leave off so much talking about what belongs to
statesmen, let our subject be what belongs to private Christians. Let us pray
more, and talk less. Let us speak more to God, and less of men. Speak as
much as you will for men, but say nothing against theip out of an ordinance.
Whatever you have to say against them, let it be in prayer to God for them.
This is the Christian's duty, and God grant it may be the Christian's practice.
Let me leave this one consideration upon your minds. When the public
exercises of the Lord's Day are ended; take up the bible, and read the history
we have been meditating upon. See whether it does not contain more encou
ragements to pray for the peace of our Jerusalem than I have now used — and
while your heart is warm with the subject, put it in practice. Go to the throne
of grace at the appointed hour, and use your interest with him that sitteth upon
the throne. Do not spend your evening in talking of other men's matters, but
mind your own duty. The less they mind theirs, the more should you pray for
them. And instead of prating, as I hear many professors of religion prate,
" Oh that we might have more public fasts, more pubhc meetings for prayer,
more general reformations, &c. ;" get thee into thy closet, and set about thy own
reformation as soon as thou wUt. .Pray and fast, as long as thou wilt, and the
more thou growest in grace, the more wilt thou pray for others, as well as thy
self. Let us all, then, with one heart and one voice now begin, and God grant
we may pray without ceasing, as they did in the text, until we obtain the like
dehverance. And what sweeter, what more suitable, what more devout words
can we find wherewith to conclude, than the coUect of our church for this day ?
" Almighty and everlasting God, who dost govern all things in heaven and
earth, mercifuUy hear the supplications of thy people, and grant us thy peace all
the days of our life, through Jesus Clirist our Lord. Amen."

3 i 2

8:U SERMON ON THE DEATH

THE KNOWLEDGE OF SALVATION PRECIOUS IN TNE
HOUR OF DEATH :
PROVED IN
A SERMON
PREACHED JANUARY 4, 1759, UPON THE DEATH OP THE BEV. JAMK8
IIKRVKY, RKCTOB OF WESTON FAVEL, IN NOHTHAMPTONSI] IRE

Rii;hteousnirss ileliveretli from death  Piov. j

Lord, now lettest thou thy servant depart in peace, according to thy word: for
mine eyes have seen thy salvation. — Luke ii. 29, 30.
According to the ancient prophecies, in the fulneas of time God sent forth his
Son. He came to his own when there was a general expectation of his birth.
Many just and devout persons in Jerusalem were then looking out for the
Redeemer's coming in the flesh, and among them good old Simeon, and Anna, a
Srophetess, are particularly mentioned. St. Luke says, " There was a man in
erusalem, whose name waa Simeon, and the same man was just, a justified person,
and devout, fearing to offend God," as the Greek word signifies, waiting forthe con
solation of Israel ; he was waiting for the incarnation of the divine Comforter, by
whose birth all the promises of comfort were to be ratified and fulfilled, and the
Iarael of God wa8 to receive everlaating consolation. The Lord was pleased to
vouchsafe a particular revelation of his wiU in this matter to Simeon : " for the
Holy Spirit was upon him, and it was revealed unto him by the Holy Spirit, that
he should not see death before he had seen the Lord's Christ incarnate." And
he came by direction of the Spirit into the temple, and when the parents brought
in the holy child Jesus, to do for him after the custom of the law, then took
he him up in his arms, and bleased God that he had lived to thia happy hour,
when he could take up the prophet'8 word8, and eay, " Lo, this is our God, we
have waited for him, and he will aave us ; this ia the Lord, we have waited for
him, we trill be glad, and rejoice in his salvation." Simeon waited to see God
incarnate, and having seen him, he waited to live no longer. He desired his die-
mission. AU the eDds of hving were answered, and therefore he put up this
Btveet prayer — *' Lord, now lettest thou thy servant depart in peace, according to
thy word : for mine eyes have seen thy salvation."
With these same words erne of our dear brethen, now with the Lord, finished his
course. They were the dying words of the Reverend Mr. Jamee Hervey. He had
long deaired to depart, and to be with Christ, which he knew was far better than
to abide in the fle8h, but he waited patiently for the Lord'e time ; and when it
was come, he thus expressed the thankfulne8s of hie heart, " Lord, now lettest
thou thy servant depart in peace, according to thy most holy and comfortable
word : for mine eyes have seen thy precious salvation." The Lord heard him,
and gave him a gentle dismission. He died as he had lived, in a perfectly even
and calm coraposure of mind. Deato. showed that he came to him as a friendly
messenger to call him to glory, for he cheerfully obeyed the summons. There
was no fear, no struggle, not a sigh or groan ; but he departed in peace, and in
fuU a8aurance of faith. Oh that you and I, my brethren, may 80 live by the faith
of the Son of God, that when we come to die, we may be able to use thia aame
prayer, and may receive of the Lord a like gracious an8wer.
These sweet dying words of our dear brother have made a great impression
upon several of lus acquaintance : for they have been led to consider them more

OF THE REV. JAMES HERVEY. 805
closely than perhaps they ever did before, and several have meditated upon them
with great comfort. In order that others might do the same, and that his happy
.death might be the means of stirring up many to seek to die the death of the
"righteous, and that their fatter end might be like his, I have determined to
speak upon the words this day. May the same Spirit by which Simeon spake
them be in all your hearts. May he teach you their true and fuU meaning, and
in God's due time may he give you the comfortable experience of them. Under
his guidance let us consider,
First, That when Simeon had seen the salvation of God, he was prepared to
depart ;
Secondly, He therefore desired it, and prayed for it ; and
Thirdly, He expected he should depart in peace according to God's word,
which was fulfiUed to him ; and under each of these particulars I shaU speak of
the experience of our deceased brother.
First, Simeon had it revealed to him by the Holy Spirit, that he should not die
until he had seen the Lord's Christ, and when Jesus was brought into the temple
he was directed to go and receive him for the promised Messiah, and taking him
up in his arms, he blessed God, and said, " Lord, now lettest thou thy servant
depart in peace, according to thy word : for mine eyes have seen thy salvation."
It ia evident he apoke these words in their primary sense of his Beeing Jesus with
the eyes of his body ; but thia could have been no great cause of joy to him, un
less he had before seen Christ some other way ; for multitudes saw him with
their bodily eyes, while he was upon earth, who were no better for the sight ; and
multitudes witt hereafter see him in his glorified body, but it wttl be to their ever
lasting confusion. There is another kind of sight, to which our church referred
you this afternoon, when each of you took up these words and said, " for mine
eyes have seen thy salvation." If you knew what you said, and spoke the truth
as you had experienced it, you meant that you had seen the salvation of God
trith the eye of faith ; according to what is said of Moses, " That by faith he saw
him who is invisible," (Heb. xi. 27.) He saw him by the eyes of his soul, who
was invisible to the eyes of his body : for the soul has its eyes as well as the body,
but sin darkened them : it put them into the state in which the eyes of the body
are, when they have no hght ; then they can see nothing. So the soul is said in
scripture to be in darkness and blindness, until the eyes of the understanding be
enlightened. They cannot see any spiritual objects until the Sun of Righteous-
neaa ahine upon them ; nor when he does shine, can they see any loveliness in
those objects, until they be able to act faith upon them ; for the eye of faith not
only beholds the object, but also distinguishes its own interest in it. Faith keeps
all the senses of the soul in act and exercise upon the proper object which each
apprehends ; here the eye of faith is fixed upon salvation, not only viewing it as
a blessing belonging to others, but also appropriating it to itself, " Mine eyes have
seen thy salvation;" here Simeon speaking of our Saviour calls him Salvation,
becauae all salvation is in and from him. He is the author, and he is the
finisher of it. The great plan of it was laid by the co-equal and co-eternal persons
of the ever-blessed Trinity before the foundation of the world ; it was earned
into execution by our divine Saviour in the fulness of time, and his is an eternal
salvation, an eternal dehverance from all evil, and an eternal possession of aU
good. Uuon the entrance of sin into the world this great salvation of our God
waa revealed, and, by faith, believers under the Old Testament dispensation,
enjoyed the benefita of it. At the appointed time Jehovah took a body of
flesh, and our divine Immanuel stood up to save his people from their 6ins.
He undertook to satisfy all the demands of law and justice. The law he
satisfied by paying it a perfect unsinning obedience, which being a divine as
well aa a human obedience, did therefore magnify the law, and make it more
honourable, than if aU the creatures in heaven and earth had never offended
against it. Justice he satisfied by enduring the threatened punishment, and
after his sufferings and death, justice had no more demands upon him ; for he
came out of the prison of the grave with aftttl discharge. This satisfaction made to
law and justice, hy the obedience and sufferings of the Lord Jesus, is what the

806 SERMON ON THE DEATH
scripture calla the Righteousnees of God, because it is a divine and infinitely
perfect righteousness, a divine righteousness wrought out by Jehovah himself,
and as infinitely perfect a righteousness as Jehovah could make it. In thia all-
glorious righteouaness of the God-man Christ Jesus consists the sinner's salva
tion ; for he is accepted and justified by it : the fruits of this righteousness are his
sanctification, and the robe of this righteousness is his glorification. So that
salvation in time and in eternity depends upon the righteousnesa of the incarnate
a v.™* is the funQamental doctrine of the Christian religion, for which our
dear brother waB a noble champion. He saw, he experienced the importance of
it, and therefore in his conversation and in hia preaching it was his favourite topic.
How sweetly, how profitably have I heard him dweU upon it, and how exceUently
has he defended it in his writing8 ? Read hia Theron and Aapasio, and when you
are thoroughly convinced that Christ is the end of the law for righteousneas to
every one who believeth, and can say with faith, " in the Lord have I righteoua
nesa and 8alvation," then your mind trill be settled in peace and comfort, and
you will be delivered from those dangerous errors which are now propagated con
cerning the righteousness of the Lord Jesus. Thank God for the masterly
defence of it in these dialogues.* In them Mr. Hervey, being dead, yet speaketh
the praises of hia adorable Redeemer, and clearly prove8 that we have our ealva
tion through hia righteoueneaa. Immanuel the Saviour is the justifier, as he says
himself, (Isa. xiv. 21, 22.) " There 8 no God else beaide me ; a God that givea righte-
oueneea and a Saviour ; there ia none beaide me. Look unto me, andhe ye saved,
aU the ends of the earth : for I am God, and there is none else." How could they be
saved by looking unto Chri8t ? Certainly not by a look of their bodily eyes.
Simeon's ioy did not arise from having Christ in his arma, and looking upon him ;
but from being able to look upon him by an act of faith. He knew hira to be his
Sariour. Thence aroee hia joy, and from thence muat youra ariae. It is the
look of faitii tvhich saves ; the eye of faith kept in exercise upon ita proper object,
even upon Jeaua, the author and finiaher of the faith. It ie thia act of faith which
our Lord requires — " Look unto me," with thie promise annexed, "and be ye
saved." There ie salvation in the look of faith : for it sees and receives Jesus, as he ia
offered in scripture, for a free, full, and complete Saviour. And whoever keeps
the eye of faith in constant exercise, is prepared with good old Simeon to depart
in peace ; because, by having an interest and property in the salvation of our God,
he is thereby delivered from every thintj that can make death dreadful, and ia in
possession of every that can make death desirable.
What is it that makes death dreadful ? Is it not guttt in the conscience ac
cusing the sinner for the breach of the holy law, and alarming him with fear and
threatened punishment, which the justice, and holiness, and truth of God are
concerned to see inflicted, in time and in eternity ? Thus we read, " The sting of
death is sin, and the strength of ain ia the law." Death haa power to ating, ao
long aa the broken law givea ain a right to aceu8e and condemn : all unpardoned
sinners therefore are afraid of death. From this state of fear and bondage our
Lord came to 8ave his people : "he came to deliver them, who through fear of
death were all their lifetime subject to bondage;" and he does deliver them
when their sins are forgiven, and his righteouaness is imputed to them: for then
the broken law cannot condemn, nor justice punish, there being no condemnation
• About a week before Mr. Hervey was taken ill, I mentioned to him a report that was
spread about, concerning Mr. Sandeman's Letters upon Theron and Aspasio, to this effect ;
that he (Mr. Hervey) had written a letter to Mrs. Cooke, and therein had said, That Mr.
Sandeman was in the right, and had convinced him of his error ; or words to that purpose.
To which he answered, That he had written a letter to Mrs. Cooke, and therein he had
acknowledged that many of Mr. Sandeman's remarks were judicious, and that he had cor
rected some of bis expressions and inaccuracies. Hut he said, That he was very far from
having changed his opinion as to the substance and matter ofthe argument : for therein he
thought Mr. Sandeman was entirely wrong Whereupon 1 desired he would insert an ad
vertisement in some of the London papers, signed by himself, to set this mistake right, lest it
might hinder the sale and reading of his books, and thereby prevent much good. To which he
agreed ; and added, that he would let that paragraph stand in his Answer to Mr. Wesley,
relating to Mr. Sandeman, only softening the expression a little ; but all this was prevented
by his illness and death. Thelrurth of this I am ready to attest. — Abbaham Maddock, curaK
of Wctti'ii Favet.

OF THE REV. JAiMES HERVEY. 807
to them that are in Christ Jesus. Upon which death loses its sting ; and when
the pardoned sinner looks upon it, he sees nothing terrible in its appearance, but
can boldly and without presumption, say, " Yea, when I walk through the valley
of the shadow of death, I wttl fear no evil : for thou, my God, art with me."
And he is not only prepared to die because he is delivered from every thing
that could make death dreadful, but also because he is in the possession of every
thing that can make death desirable. He knows he has an interest in Christ,
and Christ is the possessor of heaven and earth. He has all things in his hands,
and has promised to make them all work together for the good of his redeemed
people : so that whoever has Christ, has aU things. " All things," says the
apostle, " are yours, whether life or death, or things present, or things to come,
all are yours." And the reason foUows, "and ye are Christ's, and Christ is
God's." As all that Christ has is yours, and all that God has is Christ's ; conse
quently all is yours. And death by name is yours : no longer a curse and a
punishment, but turned into a real blessing : for it is the gate and entrance,
through which you pass into endless life and never-fading glory.
Thus he is prepared to depart, who has seen with the eye of faith the salvation
of God. The doctrine is clear from scripture ; but how is it, my brethren, in your
experience r Are you prepared to depart ? And on what do you buttd your
preparation I On the Lord Jesus, or on what ? Search and see, for nothing
can comfort you in the hour of death, but having received him into your hearts
by faith and love. You must see his salvation, and be able to keep the eye of
faith intent upon it, before you can be prepared to depart ; but when this is your
happy case, then, in whatever shape death comes, you wiU be able to say with
our dear brother, " Lord, now lettest thou thy servant depart in peace, according
to thy word ; for mine eyes have seen thy salvation." He might weU say, Mine
eyes have seen thy salvation : for aU that came near him were convinced that he
had seen it. The effects showed it. He had put off the old man, and had put on
the new, and was under the influence of divine love to his adorable Saviour. The
love of Jesus ruled in his heart, and was therefore constantly uppermost in his
mouth. He loved to be teUing of his salvation aU the day long. And he did not
talk like a professor fuU of mere head knowledge ; but what he spake had a
warmth, and life, and power in it, which showed that it came from his heart. He
was perfectly inflamed with the love of his divine Lord and Master ; and if you
sat any time in his company, you could not help catching some of the holy flame.
So that if strangers to his person may doubt of his experience of a Saviour's love,
we who have conversed with him cannot. We are sure from what we saw and
heard, that he had seen the salvation of God, and therefore was prepared to depart.
He knew in whom he had believed, and was certain the power and the love of the
dear Immanuel were in his interest ; so that neither death, nor he. that had the
power of death, could hurt him.
A friend of mine was much trith him on the 15th of December, and the dis
course turned upon what Christ had done for his soul. Mr. Hervey spake
strongly and earnestly of the assurance of his faith, and of the great love of God
in Christ to him. He declared that the fear of death was taken from him ; and it
afterwards appeared, that death had no sting to hurt, nor the grave any power to
get victory over him : for when death came, it found his mind in perfect peace.
He had no uneasy apprehensions of dying, but had hopes fuU of glory and im
mortality. Doubtless, then, he had seen the salvation of God. The knowledge
of salvation had been precious to him in life, and therefore he experienced the
preciousness of it in death : for then he could give thanks to God for giving him
the victory through Jesus Christ his Lord. Happy are they to whom God has
given the knowledge of their salvation ; they believe, on good grounds, that their
Saviour has brought them into a state of salvation ; and therefore they are pre
pared to meet death, yea they can desire and pray for it, as Simeon did : which is
the second particular I was to consider.
Simeon knowing that he was prepared, therefore desired to depart. And this
ia the believer's case. He longs for death, not out of an impatient, discontented
temper, but out of a real holy affection. When worldly men are oppressed with

806 SERMON ON THE DEATH
troubles on aU sides, and see no way to escape, they are apt to desire death, that
it may bring their misery to an end, and put them out of their pain. And there
are some most miserable and abject cowards, who murder themselves to get rid
of the troubles of life. These men court death as a less evil, but the believer
desires it as a real blessing.. He knows that his death will be to the glory of his
Saviour, for it grieves him to the heart, that he should ever do any thing dis
pleasing to such a kind benefactor After receiring so many tokens of Christ's
love, oh it is indeed afflicting to give him the least offence. 1 appeal to yourselves.
You that haye the love of Jesus in your hearts, are not you sorry that you love
him so little ? Have not you reason daily to mourn for your ingratitude to hiin ?
And what wttl such thoughts suggest, but a desire to be, where the very occasion
of offence wiU be removed ? It was on this account that Mr. Hervey desired
death ; for the last morning of Eis life, when his brother came in to inquire after
his welfare, he said, I have been thinking of my great ingratitude to my God.
And these thoughts made him wish to be dehvered from the bondage of corrup
tion, into the glorious liberty of the children of God.
Anil he desired it as Simeon did, and aU beUevers do, upon another motive,
namely, because the Lord wttl get himself honour, by the honour which he will
give to his people in his kingdom. He will be glorified, says the apostle, in his
saints ; he wttl get himself glory by the great glory tvhich he wttl bestow upon
thera. And as the behever has in all things an eye to God's glory, so has he
especiaUy in his desires to be dissolved and to be with Christ. He knows that
God is glorified in him, and by him at present ; but then it is imperfectly, and that
grieves him. Self, or the creature, will be trying to share the heart with God, and
thereby to rob him of hia glory. A bare thought of this, when only rising in the
mind, hurts the behever. He would have every thought brought into subjection
to Clirist, and that makes him desire to be, where temptation and sin shall be no
more, and where he shall glorify God, and God ehaU be glorified in him for ever
and ever. With this view Mr. Hervey desired to depart. His great love to his
Saviour's glory made him wish for death. He longed to be dissolved, that he
might be freed from the frailties and infirmities of this mortal life, under which
he laboured, and could not always, nor in a perfect degree, promote the glory of
his redeeming God : therefore he desired to be with them who follow the Lamb
whithersoever he goeth, and are ever receiving glory from him, and ever giving
glory to him. And the Lord granted his desire. He literally answered hie prayer,
tor he departed in peace, according to the word of God ; ae I purposed to show
under my third head.
What it is to be at peace with God, and to depart with a sense of this peace
upon our minds, I cannot better express than in the excellent words ofthe preaent
Archbishop of Canterbury, in his nine sermons, p. 132. " The peace of God is
that sense of being in friendship with him, that feeling of comfort and joy flowing
from him, which passeth aU understanding, exceeds the conceptions oi those who
have not experienced it, and wttl exceed hereafter the present conceptions of those
who have." And the believer, even when he is departing thie hfe, haa a eenee of
his being in friendship with God, and has a feeling of comfort and joy flowing
from him. This is promised in scripture, and this is fulfilled to them who being
justified by faith have peace with God. Being reconctted to the Father through
the Son of his love, they hve and they die in peace.
I suppose some weak in the faith are thinking thua within themaelves : " Well,
is it so, that true behevers die in peace aud joy ? I am sure I could not at present ;
for 1 am dreadfully afraid of death : and what would not I give to be delivered
from theae fears 1 for they make my hfe miserable." My brethren, why are
you in bondage to them ? God offers you dehverance. There are many general
promises in his word, tha ,let what will happen to behevers, the peace of God
shaU rule in their hearts. Thus Isaiah xxvi. 3. " Thou wilt keep him in perfect
peace, whose mind is stayed upon thee." And aa it ia a perfect, ao it ia a continual
peace. " The Lord of peace himaelf," Bays the apostle, (2 Thess. iii. 16,) " give
yon peace always by aU means : " for after he has once given this peace, he makea
all racans, even the most unlikely, tend to the oromoting of it ; therefore death

OF THE REV. JAMES HERVEY. 809
:an by no means weaken, and much less destroy, this peace of God. These
general promises he fulfiUed to the patriarchs; for St. Paul says, Heb. xi. 13,
" That they aU died in faith." They acted faith in their death, and consequently
had a sweet sense of the peace of God in their hearts, when they died. David
shows us the reason of their dying in faith, Psalm xlviii. 14, "'This God is oui
God for ever and ever, he shaU be our guide even unto death." They knew that
their God would be with them to guide and keep them, when the body returned
to dust, and the spirit returned, to God who gave it : and therefore David spoke
for himself, what each of them also could say — " When I walk through the vaUey
ofthe shadow of death I will fear no evil, because thou, my God, art then with me ;
thy rod and thy staff comfort me even then." (Psalm xxiii. 3.) With this faith they
looked upon death as disarmed of its sting and power to hurt, and therefore they
laid down their heads„and feU asleep in the arms of death with as much composure
ae any weary traveUer ever longed for rest. They feU asleep. The scripture
speakB of their death under this beautiful image, to teach us that death was as
sweet to them as ever sleep was to a hard-labouring man. The faithful feU asleep
quietly and composedly. And how should it be otherwise ? They had no evil to
fear : for they were at peace with God. And what could death do to hurt that
Seace ? It does indeed dissolve aU other bonds, but it strengthens this. It is the
appy instrum ent of fastening the bond of peace with a tie, which never, never can
be dissolved. And when the faithful look upon death in this Ught, what is there in
it but joy and peace, even a ioy unspeakable, and a peace that surpasseth all un
derstanding ?
Perhaps some of you think, this is not always the case, because there are very
good men who have had strong conflicts and struggles before death. Nay, my
brethren, think not so wickedly of God. Is it according to his word that the
faithful shall depart in peace, and do they not? What! can the word of God be
broken ? No. It shall stand fast for ever and ever ; and in the case which you
state, it does not follow that this peace is weakened or destroyed, because it is
tempted. By no means. The sense of this peace may remain, when it is most
furiously attacked : for it is the peace of God. God gave it, and God keeps it,
and he may suffer the devil to tempt, but not to destroy it. The more it is
tempted, the more honour redounds to God for preserving it in the fiery trial.
It was more to God's glory to preserve his children in the fiery furnace, than to
have kept them out of it. Doubtless he that has the power of death will make
his last efforts, and try to shake the faith of the dying believer. The devil trill
then set upon him with all his fury. But though he be a roaring lion, yet he is
chained, and the Almighty Saviour so over-rules his malice and rage, that he
makes them work together for his glory and his people's good : as he did remark
ably in the last efforts which the enemy made against our dear brother. He
saw hiin in great weakness of body, and then made a furious onset against his
faitii ; but the dear Immanuel was with him, and would not give him over into
the enemy's hands. His faith was tried, and it came like gold out of the fire.
He knew that it would be tried, and had therefore prepared himself for the fiery
trial. Speaking of it to a faithful minister of Christ, who was often with him in
hia last sickness, he said — " How many precious texts are' there, big with the
rich truths of Christ, which we do not comprehend, which we know nothing of;
and of those which we do know, how few do we remember? Bonus textuarius est
bonus theologus, and that is the armour. The word of God is the sword, these
texts are the weapons which I must use when that subtile spirit; that arch-adver
sary of mankind, comes to tempt and sift me in my last conflict. Surely I had
need be well provided with these weapons, I need have my quiver full of them,
to answer Satan trith texts out of the word of God, when he assaults me." Satan
did assault him, but found him prepared and armed. Mr. Hervey said to his
friends the day that he died, "On you know not how great a conflict I have."
And after he had sat for some time with his eyes constantly lift up towards
heaven, and his hands clasped together in a praying form, he said — " Now this
great conflict is over." Jesus made him conqueror over ail the powers of dark
ness ; having endeavoured to rob him of his peace, but in vain, they left him in
the Saviour's arms, never more to be tempted ; and be watched over him with

810 SERMON ON THE DEATH
the tenderest love, until he took him home. And when he went, he indeed de
parted in peace. His body seemed to be ready as well as his soul. When death
came, he had not one struggle with it. There tvas not a single groan or sigh, or
any thing that Could show the least unwillingness to depart. He had such a
gentle dismission as he had prayed for in Simeon's worda. He departed in peace,
and fell asleep.
I have now finished what I had to offer upon the three particulars mentioned
in my text, and it appears, that when a einner ia convinced of his want of a Sa
riour, and ia convinced that Jeaus ia such a Saviour aa he wanta, able and
wiUing to save to the uttermoat, and when he ia made to aee his interest in the
perfect complete righteousnesa of thia adorable Sariour, and ie assured of it from
the word and Spirit of God, and from the fruits of righteousness produced in hia
hfe and converaation, then he i8 prepared to die ; then he may desire it with suh-
raiasion to God's wiU, and whenever death comes, he may expect to depart in
peace, according tothe word of God. Tliese great truths I have illuatrated from
scripture and from experience, more especially from the experience of our dear
brother, now tvith the Lord, of whom I have apoken nothing more, than what
the word8 of my text naturally led me to say. If I were to attempt to draw the
character of this exceUent man, I would consider him in the several relations in
tvhich he atood to God and man, and would exhort you to foUow him, ao far as
he foUowed Christ. But the eompasa of thi8 discourse will not suffer me to
enlarge. I can only just observe some particular instances, from whence it will
evidently appear that he had seen the salvation of God. He had a clear view of
it by the eye of faith, and wae able to act faith upon it, for hie was a faith work
ing by love. " We love God," saye the beloved apoetle, " becauae he first loved
us ;" because tve know by faith that he first loved us : so that our love is the re
flex act of hislove to us. AndMr. Hervey had great experience of God's love to him,
and therefore his heart was fuU of love to God ; and out of the abundance of hia
heart hia mouth apake. There waa auch a aweetne88 of heart- love upon his
tongue, that he used to apeak of the love of the adorable Redeemer like one who
had aeen him face to face in the fulness of his glory. He would, with all the
power of language and dignity of sentiment, apeak for a long time together in
praise of the ever blesaed Saviour ; but you might plainly eee, though every body
elee wa8 pleased, yet he was not satiafied with what he had aaid. He thought he
had not said enough, and what he had aaid fell far below hia Lord'a merit. But
8tttl he would try again, and indeed waa never weary. You could not hear hiin
speak for any time upon this his favourite subject, without being convinced that
he felt what he said ; and if you had any love of God when you went into hia com
pany, hia converaation would inflame it. He had an excellency, which I never eaw to
bo great a degree in any other person. He never let an opportunity slip of speak
ing of the love of Christ. He would take occaeion from the most common in
cidents, and yet it would not appear forced : for he had a wonderful talent at
spiritualizing and improving whatever happened about him. By which means
he hindered the converaation from turning upon trifling mattera, and at the eame
time kept it up with spirit and usefulnesa. Having aet the Lord alwaye before
him, he saw the line ol Uod in every thing, and therefore it is not to be wondered
that all objects and events should give him occasion to speak of it. In hia last
sickness it continued still to be his favourite theme : for whenever my friend, who
was much tvith him, came into the room, he would begin to talk of the love of
Christ, and of the great things which Christ had done.for him, until his breath
failed him ; and as soon as he had recovered himself a little, he would proceed
upon the same sweet subject : so that he might have truly applied to himself the
words of the prophet — " My mouth shall be telling of thy righteouaness and of
thyealvation all th day long : for I know no end thereof."
This heart-love to God appeared evidently in every part of hia character. Aa
a minister, his faitii wrought by love to the souls of men in aU the offices of hia
function. While his health permitted him, he ttjatched like a faithful shepherd
over his flock. He used to visit them from house to house, and to speak freely
to them of the state of their souls ; and when the weakness of -his body obliged
him to drop these religious visits, he would often grieve that he could not be

OF THE REV. JAMES HERVEY. 811
more useful, and would speak with great concern and uneasiness of his not being
able to preach oftener, and to do more for Christ. In the pulpit he was fervent
and earnest with his people, and would often exert himself beyond his strength :
for he preached the great doctrines of salvation as one who had experienced the
power of them. It was manifest to aU who heard him, that he felt what he spake.
And when we speak what we know, and testify what we have seen, then God
blesseB this experimental preaching. He puts a divine power and energy into it,
and renders it effectual to awaken sinners, to comfort them that mourn for sin,
and to edify and build up the faithful. Mr. Hervey had many happy proofs of
the usefulness of his preaching for each of these purposes ; and therefore he did
not think it enough to preach one a week on the Lord's day, but he set up a
weekly lecture at Weston Favel, which was veryweU attended, and was blesseti to
many of his neighbours, who will be his glory and crown of rejoicing in the pre
sence of our Lord Jesus Christ at his coming.
He did not forget that he was a minister in his own house : for he called his
family together twice a day to serve God. It was his custom in the evening,
after the servants had read the psalms and the second lesson, to explain some
part of what had been read. In this exercise he would sometimes dweU for half
an hour ; and when he met with a sweet passage upon the love of Christ, I have
heard him speak for three quarters of an hour, and then he concluded with a
prayer. In the morning, when the family were met together, he used to ask the servants
— " WeU ! where waa our text last night ?" And after they had repeated it, he
made them give an account of what had been said upon it, and then he would
repeat and enforce his last night's discourse, concluding with prayer.
In the afternoon when he was called down to tea, he used to bring his Hebrew
Bible or Greek Testament with him, and would either speak upon one verse, or
upon several verses, as occasion offered. This was generaUy an improving season
The glory of God is very seldom promoted at the tea-table, but it was at Mr
Hervey's. Drinking tea with him was like being at an ordinance : for it was
sanctified by the word of God and prayer.
As a member of society, his faith wrought abundantly by love to his neigh
bour : for he was fuU of good works. His charities to the poor were very large ;
and that he might be liberal to them, he was very frugal in his own expenses
He chose rather to clothe the poor, than to give them money. He used to
get some judicious person to buy linen, coarse cloth, stockings, shoes, &c. for
them at the best hand, alleging that the poor could not buy so good a commodity
at the httle shops, and with driblets of money. " 1 am God's steward," says he,
" for his poor, and I must husband the little pittance I have to bestow upon
them, and make it go as far as possible." But where money would be parti
cularly serviceable to a family long afflicted with sickness, or to a prudent
housekeeper who had met with great losses in trade, he would give five, ten, or
fifteen guineas at a time, taking care it should not be known from whence the
money came.
He gave away a great number of good books, with suitable instructions for
their use, and especiaUy bibles. In the blank leaf he frequently wrote something
striking, or else stuck in a printed paper, relating to the promises of God in and
through Jesus Christ.
Mr. Hervey's income was but smaU, and it may be wondered how he managed
it eo well as to have such sums to spare for charitable uses. He could not have
done it entirely out of his church-preferment, and he had no fortune of his own ;
but what money was left after the family expenses were paid, and aU the profits
arising from the sale of his books, which was a very considerable sura, he gave
away in charity. He made of it a bank for the poor. " And this," says he, " I
have devoted to God. I wttl on no account apply it to any worldly uses. I
write hot for profit or for fame, but to serve the- cause of God ; and as he has
blessed my attempt, I think myself bound to relieve the distresses of my feUow-
creatures with the profit that comes from this quarter." And he is stttl re
lieving them. He was not wttling that his charities should die with him : for
he ordered aU the profit arising from the future sale of his books to be con-

812 SERMON ON THE DEATH
stantly apphed to charitable uses. Thus having believed in God, he was care
ful to maintain good works, knowing that these things are good and profitable
unto men.
In his private hfe he was under the influence of the same faith, working by
love to the wttl and commandments of God: His holy walking was very exem
plary. What he said in words, concerning his interest in the Redeemer's
righteousness, he proved by his actions : for he tvas very sensible of the import
ance of this scripture, " He that saith he abideth in him, ought himself also so
to walk, even as he walked." (1 John ii. 6.) Mr. Hervey walked very close after
Christ, and found that the behef of Christ's righteousness being imputed to him
for his justification, was so far from being a licentious doctrine, that it inspired him
trith the noblest motives to a grateful obedience. His holy life was an excellent
recommendation of his principles; for I never saw one who came up so near to
the scripture character of a Christian. God had enriched him with great gifts,
and with great graces, and had made hira humble ; for he was humbled by the
power of grace. He had been a very vain proud young man, but the grace of
God emptied him of pride and 8elf, and clothed him with humility. Having put
on Christ, he had put on with him the ornament of a meek and quiet spirit;
wliich appeared in his great, patience and resignation to the will Of God. He had
some very sharp trials of his faith and patience, both from God and from men,
and he learned obedience by the things which he suffered. It was very remark
able, that, in his long iUness, he was never known to fret or be uneasy, nor did
the persons about him ever hear one angry or one haBty word come out Of his
mouth. The same principle of faith working by love waa manifeat in hia studiea, which
he directed to the glory of God. He waa once a great reader of the Greek and
Roman authora, and his writings show that he had a good taste for claaaical
learning ; but for 8ome years past he chiefly applied himself to the eacred scrip
tures. God had blessed him with a fine understanding, and a great memory,
which he exercised in reading the Bible in the original languages, lie waa very
well skilled in the Hebrew, and waa an excellent critic in the Greek, and waa a
scribe instructed unto the kingdom of heaven, who, like unto a man that is an
householder, bringeth forth out of his treasure thinga new and old. He had a
great veneration for this treasure of the Old and New Testaments. He used to
talk of them in the highest terms, next to that adorable person of whom they
treat. They were sweeter to him than honey and the honeycomb, and so they
will be to every one who reade them, ae he did, with faith. Whoever can act
faith upon the exceeding great and precioua promiaes contained in the sacred
volume, will find eo much 8weetnesa in it. that he wiU have but little relieh left
for other books.
As to his writings, 1 leave them to epeak for themselves.* They stand in no
need of my praises. They are in the hands of the public, and every reader will
form his own judgment. Oh that the Spirit of the hving God may direct it, that
whoever reads his writings may learn to have no confidence in the flesh, but to
make mention of Jehovah's righteousness, even of his only.
The time would fatt me, if I was to enlarge upon aU the particulars of his life
and death. That was not my design. I only intended briefly to relate eome things,
from whence a tolerable judgment might be formed of Mr. Hervey's character.
But I cannot finish without taking notice of the last scene of his life, which was
very triumphant and glorious. The laat and great trial of his faith was more
precious than that of gold which periaheth. ItB preciouaneas never appeared
more than in the hour of death : for then he evidently 8aw by faith, and appre-
• Mr- Hervey' srprinted works are,
Meditat-ons, in2vols., which have met with a favourable reception, having already passed
through fourteen editions. .
Theron and Aspasio. in 3 vols., which have had a great run.
Remarks on Lord Bolingbroke's Letters.
A Visitation Sermon.
Three Fast Sermons, and
Some little Tracts, which 1 hope will be collected when his Letters are published.
There is also a manuscript ready for the press, in Defence of Theron and Aspasio

OF THE REV. JAMES HERVEY. 813
hended the salvation of God, and could rejoice in a clear view of his own interest
in it. When Dr. Stonhouse saw him for the last time, namely, on (Jhristmas-
day, about two hours before he expired, Mr. Hervey pressed home upon him his
everlasting concerns in the most affectionate manner, telling him that there is no
abiding place, and begging of him to attend, amidst the multiplicity of his busi
ness, to the one thing needful.
The doctor, seeing the great difficulty and pain with which he spoke, (for he
was almost suffocated tvith phlegm and frequent vomitings,) and finding by his
pulse that the pangs of death were then coming on, desired that he would spare
himself. " No," says he, " doctor, no. You tell me I have but few moments to
hve, oh let me spend them in adoring our great Redeemer. Though my flesh
and my heart fail me, yet God is the strength of my heart, and my portion for
ever." He then expatiated, in the most striking manner, upon these words of
St. Paul, 1 Cor. iii- 22, 23, " All things are yours, life and death : for ye are
Christ's." " Here," says he, " is the treasure of a Christian. Death is reckoned
amongst this inventory, and a noble treasure it is. How thankful am I for
death ; as it is the passage through which I pass to the Lord and Giver of eternal
life ; and as it frees me from all this misery you now see me endure, and which I
am willing to endure, as long as God thinks fit : for I know he trill, by and by, in
his own good time.dismiss me from the body. These light afflictions are but for
a moment, and then comes an eternal weight of glory. Oh, welcome, welcome
death : thou mayest well be reckoned among the treasures of a Christian. To
live is Christ, but to die is gain."
After tvhich, as the doctor was taking his final leave of him, Mr. Hervey
expressed great gratitude for his visits, though it had been long out of the power
of medicine to cure him. He then paused a little, and with great serenity and
sweetness in his countenance, though the pangs of death were then on him,
repeated these triumphant words : —
" Lord, now lettest thou thy servant depart in peace, according to thy most
holy and comfortable word: for mine eyes have seen thy precious salvation.
Here, doctor, is my cordial. What are all cordials to the dying compared to the
salvation of Christ ? This, this supports me." He found this supporting him in
his last moments, and declared it by saying, twice or thrice, " precious salvation,"
and then leaning his head against the side of the easy chair, in tvhich he sat, he
shut his eyes, and fell asleep. Oh precious salvation! How precious must it
be to the dying man, who, interested in it, can thank God for death, and reckon
it among his riches ; who, supported by faith in the salvation of God, can account
it his gain to die ; and can gladly say, " Oh, welcome, welcome death!" May
this faith support you, my brethren, when all other supports faU, and make
salvation as precious to you as it was to Mr. Hervey ! And of this you may be
assured, that what the Lord did for him, he is able also to do for you. He was
indeed a glorious instance of the power of grace : for by the grace of God he was
what he was. And grace is free. As free for you as it was for him. Able also
to make you live and die as much to the glory of God as he did. He was truly
a burning and a shining light ; but the Lord's hand is not shortened. It can
make your light shine also before men, and enable you to adorn the doctrine of
God your Saviour, as much as Mr. Hervey did. And the great use to be made
of his example, is to stir you up to glorify God for the gifts and graces bestowed
upon him, and to desire the same may be bestowed upon you. With this view I
shall apply it,
First, To those persons who have never seen the salvation of God, and, con
sequently, are not prepared to depart in peace : and these are all careless sinners,
who live secure in the wilful commission of sin. Mr. Hervey knew, that when
ever the Lord should caU him out of this life, he should be found in Christ, not
having his own righteousness, which is of the law, but that which is through
the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith ; and clothed in
this righteousness, he was certain that he should appear at the bar of justice
without spot of sin unto eternal salvation. But this is not your experience. Nay,
you have never been awakened to desire it. You have never been humbled
under a sense of your lost condition, nor broken down under a conviction of your

814 SERMON ON THE DEATH
helplessnesa : so that you have never seen your want of a Sariour, and, conse
quently, have never seen the salvation of our God. If you entertain any hopet
of departing in peace, while you are in this state, you are, of all men, the most
deceived: for when death comes, it wttl find you in your sins, unpardoned,
without any faith in the Redeemer's righteousness to raake death desirable, but
with every thing that can make it terrible. The holy, just, and good law of the
most high God wttl accuse, conscience wttl plead guilty, justice will condemn
and punish, and the wrath of God will abide upon you for ever and ever. How
is it possible you should depart in peace, unless you die insensible? and that
would be dreadful indeed. If sin should so far infatuate you, that you never
awake out of its delusive slumbers until you are called to receive the wages of sin,
oh think what sort of a peace you speak to yourselves ! since it leaves you in the
greatest danger, and at the same time insensible of it. To depart in such a false
peace would be your everlasting destruction. Oh, sirs, consider then what a
deluaion you are under I The wrath of an offended God abideth on. you, the
curses of his broken law hang over your guilty heads, and you are liable to the
vengeance of his almighty justice, and yet you think yourselves safe. You are
saying, peace, peace, while aU the powera in heaven and earth are at war tvith
you, and in a moment you may be cut off, and delivered over to the tormentors ;
and then you wttl have a sad and eternal experience of that awful threatening,
" There is no peace, saith my God, to the wicked."
Men and brethren, what do you say to these things ? Are they true, or are
they not ? If they be true, why are you not influenced by them ? And if you
think them not true, why do you make any profession of the Christian reli
gion ? Why do you come to the house of God to attend upon his ordinances ?
Your appearance here ranka you among professors ; and, if you keep up the
form without the power of godlineee, I have for you, in the eecond place, a word
of reproof.
There have arisen in the latter days, mockers, who pretend to ridicule the
seeing of the salvation of God, and the being thereby prepared to depart in peace.
Possibly there may be some auch amongat us to-day, who laugh at all vital and
experimental religion. If there be, I would ask thera, whether the acripture has
not promised dehverance from the fear of death ? Ie it not written, (Heb. ii. 15,)
" that Chriet came to deliver them who, through fear of death, were all their
lifetime subject to bondage." Observe, they were in bondage to the fear of
death ; hut Christ came to deUver them. And did not he attain the end for
which he came ? Moat certainly he did. " I have finiahed," 8ays he to his
Father, " the work which thou gavest me to do." Now it was part of the work
to deUver his people from the fear of death ; and as the work was finiahed, con-
8equently they were dehvered. And they 8ay they are. They atteat it ; and they
have given the moat convincing proofs of their having conquered all fear of
death : they have been afflicted, tormented, stoned, sawn asunder, put on the
rack, and yet they would not accept dehverance, because they were sure of
obtaining a better resurrection. And of these there have not been two or three
only, but a noble and numerous army ; yea, a great multitude whom no man
could number ; and, glory be to God, it ia an increasing multitude. There are
some who daily depart in peace ; and there are hundreds, thousands now alive,
who are waiting for their departure, with hopes fuU of immortality ; and why '
should you think they will be disappointed of their hope ? Will ChriBt break hia
word ? Can his promise fail ? No. His word and his promise shall he eata-
blished, when heaven and earth shall be no more ; and until the place of them
shaU not be found, the Lord will always have such witnesses of the truth of the
doctrine in my text, as Mr. Hervey, who will depart thia life in the triumph of
faith. Against theee plain facte what can you object ? They are founded upon the
clear promises of acripture, wliich are literally fulfiUed at thia very day ; and you
can have no pretence to reject their authority, unlese you run into downright
scepticism, and deny the authority of the holy acripturea. If any of you have
arrived at thia pitch of ridicule, I shall not reason with you at present. Let the
day decide the point. If death doea not, judgment wttl. You will be forced to

or THE REV. JAMES HERVEY. 815
be tried by that book which you reject, and by that Judge whom you have insulted
and vilified. Oh that you may be convinced of your error before it be too late.
May God open your eyes to see your guttt and your danger, that you may sue
for his mercy along with them, who are seeking the experience of the doctrine
in my text; to whom I have, in the third place, a word of comfort.
I suppose there are many persons here, who find the sting of death in their
guilty consciences, and who therefore desire to be dehvered" from the fear and
from the power of death. My brethren, there is a glorious Deliverer, who has
in his own person conquered death and him that had the pOwer of death, and
he is able to make you conquerors. His power is almighty : for he is the Lord God
omnipotent. And he is an aU-loving Saviour, who is more ready to give, than
you are to ask, his promised help. Since he has shown you your want of it, ask,
and you shaU receive, seek, and you shall find.
You do seek, you say, but it is with many doubts and fears. Of what do you
doubt? Of Christ's power, or of Christ's love? He can deliver you. All things
are possible to him, because aU power in heaven and earth is in his hands. And
he is a God of love ; he has showed mercy to the greatest of sinners, and has shed
his love abroad in their hearts. He has given them faith to see their interest in
him, and then they were happy, living or dying ; for whether they lived, they lived
unto the Lord, or whether they died, they died unto the Lord : so that Uving or
dying they were the Lord's.
True, Bay you, I beUeve this was the happy case of Mr. Hervey, and of many
others; but I am fuU of doubts and fears, because I am such an unworthy crea
ture that I do not deserve any mercy. Nor did they. God .did not treat them
upon the footing of desert ; what he gave them was mere bounty, flowing from
the riches of his unmerited love. That is the way in which he bestows his great
salvation. All the blessings of it are free, as free for one sinner as for another. None
are excluded, because they are great sinners : Paul found mercy. And none are
rejected, because of their unworthiness : Mary Magdalene was pardoned ; and
why may not you ? For aU the gifts of God flow from his free grace, and are
bestowed upon unworthy sinners ; and if you are one of them, you are a proper
object to receive the blessings of free grace ; and the sense of your unworthiness
should make you more earnest in asking, but it is no bar to your receiving aU
the bleeeings of salvation : for Jesus Christ assures us in his word " that he came
to eeek and to save that which was lost," such lost sinners as you are.
Thus you see what encouragement you have to believe in God. You have his
word and his promise to rely upon : you have the testimony of God's people,
declaring that they were once as you are, afraid of death, but now Christ has
taken away the fear of it. They have seen the salvation of God, and know by
faith that all the blessings of it are freely given them in Christ Jesus : therefore
they are ready, they desire to depart. May the tender mercies of our God bring
every one of you into this happy state ; and to those who are already in it, I make
my fourth remark.
My Christian friends and brrthren, you have seen the salvation of God, and are
delivered from the fear of death ; what return will you make unto the Lord for
all the benefits which he hath done unto you ? Certainly you trill not forget the
great things which he has already given you, and the greater things for which
you are waiting ; and let these considerations constrain you to love this divine
benefactor, and to serve him without fear in an holy obedience all the days of
your hfe. Give evidence of the sincerity of your love as your Lord requires, " If
ye love me, keep my commandments." Keep near to me in my ways, and walk
close with me in mine ordinances, and you tviU not only thereby give proof of
your love, but it wiU also grow exceedingly ; and as it grows, your desire to depart
wiU grow with it ; for when the love of Christ rules in the heart, you wUl be
ready, yea, you trill desire to depart and to be with him. This was the happy
experience of our deceased brother ; and let his example stir you up to great care
and watchfulness in your holy walking heavenwards, that your faith may be
always working by love as his did. Consider the graces of his life, and seek the
eame. Stop not short, but try to get beyond him. Consider his death. Re
member with what perfect assurance he spake of his interest in Christ, and what

SIG SERMON ON THE RKV. JAMKS IIERVEV.
strong proofs he gave of it, and then pray that your faitii may stand as unshaken
as his was in that great time of trial. And above all, forget not what supported
him in his last moments ; it tvas the clear view he had of his interest in the great
salvation of God : "This, this," says he, "supports me" — now at the approach of
death. Oh how precious did salvation then appear to hint, when he found death
coming disarmed, and without a sting; anil it grew slill more precious, when,
with his last breath he declared, that death had no power to hurt ihe peace of God
which ruled in his heart ; for even then he found salvation precious. Vou need not
fear, my brethren, hut this wiU be your happy experience. God has given you
the knowledge of salvation by the remission of your sins ; and as your faith
grows exceedingly, salvation will grow exceedingly precious. The greater expe
rience you hereby get of the love of Christ, the more will you be supported under
the trials of life, and the better prepared for the trials of death. Vou will liml
that the sweet sense of Christ's love in the heart will enable you to rejoice in
suffering, and then you need not fear but it will enable you to rejoice in the suf
ferings of death; for who or what shall separate believers from the love of
Clirist? Shall the troubles of life or the pains of death ? Shall tribulation, or
distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword ? No. In
all theae things we are more than conquerors through him lli'at loved us. More
than conquerors ! Oh glorious warfare, in which believers not only conquer their
enemies, hut also reap innumerable and endless blessings to themselves. Even
death is to thera a real blessing ; they expect it, they find it so, and they are more
than conquerors over it through him that loved tliein.
In the last place I must put you all in remembrance, that neither the words of
my text, nor what has been said upon tliem, will be of any benefit without a
blessing from God. We cannot see his salvation with the eye of faith, nor expe
rience the power of it, without the help of hia grace. It ia from him who has done
all for us, that all must he done in us ; and if some good impressions have been
made this day upon any of your hearts, they will soon wear away, unless he pre
serve and strengthen them. If you desire at present to live Mr. Hervey's life,
and to die his death, this desire will be ineffectual unless it he carried into net by
the mighty working of God's Spirit. He is all in all : for tvhich reason tve
always begin and always end the hearing of the word with prayer, being assured
that if Paul should plant, anel Apollos should water, yet it would be to no purpose,
unless God should give the increase. Oh that it may he abundant this day to
his glory, and to the good of your souls. To that end let us pray —
Oh almighty and moet merciful God, tve humbly beseech thee to look down
with mercy upon this congregation, and to bleee the words which tve have heard
this day with our outward ears. Make thera the means of opening the blind
eyes, which have never seen their want of thy ealvation. Lord, enlighten them,
and help them to seek, until they find, pardon and peace in thee. Be gracious
to those who are now waiting upon thee, believing that after they have seen thy
ealvation they ehall be able to depart in peace. O Lord God, manifest it unto
them, and add this day to the number of those who have seen and experienced
it. We deaire to glorify thee for every hving Chri8tian, who knows in whom he
has believed, and is ready and prepared to depart in peace. We give al} the
praise to the riches of thy free grace. And we also bless thy holy name for all
thy servants departed this Ufe in thy faith and love, beseeching thee to give us
grace so to follow their good examples, as they followed Christ, that tvith them
we may be partakers of thy heavenly kingdom. Grant this, O Father, for Jesua
Chriat'a eake, our only mediator and advocate, to whom with thee, and the Holy
Spirit, three co-equal persons in one Jehovah, be honour and glory, and blessing,
and praise, for ever and ever. A men.

817

THE BLESSEDNESS OF LIVING AND DYING
IN THE LORD:
PROVEO IN
A SERMON
PREACHED UPON THE DEATH OF THE BEV. THOMAS JONES, CHAPLAIN OF
ST. saviour's, SOUTHWAHK, WHO DEPARTED THIS LIFE JUNE 6, 1762.

This God is our God for ever and ever, he will be our guide even unto death. —
Psalm xlviii. 14.

Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of his saints. — Psal. cxvi. 15.
It is appointed unto aU men once to die. They aU die, because aU have
sinned : for the wages of sin is death. When sin entered into the world, death
came in by sin, and death hath reigned so far as sin hath spread itself. The word
is gone out of the Lord's mouth against aU flesh, " Dust thou art, and unto dust
shalt thou return." This is the immutable decree of heaven, and when it come
to be executed upon the natural man in his faUen unregenerate state, death is
to him the king of terrors, because it finds sin upon him unpardoned. The
sting of death being sin, and the strength of sin being the law, if the law charge
sin upon the conscience, and stir up in it a sense of guilt, then wiU it arm death
with a most dreadful sting. The soul wiU be terrified with the thoughts of
meeting an offended God, and of standing at his awful bar to be tried for the
breach of his holy and just law : for already conscience has ratified the sentence
which is to deliver the soul over to the tormentors to dweU with them in ever
lasting burnings. O death ! how inexpressibly terrible is thine approach to such
an unpardoned sinner ! But to them who are in a regenerate state, and have
lived by faith in the Lord Christ, and are now dying in him, death has no sting.
As their life was precious, so is their death precious in the eyes of the Lord.
With the tenderest love he appoints the time, the place, and all the circumstances
of their dying. When he lays them on the bed of languishing, he gives them
the consolations of the gospel, and lets them know how dear and precious they
are to him. This produces a sweet resignation to his will, and calls forth the
delightful exercise of patience to his sovereign appointment. And whUe the out
ward man decays, he continues his grace to the inward man. His strength is
then indeed perfected in their weakness, when the divine life in the soul flou
rishes amidst the ruins of the animal frame : so that faith-by his mighty opera
tion is stiU working joy and peace in the dying breast ; and ceases not tttl it has
done its last kind office, and rendered the concluding act of hfe an act of faith,
according to what is written of the saints of old, " These aU died in faith."
This was the happy case of our dear departed brother. He had sweet expe
rience of the truth of the text, and found that his soul was bound in the bundle
of life with the Lord his God. His last sickness was altogether sweetened with
dirine love. His faith, his resignation, his comforts fatted him not. A gracious
God showed how dear and precious he was to him by removing every thing far
from him which could render death in the least dreadful. He was not even suf
fered to have one doubt concerning his. interest in Christ, but lived happy
throughout his illness, and died rejoicing. To the glory of that rich grace which
was so exceeding abundant towards him, I have been led to speak upon the occa
sion ; not to exalt man, but God. Not for the honour of the deceased, but for
the profit of the living ; that when you hear what God has promised to do, and
what he is daily doing for his people in their dying hours, you may be stirred
3 o

818 SERMON ON THE DEATH
up to desire, that you may also die the death of the righteous, and that your latter
end may be like his. For tvhich purpose I shall, through God's help, speak
to these particulars mentioned in the text, and show,
First, Who the persons are that are here spoken of under the name of Saints ;
Secondly, How precious they are in the eyes of the Lord, and
Thirdly, How precious they are to hiin, not only in life, but also in death.
These points 1 wttl endeavour to iUustrate frora scripture, and from the Lord's deal
ings with our deceased brother. May that good God, who did so much for hiin,
favour us also with his gracious presence, and accompany us with his blessing,
while we are considering,
First, Who the persona are that are here spoken of under the name of Saints.
This name conveys a strange idea to some persons. They think that a saint
denotes some vastly high and uncommon degree of holiness, to wliich very "few
have attained since the apostles' time, and therefore they give the title to none
but the red-lettered eainta in the calendar, and some few of the primitive fathers.
They would strongly suspect a man of being a rank fanatic, who waa to apply it
to those that are uow living in the true faith and fear of God, or to those that are
lately dead. Such power has custom over the best of worda, aa to give them
a turn quite foreign to their true meaning. The acripture apeak8 of sainte in the
Old Testament, men of iike pasaions with ua ; and the New Te8tament appliee
the word to all the behevers in the churches of Rome, and Corinth, and Epheaus,
and Philippi, &c. ; so that it is a general name for all the Lord's people : not for
some by way of eminence, but for the whole household anil family of faith. The
Old Testament has two Hebrew words which our translators render sainte,
although the meaning of them be a good deal different. The one is Kedish,
holy, separate from impurity ; the other is Chesed, the word in the text, which
signifies mercy, and in the form it is here used, denotes those whp have reeeived
mercy, and who are partakers of the covenant mercies of God in Chriat Jeau8.
'These are all given to them freely without money, and without price ; for misery
being the proper object of mercy, and God being the sovereign disposer of his
own mercy, he bestowa it on the mieerable, aa it pleaseth hira, to the glory of
his grace. None have any claim. None deserve it ; but all men are through
ain, in justice and equity, cut oft' from it. Whoever, therefore, among the chil
dren of wrath meet trith mercy from God, they must receive it aa a free gift
coming from his mere love and unmerited bounty through Jeaua Chriet : and on
that account they ahould be ever acknowledging it with praiae and gratitude.
The etate of guttt and miaery from which they were raiaed, the abundant,
exceeding abundant mercy already received in a state of pardon and acceptance,
and the eternal mercy to be experienced in a state of glory, these should stir
them up to show forth the praisea of him who hath called them out of darkneaa
into his marveUou8 hght, which in time past were not a people, but are now the
people of God, which had not obtained mercy, but now have obtained mercy.
These are the saints here spoken of, such as have obtained mercy freely by
the grace that is in Jesus Christ. If you ask in what way, or by what means,
they were brought into this happy state ; it was by, the word and Spirit of -God.
He convinced them of sin by the word. He made use of the law as a minis
tration of condemnation to bring them in guttty, and as the ministration of death
to show them what their guttt deaerved. They 8aw theae things, but did not
find themselvee quite helplees. Their pride and unbelief still laboured to do
some work that might recommend them to God, but the Holy Spirit clearly
convinced thera that they could not be saved by any works of righteousneas which
they could do, but that God saveth ainner3 freely through the redemption that
is in Jesu8 Chriat. Thia ia the hardest lesson in the school of grace. They
learned it by degrees, and very slowly; but the Holy Spirit made them mastere
of it, and they were glad to 8ubmit to be saved by grace freely. Upon which
God showed them great mercy : for he enabled them to believe in the Lord Jesus
Christ. They had power to trust the word of promise, and to rest upon God's
faithfulnes8 to fulfil it to their soula. And in thus beheving, they found peace
with God through the righteousnesa of Chriat, and joy springing from the eenae
of their safety and happineee in him, and love to God for hia great love to them,

OF THE REY. THOMAS JONES. 819
which peace, and joy, and love increased in their hearts, as they Uved more by
faith upon Christ, and walked more closely with Christ. In this way the Lord
made them saints, or showed them mercy. It was by some such experience that
they became partakers of the tender mercies of our God. And, having received
them freely, should not this be continuaUy upon their minds, " what hast thou
that thou hast not received i" They would forget their very name and character,
namely, those that had received mercy, if by thinking of themselves more highly
than they ought to think, they should rob the Lord Christ of the praise of the
glory of his grace. The more he gives, the more are they in debt. The
greater are their gifts, the higher are their graces, stttl all is from God, freely
given, freely continued. And when they happily finish their course, and receive
a crown of glory that fadeth not away, it will be mercy still, mercy magnified as
the blessings are which it bestows, a glorified body — and soul, — admitted to the
vision and enjoyment of God in heaven — and to eternity. All this is mercy, free
mercy, as one sweetly sings, Psalm cxxxvi. and seems never tired of repeating the
delightful words, " This is mercy that endureth for ever."
In what I have been saying under this head, I had a particular view aU along
to the experience of our deceased brother. He was certainly one of the saints in
the text — one who had found mercy. He was always ready to ascribe aU that
he was and had (except what were entirely his own, sin and misery,) to free
mercy and sovereign grace. Before the Lord was pleased to caU him, he was
walking in the error of his ways, like others who know not God. Such is the
condition of mankind since the faU, that there is none righteous, no, not one,
there ia none that understandeth, there is none that seeketh after God. They
are all gone out of the way, they are altogether become unprofitable, there is
none that doeth good, no, not one ; not one of them can do any good tttl grace
come ; ahd when it comes, it first discovers this their guilty, helpless state, and
convinces them of it, in order that they may be wilhng to receive their deliver
ance freely from the mercy of God, and to give him att the glory of it in time
and in eternity. No wonder then that the time was when our brother walked as
other men also walk, in the vanity of his mind, having his understanding
darkened, and being ahenated from the Ufe of God through the ignorance that
was in him, because of the blindness of his heart. Of this God made him deeply
sensible, and he was never ashamed to own it. His first awakening was by the
gradual working of the law upon his conscience. It was not by outward means,
such as hearing the word preached,, or by some afflicting providence, sickness,
trouble, or the like, but by the inward conviction of sin, that the Spirit of Gorl
wrought upon his conscience. He had his strongest convictions where he could
have no means. The views which he had hereby of his state and danger were
very deep and very distressing. While he was under this soul7concern my
acquaintance first began with him. And since that time, which is about eight
years ago, our great intimacy and friendship has given me a constant opportunity
of being a witness of God's gracious dealings with his soul. He went mourning
for a long time, bowed dotvn under the sense of guilt and the power of unbelief.
In this school of humiliation he learned self-knowledge. Here he was taught
the sad effect of a ruined, spoiled nature ; of a soul depraved in aU its faculties,
and estranged from the mind and wUl of God, and governed by its own corrupt
and stubborn wttl, commanding the body to give up its members as instruments
of unrighteousness unto sin. Here he was taught what sin is, namely, the
transgression of the law, which is exceeding sinful, because the law is holy, just,
and good, a perfect copy of the divine perfections. Here he was taught the
damnable nature of heart sin, which is the fountain from which aU sin flows,
and which in the heart of the natural man is ever flowing over. He learned these
leaaons with such a deep experience, that the impression lasted aU his days. For
when God showed him great mercy, and he was enabled to believe in the Lord
Jeaua, yet stiU he found nothing of himself wherein to glory. Humble and low
in hia own eyes, he was ready to give the honour to whom alone honour was due.
Yea, after he was greatly strengthened and established, so as to hve by faith on
the Son of God, stttl he knew that aU was mercy. Mercy, free mercy had from
hira all the praise. And this was so much the frame and abiding temper of hif
36'

820 SERMON ON THE DEATH
mind, that it appeared on all occasions. His spiritual friends and acquaintance
can hear me tritness that he tvas clothed with humttity, and that he walked
humbly with his God. A demonstration this, that he had found mercy, because
he had made it the end and aim of his life to show forth the praises of that free
mercy which he had so freely received ; and as he lived, so he died, acknowledg
ing himself an object of mercy. One of his last sayings was, " I am of the
chureh of the first- born, who shall stand on Mount Zion. One chosen frora among
ray brethren — a sinner saved, a sinner saved." Here tvas great faith, and great
humility. Having thus exemplified the character of the persona mentioned in my text,
from the experience of our deceased brother, I go on to consider,
Secondly, An inestimable blessing belonging to all the persons of this cha
racter; namely, they are precious in the eyes of the Lord. Not precious in
themselves, but made precious by the grace of God in Christ Jesus : for the
motives to all the acts of God are within himself. He does not look into the
sinner expecting to see something precioua in him to recommend him to mercy,
but he sets his love upon him, and that love brings every thing precious with it.
Love disposes God to show mercy, convinces the sinner he wants it, incUnes him
to take it freely, and when he receives it by precious faith, then he becomes
vitaUy united to a precious Christ. Such the Lord counts among his jewels.
He seea them accepted in the beloved, and members of hia myetical body. As
he loves the head, so he loves the members : for my Father himself loveth you,
eaith Christ, because ye have loved me ; and what cannot, what wiU not, the
Father's love bestow ? Nay, what haa he not engaged to beatow ? For what
tongue can relate the exceeding great and precious promises which he has made
to them who are heira of God, and joint heira with Chriat ? Grace, faith, righte-
ousnese, adoption, strength to overcome temptations, to conquer spiritual enemies,
to bear afflictions, whatever ia needful for life and godliness ; in short, all things
are theirs, for they all work together under God for their good. These, and
many more, are the promises which the mercy of God has made, and his faith
fulness ia daily fulfiUing to hie adopted chUdren in Chriat Jeaus ; from whence it
appeara how precious they are in his aight. The greatness of the gifts shows
the love of the giver. He gives thera, oh most adorable, and moat delightful
truth 1 he give8 himself. God himself ia their God, their covenant God, and with
himaelf how ahall he not also freely give them all thinga ? He becomes a father
unto them, a loving reconciled father, to. watch over them with a parent's tender
affection, and to see that they want no manner of thing that ie good. " I the
Lord do keep my vineyard, I will water it every moment; leat any hurt it, I will
keep it night and day. He that toucheth it, toucheth the apple of mine eye."
Hia children'a enemies are hia. So safe and happy are they in hia precious love,
that none shall pluck them out of his hands. He will keep them by his mighty
power through faith unto ealvation. Never, never will he leave them or forsake
them ; but having loved them freely, he will love them unto the end.
But let ue bring this matter to a point : What saith the 8cripture ? " Yea, he
loved the people. AU thy saints are in thy hands, and they are humbled at thy
feet to receive thy words." (Deut. xxxiii. 3.) His love makea his.people sainte,
and then keeps them in his hands, in a humble frame of mind to hear the word
of God, and to obey it. Such honour have all his saints ! So precious and dear
are they to him, that he has expressly promised to keep them from all evtt, and to
bless them with all good. " There shaU no evil befaU thee," (Psal. xci. 10.) no
outward evil, but what I wttl make the means of promoting my glory and thy
good, therefore, " Fear not, for I have redeemed thee, I have caUed thee by
name, thou art mine. When thou paaaeat through the waters, I wttl be with
thee, and through the rivers, they shall not overflow thee : when thou walkeat
through the fire, thou ehalt not be burnt, neither sbaU the flame kindle upon
thee." (Isa. xliii. 1, 2.) Whence this tender care and watchful proridence ? God
would have hia people know and believe, that when he keeps them, nothing can
hurt them. For they are so precious and honourable in his sight, that his
almighty arm will either defend them from, or else keep them patient and happy
under, outward troubles, according to these sweet words which foUow in the

OF THE REV. THOMAS JONES. 821
fourth verse, " Since thou wast precious in my sight, thouhast been honourable,
and I have loved thee," and showed my love not in keeping thee from the water
and the fire, but in bringing thee safe through both ; and I will do greater things
than these. " O taste and see that the Lord is good ! they that seek him shall not
want any good thing." (Psal. xxxiv. 10.) What promises are these ! No good
belonging to hfe, no good belonging to godliness, shaU be withheld ; but all
good shaU be freely given them out of the fulness of Christ Jesus. How precious
then must these persons be in the Lord's sight, tvith whom he deals in this
wonderful manner ? What mercy, how free, how rich ; what blessings, how great,
how numerous, has he for them ! Even in this hfe, he has more mercy to show,
more blessings to give, than we can either ask or think. And what then tviU he
give in another life ? The mercies of glory, the blessings of heaven none can
adequately know, till they experience them. May the grace of God make you
and me meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in hght.
Thus precious are the Lord's people. Dear and honourable are they in his
sight. 'The testimonies of his word to this purpose are very numerous, and daily
experience confirms them. Every child of God is a tritness of his heavenly
Father's abundant mercy. But few had more reason to magnify and exalt it
than our dear deceased brother. He was indeed precious in the Lord's sight,, as
appeared from the inestimably rich graces bestowed upon him, and the great
works wrought by him. God had given him faith, and he enabled him to hve the
life of faith. By faith the Christian is engrafted as a branch into the true vine.
And as the branch receives sap and juices from the stock into which it is engraft
ed, to bring forth leaves, and fair blossoms, and ripe fruit, so does the
Christian receive from the Lord Christ, by virtue of union with him, proper
influence and nourishment to bring forth the fruits of righteousness. Our
brother was a fruitful branch. He did not seek to bear fruit to make himself
alive, (the fruit does not make the tree ahve) but to testify his love and gratitude
to do good to men, and above all to fulfil what is written — " Herein is my
Father glorified, that ye bear much fruit ;" (John xv. 8 ; ) that ye keep faith so
constantly in act and exercise upon me, as to be always receiving out of my
fulness grace for grace : for life and the acts of life in every grace are in and
from me, and the more you live by faith upon me, the more wttl my Father be
glorified. This was what Mr. Jones happily experienced in his heart and in his
Ufe. Whosoever believeth aright with his heart, will be kept in a humble depen
dance upon God, and in caUing upon him to fulfil the promises of grace and
strength in every hour of need : so -that the promises freely made in Christ, may
be freely made good through Christ. While he is in this right frame the soul
lives out of itself, it sees nothing of its own to trust to or to rest in, but puts
forth the empty hand to be constantly filled out of Christ's fulness. A person
who lives thus by faith wiU be humble in heart. Every act of this faith declares
his emptiness and want of all spiritual good, while it leads to Christ for his pro
mised supply. Need I mention how much this was our brother's case ? Cer
tainly you know it. lie was humble indeed. The witnesses are as many as
knew hiin, and when there could be no tiew in deceiving any body, when he was
waiting for his dissolution, he demonstrated how greatly the Lord had humbled
him. He told me in his last sickness, when I discoursed tvith him about the
atate of his soul, that as a dying man he had nothing to trust to but the righte
ousness of Jesus Christ; and that his faith in it had been so strengthened in his
illness that he had not one doubt or fear. But how much he was emptied of self
and enabled to hve in a humble dependance upon the grace and strength of
Christ, will best appear from his Ufe, in which, through faith, many precious
fruits were produced.
T'he principal work of a believer throughout his Christian walk is the mortify
ing of the old man of sin, and the quickening and strengthening of the new man.
So long as we are in this mortal body, every day must this work be repeated.
Ihe flesh wiU be lustingagainst the spirit, and the spirit against the flesh ; andhethat
is spiritual not only believes in the merit of Christ's death to save him from the
guilt, but is also enabled to apply the power and efficacy of his death to subdue and
crucify the dominion of those lustings. Subdued they must be. 'They must

822 SERMON ON THE DEATH
not reign. The promise is, sin, inward as weU as outward, shall not haye domi
nion over you. The behever, relying upon this promise, proclaims war against
all inward lusts and risings of sin, and sets upon them in the power and strength
of the Lord ; and so long as he looks up to Christ for fresh succours, he wttl be
kept safe. Aa the old man is thua subdued, the new man is enabled more
powerfuUy to put forth the proper acts of his spiritual Ufe : for the deadening of
the one is the quickening of the other. Of this spiritual conflict I have often
lead, especiaUy in an exceUent treatise of Dr. Owen's upon indwelling sin ; but
I learnt most of it by experience, by many Sore and daily conflicts in my own
soul, and by frequent conversation with our dear brother. He was much exer
cised this way, and the Lord did wonders for him in giving him grace to
crucify the old man of sin. God's great love appeared in his great chasten-
ings, for whom he loveth he chasteneth. He refines all his people in the
furnace of afflictions. There our brother had been refining for some years,
and rauch dross had been done away. Becauae he wae precioua in the eight
of the Lord, he wa8 tried, like gold, and purified aeven times in the fire.
For some years past he waa afflicted with a dieorder which kept him low, and
often brought him to death'e door. During these years his growth in grace was
very evident to all his spiritual friende. We could see a manifest victory gained
over the old man, whose power was weakened in his membera which are upon the
earth. He grew aleo dead to the world, and experienced what the apoetle raeane,
whenhe aaya, " The world ia crucified to me, and 1 unto the world." Ita pleasures,
its riches, ita honours were nothing to him. He did not despise thera because he
could not get thera, but he parted with them freely, when he had them in his
own power. God had provided for him a comfortable maintenance, but he laid up
nothing, except for the poor, to whom he gave liberaUy of what he had, and
with a willing mind. As to honour, he wanted not that which waa from men. He
was led to choose a better. He has it now. And this deadness to the world tvas
of great use to him when he came to die. Then he had the comfort of it, 'as ap
peared from that sweet expression of his on hia death-bed, " It ia not dying out
of the world, but dying in the world, and parting with all ita toya and trifles, and
that not with sickness or pain." And being thus by faith dead to the world
while in it, what should make hira afraid to die out of it ? He had been so long
kept under the cross, that it had been the means of crucifying the world unto
him, of subduing his own will and hia own tempers, of trying hia faith, and of
exerciaing his patience. In this school of affliction he was enabled to profit
greatly. Therein he learnt resignation to the will of God, which made him
under his long and great weaknesa of body kiea the rod and be thankful, and
which dehvered him from impatience, fretfulneaa, murmuring, and those selfish
tempers that want to have our trill, and not GocTs, to be done. There he learnt
to Uve by faith upon Chriat in all hia offices, as a prophet to teach him wiadora
to lead hira to God, aa a prieat to bring him near to God by hia atoning blood and
righteouanesa, and aa a king to keep him near to God, ruling in him and over
him. This faith waa tried, and it grew by triala. The more it was exercised the
more did he find of the safety and happiness of living by faith upon the Son of
God. And hereby he learnt what the patience of the saints is. Patience ia an
act of faith under outward afflictions, looking up to God for grace to hold out, as
long aa the afflictions last. Thus did our brother's patience. Under a long
illness he waa never heard to murmur ; and upon hia death-bed he waa afraid of
nothing but impatience, and God out of the tendereet love kept hiin, until pati
ence had done its perfect work. And
As the cross was thus made profitable to the mortification of the old man, ao
was it to the quickening and strengthening of the new man. He had many pre
cious graces ; but do not mistake me. Whatever Mr. Jones had, except sin, he
had it from Chriat ; whoae love to him I would magnify from the greatness of the
blessings bestowed. You could not converse with him without being put in
mind of the meekness and gentleness of Christ. In hia behaviour, in his con
versation, he showed, that he had put on, as one of the elect of God, holy and be
loved, bowels of mercies, kindneaa, humbleneaa of mind, long Buffering, ready to
bear trith others, and ready to forgive, as Chriet had aleo freely forgiven him

OF THE REV. THOMAS JONES. 823
These amiable tempers of the new man appeared in all his conduct ; and parti
cularly when he stood up to minister in holy things, one might discover through
out, great kindness and tender love to precious souls. His own flock, to whom
the Lord had made him an overseer, was much upon his heart. How earnest
have I often heard him in prayer for them? And to the last he did not forget
them. In his sickness he would be often crying out, " Lord, feed thy sheep,
Lord, feed thy sheep." He was always studying and contriving something, that
might be useful to their best interest. There is an alms-house in the parish called
the CoUege, and some stnaU stipend for doing duty in it. Mr. Jones thought it
was not right to take the money, unless he did the duty. Accordingly he began
to read prayers, and to expound the scriptures in the coUege chapel, and went
on for some time. The congregation used to be very large, and the success was
very great. Many souls were in this place first awakened who are now walking
in the faith and fear of God, adorning the gospel of our Saviour. But here he
was stopped, and refused the use of the chapel. After this he set up a weekly
lecture in hie church, but he had not preached it long, before he was denied the
use of the pulpit. However, he was not discouraged, he went on giving away
good books, some of which he carried in person to every house in the parish ;
catechising the chUdren, who came weekly to his house for that purpose ; and
paying religious visits among his parishioners, when they used to talk freely of
the state of their souls. By these methods he tried to win. his people to Christ,
beside the stated duties of his office ; in performing of which he seemed to set
God always before him, and to be greatly drawn out in love to his hearers, of
whom a very great number, I trust, did frequent his ministry, not led thither by
the ease of his delivery, the sweetness of his voice, or the smoothness of his periods,
but because they felt the weight and importance of the doctrines preached. Se
veral I am myself acquainted with, who will, I hope, be his joy and crown of
rejoicing in the day of the Lord Jesus, who hearing him preach upon the entire
ruin of man by the fall, were convinced that they were in this state, and upon the
entire recovery of man through Jesus Christ were enabled by his word and Spirit
to believe in him for righteousness, and to hve upon him for grace to walk, as he
also walked. I mention not these things to set him above any of the Lord's
ministers. He had no such thoughts when living. No one could think more
meanly of himself than he did. And God forbid that I should intend to lessen
others by exalting him. No. Grace, free grace, is all I want to exalt. As he
was adorned with so many graces in his private hfe, and with so many public gifts,
who should have the praise, but the giver of them aU, even that good God who
showed him mercy, and in whose sight he was so precious, as to have his mar
veUous loving-kindness continued even unto death ; which leads me to that part
of my subject, where tve must still continue our adoration and thanks under jjjxe
Third and last head, which was to show how precious the saints are in the sight
of the Lord, not only in Ufe, but also in death. Whom the Lord loveth, he Joveth
unto the end. His love is like himself, without variableness or shadow of turn
ing, and then often manifested in the clearest manner, when it is most-wanted.
The Lord looks with an especial love on his poor afflicted and distressed people.
Indeed their troubles are tokens of his love ; they come from his love to them,
and are the means of drawing forth their love to him. One who had been long
trained up in this way declared upon his own experience, that it was good for
iim he had been in trouble. As troubles increase, so do the proofs of his love, in
strengthening faith to trust stttl, and to enable patience to hold out. And when
the last great trial comes, love orders it aU. The death of the saints, however
superficially some may judge of it, is appointed by the infinite tenderness of
God, aa to all its circumstances. They may fancy he loves those most whom
he takes out of the world without much pain or long sickness, but this is judging
after the flesh. God can get himself most glory by them who suffer most, and
can make them the happiest who suffer the longest. He can preserve their faith i n
the hottest trials. He can keep them for years in the fire, and the smell of it not
pass upon them. He can arm them with grace to endure not with patience only,
but also tvith joy ; so that they shaU taste much of the love of God, and count it
all joy when he tries them with his fiery trials. And when he is finishing their

824 SERMON ON THE DEATH
course, he ahowa then how exceedingly precious they are to him. Then he brings
the graces of the new man into strong act and exercise, as the body droops. He
keeps faith hvely and vigorous, hope rejoices, looking, for the mercy of our Lord
Jesus Christ unto eternal Ufe, and love shed abroad in the heart gives sweet
earnests and foretastes of the speedy enjoyment of that glory. These graces
make the approach of death welcome, as our deceased brother found it in his
last moments, when he said — " An eternal Ufe of glory for a life of misery — who
would not change misery for happiness ? Hasten, hasten, dear Lord." T hat tho
Lord's people are thus precious to him in death, is evident from the promises in
his word, and from the daily accomplishment of them ; these promises are left
upon record for the support of faith in a dying hom-, and they are rich cordials
for fainting spirits. This is for the sick bed, (Psal. xii. 3,) " The Lord will
strengthen him upon the bed of languishing, thou wilt make all his bed in his
sickness," strengthen him inwardly as the outward man decays, and he shaU lay
easy upon his bed, refreshed with the Lord's inward comforts, while the body ia
languishing. And when the body grows very weak, and death is approaching,
here is a cordial — " This God is our God for ever and ever, he will be our guiile
even unto death," (Psal. xlviii. 14.) This is our covenant God, whose mercies
fatt not ; he wttl guide ua aafe by hie love and power, even unttt the body draws
its last breath, and expires. Who would not wish to have such a blessed guide
unto the verge of life ? Lord, guide us all thither ; and when the life of nature ia
ending, then fulfil thy faithful promise, (Prov. xiv. 32.) "The righteous hath
hope in his death," not only in his sickness, but also in the very moment of deal li
he hath hope, and the next moment he enjoys the thing hoped for. These nre
sure words of promise, which cannot be broken, and God be thanked for the ac
complishment of thera. He has been fulfilling them in every age, and speaking
peace through Jesus Christ to his saints in their death. It ia written of them in
the Old Testament, who through faith and patience inherited the promises,
"These all died in faith," (Heb. xi 13,) they had faith while they were dying,
and believed that the time was now come, when God would fulfil hie exceeding
great and precioua promises to them in a life of eternal glory ; and therefore it is
said, " they fell asleep," they fell into the arms of death as composedly as a weary
traveller falls asleep, expecting to awake in the morning of the resurrection with
glorified bodies, like the body of the Lord Jesus Christ. 'And as these all died
in faith, so do believers to this very day. The Lord is faithful to his word, and
his promises are still made good. Hia people are at preaent as eafe in hia hands,
as happy in his love, aa they were in any former age. Still they say with their
last breath, " Thanks be to God who giveth ue the victory, through Jesus Chriat
our Lord." The pre8ent times afford many instances of .this triumphant faith,
and there ia a very striking one before ua. Who8e death was ever more precious
than our brother's, in the sight of the Lord ? How could God show his love to
him upon his dying bed more than he did ? Although hia fever was violent for
seven days, yet his soul was still and calm. He was not troubled with any feai
of death ; that waa kindly taken away. He had no doubt concerning his eternal
state. He was made patient to God's will, bore pain without murmuring, and
waited the Lord'a time for hia release. Were not these undoubted proofs of God's
special love to him ? He suffered hia faith to be tried in the fire, that it might
come out, like gold, purer and brighter ; and it Stood the fire, rejoiced in it, and
waa refined by it. In one of hia weakest hours he said, " Blessed be the Lord
for that degree of faith which he hath given me : though it haa operated in so
weak a manner, yet I have many blessed and comfortable marks in my own aoul
of hia love to me." Here was faith, and much humility. He could find nothing
in himself to put the least trust in aa to hie acceptance with God, and therefore
his trust was stronger in Christ. This showed itself in what he eaid on his death
bed, " What an unfelt, what an unthought-of corruption, is here both in body
and soul :" he felt more of it, and in a greater degree than he had ever thought of
before ; and yet this deep sense of his corruption did not drive him from Chriet,
hut made his faith cleave the closer to him : " My flesh and my heart faileth," saith
he, " but God is the strength of my heart, and my portion for ever." Hia ground
for this he delared was, " a covenant of mercy, free grace in the Lord Jeaua."

OF THE REV THOMAS JONES. 825
In which, knowing that he had his share, he could say, " Now let thy servant de
part in peace, for mine eyes have seen thy salvation — Now, Lord, I can lay me
down in peace, and safely take my rest." In this happy frame he was praying,
"Lord, secure a soul thou hast died to save." Then, after a pause, he cried,
" He will, he wiU. I have part here, I shaU have aU soon." Oh what precious,
precious faith was this ! What great love did the Lord manifest to him in thus
strengthening his faith on the bed of languishing, and visiting him with the
sight of his salvation. As he said on Friday, " I have had a glorious view of the
love of Christ to my soul this morning." This love shed abroad in his heart
brought many sweet words out of his dying mouth, such as, " For me to live is
Christ, to die ia gain." He knew that Christ would be his gain in death, as well
aa in life, and therefore he prayed, " Come, Lord Jesus, come quickly, and give
me an easy dismission — Lord give me an easy dismission to a blessed eternity."
And this triumph of faith held out to the last. He looked forward with joy,
when he said, " Before this time to-morrow, it may be, I shall be where att sorrow
shall be done away ;" and at another time he said, " I shah have a sabbath of
Trinity before I thought of it, to worship a triune God," which was granted
him. He kept his Trinity Sunday in heaven, adoring the Three Persons in one
Jehovah. I am so particular in relating the dying words of pur dear brother, because
each of them is a conflrmation of the text. The Lord says, the death of the saints
is precious in his sight, and our brother's experience demonstrates the truth of
the Lord's word. He tvas enabled to say great things for God, and in every
sentence he spake, the love as weU as the faithfulness of God was manifest. Was
there not great faith, and great conjugal affection in what he said to Mrs. Jones ?
" Do not be surprised at any alteration you may see in me : for death always
makes strange alterations. When the Lord is pleased to give me my dismission,
rejoice over my corpse, and praise God for what we have suffered together here,
and for what we shall enjoy together hereafter." May the Lord make up her loss,
and give her to rejoice in the comforts of his salvation here, and to enjoy the
bleaaings of it hereafter. Towards his fatter end he was much in prayer. These
were some of his expressions : " The silver cords of life are breaking, and man
goeth to his long home, and the mourners go about the streets — Lord, guide me
home in safety, and lead me through the shadow of death. — This mortal shall

but the Lord is the portion of my soul and my strong hope." His hope did
not fail him. God was with him when he died, so that he had no evil to fear,
when he went down into the vaUey and shadow of death. His body was left to
rest in peace and his soul is tvith that innumerable company, who are standing
round the throne, and praising God and the Lamb for ever and ever.
Is thia, my brethren, the faith of God's elect ? Cannot death untie the bond of
union between Christ and thera ? But are they so precious to him in their dying
hours, that his love either keeps their faith firmly trusting on him, or else happily
rejoicing in him ? Oh, sirs, if this be the case, and a most certain matter of fact
it is, give God the glory of our brother's death, and praise him for the abundant
mercy which he then experienced. And although he was so soon taken from
us, being but in his thirty-third year, yet remember what great things God did
in him and by him, and be thankful ; and remember what great things God did
for him in his dying hours, and again repeat your thanks to him whose mercy
enduroth for ever. May he vouchsafe this same mercy to you and me in the
Bame circumstances.
Having given aU the glory to whom it is alone due, let us see what improvement
this scripture wiU afford us. Have you been able, my brethren, to follow me in
what I have been speaking, and is it your experience ? Has God shown you
mercy? Have you any good evidence of his love to your souls, and are you
hving in the comfort of it ? If this be your happy case, know ye not, that there
is u great man faUen in Israel ? One whom God made use of as a blessed
instrument to bring sinners into the happv state which you are in. Perhaps he

826 SERMON ON THE DEATH
waa an inatrument to aome of you. And now the Lord has no more of this work
for him, he takes him away. Is not this an awful providence ? Should it not
put you upon praying for the prosperity of our Sion, and teach you what manner
of persons you ought to be? Should not your lips, your Uvea, your time, and
all your talents, he showing forth the praises of your good God ? Should not
you be seeking to hve by faith upon Christ, and to receive out of his fulness
grace to mortify sin, to deaden you to the world and its riches, and honours, and
pleasures ; to conquer Satan, and to keep you alive to God, that you may have
communion with him hi Ufe and death ? For is not the time short ? How short
you know not. Perhaps in a day, perhaps in an hour, you may be in eternity.
Keep this in your eyes, and remember, what an eternity tviU be in heaven. Take
heed therefore that ye be found in your work when death comes. Ifit find you
hving in faith, then you may hope to die comfortably in faith. If the world be
crucified to you, you will find it easy to part with it. If you have been long
fighting against your spiritual enemies, and against all filthiness of flesh and
spirit, wttl it not be matter of joy to have the battle ended, and yourselves more
than conquerors for ever ? Oh, sirs, is it not of eternal moment, that you live
thus till the night of death come, that then your work being done, you may be
ready to enter into the joy of your Lord ?
If any of you 8ay, I am a poor weak believer, and I am afraid I shaU have
nothing to speak for God when 1 come to die. Leave that to him. He does all
things weU. If he has any glory to get by your speaking, he will open your
mouth. But all the Lord's people leave not such noble testimonies behind them
as our brother did. He was a minister, and a young minister, cut off in the
midst of hfe and usefulness. What if God had no more work for him to do
among his own people, was he not precious in the Lord's eyes that he should
take him to himself, when he had borne so little of the burden and heat of the
day ? What if God intended these dying sayinga ahould preach for him to others,
cannot God bleaa what mear.s he pleasea ? Talce heed that ye be al80 ready, and
then leave God to do with you as seemeth him good in life and death.
Perhaps you may be a true believer, but you are apprehensive you shall not be
comforted, nor rejoice upon your death-bed, as our brother did. Why do you
distrust God ? Is it not your business to hve by faith to-day, and to take no
thought for to-morrow ? When to-morrow comes, then it is time enough to
think about it. And the work of to-day is to be the work of to-morrow, and ao
on from day to day, the hfe you live in the fleah you must be living it by the faith
of the Son of God. You cease to hve thua, when times that may never come, and
cases that may never be, interrupt the present actings of faith. Perhaps you
may die suddenly, you may never lie upon a sick bed, or if you do, perhaps a
quiet resignation to the wttl of God may be the grace you are then to exercise.
For wise reasons God may not then fill you trith great comforta. Is there not
something very selfish in seeking these comforta ? And ie it not an unbelieving
spirit to fear how you ehall behave without them ? What ! cannot you trust
your comforts with God, the God of all comfort ? Wttl you not have time enough
to be comforted when you get to heaven ? If you are in the way thither, and
would get quietly on, leave yourself in God's hand, and let him do what he will.
Trust him, even if it be in the dark, this direct act of faith is what God loves.
It brings most honour to his word, and glory to his faithfulness. It shows what
an high opinion you have of his perfections, that you can beUeve him without
sight. Our deceased brother had this faith, and made a noble confeasion of it to
a precioua aervant of Christ's, who went to see hira in his iUneaa, and asked him,
" how he did :" he answered, " I am so full of pain, and so ill, that I can think
but httle, but I know that Jesus is carrying on the interests of my poor aoul
notwithstanding." These are to me the choicest of his dying words. I see in
them a weU grounded trust and confidence in God, far more deep and solid than
aU the rejoicing of triumphant faith. For when he had not this to comfort him,
he had what was much better. When he had no sight, he could walk by faith.
If God teach you, my brethren, to walk thus, you will not be troubled about
what you are to have, or not to have, when you come to die. If you can say thia,
Father, thy wttl be done, and can say it from your hearts, then let him appoint

Ol' THE REV. THOMAS JONES. 827
your death, and the time and manner of it, and your frame and temper of mind
upon its approach ; and, depend upon it, he wttl order aU things for the best.
Perhaps there may be some persons here very indifferent^ about the matter,
whether God loves them, and whether they be precious in his sight or not. This
comes from the love of present things. Their hearts are set upon the world. The
objects about them have all their affections. Their eager pursuit after pleasures,
honours, riches, and ease, sets death at a distance, and makes heaven not
desirable. TeU such persons how uncertain hfe is ; they do not care, they will
run the risk. Tell them, if they die in their sins, what their eternal state wUl
be ; they would not choose to be in everlasting torments, but they wiU venture it,
rather than not enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season. What a delusion are
these persons under 1 They believe that sin wiU bring eternal misery upon them,
if not pardoned ; and yet they live to-day in sin, as if they were sure they should
not be in hell before to-morrow. And they have no sort of evidence that they
shall be alive the next moment. Our time is in the hand of God, and he cuts it
off when and how he pleases. Oh, sirs, if you have ears to hear, hearken.
Where witt the course of Ufe you are in end ? Stop a moment, and consider.
Have you any sin in your hearts, any sin in your lives, which you cherish, and
wiU not part with ? What ! wiU you say, I wttl keep it, it is a blessed morsel, it
is a very heaven to me : I do not care if I go to heU for it ? And dare you defy
the vengeance of the Almighty, and with this thought return to the commission
of it? Suppose in the very act God should require your soul, and death carry
you that moment from sinning to judgment. This has been. This may be again.
And why not your case ? If it should— Oh what thought is that ! — If it should,
what would you have to do throughout eternal ages, but wail, and weep, and
gnash your teeth for having been so hardened through the deceitfulness of sin,
as never to prepare to meet God in judgment. May the Lord awaken you to a
serious consideration of these things, that you may flee from the wrath to come,
and may be delivered by the tender mercies of our God from the power of
darkness, and translated into the kingdom of his dear Son.
The sum of what hath been now delivered is this. God is gracious to those
whom he calls to the knowledge of himself in showing them mercy ; and in
keeping them throughout their lives as his precious jewels, and throughout their
dying hours, his love is with them, and never leaves them nor forsakes them.
The testimonies of scripture and of the people of God are undoubted evidence of
these truthe, particularly the experience of our deceased brother. I have laid
before you an account of God's dealings with his soul from the time God was
pleased to reveal his Son in him. Glory be to that rich sovereign grace, which
did so much for him and by him. Glory be to the conqueror of death who
showed him such abundant mercy on his dying bed. And Jesus is still the same :
hia promiBea, his grace, his power, are the same yesterday, to-day, and for ever.
Whosoever believeth in him shaU never be confounded, never, never confounded,
but in life shall be kept by his power through faith unto salvation, in death safe,
in eternity blessed. Trusting, then, and beheving in him, while we live, may we
live unto the Lord ; and when tve elie, may we die unto the Lord : so that whether
we hve or die, we may be the Lord's. Oh that this may be the happy case of
all who hear me to-day, and may the Lord incline our hearts to ask it of him in
prayer, saying,
0 thou God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, hear us for his sake, and
?;ive a blessing to the word now spoken. Make it the means of turning sinners
rom the error of their ways. Convince them, by thy word and Spirit, of the
danger of their being by nature children of wrath, and of their continuing in that
state. Teach them, gracious Goel, the number of their days, that they may
apply their hearts unto wisdom. And convince them of righteousness, that they
may see a perfect righteousness in thy dear Son, and by faith trust in it, and
live upon it, bringing forth abundantly the fruits of it in their hearts and lives.
Be merciful, we beseech thee, O holy Father, to those among us, who are seeking
thy face, and desiring to know thee as a reconcUed God. Oh, give them that
faith tvhich worketh by love, and visit them with thy salvation. Let them see
the felicity of thy chosen, and rejoice in the gladness of thy people, and give

828 THE SELF-EXISTENCE
thanks with thine inheritance. And make thine inheritance more thankful. May
the partakers of thy precious love in all things be giving of thanks. May all that
is within them bless thy holy name for thy free mercy, and may all that they
have, and all that they are, be showing forth the praise of the glory of thy grace.
Keep them, O Lord our God, in an humble dependance upon thee. Carry them
safe through the trials and difficulties of life, and give them potver to hold on
and persevere unto the end, that they may die in faith, and having happily finished
their course, may receive from thy free grace a never-fading crown of glory.
Grant this, holy Father, for the sake of thy beloved Son and our Saviour Jesus
Christ, to whom with thee and the eternal Spirit, three coequal persons in one
Jehovah, be endless praise. Amen

A DISCOURSE UPON THE SF.LF-EXISTKNCE OF
JESUS CHRIST.

Thus shalt thou say unto the children of Israel, 1 AM hatli sent me unto you,— Exod. iii. M.

PREFACE.

Several persons have earnestly requested me to mako the following dis
course public. When they heard it preached at St. George's, Hanover-square,
and at St. Dunstan's in the West, they said they found great benefit from it, and
they have made me hope it may be as useful to others aa it was to them. I have
therefore offered it to the public, auch as it is. The adorable person of whom
it treats wttl overlook its imperfections : he knowa that it ia the produce of a
grateful heart, willing to make some return, how poor and small soever, for the
numeroua, great, and ineatimable bleasinga received from hiB hande. And if it
8hall please him to make this discourse the means of strengthening one believer,
or of converting one unbeliever, may the glory be his. I deaire no greater
honour than to be an humble instrument in hia hand8 of magnifying and exulting
Jeeua Christ, who is above all bleaaing and praise : for he is over all, God
bleesed for ever. Amen.
Before the firat edition of this discourse waa published, two anonymous
authora were greatly offended at the bare title in the advertisement, anil they
were exceedingly bitter in their invectives against it. Writers of no name
deserve no notice. I shall not think myself concerned to fight I know not who
in the dark. But if any of the opposers of the self-existence of Jeaua Christ,
wttl write against the proper preface in the communion service for Trinity
Sunday, and set his name to it, 1 hope tliere will be persona found to defend it.
" It is very meet, right, and our bounden duty, that we should at all timea,
and in aU placea, give thanka unto thee, O Lord, almighty, everlaating God,
who art one God, one Lord; not one only person, but three persona in one
substance. For that which we believe of the glory of the Father, the same tve
believe of the Son, and of 'the Holy Ghost, without any difference or ine
quality." This is my belief, and upon this authority I build the following
discourse. If the church of England be mistaken, then I am ; but if she be
right in asserting that there is no difference or inequality between the personB,
then I am right in asaerting that Jesus Christ has, on good scripture grounds,
the same self-existence with the Father without any difference or inequality.
Several editions of this discourse have been printed since the year 1755. At
present they are all sold. And there being still a demand for them, I have
consented to republish it, as ray testimony for the essential glory of God the
Sariour. When infidelity is not afraid openly to attack this fundamental truth,
it becomes the worshippers of our Lord to bring forth their strong arguments.

OF JESUS CHRIST. 829
And there have not been wanting able champions in our day, and successful,
who, upon the footing of scripture, have completely answered all the infidel
objections ; so that the doctrine of the Trinity has been better established by the
late opposition, and the truth has greatly prevaUed. The candid behever has
been hereby confirmed in the practical knowledge of the doctrine, and in the
experience by the Holy Ghost, what it is to enjoy feUowship with the Father and
the Son. Upon these two grounds the truth stands perfectly estabhshed, viz.,
scripture truth, and scripture experience: against which he that sitteth upon the
throne has said, and he has made his word good, "the gates of heU shaU not
prevail." While the scriptures are allowed to be of divine authority, and whUe they are
found to be the power of God unto salvation, the church of England will be
orthodox in her creeds and articles. So long will the doctrine of the Trinity be
established upon infaUible evidence, and will be confirmed by sure experience.
They wttl be rooted and grounded in the truth, who know the Father's love as it
ia revealed in the Son, and shed abroad in the heart by the Holy Ghost.
Reader, may it be thy happy case to believe the truth, and to feel the power of
what is written ; " The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and
the communion of the Holy Ghost, be with you aU. Amen." 2 Cor. xiii. 14.

I said therefore unto you that ye shall die in your sins : for if ye believe not that
I AM, ye shall die in your sins. — John viii. 24.
This is a very awakening scripture, and ought to rouse up your particular
attention. The doctrine here maintained is the self-existence of Jesus Christ ;
which is not a mere speculative point, it is not an indifferent thing, whether you
believe it or not ; but your eternal salvation is so much concerned in it, that if
you do not believe it, you will die in your sins, and wttl have every one of them
to answer for at the tribunal of God. Is not this an interesting subject ? Is not
every one of us nearly concerned in what is to befal us after death ? And has
not our Lord here forewarned us of what is to befal them who deny his divinity ?
"They shall die in their sins." And this he repeats twice in the text, the more
strongly to impress it upon their memories. And what is it then to die in their
sins ? Is it a light trifling matter not worth your care and consideration ? to die
in the midst of the pollution of a sinful Ufe, to be taken away with all the guilt of
it upon your heads, and to find after death no atonement, no Mediator, to protect
you from the just indignation of the most holy God, who has declared that he is
of purer eyes than to behold the least iniquity — is aU this of no consequence to
you ? Does not the danger come near enough to alarm even the most stupid
and insensible sinner ? But yet this is not the worst of dying in their sins.
It is the most striking circumstance to consider to what a depth of misery your
pollution and. guUt must sink you. Sin and misery are inseparably connected,
and none can deliver you from sin, but he who came to take away the sins of the
world ; and he cannot deliver you as man, he must be God who can have
merit sufficient to take away sin ; therefore, if you deny him to be God, your sins
remain, and misery must be your portion — misery, the greatest you can suffer in
soul and body, among the condemned spirits in hell for ever and ever.
This is the meaning of dying in your sins ; and can there be any truth more
affecting, or any subject more interesting? Does not tbe very proposing it
awaken your hopes and fears ? Every one of you is concerned at the peril of
his eternal happiness to come to a point in this case, and to be determined ; and
therefore, men and brethren, let me intreat you to examine the matter strictly
and solemnly. The divinity of Jesus Christ is the very foundation of the
Christian rehgion. It is the first and principal article. The whole rests upon
it ; even what is called the morality of the gospel receives its obUgation from his
being the true God. If he was in any respect inferior to the Father, Christianity
would be altogether the most stupid and absurd system of rehgion, and the most
grosa piece of idolatry that was ever invented in the world ; for the Christian
church bas always acknowledged Jesus Christ to be God co-equal and co-eternal

830 THE SELF-EXISTENCE
with the Father, and has offered prayers and praises unto him, and served hiin
tvith every act of religious worship : and the church of Englanii has given him
divine honour in the same full and ample manner as he claimed it, John v. 23.
"That aU men should honour the Son, even as they honour the Father." Cer
tainly it is necessary on aU these accounts to examine this fundamental point :
and let us then consult the sacred books upon it, and hear their judgment, and
abide by their determination. And they speak as full to the point as any unpre
judiced person could desire, and they have set the doctrine in so clear a light, and
it appears to me with such strong evidence, that I have no more doubt of Christ's
self-existence, than I have of the plainest truth. And this perfect conviction
(which I thank God I find in multitudes of other persons) makes me wish, out of
love to your souls, that every one of you was as perfectly convinced, lest you
should die in your sins ; and if you can but desire conviction, you shall know of
the doctrine whether it be of God. And may the adorable Jesus, whose honour
I am going to defend, now plead his own cause with you. May he send his
Spirit into aU your hearts, and convince you that he is God indeed, while I am
speaking upon the two propositions contained in the text.
First, Jesus Christ is the self-existent God.
Secondly, If ye believe it not, ye shall die in your sins : " therefore I said unto
you, that ye shaU die in your sins : for if ye believe not that I AM, ye shaU die
in your sins."
First, the self-existence of Jesus Christ is declared in these worda, believe that
I AM, that I have exietence in myaelf, and exist by a neces8ity of nature : for I
made aU things, and without me was not anything made that is made. I am
the Creator, they are my creatures. And the Creator must exist in a different
manner from the creatures. AU things are dependent upon me, anil have only
a derived existence — they are what I made them, and they continue as long as I
support them. No creature ever came into life without my potver, and when I
take away their breath, they die, and turn again to their duat ; so that they have
only a dependent being, whereas my exiatence is neceasary and underived. I A M
is my incommunicable name, and what it means is my incommunicable attribute.
Thus our blessed Saviour ia the great and eternal I AM. He is Jehovah : for
he exiat8 in a different manner from all other beings and things, as the word
Jehovah denotes. The Christian writers, as far aa I know, are unanimous in
their interpretation of this divine name ; they all agree that it relates to the exiat
ence of the divine eaaence, and ie descriptive of that independent property by
which Jehovah has existence in himself, whereas aU other beings and things
derive their existence from him. And to thia the very Jewa aeaent, acknow
ledging that Jehovah signifies the essence which necessarily exists. This there
fore is a settled point. Now our Sariour is frequently called Jehovah in the Old
Teetament, and thereby the self-existence ofthe divine nature is ascribed to him.
Thus the prophet, Isa. xliii. 1 1, " I, even I, am Jehovah, and besides me there is
no Saviour." There was no Jesus, no Saviour but Jehovah : therefore Jehovah
and Jesus are one. And again we read, chap. xlix. 26, " AU flesh shall know
that I Jehovah am thy Saviour and thy Redeemer, the mighty one of Jacob."
And the prophet Jer. 1. 34, says, " Their Redeemer is strong, Jehovah of hosta
ia his name ; " the name Jehovah belongs to the Redeemer ; it is his incom
municable title. And since it is agreed on aU hands, that Jehovah signifies
the self-existent essence, consequently Jesus Christ is self-existent, for he is
Jehovah. This argument is, I think, very clear and fuU, and the force of it
may be thus summed up : Jehovah is self-existent, but Jesus ChriBt is Jehovah,
therefore he is self-existent.
In thia sense our Lord says in the text, If ye believe not that I AM, that Je
hovah is in me of a truth, ye shall die in your sins. I AM cannot relate to his
created being : all the eophi8try of Arianiam and Sociniani8m cannot wrest the
,words to such a sense, because the Jews could not but beheve that he existed,
when they heard him say, I AM ; or if it was possible to disbelieve it, yet it
would not have been a capital crime, unless he had been something more than a
created being : therefore the very reason of the thing proves that he claimed
some manner of existence different from human, and which it is absolutely neces-

OF JESUS CHRIST. ^31
sary for every man to believe, unless he would die in his sins, and suffer the
punishment due to them for ever. The translators have done great injury to
this scripture by inserting the word he, I AM he, which is not in the original,
and by putting it in, they have destroyed both the sense of the passage, and
also the force of the argument : for, I am he, ought to refer to something said ;
but it has no reference, no sort of .connexion, either trith what goes before or
foUows after. And therefore it is as absurd to insert the word here, as it would
be in Exodus, where, upon Moses' inquiring for some descriptive name, by which
the IsraeUtes might know that the God of their fathers had sent him to deliver
them, " God said unto him, I AM THAT I AM, and thou shalt say unto the
children of Israel, I AM hath sent me unto you." Would it not be abominable
nonsense to read the words, I am he that I am he, and I am he hath sent me
unto you ? The learned world, Christians and Jews, would not aUow of this glaring
absurdity ; for they have aUowed that this passage in Exodus is expressive of the
self-existence of the Deity. I AM denotes the necessary manner in which he
exists, and since this is the meaning of it in one part of scripture, certainly it
must mean the same thing in every part of scripture, especiaUy when it is used
by that person who claimed to himself aU the attributes of divinity : and there
fore the meaning of the expression if there was any obscurity in the usage of it
in the New Testament may be clearly ascertained from its usage in the Old.
When God sent Moses to the Israelites, with this divine name I AM, and when
Christ, who never scrupled to caU himself God, assumed the same name I AM,
certainly the same words spoken on the same subject must convey the same idea
of self-existence, and whoever is self-existent is the true God, but Christ is self-
existent, therefore he is the true God.
When the Arians and Socinians are pressed hard with scripture arguments,
they will aUow Christ to be God in some limited and restrained sense of the
word ; but they cannot bear to hear of his self-existence, because this makes him
equal with the Father, which they deny : for it seems an insuperable difficulty to
them, that he whom the scripture caUs a Son, should have the same self-exist
ence with the Father. This is a standing objection with them, and with every
other species of infidels, but this objection upon the true state of the case vanishes
at once : for it is founded upon a very gross mistake, both of the nature of the
doctrine, and also ofthe scripture explanation of it.
The nature of the doctrine is this. In the unity of the divine essence there
are Three persons equal in aU perfections and attributes, so that none is before
or after other, none is greater or less than another, but the glory is equal, the
majesty co-eternal. The trinity in unity is thus expressed in scripture, 1 John
v. 7. " There are Three that bear record in heaven, the Father, the Word, and
the Holy Ghost, and these Three are One." " One," says the unbeliever, " how can
that be ? How can 'Three be one ? That 's a contradiction." If it be, it is a
contradiction of his own inaking : for unless they be Three in the same respect
as they are One, which opinion could never be maintained by any man in his
-f senses, then he must take the contradiction upon himself ; and there may be,
' for any thing he knows to the contrary, Three persons in one essence, unless he
can prove that the unity of the essence absolutely excludes personality. But
before tve can allow him this, he must first give us a plain account of the manner
of the existence of the divine essence, and must demonstrate that it cannot admit
of any persons in it ; which he cannot possibly demonstrate by the light of
nature. 'The most acute and enlightened genius is not equal to the subject. It
is as far above his capacity, as the heavens are above the earth. Let him soar
aloft upon the strongest pinions of moral reasoning, and try to measure infinity
with the longest chain of metaphysical argument ; yet when he came down from
his towering flight, he could give us no fresh intelligence concerning the divine
existence. The mode and manner of it would be stiU unknown. We know that
there is an immortal spirit united to the body ; but does any philosopher pretend
to determine the mode ofthe existence of this created spirit ? What idea can he
form of it ? Whence does he borrow this idea ? Or in what kind of language
wttl he communicate it unto another? If he be not clear in this more easy
point, how can he form an idea of the mode of the existence of Jehovah ?

832 THE SELF-EXISTENCE
Can he determine how an infinite spiritual essence exists ? AVhat idea has
he of the manner of the existence of an essence which was from eternity,
and which was the first cause of all other beings ? When unhchevers will
write upon this subject, and settle the mode of existence of an uncreated essence,
then they may speak with some certainty upon it. But while they are forced
to confess that they know not the mode of the divine existence, and yet main
tain that Jehovah cannot exist but in one Person, is it not evident that their
conduct is inconsistent ? For the personality is founded on the manner in
which the essence exists ; this they do not pretend to determine, and yet they
deny the personality of the essence, and venture their eternity upon it. Ie not
this conduct absurd and irrational ? And wiU you then ever listen to what unbe
lievers may assert concerning the manner of the divine existence? for they are
indeed absolutely ignorant of it, and you may be assured of their ignorance, if
you only ask them to account for the manner of the existence of a created
spirit. And when they give up this point, which they must, then urge this ques
tion to them, How can you pretend to account for the manner of the existence
of an infinite uncreated Spirit, after you have owned that you cannot account for
the manner of the existence of a finite created spirit ? Even to pretend to it is a
most glaring absurdity ; and therefore we may conclude, upon the footing of
sound reasoning, that there may be three Persons in tho unity of the divine
essence ; and the scripture positively maintains there are Three, the Father,, the
Son, and the Holy Spirit, and theae Three are One. And
If nothing remain for the infidel to object to the state of the doctrine, what can
he offer again8t the scripture explanation of it ? There can be no difficulty but
what arises from the names of the divine Persons, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit,
and these have been a great handle of objection, and are still with unbelievers
who are so blinded with their vices, that they know nothing of the true sense and
meaning of scripture, but onlv look into it for matter of cavil : they suppo86.
with ignorance common to infidelity, that these names were to give ue ideae of the
manner in which the Persons exist in the essence, but the scripture had a quite
different view in using then}. 'The ever-blessed Trinity took the namea of
Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, not to describe in what manner they exist as divine
Persons, but in what manner the divine Pereona have acted forue men and for our
salvation. These names were to give us ideas of the distinct offices, which the
Trinity had agreed to sustain in the economy of our redemption. The scripture
informs us, St Paul frequently, Eph. i. 4; ch. iii. 11 ; 2 Tim. i. 9; Tit. i. 2,
&c. and 1 Pet. i. 20, that the covenant of grace was made before the world, and
the gracious plan of man's ealvation was settled before he had hia being. Ac
cording to the plan of this covenant, one of the divine Peraone agreed to demand
infinite satisfaction for sin, when mankind should offend, and to be the Father
of the human nature of Jesus ChriBt, and our Father through him ; and there
fore he ia called God the Father, not to deecribe hia nature, but his office. An
other of the dirine Persons covenanted to become a Son, to take our nature upon
him, and in it to pay the infinite satisfaction for sin, and therefore he is called
Son, Son of God, and such like names, not to- describe his divine nature, but his
divine office. Another of the divine Persona covenanted to make the infinite
satisfaction of the Son of God effectual, by inspiring the spirits of men, and die-
posing them to receive it, and therefore he is catted the Holy Inspirer, or Holy
Spirit, and the Spirit of God, not to describe hie divine nature, but hia divine
office. The terme Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, are terms of economy, and are
accordingly used in ecripture, to deecribe the distinct parts which the ever-bleeaed
and adorable Trinity 8U8tained in our redemption.
I wish it was in my power to explain the scripture doctrine in such worda, as
you may att easily understand. The doctrine of the Trinity is the most neces
sary article of the Christian religion, and we cannot take one safe step in the
way to heaven without being clear in it. And since it is the very foundation
of your faith, I therefore intreat your raore particular attention, while I am con
sidering it. The scripture makes no difference between the divine Persons, except
what is made by the distinct offices, which they sustain in the covenant of grace.
The Persons are each equal in every perfection and attribute ; none is before or

OF JESUS CHRIST. 833
after other, none is greater or less than another; but the whole Three Persons
are co-eternal together and co-equal. And consequently Christ, who was from
eternity co-equal with the Father, did not make himself inferior because he
covenanted to become a Son, nor did the Holy Spirit, who was from eternity
co-equal with the Father and the Son, make himself inferior because he cove
nanted to make the spirits of men holy by his grace and influence. Son and
Holy Spirit are names of office, and the names of their offices certainly cannot
lessen the dignity of their nature, but should rather exalt them in our eyes, for
whose salvation they condescended to sustain these offices. Our blessed Lord
was Jehovah, when he covenanted to be made flesh, and to become a Son : and
the very nature and terms of the covenant prove, that at the making of it he
must have been a Person of the self-existent essence, because he had thereby
such offices committed to him, as none but the true God was able to sustain.
The whole economy and government of the world, from the time of its creation
to the final dissolution, was put into his hands ; and therefore the scripture ex
pressly assures us, that he created it, that he governs it by his providence, that
he redeemed his people by his blood, and that he is to come again at the last day,
in all his glory, to judge it. Andhe, who was almighty to create all things, who
was all- wise to govern aU things, who had infinite merit to redeem his body the
church, and who is to be God the Judge of aU at the last great day, certainly
this almighty, this aU-wise, this all-meritorious, and divine Judge must be
splf-existent. And being possessed of these offices, he might truly say, I AM ;
liecaiise he could not but have necessary existence in himself, who was the first
cause, and who gave existence to every other being and thing.
What has been said in defence of the first proposition in the text may be sum
med up with this argument. The divine essence is self-existent ; therefore the
persons in the essence are also self-existent ; but Jesus Christ is one of the per
sons in the essence, for he is frequently called Jehovah in the Old Testament,
and the New declares, that he and the Father are one, consequently he is self-
existent ; from whence I raise this syUogism. Whoever is self-existent is the
true God, but Jesus Christ is self-existent, therefore he is the true God. This
is a plain argument, and is so evident upon scripture principles, that I defy all the
Arians and Socinians in the world to answer it; for it seems as certain that Jesus
Christ is a person of the self-existent essence, as that there is a self-existent
essence. Christ is the great and eternal I AM, true and very God, equal in all
things with the Father and the Holy Spiritas touching his Godhead; and therefore
to the holy, blessed, and glorious Trinity, we ascribe equal dominion, and honour,
and worship, now and for ever, according to the doctrine of the scripture and the
constant practice of the Christian church. And,
Let no person think that this is a speculative point. It is not an indifferent
thing whether you receive it or not ; but your eternal state depends upon it, you
muat receive it, or perish for ever ; for whosoever disbelieves it shaU be damned.
This may sound very harsh in the ears of free and candid disquisitors, but I
really cannot soften it. I am not fond of thundering out damnation any more
than men in these moderate times may be of hearing it, and you know that I
very seldom have the word in my mouth ; but there is certainly such a thing as
damnation, and the Almighty has threatened to inflict it upon the deniers of
Christ's divinity, and let men make ever so light of it, he wiU infaUibly inflict
it ; and, therefore, I must again admonish you, that whoever does not believe
Jesus Christ to be self-existent, and thereby equal to the Father, shall be damned.
And does not the text declare the same thing ? " They shaU die in their sins,"
and this is so far from being anything short of damnation, that dying in sin is
the very lowest state of infernal misery, as I am to prove under the
Second proposition. " If ye believe not that I AM," says Christ, " ye shall
die in your sins." Dying in sin is a clear expression, whose meaning cannot
easily be mistaken. It denotes the most dreadful state of departing sinners,
who have no mediator or atonement in the world of spirits to which thev are
going, but they leave this worlfl'tvifh all the pollution and gmlt of their crimes
upon the soul ; and when they Appear before the tribunal of infinite justice, the
horrid deformity and wickedness of them will then be manifest ; they will then
3 H

834 THE SELF-EXISTENCE
have no robe to cover the offensive and nauseous leprosy of their impurities ;
their abominable filthiness will then break out, and how can the most holy and
pure God look with delight upon those loathsome lepers ? Ile declares he can
not. He is of purer eyes than to behold the least iniquity. He cannot behold
them ; and, therefore, they must be shut out of his presence, as the lepers were
shut out of the camp ; and since they never can be made clean, they must be shut
out for ever. Nothing can purge the conscience from sin but that offering
which perfecteth for ever. This alone cleanseth us from all sin ; but this
unbelievers reject, therefore their sin remaineth. They must answer for it at the
bar of justice, and whatever Dunishment it deserves they must suffer it in soul and
body, and, if there be truth in God, their punishment be eternal. These aie his
own words, at which one might reasonably think the heart of the most obdu
rate infidel would tremble. Isa. xxxiii. 13, 14. " Hear ye that are far off, what
I have done, and ye that are near acknowledge my might. The sinnera in Zion
are afraid, fearfulness hath surpriaed the hypocrites ; who among us shall dwell
with the devouring fire ? AVho among us shaU dwell with everlasting burnings ? "
Who shall ? Certainly they who die in their sins. Sin first kindled these flames
of heU, and sinners must endure them. And the chief of sinners, tbe Arians and
Socinians, raust dweU with the devouring fire, and with everlasting burnings.
I have seen the deniers of Christ's divinity very warm and angry at thie state
of the case, and have heard them complain loudly of our want of charity. They
do not love to be told of heU torments, and they think it very hard, that they
should be sent to hell for a speculative point, (as they softly term rejecting Christ's
self-existence,) quite an harmless opinion .with them, a mere subject of debate
and free inquiry. It may seem very light to them, hut it is in fact of the aame
consequence as denying the being of- God : and if they will make their free
inquiries and debates about it, and after inquiring and debating, reject it, they
Bhould remember that they do this at the peril of their lives. Denying Christ to
be aelf-exiatent is not a small crime, it is the greatest that a man can commit ;
for what is it to deny the king'a title to the crown ? Is it not high treason ?
And what ia it then to deny the Godhead of the blessed and only Potentate, the
King of kings, and Lord of lords ? Is not this high treason against the supreme
Majesty of heaven? And when unbelievers deny the Godhead of Jesus Christ,
try to rob him of his self existence, erect eocieties on purpose to stab him with
their insolent blasphemies, and would pull him out of his eternal throne, and
then endeavour what in thera lies to atrip him of hia divine glory, degrading and
sinking him down into a mere creature, and trampling under foot, as if he tvere
but dross and dung, the most adorable God of heaven and earth ; what will
you call these offences ? Are they not overt acts of open rebellion and of high
treason ? And if the least of these against an earthly king would render the
offenders unnatural rebels and worthy of death, must not the crimes increase in
proportion to the infinite dignity of the king against whom they are committed ?
High treason against the Godhead of Jesus Christ, how much soever unbelievers
may try to palliate it, is certainly an infinite crime, and if God be true, it will
meet with an infinite punishment ; for if ye believe not that I AM, says the self-
existent God himself, ye shall die in your sins, and these unatoned for, shall not
only exclude you from the glories of heaven, but shaU alao juatly sentence you to
the endless torments of heU.
As this method of proceeding against the deniers of Christ's self-existence ia
not, as they would insinuate, harsh and rigorous, but is founded in truth and
equity ; because every man is a sinner, and guilty in the sight of God, not only
by actual, but also by original tranagression, " by the offence of one, judgment
came upon aU men to condemnation," and therefore aU men being under aen-
tence of condemnation, want an atonement for their 8ins. This atonement ia
required by, and is to he made to, infinite justice, and whoever makes it must
be an infinite Person, capable of doing an infinitely meritorious act ; so that he
cannot be any thing less than a Person of the self-existent essence. If he were
a creature of ever so great dignity, the very highest in the rank of beings, yet as
he is but a creature, he could do no action which could merit for another, much
less which could have infinite merit ; consequently he could make no atonement

OF JESUS CHRIST. 835
to infinite justice, and therefore unless Christ be self-existent, we must all die in
our sins, and answer for them before the tribunal of God : and the just wages
of sin is death, death of the body to this world, and death both of body and
soul from God and his glory in the next world, for ever and ever. And this is
indeed the melancholy case of every infidel. He denies the virtue of Christ's
merits to atone as God, and, of course, he can have no atonement ; for nothing
lesB than an infinite Being can make an infinite atonement ; and the infidel, with
out euch an atonement, must be under the guilt both of original and actual trans
gression. He has no sacrifice, no atonement, to propitiate the justice of God
the Father, by whom a firm and sure decree has been in this case made and
provided, that, " without shedding of blood there is no remission." But he
rejects the merits of the blood of the Lamb of God, which has been shed for sin,
and which alone can take away the sins of the world ; for which reason th'ere is
no remission for him, but he dies in his sins, with aU the poUution and the guilt
of them upon his conscience, and when he appears at the bar of justice, he will
find his Judge a jealous God, and a consuming fire. And how wiU he then be
able to protect himself from the wrath of the Almighty ? Offended Omnipotence
he cannot escape, he cannot resist ; and who can say what a degree of misery
offended Omnipotence wiU inflict ? Oh, it a dreadful thing, beyond imagination
dreadful, to faUinto the hands of the living God ! and whoever rejects the divine
merits of Christ's atonement, will feel his everlasting displeasure : for after
rejecting them, " there remaineth no more sacrifice for sins, but a certain fearful
looking for ofjudgment and fiery indignation, which shaU devour the adver
saries. And if he who despised Moses's law died without mercy, under two or
three witnesses ; of how much sorer punishment, suppose ye, shall he be thought
worthy, who hath trodden under foot the Son of God ? " hath trodden under
foot his divinity (as all infidels do), hath trampled, and even stamped upon the
glory of the self-existent God, as if he was something baser than a worm, " and
hath counted the blood of the covenant wherewith he was sanctified, an unholy
thing, and hath done despite unto the Spirit of grace." Doing despite unto the
Spirit of grace is the last stage of infidelity, and may the almighty God keep
every one of you from it, lest you should die in your sins and perish for ever.
I chose to finish the second proposition in the text with these striking words
of St. Paul, (Heb. x. 26, 27, &c.) because they are clear and full to the point, and
expressly declare the judgment and fiery indignation, which every one wiU meet
with who treads under foot the Son of God. Let the infidel consider, whether
he does not tread him under his feet, when he ridicules the almighty Creator
of the world, and with treason blacker than ever was hatched in heU, tries to
rob the eternal God of his divinity. Does not he account the blood of the cove
nant an unholy thing, who sets no value upon the most precious blood of the
Lamb of God ? And must not he die in his sins, and rise from the dead in his
sins, and appear in his sins at the last great day, and go with his sins to the
place of eternal punishment, who, contrary to God's decree, has resolved to put
nia trial upon this issue ; that without shedding of blood there may be remission?
Before any remission can be obtained, there must not only be blood shed, but
also blood of an infinite value; and there cannot be infinite value in any sacrifice,
except in the precious blood of Christ, as of a Lamb without blemish, and with
out spot. The merits of this unblemished and spotless Lamb the infidels deny,
whereby they reject the only method which God has appointed for the remission
of sins. This crime approaches so very near to doing despite to the Spirit of
grace, and to grieving and quenching him, that my heart mourns for these
deluded men, and I cannot but wish they were as much concerned for their own
salvation as I am for them. I see their guilt, to which they are blind. I see
their danger, against which they shut their own eyes. I behold them ready to
die in their sins, and the pit of destruction open to receive them, they are on the.
very precipice, and in a moment may faU into hell. My dear feUow-creatures,
would to God I could caU you fellow-christians, if you have any love left for
your immortal souls, stop and consider. Pray God to open your eyes, that you
may see your danger. Oh! see how near you are to tbe pit! If you take one
step more, you may perish for ever. And why wttl you choose eternal misery ?
3 h 2

KJ6 THE SELF-EXISTENCE
I caU upon and entreat you, while there is yet a possibility of escaping it, to
awaken your hopes and fears : if it be given you to throw down your arms and
submit, still you may find mercy. For he is gracious and full of compassion.
He has gifts for men, even for the rebellious. He can give the spirit of wisdom
in the knowledge of himself. Ask, seek, and you shall find faitii and repentance
frora his sovereign grace. With him is plenteous redemption. Oh that you
may, from your owu experience, acknowledge him to be a God almighty to
pardon. And if none of tliese motives prevail with you to open your eyes,
may he, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, shine into your
hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in tbe face of
Jesus Christ.
And now having gone through the argument, I intreat you, my brethren, to
give me your favourable attention, while I am endeavouring to make some im
provement of what has been said, and to bring it home with power and conviction
to your hearts. The scripture tvhich we have been considering is most awful
and solemn, and holds out to us a doctrine of eternal importance, ri:. that we
must die in our sins, unless we believe the self-existence of Jesus Christ. Thia
doctrine I divided into two propositions ; under the first it waa proposed to prove
that Jesus Christ is a person of the self-existent essence, from whence it followed
secondly, that every one must die in his sins, unless he believes Christ's self-
existence. And if scripture and fair argument could prevail against men's pre
judices and sins, these two propositions would appear as evident as the Bun at
noon day. Indeed they do appear with complete evidence to every true
Christian ; and I openly declare, that I am as fully convinced of the self-existence
of Jesus Christ, as I am of any matter of fact, and therefore with this full con
viction upon my mind, it waa incumbent upon me to speak with great openness
and freedom to those persons, if there be any of them among you, who deny the
self-existence of Jesus Christ. And I hope he will second my intreaties with his
grace, and accompany them with his divine blessing, while I am calling upon
you once more to consider and to weigh impartiaUy the arguments wliich have
been now laid before you. They contain a very small part of the evidence of
our Lord's divinity. The scripture has offered us several proofs, which have
not been at present touched upon ; but I hope enough has been said to convince
you, if your minds lay open to conviction. The great infidel objection against
Chriet'e self-exi8tence is taken frora the unity of the divine essence ; this unity
we aUow, for it is written, Deut. vi. 4, " The Lord our God ia one Lord, Jehovah
our Elohim is one Jehovah ;" but then we maintain that the unity of the eaaence
cannot exclude peraonality, unless it could he demonstrated, that the manner in
which the essence exiata wttl not admit of any persons in it. But this you can
not demonstrate. It is impoaaible to demonstrate it ; becauae you do not know
the manner of the exiatence of any spiritual being, and conaequently it is impoa
aible for you to demonatrate, that the ecripture account of personality ia falae,
and yet at the peril of your eternal ealvation you will venture to deny what it ie
impoaaible you should disprove. Do you not see what an inconaietent and absurd
part you herein act ? Do you not openly fight againat reaaon, ae well as against
scripture and your own happiness ? You have not the shadow of an argument
against Christ's divinity, and yet you are not afraid to commit high treason against
hia aupreme Majesty who is almighty to punish. Why, my brethren, will you
fight against the Almighty ? Rebel no longer, throw down your arms, submit to
Jesus, proBtrate yourselves before him, and acknowledge him to be the self-
existent God. And
Let it be no hindrance to your owning hia divinity, that the acripture calla him
a Son, Son of God, Son of man, &c. for Son ia a name of office, and not of
nature ; it is not to give you an idea of the manner of his divine existence, but
of the nature of his cfivine actions. He was the true self-exiBtent God ; he waa
Jehovah from eternity, but he took the name of Son, when he covenanted to be
come a Son, and to be made flesh for U8 and for our salvation ; so that it is a
name of economy, descriptive not of his nature, but of his office. Thia ia the
scripture doctrine. And there i8 not one infidel objection against the aelf-
exiatence of Jesus Christ, but what may be easily solved upon this state of tbe

OF JESUS CHRIST. 837
case. I intreat you, therefore, to examine it carefully, and if you wiU give it a fair
hearing, laying aU prejudice aside, you wiU not be able to resist the force and
evidence of it.
But if you wiU shut your hearts against conviction, rooted and grounded so
deeply and strongly in infidelity that no arguments can move you ; yet if scrip
ture has lost its influence, wiU not self-love make some impression upon you ?
When the danger draws near, and your own souls are ready to perish, certainly
you ought then to begin to be concerned for your own welfare. And does not
the danger come near enough to strike your fears, when you are dying in your
sins ? When you are guilty of a crime, the certain consequence of which (unre-
pented of) is everlasting misery ? And if Jesus Christ be not your God, you wiU
have no atonement, no Mediator after death, but must answer for every sin,
which you have committed, at the bar of infinite justice, and you may read your
sentence among the records of infaUible truth — " The unbelieving shaU have
their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone : which is the second
death," (Rev. xxi. 8.) This scripture wiU as surely be fufiUed, as God is true ;
and he wttl be almighty to fulfil it in your destruction : for are you not unbeliev
ing ? Do you not disbelieve the first article of the Christian faith ? And why then
should you hope to escape the punishment here threatened to unbelief ? You
have no reasonable hope. God, who cannot lie, must execute his threatenings.
And do you think it prudent and safe to make the trial, whether he be a God of
truth ? if you believe not, yet he abideth faithful. If you deny him, he also wiU
eleny you. And when he disowns you for his, justice must seize you and deliver
you over to the tormentors, that this scripture may be fulfiUed in your punishment.
Oh ! my brethren, if your souls be dear and precious in your own eyes, do not
choose hell torments ? Why wiU you die in your sins, and go deliberately into the
lake, that burnetii with fire and brimstone for ever ? Might not one infer from
your conduct, that you were in love with heU ? For you cannot prove that Jesus
Chriat is not God. It is impossible to prove it ; and why then will ye deny his
divinity, and with overt acts of high treason attempt to rob him of his essential
glory ? Why will you act such an absurd, such a wicked part, and destroy
yourselves ?
If I have not been able to offer any thing sufficient to awaken and convince
you, I have therefore more reason, in the last place, to pray for you. And I am
sure aU believers wiUjoin heartil with me in prayer to God for your conversion.
AVe cannot but mourn over your present guilt, and your approaching ruin, and
pour out our requests before the throne of grace for you, because we are assured
that you have departed from the hving God. And let us now, my Christian
brethren, conclude, as tve always begin, with looking up to God for his bless
ing, that our labours may not be not in vain in the Lord.
0 most adorable Jesus, our Almighty God and Saviour, who hast declared,
that unless ye believe that I AM, ye Bhall die in your sins, we bless and
praise thee for giving us grace to beheve in thy self-existence. Keep us, we
beseech thee, steadfast in this faith, and gTant that it may not dweU in our
heads, anel rest there as a speculative point of science, but enable it to operate
upon our hearts, and rest there to produce in us aU thy sweet and heavenly tem
pers, making us holy as thou art holy. And, O Lord, be pleased to awaken and
convert all the deniers of thy divinity, and convince them that thou art a God
indeed, by the happy work of thy good Spirit upon their hearts, turning them
from the error of their ways, and bringing every one of them into thy flock, that
we may become one fold under one Shepherd ; and may with one heart and voice
give thanks and praise to the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, the holy, blessed and
glorious Trinity ; to whom be equal honour, and worship, and dominion, now
and for ever. Amen.

838

SERMONS.

g

SERMON I.
All my springs are in thee. — Psalm lxxxvii. 7 .
Wf. are called upon, at this time, to celebrate the birthday of Jehovah-Jesus
— God manifest in the flesh — a day which the Lord hath made famous for ever.
Big tvith miracles — big with blessings. It was the great purpose of the cove
nant of the eternal Three, that one of the divine persons should be made man,
and that thereby every perfection of the Godhead should shine forth in its full
lory for evermore. When it was proclaimed in heaven, " Let all the angels of
lod worship him," the elect angels bowed with thankful hearts to the infinite
condescension of Immanuel. They blessed and worshipped him for humbling
himself to be made man : and when in the fulness of time he tvas born of a
woman, then the whole multitude of the heavenly host came down to keep his
birthday, praising God, and saying, " Glory be to God in the highest, peace upon
earth, anil good will towards men." Such was the angels' hymn. So sweetly
did they sing their God and ours. Oh that we may find some of the same sweet
ness and melody in our souls ! May we eo meditate upon the birth of our dearest
Lord, that our faith may be exercised upon it, and we may enjoy ite rich bless
ings in our hearts and in our lives.
And to this end I have chosen a hymn composed upon this joyful occasion.
The Psalmist is led in spirit to see the future birth of Jehovah, and he is ravish
ed with the happy prospect. We read of many kinga who desired to eeo God
incarnate. David was one of the many. He saw it by faith, and was glad.
His soul was in raptures within him, and he speak8 of the coming of God in the
flesh, juat as Simeon did when he had him in hia arms. They both had hiin
dwelling in their hearts, and that made thera speak with their mouths with so much
affection. Simeon had lived to a blessed time. He saw the Lord Christ, and
took him up in his arms. He wanted to see nothing more upon earth — " Now,
Lord, lettest thou thy servant depart in peace : for mine eyee have seen thy
salvation." David saw the same with the eyes of his faith, and experienced
that all his springs of grace and glory were in the incarnate God. In him, as
tbe fountain head, the infinite ocean of Ufe and comfort, and from him, flow the
streams — all of them — whatever can do any good to a poor sinner in time or
in eternity, it is aU in and from God manifest in the flesh. All my fresh springe
are in thee. Bleesings on hie dear love, that he has enabled one to believe this,
and in a measure to enjoy it. Oh may your souls bless him, together with mine,
and may a fresh spring of his grace flow into your hearts, to increase your faith
and your enjoyment of his precious salvation, while I am,
First, Endeavouring to open the meaning of the Paalmiet'e words, and
then, Secondly, To bring the doctrine which they contain into practice and
experience. 1 . A Bhort view of the psalm wttl be the best way to come at the meaning
of our text. The subject ia the birth of Jesus, from which blessings are
derived to his people — great — numberless — everlasting blessings. The title
prefixed is,
"A psalm to be sung by the sons of Korah," i.e. of fatten man. Korah

SERMON I. 839
signifies the state in which trees are during winter, when stripped of their verdure
and fruit. In the same sense it is used for the bald head, when age or sickness
have deprived it of its glory, and left it without hair. 'This is a hvely description
of fatten man. He has lost his pristine beauty and fruitfulness. AVhen he left
God, and turned to his own ways, he became like the trees ofthe field in winter,
from which the genial warmth of the sun is withdrawn, or like the head, which,
by the abating of the natural heat and vigour, is left naked and bald. But
being brought to a right sense of this, and finding himself stripped of all the glory
which the first Adam had in paradise, he has been led to seek the restoration of
his nature, and has obtained ofthe second Adam, the Lord from heaven, a much
better state than he had lost. Every such person is entitled to sing this sacred
hymn, and he is caUed upon to do it. The name of the person, whom he is to
celebrate, is not mentioned at first, but is soon discovered by the character given
of him.
V. 1. " He shaU have his foundation upon the holy mountains." — He shall be
built up, and his feet shaU stand upon Mount Sion. The temple which tvas
founded there, was the type of his humanity. An infallible expositor has so ex
plained it. " Destroy this temple," says Christ, " and in three days I wiU build
it up." " But this," St. John declares, " he spake of the temple of his body "
It was as certain he would have a body prepared for him, as the temple had a
foundation upon Mount Sion ; and he would infallibly appear to fulfil every thing
there typified of him, by which means his Father would become the Father of all
his people, as it follows :
V. 2. " Jehovah loveth the gates of Sion more than aU the dweUings of Jacob."
— He loveth Sion for the sake of Sion's king, the Son of his love, who was there
to appear. T'he Redeemer shall come to Sion. And of his coming, of what he
was to be, and to do, and to suffer, the temple and its services were instituted signs
and types. On his holy hill he had placed his sanctuary : there was his visible
presence in the holy of holies ; and there God had determined, in very deed, to
dwell with men on the earth. For these reasons he had marked out Sion with
his special love, and had styled her the city of God.
V. 3. " Glorious things are spoken of thee, O city of God. Selah." — The
church is called the city of God long before, and long since, the congregation of
faithful people worshipped upon Mount Sion. AVe read of Abraham, and the
other heirs of promise, that they looked for a city which hath foundations, whose
builder and maker was God. And St. Paul speaks of the church of Christ in
the very same terms used in this psalm. " Ye are come," says he to believers,
"to Mount Sion, to the city of the hving God, to the heavenly Jerusalem, to the
general assembly and church of the first-born, whose names are written in
heaven." 'The city of God then is this one true church; part of the congrega
tion is triumphant ; part militant here on earth ; part not yet brought into being ;
but aU the parts make up the whole. They tvere aU given by the Father to the
Son. The Son accepted them, and wrote aU their names in his book, and for
them he lived and died. The Holy Spirit in due time calls them effectuaUy, and
• brings them by believing the Son's salvation, to enjoy the Father's love in time,
and to show forth the praises of Father, Son, and Spirit in the city of our God
for evermore, Selah : exalt him, take notice that ye exalt him for this ; and re
member, whatever glorious things are spoken of the church, all the glory must
he ascribed to its Ffead and King— God over aU, blessed for ever. Blessings on
him that he has a church. Eternal blessings will be his for gathering his church
out of all nations : for so it foUows in his own words.
X. 4. " 1 wttl cause it to be remembered by them who shall know me in Rahab
and Babylon ; behold Philistia and Tyre, the people of Ethiopia : this name tvas
born." — The name is the same as the Word who was made flesh, God incarnate,
and who will have a people in all these lands. They shall know him, and he will
make them remember, that Jehovah was manifest in the flesh for them. ITe was
born indeed in Judea. There they saw his glory: but he was also a light tn
lighten the Gentiles. His church, before he was born, his church since he was
bom, has an equal right to his nativity. Rahab and Babylon, Philistia anil Tyre,
the people of Ethiopia and the people of England, tan say, "The name born iii

840 PSALM LXXXVII. 7-
Judea is our Sariour, and our God," and we rejoice, with all the friends of Sion,
that he was horn there.
A'. 5. " And of Sion it shaU be said, a person and a person," God and man,
shall be born in her, and he himself, the Most High, shall perfectly establish
her." — O what a glorious subject of praise is here ! The name born is AVonder-
ful. He has two natures in him. Perfect God, and perfect man, in one Christ.
He was born in Sion, in the Jewish church, and therefore born, that being man,
he might hve and die for man, and being also the most High God, he might give
infinite value and dignity to his hfe and death. What mercies are these 1 Who
can teU the number or the greatness of them ? God incarnate — born to save, to
save sinners— the worst and vilest — to work out salvation perfectly, and then
perfectly to apply it : and that nothing might be wanting for their establishment
in the faith, he himself, the Most High, has undertaken to keep them by his
mighty power, titt he bring them to eternal salvation. Oh blesa the Lord with
me, my dear hearers, and let us magnify his name together, both for the mercies
themselves, and also for the provision made for them in the everlasting covenant,
which is the next point in the hymn.
X. 6. "Jehovah did record it, when he was registering the people, That this
name was to be born." — It was the great counsel and purpose of the eternal Three ;
it was entered in the records of heaven ; and it was revealed in the great charter
of grace, that this wonderful Person should be born — Immanuel — God with
us. To his birth Jehovah had respect, and considered his undertakinga for his
people, when he registered them in the court of heaven, and enrolled their names
in the book of life. God incarnate is the head of his body the church ; he
is the first-born among hia many brethren : he wa8 first chosen, they were chosen
in him ; he the head of all election, they the members under him ; he born for
them, therefore they have a new birth ; he lived for them on earth, therefore they
live tvith him in heaven ; he died for them on the cross, therefore they cannot
die under the curse of sin ; he is in the fulness of glory, therefore they shall be
glorified together with hira. In all things he muat have the pre-eminence, and
he richly deservee it. What a debt ! who can count the aum you owe him, whom
he haa ennobled, made the brethren of Immanuel, and in him aons of God, re
gistered as such with the Father'e own hand, and declared to be hia act and deed ?
the register given to the Son, and caUed the Lamb's book ; every name in it aa
dear to him as the apple of his own eye, and will be kept with equal care and
love. His almighty power guards the register ; he wiU not suffer any blot in it ;
not a name altered : not a name loat. Oh what merciea are theae 1 Who, who
can count the aum of them ? My friende, haa the grace of God beetowed thein
upon you ? Do you believe Jesua wae born for you ? He waa, if your dependence
be on hie holy hfe for your righteousness, and on his precioue blood-shedding for
your pardon. And think then what Christmas is to you 1 What a festival of joy
and thankfulness 1 See that you make much melody in your hearte unto the Lord.
Oh eing unto him, and praise him ; join all your brethren in earth and heaven,
who are now giving honour and glory to God and the Lamb ; for with this strain
our hymn concludes :
X. 7- " And the singers, as well as the performers on instruments shaU say,
AU my springs are in thee." — AU good flows from God incarnate; he is the
fountain head of grace and glory : and whoever upon earth is receiving out of
his fulness, he is ready with the melody of his heart, and with the concert of his
lips and hfe, to ascribe every good to the birth of Jesus. AU my springe, Baye
he, are in thee ; every etream of comfort flows from thee. Thou art the fruitful
aource of my every bleaaing. Oh give me, Jehovah Jeaue, give me deeper
humility, that I may with better praiee be exalting the God of my ealvation. And
whoever is receiving out of the same fulneae in heaven, he is perfectly convinced
that aU his springs are in God Jesus. It is the one employment, the very highest
blessedness of the redeemed of the Lord, as they are receiving freeh merciea, to
be ever returning them back in thankfulneaa. Thia i8 their very heaven. All
the harpere, playing round the throne with their golden harps, strike their highest
notes to this heart-felt truth, " All our springs are in thee. AVhatever brought
us here, whatever we are here, is entirely from thee : our royal crowns, our salva-

SERMON I. 841
tion robes, our palms of everlasting victory, our perfect conformity to God, and
our perfect enjoyment of God — aU, aU is from thee, our dearest Immanuel This
satisfying joy of heaven, great and endless as it is, yet is but a stream out of thy
fulness ; all springs from thee ; to thee be the glory for ever and ever. HaUelujah.
Angels, and the church of the first born say Amen."
Such is our Christmas hymn ; and what do you think of it, my dearly beloved ?
You have heard that it is a song of praise for a birth which brought tvith it every
blessing of earth and heaven. Your titie to, and your enjoyment of, aU good come
to you by the nativity of Jesus. Do you then read your title clear, and is your
enjoyment happy ? Are you now drawing your comforts fresh from this spring
head? Oh that you may consider it, and be pleased with it, as the blessed
Trinity were. Heaven beheld it, and smiled again on man, sinful man. — Justice
said, There I am satisfied, yea I am weU pleased.— Truth looked down, when
this heavenly plant sprung out of the earth, and said, He trill vindicate mine
honour ; the sinner may be saved, and yet I shah be true in aU my sayings.
Mercy and Truth met together ; Righteousness and Peace kissed each other.
Every offended attribute looked with delight on his birth, and saw that they
ahould be infinitely and everlastingly glorified in saving sinners. Oh blessed
Christmas day ! what a festival was it in heaven ; and when the sinner looks upon
this birth by faith, it is a heavenly festival to him upon earth : he sees a Child
born, and a Son given for him, who is also the almighty God ; and he is satisfied
with the obedience and with the sacrifice of his divine Saviour. His conscience
is at peace ; his heart is happy, he rests in his love ; enjoys his Jesus, and walks
in sweet friendship and holy fellowship with him, seeking to cultivate a nearer and
closer intimacy by faith, till Jesus bring him to fuU enjoyment in glory.
But the improvement of these truths deserves a more particular consideration.
I proceed therefore to the
Second head of discourse, which was to bring the doctrine, contained in our
text, into practice and experience.
The doctrine is this — The birth of Jesus Christ is the spring of all blessings in
time and in eternity ; it is the fountain from which flow aU the streams of grace
and glory. From which doctrine I would draw these two inferences :
First, If God had not been incarnate, sinners could have had no good ; and
Secondly, All good comes from his birth — " All my springs are in thee."
1. AVhen sin entered into the world, there was nothing good left in it, and from
that day forward no good was to be found, but from the birth of Jehovah Jesus.
A sinner may seek it elsewhere. Every sinner does : for indeed all sin consists
in turning from God our Saviour to something else, and in seeking that happi
ness in it, which is only to be found in him. The one good thing for the sons of
men is Jesus. And nothing can do them the least good, tiU they be pardoned
sinners in him, and partakers of the Father's love through him. Now look round
the creation, my beloved hearers, survey every subject which flatters you with
promised good. Examine it narrowly, and before you beheve its flatteries ask
it — "Thou seeming delightful creature canst thou pardon my sins, and save me
from hell ?" If it Bpeak the truth, it wiU reply, Not I ; who can forgive sin but God
only ? Well, then, if you have sinned, and being under the wrath and curse of God,
a pardon must be had, or else you are ruined for ever, what should you be seek
ing first, what should you be happy in obtaining, but a pardon ? Away with aU
fond hopes of sensual pleasures, or earthly possessions, or the esteem of men ;
what good can these, what good can all the world do you, if you should die un
pardoned, and the wrath and curse of Gosl should justly faU and abide upon you
for ever? Oh think on this, and when Pleasure puts on its sweet smiles, and
with a bewitching face says — " Come take me to your bosom — Oh what a paradise
of delight will I give you, only try me and you will find a very heaven in mine
embrace." Keep off, thou fair tempter; answer me — Dost thou come with a
pardon for my sinful soul, and art thou the heavenly messenger of this good
news? Oh no-~-every delight, amusement, diversion, whatever mistaken man
have stamped the name of pleasure upon, they did it for this very reason ; because
it keeps them from feeling their sins, and from seeking the pardon of them. So
was Dives deluded : he tvas gay and joUy— every day was a feast, and every hour

842 PSALM LXXXVII. 7.
brought some fresh entertainment. He did not feel his sins, till he felt their
punishment : but now the remembrance of his pleasures makes his torments
more tormenting. Young people, take warning from him. If pleasure was on
God's side, it would say to you — Do not you look at ine for happiness — do not
expect it from your senses, lt is in Jesus — all the springs of true pleasure are in
hira. Old people, do not let the world deceive you ; all is emptiness, and tvill
prove vexation, which leaves you unpardoned ; go where you will in quest of
happiness, you wttl be disappointed, tttl you come to Jesus. Your appetite will
increase by running after the creature, and your thirst will grow more painful.
You wttl contract fresh guttt, and lay up fuel for greater misery. The Lord God
convince you aU of these truths. On that you may feel the importance of them,
and may be satisfied, that nothing can do you any good, unless you are pardoned
sinners in Jesus, and made happy believers in him.
AA'hat does Christmas return for every year, but to preach those lessons : and if
you have never spent one Christmas in learning them, oh may the Lord God now
open your ears to hear the voice of truth. Pray mind, sin is your misery, Jesua
is the only Saviour. He was born to save. He took this dearest of aU his names,
and was called Jesus, because he was to save his people from their sins. This
salvation you want ; every one of you want it alike — you are lost for ever without
it. Sirs, what theu do you intend to do ? Will you come and honour his birth
day, by putting in for your share of his salvation ? Are you reaUy sensible that
you want it, and are you indeed seeking it ? Thanks be to hiin, if he has put thia
into your hearts. May he spread the glories of his nativity, and endear him
self to your souls by giving you this day to beheve in hira. Oh that his Spirit
may make this such a Christmas as you never knew before — May he enable you
by faith to keep the feast with gladness, and to experience your own interest in
the blessings of the birth of Jesus.
Is there any one here thinking thus — " Let them draw their comforts from
Christ who will, I know of another spring, and to it will I go — 1 am quite easy,
and enjoy myself in my present way of life, and 1 have no desire to change it : 1
wiU keep my Christmas just as 1 used to do, and I will be as merry and as
happy as I can." Poor deluded mortal! What, art thou easy in thy sins, and
happy in the enjoyment of them — easy and happy without a Saviour, without a
pardon ? Canst thou sport and play on the very brink of endless ruin ? Oh des
perate delusion ! Why, man, is not thy case bad ? Thou art in danger, but in-
sensible of it. Indeed there is but one case worse. Thou art living aa they did
who are now in hell. They went on thoughtle88 in sin, till vengeance overtook
them : and thou art treading fast in their ateps. May God atop thee by his
grace ; may he eave thee from destruction, and bestow freely upon thee the
bleaaings wliich believers receive from the birth of Jesus ; which is the next
practical remark.
God incarnate is the fountain head, and aU the springs are in and from him.
This is the testimony of the Father concerning his Son — all ecripture confirme
it — behevere in all ages have experienced it — and it comes to-day with a season
able address to your hearts, and to mine. Do we experience it ? Can each of you
say of the incarnate God, as David does, " All my fresh springs are in thee ?"
Come, sira, to a free inquiry ; and let the word of God be our guide. To what
springs do you go for your comforts and blessings ? Do you fetch aU from the
finished work of the God-man ? Are you trusting to his blood for pardon, to his
righteousness for acceptance, to his power to keep you, and to his love to bleas
you? And would you, God helping you, draw every good from Jesus, and have
it fresh, grace for grace, out of his fulness ? Does your conscience eay — " This
is my faith, here I rest my soul : on the atonement and obedience of Immanuel
I place my dependence, and I renounce every other hope ?" Then upon the
warrant of God's word you may conclude, that Jesus is yours. He ia your
Saviour. Your faith in him i8 the operation of hia own Spirit, and your title
to him and to hi8 fulness is certain. Oh praise him for this unspeakable gift ;
and wait on him for grace to keep your evidences clear, that you may see, with
out doubt or wavering, your right and title to Jesus, and may therefore be mak
ing free use of what God has freely given you in him.

SERMON I. 843
This was the prophet's experience. He not only knew the springs of grace,
which are in Jesus, but he also enjoyed them. It pleased the Father to lay up all
fulness of covenant blessings in his Son, as God-man. It pleased the eternal
Spirit to witness this in the scripture, and to seal his witness upon the hearts of
believers, enabling them to come to this fulness, to hve upon it, and to be satisfied
with it. Thus the blessed Trinity by a free grant have made over this fulness to
every one that believeth. They have laid it aU up in King Mediator for use.
Believers, you may draw as much water as you please out of this weU of salva
tion. The greatest honour you can do it, is to take the water of life freely, and
abundantly. It is given to you as your property; and a man may certainly
make free with what is his own. The spring head is yours, the streams are yours
— ye are heirs of God, and joint heirs with Christ — you are put into possession
of this vast estate, and it is expected of you, that you live (Tike a king's son) upon
the income.
This is the good old Christmas keeping. It is enjoying the blessings of
Christ's birth. It does not consist in feasting and dancing, in diversion and
pleasure, in cards and plays, but in living by faith upon the springs of grace,
which are in Christ Jesus. A true believer is now partaking of them. He tastes
their sweetness. He is fed and nourished with their consolations. He has as real
communion with Christ in his heart, as he has with the things of this world in
his body. He actuaUy receives out of Christ's fulness streams of grace, and
being refreshed trith them, he feels himself happy in the weU-spring of his
salvation. My friends, would you put singular honour upon this day, then follow the
prophet's example. Whatever blessing comes to sinners from the Saviour's
birth, see that you enjoy it : make use of the springs which are in him : you
want them aU. And you know, a thirsty man does not want water to look at,
but to drink. Go to the spring-head, and drink freely. Apply its healing streams
for all the purposes of salvation, and continue so to do from day to day, never
give over receiving out of the fulness of Christ grace for grace, tiU you receive
out of it glory for glory.
Are you made alive ? He is the fountain of life : he was born, that you might
be born again. AVhen you look back, and survey what you was once, and now
see, how he has quickened you from a death in trespasses and sins, oh remem
ber what you owe him for the exceeding riches of his grace. The water of life,
the quickening influence came from his fulness. The water which followed the
Jewish camp, flowed through the rock, and that rock was Christ— through Christ
came that sovereign stream, which made you alive — through Christ it flows on :
the distinguishing grace that keeps you ahve, still flows through the rock Christ.
Keep this fresh upon your mind : you are indebted for the free gift of life, with
every comfort of it in earth and heaven, to the birth of Immanuel. Let the experi
ence of this encourage you to trust in him ; he has made you alive, and because
he lives, you shaU live also. It is his mind and will, that the stream should never
be dried up ; from whence it flows, thither it shall return ; view it thus, never
look at the stream but as inseparably connected with the fountain : use it as such,
asaweU of water springing up into everlasting hfe, make free with it. It is a
fountain opened to wash your spotted soul, and to make it clean for ever : when
the soldier pierced our Saviour's side upon the cross, forthwith there came out
blood and water, not water only to cleanse from the filth, but blood also to justify
from the guilt of sin. This was the day prophesied of, when there should be a
royal fountain opened in Jerusalem, for sin and for uncleanness : aU the springs
come from it, and it is open, it stands open, free for use. Behevers, see ye live
under the experience of its sovereign virtue. Have nothing to do in the matter
of cleansing or justifying your soul, but with it alone. The water out of the side
of the crucified Jesus can wash you, and you shall be whiter than snow : the
blood out of the side of the crucified Jesus can justify you from aU things •
through faith in it, you shall be cleansed from aU sin, and shall have eternal re-
ilemption. These are the springs of God's own appointment; and he makes
them eflectual to this very day. See then that you put honour upon them this
l hnstmas. Make use of nothing to wash your soul, or to justify it, but this

8+4 PSALM L.W.W1I. 7-
water and blood — whose tirtue is sovereign, tvhose efficacy is everlasting. And
look weU, my brethren, to the effects which should follow from their daily use.
Do you partake of them ? Is your conscience satisfied — is the charge of guilt
silenced — are your fears kept under — knowing that the Father is reconciled unto
you, and accounts you clean and righteous in the Son of his love ? Oh may you
bring him much praise and glory : give him his honour, and say from your heart
" All my springs, God Jesus, are in thee."
And being saved from the filth and from the guilt of sin, proceed in your expe
rience. 'There are comforts out of number, to be drawn from thia aame fountain.
The incarnate God is the God of all comfort : the angels said to the shepherds —
Behold, I bring yon glad things of great joy, great indeed, tidings of the greatest
joy the heart can feel on this side of heaven : for the love of the Father to you,
your sense of it, your growing sense of it, with all its comforts, are streams which
flow from the birth of Immanuel. If he had never been born, you never could
have known peace with God, nor love to God. A sensible sinner cannot draw
true comfort from any thing, unttt being justified by faith he have peace with God.
And a behever cannot be happy in the love of God, but as he sees God is recon
ciled and loving to him ; so that peace and love, with their sweet fruits, cannot
be preserved with comfort, but by faith in Christ Jesus. Seek your comforts,
then, my brethren, in the fulnesa of God Jesua. Expect to find them nowhere
else ; whatever promises you comfort, if it does not flow from him, away with it ;
it is unholy joy ; throw it to the moies and to the bats. Have, to do with no
thing, either to make or to keep your heart happy, but the finished salvation of
the incarnate God ; and while you live by faith upon him, comfort will refresh your
soul, pure, holy, heavenly comforta, administered to you as you want them, by
the Holy Ghost the Comforter.
Go then, my beloved, and make trial of our Saviour's fulness ; see whether it
does not fully answer the scripture character of it : experience tvill soon con
vince you, that it ie a spring of never-failing consolation. If you make up all
your comforts in Jeaus, you hve at the fountain head ; you can lack nothing
but more faith, that with raore joy you may draw water out of this spring of
ealvation : for here ie joy to comfort you, even in Borrow ; Ught in darkneee ;
yea, life in death.
If you be in outward distreaa, here ia inward conaolation. When the con
ecience is at peace, and the heart is happy in Jeaua, troublea cannot take away, but
generally increase communion with him. If you be in inward diatreee, arieing
from spiritual trials and conflicts, still Jeaua haa abundant consolation The
believing 80ul will not faint, which rests secure on the work of Jeaue : it will
certainly overcome, which makes Jesus ita refuge and etrength ; yea, thoae very
triale and conflicts, rightly managed, will work together for preeent a8 well aa
for future good, ae you may read, 2 Cor. i. to v. 1 1. If your diatreaa be Bickness,
it is grievous to the flesh, but profitable to the spirit. This ia generally a grow
ing time ; the behever becomee better acquainted with hie phyeician ; is forced to
call him often in for his advice ; cannot avoid submitting to hia care and manage
ment, and is led, in the absence of creature comforts, to a more intimate enjoyment
of the grace and love of Jesus.
If the distresa be 8ickneB8 unto death, Jeau8 ie the prince of life, and he has
comforte for the dying. The body may fall aBleep, but the aoul i8 then alive, and
connected with the spring of consolation. Death does not cut it off frora, but
unites it for ever to, the fountain of life : from Jesua it enjoyed life by faith in
grace : from Jeeua it enjoys life by eense in glory. The manner and the place of
enjoying it are changed ; but it is the same life flowing from the same Jesus.
Thanks be to God who giveth us the victory over the fear and over the power of
death, through Jesus Christ our Lord.
These are Christmas comforts — pure and holy joys, to be had in cases of die-
tress, outward and inward, in the time of sicknees, and in the hour of death :
behevers may be happy under all : they may find comforts in Jesus provided and
laid up for thera in hira ; and therefore they will never want comforts, no, not
in the worst of times, but when they are misled and Beek it from other things.
To whom, then,my brethren, should you go but to him in whom all fulness dwells?

SERMON II. 845
Ile has every thing to give, that can keep your conscience at peace, that can
make your heart happy, and that can give you victory over your sins and miseries
through life and death. These blessings are to be had only in Jesus, and he has
them in his fulness for you. May you receive out of it much grace, and daily
find, that all your fresh springs of comfort are in the incarnate God.
These are some of the triumphs of Christmas, but the greatest, the crown and
glory of the rest, is still behind. The comforts of heaven, as well as of earth, are
the fruits of his birth. There is a river that maketh glad the city of God — a
pure river of water of life, clear as crystal, proceeding out of the throne of God
and the Lamb. All the streams of grace and salvation run out of this river,
and run into it again ; they take their rise from covenant love, and lead back to
the enjoyment of covenant love : they proceed from the throne of God and the
Lamb — of God, not absolute, but as united to the Lamb ; as incarnate in man's
nature to live and die a sacrifice for man. This Lamb of God is the spring-head
frora which all grace flows, and keeps flowing on, never stops, till it run into
glory ; and there the saints keep Christmas for ever. The blessed company of
them round the throne, made glad in the city of God with the water of hfe, are
deriving all their springs from Jehovah manifest in the flesh ; they are singing
in harmony with us the same song of praise : aU the melody of heaven, every
voice, and every harp, sounding in sweetest concert, give honour, and blessing,
and praise, and thanks to him that was slain, and hath redeemed them unto God
by his blood. To him be glory for ever and ever. Amen.
The good Lord help us to join them : oh that we may now have our share in
their joys. And why not ? Is not their God our God ? — their Saviour our
Saviour also ? AVhy then should not we praise him together with them, and
rejoice tvith thera in his salvation ? Our debt is as great, our relation to him as
inseparable as theirs ; our blessings from him as certain : our springs are all from
him as well as theirs. May our Christmas kept by faith, be to his honour and
glory, as like to their heavenly festival as may be. May aU of you, who have
heard to-day of the birth of the incarnate God, receive the glad tidings tvith
great joy : may you go away, and keep the feast to the Lord with humble thankful
hearts, and experience the blessings of Christ's birth in your lives. Living and
living, in earth and heaven, may you find aU your fresh springs of grace and
glory in the incarnate Jesus. To him, with the Father and the Holy Spirit, three
co-equal Persons in one Godhead, be equal honour and praise ascribed for ever
and ever. Amen.

SERMON II.

Elihu spake moreover unto Job, and said, Thinkest thou this to be right that thou
saidst, My righteousness is more than God's ¦'—Job xxxv. 1, 2.
The book of Job is full of Christian knowledge. It tvas given us by the Holy
Spirit, and recorded by Moses, the man of God, and inserted in the volume of
sacred scripture, that it might be a standing lesson to the church of Christ: for
tliere is one plain truth pursued from the beginning to the end of it, without
any digression. The point debated between Job and his three friends is this,
"AN hether man can make himself so righteous as to merit happiness from God."
This is the single proposition which they discuss. The three friends take the
negative side of the question ; Job holds it in the affirmative : he maintains,
against all their arguments, not only that man could make himself so righteous!
but also that he himself was that very righteous man ; and he declares, that if
he were called before the throne of God, he would even there plead his own
righteousness. " My righteousness," says he, " I hold fast, and will not let it
go; and in the 29th, 30th, and 31st chapters, he makes a long catalogue and
hoasting of his good works, and wishes he might be weighed with an even
balance, that God might know his integrity. In this proud, vain opinion of
aell-nghteousness he obstinately persisted until Elihu appeared. Job had often

S4'J JOB XXXV. l, -2.
desired to have his cause heard before the Almighty ; and Elihu, in the entrance
of his speech, tells him, " Behold I am, according to thy wish, in God's stead,
and am come to hear the cause, and to put an end to it, that it may never he
again debated while the world endures." Accordingly Elihu lays the indictment
against Job in these words, "that he justified himself raore than God:" he
proves the indictment from Job's own words in the text, " Moreover Elihu
answered and said, Thinkest thou this to be right that thou saidst, my righte
ousness is more than God's?" Elihu brings such arguments against self-
righteousness as thoroughly convinced Job of his error; and, ashamed of his
former pretences to justify himself, and abashed and confounded at his past con
duct, he cries out in the anguish of his soul, " Lord, I abhor myself, and repent
in dust and ashes."
This humble, penitent temper becomes us all ; and our vain, corrupt nature
has so many little risings of pride, and so many temptations to eelf-eufliciency,
that we cannot be too often showing men, that, in the eight of God, we are all
sinners, and the beat of us must plead guilty. Thia ueeful lesson let us now
learn. 1 hope our present meditations on the book of Job wiU bring it to your
hearts, and if any of you are come here with self-righteous notions, imagining
you can justify yourselvea by your own good works, I hope the grace of God
will convince you, as he did Job, and enable you to declare with him, " Lord,
1 abhor myself," &c. Let us consider, then, the scope and design of the book
of Job, and meditate seriously upon those arguments which the Holy Spirit has
there treasured up for our instruction in righteousness. The whole book turns
upon this one point, AA'hether it be in man's power to make himself so righteoua
that he ahould merit happineaa from God ? Thia ie the single question debated ;
and, becauae the determination wa8 to be fina], and it wae to be a leading caee
against aelf-righteouaness unto the end of the world, therefore no circumstance
was omitted that could make the evidence full and complete. The first striking
circumstance ia in the moral character of Job, which rendered him a proper
person in every re8pect to be brought to the bar of etrict juetice, and to urge
what he had to say, in support of his plea of self-righteouencsa. He waa a
man of an exemplary life, eo atrict in all the outward duties, and he adorned
aU his virtues by doing so much good in the world, that Providence chose to put
him upon the trial of eelf-righteoueneee. For, if a pereon of hia great moral
attainmenta 8hould be brought in guilty, then ail pretencee would be cut on for
ever, of bringing thie plea again before the tribunal of Goil ; because tve havo
here the decree made ; it is here left upon record, and all objections against it
trill certainly be over-ruled. Job's character waa very extraordinary ; when he
waa put upon hi8 trial, nothing appeared against him but the charge of self-
righteousness, in other respecta he wa8 quite a saint ; he waa not accueed of thy
breach of any outward duty, either to God, to hie neighbour, or to himself. His
three friends often charge him with the commieeion of eome eecret hidden ain ;
but Job alwaya defends him8elf, and ineists upon his innocence : and since God,
when he examined him, brought nothing of this kind to light, we may therefore
conclude he waa not guilty. His own account of hia moral character, in the
chapters before referred to, is very particular ; he inai8te upon hia exact, careful
practice of almoat all the social virtues, and appeale diligently for the truth of
what he says of himself to his three friends, who were not guilty of flattering
him : and they make no reply. His moral character stands clear, and free from
objection. And the testimony which the Holy Spirit give8 of him, ascribea to
him higher attainments than morality. " 'There was a man in the land of Uz,
whose name was Job, and that man was perfect and upright, and one that feared
God and eschewed evil." These are very great encomiums in themselves, and
greater as coming from God, to be perfect, to walk uprightly, to fear God, and
to flee from evil : theae aeem to be the very higheat attainmenta of this mortal
life, for they include every branch of duty : whatever is praiseworthy in the
righteous, moral, or private virtues, comes under this description, therefore we
must place Job far above the common level. None of you will pretend to take to
yourselves the iUustrious character which God gives hirn. Can any of you
appeal to your own conscience, and declare with truth and sincerity, " 1 ara

SERMON II. g47
perfect and upright, I fear God, and fly from evil," as Job did ? I cannot believe
there is any man living upon earth who has a legal claim to this perfection and
uprightness : let every one speak for himself ; I declare that I have no claim.
T'he religious and moral attainments of Job were far beyond what we commonly
acquire. And as his virtues were singular, he was therefore put upon a trial
which required a man of the most singular virtues. He was called upon to justify
himself, which he had the best claim to do, because he could plead a perfect and
upright life, in the discharge of all the outward duties : and this he did plead ;
but was cast and found guilty. I doubt not but it may seem very extraordinary
to some persons, that so great and good a man could faU into this dangerous
error : but his greatness and his goodness exposed him to it, and were his strong
temptations to ascribe righteousness to himself rather than to God : these were
indeed the only temptations whch he had not overcome, and he was more liable
to these because he had overcome aU the rest. The tempter therefore laid this
snare for him, and Job unhappily feU into it. He began to see too much of
himself. His eyes were too much intent on his regular sober Ufe, and upon
comparing himself with his neighbours, he found he so far out-stripped them,
that now and then a vain thought of superiority crept into his heart ; and, find
ing a welcome reception, it invited the other attendants of pride to enter. Pride,
at first, only made him more strict and regular in his outward walking ; but
some took occasion to flatter him with many pleasing compliments, and missed
no opportunity of suggesting, that so great and good a man would certainly be
highly favoured of God, a reward equal to his virtues he could not fail of
meriting. This flattery easily got admission into the heart ; and, by degrees,
Job entertained still more and more exalted notions of his own attainments, until
he, at last, verily believed that he could justify himself. He was fully persuaded
his good works were, in number and degree, so very eminent, that he might
claim his reward as a matter of debt. Accordingly, he entered his plea upon
this footing, and the debate between him and his three friends turns upon this
single point, and after they were not able to settle it, Elihu appears, and soon
convinces Job of his dangerous error, and his conviction led him to a thorough
repentance, upon which he was pardoned, and received into mercy.
The subtle spirit does not show his wisdom and cunning in any thing so much
as in suiting bis temptation to our tempers. He raises his strongest battery
against our weakest side. If we live in sin, then he tempts us to go on in sin,
promising us a season of repentance at some distant time. If tve have left sin,
and are walking in the ways of righteousness, then he tempts us to think that
we are more righteous than we are. And how carefuUy should we watch over
our hearts, and how earnestly implore the Divine Spirit to assist us, since Job, so
great and good a man, fell into this temptation. A perfect upright man, one
who feared God, and fled from evil, was yet tempted to think himself so righteous
that he wanted not the righteousness of Christ. That this was reaUy Job's
crime, will appear with undeniable evidence, to them who trill read the book
upon this plan. Every word, from beginning to end, proves Job guilty of self-
righteousness. At the very beginning of his trial, his wife charges him with it.
" What," says she, " dost thou still retain thy integrity ? Dost thou stiU main
tain thine own righteousness even after God has punished thee so remarkably
for maintaining it ? " His three friends bring the same charge against him, and
Job owns it. " Though God should slay me," says he, " yet will I maintain mine
own ways before him. Though I die, I wttl not remove mine integrity from me.
My righteousness I hold fast, and wiU not let it go. My heart shaU not reproach
nie so long as I hve. My face is foul with weeping, and on my eyelids is the
shadow of death ; but not for any injustice in my hands, also my prayer is pure :
for, God, thou knowest that I am not wicked." These are Job's own words, and
higher claims to self-righteousness cannot be made. AA'hen his three friends
could not convince him of his error, he was in danger of dying in his obstinacy,
unless Elihu had appeared, who stated the case in so clear a light, that Job saw
liis crime, and abhorred himself for it, and repented in dust and ashes. Through
out the book of Job, then, this one plain lesson is inculcated, that no man by his
own works can be justified. God tvas pleased to humble Job, in order to con-

8^8 JOB XXXV. 1,2.
vince him, and all mankind through him, that the best raan upon earth stands in
need of the Redeemer's merits to justify him. For this purpose Job tvas tried.
His three friends charge him with maintaining that he was just and righteous in
his own eyes, and endeavoured to convince him of sin, that they might thereby
bring him to confession and to absolution. But as Job was not conscious to him
self of having wilfuUy fatted in any point of duty, he insieted upon his innocence,
and trith great confidence pleaded not guilty. His friends, supposing from what
they found in their own lives, that no man could he so free from stains of thia
kind as Job really was, gave hiin quite over as a hypocrite, for pretending to such
unexampled righteousness. But they never pressed the properargumenta, or urged
the gospel terms of acceptance trith God. In this point his friends failed ; and
thereupon the anger of Elihu was excited, who comes and varies the charge, and
mends the indictment. He first blamea the frienda for putting the cause upon a
wrong i8eue, and then, addresaing himaelf to Job, he informe him, that suppoa-
ing his plea of righteouanesa 8hould be granted, and he had not committed any
notorious sins, and had performed, as far as he waa able, the aeveral dutiee re
quired of hira, yet he could not be justified upon any thing he had done or could
do. Because there was but one who could justify, and therefore the best man
upon earth could not, without him, be justified. Elihu bringa eeveral argumenta
to prove his point, from the 32d to the 38th chapter, in which aelf-righteousneaB
is fully confuted. It never had ao complete an an8tver. I would recommend
to you the careful peruaal of theae chapters, aa the beat preaervative again8t the
deistical opinions of the present age, and to help you to read them trith more
spiritual improvement, I wiU give you a short view of Elihu's reaaoning.
He lays his charge against Job in theae worda, that he juatified himaelf rather
than God, that hia righteouaneae wae more than God's ; it is in many translation
" in the preaenee of God ;" and all the Engliah bibles, tiU king Jamee's ver8ion
was established, read " before God;" Job had presumption to justify himself
before God. He had such an high opinion of his own excellency, that he
thought himaelf perfect enough to bear the eeverest ecrutiny, even by hiin
who chargeth his angels with foUy. He imagined he needed no repentance or
atonement ; and how much eoever they who have been guilty of notorious
breaches of the law may want imputed nghteouaneaa, yet he had enough of hie
own and he would undertake to justify the general conduct of hia life, even
before God himself. EUhu ehows him the presumption of this undertaking from
the univeraal depravity and corruption of the human nature, which comes into
the world in a state of ain and guilt, from which no righteoueness of ours can
redeem us. AVe are aU, by nature, children of wrath, subject to the justice and
wrath of God, for by one man'e rebellion, judgment came upon all to condemna
tion. Now it is not poasible that any future good behaviour of oura can free ua
from this state ; becauae, after aentence ia pasaed upon us to condemnation, we
are rebels convicted, and our attainder muet be taken off, and we muet be re
stored in blood before any action of ours will be allowed good and right in court :
and no other power but his who put us under the attainder can reverse it. For
to think that we can take off the aentence which God has past upon us, by our
own merit, is more absurd than if an attainted rebel should think of taking off
his sentence by an act of grace which he should pass himself, and proclaim in
his own name. EUhu urgee this truth against Job, and preaaes it with great
vehemence. It waa to be the foundation of all his foUowing arguments, and
therefore he takes pains to fay it secure; and when it was once laid and secured,
what could Job or any Belf-righteous man object to it ? For if it be granted that
God hath shut up aU under sin, which the scripture positively aaserta, then we
muat remain shut up until the eame almighty hand which shut ua up, ahall also
set us at liberty ; and if we attempt to aet ouraelvea at liberty, without or against
hia will, we only make our confinement more close and wretched. God indeed
offers ua pardon and liberty, but then we mu8t apply for them in the way he haa
appointed, and if we think of attaining them without the merite of Jesus Christ,
which is hia appointed way, we take the direct method of disowning ourselvea
of the offered pardon and liberty, and shut ourselve8 up the more closely under
:in and condemnation.

SERMON II. 849
That we who are by nature born in sin, and children of wrath, cannot do any
thing to make ourselves be born again to righteousness and children of God, is
the express doctrine of holy scripture, and our church maintains it in very clear
terms in her 11th article; "we are accounted just and righteous before God only
for the merit of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, and not for our own works
and deservings, therefore whatever our works and deservings be, we must remain
unjust and unrighteous, until we go with humttity to our Lord and Saviour
Jesus Christ, and be made just and righteous by his imputed merits." To bring
us to this humble frame of mind is the chief design of all God's visitations : when
we are like to be led astray by a fond opinion of our own sufficiency, then he suffers
us to faU into afflictions, that we may find our own weakness, and be better dis
posed to accept of his offered grace. This is Elihu's second argument to Job,
which he introduces in these words ; " Surely thou hast spoken in my hearing,
and I have heard the voice of thy words, saying, I am clean without transgres
sion, I am innocent, neither is there iniquity in me Behold God findeth occa
sion against me, he counteth me for his enemy ;" and then reproving Job very
sharply for these presumptuous expressions, he teUs him the reason for God's
sending men such visitations as he might withhold. It was, that he might with
draw man from his purpose, and hide pride from man : when we begin to enter
tain too high an opinion of our own goodness, then God visits us with afflic
tions, in order to withdraw ub from such self-righteous purposes. He sends
outward evils to cure our inward evils, and he makes us sensible of our weak-
neaa and misery, that finding no help in the creature, he may force us to fly to
him for help, and thereby he may hide pride from man. To hide pride from
man is the hardest work of his grace : pride, it is so interwoven and incorporat
ed with our corrupt hearts, that nothing less than an Almighty hand can take it
out ; after God has opened our eyes, and we see our sin and guilt by nature, and
are convinced that Jesus Christ alone can deUver us from it, yet still some
proud opinions of self wiU be often rising. This grand idol self, wiU be trying
to get some adoration ; and the best man, if he be not much upon his guard, is
most exposed to, and wttl soonest fall into, self-idolatry. Therefore, God out of
his infinite mercy to us, when he sees us likely to faU into this temptation, tries
to hide pride from man by such visitations as he sent Job : he pulls down our
inward lofty thoughts by outward humiliations, and sends us pains and diseases
to humble the body, that the mind may thereby receive proper lessons of humi
lity : with this gracious intent, he had visited Job in a very severe manner, but
to no purpose : his bodily substance was reduced to skin and bone, but without
aucceas ; stttl hia proud spirit refused correction, he would not give up his self-
righteousness ; he was upon the brink of destruction, without being sensible
of his sin and danger, and he would soon have faUen, if he had continued obsti
nate, into the pit of the grave, and into the pit of misery : in this dreadful ex
tremity, Elihu directs him and aU men in his circumstances, to the only person
who is able to help in such a time of need, he directs him to the Lord our righ
teousness, who is almighty to save, and this is
Elihu's third argument, which he brings to iUustrate and confirm the two
former. For so soon as man is brought by means of affliction, to see his sin and
misery, and, disclaiming all righteousness of his otvn, comes to Christ for right
eousneas and salvation, then is he made righteous and saved. Elihu has stated
the manner of applying Christ's righteousness to the sinner, in as clear and
expresa terms as the scripture has anywhere used ; he says, chap, xxxiii 22, 23,
&c, that when God visits man with sickness, so that his soul dratveth near unto
the grave, and his life to the destroyers, yet if there be a mediator with him, an
interpreter, one among a thousand, to show unto man his uprightness, then God
is gracious unto him, and saith, " DeUver him from going down to the pit, I have
found a ransom ;" here is the whole method of salvation from first to fast.
Elihu says, that when we are in extreme danger, and within the very jaws of
death, and everlasting destruction, yet in this desperate case, if we apply to the
great Mediator, styled nere, "one among a thousand," and he appear and intercede
in our behalf, satisfying for our offences, out of the inexhaustible fund of his
own uprightness ; then God withdraws the uplifted hand of his vengeance, and
3 i

850 JOB XXXV. 1, 2.
says to the executioners of his wrath, Save the man trom perishing, for my justice
is satisfied, and the sinner's soul is ransomed by the all-meritorious righteousness
of Jesua Chriat. To this person Ehhu pereuadee Job to eeek for righteousness ;
he exhorts him to depend no longer upon his own good works, but to seek the
righteousness which is by faith ; and if Job could make any objection to this
doctrine, or had any thing to urge in his own defence, Elihu caUa upon him to
speak, and he would give him a patient hearing. Job was forward enough to
reply to hia three friends, bnt here he has no answer ; he saw that Elihu had hit
upon the very point wherein he was defective, and therefore convinced, in some
measure, ofhi8 pride and obstinacy against God, he remains silent; upon tvhich
Elihu proceeds to a fourth argument in the 36th chapter, that is built upon the
former : for if affliction brings us to an humble dependence upon God our
Saviour, and hia righteouaness, then God, for the sake of Christ's righteousnesa,
wttl take away the affliction, and will give us outward peace and prosperity.
EUhu presses thia point very earneatly until he enters upon the magnificent
display of the divine power and wisdom in the worka of the creation, which the
Lord himself goea upon, from the 38th to the 42nd chapter.
EUhu had conaidered the arguments against self-righteouaneea from grace, the
almighty Jehovah proceeda to consider the arguments from nature : it is the
design of both to humble ua, and to make us depend upon Chriat for lm
righteouaneas. The compariaon, drawn in the last chapters, between almighty
power and human weakness, between the goodneee of Dirine Providence, and
the little imitationa of it in aome few limited acts of human benevolence, between
infinite wisdom ao magnificently diaplayed in the natural world, and the poor
effects of those abttitiea which the human underetanding, in its greatest strength
and glory, can boaat of: ia not this sufficient to level the most aspiring geniua,
and to lay man proetrate upon the duet from which he tvas formed, and to clothe
him aU over with humility ? In this lowly posture and condition, he will natu
rally look up to God the Saviour for help, and wiU implore him who ia almighty,
to eave him by hia righteouanesa, to lift him up and exalt him. And in thia
lowly condition we find Job at the end of the hietory ; all hia lofty ideaa brought
down, etripped of all hia self-righteousness, humbly suing to Jesue for mercy, he
cries out, " Lord, 1 abhor myself, and repent in dust and ashee." And I hope
the grace of God haa now brought you into this temper of mind, bo that you will
hear rae patiently, while I bring the doctrine hence to you, and apply it to your
spiritual improvement and benefit. I can scarce persuade myself, after what haa
been said, that any of you wttl 8eek to eave youreelves by your own righteousneas ;
if you read the book of Job, you will not. It muat, by the grace of God, cure
you of aU thoughts of juatifying yourselves. But leat there ahould be some one
person crept in among ua, who holds righteousneaa upon the deiatical plan, I
would ask him thia plain queetion, " Are you aa perfect and upright as Job wae f
fearing God and fleeing frora evil ?" If he aaya he ia not so perfect, then he con
demns himself; but if he Bays he is aa perfect, then the book of Job condemns
him : for Job wa8 put upon hia trial, and wa8 found guilty. I believe no man
living is ao upright aa Job was in the outward duties, and yet at the bar of strict
justice, he could not justify himself; and who art thou then, O vain man, who
'wiU venture to plead thy merit8 before God after that he who had a much
stronger, better plea, has been tried and convicted of self-idolatry ; with such a
precedent before thine eyes, reading his condemnation upon record, how canst
thou hope to escape ? There is no way left to escape, thy ruin is inevitable,
unle88 the God of love, whoae righteouanesa thou oppoeeet, open thine eyea to
see thy sin and danger, and give thee grace to forsake them. '•
But there is a kind of self-righteousnesa which is maintained by persons called
Christians, and which is as destructive of Christ's righteousness eta the deietical
opinion ; many nominal Christians have a plan of good worka, which they are to
act by, and if they should happen now and then to fatt, then they apply to Christ
to make up this deficiency, and after the merit of their alma, and church-going,
and praying, and attendance on sermons and sacramenta, after theiT merit is all
summed up, then they hope Christ will eupply the defect. But thia ia pbpery ;
to place any merit in work8, is downright popery. Not one protestant Christien

SERMON II. 851
is of this opinion. Our own church, in her articles and homUies, declares
expressly against the merit of works, and ascribes our justification to the free
grace and merits of Jesus Christ received by faith, and not by works. But,
methinks 1 hear the disputer of this world object, that by this doctrine we
weaken the obligation to good works. When the same objection was made to
St. Paul, he gave the same answer ; " Do we make void the law by faith ? God
forbid." We estabUsh the law; no man can keep the law as he ought but he
who has faith ; and whoever has faith must keep the law, because faith implants
the hving principle of love and obedience in the heart, and gives both the will
and the power to keep the law of God, so that we do not make void the law by
faith, but lay the proper foundation upon which it is to be estabhshed. All that
the scripture says upon thispoint is not to overthrow good works, but to secure
the observance of them. For although they cannot justify me in the sight of
God, yet they are acceptable to him, when they come from a faithful heart, and
are presented before him along with the sweet-smelling savour of the Redeemer's
merits. Lest my meaning should be mistaken, I thought it proper to enter this
caution, and I have only to remark that, upon the Christian's plan, self-right
eousness is not defensible ; Jesus Christ is the Lord our righteousness ; we
have none but what comes from him, and we rob him of so much as we ascribe
to ourselves. Nothing is more injurious to him than pride, because it takes
men off from that humble dependence upon God's righteousness, and tempts
them into the scheme of self-righteousness, which is spiritual pride in the highest
degree. It is even idolizing self, whoever thinks himself so righteous that he can
claim his reward as a matter of debt, without the Redeemer's righteousness- He
is a self-idolater, and the image-worshippers of ancient and modern Rome never
fell into such gross idolatry ; they always chose to fall down before something
great and venerable, but the self-idolater pays his adoration to what was indeed
the image of God, but is now made ugly by sin, and quite defaced by pride.
And since this is so high an offence, and which the best men are most liable to
fall into, we cannot, therefore, be too watchful over our hearts, to check and
keep down every little rising of pride and self-sufficiency. Neither can we be
too often or too earnestly imploring the assistance of divine grace to preserve us
in a constant humble dependence upon Christ and his righteousness. We lie
bo open to the flattering temptations of pride and vanity, that tve should leave no
means untried which are likely to keep us humble in the ways of God's holy
ordinances ; we should be always seeking his help, and thereby humbling our
selves; and every act of humihation, that tends to puU down our lofty ideas of
ourselves, should be encouraged. Every Christian man ought to have his fixed
times for private humiliation before God ; all would find his interest in it. For
God givetn grace to the humble, and every Christian man ought, as for himself,
so sIbo for the community in which he lives, to keep these fixed seasons of
humiliation ; and more especially at present, for the times are sore distempered.
Our land mourns for the many creeping sins of it, and more for these election
sine. There tvas not more vice and corruption at the election for magistrates in
heathen Rome, than there is in this Christian country. What a deluge of
drunkenness and debauchery haa there been for many months past through the
kingdom ! and what a number of false oaths have been taken ! How has the
lxird'a holy name been blasphemed by known perjuries ! And what a trifling
value do men begin to set upon their eternal salvation, when they wiU swear it
away for the wages of iniquity ! Certainly these men have never read what the
Almighty says to them in Mal. iii. 5. "And I will come near to you to judgment,
and I will be a swift tritness against the false swearers." God wiU fulfil what he
here threatens. He cannot lie ; he will be a swift witness against perjurers, and
he will bear his testimony against them by some great judgment, which is now
hanging over their heads, and they may expect it daily. "For false swearing,"
says the prophet Jeremiah, " the land mourneth ;" and our land has been long
mourning nnd quaking for fear of the Almighty's vengeance. The earth seems
to be more sensible of our danger than tve are ; for, besides all his other judg
ments wherewith he has visited us for many years, I find that he is again trying
to awaken us by carthquakea. In the northern parts of England there have been

852 MARK XVI. 15
lately several very severe shocks, and the people there are in the same dread and
consternation, as the guttty wretches were in when this city was visited with
earthquakes. Now God does not send these earthquakes in vain, he intends them for ao
many awakening calls to a national repentance ; he shows by them that we are
really ripe for destruction, and that he is preparing to destroy us in some very
exemplary manner. Lord Jesus, have mercy upon this sinful land! AVe do
deserve all the fury of thy almighty vengeance, but spare us, most gracious God
and Sariour ; let thy visitations humble us, anel bring every one of us to such a
due sense of his guilt and misery, that he raay be able now to declare from his
heart, " Lord God, I abhor myaelf, and repent in dust and ashes." Endue ue,
blessed Jesus, with this humble and penitent spirit, that our iniquities may not
be the ruin of this church and kingdom, but that tve may be pardoned and saved
through thine infinite righteousness ; Oh ! most mighty God and Saviour, who
livest and reignest with the Father and the holy Spirit, one God, world without
end. Amen.
Almighty God, who showeat to them that be in error the light of thy truth, to
the intent that they may return into the way of righteouaness ; grant unto all
them that are admitted into the fellowship of Christ's religion, that they may avoid
those things that are contrary to their profession, and follow all such things as
are agreeable to the same, through our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.

SERMON III.
And Jesus said unto them, Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every
creature. — Mark xvi. 15.
This charge was given by our Lord to hie apostles ; it contains his royal
commission, in which he appointa them their work, and promises to he with them
in the performance of it — " Lo, I am with you always," sayB he, " even to the
end of the world."
He did not confine this charge to them or to the apoatolic age ; but he includea
all his ministere, who have the eame commisaion, the aame work, and the promiee
of the sarae asai8tance, which the apoetlea had. It ia their bounden duty, wherever
they are sent, to preach the gospel to every creature. This ia enjoined them by
their Lord and Master, and he wiU not diBpense with their neglect of it. This is
their principal business, on which the salvation of the people committed to their
care entirely depends ; and it is the chief instrument in the hand of God of making
their buaineaa succeaefal. He owns hie preached goepel, and sets his aeal to it.
To thie day he makes it effectual for all saving purposes. It is still, and wttl be
to the end of the world, the power of God unto salvation.
Since this is the nature of the gospel, men, brethren, and fathers, it behoves
ou to consider whether you beheve its doctrines, and whether you enjoy ita
leaeingB. It is your duty to examine yourselve8 how you receive the good newa.
If the gospel be not to you the wisdom of God, and the power of God, on whom
will you lay the blame ? Will you arraign the Judge of all the earth ? Weigh
this matter weU. The time draws near ; it is but a very little while before we
must aU stand before the judgment seat of Christ. What plea wiU avail you
there ? The law cannot acquit you, you have broken it ; and therefore upon the
footing of the law you wttl be found guilty before God. No flesh shaU be justified
by the law, but every mouth shall be stopped.
AVttl you plead the mercy and grace of the gospel ? You muet plead it now,
or it will not profit you then. He that believeth shaU be saved, and he that
believeth not shall be damned. A matter of infinite consequence to us all.
AVhat stops the free course of the gospel ? The world oppoee it because it
opposes them ; it teatifiea of it that its pursuits are evil ; it testifies against un-
awakened careless sinners, who know not their state ; against infidela, an evil
heart of unbelief ; againat legalista, who mix law and gospel. It comes with

I

SERjMON III. 853
comfort to distressed minds. Let their distress be what it will, the gospel has
good news for them — a remedy for every disease.
But God hath not left himself without a tritness. Many beheve the gospel,
embrace its doctrines, enjoy its blessings ; it saves them from every misery for
eternity ; brings all good in time ; aU wants suppUed ; brings everlasting good,
an everlasting gospel, true in eternity. Such will it be in all its promises that be
enjoyed in their fuU accomphshment.
The word gospel signifies good news : this is its settled meaning. It brings
good news from heaven, a message of good from the justly offended God, declaring
his purposes of grace and mercy to his sinful creatures. The gospel is for them ;
it is not revealed for a righteous man, but for the lawless and disobedient, for the
ungodly and for sinners. To them is the word of this salvation sent ; it comes
after they have broken the holy law, and are liable to its threatened penalties ;
discovering how the law may be magnified and made infinitely honourable, and
God may be eternaUy glorified in saving them from the punishment due to their
sins. This is good news indeed, because they could not undo the sin committed —
that is impossible ; neither could they make any satisfaction for it : sorrow, tears,
good resolutions, future amendment, are no reasons why the law should not take
ita course, and the convicts of the law suffer for their crimes. The law of God
insists upon perfect and continual obedience ; it has made no provision for mercy,
nay it knows nothing of showing any mercy to transgressors, but in case of the
least failure, ita sanctions immediately take place, and under them the sinner is
left without help and without hope. When he is thoroughly sensible of this, he
would sink into black despair, and would go in the bitterness of his soul, mourning
all the way to the grave, if the gospel did not discover to him the gracious method
of saving sinners, consistent with the honour of the divine law and justice, and
conducive to the fuUest display of tbe divine perfections.in their everlasting glory.
Thia ie the true character of the gospel ; it is a message of good news from
God himself, revealing his grace and mercy to sinners. And since all have sinned
and come short of the glory of God, why is not the gospel alike welcome to aU
sinners ? The reason is plain : the whole need not a physician, but they that are
sick. The gospel is a sovereign remedy, but none take it till they are sensible
they want it. It relates the same good news to all, but convinced sinners only
are wiUing to receive it. As soon as they see the exceeding hohness of the law,
and the exceeding sinfulness of breaking it, and feel their guilt, and have some
foretaste of their punishment ; then they begin to relish the gospel. And as
they are enabled to mix faith with it, it becomes as suitable to their case as pardon
to a condemned malefactor, and as delightful as ease is after long and racking
pain, because it brings relief to their guilty consciences, and comfort to their
afflicted hearts ; and so far as it gains credit, it affords a present deliverance
from every malady and misery of sin.
But from whence has the gospel this sovereign efficacy ? What truth does it
make manifest, by the belief of tvhich sin, with aU its sad consequences, may be
doue away ? It reveals the great council of heaven concerning the incarnate
Jehovah, and is from thence caUed the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ — good
news of a Saviour, whose name was to be caUed AVonderful — a Child born, and
a Son given ; and yet this Child, this Son, the everlasting Father, Jehovah
manifest in the flesh, God and man in one Christ, Immanuel, which being inter
preted, is God tvith us. This great design was formed in the councils of the
Godhead from eternity ; and aU the divine works in nature and grace were to
bring about this wonderful event, with its happy consequences, in earth and
heaven. God manifest in the flesh affords the richest display of the glories of
the ever-blessed Trinity. Herein is love — the love of the Father shines out in
none of his gifts, bb it does in the unspeakable gift of his co-equal Son. Behold,
what manner of love the Son hath bestowed upon us — angels witt admire, and
the redeemed wiU adore for ever him, who humbled himself to be made man, and
to become obedient unto death, even the death of the cross, for the salvation of
hia people. Here is grace, as infinitely divine as its author, that the Lord, the
Spirit, would act upon and influence the minds of sinners to believe in the Sun of
God, and through him to enjoy the love of the Father. 'These are the covenant offices
nr it. ..  i m,  1 A .1.. .i i i. i . ,i _-¦

854 MARK XVI. 15.
of Jehovah ; for in the Godhead there are three Persons of co-equal and co-eternal
majesty, Father, Son, and Spirit. These Three, as we are taught by the Christian
verity, entered into covenant for the manifestation of their divine perfections, and
contrive to get an everlasting revenue of honour and praise to themaelvea in the
way of saving sinners. The Son of God covenanted to become their surety to
the Father, to take their flesh, and in their nature, and in their stead, to keep
the law in his life, to suffer the penalties of it in his cross and passion, and thereby
to work out for them a perfect righteouaneaa, and to make a full atonement.
And being God over all, blessed for ever, Jehovah himself, tliere waa in hia life
and death att the virtue and sufficiency to save, which the Godhead could poseibly
communicate. His work of salvation far exceeds hia work of creation. It i8 so
absolutely and infinitely complete, that nothing can be added to it ; yea, when all
his other works, worthy as they are of their divine author, shall eome to an end,
then this greatest and best work of God ahall receive fresh honour, and an innu
merable company of his redeemed creatures shall enjoy ita increasing glories for
evermore. The goapel then ia the welcome meBsage of good news to convinced sinners —
the best news that ever came from heaven. It brings good tidings of great joy,
that there is born a Saviour, who ia Christ the Lord Jehovah, and that he has
made foil reconciliation for iniquity, and has brought in everlasting righteousness.
The gospel invites them to come and to partake of its blessings freely ; and when
they are made to believe the report, the arm of the Lord being revealed unto
them, then these happy fruits of the Holy Spirit are found and enjoyed, sweet
peace enters into the conscience, and holy love is shed abroad in the heart —
peace and love, which surpass all understanding : for blessed is the people, so
Baith a voice from heaven, " Blessed is the people that know the joyful aound
of the gospel : they ahaU walk, O Lord, in tho light of thy countenance : in
thy name ahall they rejoice aU the day ; and in thy righteou8neee shall they
be exalted." Pealm Ixxxix. 15, 16.
Thie i8 the lovely character of the gospel of God. And is this your idea of it ?
Consider, sira, and examine clo8ely. A mistake herein is of infinite coneequence.
If your eentimenta be different from the etandard of truth, you can neither know
nor enjoy true happiness : for there is none to be found in earth or in heaven,
but what the gospel brings. It is the ordy message of good newe to sinnera —
a meaaage from the Lord God — glad tidinga of good to convinced ainnere. The
goapel reveala to them every thing that can bring relief to their guilty con8ciencee,
and joy to their afflicted hearts ; it discovers to them a perfect dehverance from
all sin and misery, by the sacrifice of the Lamb of God, and a clear title to aU
grace and to all glory, through the righteousness of the incarnate Jehovah. And
when this ia believed by the power of the Holy Ghost, then the gospel proves to
be a reality — the message of good new8 is found to be true, and the good thinge
heard of by report are received and enjoyed. The believer enters upon preaent
possession of gospel blessings, as the sure earneat and happy foretaate of ita eternal
blessings. Be it known unto you, therefore, men and brethren, that the goapel of the
grace of God ia not only a truth to be believed, but alao a good to be enjoyed ; and
thia i8 what our Lord charged hia apoatles to preach. Whether men wttl hear,
or whether they will forbear, hie doctrine must be declared, and his gospel pro
claimed. This is the indispensable duty of all the Lord's ministers. Woe be
unto you, if you preach not the gospel. AVhatever reception they meet with, still
they must persist. Go ye into aU the world, and preach the gospel. To preach is
to proclaim it, after the manner of heralds, with authority, openly and plainly. How
ever unlikely the means may eeem to accomplish the greatest end, yet the meana
must be used. The gospel must be preached ; because it is the inatrument in the
hand of God for carrying on the whole work of salvation. He has appointed it, and
he works in it, and by it. The more weak and unfit it is of itself, the more does the
exceUency of the power of God therein appear. His glory is displayed by the won
derful effects which he brings about by the preached gospel : for it is said to be the
ministration of the Spirit, by which the Holy Spirit is administered and acts. It is
also the ministration of righteousneas, by which the righteousneas of God-Jesus is

SERMON III. 855
again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible : and this is the word, which by
the gospel is preached unto you. The gospel is made the means of their new life,
and also of their growth in it, and therefore they are exhorted, as new-born
babes, to desire the sincere milk of the word, that they may grow thereby. These
great things are spoken of it, and they are true. It is a matter of fact, that the
goapel is effectual for aU saving purposes. God makes his promise good to this
very day — " Lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world," — tvith
ministere to assist them in preaching the gospel, and with their people to bless
them in hearing it. He is with them both, that it may prosper in the thing
whereto he sends it. He is with them, and always. He never leaves nor forsakes
his servants, in any part of their work. He is with us at this time. His all-
seeing eye is upon us. His wisdom is managing for the best. Oh that his sav
ing power may be here manifest : for his presence gives hfe, and puts spirit into
the gospel. What men speak to the outward ears, he sends with his divine efficacy
to the heart ; there producing what moral persuasion, and fine oratory, and close
reasoning attempt in vain. The word spoken, when clothed with his power,
becomes mighty to turn sinners from darkness to light. When the great Com
mander spake — " Let there be hght," there was light : so is his word almighty
in his spiritual kingdom. Whenever he commands the hght to shine out of
darkness, he speaks, and it is done ; his power is always present to make his
word effectual, and will be present with it to the end of the world. For these
reasons the goBpel must be preached, and why should it be thought a thing in
credible with you, that God should bring about the greatest effects by such an
instrument ? What ! is any thing too hard for God ? Or any means unfit
which he pleases to make use of ? He has appointed the gospel to be his
great instrument in bringing sinners to himself — to this he has promised his
blessing, and to nothing else. The means may appear unlikely to answer
the end, but his presence in the means can do all things, and when he pleases
to work by a Bingle word, who can let him ? Consider, sirs, this is no new
thing with God ! The creation was produced by a word : he spake, and it
was made. View the beautiful order in which he carries on the works of
nature ; this is also the effect of a word. He commanded, and they stand
fast. He upholdeth them by the word of his power ; and by his word wttl
he dissolve them. The great day is at hand, when the Lord himself wiU
descend from heaven with a shout, t. c. tvith a commanding voice, at which
the whole creation shall pass away, and the place of it shall be found no
more. You see God does aU things with a word. And as man fell by not
beheving the word of God, is there not a manifest reason why he should
he restored in the way of bettering ? By not beheving the wore! of God, he
sinned, by believing the word of God, he is saved. Who does not see a
consistency and harmony in this way of our recovery — a perfect sameness in
the divine manner of working ? And who cannot discover how the glory of
Goel, which is the end of all his works, ia hereby entirely secured to him-
Belf? For what have ministers, or people, left to glory in? Whatever riches
of gospel-grace God gives to his ministers, or communicates by their means,
yet they have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellency of the
power may be of God, and not of them. And whatever blessings the people
receive by the preached gospel, they are aU tbe free gifts of God, through
Jesus Christ. That according as it is written, " He that glorieth, let him glory
only in the Lord."
But it may be asked, has the gospel the same efficacy ? Are the same means
accompanied with the 8ame success ? They are. The command in the text is
still in force : the promise to it is the same : the gospel is still mighty through
Hod, and therefore ministers are required in the text to preach the gospel in aU
countries, and to aU sorts of people — Go ye into
All the world, and preach the gospel to every creature. Go into all lands,
whether you find the natives Jews or Gentiles, civilized or savage, aU having
sinned, and come short of the glory of God, being in the same state of guUt and
niiaery ; proclaim to them the good news of goepel grace, and inform them of the
divine remedy provided for their distress : fear neither for yourselves, nor for
the success of your message — I will be present with you — I will make the gospel

856 MARK XVI. 15.
welcome to as many as I have ordained unto eternal life — they shaU believe it, and
by believing, shall find it the power of God unto their salvation.
The apostles obeyed the command of their Lord, and went in person into all
the world, into every country then inhabited, and there they preached the gospel.
St. Paul asks, Have they not heard ? Have not all people heard the preachers ?
He answers, yes, vertty, they have ; their sound went into aU the earth, and their
words unto the end ofthe world. They went, like the sun, to communicate every
where hght and life, and comfort and fruitfulness ; and the Lord was with them of
a truth. Sinners did hear in aU lands. Multitudes received repentance toward
God, and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ. StiU the Lord's hand is not
shortened. AVhenever he caUs and 8ends hia miniaters, he gives them the same
charge as he did to the apostles, and the same promiae. They are to preach
the goapel to every creature, without distinction — to rich and poor — to magistrate8
and people — to men of letters — to the unlearned — to sinners of every age and
aex ; — they all stand in the same need of the gospel, and to every one of them ia
it to be made known. It mattera not, what prejudice8 or what enmity they may
have against it ; the truth as it is in Jesus must be preached unto thera ; be
cause it is God'a ordinance to correct their errors, it is God's great inatrument to
aave them from their guilt and mieery, there being no other name under heaven
given among men, whereby any one can be eaved, but the name of Jesus ChriBt.
The gospel then ia to be preached everywhere, and to every creature, which
makes it really good news ; for the more extensive it is, certainly the more to
be valued. It calla in general to sinners, and excepts none. It invites them to
partake of a free salvation, and, what is better, of a full salvation.
Free for 6inners as sinnera — a free gift of free grace from firat to laBt : it ia
not for any working or merit of theire, but entirely through the obedience of the
life, and through the atonement of the death of the Son of God, that any einnere
are 6aved. The gospel calls them to come and trust in the finished work of God-
Jesus, and to come just as they are, without any previous qualification or condi
tion. Salvation being freely by grace through what the Saviour did and suffered,
none are excluded, who come to him. It is an act of grace, without limitation and
without exception. Any one who is made wiUing may take the benefit of it. A
debtor for a thousand talents, haa aa free forgiveness as he who owed but one
hundred pence : being made to confeas they have nothing to pay, God a8 frankly
forgivea the one as the other. And
Thie renders the good news of the goapel alttl better. It proclaime a full, as
well as a free ealvation — a perfect deliverance from ein and mieery — a perfect
title to all good — for it i8 written, " whoeoever believeth shaU never perish, but
shall have eternal life." AU hia debts shall be fully discharged — all his crimes
so forgiven, that God wttl remember them no more — a good title shall be made
out to the heavenly inheritance, and he shall enter upon present posseaaion
by faith, aa the aure earneat of hi8 eternal posaesaion. Bleased, for ever bleaaed, is
every creature who heareth and believeth the worda of this gospel — he shall be
blesaed with all 8piritual blesBinga in heavenly thing8 in Chnst Jeaue.
But it may be said, why should the gospel be preached to every creature, aince
all do not receive it ? It muet be preached for that very reason. All who heard
the apoatle8 were not converted. God acta herein aa a aovereign. He foUowa
the unerring counael of hie own will. He publiehes hia lawa, which are infi
nitely juat and holy, and if his creatures wttl break them, he leaves them to the
consequences of their transgreasion. So doea the Parliament of thi8 land. It
would be a strange reason for not paBeing a good law, because it was foreseen
Bome would break it and forfeit their Uvea. It becomea more necesaary on that
very account. In the aame manner the great lawgiver acta. To some his goepel
ie a eavour of death unto death ; to others a savour of life unto life. The fault
is not in the gospel, but in the hearers. It was exactly suitable to their case, and
a perfect remedy for their distress, but they would not take it. Ye wttl not come
unto me, says Chriat, that ye may have life — ye reject your own merciea through
an evtt heart of unbelief, and therefore God will be glorified in letting the law
take its course. AYhere his mercy is despised his justice will be honoured — anil
they 8haU perish from the presence of the Lord who knew not God, and obeyed
not the sospel of our Lord Jeaus Christ.

SERMON IV. 857

SERMON IV.
And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying, Speak thou also unto the children of Israel,
saying, verily my sabbaths ye shall keep, for it is a sign between me and you,
throughout your generations, that ye may know that I am the Lord that doth
sanctify you. Ye shall keep the sabbath therefore, for it is holy unto you ; epery
one that defileth it shall surely be put to death ; for whosoever doth any work
therein, that soul shall be cut off from amongst his people. — Exodus xxxi. 12 — 14.
Ever since the faU, Christ was the way to the Father, and he was set forth
even in the Old Testament, with equal clearness as in the New. Our church
Bays, Article 7, " the Old Testament is not contrary to the New ; for, both in the
Old and New Testament, everlasting hfe is offered to mankind through Christ,
who is the only Mediator between God and man, being both God and man,
wherefore they are not to be heard, which feign, that the old fathers did look
only for transitory purposes ;" and yet we hear of a strange notion prevatting in
the Christian world, that believers, under the Old Testament dispensation, did
not understand the person and work of Christ as weU as we do. Whereas they
had the same revelation, and the same Spirit to explain and to apply it ; they had
the same faith that we have, in the same Lord ; the same hope in Jesus ; the
same love to him, and the same obedience to his wiU on the eame motive ; and
there is no difference between us and them, but in this one single circumstance ;
they believed in Christ, who was to come, as we beheve in Christ, who is come.
Moaee and all the prophets, with one mouth, testified of Christ : they foretold his
sufferings, and the glory that should foUow. They gave their witness in plain
words, and in significant rites, instituted of God, to describe what Christ was to
be, and to do. The Levitical priesthood was appointed to explain those rites, and
to make them familiar by constant preaching. As many as were ordained unto
eternal life heard and believed in the Lord Jesus. They tvere ready to give an
answer to every one who asked them a reason of the hope that was in them. If
any inquiring heathen had desired a beheving Jew to open to him the meaning
of the ceremonial law, he would have explained it as St. Paul has in his Epistle
to the Hebrews, Christ being the substance of aU the shadows. And if farther
inquiry had been made, AV'hy is it you are so strict about the sabbath day ? Upon
what authority do you keep it ? And what advantages do you expect from it ?
He would have given as direct and plain an answer, as any man now living can.
He would have said, that God created the world, and in six days formed it, and
on the seventh he rested, and God blessed the seventh day, and sanctified it ;
because that on it he had rested from all his works, which God created and
made : and that rest was to show, that as God ceased from his works, so there
was a time coining when we should cease from ours ; so on this day we cease
from bodily labour, that we might have happy rest, and converse with God by
faith, as we hope to rest with him for evermore. If you ask, How does it appear
that the believing Jews in the Old Testament should have aa clear views of this
matter aa we have in the New, T would refer you only to two or three scriptures,
and then open this matter, that we may see the obUgation of keeping and sanc
tifying the Lord's day.
The first is the original institution ; many people think it is part of the cere
monial law : Adam had nothing to do with the ceremonial law, but he had to do
with this rest; for, if he had kept the sabbath, and rested in God as his supreme
good, he would have entered into that rest by his perfect obedience, which (blessed
be God) we enter into by faith in Jesus. It was a moral obUgation ; so when the
heavens and the earth were finished, and aU the host of them, the seventh day
God ended his work which he had made, and he rested on the seventh day from
all his work which he had made ; rested, that is, he ceased from creating and
forming any thing more, and he blessetl the seventh day ; he made it the means
of blessing to us, and God blessed the seventh day, and sanctified it : he sanctified

858 EXODUS XXXI. 12, 13, 14.
it for man's sake, that there might be a token that there was a real sanctification
in Adam, when he was first formed, and if he kept that image perfect, he should
rest with a holy God for ever and ever : he blessed the seventh day, and sanctified
it, because that he had rested from all his works which God created ; that day
i8 the inatitution ofthe first sabbath, which did not last long, but the continuance
of the sabbath was after the faU ; for before the giving of ihe law, we find that
Moses said ofthe manna, 'it must not be gathered this day, because it is the holy
rest of the sabbath,' which they had kept from the time of the fall, tttl the tirae of
their coming out of Egypt. Upon the coming out of Egypt, the day was changed ;
they had kept the day which we now keep for Sunday from the beginning ; but
upon their coining out of Egypt, it was changed for the day in which they came
out, and there is not any truth can be made plainer from the ecripturea, than thiB
truth, that the original sabbath was changed at the children of Israel's dehverance
out of Egypt, and that it continued so. Our Lord lay in the grave the Jewish,
the original sabbath ; and he rose on the original creation sabbath. The day that
was kept from the beginning, haa been the day of the Christian sabbath. It has
been asked, Where is there any sufficient proof and authority that this is a
command of the most high God, and an obligation upon all hia creatures ? I
chose to speak upon this passage before me, because of two or three words in it,
which are not in the fourth commandment. This is an obligation, because the
Lord spake to Moaee, saying, " Speak thou also to the chttdren of Israel, and aay,
Verily, my Babbath shaU ye keep." Verily — the Lord seta hia aaaeveration before
it ; in one place it is " remember," and here it is " verily," thia ia the truth of
God, that ye shall keep my aabbath holy. Why ? Because it ia a sign between
me and you throughout your generations, that ye may know that I am the Lord
that aanctifieth you. It ia a aign — that ia the word I would fix upon it. They
did not keep the aabbath for ita own eake ; it tvaa but a Bign, it waa a memorial,
they were to remember something by it, and so you know we do not keep the
day now merely to cease from work, but we keep it for a particular purpose. It
ia a sign of the rest which behevers have now in Jesus by faith ; and it is a sign
of that rest tvhich remaineth to the people of God, wheii we believe. If you had
asked any Jew, or any Rabbi, What is your sabbath a sign of? Why, say8 he,
it is a sign of God's resting chiefly ; but, now he has altered the day since our
coming out of Egypt, it is a sign that we reated from the Egyptian bondage. It
is a sign that God haa brought ue out, and taken ua to be hia peculiar people.
He will, upon our setting apart thia day to celebrate hia service, to sing his
praisea, and join in hearing hie word ; he wttl sanctify ue by hia Spirit through
the meana that he haa appointed for the improvement of hie day. Ye ehall
therefore keep the sabbath, for it is holy unto you. Every one that defileth it
shaU surely be put to death ; and to gather sticks on the aabbath-day, once waa
punished with death. Every one that defileth it 8haU surely be put to death —
What is defiling the sabbath ? It is not entering into rest by believing, that ia
the greatest profanation of the 8abbath ; and then those who have not entered
into the epiritual reBt and found it in Jeaua Christ, they exercise their trades,
they can get on horseback and ride out of town ; they can get out, if they cannot
afford to ride on horseback or in a carriage ; and those that apend their tune here
in the city, you may find them in alehouses drinking till they are drunk, and
then saUying out to do mischief. It is leaving the true rest that is in Jeaua
Chri8t, and it is no matter how men spend their time ; if they have not entered
into this rest, they are profaning the sabbath if they are in a church ; six days
may work be done, but in the eeventh is the Babbath of rest holy to the Lord :
whosoever doth any work on the sabbath day, he shaU surely be put to death .
wherefore the chttdren of Israel shall keep, shall observe the aabbath throughout
their generations for a perpetual covenant. Not only is the sabbath a sign of
our resting in God'a love to us in Jesus Christ, but it is a perpetual covenant.
The sabbath cannot be repealed, and therefore the observance of it ie a perpetual
obligation, because it is part of a perpetual covenant. It is a sign between me
and the children of farael for ever. When you and I enter into reet, and cease
from our labours here, we shall have a long eternal aabbath with God in glory,
through Jesua Christ. It is a sign between me and the children of Israel for

SERMON IV. 859
ever ; for in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth : and on the
seventh day he rested ; he rested and was refreshed. Now I would affix this
meaning to the sign, that it is a memorial of God's resting from his works ; and
that, when we are enabled to rest in Jesus Christ by faith, then we enter upon
the spiritual sabbath in time, and shaU enter upon the sabbath glory in eternity.
How does it appear that this was the thing signified ? There can be nothing to
complete the subject but this single inquiry ; and, therefore, that I may avoid all
reasoning upon the subject, I will read to you the most beautiful comment of an
infallible expositor, the apostle Paul, upon the fourth commandment, which is in
the fourth of the Hebrews ; I wttl just read over that part which belongs to my
present subject, because it is impossible to say anything that trill make it plainer
than he does, namely, that the sabbath signifies ceasing from outward labour,
that we may rest by faith in the love of God in Jesus Christ ; and all that have
entered into this rest, will want no arguments to stir them up to be frequent and
constant in reading, hearing, praying, meditating, and every thing that belongs
to spiritual comfort on the Lord's day. "Let us, therefore, fear," says the
apostle Paul, " lest a promise being left us of entering into his rest, any of
you should seem to come short of it ; for unto us was the gospel preached as
weU as unto them." There you see they had the gospel under the Old Testa
ment dispensation, as weU as we, (and I do not doubt but every believer under
stood it as weU as any man upon earth) unto us was the gospel preached, as weU
as unto them; but the word preached did not profit. Why? because they
did not mix faith with it. Now it is faith that lays hold of the word ; faith
fastens upon the truth of it ; faith fixes so upon it, and so incorporates itself
with it, as to make it a real substance ; and rests upon God's faithfulness to
make it good. Now that is the way that we should mix faith with the word.
Well, but if they faUed for want of faith, and did not enter into rest, how came
you to enter ? We who have believed do enter into rest, — we who have believed.
There is aU that I have to say in that one sentence. There is a rest.
How do we enter into it ? By bettering — by beheving in the Lord Jesus
Christ simply, without looking into any thing else. You never enter into rest
without looking into Jesus Christ, as aU in aU ; they that would have their own
works to stand in some service as to their justification, and their final acceptance ;
they that look to any thing but Christ, they wiU be cast upon a turbulent sea
aU their days : but a person that is enabled to look to Jesus as the one rest
of his soul, and looks at his works, and sees that he has finished the work of the
new creation, as perfectly as he has finished the works of the six days' creation,
then that man enters into that sabbath which wiU never end. Well, but say
you, when did the believers in the Old Testament enter into this ? We, who
nave believed, do enter into rest, as he said ; but I have sworn in my wrath, if
they shall enter into my rest, that is, proving one thing by another, they did not
enter in because of unbelief; therefore, says the apostle, we enter in by faith,
although the works were finished from before the foundation of the world ; every
thing was finished and complete, and yet there is a rest they did not attain then ;
for he speaketh in a certain place on this wise, God rested the seventh day from
all his works ; and he says, if they shaU enter into my rest. So they did not
attain it by any outward act, but only by faith, seeing, therefore, it remaineth
that some must enter therein, and they, to whom it was first preached, entered
not in because of unbelief; that is the Jews, that perished in the wilderness.
Then he limiteth a certain day, saying, in David to-day (after so long a time) to
day, if ye will hear his voice, harden not your hearts ; but, by believing, enter
into the Lord's rest. Now this proves that this spiritual rest, which the scrip
ture speaks of in the Psalms, that it was not entering into Canaan, it was not
done by any outward thing for three thousand years ; for it was that time from
the creation to David ; but it says, in the eighth verse, if Joshua had given
thera rest, then would he not aftertvarda have spoken of another day ; but David,
though a hundred years after, entered into the promised land, speaks of a rest
which the Jews hail not then found. Oh, how clear is the scripture, when a
man has got the plain meaning of it, and can take it up in his hand, and can say,
this book, from the beginning to the end, is written of Christ, and all the

8G0 EXODUS XXXI. 12, 13, 14.
shadows and figures in the Old Testament have Christ for their substance;
when he can compare scripture with scripture, he sees as plain as any truth can
be made, that Jesus Christ is the one sun that shines upon and enlightens aU the
whole volume of revelation. There remaineth, therefore, a rest to the people
of God, which they had not in the promised land ; which they had not even
found in David's tirae. Well, where is this rest to be found ? Why, here it is :
" There is a sabbath, therefore," says he, (SabbatismosJ " the keeping of the
sabbath remaining stttl for the people of God, for he that is entered into his
reat, he also hath ceased from his own worka, as did God from hie." How plain
and full is this against all Arminianism, against all mixing with works and
grace. How plain is it, that when a raan comes to Christ, and enters into his
spiritual reat, he hae done with all his own working. He wiU work, but it will
be not that he may be pardoned ; not that he may be saved ; not that he may
be justified ; not that he may be sanctified ; not that he may obtain life ; but
he works to this purpose, in the way of duty; my faith is to be exercised,
and then I am to reet in Jesus, and find sweet fellowship with the Father and
the Son through it, all the days of my life : and I must cease from my own
work as God did from his. " Well," saya the apostle, " now, therefore, let us
labour to enter into that rest, leat any man fall after the eame example of
unbelief." It seems to be amazing, but if ever you was an awakened sinner,
and eeeking rest, you will find that it is the hardest thing in the world to believe
in Chriat : to find peace of conacience, without any remaining guilt ; to find
your heart happy, satisfied in Christ, and that with lips, and life, and time, anil
talents, you wish all your life to 8how forth hia praises. You will find it is greut
labour, and none can help you to do this work but the Almighty God. Yuu
will ask, perhaps, now, what ie remaining of the sign that the 8abbath was ? It
is a sign of that spiritual rest into which believera enter, by receiving Chriat
through faith ; and they enter into it in their consciences, and in their heart,
anil, as far aa they believe, they are partakers now of that snbbath which
remaineth for the people of God. Oh that the Lord would help me to enter into
this rest. If you wttl read the Bible upon the plan I have been recommending
to you, take it, and say, This book treats of Christ from the beginning to the end,
and if points out a rest in him which we enter upon now in believing, which is
an earnest and foretaste of everlasting reat. How ahall I enter into this ? The
apoatle meets with that objection. There ia no way but by the word, and there
is no way but to look up to the Spirit to accompany the word ? The Spirit and
the word together are the body and the soul of this book ; for the word of Cod
is quick and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged aword, piercing even to
the dividing aeunder of the aoul and spirit, and of the joint8 and marrow, and
is a discerner of the thoughts and intenta of the heart. There ia the concluaion
of the whole matter : the word ia what the Holy Spirit makea uae of to bring ua
into rest, and when thia rest is preached freely, and eet before a poor sinner with
all its rich fulness, then the Spirit comes and satiafieth him that he ia aa free to
take thi8 rest aa any ainner that ever entered upon it ; it is as full for you aa
ever it waa for any one ; enter upon it by faith. You only keep youraelf from
rest by unbelief; enter upon it by faith, and you wttl find peace in your con
ecience ; believing in the bleeding Lamb you wttl find holiness and happiness in
your heart ; looking to Jesua, and believing in him, you will go on your way
rejoicing ; looking unto Jeaua, who ia bound to keep you, and you will reat
eatiafied in the love of God, that he lovea you from everlaeting to everlasting.
Thia iB the sabbath. It is resting in Chriat : and when you think of the profa
nation of it, how 8candalously it has been abu8ed in thie Christian land, oh, how
does thie preach to you and me, that there are very few that enter into thia
spiritual rest. A man that has been brought into it by the word and by the
Spirit of the living God, he cannot follow his trade of a Sunday if the laws would
let him ; he has better work to do, and his heart is deeply engaged in it ; yea,
he wttl take opportunities in week daye ; he eeea people can take time for their
pleasures and diversion ; hi8 pleasure and diversion is to meet his God. Oh,
the aabbath is hia delight : there, aays he, I meet my Jeaue, and have fellowehip
with him ; there I have found the Father'a love, and reeted in it in my eoul and

SERMON IV. 861
heart ; there the Holy Spirit has preached to my conscience and heart. There
is a sabbath, infinitely beyond what you now have, remaining to the people of
God. By and by you shaU cease from your works, as God did from his, and
then you shall rest with him. Oh this is sabbath-day work ; and, therefore, as
one of the fathers said of it, we abstain from bodtty labour on that day, not that
we may be spiritually idle, but that we may be spirituaUy busy. To those who
do six days' hard work, really speaking, after the manner of men, it is a sort of
blessing to have a day of rest ; but when we see how our business gets hold of
our hearts, and how some people, not even on the sabbath day, can get rid of this ;
when we see how the things about us distract us, and hinder us from enjoying
this rest ; surely, sirs, you that have entered into it, you must look upon it as
an infinite privilege that God has commanded and enjoined you to meet him on
thia day, and has promised, that he that blessed it wiU bless it to you ; he that
sanctified it wUl sanctify it to you ; and you can say with me, the best day of your
lives has been the time when you have met God in his ordinances on his own day.
I now come to what I have to offer on the subject concerning the Christian
sabbath. It is the day that our blessed Saviour finished bis work and entered
into this rest. They that beheve in a risen Saviour, they wttl enter into his rest,
and when they have entered into it, they wiU maintain it too, unless (which may
be the case with some of the chUdren of God) they may sit under legal preach
ing : we have aU exceeding strong legal inclinations, and if a man sits under legal
preaching, he wiU be kept in bondage ; he seeks for rest in himself instead of rest
in Christ. Many of the children of God are kept down by their remaining
corruptions, and cannot enter into this heavenly sabbath, and others, that want to
get into it, wttl not go the Lord's way ; they get in by a forbidden way, over the
wall into the sheepfold, and want to come into this rest by being perfect in the
fleah ; which being as contrary to aU revelation as hght is to darkness, it is no
wonder that that which is only another name for Antinomianism, (for perfection
in the flesh is no other than Antinomianism ;) it is no wonder they should not
enter into reat, when they get into a fool's paradise, and say, they have no more
ein in them than Christ ; that they have nothing but the love of God burning in
their hearts ; and have had it so long — forty years. Oh what dreadful delusion
is that. Men and brethren, have you ever entered into this Christian sabbath ?
Have you, by beheving in Jesus Christ, found peace in your conscience ? Have
you found your hearts happy ? And, as God rests in his love to his people, do
you rest in God's love to you in Christ ? And I am as certain as I am standing
up in this place, that there is not a man or woman upon the face of this earth
that exercises their trade (supposing it to be a lawful trade at other times) on a
Sunday — they cannot exercise their trade on a Sunday, if they are partakers of
this spiritual rest ; they find so much disturbance, so many things to be conti
nually damping their enjoyments of this spiritual rest in Jesus, that it is the joy
of their bouIb when the Lord's day returns, that they have again an opportunity
of kindling their hopes afresh, and drawing out the affections of their hearts in
holy love to that holy Jesus, who finished the work of the new creation, when he
roae from the dead, and who finished the work of the first creation on the six
days. If you have reaUy entered into this rest, and are now happy partakers of
it; you know what I am speaking, perhaps, better than I can teU you, and you
know that you have an ugly thing to fight against, and there are enemies enough ;
you need not go to forbidden things, you need not go to profane the sabbath,
you know it is your duty, privilege, and happiness, to be found in those ways,
where God will subdue your unbelief, and keep under your corruptions, and by
that means, help you to enter into, and enjoy more of this spiritual sabbath.
You remember, perhaps, that there is a society met together here to-day, who
have joined in agreeing to support the observance of the Lord's day outwardly,
(it is God's Spirit only that can help us to keep it inwardly,) and the Lord has
been pleased to prosper them hitherto. I remember, about twenty-five years
ago, I began such a thing, and there was something done for a year or two ;
but then people grew tired and feU off, and it came to nothing. If you really
have entered into rest, and you would enjoy it ; if you would enjoy the blessing
which you now have, I would caU upon you for gratitude to that God, who by

862 EXODUS XXXI. 12, 13, 14.
believing has brought you into that Christian sabbath of reat, to lend them aome
of your aa8istance. If you have time, lend them that ; if it doea not auit you to
lend them your time, lend them something out of your pocket, for they are at
great expense ; they often have very expensive prosecutions ; and the design of
our collection to-day is to help them in this : that, if you cannot help them with
your advice, cannot give up your time to them, every one who would wish to see
the Lord'a day in thia land restored to its primitive glory, and primitive uae, all
that you and I have to do with our money, ia to lay a little out for this purpose.
I am certain this ia God'a cause, and as such, recommend it to God's people :
the Lord enable you to give what you can, and the Lord grant that it may be a
tribute of a free-will offering.
When we look around, and see the very great profanation of this day, and how
it began to spread as aU infection does, one trade thought it lawful, and then
another man thought it lawful, and so from one busineS8 it got to othera, it waa
a very hard matter to know where to begin ; but aince I promised to recommend
thia charity to day, many people have come to me, and 8aid, I hope you will
recommend 8uch a thing ; what aignifiea putting down bakers and butchers, and
such 8ort of people, when the greatest wickedness in this city is committed
in alehouaes ? then another eaya, why don't you put down auch and auch things ?
Thi8 ia but an infant society, and I am certain of this, that much good haa
been done. I uaed to go commonly twice or thrice a year through Fleet-market,
and it was exactly the same on Sunday aa on Saturday, perhaps not a single shop
shut in the market, and every thing exposed publicly to sale. I went through
yeaterday ae'nnight, and there wae not a aingle ehop open, nor did I eee a single
person anywhere loitering about the market. Surely, airs, this is the beginning
of a reformation, and certainly there is a spirit of reformation gone abroad ; and
when we aee the outpouring of the Spirit ol God upon the preached gospel ;
when we see multitudes come to hear, and hear of the spread that is over the
kingdom, of numbers of awakened miniatera, who have great work in their
several parishea, all over the land, I cannot help thinking, that God has not
yet done with hi8 people, but that he haa atttl mercy in store for ua ; and
all people that have received the bleB8ing in their own heart wiah aucceaa
to the ministry to othere; and becauee magistrates and othera regard only
outward thinga, that we may be outwardly reformed, that then Goa will bless
ua aa a nation, and that the judgments that are hanging over us may be
averted. I think the stopping of the profanation of the fourth commandment
may have a great blessing backwards and forwards ; backwards, for I auppoae
it 8tanda in the decalogue that its influence may go to the commandments
before, namely, believing in God, tru8ting in him, and serving him according
to his mind and wttl, and keeping holy his bleaaed day. Now the keeping
the sabbath, is the outward means of sanctifying this day, coming to join the
congregation; who knowa, but when God ia pa8aing by, he may meet with
you ? He wttl not meet with you at the alehouee, he wiU not meet with you
riding out, he will not meet with you profaning the Lord's day ; but if you come
to hear when Chriat ia pasaing by, who can tell but God may meet with you ?
If the Lord's day ia kept, there wiU be a face of decency in outward thinga, and
if the Lord's day be profaned, away with the subatance when the ahadow ia gone.
I beheve that the profanation of the Lord'a day hae been one great means of out
ward profanenese : people complain exceedingly of their children, how very un-
dutiful they become ; why how can it be otherwise, when the father and mother
go out in a one horse chaise, or a post-chaise, if they are a httle higher in life, and
leave their children with their servante, to do what they wttl on the Lord's day ?
And ao there are complaints everywhere how bad servants are ; you cannot get
a servant that wttl last with you, but as soon aa they can better themeelves, (aa
they call it) away they go to another aervice, and while they are with you, they are
guilty of loitering, and every thing that is deteetable among eervants. How can
it be otherwise, when masters and mistresses Bet bad examples : when they go
into the ctrantry, perhaps they leave their servants to themselves and to their own
wicked hearts, and every thing the devtt can tempt them to. If your eervanta
were on the Lord's day bringing your children to hear, and you made your ser-

SERiMON IV. 863
vants hear ; if you made them as outwardly decent as you could, bringing them
to the foot of the cross to hear of Jesus Christ, this is the way in which they
would be civilized ; this is the way in which their hearts would be in some mea
sure changed. It depends upon God's Spirit to convert them in reaUty. I look
upon all complaints of the decay of morality as taking their rise from hence,
that the Lord's day is scandalously profaned, and they that ought to set the exam
ple to do good, are the first that set the example to profanation. When there is a
society formed like thie, the shops are shut up, the masters, mistresses, and
servants who have been kept at home to attend to the business have opportunity
to wait upon the worship of God, so that it is now their own fault if they do
not go to church. But I have heard it very often said, oh, if they would put
down aU shops, I should like it, but the people teU me that if I do not serve
them on Sundays, they will not deal tvith me in the week, therefore if it was
made general, I should rejoice in it, for I want an opportunity to meet God
in his service on a Sunday. Here then I look upon the observance of the Lord's
day to look both backwards to the commandments before, and forwards to the
precepts of the second table, and believers know, and unbelievers should hear it,
that by beheving we enter into the spiritual sabbath, and by unbelieving you shut
yourselves out of it now, and by unbelieving you shut yourselves out of the
eternal sabbath hereafter.
It is not necessary for me to say any thing more in recommending the subject ;
therefore I must leave it now to God, and to his almighty grace : only let me
beg one thing — There may be some here, perhaps, that can help us very httle
either with money or with time, but there is nobody here but can help us with
prayer; pray for a blessing upon this society, and beg that God may restore his
sabbaths to their former use. Let me beg of you all that have the spirit of prayer
to make this petition, That God wiU check the profaneness and outward profana
tion of the Lord's day, both for his own glory and the benefit of society ; that
the growing generation, servants and children, and aU that belong to us, may be
brought up in the fear and nurture of the Lord.
I have only a word or two of advice to give to the society, and I give it as from
the aame fountain from which I have been speaking aU along. My brethren, I
entreat you, who are entered into this work, to examine your motives : there ia
but one true motive, and that is, are you reaUy set out reformed yourself ; an
unreformed reformer is a contradiction. Have you entered into this spiritual
rest ? If you have, I will tell you some of the fruits that will attend your being a
member. You see a man profane the Lord's day — try all you can to stop him by
scripture and argument ; do not you go to convict him first, that is not scriptural,
nor wttl a blessing foUow it ; teU him his fault between you and him ; teU him
what lawa are in force, and if he does not reform, you must certainly try what the
laws will do— that ia your way. And when you are going about thus, and stop
ping any thing on the Lord's day, I would ask you seriously, have you never
gone to convict a man in your own spirit ? But before you begin, look up to God
for his grace, that what you are going to do you might do it with meekness and
gentleness, with a zeal for the glory of God ; and I pray you, if you have entered
into this rest, and if you are hving in it, take care that you walk very humbly,
and the more good you do, you will not be puffed up with pride, and say, Here
is a society that has done what all others have failed in ; the Society for the Refor
mation of Manners was nothing like ours : oh, no, if you have entered into rest,
the more you do, the more humble and the more thankful you will be : you will
bleaa God that he should make use of such poor creatures as you for the noble
purpose of magnifying his name. Pray do, sirs, examine with what spirit you
go to convict people, how you set about it, and if you succeed, whether God gets
the glory or no. Oh that the Lord may make you eminent yourselves for every
good word and work ; and, as you are set about this hard work, you must expect
that people will say hard things of you. There is no reformation begun but
what is against the grain, against the sense of the people, and especiaUy when
against their interest ; therefore arm yourselves with the grace and power of
God, whatever you go about, whatever you suffer (for you wiU suffer) the Lord
grant that you may do all you do with humttity. I have only to beg of God,

864 AN EARNEST INVITATION.
that as there is but a very little time left for some of you who are in thia society,
and very, very httle time left for some of us to keep our sabbath below — oh that
God may increase our faith ! The Lord grant that we may every day live in
keeping the sabbath, and only rest unto the Lord in our hearts ; eo that when
death cornea, we may fall aaleep in the Lord, and enter upon that sabbath which re
maineth for the people of God. You wttl Hve happy, you wiUdie happy. You
wttl be happy for ever and ever, who by believing this day, have entered into reat.
Oh that God may bless it to your hearts, bless it to the society, blesa it to all that
are here present, that tve may really and truly know what that spiritual reat ia,
which believera find in the bosom of God's love to his chUdren 1

AN EARNEST INVITATION TO THE FRIENDS OF THE
ESTABLISHED CHURCH,
TO JOIN
WITH SEVERAL OK THEIR BRETHREN, CLERGY AND LAITY, IN LONDON,
IN SETTING APART ONE HOUR OF EVERY WEEK KOR PRAYER ANU
SUPPLICATION, DURING THE PRESENT TROUHLESOME TIMES.

Call upon me in the day ot trouble : 1 will deliver triee, and thou shall glorify me. —
Psalm 1. 15.

PREFACE.
1. In the beginning of the last war, Proridence seemed to take part with our
enemies. We wanted unanimity in our public councils, and euccees in our public
measures. One miscarriage followed another. Our national courage ceaeed to
exert itself; and a general dejection of Bpirits ensued. At this time several cler
gymen of the established church agreed to meet at the throne of grace on tne
Lord's day. The subject of their joint prayera waa to ask the blessing of God upon
our public councila, our fleets, and our armies. They were soon joined by a great
number of the laity in moat parte of the kingdom. Afterwards, several praying
societiea were formed for the very aame purpose in Germany, and especially in
Hanover. In the spirit of prayer and supplication they humbled themaelves
before the Lord ; they Bought auccesa at his hands ; and he waB gracioua to their
reque8ts : he sent rictory after victory, until our enemies were willing to he at
peace, and then they gave him unfeigned thanks, and ascribed aU the glory to hia
goodness and power.
2. The principles upon which they then acted were these : — They believed in
the being of God, the Lord and Maker of all worlds. They acknowledged his
proridence over his works ; for he doeth according to hia wiU in the army of
heaven, and among the inhabitanta of the earth. Hie kingdom ruleth over all —
every person and every thing ; and none can stay his hand, or say unto him,
What dost thou ?
3. They believed also, that in the course of his providence he acta by an in
finitely wiae rule, which he has made known to us in the holy ecripturee. He ia
the Almighty Creator and eovereign Lord of mankind ; and he has given them
a law, which ia holy, juet, and good. Every tittle of it is not only for hia glory,
but aleo for their profit. He has aecured obedience to it by promises and threat-
enings ; neither of which can fail. Hi8 word cannot be broken, either to the
obedient or disobedient. According to his revealed will, his love infallibly follows
the one, and his justice the other.
4. This is true of societies, as weU as of private persons. Sin is alike the

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AVATCIIFULNESS ENFORCED. 881
lusr. A««l Among what set of men shall we find this watchful spirit ? Look
around the world, and see who they are that are waiting for their Lord's com
ing with watchfulness and prayer. Alas ! their number is very small. The
generality of men professing Christianity, live careless and unconcerned about
their salvation : and careless sinners do no more watch, than a man fast asleep
can be said to be watchful. Carelessness is the very contrary temper to watching,
and carelessness in sin is directly opposite to Christian watchfulness : for sin
makes the soul as unfit to watch, as drunkenness does the body ; and to be care
less in ein lulls the soul fast asleep. And in this, condition, the Judge, whenever
he comes, surprises sinners. He finds them sunk down into the dead sleep of ein,
when they should have been watching and praying against sin, and they do not
even dream of his coming. As it was in the days before the flood, though the
Lord's prophet admonished them of their danger, yet they went on eating and
drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the flood came and swept them
all away : so shaU it be when the Son of man cometh ; he will find careless sinners
in the same state, neither watching nor prepared. If you look at their particular
vices, you will see how each indisposes them for watching. How can the glut
ton watch stupified with meat, and the drunkard intoxicated with drink ? The
one will be taken while he is dosing and sleeping under the load of an over
charged Btomach, and the other while he is dead drunk, and their filthy souls
and bodies wiU appear in this shocking condition before the all-pure God. The
worldly-minded man, whatever worldly object bis heart be set upon, cannot
watch. Take heed of the cares of this life, says the Judge himself. We should
take great heed, lest they should get too much room in our hearts, because
the love of this present world is inconsistent with watching and preparing for the
eternal world. The profane swearer can have no thoughts of watching. He
defies God, and is so secure in his cursing and swearing, that he is not afraid to
caU for damnation. He prays aU the day long, and earnestly too, that his poor
aoul may be damned. If God should hear his prayers, what will become of him ?
How can he escape, when the Lord cometh with ten thousand of his • saints to
execute judgment upon aU, and to caU ungodly sinners to an account for the
hard sayings which they had spoken against him ? The whoremonger and
adulterer cannot watch. Their impure souls are enslaved to unholy and beastly
luata, which indispose them for watching. Whenever Christ comes, he wiU sur
prise them : for the immutable decree is gone out of his mouth — " Whoremon
gers and adulterers God wiU judge :" but they live secure in their sins, and have
no concern about being called to judgment ; therefore he will come in a day when
they look not for him, and in a hour that they are not aware of. Surely you wiU
not say that any of these men watch, unless it be for their own destruction.
And as to the other lovers of pleasure, they are afraid of Christ's coming, and
therefore it is impossible they should watch for it. The love of pleasure is the
characteristic of this age. It is seen in nothing so much as in the madness with
which men are running at this very time after public diversions. The playhouses
are crowded. The opera house is full of the politest company. BaUs and con
certs increase every day. The effects of carding and gaming are felt every
where. The spirit of pleasure is gone forth, and has seized aU orders of men
from the highest to the lowest. Now are any of these people watching ? Are
they waiting for Christ's coming, who are seeking to please themselves ? And when
he comes, will he delight to find his servants taken up with diversions, and their
hearta set upon pursuing them ? Certainly, this is not the spirit of Christian
watchfulness, which he recommended and enjoined to all his disciples: for they
cannot be prepared to enjoy happiness with him, while the love of diversion is
the ruling passion of their souls : and it is certainly the ruling passion, when
they are so absolutely fixed upon their pleasures that no divine visitation, no
remarkable providence can move them. Though they see the finger of God
visible in his judgments, yet they take no warning. Neither wars, nor pes
tilence, nor pubhc calamity— no earthquake, however dreadful, even if it de
stroy cities, and lay waste kingdoms — no earthquake, be it such as never was
before, since God made man upon the earth ; for we have no account in history
of the sea and the land shaking and trembling for thousands of miles at the
3 L

882 THE DUTY OF
same time, as they did in the late earthquakes : — none of these divine visita
tions can awaken the lovers of pleasure from their spirit of slumber. God
calls upon them by aU these providences, but they hear him not. The more
loudly he calls, the more do they harden their hearts, and sink the deeper into
their pleasures ; and the more loudly his ministers call, they fret and rage the
more at these itroublers of Israel. And if conscience at any time begin to grow
uneasy, they fly for relief to the world and its amusements. The playhouse is
the general place of refuge, where they go to quiet conscience, and to lull it
asleep. This brings together that vast crowd, which daily frequents the play
house, and which fills every part and corner of it from top and bottom. Anil
yet these very persons, who would not go to a play, unless they knew it would be a
fuU house, axe very angry at a fuU church ; nay, so very angiy, that they tvill
not come to church, if ithe fuU ; nay, eo exceedingly angry, that I know eome of
them, who think the minister should be starved, and they will do what they can
to starve him, who happens to have a crowded congregation. 1 mention this
with great concern, because it shows by what spirit these men are actuated,
who rejoice in a fuU playhouse, but fret aud rage tvith malice at a full church.
What spirit is this, that is pleased to see the devil's house crowded, and is vexed
to see the house of God filled ? Is the playhouse, then, a fitter place to watch in
than the church ! And are they in a proper posture of watchfulness, who are
sitting and delighted to the aoul to see a filthy play acted ; and if they should be
called out of the world in the midst of one of these lewd scenes, would their
minds be in a proper temper to appear before God ? Dreadful it is to think what
their condition would be, who should come reeking hot out of the playhouse, with
an imagination fuU of lewd ideas, and indulging and enjoying them, and in this
detestable impurity to stand at God's tribunal. Whenever you go to the play,
you do not know but this may happen ; and if it should happen, you die in the
very act of sin, and you are lost for ever. Consider this, and lay it to heart, all
ye who are lovers of pleasure more than lovers of God. Be convinced that the
way of pleasure is the very reverse of Christian watchfulnees ; and therefore unless
you prefer time to eternity, now shake off the lethargy of sin, and begin to watch.
Suppose Christ should come this night, and thie city ahould be deatroyed, aa
Lisbon was, by an earthquake, consider what the consequence would be, if you
should be found unprepared. If you live in the open breach of God's command
ments, if you are running greedily after pleasure, nay, if you are but careless
and unconcerned about the state of your eoule, you will not be found watching.
The Judge has commanded you to watch, and this command is as much your
duty as any ofthe ten commandmenta, nay more, becauae you keep them to no pur-
pose, unle88 you keep them with a watchful spirit. If Christ should come, when
you are not waiting for him with faith and love, he will find you neglecting his
advice, and despising his admonitions, and cry ever ao loud for mercy, " Lord,
Lord, open to us," then it will be too late ; the door of mercy wttl be ahut ibr
ever, and he will declare, " I never knew you." Where wttl be your portion, when
heaven is shut againet you ? Where, but in everlaBting burninga, in tormenta
that know no intermiasion, no end ! " Watch, therefore, becauae ye know neither
the day nor the hour wherein the Son of man cometh." And the reason here
given for watchfulneas, because we are uncertain of the precise tirae of Christ's
coming, is the second particular to be considered.
You have heard, wherein the Christian watchfulness conaiata, and how op
posite it ia to carelessness in sin, because it watches against aU sin, and the chief
enemy that would make us unprepared for our Lord's coming. To be alwaye
watchful, is the believer's character. He watches against every thing that may
indispose hira for meeting hia Lord with joy, against ein, againet pleasure,
particularly againet the pleasures of sense, remembering the command of Christ,
" Take heed unto yourselves, lest at any time your hearts should be overcharged
with surfeiting and drunkenness, and the cares of this life, and so that day
should come upon you unawarea." The behever take8 heed not to fall into
these sins ; he sets faith and love to watch against them, and puts them upon
watching with greater vigilance, lest that day ehould come upon him unawarea.
" Watch, therefore, beeauee ye know neither the day nor the hour wherein the

WATCHFULNESS ENFORCED. 883
Son of man cometh." This motive works strongly upon the believer. He is
certain that Christ will come, and being uncertain of the time, he knows not
how soon it may be, and therefore he watches always. He considers himself
as fixed upon a certain station, where he must stand upon guard and do his
duty, until he be called off and relieved. While he is upon this post, he is to
watch. If tbe sentinel leave his station, or fall asleep upon it, you know what
punishment is his due. And wiU not a greater punishment be your due, whose
eternity depends upon your watching ? and yet you cannot watch one hour, no,
not for the sake of eternal happiness. Your own conduct in citdl affairs will rise
up in judgment against your carelessness in your spiritual : for we are now ap
prehensive of an invasion from that faithless people whom God suffers to be
a scourge to the rest of Europe, and our army is upon the coast watching their land
ing. Now, if all the sentinels should fall fast asleep, and the French should land
unobserved and without opposition, I appeal to every honest Englishman, what
shall be done to these traitors ? If the court-martial should sentence every one
of them to be shot, I suppose no lover of his country would think his punish
ment too severe ? I am sure the believer would not, because he would think
himself deserving of death, and knows that he cannot escape it, if he leave off
watching. But he will not leave off, because he loves to watch. His heart and
hia affections go along with his duty. Love is active and vigilant. It wiU keep
him awake ; for he does not watch against an enemy, but waits for a friend.
He watches to meet his beloved Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, who has pro
mised to come to judgment speedily, and has commanded his faithful servants to
watch, and has spurred them on to greater vigUance, by assuring them that the
day of judgment shall come as a snare, and as a thief in the night, upon aU them
that dweU in the world. And though it come unexpected, yet it shall not find
the behever unprepared. The uncertainty of the time vrill not weaken his belief
of the certainty of the fact, but will be a powerful motive to spur him on to be
always watching and praying, that he may be accounted worthy to escape all
those thinge that are to come to pass at the last day. And thus he fulfils
Christ's direction, " Watch, therefore, for ye neither know the day nor the hour
wherein the Son of man cometh."
Men and brethren, let me speak freely unto you concerning this scripture. It
is of great and of eternal importance, and you ought to examine your hearts, and
eee how it operates in your lives. Are you, then, watching ? And do you watch
the more carefully, because ye know neither the day nor the hour wherein the
Son of man cometh ? Look around you, and consider your situation. You are
upon the verge of eternity. The joys of heaven and the torments of heU are
before you. And you are not sure of a day longer to provide for them. Time
flies. Death approaches. Behold the Judge standeth before the door. The late
extraordinary providences proclaim his near approach. By the mouths of these
hia harbingers and forerunners he speaks aloud, Surely I come quickly. In a
moment you may meet him in judgment. And is all this nothing to you ? WiU
it be the same thing to you whether you live in heaven or in heU for ever ? Cer
tainly eternal torment cannot be a desirable thing, and how then do you quiet
your consciences, while you are in danger of it? If you are going on careless in
your sins, you cannot escape it. How can the devil delude you so far, and give
you stupifying opiates, that you either do not see how near you are to everlasting
miaery, or elee do not fear it i Your case is almost desperate ; may the eternal
Spirit open your eyes to see it, before it be too late. God has commanded you
to watch, you do not watch. He has required you to be always ready, you are
not ready. He has threatened to come in a day when ye look not for him, and
you go on careless in your sins, neglecting his threatenings. He is now alarming
a careless world trith his judgments, but they make no impression upon you.
He has sent war and pestilence to arouse you out of your security, you are not
alarmed. He has arisen to shake terribly the earth, you are not moved. He has
come to take vengeance on a guilty race, and has punished them with a moat
exemplary destruction, but you are not affected. He has overthrown large and
populous cities, which are now nothing but heaps of wide-extended ruin; all this
makes no impression upon you. Although many thousands of their inhabitants
3 L 2

8S4 THE DUTY OF
be buried under the ruins, yet j-ou neither feel for yourselves, nor for your fellow-
creatures, whom vengeance suffered not to live. Oh hardened, insensible
sinners ! your hearts are more obdurate than the nether millstone ; for what
could the almighty God do more to alarm you, than he has done ? And yet how
few of you are alarmed ? This strange stupidity and hardness of your hearts wttl
soon bring down some heavy calamity upon you : for if you stiU return to your
sins, refusing to repent, although you see the arm of justice lifted up to destroy
impenitent sinners, what can you expect but that it should fall next upon your
guilty heads, and that you, who would not cry for mercy at such a time as this,
shall receive judgment without mercy ? And of this be ye assured, that the
longer mercy withholds the blow, the heavier tvill it fall, when the long-suffering
of God is wearied out, and his almighty justice comes to be glorified in your
destruction. Oh that this may never happen, but that he may be glorified in
your salvation 1 May he give you grace no longer to abuse his goodness and
forbearance, but now to leave your sins, and while his judgments are in the
earth to learn righteousness, that you may receive justification to life by the all-
perfect righteousness of Jesus Christ our Lord.
Happy will it be for you and me, if by any means I may prevail with you to
flee from the wrath to come. God is now pleading with you. He calls aloud to
you by various judgments to repent. And it is my heart's desire to second his call,
and to be useful under him in stirring you up to repentance. I think the minis
ters of the gospel cannot be too earnest and importunate at such a time as this.
When God is pleading powerfully with sinnera, and yet we see them Bleeping on
in security, eurely we ehould then cry aloud and spare not. The heavier the
spirit of slumber is upon them, the more pains should we take to awaken
them. And
It is indeed amazing to see how hardened and insensible mankind are under
these remarkable providences, with which the world is now visited. None of
these have moved them. 'This strange stupidity is an evident sign of their total
corruption, and is the forerunner of their total destruction. Mercies have been
long tried, but in vain. Now the Almighty tries his terrors ; and still in vain.
Neither his mercies nor judgments can awaken them. They will not break off
their favourite sins and pleasures ; no, not when they see his glittering sword
drawn, and cutting off many thousanda at one 8troke. They have not sense to
apply it, and to ask themselves, Suppose the sword of the Almighty should be
turned against me next, am not I as great a sinner as any of those who perished in
the late earthquakes ? What would become of me, if I should be cut off in a
moment as they were ? Alas 1 my body and soul would be miserable for ever
and ever. My conecience ia awake, and assures me that I cannot escape the
wrath to come, unless 1 get my eins pardoned, and secure an interest in the
Judge of aU the earth. This I wiU seek night and day with prayers and tears
until I find it. May the Lord Jeaue put theee good reeolutions into the heart
of every careleas 8inner, and may he give you grace to carry them into execution
immediately ; to which I ehaU encourage you under two or three short remarks,
which I have to make on what has been said.
And first you have heard, that it is of the spirit of Christianity, to make be
lievers watch for their Lord's coming ; and it keeps them always watching, be
cause they know not when he will come ; and when the judgments of God are
upon the earth, as they are remarkably at present, then it inspires them with
stricter watchfulness. The greater the danger is, the more watchful are they.
You hear what has been offered upon these heads ; but being determined not to
give up your sins, it does not affect you. You are as cold and lifeless as if I had
been talking upon a subject in which you were no way concerned. Would to
God there were none of you in this etate 1 How many soever careless sinners
might come here to-day, I wish not one of them waa to go away without
finding some uneasiness of conscience, and some true, and deep, anel lasting con
viction of sin. If any of you leave the church with as much carelessness aa voti
come, how do you stupify yourselve8, that no sense of danger can alarm vou!
Lord, what is man— yea, sinful man— that he should think himself safe when the
earth has been for many days quaking and trembling, and he knows not but in a

WATCHFULNESS ENFORCED. bo'.j
moment he may be swaUowed up and called to judgment! How can you dream
of safety at such a time as this? Perhaps you may dismiss your fears by
promising them, that our country is not so subject to earthquakes as other
places. When providence orders, no country can be free from them. We have
had two earthquakes in this city, and though but a httle while ago, yet they are
now almost forgotten, and since we take no warning from them, he who sent
these two can send a third, and London may share the fate of Lisbon. So that
this motive by which you try to quiet your consciences should alarm them the
more, because the less common earthquakes are in this country, the more cer
tainly ought they to affect you, and yet you are not affected at all. But perhaps
you think you need not be under any great apprehensions, because earthquakes
are only natural effects produced by natural causes. Be it so. AVhat security
do you get by this ? Has the God of nature no influence upon these natural
causes ? Supposing he had none, which is atheism to suppose, and a natural
cause ehould destroy you and send you to hell, would this make your torments
more supportable ? If you could go and teU the poor sinners who perished at
Lisbon, that it was not providence which destroyed them, but only a natural
caUBe, what good news would this be to them ? They are destroyed and lost for
ever, and the cause of the earthquake is of no consequence to them ? They are
only concerned about the effects of it, and would now give thousands of worlds,
if they had them, that they had been found watching. And so trill you, if you
take not warning from their destruction. They are lost, but you have still an
offer of mercy. You may escape if you wttl look more into yourselves than into
the causes of this earthquake. Look at the one thing needful for you. Repent.
Get your sins pardoned. Make God your friend, and then you will be safe. Let
little infidel philosophers say what they please, be ye assured, that providence
orders and directs even what are called natural causes. And when you are recon
ciled to him, he will make them all work together for your good. What he sends
for judgments to others will be mercies to you, and you will experience his love
in every visitation, be it prosperous or adverse. Whoever has attained to the
true spirit of Christian watchfulness is in this state, and to them who desire to
attain it I wiU make my second remark.
I am now speaking to these persons who are alarmed at the signs of the
times, and begin to be concerned about the salvation of their souls. You
want to have your hearts established, that you may not be afraid of any evil
tidings, but whenever your Lord coines, may be found watching. He that put
this good desire into your minds, wiU place you secure upon the rock of ages, if
you wait upon him. AVhen you are once united to Jesus Christ by faith, you
ore then out of the reach of every calamity. Nothing can hurt you ; for the guilt
of sin, from whence all your danger comes, is taken out of the conscience. You
know that your heavenly Father loves you in his beloved Son, and that he will
keep you in the arms of his mercy in life, and death, and to eternity. Being
assured of this, then, you can watch ; you will love to be watching, and whenever
your Lord coines you will be ready to enter in with him into his joys. This is
Christian watchfulness. It is always prepared, always looking out for death and
judgment, and therefore is never surprised. And in this happy state all believers
hve, and there is no happiness upon earth but this. AU the rest is but a shadow
of joy, anil in the end proves vanity and vexation of spirit. The thought that
they must die, gives a damp to the highest pleasures of careless sinners ; but the
thought that they may die in the midst of their enjoyments, turns their fancied
plea<ures into real pains. Nothing can make hfe sweet and happy, but a con
stant preparation for death. And since God has led you to seek this happiness
in Jesus Clirist, seek it in the right way, and you tvill assuredly find it. Gn to
the throne of grace with humility and prayer. Pray without ceasing. Be im
portunate. Knock at the door of mercy until it be opened. Hear and read the
word of God. Frequent his table. Be found in all the ways of his ordinances,
ami he will be fjund of you. He wiU give you living faith working by divine
love, and trith these graces tour hearts will be strengthened, and enabled to
watch, until your Lord come. And to those who arc in this happy state 1 make
my lliird and last remark.

886 THE SURE FOUNDATION.
My Christian brethren, your Lord's command should be much in your thoughts
at present, Be watchful. You find none of his commands grievous : for love has
made them aU pleasant, and to keep them with a watchful spirit is become your
deUght. Faith and hope enable you to look out for Christ's coining without any
fear or dread, and love makes watching for it sweet and joyful. It is a pleasure
to you to meditate upon his coming. You can reflect with joy upon that blessed
day, when you shaU see the dear object of your affections, shall behold him in aU
the glory of the Godhead, and shall be admitted into his presence, where ia the
fulness of everlasting joys. Oh 1 there is heaven in these reflections. The hap
piness you find in them disposes you earnestly to wish and pray for the great
day of your Lord's appearing. And his repeated commands to you to watch for
it, keep you watchful. It would be no surprise to you, if you were this moment
to lift up your eyes, and to see the crucified Jesus coming in the clouds with
power and great glory, to hear the loud trump of God caUing you to judgment,
and to behold the dead rising out of their graves, the earth in names, anil to feel
yourselves caught up in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. Are not these
hopes the joy of your hearts ? I know they are. You long to meet your beloved
Lord and Saviour. And are you all in this happy situation ? Say. Have you
such pure and perfect love for the Judge of all the earth, that you trish, and
pray, and watch for his coming. Ask your consciences, as if I put the quest inn
to every one of you by name, is thia your case ? Every true behever can, without
presumption, declare : Glory be to God, it is my happy situation ; through grace
I wait for the coming of my most bleaaed anel adorable Saviour, and in his
strength 1 now watch, and hope, whenever he comes, to be found watching.
Oh that his good Spirit may bring every one of you into thia watchful frame and
temper of mind, and may he enable you all now to aak it of him in the prayer of
faith ; and I know of no worda more auitable to the subject, or more truly pious,
than these which our church has taught us to uee on thia day.
" O Lord Jeaua Chri8t, who at thy fir8t coming didst send thy messengere to
prepare thy way before thee ! Grant that the ministers and stewards of thy mys
teries, may likewise 80 prepare and make ready thy way, by turning the hearts
of the diaobedient to the wisdom of the juat, that at thy second coming to judge
the world, we may (all be watching and praying, and may therefore) he found an
acceptable people in thy sight, who livest and reigneat with the Father and the
Holy Spirit, ever one God, world without end. Amen."

THE SURE FOUNDATION.
TWO DISCOURSES,
PREACHED BEFORE THE UNIVERSITY OP OXFORD, APRIL 11, 1756,
IN THE MORNING AT ST. MARV*S, AND IN THE
AFTERNOON AT ST. PETER'S.

Therefore thus saith the Lord God, Behold I lay in Zion, for a foundation, a stone, a tried
stone, a precious corner stone, a sure foundation. He that believeth shall not make
haste. — Isaiah xxvm. 16.

SERMON I.
Other foundation can no man lay, than that is laid, which is Jesus Christ. 
1 Cor. iii. 11.
In every undertaking it is the principal point to lay and to secure a good
foundation. In temporal concerns, aU men see and acknowledge this truth, and
are careful enough to act agreeably to it. The men of business, of pleasure', and

SERMON I. Sb7
ol ambition, have each their foundation to build upon, from whence they promise
themselves success. The learned also have their data and first principles, in
every art and science, which are laid dotvn as a sure foundation, tvhereon the art
or science may be built. T'he Christian, in like manner, has bis foundation.
Divinity has its first principles, tvith this manifest advantage above the arts and
sciences, that God hath built it, and upon one plain simple truth, which is clearly
ascertained both in the Old Testament and the New. Jesus Christ being pro
posed in both as the only foundation of faith and obedience. This one sure
foundation is laid, and no other can be laid : " For other foundation can no man
lay, than that is laid, tvhich is Jesus Christ." What words can be more clear
and decisive than these are? and yet the mistakes of men about them are endless,
even of men who aUow the divine authority of this very passage 1 The Papists
have multiplied the one foundation into a great number; building upon the Virgin
Mary as much as they do upon the ever-blessed God her Saviour, and upon a
multitude of fabulous saints. And the Arians and Socinians, the pests of this
age, have been trying to dig up the foundation, and would willingly leave no
traces of it remaining. And some of the reformed churches, tvhich set out well
at first, laying Christ, and Christ alone, for the foundation, have since built upon
him wood, hay, stubble, and such like reprobate stuff, which, when it comes to
be tried in the fire, will be burnt. And the generality of men have no foundation
at all, but live careless and unconcerned about the state of their souls, never ex
amining whether they are built upon Jesus Christ the Rock of Ages, on whom the
building fitly framed together, groweth into an holy temple in the Lord. Each
of these mistakes has at present numerous advocates, some of them have great
interest, and others have enjoyed a long establishment, and the espousers of each
have something specious to offer in its defence, tvhich being dressed up with the
ornaments of false learning, and falling in with our own corrupt inclinations, is
very apt to seduce us from the foundation of truth. For these reasons it wttl be
proper and seasonable to look to the foundation, and to see whether we stand
secure upon it. In this enquiry the words of the text will be useful ; they are so
plain and clear, as to leave no doubt in every honest, teachable mind, which is
willing to be determined by the authority of the written word, and hears and
reads it under the guidance of its aU-wise inspirer. St. Paul is here reproving his
Corinthians for the envying, and strife, and divisions, tvhich were among them.
He had converted them to the faith, and Apollos had built them up in it, and
they had great reason to join together in giving praise and glory to God, who had
called them out of darkness into his marveUous light. But the common enemy
of their souls prevented this desirable effect, by sowing discord among them.
He tempted thein into a party spirit, and they divided about the gifts and talents
of their ministers. One said that he was of Paul, another that he tvas of Apollos ;
and thej- forgot, that neither- is Paul that planteth any thing, neither Apollos
that watereth, but God that giveth the increase. All the glory of planting and
watering, as weU as of the increase, is God's. For we, says the apostle, are only
labourers together with God. Although, by our ministry the good seed was
sown in your hearts, yet ye are God's husbandry. Although by our preaching ye
were built up in your most holy faith, yet ye are God's building. We could do
nothing without his grace : for according to the grace of God, which is given to
nie as a wise master builder, I have laid the foundation. This wise master
builder laid the foundation, when he converted them to Christianity, and he
cautions every minister of the gospel to take heed how he buildeth thereon, be
cause there was but one foundation on which all doctrines and duties rested —
" for other foundation can no man lay, than that is laid." 'The foundation is the
entire groundwork of religion, upon which every part of it must rest. 'The
whole building is to stand upon it, and therefore it should be laid secure. Cer
tainly that cannot be too strong and firm, which is to support our present and
wir eternal happiness. Look at this tempestuous world, and behold what
rainj descend, what floods come, what winds blow, and beat upon our weak
tabernacle, threatening its fall ; how can we stand against tliese mighty assaults,
unless we be founded upon a rock ? For our comfort God hath laid a foundation,
«K;iinst which the gates of hell shall not prevail, and therefore tve need not doubt

i I

388 THE SURE FOUNDATION
of its stability or duration. He laid it first in the covenant of grace, ordered in
aU things and sure, when he purposed, before all worlds, to bring many sone
unto glory through Jeeus Christ. He afterwards revealed his purpose in the
written word, and he hath therein laid but one foundation, and there is no other.
Moses and the prophets have laid no other foundation in the Old Testament
than what is estabhshed throughout the New, which is Jesus Christ, on whom we
may safely build all our hopes of salvation, because he is God and man united in
one Christ, who came as our representative, to act und suffer for us, and thereby
to restore us to the happy estate which we had forfeited by the fall. As man he
obeyed the divine law to atone for our disobedience, as man he suffered what we
should have suffered for disobeying ; but then his obedience and sufferings could
never have wrought out perfect nghteousnees for a guilty race, unles8 the holy,
Buffering Jesus had been united to the most high God, and God and man had
been as intimately united in one Christ, as the reasonable eoul and fleah is one
man. Tite merit of aU that he did and auffered, rests upon hia being a divine aa
well as a human peraon. Take atvay his eternal, self-existent Godhead, and you
sink him dotvn into a mere creature : and then pface him ever so high, suppose
him to be at the very top of the scale of creatures, yet you make him finite ; and
being so, clothe him with every grace and perfection short of divine, he could
save no person but himself, for it is an adjudged case upon record, that no man
can redeem his brother, or pay to God a ransom for hira.
The divinity, then, of Jesus Christ is the foundation on which the whole of our
salvation rests : for there is salvation in none other ; and if he be not true and very
God, there is no salvation in him. Our preaching is vain, and your faith in him
is also vain. AVe are all yet in our sins, for nothing short of divine and infinite
can save us from the guilt anil power of them. But the scripture has clearly re
vealed his dirine and infinite nature. It has not left us in doubt concerning the
power of the Son of man to forgive sins. The Saviour of einnere was Jehovah, a
icrson of the self-existent essence ; for we are taught by the Christian verity to
lelieve, that in the unity of the Godhead there are three persons of equal glory
and co-eternal majesty, Father, Sjn, and Holy Ghost, who were pleased to display
their attributes and perfections, by sustaining distinct offices in the economy of
man's redemption, to whom tve therefore owe equal glory and worship, because
their love to us in sustaining these offices for our recovery was equal. God the
Father was glorified by having honour paid to his holiness and justice.
He demanded full and perfect satisfaction for sin, which God the Son paid by
taking upon him the human nature, and therein obeying and suffering for' sin
ners : for tvhich stupendous act of love and condescension, he was seated upon
the throne, and had all power in heaven and earth committed to him, and he is
now glorified by all the heavenly host, angels and archangels, and by the spirits
of just men made perfect, thousands, thousands, and ten thousand times ten thou
sand, a great multitude whom no man can number. Glory be to his holy name,
for that his courts will be filled with such an innumerable company, ascribing
salvation to our God who sitteth on the throne, and to the Lamb for ever. And
God the Holy Ghost is glorified for abiding tvith ua, even unto the end of the
world, to carry on the work of ealvation, for awakening the dead in ein, enlight
ening them with the light of life, and guiding them in their Christian course by
his grace, until he bring thera unto glory. Thus God the Father demands sati8-
faction — Cod the Son pays it — God the Holy Ghost applies it ; but still in these
offices the glory is equal, because the persons are equal. If the Son tvas not
equal to the Father, how could he pay him an infinite satisfaction ? If the Holy
Ghost was not equal to the Father and the Son, how could he 8U8tain hie office,
which requires an all-wise, aU-present, and almighty Spirit? These distinct
offices make no difference or inequality between the persone, as it ia weU ex
pressed in that form of sound words to which we have all subscribed, " In the
holy, blessed, and glorious Trinity none is afore or after other, none 'is greater
or less than another, but the whole three persons are co-eternal together and
co-equal." Jesus Christ is co-equal and co-eternal with the Father and the
Holy Spirit ; and being a truly dirine as well as an human person united in one
Saviour, in this character every thing he did and suffered for ue must be perfect

c

SERMON I. g89
and complete. Nothing can be wanting to make him a sure foundation. When
he obeyed — when he suffered — when he died — he was paying the satisfaction
deraanded by the justice of the Father, who demonstrated his acceptance of it by
raising the manhood from the dead. And then the foundation of God was
established immovably. God himself, even God manifested in the flesh, is the
foundation that standeth sure. It is neither the Blessed Virgin, nor the saints
and martyrs ; it is neither repentance nor good tvorks : neither morality nor
natural hght, but the one foundation is the God-man, Christ Jesus. As God, he
ia almighty : for he created aU things, and he upholdeth all things by the word
of his power. As God manifested in the flesh, he has engaged to use his almighty
power for our salvation. In his obedience and sufferings, death and resurrection.
he laid a foundation that can never be shaken, upon which sinners may safely
build their hopes of pardon and forgiveness, of righteousness and holiness, of
heaven, and eternal glory. And they may buttd on him with greater safety, be
cause the scripture throughout sets him forth as the only foundation. He is laid,
and other foundation, the apostle says, can no man lay. There is an utter im
possibility of laying any other : because to attempt it, would be opposing the
immutable decree of heaven, by tvhich this one foundation was laid in the cove
nant of grace ; it would be opposing God's revealed wttl, which has established
this one foundation in the written word ; and it would be opposing the suffi
ciency of Christ's obedience and sufferings, by which alone we can obtain accept
ance with God the Father. Will not these men be found fighting against God,
and how then can they succeed, who oppose his covenant, confirmed by his re
vealed will, and estabhshed by his miraculous works ? So long as this scripture
stands upon record, it will overthrow aU their attempts to lay any other founda
tion. Will the metaphysician think of laying his reason and the light of nature ?
It is written, Jesus Christ is the foundation, and there is no other. AA'iU the
moralist think of laying a system of ethics, and the rehgion of nature ? Jesus
Christ is the foundation, and there is no other. Wttl the Arian, Socinian, and
other infidels think of being justified tvith out the merits of the God-man ? Jesus
Christ is the foundation, and there is no other. In short every doctrine and duty
stands estabhshed upon him. He is the foundation of all : " For other founda
tion can no man lay, than that is laid, which is Jesus Christ."
The scope and design of the words thus in part opened and explained, offer to
our consideration the following truths :
First, Jesus Christ is the foundation of all saving knowledge.
Secondly, he is the foundation of all acceptance tvith God the Father.
Thirdly, he is the foundation of all holy obedience. And,
Fourthly, he is the foundation of all present and eternal happiness.
And may the spirit of the Lord Jesus direct our hearts to make a right use of
this scripture under the first particular, which tvas to prove, that he is the
foundation of aU saving knowledge.
By saving knowledge, I understand all the knowledge which respects the sal
vation of sinners. And man, in his fallen state, neither has any of this know
ledge, nor can he attain it by any means in his own power. His reasoning
faculties, in their highest refinement, could never have discovered to hira, how
he might be pardoned ; for when sin cut him off from aU communion with the
Father of spirits, who is to the soul what the sun is to the body, it then deprived
hiin of all spiritual discernment, and without the light of revelation he is unable
to discover those objects which can only be spiritually discerned. He is blind
and ignorant in the things of God, and obstinate too in his ignorance. He is in
the dark, and he loves darkness ; and being a slave to the prince of the powers
of darkness, he is taught to hate the light; and he hates it with a perfect hatred.
He flies from it, lest his works should be manifest, and their horrid deformity
ahould fitt him with shame and painful conviction. AATiile he is in this condi
tion, and every man is in it by nature, the eyes of his understanding have no more
perception of- any spiritual object, than lus bodily eyes woidd have of material
objects, if there was no light to enlighten them. T'he organ of sight would
remain ; but then, without light, it would be of no more use than if it was quite
destroyed. The scripture has given us a melancholy account of this spiritual
darkness and blindness, and represents it to be so far above the power of nature

S:)i) THE SURE FOUNDATION.
to remove, that it was one principal end of Christ's coming from heaven to preach
recovery of sight to the blind. And to enable him to recover it, the Spirit of
the Lord was poured out upon him without measure ; for it required the power
of an almighty spirit to cure the obstinate bUndness of a sinful world, who loved
darkness rather than Ught. Read the first chapter of the Romans, and you will
there find, what horrid deeds of darkneae were, and altvaya will be, the fruite of
nature, when left to ita own fancied light. The apostle does not scruple to
declare the refined taste of this poUte, classical people, " that they were become
vain in their imaginations, and their fooUsh heart was darkened." The imagin
ation of their finest poets — even Arirgtt's imagination, St. Paul being judge-
was vain. And TuUy with his great parts, with his vast reading, and all his
attainments, had a foohsh heart, St. Paul being judge, and in the tilings of God
was exceeding dark. And this was true of the rest of the heathen world, as
well as of the Romans. AVhen St. Paul received his commission from Jesus
Christ, it run in theae words — " I send thee to the Gentiles to open their eyes,
and to turn them from darkness to light." And accordingly we find it the prin
cipal subject of hia preaching and writing, to call them out of darkness into the
marveUous hght of the gospel. Hia Ephe8ians he cautions, iv. 8 — " Not to walk
as other Gentiles in the vanity of their mind, having the understanding darkened,
being ahenated from the life of God through the ignorance that is in them,
because of the blindness of their heart." .And leat this darkness and bUndness
should be supposed to take place only in the heathen tvorld, the Bcripture has
expresBly declared it is the ca8e of every son of fallen Adam, of whom not one
in his natural state can attain to the knowledge of saving truth ; " for the natural
man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishnesa unto
hira, neither can he know him, because they are epiritually discerned." 1 ('or.
ii. 14. And for want of thia apiritual diacernment, the apostlo says, that the
natural man, that is, every man in a state of nature, not only does not, but also
cannot, there ia an abaolute impossibility that he should, know the things of the
Spirit of God. Nay, when they are proposed to him, they appear to he foolieh-
nesa, and he receiveth thera not.
But why need I multiply texta in defence of a truth, for which ecripture epeaks
so plain, and matter of fact apeaks for itself? It is an undoubted truth, that
there was no saving knowledge in the heathen world. AVe therefore caU it hea
then, becauae it wanted thia Chriatian knowledge. What diacoveriea did the
classical ages of Greece and Rome make in the doctrines of salvation ? Rather,
what had they not done to obliterate the scope and intent of the ceremonies,
which (Jod had instituted to keep up the knowledge of these doctrines? The
very traces of them were ao entirely lo8t, that among the numerous altars in the
famous university of Athena, there waa but one erected to anything like divinity,
and that waa to an unknown god. St. Paul made an exceUent use of this
inscription, taking occasion from it to preach Christianity to the Athenians, and
assuring them that this god, confessedly unknown, tvas Jeaus Christ ; and if a
faith in hira, that purifiea the heart, and that works in a holy hfe, be the basis of
saving knowledge, then neither Greeka nor Romans had any of it ; for in none
of their authors do we find the least mention made of the nature, virtue, and
efficacy of the purifying faith in Jesus Christ.
And this matter of fact is confirmed by every day's experience. Are we not
forced to teach children the first rudiments of letters, and as their minds open,
the first rudiments of saving knowledge ? Is not a Christian education
everywhere acknowledged to be necessary, as well to restrain and subdue the
headstrong passions of corrupt nature, as to instil the wholesome truths of
Christian faith and obedience ? And are there not, in every country, schools and
universities founded for these laudable purposes ? And when tve leave these
placea of education, does not every good steward of the mysteries of God atill
find the neceBeity of continal study and appUcation to the written word, that he
may be able out of his treasure to bring forth things new and old for hi8 own
and his people's instruction in righteousness ; and these circumstances may con
vince us, that we are naturally blind and ignorant in the saving truths of the
gospel. We know only as much as we are taught. Without the light of reve
lation, the inhabitants of England would be no triser in the things of God, than

SERMON I, 89]
the inhabitants of the deserts of Africa — the same spiritual darkness would cover
both lands, the same gross darkness the people. And whether they be polite or
savage it makes no difference, until the sun of righteousness arise to dispel their
heavy night of ignorance ; for what the sun is to the natural world, such is Jesus
Christ, the sun of righteousness, to the spiritual world. The scripture hath set
him forth as the only light of the spirits of men, from whom aU saving know
ledge must flow ; " for he tvas made unto us trisdom," says the apostle. In his
divine nature, wisdom — perfect and infinite wisdom — is essentially inherent. He
is the aU-wise God, in whom are stored aU the treasures of wisdom and know
ledge, which he was pleased, as our Saviour, to open for our use and to commu
nicate. The word of God most high is the fountain of wisdom, from whom, by
the covenant of grace it was to flow ; and ever since the fall it has been flowing
in the richest streams. And from him every sinner must be enlightened before
he can enter into the hght of life ; for he said of himself, " I am the light of the
world ;" and he must fulfil his word by enlightening every dark, benighted soul,
until the number of the elect, the children of light, shah be perfected, and then
he wttl shine for ever in the fulness of glory in the heavenly Jerusalem ; for the
glory of God shaU lighten it, and the Lamb is the hght thereof, and the nations
of tnem that are saved shall walk in his light for ever and ever. Thus the light
has been, and always will be, the glorious title of the incarnate God. He took
this name to denote his gracious office of enlightening our blind and dark un-
eleretandings. Under this character the prophet Isaiah speaks of him (ix. 2.)
"The people that walked in darkness have seen a great light, they that dwell in
the land of the shadow of death, upon them hath the light shined." These
words are applied to Christ by an infaUible interpreter. St. Matthew makes
them relate to Christ's being a light to lighten the Gentttes. And again in the
same prophet the Lord saith (xlix. 6.) " It is too little a thing that thou shouldst
be my servant to raiee up only the tribes of Jacob, and to restore the preserved
of Israel, I wiU also give thee for a light to the Gentiles, that thou mayest be
my salvation to the ends of the earth." Paul and Barnabas (Acts xiii. 4f .)
apply these words to Christ : he tvas the true light, the day-spring from on high
that visited the Gentttes, to give them the knowledge of salvation ; for if the
eyea of them who sit in darkness and the shadow of death be ever opened, if
they see that they have lost the way to heaven, if they desire to walk in it, and
are enabled to go on steadfastly unto the end, aU this is the work of tbe
divine light, in whom whosoever beUeveth shall not walk in darkness, but shall
have the hght of hfe.
From these scriptures it is evident, that every man who cometh into the tvorld
ia by nature dark and blind in the things of God. Sin blinded his eyes, and
left hira without the least spiritual discernment. The intellectual faculty indeed is
not totaUy destroyed. The organ of sight is not annihilated. It remains, but not
enlightened. It is in the same state our eyes would be, if the sun, moon, and
stars were to withhold their shining, and not one ray of light was left in the crea
tion. If men could live in this gross darkness, the organ of sight would not be
destroyed, but it would be quite useless. AU things would be invisible, because
whatsoever doth make manifest is light. And this is the state of the soul ; for
the eye of the soul can no more see without its proper light, than the eye of the
body can see without its proper light. And what the sun is to the body, that
ia Christ to the soul. He is the light of the world, not of this outward world,
which is abundantly supplied from the fountain of created light, but he is the
light of the spiritual tvorld, which lay in darkness and the shadow of death, until
he arose tvith healing under his wings, and brought with him from heaven the
reviving light of Ufe.
Upon the authority of God's word these truths are established. The evidence
for them is clear and fuU. If our bodily eyes cannot see without light, it is
equally certain, that our spiritual eyes cannot see without Christ ; because both
aie spoken of in the same language, and under the same expressions. And as
he is the Lord God omnipotent, he is certainly able to enlighten the darkest soul ;
anil as he is God incarnate, he is engaged to do it. He will use his almighty
1'ower; and if he give the word, " Let there be light," there will be .light. Upon

S92 THE SURE FOUNDATION.
the strength of this evidence we must believe, that it is the name, and the office,
and the glory of Jesus Chnst, to be the light of the faithful through thia dark
wilderness of sin and sorrow.
Convinced of this, there is an important inquiry to be made, without which
our conviction will be of no use ; and that is, have we reduced it to practice ? Since
Christ is the foundation of aU saving truth, have we been led to seek it from him,
and him only ? In our studies of divine learning, do we always read the scrip
ture with humttity and prayer, desiring, in the royal psalmist's words, which arc
devout and short, and wliich contain an excellent prayer always to be used before
we open a Bible, " Lord, open thou mine eyes, that I may see wondrous things in
thy law." And in our studies of human learning, have we taken Christ for a
light to guide us and bless us, that we might attain more understanding than
the aged ? Rather have tve not robbed the eternal light of his name, and office,
and glory, by seeking sating truth from the hght of nature ? If God be true,
and the scriptures which I have read be his word — nature ia dark and blind. To
talk of the light of fallen nature, and aU nature ia fallen, ia more absurd than to
talk of the darkness of light. There cannot be a more wicked contradic
tion to God and his word, to experience and matter of fact, than for men pro
fessing Christianity to talk about the light of sinful, dark, and blind nature ;
neither can there be a greater insult offered to the incarnate God, than to seek
that hght which he tvas made incarnate on purpose to give, from metaphy
sics, or any science that pretends to manifest spiritual objects without revelation;
neither can there be a greater crime, than to think of seeing and reasoning a
prion, because this is God's incommunicable attribute, of which he is so jealous,
that for pretending to it we were all cast out of paradise. In honour, then, to the
God whom we worahip, and out of love to our own aoula, let ua talk no more of
the light of fallen nature; letua degrade the unnatural ecience of raetaphyeica,
and forget aU abstracted reasonings ; they can give us no light in the things of
God, but what is borrowed, and it ia fainter than the faintest atars ; and were
they brighter than they are, yet when the aun ariaee, hie superior lustre hides
their pale and glimmering rays. God be praised, the eun of righteousnees
has arisen among us in perfect beauty, and false science is hiding her head. He
shines tvith hia noon-day glory upon thia highly favoured church. Long may
he 8hinc unrivaUed by any fancied light of faUen nature. And may his brightest
beams enlighten this university, that every member of it, guided by his word
and Spirit, may receive the light of the knowledge of the glory of God, in the
person of Jesus Christ.
If it should be inquired, in what manner Christ enlightens the spirits of men,
whether it be in some certain regular way, or he has left no sure direction in this
case : the answer is, God has established the means of grace for this very pur-
pose, of which hi8 word ia theprincipal — " For the commandment ia a lamp, and
the law is light." And when his good Spirit accompanies the hearing or reading
of the word, then it is indeed a lantern unto our feet, and a light unto our patha.
Then the word di8covere to us the wretched darkness of our natural state, stripe
reaaon of aU ita high and divine titles, and thereby humblee ue before God, and
bringa us low before his footstool, waiting upon him in all the meana of grace,
and particularly in prayer, that the light of the glorious gospel of Christ may
shine into our dark and sinful hearts. To expect this light without the use of
the instituted means is enthusiasm ; and to expect to keep this light, after you
once have it, without continuing in the use of these means, is the very madneae
of enthusiasm. In them God has promised to be found of those that seek him.
Out of them you have no promise ; and you may as reasonably hope God will
create a new light for you to read by in the night, as that he will enlighten
you without the established means, without prayer, and the word and sacra
ments. And therefore, whenever you are tempted to entertain such hopea, be
as8ured it i8 a deluaion of the devil's, and beware, at the peril of your souls, lest
the light wliich you suppc8e to be in you be darkneas ; for remember it ia writ
ten, " Woe be unto them that put darkneas for light and light for darkness." In
order to keep clear of this woe, let us wait in the use of the appointed meana,
and then we may with truth and soberness expect, that Christ will enlighten ua

SERMON I.

8.93

with all saving truth, and particularly tvith a full and practical conviction of that
great truth, which I proposed to consider hi the second place, viz. That Jesus
Christ is the foundation of aU acceptance with God the Father.
The same sinfulness which darkened the faculties of the soul, and separated us
from God, stirred up his holiness, and justice, and truth against us. Against
these attributes we had sinned, and they were become our enemies, and until
they received fuU satisfaction, God the Father would not accept us. He declared
under the law that he would accept nothing in atonement but what was perfect,
and perfection is not in the sinner. The sacrifices were to be without blemish!
This was the standing rule — " Whatsoever hath a blemish, that shaU ye not
offer, for it shaU not be acceptable for you — and whosoever offereth a peace-
offering or a free-trill offering, it shall be perfect, to be accepted, there shaU be
no blemish therein." (Lev. xxii. 20, 21.) This was both to shadow out the abso
lute perfection of our holy, harmless, and undefiled high-priest, who should by
the one offering of himself make a perfect satisfaction for sin, and also to con
vince the sinner of his utter inability to make any satisfaction : for the sinfulness
of his nature and the sinfulness of his Ufe would render every thing he could do
imperfect and sinful, unttt he should be accepted in the Beloved.
Men are not much affected with the sinfulness of their nature until Christ en
lighten them. Sin which first blinded their eyes, by its deceitfulness keeps
them blinded. And although the fountain of iniquity, the corrupt heart within,
is always sending out filthy streams, yet it gives them httle uneasiness unttt the
divine light break in, and lay open to view its impurity. Then the sinner finds
and confesses, that he is by nature a child of wrath. He freely subscribes to the
scripture account of the corruption of mankind, as it is described by Moses and
the prophets, aud expressly treated of in the 14th and 53d Psalms, upon which
St. Paul has given us a comment in the 3d chapter of the Romans, and he sums
it up in these emphatical words : " for aU have sinned and come short of the
glory of God."
If any doubt should remain concerning the meaning of these scriptures, our
church has removed it in her 9th article, where she determines, that " original
sin standeth not in the foUowing of Adam (as the Pelagians do vainly talk) but
it ie the fault and corruption of the nature of every man, that naturaUy is en
gendered of the offspring of Adam, whereby man is very far gone from original
righteousness, and is of his own nature inclined to evU, so that the flesh lusteth
always contrary to the Spirit, and therefore in every person born into the world
it deserveth God's wrath and damnation." This is a truly scriptural account of
man's sinful and guilty state by nature, to which add the sinfulness of his life,
and you separate him still farther from God : for what man is he that Iiveth and
8inneth not ? And sin is the transgression of the law — and the law is holy, just,
and good — it is so pure and spiritual, that it cannot overlook the least offence.
It must have perfect unerring obedience in thought, word, and deed, or it puts
the offender under the curse : for it is written, " Cursed is every one, who con
tinueth not in all things that are written in the book of the law to do them."
You must continue (without intermission) in all things (not keeping nine com
mandments and breaking the tenth, not keeping them aU outwardly, and
breaking them in thought) that are written in the book of the law to do them ;
not only to purpose well, and to make good resolutions, but you must also do and
execute them, or the law can show you no mercy. And which of us has kept the
law in this perfect manner ? Who can say, that he never offended in thought,
word, or deed ? Certainly every mouth must be stopped, and aU the world must
plead guilty before that righteous Judge, who trieth the very hearts and reins.
Now God has already past the decree against a sinful nature, and against a
sinful life. " The soul that sinneth it shaU die." God is faithful and just to
fulfil liis decrees— he is almighty to execute them — and what can man do under
a state of guilt and condemnation to reverse them ? Two things are requisite,
each of which are as much out of his power as to create a world. He must first
change his own nature, tvhich is like the Ethiopian's changing his skin, and he
must he renewed in the spirit of his mind with every sweet and holy temper.
And then this change wrought by himself must make a fuU satisfaction to the

894 THE SURE FOUNDATION.
holiness of God for his past pollution, to the justice of God for the violation of
his laws, and to the truth of God, that he may he tme, anel yet remit the
threatened punishment. But alas! man has neither will nor potver to change his
nature: who can aay I have made my heart clean — I am pure from my sin? No
man can truly say, I have done it : for it is God's work. To create a clean heart,
is as great an act, as to create the heart at first ; and accordingly we find the
prophet praying to God for it — " Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew
a right spirit within me." And until God create a clean heart, how can any
thing clean proceed from it ? Who in an impure nature can do a pure action ?
Who under the curse of the law, and under the sentence of condemnation, can
perform a meritorious service? Who by his own tvorks can attain such perfect
unspotted righteousness, that God the Father trill accept him in virtue of it ?
The ecripture hath determined that there is none righteous, no not one, and that
by the deeds of the law there shatt no fleah be justified ; and our church has de
termined the eame in her articles and homUies, affirming that we are accounted
righteous before God, only for the merit of our Lord and Saviour Jeaua Christ,
and not for our own works or deservinga.
A great part of the mistake8 in rehgion arises from men's not attending to
these truths. They have not a deep conviotion of their lost estate by nature,
which occasions their not seeing in its proper hght the necessity of their recovery
by grace. The malady of a sinful heart is not painful enough to make them
apply to the aovereign Phyeician: nor is the burden of a ainful life heavy enough
to persuade them to seek the comfort of this scripture — " Come unto me, aU ye
that are weary and heavy laden, and I wttl give you rest." But when conscience
alarms them, when guilt terrifies, and they read the sentence of condemnation
paseed upon them in the law, then helpleoa and miaerable in themaelvea, with
traneports of joy will they receive the glad tidings of the gospel, tvhich discovers
to them how they may be reconciled to an offended God. To such persons, whose
eyes the Lord haa opened to see their guttt and their misery, the gospel sets forth
Jesus Christ as the sole foundation of their acceptance. We are said to be
accepted in the Beloved, who came in our nature to work out that perfect righ
teousness for us, which infinite hohness, and juatice, and truth required, and
which we could not by our own power attain ; but by the merits of his obedience,
sufferings, death, and resurrection, he is able to clothe us with the immaculate
robe of nie righteousness, in which we ehall be preeented before God the Father
without spot of sin unto salvation.
It must be always remembered, that our Saviour was God and man united in
one Christ ; by which union, whatever he did and suffered for us became truly
divine and infinite. Jeaua shed hia blood, and the scripture saya it waa the blood
of God. Jesus died for us, and the scripture saya, that God laid down hia life.
In what sense can these expresaions be understood, unless the Godhead and
manhood were united in one 'person ? This fundamental doctrine of God's
being in Christ reconciling the world unto himself muBt never be forgotten,
when we are speaking ofthe merits of Christ's actions and sufferings. Our na
ture was impure and corrupt, the imaginations of our hearta were only evil
continuaUy. Christ came in a pure spotless nature, separate from sinnera, that
whatever he did for them might appear without blemiah before God the Father.
He began his ministry with resisting the devtt and aU hia temptations, to atone
for our yielding to them ; for us he conquered, and from his conquest, grace ia
derived to the faithful to reaiat all hia temptations. Then he obeyed the law ; ite
purity, ite epirituality, its extensiveness, could find in him no transgression in
thought, word, or deed. Its highest demands were answered: for according to
its utmost rigour, " he continued in all things that are written in the book of the
law to do them." And thus he redeemed ua from the curae of the law, and aa
by one man's disobedience many were made sinners, so by the obedience of one
ehatt many be made righteoua. Then he humbled himaelf to auffer what we
ought to have suffered for our disobedience. The holy, innocent Je8ua bore our
griefs and carried our sorrows throughout the scene of his bitter passion. See
him on the eve of the crucifixion in the garden, alone, prostrate upon the cold
ground, in an extreme sharp night, and lo! at the eight of that load which he

SERMON I 895
was going to take upon him, a preternatural sweat flows through his raiment, and
faUs to the ground in great drops. Oh cursed sin ! tvith what an holy hatred
ought we to crucify thee, since tne prospect only of the number and guttt of our
sins, and the wrath and vengeance of the Father due to them, forced our blessed
Lord to sweat as it were great drops of blood falling to the ground. Being ap
prehended, he came as a free, ready victim to bear those sufferings, of which we
cannot form a perfect idea at present, and unless the vengeance of a justly
offended God should hereafter pour the vials of his wrath upon our guttty heads,
we shaU never know them. God grant that Christ may have endured them for
every one of us. The outward part of his passion was but a faint picture of what
he endured, when the chastisement of our peace was laid upon him, and yet of
the outward part he might truly say, " Is it nothing to you, aU ye that pass by ?
behold and see if ever there was any sorrow like unto my sorrow," &c. The
shame that ought to cover aU our faces he endured ; for us the guilty, and shame
less in guilt, if by continuing in sin we put him again to an open shame, he was
despised and rejected of men; he was mocked, and derided, and spit upon,
buffeted and scourged, crowned with thorns and blindfolded, falsely accused,
and falsely condemned. Then behold him bearing his cross. When we see him
fainting and sinking under the load, and his face and raiment covered with
blood, does it not bring to mind what he says of himself in the book of Psalms ?
" The ploughers ploughed upon my back and made long furrows" — they
ploughed up his back with the long and deep wounds of their stripes and
scourges ; but by these stripes we were healed. Nay, he says more in another
Pealm, that he was so wounded from head to foot, there was no whole part in his
body : and you cannot doubt of it, if you raise your eyes to the cross, and see
the suffering, bleeding Lamb of God in the last scene of his passion. And yet
this was the least part of his sufferings. " Give me any grief," says the wise
man, " but the grief of the mind, for a wounded spirit who can bear ? " Who
indeed can bear a spirit wounded of God ? When Jesus was in the garden, his
aoul was exceeding sorrowful, was in an agony, even unto death ; but these were
only the beginning of sorrows. When he took upon him the iniquities of us aU,
end almighty justice finding them upon him demanded fuU satisfaction, and re
ceived it to the uttermost farthing, then he had a wounded spirit, such as all the
men upon earth, no, not all the holy angels in heaven could have sustained for a
moment. He bore it for six hours, hanging upon the cursed tree, unttt all was
finished ; then he bowed his head and gave up the ghost. And thus he was
made sin for us, and suffered for our sins; who knew no sin himself, that we
might be made the righteousness of God in him : and he became obedient to
death, even the death of the cross, and tasted death for every man. He died to
save our souls and boelies from the potver of death. And he rose again, that we
might receive justification to life, that our souls might arise here from the grave
of sin, and that our bodies might in God's good time arise from the grave of
death, and both of them, united in a glorified state, might receive eternal life as
the free gift of God through Jesus Christ our Lord. And being thus made per
fect through obeying and suffering, through death and resurrection, he became
the author of eternal salvation. He wrought out such perfect righteousness to
be imputed unto sinners, that he is now able to save them to the uttermost. He
haa the infinite merit of his obedience to atone for their disobedience. He has
the infinite merit of his sufferings to free them from suffering. He died, to save
them from the first and the second death. He rose again, that they might rise
to a newness of Ufe here in grace, and to Ufe everlasting in glory. And he is now
the one Mediator between God and man, able and willing to plead the fulness of
hia merits for the acceptance of every sinner, who comes unto God the Father
through him. From
Hence it follows, That Jesus Christ is the foundation of our acceptance. If
God the Father ever receive us as just and righteous, it must be in the perfect
righteousness of his Son. We must be accepted in the Beloved ; in whom the
Father was weU pleased, and through whom he will be weU pleased with us.
The passages before cited clearly prove, that this is the doctrine of all scripture.
The Psalmist has given us the sentiments of the Old Testament worthies — " I,

896 THE SURE FOUNDATION.
witt go in the strength of the Lord God — I will make mention of thy righteous
ness, even of thine only." And God forbid that tve, under the New Testamenl
should make mention of any other. Shall we go about to establish our own rigbte
ousness in opposition to the righteousness of God ? Or shall we, under the guil
of original and actual sin, think of working out any righteousness for which w
shaU be accepted in part or altogether ? If we could, then Christ obeyed am
Buffered in vain. If we could attain earing knowledge by the light of nature, ani
could act agreeably to it by the law of nature, then of what use would be th
light and law of the gospel ? But nature has no light, it is dark and blind ii
the things of God, and what can its law be, that is discovered by a dark and blim
nature, but darkness and bUndness ? Nay, it is something worse. If fallen na
ture has any law, it is the law of the members, which tvarreth against the law o
God, and bringeth a raan into captivity to the law of sin. This is the only lav
of nature to be met with in the word of God : for nature is fallen and corrupt
it ia depraved in the wttl and affections, as well as ignorant in the understanding
It is always incbned and prone to evtt ; " for the flesh," (which stands in scrip
ture for the faUen depraved affections of the natural man) " lusteth always agains
the spirit, and the spirit against the flesh, and these two are contrary the one li
the other" — the wttl of the natural man is always contrary to the will of God
from hence it foUows, that what is caUedthe rehgion of nature, is contrary to tin
rehgion of God : because nature used with reUgion confines it to man's nature,
no other nature being concerned in the question ; and man's nature is faUen ami
corrupt, sinful in the fountain, and sinful in the streams, and what then can the
religion be, which this nature is able to discover and to practise ? Certainly il
must be a blind and corrupt religion. Jeaus Christ makea no part of it. He ie
not the foundation upon which it atanda. 'The finest system of the religion of
nature that ever was delineated, builds nothing upon him, and eince there is no
other foundation but him, consequently it stands upon nothing. And if the
heart waa not corrupt as well aa blind, it would be unaccountable what 8hould
tempt men with the pure word of God in their handa, which is able to make them
wise unto salvation, to neglect it, and to write, and read, and study those anti-
chrietian systems, which can teach no wisdom but what is earthly, sensual, devilish.
Men and brethren, be not offended ; it behoves rae to use great plainnesa
of speech. If I waa to speak smooth things, and to give flattering titles to the
rehgion of nature, I should not be the servant of Christ ; for this religion was
set up, and haa been ueed, to hurt hia interest ; and when we see it has succeeded,
Burely it ia high time for thoae servants, who love their master's praise more than
the praise of men, to set themselves strenuously against it. Happy will it be
for thie place, if the noble company of his servants ehould increaee, until the
religion of nature haa not one admirer left. Jesus Chriat will be exalted among
you in proportion ae the religion of nature faUe in esteem : and he has promieed,
" them that honour me, I wttl honour." Honour Jesua Chriat, and exalt him
above all, and then hia highest honoura ehall descend upon this university, anil
he wiU make her very enemies to be at peace with her. Oh for that happy day,
when the honour that is of God shall be sought after as the crown and reward of
all your etudiea 1 And why need we doubt it ? We have an earnest before our
eyes. Do we not aee the rehgion of nature loaing ita intereat every day ? Do not
men begin to be afraid of trusting the vast concerns of eternity upon it ? A.nd
have they not good reason ? For has it not appeared, from what has been said,
that its first principles are antichristian ? They suppose man's natural faculties to
be able to investigate the things of God — Scripture absolutely deniea it. They
auppoae he haa wttl and power to act agreeably to the will of God — Scripture
absolutely denies that he has either wttl or power. They suppose that, by prac
tising the duties of natural rehgion, you may altogether or in part render your
selves acceptable to God — Scripture absolutely denies this, declaring that there
ie no other foundation of acceptance but Jeeus Christ. And besides, the religion
of nature manifestly tends to rob the God of our salvation of his glory, and
to lessen the merits of his righteousneas, as much as scripture tends to exalt
both. And both are exalted, wherever the acripture ia received pure and un
mixed with human systems ; and we have melancholy experience of the con-

SERMON I. £97
tempt offered to both, wherever the religion of nature is embraced. The
doctrine ol the ever-blessed Trinity, on which all scripture stands, makes no
part of this religion. So that the religion of the Bible and the religion of nature
have different objects of worship. The Christian worships one God in trinity,
and trinity in unity ; but this is rank idolatry tvith the natural man, who adores
one supreme being, a metaphysical divinity, existing in one person, with certain
imaginary attributes, such as infinitely extended, filhng aU space, &c. — Hence
he explodes the divinity of Jesus Christ — hence he despises the authority ot
hia laws — hence that dissoluteness of morals throughout the kingdom, which all
men see, and even the professors of natural rehgion confess. AVould to God they
were convinced, what a great share they have in it, and how much of it they
have to answer for. It would be for their present and eternal peace, if, instead
of maintaining and teaching this unscriptural religion, which is the sink of heresy
and corruption, they would join their hearts and hands in exalting the rehgion
of Jesus Christ, ana his infaUible word, wherein that rehgion is contained, and
in labouring to bring the lives as weU as the opinions of men into obedience to
it. How highly it is incumbent upon you, my brethren, to promote this much
deBired reformation, I need not further urge at present, than by reminding you
of a very awful truth, to which we have aU set our hands, and may God set our
hearts to act agreeably to it. What I mean is the 18th article of our church,
wherein we have declared, " They also are to be had accursed, that presume to
say, that every man shall be saved by the law or sect which he professeth, so
that he be diligent to frame his life according to that law, and the Ught of na
ture. For holy scripture doth set out unto us only the name of Jesus Christ,
whereby men must be saved." In this article we have given in our pubhc tes
timony before God and his church against the hght and the law of nature, and
with our own mouths have put both of them under the curse. And shaU we
with the same mouths afterwards preach up the hght and law of nature, and
pronounce them blessed ? God forbid. I hope his good Spirit will keep us
ftee from this monstrous guilt, and enable us in aU our preaching to set forth
only the name of Jesus Christ whereby men must be saved.
But it may be here enquired, if man in a state of nature be at enmity with
God, and can be accepted only through Jesus Christ, by what means shah he.
seek this reconciliation ? The scripture has given us this plain and easy method ;
God the Father accepts us through the aU-perfect righteousness of Christ ; this
righteousness is imputed unto us by faith ; and the true hving faith is a divine
grace wrought in the soul by the giver of every good and perfect gift. It is not
the result of comparing evidence, and of giving the assent to the strongest argu
ments ; for a man may do this without the least grain of saving faith : but it is,
according to St. Paul, the gift of God. — And in another place he caUs it one of
the fruits of the Spirit. — And St Peter says, it is God that puritieth the heart by
faith. He enables the sinner, who finds his want of Christ's righteousness, to
seek it, and to lay hold of it : for whoever hungers and thirsts after Christ's
righteousness, has a promise, that he shaU be filled, even fitted with peace and
joy in believing that this righteousness is imputed unto him, and with the love
of God, which is shed abroad in his heart by the Holy Spirit. And if there be
any truth in -God or man, this promise is now fulfilled, and every one that
enters into our Lord's kingdom finds righteousness, and peace, and joy in the
Holy Ghost.
Some persons think they can easily evade the force of this reasoning by sug
gesting it to be possible, that all this may be a delusion. If a raan is not ac
quainted with the scripture marks of true faith, and is not careful to compare
them with his own experience, possibly he may be deluded, and fancy, that God
has accepted him, when he has not. But if he sets out deeply convinced of his
Want of faith, waits for it in the instituted way, in that way receives it, and the
effects of true faith foUow upon receiring it, then if such a person may be delud-
.*&, there is no certainty in the world. The scriptures were written to direct us
in these points, and they are so plain, that the wayfaring man, though foolish,
cannot err therein. They have given us one infaUible rule to guide our inquiries,
which is to examine the nature of faith by its purifying virtue. 'Wherever the
3 M

8)8 THE SURE FOUNDATION.
true faitii is, it purifies the heart, cleansing it from the pollution and from the
guilt- of sin, and destroying also the dominion of sin, so that the believer daily
grows in grace, and goes on in his Christian course, perfecting holiness in the
fear of God.
If faith does not work thus in an holy life, it is indeed a delusion. AVhat doth
it profit my brethren, if a raan say he hath faith, and have not works ? If he
have not a working faith, an active, operative grace, purifying the heart from sin,
and producing in the clean heart aU the fruits of the Spirit, he wants the scrip
ture marks of true faith ; and let him talk ever so much, and be ever so strongly
persuaded of his acceptance with God, he is in a dangerous delusion. It is but
a dead thing which he supposes to be the living faith : for it is written, " As the
body without breath is dead, so faith trithout works is dead aleo." Works
are the breath of faith. If it he alive it wiU breathe, as certainly as the living
body breathes. If it have no breath, no works to evidence its Ufe, the acripture
look8 upon it to be a dead carcase ; but if it breathes, and acta, and abounds in
every good word and work to the glory of God, and to the service of men, then
we may with aa rauch certainty pronounce it to be the true faith, aa we can pro
nounce the body to be alive, when it i8 able to perform all the offices of ita animal
life : for as the body while it breathes is alive, so faith while it worltB ia alive
alao. In this case there can be no delusion ; because we follow the sure rule
laid down for bur direction, " By their fruits ye shall know them." How can wa
mistake the fruits of the Spirit for the fruits of the flesh ? Ia not every tree
known by its own fruit ? Do men ever think of gathering figa of thorns, or
grapes of a bramble-bush ? The fruits of grace, and of fallen nature, are aa
opposite as the two Bpirits which produce them. The one abounds in the worka
of the flesh, the other crucifies the fleeh with ita affectione and lueta. The ono
filia the mind with epiritual pride, envy, and malice, the other begins with
humility, and works by love. The one lives in open transgression of the lawa
of God, the other conforms his words and works, and even the thoughts of hia
heart, to the atandard of scripture. Can you eee these different fruita, and be at
a I088 to determine who ia the author of each ? Surely we want no evidence to
disprove the pretensions of an adulterer, a fornicator, an unclean person, and
the rest mentioned by the apostle. Their lives speak their want of faith. By
their fruits we see that they have not the root of the matter within them, becauae
they hold the truth in unrighteousness. They must either have deluded them
selves, or else they are downright hypocrites : for it is of the very esaence of
true faith to destroy sin, and to work in an holy obedience. When we are ac
cepted in the Beloved, and faith in his blood has purified our hearte, then we
are, through his grace, both prepared and also able to show thia work of faith
in our lives and conversations J and this point comes to be considered under the
third head, which was to prove, That Jeeue Christ ia the foundation of all holy
obedience. But this 1 must leave for the subject of another discourse, and would
only observe at present frora what has been said, that since Christ is the foun
dation of all Baring knowledge, it is our duty to seek it from him in all meana
of grace, and especiaUy in the word : for the commandment is pure, enlightening
the eyes. AA'hoever hears and reads it with humility and prayer, wiU find the
eyes of his understanding enlightened. He will see clearly the things -of God,
and wttl see more clearly than others can, the useful arta and sciences. If he
study them under the direction of divine grace, and with a view to the divine
glory, the eternal light wttl Bhine into his heart, and give him more understand
ing than hia teachers. And since Jeaus Christ is the foundation of our accept
ance with God the Father, let us seek to be accepted through faith, and never
think of setting up any righteousnea8 of our own in opposition to hia. He is
the Lord our righteousness, through whose merits imputed unto us by faith,
God wiU receive us as just and righteous. And may the Holy Spirit give you
the practical conviction of these two important truths, that you may find the
knowledge of the glory of God in the person of Jesus Christ, and may, through
his all-perfect righteousnesa, be presented before God the Father without spot of
sin unto ealvation ; to whom with the Son and the Holy Spirit, three persons in
the unity of the Godhead, be equal glory, worship, and praise, in the church
militant and triumphant, now and for ever. Amen.

SERMON II, 899

SERMON II.
Other foundation can no man lay, than that is laid, which is Jesus Christ. —
1 Cor. iii. 11.
From the scope and design of these words, which were opened in a former
discourse, it was proposed to consider the foUowing particulars :
First, That Jesus Christ is the foundation of aU saving knowledge.
Secondly, He is the foundation of aU acceptance tvith God the Father.
Thirdly, He is the foundation of aU holy obedience. And,
Lastly, He is the foundation of our present and eternal happiness.
Under the first head it was proved, that man's natural ignorance and bUnd
ness in the things of God made it necessary he should be enlightened. Jesus
Christ came into the world to open the blind eyes, and to be a hght to them
that sat in darkness. He says of himself, " I am the light of the world, and
whosoever beheveth in me shaU not walk in darkness, but shall have the light
of life." He is as truly the light of the spiritual, as the sun is the light of the
material, world, and whoever seeks to be enlightened trith any saving truth,
must receive it from the gracious influence of his divine rays. And under the
Second head, man'B natural corruption and actual sinfulness were considered.
The holiness, justice, and truth of God could not accept the sinner, while he
lay in this state of pollution and guilt, and he could do nothing to deliver him
self from it, but must have lived here and for ever separated from God, unless
Jesus Christ had obeyed and suffered, died and risen again, to work out that
perfect righteousness, through the merits of which, imputed unto the sinner
by faith, God the Father will now accept him, and receive him as just and righ
teous into his love and into his heaven. From whence it follows, by direct
eoneequence, that until he be thus accepted he can do no good tvorks, which
comee to be considered under the
Third head, viz., that Jesus Christ is the foundation of all holy obedience.
Man in his natural state cannot perform any holy obedience. He wants both
will and power, until his person be accepted through Jesus Christ, and united
to him by true and lively faith. The doctrine of our church upon this point is
very clear and full. In the 13th article, entitled, "Of tvorks before justifica
tion," she teaches that — " Works done before the grace of Christ and the in
spiration of his Spirit are not pleasant to God ; forasmuch as they spring not of
faith in Jesus Christ, neither do they make men meet to receive grace or (as the
school authors say) deserve grace of congruity : yea rather for that they are
not done as God hath willed and commanded them to be done, we doubt not
but they have the nature of sin." Our works are not acceptable, until we have
the grace of Christ and the inspiration of his Spirit to render our persons ac
cepted. Nay, the very best works we can do, if they be not done as God hath
willed and commanded them to be done, have certainly in them the nature of
sin. " We doubt not but they have the nature of sin," is a very strong expres
sion ; but our pious reformers could not soften it. They had left the bishop of
Rome upon account of the doctrine of merit, which the Papists hold, and it is
the most dangerous of aU their tenets ; for hereby they go about to establish
their own righteousness, not submitting themselves to the righteousness of God.
AU the reformers joined iu asserting justification by faith only, knowing that
Christ waa the end of the law for righteousness to every one that beheveth. It
is impossible to be more clear and express against the merit of works, than the
compilers of our articles and homilies are ; they seem to have been guided in
their opinion by two principal reasons, both taken from scripture, the first
respecting God, the second ourselves.
It is impossible to do any good works weU pleasing to God, until we are
accepted in Christ, because our whole nature is sinful — in it dweUeth no good
thing, and without the grace of Christ, and the inspiration of his Spirit, no good
thing can ever dweU. The scripture declares us to be by nature chUdren of
3 m -2

<00 'THE SURE FOUNDATION
wrath. AA'e became objects of God's wrath when, by the original offence, man
kind transgressed his holy, just, and good law. Then his holinesa, justice, anil
goodness became concerned to inflict the threatened punishment, which they did
inflict, and to tvhich every son of Adam is subject, until he be accepted through
Jesus Christ. In this fallen state he is like an attainted rebel, who cannot do
any action that is deemed good and valid in law, until his attainder be reversed,
and he be restored in blood. This is our very case in spirituals. AA'hat can we
do that wiU be deemed good and valid in the court of heaven, while we are under
a state of forfeiture, our persons are guilty, and our whole nature (as our church
expresses it) deserves God's wrath and damnation ?
And we are still more incapable of doing any acceptable works, if we consider
the state we are in by actual transgression. We are under sentence of condemna
tion for tbe firet offence ; for the law is of so pure and spiritual a nature as
to reach to the inmost thoughts of the heart. It requires truth in the inward
parts, and expects perfect obedience there, as well as in the words and actions.
'Tbe style of it is, " Do this, and thou shalt live." It promises life, but to them
only win) never err from its coinniandinents. One single failing cuts us off
from the promised life, anil puts us under the curse : for it is written " Cursed
is every man who continueth not in all things written in the book of the law to
do them." Now the same law which has brought him in guilty before God,
cannot acquit him afterwards ; because he is already a convict, is sentenced, and
under the curse, and he can think of no method of escaping the deserved punish-"
ment, but to pay an unerring obedience for the future. Supposing he could
do this, yet it would be making no satisfaction ; because after one transgression
by the deeds of the law can no flesh be justified. It is an adjudged eaae, that
partial obedience can make no atonement to the law which required perfect
obedience : the equity of this proceeding we acknowledge in our own laws. If
a criminal, found guilty of murder, was to allege in his defence that he had
broken no other law of the land, that he was not a thief, nor an adulterer, &c,
would thia plea be allowed in court ? Would he be acquitted of the murder,
because it waa not attended with robbery ? No. The judge would obaerve to
him. that he came there to be tried for a murder, and that he wae found guilty
by the law, and aa euch muet be condemned ; tor he that aaid, Thou ahalt not
steal, said aleo, Thou ahalt do no murder. Now if thou commit no robbery, yet
if thou kill, thou art a tranagreeaor of the law : for whosoever shall keep the
whole law, and yet offend in one point, he is guilty of all, and is under guilt
and condemnation as if he had offended against the whole law. The law of
God is pure and spiritual, and allows of no deviation from it. If it givea life,
it muat have perfect and unerring obedience : where thi8 ia wanting in one
instance, it cannot take partial obedience as any atonement for diaobedience :
from whence it foUowa, that men under the guilt of original and actual sin
cannot, trith respect to God, perform any holy obedience. And
AA'ith respect to ourselves, there is another reason, which being taken from a
matter of fact, should carry with it fuU conviction. Our fallen nature is so en
tirely depraved, that it has neither wiU nor power to perform any holy obedience.
'The old man of sin, which is corrupt accordingto the deceitful lusts, can do nothing
but sin. And until he be put off and crucified with all his affeetion8 and luste, we
cannot put on the new man, which after God is created in righteousness and true
holiness ; for we are not only corrupt, but also under the bondage of corruption t
not only sinners, but also slaves to sin, sold under sin, and led captive to com
mit it by the devil at his wiU. Sin has such an absolute dominion, that although
it exercises the most cruel tyranny, yet men have no desire to shake off its yoke.
Sin wears away their bodies in its service, and yet they are pleased with their
own destruction, and sin on. AVhenever the tyrant commands — Do this, the
natural man doeth it, though it be at the peril of his life. When sin puts him upon
a course of uncleanness, which he knows wttl bring the infirmities of old age
upon him before he has eome to manhood, or a course of intemperance, which
must end in painful and acute distempers, the poor 8lave submits. And must
not sin reign in his mortal body, eince he thus obeys it in the lusts thereof ?
Must it not have absolute dominion over him, since he thus yields his membera

SERMON II. y,j\
instruments of unrighteousness unto sin, and yields the.n even v.j work oat his
own destruction ? And when he sees this destruction before his eyes, yet lis
has no desire to avoid it ; we have neither will nor power to deliver ourselves
from sin's dominion, because when we tvere yet without strength, Christ died for
the ungodly. The soul was enslaved, and without strength to recover its liberty
as weU as the body. Which of its faculties are free and able to cast off the
tyranny of sin ? Can this good desire arise first in the imagination ? It cannot.
The.imaginations ofthe heart of the natural man are evil, and only evil, and that
continually. Can it arise in the understanding ? It cannot ; for it is in d.irk-
nesa. When the Lord looked down from heaven upon the children of men, to sea
if there were any that did understand, and seek after God, he found none, no
not one — they tvere wise enough to do evil, but to do good they had no know
ledge : neither had they a will to choose it ; for the natural man follows the will
of the flesh, which is always contrary to the will of God, and with the heart and
affections he serves the law of sin.
Thus the dominion of sin is universal. It commands aU the faculties of soul
and body, which serve it with a wUling and uninterrupted obedience ; and from
what hae been said with respect to God, and tvith respect to ourselves, it is evi
dent that the natural raan is utterly unable to perform any holy obedience. This
ia the plain doctrine of scripture, and it is confirmed by our church in her 10th
article, which declares, that " the condition of man after the fall pf .Adam is such,
that he cannot turn and prepare himself by his own natural strength and good
works to faith and calling upon God ; wherefore we have no power to do good
worka, pleasant and acceptable to God, without the grace of God by Clirist pre
venting us, that we may have a good trill, and working with us, when tve have
that good will," Both the good will and the potver to work with it come from
Christ ; and the manner in which he bestows both upon us is thus described in
scripture. God the Father accepts us as righteous through the merits of Jesus
ChriBt, whereby tve are justified ; upon which we are united to Christ, through
faith given ub by his Holy Spirit ; and from this union we receive continual sup
plies of grace to enable us to bring forth the fruits of the Spirit, which are well
pleasing unto God the Father.
This vital union with Christ, the head ofthe body, is the principle of divine life
in all hie members, and it is expressed in scripture by various phrases, which
denote the reality and absolute certainty of it, and which cannot admit of a me
taphorical sense, such as " Christ's dwelling in us, and we in hiin; our being
rooted and planted into him, and built up in him ; our being of one spirit and one
flesh with him ; our living and being led by his Spirit." And it is also represented
by various images, such as the union between the head and the body : — What a
strange body would it be, which had only a metaphorical union tvith the head ?
Between the bread and the eater: — AATiat sort of a constitution must it be which
could live upon metaphorical bread ? And between the foundation and the
building: — AVhat kind of a building would it be, which should stand upon a me
taphorical foundation ? But chiefly between the vine and the branches, which our
Lord has largely treated of in John xv. " I am the vine," says he, " ye are the
branches. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself except it abide in the vine,
no more can ye except ye abide in me. He that abideth in me, and I in him, the
same bringeth forth much fruit; for tvithout me ye can elo nothing." If any
man abide in Christ, and bear much fruit to the glory of the Father, he must be
as truly and as vitally united to Christ, as the branches are to the vine ; for he is
the root and stock, from whence the branches receive their nourishment, and
are enabled to bring forth fruit; and therefore whoever is not united to Christ
can have no principle of divine life in him, but is like a branch cut off' from the
¦lock and withered, tvhose end is to be burnt.
From these scriptures it is erident, that we cannot live to God, nor bring forth
any fruit unto holiness until we are united to Christ, and have fellowship tvith
fiim. The Spirit of God is the bond of this union ; for he gives us the true fait '.i,
whereby the soul is enabled to reject every thing that would seperate it from
fbrist, and to cast away all hopes of salvation in its own endeavours and tvorks,
1 and thus placing no merit in any thing it can do, it closes in with the free offer of
mercy in Christ Jesus, whom faith has a peculiar fitness to receive, and does

902 THE SURE FOUNDATION.
actually receive him with all his fulness, as these scriptures teatify ; " For we
have access," says the apostle, "and entrance by faith into that grace of Chriat,
wherein we atand." And, again, " Christ dwelleth in our hearta by faith." And
that most holy faith, whereby Christ dweUeth in ua, enables us to five the life of
Christ : for by purifying all the faculties of the soul, it makes us to be like him,
to love his image, and to desire it may be perfectly formed in our souls. And,
accordingly, by the close and intimate union which faith keeps up between
Christ and us, we are made comformable to his death and resurrection ; for faith
draws virtue from his death to destroy the dominion, of sin, and from his resur
rection to rise to newness of life. Nothing but the influence of the death of
Christ, and a real fellowship with it, can free us from sin's dominion. We must
be planted together in the likeness of his death, if we ever get any mortifying
power over the body of sin. And we must be also planted into the likeness of
his resurrection, that we, who are by nature dead in trespasses and sins, may be
quickened in Christ, and made alive in him. St. Paul had happy experience of
this doctrine — " I am crucified," says he, " with Christ, nevertheless I live, yet
not I, but Christ Iiveth in me, and the life which I now live in the fleeh, I live by
the faith of the Son of God." And whoever is crucified with Chriat in the same
manner, has the body of sin destroyed, that henceforth he ahould not serve sin ;
and whoever Iiveth by the same faith in the Son of God, haa continual supplies
of grace from Jesus Christ to enable him to live a life of holiness unto God.
'Thia ia the acripture doctrine of holy obedience. We are therein taught that
God muat work in ua whatever i8 well pleasing to him. St. Paul prays thus for
his Hebrews : " Now the God of peace make you perfect in every good work to
do his wttl, working in you that which is well pleasing in his sight, through
Jesua Chriat," who came in the flesh to destroy in ua ungodliness and worldly
lusts, that we might be fit to perform holy obedience. " The great God and our
Saviour Jesus Christ," says he, "gave himself for us, that he might redeem us from
all iniquity, and purify unto himself a peculiar people, zealous of good works."
And again another scripture Baith, "We are created in Chriat Jesus unto
good works." AVhen we are made new creatures in him, then have we a new
nature with new affecctions, which delight to obey the wttl of God, as much as
the old sinful nature hated it ; for if any man be in Christ, he ia a new creature,
old things are passed away, behold all thinge are become new. He ia renewed
throughout, in body, soul, and spirit. The body, which sin enslaved and defiled,
is cleansed by the blood of Chriat, and consecrated by hie Spirit for a holy temple
to the firing God. The eoul is enriched trith the divine gracea of faith, and hope, and
love, which work upon aU the facultiea, restraining the imagination, enlightening the
underetanding, regulating the wttl, and turning the heart and affections to God ; and
then renewing the spirit day by day tvith the aweet and holy tempera of the
blessed Jesua, that the whole man may grow up to the meaBure of the atature of
the fulneee of Christ. Nothing availeth in Christ Jeeua but thie new creature.
God the Father will accept of no obedience, unleea it be the work of thia new
nature. Our beet dutiee and serrice8 are diapleaaing to him, unleea we be re
newed by faith in the spirit of the mind, ae our church hae clearly determined in
the 1 2th article. " Albeit that good worke, which are the fruite pf faith, and
foUow after (don't go before) justification, cannot put away our sins, and endure
the severity of God's judgment, yet are they pleasing and acceptable to God in
Christ, and do spring out necessarily of a true and lively faith, insomuch that by
thera a hvely faith may be as evidently known, as a tree discerned by the fruit.
From these authorities it is evident, that Jesus Christ is the foundation of all
holy obedience. Until you be accepted in him, you can do no good works ; nay,
tvithout him you can do nothing. The scripture and our articles and homilies
speak full to this point, and they entirely overthrow the destructive doctrine of
the Papists and Socinians, who agree in maintaining the merit of worka. Every
true son of our church haa renounced their heresiea. The acripture haa aa8ured
him, that without holinesa no man shaU see the Lord ; but he finds the ainful-
ness of his nature reigning in many unholy tempers, and breaking out into many
offences, against which he strives, but not in his own strength; for he is convinced
that bis soul is by nature dead in trespasaes and Bins, and that aU his striving
can no more give it spiritual hfe, than rubbieig and chafing a dead carcase can

SERMON II. 903
restore to it animal Ufe, and therefore he does not seek to attain holiness, while
his nature continues corrupt and dead in sin. The gospel method is directly
contrary. It first cleanses the heart, from whence are the issues of life, and then
the streams will certainly run pure, lt directs you to labour first to be reconciled
unto God, that you may be accepted through the righteousness of Jesus Christ,
and justified by his merits, and then you tvill have a new nature inclined to holi
ness, and endued by the Holy Spirit tvith power to seek and to attain it. After
you have received justification to life, you may go on tvith the work of sanctifica
tion; for by justification your nature is regenerate and new born, and sanctifica
tion is the proper work of this regenerate nature, as it brings all its parts and
faculties into use, whereby they improve and grow in strength. Justification,
which is the new birth of the soul, is like the first birth of the infant into this
world. AVhen it is born, it has all the parts of the body perfect ; no new ones are
added afterwards, only these grow in size and strength, untU they reach to the
stature of a man, as the graces grow in the justified soul unttt it arrive to a perfect
man in Christ. And then God, who has been glorified by it upon earth, will
receive it into his eternal glory through Jesus Christ our Lord —
Who is the foundation of our present and eternal happiness, as I proposed in
the fourth and last place to consider. This is a direct consequence from what
has been said, and does not require many words to illustrate it ; for since the sin
ner has no saving knowledge, until Christ enhghten him ; since God the Father
tvill not accept his person, but through the righteousness of Christ, nor his works,
but as done in Christ, and flowing from living faith in him, then it is certain that
whatever happiness he enjoys must be derived from the Lord and giver of grace
and glory. He can merit none ; for when he has done all these things that are
commanded him, which yet no man has done, he was even then to say, I am an
unprofitable servant, I have done that which was my duty to do ; and therefore I
cannot deserve present, and much less eternal, happiness from the hand of God.
By present happiness I mean those comforts of the gospel which I have been
describing, and tvhich the heavenly Comforter administers to the sinner, when
he ia enlightened with saving truth, when he is convinced of his reconciliation
with God the Father, and satisfied that the divine holiness, justice, and truth,
are no longer his enemies, but trill now make all things work together for hia
good: ahd when he is assured of the truth of his reconciliation, as well from
the inward witness of the Spirit of God with his spirit, as from the holy obedi
ence in tvhich he now delights, and tvhich he has power to perform, this happy
soul enjoys the comforts of present salvation, which are daily strengthened in
it more and more, as it grows in grace, and bears fairer and richer fruits of holi
ness : for this growth in grace is an evident proof of our acceptance tvith God,
and a fruitful source of spiritual comfort : when we find ourselves renewed in
the spirit of our minds, and are pleased with the wttl of God in the inner man,
and are enabled to run cheerfully in the way of God's commandments, the hap
piness arising from hence can no more be described than the joys of heaven. If
you would know what blessings, love, joy, peace, and the other fruits of the
Spirit bring to the soul, O taste and see how gracious the Lord is. .And when
ever he gives you the experience of thera, you wiU then find that in them heaven
is already begun in the soul ; and if by believing tve can rejoice at present with
joy unspeakable, and full of glory, what must our joy be when we receive the end
of our faith,,even the eternal salvation of our souls ? When Jesus Christ admits
ua into his kingdom, and bestows upon us all his spiritual blessings in heavenly
places, what happiness we shall then feel, tongue cannot utter, nor can heart
conceive. And inconceivably great though it be, yet it is all the free gift of God
through Jesus Christ our Lord, " for he liath given us eternal life, and this life
is in his Son." — And faith is the hand by wliich tve receive it : " for he that
believeth on me," saith the blessed Jesus, " hath everlasting life." He purchased
it for ns. AA'e could not attain it by any of our otvn tvorks, nor could the highest
angel in heaven merit it for one ofthe sons of men. It was bought for ns by
an inestimable price, by the obedience and sufferings of tbe < foil-man Chri-t
Jeaus, and he therefore obeyed and suffered, died and ro-r eg tin, that tve might
be heiiN of God and joint l.eiis tvith Christ, lie acted as mu r>-|'ii -rnt.ilivc. \v

904 THE SURE FOUNDATION.
which means we nave an interest in all that he did and Buffered. He resisted
the temper, obeyed the law, suffered the punishment due to the transgression of
it, even unto death, rose frora the dead, ascended into heaven, and sat down on
the throne of glory, as the head and representative of aU the elect people of God
In aU these things he acted as the head of the body the church ; and we com
monly say, a person is crowned, when the- crown is put upon his head. Now
our head is already crowned, and therefore so long as he posaesses his glory, we
his members shall possess ours, and shall share in the glories of our heavenly
king. AA'hat these eternal glories are, it surpasseth all understanding to compre
hend. The scripture haa revealed them to us chiefly in negative descriptions.
It removes from them that imperfection to which all sublunary good is subject.
It calls them riches ; but then they are not subject to rust and moth, nor can
thieves break in to rob us of them. It compares them to an inheritance ; but then
it is always in peace : no armies can lay it waste, no irregular passion can inter
rupt the happy enjoyment of it ; and there can be no fear of losing it, because
aU tears are wiped away from every eye ; and upon every head there is placed a
crown of glory, tvhich is " incorruptible," has no principles of dissolution, and
therefore no defect in it ; is " undefiled," has no stain of ain, or infirmity under
it, and " fadeth not away." All human glory, like a flower of the field, withers and
dies ; but this is alwaya flourishing, and blooms in never-fading spring. Thus
the scripture removes every thing from our heavenly happiness, wliich renders
our present enjoyments imperfect ; and then, to make the description full, puts
eternity to it. And yet, even of this eternal happiness we have but faint ideas ;
wc know it at present but in part. We shall know it better when our almighty
Saviour bestows it upon us. AVhen he admits us into his presence, receives ua
into hia heaven, and placea the never-fading crown of glory upon our heada,
then we shall feel what an eternal weight of glory is. Then we shall enjoy that
beatific vision, without which heaven would not be desirable, and we shaU see
the Lord Jesus face to face, and ahall know that he ia above all bleseing and
praise. We know indeed at present that he is God over all, blessed for ever ; but
the corruptible body preseeth dotvn the aoul, and the earthly tabernacle weigheth
down the mind, bo that our knowledge and our praisea are imperfect. But then
we shall be free from thia earthly clog, and shall Bee more of his excellences,
and shall be more able to praise them. We shall continually find new beauties,
new worldB of delight in him ; for hia perfectiona being infinite, will afford us
freah subject of praise to eternity. And our interest in them being an act of his
free grace, will render them to U8 more precioua, and the completion of thera
more eweet. Every new day of glory (if I may so speak, when time is no more)
will bring us more in debt to his free grace. The holding of glory shaU be free
grace without end ; so that Christ's relation of creditor, and ours of debtor, ehall
grow and be greater for ever. Redeemed ainners can never aay, Now our tribute
of praise to Jesus is fuUy paid, because they wttl be always contracting new
debts, and while they Btand confirmed in bliss, the more broken debtors will they
be. The longer they enjoy the glory of heaven through mttlions of ages, the
debt to the Lamb that purchased it for them by his blood witMgrow infinitely.
Praises to eternity can take nothing from the debt ; for the debt increases, while
they are praising. And let the innumerable company of angels join the spirits
of just men made perfect : let them raise their hearts and voices to the highest
strains of praise, they would still faU short of the greatneaa of hia merita. 0
Holy Spirit 1 now give us a heart and a tongue to join our imperfect praiaea
with theira. With them we ascribe salvation to the Lord God omnipotent.
" Blessing, and honour, and glory, and power be unto him that sitteth upon the
throne, and to the Lamb for ever."
I shall here finish the doctrinal parts of this discourae ; but I cannot conclude
without making a short application.' Every useful doctrine may be reduced to
practice ; and all the Christian doctrines have a direct tendency to operate in
our lives, and to produce their proper effects in our conversations. We have
been considering some of the excellences of God our Saviour, which are not
mere speculative points ; because he was made unto us wisdom, and righteousneaa,
and aanctification, and redemption. He is our all-wise prophet to enlighten the

SERMON II. 90-5
blindness of our understanding, and to teach us saving knowledge. He is our
al meritorious priest, through the merits of whose perfect sacrifice tbe pollution
and the guilt of our sins are taken away, and we are accepted as righteous be
fore God the Father. And he is our almighty king, by whose grace the domi
nion of sin is destroyed in us, and we are enabled to perform an holy obedience.
" Jesus Christ is all and in all : for we are complete in him." Salvation from
first to last, from the first ray of light tvhich broke into our dark and sinful souls
until we see Christ in the fulness of glory, is all his work, and to him must the
honour of it be ascribed. He is the foundation on whom it all stands : for
" other foundation can no man lay, than that ,'s laid, which is Jesus Christ."
Men, brethren, and fathers,, suffer the worn of exhortation. You profess, that
Jesus Christ is the foundation of all saving knowledge : do you then seek it from
him in the study of his holy word, and through the blessing of his good Spirit
upon your studies ? or are any of you seeking it from the unscriptural, unnatural
light of nature, from that nature which is totaUy dark and blind, until the ab
stracted metaphysician has stolen some great truths from the revealed word, and
then boasts that he was self-enlightened, and that they were self-irradiated upon
hia own mind by a more mysterious and enthusiastic light than the maddest
Quaker ever pretended to. In their metaphysical reverie-:, let them talk of their
light of nature ; yet if God may be heard, nature is in darkness. It is blind in
the things of God ; nay more, until it be renewed, it cannot see and know them.
To whom then would you go for the knowledge of them ? To Christ, as held forth
* in his word, and apphed by his Spirit, or rather to human learning and its arts
and sciences ? God forbid. They have not one ray of their own to give. Their
boasted lustre is but a borrowed hght. Blot the sun out of heaven, and these
bright stars are at once in the blackness of darkness : for there is but one
created sun to enlighten this material tvorld, as there is but one uncreated Sun to
enlighten the spiritual world here in grace, and for ever in glory. AA'hen the
arts and sciences keep their proper station, reflecting the light cast upon them
by the sun of righteousness, then the study of them is sanctified, and they are
highly useful in the school of Christ ; but unsanctified, they only tend to puff up
and to feed the pride of corrupt nature. Let this be an answer to the adversary,
who may object, that I am a decrier of human learning. AA'hen it is preferred
to dirine, I do decry it, but in no other respect. Am I an enemy to light because
I prefer the aU-reviving light of the sun to the faint glimmering lightof the stars ?
Christ is the sun of righteousness, the light of the spiritual tvorld. Let it then
be your first and principal study to attain from him divine learning, and in sub
ordination to it seek human learning. Let God be your teacher in things of God.
Read his word, as he who was wiser than his teachers did, day and night ; but
read it with humttity, and always begin with the exceUent prayer before men
tioned, " Lord open thou mine eyes, that I may see wondrous things in thy law."
The Lord will open them, and you witt -not only see spiritual truths clearly, but
tvill also be more diligent in the study of useful knowledge, and will attain more
of it, than a man of the best parts, trusting, to the mere strength of genius, can
ever attain. And one great truth the word and the Spirit of God wiU certainly
manifest to you, and that is,
Secondly, The manner of your acceptance. To a sinner convinced of the
corruption of his nature, and of the transgressions of his life, nothing can be more-
interesting than to know, whether God's justice, and holiness, and truth can pardon
him. The fancied light of fallen nature cannot teach him this. It never did.
It never led one learned heathen, Greek or Roman, to Jesus Christ. It never
can: because it is blind, and with the aid of all the sciences, blind it remains,
until Christ by his word and Spirit open its eyes. Then it sees, that his righte
ousness imputed to it by faith is the only method of being accepted as righte
ous before God the Father. Are you, then, seeking to be accepted in the
righteousness of the Beloved ? Or, are you trying to work out some righteous
neas of your own, tvhich altogether or in part may render you accepted ? It must
never be forgotten, that justification by faith only is the grand protestant doc-
trine. Justification by works is downright Popery. AA'e separated from the
bishop of -Rome, because be set up tbe merit of works in opposition to the

90(5 THE SURE FOUNDATION
righteousness of God. And lo! protestant .divines have fallen back again into
the sink of Popery, maintaining the merit of works : aa every man must do, who
talks ofthe dignity and rectitude of human nature, of the dignity of sinful nature,
and of the rectitude of fallen nature, of natural religion, of the moral sense, and
of the moral scheme, and of the fitness and relation of things : for these systems •
are big tvith contradictions, unless man be able of himself to discover and to prac
tise such duties as wttl render him acceptable to God. And, indeed, metaphysical
writers have ascribed to blind, faUen nature both this will and power, maintain
ing that " every one may find tvithin himaelf the rule of right, and obligation8 to
follow it." — Bishop Butler's Sermons, p. 32. But what saith the scripture?
Positively and expressly it speaks of man's having neither tvill nor power, unless
they be given him of God. Being einful in heart and hfe he Iiee under aentence
of condemnation by the just law of heaven, and like an attainted rebel, he cannot
do a legal act, until he he pardoned. Jesus Christ is the foundation of this
pardon ; and until we are accepted through his righteousness, our best works
have in them the nature of sin. This is scripture, and the doctrine of our church.
And can you believe a man to be a friend to either, who wants to establish the
merit of tvorks ? Can he he a sound Protestant, or a good Church of England
man ? No, he cannot. Certainly, my brethren, you will condemn hiin with one
voice. Away, then, tvith all the metaphysical rubbish, tvhich has long obscured
the scripture doctrine of acceptance; for the loveof the Lord Jesus, anel of his flock,
for whom he shed his blood, let us hear no more of the religion of nature— of
that religion which finds ua and leaves us children of wrath : for the sake of*
your own present and eternal peace let aU metaphysical systems of the religion
of nature he no more your favourite studies. You have the holy scripture in
your handa ; whither would you go, but to it, for the words of eternal life ? And
does it not teach you that Jeaus Christ came into the world to redeem us from
the miseries of our fallen nature ? And whose cauae then are these men defend
ing, who want to establiah a religion founded on that nature, from which Chriat
came to redeem ua? Good God! what an attempt ia this, for Christian men,
Chriatian ministers, amhaasadora of Je8ua Chriat, not only to preach up the
religion of nature, as if nature was not fallen, but also to make this religion of
nature the foundation of revealed. What a monstrous paradox is this, natural
religion the foundation of revealed? Is not this taking away Jeaus Chriat, the
sure foundation which God hath laid, and putting the religion of nature under
hira as a foundation to bear him up, and thus trying to lay another foundation,
which, if God he true, no man can lay. The folly, the guilt, and the danger
of this proceeding are so evident upon the principles, before laid down, that I
shall not urge the matter farther at present, only if there be here any admirers'
of thiB metaphysical and unnatural religion, it may be uaeful to them to con-
aider, what thi8 religion can do for them, even aa they understand it, which the
religion of the Bible has not promised to do for them in a more full and ample
manner, especiaUy with respect to their performing an holy obedience, of which
.Jesua Christ ie the aole foundation :— tvhich is the third inference from what has
been said.
Until you are accepted in Chriat you cannot do any good worka : because your
whole nature ia corrupt, and nothing but corrupt fruit can grow upon it. Are
you then 8eeking for an holy nature, that in it you may perform an holy obe
dience ? Are you then praying to God to be renewed in the spirit of your mind,
that Chriat may dweU in your heart8 by faith, that his will may become yours,
his word your study and delight, his Spirit your guide ? And is it the desire
of your soul, that you may be enabled to run cheerfully in the way of God's
commandments unto the end ? Is Chriat the foundation of this great work ?
And are you convinced you want grace from him every moment to carry it
on ? Then bring this conviction into practice. Let it operate in your lives.
Where would you seek his grace, but in the means of grace ? And when your
persons are accepted through the righteousness of Christ imputed to you by
faith, then God will accept your attendance upon these means, but not before.
Then he tvill be found of you in them, will give his blessing to the use of thera,
and will enable jou lo abound in every good word and work to the ijraise of Ins

SERMON II. fJ07
glory. The scripture is express, that we are created in Christ Jesus unto good
works. We«ean bear no fruit until we be grafted into him the true vine. Our
church is exceeding clear upon this head._ To their authorities we must submit,
and we shaU find the happy effects of embracing them, if they dispose us to
seek, untU God gives us a new nature with new faculties and affections, and
enables us to bring forth much fruit to the praise of the glory of his free grace,
wherein he hath made us accepted in the Beloved : for then we shall find the
present comforts of the gospel sweetly drawing us on in the way of duty, until tve
be at last presented perfect in Christ Jesus. Perfect and complete in him, but
not in our own righteousness, tve shaU be presented before God the Father with
out spot of sin to an inheritance incorruptible, and undefiled, and that fadeth not
away, reserved in heaven for us.
To these truths every Christian assents. He lays no other foundation for his
present and eternal happiness than Jesus Christ, and he is a sure foundation:
for he is the author and finisher of the faith, the author to begin it here in
grace, the finisher to end it, when faith shaU be swallowed up in vision. As he
is the author of all the works of creation, so he is the author of aU the works of
redemption, by whom they begin, through whom they are carried on, and in
whom they wiU be completed : " For I am Alpha and Omega," says he, " the
first and the last, which tvas, tvhich is, and which is to come, the Almighty."
He is the Lord God omnipotent, by whom all things were made ; by his over
ruling providence they are supported : for he upholdeth aU things by the word
of his power. He is the most blessed God and Saviour in the offices of a pro
phet to enlighten our blind eyes and to be our wisdom — of a priest to atone for
the poUution and the guUt of our sins and to be our righteousness — and of a
king to destroy in us the dominion of sin and to be our sanctification. And he
is God the Sovereign Judge, before whose awful tribunal we must all soon
appear. A'tew Jesus Christ in these exalted stations, where he sits far above all
principalities and powers, as the first and the last in the works of creation, pro
vidence, redemption, and final judgment, and then see whether you can exalt
him high enough. Is not this almighty God and King far above all blessing and
praise? You cannot sufficiently extol the works of creation. Survey them with
a philosopher's eye, and they will appear great and wonderful in wisdom and
potver, affording an unexhausted subject of praise. And how then shall tve be
able to magnify their Maker, who is great above all his tvorks? EspeciaUy great
and marvellous are thy works, O Lord God almighty, in the redemption of a
sinful world : for when you glorify the Lord Jesus for this inestimable mercy,
exalt him as much as you can, even yet will he far exceed ; and when you
exalt him, put forth all your strength and be not weary : for you can never go
far enough. How should we upon earth go far enough, when the glorified spirits,
who try to exalt him as much as they are able, yet fall short ? He tviU always,
to eternity he will, be above all blessing and praise. 'The thousands, thousands,
and ten thousand times ten thousand, who are now standing round his throne,
admiring his perfections, and singing the song of Moses and the Lamb, when
they put forth aU their strength and are not weary, still they can never go far
enough. And when all the sons of God, who shouted for joy at the first crea
tion, shall again join their voices upon the number of the elect being perfected,
still he will far exceed their most exalted song. Angels and men tvith their
highest atrains of praise cannot come up to the greatness of our Lord's merit.
Let the heavenly song be continued through millions of ages, yet the God whom
they celebrate is infinite^ and their praise therefore must faU short of the sub
ject. 'The perfection of the almighty Creator, and the love of the aU-merciful
Redeemer, are, to the redeemed of the Lord, subjects which eternity cannot
exhaust. Oh that it may be your happiness and mine to lay Jesus Christ, and
him only, for the foundation of all sating knowledge, of aU acceptance with the
Father, and of all holy obedience, that having spent our time here by the strength
of his grace in his service and to his glory, we may be admitted to see his per
fections, and to be happy in the enjoyment of them, and may join our grateful
hearts and voices with the blessed company of angels, and the spirits of just
men made perfect, in singing the eternal hymn of thanks and praise. So be it

f)('8 A PRAYER FOR FAITH.
Lord Jesus, to the honour of the Father, and to the glory of the eternal Spirit,
three persons in one Jehovah, whom the church militant now worships, and the
church triumphant praises for ever and ever. Amen.

A PRAYER FOR FAITH.*
We are taught by thy holy apostle, O most loving Saviour, that whatsoever is
not of faith is sin, and that it is impossible to please thee without faith. And there
fore they that coine unto thee mjjst beUeve that thou art God, yea and such a
God as is both able and wttl alao abundantly reward all them that with true faith
8eek thee. For thy eyes, O Lord, look upon faith, and thou dost appear and
show thyself unto them that have faith in thee : yea, through faith, thou being
the King of glory, art married to the soula of the faithful, and raakeat them
partakera of thy divine nature, through the wonderful working of thy bleaeed
Spirit. Through faith so many as beheve are justified, made the sons and
heirs of God, and have everlasting life. By faith we obtain of God all good
things, even whatsoever we ask in thy name. Seeing that faitii is so precious
a jewel in thy sight, that without it nothing ia acceptable unto thy dirine
majesty ; and we of our own nature cannot have this moat singular treasure
except thou giveet it unto U8 from above, and dost breathe it into our hearts by
thy Holy Spirit : for we of ourselvea are blind, ignorant, fooliah, and by no
means can perceive the thinga that pertain to the Spirit of God ; we moat heartily
beaeech thee to take away from ua aU infidelity and unfaithfulneaa, which tve re
ceived of old Adam, and to plant in ua true faith and undoubted behef, that we
may be thoroughly perauaded that thou art the Son of the living God, very God
and very man, our alone 8weet-8meUing sacrifice, our alone mediator, advocate,
and intercessor, our alone wisdom, righteousness, sanctification, and redemption,
by whom alone, and for whose sake only, thy heavenly Father ia well pleaaed
with ua, our sine are remitted, grace and everlaating Ufe are freely given unto ua.
Oh Lord God, Buffer us not to lean to our own wisdom, nor to believe as blind fleah
fancieth, nor to aeek 8alvation where superetition dreameth ; but let our faith
only be grounded on thy word, and give us grace truly to believe in thee with aU
our heart, to put our tni8t in thee, to look for all good thinga of thee, to call upon
thy bleaaed name in adversity, and with joyful voice8 and more merry hearta, to
praiee and magnify it in prosperity. Suffer ua not to doubt, neither of God thy
heavenly Father, nor of thee, God hia Son, nor of God the Holy Ghost, but ear
nestly to believe that you being the distinct persons in the Deity, are, notwith
standing, one very God, beaidea whom there is no God, neither in heaven nor in
earth. Grant also, that we may assuredly beheve whatsoever is contained in the
holy scriptures, and by no means suffer ourselves to be plucked from the verity
thereof, but manly and steadfastly abide in the same, even unto death — rage world,
roar devil. And this faith, oh sweet Jesus, increase thou daily in us more and
more, that at the last, through thy goodness, tve may be made perfect and strong
men in thy holy religion, and show ourselvea both before thee and the world
truly faithful, by bringing forth plenty of good works unto the glorj and honour
of thy name : tvhich with God the Father, and God the Holy Ghost, livest and
reignest true God, worlds without end. Amen.
* From a treatise, entitled, the Flower of Godly Prayers, by the Il'rv. Thonr.ii
Bccod, 156*3.

909

JEPHTHAH'S VOW FULFILLED AND HIS DAUGHTER
NOT SACRIFICED;PROVED IN
A SERMON
PKKACHED BEFORE THE UNIVERSITY, AT ST. MARY'S IN OXFORD

And Jephthah vowed a vow unto the Lord and said, If thou shalt without fail de
liver the children of Ammon into mine hands, then it shall be, that whatsoever
cometh forth of the doors of my house to meet me, when I return in peace from
the children of Ammon, shall surely be the Lord's, and I will offer it up for a
burnt-offering. — Judges xi. 30, 31.
This vow has been the subject of much ridicule ; it has been represented, as
rashly made and immoraUy executed, and the scripture itself has suffered through
the character of Jephthah : the vindication of it also has been attended with so
many difficulties, that an attempt to remove them must be of service to religion ;
and this I shaU at present undertake. I shaU endeavour to free it from the false
interpretations which have been put upon it, and from the objections which have
been made against it. But it is not the whole history I shah treat in this manner :
that would be too extensive a design for a single discourse. The principal point
alone shall be now considered, namely, Jephthah's fulfiUing his vow, which Ipur-
poae to show he might, and did fulfil, without sacrificing his daughter.
The hiBtory has been generally understood in this sense : when the men of
Gilead had placed Jephthah at their head, in order to deUver them from the chil
dren of Ammon, he gathered together his army, and before he begun the battle
lie vowed a vow unto the Lord, and promised, that if God would prosper bim,
he would sacrifice whatever should first meet him on his return. Upon this he
begins the attack, and the Lord delivered the Ammonites into his hands, so that
he slew them with very great slaughter. By this success he became obliged to a
Btrict observance of his vow ; and it unfortunately so happened, that as he was
returning to his house in peace, his only daughter, not knowing of his vow, came
out tvith joy to meet him. Hereby she became, according to his vow, the person
lo be sacrificed, and he did offer her up for a burnt-offering.
This is the common interpretation of Jephthah's vow. It has generally been
Bupposed that his daugher was sacrificed. An action so contrary to the laws of
God and man, and so inconsistent with the good character which St. Paul has
given of Jephthah's faith, that it is not easy to conceive, how it came to pass, that
such an opinion was ever entertained at all, much less how it became so general ;
especially as no historical passage of scripture has laid more open to the wanton
jeatB of the infidel, or is more difficult to be explained by the sober behever.
From these difficulties which the history now labours under, I trust, I shall be
able to free it by showing ;
I. That the opinion of her being sacrificed is exposed to so many solid objec
tions, that it is not defensible, and
II. By proving from the history itself, that she was not sacrificed.
1. And the first objection against the history's- being explained in the common
manner is this, that Jephthah could not have sacrificed his daughter, though he
had vowed to do it ; because human sacrifices were absolutely forbidden by
the law of Moses. And Jephthah knew this : he did not only live in obedi
ence to the law, but was also at that time the judge of it. And would he act
contrary to his knowledge ? Could he live in obedience to the law, and yet

! 10 JEPHTHAH'S VOW.
dispense with the breach of one duty, which Moses had made indispensable ?
Or what an unjust judge would he be, who should undertake to punish the
offences of others, while he himself was a most notorious offender 1 These cir
cumstances, indeed, prove, rather that he ought not to have done it, than that
he did it not. But,
2. When we consider further, that the same Spirit of the Lord waa upon Jeph
thah at the making his vow, as was upon Moses at the writing of the law ; this
clearly proves that he did it not : for the Spirit of the Lord could not giye one
law by Moses, and another opposite to it by Jephthah — he could not, whilst
ehe first was stttl in force, direct any person to transgress it— the infallible
Spirit of God cannot contraehct himself — nor can human sacrifices be both law
ful and unlawful at the same time — so that if the same Spirit, which spake in Mosea,
directed Jephthah (as the text expressly says he did) ra making his vow ; then
no doubt he did not sacrifice bis daughter. But,
3. Further, supposing he had offered her up, and pretended to be directed by
the Spirit of God, yet hotv came it to pass that he was never punished ? To offer
human sacrificea was made a capital crime by the law, and yet it is not so much
as hinted, that he suffered death for what he did ; nay, where does it appear that
he was ever called to an account for it f And yet there was something so parti
rularin the offence, in the person of the offender, and in the time when he offended,
that then the Jewish state ought not to have overlooked it ; and God, who then
presided over it, was in equity bound not to spare such an offender. And if
Jephthah under these circumstances was not punished, it is at least probable,
that he did not deserve punishment, which yet he muat have deserved, if he had
sacrificed hia daughter. And,
4. Theae circumstances are further confirmed from the nature of the action,
tvhich was certainly immoral, and such therefore as Jephthah did not. There
a nothing in which the general sense of mankind ia more agreed, than that every
man 'a life ia hia own property ; thie general eenae arisea from the natural principle
of self-preservation, it comes confirmed to us by the laws of all free nations, and
ia further strengthened by the laws of God. And that action which ahould break
through aU these laws must be immoral. But though the action be immoral, yet
perhaps it may be said, was Jephthah such a man as would not do an immoral
action ? St. Paul has here provided us with an answer which fully clears up the
character of Jephthah in this particular : for the most considerable circumstance
in the life of this eminent judge, was the history before ua : thiB was the most
material action recorded of him in scripture, and which placed hia character in
the moat conspicuous Ught. Now St. Paul could not form a judgment of hia
life and character without considering this his principal transaction ; and in the
1 1th chapter to the Hebrews, where he ia celebrating the praises of those ancient
worthies who did such great and excellent acts though faith, among others he
mentions Jephthah, and the time, he Bays, would fail if he should set about
praising hira and the other worthies as they deserved. Such a commendation from
an apostle waa the higheel honour which could be conferred : for praiae is ever
'udged of according to thoae who give it, and that ia the greatest praiae which is
given by them who are themselves the most praiseworthy. What an high
honour then was it to be commended by a St. Paul ! Certainly there could bo
nothing immoral in the character of Jephthah whom he thus commended, and yet
the principal point of view in which St. Paul considered him, that indeed which
gives us the strongest proof of his faith, waa the making hie vow ; which if he had
fulfilled by eacrificing his daughter, it must be confessed was an immoral action.
And, therefore, if Jephthah could not sacrifice his daughter without breaking
through aU those moral laws of God and man, which say, " Thou shalt not
kill;" and if St. Paul, when he considered him in this light, could not have
recommended him had the action been immoral : then it is evident, that Jephthah
did nothing immoral in fulfilling his vow, and consequently did not sacrifice llis
daughter. And, .
5. Besides, when he made his vow, he promised to fulfil it upon condition that
God would prosper hira in the undertaking he had in hand ; and can it be aup-
poaed but that Jephthah would word hi8 vow with so much caution, as not to bo

JEPHTHAH'S VOW. 911
obliged by it to do an immoral action ? There are stiU extant proofs enow of his
great abilities as well as faith, which clearly evince, that he was far from being
either rash or weak, and yet he must have been both to a very great degree, if he
could first have vowed to sacrifice his daughter, or afterwards thought himself
obliged to do it, because God had given him success : in either of these respects
he must have acted out of character ; in the first, without his usual prudence,
for which he is recommended ; in the latter tvithout his faith, for which he is
celebrated. But still,
6. Whatever Jephthah was, yet God is perfect ; and how shaU we vindicate
the divine perfections, if he gave success to those means, which led directly to an
immoral end ? The Spirit of God was upon Jephthah, when he made his vow —
the hand of God enabled him to succeed — and it was this success which obliged
him to perform his vow. In these instances he was certainly under the divine
guidance. And tvas it of God that he vowed to sacrifice his daughter, or could
God in any sense be the means of such a sacrifice ? These things cannot be.
Far be such proceedings from the All-perfect. His goodness, justice, veracity,
nay, every divine attribute, forbid us to think of it. So that, if the perfections
of God wiU not suffer him to countenance an immoral action, and if he did coun
tenance Jephthah's vow by assisting him tvith his Holy Spirit, and by giving him
success, then certainly the thing he vowed was not immoral, and of course he did
not sacrifice his daughter.
Out of many more objections that might be urged, let these suffice at present,
as it fuUy appears from them, that the account commonly given is not rational,
is inconsistent with the truth of scripture, and contrary to the history itself. Let
us then seek out for some other explanation, which may be fairly deduced from
the words themselves, may be agreeable to the reason of the thing, and con-
aistent tvith the good character St. Paul hath given us of Jephthah ; and such an
interpretation I shaU first lay down, and afterwards endeavour to estabUsh, in
order to,
II. Prove from the history itself, that he did not sacrifice his daughter.
The matter of fact was this : when the chttdren of Israel were in great distress
by the invasion of the Ammonites, and had no captain who might lead them out
to battle, the Lord raised up Jephthah to be their deliverer ; and, as it was common
in such cases during the era of the judges, the Spirit of the Lord came upon
him to enable him to execute his office. And when he entered upon it, he made
a vow unto the Lord, " That upon condition of success, whatever should meet
him at his doors when he returned in peace, should either be the Lord's, or
offered up for a burnt-offering." This was the vow ; and if it consists of two
distinct sentences, as I shall presently show it does, then Jephthah will be found
to have worded it with so much caution, that he lay under no obligation to
sacrifice his daughter. AVhen he returned and met his only child, the history
represents him under great perplexity ; but this did not arise from his concern
to offer her up : there were other reasons. The text itself teUs us, that it was
losing all hopes of descendants, losing the inheritance, which in default of heirs
went to the nearest kinsman, and many other privUeges which then subsisted
among the Jews, but have now ceased among us, that occasioned his grief : for
we find, " that she- went with her companions, and bewaUed her virginity upon
rae mountains. And it came to pass at the end of two months that she returned
unto her father, who did with her according to his vow which he had
vowed ;" ». e. according to the first part of the vow, he dedicated her unto
the Lord, and in consequence of such dedication she continued the remainder
of her life a virgin : for, after the vow had been fulfiUed, the text observes,
" She knew no mart." Hereby the purpose of the vow was answered ; from
the time that she was dedicated unto the Lord, she continued to the end of her
days in an unmarried state : because as the vow happened to faU upon her while
she was in that state, she could not change it without causing her father to
break his vow. This tvas the fact : whether it can be justified or not, is an
other question, which no ways concerns my present argument. It is sufficient
for my purpose, that the text clearly asserts, she was, according to the words ol
the vow, to be dedicated to the Lord— was dedicated— at the time of dedication

912 JEPHTHAH'S VOW.
tvas a virgin — continued so eome years afterwards — and therefore continued so
till her death.
This was, indeed, a singular case .- the design of it was so uncommon, the
reasons to justify it so extraordinary, that no precedents can he drawn front
hence for recluses of any kind ; it might easily be shown to be a confutation
rather of such practices, if that tvere within the design of my present argument.
But I waive this, and proceed to observe, that it was in her so remarkable an in
stance of filial piety, so evident a pro'of of her public-spiritedness, and love of
her country ; and tliese virtues were in her so eminent, iu her condition eo illus
trious, that the nation, in gratitude to her, made it a law, so long as she lived,
"for the daughters of Israel to go yearly to make presents to the daughter
of Jephthah, four days in the year," And here certainly I need not point out
the absurdity of going year after year to make presents to a dead person, though
the propriety of making them to one in her state must be manifest to every one.
This is the true interpretation of the history ; and it is free from all the ob
jections to which the common opinion is exposed. It only remains, that I sup
port it by sound arguments ; and the following, 1 trust, will appear to every one
satiafactory. And,
1 .' The first ia taken from the history not mentioning her being sacrificed ; and
when the history ia thus silent, from whence can it be proved that she waa sacri
ficed > If there be any proof, it must be either in the words of the vow, or in
the fulfilling it ; but there is no proof in thera : for there is nothing more said
in the latter, than that " he did with her according to his vow. — So that
here we eue referred to the words of the vow, to know what it was be did tvith
her; and aU that Jephthah vowed tvas — " If the Lord would give hiin success,
whatever met him on hia return in peace, should either be the Lord's, or he
would offer it up for a burnt offering." Here it is plain what he promised in
these words consists of two parts : for what met him and was to be dedicated to
the Lord, waa one thing ; but what met him and waa to be 8acrificed, waa another :
and it is certain these two things are diatinct. Though every thing aacrificed waa
dedicated to the Lord, yet every thing dedicated to the Lord wae not Bacrificed.
The incense — aromatics — vestments — and all the apparatus of the temple were
dedicated to the Lord ; but yet none of them were sacrificed. The vow then
consista of two aensea, which mean two different thing8, and which do not foUow
in consequence — "whatever meets me shall be the Lord's, and I will aacrifice
it :" but the true construction is, " It shall be the Lord'a, or I will aacrifice it ;"
for the particle uaed in the original, haa the aenae of or, and the tranalatora have
so often rendered it thus, and have mentioned it even here in the margin of the
bible, that no one can object to ita being ao interpreted in thia place, where the
whole hiatory fixea it to thia sen8e. As the vow then consists of two diatinct
parta, it would be kept by obaerving either of them — and aa one thing Jephthah
promiaed mentions nothing about sacrificing his daughter — and as when he
fulfiUed what he had promiaed, it is only aaid, " he did trith her according to
his vow," then it is evident that the history ie quite eilent about her being aacri
ficed ; which as clearly provea, aa any negative argument can, that she was not
Bacrificed. But,
2. Thia is still further evident from hence, that though Jephthah had vowed
to sacrifice whatever creature should first meet him, yet if a creature had met him
which the law forbade to be offered up, it is certain he could not have offered it ;
and how then could he his daughter ? If an unclean creature had firat met him,
would he have thought himaelf obliged by his vow to offer it up, when God had
forbidden it ? Certainly he would not. No vow can lay a man under any obli
gation to transgres8 the laws of God.
AA'hat then was to be done in this case ? The law itself had provided a remedy.
As the unclean creature could not be sacrificed, it was to be ransomed, and an
other aUowed of for sacrifice was to offered up in its stead : and why ought not
this rule to take place in the eaae of Jephthah ? The same law, which forbade offer-
ingup an unclean creature, forbade human sacrifices. If a vow should fall upon an
unclean creature, it was to be ransomed — if it ehpuld fall upon a human creature,
it was also to be ransomed — and God promised to accept of one in place of tbe

JEPHTHAH'S VOW. 913
other. As I lay great stress upon this argument, and would have it carefully
considered, I must refer to the 27th chapter of Leviticus, where this point is
fully treated of. Now Jephthah must have read this chapter. He could not
but know that this was the rule prescribed in the law of Moses, and therefore
though he had vowed to sacrifice whatever creature should first meet him, yet
he was not obliged by this vow to sacrifice his daughter ; because by the law she
was to be ransomed : and this eminent judge could not be ignorant, that it tvas
lawful to ransom her, and absolutely unlawful not to do it. So that, put the
case either way, the point is clear — either her father did include her in his vow,
or he did not : if he did, then she was to be ransomed ; and if he did not, then
she could not be sacrificed. And therefore this is another strong negative argu
ment that she was not made a burnt-offering. But
3. The evidence does not rest here. There are other arguments, which clearly
prove that she was alive after her father had fulfiUed his vow, and therefore of
course she could not be sacrificed • for the sacred historian observes, as a con
sequence of the vow's being fulfilled — as what foUowed upon her entering into
it, that she continued a virgin all the rest of her life — " Her father did tvith her
according to his vow : and she knew no man." But when .' After she tvas
sacrificed ? No. This remark would have been absurd, when she was dead ;
whereas being a description of her after the vow was fulfiUed, it must describe
some state or condition she was in, even after the completion of the vow and in
consequence of it — and this was her being or continuing afterwards a virgin.
Jephthah, as I before observed, tvas not obliged by his vow to sacrifice her; his
vow would be kept by dedicating her to the Lord — he did dedicate her : after she
wae dedicated, the sacred historian remarks, that she remained a virgin. Can any
thing be more plain or self-evident than that she, who remained a virgin, was
also alive ? Could she with any propriety be said to be the one without being
the other ? Nay, if he had written purposely to prove her alive, could he have
brought any stronger proof than this — " that from the day of her dedication
she continued a virgin ?" This, therefore, I look upon as a positive argument,
taken from the history itself, for her not having been sacrificed. But
4. The history proceeds further, and asserts that she was alive at least some
years after the vow was fulfilled. The words are — " And it was a law in Israel,
that the daughters of Israel went yearly (to lament as it is rendered, or as it is in
the original) to make presents to the daughter of Jephthah the Gileadite four
days iii a year." How the translators happened to mistake this passage, is
not easily to be conceived : for the word, which they here render lament, and
which signifies to make presents, they have given the true idea of, in every
passage but this and another. They have translated it by these three words, re
ward, hire, gift. The use of it is very remarkable in the Ixviiitb Psalm, 18th
verse ; " Thou art gone up on high, thou hast led captivity captive, thou hast
received gifts for men." Here they have rendered the same word gifts, which
they have in the passage above made to signify lament. And gifts it does signify
—I have their own usage and authority to say it does — and, what is more, the
authority of aU the lexicographers. To make presents is, therefore, the mean
ing of it in this place ; and when these presents tvere made to her, she could not
be dead. AVhen the daughters of Israel went according to the laws of the land
four days in a year to visit her, she must be alive. She tvas a recluse
dedicated— therefore alive. The nature of the presents which they carried,
shows that she was alive. The intention of making them, proves as much.
So does the setting apart four days in a year to make them. The very thing
speaks itself— she received these presents — therefore was not dead : and besides,
by the law of Moses it was a crime to make them to the dead. And further, it
wis provided by a law, that these presents should be made her yearly ; but
this law was contrary to the law of Moses, if she had been dead : and yet no
censure is passed upon it ; therefore she was hving. And when these circum
stances are considered together, what further evidence would any person
requiro than this > That she could not be dead, who was visited four days in every
year by the daughters of Israel, and had then such presents made her as none
could receive but one who was living.
5. And what greatly strengthens aU these arguments, what demonstrates tliat
3 N

&14 JEPHTHAH'S VOAV
she was ahve long after the vow was fulfilled, is a proof taken from the sacred
historian's observing, " that she received these presents. Four days in every
year the daughters of Israel made their presents to the daughter of Jephthah " —
they made them for her use and hen-spit: the particle used in the original
does not only denote the dative case to — to the daughter of Jephthah ; but fre
quently expresses something further. AA'hen spoken of ttvo things, where one
ia said to act upon the other, it denotes, that one tvas the cause of the other,
and produced whatever action or condition the writer tvas then treating of;
in this sense it is most elegantly used in the first chapter of Genesis. When
spoken of persons, tvhere one is doing something to another, it often denotes
that one did the action for the use and benefit of the other. This is a well-known
idiom of the sacred tongue ; and the literal sense of the word, as well as the
scope of the history, require that in the passage before us it should be thus un
derstood. The phrase therefore expresses that the daughters of Israel made
their presents " for the use and benefit of Jephthah's daughter." For the use of
one who was sacrificed ? For the benefit of one who was dead ? Could thia
possibly be ? Certainly there can be no greater absurdity. The dead are out of
the reach of our good offices : but she snared in them — presents were made To
her, therefore she must have received them — they tvere made for her uae and
benefit, therefore she was sensible of them. She received them and was sensible
of thera for some years after the vow was fulfilled, therefore was for some years
after alive, and of course was not sacrificed. If this argument required any
thing to add to its clearness and conviction, I might support it by other autho
rities ; but it seems to me undeniably conclusive. I ahall only mention by way
of illustration, two hiatorical passagea of heathen writers, in the grand lineaments
of which there is so great a resemblance of the present history, that I doubt not
they took their origin from hence : I mean the vows of Agamemnon and Idome-
neus. Their cases were almost the same as Jephthah's. A parallel might easily
be drawn between them to show thia ; and if it could be proved (with some de
gree of probability I think it might) that both of them took their rise from bis
history, it would strengthen the interpretation I have now given of it : because
if these were borrowed from it, and tradition had preserved perfect the chief
mark8 of likeneaa, this would be a probable reason that Jephthah's daughter tvas
not sacrificed. Neither of their daughters were offered up, though they were in
parallel circumatancea with his, and it ie likely the tradition of her being eaved
was the foundation of their histories being so represented. And,
AVhat tends strongly to confirm the opinion, that theae hiatories were derived
from Jephthah 's vow, is an instance of the same sort of presents being offered to
certain recluses in the heathen world : and it will be very difficult to assign any
satisfactory reasons for the origin of such a ceremony, unleae we trace it up to
the day8 of Jephthah. It wae in all appearance a corruption of his history.
Men retained the knowledge of the fact, after they had forgot the reasons upon
which he acted, and thie led them to ingraft upon it numerous errors. The
practice of dedicating recluses without any obligation or necessity, must, I think,
have had its original from hence. It took its rise from a gross mistake of this
history. It could not come into the heathen world from reason — it waa un
reasonable ; nor from nature — it was unnatural : there must have been some
authority which at fir8t seemed to countenance such a practice ; and by length
of time, and the corruption8 of mankind, the case of Jephthah might be eo much
mistaken, as to be made a precedent for that very error, of which it is a moat
clear confutation. Now if this custom among the heathens came from Jephthah,
it will greatly establish the interpretation of the text. This it wttl prove at least,
that they who are dedicated, were not sacrificed ; and that they who received
certain presents by virtue of such dedication, were indisputably ahve. The
heathens made the same preaenta to their recluse8, aa the daughters of Israel
did in the ca8e before us. Thia is abundantly evident from their own writers.
And for what reason should they thus agree in thie ceremony, unless it had been
derived from one common cause ? And • ao far aa thia iB probable, it muat be
admitted, that if the heathene offered these presente to none but them who tvere
alive, then she who received the same presents was alao alive.
I might have been more copious upon theae arguments, but they seemed to me

PARABLE OF THE DRY BONES. 915
so plain and conclusive, that they needed not be further insisted on : and now
the case hath been fairly stated, I leave it to every impartial man to determine on
which side the truth prevails. The common received opinion is, that Jephthah,
according to his vow, sacrificed his daughter ; but this opinion I showed was not
defensible : because human sacrifices were forbidden by the law of Moses, and
Jephthah did not transgress this law : for he tvas directed by the Spirit of God
in making his vow — he was never punished for it — he is commended for it by St.
Paul — and had success in consequence of it. And if the common opinion can
not be supported against these objections, much less against the arguments
brought to prove that she was not sacrificed — the historian has neither included
her in the Vow, nor in the fulfiUing it — and if she had been included, the latv had
provided a ransom, whereby the vow would be kept, and she not made a burnt-
offering. From these negative arguments I endeavoured to establish the true
interpretation, which tvas settled beyond aU doubt from certain passages in the
history, which gave her the attributes of a living person some years after her
father had fulfiUed his vow ; and I think no truth can be more evident than this,
that she could not be sacrificed and dead, who still had the attributes of a hving
person. Thus is the character of Jephthah vindicated, and neither rashness nor im
morality entered into the making of his vow, or the fulfilhng of it : but this
eminent judge appears to be distinguished for his faith and other virtues. The
scripture also is cleared in this particular, and reconctted to reason and common
sense ; and this historical passage was recorded, as all scripture was, " that the
man of God might be perfect, thoroughly furnished to every good work."

THE PARABLE OF THE DRY BONES ;
INTERPRETED in
A SERMON,
PREACHED AT ST. OLAVE's, SOUTHWARK, OCTOBER 24TH, 1756.

And you being dead in your sins, and the uncircumcision of your flesh, hath he quickened
together with Christ, having forgiven you all trepasses.— Col. ii. 13.
0 ye dry bones, hear the word of the Lord. — Ezek. xxxvii. 4.
All our ideas of spiritual objects are comparative, taken from matter, and
carried up to spirit. In our present state tve have no knowledge but what is
first sensible, but what comes into the mind from some of the senses, and is
borrowed from objects upon which they can make their observation. This is at
present a received' truth among the learned. Happy for us that it is received,
because scripture knowledge is conveyed in this manner. God accommodates
hia inatruction to our capacities : he makes use of outward and sensible objects
to explain inward and spiritual : he applies the book of nature to iUustrate the
book of grace, thus bringing heavenly things down to the level of our under
standings; and setting them (as it were) before our eyes by their natural pictures
and just similitudes. , . ,
The very language of the Old Testament is of this nature. Every word stands
for some sensible object, and from thence raises the idea of some correspondent
Bpiritual object. Since this is the genius of tbe Hebrew tongue, it is not to be
wondered, that it should so much abound with what some call figures and meta
phors ¦ these are not the ornaments of language or beauties of diction, as it hath
been supposed, but they are of the essence of the sacred tongue : neither is this
method of using natural objects to give us ideas of spiritual the Oriental way ot
writing, as tve have been told, as if it delighted in bold figures and lofty meta-

916 PARABLE OF THE DRV 130NF.S.
phors; but it is the method of instruction, which man's present state renders
necessary. AVhile we are here in the body, tve have no means of discovering
spiritual objects but by divine teaching. God informs us, that such an object in
the natural world stands for, and is the perfect representation of, such an object
in the spiritual world ; and this kind of information he has given us in every
Hebrew weird: like a parable, it teaches and illustrates heavenly things under
the expressive figures of earthly. And while men were accustomed to this method
of instruction by the very nature of their language, one might expect it would
rim also into their compositions ; tvhich tve find from fact that it has. The Old
Testament, the prophetical writings especially, abound with natural images ; and
the great Prophet of the New Testament made such use of them, thnt without a
-parable spake he not unto the people. AVherever he was, the objects before him
gave him an opportunity to spiritualize them ; and this application of material
things to illustrate spiritual, is what the scripture calls a parable. Of this kind
are the words of the text. They are a parable in tvhich the all-wise Spirit
teaches ub the thinga of God, by comparing thera to material and outward
objects. The lesaon he would teach us is of eternal moment ; and may the Lord
God take the veil off all your hearts while I am explaining this part of the Old
Testament. May he give you to underetand it, and to profit from it, and to
experience the truth of the whole parable in your own eouls.
The prophet givea us the literal sense in theae worda. " The band of the
Lord tvas upon me, and carried me out in tbe Spirit of the Lord, and aet me
down in the midst of the valley, which was full of bones. And caused me tn
pasa by them round about, and behold there tvere very many in the open valley,
and lo, they were very dry. And he said unto me, son of man, Can these bones
live? And I anawered, O Lord (Jod, thou knowest. And again he aaid unto
me. Prophesy upon these bones, and aay unto them, O ye dry bonea, hear the
word of the Lord. Thus saith the Lord God, unto tliese bones, behold I will
cause breath to enter into you, and ye shall live. And I will lay sinews upon
you, and will bring up tlesh upon you, and cover you wilh skin," and put breath
in you, and ye shall live, and ye shall know that I am tbe Lord. So I pro
phesied, as I was commanded ; and aa I prophesied, there was a noise, and
behold a shaking, and the bones came together, bone to his bone. And when I
beheld, lo, the sinews and the flesh came up upon them, and the skin covered
them above, but there tvas no breath in them. Then said he unto me, prophesy
unto the wind, prophesy, son of man, and say to the wind, thua aaith the Lord
God, come from the four winds, O breath, and breathe upon these slain, that
they may live. So I prophesied as he commanded me, and tbe breath came
into them, and they lived, and stood up upon their feet an exceeding great
army." Now what instruction are we to receive from this scripture ? It was certainly
applicable to the state of the Jewish church, tvhich was then deprived of all ita
ordinances. It was carried atvay captive into Babylon, where it had neither a
temple nor the presence of God, neither an officiating prieet, nor a eacrifice, and
was as void of spiritual life as these dry bones were of animal life. To the church
in this state the application is made — God himaelf makee thie uee of it. " Then
he said unto me, Son of man, these bones are the whole house of Israel : behold
they say, Our bones are dried, and our hope is lost, we are cut off for our parte ;
therefore prophesy and say unto them, Thua aaith the Lord God, Behold, O my
people, I will open your graves, and cause you to come up out of your gravea,
and bring yon into the land of Israel, and ye ehall know that I am the Lord,
when I have opened your graves, O my people, and brought you up out of your
graves, and shall put my Spirit in you, and ye shall live, and I shall place you
in your own land, then ye 8hall know that I the Lord have spoken it and
performed it, aaith the Lord."
In thia sense the scripture was then fulfilled, when God did bring the Jews
from their graves ; he placed them in their otvn land, and restored the life of
their civil and ecclesiastical policy. He performed what he had spoken, and
they knew that he was the Lord their God. But is this the full aenee and
meaning of the parable ? Are we to understand nothing more by it, than this

PARABLE OF THE DRY BONES. 917
outward completion ? Are we to rest here ? By no means. It is of more gene
ral use and instruction. We may aU receive profit from it, as I hope the foUowing
reasons will convince you. And
First, We are assured by the apostle, that " no scripture is of private inter
pretation." It was aU written for the general use of the church of Christ, in all
times and circumstances, therefore we may not yet rest in the private interpreta
tion of this parable, applicable to the Jewish church in the Babylonish bondage,
but we must look out for a more extensive sense, applicable to the catholic
church of Christ : For,
Secondly, we otherwise get no farther than the Uteral sense. It was a matter
of fact, that God did bring the Jews after seventy years' bondage up again to
their own land. This is the letter of the parable. But the apostle forbids us
to rest here. We must seek for the spiritual sense ; " Because the letter," he
says, " killeth, but the Spirit giveth life." And that we may and must attain
the spiritual, which is the life-giving sense, he expressly teaches us when he
declares Thirdly, That God's outward dealings tvith the Jewish church tvere a type
and figure of his spiritual dealings tvith the Christian church. For thus he sayc,
1 Cor. x. 11, "That all these things happened unto them for ensamples, and they
are written for our admonition." Among the rest, what happened to them in
the Babylonish captivity was for an example to us, and this parable treating of
their state under it, and of their deliverance from it, was written for our admo
nition, and is to have its completion in us spiritually, as it had in them bodily.
These arguments may suffice to prove, that this parable cannot be of a private
interpretation. It has a spiritual as well as a literal sense, tvhich belongs to us,
which is to set before us an example, that tve are to follow, and from tvhich we
are to receive admonition and instruction to our souls. And it sets before our
eyes some of the great truths of the gospel in a most striking light. AVe have
here an affecting representation of our lost and dead state, while we are in the
bondage of sin, and of our hap]))- revival to newness of life, when tve are born
again of the Spirit of God. These are the great outlines of the parable, which
may the divine grace deeply impress upon all your hearts, while I am giving
you a short paraphrase upon the words, and then applying them, as God shall
enable me, to each of your consciences.
The prophet begins tvith informing us, that it tvas the eternal Spirit who
showed him this vision. " The hand of the Lord (the potver of Jehovah) was
upon me, and carried me in the Spirit of the Lord, and set me down in the
midst of the valley, tvhich tvas fuU of bones," even in the midst of the vaUey of
the shadow of death, where I 6atv sin and corruption reigning, and where I
beheld the souls of men as' dead in trespasses and sins, as dead to God and to
the thinga of spiritual and divine life, as dry and dead bones are to the offices
of animal life. AA'hen the scripture speaks thus of the death of the soul, the
idea is evidently taken from the death of the body ; for as the body, when it dies,
ceases to be actuated by the natural agents tvhich carry on animal life ; so the
soul when it dies, ceases to be actuated by the divine agents which carry on
spiritual life. But this spiritual death does not imply any dissolution or abso
lute insensibility ; it only signifies, that the sinful soul is cut off from aU com
munion tvith God, who is the fountain of life ; it is alienated from the Lfe of
God, and has lost its life of happiness in him, being now dead to his grace, as it
may, ere long, be dead to his glory. And what then could be a more proper
representation of a soul thus dead in sin, than a body dead in the grave ? And
what could paint in stronger colours the exceeding deadness of a sinful soul,
than the exceeding dryness of the bones of a dead body ? Under the death of
the outward man the prophet tvas made to see the death of tbe inward man.
The Spirit of the Lore! gave him a fuU view of these souls dead in sin : " for
he caused me," says he, " to pass by them round about, to go all around them,
and behold tliere tvere very many upon the face of the valley, and lo they were
very dry :" their number tvas very great, and their condition tvas very dead ;
tliey had so long, so entirely lost all spiritual life, that the bones of dead men,
from which the flesh is worn quite off, and which are become exceeding dry,

E

1)18 PARABLE OF THE DRV BOXES
were not farther removed from hfe, than the souls thus dead in trespasses and
sins. After the prophet had gone aU round them, " The Lord said unto him.
Son of man, can theae bones five ? Is there any power that is able to quicken
them to newness of life ? And I answered, O Lord God, Thou knowest " — Thou
only knowest what power ia requisite to raise a soul dead in sin. AU the powers
in nature I am certain cannot do it. They can no more give hfe to a dead aoul,
than they can raise the bones of a dead raan to life. Although this was the
Prophet's opinion, yet the Lord said unto him, " Prophesy unto these bones,
and say unto them, O ye dry bones, hear the word of the Lord. Thus saith the
Lord God, Behold I wttl lay sinetva upon you, and will bring up flesh upon
you, and cover you with 8kin, and put breath in you, and ye shall live, and ye
shall know that I am the Lord. So I prophesied as I was commanded." He
did not consult carnal reaaon, which would have showed him the abaurdity of
doing what God commanded ; but he instantly obeyed, and began preaching to
the dry bones, and calling upon them to hear the word of the Lord. Would not
some of you, my brethren, nave taken him to be quite diaordered in hia head,
if you had seen him preaching in a churchyard to a great number of dead dry
bones ? Would you not have thought Ezekiel aa mad aa any of our modern en-
thuaiasts ? For men reproach and ridicule the minietera of the goapel for doing the
very 8ame thing that he did. We are reckoned visionarieB and madmen, and what
not, becauae, after hi8 example, we preach the word of the Lord to the dead.
When we tell sinnera that they are aul dead, dead to God, dead to grace, and
may aoon die to glory ; and when we caU upon them in the name of the Lord
to awake from the dead sleep of ein, that Christ may give them life, then they
mock and ridicule. The same men would have made aa great a jeat of the
rophet, if they had seen him preaching to a congregation of dry bones. But
e preached as he was commanded, and ao do we. Lord, grant the aucceea
may be the aame. T'he bleaaed Jesus sende ua to preach the word to dry
boDes, and we obey. He aenda ua out in hia name, with hia commiaaion, and
in hia strength, and promises to be with ua by hia Spirit. We should be en
thusiasts indeed, if we thought ourselvea able to awaken one dead sinner
without the effectual working of hia power. AVe know that it ia he who
worketh in us and by us, for without him we can do nothing ; and therefore
let men reproach ua for doing hia work, tve will go on, pitying, nnd praying
for them, and the more they reproach us, the more we will preach, and the more
earnestly, to the dead in sin ; and who knowa but as the work is God's, he may
apeak to the inward eara of the aoul, while we are speaking to the outward earB of
the body, and bid the sinner awake and live. Glory be to his holy name, for that
he often accompanies this foolishnesa of preaching with hia divine power. Thanks
be to him for Betting his 6eal to the truth of our worda, by awakening the dead through
ourweak ministry. Oh that hia goodSpirit may now aeal the word.and by his bleaa
ing fulfil what follows in the parable — " So I prophesied aa I waa commanded, and
as I prophesied there waB a noise," in the Hebrew, a voice, namely, the voice of
God. The prophet waa apeaking ; and to eay that there was a voice while he waa
apeaking, would be mere tautology, and unmeaning repetition, if we apply it to
him. But if while he spake, the power of the Lord waa present, then the driest
bones would hear ; and if while we address ourselvea to the outward earB, the voice
of God carries the sound at the eame time to the heart, then even the dead hear thia
almighty voice, and awake, and aee their guilt and danger, and begin to be con
cerned about their salvation. When the Spirit of God speaks conviction to the
heart, theee effects always foUow, and it is evident the voice was his from what is
mentioned next in the parable ; " for as I prophesied there waa a voice, and behold,
a shaking " — behold, a matter worthy of the closest attention, there was a great
shaking among the dry bones, even as it were an earthquake among them : for
the word rendered shaking is the scripture term for an earthquake. And be
hold, there is ae great a shaking in the soul of the einner when he is awakened
and convinced of sin. He that has been dead in sin, helpless and loet for ever in
himself, then begins to quake and tremble : he Bees the corruption of his nature
— odious and abominable altogether : he sees his life was one continued scene of
open injury to God, and dishonour to hia law : looking back, he beholds nothing

PARABLE OF THE DRY BONES. 919
but guilt ; looking forward, he beholds nothing but everlasting destruction : i pDn
which fear and a horrible dread overwhelm him. The Holy Spirit sets home these
convictions upon tbe conscience. He gives it such a sight of the guilt and danger
of sin, that the sinner sees he cannot save himself. In this distress he continues
untiUhe remainder of the parable be fulfiUed in him: for we read, that after the
shaking — " The bones came together, bone to his bone. And when I beheld, lo
the sinews and the flesh came up upon them, and the skin covered them above'
but there was no breath in them." Here is in the letter of the parable the out
side and shape of man — a body, but it is inanimate — there is no life in it. So in
the spiritual sense, if the soul should rest in the externals of religion, and sit
down content with any thing short of the vital influence of the Holy Spirit, there
is no life in it. Whatever may promise to animate it, stttl it wiU remain dead.
Good works, ordinances, orthodoxy, are but the letter that kttleth, unless the
Spirit that giveth life be in them. You may belong to the best constituted church
upon earth, which has sound articles and creeds like strong bones and sinews,
and flesh upon them, and which has a good liturgy, and decent pubhc worship
like a fair skin to cover all; and yet in this communion your soul may be dead :
for these external privileges cannot give the breath of life to the souL " It is the
Spirit that quickeneth, the flesh profiteth nothing," the flesh (the externals of
rehgion) profiteth nothing unless the Spirit animate them, as we learn from the
next words in the parable. " Then said he unto me, Prophesy unto the wind
and eay, Thus saith the Lord God, Come from the four winds, O breath, and
breathe upon these slain, that they may live. So I prophesied as he commanded
me, and tne breath came into them, and they lived, and stood up upon their feet,
an exceeding great army." Glory be to God for daily fulfiUing this part of the
parable. His good Spirit daily awakens poor dead sinners, and puts the breath
of divine life into them; and this he does by the weakest means, even by the
foolishness of preaching, that it may appear the potver comes from him, and that
att the glory may return to him. He sends us out to preach, bids us call to the
dead — we do as we are commanded; but we know that we could no more raise a
dead soul from the grave of sin, than we could raise a dead body from the grave
of corruption. We speak our Lord's words, and he blesses them. He sends his
grace along with them, and the dead hear his voice. They awake. They see their
guilt and their danger: at the sight of which their hearts sink tvithin them —
tliey find themselves perishing — and a great trembling and violent shaking seizes
them. Fear is on every side. No way is left to escape, but to fly to the Saviour
of sinners. And as soon as they turn to him, he receives them gladly. He sends
the Holy Spirit (the dearest pledge of his love) to give them evidence of their new
birth unto righteousness, and to assure them of their justification to life. Then
they live unto God — and " stand up upon their feet," being enabled to go for
ward in the ways of holiness — " An exceeding great army," — an innumerable
multitude, which no man could number, and they all hold swords, being expert
in war, a great army of the faithful soldiers of Jesus Christ fighting their way to
a crown of righteousness, against all the opposition of sin and Satan, ofthe world
and the flesh, and never quitting the field of battle, until the Captain of their
salvation place the never-fading crown upon their heads.
This is, I think, the spiritual sense of the parable. A\'e have in it, a descrip
tion of man in his natural state as dead in trespasses and sins — in his awakened
state aa unable to do any thing to raise himself from the death of sin to newness
of Ufe — and in his justified state, as raised to spiritual and divine life by Christ,
"ho is the Ufe of the world, and by the effectual working of his good Spirit.
These great truths are beautifully painted in the parable. It sets them before
our eyes in a very affecting manner. And I hope every one of you has been pro
perly affected according to the view he has had of the state of his soul. But what
ever impression has been made, I cannot leave the subject, tvithout making some
short practical remarks, and may the almighty Spirit apply them to the necessi
ties of those who are concerned in them.
And first, I have a word to the dry bones, to the dead in sin. AVe are aU in
this state by nature — dead in trespasses and sins — dead to God and to the things
of God. If you believe the scripture you cannot deny this. It describes your

920 PARABLE OF THE DRY BONES.
souls to be as incapable of performing any of the offices of spiritual life as the
dry bones of a dead body are of performing the offices of animal hfe. If God
and his word be true, this is the condition of every one of us by nature, and it
is the first work of grace to convince us of it. When the Holy Spirit begins to
move in the sinner's heart, he convinces him of his lost and helpless state, and
he sees and finds that without Christ he can do nothing. And can every one of
you aay from hia own experience — 1 have had this conviction. If you had, then
one step is taken — may he who hath begun, carry on the work, until he make
you hving membera of Christ's mystical body ! But if you tvere never yet con
vinced of your being by nature dead in trespasses and sins, then you are atiU
alienated from the life of God; for you wiU not seek life from him, until you be
ttf vinced of your want of it. As transgressors, his holy law condemns you to
death. The solemn sentence is passed, "The soul that sinneth it shall die."
Did you never read this sentence as standing out against yourself ? Have you
never had any 8ense of the exquisite misery of being eternally separated from
God the fountain of life? Have you no sense of it at present, no thought, no
concern about being ahenated in body and soul, and to all eternity, from God
and his glory? O almighty Saviour, if there he any persons here present in
this state, speak to the dry bones. They can hear no voice but thine. Oh let the
aU-reviring aound, which Lazarus' dead body heard, now be heard in every dead
heart. Now Lord Jesus prove thyself to be the resurrection and the life. Call
to every unawakened soul in thia congregation, and say, "Awake thou that
sleepest, and arise from the dead." O Almighty God and Saviour, send these
worda home to every dead sinner, that he may awake and be concerned for hia
salvation, and thereby may follow me in my second remark.
AVhile the prophet was preaching, the voice of God spake to tbe heart, while
he spake to the outward eara, and " behold there waa a great shaking." The
sinner shook and trembled for fear. The Lord showed him hia former dead
state, and hia present danger, and at the Bight of both an horrible dread over
whelmed him. He beheld the perfect purity and spirituahty of the divine law —
he saw the vile and loathsome nature of sin — he beheld the holiness, and truth,
and justice of God, armed with almighty power and ready to destroy him. Con
science tvitneseed againet him, and haunted him with ite horrore night and day.
lie found that hell was hie desert, and he 8aw no way open to escape it. How
ever hardened and obdurate he had been before, yet aU these circumstances put
together act him a ahaking and trembling. Had he been in an earthquake, when
the ground heaved and tossed with auch violent ahocka, that he could not Btand
upon it, and had he seen it opening its mouth in many a hideous crack, and
swallowing up multitudes all around him, he could not have shaked and trembled
more. Hi8 soul fainted within him ; and he had not a ray of hope left, unless God
would be pleased to stretch out hia omnipotent arm, and to save him from going
down to the pit of destruction.
And can every one of you, my brethren, remember when this was your case ?
If you were never in any di8trea8 less or more, at the sight of your sinfulnesa and
misery — Oh consider, I beseech you, your danger. You are Btill secure in Bin,
yea dead in tre8passes and sins. AVhen the Holy Spirit is come to awaken your
soul, his first work is to convince you of sin, and if he has not begun this work
— fancy yourself to be ahve — reform your outward life — become civil, and moral,
and honest, yet you have not taken one step in the divine life ; if you have never
been deeply convinced of sin, you have not been stirred up nor shaken from the
lees — your poor soul is stttl dead to the grace of God, and unlesa you be con
vinced of ein it will, ere long, be dead to hie glory. But if you have been
awakened, and convinced of sin, then the parable ia so far happily fulfilled in
you. There has been a shaking among the dry bones. They have been trem
bling and quaking, and with great reason. Sinners while under conviction,
have every thing to fear that is terrible. They have an offended God set in
battle array against them, a broken latv thundering out its curses upon their
guilty heads, conecience owning tbe guilt, the devil ready to torment, and heU
open to receive thera : and if the prospect of tliese things be not terrible, what is?
Ara I now speaking to any of you, who says, I trm accjuainted tvith these terrors

PARABLE OF THE DRY BONES. 921
— I have been made to see my sinfulness and my danger, and I find my helpless
lost condition — dangers so surround me on every side, that I know not whither
to turn myself. Is this the language of thine heart ? Art thou indeed shaken
from all trust and confidence in self? Then turn thee to the blessed Jesus. He
is a Saviour for thee. Such as thou art he came to save — such poor, lost and
ruined sinners. Wait on him. Be found in the ways of his ordinances, and he
wttl supply all thy wants. He wiU give thee freely out of his fulness, grace for
grace, and glory to crown all his graces.
But, methinks I hear some afflicted soul reply — I have been waiting upon the
Lord Jesus long, but have found no comfort. It may be so. But who is to
blame? May you not have sought comfort in a wrong manner, by placing reli
gion in the form instead of the power, according to what is described in the third
part of the parable, where we have aU the parts of an human body, but for want
of breath there was no life in them ; and this was written to show, that you are
not to stop short of Christ and his comforts by resting in externals. You are
not to be content with the form and the outside of religion, without the life and
spirit of it. And herein the parable condemns those persons, who upon their
being first brought under some concern about their souls, are apt to trust in
duties, instead of going to Christ. They set about reforming their outward be
haviour, go to church, say their prayers, read the scriptures, give alms, attend
constantly at the sacrament — supposing that these outward things can give hfe to
the soul: they rest in them, as of themselves sufficient and meritorious, which
ie setting them up against our Saviour, and resting in them as saviours, whereas
Chriat alone has life to give to the dead in sin. *' I am the life," says he. Who
soever is not united to him by faith, has no true spiritual life in him, as he found,
who had more duties to depend upon than any of us have, and yet he counteei
thera but dross and dung that he might win Christ. " The life which I now live
in the flesh," says the blessed apostle, " I live by the faith of the Son of God ; " it
is a spiritual life derived from the Son of God, and received from him by faith,
which is the breath of life in the justified soul, inspired into it by the Holy
Spirit, as the last part of the parable proves. The dry bones had come together,
the sinews and flesh had grown up upon them, the skin was spread over all —
here were all the parts of an human body, but there was no life, until the Spirit
of the Lord put breath into them, and they Uved, and stood up. It is the very
eame case with the sinful soul. Nothing can give it life but the Spirit of God.
He ie to the soul what breath is to the body. He is so much the breath of life,
that in the Old Testament and the New the same word tvhich stands for the
breath that supports the life of the body, stands for the Holy Spirit, who supports
the hfe of the soul. T'he air that we breathe, and the Holy Spirit, have but one
name in scripture. And therefore as the body is not alive until it breathes, so
neither is the soul alive to God until the Holy Spirit infuse into it the breath of
life. And as the body is alive only so long as it breathes, in like manner the
aoul Uvea to God only so long as the Holy Spirit breathes in it. Let his influence
6top, and the life of grace is at an end, as the life of the body is at an end so
soon as its breathing is stopped.
My brethren, this is one of the most important truths in the Christian reli
gion. It is the Holy Spirit and his work upon the heart that makes us Christians ;
" For if any man have not the Spirit of Christ he is none of his " — he is no
Christian. So say the oracles of truth. If any man — be he ever so moral and
honest — a strict observer of outward duties, a good churchman — a charitable
man; yet if he has not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his — he is none of
Clirist s family. He is not a living member of Christ's body. He may have a
name that he Iiveth, but he is dead. And what good would it do you to have the
name of a living man, if your body tvas dead? If you could neither stir nor
move, if your breath was stopped, would it be of any service to you, that men said
you were alive? Could their saying so raise you to life ? Infinitely more useless
ia it to have a name, that your soul Iiveth, while it is dead to God. Hear this,
ye formal professors, who are destitute of the life and potver of religion. Yuu
are hut so many dry bones. And what tast numbers have tve of them in all our
congregations! Oh that the almighty Spirit may put the breath of life into you,

h;

D22 PARABLE Ol' THIS un\ auiMio.
and quicken you together with Christ, and make you sit together in heavenly
places in Christ Jesus 1
Perhaps you think you don't stand in need of his grace. Then, if God be true,
you have no more life in your soul than these dry bones had, when they lay loose
and scattered up and down in the valley. Until he put his life-giving Spirit into
you, you are as dead as they were. Or perhaps you think you may have his
grace, and not know it. That cannot be. The Holy Spirit is the convincer of
sin. AA'hen he awakens your conscience, fills it with conviction, and there is a
shaking in every part and faculty, what a strange shaking would it be, if you
should neither know it, nor feel it. So again, when he infuses into you the
breath of life, and you hve to God, what an unaccountable breath would this be,
if having it and hving by it, you ahould not knotv it? Did these dry bones know,
when they were alive, and stood upon their feet ? Most certainly they did. Do
ou know now, whither you breathe and live, or not ? Just the same evidence
as the soul of its being alive to God. " We knotv that tve are passed," says
an apostle, " frora death unto life." We know the same, aay all hia disciples —
A\'e know that God hath given to us eternal life — We have his Spirit the witness,
the earnest of it in our hearts, and the world may see the evidence of it in our
lives and conversations.
But is not this, trill some say, talking like enthusiasts ? It is their very lan
guage. But then it is also the ianguage of scripture. The Old Testament is full
of this enthusiasm. — The New abounds tvith it. You can scarce open the Bible
any where, without finding some high flights of enthusiasm, something con
cerning being quickened by the Spirit, being born of the Spirit, and raised up by
him, being instructed and led by the Spirit, having the love of God shed abroad
in the heart by the Holy Ghost, concerning his dwelling in believers, and their
having the witness of the Spirit, and being sealed by nim, and sanctified, and
strengthened with might by him in the inner man. If theae scripture expressions
Bavour 8trongly of enthusiasm, so does the liturgy of our church. Every day we
pray to God that he would not take his Holy Spirit from us, but would cleanae
our hearts by the inapiration of hie 11 oly Spirit, and would enable us by his holy
inspiration, to think those things that be good, and by his merciful guiding to
perform the eame, would renew us daily by his Holy Spirit, and grant us by the
same Spirit to have a right judgment in all thinge : we pray to him to com
fort ue, even that we may rejoice evermore in his holy comfort, and that he may
exalt ua unto the same place, whither our Saviour Christ ia gone before. No
words can be stronger than the petitions, which we have been offering up thie
very day at the throne of grace — " O God, forasmuch as without thee, we are
not able to please thee ; mercifully grant that thy Holy Spirit may in aU things
direct and rule our hearts, through Jesu8 Christ our Lord. Amen." Such is
the language of scripture, and the language of our church. They both speak of
the Holy Spirit as the vital principle of the Christian religion, so that if you take
him out of it, you leave ita profeasora like a body without breath : for the Holy
Spirit is to their souls what breath ie to their bodies, insomuch that they cannot
live one moment to God without his continual inspiration. And surely it ia not
enthusiasm to say, that our bodiea cannot live without breath ; and how then can
it be enthusiasm to say, that our aoula cannot live without the Holy Spirit, who ia
the breath of our spiritual hfe ?
Since, then, there lays no objection against the doctrine contained in the par
able ; since all men are by nature dead in trespasses and sins : since nothing
can raise them frora the death of sin to newness of life, but the inspiration of
the Almighty ; and since Christ has purchased life for the dead in sin, and the
Holy Spirit is to apply it and to quicken them, the discourse is now brought to a
point. Only one question now remains, and that is, Has this parable been ful
fiUed in us ? Can every one of us lay his hand upon his heart, and declare in the
presence of God, " I know this scripture to be true by my own experience. The
Spirit of God showed me my guilt and danger, at the sight of which my unbe
lieving heart shook and trembled for fear, but he gave me grace to resolve, that
I would 6eek Jesus unttt I found him : on him I was kept waiting, enabled to
reject all hopes in my own power or works, unttt he put his witnessing Spirit

PREVENTING ROBBERIES AND MURDERS. 923
within me, and I knew that I was one of the children of God by faith in Christ
tB?\ ui every one of you say> tllat God Ila(1 dealt thus with your souls >
If he hath, happy are ye. In you this scripture is fulfiUed. But if he hath not
it was written for your instruction— to teach you, how God would deal with you'
if ever he brings you to himself. Oh that his good Spirit may deal tvith you m
the manner here described, that he may now begin, and carry on the work of grace
step by step, until aU the dry bones, until every dead sinner be awakened, and
hear the word of the Lord ; until every awakened sinner be pardoned and jus
tified, and sanctified, and at last glorified in the name of the Lord Jesus, and by
the Spirit of our God. May he who is almighty to quicken the dry bones, exert
his power in quickening all this congregation to a life of grace here, and to a life
of eternal glory hereafter. Grant this, blessed God and Father, through the
merits of thy Son Jesus Christ our Lord, and by the influence of the Holy
Spirit upon aU our hearts now and for ever. Amen and Amen.

A METHOD FOR PREVENTING THE FREQUENCY OF
ROBBERIES AND MURDERS ;
PROPOSED IN
A DISCOURSE
DELIVERED AT BT. GEORGE'S, HANOVER-SQUABE, AT ST. DUNSTAN'S IN
THE WEST, AND AT SEVERAL OTHER PLACES IN LONDON.

The sin of Judah is written with a pen of iron, and with the point of a diamond ; it is
graven upon the table of their heart. — Jer. xvii. 1 .
Out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts,
false witness, blasphemies : these are the things which defile a man. — Matthew
xv. 19, 20.
All these evil things, which defile the man, proceed from the heart : here the
desires are first formed, and from hence they flow out, and put in motion, and
animate the other faculties. And such as the fountain is, such are the streams
which flow from it. If the heart be evil and corrupt in itself, the thoughts of
the heart will also be evil and corrupt, and the actions which are directed by these
thoughts, must also partake of their etil and corruption. For the heart thinks,
resolves, and then acts ; and if the thought be evil, the resolution and the act,
which are the direct consequences of it, must be also evil. Nothing but evil can
flow from an evil heart. Whenever the scripture speaks of the faculties ofthe soul,
it uses words borrowed from the faculties ofthe body, because tve are not capable
of forming any idea of spiritual, unless they be compared to material objects. The
soul has its spring and principle of motion as weU as the body, and this we caU
the heart, borrowing the word from that part, which is known to be the spring
and principle of all the motions in the human frame ; for from the heart pro
ceeds that vital blood, which carries on every operation throughout the body,
and from which every vessel and organ has its proper nourishment ministered.
The heart has the same use and office in our little world, as the sun has in the
great world, being the fountain of hfe and genial warmth, of growth and strength
in the microcosm of man. And when we apply this word to the soul, we fix the
eame meaning to it. The heart is that part which puts all the other faculties of
the soul in motion, it is the fountain from whence our thoughts flow, and our re-
solutions and actions are only so many streams, which take a good or bad tinc
ture according to the nature of the spnng from whence they have their origin.

924 METHOD FOR PREVENTING
In this aense our blessed Lord here speaks of the soul ; he makes the heart
the fruitful cause of every vice, supposing it to be polluted even at the very
fountain-head ; and how then is it possible there should be any thing but poUu
tion in the channels, which issue from it ? If the heart be corrupt, so will be the
actions. From an evil heart nothing can proceed, hut murder, adultery, fornica
tion, theft, false-witness, and blasphemy : for when the principle which sets all
these in motion is defiled, what can spring from it but defilement ?
This is our Lord's doctrine, and never was there greater occasion to consider it,
than in the present times, when these vices are grown to such an enormous
height, that they are openly committed in defiance of all law, divine and human.
'The legislature has been lately alarmed at their prodigious increase, and has been
trying to find out some effectual remedy : but what has been hitherto attempted
has not met trith the desired succeas. Robberies, murders, &c. are stiU as common
as ever, and will become daily more common, unlesa tve strike at the root of the
evil. The heart is the cause of all, and no act of parliament can touch the heart.
It is out ofthe reach of every human tribunal. The vices by which our natural
corruption have got into the heart, cannot be displaced by the wisest laws and
edicts ; these can only regulate the outward actions. The polluted fountain is
still inaccessible to any authority but the great Creator's. He alone can give the
almighty fiat, let it be clean, and it is clean. Nothing can purify it from the
unclean thoughts of murder, adultery, fornication, &c. but his divine grace and
tirtue; to which may he enable us now to commit the guidance of our hearts.
We beseech thee to take them, O eternal Spirit, under thy gracious influence,
and let no unclean thought enter into them, while we are meditating upon these
words of our God and Saviour — " Out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, mur
ders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false-witness, blasphemies : these arc the
things which defile a man."
First, It is here asserted, that the heart, the fountain of all our actions, ia
polluted. Secondly, The manner in which it became poUuted is here plainly implied ; and
thie will lead us,
Thirdly, To enquire into the means of cleanaing and purifying it.
First, our blessed Lord here declares, that the heart, the fountain of all thought
anel motion, is polluted. In its natural state it is entirely impure. It i8 the
unclean reeidence of the fouleBt spirita, even of murder, adultery, fornication,
theft, perjury, and bla8phemy. Theee are they which by nature dwell in the
heart and defile the man : for corrupt nature ie alwaya diapoeed to receive some
one or aU of theae poUuted tempere, aa temptation ehall offer. The propeneity
to them ia univer8al. Our church has accurately described thia point in her
Sth article.
" Original ain ia the fault and corruption of the nature of every man, that
naturaUy is engendered of the offspring of Adam, whereby man ie very far gone
from original righteousness, and is of his own nature inclined to evtt, bo that the
fleah lu8teth always contrary to the Spirit, and therefore in every person born
into the world it deserved God's wrath and damnation."
This was the opinion of our reformers, and if you find any difficulty in giving
your assent to it, the arguments upon which they built it will, I hope, satisfy you
perfectly. The express testimony of the Creator of the hearts of all men, and
the experience of thinking men from the beginning of the world to this day,
tvere the chief authoritiea upon which they grounded their opinion. The whole
scripture euppoees man to be in a state of corruption, and several pasaage8 expreea -
the univereality of this corruption. It is thus dehvered, Gen. vi. 5, in the clearest
terrae. " And God eaw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and
that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually."
Man does not here signify any one man, or race of men, but mankind, the whole
human nature, which is said to be so poUuted with original wickedness, that
every imagination, not one excepted, of the thoughts of his heart was only evil,
and continuaUy too. AVhat a fountain then of deadly poison is the human heart ;
since all the streams tvhich flow frora it are evil, and continuaUy evil ! The uni
versal spreading of this malignant infection could not be expreesed in stronger

ROBBERIES AND MURDERS. 925
words, than to declare, that there was not one imagination in the heart, but what
tvas evil, and always evil. Such is man in his natural state : and might not then
the apostle truly say of it, Eph. ii. 3. " We are aU by nature the children of
wrath even as others ; for the scripture hath concluded aU (men, both Jews and
Gentiles) under sin."
This is the scripture account of the heart of the natural man, and experience
confirms it. Men are in fact such as the scripture describes them, a race of fallen
corrupt beings. We find none of them upright and perfect, no not one. That
moral rectitude of nature, tvhich some metaphysical divines dream of, has no
existence among the sons of Adam. Heathen writers as weU as Christian prove
it to be but a dream : for of the corruption of nature they all complain, and give
us melancholy proofs of the prevalency of the vices mentioned in the text in
every country and in every age. In the present age we see and feel them : they
are grown to such an enormous height at present, that they are become a reproach
to our religion, and a dishonour to our latvs. Not a day passes, but tve hear of
eome robbery, or murder, or adultery, &c, and the fountain from whence they all
spring is the heart. And can the heart then be clean by nature, and yet send
forth such polluted streams ? Certainly the same spring cannot send forth sweet
water and bitter? That which sends forth nothing but corruption, must be cor
rupt in its very origin. The peccant matter must lie at the fountain head, and
how rank and venomous it is, tve can have no doubt, if we tvill but open our eyes,
and survey that deluge of wickedness, which now covers the face of the earth.
It is certain then that the heart of man is by nature poUuted. Scripture and
sad experience forbid us to doubt of it ; and yet against the evidence of these
authorities there are some men, who caU it in question, and who think they show
their superior reason by believing neither Goel, nor their otvn senses. What God
declares to them they cannot but see is a matter of fact, and yet because they find
eome difficulty in accounting for the manner in which the heart became sp pol
luted, they would therefore strangely infer, that it is not poUuted at all. This is
a very absurd conduct, but it is common to all unbelievers, and therefore it is
necessary to speak to the
Second particular, wherein it tvas proposed to consider the manner in which
the human heart became thus polluted. None of the ancient philosophers, nor
none of the modern reasoners, have given us any satisfactory account upon this
head. The origin of evil ia a subject, which has been always debated in the
schools of the infidels, and they have not yet produced any solution tvhich their
own advocates are agreed to defend. How evtt came into the heart is, upon the
plan of their natural and metaphysical religion, absolutely unaccountable. And
this is a good presumptive proof in favour of the scripture account : for the heart
ie certainly poUuted, and the greatest men among the ancient philosophers and
the modern unbeli evers have been able to offer nothing satisfactory, neither to them
aelves nor others, concerning the manner of its poUution. But the scripture
accounts for it thus, in a plain intelligible way.
God created all things at first in a perfect state. "When he had finished his
works, he took a survey of them, and pronounced them all to be very good. There
was no pain in the natural, and no evil in the spiritual, world. Man was innocent.
His heart was right with God. 'The thoughts of it were clean and pure altoge
ther. He knew no guilt ; he had no fear ; and therefore he was happy.
The creature, who first introduced evil into the works of God, waa the devil ;
for thus says our blessed Sariour, " The devU was a murderer from the beginning,
nnd a liar, and the father of it," John viii. 44. In the beginning he murdered our
first -parents, by seducing them into that sin, which subjected their bodies to
death, and both their bodies and souls to eternal condemnation. And he was the
fnther of lies as weU as of murder : for aU was truth and innocence, until he
offered the first lying suggestion to the heart, and basely insinuated, that God had
maliciously forbidden our first parents the use of the tree of knowledge. To this
insinuation they hearkened, they suffered it to make an impression upon their
hearts, and disbelieving what their gracious Creator and heavenly Father had
revealed to them, they built their faith on the words of the lying spirit, and acted
accordinglv. Thus he deceived them, and in them aU their posterity ; for St.

92G METHOD FOR PREVENTING
John, speaking of the great dragon, says, " This is that old serpent called the
devil aud Satan, which deceiveth the whole tvorld." Rev. xii. 9.
The consequence of our first parents being deceived by his lying insinuations
was the loss of their innocence and happiness. With their innocence they loat
the grace and presence of God : " For he is of purer eyes than to behold the least
iniquity," and after his dirine grace and presence were withdrawn, the heart was
left to itaelf, and to ita otvn natural workinga, which under the tempter'a manage
ment could produce nothing but murders, adulteries, thefts, &c. which are the
corrupt fruits of a corrupt heart. And into whatever heart the dirine grace is not
returned, the sarae corruptions still remain, and we see the effects of them still
breaking out in the same abominable vices : for the heart of the natural man is
deceitful above all things and desperately wicked — so wicked, that sin ia engraven
upon it trith a character, which no human art or power can era8e. " The sin of
Judah is written with a pen of iron, and with the point of a diamond ; it ia graven
npon the table of their heart." Jer. xvii. 1. And what hand can come at the8e
impreaaiona, wliich are cut ao deep aa to be incorporated into the very aubatance
of the heart ? What power can reach and deface them, but his alone, whoae pre
rogative it ia to Bearch the heart and the reinB ?
Thia ia the scripture account. And as it is most plain and rational, to what
can unbelievers object ? They have nothing to subatitute instead of this :
and they can urge nothing against it, except they inquire, Why God ahould euffer
man to fall, if he foresaw that it would be attended with such dreadful conse
quences ? But thie ia only asking, Why he mado man a free agent ? For if he
waa free, he muat have a capacity to make a wrong, aa well aa a right, use of hia
free will ; and therefore he could not be placed in a atate faUing frora tvhich waa
impoaeible. That the firet man tvas created with free will we have a most melan
choly demonstration, the effecta of tvhich are Btill Been and felt all over the tvorld ;
and that he had every aseiatance which could enable him to make a right uae of
his free will, the scripture givea ua a fuU account : but he abuaed it. Upon which
the a88istance before given was withdrawn ; and after thie assistance was taken
out of the heart, there tvas nothing left in it but its own fleahly desires and inclina
tions ; and when theae tvere 8pirited up by the lying suggestion of the infernal
tempter, what could come out of such a heart, but murder, adultery, fornication,
rpbbery, trith aU the other polluted works of the fleeh and the devil?
Upon thie atate of the ca8e it appears, that man loat by the fall the two chief
blessings of hia epiritual life, namely, the image of God, and the Spirit of God.
Sin blotted out the image of God, in which man was at first created, and the
scripture expressly declares, that we were afterwards born in the image of our
father Adam with all his worldly desires, and corrupt inclinations. Gen. v. 3. And
these the sacred writers generally term " the flesh," signifying by this word all the
carnal appetites which govern man aince the fall, and of which the apoatle declares,
" That they who are in the fleah cannot pleaae God," Rora. viii. 8. Becauae
while they are governed by the flesh, and not by the Spirit, they continue in the
image of the earthly Adam, and in the likeness of his fallen nature; by which
they are also ahenated from the Spirit of God. The divine and holy Spirit left
the poUuted temple of the heart after sin had profaned it. He is of purer eyes
than to behold the least iniquity, and therefore he could not dweU in an impure
heart ; and upon his retiring, it became alienated from the life of God, being now
a perfect stranger to all the graces of that spiritual life, which innocent man had
always, and liberally enjoyed. And after the divine image was thus extinguished,
and the divine Spirit was gone, which the scripture expressly declares were the
two fatal effects of the faU, then the heart of man waa under the dominion of ita
own fleshly deairea, and was ready to commit any of the abominable deeds of the
flesh, whenever opportunity ahould offer, and inclination invite, and the deril
strongly solicit to the commission of them.
Now every man who comes into the world is by nature in this state, and he witt
continue in it, until he finds the misery of it ; until the aenae of his distreaa force
him to cry out, Oh wretched man that I am, who shall deliver me from the body
of this death ? This conviction of our misery is the first step towards a dehverance
from it. So soon aa we find ourselves sick, we are half cured : for if we can

ROBBERIES AND MURDERS. 927
but bring ourselves to go with humility and prayer to the almighty Physician, he
has promised to give us freely every thing proper for our relief. He is both able
and wiUing to cleanse the fountain of the heart from aU its corruptions, which
is theThird and last inquiry I was to make : for though man be miserable in him
self, yet God hath not left him without remedy. The great design of Christianity
ie to restore man to the state from whence he feU, and by the sarae steps through
which he feU. Sin put an entire stop to the divine grace and influence, which are
as necessary to the soul as breath is to the body, and when they tvere withdrawn,
the sinner then lost the image of God, and the Spirit of God : through the merits
of our Lord Jesus Christ the divine grace and influence are offered to us again,
and whoever seeks them by humility and prayer, until he receive them, is then
made a partaker of the Spirit of God, who first makes the heart faithful and
penitent, and afterwards justifies it by the blood of Christ, and sanctifies it by
forming in it aU the sweet and holy tempers of the blessed Jesus, in which the
image of God now consists. And when the heart is thus created anew and rege
nerated, then is that great change perfected, of which the apostle speaks, 1 Cor.
xv. " As we have born the image of the first Adam, who is of the earth, in like
manner shall we bear the image of the second Adam, who is the Lord from
heaven." And whoever is renewed after the image of this second Adam, he has
a clean and a pure heart, and a sweet fountain might as soon send forth poisonous
water, as this sanctified heart can produce murder, adultery, fornication, or any
of the filthy works of the flesh.
This is the scripture account of the means of cleansing the heart. The great
purifier is Jesus Christ, tvhose blood has infinite merit to wash away the poUu
tions of the whole world. The Holy Spirit is the gracious agent, who purifies
the heart with this aU-meritorious blood. It is his office to take out by the
sprinkling of the blood of Jesus aU the guilt of our corrupt nature, and " to create
in us a new heart and a right spirit," — the new heart bears the image of our
merciful Saviour, and the right spirit is no longer alienated from the life of God,
but lives in holy communion and fellowship with the Holy Spirit. And thus
the sinner becomes a new man and a new creature. His soul is endued tvith
a new set of faculties and tempers entirely Christian, and his heart tvhich tvas
formerly the habitation of the foulest vices, of murder, adultery, fornication, &c.
ia now consecrated, and made an holy temple for the living God.
This is the only method, which the scripture has taught us, of cleansing the
heart from those worldly and carnal tempers with which it is by nature infected.
If you refuse to believe the scripture, try any other method ; but be assured you
must come to this at last. Experience will bring you to it. You wttl find, God
grant you may find it in time, that nothing is able to purify the heart, but the
blood of the Lamb of God, and that nothing is able to apply it to the heart, but
the eternal Spirit. You tvill be the more fully convinced of this the more you
try other things : see first how far the boasted religion of nature, and its moral
rectitude, and the fitness of things, and such like metaphysical nonentities, can
reform the heart — make your experiments upon the liberal arts and sciences — go
through them one after another — study books and men — try every thing that wit
can invent or money purchase, and withhold nothing from your soul of all its
desires — and then sit down, and carefully and impartially examine your own heart,
and judge, how far all these worldly pursuits and attainments have reformed it.
And what is the issue ? Are you reaUy better ? Do you find your heart more
free from corruption than it was when you first set out ? You wUl not, you cannot
assert it : because reason and matter of fact are against you ; they demonstrate,
that our worldly tempers must be fed and encouraged by these worldly pursuits
and attainments ; for it is a glaring contradiction to suppose that we can increase
our spirituals, by laying out all our time and pains upon temporals. Be there
fore assured that the more you try these worldly things, the worse you wttl be :
and the longer you try them, the more difficult you will find it to be set right.
They have no virtue to take one single vice out of the heart, but as they faU in
tvith our corrupt inclinations, they must encourage and strengthen every vice,
tvhich is in the heart. If you try all the powers upon earth, you wttl find by

928 METHOD FOR PREVENTING
experience, that the heart is out of their reach, nnd at last, if ever you see the face
of God with joy, you must conclude, that there is nothing but the blood of Jesus
Christ, and the operation of bis good Spirit, which is able to cleanse your pol
luted hearts, and to renew a right spirit within you.
Thus it is abundantly evident from experience, that nothing can purify and
take away the natural poUutions of the heart, hut the blood of Jesus Clirist
sprinkled upon it by the Holy Spirit. This is the only goepel method. And it
ia able to purify by faith and take away all theae poUutiona which nothing elae
can : for its power is also abundantly evident from experience. It has been found
effectual, after aU other methods have failed. It haa been tried ever since sin
first entered into the world, and has ever succeeded. And this single circum
stance seems sufficient to recommend it to the minda of all serious persons, and
to determine them to receive it as the sovereign remedy of their natnral corrup
tions. We have in the first ages after Christ, a particular account of the great
change made in men's hearts upon their embracing the gospel. And these
accounts are so well attested, that if the strongest historical evidence can gain
your assent, they tvill appear to you full and decisive. I remember to have seen
a passage in Lactantius, where in his apology for the Christiana of hia time, he
has tliese words, " Give me a man," say8 he to the heathens, "who is pttsaionate,
malicious, headatrong; tvith a few goapel precepts, I will render him as meek aa
a lamb. Give me one who ia covetoua, I tvill soon persuade him to be liberal
and charitable. Give me one who dreads afflictions and death, I wiU make him
run and court martyrdom. Give me an unclean, intemperate, unjust, cruel, sinful
wretch ; I will, by the knowledge of Christ, and by the influence of his laws, render
him chaste, sober, merciful, innocent, and holy." Lactantius had good reaaon for
what he here asserts : he had seen the gospel of Christ take theee vicea out of
men'a hearta, and tve have aeen the 8ame happy effecta of it in our daya ; not
indeed in so great a number, but, God be praised for it, tve have enow to demon
strate to any unbeliever, that the same gospel haa still the same power. You do
not see so rauch of ita power, becauae you do not hear eo much of the gospel.
But wherever the pure goepel of Jeaus Chriat ia preached, and men receive it
with faith, their experience daily con firma what Lactantiue long ago observed
Vou still see it work the same real change in men's tempere, which cannot arise
from any heat of fancy, or flight of enthusiasm, or sudden rapture of devotion,
because it ia a eober, regular, thorough change, that reforme the heart, and all its
affections, and influences the whole behaviour, rendering a man confident and
uniform throughout the whole courae of his future life. That audi changeB are
wrought at thia day ia an undoubted matter of fact. Sinnera, and great 8innera too,
are brought to eee the error of their waye, to foreake their wicked coui-Bea, to lead
a new life, to foUow the commandments of God, and to walk from henceforth in
hia holy waya. Thia ia an entire, a total change. When a Binner becomes a
Christian, he is absolutely a new creature and a new man, ineomuch that you may
truly 8ay of him, " old things are paaeed away, behold, all thinga are become
new ;" for he neither thinks, speaks, nor acta, ae he ueed to do. He has a new
set of senses and faculties. He neither seea thinga in the same light he did before,
nor hears after the same manner. What formerly pleased him, now displeases.
T'he very end of aU his pursuit8 is changed, and his happineea is placed on a dif
ferent object. We see this perfect change produced every day, when the g08pel
enter8 into any man's heart. As it takes possession, the corrupt pasaione retire.
The Holy Spirit purifies the fountain, and then all the streams run pure. It ia
evident, that he has given the heart a new nature, becauae what proceeds from it
is not influenced by the natural man. All is renewed. The murderer is humane
and loving, the fornicator and adulterer are chaate, the thief is honest, the false-
witness true, the blasphemer a Christian. Such is the glorious change, which the
Holy Spirit makes when he sprinklee the heart with the aU-purifying blood of the
Lamb of God.
And now tve have diecovered the cauae of the evil, and its remedy. The heart
of every man tve find to he by nature corrupt, deatitute entirely of divine grace,
and disposed, as temptation shall offer, to commit any wickedneaa : for from this
ti niiful fountain, frora the heart of the natural man, proceed murders, adulteries,

ROBBERIES AND MURDERS. 929
fornication, thefts, perjuries, and blasphemies. And nothing but the sprinkling
of the blood of Jesus can dry up this fountain of sin, and nothing can carry
the virtue of it to the heart but an almighty Spirit. Human laws, which are
the only expedient lately attempted, cannot come to the head and source of
this corrupt fountain. It hes too deep. Their power cannot reach it, and much
less purify it. An act of parhament can only regulate the outward behaviour. It
can take no cognizance of a crime, until it break out into some overt act, and
therefore it can have no influence over the heart. If murder, adultery, robbery,
&c. be in the heart, there aU statute laws leave them ; and the inclination only
waits for a fair opportunity, which it will always embrace, whenever there is a
prospect of escaping the lash of the law. Thus no sin is hereby prevented. Only
the commission of it is rendered more private, and the heart is, put upon inventing
schemes, how it may gratify itself in its pleasures, without incurring the pains and
penalties, which the iatv threatens to inflict. By this means the corruption that
Beems to be diminished in the channels, gathers anel increases at the fountain-
head, where the more it is stopped, the more it ferments and pollutes itself.
Since this is the case, what Reformation can tve expect from the interposition of
human authority ? Supposing the legislature should follow his majesty's gracious
instructions from the throne, and try to find out some new latvs for putting a
stop to robberies and murders, yet experience would soon prove them to be in
effectual. All the human latvs tvhich ever tvere made, or ever wiU be made, cannot
reform one single person, because they cannot reach the heart. Gospel and not
law should be here employed. The gospel can take sin out of the heart, but the
law can only make the commission of it more private. The clergy therefore
should be called upon, and not the magistrate. This is, under God, the peculiar
-business of the ministers of the gospel, and it is, I fear, owing to their great
neglect of their duty, that robberies and murders are become so common. Our
people grow more corrupt in their morals, not for want of good statute laws, but
for want of good gospel ministers. For it is certain, that the gospel, and nothing
else, can take murder, adultery, fornication, robbery, &c. out of the heart, and it
is as certain, that the gospel has taken them out of the heart, wherever it has
been properly received : and therefore either in the manner of applying the gos
pel, or in not applying it at all, there is a great faihng somewhere or other
among us. God Almighty grant, that they who are guilty may see their error,
and may have grace to repent and amend.
And now let me intreat you, my brethren, to pray that these truths may make
a proper impression upon your minds. You have heard me labour this point
much of late. It appears to me to be the most important in Christianity, and
therefore in several discourses I have been endeavouring to give you a just sense
of your state and condition by nature. What success they may have met trith
depends upon God, whose blessing upon them I do most sincerely implore. All
our preaching can do nothing to your hearts without his grace, and I beseech him
that, out of the riches of his infinite love to sinners, through Jesus Christ, he
would be pleased to let you see your otvn hearts : for until you behold that defile
ment and corruption, in which the heart of every man lies by nature, you will see
but little necessity for a Saviour. And this divine grace I hope he tviU now send
into aU our hearts, that )rou may be disposed to receive favourably, and to profit
by, two short remarks, tvith which I shaU apply the doctrine, first to them who
do not believe it, then to them who have given their free assent.
If any of you do not believe the doctrine, you are in a very dangerous situation.
because you are on the very brink of destruction, and yet do not see your danger.
Can you think your heart is not corrupt? 'This very thought demonstrates its
corruption ; for sinners you certainly are, and aU sin comes from the heart ; and
can the heart send forth a whole life of sin, and not be sinful itself ? This is
impossible. To believe such an impossibility argues a most dangerous state of
mind. ' A man does not cheat himself more, who fancies himself to be in good
health, when he has been long ill, and is just dying, than he who fancies his heart
to be pure, although every thing that flows from it is impure. This is one of the
greatest delusions of sin. It lulls the sinner into a state of security, and tempts
nim to believe, that his heart is pine and tvithout spot, although it be nothing but
¦» n

9H0 ON THE HOLY SPIRIT.
corruption and deformity. Whoever is tempted into this belief does not know
himself. And if any of you have faUen into this fatal error, 1 pray God to let you
know yourselves : for you are as yet perfect strangers to your own breasts. If
you were to see them naked and open, with all the little lurking placee, where
self-love and vain-glory conceal your failings, the moment you beheld the horrid
sight, it would force you to cry out, "Jesus, master, -have mercy on me." Oh!
what a blessing would it be, if you could now speak these words from your
hearts! I hope you wttl. And may the Lord God of heaven show you, what you
really are by nature, and then make you what you ought to be by grace.
To you who believe the doctrine, I need not use many words, because you are
convinced, that the heart is a poUuted fountain, from whence all vices spring,
aud that nothing can purify it, but the blood of the Lamb of God sprinkled upon
it by the Holy Spirit. This is the firm behef of every Christian. I hope you
know it to be true, both from scripture and from experience. You find that the
fountain hae been cleansed, because the streams run pure. Your lives and
actions show, that God has created a new heart, and has renewed a right spirit
within you, and it is your whole care and study to keep this new heart clean and
holy. But whenever you find any defilement beginning to arise, even in thought,
immediately Bend up your prayers to God. Intreat hia grace to keep you from
the pollution of ain, and if you alwaya make him your refuge and strength, con
stantly seeking him in the waya of his ordinances, then his Holy Spirit will keep
out of your hearts all thoBe corruptione, which defile the raan, and your Lord
Jesus will so purify you by his infinite merits, that you Bhall be presented before
God the Father without spot of sin unto salvation. Blessed Lord and Saviour,
carry these truths to aU our hearta ; accompany them, we intreat thee, with thy
bleaaing ; anel keep our hearta pure by thy grace, until thou bring them safe unto
tby glory. Amen.

A DISCOURSE
ON THE DENITIT WHICH
THE HOLY SPIRIT OF GOD IS OF TO MAN, IN HIS JOURNEY
THROUGH LIFE.
PRKAC1IKU AT
CUBIST CHURCH, IN NEWGATE STREET, ON WHITSUN-MONDAY, MAY 19
1755, PURSUANT TO THE WILL OF MISS ELIZABETH HILL,
LATE OF PALMOUTH, CORNWALL

The fruit of the Spirit is in all goodness. — Eph. v. 9.

PREFACE.
The foUowing discourse was drawn up at the request of Miss Hitt's executor,
to whom I am greatly obUged for appointing me to preach on Whitsun-Monday,
agreeably to the word8 of her will, on the benefit which the Holy Spirit of God
is of to man in his journey through Ufe. And what I thought myself bound in
duty to deUver frora the pulpit, I have eince been perauaded to 8end from the
press ; for although it contains nothing new either in the matter or manner, yet
I think it incumbent upon me to bear my public testimony to the great doctrine
of Christianity here inculcated. I am prepared for the reception it wiU meet
with, not only from the Monthly Reviewers, the avowed enemies of the established
church, and its estabhshed doctrines, but also from aU mere nominal Christians.

ON THE HOLY SFIRIT. 931
But let them ridicule it ever so much as Hutchinsonian Enthusiasm, yet since
it is expressly taught in Scripture, and maintained in the clearest manner by
our church, it will give me no concern to be reckoned an enthusiast, while the
scripture is on my side, or an Hutchinsonian, while the church of England sup
ports me ; and if men will caU the plain doctrines of Scripture enthusiasm, and
trill treat the articles, and homilies, and liturgy of our church as Hutchinso-
nianism, I hope I shall live and die a Church of England-Hutchinsonian-En-
thusiast.

Then will I sprinkle clean water upon, you, and ye shall be clean ; from all your
filthiness, and from all your idols will I cleanse you. A new heart also will I give
you, and a new spirit will I put within you, and I will take away the stony heart
out of your flesh, and I will give you a heart of flesh. • And I will put my Spirit
within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes, and ye shall keep my judgments,
and do them. — IJzek. xxxvi. 25, 26, 17.
Our blessed Saviour showed himself alive after his passion, by many infaUible
proofs, being seen of his apostles forty days, and speaking of the things pertaining
to the kingdom of God, and being assembled together with them, he commanded
them, that they should not depart from Jerusalem, but wait for the promise of the
Father, which, saith he, ye have heard of me ; for John truly baptized with water,
hut ye shall be baptized tvith the Holy Ghost, not many days hence. And according
to his most true promise, the Holy Ghost came down as at this time from heaven
with a sudden great sound, as it had been a mighty wind, in the likeness of fiery
tongues, lighting upon the apostles, to teach them, and to lead them to all truth,
giving them both the gifts of divers languages, and also boldness tvith fervent
zeal, constantly to preach the gospel unto all nations, whereby we have been
brought out of darkness and error, into the clear hght and true knowledge of
Jesus Christ.
This is the subject of the present festival. We are here assembled to com
memorate the gifts and graces which the Holy Spirit bestowed upon the apostles,
and to bless God for our interest in them. The same Spirit is stiU with us, and
will abide tvith us for ever. He is with us, not to firing the world over to
the outward profession of Christianity ; for that is already effected, and the
extraordinaiy powers which tvere necessary to effect it are ceased. Chris
tianity is established, and outward miracles are no longer needful to be the out
ward proofs of it. But the Holy Spirit has stiU the same inward work to carry
on, which he had in the apostles' time, and "it requires the same degree of divine
and almighty power, although it be not exerted in outward miracles. The mind
of every man is by nature in darkness and ignorance, blind as to the things of God ;
this he haa to enlighten with saving truth. The will and all tbe affections are
depraved, and it is his gracious office to incline and dispose them to comply tvith
the will of God. And after the understanding is enlightened, and. the heart
renewed, we have still no power to walk in the ways of holiness, tvithout the spe
cial grace of the Holy Spirit, tvhose gnidance is necessary every moment, and for
every thought, and word, and work. These are called the ordinary operations of
the Spirit of God, not as if the)- tvere less divine, or any thing short of the
almighty operations, in the apostolic age, but because these were extraordinary,
given for a certain fixed time, to carry on a particular work, but the former were
common to all believers, to the apostles themselves as believers, and are to be the
ordinary gifts and graces of every Christian unto the end of the tvorld. And who
ever has received these ordinary operations, has in his own heart clear and fuU
testimony of the Godhead, and almighty power of the blessed Spirit. He wants
no outward miracles. This great inward work is to him complete evidence ; and
he is able to rest his salvation with as full trust and confidence upon it, as if he
had seen the apostles exert their miraculous gifts and graces. May the Lord and
giver of all grace be pleased to bestow upon you this inward tritness, and may he
enable you to look up to him for it while I am,
3 o 2

'.)32 ON THE HOLY SPIRIT.
First, Illustrating tliese truths frora the prophet's authority in the text, and
then Secondly, Applying them to your spiritual use and benefit.
And by the consideration of these two particulars, 1 hope to be able to answer
the good purposes of our present meeting. We are called together by the trill
of a late charitable and pious lady, who appointed a sermon to be preached upon
this day concerning the " benefit which the Holy Spirit of God is of to man,
during his journey through this Ufe." The subject is suitable to the great fes
tival, which the church now celebrates, and the words which I have read con
tain a clear and fuU account of the benefit tve receive from the Holy Spirit
from the beginning to the end of our Christian life. " I will sprinkle clean water
upon you, and ye shaU be clean," &e. The clean water was to be sprinkled upon
them to cleanse the soul ; this effect is here ascribed to it ; but water cannot
reach the soul, or if it could, yet it was not able so to act upon it, as to cleanse
it from any sinful filthiness. But the Spirit of God acte upon our spirits, as
water doea upon the body, and therefore it tvas the outward and visible sign of
his inward and spiritual grace in the Old Testament, as well' as the New. The
phrase of sprinkling clean water to cleanse them frora sin refers to the legal
ablutions, and more particularly to the great typical purification for sin, of
which we read Numbers xiv. The ashes of the red heifer, which tvas burnt
without the camp, were to be mixed tvith pure running water to be a purifica
tion for sin, and whoever contracted any legal uncleanness, and had not this
Bin-water sprinkled upon him to purify himself, that soul was to be cut off
from among the congregation. St. Paul has applied part of this service to our
Lord's suffering tvithout the gate, Heb. xiii. 11, li>, 13, and St. John has applied
the other part, John vii. 38, 39, tvhere, upon Christ's describing the rivers of
living water which should flow from believers, he aays, " But this he spake of
the Spirit," he spake of water as the known emblem of the Spirit, and the
Christian church has always used it for bis emblem in the sacrament of baptism,
wherein his grace cleanses to the purifying of the soul, as water cleanses to the
purifying of the flesh.
Water, then, is the instituted type of the Holy Spirit, and pouring out water
to cleanse is, in the scripture manner of expression, pouring out of the Holy
Spirit to cleanse the soul ; and his cleansing grace must be the thing here spoken
of, because it tvas to purify them from all sin. " 1 will sprinkle clean water
upon you, and ye shall be clean, from all your filthiness and from all your idols
tviU I cleanse you," from all the filthiness of sin, and from all the guilt of idolatry
I will purify them. Sin polluted all the faculties of the soul, and my good Spirit
shall cleanse them aU. The understanding he shaU purify by removing ita
natural blindness, and by opening their eyes to eee the error of their ways, that
they may be brought to Jeeue Christ for ealvation, and may have their hearta
sprinkled from an evil conscience with the all-purifying blood of the Lamb of
God, which will justify them, and may have grace and power to walk in the
statutes of the Lord, and to keep his judgments, which will sanctify them ; and
thus he cleanses all the faculties : for it follows in the second verae of the text,
" A new heart alao wiU I give you, and a new apirit will I put within you, and
I witt take away the atony heart out of your fleah, and I will give you a heart
of fleBh." The cleansing of the heart is the greatest work of divine grace,
because there is in every sinner hardness, and an impenitent heart, which no
human power can soften. The scripture speaks of it in the strongest expres
sions, " The sin of Judah is written with a pen of iron, and with the point of a
diamond, it is graven upon the table of the heart ;" and what power is able to
erase this deep engraving, except the Almighty God, who declares, " I will give
you a new heart," renewed in all its faculties, " and a new spirit will 1 put
within you," endued with new appetites and new affections, " and I tviU take
away the stony heart," the refreshing streams of my grace shaU soften the old
hardened heart of sin, which would take no good impression, " and I tvill give
you a heart of flesh," soft and pliable, yielding to the motions of my grace, and
wilhng to have the law engraved by the Spirit of the living God upon the
fleshly tables ofthe heart. And after the heart and the affections are thus

ON THE HOLY SPIRIT. 933
renewed, and disposed to love the will of God, the Holy Spirit was stttl to pro
ceed, and to go on in the work of sanctification, in which his grace is abso
lutely necessary. Even after the stony heart is taken out, we 'still want his
guidance ; and whenever he leaves us to ourselves, we cannot take one step in
our journey towards heaven. And therefore God promises to them who had a
new heart, " that he would put his Spirit within them, and cause them to walk
in his Btatutes." His Spirit should be their guide, both to lead them into the
way of God's commandments, and to give them strength and power to walk in
these ways steadily unto the end : for the hght of nature could never direct
sinners into the paths of God's commandments, nor could the best natuial
abilities go forward in them, unless God should put his Spirit within us, and give
us power to walk in his statutes. We want his support every step we take through
out the whole work of sanctification. If we go forward, he is the cause. He
gives us both the will and the power ; for it is he who worketh in us both to
wiU and to do. It is the Spirit of God within us, who causes us to walk in his
statutes, and to keep his judgments and do them.
And thus the prophet has taught us of what benefit the Holy Spirit is to man
during his journey through this life. We cannot so much as set out upon our
journey to heaven, until he cleanse aU the faculties; by remoting the blindness
of the understanding, and the depravity of the will and affections. It is his
office to give us a new heart and a new spirit, disposed to receive impressions
of the divine law, and then to endue it with power to walk in the statutes of
God, and to keep his judgments and to do them ; so that every step we take
from the first moment we set out, until we happily arrive at the end of our
journey, is directed and supported by the Holy Spirit of God. This is the pro
phet's doctrine, which I come
¦ Secondly, To apply to your spiritual use and benefit. And if we make a right
use of it, we must not only endeavour to be convinced of its truth, but also to
find the power of it operating upon our lives and conversations ; for it would be
to no purpose to believe, that the Holy Spirit is the author and finisher of the
whole work ot grace, if this belief should rest unoperative in the head, and never
dispose us to seek the experience of it in the heart, and in the rest of the facul
ties. Since his grace is to cleanse us from all the poUutions of sin, and to
create in us a new heart, and to renew a right spirit tvithin us, and to give us
power to walk in the way of God's commandments, let us not hear these truths
ae mere speculative points, but let us suffer the conviction of them to operate
in our lives, and to carry us to seek our own interest in them. Ajnd I hope the
blessed Spint wiU render profitable to these good purposes what I have to offer
concerning the usefulness of his guidance throughout the journey of life.
Sin polluted the whole man, and made every part and potver unclean and
abominable altogether, and the prophet ascribes to the Holy Spirit the whole
work of cleansing the soul. His grace is necessary to purify every faculty. He
begins tvith removing the darkness of the understanding, and enUghtening it with
all-saving truth, of which by nature we are ignorant. Sin rendered us incapable
of seeing spiritual objects. It did not entirely destroy the organ of sight, but
it entirely stopped all communion between it and the fountain of hght, and
brought the soul into such a state as the body would be in if the sun was blotted
out of heaven, and the moon and stars tvere no more to reflect their enlivening
rays upon the earth. This would be a most uncomfortable and heavy night,
in which, although the bodily organ of sight remained, yet these outward
objects would be as invisible, as if the organ was quite destroyed. And sin pro
duced the same effects in the spiritual world. Every son of Adam is in dark
ness and the shadow of death, unttt the Holy Spirit of God enhghten the eyes of
the understanding. St. Paul's account of the Gentttes is this, (Eph. iv. 18.)
" they had tbe understanding darkened, being ahenated from the life of God
through the ignorance that is in them, because of the bUndness of their heart."
Sin darkened the understanding and ahenated them from the hfe of God, by
separating them from that divine light, which is the principle of their spiritual
life, and therefore they Uved no longer unto God, but tvere cut off from all inter-
courie and communion tvith him. In this state of darkness ano blindness tva

934 ON THE HOLY SPIRIT.
aU continue, entirely ignorant of the the things of God, until his good Spirit
manifest them unto us. The natural understanding in its highest refinement
cannot diacover them ; " for the natural man receiveth not the things of the
Spirit of God, for they are foolishness unto hiin, neither can he knotv them,
because they are spiritually discerned." (1 Cor. ii. 14.) The natural man can
not receive spiritual things. God must reveal them unto him by his Spirit,
before he can have the least discernment of thera, even what is revealed con
cerning them in scripture cannot be discerned, until the Holy Spirit open the
eyes to behold it. And under the sense of this truth the prophet 'thus intreats
God, "Open thou mine eyes, that I may behold wondrous things out of thy
law," Psalm cxix. 18; to open the eyes to behold them was the work of God.
And again he prays, '* Give me underetanding," (it tvas the gift of God) " that I
may learn thy commandments. I am thy servant, give me understanding, that
I may know thy testimonies," Psalm Cxix. 73, 125. And to the same effect
St. Paul praya for his Ephesians, that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the
Father of glory, would give unto them the Spirit of wisdom and revelation in
the knowledge of him, " that the eyes of their understanding might be enlight
ened." This was the work of God. He was to give unto them the Spirit, and
the Spirit was to give them wisdom, and to reveal the knowledge of God to
them, by which meane the eyes of their underetanding would be enlightened.
This ie the doctrine of Scripture ; and I may confirm it from an authority,
which I esteem next to the word of God, and that is the sense of our church upon
thia point. In the coUect for the 5th Sunday after EaBter she teaches us to pray,
" O Lord, from whom all good things do come ; grant to us, thy humble ser
vants, that by thy holy inspiration tve may think those things that be good,"
&c. : we cannot ao much aa think a good thought unlea8 we have the holy
inapiration of God. And again on the 9th Sunday after Trinity we pray, " Grant
to us, Lord, we beseech thee, the spirit to think and do always such things as
be rightful, that tve who cannot do anything that ia good without thee, may by
thee be enabled to live according to thy will, through Jesus Christ our Lord. '
To the same purpose we read in the third part of the homily for- Rogation week,
" Let us meekly call upon the bountiful Spirit, the Holy Ghost, to inspire ua
with hia preaenee, that we may be able to hear the goodneaa of God to our aal-
vation. For without hia lively inspiration, can we not so much as speak the
name of the Mediator. No man can aay that Jeaue is the Lord, but by the
Holy Ghost. Much less ehould we be able to underetand these great mysteries,
that be open to us by Christ. " For we have received," saith St. Paul, " not the
spirit of the world, but the Spirit tvhich ia of God, for this purpose, that we
may know the things- which are freely given to ua of God." In the power of the
Holy Ghost reeteth all ability to know God and to please him. It is he that
purifieth the mind by his secret working. He enlighteneth the heart to conceive
worthy thoughts of Almighty God." These autnoritiea are clear. They ex
pressly declare, that we cannot think such thinge as be rightful without the holy
inapiration of the Spirit of God. Theae are the sehtimenta of Scripture, and of
the Church of England, concerning the firel step we are to take in our Christian
course. By removing the darkneas of the natural understanding, and by enlightening
it with aU saving truth, the Holy Spirit enables us to see the way to heaven. The
next step is to ellapose the will to walk in it; for after we eee the right way, yet
we have no desire to walk in it, until he renew the heart. It is the work of hia
grace to incline the witt, and to dispose it aright, that it may consent to the wttl
of God : for our wttls are by nature corrupt. The will of the flesh is oppoaite to
the wttl of God ; and our affections are ao depraved, that they chooae only evil,
and continuaUy. " And God Saw that the wickedness of man was great in the
earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil con
tinually." Gen. vi. 5. And this ContinuaUy evil heart is also obdurately evil.
It ia stony and rocky, harder than adamant. AU the powers in nature cannot
soften it. Sin haa rendered it incapable of any good impre8aion, unleas it be made
by an almighty arm. He alone who created the heart can make it relent before
him. To soften an hardened heart is as great a work as to create u. world, and

ON THE HOLY SPIRIT. 933
therefore the prophet prays, " create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a
right spirit within me." To create, is to make a thing out of nothing, and the
same creative power which brought the heavens and the earth out of nothing is
necessary to create in the sinner a clean heart : for to cast him in a new mould,
and to make him a new man, is harder than to make him a man at first ; because
nothing opposed his creation. God spake, and it was done. But the heart,
which was conceived in sin, has Uved in sin, and has loved sin, and placed all
its affections upon it, has an utter aversion to this new creation. And what
power is able to take the love of sin out of the heart, and to render it willing to
be made pure and holy? Say, who is equal to this great work? Certainly, no
created power. He alone can do it, who turneth the hard rock into a standing
water, and the flint stone into a springing weU. He can do it, and he has pro
mised, " I wiU give you a new heart, and a new spirit wiU I put within you, and
I will take away your stony heart, and I wttl give you an heart of flesh, and I
will put my Spirit within you." My Spirit shaU work this great change. He
shaU take the hard stony heart out of you, tvhich is altogether sinful, and shaU
enable you to delight in the law of God in the inner man. And thus he renews
the heart, " for we are saved by the washing of regeneration, and renewing ofthe
Holy Ghost." (Titus iii. 5.) And
This is the language of our church. On Christmas day we use -these words,
" Almighty God — grant that we being regenerate, and made thy chUdren by
adoption and grace, may daily be renewed by thy Holy Spirit," &c. And again
on the 19th Sunday after 'Trinity we pray, " O God, forasmuch as without thee
we are not able to please thee ; mercifuUy grant, that thy Holy Spirit may in all
things direct and rule our hearts, through Jesus Christ our Lord." We are
taught the reason for offering up these petitions in the 10th article " of free-will."
" The condition of man after the fall of Adam is such, that he cannot turn and
prepare himself by his own natural strength and good tvorks to faith and calling
upon God : wherefore we have no power to do good works pleasant and accept
able to God, without the grace of God by Christ preventing us, that we may
have a good-will, and working with us when we have that good-wttl." We have
lost by the faU the power of turning and preparing our hearts to any religious
' exercise, and we have not even the good- will, much less the power, to do any one
good work, until the grace of God go before and dispose the will, and afterwards
work with us, when we have that good-will ; from whence it is evident, that the
wttl and the affections must be renewed by the Holy Ghost, before there can be
any good in fallen man ; agreeably to what we read (Prov. xvi. 1 .) " that the pre
parations of the heart in man are from the Lord."
From these authorities of scripture, and of our own church, it must be evident
to every unprejudiced person, that the heart is by nature inclined to evil, hard
and stony, and unwilling to receive any good impressions, and no power can
soften it but an almighty Spirit, whose grace alone is able to renew it after the
image of him that created it.
And after the understanding is enlightened, and the will and affections re
newed, we stiU want grace every moment to enable us to go on in the ways of
holiness. After we have received justifying grace, we continuaUy stand in need
of the sanctifying grace of the Holy Spirit. We cannot take one step without his
assistance : for it is he who worketh in us both to wttl and to do. We have no
power nor might in ourselves, but aU our sufficiency is of God. In our spiritual
course his grace is as necessary, as breathing is to the body. There is but one
word in scripture for the air which the body breathes, and for that grace which is
the breath of our spiritual Ufe ; and if you cannot move, much less run a race,
without breath, how then can you run through your Christian course without
grace ? You must breathe the air in at every step, and you must have grace
breathed into you every step you take in your way to heaven. And therefore
when our blessed Lord breathed upon the apostles, he at the same time explained
the meaning of what he did by saying, " receive ye the Holy Ghost," whose
gracious office it is to act upon the soul as breath does upon the body, and
hence it is called inspiration, wliich signifies breathing in ; and since this inspira-
on is as necessary to our spiritual life as breath is to oui- animal life, is it not

936 ON THE HOLY SPIRIT.
from hence certain, that we cannot take one step in the ways of holiness, unlesa
the inspiration of the Almighty enable us to proceed ?
And these are the sentiments of the word of God. " O Lord, I know," says
Jeremiah (x. 23.) " that the tvay of man is not in himself, it is not in man that
walketh to direct his steps." The Psalmist acknowledges it, for he prays,
" Hold up my goings in thy paths, that my footsteps slip not. Incline my heart
unto thy testimonies, and make me to go m tbe path of thy commandments."
And again he says, " I will run in the way of thy commandments, when thou
shalt enlarge my heart," when thou shalt give it freedom and liberty, that it may
walk trith pleasure in those paths which are to the natural man grievous. And
the New Testament opens and explaina these expressions ofthe Old, by assuring
us, that believers " walk in the Spirit, and aie led by the Spirit," and are
strengthened by the Spirit in the inner man, " who gives them grace to serve
God acceptably : for the fruit of the Spirit is in all goodness, and righteousness,
and truth, proving what is acceptable unto the Lord." And to enable us to pro
duce these fruits, the Comforter is to be tvith ua for ever. He is to guide and
direct our lives, and to govern our conversations, lie tvill never leave us, nor
forsake ub, but wttl support us with his grace every moment. And thia his con
tinual assistance our church prays for in these words : " O God, forasmuch as
without thee. we are not able to please thee, mercifully grant that thy Holy Spirit
may in all things direct and rule our hearts." (9th Sunday after Trinity.)
And again, " O Lord — grant that by thy holy inspiration we meiy think thoae
things that be good, and by thy merciful guidance may perform, the same." (5th
Sunday after Easter.) From whence it is evident, that tbe holy Spirit is our
guide through the journey of life. The whole work of sanctification is his. He
cleanses the heart, purifies it, fille it full of faith, and hope, and love, and enrichea
it with all the aweet and heavenly tempers of the blessed Jesus. He sanctifies
every visitation to God'a people ; if it be prosperous, he keeps them humble ; if
it be adverse, he arma them with patience, and thua he makea all things work
together for their good. God grant you may all find theae trutha verified by
your own experience : for truths they are, and you cannot deny them. If you
believe the word of God, and if you pay any regard to the doctrines of our
church, you must confees, that the Holy Spirit ia the author and finisher of our
happy journey through life. Sinful fallen man has no hght to direct him in the
way, until the Holy Spirit remove the darkneaa of the underetanding, and reveal
every eating truth, and then he eees the paths which lead to everlasting joy.
This ia the first step. But when he sees them he haa no wiU to walk in them.
His heart is set against them, it ie hard and stony, and inflexibly evil. The Holy
Spirit alone has power to work upon it, and to melt it down into a softer tender
heart, which will freely yield to have the law of God engraven upon it. And
after tve have taken this Btep, after we have seen the right road in which our
journey lies, and are disposed to walk in it, yet we want power to succeed '
successfuUy. Sin made ue weak and infirm, and inbred corruption keeps us so,
and therefore the same good Spirit, that worketh all in aU, must go along with
us every step to strengthen our weakness, and support us every moment to help
our infirmities. We are not sufficient for these things of ourselvea ; but our
sufficiency is of God.
And since the evidence of this doctrine is clear and fuU, and not to be denied
by any person, who allows the authority of Scripture, I may here rest the matter
at present, and enquire what effect your assent. to it has produced. Have you
desired to experience the truth of it ? Or have you found the comfort of it in
your souls ? Do you remember when the Holy Spirit opened your eyes, and
brought you out of darkness into hia marvellous light ? Ie your wttl reconciled
to the wUl of God ? And are you able to conform your livee and conversation
to it ? If you are in this happy state, and if before God the searcher of hearta,
you can declare that he hae done these wondere for your salvation, O be thank
ful unto him, and Uve a life of praiee and gratitude. May the Holy Spirit direct
every thought, and word, and work, to the honour and glory of Jesus Chriat
your Saviour and your God. But
If you caU yourselves Christiana, and yet know nothing of those great changes.

ON THE HOLY SPIRIT. 937
which the Holy Spirit must work in your hearts before you are Christians
indeed, O consider in what a dangerous state you Uve. If God be true, your
soula are in darkness, your hearts in sin, and all your faculties under the power
of Satan ; and until you be enlightened and converted, have a new heart, and a
new nature, you are children of wraths and if you die in this state, you are lost
and ruined to aU eternity. If ever you see the face of God with joy, you must
be renewed in the Spirit of your mind. You must be made just and holy. All
this must be done. You must experience it, and you wttl know it as certainly as
you know any truth, when the Holy Spirit bears testimony with your spirits, that
you are the chttdren of God.
But you have been told, that this doctrine is enthusiasm. It is so, in the
opinion of the world, and it ever was, and ever wttl be. It must be enthusiasm
.to the natural man to talk of the inward working of the Holy Spirit ; for he dis-
*cemeth not the things of the Spirit of God, neither can he know them, because
he has no spiritual discernment. To a man who never found himself in darkness,
never felt the hardness of his heart, never mourned over his inability to walk in
the ways of holiness, it must appear like vision and madness to talk of being
enlightened, and renewed, and strengthened in the inner man by tbe Holy Spirit.
And indeed this doctrine is become ridiculous. It is become the very mark and
badge of religious frenzy. As soon as you mention any work of the Holy Spirit,
you are supposed to be a httle turned in the head ; and if you dare maintain the
necessity of his grace, you are quite given over. And this shame and reproach
ie hard to bear. Many persons, who in their consciences assent to the doctrine,
arp. terrified from owning it, for fear of the world, and thereby lose aU its com
forts. I am acquainted tvith several persons in this unhappy state. God grant
you may be all free from it. But as it is a common temptation, with which it is
probable every Christian tviU be tried, it will therefore be proper to consider it.
This is, I suppose, your state. Yrou assent in your minds to the truth of the
doctrine, but dare hot otvn it, for fear of being called enthusiasts. What weak
ness is this ? Consider weU what you lose by being afraid of a nickname. Can
any thing be more weak and fooUsh, than to set out alone upon your journey for
eternity, and to reject the only guide who can direct you safe, because you will
be ridiculed for following his directions ; and so for fear of being laughed at, you
blunder on in the wrong tvay, until you fall at last into the pit of destruction ?
And then how wiU this reflection add to your misery, that you had no tempta
tion to reject the Holy Spirit's guidance, but the ridicule of the world. The
Scripture assured you, that he was your only guide, and you believed it. 'The
church of England taught you to pray to him, and to seek him for your only
guide, and you assented to her doctrines. And yet you gave up the Scripture,
gave up the doctrines of your own church, for fear of a nickname ; nay more,
you gave up your hopes of eternal glory. Good God, what magic is there in a
name, that it should charm you out of heaven 1 How dreadful is reproach, if it
ahould terrify you more than hell ! Should not we have thought it unaccountable,
if tve did not see it every day, that a hard name, which is but a sound and
nothing more, should work so wonderfully upon the mind. But, men and
brethren, use your reason. WiU you give up aU that is dear and valuable to avoid
a nickname ? Will you lose all the graces and comforts of the Holy Spirit for
fear of being called an enthusiast ? Certainly you cannot act so weak and wicked a
part, and you tviU not if you fly to the Holy Spirit for grace, whenever you find
reproach like to stagger your faith. He will enable you to overcome the tempta
tion, if you seek his strength. He can so arm you trith might in the inner
man, that the ridicule of the world tviU make no impression upon you ; nay, he
can make it sweet, he wttl enable you, even to bear it and love it. God grant you
may now seek his strength. Oh that he may now be present among you with his
almighty grace, and dispose every one of you to take him for your guide through
the journey of life, and then, he wiU fiU your hearts with that perfect love of
God, which wiU cast out the fear of men.
But if you are not affected with these motives, if you still see no necessity for
being guided by the blessed Spirit, would to God I could discover the secret
springs of your hearts, and turn them to that adorable person, whose grace alone

938 SERMON.
can make you happy. Oh that I could convince you so far, as to put you this
moment upon seeking the gracious guidance of the eternal Spirit. But this ia
hia own work. We muat plead, and intreat, and importune you to aeek hia aaaiat-
ance, but the success must come from him. The word itself is but a dead letter
unleas he animate it ; and therefore the preaching of it can have no power, unlesa
he accompany it. We may plant and water, but he must give the increase. Oh
that it may be abtmdant this day to the glory of Jesus Christ. And all of
you who desire it, wttl join your hearts with mine in requesting it of him.
O almighty God, who as at this time did teach the hearts of thy faithful people
by the sending to them the hght of thy Holy Spirit, send, tve beseech thee, the
same Spirit to enhghten our understandings, that we may have a right judgment
in aU things, and may his grace operate with power upon cmr hearts, softening
their hard stony nature, and making them willing to obey the law of God ; and
then grant that he may finish this great work, by enabling us to proceed in the
ways of holiness, until we happily end the journey of life. Oh may the eternal
Spirit come down upon this whole congregation, and enlighten, and renew, and
strengthen every one of ua in the inner man, that we may now1 and evermore
rejoice in hia holy comfort, through the merits of Christ Jesus our Saviour, who
Iiveth and reigneth with the Father and the Spirit, three persons of equal honour,
and glory, and dominion, now and for ever. Amen and Amen.

A SERMO^
PllKAClIIrD
AT ST. ANNE'S, BLACKFRIARS, ON SUNDAY, SEPT. 30, 1764.

God forbid that I should glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ.— Gal. vi. 14.

We preach not ourselves, but Christ Jesus the Lord, and. ourselves your servants for
Jesus' sake. — 2 Cor. iv. 5.
The apostle apeaka theae word8 of himaelf, and of Timothy. He is clearing
their office and their character from the chargea brought againet them by some
falee teachers in the church of Corinth. In the foregoing chapter, he haa been
comparing the miniatry of the law with the ministry of the gospel, and stating the
difference between them. The law was written on tables of stone, and waa the mini-
tration of death, and of condemnation, but the gospel was written upon the fleshly
tables of the heart, being the ministration of the Spirit, and of righteousness, and
therefore whatever glory the law had, the gospel did far exceed it in glory. Paul
and Timothy, being appointed preachers of this most glorious gospel, and having
received this ministry, did not faint through any difficulty or opposition, nor did
they labour in it upon any corrupt, selfish motives : for they renounced the hidden
things of dishonesty, every base principle that would not bear the light, not walk
ing m craftiness with an intention through subtlety to cheat their hearers, nor
handling the word of God deceitfully, on purpoee to deceive and beguile unstable
souls ; but they acted openly and honestly, by manifestation of the truth commend
ing themaelvea to every man'8 conscience in the eight of God, making the truth 80
plain, and their views in preaching it so noble and disinterested, that every man's
conscience rightly informed must approve of them : but, however, God saw the
secrets of their hearta, and to him they could appeal for the uprightnesa of
their motivee ; so that if there were any who did not receive their gospel, it was
their own fault, and was a sad proof of their being in a lost state : for if our
gospel be hid, it is hid to them who are loat, who. are under the power of the
devil and of unbelief, in whom the god of this world hath blinded the minds of

SERMON. 939
them that beheve not ¦ this is the grand stratagem of Satan. Wherever the
gospel comes, he tries to bhnd and harden men's minds against it, knowing weU
that if the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should
shine into them there would be an end of his reign ; therefore he labours with
wiles and force to shut out the hght of the gospel, that he may continue to rule
in the evil heart of unbelief. But, blessed be God, the preaching of the gospel
ia the means of dethroning Satan : he fears no weapon fornred against him but
the two-edged sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. With this he has
been defeated thousands and thousands of times ; for it is the appointed instru
ment of bringing sinners out of darkness into light, and from the power of Satan
into the kingdom of God's dear Son. And the Lord works this mighty deliver
ance by the preaching of the gospel. When the able ministers of the New 'Tes
tament have a single eye to Christ, and aim solely at his glory, then the Holy Spirit
sets in with their words, and according to his office glorifies Christ in the under
standing, and in the hearts of tbe hearers. Of this, St. Paul had long and hap
py experience. He was enabled to renounce self in aU his ministrations, and to
exalt Jesus. We preach not ourselves — we disclaim self in aU its shapes — we
renounce self-seeking and self-pleasing — we abhor selfish views — we would
have self debased ; and in aU our preaching, we would have self brought to nought,
that Chriet may be all in all. " We preach not ourselves, but Christ Jesus
the Lord." Of his wonderful person, God-man — of his gracious undertakings
— of his divine offices — of his finished salvation — of his almighty power and
faithfulness to carry all the purposes of his love into execution, that his people
may be receiving out of his fulness grace in time, and glory in eternity : — of
these things tve would be telling aU the day long. He is the subject matter,
his glory is the end and aim of 411 our preaching ; and if he be but glorified and
souls won to him, we have reward enough. His love constraineth us to love him,
the head of the body, and to love aU his members , for his sake ready to do any
good office to the souls or bodies of mankind. " Ourselves your servants for
Jesus' sake, willing to do, wiUing to suffer any thing for you, to spend and be
Bpent, yea, not counting our lives dear to ourselves, so that we may but finish
our course with joy, and the ministry which we have received of the Lord Jesus,
to testify the gospel of the grace of God." The apostle's words, thus in part
opened and explained, wiU be suitable to the present occasion in these two
viowb, First, As they relate more immediately to ministers, and
Secondly, To their people.
Under the first head, these particulars offer themselves to our consideration,
First, Paul and Timothy did not preach themselves, but
Secondly, They preached Christ Jesus the Lord, and
Thirdly, Themselves servants to the Corinthians for Jesus' sake. And may
the grace of our God enable us so to meditate upon these points, that self may
be humbled and the Saviour exalted : For
First, Paul and Timothy did not, and ministers ought not, to preach them
selves. They ought not to have an eye to self in any part of their work. Self
ia a wrong object. It cannot be looked at without forgetting Christ, or made
any thing of without degrading Christ. Where self is an idol, Christ is become
nothing. Therefore a minister, whose heart is devoted to Christ, and would
tvith his lips and life glorify him, is ever afraid of self. In his preaching he
would not aim at those things which feed and nourish selfishness, such as
Fame, which is an universal passion. Self loves to be esteemed, and to be
called of men, rabbi, great, and noble, and learned, and good. There is nothing
which our corrupt nature covets more than to be well spoken of, and to have
every body's good word : for this applause wonderfuUy feeds all our selfish
tempers. But this St. Paul was enabled to renounce for Christ. He tvas once
a famous scholar, but he lost his character for determining to know nothing but
Jeaus and him crucified. He had once great reputation for holiness, but there
was an end of it when he came to his — " God forbid that I should glory, except
in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ." He did not desire now to be admired
for a lino orator, nor did he preach for this end, that his hearers might be

940 SERMON.
pleased trith him, and go away pleased with themselves, but he tvas bold for God
to speak plain truths, which he knew would offend those who were living, and
wanted to hve, in their sins. When he insisted upon the doctrine of the croaa,
which is to them that perish foolishness, then bad designs tvere imputed to him,
and the abandoned sinner and the self-righteous Pharisee agreed to look upon
hira as the scum of the world, and the offscouring of all things. And thia he
did not deaerve, he did not seek it ; but he met with it in the service of Christ.
It was the reproach of Christ, brought upon him for serving such a master, and
heightened for bis being so like his master. And yet in this Paul could rejoice
— not only bear it, but also glory in it. He received it as an honour, and found
it a blessing to be evil spoken of for Jesus' sake. He was happy in bringing
sinners to think and speak weU of Jesus, whatever evil some might think and
speak of him for it. O for more of this self-denying spirit. May the Lord pull
down self in all his ministers, that Jesus alone may be exalted in them, and by
thein, and that they may not study in their ministry filthy lucre, any more than
basely purchase fame.
This is another selfish principle. The love of money, which is the root of
ail evil, is deeply rooted in every man's heart. They all look to their own way,
every one for his gain from his ejuarter ; but by the grace of God, Paul tvas of
another mind. In his doctrine lie insists upon it, to Timothy and Titus, that
ministers should not be given to filthy lucre, and in his example he showed that
he tvas not given to it himself. When he went to Ephesus, he did not go upon
any sordid motive, such, as How much a year shall I get by preaching at that
place? His view was very exalted — How shall I serve the cause of Jesus, and
his dear-bought people there ? Accordingly he saya to the Ephesians, " I have
coveted no man's silver, or gold, or apparel, yea.^ou yourselves know, that theee
hands have ministered to my neceesities, and to them that tvere with me." Aa
he was a preacher of the gospel he had a right to live of the gospel, yet he waived
his right, and chose rather to tvork at his trade, than it should be said he
preached for gain. Christ being his Sariour, and the unsearchable riehea of
Christ hie portion and hie inheritance, he hail enough, For he had not only the
promiae of spiritual, but also of temporal things, such as the love of Christ
knew best for him ; and he found Christ so faithful, that he learned in whatever
state he was therewith to be content, content to be abeised, to bo hungry, and to
Buffer need, yea content to suffer the loss of all things, counting them but dross
and dung, that he might win Christ. And having won him, the pearl of great price,
he waa willing to part trith hia ease, ae well a8 fame and riches, for Jeau8' eake.
This ia another very selfish principle We all love ease and self-indulgence.
Our nature abhors the least suffering. What noble views, then, muet Paul have
been actuated by, aince he knew, that in every city bonds and afflictiona did
abide him, and yet none of theae things did move him ! How dear and precious
must Christ have been to him, aince the continual cross could not drive him
from preaching the gospel of Christ 1 He made a mere slave of hie body, deny
ing it the deareat gratificationa, even lawful ones, and laying upon it the heavieat
burdena and croaaea, when his Lord's cause required these things at his hands.
Like a good 8oldier he endured hardahip, waa in perils often, in weariness and
painfulnesa, in watchinga often, in hunger and thirst, in fastinga often, in cold
and nakedness. Such was his flaming love to him who had called him to be a
soldier, that no suffering could make him leave the service. He fought bn
bravely, strong in the Lord, till the battle being won, the Captain of his salvation
granted hira his discharge, and put upon his head a crown of glory that fadeth
not away.
Thus Paul made it appear that he did not preach himself. He renounced
those things which are dearest to self, and 8howed how much he loved Jeane, by
wttlingly parting with applauae, and riches, and ease for his sake, " we preach
not ourselves, but Christ Jesus the Lord," which is the
Second particular to be considered. St. Paul disclaimed self, that he might
exalt the Saviour. He did this from a true heart-felt attachment to Jesua.
" When it pleased God," says he, " to reveal his Son in me, immediately I con
ferred not with flesh and blood." From that time forward he became enamoured

SERMON. 941
with the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus his Lord. Paul found
Christ revealed to him so precious, he saw such wonderful beauty and matchless
loveliness in him, such an infinite fulness, and such a readiness to communicate
out of it aU spiritual blessings ; yea, he himself enjoyed so many of them, that
other thinga were nothing, and Christ was all. He had won Paul's heart.
He had discovered so much of himself, that Paul was 1>ecome in body and
soul devoted to him, and cared not what he suffered so that he could but please
his Lord and Saviour. To his honour he had an eye in aU his ministerial
labours, setting forth the perfect freeness, the rich fulness, and the everlasting
glory of his salvation. We preach Jesus ; that name is fuU of grace : for he
was caUed Jesus, because he was to save his people from their sins. They had
aU turned away from God and his law, as the prophet says, "All we like
sheep have gone astray, we have turned every one to his own way," and this was
the way of sin, according to the apostle, " All have sinned and come short of the
glory of God," they had all robbed God of his glory by transgressing his law, so
that there was none righteous, no not one ; and thereby they had rendered
themselves liable to those threatened pains and penalties which justice was bound
to inflict : for the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against aU unrighteous
ness. From this state of sin and misery Jesus came to save his people ; and
this he undertook in the covenant of the eternal Three, in which, being a person
co-equal and co-eternal with the Father, he agreed to stand up as the head and
surety of his people, in their nature and in their stead to keep the law for them,
and to suffer the pains and penalties of it for them, that by his obedience iinto
death, the latv and justice of his Father might be infinitely and everlastingly
glorified in saving aU those who should believe in him from sin, and death, and
hell, and in admitting them to Hfe and glory. In the fulness of time he came to
fulfil what he had undertaken, and the Word tvas made flesh. " Lo, I come,"
saith he, " to do thy will, O God :" to do it in my life, to suffer it in my death,
and thereby to bring an everlasting righteousnes for my people. The Father
accepted him as their surety, witnessing by a voice from heaven — " This is my
beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased," and witnessing also that as their
surety he had finished the tvork tvhich be had given him to do, when he de
clared him to be the Son of God tvith power by his resurrection from the
dead, and when he put all things under his feet, and gave him all power in
heaven and earth, that he might be able to save sinners to the uttermost — were
they ever so far from God that he might bring them nigh — if they had sinned
to the uttermost, so far that one step more they would have been in hell, yet he
could save them Btill with his great salvation : for he is exalted to be a Prince
and a Saviour, that the worst and vilest may in him be saved from aU their
sins, no sins being so sinful, so numerous, but there is redemption from aU
through faith in his blood, no state of guilt so desperate, but he can bestow
grace, that sin shaU not be imputed, and that righteousness, even the righteous
ness of God shaU be imputed. Such a Saviour is Jesus, exalted to this office by
the covenant of grace, and acting in it by the full commission of the eternal
'Three, by whom he was constituted the Christ. Thus saith the Father, " God
the Lord, the Creator of heaven and earth, I the Lord have caUed thee in righ
teousness, and wiU hold thy hand, and wiU keep thee, and give thee for a cove
nant of the people." — With Christ the covenant was made, by him it was to be
made good, and therefore the second person in the Godhead was truly united
unto him, and God and man tvas one Christ, and the Holy Spirit was poured
upon hiin without measure to fit and qualify him for his work, that he might be
come the Saviour of llis people, as their prophet, priest, and king ; for which
offices he was divinely commissioned and consecrated, and therefore was caUed
the Christ, or the anointed one of God.
As he tvas the great High Priest of our profession, he was caUed of God to
offer gifts and sacrifices for sin : and he gave himself, his Godhead, his manhood,
as the surety of his people, to his Father's law, that whatever demands of obedi
ence it had upon them, he might answer and pay them all, to the end that by
his obedience they might be made righteous. And he gave himself as their
Biirety to his Father's justice, that whatever demands of sufferings it had

942 SERMON.
upon them, he might endure them all, and accordingly the Lord laid upon him
the sins of all his people. He knetv no sin. He was in himself just, when he suf
fered for the unjust, and therefore aU his sufferings were upon their account.
He was bearing their griefs and carrying their sorrows in every part of his pas
sion. For them he was stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted. He felt what
the sins of their souls deserved, when he cried out, " My soul is exceeding
sorrowful, even unto death ;" and he felt the sins of the bodies, and the burden
forced him to sweat as it were great drops of blood falling to the ground. They
were bound with the chains of sin, and ought to have been bound with chains
of everlasting darkness, therefore when Jeaue tvas apprehended they took him
and bound him. For that shame tvhich was due- to their sins he turned not
away his face from shame and spitting, nor his cheeks from them that plucked
off the hair. He was buffeted and scourged, and stricken for their transgres
sions, that by his stripes they might be healed. For the sins of their heads, his
holy head was crowned tvith thorns. Their feet were swift to run into sin, and
their hands mighty to commit it, therefore when the Lord laid upon hira the
iniquities of them all, his feet and his hands were pierced through with nails.
Tliere never was sorrow like unto that sorrow, wherewith the Lord afflicted him
in the day of his fierce anger, when he endured the curse to redeem his people
from the curse of the law, when he was forsaken of God, that they who deserved
to be forsaken for ever might be brought nigh to God, and when he bowed his
head, and gave up the ghost, dying for them that they might live with God for
ever. Thus he was raade ain for them who knew no sin, and thus he put away
sin by the sacrifice of himself, and by this alone can it be put away. God hath
laid no other foundation for the salvation of einners, than the finished work, the
life and death, the Wood and righteousness of J^sus Christ. When you heard
the minister just now give notice that the sacrament would be administered next
Sunday, he aaid, it was in remembrance of the meritorious cross and passion of
Christ, " whereby alone," mind that, " whereby alone tve obtain remission of our
eins, and are made partakers of the kingdom of heaven," whereby alone we are
saved from hell, and entitled to heaven. Whatever grace or glory God the
Father gives to any poor sinners he gives it on this account, and on nothing else.
He looks only at what his Son did and suffered, when he vouchsafes toDring
any of them from darkneas to light, and from ain to rigbteoueneaa. He eeee
them in his Son, and accept8 them in the Beloved. They stand at his bar in the
rignteousnees of bis Son, and are therefore justified from all things. He views
them in the graces and lovelineae of hie Son, and they appear npt only without
spot or blemish, or any such thing, but aleo fair as the moon, clear as the sun —
complete in Jesua : and therefore it ia owing to tbe precioua gifts, and infinitely
meritorious offerings ofthe great High Priest of our profession Christ Jeaue, and
to theae alone, that any Burners are pardoned and saved ; because there is salva
tion in none other, either person or thing.
But because thi8 way of salvation through faith in a crucified Saviour waa a
stumbhng block unto the Jews, and unto the Greeks foolishness, and is not
received to this day except by those to whom it is given, therefore the Lord
Christ sustains another gracious office, and is the great teacher of his people.
He is the dirine prophet of whom it is written, " In the latter days they shall
be all taught of God ;" for by his word and Spirit he brings his people to an
heart-felt discovery of their own guilty state and ruined nature, and teaches them
the infinite sufficiency of his finished work, and enables them with the heart to
rest upon it, as the alone foundation of present peace and of eternal joy. This is
the great lesson which he has to teach us, as our prophet, and none can teach it
but himself. Men may give one another some notion of the way of salvation,
but they can go no farther. Christ only can teach as never man taught. The
words which he speaks, they are spirit, and they are life. The Spirit accom
panies them with his divine power and energy, and by them he quickens the aoul
that was before dead in trespasses and sins. He speak8 life into the dead, and
the life which he gives, being from him, is to bring the soul to him, that it may
be kept ahve by bring upon his fulness : for thie Jeeus is the Chri8t, conse
crated of God to be the great Prophet of his people, and made of God unto them

SERMON. 943
wisdom, that he might instruct them aU in saving knowledge, by bringing them
to rest wholly by faith upon his life and death for every grace and every blessing.
And because there is in our fallen nature a proneness to turn from Jesus, and
to reat upon something besides him alone for righteousness and strength, and
for a comfortable and holy walk heavenwards, therefore Jesus is the almighty
King to rule in and over his people, and to manage all their matters, spiritual
and temporal, for them. And for this purpose he has aU power in heaven and
earth, that whatever would turn them from him, enemies within or without, he
might be able to subdue them aU. Having brought them to himself, and fixed
them upon the foundation, he is the Christ, the consecrated King to keep them
there by his almighty arm. They are now become his lawful subjects, and no
enemy, not even the gates of hell, shall pluck them out of his hands ; and they
know it, and are therefore safe and happy. Surely, can they say, in the Lord
have we strength. In the midst of their weakness and helplessness he makes
his strength perfect, the exceUency of it never appearing so manifest, as when
•he keeps them sensible that without him they can do nothing, and yet then
enables them through him to do aU things.
Happy are the people who are in such a case, yea, blessed are the peeple
who have Jesus Christ for their King ; because he is the Lord, that is, Jehovah,
we preach Christ Jesus the Lord. This crowns aU. Jesus is Jehovah, one of
the eternal Three in the Godhead, co-equal and co-eternal tvith the Father and
with the Holy Spirit, possessed of aU the divine attributes and perfections. All
his works are perfect, infinitely, everlastingly perfect. His tvork of salvation is
absolutely complete. Jehovah hath laid the foundation. Jehovah hath brought
forth the top stone. It is the masterpiece of his wisdom, and power, and love,
to which nothing can be added, and from which nothing may be taken away :
for God was in Christ, and finished the work. " Thus saith the Lord, I am
Jehovah, and besides me there is no Saviour ;" no Jesus, therefore Jesus is
Jehovah ; as he says himself to the Jews — " If ye believe not that I AM, ye
shall die in your sins." Now none can forgive sins but God only, and therefore
Jesus must be God, because he had power upon earth to forgive sins. The pro
phet Isaiah says, " Unto us a child is born, and he shall be caUed the mighty
God" — mind, the chUd was God, the infant child just born was the almighty
God — according to the apostle, *' God over all blessed for ever." This is the
fundamental article of our religion. Take this away, Christians are as great
idolaters as they are who worship stocks and stones : for if Jesus be not Jehovah,
if God and man be not in him one Christ, of what idolatry have you been guilty
of this morning ? The whole litany is a prayer to Christ. In the creeds which
you have been repeating, you have acknowledged his Godhead. In the liturgy
are theee words : — " The same that we beheve of the glory of the Father, the
eame we believe of the glory of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost, without any
difference or inequality." 'Therefore against all opposers we must insist upon
the equality of the Persons in the Godhead. We must preach Christ Jesus the
Lord — Jesus a perfect Saviour, consecrated to his office by the covenant of the
eternal Three, and acting in it, as the great High Priest, who was to offer gifts
and sacrifices for the sins of his people, and to teach them, as their prophet, to
rely whoUy upon him for the infinite and everlasting efficacy of these gifts and
offerings to take away sin, and to obtain salvation ; and to trust to his royal
power that they might be kept by it, unttt they should receive the end of their
faith, even the salvation of their souls. And we are to insist upon it, that Jesus
ia the Christ, able to fulfil aU those offices, because he is Jehovah, the Lord God
omnipotent, who therefore took flesh and was made man, that as man's surety
he might live and die for him, making in his life and death reconciliation for
iniquity, and bringing in everlasting righteousness. This was the Lord's doing ;
whose works are like himself. They are aU infinite, and therefore the salvation
of our God is everlastingly perfect. And it is offered freely in the gospel, not to
him that worketh, but to him that beheveth, which shows the rich fulness and
absolute sufficiency of it. Is not that plainly a divine liberality which can make
such a free grant as this ? Whosoever will, let him come and take the grace of
God, and the glory of God freely. And observe to whom the free grant is made

944 SERMON.
— to any that wiU receive it. To any sinner, be he ever so vile, if he he black
as heU, heavy laden with a burden that would sink thousands of thousands of
souls into the bottomless pit, labouring under the guilt of sins as numerous as
the sand upon the sea-shore, to such an one is the word of this salvation sent.
He may come just as he is : for all things are ready, ready for sinners, yea, for
the chief, to cleanse, to justify, to sanctify, to glorify them. Whoever he be, he
that beheveth shaU be saved, and ahaU he kept by the power of God through
faith, until he be raade a partaker of the eternal salvation of God.
Thua we preach Chriat Jeaus the Lord, directing sinners to look nowhere but
to him — " Behold the Lamb of God." Look unto him, and be ye saved, all ye
ends of the earth. And this is the good news of the gospel, tvhich after ministers
have experienced themselves, then wttl they be able clearly and feelingly to
preach it to others ; for then the love of Christ tvill constrain them. The work
of the ministry may be hard, the difficulties many and great, but his love in their
hearts will make them willing to do, and suffer any thing for his glory, and for
the good of his people, which is the
Third particular under this head to be considered. If tve mention any thing
about ourselves, it is to humble self, and to bring honour to Jesus — " ourselves
your sen-ants for Jesus' sake." In this ordinance of preaching, and in all our
ministerial labours, tve are not lords but servants, servants to our great Lord
and Master, to whom we ought always to have an eye, and to whom we must
give an account ; and servantB also to you, bound to perform every good office,
ready to every work and labour of love, which may promote your apiritual and
eternal interest : for thia end we have given up ourselves to serve the Lord
Christ; and have devoted ourselves to your service for his sake : so that we
ought to refuse no difficulty or trouble, tvhich bis glory or your profit require of
ii8. But in whatever case one or both these ends cannot be promoted, we are
acting quite out of character, if tve engage in it. And for this reason I have not
been able to behave towards you in the common way of soliciting for your favour.
Some have insinuated it wae from pride, that 1 would not go about the pariah from
house to house canvassing for votes ; but truly it was another motive. I could
not see how this could promote the glory of God. How can it be for the honour
of Jesus, that bis ministers, who have renounced fame, and riches, and ease,
should be most anxious and earnest in the pursuit of those very things which
they have renounced ? Surely this would be getting into a worldly spirit, as
much as is the spirit of parliamenteering. And as thie method of canvasaing
cannot be for Jesus' sake, so neither is it for our honour : it is far beneath onr
function : nor is it for your profit. What good is it to your soula ? What com
pliment to your understandings ? What advantage to you in any shape to be
directed and applied to by every person with whom you nave any connexion, or
on whom you have any dependence ? Is not this depriving you of the freedom of
your choice ? Determined by these motivea, when my frienda, of their own accord,
put me up as a candidate, to whom I have to this hour made no application,
directly or indirectly, I left you to yourselves. If you do choose me, I desire to
be your servant for Jesus' sake ; and if you do not, the will of the Lord be done.
From what hath been said upon the text it appears, that not self, but Christ
Jesus the Lord, is to be preached. Our subject matter is his nature, God-man, full
of grace and truth in all his offices. When God wa8 manifest in the flesh, he
was caUed Jesus, because he was to save his people from their sins ; and he was
Jesus the Clirist, chosen to this office in the covenant of the eternal Three, and
consecrated to be the great teacher and prophet of his church, able by his word
and Spirit to make manifest the secrets of the heart, discovering to a man his
own fallen state, his guilt, and his misery, and making him so to feel these thingB,
as to be forced to go out of himself for salvation ; and alao to make manifest to
him, how he may be saved through faith in the blood and righteousness of a
crucified Saviour, by and in hira alone can be had forgiveness of sins, and an
inheritance" among them that are sanctified. Upon this foundation Jesus is able
to establish and ground the soul, because he has all power in heaven and earth
for that very purpose ; as God-man be reigneth over aU, King of kings, and Lord of
lords, until all his enemies be made his footatool. Not one enemv, not one sin

SERMON. 945
shall have dominion over them, who live by the faith of the Son of God ; yea,
he wiU so rule over them, that they shall be preserved from aU evil, and he will
make all things work together for their good. And for the glory of Christ in
these his offices he bestows his blessings freely : — the most ignorant he teaches, the
greatest sinners he justifies, the most helpless he keeps by his mighty power.
He is the Saviour of such, not for any merit in them that is or can be, but to the
praise of his own grace. He is able to do aU this, because he is Jehovah, to
whom aU things are possible ; and he does it because it is bis office, his honour
to save. He is Jesus, the Saviour, and he is the Christ, the consecrated Saviour,
in whom dweUeth the fulness of the Godhead, that he might be able to save to
the uttermost, yea, that he might be the author of eternal salvation. This is the
goapel which has been preached with success by many faithful ministers in this
place, whose names are still remembered with honour ; and this gospel is to this
day preached unto you, and we desire to deliver it faithfully, that you may re
ceive it profitably, which brings me to the
Second general head of discourse, namely, to the application to the hearers,
which consists in receiving the truths delivered. Preaching is the ordinance of
God, which he has appointed, and by which he acts. On which account it is not
an indifferent matter, but is either the savour of life unto life, or the savour of
death unto death ; therefore our Lord requires you to take heed how you hear,
when Christ is evidently set forth in the preaching of the gospel. My word, says
he, shall not return unto me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please,
and it shaU prosper in the thing whereto I send it. The Spirit accompanying
it makes it effectual for the accomplishing of what the Lord pleases, and by his
mighty working in the word, faith cometh, and Christ is received. The soul,
which was dead, is made ahve by the word of hfe — which was in darkness, is
enlightened, when the light of the glorious gospel shines into it — which was in
guilt, is acquitted by believing the word of righteousness — which was mourning,
is made joyful through patience and comfort of the scriptures — which being on
the foundation yet could do nothing to build up itself, is edified and built up by
the word of grace in its most holy faith. Thus by and in tbe word the Spirit
actB, and Chnst is received into the judgment, the behever clearly apprehends
him, the conscience is satisfied with him, and sees in his life and death enough
to be saved from condemnation, and to be entitled to heaven ; the wiU chooses
him, the heart embraces him, and the whole man is influenced to give up himself
to be governed by the grace of Jesus, that in spirituals, in temporals, for time and
for eternity, Jesus may be all, and in all.
Now, aire, we therefore preach Chriat Jesus the Lord, that you may thus re
ceive him, and be happy in him. We would glorify him in our preaching, that
hia Spirit may thus glorify him in your hearts and fives. And has he done this
for you ? Examine ; for it is of infinite moment. What does it signify to you,
how glorious Christ is in the eyes of others, if he be not so in yours ? How
blessed he makes them, if you be not blessed in him ? You will be no better for
their views of Christ, and for their happiness in him. Oh think then, why it is
that Christ, who is infinitely, inestimably, everlastingly precious, is not precioua
to you. Is it not because you do not believe ? For the scripture declares, " to
them that beUeve he is precious." And what keeps you under the power of un
belief ? Is it not written, that the god of this world blindcth the minds of them
that believe not ? He deludes the judgment and hardens the heart through the
deceitfulness of sin, insomuch that they are content with the pleasures of sin,
which are but for a season, and while these delight, they feel not their want of a
Saviour. If there be any who hear me now in this dreadful case, oh think how
much you will one day want him ! In the time of distress, when the law accuses,
conscience condemns, and you see the wrath of God to be your due — when the
arrows of the Almighty stick deep in you, and his law presseth you sore — how
exceedingly desirable will Jesus the Saviour then be ? But supposing this day
of conviction never come, yet it is appointed unto aU men once to die : how tvill
you appear and stand at God's bar ? With sin unpardoned ? Alas 1 there is
then no way left to escape — your sentence is upon record — Go, thou cursed,
into eternal fire, &c. Sirs, before it be too late, think of these tilings, and may
3 p

946 SERMON.
God put it into your heart so to think of them, that you may flee from the wrath
to come.
Whenever it shall please God thus to make you sensible of your want of a
Sariour, or if he has already been thus gracious unto you — remember, sirs,
that Jesus Christ is the Lord Jehovah, and that in our nature he haa wrought
out a finished salvation. Here is your object. The command is : look unto
Jesus, see in him aU fulness dwelling, and for the use of such sinners as you are.
The enemy will try all his wiles and malice to keep you from Jesus, and your
legal, unbelieving hearts tvill help him mightily ; but consider what a free grant
he has made in the gospel of aU the blessings of his salvation. He requires no
condition of you, wants no quahfication in you. Take what he offers. Receive
it, and it is yours. AU is by free gift. Christ himself is a gift, and sois grace,
righteousness, holiness, and heaven. AU good things are the free gift of God
through Jesus Christ our Lord. What can be a greater encouragement ? The
salvation finished in all its parts ia offered and made good, not to hira that work
eth, but to him that believeth. And therefore whoever or whatever you are in
your otvn eyes, yet Jesus Christ came into the world to save auch. Thia ia a
faithful saying, that he came to save the chief of sinners. This is worthy to be
received. It has the honourable testimony of God himself, and therefore surely
you may receive it, and depend uppn it. Come, for all tilings are now ready ;
and you shall be saved freely by grace through faith, and that not of youraelvea,
it i8 the gift of God.
If you are a convinced sinner, inake what objections you can against yourself,
they are aU answered in the gospel. Say you are a great sinner, but not eo great
as Jesus is a Sariour. Perhaps you are old in sin, yet his mercies are frora ever
lasting to everlasting. Suppose your sins are numerous as the stars, far infinitely
more are his mercies. Say you are very deep in guilt, what scarlet crimson sins can
not his blood waah clean r If thou hadet all the si na of earth and heU upon thy guilty
soul, yet it ia written, " He that believeth ahaU be juatified from all thinga." Oh
that you may not stand reasoning against the infinite sufficiency of Jeaua to eave.
AU things are poesible to Jesus, and so are aU things possible to hira that believ
eth. Be not faithless, then, but beUeving : may it be given thee to believe in the
only begotten Son of God.
If this be thy happy case, then thou art already a partaker of the precious gift
of faith. Jesus is stiU thy object. Look unto him for all things. They are
treasured up in his fulness, and aU received by believing. Thy safety, thy
victories, thy holy walk, thy comforts and joys, these come unto thee and are en
joyed by faith. He is thy all-perfect Saviour ; and he being thine, all he has,
and all he is, is thine also. He has made them over to thee in the free grant of
the gospel, and aU the perfections ofthe Godhead stand engaged to keep thee in
possession of them : therefore walk close to Christ and live up to thy privileges,
and aee thou 8top not short of any thing promised, which wttl be to hia glory, and
to thy comfort. There are unsearchable riches of grace in Jesus, full authority
in Christ, and absolute power in Jehovah to bestow them. Whatever grace thou
wantest at any time, thou wilt honour Jesus Christ the Lord, if thou wilt by faith
live upon him for the receivingit : and thou wilt infaUibly receive it according to
thy faith. Believe in him for safety, for righteousness, for holiness, for happineaa ;
and as thou believest, so shall it be done unto thee — thou shalt have aU that thou
canst ask, yea raore than thou canet think. May this be the happy case of all
who hear me to-day. If I never stand up any more in this place, may we aU so
know and believe in Christ Jesus the Lord, that we may be found in that happy
number who shall ascribe hpnpur, glory, and blessing, and power, to Father,
Son, and Holy Spirit,, three persone in one Jehovah, to whom be equal praise for
ever and ever. Amen.

JJ47
THE SCRIPTURE DOCTRINE
or THE
SACRAMENT OF THE LORD'S SUPPER,
BRIEFLY STATED.

Then said Jesus unto them, Verily, verily, I aay unto you, except ye eat the flesh of the
Son of man, and drink his blood, ye have no life in you. — John vi.53.

ADVERTISEMENT.
The foUowing snort Treatise was drawn up at the request of a charitable lady
and published for the benefit of the poor. The design of it was to open to them
the nature and use of the Holy Sacrament ; and it was thought the most proper
method not to be large and full upon the subject, but to lay it before them in one
view, that they might understand it more easily, and remember it the better.
Reader ! before thou openest it, ask Him, from whom cometh every good and
Iierfect gift, to accompany thy perusal of it with his grace and blessing ; and if it
ie of any service to thee, give the glory to God ! and pray for the author,
W. Romaine.
The sacrament of the Lord's Supper was ordained by Christ himself. Before
his passion, he took bread and blessed it, and brake, and gave it to his disciples,
as the outward and visible sign of his body broken ; and he took wine and blessed
it, and gave it to them, as the outward and visible sign of his blood poured out, and
shed for the sins of the world. And then he commanded them, and us, to con
tinue to do the same in remembrance of him ; so that we must first know what
we are to remember of him in this ordinance, before we can keep it aright. We
must consider the scope and design of it ; for what end Christ left us these me
morials of his body and blood ; upon what motive he required us to partake of
them ; and what benefit we are to receive thereby. For these reasons it is of great
consequence clearly to understand the nature and use of the Lord's Supper.
Reader ! I hope thou seest the importance of it in a strong hght. May God give
thee a right judgment in this weighty matter. Consider, then, that
I. You have an immortal spirit within you, whose life of happiness depends as
much upon God the Father of spirits, as your body does upon the food and elements
qf this world. — Moses has given us this account of the two parts of which man is
composed : " The Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed
into his nostrils the breath of life, and man became a livig soul." Gen. ii. 7 . The
bodily part was formed of the dust of the ground, but the spiritual part was im
mediately infused, and breathed from God ; and as they had a different original,
so they go to different places : when the body dies, it returns to dust, but the
spirit, the breath of hfe, returns to God that gave it. While man continued in
nocent, his soul had a Ufe of happiness dependent upon God ; for as it is created,
it must be dependent, and its Ufe must be supported by that Being, on whom it
depends. And this being is God : " For with thee is the fountain of life," says
the Psalmist, Psal. xxxvi. 9. All spiritual Ufe flows from God, as from its proper
fountain, and is supported by a vital union with him, as much as the body is sup
ported by a vital union with the food and elements of this world : what these are
to the life of the body, that is God to the hfe of the soul, " for he holdeth our
souls in life," Psal. lxvi. 9. He holdeth and maintaineth the soul in its spiritual
life. And when there was no sin in the world, it was an happy life. So long as
all things continued very good, the soul enjoyed sweet and blessed communion
3 p 2

1)48 SCRIPTURE DOCTRINE OF
with God. It walked in the light of hia countenance, and the sense of his con
tinual presence filled it with peace and love and joy. But this happy state of
things did not last long : for
II. lour soul lost this life of happiness by sin. — The whole book of God proves
this truth. In express words it says, that faUen man is " alienated from the life
of God," Eph. iv. 18; being estranged from that life which God hath given to
and supported in man, while he continued innocent. Upon sins entering into
the world, the sentence took place — "dying thou shalt die;" the body became
mortal, and the soul tvas ahenated from that divine support wherein its life of
happiness consisted, and died from God, which is the worst kind of death. The
vital union between him and the soul was broken ; " for your sins have separated
between yon and your God," Isa. lix. 2 ; they have separated between you and
the fountain of hfe ; they have cut oft' all communion with him ; by which means,
being dead in trespasses anel sins, which we all are by nature, the aoul ia as dead
to the offices of spiritual life as a cold lifeless corpse is to the offices of animal
life. If these scriptures do not appear to you tvith convincing evidence, consult
matter of fact. How is the case tvith your own soul ? Were not you by nature
dead to God ? If not, then you tvere always alive to the things of God. From
your very infancy you took no delight in childish diversions, much less in sin, in
pride, in envy, in lying, and swearing, or in any act of uncleanness ; but your
heart tvas full of love to God, and every expression of that love tvas delightful.
You knew no joy like that of prayer. T o be continually pouring out your praise
and thankegiving to your Creator, was your heaven — the world so dead to you,
that its strongest temptations had no force. Wealth and honour, and pleasure,
and whatever is called great and mighty, had no charms compared tvith devotion.
Say, was this always the sweet and holy frame of your 80ul from the first dawning
and opening of reason ? Was your heart always thus full of love to God, and
always thus happy in communion with him ? Were your affections never drawn
away by any worldly objects, whereby you robbed God of that continual service
of all your faculties, which was his due ? Can you lay claim to this perfect unin
terrupted obedience? Surely you wttl not; for what man ia he that Iiveth, and
sinneth not ? Nay, what man is there that has not found a colciness and deacl-
ne88 of his affections when he tried to fix them upon God, and the things of God ?
Have not you found it in yourself ? Do you not now find it ? Try, then, to pray for
three or four hours together without one wandering thought. You cannot. Why,
i hen, these are erident proofs that your soul is alienated from the life of God, and
III. You have no power in yourself to recover this life qf God in the soul. — The
law runs in thie style : — " the soul that sinneth, it shall die." Death is the wages
of ein ; you have ainned ; for all have ainned ; and God ia just to give you your
wages. He has promised them, and he ia faithful and true to fulfil his promises.
He must fulfil them, unlesa you can by aome raean8 be restored to hia favour,
and recover the life of grace in the eoul ; for if there be truth in God, " the soul
that sinneth, it BhaU die." But you can do nothing to merit the recovery of thia life,
because your whole nature is sinful and guilty. You are in the state of a condemned
malefactor, with this peculiar circumstance of distress, that you have not even a
deaire to apply for pardon. Your soul ie 80 absolutely enslaved to sin, that it
loves its prison and its dungeon. Every faculty is under the bondage of Satan,
and able to work out nothing but sin. In this state you are utterly helpless and
miserable. " Your condition is auch," aa our church, in her tenth article, expresses
it, " that you cannot turn and prepare yourself," and much lese attain, " by your
own natural strength, to faith and caUing upon God : the grace of Chri8t mu8t go
before, to give you a good will, and then work with you when you have that good
wttl." The first good motion of the wiU comes from Christ, even the desire to
live unto God is his free, gift ; and every step is his work, until the life of God be
perfected in the bouI. He only, whose voice is to call the dead out of their graves,
can call to the sinner, and he obeyed, " awake thou that sleepeBt, and arise from
the dead, and Christ shall give thee life." Christ, and Christ only, has life to give

THE SACRAMENT. 949
to the dead in sin. The fancied hght of nature, the rehgion of nature, morality,
learning, arts, and sciences, these with all other natural and acquired talents, can
no more revive a dead sinner than they can create a world. The conviction of
this truth is absolutely necessary ; for you can never apply to Christ for the free
gift of his divine Ufe until you be perfectly convinced that you want it, and that
you can do nothing to merit it. You can have no motive to apply to him until you
find your own helplessness ; and therefore, if you never saw your want of this
divine Ufe, intreat him to show you your deadness in sin. Beg of him to open the
eyes of your understanding, that you may be able to see in what a wretched dead
state you have been all your days, and may be thereby stirred up to pray, with
strong crying and tears, to the Prince of life, that he would raise you from the
death of sin unto a Ufe of righteousness : for,
IV. Jesus Christ came into the world to recover for sinners that life of happiness
which they hadforfeited. — The scriptures are full of this truth, from beginning
to end. Jesus Christ is there set forth as the almighty Saviour and Redeemer,
who " giveth Ufe unto the world." He was the eternal and self-existent God,
equal in every perfection and attribute with the Father and the Holy Spirit ; and
he was pleased, out of his infinite mercy and love, to be united to our nature ;
by which union God and man became one Christ ; so that he who obeyed the
law, suffered, and died for us, was truly a divine and infinite person. By his
obedience he atoned for our breach of the dirine law ; by his sufferings he freed
us from the punishment due to the breach of it ; and he died that we might " Uve
through him" (1 John iv 9) a Ufe of grace in this world, and a life of glory
for ever in heaven, whereby what he said of himself might be fulfilled : " I am
come, that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly."
John x. 10.
This is the scripture account of the gracious method by which our forfeited
life was restored. It is the free gift of Jesus Christ, the Lord of life and glory.
He is the Lord God omnipotent, who created the heavens and the earth, and
without whom was not any thing made that was made. He gave us our Ufe at
first. And when it was forfeited by sin, he came from heaven to redeem it : so
that we owe him a double debt of gratitude. It was wonderful love that he
should create us at first out of nothing ; but more wonderful that he should come
down from heaven to lay dotvn his own life a ransom for ours. This love sur
passed all understanding. Men who have never tasted it can form no estimate
of it ; and they who have tasted it by faith, acknowledge it to be greater than
heart can conceive, or tongue can utter. However, they know all that can be
understood of it in the present tvorld ; for faith receives this spiritual life from
Jesus Christ. Faith is that divine grace planted in the soul by the Holy Spirit,
whereby it is vitally united to Jesus Christ, and receives support from him to
begin, carry on, and perfect its spiritual Ufe : and this brings me to prove that,
V. Faith receives from Jesus Christ the spiritual life, which he came to give unto
the world. — Faith, as a Christian grace, is widely different from an historical
assent ; for it does not only believe that Christ has life to give to a sinful world,
but also receives it from him. This is essential to a true living faith, which ia a
vital uniting principle, and by which the behever is intimately joined to Christ,
and draws supplies of nourishment from him, for the support of his spiritual life.
The following scriptures prove it to be of the essence of true faith to receive
this Ufe from Christ. "These are written," says St. John, xx. 31, " that ve
might beUeve that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing ye might
have life through his name." " I am the resurrection and the life," saith the Lord,
John xi. 25 ; " he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shaU he Uve ;
and whosoever Uveth and believeth in me shaU never die ; " for he shall be as closely
connected with the root and stock of all spiritual life as the branches of the tine
are tvith the root. " I am the vine," saith the Lord of life; " ye are the
branches : as the branch cannot live, and bear fruit of itself, except it abide in
the vine, no more can ye, except ye abide in me." By beheving, tve abide in
him ; for faitii is the bond of thia union. It engrafts us into Christ, who is the

950 SCRIPTURE DOCTRINE OF
root and stock of our spiritual Ufe. In hira tve live; frora him we receive
nourishment, and are enabled to bear much fruit to the glory of God. 'This is
the happy state of Christians, who beUeve on the Son of God, and have ever
lasting Ine ; but miserable beyond conception is the state of those who are not
united to him ; for he that beheveth not the Son, shall not see life, but the wrath
of God abideth on him. John iii. 36.
These scriptures clearly prove that faith is the hand which God enables us to
put forth, and by which we lay hold of Chriet, and life in him. The bleased
apostle Paul had nappy experience of this doctrine : he relates it in these remark
able words, Gal. ii. 20 : " I am crucified with Christ; nevertheless I live; yet not I,
but Chriat Iiveth in me ; and the Ufe which I now live in the flesh, I live by the
faith of the Son of God, who loved rae, and gave himself for me." In this pas
sage we have a fuU proof of all the former propositions ; as, first, St. Paul waa
crucified and dead to sin tvith Christ, which plainly suupoaea him to have been
alive to sin before ; and being thus crucified and dead, " nevertheless I live,"
Bays he, a life of righteousness and hoUness, but not by any potver or virtue in
myself. No ; I could not make myself righteous or holy — " Yet not I, but Christ
Iiveth in me :" he is the author of this Ufe, and faith is that grace by which we
receive and enjoy it ; " the life which I now live in the fleah, I live by the faith
of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me." Oh happy Paul !
who could without presumption say, the Son of God loved me, and gave himself
for me. Reader, wouldst thou not give all the world to be able to say the same ?
Thou wouldst. Why, then, pray to God for the gift of faith ; and when he gives
it thee, it wttl make thee aa happy as it did Paul. It will let thee know that
Christ also loves thee, and gave himself " for thy sins." May the spirit of grace
bestow upon thee the truly living faith, that upon thine own experience thou
mayest be able to repeat the words after the apostle, and say, " I am crucified
with Christ ; nevertheless I live ; yet not I, but Chriat Iiveth in me, and the life
which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me
and gave himself for me."
VI. In the sacrament, the body and blood qf Christ, from which faith receives
its spiritual life, are represented by bread and wine. — It was the great end and
design of the Christian revelation to discover to us in what method the life,
which we had forfeited, was to be restored. The knowledge of this is of the
greatest moment. Our happy eternity depends upon it ; and therefore God haa
been pleaaed to teach it ue in the plainest manner. He has condescended to
our capacities, and has made uee of eensible objects to explain matters of faith.
'The soul doea not aee at present but through the eyes of the body. Invisible
and spiritual thinga muat be brought down to our understandings by visible and
material : and thia ia done in the eacrament of the Lord's supper. We knotv
that our animal life cannot be sustained without proper nourishment, neither can
our spiritual Ufe ; for God has been pleaaed to institute and appoint the meat
and drink which sustain the Ufe of the body, to be the outward and visible signs
of that spiritual meat and drink which sustain the life of the soul. He has
ordained bread and wine, to represent to the outward senses the spiritual support
wliich the soul receives from the body and blood of Christ. And in consequence
of God's ordination,
VII. It is as certain a truth, that the body and blood qf Christ support the life
of grace in the soul, as that bread and wine do support life in the body. — Man, as
before was observed, in his present embodied state, does not see epiritual objectB
but aa they are compared with material. The revelation of God, in the Old
Testament and the New, is adapted to man in thia state. Objects of faith are
represented to him by objects of sense. Outward things are ordained to stand
for inward ; and God, who cannot lie, has instituted the outward sign, to give
us evidence of the inward grace. He has instituted bread and wine, to represent
the body and blood of Christ : and as bread is the ataff of the life, it ie therefore
a just picture of the bread of life, which Christ brought down with him from
heaven ; and as wine maketh glad the heart of man, it ia therefore a juet picture

THE SACRAMENT. 951
of that most precious blood tvhich alone taketh away the sins of the tvorld, and
therefore which alone maketh glad the hearts of sinners. The bread and wine,
thus instituted, are signs to set before our senses what Christ's body and blood
are to do to the soul ; from whence arose the necessity of giving the same name
to the sign as to the thing signified ; because, what the sign does to the body,
the thing signified does to the soul. When Christ took up the bread, and said,
" This is my body," and the wine, and said, " This is my blood," he spake the
language which the Old Testament had always used, and the only language
which men could understand : for it was a received rule in the OldTestament to call
the sign and the thing signified by the same name ; and it wUl always be a received
rule, so long as men are confined to sense, and cannot see spiritual objects but
by their material types and instituted figures. You cannot see how the body
and blood of Christ support the soul ; but you see that bread and wine do sup
port the body : and the infaUible God has engaged his word and truth to you,
that there is as true and real support "for your souls in the body and blood of
Christ, as there is for your bodies in the bread and wine. He instituted the
sign, to set before your eyes a picture both of the Ufe which Christ gave, as also
of the manner in which he gave it ; for his death was the purchase of your Ufe.
His body was so bruised, wounded, and smitten for your transgressions, that he
8ayB, in the Psalms, " There was no whole part in it ;" therefore the sacramental
bread is broken, and the wine is poured out, as his most precious blood was, out
of every pore and vein. I might trace the likeness in many other instances ; but
these may suffice to show the propriety of instituting bread to represent the body
of Christ, which is meat, not figuratively or metaphoricaUy, but in deed and in truth ;
and wine to represent the blood of Christ, which is drink in deed and in truth.
Thus far the meaning of the sacrament, as to the outward and visible sign, and
aa to the inward and spiritual grace, is plain enough : as a sign it is generaUy weU
understood, but then it is not merely a sign ; it is something more :
VIII. The bread andwine arenot only signs that there is spirituallife in Christ
but also as under a seal they convey it. — This is the chief part of the sacrament ;
and I fear it is greatly mistaken. To set a seal to a writing or instrument, is
making aU that is contained in it authentic and valid. When a man sets a seal
to an instrument, he declares, this is my act and deed. So setting a seal to the
elements is a legal conveyance of what they signify; and whosoever receives them
Under God's seal, he venly and indeed receives the body and blood of Christ,
together with the spiritual Ufe purchased by them. In this sense St. Paul cer
tainly understood tne Lord's supper; for he speaks of it, 1 Cor. x. 16, not only
as a sign, but also as a real seal. *• The cup of blessing, which we bless, is it
not the communion of" (or that which communicates to us) " the blood of
Christ?" " The bread which we break, is it not the communion of" (or that
which communicates to us) " the body of Christ?" In the cup, we communi
cate and partake of not the mere sign, but of the blood of Christ; in the
bread, we communicate and partake of not the mere sign, but of the body of
Christ : and whoever thus communicates and partakes ofthe body and blood of
Christ, to him the outward elements are a seal of that spiritual and divine life
which Christ's body broken, and his blood poured out, were the means of pur
chasing for a sinful world.
IX. TAe bread and wine are not signs to all receivers, but signs only to the faith
ful. — Our church has determined this point in her 28th article, where it is said,
that " the body of Clirist is given, taken, and eaten in the supper, only after a
heavenly and spiritual manner. And the mean, whereby the body of Christ is
received and eaten, in the supper, is faith." Faith is the means of our communi
cating the elements in a heavenly and spiritual manner ; and this faith is the gift
of God. His good Spirit alone is able to apply to the hearts of the communicants
the dirine support signified by the outward elements ; and it is his office to make
the application, and to give us an interest in aU the promises of the gospel ; for
it is certain, none but the Holy Spirit of promise can seal to us a spiritual bless
ing His grace must be in the heart, convincing us of our want of spiritual life,

952 SCRIPTURE DOCTRINE OF
and of the necessity of seeking it frora Jesus Christ, before we can perceive any
thing more in the elements than bread and wine ; and he raust have given
us some knowledge of our interest in Christ, before faitii can Uve and feed
upon the body and blood of Christ under the outward elements. Sacramental
communion ie, no doubt, to communicate and partake of the body and blood of
Christ. But who are able to communicate in this manner ? None but behevers,
who have the eye of faith open to look through the signs to the things signified.
And who enables them to communicate and partake of the things signified under
the signs ? The Spirit of God, who dweUs in the hearts of believers, and who
seals to them the promises of God made to them in this sacrament. The necessity
of his application and seeding them was so evident to the primitive Christians,
that at the consecration of the sacramental wine the priest used to mix water with
it, which was as if he had declared in so many words — I believe the influence of
the Holy Spirit to be necessary to apply to our souls the merits of Christ's blood,
and therefore I pour in thia water, which ia the known emblem of the grace of
the Holy Spirit, that no peraon may expect spiritual and divine life from the
bare receiving of the outward elements : the Holy Spirit muat be in his heart,
in order to make it a epiritual service, and to render it the meana of conveying
spiritual blessings.
X. The state of the doctrine from what has been said. — We are all by nature
dead in trespasses and sins. We forfeited and loat that life of happineaa, which
innocent man enjoyed, while he walked in the presence of God, and had sweet
communion trith him. And we can do nothing to recover this Ufe of God in the
eoul ; so that if he had left us to ourselves, we raust have dragged on a miserable
existence until the mortal body ahould have fallen into the grave, and the aoul
should have periahed for ever from God and glory. But thanka be to the ever-
bleaaed Trinity for contriving the gracious plan of our redemption. Thanks be
to God the Father for sending the Son of his love to recover the spiritual and
dirine life which we had forfeited and loat. Thanka be to the Holy Spirit, who
enahlea us by the hand of faith to receive thia spiritual and divine life. And
thanka be to Jeaus, the Prince of life, who was pleaaed to institute bread and
wine, to be signa to the bodily aenaee of hie body and blood, and to be seals to
the soul when apphed by faith. This is the state of the doctrine ; from whence
it follows, that unlesa you eat of the fleah of Chriet with faith, and drink hie
blood trith faith, receiring verily and indeed, under the eigns, the things signified,
then Christ himself declares, John vi. 53, " That you have no life in you — you
have none of that life which he came to give unto einnere, but you are ae dead to
God, and to the thinga of God, ae a lifelees corpae ia to the things of this world ;
for you are ahenated from the life of God, and must be separated for ever, unless
faith unite you to Jesus Christ, and give you life through hira.
XI. The application of the whole to three different sorts of persons .- to them who
have not the true living faith in Christ ; to them who desire it ; and to them who
have it. — Reader, thia is the main point ; and thou must bear with me while I ask
thee in the spirit of love, Whether thou hast received this true living faith ?
Hast thou an interest in Christ ? and dost thou know it eo clearly, that thou
canst trust all thy concerns in time and in eternity with him? If thy soul be not
in this happy state, then consider what danger thou art in. Thou art under the
guilt of all thy sins ; the holy, just, and good law of heaven haa found thee guilty,
and thou muet suffer the deserved punishment in eoul and body for ever. And
when an almighty God comes to inflict this punishment on thee, wretched man!
think, oh! think, what will be then thy distress! Does the apprehension of it,
while thou art reading this, give thee no uneasiness ? That is an exceeding bad
8ymptom; for then ain haa de8troyed aU motions of grace, and thou art quite
dead in trespasses and sins.
What ! may 8ome of you aay, can I, who am alive, and in good health, be in
thia dead state ? Yes, you certainly may ; and as you have no living faith, you
are indeed in it ; for this spiritual deadness i8 very coneistent tvith aU the offices
of animal life. Nay, you may be a man of gaiety and pleaaure ; you may be
seen at aU public places; you may be the delight and admiration of the polite

THE SACRAMENT. 953
world; and yet you may be all the time dead to God and the things of God ;
the more ahve you are to the world, the more dead wttl you be to God ; as the
apostle says : " She that Uveth in pleasure is dead while she Uveth," 1 Tim. v. 6.
A life of sensual pleasure is a spiritual death : so that you may be alive and
cheerful, and in high spirits, and yet the immortal soul within you may be aU the
time dead to God. You may feed and indulge your dear body with good things,
and your poor soul may be starving. And wben this is the case, the more
flourishing your outward condition is, the less wttl you perceive of your spiritual
deadness, because you wiU go on the more smoothly and merrily untU God shaU
stop you by some sickness or affliction, or shall call you by his word, and shall
send his good Spirit with it, to speak to your hearts, " Awake, thou that sleepest,
and arise from the dead ; and Christ shaU give thee Ufe." Oh that he may awaken
thee, reader, if thou art now in the dead sleep of sin, and may give thee faith to
find Ufe to thy soul in Jesus Christ !
But, however, until God begin this work, you are not expected at the Lord's
table. Until you be awakened, and see the deadness of your hearts to the things
of God, you must eat and drink unworthily ; for you do not desire that Christ's
body and blood may support your spiritual Ufe, as the bread and wine support
animal life. Without this desire, you cannot discern the Lord's body ; you
cannot discern any thing more in the elements than in common bread and wine,
and therefore, if you partake of them, it must be upon some wrong motive, be-
cauee you want the proper dispositions; namely, an humble sense of your want
of spiritual life, and an earnest desire to receive it from Jesus Christ.
In hopes that God will send some of these considerations to your hearts with
the effectual working of his grace, and stir up in you this good desire, I proceed
to apply what has been said to them who have already this desire. Reader, is
this thy case ? Hast thou been deeply convinced of thy sinful and dead state by
nature ? and hast thou been led to Beek life from the free grace of the Lord of
life ? and art thou now waiting for it in his appointed ways and means ? If this
be thy state, thou art safe. Thou art invited ; and thou wUt be a welcome guest
at the Lord's table. Whoever is awakened, and finds his soul alienated from
the life of God, and his hungering and thirsting for that spiritual life which was
purchased for him by the body and blood of Christ, he wttl attend upon this holy
ordinance. Come, my brother, tvith fuU trust and confidence to this spiritual
and heavenly feast. Lift up thine heart to God in prayer, and desire thou
mayest find his presence in his own ordinance. Be encouraged from the experi
ence of others, who went hungering and thirsting as thou dost, and he sent them
away filled with good things. Oh that their case may be thine, and soon ! that
thou mayest find grace to enable thee to live a life of holiness, to the glory of
thy redeeming God. And to them who have received spiritual Ufe from Christ,
through faith, I make, my last appUcation.
My Christian brethren, I need not try to stir you up to a frequent attendance
at the Lord's table. The many sweet and refreshing seasons which you have
enjoyed there weigh more with you than a thousand arguments. Let me only
remind you of the dignity of these holy mysteries. Here are the signs of Christ's
body and blood, and the seals of the Ufe which we receive from Christ's body and
blood, in this world and in the next. The faithful now receive with the elements
that spiritual and divine Ufe from Christ which they are to receive from him in
heaven ; for here is the " bread which he brought down with him from heaven,"
and " the hidden manna " with which he has promised " to feed them that over
come for ever and ever:" and for these reasons faith sets a high value upon the in
stituted signs of spiritual Ufe ; because it receives under them the thing signified.
Raise your devotion from this consideration : go with humility to receive the
signs and seals of your spiritual and divine life ; and may the Lord Jesus be
with you at his own table 1 May his good Spirit prepare us aU to communicate
worthily, that tve may spirituaUy eat the flesh of Christ, and drink his blood ;
that we may dweU in Christ, and Christ in us ; thafwe may be one with Christ,
and Chriat with us: and, being thus united, may the body and blood of Jesus
Christ preserve our bodies and souls unto everlasting life ! So be it, Lord
Jeaua. Amen and Amen

954

A SEASONABLE ANTIDOTE AGAINST POPERY.
IN
A DIALOGUE UPON JUSTIFICATION,

Bona opera non pirccedunt justiBcanduiii sed seciuunlur jiMilicatuin.

PREFACE.
The Papists have their emissaries everywhere ; and they arc vastly busy at
present. They have more interest in this kingdom, and their doctrines have
more advocates, than people imagine. Some of their pretended enemies are theii-
beat friends, and do thera the greatest service. While they cry out, popery !
popery 1 and would make men believe that they are no Papists, they maintain
the fundamental principlea of the church of Rome. Theae were maintained openly
in a httle piece lately printed at Bristol, in defence of the popish doctrine of
justification by works. It was given out gratis, and made some noise. Reader, thou
hast here a faithful copy of this choice performance. That the author of it might
have no reason to complain of hia meaning being misrepresented, hia words
tortured, hi8 scope and design perverted, it waa thought proper to give thee his
words at fuU length. Here they are. Read and admire 1
" To the inhabitante of the parish of St. S  in the city of Bristol, this
Uttle paper (drawn up with a tiew towards the prevention or removal of dangerous
errors — the taking away of the groundless presumptions of some — the clearing
up the necessary doubts and acruple8 of othera — but, at the same time, towards
exciting the eerioue attention of aU, and keeping their coneciencee awake ae to
real duties) is most humbly addreaaed by their faithful paetor, J  H T  a.
" A short andfamilar way of explaining the important doctrine qf justification, and
the points dependent on it, agreeably to scripture and the church of England.
" Juatification ia a law term, derived from judicial proceedinga, and is opposed
to condemnation. When applied to persons in thia Ufe, it anticipates the idea
of a day of judgment, and declares the happy issue of a certain procees sup
posed to be carried on in the court of conscience between God and the soul.
" This being the case, when a person is brought to the bar, and acquitted by
his judge, he 18 then said to he justified ; that is, he is declared to be just or
innocent in regard to the charge laid againat him. But there is this circum
stance in the Christian, wherein it differs from all other justifications ; riz. That
the justified person is not only acquitted, but rewarded ; and thia reward ie an
eternal weight of glory.
" Therefore take notice, That the firet indictment brought against you in the
court of conscience is, — That you have ainned and thereby broken the latv of
God ; and againat this indictment you can make no defence, but must be in
fallibly cast and condemned ; for all the world are become guilty ; aU having
ainned, and come short of the glory of God. But Christ'a merits are here plead
able in arrest of judgment ; for when you can make no defence of your own, and
would otherwise be necessarily condemned, you can plead the merits of your
Saviour, erad assert, that, as far as relates to the covenant of works, or the cove
nant of a never-failing obedience, you are freed from the curse and sentence
attending the breach of it by the mediation of Christ and the imputation of his
righteousness. You can assert aleo, that this mediation, and theae merits, have
obtained for you a covenant of better hopes ; one more gracious in its nature ;
being attended with the assistance of God's Holy Spirit, and. upon all accounts.

PREFACE. 955
more easy for you to perform ; viz. the covenant of faith and repentance ; to the
performance of which a free promise of immortal happiness is annexed.
" The man is therefore brought to the bar a second time ; and is then to be
tried upon the terms of this new and better covenant ; viz. Whether he has so
co-operated with divine grace, and so improved his talent, as to have repentance
and present obedience towards God, and faith and gratitude towards our Lord
Jesus Christ. If he has these quaUfications, his plea is aUowed of, his person
accepted, and he is justified : so that tvere he to die that moment, he would be
secure in the inheritance of eternal glory. But if he is found destitute of true
faith and sincere repentance, his mouth is stopped, and he has no plea to make,
nor apology to offer. As to the sacrifice and satisfaction of Christ, his merits,
his obedience, or imputed righteousness ; the consideration of them will only
serve to aggravate his guilt, and increase his punishment, instead of lessening
them ; because these things were never intended to supersede the necessity of
repentance, and a return to obedience ; but, em the contrary, to make this re
pentance, and this return to duty, become vaUd and acceptable in the 6ight of
God ; and to purchase for them that reward of immortal happiness, to which the
most perfect obedience (supposing such an obedience possible) could have no
right or claim, without the free promises of God in Christ.
" To say more than this concerning the effects of Christ's imputed merits, is
blasphemous Antinomianism, which opens a door for aU manner of sin and
wickedness, by taking away the necessity of personal virtue and inherent holiness,
nnd by making the imaginary transfer of Christ's righteousness to serve as a
cloak for the unrighteousness of mankind.
" To say lesB, is Socinianism (but one remove from modern deism), wliich
destroys the idea of a Saviour and Redeemer, and sinks the Christian covenant
of grace and mercy into a mere system of moral duties.
" Between both these extremes lies that happy gospel medium which displays
the mercy of God to the returning and repenting sinner, and his justice on the
impenitent and incorrigible.
" Hence, therefore, a rational and scriptural evidence of your justification ;
hence a genuine and authentic proof of your being a new creature ; and the
proper, never-failing credential, that the spirit of God dweUeth in you : for if
vou have true faith and sincere repentance, you want no other signs or evidences
But if you have not these, to pretend to any other assurances, tokens, feelings, or
experinces, is vain and delusive.
"Hear, therefore, the judicious decision of our excellent church, as the con
clusion of the whole matter ;— ' Oh ! but how shall I know that the Holy Ghost
ia within me ? some man perchance wttl say ; forsooth, as the tree is known by
his fruit, so is also the Holy Ghost. The fruits of the Holy Ghost (according
to the mind of St. Paul) are these : love, joy, peace, long-suffering, gentleness,
goodnesB, faithfulness, meekness, temperance, &c. Contrariwise, the deeds of
the flesh are these : adultery, fornication, uncleanness, wantonness, idolatry,
witchcraft, hatred, debate, emulation, wrath, contention, sedition, heresy, envy,
murder, drunkenness, gluttony, and such like. — * * * Here is now that glass,
wherein thou must behold thyself, and discern whether thou have the Holy
Ghost within thee or the spirit of the flesh. If thou see that thy works be vir
tuous and good, consonant to the prescript rule of God's Word, savouring and
tasting not of the flesh, but of the Spirit ; then assure thyself that thou art
endued with the Holy Ghost : otherwise, in thinking well of thyself, thou dost
nothing else but deceive thyself." (The first part of the Hom. onWhitsunday.)"
This is the extraordinary piece which gave occasion to the following dialogue ¦
Believer. How do you do, my dear sir? You are welcome to town, lli-w
did you leave all friends at Bristol ?
Inquirer. Sir, I thank you, I left them all well.
Bel. Pray, do you bring us any good news from thence ?
Inq. We have nothing very particular at present, except that religion is more
talked of than any other topic ; and tve have had some stir about a Uttle piece
printed by our minister a' tout justification.

956 SEASONABLE ANTIDOTE
Bel. I suppose you mean "The short and famttar Way of explaining the im-
p irtant Doctrine of Justification," which you sent rae up ?
Inq. Yes, that is it ; and have you read it carefully, as I desired you ?
Bel. Yea, sir, at your request I have read it over several times.
Inq. And what is your opinion of it ?
Bel. It is indeed short, but far from being familiar ; and instead of explaining
from scripture this important doctrine, he leaves scripture quite out of the ques
tion, leavea the church of England and all the protestant churches, and chooses
to go to the church of Rome for his account of justification.
Inq. Although this be a very heavy charge againet my doctor, yet, I dare say,
you would not lay it unless you could make it good.
Bel. You know that my charge is not against the man, but against his teneta :
for I never aaw Dr. T. in my life.
Inq. True : but are you not too sharp and severe in supposing him to be a
Papist ? I know the man ; and ha cries out against popery as much as you
can do.
Bel. Doea he, indeed ? Then I am aure he does not know what popery is ;
for he is an open defender of its fundamental doctrine.
Inq. How do you prove that ?
Bel. Why, from thia very paper of bis. He here maintains justification by
works, which ia the grand heresy of the Papists, and from which their most dan
gerous errors are derived ; and he denies that justification ia by faitii only, which
aU aound Proteatante maintain ; and therefore he cannot be a Proteatant.
All Protestants hold justification to be by faith only ; but Dr. T. holds justifi
cation to be by works : therefore he is not a Protestant.
And he must be a Papist, because the grand heresy of popery consists in
holding justification to be by works, and Dr. T. holds justification to be by
works ; therefore he ia in the grand hereay ofpopery.
Inq. But frora whence doe6 it appear that Dr. T. hold8 juBtification by works r
Bel. It appears frora the general acope and design of this little tract, in which
he sets out at first tolerably well, and until he comes near the end of his third
paragraph there is something Uke the truth ; but he begins to lose sight of it
when he talks " of Christ'a having obtained for us a covenant of better hopes,
and that faith and repentance are the terras of this covenant."
Inq, And are they not ?
Bel. No. The ecripture conaiders faith and repentance as the privileges and
free gifts of the covenant of grace, which the Doctor mistakes for terms and
conditions. And this mistake runs throughout. He aU along supposes the
graces of the covenant to be the terms, and its free gifts and privileges the con
ditions of it ; which ia downright popery.
Inq. Do you take the gospel, then, to be a revelation of grace and mercy, and
not a proposal of a covenant of terms and conditions i
Bel. I take the gospel to be glad tidings of salvation for poor sinners, inform
ing them what Christ hath done for their salvation, and how by the obedience
of his life, and by the sacrifice of his death, he made a full atonement for sin,
and brought in everlasting righteousness ; and showing how the free grace of
God applies to them the benefits of Christ's atonement and righteousness ;
namely, by the Holy Spirit's working in them repentance towards God, and
faith in our Lord Jesus Christ. By the gift of repentance they are turned unto
God ; and under a sense of their fatten, sinful, and miserable state, as trans-
greasora of hia holy and righteous law, each of them is constrained to cry out,
" God be merciful unto mu, a sinner 1" And to alleviate their diatreas, and to
bring peace and comfort to their 80ula, they are enabled by faith, which is alflo
the gift of the Holy Spirit, to truat in and to plead the righteouaness' of Christ
only, who is of God made unto them wisdom, righteousness, sanctification, and
redemption. And hereby the behever is entitled to immortal happiness, on
account of what Chriet hath done for him, the comfort of which he enjoys by
what the Holy Spirit hath wrought in him ; viz. a beheving apprehension and
conviction that he has an interest in the righteousneas of the God-man. Thia is,
I think, the true gospel of Jesus Christ, which ia evidently no covenant of faith

AGAINST POPERY. 957
and repentance, but a revelation of grace and mercy, and in which we have the
free promises of eternal Ufe, but not annexed to the performance of faith and
repentance as works of man, or the terms or conditions of the covenant, but to
Jesus Christ and to the perfect obedience and full satisfaction he hath made for
sin; for the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Inq. I see how widely different your view 01 the gospel is from the Doctor's.
He absolutely insists upon there being some terms or conditions of justification ;
whereas, if I understand you right, there are none.
Bel. The gospel has mentioned none. " Do this and thou shalt Uve," is the
language of the law. Here life is promised upon the terms of obedience :
whereas, in the gospel, life is purchased for us by Christ, and also aU the gospel
promises are freely made through him, and all the gospel graces are fuUy given
through him, not to be received upon the performance of any previous terms or
works, but freely given by the mere grace of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.
And the Doctor strangely errs, not knowing the scriptures, when he talks of
faith and repentance as terms ; for I suppose he means, by terms, the con
ditions upon the performance of which we are justified -. but that which is
promised as a free gift cannot be received upon the performance of any terms
or conditions ; anef justification itself, as well as faith and repentance, are
promised in scripture as free gifts, consequently they are not to be received
upon the performance of any terms or conditions.
You may read, Rom. v. 16, 18, that justification is the free gift of God.
So is faith, Eph. ii. 8. It is the gift of God, wrought in the heart by his ope
ration, and one of the fruits of his good Spirit. So likewise is repentance,
Acts v. 31. God hath exalted Jesus with bis right hand, to be a prince and
a Saviour, for to give repentance. Now, since faith and repentance are the
free gifts of God, how can they be the terms or conditions of our justification .'
How can they be conditions to qualify us to receive what God gives freely, and
according to the pleasure of his own wiU ? Can you reconcUe this difficulty ?
How can God give that freely which he does not give but upon certain terms or
conditions ?
Inq. But is it not a very common expression amon?; divines, "the terras of
Acceptance ? " I think I have seen a celebrated book with that title.
Bel. You wiU find neither the expression nor the doctrine in scripture ; but,
in direct opposition to both, the scripture says, " We are accepted in the Beloved ;"
and again, " we are justified freely by grace, through the redemption that is in
Christ Jesus." Here we are said to be accepted in Christ without any terms or
conditions of our otvn fulfilling. And is it not a palpable contradiction to say
that we are justified freely by grace, and yet at the same time upon certain
terms or conditions ?
Inq. But are there no terms of acceptance ?
Bel. You hear what the scripture says : " .We are accepted in the Beloved."
Inq. What 1 tvithout any terms ?
Bel. Yes, without any terms to be previously performed by us to qualify us
for acceptance.
Inq. But how, then, am I to understand the Doctor ; for he says, " the man is
therefore brought to the bar a second time, and is then to be tried upon the terms
of this new and better covenant ; viz. Whether he has so co-operated with
dirine grace, and so improved his talent, as to have repentance and present obe
dience towards God, and faith and gratitude towards our Lord Jesus Christ. If
he has these quaUfications, his plea is allowed of, his person accepted, and he
is justified." What am I to think of these words ?
Bel. You are to think that they contain the grand heresy of the Papists ; and
they atate it as clearly as any doctor of the Sorbonne could have done ; for
First, Here we have a man brought to the bar.
Second, His trial is put upon this issue — Has he so co-operated tvith dirine
3 race, and so improved his talent, as to have repentance and faith, present obe-
tence and gratitude ?
Third, If he has these quaUfications, and good works, then he is justified : but.
Fourth, As the Doctor adds, '* if he is found destitute of true faith and sincere

9-jS SEASONABLE ANTIDOTE
repentance, his mouth is stopped, and he haa no plea to make, nor apology to
offer : " from whence it foUows,
Fifth, that no raan is justified without these qualifications and good works :
they must go before his justification. AU this is downright popery. It ia con
trary to the whole tenor of scripture, contrary to the doctrinea of wie church of
England, and contrary to the Doctor's own oaths and subscriptions.
/no. Not so fast, my dear friend. You charge too high. I aee, indeed, that
the Doctor does require these quaUfications before hand, as previoualy necesaary
to justification : hut how do you prove thia to be unscriptural ?
Bel. I might prove it from the general scope and design of the sacred volume,
which is to direct sinners to the righteousness of the God-man Christ Jesus for
justification ; but I refer you to the Epistles to the Romans and to the Gala-
tians, which were written to estabUsh this truth — that " a man ia not juatified
by the worka of the law, hut by the faith of Christ," Gal. ii. 16, which excludes
aU quaUfications and works. Rom. iii. 24. God declares, " we are justified
freely by his grace : and if by grace, then it is no raore of works ; otherwise
grace ie no more grace."
Again we read, Rom. iv. 5, " To him that worketh not, but beheveth on
him that justifieth the ungodly, hie faith is counted for righteousnesa." Observe
how widely St. Paul differa from Dr. T.
Dr. T. saye, A man ie not juatified without certain works and quaUfications :
St. Paul says, " He ia juatified that worketh not."
Dr. T. teaches that a raan ia not juatified unleea he first have faith and obe
dience. St. Paul asaertB that God juBtifieth the ungodly. What faith and obedience
has an ungodly person ?
St. Paul sends sinners to Christ for righteousness, that they may be raade
the righteousness of God in him ; but,
Dr. T. senda them to their own qualifications and works, without which they
cannot be raade the righteousness of God in Christ.
Moreover, St. Paul says, Rom. iv. 6 " God imputeth righteousness without
works." Dr. T. denies it, and maintains that God imputeth not righteousness unless
there be works and quaUfications going before. Now what do you think of
these scriptures ? Do they not entirely overthrow Dr. T.'s notion of justification ?
Inq. Indeed, they appear to me in a stronger Ught than ever I saw them in
before : but what do you think of the person who is tried and cast for want of
quaUfications ?
Bel. I suppose you refer to thia paseage : " But if he is found destitute of
true faith and sincere repentance, his mouth is stopped, and he hae no plea to
make, nor apology to offer." How widely different is this from this scripture
state of the ceise, which represents the persons*who are to be justified freely
as " ungodly, as working not, aa found to be sinners while they are seeking
to be justified :" whereas Dr. T. makes them saints, before they are justified.
They have repentance, obedience, faith, and gratitude ; ahd upon pleading these
quaUficatione they are pronounced to be righteous in themselves, and are justi
fied. How opposite is thia to the acripture doctrine, which teaches ub that we
unrighteous sinners are made the righteousness of God in Christ 1 but how
exactly agreeable is it to the sentiments of the Papists !
Inq. You are stttl harping upon that string. I tell you again that Dr. T. is a
bitter enemy to popery, and a sound friend to the church of England;
Bel. He may caU himself so ; but he and the church of England are as wide
as the east is from the west. Her doctrine is founded upon an old maxim ;
.namely, That good works do not go before in the person who is to be justified,
but follow the person being iustified. Bona opera non pracedunt justificandum,
sed sequUntur justificatum. Dr. T. makea them go before, and thereby forgets
what he once set his hand to ; viz. the 13th Article, the title of which is tnia :
"Of Works before Justification." "Works done before the grace of Christ
and the inspiration of hia Spirit are not pleasant to God, forasmuch as they
spring not of faith in Jesus Christ, neither do they make men meet to receive

AGAINST POPERY. 959
grace, or, as the school authors say, deserve grace of congruity ; yea, rather for
that they are not done as God hath willed and commanded them to be done, we
doubt not but they have the nature of sin."
Compare Dr. T.'s paper with this article, and you wiU see that they are dia
metrically opposite. The article says, " Works done before justification have in
thera the nature of sin." The Doctor once set his hand to this doctrine ; but now
he writes against it, and says that they have in them the nature of merit ; for
they are quaUfications indispensably necessary to justification. Let a whole
college of Jesuits reconcile these contradictions if they can.
Inq. Truly, I cannot see how they can be reconcUed. But have good works
no place in our justification ?
Bel. No ; none at aU ; for works done before justification, aU Dr. T.'s qualifi
cations, have in them the nature of sin, according to our church.
Inq. How am I to understand this doctrine ?
Bel. Hear what our church says of it in the second part of the Homily on
Salvation : " The true understanding of this doctrine — we be justified freely
by faith without works — is not that this our own act to beUeve in Christ, or this
our faith in Christ, which is within us, doth justify us, and deserve our justifi
cation unto us (for that were to count ourselves to be justified by some act or
virtue that is within ourselves) ; but the true understanding and meaning thereof
is, that although we hear God's word and beUeve it ; although we have faith,
hope, charity, repentance, dread and fear of God within us ; and do never so
many works thereunto ; yet we must renounce the merit of all our said virtues,
of faith, hope, charity, and all other virtues and good deeds, which we either
have done, shaU do, or can do, as things that be far too weak, and insufficient
and imperfect, to deserve remission of our sins and our justification." Is not
the meaning of these words very plain and clear ? And what can the Doctor
object to them r If he denies their authority, what becomes of his oaths and
subscriptions ? If he allows of it how can he insist upon faith, repentance, &c.
as qualifications requisite to our justification, after the church has absolutely
excluded faith and repentance by name, and aU other virtues and good deeds,
from deserving any part of our justification ? How does this reasoning appear
to you ?
Inq. Why, really, it is decisive. I did not think you could have brought such
convincing proofs, but I am now satisfied that our justification is not from any
works which we have done, can do, or shaU do ; yet there is a difficulty still
sticks with me.
Bel. Pray what is it ?
Inq. It is this : Does not your doctrine of justification supersede the necessity
of repentance and return to obedience, as the Doctor expresses himself?
Bel. Do not call it my doctrine. It is the doctrine of scripture, and of the
church of England ; for you know we are taught that Christ was exalted to be
a prince and a Saviour for to give faith and repentance, even that faith which
worketh by love : and how then can this doctrine supersede the necessity of
faith, repentance, and return to duty, since Christ always gives these graces to
those persons whom he justifies ?
Inq. But certainly this doctrine does supersede the necessity of repentance and
return to duty.
Bel. No ; far from it. It only supersedes them as quaUfications for our being
justified ; for the scripture and our church allow of no quaUfications or con
ditions. And the Doctor, without intending it, has fallen into their opinion ;
for, in direct contradiction to what he had been maintaining, he says, " That the
imputed righteousneas of Christ was to make repentance and this return to duty
become valid and acceptable in the sight of God :" from whence I argue, upon
hia principles, that without this imputed righteousness they would not be valid
nor acceptable ; and if not valid nor acceptable, how could they be necessary
qualifications for our justification ? How could that make us accepted which was
itself not acceptable ? So that here we have J  h against T^  r boldly
contradicting him to his face.
Inq Surely you must misrepresent the Doctor.

900 SEASONABLE ANTIDOTE
Bel. No, my good friend, I do not. Look at the paper. See, here are the
very words. Read them over.
Inq. WeU, I protest, I could not have thought Dr. T. would have contra
dicted himself in such a palpable manner. I ara sorry for him.
Bel. Sorry ! Ay, so you ought. If you are sorry for his false reasoning,
how sincerely aorry should you be for his false doctrine ? For the scripture
teaches that our persons are justified, and the church asserts that tve are ac
counted righteous, through the merits of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Chriet.
But Dr. T. assigns the obedience, sacrifice, satisfaction, and imputed righteous
ness of Christ, no other place than to make our works valid and acceptable,
and to purchase for them (what? for righteousness and return to duty? Yes,
for I find no other case to agree) the reward of immortal happiness. I could
never find in scripture that all that Christ did and suffered tvas to make our
repentance and return to duty vahd and acceptable in the sight of God, or that
he came into the tvorld to ptirchaee the retvard of immortal happineea for
repentance and return to duty ; but I read often of hia giving himself for sin
ners, of his dying to atone for sin, and of his purchasing eternal life for them
that were dead in trespasses and sins. Can you reconcile this with the Doctor's
notion of Christ's righteousness making our obedience and return to duty valid
and acceptable ?
Inq. No, indeed, I cannot, and ara sorry the Doctor should maintain things eo
abeurd and unscriptural.
Bel. I am glad you are already sorry for him : you will have more reaaon
when I come to his next paragraph. There he affirms, " that to eay more than
thie concerning the effects of Christ's imputed merits, to say more than that our
good works qualify us to receive Christ'8 imputed merita, is," he saya, " blasphe
mous Antinomianism." But the acripture and our church eay more : therefore
the Doctor calle the scripture and our church blasphemous Antinomians ; and he
saya their doctrine " open8 a door for all manner of ein and wickedness, by
taking away the necessity of personal virtue and inherent holiness." The scrip
ture abhors the Doctor'e charge. What ! shall we make Christ the minister of
sin ? God forbid ! Our church entera her protest in the third part of the Homily
on Salvation, in these words : " How can a man have the true faith, sure trust
and confidence in God, that by the merits of ChriBt his sins be forgiven, and be
reconciled to the favour of God, and to be partaker of the kingdom of heaven by
Christ, when he Uveth ungodly, and denieth Chriat in hia deeda?" And ae to
theee unscriptural terras— personal virtue and inherent holiness — they are
brought in to be a kind of contrast to the righteousness of Christ, and to throw
contempt upon it. You know my opinion of Christ's righteousnesa ; and you can
imagine how 8enaibly I muat have been affected at the reading of the next words.
I declare, my blood ran cold, and I even now shudder, at the repeating them 1
Lord, grant they may never be laid to the Doctor's charge 1 — " And by making
the imaginary transfer of Chriat'a righteousneas to serve as a cloak for the
unrighteousness of mankind."
Inq. My dear 6ir, what offends you herein so mightily ? What necessity for
this great outcry ?
Bel. Do not you see the reason ? Is not that righteouanesa here trampled
under foot aa a mean and rile thing, in which the Lord'a people here below, and
above, appear before hira without spot of sin unto salvation ? For
First, It is here asserted that, to eay a man ie justified by Christ'8 righteous
ness without works, is destroying personal tirtue and inherent holiness :
Secondly, That the transfer of his righteousness serves as a cloak for the
unrighteousness of mankind : and
Thirdly, That the imputed righteousness of Christ, which the doctor treated
before as a real thing, he now treats as an imaginary thing.
Inq. DoeB he indeed? What! does he call Christ's imputed righteousneas
imaginary ?
Bel. Ye8 ; he doea not mince the matter, but treats it as a fable ! the righte
ousness of God he treats as a mere imagination ! He once indeed thought it a
real thing, and set his hand to the truth of it ; and he still acts in the ministry

AGAINST POPERY. 961
in consequence of his subscription to the thirty-nine articles, although he now
writes against the 1 1th, " Upon the Justification of Man," which says, " We are
accounted righteous before God only, for the merit of our Lord and Saviour
Jesus Christ, by faith, and not for our otvn works or deservings." What do you
think of this article ? Does it not say more than the Doctor does ? And is it,
then, blasphemous Antinomianism ? Is it opening a door to all manner of sin
and wickedness, to say that we are accounted righteous only through Christ's
imputed righteousness ? Answer me, my friend.
Inq. Indeed, this article has struck me. That word only is an answer to aU
the Doctor's paper. I now see clearly he is in the wrong ; and I thank you
heartily for convincing me of it. I understand how free and full the righteous
ness of Christ is, and that it is imputed to the ungodly, who have no quaUfications,
no good works, no personal virtue, no inherent holiness. And I pray God, I
may be found in Christ, not having my own righteousness, which is of the law,
but that which is through the faith of Christ — the righteousness which is of God
by faith.
Bel. I have reason to be thankful if my discourse has been of any use to you.
I have spoken freely, and more so, as I know not the Doctor, and cannot be sup
posed to have any dislike to him. If ever you should bring him into my com
pany, I would speak more freely to him than I have of him, both for the sake of
his own soul and of their souls who are committed to his care. I doubt not but
I could convince him that his general inference, which begins thus, " hence,
therefore, a rational and scriptural evidence of your justification is neither
rational nor scriptural. If you have true faith and sincere repentance, you want
no other signs or evidences," says he, " of your justification." Observe this faith
and this repentance are to go before as qualifications of our being justified ; and
considered in this respect, our church says, they have in them the nature of sin;
and therefore they are no signs or evidences at aU. " But if you have not these,"
as the Doctor adds, " to pretend to any other assurances, tokens, feelings, or ex
periences, is vain and delusive." Does he know any one who maintains that a
man may be in a state of justification, and yet have no faith or repentance ? I do
not hear of any person who maintains this ; but I know some who talk of certain
marks and evidences attending true faith, which the scripture has promised ; and
these must not be discarded as vain or delusive ; for the scripture has promised
us the assurance of faith as the gift of God, and to be wrought in us by the
operation of God, and mentions the earnest or token of the Spirit, and speaks of
feeling after the Lord and finding him, yea, feeling in ourselves the working of
the Spirit of Christ, as our church expresses it in article 17, and in another place,
feeling our consciences at peace with God through remission of our sin (third
part of the Homily for Rogation Week), and feeUng this with so much certainty,
that we can teU our experience with David : " Come hither, and hearken, all ye
that fear God, and I wiU teU you what he hath done for my soul." So that we
must not reject all tokens, feelings, and experiences, as vain and delusive.
Inq. Doubtless, there is such a thing as the assurance of faith ; and I pray God
I may attain it.
Bel. God grant you may. And now let me ask you — Does it not appear to
you, upon the whole, that the Doctor was greatly mistaken even in the very title
of his paper ? For he has been estabUshing groundless presumptions instead of
taking them away ; giving further handle to unscriptural doubts and fears in
stead of clearing them up ; and luUing consciences aBleep upon the sandy
foundation of human righteousness instead of building upon Christ, the rock of
ages, for righteousness to justification, and for true holiness of heart and life.
His notions are opposite to scripture, and inconsistent with the determinations
of the church of England ; and therefore they come under one of the marks of
the fruits of the flesh enumerated by St. Paul, and quoted by the Doctor from the
Homily — namely, heresy. Are these things so?
Inq. Indeed they appear to me with such full conviction, that I need not
trouble you about the last part of his paper ; for I now see plainly enough, that
this quotation from the Homily is nothing to the purpose ; because it only says,
that when the Spirit of Christ is within a man, he wiU bring forth the fruits of
3 a

962 SEASONABLE ANTIDOTE AGAINST POPERY.
the Spirit ; but the Homily does not maintain, with the Doctor, that these fruits
wiU justify us.
Bel. No ; far from it. The doctrine of the HomUies is this :
The righteousness for which a sinner is accounted righteous before God is the
righteousness of Jesus Christ.
It was not the end of Christ's fulfiUing aU righteousness, to make repentance
and return to duty valid and acceptable, nor yet to ptuchase for repentance and
return to duty the retvard of eternal happiness ; but he fulfilled all righteousness,
that our persons might first be made righteous ; after which our works would be
acceptable. And
Accordingly we never read of his righteousness being imputed to them who
have repented and returned to duty ; but it is said to be imputed to the ungodly,
to him that worketh not, without any qualifications or conditions.
Faith is the hand which apprehends, or the instrument which applies, Christ's
imputed righteousness, and thereby justifies.
This justifying faith is the gift of the Holy Spirit.
He gives us evidence of our being justified, by bearing his testimony with our
spirits, that we are the children of God, and
By enabUng us to bring forth the fruits ofthe Spirit.
These fruits do not justify us, but prove ua to be justified ; as the fruits upon
a tree do not make it alive, but prove it to be ahve.
Inq. I heartily assent to these truths; and I desire to experience the comfort
of thera in my own soul.
Bel. I am glad to leave you in this eweet frame of mind. I wieh aU our
Bristol friends were in your way of thinking.
Inq. I promise you it wttl not be my fault if they be not. I wiU do my en
deavour to convince them.
Bel. I hope God will prosper your endeavours, and give his blessing to your
magistrates and people. May they love Christ and his righteousness ! may your
clergy and Dr. T . among the rest, preach Christ, and teach men to submit to his
righteousness ! and may Christ pour his choicest blessings upon the city of
Bristol, that it may be celebrated through the earth for the city of righteousness,
the faithful city 1

963

ESSAY ON PSALMODY.

Give thanks unto the Lord, call upon his name, make known bis deeds among the people :
sing unto him, sing Psalms unto him.— 1 Chron. xvi. 8, 9.

PREFACE.
In the service of the church of England there is great use made of the Psalms.
They are read in every day's service, both at morning and evening prayer, and
are constantly sung in public worship. Tt is much to be wished they were
better understood, that the daily reading and singing of them might be the means
of grace. Very few, it is to be feared, receive the profit from them, which, as
an ordinance of God, they tvere intended to administer. I have long seen the
design of them greatly mistaken, and have long lamented the contempt put upon
them. At last I have been persuaded to try to make the subject of these divine
hymns plain and clear, and to restore the singing of them in the congregation to
their primitive usefulness. This is my present attempt. Success in it depends
on help from God. He revealed the book of Psalms, and he alone can make the
singing of them profitable. I hope he will. May he accompany my weU-meant
performance with his presence, and prosper it with his grace. If it bring any
honour to his holy name and word, thanks be to him. If any body reads it, and
is stirred up to sing more and better : if our public singing of Psalms be re
formed, and become in the least like the great concert of saints and angels, this
wiU be altogether his doing ; may he have aU his praise. I deserve none, being
only in his church and service what he is pleased to make me. Through his
grace I trish to live to his glory, and to be useful in my day to his cause and in
terest. Help me, reader, to exalt him in Ufe and death. May it be thy hap
piness to do the same : for which thou hast the hearty prayer of thy servant in
him,  W. Romaine.
Men and Brethren, — We are the creatures of God, dependent on him for
being and for well-being. He gives us all our faculties, both of mind and body,
and he reciuires us to use them in his service, and to his glory. This is our
bounden duty. It is the pecuUar dignity of man, who never acts more nobly
than when he employs the powers bestowed upon him to the praise of the giver.
None of them should be useless, but each should be exerted, whenever an oppor-
portunity offers of glorifying God.
In the common actions of life, this may and should be done : the rule is,
" Whether ye eat, or drink, or whatsoever ye do, do aU to the glory of God ; "
but it is far more needful in spiritual matters, which have an immediate relation
to God and his worship. These he has appointed to be the means of showing
forth his praise. Among them singing of Psalms is not the least. It is frequently
commanded, and with a promise — faithful is he who hath promised — he wiU ren
der the means effectual to answer the end. When behevers employ the faculties
of soul and body in singing of his goodness and greatness, he does accept the
3q2

964 AN ESSAY ON PSALMODY
service, and testifies his acceptance. He does indeed communicate to them,
by his Spirit, joy and peace, and he renders singing to the Lord, with melody in
the heart, the means of increasing the melody and joy.
But where is such singing ? In what church ? Among what people ? There are
some. May their number increase. It is worth while to try to increase them,
especiaUy as this ordinance is so much neglected. The holy affections, which
should be stirred up by so heavenly an exercise, are generaUy damped by it.
When it is performed tvith coldness and indifference, how can it produce sensa
tions suitable to such exalted means of grace ? Or when contempt is put upon it,
how can it convey any of the promised blessings ?
Many things have contributed to the present neglect and abuse of this ordi
nance, and I have been led to the following reflection, in order to try to bring it
again into repute. Happy, indeed, shall I think myself, if the Lord should be
pleased to make use of them, as any way conducive to the singing of his praises
with the understanding ; I shaU pray and labour for it : may he give his abundant
blessing. One of the first and great causes of neglecting the singing of Psalms seems to
have arisen from not attending to
CHAPTER I.
The Subject of the Book of Psalms.
The testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy : for to him give all the prophets
witness. With one voice they speak of his wonderful person, of his divine un
dertakings, and of his complete and eternal salvation. It ia the spirit of their
writings to reveal and to teach the good knowledge of the Lord. Whoever under-
atanda them perfectly, will find the prophets treating of the coming of Immanuel
in the flesh, as clearly as the evangelists. When this most bleased event was to
be accomplished in the fulness of time, a New Testament witness, filled with the
Holy Ghost, prophesied, saying, " Blessed be the Lord God of Israel, for he
hath according to his promise visited and redeemed his people, and hath raised
up an horn of salvation for us in the house of his servant David, as he spake by
the mouth of his holy prophets, which have been since the world began." The
Lord never left himself without witness. Ever eince the world began, he had
prophets, who foretold what Chriet was to be and to do, who testifietf beforehand
of the sufferinge of Chriat, and the glory that should follow.
This is the subject of the book of Psalms. It treatB of Christ, and contains
the praises of the Father's love, and of the Spirit's grace, as they were manifested
in the person and work of Jesus Christ. The salvation of sinners through him
is the greatest display of the covenant mercies of the eternal Three : therefore the
Psalms celebrate his wonderful person, and hia divine undertakinge — they describe
his obedience and Bufferings — his conflicts with, and victories over, aU his enemies
— his resurrection and ascension — his sitting upon the throne, the great king of
aU worlds, visible and invisible — his gathering together, and perfecting the number
of his elect — his coming at the last day to judge men and angels — and the glory
which he wttl bestow upon his redeemed, when they shaU be with him, and Uke
him, kings and priests unto God and his Father, and shall reign with him for
ever. What subject can be more noble in itself than this : here are the greatest transac
tions of the greatest personages that possibly can be — the ever blessed Trinity
purposing and covenanting to bring many sons unto glory — displaying their
wisdom, and love, and power, in an infinite degree, through the incarnation,
obedience, and sufferings of the God-man, Jehovah Jesus, and through the effec
tual grace of the Holy Spirit, caUing and bringing the elect to experience the
Father's love to them by faith in the Son's perfect salvation, and then guiding
them safe by his counril and might unto the glory provided for them. This
wonderful theme is treated of in the book of Psalms in a manner suitable to its
dignity — it is not only spoken of, but also celebrated — not merely described, but

AN ESSAY ON PSALMODY. 965
also praised. The language therefore is exalted The sentiments are sublime.
The poetry is divine. And no wonder : the author is equal to the subject. He
is capable of extolling the mercies of that covenant, which reaches from eternity
toeternity; and of extolling them according to theirtrue greatness. The Psalms are
the composition ofthe all-wise Spirit : for the Holy Ghost spake by the mouth of
David, and of the other inspired penmen. He guided both their hearts and
their hands. The sentiments and the words are his : for the prophecy came not
in old time by the will of man, but holy men of God spake as they were moved
by the Holy Ghost — they spake as he moved them — they indited the Psalms
under his inspiration. The praises therein given of the person and work of the
ever blessed Immanuel are not human, but truly divine. What may not be ex
pected from such an author ? Who is by essential union one in the Godhead
with the Father and the Son, and who is by his office to testify of Jesus, and to
glorify Jesus. If the Psalms be read under his influence, they wttl be found
equal to the subject, in every view suited to exalt the incarnate God, and if they
be sung with grace in the heart, they wiU increase the faith and hope of every
devout worshipper. There are several Psalms which are applicable to none but
Jesus Christ, and many expressions which could not be truly spoken by any one
but by him who was God and man in one Christ. Many trill receive new lustre
and emphasis, when viewed in the same light. The proper Psalms, which are
appointed to be read on the festivals, do certainly treat of the birth, death, resur
rection, and ascension of the Lord Christ, and of ftie coming of the Holy Spirit
on the day of Pentecost, inconsequence of Christ's ascension : for, says he, " If
I go not away, the Comforter wttl not come unto you ; but if I go away, I will
send him unto you." Our reformers certainly understood those proper Psalms
to be descriptive of Christ, and took them in the same sense our Lord and his
apostles did; who have quoted the book of Psalms eighty-two times. Their
manner of quoting it demonstrates, that they took it for granted it was
written concerning Christ. Indeed many passages cannot be appUed to any
one, but to him : for instance — he appeals to God to be tried according
to his innocence — to be rewarded according to his righteousness — he desires
to be judged according to the cleanness of his heart and hands — could any
one of us say, " Search me to the bottom, O God, and know my heart ; try
me, and knotv my thoughts, and see if there be any way of wickedness in me."
All have sinned. AU we Uke sheep have gone astray, and if tve were to be tried
according to the holy law by a heart-searching God, every mouth would be stop
ped, and all the world would become guUty before him. Oh what would become
of the best of us, if God was to judge us as we are. The cxixth Psalm is a
description of the love of Christ to the law, his study in it and his perfect observ
ance of it. Oh what love have I unto thy law — tvith my whole heart have I sought
thee — I have not departed from my judgments — " I have sworn" (with the oath,
ofthe covenant) " and I wiU perform it, that I wiU keep thy righteous judgments."
Are not these the pecuUar descriptions of the work of the God-man, in which
he was alone, and of the people there was none with him — any more than there
was in the offering for sin, when he trod the wine-press alone, and of the people
there was none with him, of which the xlth Psalm treats — any more than there
was in bringing in everlasting righteousness, for which the church praises him
in several Psalms, particularly in Ixxi, and wiU triumph in his righteousness, and
in his only, for evermore. The glory is his. No offering, no righteousness, but his
can save : the praises therefore of the great salvation of our God, which run
through the book of Psalms, are the pecuUar prerogatives of the King of saints.
They are his crown and diadem. The honours are solely his, and he wtil wear
them with unrivalled fame. His name is King of kings, and Lord of lords, and
the armies of heaven foUow him with one mind and one heart, ascribing unto
him honour and glory, and blessing and praise, for ever and ever. Amen.
But although the work was altogether his from first to last, none being capable
of any part, but he who is God as well as man ; yet, eternal blessings on him ! he
did it for us and for our salvation. His people have an interest in what he is —
God in our nature — they have their share in what he did and suffered for them,
and they have an unspeakable benefit in what he is now doing for them in the

966 AN ESSAY ON PSALMODY.
presence ofthe Father. By believing, they have pardon and peace through his
offering on the tree. By beheving, they put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and find
acceptance in hia righteousness. By believing, they commit their persons and
concerns into his hands, and he ever Uveth then- prevailing intercessor to obtain
for them every needful blessing. Thus they learn to trust him, and in trusting,
to experience his faithfulness. He gives them cause to love him, and to rejoice
in him. For having received a new birth and life in him, they can sing the
Psalms of his nativity, and join angels and men in ascribing glory in the highest
to the incarnate God. They read of his dying love in several Psalms, and they
worship him for bearing their sins, and shame, and curse, in his body and soul
upon the cross : the lamb that tvas slain, and redeemed them to God by his blood,
is the constant theme of their grateful eongs. When they read or sing the Psalms
of his resurrection they look upon him as the first fruits of the dead, the earnest
ofthe whole harvest, and with grateful hearts they bless him for making, and for
keeping them aUve to God. They share in aU his victories and triumphs, being
his happy subjects : for he has a kingdom, tvhich is celebrated in many of the
Psalms. Theee treat of his almighty power to rule all beings and things : and of
the eweet sceptre of his love, by which he governs his willing people. lie mani
fests to them the greatness and majesty of his kingdom, so that under his royal
protection they find deliverance from the temptations to sin, and from ths miseries
of sin, and through his special love he gives them here in the kingdom of his
grace a happiness, which aU the kingdoms of the world, and the glory of them,
cannot possibly give. They live happy indeed : for he makes them sing of the
good of his chosen : they do rejoice in the gladness of his nation, and they
glory in his inheritance. Theae are high privilege8 ; but they are only the
earnests of that kingdom which endureth for ever. Oh what glorious things
are spoken of thee, thou city of God, in which the great king delighteth
to dweU, and to manifest his glory. Wonderful things are written of his
everlasting kingdom in the book of Psalms with which his happy subjects
mix faith, and can then sing them with a hope full of glory and immortality
The Psalms throughout so describe the King of saints that they who par
take of his grace may find in them continual exercise of their faith, and con
tinual improvement of it : for they have an interest in all he wae, and in aU he
ie. Was his trust in God unshaken ? They hope he will make theirs steadfast.
Was his walk holy, harmless, and undefiled ? They depend on him for strength
to tread in his steps. Were his tempers perfectly holy ? They admire his exam
ple, and through his Spirit they daily put off the old man, and put on the new.
Was he carried through the greatest sufferings with entire resignation ? They
look up under all their trials for his promised support. Has he all his enemies
under his feet? They are waiting in joyful hope for the fruit of his conquest.
Is he now in oui- nature in the highest glory? It is promised them, their eyes
shall see the king in his beauty. On blessed prospect! They ahall Boon be with
him, and likehim too, when they shaU eee him ae he is. The Psalms are eo written
of Christ, that every beUevermay find comfort in what he reads or ainga. Chri8t
being tbe head ofthe body the church, all the membera do 8hare with their
head in what he is and has, in his incarnation, Ufe and death, resurrection and
intercession, yea, they shall live and reign with him for ever and ever. That
my meaning may be better understood, I wiU give an instance in the first Psalm.
Let us consider, how it is to be understood of Christ, and in what manner it is
useful to those, who, through faith, are with Christ.
As it treats of Christ, it is a proper preface to the whole book. It gives an ac
count of the subject, and is an abridgment of it, containing in substance what is
largely handled in the other parts. For Christ is ,here described under the
character of that perfect person, who was to retrieve for his people all the
losses of the fall. He was in their nature, and yet he was by nature and
practice, in heart and Ufe, separate from sinners; negatively he had not the
least communion with them, being without one spot of sin, positively he was
perfectly holy. He fulfilled aU the righteousness of the law iu its highest re
quirements, both in obedience to its precepts and also in suffering its penalties.
Thus he became to bis people the tree of life, having Ufe in himself, aa

AN ESSAY ON PSALMODY. 967
God self-existent, and having life communicatively, as God-man, to bestow upon
every branch in him. — " I am the vine," says he, " ye are the branches :" by him
they are quickened, in him they live, through him they become fruitful, and
by his influence they prosper and bring forth much fruit to the glory of God.
Herein they are directly contrary to the wicked, who are never quickened
by him, but left to perish in their sins.
PSALM I.
1 . Successful are the steps of that person, who never walks in the counsel of
transgressors, and in the way of sinners never stands, and in the seat of mockers
never sits.
2. But in the law of Jehovah is his deUght, and in his law wiU he meditate
day and night.
3. For then he shaU be Uke a tree that was planted by the streams of waters,
which wiU yield its fruits in their season, and its top-shoot shaU never fade, but
whatsoever he shaU take in hand he shah be able to make it prosperous.
4. It shaU not be so with transgressors, but they shaU be Uke the chaff which
the wind blows away.
5. Because the transgressors shaU not be set up in judgment, nor sinners in
the congregation of the righteous.
6. For Jehovah acknowledgeth the way of the righteous, but the way of sinners
shall be destroyed.
This Psalm is a general description of the success of Jesus in his work, showing
what steps he tvas to take for the salvation of his people : he was to be a man
like us in all things, excepting sin ; from which he was perfectly free : no thought
of it ever entered his mind, not one moment did he decline from the way of duty,
but always acted under the influence of divine love, in his Ufe, and by his example,
reproving those who made a mock at sin. He was holy, harmless, and undefiled
in his nature, and separate from sinners in his practice : for
He was perfectly acquainted with the divine law : it was his continual study,
and to obey it tvas his continual deUght. It was his meat and drink — " Lo, I
come," says he, " to do thy wttl, O God." He rejoiced to fulfil its precepts by
hie Ufe, and he was a willing sacrifice to suffer its penalties in his death. In both
he magnified the law, and made it infinitely honourable. And,
Thus it became him to bring many sons unto glory. Whatsoever he undertook
for them had perfect success. He was the tree of Ufe watered with abundant
streams of grace, the Spirit being given not by measure unto him ; a tree subject
to no change, but always growing and flourishing, always bearing forth fruit, and
making every branch in it a partaker of the heavenly influences of the stock upon
which it grows.
But the transgressors, who are not grafted into him by faith, have no spiritual
life or fruit — they are lighter than vanity itself: and they shall be driven from
the judgment seat of God, as easily as any light chaff is driven about by a strong
wind, and they shaU be justly banished for evermore from the general assembly
and church of the first born.
For Jehovah always approved of the way of the righteous, whom he chose and
eaUed, and justified freely by his grace, through the redemption which is in Christ
Jesus ; but the tvay of transgressors he disapproves, and they shah soon utterly
perish. In this sense the Psalm is true of Christ, but behevers have their share in the
blessings of which it treats ; for in his success they partake. They have fellow
ship with him in every step tvhich he took to work out their salvation. When
they have redemption through faith in his blood, and free acceptance through
faith in his righteousness, then they walk humbly with him, and he puts his fear
within them. He teaches them to depart from evil, they do not tvaUt in the
counsel of the ungodly, nor stand in the way of sinners, nor sit in the seat of
the scornful.
But he puts his latv in their inward parts, and writes it in their hearts : in their
renewed mind they are brought to deUght in it ; they make it their continual

968 AN ESSAY ON PSALMODY.
study, and through grace to walk in it as their continual practice. Yea, they live
by the faith of the Son of God, as branches in the tree of life : because he lives
they shall Uve also ; drawing from their Ufe-giring root every thing needful to
mortify sin in them, and to enable them to bring forth fruit unto God.
Thus he separates them from transgressors, who live and die in their sins : these
are Uke chaff, which the wind driveth away.
Because they shaU not stand in the judgment of God, nor come into the
church of Christ.
For the Lord with his loving-kindness regarded the way of the righteous, but
the way of transgressors shall perish.
Thus believers look upon the Psalms. They consider them as treating ofthe
glorious person and work of the God-man, and considering themselves in him,
as members under him their Head, quickened by his Spirit, and receiving'aU the
blessings of spiritual life out of bis fulness, they can understand and sing the
praises of Immanuel, with melody in their hearts ; for they can apply to them
selves the benefits of his atonement and righteousness, of his intercession and
glory, and this renders the Psalms precious, and singing them an high ordinance.
Their God does meet them and bless them in singing Psalms. While they
express their love to him he communicates his love to them, and they have
fellowship with the Father, and with his Son Jesus Christ by the Spirit.
But this tviU be more erident from considering some particulars relating to
the subject ; such as CHAPTER II.
The Scripture Names of the Psalms.
There are three Hebrew names often used in the titles of the Psalms, which
the Septuagint have translated Psalms, Hymns, and Songs. The word rendered
by them hymns is Thehilim, which is the running title to thia book, expre8sive
of the general design, and is an abridgement of the whole matter. It comes from
a Hebrew word, that signifies the brisk motion of light, shining and putting its
splendour upon any object, and this makes it bright and illustrious. Hence
comes the propriety of the word, as it is used to praise, which is to set an object
in the light ; that the rays shining upon it may render it splendid and beautiful,
and thereby glorious and praiseworthy. Such are the Psalms. They are rays
of light — enUghteners, (if I might use such a word, and it is the literal sense of the
Hebrew hymns) intended to manifest the glory of the person, and to show forth
the praises of the work of God-JeBus : for light, in its various uses in nature, is
the appointed emblem of the Lord Christ. He is distinguished by this name
throughout the Old Testament ; and he applied all the passages to himself in
the New, when he declared — " I am the light of the world " — " I am not only
the Creator of light in the material world, but also in the spiritual world — dark
ness covers the earth, and gross darkness the people, until I, the light of life,
arise upon their souls : and when I come with healing in my rays, in that day
shatt the deaf hear my words, and the eyes of the blincf shall see out of obscurity
and out of darkness."
Jesus gives eyes to see with, and Ught to see by : he opens the eyes of the
understanding, and makes spiritual objects visible : so that, whoever is enlightened
with sating knowledge, has it all from him, and it Rhould all lead to him. He
is the bright day-star which shines throughout the volume of revelation ; but in
no part with clearer rays than in the book of Psalms. Here he is exalted in his
meridian glory : for the whole scripture does not give greater light into what he
was to be, and to do, and to suffer, his Ufe, hie temper, hie employment from his
tender age unttt his crucifixion, than is to be found in those divine hymns : nor
are there any more fuU descriptions of his passion, death, resurrection, ascension,
and his kingdom which ruleth over all. In the Psalma, he himaelf read and
meditated day and night, while he wa8 growing in wisdom and stature. And
in them wUl every true behever meditate, that he may have more of the light of
the knowledge of the glory of God, as it shines in the person of Jesua Chriet.

AN ESSAY ON PSALMODY. 969
As the eyes of his understanding are more enlightened with this saving truth,
he wttl more happily enjoy in his heart the benefits of the humiliation and
exaltation of the incarnate Jehovah. May this, reader, be thy happy case : may
every Psalm be as the shining Ught, leading thee to a growing knowledge of
Jesus, and shining on clearer still until the perfect day.
Zeraer is another Hebrew word which the Septuagint translates Psalms : as a
verb, it signifies to cut and prune trees ; as a noun, it is a branch cut off, and
pruned, and by way of eminence, the Branch, the man whose name is the
Branch, who was known and distinguished by this title in the scripture. He
was the eternal God, and he was in the fulness of time to be made flesh, and to
cut off, but not for himself. This was the great transaction in the everlasting
covenant — " Thus saith the Lord of hosts, (Zech. iii. 7, 8.) Behold I will bring
forth my servant, the Branch," the promised branch which was to spring from
the root of Jesse; and again, Zech. vi. 12, 13. " Thus speaketh the Lord of
hosts, Behold the man whose name i-j the Branch, and he shall grow up out of
his place, and he shall build the temple of the Lord, (in which the Godhead
shall reside) even he shall build the temple of the Lord, and he shall bear the
glory, and shall sit and shall rule upon his throne, and he shall be a priest upon
his throne, and the counsel of peace shaU be between them both," between
Jehovah and the Branch; for the Branch having grown up in his place
was in the temple of his body to ratify the counsel of peace ; he was to estab
lish it in his life, and to fulfil it in his death, and having by dying conquered
death, and him that had the power of death, he was to rebuild the temple
of the Lord, as he said unto the Jews — " Destroy this temple, and in
three days I wiU build it up ;" which he fulfiUed by buUding up the temple
of his body natural, and thereby he demonstrated that he wiU in due time
perfectly complete the temple of his body mystical, which is his church:
for he is a head to all his members. He quickens them by his grace, and
actuates them by his influence. By union with him they Uve, by communion
with him they grow. His Spirit breathes through the church, which is his
body, and enables the members to grow up into him in aU things, who is the
head, even Christ ; whereby he teaches them, and it is a great part of their
growth, how to acknowledge their obUgations with increasing humility to their
glorified Head. He renders the salvation of Jesus finished upon the cross, the
sweet subject of their spiritual song. His dying love they would keep ever in
mind ; they would have it always warm upon their hearts, and always upon their
tongues. His passion on the tree is their never ceasing theme : God forbid,
Bay they, that we should glory, except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ. In
this they glory, and in this alone, with their voices, and with every musical
instrument ; but chiefly with the melody of their hearts, they endeavour to praise
him, who was slain, and hath redeemed them unto God by his blood. It
becometh them well in the house of their pilgrimage, thus to sing the triumphs
of the worthy Lamb : for it is to be in thoir Father's house the most blessed
subject of their endless song. The ten thousand times ten thousand, and
thousands of thousands of angels, and the great multitude which no man could
number, of all nations and kindreds and people and tongues, harping tvith their
golden harps, in full concert join in praising the crucified Immanuel — " Worthy
is the Lamb that was slain to receive power and riches, and wisdom and strength,
and honour and glory, and blessing. Amen. Hallelujah."
There is another Hebrew word, Sher, which the Septuagint constantly render
a Song, frequently applied to the Psalms. It signifies rule and government, and
is used for any principality among men. Hence it is very properly spoken of
him whose kingdom ruleth over aU. The Prince of Peace is one of his high
titles. He is caUed the Prince of the kings of the earth ; a Prince for ever — of
whoso government and peace there shall be no end. To this empire he had an
unalienable and indefeasible right, being in the one Jehovah possessed of the
same perfections with the Father and the Holy Spirit. But the most common
view in which the Psalms consider him, is that of the God-man, King-mediator,
whose principality is the most glorious reign of grace. He sits upon his
throne freely to bestow all divine blessings upon his redeemed, and he is Mes-

970 AN ESSAY ON PSALMODY.
siah the prince who was raised to his kingdom by the covenant of the eternal
Three: in tvhich he engaged to be a surety for his people; and in their nature,
and in their stead, to satisfy all the offended attributes of the Father, by his holy
life and death, and the Father engaged to give him a kingdom with all power in
heaven and earth. Accordingly in the fulness of time he was manifested in the
flesh, and for the joy that was set before him, he endured the cross, and despised
the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God. He is greatly
exedted, far above all principality and power, and might and dominion, and every
name that is named, not only in this world, but also in that tvhich is to come.
The once crucified is now the enthroned Jesus, King of kings, and Lord of lords,
almighty to save his people from all their sins, and from all their enemies. The
glories of Immanuel in this respect are celebrated under the name of Sher, in
several of the Psalins. In the xlviith Psalm, for instance, aU the people are called
upon to clap their hands for joy, and to shout unto God with the voice of triumph,
because Jehovah Jesus is the great king over all the earth. His happy govern
ment, under which believers receive all their blessinga, waa to be the constant
subject of their grateful song. Singing was using words and sounds to expresa
the praises of the King of saints, and their joy in him. It was so much the ruling
and leading subject, that every hymn reminded them of Messiah the prince.
Whenever they were happy in their hearts, they expressed it by singing the
{iraises of that most glorious person, who tvas made flesh, humbUng himself to
ie obedient unto death, even the death of the cross, and who thereby became
the head of all principaUty and power. He ruleth the almighty Immanuel
over every creature, and every thing, God-man upon his throne, till all his ene
mies, death itself, be destroyed, and then he will reign with the Father and the
Spirit for ever and ever : for his reign is everlasting, and of his kingdom there
shall be no end.
This was the delightful theme in the book of Psalma. The Old Teatament
saints tvere never weary of celebrating Mes8iah their prince, the Lord and Saviour
of hi8 people, made an offering for their 8ins, dead, risen, and ascended to his
throne. Thi8 is atiU the Btveetest subject in the church of God. Happy are they,
who have the Lord Christ rttting over their outward estate. Thrice nappy they,
who have him ruling in their souls. Oh what happiness is it to have set up within
them the kingdom of God ! which is righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy
Ghost. None have greater reason to rejoice with joy and singing, than they who
have Clirist dwelhng in their hearts by faith. It was one principal design of
those sacred hymns to keep up thia holy joy, that if any were merry they might
sing Psalme and be glad in the Lord. Senaible of his tender care and royal pro
tection, tvith what joyful lips tvill they extol their king ! They would have all
within them to bless his holy name, and would be praising him with Psalms,
and Hymns, and spiritual Songe, rejoicing all the way to Sion, and making
heavenly melody in their hearte unto the Lord.
These three names take in the subject of the whole book — the Hymns contain
the praises of Immanuel, our sun of righteousness — the Psalms treat of his tak
ing our nature, and in it being cut off for his people, that through his death they
might Uve — the Songs celebrate the glories of his kingdom, both in earth and
heaven, in time and eternity. Besides these names of the book of Psalms, there
are several other thinga written in scripture concerning them, which confirm the
account here given of their reference to the ever-blessed Messiah, king of saints,
and which will be farther illustrated under the conaideration of

CHAPTER 111.
Some Passages of the Old Testament, concerning the Book of Psalms.
These passages are either such as command the singing of Psalma, or such
as lay down rules for ainging them properly : of the first sort tve find frequent
mention. " Give thanks unto the Lord, call upon his name, make known his
deeds among the people : sing unto him, 6ing Psalme unto him : oh sing unto

AN ESSAY ON PSALMODY. 971
the Lord a new song, sing unto the Lord, aU the earth : sing unto the Lord, bless
his name, show forth his salvation from day to day. Make a joyful noise unto
the Lord, aU the earth, make a loud noise, and rejoice, and give praise : sing unto
the Lord with the harp, and the voice of a Psalm. Oh clap your hands, aU ye
people, shout unto God tvith the voice of triumph : for the Lord most high is to
be feared : He is the great king over aU the earth : sing forth the honour of his
name, make his praise glorious : sing Psalms unto God, sing Psalms ; sing Psalms
to our King, sing Psalms, for it is good to sing Psalms to our God ; for it is
pleasant, and praise is comely : sing ye praises with tbe understanding : sing ye
praises with the whole heart : let every thing that hath breath praise the Lord.
Amen. HaUelujah."
In obedience to those commands, believers exhort one another to this deUght-
ful exercise : " Oh come let us sing unto the Lord, let us make a joyful noise to the
rock of our salvation (Heb. our Jesus). Let us come before his presence with
thanksgiving, and make a joyful noise unto him with Psalms." And what tvas
thus expressed in the congregation, every believer in private applies to himself
and practises. " Bless the Lord, O my soul, and aU that is tvithin me, bless his
holy name ; while I Uve will I praise the Lord, I will sing praises unto my God
while I have my being : I will extol thee my God, O King, and I wul bless thy
name for ever and ever.''
We have abundant authorities in the Uves of believers to prove, that singing of
Psalme was very early in the church. Moses composed a Psalm, which he and
the whole congregation sang to the glory of their almighty Deliverer from Egyptian
bondage. On the victory obtained over Sisera the captain of Jabin's host, De
borah and Barak sung a hymn of thanksgiving, recorded in the book of the Wars
of the Lord. David was the sweet singer of Israel, raised up of God to indite
the praises ofthe glorious Immanuel: the book of Psalms, which he spake by
the Holy Ghost, has been in use in the church ever since his time. They made part
of every day's service in the temple. They were sung by Christ, and by his
apostles. Paul and Silas in prison, tvith their feet in the stocks, and at midnight,
had liberty in their hearts to sing a Psalm unto the Lord. We know for certain,
from sacred history, confirmed by profane authors, that when the whole church
was come together into one place it was part of the public service to sing Psalms :
for which there tvere rules laid down both in the Old Testament and in the
New. The principal rule was about the end proposed in singing. Why did God en
join it in his service ? And tvith what view did he require it to be performed by
his people ? he has herein clearly revealed his wiU. He intended to teach them
to acknowledge his infinite love in Jesus, through whom all their blessings flow,
and to praise him, and to thank him with joyful hearts and Ups. Singing was
the outward expression of their inward joy, and therefore it tvas accompanied
with instruments of aU kinds, to proclaim in the grandest manner their joy in the
Lord. While the daily sacrifices were burning on tbe altar, they celebrated with
keheving hearts the atonement of the Lamb of God, and expressed their triumph
ing in it with all the powers of vocal and instrumental music. Thus they tvere
commanded, Num. x. 10. " In the day of your gladness, and in your solemn
days, and in the beginning of your months, ye shall blow with the tnumpets
over your burnt offerings, and over the sacrifices of your peace-offerings, that they
may he to you for a memorial before the Lord your God : I am the Lord your
God." 'This commandment Hezekiah observed. After he hail cleansed the
temple from the pollutions of his profane predecessor, "he set the Levites in
the house of the Lord trith cymbals, tvith psalteries, and with harps, according
tothe commandment of David, and of Gad the king's seer, and Nathan the
prophet : for so tvas the commandment of the Lord by his prophets : and the
Levites stood with the instruments of David, and the priests with the trumpets :
and Hezekiah commanded to offer the burnt-offering upon the altar, and when
the burnt-offering began, the song of the Lord began also with the trumpets,
mid with the instruments ordained by David king of Israel : and all the con
gregation worshipped, and the singers sang, and the trumpeters sounded, and
all this continued until the burnt-offering was finished." 2 Chron. xxix. 2o,

972 AN ESSAY ON PSALMODY.
&c. Their music was not merely to please; it was expressive. For it was a
memorial. It was to caU to mind the sacrifice of Immanuel, and the joy flow
ing from it, the greatest joy that possibly can be : for all the sacrifices pointed
to him, and were instituted to keep up faitii and hope in him. He tvas the
Lamb who verily was fore-ordained before the foundation of the tvorld, who
was slain in type from the foundation of the tvorld, and who in the fulness of
time appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself. The apostle haa
proved at large in the epistle to the Hebrews, that aU the sacrifices under the
law were types and figures of the sacrifice of Christ, and that the benefits ascribed
to them were to signify the graces which flow to his redeemed from his sacrifice :
for through this alone justice was satisfied, wrath appeased, atonement made, the
conscience purged from guilt, the sinner freely pardoned, fully justified, yea
sanctified and perfected for ever : so that by his one offering, he saves behevers
from aU sins and aU miseries, and gives thera enjoyment now of all blessings, and
wttl secure to them eternal enjoyment. Here ia the fountain of aU joy. From
hence flowa peace with God, and love to God, with every blessing of his love.
All comes through the bleeding Lamb, and is the fruit of hia cross and passion.
This ia the glorious subject treated of in the Psalms, and the singing and the
music of the Old Testament, tvere entirely in praise of this. While the burnt-
offering tvas consuming on the Are of the altar, all that sound could poaeibly do
with voices and instruments was exerted to rouse the attention, and to inflame the
affections. The full concert was to excite the highest sentiments of thankfulness
in the view of that one offering, which was to bear the fire of the Father's wrath,
and thereby was to become an odour of a sweet smell, a sacrifice acceptable,
weU pleasing to God. No blessing ia beyond this. No joy is to be compared
with the joy of this. If any one had been present who did not know the occasion
of this wonderful rejoicing, and had asked good Hezekiah what they meant by
this music, which made the very earth ring again, he would have graciously in-
formed the inquirer —
We are now triumphing in steadfast faith of the fulfilling of the promise, that
God wttl be incarnate, and will come to take away sin by his sacrifice ; therefore
we enter into his gates with thanksgiving, and into his courts with praise. We
rejoice in our hearts in the future offering of the Lamb of God. Although we
have divine words, in which to express our joy, yet our present sense of it is only
according to our faith. When this is lively, our joy is unspeakable and full of
glory : for it brings a foretaste of that fulneaa of joy, which we 8hall have, when
we shaU receive the end of our faith, even the eternal salvation of our souls.
Then all the blessinge, aU the gloriea of heaven will come to ua through the
redemption that ia in the blood of the Lamb. Hence, while the burnt-offering
is consuming on the altar, we make the moat joyful noise we possibly can, singing
and triumphing in the offering of Immanuel: for we believe it will be a sweet-
smeUing savour unto God, and through it we shall enter within the veil, even
into heaven itself. There tve shall take up the same most blessed subject, and
celebrate the Lamb that was slain tvith never-ceasing praiae.
The anewer, which I suppose Hezekiah would have given, is perfectly agree
able to David's own account of this matter. He relates very clearly for what end
the Paalms were revealed, and were sung in the temple service. We find it thus
described, 1 Chron. xvi. " David appointed the Levites to minister before the ark,
and to record, and to thank and praise the Lord God of Israel," ver. 4, and again,
ver. 7, " Then on that day David dehvered first thiB Paalm to thank the Lord
into the hand of Asaph and his brethren : Give thanka unto the Lord, call upon
his name, make known his deeds among the people : sing unto him, sing psalms
unto him, talk you of aU his wondrous works : glory ye in his holy name, let the
heart of them rejoice that seek the Lord."
We have in this passage a very clear description of the design of the book of
Psalms. It was first to record ; the word signifies to cause to be remembereel.
The Psalms were a standing memorial, to bring into mind the wonderful love of
the ever-blessed Trinity in saving einnere through Jeeus Chriet, and to keep it
fresh and Uvely upon the hearts of behevers. We are apt to forget this our greatest
good, and therefore God has graciously recorded it in his word. Therein he hae

AN ESSAY ON PSALMODY. 973
promised to sanctify the memory to retain it, and in the use of the Psalms he
bestows this blessing. When they are read and mixed with faith, then they are
meditated on with delight, sung with melody, and help to keep the heart warm
in its attachment to the beloved Jesus. When they are thus treasured up in the
mind, and brought into constant use, behevers learn, in singing them, to rejoice
in the infinitely perfect sacrifice of Immanuel, and to triumph in his divine
righteousness. The Psalms are the means appointed of God to answer those
ends ; and they do by his grace. They stir up the pure minds of his people by
way of remembrance. They afford them proper matter, and choice words, and
when sung with significant sounds, they excite affections to Jesus, as holy and
as happy as they can be on this side of heaven.
The use of the Psalms was also to thank : " O give thanks unto the Lord : for
his mercy endureth for ever," seems to have been the chorus of all the ancient
hymns. The word which we translate to thank, signifies to give the hand to God,
as an acknowledgment that aU power was his. The hand is power. Our power
extends as far as our hand reaches. The hand of God is every where, and his
power is infinite. The custom of paying homage in ancient times explains this
usage of the word : 1 Chron. xxix. 23, " Then Solomon sat on the throne of the
Lord as king, instead of David his father, and prospered, and aU Israel obeyed
him. 24. And aU the princes, and the mighty men, and aU the sons Ukewise of
king David submitted themselves unto Solomon the king — Heb. gave the hand
under Solomon the king." This was an expressive ceremony : they kneeled down
and put their hands under his ; thereby confessing that their power was subject
to his ; and in this manner they paid him homage. There is a curious letter
extant of king Hezekiah, which further explains both the expression and the
custom. He says in it to the people, 2 Chron. xxx. 8, " Be ye not stiff-necked,
as your fathers were, but yield yourselves, Heb. give the hand unto the Lord,"
faU down before him, and ascribe all your power to the Lord ; acknowledge him
to have aU power in heaven and earth. Thus give the honour due unto his name.
Confess that aU your good comes from him, and that he keeps you from aU evil.
Every blessing which you receive in earth, or hope for in heaven, acknowledge
to be from the good pleasure of his own witt, and to tbe praise of the glory of
his free grace. Most of the Psalms were written, and should be sung, with this
spirit. What David felt in his own heart at the free-will offerings of the people
towards the buUding of the temple, the same he would excite in others, when
they read or sing the Psalms. 1 Chron. xxix. 10, &c. " Wherefore David blessed
the Lord before all the congregation, and David said, Blessed be thou Lord God
of Israel, our Father, for ever and ever : thine, O Lord, is the greatness, and the
power, and the glory, and the victory, and the majesty : for all that is in the
heaven and in the earth is thine : thine is the kingdom, O Lord, and thou art
exalted as head above aU : both riches and honour come of thee, and thou reignest
over aU, and in thy hand is power and might, and in thy hand it is to make great,
and to give strength unto all : now, therefore, our God we thank thee, and praise
thy glorioue name." How deUghtfully does he here describe one great end of sing
ing Psalms. It was to ascribe to the Lord all the glory of his word, and works,
and ways — with voices and instruments, but chiefly with the music of the heart,
to praise him for his goodness, and to bless him, because his mercy endureth for
ever. There is another word used, 1 Chron. xvi. 4. The Psalms were to record, and
to thank, and to praise (Heb. Hellel) the Lord God of Israel. But this has been
treated of in the beginning of the second chapter. It is the running title of the
Psalms, and signifies the action of Ught in the material world, and from thence
is apphed to the action of the Sun of righteousness in the spiritual world. Sing
ing psalms was not only to remind us of him, but also to lead us to ascribe to
him all the blessings of nature and grace, of earth and heaven. AU are from
him — the gifts of his free unmerited love, and caU for tbe tribute of constant
thankfulness. He created the sun, and ordained it to dispense every earthly
blessing, that it might be a lively picture of the true Light, who communicates
apiritual Ufe, with aU its comforts. WhUe the behever looks upon the most
glorious Immanuel in this view, and has a warm sense of his obligations to him.

974 AN ESSAY ON PSALMODY.
how sweet is the exercise of faitii 1 He finds the courts of the Lord to have
some of the blessedness of the palace itself. Such they tvere to him who said,
" Blessed are they that dwell in thy courts, they wttl be still praising thee.
Selah." They wttl he stiU acknowledging their debt in psalms, and hymns, and
spiritual songs : which is the very employment of the saints round the throne,
and wliich is the divine ordinance to express our communion with them, and to
bring us a foretaste of their happiness.
From this passage in Chronicles we see the use of the Psalms in the Old
Testament, and for what end they were then sung in the church. It was to
remind believers of the wonderful person and of the divine works of the incar
nate Jehovah, that they might admire his matchless beauty, and adore him for
his most precious love. With happy and thankful hearts they used daily to sing
of hira in the temple service. The concert will never be excelled upon this earth,
and the effect tvhich accompanied it, wiU only be equalled in heaven. The sub
ject — the number of voices and instruments — the exceUence of the music and of
the performance — and tbe divine approbation which crowned the whole, by a
miracle confirming the faith and strengthening the hopes of the congregation ;
these are most nobly described in 2 Chron. v. 11, 12, &c. Solomon had finished
the temple, and had brought the ark of the covenant into the holy of hoUes :
" And it came to pass, when the priests were come out of the holy place : for all
the priests that were present tvere sanctified, and did not then wait by course :
also the Levites, who were the singers, all of them of Asaph, of Heman, of
Jeduthun, with their sons and their brethren, being arrayed in white linen,
haying cymbals, and psalteries, and harps, stood at the east end of the altar, and
with them an hundred and twenty priests sounding with trumpets : it came even
to paes, as the trumpeters and singers were as one, to make one sound to be
heard in praising and thanking the Lord. And when they lift up their voice
with the trumpets, and cymbals, and instruments of music, and praised the Lord,
saying, For he is good, for his mercy endureth for ever; that then the house
was filled with a cloud, even the houae of the Lord : so that the priests could
not stand to minister by reason of the cloud : for the glory of the Lord had filled
the house of God." All Israel met upon thia occaaion, a very great congre
gation, frora the entering in of Hamath, unto the river of Egypt. 'They came to
the dedication of the temple, knowing that it was a type of the body of Christ,
and prefigured his coming from heaven to dweU with men on the earth. The
fitting the temple with glory was to teach them that a person in Jehovah was to
tabernacle in the manhood of Christ. In him the fulness of the Godhead was
to dweU bodily, and out of his fulness they should receive grace for grace.
WhUe they were looking forward with joyful hope, and singing the praises of
this most bleaaed event, the Lord gave them the aensible proof, that he would
come and inhabit the temple of his body, and would ako come and dwell in their
hearts by faith. Once in the end of the world God tvas manifest in the flesh,
but in every age he has visited his people with his presence, and blessed them
with his love, while they have been with thankful hearts ascribing to him all
the glory of their salvation. When he has thus disposed them to give him the
honour due unto his name, then he has brought them into a proper temper to
receive the greatest communications of his grace. For the most high and holy
One that inhabiteth eternity vouchsafes to dwell in the humble and contrite
heart. The King of kings admits the meek and lowly to the nearest approach,
yea, to the most intimate famiUarity with hira. The highest resides with/ the
lowest. With them the almighty Sovereign keeps his court, according to his
promise — " I wiU dweU with you, and will walk among you, and I wttl be your
God, and ye shaU be my people." When he smiles upon them with his recon
ctted countenance, and excites in them holy love and humble adoration : oh what
an happiness is it to behold the King in his beauty, even here by faith. The
soul thus enamoured with him will find it a most delightful employment to sing
hie praises, and cannot help breaking out into psalniB and hymns of thankfulness.
These are the appointed means of testifying ita sacred joy. In them the saints
above have their heavenly exercise, and the saintB below have often in the use of
the same means a foretaste of the glory to be revealed.

AN ESSAY ON PSALMODY. 975
When Zerubbabel and his brethren began to rebuild the temple after the cap
tivity, the work was entered upon with singing of psalms. " And when the
builders laid the foundation of the temple of the Lord, they set the priests in
their apparel with trumpets, and the Levites, the sons of Asaph, trith cymbals,
to praise the Lord, after the ordinance of David king of Israel ; and they sang
together by course, in praising and giving thanks unto the Lord : because he is
good: for his mercy endureth for ever towards Israel." Ezra iii. 10, 11. The
words to praise, and to give thanks, are the same as in the fore-cited place in
Chronicles, and applied to the same person, even to the Desire of aU nations,
who was to come and fiU the second temple with his glory — " The glory of this
latter house shaU be greater than that of the former, saith the Lord of hosts : "
Hag. ii. 7, which was reaUy accomplished, when the Word tvas made flesh and
dwelt among us. Then the Lord came to his temple, and his disciples saw his
glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, fittl of grace and truth.
Of him also sang Nehemiah, as mentioned in chap. xii. He repaired the wall
of Jerusalem, and ended it with praising and giving thanks to the Lord God of
Israel, singing psalms unto him with voices and instruments of music, according
to the commandment of David the man of God. From these instances it is plain
that the general subject of the Psalms was to ascribe to the incarnate Jehovah
all the honour of saving sinners. T'he sweet psalmist of Israel frequently caUs
upon the church to sing psalms to the Saviour's praise, particularly in Psalm xcii.,
which was constantly sung on the sabbath, the day of praise; in Psalms xcv.,
xcri., xcviii., &c. And he does this very remarkably in the hundredth Psalm,
wherein he caUs upon believers to join in this deUghtful tvork, and assigns several
reasons for their encouragement to do it with the warmest gratitude of their
hearts. The title is,
A Psalm of Confession, viz. to God for his goodness, and for the wonders which
he hath done for the children of men.
1. 0 all the earth make the air ring with the praises of Jehovah.
2. Serve ye Jehovah tvith heartfelt joy : come ye into his presence with the
highest praises you can give.
3. Be ye certain, that Jehovah is the very Alehim, he hath made us, and not
we ourselves, we are his people, and the flock under his pastoral care :
4. Enter ye into his gates tvith confession, into his courts with ascribing to
him the praise of giving you every thing useful, pay ye homage to him, bless ye
his name :
5. For Jehovah is good, his mercy is for ever, and his faithfulness is from
generation to generation.
When beUevers in their church service used to sing this psalm, they acknow
ledged in it the goodness of God to them, and had in their hearts sentiments of
his loving kindness, such as these : —
1. 0, aU ye inhabitants of the world, who have found redemption through
faith in the blood of the Lamb, join together to make his praise to be heard :
sing unto Jehovah a new song, sing praises unto him lustily tvith a good
courage :
2. Serve ye Jehovah with a free spirit, singing and making melody in your
hearts unto him : come ye into his presence having now access with confidence,
and let the high praises of God be in your mouth, ascribing to him all the glory
of your salvation :
3. Be ye certain that Jehovah is the very Alehim, the Three in covenant to
save sinners : for he has made us, and not we ourselves, we neither made our
selves creatures, nor new creatures in Christ Jesus — he gave us our being, and
our weU being — we have nothing of our own but sin ; and he has made us his
free subjects by redeeming us from the bondage of sin, yea, we are his beloved
flock, and he is our good shepherd, who wUl give grace and glory to his people,
and to the sheep of his pasture :
4. O come ye then into his gates with thankful acknowledgment of his infinite
goodness to your souls ; meet him in the great congregation, and join aU the
redeemed, who in earth and heaven are with one heart giving blessing and honour
and glory and power, to God and the Lamb.

976 AN ESSAY ON PSALMODY.
5. For Jehovah is good, and doeth good, his mercy is to be celebrated in his
church militant from age to age, and his never failing faithfulness is to be your
subject of never ending praise in the church triumphant.
Oh for such holy affections as this Psalm requires. Reader, art thou acquainted
with the subject, and art thou indeed a partaker of that thankfulness of which
it treats ? Oh beg of him then to give thee a growing sense of thine utter un
worthiness of the least mercy. This is gospel poverty of spirit, and this wiU
lead thee to pray for a more thankful acknowledgment of the goodness of God,
flowing from the happy experience of its blessings, and influencing the whole
man to praise him for thera. To this grateful temper the very reading of the
Psalm will he as an ordinance, and the singing of it with the melody of the heart
will be a feast.
From these authorities ofthe Old Testament it is plain that the subject of the
Book of Psalms, and the singing them, were intended to excite in believers the
warmest sentiments of gratitude. The love of God manifested in saving sinners
through Jesus Christ, is herein described with the true sublime both of style and
sentiment ; and when any Psalm was sung, if the heart felt the subject, and raade
harmony there, then it became a delightful, as weU aB an acceptable service. But
we ahall see clearer evidence of this matter if we attend to

CHAPTER IV.
Some Passages in the New Testament concerning the Book of Psalms.
The quotations are very numerous. Christ and his apostlea often refer to the
Psalms, and make a direct application of them ; for they all treat of him, as in
deed the whole volume of revelation does. He is the spirit and life of aU the
Bible; but there ia no part so particularly, and so frequently applied to him, as
the Book of Psalms. We know the subject ofthe cxth from infallible authority
— it is the heavenly government of King-mediator, who is David's son, and yet
Datid caUeth him his Lord : for be was God and man in one Christ. His own
use of the Psalma is very remarkable : he aung them and quoted them. At his
last passover he joined with his apostles in the Psalms commonly used upon that
occasion. St. Matthew says, " when they had sung an hymn," which is sup
posed to be part of the grand hallelujah, begining at the cxiiith, and ending with
the cxviiith Psalm. Hereby our Lord not only made use of, but also applied
those divine hymns to himself, he being indeed the very paschal Lamb slain in
type from the foundation of the world, and now about to take away sin by the
sacrifice of himself. And after he had by his sufferings and death made a fuU
atonement, and was risen from the dead, he reproved his two disciples as they
were going to Emmaua, and he said unto them, (Luke xxiv. 25.) " O ye without
understanding, how slow of heart are ye to believe all that the prophets have
spoken ! Ought not Christ to have suffered these thinga, and to haye entered
into hia glory ? And beginning at Mosea, he expounded unto them frora aU the
prophets, the things written of himself in aU the scriptures." And among the
rest he expounded unto them out of the Psalms, as his custom was : for when
he appeared to his apostles to confirm thera in the belief of his resurrection, he
said unto them, " These are the words, which I spake unto you, while I was yet
with you, that aU things must be fulfiUed which were written in the law of Moses,
and in the Prophets, and in the Psalms concerning rae. Then opened he their
understandings that they might understand the scriptures." Here he declares
that the Psalms were written concerning himself. Not only here and there a
passage, or an allusion, not only the epilations in the New Testament, but the
whole volume throughout is concerning him. Upon whatever occasion the
Psalmist composed any of them, yet it was only a case to speak upon, in order to
introduce what was to be said concerning the divine person, and the divine work
of the Messiah. Thia is the spiritual use and design of the Psalma. And every
man, whose understanding the Lord has opened, as he did hia disciples, can see
them in this Ught. The veil being taken away, he beholds Christ with open

AN ESSAY ON PSALMODY. 977
face, and every Psalm shows to him some lovely feature of his most lovely
Sariour. Therein he reads of the divine and human nature of Immanuel, his
life and death, his resurrection and ascension, his kingdom and glory. He un
derstands the scriptures, and with the joy of his heart receives what is therein
written concerning the God of his salvation.
Agreeably to our Lord's own use of the Psalms, we find the whole church of
behevers with one accord using them in the same manner. The instance re
corded in Acts iv. is remarkable, because the reference which they made to the
Psalms, indisputably proves, that they are written concerning Christ. Peter and
John had been imprisoned for preaching Jesus, but being let go, they went to
their own company, and reported aU that the chief priests and elders had said
unto them : and when they heard that, they Uft up their voice to God with one
accord, and said, " Lord, thou art God, who hast made heaven, and earth, and
the sea, and aU that in them is : who, by the mouth of thy servant David, hast
said, Why did the heathen rage, and the people imagine vain things ? The kings
of the earth stood up, and the rulers were gathered together against the Lord
and against his Christ : for of a truth against thy holy child Jesus, whom thou
hast anointed, both Herod and Pontius Pilate, with the Gentiles, and the people
of Israel, were gathered together, for to do whatsoever thy hand and thy counsel
determined before to be done." Here the whole church under the special
influence of the Holy Spirit apphes the second Psalm to Christ, and declares its
accomplishment in him — he being of a truth the very perBon of whom it treats :
which is decisive evidence, and must determine the point even to a demonstra
tion with aU that believe the scriptures.
It is not to be wondered, then, that the apostles should foUow the same rule in
explaining the Psalms. Peter quotes them and refers them to Christ. In his
first eermon recorded Acts ii. he appUes the xvith Psalm to the resurrection of
Christ, and he brings the cxth to prove, that Christ had all power in heaven and
earth, and should sit at the right hand of Jehovah, until aU his enemies should
be made his footstool. In the fourth chapter of the Acts, he shows that Christ
was the stone set at nought by the Jewish builders, who nevertheless should be
made the head of the corner, as it is in the cxtiiith Psalm. Peter had no doubt
concerning the application of the Psalms to Christ, and his beloved brother Paul
shows he was of the same opinion.
We have an account of his manner of preaching among the Jews : " He used
to reason with them out of the scriptures, opening and aUeging, that Christ must
needs have suffered, and risen again from the dead, and that this Jesus, whom I
preach unto you, is the Christ." And among the other scriptures he did not
forget the Psalms : for we, in Acts xiii. have a whole sermon of his, an inestim
able treasury of his scripture learning, in which he quotes several Psalms, and
directly appUes them to Christ, as he also does in his other writings. His epistle
to the Hebrews abounds with references, twenty-nine at least. The third and fourth
chapters are a comment on the xcvth Psalm : as the seventh chapter is on the cxth ;
and the tenth is on the xlth. Whoever wiU attend to the manner in which the
apostle reasons upon these passages, will readtty perceive, that he does not enter
upon any formal proof of the design of the book of Psalms, or of Christ's being
the subject of them. He does not aim at any such thing ; but takes it for
granted, and argues upon it as an estabhshed truth. Indeed it was at that time
the belief of the whole church. There was, then, no doubt but all scripture
treated of him — "to him give all the prophets witness " — he was their one
subject. But raore especiaUy in the Psalms he was set forth, and was to be
highly exalted, with all the powers of poetry, and with the sweetest sounds of
instruments and voices. These hymns were inspired to celebrate his matchless
fame and renown ; that whenever believers felt themselves happy in the know
ledge and love of Jesus, here they might find proper matter and suitable words
to raise their gratitude, as high as it can be on this side of heaven We have also
the apostle's practice and experience to recommend his use of the Psalms. He
sung them with delight, as weU as qv oted them tvith propriety. His love to
Jesus ran as high as love ever will upon earth. He speaks of him continuaUy as
3 R

978 AN ESSAY ON PSALMODY.
the perfect deUght of his soul, on whom he had placed aU his affections, and
whom he found every day worthy of more love than his narrow heart could con
tain. Oh how precious was his Sariour, when he could say — " What thinga were
gain to me, thoae I counted loss for Christ : yea doubtlesa, and I do count all
things but loss for the exceUency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord,
for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and I do count them but dung,
that I may win Christ." Happy Paul! what must he have seen in Jesus, who
could count it au honour to suffer shame for his name, and an infinite gain to
win Christ, though with the loss of aU things ? Oh happy, thrice happy man,
who could carry the cross of Christ, and esteem it as his crown. God forbid,
says he, that I should glory in any thing, except in the cross of our Lord Jesus
Christ : for I count not my life dear to myself, so as I may but live and die ful
fiUing his will. And this was not a flight of fancy, or a mere rant of enthuaia8m,
but it was cool sober love, and arose from real experience of the preciousness of
Jesus to his heart. This heavenly lover was the subject of his aongs in the worst
house of his painful pilgrimage. He tvas so truly in body, and soul, and spirit,
devoted to his Jesus, that how much soever he suffered, yet he could rejoice in
the Lord. Oh what a proof did be give of it ! — sufficient to shame our highest
professions of attachment to the dear Redeemer. When he had been beaten with
many and cruel stripes, put into a dismal dungeon, and even there, with his feet
in the stocka, his heart waa then full of gratitude, and in tune to make delight
ful melody unto the Lord, yea, brake out into Psalms of praise — ." At midnight
Paul and Silas prayed, and sang praises unto God " with a loud voice ; for the
prisoners heard them. Oh for more faith in Jesus to fill us more with thia
thankful and praising spirit. Lord, pour it out abundantly for thy mercies' sake
upon all those, who believe in thy holy name : let us make our boast of thee all
the day long, and praise thy name for ever.
From these instances it is evident, that the New Testament church understood
the Psalms in the aame Ught aa the Old. Belicvera alwaya sung them with the
same view, with hearts and voices making melody unto the Lord Christ. He
himself confirmed this use of them : for he joined in this part of religious worship.
The apostles quoted the Psalms, and directly applied them to their blessed Lord.
Yea, when the church met together in one place, the Psalms were not only read
and sung, but aome abusea in singing them are corrected, which will lead me
to consider,

CHAPTER V.
Rules laid down in Scripture for singing them aright.
Singing of Psalms is a divine ordinance, and has an inward and an outward
service. The inward consists in the proper frame and affection of the renewed
and spiritual mind ; for no man can uae the Pealms aa an ordinance of God, who
haa not received the Spirit of God : without him we can do nothing, being dead
in trespasse8 and ains. And after he i8 received, he ia the continual breath of
spiritual Ufe, yea, as much as the air we breathe is of natural life. Every apiritual
sensation of peace, comfort, and joy in God the Father, is from the divine agency
of the Lord the Spirit. Every act of religious worship is performed acceptably
by his strengthening ua mightily in the inner man, and giving ua the wttl and the
power. If we pray aright, it is in the Holy Ghost. If we hear aright, it is by
hia bleaaing on the word preached. If we 8ing aright, it is by the same Spirit :
and therefore we are not only commanded to seek his assistance in all we do, but
also a growing and increasing measure of hia graces and gifts. Thus the apostle
directs the Ephesians in their singing of Psalms, " Be ye filled with the' Spirit,
speaking to yourselves in Psalms," &c. This is not meant of receiring him at
first ; for it is spoken to behevers, who had the Spirit, but it relates to their
thirsting after more, how much soever they had attained, stttl more of the Spirit's
fulness, it being in him infinite, and always in ub finite. We never have so rauch,

AN ESSAY ON PSALMODY. 979
but we may have more;- and when we have the most, our thirst is then the
greatest. This is an holy thirst, to which there is a divine invitation — " Ho,
every one that thirsteth, come to the waters of Ufe." And a divine promise —
" In the fast day, that great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried, saying, if
any man thirst, let him come unto me and drink ; but this spake he of the
Spirit, which they that believe on him should receive." And when this promise
¦ is fulfilled, and the Holy Spirit is received, we are still in faith to use means for
the increasing of his graces and gifts ; among which means the apostle recom
mends — " Speaking to yourselves in Psalms," &c. He supposes their singing
would tend to their mutual edification : for the words are in the plural number,
and denote their joining together in this holy exercise. He also commands the
Colossians to instruct and to admonish one another in Psalms, and Hymns, and
spiritual Songs, herein using the grace given both for its exercise, and also for
its improvement. And this true manner of singing comes from the Spirit, and
increases the fruits of the Spirit.
It comes from the Spirit ; because none can perform it, but the new creature
in Christ Jesus. It is a spiritual service, in which only the spiritual man can
join. No one can make any melody acceptable to God, tvho has not been first a
partaker of the Holy Ghost. He is the Lord and Giver of Ufe ; without whom
all men are dead in trespasses and sins. He only can quicken and make the soul
alive to God. It requires his almighty power, and it belongs to his covenant
office. And when he, the Spirit of life, makes any one free from the law of sin
and death, then he is a child of God. He is made to know it, and to believe it :
for he has received the spirit of adoption, whereby he cries Abba, Father. In the
sense of this love shed abroad in his heart by the Holy Ghost, he begins to
rejoice in God, as his God. Trusting to what Jesus is to him, that he has
satisfied for his 6ins, has wrought out his righteousness, and is now standing in
the presence of God for him, he sees himself accepted in the Beloved, an heir of
God, and a joint heir with Christ. Hereby bis heart becomes reconciled to God,
and he finds the truth of what is written—" We love him, because he first loved
us." Now he has David's affection, and he can join heartily in singing with
him — " Bless the Lord, O my soul, and aU that is within me, bless his holy
name. Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not aU his benefits : who
forgiveth aU thine iniquities, who healeth aU thy diseases : who redeemeth
thy life from destruction, who crowneth thee with loving kindness and tender
mercies. "
Thus the right singing the praises of God comes from the Spirit, and it also
increases the fruits of the Spirit. It is one of the appointed means of improving
them. True grace is always operative, and grows by the fruit which it bears. If
the believer be rejoicing, singing wiU add to his joy, as it is written, *' Is any in
a happy frame ? Let him sing Psalms ; " and that wiU make him happier. It is
the divine promise, and cannot fail : he shall increase his joy in the Lord. Is any
afflicted > Psalms will refresh and comfort him : Paul and Silas sore whipped, and
put into the stocks, sung a psalm at midnight. The fulness of the Spirit in the
sweet singer of Israel, went out much this way. He sang most, and praised best,
of aU the saints of God. He sang in aU frames, and upon aU occasions : let us
foUow his example, and be speaking much and often to one another, in Psalms,
and Hymns, and spiritual Songs, seeking thereby to be fitted tvith a growing
measure of the Holy Spirit.
If thou enquirest, How shaU I obtain this inestimable blessing ? The command
is—" ask, and it shall be given you, seek, and ye shaU find "—whoever is made
sensible he stands in need of the assistance of the Holy Spirit is only required to
ask, and the promise is — "Every one that asketh, receiveth; and he that
seeketh, findeth : if a son shall ask bread of any of you that is a father, tvill he
give him a stone ? or if he ask a fish, wiU he for a fish give him a serpent : or if
ne ask an egg, wiU he give him a scorpion ? If ye, then, being evil, know how-
to give good gifts unto your children, how much more shall your heavenly
Father give the Holy Spirit to them that ask him ? " How gracious are these
words I How encouraging are they to every one who has any concern about hia
lalvation to desire the Holy Spirit may be given to him, to enable him to trust
3 R 2

980 AN ESSAY ON PSALMODY.
in Jesus, and to find the Father's love in him : and they leave every raan without
excuse, who lives and dies without those blessings, which God has promised to
give to every one that asketh.
Whoever is a partaker of the Spirit, has a new nature in Christ Jesus, and has
a new understanding given him, whereby he is enabled to discern and to judge
of spiritual things : for thus runs the promise — " He shall lead you into all
truth." And the apostle prays for the fulfiUing of it to the Ephesiana — " May .
the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, give unto you the spint
of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of him, that the eyes of your under
standing may he enhghtened." The Holy Spirit acts upon men as rational
creatures. He does not treat them as if they were stones or brutes ; but he
makes the truths of the gospel clear to the mind, and desirable to the will. He
opens the eyes of the understanding to see the object, and then presents it in its
glorious beauty and attracting loveliness. The renewed mind beholds, admirea,
and loves it ; and then, animated with thia love, can aing ita praises. Holy men
of God in the Old Testament sung with knowledge. Ignorance was not the
mother of their Psalmody. They tvere weU acquainted with what they sung. The
royal prophet says, he employed his understanding in this devout exercise, as
well as his harp and his voice. Hear him, how earnestly he calls upon others to
extol his beloved Jesus — " Sing praises to God, sing praises ; sing praises unto
our King, sing praises : for God ia the King of all the earth, sing ye praises with
understanding." He would have them to mind what they were about, and to
understand what they sung; leat they ahould utter liea unto the Lord, or offer to
him a sacrifice without a heart. Consider whom you have to deal with — how
great and good a God — observe hotv you praise him : engage all your mental
powers in this dehghtful work, that it may be holy, acceptable to God, and a
reasonable service.
The apostle agrees in sentiment with the Psalmist : for thus he epeaka to the
Corinthiana : " If I pray in an unknown tongue, my spirit prayeth, but my
understanding ib unfruitful : what is it, then ? f will pray with the spirit, and I
will pray trith the understanding alao : I will Bing with the spirit, and 1 will sing
with the understanding also." Singing is unfruitful, unless the understanding
go with it. Unles8 the mind be profited and God be honoured, it ia only empty
aound. But when we sing by the Spirit, then he will teach us to aing with the
understanding also. He tvill open the subject to us, will give a fixed attention to
it, wiU bring the mind into tune, and will keep us looking at the sense more than
at the sound.
Is it so with thee, O my soul ? Enquire carefully. Art thou led by the Spirit
in thy singing ? Doea he enhghten thy mind, and guide thee into the knowledge
of the aubject in which thou art engaged ? Take heed, and be often examining
thyself — how thy mind is affected — leat thou ahouldest present unto the Lord the
song of fools.
But chiefly keep thy heart diligently : because out of it are the is8ues of life.
The man ia what hie heart iB. If this be dead to God, nothing in him ia alive :
if this be right with God, aU will be right. If he has a clean heart, and a right
spirit renewed within him, the Holy Ghost has made him a new creature in
Christ Jesus, and has won the tvill and the affections over to God. This ia hia
principal office in the conversion of sinnera. He therefore discovers truth to the
understaneUng, in order that it may become desirable, and that the heart may be
properly influenced by it. The heart ia the commanding faculty. When thia has
once tasted the sweetness of the Father's love in Jesus, it wiU engage the whole
man to seek for more. Love is very active, and wttl do or suffer much to obtain
and to preserve the beloved object. Set thia 8pring agoing, it wiU move ah the
.vheela. The hande wttl work for God. The feet will run the way of his com
mandments. Love wttl make heavy burdens not grievous to be borne : love trill
carry them a long time, and faint not. Jacob served seven years for Rachel, and
they seemed unto him hut a few days, for the love which he had unto her. The
labour of love is always delightful. When we know God to be our Father in
Jesus, and have his love shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost, then hia
service becomes perfect freedom : then duty is ennobled into privilege ; then

AN ESSAY ON PSALMODY. 98]
obedience becomes wiUing and filial : the beloved child finds free access to the
Father's throne, and receives blessed communications of his grace : for which his
thankful heart offers the .sacrifice of praise, and it comes up with a sweet savour
acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. This is the melody of the heart. While
it feels its infinite debt to free grace, is deeply convinced of its utter unworthi
ness, and is kept humble by the abiding sense of its imperfections, and of its
indweUing corruptions, it is in a right frame to exalt tbe exceeding riches of
divine mercy. Then it is disposed to give God aU his glory. This he requires
as his due, and it becometh weU the righteous to pay it. When the heart is made
willing to ascribe every good to his holy name, then it is right tvith God. All
within is now in tune to join every golden harp, and every joyful tongue in
heaven, which are ascribing blessing, and honour, and glory, and power, to him
that sitteth upon the throne, and to the Lamb for ever.
This is the chief requisite in singing Psalms. The heart makes the best music.
The finest compositions, ever so weU executed with instruments and voices, are
hot a divine concert, unless the heart accompany them. David knew this well,
and therefore he set his affections to the highest pitch of praise, and he brought
aU of them to join. His whole heart entered into the performance, and rendered
the concert full — " I wiU praise thee, O Lord my God, with all my heart, and I
will glorify thy name for evermore : for great is thy mercy towards me." Thy
special covenant mercy is such towards me, that my very thoughts cannot rise up
to its greatness : how then can I utter forth aU its praise ? I cannot ; no, not even
half of it. But though the debt be so great, that I cannot count it up, yet I wiU the
more extol thee for it from day to day : I would engage my affections, and give
them aU up to this heavenly employment. I would have my whole soul in it.
And yet the debt remains, rather increases. Oh for a more enlarged heart ! My
praises continued are only acknowledgments, and I want them continued with
growing humility — more in earth and more in heaven. There I shaU praise
better, when my heart wiU have nothing in it, but humble gratitude. Yet here
Twill not give over ; but will carry on my joyful song, tiU I can sing in a higher
strain. " Praise the Lord, O my soul, and aU within me bless his holy name : O give
thanks unto him for he is good, and his mercy endureth for ever. HaUelujah."
The apostle Paul had his portion in the same mercy, and had the same
grateful sense of it : 'he sang the Psalms of David with the spirit of David.
What he practised himself he has recommended to others. He has given us
some rules about singing in the congregation, and he chiefly confines them
to the heart accompanying the voice. Thus he directs the Ephesians — " Be
not drunk with wine wherein is excess, but be ye filled with the Spirit,
speaking to yourselves in Psalms, and Hymns, and spiritual Songs, singing and
making melody in your hearts unto the Lord, giving thanks alway for all
things unto God and the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ." He
would not have them meet together, as they formerly had done, to feast without
fear, and to drink unto drunkenness, inciting one another to greater riot and
excess by wanton and profane songs : which tvas the custom at most of the
heathen banquets. They used to try to fiU one another with wickedness. But
ye have not so learned Christ. Seek ye to be fiUed with his Spirit, and use
the means appointed for that purpose : among which, singing of Psalms, and
Hymns, and spiritual Songs, is one of the chief. These several names are
expressive of the different subjects treated of in the sacred poetry ; hymns
are in praise of Immanuel, spiritual songs are in praise of his spiritual king
dom, according to the sense of the words in the Hebrew, and according to
the translation of them in the Septuagint, as was before shown. The manner
of singing them, it is here said, was by joining together tvith their voices,
but especially with their hearts. From thence comes the best melody. Har
mony in sound is pleasant in our ears, but harmony in affection is the music
wheh enters into the ears of the Lord of hosts. " My son, give me thy
heart ;" he wiU have no service without it. Prayer, obedience, praise, every
offering must come from the heart. He looks at this, and this in all, and
above all This he accepts, and testifies his deUght in : for it is the same
sacrifice of praise, which will for ever delight him. The church triumphant

982 AN ESSAY ON PSALMODY.
has begun the song, tvhich wttl be perfectly and for ever pleasing to the Lord ;
and when wc meet below with one faith to glorify our one Lord, then we enjoy
the communion of saints. We have one heart with them — join in the same
subject of praise to their Lord and our Lord — our harmony is theirs — our
happiness is theirs — it is one and the same communion tvith the Father and
the Son by the Spirit. And though we cannot raise our song to so high a
pitch, or continue it without ceasing, as the saints above do ; yet we entirely
agree with them, and are trying to make better music in our hearts every day,
until we see their Jesus and our Jesus face to face. He loves us, aa well as them :
for he is our Immanuel : and our souls rejoice in him together with them. We
love him, we serve him, we bless him, as humbly, and as thankfully, as we can ;
yea in aii things we would be giving of thanke to his holy name. Oh for more
love, more thankfulness, more devotedness to our precious Lord Jesus Christ.
Thia ia. our daily prayer, and our constant pursuit. Blesaed and eternal Spirit,
purify our hearts by faith, and increase in them a sense of his wondrous love to
us, that we may he growing in love to him, until he vouchsafe to admit us into
his presence, and give ua to thank him with never-ceasing songs of praise.
In another place the apostle treats of the sarae subject, only varies the expres
sion a little. He recommends singing of Psalms to the Colossians, as an ordi
nance of God for increasing the graces of hia people — " Let the word of Chriat
dwell in you richly in all wisdom, teaching and admonishing one another in
Pealms, and Hymna, and spiritual Song8, singing with grace in your hearta to the
Lord : and whateoever ye do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord
Jesus, giving thanks to God and the Father by him." The Colossians had put
on the new man, and the apostle exhorts them to put on the ornaments and endow
ments peculiar to their new nature, and he mentions several of them : in which
he would have them to be growing daily : and he proposes to them the word of
God, as the best means for this purpose. He would have it treasured up in their
hearts, and inwardly digested — " dwelling richly in them in aU wiadom" for
knowledge and praotice. He includes both : because this wisdom was for edifi
cation — they were to teach and to admoniah one another. What each had learnt
out of the acripturee tvas to be of public benefit to the church. And the. way of
doing thia is particularly mentioned — they were to sing together with grace in
their hearts. All ia discord within, until we are taught by grace, free effectual
grace. But when we beUeve the doctrines of grace, then harmony comes in.
and we learn to ascribe every good to the mere mercy of God. We receive his
blessings, and he receives all the praise of them. Then grace is in the heart : it
is there not only to reconcile the sinner to (he way of salvation by faith alone,
but also to make him in love with it, and to keep hira wiUing to praiae God for
it with hia lips and Ufe. Oh how good a thing is it, that the heart be thus estab
hshed with grace ! for then the affections wiU be fixed upon the right object, and
the whole soul wttl be in harmony with the truth as it is in Jesus Frefe
grace doctrines felt in their power in the heart make heavenly melody. Every
faculty is in tune, and inclined to bear its part in blessing the name of the Lord.
The understanding sees it right, the will chooses, the heart loves to give him. all
the praise, and the mouth joins to glorify him with joyful lips, singing unto the
Lord — the God-man — Immanuel is the subject of this happy song. He is the
God of all grace. It is a joyful and pleasant thing to be thanking him for it :
yea, it is a foretaste of the saints' fulness of joy. The truly humble believer,
seeing the exceeding richea of grace, gladly joins hia elder brethren round the
throne in praising the Lord Jeaus Christ. And when the temple of God shall
be complete, and the last behever joined to the spiritual building, then the top
stone shedl be brought forth with shouting — grace — grace unto it — glory be to
free grace for ever and ever.
To the same purpose the apostle James, ch. v. 13, teaching believers how to
behave in every state, directs them, "Is any among you afflicted ? Let him pray.
fa any merry ? Let him aing Paalme," Affliction ahould 8end him to prayer,
for grace to bear it and to improve it : joy to singing of Psalme, to express
thankfulne8a to God. Is any merry ? that is a proper season, though not tbe
only season. Prayer is necessary at all times, though it be most needful in

AN ESSAY ON PSALMODY. 983
affliction : and so singing ; it is not only needful when we are rejoicing, in order
that our joy may centre in the Lord, but sometimes singing wttl beget spiritual
joy, and wiU awaken it in the afflicted heart. Paul and Silas were in great out
ward distress, yet they sang a psalm in prison. The apostles sang an Hymn
after the sacrament, although they knew their Lord was going to suffer, and
they were greatly troubled. In that sorrowful hour they sang. Singing is
always seasonable, but especially when the heart is happy. " Is any among
you merry? Let him sing Psalms." Is he in a good frame of mind, rejoicing
in the bounty of God, either for temporal or spiritual mercies ? Let him sing
Psalms to the praise and glory of his benefactor : this is a proper expression of
gratitude for favours received, and wUl be the means of securing them : for
since his happiness comes from a good God, and arises from communion with
God in Christ, it is fit and meet that he should ascribe it to the right object,
and in a way of God's own appointing. A divine Hymn upon the subject of
praise (of which there are many) sung with heart- felt thankfulness, is a grateful
service. The Lord requires such an acknowledgment, and it becometh weU the
just to be thankful — yea he has vouchsafed to reveal the very words, in which he
requires it to be paid him ; and when aU tvithin us blesses his holy name,
rejoicing in the Lord, he would have the outward man to join, and to declare
with the melody of his lips, how happy he is in his heart. Thus in singing the
praises of our God tje shaU find fresh reason to praise him. He wiU certainly
meet us in his own means, and bless us in his own ways. We shaU not wait
upon him in vain. The means of his appointing cannot fail of answering the
end. He has promised to put honour upon his otvn appointments, and his word
cannot be broken. The joyful Christian is commanded to sing the praises of his
God, and his heart shall be thereby kept in holy joy, yea, it shall be increased.
His joy shall abound : and when believers sing, as they are commanded, with one
another, it shaU tend to their mutual edification. It shall stir them up to greater
thankfulness, and excite warmer affection to the God of their salvation. Singing
psalms is a church ordinance, and as such it is blessed. The Lord will not forsake
the assembly of his saints. When they are met together to praise him, he will be in
the midst of them, and will manifest his acceptance, both of their persons and
services. This tvill make their attendance upon him delightful. When he lifts
up the light of his countenance upon them, hotv can they help singing what they
feel? Now they experience he has bought them with his blood, and saved them
from heU, has wrought out their righteousness, and tvill give them his heaven, it
becometh them weU to praise him, and to rejoice in his holy name. He has
made them blessed at present, and they shall be blessed for evermore. Their
blessedness comes from a never-failing spring. They are the one true church,
of which it is said — " Joy and gladness shall be found therein, thanksgiving,
and the voice of melody." Singing is their heaven in the church triumphant.
They have the fulness of joy from God and the Lamb, and they acknowledge
it with humble adoration, and a grateful song of never-ending praise. The
innumerable company of the redeemed will find their heaven of heavens in
enjoying communion with the holy Trinity, and in singing the glories of that
mercy which is from everlasting to everlasting.
In this passage the apostle James supposes that joy and singing agree weU
together. So they do. They depend on one another as the cause and the
effect. The melody of the heart breaks out, and expresses itself with the melody
of the mouth. A heart made sensible of God's love in Christ has the greatest
reason to rejoice, and tvill be ready to show it in every way of God's appoint
ment, particularly in singing the praises of his wondrous love. Does the prophet,
happy in his soul, declare, " My mouth shaU praise thee tvith joyful Ups "—true
Christians can gladly join him. They have returned to God in faith, and have
found redemption through the blood of the Lamb. They know in whom they
have believed, and are satisfied of the Father's love to them in his dear Son. Now
they can delight in God. It is their pririlege to rejoice in him as their God :
yea it is their bounden duty ; he caUs upon them to express their sense of his
goodness in songs of praise. This joy in God is one of the chief ingredients in
psalm singing. The heart cannot make pleasant melody, unless joy be there : for

984 AN ESSAY ON PSALMODY.
the Lord God has an unalienable right to the service of the whole man, but we
never acknowledge it, until we become his children through faith in Christ
Jesus ; in whom we have free access unto the Father. Then, persuaded of his
precious love to us, we love him again, and in thankfulness give up ourselves,
with all we have and are, to his serrice and glory. From hence arisea our joy
in God, and every expression of it ; which were required of all men h\/ the holy
law, but are only fulfiUed by those who have the faith of the gospel. An uhpar-
doned sinner camiot possibly rejoice in God : because thie holy joy is the fruit of
the Spirit, and is the consequence of believing. Thus David- — " The Lord is
my strength and my shield, my heart trusted in him, and I am helped, therefore
my heart greatly rejoiceth, and tvith my song wUl I praise him." What the pro
phet had experienced himself, the same he wishes for others — " Let all those
that put their trust in thee rejoice, let them ever shout for joy, because thou
defendest them: let them also that love thy name be joyful in thee." And~
when a company of these happy people meet together it is the delight of their
hearts to join in praises to their God and Saviour. " O come let us sing unto
the Lord : let us make a cheerful noise to the Rock of our salvation : let us
come before his presence with thanksgiving, and make a joyful noise unto him
with Psalms." With these words we always begin the reading of the scriptures
in our church service. And what could be more suitable ? How proper is it in
a congregation of believers to call upon one another to join in the praises of the
common Saviour,- that we may strengthen our mutual joy in him. All true joy
comes from hira, and every acknowledgement of it, inward and outward, is there
fore required, in order to preserve and to increase our rejoicing in the Lord
Jesus Christ. He deserves all our joy — the lovelinesa of Immanuel — his love to
us — the bleaaings of his love — how many — how great — how lasting ! these should
encourage us to be glad in him now tvith great joy. But the well-grounded
prospect, which hope haa, of finding in him infinite and everlasting bleaaings,
should lead us to rejoice in him with joy unspeakable and full of glory. This
prospect has brightened the darkest day ; it has enabled sufferers greatly to
rejoice, when in heaviness through manifold temptations : it haa supported them
under every fiery trial. Nothing could extinguish the joy. It haB lived, and
triumphed in the martyr's breast, even in the agonies of the most painful death.
Faith reads, and with hope looks out for (and it is a hope that will never be
ashamed) the accomplishment of thia faithful promiae — " The ran8omed of the
Lord shall return and come to Zion with songe, and everlasting joy upon their
heads ; they shall obtain joy and gladnesa, and Borrow and sighing shall flee
away." Dost thou find, O my aoul, any of thia holy joy ? Canst thou sing Psalms with
the underetanding, with the heart, and with gladness in thy heart, rejoicing in
the Lord ? Canst thou give thanks always for aU things unto God and the Father
in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ ? This ia the privilege of every true
believer. Being eaved from sin and hell, made an heir of God, and a joint heir
with Chriet, he ha8 an interest in aU things : for they are all working together,
under God, for his present and eternal good. While he Uves by faith, he knows
it, and has the comfort of it. His heart is kept in tune, and whatever befala
him, he has reason to rejoice in the Lord his God.
Thus the Lord would have his people to rejoice in him alwaya. It ia not only
true in theory, that they may, but it ia aleo true in practice, if the outward walk
be in concord with the doctrine of the Pealms. ThiB is another essential part
of psalm singing. The beUever ehould Uve as he sings. His life should be it,
harmony with hia principles. If he seea the truth as it is in Jesua, and loves in
and rejoices in it, the effect of aU this wiU certainly be outward and visible.
The inward melody wiU be expressed in hia tempers and behaviour. There will
be a consistency throughout. As he Uves, so he will walk, by the faith of the
Son of God. Practice and principle will sweetly accord. The same sound that
comes from his lips, cornea alao from hia heart, and hi8 whole life wttl be in
unison. His actiona aing, his tempers are in harmony, his behaviour makea
up the" chorus abroad and at home, the music of his heart and life gives one cer
tain note — Jesus is mine all — I live in him— on him — to him — I would have all

AN ESSAY ON PSALMODY. 985
•
within me to praise him, and all without me to show forth his praises — blessings
on him for ever and ever. Amen.
If a man's Ufe be not thus consistent with his singing, he mocks God, he de
ceives his neighbour, and he gives |he Ue to his own words. Actions are surer
evidences than sounds : for they discover the settled and the last purpose of the
mind. They show not only what a man talks of, but what he is determined to
live by. The true character cannot be known, but from them. God only sees
the heart. We know what is in it, by what comes out of it. We judge of the
fountain from the stream. If the words and works be evil, so is the heart :
for out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, &c.
these are clear facts to judge by. If such a man was to sing with a voice Uke an-
angel, it is a voice and nothing more. His actions prove it to be mere air and
empty sound : yea, they demonstrate, that his heart is in perfect discord with
God. He says one thing, and does the contrary. He seems to praise God, as
if he was happy in his love ; but he cleaves to the world, and seeks his happiness
in it. He sings — " Whom have I in heaven but thee ? " yet shows his supreme
joy is in the earth. How can any thing that such a man sings be an acceptable
service, while his heart and life are in direct opposition to the holy will of God.
A Jew can sing, a Turk can join in concert with him, an infidel may play well
upon an instrument ; a company of Jews, Turks, and infidels, may perform the
finest piece of music, and with the most harmonious sounds. They may go
through the oratorio of the Messiah without one discord. But here is no me
lody to the Lord. They have no design to show forth the praises of Immanuel :
and what is not done in faith, and to his glory, is sin. Their music is as hateful
to him as any of their other vices : for self is the burden of their song. They
sing to please themselves, and to please God is not in aU their thoughts Oh
consider this ye that come to church, and join in singing the Psalms ! Is it with
you an ordinance of God ? Do you look upon it as such, and find it such ? Does
your understanding go with the Psalm, and your heart enter into it ? Is it the
joy of your heart ? Do you sing rejoicing in God ? And do you find him your
one supreme blessedness aU the day long ? So that your life is a continued song
of praise, and every action of it being subject to his holy wttl, preserves the har
mony, and keeps up the heavenly joy. Is it thus, indeed ; tvho is Uke unto you,
0 people saved by the Lord ? May nothing cause discord between you any more :
but may increasing faith witness with growing comfort that you are one with
God, and he is one with you. Look to Jesus. Let your eyes be fixed upon him,
expecting aU out of his fulness. Keep close to him. Thus you shall go on your
way rejoicing ; and soon you shall see him face to face, and your joy shall be
full. If all these things be put together, then we learn that singing Psalms is an
ordinance of God, and one of the means of grace, instituted for the exercise
and for the improvement of grace. It is commanded with a promise, and the
promise is made good to this very day, as thousands of hving witnesses can
testify. When they have met together, understanding the subject of the Psalm,
and singing it with melody in their hearts, then the Lord has accepted their
praises, and increased their joy in him. They have found their affections drawn
nearer to him, and he has warmed them with a sweet sense of his love. And
this has not been a transient visit. It did not cease when they had done sing
ing ; but the harmony was preserved in a well-ordered walk, directed by the
faith of the Son of God. They lived their songs. Peace and love dwelt in their
hearts, and their joy abounded in the Lord.
But where is this sort of singing, in what place, or among what people ? Who
are they that find those heavenly affections exercised in it, and those happy
effects from it? It is much to be lamented, that aU singing of Psalms at present
is not upon the right plan, and does not answer the end of its institution. I
speak not of the contempt with which it is treated by the age, or of the neglect
of it by many professors, but of the prevaiUng abuses of it among them who
would be thought altogether Christians.

986 AN ESSAY ON PSALMODY.
CHAPTER VI.
These Abuses I would particularly mention, and humbly propose a Remedy for
each of litem.
Some of these may seem not worthy of notice, they are such small matters :
but I think there is nothing little in divine worship. The majesty of God
ennobles and exalts every part of it. He has commanded us to sing Psalms,
and whatever he has been pleased to command, has his authority to enforce it :
and whatever he has engaged to bless, has his promise to make it the raeans of
'blessing. In keeping of it there is at present great reward. His presence witt
be in it, when it is rightly performed, and he wiU render it effectual. He wiU
hear, he will accept, he will witness his acceptance of the praises of his people :
therefore everything relating to them should be done decently and in order.
We should always sing with a reverence becoming the greatness and goodness
of our God, in such a manner as may best express our happiness in his love, and
as may tend most to mutual edification.
If these things be considered, it will not be thought an indifferent matter, whe
ther the Psalms be sung at all, or hotv they be sung — whether with, or tvithout any
heart di votion, — whether with, or without any melody ofthe voice — whether every
believer in the congregation should sing or no — whether singing should be a trial
of skill, who can hawlloudest — whether the posture should not be expressive as well
as the voice — whether suitable portions of the l'salms should be chosen, or the
person who gives them out ahould be left to choose them, often tvithout any judg
ment — whether grace should be exercised in singing, or not — whether we should
sing in order to increase grace, or not — whether we should sing for amusement,
or for the glory of God. It is not a trilling matter hotv you determine those
points : they enter deep into an important part of religious worship, yea, into a
very high act of it, one in tvhich tve pay the noblest service wc can upon earth,
aud indeed the nearest we can come to the service of sainte and angele. How
then can it be an indifferent thing, whether a believer sings Psalms or not, or
whether or no he sings them with melody in his heart unto the Lord ? Certainly,
if he would please God in singing, he should attend to the scripture rules before
laid down for directing his conduct, which compared with the analogy of faith,
will regulate everything relating to the divine ordinance of Psalm singing.
One great abuse is the general ignorance of the eubject of the book of Psalms.
No portion of God's word is less known : many in our congregation very seldom
understand what they are singing. They have not Christ in their eye, nor his
glory in their view ; although the design of all those hymns is to describe the
love of God to sinners in Christ Jesus. They all treat of him in some view
or other : for there are many extensive, and aU very glorious views, in which hia
person, offices, works, and ways, may be considered. Some treat of his high
praises as God-man, describing his person, as the infinite treasury of grace
and glory. Some celebrate the matchless deeds of his Ufe, aa the Lord our
Righteousneas, and the complete atonement made for sin by the sacrifice of him
self. Others, in language and sentiments truly sublime, sing the endless vic
tories of his resurrection, and the prevailing efficacy of his intercession. Several
of them treat of his most blessed government, when he sets up his throne in the
hearts of hia willing people, and saves them from sin, and death, and every enemy :
while others foretel the great day of the Lord, when he tvill come to judge all
flesh, wttl take his redeemed home, and the whole heaven shall be filled with
his glory. Besides the Psalms treat of this wonderful person, not only from the
beginning of time, but also from the ages of eternity : they discover the under
takings of his love before all worlds in the covenant of the Trinity — hia ful
filhng the covenant engagements in time — and his bestowing covenant blessings
from henceforth and for ever. What an extensive view do they give us of the
loving kindness of Immanuel, reaching from everlasting to everlasting ! And in
all these respects the Psalms are of inestimable value tvith believers : for their
use the Holy Spirit has recorded them ; and herein they learn what sentiments
they are to form of God the Saviour, with what gratitude they should speak of

AN ESSAY ON PSALMODY. 987
him, and with wKat holy joy they should sing the triumphs of redeeming love.
The Psalms were fitted for this purpose by infinite wisdom : for holy men of
God spake them as they were moved by the Holy Ghost : and they are blessed
for this purpose, when, with the apostle, any one can say, "I will sing with
the Spirit, and I will sing with the understanding also."
In order to remedy this great evil, I have prefixed the subject of every Psalm
in this coUection, that the congregation might have a key to the true sense, and
each might know, what particular grace was to be exercised in singing it. This
wiU help somewhat to keep up harmony in the understanding. But it wttl not
be without some discord, untU the subject treated of in the book of Psalms be
made very plain, and their application to Jesus Christ be weU settled. For this
end I have finished some years ago a translation of the Psalms, with a treatise
upon the use and design : it was computed to make two large volumes in octavo,
entitled, " An Essay towards a new Translation of the Bible." In which I have
been engaged, as opportunity has offered, above thirty yearB ; but I should have
published nothing more of it in my lifetime than this essay, in which the trans
lation of the book of Psalms would have been given as a specimen of the work.
It has laid me by so long, that I am not very sanguine about the publication.
Yet if this little tract should be favourably received, and God should be pleased
to make it useful ; if some providence should afford me leisure to revise my
papers, of which I have no prospect at present, and if they should then appear to
me likely to promote the honour of God, and the good of his church, I should
think it my duty to let my light shine before men. Yet in this, and in every
thing else, I do earnestly pray, Not my wiU, Lord, but thine be done.
Another very great abuse arises from not treating Psalm singing as becometh
a divine ordinance. There should be great respect paid to what God has ap
pointed, and in the use of which he has promised to meet and to bless his people.
We commonly call those the means of grace, to which grace is promised, and by
which grace is received, and through which it is increased in the heart. Singing
of Psajnis is undoubtedly one of those means, but it is amongst us very much
neglected, and when used, it is done in so irreverent a manner, that the end of its
institution is not attained. God, as has been already proved, has enjoined and
enforced it by repeated commands. He has also assigned the reason of them,
namely, that whenever we find ourselves happy in him, he would have our joy
to flow out this tvay. And what more proper and significant ? singing is only
expressing outwardly the melody of the heart : and God has required it of us as
a just service of praise. He has furnished us both tvith matter and words. He
has given us a divine collection of most perfect Hymns. And when we use them
in humble faith, God wttl render them the means of exciting, of preserving, and
of increasing our holy joy : for the promise is — " The meek also shaU increase
their joy in the Lord, and the poor among men shaU rejoice in the holy one of
Israel." This promise has been made good in all ages. The blessing has come in the
use of means. The church of Christ in praising him has found fresh reason to
praise him. While its happy members have been singing together, he has vouch
safed to them his gracious presence, and has given them sweet communications of
his heavenly love. They have sung tiU their hearts burnt within them, inflamed
with a sense of his goodness. Then they had deUghtful experience of the Psalm
ist's words — " Praise ye the Lord ; for it is a good thing to give thanks unto the
Lord, and to sing praises unto thy name, O Most High : for it is pleasant, and
praise is comely."
Reader, dost thou find it so ? Is it a pleasure to thee to sing Psalms ? Dost
thou sing them as an ordinance ? Dost thou in faith expect a blessing upon thy
singing ? And is it indeed to thee the means of grace ? If it be, use them more,
and thou wilt find an increasing blessing ; if it be not, consider weU what has been
said — repent of thine abuse of this precious orehnance — and pray for grace to ob
serve it to the honour of God, to the edification of others, and to the profit of thine
own soul : the Lord give thee a right understanding in this matter.
The neglect of it as an ordinance has led many people entirely to. neglect it. I
have scarce ever seen a congregation, in which every one joined in singing. This

988 AN ESSAY ON PSALMODY.
is a very great abuse, because it ia defeating the end of God's institution. Ho
commanded Psalms to be sung for mutual edification. It was to be the service
of the whole church. AU were to join; whereas among us it is performed" by
some few, and they are sometimes set by themselves in a singing gaUery, or in a
corner of the church, where they sing to be admired for their fine voices, and
others hear them for their entertainment. This is a vile prostitution of church
music, and contrary to the letter and spirit both of the OldTestament and also of
the New.
The first sacred hymn upon record was sung by Moses and the children of
Israel, in which Miriam and all the women joined, and sang the chorus. The
second hymn mentioned is said to be sung by the people of Israel without any
distinction. When the ark was brought up to the city of David, he and all Israel
played before God with aU their might, and with singing : most likely they sang
the lxviiith Paalm, accompanied with harpa, and psalteries, apd with timbrels,
and with cymbals, and with trumpets. David frequently speaks of singing Psalms,
as an ordinance in which every one should bear hie part, that God might be glo
rified, and aU might be edified. " Make a joyful noise unto God, all ye lands ;
aing forth the honour of hia name, make his praise glorious. All the earth shall
worship thee, and shall sing unto thee ; they ahall sing unto thy name. Oh let
the nations be glad, and sing for joy ; sing unto God, ye kingdoms of the earth :
O sing praises unto the Lord." The sweet singer of Israel chooses this for his
subject — " AU thy works shaU praiae thee, O Lord, and thy saint8 Bhall ble88
thee ;" and he pursues it through the cxlviiith Psalm. He begins with hallelujah,
and intending to have a full chorus to join him in ascribing all glory to God in
the highest, he caUs upon the holy angel8 and the heavenly hosts to aeeist ; then
he addresses himaelf to the active powers in nature, which praise God by doing
hia will and obeying hi8 decree ; afterwards he caUs upon the earth with every
thing in it and on it, animate and inanimate ; for these fulfil his commandments,
and keep his laws, and so praise him : at last he comes to mankinel, and requires
high and low, kings and aU people, princes and all judges of the earth, both
young men and maidens, old men and children, to join with him in praising the
name of the Lord ; for his name alone ia excellent, hia glory ia above the cai th
and heaven ; he al80 exalteth the power of the people, the praise of all hia aainls.
even of the chttdren of Ierael, a people near unto him, Hallelujah. ' *
This wa8 the state of the case in the Old Testament. We know from profane
hiatory, that the firat Christians, in all their meetings, used to aing the praiaes of
JeauB their God. They would not sit dotvn to meat, or rise up, without a Psalm.
Jerome saya, you might have heard the ploughman and reapera in the field8
singing Psalms : yea, several of them could repeat the whole book in Hebrew.
Church history relates many particulars upon this subject. But the divine record
is decisive. It contains directions how to sing in the congregation : they were to
speak, not inwardly, but to themselves, one to another, that they might be heard,
and the Psalms which they sung might tend to each other'8 benefit. In another
place the apostle commands believers to teach and admonish one another in Psalma
and Hymns, recommending auch singing aa would edify the congregation.
Consider thoee authorities, ye that have slighted this ordinance. Has it been
the uniform practice of the church of God in all ages to join in singing his praises ?
Was it by his express command ? Has he given us a coUection of hymns, the
very words which we are to sing? Ha8 he promised to accept our thanka and
praiaes, and while believers have been Offering them with graceful hearta, has he
conatantly made them the raeans of increasing their joy in the Lord ? Was it for
the benefit of others, that the church might receive edifying, and that each might
bear his part by stirring up and exciting thankfulness in one another ? Oh do
not then neglect such a bleased ordinance : but rather pray the Lord to enable
you to rejoice with them that rejoice, to sing with them that sing. Have you not
mercies to ask — why then wiU you not join the church in asking ? Have you
not mercies out of number to thank God for — why then will you not take your
part in praising him for hia goodneas ? Why will you rob youraelf of the pleasure
of doing it ? Why wttl you not profit your neighbour ? And why will you not
give God the glory due unto hi8 holy name ? Be assured it becometh you well to

AN ESSAY ON PSALMODY. 989
be thankful at all times and in all places, especially in the great congregation. Mav
you have your share in the service, and your share in. the blessing promisea
If you are convinced it is part of the pubhc worship of God, in which vou are
required to join, as much as in the prayers, or in hearing the word, then take heed
you join properly. You may sing, and yet greatly abuse this holy ordinance.
There are many singers in the church, who take no pains either to keep the time
or to foUow the tune, and who thereby show they think it of no consequence how
the praises of. the most high God are sung. Solomon differed much from them.
He thought it a great perfection in praising God, that among the many thousands
of voices and instruments, which were sounding forth his praise at one time,
there was not a single discord to be heard. The scripture has taken notice of it.
" They aU gave one sound." Why should not we do the same ? Nay, is it not the
practice of the people of the world ? WUl they suffer discords in any of their
concerts ? A pubhc performer would only rise in repute with them, as he plays
or sings weU. Christian, consider this. ShaU they, for their mere amusement
study to have their music free from every thing offensive to the ear ; and shaU
not we be equally careful ? More especially as we sing to the honour of God
and to the edifying of the brethren. We have a most noble subject — divine
matter — divine words : we sing of one Lord with one faith. Oh for harmony in
some measure suitable ! it is much to be wished. I hope it will be attained. Let
me earnestly recommend it to every one to sing, and to aU who do sing, to learn
to sing well ; and, till you do, endeavour to avoid another matter of offence.
There are many in our congregations, who seem to think they sing best, when
they sing loudest. You may see them often strain themselves with shouting tiU
their faces are as red as scarlet. The worst singers commonly offend this way.
A bad coarse voice quite out of tune is to be heard above all, and wUl take the
lead in the congregation ; and whenever a number of such meet together in their
shouting humour, they put all into confusion. They disorder those, who would
sing with feehng and affection. 'They drown the musical voices of good singers.
They offend the outward people. And they do no good to themselves ; so they
entirely defeat the end of singing. If these lines should faU into the hands of
any, who are sensible they have offended in this way, I would beg of them to
reform this abuse. Examine your motive. Why would you be uppermost ir
the congregation ? Is your voice the best ? Do you think so ? Ask one who is
a judge ; perhaps he may persuade you. I wish I could prevail with you to sing
lower. Indeed, if you once come to feel what you sing, you wiU reform yourself. A
great part of your singing wiU then be between God and your own soul ; you wiU
try to keep up melody in your heart, and that will mend both your voice and
judgment. However, it will certainly put you upon trying to please both God
and man in singing.
There is another very great and common abuse, which consists in the choice
of improper portions. The person to whose judgment this is left is not always
one of the wisest in the congregation. He may not understand the Psalms.
He may misapply and profane them. It is not a rare thing for him to make
them personal, and to apply the glorious things spoken of Christ to trifling
parish business. I have heard the quarrels among neighbours sung over on
Sundays. The clerk has chosen some passage, applicable entirely to the ene
mies of the Lord and his Christ, and has most grossly perverted it. The con
gregation had nothing to do with the dispute, and yet it tvas brought before
them, and they were called upon in an ordinance to interest themselves in it.
No doubt, this, and such like abuses, are a very great insult upon God's word and
ordinance, and ought to be reformed. The people should understand the Psalm
which they are going to sing, and should be weU acquainted with its relation to
Jesus Christ. They are aU required to join ; and therefore suitable portions
should be chosen, in which aU or the greatest part of them are interested ; they
should sing with one mind, and one heart, as weU as in one tune : for which end
the knowledge ofthe Psalm, and of whom, and of what it treats, are absolutely
necessary. How can any one sing aright unto the Lord with grace in his heart,
unless he understands whether the Psalm relates to praise or thanksgiving, to

990 AN ESSAY ON PSALMODY.
asking mercies of God, or praising him for them— what grace was to be exercia-
ing in aeeing, faith, or hope, or love — and what blessing was to be expected from
it ? These things should be weU known, that singing may be a reasonable ser
vice, and the means of grace. And to render it such.I have collected portions
suitable to most cases of a Christian's experience, and have also prefixed the
subject of each. I have also directed the behever trith what frame of mind to
sing, and what benefit to look for from the word of promise in singing. I wish
the attempt may help to make the ordinance better observed, and then I am sure
it wttl be raore blessed.
There is another thing relating to the Psalms — I cannot call it an abuse, for it
is a total neglect of them. They are quite rejected in*many congregations, as if
there were no such hymns given by inspiration of God, and as if they were not
left for the use of the church and to be sung in the congregation. Human
compositions are preferred to divine. Man's poetry is exalted above the poetry
of the Holy Ghoat. Is this right ? The hymns which he revealed for the use
of the church, that we might have words suitable to the praises of Immanuel,
are quite set aside : by which means the word of man has got a preference in the
church above the word of God ; yea, so far' as to exclude it entirely from public
worship. It is not difficult to account for this strange practice. Our people
had lost sight of the meaning of the Psalms. They did not see their relation to
Jesus Christ. Thia happened when vital religion began to decay among U8,
more than a century ago. It tvas a gradual decay, and went on, till at last there
waa a general complaint againat Sternhold and Hopkins. Their tranalation was
treated as poor flat stuff. The wits ridiculed it. The profane blasphemed it.
Good men did not defend it. Then it fell into such contempt, that people were
ready to receive any thing in ita room, which looked rational and waa poetical.
In thia situation, the hymn-makers find the church, and they are suffered to
thrust out the Psalms to make way for their own compositions : of which they have
suppUed us with a vast variety — coUection upon collection, and in use, too — new
hymns starting up daily — appendix added to appendix — sung in many congrega
tions, yea, admired by very nigh profeaaora, to Buch a degree, that the Paalma are
become quite obsolete, and the singing of them is now almost as despicable
among the modern religious aa it was eome time ago among the profane.
I know thie is a sore place, and I would touch it gently, aa gently as I can
with any hope of doing good. The value of poems above Pealme is become
so great, and the ainging of men's words, so as quite to cast out the word of
God is become so universal (except in the church of England), that one scarce
dares speak upon the subject : neither would I, having already met with contempt
enough for preferring God's hymns to man's hymns, if a high regard for God's
most blessed word did not reeiuire me to bear my testimony ; and if I did not
verily believe, that many real Christians have taken up this practice without
thinking of the evil of it ; and when they come to consider the matter carefuUy
wttl rather thank me, than censure me, for freedom of speech.
Let me observe, then, that I blame nobody for singing human compositions.
I do not think it sinful or unlawful, so the matter be scriptural. My complaint
is against preferring men's poems to the good word of God, and preferring them
to it in the church. I have no quarrel with Dr. Watts, or any living or dead
versifier. I would not wish all their poema burnt. My concern ia to Bee Christian
congregations shut out divinely inspired Psalms, and take in Dr. Watts' flights
of fancy ; as if the words of a poet were better than the words of a prophet, or
as if the wit of a man tvas to be preferred to the wisdom of God When the
church is met together in one pface, the Lord God has made a provision for their
Bongs of praise — a large coUection, and great variety — and why should not these
be used in the church according to God's express appointment ? I speak not of
private people or of private singing, but of the church in its pubhc service. Why
should the provision which God has raade be bo far despiaed, aa to become quite
out of use ? Why ahould Dr. Watta, or any hymn-maker, not only take the
precedence of the Holy Ghoat, but al80 thrust him entirely out of the church?
Insomuch that the rhymes of a man are now magnified above the word of God,

AN ESSAY ON PSALMODY. 901
even to the annihUating of it in many congregations. If this be right, men and
brethren, judge ye. Examine with candour the evidence which has determined
my judgment ; so far as it is conclusive may it determine yours.
First, the Psalms are the word of God, with which no work of man's genius
can be compared. His attributes are manifest in every page, and prove the
author to be divine. His infinite wisdom shines throughout — his goodness
appears to be matchless — his truth in every tittle infallible — his power almighty
to bless the hearing, reading, amd singing of his word. None that trusted in it
was ever ashamed : for his faithfulness to it can never fail. The word of the
Lord has'been tried, and in very great difficulties, yea, in seeming impossibtti-
ties, but it was always made good. In every trial he " magnified his word above
aU his name ;" he made it the means of bringing glory to his name and nature,
and every perfection in Deity has been exalted by the faithfulness of God to his
word. In this view of the Psalms, what is there to be put in competition with
them ? What man is like their author ? What poetry is to be compared with
the Psalms of God ? Who can make the singing of any human verses an ordi
nance, or give a blessing to them, such as is promised, and is given to the singing
of Psalms ? For what reason then are they set aside in the church ? Why are
the words of man's genius preferred to the words of inspiration ? Singing of
Psalms is commanded by divine authority, and commanded as a part of divine
worship ; not left to man's wisdom how to provide for it, but is expressly provided
for in the good word of God. And is not great contempt put upon this in
finitely wise provision, when it is quite disused in the church, and man's word is
preferred to it? What would you think of them wlio should throw aside
all the scripture, and never read it at aU in the congregation ? And is it not
an offence of the like nature, totaUy to neglect a part, a chief part of it,
which was recorded for the use of the church, and in which its members
were to sing the high praises of their God ? It is hereby treated as useless
and good for nothing. A very gross affront is put upon the love and wisdom
which revealed this divine collection of hymns, and the church is deprived of
the blessings promised to the singing of them, whereby it is robbed of one of
its choicest treasures. If anything be sacrilege, this is. The Psalms are
stolen out of the church, and thereby the members are deprived of the bless
ings promised to the singing of them : for God wttl not give you the end, if
you neglect the means. Frequent are his commands in the OldTestament to
sing Psalms, and we have several in the New : for instance, let the word (not
something besides it, but the word) of Christ itself dweU in you richly in aU
wisdom, teaching and admonishing one another in Psalms, and hymns, and
spiritual songs — these are not different things, but different names for the same
collection of Psalms, as they treat of different subjects. Psalms in praise of
Immanuel, such especially as have haUelujah at the beginning or end, are caUed
Hymns, and the Psalms which relate to the spiritual things of Christ and his
kingdom, have the title of Song set before them by the Holy Spirit, such as
7, 18, 30, 45, 46, 48, 65, 66, 67, 68, 75, 76, 83, 87, 88, 92, 108, from 110 to 135.
These Hymns and spiritual Songs were part of the scripture and part of the
Psalms, scripture Hymns' and scripture Songs, for the word of Christ in singing
them was to dweU in them richly ; not man's word, but Christ's ; and when
the apostle is speaking of them altogether, he caUs both the Hymn and spiritual
Song a Psalm. We render the word i^oXAon-es making melody, but it means
singing the Psalm, and is as if he had said — when you use a Hymn to the praise
of God, or a spiritual Song to any spiritual purpose, sing tbe Psalm so that one
may teach and admonish the other. It was a service in which each is commanded
to join, and each was to endeavour in it to profit the other. They were to try
so to sing tvith the melody of the heart to the Lord as at the same time to con
sult each other's profit, that whUe the Lord was glorified the church might receive
edifying Here is a full authority for the use of Psalms in the church, and a
very clear direction how to sing them ; and as foUowing this direction was the
divine means of making the word of Christ to dweU richly in behevers, how poorly
must it dwell in them who sUght and despise the command, yea, so far as never
to sing any Psalms at all.

992 AN ESSAY ON PSALMODY.
If any real Christian would attend to this reasoning, how can he oppose it r
Here is a coUection of hymns appointed to be sung in the church by divine
authority ; but the authority is despised, and the collection is thrown aside. It
comes from the inspiration of the Almighty, but the church entirely refuses to
use it ; is not this doing despite unto the Spirit of grace ? The coUection is large,
and very particular in setting forth the praises of the adorable Immanuel ; is it
not a gross affront to him to sing none of his praises in the words which the Holy
Ghost teacheth ? as if any praises were good enough for him, or as if he could be
praised better in the wordB which man's wisdom teacheth. Men and brethren,
consider whether this be not a very gross affront to the word of God, to the Spirit
of God, and to the Son of God. Consider it well, and the Lord give you a right
understanding in this matter.
Secondly, The singing of men's poems hi the church, and setting aside the
Psalms given by inspiration of God, is contrary to the prophecies of the Old Tes
tament, and is an attempt to defeat them. They describe the state of the gospel
church, and declare there ehould he great joy and gladneas found in it ; par
ticularly they mention singing of Psalme, ae the outward expression of their in
ward joy in the Lord. Thus tve read, 1 Chron. xvi. 23, 24. " Sing unto the Lord
aU the earth, show forth from day to day his salvation : declare his glory among
the heathen, his marveUous works among all the nations !"' Of the same thing
speaketh the prophet Isaiah, Ivi. 6, 7. " Also the sons of the stranger that join
themselves to the Lord to serve him, and to love the name of the Lord, to be hia
aervanta, even every one that keepeth the aabbath from poUuting it, and taketh
hold of my covenant, even them will I bring to my holy mountain, and make
them joyful in mine house of prayer : their burnt-offerings and their sacrifices
ehall be accepted upon mine altar : for mine house ahall be called an house of
prayer for all people." How thia joy was to be expreaaed, ia mentioned ih Psalm
xcv. The prophet shows how behevera ahould stir up one another to rejoice in
ainging Psalms : and St. Paul saya thia waa written of the New Testament
church. According to his explanation of the Paalm given in the 3d and 4th
chapters ofthe Hebrewa, the Holy Ghost here calls for the solemn worship of oiir
Saviour, and requires him to be praiaed with Psalms : he preaaea this duty, to
gether with pubUc prayer, ver. 6, 7, and then demanda obedient attention to the
word of God, againat which no man should harden his heart through unbelief -
from whence it appears, that praising God solemnly, with singing Psalms, with
public prayer, and with hearing the word, are stttl the ordinances of Christ, and
are to continue to-day, even while it is called to-day, unto the end of the world.
These prophecies have been fulfilled. The bleseed gospel has brought joy and
gladness into heathen lands, and this very day Psalms have been sung, and a
pure offering of praise has been presented unto the Lord, and it will be presented
unto him so long as there is a true church upon earth. What then ahaU we think
of thoae pretended reformers, who have turned the Psalm8 out of the church,
and who are acting as if they would try to defeat theee propheciee ? I wish they
may not be found fighting againat God": for they cannot atop their accomplish
ment. His word cannot be broken. As long ae the earth ahall continue, Psalms
shall be sung in the church of Christ. In it there will always be found thanks
giving and the voice of melody, and these witt be expressed in God's own way,
in the matter, and words, and form of God's own appointment.
Consider this, ye who beUeve the scriptures to be the word of God : if you
obey from the heart the form of doctrine therein dehvered, you will begin to reason
thus ; yea, methinks I hear one of you say — Since God, by his sovereign grace,
has put a new song in my mouth, it adds to my joy, that he has revealed the very
words in which he would have me to praiae him. He haa foretold that the goapel
should be received among the heathen, and that it should produce such effects as
I now experience. Glory be to him, he has made me happy in Jesus, and my
happiness is not only kept up, but I find it increases by singing the inspired
Paahna of the Holy Ghost. Whoever leaves off the singing of Psalms, God for
bid I should be of that number, I hope never to act so contrary to the honour of
God, and to the profit of mine own soul.

B

AN ESSAY ON PSALMODY. 993
Thirdly, Of the same sentiments has been the church of Christ in all ages :
which is a strong argument in favour of Psalm singing. We know, from very
clear testimony, that the Psalms were sung in the temple until its final destruc
tion. We are certain that Christ made . use of the Psalms. His apostles fol
lowed his example. The churches of Corinth, and Ephesus, and Colosse, made
the singing of Psalms part of their pubUc worship. Such of the twelve tribes
as were scattered abroad, being persecuted for Christ's sake, did sing Psalms
when they were in an happy frame : for they were • commanded to do it by the
apostle James. The church history affords abundant evidence of the use of the
Psalms in every country converted to the faith, and of their being sung in the
church, as a part of public worship. This has been the case in every age without
interruption. The primitive Christians sung in aU their church moetings.
Eusebius says, in the second century, they sung Psalms in praise of Christ and
his deity. In the time of Justin Martyr instrumental music was abolished, and
he highly commends singing with the voice, because, says he, Psalms, with organs
and cymbals, are fitter to please chUdren, than to instruct the church. In the
third century we read much of Psalm singing. Arius tvas complained of as a per-
verter of this ordinance. St. Augustine makes it a high crime in certain heretics,
that they sung hymns composed by human wit. The sense in which the church
of Christ understood this subject has been, tttl of late years, always one and
uniform. Now we leave the ancient beaten path. But why ? Have tve found a
better ? How came we to be wiser than the prophets, than Christ, than his apo
stles, and the primitive Christians, yea, than the whole church of God ? They with
one consent have sung Psalms in every age. Here I leave the reader to his own
reflections. There is one plain inference to be made from hence, none can easily
mistake it. May he see it in his judgment, and foUow it in his practice.
Fourthly, Singing of Psalms in the church is an ordinance commanded of God,
irophesied of in the Old Testament, and hitherto fulfiUed in the New. That
'salm singing is one of the means of grace has been shown before. It is part of
public worship, enjoined of God, and to which he has promised his blessing.
Now when you lay aside Psalms in the church, you at the same time cast out the
ordinance : for they are inseparably one. The Psalm is the ordinance. Your
practice speaks, as if you said — " We tvill neglect the means of increasing our
joy in God ; for we want no growing love to him, nor fresh communications of
his love to us." Surely this is the language of those persons who Uve in the
constant neglect of one of the divine ordinances. God appointed it in vain as to
them. They make no more use of the Psalms, than if there were no such Hymns
in being. And is not this opposing his authority ? Is it not ungrateful to throw
away his appointed means, and to think you can please him better with singing
your own poetry than his ? Is it not hurtful to yourselves ? for in seeking
the promised blessing in the way of wiU-worship, you certainly cannot find it.
Because Fifthly, The blessing is promised to the ordinance. You cannot have the end
without the means. The Psalms were revealed, that we might in singing them
express our joy in God, and thereby improve it. They were for the exercise of grace,
and for the increase of grace ; that we might sing tvith grace in our hearts, and make
one another's hearts warmer by singing. The word is one ofthe means of grace ; by
hearing it, faith cometh ; by constant hearing, faith is estabhshed. If the word was
never heard, how could faith come ? If the word be entirely neglected, hotv can
faitlxgrow ? Prayer is one of the means of grace : it is appointed in order to keep
up communion with God, and to bring dotvn daily supplies of mercies from him :
Could those be had tvithout asking ? Certainly they could not. Singing of Psalms
is also one of the means of grace : How can the blessing promised to the means
be received, if no Psalms be sung ? What sort of a church would it be, in which
the word was never read, nor prayers nor singing of Psalms, nor any means of
grace used? It could not be a church of Christ: because his presence with,
and his blessings to his people, are promised to them in the use of the means.
The blessing accompanies the ordinance, and is promised unto it; God has
joined them together, and they must not be put asunder. He will give ho
nour, he does give honour to his own m-"">. He makes them answer the
3 s

4 AN ESSAY ON PSALMODY.
i of their institution. When the Psalms are sung in faith, they do rejoice
i heart. The Holy Spirit blesses the singing, and causes mutual joy to
jund, which is
Sixthly, Another reason for -preferring divine psalms to man's poems. The
alms were for the church service. When the members met, tve lead of their
iging together, both in the Old Testament and in the New. It was their joint
ering of praise. The Psalms were appointed to be sung in the congregation,
it one might admonish another, which we do, by joining with them, by making
3 word of Christ dweU more richly in them, and by exercising their graces
eh ours. Thus we show our feUowship in the gospel. When we all sing the
me psalm, it is as if the church had but one mouth to glorify God. And we
ver enjoy more of the presence of God, than tvhtte we are thus praising him
rether with thankful hearts. The Lord, who instituted the ordinance, promised
ls blessing to it : but when his Psalms are thrust out, and human compositions
ng in their room, what reason have the singers to expect that he wiU give his
od Spirit to quicken their hearts, and to inflame their devotion ? He did not
omiee mutual edification, but to the use of his own means. He would have
lievers to teach and to exhort one another, but it was in singing his own
alms : and when they do, he has met them and blessed them, and always will :
it he has given no promise to be present, whenever the church meet together in
bttc to sing their own compositions, or to make them fuU of joy tvith the light
his countenance, when they have been doing despite to his Spirit, and putting
shonour upon his word.
Perhaps these sentiments may arise from my great attachment to the word of
id, with which others may not be affected as I am : for I am persuaded it is '
4 possible for me to set too high a value upon the holy scriptures — as the
velation of the wttl of God, I want words to express my respect for them — as
e revelation of his good will in Jesus, I reverence them next to himself. What
are precious ? What more dehghtful ? They are, indeed, more precious than
Id, yea, than much fine gold : and the Psalms are sweeter than honey, yea, than
e honey dropping from the comb. I find them so. They are my daily Btudy,
d daily delight. I do not boast, but praise. The more I read, the more I
mire them. The description of Jesus in them is sweet : the meditation of him
sweeter than att other sweets. It often tastes so much of heaven, that it seems
me I cannot possibly bestow so rauch admiration upon the Psalms, as they
serve. This is my settled judgment confirmed by experience. I cannot help
king particular notice of this, because it fuUy confirms the arguments which
ve been before used.
Experience demonstrates, that God does bless the singing of psalms in the
urch, and does not bless the singing of men's hymns. It is a melaneholy matter
fact, that in many congregations there is no reading of God's word, no sing-
g of God's word. It is almost laid aside, even the great ordinance of God for
[ saving purposes. And what has followed ? Truly, what might be expected ;
a, what could not but foUow. The Holy Spirit has been grieved, and has with-
atvn his powerful presence. For want of which a deadness that may be felt
in such places. Of this good men have complained to one another, and are
imbled for it before God. They find public worship without power. Prayer
lifeless. Preaching is voice and nothing more. It may be the truth, but the
rarers are apt to fatt asleep over it, and the preacher is no more animated, than if he
is telling an old story. The channel of divine communication is quite stopped
) : hence Ichabod may be seen and felt too upon such congregations. Reader,
thou art aUve to God in thine own heart, thou knowest this to be true. And
iw does it affect thee ? Certainly thou wttt join with me in begging of God to
vive his work among us, and to put glory upon his ordinances. Oh that the
3rd would return with his gracious presence to his worshipping people. May
e Holy Spirit lead them to see their error in neglecting his established means
grace, especiaUy his word read and sung. And whenever he does this, and
berever they put honour upon his word, there wiU he certainly put Ufe and
iwer into the ordinances, and the congregations shaU again experience that God
among them of a truth.

AN ESSAY ON PSALMODY. 995
And as God does not bless the singing of human compositions in his church,
so it is a certain matter of fact, that he does bless the singing of his own Psalms.
If the eyes of your understanding be opened, look around ; where is the power
of God most to be found ? Among whom is he chiefly carrying on his work ?
And where are the Uvehest congregations ? If you knotv the present state of
reUgion in this land, you can easily find them. God has made them very con
spicuous. A city that is set on a httl cannot be hid. The builder of it did not
intend it should. His gifts and graces are therefore conferred, that the giver
may have aU the glory. And who are most enriched with his gifts and graces ?
Are they not such as he has brought to use the means most ? Who honour his
word, never faiUng to make the reading of it part of public worship, and who
never meet, but they sing out of the word the praises of their God. Among
these the Lord the Spirit does work with power, and they do find in singing his
Psalms, what they never find in singing men's poems. He makes aU their church
ordinances Uvely and edifying. He enables them to draw near to God in prayer,
and they have happy communion with him : he hears, and answers. 'The word
preached is mighty through God. Sinners are awakened. Mourners are com
forted. Behevers are strengthened. The word sung is also accompanied trith
the same power : the Psalms are made an ordinance indeed. The Holy Spirit
works in and by them to keep up holy joy in believing hearts. He promised
this, and the promise is fulfiUed at this very hour. " The Lord shall comfort
Sion, he will comfort all her waste places, and he will make her wilderness like
Eden, and her desert like the garden of the Lord, joy and gladness shall be
found therein, thanksgiving and the voice of melody." Blessed be God for
these favours now bestowed upon the church of England. This prophecy is
ours. Adored for ever be his love. He is now tvith us of a truth, and he has
turned our wUderness into the garden of the Lord. We do not triumph for this
in ourselves. We do not look dotvn with contempt upon others. No, no. We
acknowledge it to be the Lord's doing, to the praise of the glory of his otvn
grace ; and to him we look for the continuance of this inestimable blessing. O
that he would bestow it abundantly upon those congregations, who have the
form tvithout the power. 'This is the fervent prayer of my heart. I am sure
our joy tvill increase by their sharing tvith us. May the good Lord revive his
work in all his churches, and may the life and power vouchsafed to some be
found in all.
What can any unprejudiced person infer from hence ? Is not the case plain ?
Where is the presence of God most to be found ? Among the singers of poems, or
the singers of Psalms ? What says matter of fact ? It speaks to the point, and
determines in favour of God's word. The Holy Spirit does not put honour upon
man's poems, when set up in the church in opposition to his divine Hymns.
Yea, he disgraces them. He pours contempt upon them, as it might be ex
pected he would : for he leaves the singers to themselves, and then their per-
" formance is without life anel power. It keeps up no communion with God. It
administers no holy joy. It is not the means of grace, but degenerates into a
mere entertainment, and is the same thing in the church, that music is in the
playhouse. How can that be, says one, I am a witness to the contrary : I have found pro
fit in singing hymns, and I am sure I have received pleasure. You may fancy
so, but perhaps it is only fancy : for your practice confutes your profession.
God has revealed the Psalms for the use of the church, he has commanded them
to be sung in it, and has promised to meet his rejoicing people, and in singing to
make their joy abound : but you despise the command, and therefore you can
have no title to the promise. You cannot bate the end without the means :
while you slight the ordinance, how can you possibly receive the blessing pro
mised to it ? For the Holy Ghost wttl not vouchsafe his joy to them tvho seek it
in opposition to his sovereign will : so that you might be pleased, but profited
you could not. The profit is God's blessing upon the use of his otvn means,
but you did not use the means ; nay, you despised his, and followed your own
self-will. AVhat profit could such singing bring you ? AVhat fellowship could
you have with God in it, or what joy in God increased by it ? You may bnng
3 s 2

996 AN ESSAY ON PSALMODY.
your poems into the church, and may be vastly delighted trith performing them.
So is the vainest creature aUve at the opera. The pleasure in both cases arises
from the same cause. The ear is pleased with the harmony, some animal joy is
excited, a fine tune, weU played, well sung, a very agreeable entertainment ; but
there could be no more spiritual edification in one than in the other : because
neither of them was the ordinance of God.
AVhat 1 say some, is it unlawful to sing human compositions in the church ?
How can that be ? AVhy, they sing them at such a place, anel such a place :
great men, and good men, ay, and Uvely ministers too, sing them : will you
set up your judgment against theirs ?
It is an odious thing to speak of one's self, except it be to magnify the grace
of God. What is my private judgment ? I set it up against nobody in indif
ferent things : I would trish to yield to every man's infirmity : for I want the
same indulgence myself. But in the present case the scripture, which is our
only rule of judgment, has not left the matter indifferent. God has given us
a large coUection of hymns, has commanded them to be sung in the church,
and has promised his blessing to the singing of them. No respect here must be
paid to names or authorities, although theybe the greatest on earth : because no
one can dispense with the command of God, and no ono can by his wit compose
hymns to be compared with the Psalms of God. I want a name for that man,
who should pretend that he could make better hymns than the Holy Ghost.
His coUection is large enough : it wants no addition. It is perfect as its author,
and not capable of any improvement. Why in such a case would any; raan
in the world take it into his head to sit down to write hymns for the use of the
church ? It is just the same as if he was to write a new Bible, not only better
than the old, but so much better, that the old may be thrown aside. What a
blasphemous attempt ! And yet our hymn-mongers, inadvertently I hOpe, have
copie very near to this blasphemy : for they shut out the Psalms, introduce their
own verses into the church, sing them with great delight, and as they fancy
with great profit ; although the whole practice be in direct opposition to the
command of God, and therefore cannot possibly be accompanied with the bleaaing
of God.
If any one be offended at my freedom of speech, I am sorry for it. I thought
I had liberty to give mine opinion, especiaUy in a matter wherein the honour of
God, and of hi8 word, required me to speak openly. Let this be mine apology.
If you are not convinced, if you wttl still sing human compoaitions in preference
to divine ; pray do not quarrel with me. I am a man of peace. Go on your tvay,
and let me go on mine. Let me sing God's psalms, and you may eing any
body's hymns. I have borne my testimony. Forgive me this once, and after I
have closed up the evidence with a very good tritness, against whom the admirers
of hymns can have no objection, I promiae herein to offend you no more He
i8 no le8s a person than the great Dr. AVatts himself. He speak8 full to the
point, and gives hia teatimony very diatinctly. He never intended, he saya, to '
thrust the Psalms of God out of the church. His words in the preface to his
hymns are these : " Far be it from my thoughts to lay aside the hook of Psalms
in pubhc worship : few can pretend so great a value for them as myself: it is
the most artful, most devotional, and divine collection of poesy ; and nothing can
be supposed more proper to raise a pious soulto heaven, than some parts of that
book ; never was a piece of experimental divinity bo nobly written, and so justly
reverenced and admired." Happy would it have been for the Christian world,
if hia foUowers had 6topped juet where he did. He declares it was far frora his
thoughts to do what they have done. It never came into his head to lay aside
the book of Psalms in pubUc worship. Think of this, and weigh it carefully, ye
that idoUze Dr. AVatts, and prefer his poems to the infallible word of God. It
would be weU for you, if you valued psalms as much as he did : for he says none
valued them more-. Then you would have looked upon thera in his Ught : for
having already in your hands the most devotional and the most divine collection,
you would not have thought of any other, knowing it was impossible to have a
better, but you would have used this, and would have found it too, as Dr. Watts
did, the most proper to raise the soul to heaven. Blessed sentiments 1 I honour

AN ESSAY ON PSALMODY. 997
the memory of Dr. Watts for this glorious testimony. I can say nothing that can
bear harder upon those persons, who, contrary to his opinion", have entirely left
off singing the Psalms of God in the church. He never intended to countenance
such a practice. He declares it was far from his thoughts, yea, he abhorred the
very thought, and in so saying he has upon record condemned it. Here I rest
the matter. If the admirers of Dr. Watts will not be determined by his authority,
I am sure they wUl not be mine : and therefore I take my leave of them. Fare
well. May the Lord guide you into aU truth.
There are several abuses among us relative to the music, which I wish to see
reformed, and some of which I would point out. AVc have many good psalm
. tunes, excellently composed and fitted for pubhc worship. These should be
studied, in order that they may be weU sung, and properly applied. Sung well to
avoid the tedious drawling manner in use in most of our churches, tvhich gives
offence to worldly people, and makes the ordinance dull and heavy to believers.
Properly applied, and suited to the subject, that the sound may, as near as
possible, express the sense : for want of understanding or attending to this, we
very often hear a light tune to a mournful prayer, and heavy music set to a joyful
psalm, which are grievous discords. In the service of God every thing should
be solemn. Our own minds require it, as well as his greatness; but especially
in praising him, we should try to shut out whatever would distract us, or dis
honour him. When the heart is affected, or desires to be duly affected, with a
sense of the exceeding riches of his mercy in Jesus, the psalm and the tune
should help to excite, and to keep up the heavenly flame. If the psalm be proper
for this purpose, the tune should not defeat it. This was much studied in the
primitive church. They had great simplicity in their psalm singing, which we
are told tvas corrupted by the heretics. Complaint is made particularly of Arius,
that he perverted singing into an entertainment. He had a taste for music, and
he composed several light, frothy tunes, by tvhich he sought to please trifling
people, who, with him, neither loved the God, nor the praises of the God of the
Christians. Herein he succeeded. His music was admired, and "did a great deal
of hurt. Let us take warning from hence. As far as we can, let our praises of
God be sung with such music as wiU solemnize our hearts, and keep them in tune
to make melody unto the Lord.
I will pnly mention one thing more, tvhich is a great impropriety, and to me
very offensive, and that is the posture generally used among us in singing.
Suppose there had been nothing at all said about it in the scripture, judge ye
with yourselves, men and brethren, whether it be respectful and becoming to sit
down to sing. When subjects go upon any joyful occasion to address their
sovereign, is it a custom in any nation of the world to do it sitting ? Does the
person who pays homage sit, or he who receives it ? But it is not left to our
selves, or to what we may think right or wrong. The case is determined in
scripture, and there are precedents to go upon. The singers and musicians stood,
when they performed in the temple service : so did all the people, 1 Chron. ii.
28, &c. " The office of the Letites was to wait on the sons of Aaron for the
service of the house of the Lord in the courts and in the chambers, and in the
purifying of all holy tilings, and the work of the service of the house of God :
and to stand every morning to thank and praise the Lord, and likewise at
evening." This was their appointment; and tve read of their fulfilhng it, 2
Chron. v. 12, where it is said, " they stood at the east end of the altar : " and we
are certain that all the congregation of Israel stood at the same time : for it is
expressly mentioned. When the royal prophet is encouraging the priests and
people in the heavenly work of praise, he thus addresses the priests, Psalm
cxxxiv. " Behold, bless ye the Lord all ye sen-ants of the Lord, who by night
stand in the house of the Lord : lift up your hands in the sanctuary anel bless the
Lord. The Lord that made heaven and earth bless thee out of Sion." So again
speaking to priests and people, Psalm cxxxv. " Praise ye the Lord, praise ye the
name of the Lord : praise him O ye servants of the Lord : ye that stand in the
house of the Lord, in the courts of the house of our God, praise ye the Lord, for
the Lord is good : sing praises unto his name for it is pleasant." Standing to
aing is recommended in those scriptures, and was accordingly practised both by

99S AN ESSAY ON PSALMODY.
clergy and laity : when they thanked the Lord morning and evening in the
words of David the man of God, they sung his praises standing. It is a decent
posture. People of fashion think it so : for they stand up even in the playhouse,
at the Hallelujahs in the oratorio ofthe Messiah.' \ Our very good church people
think so : for if they sit dotvn at the Paalm, they are sure to stand- up at the
Gloria patri. It is indeed highly becoming the majesty of the great King of
heaven and earth, and it is also expressive of our readiness to join our brethren
in praising his holy name. As such I would recommend it. The venerable
practice of antiquity bas something more to enforce it than mere propriety : at
least it caUs upon me to try to keep up evn uniformity with the church of Christ
in this particular. But if you think otherwise, and prefer sitting, lolling, or any _
lazy indolent posture, I will not unchristian you. AVe may differ, and not quarrel ;
nay, I will not quarrel with you, if you will but let me observe, when I see any
person irreverently sitting down, after he has been called upon to sing to the
praise and glory of God, and after a suitable psalm has been given out, it seems
to me, as if he said — indeed his behaviour speaks louder than any words can —
" You may sing, but I tviU not — I wttl exercise no grace — I want no more grace
— I have no melody in my heart, and therefore 1 will make none with my mouth
— I will take myself away while you are singing, and I wttl sit down to show
that I have no part with you in this ordinance."
The abuses here complained of are not to be easily remedied. I know they are
not ; but I have done my duty. Some of them are of long standing, not soon
to be rooted out. Some are the consequences of mere profesaion, which renders
all ordinances ineffectual : for they are only blessed to any one, aa he observes
them in true faith. Others are not looked upon to be profanations of the ordi
nance, but refinements of it; against such I only deliver my sentiments, not from
the chair, as a Pope ; but 1 beg leave to give my opinion, and if I could, I would
do it without offence. If any one be offended, I am sorry for it. I would not
hurt a worrn. However, we are aU agreed I hope in one. thing, and let us im
prove that. It is our joint desire to pleaBe God in singing his praises. If this be
pursued, it wttl tend to reform every abuse relating to this ordinance. His glory
should be aimed at trith a single eye. When this is the ruling principle, the
heart would enter into the service, and then it would soon influence the outward
man. There would be no neglect, no contempt, no misbehaviour, if gratitude
to God in Christ inspired our aongB. We should love to present such praises and
in such a manner, as would best express our thankfulness, and we should study
to avoid every thing which would render them unprofitable to ourselves or others,
or dishonourable to him.
Let me intreat you, men and brethren, never to forget this point. Set God
always before you, whenever you are going to sing Psaims. Do it as in his pre
sence and to his glory. If you think it your bounden duty to sing with your
voices to be heard of one another, take heed that you sing with your hearts unto
the Lord. Let it be the service of every faculty, and each exerted to the utmost.
Praise your blessed Immanuel trith your warmest gratitude. Give him the best
you have. He richly deserve8 it. And remember you thereby pay him nothing
again : you only give him hia own. Your gratitude i8 the gift of hia grace, and by
it you only make acknowledgment of your vast obligations to him. O beg of him
then to enable you to praise him with a growing sense of your debt, and of hie
increasing favours. And may you so praise him, as to find fresh reaaon to
continue your praises from day to day, and for evermore.
Whoever is in this humble happy frame, wiU be kept from a temptation, into
which most of our hymn singers have faUen. I have heard several of them, who
would by no means be thought common rate understandings, object to Sterrihold
and Hopkins. They wonder I would make use of this version, which they think
is poor flat stuff, the poetry is miserable, and the language low and base. To
which I answer : they had a scrupulous regard for the very words of scripture, and
to those they adhered closely and strictly ; so much as to render the versification
not equal to Mr. Pope. I grant, it is not always smooth : it is only here and
there briUiant. But what is a thousand times raore valuable, it is generaUy the
sentiment of the Holy Spirit. That is very rarely lost. And this should silence

AN ESSAY ON PSALMODY. 999
every objection — it is the word of God. Moreover the version comes nearer to the
original than any I have ever seen, except the Scotch, which I have made use of,
when it appeared to me better expressed than the EngUsh. You may find fault
with the manner of ekeing out a verse for the sake of rhyme ; but what of that ?
here is every thing great, and noble, and ditine, although not in Dr.Watts's way or
style. It is not, like his, fine sound and florid verse : as good old Mr. HaU used to
caU it, Watts's Jingle. I do not match those Psalms with what is now admired in
poetry ; although time was, when no less a man than the Rev. T. Bradbury, in his
sober judgment, thought so meanly of Watts's Hymns as commonly to term them
Wutts's Whymns. And indeed, compared to the scripture, they are Uke a Uttle taper
to the sun : as for his Psalms, they are so far from the mind of the Spirit, that I am
sure if David was to read them, he would not know any one of them to be his.
Besides, you are offended at the scripture style, and Dr. Watts must mend it.
This is owing to a very false taste. For the scripture wants no mending ; nay, it
is always worse for mending. It is plain in majesty. God has not written it to
please the imagination, but to convert the heart, and to comfort and to edify the
soul; therefore the inspired writers have used great plainness of speech. They
disclaim all painted language ahd oratorical colouring. One of them, speaking
for the rest, says — " We have received not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit
which is of God, that we might knotv the things which are freely given to us of
God; which things also we speak, not in the words which man's wisdom
teacheth, but which the Holy Ghost teacheth." To his words the understanding
should bow, and with reverence receive them : because they are his. Curiosity
should be dumb. It should make no inquiry : " Are they fine words, poeti
cal, dressed up with flowers and metaphors, brilhant as Cowley, smooth as
Pope." No, they are not ; but they are revealed to make the man of God wise
unto salvation, and they do. As such, the finest poetry of man is no more to be
compared with them, than man is to be compared tvith God. His word is the
great instrument of salvation. It is the ordinance of God for every saving pur
pose. He works in it and by it, and therefore it is plain and simple, that the
glory may not be given to the means themselves, but to his almighty grace, which
makes them effectual. How unlikely is the word preached so to change a sinner's
heart, that he shall be as much a new creature, as if a devil was made an angel ;
and yet this effect is daily produced, and by plain preaching too. Thus the most
successful preacher that ever was, declares — " My speech and my preaching was
not with enticing words of man's wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and
of power ; that your faith should not stand in the wisdom of man, but in the
power of God." And his power is promised, and is also experienced to this very
day in the use of the means of grace. God does give his blessing to them. What
more simple than the sacraments ? Yet through Christ working mightily in
them, they do answer the end of their institution ? What so unlikely as prayer
to obtain all needful blessings ? and yet it is certain matter of fact, that the
effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much. So the Psalms, not
trimmed up with human embellishments, but in the simple dress of scripture, do
communicate holy joy in the Lord. He blesses the means, because they are his
otvn means, and when used in faith, he never fails to render them effectual.
Here then let us look, not at fine words, but at God's word. Let us not be
offended at its simplicity : for it is purposely so. It is written for profit, and not
for amusement. As an instrument, it has not the virtue in itself, that the ex
ceUency of the power exerted by it may be of God. He would have aU tbe glory.
Our own joy in singing, and our neighbour's edification, shall not arise from fine
poetry, "but from his effectual grace. How much is it to be wished, that this was
more regarded in singing Psalms. Then should we hear no more of this objec
tion ; but believers in the use of this, and of aU the means of grace, would be
seeking not entertainment, but communion with God, which is our highest
privilege, and they would be expecting the improvement of it, which is their
highest happiness.
Another objection may be made to this coUection. If all the Psalms be alike
the word of God, why should these be selected, and the rest excluded i I do not
exclude any, not a letter or tittle. They are all of equal authority, all given by

MX) Ax\ JiS.f>AY OJN PSALMODY.
e inspiration of the Almighty. There is the same divine stamp and impression
on every word. For which reason 1 reverence what is left, as much- as these :
t these are sufficient for our use, and these, if rightly used, wiU lead us to
derstand and to value the rest. If any thing here said should be the raeans
explaining the subject of the book of Psalms, and of enabling believers to
s more of the glory of the Lord Jesus Christ, then they will not only value
s coUection, but wiU also, as occasion offers, sing the rest with increasing
dody in their hearts unto the Lord.
The coUection of Psalms, which I have here made, cannot be sung aright by
y one, unless he thus aims at the glory of God. He must be a true believer in
sus, and made sensible of the Father's love to him in his Son ; because they
! chiefly songs of praise, and require the music of the heart : he who is in tune
make the best melody, has the deepest senso qf his obligations to free grace.
s has found redemption through the blood of Jesus, and is convinced of his
reptanee through the righteousness of Jesus. He sees all blessings, temporal,
ritual, and eternal, provided for him by the Father's love in the Son's fulness,
1 by the faith of the operation of the Holy Spirit he receives them, as he wants
im, day by day. He feels himaelf a poor needy creature, unworthy of the least
those blessings, and while he is in this humble frame he is thankful for the
st. Then he is most disposed to give the glory of all his merciea to the eternal
ree, and to acknowledge his debt in every appointed tvay. This makes him
iirous of profiting others by singing the praises of that good God, who has so
:eedingly loved him, and herein he haa an eapecial regard to his brethren in
irist. As a church-member he frequents ordinances, enters into the spirit of
!tn, prays in the Holy Ghost, hears and mixes faith tvith the word, sings with
s congregation, and with his heart and voice tries to increase their melody. He
es the Christian. In hia walk and conversation he shows forth the praises of
d. He glorifies his Father which is in heaven, before men, and lets them see,
it they who are happy believers in Jesus, have found their heaven upon earth.
ua he goes on his way, singing and rejoicing in the Lord — ready to join the
:at concert of saints and angels — yea, he does join, ascribing with them all the
id he has, and hopes for, to the free grace of the holy, bleased, and glorious
nity.Reader, art thou one of this happy number ? Is thy heart in tune to sing
alms of praise to thy God ? Is he thy Father which art in heaven, and dost
iu love him for the unspeakable gift of his Son ? Until he be known to thee
this dear relation, thou canst not be happy in him either in earth or heaven.
thou art thinking he has mercy in store for thee, how wast thou brought to
ieve it ? Was it in God's appointed way, and in his means ? Didst thou hear
word declaring what thy state was, and didst thou yield to its testimony, per-
ided thou wast under guilt and in great danger ? Wast thou convinced of the
:eeding sinfulness of sin, how abominably filthy it raade thee in the sight of an
iy God — how guilty in the sight of a just God, and how utterly helpless it has
; thee in thyself ? Did this conviction foUow thee ? Wast thou made deeply
1 thoroughly sensible, that thou canst do nothing for thyself, but hasten on
' ruin ? Such is thy captivity to sin, all the powers and faculties of thy
il and body are in such bondage to it; that thou canst do nothing but serve it,
i, thou art such a wilhng slave, that if God leave thee to thyself, thou wilt go
sinning through time, and sinning through eternity.
3idst thou never see thyeelf in this Btate ? The scripture declares, that thou
by nature a child of wrath — and dost not thou beUeve the word of God ? Are
threatening.? an idle tale ? What ! art thou still asleep in the arms of sin, in
midst of the thunder of the vengeance of God — stttl dreaming of happiness
the ways of sin, which God assuree thee in his word wttl lead thee to destiuc-
i ? Oh desperate delusion 1 May God deliver thee from it. May the eternal
irit accompany his own message, and send it to thy heart. " Awake thou that
jpest, and arise from the dead, and Christ shall give thee light."
[f thou hast been made sensible of thy danger, what thinkest thou of Christ ?
thou hast seen thyself a lost sinner, who is to save thee ? To whom, or to
at dost thou look for help ? To man, or to God ? To thyself, or to Christ ?

AN ESSAY ON PSALMODY. 1001
To thy works, or his ? Is Christ become thine only object ? Examine with care :
for there is but one right way to the city of habitation. " I am the way," says
Jesus. Be assured there is salvafion for thee in no other. Nothing can wash
thee clean, but the atoning blood of Jesus. Nothing can justify thee, but his
righteousness. His all-sufficient grace alone can keep thee in the way to heaven.
He alone can present thee spotless there before the throne. Every other hope wttl
disappoint thee but hope in Jesus. One day all the rest will prove refuges of hes.
If thou buildest on them now with confidence, they wttl fad thee at the bar of
God. Thou wilt then find, that other foundation can no man fay, than that is
laid, which is Jesus Christ.
If thou art enabled to build upon this rock, happy art thou. Hail, thou that art
highly favoured : the Lord is with thee. He has encouraged thee to place the
whole weight of thy salvation upon the work of Jesus, tvho is Immanuel, the
Creator, and the Supporter of all worlds, visible and invisible. Trust in him,
and be not afraid : for he is almighty to save. And he has given thee his infaUible
promises to satisfy thee, that in him thou art safe from all thy sins, and from aU
thine enemies. Oh how establishing are his own words ! Thus he speaketh to
thee — " Whosoever cometh unto me, and heareth my sayings, and doeth them,
I wUl show you to whom he is like : he is like a man, who built a house, and
digged deep, and laid the foundation on a rock, and when the flood arose, the
stream beat vehemently upon that house, and could not shake it : for it tvas
founded upon a rock:" How happy is thy state ! Thou art come to him at his
bidding, thou hast heard his sayings, and art doing them in faith : survey thy
safety and bless the Lord. 'Thou art the wise man, who builds on a foundation
contrived by infinite trisdom, and supported by almighty power, " Behold," says
the Father, " I lay in Sion for a foundation, a stone, a tried stone," &c. The
Father chose his co-equal Son, on whom he would build his whole church ; he
is therefore caUed an elect foundation ; and sure, as sure as God can make it ;
his wiU and word, his arm and love secure the foundation and every thing built
upon it. Try it again and again, and thou wilt find hotv sure it is. This is
another of its divine exceUences — it is a tried foundation, none ever built on it
and were confounded. Believers have made trial of it in every age, and it always
answered their hopes : indeed how could it faU them ? For the divine Architect
has so strengthened every part of his structure, that the gates of hell cannot pre
vail against it. How precious then is this foundation ! " To them that believe
he is precious." All the beauties and pleasures in heaven and earth are to be
found in his fulness, and in the creature only as a drop out of the ocean. Un
searchable riches are his : so are eternal glories. Blessed is the man who is living
upon his fulness. While he is receiving out of it grace for grace, oh how pre
cious is Jesus ! especially while he is hoping to receive out of the same fulness
the glory that is to be revealed : for he shall not be disappointed of his hope ;
because " the righteous hath an everlasting foundation." He is built upon the
rock of ages, and is kept there by the potver of God. Oh happy, thrice happy
believer. Again survey thy mercies — see how many, how great they are — to
thy body — to thy soul — family, church, national mercies — »ure and covenant
mercies. AVho is like unto thee saved by the Lord? 'The Father is thine
with all his love. The Son is thine with aU his salvation. The I Inly Spirit is
thine in all his offices, to comfort, to strengthen, and to sanctify thee, to lead
thee safe by his counsel, till he bring thee unto glory. And this is also thine trith
its richest blessings— eternal life is the free gilt of God to thee through Jesus
Christ thy Lord. Oh, what has God clone for thee ! saved from deserved destruc
tion, and saved with such a salvation, so wrought out for thee, so secureel to thee,
and for ever, what could God do more? Now thou hast learned the subject of
praise, and canst make sweet melody trith these words — " I waited patiently
for the Lord, and he inclined unto me, and heard my cry ; he brought me up
also out of the horrible pit, out of the miry clay, and set my feet upon a rock,
and established my goings : and he hath put a new song in my mouth, even
praise unto our God." None can learn this new song, except he be redeemed
from the earth— a saved sinner, delivered from the pit of corruption, and finding
his feet set fast upon the rock of salvation, sings it from experience. He feels

1002 AN ESSAY ON PSALMODY.
what he sings. His heart and month go together in blessing the Lord his God.
Now he wants no comment upon the Psalms of praise. He is taught them by
the Holy Spirit, and can sing them with delight. A grateful sense of the divine
favours freely conferred upon him keeps hiin in tune, humble and thankful. And
this is the right- frame of mind to offer up the' sacrifice of praise, with which God
is weU pleased. He accepts it from saints and angels round the throne, and he
accepts it also from us, when tve present it in their spirit. The humblest upon
earth pay him the highest service, as he declares — " Whoso offereth praise glo-
rifieth me.."
Reader, is this thine experience ? Dost thou sing Psalms, and didst thou
learn to sing them in this way ? AA'ast thou enabled by faith to love God in
Christ, and art thou now blessing him with a rejoicing heart ? Is his glory the
end and aim of aU thy services ? If it be (but beware of mistakes) then thou art
accepted in Jesus, and so are thy songs. May thy delight in singing thera in
crease. I wish to he a helper of thy joy, and to that end let us take a short review
of the subject. Thou wilt see the graces needful for singing of Psalms, and' if
thou findest God has bestowed them upon thee, then make use of them : offer up
through Jesus Christ thy sacrifice of praise to God continuaUy, that is, the fruit
of thy Ups, giving thanks to his name.
1. Dost thou understand the subject of the book of Psalms, and enter into it
in singing ? Dost thou see the praises of Immanuel celebrated throughout, and
canst thou take up the words and sing them with melody in thy heart ? Being
one with Jesus by faith, and a partaker of his fulness, thou wilt see a new glory-
in the Psalms ; for thou wttt read thine otvn interest in all that Christ is and has,
and wilt make use of it too, receiring from him grace for grace. Thie will inspire
thy soul with warm devotion to the Lord Christ, and will lead thee greatly to prize
this blessed book. Thou will delight to
2. Study the scripture names of it. Dost thou attend to them ? Have they
their proper weight with thee, so as to convince thee thoroughly, that the Saviour
in his 8everal offices and works is the person treated of in the book of Psalms ? 'The
different names are only to describe him in different views as the Giver of every bless
ing in earth and heaven, Hymns to celebrate his praises, Spiritual Songs to set forth
the glory of his kingdom, and the happiness of his subjects. Psalms and Hymns,
and spiritual_Song8, altogether intended to raise the affections of the soul to as high
a pitch of love to Immanuel, as we are capable of, while in the body.
3. AVhen thou art reading the Old Testament or the New, and observing the
passagea in which the Pealme are mentioned, do they farther confirm thee in the
behef of their being written concerning Christ ? And mixing faith with them, do
they warm thy heart with gratitude to Jesus, and stir thee up to sing hia praises
with increasing deUght ? But, above all, consider
4. How thou eingest the Paalms. - Examine. Art thou made a new creature in
Christ Jesus, and a partaker of hia Spirit ? Do8t thou then sing with thine under
standing, and with thy heart, singing Psalms as an ordinance of God to exercise
grace, and to increase the grace which he has given ? And dost thou indeed find
it profitable to thyself, and edifying to others ?
5. Dost thou keep up the harmony in thy life ? le thy walk in concord with thy
Psalms ? Art thou showing forth the praises of Jesus in thy conversation ? What !
is aU consistent and of a piece ? Are thy heart, and voice, and life, in tune to
thank the Lord for his goodness, and to declare the wonders tvhich he hath done
for thy soul ? Oh this is heavenly music. Happy man, to whom it is given thus
to Uve the Christian. May there be no discord in thy tempers and walk, but may
aU within and without thee conspire in sweet concert to bless thy Lord and thy
God. 6. If the Lord has thus enabled thee to sing, and to love his praises, then, art
thou humble enough to study to please others as well as thyself in singing, that
theymay be edified? If there has been any abuse in this ordinance, dost thou stand
corrected, and art wiUing to reform ? Is it thy desire in public singing to give.no
offence to outward people, but above all to give none to the church of God ? This
is the Christian temper. Show it. Let it appear that the mind is in thee, which
was also in Christ Jesus. Aim, in singing, at the profit of others. Look not to

AN ESSAY ON PSALMODY. 1003
thyself alone, that thou bearest thy part, with thine understanding, heart, and
voice, but endeavour also to edify the church. See thy neighbour be benefited
according to the command — "Teach and admonish one another in Psalms," &c.
Let this and aU other things in the congregation be done to edifying.
If, upon careful inquiry, thou dost understand those truths, dost thou expe
rience the power ana comfort of them ? Art thou indeed a hving Christian,
capable of singing them with melody in thy heart unto the Lord ? If this be thy
happy case, then accept this coUection of Psalms, which I here present to thee,
not in preference to any of those here omitted, or to exclude any of them, but
only as a sufficient number for our regular sendee. Go, and make use of them,
and the Lord be with thee. May he render them profitable to thine own soul,
and edifying to his body the church. Pray for grace to glorify him more in this
ordinance. It will soon be thy whole employment. Yet a very little while, and
thou wilt have nothing to do, but to enjoy and to praise Immanuel for evermore.
May thy heart now feel something of this heaven : and if it please him, may thy
happiness daily increase, in the enjoyment of, and thankfulness for, all covenant
mercies, till thou art admitted to the general assembly and church of the first-born,
to join with them in ascribing all the glory of thy salvation to the Father, Son,
and Holy Spirit, three persons in one Godhead, to whom be equal and everlasting
praises. Amen.

THE END.

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